A process and a device for drying and smoothing a web. The process uses an apparatus including at least one dryer section having a plurality of heated cylinders and a calender having a plurality of smoothing nips, and includes guiding the web over the plurality of heated cylinders in the at least one dryer section, drying the web in the at least one dryer section to a maximum dry content of approximately 93%, adjusting a moisture cross-profile of the web in the dryer section, and guiding the web to the calender. The device includes a dryer section comprising beginning, middle, and end sections, a calender, and at least one adjusting device located in the end section for moistening the web, wherein the web is guided through the dryer section prior to being guided to the calender.

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 of German Patent Application No. 199 01 400.0, filed on Jan. 15, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to processes and the corresponding devices for drying and smoothing a web of fibrous material, particularly a paper web, in a machine for manufacturing and/or finishing such a web, including at least one drier section in which the fibrous material web is conducted through a plurality of heated cylinders and a calendar with a number of smoothing nips.
2. Discussion of Background Information
In order to achieve a moisture cross-profile which is as uniform as possible, fibrous material webs have typically been subjected to intense drying and then moistened again at the end of the drying process. This requires a great deal of energy and long dryer sections.
Conventional SC papers achieve a dry content of, e.g., 97-98% at the end of the dryer section, given a good moisture cross-profile of 2 sigma of approximately 0.15-0.3%. With the application of moisture at the end of the dryer section, the dry content here is reduced to 91-93%. After the paper roll has experienced a xe2x80x9cmaturation time,xe2x80x9d during which the moisture content equalizes itself over the thickness of the paper, the paper is fed to a calendar.
To make the manufacturing process more effective, however, there is a growing interest in allowing the calendering process to immediately succeed the drying process. With the elimination of the above-mentioned xe2x80x9cmaturation time,xe2x80x9d however, the moisture cross-profile of the fibrous material web worsens, particularly at high speeds.
Here, the moisture cross-profile measured at the end of the dryer section is used to control the treatment device at the end of the dryer section and is also used, if need be, to control any steam-blowing boxes present in a pressing section positioned in front of the dryer section. This method is not only imprecise, but is also associated with long reaction times, which in turn increases the number of rejects.
The present invention therefore provides for a process for drying and smoothing fibrous material webs. The invention also provides for devices for performing the process. Moreover, the invention allows for calendering to occur immediately following the drying process, particularly at high speeds, while guaranteeing an optimal moisture cross-profile.
The process provides for the fibrous material web in the dryer section to be dried to a dry content of at most approximately 93% and, in the dryer section, the moisture cross-profile of the fibrous material web is influenced a number of times and/or the moisture distribution is made as uniform as possible over the thickness of the fibrous material web by moistening or drying at least one side of the fibrous material web at a plurality of points during the drying process. A jet humidifier or a steam blow box may be used to add the moisture to the web and this device may be located anywhere along the dryer section. Preferably, the influencing device is located towards the end of the dryer section. Moreover, a dryer section having a beginning, middle, and end section should have at least one influencing device in the end section and one or more such devices in the beginning and middle sections.
A significant savings in energy can be achieved by limiting the dry content of the fibrous material web in the dryer section, which preferably will equal a maximum of approximately 91%.
The assurance of a good and uniform moisture cross-profile, as viewed crosswise to the fibrous material web, is achieved with the treatment of the fibrous material web at a plurality of points within the dryer section.
Furthermore, a relatively uniform moisture distribution over the thickness of the fibrous material web during the drying process is advantageous in that limited moistening or drying at the end of the dryer section is sufficient. Consequently, achieving a good moisture cross-profile also does not require excessive drying.
The invention allows at least the moisture distribution over the thickness of the fibrous material web and/or the moisture cross-profile in the first two thirds of the dryer section to be influenced. It is most important for the influencing device (e.g., a jet humidifier or a steam blow box) to be at least applied in the last third of the dryer section. An additional device can also be located between the dryer section and the calender. In agreement with this suggested configuration of the points of influence, but also independent of them, it can be advantageous for influence to be exerted at a moisture content of between approximately 50% and 15%, preferably between approximately 25% and 15%, and, furthermore, at a moisture content of between approximately 20% and 8%, preferably between approximately 15% and 8%.
As a result of controlling good moisture distribution, and/or a good moisture cross-profile at the end of the dryer section, it is possible for the fibrous material web to pass through the dryer section and the calender at a speed of more than approximately 1200 m/min, preferably more than approximately 1500 m/min. It is of special advantage here for the fibrous material web to be heated and to be pressed and steamed across the width of the web in a manner that permits control according to zone.
The intensity of moistening or drying should be adjustable at several points, so as to influence the moisture cross-profile according to zones across the width of the fibrous material web. In each case, the zones should be adjusted on the basis of the subsequent measurement of the moisture cross-profile. The zone widths should be as small as possible and less than approximately 50 mm, preferably less than approximately 25 mm.
The corresponding device provides for at least one influencing device to be assigned to the fibrous material web in at least one of the first two thirds of the dryer section, as well as in the last third of the dryer section, and in the area between the dryer sections and the calender; and/or that at least one influencing device is assigned to the fibrous material web in an area in which it has a moisture content between approximately 50% and 15%, preferably between approximately 25% and 15%, and in at least one area in which it has a moisture content between approximately 20% and 8%, preferably between approximately 15% and 8%. As an end result, at least two influencing devices are employed, i.e., one in the end section and another at any location described above.
To assure as fine a water distribution as possible, the influencing devices (i.e., jet humidifiers) for moistening, particularly in the last third of the dryer section, should spray water on the fibrous material web with as small a droplet size as possible, in range of less than approximately 100 xcexcm, preferably less than approximately 80 xcexcm.
Furthermore, the quotient of the length of the fibrous material web between the last point at which the moisture distribution over the thickness of the web is influenced and/or the moisture cross-profile is influenced, particularly by moistening, and the first smoothing nip of the adjacent calender divided by the speed of the fibrous material web should amount to at least approximately one second. This provides a minimal penetration time and allows the sprayed water to penetrate the fibrous material web up to the beginning of the smoothing process.
Assigned to the influencing devices here are moisture cross-profile measuring units which help control the influencing devices.
To assure a quick reaction time, or optimal control, each influencing device should have a moisture cross-profile measuring unit assigned to it whenever possible, preferably positioned after it in the direction of flow.
It is also possible to provide several moisture cross-profile measuring units and to assign one or two influencing devices to each moisture cross-profile measuring unit.
The moisture distribution over the thickness and width of the fibrous material web can be advantageously further influenced if one of the pressing sections located in front of the dryer section and employed for removing water contains at least one steam-blowing box for the purpose of heating the web that runs at a right angle to the fibrous material web and can be controlled according to zones.
To achieve good values for luster and smoothness in the fibrous material web, it is essential for the calender to include at least three smoothing rollers which, taken in pairs, form one smoothing nip; here, at least one smoothing roller is heated and at least one smoothing roller can be controlled with respect to bending. Moistening within the calender can also improve the result; heating and/or moistening (primarily with steam) will preferably be controlled according to zone.
In the dryer section in which, for the most part, only one side of the fibrous material web comes into contact with heated cylinders, it is generally sufficient for influencing devices to be predominantly assigned only to this one side of the web, preferably for moistening. Assigning at least one influencing device to each side of the fibrous material web may only be necessary in the last third of the dryer section in order to dry the outer areas of the fibrous material web.
If both sides of the fibrous material web come into contact with heated cylinders to any significant degree, then both sides should be assigned influencing devices for moistening.
The invention provides a process for drying and smoothing a web in an apparatus including at least one dryer section having a plurality of heated cylinders and a calender having a plurality of smoothing nips, the process including guiding the web over the plurality of heated cylinders in the at least one dryer section, drying the web in the at least one dryer section to a maximum dry content of approximately 93%, adjusting a moisture cross-profile of the web in the dryer section, and guiding the web to the calender. The web may be a fibrous material paper web. The web may be dried to a dry content of approximately 91%. The process may further include adjusting a moisture distribution over a thickness of the web during the drying by moistening at least one side of the web. The moistening may include a plurality of moistening points which provide the web with approximately uniform moisture content. The adjusting may further include influencing the moisture cross-profile within a first two thirds of the dryer section, and influencing the moisture cross-profile in a last third of the dryer section. The adjusting may include influencing the moisture cross-profile within a first two thirds of the dryer section, and influencing the moisture cross-profile between the dryer section and the calender. The adjusting further may include influencing the moisture cross-profile within a first two thirds of the dryer section, and influencing the moisture cross-profile in a last third of the dryer section and between the dryer section and the calender. The adjusting may include influencing the web moisture cross-profile at a point where the web has a moisture content between approximately 50% and 15%. The moisture content is between approximately 25% and 15%. The adjusting may also include influencing the web moisture cross-profile at a point where the web has a moisture content between approximately 20% and 8%. The moisture content is between approximately 15% and 8%. The guiding may include running the web through the dryer section at a speed greater than approximately 1200 m/min. The running may be at a speed greater than approximately 1500 m/min. The guiding may include allowing the web to absorb moisture for at least one second after influencing and before the web enters the calender. The guiding may include heating the web in the calender and pressing the web over its width according to controllable zones. The adjusting may provide for influencing the moisture cross-profile of a plurality of zones across the width of the web. The adjusting of each zone may be continuous. The adjusting may further include measuring the moisture cross-profile of the web using at least one measurement device. The measuring may be performed at a point which is ahead of a point of adjusting. The measuring may be performed by zone. The adjusting may be performed by zone. Each zone may be adjusted in response to a corresponding zone measurement. Each zone may be continuously adjusted in response to a corresponding continuous zone measurement.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a device for drying and smoothing a web, including a dryer section comprising beginning, middle, and end sections, a calender, and at least one adjusting device located in the end section for moistening the web, wherein the web is guided through the dryer section prior to being guided to the calender. The device may further include at least one adjusting device disposed in one of the beginning and the middle sections for moistening the web. One of the adjusting devices may be located in a section where the web has a moisture content between approximately 50% and 15%. The moisture content may be between approximately 25% and 15%. Another adjusting device may be located in a section where the web has a moisture content between approximately 20% and 8%. The moisture content may be between approximately 15% and 8%. At least one adjusting device may be located in each of the beginning and middle sections. The at least one adjusting device may moisten the web with a fine mist spray. The fine mist spray may be water. The fine mist spray may have droplets which are in a range less than approximately 100 xcexcm. The droplets may be in the range of less than approximately 80 xcexcm. The device may also include a plurality of adjusting devices for moistening the web in zones. The plurality of zones may be arranged across the width of the web so as to define a zone moistening width. Each zone may be moistened by a corresponding adjusting device. Each zone moistening width may be less than approximately 25 mm. Each zone moistening width is less than approximately 15 mm. At least one moisture cross-profile measuring unit for influencing the at least one adjusting device can be included. The device can also include a plurality of moisture cross-profile measuring units, and a plurality of adjusting devices, wherein each measuring unit influences a corresponding adjusting device. The measuring units may comprise infrared measuring devices. Each infrared measuring unit can control a amount of water delivered to the web by each corresponding adjusting device. Each adjusting device may deliver water to a specific zone width of the web. Each adjusting device may be located along a web travel path such that it is followed by a corresponding moisture cross-profile measuring unit. The device may further have a plurality of moisture cross-profile measuring units, and a plurality of adjusting devices, wherein each measuring unit influences a corresponding adjusting device and wherein at least one measuring unit influences at least two adjusting devices. The at least one measuring unit which influences the at least two adjusting devices may be located in the end section. The device may utilize at least one steam-blowing box located ahead of a press nip, wherein the press nip is located before the dryer section. The at least one steam-blowing box comprises a device for heating the web. The at least one steam-blowing box comprises a moisture removing device. The calender may further include at least three smoothing nips arranged in pairs with at least one roller of each pair comprising a heated roller and at least one opposing roller of each pair comprising a bending roller. The dryer section may further include a plurality of heated cylinders, and the at least one influencing device positioned downstream of one of the heated cylinders, wherein the web is moistened by the at least one adjusting device after it is heated by one of the heated cylinders. The device may have at least one aspirating cylinder located downstream from one of the heated cylinders, wherein the at least one adjusting device is located adjacent the at least one aspirating cylinder. The device may also employ the at least one adjusting device being located on one side of the web so as to moisten this one side. The at least one adjusting device may be located on each side of the web so as to moisten the web from both sides. The at least one adjusting device may be at least two adjusting devices of each being located on each side of the web so as to moisten the web from both sides, wherein these adjusting devices are each positioned in end section. The dryer section may have a plurality of heated cylinders, and at least two influencing devices positioned downstream of one of the heated cylinders, wherein the web is moistened by from each side by at least one influencing device after it is heated by one of the heated cylinders. The heated cylinders may be arranged so as to heat both sides of the web.
According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a process for drying and smoothing a web, including guiding the web through at least one nip press, guiding the web through at least one dryer section, said dryer section comprising a beginning, middle, and end section wherein the at least one dryer section further comprises a plurality of heated cylinders, measuring a moisture cross-profile of the web with a measurement device located in one of the middle section and the end section, adjusting a moisture cross-profile of the web in one of the beginning, middle, and end section based upon the measuring, and drying the web in the at least one dryer section to a maximum dry content of approximately 93%, further guiding the web to a calender comprising a plurality of smoothing nips.
The invention also provides for a device for drying and smoothing a web, including a first nip press, a dryer section comprising beginning, middle, and end sections, said dryer section further comprising a plurality of heated cylinders, at least one adjusting device for moistening the web located in the end section and at least one of the beginning and middle sections, at least one measuring device located downstream from one of the at least one adjusting device for measuring the moisture cross-profile of the web, and a calender section comprising a plurality if nip presses, wherein the web is guided from the first nip press, through the dryer section, and through the calender section and wherein the moisture cross-profile of the web is adjusted continuously based upon a measured cross-profile.
Other exemplary embodiments and advantages of the present invention may be ascertained by reviewing the present disclosure and the accompanying drawing.

Drying and smoothing unit for webs of fibrous material


The present invention relates to wastewater treatment in general and to methods of controlling odors and degrading compounds contained in wastewater in particular.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wastewater treatment in general and to methods of controlling odors, reducing chemical oxygen demand (COD), and degrading compounds contained in wastewater in particular.
2. Description of Related Art
The main chemical compounds in wastewater are nitrogen, phosphorus, fats, oils and grease.
Objectionable odors are caused by a variety of substances typically present in wastewater. These include sulfur and several sulfur containing compounds including hydro sulfuric acid, sulfuric acid, mercaptans (R—SH) including especially methyl and dimethyl mercaptans, and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS); numerous organic acids including propionic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, isovaleric acid; ammonia; urea; and various terpenes including carene, pinene, limonene. These substances most frequently lead to noticeable odors under anaerobic conditions.
Octel Gamlen has sold a wastewater treatment composition comprising a strain of each of Mucor hiemalis, Trichoderma atroviride, Paecilomyces variottii, and Aspergillus niger.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,458 discloses a method for purifying process water from a kerosene desulfurization plant comprising adding bacterial species.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved wastewater treatment composition.


An exemplary method of inserting a peri-straight electrode array into a cochlea of a recipient includes positioning the peri-straight electrode array and an insertion tool within the recipient such that a distal end of the insertion tool is provided within the recipient at a location that is outside and not touching the cochlea of the recipient, and a straight distal portion of the peri-straight electrode array extends away from the distal end of the insertion tool and into the cochlea. The exemplary method further includes manually interacting with the insertion tool to advance the straight distal portion and at least some of a pre-curved proximal portion into the cochlea without allowing the insertion tool to enter or come in contact with the cochlea, and removing the insertion tool from the recipient such that the peri-straight electrode array remains within the cochlea after the insertion tool is removed from the recipient.

Cochlear implant systems are used to provide, restore, and/or improve the sense of hearing to recipients with severe or profound hearing loss. A key component of a cochlear implant system is an electrode lead that is inserted into a cochlea of the recipient in a delicate surgical procedure referred to herein as an "insertion procedure." Insertion procedures are difficult due to the structure of the human cochlea, which is in the shape of a spiral beginning at a base and ending at an apex.
Current cochlear electrode lead technologies include designs in which at least a portion of cochlear electrode lead is pre-curved. Such pre-curved cochlear electrode leads are manufactured in an already-curled shape and are straightened before implantation using either a stylet that is inserted into a lumen of the pre-curved cochlear electrode lead or by using a straight rigid sheath provided around the pre-curved cochlear electrode lead. While a surgeon inserts a pre-curved cochlear electrode lead into the cochlea, the stylet or sheath is gradually withdrawn, which allows the pre-curved cochlear electrode lead to return to its curled shape and conform with the helical shape of the cochlea.
Typically, specialized surgical tools and surgical techniques are required to handle the pre-curved cochlear electrode lead and remove the stylet or sheath. Such techniques can be challenging and require specialized training and experience to perform correctly. Improper insertion of a pre-curved cochlear electrode lead can result in damage to the electrode lead, damage to the cochlear tissue, and/or improper electrode placement in the cochlea (e.g., translocation, tip foldover, etc.). Moreover, typical insertion procedures that utilize specialized surgical tools such as the stylet or sheath include having at least a portion of the stylet or sheath abut against and/or enter into the insertion opening (cochleostomy/round window) of the cochlea during the insertion procedure. This results in loss of visibility and/or tactile feedback for the surgeon and/or increases the chance for intra-cochlear trauma.

Systems and methods for inserting a peri-straight electrode array into a cochlea of a recipient


The present invention provides an optical system for a camera including: a first lens which has a negative refractive power and has a meniscus shape convex toward object side; a second lens which has a negative refractive power and has a convex surface toward object side; a third lens which has a positive refractive power and has a convex surface toward object side; and a fourth lens which has a positive refractive power and has a convex surface toward image side, wherein the optical system satisfies the following inequalities: 0.3<v3/v2<0.8, and 0.06<f1/TL/0.2, where v2 indicates an Abbe number of the second lens, v2 indicates an Abbe number of the third lens, f1 indicates the overall focal distance of lens system, and TL indicates a distance from a vertex of the object side of the first lens to an imaged plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical system for a camera; and, more particularly, to an optical system for a camera in which a wide-angle of view can be implemented by using the number of lenses as small as possible and inter-compensation can be achieved with respect to contraction and expansion of plastic lenses caused by external temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent, a mobile communication means (e.g., mobile communication terminal, PDA, and smart phone) has a tendency toward increase in its use and diversification of services provided through communication technologies. In line with this, the mobile communication means has incorporated additional functions in various types, in addition to basic communication functions. A camera function of the additional functions is most frequently mounted on a mobile communication means.
Such a camera becomes gradually small and thin with the miniaturization of camera-mounted devices. In particular, with the gradually increased use of a front/rear monitoring camera for an automobile or of a CCTV for external monitoring, an optical system of a wide-angle of view has been demanded which has a compact size and provides image information in wide ranges.
An optical system of a wide-angle of view should be used as an optical system for external monitoring or rear monitoring, because such a monitoring optical system should take a picture from the outside in wide ranges. Additionally, an optical system should be designed to be light enough to identify a subject even in a dark environment.
Optimal conditions for design of the light optical system are to use glass lenses with spherical surfaces which have superior optical transmittance and refractive indexes. However, it is difficult to design compact and inexpensive optical system in consideration of cost for manufacturing a monitoring camera.
Therefore, in an optical system mounted on a monitoring camera, plastic lenses advantageous for molding should be used and the number of the lenses should be as small as possible, in order to achieve miniaturization and reduction in its price. However, an optical system designed in the prior art fails to satisfy the optimal conditions, because plastic lenses with lower optical performance are used in the optical system. Moreover, reduction in the number of lenses decreases the degree of freedom in design of optical systems.
Meanwhile, at the time of designing an optical system of a wide-angle of view in the prior art, lenses of eight or more are generally necessary and the entire length of the optical system has no choice but to be elongated. That is, in the prior art, it is difficult to satisfy conditions of miniaturization and competitive cost.


A solar power system includes a preheating device for heating first heat transfer fluid and second heat transfer fluid in separate tubes. The preheated second heat transfer fluid is routed to a boiler. The preheated first heat transfer fluid is routed through a plurality of heat sinks each associated with a solar radiation collector and concentrator. Vacuum chambers receive the solar radiation from dishes and direct energy to the heat sinks transferring the heat energy to first heat transfer fluid routed through the heat sink. The lower half of each chamber extends below each dish and has an interior reflective coating on the interior of the chamber side wall. The heated first heat transfer fluid is routed through a coil within the boiler to heat the second heat transfer fluid within the boiler. The boiler outlet steam is routed through a turbine, in turn, connected to a gearing system and an alternator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of systems for converting solar energy into mechanical or electrical energy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Increased emphasis has been placed on systems for converting solar energy into mechanical and/or electrical energy due to increased energy demand and the scarcity of certain natural resources. A variety of systems have been employed with many including solar collectors connected via a fluid system to a boiler, in turn, connected to various components for producing mechanical and/or electrical energy.
It is known to collect solar energy by a parabolic reflector and then direct the energy through a lens systems with the resultant heat energy directed onto a head of a conductor having a bottom end extending into a reservoir of water. Steam is thereby created in the reservoir and used to power a turbine. The resulting mechanical energy from the turbine may be used to generate electrical energy. Such an approach is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,474 issued to Dimitroff.
In Patent Application Publication US 2012/0124999 of Gruss et al., there is disclosed a low temperature power plant including a tubular solar collector comprising an outer tube containing a vacuum and an inner tube. A plurality of the solar collectors are used to direct heat energy to a heat transfer fluid for powering a boiler and a turbine coupled to an electric generator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,733 issued to Pauly discloses a solar furnace receiving reflected solar energy from a battery of positionable mirrors with the furnace having reflectors directing concentrated radiant energy towards a Fresnel lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,211 issued Bellac et al. discloses a combustion turbine power plant wherein air is cooled using solar energy and supplied to the air inlet of the power plant to support combustion. Further, the patent discloses combustion turbine power plants in which steam is produced using the solar energy and ejected into a turbine of the power plant.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,118 issued to Bard discloses a solar furnace wherein a plurality of Fresnel lenses focus light rays upon heat conductors. Fluid passing through an associated vessel, it is used to provide steam for a steam turbine associated with an electrical generator.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0290235 of NewDelman discloses an evacuated solar conductor having a cavity positioned between a top casing that is partially transparent and a bottom portion forming a heat sink. Solar energy is transmitted through the transparent top casing to the heat sink portion.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,041 issued to Diggs, there is disclosed a solar energized steam generator system wherein a lens is used for collecting and concentrating solar energy along with reflector funnel for enhancing and concentrating the solar energy. The funnel is connected by means of a conduit to an insulated vault. An air duct operatively connected to the vault is in a heat exchange relationship with a steam generator.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,341,961 discloses a solar desalination system wherein a hydroturbine is connected to a steam turbine condenser for the purpose of generating desalinated water.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,061,206 discloses an example of a bladeless turbine and is herewith incorporated by reference on the structure of one such turbine.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A piano pedal optical sensor apparatus and method for accurately measuring, recording and reproducing the pedal expression generated during piano performances. A plurality of optical emitter/sensors are mounted on the pedal support assembly of a piano, and a plurality of corresponding optical reflectors are mounted on the moving connecting rods associated with piano pedals on the piano. Output voltage signals from the optical emitter sensors, which vary according to pedal movement, are monitored and used to generate and record pedal position values. The recorded pedal position values are then used to recreate the original pedal expression of the piano performance by generation of pulse width modulation signals which are used to drive solenoids associated with piano pedals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to devices and methods for detecting, recording and reproducing the effects or expression of piano pedals which occur during piano performances, and more particularly to a piano pedal optical sensor apparatus and method which accurately detects and records piano pedal expression, which accurately reproduces the piano pedal expression, and which is quickly and easily retrofitable to existing acoustic pianos.
2. Description of the Background Art
Reproduction of piano music has long been carried out by "player pianos" which reproduce the notes of musical pieces on the player piano by mechanically, optically or electronically reading a recording of stored musical information from an information storage medium such as punched tape or magnetic or optical disk, and then actuating keys to strike strings according to the stored musical information. Accurate recording of the musical expression from a piano performance is necessary to avoid unexpressive, mechanical-sounding reproduction of the piano music. In order to faithfully reproduce a piano performance, every nuance and subtlety of the original performance must be captured and recorded.
One aspect of piano performances which is difficult to capture and record is the pedal movement or pedalling expression of a pianist which is generated by foot pedal activation of string damping and key shifting mechanisms within the piano. During a piano performance, the pianist will move and hold the foot activated pedals over a large range of positions which extend between the fully depressed and fully released pedal positions. Previously developed devices and methods for recording piano pedal movement have all proved deficient in that they are not able to precisely measure and recreate the pedal expression of the original performance. Particularly, currently known pedal expression recording devices tend to detect a two-state actuation wherein pedal expression is recorded as an "on" or "off" signal which is then reproduced as a fully depressed or fully released pedalling effect. This arrangement results in an undesirable mechanical sound in the reproduced piano music since the numerous intermediate pedal positions generated during the actual piano performance are not recorded and reproduced. Attempts have also been made to produce devices that record intermediate or "half" pedal positions, but these devices have proven ineffective.
Another problem associated with previously used pedal sensing devices and methods is that they are difficult to install and use on different pianos. During the many years in which acoustic pianos have been manufactured or produced by many sources, a very large number of different pedal mechanisms and designs have been employed. However, currently available pedal movement sensing devices generally are specialized for specific types of pedal mechanisms, and thus different acoustic pianos from different sources cannot easily be modified or retrofitted to accommodate the pedal sensing devices.
Therefore, there is a need for a piano pedal optical sensor apparatus and method which accurately records every nuance and aspect of piano pedal movement and expression, which eliminates mechanical sounding piano music reproduction, and which can be easily installed on all varieties and makes of conventional acoustic pianos. The present invention satisfies those needs, as well as others, and generally overcomes the deficiencies found in the background art.

Method and apparatus for sensing pedal motion and actuating pedals in player pianos


A method and apparatus for assigning a survey to a respondent are provided. According to one technique, a set of one or more screening questions are generated and provided to the respondent. Input data is received in response to the respondent answering the set of one or more screening questions. Based on how the respondent answered the set of one or more screening questions, it is determined which survey should be presented to the respondent. According to another aspect, the set of one or more screening questions is generated based on the target participation criteria that is associated with one or more active surveys.

Before proceeding with a particular product, service, strategy, or tactic, it is often desirable to obtain information about the behaviors, opinions, and attitudes of the marketplace. These data will often help predict if potential customers will be interested in acquiring the product or service or how they may react to a given strategy or tactic.
Market research plays an important role in understanding the current and future wants, needs, and behaviors of the marketplace. It is often applied in business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications. As a result, many companies invest a significant amount of money, time, and resources in market research programs.
Typically, if someone (a "client") requires a better understanding of the market place, they will obtain information using an in-house market research department, an out-of-house third party market research firm, or both.
To obtain the requested information, individuals within research groups typically perform a series of linked steps. For example, these steps may include:    (1) working with the client to define the problem;    (2) designing a research instrument (i.e. a survey);    (3) creating the research instrument (writing/producing the survey);    (4) fielding the instrument using mail, telephone, in-person or Internet-based media;    (5) processing the data obtained and analyzing the results; and    (6) generating a report of findings for the client.
In conducting market research, a critical component of providing high quality, non-biased, and cost-effective results involves the recruitment and assignment of qualified individuals to a relevant research initiative or survey. As used herein, a "qualified" individual is an individual that possesses the necessary characteristics that are required for participation within a particular survey. A respondent is defined as an individual possessing the desire or willingness to participate in an active survey and a "qualified" respondent is a respondent who possesses both the willingness and the necessary characteristics that are required for participation within a particular survey.
The process of recruiting qualified individuals and assigning them to active or upcoming surveys is often complex, time consuming, expensive, and error-prone. This problem has long existed in all areas of market research. However, the ability to efficiently assign a survey to a qualified individual offers tremendous value to all constituencies involved. For example, the ability to efficiently assign a survey to a qualified individual can provide the following benefits:                (i) heightened relevancy for research participants,        (ii) increased overall research quality through higher completion rates driven by respondent relevancy, and        (iii) maximized benefits for the market research company        Conventionally, to acquire the appropriate number of qualified respondents for a research study, over-sampling is often employed. Over-sampling involves contacting a large number of people and searching for those persons who possess the required characteristics or criteria that is required for participation in a particular survey. Those individuals possessing the necessary criteria or characteristics are invited to participate in the survey while those who do not are dismissed. Unfortunately, over-sampling tends to increase the time, resources, and the cost required to complete a research initiative due to large number of "dismissals" that are typically incurred (those who do not possess the required characteristics and are subsequently dismissed). Additionally, over-sampling among a low incidence audience often raises the time or financial requirements to a prohibitive level, thus often forcing many clients to abandon their research initiatives.
One method of reducing the overhead that is incurred by over-sampling is through the profiling or targeting of qualified respondents. Profiling or targeting can offer an alternative to over-sampling when attempting to acquire feedback from a desired number of qualified respondents. Profiling or targeting involves the use of pre-existing information about a pool of potential qualified respondents. Using this information, individuals are selectively invited to participate in research initiatives. However, while targeting overcomes some of the deficiencies associated with over-sampling, a significant drawback is that the practice of targeting individuals requires both a large amount of initial data collection and a willingness to perform ongoing data collection and management to ensure the accuracy of the collected information over time. Within the market research industry, maintaining current and accurate information is troublesome, expensive, and increasingly subject to privacy issues.
Based on the foregoing, it is clearly desirable to provide a mechanism that can offer an efficient, fast, and cost-effective solution to qualifying individuals and for inviting those qualified individuals to participate in appropriate and relevant surveys.
It is further desirable to provide a mechanism that can increase the value of a company's market research by heightening the relevancy for individuals who share their opinions in market research initiatives, and significantly increasing the quality of the conducted research through improved completion rates.

Dynamically assigning a survey to a respondent


A lens barrel of the present invention includes a first barrel member on which a first cam groove is formed and which is provided with a first cam follower, and a second barrel member on which a second cam follower to engage with first cam groove is formed, and which is provided with a second cam groove to engage with first cam follower, the second barrel member performing relative rotation and relative movement in an axis direction of the rotation with respect to the first barrel member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens barrel that has a configuration in which cylindrical members are coupled through cam coupling to cause the above cylindrical members to relatively move in an optical axis direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lens barrels used in photographing devices such as cameras for shooting photographs have been configured by a plurality of optical lenses or the like, and a plurality of barrel members or the like each holding the plurality of optical lenses and formed in an annular or cylindrical shape. In addition, the plurality of barrel members are configured in such a manner as to be coupled with each other through cam coupling or the like. With such a configuration, the above individual barrel members can relatively move in an optical axis direction to achieve, for example, zooming operation (variable power operation), and focusing operation (focus adjusting operation).
For example, a lens barrel disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-174305 includes a barrel cam on which a pair of cam grooves are formed and a barrel member provided with pair of cam followers corresponding to the above pair of cam grooves. The lens barrel is configured such that one of the above pair of cam grooves engages with one of the above pair of cam followers, the one cam follower moves in the above one cam groove to cause the above barrel member to move in a first region, the other one of the above pair of cam grooves engages with the other one of the above pair of cam followers, and the other cam follower moves in the above other cam groove to cause the above barrel member to move in a second region.
In addition, cameras or the like (photographing devices) to which this kind of lens barrel applies are those which a user readily carries about and takes out to use at any desired time.
A lens barrel disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-258295 or the like includes a first barrel member, on which at least two metal cam pins and at least two resin cam pins are disposed alternately in a circumferential direction on the same circumferential face, and a second barrel member that has cam paths each having the same shape and has a plurality of cam grooves to correspondingly engage with the above metal cam pins and the above resin cam pins, and that can move relatively to the above first barrel member.
In recent years, cameras or the like (photographing devices) to which this kind of lens barrel applies have experienced an increase in zoom magnification (variable power ratio), and for example, photographing devices having an optical zooming function of 10× to 20× magnifications have generally come into practical and widespread use.


A designated program is recorded in a hard disk by a hard disk controller according to a program reservation database. A unique number is indicated at the head block of a video cassette tape for identifying the tape, and a genre of programs is recorded in the subsequent block of the tape. When the video cassette tape is loaded, the information concerning the genre is read, and if there is record information of the same genre as that of the tape contained in the hard disk, it is additionally recorded in the video cassette tape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to recording/playback apparatuses and recording/playback control methods, and more particularly, to a recording/playback apparatus and a recording/playback control method that are suitable for recording and playing back digital television broadcasts.
2. Description of the Related Art
A set-top box (STB) is used for receiving digital television broadcasts and for outputting the received digital audiovisual data as analog data. It has been proposed that an STB be equipped with a hard disk drive as a digital recording medium so as to record the received digital audiovisual data.
In digital television broadcasting, services are provided for transmitting information concerning broadcast programs in transport stream packets. The broadcast program information can be used for, for example, an electronic program guide (EPG).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-285576 discloses a broadcast-information recording apparatus for making reservations for recording programs by comparing EPG data with user's favorite data and for managing data to be recorded on exchangeable recording media such that a similar type of data is recorded in the same recording medium.
When the capacity of a hard disk, which is a solid storage medium, is running short, unnecessary data must be erased to ensure a space. In this case, if a detachable storage medium, for example, a digital video home system (VHS) or a digital versatile disk-RAM (DVD-RAM), is connected, together with a hard disk drive, to an STB, the stored information can be moved from the hard disk to the detachable storage medium if necessary. Then, the capacity of the hard disk can be ensured.
In a known recording apparatus, however, a complicated operation is required for rearranging programs stored in the hard disk according to the types of programs and for moving the rearranged programs to a plurality of detachable storage media.

Recording/playback apparatus and recording/playback control method


An image postprocessor enhances the quality and detail of a rendered image by applying a photosite demosaicing technique directly to the pixels stored in the viewport of the rendered image. The image postprocessor detects a first subset of the viewport pixels having color values that deviate by more than a threshold amount from color values of a neighboring second subset of the viewport pixels. The image postprocessor maps the viewport pixels to a set of emulated photosites based on a position of each pixel in the viewport, and demosaics and/or interpolates the color values associated with a subset of the emulated photosites in order to generate new pixels for the gap. The image postprocessor replaces the first subset of pixels in the viewport with the new pixels, and presents a second visualization based on the modified pixels of the viewport.

Digital images are rendered as a set of pixels. The color values associated with each pixel may be mapped or derived from the color values that are captured by different photosites of an imaging device sensor.
Gaps, that contain no pixels or pixels with inaccurate, incorrect, or corrupted color values, may emerge in a rendered image when the light reflecting onto the photosites is distorted, blocked, or interfered with. Gaps may also occur when there are insufficient pixels to render a part of the image onscreen. For instance, a user may zoom into an image such that the density of pixels for the zoomed part of the image is less than the display pixel density, or the user may change the viewport, frustum, or virtual camera to a part of the image that was captured with less visual data than other parts. Accordingly, when pixels are incorrectly captured for a part of an image or the number of pixels to be rendered onscreen exceeds the visual data that is encoded for the part of the image that is to be rendered onscreen, the image quality degrades as more gaps are introduced in the rendered image.

Systems and methods for image postprocessing via viewport demosaicing


The disclosure herein describes tracking changes to a stale component using a synchronization bitmap. A first component of a plurality of mirrored components of the distributed data object becomes available from an unavailable state, and a stale log sequence number (LSN) and a last committed LSN are identified. A synchronization bitmap of the first component associated with a range of LSNs (e.g., from the stale LSN to the last committed LSN) is created and configured to track changes to data blocks of the first component. A second component is identified based on the second component including a tracking bitmap associated with an LSN that matches the stale LSN of the first component. The first component is synchronized with data from the second component based on, wherein the synchronizing includes updating the synchronization bitmap to track changes made to data blocks of the first component.

Distributed data objects can have multiple data components that are mirrored with each other to provide redundancy and security for the data stored thereon. Sometimes, a component becomes unavailable for a period and the data availability and durability of the distributed data object is reduced during that period. One or more changes to the data that are not recorded in the unavailable component cause the component to become stale, such that the component must be synchronized with other up-to-date mirrored components when it becomes available again. However, during the synchronization process of the stale component, tracking the changes to the stale component for use in future synchronization processes of other components may cause the tracking data to be corrupted due to changes, made during the synchronization process, occurring in a different order than the order in which the changes were made from the original data writes.

Synchronizing changes to stale components of a distributed object using synchronization bitmaps


The invention relates to a method of treating or preventing a condition in a subject, comprising administering to the subject an acceptable composition comprising meglumine or a salt thereof. The invention further relates to a method of improving a physiological function in a subject, comprising administering to the subject an acceptable composition comprising meglumine or a salt thereof.

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, health is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain (as in "good health," "good state of health" or "healthy"). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (World Health Organization, Constitution of the World Health Organization—Basic Documents, 45th edition, Supplement, October 2006). The maintenance and promotion of health is achieved through different combination of physical, mental, and social well-being, together sometimes referred to as the "health triangle" (Nutter, 2003, The Health Triangle, Anchor Points, Inc.).
A nutraceutical (a portmanteau of the words "nutrition" and "pharmaceutical") is a supplement, food or food product that reportedly provides health benefits. Such products may range from isolated nutrients, dietary supplements and specific diets to genetically engineered foods, herbal products, and processed foods such as cereals, soups, and beverages.
There is a need in the art for novel methods for improving the overall health or well-being of a subject. In one aspect, such a method should be effective in treating or preventing conditions that affect the subject, including effects of aging. In another aspect, such a method should be effective in affecting or improving physiological functions known to correlate with an overall good state of health or well-being in the subject. The present invention satisfies this need.

Methods for maintaining or improving health, well-being and/or a physiological function in a subject


A snoop filter for a multi-processor system has a storage device and a control circuit. The control circuit manages at least a first-type entry and at least a second-type entry stored in the storage device. The first-type entry is configured to record information indicative of a first cache of the multi-processor system and first requested memory addresses that are associated with multiple first cache lines each being only available in the first cache. The second-type entry is configured to record information indicative of multiple second caches of the multi-processor system and at least a second requested memory address that is associated with a second cache line being available in each of the multiple second caches.

The present invention relates to a multi-processor system, and more particularly, to a snoop filter for a multi-processor system and a related snoop filtering method.
A multi-processor system becomes popular nowadays due to increasing need of computing power. In general, each processor in the multi-processor system often has its dedicated cache to improve efficiency of memory access. To make processors share memory space, a cache coherency interconnect may be implemented in the multi-processor system to manage cache coherency between these caches dedicated to different processors. Snooping based cache coherence is a widely adopted mechanism in the coherent interconnect. For example, if a cache miss event occurs in a cache, the snooping mechanism is operative to snoop other caches to check if they have the requested cache line. However, most applications have few shared data. That means a large amount of snooping is unnecessary. The unnecessary snooping intervenes with the operations of the snooped caches, resulting in performance degradation of the whole system. Further, the unnecessary snooping also results in redundant power consumption.
A snoop filter may be implemented in the cache coherency interconnect to prevent these unnecessary snooping operations. For example, a conventional directory-based snoop filter may be used to keep a directory for all lines of the shared memory caches. In other words, by checking the snoop filter first, the unnecessary snooping operations can be filtered, hence the system performance is improved and the power consumption is reduced. However, the conventional directory-based snoop filter requires a large-sized memory to record all cache lines existing in the shared memory caches, which results in higher production cost. Thus, there is a need for an innovative cost-effective snoop filter design with relaxed memory requirement.

Snoop filter for multi-processor system and related snoop filtering method


A method for authentication in a client computer and a remote computer is disclosed. A client base value is obtained, selected by a user of the client computer for at least a first usage purpose. A client integer is obtained, selected by the user for at least a second usage purpose. The client base value is combined with the client integer to obtain a client combination. The client combination is hashed to obtain a client password.

Many computer systems and web sites require their users to be authenticated. Passwords provide the simplest and most widely used form of user authentication. However, the use of conventional passwords raises numerous widely recognized issues. Passwords that are easy to remember are also easy for others to guess, and may be vulnerable to automated attacks, such as dictionary attacks. Passwords that are difficult to remember are often forgotten, particularly if a user has many of them. Where a user chooses identical passwords for multiple systems, a malefactor who obtains the password may be able to compromise the security of multiple systems. In an illustrative example, this drawback may have unfortunate repercussions for a user who chooses to use the same password on a plurality of e-commerce web sites, each of which may store the user's credit card information.
Ordinary passwords are vulnerable to replay attacks; that is, once the password is captured by an attacker, there is no way for a server to tell the difference between the attacker and the legitimate user. One conventional method for enhancing security is to enforce a policy of using a password only once, then discarding it in favor of a new password. In this way, even if the one-time password is intercepted by a third party (for instance, by recording keystrokes or eavesdropping on network connections), it is no longer useful.
Since the early developmental stages of the Internet, a community of computer networking academics and professionals has promulgated proposed standards in numbered Requests for Comments (RFC), These proposed standards include systems for generating one-time passwords, such as OTP (described by Neil Haller et al. in RFC 2289, entitled "A One-Time Password System," dated February 1998) and its predecessor S/KEY (described by Neil Haller in RFC 1760, entitled "The S/KEY One-Time Password System," dated February 1995). In both systems, a user creates a password and hashes it a large number of times; for example, 100 times. The result is sent to a server and stored in a table entry for the user. The user then logs on the first time, using the password hashed 99 times. The server can hash it one more time and compare it with the stored result. If it matches, the logon is permitted, and the new value is stored in the table. The next time the user logs in, the user will submit the password hashed 98 times, and so on. While OTP and S/KEY are widely available, they share the disadvantage that a given password can only be used a predetermined number of times. If this count is exceeded, the user cannot log on. Also, the user must remember a separate count for each computer system, or be prepared to have passwords expire for all systems that share the same count, when a shared count exceeds the predetermined limit.
An additional use for authentication is the control of unwanted email, such as unsolicited bulk or commercial email, also known as spam. Spammers may collect email addresses and resell them. They also may track responses from specific email addresses, often using web bugs, to determine which addresses are monitored. They also may perform correlations across mailing lists to identify communities where a given email address may be used. Conventional spam filtering systems may include blacklists for identifying senders known or believed to be spammers, and whitelists for identifying senders known to be desirable sources of email. However, such systems may not be able to authenticate the identity of a sender with sufficient reliability, leading to false positives and false negatives in conventional spam filters.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Polymeric compositions are provided that include a poly(ethylene glycol), a viscoelastic polymer, and an antioxidant, where, in polymerized form, the compositions have a refractive index of about 1.30 to about 1.40. Methods of synthesizing the compositions are also provided and include the steps of heating an amount of water; adding a buffering agent to the water to form a buffer solution; mixing a poly(ethylene glycol) and a viscoelastic polymer into the buffer solution to form a reactive mixture; adding a plurality of antioxidant particles to the reactive mixture; and removing suspended gas bubbles from the reactive mixture. Methods of preventing oxidative damage to an eye lens of a subject are further provided and include administering the foregoing polymeric compositions to the eye lens of the subject.

The lens of the eye is a biconvex transparent structure that helps to focus light onto the retina, where mature fiber cells of the lens contain high amounts of protein and are important for the transparency and refractive power of the lens. Normally, these proteins are protected from oxidation by reducing substances and by the low-oxygen environment around the lens. Indeed, within the eye, oxygen concentration decreases sharply from the retina towards the lens due to the presence of the vitreous gel. As such, surgical removal or involutional degeneration of the vitreous gel often increases the exposure of the lens to oxygen originating from the retinal vasculature.
Vitrectomy is the surgical method used to remove some or all of the vitreous gel from the eye. It is an essential step of many vitreoretinal surgical procedures and is performed on approximately 500,000 patients per year in the United States alone. However, removal of the vitreous often results in an efflux of oxygen inside the eye through diffusion from the retina-choroid complex and/or ion-assisted transport of oxygen through the vitreous gel. In addition, oxygen is also introduced through the surgical incisions and gases or solutions used to temporarily replace the vitreous gel. As a result, nearly half of patients develop secondary cataracts within two years after undergoing a vitrectomy due to increased intraocular oxygen levels.
Current practices after vitrectomy to reduce the risk of cataract formation include requiring patients to maintain tedious head-down positions to keep the gas bubbles away from the lens until the bubbles are completely absorbed. Unfortunately, maintaining a head-down position for a prolonged time is often highly challenging, especially among the elderly, and may have several side-effects, such as ulnar nerve pinching. Thus, half of the patients facing these requirements after vitrectomy are ultimately not compliant. Nevertheless, there is currently no other medical or surgical method effective to prevent the onset of post-vitrectomy cataracts.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a composition and/or method that can maintain low oxygen pressure around the eye lens to prevent oxidative damage and the formation of lens opacities, but that is also biocompatible, does not require invasive surgery, and does not unduly compromise a subject's vision.

Compositions and methods for reducing oxidative damage

University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.


A method of making sampling tubes containing culture growth media by loading the sample tubes containing culture media into a tray that holds the sample tubes, placing the sample tube trays into a rack with shelving to hold the trays and tubes at a predetermined angle, and sterilizing and cooling the sample tubes in an autoclave or inspissator. The culture growth media solidifies at the predetermined slant angle and the sample tube trays are loaded into the packaging box used for shipment. The trays are subsequently used by the end user for processing microbial growth, including storing and collecting data about microbial samples.

When autoclaving sample tubes containing growth media, the current state of the art is to use a number of different trays to achieve the final result. In some cases, up to three different trays are used to produce a sample tube with slanted growth media. Since the autoclave is a high heat and pressure device, the tray must be capable of withstanding both high heat and high pressure. Typically, a metal tray is used in autoclaves because of its tolerance to high temperature and overall ruggedness when being handled. However, the metal tray has several disadvantages, including longer heating and cooling cycles, imprecision of fit for the sample tubes within the holes of the tray, limited size, and weight. These last two disadvantages are critical because the heavier weight limits the size of the tray, which in turn limits the throughput of a labor intensive production line and, if used to ship the sample tubes, increases shipping costs. To compensate for these disadvantages, a manufacturer must perform all of the production steps other than autoclaving using a lighter weight tray with a greater tube capacity than the metal tray. But by adding another tray to the process, additional steps of removing the tubes from one tray (called detraying) and placing the tubes in metal trays for autoclaving become necessary. The tubes must then be detrayed again for placement into shipping trays, which may or may not be the same trays used for handling prior to autoclaving. Improvements are therefore desired.
The prior art sample tube shipping or packaging trays 70, as shown in FIG. 4, do not have well bottoms that support the sample tubes 150 from beneath. This creates potential problems when filled trays 70 are stacked one on top of another or when the filled trays 70 are placed on an uneven surface. The tray 70 does not have a means for securely holding the sample tubes 150 even when the trays are upright. This loose fit is problematic because the sample tubes 150 may be damaged. The trays 70 merely have a well opening 80 large enough to accommodate sample tubes 150 and the sample tubes 150 have a height taller than the legs 82 of the trays 70. Since the sample tubes 150 are taller than the trays and the well openings 80 are loose, picking up the trays 70 to move them causes the sample tubes 75 to slide down in the well openings 80 up to their caps 72. In addition, when the trays 70 are placed on an uneven surface, the sample tubes 150 may slide upwardly in the well opening or down to conform to the uneven surface. The loose fit of the sample tubes 150 in the tray 70 make the tray unsuitable for producing slanted growth media in an autoclave or inspissator. Completely enclosing the sample tubes 150 insulates the sample tube from the sterilizing steam and the cooling air/water of the autoclave cycle possibly resulting in incomplete sterilization, as well as inhibiting cooling.

Method of making microorganism sampling tube containing slanted culture medium and sample tube tray therefor


An improved housing for draining condensed water from the interior of a heating and air conditioning unit installed in a motor vehicle. The contoured bottom wall of the housing includes a raised portion surrounded by a series of sloped channels which lead to a collection basin having a drain. A fan or blower forces air through the housing inlet and past the heating and cooling elements. A portion of one of the sidewalls adjacent the air inlet interrupts the entering air to create a low pressure area. Condensed moisture is drawn along the sloped channels towards a collection basin located in the low pressure area. A drain is provided in the collection basin to remove the moisture from the housing.

Van conversions, motor homes, and other recreational vehicles generally have a large surface area and a large interior volume, and they usually require an auxiliary heating and air conditioning system in the rear of the vehicle in order to maintain a comfortable temperature in winter and summer. These auxiliary systems supplement the primary HVAC system mounted in the forward portion of the vehicle. Because of the large interior volume of these vehicles, the combined primary and auxiliary HVAC systems must have a relatively large cooling capacity.
Warm air holds more moisture than cold air; accordingly, when warm humid air is cooled moisture condenses into water. Unfortunately, large capacity cooling systems generate enough condensed water to quickly fill the housing of most auxiliary HVAC units. Unless the condensed water is removed from the unit, the vehicle windows will fog, and mold will grow in the interior of the vehicle, which has a very undesirable musty smell. Accordingly, the provides a means to route the condensed water out of the housing of an auxiliary HVAC unit.
The improved housing for an auxiliary HVAC unit according to the present invention has an integral drain which permits water to drain from the HVAC unit. The bottom wall of the housing is formed into a collection basin which is located adjacent to the housing air inlet to take advantage of the lower air pressure produced by the high air velocity at the inlet due to the fan. The bottom wall also includes a series of sloped drainage channels near the edges of the bottom wall which drain water towards the collection basin. A raised area in the bottom wall urges the water towards the drainage channels. Once in the drainage channels, the water drains into the collection basin, which is provided with a drain opening which routes the condensed water out of the unit.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an auxiliary heating and air conditioning unit with an improved housing having an integral collection basin in the bottom wall thereof and a drain opening which drains water from the collection basin.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved housing which pulls condensed water into a collection basin by using the low pressure area created by the fan adjacent to the air inlet.
These and other objects of the invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following description.

Housing with integral drain for removing condensate from a heating and air conditioning unit


An electricity generator includes a generator section which is a complete standalone electricity generator designed to operate on a hydrocarbon fuel and a fuel conversion section which adapts the generator section to operate on alternative fuels that are different than the designed fuel of generator section. The generator section includes a RPM control unit, an internal combustion engine which has a crankshaft, an electromagnetic conversion component which converts the rotational motion of the crankshaft into electricity and a crankshaft sensor which senses the rotational speed of the crankshaft thereby creating a RPM control signal. The control signal is provided to the RPM control unit which controls the rotational speed of the crankshaft. The fuel conversion section includes a first fuel source and a second fuel source. Characteristically, the first fuel source provides a methanol-containing fuel and the second fuel source provides LPG or flare gas.

Electrical generators used in remote areas like the oil fields often need to deal with various fuels, due to the constraint of infrastructure, such as natural gas, propane, and the like. Flare gas is the flammable exhaust gases of many industrial process such as petroleum refineries, chemical plants, natural gas processing plants, and oil wells. A new technology developed by Gas Technologies LLC and FiTech Fuel can recover the fare gas that would otherwise be vented to the ambient, causing for ocean concerns, and convert the fare gas into methanol. Although this technology works well, new cost effective systems for using the recovered methanol are desirable.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and systems for using methanol and other combustible liquids recovered from flare gas.


A method of manufacturing a micro flux gate sensor that has a good electrical connection and can be easily manufactured includes operations of forming a metal pattern, forming a first insulation layer to cover the metal pattern and forming viaholes to expose a certain portion of the metal pattern, applying an electrical signal through the metal pattern and plating the viaholes with a metal material to form a connection portion, forming a magnetic core on an upper portion of the first insulation layer, forming a second insulation layer to cover the magnetic core and forming an upper coil portion electrically connected to the connection portion to form the excitation coil and the magnetic field detecting coil, forming a third insulation layer to cover the upper coil portion, and removing a certain portion of the metal pattern to leave only the lower coil portion of the metal pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a micro flux gate sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fluxgate sensor is a device that detects magnetic energy, which is not perceivable by human sense organs. Such a magnetic detection sensor may be used in applications that require detection of magnetic energy formed around a circumference. For example, these applications may include position identification of airplanes, vessels and vehicles, motion detection in a virtual reality space, geomagnetic compensation and dot noise compensation for high definition television (HDTV), magneto-encephalograph and magneto-cardiograph measurement acquisition in a medical device, and many others.
Recently, since the fields of application have gradually spread, there has been a trend toward providing devices that are thinner, lighter and less expensive. Correspondingly, there has been a trend toward providing a fluxgate sensor that is thinner, lighter and less expensive.
A micro fluxgate sensor primarily includes a core made of soft magnetic material, an excitation coil wound around the core for inducing a magnetic field when a current is applied thereto, and a magnetic field detecting coil for detecting the effect of an external magnetic field on the magnetic field induced by the excitation coil. A basic detecting principle utilizes a nonlinear characteristic of the soft magnetic core, i.e., a saturation characteristic. If a proper alternating current (AC) is applied to the excitation coil to induce the magnetic field, flux density in the core is periodically saturated. At that time, if the external magnetic field to be measured is applied, the flux density of the core varies. The magnetic field detecting coil measures a variation of the flux to determine a dimension, either strength or direction, of the external magnetic field.
In order to manufacture a micro fluxgate sensor, a coil is generally wound around a large, bar-type core or a ring-type core of a soft magnetic ribbon. Accordingly, the core itself becomes relatively large thereby enlarging its volume and increasing the manufacturing cost of the core. In addition, since the flux variation generated by the excitation coil and the detected magnetic field do not prevent flux leakage due to the core, highly sensitive detection of the magnetic field is not readily achieved.
Therefore, various methods of manufacturing a flux gate sensor by using a MEMS technique have been studied and developed.
For example, a first seed layer is formed on a wafer and a metal material is plated according to a certain pattern on the first seed layer to form a lower coil. A first insulation layer is formed on the lower coil and a core layer of magnetic material is formed at a position corresponding to the lower coil, on the first insulation layer. Then, a second insulation layer is formed to cover the core layer, and the first and the second insulation layers are etched to form a viahole so as to expose the lower coil.
Then, a second seed layer is formed on the viahole and the second insulation layer and a metal material is plated according to a certain pattern on the second seed layer to form an upper coil. Since the viahole is filled with the metal material, the upper coil and the lower coil are electrically connected. A third insulation layer is formed to cover the upper coil. According to this process, a flux gate sensor is manufactured.
However, according to the conventional method of manufacturing the flux gate sensor, it is impossible to measure whether the viahole is formed to open to the lower coil because the size of the viahole is too small. Accordingly, the lower coil and the upper coil may not be electrically connected although the seed layer is formed on the viahole and the viahole is filled with the metal material.
If the viahole is formed too large in view of the above disadvantage, the metal material filling neighboring viaholes comes into contact with each other to generate defects.

Method of manufacturing micro flux gate sensor


A heat shield for a bellows includes a central section, a first outer section, a first annular insert, a first annular flexion member, a first pipe, and a first rod. The first outer section includes a first outer section first end and a first outer section second end opposite the first outer section end. The first annular insert includes a first slot and is positioned within the first outer section second end. The first annular flexion member is coupled to the first outer section first end of the first outer section and coupled to the central section. The first annular flexion member facilitates movement between the first outer section and the central section. The first pipe is partially received within the first slot in the first annular insert. Movement between the first outer section and the central section causes movement between the first pipe and the first rod.

Exhaust systems for internal combustion engines include exhaust manifolds connected to cylinder heads of the engine. The exhaust manifolds collect post-combustion material (e.g., exhaust gas) from multiple cylinders of the engine and deliver the material to an exhaust pipe. In operation, exhaust manifolds are subject to highly variable temperatures. Temperature variations cause the exhaust manifolds to expand and contract, which may stress and ultimately damage the manifolds, seals, and other components. Thermal expansion may be particularly problematic for large engines with correspondingly long exhaust manifolds. To that end, exhaust systems for some engines utilize exhaust manifolds that are separated into several sections. The sections are coupled together using flexible couplings, such as bellows, that permit expansion and contraction between the sections. These bellows may be subject to high amounts of heat. Accordingly, it is often desired to insulate the bellows. However, conventional insulation mechanisms are undesirable because they are either adhered to the bellows, and therefore not removable, or span across the bellows, and therefore be prone to increased wearing.


A reset circuit for a computer system having PCI chip set, the reset circuit for resetting a PCI data bus in the event of a warm boot in the computer system to prevent corrupt data files, the reset circuit including a logical AND gate with a first input connected to a cold boot reset pin of the PMC, and an output connected to a PCI data bus; a logical OR gate with a first input connected to the flush pin of the PMC and an output connected to a second input of the logical AND gate; an inverter with an input connected to the flush pin of the PMC; and a delay device connected between an output of the inverter and a second input of the logical OR gate.

Many existing computer systems utilize the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) technology. PCI is a high-speed system bus specification that provides 32-bit or 64-bit data paths at 33 MHz or 66 MHz clock rates, depending upon the chip sets used.
The PCI bus is a system bus that can be populated with adapters requiring fast access to memory or each other. The PCI bus is a bus-mastered architecture. A bus-mastered approach allows for a single bus master which controls the bus and generally a single target device for any given transaction. One advantage of the PCI bus over other technologies is that the length of a burst transfer is negotiated by master and target rather than limited to a finite number of words.
The PCI bus uses burst mode to read and write data to and from adapters. Data is transferred every clock cycle, as opposed to very other clock cycle as is the case in some other bus designs. The PCI bus can provide up to 132 Mbits/sec performance during burst mode operation for 32-bit systems, and up to 264 Mbits/sec performance during burst mode operation for 64-bit systems.
The PCI bus is configured so that it is not directly connected to the processor and memory. The reason for this is that bus designs that are wired directly to the processor are limited in the number of devices they can support, usually three. The PCI bus however can support up to ten or more devices.
In normal use, a PCI host bridge (or bus controller chip or module) is connected between the central processing unit (CPU) and the PCI busses. Among other things, the bridge acts as a buffer between the CPU and the PCI busses and also maintains the PCI bus in synch with the CPU.
A problem encountered with certain PCI chip sets occurs when a user attempts to assert a warm boot on the computer system. In particular, when a warm boot is generated, for example by entering Ctrl-Alt-Delete, certain PCI chip sets, such as the Intel 440FX PCIset, do not generate a warm boot signal. Because of this, when a warm boot occurs, the data that is already in the PCI registers and buffers does not reset, but rather continues to be transferred to and from the destination port. This can lead to corrupt data files.

Reset circuit for a peripheral component interconnect bus


The present invention relates to various improvements relating to automatic vehicle equipment control systems.

Automatic vehicle exterior light control systems provide a significant convenience function for drivers by alleviating the burden of manually switching between high and low beam headlights in response to changing traffic conditions. It is known that drivers, on average, do not utilize their high beam headlights as often as is appropriate. High beam headlights can provide from two to four, or more, times the visibility distance at night as compared to low beam headlights. Thereby, a driver of a controlled vehicle is enabled to detect an obstacle or pedestrian at night earlier than otherwise would be the case. There is a safety benefit during night time driving introduced by automating the beam switching task and increasing the average utilization of high beam headlights.
Known systems designed to automatically control vehicle exterior lights utilize a forward looking digital imaging system to acquire images of the scene generally in front of the controlled vehicle, to analyze the images and to detect headlights of oncoming vehicles and taillights of leading vehicles. If ambient lighting conditions are low enough to warrant high beam headlight usage and no oncoming or leading vehicles are detected, high beam headlights are automatically activated. When other traffic is detected within the range where drivers of the other vehicles would experience glare induced by the high beam headlights of the controlled vehicle, the high beam headlights of the controlled vehicle are automatically reduced in intensity, the aim redirected, inhibited from operation or a combination thereof. In addition, or as an alternative, to controlling high beam headlights, automatic vehicle exterior control systems may be adapted to control a variety of lighting technologies, including the intensity of at least one low beam headlight, the aim of at least one low beam headlight, bending light, motorway lighting, town lighting, fog light, taillight or any other vehicle illumination device. It should be understood that wherein the disclosure below specifically mentions the control of high beam headlights, or the inhibiting of automatic high beam headlight control, those methods may be also applied to the control of a variety of exterior lighting technologies including, but not limited to, those listed above.
A problem with known systems occurs at various times when, due to a variety of factors, high beam headlight operation is not desired even when there are no oncoming or leading vehicles. Examples of such situations include poor weather such as fog, a snow storm or when the light from high beam headlights of the controlled vehicle reflects off of atmospheric conditions of interest and distracts the driver of the controlled vehicle. Certain atmospheric conditions also attenuate light rays coming from other vehicles making it more difficult for an imaging system to detect them at sufficient distance. Another condition when high beam headlights are generally not desired is when driving in towns. In some European countries high beam headlight use is prohibited in towns, even if there are no oncoming or leading vehicles.
Another problem associated with use of an imaging system to automatically control vehicle exterior lights occurs when the view of the associated image sensor may be blocked or obstructed by objects or contamination in front of the image sensor. Preferably, the imaging system is integrated into the rearview mirror assembly of the controlled vehicle such that the image sensor is positioned behind the windshield in a region where the associated windshield wipers clean. However, even in this configuration, the possibility exists that ice or other contaminates cannot be removed by the wipers and will still block the image sensor. In these cases, the image sensor may not be able to sense the lights from oncoming or leading vehicles and the system will incorrectly conclude that there are no vehicles present and activate the high beam headlights, causing glare to drivers of other vehicles. These situations require the driver of the controlled vehicle to intervene and switch the automatic system off which may lead to dissatisfaction with the automatic feature and reduced confidence in the automatic vehicle exterior light control system. Thus, it is advantageous to automatically detect situations where the automatic high beam control system cannot perform satisfactorily and automatically disable the feature and revert to a fail-safe low beam condition. In these situations manual control is typically still provided allowing the driver to determine the desired exterior light state when the automatic system is unable to perform.
What are needed are automatic vehicle exterior light control systems that provide improved features to detect related operational environments. Systems configured to automatically respond to detected operational environments are also needed.


A liner for repairing damaged pipes, such as underground sewer or gas pipes is disclosed. The liner comprises a TPU coating on a fibrous mat of non-woven fabric. The TPU coating is a high heat resistance polyester TPU which allows an epoxy resin/amine to be saturated in the non-woven fabric and the cure initiated by the use of steam or hot water. The cured epoxy resin converts the liner from a flexible state to a rigid state as the liner is cured in place inside the pipe. The TPU containing liner may also be used with thermoset resins other than epoxy resins, such as polyester resins and vinyl ester resins.

The cured in place method of lining damaged or broken pipes, such as sewers and gas pipes, has become a very successful method of repairing underground pipes. The method avoids the need to excavate the underground pipe and the resulting damage to surface infrastructure, such as paved streets and buildings. The cured in place method involves first positioning the liner inside the pipe while the liner is in a flexible state, then curing the liner to a hard state within the pipe while forcing the liner against the inside of the damaged pipe. Previous methods use air or water to pressurize the liner to have the flexible liner conform to the inside of the pipe and cure the liner to a hard state while it is held by the pressure to the inside of the pipe.
The prior art liners have been made by using a fabric on one side of the liner and a polymer sheet on the other side. The fabric is saturated with an uncured thermoset material. The curing, that is the process of converting the thermoset material to a rigid state, is performed after the liner has been placed inside the pipe. The liner can be placed in the pipe to be repaired by either the dragged-in method as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,063 or the inversion method as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,211, both of these patents are herein incorporated by reference. The polymer sheet placed on the fabric must be resistant to the thermosetting material used and also able to withstand the heat used to cure the thermoset material. Various thermoplastics and elastomers have been used to coat the fabrics, with polyurethane being frequently used.
Thermoplastic polyurethane is particularly desirable because of its abrasion resistance, tear resistance and elastic properties. However, recent installers of pipe liners expressed a desire to use an epoxy resin with an amine curative as the thermoset material in the liner and to use steam rather than hot water to initiate the cure and to press the liner against the inside of the pipe. The use of epoxy resins has some environmental benefits for the installer and steam is faster to evacuate from the inflated liner than is hot water.
The thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) used before in pipe liner are not acceptable when epoxy resin with an amine curative is used to saturate the non-woven fabric and steam is used to install the liner. The epoxy/amine reaction is exothermic and the heat from this reaction and the steam will cause prior art TPU to blow through the fabric containing the epoxy resin and form holes in the liner.
It can be beneficial to have a TPU which could be used in a cured in place liner where epoxy resin with an amine curative is used and where steam is used to install the liner. It would also be beneficial to have a TPU which could be used in a cured in place liner with either steam or hot water being used to cure the thermoset resin and where the thermoset resin can be epoxy, vinyl ester resin or polyester resin.


In a method for operating a combustion chamber (4) equipped with premixing burners, under full load all the burners being operated under identical stoichiometric conditions, the burners are subdivided into at least two burner groups (1, 2 and, in the case of operating conditions below full load, the respective burner groups (1, 2) are operated with different air coefficients (.lambda.1, .lambda.2), that is to say at different flame temperatures (Tgr1, Tgr2). The operating range of the combustion chamber is widened considerably thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is concerned with the field of combustion technology. It relates to a method for operating an annular combustion chamber which is equipped with premixing burners and which is used particularly for gas turbines.
2. Discussion of Background
In the light of the low pollutant emission values prescribed for reasons of environmental protection, premixing burners are increasingly used in the operation of gas turbines.
One of the disadvantages of premixing burners is that they are extinguished even when the air coefficients are very low. Depending on the temperature downstream of the compressor of the gas turbine group, this air coefficient .lambda. is around 2.
In order to achieve minimal NOx emissions in the case of lean premixing burners, it is customary, under full load, to operate all the burners under identical stoichiometric conditions near the lean extinction limit. Problems arise when the load falls below the full-load value, because, without corresponding countermeasures, the extinction limit is then exceeded, thus leading to the blowout of the premixing burners. Such known countermeasures for flame stabilization are, for example, a redistribution of fuel and/or the changeover to another flame mode and/or the use of the air bypass technique.
For the purpose of applying the "redistribution of fuel" principle, the fuel system is divided into branches which can be shut off or throttled individually. The air flow path remains unchanged with a decreasing load. When the total fuel quantity decreases, some of the valves are closed completely or partially, so that the open parts receive a larger percentage of fuel. This portion then results in the actual flame stabilization.
Another known possibility for maintaining combustion in the low load range is to change over to other flame modes which still guarantee stable combustion at a higher air/fuel ratio, for example diffusion gas stages. A mixed mode, in which the premixing flames are partially enriched, is also known. Complete burnout at air coefficients below 3.5 is thereby possible, that is to say the operating range of 2 to 3.5 can be covered. The higher NOx emissions are a disadvantage here.
Finally, the air bypass technique can also be employed to prevent the blowout of the premixing burners under low loads. For this purpose, as is known, variable orifices, through which the air can flow in in a regulated manner, are arranged in the combustion chamber downstream of the flame. The orifices are closed under full load and are opened with a decreasing load. The aim is to keep the adiabatic flame temperature and therefore also the distance from the extinction limit constant. In many instances, a similar possibility can be achieved by means of a throttle member arranged in the air supply to the burner.
The disadvantage of this prior art which has just been described is that these mechanisms necessitate a complicated fuel distribution and regulation system.
It is desirable, in principle, to operate all the burners in the premixing mode, even under low loads. This can be achieved by a reduction in the mass airflow through the machine (adjustable guide blade stages in the compressor). A known problem which occurs repeatedly is the rise of the gas turbine outflow temperature with a fall in load beyond the predetermined level which puts the lower operating point outside the range within which the premixing combustion principle can be operated.

Method for operating a combustion chamber equipped with premixing burners divided into two groups