An exhaust aftertreatment system is provided with a large channel combustor, a fuel reformer, and a lean NOX trap. The lean NOX trap is denitrated by steps comprising: heating the fuel reformer to steam reforming temperatures by introducing vaporized fuel to the large channel combustor and combusting a portion of the vaporized fuel under lean conditions, then making the exhaust-injected fuel mixture overall rich, whereby the fuel reformer produces syn gas that denitrates the lean NOX trap. The fuel reformer has a low thermal mass, whereby it is designed to heat to at least about 500° C. and catalyze steam reforming reaction with each denitration. The large channel combustor is a monolith having an average channel size larger than the fuel reformer and a thermal mass no more than about 20% that of the fuel reformer, whereby the large channel combustor facilitates low temperature startup of the fuel reformer.

NOx emissions from diesel engines are an environmental problem. Several countries, including the United States, have long had regulations pending that will limit NOx emissions from trucks and other diesel-powered vehicles. Manufacturers and researchers have put considerable effort toward meeting those regulations.
In gasoline powered vehicles that use stoichiometric fuel-air mixtures, three-way catalysts have been shown to control NOX emissions. In diesel-powered vehicles, which use compression ignition, the exhaust is generally too oxygen-rich for three-way catalysts to be effective.
Several solutions have been proposed for controlling NOX emissions from diesel-powered vehicles. One set of approaches focuses on the engine. Techniques such as exhaust gas recirculation and partially homogenizing fuel-air mixtures are helpful, but these techniques alone will not eliminate NOX emissions. Another set of approaches remove NOX from the vehicle exhaust. These include the use of lean-burn NOX catalysts, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts, and lean NOX traps (LNTs).
Lean-burn NOX catalysts promote the reduction of NOx under oxygen-rich conditions. Reduction of NOX in an oxidizing atmosphere is difficult. It has proven challenging to find a lean-burn NOx catalyst that has the required activity, durability, and operating temperature range. A reductant such as diesel fuel must be steadily supplied to the exhaust for lean NOX reduction, introducing a fuel economy penalty of 3% or more. Currently, peak NOX conversion efficiencies for lean-burn NOX catalysts are unacceptably low.
SCR generally refers to selective catalytic reduction of NOX by ammonia. The reaction takes place even in an oxidizing environment. The NOX can be temporarily stored in an adsorbent or ammonia can be fed continuously into the exhaust. SCR can achieve high levels of NOX reduction, but there is a disadvantage in the lack of infrastructure for distributing ammonia or a suitable precursor. Another concern relates to the possible release of ammonia into the environment.
LNTs are devices that adsorb NOX under lean conditions and reduce and release the adsorbed NOX under rich conditions. An LNT generally includes a NOX adsorbent and a catalyst. The adsorbent is typically an alkali or alkaline earth compound, such as BaCO3 and the catalyst is typically a combination of precious metals including Pt and Rh. In lean exhaust, the catalyst speeds oxidizing reactions that lead to NOX adsorption. In a reducing environment, the catalyst activates reactions by which hydrocarbon reductants are converted to more active species, the water-gas shift reaction, which produces more active hydrogen from less active CO, and reactions by which adsorbed NOX is reduced and desorbed. In a typical operating protocol, a reducing environment will be created within the exhaust from time-to-time to regenerate (denitrate) the LNT.
Regeneration to remove accumulated NOx may be referred to as denitration in order to distinguish desulfation, which is carried out much less frequently. The reducing environment for denitration can be created in several ways. One approach uses the engine to create a rich exhaust-reductant mixture. For example, the engine can inject extra fuel into the exhaust within one or more cylinders prior to expelling the exhaust. A reducing environment can also be created by injecting a reductant into lean exhaust downstream from the engine. In either case, when valves are not used, a portion of the reductant is generally expended to consume excess oxygen in the exhaust. The reducing agent reacts with oxygen and substantially consumes it. The reactions between reductant and oxygen can take place in the LNT, but it is generally preferred for the reactions to occur in a catalyst upstream of the LNT, whereby the heat of reaction does not cause large temperature increases within the LNT at every regeneration. To lessen the amount of excess oxygen and reduce the amount of reductant expended consuming excess oxygen, the engine may be throttled, although such throttling may have an adverse effect on the performance of some engines.
WO 2004/090296 describes a diesel automotive exhaust treatment system with a fuel reformer configured within an exhaust line upstream from LNT and SCR catalysts. The reformer has a high thermal mass. The reformer uses Pt and Rh to produce syn gas from diesel fuel at exhaust gas temperatures. For the reformer to be operative at exhaust gas temperatures, a relatively large amount of catalyst must be used to provide enough catalyst activity. The reformer both removes excess oxygen and converts the diesel fuel reductant into more reactive reformate
U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2004/0050037 (hereinafter "the '037 publication") describes a different type of fuel reformer placed in the exhaust line upstream from an LNT. The reformer includes both oxidation and steam reforming catalysts. Pt and/or Pd serves as the oxidation catalyst. Rh serves as the reforming catalyst. The inline reformer of the '037 publication is designed to be rapidly heated and to then catalyze steam reforming. Temperatures from about 500 to about 700° C. are said to be required for effective reformate production by this reformer. These temperatures are substantially higher than typical diesel exhaust temperatures. The reformer is heated by injecting fuel at a rate that leaves the exhaust lean, whereby the injected fuel combusts to generate heat. After warm up, the fuel injection rate is increased and or the oxygen flow rate reduced to provide a rich exhaust.
Designing the fuel reformer to heat and operate at least partially through steam reforming reactions as opposed to operating at exhaust stream temperatures reduces the catalyst requirement, increases the reformate yield, and reduces the amount of heat generation. In principal, if reformate production proceeds through partial oxidation reforming as in the reaction:CH1.85+0.5 O2→CO+0.925 H2  (1)1.925 moles of reformate (moles CO plus moles H2) could be obtained from each mole of carbon atoms in the fuel. CH1.85 is used to represent diesel fuel having a typical carbon to hydrogen ratio. If reformate production proceeds through steam reforming as in the reaction:CH1.85+H2O→CO+1.925 H2  (2)2.925 moles of reformate (moles CO plus moles H2) could in principle be obtained from each mole of carbon atoms in the fuel. In practice, yields are lower than theoretical amounts due to the limited efficiency of conversion of fuel, the limited selectivity for reforming reactions over complete combustion reactions, the necessity of producing heat to drive steam reforming, and the loss of energy required to heat the exhaust. Nevertheless, the benefits are sufficient that a low thermal mass reformer that must be preheated to operate effectively is preferred over a large thermal mass reformer that does not require preheating.
Starting the inline reformer of the '037 publication from low exhaust temperatures can be difficult. The minimum exhaust temperature from which the reformer can be warmed and denitration initiated using exhaust line fuel injection is often an important design consideration. The minimum start-up temperature can be lowered to a certain extent by selecting appropriate catalysts, but there are limits to what can be achieved using that approach.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,483 describes a pre-combustion catalyst (PCC) that can be used to improve the performance of the inline reformer of the '037 publication and somewhat lower its light-off temperature. The PCC is a small monolith comprising an oxidation catalyst and configured within the exhaust line upstream from the fuel reformer. The oxidation catalyst may coat only a fraction of the monolith passages. The PCC is functional to oxidize a portion of the injected fuel and vaporize most or all of the remaining fuel. The vaporized fuel and exhaust mix to a high degree before entering the fuel reformer.
The PCC does not heat the exhaust to any great extent and is primarily functional to intimately combine the fuel and exhaust. This mixing lowers the reformer light-off temperature, but it has still proven difficult to startup the PCC-reformer system when the exhaust is below about 240° C. Even when the system does light-off, the warm-up process can be slow, which negatively impacts both emission control performance and fuel penalty.
In spite of advances, there continues to be a long felt need for an affordable and reliable diesel exhaust aftertreatment system that is durable, has a manageable operating cost (including fuel penalty), and reduces NOX emissions to a satisfactory extent in the sense of meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations effective in 2010 and other such regulations that will limit NOx emissions from trucks and other diesel-powered vehicles. Manufacturers and researchers have put considerable effort toward meeting those regulations.

Pre-combustor and large channel combustor system for operation of a fuel reformer at low exhaust temperatures


A fuel cell system (1) capable of securely removing moisture in particulate form floating in an exhaust gas passage along with impurities mixed in the moisture, enhancing the performance of a fuel cell, and extending the service life of the fuel cell. The fuel cell system (1) includes a gas circulation system for recirculating and resupplying an exhaust gas to a fuel cell (100). This gas circulation system is equipped with an ion exchange resin member (20) that adsorbs impurity components contained in the moisture particles mixed in the exhaust gas flowing through the gas circulation system. The gas circulation system resupplies fluid that has passed through the ion exchange resin member (20) to the fuel cell (100).

Solid polymer fuel cells that have been in general use until the present are composed of a plurality of cells stacked together. Each cell includes: a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) composed of an electrolyte membrane [which is made of an ion exchange membrane], a fuel electrode (an anode) [which is made of a catalyst layer and a diffusion layer placed on one side of the electrolyte membrane], and an oxidizer electrode (a cathode) [which is made of a catalyst layer and a diffusion layer placed on the other side of the electrolyte membrane], and a separator that forms a fluid passage for supplying a fuel gas (hydrogen) to the fuel electrode, and an oxidizing gas (oxygen [or usually the air]) to the oxidizer electrode.
In a fuel cell system including the fuel cell described above, hydrogen as the fuel gas and water generated by a cell reaction flow through a hydrogen circulation system. Since not all the supplied hydrogen is used for the cell reaction, this fuel cell adopts a circulation system that effectively utilizes that un-reacted hydrogen by supplying it back to the fuel cell. The water generated by the cell reaction is discharged outside. In this type of hydrogen circulation system, a pump is usually mounted in a passage as the circulating power source.
Minute amounts of components dissolving from, for example, piping parts of the fuel cell or the system exist in the water flowing through the hydrogen circulation system. Also, impurities in the air drawn in from the outside may enter the passage, pass through the electrolyte membrane, and be mixed in the hydrogen circulation system. In particular, if metal ions exist in the components dissolving from, for example, piping parts of the fuel cell or the system, there is the possibility that the functions of the fuel cell itself may be degraded and the service life of the fuel cell may be shortened. In addition, the water generated in the fuel cell may become acidic.
A method of using an ion exchange resin has been generally employed as a method for purifying water that flows through a hydrogen circulation system like the one described above. If this fuel cell system is to be mounted on an automobile or similar, an extra loading space is needed. It is also necessary to regularly change the ion exchange resin. Accordingly, downsizing the fuel cell system and extending the cycle for changing the ion exchange resin is necessary.
As an example of a system for purifying water generated inside a fuel cell, using an ion exchange resin, JP-A-8-298130 describes a fuel cell system in which a filter for removing the impurities contained in a fuel gas is placed downstream from a junction with a cathode recycle blower discharge pipe for allowing a gas from a cathode outlet to circulate, thereby removing impurities such as iron molds and salts contained in the cathode gas.
JP-A-2001-313057 suggests a method for manufacturing an ion exchange filter that removes impurities contained in a gas supplied to a fuel electrode and an oxidizer electrode, by treating the surface of a base filter made of polyolefin or polyfluoroolefin to make it hydrophilic, and applying an ion exchange polymer solution to the base filter, and then drying the ion exchange polymer solution applied on the base filter.
JP-A-2002-313404 suggests a solid polymer fuel cell system equipped with an ion removal unit for removing ions contained in water that is generated by a fuel cell and accompanied by an exhaust gas, wherein the ion removal unit is placed, on the side closer to the solid polymer fuel cell, at either a fuel gas exhaust pipe or an oxidizer gas exhaust pipe, or both of them, from which the water generated by the fuel cell is discharged.
Moreover, JP-A-2001-35519 suggests a fuel cell coolant circulation system in which a cartridge-type ion exchanger is provided on a fuel cell coolant circulation line for a fuel cell mounted on a mobile body; two filters are placed opposite to each other in the ion exchanger; and one of the filters is equipped with a porous plate and a spring for applying a force to the porous plate in the direction toward the other filter (in other words, for pressing the porous plate in the axial direction of the cartridge-type ion exchanger). The spring is provided in the flow path of the coolant. Even if the volume of the ion exchange resin changes (particularly if the ion exchange resin contracts) during use, this coolant circulation apparatus can appropriately maintain the ion exchange resin firmly between the filters because the axial-direction pressing means composed of the spring and the porous plate applies pressure to compress the ion exchange resin in the axial direction.
However, the filter provided in the fuel cell system described in JP-A-8-298130 is used to remove impurities such as iron molds and salts contained in the cathode gas, and is not intended to securely remove impurities contained in moisture particles mixed in the cathode gas.
The use of the ion exchange filter obtained by the manufacturing method described in JP-A-2001-313057 in an exhaust gas passage for allowing an exhaust gas from the fuel cell to flow through is not mentioned. No attention is paid to the removal of impurities contained in the moisture particles mixed in the exhaust gas.
Moreover, the ion removal unit provided in the fuel cell system described in JP-A-2002-313404 is used to remove ions contained in the generated water flowing through pipes, and is not intended to remove impurities contained in the moisture particles mixed in the exhaust gas discharged from the fuel cell.
Furthermore, in the fuel cell coolant circulation apparatus described in JP-A-2001-35519, the cartridge-type ion exchanger is provided on the coolant circulation line for the fuel cell. Accordingly, no attention is paid to placement of the cartridge-type ion exchanger in an exhaust gas passage for allowing an exhaust gas from the fuel cell to flow through. In particular, no attention is paid to placement of the cartridge-type ion exchanger in the hydrogen circulation system. Therefore, the fuel cell coolant circulation apparatus is not designed to have the cartridge-type ion exchanger placed at a position in a gas-liquid separator where the ion exchanger would not disturb efficient separation between liquid and gas.


A magnetic recording medium comprising a nonmagnetic support and a magnetic layer formed on the support and containing a magnetic powder and a binder, wherein said magnetic powder comprises substantially spherical or ellipsoidal particles and at least one element selected from the group consisting of rare earth elements, silicon and aluminum, and has a Fe16N2 phase, an average particle size of 5 to 30 nm and an axis ratio (a ratio of a major axis to a minor axis) of 1 to 2. This magnetic recording medium achieves a high output and has excellent short wavelength recording properties, since it uses a magnetic powder having a very small particle size and has a very high coercive force and a saturation magnetization suitable for high density recording.

Coating type magnetic recording media, that is, magnetic recording media comprising a nonmagnetic support and a magnetic layer formed on the support and comprising magnetic powder and a binder, are required to have a further increased recording density with the shift of a writing-reading system from an analog system to a digital one. In particular, such requirement has been increased year by year in the video tapes and the backup tapes for computers which are used for high density recording.
To cope with short wavelength recording which is inevitable to increase a recording density, it is effective to decrease the thickness of a magnetic layer to 300 nm or less, in particular, to 100 nm or less so as to decrease a thickness loss during recording. In general, a magneto resistance head (MR head) is used as a reproducing head which is used in combination with such high density recording media.
The particle size of magnetic powder has been decreased year by year to reduce a noise. Nowadays, acicular metal magnetic powder having a particle size of about 100 nm is practically used. Furthermore, to prevent the decrease of output caused by demagnetization during short wavelength recording, the coercive force of the magnetic powder has been increased, and a coercive force of about 238.9 A/m (about 3,000 Oe) is realized with an iron-cobalt alloy (see JP-A-3-49026, JP-A-10-83906 and JP-A-10-34085).
However, a coercive force depends on the shape of acicular magnetic particles in a magnetic recording medium comprising acicular magnetic particles. Thus, it is difficult to further decrease the particle size of such acicular magnetic particles. That is, if the particle size is further decreased, a specific surface area greatly increases and saturation magnetization greatly decreases. Consequently, the high saturation magnetization, which is the most significant characteristic of metal or metal alloy magnetic powder, is deteriorated, so that the use of the metal or metal alloy becomes meaningless.
In view of the above circumstance, a magnetic recording medium using, as a magnetic powder which is totally different from the acicular magnetic powder, a rare earth element-transition metal particulate magnetic powder such as a spherical or ellipsoidal rare earth element-iron-boron magnetic powder is proposed (see JP-A-2001-181754). This medium can greatly decrease the particle size of the magnetic powder and achieve a high saturation magnetization and a high coercive force. Therefore, this medium significantly contributes to the increase of a recording density.
Also, a magnetic recording medium using, as an iron magnetic powder having a non-acicular particle shape, an iron nitride magnetic powder which comprises random shape particles and a Fe16N2 phase as a main phase, and has a BET specific surface area of about 10 m2/g is proposed (see JP-A-2000-277311).
However, the rare earth element-iron-boron magnetic powder of JP-A-2001-181754 is a composite material which comes into existence based on the balance of a high magnetic anisotropy due to the rare earth element compound and high saturation magnetization due to the iron material which forms the cores of the magnetic particles. If such a magnetic powder is further improved, for example, the coercive force of such a magnetic powder is intended to be further increased, it is very difficult to improve the magnetic properties while maintaining the optimum dispersibility and chemical stability of the magnetic recording medium. JP-A-2000-277311 discloses the iron nitride magnetic powder having a BET specific surface area of 10 to 22 m2/g in the Example. However, such magnetic powder has a very large particle size and is not suitable for high density magnetic recording with achieving the decrease of noise.
The main characteristic of the iron nitride magnetic powder of JP-A-2000-277311 is the high saturation magnetization, and the magnetic powder produced in the Examples had a saturation magnetization of 190 to 200 Am2/kg (190 to 200 emu/g). However, the magnetic powder having such a very large saturation magnetization may not be suitably used in a magnetic recording medium for high density recording, because when the saturation magnetization is too high, the recording medium has too large saturation magnetization so that the recording demagnetization becomes remarkable. This tendency becomes more remarkable as a recording wavelength is made shorter. Therefore, magnetic powder of JP-A-2000-277311 is not suitable for high density recording.
In particular, in the case of high density magnetic recording media, it is essential to adequately decrease the saturation magnetization of a magnetic powder and decrease the thickness of a magnetic layer in order to decrease the recording demagnetization. As a magnetic flux density decreases, a magnetic flux from the surface of a magnetic recording medium deceases and in turn a reproducing output decreases. With the recent astonishing progress of magnetic head technology such as MR heads, recorded signals can be reproduced with a high sensitivity even with the small magnetic flux. Therefore, to achieve the high density recording, it is now necessary to increase a coercive force while setting the saturation magnetization of magnetic powder at a suitable value lower than a value which has been required.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Magnetic recording medium containing particles with a core containing a Fe


A storage network system includes computers, storage systems, connection devices that control connection relations between the computers and the storage system, and a managing device that manages the computers, the storage system and the connection devices. The managing device includes a control section that specifies connection ports of the computers, the storage system and the connection devices that compose the storage network system. Further, the control device of the managing device displays on a display section a data traffic amount at each of the connection ports for each connection path from the computer to the storage system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage managing system, and more particularly to a storage managing system that has a function to assist in identifying bottleneck sections in a storage system.
2. Related Background Art
A conventional storage managing system is capable of indicating connection relations among devices in a storage system on a management monitor screen. Also, the storage managing system is capable of displaying the data traffic amount of each of the devices displayed on the management monitor screen in the unit of connection ports or in the unit of individual devices.
The aforementioned conventional storage managing system does not display on the management monitor screen the data traffic amount of each of the devices in terms of connection relation among the devices in the storage system. Accordingly, when a bottleneck section in the storage system is to be specified, an administrator initially needs to select ports to be referred to on the management monitor screen that displays the connection relations among the devices, and then refer to the data traffic amount of each of the connection ports of the devices on the storage system to locate the bottleneck section. For this reason, it needs an excessively long time and much work for the administrator to specify the bottleneck section.
After having specified the bottleneck in the storage system, the administrator first needs to refer to the management monitor screen that indicates the connection relations among the devices, then refer to the data traffic amount of each of the connection ports of the devices on the storage system, judges himself a new path to be selected to solve the bottleneck, and execute a path switching processing.

Storage network system, managing apparatus, managing method and program


An articulated wrench structure includes a plurality of link members pivotally mounted relative to one another, with a forwardmost link member of said link members having a wrench head mounted thereto, with a rearwardmost link member including a handle and socket cavities mounted thereto.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to wrench apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved articulated wrench apparatus wherein the same employs an elongate articulated wrench body having pivotally mounted links relative to one another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wrench structure of various types are utilized throughout the prior art such as exemplified in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,311,070; 4,787,275; 4,819,521; and 4,158,975.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by employing a wrench body having a series of articulated and pivotally mounted links arranged for pivoting relative to one another to provide access to remote and difficult to be attained regions within a work environment and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A garment for pumping milk includes an outer layer; an inner layer coupled to the outer layer at one end, the inner layer having a second end that is elastic, the inner layer having first and second pockets each allowing access to a breast and each having an elastic gathering to receive the breast pump shield.

The present invention relates to a hands-free pumping garment.
Due to significant advantages of mother's milk over manufactured formula as a food source for infants, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women breastfeed their infants for at least one year. While many women are able to nurse their infants directly from their breast, there are work related or mobility related reasons a woman may need or choose to pump milk for her child. For example, most women re-enter the workforce soon after childbirth and want to continue breastfeeding. Other women would like to pump their milk to give to the infant when they are uncomfortable or unable to directly nurse their babies. Breast pumps are used to extract the mother's milk when the child is not present.
Typically, breast pumps (manual and electric) use a conical pump funnel that is in direct contact with the breast to pump milk from the breast. The funnels must be held in place over the breast during the pumping process, otherwise they fall off when suction is lost. During this time, it is advantageous for the breastfeeding woman to have garments that facilitate breastfeeding, and breast pumping when a woman cannot nurse her infant.
Several brassieres and other garments have been developed that hold the funnel to the breast so that the mother does not need to hold the funnels while pumping (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,094,217, and 6,227,936).
U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,463 teaches a bra or tank that has three layers on the chest that allow the wearer to comfortably breast feed or pump milk hands-free. Specifically, the tank or bra has three detachable layers over the breast where the outer layer is a solid layer, the inner layer has two openings over the nipple that are equipped to receive the funnels of a breast pumping apparatus and hold them to the breast without the wearer holding them, and an inner layer that has a large opening for the breast so that the wearer may breast feed an infant.


In a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, at least one of the anode side separator plate and cathode side separator plate is formed with a main surface having a convex shape protruding toward a gas diffusion layer, and a peripheral edge portion surrounding the main surface. An average thickness of the main surface is made to be thicker than an average thickness of the peripheral edge portion. And a difference Δt between the thickest part of the main surface and an average thickness of the peripheral edge portion is made to be 5-30 μm.

The present invention relates to a polymer electrolyte fuel cell to be used for a portable power source, an electric vehicle, a household cogeneration system, and so on.
In a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, a fuel gas containing hydrogen and an oxidant gas containing oxygen such as air are electrochemically reacted to generate an electric energy and a thermal energy simultaneously. FIG. 12 is a schematic sectional view that shows a basic structure of a conventional polymer electrolyte fuel cell.
A unit cell 101, which is a basic structure in a conventional polymer electrolyte fuel cell 300, mainly comprises a polymer electrolyte membrane 111 which selectively transfers cation (hydrogen ion), and a pair of electrodes (anode and cathode) 112, 113 disposed on both sides of the polymer electrolyte membrane 111. An anode 112 and a cathode 113 are composed of a catalyst layer comprising a mixture of a carbon powder carrying an electrode catalyst (platinum for example) and a hydrogen ion conductive polymer electrolyte, and a gas diffusion layer comprising for example a water repellent treated carbon paper, formed on outside of the catalyst layer and having both gas permeability and electron conductivity.
Then, gas sealing members 114 such as gasket are disposed to sandwich the polymer electrolyte membrane 111, at the peripheries of the anode 112 and the cathode 113 to avoid leaking of the fuel gas and the oxidant gas to outside and mixing of the fuel gas and the oxidant gas together. The sealing member 114 is integrated with the anode 112, the cathode 113, and the polymer electrolyte membrane 111 to form a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA hereafter). Outside the MEA, an anode side separator 116 and a cathode side separator 117 having electric conductivity are disposed to mechanically fix MEA and electrically connect adjacent MEAs each other in series.
In portions of the anode side separator 116 and the cathode side separator 117 contacting with the MEA, gas flow paths 118, 120 are formed to supply reactant gases (fuel gas and oxidant gas) to the anode 112 and the cathode 113 respectively, and to remove a generated gas and an excess gas. Although the gas flow paths 118, 120 may be provided separately from the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117, generally, grooves are formed on the surfaces of the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117 to serve as the gas flow paths, as shown in FIG. 12.
These MEA, the anode side separator 116, and the cathode side separator 117 form the unit cell 101. Although the unit cell 101 is used alone in some cases, in order to obtain sufficient cell output, the MEA is stacked alternately with the anode side separator 116 and the cathode side separator 117 interposing a cooling unit (not shown) to form a stack (i.e., 10-200 unit cells 101 are stacked). Then, generally, the stack is sandwiched by end plates, with current collector plates and insulating plates interposed in between, and fastened together with fastening bolts and nuts from both sides thereof, thereby making the polymer electrolyte fuel cell 300.
In such a conventional polymer electrolyte fuel cell 300, the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117 are formed of carbon flat plates, and on sides contacting the anode 112 and the cathode 113, the gas flow paths 118, 120 for supplying fuel gas or oxidant gas are respectively formed, and on the other side, coolant water flow paths 119, 121 for circulating coolant water are formed. Then, generally, a main surface at a center part of the anode side separator 116 and the cathode side separator 117 where the gas flow path is formed, and a peripheral edge portion at a surrounding part contacting one side of gaskets sandwiching the polymer electrolyte membrane 111 form the same plane without any elevation change.
Here, in the polymer electrolyte fuel cell 300 as mentioned above, the MEA is sandwiched by the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117, keeping an appropriate pressure in between the three; the polymer electrolyte membrane 111, the anode 112, and the cathode 113. This is because, it is desired to bring a gas diffusion layer of the anode 112 into contact with the anode side separator plate 116, and to bring a gas diffusion layer of the cathode 113 into contact with the cathode side separator plate 117.
It is also desired to compress a pair of gaskets 114 sandwiching peripheral edge portions of the polymer electrolyte membrane 111 by the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117 to seal a peripheral edge portion of the MEA. At this time, the compression degree {i.e., a thickness of a gasket which decreases due to the compression (a difference between a thickness of a gasket before the compression and a thickness of a gasket after the compression)} defines a contact force between a gas diffusion layer of the anode 112 and the anode side separator plate 116, and a contact force between a gas diffusion layer of the cathode 113 and the cathode side separator plate 117.
However, in the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117, when a part (main surface) contacting the anode 112 or the cathode 113 and a part (peripheral edge portion) contacting the gasket 114 are in the same plane, like above, in the case the main surface becomes thinner than the peripheral edge portion due to manufacturing tolerance, a sufficient contact between the gas diffusion layer and the anode side separator plate 116 or the cathode side separator plate 117 can not be secured, thereby increasing electric resistance between them. This frequently happens when the gas diffusion layer is formed of a soft material such as a carbon paper. Therefore, in order to suppress such increase in electric resistance, a contact force between the main surface and the gas diffusion layer must be made stronger, by further increasing the compression degree of the gasket 114.
On the other hand, in the case an average thickness of the main surface of the anode side separator plate 116 or the cathode side separator plate 117 is excessively thicker than an average thickness of the peripheral edge portion, when the gasket 114 is compressed such that an appropriate seal ability is obtained, the main surface of the anode side separator plate 116 or the cathode side separator plate 117 excessively compresses the gas diffusion layer. In such case, gas diffusivity is disturbed to create problems: pressure loss of the unit cell 101 is increased, and the gas diffusion layer is buckled to damage the MEA. Furthermore, because the gas diffusion layer enters into the gas flow path 118, 120 formed on the main surface, and closes the gas flow path, an increase in pressure loss of the gas flow path 118, 120 raises possibility of uneven distribution of the reactant gas to the gas flow path 118, 120.
Furthermore, because the MEA, the anode side separator plate 116, and the cathode side separator plate 117 are clamped, the peripheral edge portions of the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117 are bent by the clamping force, thereby making contact with the MEA. In the case the anode side separator plate 116 and the cathode side separator plate 117 are planer as in the above, this bent will add a partial load on a peripheral edge portion of the gas diffusion layer, leading to problems in that the gas diffusion layer gives damage on the polymer electrolyte membrane 111, creating a pinhole on the polymer electrolyte membrane 111.
The present invention was made in view of the foregoing problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a polymer electrolyte fuel cell in which a sealing effect can be displayed without gas leak by compressing a gasket sufficiently, increase in electrical resistance (contact resistance) between a gas diffusion layer of an anode and an anode side separator plate, and between a gas diffusion layer of a cathode and a cathode side separator plate can be suppressed, and increase in pressure loss due to close of a gas flow path and damage to a polymer electrolyte membrane by the gas diffusion layer can be avoided. Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a separator plate that can easily and reliably embody the above mentioned polymer electrolyte fuel cell.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An imaging device that images a subject includes a focus lens group that collects a light beam from the subject and forms an image of the subject, a focus motor that drives the focus lens group in the optical axis direction, and an imaging element that performs photoelectric conversion of the light beam and outputs a video signal. The imaging device further includes a contrast signal generator that generates and outputs a lower-frequency contrast signal from a luminance component of the video signal, an AF processor that employs the lower-frequency contrast signal as an auto focus evaluation value and moves the focus lens group to the in-focus position with wobbling the focus lens group, and a histogram signal generator that generates and outputs a high-luminance pixel count of the video signal. The AF processor varies the amplitude of the wobbling of the focus lens group based on the high-luminance pixel count.

In recent years, many imaging devices such as surveillance cameras and camcorders are equipped with an auto focus function to automatically adjust focus. Hereinafter, the auto focus is described as "AF" in drawings.
In the camera equipped with the auto focus function, a focus lens is automatically controlled to an in-focus position of a subject when the subject is out of focus due to a change in a zoom lens position or movement of the subject.
The camera equipped with the auto focus function generally causes micro vibration of the focus lens in an optical axis direction near the in-focus position (hereinafter, referred to as wobbling operation) to thereby detect the direction for focusing according to a change in an auto focus evaluation value and then move the focus lens in this direction.
In a rough classification, the auto focus function includes an active system and a passive system. The active system is a system in which distance to the subject is detected based on time until a reflected wave of e.g. infrared or ultrasound, which is delivered to the subject, returns and irradiation angle to the subject. The passive system is a system in which the distance to a subject is detected based on an optical image obtained by light reception by a lens.
Examples of the passive system include a phase difference detection system and a contrast detection system. The phase difference detection system is a system in which the optical image obtained by light reception is separated by a separator lens and a defocus amount (amount of separation from the in-focus position) calculated from the phase difference thereof is employed as a control value of an auto focus control to minimize defocus amount.
The contrast detection system is a system in which a contrast signal of a picture signal obtained by imaging by an imaging element is detected and employed as an evaluation value of the auto focus control. The evaluation value is controlled to maximize the contrast signal. This contrast detection system requires no dedicated component for the auto focus control, and therefore is widely employed generally in the cameras such as surveillance cameras and camcorders.
The contrast detection system utilizes characteristics that the subject picture comes into focus at a higher degree when high-frequency components of the picture signal existing at e.g. a contour part when the subject is imaged become larger. This is equivalent to that luminance level difference between a bright part and a dark part of a contour part of the subject, i.e. the contrast, becomes larger. Therefore, to focus a desired subject, the focus lens is moved in such a direction that the high-frequency components of the picture signal become larger.
The contrast detection system is referred to also as a hill climbing system. When the focus lens is moved and the contrast signal is obtained from a picture signal arising from imaging at each focus lens position, the peak (hill) of the contrast signal is a correct focus position. In the contrast detection system, this contrast signal is employed as the auto focus evaluation value and the focus lens is moved as if climbing the peak (hill). Therefore, this system is referred to as the hill climbing system.
In patent document 1, an invention is described in which focusing accuracy is enhanced by allowing focus lens speed to be variable depending on a ratio of a focal point evaluation value in a predetermined time and change amount of lens position.
In patent document 2, an invention is described in which the auto focus evaluation value is corrected based on a high-luminance count value (ratio of high-luminance image) and the in-focus point is identified based on the corrected value.
In patent document 3, an invention is described in which two filters having different cut-off frequency characteristics are used and focus lens movement speed (or movement amount) is set depending on the ratio of two focal point evaluation values to enhance the focusing accuracy.
In patent document 4, an invention is described in which the wobbling amplitude is increased to enhance the focusing accuracy when a focal point evaluation value at start of wobbling operation is determined small and a comparative angle change is also small.


Exemplary techniques, devices, and systems relating to implantable medical devices (IMDs) and IMD features pertaining to imaging and charge induction are described. One IMD includes means for receiving a first signal relating to a magnetic resonance imaging process. The IMD further includes means for generating a second signal effective to reduce or cancel charge induced upon a lead of the IMD by the magnetic resonance imaging process.

Current implantable medical devices (IMDs) such as cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators include components that are prone to heating and/or charge induction upon exposure to strong magnetic fields. Conditions within an operating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine offer an example of such strong magnetic fields. For instance, activation of the MRI's radio frequency (rf) coil generates rf pulses that can induce charge and/or cause heating on the IMD. Charge induction and/or heating of the IMD can cause patient discomfort, damage to patient tissue, and/or diminished IMD efficacy, among other consequences.

Implantable medical devices imaging features


A tankless water heater module is disclosed and includes a casing having a first end, a second end and a plurality of conduits formed therein. A top head manifold is coupled to the first end of the casing and includes a port aligned with each of the plurality of conduits. A bottom head manifold is coupled to the second end of the casing and includes a port aligned with each of the plurality of conduits. An immersion heating element extends through each port of the top head manifold and into the conduit aligned therewith. A flow path extends through the plurality of conduits, the plurality of conduits coupled in fluid communication by channels between ports of the top head manifold and a channel between ports of the bottom head manifold.

The need for heated fluids, and in particular heated water, has long been recognized. Conventionally, water has been heated by heating elements, either electrically or with gas burners, while stored in a tank or reservoir. While effective, energy efficiency and water conservation can be poor. As an example, water stored in a hot water tank is maintained at a desired temperature at all times. Thus, unless the tank is well insulated, heat loss through radiation can occur, requiring additional input of energy to maintain the desired temperature. In effect, continual heating of the stored water is required. Additionally, the tank is often positioned at a distance from the point of use, such as the hot water outlet. In order to obtain the desired temperature water, cooled water in the conduits connecting the point of use (outlet) and the hot water tank must be purged before the hot water from the tank reaches the outlet. This can often amount to a substantial volume of water.
Many of these problems have been overcome by the use of tankless water heaters. Heating water accurately and efficiently in a consistent and safe manner can be problematic with current tankless systems
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object the present invention to provide a new and improved tankless water heater.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a modular tankless water heater.
And another object of the present invention is to provide a tankless water heater having multiple safety features.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tankless water heater which can have flow dynamics adjusted by the head manifolds.


A plate to facilitate the application of leverage forces onto the upper portions of a top line seal on a cereal bag in a carton, for example, whereby separating the upper bag portions and rupturing the seal can be effected by persons of limited manipulative strength as well as by those who encounter difficulty in opening such seals, whereby use of sharp implements is avoided. The plate includes a narrower slot for receiving the bag upper portions communicating with a wider central aperture whereat separating forces are applied. The plate is of sufficient width to permit the knuckles and fingers of the hand to bear against the plate for leverage when tearing the seal.

With the development of modern plastic film and film laminates which when formed into pouches or bags are capable of serving as oxygen and moisture barriers to protect contents of the bags, the same have come into widespread use for consumer goods, of which a typical example is use of such bags or pouches to receive dry cereal and which are disposed within exterior cardboard cartons.
Such bags may be formed in a variety of well known ways including diverse pleats and seal lines as desired by the cereal or other packager. All such bags, however, include a seal at the top of the bag along a line slightly below the top of the bag material. The filled cereal bag of usually somewhat translucent plastic is packaged within an outer cardboard box or carton having suitable printing and decoration thereon. The cereal bag is usually tack sealed to the inside of the box to prevent undesired shifting of the same during shipping and handling whereby the top of the bag will remain disposed within the carton generally proximate the top of the box. The outer box is provided with openable top flaps to gain access to the sealed cereal bag within the carton.
To dispense the cereal, it is necessary after lifting the carton top flaps to then open the bag at the top of the carton by one means or another. As indicated, such bags are usually transversely sealed, commonly by a heat seal of the plastic bag material or the facing laminate surfaces thereof.
The bag seal or seals along with the plastic film guarantee freshness of the cereal product therewithin, but by the same token, often present substantial difficulty to the consumer in opening the bag. The plastic film is relatively slick and hard to grasp firmly. Further, the unsealed generally "V-shaped" free end of the bag above the top transverse seal is of relatively short height, adding to the problem in seizing and trying to pull the seal open by lateral force on the bag material. This is especially true of those persons of limited finger and hand strength.
As a consequence, oftentimes in the struggle to open the bag, the hands slip and effect major tears in the outside carton stock, causing contents storage and leakage problems when the inside bag is finally opened. In other cases, knives are used in an effort to pierce the bag and cut the same open, with obvious handling hazards. Scissors are occasionally employed, but require manipulation in the limited space available to reach below the seal to cut the tough film bag.
There thus exists a need for a practical, inexpensive, and non-hazardous means for opening such sealed cereal bags and other containers having similar seals that are difficult to separate to access the bag contents.

Leverage plate for cereal boxes and the like


A fuel tank venting system for a vehicle comprises first and second vent passages connected to the fuel tank, and a third vent passage connected to the fuel tank. The first to third vent passages each have one end thereof located in the fuel tank at an upper front location thereof, an upper rear location thereof, and an upper central location thereof, respectively. An anti-overcharging valve is arranged in the fuel tank and connected to the other end of the third vent passage. A first valve is connected to the one ends of the first and second vent passages, and a confluent vent passage extends from the first valve toward an internal combustion engine installed in the vehicle. A second valve is arranged across the confluent vent passage on one side of the first valve closer to the engine. The third vent passage has the other end thereof connected to the confluent vent passage at a location intermediate between the first valve and the second valve. The sum of set pressure of the first valve and set pressure of the second valve is set to a value higher than head pressure of the fuel tank assumed when the fuel tank is fully charged.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fuel tank venting system for vehicles such as motor cars, which operates to secure ventilation between the interior and exterior of the fuel tank even when the fuel tank is tilted.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, a fuel tank venting system of this kind is known, for example, from Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokoku) No. 51-3290, which includes a front vent pipe having a front inclined portion and a rear inclined portion, the front inclined portion having an open end thereof arranged above the fuel liquid surface within the fuel tank, a vertically extending increased-volume vent pipe connected to the rear inclined portion, a rear vent pipe extending rearward of the fuel tank with an open end thereof located above the fuel liquid surface within the fuel tank at a rear side of the fuel tank and the other end thereof connected to an upper end of the increased-volume vent pipe, and a drain pipe connected at an end thereof to an upper portion of the increased-volume vent pipe and communicating at the other end thereof with the atmosphere or the like via a check valve (hereinafter referred to as "the first conventional system").
According to the first conventional system, when the fuel tank is tilted forwardly of the vehicle such that a front side of the fuel tank lowers, the open end of the rear vent pipe becomes positioned above the fuel liquid surface. Therefore, when the temperature of the fuel tank rises to increase the pressure of air within the fuel tank, part of the air flows through the rear vent pipe and the drain pipe to open the check valve to be emitted into the atmosphere or the like. As a result, no fuel flows out of the fuel tank.
On the other hand, when the fuel tank is tilted rearwardly of the vehicle such that the rear side of the fuel tank lowers, the open end of the rear vent pipe becomes blocked with the fuel. Then, part of the air within the fuel tank is moved into the increased-volume vent pipe as its pressure rises and stays there. Then, upon reaching a lower end of the increased-volume vent pipe, the air floats upward in the form of bubbles in the increased-volume vent pipe without pushing upward fuel in the pipe which has been introduced into the pipe via the open end of the front vent pipe and then is emitted into the atmosphere or the like via the drain pipe.
Further, another fuel tank venting system of this kind is conventionally known, which includes an anti-overcharging valve for prevention of fuel overcharging formed by a float valve, and a cut valve formed by a float valve integrally connected to a check valve arranged in a charging passage extending between a fuel tank and a canister, and a spring urging the float valve in a direction of closing the same, the float valves being arranged at one end of the charging passage in the fuel tank at an upper central location thereof, and a two-way valve arranged in the charging passage at a location downstream of the anti-overcharging valve (hereinafter referred to as "the second conventional system"). The sum of the set pressure of the check valve and the set pressure of the two-way valve is set to a value larger than a head pressure of the fuel tank (pressure difference between the fuel liquid surface within the fuel tank and a fuel inlet end of a filler pipe of the fuel tank) assumed when the fuel tank is fully charged and hence the anti-overcharging valve is closed, to thereby restrain the head pressure when the fuel tank is fully charged, thus preventing overcharging of the fuel tank with fuel.
According to the first conventional system, however, as an element which can control the pressure within the fuel tank, only a single valve i.e., the check valve is arranged in the exhaust pipe, which therefore has a high set pressure (valve opening pressure) to prevent overcharging of the fuel tank, which renders it difficult to satisfy a puff-loss condition which is prescribed by United States fuel vapor emission standards (i.e., the pressure within the fuel tank should be controlled below a predetermined value lower than the valve opening pressure in a designated test mode).
On the other hand, according to the second conventional system, if the fuel tank is of a thin and oblong type, only the single cut valve arranged at the upper central location in the fuel tank cannot satisfactorily achieve gas-liquid separation performance. This is because the cut valve becomes immersed in the fuel when the fuel tank is tilted or inclined, and therefore when the pressure within the fuel tank rises due to heat or the like, air within the fuel tank cannot escape, which causes fuel to flow through the cut valve toward the engine. If two cut valves are provided in the fuel tank to overcome this inconvenience, these cut valves must be separately arranged on opposite sides of the fuel tank to satisfactorily achieve the gas-liquid separation performance, which inevitably leads to provision of two anti-overcharging valves on the opposite sides of the fuel tank. As a result, if refueling is made at a gas station having a sloping floor, for example, fuel is poured into the fuel tank to such a level as high as the level of one of the cut valves (which are integrally connected to the anti-overcharging valves) which is then positioned at a higher level. Thus, the fuel tank is overcharged with an amount of fuel much larger than an amount charged when the fuel tank is in a horizontal position. In such an overcharged state, if the pressure within the fuel tank rises, there is a fear that fuel can flow through the cut valve, which is then positioned at a lower level, toward the engine, which hinders satisfactory achievement of the gas-liquid separation performance.


A beverage bottling plant, a labeling machine for use in a beverage bottling plant, and a glue application device for use with a labeling machine in a beverage bottling plant.

1. Technical Field
This present application relates to a beverage bottling plant, a labeling machine for use in a beverage bottling plant, and a glue application device for use with a labeling machine in a beverage bottling plant.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
A bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material generally may comprise a station to rinse bottles prior to filling, and a station to fill bottles. Filling may comprise a selection of different products that would be filled into corresponding bottles. A bottling plant also generally comprises a station to close bottles, a labeling station or machine to label bottles, and may comprise a containerization station.
The containers of which labels are to be attached are conveyed to a carousel conveyer that may be driven to rotate about its vertical axis and that has a plurality of rotatable receptors for the containers; conveying being done by known conveyer equipment, such as, for example, belt conveyers, a dividing screw conveyer, and an input star-wheel conveyer. Along the path through the labeling machine or station, the container performs one rotational movement, or several rotational movements. Upon the container having completed its passage through the labeling machine or station, the container is generally removed from the labeling machine or station by way of an output star-wheel conveyer and by a further belt conveyer.
Glue application devices for use in labeling machines, e.g. in the labeling units of such machines, are known in a wide variety of realizations and essentially comprise a glue application and spreading element which is generally in the shape of a rail and is thereby moved past a glue dispensing point of a glue application and spreading element, so that with the aid of a glue scraper, a uniform application of glue is produced on the gluing roller and is then transferred to the labels to be glued, and possibly either directly and/or indirectly by the application of glue to label palettes with which the labels are extracted from a label storage device.

Glue application device for a labeling machine


An apparatus and method are provided for installing a fluid tap onto a pipe or conduit containing pressurized fluid. Debris generated by cutting a coupon from a pressurized fluid conduit is directed though the apparatus and prevented from entering the conduit. The apparatus can be removed from the newly installed air tap and reused. According to the method, pressurized fluid from the pressurized fluid system is used to wash debris generated from the coupon-cutting operation through the apparatus along a flow path that includes a collection chamber and filter. A kit is also provided and includes the apparatus and a variety of interchangeable connectors and cutting tools to allow the apparatus to be quickly configured for a wide variety of tap, valve, and pipe sizes.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for installing an air tap onto a pipe containing pressurized fluid.
When compressed fluid systems such as compressed air systems have been in service and require modification, such as tapping an additional pipe onto an existing pipe, conventional methods typically require that a section of the pipe being worked must be isolated or the entire compressed fluid system must be shutdown and depressurized before an air tap is added. As a result, any equipment or processes depending on the compressed fluid must be taken out of service or shifted to an alternate supply. In addition, any cuttings and debris generated by cutting the existing pipe often enter the pipework, contaminating the fluid system and causing potential problems to filters, tools, and other equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,240 to Granovski relates to a pipe tapping device for attaching a branch device to a main pipeline without disconnecting or interrupting the flow through the main pipeline. The apparatus is used for only a single application and the saddle, valve, and cutting tool of the device constitute an integral assembly that becomes a permanent part of the system onto which the apparatus is installed.
A need exists for a pipe tapping system that can use an off-the-shelf saddle and valve which become a permanent part of the compressed fluid system without the need to permanently include the tapping or cutting tool in the system.
A need further exists for a reusable pressurized fluid pipe tapping apparatus that can be used many times and thus is less expensive to use than tapping or cutting tools that can only be used one time.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for connecting a pipe for an ancillary device or system to the outside wall of an existing pipe by using a fitting and valve connection. According to the present invention, a saddle or connecting plate is mounted to an existing pipe and a flow valve is connected to the connecting plate and set to an open position. The tapping apparatus of the present invention is connected to the valve and includes a cutting bit that extends though the valve, through the connection plate, and contacts the existing pipe where it cuts a coupon from the existing pipe and catches the coupon. After the coupon is cut from the side wall of the existing pipe, the coupon and cutting bit are removed from the valve and the valve can be closed to facilitate removal of the tapping device from the valve. The tapping device including the cutting bit can then be disconnected from the valve and removed to be used again.
The design of the tapping apparatus provides for the collection of cutting debris in a chamber in the apparatus and prevents the debris from entering the compressed air system being tapped. Energy from the compressed air in the pipe system is used to wash the debris through the apparatus along a flow path having a chamber design. A filter is provided within the tapping apparatus to trap cuttings and finer debris yet allow air to purge from the apparatus. Compressed fluid flowing through the apparatus exits the apparatus through a miniature muffler.
The apparatus can be provided in a kit according to the present invention which includes interchangeable adapters, connectors, and cutting tools to quickly configure the apparatus for a wide variety of tap and pipe sizes.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are only intended to provide a further explanation of the present invention, as claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate several exemplary embodiments of the present invention and together with description, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

Method and device for installing an air tap onto a pressurized air pipe


A fuel injection stub (6) for a ramjet is intended to operate at a high Mach number. According to the invention, the nose of the stub is formed by a thermally conductive thin wall (11) having at least approximately the shape of a dihedron, the angle of said dihedron being at most equal to 15.degree. and the radius of the leading edge (11A) of said nose being at most equal to 2 mm, and said stub includes means (23, 27) for injecting a coolant into the sealed chamber (18), said injection means producing a number of jets of pressurized coolant striking the concave face of said thin wall.

The present invention relates to a fuel injection device for a ramjet operating at a high Mach number, for example of about 12 to 15.
It is known that ramjets are particularly advantageous for propelling hypersonic aircraft (missiles, airplanes, etc.) since they allow operation over a wide range of Mach numbers, for example from 2 to 15, and they have a low specific fuel consumption. Depending on the application peculiar to an aircraft, and possibly during the flight phase of the latter, the fuel used may be a liquid hydrocarbon, such as kerosene for example, or a gas, such as hydrogen or methane, for example.
It is also known that a ramjet includes, on the one hand, at least one oxidizer inlet, usually consisting of an air duct or an air intake, which directs an oxidizer flow (i.e. air) towards a combustion chamber and, on the other hand, at least one injection device which enables the fuel to be injected into said oxidizer flow so as to obtain a flux of oxidizer/fuel mixture which is ignited in said combustion chamber.
In ramjets designed to operate at a relatively low Mach number (for example up to Mach 2), such a fuel injection device may consist of a number of elementary injectors arranged in the internal wall of the ramjet, on the periphery of the oxidizer flow.
However, for operation at high Mach numbers, when combustion in the ramjet takes place in a supersonic or hypersonic flow, the fuel can no longer be injected just at the internal wall of the ramjet. This is because, in this case, the penetration of the jets of fuel into the oxidizer flow is too low for it to be possible to obtain good mixing of the oxidizer and the fuel within said flow, so combustion is poor or even impossible. Of course, such a drawback becomes more acute the greater the transverse dimensions of the oxidizer flow.
Thus, in order to remedy this situation, injection devices in the form of rails have already been provided, these devices having a number of elementary injectors distributed over their length and arranged in said oxidizer flow, transversely to the latter, while the ends of said rails are fastened to opposite walls of said ramjet. Such an injection device is generally called an "injection stub" and it is used either alone or in combination with fuel injection in the wall.
By using injection stubs, it is thus possible to obtain a satisfactory oxidizer/fuel mixture over the entire cross section of the oxidizer flow. More generally, the injection stubs installed in a hypersonic ramjet make it possible:
to feed fuel into the entire oxidizer flow, despite the low penetration of the jets of fuel into an oxidizer flow at hypersonic velocities; PA1 to increase the proportion of fuel in the oxidizer/fuel mixture; PA1 to assist in the ignition of the oxidizer/fuel mixture and to stabilize the flame; and PA1 to help compress the oxidizer flow, by reducing the rate of flow of fuel taken up by the ramjet. PA1 in that said nose is formed, at least near its leading edge, by a thermally conductive thin wall having at least approximately the shape of a dihedron, the angle of said dihedron being at most equal to 15.degree. and the radius of the leading edge of said nose being at most equal to 2 mm; and PA1 in that said stub includes: PA1 the thickness of said thin wall of the nose to be at most equal to 2 mm; PA1 the constituent material of said thin wall to have a thermal conductivity of 70 W/(m.K); and PA1 the coolant to be a low-temperature gas, for example hydrogen at a temperature of 100 K to 300 K. PA1 if hydrogen is used at a different temperature, it will be possible, all other things being equal, to maintain the wall temperature by modifying said flow rate; PA1 if the constituent material of the thin wall withstands a temperature greater than 1500.degree. C., for example 2000.degree. C., this constituent material may have a thermal conductivity of less than 70 W/(m.K) or the cooling may be less powerful; PA1 etc. PA1 in that it includes: PA1 in that said nose piece is joined to said body, in a sealed manner, by said thin faces; and PA1 in that, in the position in which said nose piece is joined to said body, said sealed chamber is formed in the concavity of said nose piece, between the latter and said body. PA1 at least one longitudinal groove made on the surface of said body and closed off by one face of said nose piece; and PA1 an array of transverse surface grooves bringing said sealed chamber into communication with said longitudinal groove and also closed off by said nose piece.
Such injection stubs, which are exposed to the action of the oxidizer flow, therefore each behave, from the aerodynamic standpoint, as an airfoil embedded at its ends in two opposite walls of the ramjet. In addition, on that side of their nose which receives the oxidizer flow, said injection stubs must have a leading edge with a small radius for limiting the pressure drops which would restrict the propulsive performance of the ramjet and could even lead to choking of the oxidizer flow, which can remain hypersonic in the combustion chamber only if the velocity of the oxidizer upstream is sufficiently high.
However, the heat-up of said nose produced by the hypersonic oxidizer flow is approximately inversely proportional to the square root of the radius of the leading edge of said nose. Thus, a nose with a small leading-edge radius heats up a great deal. Moreover, it will be noted that, since said injection stubs are arranged inside the ramjet, it is impossible to cool them by radiation with the air through which the aircraft propelled by said ramjet is flying. Such a nose is therefore exposed to very high temperatures: about 5000 K by an aircraft flying at Mach 12 at an altitude of about 30 km. It is therefore necessary to construct the injection stubs from materials such as ceramics, the radius of said leading edge being about 3 to 5 mm. However, in view of the current processes for producing ceramic components, it may readily be imagined that the precision manufacture of ceramic injection stubs, is necessarily lengthy and expensive.

Fuel injection device for a ramjet operating at a high mach number

Aerospatiale Societe Nationale Industrielle


Recovery of virtual machines when one or more hosts fail includes identifying virtual machines running on the remaining functioning hosts. Some of the identified powered on virtual machines are suspended in favor of restarting some of the failed virtual machines from the failed host(s). A subsequent round of identifying virtual machines for suspension and virtual machines for restarting is performed. Virtual machines for suspension and restarting may be identified based on their associated “recovery time objective” (RTO) values or their “maximum number of RTO violations” value.

Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing and/or storage services over the Internet or other suitable communication network. Cloud computing services may be hosted within an enterprise and provided to support operations of departments within the enterprise, to groups of people or individuals within the enterprise, and so on. Cloud computing services may be commercially provided by cloud computing service providers to customers (or consumers), whether they be organizations or individuals. A cloud computing service may be provided (or sold) to customers on-demand. A cloud computing service may be provided in increments of time, e.g., by the hour, monthly, etc. Service offerings typically include computing capacity, network capability, and storage capacity.
Three categories of services are generally recognized: infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS). IaaS type cloud computing services provide the customer with a virtual infrastructure of servers and storage. The customer can request (and, in the case of a commercially provided service, pay for) only as much capacity as they need. PaaS type cloud computing services are typically defined as a configuration of software (applications, development tools, etc.) hosted on the provider's cloud computing infrastructure. The PaaS platform provides customers with the underlying computing and storage infrastructure to support their applications. In the SaaS cloud computing model, the provider supplies the hardware infrastructure and the software product(s), which the customer accesses through a front-end portal. Services can be anything from Web-based email to inventory control and database processing.
Cloud computing provides an organization with the ability to host applications on computing infrastructure provided by others. This model has many benefits but these cannot be realized if the availability of the computing resources backing the organization's virtual data center (VDC) does not match the organization's needs. The "availability" of providers of computing and storage infrastructure is sometimes expressed in terms of "host failures"; e.g., "Our service offering protects against two host failures." To an organization, host failures are not a useful metric for assessing the level of availability that is being provided. First, expressing availability in terms of host failures competes against the idea of hiding the underlying infrastructure, which is a key component of the cloud computing model. Second, organizations care about application uptimes, and they cannot readily infer how long an application will be down from knowledge about how many host failures are anticipated.

Managing availability of virtual machines in cloud computing services


Display apparatus such as a see-through head-mounted display (HMD) through which a viewer could capture a scene while seeing an object through the apparatus is disclosed. In the display apparatus, a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) panel with a color filter attached to the LCOS panel is utilized. Accordingly, the compactness, light weight and low cost requirements can be met.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to display apparatus, and more particularly to a see-through head-mounted display (HMD) utilizing a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) panel and a color filter attached on the LCOS panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A see-through head-mounted display (HMD) is an optical device in which the see-through HMD is optically opaque with respect to real world and an image of the real world acquired by head-mounted camera is combined with a virtual or graphic image before being displayed. The see-through HMD has a beneficial effect on our living, education, training, and entertainment.
Conventional see-through HMD adopt liquid crystal display (LCD) that is illuminated from behind by fluorescent lamps, such as the display panels of notebook computers. While compactness, light weight and low cost are major considerations for the see-through HMDs, a need for an improved see-through HMD has arisen, such as to meet the mentioned requirements.

Head-mounted display utilizing an LCOS panel with a color filter attached thereon


A signal processing method includes: converting an analog signal to a digital signal; converting the digital signal from a time domain to a frequency domain, the frequency-domain digital signal including a plurality of sets of data exhibiting a predetermined order associated with frequencies respectively corresponding to the data; performing a correlation operation according to the data and the predetermined order to generate a forward correlation result; performing the correlation operation according to the data and a reverse order of the predetermined order to generate a reverse correlation result; selectively generating a control signal according to the forward and reverse correlation results; and processing the digital signal in the time domain according to the control signal so that the data generated in the subsequent step of converting the digital signal from the time domain to the frequency domain exhibit the predetermined order or the reverse order.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a signal processing device and associated method, and more particularly to a signal processing device and associated method capable of determining whether a spectrum of a multicarrier signal is reversed.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a conventional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) baseband receiver for a digital television. The OFDM baseband receiver 10, suitable for Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) and Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) digital televisions, includes an antenna 105, a tuner 110, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 120, an automatic gain control (AGC) 130, a frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140, a time-domain processing circuit 150, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) circuit 160, and an integer carrier frequency offset (ICFO) estimation circuit 170. After receiving an RF signal from the antenna 105, the tuner 110 selects a target channel from multiple channels, and down-converts the RF signal of the target channel to an intermediate low frequency signal. The intermediate low frequency analog signal is converted by the ADC 120 to a digital signal that is then transmitted to the AGC 130 to adjust a gain of the signal. The frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140 performs frequency offset compensation on the digital signal. The time-domain processing circuit 150 at the next stage processes the digital signal by such as a synchronization process, such that a sampling period of symbols at the signal receiver end may be consistent with that at the signal transmitter end. The FFT circuit 160 converts the digital signal from time domain to frequency domain. The ICFO estimation circuit 170 estimates a carrier frequency offset of the digital signal. The frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140 performs offset frequency compensation on the digital signal according to an estimation result of the ICFO estimation circuit 170.
The ICFO estimation circuit 170 performs a correlation operation on the digital signal to obtain a plurality of correlation values, according to which the carrier frequency offset of the digital signal can be obtained. More specifically, the carrier frequency offset includes an integer carrier frequency offset (ICFO) and a fractional carrier frequency offset (FCFO), and the correlation values may be further categorized into ICFO correlation values and FCFO correlation values. FIG. 2 shows a relationship diagram between an ICFO correlation value and an ICFO correlation index. As seen in FIG. 2, the ICFO correlation value appears as an extremely large value (or a maximum value) at a position where the ICFO correlation index is R[0]; the ICFO correlation values corresponding to the neighboring ICFO correlation indices are similar, and are quite different from the ICFO correlation value corresponding to the correlation index R[0] in comparison. The frequency corresponding to the ICFO correlation index R[0] may indicate a frequency offset, e.g., 6000 Hz, and the frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140 in FIG. 1 then compensates the frequency offset of the digital signal according to the indicated frequency offset.
FIG. 3 shows a spectrum diagram of a symbol of a signal based on OFDM modulation. In this example, it is assumed that one symbol includes 8192 subcarriers. In FIG. 3, the upper part shows a common spectrum (or referred to as a forward spectrum), and the lower part shows a reversed spectrum. The reversed spectrum and the forward spectrum are left-right reversed, also known as laterally reversed. That is, a subcarrier originally having a subcarrier number 1 in the forward spectrum appears as a subcarrier (having a subcarrier number 8192) at the end of the reversed spectrum, a subcarrier originally located at the end of the forward spectrum appears at the position of the subcarrier having the subcarrier number 1 in the reversed spectrum, and other subcarriers also appear as laterally reversed regarding the spectrum as the center. The forward spectrum and the reversed spectrum together exhibit a characteristic—for any of the subcarriers, a sum of the subcarrier numbers in the forward spectrum and in the reverse spectrum is a constant value. For example, the circled spectrum components in the forward spectrum and the reversed spectrum have numbers that add up to a sum of 8193.
One reason causing the reversed spectrum is due to different spectrum processing methods at the RF signal transmitter end and at the tuner 110. For example, the transmitter end transmits signals by a reversed spectrum, whereas the tuner 110 processes the RF signal by a processing method for a forward spectrum, hence a reversed spectrum; and vice versa. If the ICFO estimation circuit 170 operates based on an reversed spectrum, a correlation result generated is similar to the relationship diagram in FIG. 2. That is, although a maximum ICFO correlation value is obtained, this maximum ICFO correlation value is still smaller than the maximum ICFO correlation value in the forward spectrum and does not correspond to frequency of a correct carrier frequency offset.
Regarding the correct carrier frequency offset, assume that after another correlation operation performed by the frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140, the ICFO correlation value obtained indicates that the carrier frequency offset is 0. That is, when the ICFO correlation value obtained from again performing the correlation operation indicates that the carrier frequency offset is 0, it means that the OFDM baseband receiver 10 processes the correct spectrum. Conversely, regarding an incorrect carrier frequency offset, assume that after another correlation operation performed by the frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140, the ICFO correlation value obtained indicates that the carrier frequency offset is not 0. That is, when the ICFO correlation value obtained from again performing the correlation operation indicates that the carrier frequency offset is not 0, it means that the OFDM baseband receiver 10 may have processed a reversed spectrum by a processing method for a forward spectrum. When the ICFO estimation circuit 170 discovers that the spectrum is reversed, a control signal is sent to the frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140 to control the frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140 to process the digital signal in the time domain, such that the processed digital signal, after undergoing the FFT circuit 160, displays a forward spectrum in the frequency domain. The processes of the frequency offset compensation and spectrum reversion circuit 140 include swapping the imaginary part and the real part (IQ) swap) or obtaining the complex conjugate of the digital signal. The processed result is further processed by FFT to obtain the reversed spectrum.
When the OFDM baseband receiver 10 processes a forward spectrum, the ICFO estimation circuit 170 at least needs to perform two correlation operations (one for obtaining the carrier frequency offset, and the other for confirming that the compensated carrier frequency offset is 0) to complete the frequency offset compensation. Further, when the OFDM baseband receiver 10 processes a reversed spectrum, the ICFO estimation circuit 170 needs to perform four correlation operations (two for an reversed spectrum and two for a forward spectrum) to complete the frequency offset compensation. As a result, overall efficiency is severely degraded when the OFDM baseband receiver 10 encounters a reversed spectrum.

Signal processing method and associated device, and method for determining whether spectrum of multicarrier signal is reversed


A system and method for quickly cooling and de-pressurizing a boiler arrangement in the event of a plant power loss, a.k.a. a black plant condition. A steam discharge system injects steam from the steam/water circuit into the furnace, thereby both cooling components of the boiler arrangement and reducing pressure in the steam/water circuit. This reduces or eliminates the additional cost associated with providing extra capacity in a steam drum and/or an independently powered boiler water pump. The system and method is particularly useful for quickly cooling the U-beams of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler during a black plant condition. In application to boiler arrangements with a selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) system employing steam as a carrier for a NOx reducing agent, the steam discharge system advantageously uses the discharge nozzles of the SNCR system to inject the steam into the furnace.

The present invention relates, in general, to circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler arrangements and, more particularly, to a CFB boiler arrangement having a selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) system employed downstream of the CFB boiler furnace to achieve enhanced NOx reduction capability.
CFB boiler arrangements are known and used in the production of steam for industrial processes and/or electric power generation. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,799,593, 4,992,085, and 4,891,052 to Belin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,940 to James et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,378,253 and 5,435,820 to Daum et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,830 to Alexander et al. In a CFB boiler furnace, reacting and non-reacting solids are entrained within the furnace enclosure by the upward gas flow that carries solids to the exit at the upper portion of the furnace, where the solids are separated by impact type particle separators. The impact type particle separators are placed in staggered arrays to present a path which may be navigated by the gas stream, but not the entrained particles. The collected solids are returned to the bottom of the furnace. One CFB boiler arrangement uses a plurality of impact type particle separators (or concave impingement members or U-beams) at the furnace exit to separate particles from the flue gas. While these separators can have a variety of configurations, they are commonly referred to as U-beams because they most often have a U-shaped configuration in cross-section.
Impact type particle separators are generally placed at the furnace exit and typically are not cooled. They are placed at the furnace outlet to protect the downstream heating surfaces, such as secondary and primary superheater surfaces, from erosion by solid particles. Thus, the U-beams are exposed to the high temperatures of the flowing stream of flue gas/solids, and the materials used for the U-beams must be sufficiently temperature resistant to provide adequate support and resistance to damage.
Impact type particle separators which are cooled or supported off a cooled structure are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,603 B1 to Walker, U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,221 B1 to Walker et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,824 B1 to Maryamchik et al.
A known impact type separator CFB boiler arrangement offered by The Babcock & Wilcox Company, based on an entirely water-cooled setting, is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 2A. This arrangement provides a furnace 10 having a gas-tight enclosure 11 suitable for operating with a positive pressure in the furnace 10, and provides a gas flow path for flue gas 15. It has no high temperature refractory lined flues in the vicinity of the primary particle separator U-beams 32 or in-furnace U-beams 34 and therefore requires minimal building space and reduces furnace refractory maintenance. This construction is possible due to the use of an impact type primary solids separator (U-beams 32) integrated into the boiler enclosure 11.
Fuel and sorbent are fed to the CFB bed through the lower front wall of furnace 10. The ash and spent sorbent are removed through drain pipes in the floor. The solids collected by the U-beams 32, 34 and multi-cyclone dust collector are returned through the rear wall to the lower portion of furnace 10.
Primary air enters furnace 10 through the distributor plate and secondary air is injected at elevations approximately 6 and 12 feet (1.8 and 3.7 m) above the distributor plate through upper and lower overfire air headers.
The primary solids separation system, generally designated 30, includes staggered rows of U-shaped channel members, or U-beams 32, suspended from the boiler roof. Material striking the U-beams 32 is separated from the flue gas 15, flows down the U-channel and discharges from the bottom.
A circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler furnace has substantial thermal inertia, which is attributed to hot bed material and un-cooled parts of the solids separator at the furnace exit such as U-beams, hot refractory, etc. In case of plant power loss, a.k.a. a black plant condition, the Main Steam Stop Valve (MSV) typically closes to prevent a rapid steam/water side pressure reduction and water level drop in the boiler. The thermal inertia of the drum, tubes, headers and other boiler components will continue to promote steam generation lasting after the MSV closing. In order to prevent steam pressure buildup that would trigger a safety valve opening with a corresponding rapid water level drop in the boiler, and to provide cooling of superheater surface subjected to residual heat of the un-cooled parts of the boiler components, such as a CFB boiler provided with U-beam solids separator, a steam relief valve would open allowing steam to bleed through the steam side of the superheater into the atmosphere or to the steam user (e.g., when the steam is used for heating), typically in a controlled manner.
As in the case of an open MSV or safety valve, this steam bleed results in a lowering of the water level in the boiler circulation system. If the water level recedes below the furnace roof, it will result in portions of the tubes being un-cooled, and those un-cooled tubes which are exposed to the residual heat of the un-cooled parts of the solids separator may be damaged. In order to prevent this from happening, the boiler may be provided with sufficient steam drum capacity and/or an independently powered boiler water pump that would maintain a safe water level in the boiler. However, providing this extra capacity of the steam drum and/or an independently powered boiler water pump adds to the boiler cost.
The combination of low temperatures and staged combustion allows fluidized-bed boilers, such as CFB boiler systems, to operate with low NOx emissions. Further NOx reduction can be controlled to lower values through the use of a selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) system consisting of ammonia injection near the U-beam elevation. An ammonia-based SNCR system includes storage and handling equipment for the ammonia, equipment for mixing the ammonia with a carrier (such as compressed air, steam or water) and injection equipment. The injection system, a key component, consists of nozzles generally located at various elevations on the furnace walls to match the expected flue gas operating temperature.
For additional details of the design and operation of circulating fluidized bed boilers and SNCR systems, the reader is referred to Chapter 17 and pages 34-13 to 34-15 of Steam/Its Generation and Use, 41st Edition, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, Barberton, Ohio, U.S.A., © 2005.

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc.


A method of fabricating a prescription label bag which creates a simple, effective and private labelled bag for storing various prescriptions or medicines. The method of fabricating a prescription label bag generally includes a sheet having a plurality of folding indicia preset therein for ease-of-folding into a prescription bag. Adhesive strips are located along the sheet to ease formation of the bag after completion of the necessary folds using the folding indicia. The formed prescription bag includes an upper opening through which the prescription items may be inserted into the bag and a sealed lower end. A label or printed information may be included on the outer surface of the bag to provide instructions or other relevant information regarding the prescription.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a prescription bag and more specifically it relates to a method of fabricating a prescription label bag which creates a simple, effective and private labelled bag for storing various prescriptions or medicines.
Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the related art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such related art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
It is very common for department stores, grocery stores, and pharmacies to dispense prescription drugs to consumers in a public setting. When dispensing such drugs, the instructions are often included in a small label affixed directly to the drug container (i.e. pill bottle or casing). This small label can be hard to read. Often, a separate sheet of paper may be provided with instructions that is loosely thrown in a larger bag with the prescription drugs and thus may be lost or misplaced. Further, the prescription drugs are often just thrown in a large bag, often with other items.
Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved method of fabricating a prescription label bag which creates a simple, effective and private labelled bag for storing various prescriptions or medicines.

Method of fabricating a prescription label bag


A method and kit for detecting toxins and pollutants is disclosed. The kit includes a transgenic organism having a stress-inducible control region linked to a gene encoding a detectable protein wherein said control region regulates the expression of said detectable protein; exposing said organism to said sample; and determining the amount of detectable protein produced. Exposure of this organism to a toxin or pollutant induces the production of the detectable protein which can be easily measured. This invention provides a rapid and reliable system for testing samples for the presence of toxins or pollutants.

The need for methods of assessing the impact of environmental pollutants on ecological systems has led to the development of procedures which utilize living organisms as biological monitors. The simplest and most convenient of these systems utilize unicellular microorganisms, since they are most easily maintained and manipulated.
Unicellular organisms, however, are inadequate models for estimating the potential effects of pollutants on complex multicellular animals, as they do not have the ability to carry out biotransformations. Biotransformations of chemical compounds by multicellular organisms is a significant factor in determining the overall toxicity of agents to which they are exposed. This fact has stimulated the search for model organisms in the latter category which could serve as biomonitors. The nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, has become a widely used model system for genetic and molecular biological studies, and the ease of culture and handling of this organism has lead to the proposed use of this and related species as biomonitors in various applications. Some examples from the recent literature are:
1. Williams, P. L. and Dusenbery, D. B. "Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to predict mammalian acute lethality to metallic salts." Toxicol. Ind. Health 4(4), 469-478, 1989. PA1 2. Williams, P. L. and Dusenberry, D. B. "A promising indicator of neurobehavioral toxicity using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and computer tracking". Toxicol. Ind. Health 6(3-4), 425-440, 1990. PA1 3. Williams, P. L. and Dusenbery, D. B. "Aquatic toxicity testing using the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans". Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 9, 1285-1290, 1990. PA1 4. Samoiloff, M., "The nematode toxicity assay using Panagrellus redivivus". Toxic. Assess. 5(3), 309-318, 1990. PA1 5. Van Kessel, W. H. M., Brocades Zaslberg, R. W. and Seinen, W. "Testing environmental pollutants on soil organisms, using cadmium chloride and nematodes". Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 18 (2), 181-190, 1989.
Over the last 15 years or so, it has been established that all organisms respond to heat stress and to a variety of chemical stresses by producing specific proteins which are made either at much lower levels or not at all under normal conditions. This realization has led to proposals for monitoring the environment by measuring the levels of these proteins in various organisms (1,2,3). These approaches involve extraction of the proteins and measurement of their levels, usually using antibodies.
The invention described herein utilizes a different approach, i.e, we have linked the control regions which regulate stress protein production to a gene which produces a readily measurable enzyme (a "reporter gene"). This reporter gene has been inserted into the chromosomes of C. elegans to produce transgenic strains which respond to stress by making the reporter enzyme. To complete the biomonitor system, methods have been designed for rapidly and conveniently assessing the magnitude of the reporter enzyme activity, as well as its tissue location in the nematode. The recombinant strains, together with the assay methodology, can constitute a biomonitoring "kit" which can be used to detect the level of stress imposed on an organism by exposure to water samples (salt or fresh water), sludges, sediments, soils, soil extracts, pesticides, etc.

Biological systems incorporating stress-inducible genes and reporter constructs for environmental biomonitoring and toxicology