According to the present invention, an improved source collimator for use in nuclear medicine imaging is provided. The improved source collimator utilizes a larger collimation angle than has previously been used in the art. The use of the larger collimation angle for the source collimator reduces the sensitivity of the nuclear medical imaging systems to misalignment between the detector and the source collimators.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to nuclear medicine, and systems for obtaining nuclear medical images of a patient's body organs of interest. In particular, the present invention relates to a collimator for an array of radioactive lines for use in nuclear medicine imaging, particularly for single photon imaging including single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and particularly adapted for use on a SPECT system for non-uniform attenuation correction measurements.
2. Description of the Background Art
Nuclear medicine is a unique medical specialty wherein radiation is used to acquire images that show the function and anatomy of organs, bones or tissues of the body. Radiopharmaceuticals are introduced into the body, either by injection or ingestion, and are attracted to specific organs, bones or tissues of interest. Such radiopharmaceuticals produce gamma photon emissions that emanate from the body. One or more detectors are used to detect the emitted gamma photons, and the information collected from the detector(s) is processed to calculate the position of origin of the emitted photon from the source (i.e., the body organ or tissue under study). The accumulation of a large number of emitted gamma positions allows an image of the organ or tissue under study to be displayed.
In a conventional SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) study of an organ such as the heart, a radioisotope (Tc-99m, T1-201, for example) is administered to the patient and the radioisotope is taken up by the heart muscles. Then, the patient is placed in a scintillation camera system and one or more scintillation camera detectors are rotated about the long axis of the patient. These detectors pick up gamma radiation that leaves the patient, and the resulting data is used to form three-dimensional images ("SPECT images" or "tomographic images") of the distribution of the radioisotope within the patient.
Such three dimensional SPECT images can be calculated based on a set of two-dimensional images ("projections" or "projection images") acquired by the scintillation camera system; this calculation process is known as image reconstruction. The most commonly employed method of image reconstruction is known as filtered backprojection (FBP). When FBP reconstruction is used to reconstruct SPECT images from scintigraphic projection images obtained from a scintillation camera, some well-known distortions introduce errors ("artifacts") in the result. One of the most important distortions is caused by attenuation of gamma radiation in tissue.
As a consequence of attenuation, image values in the various projections do not represent line integrals of the radioisotope distribution within the body. It is therefore necessary to correct for this, and the process for doing so in SPECT is known as attenuation correction.
Many techniques for attenuation correction in SPECT assume that the linear attenuation coefficient of the body is uniform and impose such uniformity as a mathematical constraint in the image reconstruction process. However, for a very important class of studies, namely cardiac SPECT studies, the linear attenuation coefficient of the body is in fact highly nonuniform. This is because lung tissue has a lower attenuation than do, e.g., the blood and other non-lung tissue. Thus, in SPECT studies of, e.g., the heart, a SPECT reconstruction of the image of radioactivity within the heart will necessarily contain artifacts caused by the unequal attenuation coefficients of, e.g., the lungs and the body. Such artifacts also appear in SPECT cardiac images taken from obese patients and from large-breasted female patients.
It is known to measure the actual attenuation coefficients of body tissues by placing a line source of gamma radiation on one side of the body and measuring the transmission of the gamma radiation through the body as a function of direction, i.e. collecting transmission CT data, as the line source is scanned across the patient's body. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,545 which describes a system for correcting attenuation artifacts in a SPECT study in which a line source is parallel to the axis of rotation of the scintillation camera detector(s). The line source is scanned in a plane that is parallel to the detector(s).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,625 describes an improvement to the system described in the '545 patent. The improvement comprises a two-dimensional radiation emitter. The radiation emitter is rectangular in shape and has an array formed of a plurality of parallel, elongated line sources of equal length supported parallel to the axis of rotation of the camera system by a support. In one embodiment, the line sources have different radiation densities with the maximum density in the central region of the emitter, although the line sources with maximum density do not need to be centered with respect to the emitter. The line sources can be moved between different predetermined locations in the support.
It is also known to use collimators with the line source. These collimators are known as source collimators. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,712 describes the use of collimator with the source radiation to limit the radiation that passes towards the patient to the radiation that is substantially parallel to the collimator. U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,524 describes a source collimator having a plurality of apertures preferably distributed in a plurality of rows. A cartridge containing the source, attenuator, shielding and collimator insert has been developed for use in a line source array. (Bak, D. J., "Shift & Replenish," Design News, Apr. 1, 2004.)
Thus, it is desirable in SPECT, particularly in nuclear medicine imaging of small organs, such as brain, heart, kidneys, thyroid, that systems, component parts of such systems and methods be developed to improve the reconstruction of transmission data for improved three-dimensional images of the distribution of the radioisotope within the patient.

Collimators for an array of radioactive lines for use on a spect system for non-uniform attenuation correction measurements


A heating device for use with a clamp for laminating substrates is provided. The heating device includes a support member, a heater control device coupled to the support member and a heater cartridge. The heater cartridge includes a cartridge housing retaining an insulation pad, an infrared reflector and a heating element, wherein the heating element is operatively coupled to the heater control device to control current flowing through the heating element, and wherein the support member is coupled to a clamp for laminating substrates. The insulation pad may be formed of a ceramic carbon fiber material and the infrared reflector may be formed of a reinforced Mylar sheet.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a heating device for a clamp, and more specifically, this invention relates to a heating device for use with a clamp used during laminating of substrates.
2. State of the Art
In the manufacture of laminated articles, an adhesive layer is disposed at the interface between two substrates to be laminated. The two substrates are then clamped in place at selected intervals along their length while the adhesive cures using, for example, multiple C-clamps. The adhesives typically used, are specialty glues that require tight temperature control over a fairly narrow temperature range with specific requirements in order for the adhesive to have and maintain its intended strength and glue properties. Conventional methods for curing these types of specialty glues have included the use of heat lamps and forced heated air. These curing procedures have disadvantages.
Among these disadvantages is the heating of the entire laminated pieces to aid in the curing process is accomplished by use of heat lamps. The use of heat lamps results in a great deal of wasted energy since most of the heat is lost into the surrounding environment. Utilizing heat lamps causes uneven heating, uneven curing and, thus, uneven bonding, resulting in an inferior laminated product that is likely to crack and break due to the lack of tight temperature control of the heat application of the glue itself. Alternatively, use of heated forced air across the substrates to reach the desired temperature range has been employed. This approach has the same disadvantages as the use of heat lamps.
Accordingly, there is a need in the field of tools and methods for laminating substrates for an improved heating device.

Heating device for use with a clamp for laminating substrates


A multiport memory device according to an embodiment of the invention includes first and second input ports, first and second output ports, and a memory cell array. The device further includes: an input data selector for selecting one of the first and second input ports to send input data to the memory cell array; and an output data selector for selecting one of the output ports to output the data from the memory cell array to the selected output port. The device further includes a clock doubling circuit for supplying a doubled clock to the input data selector, the output data selector, and the memory cell array. The clock doubling circuit selects a higher-frequency one of a first clock corresponding to data input from the first input port and a second clock corresponding to data input from the second input port to double its frequency to generate a doubled clock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiport memory device. In particular, the invention relates to a multiport memory device including plural input/output ports that operate at different clock frequencies.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with recent advancements of semiconductor technologies, smaller-size and larger-capacity memories that allow high-speed reading/writing operations have been developed. Further, a so-called multiport memory including plural input ports and output ports has been used for simultaneously reading/writing data of different addresses.
Hitherto, extensive studies have been made on the multiport memory. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-279292 (hereinafter, referred to as "Related Art 1") discloses a multiport memory where an address decoder is shared to reduce a circuit area.
The multiport memory described in Related Art 1 receives address data from two input ports that are switched by the address decoder. Then, a memory cell array operates at a doubled clock speed to process the data input from the two input ports. Thus, a single address decoder and a single memory cell array suffice for. In this way, an area for the multiport memory can be saved and a two-input system is realized.
The related multiport memory is described in brief. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional multiport memory device as described in Related Art 1, for example. A multiport memory device 2 of FIG. 4 includes a memory cell array 20, an input control circuit 21, an output control circuit 22, and a clock doubling circuit 23.
FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing a processing flow of the related multiport memory. An input clock of FIG. 5 is supplied to input data holding flip flops 210 and 211 in the input control circuit 21, and output data holding flip flops 222 and 223 in the output control circuit 22. This input clock is also supplied to the clock doubling circuit 23. The clock doubling circuit 23 doubles an input clock speed to generate a doubled clock as shown in FIG. 5. Then, the doubled clock is supplied to the memory cell array 20, an address decoder 212 in the input control circuit 21, and data holding latches 220 and 221 in the output control circuit 22.
Further, the clock doubling circuit 23 generates a selection signal based on the doubled clock, and supplies the generated selection signal to an input data selector 213 in the input control circuit 21 and an output data selector 224 in the output control circuit 22. Regarding the selection signal of FIG. 5, a portion A of FIG. 5 corresponds to a selection signal_A for selecting an input signal from an input port A, and a portion B corresponds to a selection signal_B for selecting an input signal from an input port B. These signals are output from the clock doubling circuit 23. The input data selector 213 receives the selection signals from the clock doubling circuit 23. The input data selector 213 selects one of the input data holding flip flop 210 and the input data holding flip flop 211 of the input control circuit 21 in response to the selection signal to receive input data (address data) from the input port A or the input port B. The input data selector 213 outputs the received address data to the address decoder 212.
Subsequently, a processing flow of the multiport memory device 2 described in Related Art 1 is explained in brief. The multiport memory device 2 receives address data from the two input ports, the input port A and the input port B. The input port A is connected with the input data holding flip flop 210 in the input control circuit 21. The input port B is connected with the input data holding flip flop 211.
The input data holding flip flop 210 and the input data holding flip flop 211 receive the same input clock to execute a data input processing from the input port A and the input port B in accordance with the input clock. Each input processing is executed at input-port timings of (0) to (2) of FIG. 5.
The input data selector 213 selects one of the input data holding flip flop 210 and the input data holding flip flop 211. As a result, the address data input from either the input port A or the input port B is supplied to the address decoder 212. That is, the input data selector 213 receives the selection signal from the clock doubling circuit 23 to select one of the input data holding flip flops 210 and 211 in accordance with the selection signal, and receive the address data held in the selected input data holding flip flop. Then, the selector sends the received data to the address decoder 212.
The address decoder 212 decodes the address data received from the input data selector 213 to read data stored at a corresponding address in the memory cell array 20. This processing is executed at a reading-processing timing of FIG. 5.
The memory cell array 20 outputs the thus-read data (hereinafter, referred to as "read data") to the output data selector 224 in the output control circuit 22. The output data selector 224 selects one of the data holding latch 220 and the data holding latch 221 in accordance with the selection signal from the clock doubling circuit 23. Then, the selector sends the read data supplied from the memory cell array 20, to the selected data holding latch.
The data holding latch 220 outputs the read data to the output data holding flip flop 222 based on the doubled clock from the clock doubling circuit 23. Likewise, the data holding latch 221 outputs the read data to the output data holding flip flop 223 based on the doubled clock from the clock doubling circuit 23.
The output data holding flip flop 222 sends the received read data to the output port A. Similarly, the output data holding flip flop 223 sends the received read data to the output port B. The output data holding flip flop 222 and the output data holding flip flop 223 receive an input clock not subjected to a speed doubling processing, instead of the doubled clock, and then execute output processings in accordance with the input clock. The output processing is executed at output-port timings of (0) to (2) of FIG. 5.
In this way, in the multiport memory device of Related Art 1, the memory cell array operates at a doubled clock speed to process data input from the two input ports. Thus, a single address decoder and a single memory cell array suffice therefor. Accordingly, an area can be reduced, and a two-input system is realized.
However, in the multiport memory of Related Art 1, the same input clock is applied to the respective input data holding flip flops 210 and 211. Hence, the input clocks used for each port are limited to the same frequency, so the technique of Related Art 1 can be used only for an application where all ports operate with the same frequency.
Further, there have been proposed a dual-port memory where an internal clock speed is doubled to support two input and output ports (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-84987) and a multiport memory where a higher-frequency one of a write clock and a read clock is selected and its clock speed is doubled (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-127440), but either memory has a problem in that the memory cannot operate unless clocks applied to input ports have the same clock frequency and phase.
Incidentally, in the case of using plural input ports, many users demand to operate the input ports at different clock frequencies. In such a case, albeit the same frequency, the input clocks may be out of phase. However, the related multiport memory has a problem of being unable to operate if the input clocks are different in clock frequency or phase.


A wiring substrate includes an insulating layer, and a connection terminal formed on the insulating layer. The connection terminal includes a metal layer formed on the insulating layer and including an upper surface, a metal post formed on the upper surface of the metal layer and including upper and side surfaces, and a surface plating layer that covers the upper and side surfaces of the metal post. The metal layer includes a material that is inactive with respect to a material included in the surface plating layer. The metal layer has an upper surface edge part that is exposed at an outside from the side surface of the metal post in a plan view. The surface plating layer is formed to expose the upper surface edge part of the metal layer.

There is known a semiconductor package having a semiconductor chip mounted on a wiring substrate by using solder. For example, in manufacturing the semiconductor package, solder may be applied to a connection terminal of the wiring substrate so that the connection terminal of the wiring substrate is connected to a connection terminal of the semiconductor chip byway of the solder. According to necessity, solder may also be applied to the connection terminal of the semiconductor chip.
A surface plating layer may be formed by performing an electroless nickel/gold plating process on a surface of the connection terminal of the wiring substrate (forming a gold plating layer on a front surface side of the connection terminal of the wiring substrate) for the purpose of, for example, improving wettability of solder. In a conventional wiring substrate, a solder resist layer is provided on the surface of the wiring substrate, and a connection terminal is exposed in an opening part formed in the solder resist layer. Because a surface plating layer need only be formed on the surface of the connection terminal exposed in the opening part, the surface plating layer rarely protrudes to an area beyond the connection terminal.
However, due to recent size-reduction and pitch-reduction of the semiconductor package, more semiconductor chips and wiring substrates are bonded to each other by bonding a connection terminal of the wiring substrate and the connection terminal of the semiconductor chip without applying solder on the connection terminal of the wiring substrate but by applying solder only to the connection terminal of the semiconductor chip. In a case of a conventional structure where the connection terminal is exposed in the opening part formed in the solder resist layer, the connection terminal of the wiring substrate may become recessed relative to the surface of the solder resist layer by not applying solder to the connection terminal of the wiring substrate. Thus, bonding the connection terminal of the semiconductor chip to the exposed connection terminal of the wiring substrate in a recessed state may be difficult in the case where solder is applied only to the connection terminal of the semiconductor chip.
Therefore, in a case of performing bonding by applying solder only to the side of the semiconductor chip, the connection terminal of the wiring substrate is to be formed projecting from the surface of the wiring substrate or formed to have its surface on the same plane as the surface of the wiring substrate. In this case, a surface plating layer is to be formed on an exposed connection terminal that is not covered by the solder resist layer (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-98098).
However, in a case where an electroless nickel plating process is performed on the exposed connection terminal that is not covered by the solder resist layer, electroless nickel plating may protrude to an area between adjacent connection terminals of the wiring substrate and lead to short-circuiting between the adjacent connection terminals. Thus, reducing the pitch of the connection terminals is difficult.
In order to achieve pitch-reduction, it is possible to use a surface process method that does not form a nickel layer instead of using the electroless nickel plating process. For example, the surface process method may be an electroless gold plating process, an OSP (Organic Solderability Preservative) process, or an electroless palladium/gold plating process. However, in a case where solder containing tin is used to solder, for example, a semiconductor chip to a wiring substrate without a nickel layer formed on its surface, mutual diffusion between each connection terminal (e.g., copper) and the tin contained in the solder may be accelerated and lead to degradation of bonding reliability between the wiring substrate and the semiconductor chip.
As a process for preventing electroless nickel plating from protruding, there is a process of inactivating or removing a catalyst (e.g., palladium) which may cause the protruding of the electroless nickel plating. However, this process is insufficient for achieving pitch-reduction. This process may also prevent the electroless nickel plating from adhering on the wiring substrate or degrade its film quality due to an additive adhered on the surface of the wiring substrate during the process of removing the catalyst.
Thus, it is difficult for a conventional wiring substrate to achieve pitch-reduction of connection terminals while maintaining a reliable solder bonding performance.

Wiring substrate and method for manufacturing wiring substrate


The vehicle-mounted display unit includes a display having a meter area and an auxiliary indication area. The meter area indicates a dial image for showing measured values of an operational condition of a motor vehicle. The auxiliary indication area indicates information other than the measured values. The display unit has a control device for controlling contents indicated on the display. The control device indicates a normal length pointer extended in the auxiliary indication area at a normal indication state, while the control device indicates a shorter length pointer in the auxiliary indication area when the other information is indicated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display unit mounted on a motor vehicle.
2. Related Art
A conventional display unit of such a type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-191816, which was proposed by the same applicant as the present application.
FIG. 14 is an explanatory view showing a general configuration of a screen of the conventional vehicle-mounted display unit. The display unit watches abnormal states of a battery, a radiator, and an engine which are disposed in a bonnet of a motor vehicle. The system has a warning indication area 103 that selectively turns on each of warning symbols 103a, 103b, 103c, and 103d for warning an abnormal state of a charge quantity of the battery, a cooling water of the engine, a lubricating oil pressure of the engine, or an electronic control process of the engine. The screen indicates not only a specified content of an abnormal state but also the position of an associated instrument. For example, it is shown that the abnormality has occurred in the bonnet by turning on a bonnet position mark 101b arranged on a vehicle profile 101a of a warning position recognition area 101. The screen has an area 105 for indicating instruction illustrations 105a, 105b, and 105c to repair the warned instrument if necessary.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H-9-23122 discloses another vehicle-mounted display unit. FIG. 15 is an explanatory view showing screen pages of the display unit.
The display unit has a display 210 for sequentially indicating instructive illustrations on a screen 211. Each illustration has an image and instruction keys, and an oral instruction is also provided as additional information.
For example, FIG. 15 shows steps for fitting a chain on a tire of a motor vehicle. The unit displays the steps sequentially on the screen 211 and gives oral instructions associated with an image instruction of each step. FIG. 15A shows an initial step on the screen 211 for setting the chain on the tire, and the unit gives a message to prepare the chain for the tire. FIG. 15B shows a next step for laying the chain on the tire, and the unit gives an oral instruction for putting the chain on the tire. FIG. 15C shows a further next step on the screen 211 for winding the chain on the tire, and the unit gives an oral instruction for the winding process.
Furthermore, each screen page indicates a previous page key 224′a, a pause key 224′b, a next page key 224′c, and a menu key 224′d all at once. For example in FIG. 15B, the previous page key 224′a can change the screen to show the previous page of FIG. 15A. The next page key 224′c functions to indicate the next screen page of FIG. 15C. The pause key 224′b functions to keep the same image, and a repeat key 224′e is indicated in place of the pause key 224′b until one of the other keys is operated. The repeat key 224′e is also associated with an oral instruction repeatedly given. The menu key 224′d functions to indicate an instruction menu including handling of a tire chain on the screen regardless of the sequence of the screen pages.
Further another conventional vehicle-mounted display unit is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H-11-271100. FIGS. 16A and 16B show the display unit. As shown in FIG. 16A, the display unit has two indication units 72, 73. Each indication unit 72 or 73 has a pointer 52 driven by a driving unit 51 for analog indication of measured values. The indication units 72, 73 are disposed on a single meter board 58. The meter board 58 has also an illumination portion 78. Each indication unit 72 or 73 has a predetermined scale 53 arranged on the meter board 58. Inside each scale 53, there is disposed a display 54 surrounded by the scale 53. Scale numerals 55 are indicated on the display 54. In the left indication unit 73, the scale numerals 55 show engine revolution rates, while in the right indication unit 72, the scale numerals 55 show running speeds of the vehicle. The scale numerals 55 can be changed in indication range and scale unit. The scale numerals 55 can be added with marks including a speed limit mark 79 and a revolution warning mark 80. Thereby, the indication unit can show a vehicle running speed with either of km/hour or mile/hour unit without mechanical modification and another printed marks. Furthermore, the display 54 has other indication areas, for example to show a fuel residual quantity or an expected running distance 71.
The scale numerals 55 and a top 56 of the pointer 52 are arranged so as to be opposed to the markings of the scale 53. Thereby, the analog meters of the indication units 72, 73 are convenient to recognize the revolution or the running speed.
The indication unit 73 has a driving unit 51, a pointer shaft 57, and a driving shaft 59 which are incorporated with each other to compose a component. Therefore, the display 54 is formed with a through hole for engaging the display 54 with the component via the driving shaft 59. The display 54 is a liquid crystal dot-matrix one. The pointer 52 is connected to the pointer shaft 57 through a pointer hub 63 and further to the driving shaft 59. Thus, the driving shaft 59 turns the pointer 52 around a central axis 62.
The analog meter of the indication unit 72 has a driving unit 51 spaced from a central axis 62. The indication unit 72 has a driving shaft 59 which drives a shaft 57 of a pointer 52 through a driving member 60 like a belt. The driving member 60 is covered by a plate 61 not to be visible from the front side. The cover plate 61 also covers the pointer 52 when the pointer 52 is not working. Likewise, the indication unit 73 has a cover plate 61. The driving units 51 of the indication units 72, 73 are positioned in the rear side of the meter board 58 as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 9A.
FIG. 16B shows another control state of the indication unit 73 of FIG. 16A. The pointer of the indication unit 73 is in its rest state to be positioned behind the cover plate 61. The display 54 is used for providing other operational information of the vehicle. The display 54 has an indication area 69 for specifically showing gear position of an automatic gear unit. The display 54 is no longer used for showing engine revolution unlike FIG. 16A, but the display 54 functions to show a warning indication 70 showing overheat of a catalyst in an exhaust gas system. For clearer warning, the warning indication 70 is, for example, of a fluorescence color which is distinguished from the color of the revolution meter shown in FIG. 16A. The speed meter of the indication unit 72 has an additional indication area 67 and another additional 68 showing a running distance of the vehicle.
However, the conventional display system of FIG. 14 is disadvantageous in design of a meter and an instrument panel for indicating a great amount of information which requires a large symbol displaying space. Furthermore, the predetermined indication pattern of FIG. 14 can not show the degree of warning.
The conventional display system of FIG. 15 shows the steps along operation of the keys. However, each screen page shows only a regular pattern, and several keys are necessary to obtain desired information, improvement of which has been needed.
In the conventional display system shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, the left indication unit 73 in FIG. 16A does not show the engine revolution in the state shown in FIG. 16B. Furthermore, the right indication unit 72 shows the additional information in the indication area 67, and the information indication interferes with the pointer 52 in the state shown in FIG. 16B, degrading the information indication in clarity.


Production of products by engineered bacteria is increased by regulating cellular respiration. Cellular respiration is controlled by reducing electron transfer enzyme activity. Some examples of electron transfer enzymes include NADH dehydrogenases, Succinate dehydrogenases, ubiquinone synthesis, cytochrome O, and cytochrome D. In one example, deletion of UbiCA prevents respiration. Respiration can the be controlled by addition of ubiquinone or expression of ubiCA.

The energetic state of microbial cells is very important during cell growth and product production. Currently, significant numbers of valuable products are produced through anaerobic fermentation. However, productivity, mainly production rate, of these processes is usually hampered by slow cell growth and low culture density. This is because under anaerobic conditions the cell generates much less energy from the nutrient; it mostly derives its energy through glycolysis that only yields two moles of ATP per mole of glucose consumed. This ATP yield is much lower than that of aerobic respiration, however, the remaining carbon is conserved for product formation. Certainly, a higher energy yield through aerobic respiration can be achieved, but only at the expense of releasing carbon atoms stored in the feedstock (hence lower product yields).
The aerobic respiratory chain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) is composed of a number of membrane-bound, multisubunit enzymes located within the cytoplasmic membrane. Dehydrogenases such as NADH dehydrogenase or succinate dehydrogenase reduce ubiquinone to ubiquinol within the cytoplasmic membrane. Ubiquinol diffuses within the membrane bilayer and is oxidized by either of two quinol oxidase complexes: the cytochrome O complex or the cytochrome D complex. For a complete review of E. coli respiration, see Ingledew and Poole (1984) incorporated herein by reference.
Two operating procedures have been developed in an attempt to strike an ideal balance between energy generation through aerobic respiration (for better cell growth and cell "fitness") and carbon conservation. One approach is to operate the bioreactor under microaerobic conditions. This reactor configuration provides a slight increase in ATP supply and limits the amount of carbon lost during aerobic respiration. However, it is technically difficult to maintain a constant microaerobic environment in real processes, especially for large bioreactors. Variation in extent of aeration is a problem even in those situations where near complete oxygen saturation is desired. Any increased supply of oxygen will favor cell growth and subsequently decrease the product yield.
A second strategy is to perform the process in two stages. The first stage is to grow the cell under aerobic conditions and then switch to anaerobic conditions for product formation. This strategy avoids the possibility of oxygen oversupply and guarantees a certain product yield for the second stage. However, the supply of ATP still is low during the product formation stage. There are also biological complexities that arise during the transition (proper synthesis and activation of required proteins and cofactors, triggering of cellular stress responses).
What is required to improve production in engineered bacterial cells is a balance between energy generation through aerobic respiration and carbon atom conservation by limited respiration. By limiting respiration, the cell will not "waste" carbon atoms even when the oxygen supply is abundant. At the same time, a sufficient supply of ATP will be available for cell growth and product formation throughout the fermentation processes. Strain respiration can be maintained at levels required for specific bioproduction needs, thus optimizing respiration and carbon conservation.


A media path assembly in an imaging device includes a media guide positioned adjacent and transverse to a media path between a first and a second nip, and having a surface forming a bubble chamber across the media path. A bubble sensor and a narrow media sensor are positioned adjacent to the bubble chamber transverse to the media path and aligned with each other. The bubble sensor is operative to indicate formation in the bubble chamber of a bubble in a media sheet exiting the first nip. The narrow media sensor is operative to indicate media size of the media sheet and, when the media sheet is wide media, provide a balancing force to the media sheet relative to a force applied by the bubble sensor to the media sheet so that a leading edge of the media sheet substantially aligns with the second nip when entering the second nip.

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a media path assembly in an imaging device, and, more particularly, to a system and method for controlling media bubble formation in the imaging device.
Description of the Related Art
Imaging devices, such as an electrophotographic printer, typically monitor and control the movement of media sheets at various points along the media path to ensure adequate print quality. Example areas where media sheet movement is carefully monitored and controlled are the toner transfer nip and the fusing nip. The toner transfer nip and fusing nip each function to move the media sheet along a media path section in addition to their respective toner transfer and fusing functions. If the media sheet moves too quickly or slowly through the toner transfer nip, toner images may not be adequately transferred to the media sheet which may result in print defects. The speed of the media sheet through the fusing nip may also be controlled to optimally fix toner to the media sheet.
The media sheet may move at different speeds along different sections of the media path. For example, the media sheet may move at a different speed through the fuser nip than it moves through the toner transfer nip. In some existing imaging devices, the distance between the toner transfer nip and fusing nip is less than the length of a typical media sheet such that the media sheet may be present in both the transfer nip and the fuser nip at the same time. In this case, if the fuser nip is driven faster than the toner transfer nip, the fuser nip may drag the media sheet and cause print defects. On the other hand, if the fuser nip is driven slower than the toner transfer nip, a bubble will form in the media sheet. The size of the bubble generally depends on the relative speeds between the two nips. If the bubble size is too large, the media sheet may contact elements outside of the media path, which may disturb the toner image on the media sheet, deposit unwanted toner on the media sheet, or otherwise adversely affect print quality. On the other hand, having a bubble size that is too shallow introduces the risk of dragging the media sheet caused by variation in the speed through the fusing nip. Thus, controlling the bubble size is important to maintain image quality. Prior art imaging devices incorporate a bubble sensor between the toner transfer nip and fusing nip in order to sense and control bubble growth on media sheets being fed between the two nips.
In an imaging device employing a reference-edge media feed system in which a side edge of a media sheet rides along a reference edge of the imaging device during feeding, the bubble sensor is typically positioned near the reference edge to allow bubble detection on a wide range of media sizes, including the narrowest media supported. During feeding, the bubble sensor touches the media sheet and applies a drag force on the media sheet. When narrow media is fed, the drag force applied on the media sheet is relatively close to its centerline allowing the media sheet to be fed into the fusing nip without skew or an objectionable amount thereof. However, when wider media is fed, feed reliability may be comprised. This is because the drag force applied by the bubble sensor is positioned farther from the centerline of the wide media which creates a moment on the media sheet that skews the media sheet which may result in poor entry into the fusing nip. Poor entry into the fusing nip may cause print defects. It would be advantageous to be able to reduce, if not eliminate, the imbalance applied on wide media sheets during feeding while maintaining the control of bubble formation.

System and method for controlling media bubble formation in an imaging device


A thermally developable photographic material containing a support, provided thereon: (i) a photosensitive layer containing photosensitive silver halide particles, and (ii) a layer containing at least one represented by formula below on one or both surfaces of the support

Dye is utilized in fields such as a colorant for a polymer material and dichroic dye for liquid crystal, in addition to fields such as an electrophotographic light-sensitive material of an electrophotographic printer, a recording material for an optical disk, a non-linear optical material and a material for a near-infrared cut filter. Dye utilized in these fields, specifically infrared dye, shows low stability against light or heat, and is desired to be further improved.
On the other hand, in the fields of medical diagnosis and graphic arts, antihalation (AH) dye and antiirradiation (AI) dye have been commonly utilized to maintain sharpness despite reflection and refraction of incident light at the time of exposure. Specifically, characteristics required for AH dye and AI dye, utilized in a thermally developable photographic material, include absorption of a desired wavelength of light, no adverse influence to silver halide emulsion, and no residual contamination on the material after development. However, few infrared dyes, which provide maximum absorption in the near-infrared region, and specifically in the region of 700–900 nm, and with very low absorption in the visible region, are known, and an example disclosed includes squalirium dye (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1 and 2). When dye described in these sourses is utilized in a thermally developable photographic material, stability during high heat storage of the photosensitive material is unacceptable, and further improvement has been demanded.
[Patent Literature 1] JP-A 58-220143 (hereinafter, JP-A refers to Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection)
[Patent Literature 2] U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,950

Squalirium compound, thermally developable photographic material containing said compound, and image forming method thereof


Disclosed is a system and method to monitor and count particles removed from a component. The particle monitoring system includes a jet spray device, a snow generator, a particle collection device, and a particle counter. The jet spray device includes an outlet that is disposed locally relative to the component. The snow generator is operable to generate cleaning snow comprising a stream of ice particles, wherein the cleaning snow is emitted from the outlet of the jet spray device onto the component to cause the ejection of particles from the component. The particle collection device includes a collector that is disposed locally around the component to collect particles ejected from the component. The particle counter is coupled to, and in fluid communication with, the particle collection device. The particle counter is operable to detect and count particles ejected from the component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method to monitor particles removed from a component.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Precision optical, mechanical, and electronic components for use in electro-optical, electro-mechanical, electronic systems, and combinations thereof, need to be cleaned prior to assembly, in order to reduce the amount of contaminant particles that are introduced into these often highly sensitive systems. Further, it is important to be able to monitor, count, and characterize removed contaminant particles from the components that are utilized in such systems. This is especially true for highly sensitive storage systems, such as disk drives.
Today, many contaminant particle removal and monitoring systems utilize liquid solvents and ultrasonic energy in order to remove and monitor contaminant particles. For example, in these types of systems, a component is typically suspended in a liquid solvent and ultrasonic energy is applied to remove particles from the component. The solvent is then processed through a liquid particle counter for the counting, measurement, and binning of the various removed contaminant particles based upon particle size. This information may then be analyzed such that the number and sizes of contaminant particles removed from a particular component can be characterized.
Unfortunately, this commonly-used liquid solvent method, which utilizes ultrasonic energy, is frequency and power dependent and may either be ineffective at particle removal and/or may erode the very component that is being cleaned. Further, this type of liquid solvent particle removal process for a component does not correlate well to the actual particle release from the component in the system as occurs in normal operation. Moreover, the use of liquid solvents, such as chlorofluorocarbons and ketones, are environmentally hazardous and require numerous environmental safety procedures.

System and method to monitor particles removed from a component


A lubricating oil composition is provided which is excellent in oxidation stability, base number retention properties, anti-wear properties, extreme pressure properties and anti-corrosion properties and is a low phosphorus and low sulfur lubricating oil composition particularly suitable for internal combustion engines. The composition comprises a lubricating base oil, (A) at least one type selected from the group consisting of metal salts of sulfur-free phosphorus-containing acidic organic compounds, (B) at least one type selected from the group consisting of phosphorus-containing carboxylic acid compounds and metal salts thereof, and (C) at least one type selected from the group consisting of anti-oxidants.

The present invention relates to lubricating oil compositions. More specifically, the present invention relates to lubricating oil compositions which are extremely excellent in oxidation stability, base number retention properties, anti-wear properties, extreme pressure properties and anti-corrosion properties, particularly suitable for internal combustion engines.
Conventionally, lubricating oils have been used in internal combustion engines and automatic transmissions so as to facilitate the smooth operation thereof. In particular, lubricating oils for internal combustion engines (engine oils) have been required to possess high characteristic performances due to the fact that recent developed engines have been improved in performances, increased in power output and used under more severe operating conditions and further required to be improved in long-drain properties enabling the prolongation of oil drain intervals from the view point of recent environmental issues. Therefore, in order to fulfill such requirements, conventional engine oils are blended with various additives such as anti-wear agents, metallic detergents, ashless dispersants, and anti-oxidants so as to improve their characteristic performances.
The inventors of the present invention have already found that a lubricating oil composition containing less or no zinc dithiophosphate that is an anti-wear and anti-oxidation agent having been used conventionally as an indispensable additive for internal combustion engine lubricating oils, but containing a specific phosphorus-containing compound was able to exhibit extremely excellent long-drain properties (oxidation stability, base number retention properties and thermal stability) while maintaining anti-wear properties equally to a composition containing zinc dithiophosphate. As the result, the inventors filed patent application for such a lubricating oil composition, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2002-294271 and 2004-83751.
It was confirmed that a lubricating oil composition containing such a specific phosphorus compound when optically blended with other additives was able to exhibit anti-wear properties evaluated by a valve train wear test for domestically produced automobile engines as represented by JASO M328-95 comparably to a composition containing zinc dithiophosphate. However, the lubricating oil is required to possess extreme pressure properties and anti-wear properties more excellent than ever so as to be used in a special engine operating under more severe conditions or used under particular circumstances where more excellent extreme pressure properties and anti-wear properties are required; or required to fulfill a requirement that the phosphorus content is decreased to 0.08 percent by mass or less to meet the suitableness for an exhaust-gas purifying catalyst in the forthcoming ILSAC GF-4 standard or another requirement of low phosphorus content that the phosphorus content is decreased to 0.05 percent by mass or less to be sought in ILSAC GF-5 standard which is a plan under consideration. However, many of the sulfur-containing extreme pressure additives not only extremely degrade base number retention properties but also exert harmful influence on an exhaust-gas after-treatment device, i.e., fails to solve the problems that an exhaust-gas purifying catalyst such as a three-way catalyst, an oxidation catalyst and a NOx adsorber and DPF or an exhaust-gas treatment system which is the combination of DPF with the exhaust-gas purifying catalyst, in particular the oxidation catalyst or NOx adsorber undergo to catalyst poisoning and/or clogging of DPF caused by the increased sulfur. Therefore, it has been very difficult to produce a lubricating oil which can achieve the decrease of phosphorus and sulfur or additionally ash content while maintaining excellent long-drain properties, extreme pressure properties and anti-wear properties and reducing adverse affect on the exhaust-gas after-treatment device.


The present invention is an appearance inspection apparatus and method utilizing multiple light sources in a lighting unit 30 to alternately irradiate, line by line, side light from a side light source and slit light from a slit light source onto board 1 to be inspected. A correction value memory unit stores digital correction values required for correcting shadings for the side light source and the slit light source and an analysis unit utilizes these digital correction values to correct shadings on the image data. A highly accurate image is thus obtained.

IC chips or LSI chips are typically bonded onto a circuit board by soldering. The soldering steps comprise: application of a cream type solder (hereinafter referred to as "soldering cream") onto electrodes mounted in the board using a screen printing machine; coating the lead wires of the chips with soldering cream and heating the cream type solder using a reflowing machine e.g. an oven. Insufficient application of soldering cream may cause the soldering to fail. It is therefore important that the coating state of the cream solder be inspected before the chips are mounted onto the board. In the case of BGAs (Ball Grid Arrays), an input pad and an output pad are arranged on the back of the package. Once the BGA chips are bonded onto the board, inspection of soldering conditions are too late. Soldering conditions must be inspected before the BGA chips are bonded onto the board.
To accurately detect defects, the inspection apparatus for inspecting the soldering cream coating conditions must provide a very high resolution of the captured image of the board with a resolution corresponding to the packaging density. Moreover, due to time constraints in the packaging process, the inspection operation must be conducted quickly and without causing a delay in shipment. It should be noted that one bad product found in a shipment generates additional jobs such as collection, repair, re-shipment that would not have been required otherwise. Profits from sales may not cover the cost of all these additional jobs.
Conventional inspection apparatus inspects the soldering cream coating condition on the body to be inspected by measuring the area within which a soldering cream is coated. Since it is essential for an appropriate amount of soldering cream to be coated onto a chip to effectuate normal soldering, the appropriate amount and not the coating area should be measured to perform an accurate inspection. Without a highly accurate volume measurement of the soldering cream, there is no accurate inspection. Accordingly, to perform a highly accurate inspection, the volume measurement of the soldering cream is essential.
An apparatus which irradiates a line pattern onto a board through a slit in a light projector with the image of the board captured using a camera to analyze the shape of the soldering paste is taught in Japanese unexamined patent (Kokai) No. H05-187838.

Appearance inspection apparatus and method of image capturing using the same


The present invention provides a non-return valve for a resin injection system, especially for use in electrical cable joints, comprising: a valve housing which includes an outlet for a fluid flowing through the valve; and a valve body which is held by the valve housing and is freely movable between a closed position, in which the outlet is substantially sealed or closed to fluid flow by the valve body, and an open position, in which the outlet is substantially open to fluid flow. Thus, with the present invention, the valve body can be loosely held by the valve housing and the valve need not include any spring means to bias the valve body to the closed position. The invention also provides a resin injection system for sealing a localized breach in an object, such as an electrical cable joint.

Resin injection systems for use in repairing pipes or conduits and for use in sealing joints formed in communication or electrical cables are generally known. Systems of this type are referred to, for example, in the French patent publication FR 2 702 604 A1 and in the German patent publication DE 100 40 398 A1.
In FR 2 702 604 A1, a resin bag for the resin injection system is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings and a non-return valve for the system is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The non-return valve in this example includes a conventional coil spring that biases a frusto-conically shaped valve body into a closed position seated within a conical recess.
In DE 100 40 398 A1, another example of a non-return valve is illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings as part of a resin injection system for sealing or repairing a crack in a gas line, with the non-return valve illustrated in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. The non-return valve in this example includes curved spring members that are integrally formed with a valve body for biasing the valve body into a closed position seated within a conical recess. Although the non-return valve proposed in DE 100 40 398 A1 has only two parts, i.e. compared with the three-part configuration described in FR 2 702 604 A1, the curved spring members that are integrally formed with the valve body require precise tolerances and render manufacture of the valve quite intricate and therefore relatively costly. Further, the curved spring members may be susceptible to fracture or to release in use, creating problems during resin injection.

Non-return valve for a resin injection system and resin injection system incorporating same


A method for providing selective mid-call call forwarding from a mobile station associated with a subscriber to a wireless service provider is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes: a) receiving an incoming call, b) ringing the mobile station, c) receiving a mid-call call forwarding activation from the mobile station, d) retrieving a telephone number associated with the mid-call call forwarding activation from a service plan associated with the subscriber, and e) forwarding the incoming call to a telephone device associated with the retrieved telephone number. In another embodiment, the mid-call call forwarding activation is a control signal resulting from a user pressing at least one key on the mobile station. In other aspects, a method of adding and/or modifying a selective mid-call call forwarding feature to a service plan associated with the subscriber is provided.

The invention generally relates to selective mid-call call forwarding and, more particularly, to a method for providing selective mid-call call forwarding from a mobile station (MS) associated with a subscriber to a wireless service provider and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the invention is also amenable to other applications. For example, providing selective mid-call call forwarding from any type of telephone device.
Call forwarding services for non-wireless and wireless telephone subscribers are known. However, none of the current call forwarding services allow an MS (or other type of telephone device) user to selectively initiate call forwarding for an incoming call in the middle of call processing (e.g., while the called telephone device is ringing). For example, several commonly-assigned patents identified below disclose call forwarding services for wireless telephone subscribers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,564 to Rao et al. and assigned to Lucent Technologies, herein incorporated by reference, discloses intelligent call forwarding in an intelligent network. The intelligent network includes a Service Switching Point (SSP), a Service Control Point (SCP), and a Service Management System (SMS). A call to a network subscriber is routed to the SSP which is used to detect Call Forwarding "triggers"—conditions which require the SSP to initiate selective Call Forwarding service. When a Call Forwarding trigger is detected, the SSP passes the calling party's number to the SCP and requests call handling instructions from the SCP. The SCP provides the call handling instructions, as provisioned by the subscriber, to the SSP, and the SSP then forwards the call in accordance with the instructions. The SMS formulates and sends commands to the SCP for such purposes as changing the stored subscriber instructions or updating service features. By provisioning the SCP with appropriate instructions the forwarding destination for a call may be made to depend upon the time of day, day of the week, caller's identity, and/or status of the called telephone.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,503 to Chavez and assigned to Lucent Technologies discloses a subscriber activated wireless telephone call rerouting system that enables the subscriber to reroute incoming calls to an alternate destination that is off network. This service can be activated from either the subscriber's wireless telephone or from any other telephone that is part of the wireless telephone network or the non-wireless public switched telephone network and can be deactivated by the subscriber simply initiating a call from their wireless telephone. The alternate destination selected by the subscriber can be any telephone that is part of the wireless telephone network or the non-wireless public switched telephone network, either a local calling area number or a long distance number.
A user of an MS (or other type of telephone device) may prefer to answer certain calls while forwarding other calls to another telephone number. By using, for example, caller ID information, the user can distinguish between calls he/she wants to answer and calls he/she wants to forward. As a practical example, when a subscriber is attending a meeting, rather than having all calls forwarded, the subscriber may like to selectively screen calls so that he/she may answer calls from one particularly important person, while selectively forwarding other calls to another telephone number. Depending on the circumstances, a subscriber may also like to take unexpected calls from certain individuals, while selectively forwarding other calls to another telephone number. Current call forwarding services do not provide for such types of selective call forwarding.
Thus, there is motivation for a selective mid-call call forwarding feature from a mobile station.

Method for selective mid-call call forwarding from mobile station


A tendency of the controlled load to oscillate when controlling a capacitive load can be avoided according to a piezo actuator for an injection valve of an internal combustion engine, having charging and discharging processes for charging and discharging the capacitive load by means of a load current, each loading process being effected by chronological partial load current pulses according to chronological partial charging capacity pulses (p1, p2, . . . pn), wherein the envelope (E) of the partial charging capacity pulses (p1, p2, . . . pn), during the loading process, increases in a strictly monotonous manner in an initial phase, and the slope of the envelope decreases in a monotonous manner.

Methods and devices of this kind are known for example from DE 199 44 733 A1, DE 198 14 594 A1 and DE 199 52 950 A1.
The recently tightened engine exhaust emission standards in particular have caused the motor vehicle industry to develop fuel injectors with fast and instantaneously operating final control elements or actuators. In terms of the practical implementation of such final control elements, piezoelectric elements (piezo actuators for short) have proved particularly advantageous. Piezoelectric elements of this kind are generally assembled as a stack of piezoceramic disks which are operated via a parallel electric circuit in order to be able to achieve the electric field strengths necessary for a sufficient displacement.
To control a capacitive load such as a piezo actuator which is used for actuating an injection valve, i.e. during charging and discharging of the capacitive load by means of a load current, considerable requirements are placed on the control electronics. An injection valve operated by a piezo actuator is used in internal combustion engines for injecting fuel (e.g. gasoline, diesel, etc.) into a combustion chamber. This places very exacting requirements on precise and reproducible opening and closing of the valve and therefore also on the control electronics, with voltages ranging up to several 100 V and, transiently, load currents for charging and discharging of more than 10 A having to be provided. Control mainly takes place in fractions of milliseconds. At the same time, the current and voltage must be fed to the actuator in as controlled a manner as possible during these charging and discharging processes.
DE 199 44 733 A1 discloses a circuit arrangement for controlling a piezo actuator in which the actuator is charged by a charging capacitor via a transformer. For this purpose a charging switch disposed on the primary side of the transformer is controlled by a pulse width modulated control signal. Both the charging switch and the discharging switch are implemented there as controllable semiconductor switches. Predefined energy packets are fed to and removed from the piezo actuator during charging and discharging respectively. The disclosed arrangement is based on the principle of a "bidirectional flyback converter" and allows precise apportioning of energy during charging and discharging of the piezo actuator.
DE 198 14 594 A1 describes a circuit arrangement for charging and discharging a single piezoelectric element. The control circuit disclosed is based on a half-bridge output stage which controls the piezo element via an inductor (choke), said choke being used primarily to limit the charging current occurring during charging and the discharging current occurring during discharging. Charging and discharging take place in a pulsed manner, i.e. by repeated opening and closing of a charging switch during charging and of a discharging switch during discharging, respectively. This again allows precise apportioning of energy during charging and discharging of the piezo actuator.
DE 199 52 950 A1 discloses a control unit for a piezo actuator in which the piezo actuator is controlled by an output stage designed as a "flyback converter". The flyback converter with transformer used here enables the electrical energy supplied during the charging process to be largely recovered during discharging, temporarily stored in the converter and reused for the subsequent charging process. To charge the piezo actuator, a charging switch connected in series with the primary side of the transformer is operated intermittently. When the charging switch is closed, the current flowing on the primary side is compared with a reference current value. When the primary current attains the reference current value, the charging switch is opened again. This process is carried out repeatedly, so that each charging operation is effected by consecutive (secondary side) partial charging current pulses corresponding to consecutive partial charging power pulses. The time integral of each secondary-side partial charging power pulse represents an energy pulse on the secondary side of the transformer, the value of which is defined by the prevailing reference current value. In a first embodiment (FIG. 2,) the reference current value is set to a constant value during the charging process so that, on the secondary side, consecutive pulses of constant energy for charging the piezo actuator are generated. In another embodiment (FIG. 3), the charging process is started with a relatively large energy pulse which is followed by successively smaller energy pulses. In yet another embodiment (FIG. 4), an essentially cosine waveform of the reference current value is specified.
The problem with comparatively fast control of the capacitive load, as is required particularly for actuating an injection valve of an internal combustion engine, for example, is the risk of post-oscillation of the actuator because of mechanical and/or electrical resonances at the end of each charging or discharging process. When an actuator is controlled in such a way that a charging phase is followed by a holding phase and finally by a discharging phase, this may result in e.g. post-oscillation in the holding phase and/or discontinuities during activation or deactivation of the actuator. These effects are more pronounced the more rapidly the charging and discharging processes brought about by the pulsed current flow take place. In addition, many capacitive loads in practice possess a variable large signal capacitance or nonlinearities, which makes it difficult to achieve a particularly well defined energy input or output response and tends to increase and complicate the abovementioned oscillation or post-oscillation effects. When the capacitive load is a piezo stack, not only nonlinearities but also polarization losses and creep effects, etc. occur. Finally, for controlling an actuator for an injection valve of an internal combustion engine, transfer function effects of other coupling elements (e.g. hydraulic converters, hydraulic backlash compensation, levers, coupling rods, etc.) are also present.

Method and device for controlling a capacitive load


A circuit for detecting the zero crossing of a variable voltage across at least one switching element, including circuitry for measuring the slope of the voltage when it varies in a given direction, and for indicating a zero crossing if this slope is comprised within a range of values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the detection of a zero crossing of a variable voltage and, more specifically, to the detection of the zero crossings of an A.C. voltage of known frequency.
The present invention, for example, applies to systems for detecting zero crossing of the mains voltage for controlling the operation of power converters, and especially of converters using (for example, as a controllable rectifying element) one or several power switches of thyristor, IGBT, etc. type.
The present invention more specifically applies to the case where the triggering of the power converter is desired to be controlled in the vicinity of a zero crossing to limit the surge current, without using a resistor having a high value.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A recurrent problem of systems for detecting the zero crossing of an A.C. voltage provided by the mains is to avoid wrong detections due to microfailures making the mains voltage transiently disappear, or to bounces linked to the use of a mechanical switch on circuit powering-on.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary power converter connected to the electric distribution network, of the type to which the present invention applies. For example, it may be a converter of switched-mode power supply type. The power converter is symbolized by a block 1 (PWC) in charge of supplying a load (not shown) with a voltage Vout. Generally, such a converter regulates voltage Vout on a predetermined reference value.
Converter 1 receives a D.C. voltage sampled across a filtering capacitor Cf connecting rectified output terminals 2 and 3 of a controllable bridge 4 having its A.C. inputs 5 and 6 receiving mains supply voltage Vac. In practice, a switch 7, generally a mechanical switch, is interposed between a first terminal 8 of application of voltage Vac and a first terminal 5 of bridge 4. Second A.C. input 6 of bridge 4 is connected to the second terminal 9 of application of voltage Vac. A mains filter (not shown) is further interposed between terminals 8 and 9 of application of voltage Vac and bridge 4.
In the example of FIG. 1, bridge 4 is a controllable bridge comprised of two thyristors Th1 and Th2 and two diodes D1 and D2. For example, thyristor Th1 is in series with diode D1 between terminals 3 and 2, the interconnection point corresponding to A.C. input terminal 5. Thyristor Th2 is in series with diode D2 between terminals 3 and 2, with terminal 6 as an interconnection point. Thyristors Th1 and Th2 are, in this example, cathode-gate thyristors and are controlled by a circuit 10 detecting the zero crossings (ZVS) of the voltage thereacross.
Other configurations are possible. In particular, the respective positions of the thyristors and of the diodes may be inverted. Similarly, additional switches, controlled according to the zero crossings of the A.C. voltage may be interposed at other circuit locations.
The function of circuit 10 for detecting the zero crossings is to turn on thyristors Th1 and Th2 each, at least at the starting, in the vicinity of the zero crossing of A.C. voltage Vac to avoid a turning-on of controlled bridge 4 in the middle of a halfwave, that is, under a high voltage. More generally, such a detection of the zero voltage relates to the zero crossings of the voltage between terminals of circuit 10, in practice across different elements of the converter. In the case of FIG. 1, this detection is performed across the actual power switches, circuit 10 providing control signals to the gates of thyristors Th1 and Th2.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional example of a circuit 10 for detecting the zero crossings of an A.C. voltage of the type illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the thyristors controlled by circuit 10 have also been shown, but for the fact that they are here assumed to be in the high stage of the rectifying bridge, that is, at the respective locations of diodes D1 and D2, which illustrates an alternative assembly with respect to FIG. 1.
In the representation of FIG. 2, thyristors Th1 and Th2 have their respective anodes connected to terminals 5 and 6 and their cathodes connected to terminal 2. The low portion of the bridge, formed, for example, of diodes, has not been illustrated. The assembly comprises a detection element for detecting the voltage difference between terminals 5 and 6 and a control element for controlling switches Th1 and Th2.
The respective gates of thyristors Th1 and Th2 are connected to the junction point of a MOS power transistor M and of a resistor R2. The gate of transistor M is connected to terminal 2 by a capacitor C and to the anode of an auxiliary thyristor Th3, triggered by the element for detecting the zero crossing of the voltage at terminals 5 and 6. This detection element comprises two diodes D3 and D4 having their respective anodes connected to terminals 5 and 6 and having their cathodes interconnected at a node A of the assembly. A dividing bridge, formed of resistors R3 and R4 in series, connects points A and terminal 2. The junction point is connected to the gate of thyristor Th3. In practice, a zener diode DZ2 is interposed between this gate and resistor R3 to set a control threshold. Capacitor C (anode of thyristor Th3) is connected to terminal A by a resistor R1 and a diode D7 connects this terminal A to the source of transistor M having its drain connected to resistor R2. Transistor M ensures an impedance matching between capacitor C and resistor R2 and a control of the current in resistor R2 according to the voltage across capacitor C. A diode D is connected in parallel on capacitor C.
The values of resistors R1, R2, R3, and R4 are selected so that the voltage across capacitor C is greater than the voltage across resistor R3, independently from the voltage difference between terminals 2 and A.
The function of capacitor C is to damp the abrupt variations of the supply voltage to avoid, due to thyristor Th3, the turning-on of one of thyristors Th1 or Th2. Thyristor Th3, when on, prevents the triggering of a thyristor Th1 or Th2 since it discharges capacitor C, preventing the turning-on of transistor M.
A circuit for limiting the surge current and controlling power switches of a rectifying bridge such as illustrated in FIG. 2 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,749, which is incorporated herein by reference.
A disadvantage of this solution is that it is difficult to integrate due to the large number of analog components used.
Another disadvantage is the use of a high-voltage MOS transistor (M).

Detection of the zero crossing of an A.C. voltage


Water-based nanoparticle inks may be formulated to be compatible with printed electronic direct-write methods. The water-based nanoparticle inks may include a functional material (nanoparticle) in combination with an appropriate solvent system. A method may include dispersing nanoparticles in a solvent and printing a circuit in an aerosol jet process or plasma jet process.

The versatility of direct write techniques such as aerosol jet printing (AJP) and ink jet printing (UP) has recently intersected with two-dimensional (2D) materials research in developing wearable sensors. Graphene and 2D transition metal nitrides, carbides and carbonitrides (MXenes) are of particular interest for wearable sensor applications due to their biocompatibility and multifunctional nature. However, in typical processes, these 2D materials may not be associated with inks that have sufficient properties (e.g., viscosity, concentrations) to enable effective AJP and/or UP. Because of these properties, typical inks may be contacted by biocompatible metals, e.g. platinum, in order to enable functional devices such as wearable and/or implantable electrochemical sensors and neural interfaces. Also, current direct write techniques with typical inks may be limited in their functional resolution. Other disadvantages may exist.


The present invention relates to a cutting tool insert for metal machining comprising a substrate with a first coating and an outermost PVD-layer. The insert further comprises clearance faces and rake faces intersecting to form cutting edges having essentially no edge radius. The first coating has been removed so that the outermost PVD-layer is the only layer on the clearance face at least close to the cutting edge. The present invention also relates to a method of making such an insert. The inserts according to the present invention gives an increased tool life.

The present invention relates to a coated cutting tool insert with a sharp cutting edge particularly useful for machining of non ferrous materials such as titanium, aluminium, brass, bronze, heat resistant and super alloys, plastics as well as small part machining in steel and stainless steel.
For the machining of metals, like milling, turning and drilling, cutting tool inserts of cemented carbide having a rake face and clearance faces intersecting to form a cutting edge are used. The cutting edge should be sharp to provide low cutting forces and low energy consumption. However, cemented carbide is a brittle material and for that reason a sharp cutting edge is generally not strong enough. If it breaks, the cutting forces increase and the surface finish of the machined material will be poor. In order to strengthen the edge, it can be rounded to a radius of generally 10-50 μm, or provided with a chamfer or a land. The exact design of the edge depends on the material to be machined and is a compromise between acceptable cutting forces and strength of the edge. Some workpiece materials such as aluminium, etc., require a very sharp edge with minimal edge rounding. An excessively rounded edge can in such materials represent a worn edge and can affect the subsequent wear development. For the machining of such materials, uncoated cemented carbide inserts are generally used. If a coating is applied, the edge will be less sharp particularly if coated with CVD- or MTCVD-techniques. In addition, coated cutting edges require a certain amount of rounding to ensure a satisfactory application of a coating. It is however, a desire to be able to use coated inserts also for the machining of materials requiring sharp cutting edges.
US patent application 2006/0019120 A1 discloses a cutting tool insert for metal machining comprising a coating comprising at least one wear resistant layer and a substrate and said insert further comprising clearance faces and rake faces intersecting to form cutting edges. The cutting edge has essentially no edge radius. The coating has been removed by grinding on the clearance face at least close to the cutting edge. It has, however, been found that such an insert has in some applications insufficient wear resistance.


Methods of producing a pipe include curling a skelp into a cylindrical shape by bringing laterally opposed edges of the skelp together to form a seam, butt welding the seam to define the pipe downstream of the skelp, thereby leaving a radially inwardly extending weld bead. The weld bead is deburred off the pipe according to a depth of cut of a cutting tool. The depth of cut may be adjusted during deburring, and/or rotation of the cutting tool may be adjusted during deburring. The methods may be carried out using one or both of an adjustment device carried by a housing to pivot an adjustment member for adjustment of an upstream guide to adjust a depth of cut of the cutting tool into the weld bead, or an adjustment device carried by the housing and coupled to the cutting tool to rotate the cutting tool during deburring.

Various types of pipe may be manufactured according to many different processes. For example, oil field pipe of three to four feet in diameter and 80 to 100 feet in length is frequently welded from sheet stock in a longitudinally continuous manner according to several simultaneous steps. For instance, as illustrated in prior art FIG. 1, a strip of metal or skelp S is unrolled from a coil of sheet metal (not shown). The skelp S is curled into a cylindrical shape by bringing laterally opposed edges E of the skelp S together to form a seam B. The seam B is butt welded, thereby leaving a radially inwardly extending weld bead W. The weld bead W is removed with a deburring apparatus D that remains stationary as a freshly formed pipe P is fed downstream over the deburring apparatus D.
The deburring apparatus D includes a support arm A suspended from a welding machine (not shown), a cylinder C carried by the support arm A projecting into an upstream end of the freshly formed pipe P, and deburring tooling T pivotably carried at a downstream end of the cylinder. The deburring tooling T usually includes a housing H pivotably mounted to the cylinder C, and rollers R rotatably carried by the housing H to engage an internal surface of the freshly formed pipe P and are grooved to straddle the weld bead W to set the depth of the tooling T. The deburring tooling T also includes a cutting insert I carried by the housing H between the rollers R for cutting the weld bead W off the pipe P. The housing H pivots about a pivot axis V, which is disposed between the rollers R and downstream of the cutting insert I. The housing H passively floats in a pivotable manner, but is not actively adjusted. The depth of cut may be adjusted according to a plane established between the two rollers R and the tooling T. The front roller R may be moved to shift the angle of the plane.
But conventional deburring devices typically are not adjustable for "in-process" cutter changes and/or depth of cut changes, during the pipe manufacturing operation and, at the very least, are not adjustable over a plurality of incremental or infinitely variable adjustment positions. Moreover, the inside of the pipe is a very high temperature environment and conventional deburring devices do not provide a robust method of adjusting cutters or depth of cut on an in-process basis.


A method of forming a storage tank from an existing matrix tank comprises adding spaced internal support ribs. The interior surface of the matrix tank is covered with a layer of fibrous reinforced resinous material to form a main body and internal support ribs are added. The main body and support ribs are secured together such that the ribs protrude inwardly. The formed tank is fully and independently capable of containing liquid and withstanding normal internal and external load forces. A double walled formed storage tank system is also provided wherein an inner wall between or on the internal support ribs is added.

Underground storage tanks for the bulk storing of liquids typically hold up to about 50,000 gallons of liquid. The tanks must be sufficiently strong to withstand internal forces exerted by the weight of the liquid as well as normal external ground forces. They must be reliable in that even the smallest of leaks over time can eventually cause substantial damage to the environment.
Storage tanks which are intended for burial underground to hold gasoline such as commonly found at retail gasoline service stations are typically warranted for at least ten years. The tanks, per se, are expensive as is their installation. Any storage tank which is suspected of leaking can be inspected. Various leak-testers have been developed and commercialized for this purpose. It is also possible to empty the tank and then access its interior for a close-up visual and/or hand-held instrument wall inspection. In the past, any tank with a suspected or actual leakage problem could be repaired. It was conventional to apply a coating of polyester or epoxy coating material to the entire interior of the tank. A coating of from 100 to 300 mils was considered adequate to refurbish the tank to its original integrity.
In certain instances a tank may be too extensively corroded or cracked to repair it. Additionally, recent federal and state regulations in the industry have severely limited the availability of coating a tank's interior as an option to solving a leakage problem. Removing a buried underground storage tank and replacing it with a new storage tank is very expensive. The down-time of the service station is also costly in terms of lost revenue.
In accord with a need, there has been developed a new method of building underground storage tanks. The method utilizes an existing buried tank which is in need of refurbishing. Normal removal and installation costs are eliminated. The resultant in situ formed tank enjoys all of the benefits of factory manufactured tanks.

Storage tanks with internal support ribs


A linearizer for reducing intermodulation distortion in a non-linear device. The novel linearizer includes an input port for receiving a signal from the device and a circuit for effecting gain expansion on the signal that counteracts a gain compression of the device. In an illustrative embodiment, the circuit includes a starved limiter in shunt with the device, implemented using a pair of biased diodes D1 and D2. The first diode D1 is connected to ground and the second diode D2 is coupled to the signal. In an alternate embodiment, the linearizer also includes a second pair of biased diodes D3 and D4, D3 connected to ground and D4 coupled to the signal, and a plurality of reactive elements for increasing the operational bandwidth of the linearizer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical and electronic circuits and systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for reducing intermodulation distortion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Intermodulation distortion is a major problem in many electronic circuits, particularly for radar receivers. Receivers typically include several non-linear components, such as amplifiers and mixers, which produce intermodulation distortion whenever more than one frequency is present in the input signal. The greater the non-linearity of the device, the higher the intermodulation created. This effect is usually measured by the third order intercept point (IP3) of the device.
Distortion can be reduced by using higher linearity components such as high power amplifiers, but greater linearity typically requires larger devices, higher power, and greater cost. An alternative solution for reducing intermodulation distortion is to employ distortion cancellation techniques such as feedforward cancellation or predistortion modulation. These approaches, however, typically require large, complex circuitry and can often add to the noise figure of the system.
Hence, a need exists in the art for an improved system or method for reducing intermodulation distortion that offers better performance and less complexity than prior art approaches.

System and method for intermodulation distortion cancellation


A variable-gain amplifier circuit includes an input port, an output port, and first and second amplifiers coupled therebetween. The first amplifier includes a first amplifier path having a first amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a first range, and a second amplifier path having a second amplification factor greater than the first amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a second range including voltages of a first polarity greater than that in the first range. The second amplifier includes a third amplifier path having the first amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a third range, and a fourth amplifier path having the second amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a fourth range including voltages of a second polarity greater than that in the third range.

The present invention relates to broadband telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a Class-AB amplifier for a line driver in a broadband telecommunications system.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical circuit structure of a Class-AB amplifier 10, including a pre-amplifier (pre-amp) 12, error amplifiers 14 (14a, 14b) and 15 (15a, 15b), and large-sized output devices 16 (16a-16d) in a closed loop configuration. An input signal is amplified through these three stages. Because of the push-pull nature of the Class-AB amplifier structure, both N-type error amplifiers 14 and P-type error amplifiers 15 are required. In order to achieve a required linearity level of the amplifier for a specific application, typically the open loop gain of the amplifier 10 has to be maximized while maintaining stability. To realize a large open loop gain, the gain of each amplifier stage in the signal path, i.e., the pre-amp gain, the error amplifier gain, and the gain from the output devices, should be maximized as much as possible.
However, the gain of an error amplifier cannot be made arbitrarily large because of offset of the error amplifier, which largely depends on the matching of transistors in the error amplifier. The offset of the error amplifier is statistical in nature and considered random, and varies over process and temperature. Such a random offset of the error amplifier causes a random variation in an offset voltage. Since a quiescent current variation (xcex94IQ/IQ) is proportional to the offset voltage (xcex94V) and the gain (Av) of the amplifier, a large gain of the amplifier causes a large quiescent current variation, which results in excess power dissipation and/or degraded linearity of the overall amplifier.
The quiescent current is basically the operating supply current of the amplifiers, and is required to bias the internal circuitry (such as output devices) of the amplifiers. Since the quiescent current must be always be supplied whether there is signal applied or not, it adds to the power consumption and power dissipation of the amplifier. Designing for very low quiescent current significantly reduces the power dissipation. However, on the other hand, in order to obtain a low distortion and/or high linearity performance of the amplifier, an additional biasing current (i.e., a larger quiescent current) is typically required for the internal circuitry. In such a case, a large fluctuation in the quiescent current also degrades the linearity of the amplifier.
There are two conventional approaches to solve the offset problem of the error amplifier. A widely adopted approach is to limit the gain of the error amplifier (typically an amplification factor of less than 10) to reduce the quiescent current variation due to a random offset. This approach is effective when the signal bandwidth is low and/or the required linearity level of the amplifier is not high. However, simply limiting the error amplifier gain is not an acceptable solution in the applications where the bandwidth and linearity requirements are more demanding, for example, in broadband communications. In broadband communications, the linearity or signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the amplifier dictates the achievable data rate between a transmitter and a receiver.
The other approach to solve the offset problem of the error amplifier is to monitor the quiescent current of the amplifier and adjust the offset using a quiescent control circuit in negative feedback configuration. This approach has been used in Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) applications with moderate linearity level. However, complex hardware is required to realize the quiescent current control circuit.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to reduce the quiescent current variation due to amplifier offset while maintaining a sufficient bandwidth and good linearity of the overall amplifier without adding a complex control circuit.
An amplifier circuit having a variable output gain includes an input port for receiving an input signal, an output port for supplying an output signal, a first amplifier coupled between the input port and the output port, and a second amplifier coupled between the input port and the output port. The first amplifier includes a first amplifier path having a first amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a first voltage range, and a second amplifier path having a second amplification factor greater than the first amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a second voltage range, the second voltage range including voltages of a first polarity greater than that in the first voltage range. The second amplifier includes a third amplifier path having the first amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a third voltage range, and a fourth amplifier path having the second amplification factor, effective when the input signal has a voltage level in a fourth voltage range, the fourth voltage range including voltages of a second polarity greater than that in the third voltage range.


A method for monitoring an electric motor of a hydraulic brake system for a motor vehicle, wherein a first torque and a second torque are calculated and compared with one another. A fault can be detected on the basis of the comparison. The invention also relates to an associated electronic control module, to an associated hydraulic brake system and to an associated non-volatile computer-readable storage medium.

In electrohydraulic brake systems, a pressure in a hydraulic circuit is typically generated at least partially by an electric actuator. The latter contains, for example, an electric motor, a piston and a spindle drive for driving the piston by means of the electric motor. Such arrangements are also referred to as linear actuators (LAC=linear actuator). The generated pressure can be conducted via various lines and valves to wheel brakes where it can bring about a braking effect. The pressure within a linear actuator is typically measured and monitored by a pressure sensor.
Owing to the relevance of a brake system to safety, it is typically necessary in a motor vehicle to monitor the state of a pressure generator as described above. It may be the case, for example, that a linear actuator is blocked or has too much friction. In both cases it may be the case that the braking effect can no longer be generated as desired, which can constitute a considerable safety risk for the respective vehicle.
In the prior art it is known to implement a pressure-deviation monitoring process which compares a desired pressure with an actually present pressure. As a result, although faults can be detected, it has been found that this procedure has disadvantages. For example, a pure pressure comparison does not provide any indication of the underlying problem, and furthermore such a pressure comparison can be carried out only in the case of an activation of the brake system. This means that a fault in the brake system is detected at the actual time when braking is necessary.

Method for monitoring an electric motor, electronic control module, hydraulic brake system and storage medium


The present invention relates to an oral formulation contained in physically separated compartments of a suitable dispenser, comprising a first oral composition comprising from about 0.5% to about 50% of an alkali metal bicarbonate salt and from about 50% to about 99.5% of one or more aqueous carriers; and a second oral composition comprising a safe and effective amount of a plant species of the Ericaceae family or its extract and from about 40% to about 99.9% of one or more aqueous carriers.

The present invention relates to two phase oral formulations which contain ingredients when upon contact with each other neutralize and produce an effervescent effect. This invention comprises a basic phase which comprises an alkali metal bicarbonate salt and an acidic phase which comprises a plant species or extract of the Ericaceae family.
Oral care products consisting of separated first and second compositions which when brought together effervescence are already known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,553, issued Apr. 24, 1973, to Gold et al., discloses an effervescing mouthwash composition. Effervescing toothpastes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,757, issued Dec. 11, 1984, to Kiozpeoplou, and in WO 95/02392, published Jan. 26, 1995. Additionally, an observation that cranberry juice and other beverages could inhibit enzymes from plaque is noted in S. Kasket et al, "In-vitro Inhibition of Glucosyltransferase From Plaque Bacterium Streptococcus Mutans by Common Beverage and Food Extracts", Arch Oral Biology, Vol 30, No. 11/12, pp 821-826, 1985. Oral care products comprising a member of the Ericaceae family have been described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/401,316, filed Mar. 9, 1995, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present inventors have discovered that an improved effervescent oral composition can be developed comprising a plant species or extract from the Ericaceae family. By adding the plant species or extract to the oral composition, an oral composition with improved antiplaque, antigingivitis, antiperiodontitis, anticaries, and anticalculus benefits is developed. Aesthetic benefits are also obtained through the use of plant extracts of the Ericaceae family including improved oral stimulation from the effervescence, improved cleaning impression from the astringent mouthfeel, and improved foaming and toothpaste dispersion from the carbon dioxide generation. The composition comprising the plant species or extract from the Ericaceae family will preferably be a red gel that is dispensed with a white paste to form the two phase oral formulation. The foam produced from this formulation is a light red color initially, but when neutralization occurs the foam turns a grayish white color. This color change may be used as a signal to consumers that their oral cleaning is complete.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide stable oral formulations comprising two oral compositions which are contained in physically separated compartments. The first oral composition comprises an alkali metal bicarbonate salt while the second oral composition comprises a plant species of the Ericaceae family or its extract. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a first oral composition comprising sodium bicarbonate, a soluble fluoride source, a tartar control agent, calcium peroxide, an abrasive polishing material, and one or more aqueous carriers and a second oral composition comprising a cranberry extract, an acidic compound, and one or more aqueous carriers. It is also an object of the present invention to provide oral formulations with antiplaque, anticalculus, and anticaries effects.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from the detailed description which follows.
All percentages and ratios used herein are by weight of the specific oral composition and not of the overall oral formulation that is delivered, unless otherwise specified. All measurements are made at 25.degree. C., unless otherwise specified.

Dual phase oral compositions comprising a plant extract from the Ericaceae family