The current invention encompasses a microemulsion having environmentally safe components, the microemulsion exhibiting optical clarity and stability over a wide range of temperatures. The microemulsion also forms a part of a decontaminant solution for treating chemical and biological contaminant agents, the solution preferably containing peroxycarboxylic acids generated from solids as the primary decontamination agent. The solution is a single phase emulsion that is both stable and effective over a broad range of temperatures, the range extending well below 0° C. There is also disclosed a microemulsion decontaminate solution having components that stabilize the included solid and peroxycarboxylic acids.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention described herein relates to the field of aqueous systems for extreme temperature applications, especially extremely low temperature applications. The disclosed system provides an excellent base for systems for neutralizing or decontaminating chemical and biological contaminants. In this latter aspect, the invention relates to a decontaminant solution suitable for use in a variety of environments against a broad range of chemical and/or biological agents, and more particularly to a system in which the primary decontaminating agent is stabilized to provide a longer useful life.
The current invention provides an aqueous microemulsion base that is stable over a temperature range heretofore unattained, making the microemulsion useful for many applications. In particular, it can be used to provide a broad-spectrum decontaminant solution that is effective and stable over a wide temperature range. The decontaminant likewise is useful against both biological and chemical agents, and utilizes components that are not significantly ecologically disadvantageous. In addition, a means has been found to stabilize the decontaminant component itself, making the decontaminant effective for a period of time longer than that expected of other decontaminants. The current invention thus provides a decontaminant that is relatively harmless to humans and the environment and yet is effective for eliminating contamination on most surfaces.
2. Brief Description of the Art
Emulsions are useful in and of themselves for a variety of uses. Because emulsions by the nature thereof have both lipophilic and hydrophilic properties, they have the capability of "wetting" and thereby dissolving or at least suspending both lipophilic substances such as grease and hydrophilic substances that require a more polar substance for dissolution or suspension. Microemulsions are even more useful in many situations because of the greater boundary layer surface area between the lipophilic and hydrophilic components of the mixture. Because of this "dual" nature of a microemulsion, the microemulsion can be used, for example, as a rinse or wash to solubilize or suspend both polar and nonpolar liquids or other substances.
Contamination by chemical, biological, or radioactive substances, whether intentional or accidental, is of increasing concern in both military and civilian environments. Delivery systems for intentional contamination can be easy to obtain or build and difficult to detect. Also, many types of contaminants degrade only very slowly. Radioactive contamination generally must be physically removed from an area to effect decontamination. Chemical contaminations likewise must be physically removed, e.g., by flushing an area with liquids, and/or must be chemically converted to forms that are less toxic. Biological agents also can be washed away or killed by selected reagents, but many biological agents or forms thereof, i.e., spores, are highly resistant to damage and can persist for long periods of time.
As addressed herein, chemical agents (CA) specifically include but are not limited to vesicants and nerve gases. Vesicants, blistering agents that particularly affect skin and mucous membranes, are exemplified by the sulfur mustard (bis-(chloroethyl)-sulfides, commonly designated as HD), and nitrogen mustard (tris-(2-chloroethyl)-amines, commonly designated as HN-1, HN-2, and HN-3) compounds. The class of vesicants also include Lewisite (L), an arseno-ethene compound. Chemical agents also include nerve gases, the better known ones including Tabun (GA) and the phosphonofluoridates, Sarin (GB), and Soman (GD). There is additionally a class of compounds referred to as V compounds that include phosphorylthiocholines such as VX.
Biological agents (BA) primarily consist of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. These agents may be native or engineered, and include such well-known agents as anthrax. Many BAs are relatively vulnerable in the vegetative state, and can be destroyed or otherwise decontaminated through the use of common disinfectants, many of which are relatively harmless to the environment. Many BAs, however, can also exist in the form of spores. Spores can persist for long periods of dormancy, and many are vulnerable only to harsh conditions such as high heat or powerful reagents such as concentrated acids, bases, or other chemicals. Decontamination of many, especially outdoor, areas is difficult or impossible by exposure to harsh conditions, and use of concentrated reagents is often harmful to humans.
Several decontamination solutions and/or compounds have been proposed. One, Decontaminating Solution 2 (DS2) was originally used by the United States Army and contained diethylenetriamine, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, and sodium hydroxide. Standardized in 1960, it is no longer actively employed. While effective against CAs, this solution is toxic, flammable, and environmentally hazardous. U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,957 proposes another CA decontaminant comprising a carbonate, peroxide, and alcohol mixture. This combination is described as being environmentally safe and effective "in cold weather operations."
A decontamination formulation capable of forming an emulsion is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,525,237, comprising a mixture of hydrated chloroisocyanuric acid, a selected glycol compound, a surfactant, a buffering system to maintain a pH of about 8.5 to 11, and water. In this disclosure it is stated that all of the ingredients can be premixed before being introduced to a pump and/or spraying nozzle for application, although it is preferred that the erosive and corrosive acid and buffer be added at a location after the pump. This solution is stated as being effective against all three contaminant sources by chemically neutralizing CAs, killing BAs, and encapsulating and removing radioactive agents.
A water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsion also including a peroxide/molybdate reactant system is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,723,891 as effective against chemical contaminants. In this case, the microemulsion is comprised of, for example, hydrogen peroxide, a surfactant, and methylene chloride as the oil constituent (which is environmentally harmful), and butanol (as a cosolvent). This W/O microemulsion is stated as being stable in the range of from about −30° C. to about −40° C. and it is preferred to maintain the pH of the solution in the range of from 7 to 12. The drawback to this system, however, is the potential harm to personnel, materials, and the environment due largely to the negative effects of the methylene chloride.
A microemulsion decontaminant is also proposed in U.S. Patent Application Serial Number 2005/0288203. The microemulsion incorporates a solid source of peroxycarboxylic acid, which is effective against chemical agents and against vegetative biological agents. The solution also contains a germinant that causes spore BAs to convert to vegetative states, at which point they become vulnerable to the other components of the microemulsion.

Aqueous based chemical and biological warfare decontaminating system for extreme temperature applications

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A freight container of the flatrack type is designed to have an end wall structure 22 plus inboard from the end wall structure a gate 23 which is pivotally or collapsibly mounted thereon. The gate 23 includes a load bearing post having a freight container-securing fitment 26 of conventional type, these fitments 26 being positioned at the standard positions for such fitments in a standard freight container but the platform 21 being extended beyond these positions to carry additional load. Diagonal bracing 29 and diagonal top links 37 triangulate and rigidify the gate structure against longitudinal, lateral and vertical forces in both tension and compression.

1. Fields of the Invention
This invention relates to freight containers. It particularly relates to the type of freight container called a platform based container or flatrack.
Freight containers have long been standardised so as to facilitate international trade. This means that the associated handling and transport devices have also been standardised. In particular, the exact location and spacing of the stacking points and lifting points of the containers have been standardised and so cranes, stacking trucks, vehicles and so on have been built to accept the container having such standardised fitments.
Recently, a move has been made towards using longer, taller and wider containers, particularly on inland routes, to optimise cargo carrying efficiency.
For a rigid freight container, all that is necessary is to provide the lifting and fixing points at the standard positions, extending the container structure outside the standard dimensions as required. However this cannot be done readily with platform based containers known as flatracks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Flatracks comprise a platform on which a load is carried and a pair of end walls which, during transit of freight, are locked in an upright condition so as to define the freight carrying space together with the platform. When the freight has been unloaded, the end walls are stowed relative to the platform so that a number of flatracks can be stacked and returned empty. Since the structure is intrinsically lighter than a rigid walled container and since it can be folded into a compact space, substantial economies can be achieved in the use of flatracks compared with rigid containers.
However, the move towards making containers longer has not hitherto been successful in connection with flatracks because the lifting and stacking formations are provided on the end walls. While it would be desirable to extend the platform and to provide lifting and stacking formations inboard of the end walls, no satisfactory means has hitherto been suggested for doing this, bearing in mind that any upright structures on the flatrack need to be fully stowable with respect to the platform.

Collapsible freight container with gates


A method for testing a wireless transceiver embedded within a wireless data communication system that also includes a host processor with minimal interaction between the wireless transceiver and the host processor during such testing. The wireless signal interface between the wireless data communication system and external test equipment is used to convey test initiation or data signals from the external test equipment to the wireless data communication system, and responsive data or acknowledgement signals from the wireless data communication system to the external test equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless data communication systems having a host processor and wireless transceiver embedded therein, and in particular, to production testing of such systems.
2. Related Art
As the number and uses of wireless data communication systems increase, it has become increasingly important to the manufacturers of such systems to perform production testing of the wireless transceivers embedded in such systems in a more time-efficient manner. As is well known, a problem with production testing of such embedded transceivers is that no direct, e.g., wired, digital control connection is generally available between the device under test (DUT) and the test controller (e.g., personal computer). Instead, communication must take place through the host processor also embedded within the system. Accordingly, production testing becomes more complicated in that the testing firmware must be installed or stored for running on the embedded host processor.
While using firmware in an embedded processor may be acceptable for a single platform, this approach quickly becomes unacceptable when multiple platforms are involved and must be supported. Further, as is often the case, the wireless transceiver function, e.g., a wireless data transceiver operating according to the IEEE 802.11 standard, is merely a small portion of the overall set of functions of the host system. Accordingly, the manufacturer, while interested in producing a fully functional wireless transceiver capability, is nonetheless not interested in spending significant resources on integrating the wireless function in view of its limited role in the overall operation of the system. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide for a simpler and more streamlined method of production testing for such systems, with only minimal changes required when performing production testing of various systems.

Method for testing embedded wireless transceiver with minimal interaction between wireless transceiver and host processor during testing


The present invention Provides a position detector includes a scale provided with a recording medium recorded with information for position detection; a slider disposed to face the recording medium of the scale and to relatively travel along an elongate direction of the scale and provided with a detection sensor for detecting the information of the recording medium, a carrier for carrying the slider, and a posture control mechanism disposed between the carrier and the slider to control slider posture relative to the scale. The posture control mechanism is located on a straight line being vertical to a plane provided with the recording medium facing the detection sensor and passing the detection sensor and biases the slider toward the scale in the direction of the straight line for posture control. The slider is provided with a guide restricting section slidably contact with the scale to restrict a biasing force of the posture control mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a position detector such as a digital scale, an encoder, etc. applied to machine tools, industrial machines, precise length measuring machines or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A position detector which is a scale, a rotary encoder or the like is applied to machine tools such as milling machines, lathes, NC machine tools and the like, industrial machines, precise length measuring-angle measuring machines or the like. In the past, the position detector includes e.g. a thin plate-like scale member installed on a machine tool main body; a slider attached to a workpiece traveling table of the machine tool at a position opposite to the scale member; and a detection head attached to the slider. In addition, the position detector is used to read calibrations formed on the scale member for position detection and for controlling a processing-amount of the workpiece or the like.
Additionally, such a position detector is such that a carrier is provided on a slider-fixing section supporting the slider so that the slider is supported through the carrier and can be moved by the carrier.
Incidentally, in order to allow the position detector mentioned above to execute position detection with a high degree of accuracy and of resolution, e.g. a magnetic recording pitch (recording wavelength) of the scale members is reduced and a clearance between the detection head and the scale member is reduced. However, in the position detector, mechanical displacement occurs between the carrier and the scale member due to assembly accuracy, component tolerance or the like. This mechanical displacement varies the above-mentioned clearance and the like so that precise position detection cannot be executed, which leads to damage to the detection head in some cases. To solve such a problem, a position detector is proposed that is equipped between a carrier and a slider with an adjustable mechanism for suppressing displacement (see e.g. Japanese patent No. 3019685).
A scale device 100 shown in FIG. 9 is a traditional scale device and includes a carrier 102 supporting a slider 101; and a scale member 104 disposed to face a detection head 103 mounted on the slider 101. The detection head 103 and the scale member 104 are relatively moved and the detection head 103 detects a position signal from the scale member 104 for position detection. In addition, the scale device 100 includes an adjustable mechanism 107, at a position along the relative movement direction, composed of a carrier side coupling member 105 provided on the carrier 102 and a slider side coupling member 106 provided on the slider. This adjustable mechanism 107 suppresses the displacement between the detection head 103 and the scale member 104.
The adjustable mechanism 107 is provided in the scale device 100 so as to extend in the longitudinal direction of the scale device 104, in the relative movement direction. This configuration results from the scale device 100 having dimensional room in the longitudinal direction of the scale member 104. However, the configuration is not efficient in an applying direction of force for posture control with respect to reduction in the clearance between the scale member 104 and the detection head 103 and to retainment of such a reduced clearance.
A scale device 200 is also proposed in which a leaf spring 201 is provided in a plane vertical to a relative movement direction as shown in FIG. 10. Like reference numerals are given to the same functions and configurations of the scale device 200 as those of the scale device 100 and their explanations are omitted. The scale device 200 is such that one end of the leaf spring 201 is secured to a carrier 102 in a plane generally vertical to the longitudinal direction of a scale member 104. In addition, the other end of the leaf spring 201 is brought into contact with a plane opposite to a plane provided thereon with a detection head 103 of the slider 101. Thus, the slider 101 is biased toward the scale member 104.
However, in terms of the structure of the leaf spring, the scale device 200 having the leaf spring 201 is not such that the slider 101 is retained by a biasing force in a direction vertical to the scale member 104. As with the scale device 100 described above, the scale device 200 is inefficient and inaccuracy.
Also there is known a digital gauge which measures length through movement of a spindle. This digital gauge is generally used to measure a shape in a range as narrow as from 10 to 100 mm. In such a digital gauge having a narrow measuring range, the entire device is reduced in size. Thus, it may physically be impossible to maintain such a device-size and mount the adjustable mechanism 107 provided for the scale device 100.
The digital gauge described above needs assembly with a very high degree of mechanical accuracy, which poses a problem with costs.


Described herein are methods and systems capable of dynamically adapting weights in response to a received stream of pulses by deinterleaving a stream of pulses according to an initial weighted distance, adjusting the weighted distance, and deinterleaving the stream of pulses according to the adjusted weighted distance.

When a military asset such as an aircraft is simultaneously illuminated by multiple radar systems (threat systems), it may be useful to sort the received radar pulses into groups, or clusters, according to their source. An asset may, for example, be illuminated by several different radars from different directions, each having a different combination of amplitude, carrier frequency, pulse width, and modulation type. The received radar pulses may be detected and analyzed by a radar analysis system such as a radar warning receiver (RWR), which may then identify each source as being, for example, ship-board radar, aircraft radar, or missile radar.
Radar pulses from multiple sources may be interleaved in time when they arrive at the radar analysis system. As a first step in analyzing the received pulses it may be desirable to deinterleave them (i.e., to form multiple individual pulse trains, each corresponding to one of the radar sources as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 1). This may be particularly important for determining certain characteristics of each source: in a stream of pulses from several sources, for example, each operating at a different pulse repetition interval (PRI), it is difficult to infer the PRI of any one source without first separating (i.e., deinterleaving), the stream into separate pulse trains, one pulse train for each source (e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 1). Once the stream is deinterleaved the PRI of each source is, in the ideal case, simply the rate at which pulses occur in the corresponding pulse train. Even if some pulses are lost in processing, the PRI of a given source may be estimated from the remaining pulses, for example by inserting pulses as needed to produce a regular sequence of pulses. Other attributes such as the carrier frequency may be determined from a single pulse, but it may be possible to determine it more accurately from a series of pulses originating from the same source.
Prior art systems may perform deinterleaving by grouping received pulses into "clusters" of similar pulses. Pulses that are, according to some measure of similarity, sufficiently similar, are deemed to have originated from a single source, and pulses that are dissimilar are deemed to have originated from different sources. Various attributes, or parameters, may be compared when assessing the degree of dissimilarity, or "distance," between pulses, including frequency, the direction from which the pulses arrived or angle of arrival (AOA), pulse width, and amplitude. A weighted measure of distance may be used. In such a measure a weight may be defined for each parameter and differences in any parameter multiplied by the corresponding weight.
Selecting the weights for a weighted distance generally involves making a compromise between the respective likelihoods of two types of error. If a weight is made too large (i.e., the distance and resulting cluster window are too small), pulses originating from the same source may be incorrectly classified as originating from different sources; if the weight is made too small (i.e., the distance and resulting cluster window are too big), pulses originating from different sources may incorrectly be classified as originating from the same source. If the measurement error in a parameter is large, it may be preferable to use a small weight, so that variations in the measured value due to measurement error do not cause pulses, which in fact are quite similar, to be classified as originating from different sources. Thus the optimum weights may vary, depending on operating conditions. At high temperature, for example, amplifier noise in the receiver may cause the measurement error for some parameters to increase, with the result that smaller weights may be preferred at higher temperatures.
In prior art deinterleavers, the weights may be static (fixed) prior to operation, and they may be independent of the pulse parameters. However, modern, more advanced radar emitters are capable of dynamically varying and randomizing signal parameters, such as for example, waveform, frequency, pulse width, and/or pulse repetition interval. When faced with such advanced radar emitter threats, traditional static weight deinterleavers will either fail to identify the threat entirely, or will misidentify the threat.


A coating composition for a recording material and a process for producing the recording material are provided, wherein the coating composition includes an aluminum alkoxide, a binder and a hydrophilic solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a coating composition for a recording material and to a process for producing a recording material using the same. More particularly, it relates to a coating composition used in the production of recording materials suited to aqueous ink jet recording and a process for producing such recording materials using the coating composition.
2. Discussion of the Background
Transfer recording materials used in ink jet printing or copying generally include a polyolefin resin film. However, an ink jet recording system using aqueous ink, an ink receiving layer must be provided because a polyolefin film, if used alone, repels aqueous ink and results in poor printing quality or requires a long time for the ink to dry. Conventional aqueous ink-receiving recording materials for ink jet recording have a substrate that is coated with a water-soluble or dispersible binder having dispersed therein inorganic fine powder (see JP-A-55-51583, JP-A-62-174182, JP-A-3-284978, and JP-A-7-89216, the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") or have a substrate coated with a porous layer of hydrated alumina (see JP-A-2-276670 and JP-A-2-276671).
Ideally, ink-absorbing particles should allow the ink to penetrate rapidly, which allows the ink to dry rapidly. Accordingly, porous particles having a large void content, such as porous silica powder and alumina sol, have been heretofore regarded as suitable. However, the state-of-the-art recording materials that have inorganic fine powder or alumina sol on their surfaces do not meet the current demand for high speed ink drying necessary with the improved recording speeds and advanced multicolor (six-color) printing systems of the latest ink jet recording equipment.

Coating composition for recording material and process for producing recording material


A color filter (CF) substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, a display panel, a display device and an operation method thereof are provided. The CF substrate includes: a base substrate, a CF pixel array and image sensors. The CF pixel array is provided on the base substrate and includes CF pixel units in an array. The image sensors are provided on the CF pixel array, correspond to the CF pixel units, and are configured to receive light travelling through the CF pixel units for imaging.

Intelligent electronic products, such as mobile phones and tablet PCs, are usually additionally equipped with imaging elements for image information recording, and the imaging elements utilize ambient light for imaging. For example, in an electronic product having display function, a shot lens is disposed in a non-display area and utilizes ambient light for imaging to realize shooting function, but a shot lens dedicated to photographing must be disposed in the non-display area.

Display panel and manufacturing method thereof, display device and operation method thereof


The invention provides a polymer system, including a first composition and a second composition. The first composition is different from the second composition. The first composition includes a first gelator, the first gelator including a plurality of acylhydrazine moieties. The second composition includes a second gelator, the second gelator including a plurality of formyl moieties. At least one of the first composition and the second composition includes a prepolymer. The invention further provides a method of using the polymer system to form a polymeric material via multiple stages to more effectively control the rheology of the components over a variety of timescales.

Polymers provide tremendous benefits to society. Their use can be seen almost everywhere, from materials used in space, water, automobiles, electronics, households, and medicine to name a few areas. Polymer products can be lightweight, hard, strong, and flexible and have distinct thermal, electrical, and optical characteristics. Accordingly, polymer systems garner a tremendous amount of research and development. Scientists continue to develop polymer systems with improved properties. One of the challenges facing these scientists is how to precisely control the rheological properties of polymers, which are critical for many manufacturing processes. Another challenge is the development of improved methods for repairing and restoring an area of a material that has been damaged.
Organogels have been a topic of concentrated research over the past several years. Organogels use organic solvents as the swelling agent as opposed to a "hydrogel" in which the swelling agent is water. Proposed applications for organogels include their use as viscosity modifiers, drug delivery systems, and electrical cable insulators (see EP 2254127 A1). For example, one paper showed organogels consisting of reversible covalently bonded polymers in various organic solvents (Deng et al., Macromolecules 2010-43(3):1191-1194). However, such systems are typically singular in composition, having only one polymerization reaction with a single trigger. The organogels also typically possess mechanical properties that are too soft for structural applications.
Traditional polymer cure cycles are generally characterized by a single transition from a liquid state to a rigid state, which limits processing capabilities. Multiple component and multiple stage polymers have been described for the benefit of obtaining the properties of several components within a single system (see EP0003652 B1, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,202 (Farnham et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,851 (Ikenaga et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,857,447 (Myung et al.)). Acrylate systems have been of particular interest due to the economic and industrial importance of poly(acrylate) polymers. Traditional methods based on multiple component and multiple stage systems generally require direct engineering control of the system to obtain the desired composition and structure. In some cases, polymers are synthesized independently and then blended together. Traditional polymer cure cycles have been tailored to possess different cure rates based on the alteration of the kinetics of the polymerization. However, the range of control is usually dictated by the reaction temperature. The polymerization proceeds in a singular fashion from a liquid of a designed viscosity to a solid of a designed modulus.
Additional challenges presented by traditional polymeric materials are the processing limitations caused by the polymer's high viscosity and its susceptibility to oxygen inhibition. Rapidly reacting systems, such as commercially available epoxy resins (e.g., Devcon 5 Minute® epoxy), possess relatively high viscosities of about 10,000 centipoise (cps). Lower viscosity (about 60 cps) epoxy resin systems exist, but react very slowly at room temperature and usually require curing at temperatures of 70° C. for 8 or more hours. Traditional acrylate resins can be characterized by much lower viscosities, but generally suffer from oxygen inhibition during free radical polymerization. Several techniques have been suggested to help counteract this problem. However, the techniques involve the use of new initiating systems (see U.S. Publication No. 2006/0062922 (Xu et al.)), implementation of oxygen scavengers, and incorporation of thiol monomers.
Accordingly, there is a need for improving the rheological and mechanical properties of polymer materials, particularly, for the restoration of large damage volumes, defects, or other spaces in polymers. There is also a need for improved polymer systems that can easily and efficiently repair and restore (regenerate) impaired areas of a material. These needs are met by the polymer systems and methods described herein.

Multiple stage curable polymer with controlled transitions

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


Method and device for simultaneous in-situ determination of particle size and mass concentration of fluid-borne particles, wherein the device includes a sensor unit comprising a sending unit and a receiver, a laser coupled to the sensor unit, a detector coupled to the sensor unit, and a microprocessor coupled to the sensor unit, wherein the sensor unit is at least one of adjustable in cross section and variable in diameter and wherein the sensor unit is arranged to one of protrude into the fluid-borne particles and wrap around the fluid-borne particles. The method includes placing the sensor unit adjacent a pipe having a gas flow and simultaneously determining a particle size and a mass concentration of the fluid-borne particles in the gas flow.

The present application is a National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/EP00/00781, filed Feb. 1, 2000. Further, the present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 of German Patent Application No. 199 04 691.3-52 filed on Feb. 5, 1999.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an optoelectronic measuring device and a method for in-situ characterization of fluid-borne particles in the sub-micrometer size range.
2. Discussion of Background Information
A number of different methods are known and used for determining the particle quantities such as particle size and concentration. Optical methods and devices allow an in-situ determination of relevant quantities while conventional methods such as electron microscopy allow only an off-line and/or ex-situ characterization and usually require a partial suctioning of the gas flow. A known device (U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,264) allows, for instance, irradiation of the particles to be tested and imaging the elastic scattering on a two-dimensional optical detector. However, the geometrical, high-resolution imaging of the separate particles allows the determination of the particle sizes only as long as the particle size is within or above the range of the utilized radiation wave lengths. Furthermore, the process can only be used in a limited range of particle concentration because, on the one hand, the particles must be visually separable on the detector and, on the other hand, it must be ensured that at least one single particle is represented within the high enlargement to be realized and the accordingly small examination volume. Additional deficits result from the shallow focus of the optical imaging which can lead to different image scales for the various depths and, thus, to inaccuracies of the size determination.
Additionally, a device is known for determining the particle size which evaluates the emission of laser-induced plasma (U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,983). Here, the plasma emission is evaluated regarding its intensity, its spatial presence, and its time trajectory, as well as the amplitude of the sound waves induced thereby.
Another optical process that enables the determination of particle composition and particle size (European Patent EP 0 837 316 A2) by irradiating particles and subsequently evaluating the thermal radiation and the scattering inside of a laser resonator is based on the examination of the vaporizability, the determination of the particle temperature, and the ratio of elastic scattering and thermal radiation, and depends on the use of several different optical detector units and a geometrical arrangement that cannot be selected freely. Thus, resulting in a considerable constructive and technical expense which strongly limits the usability of the method and questions its economic value. An additional, principle disadvantage of an invasive method is caused in several particles being evaporated completely due to the laser impact and a subsequent physical and/or chemical analysis becoming impossible. The utilization of optical methods demands the optical accessibility of the test objects and thus relies on constructive modifications.
Several methods and devices are known for the determination of the aggregate size, for example, by means of combined measurements of scattering and extinction or the determination of elastic scattering at different angles (e.g., according to J. A. Pinson, D. L. Mitchell, R. J. Santoro, and T. A. Litzinger, SAE Technical Paper Series 932650, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, Pa., 1993), however, only one method exists for the primary particle size which enables the in-situ measuring of this quantity by evaluating the thermal particle radiation (German Patent DE 196 06 005). Common devices and methods for determining the particle concentration are usually based on the extenuation of light or the filtering and subsequent evaluation of the filter loading. Further, a method is known that allows the concentration measurement of carbon black by detecting Planck""s heat radiation after laser excitement by means of a quick digital camera (Japanese Patent JP 08-094526A). However, the two-dimensional imaging method here is dependent on a perpendicular arrangement of the laser light sheet and the detector which causes a strong limitation of the usability within technical systems. No suitable in-situ methods have existed until now for the simultaneous determination of primary particle size and concentration.
The characterization of particles in the nano-scale within different technical and industrial systems are very important regarding the variety of objective configurations. For example, the industrial production of carbon black and other technical powders relies on suitable measurement methods for characterizing the product and allowing a specific processing control as well without affecting the process itself. The resulting requirements, such as a largely automated data entry and processing and the in-situ measuring of the quantities cannot be fulfilled by prior art without considerable constructive modifications of the test objects, in spite of its great technical importance.
The invention therefore provides a method and a measuring device which enables a simultaneous in-situ determination of primary particle size and mass concentration of various particles. The invention also provides a device for determining the mass concentration and/or the primary particle size which enable an easy application in different technical and industrial test objects even when an optical access is only possible from a single side.
According to the present invention, a sensor unit allows the simultaneous determination of the primary particle size and the mass concentration by evaluating the thermal radiation after a pulsed excitement. The thermal excitement can occur, e.g., by way of a high-energy laser pulse. Here, an advantageous embodiment uses short pulses with a pulse duration of about 10 ns and wave lengths in the visual range of the spectrum, such as the ones to be achieved with pulsed solid state lasers. The detection occurs, e.g., by a temporally high-resolution photo multiplier module after suitable spectral filtering, for instance, for suppressing disturbing radiation.
According to one aspect of the invention, sensor unit allows the excitement and detection by way of only one optical access which is particularly advantageous regarding optically dense media with strong absorbing characteristics and in test objects hard to access. A sufficiently strong signal can always be determined in the detection of backscattering in any optical density. Here, the spectral selection of the exciting radiation and the signal occurs by way of suitable dichroitic elements, such as mirrors with reflection and/or transmission ranges, dependent on wave lengths, outside of the test object or by way of a local separation of the rays, for instance, by a hole within a mirror reflecting entirely.
The invention also provides for a method that includes simultaneously determining the primary particle size and the mass concentration from the time signal trajectory following a thermal excitement requiring only one excitement impulse. Here, the simultaneous determination of the two quantities allows, in particular, the simultaneous evaluation of the primary particle number density as well.
Advantageous variants of the sensor unit and/or the method according to the invention are described herein. For example, the detection occurs advantageously by means of a sensor module which already integrates all essential optical and electronic components, such as imaging optics, spectral filtering, and voltage supply. This embodiment allows the adaptation of the sensor unit to the test object without any further adjustment expense in simultaneous utilization of fiberoptical components which has a deciding advantage with regard. to the practical use and the maintenance expense of the device. Additional components that expand the possibilities for utilizing the device and/or enabling a more precise determination of the quantities, in particular such for simultaneously determining elastic scattering, for simultaneous measurement of transmissions, and a temperature sensor can be integrated. Here, the electric scattering signal allows the determination of an additional size parameter (aggregate size), with the temperature measurement, for instance, performed by way of a resistance thermometer or a thermocouple, being used for the exact evaluation of the primary particle size. An essential aspect of the invention is the determination of the necessary quantity (s) without or with only minor modifications of the test object. For example, the utilization of a suitable device with a variable diameter, in which all exciting and detecting components have already been applied, allows the quick adaptation to or into the exhaust stream of combustion systems, such as motors, without modification of the exhaust stream and the subsequent measuring of the parameters without any further adjustment expense. Thus, the utilization as a standard measuring technique for emission tests of serial vehicles becomes possible. The integration of simultaneous transmission measurements allows the calibration of the particle concentration.
The utilization of an analog-digital converter and of a micro processor expands the invention by an automated determination, storage, and processing of the measurement data and the resulting values, which allow direct processing adjustments, for example. This embodiment must be rendered advantageous because it requires no separate posterior evaluation and the device can also be operated by non-experts. The data processing for the process according to the invention includes the simultaneous determination of the mass concentration, the average primary particle size, and additional parameters of the corresponding distribution function by analyzing the time trajectory of the signal preferably with consideration of the fluid temperature. When including a measured temperature value which exceeds the precision of the approximate estimation a more precise evaluation of the primary particle size and/or additional parameters of the distribution function can be performed. This is based on the fact that the cooling progression depends on the temperature gradients of particles and fluid and, thus, the exact temperature measurement of this parameter improves the precision of the measurement values. Corresponding theoretic models can be found, e.g., in S. Will, S. Schraml and A. Leipertz, 26th, Symposium (International) on Combustion (The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1996), 2277-2284. In one variant the process can be used such that a comparison of the complete signal curves is performed with a library of calculated curves.
Here, the use of a variant according to the invention is particularly advantageous for the practical embodiment in which a suitable library is created simultaneously with the evaluation. For determining the average primary particle size a signal decay time xcfx84 can be adjusted to the experimental signal trajectory, for example, in punctual measurements. At the presence of a non-monodisperse size distribution, for example, the complete particle size distribution function or additional parameters of the distribution, such as the width, can be reconstructed by fitting the superposition of several exponential functions. Simultaneously, the maximal signal value is evaluated for determining the volume and/or mass concentration with the ability to determine quantifying values by way of integrating the turbidity values. Here, a luminescence diode or a compact diode laser and a photo diode or a photo transistor are used in an opposing arrangement, for example. In another embodiment the radiation source used for exciting the thermal radiation can simultaneously be used for the transmission measurement. The process of the calibration, e.g., is described in S. Will, S. Schraml and A. Leipertz, 26th Symposium (International) on Combustion (The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1996), 2277-2284 as well.
Further, with the additional measuring of the elastic light scattering, such as to be performed with a sensor unit according to the invention can be provided that allows the simultaneous determination of the aggregate size as well using the maximal signal of the thermal radiation and the scattering signal. The determination of the elastic scattering occurs advantageously by using a narrow-band filter for spectral separation of disturbing signals adjusted to the wave length of the exciting light source. For determining the aggregate size the quotient of elastic distribution signal and maximal signal of the thermal signal is formed which is proportional to a higher power exponent of the aggregate diameter (B. Quay, T.-W. Lee, T. Ni and R. J. Santoro, Combustion and Flame 97, S. 384-3922, 1994).
The invention also provides for an optical sensor unit for simultaneous determination of a primary particle size and mass concentrations of fluid-borne particles that includes a measuring arrangement, a mechanism that simultaneously detects a maximum and a temporal progression of a thermal radiation originating from the fluid-borne particles with at least one defined angle or angle range after a pulsed exciting by the measuring arrangement, the mechanism being at least one of adjustable in cross section and variable in diameter, the mechanism being arranged to one of protrude into a fluid and wrap around a fluid, a radiation emitter unit, and a temporally high-resolution optical detector unit.
The mechanism may comprise at least one detector, each detector having one of a photo multiplier and a light sensitive semiconductor. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a voltage source, at least one spectral filter. The optical sensor unit may further comprise at least one of an imaging optic and a light guiding fiber optic. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a fixed adjusted fiber optic. The optical sensor unit may be adapted to be integrated at or in an exhaust stream of a combustion system. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a detector for a simultaneously detecting an elastic scattering signal in at least one defined angle. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a device for the simultaneous detection of a turbidity of the fluid-borne particles. The device may comprise a radiation emitter and a detector arranged opposite the radiation emitter, whereby the device is adapted to calibrate at least one of a mass and a volume concentration of the fluid-borne particles. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a measuring device for simultaneously determining a gas temperature. The fluid may comprise one of a standing fluid and a flowing fluid.
The invention also provides for an optical sensor unit for determining and characterizing fluid-borne particles, that includes a radiation emitting unit and an optical detector unit for determining at least one of a primary particle size and a mass concentration. The optical detector unit being arranged to determine a thermal radiation originating from the fluid-borne particles after a pulsed exciting is determined by the optical detector unit in a direction precisely opposite to that in which the pulsed exciting occurs.
The optical detector unit may comprise at least one of a spectrally selective optical unit and a spatially selective optical unit. The optical detector unit may comprise at least one detector, each detector having one of a photo multiplier and a light sensitive semiconductor. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a voltage source, at least one spectral filter. The optical sensor unit may further comprise at least one of an imaging optic and a light guiding fiber optic. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a fixed adjusted fiber optic for exciting or detection. The optical sensor unit may be adapted to be integrated at or in an exhaust stream of a combustion system. The optical sensor unit may further comprise an additional detector integrated for a simultaneous detection of an elastic scattering signal in at least one defined angle. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a device for the simultaneous detection of a turbidity of the fluid-borne particles. The device may comprise a radiation emitter and a detector arranged opposite the radiation emitter, whereby the device is adapted to calibrate at least one of a mass and a volume concentration of the fluid-borne particles. The optical sensor unit may further comprise a measuring device for simultaneously determining a gas temperature.
The invention also provides for a process for simultaneous determining a mass concentration and one or more parameters of a primary particle size distribution function of fluid-borne particles, wherein the method includes subjecting the fluid-borne particles to pulsed excitement, determining simultaneously a maximal signal value and a time signal decay of a thermal radiation originating from the fluid-borne particles after the pulsed excitement, the determining being performed within a predetermined time interval, and evaluating the maximal signal value and a time signal decay of a thermal radiation originating from the fluid-borne particles.
The process may further comprise adjusting an experimental signal decay and of a fluid temperature to a theoretical data from a library in order to determine a primary particle size distribution function. The library of theoretical data may be created simultaneously with the evaluating by including theoretical models. The process may further comprise additionally determining an aggregate size simultaneously by evaluating an elastic ray scattering.
The invention still further provides for a device for simultaneous in-situ determination of particle size and mass concentration of fluid-borne particles, wherein the device includes a sensor unit comprising a sending unit and a receiver, a laser coupled to the sensor unit, a detector coupled to the sensor unit, and a microprocessor coupled to the sensor unit, wherein the sensor unit is at least one of adjustable in cross section and variable in diameter and wherein the sensor unit is arranged to one of protrude into the fluid-borne particles and wrap around the fluid-borne particles.
The invention additionally provides for a method of simultaneous in-situ determination of particle size and mass concentration of fluid-borne particles using a device which includes a sensor unit comprising a sending unit and a receiver, a laser coupled to the sensor unit, a detector coupled to the sensor unit, and a microprocessor coupled to the sensor unit, the sensor unit being at least one of adjustable in cross section and variable in diameter and the sensor unit being arranged to one of protrude into the fluid-borne particles and wrap around the fluid-borne particles, wherein the method include placing the sensor unit adjacent a pipe having a gas flow, and simultaneously determining a particle size and a mass concentration of the fluid-borne particles in the gas flow.

Device and method for simultaneous in-situ determination of particle size and mass concentration of fluid-borne particles


A data partitioning apparatus receives stream data and stores with previous-and-subsequent information that specifies data previous and subsequent to the data. Then, for groups, each of which contains the data that are stored and that are partitioned into the number of the groups, the data partitioning apparatus stores top information specifying data located at the top in a corresponding group and end information specifying data located at the end in the corresponding group. Then, when new data is stored, the data partitioning apparatus specifies data previous and subsequent to the new data and stores the new data by associating it with the previous-and-subsequent information that specifies the data previous and subsequent to the new data. Then, when data is inserted, the data partitioning apparatus updates information for each group such that the difference between the number of data belonging to each group is equal to or less than one.

In recent years, with the development and popularization of network technology and sensor technology, attention has been given to stream processing which is designed to process, in real time, large amount of stream data that are generated every moment.
For example, stream processing is used to aggregate instantaneous sales by receiving point of sale (POS) system data as stream data and to partition the received POS data into multiple groups. Furthermore, stream processing is used to aggregate instantaneous traffic volumes by receiving probe traffic information as stream data and to partition the received probe traffic information into multiple groups.
A known technology is used for stream processing, in which stream data are accumulated as records, and, if an instruction is received from a user, the accumulated records are partitioned. For example, stream data that do not contain an item, such as a sequence number, used to specify a record are sorted by using a specific item in the stream data and are then accumulated. The sequence number mentioned here is the number sequentially allocated to, for example, data from the top or from the end. Then, if a partition request is received from a user, the records that are sorted and accumulated are partitioned and output to the user.
Patent Literature: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-011784

Data partitioning apparatus and data partitioning method


The fiber direction of a carbon fiber material of a test object is detected by means of the polarization direction of light reflected by the test object. If, for example, non-polarized light impinges upon carbon fibers, light reflected by the fibers is polarized in fiber direction.

The present invention relates to a concept for measuring a fiber direction of a carbon fiber material, like for example for quality testing and/or further processing and for a manufacturing of an object in a carbon fiber composite construction.
In modern lightweight construction, more and more carbon fibers are used for increasing the strength of so-called carbon fiber composite materials. In particular with safety-critical members made of these composite materials, like e.g. in aircraft construction, automobile construction or the like the correct position and the correct course, i.e. the direction of the carbon fibers are of decisive importance for the mechanical strength and load capacity of the complete member. At any point or at any relevant points of the work piece, it is a need to measure the fiber course or the angle in which the carbon fibers are positioned with a certain accuracy. Conventionally, in manufacturing several layers of carbon fiber fabrics are stacked, one after the other on top of each other and each soaked with special plastics and hardened or cured. Each of these layers has to be qualified with respect to the fiber course. As the carbon fiber layers are non-transparent for visible light, testing the fiber direction has to be executed individually for each layer each after depositing the layer.
Until now, the fiber direction has been measured or controlled in different ways, i.e. a) visually by the production staff, b) by depositing marks by the production staff, detecting the marks by means of a camera system and further processing the camera images by a corresponding software, and c) by recording the carbon fibers using a camera system whose pixel resolution has to be so high, however, that the individual carbon fibers are visually resolved so that from the image data by means of a special software the direction of the carbon fibers may be determined in any place of the image.
Solutions a) and b) need the help of the production staff and are thus difficult to reproduce and error prone due to the known subjective effects. Apart from that, the solutions are time-consuming and thus expensive. A completely automated testing is not possible. Solution c) needs a comparatively high pixel resolution of the used camera. Apart from higher costs for a camera with a high resolution, with higher pixel numbers more image data result, which leads to a higher image transmission speed and a higher computing power for image evaluation at the same bitrate. A higher data rate and high computing power again lead to higher costs. On the other hand, this means that with a certain expenditure the testing speed is limited. Finally, this means that for testing a certain area of a carbon fiber composite member, acceptable costs determine the testing speed. A further disadvantage is the fact that the fiber direction has to be calculated by software from the image data. The accuracy and reliability of the results thus substantially depend on the quality of the software. In particular with fabric soaked by plastics, the detection of the fiber direction is substantially more inaccurate and less reliable than with a non-soaked so-called "textile" fabric.
Thus, a concept for measuring the fiber direction of a carbon fiber material would be desired or a concept for manufacturing an object in a carbon fiber composite construction which overcomes above mentioned disadvantages or enables a more cost-effective manufacturing with the same quality or accuracy.

Measurement of a fiber direction of a carbon fiber material and fabrication of an object in carbon fiber composite technique

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V.


A Class D amplifier circuit performs audio signal processing and other signal processing by using a bang-bang controller and a noise-shaping feedback network. The bang-bang controller triggers generation of a rectangular waveform that corresponds to changes in a control signal derived from an input analog signal, with the generation of the rectangular waveform being based on a comparison of the control signal with another signal derived from hysteresis associated with an output of a comparator. A filter filters the rectangular waveform to obtain an amplified output analog signal substantially representative of the input analog signal. The feedback network noise shapes the output analog signal, and feeds back the noise-shaped output analog signal and substracts it from the input analog signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to audio signal processing, and in particular, relates to a system that includes a Class D amplifier for audio signal amplification and other audio signal processing.
2. Background Information
Class D amplifiers are often used for audio amplification because of their power efficiency. They provide substantially full output power, while minimizing internal power consumption. Typically, a Class D amplifier is operated in switch mode, where its output stage produces a rectangular wave that is filtered before delivery to a load, such as a loudspeaker. The rectangular wave varies according to an input analog signal, and when the rectangular wave is filtered at the output, the resulting waveform is an amplified version of the input analog signal.
Two main techniques dominate the implementation of Class D audio power amplifiers. A first technique, pulse width modulation (PWM), drives the output stage at a constant carrier frequency and modulates the duty cycle of its pulses. In an analog approach, a differential analog comparator has the input analog signal at one input and a triangle waveform at another input. The triangle waveform oscillates at the carrier frequency, and the output stage is switched every time the triangle waveform crosses the instantaneous value of the input analog signal. This switching results in output pulses having pulse widths that correspond to the value of the input analog signal.
A second technique, pulse density modulation (PDM), sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9cdelta-sigma modulation,xe2x80x9d uses a decision block that is clocked at a constant frequency. On every clock edge, the block decides whether the output stage should remain in the present state or change to the opposite state. The idea is that the output of the Class D amplifier is a stream of pulses whose widths vary by quantum increments in time. The time quantum is determined by the frequency of the clock driving the decision block.
There are several problems and drawbacks to Class D amplifier implementations that use PWM, PDM, or other techniques. First, the non-ideal nature of components of Class D amplifiers introduces distortion at the switch output e node (e.g., at the output of the Class D amplifier""s output stage). Existing methods that attempt to account for this distortion are often unreliable or cumbersome.
Next, signal processing blocks for both PWM and PDM implementations are very complex and costly compared to the output stage or compared to Class AB or Class B analog power amplifiers. For example, a PWM implementation has to generate/use a triangle waveform, and a PDM implementation has to use a clocking mechanism.
Furthermore, because a delta-sigma PDM amplifier is implemented with a sampled (clocked) comparator, the clock rate limits the response time of a feedback loop. That is, once the comparator makes a comparison, another comparison cannot be made until the next clock edge. Similarly, the PWM amplifier makes decisions only when the input signal and the triangular waveform coincide.
Accordingly, improvements are needed in Class D audio amplifiers.


Permanent magnet assemblies are disclosed for use in medical applications, particularly permanent magnet assemblies for use in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and/or Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT) to produce a volume of substantially uniform magnetic field in a restricted part of the patient's body in a region either adjacent to the surface of one permanent magnet assembly or between a set of a first and second permanent magnet assemblies, leaving open access to the patient's body. The assemblies consist of a plurality of annular concentric magnets spaced-apart along their axis of symmetry. A method for constructing such annular permanent magnetic assemblies is disclosed, using equi-angular segments permanently magnetized.

The principles of MRI are set forth in several patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,933, which is incorporated herein by reference. MRT, sometimes referred to as interventional MRI or intraoperative MRI, is the performance of an interventional medical procedure on a patient in an MRI system. During the procedure, a surgical instrument is inserted into a patient in order to perform the procedure at a predetermined site in the body. The MRT system is used in this case to monitor in quasi real-time the correct placement of the instrument and also to observe the nature and the extent of the effect of the intervention on the tissue.
In an MRI and/or MRT system a strong uniform magnetic field is required in order to align an object's nuclear spins along the z-axis of a Cartesian coordinate system having mutually orthogonal x-y-z axes. The required strong uniform magnetic field, used for full body imaging, is normally in the order of 0.1 to 2 Tesla. The image quality and the accuracy of an MRI and/or MRT system is dependent on the degree of uniformity of the strong uniform magnetic field. Uniformity is critical in MRI and/or MRT applications because if the strong uniform magnetic field is not properly uniform within the volume of interest, the desired discrimination between different elements, due to the finely controlled magnetic field gradient, will be subject to misinterpretation. Typically, the uniformity required for the strong uniform magnetic field is within the order of 10 ppm within the volume of interest. It is essential for MRT systems used in interventional procedures to be based on an open structure, so as to provide the physician easy access to the intervention site.
Presently, most MRI systems employ a large magnet, which effectively surrounds the whole body of the patient, to produce the strong uniform magnetic field. Such magnets are usually large superconductor resistive or permanent magnets, each of which is expensive and heavy. Further, the access to the patient in these cases is obstructed.
Attempts have been made to provide open magnets for interventional procedures by employing two spaced-apart Helmholtz superconductive coil assemblies. They provide only limited space between the assemblies allowing for constricted access by only one person, such as a surgeon. Moreover, they are large, massive, immobile and expensive. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,287 (Laskaris et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,292 (Dorri et al.).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,485 (Matsutani) discloses an apparently more compact configuration, based on a pair of spaced-apart superconductive Helmholtz coil assemblies, arranged for movement relative to a platform carrying the patient. The access to the patient remains restricted in this case as well, due to the additional space occupied by the cryostat. Also, the movement of the coils independently of one another is impractical, because the superconducting properties of the coils require extreme precision in positioning of the two poles, in the absence of which the magnetic system quenches.
In comparison to superconductive systems, permanent magnets are less expensive, generate only a minimal unwanted fringe field and are not involved with liquefied gas handling or vacuum requirements. Open access MRI systems based on permanent magnets have been disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,252 (Kaufman) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,374 (Breneman). Both are using a pair of opposing magnetic flat circular poles, employed one above the other, with the patient lying down between the magnets. The poles are mounted on end plates, supported by connecting members, which provide return paths for the magnetic flux. These systems are massive and immobile and the access to the patient is encumbered by the supporting structure.
A pair of opposing permanent magnet assemblies for use in MRI, each made of concentric magnetic rings, composed of a set of magnetic polygonal blocks, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,971 (Aubert). Aubert teaches that the opposing concentric rings within each of the pairs of permanent magnets are to be spaced apart from each other the same distance. The magnet is massive, weighing about 3 tons and is therefore not amenable to movement relative to a patient's body.
In each of the above prior art magnets, used for providing the large uniform magnetic field for MRI and/or MRT applications, the magnetic field is generated in a first stage as uniformly as possible. More uniformity is achieved subsequently by shimming.

Permanent magnet assemblies for use in medical applications


A treatment method of a sapphire material, said method comprising bombardment of a surface of the sapphire material, said surface facing a medium different from the sapphire material, by a single- and/or multi-charged gas ion beam so as to produce an ion implanted layer in the sapphire material, wherein the ions are selected from ions of the elements from the list consisting of helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), boron (B), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), fluorine (F), silicon (Si), phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S). Use of said method to obtain a capacitive touch panel having a high transmission in the visible range.

Since the early 19th Century, it has been known how to manufacture synthetic sapphires (and synthetic rubies) in the laboratory, the chemical composition and physical properties whereof are the same as those of natural gems. It may be possible to detect these synthetic gems by the generally curved crystallisation lines thereof, at least for the oldest productions.
Synthetic sapphire material production is currently at the industrial stage. A synthetic sapphire material can be for example produced by a Czochralski process or by methods deriving from the Czochralski process (such for example Kyropolis method, Bagdasarov method, Stepanov method, EFG (Edge defined Film fed Growth) process); a synthetic sapphire material can also be produced from agglomerated aluminium oxide, sintered and fused (such as by hot isostatic pressing) in an inert atmosphere, yielding a transparent but slightly porous polycrystalline product.
Sapphire materials are also known as "Blue Glass" or "sapphire glass" even though they are not glasses as such, but crystalline material.
In physical terms, synthetic sapphire material is a very hard crystalline material (hardness equal to 9 on the Mohs scale) belonging to the corundum family, having a very high refractive index equal to 1.76.
Sapphires may be heat-treated; gems which are too light, too dark or with high inclusion content may be heated. This process makes it possible to increase the colour and clarity while dissolving the elements present in trace form in the gem.
Since the early 19th Century, it has been known how to manufacture synthetic sapphires and synthetic rubies in the laboratory, the chemical composition and physical properties whereof are the same as those of natural gems. However, it is possible to detect these synthetic gems by the generally curved crystallisation lines thereof, at least for the oldest productions.
For the high scratch resistance property thereof, synthetic sapphire material is used in a wide range of applications, such as screens, for example touch screens, windows, watch glasses, light emitting device (LED) parts, lighting device parts, optical components, such as for example device lenses or camera lenses. Using synthetic sapphire materials in the field of smart phones may be particularly relevant.
It is well known that a synthetic sapphire material surface reflects approximately 15.5% of incident light. Such a high light reflection may be a drawback when one wants to read information behind a sapphire material window; it may actually reduce the reading ability of for example a watch or a flat screen for a computer or a mobile phone.
This light reflection on a synthetic sapphire material surface is more generally explained by Fresnel equations giving for a light ray passing through an interface at an angle of incidence of 90°, the following coefficients of reflection (R) and transmission (T):R=((nS−nM)/(nS+nM))2;T=4×nM×nS/(nS+nM)2.
Coefficient of reflection (R) is also usually called "power reflexion coefficient" or "reflectance";
Coefficient of transmission (T) is also usually called "power transmission coefficient" or "transmittance".
nS and nM are the refractive indexes in the visible light range (wavelength value comprised between 400 and 800 nm) of respectively the sapphire material and of the medium joining the sapphire material and separated from it by an interface.
It is noted that R+T=1 (energy conservation).
As for an example, one can calculate R and T for an air/sapphire material configuration, where nM=1 for air (where nM=nA, air refractive index) and nS=1.76 for an example of synthetic sapphire material; here above formula give following results:R=0.0758 and T=1−R=0.9242;
Thus 7.6% of the light is reflected whereas 92.4% of the light is transmitted due to the refractive index difference between said sapphire material and air. This light reflection level may be considered as high and be a drawback for several uses.
This drawback is even more important when considering a sapphire material surrounded by two air layers, thus having two air/sapphire material interfaces. For such a synthetic sapphire material strip consisting of two sides, the reflection loss is two times greater, i.e. 2×7.6%=15.2%. This high reflection results in difficulty reading data situated under a sapphire material screen or watch glass.
Anti-glare methods are known from the prior art and consist of metal oxide-based depositions which are relatively complex and costly to use. For example for watch glasses, mention may be made of the method consisting of vacuum deposition (10−5 torr) of thin layers of metal oxides with a precision in the region of one Angstrom. In dust-free enclosures, the watch glasses are first cleaned in washing lines and undergo ultrasonic drying. They are mounted in holders entering the treatment bell chambers. A vacuum is produced in the bell chambers to obtain evaporation (sublimation) of the oxide at a lower temperature. The evaporation may be performed by means of a Joule effect by heating the oxide or using an electron gun. It is necessary to have perfect control of the vacuum quality and measurement, the evaporation rate and the deposited layer thicknesses. These thicknesses should obviously be uniform. Other types of less costly PVD (physical Vapor Deposition) coatings exist such as magnesium fluoride MgF2 (index 1.38) and cryolite Na3AlF6 (index 1.35) wherein the refractive indexes approach the ideal index (equal to 1.33) without however attaining the scratch resistance properties comparable or superior to those of synthetic sapphire material as enabled by the method according to the invention. PVD coatings deposited on synthetic sapphire material in the aim of giving said sapphire material anti-glare properties are liable to scratch or chip, thus removing any interest initially
Nevertheless, PVD coating methods have drawbacks; PVD coating method consists in making several thin layers with thickness and chemical composition which have to be perfectly controlled to form each stack of interferential layers having a very precise refractive index. Difficulties may raise when using such a method; namely it may be difficult to provide relevant and/or reproducible results; those difficulties can result from thickness control problems, refractive index control problems, shape and location of a part in a vacuum chamber, gas type changing, metal type changing before making each layer, residual contamination layer after each gas and/or metal changing, treatment parameters validation before treatment of new parts.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Single- and/or multi-charged gas ion beam treatment method for producing an anti-glare sapphire material


Charged particle beam equipment having a rotary mechanism in which shift of the observing/machining position incident to the rotary operation of the equipment having the rotary mechanism can be corrected conveniently with high precision in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system of charged particle beam or in a slightly inclining plane. An X-Y shift incident to rotation in a plane is determined from the angular information of a rotary mechanism such as a sample holder, diaphragms or biprisms in the charged particle beam equipment, and then driving or controlling is performed to cancel the X-Y shift.

In the charged particle beam equipment, when performing observation or machining of a sample, it is necessary to set a position of the sample that is put under observation or to machining and positions of biprisms etc. in a situation preferable for observation or machining to an optical axis of a charged particle beam optical system. For this setting, a freedom of rotation of the charged particle beam in a plane on which the sample etc. is located may be required. Therefore, as a device having a mechanism that is rotatable in an XY plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system of the charged particle beam or in a slightly inclining plane, rotary holders, such as a rotary holder in the electron microscope etc. and a rotary electron biprism holder in the electron beam holography microscope, have been put in practical use. When adjusting a position of the sample and positions of the biprism etc., the operator can adjust easily these rotary holders so that they may attain predetermined relations to the optical axis of the charged particle beam optical system by fine adjusting them in an X-axis direction and in a Y-axis direction (the optical axis of the optical system of the charged particle beam equipment is represented by a Z-axis) while viewing an observation screen.
However, when the adjustment of the position of the sample that is intended to be observed or machined and the adjustment of the position of the biprism etc. come with rotation, the adjustment is complicated. This is because it is normal to adjust the part that is intended to be observed and machined so that it may be disposed on the optical axis, and generally, this position does not agree with a rotation center of the rotary mechanism of the rotary holder. When any operation accompanied by a rotation is performed in this optical system, travels of attention-focused positions of the sample and the biprism occur in a rotation plane incident to this rotation operation, which results in a displacement of the position of the sample at which observation or machining is intended to be done and a displacement of the biprism etc. To correct this displacement, the displacement incident to the rotation operation is corrected by making it move in the X-axis direction and in the Y-axis direction in the XY plane so that the part in concern may not deviate from an observation view field or a machining position by visual observation each time the rotation operation of the sample holder or biprism holder is performed.
This correction operation accompanying this rotation operation is a time-consuming operation. Since the rotation operation itself is not a frequently performed operation in the charged particle beam equipment, there is no precedent where the rotation operation and the correction operation in an XY plane are controlled being connected to the each other. Therefore, currently this operation is recognized by the operator as an adjustment operation that the operator should perform naturally.


One or more blocks of dynamic random access memory are embedded together with a processor and a data bus on an integrated circuit. The data bus has a bandwidth b for general operation including memory access, the block of dynamic random access memory further requiring data refresh at a refresh rate r. The block thus forms an eDRAM on the integrated circuit, typically an ASIC. A refresh controller embedded with the eDRAM may control refresh by clocking the data bus at a rate higher than the rate of the data bus to accommodate both the required memory access and the required data refresh.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to eDRAM and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to memory refresh issues arising when eDRAM is used.
Embedded dynamic RAM (eDRAM) is dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) integrated on the same die or multi-chip module (MCM) of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or microprocessor—hereinafter the integrated circuit or simply the chip. The eDRAM's cost-per-bit is higher when compared to equivalent standalone DRAM chips used as external memory, but the performance advantages of placing eDRAM onto the same chip as, for example the processor, outweigh the cost disadvantages in many applications.
DRAM's are much more area efficient than static RAM (SRAM). One of the main differences between DRAM and SRAM is the fact that DRAM requires refreshing of the bit cells (line by line) and this applies to the eDRAM so that a refresh mechanism may be built into the ASIC alongside or as part of the eDRAM. The refresh operation is usually carried out by reading the data from a specific line and writing it back. In any event, the refresh operation when the eDRAM is embedded on the chip consumes on chip bandwidth that is no longer available for memory usage.
Currently DRAM's are external devices to the chips and therefore they are limited by the memory access bandwidth they can supply. Once placed on the chip, the expected bandwidth may be greatly improved. Specifically, the performance advantages of embedding memory on the chip may be due to the ability to use much wider buses and higher operation speeds. Furthermore, the higher density of DRAM in comparison to SRAM means that larger amounts of memory can be installed on smaller chips. Chip manufacture with eDRAM may require additional fab process steps compared with embedded SRAM, which raises cost, but the greater memory density may offset the process cost when a significant amount of memory is used in the design.
eDRAM memories, like all DRAM memories, require periodic refreshing of the memory cells, and since the DRAM is embedded, additional complexity is added to the chip. The memory refresh controller may be embedded along with the eDRAM memory, allowing the remainder of the chip to treat the memory as a simple SRAM component. The present embodiments relate to refreshing issues with integrating eDRAM onto the chip. The eDRAM eDRAM refresh mechanism access the same physical memory interface, and thus takes away bandwidth relative to SRAM. Furthermore there are constraints governing frequency of refresh and the memory is not available during refresh. The constraints may be experienced as a back pressure on the data bus.


Disclosed are mildly acidic liquid compositions for use in cleaning hard surfaces. The compositions contain from about 1% to about 60% of an amine oxide detergent surfactant, an aqueous carrier liquid, and an acidifying agent having a pK.sub.a of less than about 6.0. The compositions contain enough of the acidifying agent to protonate at least about 10% of the amine oxide species within the compositions and to provide a composition pH of between about 3 and 7. These no-rinse liquid hard surface cleaning compositions have excellent cleaning properties, they do not leave a visible residue when they dry, and they cause minimal or no staining of vinyl surfaces. Also disclosed are a method for cleaning vinyl surfaces using the liquid compositions, and non-liquid compositions from which the mildly acidic liquid compositions can easily be obtained by adding an aqueous liquid.

The use of amine oxide detergent surfactants in cleaning compositions is well known. Amine oxides are most commonly used as cosurfactants to boost and maintain suds formation in laundry, shampoo, and dishwashing detergent compositions. Amine oxides have occasionally been used in hard surface cleaners such as acidic toilet bowl cleaners (pH of 2 or less), dishwashing liquids containing occlusive emollients (pH of 4 to 6.9), and selected non-acidic (neutral to alkaline) hard surface cleaners. In non-acidic hard surface cleaners, amine oxide detergent surfactants are essentially non-ionic (pK.sub.a between about 4 and about 6). These nonionic amine oxides provide good cleaning properties and leave little or no visible residue on hard surfaces when they dry.
It was discovered, however, that non-acidic hard surface cleaners containing amine oxides will stain or discolor vinyl (polyvinyl chloride) surfaces. The staining amounts to a light yellow to dark brown discoloration of the vinyl. Staining will also occur on waxed vinyl surfaces where areas of wax are wor thin or are chipped away so that the amine oxide can come in direct contact with the vinyl.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hard surface cleaning composition containing amine oxide detergent surfactants that will cause minimal or no vinyl staining. It is a further object of the invention to provide such a composition which will also have superior cleaning properties and will not leave a visible residue on cleaned surfaces. It is also an object of this invention to provide a process for cleaning vinyl surfaces using such a composition.

Mildly acidic hard surface cleaning compositions containing amine oxide detergent surfactants


A printer includes a rasterized laser illumination system. The printer may be an ink jet type and the application of laser light may be controlled digitally along with the ink droplet ejection. The media may be cut or etched with the laser, or heat may be applied to previously deposited ink.

Digital dot matrix printers such as ink jet printers are used in a wide variety of applications other than printing documents, posters, and the like onto standard rectangular print media. In many cases, the desired end product will not be rectangular. For instance, printed adhesive backed vinyl alphanumeric characters, logos, etc. for signs or other commercial displays may have a variety of shapes. Garment production also requires a variety of shapes of printed fabric pieces to be created.
Generally, when such unusual or custom shapes are desired, a rectangular sheet or roll of media is printed with the desired color or pattern. This media may be paper, paper backed vinyl, textile, or other material. Following the printing process, the material is placed onto a separate cutter for cutting the desired shapes out of the printed media. This type of cutting machine is basically a plotter with a knife substituted for a pen. A carriage moves the knife in one dimension while a media handling mechanism moves the media in the other dimension. Some devices move the knife in two dimensions and hold the media stationary.
These techniques require two separate operations on different devices. In addition, care must be taken in many instances to ensure that the cutting is in proper registration with the previously performed printing. Although a laser plotter which includes a laser cutting system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,076 to Ben-David, this device is only operative to cut registration holes in the sides of the media for subsequent printing operations. Furthermore, printing and cutting are performed sequentially, which still requires additional time.
More effective methods and systems to perform both printing and cutting operations are therefore needed in the art.
Some preferred embodiments of the present invention comprise printing and cutting methods and apparatus which reduce the time and labor required to produce pieces of printed media of pre-defined shape. These embodiments of the invention have especially advantageous application to the fields of sign making and garment prototyping. To enhance the efficiency of such processes, in one embodiment, the invention comprises a method of producing a printed product having a predefined boundary comprising cutting along the boundary during the process of depositing ink within or outside the boundary.
A rasterized laser may be used to perform this cutting. This embodiment is advantageous in combination with rasterized printing because common digital control may be used for both printing and cutting. In some embodiments of the invention, the laser may be used for purposes other than cutting. Thus, in another embodiment of the invention, a method of producing a printed piece of media comprises ejecting a droplet of ink onto a first pixel location on the media; and at substantially the same time, illuminating a second pixel location on the media with laser light. The laser illumination may be used for a wide variety of purposes. For example, the illumination intensity may be selected so as to form holes in the media, or alternatively to etch the media surface without forming holes. In other embodiments of the invention, the intensity may be selected to sublimate dyes or enhance the drying of ink previously deposited on the media.
Embodiments of the invention further include ink jet printers. In one embodiment, such an ink jet printer includes a printing surface, one or more print heads, a laser light source; and a digital controller coupled to the print head and to the laser light source. Under the control of the controller, both colorant and illumination from the laser light source are provided to one or more programmably selected raster locations on the printing surface.


A bicycle front derailleur is basically provided with a base member, a movable member, an electric driving unit and a biasing member. The base member includes a bicycle mounting portion. The movable member is movably supported with respect to the base member between a first position and a second position that is farther than the first position from the base member. The electric driving unit is operatively coupled to the movable member to move the movable member between the first position and the second position. The biasing member is operatively disposed between the base member and the movable member to bias the movable member towards the second position.

Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a bicycle front derailleur. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bicycle front derailleur having an electric driving unit for moving a movable member to shift a bicycle chain.
Background Information
Generally, a front derailleur is mounted to the bicycle frame adjacent to the front chain rings to shift a chain laterally between the front chain rings or sprockets. A front derailleur includes a fixed or base member that is non-movably secured to the bicycle frame, and a movable member. The movable member includes a chain guide that is movably supported relative to the fixed member to move between at least two lateral shift positions. Typically, a linkage assembly is coupled between the fixed member and the movable member in order to movably support the movable member with the chain guide. The chain guide usually has a pair of cage plates or guide plates arranged to selectively contact and move the chain between the front chain rings.


A phase detection circuit includes first to third power input modules, first to third power input terminals, an alarm module, first to fifth electronic switches, and a power management module. The power input modules are used to convert pulse signals from a multi-phase power supply into direct current voltages and output the direct current voltages to the first to third electronic switches. When the multi-phase power supply operates abnormally, no direct current voltages are output to the first to third electronic switches and the alarm module alarms.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a phase detection circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
Many electronic devices have energy-saving control functions using multi-phase power supply. However, if one phase source of the multi-phase power supply fails to work properly, a conventional detecting circuit cannot detect the abnormal phase source, the multi-phase power supply will continue to work, thereby increasing the load to the remaining phase sources, which could damage the multi-phase power supply.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

ShenZhen Goldsun Network Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd.


Computer-implemented methods, computer program products, and computer systems are described for determining cylinder health characteristic in a reciprocating piston engine of the type including a piston-cylinder assembly and a crankshaft. The piston-cylinder assembly includes a cylinder and a piston configured to translate within the cylinder as the crankshaft rotates. In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method includes rotating the crankshaft in a first direction, while generating a first data set comprising a first plurality of piston position measurements and corresponding pressure indicator measurements. The crankshaft is further rotated in a second opposing direction, while a second data set is generated comprising a second plurality of piston position measurements and corresponding pressure indicator measurements. A symmetric aspect between the first and second data sets is then identified and utilized to determining a cylinder health characteristic for the piston-cylinder assembly.

In reciprocating engines and other devices, a piston may reciprocate within a cylinder to produce useful power. In a typical internal combustion engine, for example, one or more pistons may be housed within one or more corresponding cylinders, with each piston connected to a crankshaft by a connecting rod. At the end opposite the crankshaft, each cylinder may be closed (e.g., by the engine cylinder head), with the piston thereby defining (along with the cylinder) a combustion chamber. Various valves and other mechanisms may then control the in- and out-flow of air and fuel. When a piston is fully displaced into the cylinder (and away from the crankshaft) the piston may be considered to have reached top dead center ("TDC"). As such, TDC may generally be viewed as the point within a piston's cyclical motion at which the nominal maximum compression of gas within the cylinder (and the minimum combustion-chamber volume) has been obtained. Likewise, when a piston is fully retracted away from TDC (and toward the crankshaft) the piston may be considered to have reached bottom dead center ("BDC"). As such, BDC may generally be viewed as the point within a piston's cyclical motion at which the nominal minimum compression of gas within the cylinder (and the maximum combustion-chamber volume) has been obtained. It will be understood, however, that other configurations may be possible. Therefore, it may also be useful to consider TDC and BDC as opposite orientations for a piston at which, for both TDC and BDC, a normal force applied to the piston face is directed, via the associated connecting rod, straight along the main axis of the relevant cylinder or straight into an associated crankshaft.
During engine operation (or as the engine is otherwise motored), the pistons may travel along the path of various piston strokes, each of which may be considered as including the path of travel of a piston between TDC and BDC (or vice versa). In this light, it may be useful to consider a reciprocating piston as having two main categories of strokes—an "up-stroke," during which the piston is progressed in a direction from BDC toward TDC; and a "down-stroke," during which the piston is progressed in a direction from TDC toward BDC. In certain engines, further distinction may be made, with respect to powered and other strokes. For example, in a four-stroke engine, a first up-stroke may compress air within the combustion chamber, a first down-stroke may be driven by combustion of fuel within the cylinder (and the associated expansion of the contained air and combustion products), a second up-stroke may force air and combustion products out of an exhaust valve, and a second down-stroke may draw new air into the cylinder through an intake valve, in order to re-set the engine for the next cycle.
For various reasons, it may be highly useful to determine the exact (or near-exact) location of TDC for the various pistons of a reciprocating engine (or other cylinder-piston systems). For example, ignition timing for an internal combustion engine may often be specified with respect to TDC (e.g., so many degrees before or after TDC). Because precise ignition timing may play an important role in controlling engine dynamics and the corresponding composition of exhaust emissions, it may be useful to know the location of TDC with a high degree of precision. It may be difficult, however, to determine the location of TDC with high precision based upon manufacturing specifications alone. For example, even with highly precise manufacturing, the permitted manufacturing tolerances of various parts may combine to introduce relatively large uncertainty with regard to the actual TDC position of any given piston. As such, although an expected TDC position may be identified (e.g., based on manufacturing specifications, visual inspection, and so on), this expected TDC position may sometimes vary from actual TDC by 1.5 degrees or more.
In current practice, linear displacement instruments are often utilized to measure TDC before the engine cylinder head is installed on the engine block. For example, an engine block may be securely mounted, and a linear displacement instrument (e.g., a linear encoder) may be securely fixed with respect to the engine block, with a probe extended into contact with the head of a piston that is not at TDC. The piston may then be advanced along its cyclical path (e.g., towards and then past the expected position of TDC), which will displace the probe accordingly. In such a set-up, the minimum extension of the probe during the progression of the piston may be viewed as corresponding to TDC. If the position of the piston is recorded (e.g., via a mechanical, magnetic, or other sensor associated with the crankshaft or a related gear) and correlated with the linear displacement measurements, the approximate position of TDC with respect to crankshaft rotation (or similar reference) may be then be recorded. This method may present various disadvantages, however, including somewhat limited accuracy, the need to securely fix the engine in place to execute the testing, and the general inability to conduct the testing with the cylinder head in place.

Determining cylinder health in a reciprocating piston engine