A wound metalized film and metal foil capacitor with layers arranged and wound to provide internal parallel capacitors utilizing offsets between the internal spacings, or margins, of the metal electrodes. The arrangement permits more efficient heat transfer from the interior of the capacitor by the metal electrodes from internal regions that generate heat.

The present invention relates to a wound capacitor preferably formed from layers of metalized film and metal electrodes. The capacitor has improved heat transfer performance that reduces internal thermal stress and permits increased current-carrying capacity.
A metalized film capacitor is formed from layers of metallic film on a dielectric substrate. A suitable metal, such as aluminum, is vapor deposited on the substrate. The thickness of the metallic film is typically in the range of 100 to 400 angstroms. The dielectric substrate is generally a thermoplastic resin, such as polypropylene. The thickness of the substrate is significantly greater than the thickness of the film. Two metalized film layers are convolutely wound together to form to form he capacitor. In this configuration, the dielectric substrates separate the two metalized film layers, which form the electrodes of the capacitor.
Film and foil (film/foil) capacitors are formed from four alternating layers of a dielectric and a metallic foil. The two layers of metallic foil form the electrodes of the capacitor. The thickness of the foil is typically in the range of 0.0005 to 0.0025 centimeters (cm). In this configuration, the dielectric layers separate the two metal electrodes. By extending the longitudinal ends of the two metallic films layer beyond the ends of the dielectric layers, at opposite axial ends of the capacitor, an extended foil capacitor is formed. A conductive metal end-spray can be applied to the extended whorl of metallic foils at each axial end of the capacitor to provide for the connection of terminals to the capacitor.
A hybrid of a metalized film and a film/foil capacitor is known as a metalized film and foil (metalized film/foil) capacitor. FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) show typical cross sectional layering for series-wound metalized film/foil capacitors known in the art. In FIG. 1(a), a metalized film layer, composed of a metalized film 152 on a dielectric substrate 153, is wound between a dielectric layer 130 and a layer composed of two separate strips of metallic foil 120 and 122. The strips of metallic foil form the two metal electrodes of an extended foil capacitor. FIG. 1(b) illustrates a common variation of the hybrid capacitor in FIG. 1(a). For the configuration shown in FIG. 1(b), two metalized film layers are wound with their metallic films in contact with each other to double the thickness of the metalized film conductor. The space between the inner longitudinal ends of the foils in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) is referred as the margin. As show in these figures, the margin has a width 190. Minimum cross sectional margin widths are primarily driven by voltage withstand values determined from the working voltages for the wound capacitor. Typical widths for the margin at 600 volts ac are on the order of 0.4 cm.
Internal heat is generated in a capacitor in two ways, namely dielectric heating and conduction losses. Dielectric heating is linearly proportional to the operating frequency of the capacitor and proportional to the square of its operating voltage. Conductive (I2R) losses are proportional to the square of the current carried by the capacitor. Consequently, for high frequency and high current capacitors, the amount of internal heat generated is a significant and limiting factor for the use of a metalized film/foil capacitor. The capacitor temperature due to internal heating plus the ambient temperature should not exceed the maximum allowable operating temperature for the selected dielectric, or it is possible that the capacitor will open or, in some cases, rupture.
In metalized film/foil capacitors, the electrodes formed by the metalized film have a significant resistance in comparison with the resistance of the metallic foil metalized film. Consequently, significant conduction losses are generated in the conductor formed by the metalized film. The metallic foils have a relatively high value of thermal conductivity and serve as an efficient conductor of heat from the interior of the wound capacitor. Conversely, the dielectric substrate typically is a very poor thermal conductor. Therefore, the metallic foils play an important part in the dissipation of heat from the dielectric losses and the conduction losses in the metalized film.
In a series-wound capacitor with electrodes formed from extended metallic foils, the foils act as an effective heat sink in contact with the dielectric substrate except for the region formed by the margin. Current flows across the margin through the metalized film. Internal heat will build up in the region formed by the metalized film bridging the margin. In the prior art capacitors shown in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b), the nearest surface of metallic foil from the center of the metalized film bridging the margin is equal to half of the margin""s width. This is more clearly appreciated when looking at a cross section of multiple coils of the layers, such as in FIG. 1(c), for two coils of the prior art capacitor in FIG. 1(b). For the typical margin width of 0.4 cm noted above, the nearest distance to the surface of a metallic foil from the center of the metalized film bridging the margin will be 0.2 cm.
The present invention addresses the problem of internal heat buildup by using two parallel capacitors wound together with adjacent margins being offset so that all (including the center) of the metalized film bridging the margin is no further away than approximately the thickness of one dielectric substrate from the surface of a metallic foil. For the typical 0.001 cm thickness of a dielectric substrate, the nearest distance to the surface of a metallic foil from all of the metalized film bridging the margin will be 0.001 cm. This is a significant decrease in the distance to a metallic foil that will act as a heat sink for heat transfer from the metalized film bridging the margin. This results in a significant increase in the amount of current that can be carried by a capacitor using the same amount of materials as that for the prior art capacitors shown in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b).
In its broadest aspect, the present invention is an axially wound capacitor formed from at least two composite layers. Each composite layer is formed from component layers. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, one electrode layer and two metalized film layers form the minimum component layers. Each electrode layer is formed from two metal electrodes. There is a space, or margin, between the adjacent longitudinal ends of the two metal electrodes. The two metal electrodes have their outer longitudinal ends disposed at opposite axial ends of the capacitor. The longitudinal ends of all metal electrodes at each axial end of the capacitor are electrically connected together to form the two external electrical connection points for the capacitor. Each of the two metalized film layers of each composite layer is formed from a metalized film on a dielectric substrate. The metalized film layers for the two substrates are disposed adjacent to each other. All composite layers that make up the capacitor are similarly oriented to each other with the exception that the margins in the electrode layers of adjacent composite layers are offset from each other.
Equal widths of diagonally opposed metal electrodes in adjacent electrode layers can be provided. The width of the margins in all electrode layers can be equal, and the margins can be offset in adjacent electrode layers by the width of a margin. In alternate embodiments of the invention, a dielectric layer can replace one of the two metalized film layers in one or more of the composite layers that form the capacitor. Also, a single metalized film layer can replace the two metalized film layers in at least one composite layer of the capacitor when its metalized film is placed adjacent to a dielectric layer, or the dielectric substrate of a metalized film layer. A dielectric layer can be placed between one or more adjacent composite layers.
In another aspect, the present invention is a wound capacitor formed from the a plurality of layers. The first layer is composed of first and second metal electrodes. There is a space, or first margin, between the adjacent longitudinal ends of the first and second metal electrodes. The second layer consists of a metalized film layer that is composed of a metalized film on a dielectric substrate. The second layer has its dielectric substrate facing the first layer. The third layer is a second metalized film layer that has its metalized film placed adjacent to the metalized film of the second layer. The fourth layer is composed of third and fourth metal electrodes. The electrodes are oriented so that the first and third metal electrodes have their outer longitudinal ends at the same axial end of the capacitor. There is a second margin between the third and fourth metal electrodes. The second margin is offset from the first margin. The fifth layer is a third metalized film layer that has its dielectric substrate adjacent to the fourth layer. The sixth layer is a fourth metalized film layer that has its metalized film adjacent to the metalized film of the fifth layer. The half-widths of the first and second margins are greater than the thickness of the first, second, third, or fourth metalized film layers. Equal widths of the first and fourth metal electrodes, and of the second and third metal electrodes can be provided. The widths of the first and of the second margins can be equal, and the margins can be offset from each other by the width of a margin. In alternate embodiments of the invention, at least one of the four metalized film layers can be replaced by a dielectric layer.
In another aspect, the invention is a method of manufacturing a wound capacitor by simultaneously winding layers of substantially equal lengths around a core. The first layer is composed of first and second metal electrodes. They are wound with a space, or first margin, between their adjacent longitudinal ends. The second layer consists of a metalized film layer that is composed of a metalized film on a dielectric substrate. It is wound with its dielectric substrate facing the first layer. The third layer is a second metalized film layer that has its metalized film placed adjacent to the metalized film of the second layer. The fourth layer is composed of third and fourth metal electrodes. The electrodes are oriented so that the first and third electrodes have their outer longitudinal ends at the same axial end of the capacitor. A second margin is formed between the third and fourth metal electrodes. The second margin is offset from the first margin. The fifth layer is a third metalized film layer that has its dielectric substrate adjacent to the fourth layer. The sixth layer is a fourth metalized film layer that has its metalized film adjacent to the metalized film of the fifth layer. In alternative embodiments of the invention, the layers may be reverse wound around the core. During manufacture, the half-widths of the first and second margins are maintained with a length greater than the thickness of the second, third, fifth, or sixth layers. The core, if electrically non-conductive, may be retained in the capacitor. Alternatively,-the core may be removed after winding the capacitor. If the core is removed, the wound capacitor may be flattened.
The wound capacitor can be manufactured with equal widths for the first and fourth metal electrodes, and for the second and third metal electrodes. Furthermore, the wound capacitor can be manufactured with equal widths for the first and second margins, and the margins can be offset from each other by this equal margin width. The wound capacitor can be manufactured so that the outer longitudinal ends of the four electrodes extend beyond the outer longitudinal ends of the metalized film layers. With this arrangement, the capacitor can be further processed by metal spraying the axial ends of the capacitor to form a common electrical connection between the first and third metal electrodes at one axial end of the capacitor, and between the second and fourth metal electrodes at the other end of the capacitor. A coating of solder can be provided over the ends of the capacitor. Oil can be inserted into the windings of the capacitor by scoring the solder to the outer longitudinal edges of the metalized film layers and injecting the oil into the windings. Electrical terminals can be attached to the axial ends of the capacitor to provide a means for connecting the capacitor to an external circuit. In alternative manufacturing processes, at least one of the metalized film layers can be replaced by a dielectric layer. In these embodiments, an electrode layer, a metalized film layer, or a dielectric layer may be the first layer wound on the core.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the owing description and the appended claims.

Electrical capacitor with improved heat transfer characteristics


There are provided measures for enabling detecting malware. A method includes generating a copy of a first node, configuring a sandbox environment by using the generated copy, executing an electronic file or a URL in the sandbox environment configured with the copy, providing a result of the malware analysis of the electronic file or the URL, identifying the electronic file or the URL as malicious or suspicious on the basis of the provided result, and taking further action for protecting the first node from the electronic file or the URL identified as malicious or suspicious.

Nowadays, malware detection and scanning is a vital issue in any kind of networks, and is generally directed to identify (and potentially also disinfect) any kind of malware on computer and/or communication systems, such as e.g. viruses, Trojans, worms, or the like.
A sandbox is a secure environment where potentially harmful content (electronic files or uniform resource locators (URL)) can be executed/detonated in order to observe their behavior. The behavior is then used to draw conclusions about the safety of the content. For example, sandboxing can be run over an unknown email attachment to ensure that it is not exploiting any vulnerabilities leading to changes on the target computer or leaking sensitive information. A sandbox is typically composed by a hardware emulator or virtualization technology, one or more disk images reproducing the configuration of a real operating system and software installed and a set of forensic tools to observe the behavior of the sample under analysis. A sandbox may be implemented in several different ways, such as by process isolation, physical isolated real hardware, OS containerization, etc.
One of the main challenges when operating a sandbox is to get the samples under analysis to execute in the same manner as though they would execute on the target computer. Often the sample under test does not show its real behavior due to a misconfiguration of the execution environment. The execution environment may be different, may lack a given library/framework or hardware device or it may not look like the target environment. This adds cost to the sandbox operators which must continuously maintain and improve their collections of environments to keep up with modern software. The task is challenging as it is not possible to foresee the requirements of a sample in order to correctly execute it prior to the analysis. This issue is particularly relevant in relation to targeted attacks where the attackers are aware of the configuration of the target computer infrastructure. Thus, they often design exploits so that they will run only against the desired configuration.
Accordingly, it is desirable to enable a more reliable malware detection, i.e. to provide a realistic sandbox environment for malware analysis while at the same time reducing complexity of maintaining those from the sandbox operators.

Method of detecting malware in a sandbox environment


A smart power conversion and control system and method converts source AC power at a first voltage level to DC power at a second voltage level that is less than the first voltage level. Upon receipt of a command signal, a portion of the system is enabled to further convert the source AC power to regulated DC power at a voltage level that is less than the first voltage level and greater than the second voltage level. One or more relatively high voltage DC loads are then energized with the regulated DC power. When the portion of the system is not enabled, the source AC power is not converted.

The electrical power distribution system in many environments, including both land and seagoing environments, utilizes one or more high voltage power distribution busses to distribute electrical power for use by various electrical loads. Some of these electrical loads may be relatively low power devices that rely, for example, on relatively low voltage, regulated power. However, in some instances, the high voltage power distribution bus may be the only power source available from which to energize these relatively low voltage devices. Thus, one or more additional power conversion and regulation circuits may be needed to properly energize these electrical loads.
Although the use of additional power conversion and regulation circuits is generally safe, robust, and reliable, it can suffer certain drawbacks. For example, voltage reduction circuits can, in some instances, be relatively inefficient, as can any additional regulation circuits that may be included. Moreover, the power conversion circuits can also generate undesirable current harmonics. In addition, the power conversion and regulation circuits can result in larger overall component packages.
Hence, there is a need for a system and method that addresses one or more of the above-noted drawbacks. Namely, a system and method that allows relatively low power devices to be energized via a relatively high voltage power bus and is more efficient than current systems and methods, and/or generates less current harmonics than current systems and methods, and/or results in a smaller overall component package than current systems and methods. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.


An electromagnetic wiper system for a windshield of a vehicle includes a linear actuator, a wiper-arrangement, and control circuitry. The linear actuator includes at least one guide rail having permanent magnets and an electromagnetic moving block. The electromagnetic moving block includes at least one perforation that surrounds the at least one guide rail and at least one electromagnetic coil that surrounds the at least one perforation. The wiper-arrangement includes a wiper arm and a wiper blade, wherein at least the wiper arm is coupled to the electromagnetic moving block. The control circuitry controls a linear motion of the electromagnetic moving block along the at least one guide rail to steer the wiper arm that is coupled to the electromagnetic moving block back and forth across a length of the windshield to the windshield, wherein the electromagnetic moving block induces minimal friction during the linear motion.

Advancements in the field of windshield cleaning systems and ergonomic vehicle design have led to an increase in the demand for windshield wiper systems that are not only visually appealing but are also effective in cleaning the windshields of a vehicle. In certain scenarios, a driver or in-vehicle cameras (e.g., in case of assisted and autonomous driving) require an unobstructed field-of-view of the path ahead from inside of a vehicle. Conventional windshield wiper systems that use multiple wiper blades usually have a cluttered design and do not sufficiently clear the windshield, which may hamper the unobstructed field-of-view of the path ahead.
In some conventional wiper systems, electrical motors are used to move one or more wiper blades to clean a windshield of a vehicle. The electrical motors include many mechanical components, such as gears and bearings, to slide the wiper blades. However, such sliding motion of the mechanical components creates significant friction resulting in the need for additional power to be supplied by the in-vehicle battery, which decreases vehicle range. Further, the gears and bearings of the conventional systems are susceptible to rust and wear, which may lead to poor and in-efficient cleaning of windshields. Such corrosion and system deterioration is especially true in geographical areas subject to harsh weather conditions, like significant rainfall or snowfall. When these systems corrode accident risk increases, and may result in driver-assist or autonomous-driving functionality being rendered inoperable.
In addition, as the curvature of windshields becomes more complex, conventional wiper systems have difficulty adapting to varying surface profiles and thus affecting their ability to effectively clean windshield contaminants. For example, conventional systems are not capable of effectively cleaning a windshield that curves around a driver, that is the windshield provides a view directly in front of the driver but also to the left and to the right. Further, conventional wiper systems have varying influence from aerodynamic effects as they traverse from the bottom of the windshield to the top and vice-versa, due to airflow vector changes.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one skilled in the art by comparing the described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings. Hence, there is need for a new windshield wiper system that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.


In method and a control sequence determination device to determine a magnetic resonance system control sequence that includes at least one radio-frequency pulse train to be emitted by a magnetic resonance system, a target magnetization (m) is initially detected, and an energy distribution function in k-space is determined on the basis of the target magnetization. A k-space trajectory is then determined under consideration of the energy distribution function in k-space, for which the radio-frequency pulse train is then determined in an RF pulse optimization method. The method is suitable for operation of a magnetic resonance system, and a magnetic resonance system includes such a control sequence determination device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method and a control sequence determination device to determine a magnetic resonance system control sequence. Moreover, the invention concerns a method to operate a magnetic resonance system using such a magnetic resonance system control sequence; as well as a magnetic resonance system with a radio-frequency transmission device, with a gradient system and a control device that is designed in order to emit a radio-frequency pulse train to implement a desired measurement on the basis of a predetermined control sequence, and to emit a gradient pulse train in coordination therewith via the gradient system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a magnetic resonance tomography system (shortened to "magnetic resonance system"), the body to be examined is typically exposed to a relatively high basic magnetic field (known as the B0 field)—for example of 3 or 7 Tesla—produced by a basic field magnet system. A magnetic field gradient is superimposed on the basic magnetic field with a gradient system. Radio-frequency excitation signals (RF signals) are then emitted by a radio-frequency transmission system with suitable antenna devices, which leads to the nuclear spins of specific atoms or molecules of an examination subject being excited to resonance by this radio-frequency field so as to be flipped by a defined flip angle relative to the magnetic field lines of the basic magnetic field. This radio-frequency excitation, and the resulting flip angle distribution, is designated in the following as a nuclear magnetization, or "magnetization" for short. Upon relaxation of the nuclear spins, radio-frequency signals (known as magnetic resonance signals) are radiated by the spine that are received by suitable reception antennas, and then are processed further. Finally, the desired image data can be reconstructed from the raw data acquired in such a manner. The emission of the radio-frequency signals (known as the B1 field) for nuclear spin magnetization most often takes place using an antenna known as a "whole-body coil" (or "full-body coil") that is permanently arranged around the measurement space (patient tunnel) in the apparatus. Reception of the magnetic resonance signals most often takes place, however, using reception coils known as local coils that are positioned closer to the body of the patient. In principle, however, a reception of magnetic resonance signals can take place with the whole-body coil and/or transmission of the RF signals can take place with the local coils.
A control sequence with a radio-frequency pulse train that is to be emitted and a gradient pulse train that is to be switched in coordination therewith (with matching gradient pulses in the slice-selection direction, in the phase coding direction and in the readout direction, frequently in the z-direction, y-direction and z-direction), as well as additional control specifications, is defined for a defined measurement (data acquisition procedure) in a specification that is known as a measurement protocol. This measurement protocol can be created in advance and can be retrieved (for example from a memory) for a defined measurement, and may possibly be modified by the operator on site. During the measurement, the control of the magnetic resonance system then takes place wholly automatically on the basis of this control sequence, with the control device of the magnetic resonance system reading out and executing the commands from the measurement protocol.
In order, to generate the control sequence, it is typical for the individual RF pulse trains (i.e. the RF trajectories) for the individual transmission channels are determined over time in an optimization method, depending on a fixed "k-space trajectory" that is typically provided by a measurement protocol or individually by an operator. In order to implement such a "transmission k-space trajectory" (called only "k-space trajectory" or "trajectory" for short in the following), locations for entry of raw data in k-space that are selected in the desired order by adjusting the individual gradients at specific times. K-space is the partial frequency domain, and the trajectory in k-space describes the path in k-space that is traversed over time upon emission of an RF pulse by the aforementioned switching of the gradient pulses. By adjusting the k-space trajectory, it can be determined at which spatial frequencies specific amounts of the RF energy are applied (effective).
Additional, currently measured B1 maps that respectively indicate the spatial B1 field distribution for a specific antenna element, and a B0 map that represents the off-resonances or deviation of the B0 field from the actual desired, homogeneous B0 field (i.e. the actually sought Larmor frequency), with spatial resolution, can be taken into account in the optimization method to generate the control sequences. Moreover, for the planning of the RF pulse series the user often provides a target magnetization, for example a desired flip angle distribution. The RF pulse series that is necessary to achieve entered requirements is then calculated with a suitable RF pulse optimization program so that the target magnetization is achieved. In many cases, this is an optimally homogeneous magnetization in the desired field of view (FoV) that is to be examined, or the desired region to be excited (FoE—Field of Excitation).
In more recent methods it is possible to also selectively excite entire defined regions (for example two-dimensional regions) within a slice, meaning that a non-homogeneous target magnetization is deliberately sought.
One possibility to determine a two-dimensional radio-frequency pulse sequence (known as a "2DRF pulse") in the previously described manner is described in the article, "Magnitude Least Square Optimization for Parallel Radio Frequency Excitation Design Demonstrated at 7 Tesla With Eight Channels" by K. Setsompop et al., Magn. Reson. Med. 59: 908 through 915, 2008. The transverse target magnetization is represented in a linear matrix equation system from the spatial coil profiles and the multichannel radio-frequency pulse series, into which information can also be entered about the present B0 maps and B1 maps and the k-space trajectory that is used. This equation system is then numerically solved for a specific, predetermined radio-frequency pulse series. Examples of such radio-frequency pulse series with selective excitation are echoplanar or spiral trajectories.
Such one-dimensional, two-dimensional or multidimensional k-space trajectories for a selective excitation have a higher complexity in relation to the typically used trajectories with constant gradients that are used for a simple, slice-selective excitation. Due to this higher complexity, a higher risk of artifact formation in the images also exists, for example because such pulses can already be significantly longer. Furthermore, an increased risk exists that hardware radio-frequency limitations and/or limitations with regard to the radio-frequency exposure of the patients (for example limitation of the SAR=Specific Absorption Rate or of the SED=Specific Energy Density) are exceeded. This is particularly the case for trajectories that are presently used most often, with equidistant curves of adjacent tracks (for example spiral trajectories) whose spiral revolutions proceed with a constant pitch, or rectilinear trajectories (for example EPI trajectories) with equally spaced, straight-line neighboring tracks running in parallel.
However, exceeding maximum allowable voltage peaks or radio-frequency power limits can lead to damage to the device hardware, or to the situation that radio-frequency pulses are limited later in the measurement on the basis of safety checks (in particular are reduced in power), which then in turn leads to unsatisfactory excitation results and consequently worse image data. For this reason, complicated k-space trajectories are calculated automatically within the scope of optimization methods, with maximum allowed powers, SAR and/or SED limit conditions, etc. are also being taken into account in the optimization methods. However, such calculations are very complex and time-consuming, and the results are sometimes unsatisfactory or unstable.

Determination of a magnetic resonance system control sequence


A method of displaying a vehicle's information, includes measuring a set values of the vehicle, comparing the set of measured values with a set of related normal values of a vehicle of the same type as the vehicle being measured, and operating within a preset normal range, and displaying on a video image a graphical depiction of the measured set of values in comparison to the normal set of values of the same type of vehicle.

Onboard control computers have become prevalent in motor vehicles, but as safety, economy, and emissions requirements have continued to tighten, friction braking systems, and traction control devices have not met the requirements set out in government regulations and the implicit demands of competitors' achievements. Successive generations of onboard control computers have acquired increasing data sensing and retention capability as the electronics have advanced.
Present external diagnostic and display apparatus, known as diagnostic tools, are commonly limited to reporting the data acquired by the onboard control computer itself. Increasingly, subtle subsystem failures in vehicles overload the ability of maintenance technicians, not simply to read the faults detected and stored by the diagnostic tools themselves, but to combine those readings with peripheral measurements and deduce corrective actions with both speed and accuracy.
Currently in the automotive industry, there are both stand alone and hand-held diagnostic testers or tools used in connection with motor vehicle maintenance and repair. For example, hand-held diagnostic tools have been used to trouble-shoot faults associated with vehicular control units. Diagnostic tools detect faults based on Diagnostic Trouble Codes or DTCs that are set in the vehicle's onboard control computer. A DTC can be triggered and stored when there is a problem with the vehicle. A technician then retrieves the DTC using a diagnostic tool, repairs the associated problem and then deletes the DTC from the vehicle's computer.
Vehicle diagnostics have also been performed through personal computers. However, the display of such diagnostic information has always been difficult to read for technicians. Furthermore, technicians have also needed extensive learning in order to read such diagnostic information.
Further general vehicle health information have also be monitored through personal computers, or standalone computing modules that measure information related to emission testing. Certain sensors are attached to the vehicle to make certain measurements related to environmental emissions or safety related information of the vehicle.
The current diagnostic tools and personal computers used for vehicle diagnostics and vehicle health information are limited in the display output, thus limiting the usefulness of the diagnostic tool for a user. The limits on the current tools output capabilities include, for example, problems with the method of indicating the DTC, or vehicle health information such as the measurement of a certain sensors in the vehicle. The current diagnostic tools show the DTC on a basic display that displays the basic information and such information, then must be checked manually or through additional steps to ascertain whether the information is within the normal limits. The user must be in close proximity and in viewing distance from the diagnostic tool as the information is usually text based. For example, when a diagnostic tool detects a DTC or an emission testing result, a user must directly view the tool in order to see the DTC or emission testing readout.
The user of the diagnostic tool can be forced to use additional devices in order to supplement the limitations of output methods of today's diagnostic tools or personal computers used for diagnostic purposes. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that will allow enhanced display capabilities to a user or technician to use a diagnostic tool or diagnostic personal computer to determine the output of the vehicle's health information in a manner that is easy and quick to ascertain whether it is within normal constraints.

Multidimensional vehicle health graphics


Process for selectively depositing a refractory metal silicide on a surface of a monocrystalline or polycrystalline silicon wafer, comprising: a step of preparing said surface, consisting in forming a silicon oxide or silicon oxynitride layer having a thickness e.ltoreq.1 nm on this surface; and, on the silicon oxide or oxynitride layer formed, a step of selective vapor deposition of a refractory metal silicide.

Integrated circuits of this type include a considerable number of electronic components produced in the silicon wafer. These electronic components are activated by making metal contacts on the various active regions of said components. These contacts are connected to the contacts of the other components by interconnections in order to make the integrated circuits capable of functioning. Thus, for example, in order to activate a bipolar transistor, contacts must be made on the collector, base and emitter regions; and in order to activate a (MOS) field-effect transistor, contacts must be made on the source and drain regions and on the polycrystalline silicon gate.
The contacts and interconnections in an integrated circuit may not only be metal but also made of a metal silicide, in particular a refractory metal silicide.
The regions on which these contacts and interconnections are to be produced are subjected to metallization. The silicon regions to be metallized are referred to as bare silicon regions, as opposed to the other silicon regions of the wafer which are covered by an insulator, in particular by silicon oxide. The bare silicon regions can be metallized using various methods, for example depositing a refractory metal silicide.
Although keeping a general scope, the invention will be described more particularly with reference to the metallization of integrated circuit silicon semiconductor devices including (MOS) field-effect transistors in technologies with design rules of less than 0.5 .mu.m, commonly referred to as sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies. These technologies more precisely correspond to a length of less than 0.5 .mu.m for the channel separating the source and drain regions of the transistor. These very small transistors make it possible to produce integrated circuits with high integration level which are of great interest in microelectronics, for example integrated circuits of the VLSI and ULSI type.
In sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies, the source and drain junctions are located at about 0.1 .mu.m below the surface of the bare silicon. In order to ensure that these transistors, and therefore the integrated circuit, function properly these shallow source and drain junctions must be preserved when making contacts.
Furthermore, acceptable metallization of the bare silicon regions for integrated circuits with high integration level must generate a uniform deposit in which the grain size of the deposited particles is sufficiently small for the surface of the deposited layer to have little roughness. These characteristics are essential for proper functioning of integrated circuits fabricated in sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies.
Various prior art processes make it possible to deposit refractory metal silicides on bare silicon.
In particular, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,038 to metallize the source and drain regions, as well as the polycrystalline silicon gate of a field-effect transistor using a first deposit of a titanium silicide layer, by placing the silicon wafer, partially masked by silicon oxide, in an enclosure comprising, as the reactive gas, a titanium halide diluted in hydrogen. A titanium silicide layer is thus formed on the bare monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon regions at temperatures of between 700.degree. and 1000.degree. C.
When this process is implemented, a large amount of bare silicon is found to be consumed, which entails serious consequences since the titanium silicide will penetrate deeply into the regions to be metallized. This leads to a significant risk of the junctions being pierced, in particular the shallow source and drain junctions which are located at about 0.1 .mu.m below the surface of the bare silicon in sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies.
This method has the additional drawback of a deposit having a high degree of surface roughness. These defects of the titanium silicide deposit are deemed unacceptable, in particular in the sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies mentioned above.
Another U.S. Pat. No., 4,501,769, describes a process for selectively depositing a refractory metal silicide on monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon, which employs a mixture of reactive gases comprising a silicon precursor gas. The purpose of this mixture of reactive gases is to prevent consumption of the bare silicon of the substrate on which the selective deposition takes place.
However, deposition of this type requires a reaction temperature of about 850.degree. C., at which temperature, in the presence of the refractory metal precursor, reaction with the bare silicon of the wafer is inevitable. The risk of the junctions being pierced cannot therefore be completely eliminated when the process is applied to field-effect transistors, in particular in the sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies.
Furthermore, the silicide layers formed when using the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,769 have a large grain size and therefore a high degree of surface roughness, which characteristic is deemed unacceptable for the intended applications as described above.
French Patent Application 2 623 014 describes a method for selectively depositing a refractory metal silicide, which proposes to overcome such drawbacks constituted by the high degree of surface roughness and the consumption of bare silicon.
According to the process which is described, the wafers are deoxidized during a first step, referred to as a cleaning step. This cleaning step consists in refractory metal silicide deposition, with a stoichiometric excess of silicon, by heating a gas mixture of silane, titanium tetrachloride, argon and hydrogen to a temperature of between 800.degree. C. and 1000.degree.. This deposition with a stoichiometric excess of silicon is intended to suppress the native oxide SiO.sub.2 which is formed on the silicon regions to be metallized. In a second step, at a lower temperature, between 450.degree. C. and 700.degree. C., a refractory metal silicide layer, with a stoichiometric amount of silicon, is deposited in the presence of the same gas mixture but at different partial pressures.
The first step seems to obtain a lower degree of surface roughness for the TiSi.sub.2 deposited. This result can be interpreted by elimination of the native oxide, the presence of which would interfere with the selective deposition of titanium silicide. Indeed, it seems that the selectivity of the deposition and the presence of native oxide promotes deposition in islands, firstly starting in the nucleation regions which are free of native oxide. Deposition of this type generates coarse-grain layers with a high degree of surface roughness.
The second step, the deposition step proper, is carried out with the aim of limiting the consumption of bare silicon which could take place in the presence of titanium tetrachloride.
The authors of the present invention have observed that, when the process described in Patent Application FR 2 623 014 is implemented, consumption of the bare silicon persists. Therefore, for applications in the technologies mentioned above, the risk of the shallow junctions being pierced remains. Furthermore, the refractory metal silicide layer which is formed still includes surface defects, such as grains which are excessively large and a degree of surface roughness which is too great for use in sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies with high integration level.
Furthermore, the authors of the present invention have also demonstrated that the titanium silicide layer obtained using this method is formed by two different crystallographic phases of titanium silicide, one of which has a resistivity which is much too great for application to the fabrication of integrated circuits with a high integration level. Indeed, circuits of the VLSI type have their performance considerably restricted when the resistivity of the contact and interconnection levels is too high.
French Patent Application No. 94 09819 describes a process for selective vapor deposition of a silicide of a refractory metal on the monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon of a silicon wafer, comprising the following steps:
(i) a cleaning step intended to prepare the silicon surface for the deposition, by making it free not only of native oxide but also of all other residues and impurities present at the surface of the silicon; PA1 (ii) a step of depositing a silicon layer in order to form a silicon pedestal on the actual monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon of the wafer; and PA1 (iii) a step of vapor deposition of a refractory metal silicide, at least partially consuming the silicon pedestal formed during the preceding step. PA1 a step of preparing said surface, consisting in forming a layer, of thickness e.ltoreq.1 nm, of silicon oxide or silicon oxynitride on this surface; and PA1 a step of selective chemical vapor deposition (CVD), on the silicon oxide or oxynitride layer, of a refractory metal silicide. PA1 it should block the progression of the growth of the refractory metal silicide during the step of depositing this silicide and, in particular, it should not evaporate during the deposition of the refractory metal silicide by CVD, for example under the reducing action of the hydrogen or the SiH.sub.4 which are used in this step; PA1 it should be reproducible; PA1 it should be thin enough not to act as a thick oxide surface, such as a thick SiO.sub.2 surface, in which case there would not be selective refractory metal silicide deposition.
This process makes it possible to control the consumption of the silicon of the wafer because it appears that the silicon pedestal provided by step (ii) is at least partially, if not completely, consumed in order to form the layer of the refractory metal silicide; the bare silicon of the wafer is thus protected by the pedestal during the deposition in step (iii).
It furthermore appears that the deposit thus obtained on a silicon surface free of native oxide and all types of residues and impurities makes it possible to grow small grains, leading to a uniform layer, with a low degree of surface roughness, which is compatible with sub-0.5 .mu.m technologies, such as those with a high integration level.
In order to rid the silicon surface to be metallized of native oxide and all the residues and impurities due, in particular, to the technological treatments to which the wafer may already have been subjected, for example etching or implantation, which in particular leave carbon residues, cleaning methods are used, the selection of which depends on these prior technological treatments. Cleaning methods which can be used are, in particular, cleaning methods assisted by plasma (soft-etch), by sacrificial oxide (5 to 45 nm), by the two consecutive methods, by chemical treatment, for example by treatment of the RCA type, by the action of dilute HF or by these two consecutive methods, or by any other suitable method which leaves the silicon surface free of residues, impurities and native oxide.
When the wafers have been subjected to certain prior technological treatments, it is possible that the silicon surfaces thus cleaned may not be entirely free of residues. The silicide deposition on a surface of this type could take place in islands and thus form a coarse-grained rough layer.
Application FR-A-94 09819 more particularly proposes to supplement this first cleaning phase with a second surface preparation phase referred to as "in situ" preparation since it may take place in the same reactor as the silicon layer deposition step (ii). As opposed to this, the first phase of the cleaning step, described above, is referred to as "ex situ" cleaning.
The fundamental utility of in situ preparation of this type consists in obtaining a deposit which meets specifications such as a low access resistance and continuity between two n and p doped regions. A surface which is as perfect as possible is thus obtained before the epitaxial Si deposition, followed by the TiSi.sub.2 chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Although satisfactory results have been obtained with the technique described in Application FR-94 09819, a tendency to the junctions being pierced has been observed, or in terms of materials, a growth of TiSi.sub.2 propagating through the substrate by consuming the Si of the substrate, thus piercing the junctions. In spite of the formation of the silicon pedestal, and in spite of the supply of silicon by the gas phase (SiH.sub.4 +TiCl.sub.4), such a tendency to the junctions being pierced is observed.
The influence of the presence of a controlled-thickness oxide layer for the fabrication of certain semiconductor devices has also been studied.
Thus, the article entitled "Application of a Cluster Tool for Interface Engineering of Polysilicon Emitters" R. H. Reuss, C. Werkhoven, E. Granneman, M. Hendricks, IEEE 1993 Bipolar Circuits and Technology Meeting 3.4, CH3315-9/93/0000(0049)$1.00.COPYRGT. 1993 IEEE describes the production of a high-quality ultrathin oxide layer using a high-temperature oxidation process before depositing polysilicon to form the emitter of a bipolar transistor in a cluster tool. This article mentions that a high current gain is obtained, but that the resistance of the emitter is detrimentally affected.
Consideration has also be given to forming a subnanometric oxide layer between a polysilicon deposit and a doped substrate in a cluster tool. The presence of the subnanometric oxide layer makes it possible to adjust the current gain of high-speed poly-emitter bipolar transistors to the desired values while simultaneously reducing the contact resistance of the collector.
Finally, it has been suggested to obtain subnanometric layers of silicon oxide by ozonizing, and of silicon oxynitride by treating silicon wafers with NO in order to promote the subsequent deposition of a polysilicon layer.

Process for selectively depositing a refractory metal silicide on silicon, and silicon wafer metallized using this process


A tire-pressure information device should receive wheel information within a demanded detection time. A transmission controller of a sensor unit transmits wheel information as a radio signal at the timing when the turning position θ of the sensor unit detected by an acceleration sensor arrives at the transmission setting location α after 1 minute has passed since the last transmission of the wheel information. This transmission setting location α is set to a turning position which is advanced or retarded a setting adjustment angle Δα (for instance, 146 degree) set to a value which is not a divisor of 360, with respect to the turning position θ when the last wheel information is transmitted last time.

Conventionally, a tire-pressure monitor system (Tire Pressure Monitoring System: TPMS) which informs a driver of tire-pressure information has been known. While the tire-pressure monitor system comprises a tire-pressure sensor unit (hereafter, will be referred to as a sensor unit) which detects a tire pressure for each wheel, and is configured to transmit tire-pressure information as a radio signal from this sensor unit and receive this radio signal by a tire-pressure information device disposed on a vehicle body side to acquire the tire-pressure information. When judged that the tire pressure has decreased based on the received tire-pressure information, the tire-pressure information device displays that on an annunciator to notify it to a driver.
For instance, a sensor unit disposed in the tire-pressure monitor system proposed in the Patent Document 1 (PTL1) has an acceleration sensor built-in, and extracts a gravitational-acceleration component detected by this acceleration sensor. Since the sensor unit circles around an axle shaft of a wheel, the gravitational-acceleration component detected by the acceleration sensor is sinusoidally rippled in accordance with the rotation of a wheel. The sensor unit detects its own rotation angle (turning position) based on this gravitational-acceleration component, and repeatedly transmits a radio signal at the timing when this rotation angle becomes a predetermined angle. Such a transmission is referred to as a fixed-angle transmission mode.
In this system, the tire-pressure information device distinguishes the wheel location to which the sensor unit that transmitted the radio signal is attached, based on the number of pulse signals which the wheel-speed sensors of respective wheels output at the timing when the radio signal transmitted from the sensor unit is received.
Moreover, the sensor unit switches the transmission timing of the radio signal to a periodical transmission mode with a predetermined time period (for instance, 1 minute), after the time period required for wheel location discrimination has passed. Thereby, the tire-pressure information device can monitor a tire pressure periodically.

Tire-pressure sensor unit and a tire-pressure information device


A method is described below which can be used in a radar system. According to one example implementation, the method comprises providing a digital baseband signal using a radar receiver. The baseband signal comprises a plurality of segments, wherein each segment is assigned to a chirp of an emitted chirp sequence and each segment comprises a specific number of samples. For each signal sequence of n samples of the segments, where n in each case denotes a specific sample position within the respective segment, the method comprises the following: detecting interference-affected samples of the signal sequence; splitting the signal sequence into two or more sub-band signal sequences, wherein each sub-band signal sequence is assigned in each case to a frequency sub-band; replacing interference-affected samples in the two or more sub-band signal sequences in each case with a value which is based on adjacent samples in order to obtain corrected sub-band signal sequences; and determining a corrected signal sequence of n samples of the segments based on the corrected sub-band signal sequences.

Radar sensors are used in a number of applications for detecting objects, wherein the detection normally comprises the measurement of ranges and velocities of the detected objects. In the automotive sector in particular, there is a growing need for radar sensors which can be used, inter alia, in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as e.g. adaptive cruise control (ACC) or radar cruise control systems. Systems of this type can automatically adjust the speed of an automobile to maintain a safe distance from other automobiles driving in front (and from other objects and pedestrians). Other applications in the automotive sector are e.g. blind spot detection, lane change assist and the like. In the domain of autonomous driving, radar sensors play an important role in the control of autonomous vehicles.
Since automobiles are increasingly equipped with radar sensors, the probability of interference increases. This means that a radar signal emitted by a first radar sensor (built into a first vehicle) can scatter into the receive antenna of a second radar sensor (built into a second vehicle). In the second radar sensor, the first radar signal can interfere with an echo of the second radar signal and thereby impede the operation of the second radar sensor.

FMCW radar with interfering signal suppression in the time domain


A method is disclosed for designing an orbit of a spacecraft which allows the spacecraft to take a small-radius halo orbit near a Lagrange point while avoiding the prohibited zone where the spacecraft may be shadowed or might be prevented from making communication. The method makes it possible to have a closed orbit although being similar to a Lissajous orbit, under a restricted condition where a propulsion force magnitude applied to a spacecraft is fixed, and where it rotates at a constant angular velocity, based on the equation of motion close to a Lagrange point. The method also provide a theory for guiding/controlling the orbit of a spacecraft, that is, the embodiment of the above orbit design method.

Take, as an example, a system consisting of two celestial bodies where both bodies turn around the bury-center, a center of masses of two bodies, taking a circular orbit like the Earth and the Sun, and a vary light third body flying in the system. It has been known that there are five equilibrium points in the system where gravity from those two bodies and a centrifugal force acting on a third body are balanced. They are known as Lagrange points. The practical implication of the Lagrange points has been studied for a long time. Among the five equilibrium points, Lagrange points, the points L1 and L2 allow a spacecraft, a third body, to be comparatively easily accessed because there the pseudo potential is relatively low. In view of this, this invention attempts an observatory or a space dock spacecraft to be stationary on the point in order to extract the merit that the position and the geometry of the observatory or the dock is frozen with respect to the Sun or the Earth.
As stated above, although accessing and positioning to/at the point L1 or L2 are easier than those to/at the other Lagrange points, it does not readily mean that placing a spacecraft on the point is easy without any consideration about the initial conditions around the point. For example, initial conditions corresponding to divergent motion that may occur around the point must be avoided deliberately. The orbits around L1 or L2, if those improper divergent motions are eliminated, are basically stable and seem suitable for the purposes discusses here. The characteristic frequency of the orbital motion around the point L1 or L2 takes different values for in-plane and out-of-plane directions. Accordingly, while the orbit of the spacecraft is stable, usually it does not draw a closed locus, but takes a so-called Lissajous locus.
When a spacecraft takes a Lissajous orbit around the point L2, the orbit may be shadowed by the Earth. And when a spacecraft takes a Lissajous orbit around point L1, the ground station will see the Sun behind the spacecraft and the communication between the ground stations and the spacecraft may be disturbed significantly. These problems have prevented the use of the L1 or L2 point, and also have not realized the spacecraft on the above-mentioned Lissajous orbit around the Lagrange points L1 or L2.
By the way, it has been revealed by previous studies that if a Lissajous orbit is enlarged to a much more large scale one to enter into a non-collinear area, the non-linear effect makes the spacecraft trajectory closed. And the orbit of a spacecraft, if the spacecraft is positioned close to point L2, can avoid shadow by the Earth, and if the spacecraft is positioned close to point L1, can avoid passage in front of the Sun. When viewed from the Earth, it looks like a halo around the Sun, and thus it is called a halo orbit.
Following patent documents deal with the orbits around the Lagrange points and the halo orbits, i.e., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,809,818; 6,385,512; 4,795,113; and 5,183,225.

Method for designing an orbit of a spacecraft


A system and method for implementing a wireless sensor network. The system comprises a plurality of motes, each mote having a sensor and a wireless communication system for communicating with neighboring motes; a distributed routing table distributed amongst each of the plurality of motes; and an update system for periodically updating the distributed routing table.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to wireless sensor networks, and more specifically relates to a system for monitoring environmental changes that utilizes a peer-to-peer network architecture for communicating information.
2. Related Art
Today, there exist numerous environmental-based public safety hazards, such as brush fires, bio-chemical accidents or attacks, etc. Obtaining real-time and accurate information about such a hazard can be critical to containing the hazard and minimizing damage.
Two broad challenges for dealing with such hazards include: (1) obtaining timely information at the site of the hazard; and (2) reliably communicating the information to a monitoring station. Current solutions for obtaining information such as satellite imaging or thermal sensors are not ideal for widespread use due to their high-cost and low-effectiveness. Often, data produced by current sensor solutions is unpredictable and is generated post incident. Accordingly, such data cannot be relied upon to make timely decisions about how to deal with the hazard.
Communicating the information collected by sensors can also be unpredictable since communication channels used to transmit the data may be affected by the hazard. In other words, if a critical communication node fails within a sensor network, critical information cannot be analyzed and acted upon in a timely fashion.
Numerous examples of sensor based detection systems currently exist. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,476 B1, "Early Warning System for Natural and Manmade Disasters," issued to Flanagan on Jan. 2, 2001, describes a system for generating early warning signals via a network. U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,861 B1, Automatic Response Building Defense System and Method, issued to Berry on Sep. 25, 2001 describes a system for sensing hazardous contaminants near a building and taking some automated action. Both of the above references are incorporated by reference. Unfortunately, none of the prior art describes a robust wireless sensing system that can both obtain sensed data and transmit it in a cost effective and reliable manner. Accordingly, a need exists for such a system.

System and method for enabling a wireless sensor network by mote communication

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus and method to generate intrinsic images without barrier filters and dichroic mirrors is provided. The method involves acquisition of an image of a focused field of view and a diffused image of the same field of view. The diffused image is obtained by placing a translucent material in the path between a camera and the field of view. The translucent material permits transmission of the illumination energy while diffusing the spatial details of the field of view, thus producing a featureless image of illumination intensities. The focused and diffused images are then processed pixel-by-pixel by to generate intrinsic images free of irrelevant illumination.

The primary goal of imaging is to obtain high-quality images and videos. Advancements toward this goal have been to improve cameras with respect to the optics and exposure mechanisms. Digital cameras with various pixel sensor arrays have greatly contributed to this effort. However, these efforts do not address spectral components that interfere with the quality of the image.
Normally conducting fluorescence imaging employs a narrow wavelength range of illumination directed towards a material to excite the molecular structure of the material. The resulting spectrum contains the emission components while eliminating the illumination component wavelengths by the use of dichroic mirrors and barrier filters. This results in a spectrum containing only spectral emission components.
Recently, methods have been developed where ordinary cameras have been shown to obtain intrinsic fluorescence images without the use of filters and dichroic mirrors. These patented methods describe how irrelevant illumination, i.e., components not absorbed by materials in the field of view, can be removed from the image by Intrinsic Processing. The specific imaging processes presented in these patents eliminate the irrelevant illumination and instrument spectral components, but the method to obtain the data varies and is not the most practical. For example, one method (U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,435,687 and 9,998,636, incorporated herein by reference in their entirety) requires four different fields of view and two different cameras. An improved method, (U.S. Pat. No. 10,652,484, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) requires only one field of view and one camera, but images of the field of view must be taken with the field of view focused and defocused. While requiring only a single field of view, it is cumbersome to have to manually defocus the camera and risk shifting the field of view thus introducing errors into the processing. In addition, at low magnifications and high F stops, cameras may not have enough focal adjustment to completely eliminate the spatial detail in the field of view.
The ability to obtain intrinsic images with ordinary cameras can be valuable to any field that relies on obtaining intrinsic information with respect to identifying and validating the materials of interest. These fields include, but are not limited to, imaging in geology, forensics, agriculture, biology, astronomy, surveillance, meteorology, oceanography, and medicine.
Although the previous patented methods do produce Intrinsic images, the multiple fields needed for calibration, target and reference made data acquisition complex and difficult. The present invention provides a significant technological improvement and simplification in data gathering and processing for subsequent intrinsic image generation and visual display.

Apparatus and method to obtain intrinsic still and video images without the use of filters or dichroic mirrors


An apparatus for compressing gas-phase fluid including a housing having a wall, a stator having a base plate and a helical wall extending from one side of the base plate, and an orbiter having a base plate and a helical wall extending therefrom. The base plates are disposed such that the wall of the stator and the wall of the orbiter engage with each other to define closed working chambers. The volumes and positions of the working chambers are changed in response to the motion of the orbiter. The apparatus includes a guide device having an opening formed in the base plate of the orbiter and a pin coupled to the housing. The pin engages the opening. A sliding element is disposed between the wall of the housing and the orbiter and coupled to the wall. The pin is pressed into an opening formed in the sliding element.

Compressors referred to as refrigerant compressors are used for movable applications to provide refrigerant through a refrigerant passage, particularly for air-conditioning systems for vehicles, which are well known in the art. These compressors are sometimes configured as piston compressors or scroll compressors that each have a variable stroke volume irrespectively of refrigerant. The compressors are driven by pulleys or in an electrical manner.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a scroll compressor 1′, which is well known in the art, in section. The conventional scroll compressor 1′ includes a housing 2, a non-motional fixed stator 3, which has a disk-type base plate 3a and a helical wall 3b extending from the base plate 3a, and a motional orbiter 4 which has a disk-type base plate 4a and a helical wall 4b extending from the base plate 4a. In brief, the stator 3 referred to as a non-motional or fixed spiral 3 cooperates with the orbiter 4 referred to as a motional spiral 4. The base plates 3 and 4 are disposed such that the wall 3b of the stator 3 engages with the wall 4b of the orbiter 4. The motional spiral 4 is moved in circular orbit by an eccentric actuator. The walls 3b and 4b come into contact with each other on multiple points during the motion of the spiral 4 to define a number of continuous closed working chambers 5 within the walls 3b and 4b, and adjacent working chambers 5 of them limit different large volumes. The volumes and positions of the working chambers 5 are changed in response to the motion of the orbiter 4. The volumes of the working chambers 5 are gradually reduced to the centers of the helical walls 3b and 4b referred to as spiral walls. The eccentric actuator consists of a drive shaft 6 rotating about an axis of rotation 7 and an intermediate element 8. The drive shaft 6 is supported on the housing 2 by a first bearing 9. The orbiter 4 is eccentrically connected with the drive shaft 6 by the intermediate element 8, namely the axes of the orbiter 4 and the drive shaft 6 are offset from each other. The orbiter 4 is supported on the intermediate element 8 by a second bearing 10.
The conventional scroll compressor 1′ also includes a guide device 11 that prevents the rotation of the motional spiral 4 and achieves the orbiting of the motional spiral 4. The guide device 11 generally includes a number of circular openings 11a arranged adjacently at a specific distance. Preferably, the openings 11a formed as blind holes are formed in the base plate 4a of the motional spiral 4. In addition, the guide device 11 includes pins 11b that are protrudingly formed on the wall 12 of the housing 2 and respectively engage into the openings 11a formed in the base plate 4a of the motional spiral 4. The first ends of the pins 11b protrude from the wall 12 and the second ends thereof are disposed within the wall 12 of the housing 2.
WO 2015 060038 A1 discloses a scroll compressor including a guide device to prevent the rotation of a motional spiral and achieve the orbiting thereof. The guide device includes openings formed in a base plate of the motional spiral and pins engage into the openings. The pins are pressed into a housing, particularly bores formed in the housing.
JP 2009-281280 discloses a scroll compressor with the cooling of a mechanism for adjusting the rotational position of a motional spiral. A component formed as a center plate of a housing includes through-bores for positioning guide pins for the motional spiral. Each of the guide pins is pressed into an associated one of the through-bores. The guide pins are cooled on the one hand by a refrigerant flowing between the center plate and the motional spiral and on the other hand by a refrigerant introduced into the through-bores from the side of center plate away from the motional spiral.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the known scroll compressor 1′ includes the wall 12 referred to as a facing wall 12 which is disposed in and fixed on the housing 2. A counter-pressure area 13 is defined between the facing wall 12 and the motional spiral 4. By the counter pressure occurring in the counter-pressure area 13, the motional spiral 4 applies force to the fixed spiral 3 fixed on the housing 2 such as the facing wall 12. To seal the counter-pressure area 13 and a suction area 14, a ring-shaped sealing element 15 is disposed between the motional spiral 4 and the facing wall 12. The motional spiral 4 has a surface 16 aligned toward the facing wall 2 on one end thereof. The sealing concept of the scroll compressor 1′ includes a sliding element 17′ formed as a plate together with the sealing element 15, and the sliding element is fixedly coupled to the housing, particularly the facing wall 12 without movement.
The plate-type fixed sliding element 17′ disposed between the facing wall 12 and the spiral 4 is provided as a support surface of the surface of the motional spiral 4 together with the sealing element 15, and for compensation of friction generated by the relative motion between the facing wall 12 and the spiral 4. The sliding element 17′ seals the suction area 14 and the counter-pressure area 13 from each other by a combination with the sealing element 15, the suction area 14 and the counter-pressure area 13 being pressure chambers to which two different pressures are applied. In addition, the sliding element 17′ has to abut on the facing wall 12 of the housing 2 in a sealed manner. The sealed coupling is ensured by adhesion and lubricants, particularly refrigerant oil mixtures. The sliding element 17′ is made of a material having very good tribological characteristics and has corrosion resistance and heat resistance. The scroll compressors 1′ known in the art include the sliding element 17′ disposed on the housing 2 with a very small wall thickness. The pins 11b, which are provided as guide elements and disposed within the facing wall 12, and the openings 11a, which are formed as pockets in the base plate 4a of the motional spiral 4, are circulated and thus provided to guide the spiral 4 in motion. In connection with the material of the housing 2, particularly the sealing and corrosion resistance thereof, the pins 11b must be made of aluminum. However, aluminum is not suitable in relation to tribological characteristics and strength.
In refrigerant passages through which carbon dioxide as a refrigerant with cooling technical sign R744 flows, the pressure level of suction pressure and discharge pressure occurring in the scroll compressor 1′ is substantially higher than in the conventional refrigerant passages, namely a pressure difference in refrigerant within the working chambers 5 is substantially higher than, for example, in the scroll compressor 1′ used in refrigerant passages through which R134a as a refrigerant flows. A higher pressure difference makes the force, which acts on the pins 11b from the orbiter 14, substantially larger. The pins 11b conventionally made of steel are position pins or guide pins and are separately pressed into the housing 2 made of aluminum, which have a significantly different expansion efficiency from the aluminum of the housing 2. Due to the substantially higher acting force, the significantly different expansion efficiencies between steel and aluminum, and the small strength of aluminum, the scroll compressor 1′ known in the art has a high risk of misaligning the pins 11b within the wall 12 of the housing 2.
Other challenges are given in connection with an installation space to be optimized, particularly in the arrangement and formation of the bearings 9 and 10 relating to the changed requirements for accommodation of substantially larger force into the area of the second bearing 10. The installation space is limited due to the relatively small strength of aluminum and the reason is because the fixed minimum material thickness or wall thickness of the housing 2 is required between recesses for insertion of the pins 11b and the bearing 10. In addition, the motional spiral 4 is designed to be heavier by demands for higher action force thereon, and the immediate element 8 having a larger counterweight provided as the weight for compensating the imbalance of orbiter 4 is also formed. The immediate element 8, particularly the counterweight is disposed in the recess into which the bearing 10 is inserted. The installation space for the immediate element 8 is very limited.


The present invention relates generally to the field of catalysts for use in connection with one or more types of emissions control (e.g., emissions control associated with the combustion of one or more types of fossil fuel) and, in particular to catalyst compositions that possess an improved resistance to at least one type of poisoning. In another embodiment, the catalysts of the present invention are designed to be utilized in conjunction with an SCR and possess an improved resistance to phosphorus poisoning.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of catalysts for use in connection with one or more types of emissions control (e.g., emissions control associated with the combustion of one or more types of fossil fuel) and, in particular to catalyst compositions that possess an improved resistance to at least one type of poisoning. In another embodiment, the catalysts of the present invention are designed to be utilized in conjunction with an SCR and possess an improved resistance to phosphorus poisoning.
2. Description of the Related Art
NOx refers to the cumulative emissions of nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and trace quantities of other nitrogen oxide species generated during combustion. Combustion of any fossil fuel generates some level of NOx due to high temperatures and the availability of oxygen and nitrogen from both the air and fuel. NOx emissions may be controlled using low NOx combustion technology and post-combustion techniques. One such post-combustion technique involves selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems in which a catalyst facilitates a chemical reaction between NOx and a reagent (usually ammonia) to produce molecular nitrogen and water vapor.
SCR technology is used worldwide to control NOx emissions from combustion sources. This technology has been used widely in Japan for NOx control from utility boilers since the late 1970's, in Germany since the late 1980's, and in the US since the 1990's. Industrial scale SCRs have been designed to operate principally in the temperature range of 500° F. to 900° F., but most often in the range of 550° F. to 750° F. SCRs are typically designed to meet a specified NOx reduction efficiency at a maximum allowable ammonia slip. Ammonia slip is the concentration, expressed in parts per million by volume, of unreacted ammonia exiting the SCR.
For additional details concerning NOx removal technologies used in the industrial and power generation industries, the reader is referred to Steam/its generation and use, 41st Edition, Kitto and Stultz, Eds., Copyright 2005, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, Barberton, Ohio, U.S.A., particularly Chapter 34—Nitrogen Oxides Control, the text of which is hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein.
Regulations issued by the EPA promise to increase the portion of utility boilers equipped with SCRs. SCRs are generally designed for a maximum efficiency of about 90%. This limit is not set by any theoretical limits on the capability of SCRs to achieve higher levels of NOx destruction. Rather, it is a practical limit set to prevent excessive levels of ammonia slip. This problem is explained as follows.
In an SCR, ammonia reacts with NOx according to the following stoichiometric reactions (a) to (c):4NO+4NH3+O2→4N2+6H2O  (a)12NO2+12NH3→12N2+18H2O+3O2  (b)2NO2+4NH3+O2→3N2+6H2O  (c).
The above catalysis reactions occur using a suitable catalyst. Suitable catalysts are discussed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,540,897; 5,567,394; and 5,585,081 to Chu et al., all of which are hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. Catalyst formulations generally fall into one of three categories: base metal, zeolite and precious metal.
Although not limited thereto, a wide range of SCR catalysts use titanium oxide with small amounts of vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten or a combination of several other active chemical agents. The base metal catalysts are selective and operate in the specified temperature range. The major drawback of the base metal catalyst is its potential to oxidize SO2 to SO3; the degree of oxidation varies based on catalyst chemical formulation. The quantities of SO3 which are formed can react with the ammonia carryover/slip to form various ammonium-sulfate salts.
Zeolite catalysts are aluminosilicate materials which function similarly to base metal catalysts. One potential advantage of zeolite catalysts is their higher operating temperature of about 970° F. (521° C.). These catalysts can also oxidize SO2 to SO3 and must be carefully matched to the flue gas conditions.
Precious metal catalysts are generally manufactured from platinum and rhodium. Precious metal catalysts also require careful consideration of flue gas constituents and operating temperatures. While effective in reducing NOx, these catalysts can also act as oxidizing catalysts, converting CO to CO2 under proper temperature conditions. However, SO2 oxidation to SO3 and high material costs often make precious metal catalysts less attractive.
As is known to those of skill in the art, various SCR catalysts undergo poisoning when they become contaminated by various compounds including, but not limited to, any one or more phosphorus compounds selected from inorganic phosphates, organic phosphates, monophosphate compounds, polyphosphate compounds, phosphorus oxide (PO), phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), (ortho)phosphoric acid (H3PO4), pyrophosphoric acid (H4P2O7), (ortho)phosphorous acid (H3PO3), other forms of phosphoric acid, and/or combinations of two or more thereof.
More particularly, as the SCR catalysts are exposed to the dust laden flue gas there are numerous mechanisms including blinding, masking and poisoning that deactivates the catalyst and causes a decrease in the catalyst's performance over time. The most common catalyst poison encountered when burning eastern domestic coal (i.e., coal mined in the eastern United States) is arsenic. The most common catalyst poison encountered when burning western domestic coal (i.e., coal mined in the western United States) is phosphorus, and calcium sulfate is the most common masking mechanism. One method of recycling the used catalyst is the process called regeneration washing or rejuvenation. The initial steps of the regeneration process involve the removal of these toxic chemicals by processing the catalysts through various chemical baths in which the poisons are soluble. While this treatment process does an excellent job of removing the desired poisons it produces wastewater with very high concentrations of unwanted, or poisonous, elements and/or compounds including, but not limited to, arsenic, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, magnesium, vanadium and/or sulfur.
In another situation, Powder River Basin/Lignite coal plants (sometimes referred to PRB coal plants), any coal/biomass co-combustion, or any coal/bone meal co-combustion or even pure biomass combustion power plants will suffer from phosphorus contamination of their SCR catalysts.
Additionally, beyond controlling NOx emissions, other emission controls must be considered and/or met in order to comply with various state, EPA and/or Clean Air Act regulations. Some other emission controls which need to be considered for boilers, heaters, kilns, or other flue gas-, or combustion gas-, generating devices (e.g., those located at power plants, processing plants, etc.) include, but are not limited to, mercury, SOx, and certain particulates.
Given the above, a need exists for a catalyst composition that possesses an improved resistance to phosphorus poisoning.

Catalysts possessing an improved resistance to poisoning


One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for managing security in a database system. The method includes producing a plurality of task groups, the task groups including actions that may be performed on the database. Functional roles are created from these task groups, and a security profile for a user is created by assigning to the user at least one functional role. In one embodiment, the security profile for a user may only be created by assigning functional roles to users. Thus, users may only perform actions on the database that are dictated by defined task groups and functional roles. This allows database security to be controlled by controlling definitions of task groups and functional roles, without requiring exhaustive examination of security profiles for large numbers of individual users.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computerized database systems, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for modularizing security profiles for users of an enterprise resource planning system including a database, wherein the security profiles specify actions that the user is allowed to perform on the database.
2. Related Art
Almost every function performed by a business can be more effectively managed by using an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) to keep track of data associated with the function. ERPs are presently used to keep track of business functions such as finances, taxes, inventory, payroll, planning. Some ERPs additionally allow sharing of data across organizational units, which can greatly improve information flow through a company. However, providing such sharing can significantly complicate the process of ensuring security for the underlying database system. (Note that ERPs store data in underlying databases, and the term ERP is used interchangeably with the term database in this specification.)
This problem is complicated by the common use of distributed computing systems to implement ERPs within corporations. These distributed computing systems spread out computational and data storage resources across computer networks to a large number of geographically separate computing nodes. Consequently, a distributed computing system exposes sensitive data to greater risk of loss, unauthorized modification and unauthorized access than exists in a more centralized computing system.
Techniques presently used to provide security in ERPs (database systems) are not well adapted to control security in such readily accessible and widely distributed database systems. Some existing security systems implement security by providing a security profile for each user of the database system. A security profile specifies certain actions (or activity types) that a user is allowed to perform on the database. Each user is assigned a specific security profile, and each user is only allowed to perform the actions specified in the security profile.
System administrators are typically given the responsibility to create and assign security profiles. This procedure involves significant risks in a distributed computing environment, where potentially hundreds of system administrators, located at different sites within a corporation, are charged with the task of assigning security profiles to users. It becomes almost impossible to exercise control over security in such an environment without unreasonably hindering access to the database system. A system administrator in a small branch office can potentially give a low-level clerk access to the secret corporate information.
Furthermore, without some centralized system for security control it is almost impossible to exercise control over security for a particular business area or a particular business function. In order to determine what users have access to a particular type of information, it may be necessary to scan through security profiles for all users across all nodes of a distributed system.
Additionally, the task of managing security is presently in the hands of system administrators, who maintain system security by deciphering cryptic information and inputting cryptic commands into a database security system. Business managers, who are not familiar with this cryptic information, cannot readily oversee the work of security administrators. Thus, a critical oversight function is lacking.
What is needed is a security system for a database system that allows database security to be controlled within each organizational unit of a business, while at the same time allowing accesses by users across business area boundaries.
Additionally, what is needed is a system for maintaining database security that allows a business manager to effectively visualize and manipulate database security without extensive training in cryptic computer formats and commands.

Graphical user interface for managing security in a database system


A communication apparatus and an associated estimation method are provided. The communication apparatus is electrically connected to a loading terminal and operates at a common bias voltage. The communication apparatus includes a transmitter, a connector, and a receiver. The connector includes a bridging circuit and a measurement circuit. The bridging circuit has a positive measurement end and a negative measurement end. The transmitter transmits an analog output signal. The receiver receives a common bias voltage during an estimation process. During the estimation process, the measurement circuit estimates a positive loading resistance and a negative loading resistance corresponding to the loading terminal according to a voltage difference between the common bias voltage and voltage at one of the positive measurement end and the negative measurement end.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a communication apparatus and an associated estimation method.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional technology which connects a communication apparatus and a remote apparatus through a transmission line. For example, the communication apparatus 101 can be a switch, and the remote apparatus 112 can be a personal computer. In practical application, the communication apparatus 101 and the remote apparatus 112 can transmit data via various types of mechanisms.
Each of the communication apparatus 101 and the remote apparatus 112 includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitting and receiving operations in the communication apparatus 101 and the remote apparatus 112 are compensate and corresponding to each other. As the transmitting and receiving operations of the communication apparatus and the remote apparatus are similar, only the operations of the communication apparatus 101 are described.
The communication apparatus 101 generates a positive and a negative transmission signal (Tx+ and Tx−) through the transmitter 102. The positive and the negative transmission signal (Tx+ and Tx−) are transmitted to the remote apparatus 112 through a connector and a transmission line. The connector 104 includes a transformer, a positive output impedance Rs+, and a negative output impedance Rs−. The positive and the negative output impedance (Rs+ Rs−) matches the impedance of the transmission line.
Similarly, the remote apparatus 112 transmits data to the communication apparatus 101 through the transmission line 111. In response to the remote apparatus 112, a receiver 103 is used by the communication apparatus 101 to receive a positive and a negative reception signal (Rx+ and Rx−).
As indicated in FIG. 1, the positive transmission signal Tx+, and signal the positive reception signal Rx+ share the same wire. The negative transmission and reception signal (Tx− and Rx−) share the same wire. If the design of the communication apparatus 101 is poor, the receiver 103 receives the positive and the negative transmission signal (Tx+ and Tx−) sent from the transmitter 102. Instead of receiving only the positive and the negative reception signal (Rx+, Rx−) transmitted from the remote apparatus 112, the signal received by the communication apparatus 101 is mixed with the positive and the negative transmission signal (Tx+, Tx−) and the positive and the negative reception signal (Rx+, Rx−).
When any of the reception signals (the positive/negative reception signals Rx+ and Rx−) received by the receiver 103 is interfered by the transmission signals (the positive/negative transmission signals Tx+ and Tx−) from the transmitter 102, such phenomenon is referred as echo phenomenon. Echo phenomenon is an important issue while manufacturing the communication apparatus 101.
As well as the echo phenomenon, the communication apparatus also needs to consider the problem of electromagnetic interference (hereinafter, EMI).
For the transmitter of FIG. 1, a loop is formed at the left hand side of the transformer. Meanwhile, a positive and a negative loading cu rents (ILp and ILn) respectively flowing off and flowing into the communication apparatus are equivalent. In such case, the impedance affect less on the loop current of FIG. 1.
Due to cost consideration, communication products with AC coupling are now available in the market. With AC coupling mechanism, cost of transformer is reduced. Although cost can be reduced by such replacement, the problem of current mismatch arises. Furthermore, current mismatch will cause EMI to the communication apparatus.
According to the specifications of network joint (RJ45), ideal impedance of the network wire is 50Ω. Before the communication apparatus leaves the factory, 50Ω is used as the positive output impedance Rs+, and the negative output impedance Rs−. However, tolerance of an RJ45 impedance is up to 15%. This implies that the impedances of the loading terminal may range between 42.5Ω to 57.5Ω. The impedances of the loading terminal being not conformed to ideal magnitudes defined in specifications will cause current mismatch in the communication apparatus.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating another conventional technology which connects the communication apparatus and the remote apparatus through the transmission line.
FIGS. 1 and 2 basically have the same design except that the transformer of FIG. 1 is replaced by two capacitors for AC coupling. The communication apparatus 201 generates the positive and the negative transmission signal (Tx+ and Tx−) through the transmitter 202. The positive and the negative transmission signals (Tx+ and Tx−) are transmitted to the remote apparatus 212 through the connector 204 and the transmission line 211. The receiver 203 receives the positive and the negative reception signal (Rx+ and Rx−) generated by the loading terminal 210.
In FIG. 2, a common mode current will be generated between the communication apparatus 201 and the loading terminal 210 when the impedances at the two ends of the loading terminal 210 in the communication apparatus 201 are not symmetric.
The common mode current occurs when magnitudes of the positive and the negative loading currents (ILp and ILn) are not equivalent.
In FIG. 2, the communication apparatus 201 adopts the AC coupling mechanism. Hence, a common mode current will be generated due to the asymmetric resistances of the loading terminal 210. Once the common mode current is transmitted back to ground, a current loop will be formed, and noises and EMI phenomenon will accordingly occur.
Along with the development of communication products, the requirement of EMI protection is getting more strict. Take network products for example, the requirement of EMI protection in new standard is 30 dB higher than the old one. This implies that EMI phenomenon of network products is required to be reduced to one thousandth of the old one.
To be comply with the strength standard of EMI, a metal shielding method is normally used to block EMI phenomenon according to conventional technologies. However, the metal shielding method is a passive approach, and does not actually reduce the strength of EMI phenomenon. Moreover, such approach uses extra metal, and the cost of manufacturing would increase.
As disclosed above, EMI and echo phenomenon are problems left unresolved in the conventional communication products.

Communication apparatus and associated estimation method