The invention provides methods for the combustion synthesis (CS) of graphene by a novel exothermic self-sustained reaction between a refractory ceramic compound and a carbon-containing polymer under an inert gas atmosphere. The synthesis of graphene was confirmed by both transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The graphene produced has very low (<1 wt. %) oxygen content. Fluorocarbon gases released due to decomposition of the carbon-containing polymer in the combustion wave can reduce the ceramic to a gas and mesoporous carbon particles and graphene layers. The method does not require an external energy source because it occurs in a self-sustained synergetic manner after ignition. The methods are flexible in terms of tuning the synthesis conditions for desired products, and the method can be scaled to provide kilogram quantities.

Graphene, atomically thin carbon sheets, and its structural derivatives (bi- or few-layered graphene) have attracted great attention due to their exceptional charge transport, thermal, optical and mechanical properties. Graphene materials have been evaluated for applications in electronics, energy conversion and storage technologies, gas sensing technology, and in many other fields.
As a single sheet, graphene was first isolated by micro-mechanical cleaving of graphite by an adhesive substrate. Another method to produce graphene is epitaxial growth on a copper or nickel substrate from a diluted hydrocarbon atmosphere at ˜1300 K. After a chemical etching of the metal substrate, the graphene layers can be detached and transferred to another substrate. An approach to producing few-layered graphene is ultrahigh vacuum annealing of a silicon carbide (SiC) wafer. This method requires no transfer before use in processing devices, which makes it attractive for the semiconductor industry.
The reaction between halogens (e.g., chlorine) and refractory carbides (e.g., SiC, TiC, WC, Ti3SiC2) at temperatures of 900-1500 K are also known to produce various carbon materials. In this process, the chlorine selectively etches the metal (Ti, W) or metalloid (Si) from the carbide lattice resulting in disordered porous carbons, which are often referred to as carbide-derived carbons (CDCs). Chlorination of some carbides results in CDC particles with surface graphene layers.
Oxidative exfoliation of graphite and subsequent chemical reduction is one of the most efficient methods for low-cost production of graphene. However, the chemical reduction cannot remove many irreversible lattice defects introduced by the oxidation process. These defects degrade the electronic properties of graphene. Nano-sheets obtained by this chemical modification strategy also suffer from relatively low surface area and readily form aggregated structures, which greatly impact their application performance. Therefore, it is important to search for new effective approaches for synthesis of graphene nano-sheets with desired properties.
Recently, several attempts have been made to produce a variety of advanced carbon-based nano-structures, including graphene, by self-sustaining combustion reactions. For example, porous disordered carbon "onions" were produced by exothermic reaction between sodium azide (NaN3) and in hexachlorobenzene (C6Cl6) or hexachloroethane (C2Cl6). A different approach based on self-sustained direct reduction of CO2 and CO gases by metals (Li, Mg, Ca, B, Ti, Zr, and Al) is also proposed to produce layered graphite materials. Researchers have suggested that the Mg reduction of CO2 is the most optimal system to produce few-layered graphene. It has also been demonstrated that short-term local heating of a graphene oxide (GO) sample may initiate a self-propagating deoxygenation reaction resulting in reduced-GO.
However, each of the methods currently used for preparing carbon-based nano-structures are limited in terms of scalability or their resulting purity. Accordingly, new methods of synthesizing carbon-based nano-structures are needed to advance the fields of electronics, energy conversion and storage technologies, gas sensing technology, and coatings. Preferably the methods would be cost-effective relative to current technologies and scalable for kilogram syntheses of carbon-based nano-structures such as graphene.

Method of producing graphene and other carbon materials


Methods and apparatus for data input. Devices are provided in accordance with this invention which utilize capacitive coupling of an object to the device to sense the object's position. The devices are comprised of a plurality of electrode strips which form virtual electrodes. The virtual electrodes are selectively connected to form virtual dipole electrodes which are responsive to the object's position.

Input devices for computers are well known in the art. There are several types of input devices, such as the familiar "mouse", which have been utilized and are generally useful in providing "user friendly" computer systems for both technical and non-technical applications. The popularity which these devices have achieved in the art can be given large credit for fostering the explosive growth of the personal computer industry since they provide a simple means for users to input data to computers for users.
Currently, about 95% of all input devices or "pointing devices" are mice. A mouse generally requires a free-rolling surface on which it can interface. Depending upon the particular mouse which is used, the device couples to the free-rolling surface and translates movement across the surface as an input to a computer. Thus, the mouse is unsuitable for any input application which cannot provide space for a rolling surface. The current and growing popularity of "laptop" computers thus has created a significant problem for mouse type technologies which require a rolling surface. Laptops are generally used in small confined areas such as, for example, airplanes, where there is insufficient room for a rolling surface. Therefore, a long-felt need in the art exists for non-mouse pointing solutions for computers and other instruments.
A further long-felt need in the art exists for input and pointing devices which are simple to use and which can be easily integrated with current computers. This long-felt need has not been solved by previous mechanical ball or shaft rolling technologies, such as, for example, track balls. Furthermore, new pointing devices should be reliable and rugged, with the ability to be transported to a variety of locations. Current track ball devices do not satisfy these long-felt needs and are also quite cumbersome since they require practiced dexterity by the user as he interacts with the device.
Other types of pointing or input devices have been employed in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,311, Rodgers et al., discloses a writing pen for detecting time varying electrostatic field components. The writing pen disclosed in Rodgers et al. is used in conjunction with a writing tablet which generates an electrostatic field. The Rodgers et al. patent discloses an X-Y grid having a writing surface overlaying the grid and an active stylus which writes on the grid in the same manner as a ball point pen. See column 2, lines 63, through column 3, line 7.
Other examples of stylus-type or "tablet" input devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,154, also to Rodgers et al. The second Rodgers et al. patent discloses a cordless stylus which emits a directional electric field from the tip of a conductive pen cartridge. The pen tip is capacitively coupled to a digitizer tablet having an X-Y coordinate system. The pointing device disclosed in the second Rodgers et al. patent may also function as a mouse. See column 1, lines 65 through 68. Both the stylus embodiment and the mouse embodiment disclosed in the second Rodgers et al. patent are both active devices which emit electrostatic fields that interface with the digitizer tablet.
The Rodgers et al. patents disclose digitizing styluses and mouse pointing devices which require a separate rolling surface. Furthermore, both of these patents disclose devices which are active and emit electrostatic fields to interact with the digitizing tablet in order to input data to a computer. Since the devices disclosed in both Rodgers et al. patents are active, the stylus is either attached to the tablet by a wire or contains a replaceable power source such as a battery. In either case, the user is required to grasp a bulky item in order to use the device. Thus, the devices disclosed in the Rodgers et al. patents do not satisfy a long-felt need in the art for pointing and input devices which can be conveniently and efficiently used for a variety of portable and desktop applications.
It has been known in the art to use tactile sensing devices to provide data input. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,430, Yoshikawa et al. The Yoshikawa et al. patent discloses a coordinate detecting apparatus for determining the coordinate position data of a point on a plane indicated by the touch of a finger tip or other load. Yoshikawa et al. teaches an analog type apparatus which uses a resistive film through which the coordinate position of a point is detected. The point's coordinate position is indicated by applying a load impedance to the position. See column 3, lines 8 through 22.
Tactile devices such as those disclosed in Yoshikawa et al. exhibit a significant disadvantage since they require electrical contact between the finger tip and the device. When individuals possess long fingernails or have other objects about the fingers and hands, good electrical contact is prevented and the device does not function properly.
Other analog tactile devices also exist in the art. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,252, Bobick. The Bobick patent discloses electrodes located on the boundaries of a sensing region. Human touch on an edge of an electrode produces a capacitive charge to vary the time constant of an RC network which is part of an oscillator. The variation in capacitance of the sensor changes the time constant of the RC network and results in a change in frequency in the output signal of the oscillator. See column 2, lines 8-20.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,191, Matzke, discloses a touch activated control device comprising individual conductive plates which form sectors of a circle. A user's touch on the dielectric layer overlaying the plates is detected by individually charging and discharging each of the sectors in the plates in a sequential manner to determine the increased capacitance of the sector. See column 2, lines 26 through 40.
Display devices which are touch sensitive have also been utilized in the art. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,463, Ng et al. The Ng et al. patent discloses a display device which locates a touch anywhere on a conductive display faceplate by measuring plural electrical impedances of the faceplate's conductive coating. The impedances are at electrodes located on different edges of the faceplate. See column 2, lines 7 through 12. The touch sensitive devices disclosed in Ng et al. are generally designed to overlay a computer display and provide positioning information.
The tactile input devices disclosed in the Bobick, Matzke et al. and Ng et al. patents do not satisfy a long-felt need in the art for tactile input devices which accurately and efficiently provide data input for computers and other instrumentation. The devices disclosed in the aforementioned patents fail to satisfy this long-felt need since they effectively only measure position as a fraction of the distance between electrodes located on the boundaries of a sensing region. This leads to measurement inaccuracies since the distance between electrodes is relatively large, thereby causing small errors in the measured fraction to result in large position errors.
Still other tactile sensing devices utilize a grid of electrodes to digitally determine an object's position somewhere on the grid. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,221, Mabusth, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,720, Rympalski et al. The Mabusth patent discloses a touch sensitive control device which translates touch location to output signals and which includes a substrate that supports first and second interleaved, closely spaced, non-overlapping conducting plates. The plates are aligned in rows and columns so that edges of each plate of an array are proximate to, but spaced apart from, the edges of plates of the other array. The first and second arrays are periodically connected in a multiplexed fashion to a capacitance measuring circuit which measures the change in capacitance in the arrays. In effect, the Mabusth patent discloses a grid of pixels which are capacitively coupled.
Similarly, the Rympalski et al. patent discloses an electronic sketch pad which contains a graphics input pad having an array of transparent capacitive pixels, the capacitance characteristics of which are changed in response to the passing of a conductive tipped stylus over the surface of the pad. The change in capacitance is sensed by buffers disposed along the columns of the pixel matrix as the rows are scanned at a prescribed scanning rate.
Neither the Mabusth patent nor the Rympalski et al. patent satisfy a long-felt need in the art for tactile input devices which exhibit good position resolution of an object. Since the aforementioned patents teach devices which utilize a grid of electrodes and which operate in a "binary" mode, i.e., measure position by examining each electrode and determining that an object is located or is not located at a point on the grid, the resolution of the position measurement is limited to, at best, a few times the grid resolution. This requires an extremely fine pattern of electrodes to achieve acceptable position resolution. However, a fine pattern of electrodes is extremely expensive and, in most cases, not practical. Therefore, the Mabusth and Rympalski et al. patents do not satisfy a long-felt need in the art for tactile sensing devices which can input data to computers or other instruments.


A system and related methods for preventing back injury involving backpacks, wherein a weighing feature is provided for weighing the payload of the backpack and determining whether the payload is above a predetermined weight limit, and an alarm (e.g. audio, visual and/or tactile) is provided for alerting a user and/or a guardian that the weight of the payload is too great and must be reduced prior to safely carrying the backpack.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the prevention of back injury and, more particularly, to a system and related methods for preventing back injury associated with backpack use.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
While most episodes of back pain are self-limited, 5% to 10% of cases will become chronic. These chronic conditions account for 90% of the healthcare expenditures for back pain and amount to $50 to $80 billion dollars annually. Among those subject to this problem are the over 40 million children (in the US alone) who use backpacks to transport belongings to, from and within school. Although it is recommended that a loaded backpack weigh no more than 10% to 15% of a student's body weight, the average student carries a backpack weighing almost one forth of his or her body weight and almost thirty percent of all students typically carry backpacks weighing up to one third of their body weight at least once a week. As a result, emergency room visits by children for back pain due to backpacks have increased over time, with approximately half of all injuries occurring to children ranging from 5-14 years old. In addition to back pain caused by overloaded backpacks, studies suggest a correlation between spinal deformity (e.g. scoliosis) due to excessive weight in backpacks. Moreover, adolescents who have experienced back pain are at an increased risk for experiencing back pain as adults, which will only add to the already large burden on healthcare systems worldwide.
Efforts to avoid or minimize back injuries due to overloaded backpacks have largely revolved around eliminating the need to carry the backpack, such as by adding wheels to pull rather than carry the backpack. While an admirable attempt (and to a degree helpful), in practice this effort has been less than successful, with many children reluctant to use the wheeled feature to pull the backpack. A further disadvantage of the wheeled backpack approach is that the student usually has to lift the backpack at some point, whether to place the backpack in a locker or into a transportation vehicle such as a school bus, which subjects their back to a potentially injurious overload condition.
The present invention is directed at overcoming, or at least improving upon, the disadvantages of the prior art.

System and related methods for preventing back injury


A work machine includes a machine cab and a machine work body. The work body includes an HVAC unit mounted below a floor of the machine cab. The machine cab includes an HVAC duct system configured to move with the machine cab and seal with the HVAC unit of the work body.

In conventional work machines, such as skid steer loaders, the choice of location for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning ("HVAC") units poses a problem. The space required for such equipment makes placement difficult. In-cab mounting uses space otherwise available for the operator and detracts from overall machine aesthetics. Moreover, placing the HVAC unit far from the cab may cause increased losses in air temperature and velocity, requiring HVAC over-sizing or decreased performance expectations. Proper sealing of the HVAC unit to the machine cab also may present challenges.
One method of mounting a work machine's HVAC system to a machine cab is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,085 (the '085 patent) issued to Nelson. The '085 patent describes a tiltable cab having dual intake air conditioning mounted above the operator.
Although the system of the '085 patent may include a rotatable cab, it fails to provide maximum access to the work machine's HVAC system or other components by integrating the cab floor as well as part of the HVAC duct system to move with the machine cab during rotation. The disadvantages of this work machine configuration are that it may cause machine cab vibration and noise because of its location, it may hamper proper sealing of the cab for heating, air conditioning, and ventilation (HVAC), and may limit access of maintenance and service personnel to the machine body.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Rotatable cab with floor-mounted heating, ventilation and air conditioning


In a tissue binding method, a ring-shaped part (15) of a snare wire (10b) is disposed at a position surrounding a binding target site, the tissue at the binding target site is pulled while the ring-shaped part (15) is pressed against the tissue around the binding target site at a plurality of pressing points that are located away from each other in the circumferential direction of the ring-shaped part (15), and, in a state in which the tissue at the binding target site is pulled, the diameter of the ring-shaped part (15) is reduced to bind the tissue, while adjusting the position in the pressing direction at one or more of the pressing points.

In a known tissue binding method, a snare wire is fixed around a binding target site with a plurality of clips, tissue at the binding target site surrounded by the snare wire is gripped and lifted, and in this state, the tissue is bound with the snare wire (for example, see Patent Literature 1).
With the method in Patent Literature 1, because the snare wire is fixed around the binding target site with the clips before the tissue at the binding target site is lifted, if the snare wire is not located at the position intended by an operator when the tissue is lifted, it is necessary to remove the clips, to shift the position of the snare wire, and to attach the clips again.


An image forming method and apparatus uses an image forming unit including an image carrier and a write unit that forms an image on the image carrier. A moving member moves to transfer, at a transfer position, the image formed on the image carrier and a driving unit rotates and drives the image carrier. A control circuit controls rotation driving of the driving unit on the basis of a rotation state of the image carrier obtained during a predetermined time interval centered on the same rotation position of a preceding rotation as that of a current rotation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and, more particularly, to control of rotation driving of an image carrier or the like.
2. Related Background Art
A high-speed color image forming apparatus is conventionally known, in which images formed by a plurality of image forming units are overlappingly transferred to a conveyed recording sheet.
An apparatus of this type suffers the following problem. That is, due to mechanical precision, the moving irregularities of a plurality of photosensitive drum and conveyor belt occur and the relationship in moving amount between the conveyor belt and the outer surfaces of the photosensitive drums varies at the transfer positions of the respective image forming units in units of colors. For this reason, the overlapped images of the respective colors do not match resulting in color misregistration (position error).
The color misregistration is mainly classified into shifts in the main scanning and subscanning directions. The shifts include a steady error caused by a constant shift within one image and an unsteady error caused by a periodically varying shift.
The steady error can be conventionally corrected as follows. Position error correction marks are formed on the conveyor belt in units of colors, and position errors are detected on the basis of mark read results, thereby correcting the steady error.
The unsteady color misregistration and particularly misregistration caused by irregular convey operation may be corrected as follows. The rotation states of the photosensitive drums and conveyor belt are monitored, and rotation driving of the motor is so controlled as to cancel the rotation errors and make the rotational speed constant.
Conventionally, rotation driving control data obtained at the time of manufacture are stored in a memory. Rotation driving of the motor is controlled in actual image formation on the basis of the stored control data.
Conventionally, since the control data for canceling rotation errors are stored in the memory in advance, as described above, the control data cannot cope with changes in rotation errors caused by changes in environment of the apparatus and changes with age.
Unsteady shifts occur due to variations in rotation errors, and an excellent image cannot be obtained.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the conventional problems described above.
It is another object of the present invention to eliminate rotation errors of rotary members in an image forming apparatus to obtain a high-precision image.
In order to achieve the above objects according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising:
image forming means including an image carrier and write means for forming an image on the image carrier;
a moving member which moves to transfer, at a transfer position, the image formed on the image carrier;
driving means for rotating and driving the image carrier; and
control means for controlling rotation driving of the driving means on the basis of a rotation state of the image carrier in a predetermined interval centered on the same rotation position of a preceding rotation as that of a current rotation.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Image forming method and apparatus with controlled image carrier rotation driving based on previous rotation state


Disclosed is a system for managing identification information for a log. The system comprises an arrangement for determining an origin of the log, a computing device communicably coupled to the remote server arrangement and a communication interface that is operable to transmit the captured at least one subsequent image to the remote server arrangement. The arrangement for determining an origin of the log further comprises at least one imaging device coupled to a forest harvester, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that is operatively coupled to the forest harvester and a data processor that is communicably coupled to a remote server arrangement and operable to process the captured at least one image and the determined felling location of the log to create the identification information for the log.

In timber industries, appropriate origin identification of a given log (or a given lumber) is a critical stage in an entire supply chain for providing timber-derived products, for example for quality assurance purposes. Conventionally, a given log is sprayed or imprinted with an identification code or symbol for tracking an origin of the given log, for example for defining a particular geographical region from which the given log originated and its date of harvesting. Generally, such identification techniques are performed at high speed and poor quality, which makes them unreliable. Furthermore, such identification may change during the supply chain due to various conditions such as climate, humidity, improper processing of the given log, substandard handling of the given log during transit, and so forth. For example, an identification code may fade away when subjected to rain or moist air. In such situations, to keep the identification codes legible, the identification code requires constant maintenance (such as reapplication during the supply chain).
Typically, there are a limited number of methods of identifying an origin of a log. One commonly known method for identifying a log includes using electronic databases for identifying an origin of the log. However, such databases generally provide information about logs from a region having known species of trees that are processed to produce logs. In such a situation, the information may not enable identification of the origin of the log. Another method of identifying an origin of a log includes capturing images of a region from where the log is harvested (such as a fall site), and images of a portion of the harvested log. Subsequently, such images are processed to identify the origin of the log. In such a situation, the images of the log are saved into a database, and the images are retrieved at a later stage to identify the log. However, such a method fails to link (or identify) a log to a specific tree or a specific fall site.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing discussion, there exists a need to address, for example to overcome, the aforementioned drawbacks associated with identifying an origin of a log.

System and method for determining and managing origin identification of logs


A lens assembling structure including a lens system and a holding member for holding each lens element, a particular lens element in the lens system including a lens function surface and an abutting surface. The abutting surface is designed such that an inclination center due to decentering is located on the optical axis and at a point where aberration deterioration due to inclination is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an assembling structure when a lens is assembled to a holding member such as lens barrel, and more specifically to a lens assembling structure which is hardly adversely affected even when the lens is decentered from a regular position by decentering, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a lens L is assembled to a holding member 10, one end face of the lens L, as shown in FIG. 8, abuts against the holding member 10 and the other end face is secured to the holding member 10 by a ring screw (not shown).
If the lens L is assembled to the holding member 10 in this manner, when the lens L is decentered caused by assembling errors or vibrations, the lens L is inclined about the center R2 of curvature of the abutting surface against the holding member 10. The term "decentering" when used herein refers to a movement perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens L, and the term "inclination" refers to a rotational motion of the lens L which is caused to move in such a manner as to have an angle between the optical axis of the lens L and the optical axis of a whole lens system by the decentering.
However, when the lens is rotated about the center of curvature, the rotation of the lens acts in such a manner as to increase the generation of aberration. As a result, there is a high possibility that performance of the lens system deteriorates.
Particularly, when the lens is formed of a material having a large coefficient of expansion such as plastic, it is necessary to reserve a large clearance in order to avoid generation of warp caused by rising of the internal pressure of the lens which is caused by expansion of such material. Therefore, a problem is caused when decentering occurs, since the decentering amount is large and deterioration of the lens system is great.


A turbo-machine for transporting media loaded with solid particles includes a housing. At least one impeller is disposed inside the housing and defines impeller side spaces disposed between the impeller and the housing. Wall surfaces bound the impeller side spaces. The wall surfaces have various shaped protrusions, recesses, blades and grooves for conducting the flow of the medium near the wall at least partly into regions where the transport medium has a greater rotational motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a turbo-machine for transporting media charged with solid particles, with one or more impellers disposed inside a housing.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Turbo-machines can include pumps, turbines, pump-turbines, or the like. They are used in the most various fields of engineering. For a long time, designers have tried to improve the lifetime of these machines which are exposed to wear from abrasive particles.
The first measures for this are generally to use a specially hard and wear-resistant material. For example, in the case of centrifugal pumps, the wheel side spaces and the glands located in these have proven to be areas that are especially sensitive to wear. If the gaps of the glands are enlarged due to wear of the material, increased hydraulic losses will result and, as a consequence of this, reduced efficiency. Furthermore, in the case of multi-stage machines, strong oscillations will result, which can cause the entire unit to break down.
From the European reference EP-B-0 346 677, a way is known to protect the space which receives a shaft seal and a shaft seal itself against wear. This space is located behind the impeller and is separated by a diaphragm gland from the wheel side space, which actually has a higher pressure.
From the German reference DE-A-22 10 556, a centrifugal pump is known in which especially wear-resistant parts, such as the spiral space and the abrasion plates which bound the impeller side space are supposed to improve the lifetime of the machine. Furthermore, by feeding particle-free material into this machine, the wheel side space and also the gland can be protected against abrasive particles.
German reference DE-A-23 44 576 discloses another measure, its design being such that additional transport channels are present in the area of the diaphragm glands. The entries to these transport channels are preceded by a surrounding annular chamber. This measure is supposed to free the transport medium entering the diaphragm gland from abrasive particles. The particles are separated out in the annular chamber, are transported through the transport channels into the wheel side space, and the water liberated thereby then flows to the actual diaphragm gland quasi-free of particles. This measure may indeed be somewhat successful initially, but after a short operating time, the transport channel will become increasingly ineffective. The reason for this is that the particles will become more concentrated in the area of the gland entry, in combination with the after-flowing medium, and wear will thus be accelerated.
Another measure is known from European reference EP-B-O 288 500, where auxiliary blades are affixed on the outside of impeller cover disks. However, annular webs are interspersed among these auxiliary blades so as to reduce the flow of liquid in the impeller side space. But practical tests have shown that this solution also cannot prevent wear.
German reference DE-A-38 08 598 tries to increase lifetime by means of a certain inclination of the surrounding wall surface of the space following an impeller.

Turbo-machine with reduced abrasive wear


Hydrogen peroxide is prepared by an auto-oxidation method via oxidation in a microreactor. A working solution containing a reactive carrier compound is hydrogenated with hydrogen in a first step and is subsequently oxidized in a microreactor to produce hydrogen peroxide.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a versatile commodity chemical with diverse applications. Hydrogen peroxide applications take advantage of its strong oxidizing agent properties and include pulp/paper bleaching, waste water treatment, chemical synthesis, textile bleaching, metals processing, microelectronics production, food packaging, health care and cosmetics applications. The annual U.S. production of H2O2 is 1.7 billion pounds, which represents roughly 30% of the total world output of 5.9 billion pounds per year. The worldwide market for hydrogen peroxide is expected to grow steadily at about 3% annually.
Various chemical processes may be employed to manufacture hydrogen peroxide on a commercial scale. One major class of hydrogen peroxide manufacture comprises the auto-oxidation (AO) of a "working compound" or "working reactant" or "reactive compound", to yield hydrogen peroxide. Commercial AO manufacture of hydrogen peroxide has utilized working compounds in both cyclic and non-cyclic processes.
The cyclic AO processes typically involve hydrogenation (reduction) of a working compound and then auto-oxidation of the hydrogenated working compound to produce hydrogen peroxide. Most current large-scale hydrogen peroxide manufacturing processes are based on an anthraquinone AO process, in which hydrogen peroxide is formed by a cyclic reduction and subsequent auto-oxidation of anthraquinone derivatives. The anthraquinone auto-oxidation process for the manufacture of hydrogen peroxide is well known, being disclosed in the 1930s by Riedl and Pfleiderer, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,158,525 and No. 2,215,883, and is described in the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd. ed., Volume 13, Wiley, N.Y., 1981, pp. 15-22.
In addition to the anthraquinones, examples of other working compounds feasible for use in the cyclic auto-oxidation manufacture of hydrogen peroxide include azobenzene and phenazine; see, e.g., Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd. ed., Volume 13, Wiley, N.Y., 1981, pp. 15 & 22.
In commercial AO hydrogen peroxide processes, the anthraquinone derivatives (i.e., the working compounds) are usually alkyl anthraquinones and/or alkyl tetrahydroanthraquinones, and these are used as the working compound(s) in a solvent-containing working solution. The anthraquinone derivatives are dissolved in an inert solvent system. This mixture of working compounds and solvent(s) is called the working solution and is the cycling fluid of the AO process. The solvent components are normally selected based on their ability to dissolve anthraquinones and anthrahydroquinones, but other important solvent criteria are low vapor pressure, relatively high flash point, low water solubility and favorable water extraction characteristics.
Non-cyclic AO hydrogen peroxide processes typically involve the auto-oxidation of a working compound, without an initial reduction of hydrogenation step, as in the auto-oxidation of isopropanol or other primary or secondary alcohol to an aldehyde or ketone, to yield hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogenation (reduction) of the anthraquinone-containing working solution is carried out by contact of the latter with a hydrogen-containing gas in the presence of a catalyst in a large scale reactor at suitable conditions of temperature and pressure to produce anthrahydroquinones.
Once the hydrogenation reaction has reached the desired degree of completion, the hydrogenated working solution is removed from the hydrogenation reactor and is then oxidized by contact with an oxygen-containing gas, usually air. The oxidation step converts the anthrahydroquinones back to anthraquinones and simultaneously forms H2O2 which normally remains dissolved in the working solution.
The remaining steps in conventional auto-oxidation processes are physical operations. The H2O2 produced in the working solution during the oxidation step is separated from the working solution in a water extraction step. The H2O2 leaving the extraction step is typically purified and concentrated.
The working solution from which H2O2 has been extracted is returned to the reduction step. Thus, the hydrogenation-oxidation-extraction cycle is carried out in a continuous loop, i.e., as a cyclic operation.
An overview of the anthraquinone AO process for the production of hydrogen peroxide is given in Ullman's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 5th Edition, Volume A13, pages 447-456.
The oxidation step is critical to the economics of the auto-oxidation hydrogen peroxide process. Typical oxidizer vessels contain a large inventory of working solution. This costly inventory of working solution represents a high working capital cost in addition to the capital cost of such large vessels. Furthermore, the large working solution inventory in conventional oxidizer vessels inherently presents a higher fire risk in the operating plant.
Another drawback of the large reactor inventory is its high reactor residence time, which can lead to unwanted by product formation, such as epoxides, and can result in higher decomposition rates of hydrogen peroxide. Conversion of such byproducts back into useful reactants capable of producing hydrogen peroxide necessitates costly side stream unit operations. Of course, the rate of generation of these parasitic byproducts has a strong influence on the sustained capacity and operating costs of a conventional AO process.
One technical objective of anthraquinone based oxidizers is to maximize reactor volumetric productivity. Another objective is to maximize oxidation reaction conversion of the anthrahydroquinone to produce the desired product, hydrogen peroxide. In addition, formation of byproduct compounds such as epoxides should be minimized. The typical oxidation step requires more electricity (when employing typical motor-driven compression for the oxidizing agent stream) than any other unit operation in the anthraquinone hydrogen peroxide process, so minimization of energy requirements is another objective.
Commercial oxidation reactions are most often carried out in a bubble column or modified bubble column reactor. These column reactors may employ some type of internal packing or plates or, alternatively, may be empty. Bubble column reactors achieve good gas/liquid mixing and maintain a well-mixed liquid phase. Modified bubble reactors are those bubble column reactors employing internal devices such as packing or static mixers or, alternatively, employing flow arrangements that deviate from a single liquid and single gas bottom inlet with corresponding co-current upward flow. Pure oxygen, enriched oxygen, and preferably air are used as the oxidizing agent.
A counter-current anthraquinone oxidation column is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,902,347, which calls for packed columns to minimize the working solution residence time, to minimize and possibly avoid by-product formation. This column type suffers from the disadvantage of requiring a plurality of series-connected columns to achieve reasonably complete conversion, since oxidizing gas feed rate must be kept relatively low to prevent flooding.
A combination of co-current and counter-current oxidation column configurations, to provide improved mixing, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,596. The oxidation column of the '596 patent, also described in Chem. Process Eng., Vol. 40 (1959), No. 1, p. 5, utilizes internals such as baffles or packing inside the column, to route working solution and oxidizing gas co-currently through individual sections but counter-currently overall. Drawbacks of these columns are the considerable pressure drop associated with the internal devices and the internal reactor space taken up by these internal devices, requiring large reactor vessels to effect substantially complete oxidation conversion. The reported volumetric productivity for the column oxidation reactor describe in the '596 patent is 15.0 kg H2O2/m3-hr, using air as the oxidizing agent.
EP-A-221 931 describes an oxidation step in a column with no internal fittings, to avoid the column pressure drops associated with the above-noted columns. The oxidizing gas and working solution are mixed in a nozzle before introduction into the empty column. The gas-liquid mixture produces a coalescence-inhibited stable dispersion in which the gas bubbles retain their initial size despite the absence of internal flow devices. A disadvantage of this oxidation reactor design is that the aerated volume is quite large, reducing the volumetric productivity. The reported volumetric productivity is 22 kg H2O2/m3-hr using air as the oxidizing agent.
To improve volumetric reactor productivity over that of the oxidizer reactors mentioned above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,179 discloses a tubular reactor with inserted static mixing devices. The working solution and an oxygen-containing mixture flow co-currently in a homogeneous dispersion. The reported volumetric productivity is 254 kg H2O2/m3-hr when utilizing pure oxygen gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,921 describes a counter-current bubble column oxidizer that employs perforated trays. The trays preferably contain complex tapered holes with a round, triangular, semi-elliptical, or slit-shaped construction. The reported volumetric productivity for the '921 patent column oxidizer is 36.0 kg H2O2/m3-hr using air as the oxidizing agent.
External mixing devises such as venturi nozzles can be employed to enhance the gas-liquid mixing. U.S. Pat. No. 6,426,057 discloses an approach in which a split stream of preoxidized working solution and hydrogenated working solution are mixed with the oxidizing gas in a venturi nozzle before introduction into an empty bubble column reactor.
Oxidation catalysts such as secondary amines (U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2002/0141935) can be added to conventional anthraquinone oxidizers to accelerate the rate of oxidation. The patent application discloses oxidation reactions in a laboratory reactor that proceed 3.4, 14.2, and 9.0 times faster (than a catalyst-free system using air) when adding 1000 ppm di-n-octylamine, 10% di-n-octylamine, and 1000 ppm di-n-butylamine, respectively.
Conventional AO process oxidation reactors have two significant disadvantages-large reactor volumes and correspondingly long liquid residence times. These characteristics lead to additional disadvantages: large equipment, high equipment and construction costs, large plant footprint, high working capital costs, large fire loads associated with large reactor volumes, and unwanted by-product formation and hydrogen peroxide decomposition associated with the longer liquid residence times.
A very different approach for avoiding some of the drawbacks associated with hydrogenation and oxidation reactions in conventional AO processes is the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide from reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which eliminates the separate hydrogenation and oxidation steps. One such direct synthesis process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,029,647, in which the staged reaction of the hydrogen and oxygen reactants is carried out in a microchannel reactor.
It is a principal object of this invention to provide an improved process for the oxidation stage of a conventional AO process for producing hydrogen peroxide with high volumetric reactor productivity, minimum by-product formation and hydrogen peroxide loss through decomposition, high oxidizing gas utilization, and high-grade waste heat of reaction. Another object of this invention is to employ reduced reactant inventories over the conventional AO oxidation reactors.
The present invention achieves these and other objectives in the auto-oxidation production of hydrogen peroxide, using an oxidation stage carried out in a microreactor.

Auto-oxidation production of hydrogen peroxide via oxidation in a microreactor


Technical solutions are described for controlling operation of an electric machine such as a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive or motor control system to protect against excessive machine current or voltage in a PMSM drive. Systems and methods employ a torque control algorithm for PMSMs that uses the constraints of both machine current and voltage capability in PMSM drives, and online torque command modification according to the maximum allowed torque under these machine current and voltage constraints.

The present application is generally related to methods and systems for controlling operation of an electric machine such as a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive or motor control system. More specifically, the present application is related to methods and systems for limiting machine current and voltage in a PMSM drive to protect against excessive machine current or voltage in a PMSM drive. Example embodiments are provided in electric power steering (EPS) systems.
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSMs) are gaining more and more attention in electric drive applications due to their properties such as high power density, easy controllability and improved reliability. The most widely adopted control technique for PMSMs is vector control, in which all AC signals are transformed into DC signals via a reference frame transformation. The control system is then implemented in the synchronously rotating or d/q reference frame utilizing current regulators.

Power management of permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive using machine current limiting

Steering Solutions IP Holding Corporation


A magnetic circuit for a non-contact charging apparatus comprising a coil, a coil yoke disposed on the rear surface side of the coil, and a magnetic attraction means disposed in a hole of the coil yoke with a magnetic gap in plane and/or thickness directions.

Recently, small information communications equipments such as mobile phones, etc. are getting high performance and high functions, and web terminals, music players, etc. are required to be continuously usable for a long period of time. These small information communications equipments and electronic equipments use secondary batteries such as lithium ion batteries, etc. as power sources.
Methods for charging secondary batteries include contact charging systems and non-contact charging systems. The contact charging systems are systems of charging electricity by bringing an electrode of a power-receiving device into direct contact with an electrode of a power-supplying device, and have conventionally been used widely because of simple structures, though they need a connection plug adapted to the electrode of power-receiving device and a charging device. The non-contact charging systems comprise a power-supplying device and a power-receiving device each having a coil, conducting power transmission by electromagnetic induction. Because the non-contact charging systems do not need electrodes for the direct contact of a power-supplying device to a power-receiving device, different power-receiving devices can be charged by the same power-supplying device. Also, because the non-contact charging systems do not use corrodible electrodes, they can stably supply and receive electric energy.
In a non-contact charging apparatus, magnetic flux generated by a primary coil acts to generate an electromotive force in a secondary coil via a case of a power-supplying device and a case of a power-receiving device. To improve power transmission efficiency, a coil yoke for preventing the leakage of magnetic flux generated from a coil while charging is disposed on each rear surface of a primary coil and a secondary coil. The leaked magnetic flux flowing through other parts and metal members would cause heat generation by eddy current, and a coil yoke acts as a magnetic shield preventing it. For instance, JP 11-176677 A discloses a non-contact charging apparatus comprising a ferrite core between a secondary coil and circuit parts.
In the case of coreless primary and secondary coils, they should overlap each other in as wide an area as possible to obtain high power transmission efficiency. Accordingly, their center axes should be aligned. For instance, JP 11-176677 A describes that if the center axes of both coils were deviated by a radius of each coil, transmitted power would be zero. For the precise positioning of a power-receiving device to a power-supplying device, there is a system in which a case of a power-supplying device is fitted in a case of a power-receiving device. In this system, however, a power-supplying device should have a power-supplying surface adapted to each power-receiving device, failing to have a common power-supplying device for various power-receiving devices.
JP 2008-301553 A discloses an apparatus for charging a chargeable equipment such as a mobile phone, etc. in a non-contact manner, in which a cradle comprising a primary coil in its case comprises a substantially flat mounting plate having an area enough to mount the chargeable equipment with margin, the mounting plate having a mirror portion including a mark indicating an adaptable range corresponding to a center of the primary coil, the chargeable equipment being positioned on the mounting plate with a center mark reflected by the mirror portion, such that the center mark indicating a center position of a secondary coil in the chargeable equipment is aligned with the adaptable range mark of the mounting plate. In this apparatus, however, each chargeable equipment should be provided with a center mark in advance, undesirable from the viewpoint of design, and the aligning of both marks cannot be conducted in the dark.
JP 2009-159677 A discloses a non-contact charging adapter comprising mounting means constituted by a permanent magnet disposed on a rear side of a power-supplying surface of a power-supplying device, and a permanent magnet disposed on a rear side of a charging surface of a charging device, for positioning a primary coil to a secondary coil by magnetic attraction such that their center axes are aligned. Each mounting means comprises two thin, L-shaped permanent magnets combined such that they annually extend along a periphery of the device. Because each device comprises an annular permanent magnet disposed outside the coil, the arrangement of a coil yoke on a rear side of the coil makes magnetic flux generated from the permanent magnet easily flowable through the coil yoke disposed inside, so that a portion of the coil yoke adjacent to the permanent magnet tends to be magnetically saturated. Because the magnetically saturated portion of the coil yoke has drastically decreased permeability, it fails to act as a yoke sufficiently, resulting in low power transmission efficiency. In addition, the thin, L-shaped permanent magnet is difficult to produce by a rare-earth magnet, and easily broken during handling. If the thin, L-shaped permanent magnet were formed, for instance, by a rubber magnet, sufficient magnetic power would not be obtained, resulting in poor positioning accuracy.

Magnetic circuit, power-supplying device and power-receiving device for non-contact charging apparatus, and non-contact charging apparatus


The improved channel ligament clamp of the invention is for human implantation in a surgical procedure for securing a ligament, that is either natural or prosthetic, onto a bone cortex and includes, as a clamp body, a rectangular section of a thin, flat metal material, such as titanium, with identical equal opposite edge portions of which material bent at approximately right angles forming upstanding parallel side walls. Edges of which upstanding parallel side walls are for contacting a bone surface whereto the clamp is secured to closely contain a ligament section therebetween without crushing it, and which parallel side walls are the side walls of a channel section with the flat material therebetween constituting the channel section web. Which channel section web includes a plurality of pointed end parallel pins secured thereto that extend at right angles and are parallel to clamp the side walls. Preferably four pins are employed with each arranged as a corner of a square pattern, and a hole that is preferably threaded, is formed through the web in the center of which formed square for passing a screw type connector therethrough.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices and arrangements for securing a ligament, or the like, to a bone surface during a ligament repair or replacement surgical procedure.
2. Prior Art
The present inventors are inventors of an earlier invention entitled, Channel Ligament Clamp and System, U. S. Pat. No. 4,960,420, that shows an earlier channel ligament clamp. Which earlier clamp employs spikes as channel sides with a web extending therebetween wherefrom spaced parallel pins extend at right or normal angles and are parallel to which spikes. The improved clamp of the present invention employs continuous short side walls rather than spikes as channel sides. With the clamp installed, the short side walls of the clamp of the invention, contacts the bone surface to contain a ligament without crushing it. The improved clamp is installed by driving the parallel pins through a ligament and into holes prepared in a bone surface and turning a screw through a web hole and into which bone surface.
Prior to channel ligament clamp type systems, staple arrangements were commonly employed in ligament repair and replacement surgical procedures for attaching a ligament to a bone surface. Examples of such staple devices for medical applications are shown in patents to Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,524; to Johnson, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,022; to Griggs, U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,903; to Borzone, U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,091; to Kurland, U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,833; to Shapiro, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,967; to Pratt, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,769; and to Wevers, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,006. All of which staple devices provide for fitting the staple like device across the ligament to secure the ligament between the staple legs by driving it into the bone surface. None of which devices, however are like the clamp of the present invention. Additionally, while a number of staple and staple like devices common to wood working are available, none are structurally or functionally like the device of the present invention. Examples of such wood working devices are shown in early patents to Tileston, U.S. Pat. No. 82,181; to Southwick, U.S. Pat. No. 431,175; to Yost, U.S. Pat. No. 758,881; to Hartley, U.S. Pat. No. 1,425,199; to Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,598,026; to Dyer, U.S. Pat. No. 1,638,477; to Le Page, U.S. Pat. No. 1,948,462; to Putnam, U.S Pat. No. 2,134,765; to Soderberg, U.S. Pat. No. 2,398,603; and in a later patent to Lambuth, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,604.
Some examples of other devices for connecting ligament ends to a bone surface or within a bone are shown in a patent to Hunt, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,928 and in patents that the present inventors are inventors of, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,632,100 and 4,738,255. Also patents to Vives, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,234 and to Paulos, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,351, show, respectively, pin and disk couplings for ligament mounting to a bone mass, and devices for mounting a ligament to a bone surface are shown in patents to Jurgutis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,346 and to Frey, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,335 that show multi-pin staple arrangements. None of which connector and staple configurations, however, involve a channel structure with the short ligament containing side walls like the ligament mounting device of the present invention.


A method for removing sulfate from a wastewater stream includes mixing gibbsite and a calcium source to precipitate Ettringite from the wastewater stream and produce an effluent with a reduced sulfate concentration. The gibbsite in the precipitated Ettringite is regenerated by mixing an acid with the Ettringite and precipitating gibbsite particles, after which the gibbsite particles are subjected to a crystallization process to increase the size of the gibbsite particles which are recycled back to the main stream.

Industrial wastewater generated at steel, mining, plating, oil production and refining operations, and microelectronic industries generally contains high concentrations of sulfate and other contaminants. The promulgation of new regulations often limits the amount of sulfate that can be present in wastewater discharged because of the effects on the environment. Furthermore, wastewater that is not discharged into the environment, but that is reused in other applications, must often be treated to reduce high concentrations of sulfate. Elevated concentrations of sulfate promote scaling on wastewater treatment equipment, reduce the quality of drinking water, and affect the environment. For example, high sulfate concentrations in water can cause the water to have a foul taste and can have a laxative effect in humans and animals. As another example, sulfates are a major dissolved component in rain and can be chemically reduced to form sulfides, which are known to corrode many metals.

Process for reducing the sulfate concentration in a wastewater stream by employing regenerated gibbsite

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Support


Aspects of the disclosure relate to detecting impersonation in email body content using machine learning. Based on email data received from user accounts, a computing platform may generate user identification models that are each specific to one of the user accounts. The computing platform may intercept a message from a first user account to a second user account and may apply a user identification model, specific to the first user account, to the message, so as to calculate feature vectors for the message. The computing platform then may apply impersonation algorithms to the feature vectors and may determine that the message is impersonated. Based on results of the impersonation algorithms, the computing platform may modify delivery of the message.

Increasingly, organizations face various cybersecurity threats through electronic communications. Various methods of message analysis have been developed to combat these threats. It remains difficult, however, to automatically identify messages that include impersonated content and/or that originate from a compromised user account due to an ability of impersonators to falsify fields and/or properties of the messages that are often used for impersonation detection. This is particularly true in circumstances where an entire user account has been compromised, as analysis of messages from the compromised user account might not reveal impersonation in these instances. These issues present substantial challenges with regard to external communications and, more importantly, with internal communications, which may, e.g., relate to authorizations, confidential information, or the like. Attempts to integrate such analysis techniques into efficient and effective automated processes present additional technical challenges, particularly when trying to balance and optimize information security against the consumption of the computing resources, such as processing power and network bandwidth, which may be used when applying these automated processes to large numbers of messages.

Message management platform for performing impersonation analysis and detection


The invention relates to a microrelay comprising a magnetic spool, a contact support body (2) within which contacts are arranged, a permanent magnet (32) and an armature (31) which is tiltable around it""s axis between two positions, as well as a spring-loaded reversing system. The inventive micro relay is characterized in that the magnetic spool system (1) is configured as a flat spool system (1) in the form of a microstructure arranged on a flow plate (11) and is composed of at least one flat microspool (12xe2x80x2). The pivoting armature (31xe2x80x2) can itself be configured in the form of a three pole magnet (32xe2x80x2) or a two pole magnet (32xe2x80x3). The inventive microrelay has a minimal overall height and can be produced in a cost effective way in an automated manufacturing process.

The present invention concerns a micro-relay consisting of a magnetic coil system, a contact carrier body with contacts arranged therein, a permanent magnet for the magnetic yoke and a rotor which can be tilted about its central axis between two positions and a switching spring system.
A multiplicity of relays with wound coils are known. EP, A1 0 373 109 for example discloses circuit board relays where a wound coil by way of a permanent magnet causes, by way of an induced magnetic flux, a rotor to perform a tilt movement whereby switching contact springs are activated. The disadvantage here, however, remains the lower limit of the resulting construction height due in particular to the space required for the wound coil, which restricts the applicability of such relays. Also the relatively high manufacturing costs of the wound coil and the complexity have proven disadvantageous.
The task of the invention is to provide a micro-relay of the type described initially which has a minimum construction height, contains only a few components and can be produced at low cost in automated production.
According to the invention this task is solved in that the magnetic coil system is formed as a flat coil system in the form of a microstructure produced on a flux plate and comprises at least one micro-flat coil. Advantageous and further developed embodiments of the object of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.
The flat coil system preferably has two individually arranged micro-flat coils.


During operation of a power plant, which basically comprises a gas turbogroup, a compressed air accumulator, an air turbine which is equipped with at least one generator, the compressed air which is extracted from the compressed air accumulator is directed through a heat exchanger which operates on the downstream side of the gas turbogroup, and is thermally conditioned there. This thermally conditioned compressed air then charges the air turbine for producing a quantity of electricity.

Gas turbine power plants have become known from the prior art, in which the exhaust gas heat of a gas turbogroup is used for steam generation, wherein the steam can be supplied for diverse application purposes. In combined cycle power plants, the steam is then expanded in a steam turbine according to requirements, delivering power. The steam turbine drives a generator for generation of electricity.
Furthermore, a recuperative pressure accumulator system has become known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,822, in which fluid, especially air, which is accumulated under pressure in a storage volume, is heated in a heat exchanger by the exhaust gas of a gas turbogroup and subsequently expanded in an accumulator fluid expansion machine for driving a generator, delivering power. In this case, very high outputs can be achieved in principle, since during power operation the compression of the fluid is dispensed with. Consequently, higher output potentials result when utilizing the exhaust gas heat in a recuperative pressure accumulator system than when utilizing it in a steam turbine. These potentials, however, are available only so long as expanded fluid is available at a corresponding pressure level in the stored volume.
Such a power plant, therefore, does not solve the problem that the potential, which is indisputable in itself, is available only so long as compressed fluid is available at a corresponding pressure level in the storage volume.

Abstract: Furthermore, the power plant is extended by a steam turbine, which in combined operation is operated with steam which is produced from the exhaust gases of the gas turbogroup.


The invention is directed to a method for determining the fields of permanent magnet structures with a surface or boundary solution method for the magnetic material with linear characteristics with small susceptibility and large permeabilities of the ferromagnetic materials.

Exact solutions can be achieved in the mathematical analysis of structures of permanent magnets under ideal conditions of linear demagnetization characteristics and for some special geometries and distributions of -magnetization. For instance, an exact mathematical procedure can be followed to design a magnet to generate a uniform field in an arbitrarily assigned polyhedral cavity with perfectly rigid magnetic materials and ideal ferromagnetic materials of infinite permeability.
In general, for arbitrary geometries and real characteristics of magnetic materials, only approximate numerical methods can be used to compute the field generated by a permanent magnet. The capability of handling systems of a large number of equations with modern computers has led to the development of powerful numerical tools such as the finite element methods, in which the domain of integration is divided in a large number of cells. By selecting a sufficiently small cell size, the variation of the field within each cell can be reduced to any desired level. Thus the integration of the Laplace's equation in each cell can be reduced to the dominant terms of a power series expansion and the constants of integration are determined by the boundary conditions at the interfaces between the cells. An iteration procedure is usually followed to solve the system of equations of the boundary conditions and the number of iterations depends on the required numerical precision of the result.
In applications where the field within the region of interest must be determined with extremely high precision, the large number of iterations may become a limiting factor in the use of these numerical methods. It is beyond the scope of this disclosure to provide a detailed explanation of past techniques for this purpose.
A special situation is encountered in magnetic structures that make use of the rare earth permanent magnets that exhibit quasi linear demagnetization characteristics with values of the magnetic susceptibility small compared to unity. A magnetic structure composed of these materials and ferromagnetic media of high magnetic permeability can be analyzed with a mathematical procedure based on a perturbation of the solution obtained in the limit of zero susceptibility and infinite permeability.
Structures composed of ideal materials of linear magnetic characteristics present a special situation where an exact solution is formulated by computing the field generated by volume and surface charges induced by the distribution of magnetization at the boundaries or interfaces between the different materials.

Method for determination of optimum fields of permanent magnet structures with linear magnetic characteristics


A driving force transmission device includes a first driving member, a second driving member, a moving member, and a connection drive section. The connection drive section separates, in conjunction with movement of the moving member in a first direction, the first driving member and the second driving member respectively from a first rotating member and a second rotating member in such a manner as to cause a time difference between a separating operation for separating the first driving member from the first rotating member and a separating operation for separating the second driving member from the second rotating member.

The present disclosure relates to a driving force transmission device for transmitting a driving force to a rotating body, and an image forming apparatus including the same.
In image forming apparatuses for forming images on sheets, various rotating bodies are driven and rotated in general. As such rotating bodies, a photoconductive drum and a development roller disposed in a developing unit are provided in an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus. The development roller is rotatably supported in the developing unit. The rotation axis of the photoconductive drum and the rotation axis of the development roller are disposed in parallel to each other.
The photoconductive drum and the developing unit are attachable to and detachable from the apparatus main body. Therefore, coupling gears for respectively transmitting driving forces to the photoconductive drum and the development roller should be separated respectively from the photoconductive drum and the development roller in detaching them.
In some image forming apparatuses, an operation to connect/separate a driving force transmission member to/from a rotating body is executed in conjunction with an opening/closing cover of an apparatus main body.

Driving force transmission device that provides a delay between separation of a first driving member and separation of a second driving member, and image forming apparatus including the same


A charging control system that controls charging of a plurality of vehicles that run on electricity includes: an assignment unit that assigns an order of priority relating to charging to the plurality of vehicles based on a predetermined index; a receiving unit that receives electric power demands that are requested from an electric power supply side; and a control unit that selects from among the plurality of vehicles in the order of highest priority charging-object vehicles in which the ON/OFF setting for turning charging ON and OFF is to be set to ON, and sets the ON/OFF setting of charging-object vehicles to the ON setting. The control unit changes the number of charging-object vehicles in response to changes in electric power demands over time.

As environmental problems becomes increasingly serious in recent years, renewable power sources such as solar cells and wind power generators that are rapidly being put into use are considered to be an effective means for achieving lower carbon emissions and solving the problem of energy resources. However, these types of renewable power sources experience large fluctuations in output. As a result, from the standpoint of electrical quality, an adjustment means is indispensable for offsetting the fluctuations in output of the renewable power sources. Thermal power generators, which feature rapid response speed, are currently the chief means used as such adjustment means. Thus, a dilemma may arise in which, as renewable electric power sources are increased, the number of thermal electric power generators that are not environmentally friendly need to be increased as adjustment means that adjusts large output fluctuations of the renewable electric power sources. Obtaining a powerful adjustment means to take the place of thermal power generators is therefore a major issue. As such an adjustment means, the introduction of high-capacity storage batteries (such as sodium sulfur batteries) is effective, but from the standpoint of installation and operating costs, the introduction of high-capacity storage batteries is considered to face extremely high obstacles.
Great strides are being made in research relating to V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) technology that, by effecting multiple linkage and operation, employs the storage batteries that are mounted in vehicles that run on electricity (hereinbelow referred to as EV (Electric Vehicles) that include hybrid electric vehicles that are equipped with storage batteries together with another motive power source) and that are expected to rapidly come into widespread use, similar to renewable power sources and the chargers to which these storage batteries are connected as virtual high-capacity storage batteries for electric power system stabilization. The V2G proposal itself dates to the 1980s, and research reports estimating the extent of the macro stabilization effect over an entire electric power system network have been issued continuously. In the past few years, the reports have come to focus on technology relating to real-time control, and moreover, micro control methods, i.e., individual charging and discharging of multiple EVs for the construction of an actual system.
For example, Non-Patent Document 1 describes a charging/discharging control method for implementing optimum scheduling by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), which is inspired by the movement of a school of fish, by setting EV operation models, distribution network models, and time-variation models of the price of electric power.
Patent Document 1 describes the configuration of an EV charging planning device and refers to optimum charging scheduling that uses a genetic algorithm.
A case that assumes not only the charging of an EV but also the discharging from the EV to the distribution network (electric power system side) is typically referred to as V2G. However, a case that assumes only charging of an EV may be referred to as G2V to distinguish from V2G. G2V is assumed to decrease the load upon the internal storage batteries of an EV in proportion to the decrease of the number of charge/discharge cycles.

Charging control system, charging control method, and recording medium


A system for improving the uniformity of ink droplets delivered from a plurality of droplet sources on a printhead is described. The system includes a cooling system that compensates for nonuniform heating effects in a printhead which results in nonuniform temperatures. The distribution of the cooling system, and the effectiveness of the cooling system is set to maintain an approximately uniform ink temperature across the printhead.

The present invention relates to printing systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of using spatially controlled cooling profiles to maintain uniform temperature of ink across the active zone of an acoustic ink printhead.
As computing products continue to drop in price while increasing in power, printing technology is driven by the need to reduce prices while improving printer resolution. One technology under development is acoustic ink printing (AIP). AIP focuses acoustic energy to eject droplets of a fluid from a free surface onto a recording medium. The fluid is typically ink, although in specialized applications, the fluid may be a molten solder, a hot melt wax, a color filter material, a resist, and various other chemical and biological compounds.
In AIP applications, a print head includes droplet sources that eject and deposit droplets on a receiving medium in a predetermined, controlled fashion. Each droplet sources includes a well containing ink and a transducer that agitates the ink and causes the ejection of droplets of ink from the well. A variety of manufacturing techniques, such as semiconductor processing techniques, may be used to form the transducer, the well, and the circuitry driving the transducer.
FIG. 9 illustrates a cross sectional view of a typical droplet source 90 shortly after ejection of a droplet 104 of marking fluid 108 and before a mound 112 on a free surface 116 of marking fluid 108 has relaxed. A radio frequency (RF) source 120 provides a RF drive energy of around 100 to 200 Megahertz (MHz) to a driver element such as a transducer 124 via bottom electrode 128 and top electrode 132. In one embodiment, the transducer is a piezoelectric transducer. The acoustic energy from the transducer passes through a base 136 into an acoustic lens 140. Acoustic lens 140 is often a Fresnel lens that focuses the received acoustic energy into a focused acoustic beam 138 which terminates in a small focal area near free surface 116. When sufficient acoustic energy is properly focused on free surface 116, a mound 112 is formed and a droplet 104 is ejected. A detailed description of a droplet source or xe2x80x9cdroplet ejectorxe2x80x9d is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,113 by Hadimioglu et al. entitled xe2x80x9cLithographically Defined Ejection Unitsxe2x80x9d issued Oct. 15, 1996 and hereby incorporated by reference.
A typical print head, such as an AIP print head, includes arrays of droplet sources. Tight control of the droplet size and droplet velocity at each droplet source is important to obtain a high resolution accurate image. Variations in droplet size and/or velocity from droplet sources on the same printhead reduce the accuracy and uniformity of images created by the AIP system. Thus such variations should be minimized.
In order for an acoustic ink printer (AIP) to produce a high quality image, each droplet source on the AIP printhead should be designed to output droplets of uniform size and velocity. It has been found that as ink flows across the printhead from an ink supply or xe2x80x9csourcexe2x80x9d to an ink outlet or xe2x80x9cdrainxe2x80x9d, the ink absorbs power from the many transducers distributed across a printhead. The absorbed power heats up the ink to produce an uneven temperature distribution in the ink. Uneven ink temperatures result in the output of nonuniform droplet sizes and velocities. In particular, warmer ink at droplet sources near the ink outlet results in the output of larger and higher velocity droplets compared to droplets output by droplet sources located across the printhead near the ink source. The warmer ink near the ink outlet results from energy transducer energy, both acoustic and thermal absorbed by the ink as it flows from the ink supply to the outlet. AIP printheads which are heated in order to eject phase change inks are particularly susceptible to these effects due the their relatively high viscosity (4-20 cp) resulting in high power dissipation compared to aqueous inks. The nonuniform droplet sizes and velocities degrade image quality.
In order to generate uniform droplet sizes and velocities from different droplet sources distributed across an AIP print head, a system to maintain the uniformity of ink temperature across the printhead is described. In one embodiment of the invention, a heat absorbing medium is placed on the opposite side of a substrate from the ink flowing across the printhead. The cooling effectiveness of the heat absorbing medium and the distance from the heat absorbing medium to the ink is adjusted to almost exactly compensate for the heating of the ink as it flows across the printhead such that the temperature difference in ink distributed across the print head is minimized. Alternative embodiments of the invention may adjust the flow of a cooling fluid across the backside of a printhead. As used in the following description, the backside of the printhead is a surface of the printhead upon which transducers are mounted. The heat characteristics and the flow of the cooling fluid are adjusted such that the ink temperature stays constant as the ink flows across the printhead.

Method and apparatus to achieve uniform ink temperatures in printheads


The present invention provides product available varieties information. In one embodiment, a method of providing information regarding items for sale is provided. The method comprises displaying items for sale on a graphic user interface (GUI). Providing an available varieties link on the GUI for items having different varieties and displaying the available varieties of an associated item when the varieties link has been activated.

The ability to obtain information in fast and efficient manner is of great benefit in today's society. It is common to find all adults of a household working outside of the home to make ends meet. This does not leave much time to do the shopping or preparing food for the family. The use of personal computers and the internet has greatly increased the efficiency of modern day life. For example, the internet can be used to conduct research on recipes and can be used even to view store inventories and store specials. Moreover, stores may e-mail periodic circular ads that describe the items they have on sale. Screen displays such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) indicating a store's items can be very helpful for the consumer. However, if a product has different varieties, it can be difficult to determine if a variety of an item desired is available at a store.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an improved method of providing available variety information.


A Wi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity) premises/home to vehicle telematics interface system is provided that uses Wi-Fi technology to enable communications between a control panel of a security system protecting a premises and a vehicle. The vehicle is equipped with a Wi-Fi transceiver and processor that enable Wi-Fi data communications and a monitor/display that is preferably integrated into the dashboard display of the vehicle. The invention enables the status of a residential or business security system to be monitored and updated from a vehicle, such as before a homeowner enters the residence protected by the security system, and also allows the security system to monitor the status of and control functions of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a Wi-Fi (Wireless-Fidelity) premises/home to vehicle telematics interface system and method that uses Wi-Fi technology to enable communications between a security system protecting a premises and a vehicle. The vehicle is equipped with a Wi-Fi transceiver and processor that allow Wi-Fi data communications and a monitor/display that is preferably integrated into the dashboard display of the vehicle.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Security system installations frequently place video cameras and security monitoring sensors, such as intrusion sensors and motion detectors, throughout and around the perimeter of a protected space to detect the presence of an intruder. The status of the security system and the video camera recordings are frequently available for review within the protected space, such as on a security console and video display. Typically a central security station at a distant location can also review the status of the complete security system and camera recordings by communications over a telephone line and/or cable network and/or internet connection and/or radio frequency link.
However in many present security systems for residential home and commercial properties, a person or homeowner entering the premises cannot review the status of the complete security system or view the video camera recordings prior to entering the premises because the status and video recordings are only available for viewing inside the premises. This restriction may allow the person entering the premises to inadvertently walk into a burglary in progress in the protected premises without the security system giving any forewarning to the person of the burglary.

Wi-Fi premises to vehicle telematics interface


The invention relates to an image sensor, in particular a CMOS image sensor, for electronic cameras, having a plurality of light sensitive pixels arranged in rows and columns and a number of output amplifiers. The image sensor is made such that the order in which the pixels are switched to the output amplifiers is varied with respect to the order in which the pixels are arranged along a row of the image sensor.

Known electronic cameras include an image sensor which comprises a plurality of light sensitive elements or pixels which are arranged in rows and columns and which convert light incident through a lens of the camera into electrical signals. For the reading out of an image, each of the pixels is addressed and a signal which is proportional to a charge of the pixel collected by an exposure is directed to an output of the image sensor.
In cameras which simultaneously have a high number of light sensitive elements and a high frame rate, image sensors are used which have a plurality of outputs which can be read out in parallel—and thus faster—in a respective readout cycle. In addition, the columns can be divided into column groups which each have a plurality of columns, with the number of the columns in each of the column groups corresponding to the number of the outputs.
In this connection, the rows are associated with the outputs of the image sensor in the manner of unit matrices disposed next to one another so that the columns with the numbers n, n+a, n+2a, etc. are each associated with the output with the number n, with the columns and the outputs each being numbered continuously.
With an image sensor with 32 outputs and with a division of the columns into column groups, for example, in a first readout cycle, the 1st column of the image sensor which corresponds to the 1st column of the 1st column group is thus associated with the 1st output. The 2nd column of the image sensor which corresponds to the 2nd column of the 1st column group is associated with the 2nd output, etc. up to the 32nd column of the image sensor which corresponds to the 32nd column of the 1st column group which is associated with the 32nd output. In the following readout cycle, the 33rd column of the image sensor which corresponds to the 1st column of the 2n column group is again associated with the 1st output; the 34th column of the image sensor which corresponds to the 2nd column of the 2nd column group is again associated with the 2nd output, etc.
Each of the outputs of the image sensor has its own output amplifier, with the signals of the pixels being amplified by the output amplifier in order subsequently to be digitized. The signals are applied to the output amplifiers as analog electrical voltages which correspond to the collected charges.
The reading out of such an image sensor usually takes place row-wise, i.e. row for row. Within the respectively selected line, the signals of the associated pixels are switched to the outputs of the image sensor via corresponding control signals column-wise, i.e. column for column, or optionally column-group-wise, i.e. column group for column group, with the readout starting at a 1st column or column group located at an edge of the image sensor and being continued in increasing order with the respective directly adjacent column or column group, i.e. according to the arrangement order of the columns or column groups. It follows from this that the signals of the pixels of the 1st, 33rd, 65th, etc. column of the image sensor are output sequentially at the 1st output or at the 1st output amplifier respectively, that the signals of the pixels of the 2nd, 34th, 66th, etc. column of the image sensor are output at the 2nd output or 2nd output amplifier respectively, etc.
A strictly regular order is thus provided with known image sensors in which the signals of the pixels are switched to the output amplifier.
It is known that the respective signal currently applied at an output amplifier always includes a small portion, disposed in the per thousandth range, of the signal directly amplified beforehand by the respective output amplifier, said portion being caused, for example, by thermal effects and/or feedback effects on the power supply. Suitable circuits and calculation methods are known to counter the disturbing influence of the signal of the predecessor pixel. A complete compensation is, however, not possible.
If the image sensor only has one single output, and thus only one output amplifier, the signals of all the pixels are amplified by the same output amplifier, with the signals of pixels arranged directly next to one another being amplified directly sequentially such that the portion of the signal of the respective predecessor pixel is effective in the signal of the pixel arranged directly adjacent to the respective predecessor pixel. This admittedly generates a kind of blur in the image with large difference between two signals amplified directly after one another. However, this is not perceivable by the eye.
If the image sensor, however, has a plurality of outputs, as has been explained by way of example above, the portion of the signal of the respective predecessor pixel—that is the portion of the signal amplified directly beforehand—makes itself noticeable in the amplification of the signal of that pixel which is arranged remote from the predecessor pixel by the number of outputs. The signals of the pixels arranged between the predecessor pixel and the pixel remote from the predecessor pixel by the number of outputs are namely amplified by the output amplifiers of the other outputs. For example, in an image which shows a bright candle flame in an otherwise dark room, a visual echo of the candle flame is generated which is laterally offset from the original candle flame. Such an image interference is called a ghost image. In the example chosen, the ghost image is particularly easily visible since the echo occurs in a dark region. For example, with an image sensor having 32 outputs, the echo is offset from the original by 32 pixels.

Arnold & Richter Cine Technik GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG


The invention discloses liquid combination for liquid lens. The liquid combination comprises an oil phase liquid and an aqueous phase liquid. The oil phase liquid comprises a silicon oil polymerized by siloxane. The aqueous phase liquid comprises a solution mixed with alcohol and water. Due to the liquid lens atomized and opaque by emulsion, the recovering time of the liquid lens from the emulsion will affect the performance of the liquid lens hugely. Accordingly, the recovering time is a performance index of the liquid lens. The liquid combination of the invention for the liquid lens can meet the specification and have the fast speed which is recovered from the emulsion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid combination. More particularly, the present invention relates to a liquid combination for a dielectric liquid lens.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A liquid lens is a lens with an adjustable focal length. Generally, the liquid lens can be classified into electro-wetting liquid lens and dielectric liquid lens.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cross sectional view of an electro-wetting liquid lens in prior art. As shown FIG. 1, the Republic of China patent application with the publication number of 200706917 discloses an electro-wetting liquid lens 60, one end of the electro-wetting liquid lens 60 has an expansion chamber 70, which is connected with the liquid lens 60 having packing fluid 67 disposed therein so as to accommodate the fluid overflowed caused by the expansion thereof. However, the expansion chamber 70 disposed on the side surface may affect the optical design and the manufacturing process thereof. Thus, the said design shall be improved. Additionally, limited by the working principle of the electro-wetting liquid lens, the package of the electro-wetting liquid lens 60 shall be made of metal or electrical conductor, so that the selections of the materials are limited. Furthermore, because the fluid stated packaging shield thereof has a larger coefficient of temperature expansion, the liquid lens is packaged or operated with leakage when the temperature changes in environment.
The recovering speed from emulsion is one of the important performance indexes to the liquid combination. The emulsion means that two different phases which are not solvable and mixable with each other, such as water and hexane. Since the water and the hexane are not solvable with each other, the water and the hexane will be separated into two layers because of different densities. The lower density material is on top and the higher density material is at the bottom. It is the most stable condition for thermodynamic. However, while an external force is applied and one of the said liquid separated in another liquid in drop shaped, it is state of emulsion which is relatively unstable.
Please refer to the FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an emulsive liquid combination in prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, A is the phase that the material separated into drop shaped, called as dispersed phase. B is called as continuous phase. The dispersed phase A and the continuous phase B can be gas, liquid or solid. However, more compositions are required since the plurality of the requirement of the liquid combination of the liquid lens, which may cause the emulsion problem. The emulsified liquid combination 3 may cause liquid lens atomized and opaque. Accordingly, if the emulsion problem cannot be solved, the performance of the liquid lens shall be affected hugely because of the long recovering time thereof.
Accordingly, the present invention discloses a liquid combination for dielectric liquid lens so as to solve the said problem.

Liquid combination for dielectric liquid lens