A device and method for engaging the fill valve assembly in a water closet and maintaining the fill valve assembly in a closed condition regardless to the level of water in the flush tank of the water closet. The device includes two suspension elements that engage the walls of the flush tank on either side of the float lever portion of the fill valve assembly. A flexible element extends between the two suspension elements, wherein the flexible element passes under the float lever as extends from one suspension element to the other. As the flexible element is pulled taut, the flexible element abuts against the float lever and upwardly biases the float lever. The upward bias that is applied to the float lever causes the fill valve assembly to close. The upward bias also prevents the fill valve assembly from leaving its closed configuration regardless to the level of water in the flush tank.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices and methods that enable a person to manipulate the position of the fill valve assembly in a water closet, thereby controlling the point at which the fill valve stops filling the flush tank after the water closet has been flushed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is replete with different types of water closets and similar sanitary toilets. One of the most common water closet designs available in the prior art uses a flush tank positioned over a bowl. When the bowl needs to be emptied, a flush valve is opened in between the flush tank and the bowl. Water passes into the bowl from the flush tank, thereby washing the contents of the bowl down into the sewer. When the flush tank empties below a predetermined level, the flush valve closes and the flush tank refills with water in preparation for the next flush.
Most modern toilets contain a fill valve assembly that controls the flow of fresh water into the flush tank as the flush tank refills. The fill valve assembly is coupled to an incoming water line. The refill valve is opened and closed by the movement of an elongated lever that has a float at its far end. When the flush tank empties below a predetermined level, the float lays low in the tank and the refill valve is opened, thereby allowing fresh water to flow into the flush tank. As the water level rises, the float also rises until the refill valve closes and the flow of fresh water into the flush tank is stopped.
In many different situations, it is desirable to prevent the flow of water into the water closet through the fill valve assembly. For example, if the bowl of the water closet becomes clogged after the water closet has been flushed, the bowl may overflow onto the floor unless the flow of water into the water closet is immediately stopped. By adding a manual control to the fill valve assembly, the flow of water into the water closet can be stopped before an overflow condition occurs. In addition to the concerns of overflow, another reason for adding a manual control to the operation of the fill valve assembly is that of maintenance. When a water closet is being repaired or cleaned, it is often desirable to empty the water from the flush tank and the bowl. In the past, the water supply to the water closet had to be stopped at a point external of the water closet. This often required a person to remove a plumbing access panel or venture into the service crawl ways of a home in order to access the appropriate water supply valve.
A need therefore exists in the prior art for device and method by which the fill valve assembly of a water closet can be held in a closed set position, regardless to water level within the flush tank, using a device that can be rapidly and easily applied to most all existing water closet designs.

Device and method for manipulating the fill valve assembly in a water closet


The invention relates to a method for producing a guided bite splint for a supporting jaw comprising at least one guide for an opposing jaw. A 3D model of an upper jaw and/or a 3D model of a lower jaw are available, wherein the 3D models of the upper jaw and the lower jaw are arranged relative to one another in an occlusal position and integrated into a virtual articulator model which simulates an articulation movement of the lower jaw relative to the upper jaw, wherein a 3D model of the bite splint is constructed using the 3D model of the upper jaw and/or the 3D model of the lower jaw, wherein the at least one guide for the opposing jaw is constructed automatically on the 3D model of the bite splint with the aid of a computer.

From the state of the art, production methods for a guided bite splint are known, in which a guided bite splint is clamped into an articulator and gradually adjusted. In particular the guide tracks are produced mechanically step-by-step using an articulation movement in the articulator, in which the material is gradually removed manually.
DE 20 2010 006 250 U1 discloses a device for producing a guide rail for correcting the condylar position of a temporomandibular joint, whereby the device comprises a positionally variable platform on which a lower jaw model is arranged and the position of which relative to the upper jaw model is changed using a control device.
DE 10 2013 112 032 A1 discloses a method for constructing a bite splint, wherein 3D data of the two jaws is acquired, and the position of the jaws and the temporomandibular joints of the patient relative to one another is acquired, wherein an occlusion is simulated, wherein dental interfering contacts of a craniomandibular system are identified and a bite splint is constructed using the acquired 3D data and from the simulation of the obtained data, so that the identified interfering contacts are eliminated. In order to avoid pain, a series of multiple bite splints is constructed to interactively approximate the physiological position of the temporomandibular joints, whereby the bite splints of the series differ only slightly in their shape and the temporomandibular joints are thus brought into their physiological position in small discrete steps over a longer period of time.
US 2015/0238280 A1 discloses a device and method for positioning the jaws for jaw correction, wherein a treatment plan is provided, wherein a virtual model of a dental device comprises a first shell and a second shell configured to reposition the two jaws of the patient. A first element can be attached to the upper shell and a second element can be attached to the lower shell, wherein the two elements come into contact with one another to bring about a desired displacement of the two jaws.
EP 1516604 A1 discloses an intraoral therapy device, preferably a snore therapy device, having an upper jaw splint and a lower jaw splint, wherein the two splints are connected to one another in an articulated manner with a fixed rod.
One disadvantage of the known methods is that the guides of a guided bite splint are added later by manual reworking.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a method for producing a guided bite splint which allows a precise and time-saving production of a guided bite splint, whereby manual production errors, in particular of the guides of the bite splint, are to be avoided.

Method for producing a guided bit guard, and guided bite guard


The present invention discloses an improved process for the preparation of dihydroxydiphenylmethanes by reacting phenol over a microporous alumino-silicate zeolite catalyst composite material in the presence of a condensing agent and a solvent at a temperature in the range of 5 to 200xc2x0 C. for a period between 0.1 to 24 hours at autogeneous pressure and separating the dihydroxydiphenylmethanes by any conventional method.

The present invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of dihydroxydiphenylmethanes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for the selective preparation of 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane by reacting phenol with formaldehyde in the presence of microporous zeolite catalyst.
4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane is useful as a starting material for the production of polycarbonate resins, polyester resins and epoxy resins and as a modifier and stabiliser for phenol resins.
Several methods are known in the art for the production of dihydroxydiphenylmethanes. Japanese Patent Jpn. Kokai Tokkyo Koho JP 0687775 (CA 121:57131) discloses a method for the condensation of phenol with aqueous formaldehyde using phosphotungstic acid which consists of 10:43:47 ratio of 2,2xe2x80x2-, 2,4xe2x80x2- and 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane isomers. EP 331, 172: CA 112:7160 discloses a method for reacting phenol with formaldehyde in the presence of an activated clay at 80xc2x0 C. for 2 hours to give 38.8% of 4,4xe2x80x2-, 15.8% of 2,2xe2x80x2-, and 38.4% of 2,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane and 7.0% oligomer JP 63, 238, 632: CA 116: 75045 discloses a method for reacting phenol with formaldehyde in the presence of activated clay catalyst to give 2,2xe2x80x2-, 2,4xe2x80x2-, and 4,4xe2x80x2dihydroxydiphenylmethane in the ratio of 17.1: 41.4:44.5.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,554: CA 99:175378 discloses a method for reacting phenol with formaldehyde in a two phase mixture in the presence of aqueous H3PO4 at 45xc2x0 C. to give 4,4xe2x80x2-, 2,4xe2x80x2- and 2,2xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane in a ratio of 55:37:8. U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,392 (1990) discloses a process for reacting phenol with formaldehyde in the presence of activated clay at 80xc2x0 C. under nitrogen atmosphere for two hours to give 4,4xe2x80x2-, 2,4xe2x80x2- and 2,2xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane in a ratio of 42.8:40.5:16.7. JP-B-39-26844 discloses a method for reacting phenol with formaldehyde in the presence of urea. U.S. Pat. No. 2,617,832 discloses a process for reacting phenol with dimethylol urea in the presence of an acidic catalyst.
A number of methods are known in the prior art for preparing dihydroxydiphenylmethane by reacting phenol with formaldehyde. Examples thereof include a method wherein an inorganic liquid acid such as hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid or phosphoric acid is used as catalysts (cf. JP-A-58-177928; the term JP-A- as used herein refers to unexamined published Japanese patent applications. Also, cf. British patent No. 1,493,759 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,792,429).
However, the above methods have several disadvantages from the industrial point of view since the selectivity for 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane is low in each case. The catalyst is also homogeneous in some cases. Thus, a large amount of base is required to. neutralise the homogeneous acid catalysts causing problems in respect of the disposal of the resulting salts.
In view of the above-mentioned problems of homogeneous catalysts and low selectivity for 4,4xe2x80x2dihydroxydiphenylmethane in the prior art processes, it was felt necessary to develop an improved process for the production of dihydroxydiphenylmethanes and particularly 4,4xe2x80x2dihydroxydiphenylmethane with high selectivity from the condensation of phenol with formaldehyde which process does not have the disadvantages encountered by the prior art processes.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems by establishing a process for the advantageous preparation of dihydroxydiphenylmethane and particularly 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane in high selectivity.
It is another object of the invention to provide a process for the preparation of dihydroxydiphenylmethane and particularly 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane in high selectivity that allows recycling of the catalyst.
It is another object of the invention to provide a process for the preparation of dihydroxydiphenylmethane and particularly 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane in high selectivity that does not require disposal of inorganic byproducts.
The above and other objects of the present invention are achieved by the present invention in a novel manner by carrying out the condensation of phenol with a condensation agent, preferably formaldehyde in the presence of an inert solvent over a solid catalyst composite material aluminosilicate zeolite catalyst. Ideally, the zeolite catalyst is a microporous alumino-silicate zeolite catalyst composite and the reaction is carried out at a temperature of from 5 to 200xc2x0 C. The reaction is equally effective with other condensing agents as well.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of dihydroxydiphenylmethanes which comprises reacting phenol over a microporous alumino-silicate zeolite catalyst composite material in the presence of a condensing agent and a solvent at a temperature in the range of 5 to 200xc2x0 C. for a period between 0.1 to 24 hours at autogeneous pressure and separating the dihydroxydiphenylmethanes by any conventional method.
In one embodiment of the invention, the condensing agent is selected from the group comprising aqueous formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde and trioxane, the aqueous formaldehyde being most preferred.
In another embodiment of the invention, the solvent used is selected from the group comprising 1,2-dichloroethane, chloroform, CCl4, benzonitrile, nitrobenzene, acetonitrile, 1,2-dichlorobenzene or methylethylketone or mixtures thereof
In a further embodiment of the invention the zeolite catalyst composite material is selected from the group comprising zeolite H-beta, H-ZSM5, H-ZSM12, H-mordenite, H-Y, RE-Y and MCM-22.
In another embodiment of the invention, the ratio of the phenol to condensing agent is in the range between 5:1 to 10:1.
In one embodiment of the invention, wherein the zeolite and the phenol may be combined prior to reacting, added simultaneously at the time of the reaction.
In another embodiment of the invention, the zeolite and/or phenol are suspended in a solvent prior to addition to the condensing agent.
In one embodiment of the invention, the solvent used is selected from the group comprising of alcohol, aromatic or aliphatic hydrocarbons, ketones, chloroaromatic or nitroaromatic compounds, preferably methylethylketone.
In another embodiment of the invention, it is possible to selectively and efficiently prepare 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane while separating the ortho and the meta position products.
In another embodiment of the invention, the reaction may preferably be carried out at a relatively low temperature in the range of 20 to 200xc2x0 C.
The process of the invention is suitable as an industrial process for the production of 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylmethane in high selectivity due to the use of non-hazardous solid aluminosilicate catalysts and the absence of any risk of explosion. The reactants and solvents that are used in the process of the present invention must be of high purity.
In the present invention, zeolite may be added to the reactant by different methods:
1. The zeolite and the phenol may be combined and added to the condensing agent prior to the reaction.
2. The zeolite and the phenol may be added simultaneously to the reaction system at the time of the reaction.
3. The zeolite may be suspended in a solvent, and a predetermined amount of phenol and the condensing agent being added thereto.
4. The zeolite may be suspended in the phenol and solvent, and a predetermined amount of condensing agent being added thereto.
Preferably, the catalyst composite material used is a microporous aluminosilicate zeolite H-beta type. The proportion of phenol to formaldehyde ratio, solvent and H-beta used ranges between 5:1 to 10:1 molar ratio and 0 to 50 ml and 0.01 to 100 g/mol phenol respectively.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying examples, which are merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.

Process for the preparation of dihydroxydiphenylmethanes

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A basin which stackably interlocks with 20-inch square racks that hold dish and glassware washed in commercial dishwashers. The basin has substantially the exterior configuration of a commercial dishwasher rack and receives a plurality of dishwasher racks slacked above. The basin solid on its base and sides for prohibiting substances which drip down into it from racks stacked above from dripping onto the floor. The basin has circular indentations in the top surface or the base, trapping water and preventing it from sloshing from side to side of the basin when it is carried or moved. The basin may be loaded into a dolly used to transport commercial dishwasher racks, as the dollies typically have an open bottom. Thus, the basin can provide the water-catching function for racks loaded onto a dolly. Grooves in the basin's bottom surface permit stacking on top of a rack or other basins for storage.

Restaurants, institutional kitchens, and other commercial or high-volume food service locations have a need to wash dish and glassware very rapidly. For decades, the most common solution has been a commercial dishwasher, typically incorporating a conveyor belt upon which large racks containing dirty dish and glassware pass through the washing compartment of the commercial dishwasher.
The dish and glassware racks have varied interior configurations, capable of carrying dishes, glasses, and tableware, among other items that are run through the commercial dishwasher for washing. The exterior configuration of the racks is generally the same, however. A dish or glassware rack for use with a commercial dishwasher is typically 19.72″×19.72″ square. Although the height may vary to accommodate small dishes to tall glasses, the lateral profile of racks used with commercial dishwashers is nearly always the same.
Further, racks for use in commercial dishwashers are nearly always stackable, such that dishes and glasses can be vertically stacked for compact storage within the racks. A groove formed in the bottom face of the square rack permits it to be placed on top of another rack, with the top rail of the bottom rack mating with the groove in the bottom face of the top rack. In many racks, the top rail includes locator posts, which are upward-facing protrusions which make the interlock between a bottom rack and a rack stacked above the bottom rack more secure.
One important functional aspect of commercial dish and glassware racks is that they have openings in the bottom of the rack and on all four side walls. This allows water to spray through the bottom or side walls of the rack during washing and reach all surfaces of the dishes or glassware contained within the rack. It is simple to understand that if water could not penetrate the bottom and side surfaces of the rack, efficient cleaning of the dish or glassware would be impossible. The corollary effect, however, is that the water can drip back through the bottom of the rack.
An additional function of the openings in the bottom and sides of the rack is to permit drip-drying of the dish and glassware following its run through the commercial dishwasher. While some conveyor-belt dishwashers have a drying section, many restaurants and other kitchens opt for a commercial dishwasher that is limited to washing and does not include drying capability. Such wash-only dishwashers are less expensive, less complex, and take up less room in the kitchen than one which includes a drying section.
An issue with the use of a wash-only commercial dishwasher, however, is that during drying, the water drips straight through the bottom of the rack and onto the floor, pooling on the floor and possibly creating a safety hazard or other undesirable effect. When multiple dish and/or glassware racks are stacked following their run through the dishwasher, the water from all the racks drips onto the floor. Glasses, particularly, are loaded into a commercial glassware rack upside-down, to facilitate drip-drying. The risk of an employee slipping on the pools of water created when the water drips through the racks onto the floor is high, especially when one considers the tile or other smooth-surface floors often used in the kitchen. Also, on occasion, an employee will carry a rack loaded with dishes or glassware. The holes in the rack will permit the water to drip through the rack onto the employee's clothing, which is undesirable.
Further, when the racks are loaded with dirty dishes or glassware and then transported to the dishwasher, food remnants, unfinished drinks, and other detritus may pass through the bottom of the racks and onto the floor. In addition to the safety hazard described above, germs become an additional concern.
In some restaurants or other kitchens, following washing, the dish or glassware is transported to a storage location. This transport is often facilitated by the use of a dolly. The dolly provides a frame with wheels attached underneath the frame, where the frame is sized to receive a standard commercial dish or glassware rack. A number of racks may be stacked on the dolly, and then the stack of racks may be rolled to where the dishes or glasses are stored. Some dollies have a handle for pushing the stack of racks once loaded onto the dolly. Dollies are also used to transport racks of dirty dishes or glassware.
Most of these dollies have a frame that is open in the center. While some dollies have a closed bottom, that is uncommon. The more likely scenario when clean or dirty dishes and glasses are transported in a dolly is that water or other substances pass right through the bottom of the racks, through the frame of the dolly and onto the floor over which the dolly is being pushed. Rather than just a single pool of water, use of a dolly with an open frame can lead to potentially hazardous spills all over the establishment, including areas of a restaurant where patrons may walk.
What is needed is an apparatus for preventing water or other substances that spill out of the bottom of a commercial dish or glassware rack from passing onto the floor below. As will be further described below, the present disclosure provides a basin with a solid base and solid sides that is sized and configured to permit interlocking with commercial dish or glassware racks which could be placed on the floor at the bottom of a stack of racks, or at the bottom of a dolly, permitting drips from the racks stacked above the basin to be caught by the basin. Further, placing a basin underneath the stack of racks would elevate the clean dish and glassware further from the floor. A beneficial increase in workplace safety and sanitation is a likely result of use of such a device.
Accordingly, this application discloses a basin for use with commercial dish and glassware racks.

Basin for use with commercial dish and glassware racks


There are provided systems and methods for performing automated content evaluation. In one implementation, the system includes a hardware processor and a system memory storing a software code including a predictive model trained based on an audience response to training content. The hardware processor executes the software code to receive images, each image including facial landmarks of an audience member viewing the content during its duration, and for each image, transforms the facial landmarks to a lower dimensional facial representation, resulting in multiple lower dimensional facial representations of each audience member. For each of a subset of the lower dimensional facial representations of each audience member, the software code utilizes the predictive model to predict one or more responses to the content, resulting in multiple predictions for each audience member, and classifies one or more time segment(s) in the duration of the content based on an aggregate of the predictions.

Media content in a wide variety of formats is consistently sought out and enjoyed by consumers. Nevertheless, the popularity of a particular item or items of media content, such as a movie, television (TV) series, or a particular TV episode, for example, can vary widely. One approach to evaluating the potential desirability of media content is to use an audience as a focus group to help understand whether a TV episode, for example, is or will be successful.
Traditional approaches used in audience analysis typically require annotated data in order to identify certain expressions in the audience members faces during screening of the content. However, those traditional approaches require extensive manual annotation of large datasets, rendering them expensive and time consuming to prepare. Due to the resources often devoted to developing new content, the accuracy and efficiency with which the desirability of such content to consumers can be evaluated has become increasingly important to producers, owners, and distributors of media content.

Automated content evaluation using a predictive model


A circuit arrangement for a flip chip utilizes fixed potential shield traces between various signal traces in a redistribution layer to decrease coupling impedances and crosstalk within the layer. In particular, by orienting a fixed potential shield trace between a pair of signal traces and/or between a pair of differential trace pairs, capacitive coupling between the traces is greatly reduced, thereby permitting the signal traces to be routed closer to one another than would be possible if the shield trace was omitted. Often, minimum line width and spacing design rules may be met to ensure maximum circuit density for the redistribution layer and the associated device interconnections, and without concern for excessive adverse effects due to capacitive coupling between traces in the redistribution layer.

As integrated circuit devices become faster and more complex, the interconnections between such devices with one another and with other components on a circuit board can limit the performance achievable in an integrated circuit system. Whereas integrated circuit devices, also referred to as "chips", once were mounted into individual packages having arrays of metal pins that interconnected with the metal traces on a circuit board, and with bond wires connecting the chips to the package pins, more advanced designs often must rely on integrated circuit devices that are directly mounted onto the surface of the metal traces of an advanced package or circuit board to ensure adequate interconnect performance.
One example of such an integrated circuit device is known as a "flip chip", which includes a number of solder bumps disposed on one side of the chip that are used to interconnect with corresponding pads on a package, a circuit board, or a multi-chip module (MCM), etc. The flip chip is so named because the flip chip is placed on the package, board, or MCM face down with the solder bumps resting on the corresponding pads on the package, board or MCM. Then, through any number of available surface mount technology (SMT) processes, each of which usually includes the application of heat and/or pressure to the back side of the flip chip, the solder bumps are physically and electrically connected to the pads to securely mount the flip chip. The elimination of bond wires in a flip chip package, or of the entire packaging for a flip chip when directly mounted to a board or MCM, reduces the amount of space on the circuit board occupied by the flip chip, thus permitting more components to be placed on a given size of circuit board. More importantly, however, the total lengths of the interconnections between active device components can be minimized to reduce signal propagation delays and signal distortion and increase the permissible operating speed of the components on the circuit board.
Signals are often routed in an integrated circuit device and on a circuit board using signal traces, which are essentially conductive "wires" manufactured on a device or board. One significant limitation on system performance is known as crosstalk, which occurs when two signals traces are routed proximate one another and a signal present on one trace interferes with and generates noise on the other trace due to electromagnetic coupling (including capacitive coupling) between the traces. Moreover, electromagnetic coupling also results in the presence of a coupling impedance between adjacent traces to skew the signals present on the traces and introduce delays in the signals. Due to both effects, the speed in which a circuit can operate error-free is limited, and thus, the effects directly impact the overall speed and performance of a system.
Also, the adverse effects of both crosstalk and coupling impedance increase as the distance between signal traces decreases. However, as systems become more complex and powerful and require greater functionality, signal traces often must be placed as close together as possible to conserve as much space as possible. Crosstalk and coupling impedance thus become more and more problematic for more advanced designs.
One specific area in which it is particularly desirable to minimize crosstalk and coupling impedance is in the redistribution layer of an integrated circuit device such as a flip chip. A redistribution layer often is used to interconnect the operational circuitry of a device with an array of pads that are used to interconnect a device with a package, MCM or circuit board (e.g., using solder bumps disposed on the pads). The layout of pads in the redistribution layer directly impacts the die size, and consequently, the overall cost of the device. Furthermore, as circuits become more complex, a greater number of interconnects are usually required, so it is desirable to reduce the distance between the pads to increase the circuit density of the pads and thereby permit a larger number of pads to fit within a given area.
Design of an integrated circuit device typically follows a series of design rules, which specify a number of parameters that must be complied with to ensure reliable manufacture and operation. Among other parameters, often minimum trace widths and spacings are defined, which are dependent upon the particular manufacturing process used. However, with conventional redistribution layer designs, the capacitive coupling between adjacent traces often necessitate that traces be spaced and configured with dimensions that are well above the minimums specified by the design rules. As a result, significant space that could otherwise be utilized by a particular manufacturing process is often wasted due to impedance and crosstalk concerns, and circuit density is consequently diminished.
Therefore, a significant need exists for a manner of increasing the density of an integrated circuit device redistribution layer while minimizing coupling impedances and crosstalk within the layer.

Flip chip circuit arrangement with redistribution layer that minimizes crosstalk


The invention prevents a temperature in an end portion of a stator iron core from becoming excessively high due to a heat generated in the end portion of the stator iron core of a turbine generator. In a dynamo-electric machine provided with a stator constituted by a stator iron core, a stator iron core pressing member and a stator coil, a rotor constituted by a rotor iron core, a rotor coil and a holding ring, and a baffle plate arranged in an inner diameter side of an end portion of the stator iron core and distributing a cooling medium cooling an inner side of the machine, the baffle plate is provided for forming a flow of the cooling medium along an inner periphery of the stator iron core pressing member and/or an inner peripheral surface of the end portion of the stator iron core.

In the turbine generator, a stator and a rotor generate heat on the basis of electromagnetic and mechanical factors. As a cooling medium for removing the generated heat, air, hydrogen and the like are used. FIG. 3 shows the entire structure of a turbine generator which uses a cooling medium such as air, hydrogen or the like, and FIG. 4 shows the enlarged view of a cross section in an axial direction and a radial direction near the end portions of a stator and a rotor.
A turbine generator has a stator 1 constituted by a stator iron core 6 and a stator coil 4 wound around the stator iron core 6, and a rotor 5 constituted by a rotor iron core 5 arranged in an inner periphery of the stator 1, a rotor coil 9 inserted to a plurality of slots (not shown) provided in the stator iron core 5, and a holding ring 10 covering an outer periphery of an end portion of a rotor coil 9 protruding to an end portion of the rotor iron core 5, and is structured such that the stator 1 and the rotor 2 are arranged via an air gap 8. Further, a stator iron core pressing member 11 for generally pressing the stator iron core 6 is placed in a stator iron core end portion 7, and the stator is fastened and fixed to a stator frame or the like by using the stator iron core pressing member 11.
Further, as mentioned above, the stator 1 and the rotor 2 generate heat on the basis of electro-magnetic and mechanical factors. However, in order to remove the generated heat and prevent the temperature in the stator 1 and the rotor 2 from becoming excessively high, a blower 3 is provided in the end portion of the rotor 2 or the like, and a cooling medium 14 such as air, hydrogen or the like within the machine is circulated or discharged by using the blower 3. The cooling medium fed from the blower 3 provided in the end portion of the rotor 2 or the like is distributed respectively to a flow path between the stator 1 and the rotor 2, a flow path within the stator 1, a flow path within the rotor 2, and a flow path on a back surface of the stator iron core 6. A flow rate distribution to each of the flow paths is adjusted by partly closing an inlet of the air gap 8 by means of a baffle plate 12 placed in a flow path inlet (an inlet of the air gap 8) between the end portion of the stator 1 and the end portion of the rotor 2, as shown in FIG. 5. The above structure is described in non-patent document 1. In this non-patent document 1, a gap is provided between the baffle plate 12 and the holding 10, and the flow rate to each of the flow paths is distributed by adjusting the gap. Further, the baffle plate structured such that a seal member is sandwiched by two composite rings as shown in FIG. 6 is described in patent document 1, as the same structure.
In this case, in the turbine generator, a leakage flux caused by a field electromotive force and an armature electromotive force complicatedly exists near the stator iron core end portion 7 (refer to patent document 2), and a magnetic flux in an axial direction is incident to an iron core end surface. An eddy current flows through the stator iron core end portion 7 on the basis of the magnetic flux which is incident from the axial direction, and an eddy current loss is generated, so that the stator iron core end portion 7 locally generates heat. In conventional, the heat generation is comparatively small, it is not necessary to control the flow of the cooling medium for removing the heat generation in the baffle plate 12, and the baffle plate 12 is placed for the purpose of distributing the flow rate as mentioned above.
Further, patent document 3 describes a structure in which a plurality of holes 17 are pierced in an entire of the baffle plate placed in the stator iron core pressing member 11 of the stator iron core end portion 7 so as to form a porous baffle plate 16, thereby adjusting a flow rate distribution of the cooling medium in a downstream side of the porous baffle plate 16 within the air gap. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a cross section in an axial direction and a radial direction using the porous baffle plate 16. Since an object of this patent document 3 is to uniformize the flow rate distribution within the air gap and adjust the flow rate distribution to the flow path within the stator iron core 6, the cooling medium passing through the holes 17 in a plurality of porous baffle plates 16 is dispersed to an entire of the flow path between the stator iron core end portion 7 and the rotor iron core 5. Accordingly, there is a problem that a flow speed of the cooling medium in the stator iron core end portion 7 is reduced, and a cooling performance of the stator iron core end portion 7 comes short.
In recent years, it has been required to make the turbine generator to have a small size and a large capacity, and there is a tendency that a heat generation density within the machine becomes higher. Accordingly, in order to prevent the temperature of the stator iron core end portion 7 from becoming excessively high, it has been necessary to effectively cool. As mentioned above, a leakage magnetic flux caused by the field electromotive force and the armature electromotive force complicatedly exists near the stator iron core end portion 7, and the magnetic flux in the axial direction is incident to the iron core end surface. The eddy current flows through the stator iron core end portion 7 on the basis of the magnetic flux incident from the axial direction, the eddy current loss is generated, and the local heat generation is caused.
Under the circumstance mentioned above, since the prior art does not take the cooling of the stator iron core end portion 7 into sufficient consideration, there is a problem that the stator iron core end portion 7 and the stator iron core pressing member 11 are insufficiently cooled and are overheated.    Patent document 1 JP-A-6-38411    Patent document 2 JP-A-11-225455    Patent document 3 JP-A-61-161935    Non-patent document 1"Development of the evaluation technique of Rotor cooling method of large turbine generator", Yoshihiro Taniyama and three others in Toshiba, May 23, 2003, Material RM-03-25 in Rotating Machine Seminar of Japanese Electro-technical Committee.


Electrographic toner fluid (15), contained in a reservoir (10), is convectively stirred through the application of a non-uniform thermal gradient by a heater (20). Convective flow in fluid (15) entrains colloidal particles (35) and other dissolved agents and causes them to be uniformly dispersed in the fluid (15), thus rendering the fluid (15) homogeneous and capable of making uniform prints. The heater (20) may be inside or outside the reservoir (10) and may comprise separate heaters, alternately or simultaneously energized.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the field of electrographic printers, specifically to a treatment for liquid toners used in such printers.
2. Prior-Art
Toner for Electrographic Printers
Electrographic printers are manufactured and sold by Xerox ColorgrafX Systems, Inc., 5853 Rue Ferrari, San Jose, Calif. 95138 U.S.A., and others. These printers typically comprise a supply roll of electrographic medium (typically a specialized paper), one or more electrographic writing heads, one or more "developing stations," a drive roller for moving the medium, and a take-up roller for spooling the medium after it is printed. The writing head deposits an electrical charge image on the medium, and the developing station applies liquid "toner" to the medium. Colored particles in the toner adhere to the charge pattern corresponding to the image to make the image visible. The toner air-dries, evaporating a solvent liquid to permanently adhere the particles to the medium.
Electrographic toner mainly comprises a slurry of electrically charged, colored, colloidal (sub-micron)-sized particles in a solvent vehicle. Other components of toner are also suspended and dissolved in the liquid vehicle. These ensure maintenance of the proper level of electrical conductivity in the toner, cause proper adhesion of the toner particles to the receiving medium, and provide for long toner life. Such toner is manufactured by Hilord Chemical Corporation, 70 Engineers Road, Hauppauge, N.Y. 11588 U.S.A. and others.
During printing, electrographic printers recirculate liquid toner from a reservoir where it is stored, through a "developing station," and back to the reservoir. At the developing station, the surface of the print medium is flooded with toner. Toner particles adhere to the medium in places where electrical charges have been deposited. They do not adhere elsewhere. The result is a visible image of the original, invisible electrical charge image.
As mentioned supra, the diameter of toner particles is typically less than one micron and other agents which are both suspended and dissolved in the toner vehicle also contribute to the toner's electrical, mechanical, and optical properties. This mixture of particles and complex liquid vehicle must be maintained in an homogeneous state in order for high-quality, consistent prints to be obtained. Gravitational forces cause suspended particles to settle to the bottom of their container. Because of their small size, the toner particles settle very slowly, typically in a few tens of hours. The toner particles are typically not adequately stirred by the pumping mechanisms in electrographic printers. This results in stratification of the toner in its container or reservoir. At the bottom of the reservoir is a slurry containing more particles than desired. These particles displace the chemical conductivity-control agents mentioned supra. The remaining toner liquid contains too few particles and has disproportionately high electrical conductivity. This non-homogeneity of the toner in the reservoir results in the printing of poor quality images.
It is mandatory that the concentration of charged, colored particles and other dissolved and suspended chemical conductivity-control agents in the toner remain constant during printing. If the concentration changes during the printing of an image, the optical density or saturation of the image will also change unpredictably, resulting in a degraded image. Settling of the toner cannot be allowed since this causes fewer toner particles to be recirculated and hence available for "developing" the image. A faint image, or one which changes from dark to faint during printing, can result.
Recirculation of the toner in the printer is generally inadequate to ensure that all the particles will remain suspended and that the slurry will be homogeneous. In some cases, the toner agglomerates at the bottom of the reservoir and cannot be dislodged, except by extraordinary means. These means include mechanically moving and shaking the toner reservoir to agitate the contents, periodically stirring the toner with a stick, and the like. None of these is adequate to ensure that the toner will remain in an homogeneous state for an indefinite period.
It has been known to stir various fluids by application of heat to cause convection currents in the fluid. For example, Hoisington, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,786 (1989) teaches the convective stirring of a non-electrographic solution, a hot-melt ink. However Hoisington's heaters must serve two distinct purposes. Heat is provided to raise the temperature of the ink to 120 deg. Celsius (248 deg. F) in two different vessels order to melt it. The same heat is applied in an asymmetrical fashion in both vessels additionally to provide convective stirring. The vessels are connected by a conduit which must be heated when it is desired to pump molten ink from one vessel to the other. Hoisington's printer will not work at all if his heaters are OFF since the ink becomes solid. Present electrographic printers, on the other hand, will work without proper stirring of the toner, but, as stated, image quality is degraded. Hoisington's ink typically comprises a simple suspension of pigment particles in a vehicle which changes state from solid to liquid and then from liquid to solid by phase changes during use. Liquid toner remains liquid and additionally contains a complex mixture of both dissolved and suspended chemical conductivity-regulating agents, particulates and plastic resins, described supra, all of which must be fully dispersed in the toner. Toner becomes so lid on the receiving me dium through evaporation of its liquid vehicle. No phase change is required. Hoisington's ink reservoirs are sufficiently small that only a single heat contact point is required to both melt and convect the molten ink. Electrographic printer toner reservoirs are sufficiently large that a heat source like Hoisington's will not be able to maintain adequate homogeneity by convective stirring.
Thus present electrographic printers suffer loss of print quality due to non-homogeneity of their toners. Prior-art stirring methods and apparatus do not render the toners homogeneous: hence print quality is variable, and thus degraded.

Apparatus and method for convective stirring of finely-divided particles in liquid toner


Method and apparatus are provided for thermal management of mobile devices. In one novel aspect, a micro-throttle method is used to control the fast rising temperature for the device. In one embodiment, the thermal management method determines a temperature of the mobile device and compares the temperature with a plurality of predefined temperature thresholds. The thermal management applies a first micro-throttle solution upon detecting the temperature reaches a first predefined temperature threshold and applies a second micro-throttle solution upon detecting the temperature reaches a second predefined temperature threshold. In one embodiment, the first and the second micro-throttle solution control the slope of the rising temperature to be below a first predefined slope and a second predefined slope, respectively. In one embodiment, the temperature is controlled by adjusting the operating frequency or voltage of at least one heat-generating component of the mobile device.

With the advance of semiconductor technologies and the like, the performance of CPUs and processors used in mobile devices has been improved remarkably. For example, an operating frequency of the level of GHz has been used widely in mobile phones. When the system speed and core requirements reach higher limits, the power consumption of CPUs and processors is also increasing. As a result, more and more heat needs to be dissipated in the limited space of a mobile phone in order to control the skin surface temperature (Tskin) of the mobile phone.
Thermal management is one of the key challenges in the design of today's mobile devices, such as smartphones. The power consumption in smart devices have grown exponentially compounded by the needs for higher data rate, more multitasking applications, and the increasing number of background tasks for popular applications such as email and social networking. The higher performance requirement for the smart devices means peak maximum throughput is frequently required. It leads to higher clock frequencies, which inevitably generates more heat from various integrated circuits (ICs) and/or other components in the device. Currently, each IC may contain one or more heat-generating components. With increasing number of components running at high clock frequencies inside a small compact device, heat dissipation requires advanced solutions for thermal management.
FIG. 1 shows a current method of thermal management. It illustrates a temperature curve under thermal throttle. As shown, a threshold temperature, namely Tbound is configured for a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, a tablet, a wearable device, a laptop, etc. The mobile device monitors the temperature starting from t0. As the data throughput or processing power in the device increases, the temperature of the device starts to increase. In many situations, the high demands for faster data rate, faster and better graphical processes from an application compounded with large number of background running tasks requires high frequencies from various components/ICs of the device. The heat dissipation in a small, compact smart device, such as smartphone is much harder because the area to dissipate the heat is limited. Therefore, the temperature of the device increases quickly. In the current thermal management, there is no power throttling until the temperature reaches the predefined or preconfigured threshold temperature Tbound. As a result, at time t1, the temperature reaches the preconfigured threshold Tbound. Upon detecting the temperature rises to the preconfigured threshold Tbound, the device starts thermal throttle by controlling the power of the ICs or components of the device that generates heat. Since the throttle takes time, the temperature continues to rise after t1. At time t2, the temperature starts to drop because the power throttling of the devices reduces the heat sources. At time t3, the temperature drops back to the preconfigured threshold Tbound. With the throttling for thermal control starts, the temperature of the device bounces near the preconfigured temperature Tbound as shown in FIG. 1.
The problem of the current thermal management for smart devices is that it causes large performance degradation. The current method controls heat generation components or ICs in the device for thermal throttling. Such process may greatly reduce the performance of the smart device. For example, one way to reduce heat generation of a ICs or components of the smart device is to lower its operation frequency, which results in lower processing speed. The problem aggravates with the increasing demands for high performance of the smart devices. For example, to control the temperature, the throttling lower the clock frequency, which results in less processing power for data throughput, which results in backlog queues of pending processing. When the temperature reaches an acceptable level, the backlog data, together with continuous tasks, requires high performance of the device. Such high performance on the devices makes the temperature fast approaching the preconfigured threshold Tbound again, which requires performance-degraded throttling.
Enhancement and improvements are needed to prevent the device to reach the Tbound too fast. A more efficient way of thermal management for mobile devices is required.

Power thermal policy using micro-throttle


A method of removing a target from a biological sample which involves placing a transfer surface in contact with the biological sample, and then focally altering the transfer surface to allow selective separation of the target from the biological sample. In disclosed embodiments, the target is a cell or cellular component of a tissue section and the transfer surface is a film that can be focally altered to adhere the target to the transfer surface. Subsequent separation of the film from the tissue section selectively removes the adhered target from the tissue section. The transfer surface is activated from within the target to adhere the target to the transfer surface, for example by heating the target to adhere it to a thermoplastic transfer surface. Such in situ activation can be achieved by exposing the biological sample to an immunoreagent that specifically binds to the target (or a component of the target). The immunoreagent can alter the transfer surface directly (for example with a heat generating enzyme carried by the immunoreagent), or indirectly (for example by changing a characteristic of the target). In some embodiments, the immunoreagent deposits a precipitate in the target that increases its light absorption relative to surrounding tissue, such that the biological specimen can be exposed to light to selectively heat the target. Alternatively, the immunoreagent is an immunofluorescent agent that carries a fluorophore that absorbs light and emits heat.

A variety of techniques have been used to microdissect specific cells or cell populations from a histological sample under direct microscopic visualization. Original microdissection techniques involved painstaking (and sometimes clumsy) manual dissection using needles or other micro-manipulation devices to isolate individual cells based on visible, histological characteristics.
More recent techniques have been developed to more efficiently separate biological components, such as particular subsets of cells, from a whole tissue sample. For example, Emmert-Buck et al. described the use of laser-based microdissection techniques to rapidly procure microscopic, histopathologically defined cell populations. Examples of such laser capture microdissection (LCM) are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,843,657; 5,843,644; 5,859,699; 5,598,085, and 6,010,888, as well as WO 97/13838; WO 98/35216; WO 00/06992; and WO 00/49410. The disclosure of columns 4-18 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,888 is incorporated herein by reference. In LCM, a tissue section is contacted with a transfer member that is selectively and/or focally activated by an external force to adhere target cells to the activated region of the transfer member. For example, a laser beam can be directed in a microscopic field of view toward a portion of the transfer member that overlies the target cells. The laser beam focally activates the transfer member to adhere the target cells to it, and the transfer member is then pulled away from the tissue section to remove the adherent targeted cells from the tissue section for subsequent analysis.
Other microdissection techniques are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,157, which describes overlaying a photoresist (such as those used in etching computer chips) onto a thin tissue section, then activating specific regions of the photoresist using electromagnetic radiation (such as a beam of a laser). Depending on the photoresist used, the "desired" cells are either washed off in the activated areas, or the undesired cells are washed away while the activated photoresist holds the desired cells to the slide. These methods share the same inherent disadvantages of LCM, in that individual cells must be visually identified and targeted before harvest.
A more recent approach to the analysis of biological material is layered expression scanning (LES), as disclosed in WO 01/07915. A biological sample (such as a tissue section) is placed on a layered substrate, in which different layers contain different identification molecules, for example different monoclonal antibodies or nucleic acid probes. Components of the biological sample are then transferred through the layers, by diffusion or electrophoresis, such that different components of the specimen are specifically bound in different layers. The pattern of binding in the different layers can be correlated with the architecture of the biological specimen, to determine different patterns of molecular expression in different regions of the specimen. For example, differences in protein expression can be compared between regions of malignant and non-malignant cells in a heterogeneous tumor specimen.
Another recent advance in the field of microdissection is the transfer microdissection technique shown in WO 02/10751. The transfer of targeted specimen components is accomplished by selectively focally altering a characteristic of a transfer layer adjacent the target region, such that biomolecules can move through the altered area of the transfer layer. In particular examples, the transfer layer is altered by focally increasing a permeability of the transfer layer, for example by selecting and removing a focal portion of the transfer layer. The biomolecules are then transported through the altered region of the transfer layer, to microdissect the biomolecules of interest from the biological sample. Transfer microdissection allows biomolecules from regions of interest in the biological specimen (such as nests of highly atypical cells in a tumor section) to be selectively analyzed.
Although these microdissection techniques have provided powerful tools for the selective analysis of biological specimens, and are a substantial improvement over prior techniques, they are still not highly susceptible to automation for high-throughput analysis of multiple specimens. These techniques still rely on selection of a targeted structure, for example by microscopic visualization and manual targeting with a laser beam that is directed at the target to adhere it to an overlying thermoplastic film.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services


A cable clamp is provided for attaching a mid-portion of a cable having an electrically conductive interior surrounded by a non-conductive cover to a portion of a vehicle. The clamp includes a metal plate which is attachable to portions of a vehicle by a bolt extending through a transverse hole in the plate to secure the plate to the vehicle frame. A resilient elastomeric strap surrounds a portion of the length of the cable and surrounds the peripheral edges and a portion of the planar surface of the plate.

Motor vehicles, including trucks and the like, have a battery, and attaching the terminals thereof to the electrical components of the vehicle are cables which are made of stranded wires covered by an insulating material. Clamps are provided along the length of the cable to prevent movement of the cable relative to the frame of the vehicle which can occur from the vibration of the motor while it is running or from shock to the vehicle as it passes over rough terrain. Movement of the cable can cause it to come in contact with undesirable portions of the vehicle which are subject to intense heat, as for example exhaust ports, or portions having moving parts, as for example fan belts. Furthermore, movement of the cable can result in internal friction within the cable. Contact with undesirable portions of the vehicle, or internal friction in the cable can result in the ultimate failure of the cable.
Previously, such cables have been attached to portions of the frame of a vehicle by clamps consisting of a metallic strip a portion of which is wrapped around the circumference of the cable, and another portion of which extends perpendicularly away from the length of the cable and has a transverse hole therein such that the strip and therefore the cable may be attached to the frame of the vehicle by a bolt. Such clamps, however, over a long period of time, tend to cut through the elastomeric cover surrounding the cable as a result of the vibrations sustained within the engine compartment of a vehicle. The cable may also slip longitudinally within the metal strap, thereby causing wear and,,removal of the surface of the insulating cover surrounding the cable. As a result a short circuit may occur allowing current to flow from the stranded wires of the cable to the metal strap of the clamp, and then to the vehicle frame. Such a failure of the cable may result in the failure of the entire electrical system of the motor vehicle.
To reduce the cutting effect of the edges of a metallic strap, it has been the practice to enclose the metal strap in an elastomeric material. Nonetheless, it has been found that the edges of a metal strap can, over a period of time, cut through both the elastomeric material surrounding the strap, and the cover of an insulated cable, and result in the failure of the cable.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a cable clamp for attaching a mid-section of a cable to a portion of the frame of a vehicle, such as a bulkhead or the like, without providing for a strap of metal to surround the cable. Furthermore, it is an intent of the present invention to provide a cable clamp which will securely attach to the non-conductive cover surrounding the cable so as to prevent longitudinal movement of the cable relative to the clamp.


A casing includes end plates, side plates, and a hinge mechanism for coupling the end plates and the side plates. A power generation area is defined by the distance L1 and the distance L2. When first hinges and second hinges of the hinge mechanism are provided alternately, the first hinges and the second hinges are positioned within the distance L1. Preferably, the length of the shaft of a coupling pin is not more than the length L1. When the first hinges and the second hinges are provided alternately, the first hinges and the second hinges are positioned within the length L2. Preferably, the length of the shaft of a coupling pin is not more than the length L2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell stack including a stack body formed by stacking a plurality of unit cells in a stacking direction and a box-shaped casing containing the stack body. Each of the unit cells includes an electrolyte electrode assembly and separators sandwiching the electrolyte electrode assembly. The electrolyte electrode assembly includes a pair of electrodes and an electrolyte interposed between the electrodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell employs an electrolyte membrane (electrolyte) comprising a polymer ion exchange membrane. The electrolyte membrane is interposed between an anode and a cathode to form a membrane electrode assembly. The membrane electrode assembly is sandwiched between separators to form a fuel cell.
In use, normally, a predetermined number of (e.g., several tens to several hundreds of) fuel cells are stacked together to form a fuel cell stack to obtain the desired electrical energy. In the fuel cell stack, in order to prevent the increase of the internal resistance in the fuel cells, and degradation of performance of preventing leakage of reactant gases, it is necessary to reliably apply pressures to each of the stacked fuel cells.
In this regard, for example, a fuel cell stack disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-298901 is known. In the fuel cell stack, a stack body is formed by stacking a predetermined number of unit cells, and current collecting terminals (terminal plates) are provided outside the stack body, and end plates are provided outside the current collecting terminals. The end plates are coupled to a casing by a hinge mechanism. The casing includes a plurality of panels provided on upper and lower, and left and right sides between the end plates.
In the structure, the number of components is reduced effectively, and it is possible to use thin end plates. As a result, reduction in the overall size and weight of the fuel cell stack is achieved easily.
In the conventional technique, as shown in FIG. 6, the end plate 2 of the casing 1 is fixed to four side plates 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d by a hinge mechanism 3. The hinge mechanism 3 includes tabs 5 provided on four sides of the end plates 2, and tabs 6 of the side plates 4a to 4d. The tabs 5 and the tabs 6 are provided alternately. In this state, coupling pins 7 are inserted in these tabs 5, 6.
In the casing 1, a power generation surface 8 is provided, and passages 9a to 9f for supplying an oxygen-containing gas, a fuel gas, and a coolant in a stacking direction are provided on both sides of the power generation surface 8.
In the structure, at the time of assembling the fuel cell stack by placing the unit cells in the casing 1, the desired tightening load is applied to the components between the end plates 2 of the casing 1. Thus, in the hinge mechanism 3, the load applied to the members at the center in the axial direction of the coupling pin 7 is larger than the load applied to the opposite ends in the axial direction.
However, in particular, the coupling pin 7 connecting the end plate 2 and the wide side plates 4b, 4d is significantly long. Therefore, large deformation of the coupling pin 7 may occur easily. Under the circumstances, it is not possible to apply the desired electrode load over the entire power generation surface 8 suitably. Further, a relatively large stress is generated in the hinge mechanism 3 easily, and the strength of the hinge mechanism 3 may be decreased undesirably.


A method for managing a data storage system includes maintaining a record predictive of locations to which data are to be written on the primary storage subsystem by a host processor. Upon receiving data from the host processor at the primary storage subsystem to be written to a specified location on the first non-volatile storage media, if the specified location is not included in the record, the record is updated responsively to the specified location. The primary storage subsystem signals the host processor that the data have been stored in the data storage system responsively to receiving the data and, if the specified location was not included in the record, responsively to updating the record.

Data backup is a standard part of all large-scale computer data storage systems (and most small systems, as well). Data written to a primary storage medium, such as a volume on a local storage subsystem, are copied, or "mirrored," to a backup medium, typically another volume on a remote storage subsystem. The backup volume can then be used for recovery in case a disaster causes the data on the primary medium to be lost. Methods of remote data mirroring are surveyed by Ji et al., in an article entitled "Seneca: Remote Mirroring Done Write," Proceedings of USENIX Technical Conference (San Antonio, Tex., June, 2003), pages 253-268, which is incorporated herein by reference. The authors note that design choices for remote mirroring must attempt to satisfy the competing goals of keeping copies as closely synchronized as possible, while delaying foreground writes by host processors to the local storage subsystem as little as possible.
Large-scale storage systems, such as the IBM Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) (IBM Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.), typically offer a number of different copy service functions that can be used for remote mirroring. Among these functions is peer-to-peer remote copy (PPRC), in which a mirror copy of a source volume on a primary storage subsystem is created on a secondary storage subsystem. When an application on a host processor writes to a PPRC volume on the primary subsystem, the corresponding data updates are entered into cache memory and non-volatile storage at the primary subsystem. The control unit (CU) of the primary subsystem then sends the updates over a communication link to the secondary subsystem. When the CU of the secondary subsystem has placed the data in its own cache and non-volatile storage, it acknowledges receipt of the data. The primary subsystem then signals the application that the write operation is complete.
PPRC provides host applications with essentially complete security against single-point failures, since all data are written synchronously to non-volatile media in both the primary and secondary storage subsystems. On the other hand, the need to save all data in non-volatile storage on both subsystems before the host write operation is considered complete can introduce substantial latency into host write operations. In some large-scale storage systems, such as the above-mentioned IBM ESS, this latency is reduced by initially writing data both to cache and to high-speed, non-volatile media, such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM), in both the primary and secondary subsystems. The data are subsequently copied to disk asynchronously (an operation that is also referred to as "hardening" the data) and removed from the non-volatile memory. The large amount of non-volatile memory that must be used for this purpose is very costly.
Data mirroring functions are commonly classified as either "synchronous" or "asynchronous." In synchronous mirroring, all updates (data write operations) are propagated immediately to the secondary subsystem. This is generally the safest mode of operation, but also the slowest, since host writes are not acknowledged until the data have been stored in non-volatile media on both the primary and secondary subsystems. When asynchronous mirroring is used, on the other hand, hosts receive notification from the primary subsystem that a write is complete as soon as the data have been placed in the cache on the primary subsystem (or possibly after the data have been secured in non-volatile storage on the primary subsystem). The updates of the data are read out from the cache and sent to the secondary subsystem in a separate, background operation. The asynchronous approach gives better performance, in terms of response time to host writes, but is vulnerable to partial data loss in the case of failure.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Asynchronous data mirroring with look-ahead synchronization record

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed herein is a rotational pulsation system including a rotor having turbine blades to drive the rotor. A centralizer having coils and a stator package positioned to operably communicate with permanent magnets at the rotor and a rotational screen disk/static screen disk disposed at the rotor.

Communication and therefore data recovery and transmission from remote locations such as downhole locations in boreholes is often important to the purpose for which the borehole is being created. In the hydrocarbon industry, for example, communication from the downhole environment while drilling can dramatically improve operations and decision making at the surface.
Many devices have been used, and are still used, to accomplish this type of communication. Most are somewhat effective but rates of data transmission can be slow and in noisy environments, signals can be easily lost. Alternative devices and methods are always welcome in the art and particularly so if the data rates and/or signal integrity are improved.

Rotational pulsation system and method for communicating

Abstract: A method for communicating in a wellbore includes spinning a rotational pulsation system to create a first frequency and applying and removing an electrical load according to a message to be communicated.


A direct injection controlled auto-ignition engine is operated at steady state, within a homogeneous charge compression-ignition (HCCI) load range and with fuel-air-diluent mixtures at predetermined conditions, for each speed and load, of engine control inputs, including at least fueling mass flow rate, injection timing (FI), spark timing (SI) and exhaust recompression obtained by negative valve overlap (NVO). During load change rates below a predetermined threshold, SI, FI and NVO change rates are synchronized to current changes in the fueling mass flow rate. For fast load increases above the threshold, the cylinder charge is temporarily enriched by increasing the percentage of residual gas or reducing the percentage of fresh air mass in the charge sufficiently to maintain auto-ignition temperature during the load change. This may be done by delaying NVO action for a predetermined speed-dependent number of engine cycles. At very low loads, stable fuel rate reduction may require an alternate method involving deceleration fuel cut-off followed by a step change during refire.

To improve thermal efficiency of gasoline internal combustion engines, dilute combustion—using either air or re-circulated exhaust gas—is known to give enhanced thermal efficiency and low NOx emissions. However, there is a limit at which an engine can be operated with a diluted mixture because of misfire and combustion instability as a result of a slow burn. Known methods to extend the dilution limit include 1) improving ignitability of the mixture by enhancing ignition and fuel preparation, 2) increasing the flame speed by introducing charge motion and turbulence, and 3) operating the engine under controlled auto-ignition combustion.
The controlled auto-ignition process is sometimes called the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) process. In this process, a mixture of combusted gases, air and fuel is created and auto-ignited simultaneously from many ignition sites within the mixture during compression, resulting in very stable power output and high thermal efficiency. Since the combustion is highly diluted and uniformly distributed throughout the charge, the burned gas temperature, and hence NOx emission, is substantially lower than that of the traditional spark ignition engine based on propagating flame front, and the diesel engine based on an attached diffusion flame. In both spark ignition and diesel engines, the burned gas temperature is highly heterogeneous within the mixture with very high local temperature creating high NOx emissions.
Engines operating under controlled auto-ignition combustion have been successfully demonstrated in two-stroke gasoline engines using a conventional compression ratio. It is believed that the high proportion of burned gases remaining from the previous cycle, i.e. the residual content, within the two-stroke engine combustion chamber is responsible for providing the high mixture temperature necessary to promote auto-ignition in a highly diluted mixture. In four-stroke engines with traditional valve means, the residual content is low, controlled auto-ignition at part load is difficult to achieve. Known methods to induce controlled auto-ignition at part load include: 1) intake air heating, 2) variable compression ratio, and 3) blending gasoline with fuel that has wider auto-ignition ranges than gasoline. In all the above methods, the range of engine speeds and loads in which controlled auto-ignition combustion can be achieved is relatively narrow.
Engines operating under controlled auto-ignition combustion have been demonstrated in four-stroke gasoline engines using variable valve actuation to obtain the necessary conditions for auto-ignition in a highly diluted mixture. Various fueling controls including split and single injections have been proposed for use in conjunction with valve control strategies to maintain stable auto-ignition combustion across a variety of engine load conditions.
In commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/899,457 an exemplary fuel injection and valve strategy for stable, extended controlled auto-ignition is disclosed. Therein, during operation at low load, a first injection of fixed amount of fuel during the negative valve overlap period is followed by a second fuel injection during the subsequent compression stroke. The injection timing for the first injection retards and the injection timing for the second injection advances in a continuous manner as the engine load increases. During operation with intermediate part load, a first injection of fuel during the negative valve overlap period followed immediately by a second injection of fuel during the subsequent intake stroke supports auto-ignition. Optimal separation of the two injections is around 30 to 60 degrees crank angle. The injection timings of both injections retard in a continuous manner as the engine load increases. And, during operation with high part load, a single fuel injection during the intake stroke supports auto-ignition. The injection timing retards as the engine load increases.
While the advances outlined above have successfully demonstrated controlled auto-ignition capabilities at steady state conditions, rapid load changes or transients may introduce undesirable combustion results.

Load transient control methods for direct-injection engines with controlled auto-ignition combustion


In a conduct inference process, feature points are extracted from a capture image. The extracted feature points are collated with conduct inference models to select conduct inference models in each of which an accordance ratio between a target vector and a movement vector is within a tolerance. Among the selected conduct inference models, one conduct inference model in which a distance from a relative feature point to a return point is shortest is selected. Then, a specific conduct designated in the selected conduct inference model is tentatively determined as a specific conduct the driver intends to perform. Furthermore, based on the tentatively determined specific conduct, it is determined whether the specific conduct is probable. When it is determined that the specific conduct is probable, an alarm process is executed to output an alarm to the driver.

A conduct inference apparatus in a vehicle is conventionally known as having an image capture device and an image processor. The image capture device captures an image of a driver etc.; the image processor determines whether the driver is performing a specific conduct such as using a cellular phone based on an image captured (referred to as a capture image) (see Patent Document 1).
In the conduct inference apparatus in Patent Document 1, when in a capture image a predetermined region peripheral to a face continues to contain a hand for a predetermined time period or longer, the driver is determined to be performing the specific conduct.
That is, whether the driver is performing a specific conduct is determined based on only whether the hand is located at a position when the specific conduct is being performed.                Patent document 1: JP-2005-205943 A
Therefore, in the conduct inference apparatus in Patent document 1, the specific conduct can be detected only after already having been performed. Thus, a measurement for anticipating the specific conduct cannot be taken so as to run the vehicle safely such as outputting an alarm to the driver, for example.


A projection display apparatus has a light source, an image forming device for modulating light emitted from the light source with an image signal supplied thereto, and a reflective optical system for magnifying and projecting an image generated by the image forming device. The reflective optical system has a first reflecting mirror for reflecting light emitted from the image forming device and initially applied thereto, and a plurality of reflecting mirrors for successively reflecting the light reflected by the first reflecting mirror. The first reflecting mirror has a spherical reflecting surface, and a normal line passing through the crest of the spherical reflecting surface and a normal line passing through the image forming device extend nonparallel to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projection display apparatus for magnifying and projecting an image formed by an image forming device onto a projection surface such as a screen or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a schematic side elevational view of an imaging optical system disclosed in JP-A No. 10-111458. As shown in FIG. 1, the disclosed imaging optical system is a reflective imaging optical system comprising three reflecting mirrors, i.e., first, second, and third reflecting mirrors, 101, 102, 103. The image forming device 100 shown in FIG. 1 is disposed on an imaging surface. Image forming device 100 emits light beams representing an image, which are successively reflected by first reflecting mirror 101, second reflecting mirror 102, and third reflecting mirror 103. The reflected light beams are then projected obliquely upwardly onto the reverse surface of a screen (not shown). The reflective imaging optical system disclosed in JP-A No. 10-111458 is will be reduced in size and, in particular, have a profile with reduced thickness, because the paths of the light beams emitted from image forming device 100 are folded back on themselves a plurality of times by the plurality reflecting mirrors.
The light beams (image) emitted from image forming device 100 are progressively magnified as they are reflected successively by first reflecting mirror 101, second reflecting mirror 102, and third reflecting mirror 103. If first reflecting mirror 101 to which the light beams emitted from image forming device 100 are first applied has a distortion or a deformation, the effects of distortion or deformation are also progressively magnified. Therefore, the reflecting surface of first reflecting mirror 101 is required to have a higher level of surface shape accuracy than the reflecting surfaces of second reflecting mirror 102 and third reflecting mirror 103. In addition, first reflecting mirror 101 is highly affected by heat from image forming device 100 because first reflecting mirror 101 is closest to image forming device 100. It is desirable that first reflecting mirror 101 be made of a material having a low linear coefficient of expansion.
For the above reasons, first reflecting mirror 101 of the reflective imaging optical system disclosed in JP-A No. 10-111458 has a spherical reflecting surface. The spherical reflecting surface can be finished to high accuracy by a less costly polishing process even if first reflecting mirror 101 is made of a glass material having a low linear coefficient of expansion.
The paths of the light beams extending from image forming device 100 to the screen have different lengths, respectively, which are responsible for an aberration (trapezoidal distortion) on the screen. In the reflective imaging optical system disclosed in JP-A No. 10-111458, second reflecting mirror 102 and third reflecting mirror 103 have an aberration correcting function. Specifically, each of second reflecting mirror 102 and third reflecting mirror 103 has an aspherical reflecting surface which satisfies given conditions.
The pamphlet of International Publication WO01/011425 discloses a reflective imaging optical system with an enhanced aberration correcting function. Structural details of the reflective imaging optical system disclosed in the pamphlet are shown in FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 2, the reflective imaging optical system has optical engine (corresponding to image forming device 101 shown in FIG. 1) 200, first reflecting mirror (corresponding to first reflecting mirror 101 shown in FIG. 1) 201, and assistive lens 202 for assisting in aberration correction, which is disposed between optical engine 200 and first reflecting mirror 201. The reflective imaging optical system also has curved mirror 203 disposed closely above optical engine 200, and two other reflecting mirrors. Therefore, the reflective imaging optical system comprises four reflecting mirrors and a single lens. Curved mirror 203 serves as a mirror for avoiding interference between light beams reflected by first reflecting mirror 201 and optical engine 200.
As described above, in the field of reflective optical systems (or reflective imaging optical systems) for magnifying and projecting an image formed by an image forming device, aberrations caused by different optical path lengths are mainly corrected by the surface shapes of reflecting mirrors of the optical systems. Specifically, the shape of a reflecting surface is optimized to enhance the aberration correcting function. However, although the reflecting mirror to which the light beams emitted from the image forming device are first applied should preferably have a spherical reflecting surface, the aberration correcting function of the spherical reflecting surface is low. As a consequence, the reflecting mirrors at subsequent stages undergo an increased corrective capability burden. To solve for such an increased corrective capability burden, it is necessary to increase the number of reflecting mirrors used or to increase the latitude as to the corrective capability of each of the reflecting mirrors.
Increasing the number of reflecting mirrors, however, invites an increase in the cost and size of the reflective imaging optical system. The reflective imaging optical system is highly advantageous in that it is small in size because the paths of light beams are folded back on themselves a plurality of times by a plurality of reflecting mirrors. If the number of reflecting mirrors is increased, then the reflective imaging optical system necessarily becomes large in size, thus canceling the above advantage. The assistive lens that is inserted in the optical path as disclosed in the pamphlet referred to above also increases the number of optical elements, making the reflective imaging optical system large in size.
For increasing the latitude of the corrective capability of each reflecting mirror, the reflecting mirror needs to have an aspherical reflecting surface or a free-form reflecting surface. If, however, the reflecting surface of each reflecting mirror is complex in shape, then it becomes more difficult and costly to design and to fabricate the reflecting mirror. Furthermore, not only the accuracy of a reflecting surface shape, but also the accuracy of a three-dimensional positional relationship of the reflecting mirrors, i.e., the layout accuracy, affects the aberrational correction. Stated otherwise, no aberration can be corrected if the layout accuracy of each reflecting mirror is low even though each reflecting mirror has an ideal reflecting surface shape. For increasing the layout accuracy of each reflecting mirror, the reflective imaging optical system must have reference points or reference surfaces therein. However, if all the reflecting mirrors of the reflective imaging optical system have an aspherical reflecting surface or a free-form reflecting surface, then it is difficult to provide highly accurate reference points or reference surfaces in the reflective imaging optical system.


Acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives which exhibit hydrophilicity and moisture permeability can be made by curing or crosslinking low molecular weight acrylic oligomers modified with substantial quantities of a hydroxyl containing monomer. The resultant modified pressure sensitive adhesive acrylic copolymers, upon crosslinking, will then have a hydrophilic hydroxy component incorporated into the copolymer backbone. Such adhesives are particularly useful in skin contact applications, such as the adhesives used on bandages or the adhesives used in transdermal drug delivery systems.

Diverse adhesive technologies have been used for skin contact applications. A review article by Pierson (TAPPI Journal, June 1990, pages 101 to 107) describes the broad range of approaches which have been taken to provide adhesive systems which will adhere to skin and have utility in a diverse number of areas.
One major category of such skin contact adhesives are compositions based on physical blends of hydropholic additives into normally pressure sensitive materials. For example, Chen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,546, Osburn in U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,325 and Doyle et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,490, all teach variations of this art. While effective in some applications, such physical blends suffer in that the hydrophilic additives are not chemically bound into the polymeric backbone. As a result, when becoming hydrated by the exudate of body fluids, such as perspiration, phase separation can occur. This leads to the formation of weak boundary layers and loss of adhesives properties. Further embodiments of this same technique of physically blending hydrophilic additives, such as hydrocolloid powders as powdered sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC), into a polymeric pressure sensitive adhesives as binders have been proposed, including the use of acrylic pressure sensitive materials as the polymeric binder. Further, the addition of other water soluble, but not chemically bound agents, such as low molecular weight polyols, as glycerol, have been proposed to enhance the rates of hydration (as in International Application WO 91/09633). These too suffer from not having the added hydrophilic agent chemically bound into the polymer system.
It has long been known that pressure sensitive adhesives can be produced from a variety of alkyl esters of acrylic acid. Polymers and copolymers based on C.sub.4 to C.sub.10 acrylic esters are inherently pressure sensitive and have a well established use in industry. The effects of monomer type and of the resultant molecular weight on pressure sensitive adhesive properties are well known to those skilled in the art. For instance, in the Handbook of Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Technology, Satas teaches how the chain length of a dependent alkyl group influences such properties as glass transition (T.sub.g) and resistance-to-peel (pages 397 to 402). Numerous other publications can be found to further illustrate this well known technology.
Attempts to enhance the moisture permeation of acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives themselves have involved such techniques as aerating the adhesive as it is applied to a web and dried, creating a micro structure resembling a polymeric foam. Other attempts to enhance the hydrophilicity of acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives have involved the addition of monomers, such as n-vinyl pyrrolidone or acrylamide, during synthesis of the pressure sensitive adhesive, as discussed by Lucast and Taylor (TAPPI Journal, June 1990, pages 159 to 163). However, the use of said monomers pose toxicity concerns during manufacture and are often used in only relatively minor quantities. Furthermore, polymerization must be carried out in solvent media in order to adequately incorporate these monomers, which contribute to hydrophilicity, into the polymer backbone. The resultant polymer must then be cast from a solvent onto a web in order to create useful products. Such solvent casting techniques now pose environmental concerns over volatile organic emissions and have inherent production inefficiencies. Kellen et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,559 teaches that such solution polymerization techniques are common and well known in the art.
Hydroxy containing acrylic monomers have long been used in the manufacture of medical products. For example, polymerizates of hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA) are used in the manufacture of contact lenses. The resultant products made from pure HEMA are hard, brittle plastics which require some plasticization in order to yield functional materials. However, because of their hydroxy functionality, said products are inherently moisture permeable and susceptible to moisture pick-up and are thus inherently hydrophilic. Polymerization of HEMA itself is exceedingly sensitive to reactor conditions (as taught by Bursky et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,749). Because of the high charge transfer of its --OH group, polymerization of HEMA readily results in gel or partially crosslinked polymer networks and when not gelled poly-HEMA must often be stored under cool or refrigerated conditions to prevent further autopolymerization. Nonetheless, Korol in U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,184 teaches the value of polymerized HEMA adhesive systems as being efficacious in the delivery of certain drugs or bioactive components and in wound healing applications.
Attempts to incorporate HEMA or similar hydroxy containing monomers into acrylic pressure sensitives have, as a consequence, been limited to relatively small additions, say <5%, to the monomer make up of an adhesive polymerizate. Even at these relatively low concentrations, difficulties are encountered in attempting to control the kinetics of synthesis. Often an undesirable polymer gel results when attempting to synthesize conventional, inherently pressure sensitive acrylic copolymers based on C.sub.4 to C.sub.8 acrylic esters to which hydroxy containing monomers, such as HEMA, have been added. Such gels cannot be further processed or applied to webs or substrates as adhesive materials. Thus, the use of hydroxy containing monomers, such as HEMA, has been limited in the use of pressure sensitive adhesives for applications in which the hydrophilicity of HEMA like substitutive groups would be desirable, as for skin contact adhesives.
The chemical structures below are illustrative, but not necessarily inclusive, of the differences between conventional acrylic based pressure sensitive adhesives and the novel adhesives based on modifying a prepolymerized acrylic pressure sensitive precursor with hydroxy ethyl methacrylate.

Hydrophilic acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives