Disclosed is a drive unit operable to translate and rotate a shaft, the drive unit including: (i) a hollow electric motor having a rotor, (ii) a fluid cylinder, (iii) means for connecting the shaft to the rotor of the hollow electric motor, (iv) means permitting the shaft to move lengthwise coupled with the fluid cylinder, and (iv) means connecting the fluid cylinder to the shaft, whereby the shaft may be rotated by the hollow electric motor and moved lengthwise by the fluid cylinder, and wherein the fluid cylinder has an outer wall coupled with the rotor of the hollow electric motor.

The use of hollow motors and hydraulic pistons to drive and rotate plasticating screws is known. However, none of the known systems suggests combining the advantages of hollow motors to rotate the plasticating screw while using a hydraulic piston to move it lengthwise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,147 to Stubbe describes a screw extruder rotated by a gear drive from an electric motor and moved lengthwise by a hydraulic piston. The screw has a splined shaft end to permit sliding of the shaft through the gear drive.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,505 to Fanuc Ltd. describes a linear motor for moving an injection screw linearly. The linear motor includes a series of permanent magnets attached to the motor armature that react with the alternating current supplied to the surrounding stator windings to cause linear movement of the armature and the screw shaft attached to the armature. The patent describes the use of a hollow motor to move a screw shaft linearly.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,495 issued Jul. 30, 1996 to Krauss-Maffei describes an extruder screw drive that includes a first motor for translating movement of the screw and a second motor for rotating the screw. The described embodiment shows two hollow motors. The drive means for translating the screw and the slide means for rotating the screw fit partially within one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,868 to Reinhart describes a drive apparatus for an injection unit that includes a hollow electric motor that engages the screw shaft through three clutches. One clutch provides rotation of the screw, a second enables forward movement of the screw and a third prevents the screw from rotating while it is being moved forward. No hydraulic units are used.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,076 to Jaroschek et al describes an injection-molding machine that uses a hydraulic piston to assist an electric motor driving a rack and pinion mechanism to advance the screw.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,224 issued Sep. 8, 1998 to Fanuc Ltd. describes an arrangement where a ball screw is integrally formed on the rotor shaft. A motor positioned coaxially with it rotates the ball screw.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,485 issued Apr. 6, 1999 to Sumitomo describes an injection apparatus that includes two hollow shaft electric motors. One motor is intended to rotate the screw shaft while the other moves it lengthwise. The rotors of the two motors are coupled to the shaft. Each rotor is located in a separate chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,810 to Kestle et al describes an injection unit having a quill inside a piston to enable retraction and extension of the screw by the application of hydraulic pressure. A motor rotates the quill, which is connected to the piston through a spline to thereby rotate the screw. The motor attaches to the end of the quill.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,587 to Shearer et al describes an injection molding system that includes a motor for driving gears to rotate the screw and a hydraulic piston for translating the screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,478,572 to Schad describes an injection unit that uses a single electric motor to rotate an extruder screw and charge a hydraulic accumulator. The charge in the accumulator is directed to stroke the extruder screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,989 describes a device for removing disks from a mold. In the described embodiments a hollow electric motor is used to rotate the take-out shaft and a linear electric motor is used to move the shaft linearly. The hollow motor drives the shaft through a gearbox that enables the speed of the shaft to be varied. As an alternative, the patent suggests that a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder could be used to move the shaft linearly. In the embodiments described, the linear actuator is located outside the rotary actuator. This provides an assembly that is larger and less cost effective.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,336 to Emoto et al and European Patent No. 0967064 A1 to Emoto disclose an injection molding system having a hollow electric motor that rotates a screw shaft and at the same time causes the shaft to advance by means of a connection to a ball screw shaft/spline shaft unit. A separate metering motor rotates the screw to load the screw with resin. Rotational movement is provided through a belt and pulley arrangement that can rotate the screw independently of the rotor on the hollow motor. The rotor on the hollow motor is attached to a splined portion of the screw shaft and is used to rotate the splined portion, which, in turn, rotates a ball screw to drive a ball nut and thereby move the shaft lengthwise.
U.S. Pat. 6,530,774 to Emoto describes an injection molding system using an electric motor and gear train to rotate the screw and a hollow shaft electric motor to move the screw lengthwise by driving a ball screw shaft through a splined shaft connection.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0168445 A1 to Emoto et al describes an injection system that also includes a metering motor and a hollow shaft motor to rotate the screw and move the screw lengthwise, respectively.
The European Patent application 1162053 published Dec. 12, 2001 to Krauss-Maffei describes a two motor system where one motor provides rotational movement of the screw shaft and the other motor provides translational movement of the screw shaft. Clutch arrangements are used to enable the motors to operate separately or together.
The Japanese Patent 61266218 published Nov. 25, 1986 to Sumitomo describes a two motor injection system using hollow motors, a ball drive mechanism and splined shafts.
German Patent DE 10 135 443 discloses an injection unit for a plastics injection molding machine, featuring a plasticizing screw with a rotary drive and an electric motor with a stationary component mounted on a frame and an output component providing the linear axial screw motion for injecting the plastic melt into a mold. In known injection units of this kind, the output component of the electric motor is located in the power train between the drive component and the screw. The electric motor can be a linear or a rotary type whose rotary motion is converted into the linear motion of the output component. In both cases, the force that can be applied through the output component is limited.
PCT Patent Application WO 03/046388 A1 discloses an actuator (1) having a housing (1a) in which a driving shaft (2) is accommodated provided with a through bore (7), which through bore series as an actuated cylinder (3), at least one piston (4) mid a piston shaft (5) extending axially in said through bore, said at least one piston and said piston shaft being rotatable together with said driving shaft. Based on the known prior art, it is the aim of the invention to provide an improved actuator according to the above preamble, which obviates the described drawbacks, and which allows aa accurate and stable positioning of the piston shaft in axial direction. As a technical solution for this object the actuator according to the invention is characterised in that said at least one piston and said piston shaft is movable back and forth in both directions within said through horn hy actuating said cylinder. This allows an accurate positioning of the piston shaft relative to the driving shaft enabling the accurate operation of the actuator under various operating conditions.
While these references describe many combinations of electric and hydraulic driving systems for a screw of an injection-molding machine, they fail to describe a system combining the unique advantages of better control of the positioning of the screw with a hollow electric motor and the high injection power provided by a hydraulic injection unit. The present invention provides a compact injection unit having the unique advantages of both electric and hydraulic driving systems.

Drive assembly for rotating and translating a shaft


A swing trainer configured to draw the elbows of the player together by the cocking of the player's wrists. The swing trainer includes arm mounts configured to mount to a player's arms at an intermediate position; and a link with at least a portion connected to the mounts and extending therebetween and arranged such that the portion of the link between the arms is configured to shorten during a swing of a stroke to inhibit splaying of the elbows of the player during the stroke, the link being slidably connected to the one of the mounts so it may slide past. A corresponding method of swing training using said swing trainer is also disclosed.

Club and bat sports can be challenging in general.
Golf, in particular, is difficult to master. Optimally and accurately swinging a club to hit a small ball an effective distance can be very difficult, because so many variables come into play. It is said that in a golf swing there are more than 90 variables including ball position, grip, hand position, stance, hand to lower arm angle, spine angle, club length.
Coaches have been known to observe that players, at least in the beginning of their golfing careers, find it difficult to get their arms in a useful position at a top region of a backswing.
Another observation made by coaches is that there can be seen, in beginner players, a phenomenon known as flying elbow, which is a fairly self-explanatory limiting position for the elbow.
Known training aids have not yet effectively overcome these difficulties.
The present inventor seeks to provide a new swing trainer, and/or a new swing trainer which at least provides a useful alternative to known training aids.


A vehicle illumination apparatus includes at least one illumination light source and at least one light guiding lens. The illumination light source is capable of providing an illumination beam. The light guiding lens includes a first light transmissive surface, a second light transmissive surface opposite to and smaller than the first light transmissive surface, an inner surrounding surface, and an outer surrounding surface. The first light transmissive surface is capable of projecting the illumination beam out of the light guiding lens. The inner surrounding surface and the second light transmissive surface are connected to each other and define a containing space configured to accommodate the illumination light source. The outer surrounding surface is connected to the inner surrounding surface and the first light transmissive surface. Besides, the outer surrounding surface has at least one light condensing region and at least one light diverging region.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an illumination apparatus. Particularly, the invention relates to a vehicle illumination apparatus.
Description of Related Art
Light-emitting diode (LED) headlights have been gradually applied in compliance with requirements for light-emitting efficiency, energy saving, and environmental protection. At present, the cost of the LED headlight remains high due to the needs of high-wattage LEDs and large heat sinks. Generally, in the existing LED low beam, a shielding plate is often required to form a clear cut-off line through the imaging of the lens, so as to prevent glare to the on-coming vehicle. However, the shielding plate also leads to reduction of utilization efficiency (e.g., at most 60% of the total efficiency) of the light source of the LED low beam.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,557 discloses an illumination apparatus that includes a lens body, and the lens body has a front surface, a curved sidewall expanding forward, and a rear cylindrical cavity. A light beam transmitted to the back is reflected by the curved sidewall to form a collimating beam. According to the patent, the cavity has a curved surface capable of performing a collimating function. U.S. Pat. No. 7,470,042 discloses a light source structure of which a light source has a light guiding portion with a high refractive index. A central portion on a front side of the light guiding portion is a round direct-emitting region, an outer side of the light guiding portion is a total reflection region, and a back surface of the light guiding portion has a semi-spherical recess portion. U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,453 discloses a light source structure of which a light-shielding member is shaped as a plate and shields parts of the light source in front of the vehicle, so as to define a bright-dark boundary of a light beam incident on the lens. U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,758 discloses a headlight structure, in which the required cut-off line is formed by adjusting angles of light sources and a light transmissive mask. U.S. Pat. No. 6,882,110 discloses a headlight structure, in which plural lamp units are employed to define different regions, so as to obtain a desired light intensity distribution.
Moreover, different types of optical lenses have also been disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication no. 2012057362, Taiwan R.O.C. Patent no. M434898, Japan Patent Publication no. 2006-147347, Japan Patent Publication no. 2010-135124, Taiwan R.O.C. Patent Publication no. 201139935, Taiwan R.O.C. Patent no. M310992, and Taiwan R.O.C. Patent no. 1307174.


A “Remotable Contract Implementation”, as described herein, provides various techniques for implementing static type checking of remoted contracts across iframes using scripts such as TypeScript, JavaScript, AJAX, etc., thereby enabling structured data and rich patterns of control flow across iframe boundaries. The Remotable Contract Implementation enables the static type-checking over the limited browser postMessage channel of communication across iframes, by generating statically type-checked proxies at runtime based on dynamic reflection, and allowing for full fidelity of JavaScript control flow interactions (e.g. methods, events, asynchronous communications, etc.) over that channel. Further, in various embodiments, the Remotable Contract Implementation provides various methods that can be used to produce useful application context for otherwise isolated applications by providing access to particular browser resources or information that would otherwise be unavailable over the postMessage communication channel using conventional scripting techniques.

Scripts written using various scripting languages, such as TypeScript, JavaScript, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), etc., have generally been restricted to run in a browser sandbox for security purposes. However, the usage of HTML "iframes" (inline frames) allows a page from one domain to contain content from another page on another domain. However, for security purposes, code in one iframe from one domain is not allowed to directly call code in another iframe from another domain.
Attempts to create some form of interoperability between iframes has led to the creation of a simple mechanism, conventionally referred to as the "postMessage" method, to communicate text strings across iframes from different domains. No executable code is allowed to be passed over the postMessage channel between iframes, just text strings.
In particular, the well-known postMessage method allows cooperative text exchange between non-trusted modules from different domains embedded within a page. It does so by ensuring a consistent and secure process for text-based data exchange. Using this method, when a script (e.g., TypeScript, JavaScript, AJAX, etc.) invokes the postMessage method on a window object, the browser sends an "onmessage" event to the target document on which the data property has been set to the value passed in the postMessage message. Further, for security, when a target Unique Resource Identifier (URI) (specifying a protocol and a host) is passed a message using the postMessage method, the message will only be received by the target window if it has the same protocol and host as the source URI.
Further, because the well-known postMessage method used with iframe coding allows only simple text strings to be passed from one iframe to another, conventional communication across iframes using the postMessage method is subject to various limitations. For example, the postMessage method is unstructured, such that no notion of object identity nor separate fields within that object, are provided. Note that using conventional techniques, simple serialization can provide some structure of fields, but doesn't allow for object identity. In addition, the postMessage method is dynamically typed, rather than statically typed, with the result that opportunities to prevent entire classes of errors are lost because such errors will only be exposed at runtime. Further, the postMessage method is one-way, such that richer patterns of control flow, such as, for example, asynchronous methods, events, lazy evaluation, and progress callbacks, are not available via conventional postMessage-based techniques.


The “squeal” that occurs when an electric field is applied to a multilayer ceramic capacitor mounted on a substrate is suppressed by providing in an active part contributing to formation of capacitances between internal electrodes facing each other in a capacitor body, low-activity regions positioned near respective end edges of respective external electrodes. A facing area of the internal electrodes in the low-activity regions is less than or equal to one fifth that of the internal electrodes in a normal region having the same volume as that of the low-activity regions. This makes it possible to suppress occurrence of electric-field-induced distortion near the external electrodes bonded to a substrate and reduce the force that causes the substrate to bend.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a mounted multilayer ceramic capacitor 1.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor 1 includes a capacitor body 4 having a multilayer structure including a plurality of dielectric ceramic layers 2 and a plurality of internal electrodes 3a and 3b formed along a plurality of respective interfaces between the dielectric ceramic layers 2. The capacitor body 4 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape defined by first and second main surfaces 5 and 6 extending in a direction in which the dielectric ceramic layers 2 extend, first and second end surfaces 7 and 8 extending in a direction orthogonal to the first and second main surfaces 5 and 6, and first and second side surfaces (parallel to the plane of FIG. 14 but not shown in FIG. 14).
Although edges of a capacitor body are generally chamfered, the illustration of chamfered edges of the capacitor body 4 and those of other capacitor bodies is omitted in FIG. 14 and other drawings.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor 1 further includes first and second external electrodes 11 and 12 connected to the internal electrodes 3a and 3b, respectively, such that capacitances formed between the internal electrodes 3a and 3b facing each other with the dielectric ceramic layers 2 therebetween are extracted. The first and second external electrodes 11 and 12 are formed over the respective first and second end surfaces 7 and 8 of the capacitor body 4, and extend therefrom to respective parts of the main surfaces 5 and 6 and side surfaces adjacent to the end surfaces 7 and 8.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor 1 is mounted on a substrate 13 by bonding the first and second external electrodes 11 and 12 to the substrate 13 with a conductive bonding material 14, such as solder or a conductive adhesive, with the first main surface 5 of the capacitor body 4 facing the substrate 13.
A portion contributing to formation of capacitances between the internal electrodes 3a and 3b in the capacitor body 4 will be referred to hereinafter as the "active part". In FIG. 14 illustrating the multilayer ceramic capacitor 1, an active part 15 is represented by a region surrounded by a dashed line. The active part 15 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape.
FIG. 15 illustrates the multilayer ceramic capacitor 1 in the same position as that in FIG. 14. In FIG. 15, the illustration of the internal electrodes 3a and 3b in the capacitor body 4 is omitted and only the active part 15 is illustrated.
When a voltage is applied across the first and second external electrodes 11 and 12 of the multilayer ceramic capacitor 1, dielectric polarization occurs at positions where adjacent internal electrodes 3a and 3b face each other. This makes it possible to obtain capacitances as described above. However, dielectrics provided by the dielectric ceramic layers 2 and located in the active part 15 cause electric-field-induced distortions depending on the applied voltage, as indicated by arrows 16 of FIG. 15. This causes the multilayer ceramic capacitor 1 to be deformed as indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 15.
When an alternating voltage is applied to the multilayer ceramic capacitor 1, deformation of the multilayer ceramic capacitor 1 resulting from electric-field-induced distortion causes the substrate 13 to vibrate and produces a sound called a "squeal". A force that causes the substrate 13 to vibrate is also applied from parts of the external electrodes 11 and 12 located on the first main surface 5 of the capacitor body 4. When the level of "squeal" increases, a noise problem arises.
To suppress "squeal", Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-281435 (Patent Document 1) proposes a technique in which a dielectric composition containing BaTiO3, SrZrO3 and CaZrO3 is used as the material of dielectric ceramic layers. This dielectric composition is highly resistant to reduction when baked and has a high dielectric constant, a low distortion factor, and good capacitance-temperature characteristics.
However, there are problems using the technique in which a distortion is suppressed by an improvement in material composition as described in Patent Document 1, in that it is difficult to achieve both a high dielectric constant and the like, and suppression of a distortion, and that the degree of design freedom is limited.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-39937 (Patent Document 2) proposes a configuration in which a ceramic base in a multilayer ceramic capacitor containing barium titanate as a dielectric material, except where there is an insulating gap, is covered with a metal film, include the terminal electrodes at both ends. The ceramic base is covered with the metal film such that the ratio of the surface area of a portion covered with the metal film to the entire surface area of the ceramic base is greater than or equal to 0.8. Since the surface of the ceramic base is mostly covered with the metal film, the ceramic base has a high stiffness, which makes it possible to suppress mechanical vibrations caused by electrostriction (electric-field-induced distortion).
However, the method of suppressing "squeal" described in Patent Document 2 has a problem in that the process of forming a metal film while maintaining a proper insulating gap is complicated.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-281435    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-39937


An electro-optical element may be controlled by a circuit. The circuit may include two transistors having a control capacitor coupled to the common node of the two transistors. The control capacitor may be charged to a value through the selection transistor during the row selection period. The amount of the charge stored in the control capacitor may be used by the charge transistor to properly charge the display capacitance to the intended value after the row selection period and an electric field created from the charge of the display capacitance used to control the electro-optical element.

The present subject matter relates to electronic displays. More specifically, the present subject matter relates to circuits to control arrays of electro-optical elements.
Some types of electronic displays may utilize relatively high voltages (>5-10V). Circuits for displays such as electrophoretic, cholesteric liquid crystal, and other low-power, bistable displays, as well as more traditional liquid crystal displays (LCD), may be designed to control individual regions of the display using a voltage level or electric field created across the individual regions. The individual regions may commonly be referred to as a pixel, a sub-pixel, a picture element (pel) or an electro-optical element.
These electronic displays may be refreshed by storing particular amounts of charge into capacitances associated with the electro-optical elements of an individual row, then repeating this operation for the other rows of the display. The number of rows of pixels, in combination with the rate that the display is updated, may determine the amount of time that is available to store charge into the associated capacitances.
Voltage-driven displays may have a single thin film transistor (TFT) a teach electro-optical element. However, due to the relatively high voltage that may be present across the TFT for some displays, or relatively poor TFT performance due to materials used or fabrication methods, many TFTs used for displays may have a high leakage current in some designs, the TFT may be designed to have lower leakage, but that may result in lower on-state current. Either high leakage or lower on-state current may limit resolution, display size, gray scale capability, or other display characteristics, due to the limited time available to charge the capacitances associated with individual electro-optical elements.

Thin-film transitor backplane for displays


A method for correcting the welding path of a welding torch which weaves from side to side while proceeding along the welding path is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: determining the center of weaving of the welding torch with respect to a welding center line, by monitoring the arc current which varies according to the change of distance between the welding end of the welding torch and a welding surface; and correcting the center of weaving of the welding torch to a correction position on the welding center line, when the center of weaving of the welding torch is misaligned with the welding center line by a predetermined distance, in which the direction of weaving of the welding torch is corrected to be perpendicular to an imaginary line connecting the most recent two correction positions among the correction positions of the center of weaving.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for correcting the welding path of a welding torch in automatic welding.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic welding apparatus which automatically welds two base metals includes a welding torch 10 supported by a torch holder 2 coupled to an arm 1 of a welding robot (not shown), and a controller 3 for controlling the welding robot. In a welding process, the welding torch 10 moves integrally with the arm 1 of the welding robot which, operates based on signals from the controller 3. A high voltage is applied between the welding torch 10 and base metals 20 and 30 being welded, in order to generate an arc therebetween. A welding wire 5 is provided from a wire reel 4 to the welding torch 10, and projects appropriately from the welding end of the welding torch 10. The end of the wire 5 projecting from the welding end of the welding torch 10 is melted by the arc current, and then hardens on welding surfaces 21 and 31 of the respective base metals 20 and 30, to combine the base metals 20 and 30.
During the above welding process, arc sensing is performed to confirm whether the welding torch 10 moves precisely tracing a welding center line, i.e., a boundary line between the two base metals 20 and 30, based on data of arc current values. The data is obtained by weaving the welding torch 10, that is, moving the welding torch 10 from side to side as it proceeds along the weld, and monitoring the arc current using a current monitor 6 according to the change of distance between the welding torch 10 and the welding surfaces 21 and 31.
The principle of the arc sensing is detailed with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the first base metal 20 and the second base metal 30 contacting each other are automatically welded, the welding torch 10 proceeds along the welding center line in a previously taught direction as indicated by an arrow "A" and concurrently performs weaving the same distance to the left and right as shown in dashed lines, in order to weld the two base metals 20 and 30. In the middle of the weaving, the welding torch 10 reciprocates between the farthest points from the center of weaving "C" toward and above the respective first and second base metals, i.e., a first position and a second position. In the case that the welding torch 10 precisely traces the welding center line 25, the center of weaving "C" is located perpendicularly above the welding center line 25. Also in this case, a vertical distance "H1" between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the first base metal 20 at the first position is the same as a vertical distance "H1'" between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the second base metal 30 at the second position. A vertical distance "H" is the maximum distance between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the welding center line 25, at the position where the welding torch 10 is coincident with the welding center line 25.
FIG. 4 is a graph showing the change of vertical distance between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the welding surfaces 21 and 31 of the first and second base metals 20 and 30, as the welding torch 10 weaves from the first position to the second position. Here, the horizontal and vertical axes "t" and "d" represent time and vertical distance, respectively. Referring to FIG. 4, it is indicated that the welding torch 10 disposed at the first position is moved to the second position over a predetermined time "t1" while performing weaving. Here, the vertical distance between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the welding surface 21 of the first base metal 20 increases until the welding torch 10 reaches the center of weaving "C", i.e., time "t1/2". While the welding torch 10 moves to the second position after having passed the center of weaving "C", the vertical distance between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the welding surface 31 of the second base metal 30 decreases.
Meanwhile, the arc current decreases as the distance between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the welding surfaces 21 and 31 of the base metals 20 and 30 increases. Accordingly, the arc current varies as shown in FIG. 5 while the welding torch 10 moves from the first position to the second position. The current monitor 6 monitors the arc current varying as above and transfers information on the variation to the controller 3. The controller 3 calculates the integral of the current during the movement from the first position to the center of weaving "C", and the integral of the current during the movement from the center of weaving "C" to the second position, and compares these two integral values. When the two integral values are the same, the center of weaving "C" of the welding torch 10 is determined to coincide with the welding center line 25, that is, the welding torch 10 exactly traces the welding center line 25.
However, as shown in FIG. 6, when the weaving center "C" of the welding torch 10 is misaligned with the welding center line 25, a vertical distance H2, between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the first base metal 20 at the first position, and a vertical distance H4, between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the second base metal 30 at the second position, are different from each other. When the welding torch 10 is located at the center of weaving "C", the welding torch 10 is located above the second base metal 30. Here, the vertical distance between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the second base metal 30 is indicated by "H3". During the movement of the welding torch 10 between the first position and the second position, the vertical distance between the welding end of the welding torch 10 and the welding surfaces 21 and 31 of the first and second base metals 20 and 30 varies as shown in FIG. 7. Accordingly, the arc current varies as shown in FIG. 8. Thus, the integral of the current between the first position and the center of weaving "C", and that of the current between the center of weaving "C" and the second position, are different from each other. Thus, the controller 3 determines that the welding torch 10 does not precisely trace the welding center line 25. When the difference between the integral values exceeds a predetermined value, signals are generated from the controller 3. Then, the robot arm 1 moves according to the signals, in a direction that can minimize the difference between the integral values, so that the position of the center of weaving "C" is corrected to be positioned perpendicularly above the welding center line 25.
As shown in FIG. 9, when welding is performed in a state in which a proceeding direction "A" taught to the welding torch and the welding center line 25 are not coincident, the position of the weaving center is continuously corrected as explained above. That is, when the welding torch moves such that the center of weaving thereof follows the direction indicated by the arrow "A" and reaches a position "A1", at which the distance between the welding torch and the welding center line 25 becomes greater than a predetermined value, the above-mentioned correction of the weaving center is performed such that the center of weaving is located at a first correction position "B1" on the welding center line 25. Thereafter, the welding torch further proceeds following the direction "A", and corrections of the weaving center are made again at positions "A2" and "A3", at which the distance from the welding center line 25 becomes greater than the predetermined value, to second and third correction positions "B2" and "B3". Such corrections of the weaving center, i.e., correction of a welding path, are continuously performed during welding.
However, according to the conventional method for correcting a welding path, the weaving of the welding torch is always in a direction "W1" perpendicular to the direction "A" in which the welding torch proceeds. When the welding torch weaves in the direction "W1" and when the welding center line 25 is skewed with respect to the direction "A" of the welding torch as shown in FIG. 9, the distance of weaving perpendicular to the welding center line 25, i.e, the distance between the first position and the second position, decreases. Thus, the integral of the current during the movement between the first position and the weaving center, and the integral of the current during the movement between the weaving center and the second position, are reduced, and thus the difference between the two integral values decreases. Therefore, since the correction of the welding path of the welding torch is not performed at the instant the correction should be performed, the precision of the welding process is lowered.

Method for correcting the direction of weaving of a welding torch with respect to a welding centerline


A vehicle frame includes a plurality of hollow tubular members welded together. An opening in a side wall of the frame which receives a door or window of the vehicle is bordered by at least two hollow tubular members which are interconnected by a non-tubular, reinforcing corner member. The reinforcing corner member includes a pair of solid parallel plates spaced apart by a perpendicular cross-member. Each plate of the reinforcing corner member has integral first and second elongated portions extending on either side of a continuous curve therebetween which has a substantially constant radius of curvature such as to define a smooth transition between the integral first and second elongated portions of the plate. The reinforcing corner member distributes stress away from the curved corner and to the tubular members, thereby preventing stress concentration at a joint between the two tubular members surrounding the opening in the frame.

Many road-going vehicles, particularly larger industrial and/or commercial vehicles such as buses, trucks, recreational vehicles and the like, are manufactured using a chassis which includes an internal space frame or skeleton upon which the outer body structure is subsequently installed. This frame is typically composed of a plurality of tubular structural members which are interconnected by welding, riveting, bolting, etc, such as to produce the frame structure of the vehicle. These tubular members are most often hollow tubes having a circular, square or rectangular cross-sectional shape.
Public transportation vehicles such as buses are expected to survive for extremely long life cycle periods, during which time the vehicle, and therefore its internal frame, is exposed to high stresses and very high mileage. As such, the welded joints formed between the interconnected tubular members of the vehicle's frame are particularly exposed high stresses and repeated fatigue forces, and it is at these joints where concentration of stresses occur. Therefore, it is the joints themselves between the tubular members which are prone to potential weakening, leading eventually to failure of the joints in areas of the frame which are exposed to the greatest concentration of stresses. Adjacent tubes which meet at right angles and are butt welded together are often particularly prone to such high stress concentration at the welded joint therebetween.
However, such right angle joints between tubes are unavoidable in the frame structure of a bus, given that relatively large openings between tubes of the frame must remain free of reinforcement structure, which openings are adapted for receiving windows or doors of the vehicle therein. As such the welded joints between those tubes which are fastened together around such large openings, i.e. the joints which fasten together the tubes which form the window or door frame, are particularly exposed to stress concentrations and are therefore particularly prone to weakening, damage and/or failure given sufficient forces for a sufficiently long period of time.
Attempts to reinforce certain regions of such tubular vehicle frames have been made, for example by providing reinforcement gussets between adjacent welded tubes. However, the added strength provided by this simple gusset reinforcement has not proved to be sufficient. Alternately, other means of improving the strength of such structures and therefore minimizing the effects of stresses thereof have been attempted, such as by using larger diameter tubes or by simply attempting to avoid butt welded joints between tubes which are oriented perpendicularly to each other. However, penalties exists which all of these attempted methods, including weight and cost penalties, while nevertheless failing to provide a significant increase in strength. Generally, designers of such commercial road vehicles are reluctant to move away from using hollow tubular frame members having a rectangular or square cross-sectional profile, as such tubes typically provide good strength to weight ratios, while being relatively inexpensive to manufacture and relatively easy to assemble and weld together.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to improve the overall strength of a tubular frame structure for a bus or other large road vehicle, and more particularly to be able to improve the strength of joints between tubes in certain regions of such tubular frames, by reducing the stress to which such regions and/or joints are exposed during operation of the vehicle.

Vehicle frame with stress relief feature

Nova Bus, Division de Groupe Volvo Canada Inc.


An ambulatory medical device capable of delivering therapy to a patient is provided. The ambulatory medical device comprises at least one controller operatively connected to at least one sensor configured to detect a health disorder of the patient, at least one treatment element configured to deliver therapy to the patient, and at least one response mechanism configured to be actuated by the patient, the at least one response mechanism having one of a first state and a second state. The at least one controller being configured to delay delivery of the therapy to patient for a first predetermined period of time responsive to detection of the health disorder and the at least one response mechanism having the first state, and to deliver the therapy to the patient in response to continued detection of the health disorder, the at least one response mechanism remaining in the first state.

Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to medical devices, and more particularly to apparatus and processes of delivering therapy using an ambulatory medical device.
Discussion
Some ambulatory medical devices deliver therapy to patients. For instance, an ambulatory medical device may monitor a patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) signal for indications of a cardiac abnormality. Where the ambulatory medical device identifies a cardiac abnormality that is treatable via the administration of a therapeutic shock, the ambulatory medical device may initiate a treatment protocol. When executing a treatment protocol, the ambulatory medical device must determine, with a high degree of accuracy, when it is appropriate to deliver therapy to the patient. The patient may, however, have the need to delay the administration of the therapy due to conditions that the ambulatory medical device is not configured to detect.

Systems and methods of delivering therapy using an ambulatory medical device


The present invention is an improvement in spring tensioned double hook fishing devices, generally comprising a spoon having a spring tensioned double hook slidably mounted onto a longitudinal slot extending through the spoon. The double hook is comprised of two hook arms extending from a center spring coil portion, wherein the coil portion is slidably mounted onto the forward portion of the spoon. Two hook ends are provided at opposite ends of the hook arms which can engage two connectors located on the rearward portion of the spoon, wherein the hook can be maintained in a triangularly compressed state in this manner. When a fish bites down on the device, the hook ends are jarred loose from the connectors to cause the hook to release and expand and impale the fish""s mouth. Once the fish""s mouth is engaged, the movement of the hook rearward along the slot helps to impale the hook deep inside the fish""s mouth and reduces the likelihood of the fish escaping.

The present invention relates to a fishing device, and in particular, to a fishing device having a spring tensioned double hook movably connected to a spoon.
Several attempts have been made in the past to develop fishing hooks and lures with spring tensioned double hooks that can be compressed and then expanded when a fish bites down and pulls. Many such designs were developed without lures, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,619,758, issued to Freire, U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,786, issued to Schwartz, U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,047, issued to Wilshusen, and U.S. Pat. No. 321,796, issued to Clark. These patents are directed to spring tensioned double hooks that are held in a compressed state by a structure of some kind, such as a bracket, stem, etc. In each of these designs, the hook is released when a fish bites down and xe2x80x9cpullsxe2x80x9d on the hook, wherein the hook can then expand to impale the fish""s mouth. The pulling motion is what causes the hook to be released and expanded.
Other designs have also been developed with spring tensioned hooks that have been used in connection with lures, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,544, issued to Hummel, U.S. Pat. No. 1,197,820, issued to Guise, and U.S. Pat. No. 378,678, issued to Harlow. Like those discussed above, these patents are generally directed to fishing hooks that have releasing mechanisms that allow the hook to be released from the lure to impale the fish""s mouth. Other designs have also been provided, such as those with tubular structures that maintain the double hooks in a closed position, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,216, issued to McMillan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,359, issued to Laba, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,242,592, issued to Noxon. In these designs, when a fish bites down and pulls on the hook, the hook slides out of the tubular structure and is allowed to expand, which in turn impales the fish""s mouth.
The present invention represents an improvement over the previous spring tensioned double hook fishing devices discussed above. The present invention generally comprises a spoon having a spring tensioned double hook slidably mounted onto a longitudinal slot extending through the spoon. The double hook is comprised of a coil spring portion with two hook arms extending outwardly therefrom at an angle, wherein the coil spring portion is slidably mounted (either directly or via a split ring) to the spoon. Two hook ends are provided at opposite ends of the hook arms, wherein the hook can be secured to the spoon in a triangularly compressed state, by positioning the coil spring portion (or split ring) on the forward-most end of the slot, and the two hook ends into two connectors located an equal distance away from the forward-most end on the rearward portion of the spoon.
The spoon is preferably provided with an elongated slot that extends along one side thereof on which the hook is mounted. The slot extends along the edge of the spoon and substantially follows the curvature of the spoon""s outer perimeter to form a longitudinal support portion onto which the hook can be supported. The curvature of the slot preferably follows the shape of the spoon so that the slot does not interfere with the spoon""s natural ablity to spin through the water. With the hook slidably mounted on the longitudinal support portion in this manner, the hook is allowed to slide back and forth on the spoon. Accordingly, the hook can be set in the forward-most position, and can then be released when a fish bites down on the device, wherein the hook is then allowed to travel rearward along the slot. This rearward movement makes it so that when a fish attempts to spit the spoon out of its mouth, i.e., after the hook is released, the hook expands and impales the fish deep inside the fish""s mouth.
The connectors are provided to maintain the hook in its compressed state, while easily allowing the hook to be released from the spoon when a fish bites down on the device. When a fish bites down and applies pressure to the spoon, the hook ends are easily released from the connectors, wherein the double hook arms can then expand and impale the fish""s mouth. This is different from the vast majority of previous spring tensioned double hook designs, which require the hook to be pulled in relation to the line for the hook to be released and expanded.
The present invention also allows the hook ends to be made without barbs so that the hook can be easily and safely released from the fish""s mouth when desired. At the same time, because of the spring tensioned double hook design, the hook applies an outward pressure which causes the hook ends to penetrate deeper into the fish""s mouth as the fish struggles, which in turn prevents the hook from inadvertently being released. Accordingly, the spring tensioned double hook design provides a unique barbed effect without the barbs.
The hook can also be provided with knurls on the hook arms to make it easier to squeeze. This makes it easier to compress the hook when setting it on the spoon, and easier and safer when attempting to pull the hook out of the fish""s mouth.
The present invention enables the hook ends to be secured to the spoon during casting and trolling, wherein the hook is pre-tensioned so that it can absorb minor shocks that might occur, and forms a substantially compact unit with the spoon to reduce the likelihood of becoming entangled in weeds. The hook ends are designed to fit within the connectors, and the hook is adapted to fit within the underside of the spoon, which allows the spoon to spin and operate in the intended manner.


A portable, easily assembled and disassembled three-legged stool or stool kit includes a seat with a quick-release leg-fastening assembly, three legs having keyhole slots to engage with the quick-release leg-fastening assembly, and a substantially planar leg bracket oriented below and parallel with the seat that has three symmetrically-oriented elongated slots to receive and orient the legs. At least one of the legs has multiple, spaced-apart sets of opposing grooves for supporting a removable, cantilevered platform such as a footrest or a drink holder. When assembled, the legs are oriented in a structurally strong and rigid fashion to support the seat.

After several decades pursuing a typical American career, the inventor, Mr. "Pete" Petre, retired to Kerville, Tex., where he, among other things, enjoys playing the guitar and tinkering with things in his workshop. In December, 2002, Mr. Petre, who has a bad back, found conventional guitar stools to be uncomfortable. So he constructed his own guitar stool—a predecessor to the stool described in this specification. Others liked Mr. Petre's predecessor guitar stool, so Mr. Petre made more of them and began selling them to various customers, doing business under the name P3 Guitar Stools.
Recently—less than one year prior to the filing date of this application—Mr. Petre developed a new stool or stool kit designed to be quickly assembled and broken down. This patent application is intended to cover Mr. Petre's new and improved collapsible stool and stool kit.


Content authoring and deployment, in which mobile authoring templates that enable a user to make updates to a subset of a web page using a mobile device are generated and provided to a mobile device application. Configuration data that defines operations needed to publish content updates received through the mobile authoring templates is stored. When input defining a content update entered into a particular mobile authoring template is received, the configuration data associated with the particular mobile authoring template is accessed and content management services needed to publish the received content update to a web page are invoked. Content is published to the web page to reflect the received content update made on the mobile device using the particular mobile authoring template.

A company may use a content management system to manage content the company provides over a network, such as through the company's web site. The content management system may be difficult to update easily and may require a traditional computer to make updates to the company's web site through the content management system.

Content authoring and deployment technology


A method of creating an analogous workflow is provided. A first workflow is received at a first device, the first workflow including a plurality of first modules that are connected. A second workflow is received at the first device, the second workflow including a plurality of second modules that are connected. A third workflow is received at the first device, the third workflow including a plurality of third modules that are connected. An analogy workflow is determined based on a difference between the received first workflow and the received second workflow. The determined analogy workflow is applied to the received third workflow to define a fourth workflow. The defined fourth workflow is presented to a user at the first device. A method of identifying a workflow of a plurality of workflows is provided. A query workflow is received at a first device, which includes a plurality of modules that are connected. A workflow is identified of a plurality of workflows, the identified workflow at least partially matching the received query workflow. The identified workflow is presented to a user at the first device.

The volume of information has been growing at an exponential rate. Since 2003, new information generated annually exceeds the amount of information created in all previous years. Digital information now makes up more than 90% of all information produced, vastly exceeding data generated on paper and film. One of the greatest scientific and engineering challenges of the 21st century is to effectively understand and leverage this growing wealth of data. Computational processes are widely-used to analyze, understand, integrate, and transform data. For example, to understand trends in multi-dimensional data in a data warehouse, analysts generally go through an often time-consuming process of iteratively drilling down and rolling up through the different axes to find interesting 'nuggets' in the data. Often, to mine data, several algorithms are applied and results are compared, not only among different algorithms, but also among different configurations of a given algorithm. To build data warehouses and data marts that integrate data from disparate data sources within an enterprise, extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) workflows need to be assembled to create consistent, accurate information. Additionally, to understand and to accurately model the behavior of environmental components, environmental scientists often need to create complex visualization dataflows to compare the visual representations of the actual behavior observed by sensors with the behavior predicted in simulations. Further, to improve the quality of a digital photo, a user may explore different combinations of filters. As a further example, to plan a radiation treatment, a radiation oncologist may create a large number of 3-dimensional (3-D) visualizations to find a visualization that clearly shows the lesion tissue that requires treatment.
Due to their exploratory nature, these tasks involve sometime large numbers of trial-and-error steps. In an exploratory process, users may need to select data and specify the algorithms and visualization techniques used to process and to analyze the data. The analysis specification is adjusted in an iterative process as the user generates, explores, and evaluates hypotheses associated with the information under study. To successfully analyze and validate various hypotheses, it is necessary to pose queries, correlate disparate data, and create insightful data products of both the simulated processes and observed phenomena. Before users can view and analyze results, they need to assemble and execute complex pipelines (dataflows) by selecting data sets, specifying a series of operations to be performed on the data, and creating an appropriate visual representation. As an additional factor that contributes to the complexity of these tasks, assembling the computational processes may require a combination of loosely-coupled resources, including specialized libraries, grid and Web services that may generate yet more data, adding to the overflow of information users need to process.
Workflows are emerging as a paradigm for representing and managing complex computations. Workflows can capture complex analysis processes at various levels of detail and capture the provenance information necessary for reproducibility, result publication, and result sharing among collaborators. Because of the formalism they provide and the automation they support, workflows have the potential to accelerate and to transform the information analysis process. Workflows are rapidly replacing primitive shell scripts as evidenced by the release of Automator by Apple®, Data Analysis Foundation by Microsoft®, and Scientific Data Analysis Solution by SGI®.
Often, insight comes from comparing the results of multiple visualizations created during the exploration process. For example, by applying a given visualization process to multiple datasets generated in different simulations; by varying the values of certain visualization parameters; or by applying different variations of a given process (e.g., which use different visualization algorithms) to a dataset, insight can be gained. The path from "data to insight" requires a laborious, trial-and-error process, where users assemble, iteratively modify, and execute complex workflows, which may include pipelines and/or dataflows.
In the course of exploratory studies, users often build large collections of workflows, which include, for example, different types of visualizations, each of which may help in the understanding of a different aspect of their data. For example, a user working on a new computational fluid dynamics application might need a collection of visualizations such as 3-dimensional (3-D) isosurface plots, 2-dimensional (2-D) plots with relevant quantitative information, and various direct volume rendering images. Although in general, each visualization is implemented in a separate workflow, there is a certain amount of overlap between the workflows. For example, each workflow may manipulate the same input dataset(s). Furthermore, for a particular class of visualizations, the users might generate several different versions of each individual workflow while fine tuning visualization parameters or experimenting with different data sets. Thus, constructing insightful visualizations is a laborious process that requires expertise in both visualization techniques as well as the domain of the data being explored. Therefore, what is needed is a method and a system for simplifying and semi-automating the construction of new visualizations to allow the rapid development of workflows and to reduce the need to understand both visualization techniques and the data domain.

The University of Utah Research Foundation


A canopy frame particularly applicable for deck chairs, garden chairs, beach chairs and the like, which can easily be assembled or disassembled in the place itself to be used or carried by the user which comprises a set of flexible rods coupled with each other in an axial way and which define respective side poles which are extended respectively like an arc on opposite sides of the chair or deck chair and separated between them by a distance which is the same or bigger that the space covered by said chair under the frame and a set of rigid rods which define the respective mounting supports of the side poles. The rods of said mounting supports have a horizontal segment which define a coupling tip to the chair or deck chair and a coupling tip to the corresponding side pole. On a segment of the length of the side poles and between them, is mounted in a retractile way by means of knots made by “hoop & loop” like fabric strips, a cover to prevent either partially or fully the sunrays from hitting the space occupied by the chair or deck chair. In this way, the cover can be moved along the side poles according to the variations in the direction of the sunrays to get the amount of shade the user wants.

Within the prior art in the subject there are traditional garden umbrellas or parasols similar to the ordinary umbrellas as well as other frames especially designed to be used as a complement to tents of different sizes and construction which are assembled at the front of the tents as an extension.
It would be redundant to make more detailed comments on said umbrellas and complementary frames for tents since they have been in the market for many years and as it will be stated further on, they are not relevant antecedents to the state-of-the-art canopy frame which is the object of the present utility model.
Among the most remarkable advantages of this canopy frame particularly applicable for deck chairs, garden chairs, beach chairs and the like, it is worth mentioning apart from the fact that it is undoubtedly a novelty and comfortable to use, it is easy to assemble by simply coupling its parts and mainly the fact that the user can adapt its position at any time according to the direction of the sunrays without moving the frame and/or the chair.
In fact, as the direction of the sunrays changes during the day, you just need to move the retractable cover on the upper part of the frame and it can be done by any person regardless of their physical strength which is a remarkable advantage to the ordinary parasols.

Canopy frame particularly applicable to deck chairs, garden chairs, beach chairs and the like


An overpressure valve for a packaging container, which prevents air from the atmosphere from getting into the package and, in the case of gas-emitting material being packaged, reduces a resultant overpressure by venting gas. The overpressure includes a valve membrane stuck to a wall of the container on top of through holes. The membrane is secured to the wall with peripheral adhesive strips, leaving an adhesive-free zone above the through holes; the adhesive-free zone forms a valve member, and the congruent part of the wall forms a valve seat. The adhesive strips have a wedge shape, so that the transitional regions of the adhesive-free zone toward the adhesive strips, rest on the wall, and the raised peripheral regions form spacers for adjacent packages to permit operation of the overpressure valve while stacked one on the other.

The invention is based on an overpressure valve for packaging containers as defined hereinafter. In a valve of this type, known for instance from German Offenlegungsschrift 35 26 586; U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,661, the strips of adhesive, which are disposed in the region of the peripheral zones of the membrane and define the adhesive-free zone, have a rectangular cross section, with a thickness corresponding approximately to that of the membrane. As a result, when the valve is closed, or in other words when the adhesive-free zone of the membrane rests sealingly on the congruent part of the package wall, small channels are formed in the regions of transition between the adhesive-free zone and the peripheral zones having the adhesive strips. Through these channels and the hole in the package wall, air can get into the package from outside, particularly when there is a vacuum in the package, and the oxygen content of this air causes the oxygen-sensitive material in the package to spoil. A valve embodiment in which such leaks cannot occur is thus desirable.

Overpressure valve for packaging containers


A wafer cassette, a method for manufacturing the cassette, and equipment for semiconductor fabrication are provided. The cassette includes a container for containing wafers, a bar-code wing projecting outward from at least one of the front walls and sidewalls of the container, and a bar code formed on the surface of the bar-code wing. A bar code reader for identifying the bar codes of the cassette is provided below the upper plane of the loader/unloader portion of the equipment for semiconductor fabrication. Accordingly, an efficient loading/unloading operation of a cassette onto/from the loader/unloader portion of the equipment is enabled, wafer damage is reduced, and productivity of the manufactured semiconductor device is improved.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a wafer cassette for use in semiconductor manufacture and management, a method for manufacturing the cassette, and equipment for semiconductor fabrication.
Currently, the automated manufacture of a semiconductor device includes three phases: a designation phase where process programs for equipment to manufacture the semiconductor device are designated by an automated system, a loading phase where a wafer cassette is loaded onto equipment by an operator or an auto-guided vehicle (AGV), and a process-performing phase. Here, in order to prevent errors in the process operation by the improper loading of the cassette onto the equipment by the operator or the AGV, a fixed bar code reader is situated on the equipment to read a bar code affixed to the cassette.
FIGS. 1A and lB are front and side views, respectively, of a conventional cassette for semiconductor fabrication and management. Reference numeral 10 denotes a cassette and reference numeral 15 denotes a bar code.
The cassette 10, as a container for wafers, is generally used for carrying 25 wafers at a time, and the bar code 15 is used for the specific identification of the cassette 10. The bar code 15 is located on the sidewalls as well as the front wall of the cassette 10. The bar code 15 is affixed to the center of the sidewalls of the cassette 10, in parallel with the walls of the cassette 10.
FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a loader/unloader portion of conventional equipment for semiconductor fabrication having a cassette identifying apparatus for reading the bar codes on the front walls and side walls of the cassette 10, respectively. Here, in addition to the reference numerals used in connection with FIGS. 1A and 1B, reference numeral 20 denotes an loader/unloader portion of the equipment for semiconductor fabrication, reference numeral 30 denotes a bar code reader, reference numeral 40 denotes a beam window, and reference numeral 45 denotes a beam.
FIG. 2A is a side view of the loader/unloader portion 20 for loading/unloading a cassette, showing how to read the front bar code. The bar code reader 30, i.e., a cassette identifying apparatus, is provided in the frontal part of the loader/unloader 20 (where an operator would be positioned).
FIG. 2B is a front view of the loader/unloader 20, showing how to read the side bar code. The bar code reader 30 is installed between cassettes loaded on the loader/unloader portion 20.
When an operator or AGV loads the cassette 10 containing wafers onto the loader/unloader portion 20, the bar code reader 30 reads the bar code of the cassette 10 to ensure the proper sequence of manufacturing steps are carried out. The manufacturing process only proceeds after determining whether the identified bar code of a cassette is correct. The cassette 10 whose bar code 15 is verified by the bar code reader 30 is moved from the loader/unloader portion 20 for subsequent processing.
When the cassette 10 is loaded to place wafers contained therein perpendicularly to the upper plane of the loader/unloader portion 20, i.e., when the base plane of the cassette 10 is in contact with the upper plane of the loader/unloader portion 20, the bar code reader 30 reads the bar code inscribed on the front wall or sidewalls of the cassette 10.
On the other hand, if cassette 10 is loaded to place wafers contained therein in parallel with the upper plane of the loader/unloader portion 20, i.e., when the rear plane of the cassette 10 is in contact with the upper plane of the loader/unloader portion 20, the bar code reader 30 reads only the bar code inscribed on the sidewalls of the cassette 10. The bar code on the front wall of the cassette 10 is not read.
According to the above conventional wafer cassette and equipment for semiconductor fabrication having a cassette identifying apparatus, a change in the step sequence of a semiconductor manufacturing process is prevented by identifying the cassettes using a bar code reader. Certain disadvantages, however, are present.
First, when the bar code reader 30 is positioned in the frontal part of loader/unloader portion 20 (see FIG. 2A), it is difficult for an operator or AGV to load the cassette 10 onto the loader/unloader portion 20 since the bar code reader 30 is installed on the loader/unloader portion 20. In this conventional configuration, therefore, when loading/unloading a cassette 10, the operator or AGV must lift the cassette 10 up and over the bar code reader 30.
Second, during such a loader/unloader operation, there is a significant likelihood for the wafers to become damaged by cracking. That is, when the operator or AGV performs the loading/unloading operation, there is the potential for the cassette 10 and the bar code reader 30 to collide with each other.
Third, the number of cassettes to be loaded on the loader/unloader portion 20 is limited by the bar code reader 30, thus lowering productivity. That is, since a certain amount of space must be provided to house the bar code reader 30 and the beam 45 generated therefrom, the number of the cassettes which can be loaded on the loader/unloader portion 20 is restricted, which in turn reduces the total number of wafers which can be prepared per unit process.

Cassette for semiconductor manufacture and management, method for manufacturing the cassette, and equipment for semiconductor fabrication


A new and distinct Chilopsis linearis tree named Sweet Bubba is characterized by an upright form, fast growth, dark green leaves and having flowers with crisped corollas with a distinctive red/purple color (70A, R.H.S. color chart) and blooming throughout the warm season (locally May-October). No seed production has been noted, beneficial for more flowering and less trash in the landscape.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chilopsis linearis. The cultivar originated from a cross between Chilopsis linearis 'Sweet Katie Burgundy' and Chilopsis linearis 'Bubba' with 'Sweet Katie Burgundy' as the female parent. Chilopsis linearis 'Sweet Bubba' is a selection from the F1 generation of that cross and is the object of this application.


A control system for an onboard oxygen generating system (OBOGS) includes a gain control communicatively coupled to an oxygen sensor configured to measure an oxygen concentration outputted from the OBOGS. The gain control selectively switches between unbalanced and balanced bed cycling modes of the OBOGS to produce a target oxygen concentration based on demand. A corresponding method includes providing a gain control communicatively coupled to an oxygen sensor configured to measure an oxygen concentration outputted from the OBOGS, controlling the OBOGS to operate in the unbalanced bed cycling mode when a low demand is placed on the OBOGS whereby the gain control provides a short bed cycle and a corresponding long cycle of a fixed cycle time, and switching the OBOGS to operate in the balanced bed cycling mode when a high demand is placed on the OBOGS. The balanced bed cycling mode operates at a decreased bed cycle time.

The present invention relates to an onboard oxygen generating system (OBOGS) of an aircraft, and more particularly to a system and method to improve the volume of oxygen that can be separated via pressure swing adsorption (PSA) separation processes under conditions of very high product oxygen demand and as the efficiency of sieve material in the beds degrades over time.
Operation of a PSA system which operates at a controlled oxygen concentration has been in use for many years. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,256 (the '256 patent). The method disclosed within the '256 patent uses a fixed time cycle of the PSA process where the oxygen concentration in the product gas is controlled via adjustment of the time one bed is separating oxygen versus the time another bed is separating oxygen. By making the duration of separation time of the two beds different, the system effectively allows more nitrogen into the product gas, thereby reducing the oxygen concentration, preferably to the partial pressure of oxygen required as a function of aircraft altitude.
While generally acceptable, one shortcoming of the method disclosed within the '256 patent is that when the beds reach an equal time base, the method can no longer optimize the amount of oxygen that can be concentrated. Thus, when there is very high demand or a degradation in the efficiency of the sieve material over time, the system can lose the capability to deliver sufficient oxygen.
It is known that a shorter bed cycle time can provide a higher oxygen production rate. One may assume that the answer to the above shortcoming in performance would be to make the baseline PSA cycle time shorter. However, operating at short cycle times has several drawbacks. First, as the cycle time becomes shorter, the systems use proportionally more air to pressurize and depressurize the beds. For aircraft operation, where the OBOGS is supplied with engine bleed air, this comes at a penalty to the aircraft bleed air system. Additionally, this introduces greater average pressure drop in the system, potentially causing lower than desired pressure supply to the breathing regulators and the pilots. In systems supplied by other pressurized air, the additional flow required comes at a cost of higher power as well as higher average pressure drop.
Thus, there is a need for a method that increases the amount of oxygen that can be generated during high demand events and/or when the sieve in the system has become less efficient over time, while reducing power consumption, bleed air consumption, and pressure drop during periods of lower demand.


The present disclosure provides for making annealed additive manufacturing powder, where the powder can be used to make structures using additive manufacturing processes. The additive manufacturing powder can be annealed to improve the flowability of the powder. Once annealed, the powder can be used in the additive manufacturing process and structures can be formed by affixing the powder particles to one another (e.g., by reflowing and re-solidifying a material present in the powder particles). The annealed additive manufacturing powder can be formed in a layer-by-layer additive process to produce articles such as a component of an article of sporting equipment, apparel or footwear (10), including a sole structure (30) for footwear (10).

The design and manufacture of athletic equipment and apparel as well as footwear involves a variety of factors from the aesthetic aspects, to the comfort and feel, to the performance and durability. While design and fashion may be rapidly changing, the demand for increasing performance in the market is unchanging. To balance these demands, designers employ a variety of materials and designs for the various components that make up athletic equipment and apparel as well as footwear. With the increased use of additive manufacturing methods, new additive manufacturing materials suitable for use in athletic equipment, apparel and footwear are being developed and utilized.

Annealed elastomeric thermoplastic powders for additive manufacturing, methods thereof, and articles including the powders


An extension rod comprises a joint segment integrately formed on the extension rod, and a socket-coupling segment pivotally connected with the joint segment. The socket-coupling segment has a socket tool coupling assembly and a joint black coupling assembly that can jut out or retract from the surface of the socket-coupling segment so as to be combined with or released from an external socket tool and the joint segment, respectively. The socket-coupling segment further has a pressing head for controlling an operating pin that drives the socket tool coupling assembly and the joint block coupling assembly simultaneously.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to extension rods and, more particularly, to a multi-function extension rod having an associated socket-coupling and angle-adjusting mechanism. The disclosed mechanism primarily comprises a pressing head and an operating pin wherein by pressing down the pressing head, the operating pin can reciprocate correspondingly to facilitate altering the bending angle of the extension rod and receiving a socket tool thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
One major problem of a current hand tool is not always convenient and accommodative to work in all the operating environments, especially to those in confined operational space and requiring specific operational angles. To solve this problem, an extension rod has been provided for being combined with various socket tools, adapters, socket tools and suchlike to address all kinds of working needs.
For aiding assembly and disassembly of the socket tool to the extension rod, a socket-coupling mechanism, as shown in FIG. 1, is typically provided at a conventional extension rod. According to the drawing, the conventional socket-coupling mechanism of an extension rod 900 is composed of a coupling segment 901, a ball hole 911 provided at the coupling segment 901 and extended perpendicular to the axis of the extension rod 900, a spring 912 installed in the ball hole 911 and a ball positioned in the ball hole 911 and propped up by the spring 912. When a socket tool (not shown) is sleeved onto the extension rod 900 at the end of the coupling segment 901, the edge of the socket tool can push and press the ball 913 so that the ball 913 can subsequently press the spring 912 downward and retracts from the surface of the extension rod 900. Later, when a positioning recess of the socket tool (not shown) is aligned to the ball hole 911, the spring can resile and prop the ball 913 up to appear at the surface of the extension rod 900 again. At this time, the ball 913 is coupled with the positioning recess of the socket tool and therefore the socket can be fastened to the coupling segment 901 of the extension rod 900. Oppositely, to disassemble the socket tool from the extension rod 900, the socket tool can be reversely pulled away from the coupling segment 901 of the extension rod 900 so that the edge of the socket tool presses the ball 913 downward to compress the spring 912 and the ball 913 can retract from the surface of the extension rod 900. Consequently, the socket tool can be disassembled from the coupling segment 901 of the extension rod 900.
However, since the spring 912 is positioned directly under the ball 913, once the ball 913 gets pushed, the ball 913 goes down to compress the spring 912 and retracts from the positioning recess of the socket tool it is currently coupled with. As a result, the coupling between the extension rod 900 and the socket tool comes released. Hence, such conventional socket-coupling mechanism tends to cause the socket tool assembled thereon slip off the extension rod 900 during operation and is not an optimal solution of the socket-coupling mechanism.
On the other hand, an angle-adjusting mechanism, also shown in FIG. 1, may further be equipped to an extension rod 900. For instance, the rear end of the coupling segment 901 may be movably connected to a joint segment 902, which is integratedly formed on the extension rod 900. The joint segment 902 has its front end formed as a joint block 921 comprising a plurality of positioning recesses 922 thereon. A ball hole 931 is provided at the end of the coupling segment 901 adjacent to the joint block 921 and receives a spring 932 therein. A ball 933 is positioned in the ball hole 931 and normally propped out by the spring 932. Further, a semi-annular arm 95 protrudes from the end of the coupling segment 901 and is pivotally fastened to the joint block 921 by means of a pivot 94. Thereby, the spring 932 normally props out the ball 933 to abut against one aligned positioning recess 922 on the joint block 921. When the coupling segment 901 is rotated with respect to the joint segment 902, the edge of the positioning recess 922 pushes the ball 933 to press the ball 933 that in turn compresses the spring 932 inward the ball hole 931, so that the coupling segment 901 can pivot on the pivot 94 with respect to the joint block 921. When a desired angle between the coupling segment 901 and the joint segment 902 is reached and the ball 933 is aligned to another said positioning recess 922, the spring 932 can naturally resile and push the ball 933 out to abut against the corresponding positioning recess 922.
The aforementioned conventional angle-adjusting mechanism faces the same problem as the conventional socket-coupling mechanism. That is, once the ball 933 gets pressed, the spring 932 thereunder is compressed and causes the ball 933 leave the currently coupled positioning recess 922. Thus, during the operation of the extension rod 900, a user must always pay attention to the direction and angle where he/she is exerting his/her force; otherwise, the relative replacement between the ball 933 and positioning recess 922 is liable to occur and the set bending angle of the extension rod 900 is consequently changed.
One attempt to solving these and similar problems seeks to provide an ejector pin assembly that make the ball and the spring configured remotely. An extension rod having an ejector pin assembly, as shown in FIG. 2, is described as an example. The reference numeral 960 denotes an extension rod which has a pin hole 961 disposed axially within one end thereof; a pressing head 962 disposed radially within a hole 963 on the wall of the extension rod 960; a ball 964 disposed in a bore 965 on the wall of the extension rod 960; and an ejector pin 966 disposed within said pin hole 961 capable of reciprocating along the pin hole 961 by compressing a spring 967 under the control of the pressing head 962. The ejector pin 966 further comprises a first seat 968 and second seat 969 which are in succession and corresponding to the position of the ball 964, wherein the first seat 968 is deeper than the second seat 969. Thereby, when a user presses down the pressing head 962, the ejector pin 966 can be driven to move by compressing the spring 967 so that the ball 964 can fall into the deeper seat 968 and disappear beyond the surface of the extension rod 960. By this means, since the spring 967 is not arranged under the ball 964 directly, the spring 967 can never be compressed by force acting on the ball 964 and consequently, the undesired replacement of the ball 964 as described above can be remedied. Though the improved socket-coupling mechanism is nearing perfection, the '476 Application and other prior art extension rods do not provide a corresponding amelioration to an angle-adjusting mechanism.
Hence, the inventor of the present invention strained to develop a multi-function extension rod having an associated socket-coupling and angle-adjusting mechanism that implements a more compact and more efficient structure to allow a user to couple a socket tool on the extension rod and adjust the bending angle of the extension rod easily by a single pressing while the stability of the combination between the extension rod and a socket toll and the set bending angle of the extension rod is ensured.


A rear spoiler system for a vehicle has at least one roof spoiler comprising a roof air-deflector element. The roof spoiler is configured to be secured only on a rear door of the vehicle without being secured on the vehicle structure. The roof air-deflector element can be raised into a driving position automatically when the rear doors are closed, and can be moved automatically into an idle position when the rear doors are open.

Rear spoilers serve to improve vehicle aerodynamics and can correspondingly reduce fuel consumption. They are fitted in the rear region of the vehicle and generally have air-guiding elements that lengthen the contours of the vehicle to the rear, for example with curved surfaces. Rear spoilers of this type can also be fastened to the vehicle roof or to the side walls.
DE 20 2009 014 476 U1, DE 20 2009 014 510 U1 and DE 20 2009 015 009 U1 describe rear spoiler constructions, in which the air-guiding elements or spoiler elements are arranged displaceably or pivotably in order to permit unimpeded opening of the vehicle door.
Pivotable or foldable rear spoilers are generally connected to the hinge of the rear door. DE 102 28 658 A1 describes various folding solutions, in which planar surfaces, which are pivotable via a hinge, are intended to enable aerodynamic optimization in the travel region.
DE 10 2008 036 888 A1 describes constructions of rear spoilers and connections to the vehicle, in which, inter alia, a carrier is fit between the rear door and the air-guiding element, which carrier can be unhinged for a substantially pivoted-out position of the door. As the rear flap is pivoted outward about the vertical pivot axis thereof, the air-guiding element is first also pivoted until it reaches the outer surfaces of the side wall. As the rear flap is subsequently pivoted out, the flexible carrier element is correspondingly compressed.
Such connections of the air-guiding elements in the hinge region generally permit an adjustment of the air-guiding element between the rear door and the side wall when the rear door—as is often provided in the case of utility vehicles—is pivoted outward by 270° in order to be fastened, for example, to the side wall.
However, systems of this type are generally very complex. They have, inter alia, complex joint or hinge constructions. Furthermore, some rear spoiler systems only permit the use of relatively short air-guiding elements, and therefore the improvement in aerodynamics is limited.
Furthermore, the space in the hinge region of the rear door is very confined as the rear door swings open, and therefore more complex rear spoiler constructions may impair the operation to swing open by 270°.


The present disclosure relates to a motion simulator including a rotating plate, a fixing plate, an operating frame disposed at and spaced apart from an upper portion of the rotating plate, and a plurality of link units coupled between the rotating plate and the operating frame to support and vertically move the operating frame. The rotating plate has a motor mounted through one side thereof and a plurality of casters mounted through a lower surface thereof. The caster is configured such that, when the motion simulator is used, rotation of the caster is inhibited to allow the wheel to roll in the rotational direction of the rotating plate. When the motion simulator is moved, the caster can be unlocked to enable the caster to rotate and the motion simulator to be freely pushed and moved. The fixing plate enables the rotating plate to be rotated and has a driven part.

In general, a motion simulator is a device for reproducing a dynamic change in response to a virtual environment controlled by a computer to enable a user to feel motion in virtual reality as if it were real motion. Such motion simulators can realize a flight simulation or a driving simulation and have recently been widely used as simulators for games or simulators for theaters that enable people to feel three-dimensional motion.
The motion simulator performs three-dimensional movement through a combination of linear movement and rotational movement. Movement of an object in a space is performed by a combination of linear movement in the forward/rearward direction (Z axis), in the lateral direction (X axis) and the upward/downward direction (Y axis), roll with the Z axis as a rotation center, pitch with the X axis as a rotation center, and yaw with the Y axis as a rotation center.
As one example of such a conventional motion simulator, a virtual reality experience simulator is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-1999-0060729. Referring to FIG. 1, in the conventional motion simulator, a base plate 2 is rotatably coupled to an upper portion of a pedestal 1 by means of a rotating means 80, a lower end portion of a central shaft 40 is secured to an intermediate portion of the base plate 2 and a supporting plate 10 is secured to the base plate 2.
A moving plate 20 is connected to an upper portion of the central shaft via a ball joint 70, a plurality of rotary rods 30 are rotatably coupled to a peripheral portion of the moving plate 20, a plurality of length-variable elements 50 are connected between the supporting plate 10 and the moving plate 20, a lower end of the length-variable element 50 is connected to the supporting plate 10 by the ball joint 70, and an upper end of the length-variable element 50 is connected to the rotary rod 30 by a universal joint 60.
The rotating means 80 has a structure in which a motor 81 is secured to the pedestal 1 and a pinion 82 fixed to a shaft of the motor 81 is meshed with a driven gear 83 secured to an outer circumference surface of the base plate 2. When the motor 81 is operated, the pinion 82 is rotated to rotate the driven gear 83 and the base plate 2 is thus rotated. When the base plate 2 is rotated, the supporting plate 10, the length-variable element 50 and the moving plate 20 which are coupled to an upper portion of the base plate are rotated together.
According to the above structure, the length-variable element 50 is selectively driven to displace the moving plate 20 and rotate the base plate 2 so that the three dimensional movement can be performed.
However, the aforementioned conventional motion simulator is configured to allow the pinion 82 coupled to the shaft of the motor 81 mounted on the pedestal 1 to be meshed with the driven gear 83 of the base plate 2 for rotating the base plate 2 having a heavy weight and its upper structure. Therefore, there is a drawback in that, since an inertial force is increased when the base plate 2 is rotated, if a rotational direction of the base plate 2 is reversed, a high load is applied to the motor 81 and it is difficult to quickly and accurately control yaw.
In addition, the conventional motion simulator has problems in that, since the lower supporting structure is composed of the pedestal 1 and the base plate 2, the apparatus has an excessive weight, and since the pedestal 1 is configured to be placed on a floor of an installation site, it is not easy to move the motion simulator.


A pressure sensor (20) includes a test cell (32) and sense cell (34). The sense cell (34) includes an electrode (42) formed on a substrate (30) and a sense diaphragm (68) spaced apart from the electrode (42) to produce a sense cavity (64). The test cell (32) includes an electrode (40) formed on the substrate (30) and a test diaphragm (70) spaced apart from the electrode (40) to produce a test cavity (66). Both of the cells (32, 34) are sensitive to pressure (36). However, a critical dimension (76) of the sense diaphragm (68) is less than a critical dimension (80) of the test diaphragm (70) so that the test cell (32) has greater sensitivity (142) to pressure (36) than the sense cell (34). Parameters (100) measured at the test cell (32) are utilized to estimate a sensitivity (138) of the sense cell (34).

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices are semiconductor devices with embedded mechanical components. MEMS devices include, for example, pressure sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, microphones, digital mirror displaces, micro fluidic devices, and so forth. MEMS devices are used in a variety of products such as automobile airbag systems, control applications in automobiles, navigation, display systems, inkjet cartridges, and so forth. Capacitive-sensing MEMS devices designs are highly desirable for operation in miniaturized devices due to their low temperature sensitivity, small size, and suitability for low cost mass production.
A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) pressure sensor typically uses a pressure cavity and a membrane element, referred to as a diaphragm, that deflects under pressure. In some configurations, a change in the distance between two plates, where one of the two plates is the movable diaphragm, creates a variable capacitor to detect strain (or deflection) due to the applied pressure over the area. Process variation on critical design parameters, such as the width of a MEMS pressure sensor diaphragm, can affect the sensitivity of a pressure sensor. For example, a small difference in the width of a MEMS pressure sensor diaphragm can result in a large difference in sensitivity, relative to the predetermined nominal, or design, sensitivity for the pressure sensor. Accordingly, the sensitivity of each MEMS pressure sensor is typically calibrated individually. The equipment used for this calibration can be costly and difficult to maintain. Additionally, calibration can be slow due to the imposition of a physical pressure stimulus on the pressure sensor in order to calibrate the pressure sensor. Individual calibration of MEMS pressure sensors by imposing a physical pressure stimulus undesirably increases costs associated with the pressure sensor and/or can introduce error in pressure measurements.

Pressure sensor having multiple pressure cells and sensitivity estimation methodology