A series-parallel movable heavy-load casting robot, includes a four-driving-wheel type moving platform, a rotating device, an upright assembly, a lifting drive device, a parallel working arm, an end actuator and a binocular vision system. The four-driving-wheel type moving platform is driven by adopting four omnidirectional wheels, the platform utilizes rear hydraulic supporting legs and adjustable hydraulic supporting legs to implement stationary point self-balancing supporting, and a robot body has five freedom degrees of motion in space; and the rotating device and the lifting drive device can respectively implement rotating and lifting adjustment, the four-degree-of-freedom parallel working arm can carry out attitude adjustment for the end actuator, different end actuators can be changed according to working requirements.

High flexibility of an industrial robot can meet various special requirements in the modern green casting production, and adoption of the robot in the casting production not only can liberate operators from heavy and tedious manual labor and save labor, but also is the important means for improving production efficiency, manufacturing accuracy and quality for a casting and implementing mechanization, automation and civilization of casting production. Currently, adoption of advanced applicable new casting technologies, and improvement of the automation level of casting equipment, particularly application of a movable robot technology are key measures for casting enterprises to implement green casting production and realize sustainable development. Casting is carried out in harsh environments with a high temperature, a large amount of dust, vibration, oil stain, noise and electromagnetic interference, and the casting has a heavy weight, and thus, a common industrial robot cannot meet production requirements. If a casting robot is expected to be suitable for such working environments and normally run, there are still numerous key technologies in urgent need of research and breakthrough. The casting robot not only can be used for casting carrying and transfer in the die-casting and precision-casting production, but also can be used in processes of shaking, core making, core setting, pouring, clearing, inspection and the like of sand casting. Particularly, in the production of a middle-to-large sized castings, sizes and weights of both a sand core and the casting are relatively large, and for execution of core taking, core assembling, core setting, pouring and carrying operations, the difficulty is great with a high requirement. A high-flexibility heavy-load type casting robot which can meet requirements for the core taking, core assembling, core setting, pouring and carrying operations in the casting production is urgently required.
Currently, most of robots used in the casting production are articulated serial robots, which have the advantages of simple structure, convenience for control and large working space, but are poor in accuracy and low in load capacity and can only execute a light-load operation task. The articulated serial robot is difficult to meet the heavy-load operation task requirements in the middle-to-large sized casting production, and improvement on operation accuracy and efficiency is limited. Application of the existing casting robot is also limited to a case for assisting in completing a relatively simple casting operation task at a fixed station, and cannot adapt to the movable accuracy operation requirement in the complex operation environment of the casting production. For example, a serial pouring robot used in the production is simple in structure and low in cost, but cannot meet use in diversified places due to excessively few freedom degrees and the single application place. Casting robots generally applied are all obtained by remanufacturing common robots. Currently, for many small-to-middle sized casting manufacturers, when operations of core taking, core assembling, core setting, pouring and the like are carried out in the production process, the huge-crowd strategy is usually adopted, one worker carries out core taking, core setting, core assembling and melt pouring at one station, and the worker has to run back and forth, so it seems very busy and disordered and meanwhile, working efficiency is low. The operation for carrying the sand cores and the castings is mainly completed by manually simple assisting lifting equipment, and in few technical solutions in which the robot are adopted, mainly the serial robot at a fixed position is equipped with a pneumatic gripper to carry out operations, lack of a professional movable heavy-load casting robot. Particularly, in the pouring operation process of the middle-to-large sized casting, labor is still mainly adopted, with high labor intensity of the worker high physical output, and a low working efficiency. In the pouring process, molten iron or molten steel is transferred onto the production line by a casting ladle, and is aligned with a sprue gate, so that the molten iron or the molten steel in the casting ladle is poured into a pouring riser of a pouring workpiece. Currently, pouring the molten iron or the molten steel is performed by the following process: carrying by workers or lifting by a travelling crane the heavy casting ladle to receive the molten iron or the molten steel from a high-frequency furnace, then moving 150 to 200 kg molten iron or molten steel in the casting ladle to the pouring place, and slowly inclining the casting ladle by cooperation of two or more people so as to pour the molten iron or the molten steel in the casting ladle into the sprue gate of the workpiece. Such method has the following defects: (1) due to the load of the worker, the size (weight) of a casting part is limited, and when one casting needs to be casted in very short time, if two or more ladles of molten iron or molten steel are adopted, due to the low speed of the worker, the made casting is prone to casting defects such as the quality problems and the like; (2) labor intensity of the worker is high, the working environment is harsh, a temperature of the molten iron or the molten steel reaches about 1,500° C., a working environment temperature for the worker is above 40° C., and the worker is easy to feel tired due to high labor intensity; (3) the working environment is dangerous, the worker should be always careful of splashing of the molten iron or the molten steel, and there are hidden dangers for worker's personal safety; and (4) in the working process, a transport speed and a pouring speed are low, with a low working efficiency, and a low productivity, thereby increasing a manufacturing cost and delaying the manufacturing progress.
Aiming at the problems of the casting in the operations of core assembling, core setting, pouring and carrying, existing patents also provide some solutions. The Chinese Patent Publication No. 201610698460.5 discloses an automatic pouring robot which includes a power device, a transmission device, a scooping device, a detection device and the like and can control a rotating speed and angle of a scoop, but for this solution, only simple scooping and pouring can be carried out, a working space of the robot is small, and production efficiency is low. The Chinese Patent Application No. 200910015467.2 discloses an aluminum piston pouring robot, a main swing arm, an auxiliary swing arm, and a vertical swing arm and connecting bars of the pouring robot form a parallel four-bar mechanism, which can meet the follow-up pouring process requirements that an aluminum piston blank casting is tilted forward or backward, but for this solution, flexibility is poor, a time interval for actions is long, production efficiency is low, repeatability precision for a weight for scooped aluminum liquid and positioning accuracy for the scooped aluminum liquid are poor, and product quality is instable. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201610072679.4 discloses a pouring device controlled by a robot, the device is driven by adopting a bevel gear, a compressed air cooling pipeline and a fan continuously cool down the pouring device, but meanwhile, a cooling effect is also performed to pouring liquid, so that production quality is reduced. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201611165409.4 discloses a high-accuracy aluminum piston pouring robot which includes an ABB six-axis industrial robot and a pouring robot and has the characteristics of multiple freedom degrees, high system flexibility and the like, but this solution adopts a serial robot arm, the working space is small and the movement process is instable, so that pouring quality is influenced. The Chinese Patent Application No. 200710012538.4 discloses a novel parallel pouring robot which includes a base, a revolute joint, a rotary wheel, a machine body and a casting ladle, ensures accuracy for liquid taking by a volume method and drives a set of parallelogram four-bar mechanism by a motor to enable the casting ladle to swing in a certain range so as to implement positioning of the casting ladle, but accurate positioning cannot be ensured in other directions, and the working space of the robot is small. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201320665695.6 discloses a four-joint scooping or pouring robot, and the equipment is simple in structure and cannot carry out complex pouring work and is low in positioning accuracy and low structural bearing capacity in the pouring process. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201120359585.8 discloses a robot double-casting-ladle pouring arm which includes a pouring arm, a supporting frame, servo motors and a speed reducer, two motors respectively drive two casting ladles to carry out pouring by chain transmission systems, production efficiency is improved, but meanwhile, positioning accuracy becomes poor, and a spacing between two casting ladles is non-adjustable, so that the robot double-casting-ladle pouring arm is only suitable for a small-sized casting. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201510444411.4 discloses a movable ground rail pouring manipulator, a base is mounted below the pouring manipulator, and is moved on the ground rail by sliding wheels, but the working track is limited by the rails and flexibility is poor. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201621367895.3 discloses a design solution of a piston one-machine two-mode full-automatic casting machine which adopts a serial pouring robot at a fixed position and a simple part-taking hand to complete tasks of taking the aluminum liquid, pouring and taking the casting and is suitable for a light-load operation at a fixed position on a production line.
In the aspects of core taking, core assembling and core setting, the Chinese Patent Application No. 200920140832.8 discloses a casting core setting device including a sand box, a sand box positioning assembly and a serial manipulator for clamping a core and the like, the manipulator can only operate in a defined range, an actuator for clamping a sand core adopts a clip plate structure, and the casting core setting device can only meet the operation requirements of the single sand core. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201520331028.3 discloses a robot device for automatic core assembling which includes a sand core placement sliding table and a gripper working at a fixed position, a supporting seat, an adjusting eccentric wheel, a positioning wheel and a photoelectric detection switch are arranged on the sand core placement sliding table, a glue injection device and a detection device are arranged on the gripper, a plurality of glue guns are arranged on the glue injection device, the technical solution only simplifies structures of the glue injection device and the detection device and implements integration of the two functions, the whole device cannot move, the working range is limited, and the operation requirements of a special-shaped sand core cannot be met. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201610325766.6 discloses a base-type robot core setting and part taking mechanism which includes a pouring mechanical arm and a core setting and part taking mechanical arm, and although the requirement for the radius of the three-station core assembling operation can be met by an arranged three-station core assembling rotation platform and labor intensity of staffs is reduced, the operation range and objects are still limited by a fixed position of a robot and a simple end actuator. The Chinese Patent Application No. 201611053848.6 discloses a core taking and core assembling robot gripper which includes a control module, a gripper frame, a connecting flange, a clamping mechanism module on left of the gripper, a linear sliding block guide rail, a clamping mechanism module in the middle of the gripper, a pneumatic servo translation mechanism and a clamping mechanism module on the right of the gripper and can simultaneously clamp one, two or three sand cores on the left, in the middle and on the right, when each module independently performs a gripping action, the rotation of the sand core can be implemented by a pneumatic rotating module, but the core taking and core assembling robot gripper has the defects that in the gripping process, the sand core can only be clamped by a movable end clamping arm module, and when a relatively heavy sand core is gripped, not only there are few clamping points, but also the sand core needs to be moved, so that the sand core is easy to damage.
As the casting technology is improved, there are more and more requirements for production of middle-to-large sized castings and automation of operations of core taking, core assembling, core setting, pouring and carrying in the cast forming process. In the existing technical solutions, mostly the serial manipulator at a fixed station is adopted to carry out operations, not only the operation range is small and the movement is limited, but also load capacity is low, and the requirements for the operations of core taking, core assembling, core setting, pouring and carrying of the middle-to-large sized castings cannot be met.

Series-parallel movable heavy-load casting robot

ANHUI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A topology manager implemented on a data partition of a distributed computing system can be notified that a destination computing node in the distributed computing system is not responding to a communication request. Upon determining that the destination computing node is dead and/or has a loss of communication with one or more, and optionally a majority of other computing nodes in a plurality of computing nodes of the distributed computing system, the topology manager can retire the destination computing node and cause a load balancing of replicas of data partitions in the distributed computing system to compensate for loss of the retired computing node.

Nodes of a distributed computing system communicate over a communication network. Nodes can be computing systems that each include at least one programmable processor. A distributed system can, in a non-limiting example, be a plurality of computing nodes (also referred to simply as "nodes") that implement a distributed data storage application or any other kind of application in which exchange of messages between nodes occurs to enable the multiple nodes to remain synchronized with regard to processes being executed by the distributed computing system. A process as used herein refers generally to any kind of data processing, data storage, or other computer-implemented process. A communication network can include one or more of a wired network, a wireless network, a local area network, a wide area network, an organization's intranet, the Internet, or the like. Usually, nodes in a distributed system use consensus protocols to coordinate replication of data on several nodes to enable continued operation in case of a failure of one or more of the nodes of the cluster. Other nodes of a plurality of nodes besides a node being referenced are generally referred to as "peer nodes" or simply "peers" of the node.

Topology manager for failure detection in a distributed computing system


In n page unit printing, a completion time of print preparation for page m+1 is estimated from the time spent for print preparation for pages up to page m among n pages. If the estimated time can make m+1 unit printing effective, print preparation for page m+1 is waited for. If the estimated time can not make m+1 unit printing effective, m page unit printing is immediately performed up to page m, without waiting for the completion of print preparation of page m+1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer which allows unit printing of a plurality of pages, particularly to a printer which can reduce printing hours on the whole, and a control program product thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Use of page printers which can print by unit of a page has been rapidly spreading in offices and private residences in recent years, and an acceleration of printing speed, price reduction, and improvement in quality are desired. Of these so far, various techniques have been developed for accelerating printing speed. One of these techniques is unit printing of a plurality of pages.
This technique is for executing printing of a plurality of pages at one time in one printing processing. When two pages are printed at one time in one printing processing, it is called "2 page unit printing" or "2 up printing", and when n pages are printed at one time in one printing processing, it is called "n page unit printing" or "n up printing".
This unit printing of a plurality of pages is explained in detail hereinafter, giving an example of 2 up printing. For example, a page printer, which can print a paper of size A3, usually has a transfer body (intermediate transfer medium) for transferring a toner image to a paper; this transfer body has a 1 page size of paper of size A3. Therefore, only one page of size A3 can be printed in one printing processing. Here, if it is color printing, one time of printing processing is concretely performed such that 4 colors of toner are adhered to the transfer body one by one in order, by 1 rotation of the transfer body for 1 color, and while the last color of toner is being adhered, the toner image of 4 colors that were adhered is transferred from the transfer body to a paper. Accordingly, one time of printing processing requires more than 4 rotations of the transfer body.
With this type of page printer, by regarding printing images of a portion of 2 pages of size A4 the same as a printing image of 1 page of size A3, processing of 2 pages of size A4 can be performed in the same processing time as the printing processing for 1 page of size A3. Thus, printing 2 pages by 1 printing processing is called 2 up printing.
With this printer for size A3 which can perform 2 up printing, when printing an image of only 1 page of size A4 (1 up printing or 1 page printing), an area of the transfer body to which a toner is adhered becomes half. However, in color printing, adhesion of 4 colors of toner to the transfer body is performed, as described before, by one rotation of the transfer body for each color, regardless of where the colors adhere. Therefore, 4 rotations of the transfer body are required for printing 1 sheet of paper of size A4. The rotation speed of the transfer body is usually fixed, therefore, the time required for printing 1 sheet of paper of size A4 is almost the same as the time required for printing 1 sheet of paper of size A3, that is, the time required for printing images of 2 pages of size A4 by 2 up printing. Accordingly, when printing 2 pages of size A4, if 2 up printing is possible, it can greatly reduce the printing time, compared to printing each paper (1 up printing).
However, in order to perform 2 up printing, data for 2 pages has to be output from the controller of the printer to the engine member which performs actual printing. In Short, the controller has to perform data processing for the 2 pages and supply the data to the engine member, and the engine member has to be ready for printing, otherwise, 2 up printing can not be performed.
Therefore, if it takes time for data of page 2 to reach the engine member after data for page 1 has reached the engine member, there may be cases where printing can be finished earlier by performing 1 up printing for each page than by waiting for the data (to reach the engine member) and performing 2 up printing. Therefore, whether the 2 up printing is effective depends on the waiting time for the data of the 2 pages to reach the engine. And the critical waiting time in which the effect of the 2 up printing can be achieved, is called a maximum waiting time T. This waiting time is obtained by deducting the time required for 2 up printing from the time required for printing 2 pages by 2 times of 1 up printing. If the data of the 2 pages reaches the engine member by the maximum waiting time T, 2 up printing is effective.
For example, if the time required for printing 2 pages by 2 times of 1 up printing is 20 seconds and the time required for 2 up printing is 11 seconds, the maximum waiting time T is 9 seconds. If the data of page 2 reaches the engine member within 9 seconds after the data for page 1 reaches the engine member, it means that 2 up printing is effective.
The unit printing of a plurality of pages has been explained so far using the example of 2 up printing. n up printing of more than 3 pages is similar. There is a time limit, which is based on a difference between the time required for printing m pages in m page unit printing as well as printing 1 page in 1 page unit printing for page m+1, and the time required for printing m+1 pages in m+1 page unit printing. Accordingly, if the data for page m+1 does not reach the engine member during the maximum waiting time, there is no benefit to wait for page m+1 (to reach the engine member) and perform m+1 up printing.
Thus, the time required for data of the next page to reach the engine member is the key to efficiently control n up printing, but this waiting time changes depending on the amount of the data of the page and the condition of communication between a host computer for giving printing orders and a printer. Therefore, the waiting time can not be easily predicted.
As one of the methods of controlling n up printing, a method exists of waiting for data of next page (to reach the engine member) until a certain time (for example, a maximum waiting time T) and performing printing up to the present page if the data does not reach the engine member by the certain time. But, in this method, printing is always started after waiting for the data until the certain time. Therefore, if there are many cases where the data of the next page does not reach the engine member by the certain time, there is only a small amount of time saved in spite of the total waiting time. And so, this method is not necessarily an effective control method.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a printer which can shorten the time required for printing in unit printing of a plurality of pages, and a program product for controlling such printer.

Printer and control program product therefor


In order to determine a sounding interval, an electronic device iteratively revises a set of potential sounding intervals based on transmission statistics associated with communication of some packets with and other packets without transmission beamforming for the set of potential sounding intervals. In particular, the electronic device calculates rank positions for the set of potential sounding intervals based on an estimated throughput and numbers of packets transmitted with transmission beamforming for the set of potential sounding intervals out of a total number of packets transmitted. Then, the electronic device may determine the output sounding interval based on the ranking. When the convergence criterion is achieved, the electronic device may determine a moment based on calculated frequencies of the rank positions over multiple iterations, which is used to revise the set of potential sounding intervals in the next iteration.

Field
The described embodiments relate to techniques for wirelessly communicating information among electronic devices, including determining a sounding interval for updating transmission beamforming and antenna patterns for wireless communication.
Related Art
Many electronic devices are capable of wirelessly communicating with other electronic devices. For example, these electronic devices can include a networking subsystem that implements a network interface for: a cellular network (UMTS, LTE, etc.), a wireless local area network (e.g., a wireless network such as described in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard or Bluetooth™ from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group of Kirkland, Wash.), and/or another type of wireless network.
In order to improve performance during wireless communication among electronic devices, many electronic devices include multiple antennas that can use beamforming techniques to provide transmission beamforming. When configured properly, the transmission beamforming can address the performance challenges in an environment, such as with a multi-path communication channel.
Because the environment of an electronic device can change, it is often necessary to update the transmission beamforming. The transmission beamforming is usually determined regularly, such as after a time interval (which is referred to as a 'sounding interval') has elapsed.
However, the choice of the sounding interval represents a tradeoff A short sounding interval can provide transmission beamforming that is a good match for the environment (and, thus, may result in a high value of the signal-to-noise ratio) at the cost of more overhead. Alternatively, a long sounding interval can reduce the overhead, but may result in transmission beamforming that is less optimal for the environment (and, thus, may result in a lower value of the signal-to-noise ratio). The difficulty in selecting the sounding interval and the changes in the environment can degrade the performance of the communication.

Determining a sounding interval based on throughput


An apparatus for continuously coating a sheet material concurrently with a plurality of coating liquids in the pattern of a plurality of stripes, having a coating liquid-feeding device having a plurality of parallel compartments each defined by a pair of vertical partitioning plates and an inclined guide plate for introducing a coating liquid onto a portion of the sheet material, each partitioning plate having a bottom edge thereof having a profile in the form of an arc bulged downward from an imaginary straight line drawn between lowermost ends of both side edges of the partitioning plate.

It is known that a pattern of a plurality of stripes, each of which is different in color from the neighbouring ones, can be formed on a surface of a sheet material, such as a fabric or plastic film or sheet, by using an apparatus which comprises a pair of means for feeding a sheet material into the apparatus and for delivering the sheet material from the apparatus; a coating table arranged between the sheet material-feeding means and the sheet material-delivering means and having a horizontal, smooth upper surface along which the sheet material slides; a substantially vertical coating doctor knife having a blade which is formed in a lower end portion thereof and located above the coating table, and; a coating liquid-feeding device connected to the doctor knife and having a plurality of separate compartments through which a plurality of coating liquids are concurrently fed onto a surface of the sheet material. Each of the separate compartments is defined by a pair of vertical, rectangular partitioning plates which are placed upright and above the horizontal surface of the coating table, which are spaced from each other, in parallel to each other, and which are connected to each other by an inclined guide plate. A side edge of each partitioning plate is positioned in close contact with a surface of the doctor knife, at a right angle to the surface of the doctor knife. This side edge has a lowermost end positioned at the same level as that of a lowermost end of the blade of the doctor knife. The inclined guide plate is interposed between a pair of the partitioning plates and has an upper surface which obliquely-downwardly approaches the blade of the doctor knife. The lower end of the guide plate is spaced from the blade of the doctor knife and is located above the bottom edges of the partitioning plates. The bottom edge surface of each vertical, rectangular partitioning plate is oriented so that it is not parallel to the horizontal surface of the coating table.
When the above-mentioned apparatus is used, a sheet material is continuously moved from the sheet material-feeding means to the sheet material delivering means along the horizontal surface of the coating table, and the doctor knife and the coating liquid-feeding device are placed on the sheet material. During the coating operation, by using the above-mentioned apparatus, friction is created between the upper surface of the sheet material and the bottom edge surfaces of the partitioning plates, and between the lower surface of the sheet material and the horizontal upper surface of the coating table, which causes a tension to be created on the sheet material. However, the above-mentioned frictions are not only unevenly distributed on the sheet material, but also, irregularly vary during the coating operation. Uneven distribution and irregular variation of the friction on the sheet material result in uneven distribution of tension on the sheet material and in irregular variation of the tension during the coating operation. The uneven distribution and irregular variation of the tension on the sheet material causes the thickness of the layer of each coating liquid applied onto the surface of the sheet material to be uneven in distribution and to irregularly vary during the coating operation. Also, the sharpness of both side edge lines of each of the stripes formed by the coating liquids becomes poor. Furthermore, the uneven and irregularly varying tension on the sheet material causes the sheet material to become wrinkled during the coating operation.
Accordingly, it is strongly desired to elminate the above-mentioned disadvantages from the conventional apparatus.

Apparatus for continuously coating a sheet material concurrently with a plurality of stripes


A system for operating a cross-vertical service comprises a processor and memory storing instructions that cause the processor to effectuate operations. The operations include receiving, at the cross-vertical service, a registration of a first device from a first vertical service associated with the first device and registering the cross-vertical service with a second vertical service. The operations include retrieving data from the second vertical service and monitoring a characteristic of the first device. The operations include, based on at least one of the data and the characteristic, communicating a trigger to the second vertical service to effect an action. In response to the trigger, the second vertical service performs the action.

End users of a network operated by a network service provider may use one or more services provided via that network. Some services provided on that network, such as third-party services, are designed as vertical services. These vertical services may be hosted on a different network that is not controlled by the network service provider. Thus, it may be difficult to facilitate cross-vertical capabilities between such vertical services.


A hand held adaptable pressure writing instrument holder for those persons with physical writing disabilities. The one piece unit is formed of a resilient material and contains a central core instrument path consisting of a circular bore hole with several flat slits enabling the insertion of a variety of instruments and adaptation to varying shapes. The body consists of a palm rest of oval egg shape which curves forward and under terminating in a perpendicular planar surface projection of sufficient size to allow for finger placement on this upper shelf. A vertical gripping surface connects the upper shelf to another lower perpendicular planar surface in parallel with the first. The planar surfaces include a compound bevel downward and with a decided right or left hand slope. The elements from the top palm rest to the lower planar surface are volute in nature forming a right or left-hand spiral. At the rear of the device, the palm rest curves aft and under terminating in the beveled vertical detent. The hand specific side, the right side in this case, forms a concave surface for a distance necessary to accommodate fingers, joints, knuckles, or hand webbing between finger joints, then flaring outward joining the lower planar surface. From the upper rear bevel detent, the back forms a slightly convex surface as it connects with the bottom. The body and instrument path is reversible and exposes the larger circumference area of the palm rest along with other control surfaces.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to hand held writing instrument holders, more specifically to those holders designed for persons with writing disabilities and handicaps, that offer more writing comfort and alternative methods of holding and applying pressure control to a narrow instrument other than the conventional use of the thumb, index and middle finger of the writing hand.
2. Description of Prior Art
There are many people who have difficulty holding and using writing instruments or can not use them because of limited, varying, or minimal hand or finger gripping ability. This may be the result of a number of conditions ranging from brain impairment to severe cases of arthritis of the hand, digital deformities, missing fingers, or merely a single sprained, cut, broken or cramped finger or hand. Hand injuries are very common among younger persons, as is arthritis to the older population. It has been found through AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) research that Arthritis, or inflammation of the joints is the most common condition affecting people in the United States. Inflammation of the finger joints will affect functionality to varying degrees from a mild pain causing discomfort from the prolonged holding and use of a writing instrument, to the more severe form of Arthritis which may cause a deformity of the fingers rendering them misshapen for pratical use in grasping or holding a narrow object using the conventional three fingers in applying pressure for the control of an instrument. Due to the wide range of needs it is not an easy or practical task to design a device which will take into account the variety and shapes of support needed to accommodate every instance of hand or finger injury or deformity. No such device has been made readily available for everyday use, nor is there a device that does give the appearance in use of a prosthetic device used by "cripples", that is simple and common, that is inexpensive to manufacture to the extent that it might be a "use and throw away" off-the-shelf disposable item, as common as a pen or pencil.
A number of devices have been patented which resolve a very specific comfort range, or type of impairment or designated task such as:
"Implement Holding Cuff" by Bischoff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,885 July, 1986 which is designed for the physically handicapped and will contain their hand, fingers, and instrument within a controllable cage or cuff to cradle a non functioning hand.
"Rolling Support For Writing Instruments" of Russell A. Schroeder, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 2,497,418 February, 1950 whose rolling hand rest writing device which must be in contact with the writing surface, is not a hand held device, and concentrates on those with total digital impairment or hand paralysis shifting the emphasis to arm and shoulder control for writing ability.
The J. F. Hume, U.S. Pat. No. 1,438,114 December, 1922 "Writing Implement" whole hand palm size sliding ball with embedded pen designed to teach proper penmanship while supporting the hand, and assumes that normal digital control exists.
The patent of H. G. Eastman, U.S. Pat. No. 78,655 issued June, 1868 "Improvement In Pen Holders" employs a unique egg shaped palm rest coupled with slip in finger holders for the correct positioning of the pen, but the design makes no allowance for pressure of the palm to aid in the writing process, nor for non-finger use, or for other than gripping the instrument by conventional methods.
The "Tool Holding Appliance" Winter et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,484 issued Aug. 19, 1986 utilizes a device which is strapped on to the palm of the hand and holds very specifically designed tools and utensils and intended for persons with limited hand mobility. A more significant invention in this field, by Brody, U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,781 issued Jun. 18, 1985 was specifically designed for those persons suffering from arthritis and others having reduced gripping ability. Brody's design, a palm size, barrel shaped clam shell type instrument holder is meant to be held and manipulated within the palm of the hand, and lacking any digital dexterity at all, the device can be strapped onto the hand. Brody's design assumes that a normal "palm" or open palm does exist and has limited application for controlled downward pressure through other than the attachable hand strap or gripping of the barrel, and does not make allowances for more adaptable hand positioning as the individual deformity may require for comfort or for unorthodox use of those parts of the hand such as the "V" joints between fingers, or the palm and inner finger joint only, without the use of the actual fingers, or the use of any two desired fingers however closely or widely spaced, or unbending fingers that may still be usable for downward pressure and control of a writing instrument.
There are other numerous patented writing instrument holders which tie on, strap on, or slip on or through, but again, each to overcome a specific infirmity or add a degree of ease and comfort. Based on prior art then, no hand held writing instrument holder device is available that has the adaptability of my writing instrument holder, or offers the many simultaneous combinations as is needed by the user, the many compound vertical, horizontal, beveled, rounded, concave, convex or volute surfaces for variable open finger grasping positions, or degree of control from parts of the finger exerting pressure and manipulation, or the capability of using the palm of the hand in conjunction with an opposing member in an unorthodox manner for holding and guiding a writing instrument or other, providing the restoration of writing abilities, even though minimal prehensile ability exists and absolutely unorthodox, highly individualized methods are called for and employed.

Adaptable pressure writing instrument holder


A method for controlling furnace temperatures of a multi-zone heating furnace having a feedback control system for detecting and inputting a furnace temperature and a furnace temperature setting device or a combustion control computer of the type for determining an optimum furnace temperature for each slab and outputting it as a set point to said feedback control system, the method comprising the steps of determining, under predetermined limit conditions which are required for the operations of the furnace, a furnace temperature pattern or a slab temperature rise curve which may minimize the overall flow rate of fuel, heating the furnace along the furnace temperature pattern or the slab temperature rise curve which is determined, reducing, in response to the instruction for suspending the discharge of slabs from the furnace, the flow rate of fuel to be supplied to the furnace to a predetermined level, and heating the furnace along a new slab temperature rise curve which is obtained by shifting the steady state slab temperature rise curve by a slab discharge suspension period, thereby making the slab temperature when the slab discharge is resumed equal to the slab temperature when the slab discharge suspension instruction is received.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the furnace temperature of a multi-zone heating furnace for heating metallic steel slabs or the like.
So far the setting on a furnace temperature control device has been so far made in general by the manual setting by an operator, and as a set point the value which was obtained from the experiences in operations of furnaces has been used. When the furnace temperature is set, firstly it is required that the average slab temperature is within a desired range when a slab is discharged, and secondly the slab must be heated in such a way that the temperature difference between the surfaces and interior of the slab may become minimum. The means which most simply satisfies these demands is considered to heat the slab as rapidly as possible in the initial stage of heating and thereafter soaking the slab at a substantially constant temperature. With the prior art manual operations, it has been difficult to switch finely the furnace temperature set points in response to the conditions of rolling lines so that there has been a tendency for using the simple furnace temperature setting of the type described above. However, this method has a defect that the furnace temperature set point becomes higher as a whole, thus resulting in the increase in a fuel unit.
Recently in view of energy savings, there has been proposed a method for using a computer for determining an optimum furnace temperature set point in response to the distribution of slabs in the furnace and automatically setting this set point. As a result, it has become possible to use the relationship between the furnace temperature and the slab temperatures as a heating model, thereby predicting the heating conditions of slabs. Thus the accuracy with which the slab discharge temperature is controlled has been improved.
For instance, Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 52-117818 proposes a method wherein the furnace temperature in each heating zone is assumed, the loss of heat of the furnace and the deviation of a predicted discharge temperature of a slab from a set discharge temperature at said assumed furnace temperature are obtained, and the furnace temperature in each heating zone is so determined and set that the sum of the product of said thermal loss and a first coefficient and the product of the square of said deviation and a second coefficient may become minimum.
The prior art methods described above are common in that the relationship between the furnace temperature and slab temperature is used. However, the relationship between the furnace temperature and fuel flow rate has not been directly considered. No consideration has been given to whether the furnace temperature pattern which is obtained can minimize the fuel. Meanwhile, a rolling line for rolling heated metallic steel workpieces or slabs is forced frequently to suspend its operations due to the exchanges of rolling rolls, operation troubles or the like. In this case, when the normal operations continue in the heating furnace, there is a fear that overheating of slabs results in loss of thermal energy. Therefore countermeasures are needed such as lowering the furnace temperature for some period until the resumption of the operations of the rolling line, thereby preventing the slabs from being overheated and contemplating the savings of fuel. Furthermore it is needed to guarantee accuracy of the slab discharge temperature after the resumption of the operations of the rolling line. In one example of the prior art furnace temperature controls in the case of the suspension of the operations of the rolling line, the furnace temperature set point is lowered in such a way that the temperatures of slabs close to the discharge outlet or exit of the furnace may be maintained constant, and prior to the resumption of the discharge of slabs, the furnace temperature is recovered to that when the slab discharge was suspended. With this method, the temperatures of the slabs spaced apart from the outlet of the furnace are deviated from the set points when the slab discharge is resumed, and it takes a time before the furnace temperature control returns to the steady state, resulting in the decrease in productivity. In addition, it is not necessarily true that all conventional heating furnaces have a plurality of zones in which temperatures can be controlled independently of each other. Since temperature control in each zone is not effected, the furnace temperature control in case of the suspension of the operations of the rolling line is not satisfactory.

Method for controlling furnace temperature of multi-zone heating furnace


A plum blossom-shaped ratchet wrench structure. A one-way ratchet is disposed in a head section of the grip of the ratchet wrench. A distance exists between a central point of the head section and a central line of the grip, whereby the head section has a protruding section laterally deflecting and protruding from one of the grip for a user to easily identify the driving direction of the one-way ratchet. A widened connecting section is formed between the protruding section and the lateral side of the grip. A receptacle is formed in the connecting section, in which a ratchet block is disposed. The receptacle has an opening having a length smaller than a length of the ratchet block, while being larger than a height of the ratchet block. When the ratchet block is installed into the receptacle, the ratchet block is stopped by the wall of the receptacle.

The present invention is related to an improved plum blossom-shaped ratchet wrench structure, and more particularly to a blossom-shaped ratchet wrench which is such configured that a user can very easily judge the driving direction of the one-way ratchet mechanism. Moreover, a widened ratchet block can be disposed in the ratchet wrench to enable the ratchet mechanism to bear greater torque.
FIG. 6 shows a conventional plum blossom-shaped one-way ratchet wrench 8 having a grip 81 and a head section 82. The head section 82 has a ratchet cavity 84 in which a one-way ratchet mechanism 9 is disposed. The center of the head section 82 is in the central line of the grip 81. The grip 81 has a receptacle 83 in which a ratchet block 91 and a spring 92 of the ratchet mechanism 9 are disposed.
Such conventional plum blossom-shaped one-way ratchet wrench 8 can only one-way drive the ratchet mechanism 9. Therefore, in general, the grip 81 or the head section 82 is marked with an arrow to indicate the driving direction. However, in a dark place, a user will be unable to clearly see the arrow and know the driving direction of the ratchet mechanism 9. This causes inconvenient to the user.
Moreover, the size of the ratchet block 91 of the ratchet mechanism 9 is limited to the width of the receptacle 83, while the dimension of the receptacle 83 is limited to the width of the grip 81. Therefore, the ratchet block 91 can be hardly enlarged as necessary so that the ratchet block 91 cannot bear greater torque. In the case that the width of the receptacle 83 is increased, the strength of the grip 81 will be affected.
The width of the opening of the receptacle 83 is larger than the width of the ratchet block 91. Therefore, when assembled, the ratchet block 91 will be resiliently pushed out by the spring 92. Therefore, it is necessary to use a tool to press the ratchet block 91 and compress the spring 92 for keeping the ratchet block 91 in the receptacle 83. Under such circumstance, the ratchet wheel 93 can be installed into the ratchet cavity 84. However, the opening of the receptacle 83 is positioned in the ratchet cavity 84. Therefore, the tool must be extended into the ratchet cavity 84 to press the ratchet block 91. At the same time, the ratchet wheel 93 is installed into the ratchet cavity 84. It is quite inconvenient to install the ratchet wheel 93. It often takes place that the ratchet block 91 is resiliently pushed out by the spring 92 due to incaution and needs to be re-installed. As a result, the assembling efficiency is lowered.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved plum blossom-shaped ratchet wrench structure. A ratchet mechanism is disposed in a head section of the grip of the wrench. A distance exists between a central point of the head section and a central line of the grip. Therefore, the head section laterally deflects and protrudes from a lateral side of the grip to form a protruding section. The protruding section serves as an indicator enabling a user to easily judge the driving direction of the one-way ratchet mechanism. Furthermore, a widened connecting section is formed between the protruding section of the head section and the grip so that the receptacle for the ratchet block can be widened. Therefore, a widened ratchet block of the ratchet mechanism can be disposed in the ratchet wrench, whereby the engaging face of the ratchet block and the ratchet can be enlarged and the number of engaging teeth thereof can be increased. As a result, the ratchet mechanism can bear greater torque.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above plum blossom-shaped ratchet wrench structure in which the length of the opening of the receptacle is smaller than the length of the ratchet block, while being larger than the height of the ratchet block. After the ratchet block is installed into the receptacle, the ratchet block is stopped by the wall of the receptacle without being resiliently pushed out by the resilient member. Accordingly, the assembling efficiency can be increased.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above plum blossom-shaped ratchet wrench structure in which the bottom face of the ratchet block is a protruding arch face. When the ratchet wheel is engaged with the ratchet block, one end of the ratchet block is lifted to increase the engaging force between the ratchet wheel and the ratchet block. Therefore, the ratchet mechanism can be bear increased torque.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

Plum blossom-shaped ratchet wrench structure


A powertrain with a disconnecting rear drive axle generally includes a prime mover including an output that rotates about a rotational axis. A transmission includes an output that rotates about a rotational axis. The rotational axes of the outputs are substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the powertrain. A front driveline is operable to direct rotary power from the prime mover to front vehicle wheels. A rear driveline includes a propeller shaft that provides rotary power to a first shaft member and a second shaft member through a pinion and a ring gear. The first shaft member and the second shaft are operable to connect to rear vehicle wheels. A power switching mechanism has an engaged condition and a disengaged condition. The power switching mechanism is operable to direct the rotary power from the transmission to the rear driveline in the engaged condition. A torque transfer device has an engaged condition and a disengaged condition. The power switching mechanism and the torque transfer device in the disengaged condition are operable to only transmit rotary power to the first vehicle wheels. The torque transfer device in the disengaged condition prevents the first shaft member and the second shaft member from back-driving the ring gear and the pinion of the rear driveline. The power switching mechanism in the disengaged condition prevents the transmission from driving the propeller shaft.

Many modern automotive vehicles, such as cross-over vehicles, are available with an all-wheel drive (AWD) driveline that is based on a front-wheel drive (FWD) architecture. Such AWD drivelines typically include components, such as the output of a power-take-off, that are rotatably driven even when the driveline is operated in a mode in which power is not transmitted through such components. Consequently, such AWD drivelines can be less fuel efficient (according to standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) than similar FWD drivelines by one or two miles per gallon.
With reference to FIG. 1, a portion of an exemplary vehicle having a longitudinal transaxle 2 can be disposed generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle. A transmission output member 3 is a hollow shaft, while the front and rear driveline inputs 4, 5 are solid shafts. The front driveline input 4 extends through the transmission and is coupled to a hypoid pinion 6 that is meshingly engaged with a ring gear 7 associated with the front differential 8. The rear driveline input 5 is configured to be coupled to a cardan shaft (not shown).
Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/191,699 filed Aug. 14, 2008 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/537,394 filed Aug. 7, 2009, both of which are entitled "Motor Vehicle With Disconnectable All-Wheel Drive System", disclose various disconnecting rear drive axles for laterally arranged powertrains (i.e., powertrains that incorporate a laterally disposed power source, such as an internal combustion engine, and a transaxle that includes a power-take-off).

Disconnecting rear drive axle for longitudinally arranged powertrains


Embodiments of the present invention provide an interference suppression method and apparatus. The method includes: determining a precoding matrix according to a channel fading matrix, where the channel fading matrix is an N×M matrix, M is a quantity of antennas of a transmit end candidate device, N is a quantity of antennas of a receive end device, and each element in the channel fading matrix represents channel fading that occurs when each antenna of the transmit end candidate device transmits a signal to each antenna of the receive end device; acquiring a receiving base vector according to the precoding matrix, signal power of the transmit end candidate device, and a channel fading matrix from a signal to the receive end device; and determining receiving subspace according to the receiving base vector and receiving, in the receiving subspace, a signal sent by a transmit end selected device.

On a cell edge, there exist both a signal from a current cell and a signal from a neighboring cell. The signal from the neighboring cell causes adjacent cell interference (ACI for short) to the current cell, thereby severely affecting communications quality.
To suppress ACI, an opportunistic interference alignment (OIA for short) technology is used in the prior art, so that power of a desired signal received by a base station is as high as possible. Uplink transmission in a homogeneous network is used as an example for description herein. In an uplink transmission process, a receiving base vector of each base station is preset on the base station, and each receiving base vector is used to determine receiving subspace in which a signal sent on a current time-frequency resource block by user equipment in a current cell is received; at the same time, power of signals (that is, interference signals) that are not sent by the user equipment in the current cell and are received by the base station is calculated, and the interference power information is sent to another base station, so that an exchange of the interference power information between base stations is completed, so as to implement that each base station acquires an interference leakage value of user equipment in a current cell; afterward, each base station may select user equipment with a minimum interference leakage value from the user equipment in the current cell, and receive, in the receiving subspace, a signal sent by the selected user equipment, thereby implementing ACI suppression in the uplink transmission process.
In the prior art, signal energy of user equipment in a current cell still leaks partially, which results in deterioration in communications quality between the user equipment and a base station.

Interference suppression method and apparatus


A torque converter, including: a cover arranged to receive torque; an impeller including an impeller shell non-rotatably connected to the cover and at least one impeller blade connected to the impeller shell; a turbine including a turbine shell, at least one turbine blade connected to the turbine shell, and a heat treated portion; and a torsional vibration damper including: a cover plate arranged to receive torque from the cover or the turbine; and a spring. The spring is engaged with the cover plate and is arranged to contact the heat treated portion when the spring is compressed.

Retaining features are needed to hold springs in place for a torsional vibration damper in a torque converter, for example, wings formed about openings in a cover plate in which the springs are located. At the same time, it is desirable to reduce the axial extent of the torque converter. Since retaining features, such as the wings on a cover plate, require axial space, the wings interfere with the reduction of axial space in the torque converter.


A carrier for use as a component in electrophotographic two-component developers having improved mechanical strength, durability and triboelectric charge characteristics comprising porous magnetite particles coated with a cross linked polymeric film comprising an epoxy resin and a polyamide resin. A two-component electrophotographic developer comprising resin coated porous magnetite carrier particles and toner particles and a method of producing resin coated porous magnetite carrier particles are also disclosed.

This invention relates to a resin-coated carrier for use in two-component electrophotographic developers comprising a carrier component together with a toner component.
In one of the electrophotographic methods, a dry, two-component developer comprising a toner component in combination with a carrier component is used in the magnetic brush developing method to render visible an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor.
Generally, the developer comprises a mixture of relatively fine toner particles and relatively coarse carrier particles. The electrostatic attractive force between the opposite polarities generated by contact of these particles holds the fine toner particles on the surface of the coarse carrier particles. When the thusly charged developer is brought into contact with the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor, part of the charged toner particles are electrostatically attracted and deposited on the latent image to produce a corresponding visible image.
Therefore, the toner particles should have an appropriate triboelectric property so that they hold a sufficient charge to ensure the selective deposition of the toner particles of the latent image.
In the magnetic brush developing method, carrier particles carrying the toner particles are attracted to a magnet roll to form a magnetic brush thereon. The magnetic brush contacts the latent image formed on the photoreceptor as the magnet roll rotates. The carrier particles serve to carry the toner particles to transport them to a developing area of the photoreceptor. As such carrier particles, iron oxide, magnetite or ferrite particles have heretofore been used, and these particles are coated with a resin film.
The carrier particles mentioned above, however, have a high apparent density which increases the required torque for rotating the magnet roll of the developing device. In addition, the specific surface area of the carrier particles is small. Consequently, the retention ratio of toner on the carrier particles may not be increased, and a lower retention ratio of toner may result in unnecessary deposition of toner on the area where the latent image is not formed. Consequently, the quality of the final reproduced copies becomes poor due to the soiling of the background with a significant amount of toner. This is called fog.

Resin-coated carrier for use in two-component electrophotographic developers


An entry door lock system includes an energy storage device (27) to permit unlatching if unlatching movement of a door handle occurs before the latch has been unlocked. The device (27) is passive if unlocking occurs before unlatching movement of the door handle. The invention avoids the need for repeat movement of the door handle in cases where unlocking follows initial door handle movement.

This application claims priority to Great Britain Patent Application No. 9920869B, filed on Sep. 4, 1999.
This invention relates to a latch for doors and the like, and particularly to a door latch of a vehicle.
Known passive entry type car door lock systems work by the driver having about his person a radio frequency card which, as he approaches his own vehicle, is recognized by the vehicle and the vehicle then unlocks itself. On certain passive entry systems the recognition process only starts when an outside door handle is initially moved by the driver. Under such circumstances the electrical power actuator which unlocks the door does so in a fraction of a second and before the door handle has been fully lifted, thus allowing the opening of the door.
However, if the door handle is lifted quickly it can beat the unlocking actuator leaving the door locked with the handle in the up position. The driver must release the handle and then lift it again to open the door, and this can be frustrating to some drivers.
One known solution to this problem is to provide an actuator which both unlocks and also unlatches a door latch. However, significantly more power is required to unlatch than to unlock thus requiring a bigger actuator.
According to the invention there is provided a latch comprising a housing, a locking member of the housing movable between locked and unlocked conditions, a latch release member of the housing movable between closed and open conditions and a latching member of the housing movable between latched and unlatched conditions, movement of the latch release member to the open condition causing movement of the latching member to the unlatched condition when the locking member is in the unlocked condition, and movement of the latching member to the unlatched condition being prevented when the locking member is in the locked condition, wherein an energy storage device is provided between the latch release member and said latching member, and a blocking member of the housing is movable from a disengaged condition to an engaged condition in which movement of said latching member to the unlatched condition is prevented when the locking member is in the locked condition, movement of the latch release member to the open condition causing said energy storage means to bias said latching member to the watched condition when said blocking member is in the engaged condition, movement of said blocking device to the disengaged condition permitting movement of said latching member to the unlatched condition under the action of said bias.
The present invention overcomes the prior art problems by storing energy in e.g. an unlatching spring. If the driver opens the door handle quickly, the spring energy is used to unlatch after the power actuators have unlocked the door. If the driver opens the door handle slowly then the spring is not required to store or release energy.
Preferably the locking member, latching member, latch release member and blocking member are pivotally mounted on said housing. In the preferred embodiment, the blocking member is movable in the opposite sense to the locking member. The latching member and latch release member may be pivoted about the same axis. The energy storage device may be a tension spring.
The locking member may include a force transmission element insertable between the latching member and the latch releasing member in order to transmit motion therebetween in the unlocked condition.

Meritor Light Vehicle Systems (UK) Limited


A method for welding an add-on part to a component, in particular for a motor vehicle, using the in per se known torsional ultrasonic welding method having a sonotrode for transferring the vibrations generating the welding add-on part has a coupling flange for coupling the vibrations of the sonotrode and the add-on part has coupling elements for coupling the vibrations induced by the sonotrode in the welding region facing the weld interface area of the component, and the coupling elements thereby melt during the welding process and thus weld the add-on part to the component.

Welding is an established technique for joining components made of plastic. For this purpose, various options are used for providing energy input. Examples are friction welding or ultrasonic welding.
In particular for use for automotive exteriors, due to the possibilities offered by the new material properties in injection molding the current common wall thicknesses during processing are in the range of ≧3.0 mm. The standard type of material used is talc-reinforced PP for cost reasons.
Costs are reduced and component weight is decreased due to the thin wall thickness. However, since compared to other commercial plastics, PP in particular is very susceptible to creep under load and has a low modulus of elasticity, but at the same time the requirements imposed on component welding for retention forces of >200 N at each weld point on the component joint remain unchanged, it is often not possible to join the components in such a way that the surface relevant to the appearance remains free of defects. Two influencing factors hinder mark-free welding:
1.) Process-Related Defects                The energy introduced for the melting and intimate connection of the parting plane acts through the component in such a way that the surface is deformed due to the difference in shrinkage during cooling of the component, resulting in formation of a defect.
2.) Load-Related Defects                The forces introduced into the component joint in a punctiform manner during the welding result in visible deformations at the surface when the component thickness and the modulus of elasticity of the surface are excessively low. The surface gives way under the load of the introduced stresses, resulting in formation of a visible defect.
One development for preventing this effect is torsional ultrasonic welding, as described in EP 1 930 148 A1 and currently unpublished DE 10 2009 011273 A1 The upper component situated beneath the sonotrode is set in rotatory vibration in the ultrasonic frequency range. The vibration is transmitted through the upper component, and is converted to heat directly in the parting plane between the upper and lower components. Although the upper component is heated due to its internal damping, it is not melted. On the one hand this reduces the heat acting on the lower component, and on the other hand the effective joining surface for the introduction of force is changed from a punctiform connection to a linear and/or planar connection. As a result, mark-free connections for polyolefinic materials are possible, even for a wall thickness less than 3.0 mm. The occurrence of defects may be prevented in this way.
In the present description, the terms "upper component" and "mounting part," and "lower component" and "component," respectively refer to the same objects. The sonotrode is placed on the mounting part, i.e., the upper component, in order to weld the component situated beneath the mounting part to the mounting part.
The ultrasonic welding technique known as torsional welding requires a high contact pressure. In particular when the surface is slightly soiled from preceding work steps, the required temperature of the weld metal is often not reached, and instead the weld metal is deformed and an intimate connection is prevented. In addition, due to the high contact pressure the liquefied material is pushed from the region of the weld point. A cold weld point with poor adhesion is the result.

Add-on part for connecting to a component by torsional ultrasonic welding


Adaptive attachments used in combination with a blood pressure cuff enable various blood pressure measurements to be taken in a hospital or other setting having various single and/or dual lumen manual or electronic blood pressure measuring equipment with a single, patient-worn cuff.

Pressure measuring devices such as sphygmomanometers, that are used to measure the arterial blood pressure of a patent, typically include a pneumatic bulb which inflates a pressure chamber of an attached sleeve that is fitted over a limb (i.e., an arm or a leg) of the patient. A diaphragm or bellows assembly, responsive to changes in fluid pressure of the pneumatic bulb and the sleeve pressure chamber, is positioned in a gage housing which is fluidly connected to the pressure chamber of the sleeve through flexible tubes or hoses. In a mechanical gage housing, a pointer of a dial indicator is interconnected to the bellows assembly through a movement mechanism that is retained within the gage housing, whereby inflation of the bellows causes corresponding circumferential movement of the pointer, enabling a blood pressure measurement procedure to be carried out by a caregiver.
Typically, the above referred to movement mechanisms are quite intricate and complex, and are akin in terms of their manufacture and precision to Swiss watches. For example, and in one such movement mechanism, a pair of diaphragm springs are attached adjacent opposing ends of a spindle. A bottom end of the spindle is placed in contact with the bellows assembly and a twisted bronze band perpendicularly disposed at the top end of the spindle is connected in parallel by a horizontally disposed spring bent part. As the spindle deflects axially in response to the inflation of the bellows, the bent spring part is also caused to deflect, thereby causing the band to twist. The pointer, attached to the bronze band, therefore is caused to rotate in relation to an adjacent dial face.
Devices, such as the foregoing, include numerous moving and relatively complex components, some or each of having numerous bearing surfaces. Therefore, such known devices must be manufactured with relatively strict tolerance margins and significant associated costs in terms of both precision and failure rate in order to minimize en-ors.
In addition, any adjustments required after assembly of the above mechanisms, such as to null the pointer or adjust the sensitivity of the device, require substantial tear down or at least some undesired disassembly.
Furthermore, discrete and separate elements are typically required within the instrument housing for independently supporting the movement mechanism and the bellows assembly, respectively, and for defining an expansion chamber for the bellows assembly there between.
A more recent and simplified movement mechanism is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,829, incorporated by reference in its entirety. This mechanism includes a vertically disposed axial cartridge having a spirally wrapped ribbon spring with one end mounted to an axially movable elongate shaft and the remaining end of the spring being attached to a fixed tubular sleeve. A bottom portion of the elongate shaft is positioned relative to an expandable diaphragm or bellows, wherein subsequent axial translation of the shaft, caused by movement of the diaphragm, elongates the spirally wound ribbon spring and produces repeatable circumferential movement of a pointer supported at the top end of the shaft. The above movement mechanism is far smaller and more lightweight than those previously known due to its simplified construction.
A further advance, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,566, also incorporated by reference in its entirety, permits the design of a housing retaining the movement mechanism described in the '829 patent to be even more compact.
One feature common to the above pressure measuring devices is the need to fluidly interconnect the gage housing containing the movement mechanism, the dial face and the indicating member with the interior of the inflatable sleeve. This interconnection is typically done using an elongated hose that is connected to a barb or coupling located on the sleeve exterior at one end of the hose and to an inlet port disposed on one end of the gage housing. It is a general object in the field to simplify the manufacture of these devices and to better integrate the design thereof.
More recently, electronic versions of pressure measuring devices have become much more prevalent and conspicuous in their use in the field. These devices such as those manufactured by Omron, Inc. among others can be mounted to the arm or wrist of a patient. These devices have a battery powered electronically based device that converts the output from the sleeve into a pressure reading output to the user. There is still reliance, however, upon inflation and deflation of an inflatable sleeve and more particularly, there is a fluid interconnection between the interior of the sleeve and the interior of the gage housing. In addition and to date, all of these devices have always been part of an integrated assembly, including the sleeve, whereby replacement has required replacement of not only the sleeve, but also the tethered electronic components.
With the emergence of such electronic equipment, there are now numerous effective ways to measure blood pressure through use of a variety of different types of both manual and electronic blood pressure measurement equipment and devices. There are two general types of manual or mechanical blood pressure measurement equipment that remain in circulation and that continue to be manufactured and used indiscriminately today. A first type of measurement device is in communication with a cuff/sleeve through a single lumen hose attachment that is utilized to inflate and deflate pressure in the cuff. A second type of blood pressure measurement device is in communication with a cuff/sleeve through a dual lumen hose attachment in which one lumen is again utilized to inflate and deflate pressure in the cuff and the second lumen allows for monitoring of the pressure within the cuff. Similarly, there are also different types of electronic blood pressure measurement devices, some of which rely upon hose attachments having one lumen, and others that utilize a dual lumen hose attachment. Moreover, some manufacturers have designed manual and electronic blood pressure measurement equipment that is connected to a hose attachment by one type of connector (e.g., a screw/luer type), whereas other manufacturers may require such connection be made to their equipment via a different type of connector (e.g., a luer lock or bayonet type).
Currently, there is no standard that dictates how manual or electronic blood pressure measurement devices must be designed. Moreover, hospitals and HMO treatment centers have varying needs and are budget conscious to an extent whereby most have not withdrawn older, still functioning blood pressure measurement devices from use despite also having begun to utilize newer, more sophisticated equipment. These circumstances have led to a situation in which many hospitals and HMO treatment centers have several different types (e.g., manual, electronic, reliant upon a single lumen hose attachment, reliant upon a dual lumen hose attachment, utilizing different connectors, etc.) of blood pressure measurement equipment for use at various stations on their premises.
The preceding situation, in turn has created a problem in which vital time and manpower is being lost while switching between and among these different types of blood pressure measurement equipment. Although this problem can exist in any medical setting, it is most salient within a hospital environment, where it is often important to continually monitor the blood pressure of a patient, since a sudden change in the patient's blood pressure could be indicative of an improvement or set back in the patient's condition, or could aid in the overall diagnostic and/or treatment thereof.
At present, such continuous monitoring ls generally commenced by wrapping a first cuff/sleeve (having at least one preattached single lumen or dual lumen hose) onto a patient in order to take the patient's blood pressure through use of a first blood pressure measurement device, either within an ambulance during transport to a hospital or upon arrival at the initial assessment/treatment area (e.g., triage unit, diagnosis station) of a hospital. It is generally necessary to remove the initial cuff/sleeve and attached hose combination prior to transporting the patient to his or her next destination within the hospital, e.g., a trauma room or an imaging room, at which a new sleeve (again with at least one single lumen or dual lumen pre-attached hose) of the proper size must be located and attached to enable blood pressure monitoring to continue through use of a different blood pressure measurement device. For example, the first blood pressure measurement device may be a manual or electronic device and the second an incompatible (e.g., due to the number of lumens in the pre-attached hose, the connector required, etc.) manual or electronic blood pressure device.
Under typical circumstances, such detaching, locating and reattaching steps might be performed several times while the patient is being initially evaluated and/or after the patient is admitted to the hospital. This is because, as noted above, many hospitals routinely utilize both manual and electronic blood pressure measurement equipment, some or all of which may be incompatible the with the currently worn cuff/sleeve with at least one hose attachment (e.g., due to being manual versus electronic, the type of connector required, the number of lumens within the attached hose, etc.). Even in a best-case scenario, each round of detaching, locating and reattaching steps are inconvenient because they command the attention, however brief, of medical personnel who could otherwise be performing different tasks. And at worst, the seconds to minutes that can be spent in locating, attaching, detaching and reattaching each new cuff/sleeve with a pre-attached hose could have life-impacting consequences for a patient.
Moreover, due to the chaos that often can be encountered when evaluating a patient in a hospital, especially in an emergency department setting, it is not uncommon for the at least one pre-attached hose that is connected to the cuff/sleeve to become kinked to an extent that would prevent further blood measurements from being taken with sufficient accuracy. Because the hose is pre-attached to the sleeve, once kinking occurs it might becomes necessary to remove the sleeve with preattached hose and then to locate and attach an entirely new sleeve with its own pre-attached hose. This is problematic for the same reasons noted above, plus it can introduce even more chaos into the emergency department environment.
Thus, there is a need for a procedure to reliably measure blood pressure and that also will better enable a wide range of electronic or manual blood pressure measurements to be taken interchangeably and with minimal disruptions through use of a wide range of manual or electronic blood pressure measurement equipment and devices, such as those found in a hospital or HMO treatment center environment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A rotary internal combustion engine comprising a housing containing a rotatable cylinder having a circular wall containing at least two rows of radially extending circular passageways forming compression and power engine cylinders, respectively, displaced from each other along the axis of rotation. Each of the engine cylinders contains a freely reciprocal and rotatable spherical piston. A stationary cam is mounted within the housing surrounding each of the rows of engine cylinders, each cam consisting of a pair of edges circular in diameter whose axis coincides with the axis of rotation of the rotatable cylinder. Each pair of edges is in contact with all of the spherical pistons within its respective row, the spacing of the edges varying over 360 degrees of rotation so that the spherical pistons move at a uniform velocity within each cylinder.

The present invention relates to a radial internal combustion engine with spherical pistons having a unique cam configuration to establish relative constant velocity reciprocation of the pistons.
In my patent application entitled "Four Stroke Continuous Cycle Radial Piston Engine", Ser. No. 094,708 filed on Jul. 22, 1993, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 889,439 filed on May 28, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,599, I describe a radial internal combustion engine with spherical pistons which ride on a circular cam surface whose center of rotation is offset from the center of rotation of the cylinders. The spherical pistons, in addition to rolling around on the cam surface in a circular motion, also have reciprocating motion relative to the cylinders. The velocity of each of the pistons along its circular path as well as the relative reciprocation varies significantly over the cycle of rotation.
The non-uniform velocity of the pistons along their circular paths results in some sliding and slipping of the spherical pistons instead of pure rolling motion along the cam surface during velocity changes. This causes extra wear due to friction and increased noise. In addition, the non-uniform motion can be shown to cause the pistons to "bunch up" in one portion of each cycle resulting in an unbalancing effect and increased vibration in the engine.


An annular lubricant seal assembly for an annular lubricant seal assembly for providing a seal between a shaft extending through a bore formed in a housing and the housing, wherein the shaft and the housing are rotatable relative to one another. The seal assembly includes an annular outer case, which is press fit into the bore, and an annular inner case, which is mounted on the shaft. Portions of the outer case extend adjacent to, but are spaced apart from portions of the inner case. An elastomeric seal member is secured to the outer case. Flexible lips formed on the seal member engage both axially and radially extending portions of the inner case disposed adjacent to the outer case. As a result, the seal member is capable of providing a secure seal against the shaft, even when the shaft moves axially or radially relative to the housing during use.

This invention relates in general to lubricant seals and in particular to an improved structure for an annular lubricant seal assembly for providing a seal between a shaft extending through a bore formed in a housing and the housing, wherein the shaft and the housing are rotatable relative to one another.
Annular lubricant seal assemblies are typically used in vehicle axle assemblies for providing a seal between a non-rotating axle spindle or shaft and a rotatable wheel hub or housing disposed about the shaft. Lubricant seal assemblies of this type are provided to both to retain lubricant within the wheel hub and to prevent dirt and other contaminants from entering therein. Known lubricant seal assemblies typically include an annular metallic outer case which is press fit within a bore formed in the wheel hub. An annular inner case is mounted concentrically within the outer case. The axle spindle extends through the inner case, which is free to rotate therewith relative to the outer case. A sealing element formed of a resilent material is typically disposed between the outer case and the inner case. This sealing element includes one or more flexible lips which prevent the escape of lubricant from the housing. The sealing element may also include a supplemental flexible lip to prevent contaminants from entering within the wheel hub.
During operation of the vehicle, the wheel hub not only rotates relative to the axle spindle, but also frequently moves both axially and radially relative thereto. Such axial and radial movement can undesirably distort the shape of the sealing element, resulting in a loss of the seal formed by the flexible lips. Also, repetitious axial and radial movements over a period of time can damage the flexible lips. As a result, lubricant may escape from the wheel hub, and dirt and other contaminants may enter therein. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved structure for an annular lubricant seal assembly which can accommodate such relative axial and radial movements, while providing a reliable seal between relatively rotatable components.


A method and systems are disclosed for controlling the exhaust emissions an internal combustion engine of a vehicle. The driving state of the vehicle is determined and corresponding driving state signals are generated with the aid of driving state detectors. The emission values of the exhaust gases emitted by the internal combustion engine are determined based on the driving state signals by a computer model stored in a control unit. The determined emission values are compared with predefined emission limits by the control unit. If the determined emission values exceed the predefined emission limits, the internal combustion engine and/or the exhaust aftertreatment device are controlled by the control unit such that the determined emission values are reduced until they lie below the predefined emission limits.

In order to obtain an official approval, internal combustion engines, particularly spark ignition engines and diesel engines, have to comply with certain emission standards or emission laws such as, for example, regulation (EC) 692/2008. Standards associated with regulations such as this specify certain emission limits, in particular, for carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), particle mass (PM) and particle number (PN) for the particular jurisdiction such as member states of the European Union. In addition to the emission limits, the emission standards typically specify the test conditions under which the emission characteristics of the respective internal combustion engine have to be analyzed. Depending on the particular standard that applies to an internal combustion engine to be analyzed, static or dynamic driving states are analyzed on a roller-type dynamometer. For example, certain speed and acceleration profiles are driven and it is subsequently checked whether or not the emission values of the exhaust gases emitted by the analyzed internal combustion engine exceed the legally specified emission limits.
The dynamic test conditions, in particular, are intended to simulate the driving states occurring in the normal driving mode in order to analyze whether or not the internal combustion engine also complies with the emission limits in the normal driving mode. In order to ensure the reproducibility of the test results, the various standards specify the test conditions, under which the internal combustion engine has to be analyzed, in a relatively precise fashion. The currently valid test cycle for Europe is the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle), which specifies the test conditions to be analyzed. As a result, the engine manufacturers design the internal combustion engines in such a way that they comply with the emission limits in accordance with the NEDC. Although the NEDC also contains dynamic test conditions, the test conditions are known. It is particularly known, at which operating points the internal combustion engine is tested and how long and how often the internal combustion engine is at these operating points. In the NEDC, operating points in the lower part-load range of the internal combustion engine are also analyzed. Consequently, the NEDC and similar test cycles only simulate the normal driving mode of the internal combustion engine roughly at best such that internal combustion engines, which comply with the applicable European standards, sometimes significantly exceed the specified emission limits in the normal driving mode.
In order to minimize the variations between the emission characteristics of the respective internal combustion engine under test conditions and in the normal driving mode, the emission characteristics of internal combustion engines will in the future no longer or no longer only be analyzed on a roller-type dynamometer and in accordance with the NEDC, but rather on a conventional road-test route such that it can be subsequently determined if the emission values also comply with the emission limits under normal driving conditions. Such test methods are also referred to as RDE ("Real Driving Emissions") methods, in which the internal combustion engine is not analyzed on the dynamometer, but rather in normal road traffic without prior knowledge of the road-test route to be used. The vehicle being analyzed carries along a corresponding emission analyzer (PEMS, portable emission measurement system). It is therefore also not known, at which operating points and under which ambient conditions such as, for example, the incline of the route traveled and the current weather conditions (e.g. wind and external temperature) the internal combustion engine is analyzed.
In order to also comply with the corresponding emission standards when the RDE test method is used, the internal combustion engine can be designed in such a way that it also complies with the emission limits under the most unfavorable boundary conditions ("worst-case scenario") that can occur in the normal driving mode. An example of such unfavorable boundary conditions may be an acceleration maneuver on an incline in a headwind. In order to also comply with the emission limits under these boundary conditions, for example, the maximum power output of the internal combustion engine can be correspondingly limited in the first place. These and similar countermeasures, which are based on the "worst case scenario," are also referred to as static calibrations and cannot be changed in the driving mode. In this context, it is disadvantageous, for example, that the power reserves of the internal combustion engine cannot be fully utilized although the "worst-case scenario" is an extremely rare occurrence and the internal combustion engine would not exceed the emission limits under more "mild" boundary conditions. Due to these static calibrations, the design of the internal combustion engine has to be permanently based on unfavorable boundary conditions that only occur very rarely.

Method and system for controlling an internal combustion engine and/or an exhaust after treatment device of a vehicle, vehicle with such a system, as well as computer program product for carrying out such a method and control unit with such a computer program product


A device and a method for communicating data link information associated with a machine is provided. The device includes a light source comprising a Light Emitting Diode (LED). The device includes a controller configured to transmit a query, to the machine, for different types of information related to the machine, the different types of information including a first type of information, a second type of information, and a third type of information. Upon receiving a response indicating the availability of one or more types of information among the different types of information, the controller is configured to provide a first indication, a second indication, a third indication, a fourth indication, or a fifth indication. The controller is further configured to transmit data regarding the one or more types of information that are available.

Engine control modules (or ECMs) are used extensively in machines to perform a variety of operations. Some exemplary uses of engine control modules include transmission control, cruise control, and/or anti-lock braking systems. As the use of these engine control modules increases, the level of complexity of communication between these modules and the machine also increases.
In order to deal with these increasingly complex communications, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has developed standards pertaining to the network of communications between electronic devices in vehicles. One of these standards is J1939. The J11939 standard specifies a high-speed communications network to support real-time closed loop control functions between ECMs, which may be physically distributed throughout the machine and may include a series of data links to each particular ECM.
A problem may arise when the data link (to a particular ECM) becomes inoperative, or stops communicating. In some instances, the data link may become inoperative without the knowledge of the machine's operator or a service technician. Because the operator or service technician may be unaware that the machine failure is due to the data link problem, the operator or service technician may spend valuable time trouble-shooting the ECM or other machine systems to determine the cause of the improper behavior of the machine.
Data link monitoring devices currently exist that diagnose problems associated with data links in machines. However, these devices merely indicate whether there is any activity on a data link. Furthermore, during aftermarket installations, the installation technician may be unware of the type(s) of information that may be available, on the machine for monitoring. An "install and see" approach is often used to identify the types of information available. In this approach, the installation technician first installs the data monitoring device and then checks the types of information that are available. However, this approach is time consuming and inefficient.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art. The present invention is directed to solving one or more of the problems as set forth above.

Communicating data link information using a light source