Methods and apparatus are provided for measuring servo address mark distance in a read channel using selective fine phase estimates. A distance between servo address marks (SAMs) in servo data of a magnetic recording media can be computed by obtaining a count of a number of time intervals between SAM patterns; obtaining a plurality of fractional phase estimates; selecting at least one of the plurality of fractional phase estimates as a selected fractional phase estimate based on a selection criteria; and combining the count and the selected fractional phase estimate to compute the distance. The fractional phase estimates can include a first fractional phase estimate having a lower resolution and higher accuracy in the presence of frequency errors relative to a second fractional phase estimate and wherein the second fractional phase estimate has more resolution and lower accuracy in the presence of the frequency errors relative to the first fractional phase estimate. The selection criteria can comprise a frequency error threshold.

A read channel integrated circuit (IC) is one of the core electronic components in a modern magnetic recording system, such as a hard disk drive. A read channel converts and encodes data to enable the heads to write data to the disk drive and then read back the data accurately. The disks in a drive typically have many tracks on them. Each track typically consists of mostly user or "read" data sectors, as well as control or "servo" data sectors embedded between the read sectors. The servo sectors help to position the magnetic recording head on a track so that the information stored in the read sectors is retrieved properly.
The servo data format includes a servo address mark (SAM) that is typically the same pattern of bits for all servo sectors. In a Disk Locked Clock (DLC) system, the distance between the servo address marks in consecutive servo wedges, often referred to as the "SAM2SAM distance," is used to estimate and correct the frequency error of the sampling clock. The SAM2SAM distance is typically obtained using a counter that measures the number of time intervals between consecutive SAM patterns (and has a resolution that is equal to the sampling period, T). The precision of the SAM2SAM distance value is typically improved by concatenating the integer counter value with a fractional fine phase estimate that is based on phase information from the Phase Locked Loop (PLL) in the read channel (and has a sub-T resolution). This fine phase estimate, however, is prone to errors in the presence of large frequency offsets.
Thus, a need exists for improved techniques for measuring the SAM2SAM distance in magnetic recording systems, such as hard disk drives.

Methods and apparatus for measuring servo address mark distance in a read channel using selective fine phase estimate


Inducing perturbation by varying a supply amount of the resource type in the system and measuring performance of the software entity at multiple variation levels of the supply amount of the resource type in the system. A model may be built that characterizes a relationship between the measured performance and the variation levels. The model may be applied to detect the resource bottleneck. The model may be also applied for capacity planning.

Software performance depends on allocated resources. For instance, when software runs in a computer system, whether it is a centralized or a distributed system, the software performance depends on how much of computing resources is being allocated. Computer resources may include physical resources as well as virtual resources. Examples of physical resources, e.g., may include a processor (central processing unit (CPU) or CPU cycles), memory, internal Input/Output (disk I/O) and external I/O (networking bandwidth). Examples of virtual resources may include thread pool size, buffer size and others.
Existing approaches that try to understand a component's performance may require experts with deep understanding on the software structure, i.e., how to break the software into individual components, and how the end-to-end performance is derived from the component-level performance. Such approaches may also require adding instrumenting code to the software source code which may be difficult in many situations. Further such approaches may be highly software-specific, and cannot be easily generalized.
Another known approach may intercept the targeted software. The drawback of this approach lies in the difficulty for designing the intercept. It also requires the knowledge of the APIs for all the low-level resource usage that the software is calling, which presents a difficult practice. In addition, the large overhead created by such monitoring layer or intercept may significantly affect the software performance such that the collected performance numbers are not representative. Other approaches may passively collect observed data for performance related information, but with such approaches the effectiveness may highly depend on the observed data only.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method to apply perturbation for resource bottleneck detection and capacity planning

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is a sheet folding device comprising a deceleration means which halts a sheet by pressing. A pressure member such as rubber is disposed upon the leading end of a rod-shaped member which is rotatably retained. A sheet is decelerated by the pressure member being applied obliquely to the sheet. The entire surface of the rubber does not make close contact with paper, and thus, a wrinkle is not formed in the paper. It is possible to ensure a stable folding location.

Conventionally, a sheet folding device including a sheet transportation means for drawing out sheets of paper stacked on a sheet loading unit one at a time so as to transport them, a sheet stopper for preventing the sheets transported by the sheet transportation means from traveling, and a sheet folding means for pinching and folding a bent portion of the sheet that has been prevented from traveling by the sheet stopper and partially bent as a result, is well known (Patent Document 1).


A one-way clutch. The one-way clutch includes a passive member, an active member, and a rolling member. The passive member has an outer circumferential surface and a sliding portion. The sliding portion extends from the outer circumferential surface to the interior of the passive member and has a first plane surface and a second plane surface. The first plane surface is opposite to the second plane surface. The first plane surface is not parallel to the second plane surface. The active member is disposed on the outer circumferential surface of the passive member and has an inner circumferential surface and an engaging portion. The inner circumferential is surface is in slidable contact with the outer circumferential surface of the passive member. The engaging portion extends from the inner circumferential surface to the interior of the active member. The rolling member rolls and slides between the sliding portion and the engaging portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a one-way clutch, and in particular to a one-way clutch that has a simplified structure and enhances transmission thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A one-way clutch generally transmits a mechanism in a single direction and rotates without transmission in the opposite direction.
Referring to FIG. 1, U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,392 discloses a conventional one-way clutch 1 having the aforementioned function. The one-way clutch 1 includes a passive member 10, an active member 20, a roller 30 and a spring 40. The passive member 10 includes a receiving portion 11 formed therein. The active member 20 includes an engaging groove 21 formed therein. The spring 40 is disposed in the receiving portion 11. The roller 30 is disposed on the spring 40 and in the receiving portion 11. The spring 40 provides an axial force to the roller 30. Additionally, the engaging groove 21 includes a curved surface 22 and a slanted surface 23.
As shown in FIG. 1, when the active member 20 rotates counterclockwise, the roller 30 is driven by the curved surface 22 of the engaging groove 21, thus causing the passive member 10 to rotate counterclockwise. At this point, the one-way clutch 1 performs one-way transmission. When the active member 20, on the other hand, rotates clockwise, the roller 30 slides on the slanted surface 23 of the engaging groove 21 and compresses the spring 40. The roller 30 is then pushed into the receiving portion 11 of the passive member 10, causing the active member 20 to slide on the outer circumferential surface of the passive member 10 and on the roller 30. At this point, the one-way clutch 1 only rotates and does not perform any transmission.
The conventional one-way clutch 1 has many drawbacks as follows.
Since the spring 40 is disposed in the passive member 10, manufacture of the one-way clutch 1 is difficult, increasing manufacturing costs thereof.
The active member 20 has only one engaging groove 21. When the one-way clutch 1 performs transmission, the active member 20 may require a large amount of rotation to position the roller 30 into the engaging groove 21. Accordingly, the length of time the roller 30 contacts the active member 20 is long. Additionally, the operation generates noise.
Accordingly, since the active member 20 may require a large amount of rotation to position the roller 30 into the engaging groove 21, transmission efficiency of the one-way clutch 1 is reduced.


A security architecture is provided for accessing security components associated with an operating system. The security architecture is generally comprised of: a policy tree storing a plurality of security policies, where each security policy is define as at least one system call which correlates to a security operation and a corresponding security component for executing the security operation; and a policy manager adapted to intercept system calls from the operating system and operable to determine an applicable response based on the policy tree. The policy tree and the policy manager reside in a protected memory space of the execution environment.

Most modern operating systems being used with consumer electronic devices are based on discretionary access security. As consumer electronic devices become more networked, such security is not considered adequate. In addition, these operating systems do not provide a flexible mechanism for enhancing security. One way to encourage adding security is to provide a security framework which will encapsulate the building blocks in one well, known region having well defined inputs and outputs.
A few objectives for such a security framework are as follows: first, to present a common application programming interface for various security components to entities outside of the kernel; second, to ensure user level interactions with security components stays consistent even as lower level components change over time; and third, to establish a well defined communication path with the security components that reside within the security framework. The present invention presents a security architecture designed to meet these as well as other objectives.

Security architecture and mechanism to access and use security components in operating system


Well conduit system and methods using a first outer conduit wall and at least one second inner conduit wall positioned through a wellhead to define an annulus with radial loading surfaces extending across the annulus and radially between at least two of the conduit walls to form passageways through subterranean strata concentrically, wherein an inner pipe body of greater outer diameter is inserted into an outer pipe body of lesser inner diameter by elastically expanding the circumference of the outer pipe body and elastically compressing the circumference of the inner pipe body, using a hoop force exerted therebetween. Releasing the hoop force after insertion will release the elastic expansion and compression of the pipe bodies to abut the radial loading surfaces within the annulus for sharing elastic hoop stress resistance and thereby forming a greater effective wall thickness, capable of containing higher pressures than the conduit walls could otherwise bear.

When exploiting subterranean deposits, such as those associated with waste fluid disposal of contaminated water and carbon dioxide (CO2) sequester, salt production and salt cavern storage, geothermal steam and hydrocarbons, high pressure containment conduits of sufficient diameter are useful to access subterranean depths. A need exists for systems and methods to increase the pressure bearing efficiency of a well, such as through use of larger diameter conduits to improve the integrity of the well and the placement of subterranean apparatuses, e.g. separators, heat exchangers, side-track side pocket whipstocks and other apparatuses usable for extracting and processing injectable and producible fluids from one or more wells, in a more efficient and/or environmentally conscious manner than is currently practiced.
Embodiments of the present well conduit system can communicate fluids through large diameter, higher-pressure, conduit containment to provide significant pressure bearing improvement over conventional well designs, which can include the well designs of the present inventor, as disclosed in United Kingdom Patent GB2465478B entitled "Apparatus And Methods For Operating A Plurality Of Wells Through A Single Bore," incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The present inventor's apparatus and methods of use, as disclosed in United Kingdom Patent GB2471760B entitled "Apparatus And Methods For Subterranean Downhole Cutting Displacement, And Sealing Operations Using Cable Conveyance," incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, may be used within the well conduit systems and methods of the present invention for maintenance, boring via side-pockets, and/or abandonment. In addition, embodiments of the present invention may incorporate the teachings of the systems and methods disclosed in UK Patent Application GB1021787.5, entitled "Managed Pressure Conduit Systems And Methods For Boring And Placing Conduits Within The Subterranean Strata," published under GB2475626A on 25 May 2011, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, for particular uses.
The present invention can provide significant and distinctive improvements over the teachings of existing systems and methods. For example, conventional systems and methods are described in Yang et al., in Chinese Patent Application CN102226378A, entitled "Reinforced Riser Pipe Combined Structure And Construction Method;" Morgan and Sinclair in U.S. Patent Application No. US 2011/0068574 A1, published 24 Mar. 2011 entitled "Pipe Connector Device;" Gallagher and Lumsden in U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,374 entitled "Pipe Connectors," filed 18 Apr. 1997 and issued 21 Sep. 1999; Bilderbeek and Hendrie in U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,061 B2, entitled "Externally Activated Seal System For Wellhead," filed 24 Sep. 2007 and issued 22 Jun. 2010; Cook et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,053 B2, filed 13 Aug. 2004 and issued 12 Dec. 2006, entitled "Wellhead:" Berg et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,610 B2, entitled "Triple Walled Underground Storage Tank," filed 28 Feb. 2002 and issued 2 Mar. 2004;" Berg, Sr. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,762 B2, filed 7 Jan. 2002 and issued 23 Nov. 2004, entitled "High Strength Rig For Storage Tanks;" Wright, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,823,635 B2, entitled "Downhole Oil and Water Separator and Method," filed 23 Aug. 2004 and issued 2 Nov. 2010; Thompson in U.S. Pat. No. 7,857,060 B2, entitled "System, Method and Apparatus For Concentric Tubing Deployed, Artificial Lift Allowing Gas Venting From Below Packers," filed 10 Oct. 2008 and issued 28 Dec. 2010; Choi in U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,601, entitled "Integrated Floating Platform Vertical Annular Separator For Production of Hydrocarbons," filed 2 Aug. 1994 and issued 12 Dec. 1995;" Ford in U.S. Pat. No. 7,703,509 B2, entitled "Gas Anchor And Solids Separator Assembly For Use With Sucker Rod Pump," filed 2 Mar. 2007 and issued 27 Apr. 2010; Williams in U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,464 B2, entitled "Mechanically Actuated Gas Separator For Downhole Pump," filed 22 Jun. 2005 and issued 20 Oct. 2009; Lai, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,645,330 B2, entitled "Gas-Liquid Separator Apparatus," filed 27 Oct. 2006 and issued 12 Jan. 2010; Ehlinger, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,849,918 B2, entitled "Centering Structure For Tubular Member And Methology For Making Same," filed 21 Jul. 2008 and issued 14 Dec. 2010; Sizer in U.S. Pat. No. 3,448,803, entitled "Means For Operating A Well With A Plurality Of Flow Conductors Therein," filed 2 Feb. 1967 and issued 10 Jun. 1969; Hosie et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,877 B2, entitled "Apparatus And Method To Reduce Fluid Pressure In A Well Bore," filed 26 Sep. 2006 and issued 8 Jul. 2008; Brown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,975,835, filed 7 Nov. 1957 and issued 21 Mar. 1961, entitled "Dual String Cross-Over Tool"; Wilson et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,445,429 B2 entitled "Crossover Two-Phase Flow Pump," filed 14 Apr. 2005 and issued 4 Nov. 2008; Fredd in U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,599, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Controlling A Well," filed 10 May 1982 and issued 17 Jun. 1984; Browne et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,919 B1, entitled "Downhole Hydraulic Path Selection," filed 2 Mar. 1999 and issued 9 Oct. 2001; Edwards et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,578 B1, entitled "Monobore Riser Bore Selector," having an effective filing date of 13 Oct. 1998 and issuance on 9 Jan. 2001; Simpson, et al. in UK Patent Application publication number GB 2,429,722 A, published 7 Mar. 2007, entitled "Crossover Tool For Injection And Production Fluids;" Zackman, et al., in UK Patent GB 2,387,401 A, entitled "Crossover Tool Allowing Downhole Through Access;" Argumugam, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 7,967,075 B2, entitled "High Angle Waterflood Kickover Tool," filed 22 Aug. 2008 and issued 28 Jun. 2001; Jackson, et al. in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0267200 A1, published 22 Nov. 2007, entitled "Kickover Tool And Selection Mandrel System"; Dinning in U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,259, entitled "Side Pocket Kickover Tool," filed 12 Apr. 1972 and issued 26 Mar. 1974; Schraub in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2004/0060694 A1, published 1 Apr. 2004, entitled "Kick-Over Tool For Side Pocket Mandrel"; Pratt in U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,390 B1, entitled "Method And System For Lining Multilateral Wells," filed 5 Feb. 2004 and issued 24 Apr. 2007; and Roth, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,955 B2, entitled "Gas Lift Mandrel," filed 22 Aug. 2002 and issued 2 Nov. 2004, each of which is included in its entirety by reference.
By way of example, Yang et al discloses ribbed reinforcement of an internal conduit that is loosely placed and cemented within an outer conduit (e.g., loosely-placed T-shaped ribs that are frictionally unsuitable for adjoining long pipe bodies since the weakest point, which is the rib of the T-shape, is subject to plastic deformation and failure if subjected to forces used in the present systems and methods). For example, embodiments usable within the scope of the present disclosure utilize the abutment of radial loading surfaces and conduits that may be elastically expanded and compressed during installation using hoop forces, wherein the release of the hoop forces causes the release of the elastic memory of the conduits' pipe bodies, which adjoins one pipe body to the other.
Hoop stress conduit joint connectors are disclosed in Morgan and Sinclair, and Gallagher and Lumsden, which due to their high cost of manufacture, as compared to screwed and coupled connections, are not widely used in most conventional well designs. For example, Morgan et al describes large diameter high-pressure connectors, with exceedingly tight machining tolerances. Embodiments usable within the scope of the present disclosure can, conversely, enable the application and use of lower-cost, hoop stress strengthening between pipe body walls.
Similar to Morgan, et al., Bilderbeek and Hendrie also describe the use of hoop stress to secure conduits within a wellhead, through a relatively high cost procedure with relatively tight tolerances of manufacture, as compared to conventional wellheads requiring less pressure integrity. A need exists for a lower-cost well conduit system that includes and uses low-tolerance, hoop stress sharing conduits, at and below an integrated wellhead, and can further incorporate use of large diameter conduits to replace the large diameter flanges, which are required by Bilderbeek and Hendrie, for securing conduit hangers.
Bilderbeek and Hendrie also teach the use of a compression olive to hang conduits within a wellhead. Embodiments usable within the scope of the present disclosure can improve upon this practice by providing single olive (41) arrangements, which can be suitable for installation of conduits having hoop stress sharing loading surfaces and including double (42) olive (41) arrangements for securing conduits and sealing apparatus between large bore high pressure conduits, enabling at least partial replacement of the thick metal, large diameter, restraining hoops required by the prior art and the conventional applications of compression olives.
Cook, et al. describes the expansion of conventional sized tubular conduits within a conventional sized wellhead, where "each inner casing is supported by intimate direct contact pressure between an outer surface of the inner casing and an inner surface of the outer casing."
The Cook, et al., wellhead includes a conventionally sized well design, e.g., "generally to well bore casings, and in particular to well bore casings that are formed using expandable tubing." As is common in conventional practice, the Cook, et al., teachings are restricted to the maximum conventional rotary table diameter of 49.5 inches (124.25 cm), despite its growing obsolescence with the advent of top drives. Furthermore, Cook, et al., teaches a "telescoping effect" for solid conduits that cannot accommodate the use of hoop stress sharing, as described herein.
Cook, et al. also teaches the use of higher yield strength materials to increase pressure integrity, which is a conventional alternative to embodiments of the present disclosure, which include hoop stress sharing.
A need exists for systems and methods that can rely upon the effective wall thickness of rigid conduits, rather than expandable conduits. For example, a pipe body having an outer diameter of 122 centimeter (cm) (48 inches), having a material with a yield of 275.8 newtons per millimeter squared (N/mm2) (40,000 psi), a wall thickness of 5.7 cm (2.25 inches), can be combined with a conduit formed from the same grade of material and having an outer diameter of 137 cm (54 inches) and a wall thickness of 5.7 cm (2.25 inches). A high compression strength cement can be placed within the annulus between the two pipe bodies and radial extending load surfaces, to enable the sharing of the hoop stress resistance between the pipe bodies. This arrangement may, in combination, form an effective wall thickness of 0.133 cm (5.25 inches), which can comprise an outside diameter of 137 cm (54 inches), and which is capable of supporting 469.2 bar (6800 psi) of internal yield pressure and 484.1 bar (7000 psi) of collapse pressure, according to a standard API bulletin 5C3 calculation. If a 930.8 N/mm2 (135,000 psi) yield material is used, the internal yield pressure, or burst pressure, can increase to 1583.6 bar (22,960 psi), and the collapse pressure can increase to 1633.9 bar (23,690 psi) with the API 5C3 calculation.
Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods that can provide a higher conduit burst pressure and collapse pressure, and can also provide more usable space within the conduit for various applications, including, e.g., a plurality of wells from a single wellhead and well bore fluid processing, with separation and heat exchanging apparatuses. Accordingly, as described in the present disclosure, applying loading surfaces along the axial length of two adjoined conduits and using their abutment to share hoop stresses represents a significant improvement over conventional cemented centralizers, such as those described in Ehlinger, et al., because, while cement has compressive strength, it does not possess sufficient elasticity. Further, it is not the practice in conventional well design to rely on the intermittent placement of centralizers within cement for increased pressure bearing capacity, due to the natural uncertainties of engagement between casings.
Berg et al. and Berg Sr. relate to shallow tanks for service stations that store already-processed hydrocarbons, and do not relate to use with subterranean tanks engaged to a wellhead or usable for processing subterranean deposits. A need exists for systems and methods that enable installation of tanks during drilling, and securement of tanks to a wellhead and/or capable of interaction with processing apparatuses, e.g., separators and heat exchangers. Additionally, the pressure experienced within shallow subterranean storage tanks for already-processed hydrocarbons, which are not connected to high pressure and large volumetric hydrocarbon reservoirs, are relatively insignificant when compared to, as described above, the required burst and collapse pressures associated with well construction and operation.
Wright, et al., Thompson, Choi, Ford, Williams and Lai, et al., each relate to various forms of downhole separation, processing and stimulation. However, a need exists for systems and methods that provide usable downhole volumetric spaces that are greater in volume and allow for higher pressures. In addition to providing such functionality, embodiments useable within the scope of the present disclosure can enable integration of apparatuses and methods of the present inventor, e.g., chamber junctions, bore selectors and manifold crossovers, also allow selective access and configuration of downhole processing and separation equipment for the purposes of, e.g., maintenance, repair and fluid production and/or injection communication with subterranean deposits, water floods or other subsurface fluid horizons through axially concentric or autonomous conduits and wellhead connections.
Sizer and Brown disclose systems which are conventionally usable for a limited range of substantially water or substantially hydrocarbon wells, due to the lack of a large diameter, high pressure containment system for completion equipment that can be usable for producing hydrocarbons and/or water from the strata through the well bore. A need exists for systems that can incorporate use of large diameter, high pressure containment fluid processing spaces, which can also provide significant improvement over such existing practices as those described in Hosie, since such spaces may be used for heavyweight drilling fluid boring operations to prevent the flow of hydrocarbons or water from the strata into the wellbore.
The teachings of Sizer, Brown, Hosie, Wilson et al., Browne et al., Fredd, Edwards et al., Simpson et al., and Zackman et al. are all limited by the lack of disclosure and the inability to use conventionally arranged large diameter conduits to bear high pressures and, hence, are restricted to wells of conventional size. In contrast, embodiments usable within the scope of the present disclosure can provide more space within a well conduit system, wherein apparatus and methods of the present inventor, such as those described in WO2011/119198A1, GB2479432, WO2011/119197A1 and GB2479043A, can be combinable with the present embodiments to provide concentric conduit configurations and, thus, provide significant improvement over smaller and less efficient autonomous, parallel arrangements, used within conventionally sized wells. A need also exists for systems that can house concentric and/or autonomous conduits that can be used to improve flowing capacity within the passageway through subterranean strata, using simultaneously flowing, fluid, mixture streams of various velocities.
Argumugam, et al., Jackson, et al., Dinning, Schraub, Roth, et al., and Pratt generally relate to kick-over-tools for side-pocket mandrels that are used in relatively small hole sizes for placement of various flow apparatuses, but are not designed for side-tracking of wells with a drill string. A need exists for a system having diameters usable to provide the necessary enlargement to facilitate the practical application of a whipstock, side-pocket mandrel for multi-lateral boring of wells, to provide the ability to access a lateral with a kick-over tool, while providing pressure integrity and resistance to collapse equivalent to the primary bore of a conventional well design.
A need also exists for systems and methods usable for placing conduits and/or manifold strings during drilling, and that can be applied to completion operations through a large diameter, high pressure conduit system to more cost effectively provide a plurality of wells through a single main bore. Embodiments of the present invention can be used with the teachings of the present inventor described in GB2471760B and GB2475626A for rotatably placing and cementing larger bore conduit and manifold strings usable with a fluid mixture, or heavyweight drilling fluid slurry, wherein the installed conduits, crossovers and manifold strings may be temporarily hung from a wellhead to provide a flow passageway, using an olive arrangement, during well formation, or they can be adapted for use after well formation, with substantially hydrocarbon or substantially water fluids
A further need exists for systems and methods that can be usable to meet the First Edition Oct. 2009, API Guidance Document HF1 entitled "Hydraulic Fracturing Operations—Well Construction and Integrity Guidelines," also published on the same website at the time of this filing.
As such, a need exists for systems and methods that are usable within injectable and producible strata to exploit conventional and unconventional subterranean deposits, e.g., a strata layer for depositing waste water or preforming water floods, harvesting salt deposits for consumption and/or caverns, using geothermal deposits for steam, and producing hydrocarbon deposits for medicines, plastics and energy. A further need exists for systems and methods usable with a large diameter, higher pressure, subterranean conduit system for containing and fluidly communicating between and within conduits, at greater pressures than are presently and conventionally possible, such as through use of continuous elastically compressible and expandable pipe body circumferences, having radial loading surfaces abutting one conduit to another, wherein the effective diameter of one conduit is greater than that of the other, prior to the abutment of adjoining radial loading surfaces and conduit walls so as to share hoop stress resistances between the conduits with said abutment, to form a greater effective wall thickness usable for bearing higher pressures.
Embodiments usable within the scope of the present disclosure can be combined and/or used with apparatuses of the present inventor, as described in UK Patent 2471385, entitled "Apparatus And Methods For Forming And Using Subterranean Salt Cavern," which is incorporated in its entirety by reference and teaches improvements in fluidly accessing a salt deposit, wherein relatively large bores are conventionally practiced, albeit without the significant pressure bearing improvements of the present embodiments.
A need exists for a step change in the productivity of well designs for accessing solution mining, geothermal and, particularly, hydrocarbon deposits within the industry of hydrocarbons, and energy and greenhouse gases, as described by Daniel Yergin in The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, as published in New York by Simon & Schuster in 1991 and The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, as published by Penguin Press in 2011, for establishing the focus of the general state-of-the-oil-and-gas-industry on large low cost production, standardization, and the importance of innovation.
The importance of innovations in energy and greenhouse gas reductions may also be found on various websites, e.g. http://www.eni.com/en_IT/innovation-technology/technological-answers/maximize-recovery/maximize-recovery.shtml, provided by ENI, a major oil and gas producer, describing that the present world average recovery factor from oil fields is 30-35% (versus 20% in 1980), wherein this parameter may range from a 10% average of extra heavy crude oils to a 50% average of the most advanced fields in the North Sea. ENI further states that increasing the "recovery factor" by only 1%, even without the discovery of new fields, could increase world reserves by 35-55 billion barrels or about one or two years of world oil production. Hence, the recovery of reserves beyond those conventionally available may be considered an unconventional hydrocarbon source, despite being produced from the same field as conventional hydrocarbons.
Additionally, ENI believes that improvements in well recovery factors have a positive environmental effect, e.g., the reduction of greenhouse gases, because increases in the recovery rate allow for added hydrocarbon production without having to employ additional land, exploit additional resources (water/energy), or produce polluting by-products (acid gases).
ENI further states that "[I]t becomes fundamental to exploit the most advanced drilling and development techniques, as well as recovery processes, whether exploiting those of Improved Oil Recovery (injecting water or gas to maintain the original pressure level inside the reservoir), or Enhanced Oil Recovery (injecting steam, polymer solutions, natural gas or carbon dioxide), and also to adopt 'intelligent systems' (smart fields) for the real-time optimization of production activities."
Accordingly, a need exists for smarter well design and intelligent well systems to increase recovery and to protect the environment through re-use of infrastructure and/or inclusion of computer controlled production systems (108 of FIG. 17) to manage reservoir pressure and maximize production. A need also exists for maintaining reservoir pressure and for better managing of unwanted subterranean fluid production from, e.g., a water flood.
As autonomous flow, autonomous annuli and well integrity are key design focuses in conventional applications during production and injection of all subterranean wells, particularly in regulator regimes that require such autonomous characteristics, a need exists for: i) isolation of the innermost conduit, or primary barrier, protecting the surface and subsurface environment, and ii) isolation of the produced or injected fluids, within the well, with the intermediate annular space between barriers fluidly monitored. A further need exists for the use of proven production and injection isolation methods and apparatuses within more intelligent well designs.
Well construction may vary according to geologic, environmental and operational settings, but the basic practices in constructing a conventional well are similar, wherein the vast majority involve the placement of concentric conduits within a single well bore, e.g., having a conductor or intermediate casing with a concentric outside diameter of 76.2 cm (30 inches) and/or a diameter of 50.8 cm (20 inches) and/or a diameter of 34 cm (13⅜″) surrounding a production casing having a diameter of 24.45 cm (9⅝ inches). Potentially a production liner (e.g., having a diameter ranging from 11.4 cm (4.5 inches) to 17.8 cm (7 inches) can be used, containing injection and/or production tubing sized between 6 cm (2⅜ inches) to 14 cm (5.5 inches). In, e.g., conventional hydrocarbon extraction with a permeable sandstone or carbonate reservoir having significant quantities of recoverable fluids, this conventional design is both practical and cost effective. However, use of conventional designs on unconventional production and/or injection wells may not provide the most effective design from an environmental, cost and/or recoverable reserves perspective when, e.g., geologic conditions of strata stability, pressures, temperatures, strata fluid isolation and the depth of wells stretch conventional designs beyond their original objectives for developing, as characterized by Yergin, easily extracted large deposits.
Accordingly, the state-of-the-energy-industry, as described by Yergin, has been and presently continues to be pre-occupied with finding, developing and recovering 30-35% of very large hydrocarbon deposits at the lowest costs, which generally allows the use of relatively simple and common proven technologies with single concentric well bores. However, the attitude of Eni and others may be changing in favour of using new technologies to increase recovery rates, wherein such increases may also significantly benefit nations with historic hydrocarbon deposits.
If the recovery rate range provided by ENI, between 10% for unconventional heavy oils to 50% for advanced recovery of conventional oil and gas, with an average of 30-35%, is indicative of a normal distribution and the present state-of-the art, then approximately 70% of worldwide reserves will not be recovered and the impact of enhanced recovery is indeed significant even for small changes, as ENI highlights.
As the number and physical size of well bores, accessing permeable pore spaces, are the primary links to enhancing recovery, improving either the number or size of bores will significantly affect production, wherein more well bores within a producible deposit and, e.g., permeability improvements from proppant fracture technology or water injection to supplement pressure depletion, may comprise a step change in recovery of subterranean fluid deposits.
A need exists for systems and methods usable to increase the size of wells to incorporate more than one well within an isolation conduit to reduce the number of penetrations through ground water and cap rock formations, thus protecting the above ground environment from the fluids and pressures of the below ground environment.
An need also exists for an efficient well design usable to increase the recovery rate of both conventional and unconventional deposits of hydrocarbons, through the increased proximity of well bores, to producible strata that may, e.g., require fracturing of the strata with proppants to increase said strata's production permeability and/or the practice of injecting produced water back into the strata to supplement the pressure depletion of production.
Pressure maintenance is important because the integrity of the subterranean strata may degrade with pressure depletion and the loss of pressure support may result in, e.g., subsidence within the strata and potentially at surface if the overburden does not bridge across depleted subterranean strata. While water injection or flooding of the subterranean strata directly below a deposit may provide pressure support for production and potentially prevent subsidence, shale, clay and other formation types may react with the injected water to also cause strata instability around the production and/or injection zone. Unfortunately, instability within the strata may prevent future drilling through subterranean strata affected by this instability, and the ability to place well bores for future production may be lost.
A need exists for a more efficient well design capable of managing differing injection and production pressures associated with exploiting all of the vertically stacked producible and injectable strata horizons within an proximal area of, e.g., a salt production deposit, solution mining salt deposit, geothermal steam deposit, and/or substantially hydrocarbon deposits from initial completion of a well to reduce the risk of strata subsidence and instability preventing future drilling.
The present state-of-the-art for low cost recovery well designs, apparatuses and methods is such that standardization not only applies to concentric single bore well designs, apparatuses and methods practiced, but also to upstream hydrocarbon exploration, extraction, and well site processing. Standardization also applies to disciplines within the art, if not the practitioners, themselves, who develop specialized skills in segregated silos of drilling, completion and production, wherein mastering the art does not necessarily involve mastering sets of skills across the combined arts of drilling, completion and production, but rather mastering the methods and apparatus within each silo, using a standard set of methods with standard sized apparatus. Such silos, and the compartmentalized thought process within each, may prevent larger efficiency gains that require stepping across conventional boundaries of practice and art, or out-of-the-box. As such, a need exists for systems and methods usable to overcome boundaries to changing the conventional bore hole and conduit sizes upon which the entire industry has been built.
Historic market forces and fluctuations, between the boom and bust pricing of hydrocarbons, have forced companies to focus on the current day, and not on the future, wherein low cost production has retarded the employment and training of practitioners to the point where artisans, who are capable of bridging between the aforementioned silos, are presently few and far between. As such, each specialized silo delivers a standardized product that is accepted, generally without question. For example, practitioners within the silo of completions rarely question the product delivered by the silo of drilling. Hence, innovation across the disciplines is practically non-existent.
The present state-of-the-art and the need to standardize apparatus, methods and the disciplines of those skilled in the art relating to conventional large scale deposits, without consideration of the future unconventional deposits which must now be developed, may simply be the residue of historic supply and demand conditions, as described by Yergin. Large scale developments have driven a need for the same proven low cost methods of standardization used on Henry Ford's assembly line or in Fredrick Winslow Taylor's methods for optimising the efficiency of the human machine, described in The Principles of Scientific Management. Such standardization, unfortunately, may hinder the present state-of-the-art from meeting the needs for innovations proposed by, e.g., Eni. For various reasons, including the merging of competitors within the industry to reduce transaction and overhead costs, which have resulted in an oligopolistic industry structure where industry standardization is prioritized over innovation, what may be obvious within a discipline may not be particularly obvious across, e.g., the disciplines of drilling and completion.
A need exists for a step change in the efficiency of utilizing subterranean mineral and geothermal deposits that requires breaching the conventional sizing of well conduits during well construction and the operation of said conduits in practice.
A need also exists for a creating a new standard for well design that may be used across the majority of conventional and unconventional subterranean deposits, and which uses to the largest extent possible, existing proven and standardized drilling rigs, equipment and methods, which are familiar to practitioners skilled in art, wherein said practitioners are not restricted to historic conduit sizes and/or a single concentric well bore per wellhead.
Standardization of apparatuses within industry is so prevalent that even when equipment no longer provides a primary function, e.g., when the rotary table of a drilling rig is made obsolete by the installation of a top drive, its size is maintained below a 49.5 inch standard diameter. While historic versions of a kelly and kelly bushing rotary table are still used today, for various reasons, standardization of such relatively obsolete equipment is suboptimal when, e.g., larger diameter conduits and wellheads could be installed more easily using a rig's derrick, if the diameter of an obsolete rotary table is increased.
A need exists for locating the minimum necessary changes to conventional well design that will yield the greatest improvement, while maintaining the present standardization and resulting low cost solutions.
Standardization in the oil and gas industry has been, to the largest extent, driven by the higher per unit value of oil from easily producible sandstone and/or carbonate reservoirs with high porosity and/or permeability, whereas a significant portion of future hydrocarbon production may come primarily from hydrocarbon gas trapped within relatively impermeable shale, which, as described by Yergin, is the most important discovery to occur in this century.
A need exists for improved access and recovery of conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon deposits, e.g., those in very deep water wells, very high pressure wells, viscous tar sand hydrocarbons, relatively impermeable sandstones and/or shale gas deposits.
For example, the effective production of a shale gas deposit requires high pressure injection and fracturing with low friction "slick" water chemical mixtures, wherein fracturing fluids may carry toxic and/or explosive chemicals, e.g., low friction proppant fracturing fluids and/or propane fracturing fluids comprising natural incendiary hydrocarbons.
A need exists for better managing of both pressures and fluids, including fluid injected into a subterranean well and/or produced from a subterranean well, which not only includes pressure and fluid integrity, but also basic handling and/or processing of fluids at the well site within a safe environment.
Furthermore, as recovery rates between 7% and 20% may be expected for shale gas deposits depending upon the manner of fracking, a further need exists for more efficiently performing simultaneous subterranean hydraulic fracturing operations to improve recovery and minimize leak-off of pressure or undesired pressure drops during hydraulic fracturing addressed by the use of simultaneous fracs.
Conventional well construction emphasizes the existence of at least two barriers between subterranean pressurized fluids and the surrounding environment, wherein subterranean zonal isolation may comprise blowout preventers, and a drilling slurry or mud, during construction with casing installation and cementation of the casing, within the subterranean strata, and cap rock containing producible or injectable strata horizons after well construction.
A need exists for greater pressure integrity between injected/produced fluids and the environment, both during and after well construction. A related need exists for better cement placement to provide improved well integrity.
Construction of a well using conventional design generally comprises sequentially drilling and placing successive casings, wherein mitigations often involve installation of additional casing strings during drilling. Additionally, well designs generally include contingency options to increase the reasonable probability of successfully extending a well bore to the targeted deposit while mitigating or eliminating the risk of unplanned releases of injected or produced fluids, or the failure to complete a well due to unplanned events.
A need exists for wells with greater flexibility and large diameter well size options to provide options for contingency casings and liners with respect to encountering unexpected subterranean adversity during well construction, production and/or injection.
Drilling of a well generally comprises using a rotated drilling string to bore a passageway for placement of casings using a drilling fluid, generally comprising a mixture of water, clays, fluid loss control additives, density control additives, and viscosifiers, which is circulated to remove the formation cuttings, maintain pressure control of the well and stabilize the bore hole wall.
A need exists for more effective use of well construction fluids, e.g., drilling mud that may require increases in weight as drilling progresses deeper, and wherein better well control of deeper and higher pressure formations due to the loss of the hydrostatic pressure well barrier of the drilling mud is needed.
The installation of a conductor pipe or casing may include driving it into place with a large hammer, like structural pilings, or a bore may be drilled for its installation, wherein the conductor may have a wellhead at its upper end, and whereby the conductor or casing provides a stable bore for a subsequent boring and casings.
After placement of the initial conductor, constructing a subterranean well generally comprises several cycles of drilling or boring into the subterranean strata, placing steel pipes or conduits (e.g., casing), and cementing the lower end of said casing in place to provide well bore stability and isolation of the surface environment and intermediate formations from subterranean pressures. Each cycle of boring, casing and cementing places a steel protecting lining in sequentially smaller sizes to fit within the inside diameter of the previously installed casing.
A need exists for systems and methods usable to start the construction of a well with higher pressure casings of larger diameters so as to prevent the premature downsizing of a well bore and/or to allow, e.g., two well parallel wellbores usable for side-tracking a plurality of well bores from a dual well bore arrangement.
After the casing has been placed, at least the lower end thereof must be cemented in place. This critical part of well construction provides zonal isolation between different formations, including isolation of groundwater horizons, and provides structural support of the well, wherein said cement is fundamental in maintaining integrity throughout the life of the well and forms a part of corrosion protection.
A need exists for improved cementing of larger annuli to provide well integrity and isolation from subterranean strata for various well conduits.
After the conductor pipe is installed and cemented, the surface hole is drilled and the surface casing is run into the hole and cemented in place. One of the main purposes of the conductor or surface casing may be to protect (through isolation) groundwater aquifers. Given its importance, the conductor and surface casing may be regulated by governmental agencies and engineering requirements to a predetermined depth based upon the deepest groundwater resources and pressure control requirements of subsequent drilling operations.
A need exists for increases in recovery of fluids within subterranean deposits and use of fewer main well bore penetrations through ground water horizons, which cannot be accomplished using conventional single concentric bore well designs, since increased rates of recovery, generally, require additional wells or penetrations through groundwater formations and cap rock containing toxic fluids, thus increasing the risks of leakages to said ground water formations.
As described by Yergin, the technical advancements in drilling and completing horizontal wells are one of the most significant developments in the last 30 years, wherein a horizontal bore through a deposit may improve production performance and allow operators to develop subterranean deposits and resources with significantly fewer wells than may be required with vertical wells.
A need exists for systems and methods usable to form a plurality of horizontal well bores from a single penetration through ground water formations to further increase the recovery rates of fluids from subterranean deposits with fewer wells.
Production tubing is often sized to facilitate improved liquid or gas handling, wherein huff-and-puff operations for intermediately sized tubing may be economic. Unfortunately, while the salt cavern gas storage industry uses simultaneous liquid flow streams for solution mining and one-time dual flow streams for dewatering gas caverns, the upstream hydrocarbon upstream industry does not use dual flow streams, albeit in limited forms of gas lift and jet pump arrangements.
Accordingly, the introduction of a large bore gas production flow stream with a smaller diameter dewatering stream, sized for removing residual water production or acting as a velocity string, could significantly increase both production rates and recoverable gas reserves by minimizing gas flow frictions and dewatering the well bore using small diameter tubing assisted by capillary forces.
A need exists for large bore production and injection operations usable to reduce friction and improve the efficiency of fluid extraction. A further need exists for effectively switching production to a velocity string to remove produced water, prior to ultimately reverting to huff-and-puff operations.
A need also exists for well site processing of produced and injected fluids, e.g., fracturing fluids first injected then extracted during well construction or produced hydrocarbon liquids, gases and water.
Various aspects of the present invention address at least some of these needs.

High pressure large bore well conduit system


A method of rapidly cooling molten mixtures of alkali metal alloys in which the metal components of said alloys have a wide divergence of melting points that result in separation of the alkali metals during cool down. A calcium-sodium alloy is produced in an electrolysis cell. A method of high pressure atomization of the calcium-sodium alloy and its subsequent rapid cooling produces a calcium nodular particulate that is encased in a sodium flocculant. The material manufactured is used as a nodular electrolytic flocculant reactant in the electrolyte of an alkaline battery.

It is the primary purpose of the invention to describe a novel process for the simultaneous electrolysis and alloying of mixtures of alkaline metals and alkaline earth metals respectively of Group I and Group II elements of the Periodic table to produce calcium nodular particles encased within sodium metal flocculant.
The reduction of sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) molten salts to their base metals is carried out in a high temperature electrolysis cell. In the molten state within the electrolysis cell sodium and calcium reduced metals are true alloys. Because of their wide divergence of their melting points sodium and calcium separate into their individual elements during cool down. In the invention a high pressure jet of inert gas is used to fragment a thin stream of the molten metal that is pumped at high pressure through a nozzle. The fragmented molten alloy forms solid calcium particles within a surrounding film of molten sodium. With continued cooling the said molten sodium freezes around the said calcium particle encasing the calcium particle forming nodular calcium particles within a sodium flocculant, here-in-after referred to as nodular electrolytic flocculant.
Mixtures of alkali metals are hereinafter referred to in the specification as nodular electrolytic flocculant. Mixtures of alkali metal particulate were first described in Ref. 1 of the cross-references as dispersions in a heavy base mineral or silica base oil. A method of alloying sodium and calcium in an electrolysis cell and blasting a high pressure molten stream of this material with an inert gas was subsequently described in Ref. 3 of the cross-references.
The selected alkali metals of Ref. 1 and Ref. 3 are comprised of Group I alkaline metals, Lithium, Sodium, and Potassium, and of Group II alkaline earth metals, Calcium and magnesium as they respectively appear in the Periodic Table. In common practice molten mixtures of sodium and calcium are separated after reduction by means of their wide divergence of freezing temperatures and specific gravities. It is an object of the invention to produce these two metals simultaneously without separation as a nodular flocculant compound of sodium and calcium.
In accordance with the First Law of Thermodynamics the energy stored in an alkali metal during electrolysis reduction is returned in equivalent proportion during hydrolysis of the metal and subsequent oxidation in reverse chemical reaction as basic hydroxides of the said metal in the electrolyte. The electro-equivalent stored energy released in the electrolyte during hydrolysis of said metal is given in terms of Amp-hours per pound of each element is shown in Table I.
TABLE IELECTROLYTIC FUEL ELEMENTSELECTROCHEMICAL EQUIVALENTActiveEquivalentStored EnergyMetalsWeightAmp-hr/lbLithium6.9401,751.99Sodium22.997528.71Potassium39.096311.00Calcium20.040606.74Magnesium12.160999.90
The electrochemical equivalents of Table 1 do not include the heat energy input into the electrolysis cell necessary to raise the metal salts to their molten state temperature driving off the chlorine and leaving the metal components. By the First law of thermodynamics, the heat of formation of calcium and sodium compounds is returned during the highly exothermic reaction of the fused metals in the electrolyte and these are somewhat similar to Carnot losses and do not effect the electrochemical values shown in Tale 1.
The invention provides the method of combining alkali metals shown in Table I in the production of nodular electrolytic flocculant alloys to produce electrical current during hydrolysis in an electrolyte of a battery. The electrical storage capacity of the alkali metals and electrical current produced in the said battery will be more efficient in vehicle electrical propulsion systems than those presently operating in rechargeable storage batteries and will be more competitive with internal combustion engines using fossil or other carbonaceous fuels.
The elements shown in Table I represent approximately 10.4% of the mass of the earth's crust as compared to 0.08% for all carbon baring materials comprised principally of fossil fuels, coal, and petroleum. The comparative abundance of alkaline and carbonaceous materials in the earth's crust available as possible material sources for the production of each type of fuel energy is shown in Table 2.
TABLE 2MASS PERCENT OF ELEMENTSIN THE EARTH'S CRUSTElectrolytic Fuel ElementMass %Lithium—Sodium2.68Potassium2.40Calcium3.39Magnesium1.93Carbon0.08
The cost of the nodular electrolytic flocculants are extremely low and are in sufficiently available quantities to be competitive with coal and crude oil prices. Beside being more abundant and cheaper to produce than fossil fuels the elements of said electrolytic alloyed material is geographically more evenly distributed. It is therefore another object of the invention to economically produce nodular electrolytic flocculant material in sufficient quantities to supply global transportation needs.
The two alkali metals of greatest utility in the manufacture of nodular electrolytic flocculant are Sodium and calcium. Calcium and Sodium were chosen because of their abundance as shown in Table 2 and because they are globally distributed in sea water and in limestone formations. In common practice Sodium and calcium are often times produced simultaneously by electrolysis of mixtures of their molten chloride salts, comprising sodium chloride (NaCl) calcium chloride (CaCl2). After reduction, the two alkali metals are separated since no commercial use has been ascertained for the cost of a difficult development program required to support the manufacture of their fused alloyed mixture. In the present invention the calcium and sodium component metals are not separately produced and are used as an individual basic material in the manufacture of a variety of nodular electrolytic alkali metal flocculants.
A major concern in the production of sodium-calcium alloy is to maintain an even distribution of each metal during their solidification. Because of the wide divergence of the melting point of the two metals as shown below in Table 3, calcium begins to solidify at about 400° F. above the melting point of sodium. At this temperature the calcium solidifies and settles out in large chunks in the remaining molten sodium and the mixture separates into its two component metals. In order to prevent this the alloyed mixture must be rapidly cooled below the melting point of sodium 97.5° C. (207.5° F.) which is well below the freezing point of calcium which is 810° C. (1490° F.) as shown in Table 3.
TABLE 3PROPERTIES OF CALCIUM AND SODIUMThermal PropertiesCalciumSodiumMelting point ° C.84297.8Specific heat J/gK.6471.228Enthalpy of fusion J/g213.1113.1Molten density gm/cm31.378.927
In the present invention separation of the molten alloy of sodium-calcium mixture still occurs during cool down and the calcium settles out as a particulate within the sodium that remains in the liquid state. It is the objective of the invention to provide a rapid method of cooling the said calcium particle quickly such that the liquid sodium component freezes on the surface of the said calcium particle forming a nodular flocculant.

Method of making a nodular electrolytic flocculant


A method of extracting and then reusing/remodeling chemical data from a hand written or digital input image without manual inputs using Chemical Structure Recognition Tool (CSRT) is disclosed herein. It comprises loading said input image, converting said input image into a grayscale image i.e. stretching of loaded input image, converting said grayscale image into a binary image i.e. binarization, smoothing to reduce noise within said binary image, recognizing circle bond to identify presence of a circle inside a ring, predicting OCR region to find zones containing text, image thinning to identify specific shapes within said binary image, edge detection to detect image contrast, detecting double and triple bond, and obtaining output files.

Chemoinformatics plays an important role in areas that rely on topology and information of the chemical space. Many areas concerning discovery and formulation of new materials of drug involve an immense amount of study, modeling and simulation of various chemical structures, formulae, properties and similar aspects for achieving the end result.
Chemoinformatics are often used in pharmaceutical companies in the process of drug discovery or formation. These methods can also be used in chemical and other allied industries for various uses. Interpretation of chemical structures and formulae into computable structures is cumbersome and time consuming and often requires manual intervention. Enormous effort is poured into drafting images in intellectual papers and articles and such images that cannot be further reproduced for computational purposes.
There are some documents which teach to extract data relating to chemical structures. References may be made to Patent Application US2011202331 discloses an invention comprising methods and software for processing text documents and extracting chemical data therein. Preferred method embodiments of said invention comprise: (a) identifying and tagging one or more chemical compounds within a text document; (b) identifying and tagging physical properties related to one or more of those compounds; (c) translating one or more of those compounds into a chemical structure; (d) identifying and tagging one or more chemical reaction descriptions within the text document; and (e) extracting at least some of the tagged information and storing it in a database.
References may be made to an article titled "CLiDE Pro: The Latest Generation of CLiDE, a Tool for Optical Chemical Structure Recognition" by Aniko T. Valko et. al. in J. Chem. Inf. Mod., 2009, 49(4), pp 780-787, discloses an advance version of CLiDE software, CLiDE Pro for extraction of chemical structure and generic structure information from electronic images of chemical molecules available online and pages of scanned documents. The process of extraction has three steps: segmentation of image into text and graphical regions, analysis of graphical region and reconstruction of connection table, and interpretation of generic structures by matching R-groups found in structure diagrams with the ones located in the text.
References may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,736 discloses an apparatus and methods for optical recognition of chemical graphics which allows documents containing chemical structures to be optically scanned so that both the text and the chemical structures are recognized. In the said invention, the structures are directly converted into molecular structure files suitable for direct input into chemical databases, molecular modeling programs, image rendering programs, and programs that perform real time manipulation of structures. References may be made to a paper titled "Optical recognition of chemical graphics" by Casey R. et. al. appeared in Document Analysis and Recognition, 1993, proceedings of the Second International Conference, discloses a prototype system for encoding chemical structure diagrams from scanned printed documents.
References may be made to a paper titled "Optical recognition of chemical graphics" by Casey R. et. al. appeared in Document Analysis and Recognition, 1993, proceedings of the Second International Conference, discloses a prototype system for encoding chemical structure diagrams from scanned printed documents.
References may be made to an article titled "Automatic Recognition of Chemical Images" by Maria-Elena Algorri, discloses a system that can automatically reconstruct the chemical information associated to the images of chemical molecules thus rendering them computer readable. The system consists of 5 modules: 1) Pre-processing module which binarizes the input image and labels it into its constituent connected components. 2) OCR module which examines the connected components and recognizes those that represent letters, numbers or special symbols. 3) Vectorizer module which converts the connected components not labeled by the OCR into graphs of vectors, 4) Reconstruction module which analyzes the graphs of vectors produced by the vectorizer and annotates the vectors with their chemical significance using a library of chemical graph-based rules. It also analyzes the results of the OCR and groups the letters, numbers and symbols into names of atoms and superatoms and then it associates the chemically annotated vector graphs with the results of the OCR. 5) Chemical Knowledge module which turns the chemically annotated vector graphs into chemical molecules under knowledge-based chemical rules, verifies the chemical validity of the molecules and produces the final chemical files.
References may be made to an Journal "J. Chem. Inf. Model 2009, 49, 740-743", wherein inventor built an optical structure recognition application based on modern advances in image processing implemented in open source tools—OSRA. OSRA can read documents in over 90 graphical formats including GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, PDF, and PS, automatically recognizes and extracts the graphical information representing chemical structures in such documents, and generates the SMILES or SD representation of the encountered molecular structure images.
However, processing of live images using webcams to harvest chemical data from hand drawn images is found to be difficult. There exists a need for a tool to acquire data from digital imaging apparatus and convert them into file formats suitable for reusability in simulation and modeling efficiently.
However, processing of live images using webcams to harvest chemical data from hand drawn images is found to be difficult. There exists a need for a tool to acquire data from digital imaging apparatus and convert them into file formats suitable for reusability in simulation and modeling efficiently.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A double ended key holder includes a first body portion, a second body portion, and joining and biasing mechanisms for engaging the first and second body portions together to form a key holder having openings on at least one end. The first body portion is configured to form one of the openings and has a gap which is hidden when the first and second body portions are biased together in an engaged position. The first and second body portions are joined for relative slidably movement between the engaged position and the open position

Conventional double ended key holders typically support a pair of key rings that are located at opposite ends of a central housing. With such a key holder, keys desired to be retained on a single device may be segregated and placed on one of the key rings which is removably secured to the key holder. For example, automobile keys may be placed on one key ring, fastened to one end of the key holder, and house keys may be placed on a separate key ring fastened to the other end of the key holder. Examples of conventional double ended key holders are illustrated in MacDonald U.S. Pat. Nos. 271,443 of Nov. 22, 1983, and 285,987 of Oct. 7, 1986; Colan U.S. Pat. No. 306,799 of Mar. 27, 1990; Scungio U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,821,543 of Apr. 18, 1989 and 5,020,348 of Jun. 4, 1991; and Nelson U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,430 of Jul. 16, 1991. Each of the foregoing is hereby incorporated by reference.


An electrochemical device comprises a laminate including a first electrode layer, a separator layer, and a second electrode layer laminated in sequence; an electrolytic solution infiltrating the laminate; and a resin part covering an outer periphery of the laminate. The second electrode layer has an area smaller than the area of the separator layer and the area of the first electrode layer. The surface of the separator layer opposing the second electrode layer is provided with a noncontact part kept away from the second electrode layer. The noncontact part is formed like a ring along the outer periphery of the separator layer. The resin part further covers the noncontact part of the separator layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrochemical device and a method of manufacturing an electrochemical device.
2. Related Background Art
Electrochemical devices such as electrochemical capacitors like electric double layer capacitors and batteries like lithium-ion secondary batteries are those which can easily reduce their size and weight, and thus are expected to become power supplies or backup power supplies for portable devices (small-size electronic devices) and auxiliary power supplies for electric cars or hybrid cars, for example.
Each of these electrochemical devices comprises a laminate in which a first electrode layer, a separator layer, and a second electrode layer are successively laminated; an electrolytic solution infiltrated into the laminate, and a package accommodating the laminate (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3008399).

Electrochemical device and method of manufacturing electrochemical device


An improved stiff-paged board book uses spacing structures between adjacent leaves to form small gaps which provide convenient finger holds that facilitate turning of individual pages by young children. The gaps allow single pages to be turned easily irrespective of where they are grasped by a reader and reduce the tendency of pages to stick to one another. Spacing structures are formed by affixing a solid block to a leaf, by impressing a protrusion into the leaf, or by embedding magnets in the leaf with like polarizations facing adjacent pages.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to stiff-paged board books with spacers between successive leaves to facilitate page turning by young children.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is widely recognized that young children lack the manual dexterity required to turn pages in standard books comprised of thin sheets of paper. For this reason, it is common practice to manufacture young children's books from relatively thick, rigid cardboard leaves. A typical example of such board books is Big Bird's Color Game (copyright .COPYRGT. 1980 Children's Television Workshop, Western Publishing Company, Inc., Racine, Wisc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 79-67616) which has seven leaves each 0.045 inches thick. The practice of fabricating books from thick, stiff pages alleviates, but does not eliminate, children's difficulties in selecting, fingering, and turning individual pages. Pages stick together and children often turn several pages at once rather than one at a time.
A variety of prior art methods have been developed to facilitate page location and turning in books and indices. U.S. Pat. No. 511,339 describes a book composed of leaves each having a small portion cut out from the edge opposite the edge of the book binding. The cut-out regions become larger, in the direction parallel to the edge of the book binding, on successive leaves so that a small part of each leaf projects beyond all of the leaves beneath it. Alternately, the cut-out regions are of constant size and shape, but are displaced vertically on successive pages. Both constructions effectively create a small tab on each leaf which can be grasped by the reader without interference from leaves of the book beneath it. These approaches are effective only for readers capable of identifying the presence and purpose of the tab region of each leaf, and with sufficient manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination to grasp this small area of the leaf when turning the page. They do not reduce the probability of pages sticking together. Further, such designs incur increased manufacturing costs because each sheet must be cut differently.
U.S. Pat. No. 648,476 describes an index book whose leaves have rounded stubs projecting from the open book edge. Stubs on successive leaves are displaced along the length of the edge so that each leaf offers a small tab which can be labeled for identification and grasped without interference from underlying leaves. The stubs partially overlap on successive leaves to provide mechanical support that prevents their corners from being turned up. As in the patent cited previously, this design provides only a small tab area to be grasped, and requires a degree of manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination not developed in young children.
Of possible general relevance to the invention are U.S. Pat. Nos. 283,383; 306,318; 1,311,733; and 1,404,541. These describe methods to provide regions on selected leaves in conventional books, fan-folded books, and index books for indexical text to be printed, such as alphabetical or subject headings. This is accomplished by steadily increasing the leaf size on successive pages, or by cutting out segmental recesses in several leaves preceding the leaves upon which the indexical text is printed. Such configurations are designed primarily to facilitate the rapid visual location of a desired book section by ensuring that all indexical text printed on the leaves is visible simultaneously. They offer some improvement in the ease of grasping a desired page for readers with mature eye-hand coordination and reading ability, compared to standard books with leaves of constant size and shape.
A satisfactory solution to the difficulties experienced by young children turning pages in stiff-paged board books, which addresses their limited manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination, is not found in the prior art.


A system is disclosed for use of imperfect ROMs in embedded systems. The ROM or other memory accessible upon start-up of the system, includes a stored program which checks an external source to determine whether any of the information in the ROM should be replaced. If it should be replaced, then the system retrieves good information from an external source and stores it into a cache memory. By setting a “lock” bit, erasure of the replacement information is prevented.

This invention relates to electronic systems, and in particular to a system in which a partially defective nonvolatile memory may still be satisfactorily employed without creating erroneous results. In addition this invention also relates to the use of nonvolatile memories having programming errors or nonvolatile memories which lack programming upgrades which would ordinarily render the device inoperative or undesirable.
In embedded systems, on-chip read only memories are important because they provide a high density technique for storing program instructions and data. For example, in some embedded systems, the entire system will operate under control of the program instructions stored in a ROM on the same chip as the processor and other components. These ROMs are typically mask programmable because at the time of manufacture of the entire chip, one of the masks used during that manufacturing process will define the state of each bit in the ROM. A ROM can be thought of as having a layer of wires arranged in rows separated by a layer of insulating material from another layer of wires arranged in columns. Where short circuits are formed between the rows and columns, for example, by providing an opening in the insulation layer using a mask, that address can be considered as representative of a data bit. In this manner a short circuit between the row and column can be considered a "1" and an open connection between the row and column considered a "0." In practice a transistor is used to select a word or a bit line. This transistor is selected (turned on) when a particular row is selected. The transistor can be programmed at the metal or diffusion layers of conventional integrated circuit manufacturing technologies.
A significant disadvantage of the use of ROMs in such embedded systems or systems on a chip, however, is the difficulty of changing the stored program. After the system is developed, it may be determined that the stored program contains errors, is defective, or otherwise requires revision. Alternatively, the stored program may be satisfactory, but it would be desirable to revise the stored program in some manner, or to upgrade the program for use of the embedded system in a different product. Generally such flexibility has not been possible, and the usual approach to such problems has been to change the masks for the ROM and remanufacture the device.
Because any change in the stored program when the ROM is mask programmable requires the development of a new mask and the manufacture of a new integrated circuit, it is difficult and expensive to make changes in the ROM after the fabrication of a chip. Development of a new mask set typically costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and take weeks or months to complete. Accordingly, what is needed is a method of assuring that the system operates correctly, even if the ROM includes an incorrect instruction or incorrect data.

System for repair of ROM programming errors or defects


A socket connector (1) includes a base (2), a cover (3) slidably assembled onto the base and capable being moved with respect to the base along a front-to-rear direction, an actuator (5) for actuating the cover to slide on the base between a contact insert position and an engagement position, lock portion (406) and receiving arrangement (204) arranged between the base and the cover and opposite to the actuator in the front-to-rear direction so as to fasten the base and the cover tightly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket connector for connecting a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system to a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of technology, socket connectors, which have pins or solder balls, are found widespread applications in computers and other electrical devices for transmitting signals and conducting current between a printed circuit board (PCB) and an IC package.
Referring to FIGS. 1–2, a conventional socket connector 9 comprises a base 91, a cover 93 slidably mounted on the base 91 and a lever 94 sandwiched between the base 91 and the cover 93. The lever 94 includes a cam shaft 944 received in the base 91 and an operating handle 940 vertically extending from the cam shaft 944. The base 91 defines a mating portion 910 with a plurality of passageways 914 vertically extending through a top and a bottom faces for receiving a plurality of terminals 92 therein, and a header portion 912 having a channel 911 extending along a lateral direction. A pair of protrusions 916 is formed on opposite side of the mating portion 910. The cover 93 includes a mating portion 930 for mating with an IC package (not shown). The mating portion 930 defines a plurality of passageways 934 in alignment with the passageways 914 for allowing downwardly extending pins of an IC package (not show) to extend therthrough to engage with the terminals 92. A pair of side walls downwardly extending from opposite ends of the mating portion 930 with a pair of slot 936 formed thereon. The cover 93 further includes a header portion 932 having a channel 931 extending along a lateral direction. A pair of locking barbs 938 are extending downwardly from the header portion 932 adjacent to the channel 931 alignment with corresponding portion of the base 91.
In assembly, the cover 93 movably mounted on the base 91, the terminals 92 is received in the passageways 914 of the base 91 and the lever 94 is sandwiched between the base 91 and the cover 93. The cover 93 can slide on the base 91 by actuating the lever 94 from a vertical position to a horizontal position, which makes pins of the IC package move simultaneously for establishing/disestablishing an electrical connection between the pins of the IC package and mating portions of the terminals 92. It is noted the steady electrical connection between the IC package and the PCB is deeply affected by the plainness between the cover and the base.
As the base 91 and the cover 93 is conventionally made from insulative materials by molded, and they should be made thin enough, they are apt to warp in molding or cooling process. When the warped base or cover are assembled, the header portions of the socket are fastened tightly enough by the engagement of the barbs 938 with the base, and the mating portions also can be engaged tightly by the engagement of the protrusions 916 with the slots 936. But the warp of the socket will make a rear portion of the socket to form an aperture, and make the contacts 92 in the rear portion touch dust out of the socket. Furthermore the warp of the socket make the passageways 934 can not alignment with the passageways 914 respectively, and the terminal 92 cannot contact the pins of the IC package steadily.
To overcome above-motioned problems, an improved socket connector is desired.

Socket connector having structure for preventing distortion


A pressure sensor device for a pressure sensor, in particular a capacitive pressure sensor, having a pressure chamber bounded by a movable sensing membrane and a stationary counterelectrode of the pressure sensor device. The sensing membrane and the counterelectrode each run in the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction of the pressure sensor device. The sensing membrane is directly or indirectly spring-mounted, in particular spring-mounted in two-dimensional fashion, in the pressure chamber relative to the counterelectrode by at least one micromechanical spring element, in particular a plurality of micromechanical spring elements.

Some convention capacitive pressure sensor devices, or capacitive pressure sensors, have pressure sensor devices in which a bending of a movable sensing membrane as electrode, or an electrode, can be determined based on a fluid pressure difference that has arisen, via a change of an electrical capacitance of the movable electrode relative to a counterelectrode situated opposite the sensing membrane.
In such pressure sensor devices, for example a polysilicon membrane is situated opposite a counterelectrode, usually on a silicon substrate. Via a sacrificial layer etching method, a sacrificial layer between the sensing membrane and the counterelectrode is removed through an etching access that passes through the sensing membrane. Often, the etching access is then sealed with a layer deposition, and in this way the reference pressure is enclosed under the sensing membrane.
In conventional pressure sensors, it is disadvantageous (see also the description relating to FIGS. 1, 2, and 5), that in each case many small pressure sensor elements have to be combined to form a larger pressure sensor device for a pressure sensor in order to make it possible to counter a so-called global bimetal effect (stress from outside; see FIG. 5) of the pressure sensor. The small pressure sensor elements have comparatively large edge regions relative to their surfaces, which do not contribute to the actual sensing function and make the pressure sensor larger. Furthermore, in this way a possible stroke of the relevant sensing membranes is reduced, which has a negative effect on the sensing capacity of the pressure sensor.
In order to compensate the large edge regions, the base distances and the working distances (distances at nominal pressure) between the sensing membranes and the counterelectrodes are often reduced, which however results in increased sensitivity to mechanical bending (global bimetal effect) of the pressure sensor. Therefore, a compromise always has to be found between a size of a pressure sensor and its sensitivity to external stress. Furthermore, different materials in the sealing regions of the sensing membranes result in undesirable local bimetal effects of the pressure sensors (internal stress).

Capacitive pressure sensor with reduced bimetal effect


A dolly for use in a straight sided flat bottom conveyor pan. The dolly is comprised of a frame, a pair of inner wheels and a pair of outer wheels. The inner wheels travel on an inner track of a conveyor pan and the outer wheels travel on an outer track of the conveyor pan. The leading wheels are secured to the frame along an axis which is coincident with a radius R. The trailing wheels are secured to the frame along an axis which coincident with a radius R.sup.1. The radii define an acute angle which will vary depending upon the actual dimensions of a curve through which the dolly will travel.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dolly used in commercial warewashing.
2. Description of Related Art
In commercial warewashing systems such as sold to hotels, resorts, universities and the like, there are typically several zones through which pass dishes, glasses, flatware, etc. to be cleaned. There are several methods in which these items are passed through the zones.
In one specific method, the dishes, glasses, flatware, etc. are placed in racks, usually 20".times.20" racks, and the racks in turn are placed on dollies. The dollies are supported on a conveyor pan and typically travel a continuous path through the several zones. Sections of the path are curved. Travel of the dollies through the curved sections (turning) is demanding on the dolly wheels and the conveyor pan. The dolly wheels have a flat bottom surface and a convex edge. A single point on the wheel edge comes into contact with the side of the conveyor pan. The flat side of the wheel lies in a horizontal plane spaced apart from the surface of the conveyor pan that supports the dollies. The conveyor pan has walls which are s-shaped (not straight sided) to define tracks for the wheels. The shaped walls (tracks) accommodate the dolly wheels which are turning in a horizontal plane but must turn against an angled surface to prevent grinding and abrasion by the wheels of the conveyor pan when the dollies are turning curves. In this configuration, the rack rides above the wheels and the width of the rack is generally equal to the distance between the dolly wheels on opposed sides of the dolly.
On these systems with s-shaped sides, there are four welds on each currently manufactured conveyor pan to accommodate the dolly wheels, dolly track, trough, end plate and straight-away track trough. This large amount of welding and the subsequent grinding and polishing of these welds greatly adds to the manufacturing costs.
Conveyor pans which have straight sides and flat bottoms to support dollies carrying racks are known in the art. However, the width of the dolly is greater than the width of the rack which is supported by the dolly. To support the dolly the width of the conveyor pan must be greater than the width of the rack. Because of this disparity in width, there is wasted space and lack of economy. The entire system, conveyor pan, cabinets for rinse and wash zones must be wider than the rack carrying the wares to be treated in order to accommodate the width of the dolly.
Dollies for supporting 10" w.times.20" l racks have been known for over thirty years. These dollies travel on a conveyor pan having a flat bottom and straight sides. However, the opposed dolly wheels supporting the 10".times.20" tray are spaced apart 16". In essence, four dolly wheels in a rectangular 16".times.20" configuration support a 10" wide.times.20" long rack. The disparity in widths 10" versus 16" is to enable the 10".times.20" rack to travel through the curved sections of the conveyor pan.


Methods and systems are provided for improving surge control. When surge conditions are approached, a reference governor reduces engine airflow at a slower rate and to a higher level than the engine airflow required to meet the reduced torque demand. The excess torque resulting from the extra airflow is offset by applying a negative torque on the driveshaft via an electric machine coupled to the engine or via alternate engine actuator adjustments.

Engine systems may be configured with boosting devices, such as turbochargers or superchargers, for providing a boosted aircharge and improving peak power outputs. The use of a compressor allows a smaller displacement engine to provide as much power as a larger displacement engine, but with additional fuel economy benefits. However, compressors are prone to surge. For example, when an operator tips-out of an accelerator pedal, an engine intake throttle closes, leading to reduced forward flow through the compressor, and potentially compressor surge. Surge can lead to NVH issues such as undesirable noise from the engine intake system.
One approach for controlling surge induced noise is shown by Ulrey et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 8,161,746. Therein, when compressor surge conditions are approached, one or most boost actuators are adjusted to control air flow through the compressor. Specifically, an engine intake throttle downstream of the compressor is closed, an additional intake throttle upstream of the compressor is closed, and a compressor bypass valve and wastegate are opened to dump excess boost pressure. By closing the compressor inlet throttle, surge induced noise is reduced.
However, the inventors herein have identified potential issues with such an approach. For example, the approach of Ulrey et al. uses throttle control coupled with a bypass valve to increase compressor flow (so as to address surge) without increasing engine flow. However, due to the delay in compressor bypass valve response, it may be difficult to accurately control the bypass and engine flows under all conditions, engine torque transients may be experienced. As another example, the approach of Ulrey et al. requires the inclusion of an additional throttle upstream of the compressor, and coordination of the upstream throttle with operation of the throttle downstream of the compressor. As such, this adds cost and complexity to the system.
In one example, some of the above issues may be at least partly addressed by a method for a boosted engine system including an electric machine (e.g., a motor). The method comprises, responsive to an indication of turbocharger surge, applying negative torque from an electric machine coupled to the engine while providing a greater than demanded airflow to the engine. In an alternate example, the method includes, responsive to an indication of turbocharger surge, providing a greater than demanded throttle flow to the engine while adjusting an alternate actuator to deliver engine demanded torque based on the greater than demanded throttle flow. For example, one or more of cam timing and spark ignition timing may be adjusted based on the greater than demanded throttle flow. In this way, throttle flow (and compressor airflow) can be modified to mitigate surge, while negative torque is used to meet driver demanded wheel torque while addressing NVH issues associated with the surge.
As an example, an engine system may include a turbocharger, with a compressor driven by a turbine, for providing a boosted intake aircharge. In response to a sudden drop in torque demand, such as during a tip-out, a compressor recirculation valve may be opened to dump boost pressure while a wastegate is opened to reduce turbine speed. In addition, an engine airflow may be reduced to meet the lower torque demand. The resulting reduction in throttle flow can bring the compressor ratio (or compressor flow) within or close to a surge limit. In response to surge being approached or exceeded, an engine controller may limit throttle flow reduction. Specifically, airflow may not be reduced to a level commensurate with the reduced torque demand. Rather, the reduction in airflow may be limited so that the airflow is controlled to a level that is greater than what is actually required to meet the torque demand. Fuel injection may be adjusted based on the airflow to maintain engine combustion at stoichiometry (or an alternate desired combustion air-fuel ratio). The excess torque resulting from the excess airflow may then be absorbed by an electric machine coupled to the engine. For example, where the engine is coupled in a hybrid electric vehicle system, a load from an electric motor may be applied on the engine to add negative torque to the driveshaft and meet the driver torque demand. In further examples, a starter-motor (such as a crank integrated starter generator), or an alternator coupled to the engine may be used to apply a load on the engine and absorb the excess torque. In each case, the amount of negative torque applied may be based on the difference between the operator expected torque (or torque demand) and the torque provided with the engine (while operating with elevated airflow). In one approach, the engine controller may use a reference governor to modify the airflow responsive to the indication of surge. For example, the reference governor may be configured so that the engine airflow is initially modified to reduce compressor surge and then over time, the airflow modification is transitioned to meet driver torque demand.
In an alternate example, while the greater than demanded throttle flow is provided, one or more alternate engine torque actuators may be adjusted to reduce the excess torque. For example, cam timing adjustments and/or spark timing adjustments may be concurrently used to compensate for the excess torque that would have been generated by the greater than demanded throttle flow. This may include, for example, retarding spark timing from MBT by an amount based on the greater than demanded airflow to reduce torque. As another example, intake and/or exhaust cam timing may be advanced or retarded (based on engine speed and breathing effects) by an amount based on the greater than demanded airflow to reduce torque.
In this way, by limiting throttle flow reduction response to a drop in torque and boost demand, a sudden change in flow rate and pressure at the compressor is reduced, lowering the likelihood of compressor surge. By moving compressor operation away from a surge limit, surge related issues are alleviated. By compensating for the excess torque by applying an electric machine load on the driveshaft, or adjusting cam and/or spark ignition timing, a "run-on" feel that is created by the raising of throttle flow to levels that are higher than actually desired, can be overcome. As such, this allows surge to be reduced without degrading the operator's drive feel and while meeting the operator torque demand. Overall, engine performance is improved.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.