An insulated gate type field effect transistor in a memory cell array is a transistor having a gate insulating film which is thicker than a gate insulating film of an insulated gate type field effect transistor in an array peripheral circuit. DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) cell-based semiconductor memory device can be implemented which allows a burn-in test to be accurately performed without degrading sensing operation characteristics even under a low power supply voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and, more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device including, as its components, insulated gate type field effect transistors having different gate insulating film thicknesses. More specifically, the present invention relates to a DRAM (Dynamic Random Accesses Memory) cell-based semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Background Art
A DRAM cell is formed of a capacitor for storing information in the form of electric charges, and a transistor for accessing the capacitor. A semiconductor memory device (hereinafter, representatively referred to as "DRAM") using such a one-transistor/one-capacitor type DRAM cell is utilized in a wide variety of fields covering a main memory for a computer and a working memory for portable equipment because of its small cell-occupation area and excellent cost-competitiveness owing to advanced miniaturization technology. A server and others utilize a large number of DRAMs. Also, the DRAM is utilized in applications employing a battery as a power source. Thus, there has been a requirement for reduction in power consumption in these applications and therefore, a power supply potential supplied externally has been reduced down to 1.8 V or below.
Conventionally, in match with reduction of an external power supply voltage, a design rule including a gate insulating film thickness Tox of a MOS transistor (insulated gate type field effect transistor) has been scaled down, thereby shrinking a size of such MOS transistor. In a conventional approach, all MOS transistors constituting a DRAM have the same gate insulating film thickness Tox.
However, under the condition of an external power supply voltage being below 1.8 V, there may be a situation where the conventional method can not be utilized. More specifically, for the circuitry which operates on a potential lower than the external power supply voltage, such as a peripheral circuit and a sense amplifier in a memory array, a MOS transistor is required to have a thinner gate insulating film in view of a lower threshold voltage and a higher current driving power. On the other hand, for a memory cell transistor which is supplied with a boosted potential, it is difficult to employ a MOS transistor having the same gate insulating film as that of the MOS transistor in the peripheral circuit, in view of the breakdown voltage of the gate insulating film. On the contrary, if a single type of MOS transistors having a thicker gate insulating film that can ensure the breakdown voltage of the memory cell transistor is employed for the whole of the constituent elements, the threshold voltage increases in absolute value, thereby making it difficult to meet the specification values required in terms of an operation speed.
Therefore, as described in Prior Art Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-68634), it has been proposed to selectively use a gate insulating film of a MOS transistor according to operation characteristics or the operation potential required for each circuit. A circuit which is supplied with a boosted potential, such as a memory cell transistor, is formed of a MOS transistor having a large gate insulating film thickness Tox1. On the other hand, a circuit which operates on a lower potential than the external power supply potential, such as a peripheral circuit or a sense amplifier, is formed of a MOS transistor having a thinner gate insulating film of a film thickness of Tox2. Such a structure in which MOS transistors having different kinds of gate insulating films are formed is achieved through a "dual oxide" process and is utilized in a system LSI having a logic and a DRAM integrated on a common chip. In the dual oxide process, a MOS transistor having a thick gate insulating film (hereinafter, referred to as "thick film MOS transistor") and a MOS transistor with a thin gate insulating film (hereinafter, referred to as "thin film MOS transistor") are formed in the same process steps, and subsequently the gate insulating film of the thin film MOS transistor is thinned (or all removed) with the thick film MOS transistor masked by a resist. Then, the gate insulating films of the thick film MOS transistor and the thin film MOS transistor are thickened again, through the same process step(s).
Prior Art Document 1 describes, as a conventional art of a semiconductor integrated circuit device having a logic and a DRAM mixedly assembled, the construction in which a peripheral circuit and an in-array circuit of a DRAM core are formed of thick film transistors. In the conventional technique described in Prior Art Document 1, adjustment of an absolute value of a threshold voltage is performed through ion implantation. In order to resolve the problem of an increase in the number of process steps and in the number of masks resulting from the threshold voltage adjustment through ion implantation in the conventional technique, in Prior Art Document 1, a sense amplifier and a column selection gate are formed of thin film transistors and bit line peripheral circuitry, such as a bit line precharging/equalizing circuit and a bit line isolation gate, are formed of thick film MOS transistors, and peripheral circuitry such as a control circuit is formed of thin film MOS transistors.
Further, according to Prior Art Document 1, a thick film MOS transistors having a thick gate insulating film is employed for a memory cell transistor and a word line driving circuit section in a row selection circuit. A circuit for generating an internal power supply voltage performs an analog operation (a current mirror operation and a source follower mode operation) and in this circuit, a thick film MOS transistor having a threshold voltage of a large absolute value is employed in order to suppress influence of off-leakage current to ensure an accurate internal voltage generating operation.
In a column-related circuit and a control circuit in the peripheral circuitry, thin film MOS transistors are employed. A column decoder and a preamplifier/write driver are column-related circuits which operate in a column selecting operation and the number of the column decoders and the preamplifier/writing drivers are small as compared with the number of the circuits related to row selection that are provided in a memory array and the number of unit decode circuits included in a row decoder. Therefore, even if thin film MOS transistors are employed in these column-related circuits, generated off-leakage currents are sufficiently small, thus suppressing the influence on an increase in current consumption in a standby state. On the other hand, by employing thin film MOS transistors in the column-related circuit and the control circuit, these column-related circuit and control circuit operate at high speed even under a condition of low power supply voltage, achieving high speed column access and high speed internal operation.
A sense amplifier circuit placed in a sense amplifier band is formed of thin film MOS transistors, and the necessity of an ion implantation process for threshold voltage adjustment is eliminated. Since the absolute value of the threshold voltage is small and thus the driving power is large, the sense amplifier circuit can be operated at high speed even with a voltage (sense power supply voltage) lower than the external power supply voltage. Further, a column selection gate is formed of a thin film MOS transistor to improve the speed of data transfer with the outside of the memory array.
For the bit line isolation gate and the bit line precharge/equalize circuit, thick film MOS transistors are employed. The bit line isolation gate is supplied with a bit line isolation instruction signal at a high voltage level higher than the array power supply voltage (sense power supply voltage). Therefore, the breakdown characteristics is ensured. The bit line equalizing circuit is provided for each pair of bit lines and is coupled to the sense amplifier circuit through the bit line isolation gate. A bit line equalizing instruction signal is set to the voltage level higher than the array power supply voltage in order to transfer the precharge voltage at high speed. Therefore, the bit line equalizing circuit is formed of a thick film MOS transistor to ensure the breakdown immunity thereof.
In the structure described in Prior Art Document 1, MOS transistors having different gate insulating films are selectively placed according to operation characteristics required for each circuit using the dual oxide process, to achieve appropriate electric characteristics for the respective circuits.
Prior to shipment, the DRAM is subject to the burn-in for testing its reliability by applying high voltage stress to memory cells. There are some kinds of burn-in tests. In Prior Art Document 1, in order to avoid degradation of the reliability of the sense amplifier circuit and the column selection gate circuit formed of thin film MOS transistors due to the high voltage applied during a burn-in test, the high voltage is applied to the memory cells through the bit line equalizing circuits. In this state, the bit line isolation gate is set to a non-conductive state to isolate the bit lines from the sense amplifier circuit and the column selection gate circuit. This prevents the high voltage during the burn-in test from being applied to the thin film MOS transistors in the sense amplifier circuit and the column selection gate circuit.
In a static burn-in mode, all word lines are driven to the selected state, and word lines are supplied with such a boosted potential that allows the potential at a storage node (one-side electrode of the memory capacitor) for storing memory cell data to be set to a sufficiently high voltage level by a high potential applied from the bit line, and allows an appropriate voltage stress to be applied across the gate insulating film of the memory cell transistor. With this static burn-in test, voltage stress required for ensuring the reliability of the memory cells can be applied in a short time period.
However, as described in Prior Art Document 1, in the case of the use of the bit line equalizing circuit for applying voltage stress, the storage nodes of all memory cells are forced to the same voltage level. According to the burn-in voltage applying method, sufficient voltage stress can be applied to a dielectric film between the storage node and a cell plate node of the memory cell capacitor. However, with this method, no voltage stress is applied to an interlayer insulating film between the storage nodes of memory cell capacitors adjacent to each other in the word line direction. In order to apply voltage stress to the interlayer insulating film between the capacitors of memory cells adjacent to each other in the direction perpendicular to the bit line, or between the capacitor of the memory cell connected to a bit line BL and the capacitor of the memory cell connected to a complementary bit line ZBL, it may be possible to write the ground voltage into the storage nodes of all the memory cells first, then to drive the word lines for the memory cells connected to bit lines BL or ZBL to the selected state, and then to apply the boosted potential through the bit line equalizing circuits. In this case, the boosted voltage is applied to both bit lines BL and ZBL, and therefore the boosted voltage is applied to a bit line to which the boosted voltage does not need to be applied, and thus there causes unnecessary power consumption. Furthermore, this case impedes the advantage of the static burn-in test that all the word lines are driven to the selected state at the same time to shorten the testing time period.
It may be possible to provide a burn-in equalizing transistor dedicated to the static burn-in test for each bit line, instead of utilizing the bit line equalizing circuit. With the dedicated transistors for the burn-in provided on the respective bit lines BL and ZBL, one transfers the boosted voltage and the other transfers the ground voltage so that the boosted voltage can be applied to one of bit lines BL and ZBL and the ground voltage can be applied to the other of the bit lines BL and ZBL. Thus, a voltage can be applied to a dielectric film of a memory cell capacitor and also voltage stress can be applied to an interlayer insulating film between the storage nodes of adjacent memory cells. However, providing such dedicated burn-in equalizing circuits on the respective bit lines increases the area occupied by the bit line peripheral circuits and requires interconnection for transferring the boosted voltage for the burn-in test, resulting in an increased interconnection layout area.
Furthermore, in the case where both thick film MOS transistors and thin film MOS transistors are provided in a mixed manner in the sense amplifier band, some isolation regions are required, as will be described later. The dual gate process requires etching away of the gate insulating film of thin film MOS transistor once in forming the thick film MOS transistor and the thin film MOS transistor. Further, the dual gate process requires the ensured margin for the accuracy of the etching mask alignment. Further, it becomes necessary to relax the steps due to thickness differences between the gate insulating films of MOS transistors, which requires separation regions for relaxing the steps between the regions in which thin film MOS transistor are formed and the regions in which thick film MOS transistor are formed. By placing the separating regions for relaxing the steps, it is possible to accurately form resist patterns without being affected by halation of exposure light and others in patterning and also to prevent over-etching due to reflection of irradiated ions. Consequently, because of the separation region provided taking into account such mask alignment and process margin, there may arise such a problem that the layout area of the circuit in the sense amplifier band is increased and accordingly the array area is increased.

Semiconductor memory device allowing accurate burn-in test


The present invention provides for the use of radiation-curable coating compositions comprising at least one radiation-curable organopolysiloxane having (meth)acrylic ester groups and a photoinitiator, wherein said photoinitiator includes at least one compound of the general formula

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the use of radiation-curable coating compositions based on radiation-curing organopolysiloxanes with (meth)acrylic ester groups for the production of adhesive coatings which, for the purpose of photoinduced curing, comprise photoinitiators of the hydroxyalkylphenone type.
Adhesive coating compositions (release agents) are used to a wide extent to coat web materials to reduce their ability to adhere to adhesive surfaces.
Adhesive coating compositions are used, for example, to coat papers or films which are used as backings for self-adhesive labels. The labels, provided with a pressure-sensitive adhesive, do adhere to the coated surface to a sufficient extent to allow the label laminate to be handled. The adhesion of the adhesive labels to the backing must be sufficiently high that during label dispensing, e.g. to containers, the labels do not separate prematurely from their backing. On the other hand, however, the labels must be able to be peeled from the coated backing film without any substantial reduction of the adhesive tackiness. For this purpose the curing of the silicone release layer must be particularly effective, as otherwise silicone components may transfer to the adhesive surface and reduce tackiness. Further fields of applications of adhesive coating compositions are packaging materials which are used in particular for the packaging of sticky goods. Adhesive papers or films of this kind are used, for example, to pack foodstuffs or industrial products, such as e.g. bitumen.
A further application of adhesive coating compositions is in the production of self-stick closures, as for disposable diapers, for example. If the adhesiveness is too high, i.e., if the release force is too low, the diaper does not stay reliably closed. If the adhesiveness is too low and thus the release force too high, the closure can no longer be opened without destructive tearing of the diaper.
2. Description of the Related Art
The preparation of organosiloxanes with (meth)acrylate-modified organic groups attached to the siloxane unit via Si—O— and/or via Si—C— bonds is described in numerous patents. The patents and laid-open specifications below are given as representatives of the prior art and are herein incorporated by reference.
Organopolysiloxanes in which the (meth)acrylate-containing organic groups are attached to the polysiloxane framework via an Si—O—C— bond are described in DE-C-27 47 233 and DE-C-29 48 708.
Organopolysiloxanes where the acrylic ester-containing organic groups are attached to the polysiloxane framework via Si—C— bonds can be prepared, for example, by the hydrosilylation of a hydroxysiloxane with allyl glycidyl ether or another suitable epoxide having an olefinic double bond and, after the addition reaction, esterifying the epoxide with acrylic acid by opening the epoxide ring. This procedure is described in DE-C-38 20 294.
A further possibility of preparing (meth)acrylate-modified polysiloxanes with Si—C linkage of the modifying group(s) is the hydrosilylation of a hydroxysiloxane with an alcohol having an olefinic double bond, e.g., allyl alcohol, in the presence of a platinum catalyst and then to react the OH group of this alcohol with acrylic acid or with a mixture of acrylic acid and other saturated or unsaturated acids. This procedure is described, for example, in DE-C-38 10 140.
It is possible, furthermore, to attach in each case two or more (meth)acrylate groups per link to the silicone framework. In order to obtain very effective crosslinking—in other words, a very high number of reactive groups—while at the same time minimizing the density of modification on the siloxane framework it is desirable to attach more than one (meth)acrylate group per link. Processes of this kind are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,322.
Examples of these organosilicone compounds are available, for example, from Goldschmidt/Germany under the product name TEGO® RC, from Shin Etsu/Japan under the name X-8010 and from Rhodia/France under the name UV 900, UV 911 and UV 970.
In order to produce said coatings the normal approach is to apply a mixture of two or more of said organosilicon compounds (and one or more photoinitiators) to web materials made of plastic, metals or paper and to pass the resulting material in web form from roll to roll, at high line speeds of several hundred meters per minute, through an UV unit to cure them.
In contrast to said organosilicon compounds various purely organic compounds, i.e. compounds not having silyl or siloxane units, are known which contain double bonds capable of free-radical polymerization and which after the addition of known photoinitiators cure by UV radiation. These coating compositions are used, for example, for printing inks and for preparing film-forming binders or for the coating of surfaces of plastic, of paper, of wood, and of metal.
A feature common to all said organosilicon compounds and organic compounds is that after the addition of photoinitiators, they cure within a very short time by UV irradiation in a free-radical polymerization. An overview of suitable photoinitiators is given in "J. P. Fouassier, Polymerization photoinitiators: Excited state process and kinetic aspects, Progress in Organic Coating, 18 (1990) 229-252", in "J. P. Fouassier, Photochemical reactivity of UV radical photoinitiators of polymerization: A general discussion, Recent Res. Devel. Photochem. & Photobiol., 4(2000):51-74", in "D. Ruhlmann et al, Relations structure-proprietés dans les photoamorceurs de polymérisation-2. Dérivés de Phenyl Acetophenone, Eur. Polym. J. Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 287-292, 1992" und "K. K. Dietliker, Chemistry & Technology of UV & EB Formulation for Coatings, Inks & Paints, Volume 3, Sita Technology Ltd, UK". DE-A-27 22 264 describes hydroxyalkylphenones and their use as photoinitiators.
These literature references cite photoinitiators, including photoinitiators of the hydroxyalkylphenone type, and evaluate their reactivity in the stated organic compounds. The activity of photoinitiators is dependant on a multiplicity of factors, which are substantially also dependent on the photoreactive group and on the concentration of said group in the photoinitiator molecule—that is, on the ratio of the molar weight of the reactive group to the overall molar weight. The molar weight of the free-radical cleavage products and hence of the photoinitiator molecule itself is also of importance for the activity. These relationships are prior art, particularly for photoinitiators of the hydroxyalkylphenone type.
Photoinitiators must also be soluble in the coating composition in order to achieve a sufficient activity in UV curing. As a result of the very hydrophobic matrix of the stated organosilicon compounds, in contrast to the organic compounds, it is not possible to use a large number of the known photoinitiators, since they cannot be dissolved compatibly in the silicone matrix. Particularly suitable photoinitiators for the stated organosilicon compounds are, therefore, those which are liquid or easily meltable and which compatible blend to the silicone matrix.
In order to improve the solubility with the stated organosilicon compounds, WO-A-97/49768, U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,658, U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,963 and EP-B-0 088 842, for example, propose photoinitiators modified with silyl radicals, including in particular polymer silyl radicals. The photoinitiators are, for example, of the hydroxyketone, aminoketone, benzoin ether, benzophenone or thioxanthone type. Patents U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,265, U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,838 and EP-B-0 162 572 as well describe a very wide variety of photoinitiator structures provided with organopolysiloxane radicals. These compounds are derived, for example, from dialkoxyacetophenone and have an increased silicone solubility. U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,187 discloses diketo photoiniators with silyl groups as photoinitiators which are readily soluble in silicone polymers. Polymeric photoinitiators containing siloxane radicals are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,276. A. Kolar et al in J.M.S. Pure Appl. Chem. A31(3) (1994), 305-318 on reactive silyl-derivatized hydroxyalkylphenone photoinitiators. EP-A-1 072 326 describes siloxane-modified photoinitiators with surface-active properties, which again are derivatives of hydroxyalkylphenone.
The literature references cited deal with solving the problem of the solubility of photoinitiators in the stated organosilicon compounds. Solubility is achieved by attachment of partly polymeric siloxane radicals to the photoreactive group. This solution has the drawback that the concentration of the photoreactive group is reduced, as a result of the high molar weight of the silyl or siloxane radical, to the extent that the solubility with the stated organosilicon compounds rises. In order to compensate the reduced concentration of the photoreactive group, it is necessary to admix increased concentrations of such photoinitiators to the stated organosilicon compounds. Moreover, the process steps needed for the attachment of the silyl or siloxane radicals constitutes an additional process step, which adds to the costs.
There is therefore a need to find, for the stated organosilicon compounds, a readily available, readily miscible, and compatible photoinitiator which is nevertheless equipped with a high concentration of photoreactive groups.

Use of hydroxyalkylphenone-type photoinitiators in radiation-curable organopolysiloxanes for producing abhesive coatings

Abstract: in which                R1 is a linear or branched alkyl radical having 3 to 18 carbon atoms, preferably 4 to 12 carbon atoms,        R2 is an alkyl radical having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, preferably hydrogen,        R3, R4 are alkyl radicals having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, which may also have been linked to form a 5- or 6-membered carbon ring or one of these radicals may also be hydrogen, and        R5 is an alkyl or alkanoyl radical, preferably hydrogen;for preparing adhesive coating materials and producing adhesive coatings.


In the present invention, a wiring layer comprises wirings respectively having different sheet resistance values, or a contact for connecting opposing wiring layers comprises contacts having different sheet resistance values respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor apparatus comprising a plurality of wiring layers, a method of manufacturing the semiconductor apparatus, and a wiring device for the semiconductor apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor apparatus in which a plurality of transistors is mounted, variations in its property and structure more remarkably affect a drive performance of each transistor as miniaturization is advanced. Examples of the variations include a variation resulting from a fluctuation of a power-supply voltage and a variation in manufacturing the transistors, which largely changes the drive performance of each transistor. Such problems is generated due to the foregoing disadvantage that a device which satisfied timing restrictions in a designing stage and was expected to normally operate consequently fails to satisfy the timing restrictions when actually manufactured, and as a result, is unable to execute any desired operation.
In order to avoid such a design error, it is important to secure a sufficient design margin in consideration of the variations when the semiconductor apparatus is manufactured. There is a hold time of a flip-flop as an example of the design margin, which is a minimum time length in which a data signal must be retained after a clock signal is inputted to the flip-flop. If it is not possible to retain the data signal during the minimum time length, the flip-flop consequently retains incorrect data, which causes a malfunction. Therefore, it is necessary to take account of the design margin (hold time in this case) so that correct data can be retained in the flip-flop even though the drive performance of the transistor is varied due to the foregoing variations so that arrival times of the clock and data are changed.
FIG. 15 shows a conventional semiconductor apparatus 1000. The semiconductor apparatus 1000 comprises flip-flops 1010 and a scan chain 1020 for implementing a scan test. A reference symbol SI denotes a terminal of the flip-flop 1010 for retrieving scan data. As recited in No. 2004-301661 of the Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open, a wiring layer having a resistance value per unit length higher than that of a wring layer in which a wiring of the clock signal is formed is adopted for the scan chain 1020 in order to satisfy the hold time at the SI terminal.
Even though a signal propagation time in the scan chain 1020 that connects the flip-flops provided in vicinity to each other is changed due to the before-mentioned variations, the hold time in the SI terminal can be thereby satisfied as a sufficient delay value is obtained by use of the higher-resistance wiring.
However, it is inadequate to provide the wiring layer having the higher resistance value per unit length in such a signal line where a critical signal speed is demanded. In order to deal with the disadvantage, it is necessary that the higher-resistance wiring layer is formed so as to avoid such a signal line.
According to the foregoing method, however, connection spots are increased with respect to wiring layers located up and down the higher-resistance wiring layer, and thereby congestion of the wirings is generated. When the wirings are congested, circumvention of the wirings or crosstalk between the adjacent wirings each other is generated, which makes it impossible to satisfy the timing restrictions in the signal line in which the critical signal speed is demanded. As a result, it becomes difficult to operate the semiconductor apparatus at a desired operation frequency.


The present disclosure relates to a combined back plate, a method for assembling the combined back plate, and a backlight module comprising the combined back plate. The combined back plate includes a frame formed by a plurality of frame strips provided with slots and a plurality of plugboards provided with bending walls that can be engaged with the slots. Through combining the bending walls and the slots, the plurality of plugboards can be mounted together so as to form the combined back plate. With the combined back plate of the present disclosure being formed by splicing a plurality of plugboards, back plates with different sizes can be manufactured in a convenient manner.

Liquid crystal display devices are widely used due to the advantages of thin body, power saving and the like. At present, most of liquid crystal display devices on the market are backlight liquid crystal displays, with each including a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight module. The working principle of the liquid crystal display panel is to dispose liquid crystal molecules between two parallel glass sheets, and control the directions of the liquid crystal molecules to refract rays from the backlight module to generate pictures. Because the liquid crystal display panel does not emit light itself, a light source needs to be provided by means of the backlight module to display images in a normal manner. Accordingly, the backlight module becomes one of important components of the liquid crystal display device.
The backlight module generally includes a back plate, a light guide plate, a backlight and an optical diaphragm. In the prior art, the back plate generally adopts an integral structure, and this structure is relatively large in size, so that a production mould for the back plate is huge and is difficult to maintain, and the requirement for the punch forming technology is relatively high.
In the prior art, the back plate with a structure shown in FIG. 11 exists, including a body 22 and a first support 24 connected to the body 22. The body 22 includes a substrate 222, and the first support 24 includes a first baseplate 242 and a first side plate 244 vertically connected to the first baseplate 242. One end of the first baseplate 242 away from the first side plate 244 is provided with a first bending portion 246 and a first extending portion 248 connected to the first bending portion 246 and arranged horizontally. The first extending portion 248 is overlapped on one end of the substrate 222, and fixedly connected with the substrate 222 through rivets or screws. That is, the combined back plate is formed by splicing the body 22 and the support 24. Although the back plate is divided into two parts, it still has an integral structure. When the area of the back plate is relatively large, inconvenience is brought to assembly. Therefore, a back plate convenient to produce and assemble is in urgent need.

Combined back plate and assembly method thereof and backlight module using the same

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A one-way valve for dispensing fluid assures, after the fluid has been dispensed, that any flow of contaminants into the source of the fluid is prevented. The one-way valve has a disc shaped valve body enclosed about the circumferential edge by an elastomeric membrane. Separate passageways conduct the fluid through the valve body with the fluid flowing from one passageway to the other between the circumferential edge and the elastomeric membrane. The valve body has a greater diameter than axial length.

The present invention is directed to a one-way valve for dispensing fluid and assures, after the fluid has been dispensed, that any flow of contaminants into the source of the fluid is prevented. The one-way valve has a disc shaped valve body enclosed about the circumferential edge by an elastomeric membrane. Separate passageways conduct the fluid through the valve body with the fluid flowing from one passageway to the other between the circumferential edge and the elastomeric membrane.
In the Gerber patent 4,846,810 issued Jul. 11, 1989, hereinafter the RESEAL valve, a one-way valve is shown formed by a valve body within an elastomeric membrane. In the patent the valve body is axially elongated. Such an arrangement has been found to be effective, however, if the height or length of the container and the one-way valve is to be kept to a minimum in dispensing certain fluids or if fluids with large particulates are being dispersed, the valve body shown in the patent is less effective.

ReSeal International Limited Partnership


An air scrubber for eliminating an associated airborne contaminants and sterilizing air provided to protect against nocosomial infections, environmental allergens, weapons of biological and chemical attacks and operations requiring clean environment. The air scrubber includes a housing containing an alkali solution at pH 14 through which air passes and suspended liquid particles removed; provides are made for use in central air-conditioning systems, stand-alone applications and portable use along with respirators.

The present invention relates to an air scrubbing device for contamination removal and its uses thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to device installed in a central air conditioning system, used as a floor or wall mountable device, or a device attached to respirators that employs an alkali solution to remove airborne contaminants (e.g., microorganisms, viruses, allergens, toxins, warfare chemicals and biological agents) from air entering the device and thus decontaminating the environment in which the device is positioned or supplying air to. Contaminants hazardous to health and interfering in a variety of manufacturing operations include:                1. Environmental Chemicals: Air contamination, particularly indoor air contamination, contributes to human health complications. Specifically, airborne chemical contaminants, particularly when present in poorly ventilated areas, cause a wide variety of human illnesses.                    a. Example chemical contaminants include, byway of non-limiting example, formaldehyde, aerosols, toluene, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and the like, and are known to cause such health complications as eye irritation, headaches, nose and/or mucosal irritation, fatigue and the like.            b. Example Biological Agents: Air contamination, particularly indoor air contamination, contributes to human health complications. Specifically, airborne biological contaminants, particularly when present in poorly ventilated areas, cause a wide variety of human illnesses. Example biological contaminants include, by way of non-limiting example, bacteria, fungi, yeast, prions, fungi spores, protozoa, viruses, algae, pollen, various antigenic agents, and the like, and are known to cause such health complications as pneumonia, fever, mycotoxicosis, various infections, asthma and the like. One of the most perplexing health problems arises from nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections from sick patients adding substantially to the cost of healthcare. Whereas general hospital working practices are aimed at reducing these infections and whereas hospitals practice isolation of dangerously infections patients, these efforts have generally been ineffective; one of the most widely known diseases resulting from nosocomial spread of infection was Legionnaires disease. The annual cost of treatment resulting from nosocomial infection in the US is between $4 Billion to $11 Billion; this cost can be substantially reduced by practicing the present invention through which the air around contaminating patients can be kept sterilized and thus preventing the spread rather than attempting to control it once it spreads through the air conditioning systems of the hospitals.                        2. Environmental allergens: An important area of concern is the management of a large number of respiratory disorders emanating from allergens in the air. The pollen season wrecks havoc on the health of billions of people, adding over a $100 Billion to health care cost per year and inflicting misery to a large percentage of the world population. An allergen is typically a protein associated with a carbohydrate chain and is carried out in the air by floating particles or as pollens. While the outdoor exposure to these allergens is not preventable, the indoor environments can be made almost allergen free and to do this several devices have been suggested, mostly comprising of filtering the air either by physical filters (which remain ineffective) or by electronic precipitation, which remains extremely expensive if adequately installed.                    a. Outdoor allergens: Pollens and mold spores are outdoor allergens that float in the air and commonly trigger nasal allergy symptoms. Pollen is a microscopic, powdery substance used by plants for fertilization and reproduction. Pollens are carried between plants by wind, water, animals, bees and other insects. Nasal allergy symptoms are more often triggered by plants with small pollens that are spread by wind currents such as trees, grasses, and weeds. Generally, the pollens from brightly flowered plants with larger pollen grains don't trigger nasal allergies. Molds are microscopic members of the fungus family, which also includes mushrooms. Mold spores travel through the air like pollen. However, unlike pollen, they do not have a specific season but tend to thrive in moist situations and are affected by wind or rain. Outdoor mold spores begin to appear after a spring thaw and typically peak between July and October. In regions with mild winters, outdoor molds can be found all year long.            b. Indoor Allergens: Indoor, or perennial, nasal allergies are triggered by another group of allergens, including dust mites, animal dander and urine, cockroach droppings, and indoor molds. Animals with fur or feathers can cause nasal allergy symptoms trigerred by saliva, proteins in animals' dander (dead skin), and urine that cause nasal allergy problems. Dust mites are microscopic creatures that live in dust and consume discarded flakes of human skin. Dust mite droppings are a common trigger of nasal allergy symptoms, and are found throughout homes, especially in parts of the home with high humidity or a concentration of human skin flakes, such as mattresses or pillows. Indoor molds thrive in dark, damp places such as basements and bathrooms. When these molds release airborne spores, they can trigger nasal allergy symptoms. Several species of cockroaches live in homes and other buildings, especially in urban areas, and especially where food and water can be found readily. Experts believe that cockroaches' bodies, as well as their feces and saliva, can trigger nasal allergies.                        3. Biological Warfare Agents: Biological warfare is the deliberate use of disease and natural poisons to incapacitate humans. It employs pathogens as weapons. Pathogens are the microorganism, whether bacterial, viral or protozoic, those cause disease. There are four kinds of biological warfare agents: bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae and fungi. Biological weapons are distinguished by being living organisms, that reproduce within their host victims, who then become contagious with a deadly, if weakening, multiplier effect. Toxins in contrast do not reproduce in the victim and need only the briefest of incubation periods; they kill within a few hours. Diseases considered for weaponization, or known to be weaponized include anthrax, ebola, Marburg virus, plague, cholera, tularemia, brucellosis, Q fever, machupo, Coccidioides mycosis, Glanders, Melioidosis, Shigella, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typhus, Psittacosis, yellow fever, Japanese B encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, and smallpox. Naturally occurring toxins that can be used as weapons include ricin, SEB, botulism toxin, saxitoxin, and many mycotoxins. Include inhaled        4. Chemical Warfare Agents: Chemical warfare is different from the use of conventional weapons or nuclear weapons because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily due to any explosive force. The offensive use of living organisms (such as anthrax) is considered biological warfare rather than chemical warfare; however, the use of nonliving toxic products produced by living organisms (e.g. toxins such as botulinum toxin, ricin, and saxitoxin) is considered chemical warfare under the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Under this Convention, any toxic chemical, regardless of its origin, is considered a chemical weapon unless it is used for purposes that are not prohibited (an important legal definition known as the General Purpose Criterion).                    a. Nerve Agents: Highly poisonous chemicals that work by preventing the nervous system from working properly: G agents (Sarin (GB), Soman (CD), Tabun (GA)), V agents, (VX)            b. Pulmonary agents (Mustards: Distilled mustard (HD), Mustard gas (H) (sulfur mustard), Mustard/lewisite (HL), Mustard/T, Nitrogen mustard (HN-1, HN-2, HN-3), Sesqui mustard, Sulfur mustard (H) (mustard gas); Lewisites/chloroarsine agents: Lewisite (L, L-1, L-2, L-3), Mustard/lewisite (HL); Phosgene oxime (CX)            c. Poisons that come from plants: (Abrin, Brevetoxin, Colchicine, Digitalis, Nicotine, Ricin, Saxitoxin, Strychnine, Tetrodotoxin, Trichothecene            d. Blood Agents: Arsine (SA), Carbon Monoxide, Cyanide (Cyanogen chloride (CK), Hydrogen cyanide (AC), Potassium cyanide (KCN), Sodium cyanide (NaCN), Sodium monofluoroacetate (compound 1080)            e. Caustics (Acids): Chemicals that burn or corrode people's skin, eyes, and mucus membranes (lining of the nose, mouth, throat, and lungs) on contact such as Hydrofluoric acid (hydrogen fluoride)            f. Choking/Lung/Pulmonary Agents: Chemicals that cause severe irritation or swelling of the respiratory tract (lining of the nose, throat, and lungs): Ammonia, Bromine (CA), Chlorine (CL), Hydrogen chloride, Methyl bromide, Methyl isocyanate, Osmium tetroxide, Phosgene (Diphosgene (DP), Phosgene (CG)), Phosphine, Phosphorus, elemental, white or yellow, Sulfuryl fluoride.                        5. Riot Control Agents/Tear Gas: Highly irritating agents normally used by law enforcement for crowd control or by individuals for protection (for example, mace): Bromobenzylcyanide (CA), Chloroacetophenone (CN), Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS), Chloropicrin (PS), Dibenzoxazepine (CR). Effective protective gear to protect against these agents while using them is required.        Specialized protections arise when exposed to above and all other agents:                    a. A variety of scientific and medical procedures result in biological contaminants that must be contained. Safety of personnel working in laboratories handling dangerous organisms is of great concern and while specific recommendations on the design of various BSL level laboratories are strictly followed, the most effective means of preventing spread of contamination is to remove it from entering any air distribution system.            b. Clean room environment for manufacturing drugs and other products is achieved by reducing the number of particles that can carry these agents. This is an expensive and often difficult to maintain protocol. In general, biological contamination renders the air in clean rooms inappropriate for manufacturing certain drugs and dosage forms, more particularly biological drugs where removal of viruses and prions is of very high priority and is generally achieved through control of air quality comprising of HEPA filter systems that are difficult and expensive to maintain. In some instances where viral clearance is of great importance, providing sterilized air, free from viruses and prions can prove very useful and cost-effective means of increasing the safety of the products manufactured.            c. Clean environment is also needed for surgery rooms. More particularly, the clean room environment can be created in the field or in those situations where elaborate electrical devices are impossible to install; for example, in the surgery rooms at the battle front, in parts of the world where means of providing hygienic environment are not present and in general, any operation that benefits from clean air is difficult to provide.
Prevention of exposure to above chemical and biological agents is of prime importance and a variety of measures are currently available that either selectively or generally reduces exposure or entry into body of these agents.
There is therefore an unmet need to invent a method of scrubbing air fed into air conditioning systems, in confined spaces where contaminants are present, as a first line of defense in chemical and biological weapons use and in a particularly the space where a sensitive product is manufactured and where patients need to be isolated in the event of epidemics. An invention that would resolve the unmet need would be useful in a fixed configuration as well as in a mobile situation for use in the field, examples of which include:                1. Hospital acquired infections. Fixed use in a healthcare facility to prevent cross contamination from one patient to another.        2. Allergan removal. Fixed use in a home to prevent reaction to allergens.        3. Patient Isolation. An area of medical importance is the requirement of sterile, allergan-free air for patients whose immunity has been seriously compromised and they must therefore be restricted to spaces that receive filtered air; the cost of such filtration is very high in the initial capital cost as well as the maintenance; there is thus a need to develop a highly effective, extremely low-cost device to provide this protection to patients.        4. Clean air supply in surgical theaters, manufacturing operations, etc.        5. Field use in the event of biological warfare and bioterrorism attacks. Biological warfare and bioterrorism is of major concern to many sovereign nations and billions of dollars are spent on preventing and confronting combat situations involving biological organisms. The most commonly used approach is to use specialized inhalation equipment that is often cumbersome to use, expensive to acquire and distribute and when used improperly, ineffective. The new invention should substantially reduce the cost of these preventive systems and provide a greater utility such as in the bunkers created to house personnel during an attack where the air supply can be continuously decontaminated of all types of biological agents at a very low cost.        6. Field use in the event of chemical warfare and terrorism attacks. An area of significant concerned is the protection of personnel in the event of chemical warfare attack or in the event of terrorist attacks; whereas suitable respiratory apparatus is available to protect the emergency response teams, the uncertainty in predicting the nature of biological and chemical weapons and the risk of a respirator apparatus failing can be catastrophic.
Prior art air scrubbing devices suffer from a number of problems. First, the devices are large and consume significant amounts of space and energy to be effective, the extent of which is rarely as complete as required in various sensitive areas of climate control.
The air scrubbing device of the present invention is particularly configured to overcome one or more of the aforementioned problems in removing and/or generally reducing the presence of air borne contaminants to thereby provide a safer, healthier and less infection-prone environment. The present invention also offers an extremely cost-effective approach, whose effectiveness can be further improved by combining with existing systems of HEPA filters and other control systems in practice today.
The instant invention provides a surprisingly broad range of exposure prevention that includes following features, heretofore not available in any single device:                1. Disintegration of biological organisms, spores, allergens and other resilient forms as the high pH dissolves the cell wall and otherwise disintegrates any proteins and other structures.        2. Hydrolysis of most potent organic chemicals because of the high pH effect, regardless of the solubility of compounds.        3. Neutralization of acidic components such as sulfur dioxide in the air.        4. Dissolution of water-soluble agents including gases and retention into liquid phase.
The functionality aspect of the instant invention include:                1. Fine dispersion of air into sodium hydroxide solution for maximum exposure and scrubbing action.        2. No large bubbles those are more likely to carry air droplets containing sodium hydroxide. The ceramic sparger in the device provides a critical function of dispersing air as fine bubbles in the range of 120-500 microns and thus increasing the contact of air to the surrounding sterilizing liquid;
the fine air bubbles also take longer time to rise to the surface and thus the total contact time is also increased.                3. A system of removing all airborne alkali solution droplets to reduce risk of exposure to the alkali used.        4. A means of replacing the evaporated water from the solution continuously. At 25 C vapor pressure of 10% sodium hydroxide solution is about 22 mm mercury compared to about 25 mm for water.        5. A means of draining the liquid in the container.
Chemicals have long been used in sterilization practices where heat will damage heat-sensitive materials such as biological materials, fiber optics, electronics, and many plastics. Low temperature gas sterilizers function by exposing the articles to be sterilized to high concentrations (typically 5-10% v/v) of very reactive gases (alkylating agents such as ethylene oxide, and oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide and ozone). Liquid sterilants and high disinfectants typically include oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid and aldehydes such as glutaraldehyde and more recently o-phthalaldehyde. While the use of gas and liquid chemical sterilants/high level disinfectants avoids the problem of heat damage, users must ensure that article to be sterilized is chemically compatible with the sterilant being used. The chemicals used as sterilants are designed to destroy a wide range of pathogens and typically the same properties that make them good sterilants makes them harmful to humans. Employers have a duty to ensure a safe work environment (Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, section 5 for United States) and work practices, engineering controls and monitoring should be employed appropriately.
Ethylene oxide (EO or EtO) gas is commonly used to sterilize objects sensitive to temperatures greater than 60° C. such as plastics, optics and electrics. Ethylene oxide treatment is generally carried out between 30° C. and 60° C. with relative humidity above 30% and a gas concentration between 200 and 800 mg/L for at least three hours. Ethylene oxide penetrates well, moving through paper, cloth, and some plastic films and is highly effective. Ethylene oxide sterilizers are used to process sensitive instruments, which cannot be adequately sterilized by other methods. Ethylene oxide can kill all known viruses, bacteria and fungi, including bacterial spores and is satisfactory for most medical materials, even with repeated use. However it is highly flammable, and requires a longer time to sterilize than any heat treatment. The process also requires a period of post-sterilization aeration to remove toxic residues. Ethylene oxide is the most common sterilization method, used for over 70% of total sterilizations, and for 50% of all disposable medical devices.
The two most important ethylene oxide sterilization methods are: (1) the gas chamber method and (2) the micro-dose method. To benefit from economies of scale, Ethylene oxide has traditionally been delivered by flooding a large chamber with a combination of Ethylene oxide and other gases used as diluents (usually CFCs or carbon dioxide). This method has drawbacks inherent to the use of large amounts of sterilant being released into a large space, including air contamination produced by CFCs and/or large amounts of ethylene oxide residuals, flammability and storage issues calling for special handling and storage, operator exposure risk and training costs
Because of these problems a micro-dose sterilization method was developed in the late 1950s, using a specially designed bag to eliminate the need to flood a larger chamber with Ethylene oxide. This method is also known as gas diffusion sterilization, or bag sterilization. This method minimizes the use of gas. Ozone is used in industrial settings to sterilize water and air, as well as a disinfectant for surfaces. It has the benefit of being able to oxidize most organic matter. On the other hand, it is a toxic and unstable gas that must be produced on-site, so it is not practical to use in many settings. Ozone offers many advantages as a sterilant gas; ozone is a very efficient sterilant because of its strong oxidizing properties (E=2.076 vs. SHE, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 76th Ed, 1995-1996) capable of destroying a wide range of pathogens, including prions without the need for handling hazardous chemicals since the ozone is generated within the sterilizer from medical grade oxygen. The downside of using ozone is that the gas is very reactive and very hazardous. The NIOSH immediately dangerous to life and health limit for ozone is 5 ppm, much 160 times smaller than the 800 ppm IDLH for ethylene oxide. Documentation for Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health Concentrations (IDLH): NIOSH Chemical Listing and Documentation of Revised IDLH Values (as of Mar. 1, 95) and OSHA has set the PEL for ozone at 0.1 ppm calculated as an eight hour time weighted average (29 CFR 1910.1000, Table Z-1).
Chlorine bleach is another accepted liquid sterilizing agent. Household bleach consists of 5.25% sodium hypochlorite. It is usually diluted to 1/10 immediately before use; however to kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis it should be diluted only 1/5, and 1/2.5 (1 part bleach and 1.5 parts water) to inactivate prions. The dilution factor must take into account the volume of any liquid waste that it is being used to sterilize. Bleach will kill many organisms immediately, but for full sterilization it should be allowed to react for 20 minutes. Bleach will kill many, but not all spores. It is highly corrosive and may corrode even stainless steel surgical instruments. Bleach decomposes over time when exposed to air, so fresh solutions should be made daily.
Glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde solutions (also used as fixatives) are accepted liquid sterilizing agents, provided that the immersion time is sufficiently long. To kill all spores in a clear liquid can take up to 12 hours with glutaraldehyde and even longer with formaldehyde. The presence of solid particles may lengthen the required period or render the treatment ineffective. Sterilization of blocks of tissue can take much longer, due to the time required for the fixative to penetrate.
Glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde are volatile, and toxic by both skin contact and inhalation. Glutaraldehyde has a short shelf life (<2 weeks), and is expensive. Formaldehyde is less expensive and has a much longer shelf life if some methanol is added to inhibit polymerization to paraformaldehyde, but is much more volatile. Formaldehyde is also used as a gaseous sterilizing agent; in this case, it is prepared on-site by depolymerization of solid paraformaldehyde. Many vaccines, such as the original Salk polio vaccine, are sterilized with formaldehyde.
Ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) is a chemical sterilizing agent that received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in late 1999. Typically used in a 0.55% solution, OPA shows better myco-bactericidal activity than glutaraldehyde. It also is effective against glutaraldehyde-resistant spores. OPA has superior stability, is less volatile, and does not irritate skin or eyes, and it acts more quickly than glutaraldehyde. On the other hand, it is more expensive, and will stain proteins (including skin) gray in color.
Hydrogen peroxide is another chemical sterilizing agent. It is relatively non-toxic when diluted to low concentrations, such as the familiar 3% retail solutions although hydrogen peroxide is a dangerous oxidizer at high concentrations (>10% w/w). Hydrogen peroxide is strong oxidant and these oxidizing properties allow it to destroy a wide range of pathogens and it is used to sterilize heat or temperature sensitive articles such as rigid endoscopes. In medical sterilization hydrogen peroxide is used at higher concentrations, ranging from around 35% up to 90%.
The best advantage of hydrogen peroxide as a sterilant is the short cycle time. Whereas the cycle time for ethylene oxide (discussed above) may be 10 to 15 hours, the use of very high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide allows much shorter cycle times. Since hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidant, there are material compatibility issues and users should consult the manufacturer of the article to be sterilized to ensure that it is compatible with this method of sterilization. Paper products cannot be sterilized in the Sterrad system because of a process called cellulostics, in which the hydrogen peroxide would be completely absorbed by the paper product. The penetrating ability of hydrogen peroxide to not as good as ethylene oxide and so there are limitations on the length and diameter of lumens that can be effectively sterilized and guidance is available from the sterilizer manufacturers.
While hydrogen peroxide offers significant advantages in terms of throughput, as with all sterilant gases, sterility is achieved through the use of high concentrations of reactive gases. Hydrogen peroxide is primary irritant and the contact of the liquid solution with skin will cause bleaching or ulceration depending on the concentration and contact time. The vapor is also hazardous with the target organs being the eyes and respiratory system. Even short term exposures can be hazardous and NIOSH has set the Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health Level (IDLH) at 75 ppm, less than one tenth the IDLH for ethylene oxide (800 ppm). Prolonged exposure to even low ppm concentrations can cause permanent lung damage and consequently OSHA has set the permissible exposure limit to 1.0 ppm, calculated as an 8 hour time weighted average (29 CFR 1910.1000 Table Z-1). Employers thus have a legal duty to ensure that their personnel are not exposed to concentrations exceeding this PEL. Even though the sterilizer manufacturers go to great lengths to make their products safe through careful design and incorporation of many safety features, workplace exposures of hydrogen peroxide from gas sterilizers are documented in the FDA MAUDE database. When using any type of gas sterilizer, prudent work practices will include good ventilation (10 air exchanges per hour), a continuous gas monitor for hydrogen peroxide as well as good work practices and training. Further information about the health effects of hydrogen peroxide and good work practices is available from OSHA and the ATSDR.
Dry sterilization process (DSP) uses hydrogen peroxide at a concentration of 30-35% under low-pressure conditions. This process achieves bacterial reduction of 10-6 . . . 10-8. The complete process cycle time is just 6 seconds, and the surface temperature is increased only 10-15° C. (18 to 27° F.). Originally designed for the sterilization of plastic bottles in the beverage industry, because of the high germ reduction and the slight temperature increase the dry sterilization process is also useful for medical and pharmaceutical applications.
Peracetic acid (0.2%) is used to sterilize instruments.
Prions are highly resistant to chemical sterilization. Treatment with aldehydes (e.g., formaldehyde) has even shown to increase prion resistance. Hydrogen peroxide (3%) for one hour was shown to be ineffective, providing less than 3 logs reduction in contamination. Iodine, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and peracetic acid also fail this test (one hour treatment). Only chlorine, a phenolic compound, guanidinium thiocyanate, and sodium hydroxide reduce prion levels by more than 4 logs.
Chlorine and sodium hydroxide are the most consistent agents for prions. Chlorine is too corrosive to use on certain objects.
Silver ions and silver compounds show a toxic effect on some bacteria, viruses, algae and fungi, typical for heavy metals like lead or mercury, but without the high toxicity to humans that is normally associated with these other metals. Its germicidal effects kill many microbial organisms in vitro, but testing and standardization of silver products is yet difficult.
Alkalis (bases) like sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium metabisilicate and sodium bicarbonate are defined as alkalis or bases capable of forming hydroxide ions when dissolved in water giving a pH of greater than 7. Alkaline conditions inhibit the growth of microorganisms by restricting various metabolic processes; the structure and function of some macromolecules including enzymes, are particularly affected. At high concentration, alkalis cause the solubilization of bacterial cell walls and membranes and viral envelopes between pH 9 to 11. The reactions of alkalis with various types of lipoids (including phospholipids) in these membranes can be compared to their reaction with fatty acids in lipids and oils to cause salt formation (soap). Membrane disruption leads to cell wall destabilization (in case of gram negative bacteria) and loss of membrane structure and function, including disruption of the proton motive force and leakage of cytoplasm materials. Alkalis also cause breakage of peptide bonds and the breakdown of proteins, which is presumed to be the major mechanism of action against prions.
High concentration (0.5 to 2.0 N) of sodium and potassium hydroxide are used for cleaning and disinfecting manufacturing surfaces to inactivate bacteria, viruses and prion contamination. Prolonged exposure is often required to achieve ideal effect of sterilization on the surfaces treated with these alkali solutions. Alkali solutions are also effective in emulsifying and saponification of fats and removal of proteins as these are broken down to peptides and amino acids. Sodium bicarbonate is also used as a deodorizer. Higher alkalinity inhibits microorganisms, with the exception of certain thermophiles; in general, pH values greater than 9 are restrictive for growth of most vegetative organisms, including bacteria and fungi. Lower concentrations are generally inhibitory, while higher concentrations are bactericidal and fungicidal. Typical virucidal concentrations are 1-2% of sodium hydroxide and at least 4% sodium carbonate; concentrations of 1-2N of sodium hydroxide are recommended for the inactivation of prions. The main advantage of alkali use is their wide availability, low cost and a wide range of bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities obtained. More particularly, the combination of effect on fats and proteins, they offer an ideal solution to removing allergens. The disadvantages in their use include their highly corrosive nature to many surfaces, danger to human contact and the possibility of violent reaction if mixed with certain organic or inorganic substances.
The present invention provides a device for scrubbing of air through a high pH chemical solution of an alkali that can be used in confined spaces, in central air conditioning systems of patient care, home care to reduce allergies, by defense personnel as part of biological agent protection strategy, in drug manufacturing facilities and in public places to reduce spread of disease such as flu epidemic, such as the swine flu.


In reproduction of a predetermined title recorded on an optical disk, when multiangle video images are recorded on the optical disk, an angle mark having a form of a camera is turned on. During reproduction of this title, when reproduction reaches a multiangle video image recorded portion, the angle mark flashes so that a viewer or user of the video can be notified of a state in which video reproduction at an angle different from that of the currently reproduced video image is possible.

The present invention relates to an improvement in a digital video disk or digital versatile disk (DVD disk) capable of recording image and audio data on a signal recording medium and reproducing them in synchronism with each other, and a reproduction system therefor.
More particularly, the present invention relates to, in this system, an improved user interface in a DVD player capable of selectively and freely reproducing an image at an arbitrary angle desired by a user (viewer) in reproducing data from a DVD format disk capable of recording, in the form of a multiangle block, a set of images obtained by photographing or imaging a single scene (or a single event or a related event) at different angles.
Currently popular visual and audio recording media such as a compact disk (CD) and a laser disk (LD) have no idea of a multiangle block of "recording a set of images obtained by photographing or imaging a single scene at different angles". A title producer (provider) cannot produce or distribute such multiangle software (optical disk), even if wanted.
Even though an optical disk recorded with multiangle software were made, no user has a player having a multiangle reproduction function (such a player is not commercially available). Even if the provider wants to provide software using the multiangle function, there is no environment (infrastructure) for reproducing multiangle software.
Under these circumstances, a large-capacity DVD disk have been introduced initially called as a super density (SD) disk. The DVD has a special format which can realize the recording/reproducing function of the multiangle block. By this format, any provider can produce software using the multiangle function, can record such multiangle software on DVD disks, and distribute these DVD disks.
Further, in a video-on-demand system wherein contents of a DVD software including the multiangle block can be received by subscribers with certain charge (or with no-charge but with a commercial program), the provider can produce software using the multiangle function. Such software can be distributed to any subscriber of the video-on-demand system via digital lines, at the time when the subscriber demands such software.
In a player for reproducing a multiangle software (DVD disk) based on the above format, it is indispensable to reproduce the multiangle block. For this reason, any DVD player shall reproduce a disk on which the multiangle block is recorded, and has to allow an end user to freely select and reproduce an image with an angle desired by him or her.
Before the present invention has been made, there is no means for clearly notifying the user (viewer) whether or not he or she can voluntarily select a desired angle, or no means for clearly notifying the viewer whether or not the current scene allows an angle selection by the user (or whether or not the multiangle block is currently played back).
Further, (especially in a video-on-demand system,) no means is available to a user to easily instruct an angle change during the reproduction of the multiangle block.


A microscope optical system comprises an objective lens and an intermediate magnification varying part disposed just after the image side of the objective lens. A microscope objective lens according to another aspect of the invention comprises a first lens group and a second lens group in the mentioned order from the object side. The first lens group includes a positive meniscus lens with the concave surface facing the object side and one or more cemented lenses, the first lens group having a positive refractive power as a whole, at least one of the cemented lenses includes a lens made of a material having an Abbe's number equal to or larger than 80, and conditions 0.3≦wd/f≦0.45 and 0.6≦NA are satisfied, where f represents the focal length of the microscope objective lens as a whole, wd represents the working distance of the microscope objective lens, and NA represents the numerical aperture of the microscope objective lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microscope optical system, and particularly relates to a microscope optical system provided with an intermediate magnification varying part and a microscope objective lens.
2. Related Background Art
When cells of an organism, for example, are to be observed, a general process is that a stage is moved under a relatively large field of view at a low magnification so that an object to be observed such as a cancer cell is brought into the field of view and then the magnification is changed to a high magnification so that the object can be observed closely. In the case of examination of cancer cells, cytological examination is generally performed, in which cells or blood sampled from a patient is observed by a microscope. In the cytological examination, observation is performed firstly with a relatively large field of view using a microscope objective lens with a magnification of 10× while moving a stage, and if a cell suspected as a cancer cell or the like is discovered, the magnification of the microscope objective lens is switched to 40× for observation with a high resolution. In cytological examination, microscope objective lenses with magnifications of 10× and 40× are typically switched and used.
Such magnification switching is generally performed by switching objective lenses. In the case that objective lenses are switched, an eccentricity in the barrel and a displacement of a focal point position occur in the switching process. Therefore, it is necessary to allow adjustment of those factors by adding an adjusting mechanism in the revolver or by moving the stage.
In addition, in cytological examination, an operation called marking is performed, that is an operation of putting a mark on the cover glass at a position near a suspicious cell.
In order to eliminate need for the above-described adjustment operations or to simplify those operations, a process of changing the observation magnification by operating a magnification varying portion provided on an arm of a microscope has been proposed, for example in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-166215.
Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-33818, there is proposed to change the magnification by a magnification varying apparatus without switching the microscope objective lens. In that case, it is preferable that a microscope objective lens with a magnification of 20× or so be used. However, the numerical apertures of microscope objective lenses with a magnification of 20× or so are generally equal to or smaller than 0.5.
The methods of varying magnification disclosed in the aforementioned prior arts suffer from a problem that in the case that an enlarging magnification varying system is used in combination with an objective lens with a relatively low magnification, high resolution observation is not possible due to the smallness in the numerical aperture of the objective lens. On the other hand, in the case that a reducing magnification varying system is used in combination with an objective lens with a relatively high magnification, there is another problem that aberrations at the periphery of the field of view is deteriorated. In order to eliminate the aforementioned problems, the optical system arrangement in which an image is once formed by the light from the objective lens and then the image is enlarged by the magnification varying part has been adopted. However, in the case that an intermediate magnification varying apparatus is used in combination with a microscope, the eye point will be made high and the size of the apparatus will be increased, so that fatigue of the observer tends to be increased when observation is performed for a long period of time. In addition, in that case, the distance between the objective lens and the imaging lens becomes large and the light quantity in the image periphery will be decreased, so that there is a risk that vignetting can occur.
In addition, in the case that an objective lens with a high magnification is used, there is another problem that the marking operation is not easy since the working distance becomes small.

Microscope optical system and microscope objective lens


Techniques are presented herein to provide tandem-free operation between two wireless terminals through two otherwise incompatible wireless networks. Specifically, embodiments provide tandem-free operation between a wireless terminal communicating through a continuous transmission (CTX) wireless channel to a wireless terminal communicating through a discontinuous transmission (DTX) wireless channel. In a first aspect, inactive speech frames are translated between DTX and CTX formats. In a second aspect, each wireless terminal includes an active speech decoder that is compatible with the active speech encoder on the opposite end of the mobile-to-mobile connection.

I. Field
The present invention relates generally to voice data communication and particularly to providing tandem-free communications between wireless communication systems having different native vocoder types.
II. Description of the Related Art
The field of wireless communication includes many applications such as wireless telephones, paging, wireless local loops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), Internet telephony, and satellite communication systems. Various over-the-air interfaces developed for such wireless communication systems include frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and code division multiple access (CDMA).
In order to maximize voice quality and system capacity, many wireless communication systems have been designed to use digital compression of voice data. Such digital compression is used to compress a digitized speech signal into a low-bit-rate signal that can be accommodated by wireless data channels having limited bandwidth or throughput capacity. This digital compression of voice data is referred to as speech coding or vocoding. Speech coding is used in wireless communication systems designed in accordance with various well-known CDMA wireless standards such as the TIA/EIA IS-95 standard and its progeny, W-CDMA, cdma2000. In addition, speech coding is used in wireless communication systems designed in accordance with TDMA standards such as North American TDMA and GSM.
Many current speech coders operate by extracting parameters relating to a model of human speech generation and then using these parameters to compress the speech for transmissions. A speech coder typically includes an encoder and a decoder to accommodate bi-directional speech communication. The encoder receives as input a continuous stream of digital voice data samples representative of a speech signal. The encoder divides the incoming speech signal into blocks of time, or analysis frames. The encoder then analyzes the analysis frames to extract certain relevant parameters and incorporates the parameter information into digital speech frames. The decoder receives digital speech frames as input and extracts or reproduces speech parameter information from the digital speech frames. The decoder then resynthesizes the analysis frames using the speech parameter information. Speech coders are also referred to as voice coders, or "vocoders," and the terms will be used interchangeably herein.
Different types of speech coders have been proposed or deployed for use in various wireless communication systems. The different types of speech coders often employ substantially dissimilar speech compression techniques and digital speech frame formats. In general, a digital speech frame generated using a particular speech encoder can only be properly decoded using a decoder of the corresponding type.
In addition to using different types of speech compression, speech coders may also differ based on the type of wireless interface to be used between a wireless terminal and a wireless network. Some wireless networks require continuous transmissions, even when there is no speech activity (the user is not speaking). Other wireless networks permit the wireless terminal to stop transmitting entirely during such periods of speech inactivity. During periods of speech inactivity, speech coders used in continuous transmission (CTX) wireless systems are designed to provide a continuous series of small, or low-rate frames such as eighth-rate frames containing minimal audio information. In contrast, speech coders used in discontinuous transmission (DTX) wireless systems are designed to generate a single frame at the beginning of a period of speech inactivity and then to generate no frames until speech activity resumes. The frame generated at the beginning of a period of speech inactivity is referred to as a silence descriptor (SID) frame. The decoder used in DTX wireless systems use the data within a single SID frame to generate speechless "comfort noise" over multiple frame periods. The CTX and DTX approaches to providing some comfort noise during periods of speech inactivity are generally incompatible. In other words, a DTX decoder cannot decode an eighth-rate CTX frame. Similarly, a CTX decoder cannot decode a SID frame.
A wireless communication system generally supports two types of voice calls based on whether one or both conversing parties are using wireless terminal equipment. In a mobile-to-land call, a first party uses a wireless terminal to converse with a second party who is using landline terminal equipment. In a mobile-to-mobile call, both parties converse using wireless terminals.
For example, a mobile-to-land call is established between a cellular phone user and a person using a landline phone. In such a connection, the voice signal of a person speaking into the microphone of the cellular phone is digitized and encoded before the cellular phone transmits the resultant digital speech frames to a wireless communication network. The wireless communication network decodes the digital speech flames and converts them into an uncompressed digital or analog speech signal to a landline telephone network (also referred to as a "plain old telephone system" or POTS network). The landline, or POTS, network then transports the uncompressed speech signal to the landline phone, and the landline phone amplifies the speech signal into the speaker built-in to the landline terminal. The processing of speech data in the opposite direction (from the person speaking into the microphone of the landline phone to the signal emitted from the speaker built-in to the cellular phone) is substantially the reverse process of the one just described, with the speech encoding occurring in the wireless communication network and the decoding occurring in the cellular phone.
An example of a mobile-to-mobile call is established between two users of cellular phones. In such a connection, each cellular phone digitizes and encodes the speech signal of its respective user and provides the digital speech frames to one or more wireless communication networks. In some networks, the wireless communication network decodes and then re-encodes the digital speech frames received from a first cellular phone before sending the re-encoded speech frames to the second cellular phone. Such decoding and re-encoding of the speech data, also known as tandem vocoding, causes additional delays in the transmission of speech data between the two cellular phones. More importantly, decoding and re-encoding of speech data causes needless degradation of the voice quality of the speech signal eventually emanating from the built-in speaker of the destination cellular phone. In order to avoid such delay and voice quality degradation, many wireless communication networks are designed to deliver a digital speech frame received from a first wireless terminal to a second wireless terminal essentially unchanged. Such "tandem-free" operation avoids the delay and voice quality degradation inherent in tandem vocoding.
The greatest voice quality achievable in a POTS network is limited by various legacy parameters of landline phone systems. For example, each uni-directional voice data stream in a POTS network is carried within a pulse code modulation (PCM) channel. A PCM channel is characterized by a 64-kbps (kilobit per second) channel comprised of 8,000 8-bit voice samples per second. The 8,000 samples-per-second sampling rate limits the fidelity of the speech that can be sent through a PCM channel. Specifically, only voice frequencies below 4 KHz (kilohertz) can be transmitted through a PCM channel.
Many existing and proposed wireless communication networks utilize internal channels that are capable of data rates higher than 64 kbps. In order to provide better voice quality through such networks, new "wideband speech coders" have been proposed that use higher sampling rates than 8,000 samples per second, and are thus able to capture voice frequencies above 4 KHz. The voice quality achieved using wideband speech coders in tandem-free operation for mobile-to-mobile calls exceeds the voice quality that is possible when voice data is transmitted through a PCM channel. So long as the voice signal is never reduced, even temporarily, to PCM channel format, tandem-free operation enables the use of voice coders that can achieve better voice quality in a mobile-to-mobile call than is possible in a mobile-to-land call.
If the cellular phones in the previous example have speech coders of different types, tandem-free operation is generally not possible. A decoder using one type of speech coding cannot properly decode a digital speech frame encoded using a different type of encoder. Decoding the speech signal using a decoder of the first type within the wireless communication network, and then re-encoding the speech signal using an encoder of the second type will enable the receiving wireless terminal to reproduce an intelligible speech signal. However, as discussed above, this speech signal will suffer from added delay and speech quality degradation.
CDMA standards such as IS-95 and cdma2000 support the use of variable-rate vocoder frames in a spread spectrum environment, while standards based on GSM standards, such as W-CDMA, support the use of fixed-rate vocoder frames and multi-rate vocoder frames. Similarly. Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) standards also support fixed-rate and multi-rate vocoders, but not variable-rate vocoders. An example of a variable-rate vocoder is the Selectable Mode Vocoder (SMV), which is promulgated in TIA IS-893. An example of a multi-rate vocoder is the Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) vocoder, which is promulgated in "ETSI EN 301 704 Digital Cellular Telecommunications System; Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) Speech Transcoding" (the AMR standard); and an example of a fixed-rate vocoder is an Enhanced Full Rate vocoder, which is promulgated in 3GPP TS 46.060: "Digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+); Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) speech transcoding."
A typical wireless communication network supports only one type of speech coder. The selection of a speech coder type is often tightly coupled to the type of wireless interface utilized by the wireless communication network. For example, IS-95 and cdma2000 networks use continuous transmission (CTX) wireless interfaces that are most compatible with variable-rate speech coders. A variable-rate speech coder can encode active speech data using any of multiple different data rates, varying the frame-by-frame data rate based on speech activity. A variable-rate speech coder provides one speech frame for every speech frame period. A conventional variable-rate speech coder for CTX CDMA systems encodes active speech at either full-rate, half-rate or quarter-rate depending on speech activity. The same speech coder generates eighth-rate frames during pauses in speech. Decoding an eight-rate frame produces "comfort noise." Because the rate of frames depends upon the characteristics of data received from the "source." variable rate speech coders are called "source-controlled."
In contrast to CTX networks, W-CDMA networks utilize a discontinuous transmission (DTX) wireless interface. An adaptive multi-rate (AMR) vocoder is an example of a vocoder designed for use with a DTX network, for example a W-CDMA network. Rather than varying the data rate of voice frames based on speech activity, an AMR vocoder varies an active speech data rate, or "mode," based on channel quality and generates discontinuous inactive speech data frames. An AMR speech encoder uses a single data rate for active speech data, and transmits inactive speech using a combination of silence indicator (SID) frames followed by empty speech frame periods. On the receiving end, an AMR speech decoder decodes active speech frames, and generates comfort noise for empty speech frame periods occurring after and between received SID frames. Each AMR mode is characterized by a data rate used for active speech. When characteristics such as noise limit the capacity of the wireless channel being used to transmit AMR frames, the AMR mode can be adjusted so as not to exceed the capacity of the channel. This type of rate control is referred to as "channel-controlled."
Different speech coders may utilize different and mutually incompatible algorithms. Thus, a SMV speech decoder cannot decode a speech data frame generated by an AMR speech encoder, and vice versa. In addition, the different handling of periods of speech inactivity leads to further incompatibilities between speech coders. For example, an SMV speech decoder requires at least an eighth-rate frame for every speech frame period, while an AMR speech decoder can generate multiple frames of comfort noise following the receipt of a single SID frame.
A conventional wireless communication network is generally incapable of providing tandem-free or even tandem vocoding between two wireless terminals that use different types of speech coder in an intra-system mobile-to-mobile call. As customers become more accustomed to the high quality available with wideband speech coders, and as carriers widely deploy different types of wireless communication networks, demand will increase for inter-system mobile-to-mobile calls that provide wideband speech quality. There is therefore a need in the art for a way to provide tandem-free operation between wireless terminals that use different types of speech coder or communicate using different types of wireless interface.

Tandem-free intersystem voice communication


A microcomputer includes an instruction decoder and a program counter. The instruction decoder decodes fetched instructions and outputs a control signal ordering execution of the fetched instruction. The control signal from the instruction decoder includes a component controlling fetch cycles which triggers a fetch cycle at the beginning of each instruction cycle to fetch the operand for the instruction currently being executed and midway through each instruction cycle to fetch the OP code for the next instruction. The program counter is responsive to the triggering of each fetch cycle to increment its counter value so as to keep the counter value consistent with the address being accessed in each fetch cycle.

The present invention relates generally to a microcomputer. More specifically, the invention relates to an improved instruction cycle in a microcomputer which may help speed up microcomputer processing.
Modern monolithic microcomputers often employ a pipe-lined architecture which allow fetch cycles and instruction execution cycles to overlap. In the fetch cycle, instructions are fetched from memory. Each instruction consists of an operation code (OP code) which is stored in read-only-memory, such as programmable read-only-memory (PROM), and an operand, also stored in ROM, which may point to a variable value stored in random-access memory (RAM). In conventional pipe-line architectures, the OP code fetch and the operand fetch are performed in different instruction execution cycles, hereafter referred to as xe2x80x9cinstruction cyclesxe2x80x9d. For example, in order to fetch a 2-byte instruction including a 1-byte OP code and a 1-byte operand in a 4-bit microcomputer, 2 instruction cycles are required. Therefore, in this case, each instruction cycle takes three machine clock cycles. This conventional pipe-line architecture is not satisfactorily efficient.
In general, the fetch cycle for fetching OP codes or operands is shorter than the instruction cycle. This means that there is a period in the execution cycle during which no fetching is being performed. If the next instruction component can be fetched during this period, run-time can be shortened.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a microcomputer with an improved fetch cycle for shortening the instruction cycle.
In order to accomplish the aforementioned and other objects, a microcomputer, according to the present invention, includes an instruction decoder and a program counter. The instruction decoder decodes fetched instructions and outputs a control signal ordering execution of the fetched instruction. The control signal from the instruction decoder includes a component controlling fetch cycles which triggers a fetch cycle at the beginning of each instruction cycle to fetch the operand for the instruction currently being executed and midway through each instruction cycle to fetch the OP code for the next instruction.
The program counter is responsive to the triggering of each fetch cycle to increment its counter value so as to keep the counter value consistent with the address being accessed in each fetch cycle.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method of operating a microprocessor with a pipe-lined architecture, which allows the instruction data for a later instruction execution cycle to be fetched from memory during a current instruction cycle, comprising the steps of:
preprogramming instruction operation codes (OP codes) for instructions requiring more than 1 byte of instruction data with additional information requesting time-compressed fetching of instruction data; and
fetching more than 1 byte of instruction data from memory during the instruction cycle immediately following a request for time-compressed fetch.
The instruction data consists of one OP code byte and one operand byte and the OP code byte is fetched immediately before the onset of an instruction cycle, the fetching step comprising the step of fetching the operand byte associated with the fetched or code byte concurrently with the onset of the instruction cycle. In the alternative, the instruction data consists of one OP code byte and two operand bytes and the OP code byte is fetched immediately before the onset of a first instruction, the fetching step comprising the steps of fetching a first operand byte associated with the fetched OP code byte concurrently with the onset of the first instruction cycle and of fetching a second operand byte associated with the first operand byte during the first instruction cycle following fetching of the first operand byte.
The method further comprising the step of executing the instruction specified by the OP code and operand bytes in the instruction cycle immediately prior to which the OP code byte was fetched.

Microprocessor with improved instruction cycle using time-compressed fetching


A sealing gasket made of a resilient rubber material or rubber-like material. The sealing gasket is formed as a rotationally symmetric body with a substantially constant cross-sectional profile. The cross-sectional profile includes: a first sealing part located furthest away from a center of rotation of the body and a second sealing part located radially inside the first sealing part, as viewed in the radial direction. An open space is defined by the first and second sealing parts. The second sealing part essentially curves through an angle away from the center of rotation. A seed housing can include such a seal and a seeder can include such a seed housing.

When sowing crops such as maize, sunflowers and soya beans, it is desirable to plant, in each row, single seeds at a predetermined distance from each other. In order to achieve this, a so-called precision seeder, or "planter", can be used. A precision seeder can comprise a seed hopper, a seed distributing device, a seed feeding tube, a seed furrow opener, a seed knife, a press wheel and a seed furrow covering means.
An example of a seed distributing device for a precision seeder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,638. This precision seeder has what is generally referred to as a singulating disc, i.e. a disc that rotates in a cavity where, on one side of the disc, there is an excess pressure and on the other there is a normal pressure. On the excess-pressure side, seeds are supplied from a seed hopper, so that the lower portion of the disc moves through a bulk quantity of seeds. By providing the disc with a number of perforations or holes, through which only air and not seeds is able to pass, the seeds will be "sucked" tight to the holes and lifted out of the bulk quantity of seeds. In another portion of the cavity, the hole can be temporarily obstructed on the normal-pressure side, thus causing the seed to fall by gravity from the disc and into a seed feeding tube through which it is conveyed to the seed knife.
It is desirable to position the singulating disc inside a seed housing so as to protect it from external damage.
To optimize the ability of the singulating disc to single out and retain seeds, it is desirable to establish a definite and stable pressure difference between the excess-pressure side of the singulating disc and its normal-pressure side, given an existing air flow and pressure.
To permit the use of one and the same seeder for several different types of crop, simple switching between different singulating discs is desirable, so that crop of different seed size can be sowed and/or seeds can be planted at different distances.
Thus, a number of challenges remain as regards the designing of a seed housing for a precision seeder.

Sealing gasket and seed housing for a seeder and seeder comprising such a seed housing


A battery locking device for a new energy vehicle including: a battery compartment fit for a battery, the battery compartment being provided with a battery inlet; and a battery clamping device provided on the battery compartment and controlled by a linkage mechanism. Since the battery clamping device is controlled by the linkage mechanism, during the mounting or removing of the battery, the battery can be integrally clamped or released by merely operating an operating end of the linkage mechanism. Compared with the prior art in which the battery is fixed through bolts, the battery can be integrally clamped or released by the battery locking device through a single operation, which greatly simplifies the disassembling or assembling process of the battery and reduces the time required for replacing the battery. A new energy vehicle provided with the above battery locking device has the same advantages.

The crisis of fossil energy speeds up the step of the substitution of traditional energy by new energy, and the Electric energy, which is one of the clean energy, is widely used in various fields.
Presently, the electric automobile is available, which mainly uses a storage battery as the electric power carrier, such that the motor of the electric automobile is rotated under the discharging of the storage battery, the motor in turn drives the wheels to move the automobile.
The battery of the electric vehicle has a limited capacity, and thus the electric vehicle can only run for a limited mileage. Therefore it is necessary to set up charging stations on the road. However, it usually takes a long time to charge the battery, which is inconvenient for automobile users, especially for those who drive a bus mainly for passenger transportation. As a result, not only the driver's time but also the passengers' trips are delayed. It is relatively feasible to reserve fully-charged batteries in the charging stations, or to carry a spare battery in the automobile. Thus an electric automobile that needs to be charged can move forward after the battery thereof is replaced in the charging station or by the driver himself, which significantly saves the time for charging.
In the existing automobile, the battery is generally connected to the battery compartment in the automobile via bolt fixing devices, and it needs to disassemble all the bolts and fasten a new battery in the battery compartment via the bolts during the replacing of the battery. It is easier for an operator to assemble/disassemble bolts near the operator, while it is difficult for an operator to assemble/disassemble bolts away from the operator, and it is extremely inconvenient to assemble/disassemble bolts between the battery and the battery compartment, which kind of replacing manner is complicated and a long time is spent for the replacing operation.
Therefore, a technical problem needed to be solved by the person skilled in the art is how to disassemble/assemble the battery of the new energy vehicle quickly and save the time for replacing the battery.

Energy vehicle and battery locking device thereof

HANGZHOU MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC POWER BUREAU

HANGZHOU DA YOU SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.