A process for the alkylation of benzene contained in a mixed refinery stream is disclosed wherein the refinery stream is first subjected to hydrogenation of higher olefins prior to alkylation of the benzene with selected types and quantities of lower olefins. Streams containing sulfur compounds may be pretreated by hydrodesulfurization. All of the process steps are advantageously carried out in distillation column reactors to take advantage of that mode of operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the a process for the alkylation of benzene contained in a mixed refinery stream. More particularly the invention relates to a process wherein feeds containing olefins is hydrogenated to remove the olefins and then to alkylation of the benzene with controlled types and quantities of olefins. The process is also defined by pretreating sulfur containing refinery streams by hydrodesulfurization of any organic sulfur contained within the stream. All of the process steps may be carried out in distillation column reactors to take advantage of that mode of operation.
2. Related Information
Ethyl benzene and cumene are currently produced by the reaction of benzene and the respective olefin, ice., ethylene or propylene by acid catalysis. In some known processes the catalyst is highly corrosive and has a relatively short life, e.g. AlCl.sub.3, H.sub.3 PO.sub.4 on clay, BF.sub.3 on alumina, and others require periodic regeneration, e.g. molecular sieves. In addition the exothermicity of the reaction and the tendency to produce polysubstituted benzene require low benzene conversions per pass with large volume recycle in conventional processes.
To overcome many of the disadvantages of the conventional processes a process has been developed wherein the reaction of the olefin with benzene is carried out concurrently with separation of the products by fractional distillation. One embodiment of that process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,115 which utilizes a reaction system wherein the components of the reaction system are concurrently separable by distillation, using the catalyst structures as the distillation structures. Such systems are described variously in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,215,011; 4,232,177; 4,242,530; 4,250,052; 4,302,356; and 4,307,254.
In addition, a variety of catalyst structures for this use are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,443,559 and 5,348,710 which are incorporated herein.
The reduction in the lead content of gasolines and the use of lead anti-knock compounds has led to a search for other ways to improve the octane number of blending components for gasoline. The alternatives to uses of lead anti-knock compounds are chemical processing and the use of other additives.
One common process long used by the refinery industry to upgrade raw naphtha to high octane gasoline is catalytic reforming. Because of the multiplicity of the compounds in the raw naphtha, the actual reactions which occur in catalytic reforming are numerous. However, some of the many resulting products are aryl or aromatic compounds, all of which exhibit high octane numbers. The aryl compounds produced depend upon the starting materials which in a refinery are controlled by the boiling range of the naphtha used and the crude oil source. The "reformed" product from a catalytic reforming process is commonly called reformate and is often separated into two fractions by conventional distillations--a light reformate having a boiling range of circa 115-250.degree. F. and a heavy reformate having a boiling range of circa 250-350.degree. F. The aryl compounds in each fraction are thus dependent upon their boiling points. The light reformate contains lower boiling or lighter aryl compounds, e.g., benzene and toluene.
The light reformate is that portion containing benzene and lighter components. Now the complex model for gasoline requires severe reduction of the benzene content of gasoline, while maintaining the octane of the gasoline. One effective means to achieve this is to alkylate the benzene, however the olefin streams for this purpose may be expensive or otherwise employed. Thus in one embodiment of the present invention olefins normally destined for fuel gas are used for the alkylation.
Benzene is also contained in appreciable quantities in such other refinery streams as straight run naphtha and to a lesser extent naphtha from catalytic crackers. The conventional method of producing benzene for the alkylation reaction has been the solvent extraction of benzene from such mixed refinery streams followed by distillation to separate the benzene from higher boiling aromatic compounds such as toluene and xylenes which are also present in the extracted streams. Additionally a considerable amount of energy must be expended to separate the solvent from the extracted aromatics.
The alkylation of benzene contained in a naphtha from a catalytic reforming unit has been suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,990 which also suggests utilizing the previously described concurrent reaction/distillation. However, the alkylation of the benzene is simply to reduce the benzene concentration to meet expected EPA requirements and improve octane. The olefins used for the alkylation are contained in another mixed refinery stream which generally consists of an off gas from a catalytic cracking unit. The melange of olefins along with the mix of aromatics leads to a complex mixture of products which may include alkylated toluene and dialkylated products. This is not a problem in the disclosed process since the purpose is to produce gasoline.
More recently it has been found that a primary cause of catalyst deactivation in aromatic alkylation processes is the presence of high concentrations of olefin. The present inventors have determined that an exponential relationship exists between olefin concentration and catalyst life. Thus clearly the alkylation requires a careful control of the olefin reactant. Further, the deactivation is more rapid with higher olefins above C.sub.4.
The light reformate itself also contains olefinic compounds which are higher boiling. Also the benzene from steam or catalytic cracking also contains appreciable olefins. The higher boiling olefins are longer chain unsaturates which can also react either with the aromatics or with themselves. Regardless of source, the reaction of these higher olefinic compounds is undesirable because they coke up and foul the catalyst causing accelerated catalyst aging.
A problem associated with the use of straight run naphtha or naphtha from a steam or catalytic cracking process is that the naphtha may contain sulfur contaminants, such as thiophene, which in the benzene boiling range in cracked naphthas or mercaptans in straight run naphtha. Thiophene is an unwanted contaminant in either ethyl benzene or cumene. Sulfur contaminants, such as may be found in a straight run naphtha directly from a crude distillation column, may also be mercaptans which are poisons to olefin hydrogenation catalysts.
It is an advantage of the present invention that benzene in a straight run naphtha or reformate stream is alkylated to ethyl benzene or cumene without the extra solvent extraction step.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the olefins in the reformate or straight naphtha stream are hydrogenated to increase catalyst life.
It is another advantage of the present invention that organic sulfur is removed from the naphtha fraction prior to hydrogenation to prevent poisoning of the catalyst.


Addition-crosslinking silicone compositions comprise                (A) diorganopolysiloxanesR1aR2bSiO(4−a−b)/2wherein        R1 is hydroxyl or a monovalent C1-20 hydrocarbon radical free of aliphatic unsaturation,        R2 is a monovalent aliphatically unsaturated C1-10 hydrocarbon radical,        a has a value from 1.0 to 2.0,        b is 0.0003 to 2, and 1.5<(a+b)<3.0,        (B) organohydropolysiloxanesR3cR4dR5eHfSiO(4−c−d−2e−f)/2        R3 is a monovalent aliphatically saturated C1-20 hydrocarbon radical,        R4 is (a) an optionally halogen-substituted monovalent C6-15 hydrocarbon radical containing at least one aromatic C6 ring, or (b) a halogen-substituted, saturated monovalent C2-20 hydrocarbon radical,        R5 is a bivalent C6-20 hydrocarbon radical Si-bonded at both ends, and        c, d, e and f is zero or a positive number,        (C) adhesion promoters

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to self-adhesive addition-crosslinking silicone compositions, to addition-crosslinked silicone elastomers and to processes for preparing them.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,094 describes self-adhesive addition-crosslinking silicone compositions comprising as crosslinkers very specific organohydropolysiloxanes (B) and as adhesion promoters (C) special compounds having at least one aliphatic unsaturated group and two phenylene residues per molecule. Organohydrosiloxanes (B) claimed are those of the formula (1), (2) or (3): R3Si (O—SiHR)nOSiR3 (1); cyclic (OSiHR)n (2); and R4−mSi(OSiHR2)m (3). In these formulae, each R is a substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group, m is 3 or 4 and n is an integer of at least 3. The patent conversely describes organopolysiloxane components of the structure:Me3Si—(SiHMe)5—(OSiMe2)8—SiMe3,as not suitable for use.
With known self-adhesive addition-crosslinking silicone compositions, the adhesion, particularly to diverse plastics, is not optimal. There is therefore a need to provide new self-adhesive addition-crosslinking silicone compositions featuring improved adhesion.

Self-adhesive addition-crosslinking silicon compositions

Abstract: in which R12 is a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a halogen atom, or organic radical,        and X is        —(R13—)C(—R13)—, —(O═)S(═O)—, —(O═)S—, —C(═O)—, —O—(CH3—)Si(—CH3)—O—, —(CH2)s— or —O—        wherein R13 is hydrogen, halogen, or optionally substituted alkyl, aryl, alkenyl or alkynyl, and s is at least 2, and        (D) a hydrosilylation catalyst.


A hard disk securing structure for an industrial computer is disclosed. The industrial computer includes a case, the hard disk securing structure is served to accommodate a hard disk and includes a securing member and a tray. The securing member is installed in the case and includes a buckling unit; the tray is installed in the case and includes a carrying plate and a pair of lateral plates respectively extended from two ends of the carrying plate, an accommodation space used for accommodating the hard disk is defined by the carrying plate and the pair of lateral plates, a locking unit is extended from one end of the carrying plate which is adjacent to the pair of the lateral plates, and the locking unit is mutually locked with the buckling unit. Accordingly, an advantage of easily installing/detaching the hard disk from the case is achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an industrial computer, especially to a hard disk securing structure for an industrial computer and a tray thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
An industrial computer is installed with at least a storage hard disk used for storing data, and the storage hard disk is often secured on a tray by screws, then the tray is secured in a case of the industrial computer by screws, so the storage hard disk is enabled to be stably secured in the industrial computer.
However, because the tray is secured in the case of the industrial computer by utilizing screws, a disadvantage of time consuming would be caused when the tray is installed/detached.

Hard disk securing structure for an industrial computer and tray thereof


A method and apparatus for the uniform electroplating of printed circuit boards is described. At least one non conductive apertured mask covers selected areas of the electroactive surface of the anode or cathode electrode, whereby to establish substantially uniform electroplating ion transfer over the target areas of the target cathode.

Electroplating is an established process of producing a metallic coating on a surface. Such coatings may perform a protective function to prevent corrosion of the metal on which they are deposited, e.g., plating with zinc or tin (electro-galvanizing); or a decorative function, e.g., gold or silver plating; or both functions, e.g., chromium plating.
The principal of electroplating is that the coating metal is deposited from an electrolyte, typically an aqueous acid or alkaline solution, onto a target substrate or panel. The latter forms the cathode (negative electrode) while a plate of the metal to be deposited serves as the anode (positive electrode).
During a standard electroplating process, the periphery of the printed circuit board, i.e., the portions of the printed circuit board adjacent its outer edges, tends to be at a higher current density than the center of the printed circuit board. Hence, metal deposits more rapidly adjacent the periphery of the printed circuit board than at the center. The result of this is that by the time the metal has deposited at the center of the circuit board to form a desired thickness, the metal deposited adjacent the periphery is at a thickness much greater than the thickness at the center. As a result, the width of depositing metal lines may grow laterally, and the resulting plated lines near the periphery may develop a cross sectional configuration resembling a mushroom.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,654, it is reported that by spacing the cathode a relatively large distance from the anode, and by making the effective size of the panel to be plated, i.e. the cathode, larger in size than the anode, there is more uniform distribution of the electroplating field. The more uniformly distributed field causes the metallic ions to be electrolytically deposited at a more uniform rate over the articles in the panel. This prior art arrangement reportedly avoids undesirable uneven plating build-up on the articles at those areas where there is a concentration of the electroplating field. It is also reported that field concentrations occur when the size of the article is smaller than the size of the anode, and results in the edges of the article experiencing a substantial greater build up of metallic ions than the center area of the article. Making the effective size of the cathode (the article to be plated) greater than the size of the anode and spacing the anode a relatively large distance from the cathode, operates to discourage the formation of areas of concentration in the electroplating field and encourages the ion transfer to become more uniform over the entire area of the cathode.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,654 teaches an anode used in electroplating formed by a plurality of individual anode segments which can be selectively energized to establish an effective anode size that relates to the size of the article to be electroplated, thereby establishing an electrical field of more uniform characteristics to transfer ions from the anode to the articles at a more uniform deposition rate over the whole surface of the article. By adjusting the effective size of the anode to correspond and relate to the size of the article, the non-uniform deposition rates associated with concentrated localized field reportedly are avoided, and the physical size of the electroplating apparatus can be reduced.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,061 teaches an electroplating apparatus for electroplating a plurality of items. The patented apparatus includes a tank having a bottom wall and side walls, adapted to hold a predetermined quantity of electrolytic plating solution. A sparger system at the bottom of the tank directs the electrolytic plating solution in an upward direction. A cathode rack supports the items to be electroplated and extends intermediate to the anode plates and upwardly from the sparger system. Strategically placed openings in the anodes and an anode screen in conjunction with the sparger system reportedly act to reduce the plating thickness variance over the rack.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,275, there is disclosed an anode structure comprising a resilient anode sheet having an active anode surface, and a support sub-structure for the anode sheet. The anode sub-structure has a pre determined configuration. By flexing the anode sheet onto the anode sub-structure, so that the anode sheet conforms to the configuration of the anode sub-structure, there reportedly is provided an adequate electrical junction for substantially uniform current distribution.
A collection of the known variables which affect the electroplating process have been set out in detail in the HANDBOOK OF PRINTED CIRCUIT MANUFACTURING by Raymond H. Clark (1985). Therein it is reported that the factors which effect the electroplating process include: 1. plating pattern geography; 2. panel thickness and size of plated through holes; 3. panel boarders; 4. plating rack; 5. bath chemistry, e.g., concentration of metals and acids, concentration of organic leveling and brightening agents, concentration of contaminants; 6. bath temperature; 7. anode-cathode spacing; 8. anode current density; 9. anode depletion; 10. plating bath agitation; 11. cathode agitation; 12. rectifier consideration; and 13. the skill and experience of the plater.
The present invention provides an improved electroplating system which overcomes the aforesaid and other problems of the prior art which have resulted in less than uniform electroplating and metallic deposition, and in so doing provides substantially uniform distribution of the deposited metal, from item to item in an electroplating process.

Uniform electroplating of printed circuit boards


The present invention relates to a flexible flat cable and methods of making and using such a cable. In addition, the present invention relates to vehicle headliner including a flexible flat cable. In one embodiment, the cable includes a first insulating layer, a second insulating layer, a first adhesive, a plurality of conductors, a second adhesive, and a first liner.

Flexible flat cable is commonly used in electrical and electronic equipment such as business machines, industrial controls, telecommunication systems, and computers. It is also commonly used in vehicles (e.g., automobiles and aircraft) because of its low profile and its flexibility. A low profile cable can be easily placed underneath floor carpeting, between a door frame and a door panel, or between a headliner and a roof of a vehicle. A flexible cable can also be placed inside a flexing or oscillating component of a vehicle (e.g., a clockspring).
Conventional flat cable includes an array of round or flat conductors laminated between a dielectric film or insulating layer. Such flat cable assemblies commonly employ polyester (e.g., Mylar® films), polyvinyl, polyimide, polyetherimide, polyethylene naphthalate, or polycarbonate insulating films. These films are lightweight, flexible, and thin. The conductors are typically metallic conductors, such as flat copper. Etched conductors deposited on one substrate of the flat cable can also be employed. These conventional flat cables commonly employ an adhesive to bond the two insulating layers together and also the conductors located between the insulating layers.
Flexible flat cables are typically constructed by placing conductors between two insulating layers. The insulating layers are then bonded to each other and to the conductors by an adhesive. Commonly, heat-cured adhesives are used to create a strong and resilient bond. The adhesive is typically applied to the inner surface of the insulating layer, before placement of the conductors between the two layers. Once constructed, the flexible flat cable is later attached to the device or vehicle mechanically or using a later-applied adhesive.
As mentioned above, a common application of flexible flat cables is inside vehicle headliners. That is, the cable or cables are positioned between the headliner and the roof of the vehicle. These headliners are used in many types of vehicles including passenger cars, vans, buses, trucks, trains, and airplanes. Headliners are incorporated into vehicle roof constructions for a variety of reasons including aesthetics, sound absorption, energy absorption, and concealment of electrical wiring harnesses and air vents. Headliners typically include one or more flexible flat cables. The flat cables are attached to hidden upper surfaces of the headliner using fasteners that route the cables to a variety of electrical accessories mounted to the headliners. This process of routing and fastening the cables to the headliners is expensive and time consuming.
There is a need in the art for a flexible flat cable that may be quickly and easily attached to or integrated into various devices or to vehicle headliners. There is a further need for a method of manufacturing such a flexible flat cable.

Flexible flat cable with insulating layer having distinct adhesives on opposing faces


An integrated circuit of an embodiment may comprise synchronous logic, combinational logic, and clock circuitry to clock the synchronous logic through various states dependent on the combinational logic. The synchronous logic may comprise a plurality of master-slave registers. The combinational logic is configured to drive data inputs of the synchronous logic dependent on states established by the master-slave registers. The clock circuitry is configured to clock the master portion of the master-slave registers with a lag rendering of a clock signal and to clock the slave portion of the registers with a lead rendering of the clock signal. In a particular example, the circuitry may define a frequency divider of a complementary CMOS realization.

The evolution of integrated circuits (IC) has led to designs of ever-increasing density and complexity. With these increased levels of integration, artisans within the IC industry often seek various goals for manufacturability, performance and functionality. For example, artisans may seek to design integrated circuits operable to incorporate a large number of different devices of various operabilities so as to assist more versatile integrations and applications. Further, they may also seek to reduce power dissipation by scaling down voltage levels, which may also accommodate reduction in device geometries. In some applications, however, the reduced geometries and reduced voltage levels for the typical CMOS circuit may compromise its speed of operation or immunity to noise.
Typically, different logic families are characterized with distinct properties suited for different goals. For example, current mode logic (CML) may typically be designated for high speed applications, but may come with an expense of high current levels and power dissipation. On the other hand, CMOS logic is generally directed towards low power applications. The power dissipation for customary CMOS logic is generally related to the dynamic needs required during signal transitions for charging or discharging the capacitance of gates within the CMOS circuits. The inherent capacitance of the gates, in turn, may be understood to limit the speed of operation of the CMOS circuits—presenting a trade-off to the low power benefits.
In a particular known system such as a CMOS synchronous circuit, a plurality of registers may be operable to store and/or sequence between various states. The operative speed for the system typically may depend on at least three timing parameters of the registers—setup time, hold time and propagation delay.
In the case of a master-slave register, a gatable switch generally is disposed between the master and slave portions of the master-slave register, which may be operable to enable selective transfer of data therebetween. Another gatable switch at the input may further enable selective application of data to the master portion of the register. These upstream and downstream gatable switches typically are driven by opposite phase renderings of a clock signal.

Integrated circuits and complementary CMOS circuits for frequency dividers


A method and system are described to compute a status for a circular queue within a memory device. A head pointer and a tail pointer are maintained to identify a head entry and a tail entry, respectively, within the queue. In response to an updating of at least one of the head pointer and the tail pointer, at least one of a near-full or a near-empty condition is detected. The detection is performed utilizing parallel operations. The detection of the near-empty and/or near-full conditions may be useful to avoid underflow and overflow errors.

A circular queue, or circular first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory structure, typically utilizes a block of sequential locations (a queue storage area) in a random access memory (RAM) for the storage of queue entries. A head pointer indicates the address of a first valid queue entry within the RAM, while a tail pointer indicates the address of the queue entry immediately after the last valid entry within the RAM. The head and tail pointers are typically stored outside the queue storage area, either within the RAM or associated registers.
By comparing the head and tail pointers, a determination can be made regarding the number of entries within a queue. A comparison of the head and tail pointers can also be performed with a view to assessing whether a queue is completely empty or completely full. It is often also useful to know whether a queue is nearly empty or nearly full. Near-empty and near-full warnings can then be issued to avoid queue underflow and overflow errors, respectively. Underflow is caused by a dequeue on an empty queue, while overflow is caused by an enqueue on a full queue.

Method and system to compute a status for a circular queue within a memory device

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


An optical interferometer incorporating a signal strength modulated optical phase delay, such as a Kerr effect element in one of its arms is employed to improve the cross-talk isolation/extinction ratio of an optical switch, amplitude modulator, or amplitude modulated optical transmitter. The Kerr element is constructed so that its intensity dependent optical path length is such as to provide destructive interference at the interferometer output when the light input to the interferometer is low, and constructive interference when the input is high. The place of the Kerr effect element can alternatively be taken by an electro-optic modulator driven with an electrical version of the data modulation appearing on the optical signal.

This invention relates to optical switches, digital amplitude modulators and digitally modulated transmitters, and is particularly concerned with improvement of the extinction ratio of such devices.
A primary function of a switch, or digital amplitude modulator, is that in its ON state it should exhibit relatively low attenuation and that in its OFF state it should exhibit relatively high attenuation. The ratio of the ON attenuation to the OFF attenuation is known as the extinction ratio, or the cross-talk isolation, of the switch. This should be as large as possible, and for some types of switch, in some applications, is found to be inconveniently low.
A similar situation exists in respect of digitally modulated optical transmitters. The bit error rate performance of such optical transmitters is degraded by a poor extinction ratio and in an optically amplified system the problem of poor extinction ratio is exacerbated by increased signal-spontaneous beat noise on the data zeros. Optical Time Domain Multiplexed (OTDM) systems, in particular, require a high transmitter extinction ratio in order to minimise coherent mixing effects in the multiplexed signal.

Optical switches, modulators and transmitters


Embodiments of systems and methods for estimating channel temperatures of a field effect transistor structure are disclosed. One method embodiment, among others, comprises receiving geometrical values corresponding to a field effect transistor (FET) structure, and associating the geometrical values of the FET structure to elliptical cylinder and prolate spheroidal coordinates to provide a closed form expression.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is generally related to electronic devices, and, more particularly, is related to thermal resistance estimation in field effect transistor structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
The reliability and performance of field effect transistors (FETs) and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), particularly for power devices, depend critically on the operating channel temperature. For instance, the reliability and power performance of gallium nitride (GaN) devices depend critically on the operating channel (or junction) temperature. Power densities of up to 30 watts per millimeter (W/mm) have been obtained, usually from single (or double) finger (gate) devices, which typically run cooler than multi-finger devices (where lower power densities are generally observed for multi-finger devices). Lower power densities for multi-finger devices are mainly due to thermal effects. The device performance is thus critically affected by self-heating. The maximum allowed channel temperature largely drives the design of the cooling system, device package, and maximum direct current/radio frequency (direct current/radio frequency (DC/RF)) power limitations. Therefore, an accurate estimate of channel temperature is highly desirable during the device (or circuit) design phase.
Generally, the temperature behavior can be described using a three-dimensional Laplace equation defined as follows in equation (1):∇2T(x,y,z)=0,  (1)where T(x, y, z) is the temperature at any point in space. For devices with some geometric configurations, such as concentric spheres, concentric cylinders, or parallel plates, Laplace's equation can be solved analytically in closed form. But for most geometric configurations, the solution for Laplace's equation is either intractable or results in infinite series summations. Hence, numerical solutions are more commonly pursued, and a number of simulators have been developed based on finite volume, finite difference, and finite element techniques.
However, solving Laplace's equation using numerical methods may not be practical for many circuit designers. For instance, solving Laplace's equation using numerical methods may require great effort (and time) to define the problem and the boundary conditions, and frequently, the solution does not converge. Also, solving Laplace's equation using numerical methods does not allow for interactive optimization of the device configuration with regard to thermal resistance during MMIC designs. Further, the software (e.g., simulators) to implement numerical methods is generally expensive and often unavailable to an MMIC designer.
For these reasons, among others, many designers rely on simplified models or formulas to estimate the channel temperature. Simplified models relate the device geometrical structure to the thermal resistance and are relatively easy to understand and apply. One drawback of using these simplified models is the inaccuracy of the result. A classical and popular method for calculating thermal resistance of a FET is an approximation based on Fourier's conduction law. This approach makes the assumption that heat transfer is confined to a 45 degree wedge of material between the gate and the base. The resulting equation (2) can be shown as follows:
                              θ          =                      t                                          k                                                  (                                                            W                      g                                        +                    t                                    )                                                                          (                                                      L                    g                                    +                  t                                )                                                    ,                            (        2        )            where t is the substrate thickness, k is the thermal conductivity, Wg is a gate width and Lg is a gate length. Although appreciated for its simplicity and ease of use, it has been shown to lack accuracy. Several modifications have been proposed to the formula above to improve its accuracy for different special cases (e.g., square, circular disk, etc.). However, the accuracy of the simple models, when applied to FET problems, remains an issue (percentage error±10-50%) because the heat source is a thin long line, not a circle or a square.
An analytical solution for a rectangular patch on a substrate and a circular patch on a cylinder is available in the form of an infinite series summation. The exact solution is the sum of three infinite series with the last term consisting of two nested infinite summations. After using the infinite series solution for a few cases, one quickly realizes that convergence is very slow with tens of thousands of terms required to arrive at a reasonable answer, assuming numerical instabilities and errors are kept under control.
Finally, earlier closed form expressions based on transmission line analogies have yielded results with 10-20% error.

Systems and methods for estimating thermal resistance of field effect transistor structures

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


This invention relates an inhibitory modulator of AQP4 protein regarding its transmembrane water transport properties, wherein the modulator selectively binds to the AQP4 protein, and inhibits AQP4 mediated water transport.

Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) is a water specific member of the Aquaporin family of water and water/glycerol transporters (Hasegawa, et al. J. Biol. Chem. 1994, 269, 5497). The aquaporins are a structurally unique class of transmembrane transporter proteins, particularly compared to other transporters such as the sodium, calcium and chloride channels. Unlike the typical channel proteins, where the active channel is formed at the nexus of four or more protein monomers, the aquaporins are characterized by the formation of a protein homotetramer, where each protein monomer contains a channel that is virtually independent from that of the other protein monomers (Hiroaki, et al. J. Mol. Bio. 2006, 355, 628). The nexus of the AQP protein monomers is not believed to form an active channel or pore. Moreover, the significance of the aquaporin channel structure, versus that of other transmembrane channels, is not understood.
The AQP4 water transporter is widely distributed in the human body, with particularly high concentrations in the brain, eyes, ears, muscles, lungs and kidneys (Jung, et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., USA 1994, 91, 13052-13056). It is highly conserved among mammalian species, typically showing greater than 95% identity, and also has a similar biological distribution (Zardoya, et al. J. Mol. Evol. 2001, 52, 391). The main role of AQP4 is generally regarded to be the regulatory water balance of the tissues it is localized in.
Since the initial discovery of AQP4, chemical modulators thereof have been considered potential therapeutic agents for a variety of pathologies (Castle. DDT2005, 10, 485; Kobayashi, et al. J. Pharmocol. Sci. 2004, 96, 264; Wang, et al. Acta Pharmacol. Sin. 2006, 27, 395). However, the relationship between AQP4 and disease may not be completely obvious, and in many cases may not reflect a pathological change in AQP4 expression or regulation. Indeed AQP4 plays a critical role in cellular migration and the cytoskeletal morphology of the tissues it is expressed in, and is also highly responsive to changes in the ionic strength of both the cytosol and extracellular fluid, and the function of the various transporters and enzymes that control that ionic strength (Simard, et al. Neuroscience, 2004, 129, 877). The use of pharmaceutical agents to modulate AQP4 function as a means of treating human disease has gained more relevance considering the recent understanding of how that function can be related to inflammation, in general (Ito, et al. J. Neurochem. 2006, 99, 107) and neuroresponse in particular (Tian, et al. Nat. Med. 2005, 11, 973; Binder, et al. Glia 2006, 54, 358).
The use of AQP4 modulators for the treatment of cerebral edema has been considered the most promising match for this target (Papadopoluos, et al. Pediatr Nephrol. 2007, in press). Currently the use of AQP4 inhibitors for the treatment of cytotoxic edema appears to be well supported (Amiry-Moghaddam, et al. FASEB J. 2004, 18, 542; Aoki-Yoshino, et al. Acta Neuropathol. 2005, 110, 281; Manley, et al. Nat. Med. 2000, 6, 159), while the treatment of vasogenic edema now appears to be contravened. The edema related conditions of ischemia (Xiao. Acad. Emerg. Med. 2002, 9, 933), brain tumors (Saadoun, et al. J. Clin. Pathol. 2003, 56, 972); Warth, et al. Acta Neuropathol. 2005, 109, 418), eclampsia (Quick, et al. FASEB J. 2005, 19, 170), meningitis (Papadopoulos, et al. J. Biol. Chem. 2005, 280, 13906), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (Rodriguez, et al. Acta Neuropathol. 2006, 112, 573), and lupus cerebritis (Alexander, et al. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 2003, 169) appear to be particularly well suited for pharmacological treatment by AQP4 modulators, based on the evidence of the biophysiological studies reported therein.
AQP4 modulating compounds have been suggested as medicants for the treatment of neurological disorders, particularly epilepsy (Binder, et al. Neuroreport 2004, 15, 259; Binder, et al. Glia 2006, 54, 358), human immunodeficiency virus related dementia (St Hillaire, et al. J. Neurovirol. 2005, 11, 535), neuromyelitis optica (Lennon, et al. J. Exp. Med. 2005, 202, 473) and drug addiction (Li, et al. Neurosci. Lett. 2006, 403, 294) based on the specifics of the disease pathology, results from biophysical studies or a combination thereof. More recent studies have shown the presence of significant AQP4 expressional upregulation in the early stages of Alzheimer disease (Pérez, et al. Brain Res. 2007, 1128, 164).
In addition to the cerebral and neurological disorders, a number of peripheral diseases have been found to share a relationship with AQP4. Ocular diseases relating to retinal ischemia (Bringmann, et al. Acta Ophthalmol. Scand. 2005, 83, 528), glaucoma (Verkman. Exp. Eye Res. 2003, 76, 137), proliferative retinopathy (Tenckhoff, et al. Neuroreport 2005, 16, 53) and bullous keratopathy (Kenney, et al. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 2004, 52, 1341) also appear to be related to AQP4 function, and hence can be considered as being in part treatable by direct AQP4 modulating agents. Muscular dystrophy is known to be directly related to problems associated with AQP4 localization and changes in its expression level (Compton, et al. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol 2005, 64, 350, Jimi, et al. Pathol. Res. Prac. 2004, 200, 203); moreover, some classes of tumors overexpress AQP4 as part of their water recruitment process (Carmosino, et al. Biol. Cell 2005, 97, 735), both of which are considered potential therapeutic areas for AQP4 modulating agents.
To date, no pharmacologically relevant compounds have been demonstrated that are capable of directly inhibiting AQP4 in any assay system (either in vitro or in vivo). Recently, a patent application claiming a series of quaternary ammonium compounds as aquaporin inhibitors has been published (Deen, et al. PCT WO 2005/094806 A1, 2005). However, of the exemplary compounds, only tetraethyl ammonium chloride was shown to inhibit AQP4, and it appeared that compounds from that general class could not be considered as AQP4 inhibitors in any general sense. A similar result was also demonstrated in a subsequent paper (Detmers, et al. J. Biol. Chem. 2006, 281, 14207). Moreover, an earlier patent application has claimed the use of AQP inhibiting agents as therapeutic compounds for lowering interocular pressure, in the treatment of ophthalmologic diseases (Wax, PCT WO 2004/069181 A2, 2004). Again, no evidence was demonstrated regarding the particular types of compounds that would be able to inhibit AQP4, either specifically or as a pan-inhibitor of AQP isozymes. Nocodazole, in particular, was described as inhibiting the AQP4 mediated hypoosmotic expansion of HEK293 cells (van den Kieboom, et al. PCT WO 01/64219 A2, 2001); however, the HEK293 cell line expresses AQP4 amongst other AQP isozymes, and no data was shown to demonstrate which isozyme that molecule was interacting with. It is particularly relevant because nocodazole is a known inhibitor of AQP2 (Tajika, et al. Histochem. Cell. Biol. 2005, 124, 1), which is also expressed by the HEK293 cell line.
In addition to the compounds described above in the context of AQP4 inhibition, a number of modulators for other AQP isozymes were reported. Phloretin had had been described as being a pan inhibitor of several AQP subtypes (Tsukaguchi, et al. J. Am. Physiol. Soc. 1999, 277, F685), most notably AQP9, but there was no particular indication that this compound could be used to modulate the water transport of AQP4. AQP1 was shown to be inhibited in a dose dependent manner by the pan carbonic anhydrase inhibitor acetazolamide (Ma, et al., Acta Pharmacol. Sin. 2004, 25, 90). Many of the AQP transporter subtypes have also been shown to be inhibited by heavy metal salts (Kuwahara, et al., Biochemistry 1997, 36, 13973), presumably because of binding to an intra-pore cystine residue. However, AQP4 lacks such a residue in its pore region, and has also been shown to be insensitive to heavy metal inhibition (J Jung, et al. Proc. Nat, Acad. Sci., USA 1994, 91, 13052).
Hence at the time of this invention, pharmacologically relevant modulators of AQP4 were widely believed to be valuable as therapeutic agents; however, no potential agents had been identified.

Inhibitors of Aquaporin 4, methods and uses thereof


A device (1) for separating sulphur dioxide from a gas has an inlet (2) for the gas (4) and an outlet (42) for gas (40), from which sulphur dioxide has been separated. An apertured plate (20) is arranged between the inlet (2) and the outlet (42) and allows the gas (4) to pass from below. On its upper side (22), the apertured plate supports a flowing layer (24) of absorption liquid. An inlet duct (12) connects a container (6) for absorption liquid to the upper side (22) of the apertured plate (20). A means (10) conveys the absorption liquid (8) from the container (6), through the inlet duct (12), to the upper side (22) of the apertured plate (20) and along the apertured plate (20). The device also has an outlet box (30) for collecting the absorption liquid (8) flowing over the apertured plate (20) and at least one distribution means (34), which is arranged to contact the gas (4) which is supplied to the device (1) through the inlet (2) with the liquid (8) flowing from the outlet box (30) to the container (6) before the gas (4) passes through the apertured plate (20).

Sulphur dioxide is a gas which forms in the oxidation of sulphur-containing materials, such as coal, oil, natural gas, industrial and domestic waste, peat, etc. Sulphur dioxide can also form as a residual product in chemical processes, for instance metallurgical processes. Normally, it is not permitted to emit large amounts of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, which means that some kind of cleaning is necessary. One example of this is flue gas cleaning in power plants and other combustion plants. The flue gas that forms in combustion in such plants is usually cleaned, among other things, by absorption of sulphur dioxide into an absorption liquid. The absorption liquid can, for instance, contain water and one or more of the substances lime, limestone, dolomite, sodium hydroxide solution and similar substances, which are suitable for the absorption of sulphur dioxide. The flue gases can, for instance, be cleaned in a spray tower, as disclosed for instance in EP 0 162 536, or by means of a perforated tray, as disclosed for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,471. However, these devices for cleaning gases, in particular flue gases, from sulphur dioxide have been found to require a great deal of energy as large amounts of absorption liquid is pumped at a relatively high pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,925, U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,616, U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,515 and WO 96/00122 describe cleaning apparatuses with low energy consumption. The flue gas is conveyed upwards through an apertured plate, on which a flowing layer of an absorption liquid is provided.
If the flue gas is not saturated with water vapour, water will evaporate from the absorption liquid and be added to the flue gas during the cleaning process. It has been found that this evaporation partially takes place when the flue gas passes through the apertured plate. One problem is that substances, such as lime, limestone, gypsum, calcium sulphite, sodium sulphate, etc, which are dissolved or suspended in the absorption liquid, tend to be evaporated and precipitated on the underside of the apertured plate and in the holes of the apertured plate. This increases the pressure drop across the apertured plate and makes the pressure drop vary over the area of the apertured plate. This results in increased energy consumption due to the increased pressure drop and in reduced absorption of sulphur dioxide due to the uneven distribution of flue gas in the layer of absorption liquid on the apertured plate. The prior-art solution to this problem is to arrange, before the cleaning apparatus with the apertured plate, a cooler in the form of a separate spray tower, for instance of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,012. In the separate spray tower, into which the flue gas is first introduced, an aqueous liquid is injected at a ratio (also called L/G) of the flow of liquid to the flow of flue gas of typically about 0.2–1 litre of liquid/m3 of flue gas and at such a high pressure that the liquid is atomised and saturates the flue gas with water vapour. After being saturated with water vapour, the flue gas can be passed through the apertured plate without the risk of solids being precipitated. A separate spray tower is however a complicated and energy-consuming solution, which comprises pumps, pipes, tanks, control systems and a separate tower. In addition, when using such a spray tower semi-dry particles can form, which adhere to the underside of the apertured plate. It is therefore sometimes necessary to arrange a system for intermittent washing of the underside of the apertured plate.

Method and a device for the separation of sulphur dioxide from a gas


Method for handling a substrate with polarizable molecules including providing a carrier with a first junction electrode and disposing the substrate between the first junction electrode and a second junction electrode. Fixing the substrate on the carrier is achieved by applying a voltage between the first junction electrode and the second junction electrode, so that the polarizable molecules are polarized. After removing the second junction electrode, the substrate remains fixed on the carrier.

The fabrication of electronical systems on flexible substrates, such as plastic foils, paper or metal, is becoming more and more important. The following may be designated as future applications: flexible displays, flexible solar cells, flexible luminous areas, and, in general, electrical circuits which are easily deformable due to the flexibility of the substrate and, thus, may optimally fill predetermined housing volumes in a space-saving manner.
Printed circuits on the basis of organic materials, such as semiconductive polymers, polymer conductor trace materials, polymer dielectrics etc. are one current development focus in the area of flexible electronics. It is the printing technology in particular that offers a very cost-effective processing technique. In connection with flexible substrates, continuous roll-to-roll production techniques may be utilized for this purpose. During the development phase of new methods and materials for flexible electronics, however, continuous roll-to-roll processes are too expensive. Here, it would be advantageous to be able to process the flexible substrates also as single sheets in plants and process systems. This would also open up the possibility of using already existing production plants for flexible substrates, too.
However, handling single flexible substrates is difficult. For coating processes with liquid media, drying processes in the oven or in a lithographic patterning, the foils must be flat-fixed on a platen and additionally be capable of being processed with automatic handling systems.
If mounted onto rigid substrates, single flexible foils may be processed in coating plants. A simple variant for this purpose is to stick the edges of a foil sheet on a rigid carrier plate with slightly larger dimensions, by means of sticky tape. However, this is associated with a significant amount of manual work. Also, stripping the sticky tapes after temperature steps is often difficult or associated with significant remains. Additionally, in the case of drying processes on hotplates, no uniform, planar heat contact is present; air bubbles and cambers of the foils prevent a really flat resting of the substrate sheet. A non-uniform heat contact and a corrugated form of the substrate inevitably lead to non-uniform layer thicknesses, which, in the case of conducting or semiconducting layers, leads to highly varying and, thus, useless electronical properties.
In principle, a full-area sticking of the foil to the carrier substrate is possible; however, this is associated with even larger processing expenses. For this reasons, re-detachable sticking techniques do not present any cost-effective and practicable solution. Alternatively, the foils may be fixed on perforated vacuum suction plates. Then, however, the automatical charging and discharging of the corrugated foils is still not solved in a reasonable manner.
Electrostatic holding techniques for thin substrates are known, too, wherein unipolar and bipolar holders, or carriers, are distinguished. In the case of the unipolar carrier, the carrier plate comprises only one junction electrode and, accordingly, only carries charges of one polarity (unipolar). With a bipolar carrier, a carrier plate comprising at least two electrically separated junction electrodes charged with opposite polarities is utilized. A device for a unipolar carrier is described in JP 59132139, and a corresponding method for holding is indicated in DE 10235814 B3. This holding is suitable for electrically conducting substrates, wherein a layer with a high dielectrical constant is put between the substrate and the carrier plate, so that fixing of the substrate is made by dielectrical polarization. Furthermore, a mobile holder based on a bipolar carrier is described in WO 02111184 A1. This holding is provided for wafers.
These electrostatic methods have the benefits of a good planar contact pressure, an easy detachability of the electrostatic carrier, and an automatization without any problems. It has turned out, however, the foils such as PET (PET=polyethylene terephthalate, polyester) or polyimide comprise holding forces which are too weak towards electrostatic fields, and for this reason, these methods, or devices, do not provide any reliable holding for these materials. Due to the increasing importance of these materials, the current situation is not satisfactory.

Method and device for electrostatic fixing of substrates with polarized molecules

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


A sustained release composition comprising a polymer and manufacturing method thereof. The sustained release composition comprises a polymer, a bioactive agent, and a release rate determined agent, wherein the release rate determined agent is dispersed in the sustained release composition to control the release rate of the bioactive agent. The method comprises providing an oil phase comprising a bioactive agent, a polymer, and a release rate determined agent; providing an aqueous phase comprising a surfactant; mixing the oil phase with the aqueous phase to form the sustained release composition having a controlled release effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sustained release system, and in particular relates to a sustained release composition containing release rate determined agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
The desirability of coating medical devices such as, surgical implants, sutures and wound dressings with pharmaceutical agents is well known. Such coated devices provide a means for locally delivering pharmaceutical or therapeutic agents at the site of medical intervention to treat a variety of diseases. For example, surgical implants or sutures coated with antibiotics can provide local delivery of antibiotics directly to an implantation or suture site, thereby decreasing the onset of infection following the surgical intervention.
Thus, there is an increasing interest in developing a drug delivery system which is both safe and which provides a high biological availability of the drug, i.e. to maximize pharmaceutical activity of known drugs as well as to minimize the side effects thereof. Due to their uniform release rate during a given time period and the non-toxic property of degradation products, biodegradable polymers have been widely investigated as drug carriers. Biodegradable polymer drug carriers are especially useful for delivering drugs requiring continuous and sustained release with a single administration, e.g. peptide or protein drugs, which should be administered daily because of quick loss of activity in the body.
However, the traditional drug release curve includes three phases with an initial release phase, a lag phase, and a secondary release phase, wherein the drugs are only released at initial and secondary release phases. Thus, at the lag phase, it is necessary to combine an oral administration with the local administration to achieve a desired therapeutic goal, with the additional oral administration increasing costs and causing inconvenience. To overcome the above problems, a novel sustained release composition and manufacturing method thereof are needed.

Sustained release composition and manufacturing method thereof

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The adjustment mechanism (10) includes a stationary first member (12) and a second member (20) telescopingly mounted in the first member. A threaded member (26) is rotatably connected at the first end (26A) to the upper end (20A) of the second member. The second end (26B) of the screw extends down through a top nut (38) fixably mounted on one end of a nut support (36). A spring (40) is mounted around the screw and the nut support extends between the lower end of the first member and the upper end of the second member. An operating mechanism is used to rotate the screw. The operating mechanism allows for fewer rotations of the handle (62) of the operating mechanism to move the work surface the desired amount.

Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the height of a work surface of a workstation. In particular, the present invention relates to an adjustment mechanism which uses rotation of a threaded member to adjust the height of the work surface. The threaded member is rotated by a handle through an operating mechanism having sprockets with different diameters which allows the threaded member to rotate at a faster rate than the rate the handle is rotated. The adjustment mechanism uses a spring to compensate for the load on the adjustment mechanism and to allow the user to rotate the handle using less force.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The related art has shown various adjustable height workstations which use a rotating, threaded member and a stationary nut to adjust the height of the table or workstation. U.S. patents which are illustrative are U.S. Pat. No. 1,943,280 to Arnold; U.S. Pat. No 5,022,327 to Solomon; U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,099 to Adams et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,510 to Frankish; U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,590 to Seidel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,438 to Frankish; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,182 to Greene.
Arnold describes a table having four adjustable legs. Each leg contains an adjustment mechanism which includes a screw and a stationary nut. A sprocket is mounted at the end of each screw. The sprockets of all four adjustment mechanisms are connected together by a chain. The chain passes about a drive sprocket which is mounted on a crank or handle. When the handle is rotated, the drive sprocket rotates which rotates the sprockets and screw of each adjustment mechanism.
Solomon describes an adjustable overbed table. A rotatable screw shaft is used to adjust the table. A crank handle is attached to bevel gears which rotate bevel gears on the end of the rotatable screw shaft.
Adams et al describes a height adjustment mechanism for tables. The drive means for the mechanism comprises a gear box, a jack screw and a jack nut with a crank for rotating the jack screw by means of a pair of bevel gears. One of the bevel gears is secured to the end of the jack screw.
Frankish ""510 and ""586 describe a height adjustment system which includes a work-top member supported by a plurality of height adjustable legs. The legs have a stationary first leg part and a movable second leg part. A rotatable shaft extends vertically within the second leg part and has an upper portion and a lower portion. The lower portion is in the form of a screw. A pair of half nuts are positioned within the second leg part and act to position the screw within the second leg part. Vertical movement of the second leg part is also guided by at least one (1) linear bearing spaced between the first and second leg parts. The upper portion of the rotatable shaft is housed within a tubular member. A compression spring may be provided around the tubular member within the second leg part. The compression spring is retained between the lower part of the gear box housing and the base plate at the lower end of the first leg part. The compression spring is not rotatable and is fully supported within the second leg part to prevent buckling of the first leg part. The compression spring can compensate for external loads in the leg. The second leg part is secured at the upper end to the right angle gear box. The gear box includes a crown gear mounted on the upper end of the vertical shaft and a pinion gear engageable with the crown gear. The pinion gear is mounted on the end of a rotatable horizontal shaft which extends in a horizontal direction out of the gear box. The horizontal shaft is rotated by a drive mechanism comprising a winding mechanism including a rotatable drive shaft linked by universal joints and a first rotatable transmission member to a drive shaft. The drive shaft is connected to a rotatable drive transmission member which is connected to the horizontal shaft. A retractable handle is connected to the drive shaft for operating the winding mechanism. When the screw is rotated, the second leg part, gear box and work-top member move vertically relative to the first leg part.
Seidel describes an adjustable height table assembly. The base assembly includes a housing with a vertical leg extending upward and attached to the table top and movable within the housing. The housing also includes a pair of vertical guide members spaced from each other with a slide assembly slidably mounted to the guide members. The vertical leg is fixably mounted to the slide assembly. The vertical adjustment mechanism for the assembly includes a rotatable screw extending through a passage defined by the vertical leg. A tubular member is mounted within the housing between the vertical guide members, and receives the lower portion of the threaded member. A fixed nut is mounted toward the upper end of the tubular member and is threadably engaged with the threads of the screw. The table top support further includes an arm to which the table top is secured. The arm defines an axial passage, which is in communication with the passage formed in the vertical leg through which the screw extends. A driven sprocket is mounted to the screw toward its upper end, and a drive sprocket is rotatably mounted to the arm below the table top. A chain is engaged with the drive sprocket and with the driven sprocket, and a manually operable crank provides rotation of the drive sprocket, which is transferred through the chain and the driven sprocket to impart rotation to the screw and to thereby adjust the height of the table top.
Greene describes a vertically adjustable table which is adjustable using a crank handle. The leg assemblies include a stationary part and a movable part. The lifting mechanism comprises a ball screw and a ball nut. The ball nut is rigidly affixed to the stationary part of the leg assembly and the ball screw rotates in the ball nut. The table top is raised or lowered depending on the direction of rotation of the screw. The table uses a pulley and cable arrangement to ensure that the table raises and lowers in a level manner which obviating the need for a chain and sprocket. A miter gear set is used to convert horizontal torque applied by the user on the handle to the vertical torque needed to rotate the ball screw. The gear box mechanism is securely attached to a bracket which is secured to the movable portion of the leg assembly and to the underside of the table. The gear box mechanism is also securely attached to the ball screw.
Also of interest are U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,492 to Uebelhart; U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,421 to Beckstead and U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,593 to Fast which show the use of a motor to rotate the threaded member to adjust the height of a table or workstation.
There remains the need for an adjustment mechanism for use in adjusting the height of a work surface of a workstation which has a simple operating system which is manually operated by a handle which allows for fewer rotations of the handle by the user to obtain the required height adjustment and which uses a spring to compensate for a load on the work surface.
The present invention relates to an adjustment mechanism for vertically adjusting a work surface of a workstation, which comprises: a stationary first member defining a longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a movable second member connected to the work surface of the workstation and being movable relative to the stationary first member in a substantially vertical direction along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a support fixably mounted to the stationary first member and having a threaded opening extending substantially along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a threaded member rotatably connected to the movable second member and extending through the threaded opening of the support wherein threads of the threaded member engage threads of the threaded opening; a resilient means extending between the first member and the second member substantially along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism and tending to bias the members apart; one driven sprocket fixably mounted on the threaded member adjacent to the work surface; one drive sprocket directly connected to the driven sprocket and mounted on a shaft rotatably mounted on the work surface, the drive sprocket having a diameter greater than a diameter of the driven sprocket; means for directly connecting the driven sprocket and the drive sprocket; and means for rotating the shaft and the drive sprocket wherein when the drive sprocket rotates, the driven sprocket is rotated which rotates the threaded member in the threaded opening of the support such that the second member is moved relative to the first member.
Further, the present invention relates to a system for adjusting a height of a work surface of a workstation, which comprises: a primary adjustment mechanism including: a stationary first member defining a longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a movable second member connected to the work surface of the workstation and being movable relative to the stationary first member in a substantially vertical direction along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a support fixably mounted to the stationary first member and having a threaded opening extending substantially along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a threaded member rotatably connected to the movable second member and extending through the threaded opening of the support wherein threads of the threaded member engage threads of the threaded opening; a resilient means extending between the first member and the second member substantially along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism and tending to bias the members apart; one driven sprocket fixably mounted on the threaded member adjacent to the work surface; and one alignment sprocket mounted on the threaded member adjacent the work surface; at least one secondary adjustment mechanism including: a stationary first member defining a longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a movable second member connected to the work surface of the workstation and being movable relative to the stationary first member in a substantially vertical direction along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a support fixably mounted to the stationary first member and having a threaded opening extending substantially along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a threaded member rotatably connected to the movable second member and extending through the threaded opening of the support wherein threads of the threaded member engage threads of the threaded opening; a resilient means extending between the first member and the second member substantially along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism and tending to bias the members apart; and an alignment sprocket mounted on the threaded member adjacent the work surface; one drive sprocket directly connected to the one driven sprocket of the primary adjustment mechanism and mounted on a shaft rotatably mounted on the work surface, the drive sprocket having a diameter greater than a diameter of the driven sprocket of the primary adjustment mechanism; means for directly connecting the drive sprocket of the primary adjustment mechanism and the driven sprocket; and means for rotating the shaft and the drive sprocket wherein as the drive sprocket rotates, the driven sprocket is rotated which rotates the threaded shaft of the primary adjustment mechanism and the alignment sprocket of the primary adjustment mechanism; and means for connecting the alignment sprocket of the primary adjustment mechanism to the alignment sprocket of the secondary adjustment mechanism so that when the threaded shaft and the alignment sprocket of the primary adjustment mechanism rotate, the alignment sprocket and threaded member of the secondary adjustment mechanism rotate so that the primary adjustment mechanism and the secondary adjustment mechanism move at substantially the same rate.
Still further, the present invention relates to a method for adjusting a height of a work surface of a workstation which comprises the steps of: providing an adjustment mechanism for the work surface of the workstation, the adjustment mechanism including a stationary first member defining a longitudinal axis of the mechanism; a movable second member connected to the work surface of the workstation and being movable relative to the stationary first member in a substantially vertical direction along the longitudinal axis of the adjustment mechanism; a support fixably mounted to the stationary first member and having a threaded opening extending substantially along the longitudinal axis of the adjustment mechanism; a threaded member rotatably connected to the movable second member and extending through the threaded opening of the support wherein threads of the threaded member engage threads of the threaded opening; a resilient means extending between the first member and the second member substantially along the longitudinal axis of the mechanism and tending to bias the members apart; one driven sprocket fixably mounted on the threaded member adjacent to the work surface; one drive sprocket directly connected to the driven sprocket and mounted on a shaft rotatably mounted on the work surface, the drive sprocket having a diameter greater than a diameter of the driven sprocket; means for directly connecting the driven sprocket and the drive sprocket and means for rotating the shaft and the drive sprocket wherein when the drive sprocket rotates, the driven sprocket is rotated which rotates the threaded member in the threaded opening of the support such that the second member is moved relative to the first member; and activating the means for rotating the shaft and drive sprocket such that the shaft and drive sprocket rotate which rotates the threaded member which moves the second member relative to the first member which vertically adjusts the work surface.
The adjustment mechanism of the present invention allows for quick and relatively effortless adjustment of a work surface of a workstation. The adjustment mechanism includes a stationary outer member and a movable inner member telescopingly mounted in the outer member. The outer member is mounted with a lower end adjacent the ground surface. The inner member is mounted with a lower end in the upper end of the outer member and the upper end adjacent to and in contact with the underneath surface of the work surface. A screw is rotatably connected at the first end to the upper end of the inner member. The second end of the screw extends down through a nut cap fixably mounted on one end of a nut support. The other end of the nut support is mounted on the lower end of the outer member. A spring is mounted around the screw and the nut support and extends between the lower end of the outer member and the upper end of the inner member.
A driven sprocket is fixably mounted on the first end of the screw. A drive sprocket is mounted on a shaft spaced apart from the driven sprocket preferably toward the front edge of the work surface. The driven sprocket is connected by a chain to the drive sprocket. The diameter of the drive sprocket is greater than the diameter of the driven sprocket. A handle for operating the adjustment mechanism is connected to the shaft. As the handle is rotated, the driven and drive sprockets rotate which rotates the screw. Due to the larger diameter of the drive sprocket, the driven sprocket will rotate at a faster rate than the handle. As the screw rotates, it moves up and down in the top nut causing the inner member to move up and down in the outer member, thus raising or lowering the work surface. The spring extending between the lower end of the outer member and the upper end of the inner member, compensates for the load on the adjustment mechanism and allows the handle to be rotated using a reasonable force even with a load on the work surface and allows the screw to rotate at a faster rate than the handle.
An alignment sprocket is preferably fixably mounted on the upper end of the screw. The alignment sprocket is connected by a chain to the alignment sprockets of the secondary adjustment mechanisms for the workstation. The alignment sprockets ensure that all the adjustment mechanisms of a single workstation adjust the work surface at the same rate. The alignment sprocket also allows a single operating mechanism to be used to adjust multiple adjustment mechanisms of an adjustment system provided on a single workstation.
The adjustment mechanism of the present invention allows for adjusting a work surface of a workstation a greater distance in fewer rotations of the handle. The adjustment mechanism also allows for the use of a reasonable force to rotate the handle regardless of the position of the work surface. The adjustment mechanism also allows for the application of a manageable force on the handle to adjust the work surface even when a load is applied to the work surface.
The substance and advantages of the present invention will become increasingly apparent by reference to the following drawings and the description.


An induction motor drive uses direct vector control for zero speed start up. According to the invention, a speed sensorless induction motor is controlled at all speeds, including zero or substantially zero speed, using direct vector control. In order to utilize direct vector control at all speeds, it is necessary to derive accurate stator flux vectors at all speeds. This is accomplished in the present invention by calculating two sets of stator flux vectors in diverse manners. A first set of flux vectors is derived from measured stator terminal voltage quantities, and a second set of flux vectors is derived from measured stator current quantities. The first set of flux vectors is valid at non-zero speed and the second set of flux vectors is valid at substantially zero speed. The direct vector control utilizes one of the two sets of flux vectors in accordance with predetermined criteria indicative of zero and non-zero speed conditions.

The technical field of this invention is induction motor controls. In recent years the advent of modern power electronics has substantially changed the motor and controller hardware used in traction control or electric vehicle applications. DC motors have been very popular in such applications in the past because of their characteristic high torque at zero speed and because the decoupled field and armature currents allow independent control of either the field flux or the output motor torque and provide fast response. However, DC motors have the disadvantages of lower machine efficiencies and the high maintenance that accompanies the use of brushes.
The disadvantages of DC motors can be eliminated by the use of an AC induction motor with an IGBT inverter. AC induction motors are robust since they use no brushes or commutators and are capable of four quadrant operation using a variable frequency variable voltage drive control. The use of vector control techniques allows the flux producing component and torque producing component of motor current to be decoupled to produce a motor response like that of a DC motor.
Vector control for induction motors is generally classified as indirect vector control (IVC) or direct vector control (DVC). For high performance industrial motor control and electric vehicle applications, indirect vector control using a rotor shaft speed encoder is becoming very popular. With indirect vector control, an induction motor can be operated at any point in the torque-speed plane, from zero speed to the field-weakening region. However, the motor parameters may vary, which causes flux-torque coupling problems and degrades control. In addition, this method requires a speed sensor on the motor shaft and feed-forward slip frequency signals for the required generation of unit vectors. The speed sensor is undesirable because it is expensive and can be unreliable.
Direct vector control generates the unit vectors from flux coils or from the motor terminal voltages and currents, and no speed sensor is required. Direct vector control with stator flux orientation can reduce the problems caused by varying motor parameters; but it has been difficult to operate the motor near zero speed, and self starting of the motor is impossible. The lower speed range in direct vector control has recently been extended by using stator flux orientation and an observer method of flux computation. The motor could be started by a volts/hertz scalar control and then converted into direct vector control; but this start-up method provides inferior performance.

Zero speed start-up for a speed sensorless induction motor drive


A heating wire support meshing and a method of constructing a heated surface, particularly a floor surface therewith, is described. The heating wire support meshing comprises one or more mats formed by transversely spaced parallel rows of wire support bridge elements interconnected together at their crossings. The bridge elements have electric heating wire support slots to receive and guide one or more electric heating wires along one or more desired paths. Bottom support formations extend along a bottom planar surface of the mat. Top support formations lie in a top planar surface of the mat. The wire support slots are adapted to support the one or more electric heating wires spaced below the top support formations. The support meshing also acts as a reinforcement of a sub-floor on which the support meshing is installed.

Guide strips which are securable to a floor for attaching and supporting heating wire circuits on a sub floor structure are known. An example of such floor heating system is described in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 7,250,570 issued Jul. 31, 2007. With these systems the wire retaining strips are secured to the sub-floor surface which, if made of wood, is usually constituted by two layers of sheeting material, such as plywood sheeting, which are secured by means of screws to prevent movement of the sub-floor. The rigid sub-floor supports a cement slurry as well as the covering material thereover, usually ceramic tiles, and its rigidity is required to prevent the cement to crack or to cause the electric wires to break due to movement.
A disadvantage of these known systems is that there is a need to solidify the sub-flooring which is costly in material and installation time. There is also a further need to provide different trade people to complete the entire construction of the radiant heated floor. After the sub-floor is constructed by a carpenter, another tradesman installs the heating cable guide strips onto the floor and then lays the heating wires onto the floor and attaches them to the guide strips. Another tradesman is then required to apply the cementitious slurry over the heating wire and the interval between the installation of the wire and the pouring of the slurry may take several days leaving the wires exposed to other tradesmen to walk and this often damages the wired circuits. It is common to cover the set dried cementitious slurry with ceramic tiles and a further tradesman is needed to install the tiles onto the set concrete floor. Accordingly, as can be seen, this installation is very time consuming and expensive and exposes the heating wires to damage.

Heating wire support meshing and method of constructing a heated surface with same


When an ignition key is switched off, an updated learning value is set as an immediately preceding learning value of a present trip, which is compared with an average value of start timing learning values in a predetermined number of trips up to and including the present trip. When a difference between the immediately preceding learning value of the present trip and the average value exceeds a predetermined range, a start timing learning value to be used at a startup of a next trip is not updated. When the difference between the immediately preceding learning value of the present trip and the average value fails within the predetermined range, the immediately preceding learning value of the present trip is written in an EEPROM and used as the start timing learning value at the engine startup of the next trip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection control device that adjusts a pumping quantity of a fuel supply pump with a metering valve and to a fuel injection system using the fuel injection control device, the fuel supply pump supplying fuel to an injector of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of Related Art
There is conventionally known a technology of adjusting a pumping quantity of a fuel supply pump, which supplies fuel to an injector of an internal combustion engine, with a metering valve to control pressure of the fuel supplied to the injector. The metering valve is electromagnetically driven by current or the like to adjust the pumping quantity of the fuel supply pump. If a current value for driving the metering valve changes, the pumping quantity of the fuel supply pump changes.
The pumping quantity of the fuel supply pump varies due to an individual difference or aging of the fuel supply pump and the like. Therefore, it is preferable to calculate a learning value for controlling a drive amount of the metering valve based on a deviation between pressure of fuel supplied to the injector and target fuel pressure during one trip from an operation start to an operation end of the internal combustion engine and to control the drive amount with the learning value to approximate actual fuel pressure to the target fuel pressure (for example, as described in JP-A-2005-147005).
When the internal combustion engine is started in a next trip, the learning value learned in the present trip can be used as a start timing learning value for controlling the drive amount of the metering valve at a startup of the next trip.
In a case where an event that has caused the learning of the drive amount of the metering valve during the present trip is specific to the present trip, the event as the cause of the learning has been solved by the time of the engine startup of the next trip in some cases. For example, in some cases, a sliding failure of a sliding portion of the metering valve or deterioration of fuel properties during the present trip has been improved by the time of the engine startup of the next trip.
If the learning value of the present trip is used as the start timing learning value of the next trip in such the state, there is a possibility that when the drive amount of the metering valve is learned to excessively reduce the pumping quantity of the fuel supply pump in the present trip, the pumping quantity of the fuel supply pump is reduced at the startup of the next trip and eventually injection pressure of the injector falls excessively below the target injection pressure, causing an engine startup failure, for example.
If the drive amount of the metering valve is learned to excessively increase the pumping quantity of the fuel supply pump in the present trip, there is a possibility that the pumping quantity of the fuel supply pump at the startup of the next trip increases and eventually the injection pressure of the injector becomes excessively higher than the target injection pressure, causing a large combustion noise.

Fuel injection control device and fuel injection system using the same


Systems, methods, devices, circuits for data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for determining a down track distance between two or more read heads on a read/write head assembly.

As the density of information stored on a storage medium increases, the use of multiple read heads has been developed to sense and process data from a user data region of a storage medium. In the case of two read heads, the two heads may be located, for example, approximately 100 nm apart in a down track direction. In some cases, a data unlock occurs causing the location of a read/write head relative to a storage medium to become unknown. During such a condition it is possible that the read/write head may strike a crash stop or loading ramp of a storage device resulting in damage.
Hence, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for advanced systems and methods for determining a location of a read/write head assembly relative to the storage medium.

Systems and methods for head position estimation

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) PTE. LTD.


An information processing apparatus which makes it possible for a user or a third party to easily or unconsciously apply arbitrary procedures and expand application functions in accessing resources. When a name is input, that name is analyzed by the name parser. The context input unit loads the context determined from the analysis results from the context holding unit. The name is converted into a set composed of a resource name and a procedure in accordance with the loaded context. The context may also be used recursively. The resource initiation unit connects the output of the procedure and the data input port of the data input/output unit, or the input of the procedure and the data output port of the data input/output unit, and causes the procedure to be executed when the data input/output unit accesses the resource.

1. Field of Application
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that expands the function of an application by automatically executing procedures for the accessing of resources in a networked computer system or a single computer system.
2. Description of Related Art
In a computer system where a plurality of computer systems executing information processes are distributed and arranged in a network, each computer system contains local or global resources. These resources may be, for example, a file system, a database, a printer, or a networked computer. Additionally, data and programs which are provided by various services are also known as resources. For example, files and remote programs are resources. Furthermore, in broadcasting, audio and video information are also resources, and such information is continuous stream data, which is different from the conventional file data.
Generally, when a resource name is given to a computer system, a handle for accessing the resource corresponding to that name is obtained. An operation for the resource is applicable to the handle. For example, in a file system, a file descriptor is the handle, and the operation is "read" or "write". In a computer system, everything that enables acquisition of the handle is a resource.
An application is a program which retrieves and processes information from the resource, or is a program which sends the processed data to the resource. An example of an application is a data display device (browser) for the World Wide Web (WWW). When a user inputs the data name into the browser, the browser accesses the resource that is determined by the name, retrieves the data and displays the data in a specified window in the display screen. It is desirable to be able to expand the functions of such an application using specific methods in order to enable displaying of information of the retrieved data with a new format provided by a third party or to enable the application user to customize the data being retrieved through preprocessing or postprocessing.
One of the conventional methods for expanding functions of such applications is called the plug-in method. The plug-in method is an executable module which provides a procedure being called from the application using a specific application program interface (API). In general, a plug-in is loaded and dynamically linked in the application process space after startup of the application. Thus, the plug-in module is able to access resources (memory and files) that the application manages in the same process space. In the case of an application that runs with a window system, for example, a part of the graphic image originally drawn in the window by the application may be edited and redrawn by a procedure which is contained in the plug-in module.
Netscape Navigator (hereafter Netscape), an information browser from Netscape Communications Corp., accesses the WWW system, retrieves information in a specific format such as HTML (hyper text mark-up language) using a specific protocol such as HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol), renders the retrieved information to raster information, and displays the raster image in the specific window on the screen.
Using a plug-in, information in a specific format which Netscape alone cannot interpret but which the plug-in can interpret may be retrieved using a specific protocol, processed by the plug-in, rendered as a raster image containing text, and displayed in a Netscape window. This information may also be played back as audio or video.
In the case of Netscape, the plug-in module is created as a dynamic linking library (DLL), is loaded dynamically in the Netscape process space, and shares the process space with Netscape.
In the application function expansion method using such a plug-in, it becomes necessary to provide a plug-in corresponding to each type and format of information to be accessed, and to implement the plug-in dynamically loadable in the application process space.
Another type of application function expansion method is a remote programming system in the distributed network system. For example, the execution method of the remote programming disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 7-182174 is a remote programming method in which a program is provided for executing data processing based on a specific instruction set, where an agent process, which is a part of the program, is transferred by a "go" (begin execution) operation to a remote computer system through a network, and the agent process is run on the remote computer system to accomplish data processing. In this method function expansion is realized by running a process to expand the application functions in the remote computer.
The applet based on Java technology, disclosed and provided by Sun Microsystems Inc., is a network loadable program in a remote programming system similar to the remote programming system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 7-182174, wherein a program for accomplishing data processing based on a specific instruction set is stored in a server on a network. Upon accessing the applet with a specific protocol, the applet is loaded into a resource display device or browser via the network, and runs to accomplish data processing ("The Java Language Environment", July, 1995 Sun Microsystems Inc.).
In either of the two methods described above, the program for accomplishing data processing may be loaded in the computer which runs the resource display device, or may be transferred to the remote computer to accomplish preprocessing or postprocessing of the data which accesses the resource.
The interactive computer network reception system and its method of operation, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,632, receives input from the user via a personal computer and converts them into data that is dependent on a computer and into executable code objects in the interactive computer system network. These data and codes are distributed and stored in a personal computer and a remote host computer. By combining the application to process the input from the user, the data and codes make it possible to display information desired by the user and to accomplish the desired transaction service, namely, data processing including preprocessing and postprocessing.
However, loading a program which can operate with multipurpose functions from a network or a memory device to a computer system and giving authority to execute for the purpose of preprocessing or postprocessing the data used to access the resource present security problems. Detection and prevention of unauthorized use of and damage to the resources in the computer system on which the program is loaded are difficult. The above execution methods also makes contamination by so-called computer virus easy.
Moreover, it is difficult to dynamically change the operation of the expanded function because the rules, methods and results of conversion are determined beforehand by the side which provides the service and applications in order to convert input from the user into directly executable code objects.
For example, in the case of a plug-in, it is necessary to store the plug-in module which handles a specific format and executes a specific process in a location where the application can be dynamically linked. As a result, changing of the plug-in process for each data accessed or according to the intent of the user is difficult.
Furthermore, in the remote programming system, it is possible for the manager of a server which stores a remote program providing an expansion function to change a function of the remote program: changes resulting in concurrent changing of the expansion functions of all the applications that use the remote program. As a result, this system is not usable when customized expansion functions are desired for each user.
In the above-described conventional expansion method for application functions, it is difficult for a third party other than the service or application provider and a user who uses the application to change the expansion function, including preprocessing and postprocessing for each item of information accessed or for each user of the application.