An assembled length of water pipe sections having a nozzle pipe section at an inby end is moved from a crosscut of a mine into a mine entry to stop the advance of a fire in the entry without requiring firefighters to be positioned in the fire entry. The nozzle pipe section is moved across the entry to a position adjacent to an opposite entry sidewall. The nozzle pipe section is connected at an outby end in the crosscut by assembled sections of extension water pipes to a water feedline. Water under pressure is supplied through the extension pipes to the nozzle pipe section and discharged from the nozzles to generate a series of intersecting sprays directed at selected angles in a range between about 0.degree. to 90.degree. in the entry, forming a water curtain the complete height and width of the entry. Deflected water sprays from the sidewalls and mine roof combine with the upward water sprays to form a curtain of water extending across the path of the advancing fire and into contact with roof bolts supporting the mine roof above the entry. The water spray prevents the roof bolts from being heated to an elevated temperature which can cause a loss of anchorage of the bolts in the mine roof. The water curtain also cools the hot gases generated by the fire to stop advance of the fire beyond the curtain so that the fire can be contained and extinguished.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fire extinguishing apparatus and, more particularly, to a water curtain method and apparatus for stopping the spread of a fire and for extinguishing the fire in an underground coal mine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Coal is mined because it will burn and, therefore, is a major source of economical energy. In 1994 a little over one billion tons of coal were mined in the United States. Coal was the energy source for over 55% of the electrical energy generated in this country during 1994.
Unfortunately fires can and do occur in underground coal mines. These fires are a threat to the lives of the miners. Fires can cause great financial loss to the mining companies. According to the Mining Safety and Health Administration, there were 271 reportable fires in underground coal mines in the United States during the ten year period from Jan. 1, 1978 through Dec. 31, 1987. Fortunately most of these fires were handled promptly so the losses were small, but some were not.
The December 1984 fire at the Wilburg Mine near Huntington, Utah was especially tragic because it killed 27 miners. The cost of this fire has been variously estimated to have been in excess of 50 million dollars. The 1987 fire at Cumberland Mine of United States Steel Co. closed the mine for many months. It was reported that the cost of fighting the fire and restoring the mine to operation was about 13.5 million dollars. The fire during March of 1988 at the Beth Energy No. 58 Mine near Marianna, Pa. resulted in the total loss of the mine. Bethlehem Steel Co. wrote off 45 million dollars.
This listing of three very serious fires is far from complete, but they do fit the experience of the past. Most fires in coal mines follow a similar pattern. Usually, the start of a fire is small and can be controlled with a fire extinguisher, if it is used soon enough. Today's coal mines are spread over very large areas and much of the area is unattended so a fire may not be discovered promptly. If the fire has enough time to spread to the coal, then the fire has become a mine fire and the fuel for a mine fire is virtually without limit.
Burning coal can be effectively and quickly controlled with water applied as a fire hose stream. If the fire is not discovered quickly or if the fire fighting was not started in good time, this may not work. Fire hose streams have limited range in the restricted height of a mine. The fire almost always takes the course that the ventilation follows. It can only be approached from the upwind side. The downwind side of a fire that has spread to the coal is full of smoke and very hot.
The heat of a mine fire weakens the mine roof and may cause caving. Falls of the roof can prevent the fire hose streams from reaching the fire extending beyond. Also, the firefighters must support the weakened roof as they advance into the area where they have extinguished the fire with their hose streams. Supporting the weakened roof to make it safe is slow, difficult work. Usually the firefighters cannot follow a fire as fast as it moves with the ventilation air. A fire cannot be controlled with fire hose streams when the water does not reach all of the fire.
At this point it may be useful to explain some of the basic fundamentals of coal mining so that persons who have never been in a mine will have a better understanding of the problems of controlling a fire. All underground mines (not just coal mines) must have moving fresh air so that the miners can work. The mining of coal almost always releases methane gas from the coal seam. Breaking the coal from the seam, which really is the mining operation, may release combustible methane gas. Air movement or ventilation is required to dilute the methane to a safe noncombustible concentration and carry the methane-air mix to the surface.
The coal mine is ventilated with "intake air" through a network of "entries" or tunnels in the coal seam. When the intake air reaches the "face" where the actual mining takes place and dilutes and carries away the methane, the air is then called "return air". Return air is directed into "returns" or "return entries" which conduct the return air to the surface.
The return air is not allowed to contact equipment that might ignite a methane-air mix. The only equipment allowed in the face area and in a return must be "permissible" which means that it has been tested and found to be flameproof. Equipment that will be used only in intake entries does not have to be permissible, but much of the electrical equipment will be dusttight.
It should be apparent that in mining or developing entries, there must be at least two entries, an intake and a return, which must have ventilation. Also, in the production area or "section" where the actual mining is taking place there must be connections for the air to flow between the intakes and the returns. These connecting entries are called "crosscuts".
Crosscuts are usually spaced about every 100 feet. When the entries have advanced about 100 feet beyond a crosscut, the next crosscut will be started. When this crosscut is finished, the one behind will be closed to ventilation, eventually with a concrete block or metal wall called a "stopping". In actual practice, there are almost always three or more entries in a section, usually about 100 feet apart, driven with crosscuts between entries.
Modern coal mines can be classified by the mining system used to extract the coal. Virtually all coal mines use powerful "continuous miners" to drive openings in the coal seam.
These machines break the solid coal into pieces so that it can be hauled and/or conveyed to the surface. The openings made are the entries and crosscuts referred to above. Two of the most used mining systems are the longwall mining system and the block or room and pillar system.
Development, or the driving of entries and crosscuts, for the longwall system usually requires driving 4, 3, or sometimes only 2 entries with the necessary crosscuts between these entries. Since the entries have different functions and ventilation, usually all of the crosscuts between the entries will be sealed with stoppings to prevent the ventilation air currents from flowing from one entry to its adjacent entry, unless this is needed. These stoppings are effective barriers to a fire in one of the entries and will prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent entry, at least for a reasonable time.
In contrast, the block system involves driving a larger number of parallel entries, often 8 or 10 and sometimes even more. With this multiplicity of entries, many will remain connected through open crosscuts and will share the ventilation. A fire in one of the connected entries will tend to stay in the originating entry as it will follow the ventilation, but with the expansion of the hot gases that have gone through the fire zone, the heat and smoke can move into adjacent open entries. Usually it is just a matter of time until the active fire will spread to adjacent entries, unless steps are taken to prevent this spread.
Current federal regulations require a mandoor in a line of stoppings at least every 500 feet. Regulations also require that entries for a conveyor belt, trolley haulage, and intake escapeway, with their ventilation, be separated by stoppings. Also, since many mines must leave pillars of coal to support the surface, all of the mining will involve the "driving" of entries and crosscuts. Where pillars can be removed and the surface lowered, many different arrangements of entries may be used to provide support of the strata over the entries needed for ventilation, travel, and production.
Other regulations require water hydrants at least every 300 feet in a belt entry. Usually this results in having the water line, that also supplies water to allay the dust made by the mining equipment on producing sections, located in the belt entry. Sufficient fire hose must be located on each section to be able to reach from the last hydrant at the end of the water line to the most distant point on the section. Also, fire hose must be located near the drive of the conveyor belts. Regulations also require fire protection systems near each belt drive to cover at least 50 feet of the belt drive area and a fire detection system for the length of each belt.
The record of fires clearly shows that the federal regulations have not eliminated the hazards of mine fires and losses of life and/or property resulting. The problems in coal mining are especially severe because the environment is almost 100% combustible.
The statistics of fires in underground coal mines are obviously inadequate as only fires that have existed for 30 minutes or more must be reported. However, discussions with safety managers have disclosed that most of them believe that a large percentage of the incipient fires that do occur are extinguished by the personnel present in less than 30 minutes. Estimates given in these discussions vary widely with many saying that 70 to 90 percent of the fires are handled quickly so no reporting was required.
Many reports of fires which did burn well over 30 minutes describe scenarios of the fire getting beyond the range of the fire hose streams. Prior to 1960 virtually all of these fires had to be sealed. Sealing is very expensive as the mine must remain sealed, often for four to six months, to allow the heat of the fire to cool and avoid rekindling when ventilation is restored in the fire area. In a 1960 fire the new tool of high expansion foam, conceived in Great Britain and developed and tested in the United States, controlled a fire that had spread over an area so that 4100 lineal feet of entries and crosscuts were burning. The foam equipment operated almost continuously for three days. This fire probably was the largest mine fire that was ever controlled by direct fire fighting.
Unfortunately only about 60 of the large high expansion foam generators similar to the one used on the above described fire have been purchased by the coal industry. They are not inexpensive as the current price for the generators, which must be tailor made for the mine, is in the order of thirty to forty-five thousand dollars. Many smaller and less refined generators are commercially available. Based on the fire reports available in the United States, these smaller and less expensive machines have never been successful in controlling a fire that spread to the coal. The result has been that some fires were not fought successfully using this advanced firefighting technique because the foam equipment was unavailable, inadequate, or mishandled.
It is also important to consider the manner in which nonreportable fires have been controlled and also why these techniques have failed in other instances. Because quick response to a fire is so important, virtually all fires that are extinguished are fought by persons who were at or in the vicinity of the fire when it started. If extinguishers are used quickly enough, they can extinguish the fire while it is still small. When the fire spreads to the coal, a fire hose stream can extinguish the fire if it has not spread beyond the range of the hose streams. The rate at which the fire will spread to the coal is greatly affected by the size of the starting fire, the height of the coal seam, the presence of a coal top or "roof", and the percent volatile of the coal.
Fires seldom get out of control in low seam mines, which usually have noncombustible roof. If the volatile content of the coal is low, the coal will not ignite readily and the rate a fire will spread is slow. These conditions which slow the spread of the fire provide more time to assemble the personnel and equipment needed to fight the fire. The advance of the firefighters is usually fast enough so that they can overtake the leading edge of the fire and extinguish it.
In contrast, the opposite will occur in coal mines having thick seams with high volatile coal, especially at the mine roof. The coal ignites readily, and the fire grows and moves downwind rapidly. This fire situation must be handled very quickly and competently with fire hoses before it gets beyond the range of a hose stream.
Since the maximum range of a fire hose adjusted to a solid stream in high coal is in the order of 40 to 50 feet, the fire will be large before it gets away from the fire hose streams. Because the fire is large and active, the downwind side of the fire is very hot with dense smoke. In the past attempts have been made to set a fire hose in a crosscut on the downwind side of the fire close to the entry to stop the fire, but the published fire reports indicate that these attempts have not been successful in difficult fire situations.
It is important to understand the conditions that make it difficult to fight fires in a coal mine. The amount of air that reaches the upwind side of the fire is the amount needed to provide safe conditions for the firefighters who are using the fire hoses. Usually, the ventilation air velocity must be in the order of 200 to 300 feet per minute (fpm) to prevent the smoke from the fire from moving back against this fresh air. Higher velocity will feed the fire and cause it to grow rapidly. Air velocity of 200 to 300 fpm is sufficient to feed a large fire.
In passing through the fire area, much of the oxygen is used by the fire and turned into gaseous products of combustion including smoke and heat. Usually the temperature on the downwind side of the fire is in excess of 1000.degree. F. (538.degree. C.). This temperature is enough to cause the gases to expand to almost three times (or more if the temperature is higher) the original air volume. Steam from the water reaching the fire may tend to keep the temperature down but it adds to the downwind volume. So the velocity of the gases leaving the active fire area can be three or more times the velocity of the fresh air on the upwind side of the fire.
In addition to the smoke and heat on the downwind side, the velocity can be 600 fpm or more. Velocities of this magnitude are not usually encountered by professional firemen wearing special heat protective gear. In view of these factors combined with the lack of professional firefighting equipment, the known methods for fighting an underground mine fire from the downwind side of the fire have not been successful.
In the text Mine Fires by Donald W. Mitchell, published 1990, on page 3 it states "one of the first critical steps when fighting fire in a mine is to SPRAY WATER (preferably as fog) INTO THE PATH OF (as close as possible to) THE ONCOMING FLAMES. The sooner this is done, the greater the chance for success." Unfortunately the Mitchell text does not tell how to put this water spray "into the path of the oncoming flames" but suggests that this be accomplished before the fire gets very large. The Mitchell text does not make reference to any successful uses of the disclosed technique and a search of the more current literature on this subject does not include any record that this firefighting technique has been successfully practiced.
Some mines have prepared lances with a nozzle attached to the end of a 20-foot long length of pipe. These have been used with some success in attacking fires on the upwind side when falls of the roof strata interfere with fire hose streams being directed at the fire which has spread beyond the fall. The lance can be laid on the top of the fall or in a crack of the fall and be pushed further into the fire area. Since the length of pipe that can be pushed over or through a fall is limited, a lance applied from the upwind side of a fire can only be effective on a fire that has not spread very far.
Consideration has been given to the use of lances on the downwind side of a fire. The plan of use for a lance is to make a small hole near the top of the stopping in the crosscut inby the fire and insert the lance and push it as far as possible to get close to the entry. In practice, there are two very difficult related problems with this scheme. First, virtually every mine has the line of stoppings in the crosscuts connecting with the entry containing the belt conveyor at some distance from the belt entry. So the usual distance from the stopping to the belt entry is about 50 to 70 feet. The reason for the stopping being closer to the other end of the crosscut is that it is easier and less disruptive of coal production if the material (usually concrete blocks) to build the stopping is delivered through the entry away from the belt entry. The stopping which must be built by hand is built close to where the material is delivered at the other end of the crosscut.
Second, since the lance must be cantilevered from the stopping, about the greatest distance that it is possible to do this with 11/2- or 2-inch pipe is one pipe length or 20 feet. The use of lances generally do not work in the most serious fire risk, a belt fire, which consistently causes more fires than any other. Similar to the scheme of stopping a fire as described above, there are no records of successfully using lances in stopping the spread of a fire on the downwind side of a fire. It is believed that this firefighting technique might be successful if the stopping were sufficiently close to the entry involved.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,021 discloses apparatus for detecting and suppressing a potentially dangerous flame from moving away from a mine face and down a mine tunnel. A flame extinguishing agent is not discharged upon the occurrence of ignition of small pockets of either methane or coal dust adjacent the mine face. As a rule most of the flames ignited adjacent the mine face terminate quickly or are extinguished by water from spray equipment mounted on the mining machine for suppressing dust and maintaining the cutter bits cool during the material dislodging operation.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,021 once the flame progresses from the mine face and advances in the entry where it begins to be fueled by ventilation air, the advancing flame is detected. A flame suppressing agent is then discharged ahead of the advancing flame. The agent completely fills the cross-sectional opening of the entry. When the flame reaches the area of the entry filled with the extinguishing agent, the flame is quenched and prevented from igniting an explosive mixture of airborne coal dust and/or methane gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 924,599 also discloses a method of extinguishing fires in a mine by sealing off the advancing flame. Upon the occurrence of a fire, the entrance to a heading is sealed by closing a door and a network of pipes are opened to the entry. An exhaust pump is connected to the network of pipes so that air is drawn out of the entry into the pipes. Consequently the atmospheric pressure in the sealed entry is reduced. The air normally supporting combustion is withdrawn and the fire is extinguished. The network of pipes can also be used to introduce steam to the entry to contribute to the fire suppression.
While it has been proposed to attach a nozzle or spray head to the outlet end of fire hose or pipe and advance the pipe outlet into a confined structure to flood the structure with water to suppress the flame, the known devices, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,933, are not adaptable for use in fighting fires in an underground mine. It is also known to mount pipes or conduits on wheels to move the conduits to a desired position where water is sprayed from nozzles spaced along the length of the mobile pipe. These types of devices are most commonly utilized in lawn sprinkling systems as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,191,643; 1,282,142; 1,368,269; and 3,807,635.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,664 discloses a mobile sprinkler-type irrigation system. This system permits water to be conveyed through a network of pipes to a distance point where water is dispersed in a spray pattern from spaced-apart nozzles. The systems are not adaptable for use in an underground mine to suppress a fire.
While it is not possible to be certain that the methods or equipment disclosed in the above patents have ever been tried or used in coal mines, it can be stated safely that they are not in use now.
An obvious method that would virtually eliminate all risk of fires would be to install automatic sprinklers throughout the mine as the entries and crosscuts are being mined. However, the magnitude and cost of such an installation would be prohibitive.
As previously noted federal coal mine regulations require installed fire protection for only fifty feet of the mine opening containing the drive machinery of each belt conveyor. This regulation is aimed at the most serious fire risk areas in the mine. The regulation recognizes that built-in fire protection can only be justified for the most serious fire risks.
There is need to provide a method using simple equipment for creating a water barrier or curtain of water spray that continuously wets the roof and ribs of the mine entry on fire and to cool the hot gases of the fire so that the fire will not advance downwind. This must be accomplished without exposing any firefighters to the hot gases or smoke. By spraying water against the roof and with the pattern being wide enough to wet the ribs, these surfaces should be kept wet so that the flames and heat from the burning coal upwind will be unable to advance onto the wet coal. With ample water wetting the roof, the excess will drop back to the bottom of the entry resulting in further cooling of the hot gases and wetting of the bottom and any objects such as a conveyor belt in the entry.
Therefore, there is need for firefighting equipment capable of stopping a mine fire on the downwind side with a continuous application of water. With this method, the fire will not be able to continue to spread downwind. With the spread of the fire halted, there will be ample time for the firefighters to extinguish the fire using fire hoses in the fresh air on the upwind side of the fire.

Method and apparatus for stopping the spread of a fire in an underground mine


The present invention describes an intermediate for use in a capacitive printed circuit board (PCB), which relates to a capacitive apparatus and manufacturing method for a built-in capacitor with a non-symmetrical electrode used to reduce inaccuracy of the error compression alignment on laminates. The invention employs a plurality of different sized metal laminates stacked for a built-in capacitor to achieve a high-precise capacitor PCB. More particularly, the invention can raise the capability of noise-immunity of a capacitive PCB applied to high frequency/speed modules and systems, and also provides precise capacitance to regular circuit design for the need of compact package and high-precise capacitance in the future.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention shows a plurality of different-sized metal laminates stacked for a built-in capacitor in the manufacturing process of a printed circuit board (PCB), which is used to reduce the error in process and raise the capability of noise-immunity in a PCB.
2. Description of Related Art
In the age of high frequency and high-speed electrical systems, the need for accuracy of electrical devices is increasingly acute. The manufacturing process is the focus of efforts to raise the precision of active and passive elements. More particularly, it is a severe challenge to the manufacturing process of capacitor in a PCB, which will be operated at high frequency and is small in size.
In the prior art, there are two main capacitor techniques; one is a discrete component capacitor using surface mount technology (SMT) as an example, the other is a newly developed capacitive substrate. The discrete component capacitor has at least three problems, including: (1) the range of working bandwidth is insufficient; (2) the alternating impedance is not low enough; and (3) the capacitor cannot be integrated into the system in package. Current capacitive substrate elements also have three main drawbacks, including: (1) the via parasite effect is excessive; (2) the electric design thereof is only two-dimensional and the area thereof is too large; and (3) the dielectric material has considerable electric loss. But the PCB with built-in capacitor in the invention can reduce the usage of passive elements for reducing costs, volume, and number of welding points, while raising the reliability and the electric characteristics thereof as well.
The printed circuit board in prior art is usually composed of flat substrates with the same dielectric coefficient; for instance, the Fiberglass Fabric (FR4) is used. However, the noise-immunity of this PCB at high frequencies is bad, and the low passive element integration is a demerit thereof. With further improvement as provided by U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,069 shown in FIG. 1, which is a capacitive laminate for use in a capacitive printed circuit board and method of manufacture, there is a plurality of electronic elements 12 set on a PCB 10. The active elements like ICs, transistors, and the passive elements like capacitors and resistances all can be installed on both sides of PCB 10, which generally is one or a plurality of laminates composed of power, ground or other conductors connected with each other.
In the prior art, the capacitor components are replaced by a built-in capacitive substrate as described in the following.
The role of current PCB is not only to be in charge of the function of, signal transferring as before, but also to integrate many passive or even active elements therein. Reference is made to FIG. 2, which is the cross-sectional view of a PCB fabricated by the built-in method. The surface-mounted device 20 is set on the surface of PCB 10. Power wiring 34 and ground wiring 36 are vertically connected to first plate 28 and second plate 30 of built-in capacitor 26 via conducting openings, respectively, which become the power and ground ends of the capacitor shown as the black spots in the drawing. Accordingly, the built-in capacitor 26 in PCB 10 has a distance between power and ground ends formed by first plate 28 and second plate 30, respectively, and a dielectric material placed between the plates is coupled. A signal wiring 38 passes through the PCB 10 and functions as the wiring of connection or signal transmission among other elements.
FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a multiple-layer built-in capacitor, which has upper and under side coupled with a built-in capacitor and provides double capacitance in this prior art embodiment.
The advantages of the built-in capacitor in the prior art are described as follows: (1) the interference of high-frequency noise is suppressed; (2) the number of connection layers required in PCB is reduced; (3) the density integrated with the whole system is increased and the area of the PCB is reduced. For raising the capacitive characteristics and restraining noise in the PCB, different dielectric materials are added in the inner layer of substrate in prior art. The main purpose of forming a built-in capacitor using a high dielectric coefficient substrate is to reduce the area of the PCB. Nevertheless, once the area is reduced, inaccuracy increases due to the alignment error in the manufacturing process of the PCB. If the precision of the manufacturing process is insufficient, inaccuracy is easily produced by compression alignment errors, and a difference between the two plates in the manufacturing process will not provide high-precision discrete capacitor.
In the top view of built-in capacitor shown in FIG. 4A, there are two parallel plates 28′, 30′ of a capacitor, which are like first plate 28 and second plate 30 shown in FIG. 2. The precision of manufacturing process is not high enough and results in an opposite slip between the two plates shown in drawing. Thus, only the shaded part area contributes to the capacitor, which is not the intended result. FIG. 4B is cross-sectional view of the two plates, which also shows the opposite slip therebetween.
The present invention thus employs different sized plates formed with non-symmetrical electrodes as the capacitive apparatus of built-in capacitor, where the bigger one will cover the smaller one to reduce the error compression alignment and improve the noise-immunity and efficiency of a capacitive substrate with a high precision capacitor.

Capacitive apparatus and manufacturing method for a built-in capacitor with a non-symmetrical electrode

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A broadcasting signal receiving apparatus and control method thereof allow a user of the broadcasting signal receiving apparatus to receive both an analog broadcasting signal and a digital broadcasting signal, and to select a desired channel. A broadcasting signal receiving apparatus includes a signal receiving unit which receives an analog broadcasting signal and a digital broadcasting signal; a memory; and a controller which produces a combined channel list based on logical channel numbers of the analog broadcasting signal and the digital broadcasting signal and stores the combined channel list in the memory.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to a broadcasting signal receiving apparatus with an improved channel list, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A broadcasting source such as a broadcasting station broadcasts analog broadcasting signals to a broadcasting signal receiving apparatus such as a television or a set-top box, and users watch images provided by the analog broadcasting signals through the broadcasting signal receiving apparatus. However, recently, broadcasting sources show a tendency to broadcast digital broadcasting signals transformed from analog broadcasting signals or both broadcasting signals in order to provide high quality pictures. Accordingly, broadcasting signal receiving apparatuses which receive and display both analog and digital broadcasting signals are being widely used.
A related art broadcasting receiving apparatus receives only analog broadcasting signals, stores channels provided by the received analog broadcasting signals as a channel list and displays the stored channels, or receives only digital broadcasting signals, stores channels provided by the received digital broadcasting signals as a channel list and displays the stored channels, or receives both analog and digital broadcasting signals, stores channels provided by both the received analog and digital broadcasting signals as respective channel lists, and displays the stored channels of the respective channel lists.
However, in the related art broadcasting signal receiving apparatus, if a user watching a channel provided by one of a digital broadcasting signal and an analog broadcasting signal wants to watch a different channel provided by the other broadcasting signal, the user inconveniently has to select the other broadcasting signal to see a channel list provided by the other broadcasting signal.

Broadcasting signal receiving apparatus for providing combined channel list for digital and analog signal and control method thereof


The present invention relates to an optical device, including: an optical module, configured to implement an optical function of the optical device and including several outlet ports; and an identification module, containing identification information for identifying the optical device. The present invention further relates to a system and method for managing an optical device, where the system includes: an interface apparatus, configured to couple multiple optical devices; an identification information obtaining apparatus, configured to obtain identification information of the optical devices and/or identification information of outlet ports of the multiple optical devices through the interface apparatus; and a control apparatus, configured to manage the optical devices according to the obtained identification information.

With the gradual popularization of FTTx technologies (where FTTH is fiber to the home, FTTP is fiber to the premises, FTTC is fiber to the curb, FTTN is fiber to the node, and so on), an optical distribution network (ODN) technology develops rapidly. An optical distribution network is a passive network, where resource management is mainly completed manually. As a result, optical fiber resource information of a current network is usually inconsistent with information in a resource management database, which brings great difficulty to work such as subsequent maintenance. In addition, a large number of inconsistent optical fiber resources cannot be effectively utilized, which results in a waste of network resources and increases a construction cost.
A conventional optical fiber network is passive, management of an optical fiber and a route of the optical fiber network totally relies on manual work. Due to unreliability of the manual work, conventional management of the optical fiber and the route of the optical fiber is in chaos, which causes disappearance of and difficulty in recognizing a large number of optical fiber resources, and causes a great cost and waste to construction and maintenance of an operator. As a result, some relevant intelligent optical fiber management technologies emerge, and can recognize a relationship between ports on the same optical fiber and a connection relationship between different optical fibers.
In the optical distribution network, many optical devices are used, including an optical splitter, an arrayed waveguide grating, an optical coupler, an optical switch, or the like.
Take the optical splitter as an example, the optical splitter is a passive functional device that implements an optical splitting technology at an optical splitting point, and is a core device in the ODN. An optical splitting ratio of the optical splitter ranges from 1:2 to 2:64. Loss of a 1×64 optical splitter is 19.7 dBs, and generally an ODN network in which a 1×64 optical splitter is applied cannot exceed 10 kilometers. A 2×n optical splitter provides two uplink ports, and may implement a protection mechanism of an FTTH network by cooperating with an OLT. According to different encapsulation forms, optical splitters may be classified into a modular optical splitter unit, a small-sized case-shape optical splitter unit, a 19-inch rack-mounted optical splitter unit, and so on.
Existing optical splitters are all passive, and all input/output ports are identified in a form of labels. If a digital identification is stuck, it is usually read and recorded manually; and if a graphic code is stuck, it is read by a barcode scanner. In this way, efficiency is very low, an error easily occurs, and an optical splitter port cannot be automatically recognized and a usage condition of the optical splitter port cannot be automatically obtained. An optical splitter module cannot be automatically recognized either.
In addition, a paper label is generally disposed on a port, and is used for recognizing a port number. However, once there are multiple optical splitters, it is hard to distinguish ports.
In the solution in Chinese Patent Application No. 200910110378.6, an optical splitter and a method and device for identifying an optical splitter port are disclosed. In this solution, only an electronic label is added to a port connector, and can be used for recognizing a port, but is incapable of recognizing an optical splitter module itself (especially in a case that no port connector is disposed in the optical splitter), and is also incapable of visually recognizing the optical splitter port and the optical splitter module.

Optical device, and system and method for managing optical device


A method for operating an active noise reduction system that is designed to reduce the harmonic or sinusoidal noise emanating from a rotating device, where there is an active noise reduction system input signal that is related to the frequency of the noise to be reduced, and where the active noise reduction system comprises one or more adaptive filters that output a generally sinusoidal noise reduction signal that is used to drive one or more transducers with their outputs directed to reduce the noise. Distortions of the noise reduction signal are detected. A distortion is based at least in part on differences between the frequency of the noise reduction signal and the frequency of the harmonic noise. The noise reduction signal is altered based on the detected distortion.

Sinusoidal noise cancellation systems are active noise reduction systems that are used to reduce or cancel one or more sinusoidal noise components. Sinusoidal noise cancellation systems use one or more error microphones as input transducers. A reference signal related to the noise to be canceled (e.g., a sinusoid having a frequency component related to the rotation rate of the device that creates the noise) is inputted to an adaptive filter. The output of the adaptive filter is applied to one or more transducers that produce sound (i.e., loudspeakers). In order to cancel the sinusoidal noise the output of the loudspeaker needs to be of equal magnitude and frequency but opposite phase to the sinusoidal noise at the error microphone location. The adaptive filter can alter the magnitude and/or the frequency of the reference signal with the aim of converging the output to the sinusoidal noise at the error microphone so as to reduce the microphone signal to zero. The adaptive filter adaptively adjusts its internal filter coefficients so as to develop an output signal that is calculated to cancel the sinusoidal noise. The aim of the system is to cancel the microphone signal at the frequency or frequencies of interest.
Sinusoidal noise cancellation systems can be used in any situation in which it is desirable to cancel sinusoidal noise produced by rotating devices. Some applications include motor vehicles, where the systems are used to reduce or cancel sinusoidal (e.g., harmonic) noise in the vehicle cabin. The sources of noise can include the engine and the propeller (prop) shaft, which produce harmonics that can be desirable to cancel. Sources of sinusoidal noise in motor vehicles also include other rotating devices such as the air conditioning compressor or the tires.
In certain situations these sinusoidal noise cancellation systems can become unstable and allow the loudspeaker sound output levels that are designed to cancel the sinusoidal noise to diverge. Such an unstable sinusoidal noise cancellation system can produce loud and noticeable noise artifacts. One cause of such instability can be a change in the loudspeaker to error microphone transfer function(s).

Instability detection and correction in sinusoidal active noise reduction system


A power source device includes a power source body including first and second secondary batteries and an inverter. When the power source connection status is switched from parallel to serial statuses, the motor generator is operated as a motor and the power source connection status is switched to a single second power source status, after switching to the first connection status in which the power source body and the first inverter are connected, the first motor generator operates as a motor, and power source connection status is switched to a single second power source status, and the inverter connection status is switched to a second connection status in which the power source body in the single second power source status and the inverter are connected.

A power source device is known which includes, for example, four relays, i.e., first to fourth relays, two secondary batteries, a boost converter in which connection of the two secondary batteries are switched between a series connection state and a parallel connection state relative to an electric load while the voltage applied to the electric load is adjusted by the boost converter (see Patent Document 1).
In addition, a power source device is known which includes, for example, four first to fourth switching devices, two reactors, and two DC power sources in which connection of the two DC power sources are switched between a series connection status and a parallel connection status relative to an electric load while the voltage applied to the electric load is adjusted (see Patent Document 2).


A garment bag is provided with a single reinforcing member which extends across the top end of the bag. A carrying handle, a hanger for hanging the bag from a support, and a trolley for hanging garments within the garment bag are all connected directly to the reinforcing member so that the reinforcing member supports the entire weight of the garment bag and its contents both when the bag is hanging in an extended configuration from a support and when the bag is being carried from place to place in a folded configuration. A stiffening member which extends across the width of the bag in the bottom portion thereof and which lies adjacent the top end of the bag when the bag is in a folded configuration prevents the bottom portion of the bag from sagging to present a neat appearance. The use of a single reinforcing member enables the garment bag to be lighter in weight, easier to use and less costly to manufacture.

In conventional types of foldable garment bags, garments are supported on hangers which are suspended from a bracket or what is commonly referred to in the luggage industry as a trolley disposed within the interior of the bag. These conventional garment bags typically include a rigid structural member at their upper end which provides reinforcement for supporting the trolley and the garments suspended therefrom. Such structural member is also generally used to attach an external hanger for hanging the garment bag in its unfolded condition, as well as a handle for lifting the unfolded garment bag to a hanging position. For carrying from place to place, these bags are typically folded two or three times so that they may be carried by a carrying handle attached near the middle of the bag. In order to provide a strong attachment, a second rigid reinforcing member is provided to which this carrying handle may be secured. In addition, the second reinforcing member often provides a point of secure attachment for a shoulder strap or other carrying member.
In the actual use of these conventional garment bags, there are many disadvantages associated with the presence of two rigid reinforcing members. Since these reinforcing members represent a substantial portion of the weight of the garment bag, a significant amount of unnecessary weight is added to these bags by the use of two such reinforcing members. In addition, after the bag has been folded for carrying, the carrying handle will typically be on the bottom of the bag, requiring that the bag first be turned over before it can be carried. Moreover, the presence of the additional reinforcing member and carrying handle add additional complexity and cost to the manufacture of these bags.
There therefore exists a need for a garment bag which is lighter in weight, easier to use and more cost efficient to manufacture than conventional garment bags.


On an acousto-optical add/drop multiplexer to whose input the wavelength-division multiplex signal is applied, a plurality of surface acoustic waves are excited at specific frequencies and in each case a portion of the light power is separated from wavelength-division multiplex channels at an optical frequency which is governed by the frequency of such a surface acoustic wave; a superheterodyne receiver (HE), to whose input side the separated light power elements with one polarization are applied as well as light power elements with another polarization which are output from the non-separated elements of the wavelength-division multiplex signal emits an output signal which corresponds to the light power levels which are transmitted in a channel-specific manner in the individual wavelength-division multiplex channels, with whose aid a regulating device in each case separately readjusts the light power transmitted in the individual wavelength-division multiplex channels to a predetermined value.

Future-proof optical telecommunications networks have to satisfy stringent requirements relating to capacity and flexibility. Such requirements are optimally satisfied by transmission and switching using optical frequency-division multiplex (wavelength-division multiplex WDM) wavelength-division multiplex allows the capacity of optical transmission networks to be considerably increased; and WDM coupling arrangements (Optical Cross Connects OCC) allow the flexibility of such networks to be enhanced. In order to achieve the high performance of such networks with a complexity level which is as low as possible at the same time, it should be possible to transmit the optical signals as far as possible without (electrooptical) regeneration. The use of fiber amplifiers allows the attenuation of optical signals on optical conductors and in WDM switching matrices to be compensated for, so that the length of a section which is free of regenerators is in principle not limited by attenuation in any case.
However, problems arise in wavelength-division multiplex systems from the fact that the individual WDM channels are attenuated or amplified to different extents. Minor differences are caused just by tolerances in the individual system components (such as fiber amplifiers, optical fibers, connectors, WDM switching matrices); and in the case of long sections without regenerators, these can accumulate so as to result in level differences occurring which prevent clean separation of the wavelength-division multiplex channels. It is thus desirable to be able to insert into the network components which reduce these level differences.
At a normal ambient temperature (owing to homogeneous linear propagation at a normal ambient temperature), such level differences cannot be reduced by means of a fiber amplifier. It is admittedly known that fiber amplifiers have non-homogeneous linear propagation at low temperatures (77 K) (IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2 (1990), p. 246-248; OFC/IOOC""93 Technical Digest, p. 174-175); however, the amount of cooling required in this case prevents practical use.
In principle, it is known (from IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 8 (1994) 11, p. 1321-1323) for level regulation to be carried out by physically separating the individual WDM channels from one another using a WDM demultiplexer, and for the optical signals in each channel to be amplified in their own right by means of a channel-specific fiber amplifier operated in the saturation region, after which the signals are once again combined in wavelength-division multiplex form by means of a WDM multiplexer. Level regulation for a fixed wavelength scheme can thus be achieved by using channel-specific optical components, a correspondingly large number of which therefore have to be provided.
In contrast, the invention indicates a different way to achieve level regulation.
The invention relates to a circuit arrangement for the operation of a wavelength-division multiplex system; this circuit arrangement is characterized, according to the invention, in that, on an acousto-optical add/drop multiplexer to whose input the wavelength-division multiplex signal is applied, a plurality of surface acoustic waves are excited at specific, different frequencies and a portion of the light power is separated from wavelength channels at an optical frequency which is governed by the frequency of such a surface acoustic wave, and in that a superheterodyne receiver is provided to whose input side the separated light power elements are applied as well as light power elements which are output from the non-separated elements of the wavelength-division multiplex signal in a directional coupler which is connected downstream of the acousto-optical add/drop. multiplexer, and which superheterodyne receiver emits an output signal which corresponds to the light power levels which are transmitted in a channel-specific manner in the individual wavelength channels.
Such a circuit arrangement provides the capability for a deliberate determination, which can be flexibly matched to a wavelength scheme, of the optical levels which occur in each case in a plurality of wavelength channels, using only one acousto-optical add/drop multiplexer. In a further refinement of the invention for this purpose, it is possible to provide electrical mixing of the electrical signals which excite the surface acoustic waves at different frequency and the electrical output signal of the superheterodyne receiver in order to use the output signal of the superheterodyne receiver to obtain the channel-specific individual signals which correspond to the light power levels which are transmitted in a channel-specific manner in the individual wavelength channels.
If, according to a further invention, channel-specific control of the intensityxe2x80x94which governs the proportion of the separated light power in the individual wavelength channelsxe2x80x94of the surface acoustic waves is provided, then this advantageouslyxe2x80x94once again using only one acousto-optical add/drop multiplexerxe2x80x94also allows channel-specific attenuation of the individual wavelength channels, in which case the relevant WDM channels are determined on the basis of the respective optical wavelength, in accordance with the frequency of the acoustic waves.
In order to make it possible to avoid undesirable level differences throughout the entire WDM system, it is possible, in a further refinement of the invention, to connect downstream from the superheterodyne receiver a regulating device for in each case separately readjusting the light power transmitted in the individual wavelength channels to a value predetermined for the respective wavelength channel. In this case, in a further refinement of the invention, it is possible, by electrically mixing the electrical signals which excite the surface acoustic waves at a different frequency and the electrical output signal of the superheterodyne receiver, for the regulating device to separate from one another the signals which are contained therein and correspond to the light power transmitted in the individual wavelength channels and thus, in a channel-specific manner, to control the intensity of the electrical signals which excite the surface acoustic waves.
In conjunction with a regulated fiber amplifier (or else a plurality of regulated fiber amplifiers), this allows there to be long distances between (electrooptical) regenerators in the wavelength-division multiplex system.
At least the purely optical components of the superheterodyne receiver can, according to a further irvention, be integrated on a substrate together with the acousto-optical add/drop multiplexer, which advantageously makes it possible to provide the optical functions of level measurement and level adjustment using a single acousto-optical component. The invention advantageously requires no optical components to customize the individual wavelength channels.
Further special features of the invention will become evident from the following more detailed explanation of the invention, with reference to the drawings.

Circuit arrangement for the operation of wavelength division multiplexing


An organic light emitting display includes: pixels respectively positioned in areas defined by scan lines and data lines; and a data driver configured to supply a data signal to the data lines, the data signal includes a first data signal corresponding to an emission of the pixels and a second data signal corresponding to a non-emission of the pixels, wherein each pixel includes: an organic light emitting diode; a first transistor coupled to the organic light emitting diode, the first transistor configured to be a current source driven in a saturation region; a second transistor coupled as a current mirror to the first transistor, the second transistor configured to control an amount of a current flowing in the first transistor; and a third transistor coupled to the second transistor, the third transistor configured to be a switch driven in a linear region, according to the data signal.

Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a pixel and an organic light emitting display using the same.
Discussion of the Background
With the development of information technologies, the importance of a display device as an interface between a user and information has increased. Accordingly, use of flat panel displays (FPDs), such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting display device (OLED), and a plasma display panel (PDP), has increased.
Among these FPDs, the OLED displays images by using organic light emitting diodes that emit light through recombination of electrons and holes. The OLED has a fast response speed and is driven with low power consumption.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form any part of the prior art nor what the prior art may suggest to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Pixel and organic light emitting display device including current mirror


An image formation apparatus or a sublimation printer includes a main frame, a platen roller, a head assembly, and an extension spring diagonally attached to the head assembly and the main frame so as to bias the head assembly in a direction away from the platen roller and in an axial direction of the platen roller. The head assembly has an arm portion and a head portion. The head assembly is pivotably held between side panels of the main frame so as to be pressed against and moved away from the platen roller. The extension spring keeps the thermal head away from the platen roller when printing is not performed, and also aligns the thermal head in the axial direction of the platen roller. The number of components of the sublimation printer can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image formation apparatus and a sublimation printer. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image formation apparatus and a sublimation printer which transfer ink from an ink ribbon onto paper by electrical heating of a thermal head.
2. Background Information
With a conventional sublimation printer, a platen roller is rotatably attached between side panels of a main frame, and a thermal head is disposed across from this platen roller. This thermal head is supported on a head assembly, which is pivotably attached to a plate provided on the inside of the side panels of the main frame. The pivoting of the head assembly causes the thermal head to move away from the platen roller. The printer is provided with a torsion spring for generating a biasing force that causes the head assembly to pivot so that the thermal head moves away from the platen roller, and a coil spring for generating a biasing force that presses the head assembly against one of the side panels of the main frame. The torsion spring is designed to keep the thermal head away from the platen roller when not printing, and the coil spring is designed to prevent the thermal head from becoming misaligned in the axial direction of the platen roller. Also provided are a press lever of which the pivoting causes the head assembly to pivot, thereby pressing the thermal head against the platen roller, and a drive component for pivoting this press lever.
With a sublimation printer, the printing of text or graphics is accomplished by laying an ink ribbon and paper one over the other, passing them between the thermal head and the platen roller, and applying heat to the thermal head during this passage so that the ink in the ink ribbon will be transferred to the paper. If there is any misalignment of the thermal head in the axial direction of the platen roller during this process, the printing of the text or graphics on the paper will also be misaligned. The above-mentioned coil spring is provided so that this will not happen.
Also, the above-mentioned torsion spring is provided in order to prevent the thermal head from pressing on the platen roller when no printing is in progress, such that deformation of the platen roller and shortening the service life of the thermal head can be prevented.
It has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Publication 9-71022 to attach a spring diagonally between a head press bar and a thermal head, so that the biasing force of this spring will prevent the misalignment of the thermal head in the axial direction of the platen roller during printing. Also, the thermal head will press on the platen roller with uniform pressure. This head press bar corresponds to the portion that supports the thermal head in the above-mentioned head assembly.
However, with a conventional sublimation printer, as discussed above, the torsion spring for keeping the thermal head away from the platen roller while the printing is not in progress, and the coil spring for preventing the misalignment of the thermal head in the axial direction of the platen roller are separately required. Thus, such conventional sublimation printer requires many parts, which is a problem in that the component cost is higher. Also, because of the greater number of parts, its assembly entails more labor. As a result, assembly costs incurred in the assembly of such conventional sublimation printer also end up being high.
Japanese Patent Application Publication 9-71022 proposes to generate a biasing force for preventing the misalignment of the thermal head in the axial direction of the platen roller, and a biasing force for maintaining uniform pressure of the thermal head on the platen roller, with a single spring. However, Japanese Patent Application Publication 9-71022 does not disclose or suggest a single elastic member that generates biasing force for keeping the thermal head away from the platen roller as well as the biasing force for preventing the misalignment of the thermal head in the axial direction of the platen roller.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved image formation apparatus and a sublimation printer that overcome the problems of the conventional art. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Image formation apparatus and sublimation printer


A fabrication system and method of fabrication for producing microelectromechanical devices such as field-effect displays using thin-film technology. A spacer is carried at its proximal end on the surface of a substrate having field-effect emitters with the spacer being enabled for tilting movement from a nested position to a deployed position which is orthogonal to the plane of the substrate. An actuator is formed with one end connected with the substrate and another end connected with spacer. The actuator is made of a shape memory alloy material which contracts when heated through the material's phase-change transition temperature. Contraction of the actuator exerts a pulling force on the spacer which is tilted to the deployed position. A plurality of the spacers are distributed over the area of the display. A glass plate having a phosphor-coated surface is fitted over the distal ends of the deployed spacer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to microelectromechanical systems, also known as MEMS, in which mechanical micro-components are fabricated for use in electronics, for example in flat panel displays employing field-effect display (FED) technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic displays are rapidly becoming one of the major components in the emerging information highway system. Among the well-known displays are cathode ray tubes, plasma displays, electroluminescent panels and active matrix liquid crystal displays. Flat panel displays have been emerging as replacements for cathode ray tubes in television, computer monitors and other electronic visual displays. Field-effect flat panel displays have been developed which provide large two-dimensional screens with less weight and reduced costs as compared to the large envelopes required for displays such as cathode ray tubes. FEDs also have certain advantages over liquid crystal displays, electroluminescent and plasma displays because the FEDs have greater luminosity, lower power requirements, and are not limited in viewing angle or speed of operation.
The FED technology has advanced to the point of using cold field emission with microfabrication techniques to produce dense arrays of micron-sized cones in silicon dioxide. Microfabrication of sharp points on the cones leads to high fields and short flight distances, resulting in adequate focusing. The use of microfabrication techniques makes it possible to manufacture thousands of the devices simultaneously so that the cost of manufacture is low.
Flat panel displays are placed in large flat vacuum envelopes of which one panel is of a suitable transparent or translucent material such as glass. One surface of the glass panel is coated with a pattern of highly efficient phosphors. Atmospheric pressure will distort or collapse the glass panel unless it is made of thick glass or adequately supported over its surface. For making envelopes sufficiently light in weight, the preferred solution is to place spacers at frequent intervals within the vacuum space to maintain the distance between the front and back surfaces. While certain university research projects have provided experimental displays in which micron-scaled components have been manipulated into position on a substrate surface to support an overlying glass plate, such an arrangement is impractical for large scale, low cost commercial manufacture of FEDs. This is because the size of practical FEDs requires many thousands of the supporting elements distributed over a substrate surface such that it would be impractical to individually manipulate the components into position.
It is also advantageous if the supporting spacer is fabricated as a part of the FED device, a feature which has not been achieved in the prior art. It is required that hundreds or even thousands of the small spacers be accurately machined and strategically placed among the emitters. The spacers must also not interfere with electrical functioning nor impede the evacuation of air. Microfabrication of the spacers must be compatible with other manufacturing operations utilized in fabricating the emitters. In an FED there are narrow spaces or "streets" between emitter pixels so that the spacers, and actuators for the spacers, must be thin and long to fit within those narrow streets.
The need has therefore been recognized for a microelectromechanical fabrication system, method and apparatus which obviates the foregoing and other limitations and disadvantages of the prior art. Despite the various microelectromechanical systems and devices in the prior art, there has heretofore not been provided a suitable and attractive solution to these problems.

Fabrication system, method and apparatus for microelectromechanical devices


A gas-blast circuit-breaker includes a jacket filled with a dielectric gas. A mobile arc contact cooperates with a fixed arc contact within the jacket. The mobile arc contact is part of a mobile contact assembly which is displaceable axially in the jacket between a closed position and an open position. The mobile contact assembly includes a first tube carrying the mobile arc contact and a second tube, which is coaxial with the first tube, carrying a mobile permanent contact with a gas blast nozzle coupled thereto. A ring joins the first tube and the second tube to define a gas-blast chamber and a compression chamber on opposite sides of the ring. The compression chamber communicates with the gas-blast chamber. An annular piston having an annular recess closes the compression chamber. A compression spring influences the annular piston against a fixed front stop. A floating ring is moveably mounted on the first tube between a front abutment position in which the floating ring abuts a fixed washer and a rear abutment position in which the floating ring abuts a rear retaining member, the floating ring being housed in the annular recess when the annular piston abuts the fixed front stop. The floating ring has an orifice which is blocked by the fixed washer when the floating ring is in the front abutment position.

Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a gas-blast circuit-breaker including a jacket filled with a pressurized dielectric gas, two cooperating arc contacts, one of which is part of a mobile contact assembly attached to an operating member and adapted to be displaced axially in the jacket between a closed position and an open position, the mobile contact assembly including a first tube carrying the mobile arc contact at its end and a second tube coaxial with the first tube, carrying a mobile permanent contact at its end and delimiting, on respective opposite sides of a ring joining the first tube and the second tube, a gas-blast chamber closed by a gas-blast nozzle and a compression chamber communicating with the gas-blast chamber and closed by a piston.
Patent application 2 696 274 describes a circuit-breaker of this kind.
In the above prior art document, the piston is semi-mobile and means are provided for immobilizing the piston during a first part of the displacement of the mobile contact assembly during opening of the circuit-breaker and means are further provided for entraining the same piston in the axial direction during a second part of the displacement of this assembly.
The means for entraining the mobile contact assembly in the axial direction during this second part of the displacement comprise an entrainment member attached to the mobile contact assembly which entrains a stop attached to the piston. This stop is disposed on the path of the entrainment member. During the first part of the displacement, the piston is held in position by a spring placed between the piston and the entrainment member and pushing on the piston which is held by a ring "abutted" against a fixed member, the ring being attached to a tube in turn attached to the piston. During this first part of the displacement the entrainment member slides in a slot in the tube connecting the piston to the ring until it abuts the end of the slot, thereafter training the piston during the second part of the displacement.
In an arrangement of this kind the spring acting on the semi-mobile piston applies a permanent force to the operating rod and this leads to an increase in the operating energy required.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,767 describes a pressurized gas interrupter having a slightly different structure in that there is no second tube but instead an annular piston 12 coupled to a tube 8 carrying a rated current contact 5 and sliding directly in a cylindrical outer housing 14.
However, the above document describes the use of a piston 15 sliding freely between a stop 16 attached to the housing 14 and a compression spring 17.
This arrangement automatically withdraws the free piston as a result of the increase in the pressure in the compression chamber at the time of the opening maneuver and thereby limits the increase in pressure, thereby providing the advantages of the semi-mobile piston of the first document cited in the introduction but without the operating rod being subjected to any additional force.
When the arc contacts have separated and the gas blast has escaped, the pressure falls and the thrust of the compression spring returns the free piston to its position against said fixed front stop.
Unfortunately, with a free piston of this kind, this return movement is accomplished with non-negligible kinetic energy, producing an impact on the fixed front stop and the parts attaching this stop, which can cause breakages.
Accordingly, an aim of the invention is to propose a circuit-breaker having a structure as defined in the introduction incorporating a free piston with its attendant advantages but overcoming the disadvantage cited hereinabove.


The invention relates to a shaping tool which is used to shape a workpiece, in particular, a sheet steel component, comprising at least two shaping tool halves. Contoured regions are provided in the region of the shaping tool halves in order to give the workpiece a corresponding contour, at least in sections. Each shaping tool half has a shaping surface shell which is oriented towards the workpiece and a support shaping half. The shaping surface shell is arranged on the support shaping half and comprises a shaping surface, which is oriented towards the workpiece, and a rear side which is oriented away from the workpiece. The support shaping half comprises a contoured area which essentially corresponds to the contour of the workpiece which is to be produced and the contoured area is surrounded by a flange area. Grooves are provided in the contoured area in the region of the rear side of the shaping surface shell. The support shaping half comprises receiving surfaces which receive the support shaping half in a positive fit and the receiving surfaces and the grooves form cooling channels. The support shaping half comprises supply channels and discharge channels such that a coolant can be guided through the channels.

It is known to use water to cool shaping tools, i.e. an upper shaping tool half and a lower shaping tool half, which, corresponding with each other, impart a shape to an inserted blank or an inserted plate blank through the movement of the shaping tool halves toward each other, for example by means of deep drawing, so that an inserted hot blank or inserted hot plate blank, in particular made of sheet steel, is shaped and cooled. In hardenable steel plates, the cooling produces a desired hardening.
Usually, shaping tool halves of this kind are composed of cast or forged materials and the shaping tool halves each have a respective shape-imparting surface.
In order to carry out a cooling, it is known to introduce holes into shaping tool halves of this kind in order to thus produce cooling conduits.
For example, a multitude of bores are produced for this purpose, which extend essentially parallel to the intrinsically contoured shape-imparting surface, passing through the respective shaping tool half from one side to the opposite side. In order to be able to act on these cooling conduits with a corresponding coolant, in a second step, from the rear side opposite from the contoured surface of the shaping tool half, in the region of one end of the previously drilled cooling conduit, a connecting conduit is drilled to the cooling conduit so that through a bore, the cooling conduit can be acted on with coolant from the rear side of the shaping tool half, which coolant is conveyed through the other bore to the rear side of the shaping tool half. The open ends or the open end of the cooling conduit is usually closed with corresponding stoppers or closures in order to prevent the coolant from escaping out the side of the shaping tool.
In known shaping tools of this kind, it is disadvantageous that these cooled shaping tool halves are expensive and complex to manufacture; the achievable cooling area is not very large and as a result, the cooling is not always sufficiently effective.
The object of the present invention is to create a shaping tool which can be simply and quickly manufactured and has a highly effective cooling capacity.


A device and method are disclosed for moving articles, such as cans, by groups, or tiers, from a pallet to an adjoining surface, such as a belt conveyor. A pair of sweep arms of a sweep unit move about a closed loop path to alternately engage the trailing portion of groups of articles when at a pallet sweep area to urge each group from the pallet. A pivotable retainer arm of a retainer unit, mounted on a reciprocating carriage moved by a driver following a closed loop path, engages the leading portion of the group of articles to be then moved from the pallet and thereafter leads the group from the pallet. The sweep and retainer arms are simultaneously moved by cycles whereby the sweep arms are alternately moved from a home position to engage the trailing portion of a group of articles and urge the engaged group from the pallet and the retainer arm is moved from a home position in a direction opposite to movement of the sweep arm to engage the leading portion of the group of articles with the retaining arm being thereafter moved in unison with the sweep arm to lead the group from the pallet.

It is oftentimes necessary to move articles by groups from a particular location, including moving cylindrical articles, such as cans, by tiers from a pallet having a plurality of tiers vertically stacked on top of one another.
It is well known that articles can be moved onto a pallet from an adjacent surface, and that such movement can be effected by a movable arm urging the articles onto the pallet (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,934,713 and 4,978,275).
It is also well known that articles can be moved by tiers from a pallet onto a conveyor surface, and it is likewise well known that such movement can be effected by a movable arm pushing the articles from the pallet (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,810).


A low cost and simple method for preparation of diffusion sheets comprising the steps of swelling, wetting and dispersing nano-scale clay, toluene, and a dispersant to form a paint. The paint is then coated on a surface of a polymer substrate by a wet coating process to form a diffusion layer which includes the nano-scale clay as diffusion particles.

The present invention relates to a method for preparation of diffusion sheets, especially to a low cost and simple method for preparation of diffusion sheets that are abrasion and scratch resistant.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes a backlight module for providing backlight to the LCD device. The backlight module consists of a light source and optical sheet having light guide plate, diffusion sheets and prism sheets. The diffusion sheet is usually attached below the LCD panel, in order to disperse light beams received from the light source and provide uniform light for the LCD panel. The uniform light enables the LCD panel to display a clear image. Conventional diffusion sheet is made by adding a plurality of chemical granules inside substrate (transparent polymer) that work as scattering particles. The diffusion sheet available now includes microparticles dispersed between resin layers. While light beams passing through the diffusion layer, they are reflected and scattered continuingly between the two substrates with different refractive indices so as to achieve light diffusion effect.
Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,888,663, after swelling, wetting pretreatment, and interface modification, diffusion particles made from clay is mixed with polymer through a thermal process to produce diffusion sheets. The clay achieves excellent effect (Haze about 80% and light transmittance about 80%) with only a little amount of clay (<3 wt %). Moreover, inorganic material has features of UV resistance, thermal resistance and weather resistance. But the shortcoming is that during the thermal process, the clay may aggregate that leads to reduction of light diffusion and light transmittance.
Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,994, a light diffusion layer having polymer beads dispersed within a binder is coated on a surface of transparent polymer substrate to form a diffusion film. The beads are transparent and colorless with excellent light transmittance while its shortcomings are poor UV resistance, thermal resistance and weather resistance, all worse than inorganic particles.
Refer to Taiwanese Pat. No. 1237127, a diffusion plate with higher transmittance is disclosed. The diffusion plate features on that an anti-reflective layer is added on an incident surface thereof so that the light transmittance is increased 5%. Yet the disadvantage of this device is that the process for coating the anti-reflective layer increases the cost.
Refer to Taiwanese Pub. No. 200523626, a method for producing diffusion sheet with UV inhibition is disclosed. The advantage of the method is that yellowing and deformation of the diffusion sheet can be avoided after being used. But the UV adsorbent being used are organic materials so that the materials are easy to have degradation after absorbing UV light.
Refer to Taiwanese Pub. No. 200506035, a diffusion plate with high light transmission efficiency and excellent color tone is disclosed. The advantage of this invention is in that the diffusion sheet has excellent thermal resistance and deformation resistance due to organic UV absorbent and stabilizer added during manufacturing processes. The shortcoming is that besides addition of diffusion agents, addition of the UV absorbent and stabilizer will make the whole system more complicated and this has negative effect on stability of the whole system. Moreover, the overall production cost is also increased. Furthermore, after the UV absorbent reacting with UV light, the diffusion sheet is easy to have degradation.

Method for preparation of diffusion sheet

Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Armaments Bureau, M.N.D.


An optical receiver controls the amplitude of a light signal at a constant level so as to be constant for improvements in the quality of signal regeneration and reliability. A modulation part modulates the amplitude of the light signal. An opto-electric conversion part converts the output signal of the modulation part into an electric signal. A gain varying part amplifies the electric signal. A control part controls the gain of the gain varying part so that a variation width of the envelope line after signal amplification becomes close to a given value. A regeneration part compares the signal after amplification with a given threshold value for signal decision.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical receiver receiving a light signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
The time of multimedia including the Internet has come. An optical communication network technique of backbone communication systems is desired to realize advanced services and broadband, and is actively developed toward information society. As the optical communication has a larger capacity and a higher rate, a receiver part in an optical transmission system is required to have further advanced receiving functions.
FIG. 15 is a view of a primary structure of the optical receiver. An optical receiver 100 is made up of an optical amplifier 101, a light receiving element 102, an amplifier 103, and a signal regeneration part 104.
The optical amplifier 101 receives a light signal transferred over an optical fiber cable, and amplifies it. The light receiving element 102 converts the amplified light signal into an electric signal, which is then amplified by the amplifier 103. The signal regeneration part 104 makes a decision as to the signal is "1" or "0" based on a fixed threshold so that the original signal can be regenerated.
However, the optical receiver 100 has the following disadvantages. The amplitude of the electric signal after the opto-electric conversion does not have a constant level but varies. The signal regeneration part 104 regenerates the original signal from the electric signal having the amplitude that varies by using a fixed optimal threshold level for decision making. The fixed threshold level is not always optimal to decision making on the amplitude-varying signal. This may result in errors in signal regeneration and degrades the quality of transmission and reliability.
The amplitude of the electric signal may be varied due to variation in the waveform of the input light signal, and variation in the opto-electric conversion efficiency resulting from the temperature dependence of the light-receiving element 102 and the amplifier 103.


Ligands, compositions, and metal-ligand complexes that incorporate heterocycle-amine compounds are disclosed that are useful in the catalysis of transformations such as the polymerization of monomers into polymers. The catalysts have high performance characteristics, including higher comonomer incorporation into ethylene/olefin copolymers, where such olefins are for example, 1-octene, propylene or styrene. The catalysts also polymerize propylene to form isotactic polypropylene.

Ancillary (or spectator) ligand-metal coordination complexes (including organometallic complexes) and compositions are useful as catalysts, additives, stoichiometric reagents, solid-state precursors, therapeutic reagents and drugs. Ancillary ligand-metal coordination complexes of this type can be prepared by combining an ancillary ligand with a suitable metal compound or metal precursor in a suitable solvent at a suitable temperature. The ancillary ligand contains functional groups that bind to the metal center(s), remain associated with the metal center(s), and therefore provide an opportunity to modify the steric, electronic and chemical properties of the active metal center(s) of the complex.
Certain known ancillary ligand-metal complexes and compositions are catalysts for reactions such as oxidation, reduction, hydrogenation, hydrosilylation, hydrocyanation, hydroformylation, polymerization, carbonylation, isomerization, metathesis, carbon-hydrogen activation, carbon-halogen activation, cross-coupling, Friedel-Crafts acylation and alkylation, hydration, Diels-Alder reactions and other transformations.
One example of the use of these types of ancillary ligand-metal complexes and compositions is in the field of polymerization catalysis. In connection with single site catalysis, the ancillary ligand typically offers opportunities to modify the electronic and/or steric environment surrounding an active metal center. This allows the ancillary ligand to assist in the creation of possibly different polymers. Group 4 metallocene based single site catalysts are generally known for polymerization reactions. See, generally, "Chemistry of Cationic Dicyclopentadienyl Group 4 Metal-Alkyl Complexes", Jordan, Adv. Organometallic Chem. 1991, 32,325-153, and the references therein, all of which is incorporated herein by reference.
One application for metallocene catalysts is producing isotactic polypropylene. An extensive body of scientific literature examines catalyst structures, mechanism and polymers prepared by metallocene catalysts. See, e.g., Resconi et al., "Selectivity in Propene Polymerization with Metallocene Catalysts," Chem. Rev. 2000, 100, 1253-1345 and G. W. Coates, "Precise Control of Polyolefin Stereochemistry Using Single-Site Metal Catalysts," Chem. Rev. 2000, 100, 1223-1252 and the references cited in these review articles. Isotactic polypropylene has historically been produced with heterogeneous catalysts that may be described as a catalyst on a solid support (e.g., titanium tetrachloride and aluminum alkyls and additional modifiers or "donors" on magnesium dichloride). This process typically uses hydrogen to control the molecular weight and electron-donor compounds to control the isotacticity. See also EP 0 622 380, EP 0 292 134 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,971,936, 5,093,415, 4,297,465, 5,385,993 and 6,239,236.
Given the extensive research activities with respect to metallocene catalysts, there is continued interested in the next generation of non-cyclopentadienyl ligands for olefin polymerization catalysts providing attractive alternatives. See, e.g., "The Search for New-Generation Olefin Polymerization Catalysts: Life beyond Metallocenes", Gibson, et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 428-447; Organometallics 1999, 18, 3649-3670 and "Advances in Non-Metallocene Olefin Polymerization Catalysts", Gibson, et al., Chem Rev. 2003, 103, 283-315. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,345 and International Application No. WO 02/38628. Recently, for isotactic polypropylene, bis-amide catalysts have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,935 and amidinate catalysts have been disclosed in WO 99/05186. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,214,939 and 6,713,577, and International Application No. WO 03/040201 for non-metallocene isotactic polypropylene catalysts.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods of using heterocycle-amine ligands, compositions, complexes, and catalysts


The present invention provides novel thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives possessing blood sugar-lowering action and aldose reductase-inhibitory action, their salts, their preparation processes and drugs containing them, and relates to thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives represented by a general formula (1) ##STR1## [wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 denote identically or differently hydrogen atoms, halogens, lower alkyl groups, hydroxyl groups, lower alkoxy groups, nitro groups or amino groups (said amino group may be substituted with lower alkyl group or lower alkanoyl group, R.sup.3 denotes a hydrogen atom or lower alkyl group, A denotes a lower alkylene or carbonyl group, and B and W denote differently lower alkylenes, carbonyl groups or bonding hands], or their salts.

As therapeutic agents for diabetes, various biguanide type and sulfonylurea type compounds have been used so far. However, the biguanide type compounds cause the lactic acid acidosis and the sulfonylurea type compounds cause serious hypoglycemia posing a problem on their adverse effect, thus the advent of therapeutic agent for diabetes without such defect is desired.
On the other hand, it has been made clear that the aldose reductase takes part in the crisis of diabetic complication (J. H. Kinoshita et al, J. Am. Med. Assoc. 246, 257 (1981)). Thus inhibition of the aldose reductase may bring prevention and therapy of diseases occurring as diabetic complications.
Compounds possessing blood sugar-lowering action and compounds possessing inhibitory action of aldose reductase have been extensively searched each separately, and, with regard to particular thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives, compounds having aldose reductase-inhibitory action or blood sugar-lowering action are known.
For example, as the aldose reductase-inhibitory agents, particular thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives are already publicly known (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 57-28073, Chem. Pharm. Bull. 30(10), 3601, (1982)). Namely, it is publicly known that 5-phenylthiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives represented by a general formula ##STR2## [wherein R denotes a hydrogen atom, lower alkyl group, hydroxyl group, alkoxy group, nitro group, amino group, lower acylamino group, halogen or trifluoromethyl group], have aldose reductase-inhibitory action.
However, thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives of the present invention represented by a general formula (1) ##STR3## [wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent hydrogen atoms, halogens, lower alkyl groups, hydroxyl groups, lower alkoxy groups, nitro groups or amino groups (said amino group may be substituted with lower alkyl group or lower alkanoyl group), R.sup.3 denotes a hydrogen atom or lower alkyl group, A denotes a lower alkylene or carbonyl group, and B and W denote differently lower alkylenes, carbonyl groups or bonding hands], were not known at all, and also it could not be anticipated that thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives of the present invention had superior blood sugar-lowering action together with strong aldose reductase-inhibitory action.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide compounds having superior blood sugar-lowering action and simultaneously strong aldose reductase-inhibitory action and being useful as effective and highly-safe drugs capable of preventing and treating diabetes and complication thereof.

Thiazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives, salts and preparation processes thereof


An air cleaner located in the air intake tract of an internal combustion engine includes a filter housing, a filter element, and a sealing ring. The sealing ring comprises a support rim and a lip seal. The sealing ring is adapted to form a seal between an internal annular sealing surface of the filter housing and an interior annular sealing surface of a sealing band that is attached to one axial end of the filter element.

This invention relates to an improved air cleaner for an internal combustion engine. The air cleaner comprises a filter housing having a filter element contained therein. More particularly, the invention relates to a radial sealing system for providing a seal between the filter housing and the filter element.
During the operation of an internal combustion engine, it is desirable to remove particulate matter from the air intake of the engine in order to reduce engine damage and the attendant operational inefficiencies that can result from ingestion by the engine of particles and debris. Accordingly, a variety of air cleaner systems have been developed to filter engine intake air.
Many conventional air cleaner systems include a filter element contained within a filter housing and a seal provided between the filter element and the housing. In many such systems, however, the seal is integrated with the filter element and thus is discarded each time the filter element is replaced. Further, in many such systems the seal can interfere with air flow through the filter element, which can have adverse effects on the operation of the engine. Finally, because of the high force required to form and break a robust seal in many such conventional radial sealing systems, replacement and/or maintenance of the filter element can be difficult.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a radial sealing system for the air cleaner of an internal combustion engine that is capable of easy installation and removal, and which provides an efficient and low-cost alternative to existing sealing systems.


A storage compartment comprises an external enclosure having an opening and a holding compartment that is capable of being inserted into and withdrawn from the interior of the external enclosure through the opening in the external enclosure. Stored articles are contained within the holding compartment. The external enclosure and the holding compartment have coacting surfaces, and a seal is interposed between those coacting surfaces for sealing off the interior of the holding compartment to the entry of gases when the holding compartment is inserted into the external enclosure and the coacting surfaces of the external enclosure and the holding compartment are brought together in a sealing relationship with the seal. Complementary surfaces at the holding compartment and at the exterior of the external enclosure are in engagement with one another and provide surfaces along which the holding compartment travels when it is inserted into and withdrawn from the interior of the external enclosure.

The present invention generally concerns storage compartments or units for storing articles and in particular the invention relates to storage compartments for refrigeration appliances such as household refrigerators.
The storage of articles in a storage compartment having a controlled environment is known. For example, storage compartments can be provided the interiors of which are capable of being isolated from the ambient air and from which gases such as oxygen can be removed. Perishable foodstuffs kept in such storage compartments will remain fresher for longer periods of time and the deterioration of the foodstuffs delayed. The maintenance of foodstuffs in this manner can be enhanced where the storage unit is located in a refrigeration appliance such as a household refrigerator.
Foodstuffs that are stored in storage compartments from which gases have been removed and that are maintained isolated from the ambient surroundings are sometimes said to be kept under vacuum. That is not to imply that all or even substantially all of the gases will have been evacuated from the storage compartments where the foodstuffs are maintained. The extent to which gases are evacuated from the storage compartments is largely a matter of choice and depends to a great extent on the capability of the device, such as a pump, that is used to evacuate the gases.
Examples of storage systems, including storage compartments of the type described above, are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/758,141, filed on Jun. 5, 2007 and entitled "Storage Systems" which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.