A welding method of an aluminum foil, which permits the direct resistance welding of an aluminum foil, with a chemical conversion coated layer of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 formed thereon, to a lead wire, includes placing an aluminum foil, with a chemical conversion coated layer formed on the surface thereof, on a back bar made of a material having good electrical insulating property and heat resistance, arranging an electrically-conductive metal on the aluminum foil, bring first and second electrode tips into contact under pressure with the surface of the electrically-conductive metal with the electrode tips spaced from each other and then causing a welding current to flow between the first and second electrode tips, thereby conducting the series resistance welding of the aluminum foil to the electrically-conductive metal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a welding method of an aluminum foil, and specifically to a welding method of an aluminum foil used in an aluminum electrolytic capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In aluminum electrolytic capacitors, a chemical conversion coated layer of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, which serves as a dielectric, is formed on the surface of an aluminum foil. In such an electrolytic capacitor, a lead wire such as a CP wire is connected to the aluminum foil in order to electrically connect the capacitor to the outside.
The connection of the aluminum foil to the lead wire has heretofore been conducted by a method illustrated in FIG. 4. Namely, an aluminum tab 43 provided on a free end of a lead wire 42 such as a CP wire has been connected to an aluminum foil 41 by rivets 44.
As described above, the lead wire has heretofore been connected to the aluminum foil through the aluminum tab. However, it is needless to say that the direct connection of the lead wire to the aluminum foil without using such a tab is preferred, if possible, from the viewpoints of reduction in the number of processes and the number of parts, and the like. However, it has hitherto been impossible for the following reason to directly connect the lead wire to the aluminum foil.
Namely, in order to conduct the resistance welding of a lead wire to an aluminum foil, it is necessary to place an aluminum foil 41 on a lower electrode 51 made of copper, arrange a lead wire 42 on the aluminum foil 41 and then bring an upper electrode tip 52 into contact under pressure with the lead wire 42 at a proper position so as to cause a welding current to flow between the upper electrode tip 52 and the copper-made lower electrode 51 as illustrated in FIG. 5. However, since a chemical conversion coated layer 45 of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 has been formed to a thickness of about 0.1 .mu.m-10 .mu.m on both sides of the aluminum foil 41, and it has a high electric resistance, it has been impossible to cause the welding current to flow between the upper electrode tip 52 and the copper-made lower electrode 51 under the usual conditions for resistance welding, resulting in a failure to directly weld the aluminum foil 41 to the lead wire 42.


A transmitter includes a first channel and a second channel. The first channel includes a first mixer, and is used for processing a first input signal to generate a first output signal; the second channel includes a second mixer, where the second channel does not receive any input signal. When the transmitter is operated under a first mode, both the first mixer and the second mixer receive oscillation signals.

A signal quality of a transmitter is generally influenced by noise, and therefore the transmitter has to include a filter or other noise cancellation circuits to improve the signal quality. However, because the high quality filter or other noise cancellation circuits may increase the cost of the transmitter, how to provide a method to improve the signal quality without increasing the cost is an important topic.


A ceramic heater for heating a sensor such as an oxygen sensor has a ceramic substrate and a heater pattern formed on the substrate. A heater pattern 22 is tightly interposed between first and second alumina substrates 15 and 21. This heater pattern 22 has a meandering heating section 25 and a pair of leads 26 for connecting both ends of the heating section 25 to two terminals at the base side end. The heating section 25 is divided into a tip side subsection 25a located near the tip side end of the device, and a base side subsection 25b. Specifically, the wire width is made greater in the tip side subsection 25a than in the base side subsection 25b so that the resistance per unit length is lower in the tip side subsection 25a. The thus-designed heater section 25 produces a less amount of heat in the tip side subsection than in the base side subsection, and this distribution of heat generation can reduce the possibility of cracks and breakage of a wire.

The present invention relates to a ceramic heater for a sensor such as an oxygen sensor used for internal combustion engines of motor vehicles, and to a self-heating type oxygen sensor having a ceramic heater.
A plate-shaped laminate ceramic heater having a heating element of Pt or W as a heater pattern in a ceramic substrate has been hitherto widely used for oxygen sensors, general purpose heaters or various other purposes.
FIGS. 18A and 18B show one conventional example. As shown in FIG. 18A, a plate-shaped sensor device 100 includes an oxygen sensor plate 102 having a gas sensing element 101 of metal oxide such as titania, and a ceramic heater plate 103 which are integrated into a single multi-layer unit. The ceramic heater plate 103 has a ceramic substrate 107 on which, as shown in FIG. 18B, there is formed a heater pattern 106 consisting of a meandering heating section 104 and a lead section of a pair of leads 105 extending from the heating section 104.
However, this conventional heater 103 is disadvantageous in the following points.
When the oxygen sensing device 102 is enclosed in a metal case, there arises a temperature difference between the tip side portion and the base side portion of the ceramic substrate 107 because of the metal case drawing heat. The temperature of the tip side portion becomes lower by heat dissipation to the surrounding while on the other hand the temperature of the base side portion is decreased by heat conduction. The heat conduction is more effective, and accordingly the base side portion becomes lower in temperature. In consideration of this temperature decrease, this heater system is arranged to apply a relatively high voltage to maintain the temperature of the device in a predetermined range. If, however, an excessive voltage is applied beyond that, the tip side portion becomes excessively hot, so that the tip side portion tends to suffer wire breakage.
In the case of a laminate type sensor using a solid electrolyte of zirconia, application of an excessive voltage makes the tip side portion of the ceramic substrate excessively hot, so that the insulating ability becomes low, blackening occurs, and the performance become poor.
In recent OBD-II (On-Board Diagnosis) requirements for automobile exhaust emission control in the United States, a diagnostic system must detect degradation and malfunction of an oxygen sensor, a catalytic converter, other sensors of the control system, etc. The conventional device is not satisfactory in this point either.
This OBD-II is a regulation of an environmental protection law that will presumably become effective about 1996 in California. When exhaust emissions of an engine become unable to adapt to a restricted level, the OBD-II system must inform the driver that the emission control system has a malfunction. If the indication system for indicating this malfunction fails, this failure alone is regarded as a subject for recall. Therefore, the system for detecting deterioration of the oxygen sensor, catalytic converter and control sensors is important, and required to function accurately for a long time.
A system of one example therefore has a diagnostic oxygen sensor on the downstream side of the catalytic converter too. In this case, however, during an engine starting operation, condensed water collected in the catalytic converter is splashed in droplets, and attached to the gas sensitive element 101 heated by a heater on the downstream side of the catalytic converter, so that the sensitive element 101 can be damaged. Therefore, the system must postpone current supply to the heater by about 30 seconds after a start of the engine until the splash of the condensed water subsides significantly. This delay of the heating operation prolongs a time until the sensitive element reaches a proper temperature for activation. During this prolonged time, the air fuel ratio control is not accurate enough, resulting in degradation in the efficiency of exhaust decontamination and the fuel efficiency both.
In the case of the oxygen sensor provided on the downstream side of the catalytic converter, there is formed, between inner and outer tubes (8 and 9) of the oxygen sensor (as shown in FIG. 1), an annular space for protection against mechanical and thermal impact of stones and water flung and splashed by the front wheels. This structure increases the thermal capacity of the metal support of the oxygen sensor, and tends to further promote the heat conduction from the base portion of the ceramic heater.
It is thus required to heat the gas sensitive element 101 to the activating temperature as soon as possible. Since the ordinary air fuel ratio sensor on the upstream side of the catalytic converter reaches its activating temperature in about 50 sec after a start of the engine, it is specifically desired to activate the diagnostic oxygen sensor within this time, that is, after 20 sec or less from a start of current supply.
In order to rapidly heat the sensitive element, it is possible to apply a higher voltage on the ceramic heater 103 for the oxygen sensing device 102. In this case, however, a sharp temperature change causes a severer temperature difference between the tip side portion and the base side portion of the ceramic substrate 107, and this increases the undesired possibility of broken wire and blackening.


A biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus includes, a biomass feeder (31) that feeds biomass material (11) under normal pressure to under increased pressure, a hydrothermal decomposition device (41A) that allows the fed biomass material (11) to be gradually moved inside a gradient device main body (42) from a lower end thereof with a conveyor screw (43), and also allows hot compressed water (15) to be fed from an other end of a feed section (31) for the biomass material into the main body (42), so as to cause the biomass material (11) and the hot compressed water (15) to countercurrently contact with each other and undergo hydrothermal decomposition, and that transfers a lignin component and a hemicellulose component into the hot compressed water, so as to separate the lignin component and the hemicellulose component from the biomass material (11); and a biomass discharger (51) that discharges, from the upper end of the device main body (42), a biomass solid residue (17) under increased pressure to an under normal pressure.

Technologies for producing ethanol or the like have been commercialized that involve converting woody biomass or other biomass into sugars with dilute sulfuric acid or concentrated sulfuric acid, and then subjecting them to solid-liquid separation, neutralizing the liquid phase thereof, and utilizing the resultant components as biomass materials for ethanol fermentation or the like (Patent Documents 1 and 2). Further, by using sugar as starting material, production of chemical industrial raw material (e.g., lactic fermentation) has been considered. Biomass as used herein refers to a living organism integrated in material circulation in the global biosphere or accumulation of organic materials derived from living organisms (see JIS K 3600 1258).
Sugarcane, corn, and other materials, currently used as alcohol raw materials, have been originally used for food. Using such food resources as long-term stable industrial resources is not preferable in view of life cycle of valuable food.
For this reason, it is a challenge to efficiently use cellulose resources such as herbaceous biomass and woody biomass, which are considered as potentially useful resources.
Cellulose resources include cellulose ranging from 38% to 50%, hemicelluloses components ranging from 23% to 32%, and lignin components, which are not used as fermentation materials, ranging from 15% to 22%. Due to many challenges, the industrial studies have been conducted targeting certain fixed materials, and no technologies have been disclosed yet on production systems taking into account diversity of the materials.
Production systems targeting fixed materials see almost no point regarding countermeasures for waste problems and global warming, because those systems have attempted such countermeasures with a method that brings more disadvantages to fermentation materials than starch materials. Thus, there has been a need for a method applicable to a variety of wastes in broader sense. Enzymatic saccharification methods are also considered as a future challenge due to its low efficiency. Acid treatment only achieves a low saccharification rate of about 75% (a basis for components that can be saccharified), due to excessive decomposition of sugar. Thus, the ethanol yield achieves only 25% by weight of cellulose resources (Non-Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 3).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-507386    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No 11-506934    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-168335    [Non-Patent Document 1] Nikkei Biotechnology & Business, p. 52, September 2002    [Non-Patent Document 2] Biomass-Extensive Use of Bioresources, edited by Japanese Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry, Asakura Publishing Co., Ltd., September 1985

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Biomass hydrothermal decomposition apparatus and method

MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD.


A converter containing a NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst is disposed in the exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine. The upstream half portion (portion of the inlet side) of the substrate of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst in the converter carries the oxygen storage component that absorbs oxygen in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is lean and releases the absorbed oxygen when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is rich in addition to carrying the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. After NOx is absorbed by the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst as a result of operating the engine at a lean air-fuel ratio, the engine is operated at a rich air-fuel ratio, so that NOx is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and is purified by reduction. Here, oxygen is released from the oxygen storage component carried by the upstream half portion of the substrate and is reacted with the H2 and CO components in the exhaust gas, so that the temperature of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst is raised within short periods of time due to the heat of reaction. Therefore, the catalyst exhibits increased activity and the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst exhibits improved NOx purification capability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine. More specifically, the invention relates to an exhaust gas purification device equipped with a NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst which absorbs NOx in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is lean, and releases and purifies by reduction the absorbed NOx when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is rich.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known a NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst which absorbs NOx (nitrogen oxides) in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is lean, and releases and purifies, by reduction, the absorbed NOx when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in becomes rich.
An exhaust gas purification device using the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst of this type has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2600492. In the exhaust gas purification device of the above patent, the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst is disposed in the exhaust passage of an engine that operates at a lean air-fuel ratio. During a lean air-fuel ratio operation of the engine, NOx in the exhaust gas is absorbed by the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. When NOx is absorbed in an increased amount by the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, the rich spike operation is executed to operate the engine at an air-fuel ratio (or rich air-fuel ratio) smaller than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio for a short period of time. Thus, the NOx that is absorbed is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, and the released NOx is purified by reduction. That is, when the engine operating air-fuel ratio becomes rich, the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas sharply drops compared with when the engine is operated at a lean air-fuel ratio, and the amounts of unburned HC and CO components sharply increase in the exhaust gas. Therefore, when the operating air-fuel ratio is changed over to a rich air-fuel ratio by the rich spike operation, NOx is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and is reduced by being reacted with the unburned HC and CO components in the exhaust gas on the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst.
The above-mentioned Japanese Patent No. 2600492 further discloses a constitution for purifying the HC and CO components emitted from the engine at the start of the engine by disposing a three-way catalyst in the exhaust passage on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. The three-way catalyst of the above patent is disposed near the engine exhaust manifold through which the exhaust gas of a high temperature from the engine passes, and is heated to the activated temperature within a short period of time after the start of the engine. Therefore, HC and CO emitted in relatively large amounts from the engine are oxidized by the three-way catalyst after the engine started, and the quality of the exhaust gas, before the engine is warmed-up, is improved.
With the three-way catalyst being disposed in the exhaust passage on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst as taught in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent No. 2600492, it was considered that the ability of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst for purifying the exhaust gas often drops when the three-way catalyst possesses an O2 storage capability due to a delay in the change of the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst.
As is widely known, the three-way catalyst carries, as an additive, a metal component such as cerium Ce in addition to noble metal catalyst components such as platinum Pt, palladium Pd and rhodium Rh, so as to exhibit the O2 storage capability. That is, cerium carried as an additive by the catalyst bonds to oxygen in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the catalyst is higher than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio (when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is lean) to form ceria (cerium oxide IV: CeO2) which stores oxygen. Further, when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is smaller than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio (when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is rich), ceria releases oxygen and is transformed into cerium oxide III (Ce2O3); i.e., oxygen is released. Thus, the three-way catalyst having an O2 storage capability releases oxygen when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas changes from the lean side to the rich side, and the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas that has passed through the three-way catalyst is maintained to be close to the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, as long as oxygen is released from the three-way catalyst, even when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the three-way catalyst has changed to the rich side.
However, when the three-way catalyst disposed in the exhaust passage on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst possesses an O2 storage capability, the exhaust gas flowing into the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst does not readily acquire a rich air-fuel ratio but is temporarily maintained near the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio even when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas from the engine has changed from the lean side to the rich side due to the rich spike operation of the engine. When the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is changed from a lean air-fuel ratio to an air-fuel ratio close to the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, NOx is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. However, in this case, the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is not rich enough, i.e., the exhaust gas is not containing HC and CO components in amounts sufficient for reducing all of NOx released and, hence, NOx that has not been reduced flows out to the downstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst.
When the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst was used, therefore, it was not considered desirable to dispose the three-way catalyst having an O2 storage capability in the exhaust passage on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. When the three-way catalyst was disposed in the exhaust passage on the upstream side, therefore, it was considered that some countermeasure is required, for example, to remove cerium from the three-way catalyst, in order to lower the O2 storage capability.
According to the study conducted by the present inventors, however, it was found that when NOx is to be released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst exhibits enhanced performance for purifying NOx when the three-way catalyst or the like catalyst having O2 storage components is disposed at a position close to the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst on the upstream side thereof. That is, when NOx is to be released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, the exhaust gas flowing into the catalyst must have a rich air-fuel ratio. In this case, when oxygen is released from the O2 storage components disposed at a position close to the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst on the upstream side thereof, it has been found that NOx is released and reduced at a greatly increased rate.
It has not been clarified yet why the catalyst having O2 storage components disposed near the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst on the upstream side thereof helps improve the performance of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst for purifying the exhaust gas. However, one of the causes is considered to be that, if the O2 storage components exist at a position close to the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst when the exhaust gas of a rich air-fuel ratio is supplied, the HC and CO components in the exhaust gas are oxidized by the oxygen released from the O2 storage components and the temperature of the catalyst components on the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst rises due to the heat of reaction. That is, one of the reasons is attributed to the release of NOx from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst promoted by the rise of temperature of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst components, whereby the catalytic activity is improved to improve the NOx purification ratio. Though this point will be described later in detail, there arises a problem in that the purifying performance of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst often cannot be utilized to a sufficient degree, contrary to the conventional opinion, if the O2 storage capability is eliminated as much as possible from the three-way catalyst or the like catalyst disposed on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst.
When the exhaust gas is rendered to possess a rich air-fuel ratio by executing the rich spike operation during the lean air-fuel ratio operation as taught in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent No. 2600492, the amounts of HC and CO components in the exhaust gas increase sharply. However, the HC and CO components tend to adhere on the catalyst components on the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. When the amounts of HC and CO components sharply increase in the exhaust gas flowing into the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, therefore, the surfaces of the catalyst components are covered with HC and CO. Therefore, the catalytic function drops, i.e., HC contamination and CO contamination take place, and the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst exhibits decreased ability for purifying NOx.
The object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine capable of exhibiting a high NOx conversion capability by solving one or more of the above-mentioned problems.
The objects as set forth above are achieved by an exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine, according to the present invention, comprising a NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, which absorbs NOx in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is lean and releases the absorbed NOx and purifies it by reduction when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is rich, disposed in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine, which is capable of selecting, as required, the operation at a lean air-fuel ratio and the operation at a rich air-fuel ratio, so that the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst absorbs NOx in the exhaust gas when the engine is operated at a lean air-fuel ratio and that the absorbed NOx is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and is purified by reduction when the engine is operated at a rich air-fuel ratio;
wherein oxygen storage components which absorb oxygen in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is lean and release the absorbed oxygen when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is rich are carried by a substrate of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst on the upstream half portion of the substrate between an exhaust gas inlet side end to a central portion thereof.
According to this aspect of the invention, the oxygen storage components having O2 storage capability are carried by the upstream half portion of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst substrate. When the exhaust gas flowing into the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst is rendered to possess a rich air-fuel ratio in order to release NOx from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and to purify it by reduction, oxygen is released from the oxygen storage components and, at the same time, H2 and CO in the exhaust gas are oxidized with oxygen absorbed by the oxygen storage components on the surface of the substrate of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, i.e., near the surfaces of the catalyst components of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, whereby the temperature of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst components rises due to the heat of oxidation reaction. Accordingly, the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst exhibits improved activity, and NOx is released at an increased rate from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst to enhance the efficiency for reducing the released NOx.
When the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst is lean, NOx in the exhaust gas flowing in is mainly absorbed by the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst carried by the one-half (upstream half portion) of the catalyst substrate on the side of the inlet, and the amount of NOx absorption becomes greater in the upstream half portion than in the latter half portion. At the time of releasing NOx, therefore, NOx is mainly released from the upstream half portion of the substrate. With the oxygen storage components being carried by the upstream half portion of the carrier, therefore, the released NOx is efficiently purified by reduction in the whole device.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine, comprising a NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst which absorbs NOx in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is lean and releases the absorbed NOx and purify it by reduction when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is rich disposed in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine which is capable of selecting, as required, the operation at a lean air-fuel ratio and the operation at a rich air-fuel ratio, so that the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst absorbs NOx in the exhaust gas when the engine is operated at a lean air-fuel ratio and that the absorbed NOx is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and is purified by reduction when the engine is operated at a rich air-fuel ratio;
wherein a three-way catalyst is disposed in the exhaust passage of the engine on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and neighboring the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst substrate.
According to this aspect of the invention, a separate three-way catalyst is disposed on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and close thereto. When the engine is operated at a rich air-fuel ratio to release NOx from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, the amounts of HC and CO components sharply increase in the exhaust gas flowing into the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. According to the present invention, however, the three-way catalyst is disposed at the position upstream of and close to the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. Therefore, the HC and CO components in the exhaust gas partly react on the three-way catalyst, and the HC and CO components flowing into NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst are prevented from sharply increasing. This suppresses the contamination of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst caused by an increase in the HC and CO components in the exhaust gas.
Further, the three-way catalyst creates the water-gas-shift reaction by which H2 is formed from CO and H2O under a rich air-fuel ratio condition. H2 is very strongly reductive and is more effective as a reducing agent for reducing NOx released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst than HC and CO. Upon arranging the three-way catalyst on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst as is done in the present invention, therefore, it is allowed to decrease the amount of CO in the exhaust gas and to prevent the occurrence of contamination due to CO, as well as to efficiently reduce NOx that is released by supplying H2 to the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst. Depending on the type of the engine, further, the HC component is contained in relatively large amounts in the exhaust gas during the lean air-fuel ratio operation and, hence, the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst may often be contaminated even during the lean air-fuel ratio operation. Upon arranging the three-way catalyst on the upstream side of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst as described above, however, the occurrence of HC contamination is prevented while the engine is operating at a lean air-fuel ratio.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine, comprising a NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst which absorbs NOx in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is lean and releases the absorbed NOx and purifies it by reduction when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing in is rich disposed in an exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine which is capable of selecting, as required, the operation at a lean air-fuel ratio and the operation at a rich air-fuel ratio, so that the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst absorbs NOx in the exhaust gas when the engine is operated at a lean air-fuel ratio and that the absorbed NOx is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst and is purified by reduction when the engine is operated at a rich air-fuel ratio;
wherein the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst includes a substrate, a NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst layer carrying NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst components on the substrate, and an oxygen storage component layer carrying oxygen storage components which absorb oxygen in the exhaust gas when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is lean and release the absorbed oxygen when the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is rich, the oxygen storage component layer being formed on the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst layer.
According to this aspect of the invention, the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst has a two-layer-coated structure including the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst layer formed on the substrate, and the oxygen storage component layer formed on the upper side (i.e., on the exhaust side) of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst layer. When NOx is released from the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst, therefore, heat produced by the reaction of CO and the like in the exhaust gas in the oxygen storage component layer is directly transmitted to the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst components, whereby the temperature of the NOx absorbing and reducing catalyst components is efficiently raised.

Exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine


Electromechanical relay constructions comprise an external housing, a pair of switchable electrical contacts disposed within the housing, an element for activating the pair of electrical contacts, and a temperature sensing element disposed within the housing adjacent the electrical contracts. The temperature sensing element provides a signal for determining the temperature within the relay housing. The relay may comprise two or more temperature sensing elements disposed within the housing a desired distance from one another. The temperature sensing element may be attached to a member or substrate disposed within the housing, may be attached to an existing internal structure of the housing, or may be attached to one of the contacts. The temperature sensing element may be selected from the group consisting of resistance temperature detectors, negative temperature coefficient thermistors, thermopile sensors, thermocouples, and combinations thereof.

The use of relays such as electromechanical relay devices for purposes of providing electrical switching functions is well known in the art. Such relay devices are generally electrically operated switches used to control the presence or absence of current flowing through a circuit between electrical components, such as from a power source to one or more electrical components that receive power from the power source. Some relays use an electromagnet to mechanically operate a switch. The electromagnet is configured to physically translate a movable electrical contact relative to one or more stationary relay contacts. The movable electrical contact may form or close a circuit (allowing current to flow through the circuit) when the movable relay contact engages one or more of the stationary relay contacts. Moving the movable electrical contact away from the stationary relay contact(s) breaks or opens the circuit (ceasing the flow of current through the circuit) and/or closes another circuit.
Such relays may be used for a variety of different switching functions, including in power applications that involve high levels of current. The surface of such contacts is oftentimes a point of failure in high current applications. A potential indicator of a pending failure of a relay may be a rise in the temperature of the contact, e.g., due to resistive heating as the contact degrades with use.
It is, therefore, desired that relays be constructed in a manner that provide information regarding a temperature condition of the relay, wherein such information may be provided locally, e.g., on the relay itself, or be sent to a remote location if desired for the remote relay monitoring. It is further desired that such relay be constructed in a manner that provides information regarding the temperature within the relay that reflects a temperature increase at the contacts, and that does so in a manner that is both timely or responsive to any such temperature increase, and that is accurate. It is further desired that such relays comprising this functionality be constructed in a manner that, to the extent possible, does not increase the overall size of the relay.


Truncated thyroid hormone receptors ΔTRα1 and ΔTRα2 have been discovered to play a role in actin-based endocytosis, e.g., in the nervous system. The invention relates to methods of discovering ligands effective in modulating endocytosis and transgenic mice with altered expression of ΔTRα1 and ΔTRα2. The invention is useful for the discovery and testing of compounds for treating disorders of the nervous system such as depression.

Thyroid hormone (TH) has diverse effects on mammals, including effects on the neonatal and adult brain. In the developing animal, thyroid hormone regulates various events such as neuronal processing, glial cell proliferation, myelination, and neurotransmitter enzyme synthesis. The metabolically active form of thyroid hormone, 3, 5, 3′-triiodothyronine (T3), acts by binding to two receptors; TRα1 and TRβ1. These two receptors are encoded by the c-erbAα locus. Two truncated receptor transcripts have been identified that are also transcribed from the c-erbAα locus; ΔTRα1 and ΔTRα2 (Chassande et al., 1997, Mol. Endocrinol. 11:1278-1290). Neither truncated receptor has a DNA binding region and ΔTRα1 has been shown to antagonize T3-induced transcriptional activation.
Type II iodothyronine 5′-deiodinase (D2) is the key enzyme in the pathway that mediates the conversion of intracellular thyroxine (T4) to 3, 5, 3′-triiodothyronine (T3). D2 concentration can be mediated by thyroid hormone concentration and is regulated by enzyme inactivation. The D2 activity appears to be more sensitive to T4 than T3. The degradation of the enzyme is energy-dependent and apparently requires the structural integrity of the actin cytoskeleton, i.e., is regulated at least in part by actin-based endocytosis. p29 is the substrate binding subunit of D2. T4 induces inactivation of D2 and initiates the binding of p29 to F-actin. The bound p29 is transported to an endosomal pool followed by dissociation of the F-actin-p29 complex (Farwell et al., 1993, J. Biol. Chem. 268: 5055-5062).

Methods for identifying compounds that modulate ΔTRα2 activity


The hand tool is used to extract a fastener from a material. The hand tool has a head with two pivotally joined halves including at least one pair of gripping jaws. The tool head preferably includes tips that may be used to dig beneath a fastener head that is flush with or set below a surface. The tool includes a pair of handles operable to close the gripping jaws. The handles are preferably offset above the plane of the tool head such that they operate as a lever in cooperation with a fulcrum on the bottom of the tool head to extract the fastener.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of hand tools. More particularly, the invention pertains to a hand tool having operable gripping jaws for extracting fasteners embedded in a material.
2. Description of Related Art
Fasteners, such as nails, brads, and staples, are commonly used to fasten objects to workpieces such as wood. A hammer, as is used to drive nails and brads, typically includes a claw for removing nails. Unfortunately, the claws of hammers do not grip fasteners with small heads such as finish nails and brads well. Furthermore, the heads of nails and brads are typically driven slightly below the surface of the fastened workpiece so the fasteners are less visible. In order to extract such an embedded fastener using the claws of a hammer, the fastener head must first be raised above the surface of the workpiece in which the fastener is embedded. Furthermore, powered nail guns are increasingly replacing hammers, and often drive nail heads below the workpiece surface, even for common nails. Nail guns typically have no provision for removing nails. Similarly, the use of staples in place of nails is increasing, and stapling tools also lack a means for removing fasteners.
Because of the above considerations there is a need for a dedicated tool to remove embedded fasteners. In addition to the claw found on common hammers, tools have been developed specifically for the purpose of removing fasteners, such as nails, brads, and staples, from workpieces.
A different type of nail extraction tool is typified by the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 143,496 to Capewell. This tool is oriented vertically above the fastener to be removed, and has hinged pincer-like jaws that can be driven under the fastener by means of a slide hammer integral to the vertical handle of the tool. Typically, one of the jaws has an extension that acts as a fulcrum for levering a gripped fastener from the workpiece. This class of tool is best suited to rough work where the appearance of the material is unimportant, such as the disassembly of crates or framing, since the pincers tend to cause significant damage to the surface of the workpiece around the fastener head, and the small area of the fulcrum generally causes damage to the surface against which it is applied. A related class of tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,001 to Wagner. This tool is also oriented vertically above a fastener and includes moveable jaws for grasping the fastener and a fulcrum surface contiguous with one jaw. To apply the Wagner tool, the fastener must be partially emergent from the workpiece since the tool provides no means for digging under a fastener head that is flush with or embedded below the surface of the workpiece. This represents a significant inconvenience, since in many instances a user is forced to apply two separate tools to complete the job: one tool to pry the fastener head proud of the surface, and then the Wagner tool to complete the removal. This represents a significant inconvenience and inevitably slows the progress of the work at hand.
It would be beneficial to have a hand tool better adapted to extract a fastener from a workpiece. Such a hand tool should be capable of both easily accessing a fastener head flush with or below a surface and effectively prying the entire fastener from the workpiece without causing significant damage to the surface.


To save a space for heating remarkably than that of a conventional case, to apply main heating at a high temperature only to portions of chips to be soldered and to perform heating operation in a short period of time, a heating apparatus is composed of a preheating zone and a main heating zone. In the preheating zone, support pallets are rotated in the vertical direction within a vertical heat insulating chamber like a Ferris wheel. Also, heat at a temperature such that cream solder is not molten by heaters is applied to a printed circuit board by fans. In the main heating zone, a pattern mask is fixed within a heat insulating chamber, sleeve bodies are fitted in necessary through-holes, blind plugs are fitted in unnecessary through-holes and heat at a temperature such that the cream solder is molten by a heater is applied to portions of chips to be soldered by fans through sleeve bodies, coil springs and other sleeve bodies.

The present invention relates to a heating apparatus in a reflow system.
In a loading apparatus to print substrates, cream solder is first printed in a predetermined pattern on a surface of a print substrate with a squeegee and a screen mask by means of a printing apparatus. Thereafter, chips that are electric parts are laid thereon, the cream solder is heated to melt and the chips are mounted on the printed substrate.
In such a process, the step for melting the cream solder and loading the chips on the printed substrate is referred to as a xe2x80x9creflowxe2x80x9d apparatus. This is conventionally performed in a heating chamber having a relatively long length of 4 to 6 m.
However, since the heating chamber has a length up to 4 to 6 m in a lateral direction as a whole, a large installation space is required. Also, depending upon a chip, if it is heated for a long period of time at a high temperature, there occurs a problem that it becomes fragile, and, in this case, all the large number of printed substrates simultaneously become the faulty products.
In view of the foregoing defects, an object of the present invention is to provide a heating apparatus that the space needed for heating may be remarkably reduced than that of the conventional case, main heating at a high temperature is applied only to the portion to be soldered in the chips and only a short period of time needs for the heating.
According to the present invention, in order to attain this object, there is provided a heating apparatus in a reflow system, comprising a preheating zone for performing heating at a temperature lower than a melting temperature of cream solder, in which a rope laid between a drive pulley and a driven pulley whose rotation speed may be controlled is vertically disposed within a vertical heat insulating chamber in which an inlet and an outlet are provided in vertical walls on both sides and a feeding conveyor and a receiving/sending conveyor are provided in the inlet and the outlet respectively, support pallets are attached to said rope at a predetermined interval, a plurality of heaters are provided in a central position of the rope in a vertical direction, vanes for introducing heat of the heaters to the support pallets are provided, and fans are disposed above the heaters, and a main heating zone in which an inlet and an outlet are provided in vertical wall on both sides, a pattern mask in which a number of through-holes are formed is fixed horizontally within a heat insulating chamber having an inlet in communication with the outlet of the heat insulating chamber in the preheating zone, a heater is disposed above the pattern mask, fans are disposed above the heater, sleeve bodies having flanges are fitted in necessary through-holes of the pattern mask, one end of a coil spring having the other end engaged with a sleeve body having a flange is fitted with the former sleeve body, a conveyor moving in the horizontal direction is disposed below the sleeve bodies, and heat at a temperature for melting the cream solder by the heater is applied to portions where the cream solder has been coated, through the sleeve bodies and the coil springs by the fans.
Also, in the above-described arrangement, it is possible to provide a shutter moving in a horizontal direction at a predetermined timing to enter below the sleeve bodies for interrupting the application of heated air blow.


A low speed moving magnet motor (1) has a moving magnet (10) and a stationary coil (20) for carrying an electric current and disposed in relation to the moving magnet (10) such that a magnetic field generated when a current flows through the coil (20) causes the moving magnet (10) to move relative to the coil. A magnetic return path member (15) is fixed in relation to the coil (20) to provide a return path for a magnetic field generated by the coil (20) and the moving magnet (10). In an example, the magnetic return path member (15) is free of insulating laminations. The moving magnet (10) is mounted on a rotor (6) of the motor (1) which has a high inertia.

The present invention relates to a moving magnet motor and a method of operating a moving magnet motor. The present invention has particular applicability to a low speed moving magnet motor, for example a servowriter positioner motor.
In a storage medium in which data is read from and/or written to the medium by a read/write head which is movable relative to the storage medium, movement of the read/write head is usually controlled by a servo system. The servo system uses servo information which is prerecorded on the storage medium. By reading this servo information, the actual position of the read/write head relative to the storage medium can be determined and control signals sent to move the head accordingly.
In a head disk assembly, the storage medium is a magnetic xe2x80x9chardxe2x80x9d disk and the read/write head or heads are mounted for movement over the disk surface by an arm which is often known as the xe2x80x9cproduct armxe2x80x9d.
A servowriter is used to write the servo information to the disk, The servowriter has its own dedicated clock head. The servowriter clock head is offered up to the disk and used firstly to write a (usually temporary) clock track on the disk to provide a series of clock transitions indicating angular position around the disk. The servowriter has a positioner arm which is linked to the product arm such that movement of the positioner arm causes a corresponding movement of the product arm. Movement of the servowriter positioner arm is controlled very precisely by an angular detection system in the servowriter. The angular detection system may be a laser reflecting light from a very fine graticule on the positioner arm for example. After the clock track has been written, the clock transitions are read with the servowriter clock head so that the angular position of the disk relative to the servowriter is accurately known at all times. The positioner arm is moved to preselected angular positions by a positioner motor of the servowriter. The product arm moves with the positioner arm and the product read/write head is used to write the servo tracks at the required preselected angular positions on the disk.
It is important that the servo tracks be written as quickly as possible so as to achieve faster throughput of the hard disks during manufacture, especially as servowriting is typically carried out in a clean room where space is limited and expensive. It is therefore important for a servowriter to achieve quick track seek (i.e. fast movement of the head between tracks on the storage medium) and quick track settle (i.e. the head should come to rest quickly once in position over the desired track).
Conventional practice has been to mechanically link the servowriter positioner arm with the product arm so that movement of the positioner arm automatically brings about a corresponding movement of the product arm. However, this mechanical linkage between the positioner arm and the product arm increases the effective inertia of the servowriter positioner which controls movement of the positioner arm. Moreover, the positioner arm is usually connected only to the lowermost product arm of a stack of product arms. The product arms above the lowermost arm are effectively a resonant body which, because they are mechanically linked to the positioner arm, can lead to unexpected and undesired resonances. Such resonances are difficult to predict throughout the range of movement of the positioner arm and the mechanical link slows movement of the servowriter positioner arm and the product arms. More importantly in a servowriter, the resonances tend to be lower in frequency than they would be in an operational disk drive. This reduces the bandwidth of the servo which is used to control the position of the product arm during servowriting, resulting in a worsening of the seek/settle time and an increase in the track-to-track spacing. One known way of overcoming this problem is to drive the product arm via its own drive mechanism during the servowriting process and disconnect the mechanical linkage between the product arm and the positioner arm. The relative motion between the product arm and the positioner arm can be detected by a null sensor the output of which is used to control the drive current provided to the product arm drive mechanism via a separate servo so as to move the product arm in tandem with the positioner arm during servowriting. The use of this null sensor and separate servo for moving the product arm also improves the positioner servo bandwidth and therefore the seek/settle time of the positioner.
At least some prior art servowriter positioner motors for moving the positioner arm have been of the moving coil type. As such, flexible supply cables have to be connected to the moving coils of the positioner motor. These flexible cables provide an undesirable bias to the positioner arm which therefore affects movement of the positioner arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,908 discloses a moving magnet motor for moving a product arm of a hard disk drive. As the product arm must move very quickly between tracks in order to provide fast disk access times, the motor of each of the examples described in the patent specification must be a high speed motor. In one particular example described in the patent specification, the magnetic return path member moves with the moving magnet so no eddy currents are produced. In another particular example described in the patent specification and in a prior art example described as xe2x80x9clargely hypotheticalxe2x80x9d in the patent specification, the magnetic return path member is stationary relative to the moving magnet; in this second example and the hypothetical prior art, whilst it is not specifically shown nor described, the magnetic return path member must be laminated as otherwise the eddy currents which would be produced because of the high speed of relative movement between the magnet and the magnetic return path member would inhibit movement of the product arm such that the product arm could not be moved satisfactorily.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a low speed moving magnet motor, the motor comprising: a moving magnet; a stationary coil for carrying an electric current and disposed in relation to the moving magnet such that a magnetic field generated when, a current flows through the coil causes the moving magnet to move relative to the coil; and, a magnetic return path member fixed in relation to the coil to provide a return path for a magnetic field generated by the coil and the moving magnet; the magnetic return path member being free of insulating laminations.
With a moving magnet motor having a fixed magnetic return path member, movement of the magnet relative to the magnetic return path member generates large eddy currents in the magnetic return path member. These large eddy currents provide a bias which tends to act against movement of the moving magnet. Accordingly, it is normal practice in a moving magnet motor to laminate the magnetic return path member with layers of non-conductive material in order to reduce the magnitude of the eddy currents. Having a laminated magnetic return path member inevitably increases the cost of the motor as a whole and can in fact be a significant part of the total cost of the moving magnet motor. In accordance with this aspect of the present invention, where the moving magnet motor is a low speed motor, it has been found that the eddy currents produced are of such a low magnitude that it is not necessary to laminate the magnetic return path member with insulating material. Such a motor has particular application as a servowriter positioner motor for moving a servowriter positioner arm. Thus, this aspect of the present invention provides a moving magnet motor, thereby avoiding the need for flexible cable connection to what would otherwise be moving coils of the motor, whilst keeping down the cost of the motor by having an unlaminated magnetic return path member.
The magnetic return path member is preferably pure magnetically soft iron.
The moving magnet is preferably carried by a rotor which is mounted for pivotable movement about a longitudinal axis of the motor. The rotor is preferably annular and arranged to pivot about its central longitudinal axis. Such a rotor can have a high moment of inertia, the advantages of which are discussed further below especially in relation to a servowriter. The rotor may be stainless steel or pure magnetically soft iron, for example.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a moving magnet motor, the motor comprising: a high inertia rotor movable about a longitudinal axis of the motor; a moving magnet carried by the rotor for movement therewith; a stationary coil for carrying an electric current and disposed in relation to the moving magnet such that a magnetic field generated when a current flows through the coil causes the moving magnet to pivot about said axis; and, a magnetic return path member fixed in relation to the coil to provide a return path for a magnetic field generated by the coil and the moving magnet.
The provision of a high inertia rotor has numerous advantages, especially when the motor is used to move a servowriter positioner arm. In particular, a high inertia rotor is resistant to shock forces or turbulence arising through buffeting caused by air flow as the servowriter head moves over the storage medium, thereby removing or at least reducing one source of vibration of the servowriter head.
Furthermore, bearings for the moving parts of the motor are in practice axially preloaded to take up any play in the bearings. This preload causes a rolling friction in the bearings which acts against the direction in-which rolling takes place. When changing direction, the friction force changes direction but the change is not instantaneous and in fact has a defined slope which manifests itself as a stiffness. In other words, the bearings appear to have a torsional stiffness. This torsional stiffness combines with the inertia of the motor to result in a resonant frequency for movement of the motor which is proportional to the square root of the bearing stiffness and inversely proportional to the square root of the motor inertia. Thus, a high inertia for the motor reduces the frequency of this low frequency resonance. In servo control, it is important to keep this low frequency resonant pole well below the servo bandwidth in order to improve the predictability of the servo during seek and this can be achieved more easily with a high inertia motor. If a low inertia motor were used, either a much smaller bearing with a lower stiffness or an expensive air bearing having very low stiffness would have to be used, either of which makes the motor more expensive and difficult to manufacture.
A high inertia motor is particularly important in a servowriter where there is no mechanical link between the positioner arm and the product arm during the servowriting process.
The magnetic return path member is preferably pure magnetically soft iron.
The rotor may be stainless steel or pure magnetically soft iron, for example.
The rotor is preferably annular in cross-section transverse to said axis.
In each aspect where a rotor is provided, the rotor is preferably mounted on a stationary spindle by a bearing for movement about the stationary spindle. The bearing may include at least one ball bearing.
In each aspect where a rotor is provided, a plurality of magnets may be carried by the rotor. A plurality of coils corresponding to the plurality of magnets may be provided.
In each aspect of the invention, the moving magnet is preferably mounted so as to pivot about an axis when a current flows through the coil and the magnetic return path member is preferably arcuate to maintain a substantially constant separation between the moving magnet and the magnetic return path member as the moving magnet pivots about said axis. The magnetic return path member is preferably annular.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a positioner motor for drivingly moving a positioner arm of a servowriter, the motor being as described above.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a servowriter for writing servo information to a storage medium which in use is read by a read/write head mounted on a product arm of the storage medium, the servowriter comprising: a positioner arm for positioning over said storage medium and causing a corresponding movement of a product arm of the storage medium; and, a motor as described above which is drivable to move the servowriter positioner arm relative to the storage medium.
The moving magnet is preferably carried by a hollow rotor which is mounted for pivotable movement about a bearing positioned within the hollow centre of the rotor, the positioner arm being connected to the rotor for movement therewith. Because the rotor has a diameter which is relatively large (compared to the narrow output shafts of typical prior art torque motors), the torsional stiffness of the rotor is relatively high. This results in a high resonant frequency and thus improved servo bandwidth, thereby reducing the seek/settle time of the positioner arm/product arm combination and allowing the track-to-track spacing to be decreased.
The servowriter may include means for mechanically linking the positioner arm to a product arm of a storage medium. However, the servowriter preferably includes means for moving a product arm of a storage medium by a non-contact method.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a moving magnet motor which comprises a moving magnet carried by a rotor which is mounted for movement about a longitudinal axis of the motor, a stationary coil for carrying an electric current, and an unlaminated magnetic return path member fixed in relation to the coil to provide a return path for a magnetic field generated by the coil and the moving magnet, the method comprising the steps of providing an electric current to the coil so that the rotor and the magnet move with an angular speed equal to or less than about 0.5 radians per second about said axis.
The motor may be operated so that the rotor and the magnet move with an angular speed equal to or less than about 0.1 radians per second about said axis.
According to a yet further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a servowriter to write servo information to a storage medium which in use is read by a read/write head mounted on a product arm of the storage medium, the servowriter comprising: a positioner arm for positioning over the storage medium and causing a corresponding movement of the product arm of the storage medium; and, a motor to which the positioner arm is connected for moving the positioner arm and which comprises a moving magnet carried by a rotor which is mounted for movement about a longitudinal axis of the motor; a stationary coil for carrying an electric current; and, an unlaminated magnetic return path member fixed in relation to the coil to provide a return path for a magnetic field generated by the coil and the moving magnet; the method comprising the steps of: providing an electric current to the coil so that the positioner arm moves with an angular speed of less than about 0.5 radians per second about said axis.
The motor may be operated so that the positioner arm moves with an angular speed equal to or less than about 0.1 radians per second about said axis.
The rotor is preferably hollow and mounted for movement about a bearing positioned within the hollow centre of the rotor, the positioner arm being connected to the rotor for movement therewith.
Thus, in its most preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a moving magnet motor which has an unlaminated magnetic return path member, thereby keeping down the cost of the motor. The preferred embodiment of the motor has a high inertia rotor which lowers the frequency of the low-frequency pole of the bearing in which the rotor is mounted which improves the settle characteristics of the motor. A high inertia rotor also reduces vibration caused through air buffeting where the motor is used to drive a servowriter positioner arm for example. In a servowriter, the servowriter positioner arm can be connected to the rotor with the rotor having a high torsional stiffness, thereby improving the servo bandwidth and therefore the seek/settle time and track-to-track spacing. Having a stationary coil obviates the need for flexible cables to provide the power supply to what would otherwise be moving coils, thereby eliminating the bias typically associated with connection of flexible cables to the moving coils of the prior art motors. Thus, the hysteresis problems which can arise because of the use of flexible cables in such prior art motors are avoided.
Whilst the motor as described above has particular application in a servowriter for moving a positioner arm, it will be appreciated that the motor can be used in any application where high positioning accuracy, particularly high rotary positioning accuracy, is required with a low speed of movement. Thus, for example, such a motor would not normally be useful for moving the product head of a head disk assembly in normal use as very rapid movement of the product head is required to provide fast disk access times in normal operational use.

Low speed moving magnet motor having a high inertia rotor


The present invention provides a printing apparatus, a printing system, and a printing method which can excellently print various images while taking the advantages of driving of a print head in a time divisional manner. Dispersive driving control or sequential driving control is selected in accordance with the attributes of an image to be printed to drive a plurality of print element groups in the print head in a time divisional manner under the selected dispersive or sequential driving control. The dispersive driving control drives the plurality of print element groups in a time divisional manner so as to sequentially drive the print element groups not located close to each other. The sequential driving control drives the plurality of print element groups in a time divisional manner so as to sequentially drive the print element groups located close to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a printing system, and a printing method in which images are printed by driving a plurality of print elements in a print head in a time divisional manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printing apparatuses based on an ink jet scheme (ink jet printing apparatuses; ink jet printers) have been prevailing widely which print images on a print medium such as a sheet by ejecting ink droplets from a plurality of ink ejection ports in a print head to the print medium. Known method for ejecting ink droplet from the ink ejection port uses electrothermal converter (heater) or piezo element. The electrothermal converter supplies thermal energy corresponding to a driving pulse to ink in a nozzle to form a bubble in the ink so that the resulting bubbling energy can be utilized to eject an ink droplet from the nozzle. An image is printed on the print medium by ejecting ink droplets from a large number of nozzles in accordance with print data.
Such an ink jet printing apparatus can print a high quality image at a high speed. Further, with the ink jet printing apparatus, the print head does not contact the print medium during image printing, allowing a high quality image to be stably printed regardless of the surface condition of the print medium.
One type of ink jet printing apparatus is what is called a full line type printing apparatus (line printer). This type of printing apparatus prints an image while consecutively transferring a print medium, enabling an increase in the speed at which an image is printed (image formation speed). Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-238556 describes a full line type printing apparatus using a plurality of print heads each having a large number of nozzles integrally formed thereon and forming ink ejection ports (multi nozzle heads). The print heads are arranged in parallel in a direction crossing the direction in which the print medium is transported and cooperate in ejecting ink to print an image.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-246738 describes a configuration in which a large number of nozzles in a print head are divided into a plurality of blocks that are driven on the basis of different driving signals. The driving signals have the same waveform, provide different nozzle driving timings, and are each selected for use for one of the blocks. This allows the nozzles in each block to be driven in a time divisional manner, reducing the number of nozzles simultaneously driven. This in turn prevents a variation in ink ejection property caused by a variation in the driving load on the print head. More specifically, when one raster of image along the direction in which the nozzles are arranged is printed, varying the nozzle driving timing among the blocks enables a reduction in the drop of the driving voltage for the print head.
For the full line type ink jet printing apparatus, to avoid the interference between nozzles located close to each other, the nozzles in each block are desirably driven in a time divisional manner so as to sequentially drive the nozzles in the blocks not located close to each other. The interference between the nozzles located close to each other may be the adverse effect of a variation in ink pressure resulting from driving of one nozzle, on the ink in the other nozzle. Avoidance of the interference between the nozzles located close to each other makes it possible to stably print a high quality image.
On the other hand, if the nozzles are driven in a time divisional manner so as to sequentially drive the nozzles in the blocks not located close to each other, then within a print time required for one raster of image, the driving time may vary relatively significantly between the nozzles in the blocks located close to each other. Thus, when an image including a bar code or a ruled line is printed using the nozzles in the blocks located close to each other, the linearity of the bar code or ruled line may be impaired.

Printing apparatus, printing system, and printing method


Plies of paperboard are laminated to form a paperboard laminate having a front and a back. An automobile part is placed on the front of the paperboard laminate leaving exposed the front of the paperboard laminate. The automobile part and the exposed paperboard laminate are shrink-wrapped with plastic shrink-wrap material. For automobile window glass, some of the front side plies of the paperboard laminate have been cut out to form a cavity in the configuration of the glass product being packaged. The glass product is disposed in the cavity and a glass product conforming reinforcing block is placed against the backside of the paperboard laminate during the shrink-wrap operation. For automobile fenders, hoods, the paperboard laminate need not be cut out and the sides of the paperboard laminate are folded upwardly to form a carton bottom to which a lid is affixed for shipping.

The present invention relates generally to packaging container systems for shipping breakable and other articles and more particularly to a packaging container system for shipping automobile window glass and other automobile parts and assemblies.
The safe shipping of automobile glass products (e.g., front windows, rear windows, side window, etc.) from the glass manufacturer to the automobile assembly plant presents particular difficulty, especially for large curved glass products. All parties-glass manufacturer, shipper, automobile assembler-accept breakage of a significant percentage of such large glass products. These same comments apply to other automobile parts, such as, for example, hoods, fenders, doors, and the like. Shipment without damage is difficult to achieve. Prior attempts to package automobile glass and other products have proven futile.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,448 proposes a rigid surface having a layer of foam bonded thereto with an adhesive coating the foam. The china or other item to be shipped is adhesively held in place. U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,990 proposes to sandwich glass sheet inside a male/female waffle foam carrier pair and to secure the waffle foam panels together. U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,976 proposes to ship automobile glass and metal parts held in place by a U-shaped channels disposed atop and on the bottom of an elongate rigid body member. U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,043 proposes to ship automobile glass secured by slotted foam blocks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,466 proposes to ship automobile glass in adhesively coated notched logs, where the upstanding glass sheets rest in the notches. U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,898 proposes to apply a liquid between automobile glass wherein the liquid cools to elastomeric spacers between the glass. U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,450 proposes to pack automobile glass between slotted brackets and place the assembly inside packing containers.
Despite these proposals, there exists a real need in the automobile industry for shipping container systems of small overall size, which afford improved protection for the parts being shipped. It is to such need that the present invention is addressed.

Automobile part shipping system and method


Various antibodies with different binding characteristics for MBL A or MBL B bound to mannan or MBL A or MBL B bound to an antibody against MBL are provided. Also provided are methods for selecting antibodies against MBL with different binding characteristics and methods and kits for using these antibodies to measure MBL capable of binding to mannan or oligomerized MBL and abnormal, poorly oligomerized MBL in a sample. The methods and kits are useful in diagnosing increased susceptibility to and exacerbation of infections and autoimmune diseases.

Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) is an important component of the innate immune system. It is a multimeric protein synthesized in the liver and is one of the C-type lectins, showing calcium-dependent binding to certain carbohydrate (polysaccharide) structures on the surface of microorganisms. Mannan is used as a model of such polysaccharides and MBL shows affinity for monosaccharide components such as N-acetyl-glucosamine and D-mannose. Upon binding to microbial polysaccharides, MBL activates complement by means of associated serine proteases known as MASP-1, MASP-2 and MASP-3, and promotes killing of the microorganism by means of the lytic membrane attack complex and phagocytosis by its opsonizing effect and by direct interaction with putative cell surface receptors.
The MBL molecule is an oligomeric complex of up to six sets of homotrimers of a single chain of 228 amino acid residues. Each chain consists of a 20 amino acid N-terminal cysteine-rich domain followed by a collagen-like domain of 18–20 Gly-Xxx-Yyy repeats, an alpha-helical coiled-coil neck region, and finally, a carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD). Three of these chains form a structural unit or "head", in which the collagen domains form a triple helix ending in three neck regions that each bears a CRD. The N-terminal domains are linked by interchain disulfide bonds. Up to six such homotrimer heads are then linked via their N-terminal regions to form the structure of the normal MBL molecule, which has been compared to a bunch of three-petalled flowers. This structure is maintained by the formation of disulfide bonds between individual chains of the linked homotrimers. In this form, MBL is capable of associating with the serine proteases MASP-1, MASP-2 and MASP-3 (and with a related non-enzymatic peptide known as MAp19), this complex being capable of activating complement when MBL binds to carbohydrate.
The human MBL gene (mbl2) shows a number of allelic variants. Some occur in the promoter region, the two most significant occurring at positions −550 (H or L) and −221 (Y or X); a further variant occurs in the 5′-untranslated region at position +4 (P or Q); and three occur in exon 1, at position +223 (A or D, Arg52Cys), +230 (A or B, Gly54Asp) and +239 (A or C, Gly57Glu). The promoter haplotypes HY, LY and LX are associated with high, medium and low plasma levels of MBL, respectively, whereas the haplotypes of exon 1 affect the structure and association of the protein chains. Linkage disequilibrium determines that some of the theoretically possible MBL haplotypes are extremely rare and have not been found; among 100 Danish blood donors only the following haplotypes were detected (frequency in brackets): HYPA (0.285), LYQA (0.235), LXPA (0.195), LYPB (0.135), HYPD (0.085), LYPA (0.045), LYQC (0.020). Among A/A genotypes (i.e. with a normal collagenous region), only the LXP/LXP genotypes showed low plasma MBL levels. A/B, A/C and A/D genotypes (i.e. heterozygous for normal and abnormal collagenous regions) showed reduced plasma MBL levels as determined by the old method described; when this was combined with an LX haplotype, even lower levels were recorded. B/B, C/D and D/D genotypes (i.e. with an anomaly of all collagenous regions) showed very low levels of MBL as determined by the old method, even though none of these subjects showed an LX haplotype. The frequencies of the exon 1 haplotypes A, B, C and D in the Danish donors were 0.76, 0.135, 0.020 and 0.085, respectively. This means that the frequencies of A/A, B/B, C/C and D/D genotypes will be the square of these, i.e. affecting 58.76%, 1.82%, 0.04% and 0.72% of the population, respectively (data from Steffensen, R. et al. (2000) J Immunol Methods 241:33–42).
Possible structures of human MBL from B/B, C/C and D/D genotypes have been determined by analyzing the corresponding recombinant proteins expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. The results are similar for these three genotypes, and are described with reference to the B/B genotype, responsible for the commonest severe structural abnormality of MBL. Analysis of unreduced MBL from this genotype (known as MBL B) shows that it occurs principally as dimers of two chains, and three such dimers may be linked to form a structure corresponding to two triplet "heads" of normal MBL from A/A genotypes (known as MBL A). Higher oligomers are not formed, and MBL B, whether recombinant or prepared from human donors, associates less strongly with the MASPs, so that it fails to activate complement in in vitro tests.
A/B heterozygotes are believed to possess a mixture of MBL A and B single chains that combine in various ways. Because normal MBL contains up to 18 single chains in six trimeric heads, the proportion of such molecules consisting entirely of normal MBL A chains will be very small in the A/B heterozygotes. The effect of the theoretical 50% admixture of MBL B chains will therefore be to disrupt the structure of the vast majority of the MBL oligomers, so that the B trait is dominant in terms of the MBL phenotype, i.e. the majority of the MBL adopts a structure similar to that of MBL B. The same consideration applies to A/C and A/D heterozygotes, although it appears that the disruptive effect of D chains may be somewhat less than that of B chains.
Existing methods of measuring human MBL depend on the use, in a variety immunoassay designs, of polyclonal and/or monoclonal antibodies raised against MBL. In many cases it is not clear which molecular forms of MBL are preferentially measured by these methods. One commonly used method depends on the use of the mouse monoclonal antibody HYB 131-01 raised against purified human MBL as both capture and detection antibodies in a sandwich ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). In this procedure HYB 131-01 is coated onto microtiter wells so that it can bind MBL in human serum or plasma samples. The amount of MBL bound is a function of the concentration of MBL in the samples. Bound MBL is then quantified by adding labeled HYB 131-01 as a detection antibody. The label can be an enzyme, such as horseradish peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase, capable of producing a quantitative color reaction when incubated with a suitable substrate, or it can be biotin, capable of binding avidin or streptavidin complexed with a suitable enzyme, or it can be europium, to allow detection by time-resolved fluorescence.
These methods also depend on two identical antibody molecules (one to capture and one to detect) binding to a single MBL molecule at two identical but separate sites (epitopes). In practice, this only takes place when the MBL molecule is an oligomer of trimeric subunits, so that only MBL oligomers are measured by these assays. Single or poorly oligomerized MBL trimeric subunits will not permit the simultaneous binding of both capture and detection antibodies. In consequence, these methods cannot adequately measure MBL that is poorly oligomerized, nor can they determine whether the MBL oligomers measured are in fact capable of binding to mannan, one of the defining characteristics of functional MBL. Existing assay methods for determining serum or plasma concentrations of MBL are also incapable of determining whether a low recorded concentration of MBL is due to a low concentration of normal MBL A, as in the LXPA/LXPA genotype, or due to MBL of anomalous structure that does not react adequately in the assay, as in the A/B, A/C, A/D, B/B C/D and D/D genotypes.
However, it is desirable to distinguish between low concentrations in plasma of MBL A and low recorded concentrations that are in fact due to the presence of normal or near-normal concentrations of MBL B, C and D variants. For example, MBL B has been reported to have the same cell-mediated cytotoxic, opsonic and phagocytosis-promoting activities as MBL A. Thus, the failure of the existing assay method to detect MBL B does not reflect these functions of this MBL. In addition, both low plasma concentrations of MBL, as measured by existing immunoassays, and promoter or exon 1 allelic forms associated with such low concentrations, have been correlated with an increased risk of infection in childhood and in immunocompromised patients. They are also correlated with disease progression in chronic granulomatous disease and cystic fibrosis, and with a more severe course of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. As the existing assays have only been able to give a partial picture of a patient's MBL status, it is expected that more precise correlations could be obtained with more differentiated analyses of this status.

Antibody pairs and kits for immunochemical determination of mannan-binding lectin


The present invention provides a surface property inspection method including a step of setting a resistance ratio between resistors R1 and R2 of an AC bridge circuit 20 in a surface properly inspection apparatus 1. The step includes a step for placing a non-surface-treated reference test pieces S on a reference detector 22 and an inspection detector 23 and measuring a first setting output signal while changing the resistance ratio γ, a step for placing the reference test piece S on the reference detector 22, placing a surface-treated setting test piece on the inspection detector 23, and measuring a second setting output signal while changing the resistance ratio, a step for calculating the differential value between the first and second output signals, and a step for setting the resistance ratio so that the absolute value of the differential value is maximized.

In steel products such as gears or shafts used as automobile parts or the like, surface treatments imparting residual compression stress, such as surface hardening by a heat treatment such as carburizing and quenching, or by shot peening, are performed to improve wear-resistance, fatigue strength, and time like.
In the past, evaluation of post-surface treatment surface properties such as residual stress or hardness in the above products was performed by sample destructive testing. This resulted in the problem that not all products could be directly inspected, and products which were inspected became unusable, as inspection was destructive. The present applicants therefore propose a surface property inspection method in which a difference in electrical properties depending on whether the piece is surface-treated is detected using an AC bridge circuit, and surface properties are inspected based on that detection signal.

Surface characteristic inspection method and surface characteristic inspection device


An information processing system according to an embodiment includes a storage, a plurality of conversationers, and a selector. The storage stores a regulation rule indicating a generation rule of a speech in a conversation. Each of the plurality of conversationers makes conversation with a user on the basis of the regulation rule. The selector selects some or all of the plurality of conversationers to cause a conversation to be performed.

There is a system that searches for a solution to a question from a user using an information processing technology and presents the solution to users. However, in the related art, for example, when there is no definite solution to the question or when a proposal from the system is desired, only an uniform optimal solution and proposal can be performed.

Information processing system, information processing apparatus, information processing method, and recording medium


Processor apparatuses share data, used in common for a plurality of systems, in a global memory in a share system. The global memory is divided into constant units and the individual division units are managed by using identifiers which are definitely determined as viewed from the processor apparatuses and the share system. When an inter-system exclusive state conditioning unit of a processor apparatus designates a desired area on an address space in the processor apparatus by using an identifier to obtain a locked resource, an update state confirming unit checks whether data in a corresponding unit in the share system is updated, and when the data is updated, a data transferring unit transfers the data in the corresponding unit in the share system to the address space. Accordingly, a program operating on each computer system can easily access the data shared by the systems without being aware of the presence of the share system. When the locked resource is released, a data transferring unit transfers the data to the corresponding unit in the share system if the data in the address space is updated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data sharing methods and more particularly to a data sharing method in which data used in common for a plurality of computer system is shared by a share system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when data on an address space is shared by a plurality of computer system, a share input/output system is occupied, data is once written to a predetermined position and thereafter the occupied state is released. Subsequently, when another system utilizes the data, the input/output system is similarly occupied, the data at the predetermined position is read and transferred to an area precedently reserved on an address space and thereafter, the occupied state is release. In other words, the individual computer system once occupy the input/output system to perform read/write of data and thereafter release the occupation. Used as the input/output system shared by the plurality of system is, for example, a magnetic storage system, a semiconductor storage system or a stand-alone extended storage system.
A method of sharing data by a plurality of system by using the stand-alone extended storage is described in, for example, a manual "Program Product VOS3/AS Center Operation-JSS3-" published by Hitachi, Ltd., December, 1995, pp. 226-239.
However, when the input/output system serving in a share system is occupied by a conventional system, the effect of overhead due to the exclusive state of the input/output system is increased, raising a problem that even when data of a relatively small amount is accessed frequently, the overhead due to the exclusive state and the access overhead are cumulated and cannot be neglected.

Data sharing method in a plurality of computer systems


An extreme ultraviolet radiation source device comprises a vessel; an electric discharge section including a pair of main discharge electrodes; a material supply unit which supplies an extreme ultraviolet radiating species to the electric discharge section; a high voltage generating section which impress high voltage to the pair of main discharge electrodes; a grazing incidence type collector unit which condenses extreme ultraviolet light emitted from high temperature plasma; a light extraction section formed in the vessel; a gas supply unit which supplies gas into the vessel from a light emitting side of the collector unit, an exhaust unit which discharges the gas from a light incidence side of the collector unit; wherein a flow path through which the gas supplied from the light emitting side of the collector unit passes is formed only inside the collector unit.

Along with the miniaturization of a semiconductor integrated circuit and high integration, improvements in resolution are demanded in a projection exposure tool for manufacturing. In order to meet the demands, the wavelength of the light source for exposure is shortened, and, the extreme ultraviolet radiation source device (hereinafter referred to as an EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) light source apparatus) which emits extreme ultraviolet radiation (hereinafter referred to as EUV light) with the wavelength in a range of 13-14 nm, especially the wavelength of 13.5 nm, has been developed as a semiconductor exposure light source for the next generation thereof, following an excimer laser device.
Although some methods of generating EUV light in such a EUV light source device are known, in one of these methods, high temperature plasma is generated to take out the EUV light emitted from this plasma by heating and exciting a substance (EUV radiating species) which emits extreme ultraviolet radiation. Such EUV light source devices are roughly divided into a LPP (Laser Produced Plasma) system and a DPP (Discharge Produced Plasma) system according to high temperature plasma generation types. The LPP EUV light source device generates high temperature plasma by laser ablation, and, on the other hand, the DPP EUV light source device generates high temperature plasma by current drive.
As types of electric discharge in the DPP EUV light source device, there are a Z pinch discharge, a capillary electric discharge, a plasma focus discharge, a hollow cathode triggered Z pinch discharge, etc. The DPP system has advantages of miniaturization of a light source apparatus and small power consumption in a light source system, so that practical application of a DPP system is also greatly expected, as compared with a LPP system.
In the EUV light source devices according to the both systems, although (around) 10-valent xenon (Xe) ion is known as the radiating species which emits EUV light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm, i.e., material of high temperature plasma, lithium (Li) ion and tin (Sn) ion are attracted attention as materials for obtaining higher radiant intensity. Among these, since the EUV conversion efficiency (=the optical output/electric input) of tin, i.e., the ratio of an EUV light output with a wavelength of 13.5 nm to an electric input required for generation of high temperature plasma, is several times as large as that of xenon, tin is regarded as a highly possible radiation species of mass-produced type EUV light source.
For example, an extreme ultraviolet radiation light source using a gas-like tin compound (for example, stannane gas: SnH4 gas) is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 2004-279246. Moreover, an extreme ultraviolet radiation light source in which liquid-like tin is supplied to a rotating electrode is disclosed in International Publication No. WO2005/025280.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid Open Patent (Tokuhyo) No. 2004-501491 discloses a structure in which buffer gas is introduced in a light source of extreme ultraviolet radiation from a light emitting side of a collector unit, and the gas is passed through the collector unit, and exhausted from the light incidence side.
As in Japanese Laid Open Patent (Tokuhyo) No. 2004-501491, FIG. 13 shows a flow of buffer gas in an extreme ultraviolet radiation light source in which buffer gas is introduced from the light emitting side of a collector unit and exhausted from the light incidence side. In FIG. 13, when electric power is supplied between a first electrode 11 and a second electrode 12 and pulsed large current flows between the first electrode 11 and the second electrode 12, high temperature plasma P occurs by Joule heating due to the pinch effect, so that EUV light is emitted from the high temperature plasma P. The generated EUV light is emitted from an EUV light extraction section 7 through a collector unit 2 arranged in a second chamber 10b. A gas curtain nozzle 4 which is connected to a gas supply unit 16a, and a first gas exhaust unit 9a are provided in an area between an electric discharge section 1 and the collector unit 2, and a second gas supply unit 16b is provided in a light emitting side of the collector unit 2. And gas supplied from the second gas supply unit 16b is exhausted from the first gas exhaust unit 9a through the circumference thereof and the inner side of the collector unit 2.

Extreme ultraviolet radiation source device