Microwave heating is used to desorb successive batches of contaminated adsorbent. The apparatus includes first and second stations and an adsorbent carrier tray displaceable between the two stations. Adsorbent is loaded and unloaded from the tray in the first station and heated with microwave energy in the second station. The tray is loaded by passage under a feed hopper, thereby providing an even bed of adsorbent in the tray. Unloading is performed by rotating the tray to an inverted position so that the adsorbent falls into a bin below. The second station includes an oven chamber which is swept with a purge gas to remove gaseous sorbates desorbed from the adsorbent. The tray can include a gas-permeable adsorbent support structure to facilitate passing purge gas and gasification reactants through the adsorbent bed.

This invention relates generally to the desorption of contaminated adsorbent materials using microwave energy and more particularly concerns an improved batch system for effective microwave desorption.
In industry, process streams carrying contaminants or other components are often purified by passing the stream in contact with an adsorbent. The contaminants or other components are adsorbed by the adsorbent, thereby removing them from the process stream. Materials commonly used as adsorbents include activated carbon, activated charcoal, zinc oxide, activated alumina and molecular sieves. Adsorption is most effective when the adsorbent is maintained at ambient temperatures or cooler. The adsorbed materials are referred to as adsorbates or simply sorbates. Thus, a sorbated adsorbent refers to an adsorbent having adsorbed materials therein. In the course of cleansing process streams, the adsorbent will eventually become saturated with sorbates and be unable to adsorb further materials. Rather than simply being disposed of, a saturated adsorbent can be recycled through a process which desorbs or strips the sorbates from the adsorbent. Once the sorbates have been desorbed, the adsorbent is again capable of being used to cleanse process streams.
Many organic contaminants can be desorbed by heating the adsorbent to relatively low temperatures (e.g., in the range of 100.degree.-300 .degree. C. for activated carbon). This low temperature process is referred to as regeneration. However, some contaminants cannot be desorbed at regeneration temperatures. These remnant contaminants, which might be high boiling point materials or result from polymerization on the adsorbent, are referred to as the "heel." After many (hundreds or even thousands) regenerations, the heel buildup diminishes the sorbent capacity of the adsorbent to the extent that the adsorbent is no longer useful. At this point, the adsorbent must not only be treated at higher temperatures (e.g., about 900.degree.-1000 .degree. C. for activated carbon) but must also be exposed to reactants (such as steam or carbon dioxide) which can gasify some of the heel and the adsorbent to create new surface area. This process is called reactivation and is usually performed in large, off site furnaces. As used herein, the terms "desorption" or "desorbing process" refer to both regeneration and reactivation.
It is desirable to employ a desorbing process which is capable of stripping the sorbates on the plant site, because such a process eliminates the need to ship the sorbated adsorbent off site for cleaning. Besides offering cost advantages, on-site desorption reduces the number of plant emissions which must be reported to the Environmental Protection Agency, making additional uses in the plant more economically attractive.
A typical on-site method of regenerating a saturated adsorbent is to heat the adsorbent with a flow of hot gas such as steam, nitrogen or flue gases to a sufficiently high temperature at which the sorbate will be desorbed. The high temperature causes the sorbated matter to vaporize and pass from the adsorbent. The flow of the hot gas also purges the vaporized or desorbed materials from the system. The adsorbent bed must be taken off-line to be swept with the hot gas. Some disadvantages of this gas heating method include long regeneration times, large amounts of purge gas, non-uniform heating of the adsorbent material, and dilution of the sorbate vapors with heating gases. This dilution is a problem when the desorbed materials must subsequently be removed from the purge gases. Furthermore, the gas heating method requires heating not only the adsorbent material but also the entire structure containing the adsorbent, which is necessarily several times heavier than the adsorbent. Thus, the design of the containment structure is controlled by the temperature and corrosion limits prescribed by the regeneration process. In addition, this type of gas heating usually can achieve temperatures only in the range of about 100.degree. -150 .degree. C. and is thus insufficient for reactivation.
Microwave heating of the adsorbents has been proposed to avoid some of the problems associated with the hot gas heating method. Microwave heating has an advantage in that the adsorbent material can be heated without directly heating the containment structure. Thus, the energy required for microwave heating is less than heating with hot gas. The cost of the containment structure can also be reduced since the structure itself is subjected to lower temperature ranges. Microwave heating also can produce generally higher temperatures than the gas heating method. Therefore, microwave heating is readily applicable to reactivation, as well as regeneration.
One microwave desorption approach is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,610 to Kotsch et al. The Kotsch et al patent discloses a method and apparatus using a gravity-driven moving bed for the desorption of noxious materials from a carbonaceous adsorption agent. Saturated carbon or coke is fed into the regeneration unit via a dosing and closure unit 1. The coke falls into a quartz conduit 2 where it is heated by a microwave heating means. The coke then enters a desorption gas collector 6 where it builds up a free fill above a perforated conical plate 7. In the desorption gas collector 6, the coke is swept with an inert gas to apparently remove the desorbed noxious materials. In a second embodiment, the quartz conduit is replaced with a horizontal moving belt which conveys coke through a heating chamber prior to dumping the coke into the desorption gas collector 6 by gravity feed. While the Kotsch et al patent solves many of the problems associated with hot gas heating, other drawbacks arise. For instance, there is a high degree of relative movement between individual coke granules as well as between the coke granules and the walls of the container due to the continuous, free fall method of moving the coke. This relative movement tends to grind some of the coke into smaller, less useful particles, thus producing attrition losses. The coke is especially susceptible to attrition when the relative movement occurs while the coke is exposed to the higher temperatures of regeneration. The free falling coke is also susceptible to agglomeration of granules when containing water, dirt and/or other solids.
A microwave desorption approach which addresses the attrition problem is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,394 to Mezey et al. The Mezey et al patent discloses a process for thermal regeneration of adsorbents wherein the adsorbent is heated dielectrically to desorb the sorbates, after which a small quantity of purge gas may be applied to flush the sorbates. The microwave heating is applied while the adsorbent is within the adsorber reactor chamber. This avoids the attrition of the adsorbent that arises from transporting the adsorbent to another apparatus for regeneration. However, desorbing the adsorbent within the adsorber reactor chamber requires that the adsorber be taken off-line for the entire process. This down time includes not only time for heating and desorbing the adsorbent but also time for cooling the system back to operating temperature. The cool down time can be quite long due to the large mass of the adsorbent and the typically massive adsorber vessel which has been be heated by conduction from the adsorbent. Consequently, the adsorber reactor chamber would be unavailable for its primary function for a significant time. Furthermore, the Mezey et al device would require significant modifications to the adsorber reactor chamber to accommodate the internal microwave heating and to provide additional valving for the separate purge gas flow.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a desorption system which does not require a lengthy shut down of the adsorber and handles the adsorbent with minimal attrition. A non-continuous or batch system is such an approach which is particularly attractive for low throughput requirements. This approach comprises transferring the adsorbent from the adsorber vessel to a separate container and exposing the container to microwave energy in order to heat the adsorbent to the necessary temperature. The adsorber can be provided with clean adsorbent during this process and thus be kept on-line. And while a certain amount of handling of the adsorbent is required, it is minimal with no relative movement during heating. However, known batch systems have long cycle times because of slow, inefficient means for handling the adsorbent. Furthermore, the heated adsorbent is typically left in the container to cool while another, cold container is used for the next batch. Although only the adsorbent is directly heated by the microwaves, the container is heated by conduction from the adsorbent. And since the container usually holds more heat than the adsorbent, allowing the container to cool each time represents substantial lost heat and wasted energy.
Accordingly, there is a need for an on-site batch system for microwave desorption of adsorbents which has an efficient means for handling the adsorbent and retains heat in the adsorbent container between batches.

Batch system for microwave desorption of adsorbents


A fluid detector for determining a presence of a fluid within a container, the detector including a sensor assembly with a lens and a sensor element that outputs a first ultrasonic signal in response to an input electrical signal. A generally cylindrical wall extends outwardly from an outer surface of the container and defines a housing with a cylindrical central bore having a base surface. The sensor assembly is coupled to the lens so that the lens focuses the first ultrasonic signal toward the wall. The sensor assembly is positioned such that it receives a second ultrasonic signal from the wall that results from the first ultrasonic signal. The sensor assembly then generates an output electrical signal corresponding to the second ultrasonic signal.

The use of piezoelectric materials in fluid level sensors is known. An existing design includes two piezoelectric sensor elements mounted opposite each other on the inside of a container. The sensor elements are both mounted at the level of interest. A first sensor element functions as a transmitter and is electrically excited with a voltage pulse or continuous frequency such that it transmits an acoustic signal. The second sensor element functions as a receiver of the transmitted acoustic signal. When both sensor elements are immersed in a fluid, the acoustic signal generated by the first sensor propagates through the fluid and is detected by the second sensor element, thereby indicating the presence of fluid at the level of the sensor elements. In the presence of air, the acoustic signal is not detected by the second sensor element, indicating that fluid is not present at the level of interest.
As noted, existing fluid level sensors often require intimate contact between the sensor elements and the fluid being detected. As well, because the sensor elements are typically mounted inside the container, the structural integrity of the container must be breached to install the sensor elements. As such, the container must usually be empty, or at least not have fluids at or above the level of interest, when the sensor elements are being installed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An alignment device is provided for aligning a primary mirror with a secondary mirror in an optical system having the primary mirror and the secondary mirror arranged so as to face each other along the optical axis. The alignment device has a dichroic film formed on a surface on the front side of the secondary mirror and configured to reflect light used in the optical system and to transmit alignment light, a back reflecting surface formed on the back side of the secondary mirror and configured to reflect the alignment light, and a detection system which detects a positional deviation between the primary mirror and the secondary mirror, based on the alignment light having traveled via the dichroic film, the back reflecting surface, and a reflecting surface of the primary mirror.

1. Field
One embodiment of the present invention relates to an alignment device and method for optical system, for example, alignment (position adjustment) between a primary mirror and a secondary mirror in a laser optical apparatus such as a laser irradiation device or a laser ranging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known laser optical apparatus of this kind is a laser radar device having a light-sending optical system for sending laser light upward into the sky, and a light-receiving optical system for receiving scattered laser light of the laser light sent from the light-sending optical system, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-121724. U.S. Pat. Published Application No. 2006/0279838A1 discloses an alignment optical system applicable to position adjustment between a primary mirror and a secondary mirror in a Cassegrain optical system, in a laser optical apparatus adopting a large-diameter reflecting optical system like the laser radar device.

Alignment device and method for optical system


Control of fabric softener viscosity by increasing the amount of fragrance in the formulation and to thereby influence the amount of fragrance that can be added to the fabric softening formulations. A mixture of a perfume or fragrance chemical and special group of surface active agents is prepared. Thereafter the mixture is added to a fabric softener base formulation to produce the fabric softener consumer product.

The present invention relates to a method of controlling the viscosity of fabric softening compositions and, more particularly, to a method for avoiding gelation or gel formation of fabric softener compositions.
Fabric softening agents are used in order to improve the feel and texture of fabrics and to improve the comfortability of fabrics in actual wear. Typically, fabric softening agents are applied from an aqueous liquid which is made up by adding a relatively small amount of a fabric softening composition to a large amount of water, for example during the rinse cycle in an automatic washing machine. The fabric softening composition is usually an aqueous liquid product containing less than about 8% of a cationic fabric softening agent which is a quaternary ammonium salt. Such compositions are normally prepared by dispersing in water a cationic material, for example quaternary ammonium compounds which in addition to long chain alkyl groups may also contain ester or amide groups. It is also advantageous to use mixtures of different fabric softening components which are typically added to the last wash cycle rinse both in the form of aqueous dispersions.
It is widely known that fragrances can be introduced into liquid fabric softener compositions in order to cause the treated fabrics to have aromas with good initial strength. Efforts have also been made to develop systems in which aromas are controllably released during the normal conditions of use of the fabrics treated with solutions created from the liquid softening compositions of matter at a predictable sufficiently high level over an extended period time.
It is recognized in the prior art that perfume containing particles of a defined melting point and size can be incorporated into compositions containing fabric softening components. Typical of such prior art is Canadian Patent 1,111,616, German OLS 2631129, German OLS 2702162, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,234,627 and 4,464,271.
However it has been found that when the amount of fragrance is increased beyond just one, two or three percent, there is a tendency for the fabric softener base formulation to gel. Undesirable gelation of the fabric softener reduces the shelf life of the product and may cause an adverse consumer reaction when the person using the fabric softener opens the container and finds that the fabric softener has formed a gel like, highly viscous mass instead of being free flowing.
This tendency of gel formation has prevented the utilization of larger amounts of the customary fragrances or the use fragrances with a relatively weak aroma creating power, in larger amounts.
Various efforts have been made to influence the viscosity of fabric softeners to overcome certain problems and to improve properties. For example, low viscosity concentrated products as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,241 containing ionisable salts, fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty esters and paraffinic hydrocarbons. See also European patent 13780.
It has also been proposed in European patent specification 56695 to control the viscosity of concentrated products by the use of small amounts of alkoxylated amines.
Still further developments are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,716 where there is disclosed a concentrated liquid fabric softening composition which contains a water soluble cationic fabric softening agent, a nonionic viscosity control agent and an electrolyte. The viscosity control agent is an alkylene oxide adduct of a fatty compound selected from fatty amines, fatty alcohols, fatty acids and fatty esters.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a way to avoid gelation of fragrance containing fabric softening agents and also to provide a way to permit the introduction of an increased amount of fragrance into a fabric softening composition.

Use of special surfactants to control viscosity in fabric softeners


An air valve assembly for a fire hydrant includes a pressure responsive valve means removably mounted at or near a top of a fire hydrant and more specifically to a fire hydrant bearing housing. The pressure responsive valve means is adapted to open when the fire hydrant is not in use and to close when the fire hydrant is in use.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to drainage of fire hydrants and, more particularly, to an air valve assembly for use in a fire hydrant where the air valve assembly operates in cooperation with conventional drain valves to automatically drain excess water from the fire hydrant after the cap has been placed on the nozzle of the fire hydrant. This invention further relates to an air valve assembly and hydrant in combination and to a method of constructing a hydrant to drain automatically.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fire hydrants should be drained after they are used to remove any excess water that is sitting in the barrel of the fire hydrant. As this task takes time, it is often overlooked by the user and the cap is replaced on the nozzle of the fire hydrant resulting in an air-tight seal so that any remaining water stays prematurely within the fire hydrant. As a result, any water left in the barrel stagnates resulting in possible contamination to the potable water supply. Remaining water can also result in damage to the hydrant if the water freezes thereby cracking the barrel and/or damaging other components. Municipalities incur significant costs to repair and maintain their fire hydrant systems.
Ellis is the owner of U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,097, which issued on Sep. 14, 1976. This patent relates to a fire hydrant of the "dry" barrel type having an improved means of draining the barrel after the hydrant has been used and the main hydrant valve closed. The hydrant is provided with a drain passageway from the interior of the barrel above the main hydrant valve to the exterior of the valve. A first valve means, which is automatically opened or closed by actuation of the main hydrant valve element, is arranged to close the drain passageway when the main hydrant valve element is open and to open the drain passageway when the main hydrant valve element is closed. A pressure responsive one-way check valve in series with the valve means in said drain passage is automatically actuated to open position by pressure of water when there is water in the hydrant barrel and the valve means in series therewith in the drain passageway is open. The one-way check valve automatically closes when the barrel is dry and prevents ingress of water and dirt, grit or other foreign matter from the exterior of each to the interior, thereby protecting the main hydrant valve and its associated operating mechanism.
Previous hydrants have drain valves near a base of the barrel that open when the hydrant is shut off to allow the barrel to drain. However, when the airtight caps on the nozzle are replaced before the barrel has drained, the water stops draining as no air can enter the barrel above the level of the water that remains in the barrel. The water remains trapped in the barrel even though the drain valves near the base of the barrel remain open. In cold climates, municipalities often have all hydrants inspected before the onset of freezing temperatures to ensure that the hydrants are properly drained. These inspections are extremely expensive. If a hydrant is not properly drained after use and the water within the hydrant freezes, the hydrant will be inoperable and unavailable for use in fighting a fire.
Thus an air valve assembly for a fire hydrant which allows residual water in the barrel of the fire hydrant to be drained away after the cap has been placed on the nozzle, thereby removing any risk to the potable water supply by draining away any stagnating water, as well as removing any risk of damage to the fire hydrant if water froze within the barrel while at the same time reducing the time a user would have to spend waiting for the water to drain is desirable.


A rotary impeller for a tailings conveyor of an agricultural combine, for threshing tailings and propelling the tailings through a portion of the conveyor, including a mounting portion mountable to a rotatable member for rotation in a predetermined rotational direction about a rotational axis, a plurality of blades extending generally radially outwardly from the mounting portion, each of the blades including a surface facing in the rotational direction including a radially outermost threshing portion for threshing the tailings and propelling the tailings in the rotational direction through the portion of the conveyor, and a tailings deflecting portion disposed between the threshing portion and the mounting portion, the tailings deflecting portion having a convex shape for deflecting and directing tailings contacted thereby during the rotation in a radially outward direction into a rotational path of the threshing portion so as to be threshed thereby and accelerated through the conveyor.

This invention relates generally to an agricultural harvesting machine, and more particularly, to a rotary impeller for a tailings conveyor of a harvesting machine having blades configured and shaped for providing desired tailings conveying and threshing functions.
Typically, an agricultural harvesting machine such as a combine gathers crop from a field and transports the crop by means of a feeder house to a threshing and separating device located inside the combine. Generally, threshing refers to removing grain, beans, seeds or kernels, hereinafter referred to as just grain, which are desired to be collected, from husks, cobs, pods, stems, and other portions of the plants being harvested, which are to be discarded. The threshing and separating device delivers the crop to the cleaning system of the combine, which includes a plurality of sieves. An upper sieve allows clean grain and some material other than grain (MOG) to fall through it, and a lower sieve is adjusted so that only clean grain is allowed to pass through it. The material including the clean grain and MOG that falls through the upper sieve, but does not pass through the lower sieve, is called tailings. In many cases it is desired for this material to be threshed and/or cleaned again.
Prior methods accomplish the threshing and/or cleaning of the tailings by conveying them to one side of the combine with an auger. The tailings are then carried by a conveyor, typically a paddle and chain conveyor, back to the combine threshing mechanism. Some combines have used a rethreshing device which is separate from the threshing system which helps save capacity on the threshing system by rethreshing the tailings separately from new crop coming into the combine. The auger feeds material into the rethreshing device and then the material is conveyed back to the cleaning system. Both single impeller/blowers and augers have been used to convey this material back to the cleaning system. These rethreshing devices are usually convertible, enabling the operator to manipulate the machine to be more or less aggressive, depending on the vulnerability of the grain to damage, during processing.
Prior methods for conveying the tailings material are inefficient in terms of throughput capacity and power consumption. Some known embodiments have resulted in large conveying devices that tend to limit access to both the combine and the conveying device for maintenance and conversion.
Therefore, what is needed is a more efficient means for conveying tailings, which overcomes many of the limitations and shortcomings set forth above, and which provides a desired threshing function.

Impeller with swept back blades for a tailings conveyor of an agricultural combine


A fuel cell system capable of performing activation for stabilizing electrical characteristics of a fuel cell with suppressing generation of polarity inversion associated with drying of a polymer electrolyte membrane and excess power consumption. An activation method for a fuel cell, the fuel cell system including a fuel cell having a fuel electrode and an oxidizer electrode that are provided on both sides of a polymer electrolyte membrane; a resistance detector for detecting an internal resistance of the fuel cell; a load connection portion having a mechanism for connecting a resistor between the fuel electrode and the oxidizer electrode; and a control unit for controlling the load connection portion. The control unit controls the operation of the load connection portion based on a value of the inner resistance of the fuel cell, which is detected by the resistance detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell system and an activation method for a fuel cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell directly converts chemical energy, which is obtained by chemically reacting hydrogen with oxygen, into electrical energy.
In view of the fact that energy density of hydrogen itself is high and that it is unnecessary to provide an active material to a cathode side because oxygen is taken from external air, an energy capacity per volume and weight can be remarkably increased as compared with a conventional battery.
Of fuel cells, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) is an all-solid type using a flexible polymer film as an electrolyte membrane, and thus has characteristics such as excellent handling properties, a simple structure, and rapid start and stop in operation at low temperature. Accordingly, the polymer electrolyte fuel cell is suitably mounted to a portable electronic device.
The polymer electrolyte fuel cell fundamentally includes a polymer electrolyte membrane having proton conductivity, and a pair of electrodes provided on both sides of the polymer electrolyte membrane.
The electrodes include: a catalyst layer formed by mixing a conductive carbon particle carrying platinum black or platinum group metal catalyst, in proton conductive polymer electrolyte; and a gas diffusion electrode formed on an outer surface of the catalyst layer, for supplying a gas and collecting current.
In the polymer electrolyte fuel cell, an assembly in which the electrodes and the polymer electrolyte membrane are integrally formed is referred to as a membrane electrode assembly (hereinafter, referred to as "MEA").
The polymer electrolyte membrane is required to have characteristics such as proton conductivity, a gas barrier property, an electron insulating property, chemical/electrochemical stability, heat resistance, and a high mechanical strength.
To satisfy those requirements, a perfluorosulfonic acid-based ion-exchange resin is suitably and widely used.
In the perfluorosulfonic acid-based polymer electrolyte membrane, it is necessary for water to move along with the conduction of protons. In a case where a water content of the polymer electrolyte membrane is small, the proton conductivity is low, and in a case where the water content is large, the proton conductivity is high. In the case where the proton conductivity of the polymer electrolyte membrane is low, an internal resistance of the fuel cell is significantly increased, whereby fluctuation of the water content of the polymer electrolyte membrane greatly affects power generation. For this reason, it is important to increase the water content of the polymer electrolyte membrane and to devise a method for maintaining the membrane in a humidified state.
Up to now, in order to humidify the polymer electrolyte membrane, the following methods have been employed. That is, there have been employed a method in which a fuel gas is caused to flow in a humidifier (bubbler tank) and to bubble for humidification and then the fuel gas is supplied to a fuel cell, and a method of directly supplying water through a porous plate provided in a fuel cell, a method of supplying a part of a coolant, which is caused to flow in a stack, as humidification water to the MEA, and the like.
However, in the fuel cell for a portable electronic device, it is desirable to omit as many as possible unnecessary auxiliary appliances so as to fabricate the fuel cell with a small size.
In a fuel cell in which a power generation reaction is performed, the proton generated at the fuel electrode moves (electric osmosis) toward an oxidizer electrode side along with water in the polymer electrolyte membrane. At the same time, water is generated at the oxidizer electrode, so that a concentration gradient of the water is generated in the polymer electrolyte membrane.
For this reason, inverse diffusion of the water from the oxidizer electrode toward the fuel electrode is caused, which contributes to the humidification of the electrolyte membrane.
In order to humidify the polymer electrolyte membrane by a power generation reaction and to promptly change the electrical characteristics into a steady state, it is desirable that a current having density as high as possible flow into a fuel cell unit within a range in which the fuel cell unit is not affected.
However, when the current having high density is forced to flow through an external power supply in a state where the water content of the polymer electrolyte membrane is small and the internal resistance is high, a proton supply rate control is caused, which may lead to the deterioration of the fuel cell due to generation of polarity inversion.
Accordingly, it is necessary to perform an activation treatment for stabilizing the electrical characteristics of the fuel cell without causing the polarity inversion.
As a conventional method for performing the activation, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2000-277136, 2004-047427, and 2005-093282 disclose an activation treatment method of connecting a resistor between a fuel electrode and an oxidizer electrode of a fuel cell prior to supplying power to an electronic device at the time of starting the fuel cell.
In the above-mentioned method, when the resistor is connected between the electrodes, that is, the fuel electrode and the oxidizer electrode, a short-circuit current is caused to flow due to power generation, and produced water generated at the oxidizer electrode at this time is diffused to humidify the polymer electrolyte membrane, thereby activating the fuel cell.
By connecting the resistor between the electrodes, a maximum current corresponding to the activation state of the fuel cell is caused to flow as the short-circuit current. Thereby, the possibility of generating the polarity inversion due to the supply rate control of proton can be reduced compared with an activation method of forcing current to flow.
After the determination of the end of the activation treatment of the fuel cell, generated power is switched from a resistor to the supply for the electronic device, thereby enabling a stable power supply to the electric device.
However, the conventional activation treatment methods for the fuel cell have the following problems.
In the activation treatment methods for the fuel cell or in a starting method using the activation treatment method, the control of the activation treatment is performed while monitoring values of a current, a voltage, an internal resistance, temperature, and the like. Then, a threshold is set for a single parameter or a plurality of parameters, and the set threshold is used as a start point and an end point of the activation.
However, these methods require continuous monitoring for detection of the parameter, which leads to excess power consumption.
Further, in a case where a plurality of units for detecting the parameter are combined, the number of auxiliary appliances is increased, which is inconvenient for reduction in cost and size.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-277136 discloses a method of controlling time from the start to the end of activation treatment by using a timer, but does not clearly disclose the time setting. On the one hand, if the set time is short, activation is not sufficiently performed. On the other hand, if the set time is extremely long, there arises a problem of flooding in which a flow path for an oxidizer gas or a fuel gas is blocked by excess produced water.

Fuel cell system and activation method for fuel cell


Provides is a C-plane GaN substrate which, although formed from a GaN crystal grown so that surface pits are generated, is free from any inversion domain, and moreover, has a low spiral dislocation density in a gallium polar surface. Provides is a C-plane GaN substrate wherein: the substrate comprises a plurality of facet growth areas each having a closed ring outline-shape on a gallium polar surface; the spiral dislocation density is less than 1×106 cm−2 anywhere on the gallium polar surface; and the substrate is free from any inversion domain. The C-plane GaN substrate may comprise a high dislocation density part having a dislocation density of more than 1×107 cm−2 and a low dislocation density part having a dislocation density of less than 1×106 cm−2 on the gallium polar surface.

GaN (gallium nitride) is one of Group III-V compound semiconductors and has a wurtzite-type crystal structure belonging to a hexagonal crystal system.
In recent years, a GaN substrate being a single crystal substrate formed of only a GaN crystal has attracted attention as a substrate for a nitride semiconductor device.
A nitride semiconductor is also called a "III-nitride based compound semiconductor", "nitride-based Group III-V compound semiconductor", "GaN-based semiconductor" or the like, and includes, besides GaN, a compound where gallium in GaN is partially or fully substituted with other Group 13 elements (B, Al, In, or the like) in the periodic table.
One particularly useful GaN substrate is a C-plane GaN substrate having a main surface parallel to or substantially parallel to the C-plane.
The C-plane GaN substrate has a gallium polar surface being a main surface on the [0001] side and a nitrogen polar surface being a main surface on the [000-1] side. The gallium polar surface is currently mainly used for formation of nitride semiconductor devices.
A GaN crystal grown by an HVPE (Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy) method is used for a C-plane GaN substrate commercially produced.
A seed used in the growth of a GaN crystal by an HVPE method is a GaN template having a c-axis-oriented GaN film grown on a single crystal substrate different in composition from GaN, such as a sapphire substrate or a GaAs substrate, by an MOVPE (Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy) method. A GaN crystal is grown on the GaN template in the c-axis direction.
Various procedures are proposed in order to reduce the dislocation density of a GaN crystal grown by an HVPE method.
In a typical example, a growth mask for allowing ELO (Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth) to occur is provided on a main surface of a seed substrate (Patent Document 1). According to this method, when crystals growing in a lateral direction mutually coalesce, a dislocation loop is formed to result in the disappearance of dislocation.
JP-A-2006-66496 (Patent Document 2) discloses a method of generating a surface pit with an inversion domain (a domain where the polarity of a crystal is locally inverted) on a GaN crystal. While the growth direction of the GaN crystal is the [0001] direction (+c direction) in any regions other than the inversion domains, it is the [000-1] direction (−c direction) in the inversion domains. It is mentioned that dislocation defects aggregating towards the surface pits are confined in the inversion domains.
One index for measuring performances and reliability of semiconductor devices is a current leakage in reverse bias. A device with less leakage is more excellent in reliability. With respect to a Group III nitride semiconductor device in which the main part of a device structure is formed with a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal, it is mentioned that a main crystal defect causing a current leakage in reverse bias corresponds to a spiral dislocation (Non-Patent Literature 1 and Non-Patent Literature 2). The term. "spiral dislocation" here refers to a pure spiral dislocation, and does not include a mixed dislocation (containing a spiral component and an edge component).


A superconducting magnet apparatus according to the present invention has serially connected superconducting magnets, which are energized and de-energized via disconnectors from a power supply installed on a vehicle of the train, mounted in a pair on both sides of a magnetically levitated train that oppose guiding ground coils of a magnetically levitated railway when the magnetically levitated train is traveling, each superconducting magnet has a plurality of serially connected superconducting coils, persistent current switches are parallel-connected across respective ones of the superconducting coils, and demagnetizers are provided for linking and changing over corresponding persistent current switches mounted in pairs on both sides of the magnetically levitated train. The superconducting magnet apparatus is provided with an interconnecting normal conductive line which, when the power supply is cut off from the disconnectors, is connected between current lead wires, which are nearest to the power supply, on a load side of the disconnectors, for serially interconnecting all of the superconducting coils so that a circulating current can be passed through them, and protective resistors having resistance values of such size that when a superconducting coil undergoes a normal conductive transition and current in the superconducting coil opposing this superconducting coil is commutated from the persistent current switch, this opposing superconducting coil is caused to undergo a normal conductive transition.

This invention relates to a superconducting magnet apparatus mounted on a magnetically levitated train and, more particularly, to a superconducting magnet apparatus mounted on a magnetically levitated train in a magnetic guidance system in which ground coils for guidance arranged on both sides of a guideway are connected by null-flux lines, wherein the superconducting magnet apparatus is arranged to oppose the guidance ground coils.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, superconducting magnets 10 are disposed in left-right symmetry on both sides of a truck 12 located below the floor of a vehicle 11, and each superconducting magnet 10 internally incorporates a plurality of superconducting coils 1. Ground coils 13 for guidance are arranged on side walls 14 of a guideway.
In the case of a specific example of a superconducting magnet used in the Magnetically Levitated Vehicle MLU 002 of the Miyazaki Test Track, Kyushu, Japan, developed by the RTRI (Railway Technical Research Institute) and illustrated on pages 18 and 19 of "Approach to the 21st Century at 500 km/h" published by the Transportation News, one superconducting magnet is disposed on each of the two sides of the truck, and each superconducting magnet internally accommodates superconducting coils. FIG. 2 shows the circuitry of a conventional superconducting magnet apparatus for a magnetically levitated train in a case where three pairs of superconducting coils are arranged on both sides of a truck.
As shown in FIG. 2, persistent current switches 2a.about.2f and protective resistors 3a.about.3f are connected to superconducting coils 1a.about.1f, respectively. Heretofore the protective resistors 3a.about.3f have been selected to have a resistance value R that will not induce a normal conductive transition in the superconducting coils when the persistent current switches 2a.about.2f are changed over to the open state.
More specifically, on the basis of actual results obtained with superconducting coils for use in a magnetically levitated train, the resistance value R selected is such that a time constant .tau.=L/R of current attenuation will be approximately 40 sec with regard to a self-inductance L (=1.5.about.4 H). For example, in the case of the superconducting magnets used in the above-mentioned magnetically levitated train MLU 002, the resistance value of the protective resistors is set at 0.07.OMEGA. when the self-inductance of the superconducting coils is 3 H.
Further, in FIG. 2, numeral 4 denotes a demagnetizer for changing over the persistent switches 2a.about.2f to the open state, and numeral 5 denotes a power supply used when energizing and de-energizing the superconducting coils 1a.about.1f. When the superconducting coils 1a.about.1f are in a persistent-current mode (the superconducting state), i.e., when the vehicle is running, the superconducting coils 1a.about.1f are cut off from the power supply 5 by disconnectors 6. Numerals 7a.about.7g designate current lead wires, 8a, 8b power-supply cables, 10a, 10b superconducting magnets and 12 the truck.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between superconducting coils and ground coils for guidance, as well as the magnetic flux, which prevails when a magnetically levitated train is running in the vicinity of an equilibrium position owing to a magnetic guiding force. Numerals 13a, 13b denote ground coils for guidance, and numeral 15 represents a null-flux line interconnecting the guiding ground coils 13a and 13b.
In a case where the superconducting magnet apparatus is not operating abnormally and the train is being levitated in the vicinity of the equilibrium position by a magnetic guiding force, the magnetic fluxes produced by the superconducting coils 1a, 1b interlink with fluxes of substantially the same magnitude with respect to the guiding ground coils 13a, 13b, respectively, on both sides, as illustrated in FIG. 3.
The guiding ground coils 13a, 13b on both sides are null-flux connected by the null-flux line 15. Consequently, when fluxes of approximately the same magnitude interlink, the induced voltages of the guiding ground coils 13a and 13b cancel each other out and the current becomes small. Accordingly, the electromagnetic forces between the superconducting coils 1a, 1b and guiding ground coils 13a, 13b also become small and so does the magnetic guiding force.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the superconducting coils and the ground coils for guidance, as well as the magnetic flux, which prevails when the train is running while undergoing a displacement in the horizontal direction from the equilibrium position.
In a case where the superconducting magnet apparatus is not operating abnormally and the train has been displaced in the horizontal direction from the equilibrium position, the spacing between the superconducting coil 1b and guiding ground coil 13b on the left side differs from the spacing between the superconducting coil 1a and guiding ground coil 13a on the right side, as shown in FIG. 4, and therefore a difference is produced in the magnetic fluxes interlinking with the respective guiding ground coils.
Since the left and right ground coils for guidance are null-flux connected by the null-flux wire 15, a repulsive force acts between the guiding ground coil 13a having the larger linkage flux and the superconducting coil 1a, and an attractive force acts between the guiding ground coil 13b having the smaller linkage flux and the superconducting coil 1b. As a result, a restoring force, namely a magnetic guiding force, that attempts to restore the displacement to the equilibrium position is produced.
If a superconducting coil undergoes a normal conductive transition from the superconductive state for some reason while the train is running, the current of this superconducting coil will be attenuated to zero in several seconds and the magnetic flux interlinked with the guiding ground coil will also decrease sharply.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship between the superconducting coils and the ground coils for guidance, as well as the magnetic flux, which prevails when the superconducting coil on one side of a train undergoes a normal conductive transition.
When the superconducting coil 1a has undergone a normal conductive transition, the magnetic flux interlinking with the guiding ground coil 13a becomes almost zero, as shown in FIG. 5. On the other hand, since the magnetic flux interlinking with opposing guiding ground coil 13b remains almost unchanged, a very large difference is produced between the magnetic fluxes interlinked with the left and right guiding ground coils irrespective of the traveling position of the vehicle, and a large current is induced in the guiding ground coils null-flux connected by the null-flux line 15.
As a result, a large electromagnetic repulsive force is produced between the guiding ground coil 13b and the superconducting coil 1b that has not undergone the normal conductive transition, and this causes the train to be pushed against the guideway side wall on the side of the superconducting coil 1a that has experienced the normal conductive transition.
In order to deal with this problem, the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-148601 discloses a method of serially connecting the superconducting coils electrically every pair of left and right coils. With this method, the currents in the left and right superconducting coils are rendered equal at all times even if the superconducting coil on one side undergoes a normal conductive transition. Consequently, the symmetry of the magnetic fields is maintained and an abnormal electromagnetic force is not produced in the lateral direction.
However, a difficulty is encountered in that since it is required for the left and right superconducting coils to be connected by superconducting lines, vacuum-insulated piping for cooling the superconducting lines must be disposed between the left and right superconducting coils. Since the left and right superconducting coils of the traveling magnetically levitated train possess independent modes of vibration, the vacuum-insulated piping undergoes deformation such as twisting and bending and cracks readily develop in the vacuum-tight portions. The proposed method has not yet been put into practical use for this reason.
Further, the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-140103 discloses a proposal in which, when a superconducting coil undergoes a normal conductive transition, a demagnetizer (or a superconductive breakdown sensor) feeds a current into a heater attached to the superconducting coil so that the opposing superconducting coil is made to undergo a normal conductive transition. With this method there is no need for cooling piping connecting the left and right superconducting coils and, hence, there is no influence from vibration.
However, sufficient reliability is not assured with regard to preventing normal conductive transition of a superconducting coil caused by malfunction of the demagnetizer resulting from lightning during traveling of the train, electrical discharge due to frictional electrification or alternating magnetic fields from the ground coils on the sides of the guideway, or normal conductive transition of a superconducting coil as a form of malfunction caused by the heater of the superconducting coil being heated by an induced voltage impressed upon the circuit extending from the demagnetizer to the heater. Since the normal conductive transition of an energized superconducting coil is accompanied by the evaporation of valuable liquid helium owing to the heat produced, this must be avoided to the utmost except in case of emergencies. Thus, since the method of attaching a heater to the superconducting coil does not assure reliability in terms of preventing malfunction, this method has not been put into practical use so far.
In the conventional superconducting magnet apparatus for magnetically levitated trains of the kind shown in FIG. 2, the superconducting coil 1b produces an induced voltage when it undergoes a normal conductive transition or when the persistent current switch 2b is changed over to the open state. Accordingly, the practice heretofore has been to sense this induced voltage by the demagnetizer 4 and cause the demagnetizer 4 to change over both of the opposing persistent current switches 2a, 2b to the open state.
If the persistent current switches 2a, 2b are changed over to the open state for some reason in this conventional superconducting magnet apparatus, the currents of the superconducting coils flowing into the persistent current switches 2a, 2b are commutated to protective resistors 3a, 3b of small resistance value so that the currents will be attenuated and de-energization achieved without the superconducting coils undergoing the normal conductive transition.
Accordingly, the normal conductive transition of superconducting coils will not be induced even if the demagnetizer 4 malfunctions.
However, when one of the superconducting coils, say the superconducting coil 1b, experiences a normal conductive transition for some reason, the opposing persistent current switch 2a is merely changed over to the open state and the opposing superconducting coil 1a does not undergo a normal conductive transition since the resistance value of the protective resistor 3a is a low 0.07.OMEGA. and, hence, the current is attenuated slowly. On the other hand, the superconducting coil 1b that has undergone the normal conductive transition is de-energized in several seconds whereas it takes several minutes for the opposing superconducting coil 1a to de-energize. Consequently, the magnetic field symmetry on the left and right sides is lost completely and there is almost no effect in terms of mitigating the abnormal electromagnetic force that thrusts the train against the side wall.
Accordingly, a large amount of structural material for strengthening the guideway is required and the cost of constructing the guideway in inevitably very high. This is a particularly serious problem considering the long distance of the line between such cities as Tokyo and Osaka.
Thus, when the superconducting coil on just one side of a magnetically levitated train undergoes a normal conductive transition, the train is thrust against a side wall of the guideway by an excessively large electromagnetic force. In order to prevent this, it is required that the superconducting coil on the opposite side opposing the superconducting coil that has undergone the normal conductive transition also be made to undergo the normal conductive transition so that the symmetry of the magnetic fields may be maintained. In addition, the mechanism that causes the opposing superconducting coil to undergo the normal conductive transition must be easy to realize, highly reliable and fail-safe.

Superconducting magnet apparatus for magnetically levitated train


A track position detecting mechanism is used to detect an outermost peripheral track position of a magnetic disc for use as a reference point in making various accesses to the magnetic disc. The track position detecting mechanism has an optical detector including a light emitting element and a light receiving element, where an optical path is formed between the light emitting element and the light receiving element, and an interrupt member provided at such a position on a carriage that the interrupt member interrupts the optical path within the optical detector when a magnetic head is located at an outermost peripheral track position on the magnetic disc. The optical path substantially coincides with a plane which includes a center line of a guide shaft which guides the carriage, and the plane is parallel to a base of the carriage.

The present invention generally relates to track position detecting mechanisms, and more particularly to a track position detecting mechanism of a magnetic disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus for detecting an outermost peripheral track position during an initializing operation of the magnetic disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional track position detecting mechanism used in a magnetic disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a disc apparatus). A carriage 1 has a magnetic head 2a provided on a base 1a thereof, and a magnetic head 2b which is provided on a lower surface of an upper head arm 3. The carriage 1 engages a lead screw 5 which is driven by a motor 4. Accordingly, the carriage 1 moves in a radial direction X of a magnetic disc (not shown) depending on a rotation quantity of the lead screw 5, and the magnetic heads 2a and 2b make sliding contact with recording surfaces of the magnetic disc. A recording region on the recording surface is defined by an innermost peripheral track and an outermost peripheral track on the magnetic disc. The lead screw 5 penetrates one side portion of the carriage 1 while a guide shaft 6 penetrates the other side portion of the carriage 1. The carriage 1 moves under the guidance of the guide shaft 6.
During an initializing operation of the disc apparatus, it is necessary to detect the outermost peripheral track (track "00") as a reference point. This reference point is used as a reference in determining track positions on the magnetic disc during a recording mode or a reproducing mode of the disc apparatus. This outermost peripheral track is detected when a projecting member 1b which projects upwardly from the base 1a of the carriage 1 enters within a slit 7a of an optical detector 7 and interrupts an optical path within the optical detector 7 between a light emitting element (not shown) and a light receiving element (not shown) which constitute the optical detector 7. The optical detector 7 is mounted on a lower surface of a plate 8 which is indicated by a one-dot chain line and is fixed to a base (not shown) of the disc apparatus. The position of the optical detector 7 is fixed after a relative position between the optical detector 7 and the projecting member lb is appropriately adjusted.
In an initial state of the disc apparatus and when a power failure occurs during operation of the disc apparatus, for example, the magnetic heads 2a and 2b are automatically moved to the outermost peripheral track positions on the respective recording surfaces of the magnetic disc. In the conventional track position detecting mechanism, measures are taken so as to facilitate the loading and unloading of the magnetic disc when the magnetic heads 2a and 2b are located at the outermost peripheral track positions on the respective recording surfaces of the magnetic disc. In other words, a rod 9 moves in a direction Y and makes contact with an arm portion 3a of the upper head arm 3 which is urged downwardly by a torsion spring 10, thereby bending a leaf spring 3b which supports the upper head arm 3 and separating the magnetic head 2b from the magnetic head 2a. When the separation of the magnetic heads 2a and 2b takes place, a force due to a pivotal displacement of the upper head arm 3 acts on the carriage 1 in the upward direction, and a slight resilient deformation occurs in the guide shaft 6. For this reason, the projecting member 1b of the carriage 1 is also slightly inclined or displaced due to the resilient deformation of the guide shaft 6. When the projecting member 1b is slightly inclined or displaced, a timing with which the optical path within the optical detector 7 is interrupted by the projecting member 1b varies slightly, and there is a problem in that an error is introduced in the detection of the outermost peripheral track position. When such an erroneous detection of the outermost peripheral track position occurs, all accesses made during the operating mode of the disc apparatus will be made to an erroneous track position since each access refers to the reference point (that is, the outermost peripheral track position).
For example, it is conceivable to make the diameter of the guide shaft 6 large and make the guide shaft 6 rigid so that the guide shaft 6 will not undergo a resilient deformation even when the above described force acts on the carriage 1. However, in this case, a resistance against a sliding motion of the carriage 1 increases due to the increased outer peripheral surface of the guide shaft 6, and the motor 4 must have a large torque in order to drive the carriage 1. Consequently, the size of the motor 4 increases and there is a problem in that the track position detecting mechanism as a whole becomes bulky because of the large-diameter guide shaft 6 and the large motor 4. It is highly undesirable that the track position detecting mechanism is bulky since the track position detecting mechanism must usually be accommodated within a limited space inside the disc apparatus.
On the other hand, it is also conceivable to use such a rigid material for the guide shaft 6 that no resilient deformation will occur even when the above described force acts on the carriage 1. But at the present, a highly rigid material suited for use in the guide shaft 6 is expensive, and there is no available material that meets the rigidity requirement and is also satisfactory costwise.


A background-picture compensating circuit using an OSD signal for performing a half tone function without requiring a half tone circuit includes a video signal processor for separating a received composite video signal into R, G, B signals, a microcomputer for muting the R, G, B outputs of the video signal processor upon the receipt of an OSD character display key input to supply a signal for a background picture of the OSD character, and a CRT driver for amplifying respective R, G, B signals from the video signal processor or microcomputer to provide the amplified signals to a cathode of a CRT, in which the microcomputer supplies pulses of a high frequency in response to an input of the signal for the background picture of the OSD character to swiftly repeat On/Off operation of the output of the R, G, B signals of the video signal processor on the background picture of the OSD character for making the background picture level lower than a surrounding level, thereby enabling a display of both an original picture covered by the background picture and the OSD character, simultaneously without any additional half tone circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a background-picture compensating circuit using an on-screen display (hereinafter referred to as "OSD") signal. More particularly the invention relates to a background-picture compensating circuit using an OSD signal, wherein a window for an OSD character background picture is set around a predetermined portion of the OSD characters. The background picture level is made lower than the surrounding picture level by performing a half tone function without any separate half tone circuit therefor. An original picture is displayed covered by the background picture and the OSD characters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The half tone function generally means that the luminance level around an OSD character becomes lower than that of an original picture signal to improve the OSD character display. Typically, the half tone is carried out by using an integrated circuit provided with the half tone function. This complicates the circuitry and increases its cost.
Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 61-269573 entitled "Half Tone Processing Circuit in a Television" discloses a technique whereby a half tone signal received during a blanking pulse output period of a character signal is supplied to a video signal processing circuit as a beam current limit signal for lowering luminance around the characters, so that the characters can easily be visually distinguished.
In other words, the prior art carries out the half tone function in such a manner that an automatic luminance limit circuit for providing the beam current limit signal to automatically control the luminance is supplied with the half tone signal during the blanking pulse output period of the character signal, and the half tone signal is then transmitted to the video signal processing circuit to thereby lower the luminance around the characters.
In the above construction, however, the luminance around the characters can be lowered by the half tone signal, but the half tone signal is supplied from an additional half tone circuit to thereby complicate the circuitry and increase cost.

Background-picture compensating circuit using on-screen display signals


A blade arrangement on a wall of a fluid flow path of a turbomachine includes a locating channel disposed in the wall and having undercut flanks. A plurality of blades each having a blade-side root section corresponding to the undercut flanks. A plurality of intermediate filling pieces correspond to the undercut flanks and separate each of the blade-side root sections. The plurality of blade-side root sections and intermediate filling pieces are seated in a form-fitting manner and fixed in a force-locking manner in the locating channel. The plurality of intermediate filling pieces fill out the locating channel so as to form a gas flow-side surface essentially free of a disturbing contour between the blade-side root sections. Each of the plurality of intermediate filling pieces includes a threaded hole disposed essentially perpendicular to a base of the channel. A screw is disposed in the threaded hole.

EP 1 803 900 A1 shows a locking sub-assembly with which the remaining gap between a first and a last blade of a blade ring, which are inserted in a circumferential groove of a turbomachine, is to be closed. In this case, it essentially concerns a two-piece intermediate piece which is arranged between the roots of the first and the last blade and which can be clamped by means of screw elements against the undercut flanks of the circumferential groove.
EP 1 548 232 A1 shows the arrangement of stator blades of a turbomachine, wherein the stator blades have stator blade roots which are seated in a form-fitting manner in a circumferential groove, having undercut flanks, of a stator blade carrier. Between adjacent stator blade roots, filling pieces, which determine the spacing of the stator blade roots in the circumferential direction, are arranged in the circumferential groove. In order to fix the filling pieces without clearance, provision is made on the base of the circumferential groove for groove-like recesses with annular pressure segments, arranged therein, which force the filling pieces away from the base of the circumferential groove which accommodates them so that the filling pieces, by corresponding profiles, butt against the undercut flanks of the circumferential groove in a force-locking manner. The pressure segments can make installation or removal of the filling pieces considerably more difficult.
GB 2156908 A relates to a rotor arrangement of a turbomachine. In this case, it is intended to insert the rotor blades of the rotor by correspondingly formed rotor blade roots into a rotor-side locating channel, wherein the rotor blade roots, by corresponding profiles, are retained in a form-fitting manner in undercuts on the flanks of the channel. For securing the rotor blade roots in the longitudinal direction of the channel, provision is made for a locking piece which, by means of a clamping screw, can be clamped in a form-fitting and force-locking manner between the undercuts of the flanks of the channel and the base of the channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,706 also relates to the securing of rotor blade roots, specifically in the longitudinal direction of a rotor-side channel which accommodates the rotor blade roots. In this case, locking pieces are arranged on both sides of a rotor blade root, which locking pieces are installed after arranging the rotor blade roots in the channel and can be fixed inside the channel between flank-side undercuts and the base of the channel by means of clamping elements, which are not described in more detail (in the drawing, clamping screws are shown only by way of indication). At no point is it shown or indicated that the locking pieces are to fill out the locating channel for the rotor blade roots between the rotor blades to form a surface which is essentially free of disturbing contours.
EP 1 865 153 A2 shows the arrangement of rotor blades on a compressor disk. This has a circumferential channel, with undercut flanks, which accommodates correspondingly matched rotor blade roots in a form-fitting manner. For securing the rotor blade roots, a locking piece is arranged inside the locating channel and, in the inserted state, fits beneath undercut flanks of the locating channel and, by means of a clamping screw which engages in a recess on the base of the channel, can be clamped inside the channel in a force-locking and form-fitting manner. Here also, it is neither shown nor indicated that the locking piece could form a surface between the adjacent rotor blades which is free of disturbing contours.
The prior art shows no blade arrangement in which filling pieces, which are arranged between adjacent blades or between their roots, form a surface between the blades which is essentially free of disturbing contours on the one hand, and on the other hand can be clamped inside an undercut locating channel in a form-fitting and force-locking manner.

Blade arrangement, especially stator blade arrangement


Apparatus and methods for managing service delivery quality levels and telemetry. In one embodiment, an entity (such as a Session Resource Manager or SRM) receives network layout data from the network. The SRM uses the layout data to generate a mapping of the network. The SRM also receives performance data related to the interconnections of the network. The performance data is then applied to the mapping such that, in one variant, an visual overlay showing network flow and/or performance analytics is created. Based on this mapping showing layout and corresponding performance, the SRM generates rules for delivery of services. The rules may detail preferred routes and service level information. The rules are the distributed to nodes along the delivery route and delivery is executed in compliance with the rules.

1. Technological Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of content and/or data delivery over a network. More particularly, the present disclosure is related, in one exemplary aspect, to apparatus and methods for management of quality of service for managed service provision via an external network.
2. Description of Related Technology
The proliferation of the Internet and increased connection technologies such as broadband has contributed to the development of different avenues for content provision, such as for example Internet Protocol (IP) delivery. Accordingly, these new avenues have allowed for delivery of content to previously unavailable customer bases over, e.g., externally managed networks (EMNs).
These externally managed networks include, without limitation, networks of competing service providers, municipalities, enterprises, and non-profit groups such as universities. In the absence of the aforementioned avenues, provision of information services (such as television or other content services) or telecommunications services to these externally managed networks is generally limited to a single owner of the underlying physical data lines. Alternatively, these services may be provided wholesale to the externally managed network with limited service support options for network administrators.
However, the provision of services over EMNs presents challenges for service providers. For example, a service provider (e.g. multiple systems operator or "MSO") providing IP television (IPTV) service to a university is simultaneously charged with providing reliable IPTV service, while having only limited (or no) control of the "last mile" of the delivery network. Thus, the IPTV service provider may be held responsible for delivery failures or periods of limited service without options for mitigation available because of this limited control. For example, the service provider may be improperly held responsible for a buffer underrun error resulting in a loss of IPTV playback at user device. In this case, the responsible party may be the administrator of the network infrastructure of the EMN charged with last mile delivery. As such, the service provider may receive a service complaint and be unable to restore operation of the network infrastructure (or even properly diagnose the issue).
The aforementioned problem is compounded by the fact that services such as high-definition (HD) IPTV have comparatively daunting quality of service requirements. Further, denying service options to externally managed network operators based on their network's current capabilities, or forcing upgrades to such capabilities as a predicate to service, may unduly limit service opportunities.
Hence, flexible management tools for maintaining quality of service on external networks are one salient need presented by the foregoing situation. Ideally, such tools should allow for implementation of services with varying quality of service requirements and integration with a wide variety of network architectures.

Apparatus and methods for managing service delivery telemetry


A phase locked loop includes a voltage controlled oscillator and a frequency divider or frequency multiplier. The voltage controlled oscillator and the frequency divider/multiplier are coupled together in a stacked configuration. A drive current is supplied to the voltage controlled oscillator. The drive current passes from the voltage controlled oscillator to the frequency divider/multiplier, thereby driving the frequency divider/multiplier with the same drive current that was supplied to the voltage controlled oscillator.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of voltage controlled oscillators. The present disclosure relates more particularly to the field of ring oscillators.
2. Description of the Related Art
Phase locked loops are commonly used in integrated circuits to ensure that clock signals used throughout the integrated circuit die have phases that are locked together. Phase locked loops typically include a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) that generates an oscillator signal having a particular frequency. Typically, the phase locked loop also includes an input oscillator signal. The phase locked loop ensures that the phase of the input oscillator signal and the phase of the oscillator signal generated by the VCO are locked together in a particular relationship.
To assist in this, the phase locked loop typically includes a frequency divider that divides the oscillator signal by some integer number. The frequency divider is in the feedback path of the phase locked loop and it divides the voltage controlled oscillator output. The divided oscillator signal is fed back to a phase detector. The input oscillator signal is also provided to the phase detector. The phase detector outputs a phase difference signal indicative of a phase difference between the divided oscillator signal and the input oscillator signal. The phase difference signal is fed back to the voltage controlled oscillator with the fact that the output oscillator signal of the VCO has a phase that is locked with the phase of the input oscillator signal.
With state-of-the art phase-locked loops outputting frequencies in the multi-GHz frequency range, power optimization is a key goal to increase the battery life. Reducing the power consumption of the divider is beneficial in realizing low-power PLL.
However, standard frequency dividers consume large amounts of power. In particular, at RF frequencies the power consumed by the frequency divider is a substantial portion of the total phase locked loop power consumption. It is desirable to provide a phase locked loop with reduced power consumption.

Current reused stacked ring oscillator and injection locked divider, injection locked multiplier


A device includes a base configured to be coupled to a storage segment of a pipe support assembly. The device also includes an arm configured to be coupled to the base. The arm is configured to provide lateral support to a pipe when the pipe is disposed in a storage area adjacent to a first portion of the storage segment. The arm is also configured to move in a horizontal direction from a first location in which an end of the arm is disposed at a first horizontal distance from the storage segment to a second location in which the end of the arm is disposed at second horizontal distance from the storage segment when a force greater than or equal to a predetermined level is applied to the arm.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Advances in the petroleum industry have allowed access to oil and gas drilling locations and reservoirs that were previously inaccessible due to technological limitations. For example, technological advances have allowed drilling of offshore wells at increasing water depths and in increasingly harsh environments, permitting oil and gas resource owners to successfully drill for otherwise inaccessible energy resources. Likewise, drilling advances have allowed for increased access to land based reservoirs.
Piping or pipes (e.g., tubular pipes such as drill pipes) may be utilized in conjunction with accessing oil and gas drilling locations. As depths of reservoirs increase, needs for additional piping to reach the reservoirs increase as well. Storage systems for the storage of the pipes increasingly are utilized to provide a storage location that allows for rapid access to pipes that are combined into a pipe string (e.g., a plurality of coupled pipes) to access a well and/or as a storage location for pipes that are being detached from the pipe string.


A cutting tool includes a cutting insert, the insert including a cutting edge. The cutting tool also includes a cassette including an insert clamp for clamping the insert relative to an abutment surface of the cassette, and a generally cylindrical base portion. The cutting tool also includes a tool holder body, the tool holder body having a cylindrical opening in which the base portion of the cassette is disposed. A cassette clamp including a wedge is provided for clamping the cassette relative to the tool holder body. The cutting edge extends beyond a periphery of the tool holder body when the insert is clamped relative to the abutment surface of the cassette and the cassette is clamped relative to the tool holder body.

The present invention relates generally to cutting tools and, more particularly, to cutting tools having insert supporting cassettes.
In most cutting tools having replaceable cutting inserts, a cutting insert is mounted in a recess in a tool holder body and is clamped to an abutment surface by a clamp such as a screw extending through a hole in the insert into an internally threaded hole in the tool holder body. The abutment surface may be part of the tool holder body itself, or an intermediate structure such as a shim that is itself clamped to a surface formed in a recess formed on the tool holder body. In either event, design of a tool holder body is complicated when it is desired to position the insert so that a working cutting edge of the insert defines a certain angle with a longitudinal axis of the tool holder body, and so that rake and relief surfaces of the insert are properly oriented relative to the tool holder body. Once the design is completed, machining of the insert-receiving recesses in the tool holder body is likewise complicated. The finished tool holder body generally has a single function such as, for rotating tools, for example, being adapted to bore an opening having a particular diameter.
It is desirable to provide a cutting tool in which the design and machining of the tool holder body can be simplified. It is also desirable to provide a cutting tool that is more flexible in application than conventional cutting tools.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a cutting tool comprises a cutting insert, the insert comprising a cutting edge, a cassette comprising an insert clamp for clamping the insert relative to an abutment surface of the cassette, and a generally cylindrical base portion, a tool holder body, the tool holder body having a cylindrical opening in which the base portion of the cassette is disposed, and a cassette clamp comprising a wedge for clamping the cassette relative to the tool holder body, the cutting edge extending beyond a periphery of the tool holder body when the insert is clamped relative to the abutment surface of the cassette and the cassette is clamped relative to the tool holder body.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a cassette adapted to be mounted relative to a cutting tool comprises a body comprising an abutment surface to which an insert is adapted to be clamped by an insert clamp and a generally cylindrical base portion receivable in a cylindrical opening in a tool holder body. The abutment surface comprises an internally threaded opening for receiving a screw of the insert clamp, the internally threaded opening being substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of at least one of the cassette and the tool holder body.

Cutting tool with replaceable insert supporting cassette


The subject invention provides a process for preparing a water-absorbent polymer by the addition of a surface crosslinking agent to a hydrogel. In particular, the subject invention provides a process for preparing a water-absorbent polymer by the addition of a surface crosslinking agent to a hydrogel in the absence of a surfactant.

Water-swellable polymers are used as constituents in personal care devices which absorb bodily fluids, such as sanitary napkins, incontinent devices and disposable baby diapers. Examples of such polymers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,926,891; 4,190,562; and 4,293,609.
Various processes are known for producing absorbent polymers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,222 teaches a process for preparing an absorbent polymer from a neutralized monomer with a surface-active agent. U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,637 teaches the uniform reaction of acrylic acid, an alkali metal salt of carbonic acid, aluminum acetate, sodium sulfate and water, preferably using microwave radiation as a heat source to initiate polymerization.
Another process comprises the steps of preparing a reaction mixture consisting essentially of particular amounts of polymerizable acid group-containing monomers, crosslinking agent and optionally free radical initiator in an aqueous medium and thereafter polymerizing and neutralizing at least a portion of the acid functional groups.
Absorbent polymers used in personal care devices are characterized by certain performance properties, including centrifuge capacity, absorbence under load, shear modulus, and percent extractables.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,983 discloses an absorbent article obtained by mixing 100 parts by weight of an absorbent resin powder having a carboxyl group with 0.0001 to 10 parts by weight of a crosslinking agent to crosslink the molecular chains existing at least in the vicinity of the surface of the absorbent resin powder. The patent discloses that at least 70 percent by weight of the particles will preferably pass through a 60-mesh sieve. Comparative Example 2 of the patent provides that when the crosslinking agent was added to a gel-like hydrous polymer having a larger particle size than the powder particles, the effect was contrary to that expected, or was small.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,478 discloses a water-absorbing resin powder having the molecular chains crosslinked near the particle surfaces, the resin powder being obtained by mixing 100 parts by weight of a powder of a carboxyl-containing water-absorbing resin with 0.001 to 10 parts by weight of a polyhydric alcohol and heating the mixture at a temperature of at least 100.degree. C. to react the powder with the polyhydric alcohol, the improvement comprising conducting the mixing of the powder and the polyhydric alcohol in the presence of 0.01 to 8 parts by weight of a hydrophilic organic solvent and 0 to 8 parts by weight of water per 100 parts by weight of the powder. The patent provides that not more than 50 percent by weight of the particles of the resin powder will pass through a 200-mesh sieve.
The process incorporated into the product claims of U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,478 suffers the following disadvantages. First, traces of water are quickly absorbed by water absorbent polymers, making it difficult to introduce additives to the polymer particles, which additives are to be applied as an aqueous solution. Second, the addition of an aqueous solution to the polymer powder results in particle agglomeration; when the agglomerated particles are subjected to heat, they may form hard clusters which make additional processing such as breaking and screening necessary. Third, the patent discloses that if the polyalcohols are added without a solvent, good distribution is not possible. The polymer coating formulation therefore preferably contains a hydrophilic organic solvent, e.g., methanol. The use of an organic solvent is not preferred, due to the associated special handling and the solvent recycle/disposal requirements.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/866,628 discloses a process for preparing a surface crosslinked water absorbent polymer, wherein a hydrogel is contacted with a composition containing a polyhydroxy compound and a surfactant to coat the hydrogel. The coated hydrogel is then dried to form particles, is optionally ground to form sized particles, and is heated to crosslink the surface of the particles. In preferred embodiments, the hydrogels will comprise from about 15 to about 100 weight percent polymer, with the remainder comprising water. In preferred embodiment, the hydrogel is preferably in granular form, with particle sizes of about 2 cm or less being more preferred. The composition which contains the polyhydroxy compound and the surfactant will preferably contain from about 0 to about 99 percent water and from about 0 to about 50 weight percent organic solvent. The resultant compositions are disadvantageous to the extent that they require the use of expensive surfactants, which add cost to the finished product.
Japanese Kokai Publication 84632/1981 discloses an absorption agent consisting of a crosslinked poly(alkali metal acrylate) material obtained from 0.01 to 10 parts by weight of a water-soluble and/or water dispersible surfactant and 0.005 to 20 parts by weight of a water-soluble polyvalent alcohol per 100 parts by weight of an acrylic acid/acrylate based polymer composed of from 10-40 mole percent acrylic acid and 60-100 mole percent acrylate salt, wherein the polymer is formed by gel polymerization as a gel which is subsequently heated and dried.
European Patent Application 248,963 discloses a process of post treatment wherein the surface of water-absorbent resin particles are treated with polyquarternary amines to significantly increase the absorption rate and to increase the absorption under load (AUL) by 10 percent. In the disclosed process, the polyquarternary amines are applied as solutions in methanol. A separate blending operation is required to evenly distribute the polyquaternary amine evenly throughout the resin.
European Patent Application 248,437 discloses a process for post surface crosslinking in which an aqueous solution of a water-soluble peroxide radical initiator is sprayed onto the surface of the water absorbent resin particles and the coated particles are heated. The reference alleges the achievement of additional surface crosslinking, leading to a product of improved water absorbency and water absorption rate. The reference discloses that the uniformity of penetration of the aqueous solution into the surface of the absorbent polymer may be improved by using a water soluble organic solvent such as methanol. The disclosed process suffers the disadvantage of using high levels of peroxide free radical initiators, which discolors partly neutralized polyacrylic acid, making the product less appealing for personal care applications. The disclosed process suffers the further disadvantage of increasing the amount of extractable polymer, e.g., low molecular weight water-soluble polymer, if the polymer is subjected to heat.
German Patent DE 3,713,601 discloses a process in which surface crosslinking is obtained by the addition of a crosslinker of glycidyl or polyglycidyl compounds. These crosslinking agents are not preferred in applications wherein the polymer is expected to contact human skin.
In the prior art processes, it has been noted that the contact time of the polymer and the surface crosslinking agent should be sufficient to coat the particles with the surface crosslinking agent, but not so long as to allow diffusion of the surface crosslinking agent into the pores or internal structure of the water-absorbent resin particles. It would be advantageous to provide a process which is flexible with respect to the amount of time for which the polymer may be in contact with the surface crosslinking agent prior to the onset of the surface crosslinking reaction.
Industry would find great advantage in a process for preparing an aqueous fluid absorbent having improved absorbency under load and capacity, which process does not require the use of expensive surfactants and which process does not require the implementation of additional process equipment. Such a process would provide a highly desirable product in a cost-effective manner.

Process for preparing a water-absorbent polymer


Selenium or selenium-containing compounds may be used as electroactive materials in electrodes or electrochemical devices. The selenium or selenium-containing compound is mixed with a carbon material.

As the evolution of batteries continues, and particularly as lithium batteries become more widely accepted for a variety of uses, the need for safe, long-lasting, high-energy batteries becomes more important. There has been considerable interest in recent years in developing high energy density cathode-active materials for use in high energy primary and secondary batteries. For example, lithium-sulfur based materials can reach a specific capacity equal to 1670 mAh/g, which is one order of magnitude higher than for LiCoO2. Unfortunately, lithium sulfur batteries have traditionally suffered from low sulfur utilization resulting in a low capacity and severe capacity fade, resulting in short battery lifetimes. Additionally, lithium sulfur batteries are typically operated in the molten state, thus high temperature operation is needed. The poor cycleability of lithium sulfur batteries is mainly due to its insulating character and the solubility of intermediary polysulfides during the charge-discharge process.
Lithium selenium batteries, using molten salt eutectics such as LiF—LiCl—LiI (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,221) or a mixture of LiAlO2 and LiF—LiCl—LiI eutectics (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,500), have been described, but which operate only in the molten state of the salt, at high temperature (e.g. above 285° C.). A battery based upon Li2Se/Li was also investigated using a fluidic positive electrode (e.g. 1M Li2Se in a mixture of ethylene carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate (volume ratio 1 to 1)) (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,645,539). However, neither of these approaches is of practical use due to the extreme operating temperatures and safety issues of liquid or molten electrodes.

Electrode materials for rechargeable batteries


The proposed architecture is integrated in a generic System on Chip (SoC) and can include or consist of an expanded network interface and an infrastructure for accessing Intellectual Property (IP) cores in the system. The architecture enables the system on chip to communicate with a user workstation connected to a communication network. The invention can be used as a simplified network interface for data exchange, which does not require embedded processors and respective software. The invention can be used to temporarily replace the normal data input and output of an IP core with stimuli and responses used for a variety of purposes.

An integrated circuit implementing a complex SoC needs to be accessed for functional and non functional purposes due to a number of reasons namely external configuration, observation and control, maintenance and updates.
SoCs have to adapt to a number of external circumstances, environments and standards. To accomplish this flexibility, configuration registers are used to store configuration values which influence the behavior of IP cores. Moreover, it is often necessary to issue commands while the IP core is working, and to monitor its state; this is normally accomplished by means of control and status registers. Comprehensive information about the state of the system or extensive programming can be obtained by dumping or uploading the entire contents of internal memories.
Previous schemes have been proposed to access integrated circuits for control, observation and configuration purposes. These functions tend to be separate from other communication functions and to use specific pins. Traditional schemes are normally low-speed serial protocols, which avoid using too many chip pins. Well known examples of such schemes include the I2C bus from Philips [1] or the SPI bus from Motorola [2]. The JTAG standard, initially developed for test purposes, has also become a major chip configuration and verification method and has been standardized by IEEE Std 1149.1 [3].
Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) use Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) for chip configuration. Since FPGAs are fully configurable chips, they require massive amounts of configuration data, which, when input using JTAG, take a long time to upload on the chip.
FPGA vendors have developed proprietary configuration methods other than JTAG for providing shorter configuration times. These schemes normally use a parallel interface and load the configuration data from an external PROM, which is less flexible then getting the configuration data from a computer as with JTAG.
A known difficulty with JTAG is when only part of the chip needs to be reconfigured. To solve this problem, FPGA vendors have offered partial reconfiguration schemes which divide the chip in regions and allow reconfiguration of each region. However, these regions have to be large or otherwise the configuration setup overhead is too big. On the other hand I2C and SPI can be used to read or write small configuration registers but lack the ability to handle large amounts of configuration data.
An even more advanced feature is run-time reconfiguration. In some applications it has been proven advantageous to reconfigure the whole or parts of the chip while the application is running. This improves hardware utilization, saves area and improves performance. Infrastructure for runtime reconfiguration needs to be fast enough so that the reconfiguration time does not impact the computation time significantly. Additionally, reconfiguration needs to occur synchronously to the system clock, which is normally difficult to guarantee as configuration schemes tend to use their own clock domain. Traditional configuration schemes are bad for this purpose since they are slow and use a dedicated serial clock, distinct from the system clock.
With traditional configuration schemes, a configurable device can be programmed via the network if it is attached to a computer which is connected to the network. However, since the traditional configuration schemes are low-speed, any activity which requires data to be sent or received at speed from the device cannot be performed. Such activities include verification, debug, test, rapid partial and runtime configuration.
The schemes mentioned above are meant to access chips. With the current levels of system integration, printed circuit boards have been replaced with SoCs, where components are now embedded cores integrated in single silicon die. Thus, instead of accessing chips the need now arises to access cores inside the SoC. The IEEE 1500 standard is an extension of IEEE 1149 and proposes a means for accessing embedded cores for test. However, its main limitation is the fact that it implements a serial protocol and requires a long scan-chain to be implemented in the SoC. The result is slow stimuli application and response retrieval. Also a scan-chain does not follow the inherently hierarchical structure of digital circuits, and additional mechanisms such as defined in patent application US2003/120986 are needed to work hierarchically with this scheme.
This invention addresses all the problems mentioned above by embedding control, observation and configuration within the chip communication infrastructure itself, using a standard network interface embedded in the system. This way, the communication to the outside of the chip is high-speed serial, whereas the core to core internal communication is lower speed, parallel and memory mapped. Chip control, observation and configuration can be achieved without need for special fixtures and debug equipment such as JTAG pods and cables. Transactions can be achieved at the speed of communication networks, which provides much more bandwidth than traditional access schemes. Partial reconfiguration is facilitated by means of the proposed scheme, since the scheme is hierarchical and the configuration registers are addressable. Runtime reconfiguration is also made easier since the whole system is synchronous. With this invention the IP cores inside an SoC become networked devices in their own right. Thus, they can be directly accessed for verification, testing, field maintenance and firmware updates.