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A variety of techniques are available for providing visual displays of graphical or video images to a wearer. In many applications cathode ray tube type displays (CRTs), such as televisions and computer monitors produce images for viewing. Such devices suffer from several limitations. For example, CRTs are bulky and consume substantial amounts of power, making them undesirable for portable or head-mounted applications.
Matrix addressable displays, such as liquid crystal displays and field emission displays, may be less bulky and consume less power. However, typical matrix addressable displays utilize screens that are several inches across. Such screens have limited use in head-mounted applications or in applications where the display is intended to occupy only a small portion of a wearer's field of view. Such displays have been reduced in size, at the cost of increasingly difficult processing and limited resolution or brightness. Also, improving resolution of such displays typically requires a significant increase in complexity.
One approach to overcoming many limitations of conventional displays is a scanned beam display, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,104 of Furness et al., entitled VIRTUAL RETINAL DISPLAY (hereinafter “Furness”), which is incorporated herein by reference. As shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 of Furness, in one embodiment of a scanned beam display 40, a scanning source 42 outputs a scanned beam of light that is coupled to a viewer's eye 44 by a beam combiner 46. In some scanned displays, the scanning source 42 includes a scanner, such as scanning mirror or acousto-optic scanner, that scans a modulated light beam onto a viewer's retina. In other embodiments, the scanning source may include one or more light emitters that are rotated through an angular sweep.
The scanned light enters the eye 44 through the viewer's pupil 48 and is imaged onto the retina 59 by the cornea. In response to the scanned light the viewer perceives an image. In another embodiment, the scanned source 42 scans the modulated light beam onto a screen that the viewer observes. One example of such a scanner suitable for either type of display is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,444 to Melville et al., entitled MINIATURE OPTICAL SCANNER FOR A TWO-AXIS SCANNING SYSTEM, which is incorporated herein by reference. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to dollies and other devices used to move heavy or awkward loads by hand, and more particularly to dollies that are used to carry or move heavy or awkward objects within trucks or other confined areas.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dollies, hand trucks, and the like, together with raw manpower have long been used to load and unload trucks. The use of many people to load or unload a truck or to move heavy and/or awkward objects is becoming less and less attractive as the cost of the hourly wage increases. In addition to the labor costs are the costs associated with an on the job injury to one of these workers. These costs include both the cost of Worker""s Compensation Insurance and the cost associated with the loss of the injured individual""s labor for a period of time while the injury heals. During the period of time when a person is absent from work due to an injury, not only does an employer usually have to pay the absent worker, the employer may also have to pay the wages of a replacement worker who may be unfamiliar with the employer""s operations.
Moving, loading, or unloading of heavy or awkward to carry items raises the risk substantially of a worker being injured. While the use of conventional handcarts, hand trucks, dollies and the like can prevent many injuries, these unloading and loading tools are not effective for all types of cargo. For example, a large king size mattress can weigh as much as two hundred pounds and have dimensions exceeding six feet long, six feet wide, and fourteen inches high. Moving a large mattress using a hand truck or dolly can be very difficult in the confines of a truck. The regular dolly or hand truck has a relatively narrow shelf and wheelbase compared to the width or length of a mattress. A typical dolly will have a wheel base and shelf width of approximately two feet. Occasionally, a hand truck will have a shelf width or wheelbase of three feet. The wider hand trucks, however, are heavier and more difficult to maneuver. The combination of a confined area, a narrow shelf width, and a large bulky package or mattress to be moved makes for a time-consuming and difficult operation using the dolly. This difficulty is accentuated when trying to carry a mattress on a standard dolly or hand truck, since the width of the mattress is perpendicular to the direction of travel. Since moving a mattress with a dolly is awkward, a mattress or box spring is often carried by hand with the associated risks already discussed. An additional disadvantage of a hand truck or dolly is that the hand truck or dolly must either be left on the loading dock or securely fastened inside the truck to prevent damage to the packages, mattresses or other cargo being carrier. Typically, the hand truck or dolly would be tied to one side or the other at the back of the truck. Furthermore, the space taken up by the dolly is space in which a mattress or other cargo can not be carried, thus reducing the total load carrying capacity of the truck.
Modern mattresses are both heavy and awkward for one person to carry or more with a hand truck or dolly, and are awkward for two people to carry, Therefore, a dolly is needed that will enable a truck driver or other worker to quickly and easily move a mattress, box spring, or other heavy and awkward package in a truck or other confined area while minimizing the risk of injury to the worker.
The present invention has solved the package handling problems cited above and generally comprises a sliding dolly. There is a dolly back frame, and a dolly shelf. Additionally, depending on the embodiment used, there may be a slider and/or roller assembly. In the embodiment that is similar to a hand dolly, there is a roller assembly that is joined to the back frame or shelf such that the rollers or other support means support the sliding dolly and permit the dolly to move over a generally horizontal surface such as a truck, container, or warehouse floor. In an alternative embodiment, the slider may provide both a means for supporting and a means for guiding the sliding dolly. Other embodiments may use a roller assembly combined with a slider. In some of these embodiments, the roller assembly can provide the primary means for supporting the dolly and the slider can provide the primarily guide means for the dolly. Alternatively, the roller assembly may share the support function with the slider. In the preferred embodiment, the slider primarily provides both the means for supporting and the means for guiding the sliding dolly and the roller assembly provides the means for holding the dolly away from a truck side, wall, or other generally vertical surface to which the slider may be attached.
In the preferred embodiment, both the shelf and the roller assembly are joined to the back frame. In some embodiments, the roller assembly may be joined to the connection between the frame and the shelf or to the shelf, The back frame is joined to and depends from the slider. The slider permits the attached back frame, together with the shelf and roller assembly to move along the slider. The slider is typically fastened along one of the sides of a truck, container, or other confined area. The roller assembly, if used, has one or more devices that reduce the friction of moving the sliding dolly along the side of the truck by holding the dolly back frame and shelf away from the side of the truck. A mattress, box spring or other heavy and large or awkward package is placed on the shelf, and then the truck driver or person unloading the truck would simply move the sliding dolly to the rear of the truck where the mattress or other object being carried would be transferred to a fork lift or other mechanism for unloading or transferring the goods in the warehouse.
An object of the present invention is to provide a sliding dolly that will permit a truck driver or other person moving objects in a truck, container, or other confined area to easily move packages, mattresses or other similar objects.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sliding dolly which has a shelf that can be folded upward and the dolly secured to the inside of the truck to prevent damage to the cargo being carried through movement of a loose dolly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a dolly whose general direction of motion is parallel to the width of the load.
Additional objects, advantages and other novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned with the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates generally to transdermal administration of pharmacologically active agents, and more particularly relates to methods and compositions for transdermally administering steroid drugs, particularly progestins and estrogens.
The delivery of drugs through the skin provides many advantages; primarily, such a means of delivery is a comfortable, convenient and noninvasive way of administering drugs. The variable rates of absorption and metabolism encountered in oral treatment are avoided, and other inherent inconveniencesxe2x80x94e.g., gastrointestinal irritation and the likexe2x80x94are eliminated as well. Transdermal drug delivery also makes possible a high degree of control over blood concentrations of any particular drug.
Skin is a structurally complex, relatively thick membrane. Molecules moving from the environment into and through intact skin must first penetrate the stratum corneum and any material on its surface. They must then penetrate the viable epidermis, the papillary dermis, and the capillary walls into the blood stream or lymph channels. To be so absorbed, molecules must overcome a different resistance to penetration in each type of tissue. Transport across the skin membrane is thus a complex phenomenon. However, it is the cells of the stratum corneum which present the primary barrier to absorption of topical compositions or transdermally administered drugs. The stratum corneum is a thin layer of dense, highly keratinized cells approximately 10-15 microns thick over most of the body. It is believed to be the high degree of keratinization within these cells as well as their dense packing which creates in most cases a substantially impermeable barrier to drug penetration. With many drugs, the rate of permeation through the skin is extremely low and is particularly problematic for high molecular weight drugs such as steroids. Consequently, a means for enhancing the permeability of the skin is desired to effect transport of a steroid drug into and through intact skin.
In order to increase the rate at which a drug penetrates through the skin, then, various approaches have been followed, each of which involves the use of either a chemical penetration enhancer or a physical penetration enhancer. Physical enhancement of skin permeation include, for example, electrophoretic techniques such as iontophoresis. The use of ultrasound (or xe2x80x9cphonophoresisxe2x80x9d) as a physical penetration enhancer has also been researched. Chemical enhancers are compounds that are administered along with the drug (or in some cases the skin may be pretreated with a chemical enhancer) in order to increase the permeability of the stratum corneum, and thereby provide for enhanced penetration of the drug through the skin. Ideally, such chemical penetration enhancers (or xe2x80x9cpermeation enhancers,xe2x80x9d as the compounds are referred to herein) are compounds that are innocuous and serve merely to facilitate diffusion of the drug through the stratum corneum.
Various compounds for enhancing the permeability of skin are known in the art and described in the pertinent texts and literature. Compounds that have been used to enhance skin permeability include: sulfoxides such as dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and decylmethylsulfoxide (C10MSO); ethers such as diethylene glycol monoethyl ether (available commercially as Transcutol(copyright)) and diethylene glycol monomethyl ether; surfactants such as sodium laurate, sodium lauryl sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, benzalkonium chloride, Poloxamer (231, 182, 184), Tween (20, 40, 60, 80) and lecithin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,450); the 1-substituted azacycloheptan-2-ones, particularly 1-n-dodecylcyclazacycloheptan-2-one (available under the trademark Azone(copyright) from Nelson Research and Development Co., Irvine, Calif.; see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,989,816, 4,316,893, 4,405,616 and 4,557,934); alcohols such as ethanol, propanol, octanol, benzyl alcohol, and the like; fatty acids such as lauric acid, oleic acid and valeric acid; fatty acid esters such as isopropyl myristate, isopropyl palmitate, methylpropionate, and ethyl oleate; polyols and esters thereof such as propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, glycerol, butanediol, polyethylene glycol, and polyethylene glycol monolaurate (PEGML; see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,343); amides and other nitrogenous compounds such as urea, dimethylacetamide (DMA), dimethylformamide (DMF), 2-pyrrolidone, 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, ethanolamine, diethanolamine and triethanolamine; terpenes; alkanones; organic acids, particularly salicylic acid and salicylates, citric acid and succinic acid; and certain peptides, e.g., peptides having Pro-Leu at the N-terminus and followed by a protective group (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,496). Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers, eds. Smith et al. (CRC Press, 1995) provides an excellent overview of the field and further background information on a number of chemical and physical enhancers.
Although many chemical permeation enhancers are known, there is an ongoing need for enhancers that are highly effective in increasing the rate at which a drug permeates the skin, do not result in skin damage, irritation, sensitization, or the like, and can be used to effect transdermal delivery of even high molecular weight drugs such as steroid drugs. It has now been discovered that hydroxide-releasing agents are highly effective permeation enhancers, even when used without coenhancers, and provide all of the aforementioned advantages relative to known permeation enhancers. Furthermore, in contrast to conventional enhancers, transdermal administration of drugs with hydroxide-releasing agents as permeation enhancers, employed at the appropriate levels, does not result in systemic toxicity.
Estrogen therapy is commonly used in the pharmacological treatment of altered hormone profiles or sexual dysfunction in women. Estrogen-based therapies are generally used to increase mucous production, provide vasodilator effects, and/or to increase the general health of the vagina. Nadelson et al., eds., Treatment Interventions in Human Sexuality (New York: Plenum Press, 1983). In such treatments, estrogen is administered orally, parenterally (e.g., by injection), or topically. With oral administration, as is true with the oral administration of many steroid hormones, estrogens tend to be inactivated; estradiol, for example, is converted to estriol and estrone and then conjugated to glucuronic acid or sulfate. Additionally, estrogens also impair hepatic secretory activity. This xe2x80x9cfirst passxe2x80x9d effect may lead to an undesirable increase in the production of certain coagulation factors and other biologically important compounds by the liver. Parenterally administered estrogen avoids the aforementioned problems associated with oral administration, but as an invasive mode of administration is generally undesirable.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an effective method for administering estrogenic agents in a manner that does not involve oral, parenteral or topical drug administration.
It is thus a primary object of the invention to address the above-described need in the art by providing a method for transdermally administering a steroid drug, particularly progestins and/or estrogens.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a method wherein a hydroxide-releasing agent is employed as a permeation enhancer to increase the flux of the steroid drug through a patient""s skin or mucosal tissue.
It is still another object of the invention to provide such a method wherein the amount of hydroxide-releasing agent employed is optimized to enhance permeation while minimizing or eliminating the possibility of skin damage, irritation or sensitization.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide formulations and drug delivery systems for carrying out the aforementioned methods.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
In one aspect of the invention, then, a method is provided for increasing the rate at which a steroid drug permeates through the body surface of a patient. The method involves administering the drug to a predetermined area of the patient""s body surface in combination with a hydroxide-releasing agent in a predetermined amount effective to enhance the flux of the agent through the body surface without causing damage thereto. The predetermined amount of the hydroxide-releasing enhancer is preferably an amount effective to provide a pH at the body surface in the range of about 8.0 to 13, preferably about 8.0 to 11.5, more preferably about 8.5 to 11.5, during drug administration. If a skin patch is used, this is the preferred pH at the interface between the basal surface of the patch (i.e., the skin-contacting or mucosa-contacting surface of the patch) and the body surface. The optimal amount (or concentration) of any one hydroxide-releasing agent will, however, depend on the specific hydroxide-releasing agent, i.e., on the strength or weakness of the base, its molecular weight, and other factors as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art of transdermal drug delivery. This optimal amount may be determined using routine experimentation to ensure that the pH at the body surface is within the aforementioned ranges, i.e., in the range of about 8.0 to 13, preferably about 8.0 to 11.5, more preferably about 8.5 to 11.5. A conventional transdermal drug delivery device or xe2x80x9cpatchxe2x80x9d may be used to administer the active agent, in which case the drug and hydroxide-releasing agent are generally present in a drug reservoir or reservoirs. However, the drug and hydroxide-releasing agent may also be administered to the body surface using a liquid or semisolid formulation. Alternatively, or in addition, the body surface may be pretreated with the enhancer, e.g., treated with a dilute solution of the hydroxide-releasing agent prior to transdermal drug administration. Such a solution will generally be comprised of a protic solvent (e.g., water or alcohol) and have a pH in the range of about 8.0 to 13, preferably about 8.0 to 11.5, more preferably about 8.5 to 11.5. Ideally the steroid drug is a progestin and/or an estrogen; combinations of such steroids are useful, for example, in female hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or as female contraceptive compositions.
In a related aspect of the invention, a composition of matter is provided for delivering a steroid drug through a body surface using a hydroxide-releasing agent as a permeation enhancer. Generally, the formulation comprises (a) a therapeutically effective amount of a steroid drug, (b) a hydroxide-releasing agent in an amount effective to enhance the flux of the drug through the body surface without causing damage thereto, and (c) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier suitable for topical or transdermal drug administration. The composition may be in any form suitable for application to the body surface, and may comprise, for example, a cream, lotion, solution, gel, ointment, paste or the like, and/or may be prepared so as to contain liposomes, micelles, and/or microspheres. The composition may be directly applied to the body surface or may involve use of a drug delivery device. In either case, it is preferred although not essential that water be present in order for the hydroxide-releasing agent to generate hydroxide ions and thus enhance the flux of the active agent through the patient""s body surface. Thus, a formulation or drug reservoir may be aqueous, i.e., contain water, or may be nonaqueous and used in combination with an occlusive overlayer so that moisture evaporating from the body surface is maintained within the formulation or transdermal system during drug administration. In some cases, however, e.g., with an occlusive gel, a nonaqueous formulation may be used with or without an occlusive layer.
In another aspect of the invention, a drug delivery system is provided for the topical or transdermal administration of a steroid drug using a hydroxide-releasing agent as a permeation enhancer. The system will generally comprise: at least one drug reservoir containing the drug and the hydroxide-releasing agent in an amount effective to enhance the flux of the drug through the body surface without causing damage thereto; a means for maintaining the system in drug and enhancer transmitting relationship to the body surface; and a backing layer that serves as the outer surface of the device during use. The backing layer may be occlusive or nonocclusive, although it is preferably occlusive. The drug reservoir may be comprised of a polymeric adhesive, which may serve as the basal surface of the system during use and thus function as the means for maintaining the system in drug and enhancer transmitting relationship to the body surface. The drug reservoir may also be comprised of a hydrogel, or it may be a sealed pouch within a xe2x80x9cpatchxe2x80x9d-type structure wherein the drug and hydroxide-releasing agent are present in the pouch as a liquid or semi-solid formulation.
In still another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for administering a steroid drug to a patient using the aforementioned drug delivery system and/or composition. The method may be used in female contraception, in female HRT, or in contexts in which the administration of a progestin and/or estrogen is indicated. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a device for maintaining a clutch release bearing in contact with a clutch cover assembly at all times.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known, a clutch release bearing is actively operative on the clutch cover assembly at the time of the operation to disengage the clutch but is generally spaced from the assembly by a small distance, called the clearance, in the clutch engaged position. It has been noted that it is often advantageous to eliminate this clearance and to provide for the clutch release bearing to bear on the clutch cover assembly under all circumstances, including when the clutch is engaged, in order to procure gentler and more effective operation, with reduced wear of the various component parts of the clutch and the release bearing.
To this end, it has been proposed to associate a spring with the clutch release footpedal, to enable the clutch release bearing to be held against the clutch cover assembly at all times.
When the release bearing is power-operated, however, mere transposition of the continuous contact means employed with a manual control system cannot be used.
The present invention is more particularly concerned with a device for maintaining a clutch release bearing in contact with a clutch cover assembly at all times when the release bearing is power-operated, the operating system comprising an actuator and coupling means between the actuator and a release bearing operating shaft, the coupling means comprising gear means driven from the actuator and meshing with a toothed sector associated with the operating shaft.
An object of the present invention is a device of the aforementioned kind which operates excellently under all circumstances, without excessive fatigue affecting the various parts which constitute it, and of simple and rugged construction. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention generally relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display capable of preventing color shift and having enhanced response time.
A liquid crystal display device has been used in various information display terminals. The major operating system for the liquid crystal display device is the twisted nematic(xe2x80x9cTNxe2x80x9d) and the super twisted nematic (xe2x80x9cSTNxe2x80x9d). Though they are presently commercially used in the market, the problems of narrow viewing angle are still remained unsolved.
An In-Plane Switching (xe2x80x9cIPSxe2x80x9d) mode liquid crystal display has been suggested to solve foregoing problems.
As described in FIG. 1, a plurality of gate bus lines 11 are formed on a lower insulating substrate 10 along an x direction shown in the drawings and the gate bus lines 11 are parallel to each other. A plurality of data bus lines 15 are formed along a y direction which is substantially perpendicular to the x direction.
At this time, a pair of gate bus lines 11 and a pair of data bus lines 15 are formed for defining the sub-pixel region. The gate bus line 11 and the data bus line 15 are insulated by a gate insulating layer(not shown).
A counter electrode 12 is formed, for example in a rectangular frame shape, within a sub-pixel region and it is disposed at the same plane with the gate bus line 11.
A pixel electrode 14 is formed at each sub-pixel region where the counter electrode 12 is formed. The pixel electrode 14 is composed of a web region 14a which divides the region surrounded by the rectangular frame type counter electrode 12 with a y direction, a first flange region 14b connected to a portion of the web region 14a and simultaneously overlapped with the counter electrode 12 of the x direction, and a second flange region 14c which is parallel to the first flange region 14b and is connected to the other portion of the web region 14a. That is to say, the pixel electrode 14 seems to be the letter xe2x80x9cIxe2x80x9d. Herein, the counter electrode 12 and the pixel electrode 14 are made of opaque metal layers.
The pixel electrode 14 and the counter electrode 12 are insulated from each other by a gate insulating layer (not shown).
A thin film transistor 16 (xe2x80x9cTFTxe2x80x9d) is disposed at the intersection of the gate bus line 11 and the data bus line 15. This TFT 16 is composed of a gate electrode being extended from the gate bus line 11, a drain electrode being extended from the data bus line 15, a source electrode being extended from the pixel electrode 14 and a channel layer 17 formed on upper of the gate electrode.
A storage capacitor Cst is disposed at the region where the counter electrode 12 and the pixel electrode 14 are overlapped.
Although not shown in FIG. 1, an upper substrate(not shown) equipped with a color filter(not shown) is disposed with a predetermined distance opposite to a lower substrate 10. Herein, the distance between the upper substrate and the lower substrate 10 is smaller than that between a region of the counter electrode toward the y direction and the web region of the pixel electrode thereby forming a parallel field which is parallel with the substrate surface. Further a liquid crystal layer(not shown) having a plurality of liquid crystal molecules is interposed between the upper substrate (not shown) and the lower substrate 10.
Also, onto the resultant structure of the lower substrate and onto an inner surface of the upper substrate are formed homogeneous alignment layers respectively. By the homogeneous alignment layer, before forming an electric field between the counter electrode 12 and the pixel electrode 14, long axes of liquid crystal molecules 19 are arranged parallel to the surface of the substrate 10. Also, by the rubbing axis of the homogeneous alignment layer, the orientation direction of the molecules 19 is decided. The R direction in the drawings is the direction of rubbing axis for the homogeneous alignment layer formed on the lower substrate 10.
A first polarizing plate(not shown) is formed on the outer surface of the lower substrate 10 and a second polarizing plate(not shown) is formed on the outer surface of the upper substrate(not shown). Herein, the first polarizing plate is disposed to make its polarizing axis to be parallel to the P direction of the FIG. 1. That means, the rubbing axis direction R and the polarizing axis direction P are parallel each other. On the other hand, the polarizing axis of the second polarizing plate is substantially perpendicular to that of the first polarizing plate.
When a scanning signal is applied to the gate bus line 11 and a display signal is applied to the data bus line 15, the TFT 16 disposed at the intersection of the gate bus line 11 and the data bus line 15 is turned on. Then the display signal of the data bus line 15 is transmitted to the pixel electrode 14 through the TFT 16. Consequently, an electric field E is generated between the counter electrode 12 where a common signal is inputted and the pixel electrode 14. At this time, the direction of electric field E is referenced as to x direction as described in the FIG. 1, it has a selected degree of angle with the rubbing axis.
Afterwards, before the electric field is not generated, the long axes of the liquid crystal molecules are arranged parallel to the substrate surface and parallel to the rubbing direction R. Therefore the light passed through the first polarizing plate and the liquid crystal layer is unable to pass the second polarizing plate, the screen has dark state.
When the electric field is generated, the long axes(or optical axes) are rearranged parallel to the electric field, and therefore the incident light passed through the first polarizing plate and the liquid crystal layer passes the second polarizing plate and the screen has white state.
At that time, the direction of the long axes of the liquid crystal molecules changes according to the presence of the electric field, and the liquid crystal molecules are arranged parallel to the substrate surface. Accordingly, a viewer can see the long axes of liquid crystal molecules at all points in the screen, and the viewing angle characteristic is improved.
However, the IPS mode liquid crystal display as described above also includes following problems.
As well known, the refractive anisotropy(or birefringence, n) is occurred due to the difference in the lengths of the long and the short axes of the liquid crystal molecules. The refractive anisotropy n is also varied from the viewer""s viewing directions. Therefore a predetermined color is appeared on the region where the polar angle is of 0 degree and the azimuth angle range of degrees 0, 90, 180 and 270 in spite of the white state. This regards as color shift and more detailed description thereof is attached with reference to the equation 1.
T≈T0 sin2(2"khgr")xc2x7sin2 (xcfx80xc2x7nd/xcex)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83equation 1
wherein,
T: transmittance;
To: transmittance to the reference light;
"khgr": angle between an optical axis of liquid crystal molecule and a polarizing axis of the polarizing plate;
: birefringence;
d: distance or gap between the upper and lower substrates(thickness of the liquid crystal layer); and
xcex: wavelength of the incident light.
So as to obtain the maximum transmittance T, the "khgr"should be xcfx80/4 or the nd/xcex should be xcfx80/2 according to the equation 1. As the nd varies with the birefringence difference of the liquid crystal molecules depending on viewing directions, the value of xcex is varied in order to make nd/xcex to be xcfx80/2. According to this condition, the color corresponding to the varied wavelength xcex appears.
Accordingly, as the value of n relatively decreases at the viewing directions xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ccxe2x80x9d toward the short axes of the liquid crystal molecules, the wavelength of the incident light for obtaining the maximum transmittance relatively decreases. Consequently a blue color having shorter wavelength than a white color can be shown.
On the other hand, as the value of n relatively increases at the viewing directions xe2x80x9cbxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d toward the short axes of the liquid crystal molecules, the wavelength of incident light relatively increases. Consequently a yellow color having a longer wavelength than the white color can be shown.
Furthermore, although the IPS-LCD is able to realize a wide viewing angle, response time thereof is very slow since long axes of the liquid crystal molecules are arranged and driven in parallel with the surface of the substrate, and no electrode is arranged at the upper substrate.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display preventing color shift generation and capable of improving display quality.
Further object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display capable of improving response time characteristics.
To accomplish foregoing objects, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display comprising: a lower substrate having a plurality of gate bus lines disposed parallel to each other, a plurality of data bus lines disposed perpendicular to the gate bus lines and defining matrix type sub pixels together with the gate bus lines, a thin film transistor provided adjacent to an intersection of the gate bus line and the data bus line, and a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor and disposed within the sub pixel; an upper substrate opposed to the lower substrate with a selected distance and having a counter electrode, the counter electrode formed at a portion corresponding to the sub pixel and forming an electric field together with the pixel electrode; a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between and having a plurality of liquid crystal molecules; a first alignment layer and a second alignment layer formed at inner face of the lower substrate and at inner face of the upper substrate respectively; and a first polarizing plate and a second polarizing plate attached at outer face of the lower substrate and at outer face of the upper substrate respectively, wherein the electric field formed between the counter electrode and the pixel electrode is formed as an oblique line with respect to the lower substrate surface, and is formed as a diagonal line having a symmetry with respect to the data bus line and the gate bus line.
The present invention further provides a liquid crystal display comprising: a lower substrate having a plurality of gate bus lines disposed parallel to each other, a plurality of data bus lines disposed perpendicular to the gate bus lines and defining matrix type sub pixels together with the gate bus lines, a thin film transistor provided adjacent to an intersection of the gate bus line and the data bus line, and a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor and disposed within the sub pixel; an upper substrate opposed to the lower substrate with a selected distance and having a counter electrode, the counter electrode formed at a portion corresponding to the sub pixel and forming an electric field together with the pixel electrode; a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between and having a plurality of liquid crystal molecules; a first alignment layer and a second alignment layer formed at inner face of the lower substrate and at inner face of the upper substrate respectively; and a first polarizing plate and a second polarizing plate attached at outer face of the lower substrate and at outer face of the upper substrate respectively, wherein the counter electrode comprises a first electrode of a rectangular frame shape, and at least a second electrode disposed parallel with the gate bus line dividing a space surrounded by the first electrode into a plurality of square aperture regions; wherein the pixel electrode comprises a first branch parallel with the data bus lines and at least one or more second branches perpendicular to the first branch, and wherein an intersection of the first and the second branches is disposed at the right center of a space surrounded by the first and the second electrodes.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display comprising: a lower substrate having a plurality of gate bus lines disposed parallel to each other, a plurality of data bus lines disposed perpendicular to the gate bus lines and defining matrix type sub pixels together with the gate bus lines, a thin film transistor provided adjacent to an intersection of the gate bus line and the data bus line, and a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor and disposed within the sub pixel; an upper substrate opposed to the lower substrate with a selected distance and having a counter electrode, the counter electrode formed at a portion corresponding to the sub pixel and forming an electric field together with the pixel electrode; a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between and having a plurality of liquid crystal molecules; a first homeotropic alignment layer and a second homeotropic alignment layer formed at inner face of the lower substrate and at inner face of the upper substrate respectively; a first polarizing plate and a second polarizing plate attached at outer face of the lower substrate and at outer face of the upper substrate respectively; and a phase compensation plate sandwiched between the second polarizing plate and the upper substrate, and having negative birefringence index, wherein the counter electrode comprises a first electrode of a rectangular frame shape, and at least a second electrode disposed parallel with the gate bus line dividing a space surrounded by the first electrode into a plurality of square aperture regions; wherein the pixel electrode comprises a first branch parallel with the data bus lines and at least one or more second branches perpendicular to the first branch, and wherein an intersection of the first and the second branches is disposed at the right center of a space surrounded by the first and the second electrodes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to mixing apparatus, and more particularly to such mixing apparatus mounted to self-propelled vehicles, such as tractors.
Mixing apparatus, as for concrete, is well known and has long been in use. Various well known types of such apparatus have included those mounted to dollies which may be towed by a vehicle from place to place, and those large units which are mounted onto heavy duty truck chassis which may be driven from place to place. While the operation of all of these types of units is relatively conventional and straightforward, loading the mixing drums with the necessary portland cement, sand, gravel and water has generally required either substantial additional equipment or strenuous physical work by operators. In the case of the truck mounted apparatus, it has been common practice to build large loading hoppers and conveyors at a base site to which the truck can back up for loading. With the smaller equipment, it has generally necessitated either shoveling the materials into the mixing drum itself, or into a skip which may be lifted to a loading position, as illustrated in Gilson U.S. Pat. No. 1,685,529, Wagner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,327,473 or Beardsley U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,306. However, each of these skip loading structures has still required that the material be either shoveled into the scoop, or carried to it in wheelbarrows or other conveying means.
While there have been several types of tractor mounted equipment, such as Wagner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,664,276 and Bolt U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,195, most of the equipment has been for either stationary use, or has been of large scale for use on large trucks. This has created a need for convenient, self-propelled small units which may be utilized by a single person operating a vehicle such as a conventional farm tractor. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Generally, as strips of bacon are cooked, the bacon has a tendency to shrink in size, to curl and to soak up a considerable amount of the grease in which it is being cooked and which is produced by the bacon itself during cooking. Additionally, if several pieces of bacon are cooked together, there is a tendency for the pieces to cling together if not kept separate. The use of microwave ovens has considerably decreased the amount of time needed to cook food such as bacon, but has done little to overcome the problems of shrinkage, curling and sticking together.
Cooking racks or trays such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,915,309 and 4,232,596 disclose the concept of separating items of food during the cooking or cooling of the items. However, these conventional racks do not address the problems of shrinkage or absorption of grease. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cam phase detecting apparatus for an engine and a cam phase detecting method of the engine and, in particular, relates to a technique for detecting a rotating phase of a camshaft relative to a crankshaft of an engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-open (Kokai) Patent Application Publication No. 2005-291141 discloses a six-cylinder engine provided with a variable valve timing mechanism operative for varying a rotating phase of a camshaft relative to a crankshaft.
The above-mentioned six-cylinder engine is provided with a cylinder discriminating sensor and a rotating speed sensor. The former sensor has three teeth formed at even intervals on an outer periphery of a rotor mounted on the camshaft and generates a cylinder discriminating signal by the detection of each of the three teeth by means of an electromagnetic pickup. The latter sensor has a set of teeth formed angularly at each 10 deg on an outer periphery of a rotor mounted on the crankshaft and generates a unit angle signal by the detection of each of the set of teeth by means of an electromagnetic pickup.
Then, the rotating phase of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft is detected from detection of a difference in the rotating phase from an instant of generation of the cylinder discriminating signal to an instant of generation of the unit angle signal corresponding to the reference position of a piston.
Further, discrimination of a cylinder of which the associated piston arrives at the reference position thereof is executed based on whether or not generation of the cylinder discriminating signal occurs during a detection period established based on the above-mentioned unit angle signals.
As described hereinbefore, in the case where the detection of the rotating phase of the camshaft is executed based on a time difference between the detection time of a reference angle position of the camshaft and that of a reference angle position of the crankshaft, the rotating phase is detected at every instant of occurrence of the reference angle position of the camshaft.
Accordingly, there exists a problem such that, when an engine rotating speed decreases, a detection cycle of the rotating phase necessarily becomes long and therefore, feedback control of the variable valve timing mechanism cannot often be achieved at a high speed with high accuracy. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A. Subject Matter
This invention relates to apparatus for imparting an undulatory configuration to a strand of wire.
B. Prior Art
This invention comprises an improvement over known apparatus for imparting an undulatory configuration to a strand of wire. Prior to this invention, and to the invention over which this is an improvement, machines were known for imparting an undulatory configuration to a strand of wire which conventionally utilized a pair of serrated complimentary dyes for engaging the wire and bending it into the desired configuration. Such devices are necessarily reciprocal in nature and hence are characterized by high inertia and inherent low operating speed. Such known dye devices are not only expensive to build but require a substantial maintenance effort if a satisfactory product is to be formed.
In this respect major efforts have been directed to the development of apparatus and methods for imparting an undulatory configuration to a strand of wire wherein reciprocal parts are eliminated and rotatable elements are used instead. In an initial effort to accomplish such a desired result a pair of wheels were disposed along side each other and rotatably mounted on axes which were angularly disposed so that a plurality of pins disposed about the peripheries of both wheels were caused to occupy spaced relationships which continuously varied throughout each revolution of the wheel. This space variation allowed rapid formation of loops of wire about the pins followed by a tightening of the loops due to increased spacing between the particular pin on one wheel and the adjacent pin on the other wheel. Thus a permanent set was imparted to the wire according to this particular feature of the invention which involved the angular displacement of the rotating wheels. Various mechanisms for securing the wire in place on the rotating wheels and for removing the wire are provided in accordance with specific features of the apparatus of the prior art. See in particular U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,808 issued Sept. 19, 1972 to Calvert et al.
While the above recited Calvert et al. patent does disclose the use of angularly disposed rotatable wheels having a plurality of pins secured to the periphery of each of said rotatable wheels to impart an undulatory configuration to a strand of wire a disadvantage of the apparatus of Calvert et al. is in what is referred to hereinafter as the wire looping assembly. The wire looping assembly of the Calvert et al. patent comprises a rotatable device having lateral projecting arms thereon engaging the wire as the wire is fed into the wire looping assembly and subsequently loops the wire about a pair of pins disposed respectively on the peripheries of a pair of rotatable wheels. This wire looping assembly and specifically the rotatable element with the arms disposed thereon has led to serious commercial difficulties in terms of maximum operating speed and downtime for repairs. In addition this rotatable element comprising the primary element of the wire looping assembly is difficult to mechanically actuate as it requires a discontinuous action which is not easily converted from standard drive means. In addition the wire forming apparatus of the Calvert et al. patent requires releasing means to operate by an oscillating motion to periodically displace the strand of wire from contact with the rotating element. All of these elements which comprise the commercial limiting elements of the entire wire forming apparatus have been eliminated and/or improved by applicants' invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present disclosure relates to metal organic frameworks. Methods for making the frameworks and methods for removing contaminants from water using the frameworks are also disclosed.
According to the World Health Organization, pharmaceutical contamination of drinking water is an emerging problem. By some estimates, almost 25% of the world's rivers and lakes are contaminated. Although current contaminant levels are generally below therapeutic thresholds, the effects of prolonged exposure at low dosages are unknown. Pharmaceutical contamination could potentially affect aquatic life in addition to humans.
Some drugs (e.g., tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and 17α-ethynylestradiol) are not easily degraded via conventional water treatment methods. For example, reverse osmosis and membrane filtration may not remove parts per million (ppm) levels of contaminants. The European Union recently finished the Enzymatic Decontamination Technology (ENDETech) project. This $3.5 million project aimed at developing a commercial technology for the enzymatic degradation of waste pharmaceuticals but did not deliver a commercial product.
In addition to pharmaceuticals, other contaminants (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) may be present in water. The contaminants may result from incomplete combustion, industrial effluents, and chemical spills such as the Deepwater Horizon incident. Chronic exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been linked to carcinogenesis and developmental disorders in humans.
Common water treatment techniques (traditionally designed for parasite and microbe removal) such as the activated sludge process are capable of removing some of these contaminants from water streams. However, batch and site disparities in sludge quality are notorious and have led to mixed results in water purification. Furthermore, approaches such as the activated sludge method, although feasible on a plant scale, may not be feasible for deployment to individual users in the field or during site specific catastrophic events.
A more practical alternative would be a non-biologic based alternative that is more reproducible over multiple theaters of deployment. It would be desirable to develop new systems and methods for decontaminating water. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A wireless device (e.g., a cellular phone or a smartphone) in a wireless communication system may transmit and receive data for two-way communication. The wireless device may include a transmitter for data transmission and a receiver for data reception. For data transmission, the transmitter may modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier signal with data to generate a modulated RF signal, amplify the modulated RF signal to generate a transmit RF signal having the proper output power level, and transmit the transmit RF signal via an antenna to another device such as, for example, a base station. For data reception, the receiver may obtain a received RF signal via the antenna and may amplify and process the received RF signal to recover data sent by the other device.
The wireless device may operate within multiple frequency bands. For example, the wireless device may transmit and/or receive an RF signal within a first frequency band and/or within a second frequency band. In many cases, an antenna design for the wireless device may depend on the frequency band used during operation. Different frequency bands (having different associated wavelengths) often dictate different antenna sizes. For example, a length of an antenna element may be selected to be a wavelength multiple (λ/4, λ/2 etc.) of the RF signal. Thus, an antenna designed for use within the first frequency band may have a different antenna element length compared to an antenna designed for use within the second frequency band. Using separate antennas for each frequency band may increase the size, cost, and/or complexity of the wireless device.
Thus, there is a need to reduce the number of antennas and/or size of antennas used by wireless devices that operate within multiple frequency bands. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This application claims priority from copending provisional application Serial No. 60/310,646, filed Aug. 7, 2001, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
This invention relates to the use of combinations of rapamycin 42-ester with 3-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methylpropionic acid (CCI-779) and 4-dimethylamino-but-2-enoic acid [4-(3-chloro-4-fluoro-phenylamino)-3-cyano-7-ethoxy-quinolin-6-yl]-amide (EKB-569).
Rapamycin is a macrocyclic triene antibiotic produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus, which was found to have antifungal activity, particularly against Candida albicans, both in vitro and in vivo [C. Vezina et al., J. Antibiot. 28, 721 (1975); S. N. Sehgal et al., J. Antibiot. 28, 727 (1975) H. A. Baker et al., J. Antibiot. 31, 539 (1978); U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,929,992; and 3,993,749]. Additionally, rapamycin alone (U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,171) or in combination with picibanil (U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,653) has been shown to have antitumor activity.
The immunosuppressive effects of rapamycin have been disclosed in FASEB 3, 3411 (1989). Cyclosporin A and FK-506, other macrocyclic molecules, also have been shown to be effective as immunosuppressive agents, therefore useful in preventing transplant rejection [FASEB 3, 3411 (1989); FASEB 3, 5256 (1989); R. Y. Calne et al., Lancet 1183 (1978); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,899]. R. Martel et al. [Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 55, 48 (1977)] disclosed that rapamycin is effective in the experimental allergic encephalomyelitis model, a model for multiple sclerosis; in the adjuvant arthritis model, a model for rheumatoid arthritis; and effectively inhibited the formation of IgE-like antibodies.
Rapamycin is also useful in preventing or treating systemic lupus erythematosus [U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,999], pulmonary inflammation [U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,899], insulin dependent diabetes mellitus [U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,009], skin disorders, such as psoriasis [U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,730], bowel disorders [U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,731], smooth muscle cell proliferation and intimal thickening following vascular injury [U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,288,711 and 5,516,781], adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma [European Patent Application 525,960 A1], ocular inflammation [U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,589], malignant carcinomas [U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,018], cardiac inflammatory disease [U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,832], and anemia [U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,138].
Rapamycin 42-ester with 3-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methylpropionic acid (CCI-779) is ester of rapamycin which has demonstrated significant inhibitory effects on tumor growth in both in vitro and in vivo models. The preparation and use of hydroxyesters of rapamycin, including CCI-779, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,718.
CCI-779 exhibits cytostatic, as opposed to cytotoxic properties, and may delay the time to progression of tumors or time to tumor recurrence. CCI-779 is considered to have a mechanism of action that is similar to that of sirolimus. CCI-779 binds to and forms a complex with the cytoplasmic protein FKBP, which inhibits an enzyme, mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin, also known as FKBP12-rapamycin associated protein [FRAP]). Inhibition of mTOR's kinase activity inhibits a variety of signal transduction pathways, including cytokine-stimulated cell proliferation, translation of mRNAs for several key proteins that regulate the G1 phase of the cell cycle, and IL-2-induced transcription, leading to inhibition of progression of the cell cycle from G1 to S. The mechanism of action of CCI-779 that results in the G1→S phase block is novel for an anticancer drug.
In vitro, CCI-779 has been shown to inhibit the growth of a number of histologically diverse tumor cells. Central nervous system (CNS) cancer, leukemia (T-cell), breast cancer, prostate cancer, and melanoma lines were among the most sensitive to CCI-779. The compound arrested cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle.
In vivo studies in nude mice have demonstrated that CCI-779 has activity against human tumor xenografts of diverse histological types. Gliomas were particularly sensitive to CCI-779 and the compound was active in an orthotopic glioma model in nude mice. Growth factor (platelet-derived)-induced stimulation of a human glioblastoma cell line in vitro was markedly suppressed by CCI-779. The growth of several human pancreatic tumors in nude mice as well as one of two breast cancer lines studied in vivo also was inhibited by CCI-779.
Protein tyrosine kinases are a class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of a phosphate group of ATP or GTP to tyrosine residue located on protein substrates. Protein tyrosine kinases clearly play a role in normal cell growth. Many of the growth factor receptor proteins function as tyrosine kinases and it is by this process that they effect signaling. The interaction of growth factors with these receptors is a necessary event in normal regulation of cell growth. However, under certain conditions, as a result of either mutation or overexpression, these receptors can become deregulated; the result of which is uncontrolled cell proliferation which can lead to tumor growth and ultimately to the disease known as cancer [Wilks A. F., Adv. Cancer Res., 60, 43 (1993) and Parsons, J. T.; Parsons, S. J., Important Advances in Oncology, DeVita V. T. Ed., J. B. Lippincott Co., Phila., 3 (1993)]. Among the growth factor receptor kinases and their proto-oncogenes that have been identified and which are targets of the compounds of this invention are the epidermal growth factor receptor kinase (EGF-R kinase, the protein product of the erbB oncogene), and the product produced by the erbB-2 (also referred to as the neu or HER2) oncogene. Since the phosphorylation event is a necessary signal for cell division to occur and since overexpressed or mutated kinases have been associated with cancer, an inhibitor of this event, a protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor, will have therapeutic value for the treatment of cancer and other diseases characterized by uncontrolled or abnormal cell growth. For example, overexpression of the receptor kinase product of the erbB-2 oncogene has been associated with human breast and ovarian cancers [Slamon, D. J., et. al., Science, 244, 707 (1989) and Science, 235, 1146 (1987)]. Deregulation of EGF-R kinase has been associated with epidermoid tumors [Reiss, M., et. al., Cancer Res., 51, 6254 (1991)], breast tumors [Macias, A., et al., Anticancer Res., 7, 459 (1987)], and tumors involving other major organs [Gullick, W. J., Brit. Med. Bull., 47, 87 (1991)]. Because of the importance of the role played by deregulated receptor kinases in the pathogenesis of cancer, many recent studies have dealt with the development of specific PTK inhibitors as potential anti-cancer therapeutic agents [some recent reviews: Burke. T. R., Drugs Future, 17, 119 (1992) and Chang, C. J.; Geahlen, R. L., J. Nat. Prod., 55, 1529 (1992)].
4-Dimethylamino-but-2-enoic acid [4-(3-chloro-4-fluoro-phenylamino)-3-cyano-7-ethoxy-quinolin-6-yl]-amide (EKB-569) is an EGFR kinase inhibitor which has significant inhibitory effects on tumor growth in both in vitro and in vivo models. The preparation and use of EGFR kinase inhibitors, such as EKB-569, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,008. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to phonograph pickup heads. More particularly it relates to pickup heads for electric phonographs in which provision is made for varying the weight of the head.
It is well known that, during playback, a phonograph cartridge and its supporting tone arm rise and fall in response to a warped record. This results in generation of a signal, at the cartridge output which varies cyclically at a frequency, related to the cycle of undulation, and falling primarily in a range below 10 to 12 Hz. To minimize generation of this signal, and thus avoid its playback through the reproducing system, it is customary to provide the tone arm with a mechanical resonance between the natural compliance of the cartridge and the total mass of both cartridge and tone arm, both being referred to the stylus position, the frequency of which occurs in the range of 10 to 12 Hz. Then, at frequencies below the resonance frequency, the effect of the undulations is damped and the cartridge output is desirably reduced to zero, eliminating the undesirable "warp" signals.
Tests, using typical cartridge-tone arm systems for playback of warped records, show that warp-induced motion can result in inertial forces, due to cartridge-arm mass, of up to 0.5 grams; these forces react vertically at the stylus of the cartridge. In high quality equipment where vertical stylus forces of one gram are adequate, with flat records, to produce satisfactory tracking of the tone arm, it is necessary, when warp motion is present, to increase the vertical stylus force 50% to 1.5 grams to prevent mistracking of groove signal modulations.
It is well known in the art that, to minimize record and stylus wear, the vertical stylus force should be as small as possible. The stylus force required to prevent mistracking due to the inertial forces of warp motion can be reduced by reducing the cartridge-tone arm mass. It follows that it is desirable to have a minimum cartridge-tone arm mass, as referred to the stylus position, and that adjustment of cartridge mass is the most effective and direct method of gaining this end.
A survey of tone arms now in general use for carrying playback cartridges reveals that effective arm masses (referred to stylus position) range from 5 to 8 grams, for more recent designs, and from 8 to 16 grams, for older designs, excluding cartridge mass. Also, counter-balance in these designs is such that zero cartridge weight is required to compensate for proper vertical stylus force in the more recent designs, where 0 to 4 gram cartridge weights were required in the older designs.
The study also revealed that, for arms with effective mass values of from 5 to 8 grams, a cartridge having appropriate compliance and a weight of 2.5 grams would provide mechanical arm resonance at a frequency in the range of 10 to 12 Hz. To satisfy weight requirements for proper counter-balancing, it was found that the cartridge weight must vary from 2.5 to 4.0 grams. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Paper machines or the like utilize press felts for absorbing water from a fiber web to increase its dry matter content. As used in this application and claims, the term paper machine refers to a paper machine, a board machine or other similar machine producing a web-like product from a fiber suspension. The absorbency of the press felt, typically described by its air permeability (m.sup.3 /m.sup.2 min), decreases when the felt is compressed during operation in a nip formed by rolls. The air permeability of a new felt is typically about 15 m.sup.3 /m.sup.2 min, and that of a felt which has totally lost its elasticity is about 2 to 1 m.sup.3 /m.sup.2 min. Particles detached from the paper web also block the felt, but not to an equally high degree as the compression effect.
In principle, the compression takes place evenly when the press effect and structure of the rolls are perfectly even and symmetrical. If the press effect created by the rolls is asymmetric or the rotation of the felt is realized by so-called cambered rolls, the felt is compressed unevenly and asymmetrically. In the latter case, the central portion of the felt stretches more than the rest of it, so that its thickness and thus its water volume is smaller as compared with the edge portions. Paper machines also comprise so-called wet wires, the purpose of which is to transport away water removed from the fiber suspension and from the forming or formed fiber web. Such wet wires are also exposed to compression and they are blocked by loose material gathering in them similarly as other felt types.
A partly or totally blocked felt can be reconditioned by using high-pressure needle-like water jets, which are in general use today. Such needle jets increase the porosity of the felt and retard its ageing and blocking. In general, such water jets are effected by means of jet pipes provided in the apparatus so as to oscillate in the transverse direction of the felt. The pipes comprise needle nozzles at predetermined intervals, and the oscillating movement of the pipe is approximately equal to the distance between the needle jets. Particles gathered in the felt are removed by applying an ordinary detergent to the felt during a break in operation and allowing it to influence for some time, whereafter it is rinsed off. Wet wires are cleaned by means of needle jets similarly as felts, and their condition has to be monitored in a similar way. The term felt will be used below in this application and claims to refer to a felt, a wet wire and any other fabric used for similar purposes in a paper machine.
Various arrangements have been developed for reconditioning a felt and measuring its condition. GB Patent 1 458 294 discloses an arrangement utilizing a suction shoe provided with an elongated slit. A needle-like water jet is applied from one end of the slit to the felt, and the water sprayed into the felt is sucked through the slit into a vacuum chamber provided above the slit and removed through a suction conduit. The chamber is connected to a vacuum conduit and it communicates with the atmosphere only through the slit. The suction shoe is mounted in a beam extending in the transverse direction of the felt, and it is movable along the beam across the felt in its transverse direction, so that the needle-like water jet can be applied over the entire width of the felt. This arrangement is specifically intended for reconditioning although it is stated in the publication that the device can be used for analyzing the condition of the felt when the water jet is switched off. In practice, the air permeability of the felt cannot be reliably analyzed by means of this arrangement during normal operation because water from the wet felt blocks rapidly the discharge conduit or forms plugs distorting the measuring results so that the measured values are not logically proportional to the condition of the felt. Furthermore, the use of this arrangement for analyzing the condition of the felt is impossible in practice as the comparison should be made by reading a vacuum gauge connected to the vacuum conduit. In practice, it is not possible to observe sufficiently accurately the vacuum and determine manually the position of the measuring head with respect to the felt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,056,281 discloses an arrangement for measuring the condition of a felt. It comprises sensors provided with a chamber, a suction conduit leading out of the chamber and a pressure gauge connected to measure the pressure of the chamber. The measuring surface of the sensor is provided with holes leading out of the chamber. The condition of the felt is measured by means of the device by positioning the surface with the holes against the felt while the operator observes the pressure values of the chamber from the pressure gauge. Although the arrangement can be used for measuring the condition of the felt, it is impossible in practice to mark the measured values accurately with respect to the surface of the felt so that it is impossible to monitor the condition of the felt as a whole. A problem with the arrangement of this publication, too, is that water from the wet felt easily blocks the suction conduit, causing abrupt illogical variation in the measured values so that the obtained information on the condition of the felt is not reliable.
CA Patent 1,143,982 discloses an arrangement in which the condition of the felt is monitored by measuring vaccum pressure in a conventional suction box and by switching on the cleaning jets over the entire width of the felt when the pressure drops below a predetermined limit and correspondingly switching off the jets when the pressure in the suction box rises, indicating improved air permeability of the felt. In this arrangement, it is not possible to locate the blockage in the felt, so that the reconditioning cannot be directed merely to the required area.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,211 discloses a solution in which the porosity of the felt is measured in its transverse direction by means of suction boxes mounted over the entire width of the felt. The suction boxes are divided in the transverse direction of the felt into several successive chambers and the boxes suck air and water through the felt, so that the flow rate of air removed at each compartment is measured by means of a separate measuring head. In this solution, water and air are passed apart from each other outside the primary suction chamber in order that the air flow could be measured. Water and air are, however, removed from the suction box along one and the same conduit, so that the air flow and water amount of all compartments are removed simultaneously. A drawback of this solution is that the measuring result of the air flow of each compartment is dependent on the air flow of the other compartments, and that the mixing of water and air in the common discharge conduit causes random variation in the measuring result, so that reliable information on the condition of the felt at its each particular point cannot be obtained. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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There are a number of different types of trailers that are used in conjunction with towing vehicles that serve a variety of purposes. These can include trailers for towing boats, for hauling ATVs, for hauling motorcycles, for hauling snowmobiles, utility trailers, and any number of other types of trailers. A common problem with trailers of this type, for instance, boat trailers, comes when the boat is being unloaded. In the example of a boat trailer, the boat trailer may be hauled by a pickup, a pickup with a camper on the bed, or by a recreational vehicle. The typical procedure for launching a boat in such a trailer is to back the trailer down a boat ramp until the trailer is submerged in the water and the boat is able to float free of the trailer. Once the boat is free of the trailer, the towing vehicle can pull the trailer up the launching ramp and the user can park the towing vehicle and the trailer in a parking area.
The difficulty with this procedure is that the towing vehicle may be difficult to use in backing the vehicle down the boat ramp. Visibility may be constrained, and the driver may not be very skilful at backing a trailer. Also, the area of the launching ramp may be crowded and only a narrow slot may be available to back the boat down the ramp. Especially in the case of a large vehicle such as a recreational vehicle, there may not be room to easily back the boat down some ramps, and the whole backing process may be very awkward and constrained.
In any of these situations, an improvement would be if the towing vehicle could unhook the trailer in the parking area, and the trailer could propel itself down the launching ramp to a launch position for the boat, and then propel itself up the launching ramp to the parking area. The reverse would be accomplished when the boat is ready to be taken out of the water. The present invention accomplishes this task with a self propelled boat trailer. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention is concerned with treatment of hypertension using certain tripeptides of the thyrotropin releasing hormone type.
Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) is a known tripeptide, L-pyrogulutamyl-L-histidyl-L-proline-NH.sub.2, having thyroid stimulating, antidepressant and lactation promoting activities [U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,139; Science, 178, 417-418 (1972)]. A series of TRH analogs are disclosed in U.S. 3,050,248. These analogs include oxopiperidin-6-ylcarbonyl-histidyl-N-thiazolidinylcarboxamide tripeptides. Other derivatives and analogs of THR are disclosed in "Chemistry and Biology of Peptides", Proceedings of the Third American Peptide Symposium, pages 601-608, Ann Arbor Science Publisher Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich. (1972); Belgian Pat. No. 832,783 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,139. There is no suggestion in the prior art of any antihypertensive activity for either TRH or its analogs and derivatives.
It has been discovered that certain of these tripeptides do have antihypertensive activity and may be useful for treating hypertensive patients. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to two-cycle internal combustion marine engines, and more particularly to protection of the stator coil during engine repairs.
A two-cycle internal combustion marine engine has a crankshaft extending through a crankcase and an alternator stator coil. The stator coil has electrical wires connected to the engine. During repair of the engine, the stator coil is typically removed from the crankshaft, but it is desirable to leave the wires connected to the engine in order to simplify the repair process by eliminating the associated disconnection and reconnection steps otherwise required for such wires. After removal of the stator coil from the crankshaft, and with the electrical wires remaining connected to the engine, the stator coil then dangles from the engine by such electrical wires.
The engine is typically mounted on a repair stand, supported on a workbench or the like, or is upright on the back of the boat. As the engine is moved or rotated during the repair sequence, the dangling stator coil may strike parts of the engine or the repair stand or the floor or the workbench, etc. This may damage the stator coil windings and cause a short.
The present invention addresses and solves the above noted problem of stator coil damage during engine repair. The invention protects the stator coil during repair with a simple envelope enclosure which is readily installed and removed, and which is reusable. Simplicity of installation and removal encourages use. This in turn increases the chances of maintaining stator coil integrity during repair procedures. The envelope may also be used as a shipping container, and be later discarded. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates in general to vehicle disc brake assemblies and in particular to an improved structure for a parking and emergency brake mechanism adapted for use in such a vehicle disc brake assembly.
Most vehicles are equipped with a brake system for slowing or stopping movement of the vehicle in a controlled manner. A typical brake system for an automobile or light truck includes a disc brake assembly for each of the front wheels and either a drum brake assembly or a disc brake assembly for each of the rear wheels. The brake assemblies are actuated by hydraulic or pneumatic pressure generated when an operator of the vehicle depresses a brake pedal. The structures of these drum brake assemblies and disc brake assemblies, as well as the actuators therefor, are well known in the art.
A typical disc brake assembly includes a brake rotor which is secured to the wheel of the vehicle for rotation therewith. The brake rotor includes a pair of opposed friction surfaces which are selectively engaged by portions of a caliper assembly. The caliper assembly is slidably supported by pins secured to an anchor plate. The anchor plate is secured to a non-rotatable component of the vehicle, such as the vehicle frame. The caliper assembly includes a pair of brake shoes which are disposed on opposite sides of the rotor. The brake shoes are operatively connected to one or more hydraulically actuated pistons for movement between a non-braking position, wherein they are spaced apart from the opposed friction surfaces of the brake rotor, and a braking position, wherein they are moved into frictional engagement with the opposed friction surfaces of the brake rotor. When the operator of the vehicle depresses the brake pedal, the piston urges the brake shoes from the non-braking position to the braking position so as to frictionally engage the friction surfaces of the brake rotor and thereby slow or stop the rotation of the associated wheel of the vehicle.
When a disc brake assembly is used for the rear wheels of the vehicle, a mechanically actuated parking and emergency brake mechanism is also usually provided for selectively actuating the disc brake assembly. The parking and emergency brake mechanism is applied by a cable through foot or hand application by the vehicle operator. The parking and emergency brake mechanism is typically either a "drum-in-hat" type of parking and emergency brake, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,037 to Evans, or an "integral" type of parking and emergency brake, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,895 to Evans. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses, and, more particularly, to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method for switching between a plurality of operation modes of different power consumptions in response to a request transmitted from an apparatus on a network and a program causing a computer to perform the information processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a technique called Wake on LAN (WOL) allowing a remote control apparatus to turn on a specific apparatus via a network. Magic Packet is a famous WOL technique developed by AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Inc. In this WOL technique, for example, a WOL packet obtained by setting the MAC (Media Access Control) address of a target apparatus for a specific type of packet or a packet including specific data is transmitted. The target apparatus in a standby mode detects the WOL packet and is turned on. For example, such a technique is used to turn on a server connected to an intra-company LAN (Local Area Network).
As enhanced usage of WOL, for example, a case can be assumed in which a user away from the home turns on a home server via the Internet and makes a reservation of a program to be recorded. In this case, if the general setting of an in-home LAN is performed, a WOL packet transmitted via the Internet is discarded by a broadband router disposed at an entrance of a home server system. Therefore, it is necessary to perform a setting called port forwarding for the broadband router so as to convert a destination IP (Internet Protocol) address and a port number (on a WAN) included in the WOL packet transmitted via the Internet into a home server IP address and a home server port number (on a LAN), respectively. As a result, the broadband router can convert the destination IP address and the port number (on a WAN) included in the WOL packet into the home server IP address and the home server port number (on a LAN). However, in order to transfer the WOL packet to the home server, it is necessary to specify the MAC address of the home server that is the destination of the WOL packet. If the broadband router stores an ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) table in which an IP address and a MAC address are associated with each other, it acquires the MAC address of the home server that is the destination of the WOL packet using the ARP table and transfers the WOL packet. However, in general, such a broadband router periodically performs automatic updating of LAN setting so as to respond to changes in LAN configuration which are caused by, for example, the actuation or shutdown of an apparatus connected thereto. In the updating of LAN setting, the broadband router erases ARP table information after a predetermined period has elapsed. In this case, it is difficult for the broadband router to acquire the MAC address of the home server and transfer the WOL packet to the home server.
In this WOL technique, if the authentication of a packet to be transmitted to an apparatus via a network such as the Internet is not performed, a malicious user may turn on the apparatus. This compromises the security of the apparatus. A WOL technique that includes an authentication function as an additional function has been proposed. For example, a method of performing the authentication of an apparatus at the time of receiving a WOL packet from the apparatus and turning on a target apparatus only when the apparatus is authenticated is disclosed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-062955 (FIG. 13) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,276 (FIG. 3)). | {
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The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A conventionally known Land Grid Array (LGA) type electrical connector has multiple conductive terminals for electrically connecting a chip module to a circuit board. The conductive terminal basically includes a base portion, an elastic arm and a conducting portion. The base portion is flat plate shaped. The elastic arm is formed by extending upward from the base portion and is configured to abut the chip module. The conducting portion is formed by extending downward from the base portion and is configured to be electrically connected to the circuit board through a solder. With the development of technology, the transmission frequency of signals is further increased. Impedance of the conventionally known conductive terminal structure may be difficult to achieve impedance match when high-frequency signals are transmitted, which easily causes high-frequency resonance and generates high-frequency noise, thereby having difficulties to satisfy the performance demand of transmitting high-frequency signals. Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need to design a novel electrical connector exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies. | {
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The therapeutic value of progressive resistance exercises has long been recognized. Exercising muscles against progressively increasing resistance not only results in added strength and endurance in the muscles, but also in the improvement of neuromuscular coordination and in a more efficient functioning of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
Traditionally apparatus such as dumbbells and barbells have been used for progressive exercises. The use of such apparatus, however, can be extremely dangerous when undertaken without proper training and supervision. When a large amount of weight is being lifted, barbells are particularly dangerous and present difficult balancing problems. If they are dropped, serious injury can result to the trainee or to those about him.
In the past, various types of progressive weight training machines have been suggested to overcome the drawbacks of barbells and dumbbells. Among the most successful of these prior art devices are those that include cables and stacks of weights, such as those described in described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,214. In the conventional cable and weight stack system, the user selects the amount of weight to be lifted by inserting a pin in the lowermost weight of the stack to be lifted. The cable is then interconnected to the weight stack by the pin, and the lowermost weight and all weights above it are lifted when the machine is actuated.
Prior art apparatus embodying cable systems, while avoiding the drawbacks of free weights, have a drawback in that it is possible for the user to set the equipment up so that he is lifting more weight than is appropriate for that individual. This can lead to serious injury.
Thus, there presently exists a need for a safety system that permits restriction of weight selection to safe values. | {
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Building sprinkler systems are designed to provide pressurized water to extinguish fires during emergency situations. A pump is used to provide the necessary water pressure. These pumps are typically powered by an electric motor, however many are often powered by internal combustion engines. The present application relates to internal combustion engine systems.
Such sprinkler systems are designed for a defined flow rate and pressure. For a given engine/pump combination, the discharge line pressure, from the pump, is dependent on the fluid flow rate through the system and the pressure of the water being supplied to the pump (called suction pressure). The pressure of the water at the pump suction often has a wide range between its high and low resulting in an equally wide contribution to pump output pressure variances. At a constant engine/pump RPM (Revolutions Per minute). The line pressure will increase as the fluid flow rate decreases through the system. Further, at a fixed throttle setting, as the fluid flow rate decreases, the load on the engine also decreases resulting in an increase in engine rpm, thereby further increasing pressure produced by the pump (this is referred to as the engine droop). The net effect is to increase the pressure, which a sprinkler system must be able to withstand. This basically means stronger more expensive sprinkler system components including water pipes, fittings and sprinklers. Sprinklers are rated for specific operating pressures. This establishes the limits of the system pressures. Some types of sprinklers are further limited to smaller more specific pressure ranges further limiting system pressure ranges. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Along with continuous popularization of intelligent systems of mobile terminals, periods for terminal device manufacturers and operating companies to launch new functions and new services become shorter and shorter, and meanwhile, more and more complicated system software versions are provided, and many unknown problems continuously arise in using processes of users. In order to solve these problems and bring better user experiences to the users, the terminal device manufacturers and the operating companies usually adopt an Over The Air (OTA) manner for version upgrading of the users.
A wireless network is adopted for the OTA manner, and characteristics of small bandwidth, poor network stability and the like of the wireless network determine that transmission of an oversized file should be avoided when the OTA manner is adopted for file transmission. In order to reduce network transmission traffic of the OTA upgrading manner, an OTA upgrade package usually adopts at least one differential upgrade package, and such an upgrading technology is called a differential upgrading technology. In upgrading of an Android system, a differential upgrading technology currently used in the industry may implement system version upgrading in a case that terminal system partitions are not varied.
Along with new system software optimization and new application addition or upgrading, original partitions of a terminal system may not meet a requirement of a current system running environment, and the system is required to be repartitioned according to a new requirement. A method for system differential upgrading in the related art is shown in FIG. 1, and after an upgrade package passes verification, it is judged whether or not partition information of a target version and partition information of an original version are varied, differential upgrading is performed when the partition information is not varied, and an upgrading failure is prompted to a user when the partition information is varied.
Therefore, when partitions of a system are varied, system upgrading may not be implemented by a differential upgrading technology, and the upgrading may be implemented only in a full-version manner. A full-version upgrade package is usually large, and if the OTA manner is adopted for upgrading of a user, a bandwidth of the wireless network may be greatly limited for the moment, which may cause a heavy network load and poor user experiences in downloading time of the upgrade package, network stability and the like. | {
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This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for overload control and audit in a resource control and management system. More particularly, this disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for controlling and managing resources of a system with Diameter protocol.
While the disclosure is particularly directed to resource management using Diameter protocol and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the disclosure may have usefulness in other fields and applications. For example, this disclosure may be used in other types of protocol, including but not limited to Radius, etc. This disclosure may also be useful in other types of data transfer systems where system control and bearer processing are separated.
By way of background, the Internet protocol Multimedia Sub-system (IMS) standard defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), is a framework for real time multimedia communications using Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The Diameter protocol was developed in order to provide an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) framework for applications that require network access. Diameter protocol generally provides a highly reliable mechanism for a client to obtain permission from a server for using network resources.
Diameter protocol provides a primary framework through which administrators may control the access at the entry point of a network which is often the purpose of an access server. AAA authenticates, or identifies a user, authorizes, or determines what the user can do and how much network resources the user can use, and monitors the usage of resources in the form of connecting time or total volume of data flow for billing purposes. Other protocol, such as Radius, store the AAA information in external databases or on remote servers. However, Diameter protocol handles many of the AAA applications internally. Diameter is also peer to peer bi-directional which enables push and pull application models into architectures. The base Diameter protocol provides a useful foundation that can be extended in order to provide resource control and management functions for services such as IMS.
Diameter protocol, however, has not often been widely used in resource control and management systems. Generally, Diameter protocol is used in the form of query and response. When Diameter protocol is used for telecommunication, there are virtually no safeguards for controlling Media resources. Diameter protocol in its current form does not provide any mechanism for a resource management system to check the usage levels of resources and to synchronize states of multimedia sessions set on a gateway and on its controller.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for Diameter protocol to be extended to support audits and overloads in order to manage the border gateways associated with the resource management system.
The present disclosure contemplates a new method and apparatus that resolves the above-referenced difficulties and others. | {
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This invention relates generally to methods of polymerization and the polymers formed thereby. In particular, this invention relates to methods using pulsed microwave polymerization for the synthesis of polymers such as polyamides, polyesters, and polyamideesters.
Despite extensive research and development directed to methods for the manufacture of polymers, there are still areas where improvement would result in significant economic benefit. Examples include shortening the time required for polymerization, and maximizing the efficiency of the energy input required for polymerization. There is also a continuing need for improved methods for the manufacture of three-dimensional molded parts having fine-scale features, especially those having close tolerances.
One approach to reducing times and input energies required for polymerization reactions is to employ microwave radiation as a heat source. As an alternative to conventional heating techniques, microwave irradiation provides an effective, selective, and fast synthetic method by heating the molecules directly through the interaction between the microwave energy and the molecular dipole moments of the starting materials. Microwave radiation has been employed in polymer synthesis and curing; see, for example, F. Parodi, Chim. Ind. (Milan), volume 80, number 1, pages 55-61 (1998); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,081 to Gelorme et al. A publication by Albert et al. describes microwave-activated polymerization of epsilon-caprolactone with titanium tetrabutylate catalyst, but this process appears to offer no advantages in reaction times or product molecular weights compared to the corresponding thermal synthesis; see P. Albert, H. Warth, R. Muelhaupt, and R. Janda, Macromol. Chem. Phys., volume 197, number 5, pages 1633-1640 (1996). In Great Britain Patent No. 1,534,151, Dolden et al. describe a microwave process for synthesis of polyamides from amino acids, lactams, or mixtures of organic diacids and organic diamines. While the method of Dolden et al. appears to enable reduced reaction times, it does not allow precise control of reaction temperature, and does not produce high molecular weight polymers in high yield. There accordingly remains a need for an efficient and highly reproducible process for microwave synthesis of polyamides, polyesters, and polyamideesters.
A time-saving and reproducible polymer synthesis is provided by a method, comprising:
irradiating a reaction mixture with microwaves, wherein
the microwave radiation is characterized by
a varying frequency of about 2.4 to about 7 GHz;
a frequency sweep rate of about 0.1 to about 10 GHz/sec;
a forward power input of about 200 to about 10,000 Watts per total moles of reactant; and
the forward power input of the microwave radiation is adjusted to maintain a known temperature in the composition; and further wherein
the reaction mixture comprises aliphatic lactones having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; aliphatic lactams having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; amino acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; omega-hydroxyacids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; mixtures of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic diamines having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms; mixtures of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic diols having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms; or mixtures of aliphatic lactones having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic lactams having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms.
Use of microwave frequency sweeping and temperature control via microwave forward power setting and on/off forward power control enables synthesis of polymer having higher molecular weights and lower dispersities compared to polymers prepared by previously known methods.
The method enables substantial time savings compared to conventional thermal polymerizations. The method also enables solvent-free polymerizations and is suitable for directly producing molded articles by polymerizing monomer mixtures in article-shaped molds.
A method for synthesizing polyamides, polyester, and polyamideesters comprises:
irradiating a reaction mixture with microwaves, wherein
the microwave radiation is characterized by
a varying frequency of about 2.4 to about 7 GHz;
a frequency sweep rate of about 0.1 to about 10 GHz/sec;
a forward power input of about 200 to about 10,000 Watts per total moles of reactant; and
the forward power input of the microwave radiation is adjusted to maintain a known temperature in the composition; and further wherein
the reaction mixture comprises aliphatic lactones having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; aliphatic lactams having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; amino acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; omega-hydroxyacids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms; mixtures of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic diamines having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms; mixtures of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic diols having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms; or mixtures of aliphatic lactones having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic lactams having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms.
The method is suitable for the synthesis of polyesters from lactones. Suitable lactones include aliphatic lactones having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms, preferably from 5 to 10 carbon atoms. Preferred lactones may be represented by the formula
wherein n=3-11. A highly preferred lactone is epsilon-caprolactone (n=5).
The method is also suitable for the synthesis of polyesters from omega-hydroxycarboxylic acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms. Preferred omega-hydroxycarboxylic acids are represented by the formula
wherein n=3-11. A highly preferred hydroxycarboxylic acid is epsilon-hydroxycaproic acid (n-5)
The method is suitable for the synthesis of polyesters from mixtures comprising aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having 4-12 carbon atoms and aliphatic diols having 2-12 carbon atoms. Preferred aliphatic dicarboxylic acids are represented by the formula
wherein n=2-10. A highly preferred aliphatic dicarboxylic acid is adipic acid (n=4). Preferred aliphatic diols are represented by the formula
HOxe2x80x94(CH2)nxe2x80x94OH
wherein n=2-12. Highly preferred organic diols include ethylene glycol and 1,4-butanediol. It is preferred that the molar ratio of the dicarboxylic acid to the diol be about 0.8:1.2 to about 1.2:0.8, more preferably about 0.9:1.1 to about 1.1:0.9, yet more preferably about 0.98:1.02 to about 1.02:0.98.
The method is suitable for the synthesis of polyamides from organic lactams having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms. Preferred lactams are represented by the formula
wherein n=3-11. A highly preferred lactam is epsilon-caprolactam (n=5).
The method is suitable for the synthesis of polyamides from amino acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms. Preferred amino acids are represented by the formula
wherein n=3-11. A highly preferred amino acid is epsilon-aminocaproic acid (n=5).
The method is suitable for the synthesis of polyamides from aliphatic dicarboxylic acids having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic diamines having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms. Suitable and preferred aliphatic dicarboxylic acids are the same as those described above for the synthesis of polyesters. Preferred aliphatic diamines are represented by the formula
H2Nxe2x80x94(CH2)nxe2x80x94NH2
wherein n=2-12. A highly preferred aliphatic diamine is hexamethylenediamine (H2N(CH2)6NH2). It is preferred that the molar ratio of the dicarboxylic acid to the diamine be about 0.8:1.2 to about 1.2:0.8, more preferably about 0.9:1.1 to about 1.1:0.9, yet more preferably about 0.98:1.02 to about 1.02:0.98.
The method is also suitable for the synthesis of polyamideesters from aliphatic lactones having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and aliphatic lactams having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms. The aliphatic lactones are the same as those described above for polyester synthesis, and the aliphatic lactams are the same as those described above for the synthesis of polyamides. The ratio of aliphatic lactone to aliphatic lactam may vary widely depending on the desired composition of the final copolymer, as well as the relative reactivity of the lactone and the lactam. One advantage of the present method over conventional thermal copolymerizations of lactams and lactones is that the ratio of ester to amide units in the final copolymer may closely approximate the initial molar ratio of lactone to lactam. The present method therefore reduces waste and simplifies isolation procedures. A presently preferred initial molar ratio of aliphatic lactam to aliphatic lactone is about 0.5:1 to about 4.0:1, more preferably about 1:1 to about 2:1.
The composition may further comprise a catalyst or an initiator. Generally, any known catalyst or initiator suitable for the corresponding thermal polymerization may be used. Alternatively, the polymerization may be conducted without a catalyst or initiator. For example, in the synthesis of polyamides from aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and aliphatic diamines, no catalyst is required.
For the synthesis of polyamides from lactams, suitable catalysts include water and the omega-amino acids corresponding to the ring-opened (hydrolyzed) lactam used in the synthesis. Other suitable catalysts include metallic aluminum alkylates (MA1(OR)3H; wherein M is an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal, and R is C1-C12 alkyl), sodium dihydrobis(2-methoxyethoxy)aluminate, lithium dihydrobis(tert-butoxy)aluminate, aluminum alkylates (Al(OR)2R; wherein R is C1-C12 alkyl), N-sodium caprolactam, magnesium chloride or bromide salt of epsilon-caprolactam (MgXC6H10NO, X=Br or Cl), dialkoxy aluminum hydride. Suitable initiators include isophthaloybiscaprolactam, N-acetalcaprolactam, isocyanate epsilon-caprolactam adducts, alcohols (ROH; wherein R is C1-C12 alkyl), diols (HOxe2x80x94Rxe2x80x94OH; wherein R is R is C1-C12 alkylene), omega-aminocaproic acids, and sodium methoxide.
For the synthesis of polyesters from lactones, suitable catalysts include tin(II) compounds, such as stannous octoate (tin(II)2-ethylhexoate, C.A.S. Registry No. 301-10-0); and metal alkoxides such as alkoxides of Al, Zn, Y, Ti, and rare earth metals, wherein each alkoxide group has from 1 to 12 carbon atoms. Suitable initiators include aliphatic diols having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms, such as 1,4-butanediol.
For the synthesis of polyamideesters from lactones and lactams, suitable catalysts include metal hydride compounds, such as a lithium aluminum hydride catalysts having the formula LiAl(H)x(R1)y, where x=1-4, y=0-3, x+y=4, and R1 is selected from the group consisting of C1-C12 alkyl and C1-C12 alkoxy; highly preferred catalysts include LiAl(H)(OR2)3, wherein R2 is selected from the group consisting of C1-C8 alkyl; an especially preferred catalyst is LiAl(H)(OC(CH3)3)3. Other suitable catalysts and initiators include those described above for the polymerization of poly(epsilon-caprolactam) and poly(epsilon-caprolactone).
While the reaction can be conducted in the presence of air, it is generally preferred to exclude oxygen from the composition, as polymer products may oxidize and darken at the polymerization temperature in the presence of oxygen. Any known means of excluding oxygen may be employed, including flushing the system with an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon. While suitable results are demonstrated below for polymerization at atmospheric pressure, there is no particular limitation on the pressure during polymerization.
A microwave furnace suitable for the irradiating the composition comprises a microwave source, microwave frequency range selector, a microwave frequency modulator to modulate the microwave frequency across the selected frequency range, microwave forward power controller to select the forward power setting, a thermocouple or other temperature measuring means, and a microwave forward power on/off controller to turn the forward power on and off in response to the temperature of the composition. Frequency modulation increases the uniformity of the power distribution throughout the furnace cavity, thereby heating the composition uniformly. Suitable microwave furnaces are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,321,222 and 5,961,871 to Bible et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,038 to Fathi et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,360 to Johnson et al. A presently preferred microwave furnace is commercially available from Lambda Technologies, Inc., as model no. LT 502 Xb.
The selection of the actual microwave frequency range will depend on the reactants, but will generally be about 2.4 to about 7 GHz. The microwave frequency sweep range is generally about 0.1 to about 10 GHz/sec, with about 0.2 to about 5 GHz/sec being preferred and about 0.5 to about 1 GHz/sec being more preferred. A suitable forward power input is about 200 to about 10,000 Watts per total moles of reactant, preferably about 300 to about 6,000 Watts per total moles of reactant, more preferably about 300 to about 1500 Watts per total moles of reactant. Selection of a forward power input will depend on the nature of the reactants. For example, in the synthesis of nylon-6,6 from adipic acid and 1,6-diaminohexane, a preferred forward power level is about 1200 to about 4000 Watts, more preferably about 2000 to about 3500 Watts. In the synthesis of poly(caprolactone) from epsilon-caprolactone, a preferred forward power is about 500 to about 2500 Watts, more preferably about 900 to about 1500 Watts. In the synthesis of nylon-6 from epsilon-caprolactam, a preferred forward power is about 500 to about 3000 Watts, more preferably about 900 to about 2800 Watts. In the synthesis of poly(caprolactone-co-caprolactam) from mixtures of epsilon-caprolactone and epsilon-caprolactam, a preferred forward power is about 250 to about 1500 Watts, more preferably about 400 to about 1200 Watts.
It is preferred that the reaction mixture be irradiated in a vessel transparent to microwave radiation in the frequency range employed. Vessels comprising poly(tetrafluoroethylene) are presently preferred.
The method may additionally comprise a purification step to remove residual reactant and low molecular weight polymer. Purification can be accomplished, for example, by dissolving the crude polymer product in a solvent to form a solution and precipitating the purified product by addition of an anti-solvent to the solution. Alternatively, the purification may be accomplished by a solvent extraction of the crude polymer. In yet another alternative, purification may be accomplished by chromatographic separation of the high molecular weight polymer by, for example, size exclusion chromatography. All of the above methods are effective to remove residual reactant and low molecular weight polymer from the crude polymer. Such purification methods are known to those of ordinary skill in the art and details of their use may be determined without undue experimentation.
The method may additionally comprise a drying step. When applied to a crude reaction product, the drying step may remove residual reactant. When applied to a material derived from a purification step, as the extraction and crystallization methods described above, the drying step may remove residual solvents. Drying can be accomplished using one or more of elevated temperatures (preferably below the melting point of the polymer), reduced pressures, and atmosphere exchange.
The method is suitable for direct molding of shaped articles by filling a mold with a reaction mixture and irradiating the reaction mixture to form the plastic part. In this embodiment, lactones and lactams are preferred reactants because their polymerization produces no side products. This approach greatly simplifies and speeds up the production of molded parts. | {
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Many firearms, such as assault rifles that are commonly used in military and law enforcement situations are designed by their manufacturer to be gas-operated. The AR-15 family of firearms, including the M16-type firearms, illustrates examples of assault rifles that are designed by their manufacturer to be gas-operated. M16-type firearms are a military version of the AR-15 family of firearms and are capable of operating in a fully automatic mode. M16-type firearms have been manufactured by companies including, but not limited to, Colt Manufacturing Company, the ArmaLite Division of Fairchild Aircraft and Engine Company, BushMaster Firearms Incorporated and Fabrique Nationale.
As originally designed, the AR-15, M16 and M4 firearms are collectively and generically referred to in the industry as “M16-type” weapons. M16-type weapons are auto loading and are usually either semi-automatic, full-automatic, burst-fire, selective-fire, or a combination of the above. As such, M16-type weapons are subjected to higher volumes of firing than many sporting type firearms and they are accordingly subjected to higher levels of heat, fouling and component failures.
M16-type weapons have been the primary service weapons of the US Armed Forces and many of its allies for more than forty years. M16-type weapons are usually “gas-operated” as disclosed by Stoner in U.S. Pat. No. 2,951,424. Generally, the Stoner gas-operated system has a gas block that is mounted to the barrel and a bolt carrier that is designed to reciprocate in an upper receiver. The barrel has a gas-regulating orifice known as a “gas-port” residing under the gas block. The purpose of the gas-port is to control the amount of gas delivered to the gas system from the bore, the size of which has an effect on the cyclic rate of the weapon. The bolt carrier acts as a gas cylinder and possesses a “key” mounted to its upper surface. The bolt acts as a piston and is housed within the bolt carrier. A gas tube is connected to the gas block on one end, and passes through a hole in the upper receiver to interface with the bolt carrier key, through a telescoping arrangement between the two parts. The purpose of the gas tube is to communicate gas pressure from the gas block on the barrel, to the bolt carrier and bolt arrangement. In most cases, the gas tube has an offset step on one end versus the other; i.e. the two ends do not share a common bore axis and the hole in the gas block for receiving the gas tube is not in alignment with the hole in the upper receiver for receiving the opposite end of the gas tube. Upon firing a cartridge, the projectile in the barrel passes a gas port in the barrel, and some of the hot expanding gasses that are propelling the projectile escape into the gas port. These expanding gasses and resulting pressure are in turn transmitted to the bolt carrier (cylinder) and bolt (piston) arrangement. Upon entering the cavity in the bolt carrier, the pressure forces a separation of the bolt and carrier and propels them in opposite directions. As the bolt is fixed against the breech face, the bolt carrier travels in the recoil direction. Some residual gas is vented through ports in the bolt carrier to the outside of the upper receiver. When the telescoping key leaves the end of the gas tube, remaining gasses in the gas tube are vented into the upper receiver body where the bolt carrier travels and consequently into the internal operating components of the weapon. Upon reaching full recoil, an action spring returns the bolt carrier in the counter-recoil direction toward its forward static position.
M16-type weapons have a known history of problems associated with gas-operation of its bolt carrier group. Some of these problems were disclosed in the 1967 Ichord Investigation, which sought answers to M16-type weapon failures in the combat zones in which US soldiers were fighting. In other reports, it has been revealed that the gas system of the M16 rifle is sensitive to certain ammunition propellants containing calcium carbonate as an ingredient. Carbon deposits and resulting fouling from the M16-type gas system can compromise the reliability of the weapon. This fouling makes it difficult for an operator to clean his M16-type weapon, particularly in a combat zone where opportunity to clean weapons may be difficult to encounter. Other component failures have been attributed to the heat delivered by the gas tube to the M16-type weapon's internal components, such as ejector and extractor springs. Gas tube failures occur when the weapon is subjected to high levels of firing in a short amount of time, generating excessive heat and thereby causing the thin gas tube to enter a plastic state whereby it “droops” or bursts. Still more problems and failures have been attributed to the M16-type weapon's high cyclic rate, especially in the shortened carbine variants which attempt to unlock the breech bolt under higher pressures.
In the aftermath of the Ichord Report, Colt's Patent Firearms designed the “Model 703” rifle. The Model 703 used a long-stroke, gas-piston device similar to an AK-47 that required an entirely new upper receiver assembly be fitted to M16-type lower receivers, which is an expensive proposition. While there exists little information on this system, it can be surmised from publicly available photographs that it likely suffered from increased weight, bolt carrier binding in the receiver extension tube, and manufacturing and logistical difficulties due to the number of components that were unique to this system.
There have been prior attempts to modify M16-type rifles for gas-piston operation such as the Taiwanese T65 rifle, which is a factory built weapon that utilized a piston design similar to that disclosed in the Miller U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,567. The T65 lacked the familiar bolt closure device common to most modern M16-type weapons as disclosed in Sturtevant U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,155 and was short-lived for various reasons, including unacceptable receiver wear caused by an overturning moment of the bolt carrier and maintenance difficulty.
The commercially marketed “Rhino” device disclosed in Langendorfer U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,273 sought to modify M16-type weapons by re-working the gas block to house the piston assembly. The bolt carrier key was then reinforced with a shear pin and an impact buffer was added to it in an attempt to absorb the impact loads transmitted by the operating rod. This device suffered from the same excessive receiver wear as the T65, and its “bolt on” key would shear off of the carrier when repeatedly impacted by the operating rod. Additionally, a weapon utilizing the “Rhino” device had to be removed from service and permanently converted to accept the new components, i.e., the “Rhino” device was not a “drop-in” conversion assembly. Thus, this device was deemed frail and unsuitable for military service and it failed in the marketplace.
Many other weapons are referred to as “piston-operated”, which are generally either “short-stroke” or “long-stroke” pistons. Some examples of short-stroke, piston-operated weapons are the FN-FAL, Armalite AR-18, Taiwanese T65, Russian SKS, Ultimax 100 and Steyer AUG. Some examples of long-stroke, piston-operated weapons are the German STG-44, Russian AK-47, Stoner 63, Beretta AR-70 and Robinson M96. Generally, a short-stroke, piston-operated weapon has an operating rod that is separate from the bolt carrier. A piston is energized upon firing and propels the operating rod into contact with a portion of the bolt carrier to bias it in the recoil direction. The travel distance of a short-stroke piston and operating rod are usually a fraction of the overall travel distance of the bolt carrier. Generally, a long-stroke, piston-operated weapon has a piston and operating rod that is engaged with the bolt carrier. A piston is energized upon firing and propels the operating rod and bolt carrier in the recoil direction. The travel distance of a long-stroke piston and operating rod are usually equal to the overall travel distance of the bolt carrier.
Shortened carbine variants of M16-type weapons have a shorter barrel and a shorter gas tube. Accordingly, the gas-port is located nearer the chamber compared to the rifle-length variants of the M16-type weapons. Because of the gas-regulating port location in such shortened carbine variants, the gas-port is subjected to premature erosion by heat and unburned powder particles. This port erosion causes an additional increase in cyclic rate of fire by permitting higher gas levels to act upon the bolt and bolt carrier. Higher cyclic rates cause impact energy to the moving parts to increase by the square of the velocity. This can result in a higher incidence of component failures such as bolts, bolt carriers, extractors, extractor pins, cam pins and barrel extensions.
It is important for weapons used in combat and law enforcement situations to be reliable and easy to clean and maintain in the field. For example, it is desirable that M16-type combat weapons display higher safety levels of the critical components so that they will not fail in combat, and injuries to troops and/or law enforcement personnel caused by catastrophic component failures should be reduced as much as possible. It is also desirable that M16-type combat weapons be “upgraded” by unit armorers without the need for removing the weapons from military or police inventories or from combat zones.
It is desirable that solutions to inherent problems of the M16-type weapon be economical to implement. It is also desirable for such solutions to utilize as many of the host weapon's original components as possible, thereby increasing production and resulting in a minimal impact on the logistical support network of military and law enforcement communities. It is further desirable that the upgraded weapons be familiar to the personnel using them so that training costs and time are kept to a minimum.
Therefore, an approach for retrofitting an M16-type weapon in a manner that overcomes known deficiencies associated with gas-operation of its bolt carrier group would be advantageous, desirable and useful. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to analytical devices and processes, and more particularly, to devices and processes that incorporate electromagnetic write-heads and magneto-resistive read-sensors to detect analytes via nanoparticle-labeled substances.
It is known that antibodies bind with antigens as part of the human disease defense system. Presently, antigens are detected by such techniques as immunofluorescence, immunoperoxidase, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), each of which then employs a microscope for visual detection of the target antigen. It is desirable to exploit the use of magnetic signaling technology to automate the detection of analytes, such as antigens, and to further apply this technology to the detection of any biological matter. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to collapsible luggage trolleys of the type which include an item of luggage, such as a suitcase, which incorporates a conventional handle for carrying the luggage, and a set of wheels by which the luggage may alternatively be towed with the aid of a collapsible handle or similar arrangement.
Luggage trolleys of this type may be either soft-sided or hard-sided i.e. typically made of a rigid plastics material designed to withstand shock and thereby prevent or inhibit damage to the contents of the item of luggage. If the luggage is of the soft-sided variety then the wheels are normally attached to a rigid tubular structure on the other end of which is a handle which may be telescoped outwards for use or may be stored inside or outside one side of the luggage so that it can be carried by the hand by means of a conventional handle or stored away, for example, in the baggage compartment of an aeroplane. With certain known kinds of hard-sided luggage the tubular frame is inserted within the inner wall of one side of the luggage so that only the handle and the wheels at respective upper and lower ends of the luggage are visible externally. If the luggage is required to be towed it is a simple matter to remove the handle from its stored position and telescope it outwardly so as to permit the user to easily tow the luggage along the ground by use of the wheels.
A disadvantage of such known kinds of collapsible luggage is that they all rely upon the ability of the handle to be telescoped outwardly for use or telescoped inwardly for storage.
Because light weight is essential the telescopable tubes attached to the handle for this purpose are usually made of aluminum or a similarly lightweight material. Especially where the luggage is of the soft-side type and the telescopable tubes are on the outside of the luggage, they are prone to damage such that the handle may be difficult to telescope outwardly into its usable position, or if the damage has occurred whilst it has been so extended, difficulty arises in restoring the handle to its stored position.
Even with hard-sided luggage this problem is not entirely alleviated because carelessness in loading or unloading items from the inside of the luggage may result in damage to the tubular members.
A further disadvantage of such known types of luggage trolleys is that the tubular members are somewhat unsightly and also take up additional space which may otherwise be used for storing items inside the luggage, or for reducing the amount of total space the luggage takes in a storage compartment, such as the baggage compartment of an aeroplane if the tubular members are on the outside.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or eliminate the foregoing disadvantages.
According to the invention, there is provided a luggage trolley comprising an item of luggage, wheel means disposed on one side and at one end of the luggage and adapted to permit the luggage to be towed when tilted, and a collapsible handle secured to at least one telescopable member and disposed at or near the end of the luggage remote from the wheel means, characterised in that the trolley comprises or includes a generally rigid housing adapted to be secured to the luggage for containing or including the handle and the at least one telescopable member, the handle being movable between a stored position inside or adjacent to the housing, in which position the or each telescopable member is substantially protected by the housing, and an extended position in which the handle may be used for towing the item of luggage via the wheel means.
Preferably, the housing is of hard rigid plastics material and includes an openable upper lid which is spring biased into a closed position so that when the or each telescopable member and the handle are in their stored positions within the housing, they are not visible when the lid is closed. In an alternative embodiment, the handle may be permanently exposed on the outer surface of the housing which may preferably be formed with recesses which permit the handle to be stored in a contiguous manner so that it does not protrude from the housing itself. Preferably, with such an arrangement the housing also includes additional recesses to permit the user of the handle to grasp it and move it from its stored position to its working position. Conveniently, the handle may include hinge means so that it may be hinged outwards from the housing and then pulled upwards along the or each telescopable member.
Where the housing is to be used with hard-sided luggage, it may conveniently be affixed to the outside thereof, or alternatively affixed to an inner surface of the luggage adjacent an appropriately shaped aperture permitting the handle and the or each telescopable member to be moved from stored to open positions for use.
Where the item of luggage is of the soft-sided kind the housing may preferably be secured to a rigid support member secured to the inside or outside of the luggage between the housing and the to provide rigidity. It will be appreciated that because the housing separately protects the or each telescopable member that any damage caused to such a rigid support member will not affect the operability of the handle. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a strap tightener for tightening a strap to hold heavy loads under tension firmly in a given position. More particularly, this invention relates to a strap tightener in which a specific releasable tensioning and clasping mechanism for a flexible strap is incorporated to tie down heavy loads such as cargo containers and motor vehicles to fixing structures equipped, for example, on carrier vessels or carts for preventing arbitrary movement of such heavy loads while they are fastened.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
In the past, a variety of strap tightening or clasping devices were designed for securely holding cargo and the like objects in position with a strap element. However, these known strap tightening devices more or less accompany such disadvantages as unexpected release of tension while the device is being used, damage of strap elements. Further, the prior art devices require complicate mechanism. For example, the strap securing device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,827 comprises a frame 17 consisting of two spaced side plates and a handle 18 provided with a beam 22 and supported on a pivot 19 extending between the side plates to enable pivotal movement of the handle pivotably. A strap 11 enters in the device through the clearance formed below the pivot and extends around and underneath the pivot. When the handle 18 is moved from the open position to the closed or locked position, the mechanism of this device permits the beam to move around the pivot whereby the strap around the beam is squeezed around the pivot in such a manner that the outer strap around the pivot may clasp itself to the inner strap around the pivot. The device of this type is also seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,055 where a strap tensioning device is disclosed which comprises a frame 15 and a handle 20 provided with a strap engaging beam 23 and pivotably supported on a pivot 19 and functions in the same manner as in the above mentioned strap securing device and in U.K. Pat. No. 966,133 where a buckle for connecting a strap to another strap is disclosed which comprises a body affording a pair of side rails 10, a frame 15 corresponding to the handle disclosed in the above mentioned U.S. patent, and a movable anchorage 25 corresponding to the strap engaging beam. The mechanism used in these devices requires a lock means. In the device disclosed in the firstly mentioned U.S. patent, for example, a combination of a latch 28 and a slot 29 is required to engage the handle firmly with the frame when the former is held in the closed position. Otherwise, the handle may be moved to the open or release position. Further, this mechanism has such a shortcoming that when the strap holding down cargo is loosened by shock or the like external force, the clasping force of the outer strap against the inner strap around the pivot is so weakened as to permit slippage of the cargo.
Another example of the known devices is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,436 where cargo tie-down equipment is disclosed which basically has the same structure as described above except that a toggle lever 27 of this equipment as provided with two beams (a roller pin 32 and a rigid pin 34) and the frame of this equipment is also provided with a cross pin 35. The device of this type succeeds in preventing loosening of the strap holding down cargo but, on the other hand, has such disadvantage wherein the path of the strap running through the pins becomes complicated and a combination of a locking pin and a slot is also required to secure the toggle lever in the closed position.
Further examples of the known devices are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,867,406; 3,050,799 and 4,054,971. The cargo tie-down equipment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,406 comprises as in the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,827 a retainer 26 and a lever 20 rotatably supported on a second pin 25 and provided with a cross pin 18 as a beam and is characterized in that the lever is provided on a pivotal support 21 with a yoke 23. As compared with the mechanism used in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,710,436 or 2,852,827, the mechanism used in this equipment has no need of using a lock means because the force acting in the reverse direction to the strap entering in the equipment is supported by the yoke 23, i.e. the lever 20 in place of the retainer, through the pivotal support 21 and because the force acting on the pivotal support is supported by the lever in the closed position. This mechanism is common to the tiedown buckle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,050,799 which comprises a buckle frame 13 and a lever 11 rotatably supported on a pin 12 and provided with a cross pin 20 as a beam. The clasping device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,971 comprises, as in the case of the equipment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,406, a body X and a lever means Y rotatably supported on a pin member 20 and provided with a stanchion 21 and is characterized in that the lever means is provided on a pin member 23 with a holder Z. The mechanism used in this device is basically equivalent to that used in the above mentioned cargo tiedown equipment and thus has no need of using a lock means, as the force acting in the reverse direction to the strap entering in the device is supported by the lever means through the pin member 23 and the force acting thereon is supported by the lever means in the closed position. A lock means is quite unnecessary in this mechanism but may be used for precaution as represented by a combination of a turn-button 28 and a handle portion 29 in the cargo tie-down equipment or a combination of a detent hole 26 and a projection 27 in the clasping device. The above equipment and devices have a merit of preventing unexpected release of tension, but are unsatisfactory in other aspects; a smooth operation cannot be expected in these devices and damage of a strap element cannot be prevented to a satisfactory degree. Accordingly, there is still a great demand in the field of transportation for developing a new type strap tightener in which the above mentioned drawbacks are all overcome. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to an apparatus for laminating multilayer identification cards which have relief-like surface.
For the manufacture of multilayer identification cards and the like, various methods are known. To manufacture identification cards with a planar surface, for example, use is made of two transparent films between which a paper blank is embedded on which all identification-card data, a passport photograph, and the like are imposed. In a single operation, the two outer layers and the information-carrying layer are so compressed under heat between two plane steel plates that the thermoplastic films, which become slightly pasty, penetrate into the pores of the paper and combine with the paper. Since the surfaces of the steel plates are planar, the surfaces of the identification cards become planar, too. Such cards with planar surfaces are very well suited for series manufacture, but their surfaces have no characteristics whatsoever which could prevent or show any attempted forgery and/or tampering thereof. In addition, the glossy card surface adversely affects the readability of the card data due to reflections under special lighting conditions.
To make it difficult to detach and reapply the transparent films, identification cards are known which have a raised seal, preferably in the picture or signature area. To manufacture such identification cards with raised patterns, the laminating apparatus is equipped with steel plates, for example, in which accurately positioned embossing dies are formed. Since the outer film become soft during the laminating process due to the applied heat, the embossing dies leave a permanent impression on the films (U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,176).
These identification cards have the disadvantage that, by reheating, the thermoplastic films can be "ironed" again and provided with new impressions at any time.
To avoid these disadvantages, identifications cards have been provided in which the paper blank is a security paper and in which the thickness differences of the paper blank, which are caused by watermarks, a safety thread, steel print, and the like, are visually, mechanically, and manually recognizable and detectable on the surface of the finished identification card. In such identification cards, the surface structure cannot be imitated by simple impression, and as a result of the manufacturing process being divided into different steps, subsequent attempts at lamination will be unsuccessful. Despite this very high safety against forgery and tampering, however, the wish for direct application to the card surface of similar raised patterns and particularly steel print has so far gone unfulfilled for lack of a suitable laminating technique. This is true particularly if signature strips provided with sensitive steel print or paper or film strips provided with similar relief print and intended for other purposes are to be laminated directly on to the surface of the identification card by a conventional laminating techniques. The inflexibility of the steel plates and the high laminating pressure damage the raised portions of the surface pattern in such a way that the quality of the identification cards so manufactured will not be satisfactory for the intended purpose of permitting easy verification of the authenticity of the card. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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With reference to gas turbine members, engine members for aircraft, chemical plant materials, engine members for automobile such as turbocharger rotors, and high temperature furnace materials etc., the strength is needed under a high temperature environment and an excellent oxidation resistance is sometimes required. For that reason, a Ni-base alloy and Co-base alloy have been used for such a high-temperature application. For example, as atypical heat-resistant material such as a turbine blade, a Ni-base superalloy which is strengthened by the formation of γ′ phase having an Ll2 structure: Ni3(Al,Ti) is listed. It is preferable that the γ′ phase is used to highly strengthen heat-resistant materials because it has an inverse temperature dependence in which the strength becomes higher with rising temperature.
In the high-temperature application where the corrosion resistance and ductility are required, a commonly used alloy is the Co-base alloy rather than the Ni-base alloy. The Co-base alloy is highly strengthened with M23C6 or MC type carbide. Co3Ti and Co3Ta etc. which have the same Ll2-type structure as the crystal structure of the γ′ phase of the Ni-base alloy have been reported as strengthening phases. However, Co3Ti has a low melting point and Co3Ta has a low stability at high temperature. Thus, in the case of using materials made with Co3Ti and Co3Ta as strengthening phases, the upper limit of the operating temperature is only about 750° C. even when alloy elements are added. A process including steps of: adding Ni, Al, and Ti etc., precipitating, and strengthening with the γ′ phase [Ni3(Al,Ti)] has been reported in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 59-129746, however, a significant strengthening equal to that of the Ni-base alloy has not been obtained. A process for precipitating and strengthening by using Co3AlC phase having an E21-type intermetallic compound, which has the crystal structure similar to the γ′ phase (JP-A No. 10-102175) has also been examined. However, it has not yet been put to practical use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Accepting customer signatures for credit card transactions places fairly significant cost and functional burdens on a business. When a retailer uses paper receipts the retailer typically: prints multiple receipts (one for the customer, one for the retailer, etc.), requests that the customer sign at least one copy, and stores/archives their original signed receipt (often maintaining a huge volume of original signed receipts).
If the retailer is deploying an electronic signature capturing technology, then the retailer must have an expensive specific type of transaction terminal (an Electronic Payment Terminal (e.g. VERIFONE®, etc.) or have an expensive digitizer device (e.g. TOPAZ®, etc.) somewhere in the retailer's system. In some retail environments, such as quick service environments, having a separate signature-capture device on the counter doesn't make sense because it would occupy counter space, which is already a limited and valued commodity. Moreover, the addition of a separate signature-capture device adds expense to any Point-Of-Sale (POS) solution deployed by a retailer.
Still further, even though laws have been relaxed in terms of when a signature is required by a retailer for a credit card purchase (based on the value of the purchase), retailers still must have manual or automated mechanisms in place to account for any purchase that does require signature record keeping. Thus, the retailer cannot avoid signature processing and the concomitant expenses and burdens associated therewith.
Accordingly, there is a need for a lower-cost and more efficient mechanism for signature processing. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power transmission apparatus used for four-wheel drive vehicles, for instance, and more specifically to a power transmission apparatus for transmitting power via viscous resistance of viscous fluid applied to a plurality of resistance plates arranged within a working chamber of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of the above-mentioned power transmission apparatus is disclosed as a viscous coupling apparatus in Japanese Published Unexamined (Kokai) Patent Application No. 58-50349. In this viscous coupling apparatus, a plurality of resistance plates are arranged on the casing side and the shaft side, respectively along the axial direction thereof so as to be alternately opposite to each other and extend in the radical direction thereof within a working chamber filled with a viscous fluid (e.g. silicon oil). Therefore, when either of the casing or shaft is rotated, power is transmitted from one to the other via fluid viscous resistance generated by relative rotation between these resistance plates.
In the above-mentioned prior-art power transmission apparatus or viscous coupling apparatus, however, the working chamber is airtightly formed by sealing members disposed between the casing and two accel shafts and further the resistance plates fixed to the shaft side within the working chamber filled with viscous fluid are arranged along splines formed on the outer circumferential surface of an end of each of the two accel shafts. Therefore, it has been impossible to subassemble the apparatus after the viscous fluid is put into the working chamber. In other words, since the viscous fluid is put after the resistance plates have been assemble and further the sealing members have been attached during vehicle assembly process, there exists a problem in that vehicle assembly work is complicated and therefore vehicle assembly reliability is deteriorated.
To overcome the above-mentioned problem, another prior-art viscous coupling apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined (Kokai) Patent Appli. No. 62-165032. In this apparatus, the working chamber is formed by an outer cylindrical member, two side flanges formed integral with the outer cylindrical member on both the sides thereof, and a hub arranged on the inner circumferential side of the side flanges. Further, a plurality of resistance plates are arranged along the axial direction and alternately fixed to the inner circumferential wall of the, outer cylindrical member and the outer circumferential surface of the hub so as to extend in the radical direction within a working chamber filled with viscous fluid. The inner circumference of the hub is linked with an input shaft to which power is applied and further loosely fitted to the side flanges. Sealing members are disposed at the fitting portion between the hub and the side flanges to form an airtight working chamber.
The above-mentioned second prior-art viscous coupling apparatus has such an advantage as to enable the apparatus to be subassembled; however, since a hub is provided along the axial direction, there exists another problem in that the volume or the radical length of the working chamber is reduced and therefore it is difficult to obtain desired performance. To overcome this problem when the axial length of the working chamber is increased, the apparatus is inevitably increased both in size and weight.
In addition, since the inner circumference of the hub must be centered with respect to the apparatus axis and further the outer circumference of the hub must be centered with respect to the outer cylindrical member, there exist other problems in that the manufacturing process and assembly process are difficult. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of fabricating integrated circuits, and, more particularly, to resistors formed above the semiconductor layer in complex integrated circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern integrated circuits, a very high number of individual circuit elements, such as field effect transistors in the form of CMOS, NMOS, PMOS elements, resistors, capacitors and the like, are formed on a single chip area. Typically, feature sizes of these circuit elements are steadily decreasing with the introduction of every new circuit generation to provide currently available integrated circuits with an improved degree of performance in terms of speed and/or power consumption. A reduction in size of transistors is an important aspect in steadily improving device performance of complex integrated circuits, such as CPUs. The reduction in size commonly brings about an increased switching speed, thereby enhancing signal processing performance.
In addition to the large number of transistor elements, a plurality of passive circuit elements, such as capacitors and resistors, are typically formed in integrated circuits as required by the basic circuit layout. Due to the decreased dimensions of circuit elements, not only the performance of the individual transistor elements may be increased, but also their packing density may be improved, thereby providing the potential for incorporating increased functionality into a given chip area. For this reason, highly complex circuits have been developed, which may include different types of circuits, such as analog circuits, digital circuits and the like, thereby providing entire systems on a single chip (SoC).
Although transistor elements are the dominant circuit element in highly complex integrated circuits which substantially determine the overall performance of these devices, other components, such as capacitors and resistors, may be required, wherein the size of these passive circuit elements may also have to be adjusted with respect to the scaling of the transistor elements in order to not unduly consume valuable chip area. Moreover, the passive circuit elements, such as the resistors, may have to be provided with a high degree of accuracy in order to meet tightly set margins according to the basic circuit design. For example, even in substantially digital circuit designs, corresponding resistance values may have to be provided within tightly set tolerance ranges so as to not unduly contribute to operational instabilities and/or enhanced signal propagation delay. For example, in sophisticated applications, resistors may frequently be provided in the form of “integrated polysilicon” resistors, which may be formed above the semiconductor layer and/or respective isolation structures so as to obtain the desired resistance value without significantly contributing to parasitic capacitance, as may be the case in “buried” resistive structures which may be formed within the active semiconductor layer. A typical polysilicon resistor may thus require the deposition of the basic polysilicon material which may frequently be combined with the deposition of a polysilicon gate electrode material for the transistor elements. During the patterning of the gate electrode structures, the resistors may also be formed, the size of which may significantly depend on the basic specific resistance value of the polysilicon material and the subsequent type of dopant material and concentration that may be incorporated into the resistors so as to adjust the resistance values. Since, typically, the resistance value of doped polysilicon material may be a non-linear function of the dopant concentration, thereby typically requiring specific implantation processes, independent of any other implantation sequences for adjusting the basic transistor characteristic, which may thus result in a moderately high complex manufacturing sequence. Furthermore, due to the ongoing shrinkage of the critical dimensions of the transistors, the resistor elements may also have to be reduced in size, while also typically requiring a reduction of the specific resistance, which in turn may necessitate the usage of higher dopant concentrations. For this reason, in conventional techniques, the demand for reduced specific resistance values of the basic resistor material in view of an overall size reduction of the lateral dimensions of the resistor elements is typically addressed by increasing the dopant dose, which may, however, require an over-proportionally long implantation time, since an increase of the dopant concentration may result in a significantly less pronounced increase of the conductivity due to the non-linear behavior. Furthermore, cycle times for the corresponding implantation processes may also cause increase of the overall process time and may thus contribute to the overall production costs. Therefore, frequently, a different dopant species may be used, which may allow reduced implantation times for a given desired high dopant concentration. In still other approaches, the lateral size of the resistors may be increased so as to obtain the desired resistance values for a given specific resistance, which, however, may not be compatible with the demand for reducing the overall dimensions of integrated circuits in order to provide a reduced chip size, thereby reducing overall production costs, or incorporating an increased amount of functions into a given chip area. In still other conventional approaches, the thickness of the basic polysilicon material may be increased so as to provide an increased cross-sectional area of the corresponding resistor elements, which, however, may require significant modifications of the overall process flow, in particular when polysilicon gate electrodes and the resistors may have to be formed in a common process flow.
The present disclosure is directed to various methods and devices that may avoid, or at least reduce, the effects of one or more of the problems identified above. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ventilation system for an underground structure, and more particularly to, a ventilation system for an underground structure which can internally supply fresh outdoor air by individually sucking and discharging air through fans of underground shafts in the underground structure such as an underground parking lot, underground warehouse, subway space, underground sporting place and underground hangar.
The ventilation system for the underground structure cuts down initial expenses for installing air supply/exhaust fans, fan rooms, large fans and an apparatus room, efficiently uses the underground space, reduces noises, cuts down maintenance expenses, and optimizes ventilation in the underground structure, by sucking fresh outdoor air and discharging used air on each floor with a low price and a simple structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a high-rise apartment building or high-rise building has an underground parking lot for conveniences of residents or tenants, and also has an underground warehouse in some cases. Military installations are installed underground for security.
However, air circulation is not efficiently performed by natural ventilation in the underground structure such as the underground parking lot and underground warehouse of the building and the underground military installations. Exhaust gases and other residual gases of vehicles are harmful to users. Therefore, air circulation is performed by forcible ventilation.
For example, in the underground parking lot, as illustrated in FIG. 1, shafts 1 are formed to pass through the underground parking lots on a few floors, air supply fan rooms 2 for supplying air and air exhaust fan rooms 3 for exhausting air are formed on each floor, air supply fans 2a for supplying air into the underground parking lot are installed in the air supply fan rooms 2, and air exhaust fans 3a for exhausting air from the underground parking lot are installed in the air exhaust fan rooms 3. In FIG. 1, the air supply fan rooms 2 and the air exhaust fan rooms 3 are disposed in the vertically identical positions on each floor, which is different from the real structure.
In the underground parking lot, various fans and ducts are installed to form passages between the air supply fans 2a and the air exhaust fans 3a, thereby efficiently discharging exhaust gases or other harmful gases of vehicles.
However, the air supply fans and the air exhaust fans are large-sized, to require fan rooms having a predetermined space. Accordingly, initial expenses are increased and the space of the parking lot is not efficiently used. Moreover, a lot of power is needed for the operation, noises are seriously generated, maintenance and repair expenses are increased, and the indoor environment is deteriorated.
On the other hand, ‘Ventilation system for underground structure’ applied for registration under Patent Application No. 10-2000-0085060 by the present applicants shows the improvements of the conventional ventilation system for the underground structure described above. FIG. 2 illustrates the ventilation system for the underground structure.
The ventilation system for the underground structure includes a duct 4 vertically installed along a shaft 1 of the underground structure, a fan 5 installed in the lowermost portion of the duct 4, for sucking air from the shaft 1 and supplying air to the duct 4, secondary nozzles 7 installed in openings formed on the wall of the shaft 1 in the underground structure side, and primary nozzles 6 installed in the duct 4 toward the centers of the secondary nozzles 7. It is intended to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional ventilation system.
However, the ventilation system is installed by connecting the nozzles to each fan, which requires a lot of power of the fans. The fans have a relatively large volume, and thus are not easily installed. In addition, noises are seriously generated. In case the fans are not operated, the whole ventilation system is stopped. That is, the whole control operation thereof is not easy. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Numerous padlock constructions have been developed and are widely employed by individuals to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to any particular item or area which has been closed and locked. Although many locks are constructed to be opened by a key, numerous combination lock constructions have been developed which are opened by knowledge of a particular combination.
One particular type of combination lock that has become very popular due to its ease and convenience of use is a combination lock which employs a plurality of rotatable independent dials, each of which forms one of the indicia, usually numerals or letters, which comprise the combination for releasing the lock. Typically, the combination lock has one mode or position in which the user is able to set or reset the desired combination sequence. Although locks of this general nature have been available for several decades, these prior art combination lock constructions suffer from common deficiencies which have not been successfully overcome.
Although many manufacturers have attempted to solve the problems associated with rotatable dial or combination locks, one principal difficulty and drawback these prior art constructions have been unable to overcome is a construction which assures the user that a preset combination will not be accidentally or inadvertently altered or changed, without the user's knowledge. In such instances when the known combination is unknowingly changed or altered without the user's knowledge, the entire combination lock is incapable of future use, since the user is typically unable to release the shackle from locked engagement with the housing.
In addition, although key operated locks do not suffer from the difficulty of having the combination changed or altered without the user's knowledge, users are frequently incapable of using key operated locks, due to the key being lost or misplaced. As a result, prior art key operated locks are also frequently discarded due to the user's inability to find a particular key for operating the lock.
Another common problem which has consistently plagued prior art constructions is the cost of construction for producing and assembling prior art padlocks, whether the padlock is key operated or combination operated. In order to attain a padlock which provides all of the features desired by consumers, prior art constructions typically incorporate numerous small components, each of which require expensive assembly procedures to produce the final product. As a result, these prior art lock constructions are expensive to produce, thereby reducing the ability of these locks to reach a broad base of consumers.
Another problem commonly found with prior art padlocks is the inability of these prior art constructions to prevent contaminants from reaching the rotatable, internal component of the lock, thereby causing damage to these components or interfering with the ease of operating the lock by an individual who either knows the actual combination or has the activating key. Although numerous attempts have been made to reduce the adverse effects caused by contaminants reaching these components, such attempts have been incapable of completely eliminating in this problem.
A final, still further difficulty, which has recently arisen and affects both combination locks and key operated locks, is a requirement that all secured locks must be broken by Customs officers, and/or inspection or security personnel in order to gain access to luggage which is deemed suspicious. Under new security regulations that is being implemented, all luggage must be scanned or inspected to prevent the transportation of potentially dangerous items or products which are deemed to be undesirable. In those instances when luggage is scanned and further visual inspection is required, the inspectors have the authority to open the luggage for visual inspection, including physically breaking any lock which may be on the luggage.
Consequently, with these new regulations presently implemented, all prior art lock systems which are incapable of being opened by inspectors and/or security personnel are subject to be physically broken, in order to gain access to any luggage which needs to be visually inspected. As a result, consumers will now be faced with the possibility that any lock system employed to protect the contents of a suitcase can be physically removed by security personnel, leaving the luggage completely unprotected during the remainder of the trip. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Graphical user interfaces have become standard fare on most computers sold today. For example, versions of the MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system provide a graphical user interface in which a pointer is positionable over windows on a screen via an input device such as a mouse or a trackball. Clicking a button on the input device when the pointer is positioned over a given feature of the window, such as a control, registers with the program hosting the window, such that the program performs a given functionality associated with the control. For example, moving the pointer over a “save” button in a window hosted by a word processing program, and clicking a button on the application programs in the MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system. ACTIVEX controls are known within the art, and are described in Adam Denning, ActiveX Controls Inside Out (ISBN 1-57231-350-1) (1997), and David Chappell, Understanding ActiveX and OLE (ISBN 1-57231-216-5) (1996), both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. For example, in the Chappell book, on page 205, is states that qualifying as an ActiveX control (OLE Controls technology was renamed ActiveX Controls) requires only support for the IUnknown interface and the ability to self-register with the system registry. Using ACTIVEX controls that have already been created means that computer programmers do not have to “reinvent the wheel”—that is, they do not have to create controls that have been already created by others.
However, for many programmers normally accustomed to only the WIN32 API, using ACTIVEX controls in MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating system-intended programs is not straightforward. A programmer may, for example, have to write original “container code,” so that the ACTIVEX control may be hosted within a window via the container code. Again, many programmers may not be experienced in creation of such container code. Furthermore, hosting ACTIVEX controls within application program windows may require the programmer to have experience in Component Object Model (COM) objects, which the programmer may not have. COM is known within the art, and is described in Dale Rogerson, Inside COM (ISBN 1-57231-349-8) (1997), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Thus, even if having access to a large number of ACTIVEX controls, a programmer may still not be able to easily include them in a given computer program under development.
A limited solution to this problem is provided by the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC). ACTIVEX controls may be accessible through MFC for programmers who use the computer language C++ to develop computer programs. a significant disadvantage is presented to those programmers who do not utilize C++ to develop programs. That is, because MFC is typically not accessible except through C++, a computer programmer without such knowledge may find himself or herself still unable to utilize existing ACTIVEX user interface controls within computer programs the Again, however, programmer may be developing.
There is a need, therefore, for permitting computer programmers to include ACTIVEX controls in their programs in an easy-to-understand and straightforward fashion. That is, there is a need for permitting computer programmers to include ACTIVEX controls in their programs without having to resort to COM, or MFC (via C++). Ideally, a programmer should be able to include ACTIVEX controls in a computer program using precepts and constructs already familiar to him or her. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to stoppers for medicine vials and bottles.
Medicine vessels, usually vials or bottles, for storing medicinal liquids and powders, and for containing specimens, usually liquids, for testing or other procedures, can be constructed of many different types of materials, including glass and various plastics. Openings in these vessels to allow access to their contents are usually sealed by stoppers or diaphragms.
One type of stopper that is commonly used is tapered, much like a cork, such that the integrity of the seal between the stopper and the vessel increases as the stopper passes further into an opening in the vessel adapted to receive it. Other stoppers that have been used are custom shaped to conform to the internal contours of the vessel's opening. Still others act as caps, shaped so that they can snap closed over an opening in the bottle or vial. It is also possible to crimp a stopper onto a lip formed in the bottle or vial. Such prior art stoppers are usually constructed of rubber or like elastomeric materials, or relatively rigid materials, e.g. rigid plastics.
One type of stopper in common use permits a sharp object to be used to access the vessel's contents. Such sharp objects include needles, spikes (when relatively large volumes must be extracted from a vessel) and hoses (for pumping). Most commonly, a syringe's needle is forced through a stopper in the vessel to access the vessel's contents. The force required to pierce the stopper often causes users to accidentally strike themselves with the sharp object used, causing abrasions or even deep puncture wounds.
Today, it is not uncommon for hospital patients to have infectious diseases, such as AIDS and hepatitis, that are transferable through exchange of body fluids. When a doctor, nurse or medical technician is accidentally wounded with a sharp object that has been contaminated with infectious disease organisms, there is a high probability that that person will become infected as well. Stoppers that allow access to the contents of medicine vessels while obviating the need to handle sharp objects are thus highly desirable, in that they will reduce or eliminate exposure by medical personnel to body fluid-borne infectious diseases, as well as to abrasions and puncture wounds. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of sod harvesters, and more specifically, to a sod harvester with a flap control device fir consistently and neatly rolling pieces of sod so that the end of the flap is situated at roughly the same position on each roll of sod.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sod harvesters for cutting strips of sod from the ground, rolling them into sod rolls, and stacking the sod rolls onto pallets have existed for a number of years. Various sod harvester innovations have been patented, several of which relate to the rolling of sod pieces, and at least one of which has attempted to solve the same problem as the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,584 discloses a sod roller for automatically controlling the angular position of the end or flap of a roll of sod about the roll. The latter invention differs structurally from the present invention in a number of respects, including, but not limited to, the fact that it utilizes three conveyors rather than two, and it also incorporates a sensor for measuring displacement of the transport conveyor. The transport conveyor sensor is not needed in the present invention.
When sod is sold at commercial establishments, it is typically stacked several rows high on a pallet. The more neatly the stack appears, the more likely it is to be sold. In addition, neatly stacked rolls are less likely to fall off of the pallet. In both of these respects, the placement of the end of the flap on the sod roll is important. If the end of the flap is located at roughly the same position on each of the sod rolls, this creates a more uniform appearance and adds stability to the overall configuration of the sod rolls. The present invention is designed to ensure that the end of the flap on a roll of sod is situated at roughly the same position on each roll of sod that comes off of the sod harvester.
Other innovations relating to sod rollers include U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,096 (Brouwer, 1974) (device for starting a turn in the end of a sod strip); U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,691 (Watton, 1979) (apparatus for starting a turn in a strip of sod travelling along a conveyor); U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,729 (Brouwer et al., 2004) (pre-starter for starting a turn in the end of a sod strip travelling up a conveyor); and U.S. Patent Application No. 2001/0050174 (Van Vuuren) (in one embodiment, incorporating a rolling conveyor between the receiving and discharge ends of the conveyor head for purposes of rolling cut grass sods). None of these innovations, however, is concerned with the consistent positioning of the end of the flap on the sod roll. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a viscous fluid coupling device. In particular, the present invention is concerned with a dual face wiper of a viscous fluid fan clutch for a vehicle.
2. Statement of the Related Art
A thermostatically-controlled viscous fluid clutch assembly for driving and rotating a vehicle cooling fan is well-known. A multi-bladed fan is removably secured to a body of the clutch assembly. The fan and clutch assembly are Installed between an accessory pulley of a vehicle engine (typically the water pump pulley) and a radiator. The clutch assembly drives the fan at high speeds close to input speed when cooling is required and permits the fan to rotate at low speeds when cooling is not required. Thermostatic control of the fan through the clutch assembly reduces the load on an engine and the noise caused by fan rotation, resulting in horsepower gain and improved fuel economy.
Generally, a clutch plate, housed within the clutch assembly, having lands and grooves is mated to the body having complementary lands and grooves. A pump plate separates a pair of internally-contained chambers, a receiving chamber and a collecting chamber, from a reservoir. Gates in the pump plate permit selective flow of a viscous fluid from the reservoir to the receiving chamber and Into a shear zone between the lands and grooves of the bodY and clutch plate. Fluid shear in the lands and grooves transfers input torque from the clutch plate to drive the body and the attached fan.
When cooling is not required, gates in the pump plate are closed and the fluid in the shear zone is pumped into the receiving chamber. Orifices in the pump plate permit passage of the fluid from the receiving chamber into the reservoir. The removal of a majority of the fluid from the shear zone substantially reduces the shear between the clutch plate and the body, thereby substantially reducing the rotation of the fan.
It is well-known to provide wiper elements on a surface of the pump plate in communication with the receiving chamber. A wiper, which can be formed as a thin, flat element, is secured to the pump plate (usually by welding) adjacent each pump plate orifice. In other embodiments, a wiper may be formed by stamping a cylindrical projection in a pump plate. As the wiper encounters fluid in the receiving chamber, an increase in fluid pressure occurs as the wiper creates a fluid dam. The increase in fluid pressure results in increased fluid flow through a pump plate orifice.
To further enhance the pumping ability of a wiper, it is well-known to provide a "scoop" and surface on a wiper. A scoop end surface is a curved surface of the wiper positioned adjacent a pump plate orifice. The curved surface includes an inlet or "bay" portion which receives oncoming fluid in the collecting chamber and creates a fluid dam.
In conventional fan clutches, the wiper must be secured to the pump plate so that the scoop surface encounters oncoming fluid. If a wiper is improperly positioned on the pump plate so that the scoop surface does not encounter oncoming fluid, then the advantages of the scoop surface will not be realized.
Fan clutches are designed to be rotated in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, depending upon the application. A critical aspect of conventional fan clutch assembly includes the inclusion of a pump plate having a wiper scoop surface oriented for the proper direction. Separate pump plate inventories are maintained for clockwise and counterclockwise clutch assemblies. Careful attention is employed to ensure that the proper pump plate is assembled with the respective assembly.
The art continues to seek improvements. It is desirable that a viscous fluid clutch assembly provide thermostatic operation of a fan when cooling is required. Furthermore, it is desirable that a clutch assembly be capable of either clockwise or counterclockwise rotation, depending upon the requirements of the application. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to counterbalance-type heavy lift cranes for use in the construction industry, and more particularly to a pivotally-mounted, reeved counterweight system connected to the rearward end of the crane deck or platform of a mobile or fixed counterbalance type crane assembly.
Most construction companies will have one or more general, all-purpose truck crane or crawler cranes which are used in the majority of lifting and moving projects encountered in a typical construction project. Such cranes currently have reached the size and weight limitations for ease of transport among the various job sites on public roads while the lifting capacity requirements of the construction industry have continued to increase.
Designers of portable lift cranes have been faced with the problem of creating a portable crane that is readily transportable among the various job sites within existing highway size and weight regulations while increasing the lift capacity of the crane. There have been various methods of making the counterweights both rearwardly extendible from the crane platform or deck as well as removable from either the platform or from their connection from behind the crane and platform.
Removable counterweight and counterweights detachable from the crane for transportation by another vehicle have been built and are known. The problem with removable counterweights is that they require perhaps another crane to place and remove the counterweight between the crane and a transport vehicle. Other removable counterweight systems require substantial disassembly to reduce their weight for transportation. Wheeled counterweights that rigidly and rearwardly extend from a counterweight arm on the platform are plagued with the problem of jerking the boom of the crane, as they move or rotate simultaneously. Also, such wheeled counterweights do not provide adequate counterweight for most cranes. Most of their counterweight force is borne by the wheels on the ground and not by the counterweight arm or boom thereby decreasing the lift capacity of the crane while still problematically increasing the total mass of the crane assembly.
Another problem with counterweights that extend from the counterweight arm or the deck of the crane is structural stress upon the deck or counterweight arm and the rotational pivot point of the deck. This stress is caused by having the counterweight located substantially rearward of the rotation point of the deck and having such counterweights substantially supported by the deck or counterweight arm which causes structural fatigue or buckling of portions of the deck or platform.
Apart from counterweighting the boom, crane backward stability is also important. The crane industry is looking for a simple and lower cost method of counterweighting a crane to prevent forward tipping where the problem of backward stability is also solved. In the past, backward crane stability, which must be considered in designing a crane, required extensive assembly time with costly components. One such example is the AMERICAN SKY HORSE.RTM. made by the American Hoist & Derrick Company. The SKY HORSE.RTM. sells for around $400,000.
There is a need for a counterweight system for a counterbalance-type crane with a counterweight arm extending rearwardly from the crane's rotatable deck or platform. Such a system suitably would include a pivotally-mounted wheeled counterweight carriage that would not put excessive stress forces or fatigue on the counterweight arm or crane platform. Such a system should greatly increase the crane's lifting capacity limited only by the structural limitations of the other elements of the crane assembly such as the ropes, pendants, and perhaps the boom itself. The system should assemble quickly and cost under $100,000. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In the present processing of mail pieces, such as flats, envelopes and packages, facer canceller machines are designed to take specific size items. Automatic facer cancellers are available for cancelling letters and facer canceller tables are used to cancel flats manually. A letter generally has a width of 3 to 6.12 inches and a length of 41/4 to 11.5 inches whereas a flat will generally have a width between 6.12 and 15 inches and a length between 11.5 and 15 inches. Presently the segregation of mail pieces is carried out by hand, the operator placing the letters into a facer canceller and flats onto a facer canceller table. It obviously would be desirable to be able to provide a system that would be able to segregate letters and flats as well as other sized documents. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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It is known in the prior art to form and make available coreless rolls of toilet tissue, paper toweling and the like. Such products incorporate no inner core and are comprised wholly of a plurality of convolutions of the paper itself. A central opening is defined by the innermost roll of convolution and the central opening can accommodate spindles and shafts to support the roll as it is dispensed by being unwound by a consumer.
Of course, if some means is not provided to prevent end-wise movement of the roll relative to the support spindle or shaft, the roll may be removed in its entirety simply by manually pulling it end-wise from the spindle or shaft.
One approach for preventing end-wise removal of a coreless roll from its support is to position the roll and support within the confines of a cabinet. Cabinets, however, add to the cost of the dispenser, may be inconvenient to service, and are not always appropriate for use.
Mechanisms have been devised for the purpose of resisting end-wise removal of a roll product from its support. U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,822, issued Feb. 19, 1974, for example, discloses a tissue roll holder including a support member adapted for fixed mounting to a wall and a sleeve rotatably and permanently mounted thereon, the sleeve being provided with a plurality of sharp prongs for penetration of and locking engagement with the tubular core of a conventional roll of tissue placed thereon to prevent removal of the roll.
The device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,822 is inappropriate for use with coreless paper rolls such as coreless toilet tissue rolls and paper towel rolls. The prongs illustrated in the patent, due to their sharp and relatively shallow nature, would engage only a very few inner convolutions of a coreless roll and cause them to tear upon application of minimal end-wise force on the roll by a person attempting to remove the roll from its support. Also, the prongs can possibly injure a person using or servicing the device.
A search directed to the present invention located the following United States patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,389, issued Nov. 25, 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,915, issued Jan. 15, 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,391, issued Feb. 3, 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,631, issued Nov. 7, 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,179, issued Aug. 4, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,423, issued Oct. 12, 1971, U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,434, issued Jul. 15, 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,678, issued Feb. 9, 1982, and U.S. Pat. Des. 246,021, issued Oct. 11, 1977.
The above-identified patents do not address the problems discussed above and solved by the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit used in a microprocessor and in particular, to an information processing device, which mounts a hardware accelerator for translating codes in a given intermediate language into instructions specific to each of microprocessor types.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, applications written in the Java™ language have been increasingly used in cell phones and mobile computers. Java developed by Sun Microsystems is an object-oriented programming language analogous to C++. Note that “Java” is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems. Java has been widely accepted for such a reason that Java programs are executed after being translated from the codes in the intermediate language into the instructions specific to each of microprocessor CPU types using a virtual machine. With the virtual machine mounted, any CPU has a high portability because Java applications can be executed whatever be the CPU type. Note that the intermediate language describes the codes, also called bytecodes, compiled for obtaining the executable Java object program.
As commonly known, since the virtual machine (hereafter, simply referred to as “VM”), which is generally provided by software (hereafter, simply referred to as “soft VM”), interprets and executes individual bytecodes using an interpreter, causing its processing speed to slow, an attempt to speed up processing is made by executing frequently used bytecodes on hardware in some cases. One of these cases is disclosed in PC 2000-507015 (WO 98/21655, PCT/U.S. 07/20980).
Prior to submission of the present application, the inventors of the present invention evaluated consistency between the result from translation of the intermediate language codes (bytecodes) by soft VM and that by hardware typically as in the Java language mentioned above. This means that if hardware is used in translating the bytecodes into instructions in the target language specific to the computer (hereafter, simply referred to as CPU instructions), it is ideal that all the bytecodes can be translated by hardware. Some bytecodes, however, have complex functions and when they are translated, a large amount of CPU codes may be generated ranging from several tens to several hundreds. For this reason, since it is difficult to execute all the bytecodes by hardware, only some of bytecodes are processed by it. This avoids scaling up of hardware involved in executing all the bytecodes by hardware only. Thus, it is required to switch between hardware processing and software processing as appropriate when bytecodes are translated.
FIGS. 9A and 9B show schematic views explaining how to switch between hardware processing and software processing according to the present invention. FIG. 9A shows application software APP1 (the bytecodes) and application software APP2 (the CPU codes), both of which are located on a memory map. Since APP2 is described by a CPU instruction NC, it can be directly executed with no need for translation.
On the contrary, before APP1 (the bytecode) can be executed, it must have been translated into its corresponding CPU instructions. The instructions used in APP1 may be grouped into the following three types from the standpoint of translation and execution. Specifically, C1 is an instruction in the first group of bytecodes and translated by soft VM. This means that C1 is the instruction not supported by a hardware translator. The next C2 is the instruction in the second group of bytecodes and translated by the hardware translator. The third C3 is the instruction in the third group of bytecodes and indicates an action to be taken when a Java run-time exception occurs during execution. The Java run-time exception occurs when the semantic constraint of the Java language is violated. For example, the exception, which occurs when an integer is divided by a divisor 0 (zero), is defined as Arithmetic Exception. When the Java run-time exception is detected, the control is transferred to soft VM and the exception is processed by an error handling routine integrated in soft VM. Since neglecting C3 may induce runaway of the microcomputer itself, any correct error handling action must always be taken.
FIG. 9B shows execution status of a group of C1 to C3 instructions. S indicates the process executed by soft VM while H indicates that by hardware. At this point, to switch from S to H, a hardware start-up process ACT_H must be added and to switch from H to S, a hardware end and soft VM start-up process END_H must be added. The inventors are aware that if switching between S and H are frequently performed using enable and disable instructions for enabling and disabling execution by hardware or if the Java exception occurs during execution by hardware, ACT_H or END_H might occur, causing the processing speed to slow. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to novel sintered refractory products exhibiting enhanced thermal shock resistance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among refractory products, fused-cast products and sintered products may be distinguished.
Contrary to sintered products, fused-cast products most often have an intergranular glassy phase linking the crystallized grains. The problems posed by sintered products and fused-cast products and the technical solutions for solving them are thus generally different. A mixture developed for manufacturing a fused-cast product therefore is not a priori usable as such for manufacturing a sintered product and vice versa.
Sintered products, depending on their chemical composition and mode of preparation, are intended to be used in a wide variety of industrial applications.
Examples of sintered products include, in particular, alumina-zirconia-silica products, usually referred to as AZS, as well as so-called aluminous products, which are used, in particular, in certain regions of glassmaking furnaces.
Products such are those described in patent FR 2 552 756 in the name of Emhart Industries are generally appropriate for such an application. Products such as BPAL, ZA33 or ZIRAL, which are manufactured and marketed by Saint-Gobain SefPro are also particularly well suited and presently widely used in certain regions of glassmaking furnaces.
Also known from EP 0 404 610 are refractory mixtures containing monoclinic zirconia, from which products exhibiting outstanding thermal shock resistance can be obtained.
However, glass or energy producing industries need refractory products exhibiting ever greater levels of performance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to point-of-sale systems and, in particular, to point-of-sale systems, which utilize both a scale and a scanner.
It is customary in supermarkets and certain other retail environments, where food is sold, to utilize a point-of-sale system having an optical scanner and a scale at designated checkout counters. Bar codes on objects or articles being purchased are read by the scanner so as to permit identification of the articles. Non-bar coded articles, priced per units of weight, are weighed by the scale and the total weight is communicated to the checkout terminal, which is situated at the checkout counter. The checkout terminal then computes the price of the article.
In most point-of-sale systems in present use, the scanner is physically separate from the scale. These separate locations require a checkout clerk to move articles a greater distance and perform more lifting. The combination of greater distance and fatigue increase the checkout time.
A number of checkout systems have been designed to alleviate the excessive handling and, hence, speed-up the check-out process. U.S. Pat No. 4,881,606, issued Nov. 21, 1989, for "Point-Of-Sale Apparatus" discloses a weighing scale which is adapted to be placed directly over an optical scanner. Such placement of the weighing scale enables the operator to perform both the article weighing and article identification at the same time, thereby speeding up check-out time and reducing operator fatigue.
Other systems have been designed in which the optical scanner and scale have been incorporated or combined into an integrated unit. These systems also allow for continual scanning and weighing at a central location, thereby likewise reducing check-out time. Examples of such integrated systems are NCR's Model 7824, Spectra Physics' Model 760 SLS and ICL/Datachecker's ORION scanner/scale units.
In addition to shorter check-out time, another concern in designing point-of-sale scanner/scale systems is to realize enhanced life expectancy of the system components. In the scanner portion of the system, there are two primary sources of failure. One is the laser tube, which typically degrades over a useful life ranging from ten thousand hours to twenty thousand hours. The other is the spindle motor used to rotate a mirror assembly which interacts with the laser to generate a scanning beam. The bearings of the motor wear and become noisy over a useful life ranging from eight thousand hours to fifteen thousand hours.
In present systems, increased life expectancy of these components is realized by shutting off the power to the components when the scanner is not in use. In most systems an on/off switch is provided and the operator is directed to turn the power off whenever the scanner is idle for a predetermined time period. However, in practice, this is frequently forgotten, resulting in continual scanner operation. There are also known scanners which contain logic to automatically power down critical components when no valid bar codes are detected over a predetermined time period. In one scanner of this type, the scanner is restarted by the operator pressing a manual restart button which is located on top of the scanner. In another scanner, the operator must make a scanning motion past a proximity detector.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a scanner/scale system in which power is provided to the scanner components in an improved manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a scanner/scale system in which power is provided to the scanner components in a way which improves their life expectancy and which reduces the need for conscious intervention by an operator.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to realize the above-stated objects in a scanner/scale system in which the scanner and scale are integrated into a single unit.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a scale for achieving the aforementioned objects. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to luminous dot sighting instruments and more particularly to such instruments used in connection with a telescope on a firearm as an aid to sighting the firearm on a target.
Optical sighting instruments having a sighting tube have included cross hairs in the tube to define the optical center of the instrument. The user, such as a firearm marksman, looks into the sight and places the cross hairs on the target in the view to aim the firearm. The cross hairs are illuminated by light from the view. At twilight, in haze or fog and at other times when visibility is low, the cross hairs are difficult to see, and at night they cannot be seen at all. One solution to this problem has been the luminous dot sighting instrument.
A luminous dot sighting instrument is used to view a target and is usually attached to a rifle or other firearm to sight the rifle on the target. The luminous dot is generated inside the instrument and is superimposed on the view of the target by a transparent mirror in the instrument. The mirror is transparent to light from the target scene and reflects light from the luminous dot. In this way the luminous dot is superimposed on the target scene as viewed through the instrument and serves the purpose of the cross hairs. Thus, this type of sighting instrument is called a reflex luminous dot sighting instrument. It does not depend on light from the view and can be made as bright as desired by the user by controlling the brightness of the luminous dot source.
The instrument is often a sighting tube containing the transparent mirror (window/mirror) and the luminous dot source is a light emitting diode (LED) inside the tube. With the sighting tube are also a battery, brightness control circuit and switch for the LED, usually fixedly attached to the tube. Or the sighting instrument may be a telescope, in which case the LED is inside the telescope and the battery, control circuit and switch are carried on the outside of the telescope as part thereof. In either case, the instrument is attached to a rifle to aid the user in pointing the rifle to hit the target viewed through the instrument.
In such reflex luminous dot sighting instruments, with or without a telescope, the LED is contained in the instrument wherein light is projected from the LED onto a tilted window or lens that has a mirror coating so that light from the view passing through the lens is Joined by light from the diode that reflects from the mirror coating. The user looking into the instrument attached to his rifle sees the target view with the luminous dot at the center and points the rifle to place the dot on the target in the view and fires the rifle. With a properly mounted and adjusted sighting instrument the user can quickly view the target area, put the dot on the target and fire the rifle with great accuracy.
Heretofore, a number of reflex type luminous dot sighting instruments, some with telescopes and some without, have been used with adjustments for range and windage to be made by the firearm user. The adjustments for range and windage are adjustments in elevation angle and azimuth angle, respectively, of the instrument with respect to the firearm and are set by the user using his estimates of range and windage. In all of these, the target view and the luminous dot are combined by the tilted window or lens with a mirror coating and light from the target view passes through the tilted lens while light from the LED that forms the luminous dot reflects from the lens mirror coating. Also, in all of these, the LED is contained within the sighting tube or telescope and is powered by a battery in circuit with the LED and a brightness control and/or switch, all attached to and carried by the tube or telescope. Thus, each sighting tube or telescope comes equipped with the LED, battery and brightness control and/or switch.
Where a telescope is included, the light from the LED is focused by the lens/mirror on the same image plane as the target view so that the user sees the target view and the luminous dot all in focus at the same plane with the luminous dot precisely at the center of the target view. The LED is enclosed within the telescope by an aperture that directs the LED light as a narrow angular cone to the center of the tilted lens. Thus, the luminous dot appears to the user the same size, shape and color for all target views, at the center of the target view, whether the target is far or near (long or short range elevation) and whether there is any adjustment for windage, left or right.
Such a luminous dot sighting instrument including a telescope is described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,044, issued Apr. 27, 1993, entitled Luminous Dot Sighting Instrument.
In a reflex luminous dot sighting instrument, as mentioned above, the brightness of the dot is independent of ambient light and can be increased by increasing electric power to the LED. However, as the dot is made brighter to the observer it loses definition and becomes larger. The applicant has discovered that this loss of definition is caused mainly by undesired reflections of the LED light before it reaches the tilted window or lens. The undesired reflections appear to increase as power to the LED is increased. This is probably due to increased divergence of the luminous dot beam as power is increased.
In the past, the loss of definition with greater dot brightness has been partly eliminated by using high quality windows and lenses coated with high quality mirror reflecting layers that selectively reflect the dot source light and not the target scene light and the use of black dull coating inside the sighting tube and inside the telescope. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to filter elements and in particular to compact hybrid multi-pole filter elements that are useful in the design of radio frequency filters.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional radio frequency filters have been constructed by a variety of different elements. Some of these elements include lumped reactive elements, distributed reactive stubs, and impedance transformers. Each of these conventional elements and techniques has its advantages and disadvantages.
For example, the lumped elements usually provide the smallest foot print. However, lumped elements also have the highest insertion loss and are suitable only for low power. FIG. 1 is an example of a lumped element model of a low-pass filter (LPF). The reactance of the inductors is XL=jxcfx89l and the capacitor reactance is XC=1/jxcfx89C. These equations are well known to those skilled in the art. At low frequencies XL=0xcexa9 and XC=∞xcexa9, these characteristics allow low frequency signals to pass through the inductors between P1 and P2. Alternatively, at high frequencies XL=∞xcexa9 and XC=0xcexa9, these characteristics prevent high frequency signals from passing through the circuit between P1 and P2. FIG. 2 is a graph of the reflection coefficient (xcex93) of a capacitor and inductor.
Alternatively, reactive stubs have low insertion loss, but can be physically large. Also, reactive stubs tend to have a narrow bandwidth, which can make them unsuitable for wideband applications. FIG. 3 is an example of a LPF using xcex/4 wave open-end stubs. A LPF composed of distributed elements is possible by having opened-ended stubs (i.e., reactive stub) of xcex/4 wave length at the frequency that is rejected. This causes the stub to appear as an open circuit above and below a rejection frequency. At the rejection frequency, the stub appears as a short circuit thereby allowing no signal flow. The stubs are also spaced 90xc2x0 electrically apart at the pass band of a fundamental frequency for matching purposes. This filter element produces nulls that are deep. However, the tradeoff is a small bandwidth of 2%, as shown in FIG. 4. Therefore, numerous stubs are required to obtain a wide bandwidth. Although a very good response can be obtained, the numerous stubs produce an extremely long filter element. Thus, these elements are not suitable for compact circuits.
FIG. 5 is an example of a LPF using impedance transformers. A distributed impedance transformer LPF typically has a wide bandwidth. However, the nulls of the filter are very small. The filter design comprises transforming from a high to low impedance until the desired bandwidth is reached. Because of the large bandwidth of the transformers, few transformers are needed. In addition to the very small nulls produced by this design, the roll off of the circuit, as shown in FIG. 6, is so gradual that it can interfere with the pass band. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the low nulls and gradual roll off characteristics of the transformer design make it unsuitable for many applications.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement of filter elements and filter designs.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a hybrid filter element that has advantageous features of both opened stub and impedance transformer designs.
The foregoing and other objects are achieved by a hybrid filter element comprising an impedance transformer and a phase cancellation loop having a first portion and a second portion. The first and second portions are designed to provide a phase difference between the two portions of about 180xc2x0 at a mid-band frequency. The first portion can form part of the impedance transformer. Further, the first and second portions can be designed to have either an equal power split or an unequal power split between the portions.
Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific embodiments, while disclosing the preferred embodiments of the invention, are provided by way of illustration only inasmuch as various changes and modifications coming within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description which follows. | {
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The subject invention relates to a method of affixing rectangularly shaped rubber roof sheets to the upper surface of a roof. Rubber roofing sheets have become desirable as a method of covering roofs of commercial buildings and in this respect the conventional approach is to utilize a grid-like pattern of fastening plates, usually square-shaped members, dispersed and spaced relative to one another in a regular pattern, generally four feet or more apart. Thus, the prominent arrangement for use of the fastening plates is a series of rows and columns, regularly and symmetrically spaced, as viewed downward to the upper surface of the roof.
In the existing art, the usual practice is to space the fastening or holding plates so that the perimeter plates are approximately four feet or more from the edge of the roof. Once the plates are in place, they serve as the medium to which the rubber sheath is glued to affix same to the roof. Moreover, in many instances, rubber roof sheets are placed over the entire roof so as to cover the entire roof surface. In the conventional method of affixing rubber roof sheets to the roof deck, bonding plates with downwardly thrusting nails or screws are affixed to the upper surface of a particular rubber roof sheet. In this latter arrangement, the bonding plates are generally placed in the center or middle areas of the rubber roof sheets to fasten same to the upper surface of a roof deck. This leaves edges of the rubber roof sheet exposed with a tendency to curl upwardly by reason of wind and water damage.
More specifically, one of the problems with the presently used process of spacing the fastening plates inwardly from the sheet edge is that during high winds, the edge of the rubber sheath is easily blown upward from the edges so as to cause the whole sheet, or edge of the roof to lift off, thus exposing the basic roof structure to potential water damage, further wind damage, and encroachment by other elements, including rodents, and so forth. The attendant problems are obvious and serious.
The subject invention is conceived to overcome these problems and the following objects of the subject invention are directed accordingly. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to corrosion inhibiting compositions and more particularly to corrosion inhibitors for use in brines.
Brines, for example, those referred to as "clear brine fluids," such as aqueous solutions of alkali or alkaline-earth metal halides including CaCl.sub.2, CaBr.sub.2, MgCl.sub.2 and mixtures thereof, are used as drilling, completion, packer and workover fluids in oil and gas well operations. These brines are useful in providing a hydrostatic head, particularly in high-pressure wells which typically require fluids with densities of 8.5 pounds per gallon (ppg) or above. The choice of the specific salt employed in preparing the clear brine fluid depends on the required density for the particular end-use application. For example, brines having densities up to about 15 ppg are generally prepared from CaCl.sub.2 or CaBr.sub.2, whereas brines having a higher density, of above about 15 ppg, may be prepared using a mixture of, for example, a calcium halide and a significant percent of a zinc-based salt, generally more than about 5 percent by weight. Although lower density brines could be prepared using zinc salts, due to the relatively high costs of zinc salts these brines are most commonly prepared a calcium salt only. The use of these brines has improved well drilling, completion, packer and workover operations by eliminating formation plugging problems and solid settling problems previously encountered when solids-containing media, such as water base and oil base drilling muds, were used.
In spite of the improvements provided by the use of clear brine fluids, clear brine fluids can be corrosive under operating conditions in drilling, completion, packer and workover operations. The corrosion problem is exacerbated by the higher temperatures typically found in deeper wells in which these brines are used.
The prior art teaches that various corrosion inhibitors can be added to brines in an effort to overcome the corrosive nature of brines. Known inhibitors include, for example, film-forming amine-based corrosion inhibitors such as are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,183.
Thiocyanate or thiourea compounds, used alone or in combination with quaternary pyridinium, quinolium or isoquinolinium salts, are known to be effective corrosion inhibitors for a number of aqueous brines of low and high densities, including those comprising calcium chloride, calcium bromide, calcium iodide, as well as various high density zinc-based brines. This is disclosed in British Pat. No. 2,027,686A.
However, while various effective corrosion inhibitors are known in the art, the present invention provides a brine composition showing improvements over the known art in achieving corrosion inhibiting properties that are both measurable and predeterminable, as well as a method of inducing corrosion inhibition of metals. | {
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1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to valves and regulators for controlling the flow of fluids, particularly gases, and more specifically to valves for more safely regulating the flow of oxygen gas.
2. Background Art
Oxygen is widely used in many medical and industrial applications. When a portable source of oxygen is required, it is almost universally supplied in the form of molecular oxygen (O2) under pressure in a cylindrical steel or aluminum container. Oxygen also commonly is transported in such cylinders. The cylinders are equipped with a valve, used to open and close the cylinder for emptying and refilling. A pressure regulator often also is attached to the cylinder valve.
Oxygen cylinder valves, as they exist today, have been implicated in numerous fire incidents with sometimes catastrophic results. When a cylinder valve seat ignites, the attached regulator or manifold system is subjected to strong kindling chain mechanisms that will often lead to fires downstream of the cylinder valve.
The “plug type” cylinder valves presently in common use comprise a rotating threaded seat plug that translates due to the rotation of a hand wheel mounted on the top of the valve itself. The plug incorporates a relatively large nonmetallic seat. The seat is subjected to strong flow impingement during oxygen gas discharge from the cylinder, due to the seat's orientation above the valve nozzle. Further, due to the rotating seat mechanism, the seat often is subjected to strong frictional interference with the valve nozzle. Both of these features are undesirable to prudent persons aware of the fire hazards of handling oxygen cylinders. Conventional known valves are also “dirty,” generating large amounts of undesirable debris due to their mode of operation (i.e., rotating seat and threads in the oxygen wetted portion of the valve). This debris often deposits in the nonmetallic seat itself and increases the frictional interactions during valve opening and closing.
These valves most often utilize a nylon main seat although both polyphenylene oxide (PPO) and polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE) are also utilized. Both nylon and PPO exhibit poor to moderate compatibility based on present oxygen-compatibility rating test standards, and deliver a large amount of energy if ignited. PCTFE is considered an oxygen compatible material, but has a compressive modulus that is insufficient to withstand the torques that are often applied by the manual closing of conventional valves. As a result, PCTFE seated plug-valves often exhibit significant extrusion and recently have been implicated in a large number of fires. The extruded seat increases the surface-area-to-volume ratio for oxygen gas impingement during discharge, and is believed to greatly increase vulnerability of the seat to hazardous flow friction ignition. Further, many of the materials in use with known valves seats generate highly toxic gases when they burn.
There also is a need for an apparatus that combines the function of on-off valving with the flow adjustment capabilities of a flow regulator.
The present invention is an advance over the Applicant's previous valve invention, which is described in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/872,233, entitled “Cylinder Valve and Bayonet Check Filter with Excess Flow Protection Feature”, filed May 31, 2001, now allowed. References herein to the “original design,” “original apparatus,” or “original device,” are to the apparatus disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/872,233, which is incorporated herein by reference. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1 . Field of the Invention
Photon therapy is used amongst others for the treatment of muscular skeletal disorders and wound healing. Photon therapy systems are primarily administered by chiropractors, physiotherapists, sports therapists, and medical doctors in a clinical environment. Generally, photon therapy treatment is effected by applying light energy or photons in the visible and/or infrared regions to parts of the body. Strictly speaking, in photon therapy the light energy generated does not produce any significant heating effects but does invoke photochemical and photobiolgical effects in the biological tissue.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While numerous photon therapy systems are in existence today, non provide a complete range of flexiblility in choosing treatment parameters. Having the ability to choose various treatment parameters is essential for a commercial application. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,503 to Bertwell et al. describes a flexible pad in which an array of photodiodes are mounted. Power is supplied to the pads and is controlled by a knob connected to a rheostat. A current supplied to the pads is visually monitored by a light bar display. One of the major disadvantages of this device is the inability to guarantee consistent priorities for successive treatments. Although the patent describes a mechanism for recording treatments applied to specific body regions, there is no guarantee that with this device the amount of current supplied to the pads as set by the rheostat will always produce the same light intensity from the diodes on successive treatments.
U.S. Pat No. 5,259,380 to Mendes et al. discloses a light therapy system in which the light is emitted in a narrow bandwidth. A continuous voltage differential is utilized to energize the diodes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,504, a device for biostimulation of tissue is disclosed which comprises an array of substantially monochromatic radiation sources of at least three different wavelengths. The system has a control unit to which a single beam probe or a cluster beam probe may be connected. The control unit provides control of the beam radiation pulse frequency, duration, period of treatment and measurement of the conductivity of the tissue being treated. A means for measuring the optical power emitted by the probes is described.
As mentioned briefly above, of the numerous photon therapy systems in existence, none provide the ability to accurately vary the pulse width, duty cycle, waveform, average power and peak power as well as provide a "hands off" treatment of the practitioner. Furthermore, the probes of the prior art do not provide internal diagnostics. | {
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Dimmer switches are extensively utilized in devices requiring a variable amount of power. This is typically accomplished by either a manual potentiometer switch that is manually turned by the operator, or remotely controlled circuit. In the remotely controlled circuit, a counter counts the number of pulses to activate a series of relays to vary the amount of power delivered.
The operator is required to be at the location of the switch for the manual potentiometer switch. In the case of the remotely controlled circuit, the variability of the dimmer switch depends on the number of relays contained in the circuit. Further, the counter cannot be controlled by the operator based on the transmitted signal. | {
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Unsaturated monomers, particular olefin monomers, are polymerized in a variety of polymerization processes using a wide variety of catalysts and catalyst systems. One of the most common polymerization process used in the production of olefin based polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polybutene, etc, is a solution based process. In such a process the formed polymer is dissolved in the polymerization medium. Often, the catalyst and monomer are also dissolved in the polymerization medium, but that is not a requirement of a “solution” process. In typical solution processes, the polymerization temperature may be at, above or below the melting point of the dry polymer. For example, in typical solution phase polyethylene processes, polymerization takes place in a hydrocarbon solvent at temperatures above the melting point of the polymer and the polymer is typically recovered by vaporization of the solvent and any unreacted monomer. In some cases solvents are used as the polymerization medium while in others, the monomer to be polymerized also acts as the solvent (e.g. a bulk process).
In each of these systems, there remain factors that influence not only the rate and volume at which the polymerization can run, but can also influence the properties of polymer produced. In a solution process, the polymer formed is dissolved in the polymerization medium. The higher the concentration of the polymer, the higher the viscosity of the polymerization reaction mixture containing polymer, monomers and solvent. High viscosity in the polymerization reactor associated with solution process is a limiting step for process efficiency and polymer production. High viscosity can also lead to the difficulty for efficient mixing in the reactor to maintain a homogeneous system and avoid product property drift (heterogeneity), reactor safety, process control problems. This is especially true for processes of polymerization with polymers having molecular weights higher than the entanglement molecular weights. Higher operating temperature reduces the viscosity, however the molecular weight of the polymer tends to decrease with reaction temperature. Thus production of higher molecular weight polymers in solution processes is generally limited by the viscosity of the polymerization medium. This problem exists even with the advent of new catalyst systems. In some situations, metallocene catalysts allow polymerizations to be performed at a high temperatures, such that a higher polymer concentration in the reactor effluent is obtained (as compared to that of a conventional solution process) with reduced operation difficulties.
Polymer solutions can undergo phase separation at the lower critical solution temperature. The phase separation is encouraged by higher temperature and/or lower pressure. Appropriate selection of polymerization solvent, monomer conversion, especially of the volatile monomers, temperatures, and pressures is required to avoid phase separation. Solvents such as hexane may require an elevated operating pressure of above 50 bar (5000 kPa) to avoid unwanted phase separation. In solution plants, solvent selection and operating conditions must be designed for a particular operating windows for the desired polymerization process. This operating window might not be permitted by or optimized for a given polymer type and catalyst.
Polymers with low crystallinity or amorphous character as well as those with higher crystallinities are currently produced in slurry and or suspension processes using hydrocarbon solvents as diluents. The suspension process can advantageously handle polymer concentrations in the reactor effluent up to 25-30 wt %, as compared to 7-18 wt % in the solution process which are limited by solution viscosity at a high level of solids content. These higher concentrations are attributable to the characteristics of decreasing polymer-polymer entanglements in the suspension process by forcing the entangled polymer into the dispersed and or suspended phase thereby decreasing the concentration of entangled polymer in the bulk reactor solution phase. The recovery of polymer is also simpler in the slurry process. However, it is necessary that the solid particles in the slurry process do not agglomerate to one another or adhere to the surfaces of the reactor wall and the transport lines. Extremely low operating temperatures are adopted to reduce the soluble fraction of polymer in the solvent. Mitigation of polymer fouling is a challenging task.
Many polymers are insoluble in the reaction mixture from which they are formed. Upon significant polymerization, polymer chains reach a crystallizable length and polymer nucleation and crystallization begin. The crystallization of polymers leads to polymer-solvent phase separation. On the other hand, polymer-solvent phase separation can be also induced through change of solvency of the reaction medium with respect to the polymer produced. The instant invention provides a process that with proper selection of a fluorinated hydrocarbon or a mixture of fluorinated hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon solvents, can be operated in a suspension mode instead of solution. There is a need for polymerization processes which efficiently produce polymer, particularly of higher molecular weight, with reduced operation difficulties and/or reduced reactor fouling.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,143 discloses a process to produce a boiling-xylene soluble polymer in a slurry using certain fluorinated organic carbon compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,251 discloses a gas phase process using a Ziegler-Natta catalyst system modified with a halogenated hydrocarbon, such as chloroform.
EP 0 459 320 A2 discloses polymerization in polar aprotic solvents, such as halogenated hydrocarbons.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,780,565 discloses dispersion polymerizations of polar monomers under super-atmospheric conditions such that the fluid is a liquid or supercritical fluid, the fluid being carbon dioxide, a hydrofluorocarbon, a perfluorocarbon or a mixture thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,878 discloses the polymerization using “constrained geometry metal complexes” of titanium and zirconium.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,534,698, 2,644,809 and 2,548,415 disclose preparation of butyl rubber type elastomers in fluorinated solvents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,613 discloses use of hydrofluorocarbons as catalyst modifiers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,724 disclose the polymerization of vinyl aromatic monomers in suspension polymerization using fluorinated aliphatic organic compounds.
WO 02/34794 discloses free radical polymerizations in certain hydrofluorocarbons.
WO 02/04120 discloses a fluorous bi-phasic systems.
WO 02/059161 discloses polymerization of isobutylene using fluorinated co-initiators.
EP 1 323 746 discloses a method of supporting a catalyst using soluble and insoluble liquids, such as hydrocarbon/halocarbon mixtures. Example 1 of EP 1 323 746 shows loading of biscyclopentadienyl catalyst onto a silica support in perfluorooctane and thereafter the prepolymerization of ethylene at room temperature.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,056,771 discloses polymerization of ethylene using TiCl4/(Et3Al in a mixture of heptane and perfluoromethylcyclohexane, presumably at room temperature. Additional references of interest include: Designing Solvent Solutions, Chemical and Engineering News, Oct. 13, 2003 (www.CEN-online.org); Polymer Synthesis Using Hydrofluorocarbon Solvents., Wood, Colin, et al. Macromolecules, Vol. 35, Number 18, pages 6743-6746, 2002; Perfluorinated Polyethers for the Immobilisation of Homogeneous Nickel Catalysts, Keim, W. et al., Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical 139 (1999) 171-175; RU2195465; US20020086908 A1; WO200251875 A1; US2002/0032291 A1; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,397,166; 3,440,219; 6,111,062;5,789,504; 5,703,194; 5,663,251; 5,608,002; 5,494,984; 5,310,870; 5,182,342; 2,603,626; 2,494,585; 2,474,571; WO 02/051875 A1; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,133,389; 6,096,840; 6,107,423; 6,037,483; 5,981,673; 5,939,502; 5,939,501; 5,674,957; 5,872,198; 5,959,050; 5,821,311; 5,807,977; 5,688,838; 5,668,251; 5,668,250; 5,665,838; 5,663,255; 5,552,500; 5,478,905;5,459,212; 5,281,680; 5,135,998; 5,105,047; 5,032,656;4,166,165; 4,123,602; 4,100,225; 4,042,634; US 2002/0132910 A1; US 2002/0151664 A1; US 2002/0183457 A1; US 2002/0183471 A1; US 2003/0023013 A1; US 2001/0012880 A1; US 2001/0018144 A1; US 2002/0002219 A1; US 2002/0028884 A1; US 2002/0052454 A1; US 2002/0055580 A1; US 2002/0055581; US 2002/0055599 A1, US 2002/0065383; US 2002/0086908 A1; US 2002/0128411 A1; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,269,972, 3,331,822;3,493,530; 3,528,954; 3,590,025; 3,616,371; 3,642,742;3,787,379; 3,919,183; 3,996,281; 4,194,073; 4,338,237; 4,381,387; 4,424,324; 4,435,553; 4,452,960; 4,499,249;4,508,881; 4,535,136; 4,588,796; 4,626,608; 4,736,004;4,900,777; 4,946,936; 4,948,844; WO00/50209; WO/96/24625; WO 94/17109; WO 0149760 A1; WO 01/49758 A1; WO 01/49757; WO 00/53682; WO 00/47641; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,486,280 B1; 6,469,185 B1 ; 6,469,116 B2;6,455,650 B1; 6,448,368 B1; 6,423,798 B2; EP 0 076 511 B1; EP 0 271 243 B1; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,417,314 B1; 6,399,729 B1; 6,380,351 B1; 6,372,838 B1; 6,346,587 B1; 6,337,373 B1; 6,335,408 B1; 6,306,989 B1; 6,228,963 B1; 6,225,367 B1; JP 7033821 B published Apr. 12, 1995; JP 11349606 A published Dec. 21, 1999; and JP 61007307 published Jan. 14, 1986. | {
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Recently, there has been a rapidly growing demand for renewable energy including wind energy. To meet this demand, wind turbine designers are working to provide blade designs that allow a turbine connected to the wind turbine blades or to the rotor to effectively convert wind into electricity. The blades must also be designed properly to withstand inertial forces, aerodynamic forces, and structural forces so as to provide a relatively long service life and safe operation. Like all rotating machines, wind turbines are generators of fatigue, and every revolution of its components including the turbine blades produces a load or fatigue cycle, with each of these cycles causing a small, finite amount of damage that eventually may lead to fatigue cracks or other failures.
Modeling may be used in some cases to determine service life of a turbine blade during normal operations. However, modeling has its limitations including variations in the as-built/manufacture blade and a design and the difficulty in accurately modeling operational conditions with varying and sometimes random loading. As a result, wind turbine blades are typically laboratory tested to determine that their fatigue strength or characteristics are adequate for a desired service life. Wind turbine or rotor blade testing is used to verify that laminations in the blade are safe (e.g., the layers used to fabricate a blade do not separate (i.e., delamination)) and to verify that the blade will not break under repeated stress.
Presently, wind turbine blades are fatigue tested in the flapwise direction (i.e., out of the rotor plane or in a direction transverse to a plane extending through the blade) and in the edgewise direction (i.e., in the plane of rotation or in a direction parallel to a plane extending through the blade). For large blades (e.g., greater than forty-meter blade lengths), these two fatigue tests (e.g., two single axis tests) are typically run sequentially, and, to simulate a typical service life of a blade, each test may involve placing a blade through one million to ten million or more load or fatigue cycles, which may take three to twelve months or more to complete for each tested direction. There is a trend for wind generator systems to become increasingly larger. Unfortunately, however, the larger blades associated with larger wind generator systems are subjected to greater static and dynamic loads and the facilities for testingtest these larger blades are also very large as newer generation turbine generators being designed with blades 40 meters or more in length. It is very desirable, and often necessary, to advance test a proposed blade design to ensure that it will be capable of withstanding the expected loads without structural failure and to evaluate the fatigue resistance of the blade design, and these advanced tests may significantly delay implementation of a new blade design. The test equipment can also be relatively expensive to purchase and operate, which can drive up the costs of blades and wind energy. Hence, there is a need for blade testing techniques that are less expensive to use and take less time to complete while still providing accurate fatigue testing results.
As further background on laboratory testing, wind turbine blades are tested by applying loads to the blade in various directions. For example, one type of load is applied in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal or long axis of the blade and is often referred to as a bending load or as a flap load in the wind turbine field. Another type of load is also applied in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis but also perpendicular to the direction of the applied bending or flap load in order to assess the structural properties of the blade in the transverse or rotational direction. Such loads are often referred to as transverse or lead-lag loads. The load applied to the blade in a given direction may be time-invariant or “static.” Alternatively, the load may be made to vary with time in which case the load is often referred to as “cyclic.” Static loads are generally useful in evaluating the stiffness and ultimate strength of the blade whereas cyclic loads are generally useful in evaluating the fatigue resistance of the blade.
Several different types of test systems have been developed and are being used to apply loads to wind turbine blades. One type of test system uses a linear hydraulic actuator to apply the desired loads to the blade. The base or root of the blade is mounted to a rigid and very large test stand and the linear hydraulic actuator is mounted to the blade some distance from the root or base and from the test stand. This type of apparatus is advantageous in that it can be used to apply loads in any desired direction by simply mounting the hydraulic actuators at the desired positions on the blade and by orienting the actuators in the appropriate directions, e.g., for sequential flapwise and edgewise testing. However, these systems often use a large actuator, and a relatively complex hydraulic system with pumps and hoses to operate the actuator to oscillate the blade or test article. The size of the test stand with its large concrete blocks and the complexity and size of the hydraulic actuator make these testing systems difficult to move and time consuming and expensive to build and set up, which limits the number of such test systems and forces blade manufacturers to ship blades to the testing facilities for fatigue testing.
More recently, a resonance test system has been designed (and used) that provides an actuator for applying loads in the flapwise direction at or near the resonant or natural frequency of the test system in the flapwise direction. The loading apparatus is attached directly or through compliant linkages to the blade (e.g., at a location some distance from the blade base or root such as one third or more along the length of the blade). A transverse load, in some cases, is applied (e.g., a load in the edgewise direction) to the edge of the blade to load the blade in the edgewise direction at the same time as it is loaded in the flapwise direction to better simulate actual operating loads and hasten testing. For example, the transverse load has typically been applied with a forced displacement device with a bell crank or similar device that is attached to the ground plane to provide oscillation in the edgewise or transverse direction. The oscillation in the transverse direction is typically provided at the same frequency used for the actuator applying a flapwise load (e.g., both loads are input at or near the resonant frequency of the test system in the flapwise direction), and the design of the forced displacement device has limited capability due to the large oil flow, if utilizing hydraulic systems, and displacement needs. As a result, such fatigue testing systems are possible but may be limited by practical constraints for larger blades (e.g., blades over forty 40 meters) in which flapwise displacement may be quite large such as up to 6 meters or more. Again, blade excitation is imparted at locations spaced apart from the blade base or root.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing unit and an image forming device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known image forming device used for a copier or a printer includes a developing unit for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor with toner supplied to the photoreceptor. In such a device, the toner is transferred to the photoreceptor from a toner layer formed on a surface of a developing roller. The developing roller is a cylindrical electric conductor provided in the developing unit.
In such an image forming device, voltage is applied to the device to produce a predetermined potential difference between the developer roller and the photoreceptor in order to transfer the toner from the developing roller to the photoreceptor.
However, if the developing roller and the photoreceptor are disposed close to each other with the voltage applied to produce a predetermined potential difference therebetween, leakage of electric current from between the developing roller and the photoreceptor may occur, so that it is difficult to form a toner image which accurately represents the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor, and a toner layer on the surface of the developing roller.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-318092 discloses a method for preventing leakage of electric current from between the developing roller and the photoreceptor by covering a cylindrical surface of the developing roller with an alumite layer (i.e., an aluminum oxide layer).
Alumite, however, has a high electric-resistivity, which may cause excessive charging of the toner due to friction between the toner and the developing roller. This tendency is particularly evident in positively charged toner. As a result, the toner turnover efficiency may become lower.
To address the problem described above, a layer (i.e., a low-resistance layer) made of a material with an electric-resistivity lower than that of alumite may be formed on the alumite layer so as to prevent charge injection into the toner and thus prevent excessive charging of the toner.
If a low-resistance layer is formed on top of the alumite layer, however, electric current may leak into the low-resistance layer from a portion of the electric conductor which forms a core material at an end of the developing roller. The electric current may also leak from the low-resistance layer into the photoreceptor.
The present invention has been made in view of the aforementioned circumstances. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to prevent defective toner transfer to the photoreceptor due to excessive charging of the toner. It is another object of the present invention to prevent leakage of electric current between a developing roller and a photoreceptor. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present application relates to a system and method for using deuterium (or proton) cluster (D- or p-cluster) technology for thin films as an intense pulsed neutron source.
The use of a film or foil as a source of particles when struck by a laser has been considered by several researchers with respect to fast ignition (FI) fusion. FIG. 1 illustrates a previously proposed proton-driven fast-ignition system 1 in which a petawatt laser 2 is focused on a backside (laser-facing side) of converter foil 3 to create an energetic ion beam (here, protons). As shown in FIG. 1, the protons 4′ come from a hydrogenous coating on the converter foil 3 surface. The protons 4′ create a hot spot 6 that within a pre-compressed fuel pellet 8 containing deuterium and tritium. Fusion reactions created in the hot spot heat up the remaining compressed fuel, causing it to fuse as well.
FIG. 2 illustrates a Hohlraum-based proton fast ignition concept. In this design, the laser 2 is focused on a target (shaped) foil 3′, which directs the protons 4′ against a pre-compressed fusion fuel pellet formed via x-ray compression within the Hohlraum, creating a hot spot 6 that initiated fusion reaction that spread (“propagate”) throughout the fusion fuel within the pellet.
Following early experiments on laser-acceleration of electrons, protons and carbon ions for fast ignition, some studies were performed, including those described in Hatchett, S. P., et al. Electron, photon, and ion beams from the relativistic interaction of Petawatt laser pulses with solid targets. in The 41st annual meeting of the division of plasma physics of the american physical society. 2000. Seattle, Wash. (USA): AIP; Maksimchuk, A., et al., Forward Ion Acceleration in Thin Films Driven by a High-Intensity Laser. Physical Review Letters, 2000. 84(18): p. 4108; and Krushelnick, K., et al. Energetic proton production from relativistic laser interaction with high density plasmas. in The 41st annual meeting of the division of plasma physics of the american physical society. 2000. Seattle, Wash. (USA): AIP.
These studies considered an accelerated deuteron beam to improve the ability of focusing on the hot spot volume. However, problems with making a suitable deuteron containing converter foil hampered these studies. These problems have now been addressed in the use of a “cluster” type deuterated converter foil technique for FI, as described in the Related Application section, and this design appears to be a very valuable approach to ion-beam driven FI. However, the use of cluster-type deuterated foils to create a neutron source for neutron beams has not previously been considered.
Historically, pulsed neutron beams have been used for a variety of applications, including medical isotope production, medical irradiations, and study of neutron damage to materials. Such neutron beams may also be applied in an increasing manner to homeland security uses. In the past, concepts for a source of such pulsed neutron beams have generally relied on accelerator-target concepts or on plasma discharges such as those produced by a dense plasma focus device. Due to the relatively low ion currents achieved with an accelerator and inefficiencies in plasma methods, resulting neutron source strengths are limited.
To increase yields, advanced plasma focus designs and high current diode accelerators that provide higher ion currents have also been studied. Alternatively, an ion and target combination to provide a spallation neutron source has been studied. For example, proton beams have been accelerated by a Synchrotron onto a heavy metal target, such as mercury or tungsten target, to produce neutrons with an energy spectrum of average energy of about 5 MeV neutrons. Currently, this approach offers about 1014-1015 protons per pulse at the target, and receives about a 1012 neutron per pulse yield. However, better sources of neutrons are desirable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a moulding press for a transfer- or injection-moulding machine, comprising two mould halves which can be moved relative to each other, in which the connection between said mould halves comprises joint lever means consisting of two arms which are connected in a hinge-like manner to each other, the free ends of which are connected in a hinge-like manner to the upper and lower mould halves and in which a control arm engages on the hinge point of the arms, the other end of which control arm engages on a cam track of a cam disc, the cam disc being mounted rotatably on the frame of the moulding press.
Such a moulding press is disclosed in the German Offenlegungsschrift 2,252,953. In this moulding press, a joint lever means is present and the cam disc is provided with a closed track. To prevent movement of the end of the control arm which engages on the cam track, said arm is connected in a hinge-like manner to a rod which is connected to the frame of the device. There is a horizontal guiding for the control arm, which guiding permits a deflection with respect to the horizontal position with the aid of a spring construction.
If relatively large forces, such as occur, for example, in transfer- or injection-moulding devices, have to be transmitted by means of such a device, a construction of this kind becomes very inefficient. After all, the cam disc is subjected to a high one-sided load and therefore the disc will have to be of a correspondingly robust design. This means that a relatively large drive will have to be installed adjacent to the transfer- or injection-moulding device. In addition, the various arms of the construction will have to be of a correspondingly robust design.
The object of the present invention is to provide a control mechanism for the above mentioned moulding press, which does not have these disadvantages. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Field of the Invention
The invention in general relates to a current collector for use in an electrochemical device, and more particularly, to a collector which will provide for more even distribution of current. | {
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The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method, and more particularly relates to a plasma processing apparatus and a plasma processing method suitable for forming a fine pattern in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.
The need for improving the fine pattern manufacturing capability and the processing speed in plasma processing is growing further as integration of semiconductor devices become higher. In order to respond to this need, it is required to decrease the pressure of the processing gas and to increase the plasma density.
In regard to plasma processing apparatuses aiming to decrease the pressure of the processing gas and to increase the plasma density, there presently are: (1) a method which utilizes the electron cyclotron resonance phenomena (hereinafter referred to as ECR) of a microwave (e.g., 2.45 GHz electromagnetic field with a static magnetic field (e.g., 875 G); and (2) a method which utilizes induction coupling processing (hereinafter referred to as ICP) in which a plasma is generated by generating an induced electromagnetic field by exciting a coil using an RF frequency power source.
In a case where a film of the oxide film group is etched using a gas of fluorocarbons, when either of the methods of the ECR described in the above item (1) or the ICP described in the item (2) is employed, it is difficult to increase selectivity of an oxide-film to a base material, for example, Si or SiN since dissociation of the gas progresses excessively.
On the other hand, in a conventional method of generating a plasma by applying an RF frequency voltage between a pair of parallel flat plates, it is difficult to stably discharge under a pressure condition below 10 Pa.
As a countermeasure, there are: (3) a two-frequency exciting method in which a plasma is generated using a high frequency voltage above several tens MHz and bias control of a sample is performed using a low frequency voltage below several MHz, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-297175 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-204925; and (4) a magnetron RIE (hereinafter referred to as M-RIE) method which utilizes an action of confining electrons by Lorentz force of electrons by applying a magnetic field B in a direction intersection with a self-bias electron field (E) induced on the surface of the sample, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-312231.
Further, a method of increasing plasma density under a low pressure condition is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-13480. This method obtains a high plasma density under a low pressure condition of 0.1 Pa to 1 Pa by utilizing an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) effect induced by a microwave of electromagnetic waves (e.g., 2.45 GHz) and a static magnetic field (e.g., 875 gauss).
On the other hand, in the technical field of performing etching processing or film forming processing of a semiconductor material using a plasma, an apparatus is employed having a high frequency power source for accelerating ions in a plasma to a sample table for mounting an object to be processed (for example, a semiconductor wafer substrate, hereinafter referred to as the sample) and an electrostatic attracting film for holding the sample on the sample table by an electrostatic attracting force.
For example, in an apparatus disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,982, a plasma is generated by microwaves and a sample is held on a sample table by an electrostatic force, and using a high frequency power source output having a sinusoidal waveform as a bias electric source, the ion energy incident on the sample is controlled by connecting the power source to the sample table while the temperature of the sample is being controlled by introducing a heat transfer gas between the sample and the sample table.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.62 280378 discloses that a distribution of the ion energy incident to the sample can be narrowed by applying a pulse-shaped ion control bias voltage to a sample table for maintaining the electric field intensity between a plasma and an electrode at a constant value. Thereby, it is possible to improve the dimensional accuracy of plasma etching processing and the etching rate ratio of a processed film to a base material by several times.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-61182 discloses that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of notches by generating a plasma utilizing electron cyclotron resonance and applying a pulse bias having a width of pulse duty of 0.1% or more to a sample.
An example of increasing a plasma density by generating cyclotron resonance using an electromagnetic wave of VHF band and a static magnetic field is described in the Journal of Applied Physics, Japan, Vol.28, No. 10. However, in this example, by applying a high frequency voltage of 144 MHz to a coaxial central conductor and adding a magnetic field of 51 gauss in parallel to the central conductor, cyclotron resonance is formed to generate a high density plasma, and a grounded sample table is arranged in a position downstream of the plasma generating portion.
In the plasma generating methods described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-288195 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-297175 among the above-mentioned conventional technologies, a plasma is generated by a high frequency source of 13.56 MHz or several tens MHz. It is possible to generate a plasma appropriate for etching an oxide film under a gas pressure of several tens Pa to 5 Pa (Pascal).
However, as a pattern dimension becomes as small as nearly 0.2 .mu.m or smaller, verticality in a processed shape is strongly required and consequently it is inevitable that the gas pressure decreases.
However, in the two-frequency exciting method or the M-RIE method described above, it is difficult to stably produce a plasma having a desired density higher than nearly 5.times.10.sup.10 cm.sup.-3 under a pressure condition lower than 4 Pa (0.4 to 4 Pa). For example, in the two-frequency exciting method described above, even if the plasma exciting frequency is increased up to a frequency around 50 MHz, the plasma density cannot be increased but, on the contrary, it decreases. Therefore, it is difficult to produce a plasma having a desired density higher than nearly 5.times.10.sup.-10 cm.sup.-3 under a pressure condition of 0.4 to 4 Pa.
Further, in the M-RIE method, the density distribution of a plasma generated by an action of confining electrons by Lorentz force of electrons produced on a surface of a sample must be uniform all over the surface of the sample. However, there is a disadvantage in that an inclination of the plasma density generally occurs over the surface of the sample due to drift of E.times.B. The inclination of the plasma density formed by the action of confining electrons cannot be corrected by any method such as diffusion or the like since the inclination occurs near the sheath in the vicinity of the sample where intensity of the magnetic field is strong.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-288195 discloses a method of solving this problem in which it is possible to obtain a uniform plasma without inclination by arranging magnets so that the magnetic field intensity is weakened in a direction of electron drift due to the drift of E.times.B, even when a magnetic field with a maximum value as high as 200 gauss is applied in parallel to a sample. However, there is a disadvantage with this method in that it is difficult to follow a change in a processing condition since a condition for maintaining the plasma uniform is limited to a specified narrow range once the distribution of magnetic field intensity is fixed. In particular, in a case of a large sized sample having a diameter larger than 300 mm, when a distance between the electrodes is as narrow as 20 mm or less, pressure above the central portion of the sample becomes 10% or more greater than pressure above the peripheral portion of the sample. In order to avoid this pressure difference, the gap between the sample table and the opposite electrode must be set to 30 mm or more since, otherwise, the difficulty is likely to be increased.
As described above, in the two-frequency exciting method and the M-RIE method, it is difficult to obtain a uniform plasma density of 5.times.10.sup.10 cm.sup.-3 over the surface of a sample having a diameter of 300 mm or more under a pressure condition as low as 0.4 to 4 Pa. Therefore, in the two-frequency exciting method and the M-RIE method, it is difficult to manufacture the fine pattern of 0.2 .mu.m or smaller on a wafer having a diameter larger than 300 mm uniformly and quickly with a high selectivity of the etching material to the base material.
On the other hand, a method for substantially increasing a plasma density under a low pressure condition is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-13480 among the prior art described above. However, this method has a disadvantage in that in a case where a silicon oxide film or a silicon nitride film is etched using a gas containing fluorine and carbon, it is difficult to attain a desired selectivity to the base material such as Si or the like since dissociation of the gas progresses excessively and a large amount of fluorine atoms and/or molecules and/or fluorine ions are generated. The ICP method using an electromagnetic field induced by an RF power source also has a disadvantage in that dissociation of the gas progresses excessively, the same as in the ECR method described above.
Further, the plasma processing apparatus is generally constructed in such a manner that the processing gas is exhausted from the peripheral portion of a sample. In such a case, there is a disadvantage in that the plasma density is higher in the central portion of the sample and lower in the peripheral portion of the sample, and accordingly uniformity in the processing all over the surface of the sample is degraded. In order to eliminate this disadvantage, a ring-shaped bank, that is, a focus ring is provided near the periphery of the sample to stagnate gas flow. However, there is another disadvantage in that reaction products attach onto the bank which becomes a particle producing source to decrease the product yield.
On the other hand, in order to control energy of ions incident to the sample, an RF bias with a sinusoidal waveform is applied to an electrode mounting the sample. The frequency of the RF bias used is several hundreds kHz to 13.56 MHz. However, the energy distribution of incident ions becomes of a double peak type. One of the two peaks is in a lower energy region and the other is in a higher energy region because the ions follow to change in electric field inside a sheath when the RF bias has a frequency within this frequency band. The ions in the higher energy range can process at high speed but damage the sample, and the ions in the lower energy range can process without damage but at low speed. That is, there is a disadvantage in that the processing speed is decreased when one tries to prevent damage of the sample, and the problem of damage arises when one tries to increase the processing speed.
On the other hand, when the frequency of the RF bias is set to a value higher than, for example, 50 MHz, the distribution of incident energy becomes of a single peak type. However, most of the energy is used in plasma generation and consequently the voltage applied to the sheath is substantially decreased. Therefore, there is a disadvantage in that it is difficult to control the energy of the incident ions independently to the plasma density.
Further, in the pulse bias power source method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-280378 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-61182, there is no discussion of a case where a dielectric layer for electrostatic attraction is used between a sample table electrode and a sample while a pulse bias is applied to the sample. When the pulse bias method is directly applied to the electrostatic attracting method, an ion acceleration voltage applied between a plasma and the surface of the sample is decreased by the increase of the voltage generated between both ends of the electrostatic attracting film as ion current flows within one cycle of the RF bias, and consequently the distribution of ion energy is broadened. Therefore, the pulse bias power source method has a disadvantage in that it cannot cope with a required fine pattern processing while temperature of the sample is properly being controlled.
Further, in the conventional sinusoidal wave output bias power source method disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,982, there is a disadvantage in that an impedance of the sheath portion approaches an impedance of the plasma itself or lower when the frequency becomes high. If this occurs, an unnecessary plasma is generated near the sheath in the vicinity of the sample by the bias power source, and accordingly the ions are not effectively accelerated and the distribution of the plasma is also degraded to lose controllability of ion energy by the bias power source.
Furthermore, in plasma processing, in order to improve the performance, it is important to properly control the amount of ions, the amount of radicals and the kinds of radicals. In the past, a gas to be formed into ions and radicals is introduced into a process chamber and the ions and the radicals are produced at the same time by generating a plasma in the process chamber. Therefore, as the processing of the sample becomes very small, it becomes clear that there is a limit in the control of the amount of ions, the amount of radicals and the kinds of radicals.
Further, in regard to an example of utilizing cyclotron resonance of the VHF band, installation of a bias electric power source for applying a voltage to a sample table and a means for uniformly applying a voltage all over a sample surface are described in Journal of Applied Physics, Japan, Vol.28, No. 10. Further, a processing chamber has a height higher than 200 mm. Therefore, the construction cannot use reaction on the surfaces of opposite electrodes effectively, and consequently it is difficult to obtain a high selectivity in this construction. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In recent years, the replacement of television advertisements with targeted television advertisements has become an increasingly important advertising method. Content providers such as television networks routinely insert generic advertisements into streamed network television content. For example, a content provider (e.g., a national cable television network such as ESPN) provides a network feed that contains embedded interstitial advertisements to content distributors (e.g., a cable affiliates such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable). Such advertisements routinely include advertisements for credit cards, national retailers or other products with broad appeal. A content distributor or a content provider may, want to be able to substitute a replacement advertisement for the advertisement inserted in the broadcast feed. Merely substituting in a replacement advertisement for local businesses, such as a car dealership or a real estate agent does not provide sufficient targeting for the advertisements. While the advertisement is local it still may have no relevancy to an individual viewer. Thus, conventional methods of providing replacement content (e.g., inserting targeted advertisements) fail to provide sufficiently sophisticated and accurate targeting of replacement media content while maintaining the simplicity of media systems. Rather, it would be valuable to advertisers and thus to content providers to be able to insert highly targeted advertisements based on other specific information about the likely viewer of the advertisement. | {
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Various surgical procedures are routinely carried out intravascularly or intraluminally. For example, in the treatment of vascular disease, such as arteriosclerosis, it is a common practice to invade the artery and insert an instrument (e.g., a balloon or other type of catheter) to carry out a procedure within the artery. Such procedures usually involve the percutaneous puncture of the artery so that an insertion sheath may be placed in the artery and thereafter instruments (e.g., a catheter) may pass through the sheath and to an operative position within the artery. Intravascular and intraluminal procedures unavoidably present the problem of stopping the bleeding at the percutaneous puncture after the procedure has been completed and after the instruments (and any insertion sheaths used therewith) have been removed. Bleeding from puncture sites, particularly in the case of femoral arterial punctures, is typically stopped by utilizing vascular closure devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,045,569; 6,090,130; 7,618,436; 7,749,248; 7,837,705; 7,931,670, and related patents and patent applications, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Typical closure tools or devices such as the ones described in the above-mentioned patents and patent applications place a sealing plug at one side of the tissue puncture site and an anchor on the other side of the tissue puncture site. Successful deployment of the sealing plug requires that it be ejected from within a device sheath or carrier tube into the incision or puncture tract and tamped down to an outer surface of the tissue puncture using a tamping tube (also called a compaction tube). The carrier tube extends from the proximal end to the distal end of the closure tool and includes an outlet at the distal end. The carrier tube may be made of plastic or other material and is designed for insertion through a sheath, and the sheath is designed for insertion through a percutaneous incision in a tissue layer and into a lumen. The sealing plug is initially disposed within the carrier tube, prior to deployment, and the anchor is positioned axially along the carrier tube. When the carrier tube is pulled away from the sealing plug and anchor, after the anchor has been positioned, for example, in a lumen, the sealing plug is deployed into the puncture tract. The carrier tube also houses a tamping device within, and the tamping device advances the sealing plug towards the anchor.
In a manually operated tool, the tamping procedure cannot commence until the carrier tube (within which the tamping device, such as a tamping tube, is located) has been removed so as to expose the tamping tube for manual grasping. The tamping tube is manually grasped and tamped against the sealing plug, setting the sealing plug within the incision or puncture tract, against an outer surface of the tissue puncture. In an automatic tamping system, the closure tool may have an automatic driving mechanism for automatically tamping the sealing plug within the incision or puncture tract toward the outer surface of the tissue puncture. The closure tool may have a tamping tube or tamping rack disposed adjacent to the sealing plug, such that the tamping tube or rack is driven by the automatic driving mechanism to tamp the sealing plug into the desired placement.
As noted above, once the anchor is anchored within the artery at the puncture site, further retraction of the closure tool and insertion sheath causes the sealing plug to withdraw from the distal end of the carrier tube, thereby depositing the plug within the incision or puncture tract. Improper positioning of the sealing plug, or shifting of the sealing plug, could result in poor sealing of the tissue puncture or incision, leading to body fluid leakage. Further, there is the potential that the anchor could loosen and at least partially obstruct the lumen, which could lead to body fluid leakage of the tissue puncture or incision. Therefore, there is a need for a tissue puncture closure tool that provides an improved anchor and sealing plug configuration that facilitates ease of deployment and secure positioning of the sealing plug, especially once the anchor is largely or completely resorbed. | {
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The invention generally relates to a combustion chamber arrangement for gas turbines. Preferably, it relates to one which includes a multiplicity of individual combustion chambers which open out in a common annular combustion chamber and are arranged in the shape of a circle. The invention also generally relates to a gas turbine having a combustion chamber arrangement which is constructed in accordance with the invention.
Gas turbines are in widespread use both in the field of power generation and as means for driving jet aircraft. In gas turbines, an air/fuel mixture is ignited in a combustion chamber, and the hot-gas stream resulting from the combustion is expanded into a turbine space, where the hot-gas stream comes into contact with an arrangement comprising guide vanes and turbine blades and sets the turbine blades arranged on a shaft and therefore the shaft itself in rotation. By way of example, a generator for generating power can now be operated with the aid of the rotary energy generated in this way.
Since the combustion of the air/fuel mixture results in high temperatures, which in modern, high-efficiency gas turbines may exceed temperatures of approximately 2000xc2x0 C., the turbine has to be cooled in the region of the combustion chamber and in subsequent regions, in terms of flow, in order to avoid overheating and therefore destruction of the turbine material.
Various attempted solutions are known both with regard to the structure of the combustion chamber and with regard to the required cooling. With regard to the structure of the combustion chamber, it is firstly known to provide a continuous annular combustion chamber in the form of a closed annular space which opens out into a first turbine space via an annular gap. In the annular combustion chamber, the air/fuel mixture is ignited, and an annular hot-gas stream which passes through the gap into the turbine space, where it drives the turbine blades, is formed. A problem with a solution of this type, in addition to undesirable, noisy fluctuations in the combustion, is the spatial limits imposed on the annular combustion chamber. Since the annular combustion chamber is accommodated entirely in the turbine housing, the volume of the combustion chamber cannot be increased or can only be increased with considerable structural outlay. However, such an increase in the volume is desirable in order for advanced combustion concepts to be implemented.
An alternative possible configuration for the combustion chamber consists in a multipart solution. A plurality of individual combustion chambers (known as can combustion chambers) are arranged in the form of a circle around an annular space into which the individual combustion chambers open out. The annular space serves as downstream annular combustion chamber, so that the actual combustion takes place in two parts. An air/fuel mixture is introduced into each of the individual combustion chambers and is ignited in the individual combustion chamber. The combustion then begins in the individual combustion chamber and continues via a transition region into the annular combustion chamber. In the annular combustion chamber, the gas streams from the individual combustion chamber are combined to form an annular gas stream which in turn opens out into a turbine space in order to drive the turbine blades.
A design of this type has the advantage that the combustion of the air/fuel mixture can be initiated in the individual combustion chambers and can therefore be carried out and controlled in a locally restricted manner. Consequently, it is possible to reduce or avoid undesirable oscillations in combustion which are associated with undesirable evolution of noise. It is also possible for the individual combustion chambers to project through the actual turbine housing, so that the former can be configured independently of the turbine design and can be expanded virtually as desired. For example, the larger combustion chamber volumes which are required for new and innovative combustion concepts can be made available without the basic design concept of the turbines, in particular the turbine mounting in the turbine housing, having to be completely revised.
Modern gas turbines are generally cooled by use of a fluid stream, usually a cooling-air stream. In this case, fundamentally two different concepts are employed. These are firstly what is known as impingement cooling, in which a cooling-fluid stream is guided onto the surface which is to be cooled, impinges on this surface and thus contributes to cooling. A second concept is convective cooling, in which a cooling fluid absorbs the heat which is generated and dissipates it by convection. A drawback of impingement cooling is that a pressure gradient is required in order to generated the gas stream which impinges on the surface which is to be cooled. Since in modern gas turbines some of the rotary energy of the turbine shaft obtained by the turbine is used in order to compress the air required to produce the air/fuel mixture, and this air is often also used as a cooling fluid, there is a loss of turbine efficiency if a pressure drop is additionally to be produced for cooling purposes. For optimum combustion, incoming air which is under high pressure is favorable, and consequently any pressure loss reduces the efficiency of the combustion. However, for effective impingement cooling a high pressure loss is necessary in order to pass a corresponding air jet onto the surface which is to be cooled. Furthermore, in the case of high-efficiency combustion, as can be achieved with combustion air which is under high pressure, relatively high temperatures are produced, which leads to increased cooling requirements and therefore, when impingement cooling is used, requires a higher pressure drop.
The situation is different in the case of convective cooling, in which a high pressure drop is not required in order to produce air jets. This type of cooling is advantageous with regard to turbine efficiency, but with this mode of cooling there are difficulties with regard to the cooling efficiency. For example, with convective cooling it is necessary for the cooling fluid, for example the incoming combustion air used for subsequent combustion, to be able to flow onto the individual regions which are to be cooled without being impeded, in order to generate a sufficient cooling effect. With many combustion chamber constructions, this cannot be achieved for design reasons, and consequently impingement cooling, which attenuates turbine efficiency, is often used.
An example of the use of impingement cooling in a combustion chamber arrangement with individual combustion chambers which open out into an annular space is given by U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,748. In the impingement cooling device described in this document, a transition region between the individual combustion chambers and a turbine stage of a gas turbine is surrounded by an impingement sleeve. An intermediate volume is formed between the impingement sleeve and the wall of the transition region, and the impingement sleeve has a multiplicity of openings. Cooling gases flow through these openings toward the wall of the transition piece, impinge on this wall and are thus responsible for cooling. A cooling concept of this type requires a high pressure drop between the outer side of the impingement sleeve and the interior volume, in order to allow jets of the cooling air to flow onto the surface of the wall of the transition region and provide the impingement for cooling at that location. As has been explained above, this pressure loss reduces the efficiency of the turbine.
An embodiment of the invention includes an object of further developing a combustion chamber arrangement in such a manner that it can be cooled using highly efficient convective cooling, with the use of impingement cooling being dispensed with as far as possible.
To achieve this object, an embodiment of the invention proposes that, in a combustion chamber arrangement, the annular combustion chamber, in a transition region to the individual combustion chambers, has a height which fluctuates periodically and is minimal in the region between adjacent individual combustion chambers.
Designing the annular combustion chamber in this manner allows a substantially more rectilinear flow guidance of the hot gas to be achieved, with a favorable transition from the individual combustion chambers into the downstream annular combustion chamber resulting. Moreover, designing the transition region between annular combustion chamber and individual combustion chambers in this way also allows favorable flow of a cooling fluid used for convective cooling onto the outer side.
To design the transition region between individual combustion chambers and annular combustion chamber in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, walls which delimit the annular combustion chamber are preferably designed in wavy form. In this case, the walls of the annular combustion chamber are arranged in such a way that openings of a maximum height and a minimum height alternately result in the transition region.
Further smoothing and gentle diversion of the hot-gas stream result if the annular combustion chamber, starting from the transition region which is formed with a periodically fluctuating height toward a turbine space connected downstream of the combustion chamber arrangement, in terms of flow, merges continuously into an annular space with a height which is uniform in the circumferential direction. In this way, the hot-gas streams which enter the annular combustion chamber from the individual combustion chambers in the transition region are distributed uniformly and are homogenized to form a single, annular gas stream. The continuous transition allows a pressure loss in the interior of the combustion chamber arrangement to be kept at a low level, which allows a high turbine efficiency to be achieved.
To be able to achieve targeted convection cooling, according to a further advantageous refinement of the invention, it is proposed that the housings of the combustion chamber arrangement be designed in the form of two shells. A gap space is preferably left between an inner shell and an outer shell and the shape of the outer shell is preferably matched to the shape of the inner shell in such a way that the distance between the two housing shells is substantially constant. With a two-shell structure of the housing of this type, it is possible to achieve good guidance of the cooling fluid used for convective cooling, the shape of inner shell and outer shell meaning that the cooling fluid which is guided in the gap space for cooling purposes reaches all the regions which are to be cooled uniformly, thus ensuring optimum cooling. On account of the shape of the inner shell and the outer shell of the housing, in the transition region between the annular combustion chamber and the individual combustion chambers, the gap space is transferred uniformly into individual gap spaces which surround the individual combustion chambers from a double ring which extends on both sides of the annular combustion chamber. This transfer takes place continuously and in gradual transitions, so that a gentle conversion of the cooling fluid flow without major pressure losses is possible. The avoidance of pressure losses at this point too contributes to the desired high turbine efficiency.
In a preferred configuration of the annular combustion chamber arrangement, finally, the individual combustion chambers are circular in cross section and are preferably designed in the form of a cylinder. A cross-sectional shape of the individual combustion chambers of this type on the one hand represents a suitable geometry for high-efficiency combustion, and on the other hand allows a smooth transition of the hot-gas flow from the individual combustion chambers formed in this way into the annular combustion chamber using the transition region described above.
Finally, an embodiment of the invention provides a novel gas turbine in which a combustion chamber arrangement as described above is used. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Refraction devices are ophthalmic diagnostic instruments that measure a variety of refractive errors of a patient's eye. An eye care professional may utilize the measurements taken by a refraction device to determine, inter alia, a patient's corrective lens prescription. During use of a refraction device, a patient looks into an adjustable eyepiece of the refraction device to view an eye chart positioned a selected distance away. As the patient is viewing the eye chart, the eye care professional adjusts various optical lens elements of the refraction device based on subjective feedback provided by the patient on whether an adjusted optical element improves or degrades visual acuity.
Typically, the patient's participation in an eye examination generally does not extend beyond providing responses to cues from the eye care professional. Thus, while the patient does have some input during the refraction process, control over the adjustments to the optical elements of the refraction device is solely in the hands of the eye care professional. In this way, the degree of accuracy of the measurements is vulnerable to any faulty communication between patient and professional. Further, since the patient is only partially responsible for the outcome of the eye examination, if the patient is displeased with the prescription of the resulting eyewear, the patient may be inclined to place the sole blame on the eye care professional rather him or herself. As such, eye care professionals and patients alike may benefit from increasing patient involvement in the refraction process. This can result in an increase in the accuracy of the measurements and an improvement in the confidence of the patient in the final determined prescription.
Accordingly, there is a need for refraction devices that provide patients with more control over the eye examination process. In addition, it would be desirable to provide a refraction device that creates a more intuitive experience for the patient, has improved accuracy in taking refractive error measurements, and is more handicap-accessible. | {
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This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
Use of autonomous equipment/vehicles in heavy equipment industries would be desirable. For example, it would be desirable to use autonomous mining-related equipment in the mining industry. However, issues arise in that GPS is not available when mining equipment is underground. Systems and methods for autonomous equipment operation where GPS is not available would therefore be desirable. The present teachings advantageously provide such systems and methods. | {
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In order to decrease circuit cost, increase circuit density, and increase performance of an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit industry has continually sought to reduce integrated circuit surface area. In markets such as advanced microprocessors and memory circuits, very compact devices are crucial in order to develop future generations of integrated circuits. Fast static random access memory (FSRAM) technology is a portion of the integrated circuit market that has produced a large number of advances in surface area reduction of integrated circuits (ICs). Most of the surface area reductions achieved in FSRAM technology have been due to advances in transistor layout and fabrication.
Initially, transistors in memory cells were fabricated in a conventional, planar manner. In planar technology, memory cell transistors are placed next to each other separated by a physical space limited by photolithographic and other process requirements. Electrical connection between the memory cell transistors is achieved via overlying polysilicon, metal or other conductive layers. The need for larger amounts of memory on an integrated circuit is resulting in a movement away from conventional planar transistors for use in memory designs and designs requiring compact circuits.
The IC industry began to research transistors, especially load transistors, fabricated on a substrate-overlying conductor such as polysilicon. By fabricating transistors overlying the substrate, the substrate could be used for other purposes besides holding load transistors and the surface area of a FSRAM memory cell would therefore decrease.
The substrate-overlying transistors, referred to as thin film transistors (TFTs), mentioned above have been typically manufactured in two ways. The first way is to create a pair of load transistors that are over-gated or top-gated. Over-gated transistors are transistors that each have a source, a drain, and a channel region created from a first polysilicon layer. A gate for this transistor is formed by an overlying second layer of polysilicon. Together, sources, drains, and channel regions in the first polysilicon layer and gates in the second overlying polysilicon layer form pairs of load transistors for an FSRAM cell resulting in reduced cell surface area.
The second way in which thin film transistors have been made is by under-gated or bottom-gated polysilicon transistors. Under-gated transistors are transistors that have a source, a drain, and a channel region created from a second polysilicon layer. A gate for this type of transistor is formed by an underlying first layer of polysilicon. Together, sources, drains, and channel regions in the first polysilicon layer and gates in the second underlying polysilicon layer form pairs of load transistors for an FSRAM cell resulting in reduced cell surface area.
Although over-gated pairs of transistors and under-gated pairs of transistors helped to reduce memory cell surface area, these pairs of transistors may not be capable of providing circuit densities necessary for future generations of FSRAM cells. In addition, most of the conventional TFT pair designs contain three to five contacts, and the etch steps required to etch some of these contact openings are not trivial. A pair of load transistors with reduced surface area or improved operational performance is needed for future memory generations. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a sensor circuit. More particularly, the invention concerns a sensor circuit which is advantageously suited for use in combination with a cell-driven type floppy-disc drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, the floppy-disc drives have found wide applications as inexpensive high-density external storage devices for various data processing systems and equipments.
In the floppy disc system, a floppy disc (also referred to as diskette) of magnetic flexible sheet material housed within a protective envelope of a predetermined configuration is inserted in a processing unit of the floppy disc drive, where data is read out from or written in the floppy disc.
In conjunction with the floppy disc system, there have heretofore been used various sensor circuits such as a disc-in sensor for detecting whether or not a floppy disc is normally inserted within the floppy disc drive, a write protect sensor for detecting whether data previously stored in the inserted floppy disc is to be protected from writing operation, a so-called track zero sensor for determining whether a magnetic head is positioned on the zeroth track of the disc and others.
In general, the sensor is constituted by a so-called photosensor which comprises an infrared-ray emission diode (hereinafter also referred to as LED in abridgement) and a phototransistor disposed in opposition to the LED with a gap defined therebetween, wherein the presence or absence of an object in the gap is detected in dependence on the output signal state of the phototransistor. For preventing the photosensor from erroneous operation under the influence of ambient illumination or the like, the LED is supplied with a current of magnitude in a range of ca. 15 mA to ca. 20 mA. On the other hand, the phototransistor is so connected that a current on the order of 10 mA may flow therethrough in the conducting state although the current depends on the minimum current required for operation of the sensor circuit.
Under the circumstances, the current required for the operation only of the three types of sensor circuits mentioned above will amount to 75 mA to 90 mA. Accordingly, assuming that these sensor circuits operate at a source voltage of 5 V, electric power on the order of 0.5 W is required.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a typical one of the hitherto known sensor circuit. Since the disc-in sensor, the write protect sensor and the zeroth track sensor are substantially of similar circuit configuration, the description will be made on the assumption that the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 1 is for the zeroth track sensor.
In FIG. 1, a reference symbol 1 denotes an infrared-ray emission diode or LED, 2 denotes a phototransistor, 3 denotes a microprocessor (commercially available under the trade name "TT6677S") which serves as a control circuit, 4 denotes a NOT gate serving as a driver circuit for an interface (not shown) to a controller (not shown), and R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 denote working (bias) resistors for the LED 1 and the phototransistor 2, respectively.
The output signal of the phototransistor 2, i.e. the signal S.sub.1 indicative of detection of the zeroth track in the case of the illustrated example, is applied to an input terminal a of the microprocessor 3. In response to the input signal S.sub.1, the microprocessor 3 outputs a signal S.sub.2 from a terminal b, which signal S.sub.2 is applied to the input of the NOT gate 4, whereby an inverted signal S.sub.3 outputted from a terminal c is utilized for driving the interface (not shown).
Next, operation of the sensor circuit will be described with reference to a program stored in the microprocessor 3 and shown in a flow chart of FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings.
The microprocessor 3 is adapted to perform ON/OFF control of a spindle motor of a floppy disc drive on the basis of a motor control signal, control of a step motor, control of revolution number (check of revolution number) and the like through steps A.
In this connection, although the control which has to be performed at a high speed is carried out by resorting to a so-called interrupt routine, the ordinary control is performed on the basis of the results of polling (for scanning selection).
Accordingly, the processing program executed by the microprocessor 3 includes a loop for the polling (which will hereinafter be referred to as the main loop). It should be noted that the output signal of the zeroth track sensor, i.e. the output signal S.sub.1 of the phototransistor S.sub.1 is processed this main loop.
For example, upon application of the output signal S.sub.1 of the phototransistor 2 at the terminal a of the microprocessor (at step B), this signal S.sub.1 is processed by excecuting the main loop. More specifically, when the signal S.sub.1 is at a low level as decided at a step C, the microprocessor determines whether the step motor is in predetermined phase at a step D. If so, the signal S.sub.2 of a high level is outputted from the terminal b of the microprocessor at a step E. This signal S.sub.2 is inverted through the NOT gate 4 to the signal S.sub.3 which is supplied to the controller (not shown) by way of the interface (also not shown). Obviously, when the signal S.sub.1 is high (i.e. at high level), the signal S.sub.2 is low.
The output signal S.sub.2 is latched internally of the microprocessor 3 to be held till the succeeding polling.
In the prior art sensor circuit of the type described above, a relatively large current of 15 mA to 20 mA flows through the LED 1 during execution of the main loop for performing the polling, bringing about a power consumption which is not negligible.
In these years, endeavors have been made to develop a portable type floppy disc drive adapted to be energized by a cell or battery in accompaniment with tendency for implementation of the data processing apparatus in a small size at light weight. To this end, the power consumption of the floppy disc drive as a whole has to be reduced as low as possible, which in turn means that the power consumption of the sensor circuits should be suppressed to a possible minimum.
For satisfying the requirement mentioned above, it is indispensable to use the sensor components of low power consumption type. In practice, however, great difficulty is encountered in selecting the components for the sensor circuit which meet all the requirements inclusive of those imposed on the manufacturing cost, sensitivity and others. | {
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With the continuous development of computer technology and communications technology, more and more users are searching, looking up, and buying products on online shopping websites. Before searching, looking up and buying products, buyer-users are likely to browse the product information posted on websites by seller-users. The seller-users can be corporate entities, manufacturers or individual operators.
The volume of product information submitted by seller-users to the online marketplace website servers can be massive. In order to classify the products represented by the product information received and effectively guide buyer-users to obtain the desired information, website servers usually partition product information using multilevel categories. Multilevel category systems generally have the following characteristics listed below.
First, multilevel category system architecture is relatively stable. Multilevel category systems with relatively stable architecture help seller-users to get accustomed to the system. In such systems, when product information is submitted to website servers, product information is submitted in a standard format and content in accordance with the requirements of the multilevel category system. Such systems also help buyer-users to get accustomed to the system so that the buyer-user can accumulate experience in rapidly searching for desired product information.
Second, multilevel category systems are generally operated and maintained manually by website server operations personnel. With the manual operation method, common knowledge in the field can be regularized to form standards, aiding the extension of the use of the multilevel category system to a variety of websites.
In order to preserve the two characteristics of multilevel category systems described above, when partitioning massive volumes of product information using multilevel categories, product information typically can only be partitioned with a relatively coarse degree of granularity. This is because, due to the wide variety of product information, if product information is partitioned to a finer degree of granularity, then the bottom layer (also referred to as leaf categories) of the multilevel categories must change as product information changes, which is detrimental to the stability of the multilevel category system; moreover, if product information is partitioned to a fine degree of granularity, the resulting multilevel category architecture is bound to be enormous, increasing the difficulty of manual operation of the website servers.
For example, assume the product information under a particular leaf category is “dresses,” and the information for a particular dress is of interest. When the product material associated with the product information changes from silk to cotton, the information for the dress will remain under the leaf category for dresses; no change needs to be made to the leaf category. If, however, the granularity of the partitioning of the multilevel category system is finer and the product information under a particular leaf category is “silk dresses,” then when the product material of the information for a particular dress changes to cotton, it is necessary to switch the product information from the leaf category for silk dresses to the leaf category for cotton dresses. In other words, the leaf categories change as product information changes. At the same time, because multilevel category systems typically use tree node architecture, each time a subcategory is added, a large volume of categories is added to the multilevel category system, making the architecture of multilevel category systems very large.
Because the granularity of product information partitioning in multilevel category systems is relatively fine, the volume of product information encompassed at even the lowest layer in the multilevel category system can be massive. Under these conditions, when buyer-users search or query product information using multilevel category systems, query time can be long, and query accuracy is lower; moreover, when website servers recommend product information to buyer-users, they are often only able to do so at the leaf category level, resulting in substantial differences in the recommended product information, such that the accuracy of the recommendation does not meet the actual needs of buyer-users.
Additionally, due to the large volume of product information encompassed in leaf categories, the differences in product information included in the same leaf category are also great; therefore, the level of difficulty in realizing operations regarding product information under leaf categories is also higher. For example, website operators may want to identify information for unsafe/counterfeit products using the price parameter. It is generally acknowledged that extremely low prices are very likely to be suspect as counterfeit products. An operator may devise a rule that if the price for a Brand A product is below $100, then the product is likely a counterfeit product, and that if the price is below $20 for another product of the same type but is a Brand B product, the product is likely to be a counterfeit product. If the price of a particular product is $50, it becomes more difficult to directly appraise whether the product is a counterfeit product using the price parameter rule. Additional information for the product would be required to determine its authenticity status. In practice, the large volume of product information under the leaf categories results in an extremely large amount of operations. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to harness for horses and the like, and particularly to an appliance employed in bridling of such animals.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
Prior proposals for attachments of this general nature are illustratively shown in the below listed United States patents:
______________________________________ Patent No. Patentee Issued ______________________________________ 234,029 Gunning Nov. 2, 1880 921,812 Dorf May 18, 1909 1,086,891 Buche Feb. 10, 1914 2,273,136 Orech et al. Feb. 17, 1942 ______________________________________ | {
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The present invention relates generally to explosive warheads and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for embedding an initiator within a main explosive charge and the warheads formed thereby.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, it is known to provide a warhead 10 including a fixed initiator 12. More particularly, the initiator 12 usually includes an initiator charge 14 coupled to a safe/arm device (not shown) through a precision initiating coupling (PIC) 16. The initiator charge 14 is typically in a fixed position by being rigidly coupled to the warhead case 20. As is known, the initiator charge 14 is configured to bridge a gap 22 and detonate a main explosive charge 24. The gap 22 between the initiator charge 14 and the main explosive charge 24 may degrade the performance of the warhead 10.
Another known warhead 30 is shown in FIG. 2 as including an initiator 32 which is configured to move longitudinally within the case 20. More particularly, the initiator housing 34 is rigidly coupled to the warhead case 20 and defines a chamber or passageway 36 in which the initiator 32 floats. As such, the initiator 32 may move up and down within its housing 34 to maintain contact with the main explosive charge 24. In certain instances, springs 38 may be used to exert a downward force against the initiator 32, thereby facilitating contact between the initiator and the explosive charge 24. As noted above, maintaining contact between the initiator 32 and the main explosive charge 24 may be important, particularly when using a weaker initiator 32, in order to provide satisfactory performance of the main explosive charge 24 or when greater initiation precision is desired.
With reference now to FIG. 3, in order to facilitate contact between the initiator 32 and the main explosive charge 24, it is known to use an end former 38 for casting a precision upper surface 40 on the main explosive charge 24. Spruel holes 42 may be utilized to either cast liquid explosive 24 through the end former 38 or permit the discharge of excess liquid explosive 24 therethrough.
There remains a need for a warhead with increased performance through consistently reliable and precise initiation of the main explosive charge and, more particularly, by allowing the initiator to maintain full and continuous contact with the main explosive charge as the relative position between the case and upper surface of the main explosive charge changes. There is also a need to simplify and economize production of warheads by eliminating the need to end form a precision upper surface on the main explosive charge. There is a further need to permit initiator removal and replacement while maintaining the main explosive charge within the case. There is also a need to improve the safety of warheads by protecting the relatively sensitive initiator from the case of the warhead.
According to an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, an explosive warhead includes a case defining a longitudinal axis, and a main explosive charge received within the case. An explosive initiator includes an embedded portion received within the main explosive charge. A coupler is positioned intermediate the main explosive charge and the embedded portion of the initiator, and releasably couples the initiator to the main explosive charge. The explosive initiator maintains continuous contact with the main explosive charge by moving longitudinally with the main explosive charge during thermal expansion and contraction. Illustratively, the coupler includes a plurality of threads formed within the main explosive charge, and a plurality of mating threads supported by the embedded portion of the initiator.
According to another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, an explosive warhead includes a case defining a longitudinal axis, a main explosive charge received within the case, and an explosive initiator which includes an embedded portion received within the main explosive charge. A longitudinally extending spruel hole is formed within the initiator and receives a portion of the main explosive charge.
According to a further illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, an explosive warhead includes a case, a main explosive charge received within the case, and an explosive initiator including an embedded portion received within the main explosive charge. A ullage is disposed intermediate the explosive initiator and the case, wherein the explosive initiator maintains continuous contact with the main explosive charge by moving within the ullage during thermal expansion and contraction of the main explosive charge.
According to yet another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of forming an explosive warhead includes the steps of providing a case, coupling an initiator to a placement fixture, and positioning the placement fixture such that the initiator is suspended within a liquid explosive received within the case. The method further includes the step of curing the liquid explosive to a hardened condition such that the initiator is at least partially embedded within and supported by the explosive.
According to a further illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of forming an explosive warhead includes the steps of providing a case, coupling an initiator to a placement fixture, and positioning the placement fixture such that the initiator is suspended within the case. The method further includes the steps of casting a liquid explosive within the case, such that at least a portion of the initiator is received within the liquid explosive when suspended within the case by the placement fixture, and curing the liquid explosive to a hardened condition, such that the initiator is at least partially embedded within and supported by the explosive.
According to a further illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of forming an explosive warhead includes the steps of providing a case, providing an initiator including threads, and coupling the initiator to a placement fixture. The method further includes the steps of coupling the placement fixture to the case such that the initiator is suspended within the case, and casting a liquid explosive within the case, such that at least a portion of the initiator is received within the liquid explosive when suspended within the case by the placement fixture. The method further includes the steps of heating the liquid explosive such that the explosive hardens, the initiator is at least partially embedded within and supported by the explosive, and mating threads are formed within the explosive and cooperate with the threads of the initiator. The method further includes the steps of uncoupling the initiator from the placement fixture after the explosive hardens, cooling the explosive after uncoupling the initiator, such that the initiator moves with the explosive in response to thermal contraction, and uncoupling the placement fixture from the case.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived. | {
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When two applications communicate using event subscription messaging in a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) architecture, one application is defined as an event producer, while the other application is defined as an event receiver or an event subscriber. In most cases, the event producer will be a server-based web service, and the event subscriber will be a client subscribing to events generated by the web service. Typically, there will be many event subscribers for each event producer, and while each event subscriber will want to be notified of a particular event type, each event subscriber may potentially need data related to the event in different formats and configurations particular to each client system. The industry standard mechanism is for each client system to receive the same data packet from the event producer. Each client system must then use filters and expressions that are grammar-specific to reformat and filter the data as necessary. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of achieving an improved carbonaceous fuel composition. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved method of removing gangue materials from coal to form a low-sulfur, low-ash carbon fuel that burns readily with high efficiency and low pollution emissions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art has seen development of many and varied processes for treating coal for different purposes. Typical of these processes are those described in issued U.S. patents such as the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,133,280 describing preparation of mineral oil products by extraction of coal; 3,748,254 describing the conversion of coal by solvent extraction; 3,754,876 describing the upgrading of coal by heating lumps to pyrolysis temperatures of up to 1000.degree. F. (Farenheit) in an inert hydrogen-poor hydrocarbonaceous heat transfer fluid; 3,856,658 directed to slurried solids in hydrogenation of coal and 3,920,418 directed to converting the coal to a liquid and gaseous fuel employing solvent extraction followed by carbonization of the solids-rich fraction to char, that is finally gasified.
Despite the large number of processes for producing cleaner burning coal and producing cleaner more reactive feed stocks for coal conversion processes, there still exists a great need for such processes. From a pragmatic point of view, there is a particularly urgent need for processes to accomplish the foregoing economically and with higher efficiencies from the energy consumption standpoint.
The closest prior art of which I am aware is my priorly issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,893, entitled "Method of Preparing Low-Sulfur, Low-Ash Fuel," issued June 21, 1977; and the descriptive matter of that patent is embodied herein by reference for details omitted herefrom. That patent described and claimed an economical means for removing relatively large grains of diluent gangue materials (ash-forming and inorganic-sulfur-bearing mineral grains) from coals after comminution by conventional means and screening to minus 8 mesh size, with the majority of the material being minus 100 mesh size. In that patented process, the coal was comminuted in the presence of alcohols either before or after final sizing and the dilute slurry of the coal and alcohols, with various chemical compounds in the solution and with colloidal particles in suspension, was then subjected to a series of settling velocity separation steps to remove the higher settling velocity particles from the lower settling velocity particles. The gangue materials that were freed were freed as discreet particles and remained sufficiently large in size to exhibit relatively high settling velocities resulting from the size, higher density and particle sphericity (roundness) so as to be effectively separated from the lower settling velocity carbonaceous material. The carbonaceous material tends to break down to smaller sizes than the more durable gangue materials. That patent also described additional process steps such as the flashing to produce highly reactive puffed coal particles and the like. The patented process provided economical and useful means for reducing the ash-forming and inorganic sulfur-bearing mineral content of carbonaceous fuels; but was applicable only to those coals or lignites wherein the diluent, or gangue materials, exist within the coal or lignite as grains, or particles, larger than about 30 to 50 microns in size, with the minimum size removable depending upon the density and particle shape factors.
Consequently, although the prior inventions; particularly, the latter; were useful advances, they were limited in breadth of applicability. Moreover, the latter also required significant amounts of alcohols to be left in the carbonaceous particulate fuel. The rapidly escalating costs for the alcohols made this undesirable economically, even though it did improve the fuel quality and combustion characteristics.
Despite all the prior improvements, further advances are needed to provide for removal of much smaller particles of diluent, or gangue materials; to effect substantially complete recovery of the alcohols used in the process; and to effect removal of some of the organic sulfur-bearing compounds from the fuel end product, particularly where it is a carbon-hydrocarbon (CHC) fuel. | {
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This invention relates to the field of fabricating integrated circuits. More particularly, this invention relates to the design, layout, and use of reticles in photolithographic manufacturing of integrated circuits.
In a photolithographic manufacturing process for integrated circuits, it is common to use reticles upon which patterns are formed. The patterns are also called xe2x80x9clayer patternsxe2x80x9d herein because the patterns are imaged onto an integrated circuit substrate that is coated with a light sensitive material, to ultimately pattern a layer of an integrated circuit. Typically, multiple reticles are required to produce a desired integrated circuit. A significant amount of money is generally devoted to producing the reticles needed for fabricating the integrated circuits. For example, a single integrated circuit may require twenty to thirty reticles, at a cost of several thousand dollars each. Thus, the time and expense of producing reticles is of particular concern. This is especially of concern in low volume integrated circuit fabrication, such as prototyping or other design verification.
In the present invention, the time and expense for producing reticles is minimized by designing the reticle to have multiple different layer patterns formed thereon for producing multiple different layers of the same or different integrated circuits.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus is provided for producing integrated circuits that includes a reticle with a number of layer patterns disposed on the reticle. At least some of the layer patterns on the reticle are different from others of the layer patterns and the layer patterns are selected from a group of same circuit layer patterns and different circuit layer patterns. A same circuit layer pattern corresponds to different layers of one design of an integrated circuit and different circuit layer patterns correspond to different layer patterns from different designs of integrated circuits.
A light source provides and directs light onto individual layer patterns on the reticle, and an integrated circuit substrate is disposed to receive light from the reticle. An image is formed on the integrated circuit substrate, and the image corresponds to one of the layer patterns on the reticle. A scanner moves the integrated circuit substrate relative to the reticle, and a controller associated with the scanner controls the relative positioning of the integrated circuit substrate. The controller causes selected images of the layer patterns to be projected on or disposed on selected areas of the integrated circuit substrate. Thus, the layer patterns on the reticle are imaged onto the substrate as part of a photolithographic process that produces one or more desired integrated circuits.
In this manner, several different mask layers for a single integrated circuit design, such as a prototype design, are placed on a single reticle, rather than on multiple reticles. Thus, fewer reticles are required to fabricate the integrated circuit, and less expense is incurred in producing the mask set. Alternately, the different mask layers on a single reticle are used for the various layers of different integrated circuit designs, rather than for the layers of a single integrated circuit design. This also reduces the number of reticles that are needed to fabricate the different integrated circuit designs. Although this type of reticle is preferably used for prototype fabrication, or very small run production, it could also be used in full scale production of integrated circuits.
In accordance with a method embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of layer patterns are formed on a reticle. The layer patterns are selected from the group of same circuit layer patterns and different circuit layer patters, where the same circuit layer patterns correspond to different layers of one design of an integrated circuit and where the different circuit layer patterns correspond to different layer patterns from different designs of integrated circuits.
In one embodiment, the reticle is used in a photolithographic process to project multiple different images on the same area of an integrated circuit substrate to form multiple layers of one integrated circuit.
In an alternate embodiment of the method, the reticle may also be used to project multiple different images on different areas of one or more integrated circuits to form layers of different design on one or more integrated circuit substrates. Alternately, an embodiment could use the reticle to do both of the above methods in the same process. That is, the reticle would be used to project multiple different images on the same area of an integrated circuit to form multiple layers of one integrated circuit design and the reticle would be used to project multiple different images on different areas of one or more integrated circuit substrates to form layers of different integrated circuit designs.
In accordance with a more detailed embodiment of the present invention, a method produces an integrated circuit by providing an integrated circuit substrate and forming a light sensitive layer on the substrate. The light sensitive layer reacts when exposed to light. A reticle is also provided and a plurality of layer patterns are formed on the reticle. The layer patterns are selected from the group of same circuit layer patterns and different circuit layer patterns where the same circuit layer patterns correspond to different layers of one design and where the different circuit layer patterns correspond to different layer patterns from different designs.
Light is directed onto one pattern of the reticle and the light sensitive layer is exposed to light from the one pattern so that a light image of the one pattern is formed on the light sensitive layer. The light image on the light sensitive layer forms a reacted region in the form of the light image of the one pattern. A portion of the light sensitive layer is removed from the integrated circuit to form a desired pattern in the light sensitive layer corresponding to the reacted region. The substrate is then processed to form a desired feature in or on the substrate corresponding in part to the desired pattern in the light sensitive layer.
A new layer of integrated circuit material is formed over the desired features and a new light sensitive layer is formed over the new layer of integrated circuit material. Light is again directed onto the reticle, but this time onto a different pattern of the reticle. Light from the different pattern is exposed onto the new light sensitive layer on the integrated circuit substrate to form a light image of the different pattern. The light sensitive layer reacts to the light image to form a new reacted region in the light sensitive layer in the form of the light image of the different pattern. Again, a portion of the light sensitive layer is removed from the integrated circuit substrate to form a new desired pattern in the light sensitive layer corresponding to the new reacted region.
The substrate is then processed to form new desired features on the substrate corresponding in part to the new desired pattern in the light sensitive layer. Thereafter, the remaining portion of the light sensitive layer is removed and the steps of forming new layers of integrated circuit material and a new light sensitive layer are repeated followed by a repetition of the directing, exposing, removing, processing and the second removing step. These series of steps are repeated until a desired integrated circuit is constructed.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, a reticle is produced for making layers for one or more designs of integrated circuits. For a particular integrated circuit scanner, a maximum field size is determined and then within that maximum field size, a field size for each sub field in a plurality of x by y arrays of sub fields is determined. In making this determination, the size of the borders around and between the sub fields as required by the particular scanner is considered. The size of sub fields for different x by y arrays is determined where x and y define the number of rows and columns in the array and where x and y vary within a predetermined range.
The maximum size of a selected layer pattern in a particular integrated circuit design is determined and then an array is selected to have sub fields with dimensions sufficient to contain the selected layer pattern. At least a portion of the selected array is formed on the reticle to form at least one sub field on the reticle. Then, the selected layer pattern is formed in the sub field of the reticle. If additional layer patterns are needed, the above steps of determining a maximum field size, determining maximum sub field sizes, selecting, forming a portion of the array and forming a selected layer pattern are repeated until the reticle is full.
In the above method, sub fields from only one array may be formed on the reticle, or sub fields from different arrays may be formed on the reticle. Preferably, the centers of the sub field and the centers of each layer pattern are aligned and the scanner is programmed to position the integrated circuit substrate relative to the layer patterns based on the positions of the centers of the sub fields. | {
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Conventional semiconductor storage devices, such as MRAM, need to have a resistive element in the circuit design.
For example, a typical resistive element led using an active area or gate wiring of a memory cell array has a low sheet resistance, a high parasitic capacitance or bad temperature characteristics. For such reasons, the resistive element is often out of circuit design specifications.
Thus, there is a need for a newly developed resistive element that has a desired sheet resistance, temperature characteristics or the like.
This leads to an elongated development period and an increase of the manufacturing cost due to an additional process. | {
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} |
Medicament reservoirs such as ampoules, cartridges, or vials are generally known. Such reservoirs are especially used for medicaments that may be self administered by a patient. For example, with respect to insulin, a patient suffering from diabetes may require a certain amount of insulin to either be injected via a pen type injection syringe or infused via a pump. With respect to certain known reusable pen type drug delivery devices, a patient loads a cartridge containing the insulin into a proximal end of a cartridge holder. After the cartridge has been correctly loaded, the user may then be called upon to select a dose of medicament. Multiple doses may be dosed from the cartridge. Where the drug delivery device comprises a reusable device, once the cartridge is empty, the cartridge holder is disconnected from the drug delivery device and the empty cartridge is removed and replaced with a new cartridge. Most suppliers of such cartridges recommend that the user dispose of the empty cartridges properly. Where the drug delivery device comprises a disposable device, once the cartridge is empty, the user is recommended to dispose of the entire device.
Such known self administration systems requiring the removal and reloading of empty cartridges have certain limitations. For example, in certain generally known systems, a user simply loads a new cartridge into the delivery system without the drug delivery device or without the cartridge having any mechanism of preventing cross use of an incorrect cartridge. That is, the drug delivery device does not have a mechanism for determining if the medicament contained in the cartridge is indeed the correct type of medicament to be administered by the patient. Alternatively, certain known drug delivery devices do not present a mechanism for determining if the correct type of medicament within the cartridge should be used with that particular drug delivery system. This potential problem could be exacerbated given that certain elderly patients, such as those suffering from diabetes, may have limited manual dexterity. Identifying an incorrect medicament is quite important, since the administration of a potentially incorrect dose of a medicament such as a short acting insulin in lieu of a long insulin could result in injury or even death.
Some drug delivery devices or systems may use a color coding scheme to assist a user or care giver in selecting the correct cartridge to be used with a drug delivery device. However, such color coding schemes pose challenges to certain users, especially those users suffering from poor eyesight or color blindness: a situation that can be quite prevalent in patients suffering from diabetes.
Another concern that may arise with such disposable cartridges is that these cartridges are manufactured in essentially standard sizes and manufactured to comply with certain recognized local and international standards. Consequently, such cartridges are typically supplied in standard sized cartridges (e.g., 3 ml cartridges). Therefore, there may be a variety of cartridges supplied by a number of different suppliers and containing a different medicament but they may fit a single drug delivery device. As just one example, a first cartridge containing a first medicament from a first supplier may fit a medical delivery device provided by a second supplier. As such, a user might be able to load and then dispense an incorrect medicament (such as a rapid or basal type of insulin) into a drug delivery device without being aware that the medical delivery device was perhaps neither designed nor intended to be used with such a cartridge.
As such, there is a growing desire from users, health care providers, care givers, regulatory entities, and medical device suppliers to reduce the potential risk of a user loading an incorrect drug type into a drug delivery device. There is also, therefore, a desire to reduce the risk of dispensing an incorrect medicament (or the wrong concentration of the medicament) from such a drug delivery device.
There is, therefore, a general need to physically dedicate or mechanically code a cartridge to its drug type and design an injection device that only accepts or works with the dedication or coded features provided on or with the cartridge so as to prevent unwanted cartridge cross use. Similarly, there is also a general need for a dedicated cartridge that allows the medical delivery device to be used with only an authorized cartridge containing a specific medicament while also preventing undesired cartridge cross use.
There is also a general need to provide a dedicated cartridge that is difficult to tamper with so that the cartridge may not be compromised in that the cartridge can be used with an unauthorized drug or drug delivery device. Because such cartridges may be difficult to tamper with, they may also reduce the risk of counterfeiting: i.e., making it more difficult for counterfeiters to provide unregulated counterfeit medicament carrying products. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1) Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to identification devices used in conjunction with mobile terminals and, more particularly, to techniques for updating a work plan using a mobile terminal.
2) Description of Related Art
Automatic identification systems have been developed for various applications, such as service industries, purchasing and distribution logistics, time and attendance, manufacturing, and material flow systems. For example, radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags have been used for identification purposes and gained popularity due to their small size and relatively low cost. As known to those of ordinary skill in the art, information stored on the RFID tag may be read by a RFID tag reader using radiofrequency signals. The RFID tag may be passive (i.e., activated via interrogation) or active (i.e., activated via an independent power source) and be capable of wirelessly communicating with the tag reader.
Moreover, the ability to wirelessly communicate with a RFID tag has prompted the integration of various wireless devices with tag reading capabilities. For instance, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0043201 to Vesikivi et al. discloses the implementation of a personal communication device (e.g., cellular phone) with a RFID tag reader.
One particular application of RFID tags and wireless devices includes the supervision of workers. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/00441141 to Vesikivi et al. discloses a system and method for supervising workers that includes using a worker device to access a storage element (e.g., a RFID tag) associated with a workplace location.
Despite these improvements of integrating wireless devices and identification devices, there is a need for methods to efficiently update a work plan using a mobile terminal. In addition, there is a need for methods to deploy an identification device with a mobile terminal such that the identification device may be readily located and identified in the future. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to improvements in dual temperature exchange system for concentrating a desired material by exchanging, at different temperatures, said desired material with another material between chemically different lighter and heavier fluids, e.g. gas and liquid, which are physically separable from each other and which are each capable of containing each of said materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In such dual temperature exchange systems, for instance, as disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,787,526 issued Apr. 2, 1957; 2,895,803 issued July 21, 1959; and 3,142,540 issued July 28, 1964 and my heretofore filed copending U.S. Patent Applications including, inter alia, Ser. No. 828,926, filed July 16, 1959, abandoned and continued in Ser. No. 123,815, filed Mar. 12, 1971, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,933,995 issued Jan. 20, 1976; Ser. No. 587,362, filed Sept. 26, 1966, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,500, issued Sept. 23, 1975; Ser. No. 587,363, filed Sept. 26, 1966, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,395, issued Nov. 18, 1975; and Ser. No. 587,365, filed Sept. 26, 1966 which was divided into Ser. No. 43,626, filed Apr. 30, 1970 (continued by Ser. No. 330,327, filed Feb. 7, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,833, issued Mar. 18, 1975) and Ser. No. 201,238, filed Nov. 22, 1971; said Ser. No. 587,365 (now abandoned) having been continued in Ser. No. 214,494, filed Dec. 30, 1971, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,473, issued Feb. 24, 1976 (the disclosures of all said patents and applications being incorporated herein by reference), a system is employed which comprises one or more stages of hot and cold tower pairs for contacting of said lighter and heavier fluids in countercurrent relationship. In such known systems one of the two fluids is supplied from an external source and is fed to the first tower of the first stage pair of towers, enriched in the desired material to be concentrated by preferential exchange therein, impoverished in the said desired material in the second tower of said pair to a concentration of the desired material less than that of said feed supply fluid, and discharged from the system. The other fluid is continuously circulated through the pair of towers to become enriched in the desired material in the second tower of said pair and to become impoverished in that material in the first tower of said pair. Such a system may comprise a plurality of similar or different concentrating stages of known species, and a portion of the flow of one or both of the enriched fluids being passed between said towers in a stage other than the last is also impoverished in the desired material during such passage by subjecting it to extraction of desired material therefrom in the following stage or other concentrating treatment. A portion of the enriched flow of one of the fluids is withdrawn as product from that part of the system in which its concentration of the desired material is high.
Also, in such dual temperature exchange systems, as is shown by the above mentioned prior patents, various provisions are made for moving the process fluids and adjusting the temperatures thereof as required by the process, which employ fluid pumping means, heating and cooling means, and indirect and/or direct contact heat exchange means provided to meet the particular requirements of the system. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a method of processing a body having a surface of which at least a portion is vitreous and during which the vitreous region or regions of the surface become(s) activated. The invention includes processes in which organic materials are fixed to the thus activated surfaces, and extends to products made by the method and to apparatus for performing the method.
In general, in order to fix organic substances onto vitreous surfaces, it is necessary to use coupling agents capable of reacting with the vitreous material and with the organic substance. The most widely used coupling agents of this kind are organosilanes. These organosilane substances are used in numerous applications and can often provide a suitable bond between the organic substance and the inorganic vitreous material.
However, the use of organosilanes has a number of disadvantages. The most serious is that the bonds are relatively few or unstable in a moist medium, which is a considerable disadvantage when the body is intended for use in the external atmosphere and thus subject to weathering. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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It is known that the pilot of an airplane has available different correction or monitoring means to meet the meeting point and this, according to different associated energy levels. There can be conventional means such as engines and airbrakes, but also other means linked to the dynamical configuration of the airplane, such as the slats and flaps and the landing gear which also impact on the airplane performances and, consequently, on its capacities to modify the energy thereof. Still three other so-called operational means can be mentioned, namely the modification of the vertical plan, based more on the notion of energy distribution between kinetic energy and potential energy, the modification of the lateral plan, allowing the ground trace to be adjusted and the airplane energy situation to thus be adapted with the setpoint and finally the modification of the setpoint speed servo-controlled by the self-thrust.
The present invention applies more particularly to the position control of the slats and flaps (defining the aerodynamic configuration of the airplane) and to the position control of the landing gear.
For the approach cases, whatever the piloting mode being considered (manual, managed, selected), the command of the different aerodynamic configurations and of the landing gear always stays manual and under the responsibility of the pilot. In particular, the pilot controls the extension of the slats and flaps manually with the help of a lever provided for this purpose. The extension of the slats and flaps having a direct impact on the airplane performance, the pilot must plan such extension as a function of the flied trajectory and of the targeted setpoint speed.
On the present airplanes, the slat and flap configuration changes are decided by comparison between the airplane speed and characteristic speeds expressed in calibrated speed CAS. Such operational speeds are the following: a minimum operational speed in a smooth configuration (so-called “green dot speed”). Switching into configuration 1 generally occurs at such speed. This speed specifically offers the best fineness in a smooth configuration. It depends on the altitude and the mass of the airplane; a recommended speed (so-called “S-speed”) to control the configuration 2. This speed depends on the minimum monitoring speed VMCL (minimum monitoring speed), on the speed VS1g (minimum speed to maintain a uniform rectilinear flight) in a configuration 1 and on the speed VFE (maximum speed under which the configuration can be activated) in a configuration 2; a recommended speed (so-called “F2-speed”) so as to control the configuration 3. Such a speed depends on the minimum monitoring speed VMCL, on the speed VS1g in a configuration 2 and on the speed VFE in a so-called “full” configuration; and a recommended speed (so-called “F3-speed”) to control the so-called “full” configuration. Such speed depends on the monitoring minimum speed VMCL, on the speed VS1g in a configuration 3 and on the speed VFE in a so-called “full” configuration.
Conventionally, according to the invention, the extension of the landing gear is controlled as soon as the configuration 2 is extended. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the landing gear can be used under the so-called DLO speed (maximum speed under which the landing gear can be extended).
Consequently, in spite of an increasing automation on the airplanes, some actuators, amongst others the actuators of the slats, the flaps and the landing gear, only stay usable in the manual way.
Thus, in order to help the pilot to take a decision or to inform the pilot about the current energy state of the airplane, it is known from the document U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0140272 a solution allowing the over-energy situations to be anticipated. The object of such a solution is to display two energy prediction circles on an interface ND (“Navigation Display”) of the cockpit so as to inform the pilot about its energy state predicted at the level of the runway threshold. Both calculated predictions consider the hypothesis of a standard descent (standard trajectory with a standard deceleration step, extension of the aerodynamic configurations and of the landing gear according to the standard procedure) and a limit descent (anticipated extension of the aerodynamic configurations, anticipated train extension, maximum extended airbrakes). Thanks to the representation of such circles, the pilot can anticipate the under- or over-energy state by using respectively the engines or the airbrakes and can thus bring back the airplane toward an acceptable energy state. Such solution presents the interest to inform the pilot about its energy state, however the correction to be applied stays at the pilot's charge. Moreover, the energy circles are based on two trajectory types (extreme trajectories) and do not provide any precise indication for other types of intermediate trajectory.
Consequently various problems are to be solved: to inform the pilot about its energy state throughout its trajectory up to a final objective. The solution proposed by the document US-2008/0140272 is of a great utility upon the descent phase until the deceleration point, but it only presupposes two package ways of piloting the airplane and does not provide itself the implementation of the airplane piloting; to help the pilot in his decision taking. Upon non nominal situations (in case of wind, over-energy, under-energy), the pilot must use his know-how to adapt the airplane piloting to the changing external surroundings and to the current performances of the airplane. The pilot must call on his own experience to estimate the effect of the use of different actuators on the coming energy state. Such estimate stays however imprecise and not optimal; to reduce the working charge of the pilot. In fact, as indicated above, several actuators must be manually adjusted. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a method of treating or preventing neuronial damage through the potent neuroprotectants and anxiolytics which achieve their action through the antagonism of specific excitatory amino acid (EAA) neurotransmitter receptors. More particularly, the invention is directed to the use of 2-amino-.omega.-phosphonoalkanoic acids bearing a cycloalkyl group bridging adjacent carbons on the alkyl chain and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts and derivatives, as neuroprotectants and anxiolytics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Three major types of receptors for excitatory amino acids (EAA) have been identified in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Originally designated according to agonist responses, these include sites activated by the pyrrolidine neurotoxin kainic acid, the conformationally restricted glutamate analog, quisqualic acid and the synthetic aspartate analog, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) [Watkins and Evans, R. H.: Excitatory Amino Acid Transmitters. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 21:165-204, 1981; Foster and Fagg, Acidic Amino Acid Binding In Mammalian Neuronal Membranes: Their Characteristics And Relationships to Synaptic Receptors. Br. Res. Rev. 7:103-184, 1984; Ferkany, Receptors For Excitatory Amino Acids: Ligand Binding and Functional Assays. In Receptor Pharmacology and Function, ed. by M. Williams, R. Glennon and B. M. Timmermans, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y. pp. 415-452, 1988]. Specific and potent antagonists of EAA-mediated neurotransmission have been identified only for the latter recognition site and, accordingly, our understanding of the functional role of NMDA receptors in physiological and pathological conditions is most advanced.
To date, NMDA receptors have been implicated in a variety of CNS processes including learning and memory [Morris et al., Selective Impairment of Learning and Blockade of Long-Term Potentiation by an N-Mehtyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Antagonist, AP5. Nature 319:774-776, 1986; Pontecorvo and Clissold, NMDA Antagonism and Working Memory Performance. Soc. Neurosci. Abs. 14:101.2, 1988: epilepsy [Croucher et al., Anticonvulsant Action of Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists. Science 216:899-901, 1982: Schwarcz and Ben-Ari, eds. Excitatory Amino Acids and Epilepsy, Plenum Press, New York, N.Y., 1986], nociception [Raigordsky and Urca, Intrathecal N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) Activates Both Nociceptive and Antinociceptive Systems. Br. Res. 422:158-162, 1987], neurodegenerative disorders [Foster et al., On the Excitotoxic Properties of Quinolinic Acid, 2,3-Piperidine Dicarboxylic Acids and Structurally Related Compounds. Neuropharmacol. 22:1331-1342, 1983: Greenamyre et al., Alterations in L-Glutamate Binding Sites in Alzheimer's and Huntington's Diseases. Science 227:1496-1499, 1984: Young et al., NMDA Receptor Losses in Putamen From Patients With Huntington's Disease. Science 241:981-983, 1987], dementia [Greenamyre et al., Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type: Changes in Hippocampal L-[3H]Glutamate Binding. J. Neurochem. 48:543-551, 1987: Geddes et al., Density and Distribution of NMDA Receptors in the Human Hippocampus in Alzheimer's Disease. Br. Res. 399:156-161, 1986], and the neuronal damage seen following hypoxia [Goldberg et al., N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptors Mediate Hypoxic Neuronal Injury in Cortical Culture. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therap. 243:784-791, 1987: Clark and Rothman, Blockade of Excitatory Amino Acid Receptors Protects Anoxic Hippocampal Slices. Neurosci. 21:665-671, 1987], ischemia [Simon, et al., Blockade of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptors May Protect Against Ischemic Damage in the Brain. Science 226:850-852, 1984] and hypoglycemia [Weiloch, Hypoglycemia-Induced Neuronal Damage Prevented By An N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Antagonist. Science 230:681 683, 1985].
Given this breadth of function, the proposal that NMDA receptor antagonists may provide a novel therapeutic method to intervene in CNS pathology is not surprising. However what is surprising is that prototypical antagonists such as DL(.+-.)2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid and DL(.+-.)2-amino-7-phosphonoheptanoic acid, while proving useful to explore the basic characteristics of NMDA receptor-mediated neurotransmission, lack the potency and bioavailability to be useful in a clinical setting.
More recently, two approaches to develop therapeutically acceptable antagonists have been pursued. First, is the development of noncompetitive antagonists which inhibit neuroexcitation at either the NMDA receptor-associated ion channel [Anis et al., The Dissociative Anaesthetics Ketamine and Phencyclidine Reduce Excitation of Central Mammalian Neurons by N-Methyl Aspartate. Brit. J. Pharmacol. 79:565-575, 1983; Jarvis, et al., Quantitative Autoradiographic Localization of NMDA Receptors in Rat Brain Using [3H]CPP: Comparison With [3H]TCP Binding Sites. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 141:148-152, 1987] or the glycine-activated modulatory site [Johnson and Ascher, Glycine Potentiates the NMDA Response in Cultured Mouse Brain Neurons. Nature 325:529-531, 1987; Kleckner and Dingledine, Requirement for Glycine in Activation of NMDA Receptors Expressed in Xenopus Oocytes. Science 241:835-837, 1988]. Second, using the method of rational design, attempts have been made to develop potent, selective, competitive antagonists having substantial CNS bioavailability following systemic administration. Each approach has yielded promising compounds including the noncompetitive antagonist MK-801 [5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5,10-imine] [Clineschmidt, et al., Anticonvulsant Activity of (+)-5-Methyl-10,11-Dihydro-5H-Dibenzo[a,d] Cyclohepten-5, 10 Imine (MK-801), a Substance With Potent Anticonvulsant, Central, Sympathomimetic, and Apparent Anxiolytic Properties. Drug Dev. Res. 2:123-134, 1982; Wong et al., The Anticonvulsant MK-801 is a Potent N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Antagonist. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA) 83:7104-7108, 1986; Kemp, et al., Non-Competitive Antagonists of Excitatory Amino Acid Receptors. Tr. Neurosci. 10:294-298, 1987], as well as the competitive receptor blockers CPP [3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl) propyl-1-phosphonic acid] [Olverman, et al., [3H]CPP, A New Competitive Ligand for NMDA Receptors. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 131:161-162, 1986; Lehmann, et al., A Selective N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA)-Type Receptor Antagonist: Characterization in Vitro and in Vivo. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therap. 240:737-746, 1987; Chapman, et al., Anticonvulsant Action and Biochemical Effects in DBA/2 Mice of CPP (3-(+)-2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonate), A Novel N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Antagonist. Eur. J. Pharmacol. 139:91-96,1987], CGS 19755 [4-phosphonomethyl-2-piperidinecarboxylic acid] [Boast, et al., A Comparison of Two N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Antagonists. See. Neurosci. Abs. 13:497, 1987; Lehmann, et al., CGS 19755, A Selective and Competitive N-Methyl-D-Aspartate-Type Excitatory Amino Acid Receptor Antagonist. J. Pharmacol Exp. Therap. 246: 1988] and [2-amino-4,5-(1,2-cyclohexyl)-7-phosphonoheptanoic acid [Ferkany et al., submitted]. For example, it has been shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,405 and Ferkany, et al., Pharmacological Profile of NPC 12626, A Novel, Competitive N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Antagonist, J. Pharmac. Exp. Ther. (Submitted), that [NPC 12626] 2-amino-4,5-(1,2-cyclohexyl)-7-phosphonoheptanoic acid selectively inhibits ligand binding to NMDA receptors in vitro and that the compound is a potent anticonvulsant in animal models of epilepsy. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
My invention relates to exercise equipment and more particularly to drink dispensers to be carried by individuals when running, walking, rollerblading or engaging in other exercise and athletic activities.
2. Relation To Prior Art
To meet a need of athletes and exercisers who become thirsty but are reluctant to stop to quench their thirst, a variety of on-the-run thirst quenchers are known. Examples of different but related devices intended to meet this need are described in the following patent documents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,473, issued to Paquette, described a combination hand weight and water dispenser that included a water-discharge aperture operated by a user's mouth. U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,794, issued to Hall, described a jogger's fluid-weighted exercise jug with a mouth-operated liquid-dispensing cap to be held in both hands to facilitate body balance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A parallelization compile method disclosed in a patent document, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-1807 (patent document 1) listed below, for example, serves as a parallelization method to generate a parallel program for a multi-core microcomputer based on a single program for a single-core microcomputer.
In such parallelization compile method, an intermediate language is generated from a source code of the single program by performing a lexical analysis and a syntax analysis, and, by using such an intermediate language, a dependency analysis and optimization and the like of a plurality of macro tasks (i.e., unit processes hereafter) are performed. Further, the parallelization compile method generates the parallel program based on a scheduling of the plurality of unit processes, which takes into account the dependency of each of the unit processes, and an execution time of each of the unit processes.
However, in a general embedded system, multiple tasks are executed in a switching manner by a real time operating system (RTOS). In such case, even though the parallel program may be generated by parallelizing those tasks, a synchronization process is required for parallelizing the multiple tasks, which makes it necessary for the RTOS to allocate a process time for the synchronization process.
That means, when the parallel program is relatively small, the process time reduced by the parallelization of the multiple tasks is surpassed by an overhead time that is required by the synchronization process. Therefore, the benefit of parallelization may not necessarily be enjoyed by all multi-task programs. In other words, the relatively short process time tasks are not suitably parallelized.
Further, the parallelization of the above-described tasks with the shot process time is not only difficult, but also is prone to an interference with other tasks, which makes it more difficult to execute in parallel, i.e., simultaneously.
For addressing parallelization of the short process time tasks, performing an inter-core exclusion process in addition to a relevant process may be one solution. However, the inter-core exclusion process has a much greater overhead in comparison to an intra-core exclusion process used in the single core microcomputer, which may greatly deteriorate the processing capacity of the multi-core microcomputer. | {
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The present invention relates to a treatment of flue gas containing sulfur oxides, more particularly to a flue gas treatment method and apparatus for removing sulfur oxides by injecting ammonia into flue gas containing sulfur oxides.
As economy develops, more and more energy is demanded. In such circumstances, an energy source is still dependent on fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. However, harmful products or pollutants generated by burning of fossil fuels are responsible for environmental pollution. To prevent the diffusion of pollutants such as sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere and the progress of environmental pollution, development work of a fuel gas treatment system is being carried out for a fuel combustion plant such as a power plant. However, in the conventional flue gas treatment system, there are still many areas of improvement to meet problems such as the need for the equipment requiring complicated control and the indispensability for large-scale waste water treatment systems.
In order to solve these problems, a flue gas desulfurizing process in which flue gas discharged from the combustion facility such as a boiler is treated by injecting ammonia into the flue gas has been developed.
In the flue gas desulfurizing process in which ammonia (NH3) is injected into flue gas containing sulfur oxides (SOX) such as combustion gas discharged from a boiler (hereinafter referred to as an ammonia injection process), NH3 reacts with SOX to produce a powder of ammonium compounds containing ammonium sulfate. Among reactions in the ammonia injection process, a chemical reaction in which sulfur dioxides (SO2) as a main component of SOX reacts with NH3, oxygen (O2) and water (H2O) contained in flue gas to produce ammonium sulfate [(NH4)2SO4] as by-product is expressed in the following formula (1).
SO2+2NH3+H2O+1/2O2xe2x86x92(NH4)2SO4+550.1KJ/molxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
As expressed in the formula (1) representatively, because the reaction in which SOX reacts with NH3 to produce ammonium compounds is an exothermic reaction, the lower the temperature of flue gas, the more accelerated the reaction is. Therefore, in the ammonia injection process, flue gas is cooled before injection of NH3, or water is sprayed into flue gas before, or simultaneously with, or after injection of NH3; or after mixing with NH3. In this case, the injected water is consumed by the desulfurizing reaction representatively expressed in the formula (1), and evaporated by the heat of reaction, and the sensible heat possessed by flue gas before injection of ammonia. Thus, if the amount of sprayed water is adjusted appropriately, the recovery of the produced ammonium compounds in the form of powder is not hindered. The recovery of the powder is normally carried out in an electrostatic precipitator, and the recovered powder comprises ammonium compounds such as ammonium sulfate and can be utilized as a fertilizer.
However, in the ammonia injection process, generally, efficiency of removing SOX (hereinafter referred to as desulfurization rate), especially efficiency of removing SO2 is not high. Residual NH3 which has injected and has not reacted with SOX is released together with the treated flue gas to the atmosphere. In order to lower leakage of NH3, it is necessary to reduce the amount of injected ammonia. However, reduction of the amount of injected ammonia lowers further a desulfurization rate, particularly the efficiency of removing SO2. As a result, unreacted NH3 is additionally released by the amount corresponding to the lowered desulfurization rate. As a result, the problem of leakage of NH3 which is not lowered by the amount corresponding to the reduced amount of injected ammonia arises.
On the other hand, the desulfurizing reaction may be accelerated by increasing the amount of water sprayed together with NH3 to lower the temperature of flue gas. In this case, the temperature of the flue gas reaches around a water saturation temperature even in the vicinity of an outlet of a process vessel, and hence it becomes difficult to recover the produced powder in a dry state.
Thus, in order to achieve a high desulfurization rate, normally, NH3 is sprayed and injected, and irradiation of electron beam of several kGy to dozen kGy is carried out (the flue gas desulfurizing method in which injection of NH3 and irradiation of electron beam are performed is hereinafter referred to as electron beam process). The purpose of this method is that residual SO2 which has not been removed in the above formula (1) is oxidized to sulfur trioxide (SO3) or sulfuric acid (H2SO4) by radicals such as O, OH or HO2 produced from gas molecules such as oxygen and water vapor in flue gas by irradiation of electron beam, and then the produced SO3 or H2SO4 reacts with water (water vapor originally contained in the flue gas, and water sprayed and injected together with NH3) and NH3 by the following formulas (2) and (3) to recover ammonium sulfate.
SO3+2NH3+H2Oxe2x86x92(NH4)2SO4xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
H2SO4+2NH3xe2x86x92(NH4)2SO4xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
In order to irradiate flue gas of weight flow Q (kg/s) with electron beam having absorbed dose of D (kGy), electric power P (kW) calculated by the following formula (4) is consumed.
P(kW)=Q(kg/s)xc3x97D(kGy)/(xcex7(%)/100)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
where xcex7 is the ratio of energy of electrons absorbed by the flue gas to the supplied electric power, and this xcex7 is normally in the range of 50 to 80%.
However, generally, in the electron beam irradiating method, when a high desulfurization rate is required on the condition that leakage of NH3 is controlled to a lower level, the required absorbed dose becomes large, and hence electric power consumption becomes large as expressed by the formula (4).
Therefore, the inventors of the present application have proposed a flue gas desulfurizing method and apparatus in which flue gas is cooled in the range of a water saturation temperature to 80xc2x0 C., aqueous ammonia is sprayed and injected into the cooled flue gas, and the aqueous ammonia is pulverized into droplets having a Sauter mean diameter of 0.5 xcexcm to 30 xcexcm and sprayed, whereby a high desulfurization rate is achieved while keeping low leakage of NH3 without irradiation of electron beam or with a relatively small absorbed dose.
However, even in such method, in order to obtain 90% or more of the desulfurization rate while leakage of NH3 is suppressed to about 10 ppm or less, a large amount of absorbed dose of not less than about 5 kGy is required, or aqueous ammonia is required to be pulverized into droplets having a Sauter mean diameter of not more than about 5 xcexcm. In the latter as well as the former, a large amount of energy such as energy for generating a large amount of compressed air for pulverization is necessary.
In view of the above, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a flue gas desulfurizing method and apparatus which can achieve a high desulfurization rate and can lower leakage of NH3 while reducing the cost of energy.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a flue gas treatment method for removing sulfur oxides in flue gas using ammonia, characterized in that: ammonia is injected into the flue gas containing sulfur oxides to react sulfur oxides with ammonia to produce ammonium compounds containing ammonium sulfate, and after recovering the produced ammonium compounds from the flue gas, the flue gas is brought into contact with an absorption liquid to remove residual sulfur oxides and/or ammonia contained in the flue gas.
In the absorption liquid, sulfate ions (SO42xe2x88x92) and/or sulfite ions (SO32xe2x88x92) and/or ammonium ions (NH4+) are dissolved.
In the flue gas treatment method of the present invention, the residual SOX, contained in the flue gas, which has not reacted with the injected NH3 and has not converted into a powder of ammonium compounds, and/or the residual NH3 which has injected into the flue gas, and has not reacted with SOX and has not converted into a powder of ammonium compounds are brought into contact with an absorption liquid in which the above SO42xe2x88x92 and/or SO32xe2x88x92 and/or NH4+ is dissolved, and are absorbed in the absorption liquid and removed.
In the flue gas treatment method of the present invention, in the case where the flue gas treatment capability (desulfurization rate and concentration of leak ammonia) at the section of an ammonia injection process at an upstream side except a gas absorption apparatus is the same as that of the ammonia injection process only, the flue gas treatment capability of the entire flue gas treatment system including the gas absorption apparatus can be improved further than that of the ammonia injection process only. That is, the desulfurization rate of the entire flue gas treatment apparatus can be improved by absorbing and removing SOX in the gas absorption apparatus. Further, the concentration of leak ammonia in the entire flue gas treatment apparatus can be lowered by absorbing and removing NH3 in the gas absorption apparatus.
When the flue gas treatment capability of the entire flue gas treatment apparatus is the same as that of the section of the ammonia injection process only, the running cost and the equipment in the section of the ammonia injection process can be significantly reduced. Specifically, the desulfurization rate which should be achieved at the section of the ammonia injection process can be lowered by absorbing and removing SOX in the gas absorption apparatus. Further, the requirement for concentration of leak ammonia at the section of the ammonia injection process can be alleviated by absorbing and removing NH3 in the gas absorption apparatus. As a result, the flue gas treatment capability which has been achieved by irradiation of a relatively large amount of electron beam in the conventional technology can be achieved by irradiation of a small dose of electron beam or no irradiation of electron beam. Furthermore, the flue gas treatment capability which has been achieved by pulverizing aqueous ammonia into droplets having an extremely small Sauter mean diameter and spraying such droplets in the conventional technology can be achieved even in spraying aqueous ammonia having a relatively large diameter. In this manner, the running cost and the cost of equipment can be extremely reduced in the section of the ammonia injection process.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the absorption liquid is circulated and used while oxidizing sulfite ions dissolved in the absorption liquid. Specifically, NH3 is injected into flue gas to react with SOX , and the flue gas from which reaction product has been recovered is brought into contact with the absorption liquid which is circulated and used while oxidizing dissolved SO32xe2x88x92 to SO42xe2x88x92, thus removing NH3 and SOX simultaneously.
If aqueous solution in which NH4+ and SO32xe2x88x92 are dissolved is compared with aqueous solution in which NH4+ and SO42xe2x88x92 are dissolved, when the molar ratio of NH4+ to SO32xe2x88x92 is equal to the molar ratio of NH4+ to SO42xe2x88x92, a pH of the aqueous solution in which NH4+ and SO42xe2x88x92 are dissolved is lower than that of the aqueous solution in which NH4+ and SO32xe2x88x92 are dissolved. For instance, in the case of NH4+:SO32xe2x88x92=NH4+:SO42xe2x88x92=2:1, the respective concentrations of the aqueous solution are shown in the following Table 1 according to the sum of the concentrations of the salts.
If the NH4+ concentration in the absorption liquid is the same, as a pH of the absorption liquid is lower, NH3 in the flue gas is liable to be dissolved in the absorption liquid. Thus, the residual NH3 in the flue gas from which the reaction product has been recovered can be effectively removed by oxidizing SO32xe2x88x92 in the absorption liquid to SO42xe2x88x92.
While one of main components of SOX which remains in the flue gas after recovering the reaction products is SO2, the SO32xe2x88x92 concentration in the absorption liquid has a great influence on absorption of SO2 rather than a pH of the absorption liquid as far as the pH of the absorption liquid is not lowered remarkably. Specifically, if the pH of the absorption liquid is about 2 or more, then the removal efficiency of SO2 by the absorption liquid is not much influenced by the pH of the absorption liquid. However, the removal efficiency of SO2 is lowered, when the SO32xe2x88x92 concentration is high. Thus, SO32xe2x88x92 in the absorption liquid is oxidized to SO42xe2x88x92 to remove SO2 effectively which remains in the flue gas after recovering the reaction product. The oxidization of SO32xe2x88x92 in the absorption liquid to SO42xe2x88x92 is performed by, for example, diffusion of air into the absorption liquid (aeration).
According to one aspect of the present invention, the amount of the ammonia injected into the flue gas is adjusted so that a pH of the absorption liquid becomes 8 or less without supplying acid substance.
In the case where NH4+ is dissolved together with SO32xe2x88x92 and/or SO42xe2x88x92 in an aqueous solution, if the molar ratio of NH4+ to SO32xe2x88x92 and/or SO42xe2x88x92 is equal to or smaller than 2:1, then NH4+ can be in existence relatively stably as ions in the aqueous solution. Particularly, when SO32xe2x88x92 is coexistent with NH4+, if the molar ratio of NH4+ to SO32 becomes larger than 2:1, then NH4+ in the aqueous solution can be easily liberated as NH3 gas.
Therefore, if the molar ratio of NH4+ to SO32xe2x88x92 in the absorption liquid becomes larger than 2:1, efficiency for dissolving and removing NH3 in the flue gas into the absorption liquid is lowered. According to Table 1, because the pH of the absorption liquid is about 8 in the case where the molar ratio of NH4+ to SO32xe2x88x92 is 2:1, it is preferable to adjust the pH of the absorption liquid to 8 or less in order to effectively remove NH3 remaining in the flue gas from which the reaction product has been recovered.
It is possible to adjust the pH of the absorption liquid to 8 or less by supplying acid substance such as sulfuric acid into the absorption liquid. In this case, additional chemicals are necessary to remove SOX in the flue gas besides NH3, and hence the running cost is increased and additional facilities such as chemical storage equipment are necessary.
It is also possible to adjust the pH of the absorption liquid to 8 or less by increasing the amount of the absorption liquid withdrawn from a gas absorption apparatus and increasing the amount of industrial water supplied to the absorption liquid in accordance with the amount of the withdrawn liquid and the amount of evaporated water in the gas absorption apparatus to lower the concentration of the salt in the absorption liquid. However, as shown in Table 1, because the suppression effect of pH obtained by lowering the concentration of the salt is extremely limited, if the pH is lowered by increasing the amount of withdrawn absorption liquid, then a large amount of the absorption liquid is required to be withdrawn, and hence the great equipment cost and running cost are required to treat the withdrawn water.
On the other hand, when flue gas which is brought into contact with the absorption liquid in the gas absorption apparatus contains not only unreacted NH3 but also SOX, the absorption liquid absorbs both of NH3 and SOX simultaneously to increase a concentration of NH4 and a concentration of SO32xe2x88x92 and/ or SO42xe2x88x92. Thus, the pH of the absorption liquid can be adjusted by adjusting a ratio of a concentration of SOX to a concentration of NH3 adequately in the flue gas introduced into the gas absorption apparatus.
The concentrations of SOX and NH3 remaining in the flue gas introduced into the gas absorption apparatus are determined by a flue gas treatment capability (desulfurization rate and concentration of leak ammonia) which is achieved at the section of the ammonia injection process at the upstream side except the gas absorption apparatus. The flue gas treatment capability achieved at the section of the ammonia injection process is determined by process variables such as the amount of ammonia to be injected, a flue gas temperature at an outlet of a process vessel, and the dose of electron beam to be irradiated, if electron beam is irradiated along with NH3 injection. The most suitable process variable among the above variables for adjusting a ratio of a concentration of SOX to a concentration of NH3 remaining in the flue gas is the amount of NH3 to be injected. Therefore, the pH of the absorption liquid can be adjusted by the amount of NH3 to be injected.
Specifically, when the amount of injected NH3 is large, a rate for converting SOX into ammonium compounds containing ammonium sulfate is increased by a reaction of SOX with the injected NH3 to thus decrease the concentration of the remaining SOX while the concentration of unreated NH3 is increased. As a result, the amount of SOX dissolved in the absorption liquid is decreased and the amount of NH3 dissolved in the absorption liquid is increased by bringing the flue gas into contact with the absorption liquid. Consequently, the pH of the absorption liquid is increased. Conversely, when the amount of injected NH3 becomes small, the concentration of SOX remaining in the flue gas which is brought into contact with the absorption liquid is lowered and the concentration of unreacted NH3 is increased, thus lowering the pH of the absorption liquid. In this manner, it is possible to adjust the pH of the absorption liquid by adjusting the amount of NH3 to be injected, and if the amount of NH3 to be injected into the flue gas is adjusted so that the pH of the absorption liquid is adjusted to 8 or less, then the pH of the absorption liquid can be adjusted to 8 or less without additional chemicals of acid substance and without withdrawing a large amount of the absorption liquid.
As described later, alkaline substance such as NH3 may be added to the absorption liquid. In such case also, it is preferable to adjust the amount of NH3 to be injected into the flue gas at the section of the ammonia injection process so that the pH of the absorption liquid is adjusted to 8 or less without adding acid substance and adjust the amount of alkaline substance to be added that the pH of the absorption liquid becomes 8 or less. At this time, if the variable range of pH caused by injection of alkaline substance is considered, it is particularly preferable that the amount of NH3 injected into the flue gas is adjusted so that the pH of the absorption liquid is adjusted to 7 or less without adding alkaline substance and the amount of supplied alkaline substance composed of NH3 is adjusted so that the pH of the absorption liquid is adjusted to 8 or less.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the pH of the absorption liquid is adjusted by supplying ammonia into the absorption liquid. If the pH of the absorption liquid is less than 2, even though SO32xe2x88x92 in the absorption liquid is oxidized into SO42xe2x88x92, absorption efficiency of SO2 in SOX is lowered. Accordingly, alkaline substance may be supplied into the absorption liquid. In this cage, by utilizing a part of NH3 which is used for removing SOX in the flue gas, it is advantageously unnecessary to provide additional equipment such as a storage apparatus for storing alkaline substance for replenishment.
In the above flue gas treatment method, particularly, if the concentration of SOX is much higher than the concentration of NH3 at the inlet of the gas absorption apparatus, the pH of the absorption liquid is lowered, and hence the desulfurization rate in the absorption apparatus cannot be increased. Thus, the SOX concentration at the inlet of the gas absorption apparatus cannot be increased excessively compared to the SOX concentration achieved in the entire gas treatment apparatus. Therefore, the lowering effect of the cost of equipment and the running cost at the section of the ammonia injection process is limited.
However, this problem can be solved by adding NH3 into the absorption liquid which is circulated and used. Specifically, even though the desulfurization rate at the section of the ammonium injection method is extremely lowered and the SOX concentration is much higher than the concentration of NH3 at the inlet of the gas absorption apparatus, the pH is adjusted to 2 or more by supplying NH3 into the absorption liquid circulated and used in the gas absorption apparatus to increase a desulfurization rate in the gas absorption apparatus, with the result that a desired desulfurization rate can be achieved as an entire flue gas treatment apparatus.
Furthermore, if material other than NH3 is used as alkaline substance, cation, other than NH4+ which is inevitably dissolved in the absorption liquid from the flue gas, makes treatment for the withdrawn absorption liquid complex. In contrast thereto, according to the flue gas treatment method of the present invention, after SO32xe2x88x92 is oxidized to SO42xe2x88x92 in the absorption liquid, water content in the withdrawn liquid is evaporated, whereby ammonium compounds containing ammonium sulfate can be obtained and utilized as a fertilizer together with a powder obtained in the section of the ammonia injecting method.
According to one aspect of the present invention, supply of ammonia into the absorption liquid is performed by diffusion of ammonia gas into the absorption liquid.
While it is possible to supply NH3 into the absorption liquid in the form of aqueous ammonia, NH3 is normally supplied in the form of ammonia gas into an ammonia injection apparatus in the ammonia injection process. Therefore, if NH3 is supplied into the absorption liquid by diffusion of ammonia gas into the absorption liquid, an ammonia gas supply apparatus can be advantageously shared. The diffusion of ammonia gas into the absorption liquid may be performed by using a diffusion pipe composed of porous material and having many fine pores to dissolve ammonia gas efficiently into an object liquid for adjusting a pH. This porous pipe may be made of ceramic materials, specifically alumina porcelain. The diameters of the pores are preferably in the range of 10 to 50 xcexcm.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the flue gas is brought into contact with cooling water before injecting ammonia into the flue gas, and a part of the cooling water which has contacted the flue gas is withdrawn, and then the withdrawn water is supplied as it is or after the dissolved sulfite ions in the withdrawn water are oxidized, as make-up water of the absorption liquid. Specifically, before injecting NH3 into the flue gas containing SOX, the flue gas is brought into contact with the cooling water while ammonium compounds produced by a reaction of SOX with NH3 are recovered, and then the flue gas is brought into contact with the absorption liquid whose make-up water is a part of the above cooling water to remove NH3 contained in the flue gas.
By bringing the flue gas containing SOX into contact with the cooling water, a part of SOX in the flue gas is dissolved as SO32xe2x88x92 or SO42xe2x88x92 in the cooling water, and hence the pH of the cooling water is lowered to less than 7. On the other hand, when the flue gas which has been discharged from the section of the ammonia injection process is brought into contact with the absorption liquid to absorb unreacted NH3, the NH4+ concentration in the absorption liquid is gradually increased, and thus the pH of the absorption liquid is increased. If the cooling water which has contacted the flue gas is used as the make-up water whose amount corresponds to the amount of the withdrawn water plus the amount of the evaporated water being supplied to the absorption liquid, an increase of the pH of the absorption liquid can be suppressed. As described above, when the pH of absorption liquid is increased, absorption efficiency of NH3 by the absorption liquid is lowered. Thus, when the cooling water which has contacted the flue gas is used as make-up water, a lowering of the absorption efficiency of NH3 in the flue gas by the absorption liquid can be suppressed.
According to one aspect of the present invention, before injecting the ammonia into the flue gas, the flue gas is brought into contact with a heat exchange surface which is cooled to a temperature of not more than water saturation temperature in the flue gas, and then the condensed water generated on the heat exchange surface is withdrawn partially or entirely, and the withdrawn water is supplied as make-up water of the absorption liquid as it is or after the dissolved sulfite ions in the withdrawn water are oxidized. Specifically, before injecting NH3 containing SOX into the flue gas, the flue gas is brought into contact with the heat exchange surface which is cooled to a temperature of not more than water saturation temperature in the flue gas, while ammonium compounds produced by a reaction of SOX with NH3 are recovered, and then the flue gas is brought into contact with the absorption liquid whose make-up water is a part of or whole of the condensed water to remove NH3 contained in the flue gas.
When the flue gas containing SOX is brought into contact with the heat exchange surface which is cooled to a temperature of not more than water saturation temperature in the flue gas, a part of water content contained in the flue gas is condensed and a part of SOX in the flue gas is dissolved as SO32xe2x88x92 or SO42xe2x88x92 in the condensed water, and hence the pH of the condensed water is lowered to less than 7. Therefore, if the condensed water is used as make-up water of the absorption liquid, an increase of the pH of the absorption liquid is suppressed, and a lowering of the absorption efficiency of NH3 in the flue gas by the absorption liquid can be prevented.
As described above, the effect of lowering the pH in the case where SOX is dissolved in the absorption liquid in the form of SO42xe2x88x92 is greater than that in the case where SOX is dissolved in the form of SO32xe2x88x92, and hence the effect of suppression of lowering the absorption efficiency of NH3 when SO42xe2x88x92 is dissolved is also large. Therefore, SO32xe2x88x92 in the cooling water or the condensed water is oxidized to SO42xe2x88x92 by a means such as aeration, and this cooling water is used for make-up water to thus increase the effect of suppression of lowering the absorption efficiency of NH3 remarkably.
In the meantime, when flue gas is cooled by bringing the flue gas into contact with cooling water circulated and used before injecting NH3 into the flue gas at the section of the ammonia injection process, a pH of the recirculating cooling water is extremely lowered or SS concentration of the recirculating cooling water is extremely increased to cause a gas cooling apparatus not to be operated stably. In order to prevent this problem, a part of the recirculating cooling water is required to be withdrawn, and if the withdrawn recirculating cooling water is not supplied to a gas absorption tower as make-up water, such water is necessary to be discharged after separate treatment. In the case where flue gas is brought into contact with the heat exchange surface which is cooled to a temperature of not more than water saturation temperature in the flue gas before injecting NH3 into the flue gas, as described above, the condensed water generated on the heat exchange surface is required to be discharged after separate treatment, if the condensed water is not supplied to the gas absorption tower as make-up water. In this case, because a pH of the withdrawn water and the condensed water is normally very low, adjustment of the pH using alkaline substance is an indispensable process.
According to the present invention, the withdrawn water or the condensed water is supplied to a gas absorption apparatus as make-up water and the pH is adjusted by NH3 absorbed in the flue gas in the gas absorption apparatus and injecting alkaline substance such as NH3, and thus it is not necessary to provide an additional pH adjusting apparatus as mentioned above. Therefore, this is effective in reducing the cost of equipment. Especially, if alkaline substance other than NH3 is not supplied to the absorption liquid, and ammonium compounds containing ammonium sulfate are obtained from the withdrawn water of the absorption liquid as mention above, SO32xe2x88x92 and/or SO42xe2x88x92 contained in the withdrawn water or the condensed water is also contained in a part of the ammonium compounds to thus be utilized as a part of a fertilizer. This is preferable from a viewpoint of effective utilization of resources.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a part of the absorption liquid is withdrawn, and the withdrawn water is sprayed into the flue gas before, or simultaneously with, or after injection of ammonia; or after mixing the withdrawn water with ammonia. In this method, the whole of or a part of water content in the sprayed withdrawn liquid is consumed by a desulfurizing reaction and is evaporated by the heat of reaction and the sensible heat possessed originally by the flue gas. As a result, the whole of or a part of dissolved components in the withdrawn liquid is evaporated, dried and solidified, and recovered together with a powder produced by a reaction of SOX in the flue gas with the injected NH3 by a product recovering apparatus such as an electrostatic precipitator. If the temperature of the flue gas before injection of ammonium, the amount of the withdrawn absorption liquid, and the amount of the sprayed absorption liquid are properly controlled, then the whole of the withdrawn liquid can be evaporated, dried and solidified. When a part of the withdrawn liquid is sprayed or a part of the sprayed withdrawn liquid is not evaporated and becomes waste water, a heat source such as steam is supplied to the remaining withdrawn liquid from the outside to evaporate water content, thereby recovering a powder or solid of ammonium compounds containing ammonium sulfate. In this case, the cost of the equipment and the running cost can be lower compared to treatment of the whole amount of the withdrawn water.
As a method for spraying the withdrawn water, a withdrawn water spray apparatus may be provided besides an ammonia injection apparatus for injecting NH3 into the flue gas, and the withdrawn water spray apparatus may be arranged upstream of, or at the same position as, or downstream of the ammonia injection apparatus. In order to improve the desulfurization rate at the section of the ammonia injection process at the upstream side, it is preferable to mix NH3 with the withdrawn liquid, and spray and inject an ammonia dissolved liquid in the form of drop lets. According to this method, a desulfurization reaction is extremely accelerated in the gas-liquid interfaces between droplets of the ammonia dissolved liquid and gas.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the flue gas is irradiated with electron beam after the ammonia is injected and before the ammonium compounds are recovered.
In the flue gas treatment method of the present invention, in the case where the flue gas treatment capability (desulfurization rate and concentration of leak ammonia) at the section of the electron beam process at an upstream side except a gas absorption apparatus is the same as that of the electron beam process only, the flue gas treatment capability of the entire flue gas system including the gas absorption apparatus can be improved further than that of the electron beam process only. When the flue gas treatment capability of the entire flue gas treatment apparatus is the same as that of the electron beam process only, the dose of electron beam required for achieving a desired desulfurization rate can be suppressed remarkably. Thus, the running cost and the cost of equipment in the section of the electron beam process can be significantly reduced.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the electron beam is applied to the flue gas through a metal foil, and the metal foil is cooled with air, and then the air after cooling is injected into the flue gas before the flue gas contacts the absorption liquid.
An electron beam generating apparatus comprises a direct current high voltage power supply for generating direct current high voltage ranging from hundreds kV to several MV, a supply path such as a high-voltage cable for supplying such direct current, and an electron accelerator for accelerating and emitting electrons by the direct current high voltage. The interior of the electron accelerator is kept under vacuum, and a vacuum space is partitioned from the atmosphere by a thin metal foil (hereinafter referred to as window foil). The accelerated electrons pass through the window foil of the electron accelerator side, or in some cases, through this window foil and another window foil for isolating the flue gas from the atmosphere (hereinafter referred to as window foil of the process vessel side) into the flue gas. In this case, because a part of energy of accelerated electrons is lost by the thin metal foil to convert such energy to heat, cooling air is blown on the metal window foil to prevent the temperature of the metal window foil from being raised to a temperature exceeding an allowable temperature (350xc2x0 C. or less). At this time, since air is also irradiated with electron beam, ozone is generated in the cooling air too. In this manner, ozone-containing air thus generated is injected between a product recovering apparatus and a gas absorption apparatus to convert remaining NO to NO2 or N2O5. As a result, as described later, the converted NO2 or N2O5 is absorbed in the absorption liquid according to a pH of the absorption liquid in the gas absorption apparatus.
According to one aspect of the present invention, ozone-containing gas is injected into the flue gas before the flue gas contacts the absorption liquid.
In the case where flue gas such as boiler combustion flue gas contains not only SOX but NOX (mostly NO), and is irradiated with electron beam at the upstream side of the gas absorption apparatus in addition to injection of NH3, besides SOX, NOX is converted to a powder whose main component is ammonium nitrate, and recovered and removed in the product recovering apparatus. However, when the dose of electron beam is small, the rate of removing NOX becomes small, and NO of a part of NOX, and NO2 or N2O5 of the rest of NOX enter the gas absorption apparatus. When irradiation of electron beam is not performed at the upstream side of the gas absorption apparatus, a part of NO2 and N2O5 contained originally in the boiler flue gas is converted to a powder whose main component is ammonium nitrate, and the rest of N2 and N2O5, and most of NO contained in the flue gas enter the gas absorption apparatus without causing reaction. In the gas absorption apparatus, NO2 or N2O5 is absorbed in the absorption liquid according to the pH of the absorption liquid and is converted to nitrite ions (NO2xe2x88x92) or nitrate ions (NO3xe2x88x92), but NO is not mostly absorbed.
Thus, in the case where the dose of electron beam is reduced, or irradiation of electron beam is not performed at all, in order to achieve a high NOX removal rate (hereinafter referred to as denitration rate) in the entire flue gas treatment apparatus, NO is needed to be converted to NO2 or N2O5 at the inlet of the gas absorption apparatus as much as possible. As a method for converting NO to NO2 or N2O5 besides the electron beam irradiation method, there is a corona discharge method. Therefore, it is desirable to employ an electrostatic precipitator utilizing corona discharge as a product collecting apparatus in the section of the electron beam process at the upstream side.
Further, NO may be converted to NO2 or N2O5 by injecting ozone into the flue gas. While ozone may be injected anywhere as far as such injection is performed at the upstream side of the gas absorption apparatus, ozone is preferably injected at the place where NH3 concentration is the smallest in the section of the ammonia injection process at the upstream side, i.e. the place between the product recovering apparatus and the gas absorption apparatus, because ozone reacts with NH3 to produce NOX and to allow itself decomposed. The thus produced NO2 or N2O5, if irradiation of electron beam is performed at the upstream side of the gas absorption apparatus, is absorbed together with NO2 or N2O5 produced by irradiation of electron beam in the absorption liquid, thus becoming nitrite ions (NO2xe2x88x92) and/or nitrate ions (NO3xe2x88x92). In this case, if the gas absorption apparatus has a mechanism for oxidizing SO32xe2x88x92 to SO42xe2x88x92, this NO2xe2x88x92 is also oxidized to NO3xe2x88x92.
According to the present invention, there is provided a flue gas treatment apparatus for removing sulfur oxides in flue gas using ammonia, comprising: an ammonia injection apparatus for injecting ammonia into flue gas containing sulfur oxides, a process vessel for allowing injected ammonia to react with sulfur oxides; a recovering apparatus for recovering produced ammonium compounds containing ammonium sulfate; and a gas absorption apparatus for bringing the flue gas after recovery into contact with an absorption liquid.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the gas absorption apparatus comprises a mechanism for recirculating the absorption liquid, and a mechanism for oxidizing sulfite ions in the absorption liquid.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the gas absorption apparatus comprises a means for adjusting a pH of the absorption liquid by injecting ammonia into the absorption liquid.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the pH adjusting means comprises a supply port for supplying aqueous solution before adjusting a pH of the aqueous solution; a discharge port for discharging the aqueous solution after adjusting a pH of the aqueous solution; a pH adjusting tank having an ammonia diffusing means for diffusing ammonia gas into the aqueous solution held in the tank; a pH measuring device for measuring a pH of the aqueous solution held in the pH adjusting tank; and an ammonia gas supply line having an adjusting valve for supplying ammonia gas to the ammonia diffusing means.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the ammonia injection means comprises a diffusing pipe made of porous material for diffusing the ammonia gas into the absorption liquid.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the flue gas treatment apparatus comprises a gas cooling apparatus for bringing the flue gas containing sulfur oxides into contact with cooling water before injecting ammonia; a means provided in the gas cooling apparatus for circulating and using the cooling water; and a line for withdrawing a part of the cooling water; wherein the line for withdrawing a part of the cooling water is connected to a line for introducing make-up water of the gas absorption apparatus.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the flue gas treatment apparatus comprises a heat exchanger having a heat exchange surface cooled to a temperature of not more than water saturation temperature in the flue gas containing sulfur oxides before injecting ammonia; and a line for withdrawing condensed water generated on a gas-contact surface of the heat exchanger, wherein the line for withdrawing the condensed water is connected to a line for introducing make-up water of the gas absorption apparatus.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the gas absorption apparatus has a line for withdrawing the absorption liquid, and a withdrawn liquid spray apparatus for spraying and injecting the withdrawn absorption liquid is provided upstream of, or at the same position as, or downstream of the ammonia injection apparatus.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the process vessel has a window for allowing electron beam to pass therethrough and irradiating the flue gas therein with electron beam. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal device and an information processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is a screen sharing service providing system for sharing a display screen in a real-time manner, among a plurality of information processing apparatuses having a communication function.
Conventionally, there is known a screen sharing service providing system, including a plurality of information processing apparatuses connected to each other via a predetermined data transmission line and displaying the same contents on their respective screens, wherein each of the information processing apparatuses includes an operation right switching unit configured to switch, among the information processing apparatuses, an operation right for performing an input operation on the shared screen displaying the same contents in response to a switching instruction entered by a user, a transmission data generating unit configured to generate transmission data including operation information of the input operation, and a drawing unit configured to draw a display object on the screen; wherein one of the information processing apparatuses, which holds the operation right that has been switched by the operation right switching unit, draws a display object by the drawing unit according to operation information of the input operation by the user, generates transmission data by the transmission data generating unit based on the operation information of the input operation by the user, and transmits the transmission data to another information processing apparatus, wherein the information processing apparatuses that have received the transmission data draws the display object by the drawing unit according to the operation information included in the reception data (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In the conventional screen sharing system for sharing a display screen, there are cases where one role (for example, a presenter) that can perform operations with respect to the shared screen is prepared, and the role is switched among the terminal devices sharing the screen.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-108872 | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a polypeptide with antifungal, anti-Oomycete and plant growth promoter properties, extracted from seeds, cotyledons or plantlets of the genus Lupinus, and to its application in the control of pathogenic agents that attack plants and as a plant bio-stimulant. This polypeptide may be applied directly on plants, or the plants may be genetically modified to express the polypeptide in their tissues. In addition, due to its unusual inherent characteristics, the polypeptide may be utilized in the preparation of protein concentrates useful as supplements in the diet of man and other animals.
The present invention also describes the nucleotide DNA sequence corresponding to the gene fragment that encodes the Lupinus polypeptide, as well as its sequence of amino acid residues, microorganisms transformed with the gene fragment that encodes the Lupinus polypeptide and methods for its application as a fungicide, insecticide, plant growth promoter or fertilizer or as a supplement in human or animal nutrition.
It is also an object of this invention the polypeptide characterized by the sequence of amino acid residues referred above, in which one or more amino acid residues are absent, have been substituted or added, or maintaining its biological activities after suffering chemical modification, such as, for example, glycosylation.
The control of pathogenic agents constitutes a serious problem worldwide with respect to the most important crops. Pathogenic fungi are particularly important in what concerns the storage of agricultural products. Presently, control over fungal growth is generally achieved by massive applications of chemical fungicides. However, phytopharmaceutical products currently available in the market display several serious disadvantages. On one hand, they exhibit high economical and environmental costs; on the other hand, many fungal species have been developing resistance mechanisms to some top fungicides, often turning them obsolete in a couple of years after their introduction in the market.
Even though plants do not possess an immunological system resembling that of animals, they have evolved an inherent resistance to the attack of pathogenic fungi. However, the techniques employed for plant growth, harvest and storage in modern agriculture promote very often good or optimal conditions for pathogen development.
In addition, the number of microbial pathogens that may affect and harm plant crops is quite high. As an example, the following genera may be referred: Alternaria, Ascochyta, Botrytis, Cercospora, Colletotrichum, Diplodia, Erysiphe, Fusarium, Gaeumanomyces, Macrophomina, Nectria, Phoma, Phomopsis, Phymatotrichum, Phytophthora, Plasmopara, Puccinia, Pythium, Rhizoctonia, Uncinula, and Verticillium. The application of the fungicides currently available in the market is limited to some of these genera, and is not an effective solution in the control of plant infections.
An alternative strategy in the fight against microbial pathogens is the identification and purification of substances of biological origin with potent antifungal activity. The identification of such compounds involves searching a variety of organisms, such as plants and microorganisms, for substances that are subsequently tested in antifungal assays and finally isolated and characterized.
In this way, many classes of antifungal proteins have already been isolated, including chitinases, cystein-rich proteins that bind strongly to chitin, β-1,3-glucanases, permeatins, thionins and lipid transfer proteins. These proteins are thought to play a fundamental role in the natural defenses of plants against the attack of pathogens.
Several methodologies are described in the available literature on the utilization of antifungal proteins, extracted from plants or microorganisms, either for direct application over the pathogenic agents, or in transgenic plants expressing those proteins. The antifungal proteins most often utilized in these methodologies include chitinases, glucanases, osmotin-type proteins and lysozymes. Various studies have demonstrated that genetically modified plants over-expressing these proteins exhibit enhanced resistance to many pathogens (EP 0392 225).
Modern techniques of Molecular Biology allowed the development of recombinant DNA technology and, consequently, plant transformation with genes encoding antifungal proteins. This procedure usually involves insertion of the gene encoding the protein of interest in a plant tissue, followed by regeneration of a whole plant from the genetically modified plant tissue.
However, the activity of some of these proteins is reduced by the presence of ions, in particular potassium, sodium or calcium. For this reason, although the proteins may exhibit a potent antifungal activity in in vitro assays, they may be ineffective in vivo due to the high physiological concentrations of the ions that may naturally occur in the transformed plant tissues.
Document “Ramos, Paula Cristina Rodrigues, et. al—“Accumulation of a lectin-like breakdown product of beta-conglutin catabolism in cotyledons of germinating Lupinus albus L. seeds” Planta (Heidelberg), vol. 203, n° 1, 1997, pages 26-34″ describes isolation and purification of a 20-kDa polypeptide which is an intermediate breakdown product of beta-conglutin catabolism, the vicilin-like storage protein, which interacts with a variety of glycoproteins and possesses a lectin-type activity. In Table 1 of this document, several N-terminal amino acid sequences are described including the one of the 20-kDa polypeptide isolated from L. albus seeds. However, the N-terminal sequence presented in the Table 1 of this document includes exclusively the identity of residues no. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 23. This corresponds to a total of 15 residues out of the 173 amino acid residues that compose SEQ ID NO: 1 of the present invention. In fact, the N-terminal sequence of this document is not the responsible for the biological properties related to the polypeptide of the present invention. Moreover, the N-terminal sequence described in the referred document is intended to be used to construct suitable primers, which may then be utilized in molecular biology as the first step of the long and uncertain process of gene and protein sequencing, while the main purpose of the present invention is to disclose a polypeptide exhibiting several biological activities.
The document “Database UniProt [Online] 16 Aug. 2004 (2004 Aug. 16)—“Beta-conglutin” discloses a protein obtained from Lupinus albus, namely beta-conglutin. This protein is the major seed storage protein present in Lupinus seeds. Despite being the precursor of the polypeptide with the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, according to the present invention, these two polymers correspond to distinct molecules for a number of reasons, namely a) beta-conglutin is regarded as a protein, with a typical quaternary structure, whereas the molecule with the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 should not be considered as a protein, but rather as a polypeptide; b) beta-conglutin, much like the vast majority of proteins, is easily destroyed by harsh conditions. On the opposite, the polypeptide of the present invention is extremely resistant to denaturation, withstanding prolonged boiling, treatment with strong acids or bases, detergents and organic solvents. In addition, it is resistant to the Sun ultraviolet radiation; c) these two molecules fulfil entirely different roles in nature—whereas beta-conglutin is a seed storage protein, the polypeptide of the present invention displays a protective role in the plant, exhibiting a potent antifungal activity and a growth promoter activity. On the other hand, whereas beta-conglutin possesses strong catalytic activities of chitosanase and chitinase, the polypeptide of the present invention exhibits catalytic activity of beta-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase and a low level of chitosanase activity.
Document “Database UniProt [Online] 24 May 2005 (2005 May 24)—“Vicilin-like protein (fragment)” discloses a fragment (length: 531 amino acid residues; molecular mass: 62,032 Da) of the same protein (i.e. beta-conglutin) described in the previous document (length: 533 amino acid residues; molecular mass: 62,130 Da). Therefore, all remarks made above in what concerns this document apply equally to the document under analysis.
In conclusion, it is becoming imperative the identification and purification of novel compounds of biological origin exhibiting anti-pathogen properties in the fight against the pathogens that affect plants. Particular importance must be given to those compounds that are effective over a wide range of pathogens and that maintain the biological activity under in vivo conditions.
Agricultural practices have been optimized, over a long time period, to promote plant growth and development and to increase crop production. On the other hand, it is predictable that in the medium to long term, food shortage may occur in many areas of the globe. Current techniques to control plant growth under environmentally controlled conditions are expensive and require complex equipment. For these reasons, many researchers have searched for and have reported physiologically active substances, either natural or synthetic, that exhibit a boosting effect upon the growth and development of crops. However, only a few of these substances have found practical application under real, agricultural conditions. Therefore, it is also increasingly important to discover or to develop plant growth promoters that are environmentally friend and that present no toxicity to man, animals and the environment.
Plant legumes or, more specifically, their seeds, are considered as the major source of protein worldwide for animal and human nutrition. In this respect, soybean fulfills a prominent role, not only for the high protein content and quality of its seeds, but also for their richness in oil. However, from the agricultural point of view, soybean requires fertile soils and an abundant water supply. Plants belonging to the Lupinus genus have conquered, over the last few decades, a relevant, strong and of great potential position in comparison to soybean. If, on one hand, their seeds possess protein and oil levels comparable to those of soybean, on the other, their species are well adapted to poor soils and to conditions of low water availability. For these reasons, lupins have sometimes been considered as the “poor cousins” of soybean.
The high level of alkaloids which are toxic to animals and which are naturally present in traditional, wild-type lupin seeds have long hampered the generalized cultivation of Lupinus species and the use of their seeds for animal and human consumption. This is the main reason why lupin cultivation has lagged far behind that of soybean. In Portugal, for example, traditional consumption of lupin seeds has long been associated to beer ingestion. These seeds are first boiled in water (heating at 100° C. destroys the capacity of seeds to germinate but does not block the imbibition's process) and then immersed under running water for a few days to remove the toxic alkaloids. However, the recent application of breeding techniques allowed the development of the so called sweet lupin varieties, characterized by containing a low seed alkaloid content (<0.004% w/w), as opposed to the traditional bitter cultivars (alkaloid content >0.004% w/w). For this reason, the seeds of sweet lupin varieties may be safely utilized as human and animal feed.
It is therefore predictable an increasing development of lupin-derived food products for both human and animal nutrition, as has happened a number of decades ago with soybean. This is particularly important in the case of lupin seed proteins, either albumins or globulins. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hammer for an electronic keyboard instrument, which is provided for each key in an electronic keyboard instrument, such as an electronic piano, so as to impart touch weight to each key during key depression.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a hammer for an electronic piano, disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-3495 ([0029], FIGS. 1 and 3 to 5). The hammers are pivotally mounted in association with respective keys on a keyboard chassis supporting a keyboard, and each of the hammers pivotally moves in accordance with depression of an associated one of the keys to thereby impart a predetermined touch weight to the key. As a consequence, the electronic piano can provide a touch feeling closely analogous to that of an acoustic piano.
The hammer is disposed below the associated key, and comprises a metal hammer body extending along the length of the key, and a hammer holder made of a synthetic resin, which is mounted to a side surface of the hammer body and is pivotally supported by the keyboard chassis. The hammer body is formed by a metal plate having a predetermined shape. Specifically, the hammer body has a front end thereof formed in a rearwardly opening C shape in side view, and a rear end thereof formed in a relatively large triangular shape in side view.
On the other hand, the hammer holder is a molded article having a predetermined shape, and is mounted to the front end of the hammer body. Specifically, the hammer holder, when in a state mounted to the hammer body, has a bearing portion formed inside a C-shaped portion of the front end thereof, and a mounting portion to be mounted to the hammer body at respective locations upward and downward of the bearing portion. The mounting portion has a C shape in cross section, which is formed by a body portion formed in a shape corresponding to the shape, in side view, of a portion of the hammer body to which the mounting portion is to be mounted, and collar portions formed along the respective upper and lower edges of the body portion, with an end of each collar portion remote from the body portion being formed with a plurality of clipping pieces for cooperating with the body portion to clip the hammer body in the direction of thickness of the hammer body. Further, the body portion is formed with an engaging portion protruding inside the mounting portion. This engaging portion engages with an engaging hole formed at a predetermined location in the hammer body, whereby displacement and wobbling of the hammer holder with respect to the hammer body are suppressed.
The hammer holder constructed as above is mounted to the hammer body as follows: The body portion of the hammer holder is aligned to the portion of the hammer body to which the body portion is to be mounted, and then pressed toward the hammer body. In this case, a space between the clipping pieces of the hammer holder is opened up in the lateral direction (vertical direction) of the hammer body, and the clipping pieces pass over the respective upper and lower edges of the hammer body whereby they reach the remote side of the hammer body from the body portion, with the hammer body therebetween. Thus, the hammer holder is mounted to the hammer body in a state sandwiching the hammer body in the direction of the thickness of the same between the body portion and the clipping pieces.
As described above, the hammer holder is mounted to the hammer body during assembly of the hammer by opening up the space between the clipping pieces of the hammer holder. Therefore, when the hammer holder is formed of a relatively hard synthetic resin material, a relatively large urging force is required. Further, in the case of disposing of an electronic piano provided with the hammers constructed as above, work for disassembling each of the hammers into the metal hammer body and the hammer holder formed of the synthetic resin material is very complicated and troublesome when a sequence reverse to the above-described sequence is employed. The hammer described above suffers from the problem that work for assembly and disassembly of the hammer comprising the hammer body and the hammer holder is thus complicated and troublesome. Further, there is a fear that a gap is formed between the hammer body and the inner surface of the mounting portion of the hammer holder e.g. due to inevitable size error in manufacturing the hammer body and the hammer holder, causing wobbling and resultant noises during pivotal motion of the hammer performed in accordance with key depression. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a service rack and work table unit, and particularly to a folding rack suited for arrangement within a garage, and the like, for use in servicing such vehicles as garden tractors, and which can be folded against a wall of the garage when not in use in order to free additional space within the structure for other purposes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Motor vehicle service racks, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,544, issued Nov. 27, 1951 to R. D. Smith, have long been known and commonly used for lifting a motor vehicle to an elevated position in order to gain access to the undersurface of the vehicle and perform maintenance and repairs thereto. In particular, U.S. Pat. Nos: 1,519,977, issued Dec. 16, 1924 to K. B. Harvey; 1,528,934, issued Mar. 10, 1925 to J. F. McMahon; 1,538,437, issued May 19, 1925 to A. C. Larsen; and 1,968,672, issued July 31, 1934 to J. F. Duby; disclose vehicle work racks, intended for automobiles and motor trucks, which incorporate various associated structure, such as platforms, arranged for facilitating work on a motor vehicle disposed on the rack. These known vehicle work racks, however, are generally large, heavy, and in some cases quite complex in construction. Further, although the ramps associated with the racks for permitting a vehicle to pass onto and off of the rack are generally hinged to the tracks forming the vehicle supporting portion of the rack itself, this hinged construction is only for purposes of adjustment. Accordingly, the known vehicle service racks are generally installed in a permanent manner so as to occupy a rather large amount of available floor space.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,890, issued Feb. 4, 1975 to C. Ruffing, discloses a lift device for small equipment which is employed to elevate snowmobiles, and the like, to a convenient height for servicing and repairing the vehicle, while U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,253, issued Sept. 20, 1971 to D. Wooten, et al, discloses a portable vehicle rack intended for supporting only a single wheel of a vehicle. | {
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1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is directed to a fish line sinker used for the purpose of sinking the fish hooks and bait toward the bottom of the body of water being fished. More particularly, the invention is directed to a precision machined solid brass noise-making fish line sinker especially adapted for use in angling for bass.
2. THE PRIOR ART
Kahle U.S. Pat. No. 1,858,550 discloses a a sinker having a tubular body which contains a plurality of lead shot. The purpose of the lead shot is to permit varying the weight of the sinker. The patent does not disclose any resulting production of noise.
Steffensen U.S. Pat. No. 1,878,015 discloses a fish lure having a two-part metal body, the parts being separable and screwed together. Ordinarily this lure is intended to be light enough to float and skim through the upper surface of the water. However, its weight may be increased by adding shot for use at lower depths. There is no disclosure of any resulting production of noise.
The Gander Mountain 1991 Spring/Summer catalog, on page 40, shows a "Culprit Clatter Weight" which is described as a clattering worm weight that attracts fish in dark cover, dark water and at night. It includes a hollow body containing shot or similar weights. Nothing is disclosed as to the materials from which either the body or shot are made. The trademark "CULPRIT" is owned by Classic Manufacturing Co., Inc. of Ocoee, Fla. which, on May 15, 1990, filed an application for registration of "CLATTER WEIGHT" as a trademark, based on use from Mar. 11, 1989. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical conductor assembly comprising a seal for sealing an electrical conductor terminated to an electrical contact. The seal of the present invention allows a contact having corners, e.g. a box-shaped receptacle contact, to be manually or automatically inserted through the seal without degrading the sealing quality of the seal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Seals are often used with electrical connectors to provide a barrier to contaminants, including water and other fluids. Seals are typically located at the mating interface between two electrical connectors and around conductors, typically wires, that extend into the connector. Typically, the wires are attached to electrical terminals and the terminals are then inserted into terminal cavities in electrical connector housings. The terminals are inserted through terminal receiving apertures or holes in the seals and into corresponding cavities in the housing. These holes in the seals typically includes sealing glands or cylindrical bumps or protuberances that establish sealing integrity with the round wires or conductors extending though the seals when the terminals have been fully inserted into the housing cavities.
The terminals are typically larger than the conductors to which they are attached. Therefore one problem that occurs is that during insertion of the terminal or electrical contact through the seal holes or apertures, the contact can damage the seal glands. For example, the front end of the contact can tear the seal, thereby compromising the sealing capability of the seal. The problem is especially significant for typical terminals or contact having a box shaped receptacle section with a generally rectangular or square cross section. The round hole must be deformed to allow the rectangular terminal to pass through the seal. During insertion, the edges of the terminal or contact can bite into the seal and rip or tear the seal. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of soybean breeding. In particular, the invention relates to the novel soybean variety A1026287.
2. Description of Related Art
There are numerous steps in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. Plant breeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives. The next step is selection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the program goals. The goal is to combine in a single variety an improved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm. These important traits may include higher seed yield, resistance to diseases and insects, better stems and roots, tolerance to drought and heat, better agronomic quality, resistance to herbicides, and improvements in compositional traits.
Soybean, Glycine max (L.), is a valuable field crop. Thus, a continuing goal of plant breeders is to develop stable, high yielding soybean varieties that are agronomically sound. The reasons for this goal are to maximize the amount of grain produced on the land used and to supply food for both animals and humans. To accomplish this goal, the soybean breeder must select and develop soybean plants that have the traits that result in superior varieties.
The oil extracted from soybeans is widely used in food products, such as margarine, cooking oil, and salad dressings. Soybean oil is composed of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with a typical composition of 11% palmitic, 4% stearic, 25% oleic, 50% linoleic, and 9% linolenic fatty acid content (“Economic Implications of Modified Soybean Traits Summary Report,” Iowa Soybean Promotion Board & American Soybean Association Special Report 92S, May 1990). | {
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1. Field
This application relates generally to wireless communication and more specifically, but not exclusively, to improving communication performance.
2. Introduction
A wireless communication network may be deployed over a defined geographical area to provide various types of services (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to users within that geographical area. In a typical implementation, access points (e.g., corresponding to different cells) are distributed throughout a network to provide wireless connectivity for access terminals (e.g., cell phones) that are operating within the geographical area served by the network.
As the demand for high-rate and multimedia data services rapidly grows, there lies a challenge to implement efficient and robust communication systems with enhanced performance. To supplement conventional network access points (e.g., macro access points), small-coverage access points may be deployed (e.g., installed in a user's home) to provide more robust indoor wireless coverage or other coverage to mobile units. Such small-coverage access points may be referred to as, for example, femto access points, femto cells, Home NodeBs (HNBs), Home eNodeBs (HeNBs), or access point base stations. Typically, such small-coverage base stations are connected to the Internet and the mobile operator's network via a DSL router or a cable modem.
In practice, there may be a relatively large number of small-coverage access points deployed in a network. Consequently, when an access terminal being paged has moved in idle state, the network could potentially need to send page messages to a large number of access points (e.g. HNBs and HeNBs). However, many of these access points may have restricted access (e.g., comprise closed subscriber group (CSG) cells). Consequently, paging optimization may be employed to avoid sending pages to access points that an access terminal is not authorized to access. For example, the network may only page an access terminal at those access points that are associated with a tracking area identifier (TAI) that is in the access terminal's registered TAI list and that are associated with a CSG identifier (CSG ID) that is in the access terminal's allowed CSG list (e.g., CSG whitelist).
A potential problem with such paging optimization relates to its interaction with the synchronization between the network and the access terminal of CSG subscriber information (e.g., the allowed CSG list). For example, a subscriber may be removed from a CSG, but the access terminal's allowed CSG list may not be updated for some time. If the network is updated and then does not page the access terminal at any access points associated with this CSG, it is possible that the access terminal may be in idle mode at an access point for this CSG and not be reachable for paging. As another example, when a CSG subscription expires, the entry for this CSG in the allowed CSG list of the access point may not immediately be removed. In this case, if the access terminal camps on an access point for this CSG in idle mode prior to determining that the subscription has expired, the access terminal may not be reachable for paging.
An additional potential problem of paging optimization relates to how long the CSG ID of an expired CSG is to be stored in the network (e.g., in a subscription server, a mobility manager, etc). One possible approach is to store the CSG ID until after the CSG ID is removed from the access terminal list (e.g., by an open mobile alliance device management (OMA-DM) update or over the air (OTA) update). However, such an approach requires OMA-DM or OTA to be run to remove the CSG.
As mentioned above, paging optimization may be employed to avoid sending pages to access points where an access terminal is not authorized. One way of achieving this is to include the access terminal's whitelist (e.g., a CSG whitelist) in the page. For example, a mobility manager may use its knowledge of the whitelist to filter the pages that it sends out. Thus, the paging optimization may be optionally performed at the mobility manager. As another example, if an access point gateway is employed (e.g., a HeNB gateway, HeNB-GW), the access point gateway may use the whitelist included in the page to filter the page. Thus, the paging optimization may optionally be performed at an access point gateway. As yet another example, upon receiving a page including a whitelist, an access point may use the whitelist to decide whether or not to transmit the page over the air. Thus, the paging optimization may optionally be performed at the access point. This may be useful if the mobility manager or the access point gateway does not perform any paging optimization. However, there may be a concern that sending a whitelist to an access point may violate security concerns if the access point (e.g., a HeNB) is a customer device. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to gamma correction, and more particularly to gamma correction using adjustable and adaptable curve function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most display systems possess a nonlinear relationship known as the gamma response characteristic, in which the display systems do not display brightness that is perfectly proportional to the input voltage. Because of the gamma property, image signals are usually pre-compensated by a gamma curve to inversely compensate for the nonlinearities of the display systems.
Lookup table (LUT) is one approach to the conventional gamma correction. However, the LUT method disadvantageously requires a great amount of memories, and retrieving data from the memories results in more access cycles. Piecewise linear approximation is another approach to the conventional gamma correction. Nevertheless, the piecewise linear method needs a number of registers for storing end points, and likely incurs approximation errors.
Accordingly, a need has arisen to propose a fast and simple way for gamma correction. | {
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The present invention relates to industrial robotic systems of the type including a robot device, which is typically six-jointed, and computer-driven control and displacement units connected for effecting rotation of each joint.
Many industrial assembly operations require that one part contact and then slide with respect to a second part until the plane of contact changes abruptly and the first part drops into place in the second part. This kind of task is easily accomplished if the one part is restricted to straight line motion with a constant force applied to this part in the direction of the straight line motion. This is an example of force/position control in which force is controlled in a given direction and position is controlled in a plane perpendicular to the force direction.
This type of control is simple to achieve with a cartesian coordinate robot when the straight line motion is aligned with one of the robot axes. However, with jointed robots, force/position control is more difficult since in general all six joints must be controlled simultaneously in order to effect straight line motion of the robot manipulator.
The basic components of a six-jointed robot are illustrated in simplified form in FIG. 1. This device includes a fixed base 2, five linking members 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 and an end member 14 which carries or guides the part to be assembled and is normally provided with some type of gripping mechanism.
Base 2 and members 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 are coupled together by pivot joints 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 each having a joint motor. Pivot joints 22, 23 and 25 have transverse axes and joints 21, 24 and 26 have longitudinal axes.
Each member can thus be pivoted about a respective joint axis from a reference angular position, the angular deviation from the reference position being known as the joint angle for that joint. The joint angles for joints 21-26 are designated .theta..sub.1, .theta..sub.2, .theta..sub.3, .theta..sub.4, .theta..sub.5 and .theta..sub.6.
The precise position and orientation of member 14 is a function of the six joint angles. The position of member 14 can be defined in terms of the x, y and z coordinates of a reference point on member 14 relative to a fixed coordinate system. The orientation of member 14 can be defined by the orientation of a selected plane of member 14 containing the reference point and in terms of three Euler angles .phi., .theta. and .PSI. which designate the orientation of the selected plane relative to the fixed coordinate system. These angles are designated on the basis of the orientation of a local coordinate system associated with the selected plane relative to the fixed coordinate system, as will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2A-2D in which the reference point on member 14 is designated R.
In FIG. 2A, a fixed plane 52 parallel to the x-y plane of the fixed coordinate system is congruent with the selected plane 54 of member 14. Plane 54 is associated with coordinates x', y', z' congruent with fixed coordinates x, y, z, respectively. Plane 54 can have any orientation relative to plane 52, defined by angles .phi., .theta. and .PSI.. If, to arrive at the final orientation shown in FIG. 2D, plane 54 is rotated about congruent axes z, z', an angle .phi. is formed between axes x and x'. Then rotation of plane 54 about axis x' forms angle .theta. between axes z and z'. Finally, rotation of plane 54 about axis z' forms angle .PSI. between axis x' and the line of intersection of planes 24 and 54.
Each set of values for x, y, z, .phi., .theta., .PSI. of the reference point R and plane 54 of member 14 produces a unique set of values for the coordinates .theta..sub.1 -.theta..sub.6.
Force/position control is a current research topic in robot control. A typical method which has been proposed is as follows. A projection operator P.sub.F defines the direction in which one wants to control the force and a complementary projection operator P.sub.P defines the directions in which one wants to control position. A feedback loop is then implemented in that sensors measure the six joint angles .theta..sub.1, .theta..sub.2, .theta..sub.3, .theta..sub.4, .theta..sub.5, and .theta..sub.6, and a nonlinear transformation on these angles is performed to yield the three position coordinates x, y and z and the three Euler angles .phi., .theta., and .PSI.. Three angle corrections EQU .DELTA..phi.=.phi.-.phi..sub.R, (1a) EQU .DELTA..theta.=.theta.-.theta..sub.R ( 1b) EQU .DELTA..PSI.=.PSI.-.PSI..sub.R ( 1c)
are computed where .phi..sub.R, .theta..sub.R and .PSI..sub.R are desired or setpoint values. Three position corrections EQU .DELTA.x=x-x.sub.R ( 2a) EQU .DELTA.y=y-y.sub.R ( 2b) EQU .DELTA.z=z-z.sub.R ( 2c)
are also computed where x, y and z are actual coordinate values and x.sub.R, y.sub.R and z.sub.R denote a point on the straight line of desired motion. Then ##EQU1## defines the desired projection of the position correction. A force error ##EQU2## is also computed using the measured force vector, the desired force vector and the projection operator. PID (Proportional, Integral and Derivative) controllers are applied to the six error quantities .DELTA.f, .DELTA.u, .DELTA.v, .DELTA..phi., .DELTA..theta. and .DELTA..PSI. to produce six correction signals e.sub.1, e.sub.2, e.sub.3, e.sub.4, e.sub.5 and e.sub.6. A second nonlinear transformation is then applied to these six signals to produce correction current signals .DELTA.I.sub.1, .DELTA.I.sub.2, .DELTA.I.sub.3, .DELTA.I.sub.4, .DELTA.I.sub.5 and .DELTA.I.sub.6 to the joint motor armatures.
One of the main difficulties with the approach just described is the large amount of computation needed to evaluate the projection operators P.sub.F and P.sub.P as well as the two nonlinear transformations at each time step. The method also ignores additional dynamic coupling among the joints induced by the object, held by the robot gripper, and contacting a hard surface with a certain normal. | {
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Electric motors, such as that of an electric blower motor mounted onto an HVAC module of a vehicle, often produce vibrations in operation. The vibration can be transmitted through the mount of the motor to other components of the HVAC system and eventually to the passenger compartment of a vehicle. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/542,542 discloses a motor mount assembly having a plastic post isolation system for isolating vibrations from an electric motor. This type of mount may use various fasteners to attach the motor to the mount assembly.
General attaching arrangements used to fasten an electric motor to the vibration isolator motor mount assembly and other known electric motor mount assemblies have included the use of axial mounting studs protruding from the motor housing; band type mounts in the form of hoops or ring shaped wire straps that encircle the frame of the motor and attach to the motor mount by mounting arms; and bases that cradle the motors. Such bases have mount points to attach to the motor mount assembly. Known attaching arrangements require an inventory of fasteners, which increases the complexity of assembly.
What is needed is a vibration isolator motor mount assembly that has an electric motor attachment feature that eliminates the need for additional fasteners for the attachment of the electric motor. It is also desirable for this attachment feature to provide a positive indication that the electric motor is properly positioned and securely attached. A simple and efficient attachment of the electric motor onto the mount is also advantageous. An integral attachment feature is desirable for ease of manufacturability. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup device like a digital camera having a face detection function of detecting the face of a person in an image, a face detection method and a computer-readable recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, digital cameras or digital video cameras, which pick up an image of an object using a CCD or a MOS type solid-state image sensor, have a face detection function of automatically detecting the face of a subject person when picking up a still image or a dynamic image. In general, such digital cameras or the like having a face detection function perform focus control and exposure control based on image information on a region of a detected face part (face region).
To speed up a process of detecting a face (detection of a face region) on an arbitrary image and to eliminate unnecessary detection processes, a technology of causing a user to set the respective maximum values of a process time, the number of persons to be detected, and a face area ratio (a ratio between an area of a process target image and a total area of a face region already detected), and of terminating a detection process when any one of such values becomes maximum, is known.
To cause digital cameras or the like to perform effective face detection with the foregoing technology, however, a user (photographer) needs a bothersome operation of setting plural parameters which set down a face detection operation, such as a process time, the number of persons to be detected, and a face area ratio, when picking up an image. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In a mobile telecommunication system such as a PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) telecommunication system, known as an analog cellular system or a digital cellular system, and a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), when a cellular phone carried by the user receives an incoming call, an alert sound is generated to notify the user of the incoming call. As the alert sound, a beep has been conventionally used, but recently, a melody has come to be used in place of the beep since the beep is offensive to the ear.
A conventional cellular phone, which is capable of reproducing a melody as mentioned above, is equipped with a musical tone-reproducing means that is capable of playing automatic performance of a musical composition. The musical tone-reproducing means is generally comprised of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a musical tone-reproducing section. The CPU executes an automatic performance program read from the ROM, thereby reading data of a musical composition from the ROM or the RAM, and setting tone generation parameters to the musical tone-reproducing section to reproduce the musical composition.
To produce high-quality musical tones, some of the recent musical tone-reproducing means are equipped with a plurality of sounding channels so that they can reproduce a musical composition composed of a plurality of parts via the plurality of channels.
The conventional telecommunication terminal apparatus such as a cellular phone, however, is adapted to reproduce a melody for notifying the user of an incoming call or a call-hold from the leading end of a musical composition designated in advance, and hence it is difficult for the user to listen to the entire musical composition.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a telecommunication terminal apparatus which is capable of giving a notification using a melody, and reproducing the melody from an arbitrary position of a musical composition. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Magnetic fields can have broad applications in biotechnology and medicine. For example, systems utilizing magnetic fields can have applications in cancer diagnostics, drug discovery, and stem cell research, among others. One particular area includes magnetic separation of cells, in which cells of interest are attached to magnetic biomarkers in a solution and the solution is then introduced into an area having a magnetic field. The magnetic field serves to isolate and/or filter the cells having the attached biomarkers for subsequent analysis, modification, or use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Retail business over the Internet has expanded rapidly since it began. Although many transactions occur via public data networks many consumers fear providing their credit card information to their computer. In many cases these fears are well founded.
Today, a common approach to acquiring people's information without their knowledge is using a method known as phishing. This technique involves finding a company webpage that allows a user to access money or credit, such as the webpage of a bank. The hacker then provides a false webpage that resembles the company webpage for use in convincing a user that they are at the company web site. This webpage simply receives client identification information and client password information. The hacker then provides an email message to a person that the hacker hopes is a client of the company. The email provides the webpage address for the false webpage provided by the hacker and an indication that the client should click on a link that leads to the false webpage and sign in. The client does so, thereby providing their username and password to the hacker. The false webpage transfers this data to the hacker or alternatively, uses this data to access the money or credit available. In this way, the hacker is able to gain information and/or assets relating to the client. Once the user name and password information is known, it is a simple matter for the hacker to impersonate the client at the real webpage of the business and take advantage of assets of the client.
It would be beneficial to provide a system that provides robust authentication. It would be particularly beneficial if such a system were resistant to “phishing” attacks. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
It is often desirable to bring a laser beam to a point of focus in order to raise the power density. Certain cutting or spot welding operations might be cited as examples. Focusing can be done with a conventional positive lens when power levels are low. At higher power levels, liquid cooled spherical or parabolic metal mirrors are often employed for focusing. When the focused laser beam is performing an operation such as cutting or spot welding, the work piece must be rather precisely located at the focal point. The beam expands on either side of this point and the power density falls accordingly. The size of the spot at the focal point and the working distance on either side of the focal point, in essence the tolerable depth of the field, are controlled by conventional rules of optics as well as the characteristics of the particular laser.
The limitation which requires the work piece to be at the focal point causes many problems. These may be complex geometric difficulties as are encountered when cutting or welding a three dimensional object. There may also be serious technical limitations as when attempting to make a deep cut in some material. One example of this is in cutting wood in order to reduce conventional sawing losses.
A solution to the depth of field problem would be to recollimate a focused beam by using a negative lens at or near the focal point. To date, the technology to do this has not been available except for very low powered lasers. Conventional lenses are simply pierced by a high power density beam. This is a special case of a more general problem associated with passing high power density laser beams through transparent solid materials. It applies not only to lenses, but to laser windows as well.
Since no optical material is 100% transmissive, it will absorb and convert to heat some of the energy of the beam passing through it. As long as this heat can be removed, no damage will result. The problem arises when heat build-up is more rapid than dissipation. This problem has become more acute as the power of industrial lasers has risen with the development of improved technology.
Windows were one of the first areas where alternatives to conventional optical elements had to be found. A window is the opening where the beam leaves the laser device. It serves to keep the medium inside the laser separate from the outside environment and is required because the lasing medium is most usually a gas of different composition and pressure than that in the outside environment.
One solution to the problem of conventional window destruction by high power density laser beams has been the use of so-called aerodynamic windows. A gas curtain is passed at very high velocity, normally supersonic, across the window opening. Typical early examples are shown in McLafferty, U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,789; and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,617,928 and 3,654,569 to Hausmann.
In later developments, the gas curtain has assumed the form of a segment of a free vortex. The nozzle creating the supersonic gas curtain can be designed so that the gas pressure on the laser side approximates the pressure within the laser while the pressure on the outside is typically at normal air pressure. In this way there is little or no transfer of gas into or out of the laser. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,873,939 to Guile et al.; 3,973,217 to Guile; and 3,973,218 and 4,138,777 to Kepler et al. are representative.
Many references speak of problems arising from distortion of the laser beam as it passes through the supersonic gas window. McLafferty, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,388, attempts to overcome this problem by using adjacent layers of two different gases in his supersonic window. In effect, he creates a refractive index gradient across the window to minimize boundary layer disturbances.
It should be noted that in those aerodynamic windows employing free vortex segments, the laser beam passes essentially radially through the vortex segment.
Two other aerodynamic window types are exemplary of different approaches at reducing distortion as the beam passes through the window. One is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,952 to Stewart et al. which describes a window for use with a large diameter annular laser beam. It too uses a curtain of two different but adjacent gases, but the configuration is that of a radially expanding annulus. Griffin, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,800, shows two axially impinging gas columns through which a coaxial laser beam passes.
Gaseous curtains have found other laser-related applications besides aerodynamic windows. Hausmann, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,078, describes a cylindrical aerodynamic containment means for achieving better control of the plasma in a flashlamp for exciting a pulsed laser. Mack et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,208, show a vortical gas containment system to accomplish flashlamp plasma containment.
Problems associated with focusing and collimating systems have apparently been much more intractible than those relating to windows, if one can judge by the relative dearth of pertinent literature. Watt, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,604, shows a system using conventional optics for bringing a laser beam to a focus. Ashkin et al., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,403,348 and 3,638,139, and Patel in U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,363, teach applications of "thermal" focusing. The laser beam is transmitted through a volume of a gas varying radially in temperature and thus also varying somewhat in index of refraction. If the temperature at the periphery is cooler than that at the axis, the effect is that of a weak negative lens. If the opposite situation holds and the peripheral temperature is higher, the effect is that of a weak positive lens. Welch, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,572, takes advantage of the positive lens effect to counteract divergence of a laser beam as it is projected down a deep borehole.
Brief comment is made here about the so-called "self-focusing" effect in lasers so that it is not confused with the present invention. The refractive index of any transmissive material varies with the intensity of the beam travelling through it. Because of this intensity dependence there is a tendency for a high power density beam having a gaussian energy distribution to collapse into a single spot because it is travelling slower in the center than along the edges. While some investigators have sought to take advantage of this characteristic, most have seen it as a problem to be overcome. The complex nature of this problem is reviewed by Campillo and Shapiro, Laser Focus, June, 1974, pp. 62-65.
Several other patents might be mentioned as having peripheral relationship to the present invention. Houldcroft, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,569,660; VanDer Jagt, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,882; and Diemer et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,085; all show gas-assisted lenses or nozzles for use in laser welding or cutting operations. These contain a positive lens for bringing the laser beam to a point of focus and a means for sweeping gas across the lens to cool and protect it by removing any vaporized products from the vicinity.
It is clear from a study of the literature that no consideration has been given to the use of a gaseous medium as a focusing device by any means other than establishment of a thermal gradient. The gas thermal lens, at best, shows only a small change in refractive index from axis to margin. It also poses many mechanical limitations as to where and how it can be used. These two considerations, taken together, have resulted in only very limited application of the thermal lens principle. Perturbations and disturbances in beam integrity have been noted where pressure gradients were encountered. However, the entire thrust of the prior art has been to seek means to eliminate this problem rather than to consider ways in which it might be used to advantage. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fibrinogen bandages and arterial bleeding models and methods of making and using thereof. In particular, the present invention relates to a fibrinogen bandage having propyl gallate and a swine arterial bleeding model.
2. Description of the Related Art
The control of hemorrhage is the initial step in first aid and field trauma care. Although the basic approach to homeostasis has not changed significantly since the onset of modem medicine, new and more effective methods, such as fibrinogen dressings and bandages, are currently being researched. See Matthew, T. L., et al. (1990) Ann. Surgery 50:40-44; Ochsner, M. G., et al. (1990) J. Trauma 30:884-887; Lerner, R. (1990) J. Surg. Res. 48:165-181; Lebowitz, R. A. et al. (1995) Am. J. of Otology 16:172-174; Suzuki, Y., et al. (1995) Arch. Surg. 130:952-955; and Rousou, J., et al. (1989) J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 97:194-203.
Fibrinogen dressings were first used by trauma surgeons during World War I when Grey and his colleagues made prepolymerized fibrin sheets and powders. During World War II, fibrin glue was created with prepolymerized Styrofoam-like sheets of fibrin and fibrin films by the United States military and the American Red Cross. Fibrin based dressings show a significant difference in controlling bleeding time and reducing blood loss when compared to a control. See Jackson, M., et al. (1996) J. of Surg. Res. 60:15-22; and Jackson, M., et al. (1997) Surg. Forum, XL, VIII:770-772.
Despite the efficacy of fibrinogen dressings in controlling hemorrhage, the use of fibrinogen dressings was discontinued as blood and serum borne diseases such as hepatitis and HIV was often transmitted since the dressings comprised purified human or animal fibrinogen or other purified blood products. See Holcomb, J. B., et al. (1997) Surgical Clinics of North America 77:943-952. In the past few years, however, there has been a renewed interest in fibrin based products for treating wounds as plasma purification techniques have nearly eliminated the risk of blood and serum borne diseases. Additionally, suitable recombinant fibrinogen is expected to be commercially available soon.
There are a few patents that are directed to fibrinogen bandages, however, these fibrinogen bandages suffer from many drawbacks. The component that makes fibrinogen bandages too expensive for commercial use is the fibrinogen which is presently purified from human plasma and lyophilized onto a matrix which forms the backing of the bandage. The more fibrinogen that is added to the backing, the better the bandage works in stopping bleeding. However, the more fibrinogen added to the backing, the more costly the bandage. Additionally, the more fibrinogen added to the backing may contribute to the fragility of bandages having the higher amount of fibrinogen. The more fragile the bandage, the more difficult to work with as the bandage easily crumbles and does not bend to conform to various wound sites.
It has been speculated that the selective incorporation of agents that modify the biochemical pathways involved in clot formation will stabilize the formed clot and promote local coagulation. However, not all agents that normally promote clot formation and coagulation improve clot formation and coagulation when incorporated on or in fibrinogen dressings or bandages. For example, ε-amino caproic acid which is an antifibrinolytic agent that impedes the destruction of fibrin by binding to the lysine binding sites of plasminogen would therefore be expected to provide a more stable clot. In fact, Amicar® is an ε-amino caproic acid formulation used clinically whereby oral doses are used to control hemorrhaging after prostatectomies, to prevent rebleeding after dental extractions in patients having hereditary bleeding disorders, and to prevent rebleeding after subarachnoid hemorrhaging. However, it has been found that ε-amino caproic acid incorporated in or on fibrinogen dressings or bandages actually decreased coagulation and clot formation as compared to fibrinogen bandages alone.
In addition, the quest to improve fibrinogen dressings or bandages and find suitable agents that promote coagulation and clot formation to be incorporated in or on the fibrinogen dressings has been hindered by the lack of an adequate arterial bleeding model. Prior art methods and models for studying clot formation and arterial bleeding have been inadequate as they do not provide a good control that may be standardized and used in comparative studies.
Thus, a need still exists for commercially viable and effective fibrinogen dressings or bandages and arterial bleeding models for the study of agents, methods, and devices that modulate coagulation and clot formation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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