There is provided a system and method for automatically identifying potential compartments of a reservoir based on the reservoirs geological structure. A method of identifying compartments of a reservoir structure includes obtaining structural data corresponding to a geological structure of a reservoir. The method also includes generating a topological net based on the structural data, the topological net comprising critical points and poly segments connecting the critical points. The method also includes identifying potential compartments of the reservoir structure based on the topological net. The method also includes identifying spill or break-over relationships among the potential compartments based on the topological net.

This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with embodiments of the disclosed techniques. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the disclosed techniques. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section is to be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of prior art.
Three-dimensional (3D) model construction and visualization commonly employs data stored in a data volume organized as a structured grid or an unstructured grid. Data stored in a data volume may comprise a data model that corresponds to one or more physical properties about a corresponding region that may be of interest. Physical property model construction and data visualization have been widely accepted by numerous disciplines as a mechanism for analyzing, communicating, and comprehending complex 3D relationships. Examples of physical regions that can be subjected to 3D analysis include the earth's subsurface, facility designs and the human body.
In the field of hydrocarbon exploration, analysis of a reservoir's connectivity facilitates characterizing the reservoir. Moreover, connectivity analysis may affect decisions made in all phases of hydrocarbon resource development (such as exploration and production) of an asset's life cycle. Connectivity assessments can affect decisions ranging from determining optimal well locations, to managing reservoir decisions.
In one known technique, a set of rules and processes allow geologists to identify compartments from reservoir geometry. Typically, compartment identification starts with structure maps. Structural features, stratigraphic features, and the limits of top-seal or base-seal define compartment boundaries. Without knowledge of fluid contacts, depths, pressures conditions, one can identify potential compartment boundaries from the maps based on a few simple rules of the structural and stratigraphic features. That is, one can evaluate relevance of compartment boundaries defined by top-seal or base-seal. Traditional spill points on convex-upward closures and down-dip tips of faults or other structural or stratigraphic barriers are only relevant on top-of-reservoir maps. Break-over points, including those associated with concave-upward closures and up-dip tips of faults or other structural or stratigraphic barrier, are only relevant on base-of-reservoir maps. Even though the rules to identify compartments on the structure maps are relatively simple, the process of identification typically relies on the geologists' manual identification of compartment boundaries and contact relations among boundaries based on the contour and/or cross sessions display in structural surface.
FIG. 1 is a diagram that is useful in explaining the identification of compartments using structure maps. The diagram is generally referred to by the reference number 100. The diagram 100 includes a left panel 102, a center panel 104, and a right panel 106.
The left panel 102 shows a top-seal map of the top of a reservoir. The structural contour of the top seal is represented with isolines 108, each of which represents a solid polygon of uniform depth along the top of the reservoir.
The center panel 104 shows a base-seal map of the base of the reservoir. As in the left panel, the structural contour of the bottom seal is represented with isolines 108, each of which represents a solid polygon of uniform depth along the top of the reservoir.
The right panel 106 shows a cross section taken along lines A-A′ 112 of the left panel 102 and the center panel 104. The depth contour of the top seal is shown as line 114, and the depth contour of the bottom seal is shown as line 116. The locations of the first compartment 118 and the second compartment 120 are clearly shown in the right panel 106. The dashed line in the right panel 106 shows the depth that is identified as the top of the first compartment 118. Thus, the potential compartments 118 and 120 can be manually identified by inspection of the reservoir contours of a base seal and a top seal.
Known processes of compartment identification rely on geologists' knowledge and step-by-step procedures to identify compartment boundaries first. The contacts from compartment boundaries may then be used to identify the spill points and break-over points among compartments. Furthermore, the traditional methods would make the handling of the uncertainty of the structural and stratigraphic features difficult if not impossible.
The following paragraphs provide specific examples of known techniques for processing geometric data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,141 to Ito, et al., discloses an animation solid that is created by an animation solid generator such that the shape of its cross section at t=t0 coincides with the shape of the contour of an object contained in a frame to be displayed at t=t0, wherein time t is set in the height z direction of the solid. For creation of this solid, topological considerations, including connected components and the tree structure of contours, are used. By chopping this solid, it is submitted that intermediate dividing can be performed. According to the disclosure, the basis of the topological geometry rests on Morse theory.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,863 to Shinagawa, et al., discloses that shape expressions in CAD or CG have often been carried out in polygon data. In polygon representations, the amount of data becomes very large if precision is pursued. Another shape representation utilizing the existing polygon data asset is disclosed. Polygon data showing the shape of an object is first obtained. Topological information of the object is extracted from the polygon data. Based on the information, the polygon data is converted into topological data. The inversion is carried out upon necessity.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0002571 by Hiraga, et al., discloses a shape analyzer that inputs a 3D representation of an object such as merchandise. A structural graph of the object is constructed by defining a continuous function on the surface of the object. The surface is then partitioned into plural areas according to the function values at the points on the surface. The areas are associated with nodes of the graph. By choosing a function that returns values invariant to rotation of the objects, the constructed graph also becomes invariant to rotation. This property is said to be important when searching for objects by shape from a shape database, as the postures of the objects are unknown when searching is performed. The analyzer is stated to be applicable to search engines for online shopping, where a user seeks goods by designating the general shape of the target.
S. Smale, "Morse Inequalities for a Dynamical System", Bulletin of American Mathematical Society, Volume 66, No. 1 (1960), describes a topological structure of a scalar field in the continuum. According to the article, a real value function ƒ: M(a two-manifold)−>R (a Real field) is called a Morse function if it is at least twice differentiable, its values at critical points (for example, minimums, maximums, saddles) defined by ▾ƒ=0 are distinct and its Hessian matrix of second derivatives of ƒ has nonzero determinant at critical points. Moreover, the article provides a topological analysis of mathematical theory that may be useful.
The following paragraphs provide specific examples of known reservoir data analysis techniques. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0235666 by Assa, et al, discloses methods and systems for processing data used for hydrocarbon extraction from the earth. Symmetry transformation groups are identified from sampled earth structure data. A set of critical points is identified from the sampled data. Using the symmetry groups and the critical points, a plurality of subdivisions of shapes is generated, which together represent the original earth structures. The symmetry groups correspond to a plurality of shape families, each of which includes a set of predicted critical points. The subdivisions are preferably generated such that a shape family is selected according to a best fit between the critical points from the sampled data and the predicted critical points of the selected shape family.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO2009/094064 by Meurer, et al., discloses methods, computer-readable mediums, and systems that analyze hydrocarbon production data from a subsurface region to determine geologic time scale reservoir connectivity and production time scale reservoir connectivity for the subsurface region. Compartments, fluid properties, and fluid distribution are interpreted to determine geologic time scale reservoir connectivity and production time scale reservoir connectivity for the subsurface region. A reservoir connectivity model based on the geologic time scale and production time scale reservoir connectivity for the subsurface region is constructed, wherein the reservoir connectivity model includes a plurality of production scenarios each including reservoir compartments, connections, and connection properties for each scenario. Each of the production scenarios is tested and refined based on production data for the subsurface region.
P. J. Vrolijk, et al., "Reservoir Connectivity Analysis—Defining Reservoir Connections and Plumbing", SPE Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference, Kingdom of Bahrain (2005), provides that gas, oil, and water fluids in channelized or faulted reservoirs can create complex reservoir plumbing relationships. Variable hydrocarbon contacts can develop when some, but not all, fluids are in pressure communication. Reservoir Connectivity Analysis (RCA) is a series of analyses and approaches to integrate structural, stratigraphic, and fluid pressure and composition data into permissible but non-unique scenarios of fluid contacts and pressures. RCA provides the basis for fluid contact and pressure scenarios at all business stages, allowing the creation of fluid contact and segmentation scenarios earlier in an exploration or development setting, and the identification of by-passed pays or new exploration opportunities in a production setting. Combining conventional structural and fault juxtaposition spill concepts with a renewed appreciation of fluid break-over (contacts controlled by spill of pressure-driven, denser fluid, like water over a dam) and capillary leak (to define the ratio of gas and oil where capillary gas leak determines the gas-oil contact (GOC)), permissible but non-unique scenarios of the full fluid fill/displacement/spill pathways of a hydrocarbon accumulation are defined comprising single or multiple reservoir intervals.
Y. Gingold, et al., "Controlled-Topology Filtering", Computer-Aided Design, Volume 39, Issue 8 (2007) presents an algorithm based on Critical Point analysis that postulates that the filtering result would preserve the topological features on the surface. According to the paper, many applications require the extraction of isolines and isosurfaces from scalar functions defined on regular grids. These scalar functions may have many different origins, from MRI and CT scan data to terrain data or results of a simulation. As a result of noise and other artifacts, curves and surfaces obtained by standard extraction algorithms often suffer from topological irregularities and geometric noise. While it is possible to remove topological and geometric noise as a post-processing step, in the case when a large number of isolines are of interest there is a considerable advantage in filtering the scalar function directly. While most smoothing filters result in gradual simplification of the topological structure of contours, new topological features typically emerge and disappear during the smoothing process. The paper describes an algorithm for filtering functions defined on regular 2D grids with controlled topology changes, which is stated to ensure that the topological structure of the set of contour lines of the function is progressively simplified.
P. Bremer, et al., "Maximizing Adaptivity in Hierarchical Topological Models Using Extrema Trees", IEEE PROC-216200 (2005), discloses an adaptive hierarchical representation of the topology of functions defined over two-manifold domains. Guided by the theory of Morse-Smale complexes, dependencies between cancellations of critical points are encoded using two independent structures: a traditional mesh hierarchy to store connectivity information and a new structure called an extrema tree to encode the configuration of critical points. Extrema trees are described as providing a powerful method to increase adaptivity while using a relatively simple data structure. The resulting hierarchy is described as being relatively flexible. In particular, the resulting hierarchy is stated to be guaranteed to be of logarithmic height.
A. Gyulassy, et al., "A Topological Approach to Simplification of Three-dimensional Scalar Functions", IEEE Transactions Visualization and Computer Graphics (2006), describes a combinatorial method for simplification of topological features in a 3D scalar function. The Morse-Smale complex, which provides a succinct representation of a function's associated gradient flow field, is used to identify topological features and their significance. The simplification process, guided by the Morse-Smale complex, proceeds by repeatedly applying two atomic operations that each remove a pair of critical points from the complex. Efficient storage of the complex results in execution of these atomic operations at interactive rates. Visualization of the simplified complex shows that the simplification preserves significant topological features while removing small features and noise.
G. H. Weber, et al., "Topology-controlled Volume Rendering", IEEE Transactions Visualization and Computer Graphics (2007), discloses that topology provides a foundation for the development of mathematically sound tools for processing and exploration of scalar fields. Existing topology-based methods can be used to identify interesting features in volumetric data sets, to find seed sets for accelerated isosurface extraction, or to treat individual connected components as distinct entities for isosurfacing or interval volume rendering. A framework for direct volume rendering based on segmenting a volume into regions of equivalent contour topology is described, applying separate transfer functions to each region. Each region corresponds to a branch of a hierarchical contour tree decomposition, and a separate transfer function can be defined for it. A volume rendering framework and interface where a unique transfer function can be assigned to each subvolume corresponding to a branch of the contour tree. Also disclosed is a runtime method for adjusting data values to reflect contour tree simplifications. Purported to be disclosed is an efficient way of mapping a spatial location into the contour tree to determine the applicable transfer function. Also stated to be disclosed is an algorithm for hardware accelerated direct volume rendering that visualizes the contour tree-based segmentation at interactive frame rates using graphics processing units (GPUs) that support loops and conditional branches in fragment programs.
H. Carr, "Contour Tree Simplification With Local Geometric Measures", MIT, 14th Annual Fall Workshop on Computational Geometry (2004), discloses that the contour tree, an abstraction of a scalar field that encodes the nesting relationships of isosurfaces, has several potential applications in scientific and medical visualization, but noise in experimentally-acquired data results in unmanageably large trees. Geometric properties of the contours are attached to the branches of the tree and simplification by persistence is applied to reduce the size of contour trees while preserving features of the scalar field.

Method of reservoir compartment analysis using topological structure in 3D earth model


A method for measuring carbon dioxide, comprising the steps of: (1) reacting bicarbonate ion in a sample with phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase derived from an acetic acid bacterium in the presence of phosphoenolpyruvate; (2) reacting the resultant oxalacetic acid with malate dehydrogenase in the presence of NADH; and (3) measuring decreased NADH, and a reagent for measuring carbon dioxide, comprising phosphoenolpyruvate, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase derived from an acetic acid bacterium, malate dehydrogenase, NADH and a buffer. According to the present invention, a highly stable reagent for CO.sub.2 measurement, which permits a long-term storage in a liquid state, can be provided by the use of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase derived from a species of acetic acid bacteria.

Carbon dioxide in blood serum or blood plasma is in an equilibrium with bicarbonate ion (HCO.sub.3.sup.-) and is a second largest fraction in blood serum and blood plasma. Therefore, the carbon dioxide forms the most important biological buffering action system in blood. The carbon dioxide content in blood serum or blood plasma is a significant index of electrolytic dispersion and shortage of anion, to aid medical diagnosis of acid-base inequilibrium in the respiratory system and metabolism. For example, normal bicarbonate ion concentration in blood serum and blood plasma is 22-32 mmol/l and a decrease to a low value of 15 mmol/l or an increase to a high value of 40 mmol/l suggests presence of abnormality.
While a carbon dioxide level in body fluids can be measured by various methods, it is generally measured by tracing the changes caused by the enzyme reaction to be mentioned later. When phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase is reacted with bicarbonate ion and phosphoenolpyruvic acid, oxalacetic acid and phosphoric acid are produced. The resultant oxalacetic acid is reacted with malate dehydrogenase in the presence of NADH, and a decrease in NADH is measured by a known method such as an end point method or a rate method.
In the alkaline pH range, the equilibrium between carbon dioxide and bicarbonate ion shifts toward the reaction to form bicarbonate ion, and carbon dioxide exists as bicarbonate ion; in the acidic pH range, it forms CO.sub.2 gas which is released into the air. For this reason, buffers having pH of 8.0 or above are generally used for a reagent for determining carbon dioxide.
The basic problem associated therewith is that phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase is unstable in the alkaline pH range, with the result that a reagent for carbon dioxide measurement containing this enzyme cannot be stored for a long time in a liquid state. The phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylases available in the market are mostly derived from plants such as maize leaves and wheat germ, and show extremely poor stability at pH 8.0.
There is also known measurement of bicarbonate ion by the use of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase derived from Hyphomicrobium (EP 456444). This enzyme has a microbial origin, is free of the above-mentioned defects that the plant-originated phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase has, and shows relatively high stability. It has been found, however, that this enzyme is not sufficiently stable at the enzyme concentration (generally 0.05-5 U/ml) that a reagent for measuring carbon dioxide generally has.
In the measurement method as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,037, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase derived from Escherichia coli is used. This enzyme shows poor stability in a reagent solution for measuring carbon dioxide which is weak alkaline.
Accordingly, a phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase which is stable in a buffer (having a pH of about 8.0-8.5) to be contained in the CO.sub.2 measurement reagent is demanded.

Method for measuring carbon dioxide and reagent therefor


The present invention relates generally to modular demountable wall systems and more particularly, to a flexible and versatile demountable wall system for where control of air pressure and contaminants may be required.

Demountable wall systems are frequently employed for partitioning room space between an overhead and a floor. The walls can be constructed of wall panels, fabric, sheet rock, etc. which are incorporated into the frame work assembly using either a batten or rolled form snap configuration. The finished or exposed area of a wall surface includes no fasteners. Demountable wall systems can be comprised of prefabricated components including, but not limited to, a supporting framework with support or frame members generally extending vertically from floor to ceiling, wall panels, a means for attaching the panels to the framework, and various trim elements. The wall panels may be held in the framework by battens or by snap-in arrangements wherein the panels have edge flanges engaging recesses in the frame members.
Demountable wall systems may be provided as single-sided, having wall panels on only one side of the framework, or as double sided, having wall panels on both sides of the framework. In double-sided configuration, either the framing elements must have wall panel attachments on both sides, or two sets of one-sided framing elements must be used back to back.
Demountable wall systems may be used as enclosures in which a highly sanitary or an uncontaminated environment may be maintained, also know as "Cleanrooms". A "Cleanroom" is a specially designed & constructed room in which the air supply, air distribution, filtration of air supply, materials of construction, and operating procedures are regulated to control airborne particle concentrations to meet appropriate cleanliness levels. Cleanrooms have controlled environments in which variables such as the density of airborne particles per cubic meter or the temperature of the room are controlled. For example, Cleanrooms are often used in facilities for the manufacture and assembly of electronic components, or in the biological and pharmaceutical sciences. Cleanrooms are essential for these manufacturing processes, which require high degrees of cleanliness and/or precise temperature and humidity control.
The need for Cleanrooms that can control the level of contamination (e.g. particulate and/or biological, etc.) in the sub micron particle range is increasing. Typical systems have been created to meet a single use, as the requirements for use in electronics, photonics, aerospace, trace metals, pharmaceutical, and for biological safety containment. These varieties in applications require wall systems with different configurations and functional requirements.
The walls and corners of Cleanrooms should have generally flat and smooth surfaces which tend not to catch and accumulate dust and other contaminants and which will not interfere with a laminar flow of room air. The wall surfaces must be smooth and durable to facilitate cleaning. The vertical seams between panel edges should be sealable, even when one or both panel edges have been field cut. The details of the panel edge connections should not interfere with the installation of the panel in tight spaces.
Cleanrooms are classified according to the number and size of particles permitted per volume of air provided in the enclosure. A discrete-particle-counting, light-scattering instrument may be used to determine the concentration of airborne particles, equal to and larger than the specified sizes, at designated sampling locations. The ISO 14644 Standards were based on from previous US Federal Standard 209E Airborne Particulate Cleanliness Classes in Cleanrooms and Cleanzones (abbreviated as the FED-STD-209E standard), which referred to the number of particles of size 0.5 μm or larger permitted per cubic foot of air. The ISO 14644-1 Standards specify the decimal logarithm of the number of particles 0.1 μm or larger permitted per cubic meter of air. For example, an ISO class 5 Cleanroom has at most 105 particles per m3.
Several performance considerations are important in the design, manufacture, and installation of demountable wall systems, including such systems for use in the design, manufacture, and installation of Cleanrooms. For example, it can be desirable that the components of the wall systems have the ability to be delivered to site and with a minimum of field fabrication and installed "clean". When installed, the wall should present a smooth surface for ease of cleaning. The system should be installable in as little space as possible, as floor space costs are significant. Variations or movement in the floor or ceiling should be accommodated. As such, Cleanrooms typically require modification to meet site conditions during construction, have the ability to be relocated, and should be flexible to allow the system to be easily reconfigured to meet changes required for production and equipment changes. These changes are typically required to be made "clean" so they can be installed during or with little disruption to production.
Previously existing wall systems have failed to satisfy one or more of the above-mentioned criteria. Thus there is an unmet need for a demountable wall system that requires a minimum of field fabrication and can be built "clean", is economically manufactured, is easily installed in a minimum of space, and is suitable for use in a variety of Cleanroom configurations or as an office or lab partition and otherwise meets all the aforementioned criteria.


Proposed is a method for receiving a Wi-Fi service by a wireless LAN station supporting an application service platform (ASP). Specifically, the Wi-Fi service can be received through at least two connection techniques, for example, a Wi-Fi direct connection of Wi-Fi infrastructure connection may be used. The wireless LAN station having an ASP may detect information on each of the connection techniques and may be provided with the Wi-Fi service using one of the connection techniques. In addition, when a change in a communication environment or the like occurs, the connection technique may be switched and, in this case, signaling for switching the connection technique may be used.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless LAN station having a platform capable of changing a wireless LAN connection technique and a method using the same and, most particularly, to a device including an application service platform (ASP) capable of changing a connection technique and a method using the same.
Related Art
In the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA), a Wi-Fi Direct service (WFDS), which supports diverse services using a Wi-Fi Direct link (e.g., Send, Play, Display, Print, and so on), is being researched. According to the WFDS, an application may be controlled or managed by a service platform, which is referred to as an Application Service Platform (ASP).
WFDS device supporting a WFDS includes devices supporting a wireless LAN system, such as display devices, printers, digital cameras, projectors, smart phones, and so on. Also, the WFDS device may include an STA and an AP. WFDS devices within a WFDS network may be directly connected to one another.
A WFDS framework may include a Wi-Fi Direct layer 100, an ASP 120, a service layer 140, and an application layer 160.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating Wi-Fi Direct Service (WFDS) configuration elements (or components).
Referring to FIG. 1, the WFDS framework may include a Wi-Fi Direct layer 100, an ASP 120, a service layer 140, and an application layer 160.
The Wi-Fi Direct layer 100 corresponds to a medium access control (MAC) layer, which is defined in the Wi-Fi Direct standard. A wireless connection may be configured by a physical layer (not shown), which is backward compatible with a Wi-Fi PHY, below the Wi-Fi Direct layer 100. An Application Service Platform (ASP) 120 is defined above the Wi-Fi Direct layer 100.
The ASP 120 corresponds to a common shared platform, and the ASP 120 performs the functions of session management, service command processing, and control and security between ASPs between the Application layer 160, which is a higher layer of the ASP 120, and the Wi-Fi Direct layer 100, which is a lower layer of the ASP 120.
The Service layer 140 is defined above the ASP 120. For example, the Service layer 140 may support 4 basic service, which correspond to Send, Play, Display, and Print services, and a service that is defined in a third-party application. Moreover, the Service layer 140 may also support Wi-Fi Serial Bus (WSB), Wi-Fi Docking, or Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN).
The application layer 160 may provide a user interface (UI), and the application layer 160 may also express information in a format that can be recognized by human beings and may deliver (or transport) user input to a lower layer.

Wireless LAN station having platform capable of changing wireless LAN connection technique


A heat transfer recording apparatus which is arranged to transfer ink from a heat transfer printing medium to a recording medium by selective application of heat while transporting the heat transfer printing medium and the recording medium. The apparatus is provided with a winding mechanism for winding the heat transfer printing medium, a rewinding mechanism for rewinding the heat transfer printing medium, a transporting mechanism for transporting the heat transfer printing medium and the recording medium, a discharging mechanism for discharging the recording medium, a cutter for cutting the recording medium after completion of image recording, and a driving-force transmitting mechanism for selectively transmitting the driving force of a common drive source to the winding mechanism, the rewinding mechanism, the discharging mechanism, and the cutter.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to heat transfer recording apparatus such as facsimile devices, printers, word processors, copying machines and the like and, more particularly, to a heat transfer recording apparatus which is arranged to transfer ink from a heat transfer printing medium to a recording medium and record an image on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various types of recording apparatus have been developed and put to practical use as output devices for facsimile devices or the like. One such type of recording apparatus which has been proposed is a heat transfer type of recording apparatus. Such a heat transfer recording apparatus commonly employs an ink sheet made of a base film coated with a thermally transferable ink and is arranged to superpose a recording sheet upon the ink-coated surface of the ink sheet, heat the side of the ink sheet on which the base film is exposed by means of a recording head in accordance with an image signal, and melt, or reduce the viscosity of, the ink, thereby transferring the ink to the recording sheet. The heat transfer recording apparatus having the above-described arrangement is characterized by light weight and low-noise operation, and finds wide application at the present time.
Both of the following arrangements are known for use as a transport mechanism for transporting the ink sheet and the recording sheet in the aforesaid heat transfer recording apparatus. First, there is an arrangement in which a first motor for transporting a recording sheet is disposed separately from a second motor for transporting an ink sheet, the first motor serving to transport the recording sheet alone, while the second motor serves to transport the ink sheet alone. Second, there is an arrangement which uses a single motor to effect transportation of a recording sheet and an ink sheet (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 150762/1984).
In yet another known arrangement, the driving force of a recording-sheet transporting motor is utilized as the driving force required to drive a discharge roller for discharging a recording sheet after completion of recording.
However, the above-described arrangements involve a number of problems. In the case of the first arrangement, where each element is driven by an individual motor, the number of motors must be increased which in turn increases the manufacturing cost. In addition, in order to practice such an arrangement, a recording apparatus of increased volume is needed, and the size of the apparatus must therefore be increased.
In the case of the second arrangement described above, where a single motor is used to effect transportation of a recording sheet and an ink sheet, since both sheets must be transported at the same time, a large load is applied to the motor. For example, the motor requires a driving load which is approximately twice as large as a driving load applied to the overall heat transfer recording apparatus. As a result, a larger motor is needed and the manufacturing cost for the apparatus increases. Moreover, in order to increase the recording speed of the apparatus, it is necessary to increase the transporting speed of each sheet, and if the output of the motor is to be further increased to achieve this end, an even larger motor must be employed. The consequence is that the manufacturing cost may increase to an even greater extent.

Heat transfer recording apparatus with common drive source for driving plural elements


Improvement of a fuse for use in the redundancy technique particularly for a semiconductor memory device. The fuse is constituted by an MIS type transistor having a gate insulating layer, which comprises at least two types of insulating films. Redundancy information is stored by shifting the threshold value of the MIS type transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and a method of fabricating the same. More particularly, this invention pertains to the improvement of a fuse of a redundancy circuit (defect sparing circuit) included in a semiconductor memory device, and a method of fabricating a semiconductor memory device having the improved fuse.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, semiconductor memory devices have been designed to have an ever increasing memory capacity. The large-scale increase in the memory capacity increases the number of memory cells one chip holds. It is therefore very difficult to have no defective cells in a single chip. Today, therefore, the redundancy technique to replace defective memory cells by redundant memory cells is essential in fabrication of semiconductor memory devices.
A redundancy circuit should have a program element which stores redundancy information to replace defective memory cells with spare memory cells. A polysilicon fuse is normally used as the program element, and redundancy information is stored by cutting the fuse by means of a laser.
Of semiconductor memory devices, some EPROMs, a non-volatile type, may use an EPROM memory cell as a program element with its top covered with an aluminum film to prevent the stored information from dischanging at the time of irradiating ultraviolet rays for data erasure.
These techniques however have the following short-comings.
The former technique can cut the fuse only before packaging and cannot spare defective memory cells after packaging.
The latter technique should cover the top of each program element with aluminum or the like to inhibit irradiation of ultraviolet rays or the like on the program element. The aluminum film for shielding the ultraviolet rays or the like needs a very large area in one chip. In addition, the ultraviolet rays are likely to reach this type of program element through reflection from various portions even if the top of the program element is coated with the aluminum film, so that the reliability of the program element holding data is not sufficient. Further, the data holding characteristic of the program element is quite the same as that of an ordinary EPROM memory cell. When an acceleration test (leaving a device for a long period of time under a high-temperature environment) is conducted to check the data-retention characteristic of an EPROM cell, therefore, electrons accumulated in a floating gate may leave, resulting in malfunction of the device.
As described above, the conventional program elements cannot spare defective memory cells after a chip is sealed in a package. Also the conventional program elements have a lower reliability of holding data though they occupy considerable space in a single chip.

Program element for use in redundancy technique for semiconductor memory device


Adverse inflammatory reactions can be treated by administrating to an organism a composition having diglucosylamine as the active ingredient. The preferred compound is di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine. A simple method for making diglucosylamine in high purity is obtained by reacting glucose, a nitrogen containing base, and either methanol or ethanol to form the diglucosylamine and then recovering the diglucosylamine preferably with the use of charcoal. The preferred diglucosylamine, di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine, has extraordinary anti-inflammatory activity. It can be formulated with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier to make pharmaceutical compositions which are effective in treating inflammations. This pharmaceutical composition can also be used to treat adverse inflammatory reactions that are the result of the disruptions of a dynamic network of cellular mechanisms in organisms. In addition, application of this composition also serves to reestablish the balance of the cellular defense network in an organism which has its cellular defense network out of balance. In this unbalanced case, the composition serves to treat the pathology of inflammation and activates the inflammatory control system in vivo.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the use of di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine compounds for controlling the inflammatory controlling system and related diseases and to methods for making the compounds.
2. Description of the Previously Published Art
K. Linek et al, in Carbohydrate Research, 164 (1987), pp. 195-205, discuss "Structure and Rearrangement Reactions of Some Diglycosylamines". These glycosylamines are compounds of interest for the enzymology of carbohydrates, since they are considered as active-site-directed, reversible inhibitors of glycosidases. The compound di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine was prepared by the transglycosylation from Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine.
This compound has been discovered in my research conducted on Transfer Factors. For a discussion of Transfer Factors, see G. B. Olson and C. G. Drube, "Modulation of Influenza in Mice by Transfer Factor Therapy" in Journal of Reticuloendothelial Society, Vol. 24, No. 3, November 1978. The compound was obtained during purification studies on these transfer factors.
This invention is directed to simpler methods of making this compound and to the discovery of unique uses of this material for controlling the inflammatory controlling system.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for making diglucosylamine from glucose.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for making di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine from glucose and especially from D-(+)-Glucose.
It is a further object of this invention to use di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine for controlling the inflammatory controlling system.
It is a further object of this invention to use di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine for treating adverse immunological reactions.
It is a further object of this invention to use di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine for treating adverse neurological reactions.
It is a further object of this invention to use di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine for treating adverse endocrine reactions.
It is a further object of this invention to use di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine for treating adverse direct physical or chemical injuries.
It is a further object of this invention to use di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine for reestablishing the balance of the cellular defense network in an organism which has its cellular defense network out of balance.
It is a further object of this invention to formulate anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical compositions containing di-Beta-D-glucopyranosylamine.
These and further objects of the invention will become apparent as the description of the invention proceeds.

Method for medicating the inflammatory controlling system and adverse inflammatory reactions and for making compounds for treating the pathology of adverse inflammatory reactions


An optical fluid analyzer uses the extent of optical, preferably infrared absorption of a fluid to be analyzed to determine the concentration of a selected constituant of the fluid. A first detector detects light after absorption by the fluid at a wavelength at which the selected constituant has a characteristic absorption for conversion into an electrical signal indicating the concentration of the selected constituant and a background from absorption of other constituants of the fluid for a measurement processing channel. A second detector correspondingly converts light after absorption by the fluid, but at a different wavelength at which the absorption at least approximates the background absorption alone for a neutral processing channel. The signals from the measurement and neutral processing channels are then subtracted to reduce the level of the background signal so that the level of the signal from the characteristic absorption can be more accurately processed to indicate the concentration of the selected constituant. The analyzer further has a first adjusting arrangement requiring ony a readily available, staple fluid to compensate for variations in the analyzer operation and a separate, second adjusting arrangement for presetting the analyzer with a standard fluid. Both the background subtraction and separate adjusting features of the analyzer particularly adapt it for analyzing liquid fluids.

The invention relates to an analyzer for optically determining the concentration of a selected constituant of a fluid.
Optical fluid analyzers for both gas and liquid fluids are known. One, for example, is disclosed in the Assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,420. The analyzer disclosed in this patent uses the extent of infrared absorption at a wavelength at which a selected constituant of the fluid to be analyzed has a characteristic absorption to indicate the concentration of the constituant.
A rotating chopper disc alternately transmits the infrared light along separate optical paths from a single, infrared source through separate chambers to a single detector, one of the chambers containing the fluid to be analyzed and the other containing a reference specimen of known absorption. Electrical signals from the single detector are processed in synchronism with the path alternation to provide alternate signals corresponding to the absorption in the sample and reference chambers. The alternate signals are then integrated (subtracted) to provide a difference signal which indicates the concentration of the selected constituant in the fluid. Providing the separate optical paths to obtain the separate sample and reference signals for integration tends to cancel the effect fo certain variations in the operation of the analyzer such as variations in the infrared source for more accurate analyses.
In addition, each interval between the alternate, chopped optical signals is used to clamp or re-zero the electrical signal processing and each signal from the reference chamber where the absorption is known is used to restandardize the gain of the electrical signal processing. These three features, the separate optical paths, the zero clamp and the reference gain control, thus each contribute to making the analyzer described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,420 highly accurate.
Further refinements to the analyzer disclosed in the beforementioned patent are, however, disclosed in the Assignee's further U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,837. These further refinements relate to barometric pressure compensation, temperature compensation, and calibration display.
Neither of the analyzers disclosed in the patents, however, has an arrangement to minimize the effect of background absorption. The background absorption is the overall or base level of optical absorption of the fluid to be analyzed from which the absorption of the selected constituant departs at its characteristic wavelength to an extent indicating the concentration of the selected constituant. When the level of background absorption is high in relation to the characteristic absorption of the selected constituant, as it is for many liquids because of their turbidity and other properties, accurate measurement of the level of the small change in the absorption at the characteristic wavelength of the constituant selected to be analyzed for determining the constituant concentration becomes very difficult even for high concentrations of the constituant, and more difficult still for low concentrations.
An analyzer which could reduce the background level of the signal to be analyzed could thus be even more accurate than the patented analyzers and particularly useful for analyzing liquids.
Highly accurate analyzers for liquid, particularly, also present a further problem. Because the fluid analyzer must produce a signal the actual or absolute value of which indicates the concentration rather than merely accurate relative signals, aging, temperature or other internal changes in the signal-processing components will affect the analyzer operation. The analyzer therefore has to be periodically reset for accuracy using a standard fluid of known constituant concentration. Pure gases for such standard fluids in gas fluid analyzsis are reasonably available, but standard liquid fluids often require special, difficult preparation and handling and are more difficult to purge from the analyses after use to present greater risk of contaminating subsequent analyzes. An analyzer which could be adjusted for internal changes without using a standard fluid and thus less frequently restandardized with a standard fluid would thus be particularly useful for analyzing liquids.


A transmission (15; 15a; 15b; 15c), in particular for motor vehicles, has two planetary gears (16; 16c, 17; 17c), whose ring gears (18; 18c, 19) are connected by a crown gear (12) to the crankshaft (11; 11a; 11c) of an internal combustion engine. Each planetary gear (16; 16c, 17) is coupled to a respective gear shaft (31, 32), on which input gear wheels (1E-5E, RE) for various gear ratios are disposed. The input gear wheels (1E-5E, RE) mesh with output gear wheels (1A-5A, RA) disposed on an output shaft (40; 40a; 40c). It is provided that each planetary gear (16; 16c, 17) be coupled with an electric machine (26, 27), and the electric machines are for instance connected to the sun wheels (23; 23a, 24; 24a) of the planetary gear (16; 16c, 17). With the arrangement described, especially for use in hybrid vehicles, relatively high total efficiency and infinitely variable gear ratios can be achieved.

The invention relates to a transmission, in particular for motor vehicles, as generically defined by the preamble to claim 1. One such transmission is described in the article entitled xe2x80x9cA development of Toyota Hybrid Systemxe2x80x9d (Technical Review, Vol. 47, No. 2, Apr. 2, 1998). In the known transmission for a hybrid vehicle, a single planetary gear is provided. Its ring gear connected to the output shaft is coupled to a first electric machine, while the sun wheel is connected to a second electric machine. Via the planet carrier connected to the drive shaft or crankshaft of the internal combustion engine, a driving moment is introduced into the planetary gear. By varying the rotary speed of the sun wheel coupled to the second electric machine, an arbitrary rotary speed can be established for a given planet wheel rotation, generated by the engine, at the ring gear, and as a result arbitrary gear ratios between the ring gear and thus the output shaft and the engine can be attained. The torques are always divided by a fixed ratio, by means of the planetary gear, among the engine, the output shaft, and the second electric machine. For a given torque of the engine and a certain gear ratio, the rotary speed and the requisite torque at the second electric machine are thus fixed. If the requisite rotary speed at the second electric machine changes, then its electrical power varies as well. In the generator mode of the second electric machine, the power thus generated can be output to the first electric machine again, while in the motor mode of the second electric machine the process is correspondingly reversed. This process is known as electrical power branching. A disadvantage of such power branching, however, is the incident losses.
For this reason, the so-called SEL transmission has been proposed (P. Tenberge, W. Hofmann: Mechanisch-elektrische Fahrzeuggetriebe im Vergleich [A Comparison of Mechanical-Electrical Vehicle Transmissions], VDI-Bericht Nr. 1393, VDI-Verlag Dxc3xcsseldorf 1998, pages 551 ff.). Here, downstream of the planetary set of a planetary gear there is an additional three-stage gear that reduces the spreading of the rotary speed of the electric machine. A disadvantage is the relatively complicated gear mechanics and the requisite hydraulics for shifting the lamination clutches and brakes.
The transmission of the invention, especially for motor vehicles, having the characteristics of the body of claim 1 has the advantage over the prior art that it is relatively simply constructed in mechanical terms and has good efficiency. This is attained according to the characteristics of the body of claim 1 in that because of the two planetary trains each coupled to one electric machine, it is possible to reduce the electrical power flow of the two electric machines such that in the generator mode, for instance, only the power required by the on-board electrical system is generated by the two electric machines.
Further advantages and advantageous refinements of the transmission according to the invention, in particular for motor vehicles, will become apparent from the dependent claims and the description.
By coupling the two electric machines each to one gear shaft and by using planetary trains, conventional clutches can be dispensed with. The two electric machines furthermore replace a starter otherwise needed for the starting the engine and a generator and synchronizing devices for shifting individual gears. Moreover, by the use of two gear shafts, shifting the gears can be attained without interrupting the tractive force. By means of the two electric machines, it is furthermore possible to achieve an infinitely graduated step-up in the range between two gear stages.

Hybrid transmission, especially for motor vehicles


A pedal arm provided with an arm main body has a first end portion, a second end portion, a pedal pad portion, and a shaft portion. The arm main body includes a first wall portion and a second wall portion in a first direction, and a third wall portion and a fourth wall portion in a second direction. One of the first wall portion and the second wall portion includes an abutting portion where the first end portion and the second end portion contacts, and the third wall portion and the fourth wall portion include a first curved portion and a second curved portion. A first depressed wall portion and a second depressed wall portion are formed on the first curved portion and the second curved portion, which are formed in inward convex shapes, respectively, and parts of the first depressed wall portion and the second depressed wall portion contact.

The present invention relates to a pedal arm, a manufacturing apparatus thereof, and a manufacturing method thereof, and, more particularly, relates to a pedal arm that is formed in a tubular shape by bending a plate and an apparatus and method for manufacturing the pedal arm.
In recent years, there have been various demands on a pedal arm such as a brake pedal of a vehicle such as a motor vehicle, which have a tradeoff relation with one another, such as ensuring strength in a necessary and sufficient manner while simplifying its structure and enhancing designing flexibility of its shape.
Under such a situation, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2001-287629 discloses a method of manufacturing a brake pedal main body for a motor vehicle, which is formed in a flattened tubular shape, and, more particularly, proposes a method of obtaining a frusto-conical tube, bending the frusto-conical tube into a predetermined shape, and then flattening at least a portion of the bent frusto-conical tube.

Pedal arm, manufacturing apparatus thereof, and manufacturing method thereof


An exercise device comprises a load mechanism which is formed of at least one guide rod, a plurality of weights, and an adjustment rod. Each weight has at least one round hole, a through hole, an insertion slot extending from the round hole, and an elastic clamp disposed removably in the round hole and the insertion slot. The guide rod is inserted into the round hole via the insertion slot. The adjustment rod is disposed in the trough hole of the weight and is provided with a plurality of locating holes for locating an insertion pin which is used to urge a selected weight. The elastic clamp is a safety feature to prevent slippage of the weight.

The present invention relates generally to an exercise device, and more particularly to a load mechanism of the exercise device.
As shown in FIG. 1, a prior art exercise device 10 comprises two guide rods 12 which are received in the through holes of a carrying board 14. The carrying board 14 is provided with an inclined top and is provided in the middle with a pull cord. A plurality of weights 16 are disposed on the carrying board. The weights 16 have two insertion slot 17 for receiving the guide rods. The insertion slots are provided in two sides of the bottom thereof with two plastic projection for preventing the escape of the guide rods. These plastic projections are seen, for example, as projections 321 in FIGS. 2 and 3 of Lin U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,579. Located between the two insertion slots is a through slot 18 for receiving the pull cord. The plastic projections of the weights are prone to wear, thereby causing the weights to be insecurely superimposed. As a result, the weights become a safety problem of the prior art exercise device.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an exercise machine with a plurality of weights which are easy assembly and safety from the shortcomings of the prior art weights described above.
The weights of the present invention are provided with a plurality of holes, any one of which extends into an insertion slot for allowing a guide rod to be held in the round hole. An elastic clamp is disposed in the round hole and the insertion slot for sealing off the open end of the insertion slot. An adjustment rod is received in other hole of the weights and is provided with a plurality of locating holes for receiving an insertion pin to urge a selected weight. The weights are securely held.

Exercise device having weights and safety mechanism to maintain weights in place

No. 35, Tun Hi Rd., Chin Chan Li, Sa Lu Chen


A process for assembling titanium aluminide articles by diffusion brazing comprises the following steps:. (a) Preparation of a homogenous mixture of a titanium aluminide powder A of 40 to 90 weight % and a powder B chemically wetting A and having an appreciably lower melting point;. (b) formation of a paste by addition of an organic binder to the powder mixture;. (c) depositing the paste plumb on the assembly gap; and,. (d) heating the assembly in a vacuum furnace between 1000.degree. C. and 1300.degree. C. for a period of from a few minutes to 6 hours.. This process is also of use for repairing and refacing titanium aluminide articles.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the assembly of titanium aluminide intermetallic articles by diffusion brazing. The process is also of use for repairing or refacing such articles.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
A variety of intermetallic materials have been developed which have interesting properties and which have advantages for use in particular applications, such as aviation applications, over conventional metal alloys and superalloys. This class of materials includes TiAl or Ti.sub.3 Al titanium aluminides. This invention is particularly though not exclusively concerned with these two materials. These materials are typically shaped by casting or forging. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,615 describes a TiAl material of this kind. These materials may also include different constituents, such as Nb, Mo, Si, Zr, V, Ta, etc., depending upon the required application.
However, assembling the shaped articles has hitherto proved extremely difficult.
The known assembly techniques used for conventional metal alloy and superalloy materials are unsuitable for these novel intermetallic materials. In particular, assembly processes involving fusion (with or without a filler metal) such as energy beam, electron beam, or laser beam welding or TIG electric arc or plasma processes have the disadvantage of greatly modifying the metallurgical structure of the material. This causes difficulties when fragile materials like intermetallic compounds are assembled using such fusion processes. For example, titanium aluminide articles often experience cracking or crazing because of the severe heat stresses associated with the use of these conventional processes and because of the poor ductility of the materials. In other processes such as diffusion welding and friction welding, assembly is effected in the solid state. However, diffusion welding needs mating surfaces of precise geometry and very close control over cleanliness and heat cycle conditions. Friction welding requires special rheological qualities and is unsatisfactory for some assembly configurations.
Laboratory experiments have shown that since diffusion brazing produces zero thermal stressing, assembling titanium aluminide articles by diffusion brazing avoids cracking and crazing problems. The filler metals used in this case were those conventionally used in the assembly of titanium alloy articles and are, for example, Cu, TiCu, TiNi or 15% of TiCu and 15% of Ni. However, when diffusion is used with these known parameters, this process requires strict limitations to be observed if the results are to be of acceptable quality. In particular, the assembly gap is limited to 0.1-0.2 mm and is often necessary to apply pressure during assembly. Also, it is impossible to reface any surface of significant thickness.

Process for the assembly or refacing of titanium aluminide articles by diffusion brazing

Societe Nationale d'etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation "Snecma"


A motor-vehicle light comprises a hollow body with a transparent element facing a main reflective structure which reflects the light rays coming from a source arranged at one side of the main reflective structure towards the transparent element, an auxiliary reflective element being associated with the light source. The main reflective structure has a shell-like configuration, which is visible from the outside since the transparent element has no optical elements. The shell-like configuration comprises a plurality of optically active surface sectors alternated to connecting walls which are substantially radial with respect to the source. The optically active sectors are geometrically generated by translation or rotation of a family of generating curves each having undulations with a pitch substantially lower than the pitch of the distribution of the optically active surface sectors.

The present invention relates to motor-vehicle lights of the type comprising:
a hollow body having a front aperture covered by a transparent element and a main reflective structure facing the transparent element, and
a light source located on one side of the hollow body, to which there is associated an auxiliary reflective element, to direct light rays emitted by the source towards the main reflective structure, which is adapted to reflect them towards the transparent element, so as to obtain a light beam having predetermined characteristics coming out from the transparent element.
A motor-vehicle light of the above indicated type is disclosed for example in European Patent Application EP-A-0 886 101. This known light has a number of characteristics aiming to the object of obtaining a minimum bulk of the light in a direction orthogonal to the transparent element, while ensuring that a light beam having the required characteristics is obtained at the output, even in case the light is positioned at an area of the vehicle which is not ideal for obtaining a good rear illumination, such as at a side edge of the rear portion of the motor-vehicle.
The present invention starts from the above mentioned known light and has as its main object that of improving this light in order to obtain new and unique aesthetical effects, both in the condition of light turned off and in the condition of light turned on, which can be exploited to confer unique aesthetical features to the motor-vehicle.
In order to achieve this object, the invention provides a light having the features indicated at the beginning and further characterized in that:
the transparent element has at least a substantial part thereof with no optical elements, so that said main reflective structure is visible from the outside,
said main reflective structure has a shell-like configuration, with a plurality of optically active surface sectors alternated to connecting walls which are substantially radial relative to the source and therefore appear as non-illuminated areas to the viewer, thus ensuring an optical effect characterized by illuminated sectors alternated to non-illuminated sectors,
the above mentioned optically active surface sectors are geometrically generated by translation or rotation from a family of respective generating curves each having undulations with a pitch substantially lower than the pitch of the distribution of the optically active surface sectors.
In the light according to the invention, similarly to the light disclosed in EP-A-0 886 101, the light source with the auxiliary reflective element associated thereto are partially or totally hidden from view. However, in the case of the present invention, the transparent element of the light, at least for a substantially portion thereof, has no optical elements (prisms or lenses) so that the surface of the main reflective structure is visible from the outside. This constitutes an important difference of the light according to the invention with respect to the lights according to the conventional art, in which the transparent element is shaped with prisms or lenses in order to confer predetermined characteristics to the light beam reflected towards the transparent element.
Naturally, since the light according to the invention has no optical elements on the transparent element which are able to confer the required characteristics to the light beam, this function must be obtained by different means. Just to this end, the above mentioned undulations are provided in the curves generating the optically active surfaces sectors. Due to this features, the main reflective structure reflects a light beam which already has the required vergence characteristics towards the transparent element.
In the preferred embodiment, each optically active surface sector is geometrically generated by linear translation of a conic curve (i.e a curve corresponding to the intersection between a plane and a conical surface) having a focus located in proximity of the light source. The above mentioned conic curve may be for example a parabola. In a variant each optical active surface sector is geometrically generated by rotation of a conic curve having a focus located in proximity of the light source.
Preferably, each generating curve is oriented so as to give rise to an optically active surface sector which reflects the rays in the desired direction. In this manner, the various portions of the main reflective structure can reflect the beam according to different angular ranges, so as to obtain a light beam having the required characteristics coming out of the light, notwithstanding the transparent element has no optical elements.
In a further embodiment, each optically active surface sector is geometrically generated by translating or rotating the respective generating curve according to an undulated path. In this case, the main reflective structure thus has both the undulations deriving from the undulated profile of the generating curve, and the undulations, substantially orthogonal to the former, deriving from the undulated path generating the surface.
A further feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention lies in that said auxiliary reflective element is in form of a semi-ellipsoid having the light source in proximity of the focus which is closer to the apex of the semi-ellipsoid. In this case, if the curves generating the optically active surface sectors are parabolas, each generating parabola has the focus located between the two foci of the auxiliary reflective element.
Alternatively, the auxiliary reflective element may have a shape chosen among the paraboloid shape, the cylindrical shape generated by translation of an ellipse, or a complex shape including geometrically different portions.
A further possible feature of the invention lies in that the transparent element, although having a substantial portion with no optical element, anyway has a further minor portion shaped with lenses or prisms. For example, this portion may be a peripheral portion of the light.
A further feature of the preferred embodiment of the invention lies in that it comprises a coloured filter located between the source and auxiliary reflective element unit and the main reflective structure. This coloured filter may also have prisms or a matrix of micro-lenses or Fresnel lenses.
Finally, according to a further preferred feature of the invention, the light source is a conventional lamp having one or more filaments, of a type known per se, the filaments being adapted to be used selectively to obtain different functions by the same light. For instance, the same light can be used as tail light or stop light.


An artificial flower and the associated method of its manufacture. To produce the artificial flower, two films of material are laminated. The films of material have markedly different coefficients of thermal expansion. The laminate is formed into a curve shape. Petals and leafs are cut from the laminate. The petals and leafs are cut at different orientations across the curved shape. Accordingly, various petals and leaves change shape in different manners in response to changes in temperature. The various petals and leafs are then formed into an artificial flower.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to artificial flows that change shape in response to changes in ambient conditions.
2. Prior Art Description
Artificial flowers, made from plastic, silk or other materials, are a well developed technology. They are beautiful, require little or no maintenance, and remain colorful year-round. However, while lifelike in appearance, compared to real flowers, they are static and do not grow or react to the environment. In particular, real flowers are known to bend towards the sun, bloom over time, and often close their buds at night or in the cold.
Inventors have addressed this discrepancy through a variety of mechanical means. One approach constructs the flower's leaves out of a material which bends when heated, and unbends when cooled. For example, Muir in 1951 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,217) patented a nightlight whose coarse petal-like strips were made from a laminate of metal and paper. When heated by a light bulb, the paper expands at a faster rate than the metal, forcing the lamination to curl away from the paper side. However, this material is also sensitive to humidity which also causes the paper to expand/shrink, and the foil can take a permanent crease during handling, causing the petal to no longer bend.
Other inventors, such as Elkins 2001 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,895) use a plastic film. In this case, rather than a lamination of two materials of different expansion coefficients, the material is stressed by dragging over a sharp edge. This mechanical stress causes one side of the film to have a different polymeric structure than the other. While simple, this stress can relax over time such that the film no longer reacts to heat.
Blonder U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,362 describes a laminate of two plastics with a specific difference in expansion coefficient. Unlike Muir and Elkins, this film is stable. Blonder discloses a number of applications for this material, including very simple blooming flowers, a thermometer, a temperature indicator for coffee cups, etc. For purposes of the application, we denote a flower made of a material that bends reproducibly when exposed to a change in temperature, as a "thermactive flower", made from a "thermactive" lamination.
It is the object of this invention to improve on earlier uses for these temperature sensitive films, in particular, by employing those films in new and inventive flower applications, or by improving on a flower's function or realism.

Artificial flower novelty and its method of manufacture


A holder for securing a fluid tube to a trough-formed solar collector. In an operation mode of the solar collector, the holder partly encircles a circumference of a cross-section of the fluid tube and leaves a portion of the circumference un-encircled by the holder. The holder may comprise a base member adapted to abut the fluid tube, the base member comprising at least one securing means adapted to secure the base member to the solar collector. Further, the holder may comprise an immobilizing member adapted to together with the base member immobilize a centre-line of the fluid tube in the solar collector when the fluid tube abuts the holder. The base member is connected with the immobilizing member, such that the base member together with the immobilizing member, in an operation mode of the solar collector, partly encircles the circumference of the cross-section of the fluid tube and forms an opening smaller than a diameter of the cross-section of the fluid tube. The immobilizing member may be pivotably connected to the base member by a connecting means, such that the immobilizing member can pivot in relation to the base member to, in a service mode of the solar collector, leave an opening larger than the diameter of the cross-section of the fluid tube.

In modern society energy is consumed by people and industries, e.g. for producing various products, for transport and production of food. Energy could be produced in several forms and from different energy sources. For instance, electricity is often produced from hydroelectric power plants, combustion of coal, oil, or gas. Traditionally, heat has been produced from local combustion or district heating power plants.
With an increasing population and demands for services, energy consumption strongly increases which negatively affects our environment significantly in a negative way. Combustion produces large amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Hydroelectric power plants require large territories to be drowned, etc.
In order to reduce our footprint and negative impression on our environment, demands have been raised for more clean and environmental friendly energy production. Today, renewable energy is produced from wind, sun, ocean waves, etc. The sun provides large amounts of energy to our planet in form of radiated sun beams. Solar radiation can be used by solar cells to generate electricity, e.g. in form of solar cells, or by solar collectors to generate thermal heat.
A concentrating solar collector uses mirrors, lenses, or combinations thereof, to focus the solar radiation in form of a point or a line. In trough-formed concentrating solar collectors a reflector is formed as a curved elongated mirror, which reflects the solar radiation on a receiver arranged along a focusing line of the reflector. The receiver is commonly a black tube filled with a transport fluid, such as water, glycol, or oil. The tube is heated by the concentrated solar radiation and the heat is transferred to the transport fluid that is circulated in a system where the hot transport fluid could be used. The heated transport fluid may be used both as process heat in industrial processes as in district heating, etc.
With reference to FIG. 1, which is a schematic illustration in a perspective view, an example of a concentrating solar collector 100 will now be described.
The concentrating solar collector 100 is a so called PTC (Parabolic Trough Collector, sometimes alternatively referred to as Parabolic Trough solar Collector) and comprises an elongated trough-formed reflector 102 and a fluid tube 104. The fluid tube 104 is arranged at a focus-line of the reflector 102 and the centre-line of the fluid tube 104 is situated such that it substantially coincides with the focus-line of the reflector 102. Through the fluid-tube 104 a transport liquid, e.g. water, flows from one end to the other end (illustrated by the arrows). The transport fluid is then heated by sunbeams reflected by the reflector 102 when hitting the fluid tube 104.
The fluid tube 104 is held by a holder arrangement 106 that situates the fluid tube 104 at the focus-line.
To improve the amount of heat which could be taken care of in PTC arrangements, various construction parameters of reflectors, e.g. material and dimensions have been elaborated.
An example of a PTC solar collector is disclosed in the patent publication WO2010/047656, A1.
It is a challenge to find solutions for improved efficiency in systems for solar energy production.

Holder for securing a fluid tube, a solar collector, and method of arranging a fluid tube


[Problem]

An electric power steering apparatus (EPS) which provides a steering system of a vehicle with a steering assist torque (an assist torque) by a rotational torque of a motor, applies the steering assist torque to a steering shaft or a rack shaft by means of a transmission mechanism such as gears by using a driving force of the motor which is controlled by electric power supplied from an electric power supplying section (an inverter). In order to accurately generate the steering assist torque, such a conventional electric power steering apparatus performs a feed-back control of a motor current. The feed-back control adjusts a voltage supplied to the motor so that a difference between a steering assist command value (a current command value) and a detected motor current value becomes small, and the adjustment of the voltage supplied to the motor is generally performed by an adjustment of duty command values of a pulse width modulation (PWM) control.
A general configuration of the conventional electric power steering apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a column shaft (a steering shaft or a handle shaft) 2 connected to a handle 1 is connected to steered wheels 8L and 8R through reduction gears 3, universal joints 4a and 4b, a pinion-and-rack mechanism 5, and tie rods 6a and 6b, further via hub units 7a and 7b. In addition, the steering shaft 2 is provided with a torque sensor 10 for detecting a steering torque Th of the handle 1 and a steering angle sensor 14 for detecting a steering angle θ, and a motor 20 for assisting the steering torque of the handle 1 is connected to the column shaft 2 through the reduction gears 3. The electric power is supplied to a control unit (ECU) 30 for controlling the electric power steering apparatus from a battery 13, and an ignition key signal is inputted into the control unit 30 through an ignition key 11. The control unit 30 calculates a current command value of an assist command (a steering assist command) on the basis of the steering torque Th detected by the torque sensor 10 and a vehicle speed Vs detected by a vehicle speed sensor 12, and controls a current supplied to the motor 20 for the EPS by means of a voltage control command value Vref obtained by performing a compensation or the like to the current command value.
As well, the steering angle θ is detected from the steering angle sensor 14, and it is possible to obtain the steering angle from a rotational sensor such as a resolver which is connected to the motor 20.
A controller area network (CAN) 40 to send/receive various information and signals on the vehicle is connected to the control unit 100, and it is also possible to receive the vehicle speed Vel from the CAN 40. Further, a Non-CAN 41 is also possible to connect to the control unit 30, and the Non-CAN 41 sends and receives a communication, analogue/digital signals, electric wave or the like except for the CAN 40.
The control unit 30 mainly comprises a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (including an MPU (Micro Processor Unit) and an MCU (Micro Controller Unit)), and general functions performed by programs within the CPU are, for example, shown in FIG. 2.
The control unit 30 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the steering torque Th detected by the torque sensor 10 and the vehicle speed Vs detected by the vehicle speed sensor 12 (or from the CAN 40) are inputted into a current command value calculating section 31 which calculates the current command value Iref1. The current command value calculating section 31 calculates the current command value Iref1, based on the steering torque Th and the vehicle speed Vs with reference to an assist map or the like, which is a control target value of a current supplied to the motor 20. The calculated current command value Iref1 is inputted into a current limiting section 33 via an adding section 32A, and the current command value Irefm whose maximum current is limited is inputted into a subtracting section 32B. A deviation I (=Irefm−Im) between the current command value Irefm and a motor current value Im which is fed-back is calculated at the subtracting section 32B, and the deviation I is inputted into a proportional-integral-control section (PI-control section) 34 for improving a current characteristic of the steering operation. The voltage control command value Vref that the characteristic is improved at the PI-control section 34, is inputted into a PWM-control section 35, and the motor 20 is PWM-driven through an inverter 36. The current value Im of the motor 20 is detected by a motor current detector 37 and is fed-back to the subtracting section 32B. The inverter 36 is constituted by a bridge circuit of field-effect transistors (FETs) as a semiconductor switching device.
The rotational sensor 21 such as the resolver is connected to the motor 20 and a motor rotational angle θ is outputted. Further, a motor velocity ω is calculated at a motor velocity calculating section 22.
Further, a compensation signal CM from a compensation signal generating section 38 is added at the adding section 32A. A characteristic compensation of the steering system is performed by adding the compensation signal CM, and a convergence, an inertia characteristic, and the like are improved. The compensation signal generating section 38 adds a self-aligning torque (SAT) 38-1 to an inertia 38-2 at an adding section 38-4. The adding result is further added with a convergence 38-3 at an adding section 38-5. The adding result at the adding section 38-5 is treated as the compensation signal CM.
In a case that the motor 20 is a three-phase brushless motor, details of the PWM-control section 35 and the inverter 36 have a configuration as shown in FIG. 3, and the PWM-control section 35 comprises a duty calculating section 35A that calculates the PWM-duty values D1 to D6 which are used in a three-phase PWM-control by using the voltage control command value Vref in accordance with a predetermined equation, and a gate driving section 35B that drives gates of the FETs as the driving device by means of the PWM-duty values D1 to D6 and turns-ON or turns-OFF the gates of the FETs for compensating a dead time. The inverter 36 is constituted by the three-phase bridge of the FETs (FET 1 to FET 6) as the semiconductor switching device, and the motor 20 is driven by turning-ON or turning-OFF the gates of the FETs with the PWM-duty values D1 to D6. Motor relays 23 for supplying (ON) the electric power or blocking off (OFF) the electric power are connected to respective phases in the electric power source lines between the inverter 36 and the motor 20.
When the motor current is not accurately controlled in the electric power steering apparatus which uses such a brushless motor, the generated torque by the motor cannot be accurately obtained. Thus, the sensor which precisely detects the motor angle is required. The resolver, a Hall sensor, a magneto resistive sensor (an MR sensor) and the like are used as the angle sensor, and any of the above sensors have a function that detects the motor angle with a required accuracy.
FIG. 4 shows an overall configuration of an angle detecting system, and a torsion bar 2A is provided with the steering shaft (the column shaft) 2 which is connected to the handle 1. A handle-side angle sensor 14H is disposed at the handle 1 side of the torsion bar 2A and a pinion-side angle sensor 14P is disposed at the pinion side of the torsion bar 2A. The rotational sensor 21 such as the resolver is attached to the motor 20 which is provided with the steering shaft 2 through the reduction gears 3. A pinion-side angle θp detected at the pinion-side angle sensor 14P, a motor angle θm detected from the rotational sensor 21 and a motor current Im detected at a current detecting circuit are inputted into the control unit 30.
However, the electric power steering apparatus using the brushless motor is used to the vehicles which have a relatively large rack thrust force due to reasons of a high motor efficiency and so on. Therefore, since it is impossible to control the motor current when the motor angle sensor is failed, there is a problem that the assist function is failed and the driver feels a quite different steering feeling relative to the steering feeling in a normal operation. Further, since the failure of the assist function means that the force assisted by the motor till then is suddenly lost, the driver receives a force, which is corresponding to the assist force of the motor, as a sudden reaction force from the handle. This causes the driver to receive an impact from the handle. In a case that the impact is in a range to be controlled by the driver, the problem is small. Reversely, in a case that the impact is out of the range to be controlled by the driver, since not only an influence to the driver, but also the influence to the vehicle behavior can be occurred, this can cause the problem of the safety.
In this connection, the electric power steering apparatus adopting the brushless motor is strongly required to be equipped with an alternative means which can perform the angle detection even when the angle sensor of the motor is failed.

Abstract: [Problem]

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an electric power steering apparatus that can perform an angle estimating by using a motor regenerative current so as to accurately perform an angle estimating even in a low speed steering.

Abstract: [Means for Solving the Problem]

Abstract: The present invention is the electric power steering apparatus that calculates a current command value based on at least a steering torque, driving-controls a motor, which applies an assist torque to a steering system based on the current command value, by an inverter with respective phase duties of a PWM, and detects an angle of the steering system or the motor, comprising: an angle estimating section to estimate the angle when a detecting system of the angle is failed, wherein the electric power steering apparatus performs an assist-control based on an estimating angle that is estimated at the angle estimating section. The present invention can be also adapted to the control of the motor having multi-system windings.


A molding machine has a base, a pattern provided with a plurality of vent bores formed therethrough and mounted on the base, a molding flask arranged to be combined with the pattern, an upset frame superposed to the molding flask, cover means for making an airtight contact at its lower end with the upper surface of the base, molding flask or of the upset frame. Further, compressed air supplying means are provided for supplying compressed air into the closed space defined by the pattern, the molding flask and the upset frame, the space being filled with molding sand. The cover means include a cylindrical member and cover member. The cylindrical member slidably fits to the outside of the cover member in a telescopic manner, and is provided at its lower end with an inwardly projected flange. In operation, the compressed air for compacting the molding sand acts also on the upper surface of the flange of the cylindrical member so as to depress the latter downward into airtight contact with the upset frame or the like. Consequently, the clamping cylinders, which have been essential in the conventional machine for preventing the floating of the cover means, are completely eliminated to simplify the construction of the molding machine.

The present invention relates to a molding machine and, more particularly, to a molding machine in which compressed air is passed through molding sand filled in a molding flask to consolidate the thin layer of the molding sand covering over the surface of a pattern and then a squeeze operation is applied to the whole part of the molding sand in the mold flask.
Such molding machines have been known, which comprise a vertically movable table carrying a pattern having a large number of bores communicating with the ambient air, a molding flask with an upset frame, if necessary mounted on the table, a cover means closing the upper opening of the molding flask or the upset frame and provided with an air supply port, and means for supplying compressed air through the air supply port so that the compressed air then flows through the molding sand and is discharged through the bores of the pattern, whereby the molding sand in the molding flask and the upset frame is consolidated and compacted by the air so as to form a mold.
In this type of molding machine, a closed space is defined by the cooperation of the pattern, the molding flask, the upset frame and the cover means closing the upper opening of the upset frame. As the compressed air is introduced into this closed space, the cover means are inconveniently floated and lifted by the force exerted by the compressed air. In such a case, a clearance is formed between the cover means and the molding flask or the upset frame to allow the compressed air to escape therethrough to the outside.
Therefore, the clamp cylinder which is arranged to push the cover means against the upper surface of the molding flask or the upset frame, is required to have a large enough capacity to withstand this floating or lifting force. Therefore such a molding machine has various inconveniences such as enlargement of the size of the machine, complication of the mechanism and so forth.


Provided is an X-ray tube capable of obtaining a clear X-ray image by reducing unnecessary X-rays radiated from a holder shaft. The X-ray tube includes an electron source 12 for generating an electron beam B, an anode 13 for accelerating the electron beam B and having a hole 13a allowing the electron beam B to pass through, a cylindrical holder shaft 14 forming a passage for allowing the electron beam B to pass through a hole 13a of the anode 13, a magnetic lens 17 arranged around the holder shaft 14 and configured to converge the electron beam B, a target holder 15 connected to the holder shaft 14, a target 16 arranged in the target holder 15 so that the electron beam B collides with the target 16, and an irradiation window 15b arranged in the target holder 15 and configured to extract X-rays generated from the target 15 to the outside. The inner wall of the holder shaft 14 is made of a carbon material to reduce X-rays generated when the electron beam B hits the holder shaft 14.

When performing nondestructive inspection of a fine internal structure of an inspection target by fluoroscopic X-rays or X-ray CT, for the purpose of obtaining a clear X-ray image with no blurring, a micro-focus X-ray inspection device using an X-ray tube having a micro-focus is used. An X-ray tube used for a micro-focus X-ray inspection device or the like realizes a small X-ray focal point by irradiating a target with an electron beam narrowed down to a μm level by a magnetic lens (see Patent Document 1).
One example of a configuration of an X-ray tube used for such a micro-focus X-ray inspection device is shown in FIG. 3. From a filament (electron source) 12 serving as a negative electrode to which a negative voltage is applied in a high-vacuum vacuum chamber 11 to which a vacuum gauge G and a turbo molecular pump TMP are attached, an electron beam B is emitted toward the grounded anode 13. At the center of the anode 13, a hole 13a is provided. The electron beam B is accelerated to pass through the hole 13a of the anode 13 and further pass through a cylindrical holder shaft 14 communicating with the hole 13a, and is irradiated onto the target 16 arranged in a target holder 15. The outside of the target holder 15 is cooled by a water cooling mechanism 15a (which may be an air cooling mechanism).
On the outside of the holder shaft 14, a magnetic lens 17 for converging the electron beam B and a deflector 18 for adjusting the direction of the electron beam B are provided. The electron beam B passing through the holder shaft 14 is narrowed down to the μm level by the magnetic lens 17 and is focused on the X-ray focal point on the target 16.
The target 16 is provided on the tip end side of the magnetic lens 17. In order to reduce the focal point to a small value, it is necessary to make the tip end portion of the magnetic lens 17 completely axially symmetrical. Since the symmetry is lost when a fixing portion, such as, e.g., a fixing hole, is provided in the magnetic lens 17, the holder shaft 14 is airtightly fixed by the O-ring seal 20 via the flange 19 on the anode 13 side.
The holder shaft 14 through which the electron beam B passes has an inner diameter of about 10 mm. This holder shaft 14 is required to be less likely to be magnetized, have heat dissipation properties, and have a high melting point since the inner wall locally reaches a high temperature when the electron beam B hits the inner wall. A tungsten alloy is used as a material meeting these requirements.
That is, tungsten is a nonmagnetic heavy metal having a melting point of 3,685 K and has sufficient resistance to a local temperature rise due to an electron beam. However, tungsten as a single metal is inferior in workability, and therefore it is used as a tungsten alloy to give ease of processing. For the target holder 15 as well, a tungsten alloy is used from the viewpoint of preventing the emission of X-rays from directions other than the X-ray irradiation window, and the target holder 15 and the holder shaft 14 are fixed by brazing.


A hand-operable and portable pencil sharpener which is comprised of a housing having a conical cavity therein. The cavity is of circular cross-section and defines an open inlet end tapering to a narrow inner end. A collar is provided about the open inlet end and formed integral with the housing. A pencil centering insert is rotatably secured in the collar by a flexible and removable snap ring. A slot is provided along the side wall of the conical cavity and a blade having a,sharp edge is secured adjacent to the slot with the sharp edge projecting slightly into the cavity whereby to shave a portion of the wood and lead on the extremity of a carpenter""s pencil rotated in the conical cavity and centered by a centering slot in the pencil centering insert. An abrading element is secured to the housing to permit the abrading of a sharp point on the end of the lead.

The present invention relates to a hand-operable and portable pencil sharpener for use by tradespeople such as carpenters for sharpening a carpenter""s pencil.
In the prior art, the most important of which is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,293, there is described a carpenter""s pencil sharpener of the type as described in the present application. A disadvantage of that specific pencil sharpener is that the blade, which is secured next to the slot, whereby to cut an exposed point on the pencil lead, is curved and, accordingly, the material of the blade is constantly under stress and can break during use, rendering the device inoperable. Another disadvantage is that the centering collar is snap-fitted within a resilient track disposed inwardly in a base enclosure whereby to allow rotation of the collar relative to the base about a central axis. Once the collar is fitted within the resilient track, it is not removable therefrom and, if any debris or dust enters the resilient track, it can cause the centering collar to jam, rendering the sharpener unusable. A still further major disadvantage of the sharpeners is that they do not sharpen the extremity of the lead to a fine point, as the lead is of rectangular cross-section. When the pencil is rotated, shavings of the wood about the pointed end and both side edge portions of the lead only are cut. This leaves the extremity of the lead blunt and in most cases the pencil cannot inscribe fine lines, which is important when inscribing certain marks on material pieces to be cut or machined.
It is a feature of the present invention is provide a hand-operable and portable pencil sharpener which substantially overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.
According to the above feature, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a hand-operable and portable pencil sharpener which comprises a housing having a conical cavity therein. The cavity is of circular cross-section and defines an open inlet end tapering to a narrow inner end. A collar is provided about the open inlet end and formed integral with the housing, and defines a circular cavity concentric with the open inlet end. A pencil centering insert is provided in close rotational fit within the circular cavity and rotatable therein. The pencil centering insert has a pencil centering slot. Removable attachment means is provided for retaining the pencil centering insert in the circular cavity. A longitudinal through slot is provided along a side wall of the conical cavity. A flat straight blade having a sharp longitudinal edge is secured adjacent to the longitudinal through slot, with the sharp longitudinal edge projecting into the cavity whereby to shave a portion of the extremity of a pencil rotated in the conical cavity and centered by the centering slot of the pencil centering insert.
According to a still further broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pencil lead abrading element secured to the housing to abrade a fine point on the free end of a lead of a pencil.

Pencil sharpener for carpenter""s pencil


A system uses a single chute in a multi-story building to collect into separate large receptacles different categories of wastes already separated by the tenant for recycling. A turntable carries a large receptacle for each category of waste. Controls on each floor enables a tenant to operate the turntable to position a selected receptacle beneath the turntable to receive a particular category of waste. A microprocessor controller and interlocks on the access doors prevent conflicts between floors. A reciprocating ram automatically compacts the waste in the receptacle after a predetermined number of deposits into the receptacle. The compaction operation is delayed by preset time intervals to avoid conflicts with tenant use. One of those time intervals is proportional to the floor elevation to give waste a time to fall though the chute. The compression apparatus may be arranged to apply different compressive forces to different types of waste and to signal when a container is full.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,829 issued Jul. 16, 1991 to the applicant discloses a system using a single chute in a multi-story building to collect into separate large receptacles different categories of wastes already separated by the tenant for recycling. A turntable carries a large receptacle for each category of waste. Control means on each floor enables a tenant to operate the turntable remotely to position a selected receptacle beneath the chute to receive a particular category of waste. A controller and interlocks on the chute access doors prevent conflicts between floors.
PCT international application Publication No. WO 92/01615 of 6 Feb. 1992 by applicant discloses a reciprocating ram to compress the contents of a receptacle so that the receptacle will hold more waste before replacement is required. After waste has been added to a receptacle, if it is of the type to be compressed, the receptacle is moved beneath the ram, the ram is forced down to compress the contents and then retracted.
Because a low power gearmotor is employed to generate considerable pressure at low cost, the reciprocating ram motion is slow. The system is out of use during the time the receptacle is moved to the ram and the ram is operating. Tenants waiting to deposit waste become impatient and are tempted to comingle all their different wastes into one receptacle if they are forced to wait while compacting takes place. The enhanced control system of this invention overcomes this problem by eliminating much tenant waiting.

Separated waste collection control for multistory building