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referring now to the drawings , and more particularly to fig1 , an agricultural planting system 10 is shown and , as known in the art , is generally comprised of a tractor 12 , an air cart 14 , and a planter 16 . the air cart 14 and the planter 16 are hitched to the tractor 12 in a conventional manner . the planter 16 includes a tool bar 18 to which a set of disc opener units 20 are coupled . the disc opener units 20 each include a disc 22 designed to cut a furrow into the soil . as known in the art , the air cart 14 pneumatically delivers seed and / or fertilizer to a set of delivery tubes ( not shown ) of the planter 14 whereupon the seed and / or fertilizer is deposited in seed trenches or furrows cut by the discs 22 . an exemplary disc opener unit 20 is shown in fig2 . each disc opener unit 20 includes a linkage assembly 24 that in the illustrated unit includes links 26 , 28 that are coupled to the tool bar 18 in a known manner at one end and connected to an opener frame 30 at the opposite end . the opener unit 20 includes a spring 32 that applies downward pressure on the disc 22 . alternately , a hydraulic cylinder may be used to apply such downward pressure . disc penetration is controlled by a gauge wheel 34 that is positioned in relative close proximity to the disc 22 . in addition to controlling the penetration depth of the disc 22 the gauge wheel 34 also helps in keeping the adjacent side of the disc 22 clear of debris . a scraper blade 36 is provided on the opposite side of the disc 22 to keep the leading face of the disc 22 clear of soil , mud , and debris . in one preferred embodiment , the disc 22 is angled at an offset of approximately 7 degrees from vertical ; although , different orientations are contemplated . the leading side of the disc 22 displaces soil and creates a furrow in the soil as the disc 22 is pulled through the soil by the tractor 12 . in addition to providing a scraping function the scraper blade 36 also helps to hold the furrow open as seed and / or fertilizer is deposited into the furrow . the disc opener unit 20 also carries a seed tube 38 that is flow - coupled to the air cart 14 . as known in the art , seed and / or fertilizer is provided to the seed tube 38 which drops the seed and / or fertilizer into the furrow . a trailing wheel 40 , coupled to the frame 30 by arm 42 , packs the furrow after the seed and / or fertilizer has been deposited . the amount of packing pressure applied by the trailing wheel 40 is controlled by a packing pressure adjustment assembly 44 , which will be described in further detail below . as noted above , the gauge wheel 34 controls the penetration depth of the disc 22 . the gauge wheel 34 may be raised or lowered by rotation of a depth adjustment arm 46 . arm 46 , which includes a generally t - shaped handle 48 , may be rotated by a user pulling upward on handle 48 . as shown in fig3 , the frame 30 includes an arc of notches 50 that define a range of discrete engagement points at which the handle 48 may be positioned . in one preferred embodiment , the notches 50 allow the gauge wheel 34 to set the penetration depth between 3 . 2 mm and 87 mm . the handle 48 has teeth 52 that are received by a selected number of the notches 50 to position the handle 48 , and thus the arm 46 , at a desired position . the arm 46 is coupled to a spindle 54 that as described below also carries the gauge wheel 34 and the disc 22 . as such , rotation of the arm 46 between the discrete positions varies the position of the gauge wheel 34 and thus the penetration depth of the disc 22 . to better illustrate the design of the disc opener unit 20 reference is now made to fig4 , which provides an exploded view of a portion of the disc opener unit 20 . the frame 30 includes a generally cylindrical sleeve 56 into which spindle 54 is received . with additional reference to fig8 , the spindle has a body 58 defined between a first end 60 and a second end 62 . the disc 22 is mounted to a hub 64 using nuts 66 and bolts 68 in a conventional manner . the hub 64 has a bearing 70 pressed into it with a pair of washers 72 , 74 and a snap ring 76 operative as a retainer . while different types of bearings are contemplated , bearing 70 preferably has a split inner race . each inner half is placed from each side and clamped together . when clamped , a correct internal clearance is provided . the hub 64 , bearing 70 , washers 72 , 74 , and snap ring 76 collectively define a hub assembly 78 that is slid onto end 60 of the spindle 54 . as best shown in fig6 , the spindle 54 has a shoulder 80 that provides a defined stop for the hub assembly 78 . in this regard , the hub assembly 78 is slid onto the spindle 54 until the inner race of the bearing abuts the shoulder 80 . as described above , the disc 22 is fastened to the hub 64 . it is understood that the disc 22 could be mounted to the hub before or after the hub assembly is placed onto the spindle 54 . with the disc 22 secured to the hub 64 and the hub assembly 68 placed over the first end 60 of the spindle 54 , a gauge arm 82 may be secured to the first end 60 of the spindle 54 . more particularly , the gauge arm 82 has a first end 84 that is passed through central opening 22 ( a ) of the disc 22 and the hub assembly 78 into engagement with the first end 60 of the spindle 54 . in one preferred embodiment , the first end 60 of the spindle 54 and the first end 84 of the gauge arm 82 have complimentary shapes , e . g ., square , to facilitate a quick and correct coupling . a bolt 86 and washer 88 are then used to secure the gauge arm 82 to the spindle 54 . the second end 90 of the gauge arm 82 is coupled to a gauge wheel spindle 92 to which the gauge wheel 34 is mounted using bolt 94 . the gauge wheel 34 is mounted to the gauge wheel spindle 92 in a manner that allows the gauge wheel 34 to rotate around the gauge wheel spindle 92 . preferably , after the disc 22 , hub assembly 78 and gauge wheel 34 have been secured to the spindle 54 , the second end 62 is passed through a v - ring seal 96 and sleeve 56 of frame 30 . the second end 62 of the spindle 54 extends past the sleeve 56 and passes through an opening 98 formed in a lower end 46 ( a ) of the depth adjustment arm 46 . a collar 100 together with a bolt 102 are used to secure the depth adjustment arm 46 to the spindle 54 and secure the spindle 54 to the frame 30 . as further shown in fig4 , the depth adjustment arm 46 includes an upper end 104 having a pocket 106 for a compression spring 108 . the upper end 104 is secured to the depth adjustment handle 48 by a roll pin 110 . the compression spring 108 functions to keep the teeth 52 of the handle 48 engaged with selected notches 50 . in this regard , a user must pull on the handle 48 sufficiently to overcome the compressive force of the spring 108 to disengage the teeth 52 from the notches 48 and rotate the arm 46 to a new position along the arc of notches 50 . once the pulling force is removed , the compressive force of the spring 108 draws the handle 48 toward the spindle 54 ( axis of rotation for the disc 22 ) and engages the teeth 52 with the notches 50 . fig5 provides a section view of the disc opener unit 20 taken along line 5 - 5 of fig2 . as illustrated , the spindle 54 defines an axis of rotation for the disc 22 as well as the gauge wheel arm 82 and the depth adjustment arm 46 . as further illustrated in fig5 , the gauge wheel spindle 92 is offset from spindle 54 but rotates with spindle 54 . in this regard , the spindle 54 acts as a crankshaft for the gauge wheel arm 82 such that as the gauge wheel arm 82 is rotated the gauge wheel 34 is rotated albeit along an axis offset but parallel to the axis of rotation for the spindle 54 . as noted above and with additional reference to fig6 , a v - ring seal 96 is provided that is used to create a grease pocket , illustrated at reference numeral 112 , between the face of the bearing 70 and the frame 30 . the grease zerk is located on the outside of the frame 30 and is needed for rotation of the spindle 54 when a depth adjustment is made . referring again to fig7 , a grease channel 114 is formed along the body 58 of the spindle 54 . the grease channel 114 is formed generally parallel to the long axis of the spindle body 58 . an annular grease grove 116 is formed in the elongated body 58 between the grease channel 114 and end 62 of the spindle 54 . as further illustrated in fig7 , the grease channel 114 communicates with a cutout 118 formed in the shoulder 80 and is positioned between the shoulder 80 and end 62 of the spindle 54 . as noted above , the present invention also provides a packing pressure adjustment assembly 44 . as will be made apparent from the foregoing description , the packing pressure adjustment assembly 44 has a compact design , is capable of providing high packing pressures , e . g ., 100 lbs , and is less prone to debris , mud , and field trash collection than conventional assemblies commonly used to adjust the amount of packing pressure provided by the packer wheel 40 . with reference again to fig2 - 4 , the pressure adjustment assembly 44 is comprised of a spring 120 that is interconnected between an adjustment arm 122 and the trailing arm 42 . the adjustment arm 122 has a lower portion 124 and an upper portion 126 . as shown in fig4 , the lower portion 124 has an opening 128 though which the end 62 of the spindle 54 is passed . in this regard , the lower portion 124 of the adjustment arm 122 is secured to the spindle 54 by collar 100 and fastener 102 . the upper portion 126 of the adjustment arm 122 has a handle member 130 that has a generally l - shaped body . a groove 132 is formed in the upper portion 126 of the adjustment arm 122 and is designed to receive a first end 120 ( a ) of the spring 120 . in a preferred embodiment , the first end 120 ( a ) of the spring 120 is a downwardly facing hook that is dropped into the groove 132 and held in the groove 132 by the tension in the spring 120 . the adjustment arm 122 is movable between a set of defined positions that are defined by engagement members 134 , 136 , and 138 formed on the opener frame 30 . the engagement members 134 - 136 are radially spaced from one another so as to have an arc shaped arrangement . the radius of the arc is centered about the axis of rotation of the spindle 54 . each engagement member 134 - 136 is l - shaped and includes axially extending portion and a forwardly extending portion . the shape of the engagement members 134 - 136 results in a respective gap being formed between the forwardly extending members and the side of the opener frame 30 . the handle member 130 is designed to be secured to the engagement members by seating the handle member 130 against a gap - side surface of the axially extending portions of the engagement members 134 - 136 . the gaps are each sized so that the handle portion is snuggly received and held therein . the opposite end 120 ( b ) of the spring 120 is secured to a forward end 42 ( a ) of the trailing packer wheel arm 42 . more particularly , a hole 140 is formed in the forward end 42 ( a ) of the arm 42 and the end 120 ( b ) of the spring 120 has a upwardly facing hook that is passed through the hole 140 . tension in the spring 120 retains the hook end 120 ( b ) in the hole 140 . referring again to fig3 , a stop bar 142 extends laterally from the frame 30 . the trailing packer arm 42 includes an engagement surface 144 that abuts against the stop 142 . the amount of packing force applied by the packer wheel 40 is adjusted by changing the position of the adjustment arm 122 . when the arm 122 is rotated in a forward direction ( counter clockwise direction in fig3 ), the spring 120 is elongated . this elongation of the spring 120 causes the spring 120 to pull up on the leading end 42 ( a ) of arm 42 . this movement causes the arm 42 to rotate in a rearward direction ( clockwise direction in fig3 ) about pin 146 , which couples the packer arm 42 to the opener frame 30 . as a result , the engagement surface 142 is brought into greater engagement with the stop bar 142 . stated another way , the increased tension in the spring 120 created as the spring 120 is elongated results in a greater holding force of the trailing arm 42 against the stop bar 142 , which increases the amount of packing force applied by the packer wheel 40 . conversely , when the adjustment arm 122 is rotated rearwardly ( clockwise in fig3 ), the amount of tension in spring 120 is lessened thereby reducing the force used to hold the trailing arm 42 against stop bar 142 . as such , less packing pressure is applied by the wheel 40 . in a preferred embodiment , the adjustment arm 122 can be positioned at three different positions ( defined by engagement members 134 , 136 , 138 ), but it is contemplated that more or less positions could be defined . it will therefore be appreciated that the present invention provides a compact packer wheel pressure adjustment assembly having an adjustment arm that can be rotated to one of multiple positions to change the amount of packing pressure exerted by the packer wheel . a spring is provided ; although , other types of biasing devices could be used , such as a cylinder , that adjusts the amount of packer wheel force as a function of the position of the adjustment arm . the multiple positions at which the adjustment arm can be engaged correspond to a range of desirable packer wheel pressures , including a position that results in excess of 100 lbs of packer wheel force . many changes and modifications could be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof . the scope of these changes will become apparent from the appended claims . | 0 |
while this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms , there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to embodiments illustrated . referring to fig1 - 14 , there are illustrated several embodiments of a vertical - axis wind turbine or vawt , generally designated by the numeral 10 . such turbines are sold , for example , by mariah power , 5470 louie ln ., suite 104 , reno , nev . under the mark wndspire ® ( see also http :// www . mariahpower . com ). however , the invention disclosed herein is not intended to be limited to a single type of vawt such as that shown in the appended drawing figures or as sold by mariah power . as shown in fig1 , the vawt 10 has a main rotor shaft 12 that runs vertically along the longitudinal axis of the vawt . as also shown in fig1 , the illustrated vawt 10 is a darrieus wind turbine having multiple rotor blades ( airfoils ) 14 , which make the vawt 10 resemble an eggbeater . a preferred embodiment of the vawt 10 is built with three blades 14 , but other embodiments may include more than three blades . fig2 a shows a conventional lattice structured power transmission tower 20 . the tower structure 20 has a base 22 anchored to the ground 13 and a plurality of supporting arms 24 for supporting power lines 26 that transmit electric power . as shown in fig2 b , a vawt 10 is mounted inside of the transmission tower 20 in such a manner that there is sufficient clearance inside of the transmission tower 20 for the rotor blades 14 to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the vawt . the power transmission tower 20 preferably employs a lattice tower structure to provide stability due to the extra load exerted on the power transmission tower . although the vawt 10 is mounted preferably inside the preexisting transmission tower 20 , the vawt 10 need not be mounted in that manner only . indeed , the vawt 10 may be mounted anywhere on the preexisting transmission tower 20 , provided the rotor blades 14 do not interfere with the power lines . fig3 a is an example of an illustration where the vawt 10 is mounted on the supporting arm 24 portion of the transmission tower 20 . further , fig3 b depicts a vawt 10 that is attached at both its base and top , by additional support member ( s ) 45 , to a preexisting lattice structured electrical transmission tower 20 . as shown in fig2 c , the vawt 10 can be attached by its base to the transmission tower 20 by a frame consisting of one or more support members 45 wherein the frame is attached to the transmission tower 20 and the vawt 10 by conventional means such as , but not limited to , the use of bolts , clamps or welds . alternatively , as shown in fig2 d , the vawt 10 can be attached at both its base and top by a pair of frames consisting of support member 47 . in yet another embodiment , as shown in fig2 e , the base of the vawt 10 can be mounted to the ground and vertically extend within the lattice structure of the transmission tower . in still yet another embodiment , the base of the vawt can be mounted to the ground and vertically extend within the lattice structure of the transmission tower while the vawt is also connected to the transmission tower by a frame . preferably , but not necessarily , the longitudinal axis 47 of the vawt is in coaxial alignment with the longitudinal axis 49 of the transmission tower . turning to fig2 e , a schematic view is provided of a vawt 10 that is mounted at its base in a conventional manner to the ground 13 and vertically extends within the lattice structure of the transmission tower 20 . fig2 f is similar to fig2 e , but with a plurality of vawts also attached to the outer periphery of the preexisting lattice structured transmission tower by support members 45 . moreover , fig2 g is a simplified plan view of the embodiment of fig2 f taken along plane 2 g - 2 g of fig2 f , and fig2 h is a plan view similar to fig2 g , but with the vawts 10 attached , by support members 45 , to the outer periphery of the lattice structured transmission tower 20 in another configuration . fig3 a and 3b illustrate additional alternative embodiments where the vawt 10 is mounted outside the lattice structure of the transmission tower 20 . in each embodiment the vawt 10 is mounted on a supporting arm 24 of the transmission tower 20 . fig3 b includes additional supports 45 to secure the vawt 10 to the transmission tower frame . though not illustrated , in other embodiments in accordance with the present invention , one or more vawts could be conventionally mounted on an easement generally underneath the electrical transmission lines extending from one transmission tower / structure to another . it is understood , as explained above , that the transmission tower 20 preferably has a lattice structure so that the vawt 10 can be mounted inside of the lattice of the transmission tower 20 . alternatively , it is also contemplated that the transmission tower 20 could be a monopole structure , such as a utility pole as shown in fig4 . as further illustrated in fig4 , a vawt 10 is mounted on the supporting arm 24 of a preexisting monopole structured transmission tower 20 . it is understood that the supporting arm 24 of the monopole structured tower 20 is able to withstand the weight of the vawt 10 . otherwise , an additional supporting base 26 can be constructed to ensure that the supporting arm 24 withstands the weight of the vawt 10 . although fig4 shows one vawt 10 mounted to the supporting arm 24 , it is also contemplated that more than one vawt 10 can be mounted in a series along the supporting arm 24 . also , another vawt 10 may be mounted at the top portion of the monopole 20 , provided the monopole tower can withstand the weight of the vawts . while a monopole transmission tower is contemplated for this embodiment , the monopole tower such as a cell tower is also contemplated for mounting a vawt 10 . fig5 a illustrates another embodiment of the present invention wherein a vawt 10 is mounted to an upper portion of a billboard sign 30 . in this embodiment , the vawt 10 is mounted to the monopole 32 that supports the billboard sign 30 such that the vawt 10 is supported by the monopole , rather than the billboard sign 30 . an extension pole 32 can be used to extend the monopole 34 supporting the billboard signs 30 so that the vawt 10 can be mounted on top 36 so that the rotor blades 14 do not interfere with the actual bill board signs 30 . moreover , fig5 b is similar to fig5 a , but with additional vawts 10 mounted to the billboard sign 30 and the monopole 32 supporting the billboard sign . accordingly , in an embodiment , vawts can be mounted almost anywhere to the billboard or the structure supporting the billboard , as long as such mounting would support the vawt 10 thereto . fig6 shows yet another embodiment of the present invention wherein a vawt 10 is mounted atop a monopole 20 supporting traffic signals 40 . it is contemplated that the vawt 10 is connected by an intermediate rod 42 to retain structural integrity and to provide stability . fig7 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention wherein a vawt 10 is mounted atop a road sign 50 , such as a highway sign . as shown , the vawt 10 is mounted on top of each of the support rods 52 so that more than one vawt 10 can be mounted thereon . it is also contemplated , though not shown , that the vawt 10 may be mounted on a crossbar 54 that supports the sign ( s ) 50 provided the crossbar 54 can withstand the additional load due to the vawt 10 . similar to the embodiment depicted in fig7 , one or more vawts can be mounted to a railway gantry or signal bridge extending over one or more railroad tracks . fig8 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention wherein a vawt 10 is mounted atop a water tower 60 , a large elevated water storage container . the vawt 10 may be mounted , as shown , at the apex of the tower 60 , or it may be mounted along the periphery of the tank . fig9 provides a partial plan view of a pair of vertical - axis wind power turbines 10 mounted to a portion of a conventional preexisting pole 53 . preferably , but not necessarily , the turbines 10 are symmetrically mounted on each side of the pole 53 for added stability . for instance , if three turbines 10 are mounted to pole 53 , then the turbines would be mounted in the triangular configuration depicted in fig1 , via equivalent members 45 . if desired , additional support members could be mounted to the top of the vawts 10 for securing them to the pole . fig1 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention wherein a plurality of vawts 10 are mounted ( in a manner similar to that depicted in fig9 or 10 ) to poles in proximity to a conventional cellular telephone base station tower 13 . the electronics ( not shown ) for operating the cellular telephone base station tower could be powered , in part , by a power generator electrically coupled to the vawts 10 . in turning , the vawt conventionally converts the wind energy into mechanical energy which is then converted to electric energy through operation of the generator ( or alternator , not shown ). the electronics for operating the cellular telephone base station could also be powered , in part , by a battery and / or a gas or liquid fuel powered generator . fig1 illustrates yet another embodiment of the present invention wherein a plurality of vawts 10 are mounted on a pole ( s ) that also includes street lights and / or parking lot lights . as will be understood , the pole is able to support the vawts 10 that are attached thereto in a number of different configurations , including those depicted in fig9 and 10 . fig1 is a partial plan view of an embodiment of a vawt 10 which is capable of being mounted to a portion of a conventional pole . as shown in fig1 , the vawt 10 includes a plurality of rotor blades 204 positioned between the inner ring 202 and the outer ring 200 and extending in its entirety from the top to the bottom of the turbine 10 . while six blades 204 are shown in fig1 , a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that more or fewer blades can be used for the purpose of the present invention . each rotor blade 204 is configured in a way so that the inner portion of the blade is in contact with the inner ring 202 and each blade 204 is curved to utilize aerodynamic drag and thereby induce torque upon the rotor . smaller blades 206 are positioned between the rotor shaft 208 and the inner ring 202 . as can be seen , these smaller blades 206 are curved at their ends in contact with the inner ring 202 and in a direction opposite the curvature of the outer blades 204 . this configuration provides optimal performance of the vawt 10 while in use . fig1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the present invention , illustrating a horizontal - axis wind power turbine 302 mounted on top of a building 300 to utilize winds blowing against the building 300 . when winds , particularly high winds , blow against a building , it creates a high pressure on the side of the building and a low pressure on the top / roof of the building . this creates a pressure differential significant enough in certain environmental conditions such that wind power turbine systems mounted on building roofs are effective at converting wind power to mechanical energy . to take full advantage of this scenario , as shown in fig1 , the wind power turbine 302 is mounted horizontally with a plurality of blades 304 extending from the rotor shaft 305 . at the end section of each blade , a semi - circular airfoil 306 is attached to the blade 304 , so that as the high - pressure air flows upward along the side of the building 300 toward the low - pressure air , the semi - circular airfoils 306 induce torque upon the rotor 305 to generate mechanical energy . in each embodiment described above , surplus electrical power generated by the generator ( or alternator ) coupled to the vawt can be supplied , by conventional means , to electrical transmission cables running to the structure . for instance , in the embodiments of fig2 b - 2e and 3 , the surplus electrical power generated by the vawt ( s ) can be supplied to electrical transmission cables running to the transmission tower . likewise , the surplus electrical power from the vawt ( s ) can be supplied to the electrical transmission cables provided to the monopole structure of fig4 , the billboard structure of fig5 , the traffic signal structure of fig6 , the road sign structure of fig7 , the water tower structure of fig8 , the poles of fig9 and 10 , the cell phone tower of fig1 , the street lights and parking lot lights of fig1 , or the like . in each case , the electrical energy generated can be used to power some component of the structure , such as lights , timers , a motor it should be emphasized that the above - described embodiments of the present invention , particularly , any “ preferred ” embodiments , are possible examples of implementations merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles for the invention . many variations and modifications may be made to the above - described embodiment ( s ) of the invention without substantially departing from the spirit and principles of the invention . all such modifications are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and the present invention , and protected by the following claims . for instance , one or more vawts can be installed about the top upper perimeter of a football stadium or other large outdoor public venue . | 5 |
the process according to the invention is especially suited for the preparation of cephem and isooxacephem derivatives respectively of formula i wherein r 1 is hydrogen , i . e . with an hydroxyimino group , which has to be protected during the acylation step . it is essential that the protecting groups are cheap , easily removeable , recycleable and that no additional purification steps are involved due to contamination of a catalyst used during the protecting and deprotecting process . furthermore the protecting group should not interfer with the acylation step . it has been found that the acylation process according to invention is especially suited for the acylation of cephem - and isooxacephem derivatives of formula ii with an aminothiazol derivative of formula iii which is activated as mixed anhydride of thiophosphoric acid and r 1 is protected by a trityl , acetyl or tetrahydropyranyl group , preferably a trityl group . the yield of this reaction as well as the purity of the product are excellent and the protecting groups are easily removed to yield hydroxyimino compounds , i . e . compounds of formula i wherein r 1 is hydrogen . the acylation of a compound of formula ii with the activated compound of formula iii is preferably carried out in a polar solvent as dimethyl formamide ( dmf ), dichloromethane , or a mixture of dmf / i - pronanol / water in presence of a base as e . g . triethylamine , at a temperature of about - 10 ° c . to about 60 °, preferably from about 0 ° c . to about 30 ° c . the compounds of formula iii are part of the present invention . they can be prepared as follows . to obtain ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- trityl ( or acetoxy , tetrahydropyranyl or cyclopentyl ) oxyimino acetic acid , their precursor the unprotected ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl ) oxyimino acetic acid ethylester ( compound a ), is commercially available . this compound is then protected as follows : a ) for the preparation of the trityl derivative ( as used in example 1 ) the compound a is deprotonated and treated with tritylchloride to form ( z )- 2 -( aminothiazol4 - yl ) trityl - oxyimino acetic acid ethylester which is then hydrolysed to yield the free acid . b ) for the preparation of the acetyl derivative ( as used in example 2 ) compound a is hydrolysed to form the free acid ( z )- 2 -( aminothiazol4 - yl ) oxyimino acetic acid and subsequently treated with acetanhydride in the presence of potassium carbonate to form the acetyl derivative . c ) the tetrahydropyranyl derivative ( as used in example 3 ) is prepared by treating the glyoxylic acid derivative described below with o -( tetrahydro - pyran - 2 - yl )- hydroxyl - amine in the presence of triethylamine in ethanol as depicted below : ## str7 ## d ) for the preparation of the cyclopentyl derivative the compound a is deprotonated and treated with cyclopentylbromide to form ( z )- 2 -( aminothiazol - 4 - yl ) cyclopentyl - oxyimino acetic acid ethylester which is then hydrolysed to yield the free acid . the free acid is then reacted in analogy to example 1 to yield the activated acid . the compounds of formula iii are prepared by reaction of ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol4 - yl )- trityl ( or acetoxy , or tetrahydropyranyl , or cyclopentyl ) oxyimino acetic acid with di - lower alkylchloro thio phosphate in an organic solvent in the presence of a tert . amine . the compounds of formula m precipitate directly from the reaction mixture . preferred tert . amine compounds are dabco , tributylamine and mixtures thereof . the organic solvent is preferably dichloromethane or dimethylacetamide . compounds of formula ii in which y is s may be obtained from 3 - cephem aldehyde as described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 523 , 400 , issued jun . 4 , 1996 ( wei et al ). compounds of formula ii in which z is o may be obtained from 3 - isooxacephem aldehyde as shown in scheme 1 . ## str8 ## the reaction of known 3 - isooxacephem aldehyde ( 1 ) wherein the 7 - amino - protecting group is allyloxycarbonyl and the carboxy protecting group is allyl with a wittig reagent ( 2 ) yields the coupling product ( 3 ). the reaction is carried out in the presence of a base which is either an inorganic base ( sodium or potassium hydroxide , sodium or potassium carbonate etc . ), an organic base ( tertiary amines ), an organolithium compound such as butyl lithium or phenyl lithium or an epoxide such as 1 , 2 - butyleneoxide . the preferred solvents are in the case of inorganic base being used , water and water - miscible solvents ( acetone , tetrahydroftiran , or alcohols etc . ); in the case of organic base being used , an inert solvent such as methylene chloride , chloroform , benzene , tetrahydrofuran ; in the case of organolithium being used , benzene or tetrahydrofuran , and in the case an epoxide being used , the epoxide itself ( e . g . 1 , 2 - butyleneoxide ). the temperature for the reaction ranges from - 20 ° c . to 80 ° c . in the normal wittig reaction according to scheme 1 , the e isomer is the predominant product . invariably , less than 10 % z - isomer is formed , the amount depending on the reagents and conditions . the making of the wittig reagent ( 2 ) can be carried out in a manner known per se ; for example , by cyclization of a n - substituted dibromide using a catalyst like dowex as described in the european patent application epa 0 620 255 . the carboxylic acid protecting group r h and the amino protecting group r f are removed and the reaction conditions used are depending on the nature of the protecting groups . in the case of the amino protecting group being allyloxycarbonyl and the carboxy protecting group being the allyl ester , pd ( 0 ) generated in situ is employed . in the case of the amino protecting group being t - butoxycarbonyl and the carboxy protecting group being benzhydryl , trifluoroacetic acid is employed , at temperature of about - 20 ° c . to about room temperature . conventional carboxylic acid protecting groups and amino protecting groups are described in greene , t ., protective groups in organic synthesis , chapter 5 , pp . 152 - 192 ( john wiley and sons , inc . 1981 ). the products in accordance with the invention can be used as medicaments , for example , in the form of pharmaceutical preparations for enteral ( oral ) administration . the products in accordance with the invention can be administered , for example , perorally , such as in the form of tablets , coated tablets , dragees , hard and soft gelatine capsules , solutions , emulsions or suspensions , or rectally , such as in the form of suppositories . pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds can be prepared using conventional procedures familiar to those skilled in the art , such as by combining the ingredients into a dosage form together with suitable , nontoxic , inert , therapeutically compatible solid or liquid carrier materials and , if desired , the usual pharmaceutical adjuvants . it is contemplated that the compounds are ultimately embodied into compositions of suitable oral or parenteral dosage forms . the compositions of this invention can contain , as optional ingredients , any of the various adjuvants which are used ordinarily in the production of pharmaceutical preparations . thus , for example , in formulating the present compositions into the desired oral dosage forms , one may use , as optional ingredients , fillers , such as coprecipitated aluminum hydroxide - calcium carbonate , dicalcium phosphate or lactose ; disintegrating agents , such as maize starch ; and lubricating agents , such as talc . calcium stearate , and the like . it should be fully understood , however , that the optional ingredients herein named are given by way of example only and that the invention is not restricted to the use hereof . other such adjuvants , which are well known in the art , can be employed in carrying out this invention . suitable as such carrier materials are not only inorganic , but also organic carrier materials . thus , for tablets , coated tablets , dragees and hard gelatine capsules there can be used , for example , lactose , maize starch or derivatives thereof , talc , stearic acid or its salts . suitable carriers for soft gelatine capsules are , for example , vegetable oils , waxes , fats and semi - solid and liquid polyols ( depending on the nature of the active substance ; no carriers are , however , required in the case of soft gelatine capsules ). suitable carrier materials for the preparation of solutions and syrups are , for example , water , polyols , saccharose , invert sugar and glucose . suitable carrier materials for suppositiories are , for example , natural or hardened oils , waxes , fats and semi - liquid or liquid polyols . as pharmaceutical adjuvants there are contemplated the usual preservatives , solubilizers , stabilizers , wetting agents , emulisifiers , sweeteners , colorants , flavorants , salts for varying the osmotic pressure , buffers , coating agents and antioxidants . the compounds of formula i and their salts , or hydrates , can preferably be used for parenteral administration , and for this purpose are preferably made into preparations as lyophilisates or dry powders for dilution with customary agents , such as water or isotonic common salt solution . depending on the nature of the pharmacologically active compound the pharmaceutical preparations can contain the compound for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in mammals , human and non - human , a daily dosage of about 10 mg to about 4000 mg , especially about 50 mg to about 3000 mg , is usual , with those of ordinary skill in the art appreciating that the dosage will depend also upon the age , conditions of the mammals , and the kind of diseases being prevented or treated . the daily dosage can be administered in a single dose or can be divided over several doses . an average single dose of about 50 mg , 100 mg , 250 mg , 500 mg , 1000 mg , and 2000 mg can be contemplated . the following examples illustrate the invention in more detail and are not intented to be a limitation in any manner . sample preparation : the heterogeneous reaction mixture was dissolved with a little dmso and diluted with ch 3 cn . mobile phase : a water + 5 % ch 3 cn ; c ch 3 cn ; d 0 . 03m potassium phosphate buffer ph 3 + 10 % ch 3 cn . gradient ( t min !, a : c : d ): ( 0 , 85 : 0 : 15 ); ( 8 , 15 : 70 : 15 ); ( 19 , 15 : 70 : 15 ); ( 19 . 5 , 85 : 0 : 15 ). to a stirred suspension of 50 g ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol4 - yl )- trityloxyiminoacetic acid ( 116 . 4 mmol ) and 130 mg 1 , 4 - diazabicyclo 2 . 2 . 2 ! octane ( dabco ) ( 1 . 164 mmol ) in 500 ml dichloromethane was added under argon atmosphere 36 ml tributylamine ( 151 mmol ). after 5 min , the red solution was cooled to 2 ° c . with the aid of a syringe pump was added over 30 min 24 . 5 ml diethyl chlorothiophosphate ( 151 mmol ). stirring was continued at 2 ° c . for 1 . 5 h . after approximately 30 min , the activated ester ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- trityloxyiminoacetic acid diethoxythiophosphoryl ester started to crystallize from the brown reaction mixture . the reaction was followed by hplc . after 1 h , the starting material was consumed . to the heterogeneous reaction mixture was added dropwise over 1 . 5 h 750 ml water ( to remove water soluble by - products ) and over 40 min 500 ml n - hexane ( to drive the precipitation of the product to completion ). the suspension was stirred for 1 h at 2 ° c . and then filtered . the crystalline product was washed with 3 × 100 ml water and 3 × 100 ml n - hexane / dichloromethane 3 : 1 and dried to constant weight . activated ester ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- trityloxyiminoacetic acid diethoxythiophosphoryl ester was obtained as a tan solid ( 64 . 24 g , yield = 94 . 9 %, hplc = 97 . 5 area %, mp = 146 ° c .) and was stored under ar at 4 ° c . no further purification was necessary and the product was used as isolated for the next step . ir ( kbr ) 3444 , 3092 , 2983 , 1770 , 1618 , 1541 , 1490 , 1024 , 720 ; 1 h - nmr ( 250 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 1 . 29 ( dt , j 1 = 7 , j 2 = 0 . 8 , 6h ); 4 . 19 ( dq , j 1 = 8 . 0 , j 2 = 7 . 0 , 4h ); 6 . 01 ( s , br , 2h ); 6 . 59 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 26 - 7 . 34 ( m , 15h ); 31 p - nmr ( 100 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 59 , 05 ; isp - ms 582 . 4 ( 100 , m + h ! + ); ma calculated for c 28 h 28 n 3 o 5 ps 2 c 57 . 82 , h 4 . 85 , n 7 . 22 , s 11 . 02 , p 5 . 33 ; found c 58 . 09 , h 4 . 96 , n 7 . 21 , s 10 . 92 , p 5 . 35 and 0 . 35 % water . to a stirred suspension of 22 . 78 g ( e )-( 6r , 7r )- 7 - amino - 3 -( 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl )- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - azabicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid ( 65 . 2 mmol ) in 160 ml dimethylformamide was added under argon 9 . 1 ml triethylamine ( 65 . 2 mmol ) at 10 ° c . after 30 min , to the solution was added 48 ml 2 - propanol and 3 . 9 ml water causing the starting material to precipitate partially . the suspension was cooled to 2 ° c . and over 5 min was added in portions 36 . 68 g activated ester ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- trityloxyiminoacetic acid diethoxythiophosphoryl ester ( 66 . 5 mmol ). stirring was continued at room temperature with exclusion of light for 17 h . the reaction was followed by hplc . to the slightly turbid reaction mixture was added over 2 min 9 . 2 ml triethylamine ( 65 . 2 mmol , 1 . 0 eq ) resulting in a clear , yellow solution . reference material was added and after ca . 15 min , the reaction mixture became turbid , indicating the onset of crystallization . stirring at room temperature was continued for 60 min and then 330 ml ethylacetate was added dropwise over 90 min . to drive crystallization to completion the suspension was cooled to 2 ° c . and stirred for 3 h at this temperature . the suspension was filtered . the crystalline product was washed with 3 × 100 ml ice - cold ethylacetate and dried to constant weight . the cephalosporin ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - trityloxyimino - acetylamino )!- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid triethylammonium salt was obtained as an off - white solid ( 51 . 56 g , yield = 77 %, hplc = 100 area %) and was stored under ar at 4 ° c . no further purification was necessary and the product was used as isolated for the next step . 1 h - nmr ( 250 mhz , dmso ) δ 0 . 20 ( m , 2h ); 0 . 46 ( m , 2h ); 0 . 92 ( m , 1h ); 3 . 14 ( d , j = 7 . 0 , 2h ); 3 . 22 - 4 . 09 ( mm , 7h ); 3 . 78 , 3 . 82 ( 2d , j = 16 . 0 , 2h ); 5 . 16 ( d , j = 5 . 0 , 1h ); 5 . 87 ( dd , j 1 = 13 . 2 , j 2 = 8 . 3 , 1h ); 6 . 61 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 23 - 7 . 33 ( mm , 16h ); 9 . 90 ( d , j = 8 . 3 , 1h )+ signals for net 3 and dmf ; calculated for c 40 h 36 n 6 o 6 s 2 : c 6 h 15 n : c 3 h 7 no = 1 : 1 : 2 and 0 . 36 % h 2 o c 61 . 94 , h 6 . 50 , n 12 . 50 , s 6 . 36 ; found c 61 . 49 , h 6 . 29 , n 12 . 17 , s 6 . 69 . to a stirred solution of 134 . 9 g ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol4 - yl )- acetoxyiminoacetic acid dihydrate ( 508 . 6 mmol ) and 570 mg 1 , 4 - diazabicyclo 2 . 2 . 2 ! octane ( dabco ) ( 5 . 09 mmol ) in 1500 ml dimethylacetamide was added under argon 158 ml tributylamine ( 661 mmol ). the yellowish solution was cooled to - 20 ° c . and over 30 min was added dropwise 104 ml diethyl chlorothiophosphate ( 661 mmol ). stirring was continued at - 20 ° c . for 3 . 5 h . the reaction was followed by hplc . after 3 h , all starting material was consumed . the reaction mixture was allowed to warm up to 0 ° c . and over 1 . 0 h was added dropwise 2200 ml water . the precipitated product was filtered , washed with water and dissolved in 800 ml dichloromethane . the aqueous layer was back - extracted with 300 ml dichloromethane . the combined organic layers were dried over 70 g sodium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure until the product started to crystallize . the residual solution was cooled to 2 ° c . and 1200 ml n - hexane was added dropwise over 1 h . the resulting suspension was stirred for 1 h at 2 ° c . and then filtered . the crystalline product was washed with n - hexane and dried to constant weight . ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- acetoxyiminoacetic acid diethoxythiophosphoryl ester was obtained as a white solid ( 166 . 9 g , yield = 86 %, mp 128 - 130 ° c . and was stored under argon at - 20 ° c . no further purification was necessary and the product was used as isolated for the next step . ir ( kbr ) 3429 , 3260 , 3172 , 3135 , 1795 , 1770 , 1619 , 1538 , 1174 , 1020 ; 1 h - nmr ( 250 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 1 . 38 ( dt , j 1 = 7 . 0 , j 2 = 0 . 9 , 6h ); 2 . 26 ( s , 3h ); 4 . 34 ( dq , j 1 = 8 . 0 , j 2 = 7 . 0 , 4h ); 6 . 94 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 50 ( s , br , 2h ); 31 p - nmr ( 100 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 59 . 27 ; isp - ms 404 . 1 ( 31 , m + na ! + ), 382 . 1 ( 100 , m + h ! + ); ma calculated for c 11 h 16 o 6 n 3 ps 2 c 34 . 64 , h 4 . 23 , n 11 . 02 , s 16 . 81 , p 8 . 12 ; found c 34 . 64 , h 4 . 18 , n 11 . 07 , s 16 . 67 , p 8 . 02 . under an argon atmosphere to a stirred suspension of 25 . 6 g ( e )-( 6r , 7r )- 7 - amino - 3 -( 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl )- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - azabicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid ( 73 . 3 mmol ) in 120 ml dimethylformamide was added 20 ml triethylamine ( 143 mmol ) at 10 ° c . after 15 min , the solution was cooled to 0 ° c . and 28 . 5 g ( z )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- acetoxyiminoacetic acid diethoxy thiophosphonyl ester ( 74 . 8 mmol ) was added in portions over 5 min . stirring was continued at 0 ° c . with exclusion of light for 5 h . the reaction was followed by hplc . the brown reaction mixture was poured at once into 550 ml water of 10 ° c . over 30 min , 50 ml hcl 1n was added . the ph dropped from 4 . 6 to 3 . 2 and the product precipitated from the reaction mixture . stirring was continued for 1 h at 0 ° c . the suspension was filtered . the product was washed with ice - cold water , re - suspended in water , stirred for 20 min at room temperature , filtered and again washed with water . ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - acetoxyimino - acetylamino )!- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - azabicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid was obtained as a beige , wet solid . the product was used immediately and without drying for the next step . to a stirred suspension of 30 g ( z )-( rs )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- ( tetrahydropyran - 2 - yloxyimino )!- acetic acid ( 80 . 5 mmol ) and 90 mg 1 , 4 - diazabicyclo 2 . 2 . 2 ! octane ( dabco ) ( 0 . 80 mmol ) in 300 ml dimethylacetamide was added under argon over 45 min 17 ml diethyl chlorothiophosphate ( 104 . 9 mmol ). stirring was continued at 0 ° c . for 1 h . the reaction was followed by hplc . to the slightly turbid reaction mixture was added dropwise over 50 min 450 ml water . the precipitated product was filtered , washed with water and dissolved in dichloromethane . the aqueous layer was back - extracted with dichloromethane . the combined organic layers were dried over sodium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure until the product started to crystallize . to the residual solution was added dropwise over 30 min n - hexane . the resulting suspension was cooled to 2 ° c ., stirred for 1 h and then filtered . the crystalline product was washed with n - hexane and dried to constant weight . ( z )-( rs )-( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- ( tetrahydropyran - 2 - yloxyimino )!- acetic acid diethoxythio - phosphoryl ester was obtained as a white solid ( 28 . 01 g , yield = 82 %) and was stored under argon at - 20 ° c . no further purificiation was necessary and the product was used as isolated for the next step . ir ( kbr ) 3423 , 3261 , 3169 , 3145 , 2946 , 1772 , 1614 , 1541 . 1388 , 1241 , 1204 , 1156 , 1110 , 1020 , 973 , 944 , 908 , 888 , 857 , 827 , 727 , 692 ; 1 h - nmr ( 250 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 1 . 37 ( t , j = 7 . 1 , 6h ); 1 . 50 - 1 . 95 ( m , 6h ); 3 . 65 ( dm , j = 11 . 4 , 1h ); 3 . 86 ( tm , j = 11 . 4 , 1h ); 4 . 33 ( dq , j 1 = 8 . 0 , j 2 = 7 . 0 , 4h ); 5 . 47 ( s , br , 1h ); 6 . 56 ( s , br , 2h ); 6 . 79 ( s , 1h ); 31 p - nmr ( 100 mhz , cdcl 3 ) δ 59 . 33 ; isp - ms 446 . 4 ( 19 , m + na ! + ), 424 . 5 ( 26 , m + h ! + ), 340 . 2 ( 100 ); ma calculated for c 14 h 22 n 3 o 6 ps 2 c 39 . 71 , h 5 . 24 , n 9 . 92 , s 15 . 14 , p 7 . 31 ; found c 39 . 87 , h 5 . 20 , n 10 . 08 , s 14 . 99 , p 7 . 53 . under argon atmosphere to a stirred suspension of 20 g ( e )-( 6r , 7r )- 7 - amino - 3 -( 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl )- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - azabicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid ( 57 . 2 mmol ) in 140 ml dimethylformamide was added 16 ml triethylamine ( 114 . 8 mmol ) at 10 ° c . after 10 min , to the solution was cooled to 0 ° c . and 24 . 72 g ( z )-( rs )-( 2 - arinothiazol - 4 - yl )- ( tetrahydropyran - 2 - yloxyinino )!- acetic acid diethoxythio - phosphoryl ester ( 58 . 4 mmol ) was added in portions over 1 min . stirring was continued at 10 ° c . with the exclusion of light for 6 h . the reaction was followed by hplc . the reaction mixture was poured at once into a 10 ° c . mixture of 220 ml water and 50 ml acetone . over 30 min . 55 ml hcl 1n was added . the ph dropped from 9 . 6 to 3 . 2 and the product precipitated from the reaction mixture . stirring was continued for 30 min at 0 ° c . the suspension was filtered . the product was washed with ice - cold water and dried to constant weight . ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - ( r , s )- tetrahydropyran - 2 - yloxyimino - acetylamino )!- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct t - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid was obtained as an off - white solid ( 27 . 7 g ). the product was used as isolated for the next step . 1 h - nmr ( 250 mhz , dmso ) δ 0 . 21 ( m , 2h ); 0 . 46 ( m , 2h ); 0 . 93 ( m , 1h ); 1 . 40 - 1 . 90 ( m , 6h ); 2 . 90 - 3 . 10 ( m , 2h ); 3 . 16 ( d , j = 7 . 1 , 2h ); 3 . 48 ( m , 2h ); 3 . 50 ( m , 1h ); 3 . 85 ( m , 1h ); 3 . 90 ( s , 2h ); 5 . 21 ( d , j = 5 . 0 , 1h ): 5 . 26 ( s , br , 1h ): 5 . 90 ( dd , j 1 = 8 . 2 , j 2 = 5 . 0 , 1h ); 6 . 75 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 23 ( s , br , 3h ); 9 . 69 ( d , j = 8 . 2 , 1h ); 13 . 95 ( s , br , 1h ). preparation of ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - hydroxyimino - acetylamino !- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid ## str15 ## a ) by cleavage of the trityl group to a stirred solution of 30 g ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - trityloxyiminoacetylamino )!- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid triethylanimonium salt ( 29 . 2 mmol ) in 60 ml dichloromethane was added over 15 min 7 . 5 ml triethylsilane ( 45 . 9 mmol ) and over 90 min 23 . 9 ml trifluoroacetic acid ( 306 mmol ) at 2 ° c . stirring was continued at 10 ° c . for 2 h . the reaction was followed by hplc . to the reaction mixture was added over 90 min 300 ml diethylether , causing the product to precipitate . stirring was continued for 1 h at room temperature . the suspension was filtered . the product was washed with 2 × 60 ml diethylether , again suspended in 100 ml diethylether , stirred for 15 min , filtered , washed with 2 × 40 ml diethylether and dried to constant weight . the trifluoroacetate of ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - hydroxyimino - acetylamino !- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid was obtained as an off - white solid ( 19 . 92 g , 99 %, hplc = 100 area %) and suspended in 400 ml water . over 15 min 20 ml naoh 1n ( 20 mmol ) were added at 2 ° c . the ph rose from 1 . 51 to 3 . 30 . the suspension was stirred at 2 ° c . for 10 min and then filtered . for the filtration a mild vacuum of about 400 mbar was applied . the product was washed with 2 × 50 ml water , suspended in 250 ml water , stirred for 15 min at 2 ° c ., filtered , washed with 2 × 50 ml water and re - suspended in 400 ml water . over 40 min 30 ml naoh 1n was added at 2 ° c . the ph rose from 2 . 38 to 5 . 6 and most of the product dissolved . the turbid solution was filtered and two membrane filters of 0 . 45 μm and 0 . 22 μm . to the resulting , clear solution was added over 20 min 26 ml hcl 1n ( 26 mmol ) at 2 ° c . the ph dropped from 5 . 42 to 3 . 30 and the product precipitated . the suspension was stirred for 60 min at 2 ° c ., filtered and washed with 100 ml water . the product was dried ( 15 mbar , 24 h , 35 ° c .) to constant weight . ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - hydroxyimino - acetylamino !- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid was isolated as an off white solid ( 12 . 1 g , yield 81 %, hplc 94 area %). 1 h - nmr ( 250 mhz , dmso ) δ 0 . 21 ( m , 2h ), 0 . 46 ( m , 2h ); 0 . 93 ( m , 1h ); 2 . 90 ( m , 1h ); 3 . 10 ( m , 1h ); 3 . 15 ( d , j = 7 . 0 , 2h ); 3 . 48 ( t , j = 6 . 0 , 2h ); 3 . 88 ( s , 2h ); 5 . 18 ( d , j = 4 . 9 , 1h ); 5 . 82 ( dd , j 1 = 8 . 7 , j 2 = 4 . 9 , 1h ); 6 . 66 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 14 ( s , br , 2h ); 7 . 22 ( s , 1h ); 9 . 51 ( d , j = 8 . 7 , 1h ); 11 . 33 ( s , br , 1h ). calculated for c 21 , h 22 , n 6 o 6 s 2 : c 48 . 64 , h 4 . 28 , n 16 . 21 , s 12 . 36 ; found c 47 . 88 , h 4 . 36 , n 15 . 85 , s 12 . 17 and 2 . 47 % h 2 o . to a stirred suspension of ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - acetoxyimino - acetylamino )!- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - azabicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid ( used in wet form , assumed ˜ 73 . 3 mmol ) in 300 ml methanol was added under an argon atmosphere over 10 min 30 ml hcl conc . ( 304 mmol ) at 2 ° c . after 5 h stirring at 2 ° c ., another 10 ml hcl conc . ( 101 mmol ) were added to the suspension . the reaction mixture was allowed to warm up to room temperature over night . the reaction was followed by hplc . after 21 h total reaction time , all starting material was consumed and a brown solution had resulted . the reaction mixture was poured at once into 800 ml ice cold water . to the resulting suspension was added over 60 min 500 ml naoh 1n . the ph rose from 0 . 6 to 3 . 3 . stirring at 2 ° c . was continued for 15 min . the suspension was filtered . the product was washed with water and dried to constant weight . ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - hydroxyimino - acetylamino !- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - carboxylic acid was obtained as a yellowish solid ( 29 . 8 g , yield 78 %, hplc 90 area %). to a stirred suspension of 20 g , ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - ( r , s )- tetrahydropyran - 2 - yloxyimino - acetylamino )!- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid ( 33 . 3 mmol ) in 150 ml methanol was added over 10 min 15 ml hcl conc . ( 180 mmol ) at room temperature . the yellow solution was stirred at 45 ° c . for 4 . 5 h . the reaction was followed by hplc . after 4 h all starting material was consumed . the reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature and poured at once into 500 ml water . to the solution was added over 40 min 170 ml naoh 1n . the ph rose from 0 . 43 to 3 . 1 . the resulting suspension was cooled to 2 ° c ., stirred for 1 h and filtered . the product was washed with ice cold water and dried to constant weight . ( 6r , 7r )- 7 - ( z )- 2 -( 2 - aminothiazol - 4 - yl )- 2 - hydroxyimino - acetylamino !- 3 - ( e )- 1 - cyclopropylmethyl - 2 - oxo - pyrrolidin - 3 - ylidenemethyl !- 8 - oxo - 5 - thia - 1 - aza - bicyclo 4 . 2 . 0 ! oct - 2 - ene - 2 - carboxylic acid was obtained as a yellowish solid ( 12 . 8 g , yield 74 %, hplc 85 area %). | 2 |
fig1 illustrates an embodiment of the invention associated with a high pressure liquid chromatography apparatus . the electrochemical detector system of this invention comprises the potentiostat indicated generally by the reference character 10 and associated computer 12 and the electrode stand and flow cell indicated generally by the reference character 14 . the computer system consists of a z80a processor with sixty - four k - bytes of ram and dual 5 . 25 - inch floppy disc drives 16 . the graphics terminal 18 also includes a z80a processor with sixty - four k - bytes of ram and the graphics are bit - mapped with six hundred forty points horizontally and four hundred and eighty - one points vertically . any alpha numerics or graphics can be dumped from the graphics terminal to the ids prism 80 dot - matrix printer 20 . the instrument - control and data - acquisition programs are written in assembly language while the data processing programs are written in basic and fortran iv . to complete the computer system , a keyboard 22 is provided . the system of this invention as illustrated in fig1 is associated with chromatographic apparatus consisting of the mobile phase source 24 , a suitable pulseless pump 26 , the injector 28 and the column 30 which discharges through the electrochemical cell 32 and ultimately to waste at 34 . the electrode stand and cell 14 is a parc 310 and the cell 32 contains the usual working electrode , reference electrode and counter electrode . fig4 illustrates the type of data which may be gathered , stored , displayed and printed out by the invention . the three - dimensional chromatogram shown illustrates the peaks associated with a mixture of various nitrophenols . the peak 1 was produced by 2 , 6 - dinitrophenol ( 75 ng ); the peak 2 was produced by an unknown impurity ; the peaks 3 were produced by 2 , 4 - dinitrophenol ( 128 ng ); the peaks 4 were produced by paranitrophenol ( 150 ng ) and 2 , 3 - dinitrophenol ( 120 ng ); the peak 5 was produced by metanitrophenol ( 150 ng ); the peak 6 was produced by 2 , 5 - dinitrophenol ( 98 ng ); the peaks 7 were produced by 3 , 4 - dinitrophenol ( 128 ng ); the peaks 8 were produced by 2 , 4 - dinitro - orthocresol ; and the peak 9 was produced by orthonitrophenol ( 150 ng ). for the chromatogram illustrated , the detector was operated with a 30 hz square wave ( top of fig3 ) of 50 millivolts amplitude on the staircase potential having 10 milivolts per step . the final waveform is shown in the bottom of fig3 . voltammograms were repeated every 2 . 5 seconds on a fresh mercury drop and in fig4 potentials from - 0 . 18 to - 0 . 66 volts versus ag / agcl with times from 4 . 4 to 15 . 6 minutes after sample injections are shown . the peaks 4 represent two components which can be determined individually on the basis of potential . at - 0 . 18 volts , the left - hand peak 4 represents pure 2 , 3 - dinitrophenol while the other peak 4 , at - 0 . 66 volts , represents pure paranitrophenol . fig4 is an example of the output of the electrochemical detector for flow streams having the swept - potential input illustrated in fig3 . the primary advantage of the swept - potential detector is that an additional dimension of information is obtained . the current response as a function of potential can be used to help identify a component and to help resolve two components not completely separated in the column . in addition , the potential for maximum current response is crossed for all components within the potential range of the sweep , thus decreasing the time required to optimize an analytical procedure and allowing the determination of multiple components in one chromatogram , each at its optimum potential . if , as in the present case , the data are stored in a computer file , chromatograms can be displayed for any desired potential within the sweep range , or chromatograms for the summations between desired potentials can be displayed . thus this detector retains the selectivity of a differential - pulse detector and at the same time is general enough to detect true unknowns . all parameters for the detector are selected from a menu displayed on the crt of the terminal 18 and are downloaded from the computer 12 to the potentiostat 10 in digital format . during an experiment , a three - dimensional plot of the data is displayed , as it is acquired , on the upper two - thirds of the crt while the selected parameters are displayed on the lower third of the crt . after the experiment , any desired voltammogram or chromatogram can be extracted from the data file , displayed on the crt , and hard copies made on the printer . the sensitivity and limit of detection depend on multiple factors . since the voltammetric peaks of the mononitrophenols are much lower than the first peaks of the dinitrophenols , the mononitrophenols have poorer sensitivities and limits of detection . column resolution and retention time have obvious effects on peak heights . the data for fig4 were taken with a locally packed column of low plate count . flow rate is also important . using the data for fig4 the limit of detection for 2 , 6 - dinitrophenol is estimated to be slightly below one nanogram . an earlier experiment , with a smaller amount injected and different instrument settings , indicated a limit of detection of approximately 250 picograms . while the application of the swept - potential electrochemical detector is discussed here for hplc in the reductive mode , the detector is also well suited to oxidation mode detection using a wall - jet detector cell . the detector also finds wide application to flow - injection analysis and ion chromatography . the basic diagram of the potentiostat 10 or digital polarograph is shown in fig2 . the flow cell 32 is illustrated and its working electrode is identified at 36 , the counterelectrode at 38 and the reference electrode at 40 . before proceeding to a more detailed description of fig2 it is well to note that the general arrangement is such that the bus 160 between the computer 12 and the potentiostat 10 ( see fig1 ) is in continuous operating connection with the devices 162 , 164 , 170 , 174 , 104 , and 100 only and is selectively in connection with the devices 86 , 138 , 150 , 132 , and 54 through the multiplexing / grounding device 104 . the bus 105 , then , may be termed an internal bus which may be grounded by the device 104 as indicated at 103 . the internal data bus 105 is shown in fig1 and includes the data lines 501 , 503 , 505 , and 507 which are output from the multiplexer 413 at the top and the data lines 509 , 511 , 513 , and 515 which are output from the other multiplexer 413 . the internal data bus 105 is used to update the various dac devices 138 , 86 , 150 , and 132 and to select one of the input lines 217 , 111 , 53 , 113 , 135 , and 102 of the analog multiplexer to allow such input to be digitized . the entire internal data bus 105 is applied to the cell voltage zero dac 86 and to the ir compensation dac 138 as shown in fig5 . the entire internal data bus 105 is also applied to the integrating current offset or bucking dac 150 and to the current scale factor dac 132 as shown in fig6 . also , the internal data bus lines 509 , 511 , 513 , and 515 are applied to the analog multiplexer 54 for the purpose above stated . the output from the potentiostat is from the latches 162 and 164 but , as will be seen later , the data outputs back to the computer 12 over the bus 160 is under timing control logic within the potentiostat 10 . the internal bus 105 is grounded during data acquisition ( i . e ., during operation ) and may be set for connection to the active data bus 160 only during those periods of time between data acquisition . this is an important feature of the invention because the accuracy of the analog signals being measured and output to the computer through the devices 162 , 164 could otherwise be degraded by digital signals present on the bus 160 . another important feature , detailed later , is the fact that the timing control signals to effect the required logic are generated by the potentiostat itself . these timing signals are illustrated in part in fig2 as being applied over the conductor 182 to update the voltage generating device 80 and as being applied over the conductors 466 and 470 to control the data output to the bus 160 . during operation , the operational amplifier 42 operates as a voltage follower and for this purpose has its non - inverting input connected through the switch 44 to the conductor 46 connected to the reference electrode 40 , the inverting input of the operational amplifier 42 being connected to its output . a shield 47 for the conductor 46 is connected to the output through the resistor 48 . the output of the amplifier 42 provides the voltage output e at 50 which is connected through the conductor 52 to one channel 53 of the analog multiplexer indicated generally by the reference character 54 . the output at the operational amplifier 42 is also connected to an adding circuit indicated generally by the reference character 60 and which includes the resistors 62 , 64 and 66 to provide the summing point 68 for the operational amplifier 70 . normally , this summing point 68 is connected to the inverting input of the amplifier 70 through the switch 72 and its output is connected through the switch 74 and also the switch 76 to the conductor 78 connected to the counter electrode 38 of the cell 32 . the digital to analog converter ( dac ) 80 is the cell voltage generator and provides the requisite analog voltage output at 82 which is applied through the calibrating resistor 84 and the aforementioned resistors 64 to the summing point 68 , as shown . a further input to the summing point 68 is from the digital to analog converter 86 having an analog voltage output at 88 through the resistor 66 to the summing point for the purpose of cell voltage zeroing . the analog current output of the cell 32 at the conductor 90 is normally connected through the switch 92 to the inverting input of the current to voltage converter amplifier indicated generally by the reference character 94 . the operational amplifier 94 has three gain settings controlled by the switches 96 and 98 which , in turn , are controlled through the latch 100 by the bus 160 , the appropriate signals being supplied prior to data acquistion . the analog current output at 106 is applied , through the switch 108 to the scale factor correction network including operational amplifier 110 , over the conductor 112 to a channel of the multiplexer 54 , and through the switch 114 to the inverting input of the operational amplifier 116 . the output at 118 of the amplifier 116 is connected normally to the switch 120 and the resistor 122 through the switch 124 to the inverting input of the integrating amplifier 126 . the switch 124 is the enabling switch for the amplifier 126 and the switch 128 is the reset switch for this integrator . the output of the integrator at 130 is applied to another channel 102 of the multiplexer 54 . the digital to analog converter 132 is used to set the gain of the amplifier 116 prior to data acquisition , the gain being selectable in a binary sequence from 1 to 256 , with the selectable relative gain of the two amplifiers 94 and 116 being in a binary sequence from 1 to 16 , 384 during which the absolute sensitivity ranges from 1 . 638 ma to 0 . 10 μa per volt . these values are augmented by the gated integrator 126 . the output of the amplifier 116 is connected over the conductor 134 to another channel 135 of the multiplexer 54 , as shown . it should be noted that the output of the scale factor correction network is connected through the switches 204 , 206 , or 136 to the input of the digital to analog converter 138 which selects a value of resistance between its input 140 and its output 142 which cotrols the current applied to the summing point 68 as positive feedback in order to compensate for high internal resistance within the cell 32 . for rapid pulse - type experiments in solutions of high resistance , such as often encountered in hplc , a means of ir compensation is essential and this adjustment or compensation should be done automatically by the system prior to data acquisition . therefore , the system of this invention requires the capability to measure the actual cell resistance and set the ir compensation accordingly . a possible method is to use measurements of current versus time following a potential pulse in a region with no faradaic current and the system of this invention can indeed be programmed to use this method . however , this invention uses an alternate method in which a potential pulse is made to a region where a faradaic current will flow . the current and potential are measured at a set time after the potential pulse and then the current is interrupted and the potential measured again . the cell resistance is calculated by the computer 12 from these three measurements during a test and the dac 138 is properly set , through the internal bus 105 so that during subsequent data acquisition , the proper offset is made to the summing point 68 . at this point , it may be well to note that there are various modes of operation of the potentiostat . as noted earlier , during any data acquisition period , the internal bus 105 is grounded or isolated from the sensitive analog circuitry so as not to interfere with accuracy of measurements . the control logic circuitry ( fig8 ) conditions the potentiostat for the desired mode of operation , under command from the computer 12 , during which various of the switches shown as mechanical devices in fig2 are set to the desired positions . during these commands , the device 104 must connect the internal bus 105 to the bus 160 and greater detail will appear hereinafter from a description of fig8 - 10 . the digital to analog converter 150 is provided to achieve current offset at the integrator 126 . for this purpose , its output at the conductor 152 is connected through the resistor 154 and the switch 124 to the summing point 156 of the integrator amplifier 126 . to complete the general description of the embodiment shown in fig2 it should be noted that the two devices 162 and 164 are each an 8 - bit latch whereas the previously mentioned device 104 is an 8 - bit multiplexer which is also operative to isolate the internal bus 105 as shown in fig1 . the 8 - bit dac 138 and the 8 - bit dac 86 respectively control ir compensation and offset of the amplifiers 42 and 70 . there are two 6 - bit latches 170 and 172 and two 8 - bit latches 174 and 176 to provide input to the 14 - bit dac 80 . an internal timing signal at the line 178 controls the latch 170 whereas an internal timing signal at the line 180 controls the latch 174 and an internal timing signal at the line 182 controls the two latches 172 and 176 to provide an input to the dac 80 . an internal timing signal 183 controls the analog to digital converter 55 and an internal timing signal 185 controls the analog multiplexer 54 . the 2 - bit latch device 100 controls the two switches 96 and 98 as indicated by the dashed lines and there are , in addition to the switches already mentioned , the further switches 190 , 192 , 194 , 196 , 198 , 200 , 202 , 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 , 212 , 214 , 216 , and 218 . it is to be noted that the switches 72 , 74 and 190 are operated simultaneously as indicated by the dashed lines , that the switches 44 , 76 and 92 are ganged together as noted by the dashed line and that the switches 192 , 194 and 196 are also ganged together as indicated by the dashed line . the switches 72 , 74 and 190 are the current interrupt switches which are under control of the computer 12 . the switches 192 , 194 and 196 are standby and test switches . during the standby mode , the two switches 192 and 194 connect together in a common connector 220 , the position shown in fig2 . in the test mode , the switch 192 connects the non - inverting input of the amplifier 42 to the conductor 222 associated with the reference electrode of the dummy cell 224 . at the same time , the switch 196 in the standby mode connects the input to the amplifier 94 to ground as in the position shown and in the test mode it connects the amplifier 94 to the working electrode conductor 228 . in other words , the standby position of the switch 92 is as shown in fig2 wherein the inverting input of the amplifier 94 can either be connected to ground or to the output of the dummy cell 224 at the conductor 228 . during normal operation , however , the switch 92 is in a position to connect the inverting input of the amplifier 94 to the working electrode conductor 90 of the cell 32 . the operational amplifier 219 has a gain of sixteen and is used in test mode to obtain very sensitive measurements of various portions of the potentiostat in order to allow proper setting of the various devices 86 , 138 , and 150 . for convenience , the remaining channels to the device 54 are designated 82 , 111 and 113 . referring at this time more particularly to fig5 wherein a portion of the circuit of fig2 is shown and expanded upon , it will be appreciated that the internal data bus 105 is shown as a group of eight conductors . likewise eight conductors represent the data bus 160 . the previously mentioned signals at the lines 178 , 180 , and 182 receive internally generated signals which are applied to effect the requisite timing of the potentiostat . fig5 also shows that the internally generated signal at the conductor 444 is utilized simultaneously to clear all of the latches 170 , 172 , 174 and 176 . the signal at the line 180 effects loading of the digital data into the register 174 and this is the first operation in the timing sequence described hereinafter whereas the signal at 178 effects loading of the register 170 , the second in the timing series . thereafter , the signal at 182 loads the data from the register 170 and 174 respectively into 172 and 176 for access by the dac 80 . fig5 also illustrates a further conductor 254 which receives an internally generated signal to actuate the switch 74 as well as the two switches 72 and 190 . in fig6 additional internally generated signals are present at 258 , 260 , 262 , 268 , 270 , 272 , 274 , 276 , 278 , 280 , 282 , and 284 for controlling various of the switches as will hereinafter be more particularly described . further , the device 150 receives two signals at the conductors 290 and 402 and the device 132 receives signals of the same nature at the conductors 402 and 292 as hereinafter more particularly described . fig5 also shows internally generated signals at the conductors 400 and 402 which are applied to the device 86 to allow update of its control function for cell voltage zeroing . similarly , the internal signals that the conductors 402 and 404 control the update of the device 138 for ir compensation . it will be understood that the signal at the conductors 402 is that which controls writing of the update into the two dac devices 86 and 138 , whereas the signals at the conductors 404 control respectively the selection of each device . before proceeding to the origins of the various control signals , a brief description of fig6 and 7 will be given . at the upper left hand corner of fig6 the dac device 150 produces its output at 152 applied to the summing point 156 as previously mentioned . the updating of the device 150 is controlled by internally generated signals applied to the conductors 290 and 402 to vary the output in the conductor 152 . similarly , control of the update to the dac 132 is effected at the conductors 292 and 402 . in fig6 further control signal conductors carry signals for controlling some of the switches illustrated in fig6 are indicated by the following reference characters : 258 , 260 , 262 , 268 , 270 , 272 , 274 , 276 , 278 , 280 , 282 and 284 . without yet going into the details of the generation of the signals at the various conductors , it can be mentioned that the signal at the conductor 258 controls testing of the integrating operational amplifier 126 ; the signal at the conductor 260 enables the integrator amplifier 126 whereas the signal at the conductor 262 resets the integrator ; the signal at the conductor 268 sets its switch 202 for a first test sequence , whereas the signal at the conductor 270 and the signal at the conductor 272 respectively set their switches for subsequent tests in the series ; the signal at the conductor 274 sets the switch 108 to the normally closed position when the test sequence is over ; and the signals at the various conductors 276 , 278 , 280 and 282 are used to set ir compensation . in fig7 three further conductors for controlling the switches 210 , 212 , 214 and 216 are illustrated respectively by the reference characters 406 , 408 , 410 and 412 and these signals respectively select various of the inputs to the amplifier 219 for application to the device 54 . normally , the switch 216 is closed so as to zero the output of the amplifier 219 . fig7 additionally shows quad comparators 298 and 300 for providing limit signals at the output conductors 414 , 416 , 418 and 420 , the purpose of which will be presently apparent . the voltages being compared are that at the conductor 111 , which is the voltage of the cell , and the other voltage inputs at 422 , 130 , and 134 the origin of which will be presently apparent . in addition , fig7 shows the potentiometer 424 which is utilized to zero the sample and hold circuit of the device 54 . further , a conductor 426 is shown to receive an internally generated signal for controlling the converter range switch 218 . device &# 34 ; 433 &# 34 ; is a potentiometer adjusted to calibrate the analog to digital converter 55 . line &# 34 ; 431 &# 34 ; is the input and line &# 34 ; 428 &# 34 ; the output of a unity gain noninverting amplifier in device 55 . the control logic circuitry of fig8 the control and status circuitry of fig9 and the data bus and test control circuitry of fig1 generate the internal signals mentioned above . fig1 illustrates the multiplexing / isolating device 104 ( see fig2 ) at the upper right - hand corner . this circuitry includes two multiplexers 413 and a control gate 415 which is controlled by the signals at 458 and 460 . when the signals are present at 458 and 460 , the multiplexers 413 permit the data from the data bus 160 to produce the signals 501 , 503 , 505 , 507 , 509 , 511 , 513 , and 515 of the internal data bus 105 . when either one or both of the signals is absent at 458 and 460 , the multiplexers 413 are disabled so that the aforesaid signals are grounded as at 103 . this effects the internal data bus grounding so as to the minimize background noise within the analog portion of the potentiostat . returning for a moment to fig8 an internal crystal controlled clock ( not shown ) provides a four megahertz signal to the input conductor c of the clock device 601 which produces a one megahertz output signal at the conductor connected to the input conductors 436 , 438 and 440 of the type 8253 device 442 . the three 16 - bit timers in the device 442 provide time delays during square wave of cycles ( see fig3 ). each counter is operated as a digital one shot with the count decremented by the device 601 when the channel is enabled . when the count reaches zero , the channel is disabled and the potentiostat hardware starts the next timer channel . the first timer channel is output at the conductor 603 when enabled at the conductor 605 . the second channel is output at the conductor 607 and the third channel is output at the conductor 609 . the enabling input for the second timer channel is at the conductor 611 and the enabling input to the device 442 for the third timer channel is the output of the second timer channel as indicated at 607 prime . at this point , it would be well to identify the designations and functions of the various control signals appearing in fig8 as follows : ______________________________________ 160 &# 39 ; line of data bus178 ld ehb l load high byte of dac register180 ld elb l load low byte of dac register183 adc trig h adc trigger for data conversion185 ld chnl l load analog mux channel254 int cur h interrupt cell current260 integ en h integrate enable ( high ) 262 integ rst l integrate reset290 czr sel l select current offset register292 gcr sel l select gain control register400 vzr sel l select voltage zero dac404 ru sel l select ir compensation register430 st + rst l start and restart low444 init l initialize low448 tmr sel l timer select low450 wr stb l write strobe low452 rd l read low454 a1 address list455 rst h reset high456 a0 address list458 a2 address list460 wr h write ( high ) 462 ld tst l load test register low464 ex cmd l execute command low466 rd adc lb l read adc low byte468 ld adc dr h load adc data register high470 rd adc hb l read adc high byte484 clr err l clear error490 stop l stop command492 cur int l current interrupt low494 convert l adc convert command496 start l start command500 adc eoc l adc end of conversion low502 data avail h data available high 502 &# 39 ; rd rdy h read ready high504 data err l data error low 504 &# 39 ; wr rdy h write ready high508 ld cvc gr l load compensation range control 508 &# 39 ; wr l write ( low ) ______________________________________ at this time , the signals which do not appear above and which are designated in fig9 are as follows : ______________________________________276 c off l ir compensation off low278 cr3l ir compensation range 3280 cr2l ir compensation range 2282 cr1l ir compensation range 1414 integ lim l integration limit low416 cur lim l current limit low418 volt lim l voltage limit low420 comp lim l compensation limit low426 20v sel h select 20v adc range446 binit l buffered initialize472 dislodge l dislodge old drop474 dispense l dispense ` new ` drop476 purge on l purge on478 purge off l purge off480 stir on l stir on482 stir off l stir off486 stby l standby mode488 test l test mode 488 &# 39 ; da flg l data available flag511 signals to and from parc 310______________________________________ the following signals , not listed above , appear in fig1 as follows : ______________________________________258 test integ h test integrator268 ir tst1 l ir test no . 1270 ir tst2 l ir test no . 2272 ir tst3 l ir test no . 3274 ir tst off l ir test off284 test ia h test current amplifier406 zt3 l zero test 3 low408 zt2 l zero test 2 low410 zt1 l zero test 1 low412 zt off l zero test off low432 update l update cell voltage low434 data output lines of adc______________________________________ from the above , it will appear that the data acquired by the instrument is the in the form of 12 - bit data ( 11 bits plus sign ) which is converted into sign extended , 16 - bit format by the instrument and transferred to the computer in a low byte / high byte sequence . that is , as shown in fig1 , the two latches 162 and 164 receive data from the twelve lines 434 , four of which are applied to the latch 162 and eight of which are applied to the latch 164 . the control signal at 468 causes data to be transferred from the adc 55 to latches 162 and 164 . then , the control signal at the conductor 466 causes the low byte information to be read from the latch 164 whereas the control signal at the conductor 470 allows the high byte to be read from the latch 162 to the computer over the data bus 160 . double buffering allows the adc 55 to start a second conversion while data from the first conversion is being transferred to the computer . however , both bytes from the first conversion must be read by the computer prior to the end of the second conversion or data will be lost and the data error flag will be set in the potentiostat . any one of three methods can be used to transfer the data from the adc 55 of the potentiostat to the computer . these methods are polled operation , input interrupts or direct memory access ( dma ) transfer . the method used is a trade off between overall system performance and software complexity . the timing sequence is also apparent from fig8 . the three 16 - bit counters in the intel 8253 are used to provide time delays during data acquisition cycles in either single or auto cyle operation . the timing sequence will be more readily apparent from the waveforms of fig1 . in referring to the timing diagram of fig1 , a cycle is initiated with a start command at time t0 . the start command updates the output registers 172 and 176 with data loaded into the holding registers 170 and 174 and the timer channel 603 ( fig8 ) is started . the timer channel 603 determines the preintegration delay interval ( t0 to t1 ) allowing the capacitive cell current to decay before integration starts . at time t1 , the first timer times out which starts the second timer channel 607 and enables the cell current integration . the timer channel 607 determines the integration period t1 to t2 . when the timer times out at time t2 , the third timer channel 609 is started and an adc conversion trigger is generated by the oneshot 499 in fig8 at the conductor 183 . the third timer channel determines the post integration delay ( t2 to t0 prime ) which must be of about 30 microseconds duration . if auto cycle mode is selected , a new conversion cycle is started ( including dac updating ) when timer channel 609 times out at t0 &# 39 ;. if single cycle mode is selected , a new start command must be issued to intiate the next conversion cycle . the potentiostat has three operating modes , standby , test , and operate , which are selected by commands with the same names . the standby mode is selected by default at power up or when a reset command is issued . in the standby mode , the cell electrodes are disconnected through the switches previously described and the galvanostat circuit is closed by the relays 810 and 812 shown in fig9 . the relay 810 controls the switches 44 , 76 and 92 in fig2 whereas a relay 812 controls the switches 192 , 194 and 196 . the additional relays 814 and 816 respectively control the switches 96 and 98 . the front panel of the instrument contains a number of light emitting diodes indicated generally by the reference characters 818 , 820 and 822 in fig9 . fig9 also shows a group of contacts 511 which are connected to the parc and the status connections to certain of the conductors of the data bus 160 . a number of features of the invention are believed to be particularly unique . for example , the automatic measurement and adjustment of the dc current and the ir compensation is particularly valuable . because of the technique of ir compensation , it is not necessary to select a potential at which the cell current is expected to be non - existent , but , rather the compensation technique is carried out in the presence of cell current . the rapidity of data collection is of particular significance . because of the logic functions carried out in the potentiostat itself , the computer is released of substantial memory utilization and overhead time for performing these various functions and this , in turn , leads to the capability for allowing a display while the apparatus is actually collecting data , i . e ., a real time display . a further very important feature of the invention is the isolation of the internal data bus of the potentiostat . this allows the very sensitive analog devices to operate in an environment of very low background noise and greatly increases the sensitivity of the instrument and accuracy of the interpretation of the data collected . | 6 |
a best mode for carrying out the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the drawings . as schematically shown in fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ), an address translation program 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention is a program executed on a computer 20 including two pieces or a single piece of infiniband adapter ( s ) 25 and preinstalled with an application program 21 , a network program 22 , an infiniband driver 24 , etc . the application program 21 , the network program 22 , the inifiniband driver 24 and the inifiniband adapter 25 , which are used on this computer 20 , are each the same as those used on the computer 30 ( fig1 ). therefore , the following discussion will deal with only functions of the address translation program 10 . the address translation program 10 according to the present embodiment is a program for executing , as by the address translation program 23 , a process of translating two pieces of virtual addresses ( corresponding to a second type address according to the present invention ) in a packet ( see fig1 ( a )) of which transmission is requested by the network management program 22 into real addresses ( a 20 - byte address for the infiniband network ; an address corresponding to a first type address according to the present invention ) and requesting the inifiniband driver 24 to transmit the packet after the address translation , and a process of translating the real addressed in the packet ( see fig1 ( b )) transferred from the infiniband driver 24 into the virtual addressed and transferring the packet after the address translation to the network management program 22 . the address translation program 10 is different from the address translation program 23 in terms of a condition for outputting the transmission request of the first type communication management packet ( see fig1 ( b )) to the infiniband adapter 25 . to be specific , as schematically shown in fig2 , the address translation program 10 is created as a program for outputting the transmission request of the first type communication management packet to the infiniband adapter 25 ; ( 1 ) when the transmission request of the second type communication management packet ( see fig1 ( a )) is inputted from the network management program 22 ; ( 2 ) when a non - input status of the transmission request of the second type communication management packet continues for a preset designated or longer period of time ( which is normally on the order of 200 msec . ); and ( 2 ) when the infiniband driver 24 gives a completion - of - change - of - address notification representing that a change of the address of the infiniband adapter 25 is completed . more specifically , the address translation program 10 functions as follows . the address translation program 10 , when the transmission request of the second type communication management packet is inputted from the network management program 22 , executes a transmission request process in a procedure shown in fig3 . note that this transmission request process is a process ( which is executed by an instance of the address translation program 10 generated for every infiniband adapter 25 ) executed with respect to each infiniband adapter 25 . namely , the address translation program 10 starting the transmission request process as a result of the input of the transmission request of the second type communication management packet , at first outputs the transmission request of the first type communication management packet ( see fig1 ) to the inifiniband driver 24 ( step s 101 ). then , the address translation program 10 adds “ 1 ” to a broadcast counter defined as numerical value information on the memory ( s 102 ), and thereafter terminates the transmission request process . moreover , the address translation program 10 executes a communication management packet transmission frequency adjusting process in a procedure shown in fig4 each time the preset designated time ( which is normally on the order of 200 msec .) elapses . note that this communication management packet transmission frequency adjusting process is also a process executed by each infiniband adapter 25 . namely , the address translation program 10 starting the communication management packet transmission frequency adjusting process as triggered by the elapse of the designated time , at first judges whether a value of the broadcast count is “ 0 ” or not ( step s 201 ). then , if the value of the broadcast counter is not “ 0 ” ( step s 201 ; no ), i . e ., if the transmission request process ( fig3 ) was executed till the communication management packet transmission frequency adjusting process is executed this time since the execution of the last time , the address translation program 10 sets “ 0 ” in the broadcast counter ( step s 203 ) and thereafter terminates this communication management packet transmission frequency adjusting process ( this is a status of monitoring that the designated time elapses ). whereas if the value of the broadcast counter is “ 0 ” ( step s 201 ; yes ), i . e ., if the transmission request process is not yet executed till the communication management packet transmission frequency adjusting process is executed this time since the execution of the last time , the address translation program 10 outputs a transmission request of the first type communication management packet containing none of the data to the infiniband driver 24 ( step s 302 ). namely , the address translation program 10 outputs the transmission request of the first type communication management packet having the structure shown in fig5 to the infiniband driver 24 . then , the address translation program 10 terminates the communication management packet transmission frequency adjusting process . further , the address translation program 10 , when the completion - of - change - of - address notification with respect to a certain infiniband adapter 25 is inputted from the infiniband driver 24 , executes a process of updating ( which will hereinafter be described in depth later on ), into the latest address , the real address of the address pair ( which is the information consisting of the real address and the virtual address ) managed as the information about this infiniband adapter 25 , and a process of instructing the infiniband adapter 25 of which the infiniband address was changed to transmit the first type communication management packet . further , the address translation program 10 , when the first type communication management packet received from the unspecified infiniband adapter 25 is inputted from the infiniband driver 24 , executes a process of supplying the second type communication management packet associated with this first type communication management packet to the network management program 22 , and simultaneously executes an address translation table updating process in a procedure shown in fig6 . note that this address translation table updating process is also a process executed with respect to each infiniband adapter 25 . to be specific , the address translation program 10 starting the address translation table updating process as triggered by the input of the first type communication management packet , to start with , judges whether or not the address translation table contains a member ( a low - order record ) showing coincidence of at least one of the virtual address and the real address of the address pair ( which will hereinafter be termed a focused ( target ) address pair ) contained in the inputted first type communication management packet ( see fig1 ( b )) ( step s 301 ). herein , the address translation table is a set of information to which the address translation program 10 refers when translating each real address contained in the packet transferred from the infiniband driver 24 into the virtual address and when translating each virtual address contained in the packet transferred from the network management program 22 into the real address . this address translation table is , as schematically shown in fig7 , a set of members ( records ) each containing the address pair ( the information consisting of the real address and the virtual address ), an unused counter and a pointer to a next member . note that when booting the computer 20 , the address translation program 10 reads a virtual address assigned to the infiniband adapter 25 from a hdd within a computer 30 , and acquires a real address fort the infiniband adapter 25 from the infiniband driver 24 , wherein a member containing an address pair consisting of these addresses is added to this address management table . then , when inputting the completion - of - change - of - address notification described above , a content of the address pair about the self - computer ( about the infiniband adapter 25 whose address was changed ), which is stored in this address management table , is changed . if the address translation table does not contain the member showing the coincidence of at least one of the virtual address and the real address of the target address pair ( step s 301 ; no ), the address translation program 10 sets an address pair having the same content as the target address pair has , and adds a member in which “ 0 ” is set in the unused counter to the address translation table ( step s 305 ). note that a process in this step s 305 is , as schematically shown in fig8 , a process executed in such a form that the added member becomes a head member in the address translation table . then , the address translation program 10 finishing the process in step s 305 terminates this address translation table updating process . further , whereas if the address translation table contains the member showing the coincidence of at least one of the virtual address and the real address of the target address pair ( step s 301 ; yes ), the address translation program 10 judges whether or not the address translation table has a member containing the same address pair as the target address pair ( step s 302 ). then , the address translation program 10 , if such a member exists in the address translation table ( step s 302 ; yes ), executes a process of setting “ 0 ” as a value of the unused counter in this member ( step s 303 ), and thereafter terminates this address translation table updating process . whereas if the member containing the same address pair as the target address pair does not exist in the address translation table ( step s 302 ; no ), the address translation program 10 executes a process of deleting from the address translation table the member containing the address pair coincident with the target address pair with respect to only one of the virtual address and the real address ( step s 304 ), and a process of setting the same address pair as the target address pair and adding the member in which “ 0 ” is set in the unused counter to the address translation table ( step s 305 ), and thereafter terminates the address translation table updating process . note that if branched off to the “ no ” side in step s 302 , the member containing the address pair in which only one of the virtual address and the real address is coincident with that of the target address pair , is deleted from the address translation table , and this case ( which is a processing flow of branching off to the “ yes ” side in step s 301 and branching off to the “ no ” side in step s 302 ) is derived from a reason that the address translation table has the member containing the address pair ( in which only one of the virtual address and the real address is coincident with that of the target address pair ) having a content impossible of coexisting with the target address pair . a final discussion will deal with an application of the unused counter . the address translation program 10 , when performing the address translation using the address pair contained in the unspecified member in the address translation table , sets “ 0 ” in the unused counter in the member , and at the same time executes the process of deleting the unnecessary member in the procedure shown in fig9 each time the pre - designated time ( a period of time of approximately 5 sec ; this will hereinafter be referred to as the predetermined time ) elapses . namely , the address translation program 10 starting the unnecessary member delete process at first tries to specify an unprocessed member in the present process from within the address translation table ( step s 401 ). then , the address translation program 10 , if capable of specifying the unprocessed member ( step s 401 ; yes ), adds “ 1 ” to the unused counter in the specified member ( step s 402 ), and thereafter judges whether a value of the unused counter is “ 60 ” or not ( step s 403 ). if the value of the unused counter is not “ 60 ” ( step s 404 ; no ), the processes from step s 401 onward are restarted . whereas if the value of the unused counter is “ 60 ” ( step s 404 ; yes ), the address translation program 10 executes the process of deleting the member concerned from the address translation table ( step s 405 ), and thereafter restarts the processes from step s 401 onward . then , the address translation program 10 , when the unprocessed members disappear in the address translation table ( step s 402 ; yes ), terminates this unnecessary member delete process . in short , the unused counter ( value ) is the data contained in each member within the address translation table so that the member remaining unused for a fixed or longer period of time ( the predetermined tim × 60 ; 5 min in the case of setting the predetermined time to 5 min ) is specified and can be deleted from within the address translation table . as discussed above , the address translation program 10 according to the present embodiment has the function ( which is a function of periodically executing the communication management packet transmission process ) of spontaneously outputting the transmission request of the first type communication management packet to the infiniband driver 24 if the non - inputted status of the transmission request of the second type communication management packet from the network management program 22 continues for the designated or longer period of time . moreover , the address translation program 10 also has the function of , in the case of changing the address of the infiniband adapter 25 , immediately outputting the transmission request of the second type communication management packet to the infiniband driver 24 . accordingly , it follows that the computer 20 using ( implementing ) the address translation program 10 functions as a device capable of , when the address of the infiniband adapter 25 is changed , promptly notifying other computer 20 of this change without depending on the setting content about the transmission request frequency of the second type communication management packet of the network management program 22 . the address translation program 10 described above can be modified in a variety of modes . for example , the address translation program 10 may remove its function of outputting the transmission request of the first type communication management packet to the infiniband driver 24 when changing the address of the infiniband adapter 25 . if the address translation program 10 is modified as such , however , there might be a case of notifying other computer 20 of the address change when a designated period of time ( e . g ., 200 msec ) elapses after completion of the address change . hence , if desiring to reduce the non - communicable time to the shortest possible degree , the architecture of the address translation program 10 should be adopted . further , the address translation program 10 may be given a function as the infiniband driver 24 and may also be modified into a program suited to a protocol different from infiniband . moreover , the specific structures of the address translation table and of the packet may be made different from those described above . | 7 |
fig1 schematically shows the basic layout 1 of the operator surface or user interface of a flight attendant operating device , comprising a liquid crystal display screen in combination with a touch sensitive surface input arrangement , for example embodied together as a touch sensitive screen . the basic layout 1 is preferably divided into three parts or areas . namely , the basic layout 1 comprises a general display area 2 , pressure sensitive or touch sensitive input keys 3 respectively provided with system and functional symbols , and a header line or bar 4 for identifying the respective active menu . the available menus , which can be selected and displayed individually or together in any conventionally known single window or multiple window format , include a main menu 10 ( see fig2 ) and at least two or more system menus 11 to 19 ( see fig2 ). the selected menu is respectively displayed on the general display area 2 of the basic layout 1 . the main menu 10 displays the cabin status and the respective essential information or data regarding the various cabin systems so that a respective desired one of the cabin systems can be selected on a menu page of the main menu 10 , for example by simply touching the touch sensitive screen in an area corresponding to the display of the respective cabin system information or symbols , or by touching one of the touch input keys 3 that is associated with that system . once a respective one of the cabin systems is selected , the respective associated system menu will be displayed on the general display area 2 of the basic layout 1 . the several system menus 11 to 19 are each respectively adapted for selecting , controlling and monitoring the functions of the respective associated cabin system . thereby , the respective system menu is subordinate to the basic layout 1 and is displayed on the display area 2 when it is selected . advantageously , the touch input keys 3 of the basic layout 1 are accessible and usable for an operator of the device regardless of the particular menu being displayed , i . e . for each display of a respective menu on the display area 2 . as can also be seen in fig1 , the device further includes , incorporated in the basic layout 1 , an information key 5 , a help key or button 6 , a key or switch 7 for directly calling up the main menu regardless of the presently active state of the display area 2 , and a locking switch or key 8 for switching off and / or locking the display screen . particularly , from any screen or menu or display , the information key 5 will provide context - sensitive further information for the operator of the apparatus , while the help key 6 will provide context - sensitive operating instructions and further help for operating the apparatus . for example , if the lighting system menu 12 is being displayed , the information key 5 would provide further detailed technical information , status information and the like regarding the various lighting system components , while the help key 6 would provide instructions or guidance as to the appropriate lighting selections and how to enter the desired lighting selections in the context of the lighting system menu 12 . a scroll bar 9 is arranged above the keys 3 for the system and function symbols , whereby this scroll bar 9 shows an operator of the device that further menu sets are available . preferably , the length of the elements of the scroll bar 9 approximately indicate the number of the subsequent menu sets . by operating the scroll bar , the successive available menu sets can be scrolled through , for example by scrolling the respective associated virtual labels or indications of the system or functional symbols indicated on the respective touch sensitive keys 3 . this is achieved , for example , by touching the scrolling arrow keys at the two ends of the strip of touch sensitive input keys 3 . the menu structure represented in fig2 shows the main menu 10 and several subordinate system menus 11 to 19 . the main menu key 7 for calling up the main menu , the system and function symbol keys 3 and the header line 4 of the basic layout 1 will be maintained on the basic layout 1 during and regardless of the call - up and display of any selected one of the several menus in the display area 2 . this is schematically indicated in that these elements are consistently shown in each one of the illustrated menus 11 to 19 . the main menu 10 is conceptually arranged between the basic layout 1 and the several system menus 11 to 19 , whereby any desired one of the system menus 11 to 19 can be selected and called up by an operator by manually touching the touch input keys 3 provided with the corresponding system and function symbols , or simply by touching the depiction of a corresponding system icon or symbol on the active main menu 10 being displayed on the touch sensitive general display area 2 of the basic layout 1 . as an alternative , the system menus 11 to 19 can be automatically successively called up and displayed in the display area 2 of the basic layout 1 , for example according to a prescribed succession plan or display sequence . the linkages between the several system menus and the main menu are illustrated by corresponding arrows in fig2 . for example , from any system screen being displayed in the display area 2 of the basic layout 1 , the operator can return directly to the main menu 10 by pressing the main menu key 7 , also called the cabin status key 7 . similarly , from any displayed menu , the operator can directly select a different desired system menu by pressing the corresponding touch input key 3 labeled with the appropriate corresponding system symbol or label . the scroll arrow touch input keys will , for example , scroll to the next successive or the previous system menu . in any event , once the selected main menu or system menu is displayed on the display area 2 of the basic layout 1 , the touch sensitive display screen becomes active with the appropriate touch sensitive input areas associated with the respective displayed menu . thereby , the operator can select or control desired operating conditions of the respective displayed cabin system associated with the selected one of the system menus 11 to 19 by simply touching the appropriate corresponding function symbols being displayed on the associated menu on the display area 2 of the basic layout 1 . further details of the individual menus respectively shown in fig4 to 10 will be discussed below . in the context of the following discussion , several advantages of the invention will become apparent . the invention allows a reduction of the number of individual or separate operating devices . namely , a single operating device is provided for monitoring and controlling all of the pertinent cabin systems . this in turn leads to a weight and cost reduction , savings with regard to the costs and effort needed for installation and cable connections , and makes simplified networking of the device possible . the inventive apparatus fulfills the specifications and other requirements for the control and monitoring of aircraft cabin systems especially in the newest high capacity aircraft , for example in connection with a complex lighting control or climate control , as well as providing an open interface for server applications and software download capabilities . the inventive apparatus can be readily adapted to accommodate the requirements of various customers of the aircraft manufacturer , i . e . the various airlines purchasing the aircraft . this is especially true because essentially all of the adaptations can be achieved simply by changes of the software and / or parameters in the cabin allocation or assignment module . an adaptation of the hardware ( devices or accessories ) is no longer necessary . all expansions and provision of new functions can be achieved simply by updating the software and / or the parameters in the cabin allocation or assignment module . it is therefore also possible that each customer airline can carry through its own individual company identity with special functions , options , displays , logos , messages , color schemes , or the like . the simple schematic view of fig3 represents the appearance of the overall apparatus or device during booting up of the overall system software , as shown with a so - called progress bar showing the progress of the boot - up procedure , for example . note that the liquid crystal display screen is otherwise blank or empty . this demonstrates the preferred embodiment in which the entire user interface is embodied as a versatile , adaptable touch sensitive display screen , on which all of the touch input keys , display areas and the like are virtually generated and displayed as necessary for the particular situation . none of the input keys needs to be a permanent hard - wired element . after completion of the boot - up process , preferably the main menu 10 shown in fig4 will be displayed on the general display area 2 of the basic layout 1 . as shown in fig4 , the main menu 10 provides a general overview of the overall cabin status and includes the essential information or data regarding the various cabin systems to allow the desired pertinent cabin system to be selected . for example , the main menu 10 shows the cabin status of five different cabin systems relating to the system menus 11 to 15 , namely for the cabin audio system 11 , the cabin lighting system 12 , the aircraft doors 13 , the water supply and wastewater system 14 , and the temperature or air - conditioning system 17 . these several systems are respectively displayed with a corresponding graphical display of the relevant aspects of the cabin layout on the display area 2 , and from there the respective corresponding system menus can be directly selected and called - up by means of the touch sensitive screen technology , namely by simply touching the area of the display screen 2 on which the selected system image is displayed . the system menu 11 shown in fig5 is for controlling and monitoring the aircraft cabin audio system , namely with respect to selecting and playing previously recorded announcements as well as adjusting or selecting the on - board music channel . in this context , selection of the music channel and the volume is carried out by means of the respective corresponding +/− keys 111 in a virtual keyboard grouping on the left side of the system menu 11 . the currently existing status of these adjustments , i . e . the actually selected music channel and volume , is respectively indicated in corresponding display fields , namely a channel indicator 113 and a volume indicator 114 within a graphical aircraft symbol 112 . on the other hand , passenger information and instruction announcements can be selected in a virtual display and keypad screen on the right side of the system menu 11 , for example through selection or input of the corresponding associated number of the announcement via the numerical key pad 115 . then , by pressing the enter key 116 , the presently entered announcement number may be confirmed and selected , while on the other hand the clear key 117 may be touched in order to erase or clear the entered number . the arrow keys 118 can be used to scroll through the available recorded announcements in order to find one or more desired announcements in a targeted manner , to be queued in a view window or memo window 120 . the start key 119 can then be used to play the next selected announcement , while the clear key 117 can be used to clear the preselection . the “ start - all ” key 119 a can be touched to begin a sequential playing of all of the selected or stored announcements , while the list or sequence of stored announcements to be played is indicated in the memo window 120 , and the number of the currently playing announcement is displayed in the indicator field 120 a above the memo window 120 . in order to interrupt the playing of the announcement or announcements , a stop key is also provided . additional functions pertinent to the audio system can also be displayed and selected via virtual displays and keys , for example to adjust the pa level , to reset the call buttons , to inhibit call chimes , or the like . this is merely an example demonstration of various different functions and features that can be displayed and selected based on the needs of the individual application , simply by appropriate program adjustments . the system menu 12 shown in fig6 controls the cabin lighting system in the aircraft cabin . for example , this cabin lighting system can include separate lighting arrangements for the door entry zones , separate cabin zones , and / or individual independent partitioned areas , spaces or cabins within the aircraft , which may all be individually controlled and monitored from the system menu 12 . in this regard , the system menu 12 includes several sets or groups of touch input keys 121 , 122 , 123 and 124 , which each allow selection or adjustment of the desired lighting brightness level in respective different cabin areas . preferably , in the cabin entry zones , any desired one of three brightness steps , namely bright or full illumination , dimming stage 1 , and dimming stage 2 can be selected . the current , actually selected lighting adjustments are displayed in a graphical aircraft symbol 125 , which is advantageously divided into the various lighting zones . various other display features and / or input keys can be provided on the screen display of this system menu 12 , as needed for any particular application . for example , a fine - tuned brightness or dimness adjustment is possible by selecting a particular percentage of the maximum full brightness with corresponding arrow scroll keys . the functions of the other exemplary keys shown in fig6 are self - explanatory in the context of aircraft cabin lighting systems . fig7 shows a system menu 13 , which shows the actual present status of all cabin doors and hatches . for example , a graphical aircraft symbol 131 includes a clearly visible graphical indication 131 a of each door , emergency exit hatch , emergency slide , and the like , as well as the respective status thereof . for example , the display or status indication can provide information whether each respective door or hatch is closed or open , pressure - tight or not pressure - tight , locked or unlocked , etc . the system menu 14 shown in fig8 is associated with the water supply and wastewater systems of the aircraft . the system menu 14 includes , on the right side , a graphical aircraft symbol 141 , in which the location of each galley and each restroom or toilet is indicated . it is also indicated whether the galley or restroom is properly functional and active , or inactive due to a malfunction or error . in the upper part of the menu 14 , graphical images of supply water and wastewater tanks 142 also show the current actual existing water level or volume of water in each tank . arrows or other indicators can mark prescribed volume values or warning levels or the like . furthermore , a display screen 143 allows the current actual existing status values of the above mentioned components to be displayed . input and selection keys can also be provided to allow an operator to control these components . accordingly to fig9 , the inventive apparatus further provides a system menu 15 , which displays status values of various cabin systems , and which is preferably called - up before take - off of any flight . an automatic call - up and display of this menu 15 is also advantageous during any flight phase , if the flight crew of the aircraft requires information or status data regarding any of the individual systems . for example , the display can include display fields for status information regarding the cabin intercommunication data system ( cids ), the ice or freeze protection devices , or the electric power supply system . by touching a selection key associated with each respective display field , the operator can then obtain detailed status information regarding the particular selected system . the system menu 16 shown in fig1 is provided to allow programming of the cabin systems , for example with regard to various parameters in different cabin zones . in the illustrated example , a graphical aircraft symbol 161 shows the several cabin zones , for example in respective seat row ranges or areas , and various touch input key fields 162 , 163 and 164 for inputting programming commands for the associated functions in relation to the respective cabin zones or areas . for example , the display and input key field 164 allows a programming of the cabin areas in which smoking will be allowed and those cabin areas in which smoking will not be allowed , e . g . by illuminating the corresponding appropriate smoking or non - smoking indicators in the respective associated cabin areas . although the invention has been described with reference to specific example embodiments , it will be appreciated that it is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the appended claims . it should also be understood that the present disclosure includes all possible combinations of any individual features recited in any of the appended claims | 1 |
in refueling a nuclear reactor , the radioactive fuel assemblies must be removed from the reactor core and stored for an extended period of time in a spent fuel pool . in order to avoid the hazards due to radiation , the nuclear reactor core is flooded with water to a substantial depth above the top of the core with the fuel elements removed under water . since these fuel elements are highly radioactive and still produce heat known as decay heat for a period of several months , they cannot be immediately removed from the plant but must be stored , preferably under water , which provides radiation protection and the necessary cooling . when these spent fuel elements have sufficiently decayed , they may be removed and shipped for reprocessing , or stored at the plant in the spent fuel pool or in dry storage casks . since the nuclear reactor will be back in operation at the time the spent fuel is removed , it is preferable that the spent fuel pool be located outside of the reactor containment . since the reactor containment is designed to withstand relatively high pressures and to provide radiation shielding , large openings in this containment vessel are cumbersome and expensive . the elongated fuel elements are therefore longitudinally passed through openings in the reactor containment to a fuel handling building . one approach is to locate the spent fuel pool at an elevation well below the reactor so that the fuel elements may be lowered downwardly into the spent fuel pool . this , however , requires extensive excavation due to the lower elevation of the pool and increases the amount of flooding required in order to effect an appropriate fuel transfer between the reactor refueling pool above the reactor cavity and the spent fuel pool in the adjacent fuel handling building outside the containment . another approach generally used is to locate the spent fuel pool in the fuel handling building outside the containment at an elevation approximately equal to the reactor refueling pool . a transfer tube extends between the reactor refueling pool , through the containment wall , to the spent fuel pool in the fuel handling building . a transfer tube joins the two pools and this transfer tube is capable of being valved off by means of gate valves to isolate the spent fuel pool from the interior of the containment when the water in the containment is drained in preparation for starting up the reactor . transfer of a fuel assembly between the two pools requires that the fuel assembly be removed from the reactor , be placed on a fuel carrier , rotated to a horizontal position and moved through the fuel transfer tube . after the transfer of the fuel assemblies is complete , the gate valves are closed , the water in the containment is drained and the fuel transfer tube is sealed off on the containment side by a removable hatch . as previously mentioned , during shield design activities for a new generation of nuclear plants , a location was identified that was difficult to shield by conventional methods . this area was a two - inch ( 5 . 08 cm ) wide expansion gap between the reactor containment and the concrete shield around the fuel transfer tube that is intended to shield radiation emitted from the spent fuel assemblies as they transfer through the tube . this gap can vary depending on the temperature conditions inside and outside the containment ; requiring a shield that can accommodate this variability . this was recognized as an important issue since overexposure of plant workers as a result of such a gap in radiation shielding has occurred in the past . gaps in or between radiation shields can result in highly localized radiation fields outside the gap that may not be readily detected by radiation protection personnel . this problem is exacerbated by situations in which a radiation source that is being shielded is not fixed and is intermittently introduced behind the shield wall as is the case with the transfer of spent fuel . the gap that is typically two inches ( 5 . 08 cm ) wide is required to accommodate thermal expansion of the containment vessel . also , for a concrete containment with a steel liner , seismic gaps that are typically two inches ( 5 . 08 cm ) in width are provided between the containment wall and / or steel liner and the concrete transfer tube shielding . when a spent fuel assembly is transferred from the containment to the spent fuel pool through the transfer tube , the dose rates outside the gap can result in potentially lethal doses of radiation to personnel . this invention addresses the issue of shielding such variable gaps by providing a bladder - type radiation shield and fills the air gap with a suitable fluid that will provide an acceptable degree of radiation shielding . the shield conforms to the existing gap width as it may vary , such that shield integrity is always maintained . the shield system of this invention is totally passive and a sight - gauge on a local make - up / expansion tank provides an immediate indication to personnel in the area of a possible disruption of shield integrity . a shield arrangement , in accordance with this invention , for a one - piece expansion gap radiation shield for a typical nuclear plant spent fuel transfer tube is shown in fig1 and described below . as illustrated in fig1 , a bladder - type radiation shield 10 in accordance with this invention is fabricated to fit the geometry of a gap that it is intended to shield ; in this case , the space between the square concrete radiation shield that surrounds a spent fuel transfer tube and the opening in a nuclear containment through which the spent fuel transfer tube radiation shield extends . alternatively , as indicated by the dotted lines in fig1 , the shield can be fabricated in more simplified geometries and interconnected . for example , the shield 10 can be fabricated in the three rectangular configurations 12 , 14 and 16 and positioned in a “ post and lintel ” configuration with interconnections made by way of fluid communication ports 18 and 20 . in fig1 , the interface between the posts 12 and 14 and the lintel 16 and the interconnections 18 and 20 therebetween are shown in phantom , in dotted form , for the purpose of illustration . preferably , the interconnections 18 and 20 form hermetic seals that will contain the shielding fluid 32 confined within the bladder sections while permitting fluid communication therebetween . the shield 10 is supported by a suitable support frame 22 at the grommets 24 shown in more detail in fig1 a , that are supplied with the bladder 16 . the shield 10 is fabricated employing a two - ply bladder system shown in fig2 a , which is an enlargement of a portion of the side view of fig1 shown in fig2 . the two - ply bladder system comprises an inner bladder of preferably a rubberized material 26 for long - term containment of a shielding fluid and an outer bladder 28 for puncture and abrasion resistance . for example , the outer bladder would utilize a rubberized kevlar ® material ( a puncture resistant fiber material ), such as aero tech laboratories inc . atl - 797 - b or equivalent . if additional stability is required for a particular geometry or circumstance , an appropriate anti - sag baffle 30 made of a relative rigid material such as a mesh material can be included in the fabrication process . the baffle 30 would consist of a relatively inflexible material connected to at least four sides of the bladder or a fabric mesh that would be attached to the inner bladder of the shield 10 . the shield is filled with an appropriate shield fluid 32 to provide the desired radiation attenuation . in most cases , the fluid will be water or borated water with an appropriate amount of ethylene glycol or other suitable anti - freeze additive . a support frame for the radiation shield 10 illustrated in fig1 is shown in more detail in fig3 , 5 and 6 . as shown in fig3 and 6 , the support frame 22 preferably comprises an angle iron from which radiation shield support bolts 34 extend to create a shield support plate 36 . as shown in fig3 and 6 , the shield support plate 36 is affixed to the top edge of the concrete transfer tube shield 38 using nelson studs 40 . alternatively , the support plate 36 can be held in place by bolting the plate to imbedded bolts in the concrete shield 38 ( not shown ) at the locations of the anchor bolt holes 42 in the support plate 36 . the center - to - center distance between the bladder shield support bolts 34 is such that they mate with the center - to - center spacing of the shield grommets 24 . standard washers 44 and nuts 46 fix the bladder shield 10 to the support plate 36 as illustrated in fig6 . desirably , a heavy gauge rubber or flexible sheet metal dust cover 48 is attached to the support plate 36 at the bladder shield support bolts 34 to prevent the introduction of debris to the top of the shield ; thus , reducing the potential for damage to the shield bladders 10 . fig6 shows the shield bladder 10 supported by the support frame 22 between the concrete transfer tube shielding 38 and the containment wall 50 . the general assembly of the expansion gap radial shield 10 is shown in fig7 and 8 . a relatively small make - up / expansion tank 52 is connected by a fluid communication coupling 54 to the expansion gap shield 10 in order to accommodate any temperature induced volume changes and to make up any evaporative losses . if a metal tank 52 is employed , a site gauge 56 is provided to supply an immediate indication of the water level within the make - up / expansion tank 52 and , thus the integrity of the shield , to personnel in the area . the site gauge 56 is preferably open to the atmosphere to avoid a possible over pressurization and rupture of the shield bladder 10 . also , should the gap size change such that more expansion volume is required , additional and / or larger make - up tanks can be coupled / ganged to the original make - up expansion tank 52 . thus , the invention described herein is a passive device that provides an indication of loss of shield integrity to personnel in the immediate area by observation of the water level in the make - up expansion tank . alternatively , remote water level indication means , well known in the art , can be employed to provide an indication of the shield integrity within the control room . the invention does not require shield support welds or attachments to the containment wall and and / or local shielding at the transfer tube 58 , which could require removal and reinstallation of the shielding for in - service inspection . the invention responds rapidly to seismic events and allows relative movement between the containment 50 and the transfer tube shielding 38 as compared to other shielding methods . furthermore , the potential for damage to the transfer tube 58 during a seismic event is reduced as compared to a conventional shielding solution involving local lead brick and / or steel plate shadow shields . the invention also avoids the plant requirement for access restrictions to the areas in the vicinity of the transfer tube during fuel transfer . such restrictions can compromise efficient personnel traffic flow patterns during outages and extend outage times . the specific materials used in this invention are selected such that the anticipated life of the invention equals that of a maximum number of fuel cycles , and preferably , the maximum design life of a nuclear power plant , i . e ., 60 years . also , the invention will withstand the radiation exposure expected to be incurred during the transfer of spent nuclear fuel , i . e ., approximately 10 7 rads , during the plant design life . while specific embodiments of the invention have been described in detail , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure . accordingly , the particular embodiments disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention , which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any and all equivalents thereof . | 6 |
referring to fig1 there is illustrated an enlarged plan view of a portion of a fabric weave run in accordance with the present invention . fig2 illustrates a separated elevation of the fabric weave shown in fig1 the face or looped surface of the fabric being shown at the top , the elastomer pattern at the center , and the back surface pattern at the bottom . the figures should be considered together in the following description . the base of the fabric from which the loops 10 extend comprises covered elastomer warp yarns , stretch nylon warp yarns 30 and monofilament weft yarns 40 which are interwoven as illustrated in fig1 and 2 of the drawing . elastomer yarns 20 may be 280 denier lycra covered with 70 denier stretch nylon . lycra is a trademark for elastic fibers made by e . i . dupont de nemours & amp ; company , inc . of wilmington , del . the size of the elastomer yarn can vary depending on the desired modulus of elasticity . nylon warp yarns 30 may be a 70 denier , 2 ply stretch nylon . this type yarn is used to enhance elasticity of the fabric and also provide a soft surface for bearing against the skin of a wearer . the size of the yarn may be varied depending on the thickness and elongation required . in any event it should be sufficient to cover the elastomer in the fully stetched condition of the fabric . weft yarns 40 may be a 180 denier monofilament nylon . the relatively high rigidity of this yarn eliminates the need for any kind of thermal setting and / or backing finish , such as latex , plastic , rubber or the like . this therefore eliminates this intermediate processing step and otherwise possibly irritating surface from the back of the fabric . the size of the weft yarn will vary depending on the stretch and the stability required . referring to the drawings elastomers 20 are held by alternately passing over and then under adjacent sets of two picks ( each pick 50 consisting of two wefts 40 ), each adjacent elastomer being offset by a single pick position , so that the pattern repeats on every fourth elastomer . nylon warp yarns 30 pass over three picks ( six wefts ) and then under one pick ( two wefts ). the wefts are relatively rigid heavy denier yarns to provide weft - wise stability to the fabric . referring next to pile loops 20 woven into the base fabric , each pile yarn 10 passes over nine picks and is then held to the base fabric by seven picks . this increased number of tie downs provides more resistance to pulling of the pile yarn . each pile yarn is tied down to the base fabric in the same manner , but each adjacent yarn passes over its respective nine picks in a staggered warp position , i . e ., four picks before commencing its adjacent pass over the nine picks , and the adjacent pile being tied down to the base fabric after the fifth pick . thus it can be seen that each adjacent pick is alternatively engaging , then releasing and then holding loops yarn 10 in the pattern illustrated in fig2 . in one satisfactory embodiment of a 5 / 8 &# 34 ; wide fabric the loops 10 on the face of the fabric are woven from 60 ends of 200 denier 10 ply multifilament texturized nylon yarn . warp yarns 30 for the back of the fabric are woven from 64 ends of 70 denier / 2 ply stretch nylon . weft 40 is a 180 monofilament clear nylon yarn . elastomer yarns 20 are covered elastomer , 96 ends , 280 denier lycra , covered with 70 denier multifilament stretch nylon to provide a stretch capability of 170 %. the tensions with which the yarns are woven are medium tension for the texturized pile yarn 10 , tight tension for the back nylon yarn 30 , and medium tight for the monofilament weft yarn 40 . the yarn characteristics , weave pattern , and tensions must be coordinated to provide a weft - wise stable and warp - wise elastic fabric wherein the pile loops on the face of the fabric remain upwardly extended to receive the corresponding velcro hooks throughout the stretch range of the fabric . furthermore the back of the fabric must be woven in a pattern and of a yarn such that the elastomer is covered through the full elongation of the fabric . the above embodiments should therefore be considered only as illustrative of this type of fabric . other variations and combinations of materials and of weave patterns are available and will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure . it should therefore be understood that there are other variations and combinations which may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . | 3 |
an example of a gas turbine system 1 is shown in fig1 a and 1 b in a highly schematic form . the gas turbine system 1 includes two silo combustion chambers 3 , a turbine 5 , a compressor 7 , two mixer housings 8 , and an inner housing 9 . the silo combustion chambers 3 serve to burn a fuel , with the hot , pressurized exhaust gases 2 being ducted via the mixer housings 8 and inner housing 9 to the turbine 7 in order to drive it . the turbine 5 includes stationary guide vanes 10 as well as rotor blades 11 permanently connected to a shaft 12 mounted rotatably around an axis a . the hot exhaust gas 2 expanding in the turbine 5 causes an impulse to be conveyed via the rotor blades 11 to the shaft 12 , which is thereby made to rotate . the shaft 12 can be roughly divided into three sections , namely a section bearing the rotor blades 11 of the turbine 5 , a section bearing rotor blades of the compressor 7 ( not shown ), and a shaft section 13 that is arranged between said two sections and in which no rotor blades are disposed . the shaft 12 and the rotor blades 11 attached thereto form what is termed the turbine rotor . the shaft 12 extends through the entire gas turbine system ( not shown in full ) and drives the compressor 7 as well as a generator ( not shown ). the compressor 7 therein serves to compress air that is then ducted to the silo combustion chambers 3 for the combustion . the shaft section 13 is surrounded by a protective shaft jacket 15 ( see fig2 ) which is itself surrounded by an inner housing hub 17 of a hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 of the inner housing 9 . the inner housing 9 and protective shaft jacket 15 are installed in the gas turbine system together as a housing unit . the inner housing hub 17 and protective shaft jacket 15 are shaped substantially like a hollow cylinder , with the circumferential surface 14 , facing the protective shaft jacket 15 , of the inner housing hub 17 or , as the case may be , the surface , facing the turbine rotor , of the protective shaft jacket 15 forming the inner surfaces of the hollow cylinder . the inner housing 9 therein serves on the one hand to divert the hot exhaust gas flowing from the mixer housings 8 into the inner housing 9 and , on the other , to distribute it as evenly as possible around the entire circumference of the turbine rotor . the surface 20 , facing the hot gas , of the inner housing 9 therein serves as a guiding and conducting surface for the hot gas . said surface can in particular also be provided with a thermally insulating coating or a corrosion - and / or oxidation - inhibiting coating . potential candidates for a thermally insulating coating are , for example , what are termed thermal barrier coatings , tbc for short , which can be produced from , say , yttrium - stabilized zirconium oxide . potential candidates for corrosion - and / or oxidation - inhibiting coatings are , for example , what are termed mcraly coatings , where m stands for iron ( fe ), cobalt ( co ), or nickel ( ni ), and y stands for yttrium ( y ) and / or silicon and / or a rare - earth element , for example hafnium ( hf ). alloys of said type are known from , inter alia , the following documents , to which reference is made with respect to suitable mcraly coatings : ep 0 486 489 b1 , ep 0 786 017 b1 , ep 0 412 397 b1 , and ep 1 306 454 a1 . the thermal barrier coating tbc can therein have been applied in particular to the mcraly coating . fig2 shows a section that has been taken from fig1 b and in which can be seen the inner housing hub 17 of the inner housing 9 and a part of the protective shaft jacket 15 . also to be seen is a section of a guide vane 10 of the turbine 5 located opposite the opening 19 , on the turbine side , of the inner housing 9 . the inner housing hub 17 of the inner housing 9 has in the region of the opening 19 on the turbine side an annular rib 22 that projects radially toward the protective shaft jacket 15 and extends along its entire circumference . the protective shaft jacket 15 includes an annular stud 23 that extends in the region of the outlet orifice 19 of the inner housing 9 along the entire circumference of the protective shaft jacket 15 . the stud 23 has a groove 26 serving to accommodate the rib 22 of the inner housing hub 17 . the inner housing hub 17 of the hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 can be fixed in position on the protective shaft jacket 15 by means of the rib 22 and the groove 26 in the stud 23 . the protective shaft jacket 15 further has a radiation guard 16 that surrounds it spaced therefrom . a flow channel is in that way formed between the radiation guard 16 and protective shaft jacket 15 . a further flow channel is formed between the radiation guard 16 and the inner housing hub 17 of the hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 . the radiation guard 16 has passage openings 21 for the passage of cooling fluid toward the inner housing hub 17 which serve to duct a cooling fluid f , for example ambient air , into the flow channel between the radiation guard 16 and inner housing hub 17 ( see fig3 ). the cooling fluid passing through the openings 21 is used for impingement cooling of the inner housing hub 17 and is forwarded to the turbine 5 via the flow channel 24 formed between the radiation guard 16 and inner housing hub 17 , with the inner housing hub 17 being additionally convectively cooled . what is therein to be understood by the term “ impingement cooling ” is the ducting of cooling fluid flowing in a direction of said type such that it will impact against the surface 14 , on the hub side , of the inner housing hub 17 and be diverted by it . to make the invention easier to understand , an inner housing 9 according to the prior art in which the rib of the hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 is located in the region of the opening , on the turbine side , of the inner housing 9 will first be described with reference to fig3 . inner housings 9 exhibiting three different embodiment variants of the inventive hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 will then be described with reference to fig4 to 6 . the prior art and all embodiment variants have an inner housing hub 17 , 17 a , 17 b , 17 c in each case provided in the region of the opening on the turbine side with a rib 22 , 22 a , 22 b , 22 c projecting beyond the circumferential surface 14 , 14 a , 14 b , 14 c on the protective shaft jacket side . one embodiment of the inner housing hub 17 , radiation guard 16 and protective shaft jacket 15 in the region of the rib 22 and of the stud 23 according to the prior art is shown in fig3 . in the prior art there are passage openings 25 shaped like drilled holes in the stud 23 below the groove 26 that enable the cooling fluid ( indicated by arrows ) to pass through the stud 23 . arranged on the protective shaft jacket 15 opposite the outlet end of the passage hole 25 in the flow direction is a guide rib 38 that causes the flow of cooling fluid to be redirected toward the hot exhaust gas flowing through the gas turbine system . a first embodiment variant of the hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 is shown in fig4 . the figure shows the inner housing hub 17 a of the radiation guard 16 a as well as the protective shaft jacket 15 a in the region of the stud 23 a . the stud 23 a of the protective shaft jacket 15 a shown in fig4 differs from the stud 23 of the protective shaft jacket 15 shown in fig3 in being embodied wider and not projecting so far beyond the surface 20 a of the protective shaft jacket 15 a . nor does it have a passage hole for the passage of a cooling fluid . a passage opening in the form of a drilled hole 25 a enabling the cooling fluid to pass through the rib 22 a is instead arranged in the rib 22 a of the inner housing hub 17 a . the passage hole is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the circumferential surface 14 a , of the inner housing hub 17 a , facing the protective shaft jacket 15 a . corresponding passage holes are distributed spaced apart in the circumferential direction over the entire annular rib 22 a . a second embodiment variant for embodying the hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 is shown in fig5 . the figure shows the inner housing hub 17 b , the radiation guard 16 and the protective shaft jacket 15 in the region of the stud 23 . the embodiment of the protective shaft jacket 15 and radiation guard 16 is the same as that of the corresponding parts in the embodiment described with reference to fig3 . however , in contrast to the inner housing hub 17 shown in fig3 the inner housing hub 17 b in the second embodiment variant has passage openings in the form of passage holes 28 having openings 29 on the protective shaft jacket side and openings 30 on the hot gas side . compared to the openings 29 on the protective shaft jacket side the openings 30 on the hot gas side are therein displaced in the flow direction of the hot gas . in other words , as viewed from the circumferential surface 14 b on the protective shaft jacket side the openings 29 have an inclination in the flow direction of the hot exhaust gases . through the passage holes 28 , cooling fluid proceeding from the flow channel 24 enters the region of the inner housing 9 ducting the hot exhaust gas and owing to the flow conditions there prevailing forms a cooling fluid film across the surface 20 b , of the inner housing hub 17 b , on the hot gas side , in particular in the region of the rib 22 b . that embodiment of the inner housing hub 17 b will enable the surface 20 b to be cooled very effectively . a third embodiment of the hot - gas - ducting housing element 6 is shown in fig6 . the figure shows the inner housing hub 17 c , the radiation guard 16 and the protective shaft jacket 15 in the region of the stud 23 . as in fig5 , the inner housing hub 17 c has passage openings in the form of drilled holes 28 c . said drilled holes 28 c each have an opening 29 c on the protective shaft jacket side and an opening 30 c located in the front side of the inner housing hub 17 c . between the opening 29 c on the protective shaft jacket side and the opening 30 c on the front side , each passage hole 28 c runs mostly parallel to the hot - gas - ducting surface 20 c of the inner housing hub 17 c . cooling fluid f entering through the opening 29 c on the protective shaft jacket side is guided in the region of the rib 22 c by means of the drilled holes 28 c through the interior of the inner housing hub 17 c and thereby causes cooling of the inner housing hub 17 c before exiting from the opening 30 c on the front side . in the embodiment variants described with reference to fig5 and 6 , the stud of the protective shaft jacket is in each case provided with passage openings for the passage of cooling fluid . openings can alternatively also be provided in the rib , as has been described with reference to fig4 . | 5 |
a respiration humidifier according to the present invention was designed for the artificial respiration of adults and newborns such that it is able to deliver a sufficiently high relative humidity of at least 95 % at a breathing gas temperature of 37 ° c . at a continuous breathing gas flow rate of 30 l / minute , corresponding to 44 mg of water per g of air , and it can briefly reach the desired humidification capacity for about one second even at a maximum flow of 180 l / minute during the intermittent artificial respiration of adults . to obtain the necessary area as a heat exchanger and for feeding in the humidity , an exchange area of 500 to 800 cm 2 of the circumferential area of the hollow fibers must be available . the smaller the fiber diameter , e . g ., 1 to 2 mm , the smaller is the attainable size of the respiration humidifier . the smaller the fiber diameter selected , the better is the heat transfer from the hollow fibers to the breathing gas , but the overall flow resistance increases . according to the iso 8185 standard , the maximum allowable resistance for respiration humidifiers is 2 mbar at 60 l / minute . this resistance is just reached with a fiber diameter of 1 . 25 mm and 200 fibers having a length of about 65 mm , so that the smallest practical volume is obtained for a humidifier according to the present invention , which does not exceed the maximum allowable flow resistance . the necessary heating capacity of the humidifiers according to the present invention must deliver the necessary heat of evaporation . this requires a heating capacity of about 60 w . in addition , the breathing gas must also be heated to the desired breathing gas temperature of about 37 ° c . from an ambient temperature of about 25 ° c . this requires about 10 w . another 30 w are needed due to heat losses via the housing , to the environment , for the heating of the water and of the materials , so that the humidifier must be supplied with a total amount of about 100 w of electricity . for safety engineering reasons , the heater is operated with low voltage , 10 to 48 v . the temperature of the water within the humidifier module is measured either via an individual temperature sensor , via a temperature sensor integrated in the heating foil or the heating strips or the heating wires , or by determining the temperature by measuring the heating resistance . the water temperature is preferably used as the control input variable to control the inspiration gas temperature behind the humidifier module . if individual hollow fibers develop leaks during the operation , the overflow of too much water to the patient must be prevented from occurring . this may be done , e . g ., by limiting the feed of water to the humidifier through a nozzle in the flow path . this flow limiter may be connected to a water level gauge in the outlet area of the humidifier in the form of a collection point , preferably at the lowermost point of the outlet spout , where , e . g ., two electrical contacts can generate an impulse for an alarm because of a larger amount of water and may optionally close a corresponding valve in the water feed line . the function of the contacts may alternatively be triggered by a float . humidifiers according to the present invention are also suitable for humidification and heating in the open care of premature babies , where care devices correspondingly covered with foils , hoods or similar means can support and favorably affect a microclimate generated by the release of humidity by the infant by actively supplying humidity by humidifiers according to the present invention . for example , air can be drawn in from the environment by means of a fan and its temperature and humidity can be conditioned via the modular humidifier and be fed into the care area . a bacteria filter may be arranged in front of the fan in order to protect the patient from microorganisms . as an alternative , the fan may be omitted if compressed air from a central supply system or from gas cylinders is used . the metering can be set with constant volume flow , and optionally mixed with oxygen at a desired concentration . depending on the intended use and the dimensioning of the feed of breathing gas , it is also possible to expose only part of the breathing gas to a humidifier according to the present invention if it is arranged in the form of a bypass in parallel to the rest of the gas flow , i . e ., it humidifies and warms only a partial flow . the only figure schematically shows the arrangement of a respiration humidifier 1 according to the present invention as a compact , modular element of a respirator device . air and oxygen under pressure , or force by a fan 18 , are fed via two gas supply lines 2 , 3 via valves 4 , 5 to a respirator 6 with a suitable mixing means belonging to it as well as a corresponding metering unit . the breathing gas enters the respiration humidifier 1 via a connection line , not shown . the respiration humidifier contains , e . g ., 200 hydrophobic hollow fibers made of ptfe , which are arranged as a parallel bundle and whose interior spaces are in a flow connection with the breathing gas feed line and breathing gas drain line of the respiration humidifier 1 . the heater 8 , indicated schematically , is designed such that the hollow fibers 7 are heated directly and individually in order to bring about the most favorable humidification and heating of the breathing air possible . the water is fed via the line 17 based on the static pressure from a water reservoir 9 , e . g ., in the form of a tube or bag , into a jacket surrounding the water space , so that the hollow fibers 7 are surrounded by water on the outside . an opening 10 for the air being displaced must be present for venting during the filling in of the water . this opening may be designed simply as a porous ptfe surface with corresponding permeability . the water temperature is measured via a suitable temperature sensor 11 , and the heater 8 can thus be controlled . a possible lack of water would additionally be able to be detected via this measuring and control circuit . as an alternative , it would be possible to provide a sensor 12 , e . g ., in the form of a switching element actuated by a float . a collection point 13 for excess water is advantageously located at the gas outlet from the humidifier for the case of a hollow fiber 7 developing a leak and a corresponding excess of water entering the breathing gas line . the desired humidity of the breathing gas can be set by means of a heater 14 arranged in the downstream airway tube and temperature sensors 15 , 16 arranged upstream and downstream . a temperature that is higher at the end of the inspiration tube than at the beginning leads , e . g ., to a reduced relative humidity of the air . the humidified breathing air finally reaches the patient in the direction of the arrow via a mouthpiece or a tube . essential advantages of the present invention result from the compact design , from the possibility of integration in existing respirator systems , from the satisfactory hygienic properties due to the closed water system , and from a simple design without a pump and with fewer tubes in comparison with usual systems . while specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | 0 |
referring to fig1 , there is shown a damper for loudspeakers in an embodiment according to the present invention , in which the damper 10 comprises a body 11 formed in a ring shape having a plurality of corrugations 12 of concentric circles . a pair of tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 are provided as bonded in strip shape on one surface 11 a of the damper body 11 to lie along the shape of the corrugations 12 , with a layer of adhesive agent 14 interposed , from outer peripheral edge 11 b to inner peripheral edge 11 c . outer ends of these tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 extend outward and are provided at tip ends with soldered parts 15 . as has been well known , these soldered parts 15 are connected to relay terminals ( not shown ) of the loudspeaker . inner ends of the wires are also provided with soldered parts 16 which are connected to lead wires ( not shown ) of voice coils on a coil bobbin , as also well known . the damper body 11 is provided at outer periphery with a positioning notch 17 for use upon bonding of the tubular knitted tinsel cord 13 employed in this case is formed by winding copper foils of a copper wire rolled to be less than ¼ of the generant diameter less than 0 . 10 mm around meta - series alamid fibers of single or twin woven center thread of 40 count into a tinsel , and assembling 4 to 16 tinsels into a cord at a weaving pitch of 20 ± 5 / turn , so as to be of a structure less damageable upon being subjected to the heat under pressure . with such assembling of the wires at a coarse weaving pitch , the tubular woven tinsel cord 13 is made to be less breakable upon being worked under pressure but readily crushable to be easily flattened , so that the adhesion properties between molding die gap and the damper body upon molding can be improved and the configure of the corrugations 12 can be stabilized so as not to impair inherent properties of the damper body 11 . further , since the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 employed are small in the thickness , the cords 13 are improved in the bending properties with respect to the vibration , so as to be also improved in the durability . in addition to such bendability because of the special structure of the tinsel cords 13 tubular woven , the cords 13 and damper body 11 are coupled in flexible manner through the adhesive agent 14 having the tackiness , whereby the damper body 11 is further improved in the freedom of motion , with the effect of preventing the breakage of the tinsel cords 13 also improved . in fig2 , there is shown the structure in which the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 are coupled through the adhesive agent 14 onto the damper body 11 . in assembling this structure , the adhesive agent 14 having the tackiness is applied in a strip shape from the inner peripheral edge to the outer peripheral edge on the one surface 11 a of the body 11 , and the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 are placed over the strip of the agent 14 to be bonded to the damper body 11 . even when the adhesive agent 14 strikes through the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 , the agent 14 can maintain its tackiness so that the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 can be kept not to be hardened by the adhesive agent . for this adhesive agent 14 , a product named bond 7 ( by sumitomo - 3m ) of an adhesive agent of acrylic emulsions can be effectively used . this adhesive agent 14 does not lower its adhesivity even after being dried , so as to be of viscoelastic type which maintaining the tackiness . when the damper 10 operates with the voice coils for the vibration of the diaphragm , therefore , the adhesive agent 14 does not disturb the operation but rather acts as a cushion for the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 , so as to improve the freedom of the operation of the damper 10 in cooperation with the excellent bendability of the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 , without any influence on the dynamic properties of the diaphragm eventually , while preventing the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 from being broken . fig3 a to 3 f show respective steps of bonding the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 onto the damper 10 , wherein manufacturing steps of the body 11 of the damper 10 are of known art generally adopted and detailed description thereof shall be omitted here . first , as shown in fig3 a , the damper body 11 is provided with a notch 17 as a positioning guide , at an outer peripheral part used as an adhering margin to a frame or the like part of the loudspeaker . for the shape of this notch 17 , any proper one of square and round bottomed u - shape and an arcuate shape can be adopted . the notch 17 is used as a positioning mark at a bonding step of the tubular knitted tinsel cords 13 with respect to the damper body 11 , in the intention of improving the positioning precision and the workability . then , as shown in fig3 b , the damper body 11 is disposed at a predetermined position on a working station by means of the notch 17 . at the position where the damper body 11 is disposed , a projection or the like ( not shown ) fittable in the notch 17 is provided , and the positioning may be made by engaging the notch 17 to the projection upon the disposition of the body . the adhesive agent 14 is then applied to predetermined zones on the one surface 11 a of the body 11 by means of a biaxial coating robot 20 . a proper amount of the adhesive agent 14 can be applied uniformly onto the corrugations 12 therealong , without being applied excessively to fill up grooves in the corrugations . while the biaxial coating robot 20 has been referred to as means for applying the adhesive agent 14 , the invention is not limited thereto but any other proper means may be employed . the damper body 11 coated with the adhesive agent 14 at two zones substantially parallel with each other as shown in fig3 c is left to stand for a predetermined period to dry the agent . as shown in fig3 d , the tubular knitted tinsel cord 13 cut into a predetermined length at every disposition and having soldered parts 15 at both ends is placed on a combining molding die 21 as folded back at the central portion hung around a center hook 21 a of the die 21 to lie substantially in parallel . the combining molding die 21 comprises a base die 21 a including a damper mounting part 22 a having the center hook 21 a , and a pressure mold 21 b disposed on the base die 21 a , the damper body 11 is mounted on the damper mounting part 22 a configured substantially the same as the damper body 11 , with the one surface 11 a faced to the mounting part 22 a and with the notch 17 positioned between the parallel folded back portions of the tinsel cord 13 , and the body 11 is pressed against the cord 13 by means of the pressure mold 21 b . at this pressing step , no heat is applied , and it is possible to restrain the adhesive agent 14 from being fused to adhere to the die 21 a so as to contaminate therearound . then the damper body 11 to which the folded - back tinsel cord 13 is bonded , as shown in fig3 e , is released from the die 21 , soldered parts 16 are provided to the tinsel cord 13 at positions along the inner peripheral edge of the body 11 , and an excess central folded - back portion 16 a of the cord outside the soldered parts 16 is cut off . in cutting the excess portion 16 a , as shown in fig3 f , certain extent of the portion out of the soldered parts 16 may be left or the portion may be completely removed . fig4 a shows another embodiment of the center hook 21 a of the molding die 21 a , in which the tubular knitted tinsel cord 13 is hung around outer periphery of a disk - shaped part 21 c having a short columnar part 21 b , and the disk - shaped part 21 c has an outer configuration fittable into the aperture 18 of the damper body 11 ( fig1 ). fig4 b shows a further embodiment of the hook , in which a columnar part has in outer periphery thereof a guide groove 21 d for hanging therein the tubular knitted tinsel cord 13 , so that the cord can be prevented from being deviated . | 7 |
referring now to the figures and in particular to fig1 - 5 , an exemplary embodiment of a current trip unit for a circuit breaker according to the present disclosure is shown and is generally referred to by reference numeral 10 . current flowing through trip unit 10 is typically direct current . trip unit 10 , advantageously , includes a blockade latch 20 that can rotate to prevent trip unit 10 from tripping when current is flowing through current leading elements 12 and 14 in a predefined forward direction . blockade latch 20 in trip unit 10 can rotate to permit tripping when current is flowing through current leading elements 12 and 14 in a predefined reverse direction , or when no current is flowing through current leading elements 12 and 14 . current leading elements 12 , 14 are surrounded by two magnetic yokes 16 , 18 . a single current leading element can be used , as well , or more than two current leading elements could be used . the flow of electrical current through current leading elements 12 , 14 generates a magnetic flux or current that is directed through magnetic yokes 16 , 18 . the stronger the current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 , the stronger the magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yokes 16 , 18 . the magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 16 alters the position of a blockade latch 20 as magnetic flux is directed through an oscillator housing 22 and oscillator 23 housed inside . in an exemplary embodiment , oscillator 23 , which emits a magnetic field , is rotated as magnetic flux flows through magnetic yoke 16 and oscillator 23 . rotation of oscillator 23 causes rotation of blockade latch 20 , as the two components are linked . rotation of blockade latch 20 by oscillator 23 causes blockade latch 20 to pivot under a plate 24 into either a blocked or an unblocked position . blockade latch 20 is in an unblocking position when blockade latch is under a recess 26 . blockade latch 20 remains in the unblocking position by resistance from spring 27 , until sufficient magnetic flux acting on armature 23 causes it to shift positions . blockade latch 20 is considered to be in a blocking position when blockade latch 20 is under a bumper 30 . referring now to fig2 , lead rod 32 is mounted within trip unit 10 . lead rod 32 is a linear rod that is positioned perpendicular to plate 24 and attached to plate 24 with securing elements 34 and 36 , but any known attachment means can be used . leading rod 32 is also attached to the base of trip unit 10 with any known attachment means . therefore , lead rod 32 is mounted in the interior of trip unit 10 , attached proximate the top of trip unit 10 ( proximate plate 24 ) and attached proximate the base of trip unit 10 . slidingly attached to lead rod 32 is a movable anchor 40 . lead rod 32 is inserted through a bore proximate the center of anchor 40 , and anchor 40 slides up and down on the axis provided by lead rod 32 when it is acted upon by magnetic yoke 18 . thus , anchor 40 is slidable upon the center axis created by lead rod 32 . at the base of anchor 40 is a spring 42 that resists downward movement of anchor 40 . a certain force exerted by spring 42 must be overcome to enable anchor 40 to move downward . as electric current flows through current lead elements 12 , 14 a magnetic flux is created that attracts anchor 40 downward against spring 42 . attraction of anchor 40 downward by magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 18 causes tripping of trip unit 10 . the strength of electric current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 determines the strength of magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 18 and the potential for tripping of trip unit 10 . also , the ability of trip unit 10 to trip is dependent on the positioning of oscillator 23 and blocking latch 20 . bumper 30 is disposed on anchor 40 , and as previously described , bumper 30 is the element that contacts blockade latch 20 when blockade latch 20 is in the blocking position . attempts by anchor 40 to move downward will be prevented by bumper 30 on anchor 40 interacting with blockade 20 in the blocking position , i . e ., under bumper 30 . trip unit 10 can include a second symmetrically placed blockade latch 20 - 1 ( please modify also number on fig2 ) positioned on the other side of trip unit 10 , opposite blockade latch 20 . including a second blockade latch 20 - 1 on the opposite side of blockade latch 20 enables the better blocking of anchor 40 . a second bumper ( not shown ), similar to bumper 30 , placed on the opposite side of bumper 30 , would enable blockade 20 - 1 to assist in blocking anchor 40 from moving downward . blockade latch 20 - 1 would also be joined to oscillator 23 and would respond simultaneously with blockade 20 and oscillator 23 as they both rotate . magnetic yoke 16 can effect the positioning of blockade latch 20 and oscillator 23 within oscillator housing 22 . more specifically , magnetic flux generated from electrical current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 affects the position of oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 , i . e ., electric current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 generates a magnetic flux that changes the position of oscillator 23 . blockade latch 20 is joined to an oscillator 23 , which oscillates between a blocking and an unblocking position depending on the direction of magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 16 and oscillator 23 . the direction and strength of electric current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 determines the direction of magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 16 and oscillator 23 . oscillator 23 changes position from blocked to unblocked by rotating within oscillator housing 22 around an axis 23 as the magnet field generated by oscillator 23 is confronted by the magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 16 . in response to the magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 16 , which flows perpendicular a magnetic field emitted from oscillator 23 , oscillator 23 rotates slightly into either a blocking or an unblocking position depending on the direction of the magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 16 . magnets 44 on the interior of oscillator 23 can be positioned on both ends of oscillator 23 in order to enable oscillator 23 to emit a magnetic field . in other embodiments a single magnetic can be positioned within oscillator 23 , or oscillator 23 can be magnetized . in some embodiments , magnets 44 are permanent or electromagnetic magnets . magnets 44 are acted upon by magnetic flux 48 flowing through magnetic yoke 16 and oscillator 23 . as magnetic flux 48 flows through oscillator 23 , magnetic flux 48 interacts with the magnetic current originating from magnets 44 , the direction of the magnetic flux flowing through magnetic yoke 16 will cause oscillator 23 to rotate into a blocking or unblocking position . the direction of the magnetic flux 48 flowing through oscillator 23 will determine the direction that oscillator 23 will rotate . if no current is flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 , then no magnetic flux is generated and oscillator 23 and blocking latch 20 will remain in the resting position shown in fig3 . oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 are held in the resting position by spring 27 . one side of spring 27 is held within a notch on a side of blockade latch 20 and the other end of spring 27 is held in place on wall 28 . the potential energy of spring 27 prevents blockade latch 20 from moving into the blocking position without magnetic flux sufficient to overcome the potential energy of spring 27 . fig3 - 5 are sectional views of trip unit 10 that show the different positions of oscillator 23 and blocking latch 20 as magnetic flux 48 flows through magnetic yoke 16 . as previously noted , blockade latch 20 is linked to oscillator 23 and rotation of oscillator 23 leads to the rotation of blockade latch 20 . electric current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 generates a magnetic flux 48 that flows through magnetic yoke 16 and causes rotation of oscillator 23 . oscillator 23 is shown having a generally oval shaped profile , but this exemplary embodiment is only one potential shape for oscillator 23 . oscillator 23 can be other shapes that permit oscillator movement as a result of a magnetic force . for example , oscillator 23 could be round or have rounded ends to permit rotation . in other embodiments , oscillator 23 can be a non - rounded shape , such as a rectangle . if oscillator 23 is a non - rounded shape the oscillator would be unable to rotate and oscillator 23 would need to function in an alternative method . instead of rotating oscillator 23 , it could move linearly , sliding blockade latch 20 into and out of a blocking position . oscillator 23 would slide blockade latch 20 into either a blocking position under bumper 30 , or an unblocking position under recess 26 as magnetic flux affected oscillator 23 . in other embodiments , the axis and position of oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 can be changed from the arrangement described in this disclosure and such changes would be considered within the spirit and scope of the disclosure . for example , oscillator 23 can rotate on an axis perpendicular to axis 23 . fig3 shows the position of bumper 30 , oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 when trip unit 10 has no current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 . in this state oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 are in an unblocking position and anchor 40 and bumper 30 are free to move downward , i . e ., trip unit 10 is ready to trip . since current is not flowing through current leading members 12 , 14 , no magnetic flux is generated and oscillator 23 does not rotate from its resting position . fig4 shows the position of bumper 30 , oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 when trip unit 10 has forward current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 . in this state oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 are in a blocking position and anchor 40 and bumper 30 are blocked from moving downward , i . e ., trip unit 10 is unable to trip . thus , electric current flowing through trip unit 10 in a predefined forward direction will be unable to trip due to blockade latch 20 preventing anchor 40 from moving into the tripped position . this is due to magnetic flux 48 moving oscillator 23 and blockade 20 into a blocking position . contact between bumper 30 and blockade 20 prevents anchor 40 from moving downward and tripping . fig5 shows the position of bumper 30 , oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 when trip unit 10 has reverse current flowing through current leading elements 12 , 14 . in this state oscillator 23 and blockade latch 20 are in an unblocking position and anchor 40 and bumper 30 have already moved downward , i . e ., trip unit 10 is just tripped . thus , electric current flowing through trip unit 10 in a predefined reverse direction does will be capable of tripping due to the position of blockade latch 20 under recess , which will enable anchor to move into the tripped position . this is due to magnetic flux 48 moving oscillator 23 and blockade 20 into an unblocking position . blockade 20 is in a position under recess 26 and anchor 40 is free to move downward and trip . the capability of trip unit 10 to allow electric current to flow in one direction and to prevent electric current to flow in another direction enables trip unit 10 to function as trip unit of rectifier breaker , to protect a rectifier . trip unit 10 has been described as having magnetic yoke 16 to direct magnetic flux 48 to flow through oscillator 23 to change the position of blockade latch 20 , and magnetic yoke 18 to direct magnetic flux 49 ( separate number required for flux in yoke 18 , e . g . 49 ) to flow through anchor 40 to cause tripping . in other embodiments , the task of magnetic yokes 16 , 18 can be consolidated into a single magnetic yoke ( not shown ). a single magnetic yoke would function similarly to the dual yoke embodiment , changing the positioning of anchor 40 , and changing the positioning of oscillator 23 with magnetic flux . the particular type , including materials , dimensions and shape , of the various components of trip unit 10 that are utilized can vary according to the particular needs of trip unit 10 . it should also be noted that the terms “ first ”, “ second ”, “ third ”, “ upper ”, “ lower ”, and the like may be used herein to modify various elements . these modifiers do not imply a spatial , sequential , or hierarchical order to the modified elements unless specifically stated . while the instant disclosure has been described with reference to one or more exemplary embodiments , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope thereof . in addition , many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the scope thereof . therefore , it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment ( s ) disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out the elements of this disclosure , but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
the examples provided in the detailed description are merely examples , which should not be used to limit the scope of the claims in any claim construction or interpretation . to a mixture of 0 . 5 to 5 . 0 parts ( w / w ) of 4 - piperidone hydrochloride monohydrate , preferably 1 . 00 to 3 . 00 parts ( w / w ) and 0 . 5 to 5 . 0 parts ( w / w ) of aniline , preferably 1 . 0 to 2 . 0 parts ( w / w ), 1 to 20 parts ( w / w ) of zinc preferably 4 to 12 parts ( w / w ) and 5 to 100 parts ( w / w ) of 90 % acetic acid preferably 20 to 50 parts ( w / w ) were added and stirred at room temperature for 15 to 35 hrs , preferably 20 to 30 hrs , and then at 50 to 90 ° c ., preferably at 65 to 80 ° c . for 15 to 35 hrs , preferably 20 to 30 hrs . after completion of the reaction , water was added to the reaction mixture and filtered . crushed ice was added to the filtrate and was neutralized with excess of aqueous sodium hydroxide solution . the crude 4 - anilinopiperidine was obtained by filtration . it was then recrystallized with acetone to give colorless needles of 4 - anilinopiperidine , mp 105 - 06 ° c . in a round bottom flask , 1 to 5 parts ( w / w ) of 4 - anilonopiperidine preferably 2 to 3 parts ( w / w ) prepared in step 1 , 0 . 5 to 2 . 00 parts ( w / w ) of 100 % aqueous sodium hydroxide solution preferably 1 to 3 parts ( w / w ) and 2 to 10 parts ( w / w ) of 2 - phenethylbromide , preferably 4 to 6 parts ( w / w ) were taken . the reaction mixture was heated with stirring at 80 to 150 ° c . preferably at 100 to 130 ° c . for 2 to 10 hrs preferably 3 to 7 hrs . the reaction mixture was then poured in the ice cooled water and crude product 4 - anilinophenethylpiperidine was obtained by filtration . the crude product was recrystallized with chloroform - petroleum ether ( 40 - 60 ° c .) to give 4 - anilino - n - phenethyl - piperidine , mp 98 - 100 ° c . a solution of 5 . 5 parts ( w / w ) of 4 - anilino - n - phenethyl - piperidine preferably 1 to 3 parts in 5 to 15 parts ( w / w ) of dichloroethane preferably 8 to 12 parts was taken in a two neck round bottom flask fitted with a reflux condenser , pressure equalizing funnel and calcium chloride guard tube . to this stirred solution , 2 to 20 parts 9 w / w ) of propionyl chloride preferably 5 to 15 parts was added drop wise through pressure equalizing funnel . after 2 to 6 hrs , preferably 4 to 5 hrs stirring at room temperature , the reaction mixture was washed with 20 % sodium hydroxide solution . the washings were extracted with 2 × 50 parts , preferably 65 to 70 parts dichloroethane . the combined organic phase was dried over sodium sulphate and concentrated to give fentanyl . the crude compound was recrystallised from petroleum ether ( 60 to 80 ° c .) to give colourless crystals of pure fentanyl having mp 82 to 83 ° c . in a three neck round bottom flask equipped with mechanical stirrer and water condenser , 15 . 36 gm ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - piperidone hydrochloride monohydrate and 20 . 95 gm ( 0 . 255 moles ) of aniline was added . to this mixture , 26 . 14 gm ( 0 . 40 moles ) of zinc and 120 gm ( 2 . 00 moles ) of 90 % acetic acid were added . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 12 hrs and at 50 to 70 ° c . for 12 hrs . water was then added to the reaction mixture and filtered . crushed ice was added to the filtrate and was neutralized with excess of aqueous sodium hydroxide solution . the crude 4 - anilinopiperidine was obtained by filtration . in two neck round bottom flask equipped with condenser , 17 . 6 gms ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - anilinopiperidine obtained from step 1 , and 50 ml of 100 % sodium hydroxide was added . the reaction mixture was heated up to 120 ° c . and 37 gms ( 0 . 2 moles ) of 2 - phenethyl bromide were then added . the reaction mixture was stirred for 2 hrs . after the completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was poured in the ice cooled water . the crude product was obtained by filtration and recrystallised from petroleum ether ( 60 to 80 ° c .) to give colourless crystals of 4 - anilino - n - phenethyl piperidipure fentanyl n -( 1 - phenethyl - 4 - piperidyl ) propionanilide ). in two neck round bottom flask equipped with condenser pressure equalizing funnel and calcium chloride guard tube , a solution of 28 . 0 ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - anilino n - phenethyl piperidine prepared in step ii , in 55 ml of dichloroethane was taken . to this solution , 9 . 25 gm ( 0 . 10 moles ) of propionyl chloride was added drop wise through pressure equalizing funnel with continuous stirring . after the completion of the addition , the mixture was further stirred for 5 hrs . after the completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was washed with 20 % sodium hydroxide solution . the aqueous phase was extracted with 2 × 50 ml of dichloromethane the combined organic extract was dried over sodium sulphate and concentrated to give crude fentanyl . the crude product was recrystallised from petroleum ether ( 60 to 80 ° c .) to give colourless crystals of pure fentanyl having mp 82 to 83 ° c . in a three neck round bottom flask equipped with mechanical stirrer and water condenser , 15 . 36 gm ( o . 10 moles ) of 4 - piperidone hydrochloride monohydrate and 9 . 3 gm ( 0 . 10 moles ) of aniline were added . to this mixture , 6 . 5 gm ( 0 . 10 moles ) of zinc and 0 . 6 gm ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 90 % acetic acid were added . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 24 hrs and at 50 to 70 ° c . for 24 hrs . water was then added to the reaction mixture and filtered . crushed ice was added to the filtrate and was neutralized with excess of aqueous sodium hydroxide solution . the crude 4 - anilinopiperidine was obtained by filtration . in two neck round bottom flask equipped with condenser 17 . 6 gms ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - anilinopiperidine obtained from step 1 , and 100 ml of 100 % sodium hydroxide were added . the reaction mixture was heated up to 140 ° c . and 18 . 5 gms ( 0 . 1 moles ) of 2 - phenethyl bromide was then added . the reaction mixture was stirred for 4 hrs . after the completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was poured in the ice cooled water . the crude product was obtained by filtration and recrystallised from petroleum ether ( 60 to 80 ° c .) to give colourless crystals of 4 - anilino - n - phenethyl piperidipure fentanyl n -( 1 - phenethyl - 4 - piperidyl ) propionanilide ). in two neck round bottom flask equipped with condenser pressure equalizing funnel and calcium chloride guard tube , a solution of 28 . 0 ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - anilino n - phenethyl piperidine prepared in step ii , in 100 ml of dichloroethane was taken . to this solution , 18 . 5 gm ( 0 . 20 moles ) of propionyl chloride was added drop wise through pressure equalizing funnel with continuous stirring . after the completion of the addition , the mixture was further stirred for 1 hrs . after the completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was washed with 20 % sodium hydroxide solution . the aqueous phase was extracted with 2 × 100 ml of dichloromethane . the combined organic extract was dried over sodium sulphate and concentrated to give crude fentanyl . the crude product was recrystallised from petroleum ether ( 60 to 80 ° c .) to give colourless crystals of pure fentanyl having nip 82 to 83 ° c . in a three neck round bottom flask equipped with mechanical stirrer and water condenser , 15 . 36 gm ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - piperidone hydrochloride monohydrate and 16 . 43 gm ( 0 . 2 moles ) of aniline were added . to this mixture , 130 gm ( 2 . 0 moles ) of zinc and 120 gm ( 2 . 00 moles ) of 90 % acetic acid were added . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 24 hrs and at 50 to 70 ° c . for 24 hrs . water was then added to the reaction mixture and filtered . crushed ice was added to the filtrate and was neutralized with excess of aqueous sodium hydroxide solution . the crude 4 - anilinopiperidine was obtained by filtration . in two neck round bottom flask equipped with condenser 17 . 6 gms ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - anilinopiperidine obtained from step 1 , and 50 ml of 100 % sodium hydroxide was added . the reaction mixture was heated up to 60 ° c . and 27 . 75 gms ( 0 . 15 moles ) of 2 - phenethyl bromide was then added . the reaction mixture was stirred for 5 hrs . after the completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was poured in the ice cooled water . the crude product was obtained by filtration and recrystallised from petroleum ether ( 60 to 80 ° c .) to give colourless crystals of 4 - anilino - n - phenethyl piperidipure fentanyl n -( 1 - phenethyl - 4 - piperidyl ) propionanilide ). in two neck round bottom flask equipped with condenser pressure equalizing funnel and calcium chloride guard tube , a solution of 28 . 0 ( 0 . 10 moles ) of 4 - anilino n - phenethyl piperidine prepared in step ii , in 150 ml of dichloroethane was taken . to this solution , 9 . 25 gm ( 0 . 10 moles ) of propionyl chloride was added drop wise through pressure equalizing funnel with continuous stirring . after the completion of the addition , the mixture was further stirred for 10 hrs . after the completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was washed with 20 % sodium hydroxide solution . the aqueous phase was extracted with 2 × 100 ml of dichloromethane . the combined organic extract was dried over sodium sulphate and concentrated to give crude fentanyl . the crude product was recrystallised from petroleum ether ( 60 to 80 ° c .) to give colourless crystals of pure fentanyl having mp 82 to 83 ° c . alternative combinations and variations of the examples provided will become apparent based on this disclosure . it is not possible to provide specific examples for all of the many possible combinations and variations of the embodiments described , but such combinations and variations may be claims that eventually issue . | 2 |
reference is now made to fig2 a which is a schematic illustration of a pet system 100 with simultaneous or sequential , single - photon transmission scanning for attenuation corrections , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . pet system 100 comprises two scintillation detectors 102 and 104 , having imaging surfaces 103 and 105 respectively . detectors 102 and 104 are disposed opposite each other and are mounted on a gantry ( not shown ). the gantry rotates detectors 102 and 104 around the z axis , at point o , perpendicular to the x - y plane . a patient , having a two dimensional projection 110 on the x - y plane is situated between detectors 102 and 104 . a line - source assembly 112 is located near detector 102 , slightly shifted from detector 102 along the x axis and preferably ( but not necessarily ), flush with imaging surface 103 . the field of view of line source 112 in the x - y plane is described by lines 122 and 123 , connecting line source 112 and the edges of receiving detector 102 . in order for there to be no blind spot in the attenuation map , the field of view of line source 112 must encompass the center of rotation . this situation is achieved by the asymmetry of the setup , in that detector 104 , the receiving detector for the transmission data , extends to the side of detector 102 opposite line source 112 . note that the amount of asymmetry and the distance of the source from the edge are exaggerated in fig2 a and 2b . in a practical system in which the detectors have an extent of 54 cm , the source is 3 cm from the edge and the edge is extended by 3 cm or more . in addition , the source may be placed above the plane of detector , for example by 3 - 5 cm . in this case however , the lower detector must be extended by a greater amount . however , it should be understood that the distances and dimensions are based on the geometry of the system , as described above . by comparison , in fig1 ( from u . s . pat . no . 5 , 900 , 636 ), a synmmetric situation is described . the field of view of source 30 a is defined by lines 68 where internal line 68 is less acute than a line connecting the source with the center of the origin of the x - y plane , and a blind spot , bounded by circle 76 , is generated . reference is now made to fig2 b which is a schematic illustration of an alternative spect or pet system 200 with simultaneous or sequential , single - photon transmission scanning for attenuation corrections , in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention . in fig2 a - 2f , the numbers n 00 , n 02 - n 05 , n 12 , n 22 and n 23 refer to the same features , where n = 1 for fig2 a , n = 2 for fig2 b , n = 3 for fig2 c , n = 4 for fig2 d , n = 5 for fig2 e and n = 6 for fig2 e . in system 200 , two scintillation detectors 202 and 204 , of equal dimensions , having imaging surfaces 203 and 205 respectively , are used . detectors 202 and 204 are rotated about a center o , which is shifted from the center of the rectangle formed by detectors 202 and 204 by an amount large enough so that the center of rotation is within the field of view ( 222 , 223 ) of a source 212 . in a practical system in which the detectors have an extent of 54 cm , the source is 3 cm from the edge of and the center is offset by 2 cm or more . in addition , the source may be displaced toward the plane of the other detector , for example by 3 - 5 cm . in this case however , the lower detector must be extended by a greater amount . however , it should be understood that the distances and dimensions are based on the geometry of the system , as described above . fig2 c shows a system 300 in which source 312 is within the boundaries of the rectangle formed by the detectors . here again , without any changes in the normal center of rotation or the size of the opposing detector , the center of rotation would be outside the fan beam 233 , 323 . an extension to detector 302 solves the problem . fig2 d shows a system 400 in which the position of the source is similar to that of fig3 c . however , the solution of the problem is to offset the center of rotation as in fig2 b . fig2 e and 2f show embodiments of the invention in which the portion of the detector behind the source is removed . this may be possible ( although not necessarily desirable ) if the source is placed in a housing that blocks the portion of the detector behind the source . while the center of rotation in fig2 b , 2 d and 2 f is shown as being offset to the left of the center of the rectangle formed by the detectors , it is also possible to achieve the same effect by moving the center of rotation downward . in the embodiments of fig2 a - 2f , projections through the patient , as the system rotates , cover all parts of the patient cross - section 110 , such that data for an attenuation map of the patient , with no blind spots can be acquired . additionally or alternatively , if a blind spot does occur , it is possible to interpolate the values from the edge of the blind spot to “ fill ” the hole with continuous attenuation information . while fig2 a - 2f show either extension of one of the detectors or movement of the center of rotation , it should be understood that a combination of a smaller extension and a smaller offset may be utilized to overcome the problem of dead space in the center . reference is now made to fig3 a which is a schematic illustration of line source rod 140 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the purpose of the line source is to provide multiple fan - beams so that scanning of many slices along the z direction can be obtained at one time . fig3 a illustrates a radio - opaque ( e . g ., tungsten ) rod into which blind holes 142 are drilled at equal distances . while conical holes are shown , round holes or holes with other shapes may be used . radioactive material 144 of the desired properties is inserted into each hole 142 . in some preferred embodiments of the invention , glue is used to keep radioactive material 144 in place . alternatively , the radioactive material 144 is in itself a metal which can be fused in each hole 142 . alternatively , the radioactive material 144 is molten and poured into each hole 142 where it hardens into a solid . alternatively , the radioactive material is embedded in a ceramic matrix or embedded in an epoxy material . conveniently , the radiation source is cs 137 , having a 662 kev peak . preferably , the length of rod 140 ( which serves as line sources 112 and 212 in fig2 a and 2b ) in the z direction is substantially the same as the length of detectors 102 , 104 , 202 and 204 in the z direction . reference is now made to fig3 b and 3c which schematically illustrate the line - source assembly 150 from top and side views respectively , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . line source assembly 150 comprises a shielded box 152 such as a lead or a tungsten box . preferably , the length of box 152 is substantially the same as the length of detectors 102 , 104 , 202 or 204 in the z direction . preferably , the width of box 152 is given by a parameter w that will be described shortly . preferably , box 152 has a shielded top 154 , preferably of the same material as box 152 . top 152 is shown as a flat plate , however , rounded plates can also be used . preferably slots 156 are formed in top 154 , spaced at the same distances as are sources 144 . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the distance between the slot centers ( and the sources is 21 mm . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the width of each slot 156 is 2 . 4 mm and the thickness of the top is 30 mm . preferably , rod 140 containing multiple point sources 144 is inserted into box 152 , preferably , close to top 154 . preferably , rod 140 is inserted along a track ( not shown ) so that it can slide easily in and out . preferably , rod 140 is positioned so that each source 144 is directly aligned with a slot 156 . since the radiation being emitted from each slot 156 has a fan - beam shape , assembly 150 is basically a line source of multiple , fan beam sources . a feature of assembly 150 is that the radiation can be shut off , by sliding rod 140 so that point sources 144 are no longer aligned with slots 156 . the slots , which are deep and thin , block the radiation . alternatively or additionally , the rod may be rotated so that the radioactive material faces away from the slots . alternatively or additionally , slots 156 may be covered with a shielding material . preferably , the length of the slots , w is such that the field of view of the radiation passing the slot is the same as that formed by the geometry of the source and detectors , namely the field of view defined in fig2 a by lines 122 and 123 , and in fig2 b by lines 222 and 223 . each of detectors n 02 , n 04 includes a scintillation crystal , an array of photomultiplier tubes ( pmts ) arranged in a conventional matrix , various processing circuitry , and a processing unit . gamma camera detectors such as detectors n 02 , n 04 are well known ; accordingly , a detailed description of the internal components of the detectors is not necessary to an understanding of the present invention . detectors n 02 , n 04 may be any gamma detectors or gamma cameras as known in the art , such as solid state detectors . in some preferred embodiments the gantry can rotate detectors n 02 and n 04 individually or in unison , about axis of rotation z . the 180 °- detector configuration , shown in fig2 a - 2f , is intended to facilitate coincidence ( pet ) imaging . for pet imaging a coincidence detector as known in the art is used to determine coincidence of events detected by the opposing detectors . in some preferred embodiments systems n 00 may be used as spect systems or as pet systems or as both spect and pet systems . for some systems , for example for pet , a collimator is not required . in general , for such systems , if lower energy gamma rays are used for the transmission imaging , a low energy collimator having septa along width of the beam can be used on detectors m 02 . alternatively , if septa are used in the pet system ( as described for example in u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 129 , 078 , filed aug . 5 , 1998 and entitled “ gamma ray collimator ”, now u . s . pat . no . 6 , 271 , 524 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference ) then a higher energy gamma ray is used for the transmission radiation source , such that the septa are substantially transparent to the transmission radiation . for spect systems for which a collimator is generally provided , a high energy transmission source is used , for which the collimator is substantially transparent . it should be understood , that due to the high collimation of the transmission sources and their spacing , collimation for the transmission receiver can be omitted fig4 shows a functional diagram of a pet system 700 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention . system 700 , includes detectors n 02 and n 04 and associated detector electronics 702 and 704 , which produce position and energy signals x ′, y ′, e and x ″, y ″ and e for the positions and energy of the events detected on the detectors . associated with detector n 04 is an energy filter 706 which passes only events having the correct energy associated with the pet image . an energy filter 708 , associated with detector n 02 passes events associated with the attenuation measurement ( transmission radiation ), to an attenuation reconstructor 710 which constructs an attenuation map , utilizing methods known in the art . reconstructor 710 transforms the attenuation map at the transmission energy to attenuation values at the emission energy . energy filter 708 passes events having energy associated with the pet image to a coincidence detector 710 which also receives events from filter 706 having this same energy . coincident events are passed to a pet reconstructor 714 , which operates according to any of the algorithms known in the art , for example that shown in pct application no . pct / il97 / 00128 , filed on apr . 17 , 1997 , now wo publication wo 98 / 47103 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . the pet image is corrected either after or during its reconstruction , based on the attenuation map generated by attenuation reconstructor 710 . the attenuation correction is shown as being performed in a corrector 716 , to produce a corrected pet image 718 . it should be understood that fig4 is a functional representation of the pet system and does not necessarily represent particular hardware , which may be any suitable hardware as known in the art . furthermore , some or all of the data processing indicated in fig4 may be performed by dedicated hardware or by software in a computer or by a combination of the two . furthermore , while certain steps are shown in a particular order ( for example , energy filtering before coincidence detection and attenuation correction after pet reconstruction ) the steps can be performed in reverse order or as part of a single procedure . the present invention has been described using non - limiting detailed descriptions of preferred embodiments thereof that are provided by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention . variations of embodiments described will occur to persons of the art . the disclosed embodiments each have a plurality of feature , some of which may be added to other embodiments and some of which may be omitted . furthermore , the terms “ comprise ,” “ include ,” and “ have ” or their conjugates , mean , when used in the claims , “ including but not necessarily limited to .” the scope of the invention is limited only by the following claims . | 6 |
because of the large size of the vrm there are strong fringing fields that lead to eddy current artifacts unless active shielding is used . also , the vrm design requires the generation of the gradient fields over a much larger volume then necessary if only a limited anatomical region is of interest . this leads to a very high stored energy in the gradient magnet fields . the large extent of the vrm gradient fields leads directly to high coil inductance , power dissipation and db / dt , all of which limit the peak gradient strength . the high inductance limits the slew rate thereby increasing the acquisition time . by using a smaller resonator whose gradient field is more localized to the field of interest , the total field energy is facilitated being reduced . for example , higher gradient strengths may be attained prior to reaching the same peak gradient strength . a lower coil inductance permits higher slew rates . smaller coils positioned away from a coil cryostat facilitate reducing eddy current effects and may lessen or eliminate the need for shielding . smaller coils also consume less volume inside a patient bore of the vrm resulting in a more open and patient - friendly scanner that allows greater access to the patient for both stimulation and observation during functional imaging . a local gradient coil packaged with an associated rf coil may be called a surface resonator module ( srm ). in one embodiment , a second set of gradient coils may be placed above or on the opposite side of the patient to obtain an overall more uniform gradient field . srm packages may experience limitations . the srm fov may be small since the srm field decreases at a distance approaching the narrowest coil width . the gradient fields may be nonlinear at the fov center contributing to image distortion that may be difficult to correct if there are large cross gradient terms . in one embodiment , one of the gradient coils has a uniform field term which interacts with a b o field that results in a strong torque . such limitations may be overcome to design coils that facilitate coil interchangeability , and reliable and convenient mounting and securing hardware . a potentially small size of srms allows multiple uses . in one embodiment , srms are used as interchangeable structures completely replacing the vrm of a scanner . in this embodiment , srms permit a greater openness and patient accessibility and mobility , and / or permit the use of a smaller main magnet . in an alternative embodiment , srms fit within existing vrm structures and permit imaging at high resolution and high slew rate of small anatomical regions . an srm that performs the functions discussed above may be described through mathematical forms for the current densities and stream functions for full x , y and z coil sets and their extension via fourier series . as used herein , the terms “ coil ” and “ loop ” include any shape that can be formed having a first end of a linear segment adjacent a second opposite end such as , for example , a circle , ellipse , rectangle , and a square . the surface coil can be mounted on any suitable substrate for convenience in handling and positioning . suitable substrates are materials that are nonconductive and non - magnetic . additionally , a conductor material of the coils includes a high electrical conductivity such as , for example , but not limited to copper , silver , and superconducting materials . fig1 is a cross - sectional view of an exemplary magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) scanner 100 that includes a volume resonator module ( vrm ) 102 . vrm 102 includes a substantially cylindrically symmetrical body 104 sized to surround an entire subject body . vrm 102 includes a main magnet 106 that includes an outer peripheral surface 108 that defines a warm bore 110 of vrm 102 , and an inner peripheral surface 112 that defines a patient bore 114 of vrm 102 . a patient table 116 for supporting a patient ( not shown ) within patient bore 114 , during an examination , is represented by chord 116 . vrm 102 occupies approximately thirty - seven percent of the volume within warm bore 110 . the volume within warm bore 110 that is available for a patient is further reduced by an inaccessible region 118 beneath the patient table . vrm 102 may occupy approximately fifty percent or more of a cross section of warm bore 110 making it difficult to perform studies which require interaction with the subject . fig2 is a graph illustrating an exemplary streamline pattern 200 for a z - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 1 : 1 . in the exemplary embodiment , a set of current streamlines 202 that channel a coil current 204 to flow in a desired pattern on an etched or machined conductor plane 206 is determined . conductor plane 206 is formed on an insulating substrate 208 . the current is maintained in a fixed plane to form a one - sided gradient coil that has substantially linear gradient fields in any of the three cartesian directions . as used herein , a z - axis is taken along the cylindrical axis ( not shown ) of a magnetic field b o of main magnetic 106 , such that z - axis is parallel to b o . in reference to patient table 116 , an x - axis may be taken as horizontal ( parallel to the table ) and a y - axis may be taken as vertical ( perpendicular to the plane of the patient table ). from the above , a large family of coils that have current symmetric or anti - symmetric in z may be defined that produce substantially line , “ gradient ” fields around the plane with z = 0 . in the exemplary embodiment , the coils are planar and the current density has only x and z components as the coordinate y is perpendicular to the plane of conductor 206 . in an alternative embodiment , coil substrate 208 may be deformed or curved in any manner that preserves the symmetry between the coil elements at + and − x and at + and − z without changing the coil from the gradient coil characteristic . precise values of gradient strength for a given current and the departure from linearity of the resulting field may be modified if a non - planar substrate is used . still , a resulting gradient field pattern may be determined from the biot - savart law . a result of this is that if the coil is designed to operate on a non - planar substrate the equation of the surface , y = y ( x , z ) should be used in determining the optimum current distribution of current on the coil surface and the resulting field patterns . it may be advantageous to carry out a mapping of coordinates from ( x , z ) to coordinates on the surface . additionally , the coils need not be located in the ( x , z ) plane , vertical orientations ( y , z ) plane or oblique orientations are also possible . a stream function , sf , is defined in terms of the surface current density , λ , by sf ( x , z ) = ∫ coiledge ( x , z ) λ z ( x , z ) ⅆ z . in the exemplary embodiment , there is no current flow perpendicular to the streamlines , therefore the equation of the streamlines is given by : also , a continuity of current requires that the divergence of the surface current density be zero , or , a coil which functions as a z - gradient coil may have the property that λ x ( x , z )= λ x (− x , z ) and λ z ( x , z )= λ z ( x ,− z ). a simple trigonometric function which satisfies this condition is : j x = a cos π x 2 w x sin π z 2 w z , with j z = - a w z w x cos π z 2 w z sin π z 2 w x and sf = 2 a π w z cos π x 2 w x cos π z 2 w z . here w x and w z are the half - widths of the coil in the x and z directions respectively . one example of a current pattern for a z - gradient coil based on these streamlines is shown in fig2 . note that these stream function suggest whole families of z - gradient coils based on varying the coil aspect ratio , w x / w z . in addition , still other z - gradient coils can be formed by considering cosine and sine functions of higher orders . as an example , j x = a cos n π x 2 w x sin n π z 2 w z with n odd . and with j z = - a w z w x cos n π z 2 w z sin n π x 2 w x . this also permits the design of a large family of coils by superposition and the use of the fouler series . fig3 is a graph illustrating an exemplary streamline pattern 300 for a y - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 1 : 1 . a set of y - gradient coils may be derived from the following stream functions . j x = a cos π x 2 w x cos π z w z , with j z = a 2 w z w x sin π z w z sin π x 2 w x and sf = - a π w z cos π x 2 w x sin π z w z . one aspect of the y - gradient coils derived from these streamlines is the presence of a non - zero b field at the center of the fov . in the exemplary embodiment , a second y - gradient coil ( not shown ) with the opposite polarity is placed beneath the first coil and to adjust the currents in the two coils are adjusted such that the b field of the combined coils is zero at the center of the fov . fig4 is a graph illustrating an exemplary streamline pattern 400 for an x - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 1 : 1 . a set of x - gradient coils may be derived from the following stream functions . j x = a cos π x 2 w x sin π z 2 w z , with j z = - a w z w x cos π x 2 w z sin π x 2 w x and sf = 2 a π w z cos π x 2 w x cos π z 2 w z . the above described coils are exemplary only and not limiting . after consideration of specific clinical goals of the coils , the coils to be designed and tested may not be of the simple forms given above , but would incorporate higher order terms from the fourier series representation to tailor the resultant fields to the specific application . in addition , it is not necessary that coils built with the above streamlines be located on a perfectly flat surface . if the basic coil symmetry is preserved , the coil substrate may be warped or curved as desired without changing the basic field nature . however , the field details may depend on a precise shape of the substrate surface . fig5 is a graph illustrating an exemplary streamline pattern 500 for a z - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 2 : 1 . pattern 500 may be based on the stream function used for the streamline pattern shown in fig2 by varying the coil aspect ratio , w x / w z . in other embodiments , other aspect ratio coils may be designed using the same stream function with any number of different aspect ratios . fig6 is a graph illustrating an exemplary streamline pattern 600 for a y - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 2 : 1 . pattern 600 may be based on the stream function used for the streamline pattern shown in fig3 by varying the coil aspect ratio , w x / w z . in other embodiments , other aspect ratio coils may be designed using the same stream function with any number of different aspect ratios . fig7 is a graph illustrating an exemplary streamline pattern 700 for a x - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 2 : 1 . pattern 700 may be based on the stream function used for the streamline pattern shown in fig4 by varying the coil aspect ratio , w x / w z . in other embodiments , other aspect ratio coils may be designed using the same stream function with any number of different aspect ratios . each of the coils included in a srm may have different aspect ratios . for example , a srm may include a z - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 1 : 1 . a y - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 2 : 1 , and an x - gradient coil with an aspect ratio of x : z = 3 : 1 . many other coil designs may be derived from each of the three coil designs and stream functions given above . in this case , the sine and cosine functions given should be considered as only the first terms of a fourier series , where the subsequent terms in the series maintain the basic symmetry in x and z . this technique is also applicable to the design on non - planar surface gradient coils . fig8 is a three - dimensional graph 800 of a pressure plot across an exemplary imbalanced basket z - coil . when a gradient coil that is single - sided and flat , or slightly curved is operated within a cylindrical magnet mri system , the current that produces the magnetic field gradient along the magnet axis for the z - gradient coil produces a net torque . this is due to an asymmetry of a transverse component , designated x , of the current . the asymmetry is required in order to produce a field that has the appropriate variation with displacement along z . assuming a uniform main field , the asymmetry results in unbalanced lorentz forces directed along the other transverse direction , y , resulting in a net torque about the axis of imbalance , x - axis . therefore , there is a net torque on the whole gradient coil assembly . the torque is illustrated in graph 800 as a local pressure maximum 802 and an aiding local pressure maximum 804 . in a single - sided imbalanced z - coil , due to the asymmetry properties of a current producing a z - gradient , substantially all current density has the same handedness of rotation ( all clockwise or all counterclockwise with respect to the previously defined y direction ). in the exemplary embodiment , the torque tends to rotate the coil about the z = 0 , y = 0 axis . such a torque on a coil would require restraint by sufficient mechanical fastening system to prevent the coil from moving in the mri scanner . fig9 illustrates an exemplary streamline pattern 850 for an balanced basket z - coil 852 that includes an imaging field of view portion 854 . a first cancellation torque portion 856 and a second cancellation torque portion 858 . in the exemplary embodiment , portions 856 and 858 are located outside imaging field of view portion 854 . currents in portions 856 and 858 induce a torque in coil 852 that substantially cancel a torque that may be generated in portion 854 , such that during operation of the coil , at any power level , the net torque generated by coil 852 is substantially zero . additionally , portions 856 and 858 are positioned sufficiently away from field of view portion 854 that portions 856 and 858 have substantially zero net effect on the gradient and / or linearity of field of view portion 854 . fig1 is a three - dimensional graph 900 of a pressure plot across an exemplary balanced basket z - coil . net torque balance is achieved through the generation of opposite torque on the gradient coil exerted by currents located far from the coil imaging field of view , but mechanically and electrically coupled to the gradient assembly . a source of cancellation torque is current density of opposite handedness positioned proximate to a periphery of the coil , and electrically coupled in series with the currents that produce the z - gradient for imaging . treating the whole gradient assembly as a rigid body , it may be torque - balanced in this way . in the pressure plot for a torque - balanced z - coil in fig1 , he torque is illustrated in graph 900 as a local pressure maximum 902 and an aiding local pressure maximum 904 . additionally , a local pressure maximum 906 opposes the torque caused by local pressure maximum 904 and a local pressure maximum 908 opposes the torque caused by local pressure maximum 902 . the result is a substantially net zero torque applied to the rigid body of the gradient assembly . the current density of the torque balancing coils is positioned sufficiently far away from the imaging coils such that image quality is not significantly affected . fig1 is a series of exemplary magnetic field gradient plots 1002 , 1004 , 1006 , 1008 , and 1010 associated with the coil shown in fig1 . plots 1002 , 1004 , 1006 , 1008 , and 1010 illustrate a field gradient at heights above patient table 116 of y = 1 . 5 cm , y = 6 . 25 cm , y = 11 cm , y = 15 . 75 cm , and y = 20 . 5 cm , respectively . an average linearity of the gradient produced by this coil is within 1 % of that from the coil associated with fig8 . also , placing the balancing currents far from the axis of rotation reduces a current demand for achieving net balance , due to the increased torque provided by the extended lever arm . this extension is limited by the homogeneity of the main field in the region into which the coil extends . fig1 is a plot of local gradients for an exemplary no - torque , balanced basket z - coil 1200 associated with the coil shown in fig9 . a basket z - coil may be formed of an insulating substrate that is curved and / or upturned at each end defining a basket - shaped coil . current flowing through streamlines formed on the curved substrate creates a magnetic field gradient 1202 proximate the coil . in the exemplary embodiment , the z - coil is balanced such that currents in coil portions outside the fov of the coil produces a torque that counters the torque acting on the coil due to the interaction of the main magnet magnetic field and the magnetic field produced by the main portion of the coil . the net effect of gradient 1202 is that there is substantially no net torque acting on the body of the coil . a current density distribution that facilitates canceling torque while maintaining the imaging gradient can be obtained through a computerized optimization . for computational efficiency and for convenience of studying the effects of design parameters , the current density function may be expanded as a fourier series containing terms with the correct symmetry to produce the imaging gradient , and proper phase to ensure continuity of current at the coil edges . the design parameters , including the coefficients of expansion , are then adjusted by a software code segment , which evaluates a cost function associated with each candidate set of design parameters . the cost function includes contributions from the deviation from linearity of the field , and the net torque . when this cost is minimized , the optimal current density distribution is obtained . an actual gradient coil consists of a conductor , typically a copper sheet , which has been etched in a spatial pattern so as to direct electronic currents to flow in such a manner that they produce the desired linear magnetic field . conversion from the mathematical current density function to the actual copper pattern meant to carry the physical current is achieved through the “ stream function ” technique described above . the above - described methods and apparatus provide a cost - effective and reliable means for magnetic resonance imaging . more specifically , the methods and apparatus facilitate replacement of volume gradient coils with local gradient coils that increase the available volume within the magnet bore . this open access facilitates reducing the incidence of anxiety and claustrophobia associated with the confining aspect of conventional scanners , and permits a greater access to the patient for observation , intervention or optimal placement of the region of imaging . additionally , methods can be employed for fabricating gradient coils with a substantially net zero torque . therefore , the methods and apparatus described herein facilitate magnetic resonance imaging in a cost - effective and reliable manner . exemplary embodiments of magnetic field gradient generating systems are described above in detail . the systems are not limited to the specific embodiments described herein , but rather , components of each system may be utilized independently and separately from other components described herein . each system component can also be used in combination with other system components . while the invention has been described in terms of various specific embodiments , those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the claims . | 6 |
referring now to fig1 wherein a latch 10 is illustrated installed within a door d1 . the door d1 is a typical door found within a typical household . the latch 10 is a typical latch as illustrated found within a household having a key cylinder disposed upon the other side of door d1 ( not illustrated ). the key cylinder is connected to the operating handle 15 of the latch mechanism 10 ; operating the operating means from a position as illustrated being substantially horizontal to a position substantially normal to that illustrated , will as well known in the art , latch and unlatch the latch mechanism 10 , thus allowing the occupant of a room or household to block their door . installed upon latch mechanism 10 upon the outer surface 2 thereof , are two arcuate segments v1l and v2l . said segments may be installed by gluing or alternative fastening to the surface 2 . it is recommended that the gluing or fastening of the arcuate segments be accomplished with high strength glue or fastening compounds . the arcuate segments v1l and v2l will not interfere with the operation of the operating handle 15 as long as blocking element 20 is not inserted around operating handle 15 while operating handle 15 is in the horizontal position illustrated in fig1 . blocking element 20 is structured in a substantially rectangular shape and having a thickness which is variable depending on the material used to embody the blocking elements . in one embodiment , the blocking element is manufactured from a clear acrylic and thus having a thickness which is considerably thicker than if the blocking element 20 were manufactured from metal . extending through the blocking element 20 is a slot 25 bounded by internal surfaces 27 and 28 , the slot thus taking the shape of the operating handle 15 but being a predetermined amount larger in dimentions to operating handle 15 , thus allowing the snug fit of the blocking element 20 about the operating handle 15 . disposed upon the outer surface of the blocking element which will abut surface 2 in use , are arcuate portions v1h and v2h disposed on the side of the notch so as to compatibly mate with v1l and v2l segments when the blocking element is positioned over the operating handle 15 . in the preferred embodiment the segments v1l , v2l , v1h and v2h are compatible &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;- type segments ( velcro being a registered trademark of velcro inc . of manchester n . h ., u . s . a .). it is , of course , understood that any convenient fastening arrangement can be used which provides the strength to fasten the blocking element 20 in a temporary position proximate operating handle 15 in use , and further allows the removal of the blocking element 20 when desired . referring now to fig2 the blocking element 20 is illustrated in side view installed upon the latch of fig1 wherein the operating mechanism 15 is in a substantially horizontal position , thus allowing the user to insert the blocking element 20 around the operating handle 15 , whereby the operating handle 15 will not turn in spite of the operation of the key cylinder to which it is in communication ( not shown ), because of the fastening portions v1h , v1l and v2h , v2l being in fastening engagement such that the hooks v2h and v1h are fastened to the loops v2l and v1l . in determining the surface area to be covered by arcuate segments preferably manufactured from &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;, it is important to ascertain the amount of torque developed when a key is operated by an individual about a central axis al extending through the latch toward the key cylinder . such a twisting load as operated by a conventional key must present less mechanical advantage than the resistance of the blocking element upon surfaces 27 and 28 against surfaces 18 and 17 respectively of the operating handle . by distributing the load about a greater surface area , such resistance is accomplished , thus preventing the rotation of the operating handle 15 and thus the latching mechanism 10 . of course , it is more probable that the intruder would not have a key and would be attempting to jimmy the lock with a screw driver or alternative tool . the instant invention will , of course , work satisfactorily providing that the force used to turn the key cylinder is less than the resistance available as presented by blocking element 20 . in alternatives when the &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;- type fastening would not work satisfactorily , it is recommended that mechanical fasteners be used to prevent the rotation of the cylinder . such fasteners may be pins or threaded pins which accept wing nuts allowing the removal of the blocking element 20 . it is also conceivable that the device may be held in place by re - useable tapes , screws or any other fastener that would function properly . referring now to fig3 an alternative embodiment of the blocking element 20 in fig1 is illustrated as element 60 blocking an operating handle 30 in the same manner as discussed in relation to fig1 . thus the lock bolt 55 is precluded from unlatching in relation to a striker plate ( not illustrated ) when cover plate 50 is proximate the striker plate , by the blocking element 60 when opening 65 encloses operating handle 30 wherein the top surface 67 and the bottom surface 68 abut the top surface 37 of the operating handle and the bottom surface 38 of said operating handle . again the rotation of the key cylinder about the axis a2 will be restricted by the blocking element and a mechanical advantage presented by the abutting surfaces 67 and 68 . thus , latch mechanism 40 installed on door a2 will not operate until such time as the latch blocking element 60 is removed . alternative fasteners again may be used to removeably fasten the blocking element adjacent the latching mechanism as illustrated . referring now to fig4 and 5 , an alternative embodiment of the instant invention is illustrated wherein a door d3 is latched by a latching mechanism disposed within said door being operated by a push button 90 operable from an unlatched position 92 to a latched position 91 and disposed centrally within the door knob k1 , there being a compatible door knob on the other side of door d3 which has disposed therein in this alternative embodiment a key cylinder . as illustrated in fig4 the button 90 is depressed to lock the latch and prevent unwanted entry . the door knob has a generally flat surface 93 upon which the loop portions of &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;- fastening materials v3r are disposed . it is recommended that the &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ; loops be fastened to the surface 93 by gluing or alternative permanent fastening . the portion v3l is in essence a donut shaped portion in vertical cross section completely circumscribing the button 90 . disposed within the door knob is a surface k1w which may also be used to fasten the loop portions of &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ; fasteners to further improve the operation of the blocking element . this is not however illustrated in relation to fig4 and 5 . the blocking element 100 is substantially frustum shaped , being of compatible shape with the opening defined by the surfaces k1w and 93 , and having a diameter slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the surface 93 . when the generally frustum shaped element 100 is inserted within the opening defined by the surfaces 93 and k1w , it will be held in place as best illustrated in relation to fig5 by the portions v3h fastened to the outer surface of the element upon the portion of the frustum having a smaller diameter . a handle portion 110 is provided to enable the user to position the frustum element within the door knob . the handle 110 has ribbed portions 115 which allow the user to grip the said handle 110 . thus , the element 100 will by fastening itself to the door knob k1 via the compatible engagement of portions v3l and v3h disposed upon the door knob and the element respectively , will prevent the movement of the blocking pin 90 from the position 91 to the position 92 . therefore , if an individual using either a key or a prying device , attempts to rotate the key cylinder and thus the latching mechanism , the presence of the blocking element will strain the movement of said pin 90 and thus prevent the unlatching of the latch mechanism disposed within door 3 . this is best illustrated in relation to fig5 . however , once an individual wishes to remove the blocking element 100 , the door will be free to latch and unlatch as in normal operation . it is recommended , however , that the amount of &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;- type fasteners used provides sufficient resistance to the movement of pin 90 so that any force exerted upon the blocking element 100 will be overcome by the resistance of the hooks v3h to remain fastened to the loop portions v3l . referring now to fig6 an alternative embodiment of the instant invention is illustrated being very similar in arrangement to that of fig4 and 5 but alternatively illustrating the use of a rotating handle k27 disposed within the door knob k2 attached to door d4 . again there are loop portions v4l1 disposed upon the surface 95 which will fasten with the hook portions v4h1 disposed upon the frustum shaped blocking element 120 . the blocking element has a slot 126 disposed therein having an upper and lower surface 127 and 128 respectively . when the hook portions v4h1 are fastened to the loop portions v4l1 , the opening 126 will surround the cylindrical operator k27 and prevent it from rotating as previously mentioned in relation to fig1 . the operation of the blocking mechanism 120 will be identical to the operation of the mechanism in relation to fig1 with the exception of its shape being compatibly determined by the shape of the door knob interior defined by surfaces k2w and surfaces 95 . it is of course possible that that shape be alternative configuration being slightly concave in shape , thus taking the blocking element which would be convex in shape as illustrated in relation to fig7 . referring now to fig7 and 9 , the identical alternative embodiment is that illustrated in fig6 is found , however , being slightly different in that the frustum shaped blocking element is replaced with a convex shaped disc element having in all other attributes identical features to those described in relation to fig7 . thus , the door d4 has a door knob k2 having a crank handle found at the centre thereof k27 , and having a disc shaped opening c disposed at the end of the knob proximate the operating lever k27 . disposed upon the concave surface c is &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;- type loops v4l2 circumscribing the entire surface c about the operating lever k27 . a compatibly shaped convex blocking element is provided having disposed upon its exterior convex surface a &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;- type material v4h2 which will compatibly engage with the loops upon the door knob as described in relation to fig4 through 6 . an opening 126 is disposed upon the side of the blocking element having the convex shape , said opening 126 being compatible with the operating lever k27 and having an upper and lower surface 127 and 128 respectively to block the movement of the handle k27 in use . again , a ribbed portion 125 having ribs 129 is provided as a handle for the user . thus , again the rotation of the handle k27 will be blocked by the blocking element 120 and thus prevent the unlatching of the latching mechanism within door d4 until such time as the disc shaped blocking element 120 is removed . again , the amount of &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ; used must be sufficient to prevent the rotation of the handle k27 when the key or a prying device is used to turn the key cylinder . as in the case as described in relation to the preferred embodiment illustrated in fig1 the resistance of the &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ; must be greater than the torque load applied to rotate the handle k27 . referring now to fig1 , 11 , 12 and 13 , an alternative embodiment of the blocking element is provided being situated upon the latch as described in relation to fig1 but having an alternative form to that described in relation to fig1 . thus , a door d1 has a latch operating portion 15 disposed centrally within a latch casing 10 . the handle 15 is rotatable about an axis a1 as was the latch in fig1 . the blocking element 150 is thus provided having two primary components 160 and 170 as best illustrated in relation to fig1 . portions 160 and 170 are hingeably connected by flanges 165 disposed within 160 and by 175 disposed within 170 . a pin 151 passes through the opening formed within the flanges and thus allows for the fastening of members 160 and 170 . pins p pass through openings ( not shown ) to fasten the element 160 to the latch housing 10 . elements 170 and 160 are very similar in shape and appear to be symmetrical about the pin 151 . however , when the blocking element 150 is installed upon the door latch housing 10 as illustrated in relation to fig1 , the operating handle 15 will not be interfered by in any way as best illustrated in relation to fig1 , thus the portion 160 is installed as illustrated in fig1 to rest against the exterior of the housing 10 but not block the operation of the operating lever 15 until such time as the locking to fig1 and 11 wherein surfaces 171 , 172 and 173 will abut the respective surfaces 11 &# 39 ;, 12 &# 39 ; and 13 &# 39 ; and thus prevent the rotation of the operating handle 15 as previously described in relation to fig1 . a &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ; patch is disposed upon the surfaces which abut in use of elements 160 and 170 . the amount of &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ;- type material used or alternative fastening materials used will depend upon the weight of the element 170 . thus , the &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ; fastener is used as a retaining element to prevent the fitting of element 170 in a downward direction . thus , tab v4l4 having loops disposed thereupon disposed upon portion 160 and pad v4h4 disposed upon the surface of portion 170 will , as illustrated in fig1 , fasten to one another and thus retain portion 170 in blocking engagement with the handle 15 of the latch mechanism as best illustrated in relation to fig1 . referring to fig1 , the compatible shape of the blocking element at the remote portions of 170 are illustrated . thus , it can be seen that the blocking element may be embodied in a multiplicity of fashions and still retain the subject matter of the instant invention . it is not necessary that &# 34 ; velcro &# 34 ; fasteners be used and any alternative fastening may be used depending on the embodiment of the blocking element and the latch upon which it is to be installed . for example , the blocking elements may be used and installed upon the controls for stove burners found within modern kitchens as a child - proof blocking element and thus preventing the rotation of the dials upon the stove . in accomplishing this task , the fasteners will be installed remote the dial fastening the blocking element to the supporting super structure for the dials and preventing the rotation of the dial by fastening of the blocking element thereto . as many changes can be made to the preferred embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained herein be interpretted as illustrative of the invention and not in a limiting sense . | 8 |
methods for controlled assembly of silk fibroin films using silk fibroin solutions are described . these methods provide a unique stepwise deposition process of silk fibroin films that allows for a high degree of control over fibroin layer thickness and that , if desired , can be performed in the absence of organic solvents as a completely aqueous process . the methods described herein enable assembly of biocompatible silk fibroin coatings that can be functionalized by specific incorporation of bioactive molecules for use in applications such as medical device coatings , controlled release biomaterials , tissue engineering scaffolds , antibacterial coatings , biosensor systems , and wound healing patches . a method is provided for preparing a silk biomaterial coating on a substrate that comprises a ) contacting a substrate with a silk fibroin solution such that the solution forms a layer upon the substrate , an aqueous silk fibroin solution is preferred ; and b ) dehydrating said layer by exposure of the layer to a flow of dehydrating gas . this method allows for control over fibroin layer thickness and for the preparation of ultra - thin coatings ( nm scale ). a stepwise deposition method for preparing a silk biomaterial coating on a substrate is also provided . the method comprises contacting a substrate with an aqueous silk fibroin solution such that the aqueous solution forms a layer upon the substrate . the layer is then dehydrated by exposure of the layer to a flow of dehydrating gas . after dehydrating , a subsequent layer of aqueous silk fibroin solution is added on top of the previously layer and dehydrated . this stepwise deposition process is repeated until the desired number of silk fibroin layers is achieved . as used herein , the phrase “ contacting a substrate ” or “ contacting a dehydrated layer ” refers to any means for applying a silk solution to a substrate . for example , the aqueous silk solution can be poured , or sprayed , onto the substrate or dehydrated layer either with or without the aid of a casting structure . alternatively , the substrate , or substrate comprising a dehydrated fibroin layer , can be dipped into the silk fibroin solution . automated means are also contemplated . as used herein , the term “ fibroin ” includes silkworm fibroin and insect or spider silk protein ( lucas et al ., adv . protein chem 13 : 107 - 242 ( 1958 )). preferably , fibroin is obtained from a solution containing a dissolved silkworm silk or spider silk . the silkworm silk protein is obtained , for example , from bombyx mori , and the spider silk is obtained from nephila clavipes . in the alternative , the silk proteins suitable for use in the present invention can be obtained from a solution containing a genetically engineered silk , such as from bacteria , yeast , mammalian cells , transgenic animals or transgenic plants . see , for example , wo 97 / 08315 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 245 , 012 . the silk fibroin solution can be prepared by any conventional method known to one skilled in the art . preferably the solution is an aqueous solution . for example , b . mori cocoons are boiled for about 30 minutes in an aqueous solution . preferably , the aqueous solution is about 0 . 02m na 2 co 3 . the cocoons are rinsed , for example , with water to extract the sericin proteins and the extracted silk is dissolved in an aqueous salt solution . salts useful for this purpose include lithium bromide , lithium thiocyanate , calcium nitrate or other chemicals capable of solubilizing silk . preferably , the extracted silk is dissolved in about 9 - 12 m libr solution . the salt is consequently removed using , for example , dialysis . if necessary , the solution can then be concentrated using , for example , dialysis against a hygroscopic polymer , for example , peg , a polyethylene oxide , amylose or sericin . this would generate thicker films . preferably , the peg is of a molecular weight of 8 , 000 - 10 , 000 g / mol and has a concentration of 25 - 50 %. a slide - a - lyzer dialysis cassette ( pierce , mw co 3500 ) is preferably used . however , any dialysis system may be used . the dialysis is for a time period sufficient to result in a final concentration of aqueous silk solution between 10 - 30 %. in most cases dialysis for 2 - 12 hours is sufficient . alternatively , the silk fibroin solution can be produced using organic solvents . such methods have been described , for example , in li , m ., et al ., j . appl . poly sci . 2001 , 79 , 2192 - 2199 ; min , s ., et al . sen &# 39 ; i gakkaishi 1997 , 54 , 85 - 92 ; nazarov , r . et al ., biomacromolecules 2004 may - june ; 5 ( 3 ): 718 - 26 . concentrated aqueous silk fibroin solutions and methods for preparing the same are described in pct application pct / us04 / 11199 . in methods of the invention , the deposited aqueous silk fibroin layers are dehydrated using a stream or gentle flow of dehydrating gas . any gas with dehydrating properties can be used to dehydrate the aqueous silk fibroin layers , for example , co 2 , n 2 or hot air . in addition , means for dehydrating gases are known to those skilled in the art . in one preferred embodiment , the dehydrating gas is n 2 . preferably the dehydrating gas induces a β - sheet structure of fibroin , for example when incorporation of a bioactive material is desired . the layers can be dehydrated to various degrees by changing the amount of time each layer is exposed to the stream of gas . as used herein the term “ dehydrating ” refers to the removal of any amount of water , for example , 5 - 15 %, 15 - 35 %, 35 - 50 %, 50 %- 75 %, 75 - 90 %, or 90 %- 100 % removal of water . in methods of the invention , different bioactive materials or components ( e . g . biocompatible polymers ) can be entrapped or immobilized in different layers , or in different locations , to facilitate function and utility of the coating . additionally , layers may be applied that contain no bioactive or therapeutic agents . such “ empty ” layers , sometimes referenced to as “ barrier layers ”, are useful in controlling release of the loaded agents . in certain embodiments it may be desirable to coat the substrate with an “ empty ” layer of silk fibroin before coating with a “ loaded ” layer . in one embodiment , the layered silk fibroin coating comprises a therapeutic agent . the silk fibroin solution can be contacted with a therapeutic agent prior to forming the dehydrated fibroin layer or can be loaded onto the dehydrated layer after it is formed . in one preferred embodiment , the therapeutic agent is entrapped in the silk upon drying of the aqueous fibroin layer with a stream of gas , e . g ., dehydrating the silk fibroin layers with n 2 gas induces a conformation change of the fibroin to the beta sheet structure , which entraps the agent . additional layers can then be added either with the same agent , a different agent or no agent . this stepwise deposition approach also allows entrapment of varied concentrations of therapeutics within each layer . the variety of different therapeutic agents that can be used in conjunction with the biomaterials of the present invention is vast and includes small molecules , proteins , peptides and nucleic acids . in general , therapeutic agents which may be administered via the invention include , without limitation : anti - infectives such as antibiotics and antiviral agents ; viral vectors , chemotherapeutic agents ( i . e . anticancer agents ); anti - rejection agents ; analgesics and analgesic combinations ; anti - inflammatory agents ; hormones such as steroids ; growth factors ( bone morphogenic proteins ( i . e . bmp &# 39 ; s 1 - 7 ), bone morphogenic - like proteins ( i . e . gfd - 5 , gfd - 7 and gfd - 8 ), epidermal growth factor ( egf ), fibroblast growth factor ( i . e . fgf 1 - 9 ), platelet derived growth factor ( pdgf ), insulin like growth factor ( igf - i and igf - ii ), transforming growth factors ( i . e . tgf - β - iii ), vascular endothelial growth factor ( vegf )); nerve growth factors , anti - angiogenic proteins such as endostatin , and other naturally derived or genetically engineered proteins , polysaccharides , glycoproteins , or lipoproteins . growth factors are described in the cellular and molecular basis of bone formation and repair by vicki rosen and r . scott thies , published by r . g . landes company , hereby incorporated herein by reference . additionally , the silk biomaterials of the present invention can be used to deliver any type of molecular compound , such as , pharmacological materials , vitamins , sedatives , steroids , hypnotics , antibiotics , chemotherapeutic agents , prostaglandins , metals , pigments or dyes , and radiopharmaceuticals . the delivery system of the present invention is suitable for delivery of the above materials and others including but not limited to proteins , peptides , nucleotides , carbohydrates , simple sugars , cells , genes , anti - thrombotics , anti - metabolics , growth factor inhibitor , growth promoters , anticoagulants , antimitotics , fibrinolytics , anti - inflammatory steroids , and monoclonal antibodies . additionally , the silk biomaterial pharmaceutical formulation of the invention may also comprise the use of a targeting ligand . targeting ligand refers to any material or substance which may promote targeting of the pharmaceutical formulation to tissues and / or receptors in vivo and / or in vitro with the formulations of the present invention . the targeting ligand may be synthetic , semi - synthetic , or naturally - occurring . materials or substances which may serve as targeting ligands include , for example , proteins , including antibodies , antibody fragments , hormones , hormone analogues , glycoproteins and lectins , peptides , polypeptides , amino acids , sugars , saccharides , including monosaccharides and polysaccharides , carbohydrates , vitamins , steroids , steroid analogs , hormones , cofactors , and genetic material , including nucleosides , nucleotides , nucleotide acid constructs , peptide nucleic acids ( pna ), aptamers , and polynucleotides . other targeting ligands in the present invention include cell adhesion molecules ( cam ), among which are , for example , cytokines , integrins , cadherins , immunoglobulins and selectin . the pharmaceutical formulations of the present invention may also encompass precursor targeting ligands . a precursor to a targeting ligand refers to any material or substance which may be converted to a targeting ligand . such conversion may involve , for example , anchoring a precursor to a targeting ligand . exemplary targeting precursor moieties include maleimide groups , disulfide groups , such as ortho - pyridyl disulfide , vinylsulfone groups , azide groups , and iodo acetyl groups . in one embodiment , the methods of the invention are used to coat an implantable medical device that undergoes flexion or expansion in the course of its implantation or use in vivo . the words “ flexion ” and “ expansion ” as used herein with regard to implantable devices will refer to a device , or portion thereof , that is bent ( e . g ., by at least 45 degrees or more ) and / or expanded ( e . g ., to more than twice its initial dimension ), either in the course of its placement , or thereafter in the course of its use in vivo . any biomedical device can be coated using the methods of the invention . the substrate used for coating can also be a catheter . examples of suitable catheters include urinary catheters , which would benefit from the incorporation of antimicrobial agents ( e . g ., antibiotics such as vancomycin or norfloxacin ) into a surface coating , and intravenous catheters which would benefit from antimicrobial agents and or from antithrombotic agents ( e . g ., heparin , hirudin , coumadin ). such catheters are typically fabricated from such materials as silicone rubber , polyurethane , latex and polyvinylchloride . the methods of the invention can also be used to coat stents , e . g ., either self - expanding stents ( such as the wallstent variety ), or balloon - expandable stents ( as are available in a variety of styles , for instance , gianturco - roubin , palmaz - shatz , wiktor , strecker , acs multi - link , cordis , ave micro stent ), which are typically prepared from materials such as stainless steel or tantalum . the suitability of the fibroin coating composition for use on a particular material , and in turn , the suitability of the coated composition can be evaluated by those skilled in the art , given the present description . silk biomaterials containing pharmacological agents may be formulated by mixing one or more therapeutic agents with the aqueous solution that is used to make the layered biomaterial coating . alternatively , a therapeutic agent can be loaded onto a pre - formed layered coating , preferably with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . any pharmaceutical carrier can be used that does not dissolve the silk material . the therapeutic agents may be present as a liquid , a finely divided solid , or any other appropriate physical form . in one embodiment , the layered silk fibroin coating of the invention comprises biologically active compounds that are not therapeutics . for example , compounds that functionalize the coating , such as to render the coating resistant to bacteria ( an anti - bacterial coating ), or that function in attachment , for example that aid in attachment of cells to a coated scaffold . examples of biologically active compounds include , but are not limited to , cell attachment mediators , such as collagen , elastin , fibronectin , vitronectin , laminin , proteoglycans , or peptides containing known integrin binding domains e . g . “ rgd ” integrin binding sequence , or variations thereof , that are known to affect cellular attachment ( schaffner p & amp ; dard , 2003 , cell mol life sci . january ; 60 ( 1 ): 119 - 32 ; hersel u . et al . 2003 biomaterials november ; 24 ( 24 ): 4385 - 415 ); biologically active ligands ; and substances that enhance or exclude particular varieties of cellular or tissue ingrowth . for example , the steps of cellular repopulation of a 3 - dimensional scaffold matrix preferably are conducted in the presence of growth factors effective to promote proliferation of the cultured cells employed to repopulate the matrix . agents that promote proliferation will be dependent on the cell type employed . for example , when fibroblast cells are employed , a growth factor for use herein may be fibroblast growth factor ( fgf ), most preferably basic fibroblast growth factor ( bfgf ) ( human recombinant bfgf , upstate biotechnology , inc .). other examples of additive agents that enhance proliferation or differentiation include , but are not limited to , osteoinductive substances , such as bone morphogenic proteins ( bmp ); cytokines , growth factors such as epidermal growth factor ( egf ), platelet - derived growth factor ( pdgf ), insulin - like growth factor ( igf - i and ii ) tgf - β , and the like . as used herein , the term biologically active materials also encompasses antibodies , dna , rna , modified rna / protein composites , glycogens or other sugars , and alcohols . thus , the bioactive agents suitable for use in methods of the invention include any substance capable of exerting a therapeutic or prophylactic effect as well as agents that have positive pharmacological effects on the expression of the extracellular matrix . the bioactive agent can also be for enhancing wound healing ( e . g . at a vascular site ) and improving the structural and elastic properties at the administration site ( e . g . vascular site ). examples of such active ingredients include antiproliferative substances as well as antineoplastic , antiinflammatory , antiplatelet , anticoagulant , antifibrin , antithrombin , antimitotic , antibiotic , antioxidant , and combinations thereof . a suitable example of an antiproliferative substance includes actinomycin d , or derivatives and analogs thereof ( manufactured by sigma - aldrich 1001 west saint paul avenue , milwaukee , wis . 53233 ; or cosmegen available from merck ). synonyms of actinomycin d include dactinomycin , actinomycin iv , actinomycin i1 , actinomycin x1 , and actinomycin c1 . examples of suitable antineoplastics include paclitaxel ( e . g . taxol ® by bristol - myers squibb co ., stamford , conn . ), docetaxel ( e . g . taxotere ®, from aventis s . a ., frankfurt , germany ) methotrexate , azathioprine , vincristine , vinblastine , fluorouracil , doxorubicin hydrochloride ( e . g . adriamycin ® from pharmacia & amp ; upjohn , peapack n . j . ), mitomycin ( e . g . mutamycin ® from bristol - myers squibb co ., stamford , conn .) and docetaxel . examples of suitable antiplatelets , anticoagulants , antifibrins , and antithrombins include heparin , sodium heparin , low molecular weight heparin , heparin sulfate , heparin having a hydrophobic counterion , hirudin , argatroban , forskolin , vapiprost , prostacyclin and prostacyclin analogs , dextran , d - phe - pro - arg - chloromethylketone ( synthetic antithrombin ), dipyridamole , glycoprotein iib / iiia platelet membrane receptor antagonist , recombinant hirudin , thrombin inhibitor ( available from biogen ), and 7e - 3b ® ( an antiplatelet drug from centocore ). examples of suitable antimitotic agents include methotrexate , azathioprine , vincristine , vinblastine , fluorouracil , adriamycin , and mutamycin . examples of suitable cytostatic or antiproliferative agents include angiopeptin ( a somatostatin analog from ibsen ), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors such as captopril ( available from squibb ), cilazapril ( available from hoffman - laroche ), or lisinopril ( available from merck ); calcium channel blockers ( such as nifedipine ), colchicine , fibroblast growth factor ( fgf ) antagonists , fish oil ( omega 3 - fatty acid ), histamine antagonist , lovastatin ( an inhibitor of hmg - coa reductase , a cholesterol lowering drug from merck ), monoclonal antibodies ( such as pdgf receptors ), nitroprusside , phosphodiesterase inhibitors , prostaglandin inhibitor ( available form glazo ), seramin ( a pdgf antagonist ), serotonin blockers , steroids , thioprotease inhibitors , triazolopyrimidine ( a pdgf antagonist ), and nitric oxide . other therapeutic substances or agents which may be appropriate include mannose - 6 - phosphate , superoxide dismutase , retinoic acid , suramin , asiaticoside , hyaluronan , alpha - interferon , genetically engineered epithelial cells , dexamethasone and rapamycin and structural derivatives or functional analogs thereof , such as 40 - o -( 2 - hydroxy ) ethyl - rapamycin ( known by the trade name of everolimus available from novartis ), 40 - o -( 3 - hydroxy ) propyl - rapamycin , 40 - o -[ 2 -( 2 - hydroxy ) ethoxy ] ethyl - rapamycin , and 40 - o - tetrazole - rapamycin . exposure of the fibroin solution the active ingredient is not permitted to adversely alter the active ingredient &# 39 ; s composition or characteristic . accordingly , the particular bioactive agent is selected for mutual compatibility with the blended composition . the dosage or concentration of the bioactive agent required to produce a favorable therapeutic effect should be less than the level at which the active ingredient produces toxic effects and greater than the level at which non - therapeutic results are obtained . for example , the dosage or concentration of the active ingredient required to inhibit the desired cellular activity can depend upon factors such as the particular circumstances of the patient ; the nature of the trauma ; the nature of the therapy desired ; the time over which the ingredient administered resides at the site of treatment ; and if other bioactive substances are employed , the nature and type of the substance or combination of substances . therapeutic effective dosages can be determined empirically , for example , in the case of a vascular stent , by infusing vessels from suitable animal model systems and using immunohistochemical , fluorescent or electron microscopy methods to detect the agent and its effects , or by conducting suitable in vitro studies . standard pharmacological test procedures to determine dosages are understood by one of ordinary skill in the art . biocompatible polymers can also be added to the silk solution to generate composite matrices in the process of the present invention . biocompatible polymers useful in the present invention include , for example , polyethylene oxide ( peo ) ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 302 , 848 ), polyethylene glycol ( peg ) ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 395 , 734 ), collagen ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 127 , 143 ), fibronectin ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 263 , 992 ), keratin ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 379 , 690 ), polyaspartic acid ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 015 , 476 ), polylysine ( u . s . pat . no . 4 , 806 , 355 ), alginate ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 372 , 244 ), chitosan ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 310 , 188 ), chitin ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 093 , 489 ), hyaluronic acid ( u . s . pat . no . 387 , 413 ), pectin ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 325 , 810 ), polycaprolactone ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 337 , 198 ), polylactic acid ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 267 , 776 ), polyglycolic acid ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 576 , 881 ), polyhydroxyalkanoates ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 245 , 537 ), dextrans ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 902 , 800 ), and polyanhydrides ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 270 , 419 ). two or more biocompatible polymers can be used . when the silk fibroin biomaterial is used to deliver therapeutics , or used in other biomedical applications , preferably , the layered coating is biodegradable . the degradation rate of the biodegradable coating can be controlled by adjusting the degree that each layer is dehydrated and / or by adjusting the thickness of each layer . the thickness of each deposited layer can be controlled by adjusting a variety of parameters , including adjusting the concentration of salt , the concentration of fibroin , and the ph of the aqueous silk fibroin solution used to form the layer and the rinsing medium ( water and methanol ). the level of dryness / dehydration can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of time that the layer is exposed to the dehydrating gas . in one embodiment , the concentration of salt is increased to favor deposition of silk fibroin onto the substrate . salt concentration can be increased by addition of any salt to the aqueous silk fibroin solution including , but not limited to , monovalent and divalent salts such as nacl , kcl and cacl 2 . preferred salts are monovalent , such as nacl and kcl . in one preferred embodiment , the salt concentration is adjusted using nacl . when fibroin is deposited on a hydrophobic substrate , increasing the salt concentration increases the amount of fibroin deposited on the substrate resulting in a more compact structure of fibroin chains . the thickness of each deposited layer can also be controlled by adjusting the concentration of fibroin in the silk fibroin solution used to form the layer . the more concentrated the fibroin in the aqueous silk fibroin solution is , the more fibroin that is deposited on the substrate and a more compact structure is formed . adjusting the ph of the aqueous silk fibroin solution also affects the amount of fibroin deposited on the substrate . when the substrate is a negatively charged substrate , lowering the ph of the silk fibroin solution favors deposition of the silk fibroin onto the substrate . when the substrate is a positively charged substrate , increasing the ph of the silk fibroin solution favors deposition of the silk fibroin onto the substrate . at a low ph ( e . g . 2 . 0 ) the silk fibroin chains have a net positive charge , which favors deposition on a negative substrate . in contrast , at a high ph ( e . g . 12 . 5 ) the silk fibroin chains have a net negative charge , and thus , deposition on a negatively charged substrate is not favored . in one preferred embodiment , methods of the invention are used to generate ultra - thin layers of silk fibroin material of about 1 to about 12 nanometers in thickness . the fibroin silk solution may be coated onto any substrate . the substrate can be of a natural or synthetic nature . for example , the substrate can be made of plastic , wood , glass , leather , cloth , synthetic fibers or any metal or alloy . in addition , the substrate can be of any size or shape . various shaped articles including biomedical devices ( e . g . stents ), biomaterials , biosensors , and tissue engineering scaffolds can easily be layered with silk fibroin using methods of the invention . the biomaterial coatings produced using the methods of the present invention , may be used in a variety of medical applications such as a drug ( e . g , small molecule , protein , or nucleic acid ) delivery device , including controlled release systems , wound closure systems , including vascular wound repair devices , hemostatic dressings , patches and glues , sutures , and in tissue engineering applications , such as , for example , scaffolds for tissue regeneration , ligament prosthetic devices and in products for long - term or biodegradable implantation into the human body . layered films may also be used for a wide range of materials science and engineering needs , or as stand alone materials . in methods of the invention , a single layered drug delivery silk fibroin film can be prepared . alternatively , a layered silk - based drug delivery system can be prepared that comprise a plurality of silk fibroin layers . the silk fibroin in each layer may differ in conformation or in concentrations , and each layer may be of different thickness and contain the same or different drugs . different layers can be combined in various sequences to create ‘ onion - like ’ structures such that the delivery vehicle will offer changing rates of release of each layer depending on crystallinity , thickness , concentration of drug , or type of drug , etc . this approach is very amenable to scale up and combinatorial to related approaches and formulation to create multiple control points in release profiles and drug combinations . controlled release permits dosages to be administered over time , with controlled release kinetics . in some instances , delivery of the therapeutic agent is continuous to the site where treatment is needed , for example , over several weeks . controlled release over time , for example , over several days or weeks , or longer , permits continuous delivery of the therapeutic agent to obtain optimal treatment . the controlled delivery vehicle is advantageous because it protects the therapeutic agent from degradation in vivo in body fluids and tissue , for example , by proteases . controlled release from the pharmaceutical formulation may be designed to occur over time , for example , for greater than about 12 or 24 hours . the time of release may be selected , for example , to occur over a time period of about 12 hours to 24 hours ; about 12 hours to 42 hours ; or , e . g ., about 12 to 72 hours . in another embodiment , release may occur for example on the order of about 2 to 90 days , for example , about 3 to 60 days . in one embodiment , the therapeutic agent is delivered locally over a time period of about 7 - 21 days , or about 3 to 10 days . in other instances , the therapeutic agent is administered over 1 , 2 , 3 or more weeks in a controlled dosage . the controlled release time may be selected based on the condition treated . for example , longer times may be more effective for wound healing , whereas shorter delivery times may be more useful for some cardiovascular applications . controlled release of the therapeutic agent from the fibroin article in vivo may occur , for example , in the amount of about 1 ng to 1 mg / day , for example , about 50 ng to 500 pg / day , or , in one embodiment , about 100 ng / day . delivery systems comprising therapeutic agent and a carrier may be formulated that include , for example , 10 ng to 1 mg therapeutic agent , or in another embodiment , about 1 ug to 500 ug , or , for example , about 10 ug to 100 ug , depending on the therapeutic application . the pharmaceutical biomaterial may be administered by a variety of routes known in the art including topical , oral , parenteral ( including intravenous , intraperitoneal , intramuscular and subcutaneous injection as well as intranasal or inhalation administration ) and implantation . the delivery may be systemic , regional , or local . additionally , the delivery may be intrathecal , e . g ., for cns delivery . administration of the pharmaceutical formulation for the treatment of wounds may be by topical application , systemic administration by enteral or parenteral routes , or local or regional injection or implantation . the silk - based vehicle may be formulated into appropriate forms for different routes of administration as described in the art , for example , in “ remington : the science and practice of pharmacy ”, mack publishing company , pennsylvania , 1995 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . the controlled release vehicle may include excipients available in the art , such as diluents , solvents , buffers , solubilizers , suspending agents , viscosity controlling agents , binders , lubricants , surfactants , preservatives and stabilizers . the formulations may include bulking agents , chelating agents , and antioxidants . where parenteral formulations are used , the formulation may additionally or alternately include sugars , amino acids , or electrolytes . excipients include polyols , for example , of a molecular weight less than about 70 , 000 kd , such as trehalose , mannitol , and polyethylene glycol . see for example , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 589 , 167 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein . exemplary surfactants include nonionic surfactants , such as tweeng surfactants , polysorbates , such as polysorbate 20 or 80 , etc ., and the poloxamers , such as poloxamer 184 or 188 , pluronic ( r ) polyols , and other ethylene / polypropylene block polymers , etc . buffers include tris , citrate , succinate , acetate , or histidine buffers . preservatives include phenol , benzyl alcohol , metacresol , methyl paraben , propyl paraben , benzalconium chloride , and benzethonium chloride . other additives include carboxymethylcellulose , dextran , and gelatin . stabilizing agents include heparin , pentosan polysulfate and other heparinoids , and divalent cations such as magnesium and zinc . all biomaterials of the present intention may be sterilized using conventional sterilization process such as radiation based sterilization ( i . e . gamma - ray ), chemical based sterilization ( ethylene oxide ), autoclaving , or other appropriate procedures . preferably the sterilization process will be with ethylene oxide at a temperature between 52 - 55 ° c . for a time of 8 hours or less . after sterilization the biomaterials may be packaged in an appropriate sterilize moisture resistant package for shipment . unless otherwise defined , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art . although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the invention , the preferred methods and materials are described below . all publications , patent applications , patents and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference . in addition , the materials , methods and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting . in case of conflict , the present specification , including definitions , controls . the invention will be further characterized by the following examples which are intended to be exemplary of the invention . materials . cocoons of b . mori silkworm silk were kindly supplied by m . tsukada , institute of sericulture , tsukuba , japan . fetal bovine serum ( fbs ), minimum essential medium α medium ( α mem ), basic fibroblast growth factor ( bfgf ), penicillin - streptomycin ( pen - strep ), fungizone , nonessential amino acids , and trypsin were from gibco ( carlsbad , calif .). ascorbic acid phosphate , histopaque - 1077 , dexamethasone , β - glycerophosphate , nonidet p - 40 ( np - 40 ), sodium fluoride ( naf ), protease inhibitor cocktail , and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail were obtained from sigma ( st . louis , mo .). all other substances were of analytical or pharmaceutical grade and purchased from sigma and aldrich and used without further purification . silk fibroin aqueous stock solution was prepared as previous described ( kim , u .- j . ; biomaterials , 2005 , 26 , 2775 - 2785 ). briefly , cocoons of b . mori were boiled for 20 minutes in an aqueous solution of 0 . 02m na 2 co 3 , and then rinsed thoroughly with distilled water to extract the glue - like sericin proteins and wax . the extracted silk fibroin was then dissolved in 9 . 3m libr solution at 60 ° c . for 4 hours , yielding a 20 percent ( weight / volume ) solution . this solution was dialyzed against distilled water using a slide - a - lyzer dialysis cassette ( mwco 3500 , pierce ) for 3 days to remove the salt . the resulting solution was centrifuged to remove impurities and the aggregates that occurred during dialysis . the final concentration of silk fibroin aqueous solution was approximately 7 . 5 to 8 percent ( wt / v ). this concentration was determined by weighing the residual solid of a known volume of solution after drying . silk solutions used for dipping were prepared by diluting the stock silk solution with deionized ( di ) water and were filtered through a 0 . 8 μm membrane syringe filter prior to use . the concentration of the fibroin dipping solution was varied from 0 . 1 to 2 . 0 mg / ml . solutions used to evaluate the effects of ph or nacl concentration on film formation were prepared using di water previously adjusted to the desired ph and salt concentrations using hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide . the ph and nacl concentration were varied from 2 . 0 to 12 . 5 and 0 to 1 . 0 m , respectively . different substrates were used for film deposition depending on the sequential characterization . quartz microscope slides for uv - vis spectroscopy measurements were from quartz scientific , inc . ( fairport harbor , ohio ), glass microscope slides for cell culture were from vwr scientific ( bridgeport , n . j . ), mica slides for atomic force microscope ( afm ) measurements were from ted pella , inc . ( redding , calif .) and quartz crystals with evaporated gold electrodes for research quartz crystal microbalance ( rqcm ) measurements were from maxtek , inc . ( cypress , calif .). the substrates were all cleaned for 2 hrs in 1 % chemsol solution from mallinckrodt chemicals ( phillipsburg , n . j .) and thoroughly rinsed with deionized water . deionized water ( 18 mωcm ) was used in all washing steps and to prepare all silk fibroin solutions . silk fibroin coating deposition and characterization . the deposition process for silk fibroin was carried out as follows : the cleaned substrate was immersed in the silk dipping solution for 2 minutes at room temperature and subsequently washed with de - ionized water or methanol / water ( 1 : 1 ratio ) for 1 minute . after the deposition and washing steps , the substrate was dehydrated with a gentle flow of nitrogen gas for 2 minutes . this process was repeated until the desired number of layers was assembled . the buildup of the multilayers was monitored at each deposition by a gbc uv / vis 916 spectrophotometer and a research quartz crystal microbalance ( rqcm ) ( maxtek inc .) the coating thickness was determined by rqcm . the surface morphology of the as - prepared coatings and methanol treated coatings were characterized by afm ( veeco metrology group santa barbara , calif .). the silk fibroin conformation was studied by atr - ftir ( equinox 55 ; bruker , billerica , mass .). cell culture . p2 human bone marrow stem cells ( hmscs ) ( 5 × 10 5 cells / slide ) were prepared as we have previously reported ( meinel , l . et al . j biomed mater res a , 2004 , 71 , 25 - 34 ; meinel , l . hofmann , et al biomaterials , 2005 , 26 , 147 - 155 ) and were seeded onto the ethanol - sterilized 6 - layered silk fibroin coated slides ( about 40 nm in thickness ) in order to assess the physiological stability of the coatings and in vitro cell adhesion , growth , and differentiation . after 24 hours , the growth medium was removed and cultures were maintained in individual wells of 6 - well plates . osteogenic media consisted of α - minimum essential medium ( α - mem ) supplemented with 10 % fetal bovine serum ( fbs ), 0 . 1 mm nonessential amino acids , 50 μg / ml ascorbic acid - 2 - phosphate , 10 nm dexamethasone , and 10 mm β - glycerolphosphate in the presence of 100 u / mil penicillin , 100 mg / ml streptomycin , and 0 . 25 mg / mil fungizone ( see meinel et al . biomaterials 2005 , 26 , 147 - 155 and meinel et al . j . biomed mater res a , 2004 , 71 , 25 - 34 for details ). cultures were maintained at 37 ° c . in a humidified incubator supplemented with 5 % co 2 . half of the medium was changed every 2 - 3 days . the samples were fixed with 70 % cold ethanol for histological and biochemical evaluations using standard techniques such as hematoxylin and eosin , alkaline phosphatase ( alp ), and alizarin red - s staining at 1 , 7 , 14 , and 21 days ( see karageoriou et al ., j . biomedical materials res . 71a : 528 - 537 , 2005 ), meinel et al . biomaterials 2005 , 26 , 147 - 155 and meinel et al . j . biomed mater res a , 2004 , 71 , 25 - 34 for details ). layer by layer deposition of silk fibroin . to monitor the deposition of silk fibroin , uv - vis spectroscopy and rqcm were used . representative uv - vis absorption spectra for a silk multilayer on a quartz substrate prepared by repetitive deposition from a 1 mg / ml silk fibroin aqueous solution , followed by rinsing with di water and drying is shown in fig1 . the multilayer adsorption processes is linear and reproducible . the absorbance at 228 nm for partial double bond character of the silk protein increased linearly with the number of layers , as shown in the inset of fig1 . this linearity confirms the regular stepwise growth of the films . similarly , adsorption also proceeded linearly while rinsing the films with methanol / water ( 1 : 1 ratio ) at each step but with a 33 % higher increment of deposition when prepared from a 1 . 0 mg / ml silk solution . ( data not shown ). the comparison of absorbance at 228 nm for 12 - layer films prepared from five different silk fibroin concentrations and by the two different rinsing methods is shown in fig2 . at each concentration , the absorbance of the films prepared by rinsing with methanol / water was significantly higher than that prepared by rinsing with di water . this higher deposition was due to the formation of β - sheet structure mediated by the dehydration impact of methanol which stabilized the films by locking in this crystalline beta sheet structure . this structural transition induced by methanol is commonly used to stabilize silk fibroin in various forms including films ( jin , h .- j . ; park , karageorgiou , v ; kim , u . j . ; valluzzi , r . ; cebe , p . ; kaplan , d . l . adv . funct . mater ., 2005 , 15 , 1 - 7 ; jin , h .-. ; fridrikh , s . v . ; rutledge , g . c . ; kaplan , d . l . biomacromolecules , 2002 , 3 , 1233 - 1239 ; nazarov , r . ; jin , h .- j . ; kaplan , d . l . biomacromolecules , 2004 , 5 , 718 - 726 ). in contrast , rinsing the aqueous deposited films without methanol resulted in partial desorption of the silk fibroin molecules , resulting in the lower deposition values . the quartz crystal microbalance ( qcm ) is an extremely sensitive measuring device capable of identifying mass changes in the nanogram / cm 2 range with a wide dynamic range extending into the 100 μg / cm 2 range at the solid - liquid or solid - air interfaces . the qcm technique is based on the tendency of a piezoelectric crystal to change its natural oscillation frequency when additional mass deposition or depletion on the crystal electrodes takes place . the qcm resonator was immersed for a set period of time in a silk solution and dried under a nitrogen stream . after drying , the frequency changes were measured . all experiments were carried out in an air - conditioned room at approximately 20 ° c . the theoretical relationship ( sauerbrey equation ) between the mass change per unit area at the qcm electrode surface to the observed change in oscillation frequency of the crystal is obtained by taking into account the characteristics of the quartz resonators used . c f = the sensitivity factor of the crystal in hz / ng / cm 2 ( 0 . 081 hz / ng / cm 2 for a 6 mhz crystal @ 20 ° c .) from this equation , the adsorbed mass on the crystal was identified . the thickness of the deposited film may be readily obtained assuming a certain surface smoothness of the gold electrode ( on quartz ) and the deposited film . a density value of 1 . 30 g / cm 3 was used for the silk films ( he , s .- j . ; valluzzi , r . ; gido , s . p . international journal of biological macromolecules 1999 , 24 , 187 - 195 ). the frequency changes upon film formation as a function of the number of deposited layers and the concentration of the salt added is shown in fig3 . the successive adsorption of the silk fibroin indicated a generally linear trend towards decreasing frequency ( negative sign ) as the number of layers increased . as the concentration of sodium chloride ( nacl ) increased , the frequency change and the adsorption rate increased . the adsorption process was generally stable and reproducible in all cases . historically , the main driving force or major stabilizing interaction in alternate layer - by - layer film assembly is considered to be electrostatic interactions between oppositely charged species ( decher , g . science , 1997 , 277 , 1232 - 1237 ) however , other interactions such as ion - dipole or dipole - dipole interactions , the hydrophobic effect , hydrogen bonding , or entropic factors related to surface - induced conformational changes have also been recognized ( hammond , p . t . curr . opin . colloid interface sci . 2000 , 4 , 430 - 442 ; fisher , p . ; laschewsky , a . macromolecules , 2000 , 33 , 1100 - 1102 ; shimazaki , y . ; mitsuishi , m . ; ito , s . ; yamamoto , m . langmuir , 1998 , 14 , 2768 - 2773 ; stockton , w . b . ; rubner , m . f . macromolecules , 1997 , 30 , 2717 - 2725 ). the actual adsorption process is more complicated when proteins are involved . recent experimental data have shown that polyelectrolyte multilayers are able to strongly interact with proteins regardless of the charge polarity in either the multilayer or the protein ( ladam , g . et al . langmuir , 2001 , 17 , 878 - 882 ). johnston et . al recently demonstrated the buildup of multilayer films and hollow capsules consisting solely of dna using hydrogen bonding of the base pairs ( johnston , a . p . r . et al . nano lett . 2005 , 5 , 953 - 956 ) serizawa et al . reported the fabrication of ultrathin collagen films on the gold electrode of a quartz crystal microbalance by the repetition of adsorption from a salt - containing aqueous solution and subsequent drying processes ( lojou , e . et al . langmuir ; 2003 , 20 , 748 - 755 ). the processes was thought to include nonspecific physical adsorption by the hydrophobic effect and the subsequent stabilization in air by the strong inter - and / or intra - molecular interactions . we have exploited the strong hydrophobic interactions characteristic of silk fibroin as the basis for film stabilization by the techniques described in the present work . silkworm silk fibroin from b . mori consists primarily of glycine and alanine repeats that dominate the structure . the fibroin chain consists of two basic polypeptide sequences , crystalline and less ordered polypeptides that alternate regularly . the basic sequence of the ‘ crystalline ’ polypeptides is of -( ala - gly ) n - that adopts a β - sheet structure , whereas the ‘ less ordered ’ polypeptides contain additional amino acids , in particular , tyrosine , valine and acidic as well as basic amino acids ( bini et al ., j . mol . biol ., 2004 , 335 , 27 - 40 ). for dilute solutions of regenerated silk fibroin , in the absence of salt , the fibroin chains are present as single molecules and their aggregates - 8073 ) ( hossain , k . s . ; ohyama , e . ; ochi , a . ; magoshi , j . ; nemoto , n . j . phys . chem . b , 2003 , 107 , 8066 ). the addition of salt leads to a more compact structure of the fibroin chains resulting from hydrophobic interactions between non - polar residues arising from the salting - out effect ( robinson , d . r . ; jencks , w . p . j . am . chem . soc . 1965 , 87 , 2470 - 2479 ). in a silk fibroin system , the driving force of the deposition of the silk fibroin protein chains onto a solid substrate are attributed to hydrophobic interactions as well as partial electrostatic interactions . this proposed hypothesis is supported by the following observations . the thickness of the deposited layers increased by as much as 43 % when the concentration of salt was increased from 0 to 1 . 0 m . while using a quartz substrate treated with hexamethyl disilazane which rendered a hydrophobic surface , the deposition was 28 % higher than that on an untreated quartz substrate at neutral condition . the reasons for this are not fully understood but believed to be due to a lowering of the adsorption - resisting energy barrier with low water retention capacity of the hydrophobic surfaces ( changes in hydrophobic hydration ) and interactions between internal hydrophobic protein domains and the hydrophobic surface , leading to increased internal protein entropy . on the other hand , the deposition was affected by the ph of the solution when a charged substrate was used . as the ph of the solution was increased from ph 2 to ph 12 . 5 , the deposition on a negatively charge substrate decreased . this is because at low ph ( 2 . 0 ), the silk fibroin chains have net a positive charge , which favors a negative substrate . therefore , both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions contributed to the deposition , resulting in higher deposition . in contrast , at high ph ( 12 . 5 ), the silk fibroin chains have net negative charge , and thus , a negatively charged substrate is not favored . the deposition was driven primarily due to hydrophobic interactions . this indicated that electrostatic interactions were also involved in the process . the deposition behavior of silk fibroin was also investigated by monitoring the deposition mass vs . dipping solution concentration using rqcm . the adsorbed amount of silk fibroin increased as the polymer concentration in the dipping solution was increased , reaching a plateau or saturation value at 2 mg / ml where the adsorbed amount was independent of the solution concentration . similar deposition behavior was also observed with the investigation of salt effects . the kinetics of protein adsorption to a solid surface typically consists of a very rapid initial deposition phase , followed by a slower phase upon approach to the steady - state value . a representative in situ frequency change ( function of time ) for the adsorption of silk fibroin on the rqcm gold electrode surface is shown in fig4 . the time dependence of the frequency and mass change showed a rapid initial decrease in frequency , followed by a less steep behavior . measurements up to 25 minutes indicate that within the first 5 minutes almost 85 % of the adsorption ( saturation ) takes place . the deposition saturated when the equilibrium was reached . in comparison to in situ measurements in aqueous media , the linearity of the deposition process measured ‘ in air ’ reflects the actual mass deposited after each alternate adsorption . this means that the dehydrating process is necessary for stepwise film assembly . the silk fibroin film might be stabilized by its strong inter - and / or intra - molecular interactions from the removal of the water . the surface energy was lowered to help facilitate further deposition . a schematic representation of the deposition process is shown in fig5 . on hydrophobic surfaces the silk fibroin deposits via physical adsorption primarily by hydrophobic interactions , followed by intra - and inter - chain interactions among the hydrophobic domains on the surface as concentration increases . these interactions are induced to form β - sheet structures upon dehydration by drying with nitrogen . the deposition is lower on hydrophilic surfaces , where initially localized electrostatic interactions during adsorption are supplemented with hydrophobic interactions as chain concentrations increase at the surface . the addition of salt to the silk fibroin solution results in a more compact structure of the fibroin chains in solution , as well as greater inter - chain hydrophobic interactions , resulting in higher deposition than in the absence of salt . structure and surface morphology of thin films . several models have been proposed for the secondary structure of silk fibroin , including random coil , α - helix , silk i , silk ii , and silk iii . random coil and α - helix tend to be lumped into silk i since they can not be distinguished by infrared spectroscopy ( asakura , t . ; kuzuhara , a . ; tabeta , r . ; saito , h . macromolecules , 1985 , 18 , 1841 - 1845 ). silk ii is an anti - parallel β - sheet in which the polypeptide chains are aligned and adjacent chains are connected with hydrogen bonds between carbonyl to amine groups . silk i is a less condensed structure than silk ii , but is usually considered highly metastable and will structure convert to silk ii ( β - sheet ) by physicochemical treatments such as the application of mechanical forces ( stretching , shearing , rolling , spinning or compressing ), thermal treatment , and by immersion in selected organic solvents such as methanol ( nam , j . ; park , y . h . journal of applied polymer science , 2001 , 81 , 3008 - 3021 ). atr - ftir spectra of a silk fibroin multilayer coatings before and after methanol treatment are shown in fig6 . deconvolution of the fibroin amide i spectra was performed using spectroscopic software from bruker ( version 4 . 2 ). the contribution of each curve to the amide i band was assessed by integrating the area under the curve and then normalizing to the total area under the amide i band region ( 1600 - 1700 cm − 1 ). the amide i band for both as - prepared coatings and methanol treated coatings showed one strong peak at 1622 cm − 1 , which is in the region that is characteristic for antiparallel , β - structural frequencies . the area attributed to the adsorption at 1622 cm − 1 contributed 40 % and 47 % for the as - prepared coatings and methanol treated coatings , respectively . it is worth noting that the silk ii ( β - sheet ) structure formed even without methanol treatment . the formation of the silk ii structure may be due to the nitrogen gas drying process which may have dehydrated the structure , inducing the β - sheet formation ( silk ii ). this relates to the thin surface layer of nanofibrils which forms on droplets of native spider fibroin in air . the presence of the β - sheets was also verified by the insolubility and stability of the coatings shown in fig7 . in this experiment , two groups of silk fibroin coated quartz slides ( with and without methanol treatment ) were incubated in phosphate - buffered saline ( pbs ) and dmem at 37 ° c . for 7 days . the characteristic absorbance of silk protein at 228 nm showed no significant change for both groups , indicating the presence of the insoluble and stable silk ii structure . this stabilization feature , even induced by the drying process without methanol is particularly useful for applications when the introduction of organic solvents is undesired . the surface properties of the as - prepared and methanol treated coatings were also characterized by afm . tapping mode afm micrographs of 1 μm 2 sections of the coatings prepared without salt show there were no obvious differences in surface topography when comparing methanol - treated and non - treated samples . both adopted similar uniform distributions of a granule morphology . the surface roughnesses ( rms ) for the treated and non - treated samples at a measured size of 1 . 0 × 1 . 0 μm 2 were determined as 1 . 34 ± 0 . 12 nm and 1 . 36 ± 0 . 13 nm ( n = 3 ), respectively . fig8 shows the afm image and profile of the one layered film , with a rms of 1 . 69 ± 0 . 15 nm ( n = 3 ). cell culture . preliminary evaluation of the adhesion , motility , spreading , growth and differentiation of hmsc on the multilayer silk fibroin thin films was assessed . the films used in this study were 6 - layered silk fibroin on glass substrate and were sterilized with ethanol as previously described . the microscopy images of the as hematoxylin and eosin ( h & amp ; e ), alkaline phosphatase ( alp ), and alizarin red - s ( ar ) staining stained samples with 1 day , 1 week , 2 weeks and 3 weeks culture time were taken . the h & amp ; e images ( images not shown ) on the left column show osteoblast - like cells with cuboidal or columnar morphologies increased with culture time . similarly , alkaline phosphatase activity stained positive and osteoblast - like phenotype increased with culture time . alkaline phosphatase ( ap ) is present in osteoblasts and plays a role in early stage of mineralization . the alizarin red - s stain ( ar ) is an indicator of calcium phosphate which appears when osteoblasts mineralize . the red color of the ar stain indicated the presence of calcium phosphate . the integrities of the silk fibroin coatings remained intact throughout the experiments , showing good physiological stability . this work was an initial assessment of the physiological stability of the coatings and their support of cell attachment and differentiation . modified silk fibroins can be used optimize results . for example , in our previous studies integrin recognition sequences , such as rgd - modified silk fibroin , in film form provided improvements in osteogenic outcomes . ( sofia , s . ; mccarthy , m . b . ; gronowicz , g . ; kaplan , d . l . journal of biomedical materials research , 2001 , 54 , 139 - 148 .) we have demonstrated for the first time the construction of nanoscale thin coatings of b . mori silk fibroin by stepwise deposition using an all aqueous process . the stepwise deposition process was monitored by uv spectrophotometry and research quartz crystal microbalance . both absorbance and film thickness correlated linearly with the number of silk fibroin layers deposited , analogous to multilayered materials fabricated from conventional polyelectrolytes . the adsorption process was stable and reproducible , with the control of a single layer thickness ranging from a few to tens nanometers based on the concentration of silk fibroin and salt , and the rinsing method . the driving force for the deposition of silk fibroin onto a solid substrate was attributed to hydrophobic interactions as well as partial electrostatic interactions . the drying process induced β - sheet crystal formation in the films , similar to methanol treatment . these films were stable in physiological conditions and supported human bone marrow stem cell adhesion , growth , and differentiation . the high degree of control over silk fibroin coating thickness and spatial composition indicate that this technique can be exploited for functionalizing protein - based biomaterial surfaces for applications in medical devices and tissue engineering scaffolds . as a model drug we used dexamethasone ( dex ), a corticosteroid that has been shown to induce osteoblast maturation and cell growth in human bone marrow - derived stromal cells . glucocorticoids are also inhibitory to cellular inflammation processes as well as smooth muscle cell proliferation and collagen formation . local delivery is the optimal way to achieve therapeutic benefit since many complications are related with the systemic exposure to this class of drugs . the fabrication of silk fibroin / dex films . at the first step , a cleaned substrate was immersed in the 1 mg / mil silk dipping solution for 2 minutes and subsequently washed with de - ionized water for 1 minute . after the deposition and washing steps , the substrate was dried with a gentle flow of nitrogen gas for 2 minutes . at the second step , the silk fibroin - coated substrate was immersed in the 0 . 01 mg / ml ( for cell culture study ) and 1 mg / ml ( for deposition study ) dex aqueous solution for 2 minutes and followed by rinsing and drying in the same manner . this process was repeated until the desired number of layers was assembled . a research quartz crystal microbalance ( rqcm ) was used for verifying the deposition . p2 - human bone marrow stem cells ( hmsc - s )-( 5 × 10 5 cells / slide ) were seeded onto three groups of ethanol - sterilized 6 - layered silk fibroin and silk fibroin / dex coated slides ( about 40 nm in thickness ) in order to assess the physiological stability of the coatings and the effects of dex on in vitro cell adhesion , growth , and differentiation . the samples were fixed with 70 % cold ethanol for histological and biochemical evaluations using standard techniques such as hematoxylin and eosin , alkaline phosphatase ( alp ), and alizarin red - s staining at 1 , 7 , 14 , and 21 days . rqcm was used to verify the deposition . the frequency changes upon film formation as a function of the number of deposited layers as shown in fig8 . the successive adsorption of the silk fibroin and dex indicated a generally trend towards decreasing frequency ( negative sign ) as the number of layers increased . the evaluation of the adhesion , motility , spreading , growth and differentiation of hmsc on the multilayer silk fibroin and multilayer silk fibroin / dex thin films was assessed . the films used in this study were 6 - layered silk fibroin and 6 - layered silk fibroin / dex on glass substrates . the microscopy images of the as hematoxylin and eosin ( h & amp ; e ) and alkaline phosphatase ( alp ) in three different culture conditions ( a : control ; b : silk / dex films ; c : dex in culture media ) were taken ( images not shown ). the h & amp ; e images in all conditions show osteoblast - like cells with cuboidal or columnar morphologies increased with culture time . similarly , alkaline phosphatase activity stained positive and osteoblast - like phenotype increased with culture time . alkaline phosphatase ( ap ) is present in osteoblasts and plays a role in early stage of mineralization . there is a significant increase in ap activity when dex was present in the culture media . however , no noticeable difference between the control and silk / dex samples was observed . this may be due to the rapid release of dex within the first few days or insufficient loading . we have demonstrated that dexamethasone can be incorporated into silk fibroin ultrathin coatings using an all aqueous process . these coatings were stable in physiological conditions and supported human bone marrow stem cell adhesion , growth , and differentiation . the references cited throughout the application are incorporated herein by reference . incorporation of bioactive model compounds into the ultrathin , nano - scale silk coatings the feasibility of the incorporation of biological components into the silk fibroin nanolayers and the control of the release kinetics via the control of structure of the silk coatings was investigated . rhodamine b , even blue , and azoalbumin were used as model molecules to study the loading and release behavior , representing small molecule drugs and therapeutically relevant proteins . the fabrication of silk fibroin / model molecule coatings was carried out as follows : at the first step a cleaned substrate was immersed in the 2 mg / ml silk aqueous solution for 2 minutes and subsequently washed with de - ionized water for 1 minute . after the deposition and washing steps , the substrate was dried with a gentle flow of nitrogen gas for 2 minutes . at the second step , the silk fibroin - coated substrate was immersed in the model molecule aqueous solution ( 0 . 01 to 1 mg / ml ) for 2 minutes and followed by rinsing and drying in the same manner . this process was repeated according to the designated architectures in which the outmost layer was always silk layer . in this work , two different loading modalities were used in the release study for each compound , each with two different rinsing methods . uv - vis absorbance spectra and a research quartz crystal microbalance ( rqcm ) were used for verifying the deposition . the compound release from the multilayer coatings on glass microscope slides ( 25 × 75 mm on both sides ) was investigated by incubating the slides in 5 ml pbs buffer solutions at room temperature with gentle shaking ( 60 rpm ). at preset time intervals , 2 ml supernatant was sampled and 2 ml fresh pbs solution was then added to replenish the sample that was removed in order to maintain a constant volume . the supernatant was analyzed for the amount of released model compound using uv - vis spectroscopy for optical densities at a specific wavelength for each compound ( 562 nm for rhodamine b , 609 nm for even blue , and 358 nm for azoalbumin ) and compared to a standard curve generated for each compound . the amount of released compound in each sample was summed with the amounts at each previous time point and divided by the total amount to obtain cumulative release value . experiments were run in triplicates ( n = 3 ). data in the graphs represent the average ± standard deviation . the real - time adsorption of model compounds on silk pre - coated gold electrode surface was monitored using research quartz crystal microbalance ( rqcm ). representative in situ mass changes as a function of time for the adsorption of rhodamine b , even blue , and azoalbumin on the silk pre - coated rqcm gold electrode surface are shown in fig9 . all the samples typically consist a very rapid initial deposition phase , followed by a slower phase upon approach to the steady state value . however , small molecule compounds reached the steady state faster than protein ; almost 92 % and 82 % of the adsorption ( saturation ) took place within the first 2 min for small molecules ( rhodamine and even blue ) and protein , respectively . rhodamine b had a higher adsorption on silk coating than even blue . a linear increase of incorporated model compounds as a function of the number of deposition steps was found ( fig1 a , 10 b ). it was observed that all the curves followed a similar release profile — an undesired initial burst followed by a slower and steadier release . however , the initial burst was significantly suppressed and the duration of the completion of the release was considerably prolonged by treating the films with methanol and adding 6 barrier layers of silk fibroin . fig1 c shows the release behaviors of rhodamine b with different coating methods . for example , the films ( silk / rh ) 6 - silk prepared by rinsing with water and methanol had a initial burst of 72 . 5 % and 57 . 1 % in the first 6 h and a duration of 100 % release of 14 days and 16 days , respectively . this indicates that methanol treatment induced higher beta - sheet crystalline content and subsequently decreased the release rate . on the other hand , the films ( silk / rh ) 6 - silk 6 prepared by rinsing with water and methanol had a initial burst of 44 . 2 % and 32 . 0 % in the first 6 h and a duration of 100 % release of 30 days and 35 days respectively . the further decrease in the release rate was attributed to higher crystallinity and more barrier hindrance by adding more silk layers . however , there was no noticeable difference in the initial burst between rhodamine b and even blue given the molecular weight difference . the release of small molecule model compounds is often rapid and diffusion controlled . the ability of sustained release of small molecules is desired and could provide a great opportunity in practical applications . similar release behavior was also observed for azoalbumin loaded coatings with various architectures and treatment methods ( fig1 d ). for all the samples , the initial burst in the first 6 h was much lower (& lt ; 6 . 5 %) than small molecule - immobilized samples , the time to release 100 % of the incorporated azoalbumin increased from 21 days to 35 days by adding 3 barrier layers of silk fibroin and using the methanol treatment . in this study , we have explored the feasibility of the construction and drug release properties of layer - by - layer silk fibroin coatings containing small molecule drug and therapeutically relevant protein model compounds . the amount of immobilized compounds could be controlled by changing the dipping solution concentration , coating structure and the rinsing method in a controlled manner . suppression of the initial burst and prolongation of the release could be achieved by controlling the coating structure such as inducing crystalline structure and adding barrier hindrance effects . studies were carried out to assess the effectiveness of drug - loaded silk coatings . paclitaxel was used in this study because it has been a widely used drug for drug - eluting stents . it is a cytotoxic compound that causes hyperstable polymerization of intracellular microtubules , leading to cell - cycle arrest in metaphase of mitosis . in low doses paclitaxel results in a nearly complete inhibition of vascular smooth muscle cells ( vsmcs ) proliferation . however , this also retards endothelial cell regeneration , thus negatively affecting the restoration of morphologic and functional integrity . platelet adhesion , human vascular smooth muscle cell and human aortic endothelial cell ( ec ) responses to paclitaxel - loaded coatings were evaluated . the fabrication of silk fibroin / paclitaxel coatings was carried out similar to previously described : at the first step a cleaned substrate was immersed in the 2 mg / ml silk aqueous solution for 2 minutes and subsequently washed with de - ionized water for 1 minute . after the deposition and washing steps , the substrate was dried with a gentle flow of nitrogen gas for 2 minutes . at the second step , the silk fibroin - coated substrate was immersed in paclitaxel ethanol solution ( 0 . 625 to 2 . 5 mg / ml ) for 2 minutes and followed by rinsing and drying in the same manner . this process was repeated to obtain coatings with structure of ( silk / pac ) 6 - silk and low dose and high dose compositions . platelet count was carried out based on literature reported method . samples as well as the controls ( bare glass and silk - only coating ) were contacted with platelet rich plasma from the same donor at 37 ° c . for 1 h . after washing gently with buffer many times to remove non - adhering platelets , the air - dry films were stained with geishma and examined by optical microscopy . p2 human aortic smooth muscle cells and p5 human aortic endothelial cells were seeded on paclitaxel - loaded silk coating with a seeding density of 10 5 cells / cm 2 . cell attachment and growth were observed with an optical microscope at 3 h , 1 day , 2 days and 4 days . typical images of surface - platelet rich plasma - contacted samples were taken for the following : a : glass control ; b : silk coating without drug ; c : silk coating with drug loaded from 0 . 625 mg / ml solution ; d : silk coating with drug loaded from 1 . 25 mg / ml solution ; e : silk coating with drug loaded from 2 . 5 mg / ml solution . the summary of relative number of platelets on each sample type is shown in fig1 . the adhesion was significantly less on the drug loaded coatings compared to bare glass and silk coating without drug , an indication of the feasibility of drug loading and release from silk coatings for blood compatible surfaces and specific control ( platelet adhesion ). the efficacy of the paclitaxel - loaded silk coatings was investigated in cell viability assays ( data not shown ). both human vsmcs and ecs cultured onto paclitaxel - loaded silk coatings displayed a dramatic reduction in cell attachment and growth than the controls . no ecs survived two day culture when high dose of drug was used . in summary , we have demonstrated the bioactivity of paclitaxel - loaded silk coatings in vitro . this approach could be applied to other molecules of interest . a variety of vascular therapeutic compounds can thus be incorporated in the context of vascularization and wound healing . | 0 |
fig1 pictures a perspective of an embodiment of the invention shown in rest position , i . e . with no swinging of any element with respect to the floor . the static pedalling fitness apparatus ( 1 ) comprises a fixed part ( 2 ) provided with a stabilizer ( 21 ). the fixed part ( 2 ) does not present any movement with respect to the floor . the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) also comprises a movable part ( 3 ) which can swing laterally with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ). the movable part ( 3 ) includes the pedals ( 4 ) and the seat ( 5 ) of the fitness apparatus ( 1 ). therefore , both elements ( 4 , 5 ) form part of the same movable part ( 3 ) and therefore swing laterally together with the rest of the movable part ( 3 ). the movable part ( 3 ) oscillates with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ) specifically with respect to a turning axis ( 22 ). the turning axis ( 22 ) is located substantially below the crank axle ( 23 ) or pedalling axis , so that the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) does not tend to be stable and the user , when pedalling standing up , feels the need to swing the fitness apparatus ( 1 ). in a preferred embodiment as shown in the figure , the turning axis ( 22 ) is located relatively close to the floor in order to simulate the swinging of a conventional bicycle frame with respect to the turning axis given by the line formed by the contact points of the wheels with the ground . the handlebar ( 6 ) of the fitness apparatus ( 1 ), which in the case of the figure comprises of a handlebar gripping zone ( 16 ), a handlebar support ( 17 ) and a handlebar support bar ( 18 ), can swing with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ) and / or the movable part ( 3 ). preferably , as is represented in the figure , the handlebar ( 6 ) swings with respect to the movable part ( 3 ), i . e . the handlebar ( 6 ) is connected to the moveable part ( 3 ) by means of an articulated junction ( 7 ). therefore , the swinging of the handlebar ( 6 ) with respect to the movable part ( 3 ) is turned into a lateral swinging of the handlebar ( 6 ) with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ). the invention contemplates other embodiments in which the handlebar ( 6 ) does not swing directly with respect to the movable part ( 3 ). in these embodiments the handlebar ( 6 ) is not articulately connected to the moveable part ( 3 ) but is connected to other elements , e . g ., an element joined to the fixed part ( 2 ). however , in any case , the respective swinging of the handlebar ( 6 ) and of the movable part ( 3 ) with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ) will be such that the handlebar ( 6 ) presents a relative oscillation or swinging with respect to the pedals ( 4 ) and the seat ( 5 ). the articulated junction ( 7 ) of the handlebar ( 6 ) is preferably positioned so that the axis of the articulated junction ( 7 ) presents an inclination with respect to the floor or horizontal plane of between 15 and 45 °. an inclination of 30 ° is considered a particularly advantageous solution . by means of these inclinations , the handlebar ( 6 ) swings with a greater amplitude on the lateral plane than on the horizontal plane , making the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) easier to handle and simulating with greater accuracy the real swing of a handlebar . as can be seen in the figure , because that the movable part ( 3 ) swings with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ), the effect of having the swing of the handlebar ( 6 ) with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ) present a greater amplitude than the swing of the movable part ( 3 ) with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ) is achieved , understanding the amplitude to be the degree of deviation from the vertical position . this effect helps the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) simulate swinging pedalling on a conventional bicycle . in other embodiments , the swinging of the handlebar ( 6 ) and the movable part ( 3 ) would have to be configured to achieve this same effect . in a particularly advantageous solution , the swinging between the handlebar ( 6 ) and the fixed part ( 2 ) and / or the movable part ( 3 ) is dependent on the swinging of the movable part ( 3 ) with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ). in other words , the swinging of the handlebar ( 6 ) is not completely independent of the swinging of the movable part ( 3 ), but there is some element that connects both pieces ( 3 , 6 ), of course in an articulated way , so that the swinging of the handlebar ( 6 ) produces the swinging of the movable part ( 3 ). it must be taken into account that , when pedalling standing up on a conventional bicycle , the swinging of the bicycle is forced by the cyclist &# 39 ; s arms , which act on the handlebar to counteract the effort made by the legs , allowing the efforts to be balanced and at the same time allowing the legs to perform a more effective and powerful pedalling on the pedals . in this respect , when inclining the bicycle in the opposite direction to the pedalling , the cyclist ensures that part of the necessary effort to move the bicycle is performed by the arms , freeing the legs to a certain degree and shifting part of the load to the upper part of the cyclist &# 39 ; s body . therefore , in the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) according to the invention , it is particularly advantageous that when the user initiates or forces the tilting of the handlebar ( 6 ), a swiging of the movable part ( 3 ) which comprises the seat ( 5 ) and the pedals ( 4 ) it produced as a consequence . on the other hand , by limited it is understood that the balancing of the handlebar ( 6 ) with respect to the movable part ( 3 ) should not exceed a maximum amplitude , resembling conventional bicycles ; otherwise a feeling of instability would be produced for the user of the fitness apparatus ( 1 ). in a preferable embodiment , the relation and limitation of the swinging of the handlebar ( 6 ) with respect to the movable part ( 3 ) is achieved using a junction lever ( 10 ), connected between the handlebar ( 6 ) and the fixed part ( 2 ) via some respective articulated junctions ( 14 , 13 ). additionally , the static pedalling fitness apparatus ( 1 ) according to the invention can comprise a blocking system ( 19 ) which partially or fully blocks the movable part ( 3 ) and / or the handlebar ( 6 ) in order to respectively hinder or prevent their swinging . in the case of the figure , the blocking system ( 19 ) connects the movable part ( 3 ) to the fixed part ( 2 ). because the tilting of the movable part ( 3 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) are related , the blocking system ( 19 ) manages to immobilize not only the movable part ( 3 ) but also the handlebar ( 6 ). the static pedalling fitness apparatus ( 1 ) according to the invention preferably comprises the necessary means to cushion or dampen the swinging between the handlebar ( 6 ) and the fixed part ( 2 ) and / or the movable part ( 3 ). these necessary means will avoid that the user perceives that the handlebar ( 6 ) tilts too loosely with respect to the movable part ( 3 ), as excess looseness would lead to a feeling of instability for the user . the dampening therefore allows the apparatus to simulate the inertia to turning which are caused by the gyroscopic effect of the wheels in real conditions . as can be seen in the figure , these necessary means may be a movement damper ( 9 ), in this case in the form of a dual - direction hydraulic cylinder , connected between the handlebar ( 6 ) and the movable part ( 3 ) via the respective articulated junctions ( 12 , 15 ). however , the invention contemplates other embodiments such as the inclusion of two movement dampers ( 9 ) in the form of two single - direction hydraulic cylinders , or even not using external movement dampers ( 9 ) as such , but rather using articulated junctions ( 7 , 8 ) provided with an appropriate friction . additionally , the invention contemplates connecting the movement damper ( 9 ) not only between the handlebar ( 6 ) and the movable part ( 3 ) but also between the handlebar ( 6 ) and the fixed part ( 2 ), between the movable part ( 3 ) and the fixed part ( 2 ), and even including various movement dampers ( 9 ) connecting the same or different elements ( 2 , 3 , 6 ), etc . fig2 shows the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) of the previous figure following the tilting of the movable part ( 3 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) towards the right , determining the left and right directions from the point of view of the user using the fitness apparatus ( 1 ). specifically , the movable part ( 3 ) has tilted laterally with respect to the articulated junction ( 8 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) has tilted laterally with respect to the articulated junction ( 7 ), both articulated junctions ( 7 , 8 ) having been represented in the form of turning axes for tilting . similarly , fig3 shows the opposite case , in which the movable part ( 3 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) have tilted towards the left . fig4 to 6 show the respective front views of the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) in fig1 to 3 . in fig4 , the movable part ( 3 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) are shown in the vertical of the fitness apparatus ( 1 ), i . e . show no tilting . in fig5 , the movable part ( 3 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) have oscillated towards the right and , as can be seen , the handlebar ( 6 ) has done so with a greater angle than the movable part ( 3 ). similarly , fig6 shows the elements ( 3 , 6 ) displaced towards the left . in the three figures , the elements that preferably intervene in the relation , limitation and dampening of the movable part ( 3 ) swinging and the handlebar ( 6 ) swinging can be clearly seen . first , a metal plate ( 11 ) is preferably joined to the handlebar ( 6 ). in the case of the figure , the metal plate ( 11 ) is connected to the end of the handlebar support bar ( 18 ) of the handlebar ( 6 ) by soldering or another method . the metal plate ( 11 ), which in this case is in the shape of an l , provides the articulated junction ( 12 ) between the damper element ( 9 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) and the articulated junction ( 14 ) between the junction lever ( 10 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ). in the case of the metal plate in the shape of an l shown in the figures , the longer the “ long ” side of the l , i . e . the side between the handlebar support bar ( 18 ) and the articulated junction ( 14 ), the less the handlebar ( 6 ) has to swing in order to the swing the movable part ( 3 ). therefore , by varying the length of this side of the l , it is possible to adapt the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) to users who are more or less expert in this type of pedalling with swinging . second , the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) preferably comprises lateral bumpers ( 20 ) which limit the lateral swinging of the movable part ( 3 ) with respect to the fixed part ( 2 ), so that the movable part ( 3 ) may not be tilted beyond a specified maximum angle . the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) according to the invention does not present any means that tend to return the movable part ( 3 ) and the handlebar ( 6 ) back to the vertical position of fig1 and 4 . the aforementioned mechanisms ( dampers , limiting mechanisms , etc .) serve to relate the relative movement of the handlebar ( 6 ), the seat ( 5 ) and the pedals ( 4 ) in a way as close as possible to reality , and perform this relation in a manner that does not vary depending on the tilting angle in which these elements ( 4 , 5 , 6 ) are found . the user of the fitness apparatus ( 1 ) then has the feeling that the swinging elements ( 3 , 4 , 5 ) may stabily remain in a tilted position , i . e . has the same feeling as that produced by the gyroscopic effect of a real bicycle . in an opposite manner , in fitness apparatus in the prior art which use springs to return the swinging structures to the vertical position , the action of the springs varies depending on the tilting angle of the swinging parts . therefore , the use of springs does not manage to simulate the feeling perceived by the user in connection with the gyroscopic effect . | 0 |
arrangements described herein relate to a system and method for a vane ring assembly . detailed embodiments are disclosed herein ; however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are intended only as exemplary . therefore , specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the aspects herein in virtually any appropriately detailed structure . further , the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but rather to provide an understandable description of possible implementations . arrangements are shown in fig3 , but the embodiments are not limited to the illustrated structure or application . according to embodiments herein , an abradable coating is applied to one or more of the surfaces that define the clearance between the vanes and the vane rings . referring to fig3 , a portion of a vane pack ( 50 ) is shown . only one vane ( 24 ) is shown for purposes of clarity . an abradable coating ( 52 ) can be applied to at least a portion of the inner surface ( 40 ) of the lvr ( 28 ), at least a portion of the inner surface ( 38 ) of the uvr ( 26 ) and / or at least a portion of one or both of the cheek surfaces ( 36 ) of the vanes ( 24 ). in one embodiment , the abradable coating ( 52 ) can be applied to the inner surfaces ( 38 , 40 ) of the vane rings ( 26 , 28 ), but not on the cheek surfaces ( 36 ) of the vanes ( 24 ). the abradable coating ( 52 ) can be provided in any suitable thickness on the treated surface . the thickness of the abradable coating ( 52 ) can be substantially uniform across the surface . alternatively , the thickness of the coating ( 52 ) can vary in one or more locations . when the coating ( 52 ) is applied to a plurality of coating defining surfaces , the thickness of the coating ( 52 ) on one of the coating defining surfaces can be substantially equal to the thickness of the coating ( 52 ) on another one of the coating defining surfaces . alternatively , the thickness of the coating ( 52 ) on one of the coating defining surfaces can be different from the thickness of the coating ( 52 ) on another one of the coating defining surfaces . the abradable coating ( 52 ) can be any suitable material that can allow abrasive contact between the vane cheeks ( 36 ) and the inner surfaces ( 38 , 40 ) of the vane rings ( 26 , 28 ). in one embodiment , the abradable coating ( 52 ) can be metco 480ns , which is available from sulzer metco ( us ) inc ., westbury , n . y . such a coating can be a spheroidal , gas atomized alloy comprising 95 % nickel and 5 % aluminum . the particle size can range from about 45 μm to about 90 μm and / or approximately − 170 + 325 mesh ( e . g ., about 90 % or more of the material can pass through a 170 mesh sieve and can be retained by a 350 mesh sieve ). the abradable coating can be dense and resistant to oxidation . the coating can withstand temperatures of at least about 800 ° c . ( 1470 ° f .). the coating can be self - bonding and can undergo an exothermic reaction during spraying , resulting in excellent bonding to the substrate . materials similar to metco 480ns can be used . additional examples of suitable abradable coatings include aluminium silicon alloy / polymer composites , aluminium silicon alloy / graphite composites , nickel / graphite composites , aluminium bronze / polymer composites , nickel chromium aluminium / boron nitride composites , nickel chromium aluminium / bentonite composites , nickel / aluminium composite sprayed porous , nickel chromium aluminium composite sprayed porous , mcraiy / bn / polyester composites and yttria - stabilized zirconia ( ysz ) ceramic / polyester composites . such coatings can be applied by thermal spraying . in one embodiment , the abradable coating ( 52 ) can be a zirconia - polymer ceramic abradable powder . such a powder can be applied by thermal spraying . examples of such coatings include durablade 2192 , sulzer metco 2395 and / or sulzer metco 2460ns , which are available from sulzer metco ( us ) inc ., westbury , n . y . durablade 2192 can comprise about 9 . 5 % dy 2 o 3 , about 4 . 5 % polymer , 0 . 7 hbn and the balance can substantially comprise zro 2 ( with a maximum of 2 . 5 wt % hafnia ). the nominal particle size distribution can be from about − 176 + 11 μm with an average of about 65 μm . the service temperature can be less than or equal to about 1150 ° c . ( 2100 ° f .). durablade 2191 can have a porosity of about 25 - 35 %. it can have a hardness of about 70 - 90 hr15y . it can have a coating strength of greater than 3 mpa ( 435 psi ). sulzer metco 2395 can comprise about 7 . 5 % y 2 o 3 , about 4 . 5 % polymer , 0 . 7 hbn and the balance can substantially comprise zro 2 ( with a maximum of 2 . 5 wt % hathia ). the nominal particle size distribution can be from about − 176 + 11 μm with an average of about 57 μm . the service temperature can be less than or equal to about 1150 ° c . ( 2100 ° f .). sulzer metco 2395 can have a porosity of about 25 - 40 %. it can have a hardness of about 70 - 90 hr15y . it can have a coating strength of greater than 3 mpa ( 435 psi ). sulzer metco 2460ns can comprise about 7 . 5 % y 2 o 3 , about 4 . 5 % polymer , about 4 % binder and the balance can substantially comprise zro 2 ( with a maximum of 2 . 5 wt % hafnia ). the nominal particle size distribution can be from about − 176 + 11 μm with an average of about 74 μm . the service temperature can be less than or equal to about 1150 ° c ( 2100 ° f .). sulzer metco 2460ns can have a porosity of about 15 - 30 %. it can have a hardness of about 80 - 95 hr15y . it can have a coating strength of greater than 4 mpa ( 580 psi ). further suitable abradable coatings include tech 17 , tech 28 and / or tech 40 , which are available from bodycote k - tech ltd ., cheshire , england . a coating comprising tech 17 can have a thickness of less than about 5 μm . the maximum hardness can be about 2600 hv . a tech 28 coating can have a thickness of about 50 to about 100 μm with a hardness of about 1850 hv . tech 40 can have a coating thickness of of about 50 to about 100 μm with a hardness of about 2850 hv . materials similar to those listed above may also be suitable . however , embodiments are not limited to any particular material . when the abradable coating ( 52 ) is applied to a plurality of coating defining surfaces , the material of the coating ( 52 ) on one of the coating defining surfaces can be the same as the material of the coating ( 52 ) on another one of the coating defining surfaces . alternatively , the material of the coating ( 52 ) applied on one of the coating defining surfaces can be different than the material of the coating ( 52 ) applied on another one of the coating defining surfaces . the abradable coating ( 52 ) can be applied on one or more of the clearance defining surfaces in any suitable manner . once the abradable coating ( 52 ) is applied it can be machined , if necessary . the vane pack ( 50 ) can be assembled with an interference fit between the clearance defining surfaces . as an example , there can be an interference fit between the uncoated vane cheeks ( 36 ) and the coated upper vane ring ( 26 ) and / or the coated lower vane ring ( 28 ). before the vane pack ( 50 ) is installed in the turbine housing ( 14 ), the vane pack ( 50 ) can be installed in a fixture and subjected to vibration or oscillations . in this way , the vanes ( 24 ) can engrave the abradable coating ( 52 ) and can establish an essentially zero or very small clearance therebetween while still allowing the vanes ( 24 ) to properly function during turbocharger operation . during turbocharger operation , the small clearance will minimize the leakage of exhaust gas flow through the space between the vane cheeks ( 36 ) and the inner surfaces ( 38 , 40 ), thereby improving efficiency and performance . further , it will be appreciated that if the clearance between the vane cheeks ( 36 ) and the inner surfaces ( 38 , 40 ) reduces during turbocharger operation , the vanes ( 24 ) may come into contact with the abradable coating ( 52 ). in such case , the vanes ( 24 ) can further wear away the abradable coating ( 52 ) without substantially impeding the function of the vanes ( 24 ). the terms “ a ” and “ an ,” as used herein , are defined as one or more than one . the term “ plurality ,” as used herein , is defined as two or more than two . the term “ another ,” as used herein , is defined as at least a second or more . the terms “ including ” and / or “ having ,” as used herein , are defined as comprising ( i . e ., open language ). aspects described herein can be embodied in other forms and combinations without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof . thus , it will of course be understood that embodiments are not limited to the specific details described herein , which are given by way of example only , and that various modifications and alterations are possible within the scope of the following claims . | 8 |
although the present invention is applicable in a broad variety of transmission applications it will be described with the focus put on an application to wireless systems , i . e . wireless local area networks ( wlan ), using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ( ofdm ) as employed in the wlan standards ieee 802 . 11a and hiperlan / 2 . before embodiments of the present invention are described , some basics , in accordance with the present invention , are addressed . as the invention takes advantage of the so - called error recovery procedure defined in the mac ( medium access control ) layer of the ieee 802 . 11 standard , this error recovery procedure is described in more detail below . the ieee 802 . 11 basic access procedure is a distributed procedure based on the known carrier sense multiple access ( csma ) method used in ethernet lans ( local area networks ). a station with a pending data packet has to sense the state of the wireless medium before it can transmit . if the medium is free longer than a predefined time interval , it can proceed with the transmission . otherwise it first waits until the medium becomes free , then generates a random backoff time before it tries to transmit to minimize the probability of collision with other stations . mac ( medium access control ) frames are protected against errors ( due to transmission errors or collisions ) by means of a frame check sequence ( fcs ) field containing a 32 - bit cyclic redundancy checksum ( crc ) and of a simple send - and - wait automatic repeat request ( arq ) mechanism . if the receiver of a mac frame detects a crc error , the frame is discarded . otherwise , if a mac ( medium access control ) frame does not contain a crc error , the receiver waits for a short , predefined sisf ( short inter - frame space ) time and sends an ack ( acknowledge ) frame back to the transmitter . if the transmitter does not receive an ack frame within a specified time , it assumes that the transmitted frame is disturbed and will resend the frame after a random backoff time . the procedure is repeated until the transmitter receives an ack frame from the receiver , or a maximum life time or a maximum number of retries is reached . generally , the performance and efficiency of the presented link adaptation mechanism depends on the thresholds for the number of successful transmissions s and faulty transmissions f . a successful transmission is considered as a reception of an ack frame . in the event that no ack frame is received in due time a faulty transmission is assumed . in particular , a success threshold value s t is represented by a first threshold value s 1 that corresponds to a first state h or a second threshold value s 2 that corresponds to a second state l for the number of successful transmissions s . a failure threshold value f t is set for the number of faulty transmissions f . the impact of these values is considered below . with the failure threshold value f t of the number of faulty transmissions f one can control how long a transmitter should stay , e . g ., at a certain rate before it can assume that the link quality is degraded so that it should switch to a lower rate . a high value of the failure threshold value f t may impact the performance negatively , in particular when the link quality is degrading rapidly . various simulation runs have shown that a good value for the failure threshold value f t is one , i . e . the transmitter should switch immediately to a lower rate after a failed transmission , regardless how fast the quality of the link is changing . the efficiency of a such conservative reaction , even when the quality is changing very slowly or not at all , is explained by the fact that transmissions at a lower rate always have a higher success chance , in particular when the quality of the channel has really worsened . the success threshold value s t , which can equal the first threshold value s 1 or the second threshold value s 2 , defines the maximum number of successful transmissions s which the transmitter should achieve before it can assume that the link quality has improved so that it should switch , e . g ., to the next higher data rate . simulation results reveal that the efficiency of the link adaptation mechanism is sensitive to the value of the success threshold value s t and therefore to its first threshold value s 1 and its second threshold value s 2 . with reference to fig3 the throughput of a point - to - point link can be represented as a function of the so - called doppler spread , which is defined as the maximum frequency at which the channel conditions are changing . low doppler spread values correspond to links with slowly changing quality and high doppler spread values correspond to links with fast changing quality . when the link quality is changing slowly , a large value for the success threshold value s t leads to a better throughput performance . however , it has been recognized that with a large value for the success threshold value s t the transmitter does not react fast enough to a fast improvement of the link quality . the transmitter is still at a low transmission rate although the quality of the link already allows the use of a higher rate . with reference to fig1 , a general layout of a communication system 8 is described in which the adaptation of a transmission parameter in a transmitting node 1 to the current ink quality of a data communication channel 7 can be used . as indicated in fig1 , a signal can be transmitted via the channel 7 . usually , the signal comprises a frame or several frames . the presented embodiment relates to the ieee 802 . 11a standard supporting an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ( ofdm ) transmission scheme in the 5 ghz band with variable data rates , i . e . 6 mbit / s to 54 mbit / s . fig1 shows the transmitting node 1 , hereafter referred to as transmitter 1 , and a receiving or responding node 2 , hereafter referred to as receiver 2 . the transmitter 1 is located at a first location while the receiver 2 is located at a second location . multiple of the receiver 2 can be arranged ( not shown ) within a wlan . the transmitter 1 comprises a first transmit antenna 3 over which a signal , hereafter called sent signal , is transmitted and a first reception antenna 4 with which an ack ( acknowledgment ) signal , but also further data , is receivable . both antennas 3 , 4 also can form a unit . the transmitter 1 comprises a success counter 10 connected to a selecting unit 12 , which further is connected to a decision unit 14 . the transmitter 1 further comprises a failure counter ( not depicted ), which can be combined with the success counter 10 . the success counter 10 counts the number of successful transmissions s whenever one ack ( acknowledgment ) signal is received via the first reception antenna 4 , because then the sent signal was received by the receiver 2 and acknowledged . the selecting unit 12 gets the number of successful transmissions s from the success counter 10 and switches to an adapted transmission parameter accordingly , as described in more detail below . the adapted transmission parameter can be a different data rate , packet length , or a combination thereof . a set of or multiple different transmission parameters can be provided and used . the decision unit 14 informs the selecting unit 12 in dependence of the result of a subsequent or following transmission which state the selecting unit 12 should use for its further processing . the selecting unit 12 and the decision unit 14 can form a unity . the method of working in the selecting unit 12 is described in more detail with reference to fig2 . the receiver 2 comprises a second reception antenna 5 with which the mentioned sent signal or data is received . a second transmit antenna 6 is used to send the ack ( acknowledgment ) signal out if valid data has been received . fig2 shows a schematic illustration of a state transition diagram indicating the mechanism as it is applicable by the transmitter 1 in the selecting unit 12 . the mechanism allows to estimate qualitatively the changing speed of the link quality and to switch dynamically between a first value s 1 , also referred to as first threshold value s 1 , that corresponds to a first state , labeled with h , and a second value s 2 , also referred to as second threshold value s 2 , that corresponds to a second state , labeled with l , with s 1 & lt ; s 2 , depending on whether one is in the region of high doppler spread values , i . e . first state h with s 1 depicted on the left - hand side , or in the region of low spread values , i . e . the second state l with s 2 depicted on the right - hand side . the state transition diagram in fig2 indicates three states , the first state h , the second state l , and an intermediate state , labeled with “ ack ?” and depicted above the first and second states h , l in the middle . the states are connected via arrows which represent the transition from one to another state or remaining in one state . the transition conditions are labeled accordingly and expressed as follows : means when a transmission failed setting the success counter 10 to zero , incrementing the failure counter and when the number of faulty transmissions f equals at least the threshold of the number of faulty transmissions f t , then reducing the data rate and setting the failure counter to zero , or if in state h : s ≧ s 1 or if in state l : s ≧ s 2 , then up rate and s := 0 means when a transmission was successful incrementing the success counter 10 , setting the failure counter to zero and , when in the first state h the number of successful transmissions s equals or is larger than the first threshold value s 1 or when in the second state l the number of successful transmissions s equals or is larger than the second threshold value s 2 , then increasing the data rate and setting the success counter to zero . the thick arrow lines indicate the switching to an adapted transmission parameter , e . g . a higher data rate . in a preferred embodiment the first threshold value s 1 equals 3 , the second threshold value s 2 equals 10 , and the threshold of the number of faulty transmissions ft equals 1 . the mechanism operates as follows . if the number of successful transmissions s equals at least to the first threshold value s 1 or the second threshold value s 2 , then a selection of and switching to an adapted transmission parameter , e . g . a higher data rate , and a transition to the intermediate state “ ack ?” is performed . in the intermediate state “ ack ?” it is waited for the result of the next transmission . in dependence of the result of the next transmission , the first state h or the second state l is used . if the next transmission succeeds , then it can be assumed that the link quality of the channel 7 is improving rapidly , i . e . high doppler spread . therefore , it is moved to the first state h and the success threshold value s t is set equal to the small first threshold value s 1 in order to react quickly to the changing link quality . if however the next transmission fails , then it is assumed that the link quality of the channel 7 is either changing slowly or not changing at all , i . e . low doppler spread , and that the former decision to switch to a higher rate was premature . consequently , it is moved to the second state l and the success threshold value s t is set equal to the higher second threshold value s 2 . if in the first state h a faulty transmission occurs , the first state h is retained and the success threshold value s t remains equal to s 1 as indicated in the figure . however if in the second state l a faulty transmission occurs , it is moved to the first state h and the success threshold value s t is changed to the first threshold value s 1 . fig3 shows a schematic illustration of the throughput performance of an ieee 802 . 11a wlan in a time - varying channel . in more detail , the illustration indicates the throughput of a point - to - point link as a function of the doppler spread at various values of s t , the threshold of the number of successful transmissions . the two transmission nodes are located 25 m apart and have both the same transmission power of 10 dbm . a frequency - flat channel with rayleigh fading is considered . an optimal graph , corresponding to an idealized system where the transmitters have perfect channel knowledge , is shown as a thick black line , and runs at about 22 mbps . another nearly straight graph at about 17 mbps , indicates a fixed transmission rate of 36 mbps , which is the one achieving the best results without rate adaptation . the dashed line with s t = 10 , f t = 1 indicating a first simple adaptive mechanism shows a rapid throughput degradation at high doppler spreads . the dashed line with s 1 , s 2 , f t = 1 indicating the adaptive link mechanism which takes into account higher as well as lower doppler spreads shows a better performance than the dashed line with s t = 3 , f t = 1 indicating a second simple adaptive mechanism which takes more care to higher doppler spreads . the dotted lines indicate the throughput achievable when the adaptive mechanisms use additionally the data rate of a received packet from the remote station or receiver . low doppler spread values correspond to links with slow changing quality and high doppler spread values correspond to links with fast changing quality . the threshold of the number of faulty transmissions f t is set for all regarded performance curves to 1 . when the link quality is changing slowly , a large value of s t leads to a better throughput performance , see for example the curve for s t = 10 ; however , the performance degrades rapidly with increasing doppler spread . with a large value for s t the mechanism does not react fast enough to a fast improvement of the link quality . the transmitter is still at a low transmission rate although the quality of link already allows the use of a higher rate . a small value for the success threshold value s t does improve the throughput at higher doppler spread values , it however suffers performance degradation at low doppler spread values , see for example the curve for s t = 3 . since the quality of the channel is changing very slowly or not changing at all , with s t = 3 the transmitter switches to higher rates too early and therefore fails too often . in general the doppler spread value of a channel is not known a priori ; it also changes dynamically . one possible solution is to measure the spread value in the phy ( physical ) layer , which however becomes in praxis very complex . therefore , the presented link adaptation mechanism allows in an easier way to estimate qualitatively the changing speed of the link quality and to switch dynamically between two values of the success threshold value s t , namely the first threshold value s 1 and the second threshold value s 2 , with s 1 & lt ; s 2 , depending on whether one is in the region of high doppler spread values , i . e . the first state h , or in the region of low spread values , i . e . second state l . the present invention can be realized in hardware , software , or as a combination of hardware and software . any kind of computer system — or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein — is suited . a typical combination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that , when being loaded and executed , controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein . the present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product , which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein , and which — when loaded in a computer system — is able to carry out these methods . computer program means or computer program in the present context mean any expression , in any language , code or notation , of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following a ) conversion to another language , code or notation ; b ) reproduction in a different material form . | 8 |
fig4 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of a digital fir filter 40 in accordance with the present invention , using a look - up table . the digital fir filter 40 includes a shift register 42 to which the data signal d ( i ) is applied . the shift register 42 receives a shift signal having the bit rate fb . the length of the shift register is ( n / k )- 1 since the first bit d ( 1 ) does not need to be stored . the input to the shift register 42 and the outputs from each of the stages form first n / k address bits which are applied to a look - up table rom 44 . the sampling signal fs is applied to a modulo - k counter 46 . this counter 46 runs at the sampling rate and counts up to k . the counter output forms ceil ( log 2 k ) most significant address bits for the look - up table rom 44 . if , for example , n = 56 ( i . e ., a digital fir filter with 56 taps ) and k = 4 , applying equation ( 2 ), the size of rom 44 would be 64k words . since the calculation of the filter output values may be done using floating point arithmetic , this filter is a floating point filter . the truncation occurs only at the filter output and the output precision is defined by the word size of the rom 44 . it should be noted that equation ( 2 ) may be derived from equation ( 4 ) by substituting ( n mod k )= 0 since n / k is an integer . the embodiment shown in fig5 is substantially similar to that shown in fig4 with the exception that a state machine is used . the output from the counter 46 and the most significant bit ( msb ) d ( ceil ( n / k )) from the shift register 42 are connected to a state machine 48 . as stated above , if n / k is not an integer , the msb contributes to the filter output only during first ( n mod k ) sampling periods of the bit interval . the state machine 48 substitutes some of the counter 46 states by the new states based on the value of d ( ceil ( n / k )). in other words , the state machine 48 maps the msb and the counter 46 outputs to the address lines of the rom 44 . for example , if n = 65 and k = 5 , then m = 5 * 2 13 that takes up a 64k rom . if n = 68 and k = 5 , then m = 8 * 2 13 = 64k , i . e ., this filter still fits in a 64k rom . for k = 5 , the counter 46 has 3 outputs which can represent up to 8 different states . since the counter 46 counts only up to 5 , 3 states are not used . these states may be used to represent the msb contribution to the filter output during ( 68 mod 5 )= 3 sampling intervals . fig6 shows an example of a state machine implementation for n = 61 and k = 5 . the outputs from the counter 46 are connected to inputs of a state decoder 50 . a first output q0 from the counter 46 is connected directly to the address input of the rom 44 , and the third output q2 from the counter 46 is connected to a first input of a multiplexer 52 , the second input of which is connected to the output from the last stage of the shift register 42 . a select input of the multiplexer 52 is connected to a first output from the state decoder 50 , and an output from the multiplexer 52 is connected to the address input of the rom 44 . the second output q1 from the counter 46 along with a second output from the state decoder 50 are connected to inputs of an exclusive - or - gate 54 , the output therefrom being connected to the address input of the rom 44 . bit d ( 61 ) contributes to the filter output only in the first sampling period of every bit interval . multiplexer 52 selects this bit only in this sampling period which corresponds to the state 0 of the counter 46 . during the remaining 4 sampling intervals , only the counter 46 outputs affect the address generation . in state 4 , the counter 46 outputs the pattern 100 which coincides with one of the address patterns in state 0 . therefore , it should be replaced by one of the unused patterns , for instance 110 . this can be done with the exclusive - or - gate 54 . table 1 shows a truth table for the embodiment of fig6 . table 1______________________________________samplinginterval #( counter state ) d ( 61 ) o2 o1 o0 a14 a13 a12______________________________________0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 01 x 0 0 1 0 0 12 x 0 1 0 0 1 03 x 0 1 1 0 1 14 x 1 0 0 1 1 0______________________________________ fig7 shows a practical implementation of a full transversal filter using the fir filter of fig4 . in particular , the data is applied to an input of an 8 - bit register ic1 . the eighth bit output from ic1 is applied as an input to a 4 - bit register ic2 . the sampling frequency fs is applied to the clock input of a d - flip - flop ic7 in toggle mode , and the q output therefrom is applied to the count input of a modulo - 5 counter ic3 . the third counting output from counter ic3 is applied as a shift signal to the registers ic1 and ic2 . a read - only memory ( rom ) ic4 includes 16 address inputs a0 - a15 . the 8 outputs from register ic1 along with the 4 outputs from register ic2 are applied to the address inputs a0 - a11 of rom ic4 . the first , second and third outputs from counter ic3 are applied to address inputs a12 - a14 of rom ic4 and the input data signal is applied to address input a15 of rom ic4 . the 8 - bit outputs 00 - 07 are applied through an interface circuit ic6 , which receives a clocking signal from the q output of d - flip - flop ic7 , to data inputs d1 - d8 of digital - to - analog ( d / a ) converter ic5 , the data inputs d9 - d12 being connected to ground . the q output from the d - flip - flop ic7 is connected to the d input and to one input of an or - gate ic8 , which receives the sampling frequency fs at its other input . the output from the or - gate ic8 is applied to the latch enable ( le ) input of the d / a converter ic5 . the analog output signal is then obtained at i out of the d / a converter ic5 . numerous alterations and modifications of the structure herein disclosed will present themselves to those skilled in the art . however , it is to be understood that the above described embodiment is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention . all such modifications which do not depart from the spirit of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
fig1 shows , in plan view , a first embodiment of an image sensor pixel structure according to the invention . the image sensor comprises rows and columns of pixels 2 having associated row and column conductors 4 , 6 . the pixels 2 are addressed by row pulses applied to the row conductors 4 by a row driver circuit , not shown . signals are read out from the pixels 2 by means of the associated column conductor 6 using a column reading circuit , also not shown . those skilled in the art will appreciate the different techniques for operating an image sensor , and a detailed description of the possible operating schemes will not be given . the pixels 2 are formed on a common substrate and together form a pixel array . furthermore , portions of the row driver circuit and / or the column reading circuit may also be formed on the common substrate . for example , either circuit may include multiplexers , electrostatic protection diodes , or modulating circuits , which may be integrated onto the substrate of the pixel array . various pixel configurations are known , and in the pixel array shown in fig1 each image sensor pixel 2 comprises a photosensitive diode p and a switching diode d connected in series between a respective row conductor 4 and column conductor 6 . in accordance with the invention , the example of fig1 shows the layers defining the photodiodes p to be shared between all pixels in each row . in this way , the photodiode area of each pixel may be maximised to improve the light collecting efficiency of the image sensor pixels . each pixel has its own respective switching diode d , one terminal of which makes contact with the top of the photodiode layers , and the other terminal of which makes contact with the overlying column conductor 6 . interference between pixels within a row is limited by virtue of the high resistance of the amorphous silicon layers defining the photodiode structure . as a result , the charge localisation within each pixel area prevents interference between charges stored on pixels within a row . the processes by which the pixel configuration shown in fig1 may be produced , and some examples of the possible materials to be used , will now be described . the full process steps will not be described in detail , since those skilled in the art will appreciate the various possibilities . reference should be made to fig2 and 3 , which show the cross sections taken along the lines ii -- ii and iii -- iii respectively , in fig1 . the pixels 2 are provided on a common substrate 8 , for example a glass substrate . the row conductors 4 are provided over the substrate 8 , for example in the form of chromium or other metal tracks . this is achieved by depositing a metal base layer 10 over the entire substrate 8 , for example by a sputtering process , and subsequently wet etching the layer to form the tracks which define the row conductors 4 . at the same time , base contacts 5 ( see fig1 ) are defined for the switching diodes d . the photodiode p of each pixel is disposed over the row conductor 4 and comprises amorphous silicon layers defining a photodiode structure . for example , the photodiode may comprise an n - type semiconductor layer pn disposed over the row conductor 4 , an intrinsic semiconductor layer pi disposed over the n - type layer , and a p - type semiconductor layer pp disposed over the intrinsic semiconductor layer . the amorphous silicon layers of the photodiode p are defined by deposition over the base metal layer 10 , for example using a pecvd process . the amorphous silicon layers which define the photodiodes p also define the switching diodes d , but as will be apparent from the following description , the switching diodes d are shielded from incident light to remove their photosensitivity . the array is subjected to a dry etching process which then removes portions of the amorphous silicon layers so as to define the photodiode p and switching diode d structures . the photodiodes p occupy a maximum area within the row , and the switching diodes d are restricted to the smallest practical size . the switching diodes d are formed over the base contacts 5 and are thereby isolated from each other and from the photodiode layers . a passivation layer 12 , for example of silicon nitride , is then deposited over the entire array , to passivate the edges of the diode stacks . this is particularly important for the photodiodes p . the passivation layer is patterned to provide contact holes 13 into the top of each switching diode and into the top of the shared photodiode ( a contact hole being provided for each pixel area ), so that the two diode structures may be interconnected . contact holes 14 are also provided over the switching diode base contacts 5 . a final top metal layer 15 is deposited over the array and patterned to define interconnections 7 between the switching diodes d and photodiodes p , and to define the column conductors 6 . the interconnections 7 , which overlie the switching diodes d , act as light shields for the switching diodes d , so that they do not display light - responsive characteristics . the processing required to form the array shown in fig1 to 3 requires four masking steps . these are ; a first mask to define the metal row conductors 4 and contact pads 5 for the switching diodes d , a second mask to etch the amorphous silicon layers to define the photodiode and switching diode areas , a third mask to pattern contact holes into the passivation layer , and a fourth mask to define the column conductors 6 and diode interconnections 7 . in comparison with discrete isolated pixels , the structure shown in fig1 to 3 increases the area of each pixel occupied by the light receiving photodiode surface , and also reduces the number of diode stack edges where edge leakage currents can be generated . however , the passivation layer 12 cannot eliminate edge leakage currents flowing down the edges of the pixel stack . furthermore , the positioning of the switching diodes and the photodiodes over separate portions of the substrate results in some loss in the possible light collecting area for each pixel . in order to eliminate substantially the edge leakage currents , it is possible to provide a photodiode structure with at least one layer shared between all pixels of the array , as will be apparent from the embodiments described below . to improve the light collecting area , a stacked pixel structure may be provided , wherein , in the case of a diode - diode pixel , the photodiode and the switching diode overlie one another over the substrate . the problem then arises that the switching diode structure is also shared between pixels , so that selective etching is required to provide individual switching diodes . backillumination is also required , otherwise the switching diodes shield light from the photodiodes . the switching diodes can not be transparent , otherwise they would become responsive to the incident light , which would alter the switching characteristics of the pixels . although a stacked switching diode - photodiode pixel can be envisaged , with the photodiode shared between rows of pixels , or between all pixels of the array , a preferred arrangement relies upon a stacked photodiode - capacitor pixel arrangement , wherein each pixel comprises a photodiode and a charge storage capacitor connected in series between a respective row and column conductor . this arrangement is shown in fig4 in plan view , with photodiode layers shared between all pixels of the array . the operation of a photodiode - capacitor will be known to those skilled in the art . one particular advantage is the possibility of providing a transparent capacitor layer , as will be apparent from the following description . in fig4 the pixel area 20 and the peripheral circuitry area 22 of the array have both been shown . the pixel area 20 again comprises row conductors 4 disposed over the common substrate . in the embodiment of fig4 the semiconductor layers of the photodiode p are shared between all pixels of the array . thus , the pixel area 20 comprises the row conductors 4 disposed over the substrate , the amorphous silicon layers defining the photodiode p forming a continuous layer over the rows 4 , and a capacitor dielectric layer c over the photodiode layers , which is contacted by the column conductors 6 . the capacitor dielectric layer c is not present in the peripheral circuitry area 22 , so that diode - based circuits may be fabricated using the same layers as used to fabricate the pixel array . the provision of a continuous semiconductor diode structure requires measures to ensure that pixel signals remain substantially isolated . various arrangements are possible to provide this isolation , and some of the various possibilities will be described in the following . fig5 shows a cross section along the line v -- v in fig4 and represents a preferred construction of the pixel array . in this preferred embodiment , the row conductors 4 are defined from a chromium nitride layer , which is deposited and patterned using a known photolithographic and etching process . after the chromium nitride has been etched to form the desired pattern of row conductors , the chromium nitride is then exposed to an rf glow discharge of ph 3 ( phosphine ). as a result of this phosphine plasma exposure , phosphorous dopant is adhered to the surface of the chromium nitride pattern , but not significantly to the glass substrate . the subsequent photodiode layers then comprise only an intrinsic amorphous semiconductor layer 24 disposed over the doped chromium nitride conductors , and a p - type semiconductor layer 26 over the intrinsic layer . during the deposition of the intrinsic semiconductor layer 26 , n - type regions are formed in the amorphous silicon film adjacent the chromium nitride patterns by phosphorus diffusion from the surface of the chromium nitride . consequently , regions of negatively doped amorphous silicon are formed in the intrinsic semiconductor layer without the need for any etching to define separate islands of negatively doped semiconductor material . the two amorphous silicon layers are deposited over the entire array , by known techniques , and coarse patterning may be employed ( for example using a proximity printer ) to define discrete pixel array and peripheral circuitry portions over the array . a spacing is preferably left between the pixel array and the peripheral circuitry , as shown in fig4 . thus , as shown in fig5 the chromium nitride base metal layer 10 , which defines the row conductors 4 , is covered directly by the intrinsic semiconductor layer 24 of the photodiode structure p . the local n - type doping in the intrinsic layer 24 adjacent the chromium nitride row conductors 4 is not shown . the intrinsic layer 24 and the p - type layer 26 together define the photodiode structure p , and a capacitor dielectric c is deposited over the p - type layer 26 , with no intermediate conducting junction . the capacitor dielectric layer c is , for example , hydrogenated silicon nitride and coarse patterning may again be employed to remove the capacitor , dielectric from the peripheral circuitry area of the substrate . alternatively a mechanical mask may prevent deposition of the dielectric layer c over the peripheral circuitry portion of the substrate . finally , the top metal conductor is deposited and patterned using conventional deposition and lithography techniques . for example , the top metal layer 14 may be a layer of indium tin oxide ( ito ), which enables the capacitor and top contact to be transparent , enabling illumination of the image sensor pixel from above the substrate . ito may be wet etched to define the column conductors . in fig5 the p - type semiconductor layer 26 and capacitor dielectric c are shown to be etched to define stacks beneath the column conductors 6 . the column conductors 6 may be used as a mask for a dry etching process which removes the silicon nitride dielectric c of the capacitor and the p - type semiconductor layer 26 . furthermore , this dry etching process may be carried out to etch partially into the intrinsic semiconductor layer 24 , defining channels 28 as shown in fig5 . in this way , individual isolated p - type semiconductor regions are provided for each column of pixels , but the remaining portion of the intrinsic semiconductor layer 24 prevents edge leakage effects occurring between the n - type semiconductor regions and the p - type semiconductor layer 26 . the process described above relies upon two accurate masking and etching stages ; a first to define the row conductors , and a second to define the column conductors . consequently , the number of critical processing stages required to produce the array is significantly reduced . furthermore , the overall number of mask steps to produce the array is also reduced , since there is no need for a patterned silicon nitride ( or other ) passivation layer . as described above , there is no metal contact layer provided between the photodiode p and the capacitor c of each pixel . consequently , although the p - type semiconductor layer 26 and the capacitor dielectric c are shared between all pixels within a column , the interference between charge signals stored on the capacitor c of each pixel in a column can be ignored , as a result of the very high lateral resistance of the p - type semiconductor layer 26 . indeed , as a result of this high resistance , it is not in fact necessary to etch beneath the column conductor 6 into the p - type semiconductor layer 26 , and the capacitor dielectric c . furthermore , although the doped row conductors 4 define row - shaped n - type semiconductor regions in the base of the intrinsic semiconductor layer 24 , a conventional n - i - p diode structure may be deposited over the entire array over conventional chromium bottom metal contacts . the arrangement of the capacitor layers over the photodiode layers in the pixel arrangement shown in fig4 and 5 is required to enable doped conductors to form the n - type semiconductor layers of the photodiode structure . however , the capacitor dielectric layer may instead be provided over the substrate over the row conductors , and conventional photodiode layers ( n - i - p or p - i - n ) may be deposited over the capacitor dielectric . the embodiment shown in fig4 and 5 also enables interconnections to be made between diodes in the peripheral circuitry 22 . for this purpose , as mentioned above , an area is provided between the pixel array 20 and the peripheral circuitry area 22 which does not have semiconductor diode layers . this area enables contacts to be made to the row conductors 4 . an example is shown in fig4 in which row r1 is to be connected to row r3 through a peripheral circuitry diode . the top metal layer , which defines the column conductors 6 , also defines a connecting track 30 which directly overlies row r3 . in order for the connecting track 30 to jump over row r2 to enable contact with the top of a diode over row r1 , the connecting track 30 extends parallel to , and between , the row conductors 4 to a connecting region 32 of the pixel array . the connecting track 30 passes over the row conductor r2 and is insulated from it by the remaining portion of the intrinsic semiconductor layer 24 which covers the connecting portion 32 of the pixel array . the connecting track 30 may then run parallel to , and between , the row conductors 4 and back to the peripheral circuitry area 22 to make contact with the top of a diode stack above row r1 . connections of this type are required to implement circuitry using the diodes in the peripheral circuitry area 22 , and the arrangement described above provides a simplified interconnection between diodes in the peripheral circuitry . as described above , the top metal contacts , defining the column conductor 6 and connecting tracks 30 are preferably transparent for an image sensor illuminated from above the substrate . one problem which may be encountered when using transparent ito as the top metal contact is the problem of step coverage as the ito steps over the edges of the semiconductor areas of the array . this step coverage problem may be encountered with the connecting tracks 30 or with the column conductors 6 at the outer edges of the array . one solution to this problem is to taper the edges of the semiconductor layers , and this is possible using a wet etching process when defining the pixel array 20 and peripheral circuitry area 22 . an alternative is to avoid the use of ito top conductors , which are prone to step coverage problems , by relying upon back - illumination , and placing the ito columns directly over the substrate , thereby effectively inverting the entire structure . it is possible to dope ito conductors to provide doped semiconductor regions in the intrinsic layer , and such a technique is described in the conference paper &# 34 ; an ohmic contact formation method for fabricating α - si tfts on large size substrates &# 34 ;, yukawa et al , published in proceedings of the 9th international display research conference , oct . 16 - 18 1989 , kyoto , japan , japan display &# 39 ; 89 pages 506 - 509 . it is furthermore possible to provide p - type doping by adhering boron ions to the ito conductors . in this case , the top contacts comprise the row conductors , which no longer need to be transparent for a back - illuminated image sensor , and they may therefore be formed from chromium and / or aluminum which can be deposited without step coverage problems . the technique of doping the bottom metal conductors as described with reference to fig4 and 5 may , of course equally be applied to the embodiment of fig1 to 3 , and conversely the three discrete layer diodes of fig1 to 3 may be employed in the embodiment of fig4 and 5 . the use of doped conductors giving rise to doping of the bottom of the photodiode structure may also be employed to fabricate p - i - n diodes if boron , or other acceptor ions , are associated with the metal conductors over the substrate . from reading the present disclosure , other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art . such modifications may involve other features which are already known in the design and use of electrical or electronic circuits and component parts thereof and which may be used instead of or in addition to features already described herein . although claims have been formulated in this application to particular combinations of features , it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure of the present application also includes any novel feature or any novel combination of features disclosed herein either explicitly or implicitly or any generalisation of one or more of those features which would be obvious to persons skilled in the art , whether or not it relates to the same invention as presently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as does the present invention . the applicants hereby give notice that new claims may be formulated to such features and / or combinations of such features during the prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived therefrom . | 7 |
the processor for use with the invention is not specific to the invention . what is important is the mode of operation of the processor which imparts certain features that are of use to the processing machine operator . the processor should have the ability to remove the need for processing control and should be self - cleaning . a suitable processor is disclosed in u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 920 , 495 ; filed aug . 1 , 2001 by peter jeffrey twist et al ; entitled processing photographic material the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference . however , the invention is not limited to such a processor . any batch processor which is self - cleaning could be used . alternative examples of suitable processors are described below . [ 0022 ] fig1 is a schematic diagram of the processing device 5 . the processing device 5 includes a plurality of units . these units include a digital exposing device 1 , paper handling means 2 , paper supply means 3 , chemical supply means 4 , a processing drum 6 , a drier 7 , and means 8 to chop and sort the output prints . although a paper supply means is illustrated it will be understood that any suitable print media is intended and included . the rolls of paper , or any other suitable print media , supplied by the paper supply means 3 are of large width . the widths may range from 12 ″ ( 30 . 5 mm ) to 28 ″ ( 71 . 1 mm ). images are exposed onto the paper in a matrix fashion by the digital exposing device 1 . any suitable digital writing device may be used to expose the image . a sheet can contain enlargements , panoramics , or even be one large print of a single image . the sheet can be up to 75 ″ ( 190 . 5 mm ) long depending on the number of images required . this reduces waste . the exposed sheet is fed into the processing drum 6 . processing chemicals are supplied from the chemical supply means 4 to the processing drum 6 . the minimum volume of processing solution is supplied . the whole sheet is then processed in the rotating processing drum 6 in the minimum volume of solution . the process can be any one defined , for example , ra , rapid ra , rx with unstable solutions for low silver paper , or even a rapid rx process which may only be stable when mixed for a minute or two . after processing , the print is washed while it is still in the processing drum 6 . the processing drum 6 is also washed and then cleaned . therefore , no chemical deposits build up and the need for operator maintenance is simplified if not completely removed . as the processing drum 6 does not contain chemicals between processes , the machine will emit fewer odors and be apparently dry . this , together with its size , allows the processing machine to be transportable without off - loading the chemicals from the machine . after leaving the processing drum 6 the resulting prints are dried in the dryer 7 . the prints are then chopped and sorted before being returned to the customer . [ 0025 ] fig2 a and 2b show a processor 15 suitable for use with the present invention . the processor 15 comprises an inner drum 14 and an outer drum 18 . the drums 14 , 18 , are coaxial , the inner drum 14 being rotatable within the outer drum 18 . the outer drum 18 is static . the inner drum 14 is provided with a plurality of perforations 20 . a roller , not illustrated , may be provided within drum 14 . pinch rollers 10 are located at the entrance to the inner drum 14 . this processor works in a similar way to a print drum such as that manufactured by jobo or any other small - scale darkroom apparatus maker . the print media 12 is fed into the inner drum 14 via the pinch rollers 10 . the emulsion side of the print media 12 faces towards the center of the inner drum 14 . a small amount of processing solution is introduced into the outer drum 18 and forms a pool 16 therein . due to the close proximity of the walls of the outer and inner drum walls , 18 and 14 , respectively , this also forms a pool in the inner drum 14 . the outer drum 18 remains static while the inner perforated drum 14 rotates . as the inner drum 14 rotates , the pool of processing solution 16 is coated onto the print media 12 . the coating can be aided by a roller ( not shown ) running on the print surface . solutions are added and removed sequentially for each required step of the processing , ending with the wash step . the wash step washes both the print media 12 , the inner drum 14 , and the outer drum 18 . when the process is completed the inner drum 14 remains empty until the next print media 12 is to be processed . [ 0027 ] fig3 shows a further processor 21 suitable for use with the present invention . this processor 21 also comprises an inner drum 23 and an outer drum 28 . the drums are coaxial , the inner drum 23 being rotatable within the outer drum 28 . the outer drum 28 is static . pinch rollers 10 are located at the entrance to the inner drum 23 . the drums , 26 and 28 are tilted at 5 - 20 ° to the horizontal . at the lower end of the processor 21 there is provided a container 22 . supply pipes 30 connect the container 22 to the upper end of the processor 21 . a pump 24 is provided in the supply pipes 30 . the print media 12 is fed into the inner drum 23 via the pinch rollers 10 . the pinch rollers 10 hold the print media 12 in position during processing . the emulsion side of the media faces towards the center of the inner drum 23 . the processing solution is contained within container 22 . the pump 24 is started and the solution is pumped from the container 22 and introduced into the upper end of the processor , into the rotating inner drum 23 . the outer drum 28 remains static . due to the tilting of the processor , the solution that is introduced at the top of the rotating inner drum 23 runs down the print media surface to the bottom by gravity . the solution that drips from the inner drum 23 is collected in the container 22 . this solution is pumped back through the supply pipes 30 to be reapplied to the print media 12 during the process . this ensures efficient use of the processing chemicals . after the process , the solution is discarded . the outer drum 28 is empty unless the pump 24 is running . therefore , no solution is left in the outer drum 28 when processing is complete . the outer drum 28 remains empty until the next print media 12 is to be processed . this processor 21 can be modified if the width of the print media 12 to be used is narrower than the axial length of the inner drum 23 . this prevents waste of the print media 12 . the processor 21 can be modified to allow processing in a volume commensurate with the print media 12 area rather than the outer drum 28 area . in order to do this the solution delivery point to the drum is lowered into the outer drum 28 , i . e . the solution is not delivered to the top end of the outer drum 28 but further down the axial length thereof . therefore , the outer drum 28 is not wet all over . the print media 12 is always loaded with one edge at the lower end of the inner drum 23 . the common feature of the processors 5 , 15 , and 21 , is that the final prints are delivered out of the machine at the same time . if the prints are cut , the time from first to last print does not exceed one minute . the sheet of print media 12 that the machine processes needs to be large to accommodate a customer &# 39 ; s order of prints within its dimensions . if some of those prints are panoramic in format , the area of paper is increased again . the print media 12 , for example paper , needs to be of such dimensions so that it can be accommodated around a reasonably sized inner drum . this will allow the machine to have a small “ footprint ” relative to a continuous machine . if the paper layout is such that the print width is divided up into 4 ″ sections along its width , then it can be easily cut with rotating knives along its long axis , see fig4 . the print length can then be chopped following the process by current knife technology . various sized prints can be exposed digitally up to the maximum size that the inner drum can take . it is thought that a common width paper would be delivered to the exposing head , the length of the print being dependant upon the number of prints and their size , see table 1 . software can work out the best possible “ fit ” to minimize paper waste . an inner drum of the invention can be made to accommodate 40 exposures , 6 - 7 prints wide , 4 ″ ( 101 mm ) prints with a diameter between 20 - 25 inches ( 508 mm to 635 mm ). as exposure is by digital means , the machine can also print and process double - sided album pages and other customized layouts which are attractive to the customer and the business . 35 mm × 12 ″ strips of kodak edge 8 were exposed to a 4 color ( r , g , b , n ) 21 step tablet . these strips were processed in kodak ra prime sp ( single part ) developer tank solution for 45 seconds at 37 . 8 ° c . and kodak ra prime bleach - fixer replenisher for 45 seconds at 37 . 8 ° c . in a sinkline using nitrogen burst agitation . the resulting sensitometry was read on a spectral array densitometer . these strips constitute the control . for the drum processor , a drum , which can accommodate 2 . 5 ft ( 762 mm ) of 35 mm film , was used . the drum is heated by being housed in a hot air box at 40 ° c ., the processing solutions ( kodak ra prime sp replenisher and 20 % acetic acid stop bath ) were also heated to 40 ° c . color paper with two step wedge exposures on it ( as described above ) was loaded into the inner drum by taping down its leading edge to the drum wall , with the emulsion side of the paper facing the center of the inner drum . a plain pvc roller of 1 ″ ( 2 . 54 cm ) diameter is able to run on the paper surface as the inner drum rotates . this is held at the 6 o &# 39 ; clock position of the inner drum by a bracket . the inner drum was rotated at 60 rpm . the replenishment rates for the kodak ra prime process in a continuous machine are as follows ; low utilization solution average utilization ml / ft2 ml / ft2 developer 15 ( or 10 for kodak ra 20 prime single part )□ bleach - fix 10 20 stabilizer 23 23 we wish to find the minimum developer volume that can be used to develop color paper to give good sensitometry . the goal is to try to match the replenishment rates of the continuous minilab process to be efficient in chemistry . paper was processed in the drum processor using the following volume of developer and stop - bath . volume added to drum processor ml effective replenishment rate ml / ft2 6 21 the strips were then removed and bleach - fixed in the tankline . the sensitometry illustrated in fig5 was obtained . the plot includes the kodak ra prime sinkline check as a dashed line . it can be seen from fig5 that at a volume of 21 ml / ft 2 the paper processed very well with few defects . it is apparent from the sensitometry that there are slight speed increases in this processor , attributable to the higher agitation environment . the volume of developer used was close to the low utilization replenishment rate of 20 ml / ft 2 . as this machine has advantages for low utilization environments , this is a fair comparison . the invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments thereof . it will be understood by those skilled in the art that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the invention . | 6 |
fig1 is a sectional view of a ring shaped target , where only one side of the target section is shown . a target body 8 is embraced by lateral inner and outer surfaces 15 and 16 , respectively , a backside 14 and a sputteringsurface 7 which forms a curve in the sectional view , as well as prominencesor projections at inner and outer target rim areas 1 , 4 and 2 , 5 , respectively . in the axial center of the ring shaped target body 8 , a central target axis 6 is shown . the concave recess of the sputtering surface 7 according to the invention , forms a continuous curve . it becomesapparent that any kind of edges within the sputtering zone , are unsuitable . the continuous curve can be optimized by simple experiments with respect tothe form of the target , or to the target dimensions respectively , or the construction of the sputtering source arrangement . the line of the curve in surface 7 , as well as the depth 9a of the curve , from its lowest point 9 , results from these experiments . the target can be fitted with a sputtering surface 7 which is embraced by the sputtering surface rims 1 , 2 , where these rims 1 , 2 are not necessarily target rim areas 4 , 5 . rim areas 4 , 5 can be used , and may form prominences or target rim areas whichcan be several millimeters wide , for example 3 mm wide . depending on the design , the rim prominences 1 , 4 and 5 , 2 can remain but they may also merge into each other as shown in fig1 a . it is most favorable if the curve of surface 7 has a maximal depth 9a that is related to the target rim area 1 , 4 ; 2 , 5 , within 3 through 20 % of the average diameter 3 of thering shaped sputtering surface 7 . fig1 a and 1b , for instance , show , in a sectional view , how one of the concentrically positioned target rims can be lowered relative to the otherone . the choice of how much the rim is lowered depends on the design of themagnetron sputtering source and the shape of its magnetic field lines , on the one hand , and on the sputtering characteristics on the other hand . it is noted that in all the drawings , the same numbers are used to designate the same , or functionally similar parts . the sputtering surface 7 with itsrims 1 , 2 can either coincide with one of the target rims 4 , 5 , or with both rims . this also depends on the practical realization of the arrangement . the lowering of one of the two rims preferably lies in a range of up to 6 % of the average diameter 3 of the ring shaped sputtering surface . the inner target rim area 1 , 4 is preferably lowered in order to cause a homogeneous distribution characteristic . fig2 where the same reference numerals are used to designate the same orfunctionally similar parts , shows an example of a real target where the target body 8 is depicted approximately actual size and it schematically illustrates how this target is integrated in a sputtering source arrangement . the target body 8 is mounted on a cooling plate 11 with cooling channels 12 . it is laterally encircled by an arrangement of magnets 13 of alternating polarity . it is known that there are several ways to realize the pole arrangement . depending on the magnetic field lines desired , the magnets may be more or less pushed forward in the direction of the sputtering surface 7 . the depicted target 8 is , for instance , most easily manufactured if the sputtering surface 7 is , in its cross section , made of circle segments , especially two circle segments , where one segment reaches from the rim 2 of the sputtering surface , through to the lowest point 9 , and the second circle segment reaches from the lowest point 9 , through to the inner sputtering surface rim 1 . preferably the lowest point of the curve 9 related to the average diameter3 , lies on a diameter 10 which is up to 40 % smaller than the average diameter ( 3 in fig1 ) of the ring . the approximated circle segments preferably have their centers on the same line 10 which is essentially parallel to the central axis 6 and at the same time , stands vertically on the target ring surface 7 , and also runs through the lowest point 9 . an especially suited target for instance , has an outer target diameter of 170mm , and an inner target diameter of 56 mm and it is 37 . 5 mm thick ; the inner diameter of the sputtering surface rim 1 measuring 62 mm and the outer diameter of rim 2 of the sputtering surface measuring 64 mm . the same line 10 , for the center of the radii r 1 and r 2 , lies on the diameter of 90 mm where radius r 1 is 80 mm and radius r 2 is 22 . 5 mm . this example of the target is preferably used with metal sputtering , especially of aluminum and its alloys . this curve of surface 7is particularly suited by taking into account the sputtering characteristics of aluminum together with the corresponding design of the sputtering source . this leads to very good results with respect to operational safety and target life time . fig2 also schematically illustrates a vacuum coating apparatus using the target and comprising a vacuum chamber wall 21 for defining a vacuum chamber 20 for practicing a vacuum coating operation . fig3 shows another embodiment of the invention where the substantially concave and continuous curved surface 7 &# 39 ; has a bump or rise within its confines between the rims 1 and 2 . while specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | 2 |
in the following , detailed description to the preferred embodiments of the connector module of this invention will be given by referring to the accompanying drawings . it is appreciated that the preferred embodiments are used to show the structure and the applications of some examples of the invention . the scope of protection of this invention shall be defined by the accompanying claims . it is the objective of the present invention to provide a connector module that supports three connection modes , namely , the serial / parallel connections and bus connections among a plurality of functional modules . fig1 shows the schematic view of one embodiment of the connector module 100 of the present invention . as shown , the connector module 100 of the present invention comprises a module main body 10 , a serial / parallel connector 31 attached in the module main body 10 , and a bus connector seat 40 provided in the module main body 10 . in the example of fig1 , the serial / parallel connector 31 is detachably attached to the module main body 10 . however , as may be appreciated by those having ordinary skills in the art , the serial / parallel connector 31 may be affixed to the module main body 10 . due to the orientation of the module main body 10 shown in fig1 , only connector pins that are exposed and the slot 35 of the serial / parallel connector 31 are shown . fig1 also shows a bus connector seat 40 provided in the module main body 10 , in the form of an opening . the bus connector seat 40 includes slide rails 41 , 41 formed in the opening 42 of the bus connector seat 40 . the bus connector seat 40 also includes a slidable clamp 43 , also formed in the module main body 10 but at an end of the opening 42 to be aligned to a bus rail 60 ( see fig9 ), so to clamp a bus structure 61 accommodated in the bus rail 60 , such that the connector module 100 is attached , or slidably attached , to the bus rail 60 . the shape and size of the opening 42 and the slide rails 41 , 41 are not limited , as long as they provide sufficient space for the installation and detachment of a bus connector 50 ( see fig6 ), whereby the bus connector 50 may enter from the opening 42 , move along the slide rails 41 , 41 and accommodated in the space defined by the slide rails 41 , 41 . the opening 42 also opens along the slide rails 41 , 41 , such that , when the bus connector 50 is installed therein , its connector pins are extended external to the opening 42 and in connection with the bus structure 61 accommodated in the bus rail 60 . the structure of the slide clamp 43 is not limited , as long as it is able to firmly clamp the bus rail , such as a standard support rail or a customized support rail , and the clamp situation may be easily released by a simple operation , so to remove the connector module 100 . as the support rail is a standard component in the industry and provides slidability , the slidable clamp 43 is preferably slidable on the bus rail 60 . the slidable clamp 43 shown in fig1 is one of the clamps that have the simplest structure . it basically has a concave slot 44 , to accommodate the two wings of the bus rail 60 , and two angular projections 45 , 45 at both edges of the slot 44 , to clamp the bus rail 60 . other types of clamp , such as those with one spring - biased sliding block in substitution of the angular projection 45 , are also applicable in this invention . since the support rail is a standard component in the industry , details of the slidable clamp 43 is thus omitted . in the module main body 10 shown in fig1 , two guide arms 11 , 12 are formed at its both sides . in the internal side of the guide arms 11 , 12 , guide rails are provided , to guide and accommodate circuit board 70 ( see fig9 ) with functional circuit modules . if a bus connector 50 is provided in the circuit board 70 , the bus connector 50 will enter the connector seat 40 and project from the slidable clamp 43 end of the opening 42 , when the circuit board 70 is inserted in between the guide arms 11 , 12 . at the position where the slidable clamp 43 clamps the bus rail 60 , the bus connector pins of the bus connector will contact the metal strips of the bus structure accommodated in the bus rail 60 , to form electrical contacts , whereby bus connection between the connector module and the bus structure is formed . in addition , if an extension is provided in the circuit board 70 , at a position corresponding to the slot 35 , the extension will enter the slot 35 , so to interact with the serial / parallel connector 31 . the shape of the module main body 10 is not limited to the shape shown in fig1 . for example , the module main body 10 may form a box , to provide housing to accommodate the circuit board 70 , as well as circuits , components provided in the circuit board 70 . fig2 shows the structural of one example of the serial / parallel connector 31 applicable in the connector module 100 of this invention . the figure shows four groups of connection terminal 20 , as well as the side view of one of the connection terminal groups 20 . as illustrated , in the present embodiment , the serial / parallel connector 31 includes an insulation main body 32 , with 4 groups of connection terminals 20 detachably fixed in the insulation main body 32 via slots 33 and tabs 34 . the arrangement of the connection terminal groups 20 in the insulation main body 32 is not limited to the way shown in this figure . any method that is able to affix the connection terminal groups 20 may be used in this invention . for example , the connection terminal groups 20 may be affixed in the insulation main body by injection . number of the connection terminal group 20 may also vary in accordance with needs in applications . the insulation main body 32 provides a slot 35 extending along the longitudinal direction of the insulation main body 32 . its length and width are not limited but in general , its length is preferably sufficient to accommodate the predetermined number of connection terminal groups , while maintaining a predetermined distance between the groups . in addition , its width is preferably sufficient to accommodate the connection terminals therein , while leaving a space for a foreign objects , such as the circuit board 70 , to be inserted therein . each group 20 of connection terminals shown in fig2 comprises a first contact piece 21 and a second contact piece 26 . as shown in the figure , the first contact piece 21 provides a first contact 23 a , a second contact 24 a and a third contact 25 a , with the second and third contacts 24 a , 25 a located in the slot 35 and arranged along a first direction x in the slot 18 . the figure also shows that the second contact piece 26 provides a fourth contacts 28 a , a fifth contact 29 a and a sixth contact 30 a , with the fifth and sixth contacts 29 a , 30 a located within the slot 35 and arranged along the first direction x . in addition , the fifth and sixth contacts 29 a , 30 a respectively form resilient contact with the second and third contacts 24 a , 25 a . fig3 shows the oblique view of an embodiment of the first contact piece 21 of the connection terminal group 20 of fig2 . as shown , in this embodiment the first contact piece 21 includes a connection portion 22 and first elastic leg 22 , second elastic leg 24 and third elastic leg 25 extended from the connection portion 22 . the first contact 23 a , the second contact 24 a and the third contact 25 a are respectively provided in the first elastic leg 23 , the second elastic leg 24 and the third elastic leg 25 . when assembled , the second elastic leg 24 and the third elastic leg 25 of the first contact piece 21 are aligned with the slot 35 and inserted into the slot 35 so that the second and third elastic legs 24 , 25 enter into the slot 35 , while the first elastic leg 23 maintained external to the slot 35 , until edge of the slot 35 is in contact with the connection portion 22 . now refer to fig4 . fig4 shows the oblique view of an embodiment of the second contact piece 26 of the connection terminal group 20 of fig2 . as shown , in this embodiment the second contact piece 26 includes a main body 27 and fourth elastic leg 28 , fifth elastic leg 29 and sixth elastic leg 30 extended from the main body 27 . the fourth contact 28 a , the fifth contact 29 a and the sixth contact 30 a are respectively provided in the fourth elastic leg 28 , the fifth elastic leg 29 and the sixth elastic leg 30 . similar to the first contact piece 21 , when assembled , the fifth elastic leg 29 and the sixth elastic leg 30 of the second contact piece 27 are aligned with the slot 35 and inserted into the slot 35 so that the fifth and third sixth legs 29 , 30 enter into the slot 35 , while the fourth elastic leg 28 maintained external to the slot 35 , until edge of the slot 35 is in contact with the main body 27 . after assembly , in each of the connection terminal groups 20 , the first contact 23 a locates outside of one external side of the insulation main body 32 and the fourth contact 28 a on the opposite external side of the insulation main body 32 . the first elastic leg 23 and the fourth elastic leg 28 may be disposed in the external sides of the insulation main body 32 in full or in part , as long as they may form electrical contact with a group of identical or similar connection terminal belonging to another connector module . in the example shown in fig3 , the extensions of the third elastic leg 25 and the second elastic leg 24 are separated by a space . also , in the example shown in fig4 , the extensions of the sixth and fifth elastic legs 30 29 are separated by a space . however , in other examples , the second elastic leg 24 may be surrounded by the third elastic leg 25 , with a space between them , to form a frame shape . similarly , the fifth elastic leg 29 may be surrounded by the sixth elastic leg 30 , with a space between them , to form a frame shape . other designs in the type , shape or structure of the elastic legs are applicable and may be determined by those having ordinary skills in the art . now return to fig1 . the module main body 10 in fig1 provides a seat 13 to accommodate the serial / parallel connector 31 . in addition , openings 14 , 15 are provided at both sides of the seat 13 , such that the first and fourth contacts 23 a , 28 a of the serial / parallel connector 31 , i . e ., the first and fourth legs 23 , 28 are exposed from the module main body 10 , when the serial / parallel connector 31 is accommodated in the seat 13 . when a plurality of connector nodules are arranged in sequence , such as when they are arranged in sequence in the bus rail 60 , the first and fourth contacts 24 a , 28 / a of the serial / parallel connector 31 of one contact module are respectively in contact with the fourth and first contacts 28 a , 24 a of the serial / parallel connectors 31 of an adjacent contact module . when the serial / parallel connector 31 of the invention is assembled , each group of the connection terminals 20 will have the second and third contacts 24 a , 25 a arranged along the first direction x within the slot 35 , and the fifth and sixth contacts 29 a , 30 a arranged along the first direction x in the slot 35 . the fifth and sixth contacts 29 a , 30 a form resilient contacts respectively with the second and third contacts 24 a , 25 a . the width of the slot 35 in the direction perpendicular to the first direction x is wide enough to accommodate a foreign object , such as the circuit board 70 . therefore , the foreign object 70 can enter the slot 35 to release the contact status of the second contact 24 a with the fifth contact 29 a , and the third contact 25 with the sixth contact 30 a . fig5 a - 5c illustrate the cross - sectional view of the serial / parallel connector 31 of the present invention , when application . as shown , in the state of fig5 a , the foreign object ( the circuit board ) 70 is just inserted into the slot 35 , from the upper part of the figure to the lower part , but has not yet entered the slot 35 . in this time point , the second contact 24 a and the fifth contact 29 a , and the third contact 25 a and the sixth contact 30 a , respectively , maintain in electrical contact . in the state shown in fig5 b , the foreign object 70 first contacts the second contact 24 and the fifth contact 29 , followed by a continuous movement to force the second contact 24 and the fifth contact 29 to break , therefore releasing the contact status of the second contact 24 a and the fifth contact 29 a . thereafter , the foreign object 70 continues to move along the first direction x and contacts the third and the sixth contacts 25 a , 30 a . the continuous movement of the foreign object 70 forces the third and sixth contacts 25 a , 30 a to break , therefore releasing the contact status of the third and sixth contacts 25 a , 30 a , as shown in fig5 c . in the preferred embodiments of this invention , an extension 71 is provided in the circuit board 70 , at a location corresponding to the serial / parallel connector 31 . contact pins 72 , such as goldfingers provided in both sides of the circuit board 70 , are provided in the extension 71 , at locations corresponding to the second contact 24 a , the third contact 25 a and the fifth contact 29 a and the sixth contact 30 a . the contact pins 72 will form electrical contacts with the second contact 24 a and the fifth contact 29 a and / or the third contact 25 a and the sixth contact 30 a , when the circuit board 70 is fully inserted in the slot 35 . depending on the length of the contact pins 72 , the contact pins 72 may be provided at regions corresponding to the second contact 24 a and the fifth contact 29 a , to the third contact 25 a and the sixth 30 a or to second contact 24 a and the fifth contact 29 a and extending to regions corresponding to the third contact 25 a and the sixth contact 30 a . when the circuit board 70 is inserted and reaches the bottom of the slot 35 , forcing the third contact 25 a to and the sixth contact 30 a to separate , depending on the length of the contact pins 72 , the contact pins 72 may form electrical contacts with the second contact 24 a and the fifth contact 29 a , with the third contact 25 a and the sixth 30 a or with all the second contact 24 a , the fifth contact 29 a , the third contact 25 a and the sixth contact 30 a . when the contact pins 72 contacts all the second contact 24 a , the fifth contact 29 a , the third contact 25 a and the sixth contact 30 a , signals / currents that enter from the first contact 23 a , flow via the second and fifth contacts 24 a , 29 a and the third and sixth contacts 25 a , 30 a and exit from the fourth contact 28 a , when the circuit board 70 is not inserted in the slot 35 , will enter the circuit provided in the circuit board 70 from the contact pin 72 , to be processed or transformed by the circuit . results of the processing or transformation will be output to external via the contact pin 72 or otherwise . a serial connection of the circuit board is thus realized . on the other hand , if after insertion of the circuit board 70 , the contact pins 72 form electrical contacts with the second and fifth contacts 24 a , 29 a , only , signals / currents that enter from the first contact 23 a and exit from the fourth contact 28 a , when the circuit board 70 is not inserted in the slot 35 , will generate a split current to enter the circuit provided in the circuit board 70 from the contact pin 72 , due to the contacts of the contact pins 72 with the second and fifth contacts 24 a , 29 a . the signals / currents are processed or transformed by the circuit and output to external . a parallel connection of the circuit board is thus realized . in the process describe above , when the extension 71 of the circuit board 70 forces one of the two pairs of contacts , i . e ., the second contact 24 a and the fifth contacts 24 a , and the third contact 25 a and the sixth contact 30 a , to separate , the other pair remains in contact or is already separated . when the extension 71 of the circuit board 70 is removed from one of the two pairs , the other pair remains in contact or is already separated . in either of these situation , sudden break or sudden short in the circuit due to the break or short of the contacts will never take place . in short , the present invention provides a connector module that supports the hot - swap function . with the present invention , sudden short or break due to the insertion or removal of a foreign circuit may be prevented . a connector module with the structure described above provides one or more serial / parallel connectors 31 and a bus connector seat 40 to accommodate a bus connector 50 . in application , a circuit board 70 provided with a bus connector 50 may be installed by inserting the bus connector 50 into the bus connector seat 40 and the extension 71 of the circuit board 70 into the slot 35 of the serial / parallel connector 31 , to assemble the connector module 100 and the circuit board 70 . a functional module assembly so obtained is shown in fig9 . thereafter , the a plurality of functional modules with an identical or similar connector module 100 is arranged closely in sequence in the bus rail 60 , by having their slidable clamps 43 clamping the same bus rail 60 . circuits provided in a circuit boards 70 will form serial or parallel connections with circuits provided in another circuit board 70 through the serial / parallel connector 31 , or form bus connections through the bus connector 90 , depending on the design of the system . a three - mode connection function is thus realized . of course , the connector module 100 may also include a bus connector 50 , with detachable connector pins to contact the metal pins , such as goldfingers provided in the circuit board 70 . fig6 shows the structure of a bus connector 50 applicable in the connector module 100 of this invention . as shown in this figure , the bus connector 50 comprises a connector main body 51 and a plurality of connector pins 52 provided in the connector main body 51 . each connector pins 52 comprises a first terminal 53 and a second terminal 54 , extended in opposite directions . the first terminal 53 includes two legs 53 a , 53 b , to form contact with and to clamp a metal strip 62 provided in the bus structure 61 accommodated in the bus rail 60 , in order to establish stable electrical contact thereto . the second terminal 54 includes two legs 54 a , 54 b , to form contact with and to clamp a metal pin provided in the circuit board 70 , in order to establish stable electrical contact thereto . a same number of pin slots 55 is provided in the connector main body 51 , to accommodate the connector pins 52 . a bus connector 50 with the structure described above may be inserted and attached in the bus connector seat 40 of the module main body 10 . when the bus connector 50 is accommodated in the bus connector seat 40 , the first terminals 53 extend from the connector main body 51 . when the slidable clamp 43 clamps the bus rail 60 , the connector pins 52 of the bus connector will contact the metal strips 62 of the bus structure 61 accommodated in the bus rail 60 and form electrical contact thereto . a bus connection is thus established . in the preferred embodiments , the second terminals 54 are not metal legs , but are soldered onto the circuit board 70 . in such embodiments , the circuit board 70 , including a bus connector 50 ) is assembled with the connector module 100 by inserting the circuit board 70 between the guide arms 11 , 12 . a bus connector 60 with features described above is described in us patent publication no . 2013 - 237067 “ data bus structure for terminal blocks and terminal blocks using the same ,” which description may be taken as reference in this disclosure . as mentioned above , the support rail 60 is a standard product in the industry , used to support functional modules such as terminal blocks . a bus structure applicable in this invention is designed in accordance with such support rail . fig7 shows the structure of a bus structure 61 usable in the connector module of this invention . fig8 shows its cross - sectional view . as shown in these figures , the bus structure 61 is a block material with a plurality of elongated slots 63 provided thereon . the elongated slots 63 extend in the longitudinal direction of the bus structure 61 , which is perpendicular to the first direction x . as a result , a plurality of connector modules 100 may be arranged in sequence on the bus structure 61 with their respective bus connectors 50 in connection with the metal strips 62 , as well as their serial / parallel connectors 31 connected in sequence . the shape of the bus structure 61 is not limited , as long as it may be accommodated in the bus rail 60 to well utilize the space provided by the standard support rail , without additionally modifying the support rail . a metal strip 62 is provided in each of the elongated slots 63 , such that the plurality of metal strips 62 are arranged parallel . the metal strips 62 thus form a bus , or data bus , for the transmission of electrical power and / or signals . in the example of fig7 and 8 , the bus structure is attached in the bus rail 60 by two wings 64 . the wings 64 , however , are not absolutely necessary , because , when application , the connector module 100 has been clamped to the bus rail 60 by its slidable clamp 43 and connected to the bus structure 61 with its bus connector 50 , whereby stable connection between them has been well established . the bus connector 50 may enter into the opening 42 along the first direction x and move along the rail 41 , 41 , until the connector pins 52 of the bus connector 50 are exposed from the other side of the opening 42 . the connector module 100 is clamped to the bus rail 60 with its slidable clamp 43 , so that the connector pins 52 of the bus connector 50 are in electrical contact with the plurality of metal strips 62 of the bus structure 61 . a bus connection is thus realized . a bus structure 61 with features described above is also described in us patent publication no . 2013 - 237067 “ data bus structure for terminal blocks and terminal blocks using the same ,” which description may be taken as reference in this disclosure . fig9 shows one example of the invented connector module after assembly . as shown , when a bus connector 50 is provided in the bus connector seat 40 of the connector module 100 , the bus connector pins 52 of the bus connector 50 will establish electrical contacts with the metal strips 62 of the bus structure accommodated in the bus rail 60 . when a plurality of connector module 100 is arranged in sequence on the bus rail 60 , the first and fourth contacts 24 a , 28 / a of the serial / parallel connector 31 of one contact module are respectively in contact with the fourth and first contacts 28 a , 24 a of the serial / parallel connectors 31 of an adjacent contact module . as describe above , the present invention provides a tri - modal connector module that has a simple structure and is applicable in the industry for a variety of applications . | 7 |
the polycrystalline diamond compact ( pdc ) of this invention is manufactured so as to incorporate two or more different catalytic elements . a traditional metallic catalytic element is used in a region or volume of the polycrystalline diamond layer adjacent to the cemented carbide substrate . generally , this metallic catalyst is readily supplied by the substrate during the high temperature / high pressure ( ht / hp ) sintering process step , where a strong metallurgical bond is created between the polycrystalline diamond layer and the substrate . one of the important and novel features of this invention is the incorporation and use of a thermally stable non - metallic catalytic element in the region or volume of the polycrystalline diamond layer adjacent to the working or cutting surface , in addition to the metallic catalyst provided in the volume of the polycrystalline diamond layer adjacent to the cemented carbide substrate . for the purposes of this disclosure , polycrystalline diamond should be considered as both commonly known diamond in a polycrystalline form and cubic boron nitride in a polycrystalline form . also , typically the substrate region or volume is composed of a cemented tungsten carbide composition , also referred to as wc . fig1 shows a cross - section view representation of the compact 101 of this invention with the three designated regions : namely the substrate region 101 ; the first polycrystalline diamond layer 102 ; and the second polycrystalline diamond layer 103 . the working or cutting surface 104 is shown along the top and side of the second polycrystalline diamond layer 103 . the first polycrystalline diamond layer 102 is shown adjacent to the substrate 101 and remote from the working surface 104 . during manufacturing , the sintering using a high temperature / high pressure ( ht / hp ) press causes a metallic catalytic element , typically cobalt , in the substrate to dissolve or liquefy and then to sweep through the diamond layer 102 thereby providing for the growth of sintered diamond bonds between the diamond grains of the polycrystalline diamond and forming a solid compact of the substrate and the polycrystalline diamond layer 102 . the catalytic elements typically used in the sintering are generally the same catalytic elements necessary for the conversion of graphite to diamond in the high temperature / high pressure ( ht / hp ) process . most often metallic elements from group viii ( primarily fe , ni and / or co ) in the periodic table are used for this sintering process , although other metallic catalysts can be used with or substituted for the sintering catalyst without departing from the concept of this invention . these alternative metallic catalysts include , but are not necessarily limited to , group viii elements , namely : fe , co , ni , ru , rh , pd , os , ir and pd ; transition metals , namely : mn , cr and ta ; and carbide formers from groups ivb , vb , vib , namely : ti , zr , hf , v , nb , mo and w , alloyed with group ib elements , namely : cu , ag and au . these metallic catalysts ( primarily fe , ni and / or co ) are convenient for the manufacture of pdcs because they are commonly used as binders in cemented tungsten carbide , thus the catalytic element necessary for the pcd sintering process is naturally supplied by the substrate during the ht / hp processing , and these metallic catalyst materials tend to form a continuous metallurgical bond between the pcd layer and the substrate , thereby greatly increasing the strength of the resulting pdc tool . however , these metallic catalyzing elements are not generally considered to be thermally stable and they generally lead to early failure of the compact in high temperature use because of their relatively high coefficients of thermal expansion and their propensity to readily dissolve carbon from diamond at elevated temperatures . it may also be possible to sinter directly with the non - metallic catalysts , in alternative embodiments of this invention . recent discoveries have brought to light the existence of non - metallic catalytic elements , which have been shown to promote the conversion of graphite to diamond at high temperature / high pressure and are therefore suitable for a ht / hp sintering process step for the production of pcd . these non - metallic catalytic materials include , but are not necessarily limited to , the following : phosphorous ; carbonates , including : li 2 co 3 , na 2 co 3 , mgco 3 , caco 3 , srco 3 and k 2 co 3 ; sulfates , including : na 2 so 4 , mgso 4 and caso 4 ; hydroxides , including : mg ( oh ) 2 and ca ( oh ) 2 ; wo 3 ; boron compounds , including : b and b 4 c , tic 0 . 6 , iron oxide and / or double oxide , including : fetio 3 , fe 2 sio 4 , y 3 fe 5 o 12 and the like ; copper ; zinc ; germanium ; and buckminsterfullerenes ( also known as fullerenes , buckyballs and the like ). these elements are generally considered to be thermally stable because they have low coefficients of thermal expansion and do not dissolve carbon from the diamond particles . because of their superior thermal stability , these non = metallic catalytic materials are incorporated into the diamond layer 103 of the compact 101 of this invention . the non - metallic catalytic materials provide for the growth of sintered diamond bonds between the diamond grains of the polycrystalline diamond of layer 103 and also form a strong bond with diamond layer 102 . by incorporating one or more of these non - metallic catalyzing materials in to the working surface 104 region , which includes both the top and sidewalls of the second polycrystalline layer 103 , the resulting pdc compact can provide a more thermally stable cutting edge in use in high temperature contact with a rock or otherwise formation . the diamond particles of the second diamond layer 103 remain integrally bonded with the diamond particles of the first diamond layer 102 , which in turn remains strongly bonded to the substrate via the metallic catalyst in the first diamond layer 102 . fig2 shows the present mode of making or manufacturing the pdc of this invention . the working surface polycrystalline diamond material is loaded 201 , typically in a can device arrangement for ht / hp processing . the remote working surface polycrystalline diamond material is loaded 202 , also typically in the can device arrangement for ht / hp processing . in some alternative embodiments , the material for both polycrystalline diamond layers 102 , 103 may be loaded together , while in other embodiments , because of the different characteristics of the desired catalysts , they may be loaded in separate steps and may be separated in different can components . the substrate material , typically tungsten carbide ( wc ) is loaded 203 , also typically in the can device arrangement . the can device is completed 204 , typically by assembling the various components along with potentially other can components as desired for shaping and structural support . the completed can device is then subjected to high temperature - high pressure processing 205 sufficient to liquefy and / or soften 206 the metal binder in the substrate material and to cause this metal binder to sweep 207 through the polycrystalline diamond layers 102 , 103 thereby sintering 208 the diamond crystals of the polycrystalline diamond layers 102 , 103 to the substrate 101 . the can is removed 209 . the compact is finished 212 , typically by grinding , shaping , beveling , and polishing as desired . the metallic catalyzing material is removed 210 from the working surface 104 and the second polycrystalline diamond layer 103 . typically , this removal 210 is accomplished by leaching , although electrical discharge and mechanical metallic removal techniques can be substituted without departing from the concept of this invention . non - metallic catalyzing material is reintroduced 211 to the working surface 104 and the second polycrystalline diamond layer 103 . typically , this non - metallic catalyst reintroduction is accomplished by introducing the non - metallic material through a solvent re - precipitation processing step , although alternative processing to reintroduce the non - metallic catalytic material can involve a second ht / hp process , an oven cycle , use of a gas phase or plasma and / or a vacuum melt process without departing from the concept of this invention . at which point the compact is ready for use 213 . fig3 shows an alternative mode of making or manufacturing the pdc of this invention . the working surface polycrystalline diamond material is loaded 301 , typically in a can device arrangement for ht / hp processing . the loaded material when processed forms a region that contains a non - metallic catalytic element , in the range of 1 % to 20 % by weight , premixed with the diamond material . the remote working surface polycrystalline diamond material is loaded 302 , also typically in a can device arrangement for ht / hp processing . the substrate material , typically tungsten carbide ( wc ) is loaded 303 , also typically in a can device arrangement . the can device is completed 304 , typically by assembling the various components along with potentially other can components as desired for shaping and structural support . the completed can device is then subjected to high temperature - high pressure processing 305 sufficient to liquefy and / or soften 306 the metallic catalytic element in the substrate material and to cause this metallic catalytic element to sweep 307 through the polycrystalline diamond layer 102 , thereby sintering 308 the diamond crystals of the polycrystalline diamond layer 102 to the substrate 101 . the metallic catalytic element is prevented from sweeping through the diamond layer 103 by the inclusion in the diamond layer region of the non - metallic catalytic material . the high temperature - high pressure processing 305 is then modified to enable sintering 309 of the polycrystalline diamond layer 103 by the non metallic catalytic material mixed therein . the polycrystalline diamond layer 103 is thereby sintered to layer 102 . the can is removed 310 . the compact is finished 311 , typically by grinding , shaping , beveling and polishing as desired . at which point the compact is ready for use 312 . alternatively , metallic catalyzing material ( s ) can be used to sinter the entire polycrystalline diamond table , including both layers 102 and 103 . the metallic catalyzing material will then sweep from the substrate 101 or be mixed with the diamond layers 102 , 103 or any combination thereof . after the sintering step is completed , the metallic catalyzing material is removed from the second polycrystalline diamond layer 103 , including the areas of the compact adjacent to the working surface 104 . a variety of techniques are employed to remove this metallic catalyzing material as previously described in relation to fig2 . after removal of the metallic catalyzing material from the second polycrystalline diamond layer 103 , one or more non - metallic catalyzing materials or elements are reintroduced to the working surface 104 and the second polycrystalline diamond layer 103 . again , the present techniques for reintroduction of the catalyzing materials are described in relation to fig2 . fig4 shows a typical drill bit 400 with the compacts 100 of this invention incorporated therein . the fixed cutter drill bit 400 of this fig4 comprises a bit body 402 having a leading face 403 and a shank 404 to permit the drill bit 400 to be secured to the remainder of a drill string ( not shown ). the bit body 402 is intended to be rotated , in use , about an axis of rotation 401 . upstanding from the leading face 403 are a plurality of blades 405 upon which a plurality of compacts or cutters 100 are mounted . in alternative embodiments of the invention , a combination of one or more of the features of the foregoing pdc devices should be considered within the scope of this invention . moreover , in alternative embodiments the various enumerated steps of the manufacturing process of the pdc devices of this invention can be performed in various and different orders , with some steps combined and other steps added without departing from the concept of this invention . the appended claims are to define the scope of this invention . all process and devices that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced as being within the scope of this patent . | 4 |
referring now to fig1 - 3 , there is shown a forward end portion of a baler 10 including a main frame 12 supported on ground wheels 14 adapted for being towed over the ground by a tractor ( not shown ) hitched to a tongue 16 projecting forwardly from the frame 12 . mounted to the frame 12 in a location forward of the wheels 14 is a crop gathering assembly including a pick - up 18 and a rotary conveyor 20 . the pick - up 18 is substantially wider than the baling chamber of the baler 10 , and , in order to narrow the crop flow to a width commensurate with that of the baling chamber , opposite ends of the rotary conveyor 20 are respectively defined by stub augers ( not shown ), while the region of the rotary conveyor 20 between the stub augers is provided with a set of rotor teeth ( not shown ) having outer ends that each trace a circular path 22 , with each tooth passing between adjacent football - shaped strippers 24 as the rotary conveyor 20 rotates clockwise , as viewed in fig1 - 3 , about a horizontal transverse axis 26 . the pick - up 18 includes a frame 28 mounted to the frame 12 for pivoting about the axis 26 . a center shaft of a pick - up tine reel ( not shown ) is mounted to the frame 28 for rotating about a horizontal transverse axis 30 , with tips of the tines each describing a circular path 32 . thus , as the reel rotates clockwise , the tines act to pick - up a windrow of crop material and deliver it to the rotary conveyor 20 , which , in turn , delivers the crop into a baling chamber inlet defined between a horizontal transverse bale starter roll 34 , extending between and mounted to side walls 36 of a fixed front section of the baling chamber , and a lower front gate roll ( not shown ) carried by a discharge gate of the baler , as is well known . flare sheets 38 are mounted at opposite sides of the pick - up frame 28 for pivoting about the axis 30 , with a portion of the left - hand flare sheet being broken away so as to reveal part of the present invention , as will be apparent from the ensuing description . suspended from the baler main frame 12 at a location forward of the pick - up 18 is a crop controlling arrangement 40 including an integrated crop baffle and crop hold - down assembly 42 and a suspension assembly 44 . referring now also to fig4 and 6 , it can be seen that the integrated crop baffle and crop hold - down assembly 42 includes a pair of transversely spaced , upright support plates 46 respectively having lower front corners serving as the mounting locations for opposite ends of a crop baffle arrangement 48 , in the form of a roller , and respectively having lower rear corners , spaced upward and to the rear from the lower front corners , serving as the mounting locations for opposite ends of a crop hold - down arrangement 50 . the suspension assembly 44 includes generally parallel , upper and lower pairs of links 52 and 54 , respectively , having rear ends pivotally coupled to respective upper regions 55 of the support plates 46 , the upper regions 55 making up approximately half of a total height dimension of the support plates 46 . specifically , the upper pair of links 52 have rear ends respectively pivotally connected , as by bolts 56 , to upper ends of the support plate upper regions 55 at locations spaced above , and in approximate vertical alignment with , the lower front ends of the plates 46 , and hence , with the opposite ends of the crop baffle arrangement 48 . the lower pair of links 54 have rear ends respectively pivotally connected , as by bolts 58 , to locations of the support plate upper regions 55 , which are spaced down and forward from the mounting locations at the tops of the regions 55 . a mounting bracket arrangement 60 is provided at each side of the baler frame 12 for providing support for the suspension assembly 44 . as can best be seen in fig5 , each mounting bracket arrangement 60 includes a main bracket 62 constructed from a formed plate including a horizontal section 64 extending between , and joined to , an upwardly projecting vertical inner section 66 , that is bolted to the adjacent frame side wall 36 , and a downwardly projecting vertical outer section 68 containing a horizontal slot 70 having a purpose explained below . additional support is provided for the brackets 62 by respective metal straps 71 having vertical upper end sections respectively bolted to the walls 36 , and having respective horizontal lower end sections bolted to outer regions of the bracket horizontal sections 64 , with the straps 71 being angled outwardly from the walls 36 . welded to an outer surface of a forward region of , and forming a forward extension of , each of the bracket vertical sections 66 is a linkage support plate 72 . the support plates 72 have respective enlarged forward end regions spaced upward and forward relative to the baffle arrangement 48 . thus , the upper suspension links 52 extend forwardly from the top of the support plate upper regions 55 and have their forward ends respectively pivotally connected , as by bolts 74 , to the support plates 72 , with a cylindrical spacer 76 being received on each bolt 74 at a location between the associated support plate 72 and link 52 . similarly , the lower suspension links 54 have their forward ends respectively pivotally connected , as by bolts 78 , to the support plates 72 , with a cylindrical spacer 80 being received on each bolt 78 at a location between the associated support plate 72 and link 54 . thus , a four - bar linkage is defined by the pairs of links 52 and 54 and the support plates 46 and 72 . other multi - bar linkages could be used as well so long as the desired movement of the baffle arrangement 48 results . a counter balance arrangement for exerting a lifting force for balancing the weight of the baffle arrangement 48 , the hold - down arrangement 50 , the support plates 46 and the suspension links 52 and 54 is provided in the form of a pair of coil springs 82 respectively received on the spacers 80 , with outer ends of the spring coils terminating in straight sections having a back - turned ends 84 respectively captured by bolts 86 provided in the upper links 52 , and with inner ends of the spring coils terminating in straight sections 88 respectively abutting against rear sides stops 90 respectively mounted for adjustment along a fore - and - aft oriented slots 92 provided in the support plates 72 . while the torsion springs 82 are used in the preferred counter balance construction because of the compactness of the assembly , it should be understood that counter balance may be provided by any other elastic component including compression or extension springs , rubber components , or gas springs . referring now also to fig7 , it can be seen that the roller which forms the baffle arrangement 48 includes a cylindrical tube 94 having opposite ends covered by circular end plates 96 clamped against the opposite ends of the tube through the action of four tie rods 98 spaced angularly about the tube 94 at equal distances from each other , with each rod 98 projecting through axially aligned holes provided in the end plates 96 and fixed in place by nuts 100 received on threaded opposite ends of the rods 98 . located over each set of four nuts 100 at the opposite ends of the tube 94 is a ring - shaped cover 102 containing openings 104 in which the nuts 100 are received . the cover 102 may be made of plastic and designed to be snap fit over the nuts 100 , and / or provided with openings for receiving screw fasteners ( not shown ) that extend through the openings into aligned threaded openings provided in the end plates 96 . it is to be noted that while a cylindrical roller is preferred , other tubular shapes could be used . fixed in axial alignment with , and to an inner surface of , each of the end plates 96 is a cylindrical tubular bearing housing 104 having an annular , inwardly projecting , bearing retainer lip 106 at its inner end . a bearing assembly 108 is located in the bearing housing 104 . a support shaft 110 is received in each bearing assembly 108 , thereby providing a support about which the baffle tube 94 may rotate . the support shafts 110 are each coupled to the lower ends of the support plates 48 by cylindrical couplers 112 . referring also to fig8 and 9 , it can be seen that outer ends of the couplers 112 each include a threaded opening 116 receiving a threaded end of a fastening bolt 118 which extends through the lower end of the associated support plate 46 . each cylindrical coupler 112 is provided with a cavity 120 extending axially from an inner end of the coupler 112 , as viewed in fig7 , and terminates short of the outer end of the coupler . the cavity 120 is substantially elliptical in cross section and is oriented so as to have its largest cross sectional dimension oriented vertically . a horizontal cross bore 122 extends diametrically through the coupler 112 and intersects the largest dimension of the cross section of the cavity 120 at a right angle . the shafts 110 at the opposite ends of the baffle arrangement 48 are respectively received in the cavities 120 of the couplers 112 and retained there by roll pins 124 respectively received in the cross bores 122 and in respective aligned bores provided in the shafts 110 . the purpose of the cavities 120 is to permit relative vertical pivotal movement between the couplers 112 and the shafts 110 so that one end of the baffle arrangement 48 may raise or lower relative to the other when moving over the top of a windrow , for example . in order to keep the couplers 112 oriented properly for such relative vertical pivoting , a pair of diametrically opposite locator pins 126 are provided in each of the outer ends of the couplers 112 in co - planar relationship to the cross bores 122 , and each of the support plates 46 is provided with a pair of holes which receive the locator pins 126 ( see fig5 ). further , it is noted that the couplers 112 are considerably less in diameter than the baffle end plates 96 and covers 102 , resulting in an increase in the range of vertical movement of the baffle arrangement 48 without there being interference with the baler frame 12 . while the preferred construction of the baffle arrangement 48 is that of a roller , non - rolling configurations could be used with advantage as well . referring now back to fig4 and 6 , it can be seen that the hold - down assembly 42 includes a tubular compressor rod mounting bar 128 extending transversely between , and fixed to opposite end plates 130 which are respectively engaged with , and bolted to , inner surfaces of lower rear locations of the support plates 46 . the tubular bar 128 is located to the rear and at a height slightly above that of the baffle arrangement 48 , when the crop controlling arrangement 40 is in a working range as illustrated in fig1 and 2 . spaced transversely from each other and mounted to a middle region of the tubular bar 128 , so as to be inwardly of crop converging stub augers ( not shown ) at the opposite ends of the crop feed rotor 20 , are a plurality of substantially straight , elongated compressor rods 132 . while the compressor rods 132 is a preferred crop compressing arrangement , alternate compressing arrangements could be defined by a solid compressor sheet , multiple compressor strips , or , any combination of compressor rods , sheet , and strips . as can best be seen in fig1 - 3 , the rods 132 extend rearwardly from the bar 128 over the pick - up reel and have rear end regions that terminate in a zone between the crop feed rotor 20 and the starter roller 34 . it is to be noted that as the integrated baffle and crop hold - down arrangement 42 floats vertically , during normal operation , between its lower position , shown in fig1 , and its upper position , shown in fig2 , the suspension assembly 44 controls the hold - down arrangement 50 such that the rear sections of the compressor rods 132 only rise a small amount . the suspension assembly 44 further includes a pair of flexible supports 134 , here shown constructed from segments of rubber belting used for forming bales in the baling chamber . these belting segments have a width sufficient for affording stiffness in the sideways direction while permitting vertical flexing and in this way prevent excessive side - to - side movement of the integrated baffle and crop hold - down arrangement 42 while permitting the arrangement 42 to float vertically . the upper ends of the supports 134 are respectively fastened , as by bolts ( not shown ) against rear under surface locations of the horizontal sections 64 of the main brackets 62 , while the lower ends of the supports 134 are respectively fastened , as by bolts ( not shown ) to forward surface locations at opposite ends of the tubular compressor rod mounting bar 128 . since the supports 134 are at the ends of the bar 128 , they are in fore - and - aft alignment with the space outward of opposite ends of the baffle arrangement 48 so that they at least fill in part of the void existing beyond the ends of the baffle arrangement 48 and aid to control crop . also forming part of the suspension assembly 44 are a pair of links 136 having a front section 138 joined to a rear section 140 , which is slightly longer than the front section 138 , so as to define an included angle of approximately 160 °. the front sections of the links 136 have respective inwardly offset forward ends pivotally coupled , as by bolts 142 , at rear ones of a pair of holes 143 provided in ears 144 forming part of forward regions of the lower suspension links 54 . the rear sections 140 of the links 136 contain respective slots 146 respectively disposed in overlapping relationship to the slots 70 contained in the outer vertical sections 68 of the main brackets 62 . a fastener 148 is received in each set of overlapping slots 70 and 146 and in a hole provided in the adjacent flare sheet 38 , which results in the rear ends of the links 136 being guided along the slots 70 in response to vertical pivotal movement of the pick - up about the rotary conveyor axis 26 . thus , with reference to fig1 , it can be seen that each fastener 148 is located approximately half way between opposite ends of the associated slot 70 , and is located a short distance to the rear of the front end of the associated slot 146 . as the tined reel section of the pick - up floats upwardly to the position shown in fig2 , the fasteners 148 move forward in the slots 70 and abut against the front ends of the slots 146 , but do not exert a lifting force on the links 136 . when it is desired to fully lift the pick - up , as for transport for , example , a hydraulic actuator ( not shown ) is used to pivot the pick - up reel clockwise about the conveyor rotor pivot axis 26 to the position shown in fig3 . once the pick - up reel moves past the position shown in fig2 , the fasteners 148 are moved forward to the ends of the slots 70 and during this movement exert a force on the links 136 causing them to pivot counterclockwise about the bolts 78 exert a lifting force on the support plates 46 , thereby effecting vertical movement of the baffle arrangement 48 and hold - down assembly 50 . a slightly different operating characteristic can be obtained by selecting the forward mounting holes 43 for the attachment of the links 143 . a second embodiment of the suspension assembly is illustrated at 44 ′ in fig1 and includes a pair of transversely spaced , vertical triangular support plates 46 ′ between a forward corner of which the crop baffle arrangement 48 extends and is supported for rotation by the cylindrical couplers 112 . associated with each of the triangular support plates 46 ′ are a pair of relatively short , substantially parallel , front and rear links 150 and 152 , respectively , having lower ends attached , as at pivot connections 154 and 156 , to the remaining corners of the associated support plate 46 ′. upper ends of the front and rear links 150 and 152 are respectively coupled to the baler frame 12 at pivot connections 158 and 160 . when the baffle arrangement 48 is located in a lowered , working position , as shown in fig1 , crop windrows will be lifted and fed through the gap between the circular path 32 of the tined reel of the pick - up 18 and the baffle arrangement 48 . when a relatively thick section of windrow is fed through the gap , the crop will cause the baffle arrangement 48 , to be lifted upwardly and forwardly relative to the reel of the pickup , with the suspension assembly 44 ′ acting to guide the baffle arrangement along a generally arcuate path 162 having an instant center located forward of the baffle arrangement 48 and being substantially the same as the path traced by the baffle arrangement 48 when coupled to the above - described suspension assembly 44 that is pivotally coupled to the frame 12 at a location ahead of the baffle arrangement 48 . the operation of the crop controlling arrangement 40 , as illustrated in fig1 - 9 , is briefly stated as follows . assuming the baler 10 to be operating in a field , the pick - up 18 will be lowered to its working position , shown in fig1 and drawn along a windrow of crop to be baled . the baffle arrangement 48 will then be in engagement with and roll along the top of the windrow . the counter balance spring 82 will be adjusted so that a selected portion of the weight of the suspended mass of the crop controlling arrangement 40 will keep the baffle arrangement 48 in contact with the windrow . the tined reel of the pick - up 18 will be driven so that the tines move clockwise about the axis 30 , with tips of the tines moving along the path 32 so as to engage and lift the windrow of crop and feed it rearwardly to the rotary conveyor 20 , which delivers the crop below the bale starter roll 34 , which forms a top border of the inlet to the baling chamber . the baffle arrangement 48 aids the feeding of crop by preventing it from being thrown forward by the action of the pick - up tines , while the compressor rods of the hold - down assembly 50 act to keep the crop engaged with the tines and then with the feeding elements of the rotary conveyor 20 . when areas of windrows of uneven thickness are encountered , the suspension arrangement 44 permits the integrated crop baffle and hold - down arrangement 42 to float in quick response to the variations in crop thickness so as not to restrict crop flow . this quick response is achieved in a significant part by the four - bar linkage arrangement defined by the nearly parallel pairs of links 52 and 54 , and the mounting plates 46 . it is noted that the disposition of the links 52 and 54 and their relative lengths results in the baffle arrangement 48 being maintained at a minimum clearance from the path 32 of the reel tine and moving upwardly and forwardly from the path 32 in response to increasing windrow thickness . further , the geometry of the links relative to the compressor rods 132 results in the rear end sections of the rods 132 being controlled so that they remain spaced from the starter roll throughout the full vertical movement of the arrangement 42 . in addition , the disposition of the four - bar linkage is such that crop forces imposed against the forward side of the baffle arrangement 48 will result in the baffle arrangement 48 being lifted so that rearward forces on the baffle arrangement are minimized . the fact that the baffle arrangement 48 is defined in part by a roller also contributes to minimize the effect of forces imposed at the front of the baffle arrangement 48 since some of these forces will be disposed so as to merely rotate the baffle arrangement . in the event side - to - side unevenness in the windrow is encountered , the baffle arrangement 48 will still remain engaged with the windrow due to the pivotal connection between the couplers 112 and the shafts 110 and the elliptical cross section openings 120 in which the shafts 110 are received . it is noted here that the flexible suspension members 134 resist sideways shifting movement of the integrated crop baffle and hold - down assembly 42 due to the sideways stiffness of the belt segments from which the suspension members 134 are constructed . the operation of the embodiment illustrated in fig1 is quite similar to that just described and for the sake of brevity is not stated here , with it to be noted however that the multi - bar suspension in fig1 is a leading suspension as opposed to the trailing suspension of the embodiment shown in fig1 . in both cases , the baffle arrangement 48 moves upwardly and forwardly in response to a windrow of increasing thickness passing between the pick - up reel and the baffle arrangement 48 . having described the preferred embodiment , it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims . | 0 |
the following is a detailed description of the present invention made in conjunction with the attached figures , wherein like reference numerals will refer to like elements throughout . the present invention relates to a system and method of eliminating microbubbles in a developer solution during lithography processing . the present invention utilizes waves such as acoustic waves or ultrasonic waves to agitate the developer solution overlying a selectively exposed photoresist film . the agitation causes the microbubbles to break away from the photoresist / developer interface and exit the developer solution from an exposed surface . in addition , one or more sensors or monitoring type devices may be employed to monitor one or more characteristics associated with either the developer or the waves during agitation , and such characteristics are used to dynamically adjust one or more agitation conditions in order to maximize the benefits associated therewith . turning now to the figures , fig4 is a cross section diagram of a system 80 for eliminating microbubbles associated with a developer solution . the system 80 includes at least one wave source 82 located near the developer solution 46 . the wave source ( s ) 82 generate waves 84 which travel generally toward the developer solution 46 . upon the waves 84 impinging upon or otherwise contacting the developer 46 , the developer 46 is agitated . that is , the waves 84 impart at least a portion of their associated energy to the developer solution 46 , causing agitation on at least the microscopic level . the agitation causes the microbubbles 60 to break free from the photoresist / developer interface 62 , travel through the developer 46 , and exit at a surface 86 thereof . various types of waves 84 may be utilized and are contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention . for example , the waves 84 may comprise acoustic waves or ultrasonic waves , as may be desired . accordingly , the wave source 82 may vary depending upon the type of wave 84 being produced . in addition , the wave source 82 may be a variable source , for example , having a magnitude , frequency and / or direction that may be modified in either an analog or discrete manner , as may be desired . therefore the one or more sources 82 may be tuned as a function of the developer type , or other process condition . fig5 is another exemplary system 100 for eliminating microbubbles in accordance with the present invention . the system 100 may include a developer cup 101 for housing the various components 46 - 56 , respectively . in a manner similar to that of fig4 the system 100 includes wave sources 82 which produce waves 84 for agitation of the developer 46 overlying the selectively exposed photoresist 48 . the system 100 also includes a processor 102 which may be configured to operate as a control system therefore . the processor 102 is adapted to receive input data , such as developer characterization data or other data relating to the developer solution , and generate one or more control signals used for driving the one or more waves sources 82 , respectively . the system 100 of fig5 also may include one or more sensors 104 for monitoring one or more characteristics associated with the developer 46 undergoing agitation . because developer temperature , in some cases , is a critical process parameter and may impact feature uniformity and / or process control , the thermal sensor monitors the temperature associated therewith , and communicates such data ( in either digital or analog form , as may be desired ) to the processor 102 , which is configured to take such thermal data and either generate or modify one or more control signals to effectively modulate the wave sources 82 in response thereto . for example , if the thermal data identified by the sensor 104 indicates the developer temperature is exceeding an acceptable threshold or is increasing above a predetermined rate , the processor 102 may , using one or more control signals , modify a magnitude , frequency and / or direction of the waves 84 produced by the waves sources 82 . although temperature is one variable that may be monitored , other system parameters may also be monitored and used to provide dynamic feedback , and any such monitoring is contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention . for example , instead of monitoring a parameter ( s ) associated with the developer 46 , one may instead monitor the waves 84 themselves . that is , the sensor 104 may be operable to sense / detect a characteristic associated with the waves 84 that are producing the agitation within the developer 46 . for example , the sensor 104 may be operable to detect one or more of a magnitude , frequency or direction of the waves 84 . therefore if the detected magnitude is outside an acceptable range , for example , the processor 102 may generate or modify one or more control signals used to control the waves sources 82 . similarly , such feedback may be utilized in conjunction with other parameters associated with the waves 84 , as may be desired . according to another aspect of the present invention , a method of eliminating microbubbles associated with a developer solution is illustrated in fig6 and designated at reference numeral 200 . according to the above exemplary method 200 , input data relating to the type of developer solution being used to develop the photoresist is input to a processor such as the processor 102 of fig5 at step 202 . such input data may include , for example , the developer trade name , or chemical name , or may include one or more pieces of information which identify or otherwise characterize the developer solution . in addition , other developer data may be used and is contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention . the processor 102 then determines one or more wave control parameters in response to the developer input data and generates one or more control signals associated therewith at step 204 . such control signals may be operable to control one or more waves sources 82 to control one or more of a wave magnitude 206 , a wave frequency 208 and / or a wave direction 210 , respectively . alternatively , the control signals may be used to provide other types of control , for example , a duty cycle , etc . any manner of wave control may be effectuated and is contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention . the control signals generated by the processor 102 are then transmitted to the one or more wave sources 82 and used to initiate agitation of the developer solution as the solution overlies a selectively exposed photoresist layer at step 212 . the method 200 continues at step 214 by sensing or otherwise monitoring one or more agitation parameters using , for example , the one or more sensors 104 , as illustrated in fig5 . such agitation parameters may include , for example the temperature of the developer 216 during the agitation , or a parameter 218 associated with the waves 84 being used for agitation , for example , a wave magnitude , frequency and / or direction . other types of agitation parameters may also be used and any such characteristic associated therewith is contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention . once the one or more parameters are detected at step 214 , such data is evaluated using , for example , the processor 102 , to determine whether such detected parameters ( s ) are within an acceptable range at step 220 . step 220 may include , for example , comparing a detected developer temperature to one or more predetermined or dynamically adjustable temperature thresholds or comparing a detected wave magnitude or frequency to one or more such thresholds . if such detected parameters are not at an acceptable amount ( no ), the control signals used to generate the waves 84 are modified to provide a dynamic feedback at step 222 . for example , the processor 102 may modify such control signals according to its internal programming , according to a set of expert rules or fuzzy logic , using a neural network , etc . any manner of providing a feedback and dynamic control associated therewith may be used and is contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention . alternatively , if at step 220 it is determined that the detected data is at an acceptable value ( yes ), the developer agitation continues at its present state until development of the exposed photoresist is complete at step 224 . although the invention has been shown and described with respect to a certain preferred embodiment or embodiments , it is obvious that equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings . in particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components ( assemblies , devices , circuits , etc . ), the terms ( including a reference to a “ means ”) used to describe such components are intended to correspond , unless otherwise indicated , to any component which performs the specified function of the described component ( i . e ., that is functionally equivalent ), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary embodiments of the invention . in addition , while a particular feature of the invention may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several embodiments , such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other embodiments as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application . furthermore , to the extent that the term “ includes ” is used in either the detailed description and the claims , such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “ comprising .” | 6 |
the present invention relates to a breathing mask for the delivery of gas from a gas source to a patient . for the purpose of explanation only , the present invention is described with respect to an embodiment which is adapted for nasal ventilation ( nasal mask ). one skilled in the art can readily ascertain that the present invention is easily adapted to accommodate a number of different breathing mask applications . as shown in fig1 , in one embodiment , the present invention is a nasal breathing mask 8 , sized and configured to form a seal around a patient &# 39 ; s nose . the mask 8 includes a frame 10 , a cushion 12 , a hose connector 14 , a strap connector 16 , a strap 18 , and a headgear 20 . a hose 22 connects the mask 8 to a gas source ( not shown ). the present invention maintains a relatively leak free seal around a patient &# 39 ; s face without resorting to the application of excess pressure on the patient &# 39 ; s face and the frame is designed to resist displacement by the hose 22 . this makes the mask 8 ideal for use in the application of cpap to patients and for administering manual ventilation to unconscious patients . as shown in fig1 and 2 a - e , in one embodiment , the frame 10 in cooperation with the cushion defines a chamber 28 around the patient &# 39 ; s nose . an aperture 23 enables gas to pass from the hose 22 through the frame and in to the patient &# 39 ; s nose . a lip 24 circumferentially surrounds the aperture 23 and is sized and shaped to pneumatically interface with the hose connector 14 . the frame also includes interfacing surfaces 26 located on opposite longitudinal ends of the frame 10 . the interfacing surfaces 26 include structures which enable the frame to form a quick - release couple with the strap connector 16 . as shown in fig1 , in one embodiment , the cushion 12 connects to the frame 14 and maintains a relatively air tight seal around a nose . the cushion 12 is sized and configured to allow some mask movement without breaking its seal with the face . the cushion is made from a resilient material such as a silicone elastomer . fig3 a - f disclose a number of different embodiments of cushion which can be used with the present invention . fig3 a - b discloses variations of a double wall design of cushion with a first membrane 30 overlaying a second membrane 32 . both the first and second membranes are curved inwardly . fig3 c discloses a triple wall design with a third inwardly curved membrane . fig3 d - g are variations of a single wall design having a single inwardly curving membrane 30 . all the cushions 12 , have resilient , inwardly curving flexible membranes which are compressed during use . the cushions 12 may also include air filled pockets or any other cushion designs which are known in the art . as shown in fig4 a - c , in one embodiment , a strap connector 16 couples the strap 18 to the frame 10 . the strap connector 16 includes a first plate 40 and a second plate 42 . the first plate 40 includes a tongue portion 44 and a cantilevered clip portion 46 . the tongue portion 44 and the clip portion 46 mate with the interfacing surface 26 located on the frame 10 . a pivot arm 48 extends from the first plate 40 and is received by the second plate 42 , coupling the two , and enabling the second plate 42 to pivot relative to the first plate . opposing interlocking surfaces 50 , 52 are located on the first 40 and second plate 42 respectively . the interlocking surfaces fix the position of the second plate 42 relative to the first plate 40 , thereby setting the angle of the strap 18 relative to the frame 10 . in one embodiment , the second plate 42 includes locking arms 54 which couple to the strap 18 . the locking arms 54 engage apertures 41 which are positioned longitudinally along the strap 18 . the rotation of the second plate 42 with respect to the first plate 40 determines the angle of the strap relative to the frame 10 . consequently , the present invention enables the strap to be adjusted lengthwise and angularly in order to establish a secure but comfortable fit with the frame 10 . as shown in fig1 , in one embodiment , the strap 18 is coupled to a headgear 20 via a connector 95 which is coupled to the headgear by a pivot 98 . this enables the headgear 20 to rotate relative to strap 18 , allowing the patient to optimize the positioning of the headgear 20 . the headgear 20 is comprised of two separate c - shaped strips 97 of material which interlock with each other . the size of the headgear 20 is adjusted by reducing or lengthening the overlapping portions of the strips 97 . in an alternative embodiment , shown in fig5 c - d , the strap 18 is integrated into the headgear 60 . the headgear 60 includes a pair of base portions 61 which are connected together by a headstrap 62 . the headstrap 62 is adjustable to accommodate varying head sizes , and may comprise two separate pieces with a fastener ( such as a hook in loop fastener ) connecting the two . the strap 18 extends from the base portion 61 . a strap arm 63 extends from each base portion 61 . a neck strap 64 extends between the two strap arms 63 . each strap arm 63 interlocks with the base portion 61 in order to fix the position of the neck strap 64 relative to the patients head . as shown in fig5 c - d , the strap arms are first positioned to be adjacent the headstrap 62 . the headgear 60 is then placed on a patient &# 39 ; s head and the strap arms 63 rotate downward to optimally position the neck strap 64 relative to the patient &# 39 ; s neck . the locking mechanism for the strap arms 63 may include known ratcheting structures . one such example , as shown in 5 a , involves the use of knock out spacers 66 located on the strap arms 63 and interlocking flanges 68 located on the base portion 61 . in this embodiment , the flanges 68 interlock with the knock out spacers 66 to fix the angle of the strap arm 63 . a release button 70 , pushes the interlocking flanges 68 downward and disengages them from the knock out spacers 66 . in an alternative embodiment as shown in fig5 b and 5 e , the rotating strap arm 63 interlocks to the base portion 61 through a triple plate mechanism . a base plate 72 is secured to the base portion 61 , and the base portion 61 is coupled to the middle plate 74 . a raised surface 76 on the middle plate engages the strap arm 63 and locks the strap arm 63 in place . a release button 78 disengages the raised surface 76 from the strap arm 63 , and allows the strap arm 63 to rotate freely about the base portion 61 . this enables the neck strap to be positioned optimally with respect to a patient &# 39 ; s neck . as shown in fig6 a - b , in one embodiment , hose connector 14 connects to the frame 10 on a side opposite the cushion 12 . the connector 14 includes a lip portion 80 which is sized to be insertable within the lip 24 and aperture 22 of the frame 10 . a retaining flange 82 encircles the lip portion 80 . a complementary retaining flange 84 is located on the lip of the frame 10 and it engages its counterpart on the hose connector 14 to locate the lip portion 80 within the aperture 22 . a retaining ring 86 couples the hose connector 14 to the frame 10 , while still allowing the hose connector 14 to rotate freely about the frame . other known means for maintaining a rotatable connection between the hose 22 and the frame 10 may be incorporated into the present invention . the ability of the hose to rotate deflects pressure applied by the hose to the frame . this significantly reduces the ability of the hose 22 to push the mask of off the patient &# 39 ; s face or to cause the mask to break its seal . as shown in fig7 - 9 , in an alternative embodiment of the present invention , retractable pads 90 and 92 are used to support the cushion in the area that would contact the bridge of the nose . the pads 90 and 92 are located beneath the cushion and may be saddle shaped to accommodate the bridge of the nose . additional pads 96 may also be included to support other areas of the cushion . the pads 90 , 92 , 96 extend from or retract into the frame 10 . the pad 90 , 92 , 96 are coupled to a stem 98 , and the stem 98 is in geared communication with a wheel 100 . rotation of the wheel 100 , translates the stem 98 causing it to extend from or retract into the frame 10 . the pad 90 , 92 , 96 move in unison with the stem 98 . in another alternative embodiment shown in fig1 , the present invention is supplemented with physiological sensors to enable the monitoring of a patients physiological parameters during sleep . a monitoring band 110 is connected between the two base portions 61 . the monitoring band 110 is positionable so that the sensors attached thereto are able to be optimally positioned . these sensors can include electroencephalogram ( eeg ), electromyogram ( emg ), oximetry , and electrocardiogram ( ecg ). furthermore , physiological sensors can be implemented in the strap 18 . a thermistor 112 can also be connected to the frame 10 to detect air leaks and mouth breathing . while the subject invention has been described with reference to several embodiments thereof , those skilled in the art wilt recognize various changes that may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention . accordingly , this invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification . any numbering or ordering of elements in the following claims is merely for convenience and is not intended to suggest that the ordering of the elements of the claims has any particular significance . | 0 |
an apparatus , system , method , and method of manufacture for a three - dimensional jacket - plate connector to connect at least two members that are wide - flanged steel i - beam sections , are described herein . the following detailed description is intended to provide example implementations to one of ordinary skill in the art , and is not intended to limit the invention to the explicit disclosure , as one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that variations can be substituted that are within the scope of the invention as described . fig1 a - e are schematic diagrams illustrating steel frames , according to some embodiments . the steel frames are composed of steel i - beam sections that connect at a joint . the label numbers associated with the joints in fig1 a - e correspond to figure numbers that further detail the joint . more particularly , fig1 a shows a steel frame with moment connections 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 further detailed in fig3 a - b , 4 a - b , 5 a - b and 6 a - b ; fig1 b shows an eccentrically braced frame ( ebf ) with moment connections 7 , 9 and 10 , further detailed in fig7 a - d , 9 a - d and 10 a - d , respectively ; and fig1 c shows a specially concentrically braced frame ( scbf ) with a moment connection 8 further detailed in fig8 a - d . fig2 a - d are schematic diagrams illustrating steel trusses , according to some embodiments . the label numbers associated with the joints in fig2 a - d correspond to figure numbers that further detail the joint . specifically , fig2 a illustrates a vierendeel truss connection condition 15 further detailed in fig1 a - c , fig2 b shows a steel bridge truss segment further detailed in fig1 a - b , fig2 c shows an ebf and an inverted v scbf with a moment connection 9 further detailed in fig9 a - d , and fig2 d shows a steel truss with a connection 8 further detailed in fig8 a - d . fig3 a - b are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 300 at a top floor , corner condition , of the steel frame of fig1 a , according to some embodiments . fig3 a shows the moment connection 300 as assembled in the field , while fig3 b is an exploded view . the moment connection 300 is an ( l )- shaped connection . the top floor corner 300 includes a 3 - d connection between , for example , a post 310 and a beam 320 ( also generically referred to as members herein ). the 3 - d connection includes 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 , which are mirror images to each other . the post 310 and beam 320 are configured as i - beams or i - beam sections ( i . e ., two opposing flanges connected by a web ). the members 310 , 320 are composed of construction - grade steel , or any appropriate material . the sizes are variable . in some embodiments , the post 310 and beam 320 are different sizes because the post 310 typically supports a load of greater magnitude . the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 are composed of , for example , steel . the plates 301 , 302 can be substantially identical and mirrored for attachment to opposite sides of the joint . the plates can be pre - fabricated off site to match sizes and strength requirements of the structure . common sizes can be mass produced in a manufacturing facility . the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 can be formed from c - channels having a web ( or side ) plate welded to two flange ( or clamping ) plates . alternatively , the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 can be formed from a side plate in the shape of a joint ( i . e ., ( l )- shaped ) and clamping plates welded around a perimeter of the side plate at , for example , a perpendicular angle . in some embodiments , formation or manufacture of the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 begins with a primary c - channel which can correspond to a primary member continued through joint . a connecting c - channel corresponding to a connecting member ( i . e ., the beam 320 ) can be welded to the primary c - channel . the primary member can be a load carrying member of a connection ( i . e ., the post 310 ), and the connecting member ( i . e ., the beam 320 ) can transfer its load to the primary member . the c - channels radiate away from the joint in the direction matching the members 310 , 320 . a sidewall portion of the primary c - channel ( i . e ., portion of flange or clamping plate ) can be notched out to weld a primary c - channel web to a connecting c - channel web . the notch accommodates flanges of the connecting member when installed . the connecting member transfers forces to the primary member through the pair of 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 . bolts can be used to connect the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 to members . in one embodiment , a pre - drilled pattern is provided to allow faster installations . configuration of c - channels of the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 relative to connecting i - beam member 320 allows an installer to fit a hand with a fastening tool into a box gap afforded by opposing flanges of the i - beam and the webs of the c - channel and the i - beam . one or more tension rods 303 installed across the depth ( i . e ., through - the - depth steel rods ) of the post 310 , in some embodiments , provide additional strength to the primary c - channel of the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 . although the tension rods 303 are shown as connected to the post 310 , this is merely for the purpose of illustration . as installed , the tension rods 303 are connected to the outer portions of the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 to reinforce against moment forces . more specifically , the vertical shear force is transferred from the beam 320 to the post 310 through a shear tag similar to those of 505 and 605 , the rotational moment force is completely transferred , from the beam 320 to the post 310 , through the 3 - d jacket plates 301 , 302 . the tension rods 303 help to transfer horizontal shear force associated with the moment force , through an inner flange , to the web of the post 310 . in other word , the tension rods 303 reinforce the connector plates 301 , 302 from being pulled away from the outer flange . stiffener ( or web stiffener ) plates 304 in the post 310 , of other embodiments , provide additional strength to the continued primary i - beam 310 . one more stiffener plates 304 are dispersed as needed . the stiffener plates 304 , coupled with the tension rods 304 , help in transferring bending moment and shear force across the connection . fig4 a - b are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 400 at an intermediate floor , side condition , of the steel frame of fig1 a , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 401 , 402 have a ( t )- shape ( rotated ), and are substantially mirror in configuration . as an intermediate floor connection , a beam 420 that is supported by a post 410 which continues vertically to provide support for members at higher elevations , such as a top floor or a roof . the jacket plates 401 , 402 have a primary c - channel corresponding to the post 410 and a connecting c - channel corresponding to the beam 420 . one way to form the jacket plates 401 , 402 is to notch out a flange ( or clamping ) plate of the primary c - channel to allow accommodation for the flanges of beam 420 . tension rods 403 and stiffener plates 404 are placed to counteract the moment force generated by member 420 . both upper and lower reinforcement are used against both the clockwise and counter clockwise potential rotation of member 420 . a shear tag ( similar to those of 505 and 605 , but not shown ) can also be included . fig5 a - b are schematic diagrams of a moment connection 500 at a top floor , interior bay condition , of the steel frame of fig1 a , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 501 , 502 have a ( t )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . relative to the moment connection 400 of fig4 , the moment connection 500 supports beams on either side of a post rather than at different vertical elevations . further , tension rods 503 and stiffener plates 504 are dispersed only below the joint . a shear tag 505 is provided to transfer vertical shear forces from i - beam 530 to the post 510 . the rotational moment force is completely transferred , from the beams 520 and 530 to the post 510 , through the 3 - d jacket plates 501 , 502 . fig6 a - b are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 600 at an intermediate floor , interior bay condition , of the steel frame of fig1 a , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 601 , 602 have a (+)- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . in this implementation , the moment connection 600 supports beams 620 , 630 on either side of a post 610 and at different vertical elevations . here , upper and lower reinforcements are in place . specifically , tension rods 603 , stiffener plates 604 and a shear tag 605 are shown . additional variations are possible which do not have 90 degree angle joints and have more than two members . the angles can be 45 , 30 or 60 degrees , or any angle needed for a structure . in fig7 - 16 , numbering labels are consistent with the earlier figures in that connector plates label numbers start with the figure number and end with 01 and 02 , tension rods end with 03 , web stiffeners end with 04 , and shear tags end with 05 . in particular , fig7 a - d are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 700 of an eccentrically braced frame ( ebf ), of the steel frame of fig1 b , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 701 a , 702 a , 701 b and 702 b have a ( y )- shape ( rotated ), and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig8 a - d are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 800 of a special concentrically braced frame ( scbf ), of the steel frame of fig1 c of the steel truss of fig2 d , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 801 and 802 have the shape of a combination of two rotated and mirrored ( y )- shapes , and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig9 a - d are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 900 of an ebf and an inverted v scbf , brace and beam to column connection , of the steel frame of fig1 b and the steel truss of fig2 c , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 901 and 902 have the shape of a combination a rotated ( t ) and ( y ), and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig1 a - d are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 1000 of an ebf and an inverted v scbf , brace and column connection at a foundation , of the steel frame of fig1 b , according to one embodiment . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 1001 and 1002 have a tilted ( v )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig1 a - d are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 1100 of an scbf , brace and beam to column connection at a floor , of the steel frame of fig1 d , according to one embodiment . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 1101 and 1102 have the shape of a combination of a ( k )- shape and a rotated ( t )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig1 a - f are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 1200 of an scbf , brace and beam to column connection at a top floor , of the steel frame of fig1 e , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 1201 and 1202 have the shape of a combination of a rotated ( l )- shape and rotated ( v )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig1 a - b are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 1300 of an scbf , brace and beam crossing connection , of the steel frame of fig1 d , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 1301 and 1302 have a rotated back - to - back dual ( k )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig1 a - c are schematic diagrams illustrating a moment connection 1400 of an scbf , brace crossing connection without beam condition , of the steel frame of fig1 e , according to some embodiments . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 1401 and 1402 have a ( x )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . fig1 a - c are schematic diagrams illustrating a vierendeel truss , connection condition , of the steel truss of fig2 a , according to one embodiment . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 1501 a and 1502 a have a ( t )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration ; the jacket plates 1501 b and 1502 b have a inverted ( t )- shape , and are substantially mirror in configuration . finally , fig1 a - b , are schematic diagrams illustrating a steel bridge truss segment , of the steel truss of fig2 b , according to one embodiment . in this embodiment , the jacket plates 1651 has a inverted ( t )- shape ; the jacket plates 1652 and 1653 has the shape of a combination of a rotated ( k )- shape and rotated ( t )- shape ; and the jacket plates 1654 has a ( t )- shape . | 4 |
preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown . the present invention may , however , be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein . rather , these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . in the drawings , the thicknesses of layers , films , and regions are exaggerated for clarity . like numerals refer to like elements throughout . it will be understood that when an element such as a layer , film , region , or substrate is referred to as being “ on ” another element , it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present . now , tft array panels for an lcd and an oled and manufacturing methods thereof according to embodiments of this invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . first , a tft array panel for an lcd according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to fig1 and 2 . fig1 is a layout view of a tft array panel for an lcd according to an embodiment of the present invention , and fig2 is a sectional view of the tft array panel shown in fig1 taken along the line ii - ii . a plurality of gate lines 121 for transmitting gate signals are formed on an insulating substrate 110 . the gate lines 121 are primarily formed in the horizontal direction and partial portions thereof form a plurality of gate electrodes 124 . also , different partial portions thereof that extend in a lower direction form a plurality of expansions 127 . an end portion 129 of the gate line 121 has an expanded width for connection with an external device such as driving circuit . the gate line 121 has first layers 124 p , 127 p , and 129 p and second layers 124 q , 127 q , and 129 q , and third layers 124 r , 127 r , and 129 r . the first layers 124 p , 127 p , and 129 p comprise a conductive oxide such as ito ( indium tin oxide ) or izo ( indium zinc oxide ) and are formed on the substrate 110 . the second layers 124 q , 127 q , and 129 q comprise a cu - containing metal such as cu and a cu alloy formed on the first layers 124 p , 127 p , and 129 p . the third layers 124 r , 127 r , and 129 r comprise a conductive oxide such as ito or izo formed on the second layers 124 q , 127 q , and 129 q . here , the third layers 124 r , 127 r , and 129 r prevent the cu of the second layers 124 q , 127 q , and 129 q from diffusing into a gate insulating layer 140 formed thereon . when a conductive oxide layer is disposed between a cu layer and a substrate , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate is enhanced to prevent the cu layer from peeling and lifting . when the conductive oxide layer comprises amorphous ito , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate is significantly more enhanced . this is because the amorphous ito layer formed at a low temperature subsequently undergoes a high temperature of about 200 ° c . during the formation of the gate insulating layer 140 and a semiconductor layer 151 , thereby resulting in the crystallization of the ito layer . a cu layer and a conductive oxide layer , such as an ito layer or an izo layer , can be etched by the same etching process . since cu is strongly affected by acid , it is etched very rapidly when exposed thereto . accordingly , a weak acid is generally used to etch a cu layer . however , since other metals , such as mo , cr , and ti , are etched much more slowly than cu , when such metals are applied as an underlayer of the cu layer , two different etching conditions are applied to pattern those layers . in contrast , since the amorphous ito or izo is etched along with the cu layer by the same etching process , they are simultaneously patterned to form the gate line 121 . the first layers 124 p , 127 p , and 129 p and the third layers 124 r , 127 r , and 129 r may comprise an iton layer or izon layer to prevent oxidation of cu at the interfaces of the second layers 124 q , 127 q , and 129 q , the first layers 124 p , 127 p , and 129 p , and the third layers 124 r , 127 r , and 129 r . the iton layer or izon layer is formed by exposing the ito layer or izo layer to a nitrogen atmosphere and prevents a rapid increase of resistance due to cu oxidation . the lateral sides of the third layers 124 r , 127 r , and 129 r , the second layers 124 q , 127 q , and 129 q , and the first layers 124 p , 127 p , and 129 p are inclined relative to a surface of the substrate 110 , and the inclination angle thereof ranges from about 30 to 80 degrees . a gate insulating layer 140 preferably comprising silicon nitride ( sin x ) is formed on the gate lines 121 . a plurality of semiconductor stripes 151 , preferably comprising hydrogenated amorphous silicon ( abbreviated to “ a - si ”), are formed on the gate insulating layer 140 . each semiconductor stripe 151 extends substantially in the longitudinal direction and is curved periodically . each semiconductor stripe 151 has a plurality of projections 154 branching out toward the gate electrodes 124 . the width of each semiconductor stripe 151 becomes larger near the gate lines 121 such that the semiconductor stripe 151 covers large areas of the gate lines 121 . a plurality of ohmic contact stripes 161 and islands 165 , preferably comprising silicide or n + hydrogenated a - si heavily doped with an n - type impurity , are formed on the semiconductor stripes 151 . each ohmic contact stripe 161 has a plurality of projections 163 , and the projections 163 and the ohmic contact islands 165 are located in pairs on the projections 154 of the semiconductor stripes 151 . the lateral sides of the semiconductor stripes 151 and the ohmic contacts 161 and 165 are tapered , and the inclination angles of the lateral sides of the semiconductor stripes 151 and the ohmic contacts 161 and 165 are preferably in a range of about 30 - 80 degrees . a plurality of data lines 171 , a plurality of drain electrodes 175 , and a plurality of storage capacitor conductors 177 are formed on the ohmic contacts 161 and 165 and the gate insulating layer 140 . the data lines 171 , for transmitting data voltages , extend substantially in the longitudinal direction and intersect the gate lines 121 to define pixel areas arranged in a matrix . each data line 171 a has a plurality of branches which project toward the drain electrodes 175 , forms a plurality of source electrodes 173 , and has an end portion 179 having an enlarged width . each pair of the source electrodes 173 and the drain electrodes 175 are separated from each other at the gate electrodes 124 , and oppose each other . the data line 171 , the drain electrode 175 , and the storage capacitor conductor 177 have first layers 171 p , 175 p , and 177 p , second layers 171 q , 175 q , and 177 q , and third layers 171 r , 175 r , and 177 r . the first layers 171 p , 175 p , and 177 p and the third layers 171 r , 175 r , and 177 r are respectively disposed at lower and upper sides of the second layers 171 q , 175 q , and 177 q . the first layers 171 p , 175 p , and 177 p and the third layers 171 r , 175 r , and 177 r comprise a conductive oxide . the second layers 171 q , 175 q , and 177 q comprise a cu containing metal , such as cu or a cu alloy . the first layers 171 p , 175 p , and 177 p and the third layers 171 r , 175 r , and 177 r may comprise ito or izo . here the first layers 171 p , 175 p , and 177 p and the third layers 171 r , 175 r , and 177 r of a conductive oxide prevent cu of the second layers 171 q , 175 q , and 177 q from diffusing into the semiconductor layer 151 and a pixel electrode 190 formed thereon . when the conductive oxide layer comprises ito , amorphous ito is preferable . since the amorphous ito or izo is etched along with cu by the same etching process , they are simultaneously patterned to form the data lines 171 having a smooth profile . the first layers 171 p , 175 p , and 177 p and the third layers 171 r , 175 r , and 177 r preferably comprise an iton layer or izon layer to prevent oxidation of cu at the interface of the second layers 171 q , 175 q , and 177 q and the first and third layers 171 p , 175 p , 177 p , 171 r , 175 r , and 177 r . the iton layer or izon layer is formed by exposing the ito layer or izo layer to a nitrogen atmosphere , and helps to prevent a rapid increase of resistance due to cu oxidation . a gate electrode 124 , a source electrode 173 , and a drain electrode 175 , along with a projection 154 of a semiconductor stripe 151 , forms a tft having a channel formed in the projection 154 disposed between the source electrode 173 and the drain electrode 175 . the storage capacitor conductor 177 overlaps with the expansion 127 of the gate line 121 . the data lines 171 , the drain electrodes 175 , and the storage capacitor conductor 177 have tapered lateral sides , and the inclination angles of the lateral sides are in a range of about 30 - 80 degrees . the ohmic contacts 161 and 165 are only interposed between the semiconductor stripe 151 and the data line 171 and between the drain electrode 175 and the projection 154 of the semiconductor stripe 151 in order to reduce contact resistance therebetween . the semiconductor stripe 151 is partially exposed at the location between the source electrode 173 and the drain electrode 175 and at the other places not covered by the data line 171 and the drain electrode 175 . most of the semiconductor stripe 151 is narrower than the data line 171 , but the width of the semiconductor stripe 151 broadens near a location where the semiconductor stripe 151 and the gate line 121 meet each other in order to prevent disconnection of the data line 171 . on the data line 171 , the drain electrode 175 , the storage capacitor conductor 177 , and the exposed region of the semiconductor stripe 151 , a passivation layer 180 is provided , which comprises an organic material having substantial planarization properties and photosensitivity or an insulating material with a low dielectric constant , such as a - si : c : o , a - si : o : f , etc . this passivation layer 180 may be formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition ( pecvd ). to prevent the organic material of the passivation layer 180 from contacting the semiconductor stripes 151 exposed between the data line 171 and the drain electrode 175 , the passivation layer 180 can be structured in a way that an insulating layer made of sin x or sio 2 is additionally formed under the organic material layer . in the passivation layer 180 , a plurality of contact holes 181 , 185 , 187 , and 182 are formed to expose an end portion 129 of the gate line 121 , the drain electrode 175 , the storage capacitor conductor 177 , and an end portion 179 of the data line 171 , respectively . a plurality of pixel electrodes 190 and a plurality of contact assistants 81 and 82 , which comprise izo or ito , are formed on the passivation layer 180 . since the pixel electrode 190 is physically and electrically connected with the drain electrode 175 and the storage capacitor conductor 177 through the contact holes 185 and 187 , respectively , the pixel electrode 190 receives the data voltage from the drain electrodes 175 and transmits it to the storage capacitor conductor 177 . the pixel electrode 190 to which the data voltage is applied generates an electric field with a common electrode ( not illustrated ) of the opposite panel ( not illustrated ) to which a common voltage is applied , so that the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer are rearranged . also , as mentioned above , the pixel electrode 190 and the common electrode form a capacitor to store and preserve the received voltage after the tft is turned off . this capacitor will be referred to as a “ liquid crystal capacitor .” to enhance the voltage storage capability , another capacitor is provided , which is connected with the liquid crystal capacitor in parallel and will be referred to as a “ storage capacitor .” the storage capacitor is formed at an overlapping portion of the pixel electrode 190 and the adjacent gate line 121 , which will be referred to as the “ previous gate line .” the expansion 127 of the gate line 121 is provided to ensure the largest possible overlap area and thus to increase the storage capacity of the storage capacitor . the storage capacitor conductor 177 is connected to the pixel electrode 190 and overlaps with the expansion 127 , and is provided below the passivation layer 180 so that the pixel electrode 190 is in close proximity to the previous gate line 121 . the contact assistants 81 and 82 are respectively connected to the end portions 129 and 179 of the gate line 121 and the data line 171 . the contact assistants 81 and 82 respectively provide protection and supplement adhesion between the end portion 129 of the gate line 121 and the exterior devices , such as the driving integrated circuit , and between the end portion 179 of the data line 171 and the exterior devices . applying the contact assistants 81 and 82 is optional since they are not essential elements . a method of manufacturing a tft array panel will be now described in detail with reference to fig3 a to 6b as well as fig1 and 2 . at first , as shown in fig3 a and 3b , a first layer of a conductive oxide , such as ito or izo , a second layer of a cu - containing metal , and a third layer of a conductive oxide , such as ito or izo , are formed on an insulating substrate 110 . the first layer and the second layer may be deposited by co - sputtering . two targets are installed in the same sputtering chamber for the co - sputtering . one target comprises a conductive oxide , such as ito or izo . the other target comprises a cu - containing metal , such as cu or a cu - alloy . hereinafter , examples of an ito target and a cu target will be described . at first , in order to deposit a first ito layer , power is applied to the ito target while no power is applied to the cu target . the sputtering is performed at a temperature between 25 ° c . and 150 ° c . while supplying hydrogen gas ( h 2 ) or water vapor ( h 2 0 ). such conditions result in the formation of an amorphous ito layer . the ito layer has a thickness of 50 å to 500 å . next , a cu layer is deposited by switching the power to be applied to the cu target and not to be applied to the ito target . the cu layer has a thickness of 50 å to 2 , 000 å . next , a second ito layer is deposited by switching the power to be applied again to the ito target and not to be applied to the cu target . the sputtering is performed at a temperature between 25 ° c . and 150 ° c . while supplying hydrogen gas ( h 2 ) or water vapor ( h 2 0 ). such conditions result in the formation of an amorphous ito layer . the second ito layer has a thickness of 50 å to 500 å . nitrogen gas ( n 2 ), nitrous oxide ( n 2 0 ), or ammonia ( nh 3 ) may be applied while sputtering the ito target to form an iton layer . when a conductive oxide layer is disposed between a cu layer and a substrate , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate is enhanced . the conductive oxide layer applied on top of the cu layer prevents the cu from diffusing into a gate insulating layer 140 which will be formed thereon . when the conductive oxide layer comprises amorphous ito , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate 110 is significantly enhanced . this is because the amorphous ito layer formed at a low temperature undergoes a high temperature of about 200 ° c . during the formation of the gate insulating layer 140 and a semiconductor layer 151 , thereby resulting in the crystallization of the ito layer . an amorphous ito layer or an amorphous izo layer can be etched by a weak acid . since cu is strongly affected by an acid , it is etched very fast therewith . accordingly , a weak acid is generally used to etch a cu layer . however , since other metals such as mo , cr , and ti are etched much more slowly than cu , when such metals are applied as an underlayer of the cu layer , two different etching conditions are applied to pattern those layers . in contrast , since the amorphous ito or izo can be etched along with the cu layer by a weak acid , the layers can be simultaneously patterned to form the gate line 121 . as in the above descriptions , when an amorphous ito or izo layer is disposed between a cu layer and a substrate , the adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate and etching efficiency is enhanced . the amorphous ito or izo layer prevents diffusion of cu to other layers . when nitrogen gas ( n 2 ), nitrous oxide ( n 2 0 ), or ammonia ( nh 3 ) is supplied during sputtering of the ito or izo target , an iton or izon layer is formed to prevent oxidation of the cu layer at the interface . then , a photoresist is coated on the second ito layer and is illuminated with a light through a photo - mask . next , the illuminated photoresist is developed . the two ito layers and the cu layer are simultaneously etched to form a plurality of gate lines 121 using an etchant , such as , e . g ., hydrogen peroxide ( h 2 o 2 ) or a common etchant containing an appropriate amount of phosphoric acid ( h 2 po 3 ), nitric acid ( hno 3 ), and acetic acid ( ch 3 cooh ). through the above - described processes , as shown in fig3 a and 3b , a plurality of gate lines 121 having a plurality of gate electrodes 124 , expansions 127 , and end portions 129 are formed . referring to fig4 a and 4b , after sequential deposition of a gate insulating layer 140 , an intrinsic a - si layer , and an extrinsic a - si layer , the extrinsic a - si layer and the intrinsic a - si layer are photo - etched to form a plurality of extrinsic semiconductor stripes 161 and a plurality of intrinsic semiconductor stripes 151 respectively having projections 164 and 154 . the gate insulating layer 140 preferably comprises silicon nitride having a thickness of about 2 , 000 å to about 5 , 000 å , and the deposition temperature is preferably in a range between about 250 ° c . and about 500 ° c . since this process is performed at a high temperature of over 200 ° c ., the amorphous ito of the gate line 121 is crystallized . next , a first layer of a conductive oxide , such as ito , a second layer of a cu - containing metal , and a third layer of a conductive oxide , such as ito , are sequentially deposited on the extrinsic semiconductor stripes 161 . the first layer and the third layer of a conductive oxide prevent the cu of the second layer from diffusing into the semiconductor layer 151 and a pixel electrode 190 which will be formed thereon . the first layer and the third layer may comprise ito or izo . when the first layer and the third layer are formed of ito , the sputtering is performed at a temperature between 25 ° c . and 150 ° c . while supplying hydrogen gas ( h 2 ) or water vapor ( h 2 0 ). this operating condition results in the formation of an amorphous ito layer . since the amorphous ito or izo can be etched along with the cu layer by a weak acid , the layers can be simultaneously patterned . when nitrogen gas ( n 2 ), nitrous oxide ( n 2 0 ), or ammonia ( nh 3 ) is supplied during sputtering of the ito or izo target , an iton or izon layer is formed for preventing oxidation of the cu layer at the interface . the first and third layers are formed to have a thickness of about 50 å to 500 å and the second layer is formed to have a thickness of about 1 , 500 å to 3 , 000 å . then , a photoresist is coated on the third layer and is illuminated with a light through a photo - mask . next , the illuminated photoresist is developed . the first to third layers are simultaneously etched to form a plurality of data lines 171 using an etchant , such as , e . g ., hydrogen peroxide ( h 2 o 2 ) or a common etchant containing an appropriate amount of phosphoric acid ( h 2 po 3 ), nitric acid ( hno 3 ), and acetic acid ( ch 3 cooh ). through the above - described processes , as shown in fig5 a and 5b , a plurality of data lines 171 having a plurality of source electrodes 173 , a plurality of drain electrodes 175 , an end portion 179 , and storage capacitor conductors 177 are formed . next , portions of the extrinsic semiconductor stripes 161 , which are not covered with the data lines 171 and the drain electrodes 175 , are removed by etching to form a plurality of ohmic contacts 163 and 165 and to expose portions of the intrinsic semiconductor stripes 151 . oxygen plasma treatment may follow thereafter in order to stabilize the exposed surfaces of the semiconductor stripes 151 . referring to fig6 a and 6b , a passivation layer 180 is deposited and dry etched along with the gate insulating layer 140 to form a plurality of contact holes 181 , 185 , 187 , and 182 . the gate insulating layer 140 and the passivation layer 180 are preferably etched under an etch condition having substantially the same etch ratio for both the gate insulating layer 140 and the passivation layer 180 . when the passivation layer comprises a photosensitive material , the contact holes can be formed using only photolithography , without a subsequent etching step . next , an indium tin oxide ( ito ) layer is deposited on the passivation layer 180 to a thickness of about 400 å to 1500 å and is patterned to form a plurality of pixel electrodes 190 and contact assistants 81 and 82 . in the present embodiment , ito is the primary conductive oxide , but another conductive oxide such as izo may also be applied as a conductive oxide of the present invention . in the present embodiment , conductive oxide layers are disposed on lower and upper sides of a cu layer . however , one of the upper and lower conductive oxide layers may be omitted . now , a tft panel for an active matrix organic light emitting display ( am - oled ) according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described . fig7 is a layout view of a tft array panel for an oled according to another embodiment of the present invention . fig8 a and 8b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig7 taken along the line viiia - viiia ′ and the line viiib - viiib ′, respectively . a plurality of gate conductors that include a plurality of gate lines 121 , including a plurality of first gate electrodes 124 a and a plurality of second gate electrodes 124 b , are formed on an insulating substrate 110 such as transparent glass . the gate lines 121 transmitting gate signals extend substantially in a transverse direction and are separated from each other . the first gate electrodes 124 a protrude upward , as viewed from the perspective shown in fig7 . the gate lines 121 may extend to be connected to a driving circuit ( not shown ) integrated on the substrate 110 . alternatively , the gate lines 121 may have an end portion ( not shown ) having a large area for connection with another layer or an external driving circuit mounted on the substrate 110 or on another device such as a flexible printed circuit film ( not shown ) that may be attached to the substrate 110 . each of the second gate electrodes 124 b is separated from the gate lines 121 and includes a storage electrode 133 extending substantially in a transverse direction between two adjacent gate lines 121 . the gate lines 121 , the first and second gate electrodes 124 a and 124 b , and the storage electrodes 133 have first layers 124 ap , 124 bp , and 133 p and second layers 124 aq , 124 bq , and 133 q formed on the first layers 124 ap , 124 bp , and 133 p , and third layers 124 ar , 124 br , 133 r formed on the second layers 124 aq , 124 bq , and 133 q . the first layers 124 ap , 124 bp , and 133 p comprise a conductive oxide such as ito or izo . the second layers 124 aq , 124 bq , and 133 q comprise a cu - containing metal such as cu or a cu alloy . the third layers 124 ar , 124 br , 133 r comprise a conductive oxide such as ito or izo . here , the third layers 124 ar , 124 br , 133 r prevent the cu of the second layers 124 aq , 124 bq , and 133 q from diffusing into a gate insulating layer 140 formed thereon . when a conductive oxide layer is disposed between a cu layer and a substrate , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate is enhanced to prevent the cu layer from peeling and lifting . when the conductive oxide layer comprises amorphous ito , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate is significantly enhanced . this is because the amorphous ito layer formed at a low temperature undergoes a high temperature of about 200 ° c . during the formation of the gate insulating layer 140 and a semiconductor layer 151 , thereby resulting in the crystallization of the ito layer . a cu layer and a conductive oxide layer such as an ito layer or an izo layer can be etched by the same etching process . since cu is strongly affected by acid , it is etched very rapidly when exposed thereto . accordingly , a weak acid is generally used to etch a cu layer . however , since other metals such as mo , cr , and ti are etched much more slowly than cu , when such metals are applied as an underlayer of the cu layer , two different etching conditions are applied to pattern those layers . in contrast , since the amorphous ito or izo is etched along with the cu layer by the same etching process , they are simultaneously patterned to form the gate line 121 . the first layers 124 ap , 124 bp , and 133 p and the third layers 124 ar , 124 br , and 133 r may comprise an iton layer or izon layer to prevent oxidation of cu at the interfaces of the second layers 124 aq , 124 bq , and 133 q , the first layers 124 ap , 124 bp , and 133 p , and the third layers 124 ar , 124 br , and 133 r . the iton layer or izon layer is formed by exposing the ito layer or izo layer to a nitrogen atmosphere , and helps to prevent a rapid increase of resistance due to cu oxidation . in addition , the lateral sides of the gate conductors 121 and 124 b are inclined relative to a surface of the substrate 110 , and the inclination angle thereof ranges from about 30 to 80 degrees . a gate insulating layer 140 , preferably comprising silicon nitride ( sin x ), is formed on the gate conductors 121 and 124 b . a plurality of semiconductor stripes 151 and islands 154 b , preferably comprising hydrogenated amorphous silicon ( abbreviated to “ a - si ”) or polysilicon , are formed on the gate insulating layer 140 . each semiconductor stripe 151 extends substantially in the longitudinal direction and has a plurality of projections 154 a branching out toward the first gate electrodes 124 a . each semiconductor island 154 b crosses a second gate electrode 124 b and includes a portion 157 overlapping the storage electrode 133 of the second gate electrode 124 b . a plurality of ohmic contact stripes 161 and ohmic contact islands 163 b , 165 a , and 165 b , which preferably comprise silicide or n + hydrogenated a - si heavily doped with an n - type impurity such as phosphorous , are formed on the semiconductor stripes 151 and islands 154 b . each ohmic contact stripe 161 has a plurality of projections 163 a , and the projections 163 a and the ohmic contact islands 165 a are located in pairs on the projections 154 a of the semiconductor stripes 151 . the ohmic contact islands 163 b and 165 b are located in pairs on the semiconductor islands 154 b . the lateral sides of the semiconductor stripes 151 and islands 154 b and the ohmic contacts 161 , 163 b , 165 b , and 165 b are inclined relative to a surface of the substrate , and the inclination angles thereof are preferably in a range between about 30 - 80 degrees . a plurality of data conductors including a plurality of data lines 171 , a plurality of voltage transmission lines 172 , and a plurality of first and second drain electrodes 175 a and 175 b are formed on the ohmic contacts 161 , 163 b , 165 b , and 165 b and the gate insulating layer 140 . the data lines 171 for transmitting data signals extend substantially in the longitudinal direction and intersect the gate lines 121 . each data line 171 includes a plurality of first source electrodes 173 a , an end portion having a large area for contact with another layer or an external device . the data lines 171 may be directly connected to a data driving circuit for generating the gate signals , which may be integrated on the substrate 110 . the voltage transmission lines 172 for transmitting driving voltages extend substantially in the longitudinal direction and intersect the gate lines 121 . each voltage transmission line 172 includes a plurality of second source electrodes 173 b . the voltage transmission lines 172 may be connected to each other . the voltage transmission lines 172 overlap the storage region 157 of the semiconductor islands 154 b . the first and the second drain electrodes 175 a and 175 b are separated from the data lines 171 and the voltage transmission lines 172 , and from each other . each pair of the first source electrodes 173 a and the first drain electrodes 175 a are disposed opposite each other with respect to a first gate electrode 124 a , and each pair of the second source electrodes 173 b and the second drain electrodes 175 b are disposed opposite each other with respect to a second gate electrode 124 b . a first gate electrode 124 a , a first source electrode 173 a , a first drain electrode 175 a , and a projection 154 a of a semiconductor stripe 151 form a switching tft having a channel formed in the projection 154 a disposed between the first source electrode 173 a and the first drain electrode 175 a . meanwhile , a second gate electrode 124 b , a second source electrode 173 b , a second drain electrode 175 b , and a semiconductor island 154 b form a driving tft having a channel formed in the semiconductor island 154 b disposed between the second source electrode 173 b and the second drain electrode 175 b . the data conductors 171 , 172 , 175 a , and 175 b preferably have first layers 171 p , 172 p , 175 ap , and 175 bp , second layers 171 q , 172 q , 175 aq , and 175 bq , and third layers 171 r , 172 r , 175 ar , and 175 br . the second layers 171 q , 172 q , 175 ap , and 175 bp comprise a cu - containing metal such as cu or a cu alloy . the first layers 171 p , 172 p , 175 ap , and 175 bp and third layers 171 r , 172 r , 175 ar , and 175 br are respectively disposed at lower and upper sides of the second layers 171 q , 172 q , 175 aq , and 175 bq . the first layers 171 p , 172 p , 175 ap , and 175 bp and the third layers 171 r , 172 r , 175 ar , and 175 br comprise a conductive oxide . the first layers 171 p , 172 p , 175 ap , and 175 bp and the third layers 171 r , 172 r , 175 ar , and 175 br may comprise ito or izo . here , the first layers 171 p , 172 p , 175 ap , and 175 bp and the third layers 171 r , 172 r , 175 ar , and 175 br comprise a conductive oxide to prevent the cu of the second layers 171 q , 172 q , 175 aq , and 175 bq from diffusing into the semiconductor layer 151 and a pixel electrode 190 formed thereon . when the conductive oxide layer comprises ito , amorphous ito is preferable . since the amorphous ito or izo is etched along with cu by the same etching process , the layers are simultaneously patterned to form the data lines 171 having a smooth profile . the first layers 171 p , 172 p , 175 ap , and 175 bp and the third layers 171 r , 172 r , 175 ar , and 175 br preferably comprise an iton layer or izon layer to prevent oxidation of cu at the interface of the second layers 171 q , 172 q , 175 aq , and 175 bq and the first and third layers 171 p , 172 p , 175 ap , 175 bp , 171 r , 172 r , 175 ar , and 175 br . the iton layer or izon layer is formed by exposing the ito layer or izo layer to a nitrogen atmosphere , and it prevents a rapid increase of resistance due to cu oxidation . like the gate conductors 121 and 124 b , the data conductors 171 , 172 , 175 a , and 175 b have tapered lateral sides relative to the surface of the substrate 110 , and the inclination angles thereof range from about 30 to 80 degrees . the ohmic contacts 161 , 163 b , 165 b , and 165 b are interposed only between the underlying semiconductor stripes 151 and islands 154 b and the overlying data conductors 171 , 172 , 175 a , and 175 b thereon , and reduce the contact resistance therebetween . the semiconductor stripes 151 include a plurality of exposed portions that are not covered with the data conductors 171 , 172 , 175 a , and 175 b . most of the semiconductor stripe 151 is narrower than the data line 171 , but the width of the semiconductor stripe 151 broadens near a location where the semiconductor stripe 151 and the gate line 121 meet each other in order to prevent disconnection of the data line 171 , as mentioned above . a passivation layer 180 is formed on the data conductors 171 , 172 , 175 a , and 175 b and the exposed portions of the semiconductor stripes 151 and islands 154 b . the passivation layer 180 preferably comprises an inorganic material , such as silicon nitride or silicon oxide , a photosensitive organic material having good flatness characteristics , or a low dielectric insulating material having a dielectric constant lower than 4 . 0 , such as a - si : c : o and a - si : o : f , formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition ( pecvd ). the passivation layer 180 may include a lower film of an inorganic insulator and an upper film of an organic insulator . the passivation layer 180 has a plurality of contact holes 189 , 183 , 185 , 181 , and 182 exposing portions of the first drain electrode 175 a , a second gate electrode 124 b , the second drain electrode 175 b , and the end portions 129 and 179 of the gate line 121 and the data line 171 , respectively . the contact holes 181 and 182 expose the end portions 129 and 179 of the gate line 121 and the data line 171 to provide a connection between the gate line 121 and the data line 171 and external driving circuits . anisotropic conductive films are disposed between the output terminals of the external driving circuit and the end portions 129 and 175 to assist the electrical connection and physical adhesion . however , when driving circuits are directly fabricated on the substrate 110 , contact holes are not formed . in embodiments where the gate driving circuits are directly fabricated on the substrate 110 , while the data driving circuits are formed as separate chips , only the contact hole 181 exposing the end portion 179 of the data line 171 is formed . a plurality of pixel electrodes 190 , a plurality of connecting members 192 , and a plurality of contact assistants 81 and 82 are formed on the passivation layer 180 . the pixel electrodes 190 are connected to the second drain electrodes 175 b through the contact holes 185 . the connecting member 192 connects the first drain electrode 175 a and the second gate electrode 124 b through the contact holes 189 and 183 . the contact assistants 81 and 82 are connected to the end portions 81 and 82 of the gate line 121 and the data line 171 through the contact holes 181 and 182 , respectively . the pixel electrode 190 , the connecting member 192 , and the contact assistants 81 and 82 comprise a transparent conductor such as ito or izo . a partition 803 , an auxiliary electrode 272 , a plurality of light emitting members 70 , and a common electrode 270 are formed on the passivation layer 180 , and on the pixel electrodes 190 . the partition 803 comprises an organic or inorganic insulating material and forms frames of organic light emitting cells . the partition 803 is formed along boundaries of the pixel electrodes 190 and defines a space for filling with an organic light emitting material . the light emitting member 70 is disposed on the pixel electrode 190 and surrounded by the partition 803 . the light emitting member 70 comprises one light - emitting material that emits red , green , or blue light . red , green , and blue light emitting members 70 are sequentially and repeatedly disposed . the auxiliary electrode 272 has substantially the same planar pattern as the partition 803 . the auxiliary electrode 272 contacts the common electrode 270 to reduce resistance of the common electrode 270 . the common electrode 270 is formed on the partition 803 , the auxiliary electrode 272 , and the light emitting member 70 . the common electrode 270 comprises a metal such as al , which has low resistivity . this embodiment illustrates a back - emitting oled . however , in embodiments incorporating a front - emitting oled or a dual - sides - emitting oled , the common electrode 270 comprises a transparent conductor such as ito or izo . a method of manufacturing the tft array panel shown in fig7 to 8b according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to fig9 a to 22b as well as fig7 to 8b . fig9 , 11 , 13 , 15 , 17 , 19 , and 21 are layout views of the tft array panel shown in fig7 to 8b in intermediate steps of a manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention . fig1 a and 10b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig9 taken along the lines xa - xa ′ and xb - xb ′. fig1 a and 12b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig1 taken along the lines xiia - xiia ′ and xiib - xiib ′. fig1 a and 14b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig1 taken along the lines xiva - xiva ′ and xivb - xivb ′. fig1 a and 16b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig1 taken along the lines xvia - xvia ′ and xvib - xvib ′. fig1 a and 18b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig1 taken along the lines xviiia - xviiia ′ and xviiib - xviiib ′. fig2 a and 20b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig1 taken along the lines xxa - xxa ′ and xxb - xxb ′. fig2 a and 22b are sectional views of the tft array panel shown in fig2 taken along the lines xxiia - xxiia ′ and xxiib - xxiib ′. first , as shown in fig9 and 10b , a first layer of a conductive oxide such as ito or izo , a second layer of a cu - containing metal , and a third layer of a conductive oxide such as ito or izo are formed on an insulating substrate 110 . the first layer and the second layer may be deposited by co - sputtering . two targets are installed in the same sputtering chamber for the co - sputtering . one target comprises a conductive oxide such as ito or izo , and the other target comprises a cu - containing metal such as cu or a cu - alloy . hereinafter , examples of an ito target and a cu target will be described . at first , in order to deposit a first ito layer , power is applied to the ito target while no power is applied to the cu target . the sputtering is performed at a temperature between 25 ° c . and 150 ° c . while supplying hydrogen gas ( h 2 ) or water vapor ( h 2 0 ). such condition result in the formation of an amorphous ito layer . the ito layer has a thickness of 50 å to 500 å . next , a cu layer is deposited by switching the power to be applied to the cu target and not to be applied to the ito target . the cu layer has a thickness of 50 å to 2 , 000 å . next , a second ito layer is deposited by switching the power to be applied again to the ito target and not to be applied to the cu target . the sputtering is performed at a temperature between 25 ° c . and 150 ° c . while supplying hydrogen gas ( h 2 ) or water vapor ( h 2 0 ). such conditions result in the formation of an amorphous ito layer . the second ito layer has a thickness of 50 å to 500 å . nitrogen gas ( n 2 ), nitrous oxide ( n 2 0 ), or ammonia ( nh 3 ) may be applied during sputtering of the ito target to form an iton layer . when a conductive oxide layer is disposed between a cu layer and a substrate , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate is enhanced . the conductive oxide layer applied on top of the cu layer prevents the cu from diffusing into a gate insulating layer 140 which will be formed thereon . when the conductive oxide layer comprises amorphous ito , adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate 110 is significantly enhanced . this is because the amorphous ito layer formed at a low temperature undergoes a high temperature of about 200 ° c . during the formation of the gate insulating layer 140 and a semiconductor layer 151 , thereby resulting in the crystallization of the ito layer . an amorphous ito layer or an amorphous izo layer can be etched by a weak acid . since cu is strongly affected by acid , it is etched very fast therewith . accordingly , a weak acid is generally used to etch a cu layer . however , since other metals such as mo , cr , and ti are etched much more slowly than cu , when such metals are applied as an underlayer of the cu layer , two different etching conditions are applied to pattern those layers . in contrast , since the amorphous ito or izo can be etched along with the cu layer by a weak acid , the layers can be simultaneously patterned to form the gate line 121 , the second gate electrode 124 b , and the voltage transmission line 172 . as in the above descriptions , when an amorphous ito or izo layer is disposed between a cu layer and a substrate , the adhesiveness between the cu layer and the substrate etching efficiency is enhanced . the amorphous ito or izo layer prevents diffusion of cu to another layer . when nitrogen gas ( n 2 ), nitrous oxide ( n 2 0 ), or ammonia ( nh 3 ) is supplied during sputtering of the ito or izo target , an iton or izon layer is formed to prevent oxidation of the cu layer at the interface . then , a photoresist is coated on the second ito layer and is illuminated with a light through a photo - mask . next , the illuminated photoresist is developed . the two ito layers and the cu layer are simultaneously etched using an etchant to form a plurality of gate lines 121 , the second gate electrode 124 b , and the voltage transmission line 172 . the etchant may be one of hydrogen peroxide ( h 2 o 2 ) or a common etchant containing an appropriate amount of phosphoric acid ( h 2 po 3 ), nitric acid ( hno 3 ), and acetic acid ( ch 3 cooh ). referring to fig1 - 12b , after sequential deposition of a gate insulating layer 140 , an intrinsic a - si layer , and an extrinsic a - si layer , the extrinsic a - si layer and the intrinsic a - si layer are photo - etched to form a plurality of extrinsic semiconductor stripes 164 and a plurality of intrinsic semiconductor stripes 151 and islands 154 b including projections 154 a on the gate insulating layer 140 . the gate insulating layer 140 preferably comprises silicon nitride having a thickness of about 2 , 000 å to about 5 , 000 å , and the deposition temperature is preferably in a range of about 250 ° c . to about 500 ° c . since this process is performed at a high temperature of over 200 ° c ., the amorphous ito of the gate line 121 is crystallized . next , referring to fig1 to 14b , a first layer of a conductive oxide such as ito , a second layer of a cu - containing metal , and a third layer of a conductive oxide such as ito are sequentially deposited on the extrinsic semiconductor stripes 161 . the first layer and the third layer of a conductive oxide prevent the cu of the second layer from diffusing into the semiconductor layer 151 and a pixel electrode 190 which will be formed thereon . the first layer and the third layer may comprise ito or izo . when the first layer and the third layer are formed of ito , the sputtering is performed at a temperature between 25 ° c . and 150 ° c . while supplying hydrogen gas ( h 2 ) or water vapor ( h 2 0 ). this operating condition results in the formation of an amorphous ito layer . since the amorphous ito or izo can be etched along with the cu layer by a weak acid , the layers can be simultaneously patterned . when nitrogen gas ( n 2 ), nitrous oxide ( n 2 0 ), or ammonia ( nh 3 ) is supplied during sputtering of the ito or izo target , an iton or izon layer is formed for preventing oxidation of the cu layer at the interface . the first and third layers are formed to have a thickness of about 50 å to 500 å , and the second layer is formed to have a thickness of about 1 , 500 å to 3 , 000 å . then , a photoresist is coated on the third layer and is illuminated with a light through a photo - mask . next , the illuminated photoresist is developed . the first to third layers are simultaneously etched to form a plurality of data lines 171 using an etchant , such as , e . g ., hydrogen peroxide ( h 2 o 2 ) or a common etchant containing an appropriate amount of phosphoric acid ( h 2 po 3 ), nitric acid ( hno 3 ), and acetic acid ( ch 3 cooh ). through the above - described processes , as shown in fig1 to 14b , a plurality of data lines 171 having a plurality of first source electrodes 173 a , a plurality of first and second drain electrodes 175 a and 175 b , and a plurality of voltage transmission lines 172 having second source electrodes 173 b are formed . before or after removing the photoresist , portions of the extrinsic semiconductor stripes 164 , which are not covered with the data conductors 171 , 172 , 175 a , and 175 b , are removed by etching to form a plurality of ohmic contact stripes 161 including projections 163 a and a plurality of ohmic contact islands 163 b , 165 a , and 165 b , and to expose portions of the intrinsic semiconductor stripes 151 and islands 154 b . oxygen plasma treatment may follow thereafter in order to stabilize the exposed surfaces of the semiconductor stripes 151 . referring to fig1 to 16b , a passivation layer 180 is formed of an organic insulating material or an inorganic insulating material . since this process is performed in a high temperature of over 200 ° c ., the amorphous ito of the data conductors 171 , 172 , 175 a , and 175 b is crystallized . the passivation layer 180 is patterned to form a plurality of contact holes 189 , 185 , 183 , 181 , and 182 exposing the first and second drain electrodes 175 a and 175 b , the second gate electrodes 124 b , an end portion 129 of the gate line 121 , and an end portion 179 of the data line 171 . referring to fig1 to 18b , a plurality of pixel electrodes 190 , a plurality of connecting members 192 , and contact assistants 81 and 82 comprising ito or izo are formed on the passivation layer 180 . referring to fig1 - 20b , a partition 803 and an auxiliary electrode 272 may be formed using a single photolithography step followed by a single etching step . finally , a plurality of organic light emitting members 70 , preferably comprising multiple layers , are formed in the openings by deposition or inkjet printing following masking , and a common electrode 270 is subsequently formed as shown in fig2 - 22b . in accordance with the present invention , since a conductive oxide layer is disposed between a cu layer and a substrate , the adhesion between the cu layer and the substrate and etching efficiency is enhanced . in addition , the conductive oxide layer prevents diffusion of the cu to another layer . accordingly , reliability of the signal lines is improved . in the present embodiment , ito is the primary conductive oxide , but another conductive oxide such as izo may also be applied as a conductive oxide of the present invention . in the present embodiment , conductive oxide layers are disposed on lower and upper sides of a cu layer . however , one of the upper and lower conductive oxide layers may be omitted . although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove , it should be clearly understood that many variations and / or modifications of the basic inventive concepts herein taught , which may appear to those skilled in the present art , will still fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention , as defined in the appended claims . | 7 |
referring to the figures , an embodiment of the present invention has been shown as a connector 10 that is used to removably mount a golf club head 12 to a golf club shaft 14 . the connector 10 includes a shaft mount 16 and a head mount 18 that interconnect and mate with one another . the shaft mount 16 includes a sleeve portion 20 that is slidably received onto the tip end 22 of the golf club shaft 14 . the sleeve portion 20 includes a cylindrical bore 24 sized to be closely received upon the shaft tip end 22 . as illustrated in fig2 a , the cylindrical bore 24 can be tapered proximate the bottom to better facilitate insertion of the tip end 22 of the golf club shaft 14 as well as provide a reservoir for epoxy . the shaft mount 16 also includes an interchangeable connector that mates with the head mount 18 , which is shown in the form of a threaded bore 26 which is concentric with the bore 24 . a seating flange 28 is provided for engaging the tip end 22 of the golf club shaft 14 to provide for proper location of the shaft mount 16 with the golf club shaft 14 for dry fitting and / or for epoxying operations . the head mount 18 includes a cylindrical stub shaft 30 that is sized to be slidably received into the cylindrical bore 32 which is typically formed into the golf club head 12 . typically this cylindrical bore 32 will be provided in a projecting sleeve portion 34 that is unitarily formed with the golf club head 12 as a single cast or machined component . the stub shaft 30 may include one or more epoxy receiving grooves 36 for the receipt of epoxy material that is used to bond and secure the stub shaft 30 to the golf club head 12 . the grooves 36 thus provide a receptacle for epoxy material to ensure better and proper securement between the head mount 18 and the golf club head 12 . the grooves 36 can be formed on stub shaft 30 in a variety of patterns such as , for example , grooves in concentric circles ( fig2 ), a spiral or corkscrew groove ( fig2 b ), axially aligned grooves , and the like . if the spiral or corkscrew pattern of fig2 b is employed for grooves 36 , it is preferable that the swirl run in the same direction as the threading on threaded bore 26 and threaded shaft 40 . the varying patterns of the grooves 36 can be chosen based on differing construction objectives for the assembled golf club 44 such as , for example , removing undesirable weight , permitting an increase amount of epoxy , granting the epoxy better coverage , and more securely holding the club head 12 . if desired , all or a portion of stub shaft 30 can be abraded to further promote securement between the head mount 18 and the golf club head 12 . the head mount 18 also includes a stop flange 38 , which is positioned to be seated against the projecting sleeve portion 34 from the golf club head 12 , that serves to properly locate the head mount 18 relative to the golf club head 12 for dry fitting and / or for epoxying operations . the head mount 18 further comprises an interchangeable connector that mates or interconnects with the shaft mount 16 , which is shown in the form of a threaded shaft 40 that is coaxial or concentric with the stub shaft 30 . the threaded shaft 40 projects in an opposite direction from the stop flange 38 and threadingly mates with the threaded bore 26 of the shaft mount 16 . as shown by the figures , when threaded bore 26 and threaded shaft 40 are threadably mated , the two components alone prevent and / or prohibit both rotation of and axial displacement of the golf club head 12 relative to the golf club shaft 14 . to augment this result , for right - handed golfers or right - handed golf clubs , the threading on the threaded bore 26 and the threaded shaft 40 are left - hand threading such that during use of an assembled golf club swinging the golf club and hitting the ball tends to tighten the threaded connection rather than loosening it . likewise , for left - handed golfers and left - handed golf clubs , the threading would be right - hand threads rather than left - hand threads . there are many different golf club component manufacturers that manufacture the shaft and that manufacture the head ( including wood type heads and iron type heads ). many of the manufacturers have developed standard diameter sizes for the tip end 22 of the shaft and the cylindrical bore 32 of the golf club head 12 . in particular , the standard used by many in the industry is 0 . 335 inch diameter for woods and 0 . 370 inch for irons . therefore , the diameter of the bore 24 and the stub shaft 30 of the connector 10 are sized to closely and slidably fit with these diameters . however , it will be readily appreciated that there is a significant number of manufacturers that do not conform to standards and have sizes that deviate from 0 . 335 inch for woods and 0 . 370 inch for irons . this is a great source of headaches when attempting to make customized products using a head of one manufacturer with a shaft of another manufacturer . accordingly , the present invention also may entail a kit in which different diameter sizes are provided for the cylindrical bore 24 and the stub shaft 30 for each different part of the connector 10 to accommodate the deviators in the industry . however , because the threading and diameter of the threads for the threaded bore 26 and the threaded shaft 40 remain constant even if the sizes of the stub shaft 30 and the cylindrical bore 24 are changed , it is now possible to interconnect golf club components of different manufacturers regardless of whether the shaft and the golf club head have corresponding diameters and are capable of fitting with one another absent the connector of the present invention . the kit can also include a tool 46 , such as the wrench depicted in fig5 , for aligning the golf club shaft relative to the golf club head . in addition the standard features and functions that a typical tool might have , tool 46 includes right - hand hole 48 , left - hand - hole 50 , cut - outs 52 , and edges 54 . right - hand hole 48 and left - hand hole 50 are each threaded apertures , however , the threading of right - hand hole 48 and left - hand hole 50 progress in opposite directions . in use , tool 46 permits the alignment of the golf club components , such as the head mount 18 , the golf club head 12 , the shaft mount 16 , and the golf club shaft 14 , with each other . a series of alignment steps , as shown in fig6 a , 6b , and 6 c , is illustrative of the alignment process and functionality of tool 46 . if , for example , a golf club assembler desires to construct or fabricate a right - handed golf club , the golf club assembler begins by threadably inserting threaded shaft 40 of stub shaft 30 into right - hand hole 48 as shown in fig6 a . thereafter , the stub shaft 30 of combined tool 46 and head mount 18 are slidably inserted into cylindrical bore 32 of golf club head 12 and the tool is oriented such that edges 54 are in parallel with golf club face 56 as shown in fig6 b . after edges 54 and golf club face 56 have been aligned , a mark 58 or other indicia is inscribed upon head mount 18 and golf club head 12 as depicted in fig6 c . notably , since cut - outs 52 have been removed from tool 46 , a marker or other instrument can more easily be brought in close proximity to the head mount 18 or the golf club head 12 . next , with marks 58 having been placed , the stub shaft 30 of combined tool 46 and head mount 18 and are slidably extracted from cylindrical bore 32 of golf club head 12 and the tool 46 is threadably separated from threaded shaft 40 . continuing , an epoxy is applied to stub shaft 30 , the stub shaft is slidably inserted back into cylindrical bore 32 of golf club head 12 , and the marks 58 on head mount 18 and golf club head 12 are aligned with respect to each other . when the epoxy has dried and the head mount 18 is securely held within golf club head 12 , shaft mount 16 and golf club shaft 14 can also be attached to form assembled golf club 44 that is desirably aligned . in one embodiment , employing the alignment procedure , the tool 46 assists a golf club assembler by determining a threading initiation point when aligning the threaded bore 26 relative to the threaded shaft 40 . knowing and employing the initiation point ensures that the golf club shaft 14 and the golf club head 12 are aligned and congruent when the golf club 44 is assembled . in another embodiment , the tool 46 assists a golf club assembler in aligning the golf club shaft 14 and the golf club head 12 . an alignment procedure similar to that of the head mount 18 and golf club head 12 can be employed for the shaft mount 16 and shaft 14 . such a procedure might be necessary , for example , if a golf club shaft 14 that is non - circular in cross section ( e . g ., a putter ) is used to formulate assembled golf club 44 . in employing the present invention it should be noted that the connector 10 increases the axial distance between the golf club head 12 and the golf club shaft 14 as shown or can be appreciated with reference to fig2 - 4 ( as opposed to if the golf club shaft was inserted directly into the bore of the golf club head ). accordingly , there is a preferred method for employing the invention to create a customized golf club for a customer . according to this method the head mount 18 is dry fit on the golf club shaft 14 and the head mount 18 is dry fit on the golf club head 12 . with the connector in threaded relation and full abutment , one can then measure how much of the tip end 22 of the golf club shaft 14 needs to be removed for a particular golfer ( different people have different vertical heights ). because the tip end 22 of the shaft typically is of constant diameter ( e . g . about the last 5 ″ of the golf club shaft are typically of constant diameter and do not taper ), there is the opportunity to trim or remove a portion of the shaft as schematically indicated by dotted line 42 in fig2 . therefore , once the proper measurements are made with a dry fit with the connector 10 to determine proper shaft length , the tip end 22 of the golf club shaft 14 can then be trimmed 42 and thereby removed , and thus any increased distance between the golf club shaft 14 and the golf club head 12 by virtue of the connector 10 is eliminated . after the trimming operation , the shaft mount 16 is epoxied onto the golf club shaft 14 and the head mount 18 is epoxied into the golf club head 12 as shown in fig3 , again with full abutment occurring . thereafter , the golf club head 12 and the golf club shaft 14 can be screwed together to connect the two components and form an assembled golf club 44 as shown in fig4 . if desired , the golf club head 12 and the golf club shaft can later be disconnected and either a different head or a different shaft can be employed thereby providing for interchangeability . all references , including publications , patent applications , and patents , cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein . the use of the terms “ a ” and “ an ” and “ the ” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention ( especially in the context of the following claims ) is to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural , unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context . the terms “ comprising ,” “ having ,” “ including ,” and “ containing ” are to be construed as open - ended terms ( i . e ., meaning “ including , but not limited to ,”) unless otherwise noted . recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range , unless otherwise indicated herein , and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein . all methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context . the use of any and all examples , or exemplary language ( e . g ., “ such as ”) provided herein , is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed . no language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non - claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention . preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein , including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention . variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description . the inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate , and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein . accordingly , this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law . moreover , any combination of the above - described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context . | 5 |
turning to the figures and more particularly to fig1 and 2 , the valet 20 of the present invention is shown . the valet 20 has an upper vertical support member 22 and a lower vertical support member 24 hingedly connected by hinge 26 attached to first end 30 of lower vertical support member 24 . normally the vertical support members 22 and 24 are hollow tubing sections . vertical members 22 and 24 may be made of extruded aluminum tubing , plastic tubing or other suitable composition . elongated channels 32 and 34 extend the entire length of the vertical support members as may be clearly seen in fig3 and 6 . an upper sleeve 36 is slidingly fitted around the outer circumference of the upper vertical member 22 . a detailed illustration of sliding sleeve 36 may be seen in fig6 . the sleeve 36 follows the contour of the vertical support member 22 and may be composed of any material which will easily slide up and down the upper vertical support member 22 . first shoulder - lifting arm 38 is pivotally attached at a first end 40 to the upper sleeve 36 and at a second end 42 to beneath the midpoint 44 of right shoulder member 46 . the proximal end 48 of shoulder 46 is pivotally attached to a shoulder brace 50 attached to the top or second end 52 of upper vertical support member 22 . shoulder - lifting arm 38 is positioned within a channel 32 and lies parallel to and against the vertical support member 22 when the sleeve 36 is in the collapsed position . in a like manner , a second shoulder - lifting arm 54 is pivotally attached at a first end 56 to the upper sleeve 36 and at a second end 58 to beneath the midpoint 60 of left shoulder member 62 . the proximal end 64 of left shoulder 62 is pivotally attached to shoulder brace 50 opposite the right shoulder member 46 . shoulder - lifting arm 54 is positioned within a channel 32 and lies parallel to and against the vertical support member 22 when the sleeve 36 is in a collapsed position . in fig2 it may be seen that a first hanger extension 66 having a multiplicity of hanging notches 67 is pivotally connected at a proximal end 68 to the shoulder brace 50 between and generally perpendicular to the right and left shoulder members . a hanger - lifting arm 70 is pivotally attached at a first end 72 to the upper sleeve 36 and at a second end 74 to beneath the approximate midpoint 76 of the hanger extension 66 . hanger - lifting arm 70 is positioned within a channel 32 and lies parallel to and against the vertical support member 22 when the sleeve 36 is in a collapsed position . thus , when the sleeve 36 is pushed upward from a first collapsed position ( fig4 ) toward the top or second end 52 of the upper vertical support member 22 , the shoulder members 46 and 62 and hanger extension 66 are moved from a collapsed position lying generally parallel to and against vertical support member 22 to an extended position extending generally radially outwards from the vertical support member 22 . when the sleeve 36 passes over upper locking dent 78 , the sleeve is held and locked in the extended position . lift arms 38 , 54 , and 70 provide support to the outstretched shoulder members 46 and 62 and hanger extension 66 so that they may bear the weight of clothing hung over the shoulder members and the hanger extension along hanging notches 67 . the valet 20 further has a lower sleeve 80 slidingly fitted around the outer circumference of the lower vertical support member 24 . the lower sleeve 80 is identical to upper sleeve 36 and may be seen in fig6 . the sleeve 80 follows the contour of the lower vertical support member 24 and may be composed of any material which will easily slide up and down the lower vertical support member 24 . sleeves 36 and 80 have channels 33 which conform to the channels 32 in the vertical support members 22 and 24 as seen in fig6 . each sidewall of the sleeve channels is provided with an opening 35 for retaining a pivot pin 37 which passes through the lifting arms 38 , 54 and 70 to allow the arms to pivot when the sleeve 36 is moved . for clarification , fig6 shows only one pin 37 passing through the first shoulder - lifting arm 38 and into opening 35 . as will be further discussed below , lower sleeve 80 will have the same openings 35 for retaining pivot pins 37 which will pass through the legs 82 to allow the legs 82 to pivot when the lower sleeve 80 is slid along lower vertical member 24 . fig1 and 2 further illustrate the extension of legs 82 from the second end 82 of the lower vertical support member 24 . a leg brace 86 is affixed to the second end 84 and cooperates with the lower sleeve 80 to align and support the extended legs 82 . fig7 and 8 are detailed illustrations of the leg brace 86 . brace 86 has four leg support openings 88 through which legs 82 pass and are supported . inner slanting walls 90 provide a surface on which the inner side of the legs 82 may be supported and the angle of the slant ensures that each leg is oriented or aligned to reduce wobble and to stabilize the valet when fully extended for use . a lower locking detent 99 extends through the lower vertical support member 24 above and spaced apart from the leg brace 86 . when the lower sleeve 80 is slid downwardly towards the second end 84 of the lower vertical support 24 , legs 82 pivotally attached to the sleeve 80 move downwardly and radially outwardly through leg brace opening 88 . the slanted side walls 90 urge the legs 82 into the proper angular orientation as they are extended . when the sleeve 80 passes over the lower locking detent 99 , the detent mechanism ( well known in the art ) retains the sleeve 80 against the leg brace 86 and locks the legs 82 in place . fig3 further illustrates brace 86 with leg support opening 88 through which legs 82 are guided and supported . brace 86 is attached to the second end 84 of lower vertical support member 24 . fig4 illustrates the valet 20 of the present invention in the collapsed but unfolded position . sleeves 36 and 80 are in the collapsed position . the legs 82 are not extended . the shoulder members 46 and 62 and first hanger extension 66 are not extended . second hanger extension 100 is in the retracted or collapsed position . fig5 is a perspective view illustrating the extension of the outstretched members of the valet 20 . in fig5 it may have seen that upper sleeve 36 has been slid upwardly in the direction of the arrow along upper vertical support member 22 extending left arms 38 , 54 , and 70 which support shoulders 46 and 62 and hanger extension 76 . lower sleeve 80 has been slid downwardly in the direction of the arrows along lower vertical support member 24 extending legs 82 through brace 86 . a second hanger extension 100 is shown in fig5 telescopingly withdrawn from the inside of the second end 52 of the hollow upper vertical support member 22 . an extension head 102 is attached to an upper end 104 of a vertical neck 106 . the second extension 100 is rotated 180 ° to face the back of the valet 20 to provide additional hanging area for clothing . head 102 is provided with a multiplicity of hanging notches 108 . a lock pin or detent 120 ( fig2 ) cooperates with the vertical neck 106 and the upper vertical member 22 to retain the second hanger extension 100 in the rotated , locked position . pin 120 may be any type which will hold the extension 100 in the upstanding position . turning to fig9 and 10 , shoulder member 46 is shown in detail . shoulder member 62 is identical to member 46 shown in fig9 . each shoulder member has a proximal end 48 ( or 64 for member 62 ), a distal end 47 ( or 63 for member 62 ), and a midsection 49 ( or 59 for member 62 ). the proximal and distal ends are flared to a wider width than the midsection to provide for an improved hanging and support surface for garments hung on the valet 20 . shoulder member 46 is further provided with grooves 110 to hold accessory items such as jewelry , shirt , stays and the like . fig1 illustrates a side elevation view of the first hanger extension 66 with hanging notches 67 . openings 112 and 114 are provided for attachment to the shoulder brace 58 and the lifting arm 70 . fig1 and 13 show the details of the shoulder brace 50 of the present invention . an opening 116 is provided for the telescoping neck 106 of the second hanger extension 100 . opening 126 accepts detent 120 ( fig2 ) to retain extension 100 ( fig2 ) in the upstanding postion , as described above . although the invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment , this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense . on the contrary , various modifications of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention . it is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications , alternatives , and equivalents that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention . | 0 |
exemplary methods , systems , and computer program products for managing access to documents are described with reference to the accompanying drawings . the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention . as used herein , the singular forms “ a ”, “ an ”, and “ the ” are intended to include the plural forms as well , unless the context clearly indicates otherwise . it will be further understood that the terms “ comprises ” and / or “ comprising ,” when used in this specification , specify the presence of stated features , integers , steps , operations , elements , and / or components , but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features , integers , steps , operations , elements , components , and / or groups thereof . the corresponding structures , materials , acts , and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure , material or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed . the description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description , but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed . many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art . the embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application , and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . one or more embodiments of the invention relate to methods , computer program products and apparatus for dynamic authorization of documents . this is based on an authorization plug - in for a document viewer ( for example powerpoint , word and acrobat reader etc ), which will interact and extend any local authorization mechanism ( for example password protection ) associated with the document viewer . the term document is intended to encompass all types of data which can be accessed and / or created by a user in a computer or programmable environment . this includes , without limitation , files , documents , data files , presentations , multimedia files , application files etc . fig1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the elements of one embodiment of the system . an authorization plug - in 100 is located at the client 102 and is associated with a document viewer 104 . the document viewer may be associated with word , powerpoint or any other document related application . the plug - in is capable of contacting an authorization server 106 . the contact is made by means of an authorization request which requests information to decrypt a particular document or file . the decryption is based on a set of metadata stored in the document which will allow the document to be opened if the correct decrypt information is received . this will be described in greater detail below . the authorization server may access the encrypted document 110 to retrieve from the document the encryption metadata ( 111 ) and process the authentication to grant or deny specific key information 108 to open document 112 . the authorization server and the remote authorization service may be simultaneously accessed by a plurality of viewer plug - ins . the authorization server is configured to release the specific key information based on criteria stipulated by the document owner . for example , the criteria may be that the document is opened on or after a specific time . obviously , other criteria may be used , for example access to the documents for users on a specified list : uses having different access levels and the document being available only to those above a certain access level etc . in one embodiment of the invention , a policy for access to a particular document is : “ document with id qwerty - 12345 , and may be viewed by hosts in ibm . com domain starting from dec . 4 , 2007 , noon gmt ; and may be viewed by any host , starting from 5 p . m . gmt on the same day ”. referring now to fig2 , in another embodiment of the invention , the method associated with creation and protection of the document starts at 202 . at step 204 user a creates a document doc 200 that is to be presented at a meeting at a time t . user a stores doc 200 on the central repository but wants to prevent any other user from reading the document before the meeting . in order to prevent others from accessing doc 200 before time t , at step 206 user a may put doc 200 on a website or “ team room ” with metadata containing rules for activation . the metadata may be located either in the location where document is stored or in the document itself . the document may be encrypted and some of the metadata will describe the access rules . these metadata cannot be modified or changed to open the document using traditional security mechanisms such as hashing . it will be appreciated that user a may store or put the document in a different location to the website or “ team room ” depending on the nature of the document and the purpose of the document . the authorization server is not typically updated each time a document is saved with a new authentication mechanism . the authorization server is responsible for collecting information received by the authorization plug - in and processing the request to provide or deny a decrypt key . the authorization viewer plug - in retrieves information from the system ( e . g . the operating system , user information , local time etc .) along with the document metadata ( that may be decryptable only by the authorization server ) and sends a request to the server . the server will process the metadata and the local information and then grant or deny access as appropriate . the authorization server may then create a decrypt key for doc 200 on request as illustrated in step 218 . the process then ends at step 210 . referring now to fig3 , in one embodiment of the invention , the method relating to access to document doc 200 starts at step 300 . at step 302 user b wishes to access doc 200 and at step 304 user b opens the software viewer through which doc 200 could be viewed . at step 306 the viewer plug - in , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , which is associated with the software viewer accesses the authorization server by means of an authorization request . the authorization server then determines at step 308 if local data associated with the client is trying to open the document ( e . g . username , operating system , local time etc .) match the metadata constraints and if so provides a decrypted key for viewing doc 200 . if the server identifies that the access request does not have the necessary security prerequisites ( no ) user b is notified at step 310 that access to doc 200 has been denied . the process then ends at step 312 . in another embodiment of the invention , if the server identifies that the access request satisfies the necessary security prerequisites encoded into document metadata ( yes ) the decrypt key is sent to the viewer plug - in as illustrated in step 314 . user b may then view doc 200 in step 316 and the process ends at step 318 . the communication between the authorization plug - in and the authorization web service may be secured using a public key embedded in the document meta data ( secure signing ) and a corresponding private key in the web service . these keys are specific to the document identity and or the metadata . in one embodiment of the invention . user a may at any time change the protection afforded to the document . this can take the form of extending the protection through a longer time or may be to remove all protection as the document may now be freely used by anyone who wishes . if the protection is changed metadata will be updated or removed as the case may be . each time a document is opened the metadata may be collected and sent to the server . if a document has no restrictions to access , the viewer plug - in is not invoked as the document viewer can automatically open the document without other restrictions . one embodiment of the invention may be used in a communication meeting where a new organizational chart is to be presented . in such situations , it is essential that the new organizational chart is not disclosed prior to the meeting . however , it is important that when required the chart can be presented to an audience ( often in many different locations ) simultaneously . the author of the organizational chart may set a trigger time and date , at which the organizational chart can be accessed through means of the viewer plug - in . as a result , at the trigger time and date , the organizational chart can be accessed by means of the present invention and prior to that trigger no access can be achieved . the document access can also be linked to a calendar event so that , for example , a document will be activated when a communication meeting is held . in this way , for example , security metadata of the document can contain reference to a meeting identifier as the access constraint . in this way , the constraint will not be a static time but a dynamic one that is able to reflect any rescheduling of the meeting accordingly without requiring metadata update with a new scheduled time for the meeting . in another embodiment of the invention , the document can be readable until a specific moment in time and then after that specific moment in time the document is considered to be out of date and reading must be prevented . in this situation , there is no protection at the start of the document existence , it is at a predetermined time period from that start point that the document becomes protected and inaccessible without the necessary decrypt key . the metadata will be appropriate to the requirement . in yet another embodiment , it may be possible to use different triggers from time , for example using the activation of another document as the requirement that must be met . for example , the help document from lotus notes 7 . 5 . 2 can only be read in a situation where a certain fixpack is installed . the document may include one or many different levels of activation or protection , for example certain users may have access to the document after a first time t 1 and a second set of users can only have access to the document after a second time t 2 . there can clearly be many more than two levels of protection or activation . one or more embodiments of the invention act at the application level by providing the current viewer with a plug - in that is able to contact a remote authentication or authorization server in order to access a specific document . the access may be controlled from the viewer plug - in and based on metadata and decryption associated with the metadata . there are many different parameters or criteria that can be used to control or manage the access , for example calendar events , time , authorization levels etc . in addition , these can be easily changed and updated should circumstances dictate this . if no changes are required the document merely moves from inaccessible to accessible ( or vice versa ) at a predetermined moment or criteria without additional access from the user who originated the document . the access to the document may be controlled by other global factors based on the status , for example , ready for review , approved , published or whatever . the activation for access without restriction can , in this situation , be attributed to a document once it has reached the published stage in all other static access is denied . since , in one embodiment of the invention , the authorization plug - in acts at the client side , all authorization access to a particular document happens in the same place . the viewer plug - in and the document viewer work in conjunction to authorize the user to view the document . this means user controlled access in accordance with the present invention and , for example , password access to the document viewer are handled at the client side . due to the fact that the data transmitted between the plug - in and the server are merely “ an authorization request ” or “ an acknowledgement ”, security issues are improved . it is not necessary to send any additional information other than these two messages , which also means that bulk data transfer is avoided . it is only necessary for the authorization information to be protected and not the entire document during the transmission from plug - in to a server ( and vice versa ) as it is only this that is transmitted . embodiments of the invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment , an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements . in one embodiment , the invention is implemented as a computer program product accessible from a computer - usable or computer - readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system . for the purposes of this description , a computer - usable or computer readable medium can be a non - transitory medium that contains or stores the program , or a transitory medium that communicates , propagates , or transports the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system , apparatus , or device . the non - transitory medium can be an electronic , magnetic , optical , or semiconductor system ( or apparatus or device ). the transitory medium can be any propagation medium . examples of a non - transitory computer - readable medium ( a non - exhaustive list ) include a semiconductor or solid state memory , magnetic tape , a removable computer diskette , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk . current examples of optical disks include compact disk - read only memory ( cd - rom ), compact disk - read / write ( cd - r / w ) and dvd . a system suitable for storing and / or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus . the memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code , bulk storage , and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution . input / output or i / o devices ( including but not limited to keyboards , displays , pointing devices , etc .) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening i / o controllers . network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks . modems , cable modem and ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters . it should also be understood that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are capable of many modifications . to the extent such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents , they are intended to be covered by this patent . | 6 |
the present invention relates to antibodies prepared against integrins . these antibodies are characterized by their having been elicited by immunizing with synthetic peptides corresponding to the cytoplasmic domains or portions thereof of various integrin subunits . the amino acid sequences of several integrin subunits are available ( tamkun et al ., cell 42 : 271 - 282 , 1986 ; argraves et al ., j . cell biol . 105 : 1183 - 1190 , 1987 ; suzuki et al ., j . biol . chem . 262 : 14080 - 14085 , 1987 ; poncz et al ., j . biol . chem . 262 : 8476 - 8482 , 1987 ; fitzgerald et al ., j . biol . chem . 262 : 3936 - 3939 , 1987 ; fitzgerald et al ., biochemistry 26 : 8158 - 8165 , 1987 ; desimone and hynes , j . biol . chem . 263 : 5333 - 5340 , 1988 ; kishimoto et al ., cell 48 : 681 - 690 , 1987 ; law et al ., embo j . 6 : 915 - 919 , 1987 ; pytela , r ., embo j . 7 : 1371 - 1378 , 1988 all of which are incorporated herein by reference ). immunization with such peptides has two distinct advantages : the immunization is performed with a synthetic peptide corresponding to the end of the natural polypeptide , and the synthetic peptide corresponds to an intracellular peptide domain . peptides from either end of a protein have been found to be more likely to be immunogenic than ones derived from internal sequences in the same protein ( harlow and lane , antibodies : a laboratory manual , cold spring harbor , 1988 ) and it was felt that antibody production to intracellular proteins ( or cytoplasmic portions of transmembrane proteins ) is less likely to be hampered by tolerance than production of antibodies to proteins that exist extracellularly . for these reasons , and because the various integrin subunits differ in their cytoplasmic sequences , peptides from the cytoplasmic domains were considered good candidates for use as immunogens in the production of antibodies against integrins . however , the results were unexpectedly good in that unusually potent antisera reactive with the appropriate integrin were obtained in each case . the peptides listed in table i , which are based on known cytoplasmic domain amino acid sequences from integrin subunits , were synthesized using the applied biosystems , inc . model 430a automatic peptide synthesizer and the chemistry provided by the manufacturer . in some cases the peptide was synthesized with a cysteine added at the nh 2 - terminus to facilitate coupling to carrier protein . the cysteine - containing peptides were coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin ( klh ) by using m - maleimidobenzoyl - n - hydroxysuccinimide ester ( pierce chemical co ., rockford , ill .) according to o &# 39 ; sullivan et al . ( analyt . biochem . 100 :: 100 - 108 , 1979 ) which is incorporated herein by reference . the peptides with no added cysteine were similarly coupled to klh by using n - succinimidyl 3 -( 2 - pyridyldithio ) propionate ( pharmacia fine chemicals , piscataway , n . j .) according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . the resulting conjugates were emulsified in freund &# 39 ; s complete adjuvant and injected into rabbits . further injections of conjugate in freund &# 39 ; s incomplete adjuvant were given after one , two and three months . the dose of each injection was equivalent to 0 . 6 mg of peptide . blood was collected 10 days after the third and fourth injection . the antisera were tested against the glutaraldehyde - cross linked peptides and isolated receptors in elisa ( engvall , meth . enzymol . 70 : 419 - 439 , 1980 ), in immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting , and by staining cells in immunofluorescence , as is well known in the art . the results show that the antisera specific for the individual integrins have been obtained . table i__________________________________________________________________________ nh . sub . 2 cooh__________________________________________________________________________known sequences : β . sub . 1 efakfekekmnakwdtgenpiyksavttvvnpkyegkβ . sub . 3 kfeeerarakwdtannplykeatstftnityrgtα . sub . 5 cekaqzlkppatsdaα . sub . v krvrppqeeqereqlqphengegnsetsequences of current invention : β . sub . 3 &# 39 ; 4 - 29 subsequence kfeeerarakwdtvrdgagrflkslv or an immunological subsequence thereofβ . sub . 3 &# 39 ; 13 - 29 subsequence kwdtvrdgagrflkslvβ . sub . 3 &# 39 ; 17 - 29 subsequence vrdgagrflkslv__________________________________________________________________________ identification of a novel cytoplasmic sequence for integrin subunit β 3 a cdna clone that encodes a β 3 variant , termed β 3 &# 39 ;, with a new cytoplasmic domain sequence was identified . this cytoplasmic domain was used to generate one of the antisera of this invention . cdna clones were isolated from λgt 11 cdna libraries made from myeloma cell rna by use of a cdna cloning kit ( amersham , arlington , ill .) and from placental rna ( millan , j . biol . chem . 261 : 3112 - 3115 1986 ). a 21 - mer oligonucleotide , 5 &# 39 ; cac tga gag cag gac cac cag 3 &# 39 ;, from the published sequence of β 3 ( rosa et al ., blood 72 : 593 - 600 , 1988 and fitzgerald et al ., supra ) or inserts from cdna clones were used for the screening . screening of 3 × 10 5 plaques from a m 21 myeloma cdna library with a 21 - mer oligonucleotide probe from the published β 3 cdna sequence revealed one positive clone . the 1 . 3 kb cdna insert from this clone was used to screen 7 × 10 5 plaques from a placental λgt 11 cdna library , resulting in the isolation of three positive clones . the inserts of the isolated cdna clones were subcloned into the phage vector m13 mp19 as is well known in the art and sequenced by the dideoxy chain termination method either manually with datp 5 &# 39 ;- α -[ 35 s ] thiotriphosphate as the label or by using an automated dna - sequencer and fluorescent primers ( applied biosystems , foster city , calif . ; model 370a ) according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . partial sequences of two of the clones revealed the same sequence as in the published β 3 sequence . unexpectedly , the third clone (# 10 ) was different . this 1 . 8 kb clone consisted of 1 . 0 and 0 . 8 kb ecor1 fragments , and its 5 &# 39 ; end is in the extracellular domain ( base number 1254 ; sequence numbers are according to rosa et al ., blood 72 : 593 - 600 ( 1988 ). the published β 3 sequence and the clone 10 sequence were found to be identical through the 5 &# 39 ; fragment and part of the 3 &# 39 ; fragment but diverged within the 3 &# 39 ; fragment in the region that encodes the cytoplasmic domain of the β 3 polypeptide . the dna sequence of the 3 &# 39 ; fragment and the amino acid sequence derived from it are shown in fig3 . the variant sequence encodes a cytoplasmic domain in which the cooh - terminal 21 amino acids of the previously known β 3 sequence have been replaced with a new 13 - amino acid sequence . ( see table 1 .) the identity of most of the β 3 &# 39 ; cdna sequence with the known β 3 sequence and the fact that these two sequences diverge near the usual splice site dinucleotide gt provide a strong indication that the β 3 and β 3 &# 39 ; mrnas arise from the same gene by alternative splicing . the existence of a cdna clone containing the β 3 &# 39 ; suggests that the β 3 &# 39 ; is expressed at least at the mrna level . further proof for the existence of such a cdna was obtained by applying the reverse transcriptase - polymerase chain reaction method ( rt - pcr , rappolee et al ., science 241 : 708 - 712 ( 1988 ) which is incorporated herein by reference ). rna was isolated from mg - 63 human osteosarcoma cells ( american type culture collection ) and from human placental tissue by using the guanidine isothiocyanate method and used to generate dna fragments from β 3 and β 3 &# 39 ; mrna by rt - pcr . rt - pcr was essentially done as described rappolee , supra . total rna ( 0 . 4 μg ) was reverse transcribed using 200 u of moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase ( bethesda research laboratories , gaithersburg , md . ), 0 . 4 μg oligo p ( dt ) 12 - 18 and 2 μg nuclease - free bovine serum albumin . the total volume was 20 μl . one - tenth of the resulting cdna was amplified by using the dna amplification reagent kit and thermal cycler ( perkin - elmer cetus , norwalk , conn .). one unit of taq polymerase and 1 μm of each primer were used ; the final volume was 50 μl . the following primers were used : # 1 -- extracellular domain 1851 - 1875 ; # 2 -- extracellular domain 1879 - 1903 ; # 3 -- extracellular domain 2064 - 2088 ; # 4 -- cytoplasmic domain β 3 2273 - 2297 ; # 5 -- 3 &# 39 ; untranslated region β 3 2559 - 2583 ; # 6 -- 3 &# 39 ; untranslated region β 3 3104 - 3128 ; # 7 -- 3 &# 39 ; untranslated region β 3472 - 3497 ; # 8 -- cytoplasmic domain + 3 &# 39 ; untranslated region alternative sequence 2301 &# 39 ;- 2331 &# 39 ; ( the &# 39 ; symbol refers to the variant β sequence ); # 9 -- 3 &# 39 ; untranslated region alternative sequence 2408 &# 39 ;- 2432 &# 39 ;. of the pcr mixture , 15 μl were electrophoretically separated in 2 % agarose gels or 3 % nu sieve ™ brand gtg agarose gel / 1 % saekem ™ brand gtg agarose gel ( fmc , rockland , me .) and dna was visualized using ethidium bromide . hae iii fragments of φx174 rf dna ( 500 ng ) were used as molecular size markers ( bethesda research laboratories , gaithersburg , md .). rna digestion was performed using 50 μg ribonuclease a ( sigma , st . louis , mo .) and 14 μg total rna in a total volume of 30 μ . digestion was for 20 hours at 37 ° c . analysis of the dna fragments generated by the rt - pcr showed that a fragment of the expected size was obtained in each case both when the primers came from the β 3 sequence and when they came from the β 3 &# 39 ; sequence . controls showed that the production of these fragments in the reaction was sensitive to digestion of the template mg - 63 cell and placental rna with rnase prior to the rt - pcr . these results show that the β 3 &# 39 ; mrna is expressed in the mg - 63 cells and in the placenta . to provide a reagent for the detection of β 3 &# 39 ; at the protein level , a peptide was made from the cytoplasmic tail of β 3 &# 39 ; ( table 1 ) and used to generate an antiserum . a total of 5 antisera were prepared against the cytoplasmic domains of 5 different integrin subunits . each immunization yielded an antiserum reactive with the immunizing peptide . all antisera were also reactive with the receptor proteins from which the peptide sequence was taken when tested in elisa against the receptor . the β 3 &# 39 ; antiserum reacted also with the β 3 peptide which shares the sequence kwdt with the β 3 &# 39 ; peptide . it could be made specific for the β 3 &# 39 ; peptide by absorption with the β 3 peptide coupled to cyanogen bromide - activated sepharose ™ brand beaded agarose matrix ( pharmacia ). after the absorption , the antiserum reacted only with the β 3 &# 39 ; peptide . it continued to react with the isolated vitronectin receptor suggesting that this receptor contains molecules with the β 3 &# 39 ; sequence in addition to those representing β 3 . fig1 shows an example of an elisa titration curve with a number of bleedings from rabbits immunized with the cytoplasmic domains of the α 5 and β 1 integrin subunits . it can be seen that specific reactivity against the purified intact receptor is present in each of the bleedings taken after the immunization , and that the amount of the antibody in the antiserum increases ( as indicated by the highest dilution that shows binding of the receptor ) as the immunization progresses . fig2 shows an example of the specificity of the cytoplasmic domain antisera . in this case antisera to the vitronectin receptor α and β subunits ( α v and β 3 in the nomenclature proposed by hynes ( cell 48 : 549 - 554 , 1987 ) were allowed to bind to wells coated with the vitronectin receptor and inhibition of the binding by peptides was studied . the results show that the binding of the anti - α v subunit antiserum to the receptor was inhibited by the immunizing ( α v ) peptide but not by the peptide that came from the β 3 subunit . the opposite was true of the anti - β 3 subunit antiserum . immunoblotting showed that the anti - cytoplasmic peptide antisera bound to the integrin subunit from which the immunizing peptide was derived from . the antisera were also reactive with integrins in solution as shown by immunoprecipitation . sds - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of material immunoprecipitated from surface - iodinated ( lebien et al ., j . immunol . 129 : 2287 - 2292 , 1987 incorporated herein by reference ) chinese hamster ovary ( cho ) cells ( urlaub and chasin , proc . natl . acad . sci ., usa 77 : 4216 - 4220 , 1980 ) by antisera against the α 5 and β 1 integrin subunits revealed two radioactive polypeptides the mobility of which corresponded to the α 5 and β 1 subunits . no other detectable bands were present . normal rabbit serum did not precipitate detectable bands . these results show that the antisera specifically recognize the appropriate integrin among all the various proteins that became labeled in the cho cells . the anti - cytoplasmic domain antisera can be used to detect the presence of integrins in cell membranes . for example , an antiserum prepared against the α 5 and β 1 subunit cytoplasmic domains was used to stain cultured cho cells by immunofluorescence . patchy staining was seen with both antisera , indicating that both subunits are present in the cho cells and that the integrins containing these subunits are localized in specialized adhesion structures at the cell surface . the immunizing peptide inhibits the staining and no staining was obtained with preimmune control sera . although the invention has been described with reference to the presently - preferred embodiments , it should be understood that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . accordingly , the invention is limited only by the following claims . | 8 |
referring now to the accompanying drawings , fig1 through 4 show a first embodiment of jewelry item 10 which can be , without limitation , a bracelet , an ankle bracelet , a necklace , a watch band , a belly chain , or any similar jewelry item . although the clasp disclosed herein is primarily intended for jewelry , it is not limited to use with jewelry , and could potentially be used with a belt or similar item . more particularly , there is an item 10 comprised of several strands 12 , 14 which can be customized for color , size , theme , etc ., it being understood that such bead strands can be purchased after another &# 39 ; s assembly or custom - made by ( or for ) the wearer / user . as used herein , a strand may be , without limitation , a bead strand ; a chain ; a strand holding precious or decorative stones , metals , or other decorative objects ; a leather strap ; a fabric strap ; a cord ; a flexible polymer ; or any other decorative strand . although the clasp disclosed herein is primarily directed towards jewelry , it is not limited to use for jewelry . each strand terminates in a closed loop 16 at a first end and a second ( similarly sized and shaped ) closed loop 18 at its opposite end . with such an arrangement , it is possible to position a plurality ( at least two , maybe several more ) of customized bead strands on the same end connector system ( including clasps ) though only two representative bead strands are shown in the accompanying drawings . the closed loops 16 , 18 allow a given set of strands to position “ temporarily ” on their respective clasp ends . temporary , as used herein , is meant to indicate that any one strand may be fairly easily removed from the jewelry item 10 and replaced by one or more alternative bead strand arrangements ( as the user sees fit for a given event and / or wardrobe color accent ). this configuration of bead strands is meant to compliment the novel arrangement of jewelry clasps used herewith . a first embodiment of clasp , element 20 in fig1 and 2 , comprises a first claw closure 22 into which closed loop ends 16 of the bead strands 12 , 14 are fastened . this variety of claw closure most resembles a carabiner with a fixed top hook 24 and a spring loaded bar 26 at one side . to better operate the latter spring bar 26 , a finger latch 28 is provided that can hold bar 26 “ open ” long enough for adding / removing strands before snapping closed . below the claw closure 22 , there is positioned a cone - shaped collar component 30 that preferably resembles a partially - flattened bell with an upper opening 32 leading down to a connector base 34 . preferably , collar 30 joins to the jewelry item base component 40 , via connector base 34 using a spring - like arrangement ( better seen in the partial cross - sectional view at fig5 . therein , it can be seen how the collar proper may be tugged downwardly , in the direction of arrow a , for exposing a workable portion of the underlying claw closure . it is not necessary for the collar 30 to cover the whole of claw closure 22 but , at a minimum , it would be ideal to at least cover finger latch 28 so that it won &# 39 ; t necessarily catch on the hair , other jewelry and / or clothing of the jewelry item wearer at any given time . for this first claw - collar configuration , the entire assembly terminates in its own jewelry item solid connecting loop component 40 . it is shown as a standard circular element designed for easy interaction with its connecting bar component 42 at the opposite end of jewelry item 10 . alternate variations may replace connecting bar 42 with its own lobster claw variety and / or still other known main clasp embodiments . in fig5 through 7 , a first alternative claw closure 122 is shown . therein , this variation has a combination of a stationary hook element 124 together with a spring loaded base 126 that can be pulled down in the direction of arrow a for loading and unloading bead strand 112 , via its loop 116 onto hook element 124 . the relative movement of the base 126 can be seen with the silhouetted hook element ( in dashed lines ). when the spring - loaded base is released , it rejoins with stationary hook 124 for holding bead strands thereon . all of the foregoing sit within an outer cover or collar component 130 , and its uppermost opening 132 before terminating at its lower end 134 as a connection to main jewelry bar component 142 . fig7 shows a close up , exploded view from the circled area vii of fig6 . therein , the hook element 124 to this claw closure alternative is emphasized showing its vertical stem 123 within protective collar 125 through which a threaded lower base 127 protrudes for connecting to a correspondingly threaded aperture 129 in connection bar component 142 . referring to fig8 - 10 , a clasp 144 is illustrated . the clasp 144 may be used in any application wherein a jewelry clasp would be used , but is particularly useful as a clasp for a multi - strand bracelet as described above . referring primarily to fig8 , the clasp 144 includes a first loop portion 146 having a hook 148 and a shaft 150 . the illustrated example of the hook 148 has a generally hook - shaped configuration , extending for at least half of a closed loop , with some examples extending between about 60 % to about 90 % of the way around a closed loop , and in the illustrated example extending about ¾ of the way around a closed loop . the tip 152 is shaped to abut a mating surface as described below , and in the illustrated example includes a cutout portion 154 and a narrow , extended portion 156 . the end 158 of the shaft 150 is structured to be secured to a connection piece 160 as described below , and in the illustrated example is threaded . an elongated portion 162 extends between the end 158 and hook 148 . the connection piece 160 includes a first end 164 for securing to the end 158 of the shaft 150 , and a second end 166 for securing to the remainder of a jewelry item , or perhaps another connection to another clasp in the case of a multi - strand jewelry item . the illustrated example of the first end 164 includes a shaft 168 defining a generally coaxial threaded hole 170 therethrough for receiving the threaded end 158 of the hook 148 . the shaft 168 further defines a surface 172 disposed around the threaded hole 170 . the second end 166 of the illustrated example is in the form of a ring which can be connected in a manner well known to those skilled in the art of jewelry to another portion of a jewelry item . a housing 174 is disposed generally between the hook 146 and connection piece 160 . the housing 174 includes an outer wall 176 which in the illustrated example is generally frustoconical , but which may alternatively be cylindrical , or may have an oblong , oval , rectangular , trapezoidal , or other tapered or non - tapered profile . the housing 174 defines a hook recess 178 and a connection recess 180 . the illustrated example of the hook recess 178 is sufficiently large to receive at least about half of the hook 148 of the first loop portion 146 . other examples may receive less than half of the hook 148 , or as much as all of the hook 148 . the hook recess 178 includes a second loop portion 182 secured therein , or perhaps formed as a portion of the housing 174 . the second loop portion 182 is structured to mate with the hook 148 of the first loop portion 146 to complete a substantially closed loop for retaining a connector on a strand . a substantially closed loop is defined as one that will securely retain the connection to be retained by the clasp , even if a complete closed loop is not entirely formed by the first loop portion 146 and second loop portion 182 . such a substantially closed loop may have a portion of the loop formed by the wall 176 of the housing 174 . in the illustrated example , the second loop portion 182 extends around about ¼ of a circle , and includes a tip 184 having a cutout portion 186 and extended portion 188 that are structured to interface with the extended portion 156 and cutout portion 154 , respectively , of the tip 152 of the first loop portion 146 . thus , when the first loop portion 146 and second loop portion 182 are brought together as described below , the connector of a strand is securely held within the ring formed by the first loop portion 146 and second loop portion 182 ( and perhaps a portion of the wall 176 of the housing 174 ). the hook recess 178 and connection recess 180 are connected by a passage 190 , which is structured to receive the elongated portion 162 of the first loop portion 146 therethrough . the connection recess 180 includes a surface 192 therewithin . the connection recess 180 is structured to receive the first end 168 of the connection piece 160 , as well as a spring 194 . the spring 194 surrounds the elongated portion 162 of the first loop portion 146 , and is disposed between the surface 172 of the connection piece 160 and the surface 192 of the connection recess 180 . the spring 194 biases the connection piece 160 away from the housing 174 , thus biasing the first loop portion 146 into the hook recess 178 and into engagement with the second loop portion 182 , closing the clasp 144 . in use , the default position of the clasp 144 is the closed position of fig9 . to open the clasp 144 , the housing 174 is pushed towards the connection piece 160 as shown in fig1 , thus moving the second loop portion 182 away from the stationary hook portion 146 . since the housing 174 is sufficiently large to contain a sizable portion of the stationary hook portion 146 , it is easy to grasp . the connection piece 160 can also be sized so that it is easy to grasp . as another alternative , the connection piece 160 could be placed on a table or other convenient surface , and the housing 174 pushed towards that surface to open the clasp . the clasp 144 is therefore easy to open and close , even for individuals having limited dexterity and / or using their weak hand . once the clasp is open , then a connection ring of a jewelry strand , or another clasp component such as the ring 202 , may be fastened to or removed from the clasp 144 . the clasp 144 can be used in any application for which a different jewelry clasp could be used , for example , as the clasp 144 in the jewelry item 204 of fig1 having a single strand 206 . in fig1 , the clasp 144 secures the ring 208 in order to hold the jewelry item 204 on the wearer . additionally , the clasp 144 is particularly suited for use with a multi - strand jewelry item such as a bracelet as described above , and as illustrated in fig1 - 13 . in the jewelry item 210 of fig1 , a pair of clasps 144 are used to connect one or more desired jewelry strands 206 together , and another clasp , which in the illustrated example is a conventional clasp 212 a , 212 b is used to fasten the jewelry item 210 on the wearer . in other examples of a multi - strand jewelry item ( fig9 ) the clasp 144 is fastened by a standard jewelry chain link connection 196 to a generally perpendicular post 198 . similarly , an identical clasp 144 would be connected by a standard jewelry chain link connection such as the connection 196 to a ring 202 . it is well known in the art of jewelry that the post 198 can be inserted into the ring 202 to fasten this type of prior art clasp . although these examples of prior art clasps are illustrated , any prior art and / or presently available clasp may be substituted for the post 198 and ring 202 without departing from the invention . fig1 illustrates another example of a multi - strand jewelry item 214 . in the jewelry item 214 , a pair of clasps 144 are used to connect one or more desired jewelry strands 206 together , and a third clasp 144 is used to fasten the jewelry item 210 on the wearer by connecting to a ring 216 . using the above describes clasp arrangement , a single jewelry strand , or a desired plurality of jewelry strands , may be connected between a pair of clasps 144 , with each of the clasps 144 being connected to another clasp element as described above . the resulting single - strand or multi strand jewelry item may be fastened or unfastened using the post 198 and ring 202 , any other conventional clasp , or a third clasp 144 . any time the selection of strands included between the clasps 144 is desired to be changed , this can be accomplished by opening the clasps 144 as described above . the wearer may thus customize the wearer &# 39 ; s bracelet as frequently or infrequently as the wearer wishes , with single strands , multiple strands , different sequences of strands , different combinations of different styles of strands , etc . with a wide variety of potential aesthetics being possible . a variety of modifications to the above - described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure . thus , the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof . the particular embodiments disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention . the appended claims , rather than to the foregoing specification , should be referenced to indicate the scope of the invention . | 0 |
it is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments , or examples , for implementing different features of various embodiments . specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure . these are , of course , merely examples and are not intended to be limiting . in addition , the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and / or letters in the various examples . this repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and / or configurations discussed . fig1 and 2 illustrate one embodiment of a temperature compensated element 20 for positioning downhole in a well to seal with either the interior surface of a borehole or an interior surface of a downhole tubular . temperature compensated element 20 is coupled to mandrel 5 . mandrel 5 may be included as part of a well tubular string ( not shown ). one having ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure will understand that the well tubular string may be a drill string , casing string , tubing string , or any other suitable tubular member for use in a wellbore , and may have multiple components including , without limitation , tubulars , valves , or packers without deviating from the scope of this disclosure . in at least one embodiment , temperature compensated element 20 may include housing 22 , end ring 24 , and swellable packer 26 . swellable packer 26 may include packer element 29 . swellable packer 26 may include a plurality of slats 28 at either end to , for example , form an extrusion barrier for packer element 29 , couple swellable packer 26 to mandrel 5 and help prevent flow of the swellable packer material when in a swelled state . swellable packer 26 may also include retainer ring 27 positioned to , for example , couple swellable packer 26 to mandrel 5 and to prevent any movement of swellable packer 26 along mandrel 5 . one having ordinary skill in the art with benefit of this disclosure will understand that although the packer is described as a swellable packer throughout this disclosure , a non - swellable elastomeric packer element may be substituted without deviating from the scope of this disclosure . housing 22 , end ring 24 , and swellable packer 26 may be positioned about mandrel 5 and may be coupled thereto . as depicted in fig4 , housing 22 of temperature compensated element 20 may be coupled to mandrel 5 by set screw 21 . one having ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure will understand that housing 22 may be coupled to mandrel 5 by any suitable mechanism without deviating from the scope of this invention , including without limitation a set screw , shear wire , adhesive , etc . housing 22 may include a fluid expansion chamber 30 . fluid expansion chamber 30 may be filled with a thermally expanding fluid which may volumetrically expand in response to an increase in temperature caused by , for example , steam being passed through the interior of mandrel 5 or higher temperature hydrocarbons produced within the well . in some embodiments , the thermally expanding fluid may be selected to remain in a liquid phase throughout the temperatures and pressures to which it may be exposed during operation of temperature compensated element 20 . as depicted in fig3 , fluid expansion chamber 30 may be an annular space defined by the outer surface of mandrel 5 , the inner surface of housing 22 , and piston 32 . housing 22 may include at least one seal 23 to fluidly seal fluid expansion chamber 30 against mandrel 5 . piston 32 may include a piston head 34 , a piston extension 36 , and a piston operating body 38 . piston 32 may be positioned to slide within fluid expansion chamber 30 along the outer surface of mandrel 5 in response to a volumetric expansion of the fluid within fluid expansion chamber 30 as the fluid is heated . the fluid presses on piston head 34 , causing a sliding displacement of piston 32 along mandrel 5 . piston head 34 may include one or more seals 40 positioned to prevent the fluid from escaping expansion chamber 30 . as piston 32 moves , piston operating body 38 contacts end ring 24 and causes it to likewise slide along mandrel 5 . the movement of end ring 24 towards swellable packer 26 causes a compression of swellable packer 26 along mandrel 5 , which causes swellable packer 26 to mechanically expand in the wellbore . as depicted in fig4 , end ring 24 may , in some embodiments , include a body lock ring 42 positioned within a recess in the interior surface of end ring 24 . body lock ring 42 may include teeth 44 on its interior positioned to interlock with wickers 46 , here depicted as formed on the outer surface of mandrel . body lock ring 42 may be positioned so that once piston 32 has moved in response to the thermal expansion of the fluid in the fluid expansion chamber 30 , teeth 44 mesh with wickers 46 and prevent end ring 24 and piston 32 from returning to the run - in position from , for example , elastic reaction forces of swellable packer 26 . one having ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure will understand that body lock ring 42 may be positioned in other locations , such as piston extension 36 , slats 28 , etc . without deviating from the scope of this disclosure . furthermore , one having ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure will understand that wickers 46 may be formed in a separate member and not directly in the surface of mandrel 5 . one having ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure will understand that body lock ring 42 may be positioned along mandrel 5 with wickers positioned on end ring 24 , piston extension 36 , or slats 28 . swellable packer 26 may be formed from a material which swells in response to the absorption of a swelling fluid , generally an oil or water - based fluid . the composition of the swelling fluid needed to activate swellable packer 26 may be selected with consideration of the intended use of the packer . for example , a packer designed to pack off an area of a well at once may be either oil or water - based and activated by a fluid pumped downhole . alternatively , a delayed - use packer may be positioned in a well for long periods of time during , for example , hydrocarbon production . a swellable packer 26 which swells in response to an oil - based fluid would prematurely pack off the annulus . a swellable packer 26 which swells in response to water would therefore be used . when swellable packer 26 is activated , the selected swelling fluid comes into contact with swellable packer 26 and may be absorbed by the material . in response to the absorption of swelling fluid , swellable packer 26 increases in volume and eventually contacts the wellbore , or the inner bore of the surrounding tubular . continued swelling of swellable packer 26 forms a fluid seal between mandrel 5 and the wellbore or surrounding tubular . pressure may then be applied from one or more ends of swellable packer 26 . swellable packer 26 may likewise expand or contract in response to variations in temperature . for example , during a cycling steam stimulation ( css ) operation or steam - assisted gravity drainage ( sag - d ) operation , high - pressure steam may be forced through a tool string . this steam will heat swellable packer 26 and may cause a thermal expansion in addition to any swelling expansion . when steam injection is halted , a conventional swellable packer may thermally contract , thereby potentially compromising the seal created by the swelling expansion of the swellable packer . as illustrated in fig2 and previously described , swellable packer 26 may be mechanically expanded by the movement of end ring 24 as the thermally expanding fluid in fluid expansion chamber 30 is heated . this mechanical expansion may , for example , compensate for any thermal contraction as swellable packer 26 cools . in some embodiments , housing 22 may include a pressure relief apparatus to prevent damage to temperature compensated element 20 caused by too much pressure within fluid expansion chamber 30 . the pressure relief apparatus may be positioned to , at a selected threshold pressure , release at least some thermally expanding fluid from fluid expansion chamber 30 into , for example , the surrounding wellbore . in some embodiments , the pressure relief apparatus may include , for example and without limitation , a relief or safety valve , blowoff valve , or a rupture disc such as rupture disc 48 as depicted in fig4 . rupture disc 48 may be positioned in the wall of fluid expansion chamber 30 . rupture disc 48 may be calibrated to mechanically fail once the fluid in fluid expansion chamber 30 reaches a selected threshold pressure to , for example , prevent damage to temperature compensated element 20 or swellable packer 26 . when rupture disc 48 fails , fluid from fluid expansion chamber 30 may flow into the surrounding wellbore . rupture disc 48 may be calibrated by varying , for example , its diameter , thickness , and by placing weakening grooves in its structure . in order to understand the operation of a temperature compensated element as described herein , an exemplary operation thereof will now be described . although this example describes only a cycling steam stimulation operation , one having ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure will understand that the example is not intended to limit use of the temperature compensated element in any way to one particular operation , and the temperature compensated element described may be used in other operations without deviating from the scope of this disclosure . in a css operation , as understood in the art , high - pressure steam may be injected into a formation through a downhole tubular . the steam heats the formation and any hydrocarbons contained therein to , for example , reduce viscosity thereof and thereby allow a higher flow rate . once the desired heating has been effected , the steam injection is halted , and hydrocarbons may flow through the tubular more rapidly than before the css operation . cycles of heating and production may be repeated multiple times . temperature compensated element 20 as depicted in fig1 may be included as a part of the downhole tubular assembly ( not shown ). in one embodiment , the downhole tubular assembly may be a string of production casing . temperature compensated element 20 may be run - into the wellbore ( not shown ) in the run - in position depicted in fig1 . once in position in the wellbore , fluids in the wellbore may be absorbed by swellable packer 26 . swellable packer 26 volumetrically expands as swelling fluids are absorbed , causing swellable packer 26 to form a seal against the surrounding wellbore . temperature compensated element 20 may be left to expand for a period of time before enhanced recovery operations commence , i . e . during primary and / or secondary recovery operations . during this time , swellable packer 26 may operate as a normal swellable packer in the wellbore to isolate the formation on one side of temperature compensated element 20 from the wellbore on the other side of temperature compensated element 20 . at some point it may be decided to run a css operation . at this time , steam may be injected through the downhole tubular assembly including through mandrel 5 of temperature compensated element 20 . the hot steam causes the thermally expanding fluid in fluid expansion chamber 30 to expand , forcing piston 32 and end ring 24 along mandrel 5 as previously discussed . swellable packer 26 may be compressed along mandrel 5 . this deformation causes swellable packer 26 to increase in radius and / or press more firmly against the surrounding wellbore . once the desired expansion has been achieved , body lock ring 42 engages wickers 46 , thereby locking swellable packer 26 in the actuated position depicted in fig2 . when steam injection is halted , body lock ring 42 maintains the actuated position even as fluid in the fluid expansion chamber cools . in other embodiments , temperature compensated element 20 may be heated by fluids within the formation naturally or artificially heated in the formation . for example , in a sag - d operation as understood in the art , a temperature compensated element 20 located within the production well may be heated by the hydrocarbons heated by the steam injection well . in other embodiments , produced hydrocarbons may naturally exist at a higher temperature than the wellbore when drilled . therefore , the production of the hydrocarbons themselves may serve to heat the fluid within temperature compensated element 20 . in some embodiments , rupture disc 48 may be included in the wall of housing 22 , and may be calibrated such that the pressure necessary to achieve full actuation will cause rupture disc 48 to fail , allowing the pressurized fluid within fluid expansion chamber 30 to flow into the surrounding wellbore , relieving pressure on piston 32 . in some embodiments of the invention , the fluid in fluid expansion chamber 30 may be heated to between 200 ° f . and 900 ° f . in other embodiments , the fluid in fluid expansion chamber 30 may be heated to between 200 ° f . and 650 ° f . in some embodiments , the pressure of fluid in fluid expansion chamber 30 may be increased to between 500 and 4000 psi . in other embodiments , the pressure of fluid in fluid expansion chamber 30 may be increased to between 500 and 2200 psi the foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that a person of ordinary skill in the art may better understand the aspects of the present disclosure . such features may be replaced by any one of numerous equivalent alternatives , only some of which are disclosed herein . one of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and / or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein . one of ordinary skill in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure and that they may make various changes , substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure . | 4 |
referring to the drawings in greater detail , fig1 a , 2 and 3 illustrate a nonconductive substrate 10 which was initially an indefinitely long strip of uniform width and thickness . in the preferred embodiment of this invention , the substrate comprises a flexible and dimensionally stable sheet of plastic material such as polyethylene terephthalate which may have a thickness in the range of 1 / 2 mil ( 0 . 00127 cm ) to 20 mils ( 0 . 0508 cm ). such substrate is sold under the trademark mylar by the dupont chemical corporation . as shown , the substrate has been shaped by suitable cutting dies so as to comprise an indefinite number of electrodes 12 each having a broad heel section 14 and a relatively narrow toe section 16 , each electrode 12 having sloping shoulders 18 in the opposite side margins thereof where the side - to - side width of the electrodes is reduced from the width of the heel section 14 to the width of the toe section 16 . the toe section of each of the electrodes 12 is integrally attached to the heel section of the next adjacent electrode 12 by a pair of webs 20 that are left intact as a part of the substrate 10 when perforations 22 are formed in the body of the substrate between the webs 20 . the webs 20 thus preserve the integrity of the substrate 10 between adjacent electrodes 12 but provide only a weak connection between adjacent electrodes 12 such that the adjacent electrodes can be separated with relative ease . disposed centrally between the sides of the substrate 10 and extending longitudinally along the entire length of one face of the substrate is a stripe 24 of an electrically conductive paint which preferably comprises a plastic carrier loaded with metallic particles or flakes . a commercially available example of such paint is dupont conductor composition no . 9793 available from the dupont chemical corporation . for the purposes of this invention there is admixed to this commercially available paint a small quantity of silver chloride powder which will cause the stripe 24 to behave as a chlorided silver paint conductor . alternatively , the chloriding can be induced by application to the paint in the presence of an electrolyte of an electrical chloriding current or by other techniques known in the art . in the utilization of the present invention , the heel section 14 will be affixed to the skin of the subject or patient for purposes of exchanging electrical signals between the skin of the patient and the peripheral equipment . to allow an adequate transpiration to take place , the heel section is perforated as will be described . thus , the heel sections are perforated uniformly throughout by punching and / or melting to produce pores 11 extending through the thickness of the substrate in the heel sections 14 . the pores 11 may be confined to the heel sections 14 . however , it is also possible to distribute the pores 11 throughout the major surfaces of the substrate 10 . by confining the pores 11 to the heel sections 14 , however , irregularities at the side margins may be avoided and the tearing designed to occur between the heel sections 14 and the toe sections 16 of adjacent electrodes confined to weaknesses created by the perforations 22 . thus , it is possible to so distribute the pores 11 that these pores do not in themselves create weaknesses along which the substrate will tend to tear . where indiscriminate tearing of the substrate poses no problem , the pores 11 may be distributed uniformly over the major areas of the substrate 10 . whether the pores 11 are distributed uniformly throughout the major areas of the substrate or confined to selected areas such as the heel sections 14 , the pores , which may be approximately one - sixteenth of an inch in diameter ( 0 . 158 cm ), may occupy approximately 50 percent of the surface area of the substrate 10 in those areas where the pores 11 are provided . the pores may be arranged in any pattern desired , examples being pores aligned in parallel rows or , if desired , pores aligned in rows with the pores in one row staggered with respect to pores in adjacent rows . the perforations 22 may be formed simultaneously as the pores 11 are formed . referring to fig1 a pores 11 extending through the thickness of the substrate 10 are illustrated . in the preferred practice , the stripe 24 is applied to the substrate 10 after formation of the pores 11 and any of various screening techniques is employed to minimize loss of the paint through the pores 11 and perforations 22 . traversing each of the heel sections 14 is a film 26 of a conductive adhesive which overlies the stripe 24 and extends laterally beyond the side edges of the stripe 24 to fully cross the width of the heel section 14 . in the preferred embodiment , the conductive adhesive may be applied to the substrate 10 before the side edges of the substrate have been cut to shape but may alternately be applied thereafter . in any event , it is preferred to apply the conductive adhesive film 26 after perforating the heel portions 14 so as to form the pores 11 . in one version , the conductive adhesive film 26 comprises a naturally occurring karaya gum which has blended therein an electrolyte which is derived from an aqueous salt solution . such composition is available in sheet form from lectec corporation , 120 south crosstown circle , eden prairie , minn . various other conductive adhesive compositions could be used . suitable compositions are described , for example , in the following u . s . patents : marks et al ., u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 357 , 930 ; kater 3 , 993 , 049 ; berg 4 , 066 , 078 ; and cross et al ., 4 , 141 , 366 . those familiar with the art will appreciate that the formulation of the composition will depend on the desired use of the electrode , i . e . whether for monitoring or stimulation . in the preferred embodiment , the conductive adhesive comprises a synthetic polymer which is preferably a hydrophilic polymer blended with an aqueous electrolyte . a water based emulsion including an acrylic resin and a suitable plasticizer is the polymer of choice . the electrolyte of choice is sodium chloride . the blended polymer and aqueous electrolyte are applied to the substrate as a thin film which is then dried by heating , the dried film preferably having a thickhess in the range of 1 mil ( 0 . 00254 cm ) to 4 mils ( 0 . 01016 cm ). in the practice of the present invention , the conductive adhesive , whether based on natural or synthetic resins , gums and the like , is tailored by known techniques to have a good ionic conductivity and adequate tackiness when equilibrated with an atmosphere whose relative humidity is in the range of approximately 30 percent relative humidity to approximately 60 percent relative humidity . this humidity range is found to be suitable for processing purposes . however , those skilled in the art will appreciate that both the ionic conductivity and tackiness can be satisfactory at substantially different humidity levels . the 30 to 60 percent range is preferred because in this range there is less of a tendency of the conductive adhesive film 26 to transfer to the skin of a patient . thus , within the indicated humidity range the conductive adhesive film 26 will tend to stay with the electrode and separate cleanly from the skin of the patient when the electrode is removed . as will be described hereafter , the substrate 10 containing the electrodes 12 will be wound for storage in a conditioner and since such storage may occur over long periods of time , it is preferable to employ a release means such as a release paper 27 interleaved with the wound substrate . alternatively a coating , not shown , of a release agent such as silicone or the like may be applied to that surface of the substrate 10 which is opposite the surface supporting the conductive adhesive films 26 . those skilled in the art will recognize that each of the electrodes 12 , prepared as described , contains the basic ingredients for a medical electrode such as may be employed in electrocardiograph monitoring . thus , each electrode 12 comprises , as best shown in fig2 and 3 , a substrate 10 , an electrical conductor ( the stripe 24 ) which is exposed at the toe section 16 for connection to peripheral instrumentation such as an electrocardiograph monitor , and an electrolyte ( dispersed throughout the conductive adhesive film 26 , such adhesive having been applied to the heel section 14 of the electrode 12 ). in the humidified condition above described , i . e . 30 percent to 60 percent relative humidity , the conductive adhesive has an adequate tackiness for attachment of the conductive adhesive film 26 to the skin of a subject and also has an adequate signal transmission capability for transmitting electrical signals between the skin and the conductive stripe 24 to operate as a medical electrode . what is required , however , is a means to sustain such electrode qualities during storage and shipment or , in the alternative , to restore such qualities at the time the electrode is to be used . fig4 and 5 illustrate a conditioner generally designated 30 including means to activate or sustain the activation of electrodes to be dispensed or removed in accordance with the present invention . the conditioner 30 comprises a molded plastic housing generally designated 32 having , as viewed in fig4 and 5 , a far side wall 34 and a near side wall 36 . spanning between the side walls 34 and 36 are housing body portions comprising a top housing portion 38 and a bottom housing portion 40 which integrally join with an arcuate rear wall 42 . as shown in fig5 the far side wall 34 , the top housing portion 38 , the bottom housing portion 40 and the rear wall 42 are all integrally formed in one piece , preferably of molded plastic that for convenience is referred to herein as a housing body member 44 . the near side wall 36 prior to assembly of the conditioner is formed as a separate plate which , as a final step in the assembly of the conditioner 30 , is permanently affixed to the housing body member 44 as will be described below . the housing body member 44 is shaped to provide a generally cylindrical chamber 46 sized to receive a roll 48 of electrodes 12 connected as shown in fig1 and wound on a hollow roller 50 , mounted on an axle 51 which may be molded with and affixed to the far side wall 34 of the housing body member 44 . a strip passageway 52 extends longitudinally of the housing body member 44 from the roll chamber 46 to an exit opening 54 at the front end of the dispenser located generally between the forwardmost end of the top housing portion 38 and the confronting surface of the bottom housing portion 40 . the bottom housing portion 40 further includes a forwardly extending ledge 56 terminating at its forwardmost end with a separation edge 58 aligned generally with the exit opening 54 and provided with one or more teeth 59 for interfitting the perforations 22 between electrodes 12 . preferably the serially connected electrodes 12 are so wound to form the roll 48 that their toe sections 16 are all on the clockwise side of their heel sections 14 and the substrate 10 winds in the clockwise sense from its innermost convolution to its outermost convolution . accordingly , one may engage the toe portion of an electrode lying on the ledge 56 and pull the electrode out of the conditioner 30 until the perforation 22 is engaged by the tooth 59 of the separation edge 58 without touching the conductive adhesive 26 . as is apparent , the electrode 12 which has been fully pulled out of the conditioner 30 may be readily severed by pulling downwardly on the toe portion 16 to cause the webs 20 connected to the next adjacent electrode 12 to be severed . in those cases where a release paper 27 such as is shown in fig4 and 5 lies adjacent the electrodes 12 , this release paper is also perforated in alignment with the perforations 22 so as to be torn away over the separation edge 58 along with the adjacent electrode or electrodes 12 . the release paper is then readily separated by the nurse or attendant from the severed electrodes . the toe portion 16 of the adjacent and unsevered electrode 12 will then lie on the ledge 56 in a position convenient for its removal at a later time . a pair of nip rollers comprising an upper roller 60 and a lower roller 62 are rotatably mounted on axles 64 and 66 respectively that may also be molded integrally with the far side wall 34 as part of the housing body member 44 . the nip rollers 60 and 62 preferably are made from rubber or other resilient material and are so located with respect to one another that electrodes 12 and any adjacent release paper are squeezed therebetween as they are pulled from the conditioner 30 . the surfaces of the nip rollers 60 and 62 accordingly meet on a line extending transversely through the center of the strip passageway 52 . the nip rollers 60 and 62 are received within confronting sockets 68 and 70 in the housing top portion 38 and the housing body bottom portion 40 respectively of a size and shape to permit the nip rollers 60 and 62 to rotate but to lightly engage them and therefore substantially preclude an interchange between the atmosphere inside the conditioner 30 and the atmosphere outside the conditioner 30 . disposed within the conditioner 30 is a compartment 72 having atmospheric communication to the chamber 46 through one or more vent passageways 74 . the compartment 72 is partly filled by a constant humidity solution 76 formed from distilled water to which has been charged a suitable salt . the constant humidity solution 76 is selected using techniques well - known to those concerned with humidified atmospheres to maintain the air within the conditioner 30 at a substantially constant relative humidity at room temperatures in the range of 30 to 60 percent relative humidity , this being the relative humidity range discussed above for causing the conductive adhesive film 26 to be adequately tacky for adhesive attachment to the skin of the subject and also to serve as an acceptable electrolyte . during assembly of the conditioner 30 after the vent passageway or passageways 74 have been formed such as with the assistance of suitable drills or cutters , the nip rollers 60 and 62 may be mounted on the axles 64 and 66 and the electrode roll 48 , the electrodes 12 of which , together with any adjacent release paper , are already equilibrated with a 30 to 60 percent relative humidity atmosphere , mounted on the hollow roller 50 surrounding the axle 51 and threaded through the strip passageway 52 so that the toe section 16 of the free end of the strip of electrodes overlies the ledge 56 . the constant humidity solution can then be poured into the compartment 72 , with the housing body 44 resting on a horizontal table . the plate forming the side wall 36 is then fitted over the housing body member 44 . for this purpose , it may have a stub axle 78 adapted to fit within the roller 50 and a pin 80 adapted to fit within an aperture 82 formed in the confronting face of the housing body member 44 . the aperture 82 may desirably be provided with a bead or the like which receives the pin 80 with a snug fit . the stub axle 78 may likewise be snap fittedly received within the hollow roller 50 . the side plate member is also preferably secured to the body member 44 by a hot melt or other adhesive to ensure that there is no interchange of air between the inside and the outside of the conditioner 30 and also to securely trap the constant humidity solution 76 within the compartment 72 . in the use of the conditioner 30 , electrodes are drawn out of the exit opening 54 one at a time or in groups of two or more electrodes , as needed . since , as described , the electrodes have been preconditioned before insertion into the conditioner 30 and can remain so conditioned for long periods while remaining in the conditioner 30 , all electrodes removed from the conditioner 30 are ready for immediate application to the skin of a subject to be monitored or stimulated . the dispenser ledge 56 with its tooth 59 is so spaced with respect to the nip rollers 60 and 62 that when the toe of one electrode 12 and any adjacent release paper rests on the ledge 56 to engage the tooth 59 , the portion of its heel section coated by the adhesive film 26 and any adjacent release paper remains on the opposite side of the nip rollers 60 and 62 . this means , for example , that on a given day one or more electrodes 12 can be removed from the conditioner and then on a following day , for example , the next electrode to be used , whose toe section is already projecting out of the exit opening , can be removed for use without its adhesive film 26 having lost its humidity conditioned state . this necessarily requires that the toe section and the uncoated portion of the heel section of each electrode and corresponding release paper be longer in longitudinal extension than the separation between the seal formed by the nip rollers 60 and 62 and the separation edge 58 . as a convenience for gripping the conditioner 30 , a through bore 84 extends through the lower housing portion 40 . the bottom surface of the conditioner is preferably flat so that the conditioner will remain upright when placed on a horizontal surface . although the indicated size and shape of the conditioner 30 is unimportant to this invention , it is presently preferred that it be sized so as to be conveniently held in one hand to permit the tearing away of an electrode 12 and any adjacent release paper by the other hand . the modified conditioner 86 of fig6 is similar in external appearance to the preferred embodiment of fig4 and 5 , comprising a body member 88 similar to the housing body member 44 of fig4 and 5 , and a sidewall plate ( not shown ) that may be similar to the previously described side wall 36 with adjustments having been made so that the side wall employed in the embodiment of fig6 will have a pin such as the pin 80 appearing in fig5 and will also have a stub axle such as the axle 78 appearing in fig5 for engaging in the aperture 90 and in the roller 91 appearing in fig6 so as to confine the various rollers exposed in fig6 said side plate being secured to the body member 88 by a hot melt adhesive or the like not shown . what is different in the modification is that the compartment 72 which contained the constant humidity solution described in connection with the preferred embodiment has been eliminated and instead , near the exit end of the conditioner , there has been provided a solution chamber 92 which receives an activating solution 94 . a cylindrical wiper roller 96 biased downwardly into the solution chamber 92 by a pressure roller 97 is frictionally rotated by the electrode segments which pass successively between the pressure roller 97 and the wiper roller 96 , the wiper roller 96 being wetted by the fluid 94 as the wiper roller 96 rotates . the fluid wetting the roller 96 is carried upwardly as the roller rotates in the clockwise direction as viewed in fig6 and partially transferred to that face of the electrode segment which is frictionally engaging and rotating the wiper roller 96 . it being desired that the faces of the electrode segments 12 to which the fluid 94 is transferred be the faces coated by the conductive adhesive film 26 , the substrate 10 when wound for insertion into the conditioner of fig4 is wound in a clockwise sense with the surface of the substrate 10 which bears the stripe 24 being curved concavely by the winding operation . to increase the volume of fluid that may be transferred upwardly to the electrode segments 12 , a second wetting roller 98 may be rotatably mounted in the chamber 92 below the first wiper roller 96 . this second roller 98 is effective to continue the upward transfer of fluid to the electrode segments 12 even after the level of the fluid 94 in the chamber 92 is too low for direct wetting of the wiper roller 96 . while the drawings illustrate transfer rollers for conveying liquid from the chamber 92 to the confronting faces of the electrode segments 12 , it will be appreciated that other devices such as capillary wicks and brushes are also suitable for this purpose . in simplest form , the activating solution may be water which saturates the conductive adhesive contained in the film 26 , so as to provide a surface which is tacky and which is also loaded with ions and thus is an effective electrolyte . referring to both of the conditioner mechanisms disclosed in fig4 and 6 , it can be appreciated that these conditioner mechanisms can be characterized as conditioners having included therein a preparation means which prepares the conductive adhesive films 26 for attachment to the skin of a patient . in the embodiment of fig4 and 5 , the preparation means comprises the solution compartment 72 together with its constant humidity solution 76 and with the nip rollers 60 and 62 which , in combination , assures that the already conditioned adhesive films 26 remain sufficiently tacky and conductive for immediate use . in the embodiment of fig6 the preparation means comprises the solution chamber 92 together with its associated means for conveying the activating solution from its chamber 92 to the films 26 which pass successively over the chamber 92 , this preparation means assuring that the conductive adhesive films 26 , although they may have experienced some dry out during storage and shipment , will be adequately moist when applied to the skin of a subject to possess both a sufficient tackiness and a sufficient conductivity for accomplishing the monitoring or stimulating function . in the embodiment of fig6 it is desirable that a release paper 93 be rolled with the substrate 10 and this release paper is separated from the substrate 10 by means of a drop channel 95 molded into the body member 88 of the modified conditioner 86 . the drop channel 95 is shaped at its mouth with a sharp edge which separates the release paper from the substrate 10 in advance of the wiper roller 96 so that the release paper will not block the wiping action of this roller . the release paper is , of course , tailored to separate readily from the substrate 10 and drops freely through the drop channel 95 . the presence of the drop channel means that some moisture may escape from electrodes stored in the conditioner . however , the presence of the wiper roller 96 and the activating solution applied thereby to the electrodes assures in any event that the electrodes will be adequately conditioned for application to the skin of a patient when removed from the modified conditioner 86 . while the present invention has been described with reference primarily to the accomplishment of patient stimulation and signal monitoring functions , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the most immediate function accomplished with the present invention is the dispensing of electrodes readily attachable to the skin of a subject . if the toe section of the electrode is then attached to signal monitoring equipment , the electrode functions as a monitoring electrode . if the toe section is attached to a source of voltage for stimulation purposes , then the electrode functions as a stimulation electrode . referring to the cable connector 100 appearing in fig7 and 8 , the cable connector comprises a plastic tray 102 having a longitudinally extending channel 104 formed in the upper face thereof . integrally formed at the upper surface of the tray 102 is a hinge 106 which is one - piece with a cover member 108 , the cover member 108 being rendered pivotal on the hinge 106 by the molding of a notch 110 lying under the hinge 106 as shown in fig8 . the cover 108 is molded with outwardly projecting latches 112 which are formed integrally on stiffening ribs 114 extending along the opposite sides of the cover member 108 . the tray 102 is formed with inwardly projecting latch retainers 116 which are sized and shaped to receive and then seize the latches 112 as the cover member 108 is pivoted downwardly to press the latches 112 into interfitting engagement with the latch retainers 116 . the cover member 108 is provided with an outwardly sloped lifting grip 118 to allow an operator to lift the cover member 108 against the seizing grip of the latch retainers 116 at times when it is desirable to lift the cover member 108 to the position shown in fig7 . when the cover member is lifted , as shown , there is exposed in the channel 104 a rectangular metal plate 120 from which extends an integrally connected conductor 122 . this conductor 122 extends rearwardly from the plate 120 through the rearward end of the tray 102 where the conductor is surrounded by an insulator 124 received in a protective sleeve 126 molded integrally to the tray 102 . fig7 and 8 show the conductor 122 and the insulator 124 as having been broken off or otherwise terminated near the rear end of the tray 102 . in actual practice , however , the conductor 122 and the surrounding insulator 124 may be indefinitely long , the purpose being to effect an electrical connection between the metal plate 120 and peripheral equipment such as a source of stimulating voltage or electrical monitoring apparatus . as evident in fig7 the channel 104 is sized to receive the toe section 16 of any one of the electrode segments 12 but is too small in dimension to accept any of the heel sections 14 . thus , an operator may insert any one of the toe sections 16 into the channel 104 without difficulty and , with closure of the cover member 108 , the exposed conductive stripe 24 extending along the toe section 16 will be pressed into intimate engagement with the metal plate 120 . as the cover member 108 is closed , a rib 128 formed integrally on the lifting grip 118 seizingly engages the root of the section immediately adjacent the heel section 14 . the heel section 14 thus remains outside the tray 102 where it can be conveniently attached by means of the conductive adhesive layer 26 to the skin of a patient with the seizing engagement of the rib 128 against the root of the toe section 16 being effective to support the weight of the tray 102 and any dangling conductor 122 as the adhesive film 26 adheres to the skin of a patient . when the conductive adhesive layer 26 has been appropriately conditioned either by the humidified environment of the conditioner 30 , or by the activating solution of the modified conditioner 86 , the electrode segments are immediately attachable to the skin . the conditioned electrode , when contacted to the metal plate 120 upon insertion into the cable connector 100 , is immediately operative for its intended purpose whether for electrode monitoring or patient stimulation . although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described , it will be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of the appended claims . | 0 |
the present invention as applied to a four wheel drive tractor will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings . referring to fig1 the tractor comprises a frame 1 including an engine 2 and a transmission case 3 . number 4 denotes a hood covering the engine 2 . number 5 denotes steerable front wheels , number 6 denotes rear wheels , number 7 denotes a steering wheel , and number 8 denotes a driver &# 39 ; s seat . a front wheel support 9 extends forwardly from the engine 2 as also shown in fig2 and 4 . referring to fig2 through 4 , number 10 denotes a front wheel differential case disposed below the front wheel support 9 , and is supported by the front wheel support 9 through a pair of front and rear mounting members 11 to be oscillatable about an axis extending longitudinally of the tractor . the front wheel differential case 10 contains a front wheel differential 12 . as best shown in fig4 the front wheel differential case 10 comprises a main differential case member 13 , a gearing case 14 and a bearing cover 15 arranged in the mentioned order from front to rear . the main differential case member 13 and bearing case 14 are rigidly and detachably interconnected by bolts 16 , and the bearing case 14 and bearing cover 15 are rigidly and detachably interconnected by bolts 17 . the main differential case member 13 opens rearwardly and substantially contains and rotatably supports a differential bevel gear 18 of the front wheel differential 12 . the bearing case 14 rotatably supports a differential drive shaft 19 through a bearing 20 . the differential drive shaft 19 has an axis 21 located above an axis 23 of front wheel axles 22 extending rightward and leftward from the front wheel differential 12 . the differential drive shaft 19 defines a differential bevel pinion 24 integral with a forward end thereof and in mesh with the differential bevel gear 18 . the bevel gear 18 and bevel pinion 24 are the hypoid gear type . the differential drive shaft 19 extends rearwardly through the bearing cover 15 for operative connection with a propeller shaft 25 by means of a coupling 26 . the propeller shaft 25 extends forwardly from a power takeoff device 27 attached to the bottom of transmission case 3 , and penetrates an oilpan 28 under the engine 2 . number 29 denotes a pair of right and left front axles cases which are formed integral with the main differential case member 13 and extends rightward and leftward therefrom , respectively , and in which the front axles 22 are rotatably mounted . each of the front axle cases 29 includes a coupling flange 30 formed integral with an outer end thereof . number 31 denotes a pair of right and left transmission cases . as shown in fig5 each transmission case 31 comprises a stationary case 32 and a movable case 33 . the stationary case 32 is secured by means of bolts 34 to the coupling flange 30 of the front axle case 29 . the movable case 33 is pivotable about a kingpin 35 relative to the stationary case 32 . the kingpin 35 is rotatably supported by the cases 32 , 33 through bearings 36 , with such an inclination that the upper end thereof is located more inwardly of the tractor than the lower end as seen in fig5 . the kingpin 35 is also inclined rearwardly as illustrated in fig7 . the kingpin 35 is operatively connected to the front axle 22 through a bevel gear transmission 37 and to a front wheel hub shaft 38 through a bevel gear transmission 39 . the front wheel hub shaft 38 is rotatably supported by the movable case 33 through bearings 40 , 40 &# 39 ;. a disc 41 of the front wheel 5 is secured to the hub shaft 38 by means of bolts 42 , and an annular rim 43 is secured to the disc 41 . number 44 denotes a tyre having a lug and fitted peripherally of the rim 43 . most of the transmission case 31 is disposed inside the rim 43 of the front wheel 5 . the front wheels 5 have zero camber angle and a kingpin angle α is 12 ° which is greater than the conventional angle of 7 . 5 °, to permit a lower portion of the transmission case 31 to fit inside each front wheel 5 . furthermore , the front wheels 5 have a 5 ° caster angle β which is greater than the conventional angle of 2 °. as also shown in fig8 the front wheels 5 have no toe - in . in fig2 through 4 , number 45 denotes a front wheel steering power cylinder extending transversely along a position behind and close to the front axle case 29 . the power cylinder 45 comprises a hollow tube 46 , a piston 47 and a pair of right and left piston rods 48 . the hollow tube 46 is formed integral with the bearing case 14 at a position below the differential drive shaft 19 , and extends rightward and leftward from the bearing case 14 . each of the piston rods 48 extends righward or leftward from the hollow tube 46 to be connected to a steering arm 51 through a connecting rod 49 and a ball joint 50 . the steering arm 51 is secured to the movable case 33 . the coupling flange 30 of the front axle case 29 and the coupling portion of the stationary case 32 attached to the coupling flange 30 having a polygonal , circular or other shape . as shown in fig6 the coupling flange 30 and the coupling portion are cut out at a lower rear position to define an inclined , rearwardly rising undersurface in order that the coupling flange 30 and the coupling portion do not interfere with an outer end of the connecting rod 49 or the ball joint 50 with the front wheels 5 are steered . according to the described embodiment , the steering wheel 7 is turned to actuate a hydraulic control valve to supply pressure oil to the power cylinder 45 . then the piston 47 and piston rods 48 move rightward or leftward and , through the connecting rod 49 , ball joint 50 and steering arm 51 , cause the movable case 33 to pivot about the kingpin 35 thereby steering each front wheel 5 . since in the above embodiment the front wheels 5 have no camber angle and no toe - in , there occurs no partial wear of the front wheel tyres 44 even if the tyres 44 are hard . unlike an ordinary passenger car , the tractor does not run at high speed . therefore , the problem of stability in high speed running such as shimmy hardly comes into question , and the front wheels 5 having no camber angle is not very detrimental to running performance . furthermore , since the kingpin angle α has such a degree as to permit the lower inner portions of the transmission cases 31 to fit inside the front wheels 5 , a space not smaller than in the prior art is provided below the transmission cases 31 although the camber angle is made zero . this permits the tractor to engage in an agricultural operation while straddling a large ridge , which would be impossible if the transmission cases 31 contacted the ridge . as shown in fig2 and 3 , the outer end of connecting rod 49 and the ball joint 50 swing about the kingpin 35 when the front wheels are steered . since the kingpin angle α and caster angle angle β are greater than in the prior art , the outer end of connecting rod 49 and the ball joint 50 swing downwardly to a position below the coupling flange 30 of the front axle case 29 as they move inwardly of the tractor . furthermore , as shown in fig9 since the kingpin angle α and caster angle β are greater than in the prior art as noted above , the front wheels 5 incline to a great degree outwardly when the front wheels 5 are steered right or left on the kingpins 35 , with lower portions of the front wheels 5 slipping to positions under the hood 4 or other parts of the frame 1 and upper portions of the front wheels 5 moving outwardly away from the frame 1 . therefore , the maximum steering angle of front wheels 5 need not be limited to a small value by an interference between the outer ends of connecting rods 49 or the ball joints 50 and the coupling flanges 30 of the front axle case 29 or by an interference between the upper portions and the tractor frame 1 . this permits the front wheels 5 to have a great maximum steering angle , and the tractor to have a small minimum turning radius . since , as noted above , the front wheels 5 incline to a great degree outwardly when the front wheels 5 are steered right or left on the kingpins 35 , the front wheels 5 may be steered by a greater angle than in the prior art by turning the steering wheel 7 in the same amount as in the prior art . this facilitates the steering operation for turning the tractor round . the caster angle β greater than in the prior art also contributes towards avoidance of shimmy . reverting to fig5 a planetary reduction mechanism 52 provided between the kingpin 35 and the front wheel hub shaft 38 will be described hereinafter . the bevel gear transmission mechanism 39 includes two bevel gears 53 , 54 . one of the bevel gears 53 is fixed to a lower portion of kingpin 35 , and supported at a boss portion thereof by the movable case 33 through the bearing 36 . the other bevel gear 54 is relatively rotatably mounted on the hub shaft 38 , and supported by the movable case 33 through a bearing 56 . the planetary reduction mechanism 52 comprises a sun gear 58 defined peripherally of a boss portion of the bevel gear 54 , a carrier 59 splined to the hub shaft 38 , planet gears 61 supported by the carrier 59 through support pins 60 , and a ring gear 62 fixedly mounted between a main portion 31a and a cover portion 31b of the transmission case 31 , more particularly of the movable case 33 . the boss portion 57 of bevel gear 54 mounted on the hub shaft 38 has a large inside diameter to accommodate a boss portion 63 of carrier 59 . the carrier 59 and the boss portion 57 of bevel gear 54 are supported by means of a bearing 64 . number 65 denotes a pressure adjusting bolt . the bolt is provided with an end portion which has the shape of a frustum such that the very end of the bolt has a diametrical cross - section which is smaller than an upper portion . the adjusting bolt 65 has an angularly reduced inner end adjacent bearing 40 so that by screwing in the bolt 65 the diametrical crosssection of the bolt in contact with the bearing 40 becomes greater such that the bearing 40 is pressed in the axial direction whereby pressure of the bearing 40 is adjusted . in the above construction , the bevel gear 54 mounted on the hub shaft 38 and the boss portion 63 of carrier 59 are in a mutually overlapping relationship , which permits the assembled mechanism to have a small axial length . since the boss portion 57 of bevel gear 54 has a large inside diameter to receive the boss portion 63 of carrier 59 , the boss portion 57 of bevel gear 54 has a large outside diameter also which permits the sun gear 58 to have a large diameter . thus , each gear of the planetary reduction mechanism 52 may have a correspondingly small width , which is capable of reducing the axial length , resulting in a very compact assembly . | 1 |
a configuration and operation of an apparatus for synchronizing frame and detecting a code group / number with a time offset / frequency trackability according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the following description , same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements even in different drawings . the matters defined in the description are nothing but the ones provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the invention . thus , it is apparent that the present invention can be carried out without those defined matters . also , well - known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail . first of all , fig4 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for synchronizing frame and detecting a code group / number in accordance with the present invention . as shown in fig4 , the apparatus includes : an on time despreader 100 for dispreading a receiving input by having a slot timing position designated after slot synchronization as a sampling point ; an early time despreader 200 and a late time despreader 300 for dispreading a sampling point that is earlier or later than the sampling point of the on time despreader ; a slew detector 114 for detecting a time offset using energy of a despread signal outputted from the despreaders ; a slew storage 115 connected to the slew detector for storing an outputted slew value at the result of the time offset detection based on the energy of the outputted despread signal from the despreaders ; a multiplexer ( mux ) 111 for selecting one out of outputted values from the on time , the late time and the early time despreaders according to the output of the slew detector ; an energy storage 112 for storing outputted values of the multiplexer ; a code group detector 113 for detecting frame synchronization and code groups using the outputted values from the storage and from the slew storage , respectively ; a code number detector 116 for detecting code numbers using the outputted values from the slew storage and from the frame synchronization and code group detector , respectively ; and a synchronous code generator 110 for authorizing local signals to each despreader by generating synchronous codes at a terminal for despreading ( demodulation ). every despreader , that is , the early time despreader , the on time despreader , and the late time despreader , includes a device 1 for getting receiving signals regarding the receiving signals on the early time , the on time , and the late time ; an integrate - dump circuit composed of a multiplier 2 and an integrator 3 for operating outputs of a synchronous code generator 110 that generates internally generated signals ( local signals ) and outputs of the device 1 ; a fast hadamard transformer ( fht ) 4 for performing a fast hadamard transformation on the integrate - dumped values ; and a squarer 5 for obtaining despreaded energy values . the initial cell search operation in the forward connection of the 3gpp ( global partner program ) asynchronous international mobile telecommunication ( imt )- 2000 system according to the present invention includes three steps , taking the properties of the synchronous channel into consideration . fig5 is , for example , a flow chart illustrating the initial cell search concerning the forward synchronization of the asynchronous code division multiple imt - 2000 system . as depicted in the flow chart , the first step involves slot synchronization using a primary synchronization code ( s 40 ), and the second involves synchronization of frames and detection of code groups using the slot synchronization ( s 41 ). lastly , the third step involves detection of code numbers using the frame synchronization and code groups obtained from the first and the second steps , and confirmation the code numbers ( s 42 ). unfortunately though , the initial cell search process including the three steps aforementioned often generates frequency offsets due to the difference between the receiving signal &# 39 ; s timing and the internally generated signal &# 39 ; s timing . in order to solve such problem , the present invention installed three despreaders more to prevent any failure in synchronization , thereby providing specific time offset information obtained from slew detection to the apparatus for synchronizing frame and detecting a code group / number . in other words , the synchronization of the slot is initiated at the time of system booting ( s 40 ). once the slot is synchronized , each spreader ( 100 , 200 , and 300 ) despreads the receiving input by having the designated position of the slot timing as the sampling point , and outputs the despread receiving input to the slew detector 114 , and the mux 11 . the energy storage 112 stores the energy of the spreader selected by outputs of the slew detector . and , the slew history storage informs which spreader generates the energy that has been outputted from the energy storage and provided to the frame synchronization and code group detector . in this way , the time offset value derived by summing up the slew values , i . e ., +, − and the like , is applied to the despreader &# 39 ; s timing , it having been used for the frame synchronization . then , the code detector detects code numbers therefrom . the frame synchronization and code group detector 113 for detecting frame synchronization and code groups gains the information about the frame synchronization , the code group , and the time offset by the slew detection , based on the outputted values from the storage 112 and from the slew history storage , and outputs the information to the code number detector 116 ( s 41 ). then , the internally generated timing against the receiving signal is advance , retarded or maintained in order to detect code numbers ( s 42 ). fig6 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of the forward frame synchronization and code group / number detection of the asynchronous code division multiple system . to begin with , the overall operation of the present invention is explained as follows . as mentioned before , the present invention is devised to overcome the problems typically observed in the traditional apparatus for synchronizing frame and detecting code group / number , the problems including the degradation due to the difference in the receiving signal &# 39 ; s timing and the internally generated signal &# 39 ; s timing , and the failure in synchronization itself . as shown in fig4 , the present invention , unlike the traditional apparatus , includes three despreaders . suppose that the position of the slot timing designated after the slot synchronization is b ( referring to fig3 ). the frame synchronization and code group detector starts at the very point b of the fig3 . then , as depicted in fig4 , the on time despreader 100 receives the samples from the sampling point in chips , and despreads the receiving input . on the other hand , the late time despreader 200 despreads the receiving input by using later samples than the on time despreader 100 by δt . similarly , the early time despreader 300 despreads the receiving input by using earlier samples than the on time despreader 100 by δt . at this point , the δt should be smaller than tc / 4 . given that δt is tc / 8 , the early time despreaded energy reaches the point a , while the late time despreaded energy reaches the point c ( see fig3 ). from the comparison of the points a , b , and c in fig3 , it becomes apparent that the point b , the present standard timing ( sampling point ), is slower than the receiving signal . accordingly , the energy at the point a , not the energy at the point b being obtained from the slot synchronization result , should be used for the frame synchronization and the code group detection to be in short , the equivalent timing difference regarding the symmetry and the standard timing in fig3 , that is , the relation between the early timing energy with δt and the late time energy satisfies one of the below : in case of ( 1 ), the present standard timing is slower than the receiving signal &# 39 ; s timing . on the other hand , the relation between the early timing energy with at and the late time energy falls in the case ( 2 ), the present standard timing is faster than the receiving signal &# 39 ; s timing . in this way , the present standard timing can be −( advanced ), +( retarded ) or maintained as much as the time offset , or the timing difference , to detect frame synchronization and a code group / number . the slew detector 114 shown in fig4 is a device using the characteristics of energy explained above . the slew detector 114 selects one of the three despreaders in the frame synchronization and code group detector . also , the slow detector 114 has the following functions : 1 ) if [( early time energy )−( late time energy )]& gt ;( on time energy )/ α , the slew detector 114 controls the multiplexer 111 to make the values stored in the energy storage 112 be the early time despreaded energy ; 2 ) if [( early time energy )−( late time energy )]& lt ;−( on time energy )/ α , the slew detector 114 controls the multiplexer 111 to make the values stored in the energy storage 112 be the late time despreaded energy ; and 3 ) for the cases other than the above , the slew detector 114 controls the multiplexer 111 to make the values stored in the energy storage 112 be the on time despreaded energy . here , the standard value is set to be ( on time energy )/ α in order to prevent the slew detector 114 from being degraded because of the noises mingled with the receiving signal . and , the ‘ α ’ is designated in such way that it can be complied with the changes in ( early time energy )−( late time energy ). once all essential energy is saved in the energy storage 112 , the frame synchronization and code group detector 113 decides the frame synchronization and code groups . the ‘ essential energy ’ or the number of energy to be saved varies depending on the schemes that are actually used for detecting frames and code groups . to be more specific , there is ‘ hard decision ’ method and ‘ soft decision ’ method . since the soft decision method is more preferable , the present invention will be explained based on this method . the fht shown in fig4 generates 16 correlated signals in total , which means that each despreader generates 16 despreaded energies . the multiplexer 111 selects energies ( 16 from each despreader ) outputted from the three despreaders , and stores individual energy in the slew detector based on the comparison result . therefore , the number of energy and the slew values saved in the energy storage 112 and the slew history storage 115 is 16 every time . for instance , if the detection procedure of frame synchronization and code groups is carried out for n slots , the total number of the stored energy and the slew history will be ( 16 * n ), respectively . suppose that the early despreader fht output energies are e 0 , e 1 , e 2 , . . . e 15 , on time despreader fht output energies are o 0 , o 1 , o 2 , . . . , o 15 , and the late time despreader fht output energies are l 0 , l 1 , l 2 , . . . , l 15 . the slew detector 114 first compares the energy of e 0 , o 0 , and l 0 . if it turns out that the early energy e 0 is the largest , the multiplxer 111 saves the e 0 in the energy storage 112 , and the slew history storage records advance (−) for this energy indexed with 0 . then , e 1 , o 1 , and l 1 are again compared and are processed by the same method . the method is applied until it reaches e 15 , o 15 , and l 15 . actually , the very same method is applying to a next slot as well . the frame synchronization and code group detector runs during a number of slots , and depending on the magnitude and direction of the relevant frequency offset to the time offset , it can shift the standard timing by tc / 8 . since the same traditional method for detecting frame synchronization and code groups is employed to the present invention , more details on such method will not be provided here . meanwhile , the timing change information should be sent out to the code number detector , corresponding to the third step ( 42 ) of the initial cell search . for a proper transfer of the timing change information , the slew history storage 115 is embodied . later , this information , together with other information on the frame synchronization and code groups following the final operation of the frame synchronization and code group detector , is saved in the code number detector , which consequently activates the operation of the code group detector . the slew history storage 115 receives every output of the slew detector 114 according to the fht energy , and records how much slewing exists from the standard starting point to the final result point . then , the slew history storage 115 sums up the slew values per energy used in accordance with the frame synchronization and code group detection method , and provides the timing value (+, −, or maintenance ) derived here to the code detector where the timing value is used for the code detection procedure . in short , individual slew value saved in the slew history storage is outputted to the energy storage , and in this way , it is known which despreader generated the energies used in the frame synchronization and code group detector . in addition , the sum of the slew values is used as the basic information to find out how to apply the time offset involving the timing of energies spent in the frame synchronization and code detector . the following are to explain the procedure shown in fig6 . first of all , the slot is synchronized using the primary scrambling code ( s 61 ). then , the on time despreader despreads ( or demodulates ) the receiving input by having the designated position of the slot timing as the on time sampling point ( s 62 ). similarly , the early ( late ) time despreader despreads the receiving input by having the designated position of the slot timing as the early ( late ) time sampling point , which is indeed earlier ( later ) than the on time sampling point ( s 63 & amp ; s 64 ). using the difference in energies of the outputted despreaded signals from each despreader , the slew detector 114 detectors the time offset according to the present standard timing and the receiving signal &# 39 ; s timing , which offset is later saved in the slew history storage 115 ( s 65 ). the slew detector compares the outputted energies from each despreader , and controls the multiplexer to select one out of the despreaded energies , and the selected despreaded energy is saved in the energy storage 112 ( s 66 ). meanwhile , the frame synchronization and code group detection is accomplished by using the outputted energies from the energy storage and the output from the history storage , the output informing which despreader generated the energies . afterwards , the slew history values corresponding to the energies used for the frame synchronization and code group detection are summed up , and the time offset , e . g ., +, −, derived is applied to detect appropriate code numbers . while the invention has been described in conjunction with various embodiments , they are illustrative only . accordingly , many alternative , modifications and variations will be apparent to persons skilled in the art in light of the foregoing detailed description . the foregoing description is intended to embrace all such alternatives and variations falling with the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
with reference to fig1 data is exchanged between a computer 10 and a programmable controller 12 through interfacing apparatus 14 . as a practical matter , interfacing apparatus 14 may be in a form of a printed circuit board which is installed in , and draws its power from , the computer 10 . the computer 10 may be any one of a number of commercially available computers such as those currently identified as &# 34 ; personal computers &# 34 ;. similarly , the programmable controller 12 may be any one of a number of well known readily available programmable controllers . in a typical situation , the computer 10 is an adjunct to the programmable controller 12 to provide programming , monitoring , and possibly some control decisions therefor . it is not necessary to describe the inner workings of the computer 10 or the programmable controller 12 to develop an understanding of the invention ; it will be sufficient to simply point out that the programmable controller 12 is operative through an input / output system ( not shown ) to control some apparatus or process ( also not shown ) depending on the status of the apparatus or process as reported by monitoring devices associated therewith . communications between the computer 10 and the programmable controller 12 is through the interfacing apparatus 14 , which includes data exchange section 16 . the data exchange section 16 is essentially a memory device to which the programmable controller 12 has access for depositing and extracting data at the same time that the computer 10 has access for the same purposes . the data exchange section 16 includes computer address and data ports 17 and 18 , respectively , and programmable controller address and data ports 19 and 20 , respectively . address information from the computer 10 is provided at the address port 17 and data is exchanged with the computer 10 through the data port 18 . simultaneously , on the programmable controller side , address information is provided at the address port 19 and data is taken in and out through the data port 20 . included in the interfacing apparatus 14 is a microcomputer 22 through which data to and from the programmable controller 12 must pass . microcomputer 22 generally controls operation of the data exchange section 16 via control signals which appear on the control signal bus 24 interconnecting the microcomputer 22 and the data exchange section 16 . operation of the microcomputer 22 is in accordance with a program of instructions stored in the program memory 26 . the microcomputer 22 includes an address and program instruction port 28 and a data port 30 . first and second buffers , 31 and 32 , are connected to the address and data ports 28 and 30 , respectively . the first buffer 31 thus provides a buffer for instructions and address information on address bus 34 to which the program memory 26 is connected . data exchanged between the programmable controller 12 and the data exchange section 16 passes into and out of the microcomputer 22 , for which the second buffer 32 is provided . the microcomputer 22 may , for example , be a model 8051 device available commercially from intel corporation ; buffers 31 and 32 may be models ls244 and ls245 , respectively , available from texas instruments , inc . ; and program memory 26 may be a prom such as a model 2764 available from intel corporation . in operation , the computer 10 addresses the data exchange section 16 through the address port 17 while corresponding data is taken in and out through data port 18 . simultaneously , the microcomputer 22 addresses the data exchange section 16 via the first buffer 31 , address bus 34 , and address port 19 while the corresponding programmable controller data is taken in and out through data port 20 . since all programmable controller data , both to and from the programmable controller 12 , is passed through the microcomputer 22 , the invention may be viewed in one aspect as relating simply to an exchange of data between the computer 10 and the microcomputer 22 . thus there is an exchange of data between two data processing units ( dpus ); the first dpu being the microcomputer 22 and the second dpu being the computer 10 . it will , of course , be understood that the exchange of data on the microcomputer side is ultimately with programmable controller 12 . referring now to fig2 the operative components of the data exchange section 16 are shown in greater detail . a pair of random access memory units ( rams ), 40 and 41 , designated first and second rams , respectively , are at the heart of this section . each ram , 40 and 41 , includes an address port , 42 and 43 , respectively , and a data port 44 and 45 , respectively . a first set of gating means , comprising individual gates 48 - 51 , controls access by the microcomputer 22 to the data and address ports of the first ram 40 and controls access by the computer 10 to the data and address ports of the second ram 41 . a second set of gating means , comprising individual gates 53 - 56 , controls access by the microcomputer 22 to the data and address ports of the second ram 41 and controls access by computer 10 to the data and address ports of the first ram 40 . thus , each dpu has access to either ram 40 or ram 41 , depending on the status of the gating means . in normal operation , only one set of gating means is on at a time ; either the first set , 48 - 51 , is off and the second set , 53 - 56 , is on or the first set is off and the second set is on . with the first set of gates on , for example , the microcomputer 22 has random access to the first ram 40 through gates 48 and 49 and the computer 22 has access to the second ram 41 through gates 50 and 51 . under these circumstances , the second set of gates is off , access by the microcomputer 22 to the second ram is denied , and access by the computer 10 to the first ram is denied . thus , one dpu has access to any one ram at a time , although both have simultaneous access to one ram or the other at all times . address gates 48 , 50 , 53 , and 55 are unidirectional since they have only to pass addresses to the rams 40 and 41 ; data gates 49 , 50 , 54 and 56 are bidirectional to pass data both to and from the rams 40 and 41 . each gate of the first sets of gating means 48 - 51 is controlled by one control signal and each gate of the second set 53 - 56 is controlled by another control signal . although these control signals are normally complimentary , so that one set of gates is on while the other is off , they may be provided so that both sets of gates are off at the same time . the gate control signals are derived from a gate control circuit 60 and appear on lines designated a and b . the a line is connected to each gate 48 - 51 of the first set and the b line is connected to each gate 53 - 56 of the second set . at times herein the gate control signals appearing on these lines may be referred to as the a and b control signals , respectively . the gate control circuit 60 is a straightforward logic circuit whose function is to produce the a and b signals for controlling the on - off state of the gates and for producing first and second read / write signals which are supplied , respectively , to the first and second dual ported rams 40 and 41 . the read / write signals , as is conventional , simply determine at any instant whether data is to be read to or from a particular ram . each dpu is operative to determine whether it is , at any instant , in a read mode or a write mode . thus , each dpu originates its own read / write signals and the gate control circuit 60 simply switches these signals between the first and second rams 40 and 41 , respectively , depending on which dpu has access to which ram . the gate control circuit 60 thus receives control signals from each dpu . in the illustrated embodiment however , the first dpu ( i . e ., microcomputer 22 of fig1 ) is the control computer and it provides enable a , enable b , and a reset signal in addition to the read / write signal . the second dpu simply provides a read / write signal . the gate control circuit 60 also receives an address decode signal from first address decode circuit 65 and an address decode signal from second address decode circuit 66 . these circuits , address decode circuits 65 and 66 , receive address information from , respectively , the first and second dpus and provide decoded signals in response to addresses assigned to rams 40 and 41 . the decoded signals , as mentioned , are provided to the gate control circuit 60 which is responsive to inhibit both the a and b signals unless the rams 40 and 41 are actually being addressed . the address decode circuits 65 and 66 are , of course , conventional devices well known to those of ordinary skill in the art . thus , in operation the gate control circuit 60 receives a read / write signal from the second dpu ( computer 10 of fig1 ); a reset signal , a read / write signal , and enable a and enable b signals from the first dpu ; and an address decode signal from each of the address decode circuits 65 and 66 . in turn , the gate control circuits 60 produces the a and b gate control signals and the read / write signals for rams 40 and 41 . the a and b gate signals thus turn on the appropriate set of gates at the direction of the first dpu while the read / write signals are routed to the appropriate ram . the reset signal is used to inhibit both the a and b signals in order to turn both sets of gates off when the rams are switched between data processing units . the rams are switched from one dpu to the other when each dpu has completed its need for access to the ram currently being accessed . this operative state or condition is determined by the handshake logic circuit 68 . the handshake logic circuit 68 receives data and addressing information from both the first and second dpu ( i . e ., computer 10 and from microcomputer 22 ). when the access needs of a dpu are satisfied , it provides a bit of digital information to the handshake logic 68 to indicate that switching of the rams can be carried out . the handshake logic circuit 68 comprises a set of buffers and latches configured in a conventional manner readily producible by those skilled in the art . the first dpu also interrogates the handshake logic 68 and is programmed to recognize the command condition indicating that the rams 40 and 41 can be switched . thus , the rams are switched at the appropriate time , depending on the operative state of each dpu . accordingly , upon such recognition , the first dpu provides a reset signal and issues the appropriate enable signal to gate control circuit 60 which then effects the switch by the a and b signals . the reset signal is used to momentarily inactivate all gates during the switchover . thus , from the foregoing , it will be recognized that both the first and second dpu have simultaneous random access to memory locations and neither is delayed in its access requirements . it will be recognized that , while there has been shown and described what is considered a preferred embodiment of the invention , various other modifications may be made therein . it is intended to claim all such modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention . | 6 |
one preferred embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . as shown in fig1 a slim 1 comprises an exterior sheet 2 , an elastic member 3 , a second spacer 4 , a dome sheet 6 having a movable contact 5 , a first spacer 7 , and a circuitry 9 having fixed contacts 8 which are laminated and fixed on a base plate 10 in this order from outside . the respective components are bonded to each other with adhesive layers 11 . the exterior sheet 2 is a thin - walled sheet member having flexibility and made of synthetic resin including polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), or polyethylene naphthalate ( pen ), for example . in this embodiment , the exterior sheet 2 is formed in such a manner that desired exterior - appearance design may be provided on an entire surface thereof . the elastic member 3 is fixed to a predetermined position on a back face of the exterior sheet 2 by adequate fixation means ( adhesive agent , for example ). an area within a periphery of the predetermined position on the exterior sheet 2 is deemed as a switch operation part 12 , which is adapted to be flexed downward ( in a direction of an arrow mark ). the elastic member 3 is formed of rubber , elastomer , for example , and can be elastically deformed in a direction of compression . the elastic member 3 has such a length as bridging between the back face of the exterior sheet 2 and a front face of a dome part 14 of the dome sheet 6 which will be described below , and is formed in a shape of pillar . an upper end of the elastic member 3 is fixed to the back face of the exterior sheet 2 , as described above . a lower end of the elastic member 3 is in contact with the surface of the dome part 14 , or fixed thereto by employing adequate fixation means ( adhesive agent , for example ) in the same manner as the upper end . the elastic member 3 has such flexibility that it may be elastically deformed earlier than the below described dome part 14 , in response to a pressure load received by the surface of the exterior sheet 2 ( pressure load received by the switch operation part 12 ). the elastic member 3 may be formed of sponge or spring , other than the above described material ). the second spacer 4 is a sheet member made of synthetic resin including polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), or polyethylene naphthalate ( pen ) for example , and provided for the purpose of preventing deformation of the exterior sheet 2 and securing a stroke length of the exterior sheet 2 . the adhesive layers 11 are respectively provided on a front face and a back face of the second spacer 4 so that the exterior sheet 2 and the dome sheet 6 can be respectively fixed to the above mentioned front and back faces . this second spacer 4 has a through hole 13 which is formed in alignment with the position of the switch operation part 12 of the exterior sheet 2 , and in correspondence with dimension of the dome part 14 . the dome sheet 6 is a sheet member made of synthetic resin including polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), or polyethylene naphthalate ( pen ) for example , and has at least one dome part 14 formed by applying heat press . this dome part 14 is formed in a dome shape which is projected toward a front face side of the exterior sheet 2 and can be projected downward toward a back face side thereof . the movable contact 5 is provided on the back face of the dome part 14 ( not necessarily limited to this position ). this movable contact 5 is made of carbon or the like and provided at the top of the back face of the dome part 14 by printing , for example . a lower end of the elastic member 3 is in contact with the top of the front face of the dome part 14 or may be fixed thereto . the first spacer 7 is a sheet member made of synthetic resin including polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), or polyethylene naphthalate ( pen ) for example , and provided for the purpose of preventing deformation of the dome sheet 6 , allowing air to escape while the dome part 14 is projected downward , and securing a stroke length of the dome part 14 . the adhesive layers 11 are respectively provided on a front face and a back face of the first spacer 7 so that the dome sheet 6 and the circuitry 9 can be respectively fixed to the front and back faces of the first spacer 7 . this first spacer 7 has a through hole 15 which is formed in alignment with the position of the dome part 14 , and an air escape port which is not shown . the through hole 15 is formed so as to have a larger diameter than a diameter of the dome part 14 . however , the diameter of the through hole 15 may be equal to the diameter of the dome part 14 . moreover , the size of the through hole 15 is equal to or smaller than the size of the through hole 13 . the dome part 14 which is projected downward is adapted to be inserted into the through hole 15 . the circuitry 9 is constructed by employing an fpc ( a flexible printed circuit ) in this embodiment . a known printed circuit board ( pcb ) may be also employed . moreover , the circuitry 9 comprises a main body 16 of the circuitry having a not - shown switch circuit arranged in a desired pattern , and a not - shown exterior connecting section to which an exterior apparatus is electrically connected . the main body 16 of the circuitry is provided with the fixed contacts 8 which are opposed to the movable contact 5 . the adhesive layer 11 is provided on the back face of the main body 16 of the circuitry . this adhesive layer 11 is provided for the purpose of fixing the slim switch 1 to the base plate 10 . the exterior connecting section comprises a wiring circuit drawn out from the main body 16 of the circuitry 9 , and edge connector terminals or connectors , for example , which are provided at a distal end of the wiring circuit . the base plate 10 is a hard plate member made of synthetic resin for example , and the circuitry 9 is fixed to the front face of the base plate 10 with the adhesive layer 11 interposed therebetween . one example of an assembling method of the slim switch 1 having the above described structure will be described . as a first step , the exterior sheet 2 , having the elastic member 3 provided in advance at the predetermined position on the back face thereof , is fixed by bonding to the front face of the second spacer 4 . then , the dome sheet 6 is fixed by bonding to the front face of the first spacer 7 , while the circuitry 9 is fixed by bonding to the back face of the first spacer 7 . these members are fixed by bonding to the back face of the second spacer 4 from the side of the dome sheet 6 thereby to assemble the slim switch 1 . then , the slim switch 1 which is assembled in this manner is fixed by bonding to the base plate 10 from the side of the circuitry 9 , and will be operated as follows . a drawing showing an operated state of the slim switch 1 is omitted . in a state prior to the switch operation in which no load is applied to the switch operation part 12 , the exterior sheet 2 , the elastic member 3 and the dome part 14 are maintained in their original shape due to shape retaining properties of themselves . when the switch is operated , and the switch operation part 12 of the exterior sheet 2 is pressed by an operator &# 39 ; s finger 17 in the direction of the arrow mark , the exterior sheet 2 is first flexed downward , and simultaneously , the elastic member 3 is elastically deformed in the direction of compression . then , the dome part 14 is flexed with the exterior sheet 2 and the elastic member 3 , while resisting against the load applied by the pressure of the finger 17 , and will be projected downward when the load reaches at a certain amount . the feeling of click will be created on this occasion . when the dome part 14 is flexed and projected downward , the load in the downward direction will be decreased , and the dome part 14 will smoothly proceed to be pressed . the further pressed dome part 14 is inserted into the through hole 15 of the first spacer 7 , so that the movable contact 5 provided in the dome part 14 is brought into contact with the fixed contacts 8 on the circuitry 9 . with this action , the conductive condition of the not - shown switch circuit on the circuitry 9 is established , so that the slim switch 1 is turned on . on the other hand , when the finger 17 is detached to remove the load in the downward direction , the dome part 14 , the elastic member 3 and the exterior sheet 2 are recovered to the original state . a repulsive force of the dome part 14 is absorbed by the elastic member 3 . along with this action , the conductive condition is released so that the slim switch 1 is turned off . in fig2 an axis of ordinates represents the pressure load and an axis of abscissas represents the stroke length . the curve having square dots represents the pressure - stroke curve of the slim switch 1 , while the curve having circular dots represents the pressure - stroke curve of the related - art dome switch 61 shown in fig4 and 5 . when the switch is operated , the slim switch 1 is deformed with a lower load than the dome switch 61 , during a period ( s 1 ) while the exterior sheet 2 is flexed downward , and the elastic member is elastically deformed sufficiently in the direction of compression . after an inflection point p 1 , the curve of the slim switch 1 runs substantially in parallel to the curve of the dome switch 61 , and arrives at a reverse point p 2 of the dome part 14 . on this occasion , a stroke s 2 of the slim switch 1 up to the reverse point p 2 of the dome part 14 is longer than a stroke s 3 of the dome switch 61 up to a reverse point p 3 of the dome part 67 . thereafter , the load decreases by the downward flection of the dome part , and the curves arrive at contact points p 4 , p 5 where the contacts come into contact with each other . as is described above referring to fig1 and 2 , in the slim switch 1 according to the invention , due to the particular arrangement of the dome part 14 , the elastic member 3 and the exterior sheet 2 , the stroke length corresponding to the flexure of the exterior sheet 2 and the elastic deformation of the elastic member 3 , and the stroke length corresponding to the downward flection of the dome part 14 can be secured as the stroke lengths at the switch operation longer than in the related - art switches . also due to the above described particular arrangement , the freeness of design can be enhanced . further , due to presence of the elastic member 3 and the exterior sheet 2 , the feeling of the switch operation can be improved . although the present invention has been shown and described with reference to one specific preferred embodiment , various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the teachings herein . such changes and modifications as are obvious are deemed to come within the spirit , scope and contemplation of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 7 |
referring to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views , and referring particularly to fig1 and 4 it is seen that the invention includes a slat generally 15 having an elongated hollow body member 19 having a leading end 25 and a trailing end 26 . a pair of longitudinal fins 21 and 22 are provided on opposite sides of body member 19 extending along the length thereof . body member 19 is designed to fill the open central area of a vertical or angled channel of a chain link fence , with fins 21 and 22 extending out from body member 19 to the centers of the knuckles 45 formed by the wires 42 of the fence . angular cuts 23 and 24 are provided in fins 21 and 22 , respectively , at the leading end 25 of body member 19 to facilitate insertion of member 19 into the channels of the chain link fence . body member 19 has a generally rectangular cross section as shown in fig4 and may be solid or hollow . in the hollow embodiment shown in fig4 or in a solid embodiment , body member 19 has a front surface 28 , a parallel rear surface 30 , and two shorter connecting parallel opposite sides 27 and 29 . fins 21 and 22 extend out from the sides 27 and 29 of body member 19 , originating at opposite positions thereon fins 21 and 22 may originate near the centers of sides 27 and 29 as shown in fig4 or from the comers as shown in fig8 . each of fins 21 and 22 extends out at an acute angle relative to its respective side ( 27 or 29 ) a sufficient distance to reach the plane of the opposite surface of body member 19 . each of fins 21 and 22 is also wide enough to fill the fence channel ( i . e . to reach the centers of the wire fence knuckles 45 ). in particular , in fig4 fin 21 extends at an acute angle relative to side 27 beginning at a position on side 27 and ending to a location on the plane 30 ′ of rear surface 30 . similarly , fin 22 extends at an acute angle relative to side 29 beginning at an opposite position on side 29 and ending to a location on the plane 28 ′ of front surface 28 . in fig8 fin 21 originates at the corner of surface 28 and side 27 of body member 19 and extends at an acute angle relative to side 27 beginning at the corner and ending when it reaches plane 30 ′ of rear surface 30 . similarly , 22 originates at the corner of surface 30 and side 29 of body member 19 and extends at an acute angle relative to side 29 beginning at said corner and ending when it reaches plane 28 ′ of front surface 28 . maximum privacy is provided by installation of identical adjacent fence slats 15 having fins 21 and 22 with the same configuration , the fins of each adjacent slat having the same position as the fins of all other slats . at least one notch 31 is provided on one of fins 21 or 22 , as shown in the preferred embodiments of fig1 . in this embodiment , a single notch 31 is cut into fin 22 near the trailing edge 26 of slat 15 in order to facilitate easy insertion of slat 15 into the chain link fence channel in the direction of arrow c . notch 31 has a length a and a depth b , and includes an angular cut 33 on its trailing edge 32 . cut 33 on the trailing edge 32 of notch 31 makes it easier ( although still somewhat difficult ) to pull slat 15 past a knuckle 45 in fence wires 42 while traveling in direction c ; it is much more difficult to pull slat 15 in the opposite direction as no cut is provided on the leading edge 34 of notch 31 . length a and depth b of notch 31 may be of any suitable dimension . in the preferred embodiment , the length dimension a should be approximately twice the depth dimension b . another preferred embodiment is illustrated in fig3 having three notches 31 on one fin . these notches could be on either fin 21 or 22 . cuts 33 on the uppermost two notches facilitate pulling them past at least two knuckles 45 as slat 15 is inserted into a fence channel 40 with leading edge 25 going first . an alternative embodiment is shown in fig5 having at least one notch 31 on each of opposite fins 21 and 22 . the positions of notches 31 in fig5 are staggered because of the staggered positions of knuckles 45 on opposite sides of a chain link fence channel 40 ( as illustrated in fig6 and 7 ). fence slats 15 of the present invention are installed by first locating a vertical or angled channel 40 in a chain link fence . then , leading edge 25 is inserted into the channel , aided by cuts 23 and 24 . the smooth edges of fins 21 and 22 slide past knuckles 45 of the fence channel 40 until the first notch 31 is encountered . notch 31 locks over the first knuckle 45 that it comes into contact with . notch 31 may be the only one provided in which case it should be very close to the trailing edge 26 of slat 15 so that once this first knuckle is encountered , the position of slat 15 is fixed . in such a case , no cut 33 is required , and it may be eliminated . however , where additional or multiple notches 31 are provided , slat 15 must be inserted further . cuts 33 on each of notches 31 facilitates such further movement , allowing slat 15 to be inserted more easily ( although with great difficulty ) than it can be removed . however , the more notches provided , the more difficult it is to continue insertion of slat 15 . it is therefore preferred that no more than three notches 31 be used . it is also very difficult to continue such insertion when notches are provided on both of opposite fins 21 and 22 . it is therefore preferred that all notches be located on one or the other of fins 21 or 22 , but not on both fins . in one embodiment , a set of fringes , fingers or strands 20 may be provided along the lengths of fins 21 and 22 in order to allow the fins to more closely conform to the shape of the fence channels , and to slide between knuckles 45 during insertion . it is to be appreciated that any number of notches 31 may be provided on one or both of fins 21 and 22 . when more than one notch 31 is used , the leading notches may have a lesser depth dimension b , and may have a larger or more acutely angled cut 33 in order to facilitate pulling such leading notches through the fence channel 40 . cut 33 may be eliminated from the lowermost of notches 31 to prevent movement in either direction once such notch locks over a fence knuckle 45 . it is to be understood that variations and modifications of the present invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof . it is also to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited by the specific embodiments disclosed herein , but only in accordance with the appended claims when read in light of the foregoing specification . | 4 |
the present invention is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art . as used in the specification and in the claims , “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” can mean one or more , depending upon the context in which it is used . the preferred embodiment is now described with reference to the figures , in which like numbers indicate like parts throughout the figures . as shown in fig1 - 12 , the present invention comprises a concrete form system 10 used for constructing buildings . a first embodiment of the present invention , shown best in fig1 - 2 a , comprises at least two opposed longitudinally - extending side panels 20 , at least one web member 40 partially disposed within each of the side panels 20 , and a connector 50 disposed between the side panels 20 for connecting the web members 40 to each other . as shown in fig2 a , concrete c is poured between the side panels 20 so that it bonds with the side panels 20 and the web members 40 . two designs of a second embodiment of the present invention , which is discussed in more detail below and shown in fig7 and 8 , involves using a single side panel 20 that bonds with the concrete c , instead of using opposed side panels 20 on both sides of the concrete c . the second embodiment also includes a design in which the wall has side panels 20 on both sides of the concrete to appear as the wall in fig2 a , but is formed differently from the first embodiment . a third embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig9 and 9a and is similar to the first embodiment , but uses one side panel 20 and a sheet 80 instead of two opposed side panels 20 . each side panel 20 has a top end 24 , a bottom end 26 , a first end 28 , a second end 30 , an exterior surface 32 , and an interior surface 34 . the presently preferred side panel 20 has a thickness ( separation between the interior surface 34 and exterior surface 32 ) of approximately two and a half ( 2½ ) inches , a height ( separation between the bottom end 26 and the top end 24 ) of sixteen ( 16 ) inches , and a length ( separation between the first end 28 and second end 30 ) of forty - eight ( 48 ) inches . the dimensions may be altered , if desired , for different building projects , such as increasing the thickness of the side panel 20 for more insulation . half sections of the side panels 20 can be used for footings . referring now to fig1 and 2 showing the first embodiment of the present invention , the interior surface 34 of one side panel 20 faces the interior surface 34 of another side panel 20 and the opposed interior surfaces 34 are laterally spaced apart from each other a desired separation distance so that a cavity 38 is formed therebetween . concrete — in its fluid state — is poured into the cavity 38 and allowed to substantially cure ( i . e ., harden ) therein to form the wall 10 , as shown in fig2 a . preferably , for the first embodiment , the opposed interior surfaces 34 are parallel to each other . the volume of concrete received within the cavity 38 is defined by the separation distance between the interior surfaces 34 , the height of the side panels 20 , and the length of the side panels 20 . the side panels 20 are preferably constructed of polystyrene , specifically expanded polystyrene (“ eps ”), which provides thermal insulation and sufficient strength to hold the poured concrete c until it substantially cures . the formed concrete wall 10 using polystyrene with the poured concrete c has a high insulating value so that no additional insulation is usually required . in addition , the formed walls have a high impedance to sound transmission . as best shown in fig3 and 5 , the interior surface 34 preferably includes a series of indentations 36 therein that increase the surface area between the side panels 20 and concrete c to enhance the bond therebetween . to improve further the bond between the side panels 20 and the concrete c poured in the cavity 38 , a portion of each of the web members 40 formed in or passing through the side panels 20 extends through the interior surface 34 of the side panels 20 into the cavity 38 . a portion of each web member 40 is preferably integrally formed within one side panel 20 and is also cured within the concrete c so that the web member 40 strengthens the connection between the side panel 20 and the concrete c . that is , since the web member 40 is preferably an integral part of the side panel 20 , it bonds the side panel 20 to the concrete c once the concrete is poured and substantially cures within the cavity 38 . however , other designs are contemplated , such as designs in which the web member is not integrally formed into the side panel and , for example , the web member is slid into slots precut into the side panel at the construction site . as shown in fig1 - 3 and 5 , each side panel 20 has at least one web member 40 formed into it . preferably , the each web member 40 formed within one side panel 20 is separated a predetermined longitudinal distance from other web members 40 , which is typically eight ( 8 ) inches . based on the preferred length of the side panel 20 of forty - eight ( 48 ) inches , six web members 40 are formed within each side panel 20 , as shown in fig3 and 5 . portions of each web member 40 that extend through the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 forms one or more attachment points 44 . the attachment points 44 are disposed within the cavity 38 and are preferably spaced apart from the interior surface 34 of the side panels 20 in the first embodiment . however , as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the attachment points 44 may take any of a number of alternate designs formed by or independently of the web members 40 , including as examples : slots , channels , grooves , projections or recesses formed in the side panels ; hooks or eyelets projecting from or formed into the side panels ; twist , compression or snap couplings ; or other coupling means for engaging cooperating ends of the connectors . preferably , as addressed in more detail below and as shown best in fig3 , and 6 , each attachment point 44 is substantially rectangular and flat in plan view to be complementarily and slidably received within one respective end 52 of the connector 50 . thus , in the first embodiment , the connectors 50 shown in fig4 and 4a engage two attachment points 44 on opposed web members 40 , which position the interior surfaces 34 of the side panels 20 at a desired separation distance and support the side panels 20 when the fluid concrete is poured into the cavity 38 . in the preferred embodiment , the connector 50 makes a two - point connection with opposed web members 40 because each connector has two ends 52 that each couple to one attachment point 44 , although it is contemplated making a four - point connection ( i . e ., each connector 50 engages four attachment points 44 instead of two as illustrated in the figures ). referring now to fig3 , and 10 , each web member 40 also preferably has an end plate 42 that is disposed adjacent the exterior surface 32 of the side panel 20 in the preferred embodiment . the end plates 42 are preferably substantially rectangular in plan view . except when used as a stand - alone web member 40 ′ for the third embodiment as discussed below , each end plate 42 of the web members 40 is preferably completely disposed within a portion of one respective side panel 20 , as shown best in fig2 and 5 . that is , the end plates 42 are located slightly below the exterior surface 32 of , or recessed within , the side panel 20 , preferably at a distance of one - quarter ( ¼ ) of an inch from the exterior surface 32 . this position allows for easily smoothing the surface of the side panels 20 without cutting the end plate 42 should the concrete , when poured , create a slight bulge in the exterior surface 32 of the side panels 20 . however , when embedded within the side panel 20 , it is desired that some visual indicia be included on the external surface 32 to enable the construction worker to locate quickly and accurately the end plate 42 . alternatively , the end plates 42 can abut the exterior surface 32 of panels 20 so that a portion of the end plate 42 is exposed over the exterior surface 32 . it is also preferred in the first and third embodiments that each end plate 42 is oriented substantially upright and disposed substantially parallel to the exterior surface 32 of the side panel 20 when forming a concrete form 10 . similar to the end plate 42 , the attachment points 44 are also preferably oriented substantially upright in the first and third embodiments so that one attachment point 44 is disposed above another attachment point 44 . as best shown in fig2 , and 9 , in one design each of the web members 40 has four spaced - apart attachment points 44 , in which the attachment points 44 for each web member 40 are vertically disposed within the cavity 38 in a substantially linear relationship . the attachment points 44 are placed in two groups — a top group of two attachment points 44 and a bottom group of two attachment points 44 . adjacent attachment points 44 in the two groups are spaced apart a first distance from each other , preferably approximately two and an eighth ( 2⅛ ) inches apart between center points . in addition , the closest attachment points 44 of the two groups , i . e ., the lowermost attachment point 44 of the top group and the uppermost attachment point 44 of the bottom group , are spaced apart a second distance from each other . the second distance , which is approximately six ( 6 ) inches in the preferred embodiment for a twelve ( 12 ) inch connector , is more than double and almost triple the first distance . in an alternative design , the web member 40 includes five attachment points 44 , which is illustrated best in fig6 . this design also has the two groups of two attachment points 44 as discussed above , but also includes a fifth attachment point 44 at approximately the center of the two groups . this design having five attachment points 44 is presently preferred over the web member 40 having four attachment points because it provides even greater flexibility for the architect and / or construction worker . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the number of attachment points 44 used for each web member 40 can be further varied in number and spacing based on relevant factors such as the dimensions of the side panels 20 and the wall strength or reinforcement desired . the designs of the multiple attachment points 44 of the present invention is an improvement over prior art systems , which lack multiple mounting points for attaching an interconnecting device . the side panels 20 and web members 40 in the present invention can be cut horizontally over a wide range of heights to satisfy architectural requirements , such as leaving an area for windows , forming odd wall heights , and the like , yet still have at least two or three attachment points 44 to maintain structural integrity of the wall . prior art systems , in contrast , lose structural integrity if cut horizontally , thus requiring extensive bracing to resist collapsing when concrete is poured into the cavity between the panels . one skilled in the art , however , will appreciate that the web member of the present invention is not limited to these exemplary designs and can include other shapes in which a portion is disposed adjacent both the interior and exterior surfaces in which the web member is disposed . referring again to fig1 and 2 showing the first embodiment of the present invention , the attachment points 44 of the web members 40 extend into the cavity 38 and the attachment points 44 of each web member 40 formed within one side panel 20 are spaced apart from the attachment points 44 of the web members 40 formed within the opposed side panel 20 . thus , the web members 40 preferably do not directly contact each other ; instead , each attachment point 44 independently engages the connector 50 that interconnects the web members 40 and , accordingly , the side panels 20 . referring now to fig4 and 4a , the illustrated connectors 50 have opposed ends 52 and a length extending therebetween . the ends 52 of the connectors 50 are each of a shape to engage one attachment point 44 of two respective web members 40 within opposed panels . as mentioned above and as best shown in fig5 , and 12 , the attachment points 44 are preferably substantially rectangular and flat and a stem 48 extends the attachment point 44 through the side panel 20 from the remaining portions of the web member 40 . as such , the stem 48 and the attachment point 44 are “ t ” shaped in cross - sectional view , in which the attachment point forms the top of the “ t .” in conjunction , as best shown in fig4 and 4a , each end 52 of the connector 50 has a track 54 into which the preferably rectangular attachment point 44 is complementarily and slidably received . the connector 50 , accordingly , is movable between a separated position and an attached position . in the separated position ( as illustrated , for example , in fig4 and 4a ), the end 52 of the connector 50 is spaced apart from the respective attachment point 44 to which it will be connected . in the attached position , the end 52 of the connector 50 is engaged to the attachment point 44 , which is shown , for example , in fig2 and 3 . in the preferred embodiment , the ends 52 of the connector 50 are detachably locked to the respective attachment points 44 when in the attached position . by being detachably locked , it will be appreciated that , while only contacting the connector 50 , an applying force needed to remove the connector 50 from the attachment point 44 is greater than a force needed to attach that connector to that attachment point 44 . stated differently , an applying force needed to move the connector 50 from the separated to the attached position is less than a removing force needed to move the connector 50 from the attached to the separated position . the differences in the applying and removing forces may be slight or significant and still be within the scope of the present invention . the present invention thus comprises a means for detachably locking the end 52 of the connector 50 into the attached position . the preferred embodiment of the locking means is illustrated in fig4 a and 6 . referring first to fig6 latching members 46 are disposed either above and below the attachment points 44 , although it is acceptable if only one latching member 46 is disposed either above or below the attachment point 44 . the latching members 46 are preferably integrally formed as part of the web member 40 , but can alternatively either be affixed to the web member 40 after it is formed or be connected to the side panel 20 . as shown in fig6 the tip 47 of the latching member 46 is spaced apart from the attachment point 44 and , preferably , flexibly movable but predisposed or biased to be in an extended position , again as shown in fig6 . since it is preferred that the tip 47 of the latching member 46 be flexible , the latching member 46 may be formed as a relatively thin component , which should not prevent the latching member 46 from performing its intended function . in conjunction , referring again to fig4 a , the connector 50 has a detent 58 disposed above its track 54 . specifically , the illustrated detent 58 is an indentation formed at the center of the closed end of the track 54 ( which is shown as the top end in fig4 a ). it is further preferred that the detent 58 include a raised back 59 that is located at the back end of the detent 58 . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , however , the detent 58 can be aligned differently such that , for example , the detent 58 is in the center of the closed end of the track 54 instead of at its top or the detent 58 is off - center instead of in the middle of the closed end . to move the connector 50 shown in fig4 a to the attached position onto the web member 40 shown in fig6 the bottom of the track 54 of the connector 50 is aligned with the top edge of a one attachment point 44 and slid vertically downwardly while the web member 40 is oriented in an upstanding position . although not preferred or discussed further , the connector could alternatively be aligned with the bottom edge of the selected attachment point and slid upwardly . as the closed portion of track 54 of the connector 50 slides closer to the attachment point 44 while moving downwardly , the closed portion contacts the flexible tip 47 of the latching member 46 . that contact moves the tip 47 of the latching member 46 inwardly toward the end plate 42 of the web member 40 until the detent 58 is aligned with the tip 47 of the latching member 46 , at which time the latching member 46 extends outwardly away from the end plate 42 to its normal extended position to be complementarily received within the detent 58 . thus , at that point ( which preferably is reached when the attachment point 44 is fully received within the track 54 of the connector 50 ), the connector 50 is detachably locked into place by the tip 47 of the latching member 46 being positioned within the detent 58 so that the connector 50 cannot be freely removed from the attachment point 44 . in conjunction , the raised back 59 behind the detent 58 prevents the tip 47 from over extending beyond the detent 58 . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the locking means shown in fig4 a and 6 allows the connector 50 to be easily slid down onto the attachment point 44 using very light downward force ( i . e ., with just two fingers ) to latch the connector 50 to the attachment point 44 . that is , the preferred embodiment of the connector 50 shown in fig4 a and 6 allows a construction worker to slide relatively “ loosely ” the end 52 of the connector 50 onto the attachment point 44 without significant frictional resistance . such a design is advantageous because even mild frictional resistance may be burdensome given the number of connectors 50 involved in some construction projects , which may literally involve thousands of connectors 50 each attaching to two web members 40 in opposed side panels 20 . the scope of the connections made may be appreciated by considering fig2 which shows the connections for one pair of opposed side panels 20 . as such , this less burdensome process may translate into a reduction in the amount of time necessary to attach the connectors 50 to the attachment points 44 . to remove the connector 50 from the attachment point 44 back to the separated position ( which is unusual to occur during a construction project ), the flexible tip 47 of the latching member 46 must be pressed inwardly away from the detent 58 and toward the end plate 42 and , concurrently , the connector 50 must be slid upwardly toward the latching member 46 a sufficient distance so that the tip 47 of the latching member 46 is no longer aligned or in registry with the detent 58 . after this initial movement , the connector 50 can be removed from the attachment point 44 , either while still holding the tip 47 of the latching member 46 in the compressed position or releasing the latching member 46 so that its tip 47 contacts the closed portion of the track 54 . thus , although there is low frictional resistance moving the connector 50 to the attached position , the detachably locked connector 50 cannot easily be removed — even with strong upward force — unless the flexible tip 47 of the latching member 46 is compressed , which often requires a two - handed operation to separate the connector 50 from the web member 40 . this latching design further allows a construction worker or foreman to verify that a connector 50 is properly attached to the web members 40 by tapping on the bottom of the connector 50 and having the connector 50 remain in place , whereas other designs might result in the connector 50 “ popping off ” the attachment points 44 in response to such an upward tapping force . further , the detachably locking design also more effectively resists the upward forces exerted by concrete to the connectors 50 as the fluid concrete is first placed , or pumped , into the cavity 38 of the concrete form . in so resisting the forces applied by the fluid concrete , the connectors 50 keep the side panels 20 in place and maintain the integrity of the structure when subjected to various forces or pressures . another embodiment of the locking means is shown referring to fig4 . as will be noted , the track 54 of the connector 50 forms a gap 56 into which a portion of the stem 48 is complementarily received when the connector 50 is moved to the attached position . the locking means in this embodiment comprises at least one barb 55 on the track 54 of the connector 50 that is oriented into the gap 56 and a corresponding indentation 49 on the stem 48 of the web member 40 ( as shown in fig6 ). as such , when the connector 50 is in the attached position , the barb 55 is complementarily received into the indentation 49 . fig4 shows two spaced - apart barbs 55 extending toward each other in the gap and there would be two corresponding indentations 49 formed into the stem 48 . these barbs 55 provide a frictional fit between the connector 50 and the attachment point 44 of the web member 40 to hold the connector 50 at the attached position . however , the frictional resistance also exists when moving the connectors 50 to the attached position , which makes this embodiment of the locking means less desired . one skilled in the art will appreciate that the locking means for the connectors 50 can also be used for the stanchions ( some embodiments of which are discussed below and shown in fig6 ). one skilled in the art will further appreciate that other locking means are possible , such as having the latching member 46 formed on the connector 50 and the detent 58 formed on the web member 40 . referring again to fig2 , and 4 a , the connectors 50 also preferably define an aperture 56 of a size to complementary receive a re - bar ( not shown ) therein . the re - bar provides reinforcing strength to the formed wall . the diameter of the re - bar can be one quarter ( ¼ ) inch or other dimension as required for the necessary reinforcement , which depends on the thickness of the concrete wall and the design engineering requirements . the connectors 50 preferably have two or more apertures 56 and re - bar can be positioned in any of the apertures 56 before the concrete is poured into the cavity 38 . the apertures 56 can be designed so that the re - bar is securably snapped into place for ease of assembly . to vary the width of the cavity 38 ( i . e ., the separation between the interior surfaces 34 of the opposed side panels 20 ), different connectors 50 can have varying lengths . the width of the cavity 38 can be two ( 2 ), four ( 4 ), six ( 6 ), eight ( 8 ) inches or greater separation . different connectors 50 are sized accordingly to obtain the desired width of the cavity 38 . also , as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the fire rating , sound insulation , and thermal insulation increase as the width of the cavity 38 , which is filled with concrete , increases . one skilled in the art will appreciate that the cavity 38 may only be partially filled with concrete , but such an embodiment is not preferred or desired . the web members 40 and connectors 50 are preferably constructed of plastic , more preferably high - density plastic such as high - density polyethylene or high - density polypropylene , although other suitable polymers may be used . other contemplated high - density plastics include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (“ abs ”) and glass - filled polyethylene or polypropylene , particularly for connectors and stanchions since they are more expensive materials . factors used in choosing the material include the desired strength of the web member 40 and connector 50 and the compatibility with the material used to form side panels 20 and with the concrete . another consideration is that the end plates 42 should be adapted to receive and frictionally hold a metal fastener , such as a nail or screw , therein , thus providing the “ strapping ” for a wall system that provides an attachment point for gypsum board ( not shown ), interior or exterior wall cladding ( not shown ), or other interior or exterior siding ( not shown ). thus , the web members 40 function to align the side panels 20 , hold the side panels 20 in place during a concrete pour , and provide strapping to connect siding and the like to the formed concrete wall 10 . referring again to fig1 one skilled in the art will appreciate that a plurality of side panels 20 can be longitudinally aligned to form a predetermined length and be vertically stacked to form a predetermined height . for example , as shown in fig1 the first end 28 of one side panel 20 abuts the second end 30 of another side panel 20 and the bottom end 26 of one side panel 20 is disposed on the top end 24 of another side panel 20 . thus , a series of side panels 20 can be aligned and stacked to form the concrete system 10 into which concrete c is poured to complete the construction of the wall 10 . one consideration , however , is that the side panels 20 are not vertically stacked too high and filled at once so that the pressure on the bottom side panel 20 is greater than the yield strength of the web members 40 or eps side panels 20 . instead , the stacked wall of panels 20 can be filled and cured in stages so that the static and dynamic pressures are not excessive on the lower side panels 20 . to facilitate the stacking of the components , the side panels 20 are optionally provided with a series of projections 35 and indentations 37 that complementarily receive offset projections 35 and indentations 37 from another side panel 20 ( i . e ., a tongue - and - groove - type system ). the projections 35 and indentations 37 in the adjacent side panels 20 mate with each other to form a tight seal that prevents leakage of concrete c during wall formation and prevents loss of energy through the formed wall . referring still to fig1 for the first embodiment of the present invention , the present invention also uses corner sections 39 . preferably , each corner section 39 forms a substantially right angle and concrete c is also poured into the corner section similar to the other sections of the concrete form system 10 . forty - five degree angle corner sections can also be used . thus , the formed concrete wall is contiguous for maximum strength , as opposed to being separately connected blocks . still another embodiment of the present invention , which is not shown , uses non - linear side panels so that the formed wall has curvature instead of being straight . the first embodiment of the present invention is an improvement over the prior art . although other systems may use connector elements , the prior art lacks a web member 40 having an end plate 42 , which provides a nailing / screwing strip adjacent the exterior surface 32 of the side panel 20 , and has an attachment point 44 or similar connection projecting into the cavity 38 adjacent the interior surface 34 . moreover , the present invention uses less plastic and is , therefore , less expensive to manufacture . furthermore , in prior art systems , the panels are made so that large , thick , plastic connector elements slide down in a “ t ” slot formed within the inside surface of the panel itself . these prior art designs are structurally weaker and the construction workers in the field have substantial difficulty avoiding breaking the panels while sliding the connector element into place . additionally , the prior art panels can break off from the cured concrete if any “ pulling ” occurs while mounting sheetrock or other materials onto the outer side of the panel . the preferred embodiment of the present invention having the web member 40 integrally formed into the side panel 20 provides a stronger “ interlocking ” system among the side panels 20 , the web member 40 , and the connectors 50 , which are imbedded within concrete in the cavity 38 . nonetheless , as mentioned above , it is contemplated within the scope of the present invention using web members 40 that are not integrally formed into the side panels 20 . now moving to the second embodiment of the present invention , as noted above , there are three methods of constructing the tilt - up walls 10 of the present invention : ( 1 ) pouring the concrete and then inserting the panel 20 into the poured concrete , which is also known as “ wet - setting ” and is shown in fig7 ; ( 2 ) pouring the concrete onto a substantially horizontally - disposed side panel 20 , which is shown in fig8 ; or ( 3 ) pouring the concrete onto a substantially horizontally - disposed side panel 20 and then inserting the panel 20 into the top surface of the poured concrete so that the concrete is “ sandwiched ” between two opposed side panels 20 and , when erected , appears the same as the wall 10 formed by the first embodiment shown in fig2 a . all of the walls 10 formed by these three methods or designs are known as tilt - up walls . as noted , the first two designs of the second embodiment use a side panel 20 on only one side of the formed concrete structure 10 , unlike the third design that uses opposed side panels covering both faces of the concrete c . thus , the walls 10 formed by the first two designs of this embodiment are insulated on one side , which may be either the interior or exterior of the wall . leaving the external surface as a concrete surface without a side panel is advantageous for insect control , such as preventing termite infestation since termites cannot burrow through concrete c , but may attack and bore through eps — the preferred material to form the side panels 20 . alternatively , leaving the interior surface as a concrete surface is advantageous for warehouses in which fork lifts , for example , could potentially damage any interior finishes by forcefully contacting them , whereas a concrete surface subjected to the same contact will remain substantially unimpaired . the side panels 20 may extend the full or a partial height of the tilt - up wall and , as discussed above , provide both sound impedance and thermal insulation . for the wet - setting method shown in fig7 it is preferred that a concrete floor slab ( not shown ), which will serve as a casting base for the tilt - up walls , is formed on a prepared , well - compacted subbase . it has been found that a five - inch ( 5 ″) or thicker slab is desired . also , instead of forming the entire floor during the initial pouring , the slab is typically held back several feet from its ultimate perimeter dimension ( i . e ., the interior boundaries of the building ) to allow space for raising and setting the tilt - up walls after being formed on the floor slab . as discussed below , the gap that exists is subsequently filled in after the tilt - up walls are later erected . after the floor slab cures , the perimeter foundations or forms ( not shown ) within which the concrete is poured for forming the tilt - up walls are next positioned and braced to form a substantially contained volume . the perimeter forms are often dimension lumber of sufficient width to allow the walls to be made the desired thickness . once the periphery forms are in place , door and window openings are blocked out and set . one skilled in the art will also appreciate that reinforcement , typically re - bar , is also positioned within the perimeter forms to be contained within the interior of the tilt - up wall after the concrete is poured . likewise , items to be embedded within the tilt - up wall , such as for attachments for the lifting cables ( discussed below ), are also positioned within the perimeter forms . concurrently , the side panels 20 are sized and interconnected to match ( or , if desired , be smaller than ) the length and width dimensions of the tilt - up sections to be cast . specifically , the side panels 20 are joined together using the projections 35 and indentations 37 ( i . e ., tongue - and - groove - type connectors ) so that a top end 24 of one panel 20 abuts a bottom end 26 of another panel 20 and / or a first end 28 of one panel 20 abuts a second end 30 of another . the side panels 20 are usually joined in a side - by - side configuration while they are horizontally oriented . the assembled side panels 20 forming an array of panels are preferably fastened together using strongbacks ( not shown ), which are often a metal “ c ”- shaped channel or similar device that provides stiffness to the array . screws are typically used to interconnect the end plates 42 of the web members 40 to the strongbacks , which run the entire height or length of the assembled array of panels 20 . either before or after fastening the array of panels together , the side panels 20 are cut not only for height and width dimensions , but also for any penetrations to be included within the tilt - up wall ( i . e ., windows and doorways ), embedded items , and welding plates . the assembled panels with strongbacks are then staged to be “ wet set ” after consolidation and screeding of the concrete . with the preliminary steps completed , a release agent is sprayed or poured onto the concrete floor slab or other surface used , if not completed earlier . the fluid concrete is then poured into the perimeter foundations ( or other substantially contained volume ) and leveled or screeded . the side panels 20 are then “ wet set ,” in which the interior surface 34 of the side panels 20 are oriented downwardly and pressed firmly into the wet concrete so that a portion of the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 contacts or is adjacent to the upper surface of the poured concrete . two men can easily lift each array of panels , which may measure , in an example construction , four feet by twenty feet . in such an example , each array may be formed of panels abutting end to end 28 , 30 and five arrays of side panels 20 may be coupled together top end 24 to bottom end 26 to form a surface that is twenty feet by twenty feet . if necessary , small “ fill - in ” pieces of the side panels 20 are easily installed by hand after the arrays of panels are positioned . compared to insulation mounted onto a tilt - up wall after the concrete slab c has cured , these contiguous , interlocked side panels 20 of the present invention provide superior insulation over systems that have breaks ( i . e ., at the location of a ferring member ) and are significantly less expensive to install . in the preferred embodiment , each side panel 20 in the array of panels measures sixteen inches by forty - eight inches ( 16 ″× 48 ″) and has thirty ( 30 ) attachment points 44 that penetrate into the concrete c forming the tilt - up wall . thus , there are 5 . 6 penetrations per square foot of wall surface area . if it is believed that the attachment points 44 will not provide a sufficient bond to the concrete c , then stanchions can be used , which are discussed below and some of which are shown in fig6 . when the side panels 20 are firmly pressed into the wet cement , the attachment points 44 penetrate into the wet concrete . a stinger vibrator ( not shown ) or the like may also be used on the strongbacks or side panels 20 to aid in the consolidation of the concrete around the attachment points 44 . after setting the side panels 20 , the strongbacks are removed so that the tilt - up system 10 is complete and ready for curing . once the poured concrete substantially cures and forms a concrete slab c , that slab maintains its relative position against the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 by the attachment points 44 . that is , by projecting beyond the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 , the web members 40 anchor the side panel 20 to the concrete slab c so that the concrete slab c and side panel 20 form the tilt - up concrete structure 10 of the present invention . after the concrete slab c is substantially cured , the formed concrete structure 10 is tilted up , as discussed below and shown generally in fig1 . referring again to fig7 generally illustrating the wet - setting construction method of the tilt - up walls , one skilled in the art will appreciate that this process has specific benefits . first , the side panels 20 that are disposed over the concrete — which may be performed within ten minutes of pouring — can act as a barrier to the ambient environment . the less temperate the ambient conditions , the more beneficial the wet - setting method using the side panels 20 positioned over the wet concrete . for example , in hot conditions , the side panels 20 retard evaporation so that a slower “ wet cure ” of the concrete occurs and the formed tilt - up wall is stronger based on the curing process . without using the side panels 20 of the present invention , either the moisture evaporates too quickly resulting in a structurally weaker concrete or , more typically , a sealing membrane or “ retardant ” is sprayed over the top of the fluid concrete after screeding and leveling — an expense that is not incurred using the wet - setting process of the present invention . alternatively , if the ambient environment is cold ( i . e ., close to or below freezing conditions ), the side panels 20 also facilitate curing by including an insulating layer . without using the wet - setting process of the present invention , the prior art techniques have involved using tents with propane blowers , blanketing the top surface of the concrete , or heating the area around the poured tilt - up wall using other means known in the art . the present invention is advantageous because it avoids or reduces the labor , fuel , and equipment costs associated with heating the concrete as it cures . another advantage of the wet - setting method is that irregularities in the upper surface of the concrete after pouring are acceptable . that is , the poured concrete should be leveled within plus or minus one quarter inch (± ¼ ) before placing the side panels 20 into the concrete . accordingly , the process of using a power trowel , which is labor intensive and can be expensive , is most likely avoided . therefore , the wet - setting method circumvents the need for curing compounds , power trowels or other surface finishing , and curing thermal blankets or other heating processes . for the second method of forming the tilt - up walls shown generally in fig8 the side panel 20 is horizontally - disposed so that the attachment points 44 extend upwardly ( i . e ., opposite to the orientation of the wet - setting embodiment ). the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 becomes the surface onto which concrete is poured . perimeter forms ( not shown ) are placed around the of the periphery , namely , the top end 24 , bottom end 26 , first end 28 , and second end 30 of one side panel 20 or an array of side panels 20 , to prevent the fluid concrete from leaking off of the interior surface 34 . furthermore , as discussed below if a connector 50 is used as a stanchion instead of other exemplary embodiments shown in fig6 re - bar can be positioned within the apertures 56 to strengthen the tilt - up wall prior to pouring the concrete . once the concrete is poured , leveled , and substantially cured , the forms are removed and the side panel 20 and substantially cured concrete slab c creates the tilt - up wall 10 . the second method of forming a tilt - up wall advantageously avoids use of a release agent . also , one skilled in the art will appreciate that the term “ a side panel ” as used for the second and third designs may encompass multiple panels , including an array of panels discussed above for the first design . the third method or design of forming the tilt - up wall repeats first steps used in the second design , namely , the side panel 20 is horizontally - disposed so that the attachment points 44 extend upwardly ; perimeter forms are placed around the of the periphery of the side panel 20 ; and the concrete is poured . however , before the concrete cures to any substantial degree , another , second side panel 20 is wet set into the poured concrete , as occurs in the first design . thus , the third method is a hybrid of the first two methods to create a wall 10 that , when substantially cured and tilted up , has the design shown in fig2 a . as will be appreciated , the interior surfaces 34 of the opposed side panels 20 and the web members 40 disposed therein are spaced apart in a non - contacting relationship with each other so that the first and second side panels are stationarily positioned relative to each other by only the concrete slab c disposed within the cavity 38 . that is , unlike the first embodiment shown in fig2 there are no connectors 50 or other components interconnecting the opposed side panels 20 . this third method of making a tilt - up wall 10 has many advantages . when considered to prior art tilt - up walls , it encompasses the same advantages of both the first and second methods of forming a tilt - up wall , such as avoiding the need for ( 1 ) curing thermal blankets or other heating processes , ( 2 ) curing compounds , ( 3 ) power trowels or other surface finishing , and ( 4 ) a release agent . this third design also has greater insulating value and sound impedance than either of the first two designs since there are side panels 20 on each side of the concrete slab c , instead on only on one side . the third embodiment also has potential advantages over the first embodiment of the present invention , which is shown in fig1 and 2 , particularly if the wall being formed is greater than one story high . most obviously , this dual - panel tilt - up wall form using the third design does not use connectors so there is a cost savings both by avoiding the purchase of these components and by not requiring the labor to install the connectors to interconnect the side panels . in addition , for a wall greater than one story high , the cost of external bracing and scaffolding during the wall assembly and pouring of concrete is not required . since the panels 20 are laid flat during pouring of the concrete , there are minimal hydrostatic pressures compared to the panels being erected before pouring . as one skilled in the art will further appreciate , the practice of forming a wall as shown in the first embodiment typically involves filling in the cavities in four foot vertical increments , called lifts . the process of forming each lift is more labor intensive than filling the cavity continuously at a single horizontal location . furthermore , it is imprudent — and prohibited by some building codes — to drop concrete more than ten feet because the constituents of the concrete tend to separate from each other , resulting in a weak final product . thus , the usual practice in vertical - wall formation is to cut holes into the side panels at different elevational positions and then patch the holes after they are used as a filling port between the source of concrete and the cavity . this process of using the holes in the side panels , obviously , increases the labor costs and time required to fill the cavity for a wall greater than one story in height . the third design of the tilt - up wall , in comparison , avoids these problems and , accordingly , is quicker and less expensive to construct than the first embodiment of the dual - panel wall for wall structures greater than one story in height . regardless of the method used to form the tilt - up walls of the present invention , the side panels 20 — either with or without the stanchions connected — forge a bond with the concrete as it cures . once the concrete c obtains sufficient strength for lifting ( usually 2 , 500 - 3 , 000 psi ) that is typically reached in five to ten days ( depending on ambient conditions ), a crane ( not shown ) or other means connects to cables ( not shown ) attached to embedded inserts cast into the tilt - up wall . the crane sequentially lifts each tilt - up wall and sets it on a prepared foundation around the building perimeter . fig1 shows a single concrete structure 10 having been tilted up . before any of the tilt - up walls are released by the crane , temporary braces ( not shown ) are installed — at least two per tilt - up wall — to brace up the respective tilt - up walls until the roof structure is attached . next , connections between individual tilt - up walls are made , which usually entail welding splices of steel ledger angles ( not shown ), and then the joints between the tilt - up walls ( typically three - quarter inch ( ¾ ″)) are caulked . also , any necessary patching is made to repair blemishes . approximately the same time , the closure strip between the tilt - up walls and the floor slab ( usually a two - foot - wide strip ) is filled with concrete and the bracing is removed when the roof has been permanently connected to the tilt - up walls . one of the advantages of using tilt - up walls 10 of the present invention is the shortened construction time . all of the steps discussed above in forming a building frame , from pouring the floor slab to erecting the tilt - up walls that are ready to receive the roof structure , often require only four weeks . tilt - up walls are also generally less labor intensive to construct , which results in a financial savings . moreover , tilt - up walls 10 of the present invention may be used to form multi - story buildings . when considering the benefits of using the side panels 20 with tilt - up walls , one skilled will appreciate the improved insulation and sound impedance that exists using the side panels 20 , which would be difficult and expensive to install on a conventional tilt - up wall once erected . also , the web members 40 , when set into the concrete and substantially cured , insure a substantially permanent , worry - free connection for the side panels 20 and provide a solid attachment point that may be used to connect wallboard such as sheet rock , brick , or stone finishes . moreover , electrical and plumbing runs are easily installed within the side panels 20 . that is , installing electrical and plumbing is accomplished by cutting the “ run &# 39 ; s ” using a hot knife , router , or electric chain saw into the side panel 20 of preferred embodiment , which is made of eps . also , using the preferred side panels 20 removes any potential metal contact problems and makes it much easier to connect pipes and wires compared to achieving the same with conventional tilt - up walls . the tilt - up wall concrete structure 10 using a side panel 20 on only one side of the concrete slab c can also be used as an insulated concrete floor , in which the panels are formed and raised upwardly to form a floor of the building . likewise , the structure 10 can also be used to create roof panels . thus , the present invention can be used to construct the majority of an entire building , namely , the walls , floors / ceilings , and roof panels . also of note , the side panels 20 do not affect the engineered structural design of the formed tilt - up wall as compared to not using the panels . if the concrete or “ slump ” is dry or if ambient conditions are cold , the attachment points 44 — being rectangular and substantially flat and extending eleven - sixteenths ({ fraction ( 11 / 16 )}) of an inch from the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 in the preferred embodiment — may have difficulty penetrating into the fluid concrete . the present invention , as mentioned above , includes stanchions or extending devices that assist in bonding the side panels 20 to the wet concrete . the primary function of the stanchions is to form better bonds between the concrete c and the side panel 20 . as such , the side panels 20 are less likely to separate from the concrete slab c of the tilt - up wall or other wall of the present invention throughout its life . a secondary function of the stanchions is to give greater structural integrity to the side panels 20 and associated wallboard , brick , or stone finishes attached to the end plates 42 of the web members 40 . that is , by being more firmly anchored , the concrete slab c provides a better connection to the side panels 20 and a stronger foundation for any materials hung from the side panels 20 . the stanchions are discussed in the specific context of a tilt - up wall but , as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the stanchions , for example , may also be useful in a dual - panel wall discussed above to buttress the connection between the side panel 20 and the concrete poured into the cavity 38 . one specific embodiment of the stanchion comprises a connector 50 , for example , coupled to one attachment point 44 to increase the surface area to which the concrete c bonds . if the connectors 50 are the incorrect length , then they can easily be cut to the proper dimension at the construction site . the connectors 50 , as discussed above , are best shown in fig4 and 4a . two additional such stanchions are shown in fig6 namely , an extender 60 and a tilt - up anchor 70 . first addressing the extender 60 , it includes a tip end 62 , an opposed base end 64 , and a body 66 extending therebetween . preferably , the tip end 62 is of a size to complementarily engage one end 52 of a connector 50 and the base end 64 is of a size to complementarily engage one attachment point 44 . similar to the preferred designs discussed above , the tip end 62 is preferably rectangular in plan view — as is the attachment point 44 — and the base end 64 preferably defines a track of a size to slidably receive a selected one of the tip end 62 or the attachment point 44 therein — as does one end 52 of the connector 50 . the locking means is preferably also part of the extender 60 and other stanchions . the body 66 of the extender 60 is preferably non - smooth , which assists in bonding to concrete c . in the preferred embodiment , the body 66 defines a passage 68 therethrough . as will be noted by fig6 and 12 , the passage 68 has a substantially rectangular cross - section . in the preferred embodiment , the width of the sides of the passage 68 is between one - quarter ( ¼ ) and one ( 1 ) inch to have a cross - sectional area between approximately 0 . 125 and 1 square inches , and more preferably between one - half ( ½ ) inch and three - quarter ( ¾ ) inch to have a cross - sectional area between approximately 0 . 25 and 0 . 57 square inches . this range of widths allows a portion of a flexible linking member 90 ( shown in fig1 ) to be received therethrough ( as discussed below ) as well as being of a dimension to allow fluid concrete to at least partially flow into the passage 68 for better bonding . of course , other dimensions are contemplated to achieve these same functions and , in fact , the minimal dimension to allow fluid concrete to flow partially therein may be a function of the viscosity of the fluid concrete and size of the aggregate stone used . likewise , other cross - sectional shapes for the passage 68 are also contemplated , such as circular , elliptical , triangular , or other polygonal shapes . as one skilled in the art will also appreciate , the body 66 of the extender 60 can be manufactured in different lengths , depending on the use of the extender 60 ; however , the preferred length between the tip end 62 and the base end 64 is approximately one inch . three functions of the extender 60 of the present invention are addressed herein : ( 1 ) as a stanchion ; ( 2 ) as an extension for the connectors 50 ; and ( 3 ) as part of a connection between side panels 20 or to buttress the connection between panels 20 . the first listed function of extender 60 is the same as the other stanchions , which is to provide an additional surface to which the concrete can bond while curing to form a stronger connection with the side panel 20 . the extender 60 connects to one respective attachment point 44 of the web member 40 and extends into the concrete c a greater distance than the attachment point 44 . this longer extension , in and of itself , strengthens the bond between the concrete c and the side panel 20 to which the extender 60 is connected since there is more surface area to which the concrete c may bond during curing . moreover , this bond is further strengthened by the extender 60 in the preferred embodiment having a non - smooth surface and , in the preferred embodiment , the non - smooth surface resulting in part from the passage 68 extending therethrough . as mentioned above , the passage 68 is preferably of a dimension to allow fluid concrete to at least partially flow therein , which enhances the bond with concrete c . the second listed function of the extender 60 is to extend the reach of the connectors 50 . as discussed above , it is preferred to make the connectors 50 having lengths so that the width of the cavity 38 is two ( 2 ), four ( 4 ), six ( 6 ), eight ( 8 ) inches or greater . if , however , it is desired to have the width of the cavity 38 be three ( 3 ), five ( 5 ), or seven ( 7 ) inches , then the preferred embodiment of the extender 60 could be used to obtain that extra inch of separation . assume , for example , that the connector 50 shown in fig4 and 4a connects to the two attachment points 44 of opposed side panels 20 in the dual - panel embodiment ( which is discussed above and shown in fig1 and 2 ) to form a cavity 38 that is two inches wide . to increase the width of the cavity 38 to be three inches wide , the preferred extender 60 is used in conjunction with the connector 50 shown in fig4 or fig4 a . that is , the tip end 62 of the extender 60 is preferably formed to be the same dimensions as an attachment point 44 of the web member 40 so that the tip end 62 can be slidably received into the track 54 at one end 52 of the connector 50 , similar to the attachment point 44 being slidably received into the end 52 of the connector 50 . the base end 64 of the extender 60 , in conjunction , preferably forms a track into which one attachment point 44 of a web member 40 is slidably received ( i . e ., the same dimension as the track 54 of the connector 50 shown in fig4 or fig4 a ). accordingly , the connector 50 is coupled to the attachment point 44 of one side panel 20 , the base end 64 of the extender 60 is coupled to the attachment point 44 of the opposed side panel 20 , and the connector 50 is attached to the tip end 62 of the extender 60 so that a three - inch wide cavity 38 is formed between two opposed side panels 20 , instead of a two - inch cavity if the connector 50 shown in fig4 or fig4 a was used alone . thus , in the preferred embodiment , for each extender 60 added between the connector 50 and the attachment point 44 , the extender 60 advantageously allows the cavity 38 to be extended one inch in width . as such , the extender 60 can be used to meet this need to have an irregularly sized cavity without requiring the manufacturer to mold special new connectors , which would be an expensive endeavor . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the extender 60 can have a length other than one inch , if desired . the third potential function of the extender 60 is to establish or to buttress the connection between side panels 20 . one example in which the extender 60 is beneficial when one wall or panel is at a non - parallel angle to another wall or panel , often being disposed at right angles to form a t - wall in top plan view . since concrete has to be poured into the cavity 38 defined by the side panels 20 that are not oriented parallel to each other ( as exists in fig2 ), the normally linear connectors 50 shown in fig4 and 4a cannot feasiblely be used . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , although within the scope of the present invention , manufacturing non - linear connectors would be expensive and often not be viable for a large percentage of construction projects . in conjunction , one problem with constructing such a t - wall is that when the concrete is poured into the cavity 38 , pressures against the abutting side panel 20 ( i . e ., at the top of the “ t ”) forces the side panel outwardly . the prior art solution is to brace the wall on the exterior surface 32 of the side panel 20 using , for example , lumber braces . the braces , however , are difficult and labor intensive to construct , particularly when used on multistory building above the first or ground floor . referring now to fig1 , the extender 60 , used with a flexible linking member 90 , such as a zip - tie , plastic tie strap , tie wire , or other similar component , provides an easy and effective solution to buttress a connection between side panels 20 , particularly for situations in which the respective interior surfaces 34 are not parallel to each other . although not required , it is preferred that the flexible linking member 90 be contiguous and connect to itself in by forming a closed loop , in which the looped linking member 90 interconnects the opposed side panels 20 . for one design shown at the top of fig1 , respective extenders 60 are connected to attachment points 44 formed on different side panels 20 . that is , in this design there are two extenders : a first extender 60 connected to the attachment point 44 of one web member 40 partially disposed within a first panel 20 and a second extender 60 connected to the attachment point 44 of one web member 40 partially disposed within the opposed second panel 20 . a portion of the flexible linking member 90 , in conjunction , traverses through the passage of the first extender 60 and a portion of the flexible linking member 90 also traverses through the passage of the second extender 60 . the flexible linking member 90 is connected through the respective passages of two extenders 60 and tightened , thereby securely interconnecting the spaced - apart panels 20 . in another embodiment , it is also contemplated that at least one of the two web members 40 defines a slot 41 extending therethrough . the slot 41 is preferably located adjacent the interior surface 34 of the first panel in which the web member 40 is disposed and preferably integrally formed with the web member 40 . the slot 41 is also preferably of a size to receive a portion of the flexible linking member 90 therein . thus , as shown at the bottom of fig1 , a portion of the flexible linking member 90 traverses through the slot 41 of one web member 40 and also traverses through the extender 60 connected to the attachment point 44 of the other web member 40 to interconnect the spaced - apart panels 20 . in still another embodiment shown at the middle of fig1 , a portion of the flexible linking member 90 traverses through the slot 41 of one web member 40 and the slot 41 of the other web member 40 to interconnect the spaced - apart panels 20 . the three illustrated embodiments shown in fig1 , of course , may be used independently of each other . similarly , the extender 60 with the flexible linking members 90 can be used anywhere on the side panels 20 where there may be weakness in the structure . as an example , weakness may exist where a cut - up design is used or the wall zig - zags . as another example , weakness may also occur wherever quick turns are used in the layout of the side panel 20 . in these situations , the extenders 60 and interconnecting flexible linking members 90 may be used in lieu of external bracing . although not preferred , it is also contemplated that the flexible linking member 90 — in concert with the passages 68 of extenders 60 or the slots 41 formed into the web members 40 — may interconnect opposed side panels 20 in the first embodiment ( shown , for example , in fig1 and 2 ), instead of using connectors 50 to interconnect the side panels 20 . in comparison to the extender 60 , another design of the stanchion , the anchor 70 , is also shown in fig6 and is less broad in its potential functional uses . the primary purpose of the anchor 70 is to strengthen the bond between the side panel 20 and the adjacent concrete once that concrete has substantially cured . the preferred anchor 70 has a forward end 72 , an opposed back end 74 , and a body 76 extending therebetween . the back end 74 is preferably of a size to complementarily engage one attachment point 44 . also , it is preferred that the body 76 has at least one prong 78 extending from it and , more preferably , two prongs 78 oriented co - linearly to each other . however , as one skilled in the art will appreciate , other permutations also fall within the scope of the present invention , such as three or more prongs 78 or two prongs 78 not oriented co - linearly . the presently preferred prongs 78 have a length of a half ( ½ ) inch to one ( 1 ) inch and a generally round cross - sectional shape that has a diameter of one quarter ( ¼ ) inch . one skilled in the art , however , will appreciate that wider range of values are possible for the prongs 78 — the important consideration being that the prongs 78 not break when fluid concrete flows past the anchor 70 during the construction process or after substantial curing . also , the prongs 78 can be integrally formed to the anchor 70 or coupled thereto using any means known in the art . returning to the presently preferred embodiment of two co - linear prongs 78 , it is preferred that when the anchor 70 is connected to the attachment point 44 , the two prongs 78 form an angle that is not perpendicular or normal to a plane formed by the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 ( and also the plane formed by the exterior surface of the concrete c on the tilt - up wall ). in fact , it is most preferred that the two prongs 78 extend parallel to the plane formed by the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 to which the anchor 70 is attached , an angle which is generally perpendicular to the direction that the anchor 70 extends between its forward and back ends 72 , 74 when connected to the attachment point 44 . this angular orientation of the prongs 78 provides increased bonding strength with the concrete c . although it is presently preferred that there is at least one prong 78 , the present invention contemplates that no prongs be included ; instead , the body 76 of the anchor 70 can be of a non - smooth or non - linear shape to bond with the fluid concrete that flows around the body 76 . one contemplated design includes a generally mushroom shape that is narrow at the back end 74 and flares outwardly moving toward the forward end 72 . other contemplated designs include the forward and back ends 72 , 74 being wider in side view than the intervening portion of the body 76 so that the body appears similar to a chef &# 39 ; s hat or an hourglass in side view . of course , symmetry is not required in any of these alternative embodiments . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , one important consideration is that the fluid concrete be able to flow around the anchor 70 to improve bonding after the concrete substantially cures . although the length of the connector 50 , extender 60 , or anchor 70 used as a stanchion between the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 and the tip of the stanchion may be any dimension shorter than the thickness of the concrete portion of the tilt - up wall , the preferred embodiment uses a length of one inch ( 1 ″) or less . the reason for using a length shorter than the possible maximum length is that a longer stanchion would potentially interface with the re - bar or other structural support within the tilt - up wall . that is , either by convention or as required by applicable building code requirements , the re - bar is usually placed one inch or more away from either surface of the tilt - up wall so that the ends of the respective stanchions , extending the maximum of one inch , will not interface with or contact the re - bar , which could impede the proper setting of the side panels 20 into the fluid concrete . as with the connectors 50 , the other embodiments of the stanchions are preferably formed of a high - density plastic , such as high - density polyethylene or polypropylene , although other polymers can be used as noted above . advantages of the high - density plastics for the stanchions include cost of manufacturing , strength , rigidity when the component is sufficiently thick , and the like . as one skilled in the art will also appreciate , the stanchions are not necessary for the present invention to function and , in fact , may not even be desired if the concrete is very “ wet ” or a plasticizer has been added to the concrete in the context of constructing tilt - up walls . if stanchions are used , it is contemplated using one stanchion per web member 40 connected to the center attachment point 44 ( i . e ., the middle attachment point 44 shown in fig6 ); however , it is also contemplated using up to and including one stanchion on each attachment point 44 ( i . e ., five stanchions used on every web member in the embodiment shown in fig6 ). referring now to fig9 and 9a , the third embodiment of the present invention is analogous to the first embodiment because a cavity is formed into which concrete is poured . however , instead of the formed concrete structure having opposed side panels 20 each connected to the concrete portion as in the first embodiment shown in fig2 and 2a , this embodiment preferably uses a side panel 20 on only one side of the formed concrete structure 10 . that is , the formed concrete structure 10 is similar to the tilt - up wall discussed above ( i . e ., a concrete slab c with side panels 20 positioned only on one side ), but is made using a different construction process . more specifically and as best shown in fig9 the third embodiment uses a side panel 20 and an opposed sheet 80 to form the cavity 38 into which the concrete is poured . that is , in forming the wall 10 , the process involves positioning the side panel 20 and the sheet 80 substantially upright so that a portion of the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 faces a portion of an inside surface 82 of the sheet 80 . the interior surface 34 and the inside surface 82 are laterally spaced apart from each other so that a cavity 38 is formed therebetween , just as occurs in the first embodiment using spaced - apart side panels 20 . the sheet 80 is preferably plywood , but can be any solid material that can be coupled to either a web member 40 or a connector 50 and can withstand the forces exerted by the fluid concrete when poured into the cavity 38 without substantial bowing , warping , breaking , or other type of failure . other contemplated materials include combined steel frame and plywood center , commonly known as a steel - ply panel . accordingly , the sheet 80 functions as a form or barrier while the concrete is curing . the process next involves attaching one end 52 (“ the first end ”) of the connector 50 to the attachment point 44 of the side panel 20 and connecting a portion of the inside surface 82 of the sheet 80 to the other end 52 (“ the second end ”) of the connector 50 . however , it may be a matter of preference for the order of construction so the first end of the connector 50 may be attached to the attachment point 44 before positioning the sheet 80 or the sheet may be positioned before the first end of the connector 50 is attached to the attachment point 44 . the sheet 80 can be either directly or indirectly coupled to the connector 50 . that is , referring back to fig3 there are two options for the second or “ free end ” of the connector 50 , which is the end not attached to the web member 40 located within the side panel 20 . first , for the indirect connection and as shown in fig9 the free end can be connected to , for example , a stand - alone web member 40 ′, which is a web member that is not formed within a side panel 20 and is illustrated in fig3 , 9 , and 10 . the sheet 80 is then connected to the end plate 42 of the stand - alone web member 40 ′, instead of being directly connected to the second end of the connector . this indirect connection forms the preferred embodiment . [ 0108 ] fig3 shows only one stand - alone web member 40 ′ that is attached to the connectors 50 . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , however , multiple web members 40 are preferably used when preparing the wall structure 10 ( i . e ., between two and six stand - alone web members 40 ′ used for the side panel 20 shown in fig3 based on there being six web members 40 located within the side panel 20 ). it is , of course , preferred to use a sufficient number of web members to withstand the dynamic and static forces that exist when the fluid concrete is poured into the cavity ( i . e ., preferably six for the side panel 20 shown in fig3 and 9 ). alternatively and less preferred , the sheet 80 may be connected directly to the second or free end of the connector 50 . still referring to fig3 four connectors 50 are shown in this configuration ( i . e ., connected to the web member 40 located within the side panel 20 but not connected to a stand - alone web member 40 ′). thus , unlike the indirect connection having an intervening stand - alone web member 40 ′ or other component , the sheet 80 in this design is directly coupled to the second ends of the connectors 50 . the potential drawback with this design is that it is more difficult to attach or couple the sheet 80 to the connectors 50 at the construction site . however , if the free end of the connectors 50 is formed with more surface area than included in the illustrated embodiments , this potential drawback may be reduced . it is also contemplated using connectors 50 that are integrally attached to or formed with the web members 40 located in the side panels 20 for the third embodiment ( as well as other embodiments ). stated differently , the connectors 50 and web members 40 may be a unitary structure and , as such , the attachment points 44 in this contemplated design extend a distance from the interior surface 34 of the side panel 20 to the attachment points 44 that is substantially equivalent to the desired thickness of the cavity 38 for the direct connection process . thus , the step of attaching the connectors 50 to the attachment points 44 of the web members 40 disposed within the side panels 20 is avoided because the inside surface 82 of the sheet 80 is attached directly to the attachment point 44 to form the cavity 38 . alternatively , the extended attachment points 44 may be designed to connect to the stand - alone web member 40 ′ or similar structure is using the indirect connection method . however , this design of integrally forming the connectors 50 to the attachment points 44 has a potential drawback of the increased space needed to transport a given quantity of side panels 20 to the construction site if the web members 40 are integrally formed into the side panels 20 , as opposed to being inserted through precut slots at the construction site . regardless of the component to which the sheet 80 is connected , it is preferred that the sheet be detachably connected , or removably attached , to the second end of the connector 50 or stand - alone web member 40 ′. by being detachably connected , the present invention entails that the sheet 80 can be removed from the end plate 42 or connector 50 substantially intact , preferably so that the sheet can be reused to form another concrete structure . many means are contemplated for detachably coupling the sheet 80 to the end plate 42 or connector 50 , such as using a nail or screw . one skilled in the art will appreciate that this list is not exhaustive and can include other coupling means such as chemical adhesives , rivets , tacks , nuts and bolts , and the like . once the sheet 80 and side panel 20 are interconnected and stationarily positioned relative to each other , the process of forming the structure 10 involves pouring fluid concrete into the cavity 38 and allowing the concrete to substantially cure to form a concrete slab c . the formed concrete structure 10 is shown in fig9 a . in the preferred embodiment , after the concrete substantially cures ( which may take about three days depending on ambient conditions and the thickness of the cavity 38 ) the process involves removing the sheet 80 from the concrete slab c to expose a portion of the concrete slab c to atmosphere , which is shown in fig1 . that is , after substantially curing , the sheet 80 is preferably removed leaving a concrete structure 10 that has a side panel 20 disposed on one side and concrete c exposed to ambient or atmosphere on the other , opposed side . the sheet 80 is also preferably reusable for forming another wall . however , although not preferred , it is contemplated having the sheet 80 remain a permanent part of the tilt - up structure 10 as shown in fig9 a . a potential aesthetic drawback with the above process is that when the sheet 80 is removed , the exposed surface will be predominately concrete c with the end plates 42 or the ends 52 of the connectors 50 recurrently showing on the exposed concrete surface . to avoid this non - contiguous appearance and as shown in fig1 , the present invention also contemplates using a spacer 84 attached or permanently affixed to the end plate 42 of the stand - alone web member 40 ′ or to one end 52 — the free or second end — of the connectors 50 . the spacer 84 is to be disposed in a contacting relationship with the inside surface 82 of the sheet 80 . referring now to fig1 , one embodiment of the spacer 84 is cone - shaped in side view , in which the narrow end is attached or coupled to the end plate 42 of the stand - alone web member 40 ′ or the end 52 of the connector 50 and preferably extends between a quarter and three - quarter ( ¼ - ¾ ) inches , more preferably one - half ( ½ ) inch . the cone - shaped spacers may also be inverted so that the wide end is attached to the end plate 42 . it is also contemplated that the cone - shaped spacer 84 has openings or slots extending between the narrow end and the wide end . other shapes are contemplated for the spacer 84 , such as circular , elliptical , or rectangular shapes in plan view . it is also contemplated having the spacer 84 use a constant cross - sectional area along its length , instead of being cone shaped . the sheet 80 is mounted to abut the wide end of the spacer 84 and the screw — if used as the coupling means — traverses through the sheet 80 , spacer 84 , and then into and through a portion of either the end plate 42 of the stand - alone web member 40 ′ or end 52 of the connector 50 . if the wide end of the spacer 84 is attached to the end plate 42 , then the coupling means need not traverse through the interior of the spacer , which may be easier at the construction site because less precise aligning is required . if the spacer 84 has openings , at least some concrete may enter into its internal volume when the cavity 38 is filled with concrete . using the spacers 84 , after the concrete substantially cures and the sheet 80 is removed , the interior volume of the spacer 84 is exposed so that there are only small portions of the concrete surface in which the concrete c is not contiguous on the face of the structure 10 . however , since the preferred spacer 84 is cone - shaped , a finish coat of cementitious material , including concrete , a parging coat , or stucco , can quickly be spread into the interior volume of the spacers so that when it cures , the exposed face of the concrete structure 10 appears as a uniform concrete surface , as opposed to having the ends 52 of the connectors 50 or the end plates 42 exposed . one skilled in the art will appreciate that a uniform concrete appearance obtained using the spacers 84 is more aesthetically appealing if the exposed surface of the concrete structure remains exposed when the building is completed . however , if it is desired to mount materials such as drywall or masonry tiles directly onto the surface originally covered by the sheet 80 , not using the spacers 84 may be preferred . that is , the exposed end plates 42 of the stand - alone web members 40 ′ or the ends 52 of the connectors 50 facilitate attaching materials to the concrete surface because it is easier to connect materials to these members , compared to attaching the materials to the cured concrete c . also , if the entire exposed concrete surface will be coated with stucco or the like , then depending on the bonding properties of the coating , it may be irrelevant whether the spacers 84 are used . although the present invention has been described with reference to specific details of certain embodiments thereof , it is not intended that such details should be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention except as and to the extent that they are included in the accompanying claims . | 4 |
in the following description , various aspects of the subject matter of the present application will be described . for purposes of explanation , specific configurations and details are set forth in sufficient detail to provide a thorough understanding of the subject matter of the present application . however , it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the subject matter of the present application can be practiced without the specific configurations and details presented herein . reference is made to fig1 to 6 . a fluted drill 10 includes a fluted drill body 12 and a fluted drill cutting head 14 mounted in a clamping portion 16 of the fluted drill body 12 . the cutting head 14 has a head rotation axis a and includes , in this non - limiting example , a pair of identical drilling portions 18 ( 18 a , 18 b ) located at axially opposite ends of the cutting head 14 . the cutting head 14 therefore constitutes a reversible cutting head 14 . according to some embodiments , each drilling portion 18 comprises a pair of diametrically disposed cutting head coupling portions 19 . as will be explained below , each coupling portion 19 can have an angular extension α & gt ; 10 °. an axial head length l of the cutting head 14 is measured along the head rotation axis a between two axially outermost tips 20 of each drilling portion 18 . a head diameter d is defined by radial extremities of the drilling portions 18 . the head length l of the cutting head 14 can be shorter than its head diameter d , i . e ., l & lt ; d . according to other embodiments , the axial length l can be longer than the head diameter d , i . e ., the ratio l / d can be less than 2 . the cutting head 14 therefore has a compact shape . as the cutting head 14 is reversible and has a compact shape , it can also be considered a so - called cutting insert . this relation between length and diameter of the cutting head 14 can provide radial stability for the fluted drill 10 . furthermore , it may prevent an undesired bending moment from being developed in the clamping portion 16 . when the cutting head 14 is mounted on the fluted drill body 12 , one drilling portion 18 constitutes an operative drilling portion 18 a , and the other drilling portion 18 , which faces the drill body 12 , constitutes a non - operative drilling portion 18 b . each drilling portion 18 can include two cutting head coupling portions 19 and two head flute portions 42 . each cutting head coupling portion 19 can include a cutting portion 22 , a non - cutting portion 24 , a cutting head abutment surface 28 and a clamping recess 26 . the non - cutting portion 24 is devoid of cutting edges . in an axial view of the cutting head 14 ( as shown in fig5 and 6 ), each non - cutting portion 24 can be angularly located between two cutting portions 22 . furthermore , each clamping recess 26 can be angularly located between an adjacent cutting portion 22 and an adjacent non - cutting portion 24 . stated differently , in an axial view of the cutting head 14 , each head flute portion 42 is separated from each clamping recess 26 . each head flute portion 42 is separated from each clamping recess 26 , by either a cutting portion 22 or a non - cutting portion 24 . in an axial , or plan view , the cutting head 14 can be x - shaped . stated differently , in a view along the head rotation axis a , the cutting head 14 can have four see - through openings which extend from one drilling portion to another . the see - through openings can be either open or closed in the radial direction . in other words , each opening opens out to both drilling portions and can open out in a general direction perpendicular to the head rotation axis a . in this non - limiting embodiment , one pair of openings is associated with the clamping recesses 26 and another pair of openings is associated with the head flute portions 42 . the clamping recesses 26 are therefore separated from the head flute portion 42 , in order to direct the chip flow only into the head flute portions 42 . this arrangement is advantageous because cut chips can flow free - of - obstruction in the head flute portions 42 , and any clamping means of the drill body is protected from the cut chips . in an axial view of the cutting head 14 , each cutting portion 22 extends radially between the head rotation axis a and a cutting corner 34 . each cutting portion 22 can include a cutting edge 36 and a margin edge 38 ( fig3 ). a section of the margin edge 38 adjacent the cutting corner 34 can constitute a wiper 39 . depending on the orientation of the cutting head 14 , the margin edge 38 can constitute an operative or a non - operative margin edge 38 a , 38 b . each cutting portion 22 of one drilling portion 18 can extend in the direction of the rotation axis a . each cutting portion 22 of one drilling portion merges with a non - cutting portion 24 of the other drilling portion 18 ( as shown in fig4 ). in accordance with some embodiments , each cutting edge 36 extends from the head rotation axis a to the cutting corner 34 of the cutting portion 22 . in an axial view of the cutting head 14 , the angular extension a of each cutting head coupling portion 19 is measured between two imaginary lines perpendicular to the head rotation axis a . the first line passes through a cutting corner 34 of a cutting portion 22 of one drilling portion 18 . the second line passes through a cutting corner 34 of a cutting portion 22 of the other drilling portion 18 . each drilling portion 18 can include two head flute portions 42 ( as shown in fig4 ). according to this non - limiting example , the head flute portions 42 can have a concavely curved shape , as viewed from an axial view . the curved design can help form chips for efficiently evacuating them along the flute . each head flute portion 42 of one drilling portion 18 merges with an associated head flute portion 42 of the other drilling portion 18 to form a common head flute 44 . each head flute portion 42 extends between an adjacent operative margin edge 38 a and an adjacent non - operative margin edge 38 b . each head flute portion 42 can include leading and trailing flute ends 46 , 48 , with respect to a direction of rotation t of the fluted drill 10 ( as shown in fig2 and 5 ). for each drilling portion 18 , the leading flute end 46 can be located on a cutting portion 22 , and the trailing flute end 48 can be located on an angularly - adjacent non - cutting portion 24 . the leading flute end 46 can face the rotation direction t . each leading flute end 46 of a cutting portion 22 of one drilling portion 18 can extend from an associated cutting edge 36 and merge with an associated trailing flute end 48 of an associated non - cutting portion 24 of the other drilling portion 18 . each trailing flute end 48 can terminate at an associated trailing abutment surface end 32 . each leading flute end 46 can merge with a trailing flute end 48 of an angularly - adjacent non - cutting portion 24 . in accordance with some embodiments , each head flute portion 42 is provided with a web thinning region 50 . in this non - limiting example , the web thinning region 50 includes two gashes , one in each flute portion 42 ( fig3 ), adjacent each tip 20 of each drilling portion 18 . each cutting portion 22 further includes a relief surface 40 which extends from the cutting edge 36 , generally opposite to the rotation direction t . the relief surface 40 meets the head flute portion 42 , at least partially , at the cutting edge 36 . when the cutting edges of the operative drilling portion 18 become worn , the cutting head 14 is reversed , and the non - operative drilling portions 18 b become operative drilling portions 18 a . each cutting head abutment surface 28 can be located between angularly adjacent head flute portions 42 of a given drilling portion 18 . the cutting head abutment surfaces 28 can be perpendicular to the head rotation axis a . each cutting head abutment surface 28 can include leading and trailing abutment surface ends 30 , 32 . for each drilling portion 18 , each trailing abutment surface end 32 can be located on a non - cutting portion 24 , and each leading abutment surface end 30 can be located on an angularly - adjacent cutting portion 22 . each trailing abutment surface end 32 associated with the operative drilling portion 18 a can extend from a respective trailing flute end 48 in a direction opposite the rotation direction t , towards an associated clamping recess 26 . each leading abutment surface end 30 associated with the operative drilling portion 18 a can extend from adjacent a respective relief surface 40 , in the rotation direction t , towards an associated clamping recess 26 . the margin edge 38 ( see fig3 ), meets the cutting edge 36 at the cutting corner 34 . the margin edge 38 is located generally along the periphery of the cutting head 14 . according to some embodiments , each margin edge 38 extends from the cutting corner 34 to the non - cutting portion 24 so that it terminates at a respective trailing abutment surface end 32 . according to some embodiments , each cutting portion 22 includes a single cutting edge 36 , a single cutting corner 34 and a single margin edge 38 . in an axial view of the cutting head 14 along the head rotation axis a , it can be seen that by changing α , one can ( depending on the application ) determine , or control , an overall sector size of the common head flutes 44 , at the expense of a sector size of the clamping recesses 26 . according to some embodiments , the clamping recesses 26 are common to both drilling portions 18 , i . e ., a clamping recess 26 of one drilling portion 18 merges with an associated clamping recess 26 of the other drilling portion 18 to form a common head clamping recess 52 . each clamping recess 26 can include a head centering surface 54 and two driven surfaces 56 . the head centering surface 54 can be arched . the head centering surface 54 can be discontinuous , in the sense that it can be separated into sections . the head centering surface 54 may be located radially inwards in the cutting head 14 , towards the head rotation axis a , and faces outwards therefrom . in accordance with some embodiments , the head centering surface 54 extends between each cutting and non - cutting portions 22 , 24 on the same drilling portion 18 . each head centering surface 54 is axially located between respective opposite head abutment surfaces 28 of each drilling portion 18 . according to some embodiments , the head centering surfaces 54 are axially located substantially midway between axial extremities of the cutting head 14 . when assembled , this can minimize bending moments and aid to the drill &# 39 ; s overall stability . in other words , with respect to the axis of rotation a , lateral , or radial centering forces will be directed as close as possible to the cutting edges , where lateral machining forces are generated , thus minimizing bending moments . the driven surfaces 56 are separated into opposite operative and non - operative driven surfaces 56 a , 56 b , which alternate , in accordance with the position of the cutting head 14 in the drill body 12 . in other words , each driven surface 56 becomes an operative driven surface 56 a when associated with an operative drilling portion 18 a , and after reversing the cutting head 14 , it becomes a non - operative driven surface 56 b . according to some embodiments , each operative driven surface 56 a extends from a leading abutment surface end 30 associated with a non - operative drilling portion 18 b , to an opposite trailing abutment surface end 32 associated with an operative drilling portion 18 a . the operative driven surfaces 56 a face generally opposite direction of the rotation direction t . the drill body 12 has a body rotation axis b which defines a forward to rearward direction , and a shank portion 62 which extends rearwardly from the clamping portion 16 . the drill body 12 can have two chip evacuating body flutes 64 which extend along the drill body 12 and are formed to match , and continue the shape of , the common head flutes 44 of the cutting head 14 . according to some embodiments , each body flute 64 has a single gash 66 formed at a forward portion of the body flute 64 . the gash 66 is formed to match , and continue the shape of , the web thinning region 50 of the respective head flute portion 42 , thus allowing chips to flow freely from the head flute portion 42 to the body flute 64 . the clamping portion 16 includes , according to some embodiments , two cutting head support surfaces 68 . according to some embodiments , the cutting head support surfaces 68 are generally perpendicular to the body rotation axis b . according to some embodiments the clamping portion 16 comprises two diametrically disposed drill body coupling portions 69 for coupling with the cutting head coupling portions 19 when securing the cutting head 14 to the drill body 12 . each drill body coupling portion 69 includes an integrally formed clamping jaw 70 , which extends forwardly from a respective cutting head support surface 68 . each clamping jaw 70 includes inner and outer side surfaces 72 , 74 and front and back side surfaces 76 , 78 which extend between the inner and outer side surfaces 72 , 74 and between the respective cutting head support surface 68 and a clamping jaw upper surface 80 . each cutting head support surface 68 includes leading and trailing support surface ends 82 , 84 . according to some embodiments , the leading support surface end 82 extends , oppositely the rotation direction t , from the back side surface 78 towards the periphery of the drill body 12 . according to some embodiments , each trailing support surface end 84 extends in the rotation direction t , from an associated front side surface 76 to an associated body flute 64 . in terms of resistance to bending moment ( when the cutting head is assembled ), this separation into leading and trailing abutment surface ends 30 , 32 improves overall drill stability , by providing a distribution of abutment forces . each clamping jaw 70 includes a drive surface 86 which is located on the front side surface 76 and faces generally in the rotation direction t . according to some embodiments , each clamping jaw 70 further includes a body centering surface 88 which is located on the inner side surface 72 and faces generally inwardly towards the body rotation axis b . according to some embodiments , the body centering surface 88 projects radially inwards from the inner side surface 72 . the body centering surface 88 can be arched . the body centering surface 88 can be discontinuous , in the sense that it can be separated into sections . the clamping portion 16 includes pullout prevention members . in some embodiments ( shown in fig7 and 8 ), the pullout prevention members are clamping jaw extensions 90 which overhang the drive surface 86 . according to these embodiments , each clamping jaw 70 includes one clamping jaw extension 90 which projects transversely , in the rotation direction t , from a forward - most portion of the front side surface 76 of the clamping jaw 70 . the body centering surfaces 88 engage the head centering surfaces 54 with an interference fit in order to center the cutting head 14 with respect to the drill body 12 . a difference between the curvature radiuses of the head and body centering surfaces 54 , 88 may enable a tight friction - fit between the clamping jaws 70 and the cutting head 14 . in some embodiments , after the cutting head 14 has been assembled on the drill body 12 , in addition to centering the cutting head 14 , the body centering surfaces 88 may have an additional role of preventing axial rotation ( about axis b and against the rotation direction t ) of the cutting head 14 with respect to the drill body 12 . in some embodiments , the pullout prevention members are clamping screws 58 . in such embodiments , each clamping jaw 70 includes a screw bore 92 to threadingly receive the clamping screw 58 . the screw bore 92 extends in a general longitudinal direction of the clamping jaw 70 . each clamping jaw 70 may further include a body screw support surface 94 for providing support for the clamping screw 58 . the body screw support surface 94 forms a ledge projecting from the back side surface 78 of a respective clamping jaw 70 at a location between the clamping jaw upper surface 80 and the leading support surface end 82 of the cutting head support surface 68 from which the respective clamping jaw 70 projects . the clamping portion 16 further includes a drilling portion housing 96 , which is centered on the rotation axis b . according to some embodiments , the drilling portion housing 96 extends rearwardly from the cutting head support surfaces 68 and is formed to accommodate the non - operative drilling portion 18 b of the cutting head 14 . the drilling portion housing 96 does not include any surfaces formed to engage surfaces on the cutting head 14 and does not engage any portion of the cutting head 14 . in the assembled position of the fluted drill 10 , the cutting head 14 is securely clamped in the clamping portion 16 of the drill body 12 . the fluted drill is configured to drill at a drilling depth which surpasses the axial length l of the cutting head 14 . in this position , each cutting head abutment surface 28 associated with the operative drilling portion 18 a abuts a respective cutting head support surface 68 of the drill body 12 . each clamping recess 26 receives a respective clamping jaw 70 , i . e . each clamping jaw 70 is located between a pair of adjacent cutting and non - cutting portions 22 , 24 of a given cutting head coupling portion 19 of the operative drilling portion 18 a . at least one operative driven surface 56 a of each clamping recess 26 abuts a respective drive surface 86 of a respective clamping jaw 70 of the drill body 12 , in order to transfer torque from the drill body 12 to the cutting head 14 . in accordance with embodiments in which the pullout prevention members are clamping screws 58 , each clamping screw 58 is screw threaded into a respective screw bore 92 and abuts both the cutting head screw support surface 60 of the cutting head 14 , and the body screw support surface 94 of the drill body 12 . the cutting head 14 may be of the sort used in metal cutting operations and thus can be termed a metal cutting head meaning that the cutting head 14 may be used for cutting metal , not necessarily that the cutting head 14 is made of metal . in accordance with some embodiments , the cutting head 14 may be made of hard wear resistant material such as cemented carbide , and the drill body 12 may be made of steel or of another metal or metal compound . in accordance with some embodiments , the cutting head 14 may be made of a hard wear resistant material such as cemented carbide , and the drill body 12 may also be made of a hard wear resistant material such as cemented carbide . the cutting head 14 can have a unitary one - piece construction . stated differently , the cutting head 14 can be devoid of mechanical parts such as inserts . the cutting head can be devoid of radial through holes , oriented generally perpendicularly to the head rotation axis a . the cutting head can be devoid of an elongated body section . in particular , the cutting head 14 can be devoid of an elongated body section disposed between the two drilling portions . the cutting head 14 can be made of a core material , and can be at least partially coated by at least another material . the core material can be cemented carbide or a like material . as previously disclosed , the cutting head 14 is designed with head flute portions 42 . as a result , initially , cut chips only hit the head flute portions 42 . the cutting head 14 therefore protects the clamping portion 16 of the drill body 12 from being worn by cut chips . the description above includes exemplary embodiments and details for enablement , if needed , of claimed subject matter , and does not exclude non - exemplified embodiments and details from the claim scope of the present application . | 8 |
the compounds of this invention can be prepared by reacting a hydrazide of formula ( iii ) below ## str10 ## where r has the meanings described above , with 1 - bromo - 2 - fluoroethane in the presence of a base . such bases include alkali metal hydroxides . preferred bases include sodium or potassium hydroxide . the compositions of the present invention may be prepared by formulating one or more compounds of the present invention with a suitable carrier , such as a liquid or solid carrier . suitable liquid carriers may be comprised of water , alcohols , ketones , phenols , toluene and xylenes . in such formulations , additives conventionally employed in the art may be utilized , such as one or more surface active agents and / or inert diluents , to facilitate handling and application of the resulting pesticide composition . alternatively , the pesticidal compounds may be applied in liquid or sprays when utilized in a liquid carrier , such as in a solution comprising a compatible solvent such as acetone , benzene , toluene or kerosene , or as dispersed in a suitable non - solvent medium such as water . the pesticidal compositions may alternatively comprise solid carriers taking the form of dusts , granules , wettable powders , pastes , aerosols , emulsions , emulsifiable concentrates , and water - soluble solids . for example , the pesticidal compounds of this invention may be applied as dusts when admixed with or absorbed onto powdered solid carriers , such as mineral silicates , e . g ., mica , talc , pyrophyllite and clays , together with a surface - active dispersing agent so that a wettable powder is obtained which then is applied directly to the loci to be treated . alternatively , the powdered solid carrier containing the compound admixed therewith may be dispersed in water to form a suspension for application in such form . granular formulations of the compounds are preferred for field treatment and are suitable for application by broadcasting , side dressing , soil incorporation or seed treatment , and are suitably prepared using a granular or pellitized form of carrier such as granular clays , vermiculite , charcoal or corn cobs . the pesticide is dissolved in a solvent and sprayed onto an inert mineral carrier such as attapulgite granules ( 10 - 100 mesh ), and the solvent is then evaporated . such granular compositions may contain from 2 - 25 % pesticide based on carrier plus pesticide , with 3 - 15 % being preferred . in addition , the pesticide may also be incorporated into a polymeric carrier such as polyethylene , polypropylene , butadiene - styrene , styrene - acryonitrile resins , polyamides , poly ( vinyl acetates ) and the like . when encapsulated , the pesticide may advantageously be released over an even longer time period , extending its effectiveness further than when used in non - encapsulated form . another method of application to loci to be treated is aerosol treatment , for which the compound may be dissolved in an aerosol carrier which is a liquid under pressure but which is a gas at ordinary temperature ( e . g ., 20 ° c .) and atmospheric pressure . aerosol formulations may also be prepared by first dissolving the compound in a less volatile solvent and then admixing the resulting solution with a highly volatile liquid aerosol carrier . for pesticidal treatment of plants ( such term including plant parts ), the compounds of the invention preferably are applied in aqueous emulsions containing a surface - active dispersing agent which may be non - ionic , cationic or anionic . suitable surface - active agents are well known in the art , and include those disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 547 , 724 ( columns 3 and 4 ). the compounds of the invention may be mixed with such surface - active dispersing agents , with or without an organic solvent , as concentrates for the subsequent addition of water to yield aqueous suspensions of the compounds at desired concentration levels . in addition , the compounds may be employed with carriers which themselves are pesticidally active , such as insecticides , acaricides , fungicides or bactericides . it will be understood that the amount of the pesticidally active compound in a given formulation will depend upon the specific pest to be combatted , as well as upon the specific chemical composition and formulation of the compound being employed , the method of applying the compound / formulation and the locus of treatment so that the pesticidally effective amount of the compound may vary widely . generally , however , concentrations of the compound as the active ingredient in pesticidally effective formulations may range from about 0 . 1 to about 95 percent by weight . spray dilutions may be as low as a few parts per million , while at the opposite extreme , full strength concentrates of the compound may be usefully applied by ultra low volume techniques . when plants constitute the loci of treatment , concentration per unit area may range between about 0 . 01 and about 50 pounds per acre , with concentrations of between about 0 . 1 and about 10 pounds per acre preferably being employed for crops such as corn , tobacco , rice and the like . to combat pests , sprays of the compounds may be applied to any suitable locus , such as to the pests directly and / or to plants upon which they feed or nest . the pesticidally active formulations may also be applied to the soil or other medium in which the pests are present . harmful insects and acarids attack a wide variety of plants , including both ornamental and agricultural plants and inflict damage by consuming roots and / or foliage , withdrawing vital juices from the plants , secreting toxins and often by transmitting diseases . the compounds of the present invention may be advantageously utilized to minimize or prevent such damage . the specific methods of application , as well as the selection and concentration of these compounds will of course vary depending upon such circumstances as geographic area , climate , topography , plant tolerance , etc . for specific circumstances , one skilled in the art may readily determine the proper compound , concentration and method of application by routine experimentation . the compounds of the invention are particularly useful as insecticides and acaricides for foliar application . the compounds are particularly effective for controlling insects , such as tobacco budworm and mites , such as spider mites and rust mites . the following examples are given merely to illustrate the scope of the present invention . the invention herein is not intended to be limited to the actual examples provided . a solution of 2 . 9 g ( 0 . 07 mole ) sodium hydroxide dissolved in 10 ml of water was added dropwise at room temperature to a mixture of 6 . 5 g ( 0 . 03 mole ) 4 - bromobenzoic hydrazide and 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 03 mole ) 1 - bromo - 2 - fluoroethane in 25 ml of ethanol . the resulting solution was refluxed for two and one - half hours . the mixture was cooled to room temperature , diluted with 150 ml of water and extracted several times with ether ( 100 ml ). after separation and drying over anhydrous sodium sulfate , the solution was filtered and evaporated under reduced pressure leaving 4 . 6 grams of an oil ( 63 . 6 % yield ), which was purified by distillation . the product was characterized by ir and nmr spectroscopy . to 1 gm of 2 -( 4 - bromophenyl )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - 1 , 3 , 4 - oxadiazine dissolved in 40 ml of acetonitrile , was added , with stirring , 2 drops of triethylamine followed by 1 gm of 4 -( trifluoromethyl ) phenyl isocyanate and stirred for 1 hour at room temperature . the solvent was then evaporated under reduced pressure and the resulting solid was washed with hexane and air - dried , producing 1 . 0 gm of 2 -( 4 - bromophenyl )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - n -[( 4 - trifluoromethyl ) phenyl ]- 4h - 1 , 3 , 4 - oxadiazine - 4 - carbamide , mp 146 °- 148 ° c . ( 50 % yield ). additional compounds were prepared in accordance with the above procedures . these compounds and their acaricidal and insecticidal activity are summarized in tables i and ii . the nmr data are summarized in table iii . table i__________________________________________________________________________ ## str11 ## cmpd # r x r . sup . 1 mi miovl rph tb tbov__________________________________________________________________________1 2 - f -- h 0 70 ( 0 ) 50 40 1002 h ch . sub . 2 h 0 100 ( 0 ) 50 20 03 h -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 0 100 ( 0 ) 30 0 04 4 - ch . sub . 3 -- ch . sub . 3 0 40 ( 0 ) 80 0 05 4 - ch . sub . 3 o -- h 0 0 100 80 1006 4 - ch . sub . 3 o -- cohnc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 0 70 ( l ) 100 40 1007 4 - f -- h 100 50 ( l ) 90 80 898 2 , 4 - cl ch . sub . 2 o h 0 0 100 40 999 2 , 4 - cl ch . sub . 2 o conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 5 0 70 ( l ) 100 0 5610 2 , 5 - cl -- h 70 100 ( 0 ) 100 80 10011 4 - cl -- h 0 70 ( 0 ) 50 80 10012 4 - ch . sub . 3 -- h 0 0 100 100 10013 4 - ch . sub . 3 s -- ch . sub . 3 0 50 ( 0 ) 25 0 10014 4 - ch . sub . 3 s -- h 50 100 ( 0 ) 50 0 815 4 - ch . sub . 3 s -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 50 100 ( 0 ) 0 0 10016 4 - br -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 75 0 10017 4 - no . sub . 2 -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 90 0 10018 4 - br -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 0 100 ( 0 ) 50 60 10019 2 , 4 - ch . sub . 3 -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 50 0 9720 2 , 4 - ch . sub . 3 -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 0 100 ( 0 ) 0 0 10021 2 , 4 - ch . sub . 3 -- con ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 0 100 ( 0 ) 25 0 10022 2 - c . sub . 6 h . sub . 5 ch . sub . 2 o -- h 0 80 ( 0 ) 95 55 10023 2 - cl -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 0 100 ( 0 ) 0 0 624 2 - cl -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 50 10 10025 4 - cf . sub . 3 -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 0 100 10026 4 - cf . sub . 3 -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 0 100 ( 0 ) 0 100 10027 2 - c . sub . 6 h . sub . 5 ch . sub . 2 o -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 50 70 ( 0 ) 45 32 4828 2 , 4 - ch . sub . 3 -- ch . sub . 3 0 70 ( 0 ) 25 20 9929 2 , 4 - cl -- h 100 100 ( 0 ) 100 20 10030 2 - ch . sub . 3 -- h 0 70 ( 0 ) 90 0 9831 2 , 4 - cl -- conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 cl 0 0 100 0 10032 3 - br -- h 50 100 ( 0 ) 100 0 10033 3 - br -- conhch . sub . 3 50 100 ( 0 ) 100 40 10034 2 - c . sub . 6 h . sub . 5 o -- h 0 50 ( 0 ) 100 0 3935 4 - c . sub . 2 h . sub . 5 o -- h 0 80 ( 0 ) 95 0 10036 3 - ch . sub . 3 o -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 100 20 10037 4 - c . sub . 6 h . sub . 5 -- h 0 85 ( 0 ) 100 80 10038 2 - ch . sub . 3 o -- h 0 70 ( 0 ) 60 0 039 3 , 4 - ch . sub . 3 o -- h 0 50 ( 0 ) 95 0 1140 4 - n ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 95 0 10041 4 - c ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 3 -- h 0 50 ( 0 ) 90 0 9842 3 - ch . sub . 3 -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 100 40 9843 3 , 4 - ch . sub . 3 o ch . sub . 3 h 0 50 ( 0 ) 60 0 144 3 - f -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 75 20 10045 2 - cl , 4 - no . sub . 2 -- h 0 100 ( 0 ) 100 0 10046 2 - ch . sub . 3 , 4 - cl ch . sub . 2 o h 0 100 ( 0 ) 99 20 10047 4 - f ch . sub . 2 o h 0 100 ( 0 ) 100 60 10048 4 - ch . sub . 3 o ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 h 0 100 ( 0 ) 30 0 9549 h ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 h 0 100 ( 0 ) 50 0 10050 4 - cl ch . sub . 2 o h 0 100 ( 0 ) 95 4 9351 h ch . sub . 2 o h 0 70 ( 0 ) 90 0 100__________________________________________________________________________ table ii__________________________________________________________________________ ## str12 ## cmpd # r . sup . 3 r . sup . 2 mi miovl rph tb tbov__________________________________________________________________________52 c . sub . 4 h . sub . 3 o ch . sub . 3 0 0 85 0 053 ch . sub . 2c . sub . 10 h . sub . 7 ch . sub . 3 0 0 75 0 154 ch . sub . 2c . sub . 5 h . sub . 4 n ch . sub . 3 0 0 75 0 055 ch . sub . 2c . sub . 8 h . sub . 6 n h 0 0 100 0 056 3 - brc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 h . hcl 0 50 ( 0 ) 100 0 257 c . sub . 6 h . sub . 4n ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 h . hcl 0 50 ( 0 ) 100 0 058 c . sub . 6 h . sub . 44 - oc . sub . 2 h . sub . 5 h . hcl 0 85 ( 0 ) 100 0 10059 c . sub . 6 h . sub . 32 , 3 -( ch . sub . 3 o ). sub . 2 h . hcl 0 80 ( 0 ) 95 20 2160 c . sub . 6 h . sub . 44 - c ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 3 h . hcl 0 0 95 0 061 c . sub . 6 h . sub . 43 - ch . sub . 3 o h . hcl 0 0 100 0 062 ch . sub . 3 h 0 0 90 0 063 c . sub . 5 h . sub . 4 n h 0 50 ( 0 ) 25 40 064 ch . sub . 2c . sub . 4 h . sub . 3 s h 0 100 ( 0 ) 90 0 965 4 - brc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 h . hcl 0 100 ( 0 ) 40 40 10066 c . sub . 3 h . sub . 7 h 0 0 50 16 767 4 - brc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 ch . sub . 2 ch . sub . 2 f . hcl 30 100 ( 0 ) 85 100 10068 c . sub . 4 h . sub . 3 n . sub . 2 h 0 100 ( 0 ) 70 15 069 4 - brc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 - 4 - ocf . sub . 3 0 0 0 100 570 4 - brc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 conhc . sub . 6 h . sub . 4 - 4 - cf . sub . 3 30 0 0 100 1__________________________________________________________________________ table iii______________________________________01 m ( 2 ) 2 . 3 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 3 - 7 . 802 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; s ( 2 ) 3 . 4 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; s ( 5 ) 7 . 303 m ( 2 ) 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 9 ) 7 . 3 - 8 . 1 ; s ( 1 ) 9 . 204 s ( 3 ) 2 . 3 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 7 ; s ( 3 ) 2 . 9 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 505 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; s ( 3 ) 3 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; d ( 2 ) 6 . 9 ; d ( 2 ) 7 . 706 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; s ( 3 ) 3 . 7 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; m ( 8 ) 6 . 9 - 7 . 707 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 24 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 2 - 8 . 008 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 2 ; s ( 2 ) 4 . 6 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 409 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 2 ; s ( 2 ) 4 . 6 ; m ( 7 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 510 m ( 2 ) 3 . 2 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; s ( 2 ) 7 . 3 ; s ( 1 ) 7 . 511 m ( 2 ) 3 . 2 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 3 - 7 . 912 s ( 3 ) 2 . 3 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; d ( 2 ) 7 . 2 ; d ( 2 ) 7 . 713 s ( 3 ) 2 . 4 ; s ( 3 ) 2 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 714 s ( 3 ) 2 . 5 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 2 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; d ( 2 ) 7 . 2 ; d ( 2 ) 7 . 615 s ( 3 ) 2 . 5 ; s ( 1 ) 8 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 716 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 517 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 8 . 018 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 8 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 719 s ( 3 ) 2 . 3 ; s ( 3 ) 2 . 4 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 8 - 7 . 420 s ( 3 ) 2 . 3 ; s ( 3 ) 2 . 4 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 7 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 5 ; s ( 1 ) 8 . 721 s ( 3 ) 2 . 3 ; s ( 3 ) 2 . 4 ; s ( 6 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 3 ) 6 . 9 - 7 . 422 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; s ( 2 ) 5 . 0 ; m ( 10 ) 6 . 8 - 7 . 523 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 8 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 624 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 525 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 4 - 7 . 926 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 8 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 827 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; s ( 2 ) 5 . 0 ; m ( 14 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 528 s ( 3 ) 2 . 3 ; s ( 3 ) 2 . 4 ; s ( 3 ) 2 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 m ( 3 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 329 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 630 s ( 3 ) 2 . 4 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 631 m ( 2 ) 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 7 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 6 ; s ( 1 ) 8 . 532 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 2 - 7 . 933 d ( 3 ) 2 . 9 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 934 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; m ( 9 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 535 t ( 3 ) 1 . 4 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; q ( 2 ) 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 2 ) 6 . 9 ; m ( 2 ) 7 . 836 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; s ( 3 ) 3 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 9 - 7 . 437 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 9 ) 7 . 2 - 7 . 938 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; s ( 3 ) 3 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 9 - 7 . 439 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; s ( 6 ) 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 3 ) 6 . 8 - 7 . 340 s ( 6 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 8 - 7 . 841 s ( 9 ) 1 . 3 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 4 - 7 . 842 s ( 3 ) 2 . 3 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 2 - 7 . 643 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; s ( 2 ) 3 . 5 ; s ( 6 ) 3 . 9 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; s ( 3 ) 6 . 944 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 645 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 3 ) 7 . 6 - 8 . 146 s ( 3 ) 2 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; s ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 3 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 247 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; s ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 9 - 7 . 148 m ( 6 ) 2 . 7 - 3 . 0 ; s ( 3 ) 3 . 7 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 2 - 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 8 - 7 . 249 m ( 6 ) 2 . 5 - 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 1 - 4 . 4 ; s ( 5 ) 7 . 250 m ( 2 ) 2 . 8 - 3 . 2 ; m ( 4 ) 4 . 2 - 4 . 5 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 8 - 7 . 351 m ( 2 ) 2 . 9 - 3 . 2 ; m ( 4 ) 4 . 3 - 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 6 . 9 - 7 . 352 s ( 3 ) 2 . 9 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 3 ) 6 . 5 - 7 . 453 s ( 3 ) 2 . 7 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; 3 ( 2 ) 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; m ( 7 ) 7 . 3 - 8 . 054 s ( 3 ) 2 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 2 . 9 ; s ( 2 ) 3 . 7 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 355 m ( 2 ) 2 . 9 ; s ( 2 ) 3 . 8 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 357 s ( 6 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 558 t ( 3 ) 1 . 4 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; q ( 2 ) 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; m ( 4 ) 6 . 8 - 7 . 959 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; s ( 6 ) 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 3 ) 6 . 9 - 7 . 560 s ( 9 ) 1 . 3 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 2 - 7 . 961 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 ; s ( 3 ) 3 . 9 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 1 - 7 . 762 s ( 3 ) 2 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 263 m ( 2 ) 3 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 ; m ( 5 ) 7 . 1 - 8 . 864 m ( 2 ) 2 . 9 ; s ( 2 ) 3 . 4 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 3 ; m ( 3 ) 7 . 0 - 7 . 365 m ( 2 ) 3 . 5 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 6 ; s ( 4 ) 7 . 766 t ( 3 ) 1 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 1 . 4 - 1 . 7 ; m ( 2 ) 2 . 0 - 2 . 3 ; m ( 2 ) 2 . 9 - 3 . 2 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 2 - 4 . 567 m ( 4 ) 3 . 3 - 3 . 9 ; m ( 4 ) 4 . 5 - 5 . 5 ; m ( 4 ) 7 . 5 - 7 . 968 m ( 2 ) 3 . 1 - 3 . 3 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 5 - 4 . 7 ; s ( 2 ) 8 . 5 ; s ( 1 ) 9 . 169 m ( 2 ) 3 . 7 - 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 - 4 . 7 ; m ( 8 ) 7 . 2 - 8 . 2 ; s ( 1 ) 9 . 470 m ( 2 ) 3 . 7 - 4 . 0 ; m ( 2 ) 4 . 4 - 4 . 7 ; m ( 8 ) 7 . 6 - 8 . 2 ; s ( 1 ) 9 . 5______________________________________ the remaining examples relate to the pesticidal use of the compounds of this invention . in all these examples a stock solution for the compounds were prepared at 3000 ppm by dissolving 0 . 3 gram of the compound to be tested in 10 ml of acetone and adding 90 ml of distilled water plus four drops of ethoxylated sorbitan monolaurate , or a similar suitable wetting agent . for each example that follows , this stock solution was used and the specified dilutions made . all the tests discussed below , which involved treatment with compounds of this invention at concentrations of 3000 to 500 ppm were always repeated with controls , in which the active compound was not provided , to permit a comparison upon which the percent control was calculated . one day before treatment , a &# 34 ; fig8 &# 34 ; configuration of tree tanglefoot was applied to each of two cowpea primary leaves , one from each of two plants in a pot . in each figure , the circle nearer the stem was designated for the mite ovicide / larvicide test and the circle further from the stem was designated for the mite adulticide test . groups of adult mites ( tetranychus urticae koch ) were transferred into ovicide circles one day before treatment and the females were allowed to deposit eggs until one hour before treatment when the adults were removed . plants were sprayed to run off with a 1000 ppm solution diluted from the 3000 ppm stock solution . one day following treatment , groups of approximately 25 adult mites were transferred into the adulticide rings . five days later these rings were examined for live mites remaining on the leaves . the percent control was estimated based on the number of mites surviving on the check plants . nine days following treatment the ovicide / larvicide rings were examined for hatched eggs and living immature mites . the percent control was estimated based on the number of eggs hatching and immature mites surviving on the check plants . when the treatment effect was to eggs , control was designated as ovicidal ( o ); when the treatment effect was to immatures , control was designated as larvicidal ( l ). results of the mite adulticide ( mi ) and ovicide / larvicide ( miovl ) tests are presented in tables i and ii . the stock solution of 3000 ppm was diluted to 1000 ppm . one pot containing approximately 20 mars variety rice seedlings was treated with each formulation by spraying with a spray atomizer . one day after treatment plants were covered with a tubular cage and twenty adult rice delphacides , sogatodes orizicola , were transferred into each cage . five days after transferring , counts were made of the surviving planthoppers in each pot and percent control was estimated . results of the testing of rice planthoppers ( rph ) are presented in tables i and ii . the stock solution of 3000 ppm was used for this test . for each compound , 0 . 2 ml was pipetted onto the surface of each of 5 diet cells , allowed to spread over the surfaces and air dried for two hours . then a second instar helicoverpa virescens larva was introduced into each cell . after 14 days , the number of living larvae was determined for each treatment and percent control , corrected by abbott &# 39 ; s formula , was calculated . the results of the testing of tobacco budworms ( tb ) are given in tables i and ii . a solution of 1000 ppm was prepared by dissolving 0 . 015 g of the compound to be tested in 2 ml of acetone and adding 13 ml of distilled water plus 1 drop of ethoxylated sorbitan monolaurate . cheesecloth on which budworms had oviposited eggs 1 - 2 days before treatment was cut into pieces , each containing 40 - 80 eggs . these pieces were immersed for 1 minute in the solution . after 5 days , the numbers of hatched and unhatched eggs were counted and an adjusted percent control determined . the results are given in tables i and ii . a solution of 500 ppm was applied by foliar spray to infested host plants , and an estimated percent control was determined at 5 days after treatment . either green peach aphid ( gpa ) on tomato or corn leaf aphid ( cla ) on barley was evaluated . the results are given below : table iv______________________________________aphid tests percent controlcompound no . gpa cla______________________________________ 5 100 7 10010 10011 10012 9517 9819 10022 9924 10025 9930 100______________________________________ the test results demonstrate surprising and unexpected efficacy of the compounds of the instant invention as mite adulticides and mite ovicide / larvicides . the compositions were also potent in the control of insect pests including but not limited to rice planthoppers , tobacco budworms , and aphids . it is apparent that various modifications may be made in the formulation and application of the compounds of this invention without departing from the inventive concepts as defined in the following claims . | 0 |
with reference to the figures , wherein like reference characters indicate like elements throughout the several views and , in particular , with reference to fig1 a panel 10 has an elongated and generally planar body 11 , a smooth inner surface 15 and anterior and posterior terminal ends . a plurality of t - shaped legs or flanges 20 extend perpendicularly from an outer surface 25 of body 11 . upon installation as described below , t - shaped flanges 20 stiffen panel 10 by increasing panel 10 &# 39 ; s flexural rigidity and may also anchor panel 10 to a grout layer ( not shown ). parallel and adjacent to outer surface 25 is a planar wall 35 having an inner wall surface 36 and an outer wall surface 37 . planar wall 35 is integrally formed with outer surfaces of t - shaped flanges 20 and extends the entire width of panel 10 . in this fashion , a number of interior channels 45 are bounded by outer surface 25 , first and second t - shaped flanges 20 and inner wall surface 36 . interior channels 45 extend the length of panel 10 . with reference to fig2 opposing edges of panel 10 each include a locking mechanism 50 . locking mechanism 50 includes a retainer 55 having a generally u - shaped cross - section , and a terminal end 60 . terminal end 60 includes a back - swept retaining flange 65 projecting a short distance toward an opposing sidewall of retainer 55 . retainer 55 may be offset from a horizontal plane defined by inner surface 15 of panel 10 creating a notch 70 . upon installation as discussed below , edges of two adjacent panels 10 may be secured with a joiner strip 75 . with reference to fig3 joiner strip 75 is formed into an elongated strip and includes a horizontal member 80 with two vertical members 85 located on opposing sides of a vertical centerline 86 bisecting horizontal member 80 . each vertical member 85 is generally perpendicular to horizontal member 80 and includes a retaining clasp 90 projecting toward vertical centerline 86 . as illustrated in fig4 installation of two panels 10 is performed by positioning two panels 10 adjacent one another and forcing each vertical member 85 of joiner strip 75 over a retaining flange 65 of a locking member 50 . in this fashion , retaining clasps 90 and retaining flanges 65 cooperate to lock and secure each panel 10 . additionally , horizontal member 80 of joiner strip 75 fits into notch 70 of inner surface 15 resulting in a smooth and continuous inner surface throughout the length of the pipe liner . in the preferred construction , panel 10 , including body 11 , t - shaped flanges 20 , wall 35 , locking mechanism 50 and joiner strip 75 are manufactured from extruded unplasticized polyvinylchloride ( upvc ) or high density polyethylene although any suitably flexible and durable material may also be used . preferably , grout has a low viscosity prior to curing and should be able to flow freely through relatively small channels . grout should also be chemically compatible with the material from which panel 10 is formed . when cured , grout should have an elastic modulus much higher than the material from which panel 10 is formed ( greater than 400 , 000 psi ). grout should preferably be formed from widely available and low cost materials such as portland cement , fly ash or lime , water and superplasticizer . pipes may be lined with a layer of panels 10 in a number of different configurations . for example , extensive pipe degradation may require lining a pipe &# 39 ; s entire inner surface . alternatively , less extensive pipe degradation may require lining only a portion of a pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface . these two alternatives are discussed below for illustrative purposes . to line a pipe &# 39 ; s entire inner surface , an elongated length of panel 10 may be passed through a suitable opening in the pipe . panel 10 may then be curved around the pipe &# 39 ; s interior surface in a continuous spiral such that terminal ends 40 of t - shaped legs 20 ( fig1 ) face the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface . adjacent edges of each panel 10 winding are secured together as described above , resulting in a smooth and continuous lining substantially conforming to the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface . in actual application , an elongated length of panel 10 would normally consist of several 200 foot lengths which are spliced together in the pipe . such splices must allow the flow of grout to be pumped into the entire lining . such splices would , therefore , include a plurality of individual couplings shaped as injectors on both ends . ( see fig9 , and fig6 .) following panel 10 &# 39 ; s installation , exposed ends of interior channel 45 located at a posterior terminal end of panel 10 are closed with a posterior plug 95 . with respect to fig5 through 7 , posterior plug 95 includes projections 96 configured complementary to posterior terminal end of panel 10 and seals the corresponding ends of each interior channel 45 . posterior plug 95 also includes an air escape valve 100 for allowing air to exit from each interior channel 45 when grout is injected as described below . in a preferred embodiment , air escape valve 100 may be an end - cock allowing air to escape from interior channels 45 and which may be manually closed to prevent grout from escaping when interior channels 45 are full of grout and no air bubbles are observed in the grout flow . alternatively , air escape valve 100 may be a plug or cap configured complementary to posterior terminal end of panel 10 . this version of air escape valve 100 is installed after grout completely fills each interior channel 45 . grout is injected into interior channels 45 following the installation of posterior plug 95 . grout is injected into interior channels 45 by means of a manifold 105 . as shown in fig8 through 10 , manifold 105 includes injectors 110 configured to fit tightly within an anterior terminal end of panel 10 and which communicate with each interior channel 45 . manifold 105 further includes a receiving tube 115 for coupling with a flexible hose ( not shown ) through which grout is pumped . grout is pumped from an external reservoir , through the flexible hose and through manifold 105 into each interior channel 45 until each interior channel 45 has been completely filled with grout . when each interior channel 45 has been completely filled , manifold 105 is then left in place or is replaced with an anterior plug to prevent grout from leaking out of each interior channel 45 . the anterior plug is configured similar to posterior plug 95 , except the anterior plug does not have an air escape assembly . the grout is then allowed to cure , i . e . solidify and harden . in this fashion , the entire pipe is lined with a smooth and continuous upvc layer having an inner layer of grout . additionally , an annulus is formed between the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface and wall outer surface 37 of wall 35 . an additional layer of grout may then be injected into the annulus between the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface and wall outer surface 37 . t - shaped flanges 20 become anchored to this second grout layer and panel 10 is thereby securely positioned . the hydraulic head pressure of this second grout layer is supported by the first grout layer and the first grout layer &# 39 ; s weight also increases the allowable vertical rise of first layer of the second grout without &# 34 ; floating &# 34 ; the liner . in contrast to lining a pipe &# 39 ; s entire inner surface as discussed above , it may be desirable to line only portions of the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface . to line a portion of a pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface , a number of panel 10 segments are first cut to a predetermined length . each segment is then curved ( circumferential ) around the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface such that terminal ends 40 of t - shaped flanges 20 face the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface . the ends of these segments are then secured at the lower extremes of the portion of the pipe to be lined by means of fasteners , i . e ., mechanical anchors , nails , j - hooks or any other means of supporting the segments . adjacent edges of each panel 10 segment are secured together as described above , resulting in a smooth and continuous lining inside the pipe . depending on the type of fastener used to anchor the panels 10 , the necessary steps as would be know to one of skill in the art should be taken to prevent the integrity of the annulus of the panels 10 from being compromised . in other words , sufficient measures should be taken to prevent the panels 10 from being punctured by the fasteners , or if punctured , to seal the annulus of the panels 10 , whereby grout does not leak out of the panels 10 . following installation of the lining , the posterior terminal end of each panel 10 segment is closed with posterior plug 95 as described above . grout is then injected into each panel 10 segment and cured as described above . manifold 105 may also be replaced with the anterior plug . in this fashion , a portion of the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface is lined with a smooth and continuous upvc layer . again , a gap is formed between the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface and wall outer surface 37 . an additional layer of grout may then be injected between the pipe &# 39 ; s inner surface and wall outer surface 37 . t - shaped flanges 20 become anchored to this second grout layer and the liner is thereby securely positioned . the hydraulic head pressure of this second grout layer is resisted by the first grout layer . in this manner , a lining for an inner surface of a pipe is formed having a smooth inner surface , t - shaped flanges 20 extending perpendicularly from outer surface 25 and having a number of interior channels 45 . additionally , a cavity is formed between the inner surface of the pipe and outer wall surface 37 . this liner may have interior channels 45 filled with grout and anterior and posterior terminal ends enclosed by the anterior plug and posterior plug 95 respectively . additionally , the liner may also have the annulus between the inner surface of the pipe and outer wall surface 37 filled with grout . finally , the liner may have anterior and posterior terminal ends enclosed by a modification of the anterior plug and posterior plug 95 . in order to reinforce individual panels used to line a pipe , such as the extruded plastic strips disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 963 , 211 or 5 , 145 , 281 or the lining panel 10 described above , stiffening panels ( as will be described hereinafter ) may be inserted between the intermediate flanges of the extruded plastic strips from the &# 39 ; 211 or &# 39 ; 281 patents , or the t - shaped legs or flanges 20 of the panel 10 . only for purposes of describing the structure and application of the stiffening panels , the following discussion will be based on attaching the stiffening panels to the panel 10 having internal channels 45 as described above . however , the stiffening panel of the present invention may be used and applied to the use of the extruded plastic strips disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 963 , 211 and 5 , 145 , 281 , wherein no internal channels for grout are built into the strips , or other similar structures in the same manner and with equal effectiveness . as shown in fig1 , a first embodiment of a stiffening element 200 according to the present invention incorporates a hollow , main channel portion 201 that is generally square or rectangular in shape so as to match the shape and dimensions of the space defined by the t - shaped flanges 20 , the terminal ends 40 and the outer wall surfaces 37 of a panel 10 into which the stiffening element 200 will be inserted . further , the main channel portion 201 is formed to extend the length of panel 10 or shorter . for additional support / stiffness or for anchoring in surrounding grout , a t - shaped flange 203 may optionally be formed along a top surface 205 of the main channel portion 201 and to extend the length of the main channel portion . in the application of the stiffening panel 200 , as shown in fig1 , a plurality of such panels are each inserted ( such as by press - fitting or force - fitting ) into the spaces defined by the t - shaped flanges 20 , the terminal ends 40 and the outer wall surfaces 37 of a panel 10 . when properly positioned , the upper corner portions 207a , 207b of the main channel portion 201 are fitted under the terminal ends 40 of the t - shaped flanges 20 , whereby the main channel portion 201 of each stiffening panel 200 is fixedly positioned in the panel 10 . grout can be fed into the hollow , main channel portion using conventional techniques or even the manifold 105 illustrated in fig8 - 10 , before or after each stiffening panel 200 is connected to the panel 10 . in a second embodiment of the invention , as shown in fig1 , the stiffening panel 200 &# 39 ; also incorporates a hollow , main channel portion 201 that is generally square or rectangular in shape so as to match the shape and dimensions of the space defined by the t - shaped flanges 20 , the terminal ends 40 and the outer wall surfaces 37 of a panel 10 into which the stiffening element 200 is inserted . in addition , a hollow , upper channel portion 209 is fixedly positioned above the main channel portion 201 . the upper channel portion 209 is also generally square or rectangular in shape . in the embodiment illustrated , the main channel portion 201 is square - shaped , while the upper channel portion 209 is rectangular . however , other combinations as would be known to one of skill in the art would be possible depending on the structure and / or dimensions of the panel 10 and the particular application . the main channel portion 201 and the upper channel portion 209 together are formed to extend the length of panel 10 or shorter . also in the particular embodiment illustrated , the hollow spaces 201a , 209a defined within the main channel portion 201 and the upper channel portion 209 , respectively , are connected via a connecting channel 211 formed in the connecting leg 213 . in other variations of this second embodiment , the main channel portion 201 and the upper channel portion 209 may be formed such that their respective hollow spaces are closed and separate from one another with the connecting leg 213 simply being a solid leg element ( not shown ) fixedly connecting the two portions together . as with the first embodiment , in the application of the stiffening panel 200 &# 39 ; according to this second embodiment , a plurality of such panels as shown in fig1 are each inserted ( e . g ., press - fitting or force - fitting ) into the spaces defined by the t - shaped flanges 20 , the terminal ends 40 and the outer wall surfaces 37 of a panel 10 . when properly positioned , the upper corner portions 207a , 207b of the main channel portion 201 are fitted under the terminal ends 40 of the t - shaped flanges 20 , whereby the main channel portion 201 of each stiffening panel 200 is fixedly connected to the panel 10 . the upper channel portion 209 is positioned atop the terminal ends 40 of the t - shaped flanges 20 . grout can be fed into the hollow , main channel portion 201 , the upper channel portion 209 or both using conventional techniques or the manifold 105 illustrated in fig8 - 10 , before or after being fitted into a panel 10 . when a connecting channel 211 is formed in each stiffening panel 200 &# 39 ;, filling one of the channel portions would automatically fill the other portion with grout . each stiffening panel 200 or 200 &# 39 ; may be formed using extruded pvc material or other similar material . to seal off each panel after being filled with grout , end plugs ( not shown ) that conform to the shape of the ends of the stiffening panels 200 or 200 &# 39 ; are used . when used in connection with the extruded plastic strips disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 963 , 211 and 5 , 145 , 281 , the hollow , main channel portion 201 is formed generally square or rectangular in shape so as to match the shape and dimensions of the space defined by the t - shaped flanges and base of the extruded plastic strip into which the stiffening element 200 is to be inserted . further , the main channel portion 201 is formed to extend the length of strip or shorter . as with the two prior embodiments described above , for additional support / stiffness or for anchoring in surrounding grout , a t - shaped flange 203 may optionally be formed along a top surface 205 of the main channel portion 201 and to extend the length of the main channel portion . alternatively , a hollow , upper channel portion 209 may be fixedly positioned above the main channel portion 201 . the hollow spaces 201a , 209a defined within the main channel portion 201 and the upper channel portion 209 , respectively , may be connected via a connecting channel 211 formed in the connecting leg 213 , or the main channel portion 201 and the upper channel portion 209 may be formed such that their respective hollow spaces are closed and separate from one another with the connecting leg 213 simply being a solid leg element fixedly connecting the two portions together . in the application of the stiffening panel 200 or 200 &# 39 ;, a plurality of such panels are each inserted ( such as by press - fitting or lorce - fitting ) into the spaces defined by the t - shaped flanges 20 and the base of the extruded plastic strip . when properly positioned , the upper corner portions 207a , 207b of the main channel portion 201 are fitted under the t - shaped flanges 20 , whereby the main channel portion 201 of each stiffening panel is fixedly positioned in the extruded plastic strip . in an example operation applying the stiffening panel 200 or 200 &# 39 ; to an extruded plastic strip or a panel 10 , the number and location of stiffening panels used in a strip or panel may vary depending on the requirements of the particular application . for example , as few as two stiffening panels applied to a strip or panel have been found to increase stiffness by a factor of 10 , while using three stiffening panels has been found to increase stiffness an additional 50 %. the stiffening panel 200 or 200 &# 39 ; may be positioned in every other space between the t - shaped flanges 20 , depending on the number of spaces defined on a strip or panel . with the desired number of stiffening panels attached to the strip or panel , grout is pumped / poured / fed into the stiffening panels , and the stiffening panels are subsequently sealed with end plugs . the strip or panel is then immediately positioned in the pipe to be lined and formed into the shape or curvature desired for the application , allowing the grout to harden into position . alternatively , if the application warrants stringent positional , dimensional or shape requirements , the strip or panel with the stiffening panels 200 attached can first be formed or anchored into the desired shape or curvature and then fed with the grout . after the grout hardens , the stiffened strip or panel can be transported into the desired position and installed as a lining in the pipe . in a further embodiment of the invention , a stiffening panel 200 &# 34 ; as shown in fig1 is composed of a single main channel body 215 that is formed to both extend the width of a panel 10 and extend the length of the panel 10 or shorter . along an inner wall 217 of the main channel body 215 , a plurality of channels 219 extending the length of the stiffening panel 200 &# 34 ; are defined to conform and inter - engage with the plurality of t - shaped flanges 20 of the panel 10 . in particular , when the stiffening panel 200 &# 34 ; is inserted ( e . g ., press - fitting or force - fitting ) into the spaces defined by the t - shaped flanges 20 , upper corner portions 221a , 221b of the inner channel portions 221 are fitted under the terminal ends 40 of the t - shaped flanges 20 , whereby the inner channel portions 221 of the main channel body 215 is fixedly connected to the strip or panel . the outer channel portion 223 is positioned atop the terminal ends 40 of the t - shaped flanges 20 . the inner channel portions 221 and the outer channel portion 223 defined in the main channel body 215 are connected via connecting channels 225 formed in the connecting legs 227 . grout can be fed into the hollow , main channel body 215 . to seal off each panel 200 &# 34 ; after being filled with grout , end plugs ( not shown ) that conform to the shape of the ends of the stiffening panels 200 &# 34 ; are used . for additional support / stiffness and for anchoring in surrounding grout , a plurality of t - shaped flanges 229 is formed along an outer surface 231 of the outer channel portion 223 and to extend the length of the main channel body 215 . although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are apparent to those skilled in the art . such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims , unless they depart therefrom . | 1 |
in the following descriptions , the term &# 34 ; magnifier lens &# 34 ; will be used to describe an optical system disclosed and claimed . however , a person skilled in the art will understand it can be used as an eyepiece with other optical components and should not be considered limited to any particular application . note , that since the light can be directed through the lens in any direction , the eye position can be replaced by a galvanometer or a rotating polygon with some minor distortion adjustments . thus , a &# 34 ; magnifier lens &# 34 ; constructed according to the invention could be used for scanner applications . it can also be used as a viewfinder lens in digital cameras to image a scene displayed on an electronic ( preview ) image display to the user &# 39 ; s eye . the terms &# 34 ; front &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; rear &# 34 ; refer to the eye and object side of the magnifier lens , respectively . in the following examples , 10 is the diaphragm of the eye or another instrument and 20 is a cover plate protecting the image display 30 . such cover plate can be easily removed with only a minor modification to the magnifier lenses described below . the embodiments of the invention illustrated by six examples are shown respectively in fig1 , 5 , 7 , 9 , and 11 , and are set fourth in tables 1 through 6 . in the tables and the drawings , the surfaces r are numbered by subscripts from the front side of the lens to the rear side of the lens . the thickness t of the lens elements and the spacings s between elements are also numbered from front to rear . for example , s 1 corresponds to the first air space and s 2 to the second air airspace . in the tables , spaces and thicknesses are listed on the same line as the surface preceding the space or thickness , as the case may be . all indices n d are for the helium d line of the spectrum at a wavelength λ d of 587 . 6 nm . the symbol v d stands for the abbe number ( also known as a v - number ) of the lens material . the thickness and the spacings provided in the tables are in millimeters . all of the embodiments have a focal length of 16 mm and accept a field angle of about +/- 13 degrees . a magnifier lens 100 of a first embodiment of the present invention is depicted in fig1 . this magnifier lens includes three lens elements e 1 , e 2 , e 3 the front lens element e 1 is a biconvex lens element . its front , eye side surface is aspheric . this aspheric surface controls third and higher order monochromatic aberrations . the middle lens element e 2 is a negative power meniscus lens element . it controls lateral and axial color aberrations . the convex surface of this lens element is a diffractive surface with aspherical components . this diffractive surface minimizes secondary lateral color , provides field correction and helps balance axial color aberration . the concave surface of the middle lens element e 2 faces the front lens element e 1 and is cemented to it , forming a cemented lens component . this cemented lens component is an achromatized positive power doublet . the diffractive surface of the a negative power meniscus lens element e 2 contributes positive power to the cemented doublet , allowing the front lens element to become less powerful . this , in turn allows the front lens element to have weaker radii of curvature than it would have otherwise , making it easier to manufacture . both lens elements e 1 , e 2 forming the cemented lens components are plastic and can be easily molded . the rear lens element e 3 is a meniscus lens element , concave towards the rear side -- i . e ., the display or object side . this lens element e 3 is made of plastic and can be easily molded . its index of refraction is 1 . 492 . the concave surface of this meniscus lens element e 3 is aspheric . this aspheric surface is positioned within 5 mm of an object to be viewed , such as the image display 30 . the benefits of this aspheric surface are described in the cross - referenced patent application ser . no . 08 / 562 , 666 . the focal length fl 1 of the cemented lens component of the first illustrative embodiment is about 18 . 9 mm and its power is about 0 . 053 . the focal length f 3 of the rear lens element e 3 of the first illustrative embodiment is about - 69 . 76 millimeters and its power is about - 0 . 0143 . the ratio of two focal length fl 1 / f 3 is - 0 . 271 . thus , the majority of optical power in the magnifier lens 100 of the first embodiment of the present invention comes from the cemented lens component . a magnifier lens 200 of the second embodiment is depicted in fig3 . the magnifier lens 200 is similar to that of the first embodiment , but it utilizes a higher index material ( n d = 1 . 734 ) for its rear lens element e 3 . this improves aberration control , especially astigmatism . the focal length fl 1 of the cemented lens component of the second illustrative embodiment is about 19 . 8 mm . the focal length f 3 of the rear lens element e 3 of the second illustrative embodiment is about - 66 . 6 mm . the ratio of two focal length fl 1 / f 3 is - 0 . 297 . a magnifier lens 300 of a third embodiment of the present invention is depicted in fig5 . this magnifier lens also includes three lens elements e 1 , e 2 , e 3 . the front lens element e 1 is a biconvex lens element . its front , eye side surface is aspheric . this aspheric surface controls third and higher order monochromatic aberrations . the middle lens element e 2 is a negative power meniscus lens element . the middle lens element e 2 controls color aberrations . this middle lens element e 2 of the third embodiment is not cemented to any other lens element . it is oriented differently than the middle lens elements of the two previously discussed embodiments -- the convex surface is facing lens element e 1 . the convex surface of this lens element e 2 is a diffractive surface with aspherical components . its function is similar to that of diffractive surfaces of the first and second embodiments . both lens elements e 1 , e 2 are plastic and can be easily molded . the rear lens element e 3 is a meniscus lens element , concave towards the rear side -- i . e ., the object side . it is made of glass with an index n d of 1 . 734 . this relatively high index of refraction minimizes astigmatism . the concave surface of this rear lens element e 3 is aspheric . this surface corrects field curvature , distortion and astigmatism and is positioned within 5 mm of an object to be viewed , such as the image display 30 . in this third embodiment , the focal length f 1 of the front lens element e 1 is 19 . 8 mm . the focal length f 2 of the middle lens element e 2 is - 20 . 8 mm , and the focal length f 3 of the rear lens element e 3 is 17 . 9 mm . thus , the rear lens element e 3 of this embodiment has positive optical power and is much stronger than its corresponding rear lens elements of the first and second embodiments . a magnifier lens 400 of a fourth embodiment of the present invention is depicted in fig7 . this magnifier lens also includes two lens elements e 1 and e 2 the front lens element e 1 is a biconvex lens element . it is plastic and has an index n d = 1 . 492 and an abbe v - number v d = 57 . 4 . its front , eye side surface is aspheric . this aspheric surface controls third and higher order monochromatic aberrations . the rear surface ( i . e ., the object facing surface ) of the front lens element is a diffractive surface . this diffractive surface controls the third and the higher order aberrations and minimizes lateral color aberration . the rear lens element e 2 is a negative power meniscus lens element . its convex surface is facing lens element e 1 . the concave surface of this rear lens element e 3 is aspheric . this surface corrects field curvature , distortion and astigmatism and is positioned within 5 mm of an object to be viewed , such as the image display 30 . the rear lens element e 2 is plastic and has an index n d of 1 . 564 and the v - number of 32 . 8 . thus , the two lens elements have v - numbers that differ by about 25 . this large difference in v - numbers minimizes axial color aberration . both lens elements el , e 2 are plastic and can be easily molded . in this fourth embodiment , the focal length f 1 of the front lens element e 1 is 17 . 98 mm . the focal length of the rear lens element e 2 is - 66 . 88 mm . the ratio of two focal length f 1 / f 2 is - 0 . 269 . thus , the majority of optical power in the magnifier lens 400 of the fourth embodiment of the present invention comes from the front lens element . a magnifier lens 500 of the fifth embodiment is depicted in fig9 . the magnifier lens 500 is similar to that of the fourth embodiment , but it utilizes a higher index material ( glass , n d = 1 . 805 ) for its rear lens element e 2 . this improves aberration control , especially astigmatism and color . the focal length f 1 of the front lens element of the fifth illustrative embodiment is about 17 . 72 mm . the focal length f 2 of the rear lens element e 2 of the fifth illustrative embodiment is about - 36 . 84 mm . the ratio of two focal lengths f 1 / f 2 is - 0 . 481 . a magnifier lens 600 of the sixth embodiment is depicted in fig1 . the magnifier lens 600 is also similar to that of the fourth embodiment , but its front lens element e 1 is glass . the focal length f 1 of the front lens element e 1 of the sixth illustrative embodiment is about 15 . 71 mm . the focal length f 2 of the rear lens element e 2 of the sixth illustrative embodiment is about - 32 . 92 mm . the ratio of two focal lengths f 1 / f 2 is - 0 . 477 . the magnifier lenses 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 , 500 and 600 have aspheric and diffractive surfaces . the aspheric equation describing these aspheric surfaces is : ## equ1 ## where : x is the distance along the optical axis oa ; c is the reciprocal of the vertex radius of curvature of the curved lens surface ; d through k are aspheric coefficients of 4th , 6th , 8th , 10th , 12th , 14th , 16th , and 18th order . the values of the aspheric coefficients for the various aspheric lens surfaces for the six lens embodiments are provided in tables 1 through 6 . the diffractive surfaces are described by the following phase equation : ## equ2 ## where c 1 , c 2 , c 3 , c 4 and c 5 coefficients for the diffractive surface . fig2 a - 2g , 4a - 4g , 6a - 6g , 8a - 8g , 10a - 10g , 12a - 12g detail the performance of magnifier lenses 100 , 200 , 300 , 400 , 500 and 600 , respectively . included are ray traces for the various field positions , field curvature , distortion and lateral color plots , and the through focus mtf ( modulation transfer function ). more specifically , fig2 a , 4a , 6a , 8a , 10a and 12a are ray intercept plots ( on axis field of view ). fig2 b , 4b , 6b , 8b , 10b and 12b are ray intercept plots for the six lens embodiments at 0 , 0 . 7 , field of view . fig2 c , 4c , 6c , 8c , 10c , and 12c are ray intercept plots for the full field of view . fig2 d - 2f represent astigmatism , distortion and lateral color for the magnifier lens 100 , respectively . fig2 g is a plot of the modulation transfer function . similarly , fig4 d - 4g , 6d - 6g , 8d - 8g , 10d - 10g and 12d - 12g represent astigmatism , distortion lateral color and mtf values for the magnifier lenses of the second through six embodiments , respectively . the mtf curves are plotted against the amount of defocus in millimeters , for a set of tangential ( t ) and radial ( r ) rays for the axis ; 0 . 7 and full field of view , for an object distance at - 1500 millimeters ( measured from surface 10 ), with a 6 mm pupil diameter , at a spacial frequency of 40 . 0 cycles per millimeter . each curve was substantially equally weighted for wavelength of 0 . 620 , 0 . 532 and 0 . 485 microns . the depth of focus is measured at an mtf of 0 . 5 . table 1______________________________________ distance or indexradius thickness nd vd______________________________________10 diaphragm 35 . 0r . sub . 1 asphere 10 . 940 1 . 492 57 . 4r . sub . 2 - 13 . 0000 2 . 000 1 . 564 32 . 8r . sub . 3 - 21 . 2393 * . 300r . sub . 4 10 . 8692 7 . 172 1 . 492 57 . 4r . sub . 5 asphere______________________________________the coefficients for surfaces r . sub . 1 and r . sub . 5 are : surf . r . sub . 1 c = . 071591 d = -. 457721e - 04 f = -. 542308e - 08 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 202331e - 06 g = . 101887e - 09 vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 13 . 9683surf . r . sub . 5 c = . 154784 d = . 629361e - 03 f = -. 834232e - 05 k = 0 . 000000 e = . 944249e - 04 g = . 374004e - 06 vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 6 . 4606 * the coefficients for the diffractive surface r . sub . 3 are : c . sub . 1 = 2 . 0882b - 03 c . sub . 3 = - 1 . 7760e - 09 c . sub . 5 = 0c . sub . 2 = - 5 . 8201e - 06 c . sub . 4 = 0λ . sub . 0 = 532 . 0 nm______________________________________ table 2______________________________________ distance or indexradius thickness nd vd______________________________________10 diaphragm 35 . 0r . sub . 1 asphere 11 . 911 1 . 492 57 . 4r . sub . 2 - 13 . 0000 2 . 000 1 . 564 32 . 8r . sub . 3 - 21 . 0022 * . 3r . sub . 4 10 . 6081 6 . 650 1 . 734 51 . 1r . sub . 5 asphere______________________________________the coefficients for surfaces r . sub . 1 and r . sub . 5 are : surf . r . sub . 1 c = . 066174 d = -. 338879e - 04 f = -. 880154e - 09 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 245240e - 06 g = . 175546e - 10 vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 15 . 1116surf . r . sub . 5 c = . 156204 d = . 536306e - 03 f = . 551321e - 06 k = 0 . 000000 e = . 136368e - 04 g = . 648670e - 07 vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 6 . 4019 * the coefficients for the diffractive surface r . sub . 3 are : c . sub . 1 = 2 . 1177e - 03 c . sub . 3 = 9 . 1723e - 09 c . sub . 5 = 1 . 1957e - 12c . sub . 2 = - 5 . 4417e - 06 c . sub . 4 = 2 . 4296e - 10λ . sub . 0 = 532 . 0 nm______________________________________ table 3______________________________________ distance or indexradius thickness nd vd______________________________________10 diaphragm 35 . 0r . sub . 1 asphere 9 . 173 1 . 492 57 . 4r . sub . 2 - 34 . 7079 . 3r . sub . 3 32 . 3571 * 3 . 862 1 . 564 32 . 8r . sub . 4 7 . 8500 . 476r . sub . 5 8 . 4785 9 . 000 1 . 734 51 . 1r . sub . 6 asphere______________________________________the coefficients for surfaces r . sub . 1 and r . sub . 6 are : surf . r . sub . 1 c = . 080183 d = -. 585403e - 04 f = . 361280e - 08 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 302823e - 06 g = -. 948954e - 10 vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 12 . 4714surf . r . sub . 6 c = . 076930 d = . 121680e - 02 f = . 358288e - 05 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 412049e - 04 g = -. 650446e - 07 vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 12 . 9988 * the coefficients for the diffractive surface r . sub . 3 are : c . sub . 1 = 1 . 5060e - 03 c . sub . 3 = - 1 . 8330e - 07 c . sub . 5 = 0c . sub . 2 = 1 . 0030e - 05 c . sub . 4 = 1 . 2055e - 09λ . sub . 0 = 532 . 0 nm______________________________________ table 4______________________________________ distance or indexradius thickness nd vd______________________________________10 diaphragm 35 . 0r . sub . 1 asphere 9 . 977 1 . 492 57 . 4r . sub . 2 - 28 . 4048 * 1 . 759r . sub . 3 23 . 4922 10 . 000 1 . 564 32 . 8r . sub . 4 asphere______________________________________the coefficients for surfaces r . sub . 1 and r . sub . 4 are : surf . r . sub . 1 c = . 080449 d = -. 589619e - 04 f = . 126216e - 07 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 860812e - 06 g = -. 184134e - 09vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 12 . 4303surf . r . sub . 4 c = . 081440 d = . 177622e - 02 f = . 591441e - 05 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 677103e - 04 g = -. 778871e - 07vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 12 . 2790 * the coefficients for the diffractive surface r . sub . 2 are : c . sub . 1 = 2 . 0640e - 03 c . sub . 3 = 9 . 6018e - 09 c . sub . 5 = - 2 . 5864e - 12c . sub . 2 = 2 . 0200e - 06 c . sub . 4 = 3 . 0596e - 10λ . sub . 0 = 532 . 0 nm______________________________________ table 5______________________________________ distance or indexradius thickness nd vd______________________________________10 diaphragm 35 . 0r . sub . 1 asphere 10 . 000 1 . 492 57 . 4r . sub . 2 - 22 . 9432 * 1 . 962r . sub . 3 29 . 4381 10 . 000 1 . 805 25 . 4r . sub . 4 asphere______________________________________the coefficients for surfaces r . sub . 1 and r . sub . 4 are : surf . r . sub . 1 c = . 082888 d = . 751750e - 04 f = . 994988e - 08 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 857001e - 06 g = -. 177057e - 09vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 12 . 0645surf . r . sub . 4 c = . 089849 d = . 134474e - 02 f = . 855280e - 05 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 634209e - 04 g = -. 280603e - 06vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 11 . 1298 * the coefficients for the diffractive surface r . sub . 2 are : c . sub . 1 = - 1 . 9373e - 03 c . sub . 3 = 1 . 0324e - 07 c . sub . 5 = 7 . 4082e - 12c . sub . 2 = 7 . 7669e - 06 c . sub . 4 = 1 . 4486e - 09λ . sub . 0 = 532 . 0 nm______________________________________ table 6______________________________________ distance or indexradius thickness nd vd______________________________________10 diaphragm 35 . 0r . sub . 1 asphere 9 . 677 1 . 589 61 . 3r . sub . 2 - 27 . 4509 . 25r . sub . 3 59 . 2756 * 10 . 000 1 . 564 32 . 8r . sub . 4 asphere______________________________________the coefficients for surfaces r . sub . 1 and r . sub . 4 are : surf . r . sub . 1 c = . 081755 d = . 480967e - 04 f = . 131906e - 07 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 105922e - 05 g = -. 186885e - 09vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 12 . 2316surf . r . sub . 4 c = . 085831 d = . 111194e - 02 f = . 237160e - 05 k = 0 . 000000 e = -. 131699e - 04 g = -. 241665e - 07vertex radius ( 1 / c ) = 11 . 6508 * the coefficients for the diffractive surface r . sub . 3 are : c . sub . 1 = - 2 . 2262e - 03 c . sub . 3 = 9 . 0100e - 07 c . sub . 5 = - 9 . 3902e - 11c . sub . 2 = 2 . 1628e - 05 c . sub . 4 = 1 . 5392e - 08λ . sub . 0 = 532 . 0 nm______________________________________ the above examples satisfy a special need for a magnifier lenses having a relatively large stop distance of more than twice the focal length ( providing an exceptionally good eye relief ). the magnifier lenses are light weight and provide exceptional performance for their cost . the magnifier lenses exhibit superior quality and are color corrected over the entire visible special range while providing a half field of view of at least 10 degrees and a magnification of 16 ×. the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to a preferred embodiment thereof , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
referring to fig1 an object storage / discharge unit 10 includes a plurality of object storage sections 13 and discharge units 14 . object storage section 13 has a storage frame 21 which is attached to a main frame 12 . storage frame 21 contains a plurality of objects a , stacked one upon another . a bottom of object storage section 13 is bounded by a pair of load receiving platforms 32 ( only one load receiving platform is visible in fig1 ). a supporting surface 33 of load receiving platforms 32 supports a bottommost object a 1 . a guide member 22 is attached to a front portion of storage frame 21 . a discharge port 23 at the forward end of load receiving platform 32 is formed between supporting surface 33 of load receiving platforms 32 and guide member 22 . discharge port 23 permits only bottommost object a 1 to pass through it at one time . a chute 16 , attached to the front end of discharge unit 14 , receives the discharged objects a . storage frame 21 is mounted in a position on main frame 12 inclined toward discharge port 23 . a lifting means 61 is mounted at the rear end of the bottom of object storage section 13 , opposite discharge port 23 . lifting means 61 includes an air cylinder 62 that serves as an actuator . a lifting member 63 is connected to air cylinder 62 . lifting member 63 is advanced or retracted by operation of air cylinder 62 . lifting member 63 includes a horizontal pushing surface 65 for pushing bottommost object a 1 in discharge direction f when lifting member 63 advances . lifting member 63 also includes an inclined lifting surface 64 which contacts a rear bottom edge of a next bottommost object a 2 , thereby lifting next bottommost object a 2 upward as lifting member 63 is advanced . lifting means 61 separates the bottommost object a 1 from the remainder of the stack by lifting object a 2 and all other objects a that are positioned above bottommost object a 1 upward when lifting member 63 advances . discharge unit 14 includes a vertically mounted frame board 31 . the pair of load receiving platforms 32 , in the shape of narrow plates , extend in discharge direction f . load receiving platforms 32 are connected to a top of vertically mounted frame board 31 . the upper surface of each load receiving platform 32 is a supporting surface 33 for receiving the underside of bottommost object a 1 . a chute surface 34 , inclined downward toward chute 16 , is formed at the forward end of each supporting surface 33 . a large timing pulley 36 with a large diameter and a small timing pulley 37 with a smaller diameter are mounted at one side of frame board 31 . large timing pulley 36 and small timing pulley 37 are located at the downstream side and the upstream side , respectively , with respect to discharge direction f . a timing belt 44 is reeved about large timing pulley 36 and small timing pulley 37 . timing belt 44 includes three discharge projections 47 at regular intervals on an outer surface of timing belt 44 . each discharge projection 47 is a square shape having a same width as that of timing belt 44 and a height sufficient to push bottommost object a 1 along discharge direction f when projected above load receiving platforms 32 . instead of a pulley and belt system , a wheel and chain system is considered to be within the scope of this invention . instead of a pulley and belt system , a wheel and chain system , cable system , or similar structure is also considered to be within the scope of this invention . referring to fig2 a slot 35 extends in discharge direction f between load receiving platforms 32 . large timing pulley 36 has a toothed gear portion 38 formed along an outermost circumferential surface thereof . a hub 39 at a center of timing pulley 36 is connected to a driving shaft 40 that extends into frame board 31 . a rotating axis of driving shaft 40 is substantially horizontal . the upper part of large timing pulley 36 faces an underside of slot 35 ( a plane extending from the underside of the load receiving platforms 32 ) in close vicinity thereto . small timing pulley 37 includes a toothed gear portion 41 along an outermost circumferential surface thereof . small timing pulley 37 further includes first and second collar portions 42 forming opposed side walls of toothed gear portion 41 . small pulley 37 includes a hub 43 at a center thereof . hub 43 rotatably supports small pulley 37 via a horizontal supporting shaft that is supported by frame board 31 . an upper end of small pulley 37 projects through slot 35 . a gear portion 45 , on an inner surface of timing belt 44 , engages toothed gear portions 38 and 41 of large and small timing pulleys 36 and 37 , respectively . a top run 46 of timing belt 44 stretches between the upper parts of large and small timing pulleys 36 and 37 . top run 46 fits in slot 35 to travel parallel to supporting surface 33 . a motor 48 and a gear mechanism 49 are mounted on the side of frame board 31 opposite large timing pulley 36 . gear mechanism 49 transmits the rotational driving force of motor 48 to driving shaft 40 . supporting surface 33 includes a hole 51 in one of load receiving platforms 32 . a detection piece 52 projects above and retracts into hole 51 . detection piece 52 retracts into hole 51 when pushed down by object a on supporting surface 33 . detection piece 52 projects above supporting surface 33 in the absence of object a on supporting surface 33 . an emptiness detection sensor 53 , below cutout hole 51 , detects the presence of an object by depression of detection piece 52 below load receiving platform 32 . when detection piece 52 projects above load receiving platform 32 , emptiness detection sensor 53 detects the absence of an object . this may be interpreted as an indication that object storage section 13 is empty . chute surface 34 includes a cutout portion 54 which houses a discharge detection sensor 55 . discharge detection sensor 55 optically detects the discharge of an object a from discharge unit 14 . a discharge projection sensor 57 , mounted on a bracket 56 , attached to the supporting shaft of timing pulley 37 , optically detects the passing of one of discharge projections 47 of timing belt 44 . referring to fig3 an object picking system 100 includes an object conveyor 11 . an essentially a - shaped main frame 12 straddles object conveyor 11 . a plurality of object storage / discharge units 10 , as previously described , are mounted along the sides of main frame 12 . each object storage / discharge unit 10 houses a stack containing a plurality of objects a . objects a are sorted in groups according to their types and stacked one upon another in separate object storage / discharge units 10 along main frame 12 . discharge units 14 are covered by covers 15 . discharge units 14 discharge the bottommost object a from among the objects contained in an object storage section 13 of each object storage / discharge unit 10 . chute 16 directs discharged objects a onto object conveyor 11 . chute 16 is mounted between each row of discharge units 14 and a side edge of object conveyor 11 which faces the row of discharge units 14 . a container conveyor 18 , located below an end of the conveying path of belt conveyor 11 , preferably extends perpendicularly to belt conveyor 11 . container conveyor 18 feeds containers 17 , each of which will house objects discharged by each cycle of retrieval , to a loading position below the end of the conveying path of object conveyor 11 . referring to fig4 chutes 16 direct discharged objects a to the center of object conveyor 11 of object picking system 100 . chutes 16 also ensure that objects a do not roll off of or are not pushed off of the sides of object conveyor 11 . referring to fig5 a controller 71 of object picking system 100 receives a signal from emptiness detection sensor 53 , discharge detection sensor 55 , and discharge projection sensor 57 of each object storage / discharge device 10 . an encoder 50 detects the degree of rotation of motor 48 and sends a signal representing the degree of rotation to controller 71 for each object storage / discharge device 10 . controller 71 calculates the degree of rotational movement of timing belt 44 based on the output of encoder 50 . based on signals input from encoder 50 , controller 71 determines a current degree of rotation of timing belt 44 and outputs a control signal to motor 48 to rotate timing belt 44 with respect to its standard position , i . e ., the position when one of discharge projections 47 of timing belt 44 is in discharge port 23 . controller 71 also sends a control signal to an electromagnetic valve 72 to control the direction of air flow for air cylinder 62 ( fig1 ). air cylinder 62 moves lifting member 63 forward or rearward with respect to its initial retracted position . referring to fig6 a , in the stand - by state ready to discharge , lifting member 63 is at its initial retracted position . in this state , the bottommost object a 1 from among a stack of a plurality of objects a contained in each object storage section 13 contacts load receiving platforms 32 , bearing the weight of all other objects a stacked thereon . one of discharge projections 47 of timing belt 44 is at its standard position in the discharge port 23 on the down stream side of object a 1 , thereby preventing bottommost object a 1 from slipping forward out of discharge port 23 . to discharge a bottommost object a 1 from object storage / discharge unit 10 , air cylinder 62 is actuated to advance lifting member 63 into object storage section 13 . lifting member 63 urges the rear end of next bottommost object a 2 forward and upward . bottommost object a 1 is thus relieved of most of the weight of the remainder of objects a . the forward urging tends to wedge the forward end of object a 2 against storage frame 21 , thereby preventing it from moving downward during subsequent operations . referring to fig6 b , motor 48 rotates timing belt 44 . discharge projection 47 located upstream from bottommost object a 1 with respect to discharge direction f contacts the rear of bottommost object a 1 . referring to fig6 c , discharge projection 47 pushes bottommost object a 1 toward discharge port 23 . discharge detection sensor 55 detects bottommost object a 1 being pushed towards discharge port 23 . referring to fig6 d , when bottommost object a 1 is pushed out of the bottom of object storage section 13 with the next discharge projection 47 not yet reaching its standard position inside discharge port 23 , air cylinder 62 retracts lifting member 63 . with the forward wedging of lifting member 63 removed , next bottommost object a 2 lowers into the position of bottommost object a 1 . referring to fig6 e , when original bottommost object a 1 is pushed out of the bottom of object storage section 13 , discharge projection 47 has almost reached the standard position . discharge projection detection sensor 57 detects the passing of discharge projection 47 , thereby enabling the next discharge action . when only a single one of objects a is to be discharged , or when the last of a series of objects a is discharged , motor 48 halts with discharge projection 47 at its standard position . this returns the system to its stand - by state waiting for the next cycle of object discharge . referring to fig6 f , when a plurality of objects a are successively discharged , air cylinder 62 is actuated cyclically to advance and retract lifting member 63 , thereby raising objects a positioned above bottommost object a 1 and to drop the next of objects a onto the position from which it is discharged . bottommost objects a 1 , a 2 , . . . are successively discharged following the same procedure described above , with motor 48 continuously running . after a desired number of objects a are discharged , motor 48 halts with discharge projection 47 , which has finished the discharging action , at the standard position inside discharge port 23 . this returns the system to the stand - by state waiting for the next cycle of object discharging . by continuously turning timing belt 44 as described above , objects a are successively discharged at high speed . furthermore , stopping discharge projection 47 at its standard position inside discharge port 23 , prevents objects a from spilling out of discharge port 23 even though load receiving platforms 32 are inclined toward belt conveyor 11 . thus , erroneous retrieval of objects a is prevented . when discharging an object , as lifting member 63 lifts next bottommost object a 2 , bottommost object a 1 is relieved of the weight of the other objects a stacked thereon . therefore , not only is bottommost object a 1 consistently discharged with a minimal ejection force , but it is also protected from damage such as surface scrapes , peeling of printing from its surface , and tearing of its wrapping . when discharge projection detection sensor 57 fails to detect the passage of discharge projection 47 at the proper time , controller 71 detects this as an abnormal condition . furthermore , where discharging detection sensor 55 fails to detect object a or where the presence of object a continues to be detected , controller 71 determines that object a is stuck along the discharge route and alerts the operator . referring to fig6 a and 7 , a traveling speed of discharge projection 47 during the discharge cycle is explained . when timing belt 44 starts revolving at the start of a discharge cycle , the traveling speed of discharge projection 47 , which has been at a stand - by point p1 located upstream from object a with respect to discharge direction f , gradually increases and becomes constant at a maximum speed s max . referring now to fig6 b and 7 , at a contact point p2 , discharge projection 47 comes into contact with the object to be discharged , speed is controlled according to a fragility of the object to be discharged . the location of contact point p2 mentioned above varies depending on the length of bottommost object a 1 . in cases where only a single object is to be discharged , discharge projection 47 stops upon reaching standard position p3 in discharge port 23 . on the other hand , in case of successive discharge , discharge projection 47 continues to travel at the maximum speed , thereby permitting the second object and the objects thereafter to be discharged . referring now also to fig5 controller 71 controls the speed of discharge projection 47 at contact point p2 , by controlling motor 48 . objects a are classified beforehand according to their fragility , from level 1 ( the lowest fragility level , i . e ., not easy to break ) to level 4 ( the highest fragility level , i . e ., the most fragile ). when objects a are classified in the level 1 category , they are discharged at the maximum speed s max . when objects a are classified as level 2 through 3 , the speed of discharge projection 47 is reduced before discharge projection 47 comes into contact with bottommost object a 1 at contact point p2 , thereby reducing the impact of contact . when objects a are classified in level 4 , discharge projection 47 stops for a moment as it reaches contact point p2 to reduce the impact of contact to a minimum . by controlling the velocity of discharge projection 47 at contact point p2 as described above , fragile objects a are protected from damage during the discharge cycle . having described the preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments , and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 1 |
the present invention provides a process for oxidizing a particulate metal chloride feed stream with oxygen in a reactor to produce as the reaction products chlorine and metal oxides . this process comprises introducing the feed stream containing particles of the metal chloride into a gas - containing jet to form a small , well - mixed reaction zone . this well - mixed reaction zone results and reactor wall deposits are controlled or eliminated when : ( a ) the feed stream is introduced into the entrainment zone of the jet ; ( b ) the heat content of the jet is at least that sufficient to initiate the oxidization of the metal chloride ; ( c ) the temperature of the feed stream is below a temperature at which the particles of the feed stream become sticky ; ( d ) the feed stream represents at least one half of the total mass flow of the feed stream and the jet ; ( e ) the total momentum of the jet is equal or greater than the total momentum of the feed stream ; and oxygen may be supplied to the reactor through the jet only , through the feed stream only or through both the jet and the feed stream . unreacted oxygen in the product stream may be separated and fed to the reactor as recycle in the feed stream . it is preferred that the total amount of oxygen fed to the reactor be equal to or greater than that needed to oxidize all the oxidizable material in the feed stream . as used herein the term entrainment zone means the region of the jet where the surrounding fluid is drawn into the jet by frictional forces . according to the present invention , the feed stream is positioned relative to the jet so that when the feed stream contacts the jet , the feed stream is swept along in the direction of the jet flow . combined , the jet and the feed stream become a single flow moving in a direction from near the discharge point of the jet to the exit of the reactor . the feed stream may be positioned relative to the jet in various ways so that it is entrained into the jet . for example , the feed stream may be introduced as a co - axial stream or streams surrounding a central jet , or the feed stream may be introduced as a central stream or streams surrounded by jets . the inlet or inlets through which the feed stream is delivered to the reactor are located near the nozzle of the jet by which the feed stream is to be entrained . in designing a reactor to be used in the present process , the angle and distance between the location of the jet nozzle and the feed stream inlet may be determined by experiment or by calculation so that for a given geometry and flow rates proper entrainment will be achieved . generally , there will be some angle between the feed stream and the jet . it is preferred that this angle be from 0 degrees to about 110 degrees . as used herein the term sticky , when used to refer to the metal chlorides or metal oxide products , means that the ratio of the temperature kelvin of the particular particles to their melting point temperature kelvin is equal to or less than about ⅔ . as used herein the term jet refers to a gas flow delivered to the reactor through a nozzle that is generally smaller in diameter than the pipe feeding into the nozzle . the size difference or diameter difference in the jet nozzle and the pipe result in an increase in the gas flow velocity as it passes through the nozzle into the reactor . the jet may be discharged into the reactor through one or more nozzles in the reactor . as used herein , the term feed stream means the stream containing the particles of metal chloride to be oxidized . this stream may also include oxygen , air , oxides of carbon , or other gases and particles of carbon , metal oxides , or other solids . in practice of the present invention , the feed stream may be a process stream from a chlorinator such as one for the chlorination of titanium - containing ore . thus , the feed stream may contain a mixture of a variety of metal chlorides , particles of carbon or coke , metal oxides , silica , and the like . oxygen or air separated from the reactor product stream may be recycled into the reactor with the feed stream . other types of particles may be fed to the reactor as a part of the feed stream including particles , which alone or in combination with the metal chloride , function as catalysts or otherwise enhance the rate or extent of the oxidation reaction . for example , in the case of the oxidation of iron chloride , such particles include iron oxide or complexes of iron chloride with sodium chloride . the feed stream may be introduced into the jet from one or from more locations in the reactor . the reactor may also contain one or more jets . these jets in combination with one or more feed streams may produce one or more reaction zones in the reactor . as used herein the term mass flow means the total mass entering the reactor per unit time . the term mass flow , as used herein , also encompasses the term mass rate , which is used in the fluid dynamic analysis of continuous flow processes . mass rate is the mass flow divided by time and has units , for example , of kilograms per hour per hour or mass per time squared . mass enters the reactor by way of the jet and feed stream . each of these represents a component of the total mass . that is , during a particular unit of time , usually an hour , the total mass flow to a reaction zone is the sum of the mass of material delivered to the reaction zone by the jet plus the sum of the material delivered to the reaction zone by the feed stream . a reactor , according to the present process may , have one or many reaction zones . for example , one reaction zone may be formed by one or more jets associated with one or more feed streams ; or several reaction zones may be formed by sets of associated jets and feed streams . as used herein the term momentum means the product of the mass times its velocity . as used herein the term momentum also encompasses the term momentum rate , which is used in fluid dynamic analysis of continuous processes . momentum rate is momentum divided by time and has units , for example , of kilograms meters per second squared . both the jet and the feed stream have momentum . the total momentum of each flow , that of the jet and that of the feed stream , includes contributions from both linear and angular components . for example , swirl , an angular motion , may be present in the jet , the feed stream , or both . swirl contributes to mixing and recirculation of particles in the reaction zone . if the jet is a plasma jet , it is likely that the total momentum of the jet will include some swirl component resulting from the fluctuating magnetic fields applied to the electrodes of the plasma generator to increase electrode life . the present invention provides a well - mixed , highly turbulent , but tightly bound , reaction zone . the boundaries of this reaction zone may be calculated as described below . the reactor diameter is selected so that the reaction zone is smaller than the reactor diameter . the inventors , in their investigations , have found that it is preferred that the diameter of the reactor be at least twice the diameter of the reaction zone . although additional reaction may take place outside of this bound reaction zone ; the rate of reaction outside of the reaction zone compared to that in the reaction zone is very much slower . within this reaction zone the reactants in the feed stream and those in the jet mix and react rapidly resulting in high rates of conversion of the metal chloride to chlorine and the metal oxide . characteristic of the present process is its high rates of chloride conversion at short contact times and at relatively low bulk temperatures . for example , in the oxidation of iron chlorides according to the process of the present invention , conversion rates of chlorides to chlorine of 90 % or more are achieved at contact times of less than one minute and at bulk temperatures of less than 800 ° c . the mixing rate in the reaction zone is sufficient that this process , applied to a mixture of iron chlorides , realizes the beneficial effect of the rapid oxidation rate of ferrous chloride . according the present process , the jet contains sufficient heat content to initiate the oxidation reaction of the metal chloride when mixed with the feed stream . that is , the sum of the heat contents of the jet and the entrained feed stream must be sufficient to initiate the oxidation reaction . the feed stream may be preheated or delivered at ambient or at a temperature lower than ambient . the actual heat content , required to initiate the oxidation reaction , depends on the particular metal chloride or mixture of metal chlorides to be oxidized . the heat content of the jet and of the feed stream may be adjusted , according to the present invention , so that their combined heat content after entrainment is sufficient to initiate the reaction . the term heat content , when used in referring to the feed stream , means the heat content or enthalpy calculated as the sum of the mass of each component of the feed stream times the specific heat of that component . the term heat content , when used in referring to the jet , means : ( 1 ) the heat content or enthalpy calculated as the sum of the mass of each component of the jet times the specific heat of that component ; or ( 2 ) the heat that is realized from an exothermic secondary reaction which takes place in the jet after the jet is discharged into the reactor . by secondary reaction is meant an exothermic reaction other than the oxidation of the metal chlorides . the oxidation of the metal chlorides is the primary reactive purpose of the present process and is considered to be the primary exothermic reaction . the terms secondary or primary as used to describe the exothermic reaction do not refer to a time sequence . as can be seen from the information below , the secondary exothermic reaction actually precedes the primary reaction in time although the initiation of the secondary and primary reactions may occur nearly simultaneously . as noted in the description of heat content in the present invention , the jet may be at ambient temperature , or it may be preheated to some elevated temperature before it is discharged into the reactor . if the jet is a preheated stream , the gas flow in the jet may be heated externally by a variety of means known in the art including any conventional means such as resistance heaters or heat exchange from the combustion of fuels . it is preferred to heat the jet by a plasma generator . in this case the jet is heated by passing it through an electric arc . the term plasma jet as used herein refers to a jet heated by electric arc . even though the jet may be preheated using a plasma generator , there is no requirement in the present invention that the jet be a chemical plasma having activated or atomic oxygen present . in fact the present process may be run efficiently when the jet is preheated to temperatures from about 1000 to 5000 ° c . making it possible to use conventional as well as electric arc heating devices to heat the jet . if the jet is heated by the exotherm of a secondary chemical reaction that takes place in the jet flow , the jet is discharged into the reactor at a temperature , for example , ambient temperature , that is lower than the temperature needed to initiate the oxidation of the metal chlorides . the secondary reaction is ignited at a point , either before or after , the feed stream is introduced into the jet . the exotherm of the secondary reactions supplies to the jet and the entrained feed stream at least the heat content necessary to initiate the metal chloride oxidation reaction . the point at which the secondary chemical reaction is ignited is determined by fluid mechanics to provide a flame front positioned far enough from the reactor walls to avoid flow disruptions and deposition of material on the reactor walls . adding an initiator to the jet may ignite the secondary exothermic reaction . for example , pyrophoric carbon particles ( an initiator ) may be added to the feed stream , or they may be introduced into the jet at a separate feed point . the controlled - size , but intensely active reaction zone of the present invention results from the precise partitioning of the total reaction zone heat content and total reaction zone momentum into predetermined components delivered to the reaction zone by the jet and the particulate feed stream . this precise partitioning results in a reaction that takes place in a confined space in the reactor . the size ( diameter and volume ) of this space or reaction zone may be determined from model calculations as shown below . one might think of the following analysis of the present process as illustrated in example 1 and compare it to the prior art , particularly u . s . pat . no . 4 , 073 , 874 to fukushima . in this analysis only two flows are described , a jet and a feed stream , although the analysis may be extended to encompass more than one jet and more than one feed stream as well as more than one reaction zone with in a reactor . the jet and the feed stream each have mass , which may be represented as a mass flow or a mass rate . one may use mass flows of the feed stream and jet or mass rates of the feed stream and jet since , according to the present invention , it is the comparison of either the mass flows or mass rates between the feed stream and the jet that is important . in example 1 the jet is a flow of 100 % by weight oxygen discharged to the reactor at the rate of 74 pounds per hour at one atmosphere of pressure and 20 ° c . the mass flow of the feed stream in the example is the total of the particles and an oxygen flow . thus , the total mass flow of the feed stream is the sum of the mass flow of the particles and the gas ( also fed at 1 atmosphere and 20 ° c .) and is equal to 695 pounds per hour . the total reactor mass flow per hour partitioned to the feed stream and the jet is represented by the ratio of these two flows : 695 divided by 74 or 9 . 4 to 1 . if one had used the comparison of mass rates , the ratio would be the same . the present invention requires that the ratio of the mass flow or mass rate of the feed stream compared to that of the jet be at least 1 to 1 . this is expressed in the claims as the “ feed stream represents at least one half of the total mass flow of the feed stream and jet ”. the jet and the feed stream each have kinetic properties from the very fact they are moving into and flowing through the reactor . the kinetic property of each of these flows may be represented by the momentum or by the momentum rate . in the example , the velocity of the jet is 850 m / s , while that of the feed stream is 20 m / s . in si units , the momentum rate of each flow is 7 . 9 kgm / s 2 for the jet and 1 . 73 kgm / s 2 for the feed stream . the partitioning of the total reactor momentum rate is represented by the ratio of the momentum rate of the jet to that of the feed stream : 7 . 9 divided by 1 . 73 or about 5 to 1 . if one had used the comparison of momentums , the ratio would be the same . the present invention requires that the ratio of the momentum or momentum rate of the jet compared to that of the feed stream be at least 1 to 1 . this is expressed in the claims as the “ the total momentum of the jet is equal to or greater than that of the feed stream ”. in the example , even though the feed stream contains the greater mass , its lower speed means that the feed stream has a much lower momentum than the jet . when the dense and slow feed stream is introduced into the jet &# 39 ; s entrainment zone , the jet and the feed stream become essentially a single flow moving from the reactor entrance to the reactor exit . by combining the high - momentum jet with the high - mass , low - momentum feed , the jet rapidly is slowed down . such a rapid slow down decreases the velocity component of particles directed towards the reactor walls . it is believed that in the present invention , the velocity of the sticky metal oxide product particles is slowed so much that they cool well below their sticking point before they can reach the reactor walls . this effect essentially eliminates the build - up of hard scale reactor wall deposits . examples 1 and 2 , below , illustrate one mode of the present invention ; however , the well - mixed reaction zone of the present invention results when : ( 1 ) the feed stream represents at least one half of the total mass flow of the feed stream and the jet ; and ( 2 ) the momentum of the jet is equal or greater than that of the feed stream . in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 073 , 874 to fukushima , the velocities of both the oxygen and ferric chloride gas streams taught are to be low as shown by the reynolds numbers . in fukushima , the range of reynolds numbers for the ferric chloride gas is taught to be from 2 . 1 to 8 . 9 , each × 10 4 . this teaching combined with the teaching that the range of the ratios between the velocities of the oxidizing gas and that of the ferric chloride are from 0 . 1 to 6 means that the momentum of the two streams is nearly equal , but fukushima makes no teaching or suggestion as to the partitioning of the total reactor mass flow into the oxidizing or the ferric chloride streams . nor does fukushima teach that the one stream must be entrained by the other . fukushima teaches impinging jets , but neither teaches nor suggests entrainment . the invention of the &# 39 ; 874 patent is also limited to a range of reynolds numbers . as one can see from the above , the present invention is not performance limited in any practical way to a narrow range of reynolds numbers . this means the process of the present invention may be more easily scaled than that of the prior art . in the present process the thermal properties or heat contents of the jet and the feed stream are also important . sufficient heat content is required to initiate the oxidation reaction . ( 1 ) the heat content of the hot jet is at least that sufficient to initiate the reaction when the hot jet is mixed with the feed stream ; and ( 2 ) the temperature of the feed stream is below a temperature at which the particles of the feed stream become sticky . this partitioning of total heat content delivered to the reactor between the jet and the feed stream , according to the present invention , results in an overall relatively low temperature process . the inventors believe the reaction rate in the present process to be much less rate limited by mixing than prior art inventions . no additional heat is required to accelerate the reaction ; thus , there is no loss in the rate of conversion due to unfavorable equilibrium conditions . for example , the bulk temperature of the present process as illustrated in the examples operates at a much lower average bulk temperature than the earlier known processes . lower bulk temperatures result in higher equilibrium conversion rates as well as in a more energy efficient operation . the present process may be operated as an adiabatic process . a reactor operating with the present process does not require heating or cooling of the walls to prevent the deposition of wall scale . although wall heating or cooling is not critical , if desired the present process may incorporate reactor wall heating or cooling . cooling may be accomplished by externally cooling the reactor walls , for example by allowing free heat losses or using a jacketed reactor . the reactor may be cooled internally by the addition of a fluid , particles or a mixture of particles and fluids , added at a point far enough from the reaction zone such that the reaction zone is not expanded to reach the reactor wall . generally in the practice of the present invention , the feed stream will consist of particles of the metal chloride mixed with a gas that provides some velocity greater than that of free fall or propels the particles as they exit the feed discharge point . when the feed stream contains the particles with a propellant gas , the mass of the feed stream is the total mass of the particles plus the propellant . in the case of continuous operation of the present process , unreacted oxygen present in the product stream may be recycled to the reaction zone by way of the feed stream to function both as a reactant and a propellant . the solid particles of the feed stream may be discharged into the reactor at room temperature or at some elevated temperature so long as the particles may be fed as solids . for example , using the present process for the oxidation of iron chlorides , it is preferred to feed ferrous chloride at a temperature less than 400 ° c . in the present process entrainment of the jet and the feed stream forms a well mixed , but tightly bound reaction zone . for example , based on the mass and momentum rates and the configuration of the reactor in example 1 , the reaction zone has a diameter of about 14 cm . in this reaction zone , particles ( reactant or product ) have velocities of about 1000 m / s . the large difference in the densities of the hot jet and the feed stream in this example , result in the rapid deceleration of the entrained flows ; so that at a distance of less than about 30 cm from the point of entrainment , the particles have velocity components directed towards the wall of the reactor of less than 5 m / s . in the present process , the jet may be an inert gas ( one that does not react under the conditions in the reactor ) or an inert gas mixed with oxygen , or a jet containing 100 percent by weight oxygen . it is preferred that the jet contain at least some percentage of oxygen since this promotes the reaction rate by avoiding dilution of the reactant streams in the reaction zone . it is more preferred that the jet be 100 % by weight oxygen . the total amount of oxygen supplied to the reactor by way of the jet and the feed stream is preferred to be at least the stoichiometric amount needed to oxidize the oxidizable materials in the feed stream . typically the total oxygen supplied to the reactor is more than the stoichiometric amount . those skilled in this art will appreciate that the present invention may be applicable to a wide variety of metal chlorides , including most , if not all , transition metal chlorides . the present process may be applied to mixtures of metal chlorides as well as to individual metal chloride compounds . for example , iron chlorides as ferric , ferrous or as mixtures of ferric and ferrous chloride may be oxidized by the present process resulting in high rates of conversions of these compounds to chlorine and iron oxide . in the present process the technique to recover the product metal oxides and chlorine is not critical . product recovery may be achieved by methods known in the art . in the materials cited , the term mixing zone has the same meaning as the reaction zone of the present invention . calculation of the reaction zone diameter is based on the teachings of schlichting , boundary - layer theory , mcgraw - hill , new york , 6 th edition ( 1968 ), pages 699 - 703 , ( schlichting ). schlichting teaches a semi - empirical model of circular jets . his theory is based on kinematic momentum rates , which by definition do not include units of mass . although the jet in the present invention is not limited to a circular jet , the schlichting theory may be used to calculate the diameter of the reaction zone , particularly when applied to the examples . from schlichting , generally the kinematic momentum rate ( k ) is defined as the definite integral from 0 to infinity : k = 2 π ∫ v 2 r r for the present invention the integration of the above equation is from 0 to r , the radius of the jet nozzle , and the equation reduces to : where a is the area of the nozzle , and v is the velocity of the jet at the nozzle . in addition , the effective volume rates of the jet and feed stream are calculated , in all cases adjusting for a common temperature . the volume rate is the volume of the gas plus particles associated with the mass rate . the common temperature is the temperature calculated for the single , combined flow of the jet plus the feed stream . the term common temperature is used because it emphasizes that when the feed stream is entrained into the jet , the combination becomes one common flow . the common temperature is calculated from ( 1 ) the initial temperatures of each flow and ( 2 ) the total mass and the specific heats of each component of each flow with ( 3 ) compensation for the exotherm of the oxidation reaction . the extent of the exotherm and the compensation factor ( 3 ) is determined from a comparison of the measured bulk temperature of the reactor to that of the uncompensated temperature calculated using only ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) above . in the present invention , the jet and the feed stream are positioned so that the jet entrains the feed stream . from schlichting , the volume rate ( q ) of the feed stream entrained into the jet is given by the product where x is the distance downstream of the nozzle and the constant 0 . 404 is from schlichting equation 24 . 47 . using this equation , one may then calculate at what distance x , all ( about 95 % or more ) of the volume rate of the feed stream is entrained into the jet . for example 1 , this distance , x is 0 . 33 meters . the half - width of the entrained jet is roughly 0 . 21 times x , or 7 centimeters . the constant 0 . 21 is arrived at as 2 . 5 times 0 . 0848 . these constants are again taken from schlichting at figure 24 . 8 ( with note by h . reichardt ). the total width of the jet and entrained flow , which is equal to the diameter of the reaction zone , is two times the half width , or 14 centimeters . thus , the diameter of the reaction zone is the calculated diameter of the combined jet and feed stream flows at the distance x where the feed stream is entrained , and the feed and jet become a single , slow - moving flow . the following examples are intended to illustrate the operation of the present invention . these examples are intended to illustrate , but not to limit the invention . a mixture of metal chlorides containing iron chlorides was oxidized according to the present invention in a continuous process to produce a mixture of metal oxides and chlorine . the oxidation reaction was carried out in a reactor that was 18 inches ( 45 . 7 cm ) in diameter and 10 feet long . the jet was formed from nearly pure oxygen by feeding the oxygen at room temperature and at a mass flow rate of 74 pounds per hour and a pressure of one atmosphere to a westinghouse plasma generator with a nominal rating of 150 kw . the oxygen was heated by an electric discharge as it flowed between the anode and cathode of the generator . the varying magnetic field applied to the generator electrodes caused the oxygen flow to rotate providing some swirl . the generator heated the oxygen flow such that its heat content was 7200 j / liter of oxygen at stp , and its calculated temperature was in the range of 4000 - 4500 ° c . the heated oxygen was then fed through a nozzle having a diameter of 1 . 43 cm to the reactor to form a jet . the momentum of the jet was 7 . 9 kgm / sec 2 and as the oxygen passed through the nozzle into the reactor its velocity was 850 m / s . the direction of the jet &# 39 ; s flow was from the top of the reactor vertically down the length of the reactor . the reactor was preheated using nitrogen to a calculated temperature of about 800 ° c . for an hour prior to introducing feed stream of metal chloride particles . the feed stream was a mixture of particles and gas produced as byproduct in the chlorination of titanium - containing ore . particles present in the feed stream included the iron and other metal chlorides , coke , silica and other metal oxides . iron chlorides represented 44 % of the particle weight of the feed stream . in the iron chlorides , ferrous chloride represented the major component . total oxygen content of the jet plus the oxygen fed through the feed stream was 455 % of that required to fully oxidize the iron chlorides . the particles , supplied as solids through a screw feeder at a mass flow rate of 499 pounds per hour , were mixed , at room temperature , with a stream of nearly pure oxygen in an eductor to produce the feed stream . the oxygen was fed at room temperature at a mass flow rate of 196 pounds per hour . the total mass flow rate of the feed stream , the sum of the particles and the oxygen feeds was 695 pounds per hour . the velocity of the feed stream was 20 m / hr , and its momentum was 1 . 73 kgm / sec 2 . the feed stream was fed into the reactor through a single annular port positioned at approximately a 0 ° angle to the jet and separated form the jet by 5 cm . an average mix temperature of 575 ° c . was calculated from the temperatures and flow rates of the jet and the feed stream . this temperature is exclusive of the exotherm produced by the oxidation reaction . the reaction exotherm combined with the heat energy already present in the combined jet and feed stream produced an average adiabatic reactor temperature of about 750 ° c . the residence time for the reactants in the reactor was about 7 seconds . actual contact time or the residence time in the reaction zone was much less . the product stream was cooled and solids were separated from the reactor exit gas . chlorine conversion from the metal chlorides was greater than 90 %. this very high chlorine conversion in such a short period of time shows that the reaction of present process is not limited by mixing as those of the prior art . after 1 . 5 hours operation , the reaction was stopped , the reactor allowed to cool and was opened for inspection . there was only a thin powdery coating of iron oxide approximately 0 . 3 cm thick on the reactor walls . there was no hard scale formation on the reactor walls . some product iron oxide , again a soft powder , collected in the bottom of the reactor . examination of the mass , momentum and heat content distributions in the jet and the feed stream show that about 90 % of the total mass flow in the reactor was contributed by the feed stream ( 100 × 695 /( 695 + 74 )). the jet represented approximately 82 % of the total momentum ( 100 × 7 . 9 /( 7 . 9 + 1 . 73 )). the calculated reaction zone diameter was 14 cm . the process of example 1 was repeated with the following differences . the oxygen to the generator was at a mass flow rate of 60 pounds per hour . heat content of the gas - containing jet was 7150 j / l . the momentum of the jet was 5 . 15 kgm / sec 2 . the iron chloride represented 50 % by weight of the particles fed with ferrous chloride being the major component of the iron chlorides . again , the feed stream contained particles similar to that of example 1 and was fed at a mass flow rate of 598 pounds per hour . nearly pure oxygen was mixed with the particles at a mass flow rate of 94 pounds per hour . the total mass flow rate of the feed stream was 692 pounds per hour . the momentum of the feed stream was 0 . 70 kgm / sec 2 . total oxygen content of the jet plus the oxygen fed through the feed stream was 270 % of that required to fully oxidize the iron chlorides . the calculated average temperature in the reactor after the mixing of the feed stream and the jet was 580 ° c . the residence time in the reactor was about 9 seconds . chlorine conversion was greater than 90 %. after 2 hours operation , the reaction was stopped , the reactor allowed to cool , and the reactor was opened for inspection . as in example 1 , there was only a thin powdery coating of iron oxide approximately 0 . 3 cm thick on the reactor walls . there was no hard scale formation on the reactor walls . some product iron oxide , again a soft powder , collected in the bottom of the reactor . examination of the mass , momentum and heat content distributions in the jet and the feed stream were as follows : about 92 % ( 100 × 692 /( 692 + 60 )) of the mass flow in the reactor was contributed by the feed stream . the jet represented approximately 88 % of the total momentum ( 100 × 5 . 15 /( 5 . 15 + 0 . 7 )). the calculated reaction zone diameter was 14 cm . the following example illustrates the operation of a reaction system that is outside the claims of the present invention . prior to start - up , the reactor , 2 inch in diameter and mounted horizontally , was preheated by passing a stream of nearly pure oxygen which was heated by resistance heating through the reactor . the temperature of oxygen was controlled at about 980 ° c . and was fed to the reactor at a mass flow rate of 200 pounds per hour through a converging / diverging nozzle to form the jet . the heat content of the jet was 1600 j / l . the momentum of the jet oxygen was 19 . 2 kgm / sec 2 . nearly all the oxygen gas delivered to the reactor was delivered via the jet . the total oxygen content delivered to the reactor was 970 % of that required to fully oxidize the metal chlorides . the particles of the feed stream were a mixture of metal chlorides produced as metal chloride byproduct in the chlorination titanium - containing ore and similar to those of examples 1 and 2 . the metal chloride particles were introduced to the reactor at room temperature , at a mass flow rate of 112 pounds per hour . the feed stream also contained silica sand scrubs , which were metered separately from the metal chloride particles and mixed with the metal chloride particle feed prior to introduction into the reactor . the total mass flow of the feed stream was about 200 pounds per hour . the feed stream was gravity fed into the reactor via a port located above the jet and at about a 90 ° angle to the jet flow . a partial vacuum , induced by the entrainment of the feed stream into the flow from the oxygen nozzle , drew the feed stream into the reactor . the momentum of the feed stream , was nearly 0 kgm / sec 2 and approximately two orders of magnitude less than that of the jet because the net axial velocity of the feed stream is nearly 0 m / s . the calculated average temperature in the reactor after the mixing of the feed stream and the jet was 640 ° c . under these conditions , the reaction zone extended to the reactor walls . particles of feed and product metal oxide were directed towards the rector walls at high velocities . on contact , these particles cooled forming hard deposits . the addition of scrub solids did not prevent wall deposits . the residence time in the reactor was about 0 . 21 seconds . analysis of the products showed that the initial chlorine conversion rate was 76 %; the rate dropped to about 40 % after one hour into the run . the run was terminated after 1 hour and 7 minutes of operation , and the reactor was opened for inspection . a solid donut - shaped formation of solids was observed about 3 inches downstream from the point at which the metal chlorides were introduced to the reactor . this formation reduced the interior diameter of the reactor from 2 ″ to about 1 . 7 ″. buildup was also found around the oxygen nozzle tip , extending the tip about ¼ ″ into the reactor . indications were that with continued operation of this system , the reactor would have plugged . comparing the distribution of momentum and heat content of the jet and feed stream in this comparative example show that nearly all the momentum in this system was in the jet although the mass flow distribution between the jet and the feed stream was nearly equal . the calculated diameter of reaction zone was equivalent to the reactor diameter . when the reactor diameter and the reaction zone diameter are equivalent particles accelerate to the walls and on contacting the walls form deposits of scale . in this case the wall deposits were so strongly attached that they continued to build up and restrict the flow through the reactor . these deposits also altered the heat balance so much that the rate of reaction was reduced with time . | 2 |
the present invention is generally set forth in fig1 . it is a hand sanitizing apparatus 10 for dispensing and applying a germicidal agent such as a gel , fluid , lotion , cream , ointment or liquid soap 12 . it comprises a body 14 , having a top end 16 , a bottom end 18 , a first side 20 , a second side 22 and a reservoir 24 . the body 14 is of a solid , hard construction . it cannot be squeezed . it is rigid . it is not pliable , flexible or resilient . it is constructed or molded from conventional metallic or thermoplastic materials , or both , via conventional thermoplastic molding processes , such as injection molding , vacuum molding and the like . its overall dimensions , i . e ., its height , length , and width , are only limited by the application in connection with which the dispenser will be used . however , for general use by the public at large , the preferred shape and dimensions are such that they do not detract from the desired mountability , portability , and accessibility of the dispensing device , at any time or any location . preferably , the dimensions of the device should approximate those of a relatively large , classic type “ beeper ” device . the body 14 is equipped with a chamber or reservoir 24 . the reservoir is designed to receive and store germicidal agents such as gels , fluids , lotions , creams , ointments or liquid soaps . the dimensions of the reservoir 24 , just like the dimensions of the body , can vary from very small to quite large , depending on the application . for purposes of general use , however , the internal volume of the reservoir 24 is not more than 100 cubic centimeters , and preferably between 10 and 50 cubic centimeters . such volume keeps the dispenser relatively small , light , easy to transport , easy to mount and capable of rapid filling and emptying . furthermore , by virtue of its small volume and size , it maintains the dispenser &# 39 ; s portability and mountability characteristics , even when filled to capacity with a germicidal agent , without defeating its intended use for the delivery of the germicidal agent to the end user . the body 14 , as set forth above , has a first side 20 and a second side 22 . the first side 20 is provided with a mounting means 26 designed for hooking , mounting and maintaining the dispenser on anything capable of being hooked , as for example on a belt holding up a pair of trousers , on a waste band of a skirt , on a purse strap , on a bag handle , on the edge of an open bag , on the edge of a binder , of the edge of a pocket , on a carry one , etc . the mounting means 26 can comprise a single generally l - shaped member of the same type of material as the body 14 . the l - shaped member can be integrally molded as a single unitary piece with the body 14 for more strength and rigidity . alternatively , it can be attached directly to the first side 20 of the body 14 , after the body is molded . the means of attachment of the l - shaped member 26 to the body can be any suitable thermoplastic adhesive and / or heat . as the term generally implies the l - shaped member 26 has a first arm 26 a and a second arm 26 b . however , the two arms 26 a and 26 b are not joined at a perfect right angle . rather they are joined by a slightly rounded elbow 26 c at an angle slightly less than ninety degrees . the first arm 26 a is shorter in length than the second arm 26 b . it is integrally molded or attached to the first side 20 of the body by its end opposite the elbow 26 c . in turn the longer arm 26 b &# 39 ; s end , which is also opposite the elbow 26 c is slightly curved to form a very small radius hook 26 d . the rigidity of the thermoplastic material used to form the l - shaped member 26 , the length of the first arm 26 a , the length of the second arm 26 b , the point of attachment of the first arm 26 a to the body 14 together with the elbow 26 c and the less than ninety ( 90 ) degree angle formed by the first arm , the second arm and the elbow , resiliently bias the long second arm 26 b towards the body 14 . such resilient bias together with the radius hook 26 d work together with the body 14 to form a clipping type mechanism that is not only flexible enough to allow the mounting of the dispenser on anything with an edge , but is strong enough to allow the continued support and mobility of the dispenser anywhere . alternatively , the mounting means 26 does not comprise an l - shaped member . rather it comprises a single flexible belt fixedly attached at its midpoint on the first side 20 of the body 14 , thereby leaving its terminal ends free and available for mounting the dispenser anywhere the terminal ends can be wrapped and tied around . the mounting means 26 can also comprise two belts of equal length , placed end to end in series , and whose ends adjacent to each other are adhered and fixed either by glue or heat on the first side 20 of the body 14 . the belts are preferably manufactured out of vinyl coated nylon , which affords extraordinary strength and flexibility . the terminal ends of the belt ( s ) that are free and opposite the adhesion point on the first side 20 of the body 14 can be further provided with a conventional hook and loops fastener or closure connection , such as that sold under the trademark velcro ®. specifically , one terminal end of the belt ( s ) is equipped with a first portion of the velcro ® fastener , i . e . the hook portion , and the other terminal end of the belt ( s ) is equipped with the second portion of the velcro ® fastener , i . e . the loop portion . the location of the velcro ® portions on the terminal free ends is such that when the two belt ends are wrapped around the item on which the dispenser will be mounted , they overlap to allow the velcro ® portions to face each other and engage to permit a mechanical interlocking which results in the holding of the dispenser in place securely , until such time as the belt ends are manually disengaged . the belts could be of fixed length or in the alternative could be equipped with buckles capable of adjusting the belts &# 39 ; length . as a result , the mounting means is not only flexible but it is also adjustable and capable of allowing the inventive dispenser to be mounted and secured just about anywhere the belts can wrap around , i . e ., a belt , a purse strap , a back pack strap , a pipe , a golf club , a tennis racket , bicycle handlebars , a steering wheel a baby carriage , a rail , etc . the applications are limited only by the user &# 39 ; s imagination . the second side 22 of the body 14 is opposite to the mounting means - bearing , first side 20 . the second side 22 is provided with an orifice 28 which bores through the wall of the second side 22 and into the reservoir 24 , thereby connecting and exposing the reservoir 24 to the outside . the wall thickness of the second side is not uniform . rather , the overall thickness of the wall of the second side tapers from a larger thickness to a lesser thickness in the wall area defining the outer perimeter of the orifice 28 , i . e ., the diameter of the orifice 28 . inserted into the orifice 28 and sealing the reservoir from the outside , is a dome - shaped stopper or plug 30 . the stopper or plug is a one - piece , molded , relatively soft , relatively pliable rubber structure , of substantially short length . its outer surface is substantially cylindrically shaped , having a slightly domed upper end and a lower end . at its upper domed end , the plug or stopper 30 slopes down and is tapered into a radially outwardly extending flange 32 , i . e ., a rim . below the rim , between the plug &# 39 ; s rim and the plug &# 39 ; s lower end , the plug bears a groove , a notch or a channel 34 . alternatively , the lower end of the plug may be provided with a molded bead which then serves to define a notch or a groove between it and the rim . as the bottom end of the plug is pushed through the orifice , the tapered edge of the second side wall forming the outer diameter of the orifice 28 slips into the notch or groove or channel snap fitting the plug into the orifice and locking it into place to effectively seal the reservoir . the bottom side of the plug &# 39 ; s rim in turn couples with the tapered - wall , orifice - diameter - defining edge of the second side 22 such that the rim and the wall are flush with each other further effectively sealing the reservoir . however , in view of the fact that the plug is slightly domed , the plug now forms a button on the outer surface of the second side 22 that is still easy to feel and because of its pliability it is easy to press . it is this pressure that serves to force the germicidal agent out of the dispenser . it must be noted that while the plug is sufficiently resilient so as to allow the dispensing of the germicidal agent , it is still sufficiently rigid as to prevent the accidental release of the agent when the plug - or button is accidentally or unintentionally actuated . in addition to the first and second sides , the body 14 also has a top end 16 and a bottom end 18 . the top end is equipped with an entry port 36 comprising a recessed integrally molded , cylindrical partial bore 38 and a filling or intake valve 40 . the bore has an upper , open end and a lower closed end . the bore extends into the body 14 vertically , i . e ., along a y - axis , and protrudes right into the reservoir 24 . however because it is only a partial bore , i . e . its lower end is closed , it does not expose the reservoir to the outside . rather its closed lower end acts as a receiving base for the mounting of the filling or intake valve 40 . the filling or intake valve 40 is the only means by which the reservoir 24 can be refilled with germicidal agent . preferably , the valve has a nozzle which extends upward from the lower closed end of the cylindrical bore but not above the upper open end of the bore ; certainly not beyond the upper surface of the top end 16 . the germicidal agent 12 is introduced into the reservoir 24 through this filling valve 40 . it is introduced via a specially made nozzle which can be connected to a gel supply container on the one hand and fitted and coupled to the filling or intake valve 40 on the other . as pressure is applied to squeeze the supply container , the germicidal agent 12 flows from the supply container into the reservoir 24 . when the reservoir 24 is filled and the supply bottle with its accompanying nozzle is disengaged and removed from the filling valve 40 , the germicidal agent is prevented from flowing out of the entry port 36 by virtue of the physical , “ check valve ” characteristics of the filling or intake valve 40 . preferably , the valve used in the germicidal dispenser is a silicone valve having an abs housing , an outer diameter of 0 . 124 ″ at both ends and capable of withstanding a cp of up to 0 . 142 psi . the side wall of the bottom end 18 is equipped with an exit port 42 comprising a second , recessed , integrally molded , cylindrical partial bore 44 and an output or exit valve 46 . the bore has a first , open end and a second closed end . the bore extends along the body horizontally , i . e . along an x - axis , extending and protruding right into the body &# 39 ; s reservoir 24 . however , because it is an incomplete or partial bore , i . e ., its second end is closed , it does not expose the reservoir to the outside . rather , its closed second end acts as a receiving base for the mounting of the output or exit valve 46 . the output or exit valve 46 is the only means by which the reservoir 24 can be emptied . the output or exit valve 46 has a nozzle which extends horizontally from the second closed end of the cylindrical bore but stays below the first open end of the bore ; certainly does not extend beyond the outer surface of the side wall of the bottom end 18 . the germicidal agent exits the reservoir 24 through the output valve when the plug or button 30 is pressed . as the germicidal agent is pushed out the exit valve 46 , air is pulled into the reservoir 24 through the intake valve 40 to fill the void left behind by the dispensed gel , thereby making the dispensing easy and smooth . when the germicidal agent is dispensed , the germicidal agent is prevented from flowing out of the exit port , by virtue of the physical , “ check valve ” characteristics of the output or exit valve 46 . preferably the output or exit valve 46 used in the germicidal dispenser is a silicone valve having a pc housing , capable of fitting 0 . 105 ″ o . d . tubing at both ends and capable of withstanding a cp of up to 0 . 433 psi . the method of using the inventive dispenser set forth above comprises the following steps : ( a ) filling the reservoir of the dispenser with a germicidal agent such as gels , fluids , lotions , creams , ointments or liquid soaps using the filling or intake valve on the top end of the body ; ( b ) mounting and securing the dispenser on a belt , a bag , a folder , etc ; ( c ) carrying the dispenser to whatever site the dispenser may be needed ; ( d ) if and when the germicidal agent is needed , pressing on the plug button to deliver a predetermined dosage of gel , i . e ., 1 to 2 cc ; and ( e ) rubbing hands together to distribute the germicidal agent all over the surface of the hands , in order for the gel to kill the bacteria and evaporate leaving a clean feeling on the hands . an alternate embodiment of the inventive dispenser described here in above is generally set forth in fig1 through 26 . as can be seen from the figures the only difference between the first embodiment described here in above and the second alternate embodiment set forth in figures is the shape and location of both the orifice 28 and the dome - shaped stopper or plug 30 . in the alternate embodiment the orifice is not located on the second side 22 of the body 14 . rather , the orifice is found at the top end 16 of the body 14 , opposite the entry port 36 . the alternate embodiment &# 39 ; s orifice 28 bores through the wall of the top end 16 and into the reservoir 24 , thereby connecting and exposing the reservoir 24 to the outside . furthermore , the overall thickness of the wall of the top end 16 tapers from a larger thickness to a lesser thickness in the wall area defining the outer perimeter of the orifice 28 , i . e ., the diameter of the orifice 28 . inserted into the orifice 28 and sealing the reservoir from the outside , is a dome - shaped stopper or plug 30 . the stopper or plug is a one - piece , molded , relatively soft , relatively pliable rubber structure , of substantially short length . its outer surface is shaped to accommodate its location on the top end 16 , having a slightly domed upper end and a lower end . at its upper domed end , the plug or stopper 30 slopes down and is tapered into a radially outwardly extending flange 32 , i . e ., a rim . below the rim , between the plug &# 39 ; s rim and the plug &# 39 ; s lower end , the plug bears a groove , a notch or a channel 34 . alternatively , the lower end of the plug may be provided with a molded bead which then serves to define a notch or a groove between it and the rim . as the bottom end of the plug is pushed through the orifice , the tapered edge of the second side wall forming the outer diameter of the orifice 28 slips into the notch or groove or channel snap fitting the plug into the orifice and locking it into place to effectively seal the reservoir . the bottom side of the plug &# 39 ; s rim in turn couples with the tapered - wall , orifice - diameter - defining edge of the second side 22 such that the rim and the wall are flush with each other further effectively sealing the reservoir . however , in view of the fact that the plug is slightly domed , the plug now forms a button that extends beyond the outer surface of the top end 16 that is still easy to feel and because of its pliability it is easy to press . it is this pressure that serves to force the germicidal agent out of the dispenser . it must be noted that while the plug is sufficiently resilient so as to allow the dispensing of the germicidal agent , it is still sufficiently rigid as to prevent the accidental release of the agent when the plug or button is accidentally or unintentionally actuated . the embodiments described above are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the invention . those skilled in the art , both within and without the area of food preparation and serving , will readily recognize various modifications and changes , which may be made to the present invention without strictly following the exemplary embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein and without departing from the true scope of the present invention , which is set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
b ) at least one boric acid complex compound of low solubility in water , having a water solubility of less than 10 g per liter under standard conditions , and , if desired , c ) a water insoluble , film - forming polymer of one or more free - radically polymerizable , ethylenically unsaturated monomers . compounds suitable as component b ) are salts of boric acid complexes with bidentate and polydentate ligands whose water solubility under standard conditions ( 23 ° c ., din 50014 ) is less than 10 g per liter , preferably less than 6 g per liter , with particular preference less than 2 g per liter . suitable ligands for the boric acid complexes are aliphatic and alicyclic and also aromatic polyols having preferably 2 to 12 carbon atoms and having 2 or more , preferably from 2 to 8 , oh groups . examples of diols are ethylene glycol , 1 , 2 - propanediol , 1 , 3 - propanediol , 1 , 2 - butanediol , 1 , 3 - butanediol , 2 , 4 - pentanediol , cis - 1 , 2 - cyclopentanediol , cis - 1 , 2 - cyclohexanediol , pyrocatechol , 4 - methyl - 1 , 2 - dihydroxybenzene , 4 - t - butyl - 1 , 2 - dihydroxybenzene , 1 , 2 - dihydroxynaphthalene , 2 , 3 - dihydroxynaphthalene , 1 , 8 - dihydroxynaphthalene , and 2 - hydroxymethylphenol . tridentate ligands which may be mentioned by way of example are the following : glycerol , 2 - hydroxymethyl - 2 - methyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol , 2 - hydroxymethyl - 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol , tris ( hydroxymethyl ) isobutane , tris ( hydroxymethyl ) pentane , and pentaerythritol . examples of tetradentate and higher polydentate ligands are sugars such as mannose , fructose , glucose , galactose , and arabinose ; hydrogenated sugars such as mannitol , xylitol or glucitol ; and sugar acids such as gluconic acid , mannonic acid , glucosaccharic acid or talonic acid . suitable cations of the borate complexes are monovalent to trivalent metals , and also ammonium compounds . preference is given to monovalent and divalent metals from the main groups and transition groups of the periodic table , especially of main groups 1 and 2 and of transition groups 1 , 2 , 7 and 8 . li + , na + , k + , mg 2 + , ca 2 + , fe 2 + , co 2 + , ni 2 + , mn 2 + and zn 2 + are particularly preferred . preferred boric acid complexes are those with pentaerythritol , tartaric acid , trihydroxyglutaric acid or mucic acid ligands and a cation from the group just mentioned as particularly preferred . greatest preference is given to the following complexes : ca ( c 5 h 8 o 4 ) 2 . b 2 o 3 . 9h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 1 . 0 g / l zn ( c 5 h 8 o 4 ) 2 . b 2 o 3 . 10h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 0 . 04 g / l k 2 o . 2sro . b 2 o 3 . 2c 4 h 4 o 5 . 10h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 1 . 7 g / l 3zno . b 2 o 3 . 2c 4 h 4 o 5 . 3h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 3 . 7 g / l 5cao . b 2 o 3 . 4c 4 h 4 o 5 . 16h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 2 . 46 g / l 3cao . 2 ( nh 4 ) 2 o . b 2 o 3 . 4c 4 h 4 o 5 . 10h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 1 . 77 g / l 2cao . b 2 o 3 . c 5 h 6 o 6 . 9h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 0 . 5 g / l 4cao . b 2 o 3 . c 5 h 6 o 6 . 13h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 0 . 055 g / l 4cao . ( nh 4 ) 2 o . b 2 o 3 . 3c 5 h 6 o 6 . 12h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 0 . 291 g / l 2 . 5mgo . 0 . 5 ( nh 4 ) 2 o . b 2 o 3 . 2c 6 h 8 o 7 . 8h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 1 . 45 g / l 3cao . b 2 o 3 . 2c 6 h 8 o 7 . 10h 2 o , solubility ( h 2 o , 25 ° c . ): 2 . 2 g / l the usual amount of boric acid complexes is from 0 . 2 to 40 % by weight , based on component a ), and depends not only on the desired rheology effect or degree of crosslinking but also on the molecular weight of the polyhydroxy compound . preferred amounts for use are from 1 to 20 % by weight , based on component a ). suitable water soluble polyhydroxy compounds a ) are partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohols , water soluble polysaccharides such as starches ( amylose ), dextrins , cyclodextrins , dextran , xylan and celluloses and also derivatives thereof such as carboxymethyl -, methyl -, hydroxyethyl - and hydroxypropyl - celluloses . water soluble in this context means that the solubility in water under standard conditions is more than 10 g per liter . preference is given to using one or more partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohols having a degree of hydrolysis of from 75 to 99 mol % and a höppler viscosity ( 4 % strength aqueous solution , din 53015 , höppler method at 20 ° c .) of from 1 to 60 mpas , in particular from 4 to 35 mpas . for the preferred case where the polymer powder composition also comprises a water insoluble , film - forming polymer c ), the fraction of polyhydroxy compound b ) is from 1 to 30 % by weight , based on the water insoluble polymer fraction c ). particular preference is given to from 8 to 30 % by weight . suitable water insoluble , film - forming polymers contain one or more monomer units from the group of the vinyl esters of unbranched or branched alkylcarboxylic acids having 1 to 15 carbon atoms , the methacrylic esters and acrylic esters or unbranched or branched alcohols having 1 to 12 carbon atoms , the dienes , the olefins , the vinylaromatics , and the vinyl halides . water insoluble in this context means that the solubility of the polymers under standard conditions ( 23 ° c ., 50 % atmospheric humidity , din 50014 ) is less than 1 g per liter of water . preferred vinyl esters are vinyl acetate , vinyl propionate , vinyl butyrate , vinyl - 2 - ethylhexanoate , vinyl laurate , 1 - methylvinyl acetate , vinyl pivalate , and vinyl esters of alpha - branched monocarboxylic acids having 9 to 11 carbon atoms , for example , veova9 r or veova10 r ( trade names of shell ). vinyl acetate is particularly preferred . preferred methacrylic esters or acrylic esters are methyl acrylate , methyl methacrylate , ethyl acrylate , ethyl methacrylate , propyl acrylate , propyl methacrylate , n - butyl acrylate , n - butyl methacrylate , and 2 - ethylhexyl acrylate . methyl acrylate , methyl methacrylate , n - butyl acrylate and 2 - ethylhexyl acrylate are particularly preferred . preferred vinylaromatics are styrene , methylstyrene , and vinyltoluene . a preferred vinyl halide is vinyl chloride . the preferred olefins are ethylene and propylene , and the preferred dienes are 1 , 3 - butadiene and isoprene . if desired , from 0 . 05 to 10 . 0 % by weight , based on the overall weight of the monomers , of auxiliary monomers from the group comprising ethylenically unsaturated mono - and dicarboxylic acids and their amides , such as acrylic acid , methacrylic acid , maleic acid , fumaric acid , itaconic acid , acrylamide , and methacrylamide ; ethylenically unsaturated sulfonic acids and their salts , preferably vinylsulfonic acid , 2 - acrylamido - propanesulfonate , and n - vinylpyrrolidone , may be copolymerized . further examples of auxiliary monomers in the stated quantities are alkoxysilane - functional monomers such as acryloyloxypropyltri ( alkoxy )- and methacryloyloxypropyltri ( alkoxy )- silanes , vinyltrialkoxysilanes and vinylmethyldialkoxysilanes , preferably vinyltriethoxysilane and gamma - methacryloyl - oxypropyltriethoxysilane . also suitable are cross - linkers such as acrylamidoglycolic acid ( aga ), methacrylamidoglycolic acid methyl ester ( magme ), n - methylolacrylamide ( nma ), n - methylolmethacrylamide ( nmma ), n - methylol allylcarbamate , alkyl ethers of n - methylolacrylamide or n - methylolmethacrylamide , and also the isobutoxy ethers or n - butoxy ethers thereof . further examples of crosslinkable auxiliary monomers are comonomers containing epoxide groups , such as glycidyl acrylate , glycidyl methacrylate , glycidyl vinyl ether , and glycidyl allyl ether and isocyanate monomers such as meta - and para - isopropenyl - alpha , alpha - dimethyl - benzyl isocyanate ( tmi ), 2 - methyl - 2 - isocyanatopropyl methacrylate , where the isocyanate groups of said monomers may , if desired , also have been blocked , and also polyethylenically unsaturated compounds such as ethylene glycol diacrylate , 1 , 3 - butylene glycol diacrylate , 1 , 4 - butylene glycol diacrylate , propylene glycol diacrylate , divinyl adipate , divinylbenzene , vinyl methacrylate , vinyl acrylate , allyl methacrylate , allyl acrylate , diallyl maleate , diallyl phthalate , diallyl fumarate , methylenebisacrylamide , cyclopentadienyl acrylate or triallyl cyanurate . preferred polymers c ) are those set out below , the amounts in percent by weight , together if appropriate with the auxiliary monomer fraction , adding up to 100 % by weight : vinyl acetate - ethylene copolymers having an ethylene content of from 1 to 60 % by weight ; vinyl ester - ethylene vinyl chloride copolymers having an ethylene content of from 1 to 40 % by weight and a vinyl chloride content of from 20 to 90 % by weight , vinyl esters present preferably comprising vinyl acetate and / or vinyl propionate and / or one or more copolymerizable vinyl esters such as vinyl laurate , vinyl pivalate , vinyl 2 - ethylhexanoate , vinyl esters of an alpha - branched carboxylic acid , especially versatic acid vinyl esters ( veova9 r , veova10 r , veova11 r ); vinyl acetate copolymers containing 1 to 50 % by weight of one or more copolymerizable vinyl esters such as vinyl laurate , vinyl pivalate , vinyl 2 - ethylhexanoate , vinyl esters of an alpha - branched carboxylic acid , especially versatic acid vinyl esters ( veova9 r , veova10 r , veova11 r ), also containing 1 to 40 % by weight of ethylene if desired ; vinyl ester - acrylic ester copolymers containing 30 to 90 % by weight of vinyl ester , especially vinyl acetate , and 1 to 60 % by weight of acrylic ester , especially n - butyl acrylate or 2 - ethylhexyl acrylate , also containing from 1 to 40 % by weight of ethylene if desired ; vinyl ester - acrylic ester copolymers containing 30 to 75 % by weight of vinyl acetate , 1 to 30 % by weight of vinyl laurate or vinyl esters of an alpha - branched carboxylic acid , especially versatic acid vinyl esters , 1 to 30 % by weight of acrylic esters , especially n - butylacrylate or 2 - ethylhexylacrylate , which also contain from 1 to 40 % by weight of ethylene if desired . from the group of the vinyl chloride polymers , in addition to the abovementioned , vinyl ester - vinyl chloride - ethylene copolymers styrene - acrylic ester copolymers such as styrene - n - butylacrylate or styrene - 2 - ethylhexyl acrylate with a styrene content of in each case 10 to 70 % by weight . for film formation , the polymer composition is generally chosen so that film formation takes place at the processing temperature , preferably so as to result in a glass transition temperature tg of from − 30 ° c . to + 80 ° c . the glass transition temperature tg of the polymers may be determined in a known manner by means of differential scanning calorimetry ( dsc ). the tg may also be calculated approximately in advance using the fox equation . according to fox t . g ., bull . am . physics soc . 1 ( 1956 ) 3 , page 123 : 1 / tg = x 1 / tg 1 + x 2 / tg 2 + . . . + x n / tg n , where x n represents the mass fraction (% by weight / 100 ) of the monomer n and tg n is the glass transition temperature , in degrees kelvin , of the homopolymer of the monomer n . tg values for homopolymers are listed in polymer handbook 3rd edition , j . wiley & amp ; sons , new york ( 1989 ). the polymers c ) are prepared in a known manner by the emulsion polymerization process with subsequent drying of the aqueous polymer dispersions thus obtainable , preferably by means of spray drying , for example , in accordance with the procedure described in de - a 19742679 , whose disclosure content in this respect is intended to be part of the present specification . the polyhydroxy compound a ) may be added during the polymerization of the water insoluble polymer fraction or else may be added subsequently , before or during the drying , to the polymer dispersion . the boric acid complexes b ) are added during or after the drying operation , together if appropriate with other additives such as antiblocking agents , crosslinkers , dyes , pigments , plasticizers , filming auxiliaries , antifoams , catalysts , rheological assistants , thickeners , tackifiers , emulsifiers , and hydrophobicizers . the individual constituents a ), b ) and c ) of the polymer powder composition can be added in a mixture or else separately to the respective formulation at the time of application ; an example of a possible procedure is that wherein , at the time of application , a water redispersible powder based on a polymer c ) and a polyhydroxy compound a ) is added to the respective formulation separately or in a mixture with the boric acid complex compound b ). the crosslinkable polymer powder composition may be used in the fields of application typical for such compositions : for example , in chemical products for the construction industry , in conjunction with inorganic , hydraulically setting binders such as cements ( portland , aluminate , pozzolanic , slag , magnesia , and phosphate cement ), gypsum , water glass , for the production of structural adhesives , plasters and renders , filling compounds , trowel applied flooring compounds , jointing mortars , and paints , and also as sole binders for coating compositions and adhesives or as binders for textiles and paper . 1 mol of pentaerythritol was dissolved in hot water and 1 mol of boric acid was added to the solution . the solution was cooled , and 8 mol of nh 3 in the form of a concentrated aqueous solution were added . subsequently , ½ mol of cacl 2 , likewise in the form of a concentrated aqueous solution , was stirred in . the white precipitate was filtered off with suction and dried under reduced pressure at 100 ° c . 0 . 75 part by weight of the complex salt obtained was mixed with 25 parts by weight of a water redispersible powder mixture comprising a vinyl acetate - ethylene copolymer having an ethylene content of 22 % with 5 . 6 % by weight , based on copolymer , of a polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis of 86 mol % and a höppler viscosity of 13 mpas . the procedure of example 1 was repeated but adding ½ mol of zinc acetate instead of ½ mol of cacl 2 . after drying , the complex salt contained 2 mol of water . 0 . 75 part by weight of the resulting complex salt was mixed with 25 parts by weight of the water redispersible powder mixture described in example 1 . the procedure of example 1 was repeated with the difference that the complex was precipitated by adding a hot concentrated lioh solution to a hot solution of pentaerythritol and boric acid in a molar ratio of 1 : 2 at a ph of 11 by dropwise addition of ethanol . after drying , the complex contained 5 mol of water of crystallization . 0 . 75 part by weight of the resulting complex salt was mixed with 25 parts by weight of the water redispersible powder mixture described in example 1 . the polymer compositions obtained in examples 1 to 3 were tested for their processing properties in a cement plaster formulation . for this purpose , 25 parts by weight of cement ( cem i ) were intimately mixed with 25 . 75 parts by weight of each of the polymer compositions obtained in examples 1 to 3 and the mixtures were subsequently stirred for 5 minutes with 50 parts by weight of water . as a comparative example , a cement mixture to which free boric acid rather than a boric acid complex was added ( comparative example 1 ), and a cement mixture stirred without any crosslinking additive at all ( comparative example 2 ), were prepared by stirring . the viscosity of the mixtures was assessed in each case during stirring and 10 minutes and 1 hour after stirring . the results are summarized in table 1 : the reference used was comparative example 2 , which was operated without the addition of crosslinker and in which the mass remained processable over a long period of time . when boric acid is used as component b ), there is immediate crosslinking of the polyvinyl alcohol fraction and the constituents of the formulation can no longer be mixed homogeneously . when boric acid complexes are used , in accordance with the invention , the cement masses can be stirred up and remain processable , at least for the first few minutes , before crosslinking sets in . in example 2 , the batch remains processable for 8 hours , at which point the viscosity is much higher than in comparative example 2 . 0 . 5 g of the complex described in example 1 was mixed into 99 . 5 g of a water redispersible powder mixture comprising 85 . 4 % by weight of vinyl acetate - ethylene - veova10 copolymer ( 63 % vinyl acetate , 27 % ethylene and 10 % veova10 ) and 8 . 8 % by weight of a polyvinyl alcohol ( 4 mpas , 86 mol % degree of hydrolysis ), 2 . 5 % by weight of a polyvinyl alcohol ( 25 mpas , 86 mol % degree of hydrolysis ) and 3 . 3 % by weight of a polyvinyl alcohol ( 13 mpas , 86 mol % degree of hydrolysis ). the mixture was reemulsified with a paddle stirrer at 1000 rpm for 3 hours to give a 50 % dispersion . 0 . 11 g of boric acid was mixed with 99 . 89 g of the redispersible powder described in example 4 . crosslinking began even at the commencement of mixing . it was no longer possible to conduct a viscosity measurement . the mixture described in example 4 of vinyl acetate copolymer and polyvinyl alcohol mixture was stirred up with water , without adding boric acid complex , to give a 50 % dispersion . fig1 shows the viscosity curve of example 4 and comparative example 4 . 20 g of polyvinyl alcohol having a höppler viscosity of 5 mpas and a degree of hydrolysis of 86 mol % were dissolved in 80 ml of water , the solution was adjusted to a ph of 12 , and 2 g of the ca - boric acid - pentaerythritol complex from example 1 were added . after 30 minutes there was marked onset of crosslinking , with an increase in the viscosity from 600 mpas to 1800 mpas . | 2 |
referring to fig1 a meter assembly is represented generally at 10 . the assembly 10 is , in terms of outer appearance , exhibits standard structuring including a rugged steel housing 12 having a basic box shaped open front compartment 14 and which is rigidly attached to a dwelling or commercial establishment and into which power leads are directed . additionally , this housing 12 with compartment 14 is coupled to a neutral reference such as earth ground in accordance with industry standards . other housing are employed with the meters , for example , switch gear cabinets . compartment 14 retains a multiple jaw fixed socket into which the power lines or their derivatives being monitored are coupled which , conventionally , is formed of a rugged material such as a gray porcelain or the like and which functions to support the outwardly extending meter assembly represented generally at 16 . to assure the integrity of the assembly while affording limited and secure access to the assembly 10 , a front face plate 18 is providing having one end which is positionable beneath a downwardly extending edge 20 of the top portion 22 of compartment 14 . a circular aperture or opening 24 is provided within face plate 18 having an outwardly extending conforming bezel 26 which fits over the meter assembly 16 when the cover is positioned upon compartment 14 . to retain the cover in position , a latch is provided at 28 which is actuated by lever 30 and which is sealed upon installation by a lead seal as at 32 . thus , the meter assembly 16 cannot be removed unless the seal 32 is removed and the lever 30 is pulled downwardly to permit removal of face plate 18 . looking additionally to fig2 the coupling of the meter 16 is depicted . in the latter figure , the fixed socket positioned within compartment 14 is represented at 34 . socket 34 incorporates a plurality , for example , 13 resilient jaws , one of which is revealed at 36 . these jaws transmit monitored power which , in many installations , will be stepped down by external transformers , into the meter by virtue of the coupling of the meter therewith through &# 34 ; stab &# 34 ;, one of which is revealed at 38 extending into jaw 36 . the meter assembly 16 is entirely supported from the stab 38 - jaw 36 combination and in a typical installation , the assembly 16 is maneuvered up and down and inwardly to effect a connection . conversely , when the meter assembly 16 is removed it is grasped by the operator and manipulated up and down and outwardly . stabs 38 extend from a meter socket component base connector portion 40 . component 40 is formed of the earlier - noted rigid black thermosetting plastic materials and has a circular peripheral configuration . the base 40 is integrally formed with and extends outwardly to provide a meter support portion 42 within which a sequence of horizontally disposed printed circuit boards are provided as represented at 44 and 45 - 47 ( fig1 ). these boards 44 - 47 are in electrical communication by virtue of their insertion within multi - lead connectors as at 48 coupled , in turn , to a vertically oriented inter - associative printed circuit board 50 supported at the meter socket portion 40 . board 50 often is referred to as a &# 34 ; mother board &# 34 ; and is in electrical communication with the array of stabs as at 38 extending from the base connector portion 40 . the solid - state circuitry within the meter assembly 16 is enclosed by a transparent cover 52 having a generally cylindrical or frustoconical body portion 54 extending from an annular ridge 56 ( fig2 ) to a face 58 ( fig1 ) through which a liquid crystal display 60 ( fig1 ) may be observed . cover 52 may be formed of glass or a clear plastic such as that marketed under the trademark &# 34 ; lexan &# 34 ; and is retained upon the meter socket base connector portion 40 by a metal annular ring 62 . as seen in fig2 ring 62 has an upwardly disposed and inwardly depending rim portion 64 which is positioned in retaining fashion over the corresponding ridge 56 of cover 52 . the rim 62 is retained upon cover 52 by an adhesive and there also is included in annular gasket 66 functioning to secure the assemblage against weather . in order to permit removable connection between the ring 62 - cover 52 assembly and the socket portion 40 , three spring biased latched components are coupled with the ring 62 , one of which is shown in fig2 and 5 at 68 . looking to the latter figure , the circular base connector portion 40 of the meter socket again is reproduced and is seen to incorporate arcuate openings as at 70 about its periphery positioned with respect to the latches 68 such that a resilient bayonet form of connection may be achieved . in this regard , the operator positions the cover 52 over the base portion 40 in an orientation where the latch 68 falls within the opening 70 . this is a release orientation . the assemblage of cover 52 and ring 62 then is rotated in the direction represented at arrow 72 until the latch as at 68 has the orientation represented in phantom at 68 &# 39 ; wherein the resilient tines extending therefrom are biased against an inwardly disposed ledge 74 of the base connector portion 40 . fig1 and 2 reveal that internally disposed within the body portion 54 of cover 52 there is positioned a thin barrier 76 functioning to dissipate rf and emf noise as well as to reflect sunlight including deleterious uv radiation . preferably formed of an aluminum foil , for example , having a thickness of about 0 . 002 in . and being coated with a protective insulative coating formed , for example , of mylar having a thickness of 0 . 002 in . on each side , the barrier 76 is configured in development such that it assumes the earlier - noted frustoconical shape of the body portion 54 . in this regard , reference is made to fig3 wherein the barrier is shown in developed form being conformable into the noted generally cylindrical shape by the insertion of tabs 78 into corresponding dual slots 80 . it may be noted , however , that two tabs 82 and 84 are integrally formed with and extend from the barrier 76 for the purpose of establishing a connection with ground reference . looking to fig2 this path is provided initially by removing the insulative coating from the tabs 82 and 84 and effecting a contact between the tabs and the electrically conductive ring 62 . fig2 reveals that tab 82 is wrapped about the ridge 56 of cover 52 and thence about the rim 64 of ring 62 . thus , a compressive electrical association is developed between the barrier 76 and the ring 62 . the electrical path to ground is continued through an association with a ground strap or ear conventionally associated with meter housings at 12 . fig1 and 2 show such a ground strap at 86 fixed to the compartment 14 and configured having an arcuate channel 88 into which the ring 62 is nested when the meter 16 is installed . the strap 86 further provides a reference contact surface 90 which , as shown in fig2 is contacted electrically by a resilient conductor 92 fixed to the meter base connector portion 40 by a screw connection 94 . components 92 and 94 additionally are seen in fig5 and , further , extend by an electrically conductive connector strap 96 also coupled to base 40 at screw connection 94 . strap 96 extends as shown in fig2 to an outwardly biased resilient , u - shaped contact portion 98 which is in biased contact against the inside surface of ring 62 . with the arrangement shown , as the meter assembly 16 is pushed into contact and supportive association with the fixed socket 34 , resilient conductor or contactor 92 is moved into contact with the reference contact surface 90 of ground strap 86 . consequently , an electrical path to neutral reference or ground is established into the ring 62 and thence , to the barrier 76 to provide protection against emf and rf noise . such noise is increasingly encountered in modern industrial installations , for example at substations where transforming functions are extensively carried out . any noise generated by the circuits of the meters themselves also is blocked by the barrier . for example , unless properly shielded , such noise may be developed from the clock frequencies of digital phase shifters as described in earlier - noted u . s . pat . no . 4 , 408 , 283 employing frequencies of about 11 megahertz . fig5 shows a second contactor arrangement for associating the electrically conductive ring 62 with a second strap symmetrically disposed upon the compartment 14 . the conductive path components include a resilient contact or a conductor 100 combined in association with an electrical strap making biased contact with the inner surface of ring 62 and retained in position by a screw 104 fastened to base portion 40 . returning to fig1 the face 58 of cover 52 is seen to permit visual access not only to the ld display 60 but also to potential indicators provided as three , phase designated light emitting diodes ( leds ) 106 - 108 . the face plate of the meter itself is shown at 105 in fig1 , and 6 , which typically provide printed data with respect to the various components extending therethrough from the circuit . as shown additionally in fig4 when the cover 52 is removed , the meter may be accessed with respect to a sequence of switches for carrying out such functions as reset , set , test / advance and hold as represented at push - button switches 110 - 113 . additionally , a test jack is provided as at 114 along with load rate and hold mode led output indicators shown respectively at 116 and 117 . because the solid - state meter circuit at hand enjoys a very substantial output capacity in terms of parameter evaluation readout , the display 60 presents such readouts in a sequential or scrolling manner over a period of time . thus , it is desirable to provide a switching input to the circuit by way of external control without disturbing the sealed meter assembly . for example , it may be desirable to return the display to an initial readout or to hold a given readout until the operator has completed servicing . however , space at the face 58 of the cover 52 is quite limited and the development of delicate electrical contacts with an arrangement wherein the cover 52 is required to be removed from time to time , poses difficulties . with the arrangement of the invention , a single pole double throw momentary switch function is achieved using three electrical connections and a key accessed switch actuation feature . in this regard , the key actuated switch may be provided , for example , as a type skt65eg manufactured by alcoswitch electronic products , inc ., north andover , mass . such switch is shown at 120 in fig1 , and 6 as mounted upon the face 58 of cover 52 . on the inwardly - disposed surface of face 58 there is positioned a circuit board 122 which carries three kidney shaped metal contact surfaces 124 - 126 which are coupled to the three - lead output of switch 120 as shown , for example , at leads 128 and 129 in fig6 . these contact surfaces 124 - 126 are so positioned in a pattern that , when the cover 52 is installed , they are in electrical contact with the spring biased thin rounded ends or points of three corresponding contactors supported from the printed circuit components . the contacts are shown in fig4 at 132 - 134 , contacts 132 and 133 being seen in fig1 and 6 . fig4 also reveals that when the cover 52 - ring 62 assembly is in the earlier - noted release orientation as shown in fig5 the contacts will be positioned as represented in fig4 at one end of each of the contact surfaces 124 - 126 . as the cover then is rotated in the sense of arrow 72 shown in fig5 and arrow 136 as shown in fig4 the contacts 132 - 136 will move into a centered location upon respective contact surfaces 124 - 126 . generally , the contacts are plated with gold to improve electrical conductivity between these components . with the arrangement shown , the operator need only push and turn the cover 52 - ring 62 assemblage in the process of installation to achieve effective communication between switch 120 and the circuitry of the meter . it may be observed in fig6 that the switch 120 is retained in place along with circuit board 122 by a nut 138 threadably engaging the rearwardly extended body portion of the switch shown at 140 . to accommodate for this body portion , an opening is made in the face plate 105 of the meter such that the body portion 140 will extend into but not in contact with circuit components . the circuit of meter 16 further is called upon to carry out a communicative function in view of its significantly expanded capabilities . this requires a multi - lead output providing , inter alia , telephonic communication or inputs to any of a variety of data collection systems . in conventional mechanical metering devices which are housed in assemblages such as 10 , only conventional kyz type relay outputs were provided and these were accommodated for with the stab and jaw assemblage of the sockets associated with the meter . current circuits , however , will require , for example , up to 25 output leads which must be manipulated by personnel not familiar with the delicate types of connectors associated with digital data structures and the like . to accommodate for this situation , the assemblage 10 also includes a terminal block shown within compartment 14 at 144 which is associated with the meter output by multi - lead cable 146 extending thereto through a conventional multi - lead connector 148 . the output or inputs of the block 144 then are provided as a series of easily accessed screw fastener type terminals as represented generally at 150 . these terminals are readily used by personnel familiar with such larger implements and discrete wire connections . the conduit 146 is provided as , for example , a 25 - lead ribbon cable . looking momentarily to fig7 the cable 146 is seen to be formed as flat multi - lead ribbon component 152 which s covered with a copper / tin shield 154 and retained within an insulative jacket 156 . preferably , the cable 146 is about 18 inches in length so that the block 144 may be mounted at a convenient side location where the meter 16 is , in turn , mounted in larger cabinetry such as is found in conventional switch gear installations . looking to fig8 the distribution of leads from the connector 148 is shown as emanating from multiple connections 158 extending to connector 148 and which , in turn , lead to the individual terminals 150 via the printed circuitry represented at terminal arrays 160 and 162 . since certain changes may be made in the above - described apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention herein involved , it is intended that all matter contained in the description thereof or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . | 6 |
as can be seen in fig1 and 2 , an excimer laser 10 of the present invention is formed by a pair of half housing members 12 and 14 formed of aluminum . the housing members 12 and 14 are coupled together and sealed using an &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; ring seal 16 which extends around the perimeter of the housing formed by the members 12 and 14 . fig1 illustrates the interior of the laser showing the various components from an end view and with fig2 illustrating the top half of the laser 10 . located within the interior chamber formed by the housing is a cathode 18 and an anode 20 . located between the cathode and anode is an electrical discharge area 22 and it is from this electrical discharge area that high energy ultraviolet pulses generated by the firing of the laser are produced . the high energy ultraviolet pulses that are produced are along an axis located between the cathode and anode and the axis is , therefore , in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the laser shown in fig1 . the electrical discharge is produced by a high voltage impressed on the cathode 18 which may be a voltage of approximately 20 kilovolts . the anode and cathode may be constructed of suitable high purity metals chosen so as to minimize the erosion of the electrodes , and to avoid contaminating the laser gas with erosion products which do form . an extension for and support of the anode 20 is provided by a base member 24 . spacer member 26 extends between the cathode 18 and main insulator plate 28 . the spacer member is used to provide for an electrical connection to the cathode 18 . the spacer 26 also provides for a seal around the high voltage connection 36 . the main insulator 28 is constructed of a ceramic material such as aluminum oxide al 2 o 3 . the upper housing member 12 includes downwardly extending wall portions 30 so that the main insulator 28 is stood off from , or floating relative to , the upper wall and surrounding portions of the upper housing member 12 . the spacer member 26 includes round recesses and &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; rings 32 located on one side of the insulators 28 and the wall portions 30 also include recesses and &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; rings 34 located on the other side so that the central portion of the main insulator 28 is held between the &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; ring assembly in compression . as described above and shown in the drawing the ceramic insulator is held on compression between the extending wall portion 30 and the spacer member 26 . this structure is advantageous since the ceramic main insulator 28 is relatively strong in compression but is relatively weak in bending . the support structure thereby provides for the ceramic insulator 28 to be supported at center positions in compression between the spacer 26 and wall portions 30 as sealed by the &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; rings assembles 32 and 34 , but yet the remainder of the insulator extends outwardly to provide for the proper insulation but unsupported so that the main insulator is not subjected to bending forces due to gas pressures and loads . the purpose of the ceramic main insulator 28 is to electrically insulate the cathode 18 from the walls of the housing 12 , thereby insuring that the proper electrical discharge takes place between the cathode 18 and anode 20 . when high voltage is applied to the cathode 18 via the high voltage connected 36 , there is a tendency for undesirable currents to flow over the surface of the main insulator 28 to the grounded housing walls 12 . how well the main insulator resists this current flow depends in part on the distance these currents have to flow ( the farther the better ), and on how close the surfaces of the main insulator are to the grounded housing walls 12 ( again , the farther the better ). the use of a floating ceramic main insulator 28 is important in the design of the present invention because it maximizes , for a given size insulator , the distance parasitic currents must flow to reach the grounded housing 12 . if the insulator were positioned against the upper surface of the housing 12 , then the shortest path for parasitic currents to flow would be essentially equal to the half - width of the insulator . by having the main insulator spaced away from the housing , the path length is doubled , since the current flow has to extend outward and then double back before it reaches the wall position 30 . by lengthening the current path without actually making the insulator larger , this allows the size of the laser 10 to be reduced significantly . of equal importance , spacing the surface of the main insulator 28 away from the grounded housing 12 reduces the capacitive coupling between the parasitic surface currents and ground . in short - pulse lasers ( such as the present invention ), in which the excitation is applied for very short durations , the capacitive coupling between the surface currents and ground enhances the flow of current . by spacing the main insulator 28 away from the housing wall 12 , capacitive coupling and hence parasitic current flow is reduced . this allows a further reduction in the size of the main insulator 28 , resulting in an even more compact laser 10 . the high voltage current to produce the electrical discharge is supplied to the cathode 18 through a plurality of high voltage connectors 36 . these connectors 36 extend down through outer support structures . each high voltage connector 36 extends through a plastic insulator 41 , and it should be noted that this insulator 41 may be made of plastic and not of ceramic material since this insulator is completely sealed from the gas within the interior chamber of the laser 10 . as can be seen , the gas is isolated because of the &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; rings 32 and 34 . as can be seen in fig2 each of the cathode 18 and anode 20 is formed as one continuous member . it should be appreciated that the cathode and anode may actually be formed of a series of members equal in number to the groups of high voltage connectors . as shown in fig1 and 2 plates of ceramic material 42 are shown applied to the upper wall 12 to extend across the upper wall at least in the end positions for the ceramic insulator 28 . these plates of ceramic material 42 insure that the current path for the electrical current which is flowing along the surface of the main insulators 28 cannot jump to the upper wall 12 , but must follow the ceramic insulator back on itself before it can be grounded by the wall portions 30 . the plates 42 thereby provide that there is a true doubling of the current path in all directions to insure that the size of the laser may be kept to a minimum because the ceramic insulator 28 acts as if it were twice as wide . fig1 also illustrates , in general , a circulating path for the gas as the laser is being operated . in particular a fan member 46 extends along the length of the laser and includes a plurality of blades shown schematically as four blades 48 extending along the length of the fan 46 . a large plurality of these blades are actually used and this type of fan structure is referred to as a tangential blower . as shown by the arrows the flow of gas is up and through the electrical discharge area 22 as controlled by a vane member 52 . in addition , a gas scoop 54 provides for a portion of the circulated air exiting the fan 46 to be siphoned off for filtering by a filter 56 . this filter may be an electrostatic precipitator , the details of which will be described at a later portion of this application . in general , if the gas is krf , the gas may become contaminated with metal fluoride particles which are formed each time the laser is discharged . each time the laser discharges , a small amount of metal may be removed from the electrodes and may react with the gas to produce the metal fluoride particles . the filter 56 removes these particles and provides clean air at selected portions of the laser . the air that has been circulated through the electrical discharge area 22 becomes heated considerably by the electrical discharge and the exhaust gas thereby passes around a water cooled heat exchanger 58 . this heat exchanger 58 removes the heat produced by the electrical discharge as the gas passes around it . the cooled gas is now forced upwardly in accordance with a vane 60 to again re - enter the side of the fan 46 for recirculation . the use of the vanes 52 and 60 insures a proper stable path for the circulating air from the fan 46 and up through the discharge area 22 and then around the heat exchanger 58 for cooling before the air is again returned to the fan 46 . as indicated above , a portion of the air is captured by the scoop 54 for filtering . fig3 illustrates one end view of the laser 10 with the other end view being essentially similar but a mirror image . as can be seen in fig3 three cap members are provided at the ends of the laser . one cap supports a window structure , generally indicated at 62 with a window member 64 located in the middle of the cap . as an example , the window 64 may be made of magnesium fluoride which is transparent in deep uv light . in order to insure that the areas around the windows are maintained free of particulate contaminates , clean gas from the filter 56 is injected around the windows to prevent particulates from depositing on the windows . a cap member 66 forms a support for the fan drive . one end of the laser includes a cap which is merely a bearing support but the other end of the laser includes a cap which contains an integrally sealed motor in a manner to be explained in a later portion of this specification . again , to insure that the bearing structure for the fan does not become contaminated , clean gas from the filter 56 is injected around the bearings of the fan 46 to again insure that no particulates can contaminate the bearings to adversely affect the operation of the circulating fan . a final end cap 68 supports the heat exchanger 58 . the heat exchanger 58 extends from one end of the laser to the other and is a completely sealed unit . the ends of the heat exchanger 58 are sealed to the laser at external positions and with no seals within the laser . fluid coolant is introduced through the heat exchanger to cool the circulating gas and , because the heat exchanger 58 is sealed at external positions , there can be no leaks of the coolant within the laser . as shown in fig1 and 3 , the filter 56 may be located to the side of the laser 10 . the filter 56 may be formed as an electrostatic precipitator to clean at least a portion of the gas and specifically to clean from this portion of the gas any particulate material which may be produced each time the laser fires . fig4 illustrates a cross sectional view of the precipitator which extends along the length of the laser and with fig5 illustrating a cross sectional view taken along lines 5 -- 5 of fig4 . as shown in fig4 and 5 the entrance 54 from the interior of the laser 10 is directed into the electrostatic precipitator filter 56 . the precipitator is formed as a tubular member 80 enclosing a plurality of additional tubular members 82 which are supported by a sealing bulkhead 94 . each tubular member includes an opening 84 to receive the dirty gas which enters through the entrance 54 . a high voltage wire 86 extends through each of the tubular members 82 . all of these wires 86 extend from support members 88 which are supported by a central insulating support 90 . the insulating support 90 is mounted on the bulkhead 94 . the wires 86 and their support members 88 are therefore insulated from the tubes 82 and bulkheads 94 , and are maintained at a high voltage . the tubes 82 and bulkheads 94 are interconnected and grounded to the wall of the outer tube 80 . the inner wall of the tube 80 and the bulkheads 94 insure that the flow of dirty gas through the entrance 54 is directed properly to the central openings 84 and into the tubes 82 . a high voltage input 96 provides for a high voltage connection to the wires 86 through a spring connector 98 . this spring connector provides for a proper electrical contact and yet allows the end of the precipitator to be removed for servicing . as high voltage is applied through the high voltage input 96 , the wires 86 also provide for a high voltage extending through the center of the tubular members 82 . this high voltage provides for an electrostatic field to filter particulates in the dirty gas and to have these particulates deposited along the inner surfaces of the tubes 82 as shown by the deposits 100 . in addition to the electrostatic filtering , cylindrical magnets 102 are located on the exterior surfaces of the tubes 82 to either side of the openings 84 to further the deposition and retention of the particulates which are filtered electrostaticly from the dirty gas . the dirty gas , therefore , enters through the openings 84 and with the particular material deposited on the inner walls of the tubes 82 and with the clean gas exiting the tubes 82 at the end positions . the clean gas then leaves the electrostatic filter 56 through the exit openings 104 located at the end of the filter . dirty gas , therefore , enters through the center of the filter and exits from the end positions and with the clean gas directed to the window areas and to the bearing areas as will be further explained . the structure of the electrostatic precipitator provides for an efficient filtering of the particulates since the flow of the dirty gas through the electrostatic precipitator is designed to have a laminar flow as opposed to a non - laminar or turbulent flow . fig6 illustrates the differences between the depositing of the particulate material on the tubes 82 for laminar flow relative to non - laminar flow . specifically , as shown in curves a , b , c , d and e of fig6 and with a laminar flow of gas , particulates of a particular size are deposited along the length of the tubes and with longer length tubes necessary for smaller size particulates . the series of curves a , b , c , d and e represent particulates of decreasing size . it can be seen that even for very small size particulates there is a length where all of the particulates are deposited within the tube and the length of the electrostatic precipitator for the present invention is sufficient to trap all particulates of sizes of concern . on the other hand , if the flow of gas is non - laminar , as shown by curve f , some particulates are not trapped no matter the length of the tube . in other words , for laminar flow of the gas , there is a length for the tube where all size particulates of concern are trapped , whereas for non - laminar flow , no matter what the length of the tube , the trapping approaches but never equals zero . in this invention , laminar flow is produced by controlling the velocity of the gas flowing in each tube , as well as the diameter of the tubes . this structure maximizes the laminar flow and thereby the efficiency for the electrostatic precipitator of a given length . fig7 illustrates a side view of the laser 10 showing the electrodes 18 and 20 positioned within the laser housing and with the fan 46 located below . one end of the laser housing is shown to include the window structure or cap 62 and the drive structure or cap 66 for the fan 46 . as can be seen , the window structure 62 is located adjacent to the ends of the electrodes 18 and 20 in order to allow the high energy ultraviolet pulses to exit through the window structure 62 . the window structure 62 may be seen in more detail in fig8 where it is shown that the window structure 62 includes a window 64 located at the end of a housing member 110 . the window 64 is formed of a material which is transparent to the wavelength of the high energy pulses so as to allow the high energy pulses to exit the window . for example , if the pulse energy has a wavelength in the deep uv , then the window 64 can be formed of magnesium fluoride . in order to insure that the windows are kept clean , clean gas from the precipitator 56 is injected around the window to create a constant clean gas area around the windows . this can be seen in fig8 where a clean gas path through the lower laser housing 12 is shown as a pathway 112 . the flow of the clean gas from the precipitator 56 is shown by the arrow 114 . this flow provides for the constant injection of clean gas around the window . actually , the pathway for the clean gas extends into and around the window housing 110 as shown by pathway 116 which extends around the window . this insures that clean gas is injected to surround the window from different directions . in addition , it should be noted that clean gas also extends down from the pathway 112 as shown by additional pathway 118 to supply clean gas to the bearings for the fan 46 . this bearing structure will be described at a later portion of this specification . as can be seen in detail in fig8 the interior of the window structure 62 includes a plurality of vanes 120 . the vanes are used to attenuate shockwaves and also to provide a plurality of chambers so that any dirty gas coming into the window structure from the interior of the laser moves in circular patterns to minimize the flow of dirty gas to the window 64 . essentially , as the laser is excited to produce the high energy pulses , these excitations produce shockwaves which tend to push any gas within the chamber into the window structure 62 . it is desirable to minimize the flow of the dirty gas into the window structure 62 since this could contaminate the window . the individual vanes produce a plurality of small chambers to trap the gas and force the gas to rotate within the chambers . the gas in successive chambers tends to rotate more slowly than the last in counter rotation to each other , thereby minimizing the flow of the dirty gas into the window area . the vanes also tend to attenuate the shockwaves , and this combination of factors allows the introduction of a relatively low volume of clean gas adjacent the window to counteract the flow of the dirty gas from the interior of the laser . the clean gas flowing towards the interior of the chamber is shown by arrows 124 . the above described structure generally allows a modest flow rate of clean gas to pass over the window and still keep the window clean , even though the flow rate of clean gas is much smaller than the dirty gas within the chamber . as the fan 46 rotates it produces a high velocity flow within the chamber . in order to minimize the velocity of this flow in the areas adjacent to the windows , vane members 126 are provided to cover the fan 46 at the end portions . this effectively reduces the velocity of the dirty gas in the window areas . this reduction of velocity is shown by a graph formed by a series of arrows 128 which illustrate the velocity of the gas adjacent the ends of the electrodes 18 and 20 and with this velocity decreasing as the area adjacent the entrance to the window structure 62 is approached . all of the above , therefore , provides for an efficient flow of gas within the laser chamber to properly circulate the gas during operation of the laser and yet allow for a minimum amount of gas to be filtered and recirculated into the laser at the most desirable positions . this keeps the most crucial structures , such as the windows , clean without having to clean all of the gas within the laser . in addition , even though the fan 46 provides for a high velocity of the movement of gas within the laser , the vane 126 defuses this velocity at the window entrances to reduce the volocity so that dirty gas is not forced into the window structure . finally , the use of the plurality of vanes 120 tends to substantially reduce the entrance of dirty gas carried along by shockwaves so that the small volume and velocity of clean gas provided by the electrostatic precipitator 56 allows for a relatively long operational life of the laser windows . it is desirable to rotate the fan 46 from an exterior position so that the actual motor assembly is not located within the laser chamber . this is because it would be difficult to construct a motor that could operate efficiently within the laser chamber because of the corrosive gas conditions within the chamber . as shown in fig9 the fan 46 is mounted on a shaft 130 . the shaft extends through a bearing structure 132 mounted within the wall of the housing 12 . the actual motor assembly is contained within the housing or cap 66 shown in end view in fig3 . in general , prior art structures have included exterior motors driving the shaft 130 in an indirect way such as through gears or pulleys . this type of arrangement requires that the drive shaft be equipped with a rotary seal . the present invention provides for a rotor 134 being located on the end of the shaft 130 and with the rotor 134 directly driving the shaft 130 and thereby the fan 46 . this provides for a much more efficient and direct system and eliminates the necessity of the rotary sealing system which must be provided with prior art structures . the rotary seal is eliminated since the seal is provided by a sealing member 136 which is formed as a can of non - corroding material such as stainless steel . the sealing member 136 is mounted to the wall of the housing member 12 using an &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; ring seal 138 . it can be seen that the rotor 134 is completely enclosed by the member 136 and is sealed to the wall of the housing 12 . therefore , any corrosive gas which passes through the bearing structure 132 is still sealed since the gas is enclosed by the member 136 and the gas can only contact the rotor 134 . the rotor , however , is substantially impervious to the gas since the rotor is formed by magnets covered by non - corrosive material such as stainless steel . surrounding the rotor 134 and the sealing member 136 is a stator 140 which is a series of windings . the stator 140 and rotor 134 together form a brushless dc motor which operate in a normal manner . the major difference between a normal brushless dc motor and the present invention is the use of the sealing member 136 located between the stator and rotor so that the rotor is fluid sealed relative to the stator 140 . this structure provides for a simple brushless motor being mounted to the side of the housing 12 to directly drive the fan 46 and yet with a seal provided without the necessity of having this seal being a rotating seal . the remaining portions of the motor include a circuit board 142 to direct power from a power input connector 144 to the stator 140 . in order to insure that the motor is properly operating , a hall detector 146 is located outside the sealing can 136 to detect the rotational position of the magnets within the rotor 134 . a signal from the hall detector is then fed back to the circuit board 142 to control the phase of the power to the stator to keep the rotor in lock . a cover plate 152 may be positioned at the end of the housing 66 to finish the enclosure structure . it can be seen that the entire rotor assembly is mounted at the exterior of the laser chamber without any further external drive such as through pulleys or gears and yet with the rotor being completely sealed relative to the stator . the only moving parts subjected to the corrosive gas within the laser are the rotor and fan itself . as indicated above , this structure completely eliminates the necessity for providing for rotating seals . it can be seen , therefore , that the present invention provides for a compact excimer laser which essentially eliminates the use of plastic insulators and provides for ceramic insulators which do not degrade and brake down as do plastic insulators , so as to minimize the production of contaminants . the use of all ceramic insulating material within the laser greatly increases the overall reliability of the laser . because there are much less breakdowns and contaminants within the laser , this minimizes the necessity to have an external gas reprocessor as with prior art lasers . the minimal production of contaminants in the present invention only necessitates the cleaning of a portion of the gas and subsequent diversion of this clean gas to important areas , such as the window areas and the bearing areas . in addition to the above , the specific configuration for the laser of the present invention , including the floating insulator structure , allows for the laser to be reduced to a small size . even with this small size , the laser of the present invention provides for efficient operation . all of the above advantages , and additional ones such as the use of an electrostatic precipitator and an integral brushless dc motor design , provide for a superior structure for the compact excimer laser of the present invention . although the laser has been described with reference to a particular embodiment , it is to be appreciated that various adaptations and modifications may be made and the invention is only to be limited by the appended claims . | 7 |
in the following , embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig2 is a sectional view of light - emitting device 100 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention . as illustrated in fig2 , light - emitting device 100 includes light emitting element 120 and light flux controlling member 140 . light emitting element 120 is a light - emitting diode ( led ) such as a white light - emitting diode , for example . light flux controlling member 140 controls the distribution of the light emitted from light emitting element 120 . light flux controlling member 140 is disposed in such a manner that its central axis ca coincides with optical axis la of light emitting element 120 . the material of light flux controlling member 140 is not specifically limited as long as the light having desired wavelengths can pass through light flux controlling member 140 . examples of the material of light flux controlling member 140 include : light transmissive resins such as polymethylmethacrylate ( pmma ), polycarbonate ( pc ), and epoxy resin ( ep ); and glass . light flux controlling member 140 can be manufactured by injection molding , for example . fig3 to fig7 illustrate a configuration of light flux controlling member 140 according to embodiment 1 . fig3 is a perspective view of light flux controlling member 140 according to embodiment 1 . fig4 a to 4c are a plan view , a bottom view , and a side view of light flux controlling member 140 , respectively . fig5 a is a bottom view of light flux controlling member 140 illustrating only first virtual square s 1 , and fig5 b is a bottom view of light flux controlling member 140 illustrating only first virtual square s 1 and second virtual square s 2 . fig6 a is a sectional view taken along line a - a of fig4 b , and fig6 b is a partially enlarged sectional view of a region denoted with the broken line in fig6 a . fig7 is a drawing for describing installation positions of second projected line 171 and corner portion 172 . as illustrated in fig3 to fig7 , light flux controlling member 140 includes incidence region 141 on which light emitted from light emitting element 120 is incident , and emission region 142 provided on the side opposite to incidence region 141 and configured to output the light incident on incidence region 141 . flange 143 may be provided between incidence region 141 and emission region 142 . the shape of light flux controlling member 140 in plan view is not limited . as illustrated in fig4 a , light flux controlling member 140 according to the present embodiment has a square shape in plan view . in addition , the length of one side of light flux controlling member 140 of the present embodiment is about 4 . 7 mm , for example . light emitted from light - emitting elements 120 is incident on incidence region 141 . incidence region 141 includes refraction section 150 provided at a center portion of incidence region 141 , fresnel lens section 160 provided outside refraction section 150 , and outermost lens section 170 provided outside fresnel lens section 160 . incidence region 141 is two - fold rotational symmetry or four - fold rotational symmetry around the center of first virtual square s 1 and the center of second virtual square s 2 described later as a rotational axis . the rotational axis coincides with central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 and optical axis la of light emitting element 120 . accordingly , incidence region 141 is two - fold rotational symmetry or four - fold rotational symmetry around central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 and optical axis la of light emitting element 120 . the external shape of incidence region 141 is rectangular or square , for example . refraction section 150 allows part of light emitted from light emitting element 120 ( light emitted at a small angle with respect to optical axis la ) to enter light flux controlling member 140 , and refracts the incident light toward emission region 142 . refraction section 150 is disposed at a position facing light emitting element 120 in such a manner as to intersect with central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ) ( see fig2 ). as long as refraction part 150 can have the above - mentioned function , the shape of refraction part 150 is not limited . for example , refraction section 150 may have a shape of a refractive fresnel lens . in addition , the surface of refraction section 150 may be a spherical surface or an aspherical surface . in the present embodiment , the surface of refraction section 150 is an aspherical surface , and the shape of refraction section 150 is a substantially square pyramid shape ( see fig2 and 3 ). fresnel lens section 160 allows part of light emitted from light emitting element 120 ( light emitted at a relatively large angle with respect to optical axis la ) to enter light flux controlling member 140 , and reflects the incident light toward emission region 142 . fresnel lens section 160 includes a plurality of first projected lines 161 configured to control the travelling direction of light emitted from light emitting element 120 . as illustrated in fig5 a , it is assumed that first virtual square s 1 is disposed in fresnel lens section 160 . center o 1 ( the intersection of diagonals l 1 ) of first virtual square s 1 coincides with central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 . first virtual square s 1 and four diagonals l 1 serve as references for disposing first projected lines 161 . first projected lines 161 are disposed to join adjacent two diagonals l 1 . first projected lines 161 may have a straight shape or a curved shape . in addition , first projected lines 161 are disposed to form a valley part between adjacent two first projected lines 161 in a region between adjacent two diagonals l 1 ( see fig6 b ). the shape and the size of first projected line 161 are not limited , and may be identical to one another , or different from one another . in the present embodiment , the sizes of first projected lines 161 are different from one another ( see fig6 b ). in addition , in the optical axis la direction , distance d ( distance d from the reference surface to first ridgeline 165 ) between the lower end of light flux controlling member 140 and first ridgeline 165 of each first projected line 161 gradually decreases toward the outer side from the inner side ( see fig6 b ). here , the “ lower end of light flux controlling member 140 ” means the apex of second projected line 171 ( second ridgeline 176 ) described later , and the “ reference surface ” means a plane including the apex of second projected line 171 ( second ridgeline 176 ). first projected line 161 includes first incidence surface 162 , first reflecting surface 163 , first connection surface 164 and first ridgeline 165 . in first projected line 161 , first incidence surface 162 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and first reflecting surface 163 is disposed on the outer side ( see fig6 b ). part of light emitted from light emitting element 120 is incident on first incidence surface 162 , and first incidence surface 162 refracts the light to first reflecting surface 163 side . first incidence surface 162 may be a planar surface or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , first incidence surface 162 is a planar surface . in addition , first incidence surface 162 may be parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ), or may be tilted with respect to central axis ca . in the present embodiment , for the purpose of facilitating the releasing , first incidence surface 162 is tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end ( reference surface ) of light flux controlling member 140 . preferably , the inclination angle of first incidence surface 162 is greater than 0 degree , and equal to or smaller than 10 degrees with respect to central axis ca in any cross - section including central axis ca . the inclination angle of first incidence surface 162 is preferably 5 degrees or smaller , more preferably 3 degrees or smaller . first reflecting surface 163 is paired with first incidence surface 162 , and configured to reflect the light incident on first incidence surface 162 toward emission region 142 . first reflecting surface 163 may be a planar surface or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , first reflecting surface 163 is a planar surface . in addition , for the purpose of totally reflecting the light that has reached first reflecting surface 163 , first reflecting surface 163 is tilted with respect to central axis ca . first reflecting surface 163 is tilted such that the distance to central axis ca decreases toward the lower end ( reference surface ) of light flux controlling member 140 . first connection surface 164 joins first incidence surface 162 and first reflecting surface 163 . first connection surface 164 may be a planar surface , or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , first connection surface 164 is a planar surface . in addition , it is also possible to directly join first incidence surface 162 and first reflecting surface 163 without forming first connection surface 164 . first ridgeline 165 is a boundary line between first incidence surface 162 and first connection surface 164 . first ridgeline 165 is disposed to join adjacent two diagonals l 1 of first virtual square s 1 . it is to be noted that , when first connection surface 164 not formed , first ridgeline 165 is a boundary line between first incidence surface 162 and first reflecting surface 163 . when first connection surface 164 is provided between first incidence surface 162 and first reflecting surface 163 , the manufacturing performance can be enhanced by eliminating an acute angle portion . in plan view of incidence region 141 , first ridgeline 165 may be a straight line , or a curved line . in the present embodiment , in plan view of incidence region 141 , first ridgeline 165 is a straight line . outermost lens section 170 allows part of light emitted from light emitting element 120 ( light emitted at a large angle with respect to optical axis la ) to enter light flux controlling member 140 , and reflects the incident light toward emission region 142 . outermost lens section 170 includes four second projected lines 171 , and four corner portions 172 . as illustrated in fig5 b , it is assumed that second virtual square s 2 is disposed in outermost lens section 170 . center o 2 ( the intersection of second diagonals l 2 ) of second virtual square s 2 coincides with central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 . second virtual square s 2 serves as a reference for disposing four second projected lines 171 and four corner portions 172 . second virtual square s 2 is disposed outside first virtual square s 1 . second virtual square s 2 and first virtual square s 1 are similar to each other , and are concentrically disposed such that each side of second virtual square s 2 and first virtual square s 1 are parallel to each other . it is only necessary that first ridgeline 165 is disposed to join adjacent two diagonals l 1 of first virtual square s 1 as described above . accordingly , first ridgeline 165 and second ridgeline 176 described later may be formed in curved lines , and therefore may not be parallel to each other . four second projected lines 171 are disposed on respective sides of second virtual square s 2 . in the plane orthogonal to the side on which second projected line 171 is disposed , the cross - sectional area of second projected line 171 is greater than that of first projected line 161 . both ends of second projected line 171 are connected with respective corner portions 172 . in the direction parallel to the side of second virtual square s 2 , the length of second projected line 171 is smaller than that of outermost first projected line 161 . when light flux controlling member 140 is used in the above - mentioned light - emitting device 100 , it is preferable that the length of second projected line 171 be greater than the width of light emitting element 120 used for light - emitting device 100 in the direction parallel to the side of second virtual square s 2 . second projected line 171 is formed in a substantially triangular prism shape . in the plane orthogonal to the side on which second projected line 171 is disposed , the cross - sectional shape of second projected line 171 is a substantially triangular shape . each second projected line 171 includes second incidence surface 173 , second reflecting surface 174 , second connection surface 175 and second ridgeline 176 . in second projected line 171 , second incidence surface 173 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and second reflecting surface 174 is disposed on the outer side ( see fig6 b ). light emitted from light emitting element 120 is incident on second incidence surface 173 , and second incidence surface 173 refracts the incident light to second reflecting surface 174 side . second incidence surface 173 may be a planar surface , or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , second incidence surface 173 is a planar surface . in addition , second incidence surface 173 may be parallel to central axis ca , or may be tilted with respect to central axis ca . in the present embodiment , for the purpose of facilitating the releasing , second incidence surface 173 is tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end ( reference surface ) of light flux controlling member 140 . second reflecting surface 174 is paired with second incidence surface 173 , and is configured to reflect the light incident on second incidence surface 173 toward emission region 142 . second reflecting surface 174 may be a planar surface or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , second reflecting surface 174 is a curved surface . second reflecting surface 174 is a straight line in cross - section ( horizontal cross - section ) orthogonal to central axis ca . in addition , second reflecting surface 174 is a curved line protruding outward in a cross - section ( perpendicular cross - section ) including central axis ca . second connection surface 175 joins second incidence surface 173 and second reflecting surface 174 . second connection surface 175 may be a planar surface or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , second connection surface 175 is a planar surface . in addition , it is also possible to directly join second incidence surface 173 and second reflecting surface 174 without forming second connection surface 175 . second ridgeline 176 is a boundary line between second incidence surface 173 and second connection surface 175 . it is to be noted that , when second connection surface 175 is not formed , second ridgeline 176 is a boundary line between second incidence surface 173 and second reflecting surface 174 . when second connection surface 175 is provided between second incidence surface 173 and second reflecting surface 174 , manufacturing performance can be enhanced by eliminating an acute angle portion . in addition , as illustrated in fig7 , end - to - end distance d 1 of second ridgeline 176 is smaller than end - to - end distance d 2 of first ridgeline 165 of outermost first projected line 161 . in addition , when light flux controlling member 140 is used in the above - mentioned light - emitting device 100 , end - to - end distance d 1 of second ridgeline 176 is preferably greater than the width of light emitting element 120 used in light - emitting device 100 . four corner portions 172 are respectively disposed at the four corners of second virtual square s 2 . corner portion 172 is a part of a substantially conical member whose vertex is located on center o 2 side of second virtual square s 2 . corner portion 172 includes third incidence surface 177 , third reflecting surface 178 and third ridgeline 179 . here , the “ substantially conical member ( cone )” is a stereoscopic shape which is obtained by connecting the vertex and the outer peripheral edges of the bottom surface with a straight line or curved line . examples of the substantially conical member ( cone ) include a pyramidal member , a substantially pyramidal member whose lines connecting the vertex and circumferential points of the bottom surface protrude outward , a substantially pyramidal member whose lines connecting the vertex and circumferential points of the bottom surface protrude inward , a conical member , a substantially conical member whose generatrix protrudes outward , and a substantially conical member whose generatrix protrudes inward . in the present embodiment , the substantially conical member ( cone ) is a substantially conical member whose generatrix protrudes outward . still another part of the light emitted from light emitting element 120 is incident on third incidence surface 177 , and third incidence surface 177 refracts the light to third reflecting surface 178 side . third incidence surface 177 may be a planar surface or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , third incidence surface 177 is composed of two planar surfaces . in addition , third incidence surface 177 may be parallel to central axis ca , or may be tilted with respect to central axis ca . in the present embodiment , for the purpose of facilitating the releasing , the two planar surfaces are tilted with respect to central axis ca . the two planar surfaces are tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end ( reference surface ) of light flux controlling member 140 . the two planar surfaces of third incidence surface 177 may be flush with adjacent second incidence surface 173 . third reflecting surface 178 is paired with third incidence surface 177 , and is configured to reflect the light incident on third incidence surface 177 toward emission region 142 . in the present embodiment , third reflecting surface 178 is a curved surface . in a cross - section ( horizontal cross - section ) orthogonal to central axis ca , the outer edge of third reflecting surface 178 is a curved line protruding outward . in addition , in a cross - section ( perpendicular cross - section ) including central axis ca , the outer edge of third reflecting surface 178 is a curved line protruding outward . third reflecting surface 178 corresponds to a part of a side surface of a substantially conical member , and connects adjacent two second reflecting surfaces 174 to join two second reflecting surfaces 174 . third ridgeline 179 is a boundary line between third incidence surface 177 and third reflecting surface 178 . as described later , third ridgeline 179 is a curved line which is formed such that the distance to emission region 142 gradually decreases toward second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 from second projected line 171 side . in addition , as illustrated in fig7 , distance d 3 between the outermost edge of third reflecting surface 178 and third ridgeline 179 gradually decreases toward diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 in plan view of incidence region 141 . with this configuration , at a position where corner portion 172 and second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 intersect with each other , a recessed portion is formed . it is to be noted that the boundary between third incidence surface 177 and third reflecting surface 178 may be chamfered to form a connection surface ( third connection surface ). in this case , third ridgeline 179 is a boundary line between third incidence surface 177 and the third connection surface . fig8 and 9 are drawings for describing the stereoscopic shape of corner portion 172 . it is to be noted that fig8 c is a perspective view in the arrow direction of fig8 b . as described above , corner portion 172 is a part of a substantially conical member ( cone ). here , a substantially conical member having a circular bottom surface is assumed ( see fig8 a ). the substantially conical member is vertically cut by a cross having a predetermined width ( see fig8 b and 8c ). at this time , the width of the cross is equal to the length of second projected line 171 in the direction of the side of second virtual square s 2 . next , a center part of the substantially conical member is removed such that third incidence surface 177 is tilted in the above - mentioned fashion ( see fig9 a and 9b ). at this time , the side surface of the substantially conical member is a curved surface , and therefore third ridgeline 179 is formed such that the distance to emission region 142 gradually decreases toward second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 from second projected line 171 side . it is to be noted that , in the present embodiment , each of third reflecting surfaces 178 of four corner portions 172 is a part of the side surface of one substantially conical member whose vertex is located on central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 ( central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 and the central axis of the substantially conical member coincide with each other ). however , four third reflecting surfaces 178 may be parts of side surfaces of substantially conical members having different central axes . emission region 142 is a planar surface or a curved surface formed on a side nearer to the region to be illuminated , which is opposite to light emitting element 120 side . in the present embodiment , emission region 142 is a planar surface . emission region 142 is formed to intersect with central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 ( see fig2 ). the light which is incident on refraction section 150 , the light which is incident on first incidence surface 162 and reflected at first reflecting surface 163 , the light which is incident on second incidence surface 173 and reflected at second reflecting surface 174 , and the light which is incident on third incidence surface 177 and reflected at third reflecting surface 178 are emitted toward a region to be illuminated from emission region 142 . simulation of the illuminance distribution was carried out in light - emitting device 100 having light flux controlling member 140 according to embodiment 1 . in addition , the illuminance distribution of a light - emitting device including light flux controlling member 140 ′ having no corner portion 172 illustrated in fig1 was also simulated for comparison . fig1 a to 11c show simulation of the illuminance distribution of the light - emitting device having light flux controlling member 140 ′ for comparison . fig1 a shows simulation of the illuminance distribution of light emitted via the entire light flux controlling member 140 ′ for comparison , and fig1 b and 11c show simulation of the illuminance distribution of light emitted via only outermost lens section 170 ′. in fig1 c , the sensitivity is increased in comparison with fig1 b . fig1 a to 11c show simulation of the illuminance distribution in an exemplary case where a region to be illuminated is separated from the light emitting surface of light emitting element 120 by 1000 mm ( the same applies to fig1 a to 12c ). in fig1 a to 11c , the ordinate and the abscissa of the left diagrams indicate the distance ( mm ) from optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ( central axis ca of light flux controlling member 140 ′). in addition , the ordinate in the right diagrams indicates illuminance ( lux ). as illustrated in fig1 a , it is recognized that light flux controlling member 140 ′ for comparison having no corner portion 172 also can illuminate the illumination region with light in a square to a certain degree . in addition , as illustrated in fig1 b , it is recognized that the light via only outermost lens section 170 ′ reaches peripheral portions of the illumination region . however , when the light via only outermost lens section 170 ′ is analyzed in detail , it is recognized that light outward of the illumination region is generated at the four corners of light flux controlling member 140 ′ as illustrated in fig1 c . fig1 a to 12c show simulation of the illuminance distribution in the case where light - emitting device 100 having light flux controlling member 140 according to embodiment 1 is used . fig1 a shows simulation of the illuminance distribution of light emitted via the entire light flux controlling member 140 according to embodiment 1 , and fig1 b and 12c show simulation of the illuminance distribution of light emitted via only outermost lens section 170 . in fig1 c , the sensitivity is increased in comparison with fig1 b . as illustrated in fig1 a , it is recognized that light flux controlling member 140 according to the present embodiment having corner portions 172 can illuminate the illumination region in a square form . in addition , as illustrated in fig1 b , it is recognized that the light via only outermost lens section 170 can illuminate the outline of the illumination region . further , as illustrated in fig1 c , the light outward of the illumination region is not generated at the four corners of light flux controlling member 140 . in view of the above , it can be said that light - emitting device 100 according to the present embodiment can uniformly illuminate the illumination region in comparison with the light - emitting device for comparison . of the light emitted from light emitting element 120 toward corner portion 172 , the light that passes through the recessed portion of corner portion 172 is not influenced by the control of corner portion 172 , and travels to the illumination region without change . the amount of such uncontrolled light is small , and therefore a desired square - shaped illuminance distribution illustrated in fig1 can be obtained without forming bright spots or dark points on the illuminated surface . consequently , even when a burr - like wall part which is parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ) is formed from third ridgeline 179 at the recessed portion , an effect similar to that of light flux controlling member 140 of embodiment 1 is obtained when the burr - like wall part has no light flux controlling function ( a second modification of embodiment 3 , see fig2 to 24 ). next , illumination apparatus 400 having light - emitting device 100 according to the present embodiment will be described . fig1 illustrates a configuration of illumination apparatus 400 according to the present embodiment . as illustrated in fig1 , illumination apparatus 400 includes light - emitting device 100 and cover 420 . as described above , light - emitting device 100 includes light flux controlling member 140 and light emitting element 120 . light emitting element 120 is fixed to substrate 440 . cover 420 allows the light emitted from light - emitting device 100 to pass therethrough while diffusing the light , and protects light - emitting device 100 . cover 420 is disposed on the light path of the light emitted from light - emitting device 100 . as long as cover 420 can have the above - mentioned function , the material of cover 420 is not limited . examples of the material of cover 420 include light transmissive resins such as polymethylmethacrylate ( pmma ), polycarbonate ( pc ), and epoxy resin ( ep ); and glass . a light - emitting device and an illumination apparatus according to a modification of embodiment 1 are respectively different from light - emitting device 100 and illumination apparatus 400 according to embodiment 1 in the shape of light flux controlling member 140 . therefore , the same components as those of light - emitting device 100 and illumination apparatus 400 according to embodiment 1 are denoted with the same reference numerals and the description thereof are omitted , and , the components different from light flux controlling member 140 will be mainly described . light flux controlling member 540 according to the modification of embodiment 1 is different from light flux controlling member 140 according to embodiment 1 in the shape of first projected line 161 . fig1 a and 14b are bottom views of light flux controlling member 540 according to modifications of embodiment 1 of the present invention . fig1 a is a bottom view of light flux controlling member 540 according to the modification 1 of embodiment 1 , and fig1 b is a bottom view of light flux controlling member 640 according to modification 2 of embodiment 1 . as illustrated in fig1 a , incidence region 541 of light flux controlling member 540 according to the modification 1 of embodiment 1 includes refraction section 150 , fresnel lens section 560 and outermost lens section 170 . fresnel lens section 560 has a plurality of first projected lines 561 each including first incidence surface 562 , first reflecting surface 563 , first connection surface 564 and first ridgeline 565 . first incidence surface 562 is a curved surface . in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), the inner edge of first incidence surface 562 is a curve protruding toward central axis ca side . in addition , in a cross - section including central axis ca ( vertical cross - section ), first incidence surface 562 is tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end of light flux controlling member 540 ( reference surface ). although not illustrated in the drawings , in a cross - section including central axis ca ( vertical cross - section ), the inner edge of first reflecting surface 663 may be a curve . it is to be noted that , when the inner edge of first incidence surface 562 is a curve in a cross - section including central axis ca , the “ angle of first incidence surface 562 ” is the angle of the tangent to first incidence surface 562 at a light incident point . first reflecting surface 563 is a curved surface . in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), the outer edge of first reflecting surface 563 is a curve protruding toward central axis ca side . in addition , in a cross - section including central axis ca ( vertical cross - section ), the outer edge of first reflecting surface 563 is a curve . when the outer edge of first reflecting surface 563 is a curve in a cross - section including central axis ca , the “ angle of first reflecting surface 563 ” is the angle of the tangent to first reflecting surface 563 at a light incident point . first ridgeline 565 has an arc - like shape in plan view . the curvature radius of the arc ( first ridgeline 565 ) is greater than the distance between the intersection of the diagonals of first virtual square s 1 and the middle point of first ridgeline 565 . it is possible to adjust the difference between the light distribution characteristics along the side of first virtual square s 1 and the light distribution characteristics along diagonal l 1 of first virtual square s 1 by adjusting the curvature radius of the arc . for example , when the curvature radius of the arc is large ( when first ridgeline 565 is a substantially straight line ), the region irradiated with light emitted from light flux controlling member 540 is square . on the other hand , when the curvature radius of the arc is small ( when the center of diagonals l 1 of first virtual square s and the curvature center are close to each other ), the region irradiated with the light emitted from light flux controlling member 540 has a rounded shape . in addition , first ridgeline 565 is disposed to protrude toward central axis ca side in plan view ( see fig1 a ). that is , the curvature center of the arc is located at a position on the straight line passing through center o 1 of first virtual square s 1 ( the intersection of diagonals l 1 ) and the middle point of one side of first virtual square s 1 , and on the outer side of outermost first projected line 561 . further , as described above , the curvature radius of the arc is set to a value greater than the distance between the intersection of diagonals l 1 of first virtual square s 1 and a middle point of one side of first virtual square s 1 . in the present embodiment , the curvature centers of first ridgelines 565 coincide with each other . in this manner , the degree of light condensing can be adjusted by determining whether to protrude the shape of the arc to central axis . in addition , as illustrated in fig1 b , incidence region 641 of light flux controlling member 640 according to modification 2 of embodiment 1 includes refraction section 150 , fresnel lens section 660 and outermost lens section 170 . fresnel lens section 660 has a plurality of first projected lines 661 each including first incidence surface 662 , first reflecting surface 663 , first connection surface 664 and first ridgeline 665 . first incidence surface 662 is a curved surface . in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), the inner edge of first incidence surface 662 is a curve protruding outward . in addition , in a cross - section including central axis ca ( vertical cross - section ), first incidence surface 662 is tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end of light flux controlling member 640 ( reference surface ). first reflecting surface 663 is also a curved surface . in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), the outer edge of first reflecting surface 663 is a curve protruding outward . in addition , first ridgeline 665 is disposed to protrude outward in plan view . that is , the curvature center of the arc is located at a position on a straight line passing through center o 1 of first virtual square s 1 ( the intersection of diagonals l 1 ) and a middle point of one side of first virtual square s 1 , and the distance between the arc and the curvature center is greater than the distance between the center of first virtual square s 1 and the curvature center . as described above , the light - emitting device including the light flux controlling member according to the present embodiment is provided with corner portions 172 at four corners of outermost lens section 170 , and thus can illuminate an illumination region with the light emitted via outermost lens section 170 in a square shape . that is , the use efficiency of light emitted from light emitting element 120 can be enhanced . in addition , since light - emitting device 100 can uniformly illuminate a square illumination region with light , quality can be enhanced . light flux controlling member 740 , a light - emitting device and an illumination apparatus according to embodiment 2 are respectively different from light flux controlling member 140 , light - emitting device 100 and illumination apparatus 400 according to embodiment 1 in the shape of outermost lens section 770 of light flux controlling member 740 . therefore , the same components as those of light flux controlling member 140 , light - emitting device 100 and illumination apparatus 400 according to embodiment 1 are denoted with the same reference numerals , and the descriptions thereof are omitted . fig1 is a perspective view of light flux controlling member 740 according to embodiment 2 of the present invention . as illustrated in fig1 , incidence region 141 of light flux controlling member 740 according to embodiment 2 includes refraction section 150 , fresnel lens section 160 and outermost lens section 770 . outermost lens section 770 includes four second projected lines 771 and four corner portions 772 . each of four second projected lines 771 is formed in a triangular prism shape . the cross - sectional shape of second projected line 771 taken along the plane orthogonal to the side on which the second projected line 771 is disposed is a triangular shape . each second projected line 771 includes second incidence surface 773 , second reflecting surface 774 and second ridgeline 776 . in second projected line 771 , second incidence surface 773 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and second reflecting surface 774 is disposed on the outer side . second incidence surface 773 and second reflecting surface 774 are each a planar surface . second incidence surface 773 is tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end ( reference surface ) of light flux controlling member 740 . the inner edge of second incidence surface 773 is a straight line in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), and also in a cross - section including central axis ca ( perpendicular cross - section ). second reflecting surface 774 is tilted such that the distance to central axis ca decreases toward the lower end ( reference surface ) of light flux controlling member 740 . the outer edge of second reflecting surface 774 is a straight line in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca , and also in a cross - section including central axis ca . each of four corner portions 772 is a part of a pyramid . corner portion 772 includes third incidence surface 777 , third reflecting surface 778 and third ridgeline 779 . third incidence surface 777 and third reflecting surface 778 are each composed of two planar surfaces . the two surfaces of third incidence surface 777 are each tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end of light flux controlling member 740 ( reference surface ). in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), and also in a cross - section including central axis ca ( perpendicular cross - section ), the inner edges of two surfaces of third incidence surface 777 are each a straight line . the two surfaces of third reflecting surface 778 are each tilted such that the distance to central axis ca decreases toward the lower end of light flux controlling member 740 ( reference surface ). in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca , and also in a cross - section including central axis ca , the outer edges of the two surfaces of third reflecting surface 778 are each a straight line . third ridgeline 779 is a boundary line between third incidence surface 777 and third reflecting surface 778 . this boundary may be chamfered to form a connection surface ( third connection surface ). in that case , third ridgeline 779 is a boundary line between third incidence surface 777 and the third connection surface . third ridgeline 779 is a straight line whose distance to emission region 142 decreases toward second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 from the second projected line 771 side . thus , a recessed portion is formed at a position where corner portion 772 and second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 intersect with each other . of the light emitted from light emitting element 120 toward corner portion 772 , the light that passes through the recessed portion travels toward the region to be illuminated without being controlled by corner portion 772 . the amount of such uncontrolled light is small , and therefore a desired square - shaped illuminance distribution of illustrated in fig1 can be obtained as in embodiment 1 . consequently , even when a burr - like wall part which is parallel to central axis ca is formed at the recessed portion from third ridgeline 779 , an effect similar to that of embodiment 1 is obtained when the burr - like wall part has no light flux controlling function ( a second modification of embodiment 3 , see fig2 to 24 ). it is to be noted that , also in the present embodiment , first ridgeline 165 of first projected line 161 may be a curve protruding toward central axis ca side , or a curve protruding outward . light flux controlling member 740 , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 2 provide an effect similar to that of the light flux controlling member , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 1 . light flux controlling member 840 , a light - emitting device and an illumination apparatus according to embodiment 3 are respectively different from light flux controlling member 140 , light - emitting device 100 and illumination apparatus 400 according to embodiment 1 in the shape of outermost lens section 870 of light flux controlling member 840 . therefore , the same components as those of light flux controlling member 140 , light - emitting device 100 and illumination apparatus 400 according to embodiment 1 are denoted with the same reference numerals , and the descriptions thereof are omitted . fig1 to fig1 illustrate a configuration of light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 . fig1 is a perspective view of light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 . fig1 a to 17c are a plan view , a bottom view , and a side view of light flux controlling member 840 , respectively . fig1 a is a sectional view taken along line a - a of fig1 b , and fig1 b is a sectional view taken along line b - b of fig1 b . as illustrated in fig1 to fig1 , incidence region 841 of light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 includes refraction section 150 , fresnel lens section 160 and outermost lens section 870 . outermost lens section 870 includes four second projected lines 871 and four corner portions 872 . each of four second projected lines 871 are formed in a substantially triangular prism shape . second projected line 871 has a substantially triangular shape in a cross - section taken along the plane orthogonal to the side on which the second projected line 871 is disposed . each second projected line 871 includes second incidence surface 873 , second reflecting surface 174 and second ridgeline 176 . in second projected line 871 , second incidence surface 873 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and second reflecting surface 174 is disposed on the outer side . second incidence surface 873 includes tilted surface 873 a disposed on the emission region 142 side , and parallel surface 873 b disposed on the lower end side of light flux controlling member 840 ( reference surface ). tilted surface 873 a is tilted such that the distance from central axis ca increases toward the lower end ( reference surface ) of light flux controlling member 840 . on the other hand , parallel surface 873 b is a surface parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ). as described in embodiment 1 , incidence region 841 of light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 is two - fold rotational symmetry or four - fold rotational symmetry around the center of first virtual square s 1 and second virtual square s 2 as the rotational axis . the rotational axis coincides with central axis ca of light flux controlling member 840 and optical axis la of light emitting element 120 . accordingly , parallel surface 873 b is also parallel to the rotational axis . each of four corner portions 872 is a part of a substantially conical member . corner portion 872 includes third incidence surface 877 , third reflecting surface 178 and third ridgeline 179 . in corner portion 872 , third incidence surface 877 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and third reflecting surface 178 is disposed in the outer side . each third incidence surface 877 is composed of two planar surfaces . the two surfaces of third incidence surface 877 are planar surfaces parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ) and the above - described rotational axis . third incidence surface 877 is continuous from parallel surface 873 b of adjacent second incidence surface 873 and forms one planar surface . consequently , the surface parallel to the above - described rotational axis ( parallel surface 873 b ) included in the second incidence surface 873 and the surface parallel to the above - described rotational axis included in third incidence surface 877 are continuously disposed so as to enclose fresnel lens section 160 . light flux controlling member 840 , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 3 provide an effect similar to that of the light flux controlling member , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 1 . in addition , in light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 , the planar surfaces parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 and the above - described rotational axis ) are disposed to enclose fresnel lens section 160 . with this configuration , light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 is suitable for manufacturing which uses a piece for shaping refraction section 150 and fresnel lens section 160 , and another piece for shaping outermost lens section 870 . fig1 to fig2 illustrate a configuration of light flux controlling member 940 according to the first modification of embodiment 3 . fig1 is a perspective view of light flux controlling member 940 according to the first modification of embodiment 3 . fig2 a to 20c are a plan view , a bottom view , and a side view of light flux controlling member 940 , respectively . fig2 a is a sectional view taken along line a - a of fig2 b , and fig2 b is a sectional view taken along line b - b of fig2 b . as illustrated in fig1 to fig2 , incidence region 941 of light flux controlling member 940 includes refraction section 150 , fresnel lens section 160 and outermost lens section 970 . outermost lens section 970 includes four second projected lines 971 , and four corner portions 872 . each of four second projected lines 971 is formed in a substantially triangular prism shape . second projected line 971 has a substantially triangular shape in cross - section taken along the plane orthogonal to the side on which the second projected line 971 is disposed . each second projected line 971 includes second incidence surface 973 , second reflecting surface 174 and second ridgeline 176 . in second projected line 971 , second incidence surface 973 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and second reflecting surface 174 is disposed on the outer side . second incidence surface 973 is a planar surface parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ) and the above - described rotational axis . each of four corner portions 872 is a part of a substantially conical member . corner portion 872 includes third incidence surface 877 , third reflecting surface 178 and third ridgeline 179 . in corner portion 872 , third incidence surface 877 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and third reflecting surface 178 is disposed on the outer side . third incidence surface 877 is composed of two planar surfaces . the two surfaces of third incidence surface 877 are planar surfaces parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ) and the above - described rotational axis . third incidence surface 877 is continuous from adjacent second incidence surface 973 and forms one planar surface . as a result , the above - described surfaces ( second incidence surface 973 and third incidence surface 877 ) parallel to the rotational axis are continuously disposed to enclose fresnel lens section 160 . light flux controlling member 940 according to the first modification of embodiment 3 has an effect similar to that of light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 . fig2 to fig2 illustrate a configuration of light flux controlling member 1040 according to the second modification of embodiment 3 . fig2 is a perspective view of light flux controlling member 1040 according to the second modification of embodiment 3 . fig2 a to 23c are a plan view , a bottom view , and a side view of light flux controlling member 1040 , respectively . fig2 a is a sectional view taken along line a - a of fig2 b , and fig2 b is a sectional view taken along line b - b of fig2 b . as illustrated in fig2 to fig2 , incidence region 1041 of light flux controlling member 1040 includes refraction section 150 , fresnel lens section 160 and outermost lens section 1070 . outermost lens section 1070 includes four second projected lines 971 , and four corner portions 1072 . each of four second projected lines 971 is formed in a substantially triangular prism shape . second projected line 971 has a substantially triangular shape in cross - section taken along the plane orthogonal to the side on which the second projected line 971 is disposed . each second projected line 971 includes second incidence surface 973 , second reflecting surface 174 and second ridgeline 176 . in second projected line 971 , second incidence surface 973 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and second reflecting surface 174 is disposed on the outer side . second incidence surface 973 is a planar surface parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ) and the above - described rotational axis . in four corner portions 1072 , burr - like wall part 1072 b is provided to corner portion main bodies 1072 a having the same configuration as corner portions 872 of light flux controlling member 940 according to the first modification . at the recessed portion of corner portion main body 1072 a , wall part 1072 b is extended parallel to central axis ca and the above - described rotational axis from third ridgeline 779 . the internal surface ( third incidence surface 877 ) of wall part main body 1072 a and the internal surface of wall part 1072 b are each composed of two planar surfaces . these planar surfaces are continuous from adjacent second incidence surface 973 and form one planar surface . as a result , the surfaces ( second incidence surface 973 , third incidence surface 877 and the internal surface of wall part 1072 b ) parallel to the above - described rotational axis are continuously disposed to enclose fresnel lens section 160 . while wall part 1072 b is provided between third incidence surface 877 and third reflecting surface 178 , wall part 1072 b has no practical light flux controlling function in light flux controlling member 1040 according to the second modification . therefore , in the second modification , the boundary line between wall part 1072 b and third reflecting surface 178 , which has substantially the same track as that of third ridgeline 179 of light flux controlling member 940 according to the first modification , is considered to be third ridgeline 179 . light flux controlling member 1040 according to the second modification of embodiment 3 has an effect similar to that of light flux controlling member 840 according to embodiment 3 . light flux controlling member 1140 , a light - emitting device and an illumination apparatus according to embodiment 4 are respectively different from light flux controlling member 540 , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 1 in the shape of outermost lens section 1170 of light flux controlling member 1140 . therefore , the same components as those of light flux controlling member 540 , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 1 are denoted with the same reference numerals , and the descriptions thereof are omitted . fig2 to fig2 illustrate a configuration of light flux controlling member 1140 according to embodiment 4 . fig2 is a perspective view of light flux controlling member 1140 according to embodiment 4 . fig2 a to 26c are a plan view , a bottom view , and a side view of light flux controlling member 1140 , respectively . fig2 a is a sectional view taken along line a - a of fig2 b , and fig2 b is a partially enlarged sectional view of the region indicated with the broken line in fig2 a . as illustrated in fig2 to fig2 , light flux controlling member 1140 includes incidence region 1141 and emission region 142 . incidence region 1141 includes refraction section 150 , fresnel lens section 560 and outermost lens section 1170 . outermost lens section 1170 includes four second projected lines 1171 , and four corner portions 1172 . each of four second projected lines 1171 is a part of a substantially conical member having a circular bottom surface whose vertex is located on the center o 2 side of second virtual square s 2 . here the “ substantially conical member having a circular bottom surface ” means a stereoscopic shape which is formed by connecting the vertex and the outer peripheral edge of the circular bottom surface with a straight line or a curved line . examples of the substantially conical member having a circular bottom surface include a cone whose line connecting the vertex and the circumferential points of the bottom surface is a straight line , a substantially conical member whose generatrix protrudes outward , a substantially conical member whose generatrix protrudes inward and the like . in the present embodiment , the substantially conical member ( cone ) is a substantially conical member whose generatrix protrudes outward . each second projected line 1171 includes second incidence surface 1173 , second reflecting surface 1174 , second connection surface 1175 and second ridgeline 1176 . in second projected line 1171 , second incidence surface 1173 is disposed on the inner side ( central axis ca side ), and second reflecting surface 1174 is disposed on the outer side . second incidence surface 1173 is a planar surface parallel to central axis ca ( optical axis la of light emitting element 120 ) and the center ( rotational axis ) of second virtual square s 2 . second reflecting surface 1174 is a curved surface . in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), the outer edge of second reflecting surface 1174 is a curved line protruding outward . in addition , in a cross - section including central axis ca ( perpendicular cross - section ), the outer edge of second reflecting surface 1174 is a curved line protruding outward . second reflecting surface 1174 corresponds to a part of a side surface of a substantially conical member , and connects two adjacent third reflecting surfaces 1178 so as to join adjacent two third reflecting surfaces 1178 . second connection surface 1175 joins second incidence surface 1173 and second reflecting surface 1174 . second connection surface 1175 may be a planar surface or a curved surface . in the present embodiment , second connection surface 1175 is a planar surface . in addition , it is also possible to directly join second incidence surface 1173 and second reflecting surface 1174 without forming second connection surface 1175 . second ridgeline 1176 is a boundary line between second incidence surface 1173 and second connection surface 1175 . it is to be noted that , when second connection surface 1175 is not formed , second ridgeline 1176 is a boundary line between second incidence surface 1173 and second reflecting surface 1174 . when second connection surface 1175 is provided between second incidence surface 1173 and second reflecting surface 1174 , manufacturing performance can be enhanced by eliminating an acute angle portion . each of four corner portions 1172 is a part of a substantially conical member having a circular bottom surface whose vertex is located on center o 2 side of second virtual square s 2 . corner portion 1172 includes third incidence surface 1177 , third reflecting surface 1178 and third ridgeline 1179 . in the present embodiment , the substantially conical member ( cone ) is a substantially conical member whose generatrix protrudes outward . the shape of the substantially conical member in second projected line 1171 , and the shape of the substantially conical member in corner portion 1172 are identical to each other . third incidence surface 1177 is composed of two planar surfaces parallel to central axis ca . third reflecting surface 1178 is a curved surface . in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), the outer edge of third reflecting surface 1178 is a curved line protruding outward . in addition , in a cross - section including central axis ca ( perpendicular cross - section ), the outer edge of third reflecting surface 1178 is a curved line protruding outward . third reflecting surface 1178 corresponds to a part of a side surface of a substantially conical member , and connects adjacent two second reflecting surface 1174 so as to join adjacent two second reflecting surface 1174 . as described above , the shape of the substantially conical member in second projected line 1171 and the shape of the substantially conical shape in corner portion 1172 are identical to each other , and therefore , in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), second reflecting surface 1174 and third reflecting surface 1178 have a circular shape . third ridgeline 1179 is a boundary line between third incidence surface 1177 and third reflecting surface 1178 . third ridgeline 1179 is a curve which is formed such that the distance to emission region 142 gradually decreases toward second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 from second projected line 1171 side . in addition , in plan view of incidence region 1141 , distance d 3 between the outermost edge of third reflecting surface 1178 and third ridgeline 1179 gradually decreases toward second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 . thus , at a position where corner portion 1172 and second diagonal l 2 of second virtual square s 2 intersect with each other , a recessed portion is formed . it is to be noted that the boundary between third incidence surface 1177 and third reflecting surface 1178 may be chamfered to form a connection surface ( third connection surface ). in this case , third ridgeline 1179 is a boundary line between third incidence surface 1177 and the third connection surface . a metal mold for producing light flux controlling member 1140 according to embodiment 4 is separated into a metal mold piece ( piece ) for manufacturing refraction section 150 and fresnel lens section 560 , and a metal mold piece for producing outermost lens section 1170 . in this case , the boundary between the outer edge of fresnel lens section 560 and the internal edge of outermost lens section 1170 is the boundary between the metal mold pieces . in view of this , light flux controlling member 1140 according to the present embodiment includes a predetermined fourth connection surface 1180 between fresnel lens section 560 and outermost lens section 1170 at incidence region 1141 . as illustrated in fig2 b and fig2 b , fourth connection surface 1180 is disposed between fresnel lens section 560 , and second incidence surface 1173 and third incidence surface 1177 . fourth connection surface 1180 is a planar surface . the width ( the interval between the outer edge of fresnel lens section 560 and the internal edge of second projected line 1171 ) of fourth connection surface 1180 is not limited . the width of fourth connection surface 1180 is appropriately set in accordance with the size of light flux controlling member 1140 . preferably , the width of fourth connection surface 1180 is 10 to 100 μm . light flux controlling member 1140 , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 4 provide an effect similar to that of the light flux controlling member , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to embodiment 1 . in addition , in light flux controlling member 1140 according to embodiment 4 , fourth connection surface 1180 is provided between fresnel lens section 560 and outermost lens section 1170 . with this configuration , light flux controlling member 1140 according to embodiment 4 is suitable for manufacturing which uses a piece for shaping refraction section 150 and fresnel lens section 560 , and another piece for shaping outermost lens section 1170 . further , in a cross - section orthogonal to central axis ca ( horizontal cross - section ), second reflecting surface 1174 and third reflecting surface 1178 have a circular shape , and thus a piece for producing second projected line 1171 and corner portion 1172 can be easily manufactured . this application is entitled to and claims the benefit of japanese patent application no . 2013 - 178013 filed on aug . 29 , 2013 , and japanese patent application no . 2013 - 217232 filed on oct . 18 , 2013 , the disclosure each of which including the specification , drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the light flux controlling member , the light - emitting device and the illumination apparatus according to the embodiments of the present invention can uniformly and efficiently illuminate a square illumination region . the light - emitting device according to the embodiments of the present invention is useful for a flash of a camera , for example . in addition , the illumination apparatus according to the embodiments of the present invention is useful for generally - used indoor illumination apparatuses , surface light source apparatuses in which a liquid crystal panel is an illuminated surface , and the like , for example . 140 , 140 ′, 540 , 640 , 740 , 840 , 940 , 1040 , 1140 light flux controlling member 141 , 541 , 641 , 841 , 941 , 1041 , 1141 incidence region 170 , 170 ′, 770 , 870 , 970 , 1070 , 1170 outermost lens section | 5 |
the carbon source that is used in the culture medium of the present invention is a sugar that does not show reducibility in neutral and alkaline solutions so as to avoid a blank reaction , and the metabolic product that is produced by the action of an enzyme produced by a microorganism that is to be detected shows reducibility in neutral and alkaline solutions . examples thereof include sucrose , sorbitol , and trehalose . in the case where the filamentous fungus that is to be detected belongs to the genus aspergillus or the genus penicillium , since these fungi have invertase and produce a reducing sugar , it is preferable to use sucrose . with regard to other nutrient sources , yeast extract , peptone , yeast nitrogen base ( manufactured by difco ), etc . can be cited . in the case where the object is to detect only a yeast - like fungus or a filamentous fungus , addition of an antibiotic such as chloramphenicol in order to suppress the growth of bacteria can also be considered . any coloring reagent may be used in the present invention as long as it exhibits a color under alkaline conditions , but one containing a redox dye and , in particular , a water - soluble redox dye , is preferably used . more specifically , a tetrazolium salt such as wst - 1 , wst - 3 , wst - 4 , wst - 5 or wst - 8 that forms a water - soluble formazan is preferred . in particular , wst - 8 is preferably used . with regard to other components that are contained in the coloring reagent , there can be cited an electron carrier having the function of donating an electron to the coloring reagent , and potassium ferricyanide and potassium ferrocyanide for adjusting the redox potential of the culture medium . as for the electron carriers , pms ( phenazine methosulfate ), meldola &# 39 ; s blue , diaphorase , 1 - methoxy pms , etc . are preferably used , and 1 - methoxy pms is particularly preferably used . with regard to a component of the alkaline sensitizing solution used in the present invention , any component that makes the ph of the cultured liquid about 9 or above can be used , and since wst - 8 formazan exhibits a blue color when the ph is about 9 or above , a component that makes the ph about 9 or above is suitably used , and one that makes the ph 10 or above is particularly preferred . examples of preferably used components include sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide . sodium hydroxide is preferable thereamong in terms of the change in the amount of liquid and the ease of addition . in this case , it is preferable to add a 1 to 2 mol / l aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide in an amount of 1 / 20 to 1 / 10 of the amount of cultured liquid . microorganisms to which the detection method of the present invention can be applied are not limited as long as they can grow in the above type of culture medium . in particular , filamentous fungi such as those of the genus aspergillus and the genus penicillium can be suitably detected . antimicrobial drugs that are used in the drug susceptibility test of the present invention are not limited as long as they are used for the treatment of an infection where the causative agent is a fungus , and examples thereof include amphotericin b , flucytosine , fluconazole , miconazole , itraconazole , and ketoconazole . the kit for detecting a microorganism used in the present invention comprises a coloring reagent , a liquid culture medium , and an alkaline sensitizing solution , and the coloring reagent and the liquid culture medium may be mixed in advance . the drug susceptibility test kit in the present invention comprises a coloring reagent , a liquid culture medium , an alkaline sensitizing solution , and an antimicrobial drug , and the coloring reagent , the liquid culture medium , and the antimicrobial drug may be mixed in advance . in order to implement the present invention , after the coloring reagent is added to the culture medium , the culture medium is inoculated with a test sample and cultured . alternatively , after inoculating the culture medium with a test sample and culturing , the coloring reagent is added thereto . although the culturing conditions depend on the type of fungus that is to be detected , culturing is carried out , for example , at 35 ° c . to 37 ° c . for 24 to 48 hours . after culturing , the alkaline sensitizing solution is added , and the color of the liquid culture after 5 to 10 minutes is observed visually or measured using an absorptiometer . the wavelength used for this measurement is 620 to 660 nm . it is preferable to prepare a negative control which has not been inoculated with a test sample . when implementing the drug susceptibility test using the method of the present invention , the coloring reagent , the liquid culture medium , and an antifungal drug such as amphotericin b , flucytosine , fluconazole , miconazole , itraconazole , or ketoconazole are pipetted into a microplate or a test tube , it is inoculated with a test microorganism , and the test microorganism is cultured . after culturing , the alkaline sensitizing solution is added thereto , and the minimum inhibitory concentration is determined by observing the color of the liquid culture visually or by absorbance . alternatively , after inoculating a microplate or test tube , into which the above - mentioned antifungal drug and the liquid culture medium have been pipetted , with a test microorganism and culturing the test microorganism , the coloring reagent and then the alkaline sensitizing solution are added thereto , and the minimum inhibitory concentration is determined by observing the color of the liquid culture visually or by absorbance . the present invention is explained in further detail below by reference to examples , but the present invention is in no way limited by these examples . in order to select a growth culture medium the following procedures were carried out . 1 ) mops buffered rpmi 1640 culture medium supplemented with added glucose 10 . 4 g of rpmi 1640 culture medium powder ( containing l - glutamine , no sodium hydrogen carbonate , and no phenol red , manufactured by gibco ), 2 . 0 g of sodium hydrogen carbonate , 10 . 0 g of glucose , and 34 . 53 g of 3 - morpholinopropanesulfonic acid ( mops ) were dissolved in 900 ml of purified water , and the ph was adjusted to 7 . 0 with a 1n aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide . the solution was made up to 1000 ml and then filtered using a 0 . 2 μm filter . 6 . 7 g of yn base ( manufactured by difco ) and 5 g of glucose were dissolved in about 900 ml of purified water , and the ph was adjusted to 5 . 3 with a 1n aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide . the solution was made up to 1000 ml with purified water and then filter sterilized using a 0 . 2 μm filter . 6 . 7 g of yn base ( manufactured by difco ) and 20 g of sucrose were dissolved in about 900 ml of purified water , and the ph was adjusted to 7 . 0 with a 1n aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide . the solution was made up to 1000 ml with purified water and then filter sterilized using a 0 . 2 μm filter . a tester strain was cultured using sabouraud dextrose agar ( manufactured by oxoid ) at 35 ° c . for 7 days . 2 ml of sterile physiological saline containing 0 . 1 % tween 80 was added dropwise onto the culture medium so as to float spores . the above - mentioned physiological saline that had been added dropwise onto the culture medium was recovered and allowed to stand for 3 to 5 minutes , and after removing the precipitate it was mixed using a vortex mixer to give a spore suspension . dilution was carried out so that the absorbance at 530 nm was 0 . 09 to 0 . 11 . the spore suspension so prepared was diluted 100 times with various test culture media , 0 . 2 ml of each was pipetted into a well of a microplate , and 0 . 02 ml of a coloring reagent ( containing 0 . 7 mmol / l wst - 8 , 0 . 0035 mmol / l 1 - methoxy pms , 0 . 5 mmol / l potassium ferricyanide , and 0 . 5 mmol / l of potassium ferrocyanide ) was added thereto . as negative controls , various test culture media which had not been inoculated with a spore liquid ( uninoculated with microorganisms ) were prepared . culturing was carried out at 35 ° c .± 1 ° c . for 24 hours , and the absorbance at a primary wavelength of 450 nm and a secondary wavelength of 630 nm was measured . subsequently , 0 . 02 ml of a 1 . 5 mol / l aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide was added to each of the wells , and 5 minutes after that the absorbance at 630 nm was measured . the results obtained by measuring the absorbance of each growth culture medium before and after addition of the aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide are summarized in table 1 . when the absorbance was measured at the primary wavelength of 450 nm and the secondary wavelength of 630 nm using the mops buffered rpmi 1640 culture medium supplemented with glucose , the absorbance was 0 . 153 , which was considerably low . when the aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide was therefore added thereto in order to increase the sensitivity , and the absorbance at 630 nm was measured , a color was also observed for the uninoculated samples . the absorbance was then measured at 630 nm for the glucose yn broth and the sucrose yn broth before and after addition of the aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide . it was found that a color was exhibited for the uninoculated sample with the glucose yn broth . on the other hand , almost no coloration was observed for the uninoculated sample with the sucrose yn broth , but when the microorganisms grew they exhibited a strong color . the present invention can therefore be carried out using a liquid culture medium containing sucrose . 6 . 7 g of yn base ( manufactured by difco ) and 20 g of sucrose were dissolved in about 900 ml of purified water , and the ph was adjusted to 7 . 0 with a 1n aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide . the solution was made up to 1000 ml with purified water and then filter sterilized using a 0 . 2 μm filter . a tester strain was cultured using sabouraud dextrose agar ( manufactured by oxoid ) at 35 ° c . for 7 days . 2 ml of sterile physiological saline containing 0 . 1 % tween 80 was added dropwise onto the culture medium so as to float spores . the above - mentioned physiological saline that had been added dropwise onto the culture medium was recovered and allowed to stand for 3 to 5 minutes , and after removing the precipitate it was mixed using a vortex mixer to give a spore suspension . dilution was carried out so that the absorbance at 530 nm was 0 . 09 to 0 . 11 . 0 . 1 ml of the spore suspension so prepared was taken using a micro pipette , added to 10 ml of the sucrose yn broth containing 0 . 1 mg / ml of chloramphenicol , and stirred well using a vortex mixer to give an inoculum . 0 . 2 ml of the inocula prepared in ( 2 ) was pipetted into each well of a microplate . after covering the plate , it was cultured at 35 ° c .± 1 ° c . the absorbance at 630 nm was measured at predetermined intervals . 0 . 02 ml of a coloring reagent ( containing 0 . 7 mmol / l wst - 8 , 0 . 0035 mmol / l 1 - methoxy pms , 0 . 5 mmol / l potassium ferricyanide , and 0 . 5 mmol / l of potassium ferrocyanide ) and 0 . 2 ml of the inoculum prepared in ( 2 ) were pipetted into each well of a microplate . after the plate was covered , it was cultured at 35 ° c .± 1 ° c . after culturing for 12 hours , 0 . 02 ml of a 1 . 2 mol / l aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide was added in sequence every 3 hours to the wells that were being cultured , and 10 minutes after the addition the absorbance at 630 nm was measured . as a blank , sucrose yn culture medium was added instead of the inoculum . fig1 shows the absorbance measured after culturing for 12 , 15 , 18 , 21 , and 24 hours . the ordinate of fig1 denotes the absorbance at 630 nm , and the abscissa denotes the culture time . in the present invention , the absorbance increased with the culture time , and it was possible to measure the degree of proliferation . furthermore , a color was exhibited after 18 hours when the turbidity had hardly changed , and detection in a short time was thus possible . it therefore becomes clear that the measurement kit and the measurement method of the present invention allow the degree of proliferation of a filamentous fungus to be measured simply . in order to examine the applicability to antifungal drug susceptibility testing the following procedures were carried out . two drugs , amphotericin b ( amph ) and itraconazole ( itcz ) were examined . 2 - fold dilution series of amph ( 0 . 3 to 160 μg / ml ) and itcz ( 0 . 16 to 80 μg / ml ) were prepared using dimethyl sulfoxide and purified water . the drug solutions so prepared were pipetted into a plate at 0 . 02 ml / well and dried to a solid under reduced pressure for 24 hours . a coloring reagent ( containing 0 . 7 mmol / l wst - 8 , 0 . 0035 mmol / l 1 - methoxy pms , 0 . 5 mmol / l potassium ferricyanide , and 0 . 5 mmol / l of potassium ferrocyanide ) was pipetted into each of the wells at 0 . 02 ml / well and they were again dried to a solid under reduced pressure for 24 hours . a comparative example was carried out according to nccls m - 38p ( 0 . 2 ml culture system micro broth dilution method ). 6 . 7 g of yn base ( manufactured by difco ) and 20 g of sucrose were dissolved in about 900 ml of purified water , and the ph was adjusted to 7 . 0 with a 1n aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide . the solution was made up to 1000 ml with purified water and then filter sterilized using a 0 . 2 μm filter . a tester strain was cultured using sabouraud dextrose agar ( manufactured by oxoid ) at 35 ° c . for 7 days . 2 ml of sterile physiological saline containing 0 . 1 % tween 80 was added dropwise onto the culture medium so as to float spores . the above - mentioned physiological saline that had been added dropwise onto the culture medium was recovered and allowed to stand for 3 to 5 minutes , and after removing the precipitate it was mixed using a vortex mixer to give a spore suspension . dilution was carried out so that the absorbance at 530 nm was 0 . 09 to 0 . 11 . 0 . 1 ml of the spore suspension so prepared was taken using a micro pipette , added to 20 ml of sucrose yn broth , and stirred using a vortex mixer to give an inoculum . 0 . 2 ml of the inoculum was pipetted into each of the wells of the microplate for the test described in b , the plate was covered , and culturing was carried out at 35 ° c .± 1 ° c . for 24 hours . as a blank , sucrose yn broth was added instead of the inoculum . after 24 hours 0 . 02 ml of a 1 . 5 mol / l aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide was added to each well , and 5 minutes after the addition the absorbance at 630 nm was measured . 1 . for amph , the minimum concentration that gave an absorbance equal to or less than that of the negative control was defined as the minimum inhibitory concentration ( mic ). 2 . for itcz , the 80 % inhibitory concentration ( ic80 ) was determined . the drug concentration of a well that gave an absorbance equal to or less than that obtained by the following equation was defined as the mic . fig2 shows the results of measuring the absorbance when evaluating the drug susceptibility in accordance with the present invention . the abscissa denotes the antifungal drug concentration , and the ordinate denotes the absorbance at 630 nm . the absorbance increased when the concentration became 0 . 25 μg / ml or below for amph and 0 . 06 μg / ml or below for itcz . visually , amph exhibited a blue to dark blue color at 0 . 25 μg / ml or below and almost no color at 0 . 5 μg / ml or above , and itcz exhibited a blue to dark blue color at 0 . 06 μg / ml or below and almost no color at 0 . 12 μg / ml or above . the drug susceptibility test was carried out repeatedly by the nccls m - 38p method and the method of the present invention , and the mic values obtained thereby are summarized in table 2 . in the table , the allowable range denotes the reference values described in nccls m38 - p . it was found that the mic determined in the present invention coincided with the allowance range described in nccls m38 - p . furthermore , the mic values determined visually were the same as those determined using absorbance . moreover , the time for determination with the nccls m38 - p method was 46 to 50 hours , but the present invention took about half of the above , that is , 24 hours . the measurement reagent and the measurement method of the present invention are therefore useful for testing the antifungal drug susceptibility of a filamentous fungus . in accordance with the detection method and the detection kit of the present invention , microorganisms and , in particular , yeast - like fungi and filamentous fungi can be easily detected . furthermore , the drug susceptibility test method and the kit therefor of the present invention are useful for testing the antifungal drug susceptibility of a filamentous fungus by a broth dilution method . | 8 |
the detailed description provided herein below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of the present examples and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present example may be constructed or utilized . the description sets forth the functions of the examples and / or the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the examples . however , the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different examples . although the present examples are described and illustrated herein as being implemented in a computing and networking environment , the environment described is provided as an example and not a limitation . as those skilled in the art will appreciate , the present examples are suitable for application in a variety of different types of computing and networking environments . fig1 is a block diagram showing example mobile devices coupled to together via a network 110 and to a device manners policy (“ dmp ”) server 120 and database 122 . example devices may include personal data assistant (“ pda ”) 130 , tablet personal computer (“ pc ”) 140 , digital camera 150 , laptop pc 160 , digital video recorder (“ dvr ”) 170 , and cell phone 180 . such devices should be operable to at least receive , recognize and / or support device manner policies . some such devices may include computing environments such as that described in connection with fig5 . many other devices may also be coupled via network 110 or other means , including a watch with an alarm , shoes with lights ( such as some children &# 39 ; s shoes ), game devices , audio recorders , or any other device for which device manners recognition and compliance may be of value . such devices may include mobile devices or other devices such as desktop pcs , servers , set top boxes , appliances , or any other type of non - mobile device that may benefit from device manners recognition and compliance , further examples of such devices include vehicles or any other device , system , construct , composition , or the like operable to at least receive , recognize and / or support device manner policies . devices may be coupled to network 110 via any operable link , such as example link 190 . such links may include a network interface card (“ nic ”), a serial or parallel port , a data bus , an analog interface , or the like , may be wired or wireless , may make use of infrared (“ ir ”), acoustics , optics , radios frequency (“ rf ”), or the like . network 110 may be an ad - hoc network with mobile devices coupling transiently . server devices , such as server 120 , and other less mobile devices , may be coupled to network 110 more persistently than mobile devices . in one example , network 110 may be a wireless fidelity (“ wi - fi ”) network at a coffee shop , city library , courtroom , or airport lounge . mobile and other devices may typically link to such a wi - fi network via wireless adapters . such devices may also be operable to link to other types of networks . in another example , cell phones may link to a cellular network via appropriate rf adapters and protocols . such cell phones may also be operable to link to other types of networks , such as wi - fi networks or the like . in one example , dmp server 120 and database 122 may be a dmp appliance - a special - purpose device or system or the like primarily intended to provide dmp server and / or database functionality . such a dmp appliance may be coupled to network 110 via any operable link , such as example link 190 . alternatively , a dmp appliance may provide a subset of dmp server and database functionality and / or may not be coupled to a network . such an appliance may simply emit policy via rf means or acoustic means or the like . fig2 is a block diagram showing example mobile devices coupled to together via an ad - hoc network 210 . such an ad - hoc network may not include any persistent devices such as dmp servers or related data stores . ad - hoc networks for dmp purposes may be formed as various mobile devices form and join such networks . for example , an ad - hoc network may be formed comprising devices of people on a particular bus . example devices shown in fig2 include those described in connection with fig1 . fig3 is a block diagram showing an example device manners policy (“ dmp ”) 310 applied to an example mobile device 180 as indicated by arrow 330 . such a dmp may originate from a dmp server , such as server 120 and related data store 122 , and may be transferred or downloaded 320 to a device such as mobile device 180 . alternatively , dmp 310 may be created on device 180 or transferred to device 180 via other means . upon receipt of dmp 310 by device 180 , dmp 310 may be evaluate to determine what , if any , compliance may be suggested or required . in one example , a dmp may be received by cell phone 180 upon entering a hospital , the dmp requiring no cell phone usage . cell phone 180 may be operable to comply with such a dmp by shutting down , entering a sleep mode , or the like . upon leaving the hospital cell phone 180 typically returns to its previous mode of operation as the hospital dmp is no longer applicable . in another example , service provider 350 may require that a device provide an indication of dmp compliance capability prior to or for continuation of services , such as over link 352 . device 180 may provide such an indication 360 to service provider 350 to satisfy the requirement . further , service provider 350 may transfer various dmps to device 180 in connection with the services provided . for example , a museum may include service provider 350 to provide wireless data access to various devices though which information about the exhibits may be accessed . provider 350 may further propagate a dmp indicating “ no photography ”. devices receiving such dmp upon entry to the museum typically initiate compliance with the “ no photography ” dmp by disabling any photography capabilities , such as provided by cell phone cameras , digital cameras , and digital video recorders . access to exhibit data may be subject to indication of compliance . in yet another example , the “ no photography ” dmp may be provided in the form of a special tag such as a unique watermark ( generally not visible to humans ), radio frequency identification (“ rfid ”) device , or the like located on or near various exhibits , such a tag being detectable and / or identifiable by a dmp - enabled device via optical , rf , or other appropriate means . in this example a network , ad - hoc or otherwise , may not be required for at least some forms of dmp compliance . in yet another example , a “ no recording ” dmp may be provided in the form of an audio signal , typically inaudible to human listeners , in connection with music or some other audio or audio / video reproduction . such an audio signal may be detected and identified by a dmp - enabled device such as a digital recorder , a digital video recorder , or the like . in this example a network , ad - hoc or otherwise , may not be required for at least some forms of dmp compliance . in yet another example , a “ no noise ” or “ no light ” dmp may be provided via a network , audio means , or any other suitable means or combination of means , the dmp being detectable and / or identifiable by a dmp - enabled device such as a device that may emit light or sound including , but not limited to , watches with audible alarms , shoes with lights ( as sometimes worn by children , for example ), cameras , flashlights , cell phones , pdas , or any other device that may benefit from compliance with a “ no noise ” or “ no light ” dmp or the like . in yet further examples , dmps may be used in particular zones to limit the speed and / or acceleration of vehicles , to require the use of lights , to verify an indication of insurance coverage and / or current registration , or the like . dmps may be propagated with acceptable usage times for mobile devices , such as when on an airplane with being restrictions common at times of landing and / or take - off . dmps may be used to cause devices to be reconfigured for silent operation in locations such as libraries , court rooms , hospitals , meeting rooms , theatres , or the like . in ad - hoc scenarios , dmps may be the result of voting or a consensus among current members of an ad - hoc network or the like . for example , the majority of current bus riders may agree upon and propagate “ silence please ” dmps that cause cell phones to reconfigure for vibrate versus audible rings , that cause audio devices to work only with headphones , that cause gaming devise to switch to a silent mode of operation , and the like . in general , dmps may be applied to devices when within a particular zone or area to which the dmps apply . upon leaving such zones or areas a device is typically reconfigured to resume it former mode of operation . for example , a cell phone device reconfigured to a vibrate mode as a result of detecting a “ silence ” dmp upon hospital entry will typically return to its previous ring mode when leaving the hospital zone . in other scenarios , a device may revert back to a previous configuration when leaving a virtual community such as may be established via an ad - hoc network . such dmp zones , areas , communities , or the like may be defined and / or indicated in any manner useful for dmp propagation and compliance purposes . dmp 310 typically includes one or more device manners (“ dm ”) that specify particular device behaviors or rules to which device compliance is requested or expected . typically it is the responsibility of the device itself to comply with any applicable dms in a recognized dmp , as well as determining applicability . device compliance is generally achieved via self - reconfiguration . restoration of a device &# 39 ; s previous configuration typically occurs when a dmp is no longer applicable , such as when the device is no longer in the dmp &# 39 ; s zone , area , community , or the like . additionally or alternatively , a dmp may include an expiration time , a time - out period , or the like , upon which a device in compliance with such a dmp may revert back to a previous configuration . further , a dmp may require that a hosting device report its compliance status back to the source of the dmp such that non - compliant devices , or the compliance status of devices , may be noted by a dmp environment . dmp 310 may be implemented as a data structure , an electronic signal , represented via extensible markup language (“ xml ”) or the like , expressed as an image , or otherwise implemented , expressed , and / or represented sufficient to be recognizable , detectable and / or identifiable by a dmp - enabled device . in some examples , dmps may be created , modified , propagated to / from , and / or stored in example dmp data store 122 , example dmp server 120 , example service provider 350 , example device 180 , and / or other devices or the like . fig4 is a block diagram showing an example process 400 for recognizing a dmp and configuring a device to comply with the dmp . block 410 indicates a device recognizing a dmp . in one example , the dmp is received by the device over a network or the like . in another example , the dmp is detected via an optical means , acoustic means , electromagnetic means , or some other means suitable for dmp recognition purposes . in general , example process 400 continuously seeks to recognize a dmp , continuing at block 420 once a dmp is recognized . block 420 indicates evaluating the recognized dmp to determine if it is applicable to the device . if the dmp is applicable , example process 400 continues at block 430 ; otherwise it continues at block 410 . for example , if the dmp relates to library zone and the device is within the library zone , then the dmp is considered applicable . but if the device recognizes the dmp but is not within the library zone , then the dmp is not considered applicable . block 430 indicates evaluating the applicable dmp to identify any device manners of the dmp that are relevant to the device . if one or more of the device manners are relevant , example process 400 continues at block 440 ; otherwise it continues at block 410 . for example , if the dmp specifies a “ silence please ” device manner and the device is a cell phone , then the device manner is relevant . but if the device is a child &# 39 ; s shoe including flashing lights but no sound feature , then the device manner is not considered relevant . block 440 indicates configuring the device for compliance with any relevant device manners specified in the applicable dmp . in one example , the cell phone is configured for silent operation , disabled entirely , or the like so as to comply with the dmp . in some examples , the device may configure itself for compliance . once the device is configured for compliance , example process 400 continues at block 450 . block 450 indicates testing to determine if a previously - determined applicable dmp is still applicable . if such a dmp is still applicable , example process 400 continues at block 410 ; otherwise it continues at block 460 . such tests may be performed periodically , continuously , or the like once a device has been configured for dmp compliance ( as indicated by loop 452 ), and may continue even while process 400 seeks to recognize other dmps . for example , a cell phone may have recognized and complied with a dmp including a “ silence please ” device manner for a library zone . the cell phone may periodically test to determine if the dmp is still applicable , that is if the cell phone is still in the library zone . continued applicability may additionally or alternatively be tested by other means , such as using gps data to determine if the cell phone is still in the library zone . such a means may not require that a device maintain or obtain contact with a dmp server or the like . information useful for continued applicability testing may be provided , at least in part , with the dmp , or may be obtained independent of the dmp and / or of a dmp environment . block 460 indicates restoring a previous configuration once a dmp is fund to be no longer applicable . for example , if a cell phone had been configured for silent operation while a “ silence please ” dmp was applicable , a previous non - silent configuration may be restored should the dmp be found to no longer be applicable . once the device &# 39 ; s previous configuration is restored , example process 400 continues at block 410 . fig5 is a block diagram showing an example computing environment 500 in which the technologies and processes described above may be implemented . a suitable computing environment may be implemented with numerous general purpose or special purpose systems . examples of well known systems may include , but are not limited to , cell phones , personal digital assistants (“ pda ”), personal computers (“ pc ”), hand - held or laptop devices , microprocessor - based systems , multiprocessor systems , servers , workstations , consumer electronic devices , set - top boxes , and the like . computing environment 500 typically includes a general - purpose computing system in the form of a computing device 501 coupled to various components , such as peripheral devices 502 , 503 , 504 and the like . system 500 may couple to various other components , such as input devices 503 , including voice recognition , touch pads , buttons , keyboards and / or pointing devices , such as a mouse or trackball , via one or more input / output (“ i / o ”) interfaces 512 . the components of computing device 501 may include one or more processors ( including central processing units (“ cpu ”), graphics processing units (“ gpu ”), microprocessors (“ μp ”), and the like ) 507 , system memory 509 , and a system bus 508 that typically couples the various components . processor 507 typically processes or executes various computer - executable instructions to control the operation of computing device 501 and to communicate with other electronic and / or computing devices , systems or environment ( not shown ) via various communications connections such as a network connection 514 or the like . system bus 508 represents any number of several types of bus structures , including a memory bus or memory controller , a peripheral bus , a serial bus , an accelerated graphics port , a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures , and the like . system memory 509 may include computer readable media in the form of volatile memory , such as random access memory (“ ram ”), and / or non - volatile memory , such as read only memory (“ rom ”) or flash memory (“ flash ”). a basic input / output system (“ bios ”) may be stored in non - volatile or the like . system memory 509 typically stores data , computer - executable instructions and / or program modules comprising computer - executable instructions that are immediately accessible to and / or presently operated on by one or more of the processors 507 . mass storage devices 504 and 510 may be coupled to computing device 501 or incorporated into computing device 501 via coupling to the system bus . such mass storage devices 504 and 510 may include non - volatile ram , a magnetic disk drive which reads from and / or writes to a removable , non - volatile magnetic disk ( e . g ., a “ floppy disk ”) 505 , and / or an optical disk drive that reads from and / or writes to a non - volatile optical disk such as a cd rom , dvd rom 506 . alternatively , a mass storage device , such as hard disk 510 , may include non - removable storage medium . other mass storage devices may include memory cards , memory sticks , tape storage devices , and the like . any number of computer programs , files , data structures , and the like may be stored in mass storage 510 , other storage devices 504 , 505 , 506 and system memory 509 ( typically limited by available space ) including , by way of example and not limitation , operating systems , application programs , data files , directory structures , computer - executable instructions , and the like . output components or devices , such as display device 502 , may be coupled to computing device 501 , typically via an interface such as a display adapter 511 . output device 502 may be a liquid crystal display (“ lcd ”). other example output devices may include printers , audio outputs , voice outputs , cathode ray tube (“ crt ”) displays , tactile devices or other sensory output mechanisms , or the like . output devices may enable computing device 501 to interact with human operators or other machines , systems , computing environments , or the like . a user may interface with computing environment 500 via any number of different i / o devices 503 such as a touch pad , buttons , keyboard , mouse , joystick , game pad , data port , and the like . these and other i / o devices may be coupled to processor 507 via i / o interfaces 512 which may be coupled to system bus 508 , and / or may be coupled by other interfaces and bus structures , such as a parallel port , game port , universal serial bus (“ usb ”), fire wire , infrared (“ ir ”) port , and the like . computing device 501 may operate in a networked environment via communications connections to one or more remote computing devices through one or more cellular networks , wireless networks , local area networks (“ lan ”), wide area networks (“ wan ”), storage area networks (“ san ”), the internet , radio links , optical links and the like . computing device 501 may be coupled to a network via network adapter 513 or the like , or , alternatively , via a modem , digital subscriber line (“ dsl ”) link , integrated services digital network (“ isdn ”) link , internet link , wireless link , or the like . communications connection 514 , such as a network connection , typically provides a coupling to communications media , such as a network . communications media typically provide computer - readable and computer - executable instructions , data structures , files , program modules and other data using a modulated data signal , such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism . the term “ modulated data signal ” typically means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal . by way of example , and not limitation , communications media may include wired media , such as a wired network or direct - wired connection or the like , and wireless media , such as acoustic , radio frequency , infrared , or other wireless communications mechanisms . power source 590 , such as a battery or a power supply , typically provides power for portions or all of computing environment 500 . in the case of the computing environment 500 being a mobile device or portable device or the like , power source 590 may be a battery . alternatively , in the case computing environment 500 is a computer or server or the like , power source 590 may be a power supply designed to connect to an alternating current (“ ac ”) source , such as via a wall outlet . some mobile devices may not include many of the components described in connection with fig5 . for example , an electronic badge may be comprised of a coil of wire along with a simple processing unit 507 or the like , the coil configured to act as power source 590 when in proximity to a card reader device or the like . such a coil may also be configure to act as an antenna coupled to the processing unit 507 or the like , the coil antenna capable of providing a form of communication between the electronic badge and the card reader device . such communication may not involve networking , but may alternatively be general or special purpose communications via telemetry , point - to - point , rf , ir , audio , or other means . an electronic card may not include display 502 , i / o device 503 , or many of the other components described in connection with fig5 . other mobile devices that may not include many of the components described in connection with fig5 , by way of example and not limitation , include electronic bracelets , electronic tags , implantable devices , and the like . those skilled in the art will realize that storage devices utilized to provide computer - readable and computer - executable instructions and data can be distributed over a network . for example , a remote computer or storage device may store computer - readable and computer - executable instructions in the form of software applications and data . a local computer may access the remote computer or storage device via the network and download part or all of a software application or data and may execute any computer - executable instructions . alternatively , the local computer may download pieces of the software or data as needed , or distributively process the software by executing some of the instructions at the local computer and some at remote computers and / or devices . those skilled in the art will also realize that , by utilizing conventional techniques , all or portions of the software &# 39 ; s computer - executable instructions may be carried out by a dedicated electronic circuit such as a digital signal processor (“ dsp ”), programmable logic array (“ pla ”), discrete circuits , and the like . the term “ electronic apparatus ” may include computing devices or consumer electronic devices comprising any software , firmware or the like , or electronic devices or circuits comprising no software , firmware or the like . the term “ firmware ” typically refers to executable instructions , code or data maintained in an electronic device such as a rom . the term “ software ” generally refers to executable instructions , code , data , applications , programs , or the like maintained in or on any form of computer - readable media . the term “ computer - readable media ” typically refers to system memory , storage devices and their associated media , and the like . in view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles of the present invention and the forgoing examples may be applied , it should be recognized that the examples described herein are meant to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention . therefore , the invention as described herein contemplates all such embodiments as may come within the scope of the following claims and any equivalents thereto . | 7 |
a process has now been found for the reduction of keto groups in polyketones having between 1 - 50 mole % keto groups using metal alkoxides as the reagents , producing polyalcohols . accordingly , the present invention provides a continuous process for the reduction of a polyketone polymer , the process comprising : reacting the polymer in molten condition with a metal alkoxide ( preferably aluminum alkoxide ) as a reagent , liberating acetone and thus forming a metal alkoxide salt of the polymer ; hydrolyzing said metal salt forming a polyalcohol ; and recovering said polyalcohol product . according to another aspect of the invention , the reduction reaction of the polyketone polymer in molten condition with a metal alkoxide ( preferably aluminum alkoxide ) is carried out in the presence of a stoichiometric or excess amount of : i ) isopropyl alcohol , ii ) an alcohol which is substituted with a bulky alkyl group ; or iii ) a ketone which is substituted with a bulky alkyl group , which reacts with the metal alkoxide salt of the polymer to re - generate metal alkoxide forming a polyalcohol . there is also provided a novel polyalcohol composition from the reduction reaction , comprising un - reacted keto groups and hydroxyl function groups , and the by - product aluminum trihydrate resulting from aqueous hydrolysis . polyketones . one class of polyketones capable of reacting with metal , e . g . aluminum , alkoxides to form polyalcohol compositions include homo and copolymers of alkyl vinyl ketones . comonomers used in conjunction with these keto group - containing vinyl monomers can include other vinyl monomers , including ethylene , propylene , styrene , acrylates , methacrylates , vinyl chloride and vinyl flouride . another class of polyketones in the reduction reaction according to the present invention includes ethylene / carbon monoxide copolymers , carbon monoxide / alpha olefin copolymers , carbon monoxide / ethylene / alpha olefin copolymers , and ethylene terpolymers of the general formula e / x / co . in the e / x / co formula , e is the ethylene , x is a “ softening ” monomer such as , for example , vinyl acetate or an acrylic ester , and co is the carbon monoxide . an example is an ethylene / carbon monoxide / acrylate copolymer where x is a c 1 - c 10 n - alkyl acrylate , such as e / nba / co terpolymers where nba stands for n - butyl - acrylate . reagents metal alkoxides . the metal alkoxides include alkoxides bearing aluminum cations such as aluminum - t - butoxide , aluminum cyclohexoxide , aluminum ethoxide , aluminum isopropoxide . however , alkoxides exhibiting good hydride - donating tendencies such as lithium isopropoxide , sodium alkoxide , and magnesium alkoxide may also be used for the reduction . reagent aluminum alkoxides are commercially available from common scientific and chemical supplies sources . the most preferred aluminum alkoxide is aluminum isopropoxide ( aip ). product polyalcohols . the novel polyalcohol produced according to the process of the present invention is a polymer containing one or more secondary polyalcohol units , one or more carbonyl groups , i . e ., some of the un - reacted carbon monoxide , ethylene , and the by - product aluminum trihydrate from the reduction reaction employing aluminum alkoxides as the reagent . the composition preferably contains about 0 . 1 to 49 wt . % carbonyl groups , about 0 . 1 to 52 wt . % secondary alcohol groups , and about 0 . 01 to about 20 wt . % of by - product aluminum trihydrate . more preferably , the composition also contains ethylene - based ( substituted ) vinyl monomer , most preferably selected from the group consisting of : vinyl halides , styrene , propylene , alkyl methacrylates , alkyl acrylates , vinyl acetate , vinylidene flouride , tetraflouro ethylene , methyl vinyl ketones , and acrylonitrile . polyketones , such as linear alternating copolymers of carbon monoxide and an ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon , can be practically manufactured in a process as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 940 , 777 in the presence of a catalyst composition , preferably formed from a palladium compound , particularly palladium carboxylates , the anion of certain strong non - hydrohalogenic acids and a bidentate ligand of nitrogen . polymerization takes place at a reaction temperature of about 15 to 140 ° c . and pressure from 20 to 150 bar . subsequent to reaction , polymer product is recovered from mixture by well - known methods such as filtration and decantation . another process for manufacturing polyketones is as described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 780 , 140 . it is a free - radical initiated , high pressure process , wherein the monomers are fed into a large , continuously stirred reactor , normally in the absence of solvents , although occasionally the addition of a small amount of a suitable solvent helps avoid polymer deposit on the inner wall of the reactor . the reactor contains a mix of polymer and monomers in readily ascertainable proportions . the flow of monomers is adjusted to give constant mole ratio , and the feed rate is set to be the same as the discharge of the polymer and of unchanged monomers from the reactor . allowance should be made for the different rate of polymerization of the various co - monomers , so that none is depleted . conversion is the percentage of the polymer in the polymer / monomer mix and can be directly measured by determining the amount of polymer present in the exit stream . the free - radical polymerization catalyst employed in the production of the polyketone for use in the present invention can be any of those commonly used in the polymerization of ethylene , such as the peroxides , the peresters , the azo compounds , or the percarbonates . the reactor is typically operated at a temperature of about 140 - 225 ° c ., and a pressure of about 20 , 000 - 35 , 000 psi ( i . e ., 137895 kpa to 241316 kpa ). the heat of polymerization is applied to heating up the cool feed monomers , so that a constant temperature is maintained in the reactor . the reactor pressure is reduced as the mixture of monomers and copolymer exits the reactor and flows into a separator . molten copolymer leaves the separator in a stream , from which it is cooled and further processed such as being cut into suitable sized particles . batch process . the present invention can be practiced in either a batch or continuous process , and preferably in a continuous process . for a batch process , the present invention is practiced by first melting the keto containing polymer in a mixer equipped with a stirrer and blanketed with an inert gas . the temperature of the mixer should be sufficient to melt the polymer , but below its degradation temperature and preferably above 135 ° c . to this molten polyketone polymer is added a metal , e . g . aluminum , alkoxide . alternatively , the aluminum alkoxide is mixed together with the starting polyketone and the mixture is heated until molten . the aluminum alkoxide is applied at a ratio of 1 : 1 to 0 . 1 : 10 molar equivalents of the aluminum alkoxide to the number of carbonyl groups that need to be reduced . the aluminum alkoxide is preferably aluminum isopropoxide ( aip ), and the preferred molar equivalent ratio is determined by percent conversion of carbonyl groups to hydroxyl desired . a reaction is noted almost immediately when the polymer mass becomes dry and fluffy . the next acidification step is accomplished by any process known in the art , such as adding excess water or acidified water in a quantity that is at least three times , and preferably ten times the molar amount of metal alkoxide that was added to the reaction . if an aqueous acid solution is used , the preferred composition is 1 - 5 g acetic acid or phosphoric acid per 100 ml of water . continuous process . alternatively , the reaction can be carried out in a continuous process , using continuous melt blending equipment such as single and twin screw extruders , continuous kneaders , and continuous mixers . the equipment is preferably a twin screw extruder of either a co - rotating intermeshing or counter - rotating non - intermeshing configuration . the extruder should be sufficiently long of at least 28 l / d to ensure that there is enough residence time for reaction . in one embodiment of the continuous process , the polyketone is fed in at the same time along with the aluminum alkoxide . in another embodiment of the continuous process , polyketone is first melted in the extruder , then molten aluminum alkoxide is injected into the polymer melt . the extruder is set at temperature that is sufficient to melt the polymer , but below its degradation temperature . if the polymer is low - melting , the extruder temperature should be no lower than 135 ° c . to ensure that the reaction will take place fast enough during the time the polymer has to react in the extruder . as in the batch process , the aluminum alkoxide is applied at a ratio of 1 : 1 to 0 . 1 : 10 molar equivalents of the aluminum alkoxide to the number of carbonyl groups that need to be reduced and the preferred aluminum alkoxide being an aluminum isopropoxide . the resulting aluminum salt of the copolymer will exit the crosshead extruder as a crumb and be collected in a cyclone separator for the next hydrolysis step as described in the batch process above . or the hydrolysis reaction can be conducted within the extruder itself . to carry out the hydrolysis in the extruder , water or acidified water is fed into the polymer melt downstream from the feed throat of the extruder , at a rate equivalent to a quantity of water that is at least three times the molar amount of metal alkoxide that was added to the reaction . the injection position should be at an appropriate point to give enough length to allow the aluminum alkoxide time to react with the polymer before it is hydrolyzed by water . there should also be sufficient time between the point of water injection to the exit point of the extruder to give the hydrolysis reaction sufficient time to reach completion so that all the cross - linked alkoxide units are converted to hydroxy units . in another embodiment of the continuous process , the reaction is preferably forced further or moderated in the presence of a lower alcohol , e . g . isopropanol ( ipa ). in this embodiment , excess ipa is injected immediately after the melting zone of the extruder at a rate between 10 - 1000 times the stoichiometric amount of carbonyl functionality being present in the starting material . the aluminum alkoxide is fed into the extruder with the polymer , or it can be fed into the extruder as a solution in the ipa for reaction with the molten polymer . water or acidified water is fed into the polymer melt downstream from the feed throat of the extruder as described above for the hydrolysis reaction to hydrolyze aluminum alkoxide that is regenerated . in yet another embodiment , the reaction is forced further or moderated in the presence of : i ) an alcohol which is substituted with a bulky alkyl group , preferably t - butyl alcohol or cyclohexanol , or ii ) a ketone which is substituted with a bulky alkyl group , preferably cyclohexanone . in this embodiment , the aluminum alkoxide is fed into the extruder with the polymer if the polymer melts below the melting point of the aluminum alkoxide . the temperature of the extruder is set such that the polymer is allowed to melt , but not the aluminum alkoxide . the alcohol or ketone is then injected into this heterogeneous mixture of solid aluminum alkoxide and polymer melt . at a stage downstream of this injection point , where the alcohol or ketone is thoroughly mixed throughout the polymer melt , the temperature is increased sufficiently to melt the aluminum alkoxide . water or acidified water is fed into the polymer melt downstream from the feed throat of the extruder as described above . alternatively , the aluminum alkoxide can be fed into the extruder as a solution in the bulky alcohol or bulky ketone before reaction with the molten polymer , with water or acidified water being fed into the polymer melt downstream from the feed throat of the extruder to hydrolyze the aluminum alkoxide . in the continuous embodiments , a vacuum port is optionally introduced just before the polymer exits the extruder to remove water , acidified water , ipa , bulky alcohol , bulky ketone , or other volatile residuals such as acetone . the reacted polymer leaving the extruder is cooled and further processed such as being cut into suitable sized particles or pellets . carbon - 13 nmr of the product polymer from either the batch or continuous process reveals a new peak at about 71 ppm , downfield of the carbon signal from a reference standard of tetramethylsilane , characteristic of the secondary alcohol functionality produced by the reaction . the presence of the polyalcohol product can also be confirmed by proton nmr . the nmr reveals a new peak at 3 . 7 ppm , consistent with the expected position of an aliphatic secondary alcohol signal . the invention now being generally described , the same will be better understood with reference to the following embodiments and examples , which are intended for purposes of illustration only and not to be limiting of the invention except where so indicated . in the examples , the polyketone used as a starting material is of the formula e / x or e / x / co , where e is the ethylene , co is the carbon monoxide , and x is n - butyl acrylate . the polymers were prepared by the method of free - radical high - pressure polymerization as described above and in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 780 , 140 . for the batch process , a haake model system 90 mixer equipped with roller blades and nitrogen source for blanketing the mixture was used for the reduction reaction . the hydrolysis reaction was carried out in a container equipped with a stirrer and an excess of acidified hot water . alternatively for some of the examples , the salt was left in the haake mixer and excess acidified water was added dropwise at low rpm until the hydrolysis was complete . for all examples the presence of the polyalcohol product was confirmed by a carbon - 13 nmr of the product polymer , showing a new peak at about 71 - 72 ppm , characteristic of the secondary alcohol functionality produced by the reaction . alternatively , the presence of the polyalcohol product was confirmed by proton nmr . in the haake mixer , a copolymer containing 13 wt . % carbon monoxide and ethylene constituting the balance was prepared as described above . the polymer was added first and mixed at about 110 ° c . and at a mixer setting of 200 rpm until molten . the aip was then added and the mixture is blended at a melt temperature of about 150 ° c . a rapid reaction was noted in about 5 to 10 minutes as the polymer mass became dry and fluffy . the melt temperature was raised to about 225 ° c . and mixing was continued for about another 30 seconds . the results of the reduction reactions are shown in table 1 below : an e / nba / co terpolymer containing about 10 wt % carbon monoxide , 30 wt . % n - butyl - acrylate , and ethylene constituting the balance with a melt index of about 100 was used for examples 3 - 6 . the copolymer is added to the haake mixer and mixed at about 110 ° c . and at a mixer setting of 200 rpm until molten . the aluminum isopropoxide is then added and the mixture is blended at a melt temperature of about 150 ° c . the melt temperature was raised to about 225 ° c . or less and mixing was continued for about 30 seconds after the reaction started , as indicating by the polymer mass formed . the results of the reduction reaction are shown in table 2 below : a commercial sample of ethylene , carbon monoxide ( e / co ) copolymer , sold by shell chemical , inc . as carilon d26vm100 , containing 50 % co , was added to the haake mixer and mixed at 240 ° c . and 200 rpm until molten . the aluminum isopropoxide ( 1 . 2 wt . %) was then added and the mixture blended at mix temperature until the torque levels out . after an additional 30 seconds , the aluminum alkoxide salt was removed for hydrolysis in hot aqueous acetic acid . nmr analysis indicated that 0 . 9 % of the carbonyls were converted to hydroxyl groups . another class of polyketones capable of reacting with metal alkoxides to form polyalcohol compositions include home and copolymers of alkyl vinyl ketones . a sample of poly ( vinyl methyl ketone ), supplied by aldrich chemicals , melting at 160 ° c . and containing 40 % co was added to a haake mixer and mixed at 180 ° c . and 200 rpm until molten . the aluminum isopropoxide ( 1 . 2 weight %) was then added and the mixture blended at mix temperatures until the torque levels out . after an additional 30 seconds , the aluminum alkoxide salt was removed for hydrolysis in hot aqueous acetic acid . nmr analysis indicated that 0 . 1 % of the carbonyl groups were converted to hydroxyl groups . continuous process runs . in the first set of continuous runs , an e / nba / co terpolymer containing about 10 wt % carbon monoxide , 32 wt . % n - butyl - acrylate , and ethylene constituting the balance was used as the starting polyketone for the continuous process runs . the polymer was fed at a rate of 0 . 080 kg / min into a 25 mm co - rotating intermeshing berstorff extruder operating at 250 rpm . the barrel temperatures were set at about 150 ° c . aluminum isopropoxide is fed into the extruder at a rate of 0 . 0019 to 0 . 11 kg / min ( or between 2 . 4 to 24 wt %), with the range varying depending on the degree of carbonyl reduction desired . two - thirds downstream from the extruder feed inlet , water or an aqueous acid solution of 1 - 5 g acetic acid or phosphoric acid per 100 ml of water is injected into the melt at a rate of 0 . 002 - 0 . 01 liter / min . the polymer strands exiting the extruder are pelletized . in the second set of continuous runs demonstrating the alternate embodiment , the same e / nba / co terpolymer containing about 10 wt % carbon monoxide , 30 wt . % n - butyl - acrylate , and ethylene constituting the balance was used . the polymer was fed at a rate of 0 . 080 kg / min into a 25 mm co - rotating intermeshing berstorff extruder operating at 250 rpm . the barrel temperature was set at about 170 ° c . aluminum isopropoxide is fed into the extruder at a rate of 0 . 0019 to 0 . 11 kg / min ( or between 2 . 4 to 24 wt %), with the range varying depending on the degree of carbonyl reduction desired . one third downstream from the extruder polymer feed inlet , isopropyl alcohol was injected into the melt at a rate of 0 . 009 liter / min . two - thirds downstream from the extruder feed inlet , hot water or an aqueous acid solution of 1 - 5 g acetic acid or phosphoric acid per 100 ml of water is injected into the melt at a rate of 0 . 002 - 0 . 01 liter / min . the polymer strands exiting the extruder are pelletized . in another set of continuous runs , the same e / nba / co terpolymer was used . the e / nba / co terpolymer and aip were fed together into a 25 mm co - rotating extruder operating at a screw speed of 200 rpm . the feed rate of the e / nba / co terpolymer and aip were 0 . 080 and 0 . 0058 kg / min respectively . the first third of the extruder was set at 120 ° c . and the temperature of the remaining sections of the extruder were set at 150 ° c . t - butanol was injected at a rate of 0 . 00546 l / min into the extruder at a point one third downstream of the extruder where the e / nba / co terpolymer had already melted . an aqueous solution of 5 g acetic acid / 100 g water was injected into the extruder at a point two - thirds downstream of the polymer feed inlet . the polymer strands exiting the extruder were pelletized . the pellets were heated over night at 65 ° c . under a vacuum to remove any residual alcohol . proton nmr of this material showed that 7 % of the carbonyl groups had been reduced to secondary alcohol groups . in the fourth set of runs , the same procedure described above was repeated except that cyclohexanone was used in place of t - butanol . the cyclohexanone was fed into the extruder at a rate of 0 . 00296 l / min . proton nmr of the product of this process showed that 2 % of the carbonyl groups had been reduced to secondary alcohol groups . in all runs , carbon - 13 nmr of the product polymer confirmed the characteristics of the secondary functionality produced by the reduction reaction with a new peak at about 71 ppm . the nmr also revealed a new peak at 3 . 7 ppm , consistent with the expected position of an aliphatic secondary alcohol signal . as is apparent from the foregoing description , the materials prepared and procedures followed relate only to specific embodiments of the broad invention . while forms of the invention has been illustrated and described , modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is not intended that the invention be limited thereby . | 2 |
fig1 shows a central control station 20 according to a first embodiment of the invention ; fig2 shows a paging unit 22 suitable for use with central control station 20 . as shown in fig1 , central control station 20 includes central computer 30 ; transmitter 32 ; receiver 34 ; and computerized telephone answering system 36 . transmitter 32 transmits , via transmitting antenna 42 , two local frequencies , namely frequency f 1 and frequency f 2 . receiver 34 is connected to receiver antenna 44 for reception of two local frequencies , namely frequency f 3 and frequency f 4 . computerized telephone answering system 36 is connected to a bank of telephones 48 . central computer 30 of central control station 20 comprises a conventional computer equipped with typical components including a cpu 50 ; i / o interface 52 ; and memory 54 . although shown only generally in fig1 , it should be understood that memory 54 includes a number of unillustrated memory devices , including ( for example ) a hard disk drive , ram , and rom . fig1 shows that memory 54 has stored therein ( among other things ) a pager registration file 55 and a pager directory file 56 . pager files 55 and 56 are typically stored on a hard disk drive of central computer 30 , and upon start - up are loadable into a ram portion of memory 54 . central computer 30 of central control station 20 further includes a decoder 57 ( connected between receiver 34 and i / o interface 52 for decoding in - coming communications information from one or more pager units 22 ), as well as encoder 58 ( connected between i / o interface 52 and transmitter 32 for encoding out - going communications information ). central control station 20 also includes a clock unit 59 which generates a local clock signal f 1 clk ( which , in turn , is used to modulate frequency f 1 ). as illustrated further herein , cpu 50 of central control station 20 prepares communications packets for transmission on frequency f 2 . as generally illustrated in fig1 , the communications packets are of a predetermined format , having fields for identification of the central control station , for identification of the addressed pager unit ( s ) 22 , for an operation code , for ( optionally ) alphanumeric information , and for other conventional packet - type information such as checksum , error correction , and postamble . the preamble and postamble are specially chosen patterns which can be recognized and distinguished from data for the purpose of determining the beginning and ending of a packet . the alphanumeric information can be in a customary binary 8 - bit format . the format of fig1 is illustrative only , as such information as the order of the fields can be varied in other embodiments . central control station 20 communicates with a plurality of pager units 22 1 , 22 2 , . . . 22 n . only one such pager unit , generically referenced as pager unit 22 , is specifically illustrated and described herein , it being understood that the construction and operation of other pager units may be similar to the one illustrated . as shown in fig2 , pager unit 22 includes a pager receiver antenna 60 which is connected to pager receiver 62 . pager receiver 62 is , in turn , connected through s / d converter 64 within pager computer 70 . receiver 62 receives the two local frequencies f 1 , and f 2 , which frequencies have been modulated to carry in - coming communications information ( described in more detail below ) to pager computer 70 . on a communications output side , pager computer 70 outputs out - going communications information to pager transmitter 72 via d / s converter 74 . transmitter 72 broadcasts , on pager antenna 76 , the out - going communications information on the two local frequencies f 3 and f 4 . as also shown in fig2 , pager computer 70 includes pager microprocessor 80 which is connected to each of an arithmetic processor ; a memory system 84 ( including both rom and ram ); and i / o interface 86 . i / o interface 86 is connected to a clock unit 87 . i / o interface 86 is also connected to receive in - coming decoded communications information from an 8 - bit decoder 88 and to output out - going uncoded communications information to an 8 - bit encoder 90 . decoder 88 is connected to receive in - coming coded communications information from s / d converter 64 ; encoder 90 is connected to output out - going coded communications information to d / s converter 74 . clock unit 87 is settable by suitable inputs thereto so that clock unit 87 generates a local clock signal f 1 clk having a frequency corresponding to its input . it should be understood that , in other embodiments , the function of clock unit 87 can be performed at least partially by microprocessor 80 using programmed execution . i / o interface 86 is also connected to supply an on / off signal on line 92 to pager transmitter 72 , as well as to facilitate input and output with numerous input / output devices . the input / output devices connected to i / o interface 86 include keyboard 93 ; beeper 94 ; vibrator 95 ; and lcd ( alphanumeric ) display 96 . upon manufacture , pager unit 22 is preprogrammed with an identification serial number ( e . g ., a 7 - digit alphanumeric pre - assigned id number ) which is stored in memory 84 ( rom ). pager unit 22 is activated ( e . g ., at the time of purchase ) by inserting a time slot assignment ( explained below ) both into a predetermined address in memory 84 of pager unit 22 and into pager directory file 56 ( stored in memory 54 of central control station 20 ). communication between central control station 20 and pager unit 22 occurs on the four local frequencies , in particular the frequencies f 1 , f 2 , f 3 , and f 4 mentioned above . the first frequency ( f 1 ) carries the local clock - aligning signal from central control station 20 to paging unit 22 . the second frequency ( f 2 ) carries a pager command and alphanumeric data from central control station 20 to paging unit 22 . the third frequency ( f 3 ) carries pager status data and alphanumeric data from paging unit 22 to central control station 20 . the fourth frequency ( f 4 ) carries a pager request signal from paging unit 22 to central control station 20 . in the illustrated embodiment , the frequencies f 1 - f 4 are preferably chosen so that f 1 ≠ f 2 ≠ f 3 ≠ f 4 . as explained in more detail below and illustrated in fig1 , in normal non - cell - switching operation , the pager request signal on frequency f 4 is transmitted in a predetermined time slot assigned to paging unit 22 . the predetermined time slot on frequency f 4 is related to the clock - aligning signal ( carried by frequency f 1 ) and assigned whereby the fourth frequency is utilizable by a plurality of other paging units . for example , as shown in fig1 , a first time slot on frequency f 4 is assigned to a pager p 1 ; a second time slot is assigned to pager p 2 , and so on up to time slot n assigned to pager pn . in the illustrated embodiment , the number of time slots ( and accordingly the number of pagers ) may be as many as ten thousand or more . fig3 shows steps executed by cpu 50 of central control station 20 in processing communications to and from one or more paging units . the steps depicted in fig3 are indicative of instructions stored in a rom portion of memory 54 of central control station 20 . when central control station 20 is started up ( step 100 ), an initialization process ( step 102 ) is conducted . included in the initialization process is activation of transmitter 32 ( so that transmitter 32 can transmit at the two frequencies f 1 and f 2 ) and activation of receiver 34 ( so that receiver 34 can receive the two frequencies f 3 and f 4 ). moreover , frequency f 1 is modulated to carry the local clock - aligning signal generated by local clock 59 . then , at step 104 , the pager registration file 55 and the pager directory file 56 are loaded from hard disk into a ram section of memory 54 ( step 104 ). after initialization and loading of the files 55 and 56 , cpu 50 repetitively executes an instruction loop 106 . loop 106 involves checking to determine ( at step 108 ) whether a telephone message is being received ( via answering system 36 from one of the telephones in bank 48 ) and checking to determine ( at step 110 ) whether a pager message is being received ( via transmitter 32 from one of the pager units 22 ). as used herein , a message , whether originated from a telephone or from a pager , may require a plurality of packets for transmission from a central station 20 to a pager 22 or vice versa . in the ensuing discussion , transmission and reception of messages subsumes transmission and reception of one or more packets . in general , the packetization of messages will be invisible to the user , meaning that a user enters a message without regard to the number of packets which might be required to transmit the message . the message typically ends with a user - entered message termination character or message delimiter character . the transmitting device ( either central station 20 or pager 22 ), allocates the message to one or more packets having a format similar to that of fig1 , with the last packet in the message bearing the message termination character . alternatively , the packets may be formatted in a manner to indicate the number of consecutively related packets emanating from a transmitter ( e . g ., there may be a separate packet field indicating the continuation number of related packets ). central computer 30 can distinguish between receipt of a telephone message ( at step 108 ) and a pager message ( at step 110 ) by virtue of the fact that i / o interface 52 generates different types of interrupts to cpu 50 depending on the type of message received . if it is determined at step 108 that a telephone message is being received , steps 112 , 114 , and 116 of fig3 are executed . in processing a received telephone message , at step 112 central computer 30 extracts out - going communications information from the predeterminately sequenced telephone - entered data . the telephone - entered data , entered via a touchpad of a calling one of the telephones in bank 48 , includes by convention an identification ( e . g ., telephone number ) of the calling telephone ; an identification of the called pager unit ( e . g ., the 7 - digit alphanumeric pre - assigned id number ); and any character data for transmission followed by a termination character . this out - going communications information is received at central computer 30 in standard dtmf format . at step 114 , using the id number of the called pager ( obtained at step 112 ) central computer 30 checks the pager registration file 55 and directory file 56 to determine whether the called pager unit is registered with central control station 20 . assuming that the called pager is so registered , at step 114 the central computer 30 also obtains from pager directory file 56 the slot assignment for the called pager unit . at step 116 , central control station 30 transmits communications information to the called pager unit . in this regard , central control station 20 prepares and transmits ( on frequency f 2 ) a communications message which includes , among other things , the id of the called pager unit and the character data received from the telephone for transmission of the pager unit 22 . after step 116 is executed , processing returns to loop 106 . if it is determined at step 110 that a pager message is being received , even numbered steps 132 - 140 of fig3 are executed ( prior to returning to loop 106 ). as will be seen hereinafter with respect to fig4 , a sending pager unit 22 transmits , in its assigned time slot , a request signal on frequency f 4 when the sending pager unit 22 desires to send a message . as central control station 20 is always monitoring frequency f 4 , a request signal carried by frequency f 4 from any pager unit 22 is noted . with reference to the local clock 59 , at step 132 cpu 50 determines in what time slot on frequency f 4 the request signal is detected . upon detection of the time slot at step 132 , at step 134 cpu 50 consults the pager directory file 56 to determine the identification number of the particular pager unit 22 which originated the request signal . with the identity of the requesting pager unit 22 now known , at step 136 central control station 20 authorizes the requesting pager unit 22 to transmit its message . in particular , cpu 50 directs preparation of a communications message for transmission on frequency f 2 . the particular communications packet prepared at step 136 includes an identification of the requesting pager unit ( the addressee of the packet ), as well as an operation code (“ op ” code ) which commands / authorizes the requesting pager unit 22 to send its message . at step 138 , central control station 20 receives a communications message on frequency f 3 sent from the sending ( e . g ., requesting ) pager unit 22 . the communications message prepared and sent by the sending pager unit 22 includes packets of similar format to that shown in fig1 , and includes an identification of a pager to which the message is ultimately addressed as well as its own identification . at step 138 , cpu 50 checks to ensure that the ultimate addressee pager unit is registered in pager files 55 and 56 . at step 140 , cpu 50 makes any necessary reformatting and / or information substitution in the message , and causes the message to be transmitted on frequency f 2 . the transmission on frequency f 2 required by step 140 includes the identification of the ultimate addressee ( e . g ., a pager unit 22 ) as well as an operation code indicating that the transmission includes a relayed message from another pager unit . steps executed by a pager unit 22 in connection with its transmission mode are depicted in fig4 . steps executed by a pager unit 22 in connection with its receive mode are depicted in fig5 . the term “ mode ” as used herein does not connote exclusivity at any particular moment , for it should be remembered that at all times pager unit 22 is receiving transmissions on frequencies f 1 and f 2 . in its transmission mode ( see fig4 ), after start - up ( step 200 ) microprocessor 80 of the transmitting pager unit 22 executes a loop 202 wherein user alphanumeric characters ( entered via keyboard 93 ) are repetitively fetched ( at step 204 ) until an end of message delimiter is detected ( at step 206 ). as entered , the characters fetched at step 204 are displayed on lcd display 96 . entry of the delimiter character at step 206 causes microprocessor 80 to exit loop 202 . by convention , the message must include an addressee id , which addressee id is likely the id of another one of the pager units to which the message entered in step 204 is directed . after entry of the message awaits entry from keyboard 93 of a transmit command at step 212 . assuming that the transmit command is entered at step 212 , microprocessor 80 prepares and sends a request signal on frequency f 4 . as indicated before , the request signal is transmitted on frequency f 4 in a time slot assigned to the requesting pager unit 22 . it should be kept in mind that pager unit 22 is all the while receiving the local clock - aligning signal on frequency f 1 , which enables microprocessor 80 to cause transmission of the request signal on frequency f 4 at a time corresponding to the specific time slot allotted to the particular sending pager unit 22 . in the above regard , in accordance with time division techniques , each pager unit 22 1 - 22 n ( e . g ., pagers p 1 - p n in fig1 ) is assigned a selected one of n number of time slots on frequency f 4 . after transmission of the request signal at step 214 , pager unit 22 awaits receipt of a transmit command from central control station 20 . preparation and transmission of the transmit command / authorization from central control station 20 is described with reference to fig3 . upon receipt of the transmit command / authorization from central control station 20 ( step 216 ), microprocessor 80 prepares ( at step 218 ) a communications message with one or more packets having a format much like that of fig1 . the addressee id and alphanumeric field of packets of the communications message is filled with the message entered in loop 202 . at step 220 , the sending pager unit 22 broadcasts the communications packet on frequency f 3 . if a transmit command is not entered at step 212 , or after transmission of the message at step 220 , microprocessor 80 awaits entry of at least one of several possible special function keys at step 222 . for example , the user may press a function key which requires storage of the message ( whether yet transmitted or not ) [ see step 228 ]. alternatively , the user may press function keys which facilitate editing or erasure of the message ( see steps 224 and 226 , respectively ). to complete the message and begin work on another message , a special function key for an exit operation ( step 230 ) must be pressed . fig5 depicts steps executed by microprocessor 80 of pager unit 22 when in a receive mode . after start - up ( step 302 ), and as indicated by step 304 , pager unit 22 receives transmissions from central control station 20 on frequency f 2 . once a complete packet is received ( determined at step 306 ), a check is made ( at step 308 ) whether the addressee id in the communications packet ( see packet format of fig1 ) is the id of the receiving pager unit 22 . if the determinations of either step 306 or 308 are negative , pager unit 22 awaits either completion of the communications packet ( in the case of step 306 ) or receipt of another communications packet ( in the case of step 308 ) by looping back to step 304 . assuming that the received communications packet is designated for this particular receiving pager unit 22 , at step 310 microprocessor 80 consults the operation code field of the communications packet ( see fig1 ) to determine if the operation code indicates that the message includes a command . if the operation code indicates a command , a command processing routine ( framed by broken lines 312 in fig5 ) is executed . assuming for the moment that the operation code does not indicate a command , at step 314 microprocessor 80 of pager unit 22 stores the alphanumeric field portion of the communications packet ( which at least partially forms the message ) in a ram portion of memory 84 . since a message communicated from central processing station 20 may require several communications packets for completion of the message ( with subsequent communication packets providing continuations of the message content ), microprocessor 80 checks at step 316 to ensure that the entire message has been received . if not , processing continues back at step 304 for reception of a further communications packet . upon reception of an entire communications message , at step 318 microprocessor 80 determines whether pager unit 22 is in a beep mode or a vibrate mode . in this regard , there are numerous ways of setting paging unit 22 to the desired mode , either by a specially dedicated switch on paging unit 22 or by data entry using keyboard 93 . if pager unit 22 is in a beep mode , microprocessor 80 outputs a signal which causes i / o interface 86 to issue a further signal to activate beeper 94 ( step 320 ). alternatively , if pager unit 22 is in a vibrate mode , microprocessor 80 outputs a signal which causes i / o interface 86 to issue a further signal to activate vibrator 95 ( step 322 ). at step 324 , microprocessor 80 directs i / o interface 86 to send the alphanumeric message data to lcd display 96 , so that the received message can be viewed by the user . after notification to the user ( either via beeper 94 and / or vibrator 95 ), and display ( on lcd 96 ) of the received alphanumeric data , microprocessor 80 returns to step 304 to check whether further communications packets are being received . the command processing routine ( framed by broken lines 312 in fig5 ) first determines ( step 330 ) which particular operation is being commanded . this determination is based on the content of the operation code , which is different for different command types . if the operation code indicates an error shut - down , execution jumps to an error shut - down sub - routine which begins at step 340 . if the operation code indicates a time slot change , execution jumps to a change time slot sub - routine which begins at step 350 . if the operation code requires transmitter shut - down , execution jumps to a transmitter shut - down sub - routine which begins at step 360 . if the operation code requires transmitter re - enablement , execution jumps to a transmitter reenable sub - routine which begins at step 370 . if the operation code requires clock re - set , execution jumps to a clock re - set sub routine which begins at step 380 . in connection with the error shut down sub - routine , at step 342 microprocessor 80 obtains an indication of error type from the communications packet . the error type is stored in memory 84 ( step 344 ) and then displayed on lcd display 96 ( step 346 ). then microprocessor 80 issues a command ( at step 348 ) to shut down pager unit 22 , which shut - down occurs at step 349 . in connection with the time slot changing sub - routine , at step 352 microprocessor 80 extracts , from the received communications packet , information indicative of the new time slot assigned to the receiving pager unit 22 . the new time slot is entered ( at step 354 ) into memory 84 and thereafter utilized ( until further change ) in connection with transmission of request signals on frequency f 4 ( see , for example , step 214 of fig4 ). the time slot changing sub - routine may also include other operations , if desired , including ( for example ) eliminating unused time slots ( thereby increasing scanning rate ); diagnosing and trouble shooting ; and avoiding interruption of service from malfunctioning or ill - functioning equipment . in connection with the transmitter shut down sub - routine , at step 362 microprocessor 80 directs i / o interface 86 to issue an off command to transmitter 72 . in connection with the transmitter re - enable sub - routine , at step 372 microprocessor 80 directs i / o interface 86 to issue an on command to transmitter 72 . in connection with the clock re - set sub - routine , at step 382 microprocessor 80 directs that clock 59 of pager unit 22 be set . after execution of steps 354 , 362 , 372 , or 382 , execution continues back to step 304 for processing of potential further communications packets . thus , unless an error shut - down is noted , each entry of the command processing routine ( framed by broken lines 312 in fig5 ) is followed by a loop back to step 304 . fig6 is a timing diagram showing the frequencies f 1 - f 4 and integration of the steps depicted in fig3 - 5 , particularly in the context of a request by a sending pager unit pi for sending a message to a sendee pager unit p 2 . as employed in fig6 , “ computer ” refers to central control station 20 . it should be understood that the sending pager unit pi and the sendee pager unit p 2 operate in both the transmission mode as depicted in fig4 and in the receiver mode as depicted in fig5 . in general , fig6 shows transmission of a message from pager unit p 1 ( via central control station 20 ) to pager unit p 2 ; transmission of a confirmation message from pager unit p 2 ( via central control station 20 ) to pager unit p 1 ; and transmission of a message from pager unit p 1 to central control station 20 indicating that pager unit p 1 received the confirmation message from pager unit p 2 . fig7 shows a central control station 420 according to a second embodiment of the invention ; fig8 shows a paging unit 422 suitable for use with central control station 420 . fig9 shows a wide area paging system including a plurality of central control stations s 1 - s 8 ( each identical to central control station 420 ), each preferably geographically centered within a respective cell . each central control station s 1 - s 8 broadcasts its own local frequencies , as well as a set of common or switching frequencies c 1 - c 4 . the common frequencies c 1 - c 4 are broadcast at a lower power , so that reception thereof occurs only in a relatively small neighborhood or common frequency reception region ( cfrr ) [ also referred to as a “ switching region ”] about the central control station . the local frequencies are broadcast at a significantly greater power for reception substantially throughout the cell . for example , in fig9 , central control station si broadcasts its lower power common frequencies c 1 - c 4 to cfrr 1 and its higher power local frequencies f 1 - f 4 to cell ; central control station s 2 broadcasts its lower power common frequencies c 1 - c 4 to cfrr 2 and its higher power local frequencies f 5 - f 8 to cell 2 . as also shown in fig9 , cell 1 and cell 2 overlap in an overlap region shown in fig9 . station s 1 utilizes a set of local frequencies f 1 - f 4 ; station s 2 utilizes a different set of local frequencies f 5 - f 8 . both stations s 1 and s 2 utilize the same set of common or switching frequencies c 1 - c 4 . thus , each central control station utilizes two sets of frequencies , there being four frequencies in each set , resulting in a total of eight frequencies handled per station . thus , the second embodiment of the invention is suitable for a system having a plurality of central control stations 420 x where x = 1 , 2 , . . . m . each central control station 420 x transmits and receives a set of local frequencies f l1 , f l2 , f l3 , f l4 in an associated geographical area or cell , as well as the set of common or switch frequencies c 1 , c 2 , c 3 , c 4 . while the values of the local frequencies f l1 , f l2 , f l3 , f l4 , vary from cell to cell ( e . g ., differ for differing central control stations 420 x ), the values of the common or switch frequencies c 1 , c 2 , c 3 , c 4 are uniform through the system ( e . g ., for all central control stations 420 x ). although not shown in fig9 , it should be understood that the pattern of central control stations repeats in like manner in all compass directions in accordance with the prescribed geographical boundaries of the paging system . moreover , although not specifically illustrated in fig9 , it should also be understood that each central control station 420 has an associated cfrr . the common or switching frequencies c 1 - c 4 have an analogous function to the corresponding local frequencies f 1 - f 4 , respectively . in this regard , frequency c 1 carries a clock frequency transmitted by central control station ( s ), although the clock rate on common frequency c 1 preferably varies among central control stations . frequency c 2 is used to transmit information from central control station ( s ) to pager unit ( s ); frequency c 3 is used to transmit information from a pager unit to a central control station ; frequency c 4 is used by pager units to issue a request signal . frequency c 2 carries packets having a format similar to that of fig1 . in analogous manner to frequency f 2 , the packets carried by frequency c 2 may have command codes . among the c 2 command codes are a system command code ; a local frequency download command code ; a slot recognition command code ; and a slot assignment command code . as shown in fig7 , central control station 420 resembles central control station 20 of the embodiment of fig1 ( similar components being assigned the same reference numerals for simplicity ). however , central control station 420 is augmented by inclusion of a further transmitter , known as common frequency transmitter 432 , together with its common frequency transmission antenna 442 , for transmitting the common frequencies c 1 and c 2 . in contrast to the high power transmitter 32 , transmitter 432 is a low power transmitter . further , central control station 420 is augmented by inclusion of a further receiver , known as the common frequency receiver 434 , together with its common frequency receiver antenna 444 , for reception of the common frequencies c 3 and c 4 . central control station 420 of fig7 includes a clock unit 59 ′ which generates two clocking signals — a first or local clocking signal f l clk and a second or common clocking signal c 1 clk . the local clocking signal f l clk is used to modulate frequency f 1 ; the common clocking signal is used to modulate the common frequency c 1 . the central computers 30 of the central control stations 420 x are serially connected to one another by an output line 486 a and an input line 486 b . in particular , although not expressly shown as such in fig7 , computer 30 of fig7 ( like that of fig1 ) includes an i / o interface to which the serial lines 486 a and 486 b are connected . serial lines 486 a and 486 b are used , for example , to update contents of the pager registration file 55 and the pager directory file 56 . as shown in fig8 , pager unit 422 resembles pager unit 22 of the embodiment of fig2 ( similar components again being assigned the same reference numerals for simplicity ). however , pager unit 422 ( in like manner as central control station 420 ) is augmented by inclusion of a further transmitter , known as common frequency transmitter 572 , together with its common frequency transmission antenna 576 , for transmitting the common frequencies c 3 and c 4 . further , central control station 420 is augmented by inclusion of a further receiver , known as the common frequency receiver 434 , together with its common frequency receiver antenna 444 , for reception of the common frequencies c 1 and c 2 . the operational frequencies of transmitter 72 and receiver 62 are changeable in accordance with values transmitted on “ frequency control ” lines from computer 70 . in particular , the frequency control lines are connected to i / o interface 86 in computer 70 . as described in more detail below , when a pager unit 422 migrates into a new cfrr , signals are applied on the frequency control lines in order to switch pager unit 422 from the local frequencies of an old cell to the local frequencies of a new cell associated with the new cfrr into which pager unit 422 migrates . pager 422 includes a clock unit 83 ′ which is capable of separately generating local clocking signals f l clk and the common clocking signals f c1 clk for use by microprocessor 80 . these clocking signals are initiated and their frequencies set by appropriate respective inputs to clock unit 83 ′. fig8 also shows that pager unit 422 has data i / o unit 596 which includes both an alphanumeric graphic display and a pressure sensitive writing pad . the alphanumeric graphic display is a dot matrix device which can display characters and graphics . the writing pad has a 16 × 48 dot area . as shown in fig9 , a pager unit p 1 is assumed to have been operating in cell 1 and to have previously received the common frequencies c 1 - c 4 and local frequencies f 1 - f 2 from station s 1 . now pager unit p 1 travels on a route indicated by broken arrow - headed line route . in traveling along the route , pager unit p 1 continues to operate on local frequencies f 1 - f 2 , even as it travels through the cellular overlap region . however , when pager unit p 1 enters a new common frequency reception region ( i . e ., cfrr 2 ), a switching or hand - off operation occurs . in the switching operation , as explained in more detail below , pager unit p 1 obtains common frequencies c 1 - c 4 from central control station s 2 and , as a result , can switch from the local frequencies f 1 - f 4 of cell 1 to the local frequencies f 5 - f 8 of cell 2 . in order to effect the switching or hand - off operation , pager unit p 1 executes a channel switching routine ; the central control station s 2 executes a switching enabling routine . in connection with the channel switching routine and the switching enabling routine , when pager unit p 1 moves into cfrr 2 , pager unit p 1 will receive the clocking signal on frequency c 1 from station s 2 . at such point , pager unit p 1 will automatically align its clock unit with the clocking signal from station s 2 . referring now to the channel switching routine executed by pager p 1 subsequent to start - up ( step 500 ), at step 506 pager unit p 1 obtains information characterizing the system centered about station s 2 . such characterizing information is referred to as system identification or system id information . at step 508 , microprocessor 80 of pager unit p 1 checks to determine if there is any new system id information acquired on frequency c 2 . that is , microprocessor 80 checks to determine if system id information is received on frequency c 2 ( which can occur only in a cfrr ) and , if so , compares the system id information to the immediately previously - stored system id information . if the previous and most recently - acquired system ids are the same , pager unit p 1 realizes that it is still in the jurisdiction of the same station ( e . g ., station s 1 ). if not , pager unit p 1 realizes that it has now wandered into a cfrr of a new station ( e . g ., station s 2 ) and , at step 510 , initiates a request on frequency c 4 for communication with the central control station ( e . g ., station s 2 ) for cell 2 . in the above regard , since pager unit p 1 has not yet been assigned a time slot for cell 2 , the request on frequency c 4 is randomly made . however , pager unit p 1 keeps track of the time slot in which it makes its request to the new central control station ( e . g ., station s 2 ). thereafter , pager unit p 1 continues to monitor ( step 512 ) communications packets from station s 2 on frequency c 2 , waiting for station s 2 to issue a message which references the time slot at which pager unit p 1 made its request of step 5 10 . in particular , pager unit p 1 awaits a message from station s 2 on frequency c 2 that includes both a slot recognition command code and information stored in the same time slot which pager unit p 1 randomly generated . since the message including the slot recognition command code includes station s 2 as the sender and mirrors the slot randomly generated by pager unit p 1 , pager unit p 1 recognizes the message as being addressed to pager unit p 1 and considers issuance of such a message by station s 2 ( see step 612 of fig1 ) to constitute authority for pager unit p 1 to communicate further with station s 2 . in this regard , at step 514 microprocessor 80 of pager unit p 1 determines if there is a match between the time slot of a received message and the time slot at which the random request was made at step 510 . assuming a match is eventually found at step 514 , at step 516 pager unit p 1 sends a communications packet on frequency c 3 to station s 2 , with the communications packet including the identification or id of pager unit p 1 . using pager registration file 55 , station s 2 verifies that the id of pager unit p 1 is a valid id , and thereafter sends ( on frequency c 2 ) to pager unit p 1 a message with the command code local frequency download , which message informs pager unit p 1 of the values of the local frequencies handled by station s 2 ( e . g ., frequencies f 5 - f 8 ). thereafter , as also reflected by step 518 , station s 2 sends ( on frequency c 2 ) to pager unit p 1 a message with the command code slot assignment command code , which message informs pager unit p 1 of its slot assignment on frequency f 8 . microprocessor 80 then changes its slot allocation by steps which are similar to those discussed with the afore - mentioned change time slot routine ( see steps 350 , 352 , and 354 of fig5 ). step 518 of fig1 reflects reception of the local frequency values and reception of the slot assignment . after acquisition of all local frequencies and the slot assignment is completed ( step 520 ), microprocessor 80 implements ( at step 522 ) a switch to the new local frequencies ( e . g ., frequencies f 5 - f 8 ). in this regard , microprocessor 80 instructs i / o interface 86 to change transmitter 72 from frequencies f 3 , f 4 to frequencies f 7 , f 8 ; and to change receiver 62 from frequencies f 1 , f 2 to frequencies f 5 , f 6 . i / o interface 86 accomplishes the frequency changes by applying appropriate values on the frequency control lines connecting the i / o interface to transmitter 72 and receiver 62 , respectively . after the switch to new local frequencies at step 522 , microprocessor 80 loops back to step 506 , ultimately to determine when any further switching may be required . steps involved in the switching enabling routine executed by a central control station ( e . g ., station s 2 ) are depicted in fig1 . after start - up ( step 600 ), cpu 50 executes a loop 602 which enables cpu 50 to clean up its pager directory file 56 and to check if any new pager units have wandered into the cell which it administers . in particular , at step 604 cpu determines whether its central control station ( e . g ., s 2 ) has been advised by any other central control station ( e . g ., s 3 ) that a pager unit , formerly under the control of its central control station ( e . g ., s 2 ), has come under the control of the other central control station ( e . g , s 3 ). such advisement occurs on the serial links connecting the central control stations 420 x , and particularly input serial link 486 b . if such advisement occurs , the id for the wandered - away pager is deleted from the pager directory file 56 for station s 2 ( as reflected by steps 606 and 608 ). at step 610 , cpu 50 causes messages with a system command code to be transmitted on frequency c 2 . as indicated before , messages transmitted on frequency c 2 include a packet ( s ) having a format such as that shown in fig1 . the message with the system command code particularly includes the central station id number in its alphanumeric data field . at step 612 , central control station 420 checks to determine if a request signal has been transmitted by any pager unit 422 on frequency c 4 ( as occurred , for example , in context of the discussion of fig1 , particularly step 510 ). such a request signal would likely be issued from a pager unit 422 which has just wandered into the cfrr controlled by the central control station ( e . g ., into cfrr 2 controlled by station s 2 ). if no such request signal is detected , loop 602 is again repeated . in the event that a request signal is detected at step 612 , central control station 420 notes specifically the time slot on frequency c 4 at which the request occurred ( step 614 ). at this point , such time slot is the only way central control station 420 can identify the in - wandering pager unit 422 . central control station 420 desires for the in - wandering pager unit 422 to transmit its identification ( id ), but cannot specifically address the in - wandering pager other than with reference to the detected time slot . accordingly , at step 616 , central control station 420 prepares and transmits a message on frequency c 2 which has a slot recognition command code . the message including the slot recognition command code includes station s 2 as the sender and mirrors the slot randomly generated by pager unit p 1 ( e . g , the time slot at which the in - wandering pager unit 422 issued its request ). this transmission on frequency c 2 constitutes authority for pager unit p 1 to transmit its identification . step 618 denotes acquisition by central control station 420 of the identification ( id ) of the in - wandering pager unit 422 . at step 620 , central control station 420 checks its pager registration file 55 to determine if the pager id is a valid id . if not , an error message is generated and transmitted ( at step 622 ), followed by a command for pager unit p 1 to shut down ( see step 624 ). assuming that the identification of pager unit 422 was validated at step 620 , cpu 50 checks ( at step 630 ) its pager directory file 56 to locate an available time slot for the in - wandering pager unit 422 , and then associates the available time slot with the id of the in - wandering pager unit 422 . then , at step 632 , using a message on frequency c 2 with a local frequency download command code , central control station 420 sends the values of its local frequencies ( e . g ., f 5 , f 6 , f 7 , f 8 ) to the in - wandering pager unit 422 . the central control station then ( at step 634 ) assigns to the in - wandering pager unit 422 a new time slot on its local frequencies using a message on frequency c 2 with a slot assignment command code . processing of the change time slot command by the in - wandering pager unit 422 is understood with analogous reference to fig5 , particularly steps 350 , 352 , and 354 . upon completion of step 634 , the in - wandering pager unit 422 is fully initiated into its new cell ( e . g ., cell 2 ), and has left the jurisdiction of its former control station ( e . g , cell 1 and station s 1 ). accordingly , at step 636 , cpu 50 requests its i / o interface to issue a command on serial line 486 a which advises ( using pager id ) that the in - wandering pager 422 is now under its jurisdiction , so that former jurisdictions ( e . g ., s 1 ) can delete this pager unit from their pager directory files 56 . such deletion is understood with reference to steps 604 - 608 as above - described . in addition to illustrating geographical location of pager p 1 , stations s 1 and s 2 , and cells cell 1 and cell 2 , fig9 shows the relative timing of communications occurring on common frequencies c 1 - c 4 . fig9 specifically relates the timing of communications transmissions to specific ones of the aforedescribed steps executed by central control station 420 ( the switching enabling routine of fig1 ) and by pager unit 422 ( the channel switching routine of fig1 ). although the central control stations 420 x use the same common frequencies c 1 - c 4 , there is no interference or confusion of these signals transmitted from the control stations 420 x . the common frequencies c 1 - c 4 are broadcast at a relatively lower power than the local frequencies f 1 - f 4 so that reception of the common frequencies c 1 - c 4 occurs only in a limited neighborhood ( cfrr ) about the central control station 420 x . accordingly , pager units 422 traveling through the system receive common frequencies c 1 - c 4 only in the limited and non - overlapping cfrrs . system operational characteristics , such as cell diameter , cfrr diameter , power level of the local frequencies ( e . g ., f 1 - f 4 ), and power level of the common frequencies ( c 1 - c 4 ) can be field adjusted to suit numerous factors , including particularly the terrain and topography of the geographical region covered by the system . by way of non - limiting example , in one embodiment , the radius of each cell is on the order of about 20 miles ; while the radius of each cfrr is on the order of about 10 miles or less . in the same example , the power for transmission of the local frequencies can be in a range of from about 3 watts to 1000 watts ; while the power for transmission of the common frequencies c 1 - c 4 is preferably less than 2 watts . thus , the invention provides a two - way paging system which operates independently from a telephone system for wireless data communication between users . the invention minimizes use of available frequencies allowed by the federal communications commission ( fcc ), using only four local frequencies f 1 - f 4 for any given cell and ( for expanded , multi - cellular coverage ) only four common or switching frequencies c 1 - c 4 . in order to minimize the number of frequencies ( e . g , channels ) utilized , techniques of time division sharing and synchronization are employed . a transmission power differential between the local frequencies and the common frequencies is also employed . these techniques allow data transmission to be kept separate from different pagers and thus eliminate merging of data . the switching technique of the present invention provides extended geographical coverage and minimizes paging time by increasing the number of frequencies utilized in a cell from four ( e . g , the four local frequencies ) to eight ( the four local frequencies plus the four common frequencies ). in connection with verification of pager id , it should be understood that a single pager registration file might be stored in a memory file of only one of a plurality of central control stations , and that in such case verification would constitute issuing a search command ( on the serial links 486 ) to locate a pager id in the one ( remote ) memory file , with the results of the search being reported back to the inquiring central control station . the keyboards illustrated herein can , in some embodiments , be multi - language keyboards or writing pads which permit typing of english , chinese , or japanese languages , for example . the writing pad is especially useful in countries such as japan , thailand , the middle east or china where english - like alphabets are not used . the writing pad could also be used to sketch and transmit graphics . moreover , data compression / de - compression techniques can be utilized in connection with data transfer . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various alterations in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , it should be understood that repeaters may be employed within cells to facilitate transmission when a pager unit ventures far from a central control station . | 7 |
referring to the figures wherein like numerals refer to like elements and referring particularly to fig1 an aircraft adf system is seen to be comprised of an antenna section 10 , a receiver section 12 and indicators and other displays ( not shown ). the antenna section is comprised of a loop antenna having a winding a which is arranged to have its longitudinal axis perpendicular to the aircraft fore - to - aft centerline and a winding b which is perpendicular to winding a . the windings are wound on mutually perpendicular ferrite bars ( not shown ). as known to those skilled in the art the relative amplitude of the signal induced in winding a by a broadcast station is related to the sine of the angle between the aircraft heading and the station , while the relative amplitude of the signal induced in winding b is related to the cosine of the same angle . in other words , winding a has peak voltage induced when the received station is straight ahead or straight behind and minimum voltage when the station is 90 ° to the right or left . winding b has peak voltage induced when the station is 90 ° to the right or left and minimum voltage when the station is straight ahead or straight behind . if the aircraft ( and hence the attached adf antenna ) is rotated through 360 °, the voltages across the two windings rise and fall according to the angle between the aircraft heading and the station direction . in describing the remaining elements of fig1 and the operation thereof the following convention is adopted for ease and convenience in explaining the signal processing performed . the amplitude of an rf signal at a given point in the circuit is indicated by the height of a rectangle placed adjacent that point . an arrow in a box represents the phase of the rf signal at that point . specifically , an arrow pointing up indicates the signal is 90 ° ahead of the signal induced in the sense antenna . this phase lead is due to the inherent phase difference between the magnetic component of the rf signal induced in the loop antenna and the electrical component of the rf signal induced in the sense antenna . an arrow pointing down in a rectangle indicates that the rf signal lags the sense antenna signal by 90 ° (- 90 °). in addition , it is assumed in the present discussion that the received station is broadcasting within a range of about 200 to 1799 khz at an angle of 45 ° from the aircraft fore - aft centerline . a locally generated 31 hz modulating square wave is also assumed . the signals induced by the received station signal in windings a and b are applied , respectively , through balanced amplifiers 11 and 13 to balanced modulators 14 and 16 . a 31 hz square wave is also applied to balanced modulator 16 and the same 31 hz square wave delayed by 90 ° is applied to balanced modulator 14 . according to the convention adopted above , the rf signals from the various loop windings are in phase with one another and of equal amplitude since the received station is at a 45 ° relative bearing from the aircraft . a balanced modulator such as modulator 14 or 16 passes an input rf signal to its output terminal without phase reversal when the square wave modulation input is positive , but reverses the phase of the input signal when the modulation input is negative . thus , the rf signal issuing from balanced modulator 14 lags the sense signal by 90 ° over its first quarter cycle , leads by 90 ° over the next half cycle and again lags by 90 ° over the last quarter cycle as shown in signal representation 14a . as to this signal representation please note that such signal representation is of one complete cycle of the 31 hz modulating voltage and the index lines below each representation divide the cycle into quarters . this convention is standard for fig1 . the rf signal from balanced modulator 16 leads the sense signal by 90 ° over the first half cycle and lags the sense signal by 90 ° over the second half cycle as shown by signal representation 16a . the modulated signals are combined in adder 18 to produce the rf signal represented by 18a which shows a null during the first and third quarters , a 90 ° leading signal during the second quarter and a 90 ° lagging signal during the last quarter . as previously mentioned , an omnidirectional sense antenna such as antenna 20 is required to resolve the 180 ° ambiguity which exists in the loop antenna signals . the sense antenna signal as amplified by balanced amplifier 22 is added to the signal from adder 18 in loop - sense adder 24 to produce the rf signal represented at 24a and which is phase modulated with complete station direction information . the signal from adder 24 is applied to the receiver front end 25 wherein the received broadcast station is selected and the applied signal reduced to the receiver intermediate frequency ( if ). the if signal is then applied to demodulator 26 to produce the phase modulation represented at 26a . as might be expected , the modulation is impressed on the 31 hz modulation signal which is smoothed by band - pass filter 27 to produce the signal shown at 27a . this signal is then inverted and squared by circuit 28 to produce the signal represented at 28a , which signal is applied together with the same 90 ° lagging 31 hz square wave applied to mixer 14 to exclusive or circuit 30 and to exclusive or circuit 32 together with the 31 hz square wave . the resulting signals represented at 30a and 32a respectively are low pass filtered in elements 34 and 36 respectively and applied as d . c . voltages to the cosine and sine channels of an appropriate adf indicator . as known to those skilled in the art the signal represented at 28a , normally termed the variable signal , when compared with the reference 31 hz ∠ 0 ° signal permits all the bearing information to be extracted by equipment other than that shown in this embodiment . lines 33 and 35 indicate lines for tapping these signals if desired for such auxiliary indicating or other means . demodulator 26 of fig1 is a coherent demodulator of the phase locked loop type which is used to recover the 31 hz direction information modulation from the receiver if signal . a simplified block diagram of demodulator 26 is seen in fig2 and is helpful in explaining the function of the demodulator . reference to fig2 should now be made . the simplified demodulator consists of a frequency - phase detector 40 , a low pass filter 42 and a voltage controlled oscillator ( vco ) 44 . the receiver if signal is applied to detector 40 together with the signal from vco 44 with the error signal therefrom comprising the recovered phase modulation which , in addition to being further processed to drive the adf indicator as previously described , is also applied through lowpass filter 42 to control vco 44 . because of the closed phase locked loop the vco frequency is theoretically always the same as the intermediate frequency . however , as previously described , environmental factors can degrade loop stability . thus , a stability loop 46 which receives the vco 44 signal is provided to produce a further error signal which is combined with the above mentioned error signal to maintain stability in the phase locked loop . low pass filter 42 is designed to have a very slow time constant . this slow time constant keeps the rapid phase modulation produced by detector 40 from affecting the vco . however , in trying to keep the vco output in - phase with the if signal , detector 40 produces an output voltage which is directly proportional to the phase modulation of the if signal . an actual coherent demodulator 26 is seen in greater detail in fig3 reference to which figure should now be made and wherein it is assumed that the if input is 140 khz phase modulated by a 31 hz signal in accordance with direction information as previously mentioned . as can be seen , the actual demodulator is considerably more complex than the simplified circuit just described . the if input is applied to a limiter and squarer 50 wherein the if signal is converted to a train of rectangular pulses having the same phase modulation as the input signal . the squared if signal is applied to a phase detector 52 , suitably an exclusive or gate whose other input is a 140 khz square wave from divider 64 . the squared if signal is also applied to a frequency detector 54 whose second input is a 140 khz square wave from divider 64 which lags the first square wave by 90 °, and to lock detector 62 whose second input is a 140 khz square wave from divider 64 which leads the first square wave by 90 °. more will be said below about detectors 52 , 54 and 62 which together with switches 56 and 58 and limiter squarer 50 comprise detector 40 of fig2 . in this embodiment divider 64 , which together with vco 66 comprises vco 44 of fig2 is simply two cascaded flip - flops 80 and 82 as seen in fig4 wherein flip - flop 80 receives at its clock terminal ( point a ) a 280 khz signal from voltage controlled oscillator ( vco ) 66 of fig3 . the 280 khz signal at point a is seen in fig5 reference to which should also be made . the signal at point a is inverted in inverter 84 to produce the square wave at point b which comprises the clock for flip - flop 82 . the signal at the q output terminal of flip - flop 80 ( point c ) is the 140 khz ∠ 0 ° signal and is applied to the set input terminal of flip - flop 82 . the signal at the q output terminal of flip - flop 80 ( point d ) is the 140 khz ∠ 180 ° signal and is applied to the reset input terminal of flip - flop 82 . in this embodiment the various flip - flops are triggered at the negative - going transitions of their clock signals , thus producing the signals already described and in addition the 140 khz ∠- 90 ° signal and the 140 khz ∠+ 90 ° signal respectively at the q and q output terminals ( points e and f ) of flip - flop 82 . returning to fig3 the remainder of this phase locked loop is made up of low pass filters 60 and 68 , which together comprise low pass filter 42 of fig2 . only one of detectors 52 and 54 at a time is effective to control the aforementioned phase locked loop . this is accomplished by closing one of switches 56 and 58 and opening the other under the control of a signal from lock detector 62 . frequency detector 54 is selected until loop frequency lock is achieved and thereafter phase detector 52 is selected . frequency detector 54 is used to capture the if signal and phase detector 52 is used to lock onto the if signal because of the characteristics of the if signal and the required performance of the demodulator . specifically , the if signal has a relatively wide bandwidth , thus requiring a detector having a relatively wide capture range , while in order to provide undistorted recovered phase modulator a detector which closely follows the if input is required . in other words , a closely locked phase locked loop is required to provide high fidelity phase demodulation . of course , as known to those skilled in the art , the narrower the pass band of the phase locked loop low pass filter the more closely locked will be the loop . however , it is also generally true that the narrower the pass band of the loop filter the narrower the capture range of the loop detector . the use of two switchable detectors resolves the anomaly . frequency detector 54 is a type ii phase comparator such as phase comparator ii in motorola semiconductor circuit mc 14046 . a type ii phase comparator has a constant , relatively wide capture range which is not dependent upon the characteristics of the loop low pass filter . however , the phase comparator ii does not permit reliable close locking of the two input signals . a type i phase comparator such as phase comparator i in the same motorola semiconductor circuit , which is actually an exclusive or gate , permits close locking but with a limited capture range . as known to those skilled in the art , close tracking provided by an exclusive or gate occurs with the signals 90 ° out of phase . in order that the switch from frequency detector 54 to phase detector 52 be accomplished smoothly the 140 khz reference to one detector is displaced 90 ° from the 140 khz reference to the other detector . in this embodiment the reference to detector 54 lags the reference to detector 52 by 90 °. lock detector 62 is simply another type i phase comparator such as an exclusive or gate which generates no output signal in the absence of lock . under these conditions switch 58 is closed and switch 56 is open so that frequency detector 54 is effective . when the signal from divider 64 is locked to the if signal lock detector 62 generates an output signal which opens switch 58 and closes switch 56 thus making phase detector 52 effective . fine control of vco 66 output frequency is provided by the stabilizer loop comprised of band pass filter 70 , squarer 72 , buffer 76 and stability loop phase detector 74 which is suitably a further exclusive or gate . detector 74 compares one signal , the 140 khz ∠ 180 ° output from divider 64 which goes directly to the detector with the 140 khz ∠+ 90 ° signal from divider 64 which goes to the detector through filter 70 , squarer 72 and buffer 76 . filter 70 is , for example , an l / c filter having a very narrow pass band . a slight deviation of the divider output signal from 140 khz will cause the signal output from filter 70 to change , thus causing detector 74 to generate an error signal to restore the divider frequency to 140 khz . squarer 72 and buffer 76 merely restore the original shape to the 140 khz ∠+ 90 ° signal after processing by filter 70 . the error signal from detector 74 is summed with the signal from low pass filter 60 in summing circuit 69 with the sum being applied through low pass filter 68 to control vco 66 . refer now to fig7 which illustrates a simplified block diagram of the device of fig3 but which is helpful in explaining a mathematical model of the device . in fig7 phase detector 52 is seen to have a transfer function of kφ , while vco 66a , that is vco 66 of fig3 and the stability loop , has a transfer function of ko / s . for mathematical purposes the if input ( from element 50 of fig3 ) is termed θin and the signal from divider 64 of fig3 is termed θo . the loop equation is : ## equ1 ## where : λ is the loop damping factor and is equal to 0 . 6 in this embodiment . ## equ2 ## and t 1 and t 2 are active filter time constants . since the loop bandwidth can only be reduced , practically , to 6 hz while the demodulated information is about 31 hz , it becomes important to control or obviate λ , ω n and t 2 since variations therein cause adf bearing errors according to : ## equ3 ## as known to those skilled in the art . as aforementioned , the stability loop 66a is used to provide the desired demodulator stability . stability loop 66a is seen in somewhat different format in fig8 reference to which should now be made . it should be noted that stability loop 66a can be considered to be an equivalent voltage controlled oscillator which responds to error signals from low pass filter 60 of fig3 and which contains a small vco 66 . the gain , k 1 , of a standard vco such as vco 66 is about 40 , 000 cycles / volt - sec while for stability of the demodulator it is desired that the gain be substantially less . the stability loop in this embodiment effectively eliminates the high gain k 1 and substitutes a low gain , herein termed ko where : ## equ4 ## where vin is the error signal from low pass filter 60 and fo is in this embodiment 140 khz , the main loop frequency . in fig8 the error signal from low pass filter 60 is added to the stability loop error signal from stability loop phase detector ( exclusive or gate ) 74 by means of the adder comprised of resistors r 3 and r 4 . the total error signal passes through low pass filter 68 to vco 66 whose output signal is processed by divider 64 as previously described with respect to fig4 . the 140 khz ∠+ 90 ° signal from divider 64 is passed through filter 70 having a transfer function k 2 to squarer / buffer 72 , 76 which is in the form of an inverter . the signal from the squarer / buffer is applied as one input to phase detector 74 whose other input is the 140 khz ∠ 180 ° signal from divider 64 which has a transfer function kφ . note that this transfer function is essentially identical to the transfer function of detector 52 of fig3 which is , of course , also an exclusive or gate . the transfer function for the equivalent vco 66a is : ## equ5 ## in the present case ω & lt ;& lt ; ω o thus the above transfer function simplifies to : ## equ6 ## thus effectively eliminating the large gain , k 1 , of vco 66 from consideration . k o is basically a function of the four stable variables r 3 , r 4 , k 2 and k . sub . φ . other non - linearities and gain variations are thus obviated . in addition , the normal center frequency , 140 khz , is now controlled by the stability of filter 70 ( k 2 ). the linearity and dynamic characteristics of this filter , which in this embodiment is a stable , single tuned l / c circuit resonant at 140 khz with a loaded q of 9 . 1 is shown in fig9 to be comprised of series resistor 100 of 10k ohms , shunt capacitor 102 of 1000 picofarads and shunt inductor of 1 . 3 millihenrys . a loaded q of 9 . 1 for filter 70 produces a bandwidth of 1540 hz . if one allows the q to increase , the bandwidth or dynamic range of the demodulator decreases . this would be the case for higher q circuits employing either piezoelectric or ceramic filters . this illustrates a direct tradeoff for increased center frequency stability at the expense of decreased dynamic range . as previously mentioned , filters 60 and 68 should have a relatively long time constant to prevent the rapidly changing phase modulation from affecting the vco . in practice , filters 60 and 68 have the form of integrators and are seen at fig6 reference to which should now be made . filter 60 is comprised of operational amplifier 92 having resistor 90 and capacitor 91 serially connected between its negative input terminal and output terminal . the phase locked loop error signal is applied to filter 60 through either resistor 86 or 88 depending on whether switch 56 or 58 is closed . summing circuit 69 is comprised of resistor 93 connected from the output terminal of operational amplifier 92 to the negative input terminal of operational amplifier 95 and resistor 96 which is connected between the output terminal of detector 74 and the same operational amplifier 95 input terminal . operational amplifier 95 comprises low pass filter 68 and includes capacitor 94 connected between its input terminal and its output terminal which is connected to the control terminal of vco 66 . having shown and explained the operation of the above embodiment of my invention various modifications and alterations thereof should now be obvious to one skilled in the art . accordingly , the invention is to be limited by the scope and true spirit of the appended claims . | 7 |
the device shown in fig1 to 4 comprises a coupling ( preferably a screw closure ) 1 with the actual dispenser 2 secured thereto by bonding , welding , snap - fitting or the like . the embodiment illustrated in fig1 a and 3a shows the dispenser 2 attached to the closure 1 by a pivoted connection 25 . in the coupling &# 39 ; s head 3 , the screw closure has an aperture 4 , preferably semicular in shape , which corresponds to an identical opening 5 in the baseplate 6 of the dispenser 2 . where the dispenser 2 and the coupling 1 are mounted for relative rotation about the central longitudinal axis a of the container , the particular storage container coupled to the coupling 1 may be opened or closed by turning the dispenser 2 relative to the coupling 1 . the actual dispenser 2 comprises a housing or metering chamber 7 which , in the embodiment illustrated , is a rectangular solid defined by two side walls 8 and 9 extending parallel to one another ( see fig2 ), by a rear wall 10 , by a v - shaped web 11 extending from the side wall 8 to the side wall 9 , by a top wall 12 which faces the web 11 and which closes off the side and rear walls 8 , 9 , 10 at the head of the dispenser and an adjoining end wall 13 . the end wall 13 slopes obliquely from the top wall 12 toward the baseplate 6 and , together with the the free edge 18 of the web 11 , forms a dispensing passage 14 extending over the entire width of the compartment . the empty space 15 between the dispensing passage 14 and the outlet or outlet nozzle 16 may either be used to enlarge the metering chamber 7 by laterally shifting the v - shaped web 11 toward the outlet nozzle 16 or , alternatively , is designed to act as an outflow passage tapering toward the outlet nozzle 16 . the outlet nozzle 16 is preferably a cylindrical projection suitable for receiving a closure plug ( not shown ). an essential feature of the tilting dispenser according to the invention is that the dispensing passage 14 and preferably the nozzle 16 are each positioned at a right angle to the central axis a : operational efficiency of the tilting dispenser according to the invention is further assisted by the fact that , starting from the top wall 12 of the metering chamber 7 , the end wall 13 projects through the notional ( imaginary ) radial plane 17 defined by the free edge 18 of the extension wall 19 of the sliding wall 20 of the web 11 . in previous tilting dispensers , the end wall 13 had to extend substantially parallel to the central axis a to guarantee satisfactory dispensing . it is now possible using the v - shaped web 11 , to provide an obliquely inclined end wall 13 and , therefore , to enable the metering compartment 7 to be emptied during the first return tilting movement through a dispensing passage 14 and nozzle 16 , both extending substantially radially of the central axis a . the operational sequence of this invention is readily seen from fig5 and 6 . in fig5 a container with the inventive dispenser attached has been inverted . as a result , the substance to be dispensed has filled the metering chamber 7 , but is held from passing through dispensing passage 14 by gravity , friction , and the like . in fig6 the same container has been tilted back ( toward upright ) about 90 °, so that the dispensing nozzle 16 is aimed downward . as a result , the substance to be dispensed passes , under force of gravity , through dispensing passage 14 and empty space 15 , and pours in a metered amount out of nozzle 16 . in this position , sliding wall 20 acts to prevent continual pouring . another embodiment of the dispenser is shown in fig7 and 8 . in this embodiment , the v - shaped web 11 is mounted for radial displacement toward the outlet nozzle 16 between the parallel portions of side walls 8 and 9 to increase or reduce the size of the metering compartment 7 . in this way , the user is readily able to adapt the dispensing volume to meet requirements . for example , in the case of laundry detergents , to the different degrees of hardness of the water , volume of the wash load , etc . in the embodiment shown in fig7 and 8 , the parallel portions of walls 8 and 9 contain guide slots 21 which receive the shoulders 22 of a transverse slide plate 23 , to which the web 11 is attached , or with which it is integral . the function of the slide plate 23 is to displace the v - shaped web 11 radially in relation to the central axis a . the slide plate 23 may be actuated by means of the shoulders 22 . to seal the guide slots 21 , the slide plate 23 may be provided with sealing webs 24 ( preferably projecting at a right angle ) which bias sealingly against the side walls 8 and 9 from inside . in still another embodiment ( not shown ) one or both side walls 8 , 9 may be suitably marked along guide slot 21 , so that the user may more readily determine the volume to be metered , using the projecting shoulders 22 as indicators . the housing of the dispenser chamber shown in the drawings need not be restricted to any particular overall geometric configuration . thus , while the illustrated housing is a rectangular solid with a projecting outlet , the following could also be spherical , egg - shaped , or the like , with suitable adjustment of the baffle and dispensing passage . in a further embodiment , the web or baffle 11 may be adapted to slide forward toward the outlet passage along guide slots 21 sufficiently to close the container and thus eliminate the need for a cap over the outlet nozzle 16 . in such an embodiment , it is necessary that the side walls 8 , 9 not taper inward until beyond the point at which the free edge 18 of the web 11 biases against the downward sloping end wall 13 . in this instance , the outlet nozzle 16 may be circular in cross - section , as shown in the drawings , or may be a slot . the dispenser 2 may also be formed integrally with a container and / or integrally with the coupling 1 . the coupling 1 may be of any shape in lateral cross section , as long as that shape is adapted to couple to the container opening . a preferred shape is circular , but a square , rectangle , ellipse or other geometric or irregular shape is possible , depending upon the design of the container . when the coupling is not integral with the container , it may be screwed on , snap - fitted , friction - fitted , adhesive bonded , or the like . the coupling 1 , dispenser 2 , and container may be manufactured of the same or of different materials . the dispenser 2 and coupling 1 are preferably made of plastic , most preferably a thermoplastic . | 1 |
fig1 graphically illustrates a tool turret , indicated in its entirely as 1 , suitable for use with a reverse spindle lathe or turning machine , and suitable for end surface ( reverse side ) processing . the tool turret comprises a turret head 2 detachably attached to a tool disk 3 . the tool disk carries at least one tool module 4 for performing an end surface processing of a workpiece carried by the reverse spindle 5 of the tool turret . the direction of the cutting force stress generated by the end surface processing is indicated in fig1 by the arrow f z . the stress is generated counter to the cutting force stress which occurs with the processing of the workpiece supported by the spindle 6 . tool turret 1 has a housing 7 clamped tightly on a carriage on the reverse spindle lathe . a hollow cylindrical support or column 8 is located in the lathe concentric to the rotary axis of turret head 2 . support 8 , adjacent its end remote from turret head 2 , is connected securely with housing 7 . at its other end , support 8 supports a larger diameter cylindrical head 9 engaged in a corresponding , central recess of turret head 2 . on the side of turret head 2 facing housing 7 , a hollow cylindrical extension 10 is attached securely to turret head 2 , and engages in the annular space between support 8 and housing 7 . the free end of extension 10 has a radially outwardly extending annular flange forming a shoulder 11 . the flange carries external gear teeth . a beveled pinion gear of a drive mechanism ( not shown ) meshes with the flange teeth . in the area between shoulder 11 and turret head 2 , extension 10 is provided with a toothed rim 12 of radial teeth . toothed rim 12 rests within a toothed rim 13 of housing 7 . the radial teeth of rim 13 can be aligned with the teeth of toothed rim 12 . an annular interlocking or clamping member 14 is provided for interlocking or clamping turret head 2 in one of its optional rotary settings for precise positioning . clamping member 14 forms a piston and is arranged in an annular space defined on the inside by extension 10 and on the outside by housing 7 . interlocking or clamping member 14 is provided with a radial toothed construction or teeth 14 &# 39 ; on its working surface facing turret head 2 . this radial tooth construction 14 &# 39 ; can be brought and held in engagement with the two toothed rims 12 and 13 without play . interlocking member 14 is acted upon with a pressurized hydraulic medium applied to its side further away or remote from radial tooth construction 14 &# 39 ;. on the other hand , the work or pressure chamber 15 receiving the hydraulic medium is limited by an annular body 16 packed or sealed in relation to extension 10 and housing 7 . interlocking member 14 is likewise packed or sealed in the area of its inside and outside covering surfaces . a connecting or locking ring 17 is engaged in an annular groove in the outside cover surface of extension 10 and is supported on a shoulder of annular body 16 . ring 17 receives force f r , which is as great as force f 1 exerted on annular body 16 , and conducts it into extension 10 . the annular flange of extension 10 extending radially outwardly engages at some distance from and behind a material radial part of housing 7 . the material part of housing 7 forms an annular , radially extending surface 18 parallel to shoulder 11 , and two cylindrical surfaces connected to inside and outside ends of surface 18 . annular surface 18 is located opposite shoulder 11 , and supports an axial roller bearing 19 . another or second annular piston 20 , present in addition to the piston formed by interlocking or clamping member 14 , engages with one of its working surfaces on this axial roller bearing 19 . its other working surface faces toward annular surface 18 . adjacent the inner surface of annular piston 20 is an axially extending tubular appendage 21 . the cylindrical inside surface of tubular appendage 21 engages on a radial bearing 22 . the other side of bearing 22 engages on the outside cover surface of extension 10 . the outside cover surfaces of both annular piston 20 and tubular appendage 21 are each packed or sealed by an annular packing or a gasket facing the cylindrical surface of housing 7 facing toward them . therefore , pressure medium acting upon the surface of annular piston 20 surface facing toward annular surface 18 cannot escape . a bore 23 opening into annular surface 18 is connected with work chamber 15 through other bores 24 of housing 7 . therefore , a force f 2 is exerted on annular piston 20 as soon as a force f 1 is exerted working or operating in the opposite direction on interlocking or clamping member 14 . the effective surfaces of member 14 and annular piston 20 are selected so that the force f 2 is greater than 50 % of the force f 1 . since half of the force f 1 works on extension 10 ( through toothed rim 12 ) and thereby also on turret head 2 connected with extension 10 , in the direction of a stress or charge on turret head 2 against housing 7 , then the total force f 3 , which works in this direction and counter to the force f z brought into play as a result of the cutting force stress , is equal to the total of forces 1 / 2 f 1 + f 2 . without any problem this total can be made so great that the force f z emanating from the cutting force stress with all of the possible conditions is overcompensated . therefore , turret head 2 in the locked or clamped state is reliably pressed onto housing 7 and held in this position without any play . when interlocking or clamping member 14 is found in its open setting , this presupposes that work chamber 15 is depressurized or balanced . annular piston 20 is also depressurized or balanced . thus , force f 3 is equal to zero and rotary movement of turret head 2 resulting from a rotary drive generated by means of the teeth of the flange of radially outward extension 20 is not prevented . the rotary drive of the tools is generated by means of a central drive shaft 25 guided through support 8 , a miter - wheel gearing arranged in the head 9 and a clutch spindle which is radially movable running in head 9 as well as slidable in this direction . while a particular embodiment has been chosen to illustrate the invention , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 8 |
although four preferred embodiments of the invention are explained in detail , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its scope to the details of construction and arrangement of components of these specific embodiments . the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways . also , in describing the preferred embodiments , specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity . it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose . fig1 - 3 illustrate a water flow guide generally designated by reference numeral 10 associated with an underwater pelletizer generally designated by reference numeral 12 such as that disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 059 , 103 . the underwater pelletizer 12 is schematically illustrated and includes a die plate 14 having a plurality of die orifices 16 therein through which molten polymer is extruded into strands which pass through a die face 18 on the inner surface of the die plate 14 . the die plate 14 is connected to a pelletizer water box generally designated by reference numeral 20 which includes a cutting chamber 22 and also includes a pressurized water inlet 24 and a diametrically opposed outlet 26 for discharge of a pressurized slurry of water and pellets from the cutting chamber 22 for conveyance out of the water box 20 to a pellet dewaterer and / or a pellet dryer ( not shown ). the pelletizer 12 includes a motor 28 with an output shaft 30 drivingly connected to a cutter hub shaft 32 having a cutter hub 34 mounted thereon . the cutter hub 34 includes a plurality of radially extending support arms 36 which support replaceable cutter blades 37 which coact with the die face 18 to shear the extruded strands of polymer into pellets . except for the water flow guide 10 of the present invention , the structure of the underwater pelletizer may correspond generally with that disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 059 , 103 or any other known configuration and design . an underwater pelletizer , such as illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 059 , 103 , utilizes water to cool and rigidify the strands of polymer as they are discharged from the die face with the spacing of the cutter blades and the rotational speed of the cutter hub determining the size of pellets sheared from the extruded polymer strands . water flowing in through the water inlet not only cools and rigidities the polymer strands but also conveys the sheared pellets as a slurry from the cutting chamber into the outlet . as shown by the arrows 51 and 53 in fig1 , the water flow guide 10 of the present invention guides the inlet water from inlet 24 toward the die plate 14 so that it moves along the surface of the die face 18 and over and around the rotating cutter hub 34 and cutter blades 37 by selectively directing this water flow the extruded strands of polymer may be more efficiently quenched thereby more effectively cooling and rigidifying the polymer strands . the better cooling and rigidification allows the rotating cutter blades 37 to more effectively shear the extruded strands to form pellets by making a substantially straight diametric cut through the polymer strands . also , the water flow guide 10 provides more effective entrainment of the pellets in the water and more effective conveyance of the water and pellet slurry through the flow path for discharge through outlet 26 from the water box 20 for subsequent dewatering and drying . the water flow guide illustrated in fig1 - 3 of this invention includes a generally cylindrical tubular member 38 having an outer surface 40 and a cylindrical axial bore or chamber 42 which is substantially concentric with and closely surrounds the drive shaft 32 as illustrated in fig1 , thus forming an annular space 43 . the cylindrical tubular member 38 includes a peripheral recess 44 in one end thereof which conforms with and fits over a cylindrical projection 46 forming part of the pelletizer . the opposite end 48 or free end of the cylindrical member 38 is flat with a tapered or beveled edge 56 around its periphery . the free end 48 terminates adjacent the cutter blades 37 on the cutter hub 34 . a plurality of longitudinally extending through bolts 50 are countersunk into the flat surface 48 of the tubular member 38 and extend therethrough and screw thread into the projection 46 of the pelletizer structure . thus , the tubular cylindrical member 38 is rigidly affixed to the pelletizer and is oriented in concentric relation to the cutter hub shaft 32 with the external surface 40 adjacent the interior surface of the cutting chamber 22 . the external surface 40 of the cylindrical member 38 includes diametrically opposed longitudinally extending grooves or recesses 52 which are arcuate in transverse configuration . the grooves or recesses 52 are in alignment with the diametrically opposed water inlet 24 and slurry outlet 26 , respectively . the inner end of each recess 52 is preferably arcuately curved at 54 so that the outer edge of the upwardly curved inner end coincides with the interior surface of the aligned edge of each the water inlet 24 and the slurry outlet 26 , respectively . the outer end of each recess terminates at the free outer end 48 and beveled edge surface 56 which faces the rotational path of the cutter blades 37 as illustrated in fig1 and 3 . preferably , the external surface 40 of the guide is closely adjacent or engaging the internal surface of the cutting chamber 22 and the flat surface 48 is closely adjacent the cutter hub 34 and cutter blades 37 with sufficient clearance not to interfere with their rotation . thus , except for the selectively designated water flow paths defined by recesses 52 , and the space around the die plate 18 , cutter hub 34 and cutter blades 37 , the guide 10 preferably fills the whole cutting chamber 22 . as illustrated in fig2 , the close fitting relationship of the water flow guide 10 in relation to the water box 20 and cutting chamber 22 assures that incoming pressurized water will engage the axial recess 52 in alignment with the water inlet 24 causing the water to move axially toward the die face 18 , the cutter hub 34 , cutter hub arms 36 and cutter blades 37 and then transversely across the die face 18 and around the cutter hub assembly . this selective direction of the water thus results in more effective heat exchange contact with polymer strands extruded through the die face 18 as illustrated by the arrows 51 and 53 in fig1 . water passing over the die face 18 and over the cutter hub 34 not only will more effectively cool and rigidify the polymer strands for more effective and efficient shearing of the strands into pellets but also will more efficiently entrain the pellets in the water flow for more effective conveyance of the pellets in the water slurry for discharge through the axial recess 52 in alignment with the outlet 26 . as discussed above , use of the water flow guide 10 of the present invention substantially reduces cavitation of water in the cutting chamber 22 which occurs in underwater pelletizers due to the rotational movement of the cutter hub , arms and cutter blades which tend to create a vacuum at the center of rotation . this center vacuum may be considered a vacuum bubble and the size of the vacuum bubble will vary depending upon the cutter hub speed , number of blades and the size of the blades and the water pressure within the water box . cavitation or a vacuum bubble can contribute to significant cutting problems especially when shearing polymer products that are difficult to shear or those considered as sticky or of a very low viscosity . thus , the reduction of cavitation provides good quality , well sheared pellets at higher speeds with more cutting blades thereby increasing yield rates of production and provides the capability to produce smaller size pellets . in addition , use of the water flow guide 10 reduces or eliminates clusters and agglomerates which tend to build up in the cutting chamber , especially when producing micropellets , i . e . less than or equal to 0 . 050 inches . when clustering or agglomerates occur , the pelletizer must be shut down for clean up and then restarted which results in substantial down time of the equipment , wasted operator time and waste of polymer materials as well as reduced productivity . even if agglomeration , or cutting chamber clog up , occurs the guide 10 enables the agglomerate or clogging material to be more easily cleaned off or removed from the cutting chamber by the operator because there is no longer a large open cutting chamber that fills up with molten but solidifying polymer . use of the water flow guide 10 also allows the underwater pelletizer to operate with less motor load requiring the use of less energy . also , by increasing the efficiency of the pressurized water flow , the water flow guide allows less water flow for the pelletizer which enables smaller pumps and less pump energy consumption . fig4 - 8 illustrate a second embodiment of the water flow guide of the present invention associated with an underwater pelletizer in a manner similar to that illustrated in fig1 - 3 . in this embodiment , the flow guide generally designated by the reference numeral 60 comprises a cylindrical tubular member 62 having an axial external recess 64 which is the same as and operates in the same manner as the recess 52 in fig1 - 3 and is in alignment with the outlet 66 for discharge of the water and pellet slurry . however , in this embodiment of the invention , the outer surface of the cylindrical member 62 in alignment with the water inlet 68 includes a radial passageway 70 which generally forms a continuation or extension of the water inlet 68 and which communicates with a cylindrical interior surface 72 in the tubular cylindrical member 62 . the interior surface 72 is generally concentric with and surrounds the pelletizer shaft 74 . the cylindrical interior surface 72 is preferably spaced a greater distance from the exterior surface of the drive shaft 74 than in the first embodiment , as illustrated in fig4 , thus forming an annular space 75 defining a generally annular water flow path between the interior surface 72 and the shaft 74 . this annular space and flow path enables incoming pressurized water to move in a circular or spiral path , indicated by the reference numeral 77 , around the drive shaft 74 and axially of the drive shaft for discharge through the open end of the tubular cylindrical member 62 toward the die face 76 on the die plate 78 and toward , over and around the cutter hub and blade assembly generally designated by reference numeral 80 . the free end edge of the cylindrical member 62 adjacent the cutter hub and blade assembly 80 and peripherally of the interior surface 72 is flat with a tapered or beveled surface 84 similar in configuration to the end edge of the first embodiment illustrated in fig1 - 3 and guide flow path 75 outwardly of the tubular member 62 and downwardly along the surfaces 82 and 84 for more effective contact with the entire surface area of the die face 76 . the flow path of the water in this embodiment of the invention is also illustrated by the arrows in fig4 with the water moving in a circular path and in an axial path toward the die face 76 for more effective heat exchange contact with the polymer strands being extruded from the die face 76 to cool and rigidify the polymer strands for more effective shearing into pellets and more effective entrainment of the pellets with the water to enable discharge of a water and plastic pellet slurry away from the cutter hub and blade assembly 80 to the outlet 66 and then to a dewaterer and / or pellet dryer . this embodiment of the water flow guide keeps the shaft area flushed which can protect the shaft and reduce or eliminate pellet or fines buildup around the shaft 74 thereby reducing seal failures ( seals generally designated by reference numeral 79 ). the flushing of the annular space 75 also prevents buildup of pellets or fines in those components of the spring bias structure , generally designated by reference numeral 81 , incorporated into the cutter hub drive shaft which can reduce spring design effectiveness and require frequent maintenance and cleaning . fig9 and 10 illustrate a third embodiment of the water flow guide of the present invention generally designated by reference numeral 90 . flow guide 90 comprises tubular member 92 having an internal axial bore 94 , an external axial recess 96 for alignment with a pressurized water inlet and a diametrically opposed axial recess 98 for alignment with a water and pellet slurry outlet . this embodiment of the invention is oriented in the same position in the water box are the first and second embodiments as illustrated in fig1 and 4 . the free end of the water flow guide 90 is beveled or sloped at 100 so that the distance between the lower portion of the water flow guide 90 and the die face is greater than the distance between the upper portion of the free end 100 of the flow guide 90 from the die face . thus , water entering the water box and passing through the axial recess 96 toward a die face encounters less resistance to flow as it enters a larger volumetric area between the bottom portion of the free end of the water flow guide 90 and the die face . as illustrated in fig9 , the arrows 91 on flow guide 90 indicate the counterclockwise direction of rotation of the cutter hub and cutter blades at a relatively high rotational speed . the sloped end 100 provides less resistance to water flow to the left side of the water flow guide before getting to the area in which the cutter hub and cutter blades are rotating thereby avoiding the tendency of the majority of water flow occurring across one - half of the water flow guide and cutter hub and cutter blades . the right side of the water flow guide is more restrictive to water flow as it travels across the water inlet area . in addition , a tapering sloped relief 102 is provided in the sloped end 100 of the water flow guide in opposing angular directions on the free end of the water flow guide . as the rotating cutter hub and cutter blades are rotating and cutting plastic pellets , the total flowing mass consisting of the water and pellets is increasing . the additional free flow area in the right side of the water flow guide accommodates the pellets being added to the water flow stream as they are being sheared from the polymer strands at the die face . fig1 and 12 illustrate a fourth embodiment of the water flow guide generally designated by reference numeral 110 and which includes a tubular member 114 constructed in the same manner as the third embodiment illustrated in fig9 and 10 , except that the tubular member 114 includes a radial hole 116 communicating the axial bore 118 in the water flow guide with the axial recess 120 in alignment with the pressurized water inlet . the radial hole 116 permits some flow of water into the axial bore 118 in the annular space between the bore and the drive shaft to flush the pellets , fines or the like from the area external of the shaft thereby protecting the shaft seals and prolonging their life . the slope of the free end 122 and the tapering slope down of the free end edge of the tubular member 114 is designated by reference numeral 124 and is the same as that illustrated in fig9 and 10 . the axial recess 126 in the upper portion of the tubular member 114 is aligned with the water box outlet for the slurry of water and pellets in the same manner as the other embodiments of the water flow guide . the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described , and , accordingly , all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention . | 8 |
a detailed description of embodiments of the present invention is presented below . while the disclosure will be described in connection with these drawings , there is no intent to limit it to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein . on the contrary , the intent is to cover all alternatives , modifications and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims . fig4 illustrates an embodiment of one of the wireless devices / stations shown in fig1 . it can be configured to receive and process messages as disclosed below . generally speaking , station 120 can comprise any one of a wide variety of wireless computing devices , such as a desktop computer , portable computer , dedicated server computer , multiprocessor computing device , cellular telephone , pda , handheld or pen based computer , embedded appliance and so forth . irrespective of its specific arrangement , station 120 can , for instance , comprise memory 412 , processing device 402 , a number of input / output interfaces 404 , wireless network interface device 406 , display 408 , and mass storage 422 , wherein each of these devices is connected across one or more data buses 410 . optionally , station 120 can also comprise a network interface device 420 , also connected across one or more data buses 410 . processing device 402 can include any custom made or commercially available processor , a central processing unit ( cpu ) or an auxiliary processor among several processors associated with the computing device 120 , a semiconductor based microprocessor ( in the form of a microchip ), a macroprocessor , one or more application specific integrated circuits ( asics ), a plurality of suitably configured digital logic gates , or generally any device for executing instructions . input / output interfaces 404 provide any number of interfaces for the input and output of data . for example , where station 120 comprises a pc , these components may interface with user input device 404 , which may be a keyboard or a mouse . where station 120 comprises a handheld device ( e . g ., pda , mobile telephone ), these components may interface with function keys or buttons , a touch sensitive screen , a stylist , etc . display 408 can comprise a computer monitor or a plasma screen for a pc or a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) on a hand held device , for example . wireless network interface device 406 and , optionally , network interface device 420 comprise various components used to transmit and / or receive data over a network environment . by way of example , these may include a device that can communicate with both inputs and outputs , for instance , a modulator / demodulator ( e . g ., a modem ), wireless ( e . g ., radio frequency ( rf )) transceiver , a telephonic interface , a bridge , a router , network card , etc . station 120 can use wireless network interface device 406 to communicate with access point 130 . with further reference to fig4 , memory 412 can include any one of a combination of volatile memory elements ( e . g ., random - access memory ( ram ), such as dram , and sram , etc .) and nonvolatile memory elements ( e . g ., flash , read only memory ( rom ), nonvolatile ram , etc .). mass storage 422 can also include nonvolatile memory elements ( e . g ., flash , hard drive , tape , cdrom , etc .). memory 412 comprises software which may include one or more separate programs , each of which includes an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions . often , the executable code can be loaded from nonvolatile memory elements including from components of memory 412 and mass storage 422 . specifically , the software can include native operating system 414 , one or more native applications , emulation systems , or emulated applications for any of a variety of operating systems and / or emulated hardware platforms , emulated operating systems , etc . these may further include networking related software 416 which can further comprise a communications protocol stack comprising a physical layer , a link layer , a network layer and a transport layer . network related software 416 can be used by processing device 402 to communicate with access point 130 through wireless network interface 406 and can further include logic that causes the station to wake up at a proscribed time to receive one or more tim frames , a tim element or etim element , depending on the embodiment , to determine if access point 130 has buffered data for it . the software can further include logic which retrieves the buffered data using a ps - poll message if there is buffered data and checks the check beacon indication within the received tim frames , beacon frame or etim element , depending on the embodiment , to decide whether to receive the entire beacon frame . in particular , the software can receive a wakeup instruction from the access point even in a protected wireless network . it should be noted , however , that the logic for performing these processes can also be implemented in hardware or a combination of software and hardware . one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the memory 412 can , and typically will , comprise other components which have been omitted for purposes of brevity . fig5 illustrates an embodiment of an access point shown in fig1 . it can be configured to receive and process messages as disclosed below . generally speaking , station 120 can comprise any one of a wide variety of network functions , including network address translation ( nat ), routing , dynamic host configuration protocol ( dhcp ), domain name services ( dns ) and firewall functions . irrespective of its specific arrangement , the stations 120 can , for instance , comprise memory 512 , a processing device 502 , wireless network interface 504 , network interface 506 , and nonvolatile storage 524 , wherein each of these devices is connected across one or more data buses 510 . processing device 502 can include any custom made or commercially available processor , a cpu or an auxiliary processor among several processors associated with access point 130 , a semiconductor based microprocessor ( in the form of a microchip ), a macroprocessor , one or more asics , a plurality of suitably configured digital logic gates , or generally any device for executing instructions . wireless network interface device 504 and network interface device 506 comprise various components used to transmit and / or receive data over a network environment . by way of example , either interface may include a device that can communicate with both inputs and outputs , for instance , a modulator / demodulator ( e . g ., a modem ), wireless ( e . g ., rf ) transceiver , a telephonic interface , a bridge , a router , network card , etc .). access point 130 typically uses wireless network interface device 504 to communicate with nearby stations , and network interface device 506 to communicate with network 140 . in some implementation , the two devices can be combined into one physical unit . with further reference to fig5 , memory 512 can include any one of a combination of volatile memory elements ( e . g ., ram , such as dram , and sram , etc .) and nonvolatile memory elements ( e . g ., flash , rom , nonvolatile ram , hard drive , tape , cdrom , etc .). memory 512 comprises software which may include one or more separate programs , each of which includes an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions . often , the executable code and persistent configuration parameters can be loaded from nonvolatile memory elements including from components of memory 512 . specifically , the software can include native operating system 514 , one or more native applications , emulation systems , or emulated applications for any of a variety of operating systems and / or emulated hardware platforms , emulated operating systems , etc . these may further include networking related software 522 which can further comprise a communications protocol stack comprising a physical layer , a link layer , a network layer and a transport layer . these may further include networking related software 516 which can further comprise a communications protocol stack comprising a physical layer , a link layer , a network layer and a transport layer . network related software 516 can be used by processing device 502 to communicate with access point 130 through wireless network interface 506 and can further include logic that causes the access point to broadcast one or more tim frames , which can include a check beacon indication , at a proscribed time . alternatively , the software can include logic that causes the access point to transmit a beacon frame with the tim element placed near the beginning of the beacon frame and include a check beacon indication . the software can include logic that causes the access point to transmit a beacon frame with an etim element placed near the beginning of the beacon frame . in particular , the software can receive a wakeup instruction from the access point even in a protected wireless network . it should be noted , however , that the logic for performing these processes can also be implemented in hardware or a combination of software and hardware . one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the memory 512 can , and typically will , comprise other components which have been omitted for purposes of brevity . fig6 shows the first eleven fields in the basic format of a beacon frame as used in various wireless standards in a recommended order . first is the timestamp field comprising the time the present frame is sent . following that is the beacon interval field which represents the number of time units between tbtts , followed by the capability information field containing a number of subfields that are used to indicate requested or advertised capabilities . it should be noted that the first three fields are fixed length fields . the remaining fields are information elements . the first of these in the recommended order is the service set identity ( ssid ) element which indicates the identity of an extended service set ( ess ) or independent basic service set ( ibss ). the supported rates element specifies the communications rates that are supported in accordance with a specific standard . the frequency - hopping ( fh ) parameter set element contains the set of parameters necessary to allow synchronization for stations using a fh physical layer and is only present when fh physical layers are used . direct sequence ( ds ) parameter set element contains information to allow channel number identification for stations using a direct sequence spread spectrum ( dsss ) physical layer . the coordination function ( cf ) parameter set element contains the set of parameters necessary to support the point coordination function ( pcf ). the ibss parameter set element contains the set of parameters necessary to support an ibss ( e . g ., an ad hoc network ). this is followed by the tim element which is described in further detail below . country element indicates which country the access point is in . further detailed description of any of these fields is given in their individual standards . fig7 shows a tim element within a beacon frame as used in various wireless standards . the first octet is field 702 which contains the element id , a unique code used to identify the type of element in accordance with the given wireless standard . for example , in 802 . 11 , the element id , 5 , is assigned to the tim element . the second octet is length field 704 indicating length in octets of the remaining fields in the element . the remaining fields are sometimes referred to as the information field . the next octet is dtim count field 706 indicating how many beacon frames , including the current beacon frame before the next dtim . the next octet is dtim period field 708 indicating the number of beacon periods between dtim . the next octet is bitmap control field 710 comprising a plurality of bits indicative of various features of the bitmap to follow , including the offset into the bitmap . partial virtual bitmap field 712 comprises 1 to 251 octets . each bit in partial virtual bitmap 712 refers to a single station through a mapping of association identifiers ( aids ) to bits in partial virtual bitmap 712 , where the mapping is specified by the individual standard . the value of the bit is indicative of whether the associated station has buffered data waiting . rather than require a station in standby to wake up to receive a complete beacon frame to determine if the access point has buffered data for the station , a tim frame containing the same information as the tim element within the beacon frame can be broadcast a proscribed time . any station in standby mode associated with the access point can wake up to receive the tim frame broadcast to determine whether there is any buffered data waiting for it . since the tim frame is much shorter than the beacon frame , the station will be awake for a much shorter time and hence consume less power . the tim frame is shorter because it contains less octets than a typical beacon , but also because it may be transmitted at a higher rate than the beacon . a tim element could be incorporated into either a control frame or a management action frame , to form a tim frame . fig8 shows a tim control frame format . frame control field 802 is a two octet fixed field indicative of properties of the frame as defined by the particular standard . duration / id field 804 is a two octet fixed field which comprises either duration information or identification information depending on the frame use as defined by the particular standard . receiver address field 806 is a six octet fixed field which comprises an address indicative of the receiving station , but since this is a broadcast , the special broadcast address as specified by the particular standard is used here . following receiver address field 806 is tim element 808 which can vary from 6 to 257 octets . finally , frame check sequence field 810 is a four octet fixed field indicative of the integrity of the frame . the specific integrity check is specified by the standard , but as an example , some standards use a cyclic redundancy code ( crc ). tim element 808 can use the same format as tim element described in fig7 however , dtim count field 706 and dtim period field 708 are not meaningful unless the tim element is in a beacon frame . therefore , a modified tim element as described below in fig9 can also be used . fig9 illustrates a modified tim element for possible use in a tim frame for broadcast . the format for the modified tim element is identical to the format shown in fig9 except dtim count field 706 and dtim period field 708 have been removed . if the tim element of fig9 is used , then the number of octets the tim element occupies can range from 4 to 255 rather than from 6 to 257 . partial virtual bitmap 712 may become unnecessarily long , especially if the number of stations having buffered data is relatively small making the partial virtual bitmap sparse . in an extreme example , suppose buffered data is awaiting two stations with aid 1 and aid 1001 . in order to indicate this , partial virtual bitmap 712 would have to be 126 octets in length . fig1 shows an embodiment of a tim element having two partial virtual bitmaps . rather than have one partial virtual bitmap of 251 octets , two shorter partial virtual bitmaps could be used . using the extreme example given above , traffic for the station with aid 1 would be represented with a zero offset reflected in bitmap control 1010 . partial virtual bitmap 1012 would only need to be one octet wide . traffic indication for the station with aid 1001 would then be represented in the second set of tim fields by a bitmap control 1014 which would indicate an offset of 125 octets and partial virtual bitmap 1016 which would only need to be one octet wide . a total of four octets would be used compared to 126 . clearly , this process could be repeated for more than two sets of tim fields , when the stations with buffer data is sparse . fig1 shows a tim management action frame format . fields 1102 , 1104 , 1106 , 1108 , 1110 and 1112 are often collectively referred to as the media access control ( mac ) header . more specifically , frame control field 1102 is similar to frame control field 802 in fig8 , in this case indicating that the frame is an action frame . duration / id field 1104 is similar to duration / id field 804 in fig8 . destination address field 1106 is similar to receiver address field 806 and should be set to the special broadcast address as specified by the particular standard . source address field 1108 is a six octet fixed field , which is indicative of the source in this case , is set to the basic service set identification ( bssid ) because the source is the access point which has the bssid as its mac address . address field 1110 is a six octet fixed field which is indicative of the bssid . sequence control field 1112 is a two octet fixed field which comprises a fragment number and a sequence number . the fragment number is used when a frame is fragmented to keep track of the fragments . the sequence number is incremented each time a station transmits a message . category field 1114 is a one octet field indicative of the category of action in a management action frame . in this case , a tim action frame would fall under the category of wireless network management . action field 1116 is a one octet field indicative of the specific action within the category . in this case , the action is a tim frame . tim element 1120 is similar to the tim elements described above . it can be the 6 to 257 octet tim element of fig7 or the 4 to 255 octet tim element of fig9 . finally , frame check sequence field 1122 , like frame check sequence 810 is a four octet fixed field indicative of the integrity of the frame . while a tim control frame as depicted in fig8 is shorter and would require a station to awaken for a shorter period of time , control frames typically are implemented at a lower level and often would require a change in hardware to support it . in contrast , management frames and in particular management action frames are intended to be extensible and the number of actions tends to grow as standards evolve . therefore , a tim management action frame is easier to implement than a tim control frame . timing of a tim frame is critical as a station in standby mode must know when to wake up to look for the tim frame . fig1 a - c illustrate some exemplary timing schemes . as illustrated in fig1 a , in the first scheme , tim frames 1202 and 1206 are transmitted at a time which is equal to the estimated length of the tim frame with a sifs prior to the tbtt . beacons 1204 and 1208 are transmitted at their respective tbtts . the estimated length used could be the maximum possible length of the tim which can range from 269 to 285 octets depending on the form of the tim frame used . the estimated length could also be based on the minimum length , or the average length of the tim frame . stations in standby mode that are aware of this tim frame would then wake up at this time to receive the tim frame . the access point can announce the presence of separate periodically sent tim frames in several ways as available in the specific standard used . for example , an announcement element can be included in a beacon frame . stations can also inquire as to properties of an access point by transmitting a probe request frame . in response to a probe request , an access point transmits a probe response which comprises many of the same parameter sets and informational elements as is present in the beacon frame . the announcement element described above can also be included in such a probe response . fig1 b illustrates an alternate timing , where tim frames 1232 and 1236 are transmitted at the tbtt . in this example , beacon frames 1234 and 1238 are postponed until after the transmission of tim frames 1232 and 1236 , respectively , followed by a respective sifs . stations searching for a beacon frame would then have to wait the length of the tim frame followed by the sifs to receive the beacon frame . a hybrid approach to fig1 a and fig1 b can also be implemented where the tim frame is transmitted prior to the tbtt but not as early as described in fig1 a , so that the beacon frame is still postponed past the tbtt but by a time interval shorter than described in fig1 b . the interval prior to the tbtt could be announced through an announcement element in a beacon frame and / or probe response , so that a station in standby mode is aware of when to wake up to receive the tim frame . fig1 c illustrates a more general timing , where the tim frame is transmitted any time between beacon frames . in this example , the transmission of tim frame 1264 follows the tbtt of beacon frame 1262 by time offset 1266 . the time offset from the tbtt for a tim frame can be announced through an announcement element in a beacon frame and / or probe response , so that a station in standby mode is aware of when to wake up to receive the tim frame . for example , the announcement element could comprise a fixed field indicating the number of microseconds after a tbtt that a tim frame will be transmitted . the offset could be negative , which indicates that the tim frame is transmitted before the tbtt . it is not necessary to transmit a tim frame every beacon interval . even if there is no buffered data awaiting a station , a station in standby mode wakes up every dtim beacon frame to receive buffered multicast data . as described above a dtim beacon frame occurs once every dtim period . therefore , a tim frame could be broadcast relative to a dtim tbtt , which is a tbtt associated with a dtim beacon frame . as a result , tim frames are transmitted less frequently , and a station in standby mode need not wake up as frequently , hence saving power . fig1 a illustrates the timing where a tim frame is transmitted prior to a dtim tbtt similar to the example shown in fig1 a , except that a tim frame is transmitted immediately prior to only the dtim tbtt and not other tbtts . again , the timing specifics can be announced through an announcement element in a beacon frame and / or probe response . specifically referring to fig1 a , tim frame 1302 is sent prior to dtim beacon frame 1304 , but no tim frame proceeds regular beacon frame 1306 . fig1 b illustrates the timing where a tim frame is transmitted at a dtim tbtt similar to the example shown in fig1 b . the tim frame is transmitted only at the dtim tbtt and not other tbtts . as a result the dtim beacon frames are postponed until after the tim frame is transmitted . however , all other beacon frames are transmitted at their respective tbtts . specifically as illustrated , tim frame 1352 is transmitted at the dtim tbtt causing dtim beacon frame 1354 to be delayed until after tim frame 1352 and an sifs . however , regular beacon frame 1356 is transmitted at the tbtt . like above , a hybrid approach to fig1 a and 13b can used where the tim frame is transmitted prior to the dtim tbtt , but not as early as in fig1 a . the result is that the transmission of the dtim beacon frame is postponed but by a factor less than that given in fig1 b . the transmission of other beacon frames is unaffected . like the example given in fig1 c , an arbitrary timing relative to the dtim tbtt can be given for a tim frame . the tim frame time offset can be announced through an announcement element in a beacon frame and / or probe response , so that a station in standby mode is aware of when to wake up to receive the tim frame . for example , the announcement element could comprise a fixed field indicating the number of microseconds after a dtim tbtt that a tim frame will be transmitted . to further reduce the amount of time a station in standby needs to stay awake , it is desirable for a tim frame to send at a higher phy rate . however , a tim frame should be sent at the lowest phy rate so that even stations having the lowest quality connections can determine whether they have buffered data at the access point . to accommodate both of these conditions , two or more tim frames can be transmitted at different rates . if a station is able to received a tim frame at a higher data rate , the receive time can be reduced significantly . for example , just for the phy header portion of the tim frame , it would take 192 μs to transmit using the lowest phy rate using dsss , but it would only take 20 μs using a higher phy rate using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ( ofdm ). this is nearly an order of magnitude difference . preferably , the tim frames should be transmitted in order of data rate with the highest rates being transmitted first , so that if a station is unable to receive the higher rate tim frame , it still has the opportunity to receive the one transmitted at a lower rate . for clarity , two different rate tim frames are shown , but it is understood the approach can apply to more than two rates . for convenience , the tim frame transmitted at the higher phy rate will be referred to as the high rate tim frame , and the tim frame transmitted at the lower ( or lowest ) phy rate will be referred to as the low rate tim frame . fig1 a illustrates one timing for transmission of two tim frames at different phy rates . the schedule of the tim frame can employ a known offset relative to tbtt which can be negative . this offset can be predetermined or announced through an announcement element in a beacon frame or probe response . the offset may embody a negative or zero interval so that the timing can resemble that of fig1 a and 12b or any interval in between . for clarity , a positive offset is illustrated . specifically , fig1 a shows high rate tim frame 1404 being transmitted at time offset 1408 after tbtt , the tbtt after which beacon frame 1402 is transmitted . immediately after an sifs , low rate tim frame 1406 is transmitted . a station capable of receiving a high rate tim frame can wake up at time offset 1408 after the tbtt to receive high rate tim frame 1404 and return to standby mode , if no buffered data is waiting at the access point . a station where the capability is uncertain can wake up at time offset 1408 after the tbtt to attempt to receive high rate tim frame 1404 . if the station is unable to receive high rate tim frame 1404 , it then receives low rate tim frame 1406 . if the station is not capable of receiving the high rate tim frame , it can wake up at a time equal to an interval , which is the sum of time offset 1408 , the minimum possible ( or typical ) transmission time of high rate tim frame 1404 , and an sifs , after the tbtt ; that is , it can wake up at the earliest possible time low rate tim frame 1406 can be transmitted . once the tim frame is received at whatever rate the station is capable of , the station can return to standby mode if no buffered data is waiting at the access point . the stations incapable of receiving the high rate tim frame may suffer a little penalty of having to remain awake a little longer to accommodate the inclusion of a high rate tim frame . however , because the high rate tim frame is transmitted at a high rate , the penalty will be generally small . fig1 b shows a timeline where both a high rate tim frame and a low rate tim frame are individually scheduled . this timing eliminates the slight penalty mentioned above . specifically , high rate tim frame 1454 is transmitted at high rate time offset 1458 after tbtt , the tbtt after which beacon frame 1452 is transmitted . low rate tim frame 1456 is transmitted at basic time offset 1460 after the same tbtt . a station capable of receiving high rate tim frame 1454 at high rate time offset 1458 after tbtt to receive the tim frame , whereas a station incapable of receiving high rate tim frame 1454 will instead wake up at basic time offset 1460 after tbtt to receive low rate tim frame 1456 . a station that is uncertain of its capability can first wake up to receive high rate tim frame 1454 and wake up again to receive low rate tim frame 1456 , if it was unable to receive high rate tim frame 1454 . one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that a combination of the methods shown in fig1 a - c and 13 a - b can be combined . the various permutations can be used . for example , the multiple tim frames could occur only after dtim tbtt , rather than every beacon interval or a hybrid timing where the high rate tim frames occur only after dtim tbtt , and low rate tim frames occur after every tbtt , or vise versa . furthermore , more than two rates could be employed as mentioned above . the timing of fig1 a shows how multiple tim frames transmitted at different rates can be sent as a burst . a burst can also be used to transmit multiple tim frames at the same rate . as mentioned above with regard to fig1 , multiple tims comprising different bitmap control fields and partial virtual bitmap fields , can be used in place of a long tim when the partial virtual bitmaps are long and sparse . instead of creating a more complicated tim element as illustrated in fig1 , multiple tim frames containing a tim element as illustrated in fig9 are sent as a tim frame burst . specifically , fig1 shows multiple tim frames sent as a burst . for clarity , a positive time offset relative to the tbtt is depicted , but a negative or zero offset can be used . a tim frame burst is transmitted at time offset 1508 after tbtt , the tbtt after which beacon frame 1502 is transmitted . the tim frame burst comprises tim frame 1504 and 1506 which can contain different bitmap control fields and different partial virtual bitmap fields . the two tim frames are separated by an sifs . a station after receiving tim frame 1504 can be aware that tim frame 1506 is part of the current burst by using standard burst indications . for example , in 802 . 11 , the frame control field , such as frame control field 802 in fig8 and frame control field 1102 in fig1 , comprise a more data subfield which is set for all frames in a burst , except for the last frame . of course , a station need not continue to receive tim frames after it has received the tim frame , which has an indication about the particular station &# 39 ; s aid , that is , if the partial virtual bitmap has a bit allocated to represent the stations aid whether set or not , the station can then disregard all subsequent tim frames in the burst . furthermore , it is understood that though the number of frames depicted is two , more than two frames can be present in the burst . the number of frames in the burst can vary from beacon interval to beacon interval depending on how sparse the tim is at each beacon interval . this can be combined with the multiple rate tim transmissions by transmitting tim frame bursts at multiple rates . the bursts need not be transmitted every beacon interval and can be transmitted only at the dtim beacon intervals . as described in the background section , there may be information within a beacon frame that an associated station , even one in standby mode , needs to retrieve . for example , the beacon frame may contain a channel switch announcement , which indicates that the bss will move to another channel shortly . in another example , the beacon frame may indicate that the access point changes the enhanced distributed channel access ( edca ) parameters . however , if a station in standby mode has to wake up to receive each beacon frame to receive potential changes in the beacon frame , having a separate tim frame derives no benefit . the power savings derives from the station only receiving the much shorter tim frame . to address this potential difficulty , the tim frame can also include a check beacon field . fig1 illustrates a tim control frame , which includes check beacon field 1608 , which is a one octet fixed field . all remaining fields and elements are similar to their corresponding counterparts in fig8 . check beacon field 1608 is indicative of whether a change in the beacon frame has occurred that is significant and warrants a station to read the following beacon frame , such as examples given above . insignificant changes such as changes to the timestamp are not indicated by this field . check beacon field 1608 could simply be a boolean state which indicates whether the following beacon frame has changed significantly relative to the past beacon frame . however , if a station somehow missed the tim frame indicating the change in the beacon , it may never become aware that a change has occurred . another approach is that check beacon field 1608 is a counter which is incremented modulo 255 whenever a beacon frame has changed significantly relative to the past beacon frame . a station receiving a tim frame compares ( modulo 255 ) the value of check beacon field 1608 relative to the value of check beacon field in a previously received tim frame . if the current value is greater ( modulo 255 ) than the previous value , the station should receive the next beacon frame . otherwise , the station need not stay awake for the next beacon frame and may elect to go into standby mode . the changes in the beacon frame could be categorized as significant and critical where a significant but not critical change would not require the station to receive a beacon immediately but in the near future , and a significant and critical change would require the station to receive a beacon frame immediately . for example , a change in the edca parameters is significant , where failing to receive them affects quality of service . however , a channel switch announcement is critical , since failing to receive it would result in the station losing communications with the access point . in another embodiment , the eight bits of check beacon field 1608 could be divided into two counters , preferably a 3 - bit critical change counter and a 5 - bit significant change counter ( presumably critical changes occur less frequently ) or a 4 - bit critical change counter and a 4 - bit significant change counter . alternatively , check beacon field 1608 could be expanded to two octets where each octet represents an 8 - bit counter that are incremented for each critical change or each significant change respectively . fig1 illustrates the alternative embodiment of a tim frame with a check beacon indication where the tim frame is a management action frame . check beacon field 1718 can take on any of the embodiments described for fig1 . the actions of the station upon receiving check beacon field 1718 is the same as above . all remaining fields and elements are similar to their corresponding counterparts in fig1 . the advantages and disadvantages of the use of a tim management action frame over a tim control frame are discussed above . fig1 is a flowchart showing exemplary logic which can be implemented in the software of a station showing the interoperation of the receiving of the tim , the check beacon indication , and receiving of the beacon . at step 1802 , the station wakes up . this should be the time set forth by one of the timing approaches previously discussed for the expectation of a tim frame . at step 1804 , the station receives the tim frame . based on the tim frame , at step 1806 , there is a determination made as to whether there is buffered data waiting at the access point . if there is buffered data , the station may elect to remain awake and receive the next beacon frame . this is optional , but since the station may stay awake to retrieve the data , it may also receive the beacon frame . it may also decide to receive the beacon frame because a previous significant change has occurred , but the station elected not to receive the beacon at the time the change was detected . at step 1810 , the station can retrieve the data by using a ps - poll message sequence . at step 1820 , the station can return to standby mode . on the other hand , if no buffered data is waiting for the station at the access point , as determined in step 1806 , the station checks the check beacon indication for the occurrence of a critical beacon change at step 1812 . if there is a critical beacon change , the next beacon frame is received at step 1818 , and the station can return to standby mode at step 1820 . if no critical beacon change has occurred , the station then can check the check beacon indication for the occurrence of a significant beacon change at step 1814 . if there is no significant beacon change the station can return to standby without receiving the beacon at step 1820 . if there is a significant beacon change , the station determines whether it should receive the beacon at step 1816 . there are many possibilities for the determination at this step . for example , the station may only receive the beacon when there is buffered data , so it may defer receiving the beacon until such time the decision at step 1808 receives an affirmative decision . in other circumstances , the station may wait a certain period of time before requiring the beacon to be received or a combination of the previous two situations . in still another circumstance , the station does not recognize significant but not critical changes in the beacon , so it may never determine to receive the beacon at this step . if the decision is made not to receive the beacon , the station can return to standby at step 1820 . depending on the implementation , it may record that the beacon has had a significant change before returning to standby . if the determination at step 1816 is to receive the beacon , the station receives the next beacon frame at step 1818 . the flowchart is expressed in general with respect to the use of tim frames . however , this can be used with the remainder of the partial beacon receiving approaches disclosed below . in particular , at step 1804 , the first part of the beacon frame is received up to at least the point where the tim element or etim element is received . at steps 1808 and 1818 , the station receives the remainder of the beacon ; otherwise , if the path flows from step 1814 to step 1820 , the station can return to standby without receiving the remainder of the beacon . while fig6 illustrates the first 13 elements in a beacon frame in accordance with an exemplary wireless protocol . the order of these fields is suggested by the standard . however , only the first three fields are fixed fields and cannot be rearranged . the remaining fields are informational elements and can be identified by the element id field within each element and therefore can be rearranged . a tim element can be included near the beginning of the beacon frame so that a station in standby mode need only wake up to receive part of the beacon frame to determine whether the access point has buffered data waiting for it . since all informational elements are identified by the element id field within each element , including the tim element after the three fixed fields , the beacon frame should be interoperable with legacy systems . moving the tim element after the three fixed fields would enable a station in standby mode to receive only part of the beacon frame ; however , the same issue applies as discussed above that in certain circumstances a station in standby mode should receive the entire beacon . a check beacon informational element can be included in the beacon frame to indicate when significant changes to the beacon frame occur . fig1 illustrates the first portion of a beacon frame in accordance to one embodiment of the invention . fields 1902 , 1904 , 1906 , 1908 , 1910 , and 1912 are part of the standard mac header , similar to that described for fig1 this is followed by timestamp field 1914 , beacon interval field 1916 , and capability information field 1918 , the three required fixed fields in a beacon . timestamp field 1914 is an eight octet fixed field comprising the time the present frame is sent . beacon interval field 1916 represents the number of time units between tbtts . capability information field 1918 contains a number of subfields that are used to indicate requested or advertised capabilities . following the three fixed fields , the beacon includes check beacon informational element 1920 , which is described in further detail below , and tim element 1922 which is the standard tim element as describe above in fig7 . equivalently , tim element 1922 could precede check beacon informational element 1920 . fig2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the check beacon informational element . the exemplary check beacon information element comprises two octet element id fixed field 2002 and two octet length field 2004 which are standard in any informational element . element id field 2002 contains a new information element identifier that is associated with the check beacon informational element . it also comprises check beacon field 2006 which is indicative of significant and / or critical change in the beacon . the manner of indication could embody any of the variations described for fig1 . using an embodiment of the check beacon field that is one octet and the smallest possible tim element size , the portion of the beacon that must be read to determine whether the access point has buffered data waiting is 45 octets . at 1 mb / s direct sequence spread spectrum rate , receiving this portion of the beacon frame takes 552 μs . which is considerably shorter that the typical 2 ms a complete beacon frame would currently take to receive . the fact that a station need only be awake a fraction of the time to determine whether the access point has buffered data waiting can conserve power in the station . one difficulty in ignoring the remainder of the beacon frame is that the last field in any frame is the frame check sequence ( fcs ) which is used to determine the integrity of the received frame . without receiving the fcs , the station cannot be sure whether the received portion is correct . if the tim element is corrupted , the consequences are slight . an error could cause the station to wake up and poll for buffered data when there is none , in which case the station will discover there is no data and return to standby . alternatively , an error could cause the station to stay dormant when the access point has buffered data waiting , in which case delivery will be delayed until the next beacon frame . the latter case would occur without a partial beacon frame reception . had the station received the entire beacon , it would have discarded the beacon frame because the fcs would have indicated the beacon frame was corrupt . in the event the check beacon field is corrupt , the receiver might read the entire beacon frame when it didn &# 39 ; t need to . if the station is configured to read the entire beacon if the value in the check beacon field differs from that received in the previous frame , rather than simply greater than received in the previous frame , the chance of a corrupt check beacon field causing a partial reception of the beacon frame when a full reception is warranted diminishes . despite the consequences being slight , if the check beacon field is corrupted frequently , such as when the conditional error rate in the tim and check beacon element increase , the power consumption would increase due to the station having to unnecessarily wake up . the addition of a partial frame check information element could eliminate these issues . fig2 illustrates a partial frame check informational element exemplary embodiment . as with all information elements , element id field 2102 and length field 2104 are present and similar to that described above for other elements . element id field 2102 contains a new information element identifier that is associated with the partial frame check informational element . the partial frame check informational element would also comprise a partial frame fcs which could simply be the crc or even a 1 - bit parity check of the check beacon information element and the tim element . it could also include the timestamp field , the beacon interval field and the capability information field . fields in the mac header do not need to be considered otherwise the frame would not be recognized as a valid beacon frame . the partial frame check information element could be inserted into the beacon right after tim element 1922 . rather than create two new informational elements , the three informational elements could be combined into an etim element . fig2 shows an exemplary first portion of the beacon frame using etim element . fields 2202 , 2204 , 2206 , 2208 , 2210 , 2212 , 2214 , 2216 and 2218 are similar to their counterparts , fields 1902 , 1904 , 1906 , 1908 , 1910 , 1912 , 1914 , 1916 and 1918 , respectively , as described above for fig1 . rather than including a tim element along with a check beacon informational element and potentially a partial frame check element , etim element 2220 is included . fig2 shows the format of an etim informational element . as with all informational elements , element id field 2302 and length field 2304 are present and similar to that described above for other elements . element id field 2302 contains a new informational element that is associated with etim informational elements . check beacon field 2306 is a one octet field indicative of whether the beacon frame contains significant and / or critical changes . the manner of indication could embody any of the variations described for fig1 . bitmap control field 2308 is similar to field 710 that is described in fig7 . partial virtual bitmap field 2310 is similar to field 712 that is described in fig7 . collectively , bitmap control field 2308 and partial virtual bitmap field 2310 are referred to as tim fields . finally , error detection field 2312 provides some sort of integrity check of check beacon field 2306 and the tim fields such as a 1 - bit parity check or a more complex crc of multiple bits . other fields in a tim informational element such as the dtim count field and the dtim interval field could be present in the tim fields but are not required . for similar reasons as explained for fig1 a and 13b , the etim informational element need not be included in every beacon . they may , for example , only be included in dtim beacons . in this manner , a station in standby mode need only wake up during dtim beacons to determine if the access point has buffered data waiting . the etim informational element could alternatively be provided at etim interval that is every n beacons where n is the etim interval . this could be negotiated through a startup mechanism . the etim interval could also be announced by the access point in a beacon frame or a probe response . it should be emphasized that the above - described embodiments are merely examples of possible implementations . many variations and modifications may be made to the above - described embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure . all such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims . | 8 |
an embodiment of an injection stretch - blow molding machine in accordance with the invention will be described with reference to fig1 and 2 . the molding machine includes a stationary platen 1 which is provided thereon with two rows of injection female mold parts 2 , an injection device 3 , and a movable platen 4 which is provided thereon with two rows of split type blow female mold parts 7 in alined relationship with said two rows of injection female mold parts 2 and which is slidable along tie bars 5 for movement toward and away from the stationary platen 1 by a mold clamping device ( not shown ). the blow female mold parts 7 in each row are adapted to be opened and closed by a mold operating device 6 mounted on the movable platen 4 . a reference numeral 8 designates a carrier disposed between the stationary platen 1 and the movable platen 4 and slidable along the tie bars 5 for movement toward and away from the stationary platen 1 by a hydraulic cylinder 9 . the carrier 8 is provided with an injection station surface 8a , a heating station surface 8b , a blow station surface 8c and a discharge station surface 8d which are arranged at a 90 ° interval . two rows of injection male mold parts 10 each of which is equipped therein with a cooling water conduit are mounted on the injection station surface 8a in alined relationship with the two rows of injection female mold parts 2 . two rows of blow male mold parts 12 each of which is provided with an axially slidable stretching bar 11 are mounted on the blow station surface 8c . on the discharge station surface 8d is mounted an operating device 13 for opening and closing neck molds 20 which will be described in detail later . two mounting shafts 8 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 39 ; project from the centers of the end surfaces of the carrier 8 in parallel with the direction of movement of the carrier and are attached to sliders slidable along the tie bars 5 , 5 . rotary bodies 14 , 14 are rotatably held by the mounting shafts 8 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 39 ; of the carrier 8 and are adapted to make a 90 ° intermittent rotation by the operation of a driving device 15 mounted on a support 26 connected to the carrier 8 and including a cam clutch , rack - pinion mechanism and a hydraulic cylinder . each rotary body 14 has four station surfaces corresponding to the four station surfaces of the carrier 8 . two parallel cylinder bores 16 are formed in each rotary body 14 to open to each station surface of the rotary body 14 and in communication with pressurized fluid supply passages ( not shown ) formed in the carrier 8 . each cylinder bore 16 slidably receives a plunger 17 to constitute in combination with the latter a hydraulic or a pneumatic cylinder device 18 ( hereinunder referred to simply as &# 34 ; cylinder device &# 34 ;). a neck mold mount 19 is attached to the free ends of the plungers of the four cylinder devices 18 , 18 associated with each corresponding station surfaces of the rotary bodies 14 , 14 . on the neck mold mount 19 are mounted two rows of neck molds 20 each of which is of a split type and normally urged to be closed by , for example , springs ( not shown ). the neck mold mount 19 is adapted to be moved toward and away from the axis of the rotary bodies 14 , 14 and normally held away from the carrier 8 with the cylinder devices 18 . a heating device 21 is supported on an upper part of the carrier 8 , and is movable toward and away from the neck mold 20 by the operation of a pneumatic cylinder 22 . a chute 23 for discharging the molding articles is disposed under the discharge station surface 8d . a reference numeral 24 designates a nock pin which is actuated by a cylinder 25 mounted on the support 26 to project upwardly into one of four bores ( not shown ) provided equiangularly on the lower rotary body 14 thereby detecting whether respective sets of neck molds 20 have been brought to positions in exact alignment with the associated mold parts and device at the injection , heating , blow and discharge stations 8a , 8b , 8c and 8d , respectively . although the embodiment described above is provided with two rows of mold parts , it will be understood that the embodiment may be modified to have one , three or more rows of mold parts . the molding process with the injection stretchblow molding machine of the described embodiment will be described hereinunder with specific reference to fig3 and 4 , in which for the simplification of the explanation , the machine includes only one set of male and female mold parts for injection and blow . referring first to fig3 showing the state in which the mold parts are clamped , the injection female mold part 2 , the neck mold 20 and the injection male mold part 10 are clamped together on the injection station to form a cavity of a configuration conforming with that of a parison to be formed . a molten resin is injected into this cavity by the injection device 3 to form a parison p . meanwhile , on the heating station , a parison p formed by the preceding injection is held by the neck mold 20 by which the parison p has been brought to this station . then , the heating device 21 is moved ahead by the pneumatic cylinder 22 to surround the parison p to uniformly heat the latter to a temperature suitable for the stretch - blow . at the same time , a parison p which has uniformly been heated by the preceding heating device in the heating station has been brought to the blow station by the neck mold 20 and is held by the latter . in the blow station , the blow female mold part 7 , neck mold 20 and a blow male mold part 12 are held together to form a cavity of a configuration conforming with the finished shape of the article to be molded . in the blow station , air is blown into the parison p while stretching the same by extending the stretching bar 11 of the blow male mold part 12 . finally , in the discharge station , the molded article w which has been formed by the preceding blow in the blow station and brought by the neck mold 20 is released to fall into the chute 23 as the neck mold 20 is opened by the operation of the neck mold operating device 13 . fig4 shows the machine in the state after the mold parts have been separated upon completion of the each operation in the clamped state of the mold parts explained in connection with fig3 and just before the 90 ° rotation of the neck molds 20 is made . in this state , the parison p formed by the injection is held by the neck mold 20 while , in the heating station , the heating device 21 has been raised to resume the starting position to permit the neck mold 20 holding the uniformly heated parison p to rotate . meanwhile , in the blow station , the molded article w is held by the neck mold 20 . at the same time , in the discharge station , the neck mold operating device 13 resumes the initial state to keep the neck mold 20 closed , after the discharge of the molded article w . the driving device 15 is actuated in this state to rotate the rotary bodies 14 90 ° counter - clockwise , so that the parison p formed by the injection in the injection station is brought to the heating station , while the preceding parison p heated in the heating station is brought to the blow station . at the same time , the molded article stretched and blown in the blow station is moved to the discharge station . the convey of the parison and article is made by the neck mold 20 . after the convey of the successive parisons and articles to next stations is finished , the nock pin 24 is actuated to detect whether the rotary bodies 14 , 14 have brought the respective sets of neck molds 20 to correct positions . then , if the nock pin 24 cannot enter into the hole of the rotary body , the position of the rotary body is adjusted until the pin 24 enters into the hole . subsequently the carrier 8 and the movable platen 4 are moved ahead again in the clamping direction , so that the machine as a whole resumes the state as shown in fig3 to prepare for the next cycle of operation . this operation is cyclically performed to produce the articles successively . although the injection stretch - blow molding machine of the described embodiment has four stations , this is not exclusive and the machine can have only two stations omitting the heating station and the discharge station . the arrangement of the machine having two stations , is substantially same as that of the described embodiment , except that the neck molds 20 , 20 corresponding to the omitted stations , as well as the heating device 21 and the pneumatic cylinder 22 , are dispensed with and the rotary bodies make 180 ° intermittent rotation . the operation of such a modification having two stations will be explained briefly hereinunder . in the state in which the mold parts are clamped , a parison is formed by injection in the injection station . meanwhile , in the blow station , the parison formed by the preceding injection is stretched and blown to become the molded article . after the completion of the injection and the blow , the mold clamping device is operated to separate the mold parts . in the injection station , the parison formed by injection is held by the neck mold and separated from the mold parts , while , in the blow station , the stretched and blown article is held by the neck mold and separated from the mold parts . subsequently , in the blow station , the neck mold operation device is activated to drop the molded article onto the chute . the neck mold 20 is then closed again after the release of the molded article . then , the rotary bodies are rotated 180 ° to bring the parison formed by injection in the injection station to the blow station by the neck mold while the empty neck mold is brought from the blow station to the injection station . then , mold parts are clamped again so that the machine as a whole is reset to the starting condition to prepare for the next cycle of operation . this operation is cyclically repeated to produce articles successively . referring to fig5 and 6 , there is shown another embodiment of the present invention which is substantially same as the embodiment described with reference to fig1 to 4 , except the construction of the driving device for effecting 90 ° intermittent rotation of the rotary bodies 14 , 14 and means for supporting and operating the neck mold mount 19 . the driving device 15 &# 39 ; of this embodiment consists of a swing motor 27 with one way - clutch , which motor is mounted on the support 26 and has a driving shaft making 180 ° intermittent rotation with the clutch being engaged with and disengaged from the driving shaft in accordance with the directions of reciprocal rotation over 180 ° of the motor , a pinion 28 coupled to the driving shaft of the motor 27 and a gear 29 coupled to the boss of the lower rotary body 14 and in engagement with the pinion 28 to rotate at a velocity half of that of the pinion 28 . therefore , when the driving shaft of the motor 27 makes 180 ° intermittent rotation , the rotary body 14 makes 90 ° intermittent rotation . in the embodiment of fig1 to 4 the neck mold mount 19 is fixedly attached to the free ends of the plungers of the cylinder devices 18 , 18 as described , whereas in the embodiment of fig5 and 6 the neck mold mount 19 is arranged to be slidable along rods 30 fixedly mounted at their one ends on the bodies 14 , 14 . as shown in detail in fig7 a , 7b and 7c , the neck mold mount 19 is provided with bushings 31 , each slidably receiving each rod 30 . each rod 30 is provided with a cam 32 fixed to the free end thereof . on the neck mold mount 19 are mounted a first housing 33 at one side of the bushing 31 and a second housing 34 at the other side of the bushing 31 . the first housing 33 slidably receives a first cam follower 35 laterally urged by a spring 36 into engagement with the cam 32 and having a hook 37 . the second housing 34 receives a second cam follower 38 to be slidable in a direction slightly inclined with respect to the outer surface of the neck mold mount 19 and urged toward the cam 32 by a spring 39 . as shown in detail in fig8 the cam 32 has at the front section , as viewed with fig7 a , 7b and 7c , a pair of lateral projections 40 having slanted upper surfaces and at the rear section a cam surface 41 cooperating with the first cam follower 35 . the second cam follower 38 has an inclined front surface 42 cooperating with a roller 43 and a lower surface 44 in sliding contact with the upper surface of the lateral projection 40 of the cam 32 when the cam 32 takes a position where the lower surfaces of the lateral projections 40 are in contact with the upper surface of the neck mold mount 19 . a bracket 45 is securely fixed to the stationary platen 1 and is provided with the roller 43 and a block 46 formed with a recess 47 with which the hook 37 of the first cam follower 35 is brought into engagement . when the movable platen 4 and the carrier carrying the rotary bodies 14 , 14 are in inoperative position as shown in fig5 and 6 , the neck mold mount 19 is held at the free end of the rod 28 with the lateral projection 40 being clamped between the second cam follower 38 and the neck mold mount 19 , while the first cam follower 35 is retracted against the spring 36 by the cam 32 , as shown in fig7 a . when the movable platen 4 and the carrier 8 are moved toward the stationary platen 1 and the second cam follower 38 has been brought into contact with the roller 43 , the second cam follower 38 is retracted against the spring 39 and disengaged from the lateral projection 40 of the cam 37 . when the carrier 8 is further moved toward the stationary platen 1 , the cam 32 is moved away from the neck mold mount 19 , which is now held stationary with the roller 43 in contact with the second cam follower 38 , so that the first cam follower 35 is laterally forced toward the axis of the rod 30 by the spring 36 to bring the hook 37 into engagement with the recess 47 of the block 46 attached to the bracket 45 ( see fig7 b ). further movement of the carrier 8 accompanies the movement of only the rod 30 carrying at its free end the cam 32 and finally ceases at a position as shown in fig7 c at which the female mold parts 2 and the mole mold parts 10 are closed with clamping the neck molds 20 therebetween . ( see fig3 ). in opening operation of the mold parts , the rotary body 14 carried by the carrier 8 is retracted from the position as shown in fig7 c while the rod 30 slids back through the bushing 31 of the neck mold mount 19 which is held stationary due to engagement of the hook 37 of the first cam follower 35 with the recess of the block 46 . after the rotary body 14 has retracted to the position as shown in fig7 b , the first cam follower 35 is brought into engagement with the cam 32 and guided by the cam surface 41 thereof to retract against the spring 36 so that the hook 37 is disengaged from the recess 47 thereby to permit free movement of the neck mold mount 19 . thereafter when the cam 32 is moved back into contact with the upper surface of the neck mold mount 19 , the second cam follower 38 is disengaged from the roller 43 and laterally forced by the spring 30 to slide on the upper surface of the lateral projection 40 of the cam 32 toward the axis of the rod 30 so that the projection 40 is clamped between the lower surface of the second cam follower 38 and the upper surface of the neck mold mount 19 . in this manner the neck mold mount 19 is coupled with the cam 32 and retracted with the rotary body 14 to inoperative position . this embodiment is advantageous as compared with the first embodiment of fig1 to 4 , since no exclusive hydraulic device for operating the neck mold mount 19 is required . as will be understood from the foregoing description , the injection male mold part is used exclusively for the injection molding and the cooling of the parison after the injection , but is never used for the convey of the parison nor for the stretch - blow . the injection male mold part , therefore , can have a simple cylindrical form and can be arranged to effect a sufficient cooling function . accordingly , it is possible to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantage of the prior art , i . e . the difference in the parison temperature between the initial period soon after the start - up of the machine and the period after a long use which is inevitable in the conventional machine making the common use of a male mold part for both of injection molding and stretch - blow molding . although not exclusive , the use of four stations is preferred because it permit a sufficiently uniform heating of the parison in the heating station to remarkably stabilize the molding characteristics . in addition , the parison can be formed to have a uniform wall thickness over the entire part thereof , because the injection male mold part in the machine of the invention is free of the sliding portion which is essential in the conventional injection male mold part equipped with a stretching bar and an air slit . the separate and distinctive use of the injection male mold part for the injection molding and cooling and the blow male mold part for the stretch - blow molding permits ideal molding cooling and uniform heating of the parison , while permitting a uniform stretch - blow molding . in consequence , articles of uniform wall thickness and having attractive appearance are produced at a high efficiency . according to the invention , the neck molds 20 solely are circulated through successive stations to transfer the parisons p . thus , the invention does not lose the advantage of the conventional injection stretch - blow molding machine in which the mold clamping is made simultaneously at both of the injection station and the blow station . in addition , the degree of complication of the machine construction , as well as the size of the machine as a whole , is not substantially changed from that of the conventional machine . in the conventional injection stretch - blow molding machine , a large - scale rotary body is required for carrying the male mold parts which are used commonly for both of the injection molding and stretch - blow molding . this problem , however , is completely eliminated by the present invention in which the carrier 8 for carrying male mold parts separately used for the injection molding and for the stretch - blow molding is held stationary , while the neck molds 20 , which are comparatively easy to rotate , are rotated solely . | 1 |
with reference to fig1 to 4 , a parquet block in accordance with the present invention has woodwork joints to connect firmly to adjacent parquet blocks in each direction . the parquet block in accordance with the present invention has a front side ( not numbered ), a rear side ( not numbered ), a right side ( not numbered ), a left side ( not numbered ), an upper edge ( not numbered ), a lower edge ( not numbered ), a longitudinal tongue ( 1 ), a longitudinal notch ( 6 ), two transverse grooves ( 5 ) and two transverse tongues ( 3 ). with further reference to fig3 , the longitudinal tongue ( 1 ) and the notch ( 6 ) are formed respectively on the right side and left side of the parquet block opposite to each other . the longitudinal tongue ( 1 ) has a short upper side ( not numbered ) and a long lower side ( not numbered ). the long lower side has a proximal edge ( not numbered ) and a longitudinal detent ( 2 ). the longitudinal detent ( 2 ) is formed at the proximal edge of the long lower side of the longitudinal tongue ( 1 ). the longitudinal notch ( 6 ) has a short upper side ( not numbered ) and a long lower side ( not numbered ). the long lower side has a distal edge ( not numbered ) and an upward protrusion ( 7 ). the upward protrusion ( 7 ) is formed at the distal edge of the long lower side of the longitudinal notch ( 6 ) and corresponds to the longitudinal detent ( 2 ) in the longitudinal tongue ( 1 ). the longitudinal tongue ( 1 ) is inserted longitudinally into the longitudinal notch ( 6 ) in an adjacent parquet block , and the upward protrusion ( 7 ) is securely held in the longitudinal detent ( 2 ). with reference to fig4 , the transverse tongues ( 3 ) and the transverse grooves ( 5 ) are defined on sides of the parquet block different from the sides with the longitudinal notch ( 6 ) and the longitudinal tongue ( 1 ). the width of the transverse tongue ( 3 ) is equal to the width of the transverse groove ( 5 ). the transverse tongues ( 3 ) are integrally formed on the side and the transverse grooves ( 5 ) are defined beside the transverse tongues ( 3 ). with further reference to fig5 and 6 , the parquet blocks with the woodwork joints are assembled by first inserting a transverse tongue ( 3 ) into an adjacent transverse groove ( 5 ) to connect the parquet blocks together in one direction . the longitudinal tongue ( 1 ) is transversely inserted into the longitudinal notch ( 6 ) of another adjacent parquet block and the upward protrusion ( 7 ) is mounted inside the longitudinal detent ( 2 ) so that the parquet blocks connect firmly to the adjacent parquet blocks in a longitudinal direction . the parquet block with the woodwork joint in accordance with the present has the following advantages . 1 . the parquet blocks are securely held in longitudinal and transverse by the transverse tongues ( 3 ) inserted into the transverse grooves ( 5 ), the longitudinal tongues ( 1 ) inserted into the longitudinal notches ( 6 ) and the upward protrusions ( 7 ) inserted into the longitudinal detents ( 2 ). 2 . the parquet block with the woodwork joint in accordance with the present invention can prevent the joint from separating so that the parquet blocks with the woodwork joint provide an attractive appearance . even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description , together with details of the structure and function of the invention , that the disclosure is illustrative only , and changes may be made in detail , especially in matters of shape , size , and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed is to be understood . | 4 |
before explaining the inventive embodiments in detail , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing , since the invention is capable of other embodiments and being practiced or carried out in various ways . also , it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation . in the following description , terms such a horizontal , upright , vertical , above , below , beneath and the like , are to used solely for the purpose of clarity illustrating the invention and should not be taken as words of limitation . the drawing is for the purpose of illustrating the invention and is not intended to be to scale . basically , the system embodiment of the figure and described herein will actively monitor in real time both incoming and outgoing food product conditions and production rates . conditions within the cryogenic food freezer are also monitored in real time . use of an intelligent control philosophy for the present cryogenic food freezing system can automatically be adjusted and adapted to optimum efficiencies with a variety of process inputs to the system . the end result is a more efficient freezing solution along with additional data which can be fed to both upstream and downstream processes for a more effective control and uniformity of a food chilling or freezing process for the food product , and efficient use of the cryogenic substance for chilling and / or freezing of same . a cryogenic food freezing system is one of many components arranged along a food processing line . the customers of such food freezing systems are concerned with the commercial value drivers , such as maximum product yield , improving process efficiency ( such as reduced downtime of the system ), and a reduction in the overall processing costs to use the system . in view of the foregoing , there is provided a self - adjusting cryogenic food freezing apparatus 10 or apparatus for use in a food processing line in which products , such as any type of food product , are chilled or frozen for continuous or batch freezing applications . the apparatus 10 includes a housing 12 consisting of a plurality of sidewalls 14 for defining an internal space 16 or chamber therein . one of the sidewalls 14 is provided with an inlet 18 , while another one of the sidewalls , usually positioned at an opposite end of the housing 12 , includes an outlet 20 . the inlet 18 and the outlet 20 provide for communication with respect to the chamber 16 and through which moves a transport assembly 22 or conveyor belt for conveying food product 24 from the inlet through the chamber to the outlet . the conveyor belt 22 can be of any know type of construction , such as for example a stainless steel mesh belt . cryogen is introduced through a pipe 26 , the cryogen pipe , into the chamber 16 . the pipe 26 includes a valve 28 such as a modulating control valve , to control or restrict the amount of cryogen being introduced into the chamber 16 of the apparatus 10 . the cryogen pipe 26 is in fluid communication with a remote source ( not shown ) of cryogen which can be for example nitrogen , liquid nitrogen ( lin ) or carbon dioxide snow . an end 30 of the pipe 26 in the chamber 16 is branched or split into a plurality of sections 32 or portions to provide a spray bar which operates as a distribution arm or manifold for the cryogen being provided from the pipe . the sections 32 may also be provided with at least one and for most applications a plurality of nozzles 34 which distribute or jet a spray 36 of the cryogen onto the food product 24 passing proximate thereto on the conveyor belt 22 . the cryogen spray 36 is usually in the form of lin or solid carbon dioxide ( co 2 ) snow for providing a thorough heat transfer effect of the underlying food product 24 passing beneath the nozzles 34 , the housing 12 is also provided with at least one and for most applications a plurality of motors 38 , each one of which is connected to and drives a corresponding fan 40 for circulating the disbursed cryogenic spray and cold cryogenic gas 36 within the chamber 16 , and to maintain atmosphere in the chamber to a substantially uniform temperature , although depending upon the cryogen process being used the atmosphere could be isothermal , co - current ( temperature profiles in the same direction within the freezer atmosphere ) or counter - current ( temperature profiles in opposite or dissimilar directions within the freezer atmosphere ). movement of the fans 40 provides for distributing the cryogenic spray 36 across the chamber 16 so that food product 24 entering at the inlet 18 begins to be subjected to heat transfer and therefore chilling and / or freezing before reaching the portions 32 of the spray bar . the motor ( 38 ) is mounted external to the housing 12 so that heat from the motor ( s ) has minimal effect on the atmosphere in the chamber 16 . an array of sensors can be placed at the inlet 18 , the outlet 20 , and the chamber 16 to collect information about the chamber atmosphere and the status of the food products 24 as same are introduced into , subjected to , and depart from the chilling and / or freezing process of the apparatus 10 . in particular , an infrared ( ir ) temperature sensor 42 can be mounted for actuation at the inlet 18 , while another ir temperature sensor 44 is mounted at the outlet 20 . at least one other temperature sensor 46 can be mounted for sensing a temperature of the chamber 16 . the sensor 46 may be for example a resistance temperature detector ( rtd ), which is more accurate at lower temperatures than a thermocouple . an oxygen ( o 2 ) sensor 48 is also provided to sense the oxygen content of the chamber 16 . the o 2 sensor 48 is used to determine if air is being drawn into the freezing process from external to the housing 12 . a laser scanner 50 is mounted proximate the inlet 18 upstream of the ir temperature sensor 42 , and which precisely records the continuous cross - section area of the food product entering the freezer at the inlet . a controller 52 processes real time data from the sensors 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 ( collectively 42 - 48 ); the controller 52 interconnecting the sensors 42 - 48 , the operation of the conveyor belt 22 , the laser scanner 50 , and the valve 28 in such a way so as to allow the freezer apparatus 10 , without the necessity of an operator , to automatically control and optimize food freezing with the apparatus , data collected from the sensors 42 - 48 , including the laser scanner 50 , can also provide feedback to the plant operator to permit more precise oversight and control of other processes positioned upstream and downstream of the present apparatus 10 , still referring to the figure , the laser scanner 50 provides data which can be used to calculate mass flow rates and loading of the food product 24 on the conveyor belt 22 . the ir temperature sensor 42 at the inlet 18 will sense and monitor the food product temperature at the inlet with known thermal properties of the food product , ie the two data points described above : the cross - sectional area of the product 24 entering the freezer and the mass flow rates and loading of the product on the conveyor belt 22 , such can be used to calculate real time production rate and therefore heat load of the food product entering the process provided by the apparatus 10 . accordingly , a speed of the conveyor belt 22 and the injection rates of the cryogen introduced by the pipe 26 into the chamber 16 can be adjusted in real time or “ on the fly ” to match food product heat load and maximum belt loading of the food product to provide a higher operating efficiency of heat transfer at the food product in the apparatus 10 . the ir temperature sensor 44 located at the outlet 20 of the apparatus 10 is used to check heat removal from the product which has occurred from the process of the present embodiment . accordingly , depending upon the heat removal that has occurred , delivery of the cryogen spray 36 , speed of the fans 40 , and speed of the conveyor belt 22 can be adjusted automatically to compensate for any inefficiencies or discrepancies in chilling and / or freezing the food product 24 . the freezer apparatus 10 and related process of the embodiments provide for an increase in processing efficiencies for the food product through the freezer apparatus and accordingly , a substantial reduction in manual labor necessary to “ tune ” the apparatus for the food product 24 being processed ( chilled or frozen ) in the apparatus . it will be understood that the embodiments described herein are merely exemplary and that a person skilled in the art may make many variations and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . all such variations and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as described and claimed herein . it should be understood that the embodiments described above are not only in the alternative , but can be combined . | 5 |
in the following description , the present invention will be described in the preferred embodiment as a software program . those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the equivalent of such software may also be constructed in hardware . referring to fig1 , there is shown a docking station 10 of the present invention . the docking station 10 includes a base portion 20 for permitting the docking station 10 to be placed on suitable objects , such as a desk and the like . the docking station 10 further includes an upper enclosing portion 30 attached to the base portion 20 which upper portion 30 , in combination with the base portion , forms an enclosure for the docking station 10 . as is well - known to those skilled in the art , the docking station 10 includes electronic components in the interior of the enclosure formed by the base 20 and upper enclosing portion 30 for permitting transmission of digital images to a personal computer ( not shown ). this transmission may be directed by any suitable software program , such as kodak picture software ™ available in easyshare ™ products from eastman kodak company , which software may be installed on the personal computer . the upper enclosing portion 30 includes a notched - out , elongated indentation portion 40 for receiving a replaceable insert ( not shown in fig1 ). it is instructive to note that the indentation portion 40 may receive any of a plurality of inserts , each insert receives a particular digital camera . this permits the docking station to be flexible and cost - efficient in that it can receive a plurality of digital cameras 32 . the upper enclosing portion 30 further includes a electrical connector 35 which matingly connects to a portion of the digital camera for permitting electrical signal transmission between the camera 32 and the docking station 10 . a finger insert 85 is disposed in the upper portion 30 for permitting insertion of the user &# 39 ; s finger for easily removing the insert without any tools . two recessed portions 45 are also positioned on the upper portion 30 for mating with tabs ( described below ) for securing fit of the docking station 10 and the insert . a transmit button 50 is disposed in the upper enclosing portion 30 for permitting a user to initiate transmission of the images by pressing the button 50 . a light 60 is included on the upper enclosing portion 30 for indicating charging of the camera . it is instructive to note that charging is automatically initiated upon insertion of the digital camera 32 . such charging techniques are well - known in the art and will not be discussed in detail herein . the base portion 30 also includes an electrical connecting portion 70 for receiving an electrical cable which is connected to the personal computer . a power cable 80 is also attached to the base portion 20 which power cable 80 is connected to an electrical outlet ( not shown ) for supplying electrical power to the docking station 10 . referring to fig2 , there is shown the replaceable insert 90 of the present invention . the insert 90 includes a bottom portion 100 ( not shown in its entirely ) having a shape that substantially conforms to the shape of the indentation 40 of the docking station 10 for permitting the insert 90 to be matingly received by the docking station 10 . the insert 90 includes an upper portion 110 having a contoured - shape portion 120 which conforms substantially to the shape of a mating portion of the particular camera 32 to which it will be mated . it is instructive to note that the docking station 10 permits a plurality of inserts to be inserted therein all of which mate to the indentation portion 40 . the insert further includes a cut - away portion 95 for permitting the electrical connection 35 of the docking station 10 to pass therethrough when installed on the docking station 10 . two stabilizing elements 105 are disposed on the floor of the insert 90 for stabilizing the connection of the camera 32 to the insert 90 . positioning tabs 108 are disposed around the peripheral portion of the insert 90 for securing the fit of the insert 90 to the docking station 10 . it is instructive to note that the tab 108 a mates with the finger inset 85 , and the tabs 108 b and 108 c respectively mate with the recesses 45 . the embodiment shown in fig2 is an example of one of the plurality of inserts . fig3 illustrates another example of an insert 90 having the same components as discussed above . it is to be noted , however , that the contoured - shape portion 120 has a different shape from the previously discussed insert 90 for permitting reception of a different camera 32 . referring to fig4 , and for clarity of understanding , there is shown the insert 90 matingly placed in the docking station 10 . as is obvious from the illustration , the docking station 10 and insert 90 mate together in an integrated manner . although the preferred embodiment illustrates a digital camera , it is instructive to note that multi - media devices , such as mp3 ™ players , personal digital assistants , or other electronic devices , may be installed in lieu of the digital camera . still further , wireless devices may also be substituted for the digital camera . in this case , the electrical connection 35 is deleted and substituted with an rf receiver . the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment . however , it will be appreciated that variations and modifications can be effected by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention . | 7 |
fig2 - 4 of the drawing show ( for the sake of simplicity ) only the lower , lock - side corner region of a pivot - hung window or door consisting of a stationary frame 1 and a wing 2 which is tiltable relative to this frame either around a vertical axis along one side or around a lower horizontal axis . in fig1 the stationary frame 1 is merely indicated by dot - dash - lines to show how the frame - side parts of the tip - latch lock - hardware are installed in the region of the lock - side , lower frame corner to be able to carry out their function . at the lower , horizontal leg 1 &# 39 ; of the stationary frame 1 , there is stationarily mounted the tip - latch and run - up plate 3 . this plate is designed to be symmetrical to a transverse plane 4 -- 4 and which has latch pockets 5 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 34 ; located at both sides of plane 4 -- 4 . on a right - hand mount of the window or door , the latch pocket 5 &# 39 ;, as indicated in fig1 is in operating position . in the case of a left - hand mount , the latch pocket 5 &# 39 ; is in operating position . on the lock - side , vertical leg 1 &# 34 ; of the stationary frame 1 , a latch catch 7 , is mounted above base plate 6 . also , rigidly mounted at the base plate 6 are two cams 8 &# 39 ; and 8 &# 34 ; which lie at an identical distance above and below , respectively , the latch catch 7 . also , the base plate 6 with the latch catch 7 and the two cams 8 &# 39 ; and 8 &# 34 ; is formed symmetrically of a transverse plane 9 -- 9 , so that it is usable for right - hand as well as for left - hand stopping . on a right - hand strike , the cam 8 &# 39 ; lies above the lock catch 7 and the cam 8 &# 34 ; below it , as shown in fig1 while on a left - hand strike the cam 8 &# 34 ; is located above and the cam 8 &# 39 ; below the lock catch 7 . both the symmetry plane 4 -- 4 of the tip - latch and run - up plate 3 and the symmetry plane 9 -- 9 of the base plate 6 that carries the latch catch 7 and the two cams 8 &# 39 ; and 8 &# 34 ; extend essentially transversely of the plane of the stationary frame 1 , as can be seen from fig1 . however , in the assembly state of the two hardware parts 3 , 5 &# 39 ;, 5 &# 34 ;, and 6 , 7 , 8 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 34 ; these transverse planes 4 -- 4 and 9 -- 9 are located at a right angle to one another as may likewise be seen from fig1 . from the drawing , it can be further seen that the lock catch 7 and the two cams 8 &# 39 ;, 8 &# 34 ; of the base plate 6 directly adjoin the room - side front face of the stationary frame 1 , while the latch pockets 5 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 34 ; are at a selected spacing from this frame front . in other words , the catch 7 and the two cams 8 &# 39 ; and 8 &# 34 ; of the base plate 6 occupy , against the longitudinal medium plane 10 -- 10 passing through the two latch pockets 5 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 34 ; of the tip latch and run - up plate 3 , a position that is offset toward the side of the room . at the lock - side , the vertical spar of the wing 2 , at a surface that is essentially directed transversely of the plane of the wing , there is guided ( in the range of the lower wing corner ) a longitudinally - shiftable slide plate 11 , which is either a part of a connecting rod or can be positively coupled with it . this slide plate 11 is arranged symmetrically of a longitudinal median plate 12 -- 12 and is provided at its lower end with a somewhat drop - shaped latch - lug 13 . more specifically , the shape of the lug 13 from the top toward the bottom , is first diverging and then converging . at a spacing 14 underneath the latch - lug 13 , is arranged a latch - pin 15 extending from the front face of the slide . at a spacing 16 , a lug 17 is formed onto the slide plate 11 above the latch - pin 15 . lug 17 has an upper transversal shoulder 18 . the ratio of the spacings 14 and 16 to each other is approximately 1 : 5 , that is , the distance 16 of the lug 17 from the latch - pin 15 is substantially greater than the distance 14 of the latch - pin 15 from the latch - lug 13 . from fig2 - 4 of the drawings it can be seen that , when the latch - lug 13 of the slide plate 11 is pushed into the latch pocket 5 &# 39 ; or 5 &# 34 ; of the tip - latch and run - up plate 3 , the wing can be opened around its lower , horizontal axis in tilting position . in this working position of the slide plate 11 , the latch - pin 15 lies underneath the cam 8 &# 34 ; of the base plate 6 and , simultaneously , the lug 17 with its transverse shoulder 18 is located underneath the cam 8 &# 39 ; of the base plate 6 . if the wing 2 is now opened in tilting position , after passing through merely a very small tilting angle of e . e . 1 ° to 2 °, the lug 17 of the slide plate 11 goes underneath the cam 8 &# 39 ; as can be seen from fig2 . up to a medium tilting angle of e . g . about 7 °, the transverse shoulder 18 of the lug 17 reliably cooperates with the cam 8 &# 39 ; at the base plate 6 to form a shift block or entry protection for the window or door , as can be seen in fig3 . before reaching the medium tilting angle of about 7 ° to 8 ° the latch pin 15 has , however , also moved underneath the cam 8 &# 34 ; of the base plate 6 ( see fig3 ). the latch pin 15 remains there also during the further tilting - opening movement of the wing 2 until the maximal tilting angle of e . g . 15 ° in the effective range of the cam 8 &# 34 ; has been reached to form a shift block or entry protection for the window or door for this maximum tilting angle . in this way , the connecting rod hardware of the pivot - hung tilt - window or door is provided with a double shift block or entry protection . this is done in such a way , that the effective ranges of these two shift blocks or entry protections partially overlap and assure , thereby , a high degree of security against unauthorized entry of the window or door when the wing is tilted . in the closed position of the wing 2 , the latch - pin 15 naturally interacts in the usual manner with the latch - catch 7 at the base plate 6 and presses the lock - side ( lower corner of wing 2 ) against the corresponding corner of the stationary frame . to allow the contact pressure to be regulated in order to achieve a satisfactory sealing effect , it is advantageous to rivet the latch - pin 15 around an eccentric axis on the slide plate 11 , so that it can be rotated only with difficulty . by means of a tool , sch as a hexagon socket wrench , the closing effect of the latch - pin 15 can then be adjusted within a certain limit . for the rotary opening of wing 2 , the slide plate 11 is so adjusted by means of the interconnected rod hardware that the latch - lug 13 is situated ( on the one hand ) outside of the latch pocket 5 &# 39 ; or 5 &# 34 ; while still underneath the cam 8 &# 34 ; or 8 &# 39 ; lying nearest to it , while ( on the other hand ) the latch - pin 15 is set in each case in the range of the gap 19 &# 34 ; or 19 &# 39 ; between the latch catch 7 and the cam 8 &# 34 ; or 8 &# 39 ;. in this position of shift , the stop 17 of the slide is simultaneously at sufficient distance above the cam 8 &# 39 ; or 8 &# 34 ; that the wing 2 can be freely opened in rotary mode relative to the stationary frame 1 . in conclusion , the oppositely - staggered , but partly overlapping effective ranges of the two shift blocks or entry protections are essentially based on the fact that these shift blocks or entry protections on two different effective radii 20 and 21 relative to the selected tip axis for the wing 2 . in that way , the shift block or entry protection that operates with the greater effective radius 20 becomes chronologically active earlier than the one that operates with the smaller effective radius 21 . tip - latch lock - hardware of the design claimed and described is used in connection with pivot - hung tilting windows and doors where it is important to achieve an effficient and economical execution of the stop operation for the hardware and fittings and to assure thereby an optimal effect of the shift block or entry protection independently of the specific wing level . it is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form and construction of the invention without departing from the material spirit thereof . it is not , however , desired to confine the invention to the exact form herein shown and described , but is is desired to include all such as properly come within the scope claimed . | 8 |
before describing preferred embodiments , the theoretical explanation for the control method according to this invention will first be set forth hereinunder . generally , when rolling a strip , an irregular thickness distribution takes place widthwise of the strip , with there resulting a strip crown . such a strip crown c s is expressed by the following relation : where , c r is a roll crown and c 1 is a crown formed in a rolled strip due to the causes other than the roll crown . the crown c 1 includes a crown c 2 intentionally formed in the strip by means of a roll bender and a crown c 3 caused in the strip under a rolling load . these crowns c 2 and c 3 are discussed , for example , in the &# 34 ; iron and steel engineer &# 34 ; vol . 42 , no . 8 , 1965 , p . 73 - 83 by stone . according to stone &# 39 ; s discussion , when a back roll bending is applied , the crown c 2 will be expressed as , ## equ1 ## where , f is a roll bending force ; a is a moment arm of the bending force ; w is the strip width ; e is the young &# 39 ; s modulus of the roll and i is the moment of inertia of the backup roll . if 4e / aw 2 is substituted by k 1 , then the equation ( 3 ) will be simplified as follows : ## equ2 ## this relation is maintained also in case of a work roll bending , although k 1 has a different value . according to stone &# 39 ; s discussion , c 3 is expressed as ## equ3 ## where , p is a rolling load ; h is a distance from the side edge of the strip to the center of the backup roll bearing ; and d is a diameter of the backup roll . it will be appreciated that equation ( 1 ) can be rewritten as follows : ## equ4 ## also equation ( 6 ) will be rewritten as follows : ## equ5 ## where δ means mathematical symbol of variation . to obtain a flat rolled strip , δc s must be zero . therefore , if roll bending force which offsets roll crown variation δc r is denoted by δf r , δf r is expressed as follows : the study made by the inventors reveals that variation δs o in indicated value of roll position under a preselected rolling load at the time when the roll gap equals to zero is directly proportional to the roll crown variation δc r as shown in fig1 . δc . sub . r = k . sub . 2 δs . sub . o ( 10 ) where k . sub . 2 is a constant value represented by the slope of the line in fig1 . from equations ( 9 ) and ( 10 ), where , k = k 1 . sup .. k . sub . 2 . equation ( 11 ) means that the roll bending force which offsets the roll crown variation is directly proportional to the variation δs o , and therefore a roll bending force offsetting the roll crown variation can be determined by detecting the variation δs o in indicated value . illustrated in fig2 is a schematic view illustrating the arrangement of the shape control system according to one embodiment of the present invention , the system detecting a roll crown variation and controlling , in accordance with the foregoing principle , the shape of the strip being rolled . indicated at 1 , 2 and 3 are a steel strip being rolled , work rolls and backup rolls , respectively . between the roll neck of the lower backup roll 3 and roll positioning means 4 are interposed a roll position detector 5 and a load detector 6 , which are respectively connected to a calculator of roll position variation 8 and to a rolling load comparator 9 included in a roll crown variation detector 7 for feeding inputs into the detector 7 which forms the essential part of the present inventon . the roll crown variation detector 7 comprises reference load setting means 10 , load comparator 9 , reference roll position setting means 11 , calculator of roll position variation 8 , calculator of roll crown variation 12 , relay r 1 for applying the output signal from said load comparator 9 into the roll positioning means 4 , and relay r 2 for operating indicator of the roll position detector 5 . the relays r 1 and r 2 are so arranged that they are closed upon receiving sequence signals from an external sequence control means 13 ( for example , a computer ). now the operation of the roll crown variation detector 7 having the foregoing construction will be described in connection with a cold rolling mill . after a predetermined number of coils have been rolled , an instruction signal for detecting the roll crown variation is produced from the sequence control means 13 to be fed to the roll crown variation detector 7 . as a result , the relay r 1 ( which is arranged on the output line from the load comparator 9 adapted to compare the reference load signal p f from the reference load setting means 10 with the output signal p from the load detector 6 ) is closed to thereby feed the output from the load comparator 9 to the roll positioning means 4 . then , the roll positioning means 4 starts operating and continues to work until a condition of p = p f is reached . simultaneous therewith , the roll positioning means 4 stops operating , the roll position detector 5 starts operating to feed the roll position s o under a load p f to the calculator of roll position variation 8 . the calculator 8 then calculates a difference δs . sub . o between the input signal s of from the reference roll position setting means 11 and the input signal s o from the roll position detector 5 for feeding the difference δs o to the calculator of roll crown variation 12 . by use of this input δs o , the calculator of roll crown variation 12 calculates the above - mentioned relation δc r = k 2 δs o and produces an output δc r . relay r 2 is closed by an instruction signal of the sequence control means 13 for changing s o to s of if necessary . with the foregoing arrangement , the roll crown variation can be detected automatically without dismounting a roll from the rolling mill . the detected roll crown variation is then fed to a shape control means as will be described later , for thereby effecting the calculation for shape control , that is , a calculation for determining the optimum roll bending . the shape control means of the present invention includes roll crown variation detector 7 , the calculator of optimum roll bending force 15 operative in response to the output from said detector 7 , and roll bender control means 16 operative in response to the output from said calculator 15 to control a roll bender 17 . the calculator of optimum roll bending force 15 calculates the optimum roll bending force f . from equation ( 6 ), force f will be expressed as follows : this is a formula for obtaining the optimum roll bending force f to produce a strip having a predetermined crown c s . by introducing the roll crown value c r obtained after the preceding rolling operation , equation ( 12 ) will be changed as follows : it will be understood from this formula ( 13 ) that the optimum roll bending force f can be obtained only by detecting the roll crown variation δc r . as has been described hereinabove , this invention permits a shape control calculation by detecting the roll crown variation , which has not been detectable heretofore . the shape control calculation makes possible to effect a roll bender control by use of a computer , thereby greatly contributing to improve the quality of a strip by eliminating a danger that the strip of inferior shape is produced . although the invention has been described hereinabove with reference to an embodiment wherein the roll crown variation is measured depending on the detected roll position variation at the zero adjustment which is effected before rolling , it is also possible to correct the roll crown variation during rolling by use of an automatic gauge control system ( agc ) as in the second embodiment of fig3 . according to this second embodiment the rolling mill is provided with work rolls 22 and backup rolls 23 for rolling a strip 21 . the rolling load p f , roll position s f , bending force f f and a gauge h f of a strip are set by reference value setting means 28 , 29 , 30 and 31 , respectively . the detected load p from a rolling load detector 24 and the reference rolling load p f from the reference rolling load setting means 28 are fed to a comparator 32 to determine their difference δp , which is then fed to calculator 37 . the detected roll position s from a roll position detector 25 and the reference roll position s f from the reference roll position setting means 29 are fed to a comparator 33 to determine their difference δs , which is then fed to the calculator 37 . similarly , the detected strip gauge h from a strip gauge detector 27 and the reference strip gauge h f from the reference strip gauge setting means 31 are fed to a comparator 36 to determine their difference δh , which is then fed to the calculator 37 . by use of these inputs δp , δs and δh , the calculator 37 performs a calculation in accordance with the following automatic gauge control formula to thereby feed a value δs o to calculator 38 . ## equ6 ## where , km is a mill modulus . δs o corresponds to variation of roll position at the time when roll gap and rolling load equal to zero . in accordance with formula ( 11 ), the calculator 38 calculates δf r and feeds the same to a calculator 34 . the calculator 34 adds the output f f from the reference roll bending force setting means 30 to the calculated δf r to obtain a sum f c and then feeds the sum f c to a comparator 35 , which in turn calculates the difference δf between said sum f c and the output f from the roll bending force detector 26 , for thereby operating a roll bending force control means 39 in response to the calculated difference δf . it will be appreciated that , with this embodiment , the variation in the roll bending force with respect to the variation in the roll crown , of which automatic control has been unattainable heretofore , can be corrected continuously . | 1 |
fig1 shows a block diagram of an electronically commutated electric motor with five motor phases , a , b , c , d , and e , which are distributed over the circumference of the stator . each of the motor phases a - e is powered via a transistorized phase shifter , t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , or t 5 , from a constant voltage supply p ; n , for example a vehicle electrical system , which provides an unpulsed , unidirectional supply during a time block t b of the respective phase shifter . a permanently excited rotor ( not shown here ), which has six permanent magnet poles , and therefore three pairs of poles , induces voltages in the motor phases a - e . these induced voltages are transmitted as rotor position sensor signals s 1 , s 2 , s 3 , s 4 and s 5 to a sensor signal evaluation device sed . drive commands for the time blocks t b of the phase shifters t 1 - t 5 are transmitted from the sensor signal evaluation device sed to a microcontroller mc , which is already present as a component of the speed control device . the microcontroller mc then drives the phase shifters t 1 - t 5 , according to the time block pulse patterns pp 1 , pp 2 , pp 3 , and pp 4 that are stored in it . these time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 are assigned to definite , respective motor speeds . fig2 ( a )-( d ) show examples of four of these types of time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 , each with different time blocks t b for connecting and disconnecting the individual motor phases a - e to the constant voltage supply p ; n , in accordance with the rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 . the time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 depicted in fig2 correspond to a rotor which is equipped with six permanent magnet poles , such that the north and south poles alternate every 60 ° around the circumference of the rotor . accordingly , an electrical period t el of the induced rotor position signal voltage corresponds mechanically to 120 °. fig2 ( e ) shows the induced rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 over the electrical period t el . from fig2 ( e ), it can be seen that there are ten time segments , in which different rotor positions are detectable . fig2 ( a )-( d ) show , as a function of the rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 , the respective time blocks t b during which the individual motor phases a - e are supplied with current , which is unidirectional and unpulsed . the current is supplied in accordance with the rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 and in correspondence to the various time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 . during a time block t b , that corresponds to { fraction ( 4 / 10 )} of the maximum possible current supply of a motor phase during an electrical period t el , in this particular example , the maximum speed of the electric motor will be attained . in this so - called 100 % block operation , each of the motor phases is supplied with current for ⅖ t el in one current direction , such that two motor phases are supplied at once at any given time . proceeding from an assignment of the nominal speed of the electric motor to the time block pulse pattern pp 4 ={ fraction ( 4 / 10 )}, correspondingly lower speeds result for the other time block pulse patterns pp 3 ={ fraction ( 3 / 10 )}, pp 2 ={ fraction ( 2 / 10 )}, and pp 1 ={ fraction ( 1 / 10 )} depicted . preferably , the rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 and the associated time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 are digitally processed , stored , and further processed into signals for driving the phase shifters t 1 - t 5 . the following table shows the digital assignment of the rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 to the associated time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 , for the motor phases a - e , in each of the ten time segments . the rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 are induced in the five motor phases a - e during rotation of the permanently excited rotor having three pairs of poles . each of the associated time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 corresponds to its respective connection and disconnection time blocks t b . the ten time segments correspond to the maximum possible subdivision of t el in the example described above and depicted in fig2 . according to the present invention , intermediate speeds can be produced by switching between the individual table entries of the time block pulse patterns by proceeding from the defined assignment of the rotor position sensor signals s 1 - s 5 to the driving signals of the phase shifters t 1 - t 5 of the individual motor phases a - e in the form of time block pulse patterns pp 1 - pp 4 . preferably , this assignment is stored in the previously mentioned tabular form , in a rom within the microcontroller mc . in addition to changing the durations of the time blocks t b , speed can also be changed by switching on the time blocks t b at different moments corresponding to a division of the time segments . setting the speed by alternating or time - oriented switching of the stored time block pulse patterns is , preferably , also predefined and stored . the switching frequency f s forms the basis for switching between different time block pulse patterns and is dependent on the mechanical time constants of the motor system . based upon the situation given , the switching frequency f s can be advantageously provided within a range of a few hertz , in particular below the threshold of audibility . fig3 depicts driving of the motor phases a - e for a speed corresponding to approximately 70 % of the nominal motor speed . to attain this exemplary speed , a switching frequency f s is provided for switching in appropriate proportion between a time block pulse pattern that corresponds to a motor speed higher than the desired speed ( e . g ., pp 4 ), and a time block pulse pattern that corresponds to a motor speed lower than the desired speed ( e . g ., pp 2 ). the switching frequency f s is set , e . g ., in such a way that for 40 % of its period a time block pulse pattern pp 4 ={ fraction ( 4 / 10 )} is used , while , for the remaining 60 % of the period of the switching frequency f s , a time block pulse pattern pp 2 ={ fraction ( 2 / 10 )} is used . for the assumed pole pair number p = 3 , the duration of the electrical period t el is one - third of the duration of the mechanical period t mech . the dwelling time in a specific operating condition of a time block pulse pattern determines the mean speed which the electric motor assumes . in any operating condition , the electric motor develops a specific driving torque , which leads to a specific operating speed corresponding to the effective known load . therefore , for a defined load moment of any operating condition , a specific speed can be assigned and stored in the microcontroller for a specific request . when the motor is started , an excessive current load can be easily avoided by selecting an appropriate start mode with a corresponding time block pulse pattern by the microcontroller . the above description of the preferred embodiments has been given by way of example . from the disclosure given , those skilled in the art will not only understand the present invention and its attendant advantages , but will also find apparent various changes and modifications to the structures and methods disclosed . it is sought , therefore , to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the spirit and scope of the invention , as defined by the appended claims , and equivalents thereof . | 7 |
in order to take advantage of all the features of the present invention , it is assumed that the providers of ip backbone services are ip multicast capable . similarly , it is assumed that cpe devices are able to join a multicast group using igmp . it is not a requirement that all routers in the backbone have multicast capabilities . it is possible to interconnect the cpe devices via a partially meshed or “ star - like ” multicast backbone , built using a mix of multicast routing protocols and tunnels to interconnect multicast islands . ip multicast is used to forward broadcast and multicast traffic and for ip address resolution , but not for forwarding of unicast traffic . referring now to fig1 a , we have shown the physical view or service provider &# 39 ; s view of a virtual private lan segment ( vpls ). the ip backbone 10 and cpe devices 11 , 12 , 13 and 14 are managed and typically owned by the service provider . cpe devices 11 - 14 are typically comprised of routers , whereas each pls is typically comprised of several ip capable devices such as end stations ( es 1 , es 2 , etc .) fig1 b is a diagram illustrating a logical view of the network of fig1 a or as would be seen from the customer &# 39 ; s perspective . whereas in fig1 a the cpe devices are visible from the provider &# 39 ; s perspective , lan segments are transparent to the customers as illustrated in fig1 b . similarly , cpe devices which are seen by the service provider are invisible to the customer . stateless tunnels or links are used in cpe ( customer premises equipment ) between connected sites . the remote tunnel endpoint address information is directly mapped into the link layer address . me - arp is used for ip address resolution inside a vpls . as a result , vpn connected ip devices will keep all relevant information about the destination tunnel endpoint and vpn membership in their own address resolution ( arp ) table . special unnumbered ip lan interfaces will generate the link layer address based on a configured vpn identifier and dynamically learned tunnel endpoints ( via me - arp ). again , as illustrated in fig1 a and 1 b , a vpls can span two or more sites , with all ip devices sharing the same ip subnet . the ip address and mask are chosen by the customer without any restrictions in relation to the provider or other customers . the cpe devices , managed by the provider , are transparent to the customer . this type of layer 2 vpn solution possesses the following benefits for the customer : flat ip subnet . the vpn can be seen as a vpls , with transparent support for broadcast protocols like dhcp / bootp ( dynamic host configuration protocol / bootstrap protocol ), netbios / ip etc ; and broadcast and multicast support . the customer can extend the vpn with their own routers and run any routing protocol over the vpn without any coordination with the provider . each vpls has a provider wide unique ip multicast address assigned . a uvip interface of a cpe device , shown at reference numerals 15 , 16 , 17 and 18 , configured for a particular vpls , will join the vpn &# 39 ; s multicast group by using igmp . all broadcast traffic is then encapsulated and forwarded to the vpn &# 39 ; s ip multicast address . there is therefore no need for a central database to keep track of all uvip interfaces joining a customer &# 39 ; s vpn . this is handled by the ip multicast membership . in order to forward ip unicast traffic , an enhanced version of proxy arp is used . the differences from the standard proxy arp are : a ) all arp requests matching the customers ip subnet are encapsulated and forwarded to all vpn members by sending them to the vpn &# 39 ; s ip multicast address . note : the cpe device cannot determine , if an ip device is connected to the local physical segment or not . b ) a forwarded arp request , after decapsulation , will replace the source hardware address ( mac , media - access - control or physical address ) not with the routers own interface mac address , but by a calculated address containing the tunnel source ip address , an interface unique vpn id ( e . g . vpn instance id ) and a cpe id ( to avoid loops in case of cpe redundancy ). the result of this “ multicast enhanced arp ” ( me - arp ) process is that the customers ip devices will keep all relevant information about the destination tunnel endpoint and vpn membership in their arp table . there is no overhead involved , if compared to a real physical ip subnet . each vpn has a unique identifier assigned . for vpls built of more than two physically separated sites this is a valid ip multicast address . as each vpn has a unique ip multicast id assigned , igmp and any multicast capable routing protocol ( dvmrp ( distance vector multicast routing protocol ), mospf ( multicast open shortest path first ), pim ( protocol independent multicast ), are used by a configured ip vpn interface connecting a physical segment to join the vpns multicast group . based on the vpls membership using ip multicast , there is no need for a central vpn membership database or protocol to distribute this information . it is enough to configure a new vpn member ( physical segment ) in the connecting cpe device . the following minimal information is configured per uvip ( unnumbered vpn ip ) interface : b ) ip network / mask . assigned by the customer from the client address ( ca ) space . this information is used to determine the correct vpn , based on either source or destination ip address . this is important to support multi - netting on the same physical interface with many vpns ; c ) tunnel ip address . this address from the provider address ( pa ) space is used to forward vpn traffic over the ip backbone to the correct tunnel end - point ( bound to a vpn interface ). the vpn identifier in each encapsulated packet can be used to identify the correct logical uvip interface inside the cpe device ; d ) mac calculation algorithm . this optional , but recommended , configuration parameter allows the support of different mac address calculation to prevent possible duplicates . referring now to fig2 a and 2 b , in the preferred embodiment of the invention , depending on the security requirements , three different encapsulation formats can be used without security , with authentication only or with encryption . the encapsulated methods are based on ipsec tunnel mode [ rfc2401 . . . rfc2406 ]. the ip 2 header contains the ip source and destination address from the providers address space ( tunnel endpoint ip addresses or address as destination address ). the ip 1 header is the original ip packet header . in fig2 a , we have shown an ipsec ah encapsulation ( with authentication ). fig2 b shows an ipsec esp encapsulation ( with auth . privacy ). ip multicast and broadcast packets are encapsulated and tagged with the vpn multicast id in the spi field of the ipsec ah / esp header and forwarded to the vpn ip multicast address ( equal to vpn multicast id ). all active members of the vpns multicast group receive the encapsulated packet and forward it to the appropriate vpn &# 39 ; s uvip interface . referring now to fig3 , we have shown an arp request / reply packet including ethernet transmission layer . in fig4 , we have shown a block diagram of an ip backbone network and in fig5 , we have shown a block diagram illustrating the transfer of packet information between a first and second end station , respectively . in operation , with reference to fig3 , 4 , 5 and 6 , end station a wants to send an ip packet to end station b on the same logical subnet but connected to different gateways . it is assumed , that the arp tables 80 and 81 from both end stations are empty . therefore end station a sends an arp request 50 to the ethernet broadcast address 51 . cpe a , configured with the proper vpn information , checks the source ip address 52 of the arp request packet 50 against its uvip interfaces configured on the physical interface . in case of a match , it encapsulates the whole , unmodified , arp request 50 into an ipsec packet 55 including the vpn identifier 56 ( equals assigned ip multicast address ) and forwards packet 55 to the vpn &# 39 ; s multicast address 57 using the configured local ip tunnel - endpoint 58 as source address . cpe a also adds a local arp entry for end station a in its arp table 72 for that uvip interface . ( cpe a will forward the arp request , even if end station b is connected to the same physical network ). all cpes joining the vpn will receive this encapsulated arp request , unpack it , and forward out the local uvip interface with the following modification to the original arp request 55 : replace the original hw source address 59 ( mac address from end station a ) with a calculated mac address containing the tunnel end - point ip address from cpe a (= source address from the received ipsec packet ) and an optional interface unique vpn id . this new hw source address 60 is replaced in the ethernet header as well as in the arp packet 61 . cpe b might add an entry to its arp table 83 for caching . end station b receives the arp request 62 and respond to it with a normal arp reply containing its physical hw mac address 64 as source in the ethernet header and in the arp reply packet 65 . an arp entry for end station a with the source mac address from the arp request is added on end station b . the arp table 81 of end station b now contains an entry for end station a with a constructed mac address containing the tunnel - endpoint ip address and vpn id . cpe b , configured to listen for constructed mac addresses , identifies the arp reply 63 from end station b by checking the source mac address 64 as well as the source ip address 66 ( part of vpn &# 39 ; s ip network ), encapsulate and forwards the arp reply 67 directly to the addressed tunnel endpoint ( extract tunnel endpoint ip address from destination mac address ). cpe a decapsulates the arp reply packet 67 , checks the destination or target ip address 68 and replaces the destination or target mac address 69 with the address found in its local arp cache , and sends the constructed arp reply 70 out to end station a on the local attached physical lan segment . in addition , the source mac address 71 ( in the ethernet header and arp packet ) is replaced with a constructed mac address 72 containing an optional interface locally unique vpn id and the ip address of cpe b ( where the arp reply came from ). if the arp table 82 from cpe a does not contain an entry for end station a , then cpe a will have to send an arp request out for end station a with end station b ′ s ip address before forwarding the arp reply packet out to end station a . finally , end station a receives the arp reply packet 70 and builds an entry in its arp table 80 with an entry for end station b and the mac address containing the remote tunnel endpoint ip address and vpn id . | 7 |
gellan gum refers to the extracellular polysaccharide obtained by the aerobic fermentation of the microorganism , pseudomonas elodea , in a suitable nutrient medium . various forms of gellan gum have been described . ( u . s . pat . no . 4 , 503 , 084 , baird et al .) e . g ., native , deacetylated , deacetylated clarified , partially deacetylated , and partially deacetylated clarified . as used hereinafter , &# 34 ; gellan &# 34 ; gum shall refer only to low acetyl ( la ) gellan gum , i . e ., a gellan gum wherein the acetyl level is 0 . 3 - 0 % ( wt .). xanthan gum is an extracellular polysaccharide produced during fermentation of carbohydrates by xanthamonas campestris and other bacteria of the genus xanthomonas . the gum is manufactured in industrial scale and is used widely as , for example , a thickener in foods . cassia gum , like lbg , is a pod extract , derived from cassia occidentalis or fistula . the following plant extracts are described in &# 34 ; polysaccharides in food &# 34 ;, blanshard et al ., 232 - 235 , buttersworth & amp ; co ., ltd ., 1979 . locust bean gum ( lbg ) is an extract of the locust bean or carob , ceratonia siligua . it is commercially available and used as a stabilizer in foods such as ice cream , sausages , and cheese . chemically , lbg is a galactomannan . konjak ( or konjac ) gum is a glucomannan extracted from the plant amorphophallus konjac . tara gum is a vegetable gum derived from the seed of the legume cesalpinia spinosa . the texture profile of a gel can be evaluated in terms of four parameters : modulus , hardness , brittleness , and elasticity . these are standard gel properties that are determined , for example , on an instron 4201 universal testing machine , which compresses the sample to about 1 / 4 of its original height two times in succession . the sample is compressed twice so that the amount of structure breakdown can be determined . modulus is the first parameter that is determined when testing a sample . the modulus is the initial slope of the force - deformation curve . this is a measure of how the sample behaves when compressed a small amount . the modulus usually correlates very closely with a sensory perception of the sample &# 39 ; s firmness . modulus is expressed in units of force per unit area ( pounds per square inch or newton &# 39 ; s per square centimeter ). hardness is defined as the maximum force that occurs at any time during the first compression cycle . it may occur when the gel initially breaks , or it may occur later in the test as the sample is flattened and deformed . in most cases , the hardness is correlated to the rupture strength of the material . it is expressed in units of force ( pounds or newtons ). brittleness is defined as the first significant drop in the force - deformation curve during the first compression cycle . this is the point of first fracture or cracking of the sample . a gel that fractures very early in the compression cycle is considered to be more brittle or fragile than one that breaks later . brittleness is measured as the % strain required to break the gel . as the number gets smaller , it indicates a more brittle gel at a lower strain level . following the first compression cycle , the force is removed from the sample as the instron crosshead moves back up . a measure of the sample &# 39 ; s elasticity is taken as the second compression cycle is begun . by noting where the force begins to increase during this second compression cycle , a measure of the sample height may be obtained . if the sample returned to its original height , the elasticity would be 100 %. the elasticity is a measure of how much the original structure of the sample was broken down by the initial compression . in sensory terms , it can be thought of as how &# 34 ; rubbery &# 34 ; the sample will feel in the mouth . the units are dimensionless and expressed as a %. it has been found that varying the ratio of xanthan : galactomannan has an effect on three of these parameters : hardness , modulus , and brittleness . but , surprisingly and unexpectedly , although the addition of xanthan / galactomannan increases the elasticity of gellan gels , varying the ratio of xanthan to galactomannan has little effect on elasticity . thus , this three - component blend allows the practioner to prepare a broad range of gelled food products with reduced brittleness and greater elasticity relative to la gellan gum along and a controlled degree of hardness and modulus . the blend is particularly useful in pet foods , i . e ., gelled or restructured meat products ; confectionery jellies ; jams ; low calorie jams and jellies ; gelled milk desserts ; water - based desserts ; aspics ; pie fillings ; vegetable , fruit , or fish gels ; syrups ; or toppings . depending on the particular food , use levels of the blends can range from 0 . 1 to 1 . 5 %, based on total product weight . the gum blends of this invention comprise gellan :( xanthan / galactomannan ) in the ratios by weight 95 : 5 to 5 : 95 wherein the ratio xanthan / galactomannan ranges from 4 : 1 to 1 : 4 and the galactomannan is locust bean or tara gum with the proviso that when the galactomannan is lbg the ratio is not 2 : 1 : 1 . the invention also comprises aqueous gels comprising 0 . 1 to 1 . 5 % ( wt .) of the gum blends . in place of lbg or tara , either cassia gum or konjak gum may be used on a weight - for - weight basis . the use of konjak produces a greater loss in hardness and a smaller decrease in brittleness relative to lbg . the invention also comprises a gelled food product comprising a matrix having one or more food ingredients dispersed therein , said food ingredients being selected from the group consisting of vegetable , fruit , meat , fish , sugar , milk , and mixtures thereof , said matrix comprising 0 . 1 to 1 . 5 %, based on total product weight , of a blend of gellan :( xanthan / galactomannan ) in the ratios by weight 95 : 5 to 5 : 95 wherein the ratio xanthan / galactomannan ranges from 4 : 1 to 1 : 4 and the galactomannan is locust bean or tara gum . the gelled food products are restructured meat ; confectionary jellies ; jams ; low caloric jams and jellies ; gelled milk desserts ; water - based desserts ; aspics ; pie fillings ; vegetable , fruit , or fish gels ; syrups or toppings . the gum blends of table i are within the scope of this invention . table i______________________________________gum blends ratio by weightblend gellan xanthan galac______________________________________ 1 5 1 4 2 10 3 7 3 10 7 3 4 5 4 1 5 10 1 1 6 5 1 1 7 2 . 5 1 1 8 1 1 1 9 0 . 66 1 110 4 0 . 7 0 . 311 3 1 . 4 0 . 612 2 2 . 1 0 . 913 1 2 . 8 1 . 214 8 1 115 3 1 116 2 1 . 5 1 . 517 1 2 218 4 0 . 3 0 . 719 3 0 . 6 1 . 420 2 0 . 9 2 . 121 1 1 . 2 2 . 822 2 2 123 2 . 5 1 . 5 124 1 . 33 1 125 2 1 1______________________________________ the invention is further defined by reference to the following examples , which are intended to be illustrative and not limiting . various ratios of xanthan / lbg ( 95 : 5 , 80 : 20 , 70 : 30 , 30 : 70 , 20 : 80 , 5 : 95 ) were evaluated in combination with gellan gum . as shown in table 1 -- 1 , each blend ratio affects the texture of gellan gum gels in a way that is determined , for the most part , by the predominant hydrocolloid in the xanthan / lbg blend . for example , the addition of 0 . 25 % xanthan or 0 . 25 % lbg alone has virtually no effect on the hardness value of a 0 . 25 % gellan gum gel ( 1 . 92 lbs and 2 . 00 lbs , respectively ). the addition of 0 . 25 % xanthan / lbg ( 4 : 1 to 1 : 4 ), taking advantage of their combined effect , increases the hardness value to between 2 . 52 and 3 . 12 lbs . shifting the ratio of the xanthan / lbg blend outside the range 4 : 1 to 1 : 4 so that one or the other hydrocolloid predominates gives a gel whose hardness value shifts towards what the value would be if the predominant hydrocolloid was used , alone , in combination with gellan gum . the data for the modulus and brittleness parameters show that gellan gum gels , in combination with xanthan / lbg ( varying ratios ), exhibit the same trends seen with the hardness parameter , i . e ., the extent of texture modification is dependent on the ratio of the added xanthan / lbg blend . however , while the addition of xanthan / lbg to gellan gum increases gel elasticity , varying the ratios of the xanthan / lbg blend does not significantly change the elasticity value . table 1 - 1______________________________________effect on xanthan / lbg on gellan gels . sup . 1 xan / xan . sup . 2 / gellan lbg hardness modulus brit . elas . lbg . sup . 3 (%) (%) ( lbs ) ( lbs / in . sup . 2 ) (%) (%) ______________________________________1 . -- 0 . 25 % -- 1 . 92 1 . 84 35 . 00 11 . 602 . -- 0 . 50 -- 4 . 71 3 . 88 33 . 86 13 . 783 . 100 : 0 0 . 25 0 . 25 1 . 92 1 . 7 31 . 9 31 . 14 . 5 : 95 0 . 25 0 . 25 2 . 14 1 . 72 33 . 1 40 . 55 . 20 : 80 0 . 25 0 . 25 2 . 52 1 . 3 39 . 2 356 . 30 : 70 0 . 25 0 . 25 2 . 83 1 . 2 41 . 5 35 . 37 . 70 : 30 0 . 25 0 . 25 3 . 12 1 . 2 44 . 4 30 . 98 . 80 : 20 0 . 25 0 . 25 2 . 77 1 . 2 42 . 0 29 . 49 . 95 : 5 0 . 25 0 . 25 2 . 31 1 . 5 36 . 2 32 . 110 . 0 : 100 0 . 25 0 . 25 2 . 00 1 . 9 30 . 6 35 . 3______________________________________ . sup . 1 0 . 004 m ca . sup .++ was used to cause gelations . . sup . 2 keltrol . sup . r , xanthan gum , trademark of merck & amp ; co ., inc ., rahway n . j . . sup . 3 supercol 911 , locust bean gum . blends of xanthan / lbg ( keltrol ® and supercol - 911 ) in the ratio 1 : 1 were added to gellan and the resulting gels evaluated . the gellan was gelled using 0 . 004m ca ++ . gum concentrations are by weight . the data of table 2 - 1 were obtained . table 2 - 1______________________________________ xan ./ gellan lbg hardness modulus brit . elas . (%) (%) ratio ( lbs ) ( lbs / in . sup . 2 ) (%) (%) ______________________________________1 . 0 . 25 0 . 0 -- 1 . 92 1 . 84 35 . 00 11 . 602 . 0 . 00 1 . 0 -- 4 . 13 0 . 28 69 . 79 77 . 83 . 0 . 25 0 . 05 10 : 1 : 1 2 . 09 1 . 5 34 . 6 17 . 54 . 0 . 25 0 . 1 5 : 1 : 1 2 . 77 1 . 72 36 . 55 24 . 235 . 0 . 25 0 . 2 2 . 5 : 1 : 1 2 . 93 1 . 1 44 . 08 28 . 996 . 0 . 25 0 . 50 1 : 1 : 1 4 . 87 0 . 51 58 . 3 43 . 537 . 0 . 25 0 . 75 . 66 : 1 : 1 7 . 14 0 . 47 61 . 18 51 . 17______________________________________ blends of xanthan / lbg ( keltrol ® and supercol - 911 ) in the ratio 7 : 3 were added to gellan and the resulting gels evaluated . the gellan was gelled using 0 . 004m ca ++ . the total gum concentration was 0 . 5 % by weight . the data of table 3 - 1 were obtained . table 3 - 1______________________________________ xan ./ gellan lbg hardness modulus brit . elas . (%) (%) ( lbs ) ( lbs / in . sup . 2 ) (%) (%) ______________________________________1 . 0 . 40 0 . 10 4 . 06 2 . 9 35 . 6 22 . 42 . 0 . 30 0 . 20 3 . 34 1 . 5 40 . 4 26 . 63 . 0 . 20 0 . 30 2 . 79 0 . 77 50 . 2 26 . 54 . 0 . 10 0 . 40 2 . 65 0 . 41 62 . 0 42 . 15 . -- 0 . 50 1 . 4 0 . 14 69 . 8 68 . 8______________________________________ blends of xanthan / lbg ( keltrol ® and supercol - 911 ) in the ratio 1 : 1 were added to gellan and the resulting gels evaluated . the gellan was gelled using 0 . 004m ca ++ . the total gum concentration was 0 . 5 % by weight . the data of table 4 - 1 were obtained . table 4 - 1______________________________________ xan ./ gellan lbg hardness modulus brit . elas . (%) (%) ( lbs ) ( lbs / in . sup . 2 ) (%) (%) ______________________________________1 . 0 . 40 0 . 10 3 . 98 2 . 7 36 . 0 20 . 62 . 0 . 30 0 . 20 3 . 41 1 . 42 41 . 6 26 . 63 . 0 . 20 0 . 30 2 . 97 0 . 71 51 . 6 34 . 04 . 0 . 10 0 . 40 2 . 54 0 . 41 60 . 3 39 . 65 . -- 0 . 50 2 . 66 0 . 16 69 . 6 73 . 0______________________________________ blends of xanthan / lbg ( keltrol ® and supercol - 911 ) in the ratio 3 : 7 were added to gellan and the resulting gels evaluated . the gellan was gelled using 0 . 004m ca ++ . the total gum concentration was 0 . 5 % by weight . the data of table 5 - 1 were obtained . table 5 - 1______________________________________ xan ./ gellan lbg hardness modulus brit . elas . (%) (%) ( lbs ) ( lbs / in . sup . 2 ) (%) (%) ______________________________________1 . 0 . 40 0 . 10 3 . 82 2 . 9 34 . 7 22 . 12 . 0 . 30 0 . 20 3 . 15 1 . 5 39 . 7 39 . 33 . 0 . 20 0 . 30 2 . 6 0 . 81 47 . 5 31 . 24 . 0 . 10 0 . 40 2 . 28 0 . 46 61 . 0 33 . 65 . -- 0 . 50 3 . 53 0 . 16 69 . 9 70 . 8______________________________________ a series of experiments were run to compare gellan gum and gellan - xanthan / locust bean gum blends to one another at different ratios and use levels in a canned pet food product . two hundred and seventy five grams of ground pet food meat and offal were weighed into a no . 1 eastern can . a preweighed amount of gum in 25 mls of water was then added , and the can sealed and autoclaved at 250 ° f . ( 121 ° c .) for 80 minutes . the cans were carefully removed from the pressurized container , gently agitated for 1 minute , allowed to cool undisturbed , and left for a minimum of 24 hours before opening . ______________________________________ ratios testedsample no . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7______________________________________gellan 40 50 60 60 50 40 100xanthan 40 30 20 20 25 30 -- lbg 20 20 20 20 25 30 -- total conc . 0 . 6 0 . 6 0 . 6 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 . 4 0 . 4 ( wt . %) ______________________________________ results showed that by increasing the ratio of xanthan / lbg to gellan a more elastic , less brittle gel was formed around the meat matrix ; i . e . 6 was less brittle than 4 and 5 , and 1 was less brittle that 2 and 3 . also , it is found that increasing the concentration of the blend from 0 . 4 % to 0 . 6 % provided a firmer , less brittle gel ; i . e ., 3 was firmer than 4 . in all cases , it was found that the blends gave less brittle and more elastic gels than no . 7 , the control sample , which produced a very brittle gel . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________tap water 46 . 07corn syrup 42de 28 . 89sucrose 17 . 88eclipse &# 34 ; g &# 34 ; ( starch ) 6 . 56gellan gum 0 . 20keltrol . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 15lbg 0 . 15magnesium chloride 0 . 10 100 . 00______________________________________ the gellan gum , keltrol , and lbg are dry blended with approximately 10 % of the sucrose and dispersed in the tap water with mechanical agitation . using a steam kettle , the gellan gum dispersion is heated to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c . corn syrup is added to the heated dispersion and mixing continued for one minute . the starch is dry blended with the remaining ingredients and added to the hot syrup . stirring and heating are continued until the mixture reaches 79 % soluble solids ( approximately 227 ° f ., 108 ° c .). at this point color and flavor are added to suit and the mix deposited into starch molds . the candies are removed for sanding after approximately 10 - 12 hours . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________frozen strawberries ( thawed ) 39 . 90sucrose 36 . 10frodex . sup . r corn syrup solids ( 42de ) 15 . 00tap water 8 . 00gellan gum 0 . 35keltrol . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 05lbg 0 . 10citric acid , anhydrous 0 . 40potassium sorbate 0 . 05sodium benzoate 0 . 05 100 . 00______________________________________ the gellan gum , keltrol , and lbg are dry blended with 60 g of sucrose and dispersed with agitation in 80 g of tap water . while stirring , the dispersion is heated to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c ., and this temperature maintained for a total of 15 minutes . the remaining dry ingredients are combined with the strawberries and the berry mixture heated with stirring to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c . the gum solution is combined with the berry mixture and stirring continued over a low flame until the mixture reaches 65 % soluble solids . the mixture is then poured into jars and cooled to room temperature or under refrigeration . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________frozen strawberries ( thawed ) 55 . 54sucrose 30 . 00tap water 13 . 80gellan gum 0 . 20keltrol . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 05lbg 0 . 10calgon ( sodium hexametaphosphate ) 0 . 20potassium sorbate 0 . 05sodium benzoate 0 . 05raspberry color ( warner jenkinson 7598 ) 0 . 01 100 . 00______________________________________ the gellan gum , keltrol ®, and lbg are dry blended with 60 g of sucrose and dispersed with agitation in 138 g of tap water . while stirring , the dispersion is heated to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c ., and this temperature maintained for a total of 15 minutes . the remaining dry ingredients are combined with the strawberries and the berry mixture heated with stirring to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c . the gum solution is combined with the berry mixture and stirring continued over a low flame until the mixture reaches 38 % soluble solids . the mixture is then poured into jars and cooled to room temperature or under refrigeration . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________a . for koshian ( red bean paste ) corn syrup 42de 44 . 10 tap water 34 . 69 red bean flour 21 . 20 sodium chloride 0 . 01 100 . 00 % b . for final product : koshian 41 . 30 corn syrup 42de 37 . 20 tap water 21 . 10 clarified gellan gum 0 . 30 keltrol t . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 06 clarified lbg 0 . 04 100 . 00 % ______________________________________ with mechanical agitation , the corn syrup is added to the tap water with mild heating until a solution is obtained ( approximately 3 minutes ). the red bean flour and sodium chloride are added to the mixture which is then heated to 180 ° f ., 82 ° c ., and held at this temperature until a thick , red bean paste is formed . with mechanical agitation , the gellan gum , keltrol t ®, and lbg are dispersed in the tap water . the dispersion is heated to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c ., and held at this temperature for 10 minutes . the koshian is added gradually and mixing continued at 170 ° f ., 77 ° c ., for 3 minutes . the corn syrup is then added with mixing at 2 / 3 °, 77 ° c ., for a further 3 minutes . the mix is poured into rectangular - shaped molds and cooled at room temperature or under refrigeration . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________tap water 84 . 465sucrose 15 . 00clarified gellan gum 0 . 40keltrol t . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 05clarified lbg 0 . 05magnesium chloride 0 . 025sodium chloride 0 . 01 100 . 000 % ______________________________________ with mechanical agitation , the gellan gum , keltrol t , and lbg are dispersed in the tap water and the gellan gum dispersion heated to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c ., and held at this temperature for 10 minutes . the magnesium chloride and sodium chloride are added and mixing continued for 1 minute . the sucrose is then added gradually and mixing continued for a further 3 minutes . the mix is poured into rectangular molds and cooled at room temperature or under refrigeration . when cold , the gelled product was then cut into dice shaped pieces . ______________________________________ingredients wt . % ______________________________________i . fruit mix apricot puree 35 . 00 sucrose 10 . 00 tap water 3 . 20 citric acid 1 . 00 sodium citrate 0 . 80 50 . 00ii . gellan gum mix tap water 39 . 20 sucrose 10 . 00 gellan gum 0 . 50 keltrol ® xanthan gum 0 . 16 lbg 0 . 14 50 . 00______________________________________ the ingredients in the fruit mix are combined and the mixture heated to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c ., with stirring . the gellen gum , keltrol and lbg are dry blended with the sucrose in the gellan gum mix and dispersed in the tap water . the solution is then heated with stirring to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c ., and stirring continued at this temperature for 15 minutes . the fruit mix and the gellan gum mix are combined and heating and stirring continued until mixing is complete ( approximately 15 seconds ). the mixture is poured into molds and cooled to room temperature or under refrigeration . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________tap water 85 . 73sucrose 13 . 07adipic acid 0 . 58sodium citrate 0 . 27clarified gellan gum 0 . 20keltrol tf . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 06clarified lbg 0 . 04strawberry flavor ( firmenich 59 . 389 / ap ) 0 . 04fd & amp ; c . red no . 40 0 . 01 100 . 00______________________________________ the dry ingredients are blended and added to boiling water with stirring until all the dry ingredients are dissolved . the solution is poured into molds and cooled at room temperature or under refrigeration . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________tap water 98 . 35sodium chloride 1 . 0meat flavoring ( maggi no 7821 ) 0 . 3clarified gellan gum 0 . 25keltrol tf . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 05clarified lbg 0 . 05 100 . 00______________________________________ the gums are dispersed in the water and the dispersion heated to 170 ° f ., 76 . 6 ° c . salt and meat flavoring are added to the resulting solution which is then poured into appropriate containers and allowed to cool to room temperature . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________water 72 . 818sugar 21 . 86col - flo 67 starch ( national starch ) 3 . 56powdered lemon juice / corn syrup 1 . 00citric acid 0 . 32gellan gum 0 . 10salt 0 . 08keltrol . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 08lbg 0 . 08calcium chloride 0 . 05calgon ( sodium hexametaphosphate ) 0 . 04titanium dioxide 0 . 01fd & amp ; c yellow no . 5 0 . 002 100 . 000______________________________________ the gellan gum , sugar , starch , titanium dioxide , calgon , xanthan gum , lbg , and color are thoroughly mixed together and the resulting mixture sieved through a fine mesh screen . the lemon juice powder , salt , citric acid and calcium chloride are dry blended and the blend set aside . the mix containing the gellan gum is added to the water under shear in a steam jacketed kettle and mixing continued for 3 to 4 minutes . this slurry is then heated to 190 ° f ., 88 ° c ., and held 5 minutes at this temperature . the blend containing the lemon juice powder is added to the hot mix with stirring until thoroughly dispersed . the uniform mix is then removed from the heat , poured into a precooked pie shell , cooled and refrigerated . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________cooked drained ground beef 53 . 62water 44 . 26glucono - delta - lactone 1 . 11gellan gum 0 . 35potassium sorbate 0 . 15sodium metabisulfite 0 . 15calgon ( sodium hexametaphosphate ) 0 . 13keltrol . sup . r xanthan gum 0 . 10lbg 0 . 10calcium chloride 0 . 03 100 . 00______________________________________ a blend of the gellan gum , xanthan gum , lbg and calgon is added to the water under high shear and mixing continued for 4 to 5 minutes . after heating the mix to 180 ° f ., 82 ° c ., the meat is added with stirring . stirring is continued for 1 minute and a blend of potassium sorbate , sodium metabisulfite , glucono - delta - lactone and calcium chloride added . the final mix is removed from heat and cooled under refrigeration . ______________________________________ingredients : wt . % ______________________________________milk , whole 86 . 166sugar , baker &# 39 ; s special 13 . 03gellan gum 0 . 35keltrol xanthan gum 0 . 06lbg 0 . 06calgon ( sodium hexametaphosphate ) 0 . 17salt 0 . 09vanilla no . 15 0 . 09fd & amp ; c yellow no . 5 0 . 003fd & amp ; c yellow no . 6 0 . 001 100 . 000______________________________________ the dry ingredients are blended together and added to the milk with vigorous agitation . the mixture is heated to 160 ° f ., 71 ° c ., and held at this temperature for 10 minutes before being poured into serving dishes and cooled to 40 ° f ., 4 ° c . | 0 |
fig1 illustrates a conventional prior art current mirror . output node 10 is coupled to the collector of transistor 12 . the base of transistor 12 is coupled to transistor 18 and further to input node 14 . the emitters of transistors 12 and 18 are coupled together and further coupled to reference voltage vs . the reference current node 16 is coupled to the collector of 18 . fig2 is a current vs . voltage ( i - v ) curve trace of a typical collector current vs . collector - emitter voltage for a variety of base - emitter voltages for a bipolar transistor . the dotted line indicates the ideal , in which collector current is independent of collector - emitter voltage . fig3 illustrates the improved current mirror of the invention , 34 . output node 20 is coupled to the collector of transistor 22 and is further coupled to the resistor 24 . the base of transistor 26 is coupled to output node 20 through resistor 24 . the emitter of transistor 26 is coupled to the collector of 28 and the collector of 26 is coupled to the reference current output node 32 . the base of transistor 28 is coupled to the base of transistor 22 and to the current node 30 . the emitter of transistor 28 is coupled to the emitter of transistor 22 and to the voltage supply vs . in operation , the output transistor 22 supplies current to the output load at output node 20 . transistor 28 reflects the current as in the prior art circuit so that the current at the emitter of 22 is proportional to the current flowing in the emitter of 28 . transistor 26 in the figure couples the voltage at the output node 20 to the collector of 28 . the voltage across the collector - emitter of 22 is now directly related to the voltage across the collector - emitter of transistor 28 . the mathematical relationship is : since vbe26 is fairly small , the collector - emitter voltages of the output transistor 22 and the sampling transistor 28 are virtually equal . as discussed above , so long as the collector - emitter voltages of 22 and 28 are equal , the collector currents will be equal as well . substituting the expression for vce22 above , and simplifying the expression containing va gives : ## equ1 ## as va & gt ;& gt ; vbe26 , this ratio approximates unity which clearly shows the advantage of reflecting the output voltage back to the transistor 28 in maintaining the accuracy of the reference current ic28 . this current is the current flowing through 26 and out of its emitter and is therefore extremely close to the current flowing out of the output node 20 over a wide range of conditions . fig4 illustrates a current limiting circuit which embodies the invention . the improved current mirror 34 is coupled to the output node 20 , to a node for a limited current source , 30 , and to a reference current node 32 . a current regulating circuit is coupled to a voltage reference vref and to the improved current mirror at nodes 30 and 32 . the current regulating circuit is comprised of a current limiting circuit 36 and a current predriving circuit 38 . more specifically , current limiter 36 is comprised of transistor 42 which is diode - coupled between reference current node 32 and a common voltage terminal ; and transistor 44 which has its base coupled to the base of 42 and couples a current source node 40 to the common voltage terminal through its conductance path . resistor 46 is coupled between the bases of transistors 42 and 44 and the common voltage . current predriving circuit 38 is comprised of transistor 48 , transistor 56 and several bias resistors . transistor 48 is diode coupled to the reference voltage vref , with its emitter coupled to the base of transistor 56 ; and having bias resistors 52 and 50 . transistor 56 has bias resistor 54 coupled between its base and emitter , has its emitter coupled to a common voltage through resistor 58 , and its collector coupled to the current input node for the current mirror circuit 34 through a current limiting resistor 60 . the limited current node 30 is coupled to the collector of 56 through the resistor 60 . the current reference node 40 is coupled to the collector of 48 . in operation , an output is coupled to output node 20 . the current regulating circuit is coupled to the invention . the current regulating circuit is comprised of current limiting circuit 36 and a current predrive circuit 38 . the sampled current flowing from the collector of transistor 26 is coupled to the current limiter at diode connected transistor 42 . the current flowing into 42 will forward bias it and transistor 44 at some point . the current flowing into transistor 44 is taken out of the collector of transistor 48 at current source node 40 . as the current flowing into the current limiting circuit increases in proportion to the current flowing at the output , transistor 48 will enter saturation and the current flowing in its collector will be reduced . this phenomenon will continue as the current flowing from the output node increases , until 48 loses gain and limits the drive to the transistor 56 . as 56 sees less voltage and current available at its base , the current flowing in its collector will drop , thus limiting the current available in the collector of 22 and therefore limiting the current available at the output . resistors 56 , 58 , and 54 allow the design parameters to be controlled , by choosing appropriate values a person skilled in the art can determine how much current will be allowed to flow out of the output node before limiting occurs . resistor 24 provides for proper operation of the circuitry when the the output node is at a very low potential or short circuited . without resistor 24 the collector of transistor 26 will saturate and 26 will not have enough voltage to drive transistors 42 and 44 . with resistor 24 , the voltage drop from the output node to the collector of 26 will generate sufficient biasing voltage to enable 26 to continue to drive 42 and 44 . this prevents the current limiting circuitry from shutting down under low output voltage conditions . under conditions when the output node voltage approaches the vs voltage , 22 will enter saturation and 28 will shut off . this provides better saturation for 22 . the output current in this situation is limited by the saturation characteristics of 22 . the operation of the circuit has been described assuming that the transistors 22 and 28 are of identical sizes and have identical beta parameters , similarly transistors 42 and 44 . by proportionally sizing the transistors 22 and 28 and similarly transistors 42 and 44 , the circuit will function as a current limiter wherein the sampled current is proportional to , but not equal to , the output current . it is the intent of this specification and the claims to cover these and other changes which persons skilled in the art could make without changing the function of the circuitry . fig5 illustrates a second embodiment of a current limiting circuit which incorporates the invention . the output node , 64 , is tied to the load circuit , as before . the current mirror circuit , comprised of transistors 68 , 70 and 74 , and resistor 72 , is the invention as described above . transistors 78 , 80 and resistor 76 make up the current limit circuit , while transistors 82 , 84 and resistors 86 , 88 and 90 make up the current predrive circuit . transistor 96 and resistors 98 and 100 comprise an input control for setting a threshold voltage . bias resistors 94 and 92 control the voltage at the base of transistor 82 . resistor 102 is a turn off resistor for transistors 70 and 68 . the operation of the circuit illustrated in fig5 is essentially unchanged from that of the circuit illustrated in fig4 . as the output current begins to flow , the sampled current flowing into the current source circuit will forward bias transistors 78 and 80 . the current taken into the collector of 80 will reduce the current flowing into the collector of 82 . eventually the current drawn into the collector of 80 in the current source circuitry will starve the base of 84 in the current regulation circuitry , the current flowing into the collector of 84 will drop and the current available at the collector of 68 will drop , thus limiting the current available at the output . current control can be achieved by choosing the sizes and beta parameters of the various transistors so as to limit the output current to the desired level . resistor 86 sets the maximum drive available to transistors 68 and 70 . resistor 104 controls the current at the output by limiting the base currents of transistors 68 and 70 . the inherent resistance of the collector of transistor 68 will control the current flowing into the circuit when transistor 68 enters saturation resistors 100 and 98 set the input threshold voltage . these resistors , along with transistor 96 , control the voltage at the base of transistor 82 , which can be used to regulate the output voltage . as in the embodiment of fig4 appropriate transistor sizing can be used to create a sampled current which is proportional to the output current . while this invention has been described with reference to the illustrative embodiments , this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments , as well as other embodiments of the invention , will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description . it is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments . | 6 |
the invention is a method and plurality of devices to repel flies from a building entrance or an outdoor area . the basic embodiment of the invention consists of a clear rigid housing sealed with at least one endcap which is filled with a clear transparent liquid . a reflective element is then inserted into the center of the housing and a plug is threaded to prevent evaporation of the liquid within . this invention may be hung on a wall or ceiling through the use of a hanging loop , or it may be placed on a surface such as a table top . ambient light passes through the clear rigid housing and the liquid , reflects off the metallic element , and is refracted following snell &# 39 ; s law , resulting in the prismatic effect . changes in the refracted light disrupt the visual functions of flies , and they are repelled from the area . for the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention , reference will now be made to the specific embodiments , or examples , illustrated in the drawings . though specific language will be used to describe the specific embodiments , it will nevertheless be understood that no limitation to the scope of the invention is intended . any alterations and further modifications to the described embodiments , and any further applications of the principles of the invention as described herein are fully contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates . referring initially to fig1 , an exploded perspective view of the repellant device 1 is shown . as depicted , the repellant device 1 is comprised of a cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 which is tubular in shape in this embodiment . the cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 is formed of any suitable material for use in outdoor settings . for example , but without limitation , cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 can be formed of polymeric materials ( such as polycarbonate , acrylic , cellulose acetate butyrate , polyvinyl chloride , and other polymers ), or ceramic materials ( such as soda lime glass , laminated glass , tempered glass , borosilicate glass , or other ceramics ). the invention is also comprised of one or more endcaps 3 and 4 . the endcaps 3 and 4 may be formed of polymeric or metallic materials . superior endcap 3 has a threaded hole 15 for filling and changing of the clear transparent liquid 10 , shown in fig2 - 14 . the threads in superior endcap 3 mate with the threaded section 14 on metallic element 12 , allowing the metallic element 12 to be threaded into superior endcap 3 . both superior endcap 3 and inferior endcap 4 have a counterbore 16 which mates to cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 . counterbore 16 aligns endcaps 3 and 4 to cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 and fixates the endcaps to the housing by use of an interference fit . alternatively , the ends of clear rigid housing 2 and the walls of the counterbore 16 may be threaded together or joined by another method known to one skilled in the art , such as ultrasonic welding or gluing . waterproof seals 9 , are placed over the joints between cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 and endcaps 3 and 4 . these seals may be formed of silicone , epoxy , or another sealant known to one skilled in the art . reflective element 12 is comprised of metallic shaft 5 , threaded region 14 , proximal plug region 6 , hanging mechanism 7 , and engagement mechanism 13 . the engagement mechanism 13 may be a hexagonal recess , a single recess for mating with a flathead - type screwdriver , a cross - shaped recess for mating with a phillips - head - type screwdriver , any geometrical recess , any other type of recess for mating with a driver , and combinations thereof . the hanging mechanism 7 , may be a mobile loop , a fixed loop , a hook , or any other projection for mating with a hanger . the proximal plug region 6 is an enlarged diameter region greater than the diameter of metallic shaft 5 and threaded hole 15 . the metallic shaft 5 is the surface from which ambient light is reflected when the invention is used . reflective element 12 may be formed from one or multiple components . in the preferred embodiment , reflective element 12 is machined from one piece of a corrosion resistant stainless steel such as carpenter custom 630 ( 17cr - 4ni ) stainless steel . the reflective element 12 may be formed of copper , titanium , aluminum , or another metallic element or alloy . in other embodiments , the proximal plug section 6 may be polymeric and glued to a stainless steel metallic shaft 5 . the surface of the metallic shaft 5 may be passivated , electropolished , polished , anodized , or chrome coated to increase the amount of reflection from the surface . once sealed , repellant device 1 can be filled with a clear transparent fluid 10 . reflective element 12 can be passed through gasket 8 in order to create a waterproof seal once proximal plug region 6 is fully seated after being threaded into threaded hole 15 with assistance from a screwdriver engaging into engagement mechanism 13 . fig2 shows repellant device 1 fully assembled . in the preferred embodiment , the clear transparent fluid 10 is distilled water . a chemical stabilizer such as liquid or dry chlorine may be added to prevent stagnation . the repellant device 1 may be assembled in a vacuum environment in order to create a vacuum within interior cavity 11 to prevent the growth of aerobic organisms . a vacuum may also be created through other methods such as those commonly used in canning foods . fig3 shows an embodiment with a plurality of facets 17 machined onto metallic shaft 5 . the facets 17 create reflective surfaces at different angles which results in a magnification of the prismatic effect . fig4 shows an embodiment where metal turnings 18 are used as reflective elements within clear transparent liquid 10 instead of metallic shaft 5 . the metal turnings 18 may be formed of stainless steel , copper , aluminum , titanium , or another metallic element or alloy . the metal turnings 18 may be passivated , chrome coated , or electropolished . in this embodiment , it may be necessary to add salt or another solute to the clear transparent liquid 10 in order to create a liquid density such that the metal turnings 18 will not sink to the bottom of interior cavity 11 . fig5 shows an embodiment with a plurality of facets 19 machined onto cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 . the facets 19 create refractive surfaces at different angles which results in a magnification of the prismatic effect . fig6 shows an embodiment with regions of varying refractive index 20 - 24 are found on clear rigid housing 2 . fig6 shows these regions in a horizontal orientation . it would also be possible to orient these regions in a vertical , diagonal , or random orientation . the varying refractive index regions 20 - 24 may be produced by various manufacturing techniques known to those skilled in the art , such as tempering , grinding , or etching . the varying refractive index regions 20 - 24 create different dispersion patterns of light , which may magnify the repellant effect of the invention . fig7 shows an aesthetic embodiment 26 , for use on a front porch or next to the entrance to a building . in aesthetic embodiment 26 , the cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 is replaced with a polyhedron shaped clear rigid housing , in this case an octahedron clear rigid housing 28 . the octahedron clear rigid housing may be formed of the same materials as cylindrical clear rigid housing 2 . inferior endcap 4 is no longer necessary , and superior endcap 3 is replaced with octahedron superior endcap 27 in order to mate with the octahedron clear rigid housing 28 . this embodiment illustrates how this invention may be designed with other three - dimensional geometric shapes not explicitly shown in this application . fig8 shows a plurality of repellant devices 1 on an outdoor table 25 . other recommended applications of this invention include hanging adjacent to building entrances , in restaurant kitchens , in horse stables , and in daycare centers . | 0 |
fig2 - 3 depict an assembly according to preferred embodiments of the invention . an internal combustion engine 1 serves as a primary source of torque for driving a drive train which includes a transmission 3 , associated drive shafts , differentials between driven wheels , and in the case of four wheel drive vehicles , a transfer case 5 to provide torque split between front and rear axles . a regenerative torque source ( 12 ) is employed for supplying auxiliary torque on demand to the drive train and for storing energy during deceleration / vehicle braking . a torque summation device ( such as integrated pump / motor )( 10 ) is disposed between the engine and transmission in one preferred embodiment . the present invention is particularly suited for delivering complementary torque to the drive train as needed . the amount of torque delivered to the transmission is the sum of the torque supplied by the engine and the torque supplied by the regenerative torque source . depending on vehicle conditions , such as torque demand , and the amount of torque available from either the engine or the regenerative torque source 10 / 12 , the regenerative torque control module ( 20 ) rtcm serves to control the amount of torque delivered by the engine and regenerative torque source . the rtcm 20 computes how to split the delivery of torque between the engine 1 and regenerative torque source 10 / 12 . torque supplied by the regenerative torque source may be either supplementary ( additive ) or complementary ( replacement ) to the engine torque . the percentage of torque supplied by the engine or regenerative torque source depends on the operating conditions of the vehicle , torque demand , and the available torque that can be supplied by either source at a given time . the resultant torque is the sum of the two torque sources . the rtcm 20 contains the necessary algorithms to control the regenerative torque source for selectively and appropriately supplying torque to the drive train as needed . the engine , on the other hand , is controlled by an ( electronic control module ) ecm 22 , usually supplied by the manufacturer of the engine . modern internal combustion engines are very complex . the engines are controlled in response to an array of sensed vehicle conditions . sensors such as oxygen sensors , vehicle speed sensors , engine speed sensors , and a host of other inputs are all used by the ecm 22 to efficiently manage the engine &# 39 ; s performance . firing sequencing , control of injectors etc . are all dynamic parts of a modern working engine . one of the sensed parameters is the accelerator pedal position sensor 24 ( app ). sensing the position of the accelerator pedal provides the primary request for torque from the engine . however , when a regenerative torque source applies complementary torque to the drive line the engine will not be controlled accurately . this is because , for a given torque demand indicated by the app sensor 24 , the engine 1 will attempt to supply the torque as requested by the app 24 sensor without knowledge that a portion of the desired torque is being supplied by the regenerative torque source 10 / 12 . this may result in an inconsistent torque response from the accelerator pedal . this is undesirable as it makes driving unintuitive , creates a distraction for the driver , and requires a particular skill to handle the operation of the vehicle during regenerative torque delivery . to overcome these problems , the rtcm intercepts and modifies the app signal . as previously described , the app is normally sent directly to the ecm 22 . however , in the arrangement of the present invention , the app is intercepted by the rtcm 20 . the rtcm 20 then modifies this signal appropriately when supplying auxiliary torque via the regenerative torque source 10 / 12 . for example , when the driver depresses the accelerator pedal , the vehicle conditions may warrant supplying a large amount of torque via the regenerative torque source 10 / 12 . in such an instance , little torque may be required from the engine 1 . if the engine 1 were to receive the original app signal 24 , it would deliver too much torque and the vehicle would not operate in accordance with the driver &# 39 ; s expectations . to prevent such a scenario , the rtcm 20 modifies the app 24 signal to artificially indicate a lesser accelerator pedal depression . this results in an ultimate torque delivery to the transmission 3 in accordance with the driver &# 39 ; s desire . as the rtcm 20 requests less torque from the regenerative torque source 10 / 12 , the rtcm 2 modifies the app 24 as seen by the ecm 22 to cause the engine 1 to increase its percentage of torque as needed . when conditions no longer require the application of any auxiliary torque , the actual app 24 is sent unmodified to the ecm 22 . in modern conventional vehicles , the ecm 22 also communicates with other system control modules , in particular the transmission control module tcm 30 , through a communication bus or other means . the tcm 30 may use the app 24 , engine torque signal or other signals generated by the ecm 22 to implement shift strategy . when complementary torque is being supplied by the regenerative torque source 10 / 12 , the transmission 3 would receive misleading signals from the ecm 22 and shift inappropriately . this is a result of the tcm 30 receiving signals representative of only the torque from the engine 1 when in fact is getting the sum of both engine torque and the torque supplied by the regenerative torque source 10 / 12 . to correct this drawback , the rtcm 20 intercepts the torque signal generated by the ecm 22 and modifies it accordingly as it supplies auxiliary torque from the regenerative torque source . the modified torque signal consists of a scaled sum of the percentage of engine torque and auxiliary torque . in this manner other control modules connected to the vehicle &# 39 ; s communication bus are unaware of the torque split . for transmissions that utilize the app 24 sensor , this signal may be modified by the rtcm 20 as well . fig4 depicts a perspective view of a conventional engine with an ecm . fig5 shows an engine wiring harness connected to the ecm while a vehicle wiring harness connects the ecm to all the various systems throughout the vehicle . because of the sophistication of modern engines and associated control modules , it not practical to replace the ecm or any other existing control module for every vehicle incorporating a rts . such would require a different rtcm 20 for each type of engine / transmission combination . thus it is desirable to maintain the use of the original ecm 22 and employ a retrofit arrangement whereby the rtcm 20 employs a pass - through device to allow an easy and simple retrofit connection without jeopardizing the original ecm &# 39 ; s 22 ability to receive all the various sensed conditions and signals and continue to control all of the various system components . the rtcm 20 controls the rts and intercepts and modifies only those signals which would otherwise incorrectly influence other control modules or systems . fig6 depicts an implementation according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the rtcm 20 is connected to the vehicle wire harness bundle connector ordinarily connected to the ecm 22 . the connection mirrors that of the ecm 22 . for systems involving multiple signals to different modules ( fig7 ), each wiring harness is duplicated in similar manner . for implementation across multiple engine / ecm 22 platforms , the rtcm 20 may employ an adapter between the rtcm 20 and the wire harness . the rtcm 20 intercepts the app 24 and any other signal that it needs to modify prior to broadcast to other system controllers . a second wire harness is provided from the rtcm 20 to the ecm 22 . for a plurality of bundled wires within the wire harness carrying various signals , they are simply passed through the rtcm 20 unaltered and forwarded to the ecm 22 . the output of the ecm 22 is also channeled back through the rtcm 20 . most of the ecm 22 output signals are simply passed through to the remaining vehicle systems / components . however , the rtcm 20 intercepts the signals such as the engine torque signal . during delivery of complementary torque , the engine 1 is providing only a fraction of the total driveline torque . the rtcm 20 modifies the engine torque signal to reflect the total torque applied to the transmission 3 . this signal is sent to the tcm 30 and any other control modules in the vehicle . during vehicle deceleration , the rts acts as a storage device . it is known in the art that energy conversion devices , such as pump motors and motor generators , are most efficient at specific speeds and thus are tuned accordingly . therefore , during deceleration , it is desirable to control the transmission 3 in an effort to rotate the drive shaft within a specified speed range thereby maximizing the efficiency of the energy conversion device and increasing stored energy . the rtcm 20 has full access to all the vehicle sensed parameters . the engine torque , app 24 and other signals may be modified by the rtcm 20 before being sent to the tcm 30 , thus forcing the tcm 30 to maintain shift points beneficial to energy conversion device operation and energy storage . this is valid for the configuration where energy is extracted between the engine 1 and transmission 3 . for a rts extracting torque below the transmission , a similar modification may benefit the energy recovery by maintaining a condition where engine braking is minimized . this mode of operation is a divergence from conventional down - shifting which is largely dependent on having the transmission shifted to make use of engine braking torque . the environment of a hybrid rts is very much different from conventional drive trains . the invention allows modification of vehicle transmission 3 operation during deceleration , to optimize energy conversion device speed which is heretofore void in the art . the rtcm 20 is configured such that in the event that the rts is disabled or inoperative , the signals that are intercepted by the rtcm 20 are switched automatically so as to pass through the unmodified control signals . fig8 shows the typical mechanism for this failsafe circuit . each signal entering and exiting the rtcm 20 is switched by a relay or other switching device . the switch defaults to bypass mode . when the rtcm 20 is powered and operating without fault conditions , the relay is switched on , which directs the control signal through the rtcm 20 . this arrangement allows the original ecm 22 , tcm 30 or other control modules to operate normally in the event of a failure or shutdown of the rts . for example , in the event of a power loss to the rts , the rts will be unable to store energy , and will be disabled . in this case , the failsafe relay circuitry will de - energize , and the engine , transmission , and other vehicle systems will continue to operate normally . the fail safe relay circuit can also respond to bypass input signals in response to other fault detected operating conditions . while the foregoing invention has been shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment , it will be understood by those possessing skill in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 1 |
reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout . fig1 shows a schematic diagram of an electric motor 1 . the electric motor 1 is fixed on a supporting stand 6 . the electric motor 1 comprises a shaft 9 , a drive - end motor end shield 4 and a non - drive - end motor end shield 5 which encompasses the machine housing of the electric motor 7 . the motor end shields 4 , 5 form the rear and front covers of the machine housing 7 . the interior of the machine is protected against contact by the motor end shields 4 , 5 , which accommodate the bearings of the shaft 9 . the drive - end motor end shield 4 designates the drive end and , as a rule , carries a fixed bearing . the non - drive - end motor end shield 5 is the “ fan shield ” and the bearing normally has a sliding fit . further , the electric motor 1 has a terminal box 2 . this terminal box 2 is securely connected to the electric motor 1 . the motor connecting cable can be connected to the electric motor 1 via a connection opening 8 of the terminal box 2 in order to supply energy . the terminal box 2 has a terminal box cover 3 . this terminal box cover 3 is mechanically connected to the terminal box 2 with the help of fixing elements . to enable the condition of the electric motor 1 to be monitored , the terminal box cover 3 has a sensor unit for recording a plurality of measured variables of the electric motor 1 . a communications device , which is integrated in the terminal box cover 3 , is designed to make a parameter that characterizes the respective measured variable and / or one of the measured variables available to a reading device 20 . here , communication between the communications device and the reading device 20 is wireless so that no cabling is necessary for the condition monitoring . further , the terminal box cover 3 comprises a supply unit to supply the sensor unit and the communications device with energy . the terminal box cover 3 therefore forms a condition monitoring system for the electric motor 1 . the advantage of a condition monitoring system of this kind for an electric motor 1 is that no elaborate installation ( cabling , parameterizing , etc .) is required . further , there is no safety - critical laying of exposed cables , as everything is already integrated in the terminal box cover 3 . a further major advantage is that retrospective fitting of a conventional electric motor with condition monitoring functions is made possible merely by replacing the terminal box cover with a terminal box cover 3 which includes the condition monitoring functionality . this is an enormous advantage for an end user . fig2 shows a schematic diagram of a side of the terminal box cover 3 from fig1 which faces the terminal box 2 in the fitted state . this terminal box cover 3 comprises a sensor unit 10 , a supply unit 12 , a communications device 11 and a device 13 for making the electronic rating plate available . the supply unit 12 supplies the sensor unit 10 , the communications device 11 and the device 13 for making the electronic rating plate available with electrical energy . here , the energy is obtained by coupling energy from the motor connecting cable . alternatively or in addition , the supply to the respective components can likewise be guaranteed by energy harvesting measures . further , the sensor unit 10 comprises a means 14 for partial discharge measurement , a means 15 for measuring a temperature of a stator winding of the electric motor and / or an ambient temperature of the electric motor , a means 16 for measuring an out - of - balance of the electric motor , a processor 17 and a memory 19 for storing the reference value of the electric motor and / or the determined measured variables or parameters . the terminal box cover 3 has suitable sensors 18 for determining the required measured values . as , furthermore , the terminal box cover 3 has reference values of the electric motor and a processor 17 and a memory 19 , condition monitoring can be carried out by the terminal box cover 3 . in doing so , the condition monitoring has a plurality of sub - steps . first of all , the condition is determined . in this regard , measured variables / machine parameters of the electric motor are measured by sensors of the sensor unit 10 . the actual condition of the electric motor is compared with a specified reference value by a state comparison . this reference value can be a setpoint to be maintained as well as a limit value of the electric motor which is not to be exceeded . the respective reference value and consequently the respective setpoint is determined either on machine acceptance or by specified variables depending on the parameter under investigation . reference values of this kind are preferably already available in the electronic rating plate of the respective electric motor . diagnosis of the determined measured value with the reference value is carried out in a next step . this is undertaken by a processor 17 which is mounted in the terminal box cover 3 . if the analysis is carried out in the terminal box cover 3 , a parameter that characterizes the measured variable is made available to the reading device via the communications device . this parameter signals whether or not a setpoint has been exceeded . further , any deviation of the measured variable compared with the reference variable can be indicated based on the parameter . if a subsequent analysis of the determined measured variables is carried out , then the parameter that characterizes the measured variable can likewise merely be a value which represents the measured variable . further , the integration of a memory 19 enables the history of the electric motor to be examined and analyzed in more detail . the history of the measured variables and / or parameters of the electric motor , for example , can be read out via the communications device 11 and analyzed by the external reading device . further , an analysis of this kind can likewise be carried out within the terminal box cover 3 with the help of the processor 17 . integrating the processor 17 enables the electric motor to be monitored continuously and the machine parameters recorded in real time . in this way , long - term trends as well as sudden or transient changes in condition can be recorded and continuously commented . the terminal box cover 3 enables an end user to easily fit a condition monitoring system with regard to the electric motor in his system retrospectively without elaborate cabling effort . he can therefore monitor the reliability of his system and his electric motor and consequently prolong the use of the electric motor . unexpected machine failures can consequently be avoided . further , the terminal box cover 3 enables the electric motor to be continuously checked both online and offline . a further advantage is that the terminal box cover 3 forms an independent unit and can therefore be fitted retrospectively in an already installed electric motor without major effort . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof and examples , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention covered by the claims which may include the phrase “ at least one of a , b and c ” as an alternative expression that means one or more of a , b and c may be used , contrary to the holding in superguide v . directv , 69 uspq2d 1865 ( fed . cir . 2004 ). | 6 |
referring now to the drawing with particular attention to fig1 there is shown a pressure transducer assembly generally designated by the reference numeral 10 . the transducer assembly 10 comprises a pressure transducer 12 , which in the present embodiment utilizes an active silicon plate that is driven in the thickness - shear mode . details of the transducer 12 will be discussed in a subsequent portion of the specification . a permanent magnet 14 is disposed in close proximity to the transducer 12 to provide a magnetic flux in a direction perpendicular to the silicon disc within the transducer 12 . the permanent magnet 14 is mounted on a disc 16 which is fabricated from a magnetic material and forms part of a magnetic structure surrounding the transducer 12 . a second magnetic disc 18 and four magnetic struts 20 ( best illustrated in fig2 and 3 ) complete the magnetic return path of the magnetic structure . the magnetic structure and the transducer 12 are supported within a housing 22 by four struts 24 . a material having a low thermal coefficient of expansion , such as invar , is used to form the struts 24 because its thermal coefficient of expansion approximately matches that of the silicon forming the transducer 12 . consequently , thermally induced variations in the readings of the transducer 12 are minimized . an electrical feed through 26 provides an electrical connection to the transducer assembly and an inlet port 28 allows the transducer 12 to communicate with the medium whose pressure is being measured . an access cover 30 provides access to the transducer assembly . the transducer 12 is shown in greater detail in fig4 and 5 . referring to fig4 the transducer assembly 12 has a central active resonant plate or disc 32 that has a circular reduced thickness resonant area 34 ( fig5 ). the disc 32 is preferably fabricated from silicon but could also be formed from other suitable materials . the resonant disc 32 is sandwiched between a pair of silicon plates 36 . each of the plates 36 has a reduced thickness area so that a cavity 40 is formed between the resonant area 34 and each of the plates 36 . each of the cavities 40 is filled with a low pressure gas . the pressure of the gas within the cavity 40 is low enough to permit the circular resonator area 34 to vibrate , but sufficient to transfer pressure changes to the circular area 34 upon deflection of the reduced area wall sections 38 caused by the pressure of the medium being monitored . preferably , the central area 34 is thinned down to vibrate in the thickness - shear mode in the 1 - 10 mhz range . fig6 shows the electrode pattern formed on the resonant area 34 of the disc 32 that causes the disc 34 to vibrate . the electrode pattern includes a plurality of vertical conductors 42 that are connected in parallel to a pair of connecting pads 44 and 46 . the pads 44 and 46 are connected in the feedback loop of an oscillator and during oscillation the conductors 42 are energized at a frequency determined by the resonant frequency of the resonator area 34 . the same pattern is also formed on the opposite side of the disc 34 and is also energized by the oscillator . however , the pads 44 and 46 are connected to the oscillator in the opposite polarity so that the current flows through the vertical conductors on the opposite sides of the disc 34 in opposite directions . the electrode pattern may be produced by various techniques , including the deposition of gold or another conductive metal or by depositing an epitaxial layer in the regions that are desired to be made conductive . as the current flows vertically through the conductors 42 and the conductors on the opposite side of the disc 32 in directions , a linear force directed along each surface of the resonator plate 34 induced . the force on one surface , such as the surface illustrated in fig6 will be in an opposite direction to the force induced on the opposite surface . therefore , the resonant area 34 will vibrate in the thickness - shear mode at the disc resonant frequency . the electrode pattern shown in fig6 will excite the basic 101 thickness - shear mode , however , other patterns may be configured to excite the higher modes if desired . the force produced by the current flowing through the conductors 42 shown in fig6 and those on the opposite side of the disc is given by the following equation : the approximate frequencies of vibration are given by the following relationship : χ mk = kth root of a bessel function of order m . obviously , many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings . thus , it is to be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described above . | 6 |
measurements of air in - leakage in steam surface condensers have been performed using a patented multi - sensor probe ( putman , supra ; u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 485 , 754 and 5 , 752 , 411 ; rheotherm ® flow instruments and rheovac ® multi - sensor air in - leakage instruments , intek , inc ., westerville , ohio 43082 ) since 1994 . this measurement is made in the exhauster vent line at a convenient location between the condenser shell and the exhauster suction port . there are four measurements made on the flowing gases along with reasonable assumptions regarding its composition that permit quantifying the mass flow rate of the gas mixture constituents . it is assumed that the mixture is composed of water vapor and air . all non - condensables being removed from the condenser are included in the measured amount of air . the probe , 10 , ( rheovac ® multi - sensor air in - leakage instrument ), shown in fig3 , consists of a dual probe thermal flow sensor , 12 , a temperature sensor , 14 , that also is used as the flow sensor reference , a pressure sensor port , 16 , and a sensor port , 18 , to measure the relative saturation of the water vapor component . a microprocessor based electronics package ( not shown ) provides for mathematical manipulations of thermodynamic equations describing the gas mixture to separate the total mass flow rate of the gases into the two identified components . in doing so , various properties are computed : air flow in - leak , total mass flow , water vapor flow , water partial pressure , actual volume flow , relative saturation , water vapor specific volume , water to air mass ratio , temperature , and pressure . the usefulness of these parameters have been discussed in several publications ( putman , harpster , both supra ; f . maner , et al ., “ performance enhancement with remote monitoring of condenser air in - leak ” power - gen &# 39 ; 99 americas conference proceedings ; f . maner , et al ., “ performance improvements based on measurement and management of air in - leak ” 1999 epri condenser technology conference , charleston , s . c ., aug . 30 - 31 , 1999 ) special focus is directed to the water - to - air mass ratio ( harpster , supra ) because of its generally clear indication for relating the threshold of air in - leakage to the onset of excess condenser backpressure . the instrument accuracy for measuring air in - leakage is about 1 scfm with a precision of 0 . 1 scfm when calibrated for a wide dynamic range . it was this instrument that allowed well - defined property measurements of gas in the vent line to permit precise quantification of subcooling within the condenser subsections and the identification of gas dynamics inside the condenser described herein . to understand the behavior of a condenser under the influence of air ingress , one must first understand its behavior without air , and other non - condensable gases . this view permits the luxury of examining a very simple hypothetical configuration without the complexity of obstructions and an air removal section ( ars ). this hypothetical condenser , 20 , is shown in fig4 . it would be a somewhat practical design if there were no air in - leakage or if there was no production of other non - condensable gases developed in the water and steam cycle , since all of the load could be condensed and a vacuum maintained . assume a hexagonal patterned , obstruction - free , tube bundle , 22 , of radius r = 12 . 37 ft , containing n t = 20 , 272 tubes ( not all shown ) of 1 inch outside diameter , 22 ga wall , located on 2 inch centers , and each tube length l = 68 feet . the density of tubes , d t , in the tube bundle becomes 42 . 16 tubes / ft 2 . assume further that circulating cooling water flow and applied load having a steam mass flow rate , 26 , of { dot over ( m )} s = 2 . 4441 × 10 6 lbs / hr , results in a hotwell temperature , t hw , in the hotwell , 24 , of 108 ° f . and a turbine exhaust steam backpressure p = 2 . 45 ″ hga . since it is common to expect the same circulating water outlet temperature for each tube , one can say without apology that each tube is responsible for condensing the same amount of steam at a rate given by : m . t = 2 . 4441 × 10 6 20 , 272 = 120 . 56 lb / hr eq . 11 for the purpose of gaining insight from this hypothetic condenser , inundation of the lower tubes has been ignored , i . e ., condensate falling from above and filling the space between the tubes and shutting off the ability of steam to reach these bottom tubes . we may further assume that the steam flow is distributed such that the velocity of the steam toward the tube bundle outer boundary area , a , is uniform over this total surface region and is radially directed inward . this velocity is given by : v r = m . s ( ρ s a ) = 36 . 0 ft / sec eq . 12 where the steam density ρ s is the inverse of the specific volume of entering steam , 26 , at the temperature of 108 ° f . for a familiar reference to all readers , this velocity is equivalent numerically to a speed of 24 . 6 mph , for this condenser . to see how this velocity changes throughout the bundle , one first examines the inward directed mass flow rate as a function of radial distance . the number of tubes , n r , that exist inside the cylindrical area described by radius , r , is the product of this area and the tube bundle density , d t , given by : n r = πr 2 d r . the portion of steam mass flow , 26 , reaching radius r , { dot over ( m )} r , then is simply n r , multiplied by the mass flow rate per tube , from equation 11 , given by : the steam velocity dependence on radial distance , then , is given by equation 13 divided by steam density and the cylindrical surface area of the tube bundle confining the tubes within radius , r , or : v r = m . t d t r 2 ρ l eq . 14 equation 14 shows that , for the geometry considered , the radial velocity is directly proportional to the radial distance going to zero at the geometric center of the tube bundle . the solid line in fig5 a and 5b shows the radial distribution of mass flow rate and velocity of steam for the ideal no air condenser ( along with other cases to be discussed later ). recall that the hotwell temperature is t hw = 108 ° f . and each tube has a condensation rate of { dot over ( m )} t = 120 . 56 lbs / hr . an acceptable assumed value for the circulation water velocity is v cw = 6 . 33 ft / sec . one also may assume an inlet circulating water temperature of t cw1 = 85 ° f . note also that the total condensing surface area , a , is 360 , 889 ft 2 derived from tube geometry and defined values , and that the surface area of each tube is a t = 17 . 8 ft 2 . to solve for the heat transfer coefficient u , the circulating water mass flow rate { dot over ( m )} cw first must be calculated using the inner tube cross sectional area a t = 0 . 00486 ft 2 , water density ρ , and the above flow velocity v cw , giving { dot over ( m )} cw = ρ v cw a t = 6 , 909 lbs / hr / tube or 279 , 889 gpm / condenser . now , using equation 5 and an enthalpy value h fg of 1032 . 5 for t hw = t v = 108 ° f ., then δt cw = 18 . 024 ° f . knowing that ttd = t v − δt cw − t cw1 , we obtain ttd = 4 . 98 ° f . from equation 2 , δt lm = 11 . 78 ° f . finally , using equation 6 , we can solve for u , obtaining a value of 593 . 8 btu /( ft 2 × hr ×° f .). since all tubes in the condenser act the same , the values of u and δt lm for the whole condenser are the same numerical values for each individual tube . this assumption , of course ignores the cold tubes located in the stagnant zone . the performance parameters and operating conditions discussed above are summarized as case 1 in table 1 . if there were no air in - leakage or other non - condensables entering the shell space of this condenser , it would be a suitable design for 535 mw generating unit . table 2 , below , summarizes the same data , except that the cold water in the tubes located in the stagnant zone are ignored in determining the average exit tube water temperature and only the temperature of the active tubes is taken into account . constants : t hw = 108 ° f . ; u ( active tubes ) = 593 . 8 btu /( ft 2 × hr × ° f . ); t cw2 ( average ) = 103 . 2 ° f . consider now what happens if an amount of air is injected into this condenser . it should be obvious that the high speed of the radially directed steam will carry ( scavenge ) the air toward the center of the condenser where it will accumulate , as shown in fig6 as region 25 . since the total pressure in central region 25 is essentially that of the condenser or incoming steam at region 26 , an equilibrium is established between the air and water vapor such that the sum of their partial pressures is equal to the condenser pressure . this demands a drop in water vapor pressure with a consequential drop in its temperature . the only way for the temperature to be reduced is to slow the rate of condensation on these tubes allowing the circulating water temperature rise per unit length to be lower throughout this tube bundle region . the lack of heat transfer from condensing steam due to the presence of air is the cause for the region to drop in temperature , and results , locally , in condensate “ subcooling ”. it is these tubes in region 25 of condenser 20 that behave in a manner described elsewhere in the literature ( see henderson , supra ), but generally thought to prevail throughout the whole of the condenser . air cannot exist and does not exist in a concentrated form around tubes in the steam rich , high velocity region outside central region 25 of condenser tube bundle 22 . it is not unexpected that this region would contain a very low mass ratio of water vapor to air . henderson and marchello , supra , showed in single tube experiments that the ratio of measured heat transfer coefficient with air present , on a condensing tube , to the heat transfer coefficient with no air , plotted against mole percent of non - condensable air in vapor was dramatic , giving rise to the general belief that the presence of even a small amount of air or other non - condensable in the shell space of a condenser can cause a significant reduction in the effective heat transfer coefficient . their obtained laboratory data , originally shown as mole percent dependence , is presented in fig7 , modified to show with high resolution the corresponding water - to - air mass ratio . it has been shown from tests in many plants , for a water vapor to air mass ratio of less than about 3 measured in the exhauster line , that the exhauster backpressure will rise ( see harpster , supra ). from fig7 the heat transfer coefficient for this mixture is reduced to 10 % of its no air value . for purposes of illustrating the model , one can assume there is no condensation in a region with a water vapor to air mass ratio of ≦ about 3 . this allows us to define a few useful terms . the outside region having high vapor concentration of condensing steam and relatively high velocities may be called the “ steam wind ” region , e . g ., as at numeral 28 . the air - enriched area is identified as the “ stagnant ” region , 25 , as velocities can be near zero since , in this region , there is only a small amount of condensing steam driving the velocity . practically speaking , there is no sharp demarcation line between these two regions , as may be explained by thermodynamics of concentration gradients . returning to the above , one can assume the amount of air is sufficient to effectively eliminate condensation on all centrally located tubes inside the space defined by one third the tube bundle radius , or 11 . 1 % of all tubes are removed from service . to observe the effect on excess backpressure and vapor temperature , we proceed essentially as before . the steam load will remain the same ; but , since the number of active tubes are reduced to 18 , 022 , we have from equation 11 : { dot over ( m )} t = 135 . 6 lbs / hr , which is the steam mass flow rate per tube for each tube in the steam wind region of the condenser . to determine the new equilibrium condenser steam temperature and corresponding condenser pressure , one first assumes a new vapor temperature of 110 ° f . from which the corresponding h fg ( enthalpy ) value of 1031 . 4 btu / lb is obtained . the new circulating water temperature rise , at the same flow rate as before , across the tube length for each active tube is found from equation 5 to be : δ t cw tube = ( 135 . 6 × 1031 . 4 ) 1 × 6909 . 12 = 20 . 25 ° f . eq . 15 the value for δt lm can be obtained from equation 6 on a per tube basis , using the above no - air heat transfer coefficient , as : δ t lm = 135 . 6 × 1031 . 4 593 . 8 × 17 . 8 = 13 . 2 ° f eq . 16 and the terminal temperature difference , on a per tube basis , is found from equation 2 to be : ttd = δ t cw ( ⅇ δ t cw δ t lm - 1 ) = 5 . 59 ° f eq . 17 from which t v = 3285 + 20 . 25 + 5 . 59 = 110 . 84 ° f ., which is sufficiently close to the assumed 110 ° f . that iteration is not needed . the resulting condenser pressure becomes ρ v = 2 . 660 ″ hga , giving an excess backpressure of 2 . 660 ″− 2 . 450 ″= 0 . 210 ″ hga , caused by the presence of air . assuming this space in the stagnant zone is only 6 ° f . subcooled ( but keeping in mind that since the region is assumed to have no steam condensation , it could therefore reach in the limit , the temperature of the inlet circulating water ). the water vapor pressure in this region is dictated by the temperature of 110 . 84 °− 6 . 0 °= 104 . 84 ° f ., which is 2 . 233 ″ hga having a density of 0 . 00326 lb / ft 3 . the air partial pressure , therefore , must be 2 . 660 ″− 2 . 233 ″= 0 . 427 ″ hga for this region to be in equilibrium with the remainder of the condenser . from the well known relationship : the mass ratio is determined as { dot over ( m )} v /{ dot over ( m )} a = ρ v / ρ a = 0 . 622 ( 2 . 233 / 0 . 427 )= 3 . 25 , in agreement with the desire to have negligible heat transfer . the gas space volume of the stagnant zone , v sz , is given by : v sz = ( π ( 12 . 37 3 ) 2 × 68 ) - ( 2250 × π ( 1 12 ) 2 × 68 ) = 2797 . 6 ft 3 eq . 19 where the second term is the volume taken up by the enclosed tubes . as a consequence of equation 19 , with a mass ratio of 3 and the stated water vapor density , the total mass of air in v sz becomes m a = 2797 . 6 × 1 / 3 × 0 . 00327 = 3 . 05 lbs . this condition is realized with 40 . 7 standard cubic feet of air inserted into the condenser . should , however , this vapor space fall to within 2 ° f . of the inlet circulation water temperature , or 87 ° f ., p v = 1 . 293 ″ hga with : ρ v ( 87 ° f . )= 1 / 511 . 9 = 0 . 00195 and ρ a = 2 . 660 − 1 . 293 = 1 . 367 , where from equation 18 , at this lower temperature the stagnant zone would contain 124 standard cubic feet of air . it should be noted that the region is effectively eliminated from the overall condensation process regardless of the amount of subcooling below 6 ° f ., but the amount of air to isolate the region is a function of the amount of subcooling . it is anticipated that the degree of subcooling will be a function of the stagnant zone size and gas dynamics . using methods similar to the development of equations 13 and 14 , with r s being the radius of the stagnant zone , we may describe for the steam mass flow rate ( with air trapped in the condenser ), { dot over ( m )} r , a , and steam velocity , v r , a , with a stagnant zone of air , as : m . r , a = m . s [ ( r r s ) 2 - 1 ( r r s ) 2 - 1 ] eq . 20 v r , a = m . r , a 2 πρ rl eq . 21 table 1 shows not only the above data as case 4 , but also the effects of other reductions in the number of tubes available for condensation . it shows how excess backpressure increases with the number of tubes removed from the condensation process within the stagnant zone . as air blocks the number of tubes , principally in the center of the condenser driven by steam wind region 28 , condenser backpressure and temperature will rise , increasing the condensation load per active tube . it should be noted that the heat transfer coefficient , u , per tube does not change for active tubes , as can be observed from the use of equation 6 . it may be expected , as the load on a condenser increases , the value of δt lm ( as well as ttd ) increases , with no change in u or a , as long as the tubes in a are active tubes . this could explain most of the non - conformance with theory as presented by gray , supra , for the large number of condensers he evaluated . although he made these measurements following cleaning of the tubes , he showed no clear evidence that the exhausters were capable of removing air in - leakage sufficiently to prevent air caused excess backpressure in his study . it should become obvious that a coefficient , η ( table 1 ), should be used in equation 6 to modify a , when air is present , in attempting to compute fouling contributions to changes in u . common to condenser behavior with variable and known air in - leakage is that the hotwell temperature may or may not increase with the accompanying increases in condenser pressure and steam temperature . the model presented explains this variable behavior . referring to fig8 , the sixth case ( 33 . 3 % case ) shown in table 1 , the active tubes are those lying within the annular region , areas b and d , of the tube bundle . for condensate to reach hotwell , the condensate essentially drains downward in a vertical direction . condensate produced in this region falls , reaching a surface vapor temperature of approximately 119 ° f . caused by impact of condensing steam . for the case indicated , the number of tubes in area d is 3 , 634 and these tubes produce a condensate mass flow rate { dot over ( m )} c , d of 3 , 634 × 180 . 8 lbs / hr / tube = 0 . 6570 × 10 6 lbs / hr . the other active tubes in annular region b , convert the remaining steam load to condensate at a rate of ( 2 . 4441 − 0 . 6570 )× 10 6 = 1 . 787 × 10 6 lbs / hr . let us now evaluate what happens to the temperature of condensate produced in area d as it falls through the stagnant area c having inlet circulating water temperature of 85 ° f . using the heat transfer equation : { dot over ( m )} c , d ( t i , c − t f , c )= { dot over ( m )} cw ( t f , cw − t i , cw ) eq . 22 assuming c p , c = c p , cw , and setting t f , c = t f , cw = t f , cc with c referring to condensate , cc to cold condensate , cw to circulating water , i is the initial temperature , and f is the final temperature , we can now solve for t f , cc , after finding that { dot over ( m )} cw /{ dot over ( m )} c , d = 37 . 94 and knowing that , t i , c = 119 . 03 ° f . and t i , cw = 85 ° f . the result is that t f , cc = 85 . 87 ° f . a possible consequence of cooled condensate originating from area d reaching the bottom of area c having a mass flow rate of { dot over ( m )} cc ={ dot over ( m )} c , d at about t f , cc = 86 ° f . is that the cooled condensate can mix with condensate from all of area b , having a mass flow rate of { dot over ( m )} c and a temperature of 119 . 0 ° f ., resulting in a hotwell temperature , t hw , given by : t hw = [ m . cc m . c × t i , cc + t i , c ] ( m . cc m . c + 1 ) eq . 23 this mixed condensate yields a hotwell temperature of 110 . 12 ° f ., close to the initial no air hotwell temperature of 108 ° f . whether this 2 . 12 ° f . difference is due to needed model refinements or energy mixing assumptions , the fact remains that it is far removed from what some observers may expect , 119 . 03 ° f . ; and very close to some in - plant observations obtained when air induced backpressure increases are present . for this kind of mixing to occur , the cold condensate must reach the hotwell and mix with the hotter condensate , as stated , without being heated by the steam load passing downward between the condenser shell and tube nest crossing over to the central region and rising up through the falling cold condensate causing reheating . since this can happen , depending upon condenser design , it is the reason that sometimes the hotwell temperature may rise with air in - leakage in some operating condensers . this above described temperature difference between the hotwell temperature and vapor temperature is commonly recognized as “ condensate subcooling .” the noted excess backpressure is not caused by series thermal impedance , similar to what may be found from tube fouling , although this is the belief of many students of condenser engineering and science . it should be noted that condensate falling through area c indeed is subcooled , and finds itself , while in this region , in the presence of high concentrations of air . this condition becomes the major contributor to high dissolved oxygen ( do ). table 1 shows the results for other smaller stagnant regions of this condenser . the response shown here will be seen to have little difference in operating condensers . fig9 shows a more practical condenser configuration for a condenser , 30 , having a tube bundle , 32 , a steam flow , 34 , and containing an air removal section ( ars ), 36 , with a shroud ( baffle or roof ), 37 , a vent line , 38 , and suction device or jet ejector ( not shown ), that exits the shell , 40 , ending at an exhauster suction connection , 42 . let the steam load and number of tubes and all other conditions be the same as in the foregoing hypothetical condenser model and allow shrouded ars 36 to occupy about 2 ft 2 of the tube sheet containing 84 . 3 tubes . for ease of description , let us further assume the exhauster to be of the piston type and that it has a displacement capacity , { dot over ( v )}, in actual cubic feet per minute ( acfm ) that is independent of suction pressure . finally , let us assume that the exhauster capacity , { dot over ( v )}, is nominally 2 , 000 acfm . if there is no air in - leakage , the system will operate essentially the same as before . all tubes will condense equal amounts of steam ; and since there is no air in - leakage , the exhauster would not need to be operated and the load per tube would be 120 . 56 lb / hr . if , however , the exhauster were in service , it would remove an amount of water vapor ( steam ), { dot over ( m )} s , from the center of the condenser in the amount of : for a hotwell temperature of 108 ° f ., ρ v = 0 . 003567 lb / ft 3 , giving { dot over ( m )} s = 7 . 135 lb / min or 428 . 1 lb / hr condensate loss rate from the condenser . since this steam loss represents 0 . 017 % of full load , it can , without apology , be ignored from energy balance consideration because its impact would be less than computational rounding error or measurement error contributions . it does , however , provide insight into the loss rate of condensate caused by an exhauster . as a result , however , there is no notable change in backpressure or the vapor and hotwell temperatures from that found for the hypothetical condenser with no air present . if one now lets air flow , at a continuous rate , into the condenser sufficiently high in the condenser to have complete mixing with the steam , this air will be scavenged toward the center of the condenser where ars 36 is located . the exhauster extracts this air at a rate equal to the input rate . as long as the gas mixture density times { dot over ( v )} is sufficient to extract though the vent line the water vapor and air mass flow rates following subcooling in ars 36 at a water vapor to air mass ratio above about 3 , the amount of air in - leakage will not contribute to the condenser &# 39 ; s pressure . this value has been determined by the multi - sensor probe ( msp ) measurements as an empirical parameter applicable to most condensers . to understand the cause of condenser pressure saturation at low air in - leakage , one must first establish some boundaries . at low ( to be defined below ) air in - leakage and no air in - leakage , there is a range of in - leakage rates that will not affect condenser backpressure on the turbine . this is the region of zero excess backpressure . as mentioned above , msp measurements have indisputably shown that all single pass and most dual pass condensers will have zero excess backpressure so long as the extracted water vapor to air mass ratio generally is above about 3 . one , therefore , may analyze the case for { dot over ( m )} v /{ dot over ( m )} a = 3 to determine the threshold air in - leak value . this value also will be a measure of the exhauster &# 39 ; s pumping capacity for air removal at the saturation suction pressure corresponding to the “ no air in - leakage ” hotwell temperature . a value for the water vapor to air mixture mass ratio at the inlet of ars 36 should be determined first such that the air content is not significantly reducing the heat transfer coefficient on the local tubes . this will allow the computation of individual gas components in vent line 38 at the exit of ars 36 where { dot over ( m )} v /{ dot over ( m )} a = 3 is expected . if one assumes that the ars 36 entrance mass ratio is 130 , the amount of subcooling would be only 0 . 2 ° f . at that location , as may be determined from eq . 18 and the steam tables . the resulting normalized heat transfer reduction would be only 20 %, as can be seen from fig7 . therefore , there would be no stagnant zone , 44 , and the region of reduced heat transfer would not be significant or large . because of condensation in ars 36 assisted by the velocity generated by the exhauster capacity , even with a presence of air , one can assume 6 ° f . subcooling . the water vapor density , therefore , is reduced from 0 . 003567 lb / ft 3 at 108 ° f . to 0 . 003020 lb / ft 3 at the exit of ars 36 . the amount of water vapor that passes to the entrance of vent line 38 is given by { dot over ( m )} v = ρ v = 2000 = 6 . 04 lb / min . this mass flow essentially passes on to the exhauster . assuming ρ v / ρ a = 3 . 2 , then ρ a = 0 . 00094 lb / ft 3 , so that { dot over ( m )} a = ρ a × 2000 = 1 . 88 lb / min . this results in an air extraction value of 25 . 1 scfm , which is consistent for exhausters encountered in the field having a 2 , 000 acfm capacity . it should be noted that air in - leakage of greater than 25 . 1 scfm will result in increasingly more subcooling of condenser tubes around the entrance to ars 36 . this leads to excessive subcooling of condensate in the presence of high oxygen concentrations , giving rise to high do , as described above for the hypothetical condenser . this also explains why air in - leakage below 25 . 1 scfm will not affect condenser backpressure . table 3 represents the performance of a conventional condenser with various amounts of tubes removed from service resulting from excessive air in - leakage . the initial line is for zero tubes lost but for air in - leakage compatible with the capacity of the exhauster such that no excess backpressure is imposed on the turbine caused by the air in - leakage . as tubes are lost , the steam temperature , t s , and total condenser pressure , p t , will increase . the data for equilibrium in the stagnant zone was computed assuming linear subcooling between ars 36 inlet temperature equal to the steam temperature when air in - leak causes no subcooling ( no lost tubes ), and an assumed maximum subcooling of 85 ° f . at an air in - leak resulting from 33 . 3 % of tubes removed from the condensation process . from the subcooled region vapor temperature , t v , the partial pressure of vapor , p a , is obtained by subtracting the associated vapor partial pressure p v from p t . using equation 18 , ρ a is determined . assuming a fixed 2 , 000 acfm capacity exhauster , { dot over ( m )} a and { dot over ( m )} v are computed and their sum becomes the total mass flow rate , { dot over ( m )} t , being extracted from the condenser . from { dot over ( m )} a , the amount of air in - leakage responsible for the above parameter values is computed . finally , the condenser backpressure is found by subtracting the no excess backpressure value of p t values found for each case of lost tubes . using the following equation , m . r | r ≥ r s = m . s [ ( r r s ) 2 - 1 ( r r s ) 2 - 1 ] + 0 . 0749 × 60 × scfm eq . 25 where the first term represents the steam mass flow rate and the second term represents the air mass flow rate , and { dot over ( m )} r | r ≈ 1 =( ρ v + ρ a )× acfm × 60 eq . 26 for the total mass flow rate exiting stagnant zone 44 at ars 36 , the total mass flow as a function of r is plotted as shown in fig1 . these curves are expected to be accurate down to where { dot over ( m )} r is about 20 , 000 lb / hr and in the area of radius below one foot . to characterize the transition region where the steam wind and stagnant zones mix requires much more theoretical effort than is set forth herein . the dashed line is inserted more for its pictorial pleasantness than for accuracy . although this region is not technically correctly represented , the displayed approximation does not detract from the overall model effectiveness in explaining condenser behavior . it should be noted that some liberty also was taken in writing equations 25 and 26 to explain fig1 mass flow rates , which , in reality , are more applicable to circular tube bundle geometry than to rectangular shape . for completeness and correlation of this model with work of henderson and marchello , supra , the water vapor ( steam ) to air mass ratio is shown as a function of radius in fig1 . comparing these curves with their data represented in fig7 provides a very good pictorial understanding of the role that air plays on heat exchange in a large operating condenser versus the detailed results of a well thought out experiment . it should be mentioned that with a temperature sensor placed at the inlet of vent 38 at ars 36 , or a temperature sensor and relative saturation sensor placed in vent 38 outside of the condenser , some important data collected by the msp can be determined . that is , the first temperature sensor alone will measure the saturation temperature of vapor leaving ars 36 , and the second temperature sensor and relative saturation sensor along with steam tables can be used to determine the same saturation temperature leaving ars 36 . subtracting this saturation temperature from the steam vapor temperature is a measure of the subcooling , which , if below the approximately 6 ° f . value , is an indication of air build - up around condenser tubes causing their loss . now , with tubes removed from condensation , the amount of air in - leak is determinable as shown in table 2 , below , for the size of air removal pump described . little subcooling is expected at ars 36 with sizing of the air removal pump ( not shown ) at suction connection 42 . the foregoing discussion , of course , assumes that the operator knows the pump capacity and that the pump indeed is operable . indeed , if air in - leakage is absent ( or not significant ), the temperature measurements also could be indicative that the ars pump is not operating as designed or intended . as an alternative to using a relative saturation sensor , an approximation of relative saturation can be calculated by measuring with temperature sensors the temperature in the vacuum line outlet and the temperature in the ars vent line at its outlet . it should also be mentioned that by an indication of air in - leakage versus subcooling also can be determined by looking at the difference in temperatures of the incoming steam temperature and the temperature of in the ars . returning to table 1 , where η is determined from the initial hypothetical condenser , the effect of the stagnant zone is nearly identical in an operating condenser . attention now may be diverted to show the significance of η . examination of eq . 9 shows that ttd is a function only of u , the heat transfer coefficient , on the basis that all other parameters in eq . 8 are fixed or otherwise constant . this is no longer the case since from the new understanding discussed above , a should be replaced with ηa , emphasizing that η is a factor reducing the physical condensing surface area to an appropriate active condenser surface area , ηa . therefore , eq . 9 must be modified as follows : before application of this formula , the meaning of ttd should first be understood . the easiest to measure in plant is the apparent ttd , which is the difference between the condenser backpressure saturation temperature , t v , and the combined ( mixed ) circulating water temperature , t cw2 . the other is the difference between t v and the currently more difficult to measure temperature of the circulating water outlet temperature from the active zone tubes . fig1 is a plot of ln ( ηu ) versus the apparent ttd . the values of ηu are listed in table 1 as the apparent heat transfer coefficient . if tubes are not fouled , the value of η can be determined for a particular plant as a function of air in - leakage purposely introduced and measured by the msp instrument to assure proper exhauster performance . this , then , becomes a calibration of η as a function of air in - leakage and exhauster capacity . subsequently , if the extent of tube fouling is to be determined , the msp instrument would be used to determine the current value of η from the above calibration . this would allow the measured ( apparent ) heat transfer coefficient ηu , applicable to the total tube surface area to be corrected to a value applicable to the active tubes only . the corrected value of u then is compared to its design value ( or known clean value ) to reveal the amount of heat transfer coefficient change due to fouling . now returning to table 2 , these data are plotted in fig1 showing the relationship between excess backpressure and air in - leakage . the theoretical curve represents data derived from the model . the rotated squares are from an operating plant , jea unit 3 . the condenser for this plant unit is a single pressure , two compartment , divided water box , two - pass system . the hypothetical condenser used in this study was patterned after this condenser , to have a basis for the model , resulting in the large radius and length having a single compartment , single water box , and single pass configuration . the result was that these two condensers had the same condensing surface area . the agreement between the plant data and model &# 39 ; s theoretical response is considered excellent . this is as it should be since the model was developed as result of msp measurement commonality from many plants across the country . knowing exhauster capacity and the significance of { dot over ( m )} v /{ dot over ( m )} a = 3 ( approximation ) was paramount to formulating the model . it should be noted that as air in - leakage becomes sufficient to allow stagnant zone 44 to develop around the ars , tubes will become insulated , reducing the ability to condense steam , and the backpressure will rise in the condenser in the manner described for the hypothetical condenser . this along with stagnant zone subcooling and high do can be a major cause for shell side tube corrosion on those tubes located near the central ars section of condensers . in order to determine the presence and / or size of a stagnant zone , viz ., stagnant zone 25 ( fig6 ), a series of thermocouples may be placed across the region expected to house stagnant zone 25 . such thermocouples can be carried by members disposed in a variety of geometries , such as , for example , along an “ x ” shaped member construction , 27 . the temperature sensors or thermocouples will inform the condenser operator of a subcooling in zone 25 , indicative of formation of a controllable stagnant air pocket . adding more exhausters or searching for and fixing air leaks can control its size . by monitoring the temperature sensors along x - member 27 , the efficacy of the exhausters can be determined by the condenser operator . in order to overcome high do caused by such subcooling , from entering the hotwell , a trough or drain , 46 ( fig9 ), is disposed beneath stagnant zone 44 . trough 46 collects the subcooled condensate falling from / through stagnant zone 44 . such collected subcooled condensate , then , is pumped via a pipe , 48 , by a pump , 49 , to a spray nozzle distribution system , 50 , for injecting subcooled condensate into the incoming steam flow 34 for its re - heating by incoming steam flow 34 . by reheating the subcooled condensate , the do ( and any other gas dissolved in the subcooled condensate ) is relieved therefrom . the collection system can be operated automatically based on water sensors or liquid level sensors ( not shown ) that detect the amount of collected subcooled water in trough or drain 46 and / or may be activated based on temperature measurements as can be taken along “ x ” member indicated above . trough 46 probably should be positioned under about one - third of the tubes in bundle 32 or other number of tubes based on experience for air in - leakage or exhauster reliability . a perforated or louvered roof ( e . g ., shroud or roof 51 of fig9 ) in the vicinity of trough 46 in the vicinity of ars shroud 37 may be installed to divert falling condensate from active tubes above the stagnant zone , reducing the amount of do contaminated condensate for recirculation . the perforations should have a raised upper lip with an overhang to allow steam penetration under normal operation and prevent falling water fall - through . regardless of the technique used for controlling the flow and the re - heating the subcooled condensate , do can be driven from the water to aid in suppressing corrosion occasioned by the presence of do in the condensate . in this regard , it will be appreciated that the size of trough 46 will vary depending upon the size of stagnant zone 44 , which is a function of the amount of air in - leakage . at low air in - leakage , trough 46 may only need to be disposed under ars 36 . at higher air in - leakage , trough 46 may extend to substantially under all ( or slightly more ) of stagnant zone 44 . alternatively , the bundle of tubes in stagnant zone 27 ( fig6 ) or 44 ( fig9 ) can be removed from their respective condensers and placed in a second or subsequent condenser or condenser zone under normal conditions of low air in - leakage becoming an extension of the first , but prevents the buildup of a stagnant zone therein under conditions of a large air leakage . condensate from this second condenser function , then , maybe collected and sprayed into the first condenser for its re - heating and do lowering . in regard to condenser design , those condensers that utilize baffles to collect condensate for diversion to a hotwell probably should have such baffles perforated backpressure . this excess backpressure range can extend up to 1 ″ hga without being noticed . in addition to air in - leakage levels causing air binding and stagnant zones , similar effects are caused by degraded exhausters , which will yield high do at low air in - leakages . table 2 ( above ) shows condenser ars and stagnant zone parameters previously derived from the model for various stagnant zone size (% tubes lost ) and assumed subcooling ( beyond 6 ° f . ), resulting in derived air in - leakage as found in an operating condenser . it should be noted that subcooling , which is t s - t v , covers the range 6 ° f . to 34 ° f . the total noncondensable gases partial pressure is shown as air partial pressure , given as p a . using equation 27 and the relationship for the oxygen partial pressure , the solubility of oxygen was computed . the constant of 0 . 2 is used instead of 0 . 21 for the oxygen content in air to arbitrarily account for 1 % of the non - condensable gases being other types of gases ( co 2 , nh 3 , etc .). values of the henry constant shown here as the solubility in mole ratio at one atmosphere partial pressure , for o 2 ( line 60 ) and co 2 ( line 62 ) are given in fig1 . the solubility ( line 64 ) for oxygen ( do ) is given in fig1 as a function of subcooling shown in table 2 at the temperature of t v . the partial pressure of oxygen at atmospheres is derived from subcooling . to be noted is the do value of 90 ppb at 6 ° f . subcooling , which occurs at the vent line entrance of the ars section in the condenser . this occurs at a threshold air in - leakage value of 25 scfm , above , at which point excess backpressure begins . since the ars represents about 0 . 5 % of all tubes in the bundle , if we assume all of them are subcooled 6 ° f . and they produce the same amount of condensate as all other tubes , which they do not , then this source of do would contribute 0 . 4 ppb to the total hotwell condensate . this assumes that the ars condensate falling to the hotwelll is not regenerated by the condensing steam . the data for co 2 in fig1 is provided for information only . the remainder of the curve in fig1 at larger subcooling is for air in - leakage , which contributes increasingly to excess backpressure as the stagnant zone grows to encompass 33 % of the tube bundle . as the data of table 2 show , excess backpressure then reaches 0 . 926 ″ hga . this condition is well within the range where plants could , out of necessity , stay at load , planning repairs at a future outage . the decision may only be made however , if the risk of corrosion could be substantially reduced . off - line condensers for combined cycle plants , where it is sometimes recommended that vacuum be maintained on the condenser operations , are much different from the above online operation . fig1 - 18 depict a combined cycle plant that includes a condenser , 70 , a low pressure ( lp ) turbine , 72 , an intermediate pressure ( ip ) turbine , 74 , a high pressure ( hp ) turbine , 76 , and a generator , 78 . lacking the steam load , there is no scavenging process causing noncondensable gases to be dragged to the air removal section for removal . noncondensable gases , therefore , are free to occupy the total vacuum space . this includes condenser 70 , lp turbine 72 , and ip turbine 74 , feedwater heaters , instrumentation sensors , and all open drain / return lines , including ancillary equipment up to the isolation device ( not labelled ) separating this vacuum space from the outside atmosphere or other components . dashed line 80 shows the approximate extent of the condenser vacuum location for the combined cycle plant operating under full load , fig1 ; under reduced load , fig1 ; and under off - line or standby mode , fig1 . it will be observed that the vacuum is confined mostly to condenser 70 under full load operating conditions , but moves well into lp turbine 72 under reduced load . in off - line mode , the vacuum includes both lp turbine 72 and ip turbine 74 ( fig1 ). the amount of gases being removed by the exhauster depends on condenser pressure , which would be the sum of the noncondensable gases &# 39 ; partial pressure and the partial pressure of liquid condensate . the latter component would quickly become , after going off - line , the saturation pressure at the temperature of the stored hotwell condensate in hotwell 82 in condenser 70 . for most of the offline period the hotwell condensate temperature would dictate the water vapor pressure p wv . this in turn determines the water vapor density , ρ wv , as may be found from the inverse of the specific volume listed , generally , in steam tables . one may examine the effects of air in - leakage on hotwell condensate dissolved oxygen ( do ) using data and methods discussed elsewhere . assuming a hotwell temperature of 80 ° f ., gives , p wv = 1 . 03 ″ hga and ρ wv = 0 . 00162 lb / ft 3 . further , assume an exhauster having a fixed capacity ( c p ) of 2000 acfm . the air density , ρ a , in the condenser shell space will be a function of the air in - leakage rate , f a ( scfm ), and air density at standard conditions , ρ o = 0 . 0749 lb / ft 3 , given by : ρ a = ρ o f a / c p = 37 . 5 × 10 − 6 f a eq . 28 the partial pressure of air in the condenser is obtained using a well - known relationship derived from the ideal gas law given by : from equation 29 we can determine the partial pressure of oxygen in the condenser from the percentage of oxygen in air or : knowing the partial pressure of oxygen in the condenser , one can determine the level of do using henry &# 39 ; s law and knowledge of the solubility of oxygen at some other temperature and pressure . fig1 provides the relationship for oxygen ( and carbon dioxide ) solubility at a partial pressure of one atmosphere having the units of [ moles gas /( moles water h p o ( atmosphere ))], sometimes referred to as the henry constant , h o . the relationship determining the do equilibrium concentration in ppb becomes , x o = h o p o , where p o is the partial pressure of oxygen in atmospheres . table 4 shows the results for air in - leakage from 5 to 50 scfm , if the hotwell is allowed to reach equilibrium with the air partial pressure . these values are much higher than what may be expected for online condensers where scavenging prevents having an air partial pressure throughout the condenser . the results point to the importance for operating a tight condenser . it should be recognized that the concentration in the final column of table 4 can be halved if two exhausters were placed in service increasing the pumping capacity to 4000 acfm . additional pumping capacity would have a proportional affect . other dissolved gases , like carbon dioxide , in fig1 can be similarly determined . a proposed solution to this off - line vacuum problem is shown in fig1 in which a condenser , 200 , of a combined cycle plant is seen to consist generally of a hood , 202 , water boxes , 204 and 206 , at either end of condenser 200 , a cold water inlet , 208 , and a vent line , 210 . water box 204 is seen to be partially cut - away to review a tube sheet , 212 , which retains the water tubes . the air removal section ( ars ) tubes , 214 , are labeled for convenience . it is about tubes 214 that the air will preferentially concentrate , provided that some flow is maintained in condenser 200 . the damage of any air in - leaking into condenser 200 can be minimized , if not obviated , by selectively cooling on ars tubes 214 . this can be accomplished using a cold water inlet pipe , 216 , that terminates inside water box 204 with a shroud , 218 , that is retractable away from and into contact with tube sheet 212 using a hydraulic motor , 220 , connected to inlet pipe 216 , which can be fitted with a flexible section , 222 , as shown in fig1 . when shroud 218 is extended into contact with tube sheet 212 , cold water can be admitted into condenser 200 only through ars tubes 214 and , thus , account for any air that has leaked into condenser 200 while it is off - line . this is true because a low flow of steam is admitted into ip turbine 74 ( fig1 ) to scavenge any in - leaked air in ip turbine 74 , lp turbine 80 , and condenser 70 ( or condenser 200 in fig1 ). collection of the contaminated condensate from tubes 214 ( fig1 ), then removes do . alternative to the condenser design in fig1 , the operator could dispose a separate water box and tube bundle ( as describe in connection with fig1 ) above condensate collection chamber 142 ( fig2 ) and pass cooling water only through this tube bundle during off - line operation of the combined cycle plant . condensate could be collected in condensate collection chamber 142 and sent to storage or to an on - line condenser for spraying with inlet steam to re - vaporize condensed gases . again , a low flow of steam introduced into ip turbine 74 ( or at another convenient location ) provides the driving force for any in - leaked air to be scavenged to the tube bundle with water flowing therethrough . a more typical tube bundle configuration than shown earlier is presented in fig2 . a condenser , 90 , contains six separate subsections , 92 - 100 , one of which , section 100 , is within the ars shroud , 102 , which is connected by an air removal line , 104 , to a pump or other source of suction . four horizontal trays , 106 - 112 , having a high lip along the internal edge are used to catch condensate from tube bundles above , diverting the flow to the outer edge of the bundle where it is allowed to fall to the hotwell , 114 , for collection , storage , and reuse . the purpose of trays 106 - 112 is to prevent the tubes below from being inundated with excess condensate , which would inhibit steam flow to these tubes leading to hotwell subcooling . the purpose of the central cavity , 116 and opening along the middle of the trays is to provide a path for air to reach the bottom of ars shroud 102 for removal . the internal raised lip prevents flow of condensate from the tray entering the airflow path in the central cavity . turbine exhaust steam enters from above surrounding the tube bundle entering from all sides including up from the bottom , as indicated by the series of arrows . fig2 ( using the same tube bundle , hotwell , trays , and ars numbering as in fig2 ) depicts the steam flow within the tube bundle under conditions of high air in - leakage where there exists a large stagnant zone , 116 . the affected area of each subsection is labeled with and “ s .” since the percentage of tubes removed from the condenser is about 20 %, the excess backpressure ( ebp ) would be about 0 . 5 ″ hga ( see table 2 ). in this condenser configuration , the contaminated condensate falling through the “ s ” zones would be oxygenated and with high do fall onto trays and quickly enter hotwell 114 without regeneration . all trays would be contaminated and the large condensate flow from them would not completely reheat during its fall to hotwell 114 . also , shown in fig2 is a modification of the configuration of fig2 to prevent significant amount of this contaminated condensate , from mixing with other condensate and finally entering hotwell 114 . baffles , 118 and 120 , preferably perforated to allow for steam flow , are positioned between tubes above the “ s ” zones in sections 90 and 92 to divert condensate falling from tubes above the “ s ” zones from passing down through stagnant zone 116 . dams , 122 - 128 , are placed in each tray , 106 - 112 , respectively , parallel to the tubes , at the position of any anticipated stagnant zone 116 boundary to prevent condensate , produced in or passing through stagnant zone 116 , from flowing to the outside portion of each tray . by removing the inner high lip on each tray and attaching shallow funnel troughs or drains , 130 and 132 , below the tray openings , the contaminated subcooled condensate can be collected and diverted via valves , 136 - 140 , either by pipe or a lower tray to outside the tube bundle on both sides ( only one shown in fig2 ) to collection chamber 142 . alternatively , this condensate , if not contaminated , can be diverted directly to hotwell 114 . the purpose of chamber 142 , located in the hotwell region , is for recycling contaminated condensate via a line , 144 , to the top of the condenser where it is sprayed using pump 143 via spray heads , 146 and 148 , into the steam environment for the purpose of reheating and removal of dissolved gases . finally , baffles , 150 and 152 , preferably perforated , like those installed in the top two sections , are installed in the upper mid position of section 98 such that any contaminated condensate from its “ s ” zone can be concentrated and collected by a trough and pipe arrangement , 134 , below tube bundle 98 for diversion of contaminated condensate to chamber 142 , or directly to the hotwell , if not contaminated . measurements of do in each of the contaminated condensate paths could be made to activate or deactivate the deaeration cycle as needed . if air in - leakage is sufficiently low and the tube bundle “ s ” regions are not present the condensate stream can be connected directly to the hotwell using automatic or manual control . the upper collection circuit directly under the ars would normally have some do since even small air in - leakage is concentrated at this location resulting in some amount of subcooling and a non - condensable gas partial pressure . where plants have a history of low air in - leakage a simpler collection strategy could be designed . subcooling could be limited to only tubes within the ars . since the ars is blocked with a shroud there is no contamination of falling condensate from regions above and only a collection trough or drain would be required . a smaller pump to deliver the contaminated condensate to the spray heads would be sufficient . another major source of do is present in many condensers and is present even at very low air in - leakage values . fig2 shows the same tube bundle arrangement as is depicted in fig2 , but from a different perspective for clarity . here steam enters the tube bundle sections 90 - 98 from all sides including those along condensate trays 106 - 112 and open spaces between the sections . the entering steam is turbine exhaust steam having a water vapor to air mass ratio of generally greater than 5 , 000 / 1 and , therefore , highly “ condensable .” as this steam passes along a tray , e . g ., tray 106 , it is condensed on nearby tubes decreasing in velocity , but not changing in its mass ratio . as it enters the tube bundle section , along these internal section “ boundaries ” steam is removed at each layer of tubes that it passes and the mass ratio decreases . this is the same scavenging process described for the basic model . as such , entrapped air is concentrated deep within the bundle section where there is no ars . this results in the development of air bound ( ab ) regions , labeled as ab in fig2 and applies to all tube bundle sections , except for those in the ars . air bound regions ab are not much different from the stagnant zone described earlier , except that trapped air is not being removed by an exhauster . the consequences of these air bound regions include : these regions grow in size over time , are subcooled by the entrapped air , the air and water vapor pressure add up to equal the pressure of the surrounding steam , and condensate falling through the ab regions become aerated . if the ab regions are close to a tray or liquid condensate path to the hotwell , contaminated condensate enters this stream , contaminating the hotwell . another feature of ab regions is they , like stagnant zones , decrease the condensing surface area with a consequential loss in active condenser surface area and in condenser performance . the net heat transfer coefficient of the condenser is decreased . the ab regions grow in size to where they reach a “ weak ” inner edge of the bundle section and most probably collapse , or nearly so , where air is released to the ars flow path giving rise to pulsations in flow of air being removed from the condenser via ars shroud 102 , as has been measured by the rheovac ® multi - sensor probe rvmsp instrument . to eliminate or minimize ab regions , steam flow between the tube bundle sections must be sufficiently interrupted . fig2 shows how this can be accomplished . steam entering the large opening in the top of tube bundles required for vent line 104 to be connected to ars shroud 102 needs to be restricted . a barrier , 160 , is shown extending the length of the tube bundle for this purpose . the height position is variable , but sufficient to prevent air entrapment in tube bundle sections 92 and 93 from this exposed side adjacent to vent line 104 . steam flow barriers , 162 - 168 , are installed along the length of the condenser near the outer edge tube bundle above and below condensate trays 106 - 112 , respectively . conveniently , liquid barriers or traps , 170 - 176 , can be placed on the condensate side of trays 106 - 112 , respectively , to seal off and trap the free flow of steam along the tray but allow tray condensate drainage . other configurations may be employed taking advantage of steam flow from the hot end of the condenser to the circulating water inlet end because of mixing dynamics that may also aid in preventing ab regions . the distance from the outer lip of the trays to barrier location is a variable to be determined by analysis and tests . features to remove ab regions and to prevent do from entering the hotwell at high air in - leakage , described in the previous section , may be totally different than described here for new condenser designs . it is anticipated that condensers can be designed where do can be reduced to 3 ppb or better . the model predictions and previous discussions permit the subject of purging with an inert gas to be addressed on a sound engineering basis . condensers having high do with little air in - leakage are very likely to have air bound zones in the tube bundle subsections . these sections are somewhat stable , but pulsating regions and exist at low air in - leakage below the condenser pressure saturation level . the introduction of n 2 gas at a most favorable position in the condenser would cause a dilution in the average amount of stored air , hence the oxygen concentration , lowering its vapor pressure and reducing the amount of do . this would be done without increasing the condenser backpressure and plant heat rate . all condensers having high do and low air in - leakage should be evaluated for air binding regions to reduce corrosion and chemical treatment . the rvmsp instrument is useful to identify this condition . while the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment , those skilled in the art will understand that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention . in addition , many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof . therefore , it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention , but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims . in this application all units are in the u . s . system ( i . e ., pound , foot , ° f .) and all amounts and percentages are by weight , unless otherwise expressly indicated . also , all citations referred herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference . | 5 |
in fig1 the connector shell is indicated generally at 10 and has a generally truncated or somewhat conical side wall 12 with a generally open central bore 14 , which extends from an open front end 16 at the large end to an integral end wall 18 which closes the small end . the large end may have outstanding levers or ears 20 to provide additional leverage when turning the connector down on the stripped ends of a plurality of wires , if desired . the front or large end of the connector may be considered to be a skirt 22 which may be threaded on the inside , as at 24 , if desired , to engage and hold the insulation of the wires and to prevent arcing , which is conventional . in fig3 a coil or spring 26 is shown in the bore of the connector proceeding from a large end 28 to a small end 30 which is in contact with the end wall 18 . the spring or coil may be held or retained in the bore of the connector by an upset or dam 32 which may be circumferentially continuous or in segments , as desired . the bore of the connector is provided with a first area 34 which in the form shown is provided with relatively low threads with a pitch that about matches the general pitch of the coil . the other or small end of the bore is provided with an area 36 which is threaded in a similar manner . it will be noted that the wire or the coil is square in cross section to provide a series of outstanding ridges or relatively sharp crests 38 . there is an intermediate area 40 in the shell which is provided with a plurality of longitudinally disposed extensions 42 which , as shown , extend axially and project a greater distance inwardly toward the closed or small end of the bore so that the crests or crowns thereof provide a continuous , uniform taper , as shown in fig3 which generally matches or corresponds to the taper of the wire crests 38 . also , the extensions 42 narrow or diminish inwardly , as shown in fig2 so that each is broader at its base , where it joins the wall of the housing , than it is at its apex or crest , where it opposes the outside of the coil . the end wall on the inner surface thereof may be provided with a hemispherical projection 44 which , in addition to centering the inner end of the coil , also serves to prevent one or more of the stripped ends of the wires from drilling through the end wall . the longitudinally disposed extensions 42 in a sense take on the appearance or function of large portions of the plastic being removed in the intermediate area so that a plurality of longitudinal grooves or open channels 46 are provided between the extensions so that the expansion rate or resistance of the coil to expansion in the intermediate area is modified by whatever portion of the plastic is left . it will be understood that the coil itself is on a generally uniform taper and in the socket area 36 , the tip or end or cut terminous portion of the wire itself may engage a stop shoulder 48 . in fig4 a modified form has been shown in which in the forward or outer area , which was designated 34 in fig1 the threads have been shown at 50 as having or being formed as a left - hand helix , rather than right - hand . thus , when the coil is inserted or turned into the cap , the turns at the front or large end will cross - thread which serves to more fully or firmly seal or hold the coil in the cap . in the modified form shown in fig5 the socket or small end 52 of the bore is formed as a square , with four sides which mesh with or are indented by the rear end 54 of the coil . the outside diameter of the coil at the small or inner end 54 will be somewhat greater than the side dimension of the square so that while the coil will clear the corners of the square , it will bite or indent into the sides . since the inner end 54 of the coil is tapered toward a minimum diameter , only a certain number of the turns of the small end , for example two , will actually indent or engage the flat sides of the socket 52 . across the corners of the square the square is larger in dimension than the outside diameter of the coil at the small end . as before , the terminous or end of the wire itself may engage a stop shoulder which will transmit the torque applied to the cap to the coil to drive it down or force it over the stripped ends of the wires . while the socket 52 has been referred to as being a square , it should be understood that it could have more than four sides , for example six or eight , and therefore should be thought of as a polygon . in fig6 a further variation has been shown in which the inner bore of the cap again is divided into three general areas , an outer area 56 , an intermediate area 58 , and an inner area 60 . the full length of the inner bore of the cap is provided with longitudinally extending , circumferentially spaced ridges or risers , which may be considered to be fins . any suitable number may be used peripherally around the inside of the cap and in the form shown in fig6 the fins are aligned from one section to another , but they do not have to be that way . this is to say that more fins might be used in one area than in another . and a single fin would not necessarily continue all the way from one end to the other inside the bore , even if the same number is used . as shown in the outer area , the fins are circumferentially spaced and are on a certain included angle which may be considered to be a relatively flat or large angle . the coil is at a predetermined cone angle , and the angle of the crests of the fins in the outer area 56 is greater than the cone angle of the coil with the dimensioning being such that a number of the largest turns , for example two or three , of the coil bite into and indent the ridges so as to provide an interlock when the connector is in its free or natural state after assembly . in the intermediate area 58 the ridges or risers have their crests on roughly the same angle as the crests of the coil so that they generally match each other and may be considered to be in contact . thus , the angle of the riser crests in the intermediate area 58 is less than the angle in the outer area 56 . at the inner end 60 risers or radial extensions are provided which are at a lesser angle than the cone angle of the coil . and the dimensioning is such that the inner end of the coil will socket into and indent the risers in area 60 in an action similar to what takes place at the outer end 56 . the result will be that the coil will be interlocked both at its outer and inner ends , but in the intermediate area the coil will be relatively free , or at least will not be indenting the risers to any appreciable or significant extent . the action involved will thus be similar to that of fig3 with the interlock at each end being somewhat different . as before , the end of the wire at the small end of the coil in fig6 may abut a stop shoulder . or the tapering of the coil and riser area 60 may be such that they tightly socket together , a lesser cone into a greater cone , until they come to a stop , without the necessity of a definite right angle shoulder against the end of the wire . in fig7 a further variant is shown in which instead of using threads , either left or right hand , or risers at the outer area in the central bore of the cap , a plurality of flats 62 are provided which , as shown in fig7 and 8 , are eight in number so that an octagon is used , but it might be more or less . this is to say that the outer surface may be considered to be a series of flats of a selected or appropriate number and therefore may be considered to be an octagon . the indenting action of the outside of the coil at the large end into and against the flats or surfaces is similar or may be the same as that previously explained in connection with the socket having flats at the small end . as shown in fig9 the outer surface 64 may have a combination of either right or left hand threads 66 , which in this case are shown as right hand threads , combined with a plurality of longitudinally extending ridges or risers 68 which may be equally spaced circumferentially around the surface so that the locking action involved at the large end of the coil has a combination of matching or mismatching threads with whatever plastic indentation takes place or is desired and grooving of the risers or ridges by the outside of the coil &# 39 ; s large end . the use , operation and function of the invention are as follows : the coil or spring is on a generally uniform taper which is matched by the taper of the cap bore . the coil is held at each end by a relatively tight or interlocking fit but in between is liberated somewhat so that a controlled expansion may take place . this is to say that the fit between the big and small ends of the coil and the bore of the cap is such that the coil is relatively bound or confined by a relatively solid or nonexpanding band of plastic which will definitely retard or prevent or minimize outward expansion of the coil . in the intermediate area , however , large portions of the plastic are removed so that a plurality of longitudinal grooves or open channels are provided leaving ridges or isolated elongations in between , which are disposed at suitable intervals so that , as a totality , they will resist the outward expansion of the coil in the intermediate area on a controlled , predetermined basis . as the connector is screwed down on the stripped ends of the wires , the coil in the intermediate area will itself resist outward expansion , but it will not be backed up or surrounded by a solid band of confining or resisting plastic . rather , the open areas between the ridges 42 will not resist outward expansion of the coils and only the inwardly projecting or remaining ridges will function to retard or influence the outward expansion of the spring . in this sense , the ridges add their characteristics to the expanding spring , with a result that the ridges , which are deformable or distortable , combine with the coil in the intermediate area of the bore to provide a spring or coil effect that is a combination of metal and plastic . stated another way , the plastic ridges influence or modify the characteristics of the metal coil as it expands so that when viewed together the coil becomes a combination of metal and plastic . this combined metal - plastic spring has the advantage that , everything else being equal , the spring can be reduced in size , which means less metal is used which reduces cost . as shown in fig3 the outer crests 38 of the coil appear to be and , in fact , may be considered to be in contact with the crests of the ridges 42 when the connector is in its free or normal state . but precise or exact contact is not essential . there might be some indenting of the plastic at one place or another by the coil in the immediate area when the connector is assembled and prior to use , or there might be a slight spacing indicating no contact . but as a theoretical ideal , contact is desired , but without deformation of the plastic , which is to say that the plastic characteristics are only added to the coil or spring , to any significant extent , when the connector is first applied to the stripped ends of two or more wires . in a longitudinal direction , the ribs in the intermediate area are tapered so that they are of a minimum height toward the open end of the bore and a maximum toward the closed end . thus the taper of the ribs can be made to exactly match , on a theoretical basis , the taper of the coil , which has advantages when they are assembled . while the intermediate area of the cap and coil does not provide any interlock or holding force between the two , the coil is firmly held at opposite ends , first in the area shown as threaded in fig1 and 4 adjacent the big end of the coil , and a similarly threaded area in fig1 and a polygon in fig5 at the small end of the coil . and the degree of interference at either one or both of these areas can be anything desired . further , while right hand threads have been shown at the big end in the bore in fig1 to match the turns of the coil , left hand threads might be used , as in fig4 which would cause substantial cross - threading when the coil is first assembled in the cap . in fact , if left hand threads are used , it might be desirable to give them a rather coarse pitch and make them multiple start threads so that between the right hand and left hand intermeshing of the coil and cap threads , a firm interlock would be provided . the same thing might be done at the small end . or the socket that receives the small end of the coil may be in the form of a square , a hexagon , or otherwise , such as shown and described in my copending application , ser . no . 936 , 587 , filed aug . 24 , 1978 . also , while a square wire has been shown for the coil , it should be understood that it may be somewhat elliptical , teardrop shape or , for certain applications , round , etc . might be used . the result it that when the device is used and is screwed down on the stripped ends of the wires , there will be a progressive increase in resistance to the outward expansion of the wires in the middle or intermediate area so that the spring rate or characteristics of the coil are modified in a controlled manner by the remaining plastic which is shown in the form of equally spaced , axially elongated ribs that increase in their radial extent inwardly toward the closed end of the bore . as compared to a so - called free spring connector , where the spring narrows to a throat so that it is in an hourglass shape , for example , as shown in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 075 , 038 , issued jan . 22 , 1963 , more turns of the spring will be in contact with the conductors . further , the torque will be reduced . at the same time , the tight socket effect at the small end of the coil will provide a firm stop and the small end will hold the minimum combination of wires against the solid plastic of the cap that surrounds it . stated another way , the connector is designed so that the smallest combination of wires are held primarily or only by the coil and plastic at the small end . this is to say that the minimum combination of wires will not cause deformation of the ridges in the intermediate area , although some may occur . but at the same time the largest or most of the combinations will be handled by the central area and will cause partial or substantial or complete deformation of the ridges where a combination of spring and plastic effect is obtained in what has been referred to as a &# 34 ; controlled deformation .&# 34 ; so a connector of this type will handle a wide range of combinations . the connector should be designed so that the maximum combination of wires , when fully seated , causes the coil to deform the ridges completely but stop short of loading or contacting the outer wall in the intermediate area , although some could occur without detrimental effect . a number of different interlocks have been shown , described or suggested , both as to the large end and the small end of the coil . and a suitable combination with variations thereon may be used depending upon the particular application desired . risers or ridges may be used at either the large or the small end either in combination with right or left hand threads or the threads alone may be used . any particular combination will have certain advantages and the interlock that is desired or necessary may be acquired by whichever one is used with the ease of molding the cap being an important consideration . whereas a preferred form and several variations of the invention have been shown and described , it should be understood that suitable additional modifications , changes , substitutions , and alterations may be made without departing from the invention &# 39 ; s fundamental theme . | 7 |
disclosed is a broadly applicable machine - learning approach to end - to - end performance estimation . the estimation , in one embodiment , may be formulated as a collaborative prediction ( cp ), or sparse matrix approximation problem . namely , given a large and very sparsely sampled matrix , for example , only a few percent of entries may be observed in some applications , the collaborative prediction problem predicts the unobserved entries from the observed samples , assuming the entries have dependencies across rows and across columns . in one embodiment , the state - of - art matrix factorization method may be combined with active sampling typical applications of cp may include online recommendation systems that attempt to predict user preferences towards different products , for example , movies , books , etc ., based on previously obtained product ratings from other users . in distributed systems management , the method of the present disclosure in one embodiment may be used to predict the end - to - end performance , such as latency or bandwidth , based on a limited number of available measurements between some pairs of nodes . in one embodiment , the cp approach of the present disclosure does not make assumptions about the existence of landmark nodes or about distance properties of underlying measurements . the method of the present disclosure in one embodiment also does not require additional instrumentation or ability to perform specific measurements on demand . however , if such ability is present or given , collaborative prediction of the present disclosure in one embodiment can be enhanced by active sampling , also known as active learning , approaches that select most - informative samples in order to best improve the model accuracy . thus , in one embodiment , the method of the present disclosure combines collaborative prediction with active learning , which yields significant improvement in predictive accuracy at a lower cost of measurement in several practical applications . given a set of users and a set of products , the problem of collaborative prediction is to infer the unknown user &# 39 ; s preferences towards different products based on previously observed ratings for different ( user , product ) pairs . this problem is commonly encountered in online product recommendation systems , but can be generalized to various other applications , where there is a notion of an end - to - end performance metric between elements of the system . for example , given a set of clients ( peers that might request a service , such as file download ), a set of servers ( peers that can provide a service , e . g . have files of interest ), and historic data measuring some performance metric for each client - server interaction ( e . g ., bandwidth ), the method of the present disclosure in one embodiment predicts the performance of servers with respect to the given client and chooses the best server . this problem may be simplified by using some aggregate metric for all interactions between a particular client - server pair , and representing the data by a matrix where rows correspond to clients , columns correspond to servers , and the matrix entries represent a metric ( e . g ., average bandwidth ) characterizing the quality , e . g ., on the average , of a particular client - server interaction . note that the matrix can be extremely sparse : e . g ., in some of our datasets , less than 1 % of the matrix elements may be filled . a similar approach can be used for predicting network delays between pairs of nodes given the delay information between some other pairs . formally , a collaborative prediction ( cp ) problem can be stated as a matrix completion problem — given a partially observed y , we wish to find a complete ( full ) matrix x of the same size that best approximates the unobserved entries of y with respect to a particular loss function ( e . g ., sum - squared loss for real - valued matrices , misclassification error in case of binary - valued matrices , etc .). an assumption in cp is that the matrix entries are not independent , i . e ., there exists shared properties across users and across products , which can be used to generalize from observed to unobserved entries . a typical assumption underlying various cp techniques is a factorial model in which there are some unobserved “ hidden factors ” pertaining to users or to products that would affect a particular user &# 39 ; s preference toward a particular product . for example , the genre of a movie , or its comedic or offensive language content , may systematically affect whether certain groups of users prefer it . similarly , two nearby nodes within a large network may share several hidden factors , such as common intermediate nodes on their paths to a third node . there may also be other essentially distance - independent hidden factors , such as machine type and connection type , which may influence a node &# 39 ; s quality of service ( qos ) regardless of distance to other nodes . for example , a powerful server with a t3 internet connection may be able to consistently deliver high - bandwidth downloads even to very distant clients . examples of factorial models are linear factor models where each factor is a preference vector , and actual user &# 39 ; s preferences correspond to a weighted linear combination of these factor vectors with user - specific weights . linear factor models yield a matrix - factorization approach that may be applied to various prior cp problems . linear factor models may be particularly well - suited for domains such as latency prediction where the end - to - end measurements are additive , i . e ., can be decomposed into a ( weighted ) sum of intermediate delays . fig1 illustrates matrix factorization approach to approximating sparsely observed matrices in one embodiment of the present disclosure . y 102 represents matrix with sparse observation data . u 104 and v 106 represent two matrices ( factors ) whose product x 108 provides an approximation of the input matrix y 102 . various matrix factorization methods search for a pair of such matrices u 104 and v 106 that satisfy particular regularization constraints such as rank ( x )& lt ; k , while optimizing a particular loss function that describes the quality of approximation of x 108 by the product of u 104 and v 106 . loss functions depend on the nature of the problem . a commonly used loss function is , for example , the sum - squared difference ; another loss is based on classification error and its approximations , such as in the mmmf method used below in one embodiment . other examples of hidden factor models include but are not limited to various probabilistic models such as mcvq described in rong jin and luo si , a bayesian approach toward active learning for collaborative filtering , in proc of uai - 04 , or bayesian approach described in d . ross and r . zemel , multiple cause vector quantization , in proc of nips - 02 . b . marlin . collaborative filtering : a machine learning perspective . master &# 39 ; s thesis , university of toronto , 2004 , provides a survey on collaborative prediction methods . the method of the present disclosure in one embodiment extends the collaborative prediction method , called maximum - margin matrix factorization ( mmmf ), by combining it with active sampling . mmmf is based on a convex - optimization approach to matrix factorization and is therefore guaranteed to find a globally optimal solution , unlike previous non - convex approaches . mmmf is also more flexible than previously proposed svd - like matrix - factorization methods for network distance prediction since it can deal with arbitrary sparse matrices , instead of relying on a complete set of measurements associated with fixed landmark nodes . mmmf is described in n . srebro , j . rennie , t . jaakkola , maximum margin matrix factorizations , in proc of nips - 04 . matrix factorization can be also viewed as a simultaneous learning of feature vectors and linear classifiers in one embodiment as shown in fig2 . fig2 illustrates a matrix structure representing pairwise metric . for example , let y be the original sparsely observed matrix that one is trying to “ fill in ” ( that is , predict its entries ) via some approximate matrix x , assuming an approximation is given in the form of factorization x = uv . fig2 shows ( a subset of ) entries in the matrix x that were unobserved in the input matrix y and later filled out ( predicted ) by mmmf . negative entries correspond to negative class label . positive entries denotes positive predicted values . the entry shown at 210 correspond to the smallest - absolute value entry in the matrix x , that corresponds to the minimum - margin sample on the right of fig2 ( the sample closest to the separating line between the positive and negative samples ). then the rows of the matrix u 202 can be viewed as a set of feature vectors , while the columns of the matrix v 204 can be viewed as linear classifiers , and the entries of the matrix x are the results of classification using these classifiers . the original entries in the matrix y can be viewed as labels for the corresponding feature vectors , and the task is to learn simultaneously a collection of feature vectors ( rows in u ) and a set of linear classifiers ( columns in v ) from a set of labeled samples ( columns in the original matrix y ), such that a good prediction of unobserved entries can be made . a state - of - art in learning linear classifiers is the support vector machines ( svm ) approach that attempts to find a linear separator between the examples of two different classes that maximizes the margin ( the distance between the line and the closest example ). svm approach has theoretical guarantees regarding the generalization error , and typically performs very well in practice , and is popular in the machine - learning community . the method of the present disclosure proposes a novel algorithm that further augments collaborative prediction approaches , for example , mmmf , with active sampling and yields considerable improvements in accuracy versus its passive baseline . active sampling may be applied to applications , in which there are choices of different actions that can be taken based on a new measurement . for example , in internet distance prediction application , one can decide to measure a distance between a particular pair of nodes ; in content distribution systems , a particular mirror site needs to be selected to satisfy a file request which also leads to an additional bandwidth measurement ; in an online recommendation system , one can choose a product to suggest to the current user ; etc . such additional measurements can greatly improve the predictive accuracy of a model , but they may also have a cost ( e . g ., potentially low bandwidth or high network latency if a poor server is selected ). on one hand , we wish to choose the next sample which is most - informative and leads to greatest improvement in future predictive accuracy ( i . e ., yields better exploration ), while on the other hand we want to avoid choosing samples which might be too costly by exploiting our current predictions about the sample costs ( i . e ., the corresponding predicted performance ). the present disclosure in one embodiment considers such exploration versus exploitation trade - offs are considered as a part of a decision - making . in one embodiment , the method of the present disclosure may exploit the relation between mmmf and svm classifiers to extend mmmf using margin - based active - learning heuristics , where the margin is used to estimate informativeness of a candidate sample . a similar approach can be applied to any cp method that outputs the confidence of its prediction , such as margin or probability . for example , a probabilistic model that outputs the probability of the prediction can replace mmmf &# 39 ; s prediction . mcvq is described in rong jin and luo si , a bayesian approach toward active learning for collaborative filtering , in proc of uai - 04 . bayesian approach is described in d . ross and r . zemel , multiple cause vector quantization , in proc of nips - 02 . b . marlin . collaborative filtering : a machine learning perspective . master &# 39 ; s thesis , university of toronto , 2004 , provides a survey on collaborative prediction methods . the active approach method of the present disclosure in one embodiment allows a flexible trade - off between the exploration goal of choosing an active sample to learn more about unexplored connections , for example , between the nodes to improve the model accuracy in the future , and the exploitation goal of choosing the server with highest expected performance for a given service request , particularly in content - distribution systems . fig2 illustrates an example active sampling heuristics , the minimum - margin heuristic , which selects an unlabeled sample 206 closest to the current separating line 208 ( hyperplane in general high - dimensional space ) and requests its label . this corresponds to choosing most - uncertain sample ; in context of svms such method was previously proposed by s . tong and d . koller , support vector machine active learning with applications to text classification , in proc of icml 2000 . in general , uncertainty sampling can be based on any measure of confidence , such as probability , and the most - uncertain sample will be the one for which the predicted class label distribution is closest to uniform . however , any other active sampling heuristic or methodology , beyond uncertainty sampling , may be used in the method and system of the present disclosure . for example , less “ aggressive ” strategy may be applied that takes into account possible sampling costs and may decide to be more “ conservative ” about sample choice . for example , when sampling also means providing a service such as file download , besides improving the future prediction accuracy , the method and system of the present disclosure may take into consideration the immediate cost of sampling ( e . g ., a poor - quality connection and long download time can have a cost ). within binary prediction framework of the present disclosure , it may be assumed that positive samples ( e . g ., high bandwidth or low latency ) have less cost than negative samples . on this basis the method and system of the present disclosure can additionally explore two cost - sensitive active learning heuristics : a most - uncertain - positive heuristic that chooses the minimum - margin sample from among samples currently predicted to be positive , as well as a least - uncertain - positive heuristic , which corresponds to a purely “ greedy ” strategy of trying to choose the sample with least expected cost . fig3 is a flow diagram illustrating an active collaborative prediction method of the present disclosure in one embodiment . an example collaborative prediction approach illustrated is mmmf , hence active - mmmf ( a - mmmf ). however , any other collaborative prediction approach that outputs a confidence value for each predicted label , besides the prediction itself , can be used , as mentioned above . the algorithm takes as an input ( 301 ) a sparse binary matrix y , and several parameters of the algorithm such as a batch size k , maximum number of new samples nmax , and an active - sampling heuristic ( e . g ., one of the examples described above or any other active sampling heuristic ). at 302 , an initialization step is performed . at 303 , an approximation x ′ is computed using mmmf for a given sparse matrix y ′. at 304 , a set of unobserved entries in y ′ is assigned to a set u . at 305 , using current predictions ( sign of x ( i , j ) predict unseen y ( i , j )), and a particular active sampling heuristic provided as an input to the algorithm , select k unobserved entries from u ( active samples ) and request their values ( labels ). at 306 , add new entries to y . at 307 , check if the current total number of requested active samples ( requested values of previously unseen entries in the matrix y ′) reaches or exceeds the bound nmax ; if the bound is reached , stop at 309 , otherwise augment n ′ by k at 308 and go back to step 303 . when using a different collaborative prediction method than mmmf , for example a probabilistic predictor , a slight modification of the above procedure may be needed , that is , at 305 , the method may use the current confidence ( probability ) of prediction to select the active sample : for example , most - uncertain sample will be the one corresponding to the closest to uniform probability distribution of the label ( i . e ., the class label − 1 and 1 have probabilities close to 0 . 5 ). the system and method of the present disclosure may be implemented and run on a general - purpose computer or computer system . the system and method of the present disclosure may be also implemented and run on a specialized computer or computer system . the computer system may be any type of known or will be known systems and may typically include a processor , memory device , a storage device , input / output devices , internal buses , and / or a communications interface for communicating with other computer systems in conjunction with communication hardware and software , etc . the terms “ computer system ” and “ computer network ” as may be used in the present application may include a variety of combinations of fixed and / or portable computer hardware , software , peripherals , and storage devices . the computer system may include a plurality of individual components that are networked or otherwise linked to perform collaboratively , or may include one or more stand - alone components . the hardware and software components of the computer system of the present application may include and may be included within fixed and portable devices such as desktop , laptop , server . the embodiments described above are illustrative examples and it should not be construed that the present invention is limited to these particular embodiments . thus , various changes and modifications may be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 6 |
the drawings illustrate a hand - held , electrically powered hair dryer 10 embodying the invention . in particular , and with reference to fig1 the hair dryer 10 includes a handle 18 providing operating switches 22 , and a body 26 which is connected to the handle portion 18 and which defines ( fig6 ) an outlet 28 centered on an exhaust axis 44 . referring to fig1 body 26 houses an electric motor 30 that is operably coupled to a fan 34 . the motor 30 is electrically connected with the operating switches 22 to afford selective operation of the fan 34 . the body 26 also houses ( fig4 ) a heating element 42 located adjacent the outlet . the heating element 42 is electrically powered and is operably connected to the switches 22 . operation of the fan 34 draws air into the body portion 26 and forces it over the heating element 42 and through the outlet 28 in a direction that is substantially parallel to the exhaust axis 44 . the hair dryer 10 also includes a combined diffuser / concentrator attachment assembly 14 that can be selectively , removably fixed to the body 26 adjacent the outlet 28 . the attachment assembly 14 provides a barrel or nozzle assembly 38 that can be selectively moved relative to the body 26 between a first , retracted position ( shown in solid lines in fig1 ) and a second , extended position ( shown in phantom in fig1 ). as detailed below , the attachment assembly 14 includes ( fig2 ) telescopically arranged inner and outer barrel members 50 , 54 which cooperate to provide complementary first and second air flow paths communicating with the outlet 28 of the body 26 . movement of the barrel assembly 38 between the retracted and extended positions alternatively opens and closes the flow paths . this selective positioning of the barrel assembly 38 affords selective operation of the hair dryer 10 to provide a diffused air flow and , alternatively , a concentrated air flow . more particularly , referring now to fig2 the generally tubular inner barrel 50 has opposite ends : an inlet end 58 which can be fixed to the body 26 so as to align and communicate with the outlet 28 , and a nozzle end 62 that preferably defines a constricted opening 66 . preferably , the inlet end 58 has structure which cooperates with the body 26 to afford selective attachment and removal of the assembly 14 to the body 26 . in the preferred embodiment , the inlet end provides a plurality of circumferentially extending ribs 90 that are configured to secure the attachment assembly 14 to the body 26 of the hair dryer 10 , however other methods of securing the attachment assembly 14 to the hair dryer 10 are possible and within the scope of the present invention . the nozzle end 62 of the inner barrel 50 has a diameter smaller than the inlet end 58 of the inner barrel 50 , and has therein a pair of diametrically opposed bores 70 ( one shown in fig2 ) which serve as mounting bosses for a shutter 74 which is mounted on the inner barrel 50 for pivotal movement between open and closed positions , and which is engaged with the outer barrel 54 for movement between the opened and closed positions as the assembly 14 is moved between retracted and extended positions . the inner barrel 50 has two portions extending between the inlet and nozzle ends 58 , 62 : an imperforate section 78 adjacent the inlet end 58 and a perforated section 82 adjacent the nozzle end 62 having plurality of radial openings 86 . the imperforate section 78 has a generally uniform interior surface 90 which extends between the inlet end 58 and the openings 86 in the perforated section 82 , and which provides a flow path portion 94 communicating with the outlet 28 of the body 26 . the imperforate section 78 has an exterior surface 98 which provides a radially extending collar 102 located adjacent the inlet end 58 . the collar 102 is engagable with the outer barrel 54 when the attachment assembly 14 is moved into the retracted position to prevent movement of the outer barrel 54 beyond the inlet end 58 of the inner barrel 50 . the exterior surface 98 of the imperforate section 78 also has therein a series of axially extending grooves 100 . the grooves 100 are spaced apart about the circumference of the inner barrel 50 and engage the outer barrel 54 in a manner detailed below to guide axial movement of the outer barrel 54 relative to the inner barrel 50 between the extended and retracted positions . for reasons detailed below , the end 110 of the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 also includes a recess 114 extending toward the inlet end 58 of the inner barrel 50 . the recess 114 accommodates and receives a portion of the outer barrel 54 when the outer barrel 54 is moved into the retracted position . the openings 86 in the perforated section 82 of the inner barrel 50 are defined by a series of axially extending ribs 118 . the ribs 118 are spaced - apart circumferentially about the axis of the inner barrel 50 , and extend from the interior surface 90 of the inner barrel 50 so that the circumference of the perforated section 82 approximates the circumference of the nozzle end 62 of the inner barrel 50 , i . e ., is less than the circumference of the inlet end 58 of the inner barrel 50 . the openings 86 in the perforated section 82 define air flow passage portions 122 communicating with the flow path portion 94 defined by the imperforate section 78 , afford passage of air flow therethrough in a direction diverging from the axis 44 . the outer barrel 54 also has opposed open ends : a tubular end 126 and a diffuser end 130 . the tubular end 126 of the outer barrel 54 is generally cylindrical , is imperforate , and is sized to telescopically receive the inner barrel 50 . the outer barrel 54 is slidably mounted on the inner barrel 50 in a manner affording relative telescopic movement between the retracted and extended positions . in this regard , the tubular end 126 of the outer barrel 54 includes ( fig6 ) a plurality of radially inwardly extending projections or tabs 134 that are slidably received by the grooves 100 in the exterior surface of the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 . the cooperating tabs 134 and grooves 100 afford and guide the axial movement of the outer barrel 54 relative to the inner barrel 50 between the extended position wherein the tabs 134 engage the ends of the grooves 100 adjacent the perforated section 82 of the inner barrel 50 and the retracted position wherein the tabs 134 are located adjacent the inlet end 58 of the inner barrel 50 and the tubular end 126 of the outer barrel 54 engages the collar 102 on the inner barrel 50 . when the outer barrel 54 is moved into the retracted position ( as shown in fig4 and fig6 ), the tubular end 126 of the outer barrel 54 telescopically receives and overlies the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 . notably , the engagement of the tabs 134 and grooves 100 also control the rotational arrangement of the inner and outer barrels 50 , 54 . in the illustrated embodiment , the rotational relationship of the inner and outer barrels 50 , 54 is fixed . the diffuser end 130 of the outer barrel 54 includes ( fig4 and 5 ) concentrically arranged inner and outer portions 138 , 142 . the outer portion or shroud 142 extends continuously from the tubular portion 126 both axially and radially to a distal end 146 . the inner portion 138 is generally imperforate and has a cylindrical configuration . the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 provides ( fig5 ) an interior surface sized 150 to approximate that of the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 and to telescopically receive the nozzle end 62 and imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 . the axial extent of the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 is such that the distal end 154 of the inner portion 138 is generally coplanar with the distal end 146 of the shroud 142 . in this regard , the distal end 154 of the inner portion 138 and the distal end 146 of the shroud 142 are connected by a perforated diffuser face plate 158 . in the illustrated embodiment , the outer barrel 54 is an assembly of the shroud 142 , the inner portion 138 and the face plate 158 . the face plate 158 includes a plurality ( e . g . three as illustrated ) of tabs 162 that resiliently snap into engagement with recesses or other retaining structure on the distal end 146 of the shroud 142 to secure the face plate 158 and inner portion 138 to the shroud 142 , thereby forming the outer barrel 54 . the length of the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 is such that the inner portion 138 engages the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 when the outer barrel 54 is moved into the retracted position , and is spaced apart from the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 when the outer barrel 54 is moved into the extended position . also the length of the inner portion 138 is such that when the outer barrel 54 is in the retracted position , the nozzle end 62 of the inner barrel 50 extends axially past the face plate 158 and is exposed . the length of the inner portion 138 is also such that the end of the inner portion 138 facing the body 26 of the hair dryer is radially spaced from the shroud 142 . this spacing thus provides an annular passage portion 166 between the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 and the shroud 142 . the diffuser passage 166 extends from the end of the inner portion 138 facing the body 26 to the face plate 158 . further in this regard , the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 includes ( fig2 and 4 ) an axially extending flange 170 having therein a guide slot 174 that has an extent diverging from the central axis 44 . the slot 130 engages a portion of the shutter 74 in a manner described below to pivot the shutter 74 between the open and closed positions . the flange 170 has an edge profile 126 that substantially matches the profile of the recess 114 in the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 . the flange 170 is received by the recess when the outer barrel 54 is moved into the retracted position . this arrangement of the inner portion 138 relative to the inner barrel 50 serves to provide , in part , alternative flow paths . more particularly , when the outer barrel 54 is ( fig4 ) moved into the retracted position , the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 and the imperforate inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 are in end - to - end engagement , and cooperate to define a continuous first flow path between the outlet 28 of the body 26 to the nozzle . when the outer barrel 54 is ( fig5 ) moved away from the body 26 toward the extended position , the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 moves into a position surrounding the nozzle and away from the openings 86 in the perforated section 82 of the inner barrel 50 . when the outer barrel 54 is so extended , the passage in the diffuser 130 communicates with the openings 86 in the inner barrel 50 to define a second flow path extending between the face plate 158 and the outlet . as explained below , extension of the barrel assembly also pivots the shutter 74 closed so that as the second flow path is opened , the first flow path is closed . in particular , the shutter 74 is located within the inner barrel 50 adjacent the nozzle end 62 . the shutter 74 is disc shaped , has opposed planar faces 182 and a periphery 186 approximating the inner surface of the nozzle 62 . the shutter 74 includes a pair of diametrically opposed and radially extending pins 190 that define a pivot axis 194 and that are received by the opposed bores 70 in the nozzle end 62 of the inner barrel 50 . the shutter 74 is thus pivotally secured to the inner barrel 50 . the shutter 74 also includes a guide pin 198 that extends radially and parallel the pins 190 and is spaced from the pivot axis 194 . the guide pin 198 is received by the slot 174 in the flange 170 on the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 . because of the angled orientation of the slot 174 and the offset of the guide pin 198 from the pivot axis 194 , the guide pin 198 is moved radially relative to the axis 44 when the inner and outer barrels 50 , 54 are moved between the retracted and extended positions . this movement of the guide pin 198 pivots the shutter 74 between a streamwise position ( shown in fig4 ), wherein the faces of the shutter 74 are oriented substantially parallel to the flow axis 44 , and a cross - streamwise position ( shown in fig5 ), wherein the faces 182 of the shutter 74 are oriented substantially perpendicular to the flow axis 44 . thus , when the assembly 14 is in the retracted position , the imperforate section 78 of the inner barrel 50 and the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 are engaged to form the first flow path between the outlet 28 and the nozzle , which is located centrally of the diffuse face plate 158 . also , when the assembly 14 is in the retracted position , the shutter 74 is in its open position . notably , when retracted , the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 overlies the openings 86 in the inner barrel 50 , thus disrupting the second air flow path . in this position , i . e ., when the assembly 14 is in the retracted position , operation of the fan and the assembly 14 provides a concentrated flow of air from the drier . when the assembly 14 is moved to the extended position , the inner portion 138 of the diffuser 130 moves away from and exposes the openings 86 in the inner barrel 50 , thus completing the second flow path from the outlet 28 to the passage of the diffuser 130 . also , when the assembly is moved to the extended position , the shutter 74 closes to disrupt the first air flow . in this position , i . e ., when the assembly is in the extended position , operation of the fan and the assembly 14 provides a diffused flow of air from the drier , namely from the outlet 28 , along the imperforate portion of the inner barrel 50 , radially outwardly through the openings 86 in the perforated portion of the inner barrel 50 , radially and axially outwardly along the diffuser passage 166 , and through the face plate 158 . [ 0036 ] fig8 illustrates a hair dryer 200 that is an alternative embodiment of the invention . hair dryer 200 is identical to the dryer 10 also includes a body portion 226 and an exhaust opening 228 . the hair dryer 200 also includes a combined diffuser / concentrator attachment assembly 214 that can is fixed to the body 226 adjacent the outlet 228 . the assembly 214 is identical to assembly 14 except that the assembly 214 is not easily removed from the body 226 , i . e ., the assembly provides a nozzle assembly that can be selectively moved relative to the body 226 between a first , retracted position and a second , extended position to provide complementary first and second air flow paths communicating with the outlet 228 of the body 226 . movement of the assembly 214 between the retracted and extended positions alternatively opens and closes the complementary flow paths . this selective positioning of the assembly 214 affords selective operation of the hair dryer 200 to provide a diffused air flow and , alternatively , a concentrated air flow . while the illustrated embodiments include a butterfly valve type shutter 74 , it should be appreciated that other types , styles , and configurations of flow disrupting or directing elements may be employed to selectively direct the flow of air between the first flow path and the second flow path . similarly , the opening and closing of the openings 66 may be accomplished in a variety of ways . various features of the invention are set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
the particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of various embodiments of the invention . in this regard , no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the invention , the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice . the following definitions and explanations are meant and intended to be controlling in any future construction unless clearly and unambiguously modified in the following examples or when application of the meaning renders any construction meaningless or essentially meaningless . in cases where the construction of the term would render it meaningless or essentially meaningless , the definition should be taken from webster &# 39 ; s dictionary 3rd edition . distal , in certain instances , can be defined as toward the top of the actuator and away from any valve on which the actuator rests . proximal , in certain instances , can be defined as toward a valve on which an actuator is mounted and away from the top of the actuator . inward or inwardly , in certain instances , can be defined as toward a central axis in a direction substantially perpendicular to such a central axis . outward or outwardly , in certain instances , can be defined as away from a central axis in a direction substantially perpendicular to such a central axis . as used herein , the term “ conduit ” means and refers to a fluid flow path . as used herein , the term “ line ” means and refers to a fluid flow path . as used herein , the term “ fluid ” refers to a non - solid material such as a gas , a liquid or a colloidal suspension capable of being transported through a pipe , line or conduit . examples of fluids include by way of non - limiting examples the following : natural gas , propane , butane , gasoline , crude oil , mud , water , nitrogen , sulfuric acid and the like . as used herein , the term “ attached ,” or any conjugation thereof describes and refers to the at least partial connection of two items . as used herein , the term “ polypak ,” or any conjugation thereof may refer to multi - purpose seals that are molded , multi - purpose sealing devices combining an o - ring type o - spring with a conventional lip seal . the embodiments of the invention relate to diaphragm actuators . the diaphragm can be formed from stainless steel and homogeneous type rubber supported by a nylon cloth bonded to the rubber . the nylon can prevent tension movement of the homogeneous portion of the diaphragm . additionally , the nylon can prevent deformation of the diaphragm geometry . diaphragms used herein can be generally round in shape . in certain embodiments , stainless steel or a metal may not be used in construction of the diaphragm itself . preferably , the diaphragm is made of nitrile laminated with several layers of nylon . layers of nylon have an advantage of experiencing less wear from friction . as is typical with certain diaphragms , the center of the diaphragm , where the top shaft is positioned through the diaphragm towards the diaphragm retainer plate , the diaphragm may have a ring made of a substantially rigid substance such as a plastic , a ceramic or a metal which is molded into or otherwise permanently affixed to the diaphragm . regarding the diaphragm retainer plate , in the embodiments of the invention as described herein , the diaphragm rests upon a diaphragm retainer plate having a distal side oriented toward the diaphragm and a proximal side oriented toward an operator shaft such that movement of the diaphragm and diaphragm retainer plate in a proximal direction or distal direction normally results in movement of the operator shaft and hence a gate valve in a proximal direction or distal direction . in typical implementation , a diaphragm actuator is mounted onto a bonnet and connected to a gate valve . the gate valve is typically connected to pipeline for the transport of fluid such as hydrocarbon gas , oil and the like . to open or close the gate , typically a diaphragm actuator is pressurized or depressurized . as will be apparent from the illustrations , a diaphragm actuator has a closed chamber subject to pressure changes and an unpressurized chamber . the closed chamber is the distal side of the diaphragm to the upper actuator housing . the unpressurized chamber is the proximal side of the diaphragm to the bonnet . further , in typical implementation , when pressure from a fluid enters the upper actuator housing , the pressure in the upper actuator housing pushes proximally on the diaphragm , resulting in a force being exerted on the diaphragm retainer plate , the top shaft and the operator shaft in a proximal direction . when such a diaphragm actuator is mounted upon a gate valve , this action results in opening or closing of the valve , depending on configuration . however , in certain instances , the diaphragm may have been stretched from use or the diaphragm may be an incorrect size for the diaphragm actuator , while still being capable of being installed . in such instances , if the diaphragm is large or is stretched , when pressure is applied to the diaphragm , it can wrap around the diaphragm retainer plate . this effectively prevents the diaphragm retainer plate , the top shaft and the operator shaft from moving in a proximal direction . thus there is no change in either opening or closing the valve . the embodiments herein provide an effective solution to this aforementioned problem when a properly fitted or un - stretched diaphragm is unavailable such as in remote locations . more specifically , the embodiments herein may allow a user in the field to adjust the thickness of the diaphragm retainer plate to avoid the aforementioned problems by taking apart the diaphragm actuator or by inserting simple tools into the diaphragm actuator to adjust said thickness . in certain embodiments , the diaphragm retainer plate curves proximally at its outward edge , which is the edge opposite the location of the central axis comprised of the top shaft and the operator shaft . further , in such embodiments , the diaphragm retainer plate may be considered to have a diaphragm retainer plate wall extending proximally from the outward edge of the diaphragm retainer plate . in some embodiments , the diaphragm retainer plate wall may be a continuous substantially circular wall around the diaphragm retainer plate . in other embodiments , the diaphragm retainer plate wall may be a series of discontinuous walls , which when taken together form a substantially circular shape around the diaphragm retainer plate in such embodiments , the diaphragm retainer plate wall may have an inwardly threaded , which is adapted to receive an extender ring with an outwardly threaded wall . in other embodiments , the diaphragm retainer plate wall may be inwardly facing and smooth and adapted to receive a smooth outwardly facing extender ring such that the extender ring abuts the inwardly facing diaphragm retainer plate wall . in certain additional embodiments concerning the extender ring , the extender ring may have a plurality of vertically grouped bores perpendicular to the central axis which align with a plurality of retainer plate wall bores which are perpendicular to the diaphragm retainer plate and are aligned at least one extender ring bore and adapted to receive a screw , bolt or pin extending outwardly from the inner surface of the extender ring to the retainer plate wall bore . the vertically grouped bores may align with the central axis or top shaft . still further , in certain embodiments , in lieu of a plurality of vertically grouped bores , there may be a plurality of slits in the proximal to distal direction such that the extender ring is able to move in a proximal or distal direction followed by tightening of screws or bolts inserted from the inward side of the extender ring and into the retainer plate wall bores . in certain further embodiments concerning either the aforementioned threaded or smooth extender ring , the ring , at its proximal end , may further comprise a lip extending outwardly such that the extender ring has a circumference at its proximal end approximately equal to the circumference of the diaphragm retainer plate . in certain other embodiments , an alternate extender ring with a diameter about equal to the outward edge of the diaphragm retainer plate may be used . in such embodiments , the alternate extender ring has vertical extender bores oriented in a proximal to distal direction which are aligned with one or more vertical retainer wall threaded bores on the proximal end of the diaphragm retainer plate wall oriented in a proximal to distal direction . in such an embodiment , vertical bolts can be inserted into the vertical extender ring bores and into the vertical retainer wall threaded bores . such a configuration would allow the movement of the alternate extender ring to move from a distal position to a more proximal position and back depending on the tightening or loosening of the vertical bolts . in a further embodiment , the diaphragm retainer plate may have a threaded outwardly facing wall designed to accept an inwardly facing threaded wall from a diaphragm retainer plate ring having a distal end and a proximal end . such a ring could extend above or below or both above and below the diaphragm retainer plate and be capable of moving in a proximal or distal direction by rotation . in such an embodiment , the diaphragm retainer plate ring would serve a function similar to the use of an extender ring in increasing or decreasing the distance between the distal side of the diaphragm retainer plate and the proximal end of the diaphragm retainer plate ring . in still further embodiments , wherein a diaphragm retainer plate ring is contemplated , the diaphragm retainer plate may have an outwardly facing smooth wall designed to abut an inwardly facing smooth wall from a diaphragm retainer plate ring . in such embodiments , the outward edge of the diaphragm retainer plate may have horizontal threaded bores capable of aligning with a series of horizontal threaded bores in a distal to proximal position on a diaphragm retainer ring . in such embodiments , there may be several series of horizontal bores in a distal to proximal position , such as at a 12 o &# 39 ; clock position , a 3 o &# 39 ; clock position , a 6 o &# 39 ; clock position , and a 9 o &# 39 ; clock position when the diaphragm retainer ring and diaphragm retainer plate are viewed from above such that the distal side of the diaphragm retainer plate is seen . in such embodiments , the diaphragm retainer ring may have bolts traversing at least one of the horizontal bores from the outward side to the inward side . then said bolts would be designed to be received by the aforementioned horizontal threaded bores . such positioning would allow adjustment of the diaphragm retainer ring in a proximal or distal direction relative to the diaphragm retainer plate . in other similar embodiments , in lieu of several series of horizontal bores at certain positions on the diaphragm retainer ring , there may be several slots oriented in a proximal to distal direction from the outward side of the diaphragm retainer plate ring to the inward side of the diaphragm retainer plate ring . in such embodiments , the diaphragm retainer ring may have bolts traversing the slots from the outward side to the inward side . then said bolts would be designed to be received by the aforementioned horizontal threaded bores . such positioning would allow adjustment of the diaphragm retainer ring in a proximal or distal direction relative to the diaphragm retainer plate . after the diaphragm retainer ring is properly adjusted , the bolts would be tightened to secure the ring in place . referring now to fig1 , a cross sectional illustration of a diaphragm retainer plate of the present invention is depicted . as shown in fig1 the diaphragm retainer plate 10 curves proximally at its outward edge , which is the edge opposite the location of the central axis comprising at least the top shaft . as can be further seen in fig1 , the diaphragm retainer plate 10 has a top shaft threaded bore 20 in the diaphragm retainer plate for receiving a top shaft . further , the diaphragm retainer plate may be considered to have a diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 extending proximally from the outward edge of the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . as viewed in fig1 , the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 is a substantially circular wall around the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . still further , fig1 illustrates that the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 has a threaded inward facing wall , which is adapted to receive an extender ring 40 with an outwardly facing threaded wall . rotation of the extender ring 40 relative to the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 moves the extender in a proximal or distal direction . also seen is a lip 50 at the proximal end of the extender ring such that at the proximal end of the extender ring , the lip 50 has a circumference at its proximal end approximately equal to the circumference of the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . referring now to fig2 , another cross sectional illustration of the present invention is depicted . as shown in fig2 , the diaphragm retainer plate 10 curves proximally at its outward edge , which is the edge opposite the location of the central axis comprising at least the top shaft . as can be further seen in fig2 , the diaphragm retainer plate 10 has a top shaft threaded bore 20 in the diaphragm retainer plate for receiving a top shaft . further , the diaphragm retainer plate may be considered to have a diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 extending proximally from the outward edge of the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . as viewed in fig2 , the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 is a substantially circular wall around the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . still further , fig2 illustrates that the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 has a smooth inward facing wall , which is adapted to receive an extender ring 40 with an outwardly facing smooth wall . still further , in this embodiment , the extender ring 40 may have a plurality of vertically grouped bores 60 perpendicular to the central axis which align with a plurality of retainer plate wall bores 70 . while each bore within each of the vertically grouped bores 60 is adapted to receive a bolt , screw or pin , which then will enter the a retainer plate wall bore 70 , only one bore within each group of the vertically grouped bores 60 will actually receive a bolt , screw or pin such that the extender ring 40 can move in a proximal or distal direction . like the extender ring 40 in fig1 , the extender ring 40 in fig2 possesses a lip 50 at the proximal end of the extender ring such that at the proximal end of the extender ring , the lip 50 has a circumference at its proximal end approximately equal to the circumference of the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . referring now to fig3 , another cross sectional illustration of the present invention is depicted . as shown in fig3 , the diaphragm retainer plate 10 curves proximally at its outward edge , which is the edge opposite the location of the central axis comprising at least the top shaft . as can be further seen in fig3 , the diaphragm retainer plate 10 has a top shaft threaded bore 20 in the diaphragm retainer plate for receiving a top shaft . further , the diaphragm retainer plate may be considered to have a diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 extending proximally from the outward edge of the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . as viewed in fig3 , the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 is a substantially circular wall around the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . further , the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 has vertical retainer wall threaded bores 80 . the vertical retainer wall threaded bores 80 are intended to align with vertical extender ring bores 90 located on an extender lip 100 located immediately proximal to the diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 . however , unlike the previous extender rings , the alternate extender ring is the same circumference as the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . as further depicted in fig3 , vertical bolts 110 extend from the proximal side of the extender lip 100 , through the vertical extender ring bores 90 and into the vertical retainer wall threaded bores 80 . by loosening or tightening the vertical bolts 110 , the extender lip 100 can be moved in a proximal or distal direction relative to the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . referring to fig4 , another embodiment of the present invention is depicted . in this embodiment the diaphragm retainer plate 10 has a threaded outwardly facing wall designed to accept an inwardly facing threaded wall from a diaphragm retainer plate ring 120 having a distal end and a proximal end . the diaphragm retainer plate ring 120 is capable of extending above or below or both above and below the diaphragm retainer plate 10 and be capable of moving in a proximal or distal direction by rotation . referring to fig5 , the actuator 200 has a top actuator housing 205 and a lower actuator housing 210 . the top actuator housing is distal to the lower actuator housing and is bolted to the distal end of the lower actuator housing via a series of actuator bolts 215 . further , the top actuator housing 205 has a port for increasing or decreasing pressure hereafter referred to as an inlet port 220 . the top actuator housing further comprises a pressure relief valve 225 . at the distal end of the top actuator housing 205 is an upper plug 230 which is welded , cast , forged or screwed into the top actuator housing . the upper plug 230 has an internal bore for receiving a top shaft 235 . further , the upper plug 230 has a group of seals to keep pressure from escaping the top actuator housing 205 . these components may be made of hard plastic like materials such as delrin , nylon , thermoplastics , resins , polyurethanes , phenolics , acetals , polyacrylates , epoxides , polycarbonates , polyester , aramids and the like . typically , unless noted otherwise , the components of the actuator are made of stainless steel . the top shaft 235 fits through the upper plug 230 of the top actuator housing 205 . the top shaft 235 has a proximal end pointed away from the diaphragm 240 and a distal end pointed toward the diaphragm 240 . further , the top shaft 235 is preferably formed from stainless steel . the top shaft 235 is preferably large enough in diameter to prevent bucking stresses when loaded by a manual override or a hydraulic override . the proximal end of the top shaft may be threaded directly into a diaphragm retainer plate 10 or a diaphragm retaining nut 245 may be threaded into the diaphragm retainer plate 10 to secure the top shaft 235 . as depicted in fig5 , the diaphragm 240 rests on the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . preferably the diaphragm 240 is made of nitrile laminated with several layers of nylon . layers of nylon have an advantage of experiencing less wear from friction . diaphragms may further include a stainless steel concentric insert seal ring bonded to the diaphragm which may come in contact with the diaphragm retaining nut 245 . the diaphragm serves as a seal between the top actuator housing 205 and the lower actuator housing 210 . thus the area within the top actuator housing and the diaphragm can be considered to be a pressure chamber or a pressurizeable chamber and the area below or proximal to the diaphragm can be considered to be under atmospheric pressure , or an unpressurized chamber . as can be seen , the diaphragm retainer plate 10 has a diaphragm retainer plate wall 30 . a portion of the extender ring 40 of fig1 or fig2 can be seen at the proximal end of the diaphragm retainer plate wall . further the lip 50 of the extender ring 40 can be seen . to rotate the extender ring 40 or reposition the screws or bolts extending from the vertically grouped bores 60 and into retainer plate wall bore 70 as exemplified in fig1 , 2 , or 3 , a tool such as a screwdriver may be inserted through the actuator access holes 247 as illustrated in fig5 . a user would then contact either the diaphragm retainer ring , the lip 50 of the extender ring 40 , or the bolts or screws of the extender ring 40 depending on configuration . the extender ring or the diaphragm retainer ring could then be raised or lowered in a proximal or distal direction thus preventing a wrap around issue from the stretched or improperly sized diaphragm . the diaphragm retainer plate may distally be connected with or abut an operator shaft 250 . alternatively , a downstop 255 may be connected to the proximal side of the diaphragm retainer plate or abut the proximal side of the diaphragm retainer plate 10 . in such embodiments , the operator shaft 250 may be connected to the downstop 255 . in other aspects of fig5 , a central spring 260 surrounds the operator shaft 250 . preferably , the distal end of the central spring 260 is in contact with a downstop 255 . preferably the proximal end of the central spring 260 is in contact with the bonnet ring 265 . the external circumference of the bonnet ring abuts the lower actuator housing 210 . the internal bore of the bonnet ring is threaded . preferably , to secure the bonnet ring 265 to the lower actuator housing 210 , the bonnet ring 265 may have a series of threaded holes of a defined circumference which are perpendicular to the operator shaft 250 . likewise , the lower actuator housing 210 may have a series of holes which are approximately the same circumference as the threaded holes of the bonnet ring 265 . bolts may be screwed into the threaded holes from the exterior of the lower actuator housing such that the lower actuator housing abuts the bonnet ring . preferably the interface of the lower actuator housing with the bonnet ring is air tight . as indicated previously , the internal bore of the bonnet ring is threaded . threaded into the bonnet ring is the bonnet 270 . thus the actuator housing can be screwed onto the bonnet 270 via the bonnet ring 265 . the tension on the central spring 260 can also be adjusted by rotating the actuator housing with respect to the bonnet . as illustrated in fig5 , the bonnet 270 comprises an internal bore . the distal portion of the internal bore is threaded so as to receive the packing retainer 275 . the packing retainer 275 preferably surrounds the operator shaft 250 . distal to the internal packing retainer are drift shims 280 . the drift shims 280 partially or completely surround the operator shaft 250 . drift shims 280 can be added or removed as required to increase or decrease the combined shim width . the proximal end of the operator shaft 250 may be threaded to accept a valve gate so as to open and close a valve depending on whether the top housing 205 is pressurized , which would move the operator shaft 250 proximally . the foregoing detailed disclosure and description of the invention is illustrative and explanatory thereof , and it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , that various changes in the size , shape and materials as well as in the details of the illustrated construction , reliability configurations , or combination of features of the various valve actuator elements of the present invention may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | 8 |
fig1 is a diagrammatic drawing of a permanent magnet motor 10 having a wound stator 12 and a permanent magnet rotor 14 . the rotor 14 is formed around a longitudinal axis 15 and a peripheral surface 16 . a power supply and inverter 17 communicate and control the speed and torque of the motor 10 in response to feedback including , but not limited to , an encoder , resolver , tachometer , proximity switch and tooth set , and back electro - motive force ( emf ) detection . the motor 10 may be characterized as a brushless dc motor with square wave or sinewave excitation provided by the power supply and inverter 17 . fig2 is a cross - section of a prior art multi - layer or barrier buried magnet rotor geometry . permanent magnets 20 are defined by regions 26 of magnetic material layers or barriers 24 that are difficult to fully magnetize because of a relatively long distance from the peripheral surface 16 of the rotor 14 . the surface of the magnetic material layers 24 are magnetized by a magnetizing fixture or by the wound stator 12 during a post - magnetization process . the post - magnetization process in one embodiment of the present invention includes positioning a magnetizing fixture around the rotor 14 to magnetize the magnetic material in the rotor . magnetizing fixtures are similar to the stator 12 and contain windings which are used for the magnetization process . in alternate embodiments of the present invention , the stator 12 may itself be used to magnetize the rotor 14 instead of using a magnetizing fixture . the magnetizing fixture includes enough iron to prevent it from becoming saturated . windings in the magnetizing fixture are placed such that the magnetic field is guided along a desired magnetization direction . fig3 is a cross - section of a rotor similar to fig2 in which magnetic powder mixed with plastic is injected into the rotor 14 cavities under high temperature and pressure , allowing the material to bond and form to a solid magnet inside the rotor 14 cavity upon curing . this process is desirable for large scale production . as mentioned earlier , post - magnetization of high energy magnetic material is currently only practical if the magnetic material is buried near the rotor surface . magnetic material 24 , depending on its composition , requires varying magnetic field strengths to become fully magnetized . the high energy magnets 20 which are preferred for variable speed motor drive applications due to their higher demagnetization strength , require very high magnetic fields to saturate the magnetic material 24 to become fully magnetized . the magnetic field is produced by the flow of current in the winding of the stator 12 or in a magnetizing fixture . usually , a very high current burst is needed for a very short period of time to magnetize the rotor 14 . if the stator 12 lacks sufficient iron , it may become saturated during this process , preventing the generated magnetic field from penetrating into the rotor 14 . as described previously , multi - layer or barrier geometry for an ipm rotor improves the saliency of the rotor 14 . accordingly , the geometry of the rotor 14 shown in fig2 has the advantage of having relatively high saliency , improving the machine torque density and lowering the magnetic material volume requirements for a specific torque or wattage motor rating . lower magnetic material volume requirements reduce the motor cost and also alleviate the problems associated with high flux pm machines , such as short circuit and open circuit fault problems , and spin losses ( eddy current induced losses ) due to the presence of the permanent magnetic field . fig3 is a cross section of a multi - layer or barrier buried magnet motor 10 with bottom barriers of the magnets 20 disposed closer to the axis 15 of the rotor 14 filled with low energy magnetic material 40 and upper barriers of the magnets filled with high energy magnetic material 42 . in the present invention , high energy magnetic material is removed from areas of the rotor 14 , such as regions 26 in fig2 , where it is difficult to magnetize the high energy magnetic material with a low energy magnetic material . the high energy magnetic material 42 may comprise a material requiring a magnetizing field more than 2000 ka / m to become magnetized . the low energy magnetic material 40 may comprise a material requiring a magnetizing field less than 2000 ka / m . low coercivity of the low energy magnetic material 40 allows easier magnetization . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the high energy magnetic material 42 is ndfeb and the low energy magnetic material 40 is ferrite , but any other high energy or low energy magnetic material is considered within the scope of the present invention . the low energy magnetic material 40 placed nearer to center of the rotor 14 can be fully magnetized by the magnetizing fixture because of its lower magnetizing field . the main performance contribution of the magnetic material 40 is to saturate the bridges 22 between barriers 24 and therefore ensure the saliency of the rotor 14 . these bridges 22 also ensure the mechanical strength of the rotor 14 . the mechanical strength of the low magnetic material 40 that is placed near the center of the rotor is sufficient to fulfill this function . referring now to fig4 where a portion 14 a of a rotor 14 is shown , the use of multiple property injection molded magnets 50 as discussed in the prior art of fig1 - 3 , offers the designer additional degrees of freedom to optimize machine design . one area of concern are mechanical rotor bridges 52 . since rotor bridges 52 provide leakage paths , it is desirable that the rotor iron comprising the bridges is magnetically saturated so that leakage flux is minimized . strong magnets in the vicinity of the rotor bridges 52 increase the localized saturation of the bridges and help achieve this goal . however , the magnet strength to saturate the bridges 52 may be too strong to meet the system objectives if used in the entire cavity . in fig4 the magnets 50 are multiple property magnets injected in liquid form or mobile ( i . e ., flowable plastic ) form into rotor cavity segments 53 and 54 so as to control the localized saturation of the rotor bridges 52 , while the magnets 54 are single property injection magnets . in fig4 , magnet portions 60 and 62 having different properties ( i . e ., different magnet strength , temperature stability , etc .) are injected into rotor cavity segments while both magnetic materials are in liquid form . since the magnet portions 60 and 62 are injected while both portions are in liquid form , some mixing occurs at the interface regions 63 . this results in the magnets 50 having a smooth transition of magnetic properties along the radial extent of the magnets . consequently , when the magnetic portions 60 and 62 are injected while both portions a still in a liquid or mobile form , or are injected simultaneously , the magnetic portions are in the cavity 53 and 54 segments intermingle in the interface region 63 . preferably , the first magnetic material 60 is a relatively high energy material , such as nd fe b , and the second material 62 is a relatively low energy material , such as ferrite , with the materials in the interface region being a mixture of ndfeb and ferrite . by varying the strength and / or thermal properties of magnetic cavities in a radial direction away from the periphery 16 and toward the rotor axis 15 ( see fig1 and 2 ), magnetic saturation is controlled in the radial steel sections of which the rotor is configured affording the designer increased flexibility in configuring the rotor 14 . fig5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein a cavity 70 has a third magnetic material 72 injected between a first magnetic material 60 ′ and second magnetic material 62 ′. disposed between the first magnetic material 60 ′ and the third magnetic material 72 is a second interface region 74 and disposed between the second magnetic material 62 ′ and the third magnetic material 62 ′ and the third magnetic material 74 is a third interface region 76 . the second and third interfaces regions 74 and 76 are two in number , whereas the first interface region 63 of fig4 is one in number . as with the first interface region 63 of fig4 , the third magnetic material 72 is injected into the cavity 70 while the first and second materials 60 ′ and 62 ′ are in liquid or mobile ( i . e ., flowable plastic ) form and are mobile enough to intermingle with the third material 72 . consequently , the second and third interface regions 74 and 76 provide a smooth transition zone between the three magnetic materials in the cavity 70 . in fig5 , the transition of magnetic material 60 ′ to the second magnetic material 62 ′ is made smoother by the third magnetic material 72 and smoother still by the interface regions 74 and 76 . referring now to fig6 , the magnetic properties of the magnetic materials 80 and 82 are in another embodiment varied along the axial length of a rotor 14 ′ as is shown by the axial cavity 84 . between the magnetic materials 82 and 82 ″ is an interface region 86 where the magnetic materials 80 and 82 intermingle to smooth transition between the materials . this arrangement skews the rotor 14 electromagnetically so that it is not necessary to physically arrange rotor laminations . in fig7 , the magnetic properties are varied near the peripheral surface 16 of the rotor 14 by mixing some magnetic material 60 ″ with magnetic material 62 ″. this is still an interface region 63 ″ between magnetic material 62 ″ and the mixed region adjacent the periphery 16 of the rotor 14 . this arrangement decreases torque ripple associated with the slotting effect between the rotor and stator 12 , while simultaneously insuring desirable bridge saturation deeper within the rotor . by controlling saturation on a localized basis , reluctance torque availability is increased resulting in an increased motor torque and power density . while this invention has been described in terms of some specific embodiments , it will be appreciated that other forms can readily be adapted by one skilled in the art . accordingly , the scope of this invention is to be considered limited only by the following claims . from the foregoing description , one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention , and without departing form the spirit and scope thereof , can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions . | 7 |
referring now in more detail to the drawing , there is schematically shown in fig1 a system for forming an interferogram with light of narrow optical frequency bandwidth , such as that which may be provided by a laser , passed transversely twice through an optical fiber under test . a graded index type optical fiber 10 is seen to be submerged in an oil bath 12 having an index of refraction matching test of the fiber cladding atop an optical flat 16 providing a mirror surface 14 . the bath and mirror are located atop an adjustable stage 20 projecting from a microscope base 22 . a beam of light 25 emitted from a he - ne laser is directed through an unshown moving diffuser onto a beam splitter 26 component of an michelson interferometer objective 28 and then transversely through the optical fiber 10 . alternatively , non - coherent , filtered light may be used . the beam is then reflected off of the mirror 14 back through the fiber , the objective end beam splitter , and through the microscope eyepiece 30 onto a camera 32 . in this manner an interferogram 34 is conventionally formed . with reference next to fig2 the interferogram 34 is seen to be formed of a number of interference fringe lines spaced apart a distance l . a center portion 35 of each line is seen to be curved while adjacent , straddling side portions 36 are straight and mutually parallel . the side portions thus correspond to the cylindrical layer of fiber cladding and index matching oil while the center portion corresponds to the fiber core which again is of a non - uniform , graded refractive index . representative maximum fringe shift due to the core is shown at 38 . as will hereinafter be described in greater detail , the present method ignores bending of the sensing light rays as they pass twice through the core , both towards and away from the mirror . in actuality ray bending does , of course , occur in an amount computable by successive applications of snell &# 39 ; s law . however , this error can be reduced by a factor of about six where a single pass approach is utilized . in addition , the change in the exit angle caused by the core is only about half that of the double pass case . fig3 schematically illustrates just such a single pass system for forming an interferogram with a beam of light which passes only once through the optical fiber core under index profile examination . this system is seen to include a leitz dual - beam single - pass transmission interference microscope 42 commonly used in examining polished slab samples . this microscope is essentially a combination of two microscopes and an interferometer whereby the magnified image of the object and the interference pattern are superimposed . here again the optical fiber is submerged in a bath of oil having an index of refraction matching that of the fiber cladding in the sample arm of the interference microscope . a similar thickness of matching oil is placed in the reference arm . the output field of the microscope is detected with a vidicon camera 43 . the camera video signal is transmitted to a video digitizer having the capability of addressing x , y coordinates and encoding picture elements in the picture frame . a video output display monitor is also connected to the digitizer ouptut for continuous observation of the interferogram 34 . the video digitizer also provides intensity information to a calculator programmed for calculations as hereinafter described at the coordinates addressed by the calculator . at each radial position through the fiber core a set of intensity data is obtained corresponding to the amount of light present at each point across the fringe . the darkest point locates a fringe center . the calculated index profile is finally displayed on a plotter . with reference next to fig4 the manner in which information is extracted from the interferogram , here made with the double pass system , is graphically illustrated . it should be understood however that this same general procedure is applicable to the single pass method . first , it is assumed that all light rays do pass through the fiber core without deflection , using only the fact that their phases are retarded according to the lengths of their optical paths . a further assumption made is that fiber core consists of a number of concentric rings , of either equal or unequal thicknesses , but with each ring having a constant index of refraction . ray bending between the mirror and core is also neglected . the profile is derived by evaluating the refractive indices , step by step , beginning at the outermost ring and proceeding towards the core center . in other words , the index of refraction of any inner ring is determined only after the index values of all other , surrounding rings at greater radial position from core center have first been determined . in fig4 ray z 0 is seen to pass tangentially to the core periphery and to be represented at point z o on the fringe line . ray z 1 is seen to pass through the outermost cylindrical ring 1 tangentially to the interface of abstract rings 1 and 2 . in doing so the ray travels a distance of 2x 1 towards the mirror and 2x 1 away from it . the value for x 1 may be easily calculated by the application of the right triangle law as shown in fig6 . since ring thickness δx 1 is a selected value , and core radius r is known , x 1 =√ r 2 -( r - δx 1 ) 2 . the just described procedure is next repeated for all of the other rings . thus , as shown in fig7 it is seen that ray z 2 travels through ring 1 a distance of 4x 3 and through ring 2 a distance of 4x 2 . again , the values of both x 3 and x 2 may be calculated by the right triangle law . thus , x 2 =√ r 2 2 =[ r 1 -( δx 1 + δx 2 )] 2 while x 3 is derived from the equation ( x 2 + x 3 ) 2 +[ r 1 -( δx 1 + δx 2 )] 2 = r 1 2 . as the value of the index of refraction of the outermost ring 1 is determined prior to the determination of distance thus of travel time of ray z 2 , the only unknown in correlating the point z 2 on the fringe line with index of refraction of the core is the refractive index of ring 2 . the measurable fringe line shift is , of course , related to the time taken by light rays to traverse the various concentric rings of which the core is abstractly composed . the distance travelled in the outermost ring is related to the measured fringe shift and to the index of refraction of the outermost ring by the expression 4x 1 δn 1 =( q / l ) λ where λ is the light wavelength , q is the fringe shift , l the fringe line spacing , δn 1 is the index of the outer ring minus the cladding index , and x 1 is the distance designated in fig4 . computation is thus followed for each successive layer or ring inwardly by application of this basic equation until the entire profile of the core is developed . in order to utilize the basic equation in calculating δn values throughout the core it is best expressed as a general equation as now described . first , the equation for calculating the distance x z , j that any ray z travels in any ring j is expressed , with the dual pass method employed as x z , j = 4 {[ r j - 1 2 - r z 2 ] 1 / 2 -] r j 2 - r z z ] 1 / 2 }. for the case x z , 1 r o is the outer core radius . where the single pass method is used the factor 4 , of course , becomes 2 . at a particular ray position z the fringe shift q z is merely a summation of the effects of the ray passing through the various rings aligned therewith as illustrated in fig4 . this can therefore be expressed as ## equ1 ## where δn z is the relative refractive index of a ring z in terms of the relative index values of all preceeding rings , δn j is the difference between the refractive index value of a ring j and the cladding index , and λ is the wavelength of the light employed . here , the δn z x z , z factor represents the fringe shift caused by the z ray passing through the z ring while the factor ## equ2 ## represents the shift caused by all of the preceeding outer rings . by rearranging the equation δn z may be solved as ## equ3 ## this general equation is then used to calculate δn z for successive inner rings until the entire core is profiled . actual results produced by just described procedure on eight fiber samples using the single pass system and method are presented in table i . table i______________________________________ core - fit fitfiber radius al - error regionsample δn microns pha % microns______________________________________slab # 1 . 0202 22 . 29 2 . 23 1 . 5 5 - 20whole # 1 . 01903 21 . 39 2 . 36 2 . 3 5 - 20slab # 2 . 0183 27 . 67 2 . 32 1 . 1 5 - 25whole # 2 . 0174 27 . 07 2 . 35 0 . 8 5 - 25slab # 3 . 0227 27 . 89 1 . 49 1 . 0 5 - 25whole # 3 . 0220 26 . 69 1 . 57 1 . 0 5 - 25slab # 4 . 0230 27 . 22 1 . 48 0 . 8 8 - 25whole # 4 . 0221 27 . 04 1 . 45 0 . 8 8 - 25slab # 5 . 0207 22 . 94 2 . 17 0 . 9 4 - 21whole # 5 . 0194 22 . 31 2 . 39 1 . 9 4 - 21slab # 6 . 0184 25 . 60 2 . 25 1 . 2 5 - 22whole # 6 . 0185 24 . 76 2 . 43 2 . 7 5 - 22slab # 7 . 0212 26 . 74 1 . 70 0 . 6 12 - 25whole # 7 . 0228 26 . 94 1 . 75 0 . 6 12 - 25slab # 8 . 0094 24 . 95 2 . 06 0 . 7 3 - 22whole # 8 . 0089 24 . 90 2 . 04 1 . 47 3 - 22______________________________________ in table i δn indicates the amount that the refractive index at core the center exceeds the cladding index . the core - radius is from core center to periphery . the alpha ( α ) values were derived from a curve fitting procedure which utilized about 40 values of δn at some 40 different points of fringe line shifts from core center to periphery within the fit bounds indicated . the fit regions indicate the core radial distance to which the curve fitting was applied . the fit error denotes deviation of the index profiles from the fitted curves for the present method on whole fibers and the prior art conventional slab method . fig8 itself depicts the profile of sample no . 3 in table i wherein the solid line follows slab measurements and the broken line that of the single pass method of this invention . any lack of symmetry in fig8 is due to the fact that slab data was obtained radially from opposed sides of core center while the whole sample method assumes circular symmetry . since these profiles are not ideal alpha distributions , the value of alpha depends on the limits of the region over which the fit is made . the table shows the average difference of the maximum δn values and the α values as being about 4 %. in addition to the good agreement of the fitted data , the index profiles themselves are in excellent correspondence . the method tends to display more clearly the areas near the core center than has heretofore been achieved . this is due to the fact that all fluctuations are magnified and therefore so are systematic ones near the core center . the central index depression is also resolved to a greater degree since this region , with the prior art slab technique , possesses a large index gradient that cannot be resolved by the interference fringe passing through it . the depression depth displayed by the new method instead depends on the proximity of a vertical scanning line to the fiber axis which accounts for profile variations observed here . we thus see that a new method is provided for determining an index of refraction profile of an optical fiber . with this method the index profile may be determined in a manner non - destructive to the fiber itself with transverse illuminations forming an interferogram . the method is workable on both stepped and graded index cores and may even be employed in preforms . of real significance is the fact that the profile is derived from an interferogram in a manner that does not require assumption of any particular functional shape of the index distribution , and thus with substantially improved accuracy . it should be understood that the just described embodiments merely illustrate principles of the invention in preferred forms . many modifications , deletions and additions may , of course , be made thereto without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
referring first to fig1 farms or fields are shown at 10 , with a remote central computer at 11 . remote computers 12 are associated with the farms . the central computer 11 serves to provide backup data storage ; and to provide updated information to the remote computers . transmission between the remote computers and the central computer is via ordinary telephone lines , indicated at 13 . each remote computer can handle many separate fields at a farm . in fig2 a typical farm 15 includes several fields 15a . associated with each farm 15 is a remote computer 16 which is able to communicate via radio or other means with various sensor and control units 17 and 18 located throughout the farm or fields . each field is typically instrumented with several soil sensor stations or units ; in fig2 three such soil sensor stations are shown in one field and spaced along and between crop rows 200 . in actual practice , many fields could be instrumented , and with as many sensor stations as are needed to characterize that field , i . e . to develop soil moisture data characteristic of the field . additionally , a weather station 19 is provided and may be located in any field . this station supplies data including , but not limited to : temperature , humidity , wind velocity , wind direction , isolation ( sun intensity ), and rainfall amount . antennas associated with the described elements are indicated at 16a , 17a , 18a and 19a . also , the system is able to control irrigation ( start and stop pumps , open and close valves , etc .) for those farms where such facilities are available . see for example pump or valve 20 connected at 21 with controller 18 . the pump or valve typically controls water flow to one or more of the fields 15a . there is also means ( for example telephone or radio 22 , and link 23 ) for the system to communicate with the farmer or other human . this capability allows the farmer to obtain reports on the system &# 39 ; s operation , to manually overide the system &# 39 ; s activities ( for example , to inhibit irrigation in a field where harvesting is planned ); and for those farms where automatic control of pumps or valves is unavailable , to advise the farmer of recommended irrigation schedules . fig3 shows a typical portable soil sensor station 17 . it comprises a self - contained unit which is placed in the field , and operates to telemeter data indicative of the moisture level in the soil in the vicinity of the active region of the crop roots at that portion of the field where the station is located . the station is designed so that it can be easily installed in the field , and easily removed , so as to facilitate harvesting and field preparation . the support shaft or mast 26 has a lower portion 26a incorporating or carrying the moisture sensitive elements 27a of the soil sensors 27 . optionally , the moisture sensor elements 27a can be mounted separate from support 26 . the soil sensor , such as tensiometer elements , are placed in proximity with the active areas of the plant roots 28 as by implanting the lower portion 26a underground , i . e . below ground level 29 . ( sensors other than tensiometers are usable ). note tapered lower portion 26b of that mast , easily forced into the earth . markers 30 on the mast indicate depth of soil penetration . the units 17 may be placed along rows of planted crops , and the construction described above allows the sensors to take up a minimum of space along the rows , with minimum interference with farm operations . alternatively , the soil sensors can be placed , separately or in common , on support shafts and connected to the remainder of the unit by wires or other means . this allows separation among the soil sensor elements . see for example sensors 227 in fig3 a , separate from mast 26 but connected by wires 228 with cable 204 in the mast ( shown in fig3 b ) as via circuitry in case 225 . the sensors are located at the lower ends of plastic pipes 230 filled with sand to assure continued contact between the sensor tips and the surrounding soil . pipes 230 are of different lengths . the support shaft or mast 26 also has an upper or above ground portion 26c which provides a mounting means for : a radio antenna 17a or other means of telemetry ; a protective case 32 which contains electrical components , such as transmitters , receivers ; etc ; and a solar panel 33 to provide electrical power to the electrical devices at the station 17 . alternatively , the protective case may be mounted below ground , or may be detached from support shaft 26 . see case 225 in fig3 a , for example . in order to facilitate farming operations , a means is provided which allows the supporting shaft to bend laterally and downwardly , so that farming operations , such as cultivation or plowing , could be conducted with the sensing unit still in place . such means may take the form of a coil spring 202 attached to the mast sections 26d and 26e in fig3 b , near ground level . if the mast upper section is struck by a farm vehicle , it bends from upright ( see axis 203 ) to a lateral and downward position ( see axis 203a ). the data transmitting cable 204 in the tubular mast also bends . examples of usable soil sensors are tensiometers described in u . s . patent 3 , 224 , 676 , soil moisture samplers as described in u . s . patent 4 , 197 , 866 , or other appropriate devices . their vertical spacing enables ascertainment of soil moisture data at two or more depths , for establishing a moisture gradient . fig4 illustrates the electrical components of a typical sensor station 17 . power developed at the solar panel 33 is delivered at 34 to a voltage regulator circuit 35 and used to charge a rechargable battery 36 . the system typically provides power without wires , and allows power availability during times without sunlight . power from the rechargable battery is supplied at 37 to all other states of the unit . alternatively , especially in the case of units associated with pumps or valves , power can be obtained from the power mains , with or without benefit of a rechargable battery used to supply power in case of power mains interruptions . see mains 205 , voltage regulator 206 , and protective rectifier 207 . commands from the remote computer 16 are received via antenna 17a and receiver - amplifier 38 , and then sent at 39 to a controller 40 . the latter verifies that the commands were addressed to the particular sensor station ; and determines the measurement desired . when an appropriate activating command is received , the signals from the soil moisture sensors , as sensed by transducers 41 , are used to modulate the transmitted waveform . for example , the voltage outputs of transducers 41 modulate ( at modulator 42 ) the waveform transmitted via transmitter 43 ). thus , the signals are telemetered back to the remote computer 16 upon command . it is also a desirable characteristic of the system that the controller can be directed to collect soil data automatically , and to report the collected data to the remote computer at different or less frequent times . fig5 shows a representation of the circuitry in the weather station 19 . data including , but not limited to , the following are collected by conventional instruments 44 - 49 ; temperature , windspeed , wind direction , humidity , insolation , and rainfall . these instruments , together with encoder 50 , transmitter 51 and receiver 52 components are carried by a mast or shaft 53 ( like shaft 26 ) and adapted to be removably implanted in the soil , or mounted in any other convenient manner . the remote computer 16 addresses the weather station through antenna 19a and the radio receiver 52 , or other communication system as may be provided . upon receipt of such a command , an enabling signal is transmitted at 54 to the encoder 50 , enabling it to encode the collected weather data ( fed to the encoder at 55 ), and transmit same to the remote computer ( via transmitter 51 and antenna 19a ). fig6 shows a typical pump control / monitor station 18 . its purpose is to allow the remote computer to command the pumps to start or stop ; and to allow data concerning the pump &# 39 ; s operation to be transmitted to the remote computer . transmitted commands from the remote computer 16 are received via antenna 18a and receiver 60 , and processed by a controller 61 . depending on the particular command , the controller can either control the pump ; or it can collect data about the pump &# 39 ; s operation . if the command is to control the pump , then controller 61 enables at 62 a power controller 63 , which turns the power to the pump 20 on or off as appropriate . a power meter appears at 64 . various parameters concerning the operation of the pump are encoded and stored . such parameters include , but are not limited to power consumption , flow , current consumption , pumping depth and status of hand operated controls . in addition , means may be provided by which a person at the pump site can communicate with the computer and influence control . for example , the energy consumption or the water flow is encoded at 65 and telemetered at 66 . data from water meter 67 is transmitted at 68 to the encoder , and data from the power meter 64 is transmitted at 69 to the encoder . the physical construction of the pump control / monitor station is similar to the soil sensor station shown in fig3 i . e . the components 18a , and 60 - 69 may be carried by a mast or shaft 70 removably implanted in the soil , adjacent pump 20 , or mounted in other convenient manner . fig7 shows the remote computer 16 , which collects data from the fields , makes decision about optimal irrigation strategy , communicates with the central computer , and communicates with the farmer . the internal characteristics of the remote computer are illustrated in the following figures . the remote computer is able to communicate with the central computer using a modem ( modulator - demodulator ) 71 of conventional design , such as a bell type 103 . in turn , communication is through existing telephone network 13 . control / display function at 72 is provided using potentiometers , switches , dials , which indicate the status of the internal circuits and allow control thereof . a radio transmitter / receiver or other means of communication with the sensors and controllers in the field is provided by antenna 16a , receiver 74 and transmitter 75 . in operation , data is collected in the computer memory from the soil sensors which indicates the free moisture in various portions of each field . weather data is collected from the weather station . means is provided to supply data to the computer indicative of the consumptive use characteristics of the crop ( the variations in water consumption throughout the growing seasons ). characteristics such as soil type , irrigation flow rate , etc . are thereby applied . the farmer can provide additional information , such as &# 34 ; water now &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; do not water &# 34 ;, etc . using all the above factors , the remote computer develops a predictive model of the amount of soil moisture in each field ; and predicts the optimal irrigation strategy . in this regard it is distinctive , and is predictive , rather than reactive . the predictive model implemented in the remote computer can be implemented in many ways , and fig8 shows one possible implementation using analog electronic circuits . voltages corresponding to temperature , insolation ( sun intensity ) and humidity are derived from data collected by the weather station . these voltages supplied on lines 76 - 78 are summed at 79 with appropriate weighting . the humidity , in this case , would have a negative weight , represented by the invertor 80 in the figure . the exact weighting factors would vary from case to case , and can be varied as by controls 76a , 77a and 78a . the weighted summing can be implemented in several ways , one of which would be conventional operational amplifiers . the result of this weighted summing would be a voltage ( transmitted at 81 ) which is an analog of the overall weather situation , hotter , dryer weather would in general be represented by a greater voltage . this signal is also optionally displayed at 82 to the human operator . it is labelled &# 34 ; weather factor &# 34 ; in the figure . another input to the system is a voltage ( supplied at 84 ) which is an analog of the soil characteristics . since this factor would be constant over extended periods of time , it may be set by a potentiometer 85 . in the particular model shown , a higher voltage would be analogous to sandy soil , in which water was rapidly lost through downward percolation . a lower voltage would represent clayey soil which tended to retain water . a third input at 86 is a voltage analogous to the consumptive use of the crop . this is labelled &# 34 ; consumptive use factor &# 34 ; in the figure . it corresponds to the rate at which water is consumed by the plants themselves . a greater voltage represents greater water consumption , such as during a very active growing phase . the consumptive use factor depends on the crop type , location , phase of the growing season , etc . fig9 shows one means for developing this voltage analog . the three factors described above - weather factor , soil factor , and consumptive use factor - are in turn processed by a weighted summing circuit 90 . the output 91 of this circuit , labelled &# 34 ; water use factor &# 34 ; is an analog of the overall water lost from the soil for all reasons in the model . a voltage is stored on capacitor c . this voltage appearing at 92 is labelled &# 34 ; modelled soil moisture &# 34 ;, and is an analog of the estimate of the amount of water stored in the soil . the water use factor is used to control a voltage controlled resistor 93 . a greater water use factor would cause the resistance to decrease . such a decrease would cause capacitor c to discharge at a greater rate . the discharge current at 94 is labelled &# 34 ; water loss &# 34 ; in the figure . thus , the foregoing is a model of the depletion of water from the soil . in the particular model shown in the figure , water can be added to the soil from two sources : rainfall and irrigation . a voltage analogous of the rate of rainfall is developed at 95 from data collected from the weather stations . this is labelled &# 34 ; rainfall rate &# 34 ; in the figure . no rainfall is represented by zero volts , and greater rainfall is represented by greater voltages . a current proportional to the rate of rainfall at 96 through the variable resistor 97 labelled rainfall scale factor , and charges the capacitor c . this causes an increase in the modelled soil moisture . the imedance of the rainfall scale factor resistor is determined by the particular location , and factors such as the portion of rainfall which is absorbed by the soil , rather than drained away and lost , etc . a second method by which the modelled soil moisture can be increased is if irrigation is performed . thus , if the model issues an &# 34 ; irrigate &# 34 ; command ( in a manner to be described below ) then relay y is energized . current flows from source 100 through the variable resistor 98 labelled &# 34 ; irrigation rate factor &# 34 ;, and charges capacitor c . this , in turn , increases the modelled soil moisture . the irrigation rate factor resistor is adjusted to represent the particular installation ; for example , large pumps would be modelled by a small value of the resistor , and corresponding large currents . the result of the foregoing is the modelled soil moisture . it is an estimate of the water stored in the soil , and available to the plants . however , the model described so far has no provision for adjusting the model to approximate the actual measured values of soil moisture . the following is one means to accomplish this correction , and prevent the model from becoming grossly different from actuality . voltages analogous to the measured soil moisture levels are developed . these are based on the data obtained from the soil sensor stations described previously . they are labelled &# 34 ; soil moisture levels &# 34 ; 101 in the figure ; higher voltages represent greater measured moistures . these voltages are applied to a circuit 102 which produces as its output 103 a voltage analogous to the overall moisture level in the field and which is a function of levels 101 . the exact functional relationship between the several soil moisture levels , and the representative single value , labelled &# 34 ; present water factor &# 34 ; in the figure could be any one of many . for example , on possibility would be for the present water factor to be the simple average of the several soil moisture levels . another possibility might be to use the lowest of the soil moisture levels , thus basing actions on the dryest . another might be to use the tenth percentile , or other means . in any case , a single voltage analogous of the overall actual condition of soil moisture is developed at 103 . the modelled soil moisture signal 92 is then compared with the actual overall soil moisture ( signal 103 ) in a differencing circuit 104 . the output 105 of this differencing circuit is a correction factor which represent error in the model when compared to actuality . this correction factor is passed through a low pass circuit 106 which eliminates short term difference , and develops a signal 107 labelled &# 34 ; long term averaged difference &# 34 ;. this voltage is analogous to the long term difference between the modelled soil moisture and the observed soil moisture . the long term averaged difference signal 107 is summed in summing circuit 109 with the modelled soil moisture signal 42 to produce a signal 110 labelled &# 34 ; corrected modelled soil moisture &# 34 ; in the figure . this is the model &# 39 ; s best estimate of the soil moisture . another input to the system is a voltage 111 labelled &# 34 ; desired soil moisture level &# 34 ; in the figure . this could be set by a potentiometer at 112 if it remains relatively constant , or could be generated by a device such as is shown in fig9 . this is analogous to the desired level of moisture in the soil ; and depends on the crop type , location and other factors ; and may in some cases vary through the growing season . the desired soil moisture can also be set to a very high value or a very low value , using the switch labelled &# 34 ; override control &# 34 ; 113 . in any case the desired soil moisture is compared with the corrected modelled soil moisture , in the comparator 114 . if the desired moisture is less than the corrected model , then the output 115 of the comparator goes high , and irrigation is commenced via pump controls 61 and 62 . a display 116 also indicates the beginning of irrigation , and relay y is energized , so that the modelled soil moisture can be adjusted to reflect the beginning of irrigation . when the corrected model of soil moisture reaches the level of the desired moisture , the output of the comparator goes low , a command to discontinue irrigation is issued , and relay y is deenergized . thus , the model in the figure and described here is one means to provide a predictive model of soil moisture , and an optimal means of irrigation control . certain signals used by the model described previously may vary throughout the growing season . these include the consumptive use of water by plants ; and also the desired soil moisture levels . fig9 shows one means to develop these signals . a narrow , parallel beam of light 120 is generated . one known way to do this would be with a lens system and shutters . this beam of light is directed through a strip of photographic film 121 of other material which has been prepared with a clear ( transparent ) region 122 and an opague region 123 . the strip of film is slowly moved from a supply spool 124 to a take - up spool 125 during the course of the growing season . at any time in the season , the portion of the film through which the light shines has a transparent area which is analogous to the value of the appropriate signal ( consumptive use ) at that time . the light which then passes through the strip is proportional to the portion of the strip which is transparent . the light is concentrated by a lens 126 and is used to illuminate a photocell 127 . thus , the voltaged developed by the photocell is representative of the desired signal . a very slow speed drive for the take - up spool is indicated at 128 . representative commercially available components indicated in blocks in the above description , are listed as follows : ______________________________________components model and manufacturer______________________________________11 digital equipment corp . pdp - 11 / 70 computer16 digital equipment corp . pdp - 11 / 03 computer20 rainbird ep - 300 - f27 irrometer33 photowatt international ma 232035 motorola mc781238 repco 810 - 05540 energy management 812041 energy management 812042 creative micro systems 9651 - 50943 repco 810 - 03844 weather measure t 62145 weather measure w 12146 weather measure w 12147 weather measure h 35248 weather measure r 41349 weather measure p53250 creative micro systems 9651 - 51351 repco 810 - 03852 repco 810 - 05560 repco 810 - 05561 creative micro systems 9651 - 50563 westinghouse bf - 02 - f64 general electric dsw 4365 creative micro systems 9651 - 51366 repco 810 - 03867 brooks instruments 1071 racal - vadic va 30572 teletype 4374 repco 810 - 05575 repco 810 - 03879 national semiconductor lm 32480 national semiconductor lm 32490 national semiconductor lm 324102 national semiconductor lm 324104 national semiconductor lm 324106 national semiconductor af - 150109 national semiconductor lm 324114 national semiconductor lm 311______________________________________ | 0 |
referring now to fig1 , a preferred embodiment of the integrated computerized sales system for destination events will be described . it will be understood that the term destination event is used in the present invention to events hosted by a city or regional or metropolitan area that involve services provided by more than one service provider and typically have hundreds or thousands of attendees . examples of destination events include conventions , conferences , exhibitions , sporting championships and the like with hundreds or thousands of attendees that are hosted by the destination in a variety of independently managed facilities with services provided by multiple different vendors that often extend over multiple days . the increased size and number of service providers involved with destination events brings an exponential increase in the complexity of the management required to effectively host these destination events . the term service provider is used in the present invention to denote a company , organization , or group that is making services and / or facilities available as part of responding to a request for proposal ( rfp ) made to a given destination for hosting a destination event . examples of service providers include hotels , motels , convention centers , arenas , meeting facilities , dining and catering services , transportation services , equipment rental services and the like . in the preferred embodiment as shown in fig1 , the integrated decision sales system 100 of the present invention is made up of several “ modules ” 110 , 112 , 114 , 116 , 118 , 120 , 122 , 124 and 126 that work seamlessly together as part of an asp - hosted system , eliminating the need to re - enter data while ensuring the accuracy of information . the system 100 also provides a built - in workflow engine for interpersonal communication among cvb team members . the system 100 of the present invention is a total destination management system that is software based , but manages information and data related to the coordination and management of meetings and events at any destination . the benefits of the system 100 are the ability to provide a comprehensive , fully integrated data management system to cvb staff and member organizations , and to minimize the need for maintenance and support of that software because the software is hosted by an application service provider ( asp ) that is preferably an off - site server managed by a third party from remote location . while it will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention can be programmed using any number of programming languages and database packages , the preferred embodiment of the present invention is programmed as java applets , active server pages development language and / or html webpages for the web - based interfaces , with active server pages development language and microsoft . net software modules running on the asp and interfacing with sql databases . while the preferred embodiment is designed to work in microsoft ® internet explorer as the browser application , although it will be recognized that the present invention can be deployed to any web - based browser . in one embodiment of the system 100 , the software modules include the following : gives cvb sales staff full access to data from the office , home or while traveling on business via the internet . provides members access to leads , updates , definite bookings and cancellations through the member user interface ( mui ) 130 , eliminating faxing and emailing documents . controls all future space availability for a single convention center , or for multiple meeting venues such as additional convention centers , stadiums , arenas , etc . convention bureau and authorized hotel sales staff have access to future convention center space calendar from anywhere with internet capabilities . can be used to search the database using standard query features , advanced search or “ english query ” and merge directly to labels , faxes or email lists . can be combined with convention sales module 110 or as an individual stand - alone application . the future hotel inventory calendar , for example , reflects the current , definite , and tentative group room blocks being held for association , corporate , and leisure group business . the program automatically deducts the definite room blocks from a hotel &# 39 ; s maximum group commitment , the result showing the total group rooms available for all future dates , by hotel or as a total hotel room availability for the destination . similar future availability calendars may be separately created for other services , such as transportation services or catering services , or the future service availability calendars may be selectively combined and presented with overlays or differing color schemes to reflect a combination of availabilities of different services for a given destination at the date ranges represented by a given view of the calendar . cvb sales staff have access to view all hotels individually or as a destination - wide total , eliminating endless telephone and email communications to the hotel sales staff to determine availability on an ongoing basis . authorized hotel sales staff have access to the available rooms for their own hotel , and the total room availability destination , providing valuable information for scheduling in - house group business , low occupancy periods , and maximizing rates . eliminates the traditional paper system nor commonly used for services , such as registration , welcome programs , site visits , and preparation / promotions . interfaces directly with the convention sales module 110 , providing access to the most accurate contact information and event history . interfaces with the membership module 122 keeping a record of all reservations made for member restaurants and tourist attractions during a convention through a reservations desk . gives a complete history of hotel room occupancy , from the original point of sale in the contracted room block to the final pick - up . can be combined with the convention services module 114 or operated as a separate application for convention bureaus , hotels , associations or corporations . combines the housing process , accommodating both hotels and campus dormitory housing in the room block . provides meeting professionals with increased management capabilities for controlling delegate housing within and outside the official room block . hotels can arrange for in - house meetings and conventions , increasing in - house control , improving client services , and eliminating need for the traditional reservation cards kept on file . allows a convention bureau to have an alternative housing system for groups , which allows price flexibility and price tiering . gives authorized hotels , attractions and other member businesses direct access to leads , updates , definite bookings and cancellations , eliminating the need to fax or email these documents . module communicates with the convention bureau &# 39 ; s web site providing individual consumers a current list of all domestic and international tours and packages available for sale and link directly to the appropriate tour company . captures and manages all visitor inquiries for future promotions , allowing the destination , and member hotels , to pinpoint and target periods of low occupancy . makes adjustments to member accounts , combining and tracking billing cycles , payments , event participation and past sponsorships . gives members controlled access to change contact information and company descriptions . creates multiple types of member correspondence , including email blasts , fax distributions and letters to all members or any breakdown of specific categories of membership . creates requests for inkind services to be contributed by members for utilization in the sales process ( e . g ., free hotel rooms , meals , transportation supplied to a potential convention organizer visiting the destination ). tracks utilization of inkind services relative to potential leads and definite bookings has contact database entries that can be tagged by any of a number of modules in the system . secure website interface with login and password for authorized users of a given member . provides publicly published information from tourism module ( 120 ) on available tour packages for the destination that have been registered with the system . provides management tools to asp that operate outside of the modules provided to the cvb and its members . is a wrapper / manager program for the asp that permits the asp to maintain and upgrade the various software modules . the asp hosted system 100 is preferably designed with features that permit collection of post - event data after a destination event occurs so that customers can track past commercial relationships and purchases . the system 100 stores all relevant data in one place so all personnel within the meeting / event organization can access it , and get complete customer profiles . the system 100 fully integrates and automation data and data entry from all sources and integration of data into one accessible application . the resulting usability and usefulness of the data , sorted so that it is easily retrievable , anytime , and from anywhere , enables the cvb sales organization to more effectively respond to rfps . one specific feature best distinguishes the functionality of the present invention , providing powerful functionality not offered by other client - server based destination management software packages . the hotel room availability calendar version of the future services availability calendar 112 offers unprecedented visibility and immediate access to citywide hotel room availability . it provides a snapshot of individual hotel room availability , along with an overview of total room availability for the entire city for all future dates . this , all in one easy screen , saving cvb sales staff from making a multitude of phone calls , or waiting for responses from the hotel community to begin selecting the most desirable dates for future businesses . the hotel room availability calendar combines the effects the current definite and tentative rooms being held for association , corporate and leisure group business — deducts the definite room blocks from the hotels maximum group commitment , and shows the group rooms available for all future dates by hotel or as a total . because only the cvb staff has access to all of the details of price and availability for each hotel member , hotels are encouraged to use real , current data showing future pressure on total occupancy to better place in - house group business in time periods to maximize occupancy and room rates . the ability to efficiently obtain , confidentially access and coordinate this pre - sales availability information with a high degree of confidence enables the cvb staff to respond more effective to an rfp from a destination event organizer and portray a more accurate and confident picture of how the destination would be able to meet the needs of the proposed destination event . in one embodiment , the system 100 further includes a venue calendar as part of the mui 130 that combines major venue availability with occupancy room flow information for definite events . in addition , tracking of post event information can be part of the mui 130 for historical data collection purposes . in another embodiment , the mui 130 and even the organizer or tour customer webpages 132 , 134 can be provided with a quick answer wizard that walks a member , potential customer or even cvb sales staff through a simple series of questions . the answers to the questions are compared against the information maintained in the future availability database to quickly determine whether a locale can even accommodate an event for a given date or for a given price range . referring now to fig2 , an overall process / communication flow diagram of the present invention is presented . destination event organizers ( shown at 202 ) communicate with cvb sales staff ( shown at 204 ) about and rfp for potential hosting of a future destination event . these communications may occur by any number of conventional communication channels , including communication avenues that are not within the system 100 . in one embodiment of the system 100 , the organizer api 132 is provided with an online web form that can be used to assist in the collection of the relevant information for an rfp . cvb sales staff 204 then communicates with hotels and other members ( shown at 206 ) and with convention services ( shown at 208 ) on leads , updates , definite bookings and cancellations ( which will be described ). preferably , these communications occur through the membership module 122 and the mui 130 . the providers of the convention services 208 ( convention halls , arenas , sporting venues ) can also use the convention services module 114 to communicate with hotels and other member 206 about definite meetings and service notices . both the destination event organizers ( shown at 210 ) and the destination event delegates ( shown at 212 ), as well as the hotels 206 also coordinate individual registration and housing matters through the registration module 116 and the housing module 118 . a preferred embodiment of the system 100 will now be described in detail with respect to a series of screen shot captures of how the asp hosted modules are viewed and used by the various users . the organization of the asp modules and their relation to the sql databases supporting those asp modules is best understood with reference to the sql database definitional and relational listing that are included as appendices 1 - 4 which are attached and are hereby incorporated by reference and with respect to the data diagrams . fig3 shows the data diagram for the mui interface 130 . fig3 shows the data diagram for the membership module 122 . fig3 a - 32c show the data diagrams for the tourism module 120 . fig3 a - 33b show the data diagrams for the sales module 110 . fig3 is a screen shot of an initial logon screen for the mui 130 . as has been previously described , the mui 130 is a secure web page . in this embodiment , a user name and password are used for security , although other known secure access techniques can be used . fig4 is a screen shot of a first page of the mui 130 showing user buttons for leads , tentative response / resource / room block agreements ( trba ), definites , updates and cancels . fig5 shows a tree - view version of the mui 130 as shown in fig4 that permits global navigation along the lefthand side of the window . fig6 a - 6e are drill down versions showing screen shots of the screen displayed when the associated button on the navigation pages are activated . fig6 a shows the drill - down of the leads option of fig5 in which potential leads for destination event organizers are listed . the icon on the left of this window indicates the presence of an rfp and / or note page associated with a given lead . fig6 b shows the drill - down version of the trba option of fig5 . the total number of peak room nights requested for a given rfp are indicated in the listing . in addition , a due date of when a response by a hotel member , for example , is due using the trba as will be described . fig6 c shows the drill - down version of the definites option of fig5 . these listings show future destination events for which there is a definite commitment and the process of individual contracts between the destination event organizer and given hotel members can occur . fig6 d is a drill - down version of the updates option of fig5 showing any changes to the original requirements in the rfp for a given potential destination event . fig6 e is a drill - down version of the cancel option of fig5 showing potential destination events that have cancelled or rejected a response to an rfp . fig7 a is the query page for the convention calendar page . an authorized member user or cvb staff person can enter a date range to view availability at the convention center or other major venues for that destination . fig7 b is a sample display of the convention calendar . ( color coded to reflect tentative , tentative ii , booked , etc ). it can be seen that the different convention rooms , facility or venues are listed along the left hand column with blocks of booked or tentative reserved numbers of attendees shown for each room / venue . fig8 is an example of a member administration page . contact and login information , as well as related information maintained by the cvb for each member can be displayed and updated on this page . fig9 is an example of an audit trail page that can be used by cvb staff to document changes made both by cvb staff and by members . fig1 a and 10b are screen shots of an example trba ( tentative resource / response / room blocking agreement ) form that would be accessed from the screen in fig6 b . in this embodiment , the trba form includes auto calculation fields that can automatically fill in room numbers based on , for example , percentages of a given hotels available rooms . the trba form permits the quoting of different rack rates from convention rates , and also permits the member to specify whether the trba is resulting in a holding of the rooms and under what options or conditions the quote is being made . fig1 a is a screen shot of an exploded details view of the lead button from fig6 a . this page includes information that preferably may be edited as a word document by the cvb sales staff or a member . fig1 b is a screen shot of a lead assignment page for assigning responsibility for a given lead within a service provider member . fig1 is a screen shot of a definite page from fig6 c . this information can include not only the details of the accepted response to the rfp , but also additional information as indicated by the destination event organizer about the definite booking fig1 is a screen shot of an update page from fig6 d . the update may be for a lead or for a definite . the use of the update page avoids the need for the cvb sales staff to be continually contacting member organizations by email or phone call in the event of changes to a given potential destination event rfp . fig1 is a screen shot of a cancel page from fig6 e . fig1 is a screen shot of the future services inventory calendar login . as with the mui 130 , this interface is preferably a secure login interface . fig1 a is a navigation screen for future services inventory calendar . the navigation buttons are shown in the navigation bar at the upper left of the screen . fig1 b is a screen shot of contact and related information for a member . fig1 c is a screen shot of hotel information navigation for use by a cvb administrator to view calendar availability for selected hotels , for example . fig1 d is a screen shot of the calendar view of the hotel information selected by an administrator from fig1 c . both tentative and definite room availability are shown for each hotel , along with totals for both at the bottom of the window for the calendar range selected by the administrator / cvb sales staff . fig1 e is a screen shot of hotel information navigation for a hotel member similar to fig1 c . fig1 f is a screen shot of a calendar view of the hotel information selected by a hotel member from fig1 e . in this case , only a single hotel is shown as available to a given hotel member user . if a hotel member user was responsible for a plurality of commonly owned hotels in the destination , for example , then the hotel member user would be able to select one or more of those hotels . it will be seen that , unlike fig1 d , only information for a given hotel and total lines at bottom of screen would be available to a hotel member . fig1 is a screen shot of the combined trba navigation screen for cvb sales staff . this screen shows the results of the combined trba forms as submitted by the various hotel members , for example , for each of the tentative / definite destination events currently being tracked by the cvb sales staff . fig1 a and 18b are screen shots of change requests for trbas submitted by hotel members to be reviewed by cvb sales staff . the change request includes information from the trba form plus additional information explaining the nature of the change requested . cvb sales staff will determine whether to accept the changes requested by a given member and enter them into the trba database . fig1 is a screen shot of the occupancy room flow related to a given rfp for a destination event . this is the summary screen that the cvb sales staff utilizes in preparing a response to an rfp for a given potential destination event . in the event that more hotel members respond with quotes , the cvb sales staff can select hotel members from this screen to include in the response to the rfp or can provide a response showing more rooms available than the total number of rooms requested by the destination event organizer . fig2 - 24 show the details of various buttons on the top navigation bar of the screen for the cvb sales staff . fig2 a is a screen shot of how leads are built by a cvb sales staff . fig2 b is a screen shot of client - directed leads for the cvb sales staff . fig2 is a screen shot of bid costs tab representing bid costs of cvb in preparing response to rfps . this feature permits the cvb to keep track of costs , either for purposes of reporting or for purposes of billing expenses to members . fig2 is a screen shot of the updates tab for the leads page . fig2 is a screen shot of the bookings tab for the leads page . the information added by the cvb sales staff is then displayed as part of the pages available to the members . fig2 is a screen shot of the lost business tab for the leads page fig2 is a screen shot of the main login screen for cvb staff . this is also a secure login screen . fig2 a is a screen shot of the navigational screen for cvb staff . the various navigation buttons are shown along the left side of this window . fig2 b is a screen shot of the main screen of the convention sales module 110 as viewed by the cvb staff that lists the various leads by contacts or organizations . fig2 c is a screen shot of the main screen of the convention services module 114 as viewed by the cvb staff . fig2 d is a screen shot of the main screen of the tourism module 120 as viewed by the cvb staff . fig2 e is a screen shot of the main screen of the membership module 122 as viewed by the cvb staff . fig2 f is a screen shot of the main screen of the web registration module 116 as viewed by the cvb staff . fig2 g is a screen shot of the main screen of the housing module 118 as viewed by the cvb staff . fig2 h is a screen shot of the main screen of the contact management module 126 as viewed by the cvb staff that permits conversion of an existing contact management file into the contact management database 122 . fig2 is a leads tracking screen tab showing a summary of the status of a given lead , including total dollar value to the destination for that lead . fig2 a - 28c are screen shots for the inkind module 124 . in this embodiment , the inkind module 124 is provided as a separate module with a separate login screen as shown in fig2 a . alternatively , the inkind module 124 could be incorporated into the mui 130 . fig2 b is a screen shot of the navigation page for the inkind module showing requested and approved inkind donations . fig2 c is a screen shot of a drill down for inkind details in the inkind module . fig2 a , 29 b are partial screen shots of the accounting interface for reports from the inkind module . totals of the value of inkind contributions for a given period are shown at the bottom . the embodiments are intended to be illustrative and not limiting . additional embodiments are within the claims . although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments , workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention . | 6 |
fig1 depicts the unique dynamic infant head support 10 , or pillow . support 10 is an oval or doughnut - shaped ring and includes seven compartments 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 22 and 24 of approximately equal size . barriers 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 and 38 separate the compartments from one another . the dimensions of each compartment are defined by a first barrier , a second adjacent barrier , an outer wall and an inner wall . to illustrate , compartment 12 is defined by barrier 38 and barrier 26 , and by outer wall 40 and inner wall 42 . an oval - shaped opening 44 is formed in the interior of head support 10 . the oval shape of head support 10 ensures that compartment 12 , at the base of the support , adequately supports the neck of an infant in a supine position . fig1 a shows a vertical cross - sectional view through the dynamic infant head support of fig1 , such view being taken along line 1 a - 1 a , and in the direction indicated . a central aperture 48 is defined in barrier 30 , and a similar aperture is formed in every barrier , to allow for passage of a tubing manifold . this figure also exemplifies projections 46 that may extend around the circumference of support 10 . the projections may assume the form of semi - circular air - filled “ bubbles ,” tiny fingers or similar protuberances . projections 46 may be limited to those areas of support 10 that engage the head of the infant resting upon support 10 . support 10 is fabricated of a pliable material that may also be non - latex , hypoallergenic material that is heat resistant and flame retardant . the material may also be washable , or covered by a removable , washable or disposable sleeve or covering which may be slipped over support 10 . a new sanitary sleeve or covering ( not shown ) may be used whenever desired , or for each new patient , during the extended life of support 10 . fig2 shows , schematically , the system for selectively , and sequentially , inflating the individual compartments 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 22 and 24 within head support 10 in accordance with the description of the preferred embodiment . a manifold 50 , that is generally oval - shaped , is shown in dotted outline in fig2 . manifold 50 passes through an aligned aperture in each barrier , so that the manifold is seated within the interior of head support 10 . aperture 48 in barrier 30 is illustrative of such feature , and an aperture is present in each barrier . the system for pressurizing the head support 10 includes pump 54 , which receives power from plug 52 that is inserted into an electrical receptacle ( not shown ), conduit 56 which delivers the pressurized air from pump 54 to heater 58 , and central tubing 60 which delivers the air to manifold 50 for distribution to the pillow compartments . heater 58 is of conventional design , and may be adjusted over a temperature range of 32 °- 40 ° c . the gently heated air from heater 58 soothes the infant while assisting in body temperature regulation , particularly beneficial for a newborn or premature infant . controller 62 includes a program ( not shown ) for operating the solenoid valves associated with manifold 50 in a predetermined pattern . the controller operates the valves in head support 10 in a particular pattern or sequence for specific durations of time . the pressurized air flows through conduit 60 and enters inlet port 64 of head support 10 . first branch tube 68 , with valve 70 operatively associated therewith , governs the inflation of compartment 12 . second branch tube 72 , with valve 74 operatively associated therewith , governs the inflation of compartment 14 . third branch tube 76 , with valve 78 operatively associated therewith , governs the inflation of compartment 16 . fourth branch tube 80 , with valve 82 operatively associated therewith , governs the inflation of compartment 18 . fifth branch tube 84 , with valve 86 operatively associated therewith , governs the inflation of compartment 20 . sixth branch tube 88 , with valve 90 operatively associated therewith , governs the inflation of compartment 22 . lastly , seventh branch tube 92 , with valve 94 operatively associated therewith , governs the inflation of compartment 24 . an electrical conduit , indicated generally by reference numeral 96 , includes individual leads extending to each one of the valves in the separate compartments and provides the electrical force to operate each valve . controller 62 operates valves 70 , 74 , 78 , 82 , 86 , 90 and 94 , so that each compartment within head support 10 may be individually pressurized . the valves may be solenoid valves , and may be operated by a remote electrical signal passing from controller 62 via electrical conduit 96 , in a known manner . the valves are normally biased closed , thus retaining head support 10 in a deflated condition . upon opening any one of the valves , the pressurized air fills the related branch tube and associated compartment . to illustrate , if valve 70 is opened , the pressurized air from manifold 50 flows through branch tube 68 to fill compartment 12 and inflate same . similar relationships hold true for filling compartments 14 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 22 and 24 via their related branch tubes . pump 54 also governs the deflation of the selected compartment . pump 54 is reversible in operation , and withdraws air from an inflated compartment to deflate same . the air withdrawn from the selected compartment via the branch tubes and manifold 50 is coordinated with the opening and closing of the valves in each compartment . fig3 a shows head support 10 in its deflated condition , while fig3 b shows compartment 16 in its inflated condition . fig3 c shows compartment 22 in its inflated condition , while fig3 d shows compartment 20 in its inflated condition . the system for selectively inflating the compartments of head support 10 is visible in fig2 , but is absent from fig3 a - 3d . here is also illustrated an optional attached foam ring base 97 extending around the entire circumference on the underside of the pillow to provide additional structure and support . fig4 is a top plan view of the dynamic infant head support , or pillow , 10 . the head 98 of an infant 100 is placed in opening 44 defined in the interior of head support 10 . one side of the head 98 of infant 100 contacts compartments 14 , 16 , 18 , while the opposite side of head 98 contacts compartments 20 , 22 and 24 . the neck of the infant rests upon compartment 12 . the selective , and sequential , inflation of the compartments within head support 10 , by the selective clamping and unclamping of the several branch tubes , imparts a gentle lifting and turning movement to head 98 of the infant , to counteract any deformational pressures upon the head . optional projections 46 , shown in fig1 a , provide a gentle massaging action to the scalp and stabilize the head as it is being lifted and turned slightly . as previously mentioned , it is desirable to heat the delivered air to warm and calm the infant . fig4 also shows the location of conduit 60 as the conduit enters the support 10 via inlet port 64 to join manifold 50 as it would be arranged in the preferred embodiment . fig5 is a bottom plan view of the head support of fig4 , with head 98 of infant 100 resting in central opening 44 . the neck of the supine infant rests upon compartment 12 . a sling ( not shown ) may extend loosely across opening 44 to provide supplemental covering for head 98 of infant 100 . this figure further exhibits the implementation of conduit 96 ( shown generally in fig2 ), which comprises seven lead lines 102 , 104 , 106 , 108 , 110 , 112 and 114 . electrical lines , or leads , 102 , 104 and 106 , extend into compartments 14 , 16 , and 18 to operate valves 74 , 78 and 82 , respectively . electrical lines , or leads , 108 , 110 , 112 and 114 , extend into compartments 20 , 22 , 24 and 12 , to operate valves 86 , 90 , 94 and 70 . the electrical circuitry and the pneumatic circuitry are operated , in an interrelated , cooperative manner by controller 62 , of conventional design . the sequence for selectively inflating and deflating the compartments within head support 10 is determined by controller 62 . fig6 a is a top plan view of a properly formed head of an infant , while fig6 b is a top plan view of a deformed head of an infant . head support 10 is designed to prevent and / or correct the deformed head of fig6 b , without resort to orthotics and / or surgery . fig7 is schematic view of a first alternative embodiment of the dynamic infant head support system . support 210 , is an oval ring or doughnut - shaped pillow , including seven compartments 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 , 220 , 222 and 224 . barriers 226 , 228 , 230 , 232 , 234 , 236 and 238 separate the compartments from one another . the dimensions of each compartment are defined by a first barrier , a second adjacent barrier , an outer wall and an inner wall . compartment 212 , by way of illustration , is defined by barrier 238 and barrier 226 , and by outer wall 240 and inner wall 242 . an oval - shaped opening 244 is formed in the interior of head support 210 . the oval shape of head support 210 ensures that compartment 212 , at the base of the support , adequately supports the neck of an infant in supine position . fig7 further depicts the system for selectively , and sequentially , inflating the individual compartments 212 , 214 , 216 , 218 , 220 , 222 and 224 within head support 210 . manifold 251 is positioned externally of support 210 , in contrast to the location of manifold 50 within support 10 , in the preferred embodiment of fig1 - 5 . branch tubes 246 , 248 , 250 , 252 , 254 , 256 , and 257 extend from manifold 251 to couplings 258 , 260 , 262 , 264 , 266 , 268 , and 270 , distributed about support 210 . one coupling is operatively associated with each compartment within support 210 , so that the compartments are individually inflated and deflated . the system for pressurizing head support 210 includes pump 272 , which receives power from plug 274 inserted into an electrical receptacle ( not shown ), conduit 276 which delivers the pressurized air from pump 272 to heater 278 , and central tubing 280 which delivers the air to manifold 251 for distribution to the pillow compartments . controller 282 includes a program ( not shown ) for operating the solenoid valves connected to manifold 251 in a predetermined pattern . the solenoid valves are identified by reference numerals 284 , 286 , 288 , 290 , 292 , 294 and 296 . the controller operates the solenoid valves in a particular pattern or sequence , for specific durations of time , so that each compartment within head support 210 may be individually pressurized . the solenoid valves may be operated by remote electrical signals passing from controller 282 via electrical conduit 298 , in a known manner . the solenoid valves are normally biased closed , thus retaining head support 210 in a deflated condition . upon opening any one of the solenoid valves , the pressurized air fills the related branch tube and the associated compartment . to illustrate , if solenoid valve 284 is opened via a signal from controller 282 , the pressurized air from manifold 251 flows through branch tube 246 and coupling 258 to fill compartment 218 and inflate same . similar relationships hold true for filling compartments 220 , 222 , 224 , 212 , 214 and 216 and the related branch tubes and couplings . pump 272 also governs the deflation of the selected compartment in head support 210 . pump 272 is reversible in operation , and withdraws air from an inflated compartment to deflate same . the air withdrawn from the selected compartment via the couplings and branch tubes and manifold 251 is coordinated with the opening and closing of valves in each compartment . fig8 - 9b illustrate a second alternative head support , indicated generally by reference numeral 310 . whereas head support 10 , of the preferred embodiment of fig1 - 5 , and head support 210 , of the first alternative embodiment of fig7 , each utilize one manifold , head support 310 employs two distinct pillow systems concentrically paired together . interior manifold 312 is operatively associated with oval or doughnut - shaped pillow 316 , while an exterior assembly ( not shown ) of manifold , valves and branch tubing is operatively associated with oval or doughnut - shaped pillow 318 . solenoid valve 320 clamps , and unclamps , branch tube 322 to regulate the flow of pressurized air into a compartment within the inner pillow 316 . the outer pillow operates in a similar fashion to that of the first alternative embodiment detailed in fig7 . coupling 324 , associated with a compartment of pillow 318 , is included in the drawing . the advantage of pairing different - sized , complete head supports together is the ability to service numerous patients , with diverse head sizes , with the availability of a single , readily adaptable device . yet other refinements and improvements to the dynamic head support may occur to the artisan skilled in the pertinent fields of endeavor . for example , the program ( not shown ) within controller 62 may have a constant or adjustable sequence setting and preset inflation / deflation durations , or these features may be customized by the purchasing institution , such as a hospital . head support 10 or 210 may be produced in varying sizes appropriate for premature infants and children up through 12 months of age , based on normalized circumference growth chart averages , or consist of two or more concentric pillow systems in one device such as head support 310 . the shape of the pillow and the central opening therein may be altered ; while an oval shape is shown , a doughnut - shaped , round or even modified horseshoe - shaped pillow will function satisfactorily . instead of air , the head support system may utilize a gel , a liquid or other fluid , or mechanical devices , to inflate or expand the compartments within the head support . a battery power source may replace the plug and electrical receptacle for delivering power to the system for inflating and deflating the head support . the plug cord may be of a predetermined length or of a known retractable design . the power switch may be illuminated or activated and deactivated by remote control . the present invention could be used in conjunction with a stabilizing wedge for the shoulders or torso , thereby reducing the possibility of infant - initiated rotation to prone position , a potential suffocation risk . although the invention has been exemplified by showing seven compartments , the pillow may include more or less than seven compartments without departing from the teachings of the invention . consequently , the appended claims should be liberally construed in a manner consistent with the considerable scope of the present invention , and should not be restricted to their literal terms . | 0 |
according to one embodiment of the present invention , an article of footwear comprises a stability element , which is arranged beneath the foot of the wearer . this can be achieved by integrating the stability element in accordance with the present invention into the outsole of the article of footwear , or sandwiching it between the outsole and the midsole , or between the midsole and the insole . if the stability element is arranged within the outsole , it may differ in color from the surrounding material of the sole , so that the special form ( which is an indication for which sport the corresponding article is intended , as described more fully below ) of the stability element can easily be recognized from the outside . according to another embodiment , the outsole itself consists essentially of the stability element . in this case , an optional midsole and an optional insole can be applied to the upper side of the stability element to provide comfort and damping to the wearer of the article . the above described different possible arrangements of the stability element do not significantly influence the functional properties of the article comprising the stability element in accordance with the present invention , therefore , reference is made in the following ( and in the figures ) only to an article of footwear in general . before the design and the functional characteristics of the stability element in accordance with the present invention are described in detail , reference is made to the skeleton of a human foot 90 shown in fig1 to facilitate the understanding of the inventive principles with respect to the particular parts of the foot that are selectively supported . in fig1 reference numeral 92 depicts the metatarsals of a left human foot 90 , and reference numeral 95 depicts the phalanges ( toes ). essentially , both the metatarsals 92 and the phalanges 95 form the forefoot part of the foot . the metatarsal - phalangeal joints 93 are located between metatarsals 92 and phalanges 95 . the phalanges 95 include a plurality of interphalangeal joints 96 . during a walking or running cycle , the metatarsal - phalangeal joints 93 and the interphalangeal joints 96 allow the foot to flex and push - off from the ground . altogether , there are five metatarsals 92 referred to as the first , second , third , fourth and fifth metatarsals , 92 - 1 to 92 - 5 , moving from the medial side 99 of the foot to the lateral side 98 . similarly , there are five phalanges , 95 - 1 to 95 - 5 . finally , the heel bone 91 is depicted . for a stability element in accordance with the present invention , it is important for the sake of pronation or supination control to appropriately support the phalanges and the metatarsals . in the case of pronation control , metatarsal 92 - 1 and / or metatarsal 92 - 2 is supported , preferably with phalange 95 - 1 and / or 95 - 2 . in the case of supination control , metatarsal 92 - 5 and / or metatarsal 92 - 4 is supported , preferably with phalange 95 - 5 and / or 95 - 4 . the necessary support is provided by a stability element in accordance with the present invention , however , since supination is rarely a problem , and for the sake of conciseness in the following description , only pronation control stability elements are discussed . the present invention is , however , not restricted to this field . complementary shaped stability elements supporting the respective metatarsals and phalanges for supination control are also covered by the present inventive concept . one embodiment of a stability element for an article of footwear 1 for a right foot , in accordance with the present invention , is shown in fig2 . the stability element 10 comprises an oblong shape with a rearfoot area 12 and a forefoot area 13 . the stability element 10 extends from the rearfoot portion 2 of the article of footwear 1 into the forefoot portion 3 . as may be derived from fig2 the forefoot area 13 is designed and located within the shoe such that the first and / or second metatarsal of the wearer &# 39 ; s foot rests on the stability element , with any necessary additional sole layers therebetween , and are effectively supported . according to a particular embodiment of the invention , the stability element also supports the first and / or second phalange . between areas 12 and 13 , the stability element 10 comprises an area 11 with reduced lateral dimensions which allows twisting of the forefoot area 13 of the stability element 10 ( and thereby of the footwear ) relative to the rearfoot area 12 . the resistance and twisting of the stability element 10 in the area 11 defines the rotational flexibility of the footwear . a defined rotational flexibility can also be achieved by a more elastic material in area 11 . the above described stability element has several important advantages over the prior art . first , since the stability element 10 extends almost over the complete longitudinal extension of the article of footwear 1 , the longitudinal arch of the foot is effectively supported over its total length . many injuries which may occur if the arch is overstressed are avoided . second , support at the forefoot area of an article of footwear , which is the part subjected to the greatest load during running or walking , is significantly improved . in the embodiments of the invention shown in fig2 to 4 , the forefoot area 13 of the stability element 10 extends substantially along the medial side of the article of footwear to compensate for excessive pronation , as discussed above . and last , any twisting movement of the forefoot portion 3 of an article of footwear 1 with respect to the rearfoot portion 2 can be controlled in a preselected manner by the shape and the selection of the material of the stability element 10 in area 11 . to determine the material properties of the stability element in the forefoot area 13 which are well suited to reduce pronation , the foot contacts of running athletes were filmed from behind with a high speed camera taking 200 images per second . these recordings were analyzed to determine the maximum pronation angle of the foot with respect to the material properties of the stability element in the forefoot area . the pronation angle or rearfoot angle is defined as the angle α between a vertical line through the foot and the plane of the ground ( see fig1 b ). in a normal position of the foot , this angle is 90 °. all measured angles were therefore referenced to this value so that a positive value corresponds to a rearfoot angle of more than 90 °, i . e ., pronation , and a negative angle corresponds to a rearfoot angle of less than 90 °, i . e ., supination . as a result of this study ( see fig1 a ), it was found that a stability element 10 with a bending strength in the longitudinal direction , i . e ., parallel to the fiber direction ( the fibers being aligned with a longitudinal axis of the shoe ), between 350 n / mm 2 and 600 n / mm 2 ( measured according to din 53452 ), and a bending strength in the lateral direction , i . e ., perpendicular to the fiber direction , between 50 n / mm 2 and 200 n / mm 2 successfully reduced the maximum pronation angle of the foot . in particular , bending strengths between approximately 450 n / mm 2 and 500 n / mm 2 and between approximately 90 n / mm 2 and 160 n / mm 2 yielded the best results . whereas athletes wearing footwear without a stability element ( see sample a in fig1 a ) showed a pronation angle of 1 . 6 degrees , the pronation was considerably reduced (− 0 . 9 and − 0 . 6 degrees , see samples b and c in fig1 a , the error bars indicate statistical errors of the measurements ) with athletes wearing footwear equipped with stability elements having the above described material properties . according to a second aspect of the present invention , the stability element 10 preferably comprises in the forefoot area 13 an elastic forefoot plate which stores energy by elastic deformation during the landing of the foot and releases the energy essentially without any loss during the push - off of the foot from the ground to facilitate and support the course of motion . although , it would in principle be possible to integrate this forefoot plate into the shoe independent of a stability element , for cost and production it may be advantageous and preferred to combine these two parts . in the described embodiments , the forefoot plate can therefore be invisibly integrated into the forefoot area 13 of the stability element 10 ( and therefore not shown in the figures ). according to an alternative embodiment the stability element 10 itself consists of an elastic material to achieve the described energy storing function . in the following , the forefoot plate or the stability element is further described with respect to its elasticity , which is the necessary precondition for the substantially loss - free storing and release of the energy from the deformation of the plate . for noticeable support of an athlete during running , in particular during sprints , the forefoot plate should have a stiffness which is both great enough to facilitate the push - off of the foot with the energy that has been stored during the landing , and not so stiff as to undesirably hinder the natural course of motion . studies with athletes have shown that a stiffness in the range of approximately 50 n / mm to 100 n / mm is best suited to meet these requirements . the stiffness was measured with an astm 790 test installation as shown in fig7 and described in the following . to this end , a 250 mm long and 50 mm wide sample plate 200 of the material to be tested is symmetrically positioned on two 80 mm distant support points 310 . subsequently , the sample plate is deformed with the vertical force which acts upon the sample plate in the center ( vertical arrow in fig7 ). in this way , the deformation of the sample plate depending on the force can be measured with a dynamometer . fig8 shows results of measurements of sample plates with varying stiffnesses . the stiffness is the gradient of the curve in the linear range , i . e ., the range of small deformations . for application as a forefoot plate , a stiffness between approximately 50 n / mm ( sample plate f ) and approximately 100 n / mm ( sample plate e ) is preferred . another important criteria for a forefoot plate is elasticity , i . e ., whether the force necessary for the deformation can be regained when the plate springs - back into its original shape . fig9 to 12 show hysteresis loops of different sample plates , each with a stiffness between approximately 50 n / mm and 100 n / mm . to measure these loops , the force was measured by cyclically deforming and releasing the sample plates in the above described test installation ( fig7 ), where the time for one cycle was 200 milliseconds . the difference between the upper and lower line , i . e ., the area enclosed by the two lines , is representative of the loss of elastic energy during the deformation of the sample plates . it follows from the curves in fig9 to 11 that the energy loss in the planar shaped sample plates of the above mentioned stiffness is between 4 . 6 % and 6 %, i . e ., a major part of the energy is regained during the spring - back into the original shape . fig1 shows a hysteresis loop for a sample plate that was not planar shaped . the significantly greater energy loss of this plate , 18 . 3 %, is shown in fig1 . the forefoot plate according to the invention is , therefore , preferably planar . with respect to the shape of the stability element 10 , additional support elements 15 can be arranged at the side in the forefoot area 13 as well as at the rearfoot area 12 , which extend essentially laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the foot , as shown in fig2 and 3 . the support elements 15 extend the supporting effect of the stability element 10 into the lateral and medial side parts of the article of footwear 1 to enhance protection of the lateral arch of the foot against excessive strain . the extension of the side elements 15 depends on the shape of the article of footwear . fig3 shows an embodiment for a narrower article of footwear , where the supporting elements 15 are correspondingly shorter . in a further embodiment of a stability element , as shown in fig4 the stability element 10 comprises two parts , 20 and 30 , which form a v - like shape . part 30 supports the medial part and part 20 the lateral part of the longitudinal arch of the foot . the connection of the two parts , 20 and 30 , in rearfoot area 12 of stability element 10 allows , ( in contrast to a “ normal ” continuous sole ) for twisting around area 11 , and relative movement of the two parts , 20 and 30 , with respect to each other . in the embodiments of stability elements shown in fig5 and 6 , the medial part 30 of the stability element 10 comprises notches 31 and holes 32 to increase the flexibility of the stability element in the forefoot portion 3 in the lateral direction . the embodiment shown in fig5 is optimized for sports where the foot is not subjected to extreme lateral stress ; for example , track - and - field athletics , jogging , etc . support of the lateral half of the foot is , therefore , only necessary in the midfoot area so part 20 is designed correspondingly shorter then part 30 . in the embodiment shown in fig6 the lateral part 20 , as well as the medial part 30 , extends into the forefoot portion 3 of the article of footwear . this embodiment , in particular , is used in sports with many changes of direction and many sideways steps ; for example , tennis , basketball , etc . the elongated part 20 in this case serves to support the lateral side of the forefoot against the high strain resulting from these movements . in the embodiment shown in fig5 and fig6 additional side elements 40 are provided to increase the stability of the connection between the stability element 10 and the surrounding material of the article of footwear in the area 11 by sideways and upwardly encompassing the article of footwear . in the embodiments shown , side elements 40 are provided on the medial side of the article of footwear , an arrangement on the lateral side is also possible and in particular useful for further reinforcement of the lateral side in the above mentioned sports like tennis , basketball , etc . as material for the stability element and the integrated forefoot plate , preferably a composite material of carbon fibers embedded into a matrix of resin is used . other suitable materials include glass fibers or para - aramid fibers , such as the kevlar ® brand sold by dupont . these materials combine good elasticity values with low weight . also , steel or other elastic metal alloys could be used in particular for the forefoot plate . suitable plastic materials include thermoplastic polyether block amides , such as the pebax ® brand sold by elf atochem , and thermoplastic polyester elastomers , such as the hytrel ® brand sold by dupont . plastic materials have advantages with respect to production by injection molding , however , the necessary elastic properties can only be obtained through additional reinforcement with fibers . other suitable materials will be apparent to those of skill in the art . having described embodiments of the invention , it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating the concepts disclosed herein may be used without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention . the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive . therefore , it is intended that the scope of the present invention be only limited by the following claims . | 0 |
fig1 represents a cross - section through a solid electrolyte 1 , which is saturated with a metal salt solution 2 before the start of electrolysis . a plastic polymer , e . g . perfluorinated sulfo acids ( known under the trade name &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ;) can be used as solid electrolyte 1 . the metal salt solution permeates the foil of solid electrolyte 1 completely so that the solid electrolyte is uniformly impregnated . the foil prepared in this manner is placed in the electrolysis cell described below . fig2 shows a cross - section through the solid electrolyte 1 situated between the electrodes 3 and 4 just after the start of electrolysis ( first phase ). the anode 3 consists of a platinum grid , the cathode 4 of a graphite felt . the metal deposit 5 develops first in the form of small globules on the surface adjacent to the cathode 4 , which globules grow further and further into the solid electrolyte foil 1 during the reduction process . beneath the surface 1 adjacent cathode 4 , a zone 6 depleted of the metal salt 2 develops . fig3 shows a cross - section through the solid electrolyte 1 at a later instant during electrolysis ( second phase ). the metal deposit 7 here has already attained some thickness and has grown further and further into the foil . depleted zones 6 ( cathode side ) and 9 ( anode side ) develop , while simultaneously in the central zone the metal salt solution 2 is reduced to elemental finely divided metal particles 8 . in fig4 is shown a cross - section through the solid electrolyte 1 at the end of electrolyis ( third phase ). the finished , more or less coherent metal deposit 10 , which forms a relatively thick layer of high transverse conductivity , presents a shiny , smooth metal surface 11 , while the metal surface 12 attached to and anchored in the solid electrolyte 1 is dull and dark in color , has a rough contour and fills up the pores of electrolyte 1 . fig5 shows a section through an arrangement for the deposition of metals in the form of a sandwich electrolysis cell . the electrolysis tank 13 is filled with water 14 in which the sandwich electrolysis cell is immersed so as to be completely covered with water . positive lead 15 supplies current and is connected via contact 16 to the positive holder plate 17 made of stainless steel or some other suitable chemically resistant alloy . the plate exhibits passages 18 for the flow of water . the packet consisting of the solid electrolyte 1 to be coated with metal along with the platinum - grid anode 3 and graphite - felt cathode 4 is held together by an anode - side 20 and a cathode - side 21 closure frame , where the former is in turn gripped in a holder frame 19 of stainless steel . parts 20 and 21 of the closure frame are made of chemically resistant insulating material , preferably polytetrafluoroethylene ( trade name &# 34 ; teflon &# 34 ;). completing the closure is the holder plate 22 of corrosion resistant alloy ( e . g . stainless steel ) with passages 23 and connected to the negative lead 25 via the contact 24 . the frame 19 and the plate 22 are held together by fastening elements not shown ( e . g . screws , bolts , brackets ). a 0 . 5 g . amount of diammine platinum dinitrite , formula pt ( nh 3 ) 2 ( no 2 ) 2 , dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water at a temperature of 90 ° c . a circular foil of 30 mm diameter made of a plastic polymer based on perfluorinated sulfo acids ( trade name &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ;) was used as solid electrolyte 1 . the foil in the dry , shrunken state was placed in the pt ( nh 3 ) 2 ( no 2 ) 2 solution and was left in it for 30 minutes at a temperature of 90 ° c . the foil was then removed from the bath , rinsed with distilled water and placed in the electrolysis apparatus of fig5 . a platinum - wire grid 3 was used as the anode and a graphite felt 4 was used as the cathode . the entire assembled sandwich electrolysis cell was completely submerged in a bath of doubly distilled water 14 held at the constant temperature of 50 ° c . and was connected to a constant current source . electrolysis was then carried out for an hour at a constant current density of 0 . 5 a / cm 2 . hydrogen was evolved at the cathode among other things and at the anode , oxygen . after completion of electrolysis the coated solid electrolyte 1 exhibited on the cathode side a shiny metallic pt surface layer 11 , while the reverse side 12 , observed through the foil 1 , appeared dull and black . after the coating the foil was boiled for 30 minutes in 1 n - hydrochloric acid to remove undeposited platinum . the structure of the foil is apparent from fig4 . the amount of the deposit on the foil surface was determined gravimetrically as 0 . 7 mg / cm 2 on the average . the thickness of the metal layer deposited by this method was 0 . 5μ up to 2μ and the specific surface area was 50 to 150 cm 2 per cm 2 of solid surface . the specific resistance , measured parallel to the surface plane and referred to an area element of 1 cm width and 1 cm length in the current direction was 10 to 30 ω . the method does not have to be restricted to the exact operating parameters stated above . in particular , the concentration of the complex salt pt ( nh 3 ) 2 ( no 2 ) 2 can vary in an advantageous manner within the limits of 0 . 05 to 0 . 6 g in 100 ml of distilled water . naturally , with lower concentrations thinner metal layers are produced . the same holds true for the performance of the electrolytic deposition . the current density can be chosen within the limits of 0 . 1 to 0 . 7 a / cm 2 and the temperature within the range of 30 ° to 60 ° c . further the type of acid after treatment of the coated foil is not critical . hot sulfuric acid can also be used . a 0 . 1 g amount of rhodiumchloridehydrate , rhcl 3 . 3h 2 o , was dissolved in 50 ml of distilled water in a glass beaker . the solution was heated to 90 ° c . in order to form the hydrated ion of rhodium , i . e . rh aq 3 + , which can be recognized by the color change from the initial dark red to yellowish red . into this solution at 90 ° c . was placed a piece of the aforementioned &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil ( 30 mm in diameter ). after a soaking time of 30 minutes the yellowish orange colored foil was removed from the rhodium salt solution , rinsed with distilled water and incorporated in the electrolysis apparatus as in fig5 . after that the procedure was similar to that described under example i . the conditions of deposition were : temperature 60 ° c . ; current density 0 . 1 a / cm 2 ; duration of electrolysis 1 hour . the appearance of the coated foil was like that of the foil in example i except that the layer was a shiny metallic rhodium layer . the after treatment of the foil was as described under example i with hydrochloric acid . the concentration of the solution used for impregnation in the present case can be chosen within the limits of 0 . 15 to 0 . 25 g rhcl 3 . 3h 2 o per 100 ml water . for the remainder of the operating parameters the previous remarks made under example i hold true . a 0 . 1 g amount of iridiumchloride hydrate , ircl 3 . 3h 2 o , was dissolved in 40 ml of distilled water at a temperature of 60 ° c . the clear solution was mixed with 5 ml of concentrated ammonia water ( nh 3aq ) and 0 . 5 ml of diluted hydrazine solution ( h 2 n -- nh 2 . h 2 o ). thereupon , a gradual change in color of the solution occurred towards violet . after an hour there was immersed in the 60 ° c . solution a plastic foil of the type discussed under example i of 3 cm diameter . the solution was heated to 80 ° c . and the foil was impregnated for 30 minutes at this temperature . the iridium salt impregnated foil , which had a reddish appearance , was then placed in the electrolysis cell of fig5 . the electrolytic deposition of the metal was carried out in a closed pressure vessel ( parr instruments , general purpose bomb ) of 1000 ml content and 2 / 3 filled with distilled water at a temperature of 140 ° c . and a pressure of 14 bar . the conditions of electrolysis were : current density 0 . 035 a / cm 2 ; duration 30 minutes . after the electrolysis the &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil was coated on the cathode side with a shiny metallic iridium layer . the concentration of the solution can be chosen within the limits of 0 . 2 to 0 . 3 g ircl 3 . 3h 2 o per 100 ml of water . for the remainder of the operating parameters the remarks made above in example i hold true here also . a 0 . 1 g amount of rutheniumchloride hydrate , rucl 3 . 3h 2 o , was dissolved in 40 ml of distilled water at a temperature of 60 ° c . the clear solution was mixed with 5 ml of concentrated ammonia water ( nh 3aq ) and 0 . 5 ml of diluted hydrazine solution ( h 2 n -- nh 2 . h 2 o ). for the remainder the procedure was exactly as given in example iii . the result was the same . for the remainder of the operating parameters the remarks made in example iii above hold true . analogously , osmium can be deposited on a plastic foil impregnated with oscl 3 . 3h 2 o . a 0 . 2 g amount of anhydrous palladiumchloride , pdcl 2 , was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water at a temperature of 90 ° c . a &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil was immersed in the solution and impregnated for 30 minutes at 90 ° c . the foil rinsed with distilled water was electrolyzed as in example i for an hour at a temperature of 60 ° c . and a current density of 0 . 1 a / cm 2 in the sandwich electrolysis cell . the concentration of the solution can be chosen anywhere in the range of 0 . 15 to 0 . 25 g pdcl 2 per 100 ml water . a 0 . 2 g amount of anhydrous coppersulfate , cuso 4 , was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water and the solution brought to a temperature of 90 ° c . a &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil was impregnated with this solution at a temperature of 90 ° c . for 30 minutes . thereafter , the procedure was similar to that of example i with the conditions of electrolysis being as follows : current density 0 . 1 a / cm 2 ; temperature 30 ° to 40 ° c . ; duration one hour . the concentration of the solution can be selected within the range of 0 . 15 to 0 . 25 g cuso 4 per 100 ml water . a 0 . 2 g amount of silvernitrate , agno 3 , was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water and the solution brought to a temperature of 90 ° c . a &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil was treated with this solution as in example vi and electrolyzed under analogous conditions . the concentration of the solution can vary from 0 . 15 to 0 . 25 g agno 3 per 100 ml water . in a manner similar to that in examples vi and vii gold can also be deposited , the trivalent chloride being recommended as starting material . a 0 . 5 g amount of nickelchloridehydrate , nicl 2 . 6h 2 o , was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water . the solution heated to 90 ° c . was used for impregnation of a &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil ( soaking time : 30 minutes ). the impregnated foil was then electrolyzed for 30 minutes at a current density of 0 . 2 a / cm 2 and at a temperature of 60 ° c . in the sandwich electrolysis cell . the concentration of the solution can be varied within the range of 0 . 4 to 0 . 6 g nicl 2 . 6h 2 o per 100 ml water . in this way the metals iron and cobalt can also be deposited , the chlorides or sulfates being recommended as starting materials . a 0 . 5 g amount of zincacetatehydrate , zn ( ch 3 coo ) 2 . 2h 2 o , was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water . a &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil was placed in the solution and soaked for 30 minutes at 90 ° c . then the foil was electrolyzed for 30 minutes at a current density of 0 . 2 a / cm 2 and at a temperature of 25 ° c . in the sandwich electrolysis cell . the concentration of the solution can be 0 . 4 to 0 . 6 g zn ( ch 3 coo ) 2 . 2h 2 o per 100 ml water . in a similar manner coatings of cadmium can also be produced starting advantageously with the hydrous acetate . a 0 . 5 g amount of tinsulfate , snso 4 , was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water and the solution was brought to a temperature of 90 ° c . a &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil was soaked in this solution for 30 minutes at a temperature of 90 ° c ., rinsed and electrolyzed in the sandwich cell for 30 minutes at 60 ° c . and a current density of 0 . 2 a / cm 2 . the solution concentration can be between 0 . 4 and 0 . 6 g snso 4 per 100 ml water . a 0 . 5 g amount of leadacetatehydrate , pb ( ch 3 coo ) 2 . 3h 2 o , was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water . the solution was brought to a temperature of 90 ° c . and a &# 34 ; nafion &# 34 ; foil was soaked in the solution for 30 minutes . the impregnated foil was then electrolyzed for 30 minutes at a current density of 0 . 2 a / cm 2 and at a temperature of 60 ° c . the solution can have a concentration in the range of 0 . 4 to 0 . 6 g pb ( ch 3 coo ) 2 . 3h 2 o per 100 ml water . the method of the invention is not limited to the above examples . in particular , other plastic polymers as well as inorganic ( ceramic ) solid electrolytes can also be coated in this manner . moreover , metal salt solutions other than those described above can also be used for impregnation . the primary condition is that the metal be deposited from aqueous solution , that the solid electrolyte be permeable enough for water and the metal ions to be transported under the deposition conditions and that no harmful side reactions with the water and oxygen take place . this holds mainly for the metal itself deposited , in atomic form first , at the solid electrolyte / cathode boundary . it goes without saying that the alkali , alkaline earth and earth metals , which exhibit a high affinity for oxygen , are excluded from the method . through the method and arrangement of the invention , the coating of solid electrolytes in a simple manner with metals , particularly noble metals , is made possible , whereas by firmly adhering gas and liquid permeable surface layers exhibiting good physical properties are achieved . since the metal is not applied from outside of the substrate surface but is initially present ionically inside the substrate in finely divided form and grows , as it were , into the surface from the interior , the anchoring of the metal particles is especially good and their strength of adherence is independent of the water content of the solid electrolyte , i . e . the metal layer does not peel - off when the latter dries out . such coated solid electrolytes are used to great advantage in electrolysis cells , particularly prominent amoung which are cells for hydrogen production . having now fully described this invention , it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many changes and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as set forth herein . accordingly , | 2 |
while the instant invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms , there is shown in the drawings and herein described in detail preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the principles or scope of the invention to the embodiment . as is now standard in the industry and in referring to fig1 , the system architecture of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is implemented using a data center , a plurality of venues using standard point of sale equipment and a plurality of terminals . the data center is in communication with each venue and each purchaser or licensee terminal through the internet or any wireless application . the terminal can be any device through which a user can access a website , e . g ., a personal computer , a personal digital assistant , an internet - through - television device , a cellular telephone , or any type of many available wireless devices available in the market , or any updates as may now or hereafter be devised . referring to fig1 , the data center ( 100 ) preferably comprises database servers ( 100 a ), web servers ( 100 b ), a load balancing router ( 100 c ) and a firewall ( 18 ) connected to the internet . the firewall ( 18 ) receives messages from the internet ( 19 ) and forwards the messages to the load balancing router ( 100 c ) and likewise receives messages from the load balancing router ( 100 c ) and forwards them to the internet ( 19 ) or other similar distributed computer network . the firewall ( 18 ) preferably performs a number of filtering functions and network address translations in order to safeguard the data center from unauthorized access . the firewall ( 18 ) also preferably encrypts and / or watermarks the message using known public key / private key encryption and standard methods and may also integrate digital rights management (“ drm ”) tracking . the load balancing router ( 100 c ) forwards messages received from the firewall ( 18 ) to one of the plurality of web servers ( 100 b ). the load balancing router ( 100 c ) also forwards messages received from the web servers ( 100 b ) to the firewall ( 18 ) for transmission to other sites through the internet ( 19 ). in this manner , the load balancing router ( 100 c ) distributes tasks to be performed to one of the plurality of web servers ( 100 b ) in order to distribute processing demands . the web servers ( 100 b ) access the database servers ( 100 a ) to retrieve and store information in response to received messages from the terminals ( not shown ). the database servers ( 100 a ) store data tables which contain information about various venues , events , accounting , royalties payable , fixed payment allocations , ticket resources , ticketing software , user rules , ticket status , ticket holders and tournament entrance fees and bets placed ( if applicable ). an end user ( 10 ) can access the data center ( 100 ) by using a standard web browser on a terminal ( not shown ). however , non - standard , custom software can also be implemented or web browser software on the wireless device such as a personal digital assistant or cellular telephone . terminals can log into the data center ( 100 ) to view events which will take place in the future , purchase tickets , allow patrons to access recordings from the just - completed live event ( 212 ), interact to rate a new act or the event itself , and / or to buy interactive games to participate in the event itself or in staged tournaments with other users or spectators ( 10 ). moreover , other information including user roles , options for recording retrieval including location , means of retrieval and incorporating burning , engraving , mastering balancing , editing technology as may now exist or hereafter be devised including through the use of algorithms as herein disclosed , may be implemented . choices may include venue , management , artist , record label , team owner , event management , ticket buyer / ancillary purchaser , retrieval immediately at venue by cd or dvd , or for delivery by digital transmission / usb port at a location based kiosk , at home by mail of by home computer access , on a cellular telephone , or those that order derivative works or elect to input other demographic information for dissemination , i . e ., ‘ best of ’ versions , director &# 39 ; s cut , narration tracks , and requesting upload of demographic information and promos for upcoming events and other releases , etc . ( 214 ). more particularly , referring to fig1 , the system further includes one or more entertainment venues ( 14 ), a fulfillment or manufacturing center ( 300 ), a plurality of information fee recipients ( 24 ) and a plurality of recording recipients ( 28 ). the transaction flow is depicted in fig2 a - c . the ticket buyer makes a purchase transaction in step ( 600 ). during this step , the ticket buyer ( 10 ) is presented with the option of pre - buying a tie - in recording . the price of the recording is added to the price of his ticket purchase to the live event ( or other logged entrance fee or bet ). in the event the purchaser desires to retrieve his recording at the venue immediately upon completion of the performance ( or prior to in the case of interactive games ), standard authentication methods may be employed , including , but not limited to , bar coding and / or information authentication . the ticket seller ( 11 ), who is already making various allocations for taxes , fees , etc ., from the gross receipts , treats the price of the value added recording similarly . he subtracts his fee , whether fixed or contingent ( his incentive to provide this service ), and forwards the remainder to the recording supplier ( recording - seller ). because this is still a single transaction , with the ticket serving as the customer &# 39 ; s receipt , the added cost is minimal . the ticket seller at locations ( 11 ) transmits the transaction data over a pc or other standard point - of - sale equipment well known in the art ( not shown ), which includes the information gathered from the charge card transaction , which identifies the buyer and specifies the address ( the charge card address or other address selected by the buyer ( 10 )) to which the recording is to be sent , to the data center ( 100 ) ( step 610 ). this transmission is done in real time , through the internet ( 19 ), using industry standard protocols such as xml and is properly secured using one of many industry standard encryption methods . upon receipt at the data center ( 100 ), the transaction information is immediately loaded into the master system database ( 100 a ). the database system is capable of recording a multitude of transactions involving a multitude of events simultaneously , while at the same time providing all of the required reporting and processing functions and maintaining both the physical and logical security of the information which is critical to the successful implementation of the method . the preferred embodiment preferably uses an industry standard database system , e . g ., oracle , microsoft sql server , ibm db2 , xml , etc ., which is scalable , and of an industry standard set of server hardware , which is also scalable to ensure that it can handle whatever transaction load is required . in step ( 612 ) the data center ( 100 ) checks if the transaction is valid . invalid transactions are discarded ( step 614 ). in step ( 615 ) the data center transaction is posted with database ( 100 a ). in step ( 616 ) the transaction is backed up . next , various data files containing statistical information are updated in the data base ( 100 a ) to reflect the latest transaction ( s ) ( step 618 ). as indicated above , the data center ( 100 ) also encompasses a series of web servers ( 100 b ) providing as web sites and / or web services points of access for various interested parties to retrieve information required for their operation . fig2 b shows the process for generating the recordings in fixed media of expression ( cd , dvd , e . g .) on site using a suitable recording subsystem ( 15 ) ( fig1 ). during or immediately after the event , the recording subsystem ( 15 ) generates a recording on an appropriate medium using preferably non - incremental methods . in the alternative , recordings are available to be retrieved on or off site through enabled terminals in digital format through usb port or other methods including hook - up of ipods and other storage devices , also authenticated using cellular telephones and internet subscription accounts . booklets ( if any ) are prepared for the buyer together with labels that are affixed to the recording ( step 620 ). the completed recording is delivered to the buyer ( step 621 ). in step 622 the manufacturing details are sent to the data center ( 100 ) and fulfillment center for accounting and statistical analysis . using this data , in step 624 various statistical data bases are updated with the latest transaction ( s ). fig2 c illustrates the final accounting process . in step 626 the transactions for the event are reconciled and finalized . in step 628 reports are generated . in step 630 the reports and payments to various partners are calculated and transmitted . in step 632 temporary data in the central data base ( 100 ) are cleaned out and the central data base is readied for the next event . as discussed above , and illustrated in fig1 if a user or buyer wants to take home or receive a live recording directly at the venue upon completion of the event , standard authentication methods , including but not limited to bar coding , may be used . referring to fig5 , the recordings from the editor apparatus ( 19 ) are stored as tracks on servers ( 402 ). next , the recordings are transmitted or “ burned ” on site by updated non - incremental cdr technology generating media ( 401 ) in bulk . the media ( 401 ) ( that may include dvds . cds , etc .) are sold to either users or buyers ( 10 ), who have prepaid for the media when they bought their tickets , or alternatively to buyers ( 10 a ) who have not prepaid and pay for the media at a subsequent time including at the end of the event . the bulk recordings ( 401 ) may be sold by a clerk ( 403 ). alternatively , however , a kiosk or other enabled terminal ( 410 ) is provided that receives the recording data from servers ( 402 ). the kiosk ( 410 ) is an automated kiosk , “ vending machine ” or enabled table in a nightclub / eatery that either burns or spits out a recording on demand when presented with authenticating information that may be information on the ticket itself and / or prerecords the tracks on a selected media and provides labels , booklets and other materials associated therewith . the media and associated item ( s ) are then dispensed when the user / attendee inserts his ticket or inputs other identifying authentication information into the kiosk ( 410 .) alternatively , the kiosk receives the ticket or other input information from the user / orderer and , in response , starts the burning of the media or takes order for the mailing or desired home electronic retrieval . in this configuration , the user may be given the choice of customizing his recording by selecting specific portions or songs of the event that should be burned on the media , their sequence , etc . or may even order “ singles ”. this will be the preferred method if a kiosk is in the form of a patron &# 39 ; s audience chair , table or seat at an eatery , nightclub or showcase . orders can also be taken at enabled turnstiles or atm machines at banks , airports , malls and other public venues . a user ( 10 a ) who has not prepaid for the recording may also obtain one using the kiosk ( 410 ) and charging the purchase to his credit card or by using other payment means . the kiosk ( 410 ) may also deliver a recording as a data file that becomes available for downloading by the user ( to a pda , ipod or other similar device ) through a data port ( such as usb port ) on the kiosk ( 410 ). finally , after the event is finished , the recording can be delivered or distributed electronically as a digital file to the home ( 420 ) of the user and the point of sale site ( 400 ) may be bypassed . communications between the various elements of the systems can be implemented over wired or wireless networks . typical wireless networks that may be employed include wi - fi , bluetooth , etc . the ticket / recording buyer ( 10 ) can from any terminal , for example , check on the status of his order and perform a limited range of functions , such as changing the delivery address for his order , order additional recordings , or order that promo information of upcoming concerts and other future releases be sent to him . similarly , the entertainment companies and record labels can , for example , check , in real time , to see how many recordings for their artist have been requested and sold for any event , track the royalty and other payments through the system , and , for example , receive survey responses from those who elected to participate in “ new band ” ratings . if the buyer opts to allow dissemination of other demographic information including , for example , his order for promos , tickets for upcoming events or releases and other merchandise , the system will accommodate those requests . by integrated methods and systems , it will also allow for ordering and purchase of “ best of ” releases , director &# 39 ; s cuts , narration tracks , and single tracks and compilations emanating from the live event . the data center ( 100 ) maintains security and confidentiality through the system . the entertainment entities and “ partners ” are issued specific password credentials which are authenticated through standard industry techniques ( 218 ). in the case of the ticket / recording buyer , his ticket number along with information not printed on the ticket , such as his billing address or other identifying information ( mother &# 39 ; s maiden name , e . g .) is used for verification before he can gain access to the privileged areas of the processing web site . as shown in fig1 , in addition to users or buyers ( 10 ), other entities may also have access to the data center ( 100 ), including revenue participants ( 24 ) that may include several partners . in addition , specialized servers may also be provided as part of the system . for example , server ( 20 ) is used to determine fees and royalties for the various partners ( 24 ). the server ( 22 ) provides standard accounting services . these servers can communicate with each other and with other components of the system through standardized networks , such as internet ( 19 ). of course , the whole purpose of the system is to manage ordering , packaging and multi - media distribution of live event recordings and to organize and run new types of live events at venues ( 19 ) including those to be constructed with new technology regardless of whether they have outside ticketing service companies or their own and help take maximize advantage of the impulse buying potential of the adoring audience and fans . as part of this process , buyers ( 10 ) can receive or buy recordings of the event and other items associated with the event . these materials are available immediately at a point of sale station ( or store ) ( 400 ), as discussed in detail below and shown in fig5 . the event is recorded and edited by on - site editing equipment ( 19 ) to provide the immediate recording at a station ( 400 ). non - incremental or other burning technology compatible with updated standard cdr technology is preferentially to be used . in addition , or alternatively , the event is recorded by digital recording equipment 16 . the recorded data inclusive of mastering , editing and balancing data is then sent to an offsite manufacturing site ( 300 ) where the recordings are generated ( on cds , dvds and other similar media ) and then packaged and distributed to the users ( 10 ), as discussed in more detail below and illustrated in fig4 . manufacturing instructions ( 31 ) to both sites [. e . station ( 400 ) and manufacturing site ( 300 )] are provided by the data center ( 100 ). moreover , the data center ( 100 ) receives inventory and accounting information ( 30 ) from both sites . details of how requests for transactions and information are handled by the data center ( 100 ) are provided in fig3 . a request is received by the data center ( 100 ) in step ( 200 ) via the internet . in step ( 210 ) a check is performed to determine if the request is a special request for information ( available only to certain subscribers and partners ). if it is not , then in step ( 212 ) information is retrieved and sent to the requester indicating what services are available , including lists of future events for which tickets , recordings , and / or other items can be purchased . lists of other items related , for example , to recordings from past events , may also be displayed . in step ( 214 ) a request for tickets , recordings or other items is received from a user ( 10 ). the request is processed , the user ( 10 ) is issued a ticket and the resulting transaction is processed as described in the flow charts of fig2 a - 2c . if in step ( 210 ) a special request is identified , then in step ( 216 ), the requester is asked to provide a password and the password is validated . if the requester is identified in step ( 218 ), then in step ( 222 ) he is directed to a special partner web site where he can access data on various events , including their status , number of orders for received for the events , fees collected , royalties due to the partner , etc . in step ( 223 ), data related to the partners is updated in the data center ( 100 ), if necessary . if the requester is identified as a registered buyer , then in step ( 220 ) the buyer logs in and is directed to a buyer site in step 224 . at this site , the buyer is allowed to check on the status of his order , he is allowed to change his order , provide information for shipping , etc . the information or changes entered by the registered buyer is stored in the data center ( 100 ) in step ( 226 ). after a particular event has concluded , the data center sends to the fulfillment house ( 122 ) information specifying the number of complete and derivative or special order recordings ( 120 ) to produce and the addresses to which those designated to be mailed , should be mailed . off site recording is performed by manufacturing station or site ( 400 ). as shown in fig4 , after the event , the performance data is received in step ( 310 ). this data may be streamed or may be sent electronically in a batch . alternatively , the data may be recorded on a data storage medium and sent to site ( 300 ). in step ( 312 ) the data is edited . editing may optionally incorporate the disclosed method of digitized conversion from an audience balanced to disc balanced reading . in step ( 314 ) the data is prepared for recording on a master . in step ( 314 ) the data is optionally encrypted , and , if desired , a unique watermark is added for copy protection . in step ( 316 ) multiple copies are made from the master by burning or other means . in step ( 318 ) labels are applied to the media and the labeled media is boxed and packaged together with other materials , such as booklets , pictures , etc . in step ( 320 ) the packaged media are shipped . in step ( 322 ) additional copies of the recordings are made , if necessary . in step ( 324 ) a production document is generated . in step ( 326 ) the data files at the data center ( 100 ) are updated to reflect the recording produced and shipped . the data center 100 also handles all tasks of reporting and accounting for copyright , and other participants and generates detailed statements and accounts including the amounts of statutory and contractual royalties ( 20 ). to summarize , a recording of a live event or any part of a live event ( including spliced , edited and / or derivative special order versions thereof ) is ordered before , during or after the event by a buyer who has attended the event or by a non - attendant buyer by any available means including , but not limited to , by using an appropriate website or enabled hand - held device including a cellular telephone . while the specific embodiments have been illustrated and described , numerous modifications come to mind without significantly departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of protection is only limited by the scope of the accompanying claims . | 6 |
the field of play incorporates for each of the two teams five straight slots for field play figures and a circular segment slot for the goalkeeper figure . the play figures on the left side depicted in the plan elevation in fig1 are pulled back fully and those on the right are advanced fully . the drawn circles depict the fields of action of the individual play figures . from this it is seen that the play figures cover virtually the entire field of play . owing to the conical rim 13a any ball which has rolled to the back rolls automatically back into the field of play . in fig1 it is apparent that each team consists of one goalkeeper , two defenders and three strikers . the play figures revolve about their own axes by 360 ° in all directions and can be slid back and forth in the area of play within guide slots . each play figure has a kicking foot which can be operated by a lever 5 under handle 1 . the ball can be kicked , according to the wish of the player , gently or hard , flat over the field of play or in an arc above the heads of the other play figures and in any direction , more particularly irrespective of positioning within the slot . the functional principles of the play figures can be described on the basis of fig2 and 3 . the plastic handle 1 ( velo - control handle ) is slid onto a length of tube 2 which is connected firmly with pushrod 3 . a collar 4 is positioned loosely on the pushrod in front of the handle 1 . the lever mount 6 is clamped firmly onto this bearing collar 4 . an adjusting collar 7 is pinned firmly on pushrod 3 in front of bearing collar 4 and thus locates collar 4 . the lever 5 is used to actuate the pivoted leg 25 of the play figures . lever 5 and mounting 6 are standard components of normal bicycle brakes . pushrod 3 leads through the frame 8 and is seated in a plastic bush 9 . a foam rubber ring 10 is inserted to act as a damper between set collar 7 and bush 9 . the foam rubber pad 11 with limit stop 12 also serves as a travel limiter and obstructs the path of small gearbox 16 when the pushrod is drawn out to its maximum limit . the two limit stops buffers 10 and 11 respectively prevent wear to the guide slots in field of play panel 13 and bottom panel 14 . pushrod 3 is connected firmly with bevel pinion 15 , which is seated in a bearing bush of small gearbox 16 and pinned to bevel gear 17 . bevel gear 17 meshes with a bevel gear 18 , which is mounted on the perpendicular hollow shaft 19 with which it is coupled positively , for example by means of bolt 36 and retaining collar . each rotary motion of handle 1 is transmitted via 2 , 3 , 15 , 17 , 18 to hollow shaft 19 in a direct ratio of 1 : 1 . hollow shaft 19 is seated at the bottom in journal 20 and at the top in an appropriate bearing bush . hollow shaft 19 is held in correct position by a circlip 22 . the basic play figure 23 and the fixed leg 24 is fixed onto the upper part of hollow shaft 19 . the moving leg 25 is fitted with a fixed bolt 26 , which is seated pivotally in basic figure 23 and secured in place by a circlip . both arms 27 and 28 on the field play figures are seated by an axis 29 in the basic figure in such a way as to allow adjustment to a natural position where they remain . the two goalkeepers , on the other hand , are fitted with movable arms and on these the two arms 27 and 28 are mounted on a rectangular rather than round axis ( fig4 ). this rectangular axis is connected by an articulated mechanism 30 , 31 , 32 , 43 with leg 25 in such a manner that both arms 27 and 28 are raised simultaneously with leg 25 , thus allowing balls coming it at head level to be held in the hands . to actuate the pivoted leg 25 of a play figure , lever 5 must be drawn against handle 1 to draw traction cable 33 to the rear . traction cable 33 leads within tube 34 from mounting 6 through to small gearbox 16 . this connection between mounting 6 and small gearbox 16 insures that lever 5 remains always in perpendicular position , also when handle 1 is twisted . bush 35 serves as a guide for tube 34 in the end wall 8 of the game frame . traction cable 33 leads within small gearbox 16 through a thrust spring 37 , a spring washer 38 and a main lever 39 through the clamp screw 40 . lever 39 is mounted pivotally on journal 20 . the position of lever 39 is fixed by adjustment of clamp screw 40 on traction cable 33 . the thrust spring 37 holds the traction cable 33 under permanent tension , so that lever 5 is held in rest position against the limit stop of mounting 6 . a secondary lever 41 is articulated to the upper part of main lever 39 . the secondary lever has a hole bored through its cross web through which traction rod 40 is led . traction rod 42 leads through hollow shaft 19 to the level of pivoted leg 25 . at the bottom end of traction rod 42 , the rod is held by two circlips in the cross web of secondary lever 41 in such a way as to permit the rod to revolve easily . cross - journal 43 is adjustable on the upper section of traction rod 42 and screwed in position . journal 43 engages in the small longitudinal slot of pivoted leg 25 , which is necessary to compensate the perpendicular motion of traction rod 42 and the pivot motion of leg 25 about its journal . a sliding journal 44 is provided on the underside of small gearbox 16 to insure smooth and easy displacement of small gearbox 16 in the guide slot of baseplate 14 . this form of seating in baseplate 14 also prevents misalignment or jamming of the small gearbox with the play figure in the guide slots . the slots provided in the field of play can also be curved rather than straight , as depicted in fig1 . | 0 |
referring initially to fig1 , a skydiving helmet in accordance with the present invention is shown and is generally designated 10 . as shown , the skydiving helmet 10 includes a helmet body 12 which is formed with an opening 14 , that is surrounded by a rim 16 . further , the helmet body 12 includes a forehead portion 18 and a chin portion 20 that are opposite from each other , across the opening 14 . the chin portion 20 of the helmet body 12 is formed with an air - intake hole 22 . still referring to fig1 , the helmet 10 is shown to include a transparent lens 24 that is covering the opening 14 of the helmet body 12 . referring for the moment to fig2 , it is seen that the lens 24 has an inside surface 26 and an outside surface 28 . for purposes of the present invention , the transparent lens 24 may be either clear or tinted . further , referring back to fig1 , it will also be seen that the lens 24 is mounted onto the helmet body 12 with a swivel mount 30 . it is to be appreciated that another swivel mount 30 ( not shown ) is located on the other side of the helmet body 12 . this other swivel mount 30 will thus be opposite and across the opening 14 from the swivel mount 30 that is shown in fig1 . as an added feature , the lens 24 can be positioned on the helmet body 12 using a so - called “ quick connect ” system . further , as envisioned for the present invention , each of the above - mentioned swivel mounts 30 can be manipulated by a respective release button 32 to swivel the lens 24 on the helmet body 12 . in particular , this swiveling occurs between a closed position ( shown in fig1 and 2 ) and an open position ( not shown ). more specifically , in the open position , the lens 24 is still supported by the swivel mounts 30 , but it is lifted from the opening 14 to provide for access through the opening 14 and into the helmet 10 . an important structural aspect for the skydiving helmet 10 of the present invention is an exhaust vent 34 . in fig2 , this exhaust vent 34 is shown to be created between the lens 24 and the forehead portion 18 of the helmet body 12 when the lens 24 is in its closed position ( shown in fig2 ). more specifically , the exhaust vent 34 will extend through an arc 36 that is centered on the air - intake hole 22 . importantly , this arc 36 will effectively overlie the nose and eyes of the skydiver ( not shown ). to do this , the arc 36 will preferably be about 100 °. a deflector plate 38 is shown in fig3 . as shown , the deflector plate 38 includes a base member 40 that is formed with a scoop 42 , and the deflector plate 38 defines a centerline 44 . a pair of lateral vanes 46 a and 46 b extend from the base member 40 to straddle the centerline 44 , as do a pair of side vanes 48 a and 48 h . the lateral vanes 46 a and 46 b , as well as the side vanes 48 a and 48 b are all angled on the deflector plate 38 relative to the centerline 44 . together , these lateral vanes 46 a and 46 b and side vanes 48 a and 48 b are oriented to establish a plurality of airways . specifically , a central airway 50 is established between the lateral vanes 46 a and 46 b . additionally , a pair of lateral airways 52 a and 52 b is established by the deflector plate 38 . in this case , the lateral airways 52 a and 52 b are each on opposite sides of the central airway 50 . structurally , lateral airway 52 a is established between lateral vane 46 a and side vane 48 a . and , lateral airway 52 b is established between lateral vane 46 b and side vane 48 b . also , a side airway 54 a is established on the deflector plate 38 by side vane 48 a . as shown , this side airway 54 a is located outside the side vane 48 a and is separated from the lateral airway 52 a by the side vane 48 a . similarly , a side airway 54 h is established by the side vane 48 b . returning to fig2 , it will be appreciated that the deflector plate 38 is positioned inside the helmet body 12 and against its chin portion 20 . more specifically , as so positioned , the scoop 42 of the deflector plate 38 effectively divides the air - intake hole 22 into an upper air - intake vent 56 and a lower air - intake vent 58 . with this structure , breathing air is directed into the helmet 10 ( see arrow 60 ) through the lower air - intake vent 58 , for use by the skydiver . on the other hand , anti - fog air entering the helmet 10 through the upper air - intake vent 56 ( see arrows 62 ) is directed by the deflector plate 38 against the inside surface 26 of the lens 24 . as envisioned for the present invention , the anti - fog air ( see arrows 62 ) is directed by the deflector plate 38 across the arc 36 , and against the inside surface 26 for exit from the helmet 10 through the exhaust vent 34 . referring now to fig4 , an overview of several components of the present invention can be shown and described . in particular , a camera mount 64 is shown affixed to the lens 24 of the helmet 10 . for the present invention , the camera mount 64 is constructed with a mounting plate 66 and a camera case 68 . in fig4 , the quick release mechanism 70 is also visible near the release button 32 on the lens 24 . it should be understood that a second quick release mechanism 70 is provided on the opposite side of the helmet 10 . now referring to fig5 , a side perspective view of the helmet 10 is shown with the lens 24 in its open position . in this view , a heating unit 72 is shown affixed to the helmet 10 . also , a heating wire 74 that runs on the outer surface of the helmet 10 is shown . this heating wire 74 interconnects the heating unit 72 to a conductive strip 76 that is formed onto the inside surface 26 of the lens 24 . the pattern shown for the conductive strip 76 is exemplary , as any type of pattern can be used . furthermore , a plurality of conductive strips 76 can also be used , and a plurality of heating wires 74 can also be incorporated for use with the present invention if required . in addition , in fig5 , the interaction of the camera mount 64 with the lens 24 is depicted . here , it can be seen that the mounting plate 66 is slidably mountable onto the lens 24 of the helmet 10 , with the lens 24 being received in a gap ( not pictured ) formed between an upper portion 78 and a lower portion 80 of the mounting plate 66 . now referring to fig6 a and 6b , a detailed view of the preferred embodiment of the quick release mechanism 70 is shown and described . as shown , the quick release mechanism 70 requires a quick release pin 82 having a first end 84 and a second end 66 . in addition , a locking shaft 88 is provided on the helmet 10 that is configured to receive the pin 82 . to use the pin 82 properly , an aperture 90 must be formed into the lens 24 that matches the diameter of the shaft 88 . for an operation of the quick release mechanism 70 , a plunger 92 on the first end 84 of the pin 82 is depressed . when this occurs , ball bearings 94 a - b are disengaged and retract into the pin 82 to allow the pin 82 to be inserted through the aperture 90 in the lens 24 and into the shaft 88 . once the ball bearings 94 a - b reach notches 96 a - b , the ball bearings 94 a - b become seated into the notches 96 a - b to affix the lens 24 to the helmet 10 . this engagement of the pin 82 with the shaft 88 is illustrated in fig6 b . it should be noted that an identical operation occurs on the opposite side of the helmet 10 . it also should be noted that the use of the quick release mechanism 70 is designed to occur when the lens 24 is in its raised position . for an alternate embodiment of the quick release mechanism 70 , fig7 a shows an engagement of the pin 82 with a shaft 88 , and a lens aperture 90 . as shown in fig7 a , the pin 82 is the same as shown in fig6 a and 6b , but the shaft 88 and the lens aperture 90 are formed to receive the pin 82 so that the pin 82 is flush with the outside surface 28 of the lens 24 ( see fig7 b ). now referring to fig8 , an alternate quick release mechanism 70 is shown . in this embodiment , a deformable button 98 is formed onto the helmet 10 near each release button 32 . in further detail , the button 98 is formed with an internal spring 100 , an annular notch 102 , and an annular rib 104 . for an operation of the quick release mechanism 70 , as the lens 24 is pressed towards the helmet 10 , the button 98 deforms to allow the lens 24 to pass over the annular rib 104 . once the outside surface 28 of the lens 24 has passed over the rib 104 , the spring 100 urges the button 98 back into its original configuration . at this point , the lens 24 is secured to the helmet 10 and is seated between the notch 102 and the rib 104 . to remove the lens 24 , the lens 24 can be lifted off of the button 98 . now referring to fig9 , a detailed view of the camera mount 64 is shown . it can be seen that the camera mount 64 comprises two pieces : a mounting plate 66 and a camera case 68 . referring first to the mounting plate 66 , it is formed by the upper portion 78 and the lower portion 80 . between the upper portion 78 and the lower portion 80 of mounting plate 66 , a gap 108 is formed for receiving the lens 24 during an engagement . while the lower portion 80 of mounting plate 66 is a piece of plastic formed to be positioned against the inside surface 26 of the lens 24 , the upper portion 78 of mounting plate 66 is formed by a rectangular piece of plastic bounded by an extension member 110 a - b at either end . one extension member 110 b is formed with a hole through its center , and the other extension member 110 a has a circular hole that extends only part way through the member 110 a . further , the upper portion 78 of mounting plate 66 is formed with a plurality of knuckles 112 that have a circular hole through the center of each to receive a locking shaft 114 that is inserted through connecting member 110 b and the knuckles 112 , and becomes seated in the hole in extension member 110 a . this shaft 114 attaches the camera case 68 to the mounting plate 66 . a final component of the upper portion 78 is a plurality of tightening screws 116 a - b . these screws 116 a - b are rubber - tipped at the end opposite the screw head . the purpose of these screws 116 a - b is to tighten the upper portion 78 against the lens 24 to further secure the mounting plate 66 to the lens 24 . as intended for the present invention , the camera case 68 is manufactured to hold different camera styles and is preferably made of a clear plastic . to secure the case 68 to the mounting plate 66 , a plurality of complementary knuckles 118 are formed on the underside of the case 68 . these knuckles 118 are also formed with holes through their centers to allow the locking shaft 114 to be inserted through the holes when the knuckles 118 are mated with the knuckles 112 of the mounting plate 66 . regarding the knuckles 112 and 118 , the number of knuckles shown is for exemplary purposes only . any number of knuckles can be used for the present invention . while the particular helmet with anti - fog system for skydiving and snow skiing as herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of obtaining the objects and providing the advantages herein before stated , it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as described in the appended claims . | 0 |
the present invention may be understood more readily by reference to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention and the examples included therein . before the present compositions of matter and methods are disclosed and described , it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to specific synthetic methods or to particular formulations , as such may , of course , vary . it is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting . in this specification and in the claims which follow , reference will be made to a number of terms which shall be defined to have the following meanings : the singular forms “ a ” “ an ” and “ the ” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . “ optional ” or “ optionally ” means that the subsequently described event or circumstances may or may not occur , and that the description included instances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances where it does not . “ silicone polymer emulsion ” is herein defined as a dispersion of polymeric particles in a continuous phase , the polymeric particles preferably having a size range of from about 0 . 10 to about 1000 microns . further preferably , the polymeric polymers have a particle size of from about 0 . 1 to about 10 microns . the silicone polymers of the present invention preferably have a molecular weight of about 5 , 000 to about 1 , 000 , 000 daltons . the polymeric particles are preferably produced through emulsion polymerization processes . alternatively , such emulsions may be prepared through direct emulsification e . g ., mechanical emulsification processes . throughout this application , where publications are referenced , the disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains . ranges are often expressed herein as from about one particular value , and / or to about another particular value . when such a range is expressed , it is to be understood that another embodiment is from the one particular value and / or to the other particular value . similarly , when values are expressed as approximations , by use of the antecedent “ about ,” it will be understood that the particular value is another embodiment . in a major aspect , the invention is concerned with the introduction of a silicone polymer into a nylon 6 ring opening reaction wherein the silicone polymer is preferably introduced via a silicone polymer emulsion . the silicone polymer emulsion may comprise water , caprolactam ., or a mixture thereof . polymer blends made by these methods are also provided . the silicone polymer emulsion may also be added to a fully formed nylon 6 polymer , followed by extrusion to provide a nylon 6 / silicone polymer blend . in one embodiment , the aqueous silicone polymer emulsions of the present invention comprise a plurality of particles of a silicone polymer dispersed in a continuous phase . the silicone polymers of the present invention may preferably have functional groups . such functional groups may comprise amino , epoxy , vinyl , mercapto , carbonate , isocyanate or silicone hydride . in a particularly preferred embodiment , the silicone polymer is a silanol terminated polydiorganosiloxane (“ pdos ”). other preferred silicone polymers include alkylmethylsiloxanes or aminopropylsiloxanes . the silicone polymer emulsion preferably contains at least one surfactant that stabilizes the dispersed silicone polymer particles in the continuous phase of the emulsion . the silicone polymer in the emulsion should preferably have an average particle size from about 0 . 1 to about 1000 microns , more preferably from about 0 . 1 to about 10 microns . such emulsions may be prepared , for example , by methods wherein a cyclic or linear oligomeric silicone polymer , such as pdos , are dispersed in an aqueous continuous phase with the aid of the above mentioned surfactant and are thereafter emulsion polymerized by the introduction of an acid or base catalyst . such emulsions can be illustrated by the disclosures of , among others , u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 954 , 565 , 4 , 618 , 642 , 3 , 294 , 725 , and 2 , 891 , 920 , the disclosures of which are each hereby incorporated herein in their entireties by this reference . in a preferred embodiment , the silicone polymer emulsions are prepared by a direct emulsification process . in this process , a mixture of the continuous phase liquid i . e ., water and / or , caprolactam and one or more surfactants are processed with a silicone polymer dispersed phase under high shear conditions using either conventional mixing equipment or high shear devices such as a microfluidizer ™. methods for preparing these polymer emulsions are given in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 177 , 177 and 4 , 788 , 001 , the disclosures of which are each herein incorporated in their entireties by this reference . for example , pdos can be added to a surfactant and then water , and / or caprolactam can be slowly added with constant shear . the resulting pdos emulsions can then be crosslinked using common methods known to crosslink the pdos . in still a further embodiment , the continuous phase comprises a water component , wherein the water component is present in an amount of from about 1 to about 100 % by weight , based upon the total weight of the continuous phase , and further preferably , about 10 to about 100 % by weight , based upon the total weight of the continuous phase , and still preferably , from about 20 to about 100 % by weight , based upon the total weight of the continuous phase . further preferably , the water component is present at from about 30 to about 100 %, based upon the total weight of the continuous phase , still preferably , from about 40 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , still further preferably , from about 50 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase . in yet further preferred embodiments , the water component is present at from about 60 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , further preferably , from about 70 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , still preferably , from about 80 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , and , still further preferably , from about 90 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase . in a further preferred embodiment of the invention herein , the continuous phase of the silicone polymer emulsions of the present invention include a caprolactam component . in a preferred embodiment , the caprolactam is present in the amount of from about 1 to about 90 % by weight , further preferably , from about 10 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase , still preferably , from about 20 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase , and , further preferably , from about 30 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase . in further preferred embodiments , the caprolactam component comprises from about 40 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase . still preferably , the caprolactam comprises from about 50 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase , and , further preferably , from about 60 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase , and , still preferably , from about 70 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase . in a further preferred embodiment , the caprolactam component comprises from about 80 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase . the total weight of the continuous phase of the silicone polymer emulsions includes the weight of the water component , caprolactam component and any cosolvent . the weight of any surfactant or additional components is not included in the total weight of the continuous phase . in a preferred embodiment , a surfactant is used to prepare the silicone polymer emulsions . one of skill in the art would recognize that the type and amount of surfactant used in the preparation of the emulsions depends on the particular monomer combinations and the polymerization conditions . surfactants used in the emulsification may be anionic , cationic , or nonionic surfactants . anionic surfactants that may be used in the invention include surfactants such as alkali metal or ammonium salts of alkyl , aryl or alkylaryl sulfonates , sulfates , phosphates or a mixture thereof . further , suitable nonionic surfactants include , but are not limited to , alkyl and alkylaryl polydiol ethers , such as ethoxylation products of lauryl , oleyl and stearyl alcohol , alkyl phenol glycol ethers , including but not limited to , ethoxylation products of octyl or nonylphenol . suitable surfactants may be found in mccutcheon &# 39 ; s volume i : emulsifiers and detergents 1996 north american edition , mc publishing co ., glen rock , n . j ., 1996 . the continuous phase of the silicone polymer emulsion may also comprise a cosolvent . these cosolvents include , but are not limited to water , methanol , ethanol , propanol , n - butanol , or a mixture thereof . the cosolvent may be present in the amount of less than about 60 % by weight , more preferably less than about 40 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase of the silicone polymer emulsion . preferably , the silicone polymers utilized to form the emulsions of the present invention may be crosslinked prior to addition of the emulsion to a nylon 6 reaction , as further set out below . many methods are present in the literature to crosslink silicone polymer emulsions . for example , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 370 , 160 discloses microparticles , such as microspheres and microcapsules , comprising a solid pdos prepared by irradiation of a dispersion of discrete particles with ultraviolet light . the discrete particles are dispersed in a u . v . transparent fluid continuous phase and are sphere - like particles of a u . v . curable , liquid pdos component containing a material to be encapsulated . in another example , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 618 , 642 discloses how to crosslink aqueous emulsions of silicone particles . the crosslinking is carried out by mixing an anionic emulsion containing dispersed particles of hydroxyl functional pdos , a dialkyltindicarboxylate and a trifunctional organosilane . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 674 , 937 , also discloses methods of curing phase inverted silicone polymer emulsions . the silicone polymer emulsions of this present invention may also be prepared by emulsion polymerization techniques . such emulsions may be prepared , for example , by methods wherein a cyclic or linear oligomer siloxane polymer , such as pdos , are dispersed in a glycol continuous phase with the aid of a surfactant and are thereafter emulsion polymerized by the introduction of an acid or base catalyst . examples of suitable acid and base catalysts are illustrated in the disclosures of , for example , u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 954 , 595 , 4 , 618 , 642 , 3 , 294 , 725 and 2 , 891 , 920 . buffering agents may also be utilized in the emulsion polymerization to control the ph of the reaction . suitable buffering agents include , but are not limited to , ammonium and sodium salts of carbonates and bicarbonates . it is preferred that the buffering agents be included when using acid generating initiators , including , but not limited to , the salts of persulfates . in a major embodiment , the invention concerns the introduction of a silicone polymer emulsion into a reaction that forms a nylon 6 polymer , resulting in a polymer blend having a silicone polymer dispersed within a nylon 6 polymer matrix . when the silicone polymer emulsion utilized comprises a water component , the water may be present in an amount of from about 10 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , more preferably from about 20 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , still preferably , from about 30 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase . in a further preferred embodiment , the water may be present at about 40 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , more preferably , from about 50 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , and , still preferably , from about 60 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase . in further preferred embodiments , the water may be present at from about 70 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase , and , further preferably , at from about 80 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase and , still preferably , from about 90 to about 100 % by weight of the continuous phase . in yet another embodiment , the continuous phase consists essentially of water . when the silicone polymer emulsion comprises caprolactam , the caprolactam in the silicone polymer emulsion preferably co - reacts with the caprolactam in conjunction with the nylon 6 polymerization reaction . in embodiments of the invention herein , the caprolactam component is present in the silicone polymer emulsion in an amount of from about 1 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase , further preferably , from about 10 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase , still preferably , from about 20 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase , and , further preferably , about 30 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase . in a further preferred embodiment , the caprolactam component comprises from about 40 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase . still preferably , the caprolactam comprises from about 50 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase , and , further preferably , from about 60 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase , and , still preferably , from about 70 to about 90 % by weight , based on the total weight of the continuous phase . in a further preferred embodiment , the caprolactam component comprises from about 80 to about 90 % by weight of the continuous phase . further , the silicone polymer emulsions set forth above in section i may be utilized for the polymer blends of the present invention . the polymerization of caprolactam , for example , in conjunction with a nylon 6 ring opening reaction , can be accomplished by methods known in the art . for example , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 204 , 049 discloses methods for polymerizing caprolactam in the presence of water . typically , e - caprolactam is placed in a pressurized vessel , such as an autoclave , along with water and , optionally , a catalyst . the mixture is heated to about 200 to about 280 ° c . for a period of time to produce a mixture of aminocaproic acid polymer , aminocaproic acid , unreacted lactam and water . the pressure is then released , the water allowed to escape , and the second stage of the reaction carried out by heating at about 220 to about 300 ° c . under atmospheric or subatmospheric pressure . catalysts can be added to the polymerization to facilitate the reaction . some examples of suitable catalysts are high boiling amines as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 366 , 306 , or acidic species , such as acetic acid . in a further embodiment , the water , and / or caprolactam components may be present in either the continuous phase of the silicone polymer emulsion , the nylon 6 ring opening reaction medium , or both . as noted , the silicone polymer emulsion may be introduced into the nylon 6 ring opening reaction medium at various stages of the polymerization . alternatively , the silicone polymer emulsion may be blended into the fully or partially formed nylon 6 polymer directly in an extruder at temperatures from about 200 to about 320 ° c . in this process , since the silicone polymer emulsion is added directly to the polyamide polymer , there is no need to harvest the silicone polymer from the silicone polymer emulsion . the silicone polymer in the silicone polymer emulsion may be preferably comprised of functional groups . in a preferred embodiment , the functional groups comprise the following groups : esters , acids , alcohols , isocyanates , epoxy or anhydrides . the process of the invention does not require the isolation of the silicone polymer in the silicone polymer emulsion from the continuous phase , for example , by spray drying . thus , the present invention overcomes the necessity of preparing a core - shell polymer or the necessity of harvesting the polymer from the emulsion . further , since blending takes place during the preparation of the nylon 6 polymer in the polymerization reactor , there is no need for a polymer / polymer post blending step that is energy intensive , expensive and often leads to the reduction of the molecular weight of the nylon 6 polymer . the silicone polymer emulsion may be introduced into the nylon 6 polymerization reaction at various stages . for example , in a nylon 6 polymerization , the silicone polymer emulsion can be added 1 ) “ up - front ” with the caprolactam starting materials ; 2 ) after initiation of the polymerization ; 3 ) during the ring opening polymerization ; or 4 ) near the completion of the polymerization . the final blend can be affected by the time at which the silicone polymer emulsion is added . while not wishing to be bound by any mechanism , it is believed that the size and shape of the silicone polymer in the nylon 6 polymer blend can be affected by the time of the addition of the silicone polymer emulsion . also , particular chemical interaction between the silicone polymer and nylon 6 polymers is affected by time of addition , and they , in consequence , affect final blend properties . the amount of silicone polymer in the nylon 6 / silicone polymer blend may comprise a wide range of values . however , it is particularly preferred that the amount of silicone polymer in the blend is greater than about 5 % by weight of the blend . still further , it is preferred that the amount of silicone polymer in the nylon 6 / silicone polymer blend be from greater than about 5 to about 50 % by weight of the blend , and , still further preferably , from greater than about 5 to about 25 % by weight of the blend . other ingredients may optionally be added to the compositions of the present invention to enhance the performance properties of the nylon 6 polymer / silicone polymer matrix . for example , reinforcing agents , surface lubricants , denesting agents , stabilizers , antioxidants , ultraviolet light absorbing agents , mold release agents , metal deactivators , colorants such as black iron oxide and carbon black , nucleating agents , phosphate stabilizers , zeolites , fillers , mixtures thereof , and the like , can be included herein . all of these additives and the use thereof are well known in the art . any of these compounds can be used so long as they do not hinder the present invention from accomplishing its objects . in a particularly preferred embodiment relating to the addition of reinforcing agents to the compositions of the present invention , glass fibers may be added to the nylon 6 compositions to provide particular advantages to the resulting compositions . glass fibers that are preferred in the present invention conventionally have an average standard diameter of greater than about 5 microns , with a range of from about 1 to about 20 microns being particularly preferred . the length of the glass filaments , whether or not they are bundled into fibers , and whether the fibers are further bundled into yams , ropes or rovings , and the like , are not critical to this invention . however , for the purpose of preparing the present compositions , it is preferable to use filamentous glass in the form of chopped strands of from about 1 . 5 mm to about 10 mm long , and preferably less than about 6 mm long . in the pellets and molded articles of the compositions , even shorter lengths will be encountered , because , during compounding , considerable fragmentation occurs . this is , however , desirable because the best properties are exhibited for injection molded articles where the filament lengths are between about 0 . 03 mm and about 1 mm . especially preferred are glass fibers having an average standard diameter in the range of greater than about 5 microns , preferably about 5 microns to about 14 microns , and the average filament length dispersed in the molded articles being between about 0 . 15 and about 0 . 4 mm . consequently , glass filaments are dispersed uniformly and the molded articles exhibit uniform and balanced mechanical properties , especially surface smoothness . the amount of the glass fibers can vary broadly from about 10 to about 50 % by weight , and most preferably about 10 to about 40 % by weight , based on the total weight of the polymer blend . these glass fibers are typically conventionally sized with coupling agents , such as aminosilanes and epoxysilanes and titanates , and adhesion promoters such as epoxies , urethanes , cellulosics , starch , cyanurates , and the like . in one embodiment , when the glass fiber is present in a polymer molding composition , the polymer composition is preferably from about 70 to about 85 % by weight of the total composition based on the total weight percentages of the nylon 6 and silicone polymer in the compositions of the present invention , wherein the percentage equals 100 %. examples of other reinforcing agents that are useful in addition to glass fibers , include , but are not limited to , carbon fibers , mica , clay , talc , wollastonite , calcium carbonate or a combination thereof . the polymer compositions of the invention may be reinforced with a mixture of glass and other reinforcing agents as described above , such as mica or talc , and / or with other additives . in accordance with the invention herein , the glass fibers , as well as other reinforcing agents , may be introduced into the nylon 6 ring opening reaction at various stages of the process . in a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention herein , the glass fibers are added directly to the nylon 6 ring opening reaction . since the glass fibers can be sufficiently blended during this stage , there is no need for a post - blending step , such as extrusion , to incorporate the glass fibers into the compositions . this is particularly advantageous to the present invention because a post - blending step is energy intensive , expensive and may often cause a reduction in the molecular weight of the nylon 6 / silicone polymer blend . in another embodiment of the invention , a modified nylon 6 polymer , including , but not limited to , an impact modified plastic , is produced from a silicone polymer emulsion comprising silicone polymers and a nylon 6 polymer . the silicone polymer of the silicone polymer emulsions in this embodiment has a tg less than 40 ° c ., while the nylon 6 polymer has a tg greater than 40 ° c . in a further preferred embodiment , nylon 6 / silicone polymer blends are provided . in a further preferred embodiment , an impact modified nylon 6 is prepared comprising a silicone polymer emulsion to provide a nylon 6 / silicone polymer blend . in one particularly preferred embodiment of the invention , a modified nylon 6 polymer , including , but not limited to , an impact modified plastic , is produced from silicone polymer emulsions and a nylon 6 polymer . end - use applications for the compositions of the nylon 6 / silicone polymer blends produced according to the instant invention include impact - modified polymers , improved barrier polymers , and polymers having improved mechanical properties , such as improved tensile strength , improved elongation at break , better weathering properties , and improved flexural strength . other end - use applications include engineering resins , and coatings . the polymer blends produced by this invention are useful for thermoplastic engineering resins , elastomers , films , sheets and container plastics . the following example is put forth so as to provide those of ordinary skill in the art with a complete disclosure and description of how the compositions of matter and methods claimed herein are made and evaluated , and are not intended to limit the scope of what the inventors regard as their invention . efforts have been made to insure accuracy with respect to numbers ( e . g ., amounts , temperature , etc .) but some errors and deviations should be accounted for . unless indicated otherwise , parts are by weight , temperature is in ° c . or is at room temperature and pressure is at or near atmospheric . to a 1 l glass lined autoclave 187 g of e - caprolactam is added and melted at 80 ° c . then over a period of 5 minutes , 200 g of a silicone latex composition and 0 . 4 g of glacial acetic acid is added to the autoclave with continuous stirring . while stirring , the mixture is pressurized to 250 psig and heated to 250 ° c . for 30 minutes . the pressure is then reduced to atmospheric over thirty minutes and the reaction is allowed to continue at atmospheric pressure while stirring for 1 hour . a nylon 6 / silicone polymer blend is provided . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . | 2 |
in the drawings , wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views , the layout tool of the invention is indicated generally at 10 , and comprises a plurality of elongate members 11 and 12 adjustably secured together for axial extension relative to one another to different lengths . a foot - piece or base 13 is removably secured to the lower end of member 11 and has a resiliently yieldable pad or foot 14 projecting from the lower end thereof for engagement with a floor f , and a pair of oppositely directed , resiliently yieldable pointers 15 and 16 for alignment with a preexisting line drawn on the floor f . a cap member 17 is carried by the upper end of member 12 and has a pointer 18 thereon coplanar with the pointers 15 and 16 . an adjusting knob 19 is carried by the member 12 and rides in a slot 20 in member 11 for adjustably clamping the members 11 and 12 in different axially adjusted positions . a bubble or bead - type level 21 is secured to the member 11 in a position to be readily observed by a person standing on the floor and holding the tool 10 , whereby the tool may be leveled or made vertical in the plane of the pointers 15 , 16 and 18 . a plumb level or plumb bar 22 is supported in enclosed relationship on the member 11 from a pivot point 23 at the top of member 11 and has a pointer 24 at its lower end disposed adjacent a flange 25 on which a mark 26 is provided for indicating when the plumb rod 22 is hanging in a vertical position , whereby the tool 10 may be vertically disposed in the plane perpendicular to the plane of pointers 15 , 16 and 18 . referring now to fig4 , 6 and 7 , the elongate member 11 comprises an open - ended tubular body having a generally rectangularly shaped transverse cross - section and including a back wall 27 , front wall 28 and opposite side walls 29 and 30 . a pair of longitudinally extending flanges 31 and 32 are formed on the front wall 28 adjacent the opposide sides thereof and spaced inwardly from the opposite sides a distance approximately equal to the wall thickness of the body . as noted previously , the pendulum of plumb bar 22 is suspended at its upper end from a pivot 23 and as seen best in fig6 the pivot comprises a bolt or screw 33 extended through the front wall 28 of the member 11 and having a pair of spacers 35 thereon on opposite sides of the bar 22 and said spacers and bar being secured on the bolt or screw or the like by a suitable fastener 36 . the plumb bar 22 has a suitable weight 37 secured to the lower end thereof , and as seen in fig4 the weight comprises a channel - shaped member to which the pointer 24 is secured . the pointer has an elongate , horizontal portion 38 with a slightly downturned end or point 39 thereon for improved accuracy in taking a reading , and a flattened portion 40 extending at right angles to the horizontal portion 38 and secured to the weight 37 by suitable fasteners such as rivets 41 or the like . a substantially channel - shaped cover 42 is secured to the member 11 in enclosing relationship to the plumb bar 22 and has a front wall 43 and opposite side walls 44 and 45 disposed against the flanges 31 and 32 at the outer sides thereof , whereby the cover is substantially flush with the side walls 29 and 30 of the tubular body . the cover is secured to the flanges by means of suitable fasteners such as screws or the like 46 extended through the side walls 44 and 45 of the cover and through the flanges 31 and 32 . the cover also has a top wall 47 to prevent rain and dirt and the like from entering the space enclosed by the cover . as seen in fig3 the flange 25 with the mark 26 thereon may be formed integrally with the cover 42 if desired , and a laterally extending slot 48 is provided in the lower end of the cover immediately above the flange 25 , through which the pointer arm 38 extends . resilient bumpers or pads 49 and 50 are secured within the cover adjacent the lower end thereof in proximity to the weight 37 to cushion impact of the plumb rod or bar against opposite sides of the cover during handling of the tool . the second extensible member 12 is generally i - shaped in transverse cross - section and is closely slidably received within the tubular body or member 11 . a generally u - shaped brace 51 is secured to the member 12 within the tubular body for engagement with the clamping knob 19 and serves to brace the connection of the knob 19 with the member 12 to lend durability to the device during operation . in use , the knob 19 is loosened or unthreaded from stud 52 , which projects through the slot 20 from the brace 51 , thus freeing the member 12 for sliding movement relative to member 11 . however , when the knob 19 is threaded onto or tightened relative to stud 52 , the enlarged flange or washer 53 at the base of the knob causes the side wall 30 of body 11 to be tightly clamped between the knob and the member 12 thereby securely holding the extensible members 11 and 12 in the adjusted position . a carrying handle 54 is also provided on the tubular body or member 11 to facilitate carrying the tool from one location to another . in fig5 details of construction of the foot member or base portion 13 can best be seen , and the foot member 13 comprises a tubular extension 55 having substantially the same cross - sectional dimensions as the lower end of tubular member or body 11 so as to extend substantially flush therewith . a pair of elongate , upwardly projecting braces 56 and 57 are carried by the extension 55 and extend upwardly into the interior of the open lower end of tubular body member 11 . the braces 56 and 57 have aligned openings 58 and 59 therein , respectively , through which elongate fastening means 60 and 61 are extended for securing the foot member or base 13 to the elongate tubular body member 11 . the fastening means 60 and 61 may comprise elongate screws with wing nuts or the like thereon , if desired , or other suitable fasteners may be utilized . similarly , while the braces 56 and 57 have been shown as comprising generally channel shaped members secured to the extension 55 by means of rivets 62 , the braces could obviously be secured with other types of fasteners , or for that matter , they would be formed integrally with the extension 55 . an elongate spring - retaining cylinder or socket 63 is secured within the extension 55 and has the pad or foot 14 slidably guided therein . a coil spring 64 is disposed within the spring - retaining cylinder 63 , and is engaged between the closed end 65 of the cylinder 63 and a spring - retaining collar or flange 66 on the shaft 67 of foot or pad 14 , whereby the foot or pad is constantly urged outwardly of the extension 55 . thus , the elongate members 11 and 12 may be positioned between the floor and ceiling surface and the knob 19 loosened and extensible member 12 extended to bring the pad or cap 17 into contact with the ceiling surface . the body or member 11 may then be forced downwardly against the bias of spring 64 driving the foot or pad 67 upwardly into the tube 63 a relatively short distance , and the knob 19 then tightened . thus , the tool 10 will be firmly but resiliently engaged between the floor and ceiling surface , and when it is desired to move the tool , it can simply be forced further downwardly against the bias of spring 64 to effect a disengagement of the cap 17 with the ceiling surface , whereafter the tool may be tilted and transported to another location for use to mark a subsequent point . the pointers 15 and 16 are mounted about pivot pins 68 and 69 , respectively , and torsion springs 70 and 71 are disposed about the pivots and engaged with the extension 55 and the pointers 15 and 16 , respectively , for resiliently urging the pointers downwardly against stop brackets 72 and 73 suitably secured to the extension 55 below the pointers 15 and 16 . in other words , the stop brackets maintain the pointers 15 and 16 in slightly outwardly flared relationship whereby when they are placed downwardly against a floor surface , they yield resiliently outwardly and upwardly to enable the tool to be pressed downwardly against the bias of spring 64 . at the same time , the springs 70 and 71 insure that the pointers 15 and 16 remain firmly in contact with a line or other mark on the floor to which the tool is being indexed . while the tool 10 has been illustrated and described as being rectangular in transverse cross - section , it could have other cross - sectional configurations , such as circular or the like , as desired . also , the tool could be made from metal , plastic or any other suitable material having sufficient durability and strength for the intended purpose . further in this connection , the cover 42 could be snap - fitted to the body member 11 , if desired , or otherwise secured thereto . moreover , an extension piece or pieces may be provided for use with the tool of the invention to increase the length thereof for use in situations where exceptionally great distances are encountered between floor and ceiling surfaces . for example , a piece structured similarly to the extension 55 , but without the pointers and foot 14 thereon , could be removably assembled to the lower end of body member 11 and the foot member or base 13 secured , in turn , to the lower end of the extension piece or pieces . in use , the tool 10 is positioned with the pointers 15 and 16 disposed in alignment with a line l drawn on the floor f of a building or the like , and the tool is then moved to an upright position , with the plumb 24 and level 21 indicating that the tool is vertical . the knob 19 is then loosened , and while the member or body 11 is held with one hand , the knob 19 is moved upwardly in the slot 20 , carrying the extensible member 12 therewith until the pad or cap 17 engages the ceiling surface . the tool is then pressed downwardly against the spring 64 and the extensible member 12 is slid upwardly a slight additional distance until it again contacts the ceiling . thereafter , the knob 19 is tightened . an instrument such as the marking rod 74 illustrated in fig1 , may then be used to support a marking pin 75 for marking a point at the pointer 18 on the upper end of extensible member 12 . after the point is marked , the tool is pressed downwardly against the bias of spring 64 , thereby releasing the tool from engagement with the ceiling and enabling the tool to be tilted sideways and carried to another location for marking of a subsequent point on the ceiling in a similar manner . referring again to the tool 74 , it will be observed that it comprises an elongate handle 75 having a socket member 76 at the upper end thereof in which the marking pin or other suitable marking implement 75 may be inserted . additionally , an upwardly projecting , string - engaging finger or bracket 77 is secured to the socket member 76 and has a laterally or horizontally directed flange or end portion 78 which may be positioned over a string s and twisted to secure the string and then pulled downwardly to place the string under tension , after which the handle 75 may be rotated to disengage the finger 77 , 78 from the string to enable it to snap back against the surface such as ceiling c or the like to deposit chalk or other marking material thereon . in this last connection , the pointer 18 on tool 10 may be provided with a hole or notch or the like 79 for engaging and holding one end of a string s . once pointers have been marked with the tool 10 , as described previously herein , the unique chalk line holding tool 80 illustrated in fig8 and 9 may be used to snap a chalk line to leave a mark on the ceiling c . the tool 80 likewise comprises a pair of elongate members 11 &# 39 ; and 12 &# 39 ; axially adjustably secured together for extensible adjustment to different lengths , and to this end , a clamping collar 81 , with an adjusting nut 82 , is provided on the outer surface of the lower member 11 &# 39 ; whereby the clamping nut 82 may be adjusted to securely clamp the members 11 &# 39 ; and 12 &# 39 ; together in a desired axially adjusted position . a friction pad 83 is provided on the lower end of member 11 &# 39 ;, and a resiliently yieldable extension 84 is telescopically received in the open upper end of member 12 &# 39 ; and is biased axially outwardly of member 12 &# 39 ; by a spring 85 . a combined chalk line guide and friction pad 86 is releasably telescopically received over the upper end of extension 84 for frictional engagement with the ceiling surface and for holding and guiding a chalk line cl in proper position relative to a predetermined mark on the ceiling . a supporting bracket 87 for the chalk line reel 88 is provided on the lower member 11 &# 39 ; for supporting a chalk line cl to be carried by the chalk line support tool 80 . a similar tool 80 &# 39 ; may be provided , which is constructed substantially identically to tool 80 except that it does not have a chalk box or reel holder 87 thereon , and the chalk line cl is merely extended through the combined chalk line guide and friction pad 86 and a knot 89 tied therein to prevent removal of the chalk line cl from the holder when the chalk line is stretched taut , as indicated in fig1 , for example . the tools 80 and 80 &# 39 ; may be made of any suitable material such as metal or plastic and the like and may be made either with a circular or cylindrical configuration as illustrated or they may have any other suitable configuration such as rectangular or the like , as desired . moreover , one or the other of tools 80 and 80 &# 39 ; may be used in combination with the tool 10 , if desired ; and particularly satisfactory results have been obtained when the tool 10 is used to mark a point and the tools 80 and 80 &# 39 ; are then used to strike a chalk line . of course , the tool 10 could serve the dual purpose of marking a point , and supporting a chalk line by means of the notch or hole 79 , if desired , and in this event , one of the tools 80 or 80 &# 39 ; could be eliminated . additionally , the tools 80 and / or 80 &# 39 ; could be used with a modified friction pad 86 &# 39 ;, as seen in fig1 , to hold a channel or track and the like to the ceiling in order that the track or channel can be permanently secured thereto . thus , with the present invention , a unique apparatus is provided which enables one person to quickly and easily carry out the steps of marking points and lines for interior wall partitions and the like , and without requiring that person to climb ladders of other devices and thus substantially increasing the safety to the person as well as reducing the time and expense involved in marking such points and lines . as this invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof , the present embodiment is , therefore , illustrative and not restrictive , since the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the description preceeding them , and all changes that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims or that form their functional as well as conjointly cooperative equivalents are , therefore , intended to be embraced by those claims . | 6 |
referring now to fig1 , a system 10 for plasma coating substrates is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as its primary components , the system 10 includes a coating station 12 , a coating station 14 , a fine heater 16 , a fine make - up heater 18 located on the entrance side of the coating station 14 , and a coarse heater 20 located on the entrance side of the fine heater 16 . referring also to fig2 , various configurations of the system 10 involve impinging an activated reagent , or , in some implementations , activated reagents , on one or both sides of a substrate 22 as it advances through the coating stations 12 , 14 . the substrate 22 can be a rear window , a roof panel or other component of a vehicle . the substrate 22 can be made of polycarbonate . the heaters 16 and 20 ensure that the substrate 22 is at the appropriate temperature before entering the coating station 12 and the heater 18 re - heats the substrate 22 to make up for any heat loss during transit before entering the subsequent coating station 14 . each substrate 22 is attached to a conveyor system by a tab 24 . in certain implementations , a filler 26 is also attached to the conveyor system by a set of tabs 28 . alternatively , the substrate 22 can be mounted to a respective filter 26 . the filler 26 is closely spaced such that it is a virtual extension of the edge of the substrate 22 . the filler 26 is a disposable or re - useable part made from , for example , polycarbonate or aluminum that forms a border around the substrate 22 . in such a configuration , the filler 26 acts a collector of extraneous heat and coating material . as such , use of the filler promotes uniform temperature and coating thickness over the substrate . in particular embodiments , the temperature over the substrate 22 is about 65 ° c .± 10 ° c . at the entrance of the coating station 12 , and the coating thickness is between about 2 μm to 3 μm after the coating station 14 , as the conveyor system moves the substrates ( and optionally the fillers ) through the system 10 at a speed of about 2 . 5 cm / s . continuous flow of the coating reagents into the manifolds results in wastage of material between the substrates . moreover , that continuous flow creates extra cleaning and maintenance burdens . various embodiments of the system 10 are able to reduce the tendency for relatively thick plasma coating at the edges of the substrate , where greater coating thicknesses tend to occur relative to the center of the substrate 22 . since there is a preferred range for the coating thickness ( that is , not too thin , which compromises abrasion - resistance , and not too thick , which compromises water immersion performance ), it is desirable to minimize thickness variability across the substrate so as to make the coating process more robust . the relatively thick coating at the edges is a probable contributing factor to less robust water immersion performance at the edges of the substrates . further , the system 10 minimizes extraneous coating material on the vacuum chamber walls of the coating stations 12 , 14 ( and on the fillers 26 when they are employed ), when there are gaps between successive substrates , which occurs when the adjacent trailing and leading edges of successive substrates do not nest because of their different contours , or because the substrate transport system provides for independent motion or articulation of substrates to accommodate complex shapes or to accommodate a combination of a stationary heating step with a scanning coating step . referring now to fig3 a and 3b , each coating station 12 , 14 includes a vacuum chamber with a plurality , for example , of six plasma arcs 30 on each side of the vacuum chamber . each station 12 , 14 further includes an upstream reagent manifold segment 32 and a downstream reagent manifold segment 34 associated with , for example , a pair of arcs . as such , each side of the coating station chamber is provided with three upstream reagent manifold segments 32 and three downstream reagent manifold segments 34 . various embodiments of the coating stations 12 , 14 involve injecting coating reagents through the manifold segments 32 , 34 independently of one another . a set of oxygen manifold segments 35 are also associated with respective manifold segments 32 , 34 . a simple control mechanism can be employed to switch the oxygen manifold segments 35 on and off individually , or a combination of two or more oxygen manifold segments 35 can be operated together . as shown in fig3 b , the leading edge 37 a of an advancing substrate 22 first passes the upstream manifold segments 32 , then the array of arcs 30 , and finally the downstream manifold segments 34 , and the trailing edge 37 b is the last portion of the substrate 22 to pass by the downstream manifold segments 34 . the arcs 30 are typically fed with an inert gas , such as argon , which is heated to the point of partial ionization and issues into the vacuum chamber as jets ( from the respective arcs ) directed towards the substrate to be coated . coating reagents are introduced in vapor form between the arcs and the substrate at a controlled rate by injection orifices distributed on the manifold segments 32 and 34 adjacent to the respective arcs . a controller 40 ( fig4 ) directs the operation of the upstream and downstream manifold segments 32 , 34 , such that the twelve manifold segments can operate independently of one another according to the profiles of the leading and trailing edges of the substrate 22 . the controller 40 modulates the reagent flows to the respective individual manifold segments 32 , 34 according to the position of the substrate edge relative to a particular manifold segment . specifically , the controller 40 directs the operation of a three - way valve 42 associated with each manifold segment . the valve 42 either directs vaporized reagent from a reservoir 44 that is shared by multiple manifold segments to the respective manifold segments via conduits 45 and 47 or diverts the reagent away from the associated manifold segments , providing for rapid modulation of reagent flow to the manifold segments 32 , 34 and associated jets while the reagent flow from the reservoir 44 continues uninterrupted . the diverted flow can be directed , via a conduit 49 , into a relatively cool condensation vessel 46 , also shared by multiple manifold segments , that condenses the reagent vapor , which can then be recycled into the primary liquid reagent reservoir 44 via an optional conduit 51 . in sum , the valve 42 modulates the reagent flow to the respective individual manifold segments 32 or 34 by directing the continuous reagent flow from the reservoir 44 either to the manifold segment or to the condensation vessel 46 for recycling . the close proximity of the valve to the wall of the vacuum chamber ( indicated by the dashed line ) is intended to minimize the volume of residual vaporized reagent between the valve 42 and the manifold segment immediately after the vapor flow has been switched to the condensation vessel 46 . the residual vapor can continue to flow into the manifold 32 or 34 after the valve 42 is switched to divert the flow away from the manifold , which may be undesirable since the residual vapor flow tends to limit the effective speed of response of the flow modulation means . although the reservoir 44 and the condensation vessel 46 are described above as being shared by multiple manifold segments , the reservoir 44 and the condensation vessel 46 can be associated with a single manifold segment . thus , the system 10 reduces or minimizes excess coating at the edges of substrates by modulating reagent flow to the upstream and downstream manifolds , according to specific protocols , as a leading or trailing substrate edge crosses in front of a respective array of arcs 30 . reagent flows to a manifold only when there is a substrate present , reducing the flux of coating precursors during edge coating and limiting the opportunity for coating precursors originating on one side of the substrate to reach the opposite side . the optimum timing of the individual switching events , expressed in terms of a local edge position relative to the individual manifolds , can be determined empirically . the desired timing can then be easily implemented , since it is only a matter of equipment design to provide for tracking of the position of the substrate with sufficient accuracy and resolution . accordingly , the system 10 minimizes extraneous coating on the vacuum chamber walls of the coating stations 12 , 14 , as well as on the fillers if they are employed , because coating reagent is diverted to the condensation vessel 46 when there are gaps between successive substrates , minimizing the frequency of chamber wall cleaning ( and cleaning of fillers if employed ) and maximizing utilization of reagent . as mentioned previously , the system 10 improves the uniformity of plasma coating thickness , making the plasma coating process more robust with respect to upper and lower specification limits for coating thicknesses . as shown in the illustrated embodiment , each coating station includes six upstream and six downstream manifold segments . however , depending on the application , each station may include greater or fewer segments . the manifolds are segmented to accommodate a variety of contours of substrate edges . with the arc array oriented transverse to the direction of substrate motion , different segments of a contoured substrate edge generally pass the arc array at different times . segmenting the manifolds provides for local flow switching according to a desired protocol . note that non - uniform substrate temperature is promoted by preferential heating of substrate edges , by variations in substrate thickness , and by substrate shape complexity . there is , however , a preferred range for substrate temperature for the coating process , since a temperature that is too low tends to compromise water immersion performance , and a temperature that is too high risks substrate distortion and thermal damage . thus , it is desirable to maximize temperature uniformity across the substrate so as to make the coating process more robust . accordingly , the system 10 provides for improved consistency of plasma coating performance across a substrate by improving substrate temperature uniformity during the coating process . referring back to fig1 , as well as to fig5 a and 5b , each of the fine heater 16 and fine make - up heater 18 includes a programmable two - dimensional array of heat sources 50 positioned on each of the opposing walls of the heaters . the heat sources 50 are under the direction of a controller 140 and are programmable with a fast response time relative to the substrate residence time in the heater and produce a small spot size ( i . e ., the heated area on the substrate at a working distance of up to several inches ) relative to characteristic dimensions of the substrate . the fast response times of the heat sources allow controlled heating of the substrate to produce a desired substrate temperature profile for the coating process and also minimization of waste heat . arranged as an array , the heat sources 50 are capable of projecting a contiguous heated area onto a passing or stationary substrate . the optional fine make - up heater 18 compensates for cooling of the substrate between the coating stations 12 and 14 and provides for controlled substrate temperature profile for the coating station 14 , which is analogous to the role of the fine heater 16 with respect to the first coating station 12 . the heat sources 50 provide spatially - resolved heating for a moving or stationary substrate , which can compensate for preferential heating of substrate edges , and for substrate - specific features and shape complexity that tend to promote non - uniform substrate temperatures . referring in particular to fig5 b , as each area element of the substrate 22 is heated by a heat source 50 , the instantaneous intensity of that source is adjusted in a programmed fashion according to the desired local temperature of that area element . as such , the heat sources turn on only when the substrate is present , as indicated by the activated heat sources 60 . note that since substrate heating by the plasma arcs 30 during the coating process may also be non - uniform , it may be desirable to compensate for this by programming the substrate temperature profile after the heaters 16 and / or 18 to be non - uniform in a complementary way . for example , in regions of the substrate that are preferentially heated by the arcs 30 ( e . g . a convex surface with a relatively small working distance to the arc array ), it may be desirable to leave that region relatively cool during exposure in the fine heater 16 , as well as in the fine make - up heater 18 . the fast response time of the programmable array of heat sources 50 facilitates controlling the temperature profile on individual substrates to allow for different treatment of successive substrates , according to their particular features . a further benefit of the fast response time is a more efficient use of heater power and less extraneous heating of the vacuum chamber , and filler if used , since individual heat sources 50 are active only when a substrate is present to absorb the projected heat . the significance of this benefit is increased by shifting more of the heating burden away from the coarse heater 20 and onto the programmable heat sources in the heaters 16 and 18 . the heaters 16 and 18 promote temperature uniformity in the substrates during plasma coating , which , in turn , promotes a more robust coating process . moreover , each side of the substrate to be coated can be exposed to a respective programmable array of heat sources before the coating process ; that is , the operation of the array of heat sources 50 on one side of the substrate may be different than that of the opposite array of heat sources in each of the heaters 16 and 18 . since the operation ( both the intensity and the on and off time cycles ) of the array of heat sources 50 is fully programmable , the system 10 can accommodate different substrates , for example , substrates with different shapes , sizes , thicknesses , and made from different materials with different thermal responses . this feature of the heat sources 50 is unlike conventional heat sources in that the substrate heating process can be rapidly modulated to minimize wasted power and extraneous heating of the vacuum chamber , and of the filler if used , and can be substrate specific to promote a narrow substrate temperature range during coating . provision for the coarse heater 20 is optional . for the coarse heater 20 , fast response time and small spot size are not required . thus , as shown in fig6 a and 6b , the course heater includes , for example , a set of longitudinal heat sources 61 and associated reflectors 63 that raise the substrate temperature part way to a desired temperature , without targeting a particular temperature profile . a purpose of the coarse heater 20 is to reduce the burden on , and in some cases the length in the direction of substrate motion of , the programmable array of heat sources 50 in the fine heater 16 . accordingly , the coarse heater 20 is located upstream of the fine heater 16 so that the substrate first passes the coarse heater before advancing through the fine heater . the system 10 may also provide for in - situ measurement of the local substrate temperature , for example , through the use of a series of infrared temperature sensors 62 ( fig . i ), following substrate exposure to the programmable fine heater 16 , and optionally following the coating station 12 , the fine make - up heater 18 , and the second coating station 14 . these temperature measurements help characterize the substrate temperature profile before ( and optionally after ) the plasma coating process . this profile can be used to adjust the program of the programmable array of heat sources 50 to establish the program appropriate for a specific substrate prior to actual production . alternatively , the profile can be monitored during production to allow real - time adjustment of the program to maintain a desired temperature profile . the system 10 is also able to identify the type and shape of substrate to be heated and then recall from a library of information or a database the appropriate program for the array of heat sources 50 , a feature which may be of interest if different substrates are to be coated in a common production run . in certain implementations , the energy output of each heat source 50 is between about 200 w to 400 w . the heat sources 50 can be spaced apart ( center to center ) between about 3 inches to 6 inches . any suitable lamp that provides the necessary energy and spot size may be used . for example , the heat sources 50 may be quartz lamps or halogen lamps . in particular implementations , the substrates are heated in the heaters 16 , 18 while stationary . specifically , the conveyor system moves a substrate into the heaters 16 , 18 , and the substrate then remains stationary as selected heat sources 50 in the presence of the substrate turn on . this implementation allows for a simplified control system , a shorter array of heat sources in the direction of movement of the substrates , and hence a shorter overall footprint for the system 10 . the above and other implementations are within the scope of the following claims . | 2 |
fig1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment of an inventive multistory press 1 , which comprises a press frame 2 . in the embodiment , press frame 2 comprises three spaced - apart pairs of supports , of which each includes two supports 3 and 4 . as becomes apparent from a synopsis of fig1 and 2 , supports 3 and 4 of each pair of supports are arranged opposite each other along the two longitudinal sides ( in the embodiment ) of press frame 2 . as is especially illustrated in fig2 the multistory press 1 of the invention is equipped , in the embodiment , with two superimposed press board units 6 and 7 that are positioned above and below a center plane 5 . in the example each of press board units 6 and 7 has five press boards 8 and 9 , respectively . the press boards are movably arranged in press frame 2 and can be moved upwards and downwards with the aid of a pressure fluid means 10 . as a result of this movement , pressure chambers can be opened or closed . out of the respective pressure chambers , fig1 and 2 illustrate a total of three chambers in the open state , and one of these pressure chambers that is also representative of the other ones is designated by reference numeral 11 . pressure fluid means 10 comprises a plurality of pressure fluid cylinders , of which six cylinders are visible in fig1 while fig2 illustrates the assignment of two respective cylinder pairs for each support 3 and 4 . since all pressure fluid cylinders have the same structure , reference is only made in the following description to the pressure fluid cylinder which is designated by reference numeral 12 . as becomes apparent from a synopsis of fig1 and 2 , a total of 12 pressure fluid cylinders are provided in the embodiment , with six respective pressure fluid cylinders being assigned in pairs to press board units 6 and 7 , respectively , at the two sides of pressure fluid frame 2 . each of the pressure fluid cylinders 12 has a cylinder casing 13 and a cylinder piston 14 . as becomes apparent from fig1 and 2 , cylinder casing 13 is fastened by means of a fastening eye 15 via a bolt - shaped spacer 16 to the respectively associated support . at its eye 17 which is provided at one end , cylinder piston 14 is secured by means of a bolt 18 to a spacer 19 which , in turn , is secured to an end 20 of a pressure transmitting section 21 . as becomes especially apparent from the upper half of fig1 the end 22 of section 21 which is opposite to end 20 ( all sections of the illustrated embodiment have the same configuration ) is secured to one of press boards 8 or in the lower press board unit 7 to one of press boards 9 . to this end , an l - shaped fastening member 23 which can be mounted in a suitable way on section 21 or the associated press board 8 and 9 , respectively . as for the general structure of the multistory press 1 as illustrated in fig1 and 2 , it should be noted that a total of four pressure chambers 11 are respectively formed due to the arrangement of five press boards 8 and 9 , respectively , per each unit 6 and 7 , respectively . as becomes apparent from the illustration of fig1 each pressure chamber has associated therewith a sheet transporting device of identical structure , of which one is designated by reference numeral 24 . these sheet transporting devices 24 serve to feed or discharge the material to be pressed in pressure chambers 11 . furthermore , the press frame comprises two carriers 25 and 26 that extend in longitudinal direction and have arranged thereon the pairs of supports , each consisting of supports 3 and 4 that are disposed at opposite sides of frame 2 . as follows from the synopsis of fig1 through 4 , the three pairs of supports of the inventive multistory press 1 ( in the embodiment ) are each formed of two integrally constructed support plates 27 and 28 . each of these support plates 27 and 28 has an h - shaped configuration , which becomes especially apparent from the simplified view of fig5 illustrating the principle thereof . the lateral views of fig1 and 3 show that the pairs of supports 27 and 28 are each held via the above - mentioned spacers 16 at their predetermined distance from each other . fig1 and 2 illustrate a total of four spacers 16 which are provided per pair of supports , said spacers 16 respectively connecting said support plates 27 and 28 at their opposite ends , i . e ., in the embodiment at the upper end and lower end , respectively . conventional fastening means , such as screw connections , may be provided for attaching spacers 16 . as a result of the spaced - apart arrangement of support plates 27 and 28 , one obtains a space 29 which is positioned between support plates 27 and 28 and has guided therein the pressure transmitting sections 21 . the pressure transmitting sections 21 , in turn , are all of the same configuration and formed as an integral section member . as is especially illustrated in fig3 to 5 , the integral sections or section members 21 are u - shaped when seen in a front view of press frame 2 ( according to fig2 ). each section member 21 consists of two identically structured u - shaped section plates 30 and 31 that are interconnected through the already mentioned spacer 19 , resulting in the spaced - apart arrangement of section plates 30 and 31 , as is especially illustrated in fig3 . as becomes apparent from fig4 two respective spacer halves 32 and 33 are provided per spacer 19 at the two sides of the piston rod 14 for the articulation of said rod . it should be noted that the above - described configuration of sections 21 yields two u - shaped configurations , which regard a first u - shaped configuration due to spacers 19 according to a second side view of fig3 and the u - shaped configuration of each section plate 30 and 31 , respectively , as follows from the front views of fig2 and fig5 respectively . as becomes apparent from the synopsis of all figures and , in particular , from the illustration of the principle of + assigning the h - shaped support plates 27 , 28 and the u - shaped section plates 30 , 31 , each pair of supports 3 , 4 is formed by the integral support plates 27 , 28 which are h - shaped in the embodiment and in which two u - shaped sections 21 consisting of the spaced - apart section plates 30 , 31 are respectively guided in a movable way . as a result of the provision of two press board units 6 , 7 , the respective pressure transmitting sections 21 of the upper press board unit 6 are fastened to the uppermost press board 8 thereof , while the pressure transmitting sections 21 assigned to the lower press board unit 7 are fastened to the lowermost press board 9 of said unit 7 . the lowermost press board of the upper unit 6 and the uppermost press board of the lower unit 7 are each held in a stationary way in the press frame 2 via l - shaped fastening sections , of which one is designated in fig1 by reference numeral 34 . furthermore , it should be noted that the press board units 6 and 7 are each provided on their upper side and lower side , respectively , with two insulant plates 35 and 36 or 37 and 38 , respectively . finally fig1 shows that each press board unit 6 and 7 is provided with additional pressure cylinders 39 and 40 in the embodiment shown . in the embodiment a total of four additional pressure cylinders 39 and 40 are provided per unit 6 at each of the longitudinal sides of the press frame 2 . fig1 illustrates that the pressure cylinders 39 and 40 , respectively , interconnect two of the press boards of the associated units 6 and 7 . as a result , one obtains a guide for the press boards 8 and 9 , respectively . finally , it is possible to selectively open or close the pressure chambers 11 formed by the associated press boards 8 and 9 , respectively . as a result of the illustrated construction of the multistory press 1 of the invention , a downwardly directed movement of the upper u - shaped pressure transmitting section 21 is achieved during the extension of the piston rod 14 upon actuation of the pressure means 10 according to fig1 whereas an upwardly directed movement of the lower pressure transmitting section 21 is obtained when the piston rod 14 is extended . as a result , pressure chambers 11 are closed for pressing material . when piston 14 is retracted , the corresponding sections 21 of units 6 and 7 , respectively , move in the opposite direction . it should additionally be noted that the multistory press 1 of the invention is of course provided with conventional control means and pressure sources as well as pressure lines to achieve the desired function . these components , however , are not shown in greater detail in the figures and may be constructed in the customary way . | 1 |
several bisulfite treatment protocols are available , and most of them include mixing genomic dna in a solution containing 6 molar urea and 2 molar sodium meta - bisulfite . the reaction is then incubated at ph 5 . 0 and 50 ° c . for 5 to 16 hours . this chemical treatment introduces various dna strand breaks and results in highly fragmented single stranded dna . depurination has been identified as the main cause of dna fragmentation during bisulfite treatment ( raizis , a . m ., et al . ( 1995 ) a bisulfite method of 5 - methylcytosine mapping that minimizes template degradation . anal biochem , 226 , 161 - 166 .). it has been shown that degradation of dna affects between 84 to 96 % of the dna ( grunau , c ., clark , s . j . and rosenthal , a . ( 2001 ) bisulfite genomic sequencing : systematic investigation of critical experimental parameters . nucleic acids res , 29 , e65 - 65 ). various attempts have been made to optimize bisulfite treatment by balancing competing goals of maintaining complete cytosine conversion and minimal dna fragmentation . ( see , for example , olek , a ., oswald , j . and walter , j . ( 1996 ) a modified and improved method for bisulphite based cytosine methylation analysis . nucleic acids res , 24 , 5064 - 5066 ; and paulin , r ., et al . ( 1998 ) urea improves efficiency of bisulphite - mediated sequencing of 5 ′- methylcytosine in genomic dna . nucleic acids res , 26 , 5009 - 5010 ). aggressive bisulfite treatment protocols ( long incubation , high temperatures , high molarity of bisulfite ) assure complete conversion of cytosine to uracil , but the genomic dna can be degraded to a degree that renders pcr amplification impossible . less aggressive treatments on the other hand carry the risk of overestimating methylation levels due to detection of nonconverted cytosine . high levels of dna degradation decrease the number of dna molecules , which are effectively available for pcr amplification . therefore , pcr amplification strategies often rely on using large amounts of bisulfite treated dna . different amplification protocols recommend the use of 50 ng to 500 ng of bisulfite treated dna . these strategies are not feasible for most research based on human samples , because dna quantity usually is limited . in order to maximize the number of tests that can be run from one sample it is desirable to minimize the amount of dna used per test . recently , new assay formats and miniaturization has enabled routine amplification from as little as 10 ng bisulfite treated dna . 10 ng of dna equal approximately 6600 copies of genomic dna . with more than 90 % dna degradation during bisulfite treatment only relatively few molecules are left for pcr amplification . the number of available molecules is also influenced by the length of the target amplicon . longer amplicons are less likely to amplify , simply because the likelihood to find a single intact starting template decreases . this fact requires special attention if the analysis of dna methylation is not restricted to a binary yes / no answer , but is required to provide quantitative results . when only few molecules are used as starting template statistical effects during the sampling procedure can have a dramatic effect on the quantitative result . given this consideration it is apparent that a method for assessment of dna quality in advance will dramatically help planning and interpreting quantitative methylation assays . current methods that allow a quality evaluation of bisulfite treated dna are hplc or gel - based assays . these assays require vast amounts of dna and consume most of the product yielded by a single bisulfite conversion reaction . the present invention can be performed with as little as 30 ng of bisulfite treated dna , and thus overcomes the relatively large amount of dna needed for current methods . the present invention is based on the fact that random dna fragmentation reduces the number of available molecules for pcr amplification and subsequent methylation analysis , especially with increasing amplicon length . this random fragmentation has two main effects : one , when no intact dna fragments are available for the targeted amplification region the pcr reaction will obviously fail ; and two , when the number of available molecules is drastically reduced , to only a few available molecules due to dna fragmentation , the results become similar to digital pcr ( vogelstein , b . and kinzler , k . w . ( 1999 ) digital pcr . proc natl acad sci usa , 96 , 9236 - 9241 ). they are no longer quantitative and show large variability when measured repeatedly . the method presented here takes both of these effects into account . the present invention comprises determining the amplification success and variance in the quantitative results from amplicons of increasing length for a genomic region with known methylation levels . the present invention enables improved measurement of quantitation variance , which requires high quantitation precision and low process variability . methods for high throughput quantitative analysis of dna methylation are described by ehrich , m ., et al . ( quantitative high - throughput analysis of dna methylation patterns by base - specific cleavage and mass spectrometry . proc natl acad sci usa , 102 , 15785 - 15790 . ( 2005 )) and in us patent application us20060210992 , filed jul . 9 , 2004 , which are hereby incorporated by reference . the method uses base - specific cleavage of single stranded nucleic acids coupled with maldi - tof ms detection . the assay allows quantitative analysis of all cpg sites within a given target region and is only limited in length by pcr success . the methylation status of a target nucleic acid may be determined using a number of different methods . in one aspect of the present invention , analysis of the dna methylation of a nucleic acid target region is obtained by maldi - tof ms analysis of base - specific cleavage products derived from amplified nucleic acid target molecules . in general , a pcr amplification product is generated from bisulfite treated dna , which is transcribed in vitro into a single stranded rna molecule and subsequently cleaved base - specifically by an endoribonuclease . the conversion of cytosine to uracil during bisulfite treatment generates different base specific cleavage patterns that can be readily analyzed by maldi - tof ms . these spectral analyses may be used to determine the ratio of methylated versus non - methylated nucleotide at each methylation site of the nucleic acid target region . one skilled in the art will recognize that the methylation state of any nucleic acid , nucleic acid target region or gene of interest may be determined using the methods of the present invention . the methods of the present invention are particularly useful for quantitative methylation analysis . other methylation assay procedures are known in the art , and can be used in conjunction with the present invention . these assays allow for determination of the methylation state of one or a plurality of cpg islands within a dna sequence . such assays involve , among other techniques , dna sequencing of bisulfite - treated dna , pcr ( for sequence - specific amplification ), southern blot analysis , use of methylation - sensitive restriction enzymes , etc . for example , genomic sequencing has been simplified for analysis of dna methylation patterns and 5 - methylcytosine distribution by using bisulfite treatment ( frommer et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . usa 89 : 1827 - 1831 , 1992 ). additionally , restriction enzyme digestion of pcr products amplified from bisulfite - converted dna is used , e . g ., the method described by sadri & amp ; hornsby ( nucl . acids res . 24 : 5058 - 5059 , 1996 ), or cobra ( combined bisulfite restriction analysis ) ( xiong & amp ; laird , nucleic acids res . 25 : 2532 - 2534 , 1997 ). cobra analysis is a quantitative methylation assay useful for determining dna methylation levels at specific gene loci in small amounts of genomic dna ( xiong & amp ; laird , nucleic acids res . 25 : 2532 - 2534 , 1997 ). briefly , restriction enzyme digestion is used to reveal methylation - dependent sequence differences in pcr products of sodium bisulfite - treated dna . methylation - dependent sequence differences are first introduced into the genomic dna by standard bisulfite treatment according to the procedure described by frommer et al . ( proc . natl . acad . sci . usa 89 : 1827 - 1831 , 1992 ). pcr amplification of the bisulfite converted dna is then performed using primers specific for the interested cpg islands , followed by restriction endonuclease digestion , gel electrophoresis , and detection using specific , labeled hybridization probes . methylation levels in the original dna sample are represented by the relative amounts of digested and undigested pcr product in a linearly quantitative fashion across a wide spectrum of dna methylation levels . in addition , this technique can be reliably applied to dna obtained from microdissected paraffin - embedded tissue samples . typical reagents ( e . g ., as might be found in a typical cobra - based kit ) for cobra analysis may include , but are not limited to : pcr primers for specific gene ( or methylation - altered dna sequence or cpg island ); restriction enzyme and appropriate buffer ; gene - hybridization oligo ; control hybridization oligo ; kinase labeling kit for oligo probe ; and radioactive nucleotides . additionally , bisulfite conversion reagents may include : dna denaturation buffer ; sulfonation buffer ; dna recovery reagents or kits ( e . g ., precipitation , ultrafiltration , affinity column ); desulfonation buffer ; and dna recovery components . preferably , assays such as “ methylight ™” ( a fluorescence - based real - time pcr technique ) ( eads et al ., cancer res . 59 : 2302 - 2306 , 1999 ), ms - snupe ( methylation - sensitive single nucleotide primer extension ) reactions ( gonzalgo & amp ; jones , nucleic acids res . 25 : 2529 - 2531 , 1997 ), methylation - specific pcr (“ msp ”; herman et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . usa 93 : 9821 - 9826 , 1996 ; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 786 , 146 ), and methylated cpg island amplification (“ mca ”; toyota et al ., cancer res . 59 : 2307 - 12 , 1999 ) are used alone or in combination with other of these methods . the methylight ™ assay is a high - throughput quantitative methylation assay that utilizes fluorescence - based real - time pcr ( tagman ®) technology that requires no further manipulations after the pcr step ( eads et al ., cancer res . 59 : 2302 - 2306 , 1999 ). briefly , the methylight ™ process begins with a mixed sample of genomic dna that is converted , in a sodium bisulfite reaction , to a mixed pool of methylation - dependent sequence differences according to standard procedures ( the bisulfite process converts unmethylated cytosine residues to uracil ). fluorescence - based pcr is then performed either in an “ unbiased ” ( with primers that do not overlap known cpg methylation sites ) pcr reaction , or in a “ biased ” ( with pcr primers that overlap known cpg dinucleotides ) reaction . sequence discrimination can occur either at the level of the amplification process or at the level of the fluorescence detection process , or both . the methylight ™ assay may be used as a quantitative test for methylation patterns in the genomic dna sample , wherein sequence discrimination occurs at the level of probe hybridization . in this quantitative version , the pcr reaction provides for unbiased amplification in the presence of a fluorescent probe that overlaps a particular putative methylation site . an unbiased control for the amount of input dna is provided by a reaction in which neither the primers , nor the probe overlie any cpg dinucleotides . alternatively , a qualitative test for genomic methylation is achieved by probing of the biased pcr pool with either control oligonucleotides that do not “ cover ” known methylation sites ( a fluorescence - based version of the “ msp ” technique ), or with oligonucleotides covering potential methylation sites . the methylight ™ process can by used with a “ taqman ®” probe in the amplification process . for example , double - stranded genomic dna is treated with sodium bisulfite and subjected to one of two sets of pcr reactions using taqman ® probes ; e . g ., with either biased primers and taqman ® probe , or unbiased primers and taqman ® probe . the taqman ® probe is dual - labeled with fluorescent “ reporter ” and “ quencher ” molecules , and is designed to be specific for a relatively high gc content region so that it melts out at about 10 ° c . higher temperature in the pcr cycle than the forward or reverse primers . this allows the taqman ® probe to remain fully hybridized during the pcr annealing / extension step . as the taq polymerase enzymatically synthesizes a new strand during pcr , it will eventually reach the annealed taqman ® probe . the taq polymerase 5 ′ to 3 ′ endonuclease activity will then displace the taqman ® probe by digesting it to release the fluorescent reporter molecule for quantitative detection of its now unquenched signal using a real - time fluorescent detection system . typical reagents ( e . g ., as might be found in a typical methylight ™- based kit ) for methylight ™ analysis may include , but are not limited to : pcr primers for specific gene ( or methylation - altered dna sequence or cpg island ); taqman ® probes ; optimized pcr buffers and deoxynucleotides ; and taq polymerase . ms - snupe . the ms - snupe technique is a quantitative method for assessing methylation differences at specific cpg sites based on bisulfite treatment of dna , followed by single - nucleotide primer extension ( gonzalgo & amp ; jones , nucleic acids res . 25 : 2529 - 2531 , 1997 ). briefly , genomic dna is reacted with sodium bisulfite to convert unmethylated cytosine to uracil while leaving 5 - methylcytosine unchanged . amplification of the desired target sequence is then performed using pcr primers specific for bisulfite - converted dna , and the resulting product is isolated and used as a template for methylation analysis at the cpg site ( s ) of interest . small amounts of dna can be analyzed ( e . g ., microdissected pathology sections ), and it avoids utilization of restriction enzymes for determining the methylation status at cpg sites . typical reagents ( e . g ., as might be found in a typical ms - snupe - based kit ) for ms - snupe analysis may include , but are not limited to : pcr primers for specific gene ( or methylation - altered dna sequence or cpg island ); optimized pcr buffers and deoxynucleotides ; gel extraction kit ; positive control primers ; ms - snupe primers for specific gene ; reaction buffer ( for the ms - snupe reaction ); and radioactive nucleotides . additionally , bisulfite conversion reagents may include : dna denaturation buffer ; sulfonation buffer ; dna recovery regents or kit ( e . g ., precipitation , ultrafiltration , affinity column ); desulfonation buffer ; and dna recovery components . msp ( methylation - specific pcr ) allows for assessing the methylation status of virtually any group of cpg sites within a cpg island , independent of the use of methylation - sensitive restriction enzymes ( herman et al . proc . nat . acad . sci . usa 93 : 9821 - 9826 , 1996 ; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 786 , 146 ). briefly , dna is modified by sodium bisulfite converting all unmethylated , but not methylated cytosines to uracil , and subsequently amplified with primers specific for methylated versus unmethylated dna . msp requires only small quantities of dna , is sensitive to 0 . 1 % methylated alleles of a given cpg island locus , and can be performed on dna extracted from paraffin - embedded samples . typical reagents ( e . g ., as might be found in a typical msp - based kit ) for msp analysis may include , but are not limited to : methylated and unmethylated pcr primers for specific gene ( or methylation - altered dna sequence or cpg island ), optimized pcr buffers and deoxynucleotides , and specific probes . the mca technique is a method that can be used to screen for altered methylation patterns in genomic dna , and to isolate specific sequences associated with these changes ( toyota et al ., cancer res . 59 : 2307 - 12 , 1999 ). briefly , restriction enzymes with different sensitivities to cytosine methylation in their recognition sites are used to digest genomic dnas from primary tumors , cell lines , and normal tissues prior to arbitrarily primed pcr amplification . fragments that show differential methylation are cloned and sequenced after resolving the pcr products on high - resolution polyacrylamide gels . the cloned fragments are then used as probes for southern analysis to confirm differential methylation of these regions . typical reagents ( e . g ., as might be found in a typical mca - based kit ) for mca analysis may include , but are not limited to : pcr primers for arbitrary priming genomic dna ; pcr buffers and nucleotides , restriction enzymes and appropriate buffers ; gene - hybridization oligos or probes ; control hybridization oligos or probes . another method for analyzing methylation sites is a primer extension assay , including an optimized pcr amplification reaction that produces amplified targets for subsequent primer extension genotyping analysis using mass spectrometry . the assay can also be done in multiplex . this method ( particularly as it relates to genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms ) is described in detail in pct publication wo05012578a1 and us publication us20050079521a1 . for methylation analysis , the assay can be adopted to detect bisulfite introduced methylation dependent c to t sequence changes . these methods are particularly useful for performing multiplexed amplification reactions and multiplexed primer extension reactions ( e . g ., multiplexed homogeneous primer mass extension ( hme ) assays ) in a single well to further increase the throughput and reduce the cost per reaction for primer extension reactions . four additional methods for dna methylation analysis include restriction landmark genomic scanning ( rlgs , costello et al ., 2000 ), methylation - sensitive - representational difference analysis ( ms - rda ), methylation - specific ap - pcr ( ms - ap - pcr ) and methyl - cpg binding domain column / segregation of partly melted molecules ( mbd / spm ). additional methylation analysis methods that may be used in conjunction with the present invention are described in the following papers : laird , p . w . nature reviews cancer 3 , 253 - 266 ( 2003 ); biotechniques ; uhlmann , k . et al . electrophoresis 23 : 4072 - 4079 ( 2002 )- pyrometh ; colella et al . biotechniques . 2003 july ; 35 ( 1 ): 146 - 50 ; dupont j m , tost j , jammes h , and gut ig . anal biochem , october 2004 ; 333 ( 1 ): 119 - 27 ; tooke n and pettersson m . ivdt . november 2004 ; 41 ; and the following published patents and patent applications : wo03080863a1 , wo03057909a2 , us2005 / 0153347 , us20050009059a1 , us20050069879a1 , us20050064428a1 , us20050064406a1 , wo02086163c1 , us20050019762a1 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 884 , 586 , wo04013284a2 , us20050153316a1 and wo05040399a2 . assessment of dna quality following bisulfite treatment and its application to subsequent quantitative analysis bisulfite treatment of genomic dna was performed with a commercial kit from zymo research corporation ( orange , calif .) that combines bisulfite conversion and dna clean up . the kit follows a protocol from paulin et al . ( nucleic acids res , 26 , 5009 - 5010 ( 1998 )). briefly , in this protocol 2 μg of genomic dna was denatured by the addition of 3 m sodium hydroxide and incubated for 15 min at 37 ° c . a 6 . 24 m urea / 2 m sodium metabisulfite ( 4 m bisulfite ) solution was prepared and added with 10 mm hydroquinone to the denatured dna . the corresponding final concentrations were 5 . 36 m , 3 . 44 m and 0 . 5 mm respectively . this reaction mix was repeatedly heated between 55 ° c . for 15 min and 95 ° c . for 30 seconds in a pcr machine ( mj tetrad ™) for 20 cycles . finally a dna purification and cleaning step was performed . 2 ug of dna was bisulfite treated using the ez dna methylation kit ™ ( zymo research corporation , orange , calif .) and eluted in 10 μl water . 10 μl of the bisulfite treated dna was loaded along with 5 μl of loading dye on a 4 - 8 % tbe page pre - cast gel ( jule , inc , milford , conn .). 10 μl of 100 bp ladder ( roche applied science , indianapolis , ind .) was loaded along side the dna samples . electrophoresis was performed using novex mini - cell ™ ( invitrogen , carlsbad , calif .) at 170 volts for 50 min . prior to fluorescence detection , the gel was stained using sybr gold gel stain ™ ( invitrogen , carlsbad , calif .) for 30 min on an agitator . fluorescence detection was performed using the typhoon 8600 ™ ( ge healthcare , piscataway , n . j .) and densitometry measurements were calculated using the supplied image quant software ™. the target regions were amplified using the primer pairs provided in fig7 . the pcr reactions were carried out in a total volume of 5 μl using 1 pmol of each primer , 40 μm dntp , 0 . 1 u hot star taq ™ dna polymerase ( qiagen ), 1 . 5 mm mgcl2 and buffer supplied with the enzyme ( final concentration 1 ×). the reaction mix was preactivated for 15 min at 95 ° c . the reactions were amplified in 45 cycles of 95 ° c . for 20 s , 62 ° c . for 30 s and 72 ° c . for 30 s followed by 72 ° c . for 3 min . unincorporated dntps were dephosphorylated by adding 1 . 7ul h 2 o and 0 . 3 u shrimp alkaline phosphatase ( sequenom , san diego ). the reaction was incubated at 37 ° c . for 20 min and sap was then heat - inactivated for 10 minutes at 85 ° c . typically , 2 microliters of the pcr reaction were directly used as template in a 6 . 5 μl transcription reaction . twenty units of t7 r & amp ; dna ™ polymerase ( epicentre , madison , wis .) were used to incorporate either dctp or dttp in the transcripts . ribonucleotides were used at 1 mm and the dntp substrate at 2 . 5 mm ; other components in the reaction were as recommended by the supplier . in the same step , the in vitro transcription rnase a ( sequenom , san diego ) was added to cleave the in vitro transcript . the mixture was then further diluted with h 2 o to a final volume of 27 μl . conditioning of the phosphate backbone prior to maldi - tof ms was achieved by the addition of 6 mg clean resin ™ ( sequenom inc ., san diego , calif .). further experimental details are described elsewhere ( hartmer , r ., storm , n ., boecker , s ., rodi , c . p ., hillenkamp , f ., jurinke , c . and van den boom , d . ( 2003 ) rnase t1 mediated base - specific cleavage and maldi - tof ms for high - throughput comparative sequence analysis . nucleic acids res , 31 , e47 , which is hereby incorporated by reference ). fifteen nl of the cleavage reactions were robotically dispensed onto silicon chips preloaded with matrix ( spectrochip ™; sequenom inc ., san diego , calif .). mass spectra were collected using a massarray ™ mass spectrometer ( bruker - sequenom ). spectra were analyzed using proprietary peak picking and spectra interpretation tools . all statistical simulations and calculations were carried out using the ‘ r ’ software package for statistical computing ( team , r . d . c . ( 2003 ) r : a language and environment for statistical computing ). for the calculation of 95 % confidence intervals of the binomial distribution , the ‘ binconf ’ function was used , which is part of the hmisc package . the methods provided herein take into consideration the fragmentation pattern of bisulfite treated dna , and the relationship between available template molecules and variation of methylation ratios caused by sampling error . based on these considerations , the quality control assay described herein can be used to predict dna quality and verify its applicability for subsequent experiments . in this study all calculations are based on the dna amounts used in the amplification protocol described herein . one μg of genomic dna was used for bisulfite treatment . the treated dna was eluted in 100 μl h 2 o . one μl of this elution was used in each pcr reaction . this amount roughly equals 6000 dna copies ( 10 ng dna equals approximately 6600 dna copies ) and denotes the maximum number of molecules available for amplification assuming that no dna degradation occurs . unfortunately , dna degradation is likely to occur and hence the number of available molecules can range between zero ( complete degradation ) and ˜ 6000 ( no degradation ). a prerequisite for the reliable measurement of the variance of quantitative methylation analysis is a stable method of detection that does not introduce any variability itself . to evaluate the variability of the detection method , the entire process was dissected into four steps and analyzed for process - specific variability at each step . one dna was used in 16 replicated bisulfite treatments . then an aliquot of each bisulfite treatment was pooled together and used for 16 individual pcr reactions . again an aliquot from those pcr reactions was pooled and used for 16 individual base specific cleavage reactions . finally , aliquots of the cleavage reactions were pooled and dispensed on 16 elements of a miniaturized array of matrix spots . fig1 illustrates the process specific variability in a box plot . the results for each of the four tested conditions are summarized in an individual box plot . the analysis of all steps showed that process variability of the base specific cleavage reaction and the instrument measurements are minimal compared to the variability introduced by the pcr step and bisulfite treatment step ( fig1 ). to evaluate theoretical limitations of quantitative methylation analysis , the following assumptions were applied to the model system : let n be the number of dna molecules available for pcr amplification in the reaction . suppose they have been drawn randomly and independently from the whole population of dna molecules . let p be the proportion of molecules in the whole population which are methylated . the number of methylated molecules in the reaction is a random variable x which follows a binomial distribution with parameters n and p . if np and n ( 1 − p ) are both large enough , then x is approximately normally distributed with expected value np and variance np ( 1 − p ) with the appropriate continuity correction . consequently the probability of observing a methylation ratio in an interval is the cumulative probability from the lower limit to the upper limit . fig2 a shows the cumulative probability for two scenarios at 1 % intervals . the highest bars are based on the assumption that 3000 molecules ( 50 % degradation ) are available for amplification . the shortest bars are calculations for 300 available molecules ( 95 % degradation ). five scenarios of different methylation ratios in the starting template were calculated between 10 and 90 % ( 10 , 25 , 50 , 75 and 90 %). as expected the probability distribution maximizes around the population mean . it was also determined which range most ( 95 %) of the values for each methylation ratio are located . the graph reveals that for 50 % methylation most values are located between 48 and 52 % when staring with 6000 molecules . the range is dramatically larger with only 300 molecules and ranges from 43 to 57 % methylation . to evaluate the relationship between methylation range and number of available dna molecules , the 95 % confidence interval for the binomial distribution was calculated as a function of available fragments for three different scenarios ( 10 , 25 and 50 % methylation ) ( fig2 b ). the figure illustrates the strong correlation with the number of available fragments and indicates the dramatically increasing range of methylation ratios when the number of available fragments falls below 100 - 200 . a densitometry - based analysis of original genomic dna and dna treated with three different bisulfite conversion protocols ( a — incubation at 50 ° c . ; b — incubation at 65 ° c . ; c — incubation at 80 ° c . for 16 h ) was performed to estimate the level of dna fragmentation . to achieve the necessary sensitivity , 2 μg of bisulfite treated dna was used on a 4 to 8 % gradient page gel , and stained with sybr gold ™ ( fig3 ). a densitometry calculation for the dna size intervals of 100 bp was also performed . the interval for fragments below 100 bp could not be calculated accurately , because fragments below 75 bp are lost during the dna cleanup . for each of the four conditions , 2 μg of dna were transferred onto the gel . the fragmented portions of the genomic dna appear as a high intensity band around 2600 bp , while the high molecular weight genomic dna is unable to enter the gel . during bisulfite treatment , the genomic dna is degraded , which results in a loss of the high intensity band at 2600 bp and additional fragmentation of the previously unfragmented dna . consequently the signal intensities are distributed over a larger area and no single high intensity band is observed . the three different bisulfite protocols show varying fragment sizes . the resulting distribution of signal intensities is variable depending on the degradation levels . the largest fraction of dna fragments is found to be & gt ; 1500 bp in length for condition a and around 200 bp in length for condition c . these results confirm that higher incubation temperatures introduce higher levels of dna fragmentation . with depurination being the most likely cause for dna fragmentation , the position of strand breaks can be assumed to be random . thus higher dna fragmentation is more likely to disrupt the desired amplification region and hence eliminate its availability for pcr amplification . this also has implications for the targeted amplicon length . when long amplicons are desired it , is more likely that a strand break will occur in - between the primer binding sites and consequently less molecules are available for amplification . shorter target regions are less likely to have strand breaks and therefore are more likely to be successfully amplified . hence , short amplicons and low fragmentation increase the probability of amplification success . consequently , an assay that utilizes amplicons of different length to estimate dna fragmentation levels will be especially useful . in particular , a more accurate result can be given when employing a quantitative assay , because it can utilize information about measurement variance , rather than being limited to a binary yes / no answer . to evaluate the feasibility of variable length amplicons to predict quality of bisulfite treated dna , the igf2 / h19 region was used as the amplification target . amplicon design should ideally cover the region with multiple amplicons increasing in length by small increments . unfortunately , flexibility in primer design is constrained by genomic dna features . the primer binding sites have to be free of any cpg sites and each amplicon should be almost entirely covered by the next longer amplicon . also identical hybridization behavior of the different primer sets was implemented to enable simultaneous amplification in a single microtiter plate . for the igf2 region , six amplicons were designed , which were 176 , 362 , 477 , 617 , 795 , and 960 bp in length ( fig4 a ). this set of six assays are hereafter referred to as control assays . all amplicons were tested in 16 repeats on dna treated with a single standard bisulfite conversion protocol . consistent amplification was obtained for 176 , 362 , 477 , 617 , and sporadic amplification for 765 . the longest amplicon failed to give any amplification results . this can be attributed to either bad primer design or to the fact that the bisulfite treated dna does not provide enough intact copies for pcr amplification . consequently , the first four amplicons ( 176 , 362 , 477 and 617 bp ) became the focus for the quality control assay . as a next step , increased fragmentation of dna was induced by increasing incubation temperatures ( 50 ° c ., 65 ° c ., 80 ° c ., 95 ° c .) during bisulfite treatment ( fig4 b ). the quality control assay was used to evaluate its ability to assess dna quality . for each condition , bisulfite treatment was done in triplicate , and from each bisulfite treated dna , duplicate pcr reactions were performed . to compare the quantitative results , three cpg sites were selected which were enclosed in all amplicons . the generated mass spectra were analyzed in regards to spectrum quality ( wherein a spectrum of high quality has a high signal to noise ratio ) and relative methylation ( or methylation ratio ) for the selected three cpg sites . in this setup , 18 quantitative measurements were obtained for each condition . the number of good quality measurements were summed as a first marker for amplification success . mean methylation levels and standard deviation were also determined as a marker for sample bias . the results show that incubation at 50 ° c . and 65 ° c . for 16 h yielded comparable results . both show complete , good quality measurements up to an amplicon length of 477 bp and a decrease in good quality measurements for the 617 bp amplicon . standard deviation of repeated measurements in both cases is around 5 % and therefore within instrument limitation . incubation at 80 ° c . shows reduced quality beginning at 362 bp and incubation at 95 ° c . results in less than 50 % good quality at 176 bp . for 80 ° c . and 95 ° c . the obtained standard deviation of methylation ratios are well above the expected 5 % ( from 40 % to 45 %). when the individual values are closely examined , methylation varies between 0 and 100 % ( fig5 ). this behavior is predicted by the simulations for very low numbers of available molecules . in the extreme case , it may be that only one molecule is available for amplification . this one molecule is then either methylated or non - methylated and therefore results in large differences in observed methylation ratios . the incubation at 80 ° c . exemplifies why measuring variance provides valuable information above the sole success rates . in this case , 15 out of 18 measurements were of good quality — suggesting that dna quality is sufficient for the analysis of dna methylation . however , the quantitative analysis reveals an amplification behavior similar to digital pcr . the observed methylation ratios cannot be measured reproducibly and therefore show high variance . in a next step , a second incubation protocol was evaluated . instead of incubation for 16 hours at a constant temperature , the temperature was cycled between the incubation temperature and a brief 95 ° c . denaturation step . the protocol comprises 20 cycles of 15 min at incubation temperature and 30 sec 95 ° c . resulting in a total incubation time of 5½ hours ( fig5 panel ( c ) and ( d )). the data was analyzed according to the scheme described above . incubation at 50 ° c . and 65 ° c . resulted in stable measurements up to 477 bp amplicon length , which is comparable to constant 16 h incubation . for 80 ° c . cycled incubation amplicons of length 176 and 362 bp were of acceptable quality in contrast to the first 80 ° c . protocol where large variance was observed even in the short amplicons . incomplete bisulfite conversion was not observed under any of the used bisulfite treatment incubation protocols . the results show that cycled incubation can improve the quality of bisulfite treated dna . the results further indicate that the quality control assays described herein serve as effective methods for determining dna quality , which improves assay design and quantification analysis . in the next step , the inventor evaluated if results from this limited region can be generalized to the remaining genomic regions . a total of 39 amplicons from different regions in the genome with varying amplification lengths from 200 to 650 bp were tested . having demonstrated the general feasibility of using increasing temperatures to create differentially fragmented dna , three instead of four temperatures were used for the fragmentation of dna ( a — 50 ° c . 16 h ; b — 70 ° c . 16 h ; c — 90 ° c . 16 h ). each bisulfite treatment was done in triplicate . each sample was evaluated with the quality control assay and across all samples . finally the results were correlated to evaluate their concordance . in order to compare different length amplicons with different number of measurable cpg site , the amplification success of each amplicon was analyzed by calculating the ratio of successful quantitative cpg measurements to all possible cpg measurements . the quality control assay predicts good quality amplification up to 600 bp for condition a . condition b shows successful amplification at 477 bp , but with an increased methylation variance suggesting that this amplification length is borderline . for condition c , amplification success is dramatically reduced at 176 bp suggesting impaired amplification of the shortest targets in the test set ( fig6 a and 6b ). the results from the amplification of 39 selected target regions confirm the predictive power of the quality control assay . condition a shows good amplification results throughout the entire range of amplicon lengths . for condition b , quality results start declining around 450 to 500 bp , and condition c exhibits reduced quality from the shortest amplicons around 250 bp ( fig6 c and 6d ). these results verify the ability of the presented quality control assay to predict the quality of bisulfite treated dna and to estimate the chances for amplification success . in another related example , samples are spiked with a homogenous , non - human or otherwise distinguishable dna source with a known methylation ratio such that methylation analysis methods can be optimized or quality controlled , for example , in different labs or clinical locations . the methods of the present invention may be practiced using the spiked samples so that an internal control is present during assay set - up and optimization , thus ensuring similar methods are practiced at all of the participating labs , hospitals or clinics . similar results should be seen for all of the spiked samples . the entirety of each patent , patent application , publication and document referenced herein hereby is incorporated by reference . citation of the above patents , patent applications , publications and documents is not an admission that any of the foregoing is pertinent prior art , nor does it constitute any admission as to the contents or date of these publications or documents . modifications may be made to the foregoing without departing from the basic aspects of the invention . although the invention has been described in substantial detail with reference to one or more specific embodiments , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may be made to the embodiments specifically disclosed in this application , yet these modifications and improvements are within the scope and spirit of the invention . the invention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element ( s ) not specifically disclosed herein . thus , for example , in each instance herein any of the terms “ comprising ,” “ consisting essentially of ,” and “ consisting of ” may be replaced with either of the other two terms . the terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation , and use of such terms and expressions do not exclude any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof , and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed . the term “ a ” or “ an ” can refer to one of or a plurality of the elements it modifies ( e . g ., “ a primer ” can mean one or more primers ) unless it is contextually clear either one of the elements or more than one of the elements is described . the term “ about ” as used herein refers to a value sometimes within 10 % of the underlying parameter ( i . e ., plus or minus 10 %), a value sometimes within 5 % of the underlying parameter ( i . e ., plus or minus 5 %), a value sometimes within 2 . 5 % of the underlying parameter ( i . e ., plus or minus 2 . 5 %), or a value sometimes within 1 % of the underlying parameter ( i . e ., plus or minus 1 %), and sometimes refers to the parameter with no variation . for example , a length of “ about 100 nucleotides ” can include lengths between 90 nucleotides and 110 nucleotides . thus , it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by representative embodiments and optional features , modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art , and such modifications and variations are considered within the scope of this invention . embodiments of the invention are set forth in the claims which follow . | 2 |
the embodiment of the invention is described in detail with reference of the attached drawing . [ 0025 ] fig1 is a side view showing an internal structure of a facsimile apparatus that has a fixing device and an image forming device . the facsimile apparatus is composed of a facsimile main body 1 , a process cartridge 2 , a photo - sensing unit 3 having the process cartridge , an optical writing device 4 , a paper - feeding cassette 5 storing the recording paper , a paper - feeding roller 6 for feeding the recording paper from the paper - feeding cassette 5 , a transcribing roller 7 , a fixing device 8 for fixing the toner image on the recording paper , an ejecting roller , a sealed sensor 10 , and a document stage 11 formed above the facsimile main body 1 . the process cartridge 2 contains various processing devices for performing the image formation by the electronic photographic process , and is detachable from the facsimile main body 1 . the optical writing device 4 makes the photo - sensing unit 3 scan by a laser beam that is modulated based on the image data . the transcribing roller 7 is in contact with the photo - sensing unit 3 for transcribing the toner image formed on the photo - sensing unit 3 to the recording paper . the document set on the document stage 11 is passed through the sealed sensor 10 by a transferring system , and then ejected to external when the document passes the sealed sensor 10 , the image on the document is optically read by the sealed sensor 10 . the image data , which is read by the sealed sensor 10 or input from external , is transmitted to the optical writing device 4 . based on the image data , the optical writing device 4 emits a modulated laser beam to the surface of the uniformly charged photo - sensing unit 3 , so that an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photo - sensing unit 3 . then , toner is made to adhere to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image , and the toner image is transcribed onto the recording paper by the transcribing roller 7 . by pressing and heating using the fixing device , the toner image is fixed on the recording paper , and the recording paper is ejected to external by the paper - ejecting roller 9 . [ 0027 ] fig2 is a side view substantially showing the structure of the fixing device . fig3 is a perspective view of fig2 . the fixing device consists of a cylindrical fixing roller 20 , a fixing heater 21 , a sheet 22 , and a fixing frame 23 . the fixing heater 21 is arranged inside the fixing roller 20 for heating the fixing roller 20 . the sheet 22 is in contact with the fixing roller 20 and therefore presses against the fixing roller 20 . the fixing frame 23 is used to affix one end of the sheet 22 so as to support the sheet 22 in a cantilever manner . [ 0028 ] fig4 shows a back surface of the sheet , in which item 24 is a heating line . as shown in fig4 the heating line 24 is wound on the back surface , i . e ., opposite to the surface in contact with the fixing roller 20 , of the sheet 22 . the heating line 24 is a single line , and is straightly extended from an end in the longitudinal direction of the sheet to the other end , at which the heating line 24 is bent and then the heating line 24 is straightly extended again from the other end to the first end . by alternatively repeating the above manner , the heating line 24 is arranged on the back surface of the sheet 22 so that the lines parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sheet are arranged in parallel . the timing to apply a power to the heating line 24 can be at a time when the image forming device is powered on , within an interval that the temperature of the fixing roller 20 is raised from a warm - up status to a fixable temperature , or an interval that the recording paper passes the nip portion between the fixing roller 20 and the sheet . according to the above structure , it is possible to make the fixing device be in a fixable status quickly . furthermore , when the recording paper passes a nip portion between the fixing roller 20 and the sheet 22 , even though the sheet 22 is cooled by the recording paper , the temperature of the nip portion can be maintained at a fixable temperature . [ 0031 ] fig5 shows a back surface of the sheet according to the second embodiment of the invention . in fig4 as regarding the back surface of the sheet 22 in the first embodiment , the heating line 24 is wound on the back surface of the sheet 22 in a manner such that the lines parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sheet are arranged in parallel . with respect to this , the second embodiment in fig5 arranges the heating line 24 on the back surface of the sheet 22 in a manner that lines parallel to the recording paper transporting direction are arranged in parallel . in the fixing device using the sheet 22 , the nip pressure at each portion in the longitudinal direction of the fixing roller 20 is easily varied according to the shape of the fixing roller 20 . for example , when the fixing roller is a drum type , because the pressing roller is made of an elastic body , the nip pressure is undoubtedly acted on the central portion , but applying the pressure by the sheet is difficult to apply the nip pressure to the central portion , so that the fixing property is reduced . as shown in fig5 by winding the one heating line 24 on the back surface of the sheet 22 , the strength of the sheet 22 becomes robust and the pressure against the fixing roller 20 can become more stable . furthermore , because the central portion of the sheet 22 can be bent in the up - and - down direction , the sheet 22 can be changed to a suitable shape to meet the shape of the fixing roller 20 . [ 0034 ] fig6 shows a back surface of the sheet according to the third embodiment of the invention . first , in the third embodiment , as the first embodiment in fig4 the heating line 24 is arranged on the back surface of the sheet 22 in the manner that the lines parallel to the longitudinal direction of the sheet are arranged in parallel . next , as the second embodiment in fig5 the same heating line 24 is further wound on the back surface of the sheet 22 in the manner that lines parallel to the recording paper transporting direction are arranged in parallel . in this way , as shown in fig6 the heating line 24 is wound in a grid shape on the back surface of the sheet 22 . according to the above structure , the strength of the entire sheet 22 becomes robust . additionally , the pressure against the fixing roller 20 can become more stable . in addition , the foregoing embodiments describe a fixing device whose sheet is made to contact with fixing roller by pressure . however , fixing devices of other types can be also suitable for the invention . for example , the sheet of the invention can be applied to a fixing device , in which a fixing belt is suspended between a fixing roller with a heating source and a tension roller , and the fixing belt is made in contact with the sheet . as the fixing belt is rotated , the recording paper that the toner image is transcribed thereon passes the nip portion between the fixing belt and the sheet , so that the toner image is fixed on the recording paper . furthermore , the sheet of the invention can be applied to another fixing device , in which a heating source is mounted inside a cylindrical fixing film , and the sheet is in contact with the heating source through the fixing film . by rotating the fixing film , the recording paper that the toner image is transcribed thereon passes the nip portion between the heating source and the sheet , so that the toner image is fixed on the recording paper . according to the aforementioned structure of the invention , because the sheet is heated by a heating unit , it is possible to make the fixing device be in a fixable status quickly . in addition , when the recording paper passes the nip portion between the heat conducting unit and the sheet , the temperature of the nip portion can be prevented from being suddenly reduced . as a result , the time of starting the image recording can be reduced , and an excellent image such that the entire recording paper has no incomplete fixing portions can be obtained . while the present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment , this description is not intended to limit our invention . various modifications of the embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art . it is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments as fall within the true scope of the invention . | 6 |
a specific embodiment of a high dielectric constant thin film according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings . an embodiment of the increased capacitance will be introduced first , and the fabrication and materials of dielectric thin film will be described next . the treatment that can reduce leakage current will be shown at last . fig1 is a schematic diagram showing the layer structure of the present invention for semiconductor memory device . the capacitor comprises a conductive layer 110 which is doped with an impurity polysilicon layer as the bottom electrode , a dielectric layer 112 that is silicon nitride , another dielectric layer 114 that is ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x thin film with 0 . 05 ≦ x ≦ 0 . 15 , and a conductive layer 116 with tungsten , tungsten nitride , or titanium nitride as the top electrode . on the surface of the doped polysilicon bottom electrode 110 , a very thin layer 112 (˜ 20 å ) of silicon nitride ( sin ) is grown by either chemical vapor deposition technique using silane ( sih 4 ) or rapid thermal process in ammonia ( nh 3 ) gas . the layer 112 of silicon nitride ( sin ) is for minimizing the growth of silicon oxide ( sio 2 ) at the interface between doped polysilicon bottom electrode 110 and the ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x thin film 114 . subsequently , a thin layer of ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x thin film 116 is deposited using chemical vapor deposition . fig2 is a schematic diagram employing an apparatus used in the manufacturing dielectric thin film method . two sets of liquid delivery system 10 are used to independently control the flow quantity of the two different precursors . these two different precursors are tantalum alkoxy ( ta ( oet )( o - iso - pt ) 4 ) and titanium ketones ( ti ( o - iso - pr ) 2 ( dpm ) 2 ). the chemical formula of the tantalum alkoxy is ta ( c 2 h 5 o )( c 3 h 7 o ) 4 and the chemical formula of the titanium ketones is ti ( c 3 h 7 o ) 2 ( c 11 h 19 o 2 ) 2 . after the two precursors vaporized separately in two vaporizers 20 , they are sent to the mixing box 40 right above the showerhead 50 . the substrate 100 ( wafer ) sitting on the heater 60 in the reaction chamber 1 will then receive the vapor - phase - mixed chemical vapor . the chemical vapor for the deposition of a film composed of tantalum oxide and titanium oxide precursors , wherein the ratio of tio 2 to ta 2 o 5 is in the range from 5 to 15 mole percent . two sets of gas supply system 105 provide inert gas such as ar that is used as carrier gas . another gas supply system 107 provides oxygen that is used to assist the oxidation process during deposition . two micropumps 70 are used in each liquid delivery system for accurate control of liquid flow . all mass flow controllers 30 are used to accurate control of liquid flow . in fig3 it shows the chemical materials and the solvent used for producing the two precursors . the chemical materials in the form of solid are dissolved in the solvent and become the form of liquid for easily controlling quantity . the vaporizing temperature and the decomposition temperature of precursors are also listed . the above mentioned apparatus in fig2 may be operated under the condition stated in fig4 to produce tantalum oxide and titanium oxide films with the tio 2 / ta 2 o 5 ratio between 5 to 15 mole percent . according to the data shown in fig4 the deposition of this embodiment is low pressure chemical vapor deposition . the ratio of ti to ta in the ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x film can be controlled by the flow quantity of ti ( o - iso - pr ) 2 ( dpm ) 2 , as is shown in fig5 . the composition range of the present invention is the range studied : ( tio 2 )/( ta 2 o 5 )= 5 to 15 mole percent . although the as deposited ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x film with 0 . 05 ≦ x ≦ 0 . 15 gives high dielectric constant , it also gives high leakage current . it is thus necessary to develop various treatments for this particular film in order to reduce the leakage current to a level that is acceptable for memory device such as dram . the treatment recipes in the method of present invention is applied to the ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x film before the deposition of conductive layer 116 , and it can be described in two categories : ( a ) for reducing film impurities due to the incomplete decomposition of the precursors , and ( b ) for decreasing the oxygen vacancies in the film . the techniques used for ( a ) and ( b ) include plasma treatment , remote plasma treatment , rapid thermal process , uv / o 3 treatment and furnace treatment . the treatments using these techniques at low and high temperatures ( range from 300 ° c .- 1000 ° c .) give the effects listed in ( a ) and ( b ). the treatments for the category ( a ) and ( b ) can be carried out in one or two steps ( in different temperatures ) using one of the above techniques , and it can also be carried out in two or three steps using more than one of the above techniques . the electrical performance data shown here is from one - step and two - step recipes using rapid thermal process technique . the one - step thermal treatment uses a single thermal cycle at high temperature fulfilled o 2 or n 2 o gas in order to reduce the leakage current by reducing the impurity level of carbon and the vacancies of oxygen atoms . during this treatment , the phase of film will transform from amorphous to crystalline if the temperature applied is above 750 ° c . fig6 shows the x - ray diffraction data for the thin dielectric film of the present invention . the film deposited at about 400 ° c . changes from amorphous state to crystalline state at temperature of 750 ° c . fig7 shows a set of results using rapid thermal process technique and will be recipe a . the recipe a of using rtp in o 2 gas for 120 seconds gives a leakage current below 1e - 8a / cm 2 at 1 . 5 mv / cm . the two - step thermal treatment uses a low temperature cycle to treat the film for the reduction of impurities and oxygen vacancies before any amorphous - to - crystalline phase transformation , and subsequently uses a high temperature cycle to further reduce the impurity level and oxygen vacancies during crystallization process . fig8 and fig9 each show a set of results obtained from two - step thermal treatment using rapid thermal process technique and will be recipe b and c respectively . for the data shown in fig8 and fig9 the ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x films with x = 0 . 078 are subjected to the first thermal treatment using rapid thermal process technique in o 2 for 5 minutes at 500 ° c . and 600 ° c ., respectively . in both cases , the using of rapid thermal process technique in o 2 gas at 850 ° c . for 60 seconds as the second thermal step gives a leakage current below 1e - 8a / cm 2 at 1 . 5 mv / cm . the deposition of a metal layer 116 on top of the thermally treated ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x film , by pvd or cvd , completes the method of the present invention . in this embodiment , the metal can be titanium nitride ( tin ), tungsten nitride ( wn ), or tungsten ( w ). fig1 gives a table showing the effective dielectric constant for the capacitors produced using the method of the present invention . for the recipes a , b and c giving leakage currents below 1e - 8a / cm 2 at 1 . 5 mv / cm ( as is described above ), the effective dielectric constants are still as high as 36 . 8 , 41 . 5 and 38 . 8 , respectively . these would give a sio 2 equivalent thickness of about 10 å for a capacitor produced in this method employing a 100 ( ta 2 o 5 ) 1 − x ( tio 2 ) x film with x = 0 . 078 . although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from what is intended to be limited solely by the appended claims . | 8 |
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