A compact closed nozzle assembly for a fuel injector is provided which reduces the total length of the injector, minimizes the trapped volume of fuel and, thus, the response time of the injector and eliminates a high pressure joint in the injector body. The compact closed nozzle assembly of the injector includes a nozzle valve element positioned in an injector cavity adjacent injector orifices and operable to be placed in an open position in which fuel may flow a fuel transfer circuit through the injector orifices into the combustion chamber, and a closed position in which fuel flow through the injector orifice is blocked. A nozzle spring, which is shorter and larger in diameter than conventional nozzle springs, biases the nozzle valve element into the closed position. A stationary housing is mounted adjacent the nozzle valve element so that a portion of the housing is positioned within an inner radial extent of the nozzle spring while a portion of the fuel transfer circuit extends through the stationary housing within the inner radial extent of the spring. A check valve may be positioned in a check valve cavity formed in the stationary housing within the inner radial extent of the nozzle spring for preventing the flow of fuel from the metering chamber into a supply passage. A button device having a plurality of legs is positioned adjacent the stationary housing in an overlapping manner for operatively connecting the nozzle spring to the nozzle valve element.

Fuel injection into the cylinders of an internal combustion engine is most commonly acheived using either a unit injector system or a fuel distribution type system. In the unit injector system, fuel is pumped from a source by way of a low pressure rotary pump or gear pump to high pressure pumps, known as unit injectors, associated with corresponding engine cylinders for increasing the fuel pressure while providing a finely atomized fuel spray into the combustion chamber. Such unit injectors conventionally include a positive displacement plunger driven by a cam which is mounted on an engine driven camshaft. The fuel distribution type system, on the other hand, supplies high pressure fuel to injectors which do not pump the fuel but only direct and atomize the fuel spray into the combustion chamber.
A commonly used injector in both the unit injector and fuel distribution systems is a closed-nozzle injector. Closed-nozzle injectors include a nozzle assembly having a spring-biased tip valve element positioned adjacent the nozzle orifices for resisting blow back of exhaust gas into the pumping or metering chamber of the injector while allowing fuel to be injected into the cylinder. The tip valve element also functions to provide a deliberate, abrupt end to fuel injection thereby preventing a secondary injection which causes unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust. For example, commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,901 to Perr et al. disclosed a unit injector incorporating a conventional tip nozzle assembly including a valve element normally biased by a nozzle spring to block the nozzle orifices. When the pressure of the fuel within the nozzle cavity exceeds the biasing force of the nozzle spring, the tip valve element moves outwardly to allow fuel to pass through the nozzle orifices.
Recent and upcoming legislation resulting from a concern to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions continues to place strict emissions standards on engine manufacturers. In order for new engines to meet these standards, it is necessary to produce fuel injector systems capable of achieving higher injection pressures while maintaining accurate and reliable control of the metering and timing functions. As a result, closed-nozzle fuel injectors are undergoing structural modifications which better enable the injectors to produce and withstand the higher injection pressures. However, these improvements often undesirably increase the size by the injector which must conform to overall size restrictions dictated by the mounting arrangement on the engine. Therefore, fuel injector manufactures are continually seeking ways of maintaining or minimizing the overall size of the injectors while also incorporating the improvements. Moreover, any reduction in length or width of an injector often results in a decrease in the total size and weight of the engine thereby advancing the continuing effort to produce a compact, lightweight engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,672 to Smith (FIGS. 1 and 6) and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 065,583 (FIG. 2) entitled Individual Timing and Injection Fuel Metering System, both commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, disclose unit fuel injectors having a conventional closed nozzle assembly. These closed nozzle injectors include outer and inner plungers positioned in an axial bore formed in the one or more barrels of the injector body to create a timing chamber between the plungers. A metering chamber is formed in the axial bore between the lower plunger and a spacer or disc which abuts the barrel to form the lower portion of the metering chamber. The closed nozzle assembly includes a nozzle housing having a nozzle cavity for housing a tip valve element and a spring housing for housing the biasing spring which biases the nozzle tip valve element in the closed position. The spring housing is positioned in compressive abutting relationship between the spring housing and the spacer. The bias spring, having a small diameter, is positioned in a bore centrally formed in the spring housing. As a result, a centrally disposed outer surface, provided in these embodiments by the spacer, must be positioned at the outer end of this central bore to support one end of the spring. Also, the metering chamber can not be positioned as far inward in the injector body as is desired to minimize the length of the injector. In addition, fuel transfer passages extending between the metering chamber and the nozzle cavity must be routed through the spacer around the spring housing central bore in the annular portion of the spring housing resulting in an unnecessarily large trapped fuel volume and consequently a longer than required response time. Moreover, the high pressure joint formed between the barrel and the spacer adjacent the metering chamber is extremely difficult to effectively seal.
As discussed above, many injectors incorporate features which, advantageously create and withstand higher injection pressures while undesirably increasing the overall size of the injector. For example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 898,818, commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a unit injector including three plungers which form an intensifier assembly as compared to the common diameter, two plunger injector of U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,901. The intensification assembly includes an upper and an intermediate plunger having larger diameters, and therefore larger cross-sectional areas, than the lower plunger. As a result, during each injection stroke of the plungers, an intensification effect caused by difference in cross-sectional areas of the plungers, increases the pressure of the fuel in the metering chamber and therefore the injection pressure. The larger diameter timing chamber also decreases the timing fluid pressure created in the timing chamber during the injection stroke thereby decreasing the stresses and forces in the outer portion of the injector body. However, this three-plunger design also undesirably increases the overall length and cost of the injector while increasing the size and weight of the engine.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,959,360 to Nichols and 3,379,374 to Mekkes disclose other types of closed nozzle assemblies for fuel injectors. Nichols discloses a closed nozzle assembly having a needle valve biased in a closed position by a coil spring. A fuel passage extends through the needle valve which is positioned at least partially within the coils of the spring. However, in order to control the needle valve and therefore injection, this assembly requires additional components, such as a movable housing and plunger assembly, positioned outward of the spring thereby undesirably increasing the length of the closed nozzle assembly and the injector. Moreover, the fuel passages extending through the needle valve do not supply fuel to the injector orifices for injection. As a result, longer and larger passages positioned outside the spring deliver a larger amount of fuel to the closed nozzle assembly than is necessary for injection resulting in a longer than necessary response time for each injection event.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,374 to Mekkes discloses a closed nozzle assembly having a spring-biased needle valve for controlling the flow of fuel from the injector orifices wherein the needle valve and fuel transfer passages are positioned within the spring coils. However, as a result, the needle valve is not positioned adjacent the injector orifices thus requiring an unnecessarily long transfer passage between the needle valve seat and the orifices. Consequently, after the needle valve closes, excess fuel left in this transfer passage may flow into the engine cylinder preventing the needle valve from effectively performing its intended function of providing a deliberate, abrupt end to injection, and disadvantageously causing secondary injections and unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust. Also, by incorporating large, movable components within the spring coils, this closed nozzle assembly prevents other components, such as supply passages and a check valve, from being positioned within the spring coils.
Consequently, there is a need for a closed nozzle assembly which minimizes the length of the nozzle assembly and therefore the overall length of the injector while effectively functioning to control the discharge of fuel through the discharge orifices.

Compact closed nozzle assembly for a fuel injector


An apparatus for processing flat parts, in particular plastic substrates, preferably plastic cards, having a store containing the parts to be processed, at least one processing device defining a processing section and a transport device for transporting the parts over the processing section is characterized in that, before the processing device, a feed device extending over a feed section is provided, and in that the feed device comprises aligning means for aligning the parts over the feed section. A suitable method has appropriate method steps.

The processing of plastic cards very frequently concerns the application of paint, a magnetic strip or other identification and security features. Merely by way of example, reference should be made in this respect to bank cards, credit cards, telephone cards, identity cards, cards as access authorization, gift cards with a storable credit, etc.
The processing of plastic cards is problematical in as much as the production process has to be carried out at high speeds. For example, in the overall process, speeds of 0.4 m/sec and more are not infrequently achieved, which means that it is possible to process or print up to 6000 parts or cards per hour.
However, apparatuses known hitherto in practice for processing corresponding cards have considerable problems in relation to precision, which can frequently be traced back to a positioning accuracy of the card which cannot always be reproduced. During the transport of the cards, excessively high speed fluctuations of the conveying device occur, with simultaneous inaccurate positioning. In addition, the respective position of the card cannot be registered sufficiently quickly or even cannot be registered at all. In addition, the cards are regularly positioned before the first processing station and after that are conveyed through all the stations on a suction belt. Subsequent alignment, in particular following unintentional displacement of the card, is not possible.

Apparatus for processing flat parts and method


A semiconductor chip includes a semiconductor substrate having an electronic circuit theron and a number of bond pads thereon. The bond pads are coupled to the electronic circuit and permit power to be supplied to the electronic circuit and signals to be input to and output from the electronic circuit. The bond pads are arranged on the surface of the substrate such that at least some of the pads are separated from the edge of the substrate by other bond pads. A lead frame is also provided in which two of the contact pins are electrically coupled to each other by a contact strip which extends along at least a portion of an edge of a die pad. The contact strip is located between the die pad and some of the other contact pins.

The invention relates to a semiconductor chip and a lead frame on which the semiconductor chip is to be mounted.
With the advent of smaller (less than 0.5 xcexcm) semiconductor technologies, complex functionality and systems can be integrated on a single chip. However, cost effective packaging of such devices is a challenge, due to the large number of external functional and power supply pins which are required for such devices. The interface between the external package and the chip core is normally through bond pads on the silicon surface of the chip. These can take up a large proportion (sometimes greater than 50%) of the total surface area of the silicon chip.
Accordingly, the size of a silicon chip is limited to a large extent by the number of pads that are required and the space that the pads occupy on the surface area of the silicon chip.
With current silicon chip designs the pads are arranged in side by side relationship on the surface of the silicon chip adjacent the edges of the chip to permit easy access for wire bonding from the pads to the corresponding pins on the lead frame. Hence, if a large number of pads are required for a specific chip design, it is necessary to increase the edge length of the silicon chip to accommodate the additional pads. This inevitably causes an increase in the size of the silicon chip.
There is also a further problem with trying to reduce the size of a packaged silicon chip. Pins are required on the lead frame which are coupled to the bond pads on the silicon chip. It is the pins which couple the bond pads to external devices and supply power to the silicon chip. Therefore, if a silicon chip has a large number of pads then a correspondingly large number of pins are also required. The large number of pins has the problem of increasing the final package size of the silicon chip.
One attempt at reducing the total number of pins has involved reducing the number of power supply pins which are required by xe2x80x9cdouble bondingxe2x80x9d two power supply bond pads to one pin.
However, this has the disadvantage that it does not permit strategic placement of the power supply bond pads on the surface of the silicon chip. This is important to achieve good noise performance on the chip.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor chip comprises a semiconductor substrate having an electronic circuit thereon and a number of bond pads thereon, the bond pads being coupled to the electronic circuit and permitting power to be supplied to the electronic circuit and signals to be input to and output from the electronic circuit, the bond pads being arranged on the surface of the substrate such that at least some of the pads are separated from the edge of the substrate by other bond pads.
An advantage of the invention is that by not having all the bond pads adjacent to an edge of the substrate, it is possible to minimise the required surface area of the semiconductor substrate.
Preferably, the at least some pads are arranged such that they are offset from the immediately adjacent bond pads which are adjacent to the edge of the semiconductor substrate.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a lead frame comprises a die pad adapted to have a semiconductor chip mounted thereon and a number of contact pins adapted to be electrically coupled to bond pads on a semiconductor chip mounted on the die pad, in use, two of the contact pins being electrically coupled to each other by a contact strip which extends along at least a portion of an edge of the die pad, and the contact strip being located between the die pad and some of the other contact pins.
An advantage of this aspect of the invention is that by providing two contact pins which are electrically interconnected by a contact strip, it is possible to have a lead frame with a power supply contact pin which extends from one side of the die pad to the opposite side of the die pad such that bond pads on the semiconductor chip may be electrically connected to any point on the contact strip extending between the two contact pins. This has the advantage that it is possible to arrange the power supply bond pads on the semiconductor chip to achieve, for example, good noise performance, while still permitting the power supply bond pads to be electrically coupled to the power supply contact pins. It also has the advantage that only two contact pins are required for a number of power supply bond pads.
Typically, two pairs of contact pins may each be electrically coupled to each other, each pair being electrically coupled by a respective contact strip, such that the first contact strip is located between an edge of the die pad and the second contact strip, and the second contact strip is located between the first contact strip and some of the other contact pins. This has the advantage of permitting two different supply voltages to be supplied to the same silicon chip.
If necessary, more pairs of pins could be electrically coupled to each other using further contact strips in order to provide further power supplies, if necessary.
Preferably, the contact strip extends along the full length of at least one edge of the die pad, which is preferably the edge of the die pad which would be adjacent to the edge of the semiconductor chip which has the power supply pads adjacent to it, when the semiconductor chip is mounted on the die pad.
Preferably, the die pad is adapted to have a silicon chip in accordance with the first aspect mounted thereon.


A wave beveling machine is disclosed which produces a wave bevel on a glass work piece. The machine includes a feed path that is adapted to receive a glass work piece and which includes a plurality of spaced-apart treatment heads adjacent the feed path and adapted to sequentially engage the edge region of the work piece as the work piece is moved along the feed path. Each of the plurality of heads includes at least one contact region adapted to contact the edge region of the work piece, and one or more of the heads is adapted to abrade glass from the edge region when in contact with the edge region. The machine further includes a treatment head positioning system adapted to cause the contact surfaces of the plurality of heads and the edge region of the work piece to be engaged and cyclically moved in an oscillating path with respect to each other to produce the wave bevel on the edge region. The machine may further include one or more conveyors that support and move the work piece along the feed path. Furthermore the heads may be mounted on a single carriage, on which they move or are engaged as a unit, or may be independently mounted, wherein they may each be controlled and positioned by the treatment head positioning system independent of the rest of the plurality of heads.

Panes of glass are often beveled to improve their appearance. Beveling a pane of glass involves removing a portion of the glass to give the pane a more ornate and aesthetically pleasing appearance. Bevels generally include a height, a width and a bevel angle or pitch. For example, and as used herein, in a plane of glass having a pair of opposed faces and an edge extending between the faces, the height of the bevel is measured along the edge transverse to the faces, the bevel width is measured along the plane of the faces transversely from the edge, and the bevel angle is measured between the plane of one of the faces and the produced bevel.
Conventional glass beveling machines come in two general forms. The first is a single-headed machine, which is commonly called a shape beveling machine. The machine supports a pane of glass and rotates it with respect to a grinding head. The head rotates at a fixed bevel angle with respect to the edge region of the pane to bevel the edge region as the pane is rotated with respect to the head. The bevel angle of the head is adjustable prior to use to control the height and width of the resulting bevel, but remains at a determined angle when the machine is being used. As a result, the produced bevel has a constant height and width along the edge region of the pane. The machine may include positioning rollers that follow or trace the edge of the glass to orient the head with respect to the edge region. Other embodiments of this type of machine use a template that is followed or traced to define the path of the head. These machines are useful because they can bevel the entire perimeter of a pane of glass as the pane is rotated with respect to the head. However, the machines are rather slow and labor intensive because the single head requires multiple passes with a variety of heads to completely bevel and polish the edge region of the glass. In addition, these machines only work with panes of glass that do not have sharp corners so that the tracer can follow the perimeter of the glass. Examples of these machines are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,989,323, 5,028,182, 5,074,079, 5,265,382 and 5,433,652 to Park, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The other general type of conventional beveling machine is a multi-headed machine that is commonly referred to as a straight beveling machine. The machine is much faster than the above-described tracing machine, however it is only suited for use on glass plates or panes that have straight edges. The machine includes a plurality of spaced-apart heads (typically at least nine) and a track or feed path along which the glass plate is fed through the machine and into contact with the heads. The heads collectively bevel and polish one edge of the plate at a time, and the heads typically are arranged to begin with rather coarse grinding heads and end with polishing heads. The machine may also include an edging head that "seams" the edge of the work piece so the edge is not sharp. In some embodiments, the heads are adjustable, in that they may be positioned prior to use to adjust the bevel width, bevel angle and to accommodate the fact that glass plates come in a variety of thicknesses. After being initially positioned, however, the heads remain fixed in their defined positions while the glass pane is fed through the machine.
One specific type of bevel is a wave bevel, in which either or both of the height and the width oscillate along the length of the edge region of the pane of glass. Typically, the oscillating width and/or height periodically vary along the length of the edge region, however, in some embodiments the wavelength and degree of variance are not constant. Wave bevels further improve the appearance of a pane of glass over conventional bevels, but they are much more difficult to produce, especially on a pane of glass with straight edges.
Before the invention disclosed herein, it was only possible to produce a wave bevel using the temple-following form of a single-headed beveling machine. This type of machine can be adapted to produce wave bevels when an appropriate template is used to cause the head to move in and out with respect to the edge. Because of the single head, however, it is necessary to make repeated passes along the edge region of the work piece with a variety of treatment heads to produce the finished wave bevel. Generally, the initial pass is made with a fairly coarse grinding head, then that head is replaced with a somewhat smoother head and the grinding process is repeated. This process is repeated a number of times with less abrasive grinding heads, including very smooth polishing heads.
Because of the number of times the work piece must be engaged by the heads, as well as the time needed to remove and replace each of the treatment heads, the above-described process is extremely slow and labor intensive. This causes the wave beveled glass to be much more expensive than a conventionally beveled pane of glass. By way of example, a pane of glass with a simple bevel may be three times as expensive as a similar pane without beveling, and a pane of glass with a wave bevel may be three times as expensive as a similar pane with a simple bevel. Furthermore, because existing wave beveling machines must follow a template to position the treatment head with respect to the edge region, they cannot easily produce a wave bevel on the corner regions of the pane of glass. More specifically, the head cannot properly maneuver around a corner without losing contact with the edge or the template. Therefore, each of the generally straight edges forming the corner must be separately beveled, thereby further increasing the time and labor necessary to produce a wave bevel along the entire perimeter of the pane of glass.


A semiconductor device includes a device isolation structure formed on a semiconductor substrate to define an active region. A first Si-based epitaxial pattern is formed over the active region corresponding to a bit line contact region and a portion of a gate region at both sides adjacent to the bit line contact region. A second Si-based epitaxial layer is formed over the semiconductor substrate which is stepped up on the first Si-based epitaxial pattern. A stepped gate pattern is formed over the stepped second Si-based epitaxial layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, and more specifically to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device wherein a gate is formed on a stepped Si epitaxial layer to increase an effective length of a gate channel, and an oxide film is only formed at the interface of the Si epitaxial layer and the semiconductor substrate where a bit line contact is to be formed, thereby improving a characteristic of a leakage current for a storage node junction.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a layout illustrating a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, wherein reference numerals 1000a, 1, 2 and 3 denote a cell region, an active region, a first gate region and a second gate region, respectively. The first gate region 2 is overlapped the second gate region 3. A line width of the first gate region 2 is less than a width of the second gate region 3.
FIGS. 2a through 2f are cross-sectional views illustrating a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, wherein FIGS. 2a(i) through 2f(i) are cross-sectional views taken along the line I-I′ in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 2a(ii) through 2f(ii) are cross-sectional views in a core/peripheral circuit region 1000b.
Referring to FIG. 2a, a stacked structure of a SiGe epitaxial layer (not shown), a first Si epitaxial layer (not shown), a first oxide film (not shown) and a first nitride film (not shown) is formed on a semiconductor substrate 10 having a cell region 1000a and a core/peripheral circuit region 1000b defined therein. Next, a first photoresist film (not shown) is deposited on the entire surface of the first nitride film (not shown) in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. Thereafter, the first photoresist film (not shown) is exposed and developed to form a first photoresist film pattern (not shown) exposing the first gate region 2 of FIG. 1 and covering the entire core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. After that, the stacked structure is etched using the first photoresist film pattern as an etching mask to expose the semiconductor substrate 10 corresponding to the first gate region 2 and the entire core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. The first photoresist film pattern is then removed.
Referring FIG. 2b, a first nitride film pattern 19 and a first oxide film pattern 17 in the cell region 1000a are removed via a wet etching method. Next, a second Si expitaxial layer 25 is formed on the entire surface of the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b.
Referring to FIG. 2c, a second oxide film 30 and a second nitride film 35 are formed on the second Si epitaxial layer 25 in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. Next, a second photoresist film (not shown) is deposited on the entire surface of the second nitride film 35. The second photoresist film is then exposed and developed to form a second photoresist film pattern (not shown) defining the active region 1 of FIG. 1 in the cell region 1000a, and also an active region in the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. Thereafter, the second nitride film 35, the second oxide film 30, the second Si epitaxial layer 25, the first Si epitaxial layer pattern 15, the SiGe epitaxial layer pattern 13 and a given thickness of the semiconductor substrate 10 are etched using the second photoresist film pattern as an etching mask to form a trench 40 in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. After that, the second photoresist film pattern (not shown) is removed. The SiGe epitaxial layer pattern 13 is then etched through a sidewall of the trench 40 via a wet etching method to form a space 27 under the first Si epitaxial layer pattern 15.
Referring to FIG. 2d, a gap-filling insulating film 45 is formed on the entire surface to fill up the space 27 and the trench 40 in the cell region 1000a and to fill up the trench 40 in the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. Next, the gap-filling insulating film 45 is polished until the second nitride film 35 is exposed. The gap-filling insulating film 45 serves as a device isolation structure. Thereafter, a given thickness of the gap-filling insulating film 45 in the trench 40 is etched. The second nitride film 35 is then removed via a wet etching method. After that, a well implant process and a channel implant process are performed so as to adjust impurity concentrations in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b.
Referring to FIG. 2e, the second oxide film 30 in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b is removed via a wet etching method to expose the second Si epitaxial layer 25. A gate oxide film 50 is then formed on the exposed second Si epitaxial layer 25. Next, gate conductive layers 60 and 70, and a hard mask insulating film 80 are formed on the gate oxide film 50 and the gap-filling insulating film 45 in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b.
Referring to FIG. 2f, a third photoresist film (not shown) is deposited on the hard mask insulating film 80 in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. Thereafter, the third photoresist film (not shown) is exposed and developed to form a third photoresist film pattern defining the second gate region 3 of FIG. 1 and a gate region (not shown) in the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. Specifically, the third photoresist film pattern exposes a bit line contact region and storage node contact regions in the cell region 1000a and covers a region where a gate is to be formed in the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b. Next, the hard mask insulating film 80 and the gate conductive layers 70 and 60 are etched using the third photoresist film pattern as an etching mask to respectively form a gate 90 in the cell region 1000a and the core/peripheral circuit region 1000b.
However, in accordance with the above-described method, the gate 90 is formed on a plane second Si epitaxial layer. As a result, a gate channel length is decreased as a design rule of the semiconductor device is reduced. Moreover, an oxide film is formed at the interface of the Si epitaxial layer and the semiconductor substrate where a storage node contact is to be formed. Accordingly, the leakage current for a storage node junction is highly depended upon an interface characteristic between the Si epitaxial layer and an oxide film. In addition, the SiGe epitaxial layer under the storage node contact is removed for forming a device isolation film. As a result, Ge in the SiGe epitaxial layer is diffused into the first Si epitaxial layer, the second Si epitaxial layer and the semiconductor substrate due to heat treatment processes prior to the formation of the device isolation film. Accordingly, the leakage current for the storage node junction is increased.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same


An apparatus for fastening a line supporting a fender on a vessel has a body portion defining a first bore extending through the body portion for receiving the line, and a second bore spaced apart from the first bore and extending through the body portion for receiving the line after it is passed through the first bore and wrapped around a rail on the vessel. A handle portion is generally U-shaped for receiving the body portion between opposing sides of the handle portion and is slidable relative to the body portion. A drive arm is pivotally mounted on one end to the body portion, and is coupled on another end to the opposing sides of the handle portion. The drive arm defines a toothed surface and is spring biased for engaging the line extending through the second bore with the toothed surface to lock the line in place. The toothed surface of the drive arm is moved into and out of engagement with the line by moving the handle portion toward and away from the body portion.

There are various known devices for fastening and adjusting lines on marine vessels, and particularly for fastening and adjusting a line suspending a fender. A fender is a soft bumper, typically made from a rubber-like material, or another material for absorbing impact, which in some instances is inflated, and is suspended on a line over the side of a marine vessel in order to protect the vessel when docked or rafted next to another vessel. The fender line is typically tied to a rail extending along the deck on the side of the vessel or to a cleat on the deck.
One known device for securing a fender line to a rail is called the "FEND-R-CLIP", which is basically a single piece of sheet metal, in which one end is bent into a c-shaped clip for attachment to the rail, and which has an elongated aperture for receiving the line. The elongated aperture is circular on one end and tapers down to a narrow width on the other end, so that the line can be pulled down through the aperture, and fixed in place by being squeezed between the tapered surfaces of the aperture. Although this is an inexpensive device, the line is not always easily pulled through the circular part of the aperture, and when fixing the line in place by jamming the line between the tapered sides of the aperture, the line can become frayed.
Another known device is the BUMPER BUDDY.RTM., manufactured by Idea Development Company of Issaquah, Wash. This device is made from a unitary piece of plastic, and includes a pair of c-shaped clip portions for attachment to a rail, and several apertures for running the line through the device, and a cleat portion for fixing the line in place after it is passed through the aperture. Although this device is relatively inexpensive to make, it is time-consuming to pass the line through the apertures and to then fix the line with the cleat portion. In addition, once the line is fixed in place, it is relatively difficult to adjust the position of the fender by pulling the line through the various apertures.
Another known device for supporting a fender is manufactured by NHS Marine Company in Florida, which has a plastic strap with a snapping lock mechanism for attachment of the strap to a rail. A metal portion defines a passageway for passing the line through the device, and a sliding metal roller with a knurled or ridged surface is seated within the passageway. As the line is pulled down through the passageway, the sliding metal roller is pulled down with the line so as to restrict the passageway and secure the line in place. The sliding metal roller can be difficult to manipulate, thus rendering adjustment of the fender line difficult too. The metal roller also tends to become jammed within the passageway, requiring the use of pliers or a similar tool to release the roller and the line.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for rapidly and easily fastening, releasing, and adjusting a line, such as a line suspending a fender on a marine vessel, which overcomes the drawbacks and disadvantages of the prior art.

Apparatus for fastening and adjusting a line


A lift system includes a trolley member defining an aperture extending through the trolley member, a locking unit coupled to the trolley member, the locking unit including a locking unit body and a pin that extends outward from the locking unit body, where the pin is repositionable between an engaged position, in which the pin extends through and outward from the aperture of the trolley member, and a disengaged position, a cable extending between and terminating at an actuator end that is engaged with the actuator and a subject lift end positioned opposite the actuator end, where the cable is selectively drawn to the trolley member or paid out from the trolley member upon actuation of the actuator, and a subject lift connecting member coupled the subject lift end of the cable.

Subject lifts, such as overhead lifts, are used to transport subjects for any number of reasons. Overhead lifts may be mounted to a ceiling and may include a motor and a lift drum that is driven by the motor. A lift strap may be coupled to the lift drum for lifting and lowering a subject when the drum is rotated. For example, as the lift drum rotates, the lift strap is either wound up onto the lift drum or paid out from the lift drum. A sling bar may be attached to the overhead lift to connect a subject to the overhead lift. For example, an accessory such as a sling, a vest, or the like, may be attached to a subject, and the accessory may be coupled to the sling bar to connect the subject to the overhead lift, such that the subject may be lifted or lowered as the lift strap is wound up onto the lift drum or paid out from the lift drum.
Overhead lifts may generally be engaged with ceiling-mounted rails, and the overhead lifts may be movable along the rails so that subjects connected to the overhead lifts may be moved between different locations. In many buildings, ceiling-mounted rails are not interconnected, such that the building includes multiple separate rails, each extending through different portions of the building. In operation, it may be necessary to move an overhead lift between different ceiling-mounted rails, which may require a user to remove an overhead lift from one rail, and re-install the overhead lift to another rail. Additionally, in some instances, overhead lifts may need to be removed from the ceiling-mounted rails from time to time, for example to perform maintenance on the overhead lifts. The motor and lift drum of overhead lifts may be heavy, and the removal and re-installation of overhead lifts to a rail may be difficult and require multiple users.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative subject lift transfer unit assemblies to assist a user in installing an overhead lift to, and removing an overhead lift from a rail.

Subject lift transfer assemblies and methods for operating the same


A calibration artifact for an inspection system is provided. The calibration artifact comprises a base adapted for placement within a holding fixture of an inspection system during calibration, a sphere operatively connected to the base, and a light source operatively connected to the base. The base, the sphere, and the light source are removable from the inspection system after calibration.

Gas turbine engines, such as those used to power modern aircraft, include a compressor for pressurizing a supply of air, a combustor for burning fuel in the presence of high pressurize, compressed air to generate and accelerate high temperature, high velocity combustion gases, and a turbine for extracting energy from the resultant combustion gases. The combustion gases leaving the turbine are exhausted through a nozzle to produce thrust to power the aircraft. In passing through the turbine, the combustion gases turn the turbine, which turns a shaft in common with the compressor to drive the compressor.
As the hot combustion gases pass through the turbine, various turbine elements, such as the turbine stator vanes and turbine rotor blades of the turbine, are exposed to hot combustion gases. In order to protect these turbine elements from exposure to the hot combustion gases, it is known to cool the turbine blades and vanes. In order to facilitate cooling of the blades and vanes, it is known to form the turbine blades and vanes with complex systems of internal cooling passages into which compressor bleed air, or another cooling fluid, is directed to cool the blade or vane. The cooling air exits the blade/vane through a system of holes arranged in such a manner that the exterior surface of the blade/vane is cooled, and is then passed out of the engine with the rest of the exhausted combustion gases.
In some turbine blade/vane embodiments, the cooling air exit holes are arranged in a specific pattern on various facets of the blade/vane airfoil to create a surface cooling film. The surface cooling film creates a layer of cool air, which insulates the airfoil from the hot combustion gases passing through the turbine. In order to ensure that the surface cooling film properly forms, various shaped exit holes are precisely located and bored at various angles on the surface of the airfoil. Thus, after manufacture it is necessary to inspect the blades and vanes to ensure the holes are properly positioned.
Conventional inspection systems include a fixture for holding the turbine blade/vane being inspected, a video camera, and a computer for controlling the inspection process and processing the video camera images. Generally, conventional inspection systems require inspection of each cooling hole from a gun-barrel view, which typically also requires the use of a five-axis coordinate measuring machine (CMM) for orientating the element and stepping the video probe from hole to hole. The turbine vanes and blades may, for example, have as many as 200 to over 300 cooling holes, each of which must be individually inspected.
Conventional inspection systems implement a step and stop process inspection, wherein the video camera is moved from hole location to hole location and positioned in a stationary relationship relative to the hole for a period of about 1.5 to 2.0 seconds before moving on to the next hole. This dwell time is needed for the video camera and the target hole to synchronize position, for the video camera to image the target hole, and the computer to analyze the dimensional measurements and output results. The video camera has a low frame rate capability, typically only 30 frames per second. Typically, inspection of a single airfoil may take as long as ten minutes, depending upon the number of holes and also the time required in initial part probing. Part probing is required to properly position the part to be inspected in the workpiece fixture prior to initiating the actual hole inspection, which in conventional practice can take from about 1.5 minutes to over 3 minutes.
Conventional calibration techniques for inspections systems include using two separate artifacts to measure all of the calibration parameters. In addition, those calibration artifacts require a dedicated, fixed location of the machine table and a hardwired connection to a power source. Use of a dedicated location to the side of the main work area requires extra reach for at least one of the machine axes. As a result, motors, actuators, bearings and scales are longer, the machine is heavier, and more space is needed solely to accommodate for calibration. Along with the added installation expense, there are reliability costs and safety concerns associated with the wires routed through the articulating joints of the machine, electrical contacts and grounding. Therefore, there is a need for a simplified and more reliable calibration system. This disclosure is directed to solving this need and provides a way to reduce the cost and complexity of a calibration device for inspection systems.

Machine tool—based, optical coordinate measuring machine calibration device


A method and an apparatus are described for the production of a mitered corner joint between parts of a frame, by vibration welding. During the welding procedure, in each case two parts of a frame are displaced by oscillatory heads into mutually perpendicular straight-line translatorial oscillations, the phases of which have been matched to one another in such a way that mitered areas of the two parts of the frame oscillate perpendicularly with respect to a stationary mitered plane and through the same, while the mitered area is retained under a prescribed welding pressure in the system. The method and the apparatus can be used for the simultaneous production of the four corner joints of a frame, in particular of a frame of the moveable or fixed part of windows or of doors. For this, at least four, and preferably eight, oscillatory heads, which displace the parts of the frame into the translatorial oscillations, are synchronized in such a way that their frequencies and amplitudes are the same.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the production of mitered corner joints between two components by vibration welding.
Vibration welding methods for the production of mitered corner joints between frame parts of a rectangular frame, in particular, of a casement frame for windows and doors, are known from the patents EP 1 207 994 B1, EP 1 447 167 A1, EP 1 648 648 A1 and EP 1 656 231 A1. With these vibration welding methods, the frame parts are set into oscillation by the oscillating heads of the vibration welding machines in such a way that the mutually contacting miter areas oscillate in the fixed miter plane (joint plane) oppositely phased under welding pressure in order to incur a frictional welding connection. These oppositely phased oscillations of the mutually contacting miter areas are orbital movements, for example, circular or elliptical movements, which in the extreme case can also be straight-line movements. Because these movements occur in the fixed miter planes, and thus, obliquely to the longitudinal direction of the frame parts, the oscillating heads must also be disposed obliquely to the longitudinal and transverse direction of the frame parts.
From these publications it is further known to produce the four mitered corner joints of a frame simultaneously, in that eight oscillating heads disposed at the corner areas of the frame are driven synchronously.
A similar vibration welding method for producing corner joints of a frame is known from DE 199 38 099 A1, wherein the frame parts are set into linear oscillations perpendicular to the frame plane, in order to rub, and thereby, to weld together the mutually contacting miter areas of the frame parts. With this vibration welding method, as well, the relative movements of the mutually contacting miter areas of the frame parts occur in the fixed miter planes at the four corners of the frame.

Method and apparatus for the production of mitered corner joints by vibration welding


This transformer comprises a tank containing insulating liquid and an amorphous alloy core within the liquid comprising spaced-apart upper and lower yokes and two spaced-apart legs at opposite ends of the yokes. Coil structure surrounds the legs, locating the yokes outside the coil structure and locating the legs within two windows of the coil structure. A box-like enclosure primarily of electrical insulating material encloses the lower yoke and is positioned to capture therein chips of amorphous alloy that might become detached from the core and fall toward the bottom of the tank.. A first portion of the box-like enclosure extends between the two windows of the coil structure and is held against the bottom of the coil structure. This first portion includes flaps that are folded upwardly into the two coil windows to form liners for these windows, but still leaving clearance space within the windows around the core legs through which detached chips may fall past the liners into the box portion of the enclosure. The box-like enclosure also includes portions which are folded about the lower yoke to form a box that includes said first portion of the enclosure as a lid.

This invention relates to an electric transformer and, more particularly, to a transformer having a core of amorphous ferromagnetic alloy.
Traditionally, the cores of electric transformers have been made of grain-oriented silicon steel laminations. In recent years, however, amorphous ferromagnetic alloy has been increasingly used in such applications in order to decrease core operating losses. This amorphous alloy is available in the form of very thin strip material which is quite brittle, especially after annealing. Using this strip material for core laminations, it is very difficult to make a laminated amorphous alloy transformer core and to incorporate such core in the transformer without some chipping or breaking of the edges of the core laminations. Most such chips can be removed during the manufacturing process, but there is a chance that a small quantity will appear or be developed later.
The presence of loose metal chips in a transformer is very undesirable since such chips can deposit on and short out winding insulation and can reduce the dielectric strength of the insulating oil in the transformer. Either of these conditions can lead to a failure of the transformer.

Transformer with amorphous alloy core having chip containment means


The present invention provides an optical pickup apparatus including: a first light source; a second light source; and a light-converging optical system including a coupling lens and an objective lens. The coupling lens includes a first diffractive structure. The optical pickup apparatus satisfies a predetermined condition according to the chromatic aberration, focal length, and dispersion of the material.

In recent years, there have been rapidly proceeded the research and development for a high-density optical disc system, which is capable of recording and/or reproducing information (hereinafter, "recording and/or reproducing" will be expressed by using following wording "recording/reproducing") by using a blue-violet laser diode having wavelength of about 400 nm. For example, there is provided an optical disc, what is called a "Blu-ray Disc" (hereinafter it will be called BD), used for recording/reproducing information based on the standard that NA (Numerical Aperture) is 0.85 and wavelength is equal to 405 nm. As for BD, information of 23-27 GB per a layer can be recorded on the optical disc having a diameter of 12 cm, which is the same size as a DVD which is used based on the standard that NA is 0.6 and wavelength of a light source is 650 nm, and whose recording capacity is 4.7 GB. There is also provided an optical disc, what is called a "HD DVD" (hereinafter it will be called HD), used for recording/reproducing information based on the standard that NA (Numerical Aperture) is 0.65 and wavelength of a light source is equal to 405 nm. As for HD, information of 15-20 GB per a layer can be recorded on the optical disc having a diameter of 12 cm. These discs are named "a high density optical disc".
On the other hand, it is sometimes considered that a product, such as an optical disc player and a recorder (hereinafter it will be called an optical disc player/recorder), which is capable of only recording/reproducing information for a high-density optical disc is worthless. Taking account of a fact that, at present, DVDs and CDs (Compact Disc), onto which various kinds of information have been recorded, are on the market, the value of the product as a high-density optical disc player/recorder is increased by, for example, enabling to appropriately record/reproduce information additionally for DVDs and CDs, which user possess. From these backgrounds, the optical pickup apparatus installed in the high-density optical disc player/recorder is required to be capable of appropriately recording/reproducing information not only for a high-density optical disc but also a DVD and a CD.
As a method for appropriately recording/reproducing information for any disc of a high-density optical disc, DVD and further CD while keeping the compatibility, it is feasible that a method of selectively switching the optical systems corresponding to the recording density of discs: the high-density optical disc, the DVD and further the CD, for which information is recorded/reproduced. However, since a plurality of optical systems is required for the method, it is disadvantageous for the minimization of the product and which increases the cost of the product.
So, it is preferable to commonly share the optical system for the high-density optical disc and the optical system for the DVD and CD as much as possible in an optical pickup apparatus having compatibility in order to simplify the structure, to decrease the cost of the optical pickup apparatus and to decrease the number of optical parts structuring the optical pickup apparatus as much as possible. Further, to commonly share the objective optical system, which is placed so as to be opposing to the optical disc, has advantages from the viewpoints of simplifying the structure and decreasing the cost of the optical pickup apparatus. In addition to this, there is a requirement that an optical detector for receiving a reflected light flux from the optical disc needs to be commonly used.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Application Publication Open to Public Inspection (JP-A) No. 2005-141800, has disclosed an optical pickup apparatus having a commonly used objective lens realized by inserting a divergent angle conversion element in the optical pass on which light fluxes used for DVD and CD travels.
The performances necessary for the optical system in an optical pickup apparatus depend on the respective applications in the optical pickup apparatus. For example, chromatic aberration correction is unnecessary to only read an optical disc, particularly a high-density optical disc and a DVD. However, the chromatic aberration correction is necessary to record information onto the high-density optical disc and the DVD. In the optical pickup apparatus disclosed in JP-A 2005-141800, the chromatic aberration caused when the optical pickup apparatus is used with the high-density disc and the DVD is controlled in a low level by providing a diffractive structure on the divergent angle conversion element. In general, since the dispersion characteristics of the material are different in respective wavelength ranges, the amount of the chromatic aberration of the high density disc and the amount of the chromatic aberration of the DVD are different. In the optical pickup apparatus disclosed in JP-A 2005-141800, there is provided different coupling lenses: one is the coupling lens through which a light flux for the high-density optical disc passes and the other is the coupling lens through which a light flux for the DVD/CD passes. Using the different coupling lenses to good advantage, each of the coupling lenses corrects the chromatic aberration with the corresponding amount. When a common coupling lens is used to lower the cost, there is a problem, which is how to compatibly realize the correction of the chromatic aberrations for the high-density disc and the DVD/CD is realized.


According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for reducing load on a mobile network after the occurrence of a disaster event is provided. The method may include receiving a disaster location time. The method may include determining a target area based on the disaster location. The method may include determining target persons located within the target area. The method may include predicting the location of each target person based on historical movement data associated with each target person. The method may include determining a plurality of filtered persons based on the predicted location of each target person and the disaster time. The method may include determining a plurality of safe persons based on the filtered persons and a safety indicator. The method may include sending a safety notification to a plurality of concerned contacts associated with each safe person and blocking network traffic associated with each safe person.

The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, and more particularly to mobile network bandwidth conservation.
In disaster situations, family members and friends often attempt to contact people that have a possibility of being affected by the disaster to determine if the potentially affected people are safe. Concerned family members and friends will often generate a large volume of calls quickly overloads the mobile network servicing the area where the disaster occurred. When the mobile network servicing a disaster stricken area becomes overloaded from a large volume of calls, the network is no longer be able to provide service to people that are actually affected by the disaster and need access to a mobile network to obtain help.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Freeing up mobile network for important phone calls in case of disaster

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is a carbon nanotube-graphene composite comprising a substrate, a graphene layer disposed on the substrate, and a patterned layer of aligned carbon nanotubes disposed on the graphene layer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a carbon nanotube-graphene composite, and more particularly, to a carbon nanotube-graphene composite having a patterned layer of aligned carbon nanotubes formed on a graphene layer.
2. Description of Related Art
Global warming and petroleum crisis have become pressing issues to human sustainability and stimulated numerous attempts to seek for mitigation. Researches addressing these concerns may be divided into several categories: exploiting alternative energy resources, developing energy scavenging technology to harvest the waste work in our daily life, or constructing more efficient energy storage devices. The last one, at present, focuses much on the field of "supercapacitor," which generally refers to two distinct types of capacitor, that is, the electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLC) and the pseudocapacitors. The former operates by the separation of charge in a Helmholtz double layer at the interface between the surface of a conductor electrode and an electrolytic solution electrolyte; the latter utilizes the redox reactions electrosorbtion or intercalation on the surface of the electrode.
With regard to the electrical double-layer capacitors, since the capacitance value is determined by charges adsorbed on the surface of the electrode, materials with high specific surface area have become prominent candidates. Of these, vertically aligned carbon nanotube array drew much attention. However, the bonding strength between the vertically aligned carbon nanotubes and the underlying substrate is often weak, and the carbon nanotubes may be peeled off from the substrate after a limited number of charge and discharge cycles.

Carbon nanotube-graphene composite, method of forming the same, and electronic device

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology


In fabricating an inner roller for use in an internal-meshing planetary gear construction, the outer periphery of an inner-roller blank 30c is chucked in the state in which depressive forces are equally exerted on the outer periphery in all the directions thereof by a chucking jig 50A, and the inner-peripheral wall of the blank 30c is subjected to a burnishing work in this state. The resulting inner-roller blank 30c is heat-treated in the state in which the depressive chucking is released, whereupon the outer periphery of the blank 30c is finished by grinding. It is accordingly possible to fabricate at low cost the inner roller which can suppress angular backlash owing to a smaller clearance defined between it and a mating inner pin, and which exhibits a high durability and favorable slip characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating an inner roller or an outer roller in an internal-meshing planetary gear construction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has heretofore been extensively known an internal-meshing planetary gear construction having a first shaft, eccentric elements which are rotated by the rotation of the first shaft, external gears which are assembled so as to be respectively rotatable eccentrically to the first shaft through the corresponding eccentric elements, an internal gear with which the external gears are "in internal mesh" (that is, with which the external gears mesh internally of this internal gear), and a second shaft which is connected to the external gears through a device for transmitting only the rotational components of the external gears on the axes thereof.
An example of the construction in the prior art is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. The prior-art example is such that the construction is applied to "reduction gears" by employing the first shaft as an input shaft and the second shaft as an output shaft and by fixing the internal gear.
Eccentric elements 3a, 3b are snugly fitted on the input shaft 1 with a predetermined phase difference (180.degree. in this example) set therebetween. The eccentric elements 3a and 3b are integral in this example. Two external gears 5a, 5b are mounted on the respective eccentric elements 3a, 3b through corresponding bearings 4a, 4b. Each of the external gears 5a and 5b is formed with a plurality of inner roller holes 6 (6a and 6b), in each of which an inner pin 7 and an inner roller 8 are inserted.
The inner pin 7 is enclosed or concealed with the inner roller 8 for the purpose of dispersing slips during the operation of the planetary gear construction, that is, the slips between the inner pins 7 and the external gears 5a, 5b are dispersed into the slips between the inner pins 7 and the inner rollers 8, and the slips between the inner rollers 8 and the external gears 5a, 5b.
The inner pins 7 and inner rollers 8 which penetrate through the external gears 5a, 5b are secured or fitted in the flange portion of the output shaft 2.
The 2 (two) external gears 5a, 5b (in a double-row structure) are chiefly intended to enlarge a transmission capacity, to maintain a strength and to hold a dynamic rotational balance.
External teeth 9 of trochoidal tooth profile, circular-arc tooth profile, or the like are provided at the outer periphery of each of the external gears 5a, 5b. The external teeth 9 are in internal mesh with the internal gear 10 fixed to a casing 12.
The internal teeth of the internal gear 10 are concretely constructed of outer pins 11. The outer pins 11 are loosely fitted in outer pin holes 13, and are held easy of rotation. Each of the outer pins 11 is sometimes enclosed with an outer roller 14 as shown in FIG. 5 by way of example. Thus, slips during the operation can be dispersed (that is, the slips between the outer pins 11 and the outer pin holes 13 in FIG. 4 can be dispersed into the slips between the outer pins 11A and the outer rollers 14, and the slips between the outer rollers 14 and the outer pin holes 13 as understood from FIG. 5).
The operation of the exemplified reduction gears will be briefly explained. When the input shaft 1 is rotated one revolution, the eccentric elements 3a, 3b is also rotated one revolution. When the eccentric elements 3a, 3b perform one revolution, the respective external gears 5a, 5b are about to rock (or swing) and rotate around the input shaft 1. Since, however, the rotations of the external gears 5a, 5b on the axes thereof are restrained by the internal gear 10, the external gears 5a, 5b perform almost only the rocking in internal mesh with the internal gear 10.
Now, supposing by way of example a case where the number of teeth of each of the external gears 5a and 5b is N and where the number of teeth of the internal gear 10 is (N+1), the difference between the numbers of teeth is 1 (one). Consequently, each time the input shaft 1 is rotated one revolution, the external gears 5a and 5b shift (or rotate on their own axes) to the amount of one tooth relative to the internal gear 10 fixed to the casing 12. This signifies that speed of one rotation of input shaft 1 is reduced to speed of -1/N rotation of the external gears 5a, 5b. Here, the minus sign indicates the reverse rotation (or the revolution in the reverse direction).
The rotations of the external gears 5a, 5b have the rocking components thereof absorbed by clearances defined between the inner roller holes 6 and the inner rollers 8, and only the rotational components thereof on their own axes are transmitted to the output shaft 2 through the inner pins 7 inserted in the inner rollers 8. As a result, speed reduction at a reduction ratio of -N is eventually accomplished.
By way of example, accordingly, a geared motor of great reduction ratio can be obtained with only one stage of reduction mechanism by combining the reduction gears of the internal-meshing planetary gear construction with an electric motor.
In the prior-art example, the internal gear of the internal-meshing planetary gear construction is fixed, and the first shaft and second shaft are respectively employed as the input shaft and output shaft. However, reduction gears can also be constructed by fixing the second shaft, employing the first shaft as an input shaft and employing the internal gear as an output shaft. Further, speedup gears can also be constructed by inverting the input/output relations of each of such reduction gears.
Besides, in the prior-art example, the eccentric elements are directly mounted on the outer periphery of the first shaft. In this regard, there has also been known a construction of the type wherein the first shaft is dispersed or divided into "three first shafts" through spur gears, eccentric elements are respectively mounted on the dispersed first shafts, and the external gears are rockingly rotated through the eccentric elements. The present invention is applicable even to the internal-meshing planetary gear construction of such a type without any problem.
Meanwhile, as exaggeratedly shown in FIG. 6, a clearance .delta.1 is defined between the outer periphery of the inner pin 7 and the inner periphery of the inner roller 8. Besides, as exaggeratedly shown in FIG. 7, a clearance .delta.2 is defined between the outer periphery of the outer pin 11A and the inner periphery of the outer roller 14. Each of the clearances .delta.1 and .delta.2 serves to ensure the formation of a lubricating oil film between the two members, and to allow the smooth slip between the members touching with each other.
However, when such a clearance .delta.1 or .delta.2 is defined, the problem arises that backlash develops between the inner pin 7 and the inner roller 8 or between the outer pin 11A and the outer roller 14, with the result that the whole gear transmission mechanism undergoes backlash. This incurs the disadvantage that, to when the rotation on one side is to be transferred to the rotation on the other side, the rotation on the driving side does not immediately appear as the rotation on the driven side. Hereinbelow, such a delay in response shall be termed "angular backlash".
In a case where the internal-meshing planetary gear construction is used as the control mechanism of, for example, a servomotor, the angular backlash degrades the control precision thereof. Various causes are considered for the occurrence of the angular backlash in the internal-meshing planetary gear construction. As contrivances for eliminating such angular backlash, there have hitherto been known various structures, for example, one wherein the external gears, the internal gear, etc. are bisected for forward rotation and for reverse rotation, and one wherein the roles of the external gears, the internal gear, etc. are allotted to the forward rotation and to the reverse rotation. In these techniques, for example, the external gears for forward rotation are mounted with no angular backlash against the direction of forward rotation, and used only for forward rotation. On the other hand, the external gears for reverse rotation are also mounted with no angular backlash against the direction of reverse rotation and used only used for reverse rotation.
In addition, the inventors have even proposed an expedient as a method of minimizing a clearance relevant to an outer pin and an outer pin hole (in an internal-meshing planetary gear construction of the type which has no outer roller). In this technique, the outer pin and outer pinhole are contacted with each other only at 3 points, so that two oil pockets therebetween are formed to prevent seizure thereof.
In any of the known examples, however, note has never been taken of the clearance .delta.1 between the inner pin and the inner roller or the clearance .delta.2 between the outer pin and the outer roller for the purpose of relieving the angular backlash. It has been the actual circumstances that quite no measure is taken to counter the angular backlash developing in the clearance .delta.1 or .delta.2.
The reason therefor is that the clearance .delta.1 or .delta.2 has been considered unremovable (as an indispensable constituent) because of the following requisites: 1 Predetermined lubricating oil film needs to be always formed between the inner pin and the inner roller or between the outer pin and the outer roller. 2 Even at the appearance of the state in which the axes of the inner pin and the inner roller or those of the outer pin and the outer roller have deviated due to a machining error, an assemblage error, or the deformation of the two members during the transmission of power, both the members need to be slipped smoothly.
Incidentally, the use of a material of low friction and good affinity, for example, white metal or fluorocarbon resin is also considered as a method which ensures the favorable slides of the two slide members without defining the clearance. In general, however, a great torque with the torque of the input shaft amplified several times to 100 or more times, acts on the inner roller or outer roller of the internal-meshing planetary gear construction. Therefore, a material of high hardness and high strength must be used from the viewpoint of durability, and the above method cannot be adopted in many cases.
Further, in this regard, the material of high hardness and high strength needs to be wrought at a high precision, so that the inside and outside diameters of the inner roller or the outer roller must be finished by "grinding". Especially in case of finishing the inside diameter by the grinding, a finish roughness is limited (to 2-3 .mu.m! as an economical value) for the reason that the grinding is, to the last, a work for shearing the crystal grains of the material. This has led to the requisite that the existence of the clearance .delta.1 or .delta.2 having a certain magnitude is indispensable for keeping an oil film under the condition of the roughness.
For the reasons thus far explained, the clearance .delta.1 between the inner pin and the inner roller or the clearance .delta.2 between the outer pin and the outer roller has hitherto been thought indispensable. Accordingly, the occurrence of the angular backlash ascribable to the clearance has been thought inevitable.

Methods of fabricating inner roller and outer roller in internal-meshing planetary gear construction


A waveguide retroreflector consists of an end cap with curved output surface attached to a waveguide such as optical fiber. The radius of curvature of the output surface of the end cap matches the length of the end cap so as to retro-reflect a substantial portion of radiation exiting the waveguide, back into the waveguide. A method of fabricating the waveguide retroreflector includes steps of splicing an end cap to a waveguide, heating the free flat surface of the end cap, so that surface tension changes the shape of the end cap to a convex shape due to surface tension, monitoring amount of light reflected off the surface being heated, and stopping applying the heat when the amount of the reflected light approaches a maximum value.

A fiber laser resonator cavity has a reflector at each end of a length of an optical fiber that includes a doped core surrounded by one or more cladding layers. Generally, one reflector is a high reflector, having a reflectivity of close to 100% at the lasing wavelength, and the other reflector serves as the output coupler and typically has a reflectivity between 0.5% and 50% at the lasing wavelength. Reflectors can be formed by simply cleaving or polishing the ends of the fiber near perpendicular to the fiber axis and, if necessary, applying a coating to achieve a desired reflectivity. In most fiber lasers the desired output-coupler reflectivity is in the 1-10% range. The precise value has insignificant impact on the fiber laser performance; therefore, one very inexpensive, robust, and frequently-used option for the output coupler is to utilize the normal-incidence Fresnel reflectivity of the uncoated surface of around 4%, depending upon the refractive index of the fiber core.
In fiber lasers operating at high average power or high peak power, it can be deleterious for the unexpanded beam from the fiber core to impinge directly on the fiber end surface, whether coated or uncoated. Most often, the fiber core has a diameter between 5 microns and 30 microns, with a correspondingly small surface area; therefore at power levels of hundreds of Watts, the power density can approach 1 GW/cm2, which is near the damage threshold of most fiber materials such as silica, particularly in the event of any slight surface imperfection or contamination.
A common technique to reduce this high power density at a fiber end is to splice a short length of coreless fiber or rod onto the fiber end. Such a short length of fiber or rod is often referred to as a fiber end cap or a beam expander. In operation a beam emitted from the fiber core, upon entering the end cap, ceases to be confined and expands as it traverses the end cap, exiting through the end cap surface with an increased beam diameter and correspondingly lower power density. Typically the end cap is 0.1-5 millimeters long and increases the beam diameter up to 50-300 microns. Since the power density scales as the inverse square of the beam diameter, a 5-10 times increase in diameter will lower the power density by a factor of 25-100 times, greatly improving the reliability of the fiber tip.
In order to operate a fiber laser at high power levels with one or more fiber-end reflectors, either coated or uncoated, it would be desirable to incorporate a fiber end cap into the fiber end in order to reduce the power density. However, it is neither sufficient nor practicable to simply attach a conventional end cap to a reflective flat output surface. Indeed, the reflected light in this case would continue to expand as it passes back through the end cap, and the beam would not be coupled efficiently back into the fiber core.
For example, if for an output coupler end cap, a 10% reflective surface is used with 5% coupling efficiency, then 0.5% of the light incident on the end cap surface will be reflected and fed back into the oscillator, 9.5% of the light will be reflected and lost, and 90% of the light will be transmitted. For typical applications, the coupled fraction of the backreflected light should be at least 4-5%, otherwise the system would have insufficient feedback. Thus, the application of prior art end caps as output couplers for a high power fiber laser is inefficient resulting in a considerable amount of wasted light and poorly controlled lasing due to insufficient feedback.
An external bulk optic mirror can be used as an output coupler in a fiber laser. However, such a mirror has to be aligned with a high precision in angular, as well as in linear sense; moreover, the high accuracy of alignment would have to be maintained over the operational temperature range of the laser. A high degree of alignment stability is difficult to achieve, especially in high power lasers which generate large temperature gradients during normal operation. Moreover, when an external output coupler, such as an external concave mirror, is used for providing feedback into the fiber laser, there is an additional interface that the light has to go through in order to reflect off that external coupler and couple back into the fiber. Such an interface would exhibit a potential point of failure due to high optical power densities at the interface as has been explained above. Therefore, it is preferable that an output coupler of a fiber laser has no air gaps, or voids, for the laser light to go through in its way from the fiber core towards the output coupler reflective surface; ideally, the output coupler would have to be bonded to the fiber directly, such that the laser light does not encounter a significant change of the index of refraction as it travels from the fiber core and towards the output coupler reflective surface.
Further, in some of prior art applications of beam expanders, an output surface of an end cap is sometimes lensed, so as to collimate the output beam exiting a fiber. However, such a fiber collimator is not practical as an output coupler because, in order for a lensed surface to collimate a diverging optical beam through refraction, a nonzero, or non-normal angle of incidence of a ray onto said surface is required; therefore, a ray reflected off such a surface would be deviated from going back, such that the entire reflected beam would be defocused upon retroreflection and, therefore, would not couple back into fiber with a required efficiency.
It is an object of this invention to provide a monolithic end cap that will ensure that a sufficient fraction of the radiation reflected from the output surface of the end cap is coupled back into the fiber core.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an end cap with an efficiency that would couple at least 50% of the backreflected light back into the fiber core. This high coupling efficiency is achieved without having to rely on often difficult and tedious alignment of external optical elements. Prior to this invention, it would have been very difficult to achieve the required precision in transverse, longitudinal, and angular alignment of an external bulk optic mirror to achieve efficient coupling of the reflected light back into the laser core.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a method which incorporates an efficient reflector onto the end surfaces of a fiber end cap using conventional equipment in a novel way.
The method, which will be described in more detail below, has additional benefit of yielding a surface that is extremely clean and free of micro-cracks and other defects typical of a surface prepared by conventional processes such as polishing or cleaving.

Waveguide retroreflector and method of fabricating the same


A fuel injection valve includes a valve main body of a hollow tubular shape, a needle valve provided to the valve main body in a slidable manner, a valve seat opposing the needle valve to form a seat portion and having an injection hole formed downstream of the seat portion, and a guide portion provided upstream of the seat portion to guide the needle valve. An annular passage communicating in a circumferential direction is defined between the inner peripheral surface of the valve main body and the outer peripheral surface of the guide portion and a fuel passage through which to introduce a fuel from the annular passage to the seat portion is defined. An almost cylindrical filter to trap foreign matter heading toward the fuel passage is provided to the annular passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection valve used in an internal combustion engine of an automobile or the like.
2. Background Art
For a fuel injection valve used in an internal combustion engine, besides a filter provided upstream of the fuel injection valve to prevent entrance of foreign matter from the outside, there is a technique to provide a filter inside the fuel injection value to prevent foreign matter generated inside the fuel injection valve during the fabrication process from being stuck on a seat portion (valve seat). Foreign matter stuck on the seat portion can cause fuel leakage.
In a fuel injection valve disclosed in JP-A-2003-129922, a fuel circulator causing a fuel to circulate and furnished with a capability of guiding a needle valve is disposed upstream of the seat portion and a filter is disposed on the upper end face of the fuel circulator. It thus becomes possible to trap foreign matter generated upstream of the filter.
However, in a case where the filter is disposed to the upper end face of the fuel circulator as in the related art described above, there is a problem that foreign matter like burrs coming off from an axial fuel passage inside the fuel circulator and foreign matter generated when immovably press-fitting the fuel circulator to the nozzle body (valve main body) cannot be trapped in the filter.


A simulation unit which comprises at least two separated sections that are visually, odorously and thermally different and have means for creation of a given simulated environment and providing information for influencing the human senses and making the impression having effect on human memory, whereby said means comprise multimedia technique, air-conditioning units, mechanical odour sprayers, colour modifications and accessories of such spaces.

The use of drugs, particularly by young people, is a worldwide problem. Approach to this problem involves international effort aimed at control of drug production and drug flow as well as various sets of educational programs and various functional models aimed at deterring from taking drugs, which programs use conventional passive media like story telling, books reading, video watching, etc.
In the art, solutions are known that concentrate on the drug user side, on interactive methods of influencing, with the aim to increase effect of the anti-drug messages, such as interactive video, manual and multimedia computer games that catch attention of young people. Such methods should provide simulated experience on the basis of own decision to take or not to take drugs and the subsequent demonstration of the results, effects, and decisions. Systems for such simulation are versatile equipment, applicable anytime, in time and at various stages of the drug taking, they have a number of various embodiments.
EP 927,566 discloses equipment and a method for interactive simulation of the drug taking consequences and for disgusting the drug taking to young people, where the stimulated drug taking provides increased excitement from movements and sounds and apparent gambling passion. After a certain time this effect is weakened, the gambler requires to get another dose. This scenario repeats, but with every repeat the tolerance against drugs increases, the time of the "maximum excitement" shortens and increased percentage of the gambler's time is more and more dependent on getting and using drugs. The series of repeating converts the internal euphoria into frustration (feelings of futility or fury) and in this way they strongly effect against drug taking. This process is illustrated by equipment in the form of a modified multimedia game on the basis of motorcycle racing.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide simulation equipment using advanced technique for simulation of a given environment, particularly of the environment that disgusts drug taking, as well as of the environment for creating for example of advertising space.
Solutions of mobile means, e.g. special modifications of railway carriages, for various purposes are known.
The published CZ invention application PV 1992-875 discloses a design modification of a railway carriage, which railway carriage is closed and comprised of an independent undercarriage, a frame and transport space, which transport space is transversely to the longitudinal axis of the railway carriage separated into several independent compartments that form transportation cells. A cell can be provided with standardized elements for container handling and reloading openings in the face, side or roof surfaces.
DE-DOS 41 24 301 discloses an arrangement of the internal space of a railway carriage for local trains, which railway carriage is divided into a surface for standing passengers, seats area and a multipurpose area, which areas are separated by semitransparent partitions. The seats area is further divided into the short-time and the long-time areas, with seats arranged for various occasions during the journey. The short-time area seats are in right angles or diagonally to the train movement direction. This arrangement serves for accommodation of the passengers and for accommodation of the space for their comfort in the train.
None of the disclosed solutions meets the requirements imposed on a simulation unit according to the present invention


A method of determining a rate associated with a received signal including the steps of detecting the received signal (40); decoding the received signal at a first rate, determining a first path metric associated with the first rate, decoding the received signal at a second rate, and determining a second path metric associated with the second rate (44); calculating a plurality of discriminant functions based on the first and second path metrics (46); comparing at least one of the plurality of discriminant functions to a first predetermined value (48); and selecting one of the first and second rates as a determined rate based on the comparison.

In certain communication systems, such as in a code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular system as defined by interim specification (IS) IS-95, a receiver in the communication system determines an estimated encoding rate for each received frame. In such systems, the rate determination accuracy affects speech quality since any rate determination error typically causes annoying artifacts in the decoded speech signal. In addition, since rate determination is performed on a real-time basis, it is important that the rate determination process is performed in an efficient and cost effective manner.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved apparatus and method for performing rate determination in a communication system.

Method and apparatus for rate determination in a communication system


A cage for a rolling bearing formed from two axial halves and a rolling bearing cage assembly including a cage formed from two axial halves, include passages formed through the web separating adjacent rolling element pockets when the two halves are in an abutting relationship. A rigid element is inserted in at least one passage with radial ends extending into the adjacent rolling element pockets.

Bearing cages are known to maintain spacing between rolling elements in a bearing. The bearing cages include pockets for receiving a rolling element for free movement constrained by the walls forming the perimeter of the pocket. One wall forming the perimeter of the pocket can be a circumferential edge of the web between adjacent pockets.
In some applications, contact between the rolling element and the circumferential edge of the web influences the response of the rolling element to torque in unpredictable ways that are unacceptable in certain applications.
Some current bearing cages have attempted to address the rolling element contact with the edge of the web by placing an insert, or spacer, for example a compression spring, roller, or other component between adjacent rolling elements instead of a web. However, in some known systems, the position of the spacer varies with respect to the rolling elements and influences the response of the rolling element to torque. Known spacer systems are also limited in operating speed due limited stability between the spacer and the rolling elements.
Accordingly, a need exists for a rolling bearing cage with an insert that overcomes the drawbacks of the current cages.

Bearing cage with rigid inserts between pockets


In general, techniques are described for emulating mobile authentication methods to establish authenticated connectivity between a mobile service provider gateway and a wireless device attached to an alternate access network. For example, a system operating according to the described techniques includes a mobile service provider network, an alternate access network having an access gateway, and an authentication server of the mobile service provider network that receives a network access request. A subscriber database responds to the network access request with virtual mobility information, wherein the network access request does not include an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and wherein the virtual mobility information comprises a virtual IMSI. The access gateway uses the virtual mobility information to signal a mobile network gateway of the mobile service provider network to establish a service session for the wireless device over the alternate access network that is anchored by the mobile network gateway.

Use of wireless devices for accessing computer data networks has recently increased dramatically. These wireless devices provide a platform for both cellular phone calls and cellular-based access to computer data services. For example, a typical cellular radio access network is a collection of cells that each includes at least one base station capable of transmitting and relaying signals to subscribers' wireless devices. A "cell" generally denotes a distinct area of a mobile network that utilizes a particular frequency or range of frequencies for transmission of data. A typical base station is a tower to which are affixed a number of antennas that transmit and receive the data over the particular frequency. Wireless devices, such as cellular or mobile phones, smart phones, camera phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptop computers, may initiate or otherwise transmit a signal at the designated frequency to the base station to initiate a call or data session and begin transmitting data.
Mobile service provider networks convert cellular signals, e.g., Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signals, Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signals or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) signals, received at a base station from wireless devices into Internet protocol (IP) packets for transmission within packet-based networks. A number of standards have been proposed to facilitate this conversion and transmission of cellular signals to IP packets, such as a general packet radio service (GPRS) standardized by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Association, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) architecture, an evolution of UMTS referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE), mobile IP standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), as well as other standards proposed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GGP/2) and the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) forum.
A typical 3GPP mobile service provider network, also "mobile network" or "cellular network," includes a core packet-switched network, a transport network, and one or more radio access networks. The core packet-switched network for the mobile network establishes logical connections, known as bearers, among the many service nodes on a path between a wireless device, attached to one of the radio access networks, and a packet data network (PDN). The service nodes then utilize the bearers to transport subscriber traffic exchanged between the wireless device and the PDN, which may include, for example, the Internet, an enterprise intranet, a layer 3 VPN, and a service provider's private network. Various PDNs provide a variety of packet-based data services to wireless devices to enable the wireless devices to exchange subscriber data with application or other servers of the PDNs. The increasing number of services available to an increasing number of mobile subscriber devices pressures available mobile network resources.
A mobile network gateway is a service node of the mobile service provider network that operates as a gateway to the PDNs and functions as the anchor point for wireless device mobility. The mobile network gateway applies policy and charging rules to subscriber data traffic between the PDNs and wireless devices to perform charging functionality and manage service connections to ensure an efficient utilization of core, transport, and radio network resources. Different services, such as Internet, E-mail, voice, and multimedia, have different quality of service (QoS) requirements that, moreover, may vary by user.
The ubiquitous use of wireless devices and the ever-increasing desire by users for fast network access from around the world has presented many challenges. For example, the ubiquitous use of cellular wireless devices have placed a high demand for data services over the service provider's mobile network, often straining the mobile network and resulting in delayed or lost data communications. Some wireless devices, in addition to supporting connections to a PDN via a radio interface to the cellular mobile network, also support wireless capabilities to exchange data via an alternate access network (a "non-mobile network") that is separate from the cellular network of the mobile service provider. For example, many wireless devices include a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface that provides data service when in the presences of a WiFi "hotspot" or other wireless access point (WAP). Other examples of such wireless capabilities may include Bluetooth or Near Field Communication (NFC). When in the presence of a WLAN, a user may wish to transition the data services of the wireless to the WLAN so as to accelerate data transmissions, reduce costs, and avoid any delays associated with the mobile service provider network.

Non-mobile authentication for mobile network gateway connectivity


A portable light is provided with a hook cylinder assembly which includes a retracting hook rod connected to a rotor assembly. The hook rod and rotor assembly can be rotated and held in position with respect to a remainder of the hook cylinder assembly. A hook located at an end of the hook rod can thus be oriented in a desired direction.

Portable lamps, e.g. shop lights, flashlights, and lanterns, often have hooks (or loops) that can be used to suspend the lamps from a support. Some of these hooks are integrally formed with a body of the lamp and thus have a fixed position with respect to the light source. This can make it undesirably challenging to locate a support that is at the right location and orientation to hold the lamp in a desired position.
In an effort to solve this issue with integrally formed hooks, some lamps include a hook that rotates or swivels with respect to the lamp body. While such a hook arrangement makes it easier to locate a suitable support for the lamp and task at hand, it also has at least one undesirable aspect. For example, jostling or other external influences can cause the lamp to rotate about the hook and remove light from the task at hand. Also, the hooks typically protrude from the bodies of the lamps and therefore may undesirably snag on objects. The protruding hooks are also prone to being bent or broken while the lamps are stored or transported.