A method for growing a silicon crystal by a Czochralsky method, wherein, let a pulling speed be V (mm/min) and an average value of an in-crystal temperature gradient in a pulling axis direction within a temperature range, a silicon melting point to 1350° C., be G (° C./mm), V/G ranges from 0.16 to 0.18 mm2/° C. min between a crystal center position and a crystal outer periphery position, and a ratio G outer/G center of an average value G of an in-crystal temperature gradient in a pulling axis direction within a temperature range, a silicon melting point to 1350° C., at a crystal outer surface to that at a crystal center is set to up to 1.10 to thereby obtain a high-quality perfect crystal silicon wafer. Such a perfect crystal silicon wafer, wherein an oxygen concentration is controlled to up to 13×1017 atoms/cm3, an initial heat treatment temperature is at least up to 500° C. and a temperature is raised at up to 1° C./min at least within 700 to 900° C., thereby making uniform a wafer radial distribution to an arbitrary oxygen precipitation density level.

[CZ Method-Based Single Crystal Ingot Production Device]
A method for pulling a single crystal by a Czochralski method (CZ method) is a known technology, and a CZ method-based single crystal ingot production device is widely used. To obtain a single crystal by a CZ method, a single crystal is pulled out of a melt. Some single crystal ingot production devices, which can pull a single crystal faster by increasing the temperature gradient of a single crystal near the solid-liquid interface, have been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-256593, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-239291, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,562,245), and have been commercialized.
FIG. 17 is a longitudinal section depicting an example of a conventional single crystal ingot production device. As FIG. 17 shows, the conventional production device 10 comprises a heat shielding element 12 for shielding radiating heat from the liquid level of the melt 15 and the heater 16 surrounding the single crystal ingot 11, and a cooler 13 for cooling the single crystal ingot during pulling (hereafter single crystal pulling ingot). The cooler 13 is disposed to increase the temperature gradient of the single crystal pulling ingot 11 in the axis direction, and is now used for many CZ method-based single crystal ingot production devices to improve the production efficiency of a single crystal ingot by increasing the pulling speed of the ingot 11.
In such a single crystal ingot production device, a so called "hot zone" in the furnace must be disassembled and cleaned before starting the next production step when all the production steps of the ingot complete and the ingot is taken out of the furnace. For an operator to start the disassembly operation, the hot zone must be sufficiently cooled, and for this cooling it normally takes about six hours for a conventional device, which increases the time per production cycle of a single crystal ingot, and drops production efficiency.
[Oxide Precipitate]
In the silicon single crystal produced by a Czochralski method (CZ method), oxygen freed from the crucible is dissolved during crystal growth. The dissolved oxygen in the crystal supersaturates as the crystal cools down, and precipitates during the heat treatment step of the device process, generating oxide precipitates in the silicon wafer. These oxide precipitates negatively affect the leak characteristics near the surface layer, but oxide precipitates which exist in the bulk function as a gettering site, which captures heavy metal, Fe and Cu, etc., which has a negative influence on the device yield. Therefore in a silicon wafer product, it is preferable that oxide precipitates exist moderately in the bulk without existing in the surface layer portion, and functioning as a gettering site of heavy metal.
For this reason, oxide precipitates in the surface layer portion are eliminated by performing hydrogen annealing processing on silicon wafers (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-193456). However, this method alone is insufficient for a quality silicon wafer, and the density of oxide precipitates in the bulk and the uniformity of radial distribution are demanded, which is one of the important characteristics of a silicon wafer.
[Perfect Crystal]
Crystal defects generated during the growth of a CZ silicon single crystal obtained by a Czochralski method (CZ method) negatively affect the reliability of the gate oxide film of an MOS device and on PN junction leak characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to decrease such crystal defects as much as possible, and conventionally a method of annealing crystals during crystal growth as much as possible has been used (e.g. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 10-152395, 8-12493, 8-337490). With this method, however, the decrease in defects is limited, and defects become huge.
For another approach to decreasing crystal defects, Horai et al proposed a method of eliminating defects by adjusting the relationship between the growth speed of crystals and the temperature gradient in the pulling axis direction to be a ratio in a special range, and reported that perfect crystals (defect free crystals) were obtained, which contain no grown-in defects, by this method (1993, 54th Applied Physics Society Academic Lectures (Sep. 27–30, 1993), 54th Applied Physics Society Academic Lectures, Preliminary Reports, No. 1, p. 303, 29a-HA-7; Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-330316; Japan Crystal Growth Society Journal, Vol. 25, No. 5 (1998), p. 207).
With this method proposed by Horai et al, however, manufacturing to obtain defect free single crystals is extremely difficult depending on the growth conditions. In other words, when producing perfect crystals (defect free crystals) by a method proposed by Horai et al, the relationship between the growth speed of crystals and the temperature gradient in the pulling axis direction must be controlled to be a ratio in an extremely narrow range, which drops the production efficiency. Also, when an ingot of a silicon single crystal is produced setting the conditions to the range proposed by Horai et al, the portion of a perfect crystal (defect free crystal) is relatively small, and in terms of a stable supply of silicon wafers without grown-in defects in the industrial process, this method has the problem of uncertainty.
[Non-Uniformity of Oxide Precipitation in Perfect Crystal]
Generally speaking, a perfect crystal is a crystal where such crystal defects as voids and dislocation clusters do not exist, and a perfect crystal is also called a "defect free crystal". In such a perfect crystal, neither grown-in defects such as voids nor the above mentioned oxide precipitates exist, but oxide precipitate nuclei do exist, so if a perfect crystal silicon wafer sliced from a perfect crystal ingot is heat treated, oxide precipitates are introduced into the wafer.
The reason why oxide precipitates are introduced into a perfect crystal wafer by heat treatment is probably because oxide precipitates are generated in the wafer by the growth of oxide precipitate nuclei along with the heat treatment of the wafer, and in a perfect crystal, the wafer radial distribution of oxide precipitation may be very non-uniform in some cases.
In other words, two zones, that is, a "vacancy dominant zone" where precipitation easily occurs, and an "interstitial silicon dominant zone" where precipitation rarely occurs, exist in a perfect crystal, and if these zones coexist in the wafer plane, the distribution of the oxide precipitation becomes non-uniform. Since the non-uniform distribution of oxide precipitation brings out a negative effect on the yield of the device, it is necessary to solve non-uniformality and to create a uniform status here by using some means.
However, it is almost impossible to adjust the growth conditions of a perfect crystal to solve such non-uniformity because the growth conditions of a perfect crystal are in an extremely narrow range, and manufacturing a perfect crystal where oxide precipitation distribution is uniform is very difficult.
[Prior Art Related to Factors of Non-Uniformity of Oxide Precipitation]
The above mentioned non-uniform distribution of oxide precipitation is probably because the density distribution of point defects, which strongly relates to the generation of oxide precipitate nuclei, is non-uniform. A typical known phenomena of difference in precipitation behavior due to point defect distribution is that vacancy is dominant and oxide precipitation tends to occur in a zone inside the OSF ring, and interstitial silicon is dominant and oxide precipitation rarely occurs in a zone outside the OSF ring.
Kissinger et al reported that the oxide precipitate density becomes uniform in the wafer plane by increasing the temperature of a silicon wafer where the OSF ring exists in the wafer surface (therefore the vacancy dominant zone and interstitial silicon dominant zone coexist) from 500° C. to 1000° C. at a 1° C./min. temperature rise speed, and then performing one hour of heat treatment at 1000° C. (Electrochemical Society Proceedings, Vol. 98-13, p. 158).
This paper, however, does not report on a perfect crystal, and in this case, void defects, due to the coagulation of voids, exist inside the OSF ring, and dislocation clusters, due to the coagulation of interstitial silicon, exist outside the OSF ring, so the method disclosed in this report cannot be directly applied to a perfect crystal. In other words, the report by Kissinger et al is a method which can be applied to a wafer where the vacancy dominant zone and the interstitial silicon dominant zone are clearly separated by the OSF ring, but cannot be directly applied to a perfect crystal where the vacancy dominant zone and the interstitial silicon dominant zone coexist in the wafer plane.
For example, if the heat treatment reported by Kissinger et al is performed on a perfect crystal, and if the oxide density is relatively high, oxide precipitation distribution becomes uniform but precipitates are generated even in the device activation layer zone in the surface layer. If the oxygen density is low, on the other hand, the oxide precipitation distribution in the plane cannot be uniform. And if oxide precipitates are generated even in the device activation layer zone in the surface layer by setting the oxygen density high, this will negatively affect the device yield, and industrial implementation is very difficult. In the case of low oxygen density where the DZ layer (non-oxide precipitation layer on the surface layer) can exist, on the other hand, oxide precipitation distribution cannot be uniform, so it is difficult to apply the heat treatment method reported by Kissinger et al for industrial implementation.
In the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-253392, a method for controlling density at the center of a generating oxide precipitate nuclei in the single crystal silicon is proposed, where a single crystal silicon is annealed at a minimum temperature of about 350° C., the single crystal silicon is heated (or cooled) to a first temperature 1, which is about 350° C.–500° C., during this annealing step, then this temperature is increased from T1 to a second temperature T2, which is about 500° C.–750° C., with an average speed of the temperature increase from T1 to T2, at less than 25° C. per minute, and the annealing is ended when the generation center of the oxide precipitate nuclei can be dissolved at a temperature of less than about 1150° C. According to this method, precipitates with a uniform density can be introduced using samples having different oxygen densities.
This method, however, is to make the oxide precipitate density to within about a 1 digit range (uniforming) by the heat treatment of samples with different oxygen densities, and not for solving the non-uniformity of precipitation due to the difference of point defect distribution generated in the crystal growth stage. Therefore, with this method, it is difficult to achieve a uniformity of oxide precipitation behavior in the diameter direction of crystals or in the plane of the wafer, and it is not possible to stably manufacture wafers having a DZ layer with uniform oxide precipitates. Another problem of this method is that the complicated thermal process takes time and labor, which considerably aggravates the productivity of products.

Production method for silicon single crystal and production device for single crystal ingot, and heat treating method for silicon crystal wafer


Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to devices, systems, and methods for controlling environmental conditions for a volume of material. In some embodiments, a handheld, portable environmental control sleeve (ECS) is disclosed which is configured for controlling at least one environmental condition of a drug contained within a drug delivery or storage device (DDSD). The ECS includes an environmental control mechanism (ECM), thermal insulation material, at least one of a power source, a processor, at least one electrical contact, at least one indicator, at least one switch, at least one environmental condition sensor, a wireless transceiver, a phase change material and at least one heat dissipater. Upon the ECS receiving at least a portion of the DDSD, the at least one environmental condition of a drug contained within the DDSD is controlled by the ECM to be within a predetermined range.

Drugs can be sensitive to environmental conditions such as light, humidity, temperature, pressure, atmosphere and other conditions. Many drugs have limited boundaries to such conditions that if exceeded, can degrade the drug activity. Drugs that are exposed to environmental conditions, which exceed certain limits, might lose their potency. Drugs that are exposed to extreme environmental conditions might even turn to be harmful, if used. For example, life maintaining drugs (e.g., insulin) can be exposed to extreme environmental conditions if left within a vehicle, where temperatures can rise as high as 130 degree F. on a summer day. Similarly, upon a disaster situation (e.g., power outage, storm, and the like), drug delivery devices and pharmaceuticals may be exposed to harsh environmental conditions. In addition, drug delivery devices and pharmaceuticals used for emergency events (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, wars) may require storage for extended periods of time, sometimes for over a year, without maintenance.
While devices exist that can maintain drugs and drug-containing delivery devices under controlled environmental conditions, such current devices are quite large and typically require a regular AC power supply for their operation, or large batteries of limited duration.
For example there are today mini-refrigerators used to keep drugs in a cooled environment such as the Dison BC-170A mini insulin fridge from Zhengzhou Dison Electric Co. (http://www.medincn.com/sell_offers/104901/diabetic-portable-refrigerator-medicine-refrigerator-insulin-cooler.html). There are also other packs containing ice or devices which can cool the drug based on water evaporation such as the FRIO® cooling wallet.
However these cooling packs do not control or stabilize the temperature, rather provide cooling to the entire pen injection device or drug vial or drug cartridge.
Injection devices similar to existing insulin pen injection devices for single use (such as the prefilled NovoLog FlexPen http://www.novolog.com/insulindiabetes/novologflexpen.aspx), or reusable devices (such as the NovoPen http://www.novonordisk.com/diabetes_care/insulin_pens_and_needles/novopen_4/default.asp), have means to set the desired amount of drug to be injected. Such devices do not have means to control the environmental conditions of the drug within the pen. When a drug is inside the pen, the drug must be kept in a refrigerator or in devices (e.g., Dison BC-170A mini insulin refrigerator) for maintaining the drug under stable temperature conditions.

Devices, systems and methods for controlling conditions and delivery of substances


An air-fuel ratio control system includes: a catalyst; an A/F sensor provided upstream of the catalyst; an oxygen concentration sensor provided downstream of the catalyst; an output value estimation portion that estimates the output value of the oxygen concentration sensor using a model related to the catalyst and the oxygen concentration sensor; an integral value calculation portion that calculates an integral value of deviation being updated by integrating the difference between the actual oxygen concentration output value and the estimated output value; a correction value calculation portion that calculates a feedback correction value for the output value of the A/F sensor and a target air-fuel ratio at least based on the integral value of deviation; and an air-fuel ratio control portion that zeros a first deviation that is obtained by correcting the difference between the detected air-fuel ratio and the target air-fuel ratio, using the feedback correction value.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an air-fuel ratio control system and an air-fuel ratio control method for an internal combustion engine that control the air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas entering a catalyst.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air-fuel ratio control system for an internal combustion engine that controls the air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas entering a catalyst based on the output values of an air-fuel ratio sensor and an oxygen concentration sensor is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-113729 (JP-A-2005-113729). This air-fuel ratio control system has an air-fuel ratio sensor provided upstream of a catalyst in the exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine and an electromotive force type oxygen concentration sensor provided downstream of the catalyst. According to this air-fuel ratio control system, a feedback correction value is calculated by performing a proportional integral derivative processing (so-called PID processing) to the deviation between the output value of the oxygen concentration sensor and the target value of that output value (corresponding to "target air-fuel ratio"). This deviation will be referred to as "downstream-side deviation" where necessary. Then, feedback control is performed such that the difference between the air-fuel ratio obtained from the output value of the air-fuel ratio sensor corrected by the foregoing feedback correction value and the target air-fuel ratio is controlled to be zero so that the catalyst upstream-side air-fuel ratio equals the target air-fuel ratio.
In general, for example, a deviation (i.e., the variation of detection by the airflow meter) unavoidably arises between the intake air flowrate detected by an airflow meter, which is used to determine the amount of fuel to be injected from the injector, and the actual intake airflow rate, and a deviation (i.e., the variation of injection from the injector) unavoidably arises between the required fuel injection amount that the injector is instructed to inject and the amount of fuel actually injected. Such deviations will be collectively referred to as "error of fuel injection amount". Further, the output value of a limiting-current type oxygen concentration sensor that is typically used as the foregoing air-fuel ratio sensor tends to include an error. Hereinafter, the error of fuel injection amount and the error of the upstream-side air-fuel ratio sensor will be collectively referred to as "intake/exhaust system error" where necessary.
The aforementioned feedback control value includes a value of an integral term, that is, a value obtained by multiplying an integral value of deviation, which is updated by integrating the downstream-side deviation, by a feedback gain. Therefore, even when the intake/exhaust system error occurs, it may be compensated for by the integral term by performing the foregoing feedback control, and therefore the air-fuel ratio may be made equal to the target air-fuel ratio. In other words, the value of the integral term (or the integral value of deviation) may indicate the magnitude of the intake/exhaust system error.
Many air-fuel ratio control systems of this kind perform an integral term learning process in which the value of the integral term (or the integral value of deviation) as mentioned above is recorded while the recorded value of the integral term (will be referred to also as "learning value of the integral term") is repeatedly updated (learned) at given time intervals.
Meanwhile, the value of the integral term (or the learning value of the integral term) converges to the value that accurately represents the magnitude of the intake/exhaust system error (will be referred to as "target convergence value"). If the value of the integral term (or the learning value of the integral term) is equal to the target convergence value, it indicates that an actual air-fuel ratio that is being treated equally as the target air-fuel ratio (will be referred to as "control center air-fuel ratio") by the air-fuel ratio control system, is actually equal to the target air-fuel ratio.
When the control center air-fuel ratio is equal to the target air-fuel ratio, the intake/exhaust system error may be properly compensated for, and thus the air-fuel ratio may be properly controlled to the target air-fuel ratio. Note that, in the case of the system described in JP-A-2005-113729, the fact that the control center air-fuel ratio is equal to the target air-fuel ratio indicates that the air-fuel ratio obtained from the output value of the air-fuel ratio sensor corrected by the feedback correction value is equal to the catalyst upstream-side air-fuel ratio.
On the other hand, when the value of the integral term (or the learning value of the integral term) is deviating from the target convergence value, the control center air-fuel ratio becomes a value deviating from the target air-fuel ratio. In this case, there is a possibility that the intake/exhaust system error is not properly compensated for, and thus the air-fuel ratio is not properly controlled to the target air-fuel ratio. Therefore, it is preferable to maintain the value of the integral term (or the learning value of the integral term) at the target convergence value or at the vicinity of the target convergence value when the control center air-fuel ratio is deviating from the target air-fuel ratio.
However, if external interferences with respect to the air-fuel ratio control, such as the cut-off of fuel supply and an increase in the fuel injection amount, frequently occur, the integral term (or the learning value of the integral term) may deviate from the target convergence value. For example, in the case where the fuel supply is cut off frequently, the air-fuel ratio in the catalyst is biased to the lean side and therefore the oxygen concentration sensor outputs a value corresponding a lean air-fuel ratio. This may cause a problem that the value of the integral term (or the learning value of the integral term) gradually deviates from the target convergence value to make the air-fuel ratio richer.

Air-fuel ratio control system and method for internal combustion engine


A passive array of acoustic sensors capture acoustic signals produced by sand movement. The array tool is deployed downhole where it passively listens for acoustic energy generated by sand movement in the well. Once acoustic signals are acquired, model-based frameworks are used to extract single and multiple sensor features from the acoustic signals. The extracted features are used as signatures to detect or classify the production of sand.

Many reservoirs comprised of relatively young sediments are so poorly consolidated that sand will be produced along with the reservoir fluids. Sand production leads to numerous production problems, including erosion of downhole tubulars; erosion of valves, fittings, and surface flow lines; the wellbore filling up with sand; collapsed casing because of the lack of formation support; and clogging of surface processing equipment. Even if sand production can be tolerated, disposal of the produced sand is a problem, particularly at offshore fields. Therefore, early detection of sand production is of upmost importance to reduce the risks of infrastructure damages and threats of operation shutdown.

Wellbore sand detection using passive acoustic array


A transformation station for a packaging production machine comprises side frames between which tool-carrier cassettes are mounted. The side frames support slides on which members slide for the mounting of the tool-carrier cassettes. The members for mounting the tool-carrier cassettes comprise cassette supports that can be moved in opposition across and according to material advancing direction dimensions of the tool-carrier cassettes. The cassette supports are fitted with first devices for attaching in position the cassette supports and second devices for locking the tool-carrier cassettes to the supports.

The present invention concerns a transformation station for a packaging production machine, that is a machine designed for the manufacture of folding boxes from a material in a strip or in sheets.
Such packaging production machines comprise several successive transformation stations, for example, a feed station, followed by one or more printing stations, where necessary a scoring station, an embossing station, a rotary blanking station, a waste ejection station, and finally a folding box blank receiving station. Since this type of machine has a modular design, it is possible that, in a preferred configuration, a machine comprises, in addition to the feed station, the printing and blank receiving stations, only one embossing station followed by a rotary blanking station and by a waste ejection station.
The strips or sheets, for example strips or sheets of cardboard, may usually contain over their width several identical box preforms or blanks which each represent the shape and the folded-out surface area of the manufactured packaging. The number of preforms that may thus be placed side by side naturally depends on the width of the medium being worked, but also on the maximum format accepted by the machine and the size of the box blanks. Usually, the box preforms or blanks are placed at either side of the theoretical median axis of the strips or sheets being worked by the machine. The various stations of the machine are all fitted with specific tools, preferably with rotary printing, blanking, embossing and scoring tools and tools for ejecting the waste resulting from the blanking operations, whose dimensions correspond to the width of the strips or sheets being worked. For the rotary printing tools, the change of width of the strips poses no particular problems because it is sufficient to mount an appropriate die on the die-carrier cylinder. On the other hand, for the rotary blanking, embossing, scoring and ejection tools, which are mounted in cassettes, an example of which is described in patent FR 2 819 744 B1, this poses a problem associated with the construction of these cassettes. In practice, these cassettes may originate from several manufacturers chosen by the packaging producer according, for example, to advantageous cost or more advantageous wear performance. To adapt for use of cassettes from different manufacturers, a cassette adapter is used to make it possible to insert cassettes of any origin, such as the one described in patent application EP 1 331 054 A3. Currently, for each strip or sheet width, tool-carrier cassettes of corresponding width must be used. The width dimensions of a strip of cardboard, for example, may vary within a range lying between 325 and 850 mm. Usually, the most common widths used by the manufacturers of folding boxes are 550, 670, 820 and 850 mm, widths defined by the width dimensions of the box blanks to be worked. The packaging manufacturer faced with the use of several widths of cardboard strips must choose a solution, which is very costly and requires the use of considerable space in a carton production plant, and which consists in using several machines with different strip throat widths.
At the present time in the inventor's knowledge of the prior art in this field, there is no other solution making it possible to alleviate the disadvantages that unavoidably occur when using variable strip widths.

Transformation station for a packaging production machine


The present disclosure provides a three-phase AC/DC converter aiming for low input current harmonic. The converter includes an input stage for receiving a three-phase AC input voltage, an output stage for at least one load, and one or more switching conversion stages, each stage including a plurality of half bridge modules. The switches in each module operate with a substantially fixed 50% duty cycle and are connected in a specific pattern to couple a DC-link and a neutral node of the input voltage. The AC/DC converter further includes one or more controllers adapted to vary the switching frequency of the switches in the switching conversion stages based on at least one of load voltage, load current, input voltage, and DC-link voltage. The converter can also include one or more decoupling stages, such as, inductive components adapted to decouple the output stage from the switching conversion stages.

Generally, a front-end power-factor-correction (PFC) rectifier is required in three-phase AC/DC applications. The PFC rectifier usually provides low total harmonic distortion (THD) of the input three-phase current and high power factor.
FIG. 1 shows a commonly employed prior art three-phase rectifier with only one switch. This rectifier performs PFC and achieves low THD by operating the boost inductors in the discontinuous-conduction mode (DCM), where the boost inductors are completely discharged in every switching cycle. In the DCM operation, the line current naturally follows the line voltage resulting in improved THD and PF. Because the inductor current is not controlled directly, usually low-bandwidth constant switching frequency control is implemented. As reported in related literature, the rectifier is capable of achieving 10% to 20% THD, which is acceptable in some applications.
To further minimize the current distortion in high power application, Vienna rectifier in FIG. 2 is proposed in the Ref. [1]. Vienna rectifier offers high efficiency AC/DC conversion, low THD of input current and a high power factor. But too many components in the Vienna rectifier are not attractive in low-cost applications.
FIG. 3 shows a six-switch boost converter with the capability for bidirectional power flow. By using the wide-band-gap devices, e.g., SiC devices, it is able to provide both high efficiency and high power density as reported in Ref. [2]. The high cost of wide-band-gap devices is a potential obstacle for this converter to be widely accepted.
FIG. 4 illustrates a two-switch three-phase rectifier proposed in Ref. [3]. By connecting the capacitors C1, C2 and C3 in "Y" connection, a virtual neutral point is obtained. The virtual neutral point is further connected to the mid-point of the two switches and the mid-point of the output capacitors, CO1 and CO2. This connection partially decouples the phase currents for the most part of the line period by making the three-phase PFC rectifier operate as three independent single-phase PFC rectifiers. This structure is further improved in FIG. 5, which is proposed in Ref. [4]. The rectifier in FIG. 5 provides better electromagnetic interference (EMI) performance by adding an inductively decoupling stage, which makes it suitable in fast high-voltage change applications.
Recently, high input voltage three-phase power supplies are more and more attractive in high power applications, e.g., solid-stage-transformer, because they can deliver more power for the same amount of input current. In order to operate the converters in FIGS. 1 to 5 in high input voltage conditions, one possible approach is to directly replace the low voltage devices with ultra-high voltage devices as reported in Ref. [5]. However, the ultra-high voltage devices are currently not available in the market and will be very costly in near future. Another possible approach is to cascade the front-end bridges to block the high input voltage as reported in Ref. [6]. This approach usually requires a substantial amount of the active switches for the front-end PFC and also needs multiple DC/DC converters to provide galvanic isolation, which further increases the number of the switches for the system.


A two part drain assembly for a container assembly with a drain for flowing fluid from the interior of the container assembly to exterior of the container assembly. A back plate comprising a first sliding engagement means parallel a second sliding engagement means connected by a back plate body, wherein a drain attachment hole is disposed on the back plate body and a bottom plate is disposed perpendicular to the first sliding engagement means and the second sliding engagement means. A front cover comprising a plurality of flow holes for slidably engaging simultaneously the first sliding engagement means and the second sliding engagement means, wherein the front cover forms an enclosed hollow chamber when slidably engaged with the back plate thereby permitting fluid to flow from the interior of the container assembly into the hollow chamber while excluding particles from entering the enclosed hollow chamber.

There exists a need for a drain assembly for a container assembly, such as a cooler, that can prevent the container assembly drain from becoming clogged with interior or exterior contents, such as food, meat, seafood, bottle and jar labels, plastic bags, foliage, and other contents when draining excess liquid from the container assembly.
There exists a need for a drain assembly that can be installed both during production and manufacture of a container assembly, or made available for after market installation in a pre-existing container assembly, and can be adapted to fit within any container assembly with a drain.
There exists a need for a container assembly that eliminates the need for lifting heavy coolers and other container assemblies to dump excess liquid when the drain is clogged.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.

One or two part container drain strainer assembly that prevents clogging when draining liquids from containers


The present disclosure discloses an optical imaging lens assembly including, sequentially from an object side to an image side along an optical axis, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, a fifth lens, a sixth lens and a seventh lens. At least one of the first lens to the seventh lens is a glass lens. The third lens has positive refractive power, and an image-side surface of the third lens is a convex surface. An object-side surface of the seventh lens is a convex surface, and an image-side surface of the seventh lens is a concave surface. A maximum field-of-view FOV of the optical imaging lens assembly satisfies FOV≥134.56°. An effective half-aperture DT62 of an image-side surface of the sixth lens and an effective half-aperture DT72 of the image-side surface of the seventh lens satisfy 0.54≤DT62/DT72.

In recent years, with the development of IoT technology and 5G technology, the intelligentization of electronic devices has been further developed. The intelligentization of electronic device usually requires upgrading various components thereon. For example, in order to obtain visual signals or optical signals, an optical imaging lens assembly is usually installed on an electronic device.
An electronic device, such as a surveillance camera, includes an optical imaging lens assembly to facilitate the achievement of the camera function. An electronic device is usually also provided with a Charge-coupled Device (CCD) type image sensor or a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) type image sensor. The optical imaging lens assembly may collect the light on the object side, and the imaging light travels along the optical path of the optical imaging lens assembly and irradiates the image sensor. The image sensor converts the light signal into an electrical signal to form image data. These electronic devices are often disposed in an environment with unstable temperature and need to work continuously.
An optical imaging lens that may meet the imaging requirements of the optical imaging lens assembly while satisfying a large field-of-view, a large image plane and good temperature adaptability is needed.


A bracket assembly to suspend objects, having a bracket and a suspending tab assembly for organizing objects in a suspended manner. The bracket comprises a rear and front wall joined at a top edge and a bottom edge. An interior seam defines the interior area where the rear wall and the front wall join. The front wall comprises at least one aperture having a longitudinal channel defined by edges. The suspending tab assembly comprises a generally elongated torso having a first tab at its distal end. The first tab is shaped to snugly fit within the at least one aperture. Opposite the first tab, the torso has a second tab. The second tab has adhesive means. A peel-off sticker initially covers the second tab to prevent unwanted matter from sticking to the adhesive means. The rear face of the rear wall also has adhesive means and also has a peel-off sticker.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to brackets, and more particularly, to bracket assemblies to organize objects in a suspended manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several designs for brackets have been designed in the past. None of them, however, includes a bracket and suspending tab assembly. There are no similar bracket assemblies to suspend objects to the best of applicant's knowledge, that have a bracket and a suspending tab assembly for organizing objects in a suspended manner.


Door stops are generally discussed herein for stopping door knobs or other door hardware from slamming against a wall with particular discussions on door stops having dampening means. Aspects of the door stop assemblies discussed herein include the use of a helical coil spring spacer for delimiting movement of a door and either a pliable insert or an outer sheath or both for dampening the spring when the same is impacted. A combination magnet and magnetically attractable plate or two magnets with opposite magnetic poles may be used to temporary secure a door in a fixed position.

As is well known in the art, a door stop is a device mounted to a baseboard, a wall, or a door for stopping the door's hardware, such as a door knob, from slamming into and ruining the wall. The length of the door stop's spacer, measured from its base to its tip, is longer than the length of the door knob's projection from the surface of the door. In addition, its tip incorporates a blunt end having a surface area sized to generate less force when impacted by the door than the force generated by the door knob against the wall in the absence of the door stop.
Also well known in the art is the use of magnets to maintain doors in their fixed open positions. Typically a magnet, either mounted to a door or a wall, is used with a strike plate, mounted to the other one of the door or the wall, to generate a holding force. Once the magnet retrains the door in an open position, closing it will cause a loud spring resonance. Accordingly, there is a need for a magnetic door stop for maintaining a door in its fixed open position that has dampening capabilities to reduce spring vibration. There is also a need for a simple door stop with dampening capabilities.


A method and system for improving control of an instant messaging system. Multiple instant message (IM) instances are initiated with identical credentials of a user of multiple users participating in an IM session controlled by an IM server. A front-of-screen representation enables the user to manage instance attributes and allows any user to view conversational connectivity information. The IM server receives the user's selection of a graphical element that represents a remote IM instance of the multiple IM instances. Via the first IM instance, the IM server receives the user's request for a computing device to perform an action that includes an interaction with the remote IM instance. The computing device performing the action is located remotely from the user and is executing the remote IM instance. The action is performed by controlling a remote system function of the computing device.

In a conventional instant messaging system, multiple instant message (IM) instances may log onto an IM session from different physical locations, using the same user's credentials, thereby providing a way to share a message between the multiple instances so that a computing device at each physical location can obtain the same view of the message. Since the user cannot simultaneously be at all of the different physical locations, the user cannot physically control all of the multiple IM instances. Therefore, security of certain IM endpoints is compromised. Unauthorized persons can observe and/or hijack the IM session without the user's knowledge. For example, a user has three instances of an IM session—one at a home office, one at a workplace office location, and one in a conference room, where the user is working. At the conclusion of the conference room meeting, the user closes the conference room instance of IM session, but does not return to the workplace office location and therefore fails to close the workplace office instance of the IM session. The user moves to the home office and conducts confidential business using the home office instance of the IM session. Another person (e.g., a custodian or fellow office worker) who is not authorized to know the confidential business information observes the IM session via the workplace office instance. Furthermore, after the user closes the home office instance, the unauthorized person at the workplace office location hijacks the IM session for his or her own use, or begins a new IM session with other participants and masquerades as the original user (i.e., the true owner of the IM collaboration). Thus, there exists a need to overcome at least one of the preceding deficiencies and limitations of the related art.

Control of an instant message system that allows multiple clients with identical credentials

International Business Machines Corporation


An air freshener includes a housing having at least a first compartment and a second compartment, each of the first and second compartments having vents. The air freshener includes a first fan unit disposed within the first compartment and a second fan unit disposed within the second compartment. The air freshener also includes a first fragrance emitting substance disposed within the first compartment proximate the first fan unit and a second fragrance emitting substance disposed within the second compartment proximate the second fan unit. A programmable processor is operatively connected to a power source and the first and second fan units and configured to drive at least one of the first and second fan units so as to promote discharge of one of the first and second fragrance emitting substances from the housing.

Air fresheners are found in most homes and businesses and are consumer products that mitigate unpleasant odors in indoor spaces. Air fresheners can come in a number of different forms, including but not limited to, candles, aerosol sprays, potpourri, gels and mechanical or heat release products. Air fresheners work in a number of different ways, including (a) absorption, where absorbent materials, such as activated charcoal, is used to be absorb offending chemical odors; (b) disinfection, where odors caused by bacterial activity can be eliminated by disinfectants like ozone or bleaching agents; (c) anesthetization, where anesthetics dull the sense of smell and (d) masking, where odors are obscured with a fragrance. The last type is the most common in terms of placement in a home and public rooms, such as public restrooms.
However, common household air fresheners have come under fire recently from a number of activist groups and even governmental bodies and councils. For example, a National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) study of thirteen of the more common household air fresheners found that most of these products contain chemicals that can aggravate asthma and affect reproductive development. The NRDC called for more rigorous supervision of the manufacturers and their products, which were widely assumed to be safe. One of the more troubling findings was that lab testing confirmed the presence of phthalates, or hormone-disrupting chemicals that may pose a particular health risk to babies and young children. Many of these products were marked "all natural" and none of the products had these chemicals listed on their labels. There are many movements by health and safety groups to make people more aware of the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in everyday consumer products, such as air fresheners. Since these compounds may be harmful to one's health over time, there is a need for alternative products.
Another problem when using a commercial air freshener is the fact that your entire house seem to smell like a bathroom—which is far from desirable. Since commercial air fresheners are most often used in bathrooms or in closets or laundry rooms, they are designed and geared towards this use. There is thus a need and desire to provide an improved air freshener that offers a wider variety of pleasant smelling fragrances that can be customized according to a particular person's needs or desires.
Over the recent years, there is a growing trend in natural aromatherapy products and services. Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile liquid plant materials, known as essential oils (EOs), and other aromatic compounds from plants for the purpose of affecting a person's mood or health. Essential oils differ in chemical composition from other herbal products because the distillation process only recovers the lighter phytomolecules. For this reason essential oils are rich in monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. In general, aromatherapy is a generic term that refers to any of the various traditions that make use of essential oils sometimes in combination with other alternative medical practices and spiritual beliefs. Popular use of these products include massaging products, medicine, or any topical application that incorporates the use of essential oils to their products. Essential oils are also commonly used in room diffuser products which typically include a container, such as a bottle, into which the essential oil is placed and a plurality of reeds which absorb the scent of the essential oils and then gently diffuse it throughout the room. One advantage of this product is that there are a wide array of essential oil products that can be used to create different, unique fragrances, from fruity fragrances, such as blood orange essential oil, to flowery fragrances, like lilac.


A load drive circuit which can operate at high speed with low consumption current while performing the gate-to-source over voltage protection for its load driving field-effect transistor. A Zener function device is connected between the gate and the source of the load driving field-effect transistor, and an on/off-switch circuit to supply either on-potential or off-potential to the gate of the field effect transistor is provided. The current flowing through the Zener function device when the load driving field-effect transistor is conductive is limited by the on/off-switch circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a load drive circuit that drives a load thereby controlling its output voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drive circuits using a MOS-type output are known which control the drive of general electric apparatuses. In the drive circuits using a MOS-type output, protection is required with respect to the gate to source or drain to source withstand voltage of the output MOS transistors. For example, a protection circuit is known which is a series circuit of serially connected Zener diodes, connected between the gate and source of a MOS transistor for the over voltage protection. This type of protection circuit is described in Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 2005-323489, (hereinafter called Reference 1).
The protection circuit described in Reference 1 comprises a MOSFET provided in between a battery and a load, and a series circuit having two Zener diodes serially connected between the gate and source of the MOSFET, and further having a transistor. When an over-current flows and thus the gate-to-source voltage of the MOSFET exceeds a reference voltage, the transistor is controlled to be ON, thereby clamping the gate-to-source voltage of the MOSFET to the Zener voltage of the Zener diode to decrease the drive capacity of the load drive circuit, and thus the over-current is reduced to achieve the gate-to-source over voltage protection.


A field emission display (FED) having a grid plate with spacer structure and fabrication method thereof. A first wplate having first electrodes and electron emitters on a first surface is provided. A second plate having second electrodes and phosphor regions on a second surface is also provided, wherein the second surface is opposite the first surface. A grid plate with spacer structure and passages having grid electrodes is positioned between the two plates to maintain a predetermined interval. When a specific voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, electrons extracted from the electron emitters are accelerated by the grid electrodes through the passages to impact the phosphor regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field emission display (FED) and fabrication method thereof, and more specifically to a triode-type field emission display (FED) having a grid plate with spacer structure and fabrication method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Field emission display (FED) is a kind of flat panel display attracting intense notice in recent years. The main reason is that it not only has the thin and light characteristics of a liquid crystal display (LCD), but also the high brightness and self emission advantages of cathode ray tube (CRT) displays.
FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a conventional diode-type (cathode and anode) field emission display. According to the conventional diode-type field emission display 10, the anode electrode 18 provides a high voltage environment to attract electrons emitted from the emission source 12 formed on the cathode electrode 16 of a cathode plate 14, and the electrons impact the phosphor layer 23 on the anode plate 18 resulting in light emission. Since the maximum voltage difference between the cathode electrode 16 and the anode electrode 18 is only 600V, the conventional field emission display has disadvantages of short life span and low brightness.
To overcome the above drawbacks of the diode-type field emission display, a triode type (cathode, anode, and gate electrode) field emission display having high voltage difference has been disclosed. FIG. 1b is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a typical triode-type field emission display.
The main difference from the diode-type field emission display is an additional gate electrode 34. The gate electrode 34 is formed on an insulating layer 36 between the anode electrode 48 and the cathode electrode 40 to control the voltage, resulting in low voltage requirement of electrons emitted from the field emission source 38 of cathode plate 41. The voltage difference 47 between the anode electrode 48 and the cathode electrode 40 is then boosted to 4 KV, and the speed of electrons hitting the phosphor layer 49 formed on the anode plate 46 is increased.
However, in the manufacturing process of conventional gate-controlled triode field emission display 30, complicated and multiple photolithographic and etching steps have to be employed to precisely form the cathode electrode 40 and the gate electrode 34 on predetermined locations of the cathode plate 41 at the same time, and it is extremely difficult to prevent misregistration between the cathode electrode 40 and the gate electrode 34. As a result, the complicated manufacturing process of field emission display reduces throughput and yield.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,671 discloses a triode-type field emission display 50. As shown in FIG. 2, a grid plate 53 with a plurality of grid electrodes 55 and through-holes 60 is positioned between the anode plate 52 and the cathode plate 51, and spacers are erected between the grid plate 53 and each of the plates 52 and 54 to maintain a predetermined interval against the atmospheric pressure.
The grid electrodes 55 onto the grid plate 53 enhance the emission of electrons from the emission source 57 and accelerate the electrons passing through-holes 60 in the grid plate 53 to impact the phosphor layers formed on the anode plate 52. Compared with the conventional triode-type field emission display, the grid electrodes 55 are formed on the grid plate rather than on the same plate with cathodes, resulting in simplification of the manufacturing process of the field emission display.
However, since an additional grid plate 53 is positioned between the cathode plate 51 and anode plate 52, different lengths of spacers 62 and 64 have to be erected between the anode plate 52 and the grid plate 53, and between the cathode plate 51 and the grid plate 53 respectively. Due to the essential double spacer attachment processes in the manufacturing process of the field emission display, the number of spacers erected between each two plates is doubled, and the probability of misregistration is increased substantially. Processing time is increased and production is slowed resulting from the additional alignment and attachment processes for increased spacers, particularly in manufacturing process for large display.
While spacers are pre-positioned in desired positions on the grid plate used in another conventional manufacturing process, the additional alignment and attachment processes are performed while spacers are pre-positioned in desired positions on the grid plate. As a result, the manufacturing process still cannot reduce the processing time of spacer positioning and the probability of misregistration.

Method of fabricating field emission display having a grid plate

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A method for fabricating a semiconductor device comprises forming a first sacrificial gate stack on a substrate, depositing an insulator layer on the substrate, adjacent to the first sacrificial gate stack, removing the first sacrificial gate stack to define a first cavity, forming a first metal gate in the first cavity, and depositing a conductive metal over a portion of the substrate adjacent to the first metal gate such that the first metal gate and the conductive metal partially define a capacitor.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor devices, and more specifically, to forming metal-insulator-metal capacitors.
The MOSFET is a transistor used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. The MOSFET has a source, a drain, and a metal oxide gate electrode. The metal gate is electrically insulated from the main semiconductor n-channel or p-channel by a thin layer of insulating material, for example, silicon dioxide or glass, which makes the input resistance of the MOSFET relatively high. The gate voltage controls whether the path from drain to source is an open circuit ("off") or a resistive path ("on").
N-type field effect transistors (NFET) and p-type field effect transistors (PFET) are two types of complementary MOSFETs. The NFET uses electrons as the current carriers and with n-doped source and drain junctions. The PFET uses holes as the current carriers and with p-doped source and drain junctions.
The FinFET is a type of MOSFET. The FinFET is a double-gate or multiple-gate MOSFET device that mitigates the effects of short channels and reduces drain-induced barrier lowering. The "fin" refers to the narrow channel between source and drain regions. A thin dielectric layer on either side of the fin separates the fin channel from the gate.
A metal-insulator-metal capacitor is a capacitor that has an insulator portion arranged between two metal portions. The two metal portions act as conductors of the capacitor.
As the scaling of semiconductor devices continues to decrease, the formation of transistors and capacitors in close proximity continues to become more difficult. There are various limitations with aligning photolithographic masks to perform etching processes that form transistors and capacitors. As the scale of the devices becomes smaller, aligning photolithographic masks becomes more difficult.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method for determining electrical condition of a wired drill pipe includes inducing an electromagnetic field in at least one joint of wired drill pipe. Voltages induced by electrical current flowing in at least one electrical conductor in the at least one wired drill pipe joint are detected. The electrical current is induced by the induced electromagnetic field. The electrical condition is determined from the detected voltages.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of signal telemetry for equipment used in drilling wellbores through the Earth. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for locating faults in so-called "wired" drill pipe used for such telemetry.
2. Background Art
Devices are known in the art for making measurements of various drilling parameters and physical properties of Earth formations as a wellbore is drilled through such formations. The devices are known as measurement while drilling ("MWD") for devices that measure various drilling parameters such as wellbore trajectory, stresses applied to the drill string and motion of the drill string. The devices are also known as logging while drilling ("LWD") for devices that measure various physical properties of the formations, such as electrical resistivity, natural gamma radiation emission, acoustic velocity, bulk density and others. The various MWD and LWD devices are coupled near the bottom end of a "drill string," which is an assembly of drill pipe segments and other drilling tools threadedly coupled end to end with a drill bit at the lowest end. During operation of the drill string, the drill string is suspended in the wellbore so that a portion of its weight is transferred to the drill bit, and the drill bit is rotated to drill through the Earth formations. Sensors on the various MWD and LWD devices can make the respective measurements during drilling operations. Wellbore drilling operators generally find that MWD and LWD measurements are particularly valuable when obtained during the actual drilling of the wellbore. For example, resistivity and gamma radiation measurements obtained during drilling may be compared with similar measurements made from a nearby wellbore so as to determine which Earth formations are believed to be penetrated by the wellbore at any moment in time. The wellbore operator may use such measurements to determine that the wellbore has been drilled to a particular depth necessary to conduct additional operations, such as running a casing or increasing the density of drilling fluid used in drilling operations. In general, MWD and LWD measurements may be communicated to the surface through telemetry between the bottom hole assembly and the surface. A telemetry device or tool in the bottom hole assembly with encode and transmit the data to the surface. It is often the case that the telemetry bandwidth cannot accommodate all of the MWD and LWD data that is collected. Thus, typically only a selected portion of the data is communicated to the surface, while all of the MWD and LWD data may be stored in one of the downhole components.
The signal telemetry that is most often used with MWD and LWD devices is so-called "mud pulse" telemetry. Mud pulse telemetry is generated by modulating the flow of the drilling fluid proximate the MWD or LWD devices in a manner to cause detectable changes in pressure and/or flow rate of the drilling fluid at the Earth's surface. The modulation is typically performed to represent binary digital words, using techniques such as Manchester code or phase shift keying. It is well known in the art that drilling fluid flow modulation is capable of transmitting at a rate of only a few bits per second. Thus, for most MWD and LWD applications, only a selected portion of the total amount of data being acquired is transmitted to the surface, while the data collected is stored in a recording device disposed in one or more of the MWD and LWD devices or in a another device for storing data.
Considerable effort has been made to provide a higher speed telemetry system for MWD and LWD devices. Such effort has been undertaken for a considerable time, and has resulted in a number of different approaches to high rate telemetry. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,848 issued to Denison discloses a drill string telemetry system, wherein an armored electrical cable ("wireline") is used to transmit data from near the bottom of the wellbore to an intermediate position in the drill string, and a special drill string, having an insulated electrical conductor, is used to transmit the information from the intermediate position to the Earth's surface. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,118 issued to Barry, et al., discloses a cable system for wellbore telemetry. U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,502 issued to Heilhecker, et al., discloses methods for installing an electrical conductor in a drill string.
More recently, alternative forms of "wired" drill pipe have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,670,880 issued to Hall, et al. The system disclosed in the '880 patent is for transmitting data through a string of components disposed in a wellbore. In one aspect, the system includes first and second magnetically conductive, electrically insulating elements at both ends of each drill string component. Each element includes a first U-shaped trough with a bottom, first and second sides and an opening between the two sides. Electrically conducting coils are located in each trough. An electrical conductor connects the coils in each component. In operation, a time-varying current applied to a first coil in one component generates a time-varying magnetic field in the first magnetically conductive, electrically insulating element, which time-varying magnetic field is conducted to and thereby produces a time-varying magnetic field in the second magnetically conductive, electrically insulating element of a connected component, which magnetic field thereby generates a time-varying electrical current in the second coil in the connected component.
Another wired drill pipe telemetry system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,096,961 issued to Clark, et al., and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. A wired drill pipe telemetry system disclosed in the '961 patent includes a surface computer; and a drill string telemetry link comprising a plurality of wired drill pipes each having a telemetry section, at least one of the plurality of wired drill pipes having a diagnostic module electrically coupling the telemetry section and wherein the diagnostic module includes a line interface adapted to interface with a wired drill pipe telemetry section; a transceiver adapted to communicate signals between the wired drill pipe telemetry section and the diagnostic module; and a controller operatively connected with the transceiver and adapted to control the transceiver.
The '961 patent describes a number of issues that must be addressed for the successful implementation of a wired drill pipe ("WDP") telemetry system. For drilling operations in a typical wellbore, a large number of pipe segments are coupled end to end to form a pipe string extending from a Kelley (or top drive) located on a drilling unit at the Earth's surface and the various drilling, MWD and LWD devices in the wellbore with the drill bit at the end thereof. For example, a 15,000 ft (5472 m) wellbore will typically have about 500 drill pipe segment if each of the drill pipe segments is about 30 ft (9.14 m) long. The sheer number of pipe to pipe connections in such a WDP drill string raises concerns of reliability for the system. A commercially acceptable drilling system is expected to have a mean time between failure ("MTBF)" of about 500 hours or more. If any one of the electrical connections in the WDP drill string fails, then the entire WDP telemetry system fails. Therefore, where there are 500 WDP drill pipe segments in a 15,000 ft (5472 m) well, each WDP would have to have an MTBF of at least about 250,000 hr (28.5 yr) in order for the entire WDP system to have an MTBF of about 500 hr. This means that each WDP segment would have a failure rate of less than 4×10−6 per hour. Such a requirement is beyond the current state of WDP technology. Therefore, it is necessary that methods are available for testing the reliability of a WDP segment and drill string and for quickly identifying any failure.
Currently, there are few tests that can be performed to ensure WDP reliability. Before the WDP segments are brought onto the drilling unit, they may be visually inspected and the pin and box connections of the pipes may be tested for electrical continuity using test boxes. It is possible that two WDP sections may pass a continuity test individually, but they might fail when they are connected together. Such failures might, for example result from debris in the connection that damages the inductive coupler. Once the WDP segments are connected (e.g., made up into "stands"), visual inspection of the pin and box connections and testing of electrical continuity using test boxes will be difficult, if not impossible, on the drilling unit. This limits the utility of such methods for WDP inspection.
In addition, the WDP telemetry link may suffer from intermittent failures that would be difficult to identify. For example, if the failure is due to shock, downhole pressure, or downhole temperature, then the faulty WDP section might recover when conditions change as drilling is stopped, or as the drill string is tripped out of the hole. This would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to locate the faulty WDP section.
In view of the above problems, there continues to be a need for techniques and devices for performing diagnostics on and/or for monitoring the integrity of a WDP telemetry system.

Method and apparatus for locating faults in wired drill pipe


A method for forming a headliner including a fluted paper central substrate includes forming the fluted paper substrate in a first forming tool. The formed substrate is then moved to a second bonding tool. A cover layer and an adhesive layer are actuated in the bonding tool to secure the cover layer to the substrate. The bonding tool preferably consists of a heated upper portion adjacent the cover layer and the adhesive, and a cooled lower portion which receives the base material. The use of the cooled bottom portion maintains the dimensional accuracy of the base layer during the bonding process. The heated upper layer ensures efficient and quick actuation of the adhesive to bond the cover layer to the substrate.

This invention relates to a unique method of bonding a fabric cover to a substrate base for an interior trim panel such as a vehicle headliner.
In the prior art, headliners are often manufactured from a fabric cover layer which is bonded to an underlying base. The base provides shape and rigidity to the cover. In one very successful type of vehicle headliner, the base is provided by several paper layers. In particular, a fluted paper, which is similar to the corrugated paper utilized for cardboard, is used as a core. Kraft paper is laminated on both the top and bottom of the fluted paper. In essence, this results in a similar to standard cardboard.
In the prior art, the kraft paper layers have been adhered to the fluted paper layer by polyethylene film adhesive layers. Thus, it is known to provide a sandwich of outer kraft paper layers, and an inner fluted paper layer with intermediate polyethylene film adhesive layers. The several layers are then heated, and the kraft paper adheres to the central fluted layer.
Two standard methods are then utilized to adhere the cover to this substrate base. In one method, the tool which is utilized to heat the layers to form the substrate, is also utilized to heat and activate another polyethylene adhesive layer placed on the base substrate. An outer cover layer is placed outwardly of this adhesive layer. The adhesive layer is heated such that it then bonds the cover to the substrate. In this prior art method, the tool utilized to form the headliner into its desired shape and to secure all of the layers together, uses a forming tool having heated top and bottom halves. With this method, there has sometimes been difficulty maintaining the dimensional integrity of the substrate, particularly during the subsequent heating to adhere the cloth layer. This is believed due to the repeated heating of the substrate.
In a second method, a second tool is utilized to adhere the outer cover layer. The substrate base is formed in a forming tool, with a heated top and bottom half. The substrate base is then removed from the forming tool and placed into a bonding tool. The bonding tool receives the substrate base, a layer of polyethylene adhesive, and the outer cover. The bonding tool then closes on the several layers. The latent heat in the base layer alone is relied upon to actuate the polyethylene adhesive layer. While this method does provide improvements in the final dimensional integrity of the overall headliner, it requires undesirably large amounts of time to actuate the adhesive layer.
It is a goal of vehicle headliner assembly lines to manufacture as many headliners in as small a time period as is reasonably possible.

Method of bonding cloth cover to substrate base


A space photovoltaic power generation system including a plurality of power satellites arranged in space, each of which converts electrical energy, into which sunlight has been photoelectric-converted, into a microwave, and transmits the microwave to an electric power base. The system can thus transmit a microwave of high power to the electric power base. As each of the plurality of power satellites changes its attitude in space, and its relative location therefore changes, each of the plurality of power satellites can adjust an amount of phase adjustment to be made to the microwave which each of the plurality of power satellites will transmit. A control satellite measures the location of each of the plurality of power satellites for the phase adjustment, and calculates the amount of phase adjustment for each of the plurality of power satellites. The control satellite then transmits the amount of phase adjustment to each of the plurality of power satellites.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a space photovoltaic power generation system for receiving sunlight in space so as to generate electric power, for transmitting the electric power to an electric power base via space by converting the electric power to a microwave, and for storing the electric power in the electric power base so as to allow the use of the electric power, and a power satellite and a control satellite for use with the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A solar cell is known as a small-size power generation system which utilizes sunlight. Furthermore, a photovoltaic power generation panel or the like, which can be set up on a building, is known as a power generation system intended for the home which utilizes sunlight. Such a photovoltaic power generation system built on the earth""s ground is not necessarily efficient fundamentally because of the attenuation of sunlight in the earth""s atmosphere and the alternation between shade and light caused by the alternation between day and night. A solar panel, which can be installed in a satellite, is known as a photovoltaic power generation device intended for space. Satellites can thus achieve missions by privately generating necessary electric power for observation and communications, etc. by using a solar panel. In either of the prior art power generation systems, specific equipment connected to the solar cell by cable is adapted to use the energy generated by the solar cell.
On the other hand, as the communication technology progresses according to results of recent space development works and the construction technology to construct a large-scale space structure progresses, research and development of a system that receives sunlight in space, generates electric power, and transmits the generated energy to a specific place such as a specific location on the earth or in space has been actively conducted. An example of such a space photovoltaic power generation system can focus sunlight, thereby increasing the energy density of the sunlight, to a number of solar panels each having a specific size and connected mechanically and electrically to each other, for photoelectric-converting the incident sunlight so as to generate electric power, by using a combination of reflectors, lenses, etc., and then generates a microwave based on the generated energy and transmits the microwave to an electric power base built on the earth""s ground. The microwave transmitted to the ground is spread over a range wide so that its energy density becomes small in consideration of safety. The electric power base built on the earth""s ground includes a number of receiving antennas arranged in an area of several tens of square kilometers, receives incident microwaves by means of these receiving antennas, and integrates the received microwaves into high electric power.
In the prior art space photovoltaic power generation system as mentioned above, a large-scale electric power generation and transmission structure can be constructed in space by adding a number of solar cells to a transmission antenna and microwave generation equipment arranged in space as the core of the system. However, a problem with the prior art space photovoltaic power generation system constructed as above is that since the electric power from the plurality of solar cells fundamentally concentrates on the microwave generation equipment and the transmission antenna, both a limit on the electric power transmission due to a discharge breakdown that occurs in a power supply line and a limit on the amplification capability of the microwave generation equipment impose a limit on the power generation capacity of the space photovoltaic power generation system.
The present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a space photovoltaic power generation system capable of transmitting electric power generated in space from sunlight to an electric power base so that the electric power is dispersed without concentrating the electric power generated to a point on the electric power base, and a power satellite and a control satellite for use with the system.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a space photovoltaic power generation system comprising: a plurality of power satellites each for generating electrical energy from sunlight in space, for generating a microwave from the generated electrical energy, and for transmitting the microwave; an electric power base located at a remote site for receiving a plurality of microwaves transmitted from the plurality of power satellites, and for generating electric power from the plurality of microwaves received; and a control unit for controlling the plurality of power satellites so that the plurality of microwaves transmitted from the plurality of power satellites to the electric power base are in phase with one another.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control unit includes a location measurement unit for measuring a location of each of the plurality of power satellites, a phase adjustment amount calculation unit for calculating an amount of phase adjustment to be made to the microwave which each of the plurality of power satellites will transmit from the measured location, and a phase control unit for adjusting a phase of the microwave which each of the plurality of power satellites will transmit according to the amount of phase adjustment calculated by the phase adjustment amount calculation unit so that the plurality of microwaves transmitted from the plurality of power satellites to the electric power base are in phase with one another.
Preferably, the space photovoltaic power generation system further comprises a control satellite including the location measurement unit, the phase adjustment amount calculation unit, and a transmission unit for informing each of the plurality of power satellites of the amount of phase adjustment calculated for each of the plurality of power satellites. Each of the plurality of power satellites can include a receiving unit for receiving the amount of phase adjustment from the control satellite, a target for enabling the control unit to measure the location of each of the plurality of power satellites, a condensing unit for focusing sunlight in space, a photoelectric conversion unit for receiving and converting the sunlight focused by the condensing unit into electrical energy, and a transmission unit that also serves as the phase control unit, for generating a microwave based on the electrical energy from the photoelectric conversion unit, for adjusting the phase of the microwave according to the amount of phase adjustment received by the receiving unit, and for transmitting the microwave to the electric power base. The location measurement unit of the control satellite can be a unit for measuring the location of each of the plurality of power satellites using the target disposed in each of the plurality of power satellites, and the transmission unit of the control satellite can be a unit for transmitting a control signal including the amount of phase adjustment calculated by the phase adjustment amount calculation unit to each of the plurality of power satellites.
As an alternative, the space photovoltaic power generation system can further comprise a control satellite including the location measurement unit, and a transmission unit for informing each of the plurality of power satellites of data on the location of each of the plurality of power satellites measured by the location measurement unit. In addition, each of the plurality of power satellites can include the phase adjustment amount calculation unit and the phase control unit, and adjusts the phase of the microwave which each of the plurality of power satellites will transmit so that the microwave is in phase with any other microwave transmitted from any other one of the plurality of power satellites according to the calculated amount of phase adjustment. Each of the plurality of power satellites can include a target for enabling the location measurement unit of the control unit to measure the location of each of the plurality of power satellites, a condensing unit for focusing sunlight in space, a photoelectric conversion unit for receiving and converting the sunlight focused by the condensing unit into electrical energy, and a transmission unit that also serves the phase control unit, for generating a microwave based on the electrical energy from the photoelectric conversion unit, for adjusting the phase of the microwave according to the amount of phase adjustment calculated by the phase adjustment amount calculation unit, and for transmitting the microwave to the electric power base. The location measurement unit of the control satellite can be a unit for measuring the location of each of the plurality of power satellites using the target disposed in each of the plurality of power satellites, and the transmission unit of the control satellite can be a unit for transmitting a control signal including data on the location of each of the plurality of power satellites measured by the location measurement unit to each of the plurality of power satellites.
In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control unit transmits an identical reference signal to each of the plurality of power satellites, and each of the plurality of power satellites generates a microwave based on the reference signal received and transmits the microwave to the electric power base.
In accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electric power base includes a transmission unit for transmitting a beacon signal to the control satellite, a receiving unit for receiving the plurality of microwaves transmitted from the plurality of power satellites, a microwave-to-DC conversion unit for converting the plurality of microwaves received by the receiving unit into DC electric power, and a DC electric power transmission unit for transmitting the DC electric power obtained by the microwave-to-DC conversion unit.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a power satellite comprising: a condensing unit for focusing sunlight in space; a photoelectric conversion unit for receiving and converting the sunlight focused by the condensing unit into electrical energy; and a transmission unit for generating a microwave based on the electrical energy from the photoelectric conversion unit, for adjusting a phase of the microwave so that the microwave is in phase with any other microwave transmitted by any other power satellite, and for transmitting the microwave to space.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control satellite comprising: a location measurement unit for measuring a location of each of a plurality of power satellites, each of which generates a microwave from sunlight in space and transmits the microwave, by using a target disposed in each of the plurality of power satellites; a phase adjustment amount calculation unit for calculating an amount of phase adjustment to be made to the microwave which each of the plurality of power satellites will transmit from the location of each of the plurality of power satellites measured by the location measurement unit; and a transmission unit for transmitting a control signal including the amount of phase adjustment calculated by the phase adjustment amount calculation unit to each of the plurality of power satellites.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Space photovoltaic power generation system, power satellite, and control satellite


Techniques are described that allow each host in a multi-host system to throttle its bandwidth between multiple data nodes without the need to coordinate with the other hosts. Specifically, techniques are described in which a limit is applied to the amount of sent-but-not-acknowledged data a given host may have. If the host has reached the limit, the host must wait for acknowledgements before sending more data. In one embodiment, the limit is enforced using a token-based bandwidth control. Embodiments are described in which the limit on sent-but-not-acknowledged data varies dynamically based on system conditions. Specifically, each host may monitor its aggregate latency, and increase the limit when latency is low (indicating low-congestion conditions), and decrease the limit when latency is high (indicating high-congestion conditions).

In computer systems in which host nodes store data at data nodes on behalf of guest applications that are running on the host nodes, it is difficult to ensure that the bandwidth between the host nodes and the data nodes is shared fairly between the host nodes. Referring to FIG. 1, it is a block diagram of a system in which N host nodes write data to M data nodes. Such write operations occur over a network (or networks) that have finite bandwidth. In the absence of any coordination among the host nodes, it is possible for a few host nodes to use a disproportionally large amount of the available bandwidth to the data nodes, negatively impacting the performance of the other host nodes.
To allocate the host-to-data-node bandwidth in a fair manner, the host nodes may coordinate their write operations with each other. However, the messages between the host nodes that would be needed to coordinate writes to the data nodes to ensure that the bandwidth is shared fairly would themselves add overhead and consume bandwidth, thus negatively impacting the performance of all host nodes.
TCP is a protocol for sending messages over a network. Using TCP, a sending node sends data to a receiving node as quickly as the data is available to send, until packets start dropping. When packets start dropping, the sending node resends the dropped packets, reducing the size of the packets and/or slowing the rate of transmission until packets stop being dropped. After packets cease to be dropped, the transmission rate is allowed to increase until packets start being dropped again.
TCP has the advantage of throttling a host's communication rates over a single connection without requiring inter-host communications. However, throttling transmission rates over a single connection merely to reduce packet loss with individual receivers does not prevent a host node or set of host nodes from consuming a disproportionate amount of host-to-storage bandwidth. For example, a single host may be consuming virtually all of the bandwidth between itself and a data node before the host node starts to experience dropped packets. Thus, TCP does not itself solve the problem of providing a fair allocation of bandwidth among host nodes that are writing to storage nodes.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Multi-pipe bandwidth control in hosted systems


A treatment apparatus includes a heater, a structure supporting the heater against tissue, and a controller connected to the heater for maintaining a tissue temperature under the structure in a normothermic range of 36xc2x0 C. to 38xc2x0 C. The apparatus is useful for treating tissue, wounds, and the like.

Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wound treatment device with a bandage and heater that are essentially planar, yet flexible, and are connected or joined by an attachment device that promotes heat transfer from the heater through the bandage to a wound treatment area where the temperature of tissue is maintained by control of the heater""s operation in a normothermic temperature range.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wounds, in general, are breaks in the integrity of the skin of a patient. A first type of wound may result from mechanical trauma that produces a cut, tear, or an abrasion. There are many instruments of causality for such wounds, including knives, glass, gravel, or a scalpel. A second type of wound may be caused by a combination of heat and pressure wherein the heat alone is insufficient to cause an outright burn. Such wounds include pressure sores, decubitus ulcers, or bed sores, and reflect an injury that is chronic in nature. A wound may also be vascular in origin. In this third type of wound, blood flow through a region may be altered sufficiently to cause secondary weakening of tissues which are eventually disrupted, thus forming a wound. In the case of arterial causes, the primary difficulty is getting oxygenated blood to the affected area. For venous causes, the primary difficulty is fluid congestion in the affected area which backs up, decreasing the flow of oxygenated blood. Because these wounds manifest underlying chronic disease processes, such as atherosclerotic vascular disease, congestive heart failure, and diabetes, these vascular injuries also are chronic in nature, forming wounds with ulcerated bases.
Heat therapy has been used to treat wounds since the days of Hippocrates, with varying results. Up to now, heat therapy for wounds has involved the application of heat under conditions that make the tissues of a wound hyperthermic. Hyperthermia impedes wound healing and may actually damage the wound tissues.
The xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d range of temperature for the human body is 37xc2x0 C.xc2x11xc2x0 C. (36xc2x0 C.-38xc2x0 C.). This is termed the xe2x80x9cnormothermicxe2x80x9d range. Humans exhibit a thermoregulatory response to core temperature changes as little as xc2x10.1xc2x0 C., wherein xe2x80x9ccorexe2x80x9d as used herein refers to interior portions of the body. This extremely tight temperature control is necessary because virtually all cellular functions, chemical reactions and enzymatic reactions are optimum at normothermia.
Surface tissue varies in temperature according to where on the body it is located. The skin of the torso is usually hypothermic, while the skin of the legs is always hypothermic. The normal skin temperature of the distal leg is approximately 32xc2x0 C., which is considered to be xe2x80x9cmoderately hypothermicxe2x80x9d. The skin temperature of the distal leg of a patient with vascular insufficiency may be as low as 25xc2x0 C., which is xe2x80x9cseverely hypothermicxe2x80x9d. The hypothermic condition of wounds and ulcers inhibits healing. Severely hypothermic skin or wound tissue is in a state that may be termed xe2x80x9csuspended animationxe2x80x9d. In suspended animation, tissue is living, but cellular functions necessary for cell division and collagen deposition are slowed or even stopped. Further, the immune system is inhibited, allowing wounds to become heavily colonized with bacteria. The local application of heat to hypothermic skin will cause some degree of vasodilatation, resulting in an increase in local blood flow. Increased blood flow increases the subcutaneous oxygen tension (PsqO2) which, in turn, increases both collagen deposition and immune function.
Many references report that the immune system is inhibited by hypothermia and activated by mild hyperthermia (fever). Persp Biol Med:439-474, Spring 1980, reports that local body temperature is a critical factor determining host susceptibility, the location of lesions and contracting infectious diseases. New Eng J Med 305:808-814, 1981, reports that animals exposed to cold environments are more susceptible to infectious diseases, whereas exposure to high ambient temperatures often produces a beneficial result. Wound Rep Reg 2:48-56, 1994 and Acta Anaesth Scand 38:201-205, 1994, report that infections caused by a standard inoculum of e. coli or s. aureus were significantly more severe in hypothermic guinea pigs than in normothermic control animals. New Eng J Med 334:1209-1215, 1996, reports that hypothermic colorectal surgical patients had three times more wound infections (19% vs. 6%) than those who were kept normothermic during surgery with a Bair Hugger(copyright) patient warming system described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,324,320, 5,300,102 and 5,350,417. Further, six weeks of warming therapy with the Bair Hugger(copyright) patient warming system has successfully healed chronic progressive ulcers which heretofore have been resistant to antibiotic therapies.
As stated hereinabove, enzymatic reactions are promoted by normothermia. Both platelet adhesion and the clotting cascade result from a series of enzymatic chemical reactions. Research efforts have been reported that show hypothermic patients bleeding more than normothermic patients. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 104:108-116, 1992, and Ann Surg 205:175-181, 1987, report that skin cooling produces a reversible platelet dysfunction and prolonged bleeding times. Lancet 347 (8997):289-292, 1995, reports that mildly hypothermic total hip arthroplasty patients lost an average of 500 ml more blood and had an 88% higher incidence of transfusion than patients who were kept normothermic with the aforementioned Bair Hugger(copyright) Patient Warming System. Anesthesiology 85: A66, 1996, reports that hypothermic liver transplant patients required twice as many units of blood (18.6 vs.9.8) and 57% more units of all blood products (46.2vs. 29.4) than patients who were kept normothermic with the Bair Hugger(copyright) Patient Warming System.
When used to treat wounds; heat has been applied at higher than normothermic temperatures, with the goal of making the wounds mildly hyperthermic. These higher temperatures have often resulted in increasing tissue damage, rather than promoting wound therapy and healing.
Currently available medical devices that apply heat to wounds include infrared lights, warm water pads, warm water bottles, whirlpools and Sitz baths. All types of lesions, such as surgical, chronic, traumatic, donor sites, infected wounds and bums, have been treated with these warming modalities. Particularly difficult has been the application of heat to open wounds such as ulcers. Treatment of a wound with infrared light requires that the wound be positioned under the light during therapy, necessitating patient immobility. Further, the infrared heat causes wounds to dry, thereby slowing the healing process. Warm water pads and bottles and electrical heating pads are cumbersome, reduce patient mobility, and are usually applied to the extremities and held in place with inconvenient wraps such as straps, hook-and-eye material or tabs. Whirlpools and Sitz baths reduce mobility and limit the duration of warming therapy due to skin maceration by the water. None of these modalities is capable of prolonged, uniform, normothermic heat treatment of a wound.
This invention is designed to elevate the temperature of hypothermic skin and subcutaneous tissue of a treatment area to a temperature which is close to normothermic. The invention, in operation, maintains the temperature of such tissue in a normothermic range of about 36xc2x0 C. to 38xc2x0 C.
Still another object is to provide a low profile, flexible wound treatment apparatus that includes a heater attached to a bandage and a controller connected to the heater for operating the heater so that the apparatus provides a normothermic therapy regime to a wound.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings.