A method and apparatus for testing cement comprising introducing cement into a curing vessel that is at least partially inside a test vessel, curing the cement at a selected temperature and pressure, maintaining the cement at least at the selected temperature and pressure after the cement has cured and until testing of the cement, and testing the cement for a performance property. The testing apparatus comprises a test vessel comprising a test chamber, a curing vessel at least partially within the test chamber comprising a first end cap, a second end cap, and a flexible sleeve, the curing vessel being sealed from the fluid in the test chamber.

There are various types of wells, such as land based wells and offshore wells, for producing oil, gas, water, or hydrates. Offshore wells may also be shallow or deep water wells. A shallow offshore well is typically drilled from a platform that is in water up to 3,000 feet in depth. A deep water well is drilled from a floating platform or vessel with a riser extending from the sea floor to the platform or submersible rig. Any water deeper than 5,000 feet requires a drilling vessel, typically a drill ship.
Well construction, such as the drilling of an oil or gas well, includes a wellbore or borehole being drilled through a series of formations. Each formation through which the well passes must be sealed to avoid an undesirable passage of formation fluids, gases, or materials out of the formation and into the borehole or from the borehole into the formation. It is also commonly desired to isolate both producing and non-producing formations from each other to avoid contaminating one formation with the fluids from another formation.
To seal or isolate the formations, conventional well architecture includes casing the borehole. The formations may also be cased for borehole stability due to the geo-mechanics of the formation such as compaction forces, seismic forces, and tectonic forces. The casings prevent the collapse of the borehole wall and prevent the undesired outflow of drilling fluids into the formation or the inflow of fluids from the formation into the borehole. The borehole also may need to be cased due to equivalent circulating density and hydraulics reaching or exceeding the formation pore pressure or exceeding the fracture gradient pressure, which would allow fluids or gases to transfer between formations and borehole. If the formations are non-producing, or not of the desired producing interval (some intervals are producing but at low levels), the formations can be cased together. If shallow water flows (where water flows several hundred feet below the seabed floor), or if there is potential communication among formations, then the formation is cased. The casings extend downhole and are sequentially placed across the formations through which the wellbore or borehole passes. The casings may also be liners, which do not extend to the surface of the wellbore. Steel casing can be used to case off formations.
Each succeeding casing placed in the wellbore has an outside diameter reduced in size when compared to the casing previously installed, particularly to accommodate hangers for the inner strings. Thus, a well may be described as a series of nested casing strings. The borehole is drilled in intervals whereby a casing, which is to be installed in a lower borehole interval, is lowered through a previously installed casing of an upper borehole interval. As a consequence of this procedure, the casing of the lower interval has a smaller diameter than the casing of the upper interval. Thus, the casings are in a nested arrangement with casing diameters decreasing in the downward direction. The number of casings required to reach a given target depth is determined principally by the properties of the formations penetrated and by the pressures of the fluids contained in the formations.
Various types of casing may be installed in the well including structural or conductor casing, surface casing, intermediate or production casing, and production liners. Typically, a land based well starts with a 20″/18⅝″ or larger diameter casing and telescopes down through two or three intermediate casings, to a final casing size of typically 6⅜″ with a 5″ production liner installed. Each casing is secured in place with cement filling an annulus having a size typically varying from 1 to 10 inches over the length of the casing and may be as much as 14 to 21 inches or greater at a wash out in the borehole wall.
FIG. 1 is a schematic of a deep water well completion. The size and number of casing and tubing strings will increase or decrease depending upon the well plan based upon, for example, the depth of the well, the production tubing delivery size, the structural support and the seabed formation support. If the seabed formation is unconsolidated and has little support, then the structural or conductor casing is larger and is set deeper. If the initial conductor casing is in rock, then it can be smaller with substantially less depth. For example, initially a structural or conductor casing and riser are lowered from a drilling platform and driven, drilled or jetted into the sea floor to provide support for a surface casing. The structural or conductor casing may or may not be cemented.
FIG. 1 illustrates a 36 inch by 16 inch by 10¾ inch by 7 inch casing program with the addition of one or more tubing strings. After the 36 inch conductor casing is set, one or more surface casings is installed. A borehole is drilled for a 20 inch surface casing which is lowered into place with a 21″ surface casing riser attached thereto. A subsea wellhead with blowout prevention equipment, such as an 18¾ inch blowout preventer, is installed on the surface casing. The subsea wellhead may be supported by a structural casing.
Further, a borehole may be drilled through the riser and wellhead and through a problematic formation to extend a structural casing through the problem formation. For example, there are salt formations in the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico. The structural casing forms a barrier across the formation while also supporting the wellhead. The structural casing has a thicker wall and provides a stable support frame for and can carry the load on the subsea wellhead. A 16 inch structural casing may be drilled, installed and cemented through a salt formation to seal off the salt formation from the wellbore being drilled. It should be appreciated that if there is no problematic formation, such as a salt zone, a shallow water flow zone, loss circulation zone, or other problem zone, then a structural casing is not needed to seal off the problematic area but it will support the subsea or platform wellhead, depending on well type.
Another borehole is then drilled for a 13⅜ inch intermediate casing string which is lowered into the borehole, attached to another riser, and cemented in place. Next a borehole may be drilled for another intermediate casing, such as a 11⅞ inch casing, and cemented in place. The borehole for the production casing string, such as a 9⅝ inch casing, is drilled and the production string is landed. It may or may not be cemented in place. The drilling is performed through blowout prevention equipment.
During the drilling of the wellbore, annuli are provided between the outer surfaces of the casings and the borehole wall and a composition, sometimes referred to as "oil field" cement, is introduced in the annulus for cementing the casing within the wellbore after the installation of each casing. When the casing is located in its desired position in the well, a cement slurry is pumped via the interior of the casing and around the lower end of the casing and upwards into the annulus, thereby causing the cement slurry to drive the drilling fluid upward in the annulus. As soon as the annulus around the casing is sufficiently filled with the cement slurry, injection of cement into the well is stopped and the cement slurry is allowed to harden, or cure. The cement sets up in the annulus, supporting and positioning the casing and forming a substantially impermeable that which divides the well bore into subterranean zones.
Ultimately the borehole reaches the target and is drilled through a hydrocarbon-containing formation or reservoir to produce hydrocarbons. The borehole may or may not be cased through the hydrocarbon-containing reservoir to allow substantially unrestricted influx of fluids from the formation into the borehole.
The purpose of the cement body around the casing is to fix the casing in the well. The cement also seals the borehole around the casing to prevent vertical flow of fluid alongside the casing towards other formation layers or even to the earth's surface. The cement prevents fluid exchange between or among formation layers through which the wellbore passes, and prevents the undesirable migration of fluids between zones or gas from rising up the wellbore.
It is important that there is no gas or fluid leakage after the cement has set and the well is completed. Thus, casing is cemented in place for two main reasons: (1) to seal off and prevent leak paths between permeable zones and/or surface; and (2) to give support and stability to the casings. A problem encountered during cementation of the casing is that due to various factors, such as the existence of varying pressure and temperature gradients along the length of the casing and shrinkage of the cement body during hardening thereof, relative displacements occur between the casing and the hardened cement that may result in poor bonding or cracking between the cement body and the casing.
Poor bonding may result in the presence of a so-called micro-annuli between the casing and cement body that may extend along a substantial part of the length of the casing. The occurrence of a micro-annuli is particularly dangerous in gas wells as substantial amounts of gas might escape to the surface. In some cases, hydrogen sulfide or natural gas can escape into the atmosphere. This condition may also lead to surface or ground water contamination. The resulting problems are very expensive to correct.
The poor bonding of the cement may be attributed to drilling fluid contamination or to bonding of the cement to the casing after the cement has set and/or oil or mill finish contamination on the surface of the casing. Poor bonding may also be contributed to aggressive drilling or aggressive pressure subjection and large pressure differentials prior to it hardening and during the operation. Also, hardening of cement generally causes a slight change of the volume of the cement.
A more fundamental cause of poor bonding is the loss of the hydrostatic head during the curing of the cement such that the formation pressure exceeds the annulus pressure and gas migration occurs causing channeling of the cement and subsequent leakage. For example, during cementing operations, it is common to both reciprocate and rotate the casing during the cement pumping operation to break up or close any cement channels around the casing. Also, compressible cement slurries have additives that entrain gas. During the cement pumping operation, the additives are compressed. As the hydrostatic head is lost during curing of the cement, the entrained gas subsequently expands and prevents loss of the pore pressure such that formation gas is prevented from migrating into the annulus. These specialized cement additives are expensive, however, and require specific operational techniques. This technique may also result in a lower strength cement. Additionally, too much of a hydrostatic head can be detrimental because the cement will take longer to cure and will be soft.
Additionally, heat of hydration, or the amount of heat formed by the curing of the cement, is an important design factor. If curing the cement produces too much heat, the physical characteristics of the casing and the formation can be affected. The properties of the cement itself may also be affected if the curing temperatures become too elevated.
Also, some cement slurries depend on the cement achieving high gel strengths in very short time periods. If there is a rapid static gel strength obtained, gas migration and channeling are reduced or prevented. The strength and capability of the cement to seal against fluid migration between various zones along the production casing is also an important design consideration.
Thus, it is essential that the cement slurry be designed to create a good bond between the cement body and both the casing and the borehole wall in the particular well environment. The various techniques and cement design factors must all be taken into account to form a proper bond between the casing and the formation. The cement must perform in the short term as well as long term through the life of the well. The cement formulation used for cementing wells will thus depend on the mechanical properties of the cement.

Method and apparatus for testing cement slurries


A method and apparatus for controlling a motor. The motor comprises windings. A switch bridge comprising a plurality of switches is configured to couple a power source to the windings. A motor controller is configured to control the plurality of switches. An undesired condition identifier is configured to identify an undesired condition when the motor is providing power to the power source, wherein the undesired condition is defined with respect to a characteristic of the power source. An undesired condition reducer is configured to reduce the undesired condition in response to identifying the undesired condition by the undesired condition identifier.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electric motors and to the control of electric motors. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to controlling an electric motor to reduce instability when the motor is providing power to a power source and to protect the power source from undesired current levels.
2. Background
Aircraft may employ various electronic devices and systems to perform various functions on the aircraft. For example, without limitation, electric motors on an aircraft may be used to move flight control surfaces, to raise and lower landing gear, and to perform other functions on the aircraft. Power for the electric motors and other electronic systems and devices on an aircraft may be provided by an aircraft power system.
An example of a type of electric motor used on aircraft, and for many other applications, is a brushless DC electric motor. This type of motor is also known as an electronically commutated motor. A brushless DC motor may comprise, for example, a permanent magnet synchronous motor, a switched reluctance motor, or an induction motor. Brushless DC motors are powered by a direct current (DC) electrical power source via an inverter which is controlled to provide a switching power signal to drive the motor.
For example, a brushless DC motor may include permanent magnets which rotate and a fixed armature which comprises the stator windings. An electronic controller continually switches the phase of power provided to the windings to keep the motor turning. The controller may employ a solid state circuit to provide timed power distribution to the motor windings.
To direct the rotor rotation, the controller for a brushless DC motor requires some means of determining the rotor's orientation relative to the stator windings. Some brushless DC motors use Hall effect sensors or a rotary encoder to directly measure the position of the rotor. Others measure the back electromotive force (EMF) in the undriven windings to infer the rotor position. Controllers of this latter type are often called sensorless controllers. Other sensorless controllers are capable of measuring winding saturation caused by the position of the magnets to infer the rotor position.
The controller for a brushless DC motor may provide bi-directional outputs to control the driving of DC power to the motor windings. The outputs may be controlled by a logic circuit. Simple controllers may employ comparators to determine when the output phase should be advanced. More advanced controllers may employ a microcontroller to manage acceleration, control speed, and fine tune-motor efficiency. Motor controllers of this type may be referred to as electronic speed controllers.
A controller may control the power that is provided to the windings of a DC motor by controlling the switches in a switch bridge. The switch bridge couples the DC power source to the windings of the DC motor. For example, a three-phase switch bridge may have six switches arranged to form three parallel half H-bridges for coupling the DC power source to three motor windings of a DC motor. The switches of the switch bridge may be controlled by the controller to drive a current in either direction on each of the motor windings. For example, without limitation, the switch bridge may be implemented using solid state switching devices such as metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).
Various methods may be used to control the switches in a switch bridge to modulate the current in the windings of a brushless DC motor. However, existing methods for modulating the current in the motor windings of a brushless DC motor may have various drawbacks and limitations. A method for controlling the current in the windings of a brushless DC motor that overcomes these drawbacks and limitations is desirable.
The rotor in a brushless DC motor may be controlled to rotate in either direction, clockwise or counter-clockwise. The current in the windings of the motor may be controlled to produce torque on the rotor in either the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. The current in the windings may be controlled to produce torque on the rotor that is either in the same direction as the direction of rotation of the rotor or in the opposite direction from the direction of rotation of the rotor at a particular point in time.
Operation of a brushless DC motor thus may be described with reference to four quadrants. For example, in a first quadrant of operation, the rotor may be rotating in a clockwise direction and the current in the motor windings may produce torque on the rotor in the same clockwise direction. In a second quadrant of operation, the rotor may be rotating in a counter-clockwise direction and the current in the motor windings may produce torque on the rotor in the opposite clockwise direction. In a third quadrant of operation, the rotor may be rotating in a counter-clockwise direction and the current in the motor windings may produce torque on the rotor in the same counter-clockwise direction. In the fourth quadrant of operation, the rotor may be rotating in a clockwise direction and the current in the motor windings may produce torque on the rotor in the opposite counter-clockwise direction.
When a motor is operating in the second and fourth quadrants of operation, the motor may provide power back to the power source. In this case, the motor may be said to be regenerating or in a regenerating mode of operation. It is desirable to reduce or prevent undesired conditions that may occur when the motor is regenerating. For example, it is desirable to reduce or prevent instability that may occur when the motor is regenerating. It is also desirable to reduce or prevent undesired current flow between the motor and the power source when the motor is operating in various quadrants, including when the motor is regenerating. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account one or more of the issues discussed above as well as possibly other issues.

Motor control for stability and power supply protection


This invention is aimed at preventing containers effectively from performance deterioration, such as exposure of the recycled material at the neck and reduced strength of the pinch-off portion, as caused by a high ratio of recycled material used as the middle layer. There is provided a multi-layered blow-molded container molded from cylindrical multi-layered parison, wall of the container comprising at least an outer layer, an inner layer, and a middle layer, wherein the outer and inner layers are made of a same synthetic resin, while the middle layer is made of a recycled material consisting primarily of the synthetic resin used for the outer and inner layers. This container is characterized in that it has either middle-layer excluded zones or a thin middle-layer zone. These zones are provided at a predetermined range along the direction in which the parison is extruded.

Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a multi-layered blow molded plastic bottle utilizing a recycled material for the middle layer. Patent Document 2 discloses a die for use in blow molding multi-layered bottles, such as the one described in Patent Document 1. Traditionally, it is a widespread practice, from cost-reduction and resources-saving points of view, to collect flash and defective products occurring from production processes and to utilize regenerated materials or so-called recycled materials as the materials for the middle layer of multi-layered containers.    [Patent Document 1] Published patent application JP1993-338638    [Patent Document 2] Published patent application JP1998-128836

Multi-layered, blow molded container and process for molding the same


A vehicle wheel with a wheel rim and a solid tire positioned on the wheel rim. The vehicle wheel has an annular upper shell having a first wedge-shaped surface and composed of at least two upper segments. Further, the vehicle wheel includes an annular lower shell composed of lower segments and having an outer circumference having a second wedge-shaped surface. Moreover, the second wedge-shaped surface is structured and arranged in a diametrically opposed manner to the first wedge-shaped surface. Additionally, the annular lower shell is arranged on the rim, the annular lower shell is arranged against the annular upper shell, and the annular upper shell is connected to the solid tire.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle wheel with a wheel rim and a solid tire positioned on the wheel rim. The wheel rim includes an annular lower shell composed of segments and having a wedge-shaped surface on an outer circumference braced against a wedge-shaped surface of an annular upper shell embodied in a diametrically opposed manner to the wedge-shaped surface of the lower shell. The lower shell is arranged on the wheel rim and the upper shell is connected to the solid tire.
2. Description of Background Information
A vehicle wheel of this type is known from EP 1 312 489 A2. The essential thing with a vehicle wheel of this type is that an annular lower shell composed of segments and having a wedge-shaped surface on the outer circumference is arranged on the rim, which lower shell is braced against an annular upper shell having a wedge-shaped surface embodied in a diametrically opposed manner, which upper shell is firmly connected to the solid tire.
The advantage of a vehicle wheel of this type is that the solid tire that is fixedly arranged on the upper shell can be mounted on the lower shell and thus on the rim with the simplest device. A simple torque wrench is sufficient for mounting a tire of this type on a rim, while otherwise heavy-weight presses are used with all known solid tires for industrial purposes in order to press the solid tire directly onto the rim. However, suitable presses for pressing solid tires onto the rims are heavy and expensive and not available everywhere, so that it is difficult to have a new solid tire mounted onto a rim when needed, since long distances to a workshop equipped with a press of this type often have to be tolerated.
A construction known from EP 1 312 489 A2 can already overcome these disadvantages, since through the construction of segmented lower shell and one-piece upper shell with a tire vulcanized thereon, the simplest fitting is possible that can be carried out virtually anywhere.
Nevertheless, certain disadvantages have become apparent with a construction according to EP 1 312 489 A2, which are to be overcome through this invention.
The influence of heat on the construction of lower/upper shell has proven to be particularly problematic, in that, e.g., at high temperatures as a consequence of outer or inner temperature increases the upper shell has a tendency to undergo thermal expansion, through which a frictional contact between the upper and lower shell is not guaranteed in every case. The solid tire then begins to turn on the rim or on the lower shell.

Vehicle wheel comprising a wheel rim and rubber tire


A support structure of a front body structure may include a first supporting member having both ends in a length direction thereof, the both ends being fixedly coupled respectively to a rear face of the front body structure in the length direction of the vehicle and any one of both side surfaces of the front side member in the width direction of the vehicle, and configured to support the small overlap crash energy firstly, and a second supporting member having both end portions, one end portion being rotatably coupled to the first supporting member and the other end portion being detachably coupled to the first supporting member such that in case the fixedly coupled portions of the first supporting member are deformed or damaged, the second supporting member is configured to rotate on the one end portion.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a front body structure, and more particularly, to a double support structure of the front body structure.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a front body structure is a member mounted at a front portion of a front side member forming a frame of a front of a vehicle body in a length direction of the vehicle in order to prepare for a small overlap crash.
A front body structure is fixedly mounted at a left or right side of front end of a front side member mainly by welding. The front body structure may further include a supporting member by which the front body structure is supported and fixedly mounted at the front side member such that the shape of the front body structure with the supporting member from a top view is generally triangular.
Generally a front body structure includes a face extended in a width direction of a vehicle such that the front body structure can deliver crash energy to the front side member.
The front body structure transmits to the front side member or absorbs crash energy and plays a role of inducing a transverse behavior of a vehicle by maintaining a condition of a constant inclination angle between a barrier and the vehicle body when a small overlap crash with no direct contact between the front side member and the barrier, namely, a colliding body happens.
However, in case of an actual small overlap crash with a prior front body structure, a front side member is easily broken so that the crash energy is not transmitted enough, the transverse behavior of a vehicle is not maintained, and thereby degree of damage to the vehicle and a passenger's injuries become large.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a vehicle body fitted with a prior front body structure.
A front body structure 2 in FIG. 1 is mounted at right side portion of a front of a vehicle and is extended in a width direction of the vehicle in a right front portion of a front side member 1, and is supported by a supporting member 2a.
In case of a small overlap crash of a right front portion of a vehicle with no direct contact between the front side member 1 and a barrier, the front body structure 2 supports crash energy and simultaneously transmits the crash energy to the front side member 1 through the supporting member 2a.
Fitted with a prior support structure of the front body structure 2, the front side member 1 is easily broken because a structured connection between a supporting member 2a and front side member 1 is fulfilled at only one supporting point and a distance (an arrow is shown in FIG. 1) between the supporting point and a mounting position of the front body structure 2 and a length of the supporting member 2a are short.
Referring to traces of a tire shown in FIG. 1, it is understood that in case a length of the supporting member 2a becomes long, a problem of the tire and the supporting member 2a coming into contact can be generated.
The traces of a tire and the vehicle body must maintain a proper gap.
It is generally the case that the problem of the front side member 1 being easily broken is hard to be solved because it is also hard to connect an additional support structure for the same reason above.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Double support structure of a front body structure of a vehicle


A method for inserting an elastic ring having a peripheral opening within a workpiece. The elastic ring is first supplied to a ring receiving member, which then delivers the ring receiving member to an operating position. At the operating position, the diameter of the elastic ring is reduced by engaging portions on the ring receiving member. The diametrically reduced ring is then transferred to a finger member, which holds the ring in its reduced state and inserts the ring within the workpiece. The elastic ring is then released from the finger member and allowed to naturally expand within the workpiece.

2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elastic ring mounting method and apparatus, using a separating and supplying device.
2. Related Background Art
Conventional separating and supplying devices for an elastic ring mounting apparatus are divided into the following two groups (1) and (2):
(1) A lowermost C-ring is separated from a bottom of a stocker in which a plurality of C-rings are arranged and stacked by means of a protruding plate slidably guided by a guide under the driving of a cylinder, and after two pins of an opening/closing pawl are inserted into two corresponding holes in said separated C-ring, a diameter of the C-ring is reduced by closing the opening/closing pawls, thus picking up the C-ring (see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 60-197324, right column of page 1); and
(2) A lowermost C-ring is separated from a bottom of a stocker in which a plurality of C-rings are arranged with respect to same direction and stacked, by means of a protruding plate slidably guided by a guide under the driving of a cylinder, and a diameter of the C-ring is reduced by sliding said separated C-ring along a tapered portion by means of a conveying cylinder (charging cylinder), thus picking up the C-ring (see the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-197324, right lower column of page 2 -- left upper column of page 3).
In the above conventional separating and supplying device for the C-ring mounting apparatus of the above type (1), since the C-ring is not fixedly supported, when the two pins are inserted into the two holes of the C-ring, the C-ring would be out of position, thus making it difficult to insert the pins into the holes.
On the other hand, in the above-conventional separating and supplying device for the C-ring mounting apparatus of the above type (2), since the C-ring is slid along the tapered portion to reduce the diameter thereof, it is required to use the large-sized conveying cylinder (charging cylinder), thus making the whole apparatus bulky.


The invention relates to systems and methods for photo and/or video platform, and more particularly to systems and methods for a photo and/or video enterprise platform. In an embodiment, a network connected system comprises a touch screen computing device coupled to an image capture apparatus, a ring flash and a local storage. The computing device receives information from a content management system, provides a user interface at the touch screen display to display information and receive input from users, controls the image capture apparatus and the ring flash to capture image of the users, stores the capture image content captured by the image capture apparatus in the local storage, and uploads the capture image content to the content management system.

The original film photo booth has become an iconic medium for documenting memories. However, traditional photo booths have a large, cumbersome footprint and feature dated, bland aesthetics. On the other hand, a digital revolution has swept the world and permanently changed the way that memories are captured, displayed, and promoted.
Existing "photo booth companies" and products have many shortcomings. A major problem is that of managing scalability and facilitating large-scale software licenses. The current offerings on the market are standalone booths instead of platforms that can include both hardware and software that work together, including but not limited to across the cloud, to achieve a set of key functions. The current offerings also are not enterprise platforms that also integrate fluidly with a client's existing strategic marketing framework. Current photo booth offerings are also not flexible. Photo booth kiosks come with a rigid set of software and features that cannot easily be upgraded to flex and integrate with other API's or software applications. In the digital age it is important to be able to easily add new features as they come to life, immediately, on any software device around the world. In addition, current photo booth offerings do a poor job of integrating with user's mobile devices.
Social media properties are the perfect platforms to both house and share a photo booth's captured content. However, current photo booth products on the market lack comprehensive social media integration. With regard to housing (organizing) captured digital content online, current photo booth offerings offer generic gallery views that lack intuitive browsing features or cohesive branding elements.
Furthermore, while a clean, cohesive, well-organized, and socially-integrated online gallery is crucial, the user-interface on the photo booth kiosk itself is equally as important. The current photo booths lack a technologically advanced fully customizable interface that is fun to use, streamlined, and cohesively designed/branded with the online gallery. The user interface on the actual kiosk is how consumers literally "touch and feel" a brand, yet the current product offerings do not provide the opportunity to create a contemporary visually attractive touch screen interface to aid consumer navigation.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for an enterprise photo and/or video platform.

Enterprise photo / video experience platform and kiosk systems


An improved laryngoscope. In one embodiment a laryngoscope blade includes a main blade portion and blade tip and a blade base. The main blade portion has a posterior surface, a distal end and proximal end. The blade tip extends from the distal end of the main blade portion. The blade tip also has a width that is flared wider in a first direction than a width of the main blade portion. The blade tip is further positioned at a select angle with relation to the posterior surface of the main blade portion. The blade base coupled to the proximal end of the blade.

A laryngoscope is a medical device that is used to position an endotrachel tube into a patient's trachea. In particular, a laryngoscope is used to expose a patient's aditus of the larynx thereby allowing the insertion of an endotracheal tube past the patient's vocal cords into the patient's trachea. The insertion of an endotracheal tube provides an airway for ventilation and prevents foreign substances from entering the patient's trachea and lungs.
Generally, traditional laryngoscopes with straight and curved blades do an adequate job in exposing the aditus of the larynx. In particular, a straight laryngoscope blade is typically used to lift a patient's epiglottis to expose the aditus of the larynx. However, the straight blade takes up relatively a lot of space in the patient's mouth and throat and can hamper a visual pathway to the epiglottis. The curved blade is typically used to displace the entire glottis structure anteriorly to expose the aditus of the larynx. An example of a curved blade is the MacIntosh blade (U.S. Pat. No. 2,354,474). However, in some cases these traditional laryngoscopes do not work efficiently because of injury or the patient's anatomy. An improved laryngoscope blade having a flared distal end and a cutout sidewall section near the proximal end of the blade was disclosed by the present inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,972 which is herein incorporated by reference. There is a desire in the art to have a further improved laryngoscope blade that is efficient in routine as well as non-routine intubations.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an improved laryngoscope blade that is efficient in routine as well as non-routine intubations.


The technology which can improve the performance of a MOS transistor in which all the regions of the gate electrode were silicided is offered.

In the CMOS device represented by system-on-chip, densification and microfabrication are advanced every year, and the gate length of the MOS transistor is set to 0.1 μm or less, and has reached to tens of nm. On the other hand, thickness reduction of the gate insulating film of a MOS transistor is also advanced, and this thickness reduction technology is becoming indispensable for improvement in short channel characteristics and the rise of driving current of a MOS transistor as a generation progresses.
When making microfabrication of the transistor, the increase of gate leakage current accompanying the thickness reduction of a gate insulating film and the expansion of the depletion layer formed in the silicon substrate side in the gate electrode which includes polysilicon pose a problem. The increase in gate leakage current leads to the increase in the power consumption of the whole chip. With the mobile products represented by the cellular phone, while employment of a high-density CMOS device is required in order to correspond to advanced features, it is necessary to suppress gate leakage current low so that battery duration may not become short too much, either. Therefore, the attempt which uses materials with a high relative dielectric constant (it is hereafter called "high-k material"), such as aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and tantalum oxide (Ta2O5), is performed as a material of a gate insulating film. Expansion of the depletion layer formed in the gate electrode which includes polysilicon causes the thickness enhancement of the gate insulating film on appearance, and lowering of driving ability. Therefore, in order to make reduction of the width of the depletion layer concerned and to realize this, the amount of the impurity introduced into the gate electrode is made to increase, or using a metallic material in which a depletion layer does not generate as a gate electrode material is performed.
Generally, in order to make threshold voltage of a MOS transistor into a moderate value, it is necessary to choose a gate electrode material in which the work function to the silicon substrate has a moderate value. When a metal or a metallic compound is used as a gate electrode material in order to suppress the generation of a depletion layer, in order to set threshold voltage as a moderate value in each of an nMOS transistor and a pMOS transistor, it is usually necessary to change the gate electrode material used with those transistors. This makes the CMOS process complicated.
Then, the technology of preventing the generation of the depletion layer by siliciding the whole gate electrode while setting up appropriately the work function of the gate electrode in both transistors by using polysilicon as a gate electrode material and changing the conductivity type of the impurity which is introduced into the polysilicon concerned with the nMOS transistor and the pMOS transistor is proposed. The gate electrode with which all the regions were silicided is called a FUSI (FUlly SIlicided) gate electrode.
The technology regarding a FUSI gate electrode is disclosed in Nonpatent Literature 1. In Patent References 1-5, the technology regarding the MOS transistor which has a gate electrode including silicide is disclosed.
[Nonpatent Literature 1] B. Tavel et al., "Totally Silicided (CoSi2) Polysilicon: a novel approach to very low-resistive gate(˜2Ω/□) without metal CMP nor etching", International Electron Device Meeting 2001 (IEDM2001).
[Patent Reference 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-319670
[Patent Reference 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8-46057
[Patent Reference 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 7-245396
[Patent Reference 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 11-121745
[Patent Reference 5] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 1-183851

Manufacturing method for forming all regions of the gate electrode silicided

Abstract: A gate insulating film and a gate electrode of an nMOS transistor are laminated and formed in this order on a semiconductor substrate. A source/drain region of the nMOS transistor is formed in the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate. The source/drain region is silicided after siliciding all the regions of the gate electrode. Thus, silicide does not cohere in the source/drain region by the heat treatment at the silicidation of the gate electrode by siliciding the source/drain region after the silicidation of the gate electrode. Therefore, the electric resistance of the source/drain region is reduced and junction leak can be reduced. As a result, the performance of the nMOS transistor improves.


A wireless dongle for use in the potentially explosive area for an automation field device to connect to an electrical interface of the field device, having a wireless circuit for sending and receiving wireless signals and a connector element. The wireless dongle can be detachably fitted to the electrical interface by means of the connector element. The connector element has several contact elements, wherein the contact elements are attached to a printed circuit board in the wireless dongle, that a first contact element is used to supply the wireless dongle with energy, that an energy buffer on the printed circuit board is provided which is downstream of the first contact element. The connector element has a second contact element which is used to transmit data between the field device and the wireless dongle, that in each case there is at least one limiting resistor is downstream of the first contact element and the second contact element, and that the resistors and the energy buffer of the wireless dongle are encapsulated by means of a potting compound.

In automation technology, field devices, in particular so-called two-wire field devices, are often utilized in areas in which the power consumption of a field device is restricted to a predetermined value. An example of this is a potentially explosive area in an industrial manufacturing or process plant in which automation devices are used. In areas such as these, limit values are prescribed for the maximum power consumption of a field device. The relevant provisions in this regard are determined by various organizations and associations at a national and international level. Two-wire field devices are particularly suited for use in such areas due to their limited power consumption.
Various types of protection, such as protection by means of pressure-encapsulated enclosures or encapsulation in sand, potting compound, or oil, whereby explosion protection is ensured by means of constructive measures which aim to prevent conductive connections from protruding into the potentially explosive medium, are known for use in the explosion-protected area.
Intrinsically safe circuits are here generally subject to stringent restrictions with regard to operating voltage and the electrical power available to operate the circuit. The measures for limiting the ignition energy in the event of a fault also limit the performance values available for normal operation and, as a rule, prevent the operation of a circuit which requires high short-duration peak currents to function.
Automation field devices are widely used in industrial plants. For example, field devices, which are used to record and/or influence process variables, are widely used in process technology, as well as in automation technology. Measuring devices, such as level measuring devices, flow meters, pressure and temperature measuring devices, pH meters, conductivity meters etc., are used for recording process variables and record the corresponding process variables for level, flow, pressure, temperature, pH and conductivity. Actuators, such as valves or pumps, are used for influencing the process variables by which, for example, the flow rate of a liquid in a pipe or the fill level of a medium in a container is changed. In principle, a field device is any device which is used close to a process and which provides or processes process-relevant information. A number of such field devices is offered and sold by the Endress+Hauser group of companies. All types of measuring devices and actuators should therefore be subsumed under the term field device as used in conjunction with the invention. Furthermore, the term field device also includes, for example, a gateway, a wireless adapter or other bus subscribers which are or can be integrated into a bus system.
In this connection, the necessity of commissioning and the configuring of field devices should be noted. For example, when a field device is calibrated, a communication path needs to be established from an operator panel to the field device itself or between field devices. However, this task can require considerable effort, particularly in potentially explosive plants. It is important to minimize the non-productive time of a plant or a section of a plant caused by a configuration or maintenance process. For this reason, wireless solutions, i.e. the use of wireless technologies for communication between field devices or between an operator panel and a field device, are to be considered preferable to a cable connection to an industrial interface of a field device.
A wireless field device that can be used in potentially explosive areas is known from German Patent, DE 600 18 072 T2. In a preferred embodiment, which is disclosed in this publication, the reduced availability of power or energy is taken into consideration. An energy buffer, which prestores energy during the period in which the transmitter unit is not sending out any radio signals, is provided in the field device to provide the energy required for sending out wireless signals. It is further provided for the wireless to be stopped when the energy supply is no longer sufficient. This allows error-free data transmission which would not otherwise be possible were a radio transmission to be terminated. However, the field device must be completely redesigned to enable wireless communication.
In accordance with prior art, many different wireless dongles are known which can create or expand the wireless capability of a field device. For example, USB wireless dongles exist which can be connected to a USB interface of a computer and used for wireless communication with other field devices and/or control panels. However, such wireless dongles are not suitable in any way for potentially explosive areas in industrial plants since the performance characteristics and Ex-safety properties do not meet the requirements described above.

Intrinsically safe wireless dongle for a field device


A boring tool includes a clamping shaft and a boring body. Between the end face of the boring body and the clamping shaft, at least one main blade extends along a longitudinal axis of the boring body and includes a blade web with a rake face facing a groove-shaped chip space, and a free surface on the outer circumferential side, these converging at a cutting edge which runs along the boring body longitudinal axis and which removes material on an inner wall of a pre-bored workpiece core bore hole as a result of said boring tool being rotated. The main blade extending along the longitudinal axis of the boring body transitions at the end face, of the boring body into a groove blade that is aligned transversely to the longitudinal axis of the boring body. This groove blade allows the boring tool to be displaced, prior to removing the material by rotation, into the core bore hole in an axial lifting motion such that a groove is formed which extends along the longitudinal axis of the core bore hole, the main blade of the boring tool engaging in this groove.

The invention relates to a boring tool, in particular a reamer and a method for surface processing of an inner walling of a pre-drilled core bore of a workpiece.
Such a boring tool is used in vehicle construction for example during production of a cylinder-head bore, namely for fine processing of the inner wall of the cylinder-head bore, which improves the surface quality and the shape and dimensional accuracy of the bore.
From DE 38 05 729 A1 a generic boring and reaming tool is known, which has a clamping shank and a boring body. Between the end face of the boring body and the clamping shank three main blades extend helically along a longitudinal axis of the boring body. Each of these main blades has a blade web, which has a rake face which faces a groove-shaped chip space and a free surface on an outer circumference. The rake face and the free surface converge at a cutting edge which extends along the longitudinal axis of the boring body, and with which material can be removed from the inner walling of a predrilled core bore of a work-piece when the boring tool rotates.
By means of the reamer known from DE 38 05 729 A1 the surface processing of an already predrilled cylinder head core bore is performed as follows: first the reaming tool is brought to a very high rotational speed (for example in the range from 10,000 to 15,000 rpm). Subsequently at this high rotational speed the rotating reaming tool is inserted into and moved out of the cylinder head core bore with an axial movement. Depending on the dimensioning of the cylinder head core bore to be processed, the time required for the surface processing is within a range of for example one second, which especially in the case of large-scale serial production is a relatively long period of time.


An induction heating apparatus for heating an image formed on a recording material that has heating device for heating the image on the recording material, the heating device including a heating member and an excitation coil for generating a magnetic flux to induce an eddy current in the heating member, an input impedance of the heating device being variable, a temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of the heating member, and control device for controlling a frequency of an electrical supply to the excitation coil so that the temperature detected by the temperature detecting element is maintained at a set temperature. In the induction heating apparatus, the control device controls the frequency in accordance with the temperature detected by the temperature detecting element and information regarding the input impedance of the heating device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image heating apparatus such as a heating and fixing apparatus mounted on a copier or a printer, or an apparatus for improving the surface state of an image, and particularly to an image heating apparatus for generating heat by the use of the principle of electromagnetic induction.
2. Related Art
For example, in image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers and facsimile apparatuses adopting the image forming process of the electrophotographic type, the electrostatic recording type or the like, there are known and have been put into practical use heating apparatuses of various types based on various principles for heat-fixing an unfixed toner image of desired image information formed and borne on a recording material (such as a transferring material, printing paper, photosensitive paper or electrostatic recording paper) by a transferring process or a direct method in an image forming process portion as a fixed image.
Various types have also been proposed in the heating apparatuses of the electromagnetic. induction heating type as described above to which the present invention is directed.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-31389, there is proposed an induction heating and fixing apparatus comprised of a fixing roller, a core passing through the interior of the fixing roller for forming a closed magnetic circuit, first and second coils wound on the core and series-connected together, and a power supply circuit for supplying an alternating current to the first and second coils, and having a control device for switching the circuit so as to supply the alternating current from the power supply circuit to both of the first and second coils for a predetermined time from the start of the temperature rise of the fixing roller, and to supply the alternating current onto to the first coil from after the lapse of the predetermined time, and designed to suppress the current flowing to the coils at the early stage of the temperature rise, and prevent the temperature rise speed from becoming low to the utmost.
Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-66543, there is proposed an induction heating and fixing apparatus comprised of a heating roller in which an induction heating coil comprising a lead wire wound on a winding frame is disposed, a movable core and two coils, wherein the movement of the core or a current supplied to the coils is limited in conformity with the temperature of the axial end portions of the heating roller, and a magnetic flux passing through the end portions is varied to thereby eliminate the unevenness of the temperature of the surface of the fixing roller in the axial direction thereof resulting from the fixing operation.
Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-74009, there is disposed a fixing apparatus of the induction heating type in which magnetic flux intercepting means for intercepting part of a magnetic flux reaching a metal sleeve from an excitation coil is disposed between the metal sleeve and the excitation coil, and the position of the magnetic flux intercepting means is changed by displacing means in conformity with a sheet passing range in the metal sleeve, whereby the heat distribution of the metal sleeve rising in temperature is made controllable irrespective of the size of a recording material passed.
The image heating apparatuses as described above are for fixing a toner image on a recording material, and highly accurate temperature control is required of them so that the fixativeness of the toner may become optimum. Therefore, it is necessary to effect temperature control so that the temperature of the metal sleeve contacting with the toner image may not greatly deviate from a target temperature.
In the three publications mentioned above, it is described to switch the supply of electric power to the two coils or move the core as required.
Such an operation, however, results in a fluctuation in the input impedance of the coils.
When the input impedance changes, the electric power supplied to the coils fluctuates and therefore, even if for example, the supply of electric power to the coils is controlled so that the temperature detected by a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the metal sleeve may maintain a set temperature, desired electric power supply is not obtained and therefore, the temperature rise of the metal sleeve is delayed and the ripple of the temperature of the metal sleeve becomes great.
The fluctuation of the input impedance also depends on the temperature of the heating apparatus. That is, the fluctuation of the electric power supplied to the coils also depends on the temperature of the heating apparatus.
As described above, the input impedance is fluctuated by a change in the farm or temperature of the heating apparatus and the electric power supplied to the coils is not stable, and the ripple of the temperature of the metal sleeve becomes great. Consequently, the fixativeness of the toner is affected.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-noted problem and an object thereof is to provide an induction heating apparatus in which the ripple of the temperature of a heating member can be made small.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an induction heating apparatus in which optimum electric power supply can be effected even if the input impedance of the heating apparatus changes.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an induction heating apparatus comprising:
heating means for heating an image on a recording material, the heating means including a heating member and an excitation coil for generating a magnetic flux to induce an eddy current in the heating member;
an input impedance of the heating means being variable;
a temperature detecting element for detecting a temperature of the heating member; and
control means for controlling a frequency of electrical supply to the excitation coil so that the temperature detected by the temperature detecting element is maintained at a set temperature;
wherein the control means controls the frequency in accordance with the temperature detected by the temperature detecting element and information regarding the input impedance of the heating means.
Further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when read with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Induction heating apparatus for heating image formed on recording material


The present invention provides nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide and a method for manufacturing same, the nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide as a precursor allowing a positive electrode active material having excellent battery characteristics and a high-density to be manufactured. The nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide is represented by a general formula: Ni1-x-y-zCoxMnyMz(OH)2 (wherein 0<x≦1/3, 0<y≦1/3, 0≦z≦0.1, and M is at least one element selected from Mg, Al, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, and W) and serves as a precursor of a positive electrode active material for nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries; wherein the specific surface area measured by a nitrogen adsorption BET method is 1.0 to 10.0 m2/g, the carbon content measured by a high frequency combustion infrared absorption method is not more than 0.1% by mass, and the half-value width of a plane in X-ray diffraction is not more than 1.5°.

With the spread of portable electronic equipment, such as cell phones and notebook-sized personal computers, a small and lightweight secondary battery having a high energy density has been desired. Lithium-ion secondary batteries are secondary batteries suitable for such usage, and research and development thereof have been actively conducted.
Furthermore, also in the automobile field, from the view point of resource and environment, a demand for electric vehicles has been growing and thus, as a power source for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, there has been desired a lithium-ion secondary battery which is small and lightweight, has a large discharge capacity, and has good cycle characteristics. Particularly, output characteristics are important for a power source for automobiles, and accordingly a lithium-ion secondary battery having good output characteristics has been desired.
A 4V class high voltage can be achieved by a lithium-ion secondary battery which uses lithium-containing composite oxide, particularly uses lithium-cobalt composite oxide (LiCoO2), being relatively easily synthesized, as a positive electrode material, and therefore the commercialization of the lithium-ion secondary battery as a battery having a high energy density has been progressing. Research and development of the lithium-ion secondary battery using such lithium-cobalt composite oxide have been actively conducted to achieve excellent initial capacity characteristics and cycle characteristics, and various results have been already obtained.
However, lithium-cobalt composite oxide is produced by using an expensive cobalt compound as a raw material, and therefore an increase in cost of the active material and moreover a battery is caused, and accordingly improvement of the active material has been desired. A battery using the lithium-cobalt composite oxide costs considerably higher per capacity than a nickel-metal hydride battery, and therefore is of very limited application. Hence, not only for small secondary batteries for portable electronic equipment currently diffused, but also for large-sized secondary batteries for electric power storage, electric vehicles, and the like, there are great expectations for a decrease in cost of the active material and the resulting realization of manufacturing more inexpensive lithium-ion secondary batteries, and thus it can be said that such realization is industrially significant.
Here, as a new material for a positive electrode active material for lithium-ion secondary batteries, in recent years a 4V class positive electrode active material has attracted attention, which is more inexpensive than lithium-cobalt composite oxide, namely, lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide having a composition of Li(Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3)O2, the composition being substantially such that an atomic ratio of nickel:cobalt:manganese is 1:1:1. Lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide is not only inexpensive, but also has higher thermal stability than a lithium-ion secondary battery which uses lithium-cobalt composite oxide or lithium-nickel composite oxide as a positive electrode active material, and therefore the development thereof has been actively conducted.
In order for a lithium-ion secondary battery to demonstrate good battery characteristics, lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide serving as a positive electrode active material needs to have an appropriate particle diameter and an appropriate specific surface area, as well as a high density.
Furthermore, properties of the surface of the active material in which an electrolyte and lithium ions are interchanged are also important, and little adhesion of impurities, particularly carbon, to the surface is required. Such properties of the positive electrode active material are strongly affected by properties of nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide serving as a precursor, and therefore, the composite hydroxide is also required to have the same properties.
For the composite hydroxide serving as a precursor of a positive electrode active material, various proposals mentioned below have been made. However, there is a problem that, in any of those proposals, a material having a sufficiently high density has not been achieved, in addition, properties of the surface thereof have not been fully taken into consideration.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses that a nickel salt solution containing cobalt salt and manganese salt, complexing agent, and alkali metal hydroxide are continuously fed into a reaction vessel in an inert gas atmosphere or under the presence of a reductant, and the resulting crystals are continuously grown and continuously collected, whereby high-density cobalt-manganese coprecipitated nickel hydroxide is obtained, the nickel hydroxide being spherical and having a tap density of not less than 1.5 g/cm3, an average particle diameter of 5 to 20 μm, and a specific surface area of 8 to 30 m2/g. The obtained coprecipitated nickel hydroxide can be used as a raw material for lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide, but, according to the Examples, this coprecipitated nickel hydroxide has a tap density of 1.71 to 1.91 g/cm3, that is, less than 2.0 g/cm3, and hence it cannot be said that the coprecipitated nickel hydroxide has a sufficiently high density. On the other hand, Patent Literature 1 does not mention a specific numerical value of the specific surface area, does not clearly describe the optimization of the specific surface area, and does not mention the carbon content of the composite oxide at all. Therefore, even if this coprecipitated nickel hydroxide is used as a precursor, lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide having good battery characteristics cannot be obtained.
Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 discloses a method for manufacturing lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide, the method comprising: a step wherein, under the presence of a complexing agent in an aqueous solution of pH 9 to 13, a mixed solution of nickel salt, cobalt salt, and manganese salt, the solution substantially having an atomic ratio of nickel:cobalt:manganese of 1:1:1, is reacted with an alkaline solution under an inert gas atmosphere to be coprecipitated, whereby nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide and/or nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide, each substantially having an atomic ratio of nickel:cobalt:manganese of 1:1:1, are obtained; and another step wherein a mixture of hydroxide and/or oxide and a lithium compound is baked at a temperature of not less than 700 degrees C. so that an atomic ratio of the total of nickel, cobalt, and manganese to lithium is substantially 1:1.
Also in this Patent Literature 2, the obtained nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide has a tap density of 1.95 g/cm3, that is, less than 2.0 g/cm3, while has a specific surface area of 13.5 m2/g, which is very large. Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 does not provide any description about the carbon content of the composite oxide, and thus does not take an adverse effect on battery characteristics into consideration.
The capacity of a lithium-ion secondary battery is dependent on the mass of an active material filled in a battery, and therefore the achievement of lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide having a higher density and being more excellent in battery characteristics than a conventional one allows an excellent battery having a large electric capacitance with a limited volume to be obtained. Particularly, such lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide is advantageous in small secondary batteries for portable electronic equipment and batteries for automobiles, in both of which a space for a battery is limited.
As mentioned above, there has been desired nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide which allows lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese composite oxide having excellent thermal stability to have a higher density and achieve improvement in battery characteristics.

Nickel-cobalt-manganese composite hydroxide and method for manufacturing same


An integrally multiple-molded part for electronic devices is provided capable of absorbing and relieving the internal stresses of a multiple-molded part, preventing the occurrence of clearances between the bonding side face of each electrical connection terminal and a resin, obtaining stable frictional force at the contact region between the bonding surface of the electrical connection terminal and an aluminum wire, obtaining the energy required for bonding, and achieving high bondability. The surface of the molded electrical connection terminal section formed as a primary-molded article becomes exposed after secondary molding, and a stress-absorbing structure is formed in the primary molding resin section of the primary-molded article that serves as a transmission path for stresses associated with the resin shrinkage occurring when the secondary molding resin is cured.

The present invention relates to molded parts for electronic devices, each obtained by inserting an insert article into a metallic mold and resin-molding the circumference of the insert article. More specifically, the invention relates to an integrally multiple-molded part for electronic devices, obtained by integrally insert-molding a plurality of electrical connection terminals a plurality of times. The invention is also directed to an electronic device that includes a circuit board with an electronic component mounted inside the integrally multiple-molded part for electronic devices.
The increase in electronic control of devices in recent years has brought about the proliferation of the molded parts each obtained by insert-molding from resin a plurality of terminals for electrical connection to outside. In these molded parts, from the viewpoints of productivity and reliability, wire bonding is most commonly used to bond the electrical connection terminals and a circuit board or the like having an electronic component mounted in the molded part.
The electrical connection terminals connected by wire bonding to the circuit board (or the like) having an electronic component mounted in such a molded part are resin-molded for mounting in a fixed condition inside the molded part itself.
When the electrical connection terminals are fixed, however, each of these terminals must be fixed to a desired position without deforming under a resin-filling pressure. Also, for the electrical connection terminals formed by insert-molding, from the viewpoints of their ease of handling and of their productivity, a multiple-molding method is most commonly used to obtain a molded part of the desired final shape or function. In this multiple-molding method, in order to link the plurality of electrical connection terminals, these terminals are first formed by primary molding from resin beforehand and then fixed using the primary molding resin. Next, these plural electrical connection terminals that have been fixed using the primary molding resin are further insert-molded as an insert, and integrated with secondary molding resin.
During the insertion of primary molding resin into the part to be formed by multiple molding, when the metallic mold is filled with fused resin, the fused resin shrinks in a solidification process and the primary molding resin undergoes a stress. The action of this stress causes the deforming stress that acts as bending force upon the product obtained by primary molding. The molding resin in contact in a clearance-free state with a bonding side face is pulled away therefrom by the deforming stress. Consequently, clearances occur and the so-called "rattling" results.
Aluminum wire bonding to the electrical connection terminals mentioned above is accomplished by overlapping an aluminum wire on the electrical connection terminals, then applying vibrational energy from the top of the aluminum wire by use of the bonding horn of a bonding machine, and utilizing the frictional force generated on the bonding surface of each electrical connection terminal and on the contact region of the aluminum wire. Accordingly, if the electrical connection terminals have a clearance or backlash during molding, when the aluminum wire is overlapped on the electrical connection terminals and then the bonding machine is operated to assign ultrasonic vibration via the bonding horn, the electrical connection terminals will become tuned to the aluminum wire and absorb the ultrasonic vibration. This may prevent sufficient frictional force from being generated on the bonding surface of each electrical connection terminal and on the contact region of the aluminum wire, with the result that the energy required for bonding may not be obtainable. If these actually happen, the problem will occur in that connection between the electrical connection terminals and the circuit board or the like having an electronic component mounted in the molded part cannot be established by wire bonding.
Related conventional methods for improving the adhesion between the primary molding resin and second-molding resin in a multiple-molded part are already disclosed. These methods, however, have been such that the metallic section molded by primary molding, such as a molded part for bonding, will have an exposed surface after secondary molding. Therefore, the suppression of the occurrence of the shrinkage stress acting between the metallic section and primary molding resin of the primary-molded article during secondary molding has been difficult. (See Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. 2000-183468 and 9-300401).
For example, according to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-183468, during primary molding, the surface to be firmly bonded to the resin section during secondary molding is subjected to fine dimpling to improve adhesion. As described above, however, since the metallic section molded by primary molding, such as a molded part for bonding, will have an exposed surface after secondary molding, it will be difficult to suppress the occurrence of shrinkage stresses during secondary molding.
Also, according to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 9-300401, a recessed portion and an edge portion are formed in the intermediate position of the linking section for linking the terminals formed as a primary-molded article, the edge portion is fused using the fusion heat of secondary molding resin, and thus the interface to the primary molding resin is removed to improve adhesion. As described above, however, since the metallic section molded by primary molding, such as a molded part for bonding, will have an exposed surface after secondary molding, it will be difficult to suppress the occurrence of a shrinkage stress during secondary molding.
Although this does not relate to a multiple-molded part, another method of preventing the occurrence of clearances between the electrical connection terminals and resin in a molded part for bonding is disclosed in Patent Reference 3, for example. In this method, terminal end portions other than the surface to be bonded have been coated with resin, or each terminal has been provided with bends and embedded in resin, or the reverse side of the section to be bonded has been grooved or dimpled.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 9-107059, as shown in FIG. 1 thereof, in a molded part that is formed by resin-insert-molding a plurality of terminals for electrical connection to outside, wire bonding is used frequently from the viewpoints of productivity and reliability to bond electrical connection terminals 2 and a circuit board (or the like) having an electronic component 92 mounted in the molded part. In this molded part for bonding, in order to prevent the occurrence of clearances between the electrical connection terminals 2 and resin in the part 1 formed by primary molding, terminal end portions other than the surface to be bonded are coated with resin, or each electrical connection terminal is provided with bends 2g, 2h and embedded in resin, or the reverse side of the terminal 2 is provided with a groove 2b or protrusions 2c, 2d.
Yet another conventional method of preventing the electrical connection terminals of such a bonding-use molded part from resonating with ultrasonic vibration has been executed by applying an adhesive such as an epoxy material to terminal end portions other than the surface to be bonded. That is to say, the applied epoxy resin is hardened for bonding, and movements of the electrical connection terminals are suppressed by utilizing the rigidity of the epoxy resin hardened integrally with the electrical connection terminals.
The increases in the compactness and multifunctionality of connection terminals in recent years, however, have made it necessary to arrange a greater number of connection terminals, and this tendency, in turn, is reducing the terminals in width and in arrangement pitch. Accordingly, the technique described in Patent Reference 3 is coming to pose at least two problems. One is that a sufficient bonding space cannot be obtained at the terminal end portions to be resin-coated or at the terminal end portions to be provided with bends. The other is that since the grooved or dimpled reverse side of the section to be bonded suffers significant plastic deformation, the surface to be bonded becomes prone to undulations, dents, or other defects, and deteriorates in quality. For the connection terminals that were reduced in terminal width, therefore, there has been a limit to the effectiveness of the technique descried in Patent Reference 3.
Also, to apply an epoxy material or any other suitable adhesive, the step of applying the epoxy material and the step of curing the applied epoxy material are required, and a curing time of about 30 to 60 minutes is required in the curing step. In addition, since such a manufacturing method requires an application machine and curing equipment, there has been a problem in that costs are increased by a decrease in productivity. Furthermore, the space required for the application of the epoxy material has been lost by the tendency towards reduced connection terminal areas due to the further compactness and multifunctionality of connection terminals in recent years, and the above method has also had its limits.

Molded part and electronic device using the same


A system and a method for dynamically sensing an asynchronous network event within a modular framework for network event processing are described. An occurrence of asynchronous network events is sensed on one or more network event sensors. Each such sensor implements a common interface via which the sensor can be connected to the modular framework. At least one port over which can be received a message from a network agent indicating the occurrence of a network event is passively monitored. The message includes event data pertinent to the network event. The message is received over the at least one port via a listener thread and staged into a holding structure within which can be placed a plurality of received messages. Each received message is iteratively removed from the holding structure via a handler thread. An action set mapping corresponding to each received message is retrieved and an action set is generated from the action set mapping via a generator process. The generated action set is enqueued onto an event queue. Each generated action set is processed by invoking a process method on the generated action set next identified for processing within the event queue. The process method is repeated for any further generated action sets in the event queue.

The present invention relates in general to network event management and, in particular, to a system and method for dynamically sensing an asynchronous network event within a modular framework for network event processing.
Information networks interconnecting a wide range of computational resources have become a mainstay of corporate enterprise computing environments. Typically, several host computer systems are interconnected internally over an intranetwork to which individual workstations and network resources are connected. These intranetworks, also known as local area networks (LANs), make legacy databases and information resources widely available for access and utilization throughout the corporation. These same corporate resources can also be interconnected to wide area networks (WANs), including public information internetworks such as the Internet, to enable internal users access to remote computational resources, such as the World Wide Web, and to allow outside users access to select corporate resources for the purpose of completing limited transactions or data transfer.
Structurally, these corporate networks generally are made up of a set of localized, often heterogeneous, subnetworks interconnected through a series of routers, hubs, bridges, gateways, and similar devices. Managing these subnetworks and the network as a whole has become increasingly complex and difficult as the size and topology of networks have grown. The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), described generally in W. Stallings, xe2x80x9cSNMP, SNMPv2, SNMPv3, and RMON 1 and 2,xe2x80x9d Chs. 1-4, Addison Wesley Longman (1999), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, defines a standardized framework of managers and agents for managing TCP/IP-based networks. Under the SNMP scheme, each manager is responsible for managing all or part of the network on behalf of network management applications and users. In turn, each agent, also known as a sensor or listener, is responsible for collecting and maintaining local management information and delivering that information to one of the managers through messages in the form of SNMP traps or in response to a polling request by the manager. Note the functionality of an agent can also be incorporated directly into a manager.
A wide range of SNMP-compatible, manager/agent point products are presently available to meet various network management and security needs, such as applications for monitoring network performance and availability and proactively detecting network security vulnerabilities. One such application is the Sniffer Total Network Visibility (TNV) product, licensed by Network Associates, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. By way of example, the Sniffer TNV product identifies network performance and security concerns through remote agents. A central manager analyzes the information collected by the remote agents and can generate a log file for use in identifying network fault and performance areas of interest. While useful for managing and troubleshooting enterprise computing environments, the Sniffer TNV manager is a dedicated application tied to a specific set of remote agents with whom the manager communicates via SNMP traps for indicating events unique to vendor specific network equipment.
Similarly, the OpenView product suite, licensed by Hewlett Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif., provides a modular manager which responds to SNMP traps for use in legacy computing environments. The Open View manager reports and can log the receipt of network events and includes an application programming interface (API) into which can be written plug-in actor applications. Likewise, the PATROL product, licensed by BMC Software, Houston, Tex., provides a management infrastructure for providing proactive monitoring and management of enterprise-wide computational resources through one or more SNMP managers. PATROL Knowledge Modules containing application-specific intelligence can be deployed to servers for reporting parameters and management options back to manager consoles.
The foregoing SNMP-based products represent specialized vertical products focused on resolving a particularized problem through vendor specific means. None provide a generic interface capable on interconnecting remote agents to actors via a centralized management framework. More specifically, there is no ability to flexibly and cooperatively integrate a plurality of heterogeneous manager/agent point products or response mechanisms into a single centralized manager. For instance, each of the products can generate a log file specific to their respective interface, yet the log files are in non-uniform, proprietary formats which require analysis and management separate from other point products.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to providing a modular framework for sensing network events in a distributed computing environment. Such a modular framework would preferably export a standardized interface into which a plurality of heterogeneous agents and sensors could be integrated in a flexible xe2x80x9cplug-inxe2x80x9d fashion. There is a further need for a modular framework flexibly supporting active and passive agent/sensor modules, each of which can include one or more control threads for receiving or sensing the occurrence of network events.
The present invention provides a system and method for dynamically sensing an asynchronous network event within a modular framework for network event processing. Sensors can flexibly be xe2x80x9cplugged inxe2x80x9d to a centralized network event management framework for sensing the occurrence of network events. Action sets define relationships between the network events and actions and event filters which can be executed in a prioritized fashion.
An embodiment of the present invention is a system and a method for dynamically sensing an asynchronous network event within a modular framework for network event processing. An occurrence of asynchronous network events is sensed on one or more network event sensors. Each such sensor implements a common interface via which the sensor can be connected to the modular framework. At least one port over which can be received a message from a network agent indicating the occurrence of a network event is passively monitored. The message includes event data pertinent to the network event. The message is received over the at least one port via a listener thread and staged into a holding structure within which can be placed a plurality of received messages. Each received message is iteratively removed from the holding structure via a handler thread. An action set mapping corresponding to each received message is retrieved and an action set is generated from the action set mapping via a generator process. The generated action set is enqueued onto an event queue. Each generated action set is processed by invoking a process method on the generated action set next identified for processing within the event queue. The process method is repeated for any further generated action sets in the event queue.
Still other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein is described embodiments of the invention by way of illustrating the best mode contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

System and method for dynamically sensing an asynchronous network event within a modular framework for network event processing


A method and apparatus to perform pattern matching for content based switching is described.

Content based switching provides a way to offer different classes of service based on the content of a document. Content based switching operates to direct the document to a different network node based on information stored in the document. This may provide a way to tailor services to a particular document. For example, assume a data center comprises server A and server B, with server A providing information on cats and server B providing information on dogs. Content based switching technology may examine a document for the word "cat" or "dog," and route the document to server A or server B accordingly.
As with many network systems, content based switching may introduce some delay into a system. The amount of delay tolerated by a particular system may vary based upon various design goals. The delay introduce by content based switching may also vary depending on a number of factors. For example, a document may be relatively large. The larger the document, the more time it may take to search the document for a particular set of information, referred to herein as a pattern. Therefore, there may be a substantial need to increase the efficiency of content based switching to decrease latency to meet the design parameters for a particular system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for content based switching


A powertrain for a vehicle includes an engine and a method of assembling the powertrain includes providing the engine. A starter mechanism is selectively operable to start the engine. A motor-generator includes an adapter to dispose the motor-generator and the starter mechanism in alternative assembly configurations being a first assembly configuration and a second assembly configuration. The first assembly configuration is when the starter mechanism is coupleable to the adapter to selectively transfer torque from the motor-generator through the adapter and the starter mechanism to start the engine. The second assembly configuration is when the starter mechanism is spaced from the adapter to operate independently of the motor-generator such that the starter mechanism selectively transfers torque to start the engine.

A vehicle can include an internal combustion engine coupled to a transmission and a final drive to rotate wheels that move the vehicle. To start the engine of a non-hybrid vehicle, a starter motor can be energized which causes a crankshaft of the engine to turn and start the engine.
A hybrid electric vehicle utilizes both an electric motor-generator and an internal combustion engine to offer reduced fuel consumption and emissions. One type of hybrid electric vehicle utilizes a belted-alternator-starter (BAS). The BAS utilizes a motor-generator coupled to a crankshaft of the engine usually by a belt and pulley system. The motor-generator can restart the engine when a brake is released at a stop light and the motor-generator can be rotated by the engine during regenerative braking. This type of hybrid vehicle utilizes a starter motor independent of the motor-generator to start the engine when the engine has been shut off for an extended period of time. The starter motor and the motor-generator operate separately, i.e., not coupleable to each other.

Powertrain for a vehicle and a method of assembling the powertrain


The cleaning apparatus is for cleaning pipes and ducts and comprises a housing having a first end and a second end. A connection for a pressure medium is disposed at the first end and a cleaning member is disposed at the second end of the housing. A chamber is defined in the housing and contains the pressure medium. A drive member is located inside the housing and adapted to rotate the cleaning member. Nozzle openings are defined by the housing and connected with the chamber and a surface of the housing to permit the housing to propel along a duct. A shaft having one end secured to the drive member is rotatably disposed in the housing and adapted to carry the cleaning member at an end that is opposite to the end secured to the drive member.

Apparatuses of the above indicated, general kind are known through for instance Swedish patents Nos. 500 894 and 500 428. These known apparatuses which are those which are presently mainly used for cleaning ventilation ducts and the like, and although they in many cases operate satisfactorily they suffer from a great number of relatively serious shortcomings. A very serious disadvantage of these known apparatuses is that their design results in a very high consumption of air and that they therefore require compressors having high capacity and a correspondingly high price. In the case of the first-mentioned one of the known apparatuses the high consumption of air depends mainly on the fact that the pressure medium while being the driving or propelling medium for the apparatus also all by itself performs the cleaning function, and as regards the last-mentioned one of the known apparatuses this is originally and intentionally, designed for a large pressure medium flow of up to 6.3 m.sup.3 /min.
Other shortcomings of the known apparatuses is that they have problems engaging the wall of the channel during operation, which in both cases must be solved by means of some kind of auxiliary friction means on the apparatus for increasing the friction against the channel wall; that they have a tendency to turn in the channel during operation due to the fact that the pressure medium exhaust openings are provided on a sidewall of the housing of the apparatus and are directed obliquely backwards towards the channel wall; and that they, due to their design as an "outer turbine", i.e. in both cases one portion of the housing of the apparatus is in practice designed as the turbine rotor, while another portion of the housing is designed as an inner turbine housing, experience bearing problems in the bearing between the inner turbine housing and the rotor, said problems being caused by to the heavy impacts against the channel wall which may occur due to unbalance and the relatively great moment developed which such a design as an "outer turbine".
A basic object of the present invention is therefore to provide an apparatus of the kind indicated in the introduction, which eliminates or at least substantially reduces the above discussed problems in connection with the prior art apparatuses, and which more specifically presents better performance and reliability combined with low air consumption and simple manufacturing.


A block code error correcting system is used in a compact disk reading system to increase the decoding capability of the compact disk reading system. The system includes a data slicer, a data bit to channel bit modulation pulse width determinator, a demodulator, an erase address detector and an error correction code (ECC) decoder. A pulse width of an eight-to-sixteen modulation (EFM+) signal is detected to thereby produce an erase control signal when the pulse width of the EFM+ signal is in a predefined window or is an illegal pulse width. A codeword corresponding to the EFM+ signal is set as an erasure, and accordingly an erase address is produced.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the block code error correction and, more particularly, to a block code error correcting system and method for a compact disk (CD) drive.
2. Description of Related Art
Data for transferring and storing in a digital versatile disk (DVD) system is easily affected by external factors (such as a scratch or dirty fingerprint on a DVD) or the misalignment of an access equipment to thus damage data. Many techniques of coding have been developed to reduce the possibility of data error. Error Correction Code (ECC) is a generic term for error coding correction, which adds redundancy information to original data to form codeword for writing in a storage device later. When the codeword stored in the storage device is read, it is important to be able to convert the codeword back to the original data. With the redundancy information in the codeword, a reading equipment can realize the original data better and thus obtain data more reliable after a special decoding procedure is performed.
In addition to assuring accurate data for the development object of ECC, a low-complicated decoder is another important issue of system implementation. In general, block code decoding is relatively easy and thus is commonly used in disk type storage. Among various ECCs, Reed-Solomon code is known to have better error correction capability, wherein algebraic structure implied in codeword thereof can be implemented in a decoder easily. Because a DVD has relatively higher physical density on data storage and thus more data stored on the DVD is affected in case of damage, a DVD system needs enhanced capability of error correction. In order to obtain good error correction performance and low-complicated decoder, general DVD systems adopt Reed-Solomon Product Code (RSPC).
FIG. 1 is a coding block format according to the DVD specification. In FIG. 1, a data frame is a matrix with a width of 12 bytes and a length of 172 bytes, and an error correction code (ECC) block is a matrix with a width of 208 bytes and a length of 182 bytes, which is formed by stacking up 16 data frames plus corresponding redundancy blocks.
The decoding procedure is opposite to its coding procedure. The row parities are used to decode corresponding rows first and then the column parities are used to decode corresponding columns. Row coding/decoding blocks closer to communication media are referred to as inner codes and their parities are referred to as an inner parity (PI) each. On the other hand, column coding/decoding blocks are referred to as outer codes and their parities are referred to as an outer parity (PO) each.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a typical block code error correcting system in a CD reading system. As shown in FIG. 2, a data slicer 210 samples an RF signal according to a sampling clock T and produces an eight-to-sixteen modulation signal, i.e., EFM+ signal. When the RF signal has a significant jitter, an error EFM+ signal is produced. A demodulator 220 produces an error codeword according to the error EFM+ signal and sends the error codeword to an ECC decoder 240, which causes a misjudgement to further lead the ECC decoder 240 to have a poor decoding efficiency. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved block code error correcting system to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Block code error correcting system and method