The invention relates to a system for reading magnetic information, comprising a magnetoresistive bar and a first differential amplifier connected to the magnetoresistive bar. A reading system according to the invention also comprises a second differential amplifier arranged in parallel with the first amplifier, a first capacitor arranged between the first transistor and the magnetoresistive bar, and a second capacitor arranged between the fourth transistor and the bar, and an analog adder combining the output signals of the first and second amplifiers. This structure allows integration of the decoupling capacitors and thus prevents the occurrence of external resistances and inductances which are detrimental to the common-mode reject rate.

The invention relates to a system for reading magnetic information, comprising:
a read head provided with a magnetoresistive bar whose electric resistivity varies when it is subjected to a magnetic field variation, said bar having a first and a second terminal and being intended to be traversed by a bias current of a predetermined value, PA1 a second amplifier comprising a third and a fourth transistor arranged as a differential pair, with their bases connected to the first and the second terminal, respectively, of the magnetoresistive bar and at least one collector constituting an output of the second amplifier, PA1 a first and a second capacitor having equal nominal values, the first capacitor being arranged between the base of the first transistor and the first terminal of the magnetoresistive bar, the second capacitor being arranged between the base of the fourth transistor and the second terminal of the magnetoresistive bar, and PA1 an analog adder having a first input connected to the output of the first amplifier, a second input connected to the output of the second amplifier and an output intended to supply a signal which is representative of the sum of the values of the signals received at the first and second inputs. PA1 a first and a second module of the transconductance type, each having an input constituting one of the inputs of the adder and an output intended to supply a current which is proportional to the value of a voltage received at its input, and PA1 a resistor having one terminal connected to a fixed voltage terminal and another terminal connected to the outputs of the first and second transconductance modules, the voltage at the terminals of said resistor constituting the output signal of the analog adder. PA1 a pair of transistors, referred to as primary pair, whose emitters are connected to a current source, whose bases are connected to the collectors of the transistors of the amplifier, and whose collectors are interconnected via a capacitor, and PA1 another pair of transistors whose emitters are connected to a current source, whose bases are connected to the collectors of the transistors of the primary pair, and whose collectors are connected to the bases of the transistors of the amplifier.
a first amplifier comprising a first and a second transistor arranged as a differential pair, with their bases connected to the first and the second terminal, respectively, of the magnetoresistive bar and at least one collector constituting an output of the first amplifier.
Such a reading system is described in the article "Preparing the preamplifier for the brave new world of MR heads", published in DATA STORAGE in April 1996. In this reading system, a coupling capacitor ensures, within the amplifier, a decoupling of the DC component of the signal which is present at the terminals of the magnetoresistive bar. This coupling capacitor is arranged between the emitters of the first and second transistors. The first amplifier has a passband which is limited by a low cut-off frequency and a high cut-off frequency, which passband must be as large as possible. Here, the low cut-off frequency is, in a first approximation, of the order of the inverse value of the product between the value of the coupling capacitor and the value of the resistance, viewed from the emitters of the transistors. As this resistance typically has a value of the order of about ten Ohms, a considerable value is to be given to the coupling capacitor for obtaining an acceptable value of the low cut-off frequency. If it is desired to obtain a low cut-off frequency FO of the order of megahertz values, the coupling capacitor must have a value of the order of about ten nanofarad, which is very difficult to realize in an integrated form. The use of an external capacitor induces the creation of parasitic inductances and resistances which are difficult to control and are detrimental to the satisfactory operation of the system, particularly at high frequencies, and also disturb the symmetry of the amplifier, which degrades its common-mode reject rate.
It is possible to replace the coupling capacitor mentioned above by two capacitors, referred to as decoupling capacitors, each arranged between the base of one of the transistors and one of the terminals of the magnetoresistive bar. In such an amplifier, the low cut-off frequency will be, in a first approximation, of the order of the inverse value of the product between the equivalent value of the two series-arranged decoupling capacitors and the base resistances of the transistors. As such a resistance is of the order of a hundred times larger than the resistance viewed from the emitters, the value of the decoupling capacitors used in such an amplifier may be, for the same low cut-off frequency FO of the order of megahertz values, of the order of a hundred times smaller than that of the coupling capacitor present in the known reading system. This leads to a value of the order of about a hundred picofarad, which remains difficult to realize in an integrated form.

Integrated system for reading magnetic information


A rockable and stackable chaise lounge. It includes a pair of frame members each formed by a downwardly convex rocker and an upwardly convex rail joined at front and rear ends. The frames are joined at their front and rear ends by spreaders. Adjustable stops are provided to limit the extent of rocking. A seat with a reclining back is supported between the frame by the rails.

Chaise lounges for indoor use are generally substantial rigid articles of furniture placed in leisure and boudoir areas. They are intended to be stable furniture with a horizontal couch-like seat and a raised back support adjacent to part of the seat. Such lounges generally do not provide for adjustment of the angle of the backrest relative to the seat, neither are they intended to be rockable nor stackable.
Chaise lounges for outdoor, poolside, or cabana usage are generally of lightweight construction, often with wheels, and usually with an adjustable back support. These also are generally quite stable once the backrest has been adjusted.
Indoor chaises are generally not used in multiples in any area, and are not stored. Instead they are established articles of furniture decorated as to taste and dedicated to function. The same is not the situation for outdoor chaise lounges. Outdoor chaise lounges are most usually found around pools and terraces in substantial numbers, and are regularly moved from place to place as social events transpire, or at the end of the day. During some events or at the end of the day they are stored or otherwise grouped. Although they are light of weight, they are bulky items, so their storage can be, and often is, a problem.
Because of where they are used, outdoor chaise lounges are not generally provided with a rocking feature. Among problems that accompany the attributes of rockability are insufficient stability when sat upon as contrasted with being reclined upon, and insufficient stackability of numbers of them.
Chaise lounges for outdoor usage must be made lightweight, both for convenience and for economy of construction. This raises problems for providing an attractive product. Unattractive products sell poorly. Tubular elements are generally preferred for these products, for example aluminum alloy tubing. While such elements make for strong structures, lightness of weight, and lower cost, chaise lounges made from them, especially for an upper scale product, suffer aesthetically from limitations asserted by conventional assembly processes and the strength of the structural elements.
It is another object of this invention to provide such a lounge with structural elements and assembly that are economical, and when assembled are attractive. The lateral spacing between the rockers is greater than the lateral spacing between the rails. As a consequence the lounges can be stacked, because the rockers of an upper lounge can pass over the rails of a lower lounge.
It is another object of this invention to provide such an article of furniture which utilizes forces that are resistant to the linear extension of the furniture for supporting the weight of the occupant.

Selectively rockable chaise lounge, stackable, and with adjustable posture support


A system, apparatus, and method are provided for preventing the accumulation of particulate matter such as combustion soot on sensors positioned in exhaust gas conduits of internal combustion engines. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a device for deflecting soot deposits from sensor surfaces. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a device employing a surface acoustic wave generator for dislodging soot accumulation or measuring soot accumulations to trigger burn-off events. In an embodiment, an injector injects pressurized bursts of gas toward a sensor surface to dislodge particulate matter. In an embodiment, charged electrodes attract charged particles of soot from the exhaust gas flow to form deposits that are then subject to burn-off events.

The present disclosure relates generally to internal combustion engines, and more specifically to sensors in exhaust gas conduits of internal combustion engines. In particular, the disclosure relates to a system, apparatus, and method for preventing the accumulation of particulate matter such as combustion soot on sensors associated with exhaust gas regeneration systems and exhaust gas aftertreatment systems, and for removing accumulated soot from such sensors.
During normal operation of an internal combustion engine, one or more sensors disposed in an exhaust gas flow, such as in an exhaust gas aftertreatment system or an exhaust gas regeneration system, may accumulate particulate matter, such as combustion soot or ash, thereon from the exhaust gas produced by the engine. Most sensors are not well adapted to operate in harsh environments with high concentrations of particulate materials, especially soot and ash. This is evident from the market trends in automotive sensors which show that there are no open-element sensors that are mounted directly into the exhaust stream of diesel engines. There is also a possibility of accumulated particulate matter blocking a stand-off or bypass channel for certain types of sensors which rely on flow of exhaust gas through the stand-off or bypass channel to conduct the measurement. Additional problems occur with respect to soot accumulating on sensors during engine operation, and then hardening after engine operation has ceased, due to condensation and other factors occurring after the engine is shut down, such as the reduction of the elevated temperature experienced during engine operation. This may lead to a constant non-zero output of the sensor.
It is desirable to protect the sensors from accumulation of the combustion soot and ash, and to clean the particulate matter from such one or more sensors from time to time to maintain the accuracy of their readings. Because the sensors are exposed to harsh environments including high temperatures and high concentrations of corrosive compounds and particulate matter, and current sensor technology may exhibit poor performance and short useful life in such harsh conditions, improvements are needed in protecting and cleaning the sensors.

System, apparatus, and method for protection and cleaning of exhaust gas sensors


There is provided a solid-state imaging device suitable for miniaturization. This solid-state imaging device comprises: a photosensitive element array in which photosensitive element trains are arranged in parallel with a predetermined spacing therebetween, each photosensitive element train being such that a plurality of photosensitive elements at least partially isolated from each other by device isolation layers are arranged in a train form; charge transfer sections each including charge transfer channel layers and a plurality of transfer electrodes in an interline form thereabove, arranged between the respective photosensitive element trains, and isolated from at least a portion adjacent to the photosensitive element array by the device isolation layers; channel regions formed in the regions between the photosensitive elements serving as the photosensitive element trains in a manner that they are adjacent to the device isolation layers and are connected to the charge transfer channel layers, and interconnection layers for connecting the electrodes in phase of the transfer electrodes provided above the device isolation layers and the channel regions, to control voltages applied to the transfer electrodes and the transfer electrode of the charge transfer section, thereby permitting each channel region between photosensitive elements to be used as a charge transport channel for transporting signal charges produced in the photosensitive elements to the charge transfer channel.

This invention relates to a solid-state imaging device, and more particularly to a solid-state imaging device having a miniaturized structure.
The configuration of a conventional typical solid-state imaging device when viewed from the plane is shown in FIG. 1. In this imaging device, photosensitive elements 2 and 3 formed on the surface of a semiconductor substrate and isolated in an X-direction and in a Y-direction by device isolation layers 1 indicated by slanting lines are arranged one after another in a train form. Adjacently to photosensitive element trains comprised of a plurality of photosensitive elements, a charge transfer channel 10 comprised of an impurity layer is provided. On the charge transfer channel 10, transfer electrodes 4, 5, 6 and 7 are successively formed in a repeated manner. These transfer electrodes are of well known superposed electrode structure, wherein the transfer electrodes 5 and 7 are a first layer electrode, and the transfer electrodes 4 and 6 are a second layer electrode. Generally, four-phase transfer pulses .phi..sub.1 to .phi..sub.4 are applied to these transfer electrodes to carry out the transfer operation. Namely, transfer pulses .phi..sub.1 to .phi..sub.4 are applied to the transfer electrodes 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively.
Between the photosensitive sections 2 and 3 the charge transfer channel 10, charge transport channels 11 and 12 are provided, respectively. Between respective photosensitive sections 2 and 3, interconnection portions 24 connecting adjacent electrodes of the same phase are formed.
The operation of the imaging device thus constructed will now be described.
When a high voltage readout pulse is applied to the electrode 4, the charge transport channel 11 is turned ON. As a result, signal charges are transported from the photosensitive element 2 to the portion below a corresponding electrode of the charge transfer channel 10. Similarly, when a high voltage readout pulse is applied to the electrode 6, the charge transfer channel 12 is turned ON. As a result, signal charges are transported from the photosensitive element 3 to the portion below a corresponding electrode of the charge transfer channel 10. Thereafter, when well known four-phase pulses are applied to the transfer electrodes 4 to 7, signals are transferred in a lower direction of plane surface of paper.
It is to be noted that, in an ordinary operation, in accordance with the interlace operation in the well known television system in the first field (first charge readout), signal charges in the photosensitive elements 2 and 3 are added, and in the second field (second charge readout), signal charges in the photosensitive element 3 and the next photosensitive element 2 (represented by reference numeral 2' in FIG. 1 for convenience) are added. The signal charges thus added are read out. Such a readout system is generally known as the storage readout mode.
The configuration in cross section cut along the lines X.sub.1 -X.sub.2 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2. A p-well 13 is formed on an n.sup.- -type substrate 14. Within the region isolated by device isolation layers 1, there are formed a photosensitive element comprised of an n-type impurity layer 2-a and a p.sup.+ type impurity layer 2-b covering the surface thereof, and a charge transfer channel 10 through a charge transport channel 11. An insulating film 15 is deposited on the substrate, and a transfer electrode 4 is formed in the insulating film above the charge transfer channel 10 and the charge transport channel 11.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the distribution of potentials at respective portions of the channel from the n-type impurity layer 2-a up to the charge transfer channel 10 via the charge transport channel 11 wherein reference numeral 23 represents a potential on the device isolation layer, reference numeral 22 a potential on the photosensitive element in a charge empty state, reference numeral 18 a potential on the charge transport channel in an ON state, reference numeral 19 a potential on the charge transport channel in an OFF state, reference numeral 20 a potential on the transfer electrode 4 in an ON state, and reference numeral 21 a potential on the transfer electrode in an OFF state.
Assuming now that the width of the transfer electrode 4 is W and the length between the photosensitive element 2 and the charge transfer channel 10 is L (see FIG. 1), let consider the case where the length L is short. In this case, when a large quantity of charges are stored into the n-type impurity layer 2-a of the photosensitive element by the short-channel effect well known as the phenomenon that the isolation characteristic between the photosensitive element and the transfer channel is deteriorated when the transfer electrode is in an OFF state, there occurs the phenomenon that a portion of the stored charges overflows into the charge transfer channel 10. This state is represented by reference symbol OFL in FIG. 3 as the overflow phenomenon that when the charge transport channel is in an OFF state and a potential thereon is thus represented by reference numeral 18, signal charges produced in the photosensitive element 2 climb over the potential barrier 18 to flow out into the charge transfer channel 10.
In order to eliminate such an undesired phenomenon, it is required to set the length L between the photosensitive element 2 and the charge transfer channel 10 to a value longer than a sufficiently large value (e.g. 1.5 .mu.m).
On the other hand, the length L varies by .+-..DELTA.L (e.g., .+-.0.5 .mu.m) by errors in manufacturing the solid-state imaging device, e.g., various tolerances or alignment deviations, etc. Accordingly, when such errors in manufacturing are taken into consideration, the length L must be set to L+.DELTA.L.
From the above-mentioned circumstances, the width of the electrode cannot help being set to a value far larger than the width primarily required for transfer. This makes it difficult to ensure a sufficient photosensitive element area, resulting in lowered sensitivity and obstructions to the device miniaturization.

Solid-state imaging device with transport channels between photosensitive elements


A laser beam with a wavelength .lambda. emitted from a laser beam source is split into first and second pump beams and a probe beam. The first and second pump beams are incident on light incident surfaces of a photo-nonlinear medium from opposing directions on the same optical path. The probe beam is incident on the light incident surface forming an angle with the first pump beam to generate interference fringes in the normal direction of the light incident surface and to form a refractive index grating. A phase conjugate wave is emitted in the reverse direction to an incident optical path of the probe beam by means of irradiating the second pump beam on the refractive index grating. A direct -current electric field is applied on a pair of external electrodes to be coincident to the wave vector of the interference fringes, where by providing a frequency modulation to the first pump beam using a piezoelectric oscillator, a moving speed "v" of the interference fringes is determined when light intensity of the phase conjugate wave is maximized. A forming time .tau. of the refractive index grating can thus be obtained. An accurate and rapid measurement can generally be obtained for the forming time of the refractive index grating of the photononlinear medium formed of photorefractive crystal including a cubic system such as BSO.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a four-wave mixing method for generating a phase conjugate wave by using a photorefractive effect of a photo-nonlinear medium. In particular, it relates to a method of measuring the time for forming a refractive index grating of a photo-nonlinear medium in accordance with a method of mixing four-waves.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 5, a four-wave mixing device includes a photo-nonlinear medium 1 made of photorefractive crystal. Both opposing surfaces of the photo-nonlinear medium 1 are formed thereon with light incident surfaces 1a and 1b. A pair of external electrodes 1c and 1d are provided on both opposing surfaces in the orthogonal direction to the normal direction of the light incident surfaces 1a and 1b. Numerals 2 and 3 depict first and second pump beams respectively, 4 a probe beam, and 5 a phase conjugate wave generated by four-wave mixing. The probe beam 4 and the first pump beam 2 form a specified angle .theta. therebetween to be incident on light incident surface 1a of the photo-nonlinear medium 1; the second pump beam 3 travels on the same optical path as, and in the opposing direction to, the first pump beam 2 and is incident on light incident surface 1b.
The first pump beam 2 and probe beam 4 are incident on the light incident surface la of the photo-nonlinear medium 1 to produce light interference fringes in the normal direction of the light incident surface. The light interference fringes form a refractive index grating 6.
A process of forming the refractive index grating 6 is explained in the following. In the photorefractive crystal, there is provided a level at which an impurity or the like acts as a donor or an acceptor each having electrical charges. As shown in FIG. 6(a), if a light interference between the first pump beam 2 and the probe beam 4 provides a pattern of light contrast, i.e., the interference fringes in the crystal, then electric charges, for example, electrons at a bright portion, are excited to a conducting band. When the external electric field is not applied on the crystal, the electrons are diffused in the conducting band s shown in FIG. 6(b) and trapped at the other level to reduce a space charge distribution as shown in FIG. 6(c). In such a case, the external electric field is applied through the electrodes 1c and 1d provided on the crystal. The electrons thus excited must drift to obtain a larger moving distance.
As in the foregoing arrangement, the space charge distribution produced in the crystal along the direction "x" induces a partial space electric field E, where a change of refractive index arises by Pockels effect caused by such electric field. The charge .rho. is satisfied by the following equation: EQU dE/dx =-.rho. (1)
In the case where the electrons are diffused to move, the refractive index grating 6 formed by the refractive index change is shifted in its phase by .pi./2 relative to a light intensity distribution (contrast of light). On the other hand, from the process of drifting due to the external electric field, the refractive index grating 6 and the light intensity distribution both come into phase with each other. In this way, a phenomenon where the refractive index is changed by irradiation of light on the crystal is called a photorefractive effect.
In the case where optical frequencies .omega. of the probe beam 4 and the pump beams 2 and 3 are made equal to each other and another coherent second pump beam 3 is incident on the refractive index grating 6 through the light incident surface 1b, then the second pump beam 3 is diffracted by the refractive index grating 6, the diffracted beam 5 travels in the reverse direction on the incident optical path of the probe beam 4. Such diffracted beam 5 is a phase conjugate wave having the same optical frequency .omega.(phase) as those three waves of the probe beam 4 and pump beams 2 and 3, and having a relationship of being a complex conjugate with an electric field amplitude of the probe beam 4.
The phase conjugate wave 5 reversely travels exactly along the optical path followed by the probe beam 4. Accordingly, by using such characteristic, consideration is provided for various utilizations such as in a real-time hologram and an image recovery. However, in the four-wave mixing method using the photorefractive effect, a reflection factor of the phase conjugate wave is relatively low. To raise the reflection factor of the phase conjugate wave, for the four-wave mixing devices of this kind there have been proposed a moving grating method of moving the refractive index grating 6 and the interference fringes respectively in the photorefractive crystal as described in the following documents:
1. J. P. Huignard, et. al., Optics Communications 38,249 (1981), PA1 2. N. Nuktarev, et. al., Ferroelectrics 22,949 (1979). PA1 3. H. Rajbenback, et. al., Optics Letters, 9, 558 (1984). PA1 4. J. P. Huignard, et. al., Appl. Optics 24, 4285 (1985).
FIG. 7 is an example of the four-wave mixing device based on the moving grating method. In FIG. 7, the same or corresponding parts as in FIG. 5 are designated by the same symbols and numerals. An optical path of the first pump beam 2 is provided with a reflection mirror 8 mounted with a piezoelectric oscillator 7. A voltage signal of sawtooth waveform is input to the piezoelectric oscillator 7 to drive the reflection mirror 8, the first pump beam 2 is then shifted (Doppler shifted) by a frequency determined depending on the sawtooth shaped waveform.
In this device, electrons excited responsive to the intensity distribution of the interference fringes produced by the first pump beam 2 and the probe beam 4 are caused to drift by a direct-current electric field applied on the electrodes 1c and 1d of the photo-nonlinear medium 1. These electrons form the refractive index grating in the crystal of the photo-nonlinear medium 1 through the space electric field and contribute to a generation of the phase conjugate wave 5. When the frequency of the first pump beam 2 is slightly modulated (Doppler shifted) by the reflection mirror 8, the interference fringes can thus be moved at a constant speed.
These interference fringes require a constant response time between the instant of starting its formation in the crystal and the instant of beginning its production of the refractive index distribution. For example, in an arrangement of a photo-nonlinear medium Bi.sub.12 SiO.sub.20 (hereinafter, simply referred to as "BSO"), such response time ranges from several tens ms to several hundreds ms. Accordingly, with the interference fringes being moved at a constant speed, a phase difference has resultantly been produced because the interference fringes which have formed the refractive index grating had been moved at the time that such the refractive index grating has been made up. A moving speed of the interference fringes is determined depending on an amount of modulation of an optical frequency. Therefore, an optimum phase difference can be obtained by varying an extent of the modulation. This thus results in raising a reflection factor of the phase conjugate wave.
On the other hand, the time required for forming the refractive index grating by the interference fringes of the photo-nonlinear medium is a basically important property of matter together with density of charges, mobility, diffusion coefficient, trap density, and donor acceptor density of the photorefractive crystal. For example, to apply the photo-nonlinear medium to the real-time hologram using the four-wave mixing method and the like, the time required for forming the refractive index grating is an extremely significant parameter for determining the time required for the operating process of the real-time hologram and the speed of the photo-nonlinear device.
Conventionally, the forming time of the refractive index grating has been measured by a birefringence method using a Senaramonte method etc. Such measurement, however, requires a considerably long time because of the complicated optical system. Further, the photo-nonlinear medium with an isotropy such as BSO of a cubic system can not be applied by the birefringence method because it has no birefringence, hence a method of measuring the time for forming the refractive index grating has not yet been established.

Method of measuring the time for forming refractive index grating of a photo-nonlinear medium


An eye tracking device for tracking an eye is described. The eye tracking device comprises:    a first diffractive optical element, DOE, arranged in front of the eye,    an image module, wherein the image module is configured to capture an image of the eye via the first DOE. The first DOE is adapted to direct a first portion of incident light reflected from the eye, towards the image module. The eye tracking device is characterized in that the first DOE is configured to provide a lens effect.

Eye tracking devices, such as e.g. eye tracking glasses, usually have a number of illuminating light sources for illuminating the eyes of a user with multiple glints per eye and one or two cameras for observing the eyes. The pupil of the eye is compared to the position to the glints in the eyes of the light sources to determine a viewing direction of the eye. The camera is usually placed at a large angle to the eyes, e.g. in the frame of the glasses. This is a not a good viewing angle. To make the viewing direction determination easier a number of light sources are used and a computing device is used to make the determination based on image analysis. Many light sources are however expensive and reduce the freedom of design of the eye tracking device. Powerful computing abilities are both expensive and energy consuming. It is also possible to have more than one camera in the eye tracking device. However, multiple cameras increase the cost of the device.
Thus, there is a need in the industry for cheaper eye tracking devices and/or eye tracking devices requiring less complex image analysis to determine the viewing direction of the eyes of a user.


A reinforcing bar binding machine reduces restrictions on a moving direction in pulling out from a reinforcing bar bound with a wire. The reinforcing bar binding machine (1A) includes a curl guide unit (5A) that winds a wire (W) around a reinforcing bar (S), a wire feeding unit (3A) that feeds the wire (W), and a binding unit. A first guide unit (50) curls the wire (W) fed by the feeding unit (3A) and a second guide unit (51) guides the wire (W) fed from the first guide unit (50) to the binding unit (7A). The second guide unit (51) includes a fixed guide unit (54) that restricts a position in a radial direction of the wire (W) wound around the reinforcing bar (S) and a movable guide unit (55) that restricts a position in an axial direction of the wire (W).

In the related art, there has been suggested a binding machine called a reinforcing bar binding machine which winds a wire around two or more reinforcing bars and twists the wound wire to bind the two or more reinforcing bars.
A reinforcing bar binding machine according to the related art has a configuration in which wires are fed and wound around a reinforcing bar, and then are twisted and bound (for example, see Patent Literature 1). In order to reduce the amount of wire used for such a reinforcing bar binding machine, a reinforcing bar binding machine has been proposed in which wires are fed in a forward direction and wound around the reinforcing bar, and then the wires are fed (pulled back) in a backward direction and wound around the reinforcing bar in close contact with the reinforcing bar (for example, see Patent Literature 2).
Even in any binding machine, since a feed path is required to wind the wires around the reinforcing bar, a pair of guides are provided along the feed path of the wires.


The present invention provides a novel reactor for making capsules with uniform membrane. The reactor includes a source for providing a continuous flow of a first liquid through the reactor; a source for delivering a steady stream of drops of a second liquid to the entrance of the reactor; a main tube portion having at least one loop, and an exit opening, where the exit opening is at a height substantially equal to the entrance. In addition, a method for using the novel reactor is provided. This method involves providing a continuous stream of a first liquid; introducing uniformly-sized drops of the second liquid into the stream of the first liquid; allowing the drops to react in the stream for a pre-determined period of time; and collecting the capsules.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of biomedical engineering. More specifically, the present invention relates to a novel reactor for making uniform capsules.
2. Description of the Related Art
Capsules, with semipermeable polymer membranes as their walls, have been employed as the media for a variety of medical applications, such as controlled release of medicines and immunoisolation of hormone-producing cells, such as pancreatic islets, etc. Polymer membrane design and the selection of the capsule inner liquid is being researched continuously.
The methodology of conventional capsule production involves the interaction of two reacting (oppositely charged) polymers, a drop of one in a bath of the other, leading to polyelectrolyte complex (membrane) formation. The reaction is turned off by quenching the capsule in a buffer after the appropriate reaction time (once an appropriate thickness of membrane has formed). The concentrations of the polymers influence the membrane qualities and permeability. The strength of the capsule and its immunoisolation efficiency is a function of its thickness, which depends on reaction time. Physically, the membrane functions as a flow regulator or molecular sieve, allowing passage of some molecules or retention of others, based on the size of the molecule.
An example of this methodology is as follows: assume that anion drops react with a cation bath to form capsules. If desired, the anion drops carry the encapsulant. A steady stream of anion drops can be produced by a variety of techniques. When anion viscosities are low (<50 cS), capillary wave excitation on the anion jet and subsequent development of instability of the jet leads to precisely partitioned anion drops. However, when anion viscosities are higher, and especially while dealing with polymers, the more flexible route to drop production is through air stripping (see FIG. 1), wherein uniformly-sized drops are produced. In air stripping, individual drops are sheared off the nozzle by the air stream, and in principle, there is no restriction imposed on the rate of pumping of the anion (no need to pump a jet) and a rate of anion delivery can b e selected to suit the encapsulation needs. The only draw back to air stripping is that the drop pointing accuracy is not perfect and, depending on the anion viscosity, the trajectories of the stripped drops encompass a small cone angle.
One current goal is to make uniform capsules from anion drops of uniform size, produced at a controlled rate. A conventional approach is to collect the anion drops in a bath of cation in a beaker. The problem with this approach is that when reaction rates are fast, such that the times for collection and reaction are very comparable, then the resulting capsules have varying wall thicknesses. For example, if the batch collection time is 30 seconds and the selected reaction time is 30 seconds, then the first capsule would have reacted for 60 seconds, whereas the last capsule would have reacted for only 30 seconds. Furthermore, since the cation in the beaker is continuously depleted by the reacting anion drops, the concentration of the cation is different between the first capsule and the last. This leads to heterogeneity in wall thickness, and membrane properties, between capsules (FIG. 2). Therefore, to minimize variability, one would have to keep the collection time much smaller than the reaction time. This can be problematic, if a large volume production is desired, whether in a laboratory or industrial setting. Another way to minimize variability is to slow down the anion-cation reaction rates, by diluting the concentrations of either, or both, or by other chemical means. Dilution, however, is not always possible without losing desired properties of the polymers. Also, with the conventional approach, when there is a substantial density mismatch between the anion drop and the cation solution, the capsule walls do not form uniformly around the drop. This is because during processing, the capsules will either settle at the bottom of the beaker or collect at the top interface. Stirring does not always solve this problem.
The goal for capsule production is now well defined; viz., to design an apparatus that can continuously generate capsules at a high rate, with precise control of reaction time, and with uniform exposure of the developing capsule to the cation. Clearly, it is preferable that such an apparatus would require very little attention during operation. Additionally, the economy of cation usage merits consideration, for the cation can be expensive and neutralizing large volumes of cation with buffer to stop the reaction is very cumbersome.
The prior art is deficient in the lack of an effective capsule producing apparatus that continuously can generate uniform capsules at a high rate of production with very little monitoring. The present invention fulfills this longstanding need and desire in the art.


A chute corner assembly with a spring loaded chute liner for use in a strapping machine comprises a recess for receiving an end of an adjacent chute liner, a chute liner spring plate for engaging the end of the chute liner, a spring for biasing the chute liner away from the chute corner assembly and towards an opposite chute corner. The chute corner assembly of the present invention is used connection with a chute liner to eliminate the gap between the corner assembly and the chute liner, and to simultaneously dynamically eliminate any gap between the chute liner and the opposite chute corner.

The present invention is directed to an improved chute corner design for a strapping machine (or "strapper"). More particularly, the present invention is directed to a chute corner assembly with a spring loaded chute liner.
Strapping machines are in widespread use for securing straps around loads. One type of known strapper includes a strapping head and drive mechanism mounted within a frame. Mounted to the frame is a chute through which strapping material is fed. Means generally are provided in the chute for guiding and retaining the strap in the chute so that the strap cannot fall or be pulled inwardly against the load until after the loop has been formed. Such means usually include a strap release system that permits the strap to be released from the chute upon tensioning.
Typically, the chute is larger than the load to be strapped so as to accommodate various load sizes and, thus, such strap guiding and retaining means function to initially maintain the strap in the largest possible loop configuration and, of course, function to permit the strap to be fed around the load without impinging upon or snagging upon the load. Moreover, the chute typically is constructed in a shape and size suitable to surround the load to be strapped, and generally is constructed in a quadrilateral shape, such as a square or a rectangle, with four corners, since most loads to be strapped share the same shape.
Prior art chute designs generally employ modular chute components, which are assembled to form the desired chute size and shape. For square and rectangular chutes, the chutes generally are comprised of horizontal and vertical chute sections, which often are supported by lightweight but sturdy aluminum support beams, and connected by four corner assemblies, typically constructed of a glass filled nylon material. The chute typically is enclosed by a strap retaining and release means of the type well known in the prior art.
Additionally, to facilitate the travel of the strap through the chute, many prior art chute designs also include chute liners mounted on the chute sections and within the chute. Such chute liners typically are slidably mounted or clipped on to the support beams, and are constructed to provide a smooth, flat surfaced along which the strap traverses during its travel around the chute. Preferably, the chute liner has a low coefficient of kinetic friction to facilitate movement of the strap through the chute. Additionally, such chute liners are machined to a precise length so as to minimize any gaps between the ends of the chute liners and the adjacent corner assemblies. For the reasons discussed below, the existence of such gaps adversely affects the travel of the strap through the chute.
In a typical stationary bottom-seal strapper, the chute is mounted at about a work surface, and the strapping head is mounted to a horizontal portion of the chute, below the work surface. The drive mechanism is also mounted below the work surface, near to the strapping head. The drive mechanism "pulls" or feeds strap material from a source, such as dispenser, into the machine. The drive mechanism urges or feeds the strap through the strapping head, into and around the chute, until the strap material returns to the strapping head to form a loop. After the strap loop has been formed, tension is applied to the strap to constrict the strap loop about the article and the overlapping strap ends are secured by conventional means.
Traditional side-seal strappers employ a similar configuration, except that the strapping head is mounted to a vertical portion of the chute, with the drive mechanism positioned in lateral proximity to the strapping head for the strap material. However, from an operational perspective, side-seal strappers and bottom-seal strappers are more or less equivalent.
Many such machines are employed in processes that maximize the use of fully automated operation. To this end, machines are configured for automated in-feed and out-feed, such that a load to be strapped is automatically fed into the machine by an in-feed conveyor, the strapping process is carried out, and the strapped load is automatically fed out of the machine by an out-feed conveyor. As such, an improper strapping event, such as a strap short feed, wherein the strap does not create a full loop around the load, can create a detrimental "ripple effect" along the entire automated strapping process by forcing the shutdown of an entire strapping line. Thus, it is critical to ensure that the occurrence of improper strapping events is minimized.
One of the major causes of improper strapping events is a strap short feed. A strap short feed occurs, as discussed above, when the strap does not create a full loop around the load. Strap short feeds are an inherent problem in prior art modular chute designs in which multiple chute sections and corners are assembled to form a desired chute size and shape. The interface between each chute section and each corner assembly creates potential areas where the strap may get impinged or snagged.
Specifically, frequent causes of strap short feeds in such prior chute designs are inherent gaps between the chute liners and the corner assemblies. Even a small gap can catch the leading edge of the strap material as it traverses through the chute causing the strap to hang or snag. The prior art has attempted to address the problem by altering the design of the chute liner.
For example, some chute liners are machined with a bevel on the leading edge of the chute liner. The bevel is intended to minimize the effect of any gap between the end of the chute liner and the adjacent face of the corner assembly. Similarly, the prior art has resorted to precise measurement and machining of the end of the chute liner so as to minimize the size of the gap.
However, such precise machining of the chute liner adds cost and time to the strapper manufacturing process. Moreover, since the chute liner often is comprised of a different material than the chute sections and corner assemblies, and since the different materials exhibit different thermal expansion and contraction rates during use, the precise machining of the chute liner often is of limited effect. A negligible gap between the chute liner and the corner assembly present during the manufacture of the strapper may expand into a troublesome gap under various operating conditions.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved chute corner assembly designed to minimize the undesirable gap between the chute corner assembly and the chute liner. Desirably, such a chute corner assembly includes a recess for receiving the end of an adjacent chute liner. More desirably, such a corner assembly includes a chute liner spring plate for engaging the end of the chute liner. Most desirably, such a corner assembly includes a spring mechanism to bias the chute assembly away from the corner assembly and toward the opposite corner assembly in order to dynamically minimize any gap between the chute liner and the opposite corner assembly by allowing for spring-biased slidable movement of the chute liner between opposite corner assemblies during thermal expansion and contraction of the chute components.

Chute corner with spring loaded chute liner


A carrier for protective sports helmets having ear holes is disclosed. The carrier is also capable of carrying other types of equipment. The carrier is a telescopic pole of two sections with a compression knob which allows the pole to be locked at a particular length. A fabric strap with swivel hooks is attached to a ring at either end of the pole. The fabric strap has a pad which makes the invention easier to carry on the shoulder of the user. The user will detach one end of the fabric strap and slide the telescopic pole through the ear holes of the protective helmets. The user will then reattach the fabric strap and use the fabric strap to carry the pole and helmets.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the holding of athletic equipment. Specifically, the invention is designed to facilitate the holding of protective helmets and related equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
Participants in a number of sports, such as baseball, football, hockey, etc., often wear protective helmets. The use of these helmets has grown dramatically as their benefit has been demonstrated. Usually, these helmets are comprised of a rigid, outer plastic shell and an inner, foam liner. Typically, these helmets have a portion which extends down over one or both ears of the wearer. The ear portion of the helmet generally includes a hole to facilitate hearing.
While the benefits of these helmets are undeniable, the helmets do present difficulties in transportation and storage. The helmets are used in team sports with a number of players, thus requiring a plurality of helmets. The rigid nature of the helmets makes them bulky to carry. In an effort to reduce bulk, the end users of the helmets have often stacked them inside each other, which has the tendency to damage the foam liner. Alternatively, end users have simply dumped a plurality of helmets into a duffle bag, which causes the helmets to bang and rub against each other while being carried. Both methods of carrying helmets have been shown, by long experience, to result in damage to the helmets, and loss of the helmets due to the disorganized method of transport and storage.
One approach to solving the foregoing problems is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,231 by Bakhit. The Bakhit invention is certainly an improvement over the prior art: it provides a carrying device for helmets with a solid rod of fixed length having a foldable handle at one end and a fixed base at the other end.
Nevertheless, there exists an unmet need for an improved helmet holder. Such an improved holder would have a strap to provide for easier carrying of the carrier. The improved holder would also be of adjustable length. The improved holder would also allow for the easy removal of helmets from either end of the holder, rather than from just one end.


An environmental control system includes an air cycle subsystem and a liquid cycle subsystem. The air cycle subsystem includes a liquid-to-air condenser, a liquid-to-air reheater downstream of the condenser, and a turbine downstream of the reheater. The liquid cycle subsystem is in heat exchange relationship with the air cycle subsystem, with the liquid cycle subsystem comprising the condenser, the reheater, a first liquid-to-air heat exchanger, and a second liquid-to-air heat exchanger. The heat exchange relationship occurs at the condenser and the reheater.

The present invention generally relates to environmental control systems (ECSs) and air cycle cooling systems (ACCSs). More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved ACCS and improved method of conditioning water vapor compressed air and recovering wasted energy from a liquid load, while reducing the system size and improving water removal efficiency.
ACCSs are used to provide a supply of conditioned air to an enclosure, such as an aircraft cabin and cockpit. In the past, ACCSs have utilized an air-to-air cycle cooling system with an integrated liquid loop. But the liquid loop has been primarily for the purpose of cooling radar or other avionics, not for the air to be conditioned. In such systems, a flow of bleed air is taken from an intermediate or high pressure stage within a jet engine having multi-compression stages. The bleed air has usually been pre-cooled within a primary heat exchanger with heat being rejected to RAM air and then flowed to a compressor. After compression, the air has been routed through a secondary heat exchanger. Next, the air is typically flowed into an air-to-air reheater heat exchanger and then to an air-to-air condenser heat exchanger. Condensed water vapor is extracted by a water extractor, and then routed and evaporated in the RAM air supply to the secondary heat exchanger. A dehumidified air moves from the water extractor and into a turbine. An expanded air from the turbine flows through the condenser in the capacity as a coolant medium. When the air flow from the condenser passes through a liquid-o-air heat exchanger, a relatively warmer liquid from a liquid loop is cooled and then used to cool avionics. After the air flow moves through the liquid-to-air heat exchanger, the flow becomes the supply to the cabin.
Although providing advantages, the above conventional ACCS with a liquid loop has also presented disadvantages. For example, the air-to-air heat exchangers are relatively bulky and, thus, do not make the most efficient use of space. Of course, with less bulkier components, greater cooling capacity can be achieved with a given amount of space. If the ACCS is used as a retrofit, a bulkier system size means fewer opportunities for the ACCS to fit into different spaces to be retrofitted. Also, the liquid load is typically rejected directly into the cooling air supply. That means the ACCS will have to be increased in size to accommodate the load.
As can be seen, there is a need for an ACCS with a liquid loop that is small in size such that for a given space a greater cooling capacity can be achieved. There is also a need for an ACCS which, due to its relatively small size, can serve as a retrofit in more environments. Further, an ACCS is needed which can more efficiently utilize a liquid loop by also using it during the water vapor removal process of the air to be conditioned.

Liquid cooled high pressure separation for air cycle cooling system


A vacuum envelop is formed of at least a flat and rectangular faceplate 21 on which a fluorescent screen is formed, a side wall 22 extending in a direction, which is substantially perpendicular to the faceplate 21, from a peripheral portion of the faceplate, and a rearplate 23 opposing to the faceplate 21. A plurality of rod-shaped support members 31 whose top end portions are wedge-shaped are arranged between the faceplate 21 and the rearplate 23, and a ratio t/P is set to 0.05 or more where t is a thickness of the faceplate and P is an interval between adjacent support members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat display device for displaying an image by utilizing an electron beam, which is provided with a support arrangement for supporting a single faceplate and, particularly to a flat display device wherein a flat faceplate is provided, a fluorescent screen formed on the faceplate that is defined as a continuous arrangement of a plurality of segment regions, the respective segment regions are scanned by an electron beam, and one image is formed on the screen surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art a cathode-ray tube has been used as a typical display device in which a fluorescent screen in a vacuum envelop is scanned by an electron beam and an image is displayed on the screen. In recent years, various studies have been made for a high definition broadcasting or a high resolution picture tube having a large screen. In order to obtain a high resolution of the picture tube, a spot diameter of the electron beam in the screen must be minimized. Conventional improvements have been made concerning the structure of the electrode of an electron gun, by enlarging the diameter of electron gun itself, and the elongation thereof, but have proven to be insufficient. The main reason lies in that the distance between the electron gun and the screen becomes longer as the diameter of the tube becomes large so that magnification of the electron lens becomes too large. In other words, in order to achieve high resolution, it is important to shorten the distance between the electron gun and the screen. For this purpose, the tube is designed as a wide angle deflection tube. However, in such a tube, the magnification at the center region of the screen differs from that at the peripheral region thereof.
Due to this, in Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 48-90428 and Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 49-21019, and Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 53-117130, there has conventionally been proposed a method for displaying a large screen image having high resolution by arranging a plurality of independent small-sized picture tubes. This type of method is useful for a huge screen image display having a large number of divisions, which is arranged outside. However, in a case of an intermediate large-sized screen display of about 40 inches, it is obvious that the displayed image is not clearly seen since the connecting portion of the screen of each region, that is, the connection portions between the small-sized picture tubes are conspicuous in particular, if such a display is used as a display terminal for a computer aided design (CAD) and graphics, it goes without saying that having such a connecting portion in the display screen is a decisive defect as a display device. To solve this problem, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,706, Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 39-25641, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 42-4928, and Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 50-17167, there has been proposed the structure in which a plurality of independent picture tubes are integrated into a screen.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a picture tube 1 comprises a vacuum envelop having the integrated screen structure comprises a faceplate 3 having a screen 2, a rearplate 4 opposing to the faceplate 3, a plurality of funnels 5, which is continuous to the rearplate 4, and a plurality of necks 6, which are continuous from the funnels 5, respectively. The faceplate 3 is made of glass, and the rearplate 4 is made of glass or metal. In the above-mentioned structure, if the screen 2 is enlarged, the faceplate 3 and the rearplate 4 must be considerably thickened to have a sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure. Also, large curvature in a direction of a tube axis must be provided. Due to this, the weight of the entire vacuum envelop becomes extremely heavy, and the screen 2 has curvature in the direction of the tube axis and the displayed image on the screen is not clearly seen. Moreover, the distance between the screen 2 and an electron gu assembly 7 received in the neck 6 becomes large, and this is unfavorable in view of the design of an electron lens.
In a case where the rearplate is made of metal, a method is known for forming a reinforcing plate from a relatively thin metal plate in order to maintain sufficient strength against atmospheric pressure and lighten the device. The metallic rearplate is very useful for a case where there is no projection member such as a funnel and a neck in the rear surface portion of the display device. Moreover, a conventionally complicated shape can be simply formed if a metallic plate is applied to the structure of an envelop of the display device such as a cathode-ray tube wherein funnels and necks are formed on the rear surface portion. However, in the cathode-ray tube wherein the funnels and the necks are connected to the rearplate and a fluorescent screen is dividedly scanned by a plurality of electron beams, the electron gun assembly and the fluorescent surface must be correctly placed at a predetermined position. However, the metallic rearplate is easily deformed by atmospheric pressure as compared with the glass rearplate. Due to this, the position of the electron gun is changed by the deformation of the metallic rearplate, and the electron beam can not be emitted from the predetermined position to the predetermined direction. As a result, definition of the display image is extremely reduced. Therefore, the metallic rearplate is useful for a display device, where there is no influence on an internal structure or a track of the electron beam, even if the rearplate is a little deformed. Yet in a case where such a metallic plate is used in the structure wherein the funnels and necks are formed in the rearplate, an amount of deformation must be calculated in advance and the electron gun must be arranged at a predetermined position after the deformation. This is unfavorable in view of the design and the manufacture of the cathode-ray tube.
Moreover, in the cathode ray tube in which the internal section of the envelop becomes an equipotential space having high potential, an electrically insulating structure must be formed in the inside of the rearplate, so as the high potential is not exposed outside. In the cathode-ray tube wherein the funnels and necks are connected to the rearplate, potentials are extremely high, and thus such structures are unfavorable for practical.
The glass molding which comprises the rearplate 4, which corresponds to the funnel of the conventional cathode-ray tube as shown in FIGS. 1A and FIG. 1B, cannot be shaped to have sharp angles and still possess sufficient strength to support against the atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the rearplate cannot help but be formed in order that the entire shape curves smoothly. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to form the shape of the portion, on which a deflection device is mounted, to be equal to the shape of a deflecting region of the electron beam. Also, it is extremely difficult to thin glass of the deflection device mounting portion. Therefore, it is impossible to use a small-sized deflection device having small deflecting electric power.
Moreover, even if there is used a cathode-ray tube in which a metal plate is used as a rearplate, the shape of the inner surface of a funnel of the portion where a deflecting yoke is mounted is made close to the track region of the actual electron beam, and the thickness of the funnel is formed to be thinned, the following disadvantages will occur.
An eddy current is generated in the metallic plates adjacent to the detection devices, and it is difficult to avoid generating loss by the eddy current. As a result, deflecting electric power increases. Moreover, in a case where the metallic plate is used, the metallic plate is structured to be arranged between the adjacent detection devices, and the magnetic fields of the deflection detection devices are easily interfered with each other. Due to this, it is extremely difficult to form a suitable distribution of the magnetic field.
In general, in the use of a vacuum envelop having a flat faceplate, it is well-known to use support members to support the faceplate having a large area in connection with a solar energy collecting device. Such a flat display device using the support members has been proposed in Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 56-106353, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 62-272432, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 62-285335, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 63-128532, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 48-90183, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 64-10553, and Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 1-117251.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, there are used long plate-like support members 11 or needle-like support members supporting against the atmospheric pressure, which is applied to a flat envelop 10 whose inside is vacuum exhausted. The long plate-like support members 11 are used in order to prevent load of atmospheric pressure from concentrating on one point by supporting a screen 12 at the large contact area. An inventor found out various problems in the structure having the long plate-like support members 11 as a result of the various experiments.
First, there is a problem in accuracy of processing the support members. In this structure, as shown in FIG. 4, an end portion 11a of the support member, which contacts the screen along a black stripe 12a of the screen, must be processed to be shaped like a knife-edge. Furthermore, it is necessary to completely conform the distance between the faceplate and the rearplate to the length of the support members, that is, the height thereof. If a length of the knife-edge portion along the longitudinal direction thereof is about 30 mm or less, such a process can be practically performed, that is, such a process can be performed in terms of quantity. However, if the length thereof is more than 30 mm, a special process is required, and the device cannot be manufactured at low cost.
Second, there is a problem in strength of the plate-like support members. In the use of the plate-like support members, strength is large in a case where load is applied in a direction parallel to the surfaces of the plate-like support members. However, if load is applied in a direction, which is inclined to the surfaces, the plate is easily deformed and excessive load is applied to the other adjacent support members.
Third, there is a problem in a method for fixing the plate-like support members. Since the plate-like support members cannot stand itself, there is required a member for setting up the plate-like support members to be perpendicular to the rear panel, or a fixture in a case of welding in order to attach the plate-like support members to the rear panel.
Fourth, there is a problem in deformation. The plate-like support members are strong against the deformation in a direction in a surface, but easily deformed in the direction other than the inner surface direction. As shown in FIG. 5, deformation 11b is easily generated during a fixture or a heating process.
Fifth, there is a problem in the contact between the plate-like support members and the sheet glass. Since the normal sheet glass is manufactured by a float method, it is impossible to completely equalize the thickness of the whole sheet glass. Regarding the distribution of the thickness of the sheet glass, there is no difference in the thickness in the relatively narrow portion, for example, about 50 mm. However, in the relatively large portion, for example, about 200 mm, a difference in thickness can range from 0.05 mm to 0.1 mm. In other words, even if the plate-like support members are accurately processed and assembled, the complete contact between the plate-like support members and the sheet glass serving as a faceplate is not always made.
Regarding the needle-like support members, the following problems exist:
First, there is a problem in the required number of needle-like support members, needed to support against the atmospheric pressure. In the plate-like support members, the contact area between the plate-like support members and glass is relative large. In contrast, the contact area between the needle-like support members and glass is extremely small, and therefore a considerably large number of needle-like support members are needed in order to reduce load weight of each support member. More specifically, the needle-like support members must be arranged with a pitch of 10 mm or less, and a 1000 or more needle-like support members are needed in order to support against the atmospheric pressure applied to the sheet glass whose size corresponds to 20 inches of the diagonal size of the screen.
Second, there is a problem in accuracy of processing. According to this method, the top end portion of the member must be processed to be needle-like. Generally, a method for processing a wire material to be needle-like can be easily processed by a cylindrical grinding. However, it is difficult to accurately position the central axis of the wire material and the top end portion portion of the processed needle-like member, and there often occurs cases where the central axis of the wire material and the top end portion are eccentrically processed.
Third, there is a problem in strength of the needle-like support members. Similar to the case of the plate-like support members, strength is adequate in a case where load is applied in an axial direction of the wire material. However, if load is applied in a direction, which is inclined to the axis, the plate is easily deformed and excessive load is applied to the other adjacent support members.
Fourth, there is a problem in a method for fixing the needle-like support members. Similar to the case of the plate-like support members, since the thin needle-like support members cannot stand by themselves, there is required a member for setting up the needle-like support members to be perpendicular to the rear panel, or a fixture in a case of welding in order to attach the needle-like support members to the rear panel.
As mentioned above, the plate-like or needle-like support members are not favorable for practical use in view of the structure, manufacturing, assembling, and the cost. Moreover, the conventional flat cathode-ray tubes, which have been proposed, include a large number of wire cathodes 13, a large number of control electrodes 14, accelerating electrodes 15, deflecting electrodes 16 therein. The structure is very complicated, and there are many problems in the manufacture. If the large-sized screen is used, the manufacture of the cathode-ray tube becomes extremely difficult. Moreover, since it contains a large number of support members and inner electrodes, there occurs a problem on occluded gas of these members. As a result, a life characteristic of the cathode-ray tube is largely deteriorated, and this is considerably unfavorable for practical use.
As mentioned above, there are various problems in the prior art to obtain a cathode-ray tube having high resolution, a small depth, good visible image, simple structure, high practical use, and high industrial value.

Flat display device for displaying an image utilizing an electron beam, which is provided with a support arrangement for supporting a single faceplate


In an elevator system, upon registration of a hall destination call from a call registration device, a group control device determines an assigned car caused to respond to the hall destination call. An assigned car notification device indicates information on the determined assigned car correlating the information to a service floor of the assigned car. The group control device determines whether or not a hall destination call registered from the call registration device meets a prescribed review condition, and if affirmative, the group control device does not perform a final determination of an assigned car immediately after registration. Upon final determination of an assigned car for a hall destination call meeting the review condition by the group control device, the assigned car notification device indicates only information on the assigned car and a service floor corresponding to the hall destination call on the indicator for a prescribed period of time.

In a building where there are many elevator users, a plurality of elevators are installed in the building. In such a building, a group control device is often provided in order to improve the operation efficiency of all of the elevators. The group control device performs what is called group control, which involves controlling a plurality of elevators installed in the building as a group.
Patent Literature 1 to Patent Literature 3 below propose elevator systems provided with a group control device.
In a system described in Patent Literature 1, a call registration device for registering hall destination calls is installed in an elevator hall. In this system, when an assigned car which is caused to respond to a hall destination call is determined, information on this assigned car is indicated on an indicator by being correlated to a service floor.
In systems described in Patent Literature 2 and Patent Literature 3, a call registration device for registering hall destination calls is installed in an elevator hall. In these systems, a review of assigned cars is performed for hall destination calls registered from the call registration device.

System for controlling elevators as a group


A first CVD dielectric layer is deposited on a surface of a semiconductor substrate. Next, low-k layers are deposited in at least two different steps to form one of a via-layer dielectric film and a wiring-layer dielectric film on the first CVD dielectric layer. Immediately after the depositions, thermal treatment is performed. A second CVD dielectric layer is deposited on the low-k layers. A groove is formed in the second CVD dielectric layer and the low-k layers. A metal layer is deposited on that structure, filling the groove. The metal layer is removed from the second CVD dielectric layer by chemical mechanical polishing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device in which buried wiring made of Cu or the like is formed in a low-k layer on a semiconductor substrate.
2. Background Art
In recent years, new micro patterning techniques have developed with high integration density and an improvement in capability of a semiconductor integrated circuit (to be referred to as an LSI hereinafter). Chemical-mechanical polishing (to be referred to as CMP hereinafter) is one of the new micro patterning techniques, and is used in LSI manufacturing steps, in particular, planarization of an interlayer dielectric film, formation of a metal plug, and formation of a buried wiring layer in a multi-level wiring (multi-level interconnection) process steps (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,836).
Recently, in order to improve the capability of an LSI, conventional Al alloy has been replaced by Cu or Cu alloy (referred to generically as Cu hereinafter) as wiring material with low electrical resistance. However, Cu cannot be easily micropatterned by a dry etching method frequently used in fabrication of an Al-alloy wiring layer. Therefore, a Cu layer is deposited on an dielectric layer having a groove formed thereon, and the Cu layer is removed by CMP except for a portion buried in the groove to form a buried wiring layer. That is, a damascene method is mainly employed.
In order to reduce parasitic capacitance between wiring layers, an LSI in which, as an interlayer dielectric film, a low-k layer having the dielectric constant of 3.5 or less is used in place of an SiO2 layer having the dielectric constant k of about 4.2 has been practically used. Moreover, low-k materials, that is, low dielectric constant materials, having the dielectric constant of 2.5 or less have been also developed. As these low-k materials, porous materials having pores formed therein are often used. A conventional semiconductor device obtained by combining such a low-k layer or a porous low-k layer and a Cu wiring layer is shown in FIG. 11. A method of manufacturing the semiconductor device will be described below.
An underlying dielectric layer 2 made of a SiC layer is formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate 1 by CVD method. A low-k layer 3 is formed on the underlying dielectric layer 2. A cap dielectric layer 4 is formed on the low-k layer 3 by CVD method. The cap dielectric layer 4 and the low-k layer 3 are patterned by photolithography and dry etching to form a groove. A barrier metal layer 5 and a Cu layer 6 are formed on the surface of the resultant structure to bury the groove. Finally, the Cu layer 6 and the barrier metal layer 5 on the cap dielectric layer 4 are removed by CMP to form a buried wiring layer in the groove. When a multi-level wiring (multi-level interconnection) is to be formed, the above processes are repeated.
However, since the mechanical strength of the low-k layer 3 is lower than that of an SiO2 layer, the low-k layer 3 is structurally damaged by polishing pressure of the CMP. Therefore, peeling disadvantageously occurs in the interface between the cap dielectric layer 4 and the low-k layer 3 or the interface between the low-k layer 3 and the underlying dielectric layer 2. The peeling especially occurs when a low-k material having a low elastic modulus and a low degree of hardness is used and when the adhesive strength between the cap dielectric layer and the low-k layer is low. In particular, it is reported that when the elastic modulus of the low-k layer is 5 GPa or less, peeling easily occurs (for example, refer to Simon Lin et al., "Low-k Dielectric Characterization for Damascene Integration", 2001 IEEE, International Interconnect Technology Conference 2001, pp.146–148). As conventional countermeasures against the peeling, a polishing pressure of CMP is reduced, or a low-k layer having the high elastic modulus and a high degree of hardness is used.
However, when the polishing pressure is reduced as in the conventional technique, the polishing rate decreases to disadvantageously lower the throughput of CMP. Furthermore, when the low-k material having the high elastic modulus and a high degree of hardness is used, the dielectric constant k disadvantageously increases.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A core spray sparger T-box attachment assembly for a nuclear reactor pressure vessel, wherein the pressure vessel includes a shroud, a sparger T-box penetrating the shroud, a plurality of sparger distribution header pipes coupled to the sparger T-box, and a downcomer pipe. The sparger header pipes may include at least one sparger nozzle, and the sparger T-box attachment assembly may include a downcomer pipe coupling and a sparger T-box clamp. The sparger T-box clamp may include an anchor plate having a draw bolt opening to receive a draw bolt, a first clamp block substantially aligned at one end of the anchor plate, and a second clamp block substantially aligned at the other end of the anchor plate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to nuclear reactors and more particularly, to assemblies and methods for repairing piping within reactor pressure vessel of such reactor.
2. Description of Related Art
A reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of a boiling water reactor (BWR) typically has a generally cylindrical shape and is closed at both ends, e.g., by a bottom head and a removable top head. A core shroud, or shroud, typically surrounds the core and is supported by a shroud support structure.
Boiling water reactors have numerous piping systems, and such piping systems are utilized, for example, to transport water throughout the RPV. For example, core spray piping is used to deliver water from outside the RPV to core spray spargers inside the RPV. The core spray piping and spargers deliver water flow to the reactor core.
Intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) is a known phenomenon occurring in reactor components, such as structural members, piping, fasteners, and welds, exposed to high temperature water. The reactor components are subject to a variety of stresses associated with, for example, differences in thermal expansion, the operating pressure needed for the containment of the reactor cooling water, and other sources such as residual stresses from welding, cold working and other inhomogeneous metal treatments. In addition, water chemistry, welding, heat treatment and radiation can increase the susceptibility of metal in a component to IGSCC.
Conditions exist in the reactor which contribute to IGSCC of the core spray piping. One area of susceptibility in the core spray piping is the welded joints between the sparger T-box and its associated distribution headers. The sparger T-box is the junction where the core spray downcomer supply pipe penetrates the shroud and branches to distribution sparger pipes. Specifically, the sparger T-box is a straight section of pipe that is capped by a flat plate welded to the end of the pipe. Two sparger pipes are welded to the sparger T-box, thus forming a piping tee. These three welded joints are susceptible to cracking, and in the event that through-wall circumferential cracking should occur at these welded joints, unpredictable leakage could occur. Another area of concern is that the core spray system prevents excessive fuel clad temperature in the event of a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) by delivering cooling water to the core region of the reactor. In the event that through-wall circumferential cracking should occur at these welded joints, the system may be compromised.
In order to prevent unacceptable leakage and to ensure that the core spray system delivers the necessary volumetric flow rate to the reactor core, it would be desirable to provide a clamping system to provide structural integrity to the sparger T-box and to hold the welded joints together in the event that one or more welds fail.

Core spray sparger T-box clamp apparatus and method for installing the same


A microetching composition for copper or copper alloys comprising, (a) an oxidizing agent which can oxidize the copper or copper alloy, (b) a polymer compound which contains polyamine chains or a cationic group or both in the amount of 0.000001 to 1.0% by weight, and (c) water. The composition can produce surfaces of copper or copper alloy exhibiting excellent adhesion to resins such as prepregs and resists, and superior solderability. The composition can be adaptable to the manufacture of printed wiring boards with highly integrated fine line patterns.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microetching composition useful for treating surfaces of copper or copper alloys.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the manufacture of printed-wiring boards, copper surfaces are polished prior to coating such surfaces with an etching resist or a solder resist to improve adhesion of these resists to the copper surfaces. Mechanical cleaning using a buffing or scrubbing machine, or chemical cleaning, known as microetching, are used for roughening the copper surfaces. Microetching is more popular for treating substrates with fine line patterns. The copper surface is etched as deeply as 1-5 .mu.m by the microetching treatment. This depth of etching is calculated from the weight of copper decreased by etching, the specific gravity, and the surface area of the copper.
A microetching agent used for the microetching process which contains a cationic surfactant such as a quaternary ammonium salt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,035. The specification of this USP states that the microetching agent can smooth the surface of a metal and improve adhesion of an etching resist to the surface.
However, the smooth surface treated with the microetching agent does not exhibit adequate adhesion with a prepreg, or a curable ink in which a hard (highly cross-linked) resin is used. The adhered portion may peel or produce swelling, which may permit chemical solutions to invade the space between the metal surface and the resin in the subsequent chemical treatment steps.
The inventors of the present invention have undertaken extensive studies and found that a microetching agent comprising a small amount of a polymer compound which contains polyamine chains or a cationic group, or both, can produce a deep irregularly etched surface on the surface of copper or a copper alloy. This surface differs from the surface obtained by treatment with the above-described microetching agent disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,035 and exhibits excellent adhesion to a solder resist and the like.

Microetching composition for copper or copper alloy


A collision damage prevention system is disclosed which may be installed on many standard powered mobility vehicles for handicapped persons. The system includes an array of one or more sensors placed around the periphery of the powered mobility vehicle, a switch for each sensor, and a central control module which receives input from the switches, turns the vehicle off and/or applies braking power to prevent damage from a collision. The system then prompts the operator to acknowledge the collision and guides the operator into the appropriate direction to move the vehicle's controls in order to move away from the object collided with.

This Invention relates to a device and method for preventing damage from collisions occurring during the operation of a powered wheelchair or similar mobility device. Powered wheelchairs and similar powered mobility devices are self-powered vehicles which are commonly used by handicapped individuals to give them mobility, most particularly within the confines of the individual's home or within businesses the individual visits. These vehicles have greatly enhanced the lives of those affected by disease, stroke, injury, or the ravages of aging; however, the typical user is often restricted in head movement, visual and auditory acuity, and other sensory perception (including vibration) such that it becomes impossible for the typical user to adequately observe the boundaries of the vehicle as the user maneuvers among furniture, around corners, and through doors of the home or business. It is very common for these vehicles to cause severe damage to their surroundings, even when maneuvered at very low speeds, because of the great power capabilities of these vehicles necessary to overcome slopes, door thresholds, and other obstacles in normal use. It is especially common for a person with hearing difficulties, upon colliding with a door frame or piece of furniture, to continue to apply power in the same direction, rather than to ease the mobility device away from the object. The result is that severe damage often results from these collisions, both to the object collided with as well as the vehicle, with deep scratches, gouges, and holes left in the former, or bent operating handles and other damage done to the latter. Problems are not limited to those with hearing difficulties, however; even for those who realize that a collision has occurred, the controls of common mobility devices are often counterintuitive regarding the direction the user needs to move to avoid damage. A need therefore exists for a system which will detect an impending collision between a handicapped mobility device and an object which will stop the mobility device from causing damage to the object, alert the user to the impending collision, and guide the user towards making appropriate course modifications to prevent damage to the mobility device and the object.
The present Invention is therefore directed remedying these problems by providing a device and method for modifying an existing powered mobility device which, when installed on such a powered mobility device, will detect an impending collision, will prevent damage to the object collided with and will alert the user by stopping the vehicle and/or sounding an alarm, and will give the user guidance on the appropriate corrective action to take before the object is damaged.

Powered mobility vehicle collision damage prevention device


A modified phenolic resin that is an alternate copolymer of at least one phenolic compound selected from phenol, naphthols, and their derivatives and a compound having a divalent connecting group, said modified phenolic resin having a side chain attached to an aromatic ring having a hydroxy group, said side chain being represented by defined formula (1-1). The modified phenolic resin can be used as a hardener for epoxy resins and a cured product thereof has excellent adhesion and flame retardancy without impairing properties of conventional phenolic resins such as gel time, glass transition temperature, moisture absorption, and mechanical properties. The epoxy resin composition can provide excellent adhesion and flame retardancy as hardeners for semiconductor sealing epoxy resins, insulating materials for electrical/electronic components, and laminates (printed circuit boards). A prepreg containing a glass substrate impregnated with the epoxy resin composition, a laminate, and an electronic circuit board are also provided.

Phenolic resins are useful compounds as hardeners for semiconductor-sealing epoxy resins, source materials for epoxy resins, adhesives, molding materials, and paints. Phenolic resins are widely used in electrical/electronic components, structural materials, adhesives, paints, and other fields, since cured phenolic resins have excellent electrical properties, heat resistance, adhesion, moisture resistance, and others.
Further, with advancement in the electrical/electronics field, semiconductor-sealing epoxy resins are required to have various properties such as high purity, heat resistance, moisture resistance, adhesion, low viscosity ensuring high filler content, low dielectric constant, rapid curing performance, and flame retardancy. In particular, lead-free soldering, which is introduced to meet environmental problems, requires soldering temperature higher than before, so that there is demand for improving adhesion between chips and frames composing IC and the sealing resin or adhesion between the filler and sealing resin to prevent separation or crack of packages.
In addition, because of the regulation on use of conventional bromine-containing flame retardants, the flame retardancy of the resin itself is also required to be improved.
In order to solve these problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-286392 describes a technique of improving adhesion of an epoxy composition by adding dibenzothiophene for prevention of cracks caused on packages by heating in reflow soldering process. However, since the above compound is quite inert and has a low boiling point of around 330° C., there are problems in heat resistance and flame retardancy.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-237060 discloses a technique of preventing package separation by improving adhesion using polyhydric phenols prepared through polycondensation between hetero aldehydes and phenols. However, production of these polyhydric phenols requires a long reaction time because of extremely low reactivity and has difficulty in producing high polymers. Also, the production involves many steps, such as neutralization of alkaline water and repeated washing of resulting salts, and generates a large amount of wastewater in neutralization and washing. Furthermore, there are a number of problems including slow curing speed of molded products and lowering in mechanical strength.
Phenolic resins are useful compounds as hardeners for electronic circuit board epoxy resins, source materials for epoxy resins, or the like. Since cured phenolic resins are excellent in electrical properties, heat resistance, adhesion, moisture resistance, and others, fiber-reinforced resin boards in which a phenolic resin is incorporated into a fiber base and cured to form a matrix, for example, laminates made of fiber-reinforced resin are widely used as electrical insulating materials or the like in the field of electrical/electronic components.
The fiber-reinforced resin board with phenolic resin matrix can be produced as follows: a fiber base is impregnated with a phenolic resin varnish in which a phenolic resin is dissolved in an organic solvent and the varnish is dried to prepare a semi-cured prepreg; a predetermined number of prepregs are stacked; and the resin is fully cured.
As examples of phenolic resins used for producing such fiber-reinforced resin boards, there may be mentioned resol-type phenolic resins. However, fiber-reinforced resin boards using resol-type phenolic resins have disadvantages of low electrical insulation and inadequate heat resistance. In order to resolve these disadvantages, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H02-73824 proposes fiber-reinforced resin boards using various novolac-type phenolic resins as matrix. However, the boards were inadequate in flame retardancy, and addition of a bromine-containing flame retardant was required to impart flame retardancy to the resin composition.
Because of the European Union regulation on use of conventional bromine-containing flame retardants, the flame retardancy of the resin itself is also required to be improved.
On the other hand, as method for manufacturing multilayer printed circuit boards in place of the conventional laminating press process, there has been intensively developed so-called build-up process in which organic insulating films and conductive layers are alternatively laminated without glass fabric, which is disadvantageous in dielectric properties.
In the build-up process, a rubber component is sometimes added to enhance adhesion between the insulating layer and conductive layer. The rubber component remaining in the insulating layer, in some cases, deteriorates performances such as heat resistance and electrical insulation. Therefore, improvement in adhesion of resin itself is requested.

Modified phenolic resin, epoxy resin composition containing the same, and prepreg containing the composition