A reciprocating piston engine wherein the movement of a piston within the combustion chamber creates vortices in the fluid within the chamber and wherein the orientation of the vortices is more normal to the axis of movement of the piston than parallel to the axis of movement of the piston. The vortices may be created by a device for attachment to the crown of a piston or by the configuration of the crown of the piston. The vortices may be created by a plurality of vanes extending outwardly from the center of the piston to the periphery thereof.

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for increasing the efficiency of fuel burn in internal combustion piston engines by enhancing the level of turbulence in the fuel-air mixture before and after an ignition event.
Internal combustion engines produce mechanical power from the chemical energy contained in hydrocarbon fuel. Internal combustion engines depend upon the process of combustion: the reaction of a fuel, typically with air, although other oxidizers such as nitrous oxide may be employed. As such, the amount of energy or power released from the fuel is a function of the degree of oxidation and, therefore, is consequently dependent on the amount of oxygen available to the fuel during combustion. It is presently understood that as a general principle, the greater the degree of oxidation saturation of the fuel-air mixture, the higher the efficiency of the engine (reflected for example in the gas mileage of an automobile) and the greater the power output of the engine (reflected for example in horsepower).
The most common fuels in use today comprise hydrocarbons and are derived from petroleum. These include the fuels known as diesel, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas. Most internal combustion engines designed for gasoline may operate on natural gas or liquefied petroleum gases without modifications except for the associated fuel delivery components. Liquid and gaseous biofuels, such as Ethanol may also be used. Some engines may run on hydrogen, however this can be dangerous, and modifications to the cylinder block, cylinder head, and head gasket are required to contain the flame front.
Combustion of hydrocarbon fuels in internal combustion engines has been found to produce several major pollutants including: oxides of nitrogen (NOX); oxides of carbon (CO, CO2); hydrocarbons (HC); and other pollutants subject to oxidation. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is generally considered a non-toxic necessary by-product of the hydrocarbon oxidation process. With respect to carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon emissions it is understood that increased oxidation during combustion tends to reduce the formation of these compounds by way of oxidation. With respect to NOX emissions, their formation is understood to be largely a function of combustion temperatures. However, it is also presently understood that improved mixing of the fuel and air may tend to reduce NOX formation. In order to reduce the emissions from internal combustion engines directly to the environment, catalytic converters have been employed. Catalytic converters, however, are costly and their effectiveness over time weakens requiring inspection and replacement to maintain performance. Further, the life span of catalytic converters is understood to be a function of the amount of pollutants (primarily unburned hydrocarbons) that the converter has processed. Accordingly, in addition to increasing the efficiency and power output of the internal combustion engine, increased oxidation and saturation of the fuel-air mixture during combustion is also likely to increase the life span of the catalytic converter.
Internal combustion engines require a means of ignition to promote combustion. Most engines use either an electrical or a compression heating ignition system. Electrical ignition systems generally rely on a lead-acid battery and an induction coil to provide a high voltage electrical spark to ignite the air-fuel mix in the engine's cylinders. Compression heating ignition systems, such as diesel engines, rely on the heat created in the air by compression in the engine's cylinders to ignite the fuel. Once successfully ignited and burned, the combustion products, hot gases, have more available energy than the original compressed fuel-air mixture (which had higher chemical energy). The available energy is manifested as high temperature and pressure which may be translated into work by the engine.
Reciprocating and rotary engines comprise two categories of positive displacement engines that are traditionally employed to power motor vehicles. In general, a positive displacement internal combustion engine is an engine in which the flow of the fuel-air mixture is segmented into distinct volumes that are completely isolated by solid sealing elements throughout the engine cycle, creating compression and expansion through the physical volume changes within the chamber. Of the two engines, the reciprocating engine is by far the more common.
Reciprocating engines incorporate a piston that travels back and forth in a chamber formed in the engine block and transmits power through a connecting rod and crank mechanism to the drive shaft of a vehicle. Typically the chamber is cylindrical and is often referred to as a cylinder. A majority of reciprocating engines work on what is known as a four-stroke cycle. That is, each cylinder of the engine requires four-strokes of its piston or two revolutions of the crankshaft to complete the sequence of events which produces one power stroke. The first stroke is termed an intake stroke starting with the piston at top center crank position and ending with the piston at the bottom center crank position. As the piston moves from the top to the bottom center crank position, a fresh intake mixture generally comprised of air or air and fuel is drawn into the cylinder through an inlet valve, which typically opens just before the stroke starts and closes shortly after it ends. Whether the intake mixture drawn into the cylinder is comprised of air or air and fuel is dependent on the type of engine. For example, in a typical spark ignition engine, air passes through an air filter and then is mixed with fuel in the intake system prior to entry to the engine using a carburetor or fuel-injection system. The fuel-air mixture is then drawn into the cylinder via the intake valve during the intake stroke. In comparison, a compression ignition engine inducts air alone into the cylinder during the intake stroke and the fuel is directly injected into the engine cylinder just before combustion.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a common cylinder 10, piston 20 and valve configuration for a four-stroke spark ignition reciprocating engine 100 wherein the cylinder 10 is approaching bottom center crank position during an intake stroke. The inlet valve 30, through which an intake mixture 32 is drawn, is generally comprised of an elongated rod called the valve stem 34 and an integrally connected generally disc shaped surface called the valve head 35. The valve head 35 is manufactured to have a seat 36 that is adapted to mate with the internal edge surface of an orifice or port 38 located usually in the top of the cylinder 10. The outlet valve 40, through which an exhaust mixture is expelled (not shown), is also generally comprised of a valve stem 42 and an integrally connected generally disc shaped valve head 45. Additionally, for a two-stroke engine, there may simply be an exhaust outlet and fuel inlet instead of a valve system.
Increasing the efficiency of fuel bun in internal combustion engines, i.e., improving the rate of conversion of fuel into energy has long been a desirable goal. Many have addressed the issue of improving the mixture of air and fuel in the combustion chamber by increasing turbulence in the mixture during the travel of the piston in the chamber. Exemplary methods attempting to improve the fuel-air mixture include increasing chamber turbulence through the installation of grooves in the compression head of the piston (see, e.g., the Singh U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,579 and the Barnaby U.S. Pat. No. 1,745,884); installation of squish areas and vanes in the piston head (see, e.g., the Nakanishi U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,459), installation of guiding ribs on the crown of the piston (see, e.g., the Wirth U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,592), and grooving the piston crown to create a central squish area with radiating channels (see, e.g., the Evans U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,065,715, 5,103,784, and 4,572,123). The aforementioned examples, however, require significant modifications to either the piston or to the corresponding cylinder or engine and impart a cyclonic turbulence oriented and moving along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, i.e., the thrust line of the piston (the direction of the thrust line of the piston is referred to as the "axial" direction throughout the present application).
Others such as that disclosed in the Showalter U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,734 seek to increase the efficiency of fuel burn by interrupting the symmetry of the roll-up of fuel-air mixtures occurring as a result of symmetrical cylindrical geometry. By placing uneven edges at the circumferential boundary of a piston crown, Showalter interrupts roll-up vortices aligned along the line of thrust of the piston. Still other attempts to address the issue of increasing the efficiency of fuel burn include installations of an entire piston crown having a spirally notched extension to facilitate a generally cylindrical expanding flame front over the top of the piston during a power stroke (see, e.g., the Hansen U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,136) and installation of a piston crown having both a squish area and guiding ribs thereon (see e.g., the Simay U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,431). Such examples also require significant modifications to either the piston geometry or to the engine block or head and impart a cyclonic turbulence oriented and moving in the axial direction (i.e., the sliding or reciprocating axis of the piston).
The method and device of the present subject matter, in various embodiments, provides for the highly desirable characteristics of enhancing the turbulence in the fuel-air mixture before and during the ignition event while avoiding significant modifications to either the piston geometry or to the engine block or head. Further the method and device of the present subject matter increase oxidation saturation of the fuel-air mixture by creating significant turbulence in the combustion chamber before the ignition event and during flame front propagation from that event. As distinguished from the prior art where vortices may be generated in the chamber that are aligned with the axis of movement of the piston, the devices and methods of the present disclosure creates turbulence in the combustion chamber by the generation of vortices in the fuel-air mixture having a movement that is more lateral than axial relative to the axis of movement of the piston during piston travel within the chamber. A vortex may be broadly defined as a whirling mass of air, flame, or fuel-air mixture having a tangential velocity component perpendicular with, and not intersecting the central axis thereof, i.e., forming a three-dimensional column or spiral having a generally central axis. As used herein, the orientation of a vortex is generally the direction of the central axis of the vortex (i.e., the vortex line), and a directional adjective (e.g., "radial") modifying the term "vortex" indicates the general orientation of the central axis of the vortex.
In one aspect the method and device of the present subject matter increases the efficiency of fuel burn in piston engines by enhancing the level of turbulence in the fuel-air mixture before an ignition event and increases the efficiency of the conversion of fuel energy to work by residuary influences of turbulence on the post ignition flame front. Thus, embodiments of the present subject matter promote a more rapid and complete burning of the fuel, lower engine operating temperatures, and enhanced torque and power through the range of engine operation resulting in an improved fuel economy having lower emissions, smoother operation, increased combustion pressures, and an increased engine life.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present subject matter to obviate many of the deficiencies of known internal combustion engines and to provide a novel internal combustion engine having a piston reciprocatingly slidable within a combustion chamber to compress for combustion a fluid mixture including oxygen and a combustible fuel, and to provide driving power in response to the combustion of the fluid mixture within the chamber. The surface of the piston in contact with the fluid mixture causes vortices in the fluid mixture as the piston moves axially within the cylinder and the orientation of one or more of the vortices created within the fluid mixture relative to the sliding axis of the piston is more lateral (e.g., radial in a cylindrical chamber) than axial.
It is another object of the present subject matter to provide a novel internal combustion engine having a piston reciprocatingly slidable within a combustion chamber to compress for combustion a fluid mixture including oxygen and a combustible fuel so that driving power is provided in response to the combustion of the fluid mixture within the chamber, wherein the surface of the piston in contact with the fluid mixture includes a plurality of vanes extending from the piston generally axially of the chamber and extending generally from the center of the piston outwardly toward the radial periphery thereof. In preferred embodiments, each of the vanes possess two generally axially extending walls and a connecting surface at the distal end thereof to the piston, and the slope relative to the sliding axis of the piston of one of these two walls is greater than the slope of the other of these two walls.
It is also an object of the present subject matter to provide a novel device for attachment to the crown of a piston of a reciprocating piston engine for causing vortices in the fluid contained in the combustion chamber during reciprocation of the piston in which the orientation of one or more of the vortices is more orthogonal than parallel to the reciprocating axis of the piston.
It is an additional object of the present subject matter to provide a novel device for attachment to the crown of a piston in a reciprocating piston engine, more specifically, a device having an axially central portion and a plurality of vanes extending radially outwardly from the central portion in which the slope relative to the reciprocating axis of the piston of one of the axially extending walls of the vanes is greater than the other.
It is still another object of the present subject matter to provide a novel reciprocating piston engine wherein the movement of a piston within a cylinder creates vortices in the fluid within the cylinder in which the orientation of the vortices relative to the cylinder is more radial than axial.
It is an object of the present subject matter to provide a novel piston for reciprocating in a combustion chamber for creating radial vortices of the fuel-air mixture compressed within the combustion chamber by movement of the piston axially within the chamber.
It is a further object of the present subject matter to provide a novel radial vortex generator adapted for attachment to the crown of a piston comprising a plurality of vanes extending from the crown generally axially of the piston from the radial center thereof toward the radial periphery thereof.
It is still a further object of the present subject matter to provide a novel method of generating combustion enhancing turbulence in the fluid within a combustion chamber of a reciprocating piston engine.
It is also an object of the present subject matter to provide a novel method of generating combustion enhancing turbulence in the fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine by creating vortices in the fuel air mixture in which the orientation of one or more of the vortices relative to the reciprocating axis of the piston is more lateral than axial.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

Device and method to increase fuel burn efficiency in internal combustion engines


An array substrate includes plural sub-pixels in plural rows and plural columns; plural data ports; Ndl data lines, each of the Ndl data lines connecting to a column of sub-pixels, the Ndl data lines being divided into plural groups, each group including N data lines; and a multiplexer including M control lines and plural switching units in one-to-one correspondence with the Ndl data lines, each control line being connected to and controlling

A liquid crystal display panel may include an array substrate and a data driver integrated circuit (Data Driver IC) that may also be referred to as a data driver chip, and the data driver chip may provide data signals to respective columns of pixels or respective columns of sub-pixels of the array substrate. To reduce the number of ports of the data driver chip used for the liquid crystal display panel, a multiplexer may be employed. In this case, it is desirable to prevent liquid crystal molecules from undergoing a polarization phenomenon and to reduce power consumption of the liquid crystal display panel.

Array substrate, liquid crystal display panel and driving method thereof that prevent liquid crystal molecules from undergoing a polarization phenomenon and have low power consumption

Abstract: Ndl  Mswitching units. All of the N data lines in each group are connected to one data port through N switching units, respectively, the data lines in different groups are connected to different data ports, the N switching units corresponding to each group are controlled by N different control lines, respectively, and at least two of the N data lines in each group are provided with a data line another group therebetween.

ORDOS YUANSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


An electrically operated elevatable clothes drying assembly including two positioning frames having respective slide grooves for receiving respective slide blocks; a securing rod including a slide groove at an upper end for receiving the positioning blocks, a hollow extension extending downwardly form the slide groove, and a cylindrical tube formed at a lower end thereof, the cylindrical tube having a pair of positioning lugs at an inner edge thereof; left and right covers which are locked to the left and right ends of the securing rod to position a screw rod and a screw sleeve having curved indentations corresponding to the lugs of the cylindrical tube within the cylindrical tube, the covers further having pulleys corresponding to the hollow extension of the securing rod, and the right cover having an additional lower pulley; a clothes rod having a left rope passing over the pulleys of the covers to be secured to an upper end of the screw sleeve and a right rope passing over the lower pulley of the right cover to be secured to a lower end of the screw sleeve; and a motor and a control switch for driving and controlling rotation of the screw rod respectively.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrically operated elevatable clothes drying assembly, and in particular to an elevatable clothes drying assembly operated by electricity to make clothes hanging and drying more convenient and safer.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
In the past, clothes along with their hangers are hung on a bamboo suspended at a high position of the verandah or balcony for drying purposes. This method is inconvenient and time consuming. An elevatable clothes drying assembly was later developed. In such known assembly, the clothes are hung on a rod or pole, which is pulled up by means of ropes. When the clothes are dry, the rod or pole is dropped by means of the ropes as well. Such manually operated clothes drying assembly has problems. When the clothes are wet, they are heavy, and pulling of the ropes is difficult. Besides, the ropes may easily get entangled.

Electrically operated elevatable clothes drying assembly

9th Fl., 143, Chung Shan Road., Linkow Hsiang


A wideband bandpass filter includes an RF input terminal, an RF output terminal, a plurality of electrically tunable coupling capacitors coupled in series between the RF input and output terminals, and a plurality of resonating circuits each including an electrically tunable resonator capacitor coupled to one of the coupling capacitors. At least one resistance is coupled in series between at least one of the coupling capacitors for providing enhanced out of band rejection of the filter.

There are many applications in which it is desirable to have a bandpass filter with high linearity such that a minimal amount of spurious are generated when subjected to an input spectrum with multiple tones. In some applications, it is also desirable for a bandpass filter to be tunable in both center frequency and bandwidth.
Bandpass filters are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,004 relates to a prior tunable bandpass filter, FIG. 1, which includes a multiple tuned resonator filter with each tuned section including a variable reactance device, i.e., a single varactor. The filter also includes a reactive coupling network with its own variable reactance device, and a variable reactance divider at the input of the first resonator which also incorporates a variable reactance device. One disadvantage of the filter in FIG. 1 is that its linearity is less than desirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,907 relates to another filter, shown in FIG. 2, in which the tuning voltage applied to the resonator varactors is identical to the voltage applied to the coupling varactors. As such, this filter cannot provide independent control of the frequency and the bandwidth.


A foot pedal assembly having a base, a first support member with an upper end and a lower end, a foot pedal attached to the upper end of the first support member, a second support member with a fore end and an aft end, a guide member with a retention slot affixed to the base, and means for coupling the fore end of the second support member and the lower end of the first support member within the retention slot of the guide member; wherein the means for coupling slidingly guides the fore end of the second support member and the lower end of the first support member substantially along the retention slot upon application of a downward force to the foot pedal.

This invention relates to user interface devices for personal computers and, more particularly, to foot-operated interface control devices for use with personal computers.
A number of different user-interface devices have been developed for video game applications running on a personal computer or dedicated game console apparatus such as joysticks and foot pedals. These devices permit users to control various input signals, which in turn control operation of the game or other program executing on the computer (e.g. a flight simulator). For example, foot pedal interface devices simulate the operation of a car in a car chase game by allowing the user to control the speed with a gas pedal and to control the braking functions with a brake pedal. In conjunction with a steering wheel input device, the user is provided with a simulation experience. The basic interoperability of these types of input devices with personal computers or dedicated game consoles is well known in the art. While various types of such user interfaces such as foot pedals exist, many of the user-interface devices fail to realistically simulate at a reasonable cost the sensation of foot pedals commonly found in vehicles and aircraft.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,237,891; 4,695,819; and 4,958,607 disclose foot pedal assemblies designed for application in full-size cars and trucks. The components utilized in these designs are too numerous and/or complex for practical application with personal computers. Likewise, the foot-operated electrical control device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,473 is designed for use in aircraft, also making it impracticable for application involving personal computers and video games due to its complexity and cost.
Therefore, it would be advantageous if a foot-actuated user interface device could realistically simulate foot pedal assemblies that are commonly used in full-size vehicles and aircraft while being both economical to manufacture and affordable to purchase.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,807 (incorporated herein by reference) discloses a foot pedal assembly for use with personal computers. The foot pedal in this invention pivots about a rotating gear located approximately midway along the length of the pedal. The user's foot must undergo essentially a rocking motion in order to activate the foot pedal assembly. Such a rocking motion is not an accurate simulation of pedals found in vehicles. Furthermore, since the rocking motion necessitates that the user's heel undergo vertical displacement rather than being substantially fixed (as with standard pedals found in vehicles), a heel rest is required in the design in order to counteract any tendency of the user's heel to shift with respect to the pedal during the rocking motion.
Therefore, it would be advantageous if the foot pedal assembly could accurately simulate the physical sensations associated with an actual pedal typically found in vehicles and aircraft in order to increase the level of realism experienced by the user during participation in the video game. It would also be advantageous if the foregoing could be accomplished without need for additional components such as a heel rest to retain the user's foot on the pedal.
Another foot pedal assembly of the prior art is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 herein, and comprises a foot pedal 13, a base 21, an aft portion 41 of the base 21 and a single elongate vertical support member 15. The vertical support member 15 is attached at one end to the foot pedal 13 and attached at the other end to a gear mechanism that turns a potentiometer as the foot pedal is depressed, thus changing the electrical signal input to the computer (not shown). A generally downward force F2 directed at point P2 is imparted to the vertical support member 15 as the foot pedal 13 is depressed by the user's foot. However, this downward force F2 comprises both a vertical component F2.sub.V and a horizontal component F2.sub.H. Thus, as the foot pedal 13 is depressed, the horizontal component F2.sub.H of the downward force F2 causes the center of gravity of the foot pedal assembly to shift forward, resulting in the undesirable raising or tipping of the aft portion 41 of the base 21 vertically upward. The force F2 must be counterbalanced by pressure applied at point P3 to the aft portion 40 in order to prevent the base 21 from tipping, which of course is undesirable.
Furthermore, in depressing the foot pedal 13 of the prior art illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the user's foot must slide backward (towards the user's heel) across the top of the foot pedal 13 if the user is to maintain his heel at center C1 in a stationary position with respect to the base 21. The action of the user's foot sliding backward across the top of the foot pedal 13 causes wear in the contact surfaces of the user's foot and foot pedal 13 as well as a perception of unresponsiveness by the user. The reason that the user's foot must slide across the foot pedal 13 is that an arc A2 which defines the travel of the foot pedal 13 during depression is not concentric with (i.e., does not have the same center as) a natural arc A1 made by the user's foot in depressing the foot pedal 13 while maintaining his heel in a substantially stationary position relative to the base 21. In fact a center C2 of the arc A2 made by the foot pedal 13 is substantially forward of the center C1 of the natural arc A1 made by the user's foot. The horizontal variation of the two centers C1 and C2 causes the average horizontal component F2.sub.H of the arc A2 made by the foot pedal 13 during depression to be much larger than the horizontal component of the natural arc A1 made by the user's foot. Thus, in order to compensate for the greater horizontal component F2.sub.H of the arc A2 made by the foot pedal which is directed forward, the user's foot must slide backward across the top of the foot pedal 13 in the direction shown by arrow AR1.
Therefore, it would be advantageous if depression of the foot pedal assembly would not cause the aft portion of the foot pedal assembly to tilt upwards. It would also be desirable if the foot pedal would naturally follow the arc made by the user's foot during depression thus eliminating the necessity that the user's foot slide across the foot pedal during depression.


Systems and methods for tracking and ranking errors in computer systems may be used in e-commerce applications in order to identify errors that occur in e-commerce user sessions along with an estimate of potential lost revenues resulting from the error. The errors and associated lost revenues may allow prioritizing of which errors to address.

Many, if not most, computer systems produce errors from time to time. These errors may result from users interacting with the computer system in unexpected ways, or they may be internal to the computer system itself. Additionally, some errors may result from other external causes, such as network changes or a computer virus.
Errors can be extremely frustrating to a user and may prevent them from achieving their goals. For instance, an e-commerce application, which may include a website, may have an error that prevents the user from performing a successful "check out", thus preventing that user from making a purchase and resulting in lost revenue for the website owner. Additionally, some errors can be so significant that they prevent a user from returning to the computer system: in the same e-commerce example, repeated problems when checking out may dissuade a user from ever attempting to use that website again. As another example, if a database system consistently returns inaccurate information, users are unlikely to continue relying on that product. Similarly, video and computer games might have errors that prevent the user from saving or opening game files, which will often discourage them from attempting to play in future. Additionally, such errors may lead the user to leave a negative review of the computer system on online forums, or otherwise warn their contacts away from the system, thus leading to further lost revenue. Accordingly, developers and computer system owners have a significant interest in correcting errors and in mitigating the effects of errors.
In some cases, it can be useful to look through output logs from the computer system 304 to determine what errors have been reported. However, this approach is extremely time-consuming, as the sheer volume of data is challenging to parse. As well, errors reported in logs are often presented with very little, if any, context. Additionally, not all errors that occur during the use of a computer system are critical to the computer system or otherwise prevent the user from reaching their goals. In particular, many back-end errors may be ultimately irrelevant to the user, but are nevertheless reported as errors in the logs. As another example, many interface errors do not actually prevent the user from successful use of the computer system, although the user may notice them. (For instance, an icon on a website may be oddly distorted.) Such functionally irrelevant errors may not be worth a developer's time to correct/mitigate, especially if the system also has more significant errors. Clearly, it can be difficult to assign priority to specific errors based on the output logs, potentially leading developers to spend time on less-critical fixes.
Further, most errors that occur "in the wild" (i.e., after testing) are typically reported to developers by the users who encounter them. Although this may mean that only critical or severe errors are reported (as most users will not report errors that did not affect their experience with the computer system), in other cases, users may be too frustrated with a computer system to spend their time filing a complaint. Thus, user-reported errors do not always reflect even the most significant errors that occur. Additionally, user reports about errors are not always clear or useful: an as example, a user might submit an error report that simply says "It didn't work." Following up for more information, even if successful, can take a great deal of time and effort on the part of the developer(s) and/or other administrative user(s).
Moreover, it is often very difficult for the user to recall precisely what they were doing when the error occurred. This is especially relevant when the error is related to unusual user input, such as an unusual sequence of clicks or keystrokes. This makes it difficult to replicate the error and may lead developers and administrators to direct their attention to other tasks. User reporting of errors thus has several drawbacks. In particular, the error reports may not address every error, or even every serious error, and the causes of the errors may be difficult to identify or replicate, making the errors difficult to understand, mitigate, or correct.
As such, there is clearly a need for a system that can track errors in computer systems and that can prioritize those errors in terms of their effect on the user. Such a system can assist the developers, owners, and/or administrative users of the computer systems in developing a schedule or determining other actions to correct the errors and/or mitigate any effects of those errors. Additionally, there is a need for systems that can preserve error context so that errors can be corrected or mitigated more efficiently.

System and method for evaluating application errors in e-commerce applications


In a sealing arrangement sealing at least one axial end section of a hollow shaft that is arranged in a cavity of a component, with the hollow shaft being adapted to route a fluid, a gasket is adapted to be located between the component and the shaft. The gasket is made with a sealing lip to adjoin the outer peripheral surface of the end section. The gasket also includes an axially projecting portion that projects axially beyond the end of the shaft. The axially projecting portion of the gasket surrounds a device for filtering the fluid and/or a device for determining the flow cross-section of the fluid.

It is known to insert seals at a transition site of a pipe that is designed to turn for routing a fluid in a fluid conveyance device that is not designed to turn. Furthermore, inserting filters as well as restrictors that limit the flow cross-section of the fluid in the line path for guiding a fluid is also known.


The present invention provides an aqueous emulsion resin composition which comprises:                (a) a resin composition containing at least one fluoroolefin polymer having crosslinkable group(s) at a terminus and/or a side chain of its molecule and at least one non-fluoroolefin polymer having crosslinkable group(s) at a terminus and/or a side chain of its molecule; and        (b) at least one curing agent selected from the group consisting of isocyanates, melamines, hydrazides, carbodiimides, silanes and epoxides;        and provides an aqueous emulsion resin compositions containing at least one chemically bonded product of a fluoroolefin polymer and a non-fluoroolefin polymer bonded to each other via at least one covalent bond at a terminus and/or a side chain of the molecules wherein one or both of the fluoroolefin polymer and the non-fluoroolefin polymer have crosslinkable group(s).

A technique using aqueous fluorinated resin compositions as resins for weather-resistant paints is heretofore known; however, such paints are generally inferior to solvent-based crosslinking type paints with regard to water resistance, solvent resistance, soil-resistance, hardness, etc. To overcome this drawback, the development of aqueous crosslinking type fluorinated resins has been under taken, though not yet completed. Examples of copolymers of crosslinking monomers with chlorotrifluoroethylene, tetrafluoroethylene or hexafluoropropylene are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,019 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1995-324180. However, these are copolymers with non-fluoroolefin monomers, having a relatively large amount of added non-fluoroolefin monomers (about 50 mol %), resulting in resins and coated films of unfavorable quality in terms of durability and weather resistance.
It is known that compositions formed from polyvinylidene fluorides and acrylic polymers having crosslinkable groups can be obtained using techniques disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1995-268163 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-72725. However, these compositions exhibit insufficient water resistance, solvent resistance, soil-resistance and hardness because the fluorinated resin does not contain a crosslinkable group and there is thus no chemical bond between the fluorinated resin and the acrylic resin. Presumably, the coated film has a low crosslinking density as a whole and the compatibility between the fluorinated resin and the acrylic resin subjected to crosslinking reaction is low.
The present invention aims at providing an aqueous emulsion resin composition having excellent water resistance, solvent resistance, soil-resistance and hardness.


Techniques, systems and apparatus are described for providing a processing element (PE) structure forming a floating point unit (FPU)-processing element. Each processing element includes each of two multiplexers (MUXes) to receive data from one or more sources including another PE, and select one value from the received data. The processing element includes an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) in communication with the two multiplexers to receive the selected value from each multiplexer as two input values, and process the received two input values to generate results of the ALU.

The present disclosure relates to a multimedia device.
Digital information processing and apparatus for performing complex processing can be implemented for various application including multimedia platforms. For example, different application programs can be implemented for processing audio data and/or video data in mobile systems, such as cellular telephones, smart phones, personal digital assistances (PDAs), etc. These application programs generally perform data intensive computations and can be implemented using a software implementation (SI) operated on a target processor and/or using an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) type hardware implementation (HI).

Reconfigurable paired processing element array configured with context generated each cycle by FSM controller for multi-cycle floating point operation


The invention relates to a roll cover for treating a paper, cardboard, tissue or other fibrous web in a machine for manufacturing and/or converting them, comprising one or more plastic layers, of which at least one is of compressible configuration, and at least one carrier element in the form of a woven fabric, laid scrim or the like. Here, the loading of the support structure is intended to be reduced by at least one carrier element being embedded into a compressible plastic layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a roll cover for treating a paper, cardboard, tissue or other fibrous web on a machine for producing and/or converting the same, comprising one or more plastic layers, of which at least one is of compressible configuration or structure, and at least one carrier element in the form of a woven fabric, laid scrim or the like. The invention also relates to a fibrous web treating machine that comprises such a roll cover.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
At present, the flexible roll covers for dewatering or smoothing the fibrous web are comprised essentially of a polyurethane matrix which is reinforced with a woven fabric or laid scrim.
To form a press nip, the roll covers are pressed toward a mating roll by a pressing element.
If a lump or the like runs in this case through the press nip, the result can be a permanent deformation or fracture of the woven fabric or laid scrim.


The conductive cellulose-based resin composition of the present invention comprises (A) a cellulose acetate ester having a total degree of acetyl substitution of 0.5 to 1.1 and (B) at least one carbon material selected from the group consisting of single-walled carbon nanotube, multi-walled carbon nanotube, single-layer graphene, multi-layer graphene, fullerene, and carbon black. This conductive cellulose resin composition exhibits high conductivity even without being supplemented with a special resin or a third component. Also, the conductive cellulose-based resin composition can be easily molded in an aqueous system.

Heretofore, methods of kneading (adding) carbon black into a resin and obtaining a desired molding by thermoforming, and methods of vapor-depositing a metal onto the surface of a resin molding to decrease a surface specific resistance value, for example, have been practiced in order to impart conductivity to resins. Of them, the methods of kneading carbon black into a resin require increasing the amount of carbon black added for enhancing conductivity, whereas too large an amount thereof reduces the outer appearance and mechanical strength of the resulting resin molding. Therefore, there are limits to the amount of carbon black added; thus the conductivity is not sufficient. Also, the methods of vapor-depositing a metal onto the surface of a resin molding may produce insufficient adhesion strength between the vapor-deposited metal and the resin molding, and are complicated because additional pretreatment and vapor deposition steps, etc. are necessary for the vapor deposition.
In recent years, methods for decreasing a surface specific resistance value or a volume specific resistance value by using a carbon nanotube as a substitute for carbon black have been attempted in order to obtain higher conductivity (Non Patent Literatures 1 to 4). However, for exhibiting high conductivity by mixing a carbon nanotube with a resin, it is required to use a special resin or to add a third component. Furthermore, for molding a resin composition containing a carbon nanotube into a film, it is required to dissolve the resin composition in a solvent, followed by shaping. In recent years, there have been demands for techniques of processing conductive moldings without the use of solvents, from the viewpoint of the reduction of environmental burdens.

Conductive cellulose-based resin composition


An operating switch wiring device capable of easily setting a load which is a group control object, without using a dedicated setter, and a handle member used therefore. The operating switch wiring device used for a remote supervisory control system includes a plurality of individual switches which are individually assigned with addresses corresponding to addresses of relays and individually turn on/off the relays, a group switch which groups one or plural of the individual switches into a group and collectively turns on/off the relays corresponding to the individual switches in the group, and group setting switches which are provided in correspondence with the individual switches and set whether each of the individual switches are registered in the group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating switch wiring device used for a remote supervisory control system for performing remote supervisory control of a load such as a lighting apparatus and a handle member therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a remote supervisory control system having a configuration shown in FIG. 14(a) is known (For example, see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. H03-94597). In this remote supervisory control system, a relay-equipped parent device (hereinafter, referred to as control parent device) 101, a plurality of relay-equipped child devices (hereinafter, referred to as control child device) 102 and 102, a plurality of operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105, and an address setting terminal 106 are connected (multi-drop connected) to a two-wire signal line Ls.
This system includes two devices (control parent device 101 and control child device 102) as a remote control wiring device which controls a relay for turning on/off power applied to load. The control parent device 101 includes eight relays and each control child device 102 includes four relay circuits. Meanwhile, the operating switch wiring device 103 includes a plurality of operating buttons 103a of pattern switches for collectively controlling a number of loads in a prescribed control state, and monitors operating states of the pattern switches. In addition, the operating switch wiring device 104 includes an operating button 104a of a group switch for collectively controlling the number of loads in same control state, and monitors operating states of the group switch. Furthermore, the operating switch wiring device 105 includes a plurality of operating buttons 105a of individual switches for individually turning on/off the loads, and monitors operating states of the plurality of individual switches.
The relays included in the control parent device 101 and the control child device 102 and the switches included in the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 are set with respective individual addresses. The control parent device 101 individually recognizes the switches of the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 and the relays of the control parent device 101 and the control child device 102 using their addresses.
Since the control parent device 101 has a function of a transmission control device, the control parent device 101 transmits a transmission signal Vs having a format shown in FIG. 14(b) to the signal line Ls. In other words, the transmission signal Vs is a bipolar (±24 V) time division multiplex signal including a start pulse signal ST representing transmission start of a signal, mode data MD representing a mode of the transmission signal Vs, address data AD for individually calling for each of the control child devices 102 or the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105, control data CD for controlling a load or a relay, and checksum data CS for detecting an transmission error, and a signal carrying period WT which is a time slot for receiving a carrying signal (monitoring data) from the control child device 102 or the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105, and data is transmitted as data by pulse width modulation (FIG. 14(c). When address data AD transmitted by the transmission signal Vs received through the signal line Ls is identical to an address which is previously set, the control child device 102 and the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 receives the control data CD from the transmission signal Vs and carries the monitoring data as a current mode signal (signal transmitted by short-circuiting the signal line Ls through an adequately low impedance) in the signal carrying period WT of the transmission signal Vs.
When data is transmitted from the control parent device 101 to a desired the control child device 102 or operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105, the transmission signal Vs including the mode data MD as a control mode and an address assigned to the relay included in the control child device 102 or the switch included in the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 as the address data AD is transmitted. When the transmission signal Vs is transmitted to the signal line Ls, the control child device 102 or operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 having an address identical to the address data AD receives the control data CD and carries monitoring data in the signal carrying period WT. The control parent device 101 confirms whether the control data CD is transmitted to the desired one of the control child device 102 and operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 by a relationship between the transmitted control data CD and the monitoring data received in the signal carrying period WT. The control child device 102 controls the relay having corresponding address according to the received control data CD. In addition, the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 output the monitoring signal for confirming display of the relay according to the received control data CD.
In addition, the control parent device 101 usually transmits the transmission signal Vs including the mode data MD as a dummy mode at a regular interval (full-time polling), and, when the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 are desired to transmit any information to the control parent device 101, generates an interrupt signal Vi shown in FIG. 14(d) in synchronization with the start pulse signal ST of the transmission signal Vs of the dummy mode. At this time, the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 are prepared for transmitting/receiving later information to/from the control parent device 101. When the control parent device 101 receives the interrupt signal Vi, the control parent device 101 transmits the transmission signal including the mode data MD as an interrupt polling mode while sequentially increasing upper half bits of the address data AD. The operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105, which generate the interrupt signal, carry lower half bits of the address to the control parent device 101 in the signal carrying period WT, when the upper half bits of the address data AD of the transmission signal of the interrupt polling mode is identical to upper half bits of the address of the switch included in the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105.
When the control parent device 101 acquires the address of the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 which generate the interrupt signal (that is, address of the operated switch), the transmission signal having the address data AD obtained using the mode data MD as the monitoring mode is transmitted to the signal line Ls. The operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 carry the information to be transmitted in the signal carrying period WT with respect to the transmission signal. Finally, the control parent device 101 transmits a signal indicating interrupt reset to the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 which generate the interrupt signal and releases the interrupt plug of the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105. In this way, the transmission of the information from the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 to the control parent device 101 is completed by transmitting the signals (dummy mode, interrupt polling mode, monitoring mode, and interrupt reset) from the control parent device 101 to the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 four times. In addition, the control parent device 101 has only to transmit the transmission signal using the mode data MD as the monitoring data in order to monitor the operating state of a desired control child device 102.
The above-described operation is summarized as follows: First, when input data is generated by operation of any one the operating buttons 103a to 105a of the switches, the monitoring data corresponding to the input data from the operating switch wiring devices 103 to 105 is carried to the control parent device 101. When the address of the operated switch corresponds to the address of the its own relay, the control parent device 101 controls the relay, and, when the address of the operated switch corresponds to the address of the relay included in a control child device 102, transmits the control data DC to the control child device 102 to control the relay by being corresponded the control child device 102. In addition, the control parent device 101 manages the correspondence relation of the address between the relay and the pattern switch or the group switch such that the plurality of relays can be collectively controlled by operation of any one of the switches.
The operating switch wiring device 105 is a terminal for monitoring the operating states of the plurality of individual switches. The configuration of the operating switch wiring device 105 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13(a) to 13(c).
The operating switch wiring device 105 includes a device body 110 implanted in a building wall surface. Eight flexible parts 112 are provided at a right side of a front surface of the device body 110 in a vertical direction in parallel and a display lamp 113 for indicating an operating state of a load, such as a light emitting diode (LED), is provided at the left side of each of the flexible parts 112. Each of the flexible parts 112 is divided by a slit formed over its circumference except one end so that the one end is cantilever-supported by the device body 110, and has a cylindrical press button 112a integrally formed at the other end of thereof. In the device body 110, individual switches (not shown) which consist of tact stitches are received to face the flexible parts 112, respectively. By pressing the press button 112a to bend the flexible part 112 inward, the individual switch can be pressed at the rear side of the flexible part 112. In addition, an address setting switch which consists of a rotary switch is received in the device body 110 and a rotation handle 114 of the address setting switch is exposed at a center portion of a front surface of the device body 110. The addresses of eight individual switches are set to any one of 1 to 8, 9 to 16, 17 to 24, 25 to 32, 33 to 40, and 41 to 48 according to the rotation position of the rotation handle 114. For example, when the address is set to 9 to 16 using the rotation handle 114, the addresses of the eight individual switches are set to 9, 10, 11, . . . , and 16 in that order from the top.
Furthermore, a face cover 111 is attached to the front surface of the device body 110. The face cover 111 has a cover main body 116 in the shape of a rectangular plate having a size substantially equal to that of the front surface of the device body 110, and is attached to the front surface of device body 110 by engaging elastic engagement claws protruding from the left and right sides of the rear surface of the cover main body 116 with engagement holes formed at the left and right sides of the front surface of the device body 110. Perforated holes (not shown) though which the press buttons 112a and the display lamps 113 passes are formed on the cover main body 116 at portions facing the press buttons 112a and the display lamps 113 provided on the front surface of the device body 110, and a front identification plate 117 made of flexible resin is attached to the front surface of the cover main body 116. The front identification plate 117 is called a membrane sheet. Operating buttons 105a protruding forward are formed on the front identification plate 117 at a portion facing the press buttons 112a. In addition, on the front identification plate 117, light transmitting parts 119 and 120 are formed at portions facing the display lamps 113 and a name card 118 attached to the rear surface of the cover main body 116. The light of the display lamps 113 and the character of the name card 118 are externally visible with eye though the light transmitting portions.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-open No. H03-94597
In the above-described remote supervisory control system, the operating switch wiring device 105 which monitors the operation of the individual switches for individually operating a load and the operating switch wiring devices 103 and 104 which monitor the operation of the group switch or the pattern switch are provided. To set the addresses of the individual switches or the addresses of the loads which are collectively controlled by the group control or the pattern control, the dedicated address setting terminal 106 needs to be prepared and thus a cost of the system increases. In addition, when the group control or the pattern control is set using the address setting terminal 106, a group number or a pattern number (address of the group switch or the pattern switch) must be set in correspondence with the address of the load which is a group control object or a pattern control object. Accordingly, only a worker having special knowledge can perform a setting operation and it takes much time to set the group number or the pattern number. In addition, during setting the address, the overall system is in an address setting state and thus general load control cannot be performed.

Operating switch wiring device and handle member therefor


Interoperability of a first framework or platform (e.g., COM) and a second different framework or platform (e.g., .NET) is provided via an attribute mechanism. The attribute mechanism is provided in a non-COM based platform (e.g., .NET) to expose classes to COM. In this manner, a compiler (e.g., the .NET compiler) creates class and events interfaces and adds attributes to the class and interfaces as appropriate for correct interoperability and marshaling. By adding this attribute mechanism to a class in .NET, the .NET compiler is able to use the class declarations (such as public methods, properties, and events) to automatically generate a class interface and an events interface, including appropriate dispatch IDs and GUIDs. Validation is performed on the class being mapped to provide an indication, such as an error message or warning, to the user that the underlying framework marshaling layer cannot marshal certain data types as desired or expected.

To manage the complexity of long computer programs, computer programmers often adopt object-oriented programming techniques. With these techniques, a computer program is organized as multiple smaller modules called objects. An object is a unit of code comprising both routines and data and is thought of as a discrete entity. These objects perform specified functions and interact with other objects in pre-defined ways. Objects communicate with each other through interfaces. Each object may have multiple interfaces. An interface exposes and defines access to the object's public routines and data. Put another way, an interface can be considered as the definition of an expected behavior and expected responsibilities. One of the advantages to interfaces is that a client object can continue to access the methods of a server object that are exposed through the interface, regardless of whether the underlying code in the object is updated or changed for another reason.
One of the primary benefits of object-oriented programming is that the objects can be easily and affordably adapted to meet new needs by combining them in a modular fashion. The structural foundation for an object-oriented language is the object model. The Component Object Model (COM) produced by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., is an example of an object model.
COM is a software architecture for creating and using objects, which makes software easier to write and reuse. In COM, an object is some piece of compiled code that provides some service to the rest of the system. Services are used in a standard way, regardless of location. COM allows an object to expose its functionality to other objects and to host applications. In this manner, COM allows objects made by different software vendors to be combined into a variety of applications.
COM defines a binary standard for component interoperability (e.g., for function calling between components) and is not dependent on any particular programming language. In this manner, binary executables are able to interoperate. Thus, COM can be used with any programming language that uses a binary standard, such as Visual Basic, JAVA, and C++.
In COM, applications interact with each other and with the system through collections of functions called interfaces. A COM interface is a strongly-typed contract between software components to provide a small but useful set of semantically related operations or methods. Thus, in COM, an interface is a related group of functions and is the binary standard through which objects communicate. As noted above, an object can, and typically does, implement more than one interface. Every interface has its own identifier, a globally unique ID (GUID). A GUID is an integer (typically a 128-bit integer) that is guaranteed to be unique in the world across space and time. GUIDs are used to identify every interface and every component object class. Human-readable names are assigned only for convenience and are locally scoped. This helps to ensure that COM components do not accidentally connect to the wrong component, interface, or method, even in networks with millions of component objects. Thus, developers create their own GUIDs when they develop component objects and custom interfaces. Through the use of "defines", developers do not need to be exposed to the actual (128-bit) GUID. Thus, if a developer creates a new interface, he must also create a new identifier for that interface. When a developer uses an interface, he must use the identifier for the interface to request a pointer to the interface. This eliminates naming conflicts that would result in runtime failure.
It is noted that COM interfaces are not versioned, which avoids version conflicts between new and old components. A new version of an interface is an entirely new interface and is assigned a new unique identifier.
While COM objects have been fundamental to programming for many years, applications designed for use with other platforms, such as the .NET platform produced by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. and described in PCT Publication WO 01/98936 having an international filing date of Jun. 22, 2001 and incorporated herein by reference, offer many advantages.
Code developed for the .NET platform is referred to as managed code, and contains metadata (data about data) that is used by the common language runtime. Data used by .NET applications is called managed data because the .NET runtime manages data-related tasks such as allocating and reclaiming memory, and type checking.
As noted above, COM provides a binary standard between two objects. However, .NET is a logical standard and not a binary standard, and accordingly is a different platform than COM.
An assembly is the primary building block of a .NET platform application. It is a collection of functionality that is built, versioned, and deployed as a single implementation unit containing one or more files. Interoperability marshaling is the process of packaging parameters and return values into equivalent data types as they move to and from COM objects.
.NET applications share a set of common types that allow interoperability of objects, regardless of the programming language used. The parameters and return values of COM objects sometimes use data types that are different than those used in managed code.
Conventionally, for a user to map one standard to another standard (e.g., map COM object members to equivalent .NET managed members), the user would have to manually map the new standard to the old standard. The manual method for exposing a class from the .NET platform to COM is very complex and requires extensive knowledge about COM programming. To expose a .NET object to COM, the .NET assembly needs to include the descriptions of the objects in the form of interfaces that COM understands. That consists of a number of interfaces and attributes. The developer would have to manually create the class interface and the events interface and would need specific knowledge of .NET interop to add the necessary interop attributes to the class and interfaces. Additionally, maintaining the COM interfaces and attributes during the development cycle is difficult and the chances of making a mistake are high.
Another conventional approach is to use the default "auto-dual" class interface support provided by the .NET runtime, but this has some deficiencies: (1) it does not provide "events", which is generally unacceptable to a user, and (2) it breaks down over time because any public change to a base class changes the default class interface. Yet another prior art approach is to generate the interface code and inject it into a user's source file. This is not desirable because it intrudes on a user's code.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and methods that overcome the limitations and drawbacks of the prior art.

Interoperability of objects between various platforms


A flexible coupling assembly includes a power transmitting body to carry a torsional load between opposed rotating members and a quill shaft for carrying an axial load extending through the cavity of the torsional body. The power transmitting body defines an axis, a longitudinally extending cavity, and a first and second flanged portions for coupling opposed rotating members. The quill shaft extends through the cavity of the power transmitting body, spanning the power transmitting body, and fixed to the first and second flanged portions for carrying the axial load across the power transmitting body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to couplings for connecting rotatable members, and more particularly to flexible couplings for transmitting power and accommodating angular and/or axial misalignments between rotating shafts, such as in aircraft transmission devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Drive systems include power transmission couplings between rotatable members. These couplings transmit power from an engine to a gearbox or from a rotatable driving shaft to a rotatable driven shaft. These shafts can be angularly misaligned, axially misaligned, or both. Flexible couplings capable of carrying high torque and high bending stress are employed for coupling such rotatable members.
Typical couplings include flexible elements such as diaphragm or disc members that provide the required angular and axial compliance for coupling the shafts. In certain situations axial compliance is provided by an external means, such as a movable spline, in which case large axial loads may result that must be resisted by the flexible coupling. Axially loaded flexible couplings generally include a structure for absorbing axial loads while still permitting angular compliance, such as an internally disposed ball and socket for example.
Conventional coupling methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, the conventional ball-in-socket structures can be subject to fretting wear, potentially limiting its service life. Conventional ball-socket structures can also generate dust, requiring maintenance and/or replacement. There is a need in the art for flexible couplings that can accommodate large axial loads without corresponding increase in flexible elements stress and which does not require maintenance and replacement. There also remains a need in the art for such a flexible coupling that is easy to make and use. The present disclosure provides a solution for these problems.

Flexible couplings for power transmission devices


An optical fiber sheet 10 includes an optical fiber 11 and a wire 12 that are arranged between a first sheet and a second sheet. The optical fiber 11 is a multi-mode optical fiber having a core of silica glass to which a refractive index adjuster is added, has a numerical aperture equal to or less than 0.30 and a flexural rigidity equal to or less than 0.50 N·mm2, and is bent to be arranged between the first sheet and the second sheet. The wire 12 intersects the optical fiber 11 between the first sheet and the second sheet.

Techniques using an optical fiber sheet as a breathing sensor are disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 to 3. An optical fiber sheet disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is formed by fixing or mixing an optical fiber to/into a sheet made of cloth or the like. This optical fiber sheet captures a shape change of the optical fiber that is produced by a body motion, as a change in polarization state of light propagating through the optical fiber. It is said that, when using this optical fiber sheet, the S/N ratio is good, a slight body motion produced by breathing can be detected, turning over and breathing can be clearly distinguished, and a respiratory status in a circumstance close to a normal living environment can be observed.
Patent Literatures 2 and 3 disclose a sleep apnea sensor that enables screening of sleep apnea syndrome in a normal sleep state completely without constraint at home. This sleep apnea sensor detects a body motion by measuring a change in light quantity of transmission light based on an excessive loss produced by a lateral pressure applied on the optical fiber. This sleep apnea sensor is small and silent, can be used by simply lying on an optical fiber sheet laid under a sheet covering the bedding, and can perform a measurement with nothing on the body and with a simple operation. The optical fiber sheets disclosed in these literatures can observe a state of breathing in a circumstance close to a normal living environment.


A sheet is conveyed by a conveyor belt which attracts the back side of the sheet under vacuum along a conveyance passage including a bent portion. An air blower is provided to blow an air flow against the upper surface of the conveyor belt at the bent portion of the conveyance passage so that the sheet is bent along the surface of the conveyor belt.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sheet transfer system which conveys sheets attracting the back side thereof under vacuum without contacting the front side of the sheets for use, for instance, in a sheet sorter which is provided with a plurality of bins each of which receives a plurality of sheets discharged from an image recording apparatus such as a printer, a copier or the like and forms thereon a stack of sheets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally sheets are conveyed held between a pair of conveyor rollers. However in the case of sheets carrying thereon wet ink like printed sheets just discharged from a printer such as a stencil printer, such conveyor rollers cannot be used since the rollers are contaminated with ink and the images on the sheets are deteriorated through contact of the rollers with the printed sides of the sheets. Accordingly sheets wet with ink are conveyed by a system which conveys sheets attracting the back side thereof under vacuum without contacting the front side of the sheets.
In order to make compact an apparatus such as a sheet sorter, it is necessary to bend the conveyance passage of the sheets, for instance, at an acute angle.
In the case of a transfer system in which the sheets are conveyed with the back side thereof attracted against a conveyor belt under vacuum, it is difficult to attract the sheets so that the sheets are sufficiently bent along the bent conveyance passage unless a substantially large suction apparatus is used since the sheets are spaced from each other and the vacuum system is not closed. Especially when the sheets are large in thickness or the conveying speed is high, the leading end portion of the sheet will project outside the conveyance passage away from the conveyor belt when passing the bent portion of the conveyance passage, which can result in jam of the transfer system.


A subsea test tree having a spherical ball valve member is modified to accommodate cutting of a string of coiled tubing extending through the ball valve member. This is accomplished by providing an eccentric recess in an inner bore of the subsea test tree, with the eccentric recess being positioned to receive a lower portion of the coiled tubing string as the coiled tubing string is cut by the ball valve member. This reduces the plastic deformation of the lower portion of the coiled tubing string as the coiled tubing string is cut by the closing ball valve member, and thus reduces the closing force necessary to reliably cut a coiled tubing string when the spherical ball valve member of the subsea test tree is closed in an emergency situation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to test trees for testing and producing offshore wells, and particularly to a modification of such test trees to allow the test tree to cut larger diameters of coiled tubing when the test tree is closed in an emergency situation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the production testing of offshore wells, it is desirable to be able to quickly disconnect the production test string from the well in the event of an emergency such as adverse weather conditions. In making the quick disconnect, provision must be made for shutting in the well. This is commonly accomplished with a valve apparatus referred to as a subsea test tree. A subsea test tree is a type of safety valve.
A typical example of a prior art subsea test tree is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,609 to Schwendemann. Quite often when the production test string is in place in a well, it will be necessary to run other tools down through the production test string and down through the subsea test tree. These other tools are typically run on a wireline or on coiled tubing.
It is common practice with subsea test trees such as that of Schwendemann, when an extreme emergency situation arises, to close the ball valve member of the test tree while the wireline or coiled tubing still extends through the test tree, thus severing the wireline or coiled tubing by the shearing action of the ball valve member against its seat.
As procedures utilizing coiled tubing have evolved, the industry is moving toward use of larger and larger diameters of coiled tubing. This presents an increased difficulty in severing the coiled tubing in emergency situations with a subsea test tree.
Various approaches have been suggested to improve upon the capability of a subsea test tree for cutting these larger strings of coiled tubing.
One approach is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,753 of McGill et al. wherein a slot is cut in the lower portion of the spherical ball valve member so that when the ball valve moves to its closed position with a string of coiled tubing still in place, the lower portion of the coiled tubing string will be received in the slot of the ball valve and thus will not be placed in double shear type bending as the ball valve closes. This is best illustrated in FIG. 6 of McGill et al.
Another approach to the problem is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,478 to Calhoun et al. The Calhoun et al. device does not use a conventional spherical ball valve member, but instead uses a combined cutter/valve operator member mounted eccentrically within the housing and associated with a spherical seat surface which is also developed on an eccentrically positioned center.


A method of preparing a laminated packaging material, comprising forming an extruded coating layer of a thermoadhesive resin on a thin-film layer provided on a substrate, said thin-film layer comprising an inorganic or metal compound and having gas barrier properties. The thin-film layer is laminated thereon with a heat buffer layer in such a way that the substrate may substantially undergo no expansion and constriction, e.g., by dry lamination or non-solvent lamination. Then the extruded coating layer is formed on the heat buffer layer, after an anchor coat layer has been optionally formed on the heat buffer layer. Such a heat buffer layer is preferably selected from the group consisting of a polyester film, a polyethylene film, a polypropylene film and a polyamide film.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of preparing a laminated packaging material. More particularly it relates to a method of preparing a laminated packaging material comprising a thin-film layer of an inorganic or metal compound.
2. Description of the Related Art
Packages for food or medical supplies have been hitherto commonly prepared in the form of a pouch, which is a baglike container receptacle. As materials therefor, those mainly comprised of a plastic film are in wide use.
Such packaging materials are required to have various functions and performances according to their contents. In particular, they are often required to have gas barrier properties so that the contents can be prevented from deterioration due to oxidation, the active components in the contents as exemplified by perfume components or pharmaceutical active ingredients can be prevented from permeating or escaping through the package or the contents can be prevented from drying. In order to impart the gas barrier properties to packaging materials, a plastic film that forms a substrate of the packaging material is usually laminated with a layer comprised of a material with good gas barrier properties. A thin-film layer of polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylidene chloride, metal foil, a metal or an inorganic or metal compound has been used as the material with good gas barrier properties. In particular, a thin-film layer of silicon oxide has an excellent transparency, shows very high gas barrier properties, and yet can be produced at a relatively low cost. Hence, its practical utilization has been researched in variety (Japanese Patent Publications No. 51-48511 and No. 53-12953, Japanese Utility Model Publications No. 52-3418 and No. 52-24608, etc.).
The transparent thin-film layer of an inorganic or metal compound as disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-48511, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 52-24608, etc., however, is comprised of so thin a glassy layer that fine cracks tend to occur, which seriously tend to occur especially when heated. This is presumed to result from the phenomenon that the substrate on which the transparent thin-film layer is formed undergoes expansion and contraction by heat and the transparent thin-film layer can not follow this expansion and contraction. Occurrence of such cracks results in a serious lowering of the gas barrier properties of the packaging material.
An occasion on which the thin-film layer of an inorganic or metal compound is heated can be met when a thermoadhesive resin layer is formed on the thin-film layer in order for the packaging material to be endowed with thermal adhesion properties. As a function required in packaging materials, packaging materials must have the thermal adhesion properties so that the packaging materials can be readily worked when they are formed into baglike packages. In order for packaging materials to be endowed with the thermal adhesion properties, the substrate for a package is laminated with a thermoadhesive resin film (also called a sealing medium) in usual instances. In such instances, the sealing medium usually gives a layer having the largest thickness among the layers that constitute a package, and also gives a layer that imparts strength and flexibility to the packaging material and serves as a main component layer of the package. A method for its lamination may include a method in which the substrate is laminated with the thermoadhesive resin film (the sealing medium) previously prepared, and a method in which a thermoadhesive resin is directly extruded in the form of a film onto the substrate to effect lamination to form the sealing medium, i.e., what is called the extrusion coating. In the method in which the substrate is laminated with the sealing medium, a substrate on which the thin-film layer of an inorganic or metal compound has been formed and the thermoadhesive resin film (sealing medium) previously prepared may be laminated using an adhesive, or the substrate and the sealing medium are laminated interposing between them a thermoadhesive resin coating formed by extrusion. The latter enables easy formation of the sealing medium in a large thickness, and is a preferred method. This is because, in the method in which the substrate and the sealing medium are laminated interposing an adhesive, the presence of the adhesive may cause an increase in rigidity of sheets, a decrease in flexibility thereof, and a lowering of transparency.
Almost all of the packages making use of metal foil which are commercially available at present are comprised of a sealing medium formed by extrusion coating of the thermoadhesive resin onto a metal foil.
However, as previously stated, in the direct extrusion coating of the thermoadhesive resin onto the thin-film layer, the substrate may be expanded because of the mechanical tension applied when coating is carried out and the heat of molten thermoadhesive resin, to cause occurrence of fine cracks in the thin-film layer. In addition, the occurrence of cracks may be promoted because the thermoadhesive resin layer formed by extrusion coating and the substrate heated undergo constriction as they are cooled. As a result, the gas barrier properties of the package may be greatly lowered. This has been a problem unsolved.

Method of preparing laminated packaging material


In a method for producing helically wound lock-seam tubing, a metal strip is fed to a forming head in which the tubing is formed. In order to prevent lock-seam slip, a clinching roller device form interlocking spaced deformations on the lock-seam. An apparatus for such production comprises a clinching roller provided with a recess for forming the deformations against a counter roller.

A known machine for producing helically wound lock-seam tubing is disclosed in British patent publication GB 2,213,748, which is incorporated herein by reference, In this machine, a metal strip is fed to a forming head by means of drive rollers, and a helically wound lock-seam tube is formed by clinching rollers associated with the forming head.
Another known machine for producing helically wound tubing is disclosed in British patent specification GB 1,168,178, wherein FIGS. 3 and 4 show different seams.
The technology related to such machines is well-known to persons skilled in the art. At present, several further developed machines of a similar type are available on the market. However, these machines still suffer from some specific drawbacks.
In the production of helically wound lock-seam tubes of the present type, the lock-seam tends to slip, which results in an undesirable change in tube diameter. The general solution to this problem is to increase the pressure of the clinching rollers acting on the lock-seam in the forming head. However, such an increased clinching pressure can cause damage to and deficiencies in the lock-seam as well as in the adjacent portions of the metal strip forming the tube. Thus, the adjustment of the clinching pressure is crucial to the quality of the lock-seam and the resulting tube.
In addition to the clinching pressure, the operator running the machine must consider several other parameters, such as the thickness of the metal strip, the lubrication of the same, and possible wear of different machine components, for example the rollers. Thus, great demands are made on the skill and experience of the operator.
In spite of the operator's skill, it is hard to avoid slip or sliding in the look-seam. An undesirable increase of the tube diameter can occur either in production, immediately after the forming head, or during storing, handling and transportation of the tubes. It should be noted that the tube diameter may also be undesirably reduced due to lock-seam slip, for example when tubes are subject to pressure forces from the outside.
The change in tube diameter is always a problem, since the tubes delivered do not fulfill the customers' specifications and requirements.
Specific problems are encountered when using the tubes in ventilation duct Systems mounted on different premises. For example, vibrations caused by fans and similar equipment can initiate lock-seam slip which, in turn, leads to undesirable leakage of air and pressure drops. In severe cases, lock-seam slip of the ventilation ducts can Jeopardize safe function of the whole ventilation system.
In ventilation duct systems, different fittings are connected to the helically wound lock-seam tubes forming the major part of the system. Such fittings are bends, T-pieces, dampers, sound attenuators, etc. The fittings are normally inserted in the end of the tubes, and a sealing ring on the inserted portion of the fitting ensures safe sealing. However, if the tube has an undesirably increased diameter, there is a risk that sufficient sealing cannot be obtained in the joint between the fitting and the tube. This may lead to the leakage and pressure drop problems discussed above, resulting in energy losses and increased running costs.
In other cases, the fitting is not provided with a pre-mounted seal, but the joint between the outside of the fitting and the inside of the tube is filled with a mastic for sealing purposes. If the gap is too large due to an undesirable increased tube diameter, sufficient sealing may not be obtained by means of the mastic. Even if the mastic is safely fastened, problems may arise later due to increased tube diameter caused by vibrations, air pressure peaks, etc.
Further, change in tube diameter is disadvantageous when prefabricated annular fastening devices and the like are to be applied on the outside of the tube. Such devices do not fit if the tube diameter has changed.

Method and apparatus for producing helically wound lock-seam tubing


A projection-type vehicular headlamp structure that is capable of forming at least two types of light distribution in at least two modes, and is also capable of controlling the radiated light thereof with high precision in addition to keeping to a minimum any noticeable difference when switching between modes. A portion of a reflector is structured as a mobile reflection portion which may separate from a remaining reflective portion. An additional reflector is disposed generally behind the mobile reflective portion. The additional reflector is incident to light from a light source when the mobile reflective portion is separated from the remaining reflective portion. Light incident from the mobile reflective portion, the remaining reflective portion, and the additional reflector is reflected forward to a projection lens of the vehicular headlamp, providing illumination in the area preceding a vehicle's traveling path.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a projection-type vehicular headlamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a projection-type vehicular headlamp is structured such that a projection lens is disposed on an optical axis that extends in vehicle's longitudinal direction, while a light source is disposed to the rear of a rear-side focal point of the projection lens, and light from the light source is reflected toward the optical axis by a reflector. When forming a low-beam distribution pattern from a projection-type vehicular headlamp, a portion of reflected light from a reflector in the vicinity of the rear side focal point of the projection lens is blocked by a shade disposed at an upper end edge near the optical axis. A predetermined cut-off line is thus formed on an upper end portion of the low-beam distribution pattern.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-229715 describes a projection-type vehicular headlamp that is structured with a first additional reflector disposed in front of and obliquely below a light source, and a second additional reflector disposed above the light source adjacent to the reflector so as to sequentially reflect light from the light source with the first additional reflector and the second additional reflector. Furthermore, the projection-type headlamp is structured with a shutter disposed between the first additional reflector and the second additional reflector so as to make it possible to prevent reflected light from the first additional reflector from becoming incident to the second additional reflector.
In order to improve visibility of a road surface in front of the vehicle using light radiated from the vehicular headlamp, it is desirable for a plurality of various light distribution patterns to be formed depending on a vehicle's traveling condition, even for identical low-beam distribution patterns.
In the vehicular headlamp described in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-229715, opening and closing the shutter allows for the formation of a low-beam distribution pattern in two modes: a normal low-beam distribution pattern mode, and a low-beam distribution pattern mode wherein a light distribution pattern formed by light sequentially reflected from the first and second additional reflectors is added to the normal low-beam distribution pattern. However, the following problems exist.
first problem exists in the vehicular headlamp described in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-229715 whereby light is reflected twice by the first and second additional reflectors. This twice reflected light is further radiated forward without passing through the projection lens, thus leading to the inability to control the radiated light with high precision. An additional problem exists whereby the light distribution pattern formed by light sequentially reflected by the first and second additional reflectors differs in quality from the low-beam distribution pattern formed by light from the light source that is reflected by the reflector and which passes through the projection lens. Both the inability to control radiated light with high precision and the noticeable difference in the quality of the light distribution pattern when switching between modes are problematic for obvious reasons. Similar problems are also found in prior art headlamps when forming a high-beam distribution pattern, or the like.


An apparatus for operating a high intensity discharge lamp that minimizes discharge arc curvature to form a straight discharge arc and thereby eliminate variations in the discharge arc color caused by cataphoresis is disclosed. The apparatus outputs a synthesize wave having a waveform with a frequency component of the acoustic resonance frequency to excite a mode straightening the discharge arc, and a waveform of a frequency less than the acoustic resonance frequency whereby the polarity of the waveform having a frequency less than the acoustic resonance frequency changes. The acoustic resonance frequency is determined by the speed of sound in the discharge space, and the length of the discharge space intersecting the discharge arc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a discharge lamp operating apparatus and method for reducing the discharge arc curvature caused by harmful gravity-induced convection when the discharge lamp is started horizontally (in a non-upright position), and relates particularly to a discharge lamp operating apparatus that is effective with high intensity discharge (HID) lamps.
2. Description of Related Technologies
HID lamps are widely used today for outdoor lighting because of their high luminous efficacy and long service life. The good color characteristics of metal halide lamps in particular have also led to their use for applications other than outdoor lighting, including interior lighting, light sources for audio-visual equipment, and even motor vehicle headlights.
A typical conventional HID lamp operating apparatus is described in the No. 10 Proceedings of the Light Association of Japan, Tokyo Branch. The discharge lamp operating apparatus described in these Proceedings enables stable operation and prevents discharge arc wandering, self-extinguishing, and lamp damage caused by the acoustic resonance unique to HID lamps by supplying a low frequency (several hundred hertz), rectangular wave current to the HID lamp, which is one type of discharge lamp.
While this type of igniter can light and then stably drive an HID lamp in a horizontal position, the effect of gravity-induced convection causes the discharge arc to curve upward in a bowed arc.
When the discharge arc curves, the temperature rise in the top part of the discharge space increases, thus deteriorating the quartz glass defining the discharge envelope, which is perceived as a loss of transparency, and shortening the service life of the lamp. Luminous efficacy also drops due to a drop in the lowest temperature at the bottom of the discharge space.
Metal halide lamps with a shorter arc length have been developed in recent years for use as light sources in audio-visual equipment and motor vehicle headlights, and shorter arc lengths require a higher mercury vapor pressure in the discharge space of the lighted lamp. Increasing the vapor pressure, however, increases gravity-induced convection, thereby increasing the curvature of the discharge arc and further degrading lamp life and efficacy.
The discharge lamp operating apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,727 issued to Allen et al. in which the above problem is addressed. The above problem is further described below with reference to FIG. 14.
As shown in FIG. 14, a waveform diagram of the lamp current of a discharge lamp driven by the discharge lamp operating apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,727 teaches that curvature in the discharge arc can be reduced to obtain a substantially straight discharge arc by supplying to the lamp a current to which an ac wave 52 of a certain frequency has been superposed. This certain frequency is one that reduces the effects of gravity-induced convection in the discharge lamp fill on dc current 51 by means of acoustic resonance, and thus straightens the discharge arc.
Straightening the discharge arc reduces the temperature at the top of the discharge space, and thus alleviates one factor contributing to a shorter discharge lamp life. It is therefore possible to achieve a long-lasting discharge lamp and also improve luminous efficacy by raising the temperature of the lowest temperature in the bottom of the discharge space.
With a conventional discharge lamp operating apparatus as described above, however, current always flows in one direction in the discharge lamp, and while the field strength of the discharge space changes with a regular period, the field always moves in one direction. The fill distribution thus becomes unbalanced, and cataphoresis results in inconsistent arc coloring.
An asymmetrical temperature distribution along the electrode axis also occurs with a high temperature on the anode side and a low temperature on the cathode side. As a result of this asymmetrical temperature distribution, the effect of superposing a frequency that excites an arc-straightening mode is small, although the curvature of the discharge arc is still somewhat reduced.
A discharge lamp operating apparatus is also disclosed in the applicant's prior U.S. application Ser. No. 08/560,683 filed Nov. 20, 1995 and entitled "DISCHARGE LAMP-LIGHTING APPARATUS" (corresponding to European Patent publication No. 0713352 published May 22, 1996). The inventors of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/560,683 are the three present inventors and Makoto Horiuchi and Ryuji Higuchi.

Discharge lamp operating apparatus and method for reducing discharge arc curvature

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The subject invention relates to a method of molding an automotive front lamp assembly that prevents the formation of a sink on the reflector by cutting an area into an injection molding tool so that when the reflector is molded, a glare prevention feature is formed in approximately the same location as the sink would have been formed.

Automotive forward lamp assemblies have been modified over the years to decrease the overall mass of the assemblies in order to increase the safety and the gas mileage of automobiles. Most conventional automotive forward lamp assemblies require a large amount of mass concentration at the front of the vehicle. For example, a typical headlamp and fog lamp assembly will comprise a housing with a reflector, at least one filament bulb, a plurality of electrical wires and a lens. This construction results in a large mass concentration located at the front of the vehicle. In the event of a vehicular accident, a large mass concentration at the front of the vehicle is undesirable because it can result in increased damage and increased injuries. This is especially problematic in the event an automobile collides with a pedestrian.
In an effort to reduce the mass of automotive front lighting systems, designers have begun using thermoplastic materials to construct the reflector for headlamp and fog lamp assemblies. Thermoplastic reflectors have the advantage of having less mass than other types of reflectors. Thus, thermoplastic reflectors reduce the overall weight of the lamp assembly. Unfortunately, thermoplastic materials have the drawback of creating manufacturing defects in the form of sinks. As used herein, the term "sink" is used to describe a manufacturing defect located on the reflector that forms a pit in the reflector (i.e. an indentation, a recess and/or a concave surface). A sink causes a large amount of glare to be emitted from the lamp assembly because the defect reflects light in such a manner that a large amount of light is concentrated over a small angle when light reflects from the sink. Concentration of light over a small angle can result in unwanted glare or bright spots in the beam pattern. Thus, sinks are detrimental to the optical performance of an automotive lamp assembly because they cause the lamp assembly to emit a large amount of glare. Sinks occur frequently in the manufacturing of headlamp reflectors because of the thick sections required to form the reflector. For example, a sink normally forms around the socket hole of the reflector. While this is an example of a normal location of a sink, sinks of all shapes and sizes are also prone to appear in other portions of the reflector. In order to use thermoplastic reflectors to manufacture headlamp assemblies, designers of headlamp assemblies are faced with overcoming the glare problems associated with sinks.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an automotive forward lamp assembly that would allow for the use of a thermoplastic reflector without having the large amount of glare resulting from a sink in the thermoplastic reflector. Specifically, it is desirable to develop a design feature that can eliminate the optical problems caused by sinks on thermoplastic reflectors.