An opening and closing apparatus of a vehicle includes, an opening and closing member for opening and closing an opening portion of a vehicle body; a lower hinge for pivotably supporting the opening and closing member from below; and a cover member disposed below the opening and closing member placed in a closed state for covering a pivot support portion of the lower hinge from behind, wherein when the opening and closing member is in an open state, a pivoting portion pivotably supported by the pivot support portion straddles the cover member, the opening and closing member is located rearwardly of the cover member, and an uppermost site of the pivoting portion is located at a position not higher than an upper surface of the opening and closing member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an opening and closing apparatus of a vehicle. This apparatus is preferred, for example, as an opening and closing apparatus for a door in a rear portion of a vehicle, which is divided into an upper door and a lower door opened upward and downward in a separated manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle such as an RV (recreational vehicle), an opening portion of a rear door is rendered large so that large luggage can be loaded, and the rear door is itself large. In opening the rear door, therefore, a wide space is required behind the vehicle in order to ensure an opening and closing range. To avoid such a space problem, a rear portion of a vehicle 101 is divided into an upper door 102 and a lower door 103 which are opened upward and downward in a separated manner, as shown in FIG. 10A. Since the upper door 102 and the lower door 103 are opened upward and downward in a separated manner, the opening and closing range of the upper door 102 and the lower door 103 can be rendered narrow, thus decreasing a necessary space behind the vehicle.
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 1992-114814 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1994-5488 are examples of the related art.
In the lower door 103 of the rear door of the divided type, structures as shown in FIGS. 10B and 10C are usually conceivable as mounting structures for hinges which support the lower door 103 pivotably. In the mounting structure of FIG. 10B, for example, an arm 106 of a hinge 105 is attached to the lower end side of a lower door 103A put in a closed state, and a base 107 supporting the arm 106 pivotably is mounted on a vehicle body 101. In other words, the arm 106 is mounted on the front surface side (the surface facing the vehicle body 101) of a lower door 103B placed in an open state. In the mounting structure of FIG. 10C, on the other hand, an arm 106 of a hinge 105 is mounted on the front surface side (the surface facing the vehicle body 101) of a lower door 103A placed in a closed state. In other words, the arm 106 is mounted on the upper surface side of a lower door 103B placed in an open state.
In each of the above-mentioned hinge mounting structures, a large clearance S is required between the upper end of a bumper 104 and the lower end of the lower door 103A placed in the closed state, in order to secure a space for the lower door 103B placed in the open state. This lowers the degree of freedom of a design for this portion, and results in poor appearance. Moreover, the position of mounting of the arm 106 is remote from the position of center of gravity G of the lower door 103 in a side view, thus requiring a high mounting strength for the portion where the arm 106 is mounted.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 11A, if a rear portion of a vehicle 101 is divided into an upper door 102 and a lower door 103 which are opened upward and downward in a separated manner, a wire 111 is connected to one end of the lower door 103. In the open state, only the wire 111 keeps the open state and supports the lower door 103. If luggage 112 is loaded and unloaded with the use of such a structure, the luggage 112 may be temporarily placed on the lower door 103 only. In this case, under an unexpectedly heavy load, the wire 111 may be detached from the vehicle body, or may be disconnected from the lower door, or may be broken, as shown in FIG. 11B. As a result, the lower door may fall off, or the luggage 112 may be dropped, injuring an operator.
The present invention has been accomplished in light of the above-described problems with the earlier technologies. It is an object of the invention to provide an opening and closing apparatus of a vehicle, which does no harm to appearance or loading and unloading work for luggage while ensuring the strength and load bearing properties of a mounting portion.

Opening and closing apparatus of vehicle

Mitsubishi Jidosha Engineering Kabushiki Kaisha


A method for providing call authorization within a telephony network can include receiving a telephony connectivity request for establishing a telephony voice channel between the originating device and a receiving device. The specified receiving device can be determined and receiving device specific information that includes an authorization requirement can be accessed. A connection between the originating device and the receiving device can be established responsive to whether the authorization code satisfies the authorization requirement.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications and, more particularly, to pre-connection telecommunication authentication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Business interconnectivity demands have resulted in important business information being placed within networked resources. Consequently, security mechanisms have been developed and utilized to prevent unauthorized data access while assuring access can be granted to authorized users. Conventional security mechanisms attempt to prevent hostile system penetrations after a communication link has been established between a receiving or called computing device and an originating or calling computing device. Although unauthorized users may be prevented from accessing system resources, unauthorized users can be granted the opportunity to attack or "hack" into restricted areas using the established communication link.
Another situation where switch-level inbound call restrictions can be beneficial involves telephony privacy. Many home telephone owners, for example, can suffer from persistent, undesired telephone calls, such as the calls made by telemarketing companies. To many, such forced contacts and solicitations can be extremely annoying. Despite the annoyance, many providers of telephony services fail to provide inbound call screening mechanisms to customers. Instead, customers desiring a level of privacy have often been forced to purchase customer premise equipment (CPE) specifically designed to block or monitor calls. Such equipment can be expensive to purchase and can require substantial setup expenditures.

Pre-connection call authentication within a telephony network

International Business Machines Corporation


[Object] To provide a mechanism capable of suppressing confusion in communication using a local identifier.

In recent years, wireless local area networks (LANs) representative of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 have been widely used. Further, along with this, wireless LAN compatible products (hereinafter also referred to simply as "communication devices") have also increased. As the number of such communication devices increases, a possibility of a decrease in communication efficiency increases. For this reason, technology development for improving the communication efficiency has been performed.
For example, an invention related to a method of improving communication efficiency by reducing header information of a frame (a packet) is disclosed in Patent Literature 1. Specifically, instead of a global identifier such as a media access control (MAC) address, a local identifier such as an association identifier (AID) is stored in a frame as part of the header information. Since the AID is data shorter than the MAC address, the size of the header information is reduced, and thus the communication efficiency is expected to be improved.
Further, the local identifier such as the AID is allocated by a communication device operating as an access point (AP) (hereinafter also referred to simply as an AP). Specifically, the local identifier is independently allocated for each wireless communication network such as, for example, a basic service set (BSS) including an AP and a communication device operating as a station (STA) connected to the AP (hereinafter also referred to simply as an STA).

Communication device and communication method

Abstract: [Solution] A communication device includes a communication unit configured to receive a first signal addressed to another communication device including first information in which a local identifier which is used in a wireless local area network (LAN) and different from a global identifier is specified and transmit a second signal including second information in which the local identifier specified from the first information included in the received first signal is specified. A communication device includes a communication unit configured to receive a second signal including second information in which a local identifier which is used in a wireless local area network (LAN) and different from a global identifier is specified and transmit a third signal including third information in which the local identifier allocated by the communication device is specified.


A Light Emitting Diode (LED) driver circuit with a boosted voltage output for driving an LED from a voltage power supply having a voltage that is lower than the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED is provided. A charge pump provides the boosted voltage output of the LED driver circuit. During operation, the LED driver circuit switches the LED on and off at a predetermined frequency such that a human observer perceives the LED to be continuously turned xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d. In one embodiment, the LED driver circuit further comprises a current regulator for regulating the current supplied to the LED. In another embodiment, the LED driver circuit comprises a voltage regulator to regulate the boosted voltage output of the LED driver circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is Light Emitting Diode (LED) driver circuits, and more particularly, LED driver circuits with a boosted voltage output for driving an LED from a voltage power supply having a voltage that is lower than the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED.
2. Description of the Related Art
LEDs are commonly used as status indicator lights and in numerical and alpha-numerical displays. LEDs are also used in opto-couplers to transmit optical signals between circuits. Such opto-couplers are typically used to provide a communications link between circuits that are electrically isolated from each other.
LEDs are typically driven by an integrated circuit using an LED driver circuit. This is because the output of many integrated circuits can not supply the current needed to turn on an LED. FIG. 1 shows a conventional LED driver circuit for driving an LED 100. The LED driver circuit comprises a bipolar transistor 115, a collector resistor 111, and a base resistor 120. The collector resistor 110, which is used to set the current level supplied to the LED 100, is connected between a voltage power supply 105 and the anode of the LED 100. The collector terminal of the transistor 115 is connected to the cathode of the LED 100, and the emitter terminal of the transistor 115 is connected to ground. One end of the base resistor 120 is connected to the base terminal of the transistor 115. The other end of the base resistor 120 is used for the input 122 of the LED driver circuit, which may be driven by the output of a logic gate in an integrated circuit (not shown). The base resistor 120 determines the input 122 impedance of the LED driver circuit and, thus, the drive requirement at the input 122.
Historically, the voltage power supplies used to power integrated circuits have had voltages greater than the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltages of many LEDs, which typically range from about 1.6 V to 3.6 V. This has allowed the use of the same voltage power supplies to power both integrated circuits and LEDs using conventional LED driver circuits. However, as the dimensions of integrated circuits have continued to be scaled down, the voltages of many voltage power supplies used to power integrated circuits have been reduced to values approaching the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of many LEDs. Recently, the voltage used to power many integrated circuits have been migrating from 5.0 V to 3.3 V. Ultimately, the voltage used to power many integrated circuits may be reduced to a value below 1 V. As a result, the voltage power supplies used to power many integrated circuits may eventually be unable to power LEDs using conventional LED driver circuits, thereby creating the need for separate voltage power supplies to power the LEDs.
Even as the voltages used to power integrated circuits remain above the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of many LEDs, the trend towards reduced voltages to power integrated circuits may lead to a degradation of the current control of conventional LED driver circuits. This can be illustrated by way of an example in which a 3.3 V voltage power supply 105 is used to power the LED driver circuit of FIG. 1. In this example, the 3.3V voltage power supply 105 has a maximum and a minimum worst case voltage of 3.6V and 3.0 V, respectively, and the LED 100 has a turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of 2.5 V. The resistance of the collector resistor 10 is chosen such that the current supply to the LED 100 is about 10 mA at a nominal voltage power supply 105 voltage of 3.3 V. Assuming that the transistor 115 has a collector-emitter voltage drop of approximately 0.2 V, the current supply level to the LED 100 varies between 15 mA and 5 mA for the maximum and minimum worst case voltages of the voltage power supply 105, respectively. As a result, the LED driver circuit of FIG. 1 may exhibit poor current control to an LED 100 when the voltage of the voltage power supply 105 approaches the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED 100.
Therefore, there is a need for an LED driver circuit having a boosted voltage output capable of driving an LED from a voltage power supply having a voltage that is lower than the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED. This would allow an integrated circuit and the LED to be powered by the same voltage power supply when the voltage power supply has a voltage that is lower than the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED. In addition, the expense of having to provide separate voltage power supplies to power the integrated circuit and the LED may be avoided. There is also a need for an LED circuit driver that exhibits good current supply control to an LED when the voltage of the voltage power supply approaches the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED.
Embodiments of the present invention provide LED driver circuits with a boosted voltage output for driving an LED from a voltage power supply having a voltage that is lower than the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED.
An LED driver circuit, built in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, comprises an input buffer and a charge pump, both of which are connect to a voltage power supply having a voltage of Vdd. The charge pump boosts the voltage of the voltage power supply at its output in order to drive an LED having a turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage that is comparable to or greater than the voltage of the voltage power supply. The input buffer receives a control signal at its input and either enables or disables the charge pump based upon the received control signal.
In another embodiment of a preferred embodiment, the charge pump of the LED driver circuit comprises an oscillator, an inverter, a capacitor, and a diode. The oscillator has an input connected to the output of the input buffer and an output. The inverter has an input connected to the output of the oscillator and an output. The capacitor has a low electrode connected to the output of the inverter and a high electrode connected to the anode of the LED being driven. The anode of the diode is connected to the voltage power supply and the cathode of the diode is connected to the high electrode of the capacitor.
When enabled by the input buffer, the oscillator outputs a pulsing signal that alternately switches the inverter between a high output state and a low output state. When switched to the low output state by the pulsing signal, the inverter pulls the low electrode of the capacitor down to ground. The diode is forward biased and current flows from the voltage power supply to the high electrode of the capacitor through the diode. This current charges up the capacitor, raising the voltage at the high electrode of the capacitor to approximately Vddxe2x88x92Vt, where Vt is the potential drop across the diode. When switched to the high output state by the pulsing signal, the inverter raises the voltage at the low electrode of the capacitor to Vdd. This voltage rise at the low electrode of the capacitor causes the voltage at the high electrode of the capacitor to rise above Vddxe2x88x92Vt due to capacitive coupling. The high electrode of the capacitor rises until it reaches the turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d voltage of the LED, at which point, the capacitor discharges through the LED, causing the LED to turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d.
In another embodiment of a preferred embodiment, the diode of the charge pump is implemented using a diode-connected PFET. In the forward direction, the source of the PFET is connected to the voltage power supply, the drain of the PFET is connected to the high electrode of the capacitor, and the body of the PFET is connected to the drain of the PFET via a large value resistor. This type of body connection weakly forward biases the body-source junction of the diode connected PFET in the forward direction, thereby lowering the magnitude of the threshold voltage Vt of the PFET. By lowering the magnitude of the threshold voltage Vt in the forward direction, the potential drop across the diode connected PFET is decreased, thereby increasing the voltage boosting capability of the LED driver circuit.
In another embodiment of a preferred embodiment, a second charge-pump stage is connected to the LED driver circuit in order to increase the voltage boosting capability of the LED driver circuit. The second charge pump stage comprises a second inverter, a second diode, and a second capacitor. The second inverter has an input connected to the output of the first inverter and an output. The second capacitor has a low electrode connected to the output of the second inverter and a high electrode connected to the anode of the LED being driven. The anode of the second diode is connected to the cathode of the first diode and the cathode of the second diode is connected to the high electrode of the second capacitor.
In another embodiment of a preferred embodiment, the LED driver circuit drives two LEDs. The LED driver circuit according to this embodiment comprises a ring counter and a first and second NFET switch. Each one of the NFET switches is connected to the ring counter and one of the two LEDs being driven. During operation, the ring counter alternately switches on the first and second NFET switch to alternately turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d the two LEDs.
In another embodiment of a preferred embodiment, a switch/current regulator is connected between the cathode of the LED being driven and ground in order to regulate the current level flowing through the LED. In one embodiment, the regulated current level is set by a reference current.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the LED driver circuit comprises a voltage regulator to regulate the boosted voltage output. In one embodiment, the voltage regulator is connected in series between the voltage power supply and the charge pump. When the voltage, Vdd, of the voltage power supply exceeds a predetermined voltage, Vddxe2x80x2, the voltage regulator reduces the voltage Vdd to the voltage Vddxe2x80x2, which is outputted to the charge pump. Otherwise, the voltage regulator passes the voltage, Vdd, of the power voltage supply to the charge pump. In another embodiment, the LED driver circuit regulates the boosted voltage output by controlling a charge-up voltage of first capacitor based upon a comparison of the charge-up voltage of the first capacitor and a reference voltage. In another embodiment, the LED driver regulates the boosted voltage output by controlling whether or not the inverter boosts the voltage of the first capacitor based upon a comparison of the power supply voltage, Vdd, and a reference voltage.
In another embodiment of the invention, the LED driver comprises an NFET switch, a first PFET switch, a second PFET switch and a capacitor. The gate of the NFET is driven by a clock signal B, the drain of the NFET is connected to the gate of the first PFET, and the source of the NFET is connected to ground. The source of the first PFET is connected to the voltage power supply, and the body of the first PFET is connected to the drain of the first PFET through a resistor. The gate of the second PFET is driven by a clock signal C, the drain of the second PFET is connected to the drain of the NFET, and the body of the second PFET is connected to the source of the second PFET 1215. The capacitor has a low electrode driven by a clock signal A, and a high electrode connected to the drain of the first PFET and the source of the second PFET. In this embodiment, current flows from the voltage power supply to the capacitor through the first PFET switch to charge up the capacitor.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the LED driver provides a continuous current to the LED being driven for applications in which the LED can not be switched xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d, i.e., pulsed.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the LED driver circuit of any one of the various embodiments of the invention and an LED are packaged together in an LED lamp package. The LED lamp package according to this embodiment includes a ground lead, an input control lead, and a voltage supply lead, wherein the ground lead includes a reflector dish. The LED lamp package further includes an LED driver chip comprising the LED driver circuit and an LED chip comprising the LED. Both the LED driver chip and the LED chip are mounted onto the reflector dish of the ground lead. The power supply lead is connected to the LED driver chip by a first bond wire, the input lead is connected to the LED driver chip by a second bond wire, and the LED driver chip is connected to the LED chip by a third bond wire. The top portions of the three lead are enclosed by a light transparent encapsulate.
In another embodiment of the present invention the LED lamp package does not include the input control lead. In this embodiment, the LED driver circuit on the LED driver chip is configured to automatically turn on when a sufficiently high voltage power supply is applied to the LED driver circuit.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

LED driver circuit with a boosted voltage output


A cellular telephone battery having the functions of auto answering, hand-free listening and speaking, low power control, power wake up control, battery protection, and quick charging. The battery includes an auto-answer and hand-free control unit connected to the mainframe of the cellular telephone, a set of control buttons, a microphone, an indicator light, and a speaker respectively mounted on the outside for operation by the user to control the auto-answer and hand-free control unit, the auto-answer and hand-free control unit including an encoder/decoder/storage unit and two exchanging units controlled by the control buttons to achieve the specified functions.

The present invention relates to cellular telephones, and relates more specifically to a multifunction cellular telephone battery which provides the functions of auto-answer, hand-free, quick charging, etc.
Cellular telephones have become more and more popular nowadays, for the advantage of high mobility. Advanced cellular telephones provide many sophisticated functions to satisfy consumers' different requirements. For example, the hand-free speaking function allows a car driver to speak through the cellular telephone without holding it in hand during driving. This function has been defined in certain countries as a requisite function of cellular telephones. Due to limited space, added functions cannot be unlimitedly built in a cellular telephone. Therefore, most added functions are built outside the mainframe of the cellular telephone. However, the design of an externally built structure complicates the assembly process of the cellular telephone. If an externally built structure provides only one added function, several externally built structures shall be installed when many added functions are required. When several externally built structures are installed, the mobility of the cellular telephone will be greatly affected.

Cellular telephone battery with auto-answering and hand-free functions


The invention relates to motorcycle brake disc rotors. The technical result of the claimed invention is an improvement in the manufacturability of a ventilated rotor having internal through cooling channels, a reduction in the weight and moment of inertia of said rotor and an increase in the cooling rate thereof. The technical result is achieved in that, in the motorcycle brake disc rotor, which constitutes an annular body having opposite annular frictional surfaces, a radially external lateral surface and a radially internal lateral surface and internal through cooling channels passing from the radially external lateral surface to the radially internal lateral surface, the annular body is formed from at least two layers, wherein the above-mentioned at least two layers of the annular body are rigidly connected to each other and each layer constitutes a component premanufactured separately and integrally, wherein the frictional annular surfaces at least partially form outwardly facing sides of the outer layers of the annular body while the inwardly facing sides of the outer layers of the annular body have areas directly in contact with the adjacent layer and areas free from contact with the adjacent layer, wherein the above-mentioned outer layer areas directly in contact with the adjacent layer serve for the above-mentioned rigid connection of the layers, and each of the internal through cooling channels is at least partially formed by that area of one outer layer which is free from contact with the adjacent layer and by that area of the other outer layer which is free from contact with the adjacent layer.

The claimed invention relates to rotors of motorcycle brake discs.
It is known that, when braking a motorcycle, a main part of the load (up to 75% and even more) is applied to the front wheel, and, consequently, the front wheel brake is loaded much more than the rear wheel brake. Therefore, the front brake disc is heated significantly greater than the rear brake disc during braking, and it is the reason that explains difference in structure of front and rear brake discs of modern motorcycles.
Front brake discs have a greater external diameter (300-330 mm) and consist, as a rule, of a rotor having a width about 35 mm and a thickness from 4 to 7 mm (usually, 4.5-6 mm), to which surface a braking force from brake pads is applied directly, and an aluminum carrier ("spider") that is used for fixation of a brake disc on the front wheel. As the material of the motorcycle brake disc rotor to which the requirements of a stable and rather high (as a rule, from 0.3 and higher) friction coefficient with the pads in a broad temperature range, minimum wear, high rigidity and corrosion resistance are applied, a stainless steel, usually of martensite class (of 20X13 type in Russia or Steel 420 according to AISI, USA) is mostly used. The aluminum carrier ("spider") of the front brake disc is connected to the rotor either by a rigid tie, and then the whole brake disc is a rigid structure, or so called "floating" discs are used, and then the hub is connected to the rotor through special bushings. In the latter case a steel rotor, which is heated significantly during braking (up to 500° C. or more) and expands due to heating, practically does not deform itself and does not deform the aluminum carrier, and the flat form of the rotor is maintained due to moving in a "floating contact", which is principally important during braking.
The use of such a composite structure for the motorcycle front brake disc enables not only to decrease its weight, but also reduce heating of the carrier of a brake disc (and the wheel itself), since heat transfer from the rotor heated during braking through floating contacts is significantly poorer.
The rotor of the motorcycle rear brake disc experiences significantly lower heat load. As a result, rear brake discs are of a smaller size (external diameter, as a rule, is not more than 220-230 mm) and represent, actually, a simple steel rotor with a thickness ranging from 4 to 7 mm (preferably about 5 mm) on which mounting holes are arranged for fixing the rotor on the rear wheel.
Many producers manufacture motorcycle front and rear brake discs comprising, as the main working element, a brake disc rotor. On the whole, except for several parts of their designs, motorcycle front and rear wheel rotors correspond to the above description. In particular, FIG. 1 shows examples of brake discs and rotors for motorcycle front and rear wheels, which are produced by Spacek Product company (Czech Republic, website: wwwdotgoldfrendotcom). Using of through slots (holes) should be noted that are made in the axial direction (transversely to the rotor friction surfaces), and/or transverse grooves on the rotor friction surface that are made, as a rule, in the radial direction and are used for removing dust and pad erosion products. The edges of such holes (grooves) are dust removers and act so as to cut pressed pad dust and discard it to the outside. A specific form of slots (holes) or grooves may differ and is determined by the requirements of sufficient strength and rigidity of the rotor as well as by aspects of visual attractiveness of the rotor design.
Thus, the known rotors of the motorcycle brake discs are an annular body having opposite annular friction surfaces as well as radially external and radially internal lateral surfaces. A distance between the flat friction surfaces (i.e., a rotor thickness) is 4-7 mm, preferably 5-6 mm, a distance between the radially external and radially internal lateral surfaces (i.e., a rotor width) usually corresponds to a width of a brake pad, is approximately 25-35 mm, and may be varied in the circumferential direction (see FIG. 1). As a rule, a plurality of through slots in the rotor axial direction and/or grooves in the radial direction is made in a rotor, but in any case a motorcycle brake disc rotor is a one-piece article made of one blank. In a majority of cases this blank is a sheet of heat-resistant stainless steel, and in some cases ceramic (composite) rotors are applied.
Conventional technical solutions enable to reduce a weight of a motorcycle brake disc rotor (and a brake disc on the whole) to a certain extent without the losses in braking performance, but the weight of rotors and their moment of inertia remain rather big, especially in view of the fact that rotors relate to motorcycle unsprung components which weight reduction is particularly important. A weight and a moment of inertia of a rotor have a significant effect on dynamics and maneuverability of a motorcycle (e.g., an angular velocity of wheel axis turn, which is also associated with motorcycle turn speed, depends on a wheel moment of inertia), and on fuel consumption, and, therefore, rotor weight reduction is very important.
A significant shortcoming of conventional rotors is their considerable heating in hard braking modes, especially during sporting events as well as in hot weather. It is for the purpose of preventing a braking fluid from overheating (since such overheating may cause brake failure) the rotor weight and dimensions are to be increased. An increase of the dimension, i.e., a surface area of a brake disc rotor, increases its cooling rate, but this causes a fast increase of a moment of inertia which for practically permanent thickness and width of a rotor is proportional to the third power of its radius.
An incident airflow cools conventional brake disc rotors in the laminar flow mode. Actually, the Reynolds number Re for air flowing around a rotor is determined by the expression Re=(V*L)/v, where V is a velocity of an incident airflow, L is a rotor ring width, v is air kinematic viscosity. Since L is app. 3 cm, v is app. 2.5*10−5 m2/s (in the temperature range from 50 to 350° C. kinematic viscosity raises from 1.*10−5 m2/s to 5.5*10−5 m2/s), then, even at the speed of 180 km/h (50 m/s) Re<6*104. But a laminar flow becomes a turbulent flow at Reynolds number Re>3*105 Yudin, B. N. "Technical Thermodynamics. Heat Transfer" (in Russian). M.: Higher School Publishers, 1988. 479 pages; p. 276).
Heat transfer in the laminar mode is comparatively inefficient. Transition to the turbulent mode of flowing around would enable to increase cooling speed significantly, but a ten-times increase in an incident airflow velocity or, practically, ten-times increase in rotor dimensions is impossible.
Slots and holes in conventional rotors, while improving operation of braking pads, only reduce an efficient area of heat exchange with the ambient air without significant turbulizing an airflow (which would improve a cooling mode).
And it is a rotor cooling speed that mainly determines rotor dimensions and weight, that is, if cooling conditions are better, then rotor dimensions may be decreased, and, correspondingly, a weight and, especially, a moment of inertia of a brake disc could be reduced too. Furthermore, at a significant lowering of a rotor maximum temperature during operation due to better cooling (e.g., to 300° C.) it may become possible to use light alloys for rotors (perhaps with corresponding coatings providing, first of all, a required friction coefficient and wear resistance for brake pads), which would contribute to a sharp decrease of a brake disc weight without significant complicating the technology of manufacturing a brake disc.
A significant improvement in brake disc cooling efficiency may be achieved, if a rotor has internal through cooling channels going from the radially external lateral surface to the radially internal lateral surface and serving for inside cooling the rotor annular body.
It is essentially important for the said high efficiency of heat exchange with an incident air in the internal through cooling channels of a rotor that such channels are made in a rather fast rotating part, since, if through channels of similar section and length (the relation between a channel length to minimum transverse size is 10 to 15) are immovable, no turbulization of an airflow takes place, and heat removal is inefficient ([1]; p. 294).
Actually, at an incident airflow speed V and a channel downstream length (i.e., in fact, a rotor width) L a characteristic time during which a given air portion is in a channel is T≈L/V. The time, during which a rotor, due to its rotation, will move by the channel length, is τ˜δ/V1 where: δ is a characteristic transverse size of a channel (its "width" in the circumferential direction, a channel may have a variable width); V1 is an average circumferential speed of a rotor. For a real rotor having an annular shape with a relatively small width in comparison to an average radius, which rotor rotates jointly with the wheel, the following relation is correct for V1: V1≈V·(Rr/Rt), where Rr and Rt are an average rotor radius and a motorcycle tire radius, respectively. The condition of collision of an airflow passing through a channel with the channel side walls has the obvious form τ<T, and, by using the above expressions, it is possible to find the condition for the parameters of rotor channels:δ<L(Rr/Rt)  (1)
For rotors of front brake disc of modern motorcycles of a rather high level the relation Rr/Rt is ˜0.45 (Rr is ˜155 mm, Rt is ˜330 mm), an average rotor width L is ˜30-35 mm, and it can be found from the relation (1) that δ<15 mm. For rotors of rear wheel brake discs the relation Rr/Rt is smaller and equals to ˜0.35, which at the same average rotor width gives the condition for a channel transverse size δ<10-11 mm.
At the optimal (also see below) channel transverse width of ˜5 mm the formulated condition (1) is complied with twofold reserve, and the possibility of colliding with the "vertical" channel walls only increase turbulization of a flow in the internal through cooling channels.
The geometric parameters of the internal through cooling channels are determined by the operating conditions of a motorcycle brake disc rotor, first of all by the requirement of sufficient local rigidity of the vertical walls of these channels (a thickness of the channel vertical wall is the thickness of a solid material layer "over the channels", which adjoins the rotor friction surfaces that are acted on, i.e., pressed by brake pads), as well as by the requirements to the whole rotor rigidity at its preset dimensions (it is already said above that the diameter of a brake disc rotor for the motorcycle front wheel is ˜320 mm, the thickness is in the range of ˜5-6 mm) and by the expediency of decreasing a rotor weight. As a result, a range of possible parameters of the internal through cooling channels is limited irrespective of a specific variant of making them.
Thus, a deflection of the vertical walls of the internal through cooling channels under the pressure exerted by the brake pads is increased in direct proportion to the fourth power of the channel width and in inverse proportion to the third power of thickness of its vertical walls. As a result, a minimum thickness of the vertical walls of such channels is 1 mm, which determines the channel maximum height of 5 mm (for the integral rotor thickness of 7 mm), and an optimal channel height for the currently common rotors having a thickness app. 5 mm is 2-3 mm. Similarly, in order to ensure a rather high local rigidity of a rotor (rigidity in the area "over the internal through cooling channels"), a preferable width of these channels is in the range from 3 to 8 mm. In such a case a number of internal cooling channels in a rotor is 60-100.
The relation between the channel width and the channel wall width or, which is the same, the relation of a distance between the axes of neighboring internal through cooling channels to a characteristic width of a channel (since the channel shape may differ from the rectangular one) is determined, on one hand, by the condition that a surface area that actually ensures a friction force should be rather great. On the other hand, if a channel width is small in comparison to a distance between the axes of neighboring channels, then a volume of maximum efficient heat removal is reduced as well as a rotor weight is changed insignificantly. The joint action of these two opposite factors leads to the condition that the relation of a distance between the axes of the internal through cooling channels to their width does not exceed 4, preferably does not exceed 2.
A minimum width of the internal through cooling channels is, preferably, ˜1 mm and is determined by the two factors:                the technological factor: at a smaller channel width and an optimal relation of the width and a distance between the axes of such neighboring channels their number in a rotor becomes too great; thus, when the distance between the channel axes is 2 mm, their number in the brake disc rotor of the front wheel exceeds 400;        the operational factor: channels of small section are easily clogged with dust and contaminants, they are more difficult to be cleaned, when necessary.
Similarly, a minimum channel height is determined by the operational reasons as well as by a reduction of heat removal efficiency in an internal through cooling channel (since a share of such channels in the rotor section becomes insignificant) and, practically, by maintenance of a rotor weight; the preferable height of the internal through cooling channels is at least 1 mm.
Thus, in order to ensure a significant weight and moment of inertia reduction for a ventilated rotor having internal through cooling channels with maintenance (or small change) of its full thickness, it is advisable to make ˜50-80 such channels with a characteristic width of ˜3-6 mm and a height of 2-3 mm in such a rotor. A greater height of the channels will inevitably lead to increase in the full thickness (height) of a rotor, which is, in principle, possible, but will require to alter (modernize) brake system supports currently used.
Various embodiments of a brake disc rotor with internal through cooling channels are proposed in the following patents ([2]: Fr 2927389; [3]: EP 1016803), Patent [2] relates to brake disc rotors of motorcycles and cars, and Patent [3] relates to brake disc rotors of bicycles.
Since it seems technically unreal to make such channels with a height not more than 2.5-3 mm (when the full thickness of a rotor is app. 5 mm) and a length app. 30 mm (corresponding to a rotor width) in one-piece article at a reasonable price of the finished article and subject to the fact that a number of channels in one rotor should by app. 60 or more, Patents [2], [3] propose to make brake disc rotor (or a whole brake disc) components manufactured separately.
Patent [2] proposes a brake disc with internal through cooling channels, where two annular friction surfaces are the external surfaces of two parallel steel plates kept at a distance from each other by spacers that are welded to the inner sides of these plates, which ensures rigid connection of the rotor elements to each other. In particular, such spacers may be rods of rectangular section that are arranged essentially radially (FIG. 15 in [2]), and this embodiment just forms internal through cooling channels going from the radially external lateral surface to the radially internal lateral surface of the rotor.
The proposed embodiment of the rotor provides a significant improvement in its cooling, but has extremely low manufacturability due to a great number of constituent elements, is difficult in assembling and practically does not ensure a reduction of the rotor weight. Indeed, in order to provide required rigidity of the rotor outer layers during braking with a small number of spacers, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the said outer layers significantly and, respectively, the rotor weight (that may even exceed the weight of a solid rotor), and with rather thin friction layers it is necessary to use a great number of spacing rods (˜70 or more rods with a length of ˜30 mm and a section of ˜4*2.5 mm), which is extremely non-practicable from the technological point.
Indeed, when making a rotor according to [2], it is necessary, at first, to arrange precisely all spacing rods (˜70 pieces!) on the inner side of one (the first) of two steel plates, to weld all the spacers to this plate, while ensuring that the metal will not be splashed or pressed out to the opposite sides of the spacers, to which the inner side of the second steel plate will then be welded. The presence of a splash of the metal or the pressed-out metal will cause (after welding of the second plate) mutual obliquity of the plates, the presence of local stress concentrators, etc. Obliquity may be corrected by grinding or milling the welded rotor as a one-piece article, but appeared concentrators may not be removed. Therefore, apart from other operations, control and additional treatment of the welded spacer free surfaces will be required after the first stage of welding, and, evidently, assembly and precise positioning of a great number of elements complicate the manufacturing of the rotor according to [2] also.
Patent [3] proposes a method for making a ventilated brake disc for a bicycle, which has internal through cooling channels, where a corrugated plate that is made by deforming in one operation is used as a spacer between the rotor outer flat layers, this corrugated plate has circumferentially alternating projections and recesses. All the three elements (layers) of this proposed rotor are made of stainless steel, and rigid connection of the rotor components is ensured due to using a nickel bonding paste in the areas of contact between the outer plates with a spacer and subsequent heating the whole assembly to a temperature above the austenitic transition temperature.
The side walls of the internal through cooling channels in this rotor are inclined regions of the corrugated intermediate layer that connect the projections and recesses, and the other two (vertical) channel walls (along the rotor thickness or axis) are, on one side, the inner (relative to the rotor) surface of the intermediate layer and, on the other side, the inner surface of the outer layer. That is, the thickness of the channel vertical wall on one side is equal to the thickness of the outer plate, and the thickness of the channel wall on the other side is equal to the sum of the outer layer thickness and the thickness of the plate which the corrugated intermediate layer is made of.
In this embodiment of a ventilated rotor the height of the internal through cooling channels is determined by the relationh=H−d,  (2)where: H is the full height of a corrugation, d is the thickness of a plate which a corrugated spacer is made of. For the rotor described in [3] H=3.2 mm, d=0.6 mm and the channel height is 2.6 mm, the side walls of the corrugated intermediate layer have approximately the same height (length). The proposed embodiment of the rotor simplifies its assembly significantly, but, in spite of improved cooling mode, it does not enable to reduce the weight of the whole rotor even for a bicycle (see below). In particular, the inventors of [3] describe a ventilated rotor which outer layers are formed by plates having the thickness of 0.8 mm, and the corrugated spacer is made of a plate with the thickness of 0.6 mm. Since the whole area of the corrugated spacer, as follows from description of its shape in [3], is significantly greater than the area of the outer layers, the weight of this rotor knowingly exceeds the weight of a similar solid rotor with the thickness of 2.2 mm. At the same time, a thickness of modern non-ventilated brake discs is usually 1.8-2.2 mm. Correspondingly, a greater rotor weight automatically ensures its lower heating during braking even without internal cooling channels.
Furthermore, the proposed ventilated brake disc rotor has significantly greater dimensions; thus, the full thickness of the rotor proposed in [3] is 4.8 mm, which is app. 2.4 times greater than the thickness of standard brake discs.
Further, it is to be taken into account that in the proposed embodiment of the ventilated rotor the rigidity (including local one) is practically fully determined by rigidity of the corrugated intermediate layer, first of all by the height of the corrugation itself and the thickness of its side walls. Correspondingly, if this known technical solution is used in a brake disc rotor for a motorcycle, the corrugated intermediate layer rigidity should be increased many times, since pressure exerted by brake pads on rotor friction surfaces is significantly greater during braking a motorcycle than a bicycle. Moreover, with growing pressure exerted by pads tangent stresses are also increased in points where the intermediate layer is connected to the outer layers (apart from stresses arising due to friction of pads on friction surfaces), which reduces the lifetime of the assembled construction.
Then, with increasing a thickness of the source plate which is used for forming the intermediate layer, the making of a structure corrugated circumferentially is sharply complicated. Calculations show that a thickness of inclined (lateral) parts of a corrugated structure in the brake disc rotor for a motorcycle should be at least ˜1.6 mm. In such a case, in order to obtain the height of 2 mm of the internal cooling channels, it is necessary to ensure that the full height of the corrugation is H>3.6 mm. The making of such a part is extremely complex technological task for a rather thick source plate, especially with regard to anisotropy of its plastic properties and different degree of plate deformation at different distances from its axis, and the making of a deformed corrugated structure for forming a rotor with channels of complex section becomes practically unreal. Subject to a thickness of the rotor outer layers>1.4 mm (in a case of a motorcycle), the full thickness of the rotor becomes>6 mm (>6.4 mm), which significantly exceeds the dimensions of modern non-ventilated rotors, and the weight of the known ventilated rotor is not less than the weight of quality standard rotors.
Furthermore, local heating of opposite regions of the known rotor, especially at the initial braking stage, differs significantly due to a multiple difference of heated metal thicknesses of a rotor at practically similar heat release on both friction surfaces, which causes additional thermal stresses and provokes geometric changes (distortions) of the ventilated rotor proposed in Patent EP 1016803.
Thus, the known ventilated brake rotors with internal through cooling channels are not manufacturable and do not ensure a weight reduction for a motorcycle brake disc rotor.


The present invention provides a water electrolysis method comprising: supplying at least water into an electrolysis cell which includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, and an anode and a cathode disposed sandwiching the solid polymer electrolyte membrane therebetween; and providing a potential P between the anode and the cathode to generate oxygen from the anode, wherein an oxidation catalyst containing at least one of first transition metals is present on at least a part of a surface of the anode, and the potential P satisfies P1<P<P2, wherein P1 indicates a lowest potential at which oxygen is generated from the anode, and P2 indicates a lowest potential P2 at which a quantitative index of a dissolved chemical species derived from the oxidation catalyst begins to show potential dependence.

The development of efficient technologies that utilize renewable energy is important to meet the growing energy demand. Hydrogen produced by water electrolysis (2H2O→2H2+O2) is not only an ideal energy support for storing renewable energy, but also an important raw material in the chemical industry such as ammonia synthesis.
A particularly promising mechanism for water electrolysis is a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. However, a PEM locally brings about an acidic environment. Therefore, the catalysts that maintain stable catalytic activity against oxygen evolution reaction (OER; 2H2O→O2+4H++4e−) are oxide derivatives of iridium, which is one of the rarest elements in the earth's crust. For example, the use of a terawatt-scale PEM electrolyzer with an iridium oxide catalyst would require more than 10 times the annual iridium production. Considering this, it can be said that the development of an acid-stable non-noble metal OER catalyst is an important issue in water electrolysis with a PEM electrolyzer.
Extensive research has been conducted to develop 3d transition metal-based OER catalysts that can be used over a wide pH range. However, many experimental studies have shown that oxides of abundant metals (iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese) are unstable due to their solubility in acidic media (NPLs 1 to 6). Their lack of stability is a particularly urgent issue, as there is currently no general way to reasonably identify stable materials. On the other hand, it has been proved that the activity of a 3d transition metal (first transition metal) catalyst can be predicted and selected by the d-band theory (NPL 7).

Method and apparatus for water electrolysis, and method for determining drive potential of water electrolysis


A method of assembling a disk drive according to the invention comprises steps of: providing a base component of a housing of the disk drive; providing a cover component of the housing; mating the base component and the cover component to form an enclosed housing that encloses disk drive components for operation of the disk drive; and sealing the disk drive using low thermal energy bonding. A hermetically sealed disk drive of the invention comprises: a housing comprising a base and a cover; and disk drive components enclosed within the housing for operation of the disk drive, wherein the housing comprises a bondline continuously extending around a periphery of the housing for sealing the same.

The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for sealing disk drives using low thermal energy bonding techniques.
A disk drive is a device used to store information in a computing environment. In a disk drive, data is generally recorded on planar, round, rotating surfaces (which are commonly referred to as disks, discs, or platters). There are several types of disk drives, including optical disk drives, floppy disk drives, and hard disk drives. Nowadays, hard disk drives tend to be most common. Strictly speaking, "drive" refers to a device distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. A hard disk drive (sometimes referred to as a HDD), also referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive, is a non-volatile storage device that stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Early hard disk drives had removable media; however, a HDD today is typically an encased unit with fixed media.
A typical hard disk drive includes a head disk assembly (HDA) and a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) attached to a disk drive base of the HDA. The HDA typically includes at least one magnetic disk, a spindle motor for rotating the disk, and a head stack assembly (HSA) having an actuator assembly with at least one transducer head, typically several, for reading and writing data from the disk. The PCBA includes a servo control system in the form of a disk controller for generating servo control signals. The HSA is controllably positioned in response to the generated servo control signals from the disk controller. In so doing, the attached heads are moved relative to tracks disposed upon the disk. The heads are typically distanced from the magnetic disk by a gaseous cushion—so that they are said to "fly" over the disk. Thus, it is important that the position of the heads be well-controlled for proper reading and writing from the disk.
Hard disk drives are generally sealed to prevent dust and other external sources of contamination from interfering with operation of the hard disk heads therein. Some hard disk drives are hermetically sealed. A hermetic seal is generally understood to be an airtight seal. Note that some seals (e.g., those "sealing" air within the hard disk drive) are not literally air tight, but rather utilize an extremely fine air filter in conjunction with air circulation inside the hard drive enclosure. The spinning of the disks causes air to circulate therein, forcing any particulates to become trapped on the filter. The same air currents also act as a gas bearing, which enables the heads to float on a cushion of air above the surfaces of the disks. However, "hermetically" sealed means that the seal is so airtight that the disk drive's internal pressure is substantially independent of the external or ambient pressure. This is in contrast to a conventional or non-hermetically sealed disk drive that has a breather port with a filter in a wall of the base plate or cover for equalizing the disk drive's internal pressure with the external pressure. Thus, a hermetically sealed drive does not contain a breather port.
Within a hermetically sealed hard disk drive, gases other than atmospheric air are often employed. Filling the sealed environment of a hard disk drive with gases other than air can enhance their performance. For example, use of lower density inert gases, such as helium, can reduce aerodynamic drag between the disks and their associated read/write heads by a factor of approximately five-to-one as compared to their operation in air. This reduced drag beneficially results in reduced power requirements for the spindle motor. A helium-filled drive, thus, uses substantially less power than a comparable hard disk drive operating in an air environment. At the same time, the helium gas also conducts heat generated during operation of the disk drive away more effectively than air.
Hermetically sealed hard disk drives are first filled with a desired gaseous medium (whether it be atmospheric air or one or more other gases) before operation. Then, if the constituency of the gaseous medium substantially changes due to leakage of the hard disk drive housing, the hard disk drive must be either discarded or refilled with the desired gaseous medium. Filling disk drives to a desired pressure and concentration of gaseous components, however, can be both time-consuming and difficult. A number of patent documents focus on providing and/or replenishing gases such as helium at a desired concentration within a hard disk drive. See, for example, U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2003/0081349 and 2003/0089417. Also see U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,064.
Due to imperfect sealing of hard disk drive housings, the benefits of using lower density gases such as helium are conventionally not longstanding. Potential paths of leakage (allowing both air flow into the hard disk drive housing and allowing gas outflow from the hard disk drive housing) include those paths existing at the junction of two mating components thereof. Those components include, for example, screws or other mechanical fasteners used to conventionally fasten multiple parts of the housing together. In addition, gasket seals and the like used to improve the seal between multiple components are often susceptible to at least some leakage. As gas such as helium leaks out of a sealed hard disk drive, air leaks in (or vice versa), causing undesirable effects in the operation of the disk drives—even possibly causing the disk drives to catastrophically fail. For example, an increased concentration of air inside the hard disk drive may increase forces on the read/write head therein due to turbulent airflow within the drive. Further, such undesired air may cause the read/write heads to "fly" at too great a distance above the disks. The risk of unexpected failure due to inadequate concentration of helium within such drives is a considerable drawback to helium-filled disk drives, particularly since the data stored within the disk drive can be irretrievably lost if the disk drive fails.
Therefore, as discussed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0179489, despite the advantages of helium-filled drives, such drives have not been commercially successful. This is mainly due to problems associated with leakage of gas from within the drives over time. Unlike air-filled disk drives, helium-filled drives do not include a filtered port to equalize the pressure within the drive to the ambient pressure—which ensuing pressure differential contributes to increased leakage of gas. Thus, while prior art helium drives are completely "sealed" in the conventional sense, it is still possible for helium gas therein to leak out past conventional rubber gasket seals used to seal the top cover to the drive base. Such leakage is not surprising given the relatively smaller size (i.e., lower atomic weight) of the helium atoms in comparison to the constituent gases found in air (i.e., nitrogen and oxygen). That is, the rubber gasket seals on prior art drives allow the relatively smaller helium atoms to diffuse through the rubber membrane. Indeed, such prior art gasket seals do not provide hermetic seals with respect to air (i.e., the gasket seals are also permeable to the larger atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in air) since it is air that typically displaces the helium gas that leaks from the drive.
Most prior art gasket seals are only intended to keep relatively large contaminants such as dust or smoke from the interior of a disk drive. However, such gasket seals are preferred as compared to other, more permanent methods of sealing a drive for two main reasons. First, such seals typically do not outgas and, thus, do not contribute to the contamination of the interior of the drive. Secondly, such seals may be reused if necessary during the assembly of the disk drive, such as when an assembled drive fails to pass certification testing and must be "re-worked." Re-working a drive typically entails removing the top cover from the base and replacing a defective disk or read/write head while the drive is still in a clean room environment. The reworked drive is then reassembled, which can even be done using the same rubber gasket seal positioned between the base and the top cover. Unfortunately, however, while such gasket seals are convenient, they simply often do not provide a sufficient hermetic seal to maintain the required concentration of helium (or other low density gas) within the disk drive for the desired service life of the drive.
In view of the potential for long-term performance problems, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0179489 describes a disk drive assembly having a sealed housing. As described therein, a disc drive includes a base plate supporting a spindle motor and an actuator assembly. A structural cover is removably attached to the base plate to form an internal environment within the disc drive. The internal environment of the drive is filled with a low density gas such as helium, and a sealing cover is permanently attached to the base plate and the structural cover to form a hermetic seal that maintains a predetermined concentration of the low density gas within the internal environment over a service lifetime of the disc drive.
The disc drive further includes a first seal secured between the base plate and the structural cover to prevent contaminants from entering the internal environment of the disc drive. The first seal is formed from a material such as rubber that allows leakage of the low density gas from the internal environment at a sufficiently low rate so that the disc drive may be operated for a predetermined period of time in the absence of the sealing cover.
In one embodiment, the base plate includes a raised outer edge and the sealing cover includes a downward depending edge that is adhesively bonded within a groove formed between an outer surface of the structural cover and the raised outer edge of the base plate. Alternatively, the sealing cover may include a downward depending edge that is adhesively secured to an outer perimeter wall of the base plate. In an alternative embodiment, the sealing cover is soldered to a top surface of the raised outer edge of the base plate. Such assemblies purportedly create a hermetic seal that will maintain desired concentrations of helium (or other low density gases) within the drive over the operational lifespan of the drive (e.g., leaking helium at such a low rate that it would take over seventy years for the helium concentration to drop below a predetermined lower limit). However, such sealing covers are not without their limitations—e.g., those dimensional limitations discussed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0179489 and the potential interference of such sealing covers with electrical connectors, such as those associated with flex circuitry protruding from the disk drive. Thus, improvements are still needed.
In addition, while U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0223148 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 7,119,984) discusses improved containment of helium within a hard disk drive, the methods therein rely on laser-based metal sealing of such drives. Further, such "sealing" of drives is incomplete in that it does not prevent leakage through valves and ports used to inject gas into disk drive housings once sealed as such. As described therein, a base can be combined with a cover by overlapping respectively corresponding coupling flanges of the base and cover with each other. The coupling flanges are then described as being jointed and fastened together by spot welding, but only if both of the base and cover are made of metal including iron. Alternatively, hermetic sealing to some extent is said to be guaranteed if seam-welding is effected by continuously carrying out spot welding. Alternatively, when the base and the cover are made of a metal other than iron or a resin material, the coupling flanges are described as being joined together by means such as wrap-seaming, screws, or riveting. Still further, if both the base and cover are made of metal including aluminum or made of a resin material, the coupling flanges are stated to be preferably jointed and fastened together by screws or rivets. Further, in the outer peripheral portion of the jointed coupling flanges, a frame composed of a pair of L-shaped frame elements can be attached to force the jointed coupling flanges to be closed up tightly. Each of these L-shaped frame elements are made of so-called engineering plastic, e.g., polyamide resin or polyphenylene sulfide resin, and have a sectional form with a recess corresponding to the outer shape of the jointed coupling flanges. In this case, the L-shaped frame elements are fixed to the jointed coupling flanges of the housing by adhesive or by welding the frame elements per se. Also see U.S. Pat. No. 6,762,909 for a description of laser welding of a disk drive's cover and base plate made of aluminum or other alloys. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,592 discusses how spot welding can be used to secure a base and cover of a disk drive housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,592 discloses a housing comprising a lower body portion and a cover portion. Lower body portion is stated to be cylindrical in shape, having a lip located towards the outer periphery and a ledge associated therewith. Cover portion is stated to have a lip portion along its outer periphery. The inner and outer diameter of the lips are selected so that the two lips nest with one another when the cover portion is placed over the lower body portion, i.e., the outer diameter of the lower body portion's lip is selected to be greater than the inner diameter of the cover portion's lip. Further, the height of the cover portion's lip is selected with respect to the height of the lower body portion's lip so that a groove is formed for accommodating the outer periphery of the disk. Adhesives, such as epoxy, can be applied in the groove to assist in fixedly securing the disk within the groove. The disk is further secured in the groove by the clamping action provided by the cover portion and the lower body portion. Alternative methods for securing the cover portion to the lower body portion described therein include: threading, cam-locking, radial crimping, laser welding, ultrasonic welding, and the like.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,392,838 and 6,525,899 disclose a disk drive assembly purportedly hermetically encased within a metallic can. The metallic can comprises a top and bottom housing. Each housing component includes a sealing flange extending around its periphery. After the disk drive assembly is securely placed into the bottom housing, the top and bottom housings are mated and sealed together by forming a seam seal with the seal flanges. Also disclosed is use of a metallic gasket seal having a C-shaped cross-sectional area to purportedly hermetically seal a disk drive assembly. The C-seal includes a base layer and a plating layer, with the length of the seal extending the periphery of the disk drive base, similar to conventional elastomer gasket seals. After the disk drive cover is placed over the disk drive base and C-seal, the cover is clamped, thus compressing the C-seal. The resulting compression forces the plating layer to fill surface asperities in the area of the disk drive cover and base that contact the C-seal. These configurations purportedly provide assemblies with atmosphere leak rates of less than one cubic centimeter per 108 seconds or 5% of the volume of the sealed atmosphere over ten years.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,157 describes a disk drive assembly containing a metallic base and cover. In order to minimize escape of helium or nitrogen contained therein (via porosity in the metallic base and cover plates), a special electrostatic coating process and material called "E-coat" are used. E-coating, which is said to be a commercially available coating material and is known to be an insulative epoxy material, is applied to the surfaces of the base and cover as well as all other surfaces making up the hermetically sealed chamber. Such application of the E-coating takes place before the plates are assembled together. Every surface, inner and outer, of each plate is completely coated with a black E-coating as such. With the E-coating applied, the overall sealed chamber's porosity is purportedly lowered ninety-seven percent to an acceptable amount in order to contain the helium and nitrogen gas.
Elimination of or minimization of leakage is desired for not only better containment of gas within a hard disk drive, but for other reasons as well. One such reason relates to a reduction of complications arising from electromagnetic interference. Electromagnetic interference ("EMI," also called radio frequency interference or "RFI") is a usually undesirable disturbance caused in an electrical circuit by electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. Such disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit. EMI can be induced intentionally for radio jamming, as in some forms of electronic warfare, or unintentionally, as a result of spurious emissions and responses, intermodulation products, and the like. A source of EMI may be any object, artificial or natural, that carries rapidly changing electrical currents, such as another electrical circuit or even the sun or Northern Lights. Broadcast transmitters, two-way radio transmitters, paging transmitters, and cable television are also potential sources of EMI within residential and commercial environments. Other potential sources of EMI include a wide variety of common household devices, such as doorbell transformers, toaster ovens, electric blankets, ultrasonic pest controls (e.g., bug zappers), heating pads, and touch-controlled lamps.
It is known that EMI frequently affects the reception of AM radio in urban areas. It can also affect cell phone, FM radio, and television reception, although to a lesser extent. EMI can similarly affect performance of a computer.
In conventional disk drives, unwanted and potentially problematic EMI wavelengths can enter a disk drive through a number of places. For example, similar to paths of gas leakage, such wavelengths can enter disk drive housings around screws used to hold multiple components of the housing together.
Within integrated circuits, the most important means of reducing EMI are: the use of bypass or "decoupling" capacitors on each active device (connected across the power supply and as close to the device as possible), risetime control of high-speed signals using series resistors, and VCC filtering. If all of these measures still leave too much EMI, shielding such as using radio frequency (RF) gasket seals (which are often very expensive) and copper tape has been employed. Another method of reducing EMI is via use of metal hard disk drive components. While the use of metal components undesirably increases the overall weight of an apparatus, use of metal components has been conventionally mandated in the hard disk drive industry due to the EMI sensitivity of mechanical spinning components therein. Without mechanical spinning components therein, however, manufacturers of flash drives have taken advantage of the benefits of, for example, a plastic case for enclosure of the drive. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,301,776, which describes how metal material used for top and bottom plates of the drives described therein can be replaced by plastic as there are fewer EMI issues associated with flash memory devices as compared to mechanical spinning hard disk drives.
Another source of potential hard disk drive failure stems from electrostatic discharge (ESD). ESD refers to a sudden and momentary electric current that flows between two objects at different electrical potentials. The term is usually used in the electronics and other industries to describe momentary unwanted currents that may cause damage to electronic equipment. Ways to eliminate problematic ESD are in need of improvement as performance demands of hard disk drives increase.
While the aforementioned problems typically arise based on events and/or materials external to a disk drive, other problems may arise based on events and/or materials internal to a disk drive. For example, design of components within conventional hard disk drives can contribute to hard disk drive failure. For example, plastic components are susceptible to outgassing and components made from conductive materials are prone to shedding of particles, both of which can cause catastrophic disk failure.
Alternative methods and apparatus for joining disk drive components are, thus, desired. While welding has been used for joining disk drive housing components, as discussed above, those methods have been conventionally limited in their applications and materials, focusing predominantly on joining of metal components conventionally used for disk drive housing components.
Laser welding was first demonstrated on thermoplastics in the 1970s, but has only recently found a place in industrial-scale situations (e.g., in the mass production of syringes). The technique uses a laser beam to melt the plastic in the joint region. The laser generates an intense beam of radiation (usually in the infrared area of the electromagnetic spectrum) that is focused on the material to be joined, providing very good control over the region heated and the amount of heat applied. Two general forms of laser welding exist: direct laser welding and transmission laser welding. Direct laser welding usually uses CO2 laser radiation, which is readily absorbed by plastics, allowing quick joints to be made, but limiting the depth of penetration of the beam and restricting the technique to film applications. The shorter wavelength radiation produced by Nd:YAG, fiber and diode lasers is less readily absorbed by plastics, but these lasers are suitable for performing transmission laser welding. In this operation, it is necessary for one of the plastics to be transmissive to laser light and the other to absorb the laser energy, to ensure that the heating is concentrated at the joint region. Alternatively, an opaque surface coating may be applied at the joint to weld two transmissive plastics. Transmission laser welding is capable of welding thicker parts than direct welding, and since the heat-affected zone is confined to the joint region, no marking of the outer surfaces occurs.
In view of the number of potential problems impacting effective and long-term performance of disk drives, alternative methods and apparatus for improved sealing of disk drives are desired. Most desired are those methods and apparatus with improved efficiency and reliability over conventional attempts to provide the same.


An apparatus and method for subsequent optimization of radiosurgery and radiotherapy is provided. The invention includes administering a metalloporphyrin to the patient, and then creating a 3-dimensional mapping of tissue through use of PET or SPECT. Malignant and pre-malignant tissue has an affinity for the metalloporphyrin. During treatment, real-time images are also provided which are compared to the previous 3-dimensional mapping. Creation of the real-time images is also achieved through PET or SPECT wherein a metalloporphyrin is administered to the patient. Total administration of radiation is calculated by summing radiation from the metalloporphyrins and from the radiosurgery/radiotherapy. The amount of radiation delivered by the metalloporphyrins and by the radiosurgery/radiotherapy are adjustable based on a patient's response to the dual delivery.

There are a number of prior art methods and apparatuses which are used in the detection and treatment of cancer. Fluorescent markers have been used to help identify cancerous tissue within a patient. Radio tracers or markers have also been used in the detection and treatment of cancer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,547 discloses a method of using porphyrins to detect lung cancer, and more particularly, to the use of tetra-aryl porphyrins. The porphyrins are used as a fluorescent tracer for cancers of the lung. The porphyrins may be complexed with Copper 64 (64Cu) or Copper 67 (67Cu). Thus, the complex can be used as radio tracers as well. The 67Cu provides a source of beta radiation for selective destruction of lung malignancies as well as gamma radiation useful for image analysis, as by single photon emission computer tomography. The 64Cu may be used for radio tracing wherein a positron emission tomography technique can be used to locate the malignant tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,636 to Jamieson, et al. discloses a method to identify and destroy malignant cells in mononuclear cell populations. This method includes the steps of contacting a composition of bone marrow cells or other cells with a green porphyrin of a specific compound, irradiating the cell composition with light at a wave length effective to excite fluorescence of the green porphyrin, and then detecting the presence or absence of fluorescence indicating malignancy. This reference also discloses the steps by which the bone marrow cells are removed, separated, washed and diluted to an appropriate concentration for treatment, incubated, centrifuged, and exposed to the irradiating light.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,308,608 and 5,149,708 to Dolphin, et al. disclose specific types of porphyrin compounds which may be used for detection, photosensitization, or the destruction of a targeted biological material when the targeted tissue is contacted with the specified porphyrin, and irradiated with light that excites the compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,938 to Kennedy, et al. discloses a method of detection of malignant and non-malignant lesions by photo chemotherapy of protoporphyrin IX precursors. 5-amino levulinic acid (5-ALA) is administered to the patient in an amount sufficient to induce synthesis of protoporphyrin IX in the lesions, followed by exposure of the treated lesion to a photo activating light in the range of 350–640 nanometers. Naturally-occurring protoporphyrin IX is activatable by light which is in the incident red light range (600–700 nanometers) which more easily passes through human tissue as compared to light of other wave lengths which must be used with other types of porphyrins. In short, the use of 5-ALA makes cell fluorescence easier to observe, and also greatly reduces the danger of accidental phototoxic skin reactions in the days following treatment since protoporphyrin IX precursors have a much shorter half life in normal tissues than other popularly used porphyrins.
Present methods relating to cancer screening using fluorescence detection systems require the use of interventional devices such as endoscopes which have the special capability of delivering specified light frequencies to a targeted tissue of a patient. These endoscopes illuminate the targeted part of the body in which cancer is suspected. The light delivered at a specified frequency illuminates an area which has previously been subjected to some type of fluorescent marker, such as a porphyrin which causes malignant cells to illuminate or fluoresce under observation of light at the specified frequency. In all cases, introduction of an endoscope into the body requires some type of sedation or general or local anesthesia. Once a tumor has been located by use of the interventional device, depending upon the type of tumor, photo chemotherapy or other treatment means can be used. However, prior to actual treatment, there must be a confirmed test of cancer. Accordingly, the tumor still needs to be sampled by an appropriate biopsy method. Generally, biopsy methods also require some type of sedation or anesthesia. Thus, traditional methods of confirming a malignancy may require at least two interventional surgical procedures.
In all uses of photodynamic therapy, it is well known that there are limitations in such therapy because of the poor penetration of the visible light required to activate the administered porophyrin so as to render it toxic to the targeted tissue. Particularly for tumors which are found deep within the body of a patient, repeated interventional procedures to treat the neoplastic tissue become infeasible. Accordingly, many types of diseased tissue cannot be effectively treated through photodynamic therapy.
Stereotaxic radio surgery is a well known procedure to treat tumorous tissue. This type of radio surgery is particularly well known for treating brain tumors. Advances in technology for delivering a collimated surgical ionizing beam now allows medical personnel to treat patients with cancerous tissue throughout the body.
One company that provides a stereotaxic radio surgery system is Accuray of Boulder, Colo. One system developed by Accuray includes the Cyberknife™ system that incorporates a linear accelerator mounted on a robotic arm thereby providing a surgeon with great flexibility in delivering a collimated beam to a targeted area. The Cyberknife has been used to radiosurgically treat many tumors and other malformations at body sites which are unreachable by other stereotaxic systems.
Accuray is the owner of two U.S. patents which claim devices and methods of carrying out stereotaxic radio surgery and radio therapy. U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,223 discloses a method and apparatus for selectively irradiating a target within a patient. A 3-dimensional mapping is provided of a region surrounding the target. A beaming apparatus emits a collimated beam. Diagnostic beams at a known non-zero angle to one another pass through the mapping region. Images of projections are produced within the mapping region. Electronic representations of the images are compared with reference data from the 3-dimensional mapping thereby locating the target. The relative positions of the beaming apparatus and the living organism are adjusted in such a manner that the collimated beam is focused on the target region despite any movement by the patient during treatment. A comparison is repeated at small time intervals and, when the comparison so indicates, adjustment is repeated, as needed, and in such a manner that the collimated beam remains focused on the target region.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,097 owned by Accuray discloses another apparatus and method of performing stereotaxic surgery. A robotic arm and beam generating arrangement are provided along a predetermined, non-circular and non-linear path transverse to a collimated beam path, while at the same time, the collimated beam path is directed into the target region. Thus, the radiosurgical/radiotheraputic beam can be directed through the target region from particular treatment points along the transverse path so as to define a non-spherical target region, thereby allowing treatment of irregularly shaped tumors or malformations.
One important objective of the inventions disclosed in these references owned by Accuray is to improve the ability to deliver a radiological beam which can be precisely targeted for irradiating targeted tissue, yet limiting exposure of healthy tissue. With the inventions disclosed in the two references, it is possible to perform multiple fraction radiological treatment thereby improving the ability to target and localize cancerous or malformed tissue.
While the two references discussed immediately above represent advances in stereotaxic radiosurgery and radiotherapy, these systems can be further enhanced by improving the ability to not only map targeted tissue, but also to image the tissue during the radio surgery/radio therapy procedure thereby ensuring that the radiological beam is precisely aligned with the targeted tissue. In the above references, 3-dimensional mapping is obtained by a CAT scan (CT) or by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). As is well known, computerized tomography operates through measurement of the differential absorption of x-ray beams, and the resulting images are in the form of data which is mathematically manipulated through Fourier transform. MRI utilizes nuclear magnetic resonance properties of tissue to obtain 3-dimensional mapping. CT scanners and MRI scanners are available commercially, and the data obtained by the scanning can be placed in a digitized format whereby it can be stored and manipulated through software in a computer. Although an MRI or CT scan may be adequate under many circumstances, the disadvantages of CT scanning or MRI scanning is that these types of scans image the physical structure of tissue, and do not provide information regarding the body's chemistry, or cell function.
More recent imaging technologies include positron emission tomography (PET). A PET scan differs from the CT or MRI scan in that the PET scan analyzes cell function, which in many instances provides a better method by which to determine whether tissue is cancerous. PET typically involves the administration of a radioactive form of glucose, and then the PET scanner tracks and records signals which are emitted by the administered compound. Actively growing cancer cells typically have much higher metabolic rates than normal cells; therefore, the radioactive glucose is metabolized more quickly by these cancerous tissues, thereby creating distinct signals which can be recorded by the PET scanner. A computer then reconstructs the recorded signals into 3-dimensional digital images that show areas throughout the body where diseases are present. In addition to PET, a related imaging technology includes single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) which is also a computerized imaging technique that produces 3-dimensional images of tissue function. As with PET scanning, a small amount of a radioactive isotope is administered to a patient, and any increased metabolic activity present at various body locations can be identified and reviewed to determine whether a patient has diseased or cancerous tissue.
One class of chemicals useful for the treatment of tumors is the porphyrins and particularly hematoporphyrin derivatives. These chemicals have been studied as a result of their selective localization and uptake into tumors and malignant tissue and their sensitization of tumor tissues to photoirradiation. It has also been suggested that these chemicals could function as delivery vehicles to target other anticancer compounds to tumor tissues due to their selective uptake into tumor tissues. For example, porphyrin molecules may chelate one of many different metal atoms which are then localized to tumor tissues. These metal atoms can be radioactive isotopes which then irradiate the surrounding tumor tissue after localization to the tumor within a metalloporphyrin. Additionally, the radioactivity emitted can be used in PET or SPECT scanning to create an image of the tumor tissue. However, even without a radioactive component, the metalloporphyrins are still effective in selectively delivering a metal atom to tumor tissues. The metal can then act as a contrast agent to enhance magnetic resonance imaging or nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Because the localization of the metalloporphyrins is based on the chemical properties of the porphyrins themselves and their interaction with characteristics of tumor cells including large interstitial space, high capillary permeability and lack of lymphatic drainage, and not on differences in metabolic activities in tissues, they are more selectively taken up and retained by malignant cells than are radioactive glucose molecules. For this reason, the metalloporphyrins are also better contrast agents for use with the different tumor imaging techniques than are radioactive glucose molecules.
One reference that discloses the use of metalloporphyrins as imageable tumor targeting agents for radiation therapy is U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,517. This reference specifically discloses halogenated derivatives of boronated porphyrins containing multiple carborane cages which selectively accumulate in neoplastic tissue, and thus can be used in cancer therapies including boron neutron capture therapy and photodynamic therapy. Although this reference generally discusses the uses of metalloporphyrins for radiation therapy, there is no disclosure of particular procedures by which targeted tissue can be mapped, nor is there disclosure of other methods by which cancer screening or treatment therapy can be conducted other than by boron neutron capture or photodynamic therapy.

Method of optimizing radiosurgery and radiotherapy with metalloporphyrins


A system for remotely measuring the characteristics of water passing through a plumbing control device (PCD) includes a sensor within the interior of the PCD. The sensor is configured to measure characteristics of the water to obtain measured data. The sensor is also linked to a microcontroller of the PCD. An antenna board is linked, and configured to transmit power, to both the microcontroller and the sensor. A mobile device is configured to locate the antenna board. The mobile device transmits power to the antenna board which, in turn, transmits power to the microcontroller and the sensor. When power is not being transmitted from the antenna board, the microcontroller and the sensor are powered off.

Residential and commercial plumbing systems rely on pipes to transport water and other fluids throughout a home or building. The plumbing system may have a plurality of components, including different types of PCDs, such as pressure regulating valves, hot water mixing valves, and the like. Often, it is helpful to measure various characteristics of the fluid within the system, for example, temperature or pressure.
However, current methods of taking temperature and pressure measurements of water within the plumbing system lack efficiency. For example, thermometers are used to take temperature readings and analog or digital gauges are used to take pressure readings. Unfortunately, thermometers usually require a location, such as a faucet, where water is discharged from the plumbing system to take a measurement. Similarly, pressure gauge readings must be taken from specific locations in the system, such as a valve test cock or tap, where the gauge can be placed in contact with water within the system. These locations can be inconvenient or even impractical to access and are often set apart from areas where adjustments to the PCDs of the system can be made. In addition, these locations are often not accessible to electricity to power the sensors. For example, in a residential plumbing system, pressure and temperature adjustments usually must be made on valves under a sink or in an isolated part of a basement of a house or building, while temperature and pressure measurements can only be taken at various other locations in the building. Thus, making adjustments on the valves, and checking the effects on the water characteristics are often time consuming and difficult.