A mount for connecting an optical connector adapter to a panel. The mount comprises a first section adapted to attach to the panel; and a second section having an aperture for receiving a portion of the optical connector adapter. The second section is adapted to extend through a hole in the panel. The aperture has a centerline axis which is angled relative to the first section such that the centerline axis of the aperture is angled relative to a centerline axis of the hole when the first section is attached to the panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical connectors and, more particularly, to an assembly for connecting optical connectors to each other at an angle relative to another member.
2. Brief Description of Earlier Developments
PCT publication WO 99/36997 discloses a faceplate for connecting an electrical plug and an electrical outlet to each other at an angle relative to a plane of the faceplate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,344 discloses an optical connector adapter for connecting optical connectors of two optical conductor assemblies to each other. The adapter has flanges to connect the adapter to another member at a perpendicular through-hole configuration. There is a tendency to make electronic and optical apparatus smaller. However, for apparatus with an adapter and connectors similar to U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,344, there needs to be enough room at the connection site to allow a user to insert and remove the optical connectors from the adapter. This limits reduction in size of electronic and optical apparatus. There also must be enough open area in front of and behind the adapter such that the optical conductors are not kinked or broken. There is a desire to connect optical connectors to each other at an optical connector adapter (attached to another member such as a back plane or back panel) in an arrangement that will allow for a smaller open area in front of and behind the adapter for insertion and removal of the connectors. There is also a desire to allow the optical connectors to be attached to each other at a non-perpendicular angle to a plane of the back plane or back panel. The positioning of the adapter can ensure, for example, that any light transmitted by the connector after unmating is projected towards the floor, protecting the operator.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a mount is provided for connecting an optical connector adapter to a panel. The mount comprises a first section adapted to attach to the panel; and a second section having an aperture for receiving a portion of the optical connector adapter. The second section is adapted to extend through a hole in the panel. The aperture has a centerline axis which is angled relative to the first section such that the centerline axis of the aperture is angled relative to a centerline axis of the hole when the first section is attached to the panel.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a combined optical connector adapter and mount assembly is provided comprising a mount adapted to be connected to a frame and extend through a hole in the frame; and an adapter connected to the mount. The adapter is adapted to connect at least two optical connectors to each other at an acute angle relative to a center axis of the hole.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an optical connector adapter assembly is provided for connecting at least two optical conductor connectors to each other at a hole through a planar section of the frame. The improvement comprises a housing of the assembly comprising a receiving section for receiving the connectors which, when the assembly is connected to the frame and the connectors are located in the receiving section, angles the connectors at acute angles relative to a plane of the planar section of the frame.
In accordance with one method of the present invention, a method of connecting an optical connector adapter to a frame is provided comprising steps of connecting the optical connector adapter to a mount; and connecting the mount to the frame with the adapter extending through a hole in the frame. The adapter provides a connection of optical connectors to each other along an axis which is angled relative to a centerline axis of the hole.
In accordance with another method of the present invention, a method of connecting an optical connector adapter assembly to a frame is provided comprising steps of locating a first portion of a housing of the assembly in a hole of the frame, the first portion having a receiving area for receiving ends of optical conductors; positioning a section of the frame, which is proximate the hole, in a recess of the housing; and connecting a second portion of the housing to the frame with a single fastener, wherein the housing is stationarily connected to the frame due to a combination of contact of the housing with the frame in the hole, contact of the housing with the frame in the recess, and connection between the housing and the frame by the single fastener.

Angled optical connector mounting assembly


A pneumatic vehicle tire has two beads each having a bead core and a carcass of at least one layer anchored at the bead cores within the beads. The beads further have bead profiling members. A reinforcement structure is located radially outwardly of the carcass, and a tread is positioned radially outwardly of the reinforcement structure. The carcass is made of aramid cord fabric and the bead cores are made of aramid cords. The reinforcement structure is made of synthetic fiber-reinforced rubber or of aramid cords. The bead profiling members are made of rubber reinforced with synthetic fibers.

The present invention relates to a built or assembled pneumatic vehicle tire, especially tires for trucks and heavy equipment, with a single- or multi-layer reinforcement carcass which is anchored in the beads by winding about the bead cores, with bead profiling members in the beads, and with a tire tread as well as a reinforcement structure positioned between the carcass and the tire tread. Conventional pneumatic vehicle tires for commercial vehicles (trucks and heavy equipment) are provided with a carcass made of steel cord whereby also a multi-layer belt is provided that is also comprised of steel cord. Furthermore, the bead cores are also made of steel wires. When bead reinforcement members are provided, they, in general, are also made of steel cord strips. Thus, steel as a tire building material considerably contributes to the total weight of the tire.
Recently, recyclability of used tires has become more and more important. In this context, shredding of the tires with high steel cord contents presents a considerable problem. Furthermore, it is very difficult to remove the rubber adhering to the steel cord from the steel cords.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pneumatic vehicle tire of the aforementioned kind which allows for an optimized recyclability.

Pneumatic vehicle tire with optimized recyclability


Technologies are provided for bypassing control logic of an electronic device and writing a trusted firmware to a storage location of the device. The device can comprise a bypass communication channel that, when enabled, allows a connected host computer to access a storage medium and/or onboard memory of the device without using the device's control logic. A device controller can be configured to receive a firmware update mode command from a connected host computer and to enable the bypass communication channel. In at least some embodiments, the controller is configured to reject the update mode command unless it is received as part of an initial communication from the host computer during a boot sequence of the electronic device. In a different or further embodiment, the controller is configured to determine that the command is authorized before enabling the bypass communication channel.

Many electronic devices are designed to operate using programmable firmware. Some electronic devices store firmware that comprise executable instructions for performing at least some device operations for the electronic devices. For example, many device manufacturers and suppliers provide their devices with firmware pre-installed. However, for at least some of these devices, it is possible to install different firmware in order to change the behavior of a device. This may be done, for example, if bugs are discovered in the previously installed firmware and/or enhancements are made to the previous firmware's functionality. In at least some cases, functionality for performing a firmware update is provided by the firmware currently installed on the device (i.e., the firmware currently installed on the device is used to install a new firmware).


A vane cell pump with a housing ring closed on the face end and with a rotary piston that revolves eccentrically to the inner wall of the housing ring, which rotary piston encloses at least one supply chamber with the inner wall of the housing ring and with at least one spring-loaded vane that is held radially displaceably in order to limit the supply pressure at a given rpm, at least one pressure impingement face that is acted upon by the supply pressure in the supply chamber is formed on the vane in such a way that by the supply pressure, a radial force oriented to the vane counter to the compression spring is produced that at a predetermined supply pressure is greater than the total of the force of the compression spring and the centrifugal force acting on the vane.

The invention is based on a vane cell pump, particularly for feeding fuel to fuel injection pumps of internal combustion engines as defined hereinafter.
Such vane cell pumps, of the kind known for instance from U.S. Pat. No. 2,832,199 or German Patent Disclosure DE 40 33 455 A1, are used, among other purposes, also in injection pumps for internal combustion engines, in order to fill the fuel supply chamber of the injection pump with fuel from the fuel tank at supply pressure. From the fuel supply chamber, a metered quantity of fuel is then withdrawn from the injection pump and delivered at very high injection pressure to the various injection nozzles. The vane cell pump is generally integrated into the injection pump and is driven by its drive shaft. Since the drive shaft of the fuel injection pump rotates synchronously with the rpm of the engine, which varies over wide ranges, the vane cell pump produces a variably high feed pressure depending on the rpm. Since the fuel metering in the fuel injection pump is substantially facilitated if the fuel in the fuel supply chamber is at a constant pressure, in the known vane cell pump the fuel supply chamber is connected via a pressure regulating valve to a fuel return line leading to the fuel tank, so that the pressure in the fuel supply chamber is kept at a constant pressure level, regardless of the rpm of the vane cell pump.


A display panel is provided. The display panel includes a substrate and a pixel electrode disposed on the substrate and having a pair of first primary edges facing each other and a pair of second primary edges connected to the first primary edges and facing each other, wherein the second primary edges include a plurality of protrusions of the pixel electrode having the shape of sawteeth.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display apparatus.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is one of the more widely used flat panel display apparatuses. An LCD includes e.g., two panels having electric field generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode, a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two panels, and polarizers disposed on outer surfaces of the panels. The liquid crystal display apparatus displays an image by applying a voltage to the electric field generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer which in turn controls the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer to control polarization of incident light.
An example of a type of a liquid crystal display apparatus is the vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display apparatus in which liquid crystal molecules are arranged such that major axes of the liquid crystal molecules are perpendicular to the panels in the state that no electric field is generated. The vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display apparatus has a high contrast ratio and it can readily provide a wide reference viewing angle.
To implement the wide viewing angle in the vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display apparatus, a method of forming cutout portions in electric field generating electrodes and a method for forming protrusions on the electric field generating electrodes has been proposed. Since the cutout portions and the protrusions can control the tilted directions of liquid crystal molecules, the tilted directions of the liquid crystal molecules can be distributed into various directions by varying the cutout portions and the protrusions, to thereby obtain a wide reference viewing angle.
Moreover, for the purposes of light efficiency, it is desirable that the tilted direction of the liquid crystal molecules have an angle of 45° with respect to the polarization direction of the polarizers. In addition with the vertically aligned mode liquid crystal display apparatus, the polarizers are attached so that the polarization directions of the polarizers are parallel or perpendicular to the gate lines or the data lines. Therefore, the cutout portions or the protrusions are disposed to extend in a direction with an angle of 45° with respect to the gate lines or the data lines.
However, in the situation where the pixel electrodes of the vertically aligned mode liquid display apparatus have the shape of a rectangle and are parallel to the gate lines and the data lines, the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules is disturbed due to an electric field generated between the adjacent pixel electrodes, so that a phenomenon known as texture may occur. Consequently, as a result of the above mentioned texture, the transmittance of the liquid crystal display apparatus may be reduced.
In an attempt to reduce texture, a method of overlapping a portion of a cutout portion of the common electrode with a side of the pixel electrode has been proposed. However, even with above proposed method, the aperture ratio of the liquid crystal display apparatus may still be reduced.
Thus, there is a need for a display panel which is capable of increasing the aperture ratio and the transmittance of a liquid crystal display apparatus and for a liquid crystal display apparatus including the display panel.

Display panel and liquid crystal display apparatus including the same


A collapsible cooking container formed from a generally, rectangularly shaped paperboard blank folded along crease lines so as to have a bottom portion, a first side portion, a top portion, and a second side portion wherein the top portion and the first side portion are adapted to be attached to form a cube having opposed, open sides. The opposed, open sides are substantially covered when the collapsible cooking container is in an expanded condition by segments provided to the bottom portion, first and second side portions, and top portion that cooperate to form first and second collapsible sides.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to microwave cooking containers and, more particularly, to a collapsible/expandable box for popping popcorn in a microwave oven.
2. Prior Art
As is known in the art, microwave ovens radiate electromagnetic energy waves in short radio frequencies which are distributed randomly throughout the microwave oven until absorbed by a food product being heated. To permit the interior of the food product to be heated through the direct absorption of microwaves, microwave cooking containers are generally transparent to microwave energy. Specifically, the food product is heated since the microwaves cause water molecules within the food product to oscillate at a high frequency and the resulting molecular friction generates heat. In the case where microwaves are utilized to directly heat a high moisture food product, the heating temperature is generally limited to about 100° C. at which point the water content within the food product begins to vaporize. Upon reaching vaporization, the water molecules will move through the food product and disburse in the ambient atmosphere where a portion condenses on the surface of the food product. Undesirably, this process precludes browning or crisping of the food product as it is being heated and, furthermore, may make the food product soggy.
For the purpose of elevating the heating temperature above 100° C., it is also well known in the art to provide microwave cooking containers with a microwave energy absorbing material, commonly referred to as a susceptor. Commonly, susceptors are located in the lower end of the container containing the food product and function to heat the food product by conduction and radiation. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,010 discloses a partially collapsible, microwave food container having a susceptor integrated with the bottom of the food container. Microwave cooking containers having integrated susceptors are not, however, wholly satisfactory since the heat generated by susceptors may present a safety hazard to users, particularly when a user is withdrawing the heated food product container from the microwave oven. Furthermore, integrated susceptors may radiate heat unevenly resulting in hot spots that can cause the container and/or the food product to overheat. Overheating of the food product is undesirable as it tends to dry-out and/or overcook the food product.
To provide for the popping of popcorn in a microwave oven, it is further known to provide a microwave cooking container that comprises a bag or pouch containing un-popped popcorn and hydrogenated cooking fat. In addition, the bag or pouch has a susceptor integrated into its bottom that becomes heated as it absorbs microwave radiation. In this manner, the susceptor and the direct microwave energy cooperate to pop the popcorn as the susceptor conducts heat upwardly into the popcorn kernels while water stored in the kernels is caused to vaporize until such time as the internal pressure is sufficient to explosively rupture the outer shell or pericarp of the popcorn kernel. The bag or pouch is constructed to permit expansion under the influence of the internal vapor pressure to accommodate the increase in volume as the popcorn pops.
Still further, it is known to provide a microwave cooking container that comprises a collapsible box for use in popping popcorn. By way of additional example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,939 discloses a collapsible box formed of a cardboard material where the side walls are collapsible when pressure is applied to the bottom and top walls. The collapsible box is expandable to define an interior heating space when pressure is applied to a junction of a rear wall and one of the top and bottom walls and a junction of a front wall and the other of the top and bottom walls. This disclosed, collapsible box further includes a susceptor that is disposed on the bottom wall and on a strip at the lower edges of the front, rear, and side walls. Inside the collapsible container is a quantity of cooking oil, salt, and un-popped popcorn.
Even more recently, a collapsible box incorporating a susceptor pouch has been developed, in which the collapsible box employs a "susceptor pouch," as opposed to a susceptor integrated with the box walls. The use of a separate susceptor pouch, which is not integrated into the box walls, provides flexibility in manufacturing and shipping as well as avoiding some of the problems mentioned above. However, this container also has its drawbacks. Particularly, this container could be very hot to the touch after cooking, has a tendency to leak through the bottom corners of the box, and does not satisfactorily "lock" into its expanded configuration.
While the aforementioned microwave cooking containers generally work for their intended purpose, they have not addressed the need for an improved, collapsible microwave cooking container that is relatively economical to manufacture, i.e., a container that eliminates the need and costs associated with providing extra leak containing elements. A need also remains for a collapsible microwave cooking container that has improved "locking" characteristics for use during the expansion process. A still further need remains for a collapsible microwave cooking container having a means for allowing the heated container to be more easily removed from the microwave oven. Yet another need exists for a collapsible microwave cooking container which minimizes venting to, in turn, optimize pop volume of to-be-cooked popcorn.
These and other objects of the invention are addressed in the specification, claims and drawings of the present application.

Smurfit-Stone Container Enterprises, Inc.


A subgasket for a fuel cell is provided. The subgasket includes a barrier layer having an elongate primary seal formed thereon. The seal has at least one inwardly extending baffle adapted to militate against a reactant bypass flow in the fuel cell. A fuel cell and fuel cell stack having the subgasket are also provided.

A fuel cell has been proposed as a clean, efficient and environmentally responsible energy source for various applications. Individual fuel cells can be stacked together in series to form a fuel cell stack. The fuel cell stack is capable of supplying a quantity of electricity sufficient to provide power to an electric vehicle. In particular, the fuel cell stack has been identified as a desirable alternative for the traditional internal-combustion engine used in modern vehicles.
One type of fuel cell stack is known as a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack. The typical PEM fuel cell includes three basic components: a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte membrane. The cathode and anode typically include a catalyst such as platinum or other suitable material for facilitating the electrochemical fuel cell reaction. The electrolyte membrane is sandwiched between the cathode and the anode. Porous diffusion media, such as carbon paper and the like, are generally disposed adjacent the anode and the cathode and facilitate a delivery and distribution of reactants, such as hydrogen gas and air, thereto.
The hydrogen gas supplied to the fuel cell reacts electrochemically in the presence of the anode to produce electrons and protons. The protons pass through the electrolyte membrane to the cathode where oxygen from the air reacts electrochemically to produce oxygen anions. The oxygen anions react with the protons to form water as a reaction product. The electrons are conducted from the anode to the cathode through an electrical circuit disposed therebetween. The electrical circuit allows the fuel cell stack to be used as an electrical power source.
The electrolyte membrane, electrodes, and diffusion media are disposed between a pair of fuel cell plates and sealed, for example, with a subgasket. The subgasket typically has an elongate bead seal formed thereon that provides a substantially fluid tight seal of the fuel cell. Each fuel cell plate has an active region to which the gaseous reactants are delivered for distribution to the electrodes. The fuel cell plate also includes a feed region configured to deliver the gaseous reactants from a supply source to the active region.
In known fuel cell stacks, the diffusion media and the seal of the subgasket are spaced apart to accommodate manufacturing tolerances and to avoid overlapping the diffusion media and the seal. An overlapping of the diffusion media and the seal is known to result in an undesirable leakage of gaseous reactants. The spaced apart diffusion media and seal, however, form a gap that permits a quantity of the reactants to bypass the active area of the fuel cell plates in a phenomenon known as "reactant bypass flow". The reactant bypass flow is wasteful since the reactant is not directed to the active region of the fuel cell stack where the electrochemical fuel cell reaction takes place. The reactant bypass flow may also have an undesirable impact on durability, reliability, and performance of the fuel cell stack, particularly at low stoichiometric ratios of the reactants when a reactant starvation may occur.
There is a continuing need for a subgasket that militates against wasteful reactant bypass flow in a fuel cell stack. Desirably, the subgasket causes a higher percentage of the reactant to flow to the active regions of the fuel cell stack, and optimizes a durability, reliability, and performance of the fuel cell stack under a low stoichiometric ratio of the reactants.

Integrated baffles for a fuel cell stack


A BiCMOS structure in which the bipolar transistor is preferably arranged vertically and the MOS transistors are formed on insulator. SIMOX techniques may be used to form a starting substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to BiCMOS structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
BiCMOS structures consist of at least two MOS transistors and one bipolar transistor (BJT). Their inception has come about in an attempt to take advantage of the beneficial aspects of MOS and bipolar devices and their use is becoming increasingly prevalent.
Beneficial aspects of MOS devices include that MOS processing techniques yield high packing densities and MOS devices generally operate on less current than functionally analogous bipolar devices. A limitation of MOS devices is that they have poor current driving capabilities.
Beneficial aspects of bipolar devices include that while being more difficult to isolate and taking up more space than analogous MOS devices, they provide good current driving capabilities and attain higher operating frequencies than MOS transistors. Certain bipolar transistor structures such as a vertical BJT are capable of operating, at present standards, at approximately 80 Gigahertz (GHz). Laterally arranged bipolar transistors operate at approximately 10 GHz.
BiCMOS structures are currently used in SRAM and DRAM chips. In such circuits, MOS transistors are used to form memory cells and bipolar transistors are used for driving signals onto buses and other high capacitance loads. BiCMOS structures are also used in logic arrays for related purposes.
Another application of BiCMOS structures is in circuits such as A/D and D/A converters. In these circuits, both transistor types are integrated to produce a more accurate and more rapid conversion. The developing field of digital signal processing is a growing field of BiCMOS implementation.
Referring now to performance considerations, the performance of MOS transistors is impeded by parasitics, such as parasitic capacitance and parasitic resistance, that combine to form a time constant (.tau.) which reduces the maximum operating frequency of an MOS transistor.
With respect to bipolar transistor (which as stated above may be arranged either laterally or vertically), laterally arranged bipolar transistor have a large series resistance due to the thin silicon film from which they are made. This large series resistance adversely impacts operating frequency. By comparison, vertically arranged bipolar transistors have operating frequencies approximately one order of magnitude greater than that of laterally arranged bipolar transistor and, therefore, their use is generally preferred.
The present invention is directed towards enhanced performance in BiCMOS structures.

BiCMOS SOI structure having vertical BJT and method of fabricating same


An electron multiplier device formed of the combination of a support made of high temperature-resisting electrically-insulating ceramic material and of a layer of secondary electron emitting semi-conducting glass material fused to the inner wall of the ceramic material and method of making; the multiplier device is further characterized in that the ceramic material and the glass material have substantially the same coefficient of expansion. The device is made by pouring molten semi-conducting glass into at least one channel in a ceramic support having a higher fusion point than that of the glass and the same coefficient of expansion, flowing the glass under pressure through the channel and cooling to leave a semi-conductor wall to the channel.

It may be recalled that, with such electron multiplier devices of the type described, an electric field is produced in the channel by establishing a suitable potential difference between the extremities and by causing a beam of primary electrons to penetrate into the channel under difficult angles thereby resulting in a series of secondary electron emissions on the internal wall of the channel. At the output, the number of electrons is greatly increased as compared to the primary beam at the input. An electron multiplier device can be used in the form of a single tube, or a plurality of such tubes can be bundled together.
Typical prior art secondary electron multipliers consist of straight or curved tubes of insulating material, such as glass, coated on its entire inside surface with a conductive coating made of secondary electron emissive material. There exists also another type of secondary electron multiplier using a tube made only of ceramic such as barium titanate or zinc titanate which may be found described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,946 issued Oct. 12, 1971 to Toyoda.
While the ceramic type of electron multiplier devices overcome the many disadvantages associated with electron multiplier devices wherein the insulating material used is glass (little resistance to impact the charged particles or mechanical injuries, expensive to mass produce, unstable in operation, etc.), they are, however, limited in construction and in use. Indeed, since the ceramic materials used in these electron multiplier devices have semi-conducting properties, it is practically impossible to maintain a uniform potential gradient inside a curved channel machined or molded in a bulk piece of semi-conducting ceramic. The polarising current in semi-conducting ceramic electron multiplier is distributed inside the whole body of the multiplier this characteristic imposes a limitation on their construction. For such multipliers to operate satisfactorily, the thickness of the ceramic must be constant throughout the length of the multiplier channel. The selection of ceramic to be used is extremely limited and as described in the above mentioned Toyoda patent, the advantages obtained with ceramic is best achieved with a barium titanate or zinc titanate family semi-conducting ceramic material having positive or zero-resistance temperature characteristics. Such ceramic is not one which is easily machinable or moldable with high accuracy thereby limiting the shapes which can be given to an electron multiplier device.

Method of making an electron multiplier device


A method includes identifying one of multiple regions in a range where an output (OP) value used to implement a manipulated variable is located. The manipulated variable is associated with an industrial process, and the OP value represents an output of a downstream controller. The method also includes calculating an achievable manipulated variable (MV) limit for the manipulated variable based on the region in which the OP value is located. For example, when the OP value is located in one region, the achievable MV limit could match a user-specified limit or be based on a gain between the OP value and a value of a process variable. When the OP value is located in another region, the achievable MV limit could track the value of the process variable with a gap.

Processing facilities are often managed using process control systems. Example processing facilities include manufacturing plants, chemical plants, crude oil refineries, ore processing plants, power plants, and paper or pulp manufacturing and processing plants. Among other operations, process control systems typically manage the use of motors, valves, and other industrial equipment in the processing facilities. In conventional process control systems, controllers are often used to control the operation of industrial equipment in the processing facilities. The controllers could, for example, monitor the operation of the industrial equipment, provide control signals to the industrial equipment, and generate alarms when malfunctions are detected.
In a controller using model predictive control (MPC) technology, at least one manipulated variable (MV) is used to keep at least one controlled variable (CV) at or near a setpoint (MPC.SP) or between high and low limits (MPC.LIMITS). For instance, an MPC controller could receive measurements of a temperature inside a reactor (a controlled variable) and attempt to keep the temperature at or near a setpoint by changing a cooling water flow (a manipulated variable) to a jacket of the reactor. The cooling water flow can be controlled by a downstream proportional-integral-derivative or "PID" controller, which could receive setpoint (SP) commands from the upstream MPC controller and process variable (PV) measurements of cooling water flow rate through a pipe and attempt to keep the flow rate at the commanded setpoint by changing a valve's opening (OP). The MPC controller can also adjust its manipulated variables to achieve an improved or maximum economic benefit. However, a manipulated variable cannot be changed indefinitely. The maximum amount that a manipulated variable can be changed is restricted by the physical limits of a process and its equipment or by operating limits of a downstream controller. In this document, an actual physical limit (APL) is defined as the most restrictive limit among all limits imposed, whether by a process, process equipment, or a downstream controller.
A user is often required to specify high and low operating limits for each manipulated variable. These limits define an admissible range in which the manipulated variable can be changed or "moved" by a controller. However, user-specified limits can gradually become stale or obsolete because the actual physical limits vary over time, such as due to process disturbances or changes or due to downstream controller configuration changes. An MPC controller may always assume that user-specified limits are achievable when determining an optimization solution for that variable, and optimization solutions for other manipulated variables can also be computed with that assumption. The MPC controller may therefore consistently push a downstream controller towards a seemingly-achievable limit until the downstream controller hits the actual physical limit and goes into a windup state. The physical or windup limit can be much closer to the manipulated variable's current value than the user-specified limit.
When this occurs, the MPC controller stops using the user-specified limit and begins using the actual physical limit. This often causes the optimization solution(s) to jump for the wound-up manipulated variable and all related manipulated variables. A downstream controller can also repeatedly go into and come out of windup, which can cause a number of complications. Over a longer period of time, for example, an optimization solution may jump back and forth because the limit that is actually used for optimization switches back and forth, and the user may observe unsettling zigzag movements as one or more downstream controllers (and thus their associated manipulated variables) go into and out of windup repeatedly. Also, as a downstream controller approaches windup or operates close to the windup state, its process variable (often denoted as PV in this document) may drift away from the desired setpoint, causing difficulties in predicting the effects of manipulated or disturbance variables on controlled variables and in determining how to configure the manipulated variables. In addition, since it is often not easy to predict the actual physical limit at which a downstream controller (and thus its associated manipulated variable) enters into windup, various makeshift solutions are often employed, which can produce mixed and inconsistent results.

Apparatus and method for predicting windup and improving process control in an industrial process control system


An integrated circuit chip has terminals comprising an input terminal, an output terminal to be connected to a load, a power supply terminal to be connected to the positive terminal of a power supply, and a ground terminal to be connected to ground potential (car body). A ground-side common line is associated with the internal circuitry of the integrated circuit chip, and a current-limiting resistor is connected between the ground-side common line and the ground terminal. A diode is connected in parallel with the resistor to limit a surge voltage. The diode is connected with its anode connected to the ground-side common line and its cathode connected to the ground terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC), and more particularly to a circuit arrangement having features which permit the prevention of IC malfunctions due to surge and the IC protection against surge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various supply voltage levels are used with semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) which are carried aboard vehicles having limited space into which various devices utilizing electrical and mechanical techniques are incorporated. Batteries aboard vehicles are used as sources for IC supply voltages. In incorporating an IC into a vehicle, a user may make a mistake of reversing connections of the IC to power lines connected to the positive and negative terminals of a battery.
FIG. 1 shows an arrangement of a conventional vehicle-IC protection circuit. An IC chip has an input terminal IN, an output terminal OUT connected to a load L1, a power supply terminal VB connected to a node 11 at the positive side of a power supply PW, and a ground terminal GND1 connected to ground potential (car body). A protection diode D10 has its anode connected to ground potential and its cathode connected to the power supply terminal VB.
Even if, in the above arrangement, the positive node 11 and the ground terminal GND1 were wrong connected, the diode D10 would function to protect the internal circuitry of the IC chip against destruction. That is, a surge voltage applied to the chip from the ground terminal GND1 is limited below the forward voltage drop across the diode D10, thereby protecting the internal circuitry of the IC chip.
FIG. 2 shows another vehicle-IC protection circuit arrangement. In place of the diode D10 of FIG. 1, a protection resistor R10 is provided which is connected between the ground terminal GND1 and a common ground line ICL of the IC. If, in this case, the node 11 were wrong connected to the ground terminal GND1, the protection resistor R10 would limit current to the IC chip, protecting the IC internal circuitry.
The IC protection circuit arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2 have their respective problems. First, in the case of the arrangement of FIG. 1, in order to meet such a mistake of wrong connection of the power supply, the diode D10 is required to have large current capacity. Thus, the diode will increase in size, involving difficulties in building it into an IC chip. As a result, a built-on device has to be used as the protection diode, which will involve difficulties in placing it in suitable position within vehicle with compactness. In the case of FIG. 2, on the other hand, the protection resistor can be built into an IC chip but has a drawback of low withstand voltage for surge. In ICs aboard vehicles, switching operations are frequent and thus surge voltage is liable to occur all the time due to counter-electromotive force by inductance. Therefore, the surge voltage between the power supply and ground may destroy the protection resistor. For this reason, the arrangement of FIG. 2 provides decreased reliability for vehicle ICs.

Surge-resistant protection circuit for vehicle


Browser systems and methods of loading/rendering a webpage include preprocessing the web document (HTML page) using speculation/prediction techniques to identify the resources that are likely to be required from an incomplete set of information, and requesting/pre-fetching the resources that are determined to have a high probability of being required for proper rending of the web document. The speculation/prediction techniques may include the use of heuristics to improve the efficiency and speed of document loads and network communications.

Wireless communication technologies and mobile electronic devices (e.g., cellular phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) have grown in popularity and use over the past several years. To keep pace with increased consumer demands, mobile electronic devices have become more feature rich, and now commonly include multiple processors, system-on-chips (SoCs), and other elements that allow mobile device users to execute complex and power intensive software applications (e.g., web browsers, video streaming applications, etc.) on their mobile devices. Due to these and other improvements, smartphones and tablet computers have grown in popularity, and are replacing laptops and desktop machines as the platform of choice for many users.
Mobile device users can now accomplish many their daily tasks with ease and convenience by accessing the Internet via browser applications on their mobile device. As mobile devices continue to grow in popularity, web browsers that are able to better utilize the multiprocessing capabilities of the modern mobile devices will be desirable to consumers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Processing a webpage by predicting the usage of document resources


A pressure plate for securing at least one glass pane or panel against a frame includes a particular configuration of opposed wings adjoined by at least one resilient web, where raised portions of the opposed wings are moveable across a space towards each other thereby to bend the at least one resilient web out of a rest condition about a line of flexure an amount in proportion to the amount of force applied to the opposed wings.

Glass panes or panels form an important part of a building, contributing to aesthetics, weather-proofing and ambient light within the structure during the daytime.
In a conventional building structure, the building frame provides a mullion to which large glass panes or panels, often two or more panes overlaying one another and separated along their edges by spacers, are mounted using a sealant such as silicone to secure the panes in place. As is well known, the mullion has a raised channel extending generally centrally along the length of its front face, which channel may have ribbed internal side walls adapted to threadedly receive a screw. A window frame is formed by mullions that bound the four sides of the glass pane or panel known as a capped system, within the bounds of the raised channels. The windows are installed by applying a bead of silicone to the portions of the mullion faces 'inside' the channel, about the entirety of the mullion frame, and a glass pane or panel is mounted to the faces of the mullions to adhere to the silicone sealant. Sometimes a window frame may only have one, two or only three sides of exterior raised channels or pressure plates and the other sides simply installed with silicone sealant.
Once the glass panes or panels have been mounted to both sides of the mullion channel, a temporary holding block known as a pressure plate or "dutchy" is screwed to the mullion channel overlapping the side edges of the glass or panels which abut the front face of the mullion, typically using a self-tapping metal screw. The dutchies are maintained in position until the silicone has cured, at which point the dutchies are removed and a finishing trim or exterior silicone seal is applied to the front faces of the mullions, concealing the channel and the edges of the window pane.
Current techniques utilize a dutchy, typically formed from aluminium and often cut from excess pieces of trim that will be used to finish the mullions after the silicone has cured. There are a number of problems associated with this practice.
First, aluminium dutchies are created for use on the construction site. This requires time to cut the plate from a larger piece of trim and drill a hole in the right place, generally centrally along the length of the plate, and sometimes re-drill the hole if the initial hole is not positioned correctly. Then a tape or gasket is applied to the surface of the dutchy that will contact the glass or panel, to protect from direct contact to the finished surface. This involves some amount of labour, and once the dutchies are removed they become irrecoverable scrap and are discarded, so the time spent creating the dutchies is ultimately wasted, as are the materials.
Further, there is no gauge indicating how tightly to fasten the screw holding the dutchy in place. If the screw is over-tightened the glass pane can crack, requiring significant time and cost to replace.
In some cases the dutchy undergoes deformation due to over-tightening of the screw. This reduces the force applied by the dutchy to the glass pane, creating a risk of dislodgement of the glass pane or panel or its separation from the face of the mullion. In either case this diminishes the structural integrity of the window and potentially requires reinstallation or replacement of the glass pane or panel.
Applying the correct amount of torque to the screw to transfer sufficient force to the glass pane, so as to hold the glass pane in place during the curing cycle without cracking the glass, is often merely the result of fortuitous guesswork. Even where this is achieved, when an aluminium dutchy undergoes plastic deformation under a wind load after installation the dutchy will not return to its original profile and therefore loses some of its fastening strength, potentially leading to the problems identified above.
It would accordingly be beneficial to provide a dutchy which overcomes some or all of the aforesaid problems.

Pressure plate with integrated pressure indicator


An industrial process transmitter for transmitting a process variable on a two-wire process control loop include, a loop current control to control a loop current level on the two-wire process control loop that is related to the process variable. Power is provided to primary circuitry of the process transmitter. A secondary current control circuit limits current delivered to secondary circuitry.

Industrial process transmitters are devices that can be coupled to industrial process equipment and/or conduits and are adapted to measure process parameters, such as pressure, mass flow, flow rate, temperature, and the like. Frequently, such transmitters draw power from a two-wire loop that carries an energy limited loop current, which varies within a range of 4-20 mA. When the current is low (such as 4 mA), a majority of the power available to the transmitter from the loop is used by circuitry within the transmitter to sense a process variable and to generate a process variable output representative of the sensed process variable.
In some configurations, transmitters can utilize primary and secondary process measurements, using multiple sensors or field devices. For instance, to make a mass flow measurement of gas or steam through a pipe, a flowmeter can be used to measure flow rate, and a second sensor can be used to measure the line pressure, for example.
Power delivery to the sensor or field device performing such secondary process measurements contributes to the overall current and power consumption of the system. At low current levels (such as 4 mA), very little power (typically 1 to 2 milliwatts) is available for powering accessory loads and for communicating with feature modules.

Power management in a process transmitter


A diaphragm pump, which is preferably electrostatically actuated, but which may be activated by other forces such as electromagnetic or piezoelectric actuation. The pump is formed by a pump body having a pump chamber formed therein. First and second diaphragms each having a set of valve holes in the diaphragm surface thereof are mounted in the chamber. Also provided are at least one inlet and at least one outlet port for communication with the pump chamber. The ports are positioned for sealing contact with the diaphragms at points that are not aligned with the holes in the diaphragms. A driver electrostatically actuates the diaphragms to cause diaphragm movement to a plurality of diaphragm positions to control flow of fluid through the pump. The first position is when the diaphragms are spaced from one another and from the ports to permit flow of fluid through the pump chamber. The second position is when the diaphragms are in diaphragm surface contact with the sets of holes mutually nonaligned to form a seal between the diaphragms. The third position is when a diaphragm is in diaphragm surface contact with the ports to form the sealing contact.

Modern industrial, commercial, aerospace and military systems depend critically on reliable pumps for fluid handling. The trends in fluid handling systems are toward smaller, more distributed and more portable systems for increasing uses in instrumentation and control.
Although important advances in pump technology have been made in the past few decades, progress has reached saturation in terms of ability to reduce pump size, weight and power requirements. There is a significant gap between the technology for conventional pumps, including the so-called imicropumps, i and pumps that are based on microelectronics technology.
The pumping capability of these micropumps is in one to tens of microliters per minute range. This makes them useful for applications such as implantable systems for drug delivery or micro dosage in chemical analysis systems but such pumping speeds are many orders of magnitude smaller than those required in sampling applications.
A number of United States patents have been granted on apparatus and devices generally relating to microvalve construction and control. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,242 to Bonne et al describes a microvalve that is an integral structure made on one piece of silicon such that the device is a flow through valve with inlet and outlet on opposite sides of the silicon wafer. The valves are closed by contact with a valve seat where surfaces must be matched in order to avoid degradation of valve performance. Two patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,180,623 and 5,244,527 are divisional patents relating to the first mentioned patent.
Another family of patents describe fluid control employing microminiature valves, sensors and other components using a main passage between one inlet and exit port and additionally a servo passage between inlet and outlet ports. The servo passage is controlled by a control flow tube such that tabs are moved electrostatically. U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,358 to Bonne et al teaches such a fluid regulating device, while divisional U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,323,999 and 5,441,597 relate to alternative embodiments.
An additional concept is disclosed by Wagner et al in the June, 1996, edition of the IEEE Journal, pages 384-388, in which two buckled Si/SiO.sub.2 membranes spanning air filled cavities having enclosed driving electrodes. A coupled membrane system is disclosed in which a first silicon membrane is switched by electrostatic force which, in turn, presses air through a channel to push the second silicon membrane up.
In both of these patented systems and in the concept described by Wagner et al, silicon semiconductor chips are employed. Silicon technology is, in fact, a host for a number of microsensors. The possibility of fabricating fully integrated systems led to the development of some of the above described valves and the like. However, the displacements available at the microscale and the materials available in silicon technology are not the best for such applications. The achievable pumping rates are very small (.mu.l to ml/min) at the best. Additionally the structures tend to become complicated and expensive. Of major concern also is the fact that silicon is not compatible with many biological materials, thus eliminating virtually an entire field of end use.
Current sampling pumps for vapor and particle detection are much larger than the instruments they support. In order to be effective for many missions, the sampling rate should be comparable to human breathing, i.e., 10 liters per minute (lpm) or more. The pumps must supply this flow against pressure drops of one psi or more, corresponding to pneumatic output loads exceeding a watt and input power requirements exceeding ten watts. Current system using rotating motors are power hungry, noisy and have limited lifetimes. Mesoscopic pumps with no rotating or sliding parts and high electrical-to-pneumatic conversion efficiencies would be able to dramatically increase the capabilities and effectiveness of military systems that detect chemical, biological, explosive and other agents.
Several versions of these mesopumps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,750, by Cleopatra Cabuz, entitled Electrostatically Actuated Mesopump Having a Plurality of Elementary Cells. The mesopumps described therein and other more primitive pumps all use a plurality of chambers, such as, for example, three or four chambers, each of which having one diaphragm. While admirably suited for their intended use, some applications may, in the future, be limited by the size and compactness of these prior art mesopumps. Also, in some applications for these mesopumps, the presence of lateral channels and the resulting dead space again limit their applicability. Present day prior art mesopumps also require molding of extra ports to provide pressure relief for unused diaphragm surfaces.
It would be of great advantage in the art if a more compact, lighter weight mesopump could be provided for any given fluid pumping rate.
It would be another great advance in the art if mesopumps could be developed with inlet and outlet ports in the center of the chamber to eliminate lateral channels.
Yet another advance would be achieved if mesopumps could be developed which have no need for molding extra ports for pressure relief.
Other advantages will appear hereinafter.


A two-stroke internal combustion engine having a Schnurle scavenging system includes a pair of first scavenging ports and a pair of second scavenging ports. An inner horizontal scavenging angle formed close to an exhaust port and an outer horizontal scavenging angle formed remote from the exhaust port by a pair of scavenging flows blown out of the pair of the first scavenging ports are both set to an angle in the range of from 116 to 124 degrees. An inner horizontal scavenging angle formed close to the exhaust port and an outer horizontal scavenging angle formed remote from the exhaust port by a pair of scavenging flows blown out of the pair of the second scavenging ports are set to angles in the ranges of from 126 to 134 degrees and from 146 to 154 degrees, respectively.

The present invention relates to a small air-cooled two-stroke internal combustion engine having a displacement in the range of from about 15 cc to about 65 cc, which is suited for use in, for example, a portable small working machine such as a bush cutter or a chain saw, and in particular to a small air-cooled two-stroke internal combustion engine which is capable of minimizing hazardous components in the exhaust gas without badly affecting the output characteristics of the engine.
In view of the recent increasing concerns about environmental problems, a reduction in the amounts of hazardous components, such as HC, CO, NOx, PM (fine particles of unburnt components of oil), etc., in the exhaust gas discharged from an engine is now strongly demanded for even a small air-cooled two-stroke gasoline internal combustion engine to be used in a portable small working machine such as a bush cutter or a chain saw. For example, according to the exhaust gas control bill in California, known as CARB Tier II, it is required that, in the case of an SI (spark ignition) two-stroke internal combustion engine having a displacement of not more than 65 cc, HC+NOx should be reduced to 54 g/bhp-h or less, CO to 400 g/bhp-h or less, and PM to 1.5 g/bhp-h or less, beginning with the year 2000.
With a view to meeting such an exhaust gas regulation, the owner of the present invention have made various proposals concerning the structure of two-stroke internal combustion engines. One of them, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication 9-280057, is a modification of the timing of the opening and closing of an exhaust port and a scavenging port of the cylinder by the piston in a two-stroke internal combustion engine having a Schnurle type scavenging system. In particular, the opening and closing timing is shortened in terms of crank angle as compared with that of a conventional engine, the opening and closing timing of the exhaust port by the piston being set to an angle in the range of from 100 to 120 degrees in terms of the crank angle with respect to the bottom dead center disposed therebetween, while the opening and closing timing of the scavenging port by the piston is set to an angle in the range of from 85 to 100 degrees in terms of crank angle with respect to the bottom dead center disposed therebetween.
The setting of the opening and closing timing of the exhaust port as well as of the scavenging port of the cylinder are achieved by lowering the position of the upper edge of the exhaust port as well as the position of the upper edge of the scavenging port, and at the same time, by shortening the distance between the upper edge of the exhaust port and the upper edge of the scavenging port.
According to the conventional engine of the same kind as mentioned above, the output characteristics of the engine are mainly taken into account in general, so that the opening and closing timing of the exhaust port is generally set to an angle in the range of 130 to 150 degrees, while the opening and closing timing of the scavenging port is generally set to an angle in the range of 100 to 110 degrees. However, since the opening and closing timings of these ports are to be set as mentioned above in the case of Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication H9-280057, the exhaust port and the scavenging port are opened at a delayed timing as compared with that of the conventional engine in the descending stroke, while the exhaust port and the scavenging port are closed at an advanced timing as compared with that of the conventional engine in the ascending stroke.
Therefore, the energy of combustion is sufficiently converted into a thrusting force to push the piston downward before reaching the point at which exhaust is initiated, i.e., the time when the exhaust port starts to open, thus minimizing the exhaust pressure. As a result, the scavenging air flow is prevented from being pushed back, thus making it possible to increase the flow rate of the scavenging gas flow and to effectively perform the scavenging.
Since the scavenging is performed effectively, the quantity of the blow-by of fresh gas (air-fuel mixture) through the exhaust port is minimized. As a result, the quantity of HC components in the exhaust gas are minimized and at the same time the output of the engine is improved. Furthermore, since the modification of the opening and closing timing are effected by simply changing the shapes and positions of the exhaust port and of the scavenging port, the modification does not result in an increase in the manufacturing cost of the engine.
In the ordinary two-stroke internal combustion engine having a Schnurle type scavenging system, as shown in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication H9-280057 (see FIG. 3), a pair of scavenging ports 9 and 9 are formed symmetrically with respect to a longitudinal sectional plane (F) that bisects an exhaust port 10 (a so-called double flow scavenging system), thereby permitting part of the scavenging flow of the air-fuel mixture that has been injected from or blown out of the pair of scavenging ports 9 and 9 to impinge against an inner wall (cylinder bore) of the stationary cylinder. Additionally, there is also known a so-called four-flow scavenging system comprising two pairs of scavenging ports.
FIG. 8 shows one example of a conventional two-stroke internal combustion engine having a four-flow scavenging system, wherein the cylinder 2' shown therein is provided, on an exhaust port 10' side thereof, with a pair of first scavenging ports 9A', 9A' which are disposed symmetrically with respect to a longitudinal sectional plane F' that bisects the exhaust port 10' and, on the other side opposite to the exhaust port 10' thereof, with a pair of second scavenging ports 9B', 9B' which are disposed symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal sectional plane F'.
The inner horizontal scavenging angle .alpha.' formed close to the exhaust port 10' and the outer horizontal scavenging angle .beta.' formed remote from the exhaust port 10' by a pair of scavenging flows blown out of the pair of first scavenging ports 9A', 9A' are set to about 100 degrees (for example, 94 degrees) and about 120 degrees, respectively, while the inner horizontal scavenging angle .gamma.' formed close to the exhaust port 10' and the outer horizontal scavenging angle .delta.' formed remote from the exhaust port 10' by a pair of scavenging flows blown out of the pair of second scavenging ports 9B', 9B' are set to about 120 degrees and about 150 degrees, respectively. Additionally, the horizontal cross-sectional area Sa' of each of the first scavenging ports 9A', 9A' is made smaller than the horizontal cross-sectional area Sb' of each of the second scavenging ports 9B', 9B' (Sa'<Sb').
In the conventional two-stroke internal combustion engine with a four-flow scavenging system, a pair of scavenging flows blown out of the pair of first scavenging ports 9A', 9A' are caused to impinge against each other, and at the same time, a pair of scavenging flows blown out of the pair of second scavenging ports 9B', 9B' are also caused to impinge against each other, so that the relative impinging velocity between these scavenging flows is doubled and the energy produced by the impingement is quadrupled as compared with the aforementioned engine having a double flow scavenging system where part of the scavenging flow of the air-fuel mixture impinges against the inner wall (cylinder bore) of the stationary cylinder.
As a result, the atomization of fuel particles in the air-fuel mixture that are not sufficiently atomized before they are blown out of each scavenging port is greatly promoted, whereby the ignitability and combustion efficiency of the air-fuel mixture are greatly improved. As a result, the exhaust gas clarification capability as well as fuel consumption of the engine are improved.
However, it is still impossible with the two-stroke internal combustion engine described above to prevent part of the fresh gas (air-fuel mixture), even if a very small amount, from directly passing through the exhaust port. Even if the quantity of so-called blow-by of fresh gas is reduced to a certain extent, the improvement obtainable is not large enough, and hence the reduction of hazardous components (in particular, HC components) in the exhaust gas discharged from the engine is not necessarily satisfactory. Furthermore, if it is desired to further reduce the quantity of blow-by according to the aforementioned prior art, it would inevitably lead to a significant deterioration of the output of the engine.
Even in the case of the aforementioned two-stroke internal combustion engine with a four-flow scavenging system, the effect of promoting the atomization of fuel particles in the air-gas mixture is not sufficient, thus leaving room for further improvement.


A motor-driven compressor is formed integrally with a compressor device for compressing refrigerant and a motor for driving the compressor device. The motor-driven compressor includes a drive circuit and a plurality of cooling fins. The drive circuit controls the operation of the motor. The drive circuit is provided on an outer surface of a wall of a refrigerant suction route. The plurality of cooling fins are formed on an inner surface of the wall of the refrigerant suction route. In such motor-driven compressors, the drive circuit may be sufficiently cooled without using cooling devices. As a result, providing cooling devices with the drive circuit in motor-driven compressors is no longer necessary.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to motor-driven compressors formed integrally with a compressor device for compressing refrigerant and a motor for driving the compressor device, and more particularly, to motor-driven compressors that are suitable for use in air conditioning systems for vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
Motor-driven compressors are driven by a power supply, for example, an external power source, such as a battery. Motor-driven compressors formed integrally with a compressor device for compressing refrigerant and a motor for driving the compressor device are known in the art. In known motor-driven compressors, a drive circuit for controlling the operation of the motor is separated from the compressor device and the motor, and an inverter may be coupled to the motor for converting power supplied from a power source into a suitable current for the motor. Such an inverter generally includes a plurality of switching elements. Such switching elements may generate a large amount of heat caused by, for example, electrical loss in the switching elements. Therefore, inverters equipped with cooling devices, such as an air-cooled or a water-cooled type inverter, have been used in known motor-driven compressors. In air-cooled type inverters, a radiator or a fan may be utilized. In water-cooled type inverters, a water cooling radiator and water circulating pipes may be utilized. Such additional equipment increases the cost of manufacturing the automotive air-conditioning system.
A need has arisen to provide motor-driven compressors with drive circuits that do not require additional cooling devices, such as radiators and fans.
In an embodiment of the invention, a motor-driven compressor is formed integrally with a compressor device for compressing refrigerant and a motor for driving the compressor device. The motor-driven compressor comprises a drive circuit and a plurality of cooling fins. The drive circuit controls the operation of the motor. The drive circuit is provided on an outer surface of a wall of a refrigerant suction passage. The plurality of cooling fins are formed on an inner surface of the wall of the refrigerant suction passage.
In another embodiment of the invention, a motor-driven compressor is formed integrally with a compressor device for compressing refrigerant and a motor for driving the compressor device. The motor-driven compressor comprises a drive circuit and a refrigerant flow path. The drive circuit controls the operation of the motor. The drive circuit is attached on an outer surface of a wall of a refrigerant suction passage. The refrigerant flow path is adjacent to an inner surface of the wall opposite the attachment between the driving circuit and the inner surface of the wall.
In still another embodiment of the invention, a motor-driven compressor is formed integrally with a compressor device for compressing refrigerant and a motor for driving the compressor device. The motor-driven compressor comprises a drive circuit and a plurality of ribs. The drive circuit controls the operation of the motor. The drive circuit is attached on an outer surface of a wall of a refrigerant suction passage. The plurality of ribs for reinforcing an annular boss, which supports one end of a drive shaft, are provided on an inner surface of the wall of an attachment portion of the drive shaft.
Objects, features, and advantages of embodiments of this invention will be apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.


Disclosed is a digital phase-locked-loop including: a time-to-digital converter (TDC) configured to output a digital bit based on an input clock and a reference clock, in which the TDC includes: a first arbiter group configured to compensate for a phase difference between the input clock and the reference clock with a first average offset and output a first logic value; a second arbiter group configured to compensate for a phase difference between the input clock and the reference clock with a second average offset and output a second logic value; and a signal processor configured to output the digital bit based on the first and second logic values.

According to the recent development of technology, a digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) has been widely used instead of a charge-pump phase-locked loop (CPPLL) having a problem of an analog circuit.
A time-to-digital converter is a significant configuration in the digital phase-locked loop performing the same function as that of a phase-frequency detector (PFD) in the charge-pump phase-locked loop in the related art.
However, the time-to-digital converter, for example, a delay-line based TDC, a stochastic TDC, a time-amplifying TDC, and a ring-oscillator based TDC, of the related art is operated only as a phase-detector (PD) in terms of a narrow operation range.
The phase-detector (PD) may be operated only when a difference between two frequencies is very small, and in a case where a loop band range is decreased in order to decrease jitter, there is a problem in that an operation range of the phase-detector is also decreased.
Recently, researches for expanding an operation range of the time-to-digital converter have currently been conducted.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A case locking arrangement mainly comprising two half casings whose apertures are provided opposite to each other, wherein a flange is disposed around the aperture rim of said half casing, at prearranged position of which a number of engaging seats are provided, and wherein at least one locating post upwards extended is provided on the bottom surface of said half casing, at the end of which a screw hole is disposed, and wherein said half casing has an engaging projection and a connecting seat corresponding to said engaging seat and said locating post, and wherein the connecting seat contains a fish eye hole therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case locking arrangement, and more particularly, to a case with an easy structure, a convenient assembly and an excellent connection strength.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The locking engagement for conventional casings generally includes a base and a cover, at whose rims an inner projection and a grooved hole are respectively provided. By means that the inner projection is engaged into the grooved hole, the base and the cover can be connected to each other. However, the connection between the base and the cover is completely dependent on the engagement of the projection into the grooved hole. In order to strengthen the connection, it's necessary to demand the respective strength of the base and the cover while the contact surface between them is also required to take into account. Consequently, in order to solve the assembly problem and inconvenience in enhancing the projection part to increase the contact surface with the grooved hole, it's important to obtain a solution for the balance between the assembly convenience and the connection strength.
In addition, the conventional grooved hole is arranged on the projected grooved seat at the rim of the base of the cover. However, the grooved seat has no arrangement to increase the strength so that it will be easily destroyed after a long period use (or due to abnormal external force).


Method, device and computer program product for processing signals at the device. Signals are received, over a range of angles, at a plurality of sensors of the device, the received signals including an interfering signal received from an interfering source location. An interference delay pattern between receipt of signals at the sensors corresponding to receipt of a signal from the interfering source location is determined. A plurality of regularization signals having a delay pattern matching the determined interference delay pattern are generated. The generated regularization signals are used to determine beamformer coefficients to be applied by a beamformer, and the beamformer applies the determined beamformer coefficients to the signals received by the plurality of sensors, thereby generating a beamformer output.

A device may have input means that can be used to receive transmitted signals from the surrounding environment. For example, a device may have audio input means such as a microphone that can be used to receive audio signals from the surrounding environment. For example, a microphone of a user device may receive a primary audio signal (such as speech from a user) as well as other audio signals. The other audio signals may be interfering audio signals received at the microphone of the device, and may be received from an interfering source or may be ambient background noise or microphone self-noise. The interfering audio signals may disturb the primary audio signals received at the device. The device may use the received audio signals for many different purposes. For example, where the received audio signals are speech signals received from a user, the speech signals may be processed by the device for use in a communication event, e.g. by transmitting the speech signals over a network to another device which may be associated with another user of the communication event. Alternatively, or additionally, the received audio signals could be used for other purposes, as is known in the art.
In other examples, a device may have receiving means for receiving other types of transmitted signals, such as radar signals, sonar signals, antenna signals, radio waves, microwaves and general broadband signals or narrowband signals. The same situations can occur for these other types of transmitted signals whereby a primary signal is received as well as interfering signals at the receiving means. The description below is provided mainly in relation to the receipt of audio signals at a device, but the same principles will apply for the receipt of other types of transmitted signals at a device, such as general broadband signals, general narrowband signals, radar signals, sonar signals, antenna signals, radio waves and microwaves as described above.
In order to improve the quality of the received audio signals, (e.g. the speech signals received from a user for use in a call), it is desirable to suppress interfering audio signals (e.g. background noise and interfering audio signals received from interfering audio sources) that are received at the microphone of the user device.
The use of stereo microphones and other microphone arrays in which a plurality of microphones operate as a single audio input means is becoming more common. The use of a plurality of microphones at a device enables the use of extracted spatial information from the received audio signals in addition to information that can be extracted from an audio signal received by a single microphone. When using such devices one approach for suppressing interfering audio signals is to apply a beamformer to the audio signals received by the plurality of microphones. Beamforming is a process of focussing the audio signals received by a microphone array by applying signal processing to enhance particular audio signals received at the microphone array from one or more desired locations (i.e. directions and distances) compared to the rest of the audio signals received at the microphone array. For simplicity we will describe the case with only a single desired direction herein, but the same method will apply when there are more directions of interest. The angle (and/or the distance) from which the desired audio signal is received at the microphone array, so-called Direction of Arrival ("DOA") information can be determined or set prior to the beamforming process. It can be advantageous to set the desired direction of arrival to be fixed since the estimation of the direction of arrival may be complex. However, in alternative situations it can be advantageous to adapt the desired direction of arrival to changing conditions, and so it may be advantageous to perform the estimation of the desired direction of arrival in real-time as the beamformer is used. Adaptive beamformers apply a number of weights (or "beamformer coefficients") to the received audio signals. These weights can be adapted to take into account the DOA information to process the audio signals received by the plurality of microphones to form a "beam" whereby a high gain is applied to desired audio signals received by the microphones from a desired location (i.e. a desired direction and distance) and a low gain is applied in the directions to any other (e.g. interfering) signal sources.
The output of the beamformer can be further processed in the device in the same way as a received audio signal from a single microphone may be processed, e.g. for transmission to another device as part of a communication event. For example, the output of the beamformer may be supplied as an input signal to at least one of an Automatic Gain Control (AGC) processing stage and a single channel noise reduction stage in the device.
The Minimum Variance Distortionless Response (MVDR) beamformer, also known as the Capon beamformer, is part of a class of beamformers that adapt the beamformer coefficients applied to the audio signals to thereby minimize the energy of the output signal based on the input signals under a constraint of not distorting the primary audio signals received with a principal direction of arrival at the device (i.e. audio signals received from the direction of focus of the beamformer). The beamformer weights can be calculated using the inverse of a covariance matrix of the audio signals received at the microphone array. The covariance matrix provides an indication of the correlation of the audio signals received at the different microphones of the microphone array when different delays are applied to the received audio signals (corresponding to different directions of arrival of audio signals at the microphone array). In particular, the cross-covariance indicates the direction of arrival for which the audio signals received at the plurality of microphones are most highly correlated, and this may be taken as the principal direction of arrival of the primary audio signals. Although the beamformer adaptation based on the input signals is useful in minimizing the energy of the output signal, adapting the beamformer in this way tends to distort the output signals as it varies over time. In particular, any irregularities or sudden changes to the beamformer can result in audible distortion of the output from the beamformer (as the beampattern of the beamformer is suddenly changed).
Spectral regularization may be applied to the received audio signals prior to calculating the covariance matrix. For example, white noise may be added to the audio signals by adding a scaled identity matrix to the covariance matrix in order to lower the condition number of the matrix before inversion for avoiding the problem of inverting a potentially ill-conditioned matrix.
Furthermore, injection of white noise in the covariance matrix can be used to ensure that energy is never amplified by the beamformer, and to ensure that ambient noise suppression is achieved, at the cost of attenuation of the stronger interfering sources. This method provides one way to regularize the adaptation of the beamformer to achieve slightly better beamformer behaviour, but it does not provide sufficient means to prevent distortion in the beamformer output.


The assembly for fastening a fin to a sailboard comprises a fin receiving box secured in the sailboard and having an opening to receive a fin shaft. A conical or wedge seat is provided between the fin shaft and the opening in order to warrant a firm attachment of the fin.

Such fastening means have been known for a long time and were described for instance in the German journal "Surf-Magazin", no. 4/90, pages 55-58. Those known structures comprise a fin receiving or take-up box which is included in the laminate of the sailboard. The fin receiving box has an opening which faces the bottom side of the sailboard and in which a fin shaft is inserted and fixed by screws. With most of the known fastening means the opening is longer than the fin shaft so that adjustment is possible in the longitudinal direction. These designs often resulted in rupture of the fin at the fin shaft or, even more inconveniently, led to the fin box breaking out of the sailboard. Faulty material or defective design were made responsible for breakage of the first kind, the main cause being identified as sharp edges in the transitory area between the shaft and the fin (see the cited "Surf-Magazin").
With most designs, the ratio is very great between the length of the fin and the length of the shaft, being for example 9:1, and as a consequence the lever arm is unfavorable for fastening purposes. With the so-called Tuttle-Box (see the cited publication) this ratio was rendered more favorable by making the shaft longer. Thereby the fin receiving box becomes higher and extends substantially throughout the thickness of the sailboard. As viewed in a side elevation view the front and back of the fin shaft (with respect to the direction of movement) are oblique in order to permit the introduction of the shaft into the box housing it.

Assembly for fastening a fin to a sailboard


Disclosed are a method and device for implementing instant messaging through a browser. A plug-in interface of an instant messaging tool is preset on the browser. The method comprises: a master process of the browser creating a plug-in process corresponding to the instant messaging tool; triggering the plug-in interface to instruct the master process of the browser to reload a browser window; the master process of the browser dividing, in the browser window, page presentation ranges of a plug-in page of the instant messaging tool and a current tab of the browser window and notifying the plug-in process of the page presentation ranges; and the plug-in process generating the plug-in page according to the divided page presentation ranges and loading the plug-in page and the re-rendered current tab side by side in the browser window.

Instant messaging (IM) software is a kind of software which realizes online chat and communication via instant messaging technology. After users install IM in their terminals respectively, two or more users may use the network to transmit text message, images, voice and geographic position message via the IM window, thereby achieving instant messaging between users. It has the advantages of multi-task operation, having asynchronism, long and short communication, fast medium transforming, being interactive and being not limited by space and time.
When the user uses the IM, he or she usually actives the operation window corresponding to the IM. When the user operates the terminal, the browser and the IM may be operated at the same time. When visiting the browser, the IM window is usually minimized to be displayed in the desktop taskbar as an icon. At that moment, if the user needs to operate the IM, such as receiving friend's message or transmitting files to friends, it is needed to call out the IM window, and close or minimize the window after related operation in the IM window is finished, then continue to access the browser.
As a result, when operating the browser and the IM at the same time, the switching operation between the browser and the IM window is complex, which brings inconvenience to the user. In addition, running browser process and IM process at the same time may affect the operating efficiency and performance.

Method and device for implementing instant messaging

BEIJING QIHOO TECHNOLOGY COMPANY LIMITED


An electronic product information display system includes a plurality of self-contained display modules (10) mounted proximate to respective products. A signal (22) is formed that comprises an address part and a data part, the adderess part corresponding to a selected module address and the data part encoding product information (18, 20) to be displayed by the addressed module (10). The signal a broadcast from a transmitter (24) remote from a plurality of modules (10). Modules (10) each receive the signal, decode the address part into a received address, and decode the data part into product information (18, 20). The product information is stored and displayed responsive to a match between the module address and the received address. The signal (22) is preferably infrared.

Manual shelf or item pricing has been the traditional method of informing consumers about the prices of a large number of different goods in retail stores. By this time-honored method, the prices are marked on the shelves, on the products themselves, or in other areas where the goods are displayed.
In the context of today's increased numbers of products, tighter inventory control and tighter profit margins, problems have arisen in this traditional system when the prices of the goods change. Changing the price of particular goods manually causes significant delays in price updating and potential errors in product pricing. Even in modern retail chain establishments such as modern grocery stores, a delay occurs when price updates from a regional headquarters are electronically communicated to the individual stores checkout scanner data base, but then cannot be made effective until new shelf price labels arrive from the printer and are manually dispersed to the relevant product shelf locations. Such delays have been shown to typically run from four to five days and sometimes exceed seven days from the time a price change decision is made at the regional level.
Product pricing errors also occur when the printed shelf price labels do not match the price contained in the store's checkout scanner price data base. This price mismatch has been a principal source of customer complaint and discontent. Further, the need to continually and manually update shelf pricing labels by the printing process limits the amount and quality of product information which can be placed on a shelf label. Store customers often have a difficult time matching a product with a totally computer-generated shelf price label that has only a UPC code, a block-letter description and a price. When customers cannot find a shelf price label for a given product, they may not purchase the product, or may again become dissatisfied with the store.
More recently, several schemes have been suggested for creating electronic shelf pricing information modules. These systems almost invariably involve a hardwire connection from the individual electronic display modules to a central store computer, or via an interim link. Not surprisingly, the expense associated with installing and maintaining such hardwire systems has precluded their economic viability.
A need therefore exists in the industry to replace a large majority of the printing and manual label placement activity in the current price change cycle by an electronic method that is inexpensive and flexible enough to be economically viable. A further need exists in the industry to tie the shelf price into an electronically updated check-out scanner price data base, particularly as maintained in an off-site regional computer. Yet another need in the industry has arisen for quick and economical distribution of non-pricing information for each product, such as facts about the product or notices of special sales.

Electronic product information display system


A method and apparatus for stretch blow moulding a preform into a desired article is disclosed. The method includes the steps of inserting the preform into a hollow mould, stretching the heated preform with a stretching member, filling the preform with an incompressible fluid such that the preform expands and is formed into the article by the mould and draining the incompressible fluid from the interior of the formed article. The apparatus comprises a hollow mould for receiving the preform, a stretching member for stretching the preform, an incompressible fluid filling means for filling the preform with an incompressible fluid such that the preform expands and a drain for draining the incompressible fluid from the formed article.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers are normally produced by means of stretch blow moulding employing a hollow injection moulded preform.
The preform normally has a diameter which is less than the diameter of the container which is to be produced from the preform, an axial length which is less than the axial length of the container, and an opening which has the same dimensions and shape as the opening of the container.
The container is stretch blow moulded from the preform by firstly heating the preform to a temperature which will allow the preform to be moulded into the shape of the container. The heated preform is then positioned inside a mould having an interior shape corresponding to the exterior shape of the container which is to be moulded from the preform.
In conventional stretch blow moulding the pressure of the air inside the preform is increased to a "blowing pressure", which is normally between 20 and 50 bar, so that the preform is expanded to such an extent that the exterior surfaces thereof press against the interior surface of the mould and thereby adopt the shape of the interior surface of the mould. Once the expanded preform has cooled sufficiently, the preform remains in the shape of the container without requiring the presence of the air at the blowing pressure.
The blowing pressure is normally generated by a pump in combination with a pressure vessel for storing the compressed air which is output by the pump. The pump and the pressure vessel must comply with certain regulations. Complying with these regulations usually involves a considerable investment of time and money.
FR 2839277 discloses a method of stretch blow moulding for producing a polyester resin container from a heated preform in which an incompressible fluid is injected in to the preform. In the process of FR 2839277 the injection of incompressible fluid simultaneously stretches and inflates the preform until it reaches the walls of the mold. The method of FR 2839277 is particularly suited to a single stage combined molding-filling embodiment for the production of small containers such as PET drink bottles.
Other stretch blow moulding methods use a compressible fluid, such as a gas, in combination with a stretching rod. In these methods the stretching rod is introduced axially into the mould and into the interior of the preform through the opening thereof, to stretch the heated preform inside the mould.
The stretch blow moulding processes described above are particularly suitable for the manufacture of relatively small plastic containers having volumes of up to approximately 20 liters and wall thickness of approximately 0.3 millimetres. However, for containers and articles having larger volumes and for wall thicknesses, the processes are uneconomic and unreliable as they are unable to reliably produce uniformly expanded containers and articles of about 20 liters volume or greater.

Stretch blow moulding method and apparatus


A circuit breaker apparatus of high voltage direct currents is connected in series with an external circuit comprising an AC-DC converting device connected to an AC power supply and a DC reactor connected to the AC-DC converting device, and comprises a circuit breaker connected in series with the external circuit, a disconnecting switch connected to the circuit breaker, and a series circuit connected in parallel with the circuit breaker and constituted of a blocking capacitor and a primary winding in a transformer. A charge storage capacitor is connected to a secondary winding of the transformer through a starting switch and polarity changeover switch, and an AC power supply for charging is connected through a diode to the charge storage capacitor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a circuit breaker apparatus for high voltage direct currents in which a great current of high voltage is interrupted by a current limiting system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electric power is conventionally transmitted in the form of alternating current, but a direct current transmission system has recently been used in place of such alternating current transmission system. In the direct current transmission system an electric power is transmitted in the form of a great current of high voltage and great care must be exercised when such great current is interrupted. Recent tendency is toward an increase in power transmission capacity.
At the current interruption time, a greater surge voltage is induced in an current interrupter. The surge voltage tends to be increased as the power transmission capacity is increased. If the power transmission capacity is so increased, a greater mechanical shock is imparted to the current interrupter at the current interruption time or a very high heat is generated in the current interrupter at the current interruption time, leading to damage or injury to the current interrupter. For this reason, a strong demand is made for a circuit breaker apparatus for high voltage direct currents which is high in safety and capable of positive current interruption.

Circuit breaker apparatus for high voltage direct currents


Non-halogenated aqueous degreasing compositions-useful for removing inks and cleaning printed circuit boards comprising a three-component mixture of (1) an organic acid consisting essentially of an alkanoic acid, preferably a hydroxy-substituted alkanoic acid, (2) a straight chain alkanol having at least four carbon atoms or an alkyl ester derived from an unsubstituted or substituted alkanoic acid and a straight chain alkanol having at least four carbon atoms and (3) water.

This invention relates to environmentally safe, biodegradable compositions free of halogenated hydrocarbons for use in degreasing and cleaning during the fabrication of printed circuit and printed wiring boards, as well as for cleaning metals, particularly stainless steel, and plastic and earthware items. More particularly, the invention provides cleaning methods and non-halogenated compositions for the removal of inks, wax, grease and soil from a wide variety of substrates.
The gradual phase out of halogenated hydrocarbon solvents such as 1,1,1-trichloroethane or "Freon 113" from the market place has created an immediate and pressing need for environmentally compatible cleaning, desoiling and/or degreasing systems. Such phase out has had and will continue to have a particularly significant impact on the electronic circuit board cleaning and metal degreasing business. Other areas of commercial activity besides electronics affected by this phasing out of chlorinated and brominated hydrocarbons include the cleaning of machine tools, pumps and seals, automotive parts, precision instruments and the like.

Non-halogenated aqueous cleaning systems