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modification , cloning and expression of polynucleotides that code for polypeptides which are capable of hydrolytic cleavage of zen and / or at least one zen derivative amino acid substitutions , insertions or deletions were performed by mutation of the nucleotide sequences by means of pcr using the “ quick change site - directed mutagenesis kits ” ( stratagene ) according to the instructions . as an alternative , complete nucleotide sequences were also ordered ( geneart ). the nucleotide sequences generated by means of pcr mutagenesis and / or ordered from geneart optionally also contained a c - or n - terminal 6 × his tag on an amino acid level and were integrated by means of standard methods into expression vectors for expression in e . coli or p . pastoris , transformed in e . coli or p . pastoris and expressed in e . coli and p . pastoris ( j . m . cregg , pichia protocols , second edition , isbn - 10 : 1588294293 , 2007 ; j . sambrook et al ., 2012 , molecular cloning , a laboratory manual , 4 th edition , cold spring harbor ), wherein any other suitable host cell may also be used for this task . the designation “ expression vector ” relates to a dna construct that is capable of expressing a gene in vive or in vitro . in particular this is understood to refer to dna constructs that are suitable for transferring the polypeptide coding nucleotide sequence into the host cell to integrate into the genome there or to be present freely in the extrachromosomal space and to express the polypeptide coding nucleotide sequence intracellularly and optionally also to remove the polypeptide from the cell . the designation “ host cell ” refers to all cells containing either a nucleotide sequence to be expressed or an expression vector and being capable of synthesizing a polypeptide according to the invention . in particular this is understood to include prokaryotic and / or eukaryotic cells , preferably p . pastoris , e . coli , bacillus subtills , streptomyces , hansenula , trichoderma , lactobacllus , aspergillus , plant cells and / or spores of bacillus , trichoderma or aspergillus . the soluble cell lysate in the case of e . coli and / or the culture supernatant in the case of p . pastoris was / were used for determination of the catalytic properties of the polypeptides . to determine the k m value , v max , k cat and the specific activity , the polypeptides were selectively enriched chromatographically by standard methods over nickel - sepharose columns . the determination of the protein concentration was performed by means of standard methods , either being calculated by the bca method ( pierce bca protein assay kitprod # 23225 ) or preferably photometrically with the specific extinction coefficients for the respective proteins that are available online with the protparam program at http :// web . exdasv . org / protparam ( gastelger e . et al . ; protein identification and analysis tools on the expasy server , in john m . walker ( ed ): the proteomics protocols handbook , humana press , 2005 , pp . 571 - 607 ). the determination of the percentage sequence identity based on the total polypeptide length of the polypeptides with eh amino acid sequences having the sequence id numbers 1 to 15 relative to one another ( table 1 ) was performed with the help of the blast program ( basic local alignment search tool ), in particular with blastp , which can be used at homepage of the national center for biotechnology information ( ncbi ; http :// www . ncbi . nlm . nih . gov /). it is thus possible to compare two or more sequences with one another according to the algorithm of altschul et al ., 1997 ( nucleic acids res . ( 1997 ), 25 : 3389 - 3402 ). the basic settings were used as the program settings in particular . however : “ max target sequence ”= 100 ; expected threshold ”= 10 ; “ word size ”= 3 ; “ matrix ”= blosom62 ; “ gap costs ”=“ existence : 11 ; extension : 1 ”; “ computational adjustment ”=“ conditional compositional score matrix adjustment .” to determine the conserved amino acid sequence segments , the polypeptides having sequence id numbers 1 to 6 , which have a sequence identity of at least 70 % with one another , were compared with the help of the cobalt software ( j . s . papadopoulos and r . agarwala , 2007 , cobalt : constraint - based alignment tool for multiple protein sequences , biolnformatics 23 : 1073 - 79 ) while using the standard parameters , in particular the parameters (“ gap penalties ”: − 11 , − 1 ; “ end - gap penalties ”: − 5 , − 1 ; “ use rps blast ”: on ; “ blast e - value ”: 0 . 003 ; “ find conserved columns and recompute ”: on ; “ use query clusters ”: on ; “ word size ”: 4 ; “ may cluster distance ”: 0 , 8 ; “ alphabet ”: regular ; “ homology conversation setting ”: 3 bits ). the result of this analysis represents the conserved amino acids . the following ranges of at least five successive conserved amino acids were defined as the conserved amino acid sequence segments , namely with respect to the segment having the sequence id no . 1 , the segments a from position + 24 to position + 50 , b from position + 52 to position + 77 , c from position + 79 to position + 87 , d from position + 89 to position + 145 , e from position + 150 to position + 171 , f from position + 177 to position + 193 , g from position + 223 to position + 228 , h from position + 230 to position + 237 , i from position + 239 to position + 247 , j from position + 249 to position + 255 , k from position + 257 to position + 261 , l from position + 263 to position + 270 , m from position + 272 to position + 279 , n from position + 297 to position + 301 and o from position + 303 to position + 313 . the determinations of the percentage sequence identity of the polypeptides to one another and of the conserved amino acid sequence segments of the individual polypeptides relative to the conserved amino acid sequence segments of the sequence having the sequence id no . 1 were formed as described above . the results are presented in tables 1 and 2 . to determine their ability to degrade zen into the nontoxic or less toxic metabolites hzen and dhzen , the polypeptide with the sequence id no . 1 , coded by the nucleotide sequence having the sequence id no . 17 was synthesized as such and with a c - terminal and / or n - terminal 6 × his tag in e . coli as described in example 1 . the polypeptides with the amino acid sequences having the sequence id numbers 2 to 15 which were coded by the nucleotide sequences having the sequence id numbers 18 to 31 , were labeled with 6 × his exclusively at the c - terminus . 100 ml portions of an e . coli culture having an optical density ( od 600 nm ) of 2 . 0 - 2 . 5 were harvested by centrifugation at 4 ° c . and resuspended in 20 ml brunner mineral medium ( dsmz microorganisms medium number 462 , 2012 ). the cell suspensions were lysed by treating three times with a french press at 20 , 000 psi . the resulting cell lysates were used in a 1 : 10 , 1 : 100 or 1 : 1000 dilution prepared in brunner mineral medium including 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa ( bovine serum albumin ). for the zen degradation experiments , 9 . 9 ml brunner mineral medium was used , including 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa , 0 . 1 ml dilute cell lysate and 31 μl zen substrate stock solution . on the whole , the cell lysates were thus diluted 1 : 1000 , 1 : 10 , 000 and / or 1 : 100 , 000 . the zen substrate stock solution used was a 2 . 08 mm zen solution ( 40 vol % can + 60 vol % h 2 o ). to prepare this solution , zen in crystalline form ( biopure standard from romer labs , article no . 001109 , purity at least 98 %) was weighed and dissolved accordingly . each degradation batch was carried out in 25 ml glass vials and incubated at 25 ° c . and 100 rpm for a total of 120 hours with agitation . at the times 0 , 0 . 5 , 1 , 2 , 5 , 24 , 47 , 72 and 120 h , a sample of 1 ml was taken each time , the polypeptides were heat inactivated for 10 minutes at 99 ° c . and stored at − 20 ° c . after thawing the sample , the insoluble constituents were separated by centrifugation . zen , hzen and dhzen were analyzed by means of lc / ms / ms . to do so , the metabolites were separated chromatographically on a phenomenex luna c18 ( 2 ) column having the dimensions 250 mm × 3 mm and a particle size of 5 μm , using as the mobile phase an acetonitrile - water mixture with a formic acid concentration of 1 ml / l . the uv signal at 270 nm was recorded using electrospray ionization ( esi ) as the ionizing source . zen , hzen and dhzen were quantified by means of qtrap / lc / ms / ms ( triple quadrupole , applied biosystems ) in the enhanced mode . after 24 hours at the latest , substantial amounts of zen could not be detected any more in any of the batches . most of the zen , i . e ., more than 80 %, was converted into hzen or dhzen . fig1 shows the degradation of zen over time and the increase in hzen as well as dhzen for a 1 : 10 , 000 diluted cell lysate solution as an example for untagged ( fig1 a ) as well as for c - terminal 6 × his tagged ( fig1 b ) and n - terminal 6 × his tagged ( fig1 c ) polypeptide with the sequence id no . 1 . it can be seen here clearly that 1 ) the reaction of zen takes place directly and completely because almost no zen could be detected any longer in the first sample ( 0 h ), which was taken immediately after the start of the experiment , and 2 ) no mentionable losses of activity occurred as a result of attaching a tag , whether c - terminal or n - terminal . to determine the capability of polypeptides to also transform zen derivatives , in addition to zen , into nontoxic and / or less toxic metabolites , the polypeptides having the sequence id numbers 1 to 15 were prepared as described in example 3 with c - terminal his tag and the respective synthetic nucleotide sequences with the sequences having sequence id numbers 17 to 31 were used as the cell lysates in degradation 15 . the degradation experiments were performed as described in example 3 , where each polypeptide was tested with each zen derivative selected from the group comprised of α - zel , β - zel , α - zal , β - zal , z14g , z14s and zan , the cell lysates were used in a total dilution of 1 : 10 , 000 . instead of a 2 . 08 mm zen solution ( 40 vol % can + 60 vol % h 2 o ), equimolar , i . e ., 2 . 08 mm solutions of the zen derivatives were used as the substrate stock solution . α - zel , β - zel , α - zal , β - zal and zan were obtained from sigma and used as standards for the analysis . z14g and z14s were prepared in a purity of at least 90 % according to the methods such as those described by p . krenn et al ., 2007 ( mykotoxin research , 23 , 4 , 180 - 184 ) and m . sulyok et al ., 2007 ( anal . bioanal . chem . 289 , 1505 - 1523 ) and used as standards for the analysis . another difference in comparison with example 3 is that only one sample was taken , namely after 24 hours . the reduction in concentration of the zen derivatives during the degradation experiment was quantified by means of lc / ms / ms . α - zel , β - zel , z14g and z14s were measured by the method of m . sulyok et al . ( 2010 , food chemistry , 119 , 408 - 416 ); α - zal , β - zal and zan were measured by the method of p . songsermaskul et al . ( 2011 , j . of animal physiol . and animal nutr ., 97 , 155 - 161 ). it was surprisingly found that only 0 to max . 13 % of the starting amounts of the zen derivatives was present after 24 hours of incubation in all the degradation experiments . specific activity and enzyme kinetic parameters of the polypeptides as well as variants thereof the specific activity of the polypeptides and variants thereof was determined photometrically , wherein all the polypeptides used had a c - terminal 6 × his tag . the preparation , enrichment and purification of the polypeptides and / or variants thereof were performed as described in example 1 . degradation of zen to hzen was measured on the basis of the reduction in absorption at the wavelength of 315 nm . the molar extinction coefficients ( ε ) of zen and hzen were determined experimentally and were found to amount to 0 . 0078895 l μmol − 1 cm − 1 and 0 . 0030857 l μmol − 1 cm − 1 . the extinction coefficients have a strong dependence on ph and therefore the activity must always be measured precisely at the same ph and preferably also in the same matrix . the measurements were performed in a 50 mm tris - hcl ph = 8 . 2 buffer solution in quartz cuvettes in a wavelength range of 200 to 2500 nm in a uv - vis photometer ( hitachi u - 2001 ) at 32 ° c . a 2 . 08 mm zen solution ( 40 vol % acn + 60 vol % h 2 o ) was used as the zen substrate stock solution . to prepare this solution , zen in crystalline form ( biopure standard from romer labs , article no . 001109 , purity at least 98 %) was weighed and dissolved accordingly . the zen substrate dilutions ( 0 . 79 μm , 1 . 57 μm , 2 . 36 μm , 3 . 14 μm , 4 . 71 μm , 6 . 28 μm , 7 . 85 μm , 9 . 42 μm , 10 . 99 μm , 12 . 56 μm , 14 . 13 μm , 15 . 71 μm , 17 . 28 μm and 18 . 85 μm ) were prepared with 50 mm tris - hcl ph = 8 . 2 . the polypeptide solutions were diluted to a final concentration of approximately 70 ng / ml using 50 mm tris - hcl buffer ph = 8 . 2 . the zen substrate dilutions were preheated to 32 ° c . in a water bath . 100 μl portions of the respective zen substrate dilution were mixed with 0 . 2 μl polypeptide solution , and the absorption was measured for 5 minutes , whereupon each combination of polypeptide solution and zen substrate dilution was measured at least twice . taking into account the extinction coefficients of zen and hzen , the reaction rate was calculated for each substance concentration on the basis of the slope in the absorption over time . the designations “ k m value ” or “ michaelis - menten constant ” relate to a parameter for describing the enzymatic affinity of the units μm or mm , which are calculated with the help of the linear hanes plots according to h . bisswang ( 2002 , enzyme kinetics , isbn 3 - 527 - 30343 - x , page 19 ), wherein the function “ enzyme kinetics , single substrate ” in the sigmaplot 12 . 0 program is preferably used for this purpose . the designations “ catalytic constant of the enzyme reaction ” or “ k cat value ” relate to a parameter for describing the conversion rate of a polypeptide and / or enzyme , which is given in s − 1 and is preferably calculated with the help of the “ enzyme kinetic , single substrate ” function of the sigmaplot 12 . 0 program . the “ maximum enzyme rate ” or “ v max value ” is given in units of μm / s or mm / s and is determined with the help of the linear hanes plot by analogy with the k m value , wherein the function “ enzyme kinetic , single substrate ” of the sigmaplot 12 . 0 program is preferably used for this . the specific activity was calculated by means of v max and the enzyme concentration used according to the equation wherein one unit is defined as hydrolysis of 1 μmol zen per minute at 32 ° c . in 50 mm tris - hcl buffer solution , ph = 8 . 2 . the raw data for determination of the enzyme parameters k m , v max , k cat and the specific activity are given below for the polypeptide having the sequence id no . 1 . table 3 shows the reaction rates at the respective zen substrate concentrations , while fig2 shows the respective michaelis - menton graphs and table 4 shows the corresponding enzyme kinetic parameters . the enzyme solution that was used had a concentration of 68 ng / l . the specific activities of the polypeptides tested are 8 . 25 u / mg for sequence id no . 1 , 10 . 56 u / mg for sequence id no . 2 , 8 . 36 u / mg for sequence id no . 3 , 8 . 33 u / mg for sequence id no . 4 , 8 . 56 u / mg for sequence id no . 5 , 9 . 95 u / mg for sequence id no . 6 , 3 . 83 u / mg for sequence id no . 7 , 2 . 57 u / mg for sequence id no . 8 , 4 . 87 u / mg for sequence id no . 9 , 5 . 12 u / mg for sequence id no . 10 , 3 . 88 u / mg for sequence id no . 11 , 2 . 78 u / mg for sequence id no . 12 , 6 . 43 u / mg for sequence id no . 13 , 3 . 33 u / mg for sequence id no . 14 and 7 . 76 u / mg for sequence id no . 15 . the specific activities of the polypeptide variants tested are listed in table 5 and table 6 . to determine the capabilities of polypeptides to degrade naturally occurring zen and zen derivatives in a complex matrix and at a low ph , contaminated corn was mixed with different concentrations of one of the polypeptides having the sequence id numbers 1 to 6 and the degradation of zen and zen derivatives was tracked . the contaminated corn was ground and used in the degradation experiment wherein a batch would consist of 1 g ground contaminated corn , 8 . 9 ml 100 mm acetate buffer ph 4 . 0 and 0 . 1 ml polypeptide solution . enriched and purified polypeptide solutions were prepared as described in example 5 , diluting them to a concentration of 10 mu / ml , 100 mu / ml and / or 1000 mu / ml . thus in absolute amounts 1 mu (= 1 mu per gram corn ), 10 mu (= 10 mu per gram corn ) and / or 100 mu (= 100 mu per gram of corn ) were used in the batch . each degradation batch was carried out in 25 ml and incubated at 37 ° c . and 100 rpm with agitation . before adding the enzyme and / or after 1 hour of incubation , a sample of 1 ml was taken , the polypeptide was heat inactivated at 99 ° c . for 10 minutes and the sample was stored at − 20 ° c . after thawing the sample , the insoluble constituents were separated by centrifugation . concentrations of zen and zen derivatives were measured by means of lc / ms / ms as described by m . sulyok et al . ( 2007 , anal . bioanal . chem ., 289 , 1505 - 1523 ). the zen and zen derivative content in this corn was 238 ppb for zen , 15 ppb for α - zel , 23 ppb for β - zel , 32 ppb for z14g and 81 ppb for z14s . table 7 shows the percentage reduction in the zen and zen derivative content in the degradation experiment . to prepare additives for hydrolytic cleavage of zen , fermentation supernatants of polypeptides expressed by p . pastoris and having the sequence id numbers 1 , 2 , 6 and 13 were purified by microfiltration and ultrafiltration ( exclusion limit : 10 kda ) under standard conditions and concentrated up to a dry substance concentration of approximately 9 % by weight . following that , these polypeptide - containing solutions were also processed further to form dry powders under standard conditions in a spray dryer ( mini b290 from büchi ). these four powders were subsequently designated as z1 , z2 , z6 and z13 . z1 , z2 , z6 and / or z13 were additionally mixed with bentonite having an average grain size of approximately 1 μm in a ratio of 1 % by weight of additives z1 , z2 , z6 and / or z13 and 99 % by weight bentonite in an overhead agitator . the resulting additives are designated as additives z1 . b , z2 . b , z6 . b and z13 . b . in addition , z1 , z2 , z6 and z13 were mixed with bentonite and a vitamin trace element concentrate in a ratio of 0 . 1 % by weight additive z1 , z2 , z6 and / or z13 , 0 . 9 % by weight vitamin trace elements concentrate and 99 % by weight bentonite in an overhead agitator . the resulting additives were designated as additive z1 . bvs , z2 . bvs , z6 . bvs and z13 . bvs . 100 g of the additives z1 . bvs , z2 . bvs , z6 . bvs and z13 . bvs contained 200 mg iron sulfate , 50 mg copper sulfate , 130 mg zinc oxide , 130 mg manganese oxide , 2 . 55 mg calcium carbonate , 160 mg vitamin e , 6 . 5 mg vitamin k3 , 6 . 5 mg vitamin b1 , 14 mg vitamin b2 , 15 mg vitamin b6 , 0 . 15 mg vitamin b12 , 150 mg nicotinic acid , 30 mg pantothenic acid and 5 . 3 mg folic acid . the additives were extracted for 30 minutes in a 50 mm tris - hcl buffer ph = 8 . 2 and diluted further in the same buffer so that the final concentration of polypeptide was approximately 70 ng / ml . following that , the zearalenone - degrading effect of these solutions was determined as described in example 5 . the corresponding activities were 8 . 230 u / g for z1 , 9 . 310 u / g for z2 , 9 . 214 u / g for z6 , 83 u / g for z1 . b , 92 u / g for z2 . b , 90 u / g for z2 . c , 57 u / g for z13 . b , 8 u / g for z1 . bvs , 9 u / g for z2 . bvs , 9 u / g for z6 . bvs and 6 u / g for z13 . bvs . the ability to degrade zen derivatives α - zel , β - zel , α - zal , β - zal , z14g , z14s and zan by the additives z1 , z2 , z6 , z13 , z1 . b , z2 . b , z6 . b , z13 . b , z1 . bvs , z2 . bvs , z6 . bvs and z13 . bvs was tested as described in example 4 , but instead of 100 μl of a cell lysate , 100 μl of a polypeptide solution with a polypeptide concentration of approximately 70 ng / ml was used . after incubating for 6 hours , only max . 15 % of the starting amount was present as unhydrolyzed zen derivative . to determine the temperature optimum of the polypeptides having seq id numbers 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 12 and 15 , they were cloned with a c - terminal 6 × his tag as described in example 1 , expressed in e . coli and purified . in preliminary experiments , the concentration at which a complete conversion of zen could be ensured under the experimental conditions was determined ( teorell - stenhagen buffer ( teorell and stenhagen , a universal buffer for the ph range of 2 . 0 to 12 . 0 . biochem ztschrft , 1938 , 299 : 416 - 419 ), ph 7 . 5 with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa at 30 ° c .) after an experimental time of 3 hours . the preparations were used in the concentrations thus determined in the degradation batches for determining the optimum temperature . the experiments were carried out in a pcr cycler ( eppendorf ) using the temperature gradient function at 20 ° c .± 10 ° c ., at 40 ° c .± 10 ° c . and , if necessary , at 60 ° c .± 10 ° c . ( 10 temperatures in the respective range ; temperatures predefined by the pcr cycler ). for the batches teorell - stenhagen buffer was mixed with the corresponding enzyme concentration and 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa plus 5 ppm zen at the respective optimum ph . batches with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa and 5 ppm zen without addition of an enzyme were used as negative controls . after 0 h , 0 . 5 h , 1 h , 2 h and 3 h incubation time , a sample was taken per incubation temperature , heat inactivated for 10 minutes at 99 ° c . and stored at − 20 ° c . after thawing , the samples were transferred to hplc vials . zen , hzen and dhzen were analyzed by hplc - dad . to do so the metabolites were separated chromatographically on a zorbax sb - aq c18 column with the dimensions 4 . 6 mm × 150 mm and a particle size of 5 μm . a methanol - water mixture with 5 mm ammonium acetate was used as the mobile phase . the uv signal at 274 nm was recorded . the metabolites were quantified by including entrained standard series . the optimum temperatures were determined on the basis of the slopes determined for the degradation curves , where the optimum temperature was defined as the temperature at which the slope was the greatest . table 8 shows the optimum temperatures . to determine the thermal stability of polypeptides with the seq id numbers 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 12 and 15 , they were cloned with a c - terminal 6 × his tag as described in example 1 , expressed in e . coli and purified . they were then incubated in the pcr cycler with a gradient function at the respective optimum temperature ± 10 ° c . after 0 min , 15 min , 30 min and 60 min , one sample was taken per batch and per temperature . these pre - incubated samples were then used in a degradation experiment in the teorell - stenhagen buffer at the respective optimum ph with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa and 5 ppm zen . in preliminary experiments , the concentration at which a complete reaction of zen could be ensured after an experimental duration of 3 hours under the experimental conditions ( teorell - stenhagen buffer , ph 7 . 5 with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa at 30 ° c .) was determined for each polypeptide . the respective enzyme concentration thereby determined was used in the batches . the degradation batches were incubated at 30 ° c . sampling was performed after 0 h , 0 . 5 h , 1 h , 2 h and 3 h incubation time . next , the polypeptides were heat - inactivated for 10 minutes at 99 ° c . and the samples were stored at − 20 ° c . after thawing the samples were transferred to hplc vials and analyzed by hplc - dad , as described in example 8 . thermal stability is defined as the temperature at which the polypeptides have a 50 % residual activity in comparison with the optimum temperature after 15 minutes of pre - incubation . as a measure of the activity , the slope in the degradation curves is used . the temperature stabilities are shown in table 9 . to determine the optimum ph of the polypeptides having the seq id numbers 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 12 and 15 , they were cloned with a c - terminal 6 × his tag as described in example 1 , expressed in e . coli and purified . in preliminary experiments , the concentration at which a complete conversion of zen could be ensured after an experimental duration of 3 hours under the experimental conditions was determined for each polypeptide ( teorell - stenhagen buffer , ph 7 . 5 with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa at 30 ° c .). the respective enzyme concentration was used in the batches . the degradation batches were carried out in stenhagen buffer at ph levels of 3 . 0 , 4 . 0 , 5 . 0 , 5 . 5 , 6 . 0 , 6 . 5 , 7 . 0 , 7 . 5 , 8 . 0 , 8 . 5 , 9 . 0 , 9 . 5 , 10 . 0 , 11 . 0 and 12 . 0 . for the degradation batches with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa and 5 ppm zen , incubation was done at 30 ° c . batches in teorell - stenhagen buffer were used as the negative controls at ph 3 . 0 , ph 7 . 0 and ph 12 . 0 with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa and 5 ppm zen . sampling was performed after an incubation time of 0 h , 0 . 5 h , 1 h , 2 h and 3 h . next the polypeptides were heat - inactivated for 10 minutes at 99 ° c . and the samples were stored at − 20 ° c . after thawing , the samples were transferred to hplc vials and analyzed by hplc - dad as described in example 8 . the optimum ph was determined on the basis of the slopes found for the degradation curves , wherein the ph at which the slope was the greatest was defined as the optimum ph . table 10 shows the optimum ph levels . to determine the ph stability , the polypeptides from example 10 were incubated for one hour at 25 ° c . in teorell - stenhagen buffer at ph 5 . 0 and at the respective optimum ph . these pre - incubated samples were used in a degradation experiment in the same concentrations of the respective polypeptide as those used to determine the optimum ph in 100 mm tris - hcl buffer at the respective optimum ph with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa and 5 pm zen in the batch . the batches were incubated at the respective optimum temperature . sampling was performed after 0 h , 0 . 5 h , 1 h , 2 h and 3 h incubation time . next the polypeptides were heat inactivated for 10 minutes at 99 ° c . and the samples were stored at − 20 ° c . after thawing , the samples were transferred to hplc vials and analyzed by means of hplc - dad as described in example 8 . the ph stability is defined as the percentage residual activity of the polypeptides at ph 5 . 0 relative to the activity at the respective optimum ph . the ph stabilities for 5 . 0 are shown in table 11 . the degradation of zen to hzen and dhzen was performed as an example for the polypeptides with sequence id numbers 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 11 , 12 and 15 . the degradation batches were carried in teorell - stenhagen buffer ph 7 . 5 with 0 . 1 mg / ml bsa and 5 ppm zen . the degradation batches were incubated at 30 ° c . sampling was performed after 0 h , 0 . 5 h , 1 h , 2 h and 3 h incubation time . next the polypeptides were heat - inactivated for 10 minutes at 99 ° c . and the samples were stored at − 20 ° c . after thawing , the samples were transferred to hplc vails and analyzed by hplc - dad , as described in example 8 . the polypeptide concentration was selected so that complete degradation was achieved after approximately 3 hours . fig3 shows the degradation kinetics , where the y axis shows the concentration of zen , hzen and dhzen in micromoles per liter ( μmol / l ) and the x axis shows the incubation time in hours ( h ). | 8 |
the present invention simplifies the process of creating a midi file by automatically adding accompaniment tracks to a main melody track created by the user . the user may music editing software on a cellular phone or computer , for example , to create the midi files according to the present invention . please refer to fig2 . fig2 is a diagram illustrating a main melody 60 entered by a user according to the present invention . fig2 shows the first seven notes of the children &# 39 ; s , song “ twinkle , twinkle little star ” as an example for the main melody 60 . for creating the main melody 60 , a user would be presented with an interface allowing the user to select a type of note ( such as a whole note , half note , quarter note , etc .) and a pitch of the note ( such as a , c , g , etc .). the user could add notes one note at a time until the main melody 60 shown in fig2 is complete . once the main melody 60 is entered , the main melody 60 can then be converted into a standard midi track format . please refer back to fig1 . the midi file 30 shown in fig1 contains the first track 36 , the second track 38 , and the third track 40 . for showing how the main melody 60 can be converted into a midi track of the midi file 30 , the second track 38 will be used as an example . please refer to fig3 and fig4 . fig3 is a detailed diagram of the second track 38 of the midi file 30 shown in fig1 . fig4 is a chart showing timing of each event in the second track 38 . suppose that the second track 38 contains the main melody 60 created by the user . the present invention first involves analyzing the main melody 60 for creating the second track 38 based on the main melody 60 . the second track 38 contains a track header 50 , a plurality of delta times 52 , a plurality of non - note events 54 , and a plurality of note - events 56 . the delta time 52 is placed before each non - note event 54 and note - event 56 for indicating a period of elapsed time before that event . since the non - note events 54 do not play any notes in the second track 38 , the delta time 52 before each non - note event 54 is equal to “ 00 ”. the delta time 52 is varied to change the duration of notes that are specified in the note - events 56 . for instance , each quarter note would have a delta time 52 of 78 ( measured in hexadecimal ; equal to 120 decimal ) clock ticks . all of the non - note events 54 and note - events 56 are shown in rows of fig4 . seven columns in fig4 show an event number given for reference , the delta time 52 value , a play sequence indicator , the byte representation of the event , a period of the event , a type of note played , and the event type . the delta time 52 value shows the amount of time that elapses between the previous event and the current event . the event period shows how long each event is valid for . three different event types are shown in fig4 . the non - note events 54 do not affect audible notes , the note - on events are the start of new notes , and the note - off events are the endings of notes . to further illustrate the events shown in fig4 the first six events will be briefly described . the first two events are non - note events , each having a delta time of “ 0x00 ” ( hexadecimal ) preceding it . the third event is a note - on event having a delta time of “ 0x00 ” preceding it . the byte representation for this event is “ 90 3c 64 ”, wherein the “ 3c ” byte represents a pitch of the note being played and the “ 64 ” byte represents a volume of the note . by looking at the delta time 52 for the following event , which is “ 0x78 ”, we can determine that the event period for this event is equal to “ 0x78 ”, meaning that this is a quarter note . the fourth event is a note - off event having a delta time of “ 0x78 ” preceding it . the byte representation for this event is “ 90 3c 00 ”, meaning that the volume of the previous note has now been set to “ 00 ”, which is zero volume . since the delta time 52 immediately following this note - off event is equal to “ 0x00 ”, this event has a period of 0 . the fifth event is a note - on event having a delta time of “ 0x00 ” preceding it . the following delta time 52 is “ 0x78 ”, making the fifth event another quarter note . in fact , the fifth event plays the same note as the previous note immediately after the previous note has stopped playing . the sixth event is a note - off event having a delta time of “ 0x78 ” preceding it . the sixth event terminates the note that was begun in the fifth event . therefore , so far a total of two notes have been played , with each note having the same pitch and same duration . this is equal to playing the first two notes shown in fig2 . please refer to fig5 . fig5 is a diagram illustrating the main melody 60 of fig2 being divided into measures . since 4 / 4 time is the most popular timing for songs used in electronic devices , 4 / 4 time will be used to break the main melody 60 into a first measure 62 and a second measure 64 . the first measure 62 contains four quarter notes and the second measure 64 contains two quarter notes and a half note . please refer to fig6 . fig6 is a chart of an event buffer showing all of the note - on events shown in fig4 . after the user creates the main melody 60 , the each note will be added to an event buffer . each note - on event is stored along with its event period , and the measure that the note is placed in . for example , the first note has a tone of “ 3c ”, which is converted into “ 60 ” in decimal . the event period for the first note is “ 0x78 ”, which is the same as 600 ms . the event buffer for the first measure will hold four quarter notes and the event buffer for the second measure will hold two quarter notes and one half note . once the main melody 60 has been divided into measures and written to a track of the midi file 30 ( in this case , the second track 38 ), the user is prompted to enter a desired key of the accompaniment tracks for each measure of the main melody 60 . if there was a key change in the main melody - 60 , the key of the accompaniment could easily be changed by specifying a different key for those corresponding measures of the accompaniment . please refer to fig7 . fig7 illustrates assigning keys to measures of the main melody 60 for changing a key of the accompaniment . as the example in fig7 shows , the first measure 62 is assigned an accompaniment key of d , and the second measure 64 is assigned an accompaniment key of e . in addition to specifying the key of the accompaniment corresponding to each measure of the main melody 60 , the user is also asked to select a style of music such as jazz , dance , etc . based on the style selection made by the user , accompaniment measures will be retrieved from a database . for simplicity , the database only stores accompaniment measures in the key of c . any other accompaniment keys will be generated by shifting from the key of c . please refer to fig8 . fig8 illustrates shifting a key of the accompaniment according to the present invention . an accompaniment database 74 stored in a memory 72 contains accompaniment measures for each available style of accompaniment music , and feeds these accompaniment measures to a key shifter 70 . the key shifter 70 is a device used to shift a key of the accompaniment music based on a measure key input to the key shifter 70 . for instance , to change a key of the accompaniment from c to d , an increase of two half steps is required . therefore , a value of “ 2 ” could be added to the pitch of all notes in the accompaniment measures retrieved from the database . please refer to fig9 . fig9 is a diagram of shifting the key of accompaniment tracks according to the present invention . the first measure 62 of the main melody 60 is shown as having a key of d selected for the accompaniment chord therefore the accompaniment needs to be shifted from the key of c to the key of d . a value of “ 2 ” is then added to the pitch of each note in the accompaniment tracks . please refer to fig1 . fig1 is a chart illustrating the offsets of different keys from the key of c . to go from the key of c to the key of a , for example , a value of “ 9 ” could be added to the pitch of each note or a value of “ 3 ” could be subtracted from the pitch of each note , depending on the desired octave . please refer to fig1 . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating creating the midi file 30 according to the present invention method . steps contained in the flowchart will be explained below . step 142 : the user edits the notes of the main melody 60 by selecting a duration and pitch of each note ; step 144 : determine if the user is finished editing the main melody 60 ; if so , go to step 150 ; if not , go back to step 142 ; step 150 : calculate the total number of measures of the main melody 60 ; go to step 194 ; step 194 : the user edits the accompaniment key corresponding to each measure of the main melody 60 ; step 196 : determine if the user is finished editing the accompaniment keys ; if so , go to step 198 ; if not , go back to step 194 ; step 198 : the user selects the style of music for the accompaniment such as jazz , dance , etc ; step 200 : combine the main melody 60 with the accompaniment measure - by - measure based on the selected style and key of the accompaniment , and output the midi file 30 ; go to step 250 ; and please refer to fig1 . fig1 is a flowchart further illustrating calculating the total number of measures in the main melody 60 ( step 150 in the flowchart of fig1 ) according to the present invention method . steps contained in the flowchart will be explained below . step 154 : calculate the total period of a measure based on the period of a quarter note ; step 158 : determine if the end of the main melody track has been reached ; if so , go to step 176 ; if not , go to step 160 ; step 164 : determine if this event is a note - on event ; if so , go to step 168 ; if not , go to step 166 ; step 166 : adjust the timer by adding up all previous delta times ; go to step 158 ; step 170 : determine if this event is over the period of the current measure ; if so , go to step 172 ; if not , go to step 174 ; step 172 : create a buffer for the next measure ; step 174 : put this event into the corresponding measure buffer ; go to step 166 ; and please refer to fig1 . fig1 is a flowchart further illustrating combining the main melody . 60 with accompaniment tracks ( step 200 in the flowchart of fig1 ) according to the present invention method . steps contained in the flowchart will be explained below . step 204 : open the midi file 30 for writing ; step 206 : write the midi file header 32 ; step 208 : determine if all tracks have been written to the midi file 30 ; if yes , go to step 220 ; if not , go to step 210 ; step 210 : write the track header for the current track ; step 212 : determine if all data for all measures has been written for the current track ; if so , go back to step 208 ; if not , go to step 214 ; step 214 : read the style and key for the accompaniment corresponding to the current measure ; step 216 : shift the key of the accompaniment for this measure based on the selected key ; step 218 : write the data for this measure into the midi file 30 ; go back to step 212 ; step 220 : close the file to finish the writing process ; and compared to the prior art , the present invention method allows users to create a midi file by simply editing a main melody , selecting an accompaniment key for each measure of the main melody , and selecting a style of the accompaniment . this improved process for creating midi files allows users to create their own songs quickly and easily . moreover , even users with no knowledge of music theory can still create sophisticated music files . those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention . accordingly , the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims . | 6 |
hereinafter , exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an image forming system according to an exemplary embodiment . this image forming system includes an image forming apparatus 1 which is operated as a so - called multi - function peripheral having a scanning function , a printing function , a copying function , and a facsimile function , a network 2 connected to the image forming apparatus 1 , a terminal apparatus 3 connected to the network 2 , a facsimile apparatus 4 connected to the network 2 , and a server apparatus 5 connected to the network 2 . here , the network 2 includes an internet line or a telephone line . in addition , the terminal apparatus 3 instructs the image forming apparatus 1 to form images via the network 2 , and includes , for example , a pc ( personal computer ). in addition , the facsimile apparatus 4 transmits and receives facsimiles to and from the image forming apparatus 1 via the network 2 . further , the server apparatus 5 transmits and receives data ( including programs ) to and from the image forming apparatus 1 via the network 2 . in addition , the image forming apparatus 1 includes an image reading unit 10 which reads images recorded on a recording material such as paper , an image forming unit 20 which forms images on a recording material such as paper , a user interface ( ui ) 30 which receives instructions related to operations using the scanning function , the printing function , the copying function , and the facsimile function from a user and displays messages to the user , a transmission and reception unit 40 which transmits and receives data to and from the terminal apparatus 3 , the facsimile apparatus 4 and the server apparatus 5 via the network 2 , and a controller 50 which controls operations of the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , the ui 30 , and the transmission and reception unit 40 . further , in the image forming apparatus 1 , the scanning function is realized by the image reading unit 10 , the printing function is realized by the image forming unit 20 , the copying function is realized by the image reading unit 10 and the image forming unit 20 , and the facsimile function is realized by the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , and the transmission and reception unit 40 . in addition , the transmission and reception unit 40 may be provided as one for the internet line and one for a telephone line separately . the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , the ui 30 , the transmission and reception unit 40 , and the like are an example of the functional units . fig2 is a hardware block diagram illustrating an example of the internal configuration of the controller 50 provided in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in fig1 . the controller 50 as an example of the information processing device includes a cpu ( central processing unit ) 51 as an example of the execution unit which controls the respective units of the image forming apparatus 1 by executing various operations , and a bus bridge 52 which is connected to the cpu 51 and transmits and receives a variety of data to and from the cpu 51 . in the controller 50 , the bus bridge 52 is connected to a memory bus 53 which performs transmission and reception of data at a first clock and a pci ( peripheral component interconnect ) bus 54 which performs transmission and reception of data at a second clock of lower frequency than the first clock . in addition , the controller 50 includes a rom ( read only memory ) 55 , a nonvolatile ram ( random access memory ) 56 , and a volatile ram 57 . the rom 55 , the nonvolatile ram 56 , and the volatile ram 57 are connected to the memory bus 53 . further , the controller 50 includes a ui interface circuit ( ui if ) 61 for controlling the ui 30 , a scan interface circuit ( scan if ) 62 for controlling the image reading unit 10 , a print interface circuit ( print if ) 63 for controlling the image forming unit 20 , a network interface circuit ( network if ) 64 for controlling the transmission and reception unit 40 , and a general purpose interface circuit ( general purpose if ) 65 for controlling a general purpose interface such as a usb ( universal serial bus ). in addition , the ui if 61 , the scan if 62 , the print if 63 , the network if 64 , and the general purpose if 65 are connected to the pci bus 54 . in addition , in the exemplary embodiment , a card reader 70 which reads and writes data from and into , for example , an installed memory card is connected to the general purpose if 65 . the ui if 61 , the scan if 62 , the print if 63 , the network if 64 , the general purpose if 65 , and the pci bus 54 are an example of the communication unit . in addition , the controller 50 further includes a clock generator 58 which generates a reference clock which is used as a clock reference where the respective units ( the cpu 51 and the like ) constituting the controller 50 operate , and a timer 59 which performs clocking according to an operation of the cpu 51 and the like . the controller 50 is powered on and off by a main switch msw . in addition , the ui 30 , the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , the transmission and reception unit 40 , and the card reader 70 are powered on and off by sub - switches ssw 1 to ssw 5 which are controlled by the controller 50 . the controller 50 in the exemplary embodiment is constituted by , for example , a one - chip microcontroller . however , the controller 50 may be constituted by plural chips . in addition , in the controller 50 of the exemplary embodiment , the cpu 51 can directly access the rom 55 , the nonvolatile ram 56 , and the volatile ram 57 . in the following description , the rom 55 , the nonvolatile ram 56 , and the volatile ram 57 connected to the memory bus 53 are collectively referred to as a “ main memory ” in some cases . here , the rom 55 as a storage device includes a so - called mask rom , a variety of proms ( programmable roms : for example , an otp rom ( one time programmable rom ), a uv - eprom ( ultra - violet erasable programmable rom ), an eeprom ( electrically erasable programmable rom )), a flash memory , and the like . in addition , in this example , the flash memory is used as the rom 55 . in addition , the nonvolatile ram 56 as an example of the storage device includes a nonvolatile memory which can maintain information even if power is not supplied thereto , such as an mram ( magnetoresistive ram ), a feram ( ferroelectric ram ), a pram ( phase change ram ), a reram ( resistance ram ). in addition , in this example , the mram which can read and write data at higher speed than the flash memory used as the rom 55 , is used as the nonvolatile ram 56 . in addition , the volatile ram 57 includes a volatile memory which may not maintain information unless power is supplied , such as a dram ( dynamic ram ) or an sram ( static ram ). further , in this example , the dram is used as the volatile ram 57 . in the exemplary embodiment , the nonvolatile ram 56 and the volatile ram 57 read and write data together at the first clock . for this reason , the nonvolatile ram 56 has a reading and writing performance equivalent to that of the volatile ram 57 ( in this example , dram ). when the main switch msw is turned off , storage contents of register groups and cache memories ( also constituted by a volatile memory ) provided in the cpu 51 are cleared . in addition , storage contents of the volatile ram 57 provided in the controller 50 are also cleared . on the other hand , even if the main switch msw is turned off , storage contents of the rom 55 and the nonvolatile ram 56 provided in the controller 50 are not cleared . further , the nonvolatile ram 56 maintains contents stored before the main switch msw is turned off . further , when an initial program loader ( ipl ) described later is also activated , storage contents of the register groups and the cache memories provided in the cpu 51 are cleared ( reset ). fig3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a memory map formed by the above - described main memory ( the rom 55 , the nonvolatile ram 56 , and the volatile ram 57 ). in this example , a compressed os region a 01 and a compressed program region a 02 are disposed in the rom 55 . an os development region a 11 , a program / variable development region a 12 , and a history region a 13 are disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 . in addition , the history region a 13 includes an activation flag region a 13 a which stores an activation flag as an example of the activation history , a constituent element status region a 13 b which stores a constituent element status , and a log region a 13 c which stores a log . in addition , a work region a 21 and a buffer region a 22 are disposed in the volatile ram 57 . among them , the compressed os region a 01 disposed in the rom 55 stores an initial program loader ( ipl ) and an operation system ( os ) ( compressed os ) as an example of the compressed basic program , which are programs executed by the cpu 51 in the controller 50 , when the image forming apparatus 1 is activated . in addition , the compressed program region a 02 disposed in the rom 55 stores a program as an example of the control program for operating each constituent element capable of being mounted in the image forming apparatus 1 of the exemplary embodiment , and variables as an example of the state variables used in the program , in a state of being collected and compressed for each constituent element . for example , in the example shown in fig3 , the compressed program region a 02 stores a compressed program ( compressed program for constituent element 1 ) where a program and variables for operating a constituent element 1 are compressed , a compressed program ( compressed program for constituent element 2 ) where a program and variables for operating a constituent element 2 are compressed , a compressed program ( compressed program for constituent element 3 ) where a program and variables for operating a constituent element 3 are compressed , and the like . in addition , the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , described here respectively correspond to the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , the ui 30 , the transmission and reception unit 40 , the card reader 70 , and the like described above , which are attachable to and detachable from the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 , and perform predefined functions singly or along with other constituent elements when installed in the image forming apparatus 1 . as such , in the exemplary embodiment , plural compressed programs corresponding to the respective constituent elements capable of being mounted in the image forming apparatus 1 are stored in advance in the compressed program region a 02 disposed in the rom 55 , regardless of constituent elements ( the image forming apparatus 1 shown in fig1 does not include the card reader 70 ) of the image forming apparatus 1 which are actually used . thereby , exchange of the rom 55 or update of the programs stored in the rom 55 due to change in a device constituent element of the image forming apparatus 1 may not be performed . next , the os development region a 11 disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 stores an os obtained by the cpu 51 developing ( decompressing ) the compressed os stored in the rom 55 . the program / variable development region a 12 stores a program and variables which are obtained by the cpu 51 developing the compressed program read from the above - described compressed program region a 02 . for example , in the example shown in fig3 , the program / variable development region a 12 stores a program and variables for operating the constituent element 1 ( program / variable for constituent element 1 ), a program and variables for operating the constituent element 2 ( program / variable for constituent element 2 ), a program and variables for operating the constituent element 3 ( program / variable for constituent element 3 ), . . . . in addition , the variables are parameters which can be rewritten so as to correspond to variations in functions of the respective constituent elements . the compressed program has an initial value of each of the variables . the variables will be described later . in addition , in the history region a 13 disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 , the activation flag region a 13 a stores a flag ( activation flag ) indicating whether or not the image forming apparatus 1 is activated in the past . here , the activation flag region a 13 a stores “ on ( 1 )” if the image forming apparatus 1 is activated in the past , and stores “ off ( 0 )” if the image forming apparatus 1 is not activated in the past . in addition , in the history region a 13 disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 , the constituent element status region a 13 b stores a device constituent element when the image forming apparatus is previously activated ( hereinafter , referred to as a “ previous device constituent element ”) as a constituent element status . here , in the constituent element status region a 13 b , in relation to each constituent element which may be installed in the image forming apparatus 1 , “ on ( 1 )” is stored if there is the constituent element , and , “ off ( 0 )” is stored if there is no constituent element . furthermore , in the history region a 13 disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 , the log region a 13 c stores contents of instructions received by the image forming apparatus 1 , contents when a device constituent element is changed , contents of generated errors , and the like , as log data . in addition , the work region a 21 disposed in the volatile ram 57 stores data which is temporarily generated when the cpu 51 executes programs . the buffer region a 22 disposed in the volatile ram 57 stores data regarding instructions ( data output to the respective ifs ( in this example , the ui if 61 , the scan if 62 , the print if 63 , the network if 64 , and the general purpose if 65 ) via the pci bus 54 ) output to each constituent element of the image forming apparatus 1 when the cpu 51 processes data . the variables are parameters which are necessary for the controller 50 to refer to when performing functions of each constituent element and vary when each constituent element performs functions . therefore , the variables may be referred to as parameter variables in some cases . for example , if a constituent element is the image reading unit 10 , the variables are parameters regarding a ccd for performing image reading . characteristics of the ccd vary with the passage of time or temperature . therefore , parameters for correcting disparities due to temperature , heat , voltage , and the like of the ccd are necessary as variables . in addition , the variables vary according to variations in states of the image reading unit 10 . if a constituent element is the image forming unit 20 , an amount of paper or the like , an amount of toner , and the like are necessary as variables . in addition , if a constituent element is the transmission and reception unit 40 , a calendar , the time of day , a period ( timer ), and the like are necessary as variables . as described above , the variables are parameters corresponding to constituent element states , and thus are necessary to read and rewrite from a connected constituent element , for example , even when the image forming apparatus 1 is powered on ( main switch msw described later ) and is activated . in addition , in a case where a constituent element is operated and thereby variables vary , the variables are necessary to rewrite for each case of the variation . for example , if a constituent element is the image forming unit 20 , when a cassette holding paper or the like is drawn and inserted , an amount of paper or the like may be increased or decreased . therefore , the image forming unit 20 acquires variables regarding an amount of paper or the like using the drawing and inserting of the cassette as a trigger and transmits the acquired variables to the controller 50 . in other words , the constituent elements such as the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , and the transmission and reception unit 40 detect variations in the respective states and transmit variables to the controller 50 . in addition , in the controller 50 , the cpu 51 rewrites variables of the program / variable development region a 12 corresponding to each constituent element . the variables are referred to by the cpu 51 in the controller 50 and are used to control the respective constituent elements such as the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , and the transmission and reception unit 40 . in addition , some of the variables are transmitted to the ui 30 and are used for display of states of the constituent elements such as the image reading unit 10 , the image forming unit 20 , and the transmission and reception unit 40 , and issuing of alerts for paper supply request or the like to the user . next , an activation process of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described . fig4 is a flowchart illustrating an activation process of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in fig1 . fig4 shows an operation of the cpu 51 . here , the image forming apparatus 1 includes a constituent element 1 , a constituent element 2 , a constituent element 3 , . . . . in addition , the constituent element 1 , the constituent element 2 , the constituent element 3 , . . . are connected to the image forming apparatus 1 via the respective ifs ( in the example shown in fig2 , the ui if 61 , the scan if 62 , the print if 63 , the network if 64 , and the general purpose if 65 ) provided in the controller 50 of the image forming apparatus 1 . in addition , the controller 50 of the image forming apparatus 1 enters on and off states by the main switch msw , and the constituent element 1 , the constituent element 2 , the constituent element 3 , . . . enter on and off states by sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . . when the main switch msw of the controller 50 is turned on ( step s 1 ), the cpu 51 reads the initial program loader ( ipl ) stored in the os region a 01 of the rom 55 via the bus bridge 52 and the memory bus 53 and activates the read ipl ( step s 2 ). when the ipl is executed , the cpu 51 first detects device constituent elements of the image forming apparatus 1 using the respective ifs connected via the bus bridge 52 and the pci bus 54 ( step s 3 ). here , it is assumed that the constituent element 1 , the constituent element 2 , the constituent element 3 , . . . included in the image forming apparatus 1 are detected . in addition , in step s 3 , for example , a hardware method of detecting whether or not a connector or the like is physically connected to each if may be used , and , for example , a software method of detecting whether or not communication can be performed with a connection target via each if may be used . next , an activation flag is read and acquired from the activation flag region a 13 a in the history region a 13 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 4 ). in addition , the cpu 51 determines whether or not the activation flag is off ( 0 ), that is , whether or not the present activation is an initial activation ( step s 5 ). hereinafter , a case where affirmative determination ( yes ) is performed in step s 4 will be described , and a case ( a case of a in fig4 ) where negative determination ( no ) is performed will be described later ( refer to fig6 described later ). in a case where affirmative determination ( yes ) is performed in step s 5 , that is , the present activation process is an initial activation process , the cpu 51 reads a compressed os from the compressed os region a 01 of the rom 55 so as to be developed , and stores the developed os in the os development region a 11 in the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 6 ). in addition , the developed os ( hereinafter , referred to as an os ) is activated from the os development region a 11 in the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 7 ). from here , the cpu 51 is changed to the ipl and is controlled by the os . here , steps s 6 and s 7 are an example of the third procedure . next , the cpu 51 turns on a sub - switch sswx ( where x is 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ) corresponding to a single constituent element included in the device constituent elements via the controller 50 ( step s 8 ). it is determined whether or not the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . of all the constituent elements are turned on in the present device constituent elements detected in step s 3 ( step s 9 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 9 , the flow returns to step s 8 where the sub - switches sswx of the remaining constituent elements of the present device constituent elements are continued to be turned on . as described above , the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . are controlled by the controller 50 . when the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . are turned on , the constituent element 1 , the constituent element 2 , the constituent element 3 , . . . respectively perform initialization ( refer to fig5 described later ). each constituent element includes a processor or a rom for controlling the constituent element by executing various operations in the same manner as the cpu 51 . in addition , when the initialization is performed , stored contents of a register group and a cache memory ( also constituted by a volatile memory ) provided in the processor are cleared , and then a program for controlling each constituent element is read from the rom and is set in the register group . thereby , transition to an operable state is performed . in addition , the constituent element 1 , the constituent element 2 , the constituent element 3 , . . . also perform the initialization when receiving a reset signal rst as an example of the initialization signal from the cpu 51 . next , the cpu 51 reads ( transmits ) a compressed program corresponding to a single constituent element included in the device constituent elements from the compressed program region a 02 of the rom 55 , develops the compressed program read , and stores a program and variables obtained by developing the compressed program in the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 10 ). thereafter , the cpu 51 activates the program ( step s 11 ) and transmits a response request signal req ( denoted by a req signal in fig4 ) for establishing communication ( synchronizing ) with the corresponding constituent element ( step s 12 ). steps s 10 and s 11 are an example of the first procedure . in relation to the present device constituent elements detected in step s 3 , it is determined whether or not storage of programs and variables corresponding to all the constituent elements in the program / variable development region a 12 , activation of the programs , and transmission of the response request signal req are completed ( step s 13 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 13 , the flow returns to step s 10 , compressed programs corresponding to the remaining constituent elements of the present device constituent elements are read , and development of the compressed programs read , storage of programs and variables obtained through the development , activation of the programs , and transmission of the response request signal req are continued to be performed . then , when finishing a process ( response process ) for the response request signal req , the constituent element 1 , the constituent element 2 , the constituent element 3 , . . . transmit an affirmative response signal ack to the cpu 51 via the respective ifs . therefore , the cpu 51 determines whether or not the affirmative response signal ack is received ( step s 14 ). if affirmative determination ( yes ) is performed in step s 14 , the cpu 51 requests the constituent elements from which the affirmative response signal ack is received in step s 14 to transmit variables and receives the variables . in addition , the cpu 51 stores ( rewrites ) the variables in regions corresponding to the constituent elements of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 with the received variables ( step s 15 ). in relation to the present device constituent elements detected in step s 3 , it is determined whether or not reception of the affirmative response signal ack corresponding to all the constituent elements , and reception and storage of variables are completed ( step s 16 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 16 , the flow returns to step s 14 , and reception of the affirmative response signal ack corresponding to the remaining constituent elements of the present device constituent elements , and reception and storage of variables are continued to be performed . in addition , if the affirmative response signal ack is not received in step s 14 ( negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 14 ), the cpu 51 transmits generation of errors ( error information ) to the ui 30 ( step s 20 ), stopping ( halt ) ( denoted by hlt in fig4 ) may be performed , or , as described later , the reset signal rst may be transmitted to a constituent element from which the affirmative response signal ack is not received so as to perform initialization again . in a case where the initialization is performed again , the response request signal req is transmitted again , and it is determined whether or not the affirmative response signal ack may be received ( refer to fig6 and 9 described later ). the cpu 51 stores “ on ( 1 )” in the activation flag region a 13 a in the history region a 13 of the nonvolatile ram 56 as an activation flag ( step s 17 ). next , the cpu 51 stores a constituent element status that constituent elements which exist are in an “ on ( 1 )” state and constituent elements which do not exist are in an “ off ( 0 )” state , in the constituent element status region a 13 b in the history region a 13 ( step s 18 ). in addition , a log on which the device constituent elements and contents of executed processes are reflected is created , and the created log is stored in the log region a 13 c of the history region a 13 ( step s 19 ). in this way , the activation process of the image forming apparatus 1 finishes , and the image forming apparatus 1 enters an operable state ( standby state ). when the use of the image forming apparatus 1 finishes , the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . and the main switch msw are turned off . this is performed through a series of operations where a user gives an instruction for turning off the switches to the ui 30 , thus the cpu 51 turns off the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . and then turns off the main switch msw . in addition , when the image forming apparatus 1 is not used , in order to reduce power ( energy ) consumption ( save energy ), the cpu 51 may perform determination according to predefined conditions , and turn off the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . and the main switch msw . fig5 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the communication control between the controller 50 and the respective constituent elements ( constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 ,) in the initial activation process . in fig5 , the time proceeds from the above to the below on the figure . in fig5 , the same steps as shown in fig4 are given the same reference numerals . in addition , in a case where the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . respectively are indicated so as to be divided , the numbers of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . are added following the hyphen (-). as described above , the controller 50 , that is , the cpu 51 ( denoted by the controller 50 in fig5 , and , hereinafter , denoted by the controller 50 ( cpu 51 )) performs communication with the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . via the respective ifs so as to acquire variables from the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . provided in the image forming apparatus 1 . the controller 50 , that is , the cpu 51 reads and develops a compressed os , stores the developed os ( step s 6 ), and activates the os ( step s 7 ). in addition , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) turns on the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . ( steps s 8 - 1 , s 8 - 2 , s 8 - 3 , . . . ). thereby , each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . performs initialization ( steps s 101 - 1 , s 101 - 2 , 101 - 3 , . . . ). the initialization is performed independently for each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . . in addition , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) reads and develops the compressed program for constituent element 1 , the compressed program for constituent element 2 , the compressed program for constituent element 3 , . . . corresponding to the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , stores the developed program / variable for constituent element 1 , program / variable for constituent element 2 , program / variable for constituent element 3 , . . . , and activates the program for constituent element 1 , the program for constituent element 2 , the program for constituent element 3 , . . . ( steps s 10 - 1 , s 10 - 2 , s 10 - 3 , . . . , and steps s 11 - 1 , s 11 - 2 , s 11 - 3 , . . . ). further , response request signals req 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . are respectively transmitted to the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ( steps s 12 - 1 , s 12 - 2 , s 12 - 3 , . . . ). when receiving the corresponding response request signal req 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . perform a process ( response process ) for response to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) ( steps s 102 - 1 , s 102 - 2 , s 102 - 3 , . . . ). in addition , the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . transmit affirmative response signals ack 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ). the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) receives the affirmative response signals ack 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . from the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ( steps s 14 - 1 , s 14 - 2 , s 14 - 3 , . . . ). thereby , communication is established between the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) and each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . . thereafter , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) acquires variables from each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , and rewrites variables by storing the variables in corresponding regions ( refer to fig3 ) of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( steps s 15 - 1 , s 15 - 2 , s 15 - 3 , . . . ). thereby , the image forming apparatus 1 enters an operable state ( standby state ). in fig5 , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) reads and develops the next compressed program and stores the developed program and variables without waiting for reception of the affirmative response signals ack after transmitting the response request signals req ( for example , the compressed program for constituent element 2 is read and developed in step s 10 - 2 after the response request signal req 1 is transmitted in step s 12 - 1 of fig5 ). this is because the cpu 51 has a ( multitasking ) function of capable of executing plural programs in parallel . when the cpu 51 receives the affirmative response signals ack while reading and developing the compressed programs and storing the developed programs and variables , the cpu requests for transmission of variables in response thereto . in addition , the cpu 51 may receive the affirmative response signals ack after transmitting the response request signals req , and then may read and develop the next compressed program and store the developed program and variables ( single task ). next , a case where negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 4 ( the case of a in fig4 ) will be described . the case where negative determination ( no ) is performed in step 4 is a case of second and following activation processes . fig6 is a flowchart illustrating the second and following activation processes of the image forming apparatus 1 . since the acquired activation flag is on ( 1 ), the present activation corresponds to the second and following activation . therefore , an os and program and variables corresponding to each constituent element are stored in the program / variable development region a 12 . therefore , the cpu 51 activates a developed os which is stored in the os development region a 11 of the nonvolatile ram ( step s 31 ). in addition , the cpu reads ( acquires ) a constituent element status from the constituent element status region a 13 b of the history region a 13 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 32 ). further , it is determined whether or not there is a change as compared with the device constituent elements detected in step s 3 shown in fig3 ( step s 33 ). here , if negative determination ( no ) is performed , a sub - switch sswx ( where x is 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ) corresponding to a single constituent element included in the device constituent elements is turned on ( step s 34 ). it is determined whether or not the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . of all the constituent elements are turned on in the present device constituent elements detected in step s 3 shown in fig3 ( step s 35 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 35 , the flow returns to step s 34 where the sub - switches sswx of the remaining constituent elements of the present device constituent elements are continued to be turned on . in addition , the cpu 51 activates a program corresponding to each constituent element , which is developed and stored in the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 36 ). next , the cpu 51 transmits the response request signal req to each constituent element ( step s 37 ). step s 36 is an example of the second procedure . in relation to the present device constituent elements detected in step s 3 shown in fig3 , it is determined whether or not activation of corresponding programs and variables and transmission of the response request signal req are completed ( step s 38 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 38 , the flow returns to step s 36 , activation of programs corresponding to the remaining constituent elements of the present device constituent elements and transmission of the response request signal req are continued to be performed . then , when executing and finishing a process ( response process ) for the response request signal req , each constituent element transmits the affirmative response signal ack to the cpu 51 via the respective ifs . therefore , the cpu 51 determines whether or not the affirmative response signal ack is received ( step s 39 ). hereinafter , a case where affirmative determination ( yes ) is performed in step s 39 will be described . in addition , a case where negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 39 will be described later . if affirmative determination ( yes ) is performed in step s 39 , the cpu 51 requests the constituent elements from which the affirmative response signal ack is received in step s 39 to transmit variables and receives the variables . in addition , the cpu 51 stores ( rewrites ) the variables in regions corresponding to the constituent elements of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 with the received variables ( step s 40 ). in relation to the present device constituent elements detected in step s 3 shown in fig3 , it is determined whether or not reception of the affirmative response signal ack corresponding to all the constituent elements , and reception and storage of variables are completed ( step s 41 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 41 , the flow returns to step s 39 , and reception of the affirmative response signal ack corresponding to the remaining constituent elements of the present device constituent elements , and reception and storage of variables are continued to be performed . then , the flow returns to b of the flowchart shown in fig4 , a log on which contents of the executed processes are reflected is created , and the created log is stored in the log region a 13 c of the history region a 13 ( step s 19 of fig4 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 33 , that is , the previous device constituent elements are different from the present device constituent elements , for example , the cpu 51 stores “ off ( 0 )” in the activation flag region a 13 a of the history region a 13 of the nonvolatile ram 56 as an activation flag ( reset of the activation flag ) ( step s 42 ). in addition , the flow may return to c of fig4 , and the ipl may be activated in step s 2 . in this case , the above - described initial activation process is performed . in addition , based on the present constituent elements , programs and variables which are not stored in the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 may be read and developed from the rom 55 , the developed programs and variables may be stored , the programs may be activated , and then the flow may proceed to step s 34 . at this time , the flow may not proceed to b of fig3 but returns to step s 18 of fig3 such that constituent element statuses corresponding to the present constituent elements are stored in the constituent element status region a 13 b of the history region a 13 of the nonvolatile ram 56 . fig7 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the communication control between the controller 50 and the respective constituent elements ( constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 ,) in the second and following activation processes . in fig7 , the same steps as shown in fig6 are given the same reference numerals . in addition , in a case where the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . respectively are indicated so as to be divided , the numbers of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . are added following the hyphen (-). the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) activates an os ( step s 31 ), and the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) turns on the sub - switches ssw 1 , ssw 2 , ssw 3 , . . . ( steps s 34 - 1 , s 34 - 2 , s 34 - 3 , . . . ). thereby , each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . performs initialization ( steps s 101 - 1 , s 101 - 2 , s 101 - 3 , . . . ). the initialization is performed independently for each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . . in addition , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) activates the program for constituent element 1 , the program for constituent element 2 , the program for constituent element 3 , . . . corresponding to the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ( steps s 36 - 1 , s 36 - 2 , s 36 - 3 ). further , response request signals req 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . are respectively transmitted to the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ( steps s 37 - 1 , s 37 - 2 , s 37 - 3 , . . . ). when receiving the corresponding response request signal req 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . perform a process ( response process ) for response to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) ( steps s 102 - 1 , s 102 - 2 , s 102 - 3 , . . . ). in addition , the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . transmit affirmative response signals ack 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ). the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) receives the affirmative response signals ack 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . from the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ( steps s 39 - 1 , s 39 - 2 , s 39 - 3 , . . . ). thereby , communication is established between the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) and each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . . thereafter , when the communication is established between the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) and each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) acquires variables from each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , and rewrites variables by storing the variables in corresponding regions ( refer to fig3 ) of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( steps s 40 - 1 , s 40 - 2 , s 40 - 3 , . . . ). thereby , the image forming apparatus 1 enters an operable state ( standby state ). fig8 a and 8b are diagrams illustrating the time required for the first activation process and the second and following activation processes through comparison . fig8 a shows the time required for the activation process for the first time ( initial activation ) and fig8 b shows the time required for the activation processes from the second time and thereafter ( second and following activation ). as shown in fig8 a , in the initial activation process , there is a necessity of the time for reading and development of a compressed os , storage of the developed os , reading and development of a compressed program , and storage of developed program and variables . in contrast , in the second and following activation , such time is not necessary , and thus the image forming apparatus 1 can be started in a short time . as an example , in the initial activation , if 10 seconds for reading and development of a compressed os , storage of the developed os , and activation of the os , and about 30 seconds for reading and development of a compressed program , storage of developed program and variables , and activation of the program are necessary , that is , the time required for the initial activation process is about 40 seconds . in contrast , in the second and following activation , since the os and the program developed and stored in the nonvolatile ram 56 are activated , starting can be performed in several seconds . since acquisition and storage of variables of each of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . are necessary for each activation process , the time required for them is long . as described above , in the exemplary embodiment , it is possible to shorten the time required for the second and following activation processes of the image forming apparatus 1 . for this reason , the start time of each constituent element is shortened by employing a fixing device using induction heating ( ih ) in the image forming unit 20 , and thereby the start time of the image forming apparatus 1 is shortened . next , referring to fig6 again , if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 39 , that is , a case where the affirmative response signal ack is not received from any of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . will be described . at this time , the cpu 51 transmits the reset signal rst to a constituent element ( any of the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ) from which the affirmative response signal ack is not received , in order to perform an initialization process of the constituent element again ( step s 51 ). the constituent element which receives the reset signal rst performs the initialization process again . in addition , the cpu 51 reads and develops a compressed program corresponding to the constituent element from the compressed program region a 02 of the rom 55 , and overwrites the developed program and variables in a region corresponding to the constituent element of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 52 ). in addition , the program is activated ( step s 53 ). next , the cpu 51 transmits the response request signal req to the constituent element again ( step s 54 ). thereafter , the cpu 51 determines whether or not the affirmative response signal ack is received ( step s 55 ). if affirmative determination ( yes ) is performed in step s 55 , the cpu 51 requests the constituent element to transmit variables and receives the variables . in addition , the cpu 51 stores ( rewrites ) the variables in a region corresponding to the constituent element of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 with the received variables ( step s 40 ). in relation to the present device constituent elements detected in step s 3 , it is determined whether or not reception of the affirmative response signal ack corresponding to all the constituent elements , and reception and storage of variables are completed ( step s 41 ). if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 41 , the flow returns to step s 39 , and reception of the affirmative response signal ack corresponding to the remaining constituent elements of the present device constituent elements , and reception and storage of variables are continued to be performed . then , the flow returns to b of the flowchart shown in fig4 , a log on which contents of the executed processes are reflected is created , and the created log is stored in the log region a 13 c of the history region a 13 ( step s 19 of fig4 ). in addition , if negative determination ( no ) is performed in step s 55 , the cpu 51 transmits generation of errors ( error information ) to the ui 30 ( step s 56 ), stopping ( halt ) ( hlt ) may be performed . fig9 is a diagram illustrating overwriting of programs and variables in the program / variable development region a 12 . the cpu 51 , in step s 52 , reads and develops a compressed program corresponding to the constituent element ( the constituent element 2 in fig9 ) from the compressed program region a 02 of the rom 55 , and overwrites the developed program and variables in a region corresponding to the constituent element ( constituent element 2 ) of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 . fig1 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the communication control between the controller 50 and the respective constituent elements ( the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ) in an activation process when the affirmative response signal ack is not received from any of the respective constituent elements ( the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ). in fig1 , a description is made from the steps ( steps s 36 - 1 , s 36 - 2 , s 36 - 3 , . . . ) where the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) activates the program for constituent element 1 , the program for constituent element 2 , the program for constituent element 3 , . . . corresponding to the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . in fig7 . next , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) transmits response request signals req 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . to the respective constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ( steps s 37 - 1 , s 37 - 2 , s 37 - 3 , . . . ). here , it is assumed that the constituent element 2 is not initialized in a normal state . when receiving the corresponding response request signal req 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , the constituent elements 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . perform a process ( response process ) for response to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) ( steps s 102 - 1 , s 102 - 2 , s 102 - 3 , . . . ). then , when finishing the process ( response process ) for the response request signals req 1 , 3 , . . . , the constituent element 1 , the constituent element 3 , . . . transmit affirmative response signals ack 1 , 3 , . . . to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ). the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) receives the affirmative response signals ack 1 , 3 , . . . from the constituent elements 1 , 3 , . . . ( steps s 38 - 1 , s 38 - 3 , . . . ). thereby , communication is established between the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) and each of the constituent elements 1 , 3 , . . . . in addition , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) acquires variables from each of the constituent elements 1 , 3 , . . . , and rewrites variables by storing the variables in corresponding regions ( refer to fig3 ) of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( steps s 40 - 1 , s 40 - 3 , . . . ). however , since the constituent element 2 is not initialized in a normal state , even if the response request signal req 2 is received and the response process ( step s 102 - 2 ) is performed , the affirmative response signal ack 2 may not be transmitted to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ). therefore , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) may not receive the affirmative response signal ack 2 from the constituent element 2 . at this time , in a case where the predefined time set by the timer 59 from the time point when the response request signal req 2 is transmitted is measured , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) determines that communication is not established ( time - out ), and transmits the reset signal rst to the constituent element 2 ( step s 51 ). when receiving the reset signal rst , the constituent element 2 performs initialization ( step s 103 ). on the other hand , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) reads and develops the compressed program for constituent element 2 from the compressed program region a 02 of the rom 55 , and overwrites the developed program for constituent element 2 and variables in a region of the constituent element 2 of the program / variable development region a 12 ( step s 52 ). in addition , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) activates the program for constituent element 2 ( step s 53 ) and transmits the response request signal req again ( step s 54 ). when the constituent element 2 enters a normal state through the re - initialization , the constituent element 2 receives the response request signal req 2 , performs a response process ( step s 104 ), and transmits an affirmative response signal ack 2 to the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ). in addition , when the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) may receive the affirmative response signal ack 2 from the constituent element 2 ( step s 55 ), communication between the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) and the constituent element 2 is established . when the communication between the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) and the constituent element 2 is established , the controller 50 ( cpu 51 ) acquires variables from the constituent element 2 , and rewrites variables by storing the variables in a corresponding region of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 ( step s 40 - 2 ). as described above , in the exemplary embodiment , for example , in relation to at least one of plural constituent elements , the cpu 51 measures the time after transmission of the response request signal req using the timer 59 , and determines that abnormality is generated as time - out if the affirmative response signal ack is not received even after the predefined time has elapsed . in addition , the cpu 51 transmits the reset signal rst to a constituent element from which the affirmative response signal ack is not received so as to initialize the constituent element , reads and develops a compressed program for the constituent element from the compressed program region a 02 of the rom 55 , and overwrites the developed program and variables in a region corresponding to the constituent element of the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 . in addition , the cpu 51 activates the program and retransmits the response request signal req . as in the above - described example , if there is a problem in initialization of a constituent element , the constituent element may return to a normal state through re - initialization . in this case , the constituent element transmits the affirmative response signal ack in response to the response request signal req , and thereby communication is established . the activation process finishes , and the image forming apparatus 1 enters an operable state ( standby state ). in addition , even if inconvenience is caused due to rewriting of data of a program stored in the program / variable development region a 12 of the nonvolatile ram 56 , a compressed program is read and developed again , and the program is overwritten , thereby returning to a normal state . in addition , these processes are performed under the control of the cpu 51 . further , although , in the exemplary embodiment , the compressed program region a 02 storing each compressed program is disposed in the rom 55 , the present invention is not limited thereto . in other words , the compressed program region a 02 may be disposed in the server apparatus 5 ( refer to fig1 ) connected to the image forming apparatus 1 via the network 2 , or a memory card installed in the card reader 70 . in addition , in this case , the server apparatus 5 or the memory card installed in the card reader 70 may be set as a target where each compressed program is read when the ipl is executed . in addition , although , in the exemplary embodiment , the program / variable development region a 12 and the history region a 13 are disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 , and the work region a 21 and the buffer region a 22 are disposed in the volatile ram 57 , the present invention is not limited thereto , and , for example , the program / variable development region a 12 , the history region a 13 , the work region a 21 , and the buffer region a 22 may be disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 . further , although the compressed os region a 01 and the compressed program region a 02 are disposed in the rom 55 , for example , the compressed os region a 01 , the compressed program region a 02 , the program / variable development region a 12 , the history region a 13 , the work region a 21 , and the buffer region a 22 may be disposed in the nonvolatile ram 56 . in addition , although , in the exemplary embodiment , a case where the controller 50 is incorporated into the image forming apparatus 1 has been described as an example , the present invention is not limited thereto and may be applied to an apparatus which is constituted by combinations of plural units and of which a configuration may be modified due to attachment and detachment of the plural units . the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . obviously , many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications , thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
with reference to fig1 to fig4 , the method of power generation with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage according to the present invention includes several steps which are performed repeatedly , the cycle thereof equal to a tide cycle . a tide cycle includes stages of initiation , rising tide , high tide , and falling tide . the method includes : step a : at initiation stage as illustrated in fig1 , making the buoy 3 hermetic and empty ; step b : at rising tide , with reference to fig1 and 2 , converting the potential energy of the buoy 3 rising by buoyancy into the gravitational potential energy of the energy storage component 8 ; step c : as illustrated in fig3 , when close to high tide or at high tide , filling the buoy 3 with water : opening the upper valve 21 and the lower valve 2 , then tide water entering the buoy through the lower valve 2 , the air in the cavity of the buoy being discharged through the upper valve 21 such that tide water fills the buoy quickly ; step d : still referring to fig3 , at falling tide , closing the upper valve 21 and the lower valve 2 such that the buoy 3 becomes a hermetic body with water filled , and converting the potential energy of the buoy 3 falling under gravity into the gravitational potential energy of the energy storage component 8 ; step e : as shown in fig4 , converting the gravitational potential energy of the energy storage component 8 into electrical energy ; and corresponding to the method of the present invention , fig1 to fig4 illustrate a power generation system with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage , which may be configured by at least one system unit 100 shown in fig1 to fig4 . the system unit 100 includes a buoy 3 and an energy storage component 8 , and corresponding to the step b , further includes an primary energy conversion device , which converts the potential energy of the buoy 3 rising by buoyancy into the gravitational potential energy of the energy storage component 8 ; and corresponding to the step c , further includes an ratio energy conversion device , which converts the potential energy of the water - filled buoy 3 falling under gravity into the gravitational potential energy of the energy storage component 8 ; and corresponding to the step e , further includes a power generation device , which converts the gravitational potential energy of the energy storage component 8 into electrical energy . the buoy control device , the primary energy conversion device , the ratio energy conversion device and the power generation device are illustrated in the preferable embodiment in fig1 - 4 , but not limited to it . the skilled person in the art may make any modification or alternation for the devices of the system within the spirit of the present invention . as shown in fig1 , the buoy 3 has an empty cavity 1 , and an upper valve ( intake and drainage valve ) 21 and a lower valve ( intake and exhaust valve ) 2 . the upper valve 21 and the lower valve 2 can be but not limited to solenoid valves . logic control units like plc may control execution units , for instance , driving mechanisms , hydraulic or pneumatic driving units , to close or open the upper valve 21 and the lower valve 2 . for the purpose of clear observation , the logic control units , and the execution mechanisms are not shown . the upper valve 21 , the lower valve 2 , and the corresponding logic control units and execution mechanisms constitute the buoy control device of the power generation system with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage . the buoy control device may close the upper valve 21 and the lower valve 2 in step a of the aforementioned method , and open them in the step c , and in turn close them again in step d . more details about the process will be described thereafter . the logic control units and execution mechanisms of the buoy control device could be integrated in some cases . the aforementioned is not to exhaust the embodiment of the buoy control device , the person skilled in the art could according to the spirit of the invention in face of particular case select or combine the prior art to configure various kinds of the control device to open or close the buoy 3 . still referring to fig1 , the primary energy conversion device includes a buoy bracket 7 , a lifting member 10 and a clutch for lifting member 11 . the buoy bracket 7 connects the buoy 3 via a pivot shaft 6 , and they both may rotate about the shaft 6 , such that this flexible connection can adapt to the swing of the buoy 3 caused by tide water . the buoy bracket 7 is provided with a clutch 11 for lifting member by means of which it can join releasably with the lifting member 10 , and a clutch 17 for lowering member by means of which it can join releasably with lowering member 16 . but it will be understood through the description for the working process that the buoy bracket 7 may not connect to lifting member 10 and lowering member 16 at the same time . the lifting member 10 hangs the energy storage component 8 at its lower end by rope 9 ( a flexible drawing member ), and connects with the right end of rope 12 ( a driving flexible member ) at its upper end . the length of the rope 9 is schematically shown , and it will be understood that the length thereof is far longer than that shown in the drawings . the engagement between the clutch 11 for lifting member and the lifting member 10 or between the clutch 17 for lowering member and the lowering member 16 can be of various ways . the lifting member 10 and the lowering member 16 are both tie rods . for example , tie rods 10 and 16 are formed with ratchets , and correspondingly , clutches 11 and 17 are also formed with matching ratchets . in some of the embodiments thereafter , the lifting member 10 is referred to as lifting ratchet rod , lifting rod , ratchet rod , or simplified as tie rod , and the lowering member 16 is referred to as lowering ratchet rod , lowering rod , ratchet rod , or simplified as tie rod . correspondingly , the clutch 11 and the clutch 17 are respectively referred to as clutch for lifting ratchet rod and clutch for lowering ratchet rod , or both simplified as clutch . the energy storage component 8 is depicted as a square in the drawings , but its shape is not limited to it . the energy storage component 8 can be supplied with very low cost , such as using soil , sand , seawater or the like , and can be referred to as solid energy storage component , because it needs no longer running water to store energy as that in the prior art . it will be understood through the following description that the energy storage component 8 stores gravitational potential energy mainly via gaining a lifting height , and its weight is equal to the displacement of the buoy 3 , and its material depends on the requirement of the overall structure on its volume ( without requirements on strength ). when the overall structure requires the volume of the energy storage component 8 to be relatively small , metals , even heavy metals ( steel , lead , mercury and the like ) may be employed ; when there is no requirement on its volume , concrete or even packed pebble , gravel , soil or water may be employed , so as to reduce the cost . ropes 9 and 12 may be flexible members constituted by any materials with high tensile strength , such as steel wire rope , fiberglass , chains . still referring to fig1 , a ratio energy conversion device includes a buoy bracket 7 , a lowering member 16 and a clutch 17 for lowering member . rope 12 is guided by ratchet wheel 130 , and connects to the upper end of the lowering member 16 at its left end . the lower end of the lowering member 16 may connect releasably to the clutch 17 for lowering member and positioning clutch 18 , but not at the same time . the positioning clutch 18 is fixed on connecting seat 19 mounted on platform which is higher than the horizontal plane 22 . the buoy bracket 7 connecting with the buoy 3 can go up and down along with it . the connecting seat 19 has a through hole , through which the lowering member 16 can move up and down without any restriction . still referring to fig1 , the power generation device includes a generator ( not shown in the drawing ) and ratchet wheel 130 . the ratchet wheel 130 includes outer ring 13 and inner ring 14 , in which the outer ring 13 functions as a pulley wheel and is wrapped around by the flexible member 12 . there can be just unidirectional transmission between outer ring 13 and inner ring 14 , and in the drawing , the direction of the unidirectional transmission is clockwise , i . e . the falling direction of the energy storage component 8 . the inner ring 14 of the ratchet wheel 130 is mounted on spindle 15 , which may rotate synchronously along with the former . said clutches 11 , 17 , 18 and the control device controlled by the buoy may be provided integrally ( the following description bases on this integral manner and all the devices controlling them are referred to as control device ) or separately , and the skilled in the art can , depending on demand , choose control devices with any control manner such as electrically , pneumatically , hydraulically . hereinafter , an operating cycle of the power generation system with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage according to the present invention will be described in conjunction with fig1 - 4 . fig1 shows the system in the initial stage of the tidal cycle when the lower valve 2 and the upper valve 21 are both closed , the cavity 1 is hermetic body , and the buoy 3 is in seawater under the pressure from the energy storage component 8 , full filled with air to make the buoy 3 in state of hermetic empty pontoon , and with its upper surface just above the seawater . meanwhile , the gravity of the energy storage component 8 is applied to the buoy bracket 7 via the engagement between the clutch 11 and the tie rod 10 , and the buoyancy which the buoy 3 is subjected to is equal to the gravity . at rising tide , the buoy 3 , subjected to greatest buoyancy , begins to rise , and the buoy bracket 7 rises therewith , when the buoy bracket 7 connects the lifting member 10 via the clutch 11 for lifting member , while it disengages with the lowering member 16 , that is , both the clutch 17 for lowering member and the positioning clutch 18 are released . because the tie rod 10 is joining with the buoy bracket 7 , it rises at the same time , along with which the energy storage component 8 begins to lift and thus to store the gravitational potential energy . the lowering member 16 , linked with the lifting member 10 via rope 9 and always moving along the direction opposite to the lifting member 10 , thus begins to fall . moreover , the energy storage component 8 drives the outer ring 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 rotate reversely to the spindle 15 , the spindle 15 and the inner ring 14 of the ratchet wheel 130 remaining static . as depicted in fig2 , the buoy 3 reaches close to the highest position when the first energy storage of the energy storage component 8 is finished . comparing fig2 with fig1 , it will be found that the energy storage component 8 has ascended by a height roughly equal to the difference of the tide . as shown in fig3 , at high tide , the control devices open the lower valve 2 and the upper valve 21 , and tide water fully fill the cavity 1 quickly . while the tide water begins to recede , owing to that after the buoy 3 is fully filled , the control devices close the lower valve 2 and the upper valve 21 , the buoy 3 may be referred to as a heavy hermetic body filled with water , the weight of which is greater than that of the energy storage component 8 . during falling tide , the buoy 3 descends under the gravity thereof . meanwhile , the clutch 17 is closed , and the buoy bracket 7 joins with the lowering rod 16 , while the clutch 11 for lifting member and the positioning clutch 18 are released . therefore , when the buoy 3 falls , the buoy bracket 7 and the lowering rod 16 descend while the lifting member 10 and the energy storage component 8 ascend . when the buoy 3 falls 0 . 2 m close to the surface of low tide , the clutch 17 is closed and grips the tie rod 16 and at the same time the clutch 18 on the platform is closed and grips the tie rod 16 as well , such that the buoy stopped at the position approximate to the sea level . at this time , the elevation height of the energy storage component 8 is the difference of the tide minus the height of the buoy 3 . where the height of the buoy 3 is far less than the difference of the tide , the elevation height of the energy storage component 8 approximately equals the difference of the tide , therefore , the total elevation height of the energy storage component 8 approximately equals the double of the difference of the tide , realizing “ ratio elevation ”, thus realizing the ratio energy storage . as shown in fig4 , when the lower valve of the buoy is about 0 . 2 m above the sea level , the clutches 17 , 18 are controlled to stop the buoy 3 and the lower valve 2 and the upper valve 21 are opened at the same time . after the sea water was drained , the lower valve 2 and the upper valve 21 is shut and the buoy 3 restores empty . meanwhile , the clutches 17 , 11 are released and the empty and hermetic buoy 3 , under its gravity , descends into the sea , and returns to its initial position , ready for next tidal cycle . at this time , the positioning clutch 18 is closed and grips the upper rod 16 , and the energy storage component 8 is kept at the highest position . before next tide comes ( that is , at the still tide ), the energy storage component 8 can be released sequentially according to the procedures , so as to achieve continuous power generation , in which the releasing way for the component 8 will be described hereinafter . after releasing the energy storage component 8 , i . e . after releasing the clutch 18 , the component 8 descends , and drives the outer ring 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 to rotate , which outer ring 13 drives the whole ratchet wheel 130 to rotate clockwise , which ratchet wheel 130 drives spindle 15 of generators or generator sets to generate electricity , thereby the gravitational potential energy of the energy storage component 8 is converted into electrical energy . this method converts the tidal energy directly into rotation torque of the main spindle 15 , which actuate directly speed reducers so as to drive generators to generate electricity , without using power machines like hydraulic turbines , turbomachines to convert hydroenergy into electrical energy , thus improving the energy conversion efficiency , simplifying devices and reducing the cost significantly . according to the previous description , during the rising tide and falling tide , the energy storage component 8 is subjected to the buoyancy of the empty buoy and the gravity of the water - filled buoy respectively , and under the effect of the primary energy conversion device and the ratio energy conversion device , it is lifted to a height twice the tide difference h , the weight of the energy storage component is equal to the discharge capacity of the buoy , therefore accomplishing the transmission and storage from the energy of the tide difference to the energy storage component . during the process , there is little energy loss , and owing to that the lifting height is twice the difference of the tide , the potential energy in the energy storage component is twice the tidal energy that the buoy covers ( e = mg2h , where m is the mass of the buoy ). fig5 illustrates the second embodiment of the present invention , which is a seawater desalination system 200 with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage , comprising a power generation system unit 100 of the first embodiment , a seawater evaporation tower 30 and a steam condensation tower 31 . the seawater evaporation tower 30 is configured with a vacuum pump 32 , which is associated with the transmission spindle 15 , that is , the transmission spindle 15 connects the vacuum pump 32 with a power transmission mechanism such that the former can drive the latter to work . in this embodiment , the power generation system unit 100 can only work as a dynamical system to supply driving force but not to generate electricity ( the power generation sets are canceled ). the seawater evaporation tower 30 in this embodiment is a barrel with a fixed volume , and is optionally provided with a water heater 33 . seawater is sucked into the water heater 33 from the water inlet 34 , and after being heated in the water heater 33 , it goes into the seawater evaporation tower 30 . at the bottom of the seawater evaporation tower 30 is seawater , and the vacuum pump 32 connects the upper portion thereof via pipelines 36 a . the vacuum pump 32 vacuumizes the seawater evaporation tower 30 to form negative pressure therein , which urges water to evaporate out from seawater , and suck the evaporated water . the vacuum pump 32 also connects the condensation tower 31 containing cooling water via pipeline 36 b , in which cooling water is filled and coil pipes 35 are arranged through the cooling water . the high - pressure vapor from the vacuum pump 32 passes through the coil pipe 35 and is cooled by the cooling water , finally condensing into fresh water and entering the container 36 , while strong brine discharged from the seawater evaporation tower 30 enters the container 35 , in which the strong brine can be utilized to produce salt . fig6 and 7 shows the third embodiment of the present invention , which is a seawater desalination system 300 with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage . the seawater desalination system 300 of the embodiment is formed on the basis of the power generation system in the first embodiment , in which the energy storage component is replaced with a floating and spreading seawater evaporation tower 40 , and the rope 9 originally connecting the energy storage component is lengthened , and is guided around pulley assemblies 23 , 23 a to extend to the land , and likewise , the ratchet pulley assembly 130 originally driving the transmission spindle 15 is moved to the land . the ratchet wheel 130 , the seawater evaporation tower 40 and the like are supported by the bracket 20 a on the land , while the bracket 20 on the offshore platform 5 supports pulley assembly 23 a comprising a bearing spindle 15 a and a fixed pulley 14 a . the principle of the third embodiment on the utilization of tidal energy is identical essentially with that of the sixth embodiment thereafter . the seawater evaporation tower 40 includes a floating barrel 41 a and a stationary barrel 41 b , in which the stationary barrel 41 b is provided with an annular sealing groove 42 , and the lower portion of the floating barrel 41 a is inserted into the sealing groove , and can move up and down therein . after being inserted into the sealing groove 42 , the floating barrel 41 a covers the stationary barrel 41 b , and when putting liquid like seawater in the sealing groove 42 , the seawater evaporation tower 40 becomes sealed . furthermore , the sealing space defined by the floating barrel 41 a and the stationary barrel 41 b may be varied and the sealing structure may be another type other than liquid sealing . the seawater evaporation tower 40 extends its internal space through the upward movement of the floating barrel 41 a , so as to form negative pressure . seawater is introduced into the lower portion of the stationary barrel 41 b by means of pipeline 43 a , in which there is provided with a solenoid valve 44 a . in the stationary barrel 41 b , a condensed water collection tray 49 is supported at a height away from the bottom thereof , the tray exporting the fresh water or mixture of water and steam to the condensation tower through the pipeline 43 b , in which pipeline 43 b is provided with a solenoid valve 44 b . at the lower portion of the stationary barrel 41 b is disposed via pipelines 43 c in which is provided with solenoid valve 44 c . the strong brine flows into the pipeline 43 c from its bottom and at last out of the stationary barrel 41 b . between the inner wall of the stationary barrel 41 b and the condensed water collection tray 49 , there is provided with a condensed water scraper 48 , which is used to guide the condensed water into the collection tray 49 . at the bottom of the collection tray 49 is disposed with a fresh water export pipe 43 b . the seawater evaporation tower 40 is better to be configured with a water heater , for instance a solar water heater . the seawater in the pipeline 43 a is that heated by the water heater . as illustrated in fig6 , during the rising tide to the falling tide , tide exerts the buoy bidirectionally , such that the rope 9 lifts the floating barrel 41 a on the seawater evaporation tower 40 by a height 2h , and the volume of the seawater evaporation tower 40 extends and negative pressure is formed . after lifting a height 2h , the solenoid clutch 18 for tie rod is closed and grips the rod 16 , to keep the floating barrel 41 a at the highest position , continuously maintaining the vacuum degree in the seawater evaporation tower 40 . with the intake solenoid valve 44 a opened , the seawater , under negative pressure , flows through the solar water heater into the stationary barrel 41 b . the preheated seawater , under negative pressure kept by the stationary barrel 41 b , evaporates quickly , with abundant vapor emerging . at low tide , the solenoid clutch 18 for tie rod is opened and releases the upper rod 16 , and the floating barrel 41 a descends under gravity , with the pressure in the stationary barrel 41 b increasing , and the vapor condenses into water and flows along the inner wall of barrel and then flows downward along the condensed water scraper 48 into the collection tray 49 . the floating barrel 41 a descends under gravity , and the mixture of water and steam is sent to a condensation tower ( not shown in fig6 , it can be understood with reference to fig5 ) and condensed continuously into fresh water . the salt concentration of the seawater in the evaporation tower 40 increases with the evaporation of water . the solenoid valve 44 c can be controlled to discharge the strong brine so as to produce salt , while the fresh seawater is sucked into the evaporation tower under the negative press thereof . with repeating this , it is possible to continuously produce fresh water and salt based on seawater . comparing with the second embodiment , the third one uses a floating and spreading seawater evaporation tower 40 , without the vacuum pump . as illustrated in fig6 , for the purpose of reducing the height of the bracket 20 a , the evaporation tower 40 is provided in a pit . fig7 a - 7 c show the fourth embodiment of the present invention , which adds a pressure tank 51 and a vacuum tank 50 on the basis of the first embodiment . the vacuum tank 50 and the pressure tank 51 both connect the upper valve 21 with pipelines . the pipelines connecting the pressure tank 51 is provided with a solenoid valve 510 , and the ones connecting the vacuum tank 50 with a solenoid valve 500 . as illustrated in fig7 a , at low tide , both the solenoid valve 510 and the solenoid valve 500 assume a close state , and the empty buoy 3 is not in communication with the pressure tank 51 and the vacuum tank 50 . as illustrated in fig7 b , at high tide , the lower valve 2 and the upper valve 21 are both opened , and tide water surges into the buoy 3 from the lower valve 2 , discharging the air therein . at this stage , the solenoid valve 510 is opened , the discharged air enters the pressure tank 51 . as depicted in fig7 c , at the stage of the buoy discharging water , the solenoid valve 510 is shut while the solenoid valve 500 is opened , and the seawater flows out of the buoy 3 under its gravity , which may form negative pressure in the buoy 3 , thus vacuumizing the vacuum tank 50 . the advantage of the fourth embodiment is that there are byproducts formed , that is , the pressure tank 51 and the vacuum tank 50 . apparently , the structure that the pressure tank 51 and the vacuum tank 50 connect the upper valve 21 can be applied to the embodiments both hereinabove and hereinafter . fig8 illustrates another embodiment of the power generation system with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage according to the present invention , i . e . the fifth embodiment . fig8 only shows a system unit 400 , and the whole system may be configured by at least one such system unit 400 . in fig8 , ( a ) is a front view , ( b ) is a cross - sectional view , and ( c ) is a top view . the main difference from the embodiment in fig1 is that , the system unit 400 in fig8 has an energy storage component region with several groups of energy storage components for continuously generating electricity . fig8 takes a , b , c groups as an example to illustrate , each of which components has the same way to store energy as that of the embodiment in fig1 , and the buoy bracket , multiple clutches , a lifting rod and a lowering rod coordinates with each other to complete the ratio energy storage . but they are different in releasing the stored energy . as shown in fig8 , all the groups share a buoy bracket 7 . after each group of “ energy storage components ” are lifted to the specified position , they are kept at specified height under the effect of the positioning clutch 18 , thus without the limitation from the tide cycle . the energy storage components are released and fall in a different time style upon specified procedures , so as to drive generator sets to continuously generate electricity . with reference to fig9 a - 9 h , the working process of the embodiment will be described as follows . 1 ) at initial stage ( as shown in fig9 a ): { circle around ( 1 )} other sea level : the sea level is at low tide . { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy 3 and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy 3 is sunk into seawater under pressure of energy storage component 8 , air - filled and with its upper surface just above the seawater , and in a state of “ hermetic empty pontoon ”; the intake and exhaust valve ( the upper valve ) 2 and the intake and exhaust valve ( the lower valve ) 21 are both closed ( it can be understood referring to fig2 ). { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : the solenoid clutch 11 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 10 ; the solenoid clutch for rod 17 and 19 is opened , and the ratchet rod 16 is released . { circle around ( 4 )} the position of the energy storage components 8 : the gravity of each group “ energy storage component ” a , b , c is applied to the buoy bracket 7 via the engagement between the clutchs 11 and the tie rods 10 , and the buoyancy which the buoy 3 is subjected to is equal to the gravity , and the energy storage components 8 is at the lowest position . { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : the ratchet wheel 130 do not rotate . { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle 15 : the spindle 15 does not rotate . 2 ) at the stage of rising tide , as shown in fig9 b : { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level rises gradually from the position at low tide to that at high tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy , under buoyancy , rises to the position at high tide and is fully filled with air ; the intake and exhaust valve ( upper valve ) 2 and the intake and exhaust valve ( lower valve ) 21 are both closed ( it can be understood referring to fig2 ). { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : during the rising of the sea level , the solenoid clutch 11 keeps closed and grips the ratchet rod 10 ; after reaching the position at high tide , the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 , while the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; the solenoid clutch 18 is opened , and the ratchet rod 16 can slide therein . { circle around ( 4 )} the position of the energy storage components : during the rising of the sea level , the solenoid clutch 11 mounted on the buoy bracket 7 grips the ratchet rod 10 , and draws all the “ energy storage components ” to rise gradually to the position at high tide ; { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : the energy storage components 8 are linked with the tie rod 16 via chain 12 around the outer ring 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 , and when the energy storage components 8 ascend , the components drive the outer ring 13 to rotate reversely to the spindle 15 , and due to the unidirectional transmission between the ratchet wheels 130 , the outer ring 13 does not drive the spindle 15 . { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle 15 : the spindle 15 does not rotate . 3 ) at the stage of high tide , still as shown in fig9 b : { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level remains at the position at high tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy 3 remains at the position at high tide , and the electromagnetic control system is actuated to open the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 , seawater filling the buoy at high tide , and after that , the electromagnetic control system is actuated to shut the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 and the buoy 3 becomes “ a water - filled pontoon ”, and descends under gravity . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 ; the solenoid clutch 17 for rod is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; the solenoid clutch 18 for rod is opened , and the ratchet rod 16 can slide therein . { circle around ( 4 )} the position of the energy storage components : all the “ energy storage components ” a , b , c assume the position at high tide ; { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : both the ratchet wheel 130 do not rotate ; { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle 15 does not rotate ; 4 ) at the stage of falling tide , still as shown in fig9 b { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level descends from the position at high tide to that at low tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy 3 descends from the position at high tide , and when the intake and drainage valve 2 arrives at the position which is 0 . 2 m away from the sea level , the solenoid clutches 17 , 18 are controlled to stop the buoy 3 from descending . the electromagnetic control system is actuated to open the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 , such that seawater is discharged by free fall ; and after the seawater is drained , the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 are shut and the buoy 3 restores “ a hermetic empty pontoon ”, then the clutches 11 , 17 , 18 is controlled such that the buoy goes into the seawater gradually by the weight of the energy storage components and itself and returns to the position at initial stage . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 ; when tide begins to fall , the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 such that the ratchet rod 16 draws the energy storage components 8 to ascend with the falling of the buoy 3 ; when the buoy 3 falls 0 . 2 m close to the surface of low tide , the clutch 17 is closed and grips the tie rod 16 and at the same time the clutch 18 on the platform is closed and grips the tie rod 16 as well , so as to keep the buoy at the position close to the sea level . energy storage components 8 is drew by the ratchet rod 16 and chain 12 and go on elevating from the position at high tide , the elevation height is the difference of the tide h minus the height of the buoy h ( where h is far less than h , h can be omitted , and the elevation height of the buoy is h ), therefore , the total elevation height of the energy storage component 8 approximately equals the double of the difference of the tide , that is , 2h . when the energy storage components 8 reach the highest position , the solenoid clutch 18 is closed and grips the tie rod 16 , and keeps the components 8 at the highest position , and at this time the potential energy of the components 8 is e = mg2h , i . e . doubles the energy of the tidal energy ; { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : when the rod 16 descends , the outer ring 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 and the spindle 15 rotate anticlockwise , without driving the spindle 15 ; { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle 15 does not rotate ; 5 ) at the stage of first low tide ( after the falling tide , and before the next rising tide ), as shown in fig9 c { circle around ( 1 )} sea level : the sea level is at low tide again { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy 3 and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy 3 is in seawater under pressure from the energy storage components 8 , air - filled and with its upper surface just above the seawater , and assumes a state of “ hermetic empty pontoon ”; the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 are both closed . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : for the purpose of continuously generating electricity , not all the energy storage components are allowed to release energy at low tide . the total the energy storage components are divided into three groups , a , b , c , and plc controls according to program , to open the solenoid clutch 18 for rod and release the ratchet rod 16 , thereby each energy storage component descends from the highest position under gravity . chain 12 drives the outer ring 13 and the spindle 15 to rotate in the same direction , such that the spindle 15 transfers the torque to speed reducers and generator sets . each group releases energy in the following way : group a : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 are all opened , and releases the ratchet rod 10 , 16 in such a manner that each energy storage component in group a falls in different time to release energy ; group b : the solenoid clutch 18 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; group c : the solenoid clutch 18 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; { circle around ( 4 )} the position of the energy storage components , as shown in fig9 c ; each group of energy storage component moves and releases energy in the following way : group a : at low tide , each energy storage component in group a falls in different time to release energy . upon the low tide is over , all of them have reached the lowest point from the highest position 2h , with the process of releasing energy finished , and the spindle driven to rotate to generate ; group b and c : at low tide , they keep at the highest position , and during rising tide — high side — falling side , they work in turn , in such a manner to ensure that at each stage there are always some energy storage components releasing energy , so as to drive the spindle to generate electricity continuously . { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a : when energy storage components thereof descend , the chain 12 drives the outer ring 13 and the spindle 15 to rotate in the same direction , such that the torque of the outer ring 13 , through the ratchet wheel 130 , is transferred to inner ring 14 , thus driving the spindle 15 to rotate . group b and c keep at the highest position , and their corresponding ratchet wheels do not rotate : { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle 15 : the spindle 15 is driven by the energy storage components of group a to rotate clockwise , thus the speed reducer is driven so as to bring the generator to work to generate electricity . 6 ) at the stage of second rising tide , as shown in fig9 b : { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level rises gradually from the level at low tide to that at high tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy rises to the position at high tide under buoyancy , with air filled ; the intake and exhaust valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 are both closed . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : group a : the solenoid clutch 11 keeps closed and grips the ratchet rod 10 ; after arriving at the position at high tide , the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 , while the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; group b : the solenoid clutch 18 is opened , and releases the ratchet rod 16 so as to descend the energy storage components of group b ; group c : the solenoid clutch 18 is closed , and grips the ratchet rod 16 so as to keep the energy storage component of group c at the highest position ; group a : the solenoid clutch 11 on the buoy bracket 7 grips the ratchet rod 10 , and draws all the “ energy storage components ” of group a to rise gradually to the position at high tide and a second cycle of energy storage begins ; group b : at rising tide , group b descends from the highest position , and drives the spindle to work ; group c : keep the energy storage component of group c at the highest position ; { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a : the energy storage components rises , chain 12 drives the outer ring 13 of the ratchet wheel to rotate reversely to the spindle 15 , and due to the unidirectional transmission between the ratchet wheel 130 , the spindle 15 is not affected . group b : the energy storage components falls , and drives the outer ring 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 and the spindle 15 to rotate in the same direction , and the torque is transferred to the spindle 15 ; group c : the energy storage components keep still , and the ratchet wheel 130 does not rotate ; { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle 15 : the spindle 15 , driven by the energy storage components in group b , rotates anticlockwise , and drives speed reducers to operate on generators for generating electricity . 7 ) at the stage of second high tide , still as shown in fig9 d { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level remains at the position at high tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy 3 remains at the position at high tide , and the electromagnetic control system is actuated to open the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 , seawater filling the buoy at high tide , and after that , the electromagnetic control system is actuated to shut the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 and the buoy 3 becomes “ a water - filled pontoon ”, and descends under gravity . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : group a : the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 ; the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; the solenoid clutch 18 is opened , and the ratchet rod 16 can slide therein . group b : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 are all opened , and the ratchet rod 10 and the ratchet rod 16 slide , thus the energy storage components descending . group c : the solenoid clutch 18 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 , thus the energy storage components remain at its position . group a : the energy storage components assume the position at high tide ; group b : the energy storage components descends ; group c : the energy storage components remain at the highest position . { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a : the ratchet wheel 130 does not move ; group b : the outer rings of the ratchet wheel 130 moves along the same direction , and drive the spindle to move ; group c : the ratchet wheel 130 does not move ; { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle , driven by the energy storage components of group b , rotate clockwise to drive generators to generate electricity ; 8 ) at the stage of second falling tide , referring to fig9 d and 9 e : { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level descends from the position at high tide to that at low tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy 3 descends from the position at high tide , and when the intake and drainage valve 2 assumes the position which is 0 . 2 m away from the sea level , the solenoid clutches 17 , 18 are controlled to stop the buoy 3 from descending . the electromagnetic control system is actuated to open the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 , such that seawater is discharged in free fall ( as shown in fig9 ); and after the seawater is drained , the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 are shut and the buoy 3 restores a “ hermetic empty pontoon ”, then the buoy goes into the seawater gradually by the weight of the energy storage components and itself and returns to the position at initial stage . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : group a : the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 ; when tide begins to fall , the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 such that the ratchet rod 16 draws the energy storage components to ascend with the falling of the buoy 3 ; when the buoy 3 falls 0 . 2 m close to the surface of low tide , the clutch 17 is closed and grips the tie rod 16 and at the same time the clutch 18 on the platform is closed and grips the tie rod 16 as well , so as to keep the buoy at that position . group b : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 are all opened , such that the ratchet rods 10 , 16 may slide , and the energy storage components descend to the lowest position . group c : the solenoid clutches 18 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 , such that the energy storage components do not descend . group a : energy storage components are drew by the ratchet rod 16 and chain 12 and go on elevating from the position at high tide to the highest position 2h . upon that the energy storage components reach the highest position , the solenoid clutch 18 is closed and grips the tie rod 16 , and keeps the components at the highest position ; group b : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 are all opened , such that the ratchet rods 10 , 16 may slide , and the energy storage components descend gradually to the lowest position . group c : the solenoid clutches 18 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 , such that the energy storage components do not descend . { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a : the outer rings of the ratchet wheel 130 rotates along the reverse direction with that of the spindle , and thus do not drive the spindle 15 ; group b : the outer rings 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 rotates along the same direction with that of the spindle , and thus to drive the spindle 15 ; group c : the outer rings 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 does not rotate . { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle , driven by the energy storage components in group b , rotates clockwise so as to drive generators to generate electricity ; 9 ) at the stage of third low tide , as shown in fig9 e : { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level is at low tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy 3 and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy is in seawater under pressure from the energy storage components , air - filled and with its upper surface just above the seawater , and assumes a state of “ hermetic empty pontoon ”; the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 are both closed . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : group a : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 are all opened , and releases the ratchet rod 10 , 16 , in such a manner that each energy storage component in group a falls in different time to release energy ; group b : the solenoid clutch 11 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 10 ; group c : the solenoid clutch 18 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; group a : at low tide , each energy storage component in group a falls in different time to release energy . upon the low tide is over , all of them have reached the lowest point from the highest position 2h , with the process of releasing energy finished , and the spindle driven to rotate to generate . group b : energy storage components thereof descends to the lowest position ; group c : energy storage components thereof keeps at the highest position . { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a : when energy storage components thereof descend , the chain drives the outer ring rotate with the spindle along the same direction , such that the torque of the outer ring , via the ratchet wheel 130 , is transferred to inner ring , thus driving the spindle to rotate . group b : energy storage components thereof reach the lowest position , and the ratchet wheel 130 does not rotate ; group c : energy storage components thereof keep at the highest position , and their corresponding ratchet wheel 130 does not rotate : { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle is driven by the energy storage components of group a to rotate clockwise , thus driving a speed reducer , and in turn the speed reducer drives the generator to generate electricity . 10 ) at the stage of third rising tide , as shown in fig9 f : { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level rises gradually from the level at low tide to that at high tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy rises to the position at high tide under buoyancy , with air filled ; the intake and exhaust valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 are both closed . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : group a , group b : the solenoid clutch 11 keeps closed and grips the ratchet rod 10 ; after arriving at the position at high tide , the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 , while the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; group c : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 is opened , and release the ratchet rod 16 , the energy storage component descending from the highest position ; group a , group b : the solenoid clutch 11 on the buoy bracket grips the ratchet rod 10 , and draws all the “ energy storage components ” to rise gradually to the position at high tide and a third cycle of energy storage begins ; group c : energy storage components thereof descend from the highest position ; { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a , group b : the energy storage components rises , and the chain drives the outer ring of the ratchet wheel 130 rotates reversely to the spindle , and due to the unidirectional transmission of ratchet wheel 130 , the spindle 15 is not affected . group c : the energy storage components fall , and the ratchet wheel 130 rotate in forward direction ; { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle , driven by the energy storage components in group c , rotates clockwise , and drives speed reducers to operate on generators for generating electricity . 11 ) at the stage of third high tide , as shown in fig9 f . { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level remains at the position at high tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy remains at the position at high tide , and the electromagnetic control system is actuated to open the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 , seawater filling the buoy at high tide , and after that , the electromagnetic control system is actuated to shut the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 , and the buoy 3 becomes “ a water - filled pontoon ”, and descends under gravity . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : group a , group b : the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 ; the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 ; the solenoid clutch 18 is opened , and the ratchet rod 16 can slide therein . group c : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 are all opened , and release the ratchet rod 10 and the ratchet rod 16 , thus the energy storage components descending from the highest position . group a , group b : the energy storage components assume the position at high tide ; group c : the energy storage components thereof descends from the highest position ; { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a , group b : the energy storage components rises , and by the chain &# 39 ; s drive the outer ring 13 of the ratchet wheel 130 rotates reversely to the spindle , and due to the unidirectional transmission between the ratchet wheel 130 , the spindle is not affected . group c : the energy storage components falls , and the ratchet wheel 130 rotate clockwise ; { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle , driven by the energy storage components of group c , rotates to drive generators to generate electricity ; 12 ) at the stage of third falling tide , referring to fig9 f and 9 g : { circle around ( 1 )} the sea level : the sea level descends from the position at high tide to that at low tide ; { circle around ( 2 )} the position of the buoy and the state of the upper and lower valves : the buoy descends from the position at high tide , and when the intake and drainage valve 2 assumes the position which is 0 . 2 m away from the sea level , the solenoid clutches 17 , 18 are controlled to stop the buoy 3 from descending . the electromagnetic control system is actuated to open the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 , such that seawater is discharged in free fall ( as shown in fig9 b ); and after the seawater is drained , the intake and drainage valve 2 and the intake and exhaust valve 21 are shut and the buoy 3 restores a “ hermetic empty pontoon ”, then the buoy goes into the seawater gradually under the weight of the energy storage components and itself and returns to the position at initial stage . { circle around ( 3 )} the state of the solenoid clutches and the ratchet rods : group a , group b : the solenoid clutch 11 is opened and releases the ratchet rod 10 , when tide begins to fall , the solenoid clutch 17 is closed and grips the ratchet rod 16 such that the ratchet rod 16 draws the energy storage components to ascend with the falling of the buoy ; when the buoy 3 falls 0 . 2 m close to the surface of low tide , the clutch 17 is closed and grips the tie rod 16 and at the same time the clutch 18 on the platform is closed and grips the tie rod 16 as well , so as to keep the buoy at that position . group c : the solenoid clutches 11 , 17 , 18 are all opened and release the ratchet rods 10 , 16 , thus the energy storage components descending . group a , group b : energy storage components reach the highest position 2h . group c : the energy storage components descend . { circle around ( 5 )} the state of the ratchet wheel 130 : group a , group b : the energy storage components rises , the chain drives the outer ring of the ratchet wheel 130 rotates reversely to the spindle , and due to the unidirectional transmission of ratchet wheel 130 , the spindle is not affected . group c : the energy storage components falls , and the ratchet wheel 130 rotates in forward direction . { circle around ( 6 )} the state of the spindle : the spindle , driven by the energy storage components in group c , rotates clockwise so as to drive generators to generate electricity . 13 ) at the stage of fourth low tide , as shown in fig9 h . from this stage , the movement of the first cycle is repeated , and the groups of energy storage components , under the effect of tide , ascend and descend continuously in different time according to the above procedures , converting tidal energy into mechanical energy of the energy storage components , which drives the spindle to rotate continuously , thus generating electricity uninterruptedly . in different cycles , there is difference only in the way of the relative movements between the energy storage components of the group b and group c . fig1 to fig1 shows the sixth embodiment of the present invention , which is a system unit 500 . the power generation system with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage may be configured by at least one system unit 500 . the sixth embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the energy storage components 8 and the ratchet rod 10 is connected flexibly through the rope 9 which is lengthened for meeting the need in cluster applications . furthermore , the energy storage components 8 is placed in a position away from the platform 5 , on which rope 12 connecting rod 10 and rod 16 is wrapped around pulley assembly 23 a which comprises a fixed pulley and a spindle on which the fixed pulley is disposed , and the transmission spindle 15 , the outer ring 13 and the inner ring 14 of the ratchet wheel 130 in the first embodiment are moved on the land 26 away from the platform 5 , and are supported by the bracket 20 a , and all the operation of the whole device keeps identical . the meaning of the embodiment is that : the torques generated by multiple energy storage components 8 can be conveniently converged into one spindle 15 , thus the superposition of the collected torque and energy is realized , which addresses the key problem existing in the industrialization of tidal energy . apparently , the energy storage components of the embodiment depicted in the fig1 - 12 may be the ones which store energy by groups and release energy storage by groups mentioned in the fifth embodiment . fig1 shows the seventh embodiment of the present invention , which is presented as a system unit 600 . the power generation system with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage may be configured by at least one of system unit 600 . this embodiment is different from the sixth embodiment in that there is provided with a pit 261 on the land 26 below energy storage components 8 , which may result in reduction of the height of the bracket 20 a which supports the ratchet wheel 130 and the spindle 15 . fig1 shows the eighth embodiment of the present invention , which is a cluster combining a plurality of system units 500 in the sixth embodiment or 600 in the seventh embodiment . as shown in fig1 , above the sea surface 22 is provided with a plurality of system units 500 or 600 , which suspend the energy storage components 8 on the same transmission spindle 15 by the rope 9 traveling over the coastline 25 and directed through the pulley sets 23 . the transmission spindle 15 is provided on the land 26 , and is supported by the bearing 152 . each rope 9 has corresponding ratchet wheels 13 , 14 . the energy storage components 8 may drive the spindle 15 to rotate on the aforementioned principles , especially , on the principles according to the fifth embodiment . the spindle 15 drives the transmission mechanism 151 ( for instance , a belt transmission mechanism 151 , but not limited to it ), which mechanism drives the speed increaser 27 , which in turn , outputs the dynamic force to a uniform speed flywheel 28 , and the uniform speed flywheel 28 drives the generation module 29 to generating electricity . in the aforementioned embodiments , via the descending of the energy storage component 8 , the spindle 15 is driven to rotate , but with too low speed , therefore improper to drive generators directly . a speed increaser 27 is needed to improve the speed , which can be a pin - cycloidal gear planetary speeding gear box which has a wide speed range ( if it is of two - stage , the transmission ratio thereof may be 1 : 121 ˜ 7569 ), works efficiently ( above 90 %), and can increase the rotation speed effectively to above 350 n / min , which is suitable to drive generator . in the aforementioned embodiments , at the output end of the speed increaser is mounted with a uniform speed flywheel 28 which prestores 1 ˜ 2 cycles of tidal energy , in order to keep the speed of the generator stable when the energy storage components operate alternatively and external load varies . fig1 shows the ninth embodiment which forms a three - dimensional energy integrated utilization field with tide , wind force , and solar energy . traditional methods of solar power generation and wind power generation , when applied to large - scale construction , have two disadvantages , which result in large scale of investigation for power plants , and very high cost of power generation , affecting the development of the solar and wind power generation : 1 . both a wind farm and a solar power plant need to occupy a large area of land , which not only increases the cost of construction and management , but also , from the perspective of resource utilization , produces great waste of land resource . 2 . both wind and solar power generation need a large quantity of battery groups and inverters to ensure the continuous generation and the quality of power , which not only increases the cost of power generation , but also brings secondary pollution from chemicals produced during the long - period operation and maintenance of batteries . as shown in fig1 , a three - dimensional energy integrated utilization field with tide , wind force , and the sun , includes a power generation system with tide buoyancy and gravity ratio energy storage which comprises of a plurality of ( three shown in the drawing ) system units 500 or 600 and a seawater desalination system with tide buoyancy and gravity 200 . on each offshore platform of system units 500 , 600 , 200 , there are provided with solar heaters 91 and wind driven generators 90 , in which the solar heaters 91 constitute a solar heater cluster while the wind driven generators 90 constitute a wind driven generator cluster . a plurality of energy storage components in the system units 500 or 600 constitute an energy storage component cluster 92 , which stores tidal energy in the accordance with the way in the aforementioned embodiments . the energy storage component cluster 92 with stored tidal energy drives the same transmission spindle 93 , and at the same time , the energy storage component of the seawater desalination system 200 drives the spindle 93 as well . the spindle 93 , supported by a bearing block 93 a , on the one hand , drives a speed increaser box 95 by a transmission mechanism 94 a , the speed increaser box 95 driving the uniform speed flywheel 96 , which in turn , drives generator sets 97 to generate electricity ; on the other hand , the spindle 93 drives the vacuum pump 95 b by a transmission mechanism 94 b , the vacuum pump 95 b sucking air from the seawater evaporation tower 82 such that negative pressure is formed in the seawater evaporation tower 82 , and thus the seawater heated by the solar water heater 91 is delivered to the seawater evaporation tower 82 through pipelines , and subsequently , evaporates quickly under negative pressure , to form low - pressure steam , which is sucked by vacuum pump 95 b . the low - pressure steam is pressurized in the vacuum pump 95 b to form high - pressure steam , and the high - pressure steam is delivered outward the steam pressure tank 98 which connects the output end of the vacuum pump 95 b with pipelines . the steam pressure tank 98 is configured with electric heaters 81 , the electrical power of which is provided by that generated from the wind driven generators 90 , and electric heaters 81 further heats the high - pressure steam in the steam pressure tank 98 . the output end of the steam pressure tank 98 connects the steam turbine 99 with pipelines , and the output high - pressure steam drives the turbine 99 to rotate . the power output shaft of steam turbine 99 connects with the uniform speed flywheel 96 b , which drives the generator sets 97 b . after driving the turbine , the steam loses energy and its temperature goes down to condense into fresh water , and the remained gas may be sent to a condenser , and is further processed into fresh water . as shown in the drawing , the high - pressure steam in the turbine 99 is retrieved in the form of fresh water into the fresh water receiver 83 while the brine in the seawater evaporation tower 82 enters the brine receiver 84 . as can be seen from fig1 , the wind driven generators 90 is mounted on the very columns which are built on the offshore platform of the system units , therefore overcoming the problem that the wind power generation systems occupy large area of land . similar to the embodiment shown in fig5 , in the embodiment in fig1 , the seawater evaporation tower 82 can be provided with an electrical heater . the electrical heater is powered directly by the wind driven generator 90 and heats the seawater in the evaporation tower , which effectively improves the evaporation rate , and the generating rate of the steam . the steam pressure tank 98 ( also referred to as gas storage tank ) may also be provided with an electrical heater 81 powered directly by the wind driven generator 90 , which may increase the steam pressure in the gas storage tank so as to drive the turbine 99 to move . due to that there is no requirement in the quality and continuity of power , it is no need to distribute power through storage batteries and inverters , decreasing significantly the cost of wind power , and improving the utilization efficiency of electrical energy . in the embodiment of fig1 , there is large area on the “ offshore platform ” of the system units for mounting “ solar water heaters ”, therefore overcoming the problem that the solar energy collection panels occupy large area of land . the embodiments shown in figures may employ cost - effective “ coil - type solar water heaters ” to utilize the solar energy to heat directly seawater . the heated seawater is sucked into the evaporation tower under the negative pressure therein . high temperature seawater may improve effectively the evaporation rate and the generating rate of the steam . although the seawater desalination system 200 with tide buoyancy and gravity illustrated in fig1 is identical or substantially identical with that in fig5 , the former can be replaced with the seawater desalination system with floating and spreading seawater evaporation tower 40 shown in fig6 and fig7 . the seawater desalination system 200 not only desalinates seawater , but also drives turbogenerators to generate electricity . compared with the prior art , “ the offshore platform ” built above the sea surface shown in the embodiment in fig1 may serve to support the equipments of the tidal power generation system . but the tidal power generation equipments only cover relatively small area of the platform surface , therefore , the platform surface can be arranged as “ a solar collection field ”, that is , a place for installing solar power generation devices or solar heating devices or the like ; above the platform , there can be arranged as “ a wind power collection field ”, that is , the space for installing wind driven generation devices and the like ; below the platform , there can be arranged as “ a tidal energy collection field ”, as a result of this , “ a three - dimensional space for integrally utilizing energy ” is formed . it reduces the cost of tidal power generation system and solves the problems of occupying large area of land and high operation cost existing in wind power and solar power . because of the combination among wind power , solar power , and tidal power , the output way of the wind energy and solar energy changes , that is , there is no need to output the wind electricity separately from the solar electricity , but the electrical energy produced by wind force is utilized directly for heating the seawater in “ the seawater evaporation tower ” without the use of inverters , and the solar energy is utilized directly for heating seawater by means of solar water heater 91 ( for instance , coil pipe heater ), and sends the heated water into “ the seawater evaporation tower ” without the conversion into electrical power . having been heated by wind power and solar energy , seawater can evaporate in a higher rate and be converted into more steam , which improves the generation capacity of the tidal power generation system . the integral utilization of the three - dimensional energy can reduce significantly the cost of the system in investment and operation , and make it possible to utilize industrially clean renewable natural energy integrally . the integral utilization of the three - dimensional energy solves the problem that wind power and solar power must employ huge battery groups and inverters , and produces fresh water and sea salt as well as electricity . | 5 |
the following description of the preferred embodiments is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention , its application , or uses . fig2 represents an exploded view of a chuck mechanism 20 according to the teachings of first embodiment to the invention . the chuck 20 includes a spindle 22 defining a bit accepting through bore 24 , a jaw assembly 26 , a socket 28 , and an impact assembly 31 . intersecting the through bore 24 are bit engaging jaw elements 32 of the jaw assembly 26 . the jaw elements 32 , which have a bit engaging surface 34 and a threaded drive surface 36 , are slidably positioned within angularly disposed channels 38 . the spindle 22 can have a forward section 35 , a collar 37 and a rearward section 39 . the forward section 35 can have a center bit accepting through bore 24 formed therein , while the collar 37 can have a plurality of angularly disposed channels 38 formed therethrough which intersect the center through bore 24 . the rearward section can have a threaded hole 41 , which is adapted to threadingly engage an output spindle of a power tool ( not shown ). the socket assembly or socket 28 is annularly disposed about the jaw elements 32 . the socket 28 preferably defines an interior threaded bore 40 , which is configured to interface with the threaded drive surface 36 of the jaw elements 32 . under normal operation of the tool , the socket 28 co - rotates with the jaw elements 32 and therefore does not move relative to the jaw elements 32 . to tighten or loosen the jaw elements 32 , the jaw assembly 26 is rotated relative to the socket 28 . this can occur by holding the socket 28 fixed and rotating the jaw assembly 26 . the relative rotation of the jaw assembly 26 causes the jaw elements 32 to move together though guideways 38 when the jaw assembly 26 is rotated in a first or tightening direction with respect to the socket 28 and to disengage when the jaw assembly 26 is rotated in a second or loosening direction relative to the socket 28 . the socket 28 is formed of two rings ( 42 and 44 ). the first ring 42 having the interior threaded surface 40 and a ramp interface surface 51 . the second ring 44 having a ramped surface 50 configured to interface with the ramp interface surface 51 of the first ring 42 and a plurality of engagement teeth 52 . the impact assembly 31 is rotationally fixed to the body of the tool and is configured to prevent or resist rotation of the socket 28 to drive the jaws 32 . the impact assembly 31 has an impact ring 54 , which has a plurality of engagement teeth 57 that are configured to interface with the corresponding engagement teeth 52 of the second ring 44 . the impact assembly 31 also has a spring 58 and a spring bearing element 60 which are configured to apply axial forces to the impact ring 54 . as best seen in fig3 ( wherein some details of the fig2 embodiment have been omitted ), when chucking a tool bit as described for the prior art , upon rotation of the jaw assembly 26 in the first or tightening direction , the threaded engagement between the jaws 32 and first ring 42 will initially cause first ring 42 to also rotate in the first direction . second ring 44 , however , will be restrained from rotation by the engagement between teeth 52 and teeth 57 . thus , first ring 42 will rotate relative to second ring 44 and ramped legs 51 will slide into the deep end 53 of ramped surface 50 . when ramped legs 51 are in the deep end of ramped surface 50 there can be no further relative rotation between first ring 42 and second ring 44 . at that point the impact ring 54 effectively engages first ring 42 via teeth 52 and 57 and via second ring 44 . since first ring 42 is then prevented from rotating , there will be relative rotation between first ring 42 and jaw assembly 26 causing jaws 32 to move inward as described for the prior art . when the jaws 32 contact the shank of the bit and can no longer move axially the orbiting jaws 32 will then force first ring 42 to rotate , which in turn will cause second ring 44 to rotate . as shown in fig4 , during chucking , continued rotation of the jaw assembly 26 in the first or tightening direction will cause the rotationally coupled rings 42 and 44 to operate as in the prior art and will induce the reciprocating and impacting movement of impact ring 54 as previously described . in this preferred embodiment , however , the sloped interface 50 allows the interface ring 44 to move axially away from the spring bearing element 60 thus allowing the spring 58 to lengthen . this results in the spring 58 applying a smaller force to the impact ring 54 of the impact assembly 31 . this in turn results in a reduced tightening torque applied to the jaw elements 32 and bit interface when the jaw elements are engaging a bit . as best seen in fig5 , during unchucking of a drill bit , upon rotation of the jaw assembly 26 in the second or loosening direction , the threaded engagement between the jaws 32 and first ring 42 will initially cause first ring 42 to also rotate in the second direction . second ring 44 , however , will be restrained from rotation by the engagement between teeth 52 and teeth 57 . thus , first ring 42 will rotate relative to second ring 44 and ramped leg 51 will slide into the shallow end 55 of ramped surface 50 . when ramped legs 51 are in the shallow end of ramped surface 50 there can be no further relative rotation between first ring 42 and second ring 44 . at that point impact ring 54 effectively engages first ring 42 via teeth 52 and 57 and via second ring 44 . as seen in fig6 , continued rotation of the jaw assembly 26 in the second or loosening direction will cause rotationally interlocked first ring 42 and second ring 44 to initially rotate along with the jaw assembly 26 . rotation of second ring 44 will cause the socket teeth 52 to ride over the ring teeth 57 and urge the impacting ring 54 in a rearward direction away from the threaded socket 28 . since the spring 58 biases the impacting ring 54 forwardly , the socket teeth 52 will periodically strike the ring teeth 57 as the threaded socket 28 rotates . the impact of the socket teeth 52 and the ring teeth 57 will generate a torque that will eventually overcome the static friction between the first ring 42 and jaws 32 , at which point the first ring will break free of the jaws . further rotation of the jaw assembly 26 will result in relative rotation between jaws 32 and first ring 42 , since rotation of first ring 42 is resisted via the interlocked second ring 44 , teeth 52 and 57 , and impact ring 54 . the continued relative rotation between rotating jaws 32 and nonrotating first ring 42 will cause the jaws to move axially rearward and outward , thus releasing the bit from the chuck . advantageously in this embodiment , since second ring 44 was forced rearward when ramped leg 51 moved to the shallow end 55 of ramped surface 50 , spring 58 is compressed relative to its condition during chucking / tightening as described above . this results in the spring 58 applying a larger force to the impact ring 54 of the impact assembly 31 during unchucking . this in turn results in an increased loosening torque applied to the jaw elements 32 and bit interface when the jaw elements 32 are disengaging a bit . fig7 represents an exploded view of the chuck assembly 70 according to another embodiment of the invention . disposed about the spindle 22 and jaw elements 32 is a single piece socket 28 . the socket 28 defines a threaded through bore 40 which is configured to interface with the threaded drive surface 36 of the jaw elements 32 . the socket 28 has an interface surface 72 having a plurality of ramp engagement teeth 74 . as described above , an impact assembly 80 is configured to apply relative anti - rotational forces to the socket 28 . the impact assembly 80 has a impacting ring 82 , and first and second spring interface members 84 and 60 . further disposed between the socket 28 and the impacting ring 82 is a biasing spring 29 that functions to separate the components when the drill is in drive mode . when a drill bit is to be chucked in the chuck assembly 70 , the top cover shell 112 of the housing is rotated to align the projections 86 on second spring interface members 84 with a deep locking recess 134 in the top cover shell 112 . the spring 58 urges the impacting ring 82 through spring interface member 84 , forwardly so that the ring teeth 71 engage the socket teeth 74 . the engagement of the ring teeth 71 engages the socket teeth 74 thereby resisting relative rotation between the impacting ring 82 and the threaded socket 28 . as the spring constant of biasing spring 29 is lower than spring 58 , it is compressed . as best seen in fig8 , subsequent rotation of the spindle 22 in a first rotational direction causes relative rotation between the spindle 22 and the threaded socket 28 that drives the jaw members 32 toward the rotational axis of the spindle 22 and tightens the jaw members 32 against the shank of the drill bit . relative rotation of the impacting ring 82 in the first tightening direction with respect to the first spring interface member 84 causes the impacting ring 82 and the first spring interface member 84 to move together . this allows the spring member 58 to lengthen and reduces the force applied by the spring 58 to the impacting ring 82 and , therefore , the amount of force applied by the impacting ring 82 on the socket 28 . this reduces the amount of forces applied by the jaw drive &# 39 ; s relative rotation with respect to the jaw elements 32 when the jaw elements are engaging a bit . the first spring interface member 84 , which is rotationally fixed , has a ramp surface 88 that interfaces with a corresponding ramp surface 89 on the impacting ring 82 . the ramped surface can be of the form of a recess ( as shown in fig8 and 9 , or a projection as shown in fig7 ). in this regard , the ramp surface 88 between the impacting ring 82 and the first spring interface member 84 are configured to allow restricted relative rotation therebetween . as previously described , continued rotation of the spindle 22 and jaws 32 will cause the socket 28 to begin to rotate with the spindle 22 , causing the socket teeth 74 to ride over the ring teeth 71 and urge the impacting ring 82 and first spring interface member 84 in a rearward direction away from the threaded socket 28 . since the spring 58 biases the impacting ring 82 forwardly , the socket teeth 74 will periodically strike the ring teeth 71 as the threaded socket 28 rotates . the impact of the socket teeth 74 and the ring teeth 71 will generate a torque that is applied to the threaded socket 28 . as best seen in fig9 , during unchucking of a drill bit , upon rotation of the jaws 32 and spindle 22 in the second or loosening direction , the impacting member 82 is rotated in the second direction , the first spring interface member 84 is moved away from the impacting ring 82 , causing compression of the spring 58 . due to the initial frictional forces , the socket teeth 74 may be caused to ride over the ring teeth 71 and urge the impacting ring 82 and first spring interface member 84 in a rearward direction away from the threaded socket 28 . since the spring 58 biases the impacting ring 82 forwardly , the socket teeth 74 will periodically strike the ring teeth 71 as the threaded socket 28 rotates . the impact of the socket teeth 74 and the ring teeth 71 will generate a torque that is applied to the threaded socket 28 . this increases the force applied from the spring 58 to the impacting ring 82 . this in turn increases the amount of forces applied by socket 28 relative rotation with respect to the jaw elements 32 . the impact of the socket teeth 74 and the impacting teeth 71 will generate a torque that will eventually overcome the static friction between the socket 28 and jaws 32 , at which point the socket 28 will break free of the jaws 32 . further rotation of the jaw spindle 22 and jaws 32 will result in relative rotation between jaws 32 and impacting ring 82 , since rotation of impacting ring 82 is resisted via the first spring interface member 84 , teeth 52 and 57 . the continued relative rotation between rotating jaws 32 and non - rotating impacting ring 82 will cause the jaws 32 to move axially rearward and outward , thus releasing the bit from the chuck . when the drill bit is to be normally driven in forward or reverse by the chuck assembly 70 , the top cover shell 112 of the housing is rotated to decouple the projections 86 on second spring interface members 84 from the deep locking recess 134 in the top cover shell 112 . this compresses spring 58 and allows spring 29 to urge the impacting ring 82 rearward so that the ring teeth 71 disengage the socket teeth 74 to thereby allowing rotation of the threaded socket 28 with the jaw elements 32 . with general reference to fig1 and 14 , which represent chuck mechanisms 90 according to another embodiment of the invention . an impact assembly 92 is configured to apply rotational forces to the socket 28 to tighten or loosen the jaws depending on the rotational direction as described above . the impact assembly 92 is formed of an impacting ring 94 , a spring 58 , and a spring support member 96 . as previously mentioned , the impacting ring 94 has a plurality of ramp engagement teeth 98 configured to interface with the corresponding teeth 100 formed in the socket 28 . the spring support member 96 is axially moveable with respect to the socket 28 to alter the compression of the spring 58 . as best seen in fig1 , the spring support member 96 can be located in a first location which compresses the spring 58 to a first length allowing the spring to apply a first force on the impacting ring 94 . alternatively , the spring support member 96 can be located in a second location ( see fig1 ), which compresses the spring 58 to a second length , to apply a second force on the impacting ring 94 . as described , the first force being less than the second force . annularly disposed about the spring support member 96 is a threaded member 102 which can be provided to allow a user to manually adjust the axial position of the spring support member 96 . thus , rotation of the threaded member 102 allows the user to manually adjust the forces applied from the impact assembly 92 onto the socket 28 and jaw elements 32 to either tighten or loosen the jaw elements 32 with respect to the tool bit . as best seen in fig1 - 17 , the spring support member 96 can alternatively be coupled to an annularly disposed housing 104 via a pair of support cam pins 106 . the support cam pins 106 are disposed within a pair of cam slots 108 formed in the support housing 104 . rotation of the spring support member 96 in a first and forward direction places the cam pins 106 of the spring support plate in a first forward axial location , thus placing a first force on the impacting ring 94 . when the spring support member 96 is rotated into a second or reverse direction , the cam pins 106 of the spring support member 96 are positioned into a second location 110 , thus decreasing the amount of force applied by the springs 58 through the impacting ring and socket 28 onto the threads of the jaw elements 32 . as best seen in fig1 , the housing can optionally have a cam slot which allows complete disengagement of the impacting ring 94 from the socket 28 . in this way , the spring support 96 can be used to engage or disengage the self - tightening feature of the chuck . the description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and , thus , variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention . for example , it is envisioned that mechanisms can vary the amount of force applied to the thrust bearing to the self - tightening chuck assembly depending upon whether the chuck is loosening or tightening jaws . these include varying the slope of the ramps of the interface between the thrust bearing and the jaw drive . additionally , it is envisioned that the spring assembly can be formed of a plurality of spring elements , the actuation of which dependent upon whether the tool is in a drive , tight , or loose configuration . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 1 |
describing now the drawings , it is to be understood that to simplify the showing thereof only enough of the structure of the safety or monitoring apparatus has been illustrated therein as is needed to enable one skilled in the art to readily understand the underlying principles and concepts of this invention . turning now specifically to fig1 of the drawings , an exemplary embodiment of the inventive safety or monitoring apparatus is illustrated therein in combination with an externally powered firing weapon 10 , especially a gatling firing weapon , of which only six weapon barrels 11 are visible . these six weapon barrels 11 are fixed to a not particularly shown rotor which is mounted for rotation about a firing weapon axis 12 in a manner which is known as such . at a point a cartridges 13 are fed to the breech mechanisms of the weapon barrels 11 in a manner further described hereinbelow . at a position b the cartridges 13 are fired in a manner which is likewise known as such . at a position c there is determined by means of a sensor element whether the cartridge was properly fired . at a position d empty cartridge cases 14 are ejected , as will also be described further hereinbelow . the feed means for feeding ammunition to the firing weapon 10 possess an ammunition feed housing 15 which defines a predetermined travel path t for the cartridges 13 and in which three star or finger wheels 16 , 17 and 18 are appropriately rotatably mounted . these three star or finger wheels 16 , 17 , 18 are driven by means of a here not particularly illustrated gear wheel drive . the first star or finger wheel , which is designated as an infeed star or finger wheel 16 , possesses five - take up or receiving locations or pockets 22 for the cartridges 13 . the second star or finger wheel , designated as a transfer star or finger wheel 17 , possesses only four take - up or receiving locations or pockets 23 for the cartridges 13 to be fed to the firing weapon 10 . the third star or finger wheel , designated as an ejection star or finger wheel 18 , possesses eight effective or active take - up or receiving locations for the empty cartridge cases 14 . the above - mentioned ammunition feed housing 15 possesses three openings 19a , 20a and 21 . one of these openings constitutes an infeed opening 19a which communicates with an infeed channel 19 , and the ammunition , i . e . the cartridges 13 to be fired , are fed through this infeed opening 19a and the infeed channel 19 . a further one of these openings constitutes an outfeed opening 20a of the ammunition feed housing 15 and communicates with an outfeed channel 20 through which in all cases unfired but still live cartridges are received by and remain on a not particularly shown endless chain or belt . on the other hand , the empty cartridge cases 14 of the fired cartridges 13 are ejected through the third or ejection opening 21 in the ammunition feed housing 15 . the cartridges 13 are infed through the infeed opening 19a and the infeed channel 19 in a manner which is known as such and by means of a here not particularly illustrated endless conveyor or any other known suitable conveying means . the cartridges 13 located in the infeed channel 19 are held or engaged by the take - up or receiving locations or pockets 22 of the first or infeed star or finger wheel 16 and are transported to a position e . at this position e each cartridge 13 is not only located in the take - up or receiving location or pocket 22 of the first or infeed star or finger wheel 16 but also already in the take - up or receiving location or pocket 23 of the second or transfer star or finger wheel 17 . from this position e the cartridge 13 can be fed either to the position a of the firing weapon 10 by means of the second or transfer star or finger wheel 17 or returned back through the outfeed channel 20 to the outfeed opening 20a by means of the first or infeed star or finger wheel 16 as indicated by the two arrows 24 and 25 . as a deflector or deflecting means two segments or segment members 26 and 27 are provided in order to either feed the cartridges 13 in the direction of the arrow 24 to the firing weapon 10 or return the cartridges 13 in the direction of the arrow 25 back into an ammunition container or magazine . each of these two segments or segment members 26 and 27 can be selectively displaced from an operative position into an inoperative position . if one segment or segment member , namely , for instance , the segment or segment member 27 is located in the operative position , then , the cartridges 13 arrive at the firing weapon 10 . if the other segment or segment member , namely the segment or segment member 26 is located in its operative position , then the cartridges 13 travel through the outfeed channel 20 and are received by and remain on the endless chain or belt and subsequently can be returned to the ammunition container or magazine . in accordance with fig2 to 4 the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 are displaceably arranged in a housing 28 . four guide pins 30 are fixed in a floor or base 29 of the housing 28 and protrude into related bores or holes of the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 in order to accurately guide these two segments or segment members 26 and 27 in the housing 28 . at each end of the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 there are fastened related pins 31 which project into related bores or holes of two balancing or rocker beams 32 . the two balancing or rocker beams 32 serving as coupling means for the segment members 26 and 27 are mounted for pivoting about related pins 33 in the housing 28 and serve the purpose of lowering one of the two segments or segment members when the other one of the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 is raised i . e . one of the two segments is moved towards the cartridge base in the direction of the lengthwise cartridge axis , whereas the other segment is moved away from the cartridge base in the direction of the lengthwise cartridge axis . two sets or stacks 34 of cup or belleville springs or equivalent structure tend to push or urge the segment or segment member 26 from its lowermost position shown in fig3 into its uppermost position . an operating cable 35 is secured to the segment or segment member 26 by means of a bolt 36 and is capable of pulling or displacing this segment or segment member 26 against the force of the sets or stacks 34 of the cup springs or the like into the illustrated lowermost position . in the starting position in accordance with fig3 and 4 , the operating cable 35 is tensioned and the sets or stacks 34 cup springs are compressed . the segment or segment member 26 is located in its lowermost or inoperative position and the segment or segment member 27 is located in its uppermost or operative position . consequently , the cartridges 13 arrive at the firing weapon 10 in this starting position of the segments or segment members 26 and 27 . in accordance with fig5 two first or infeed star or finger wheels 16 are fixed to a shaft 40 and two second or transfer star or finger wheels 17 are fixed to a shaft 44 . these two shafts 40 and 44 are located in the ammunition feed housing 15 shown in fig1 between two walls 37 and 38 and are journalled in these walls 37 and 38 by means of four related ball bearings 39 . the cartridge 13 which , according to fig1 is located at the position e , is held by the four star or finger wheels 16 and 17 and by one of the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 and , according to fig5 is additionally held by a disk or plate 41 which engages a withdrawal groove 42 provided in the cartridge 13 . this is necessary so that the cartridge 13 does not topple or tilt in the direction of the arrow 43 as soon as such cartridge is held by only one of the two star or finger wheels 16 or 17 when transported out of the position e in the direction of one of the arrows 24 and 25 . the mode of operation of the safety or monitoring apparatus described hereinbefore is as follows : when starting a continuous or series firing operation , the cartridges 13 are transported by means of a not particularly shown conveying apparatus from the ammunition container or magazine through the infeed opening 19a and the infeed channel 19 , see fig1 and are placed into the position e by the first or infeed star or finger wheel 16 . due to the fact that the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 are in the starting position shown in fig3 the cartridges 13 are subsequently brought to the position a , see fig1 by means of the second or transfer star or finger wheel 17 , see arrow 24 . from this position a the cartridges 13 are inserted into the weapon barrel 11 by a here not particularly illustrated breech mechanism and thereafter the breech mechanism is locked . the cartridge 13 is fired at the position b , see fig1 . the empty cartridge case 14 is withdrawn from the weapon barrel 11 at the position c , see fig1 and arrives at the position d , see also fig1 at which it is engaged by the third or ejection star or finger wheel 18 and ejected through the ejection opening 21 . when a firing delay occurs , i . e . when the cartridge 13 does not react in time to the piercing of its detonator , or in the case of a hang - fire condition , the cartridge case 14 cannot be withdrawn from the weapon barrel 11 at the position c as intended . the presence of a delayed firing cartridge in the position c is detected by means of a suitable sensor element which is known as such and therefore not particularly here illustrated . the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 are then displaced from their starting position shown in fig3 by means of the operating cable 35 and the action of the spring sets or stacks 34 , see fig2 . consequently , one of the two segments or segment members 26 and 27 , namely the segment or segment member 26 is moved into its operative position and the other segment or segment member , namely the segment or segment member 27 is moved into its inoperative position . hence the cartridges 13 no longer move from their position e to the position a of the firing weapon 10 but are transported in accordance with the arrow 25 through the first or infeed star or finger wheel 16 to the outfeed opening 20a and the outfeed channel 20 . irrespective of whether the cartridges 13 are moved in accordance with the arrow 24 to the position a or in accordance with the arrow 25 to the outfeed channel 20 , such cartridges are held , as shown in fig5 by the disk 41 which projects into the cartridge withdrawal groove 42 . therefore , any toppling or tilting movement of the cartridge 13 in the direction of the arrow 43 , see fig5 can be reliably prevented . while there are shown and described present preferred embodiments of the invention , it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto , but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims . | 5 |
the present invention provides an improved synthesis of seco (−) cbi ( 5 - hydroxy - 3 - amino - 1 -[ s ]-( chloromethyl )- 1 , 2 - dihydro - 3h - benz ( e ) indole ) ( 7 ), and also improved syntheses of dc1 and its derivative compounds that use seco (−) cbi as a reagent . optionally , the synthesis of seco (−) cbi can utilize 1 , 3 - dihydroxynapthalene as a starting material , which is inexpensive and readily available . the term “ dc1 and its derivatives ” as used herein refers to cc - 1065 analogs having , as their alkylating subunit “ a ,” a cyclopropabenzidole ( cbi ) subunit in its open chloromethyl form in place of the cyclopropapyrroloindole ( cpi ) unit of cc - 1065 . dc1 compounds further comprise “ b ” and “ c ” subunits that are indole units or analogs thereof . the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits are linked by an amide bond , and provide carboxyl and amino functional groups for attachment via amide bonds to the “ a ” subunit and a disulfide - containing moiety , respectively . thus the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits are not particularly limited , and can be , for example , any of the compounds of formulae ( v )-( xii ), or related compounds disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 585 , 499 ; 5 , 475 , 092 ; and 5 , 846 , 545 . thus , the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits of dc1 can include 2 - carboxy - indole or 2 - carboxy - benzofuran derivatives , or both , as represented by the compounds of formulae ( v )-( xii ). as may be ascertained from the natural cc - 1065 and from the properties of the analogs that have been published ( e . g . warpehoski et al , 31 j . med chem . 590 - 603 ( 1988 ), boger at al , 66 j . org chem . 6654 - 6661 ( 2001 )), the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits can also carry different substituents at different positions on the indole or benzofuran rings , corresponding to positions r 1 - r 6 of formulae ( v )-( xii ), and retain potent cytotoxic activity . within formulae ( v )-( xii ), r 1 to r 6 , which may be the same or different , independently represent hydrogen , c 1 - c 3 linear alkyl , methoxy , hydroxyl , primary amino , secondary amino , tertiary amino , or amido . examples of primary amino group - containing substituents are methyl amino , ethyl amino , and isopropyl amino . examples of secondary amino group - containing substituents are dimethyl amino , diethyl amino , and ethyl - propyl amino . examples of tertiary amino group - containing substituents are trimethyl amino , triethyl amino , and ethyl - isopropyl - methyl amino . examples of amido groups include n - methyl - acetamido , n - methyl - propionamido , n - acetamido , and n - propionamido . within formulae ( v )-( xii ), r ″ represents an amine or substituted or unsubstituted c 1 - c 20 alkyl amine that is capable of forming an amide bond to a carboxyl of the disulfide - containing moiety of dc1 . the preferred embodiment of r ″ is — nh 2 . the disulfide - containing moiety that is used in the synthesis of dc1 is of the structure hooc — r 7 — s — r 8 , wherein r 7 represents a linker region that is not particularly limited and can be , for example , a substituted or unsubstituted c 1 - c 20 alkyl group , a polyethylene glycol spacer , and the like . thus , r 7 can represent methyl , linear alkyl , branched alkyl , cyclic alkyl , simple or substituted aryl or heterocyclic or a polyethylene glycol chain . examples of linear alkyls represented by r 7 include methyl , ethyl , propyl , butyl , pentyl and hexyl . examples of branched alkyls represented by r 7 include isopropyl , isobutyl , sec .- butyl , tert .- butyl , isopentyl and 1 - ethyl - propyl . examples of cyclic alkyls represented by r 7 include cyclopropyl , cyclobutyl , cyclopentyl and cyclohexyl . examples of simple aryls represented by r 7 include phenyl and naphthyl . examples of substituted aryls represented by r 7 include aryls such as phenyl or naphthyl substituted with alkyl groups , with halogens , such as cl , br , f , nitro groups , amino groups , sulfonic acid groups , carboxylic acid groups , hydroxy groups and alkoxy groups . heterocyclics represented by r 7 are compounds wherein the heteroatoms are selected from o , n , and s , and examples include furyl , pyrrollyl , pyridyl , ( e . g ., a 2 - substituted pyrimidine group ) and thiophene . r 8 represents any suitable thiol leaving group that is capable of undergoing a disulfide exchange reaction whereby dc1 can be attached , for example , to a cell specific reagent such as an antibody or any of the cell binding agents disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 475 , 092 . preferred embodiments of r 8 include — sch 3 and thiopyridyl . other examples include — salkyl , — saryl , glutathione , cysteine and the like . the term “ protecting group ” ( r ) as used herein represents any group that is capable of protecting the amino or phenolic hydroxyl group to which it is attached from further reaction and which is further capable of controlled subsequent removal , for example by treatment with an acid or base . thus , amino - protecting groups stable to base treatment are selectively removed with acid treatment , and vice versa , and can be used to protect the amino group in the synthesis of seco (−) cbi herein . examples of such groups are the fmoc ( e . atherton and r . c . sheppard in the peptides , s . udenfriend , j . meienhofer , eds ., academic press , orlando , 1987 , volume 9 , p . 1 ), and various substituted sulfonylethyl carbamates exemplified by the nsc group ( samukov et al ., tetrahedron lett , 1994 , 35 : 7821 ; verhart and tesser , rec . trav . chim . pays - bas , 1987 , 107 : 621 ). additional amino - protecting groups include but are not limited to , carbamate - protecting groups , such as 2 - trimethylsilylethoxycarbonyl ( teoc ), 1 - methyl - 1 -( 4 - biphenylyl ) ethoxycarbonyl ( bpoc ), t - butoxycarbonyl ( boc ), allyloxycarbonyl ( alloc ), 9 - fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl ( fmoc ), diphenyloxycarbonyl , 2 , 2 , 2 - trichloroethyl oxycarbonyl , diisopropylmethyl oxycarbonyl , 1 - adamantyl oxycarbonyl , vinyl oxycarbonyl , methoxy benzyl oxycarbonyl , nitrobenzyl oxycarbonyl , cyclohexyl oxycarbonyl , cyclopentyl oxycarbonyl , and benzyloxycarbonyl ( cbz ); amide - protecting groups , such as formyl , acetyl , trihaloacetyl , benzoyl , and nitrophenylacetyl ; sulfonamide - protecting groups , such as 2 - nitrobenzenesulfonyl ; and imine - and cyclic imide - protecting groups , such as phthalimido and dithiasuccinoyl . those skilled in the art are familiar with such equivalent amino - protecting groups . as an example , which is not intended to be limiting , amino protecting groups such as 2 , 6 - dinitrobenzenesulfonyl , 4 - nitrobenzenesulfonyl or 2 , 4 - dinitrobenzenesulfonyl groups may be used . alternatively , another amino protecting group may be used instead of a sulfonyl protecting group . the formation of the amide bonds in the synthesis of seco (−) cbi and dc1 can be catalyzed by a variety of agents known to those of skill in the art . for example , carbodiimides are used to mediate the formation of a peptide bond between a carboxylate and an amine , and water soluble and insoluble species of carbodiimide can be selected as appropriate . edc ( 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ) carbodiimide hydrochloride ) is preferred . other examples of amide coupling reagents useful in the present invention include edc together with sulfo - nhs , cmc ( 1 - cyclohexyl - 3 -( 2 - morpholinoethyl ) carbodiimide ), dcc ( dicyclohexyl carbodiimide ), dic ( diisopropyl carbodiimide ), woodward &# 39 ; s reagent k , n , n ′- carbonyldiimidazole , pybop ( benzotriazole - 1 - yl - oxy - tris - pyrrolidinophosphonium heaxflurophosphate ), tbtu ( 2 -( 1h - benzotriazole - 1 - yl )- 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - trtramethyluronium tetrafluoroborate ), hbtu ( 2 -( 1h - benzotriazole - 1 - yl )- 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - trtramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate ), bop ( benzotriazole - 1 - yl - oxy - tris -( dimethylamino )- phosphonium hexafluorophosphate ), pybrop ( bromo - tris - pyrrolidino - phosphonium hexafluorophosphate ), and the like . the isolation of the (−) enantiomer of the diprotected seco (−) cbi precursor , a compound of formula ( iii ), is an important step in the synthesis of seco (−) cbi . isolation of the (−) enantiomer can be carried out by any method known to those of skill in the art for the separation of enantiomers . for example , the use of a chiral matrix and liquid chromatography is preferred . most preferably , hplc over a chiral column is used . it is a benefit of the present invention that the separation of the (−) enantiomer is performed upon the di - protected precursor rather than upon seco (−) cbi ( 7 ), as described above . suitable chiral matrices include , for example , chiralpak ad column ( diacel ), chiralcel od , chiralcel oj , and the like . the term “ suitable conditions ,” as applied herein to specific aspects of the synthesis of seco (−) cbi and dc1 , such as in reference to alkylation or ring - closure reactions , represents both the specific methods disclosed in the examples herein and those equivalent methods , suitably adapted to the specific dc1 species that is to be synthesized , known to those of skill in the art . the synthesis of dc1 requires the coupling , via amide bonds , of seco (−) cbi , a “ b ” and “ c ” subunit , and a disulfide - containing moiety . the order in which these components are coupled is not critical and the synthesis can be easily adapted such that the couplings occur in any order . thus , seco (−) cbi and the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits can be first coupled and then the disulfide - containing moiety can be attached , or the disulfide - containing moiety and the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits can be first coupled and then the seco (−) cbi can be attached . both processes are illustrated in the examples herein . it is further within the scope of the present invention that the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits need not be first coupled via an amide bond in the synthesis of dc1 according to the present invention . thus , it is within the scope of the present invention that , for example , seco (−) cbi and the “ b ” subunit are coupled , then the “ c ” subunit and the disulfide - containing moiety are coupled , and then dc1 is synthesized by coupling through the “ b ” and “ c ” subunits . because dc1 comprises a linear sequence of 4 parts , it will be apparent that many permutations of the synthesis of dc1 according to the present invention are readily attainable . the invention will now be illustrated by reference to certain non - limiting examples . unless otherwise stated , all percentages , ratios , parts , and the like , are by weight . a summary of the exemplary syntheses ( fig1 - 3 ) is followed by a detailed description of each step . the improved synthesis of cbi exemplified herein ( fig1 ) starts with1 , 3 - dihydroxy - naphthalene ( 1 ). amination by treatment with ammonia at 125 to 140 ° c . in a pressure vessel provided 4 - hydroxy - 2 - napthylamine 2 , which was then converted to the di - t - boc compound 3 by treatment with di - tert - butyldicarbonate . iodination with n - iodosuccinimide proceeded in 86 % yield to produce 4 , which was alkylated to give compound 5 in 93 % yield . ring closure of 5 using tri - butyltin hydride in the presence of 2 , 2 ′- azobisisobutyronitrile ( aibn ) proceeds smoothly in 94 % yield to give the racemic di - t - boc - seco - cbi 6 in 94 % yield . separation of the racemic mixture is readily performed using a chiral hplc column eluting with 20 % isopropanol in hexane , where the retention times of the two isomers differ by 17 minutes , to give the desired di - t - boc - seco (−) cbi isomer 6b . deprotection with hydrochloric acid provided seco (−) cbi , 7 . two independent synthetic routes for the conversion of seco - cbi 7 to dc1 - sme 16a are exemplified and are designated path a ( fig2 ) and path b ( fig3 ). in path a ( fig2 ), the bis - indolyl moiety bearing a disulfide - containing substituent was synthesized , and then coupled in the final step to seco - cbi . in path b , the bis - indolyl moiety was linked to seco - cbi , and the disulfide - containing substituent was introduced in the final step ( fig3 ). in path a , ethyl 5 - nitroindole - 2 - carboxylate ( 8 ), which is commercially available , was hydrolyzed to the acid 9 , which was then converted into the tert - butyl ester 10 . catalytic reduction of 10 with hydrogen provided the amino ester 11 in quantitative yield . coupling of 11 with 5 - nitroindole - 2 - carboxylic acid ( 9 ) in the presence of o -( benzotriazol - 1 - yl )- n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyluronium tetraflouroborate ( tbtu ) provided the nitro - bis - indolyl ester 12 in 89 % yield . reduction of the nitro group by catalytic hydrogenation , followed by coupling of the resulting amino compound 13 with 3 -( methyldithio ) propanoic acid provided 14a . the ester group in 14a was hydrolyzed with trifluoroacetic acid to give carboxylic acid 15a . coupling of 15a with seco - cbi , in the presence of edc provided dc1 - sme ( 16a ). reduction of dc1sme with dithiothreitol provided dc1 ( 17 ). in path b , 5 - nitroindole - 2 - carboxylic acid 9 was first condensed with ethyl 5 - aminoindole - 2 - carboxylate 18 to provide the bis - indolyl ester 19 . alkaline hydrolysis of 19 , followed by coupling with seco - cbi provided the bis - indolyl - seco - cbi compound 21 . reduction of the nitro group in 21 with hydrogen over pd / c provided the amino - bis - indolyl - seco - cbi compound 22 . coupling of 22 with 3 -( methyldithio ) propanoic acid provided dc1 - sme 16a . melting points were measured using an electrothermal apparatus and are uncorrected . nmr spectra were recorded on a bruker avance400 ( 400 mhz ) spectrometer . chemical shifts are reported in ppm relative to tms as an internal standard . mass spectra were obtained using a bruker esquire 3000 system . ultraviolet spectra were recorded on a hitachi u1200 spectrophotometer . analytical hplc was performed using a beckman coulter gold 125 system equipped with a beckman coulter system gold 168 variable wavelength detector and a chiralcel od 4 . 6 × 250 mm column . preparative hplc was performed on a r & amp ; s technology zonator system equipped with a hitachi uv detector , using a self - packed chiralcel od 7 . 5 × 50 cm column . thin layer chromatography was performed on analtech gf silica gel tlc plates . silica gel for flash column chromatography was from baker . all solvents used were reagent grade or hplc grade . synthesis of seco (−) cbi ( 5 - hydroxy - 3 - amino - 1 -[ s ]-( chloromethyl )- 1 , 2 - dihydro - 3h - benz ( e ) indole ) according to the scheme of fig1 . a solution of 1 , 3 - dihydroxynaphthalene ( 1 , 50 g , 0 . 312 mol ) in liquid ammonia ( 200 ml ) at − 78 ° c . was sealed in a 1 l steel bomb containing a glass liner . the reaction mixture was warmed to 135 ± 10 ° c . and 1300 psi for 14 h with vigorous stirring . the vessel was allowed to cool to 60 ° c ., and the ammonia was released slowly . the remaining traces of ammonia were removed by co - evaporation with thf ( 2 × 150 ml ) under a stream of argon at 60 ° c . the intermediate 4 - hydroxy - 2 - naphthylamine ( 2 ) was not isolated but was immediately converted to the di - tert - butyloxycarbonyl protected compound 3 . a solution of di - tert - butyl dicarbonate ( 175 g , 0 . 801 mol ) in dry thf ( 300 ml ) and n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 140 ml , 0 . 803 mol ) were sequentially added to the bomb . the bomb was re - sealed , and the contents were warmed at 100 ° c . with stirring for 4 h . the bomb was cooled to room temperature , opened , and the residue partitioned between saturated aqueous nacl ( 800 ml ) and ethyl acetate ( 500 ml ). the aqueous phase was extracted with ethyl acetate ( 200 ml × 2 ). the combined organic layers were dried ( magnesium sulfate ), filtered , and concentrated under reduced pressure . chromatography on silica gel ( 1 : 8 to 1 : 4 ethyl acetate / hexane ) and recrystallization with ethyl acetate / ethanol / hexane provided pure 77 . 41 g ( 69 %) of the title compound ( 3 ). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 400 mhz ) 8 . 14 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 66 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 43 ( dd , 1h , j = 6 . 8 , 8 . 2hz ), 7 . 35 ( dd , 1h , j = 6 . 8 , 82 hz ), 7 . 22 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 8 hz ), 7 . 15 ( br , 1h , nh ), 6 . 69 ( s , 1h ), 1 . 59 ( s , 9h ), 1 . 37 ( s , 9h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) 153 . 71 , 152 . 9 , 136 . 11 , 135 . 20 , 128 . 12 , 128 . 01 , 126 . 81 , 126 . 03 , 123 . 61 , 107 . 94 , 102 . 95 , 82 . 98 , 82 . 10 , 28 . 93 , 27 . 69 ; ms m / z 382 . 52 ( m + na ) + . a solution of compound 3 ( 24 . 50 g , 68 . 24 mmol ) and n - iodosuccinimide ( nis ), ( 17 . 70 g , 74 . 73 mmol ) in 250 ml of thf / methanol ( 1 : 1 ) was stirred at − 40 ° c . under argon in the dark for 5 min . toluenesulfonic acid ( 0 . 86 g , 4 . 52 mmol ) was then added , and the reaction mixture was stirred under argon in the dark at − 40 ° c . for 2 h , and then at room temperature for 2 h . the mixture was diluted with ether ( 800 ml ), washed with saturated aqueous nahco 3 and saturated aqueous nacl , dried over magnesium sulfate , filtered and concentrated in vacuo . flash chromatography on silica gel ( ethyl acetate / hexane 1 : 10 ) was followed by the isolation of the desired product . crystallization from ethanol / ethyl acetate / hexane afforded 28 . 46 g ( 86 %) of the title compound 4 . rf = 0 . 48 ( 10 % ethyl acetate / hexane ). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 400 mhz ) 8 . 27 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 0 hz ), 7 . 98 ( dd , 1h , j = 1 . 5 , 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 83 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 55 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 18 ( br , 0 . 8h , nh ), 1 . 62 ( m , 18h ); ms m / z 508 . 36 ( m + na ) + . to a solution of compound 4 ( 940 mg , 1 . 86 mmol ) in 20 ml of dry dmf was added nah ( 60 % in mineral oil , 150 mg , 3 . 75 mmol ) under an argon atmosphere . after stirring the mixture at 0 ° c . for 30 min , e , z - 1 , 3 - dichloropropene ( 1 . 50 ml , 14 . 57 mmol ) was added . the reaction mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . under argon for 2 h , then neutralized with 1 . 0 m nah 2 po 4 , and extracted with ethyl acetate . the organic layer was dried over magnesium sulfate , filtered and concentrated in vacuo . flash chromatography on silica gel ( ethyl acetate / hexane 1 : 9 ) afforded 1 . 01 g ( 93 %) of the desired compound 5 . r fz = 0 . 37 , r fe = 0 . 32 ( 1 : 8 ethyl acetate / hexane ). ( e : z vinyl chlorides and di - t - boc rotamers ). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 400 mhz ) 8 . 26 ( d , 2h , j = 7 . 7 hz ), 7 . 96 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 59 ( br , 4h ), 7 . 20 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 16 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 17 - 6 . 07 ( m , 4h ), 4h ), 4 . 64 ( dd , 1h , j = 6 . 2 , 15 . 2hz ), 4 . 53 ( dd , 1h , j = 6 . 2 , 14 . 7hz ), 4 . 31 ( dd , 1h , j = 6 . 0 , 15 . 0hz ), 3 . 84 ( dd , 1h , j = 7 . 5 , 15 . 0 hz ), 1 . 58 ( s , 9h ); 1 . 33 ( s , 9h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) 153 . 78 , 151 . 08 , 150 . 98 , 133 . 31 , 133 . 29 , 128 . 66 , 128 . 61 , 127 . 50 , 127 . 41 , 126 . 41 , 121 . 68 , 119 . 03 , 84 . 22 , 84 . 11 , 80 . 99 , 77 . 20 , 28 . 20 , 27 . 66 ; ms m / z 582 . 8 ( m + na ) + . to a solution of compound 5 ( 1 . 36 g , 2 . 43 mmol ) in dry benzene ( 100 ml ) were added tri - n - butyltin hydride ( 0 . 70 ml , 2 . 52 mmol ) and 2 , 2 ′- azobis ( isobutyronitrile ) ( aibn ) ( 30 mg , 0 . 18 mmol ). the mixture was stirred under argon at room temperature for 30 min and then refluxed at 80 ° c . for 2 h . the reaction mixture was cooled , and the solvent was removed in vacuo . flash chromatography on silica gel ( ethyl acetate / hexane 1 : 9 ) afforded 1 . 01 g ( 94 %) of the desired compound 6 . r f = 0 . 34 ( 1 : 9 ethyl acetate / hexane ); 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 400 mhz ) 8 . 12 ( br , 1h ), 7 . 91 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 4 hz ), 7 . 69 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 4 hz ), 7 . 50 ( dt , 1h , j = 1 . 0 , 6 . 9 , 7 . 0 hz ), 7 . 37 ( dt , 1h , j = 0 . 9 , 6 . 9 , 6 . 9 hz ), 4 . 27 ( br , 1h ), 4 . 12 ( t , 1h , j = 9 . 0 + 10 . 0 hz ), 3 . 99 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 90 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 4 , 11 . 0 hz ), 3 . 45 ( t , 1h , j = 10 . 8 + 10 . 8 hz ), 1 . 58 ( s , 18h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) 152 . 27 , 151 . 84 , 147 . 99 , 130 . 17 , 127 . 62 , 124 . 33 , 122 . 46 , 122 . 22 , 108 . 95 , 83 . 78 , 52 . 80 , 46 . 13 , 28 . 36 , 27 . 79 ; ms m / z 456 . 9 ( m + na ) + . resolution of ( 6 ): the enantiomeric mixture of compound 6 ( 1 . 0 g in 20 ml of ethyl acetate ) was resolved on an hplc preparative column ( 20 mm , 7 . 5 × 50 cm , packed with diacel chiralcel od ) using 15 % isopropanol - hexane eluant ( 180 ml / min ). the two enantiomers eluted with retention times of 18 . 5 minutes [ 6a (+) enantiomer ] and 35 . 8 minutes [ 6b (−) natural ( 1s ) enantiomer ]. 6b (−)−( 1s ): [ α ] 25 =− 49 . 6 ° ( c = 5 . 25 chcl 3 ). to a solution of 6b ( 100 mg , 0 . 25 mmol ) in 5 ml of ethyl acetate , was added conc . hcl ( 0 . 2 ml ) and triethylsilane ( 0 . 2 ml ). after stirring for 3 h under argon , the mixture was diluted with 10 ml of 1 : 1 dichloromethane / toluene and evaporated to dryness . the dry solid was co - evaporated three times with dichloromethane / toluene and then immediately used for coupling to di - indole compounds without further purification , (˜ 90 % pure ), ms m / z 234 . 78 ( m + h ) + . exemplary synthesis of dc1 according to the scheme of path a ( fig2 ) to a stirred solution of ethyl - 5 - nitroindole - 2 - carboxylate ( 8 ) ( 25 . 0 g , 106 . 8 mmol ), in 500 ml of thf - methanol ( 1 : 1 , v / v ) at room temperature , was added a solution of naoh ( 40 g , 1 . 0 mmol ) in 300 ml of water . the resulting deep red - brown solution was stirred for 3 h , then quenched by acidification to ph 1 with dilute hcl . the precipitated product was collected by vacuum filtration , and the remaining dissolved product was extracted with thf / ethyl acetate ( 1 : 2 , v / v , 2 × 400 ml ). the precipitate was dissolved in thf and this solution was combined with the organic layers from the extractions , supra . drying over magnesium sulfate , filtration , concentration in vacuo , and crystallization of the residue from thf / ethyl acetate / hexane afforded 21 . 1 g ( 96 % yield ) of 5 - nitroindole - 2 - carboxylic acid ( 9 ). 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 11 . 50 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 20 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 4 hz ), 6 . 85 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 70 ( m , 2h ). to a stirred solution of 9 ( 12 . 8 g , 61 . 2 mmol ) in dry thf ( 200 ml ) under argon was added oxalyl chloride ( 12 . 0 ml , 137 . 5 mmol ) followed by dmf ( 0 . 1 ml ), which caused a vigorous evolution of gas . after 40 min , the reaction mixture was evaporated to dryness . the resulting solid was re - dissolved in thf ( 150 ml ), cooled to ˜ 30 ° c ., and stirred under argon . a solution of potassium t - butoxide ( 1 . 0 m in thf , 140 ml , 140 mmol ) was then added dropwise over 45 min , and stirring was continued for an additional 45 min . the reaction was quenched with 600 ml of water , neutralized with few drops of a 10 % aqueous solution of h 3 po 4 and extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 400 ml ). the organic extracts were washed with saturated aqueous nahco 3 , water , and then dried over magnesium sulfate , filtered , concentrated and crystallized with ethanol / hexane to afford compound 10 ( 9 . 62 g , 85 % yield ). r f = 0 . 35 ( 1 : 5 ethyl acetate / hexane ); 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ), 11 . 63 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 66 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 5 , 1 . 3hz ), 8 . 20 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 5 , 9 . 0 hz ), 7 . 48 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 5 , 9 . 1 hz ), 7 . 28 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 9 , 11 . 1 hz ), 1 . 63 ( s , 9h ); 13 c nmr 160 . 39 , 142 . 12 , 138 . 11 , 132 . 10 , 126 . 78 , 120 . 22 , 119 . 83 , 111 . 98 , 109 . 82 , 82 . 91 , 28 . 26 ; ms m / z 285 . 43 ( m + na ) + . a 500 ml par hydrogenation bottle was charged with compound 10 ( 5 . 80 g , 22 . 14 mmol ), 10 % pd / c ( 0 . 6 g ) and methanol / thf ( 150 ml , 1 : 4 v / v ), and purged with hydrogen . the reaction mixture was shaken with 50 psi h 2 over night . the catalyst was removed by filtration and the solvent was evaporated to give 4 . 98 g ( 97 % yield ) of the title compound 11 as brown solid . 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 11 . 42 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 18 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 3 hz ), 6 . 83 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 71 ( s , 1h ), 6 . 67 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 4 hz ), 1 . 62 ( s , 9h ). this product is unstable and therefore it was immediately used in the following step . to a mixture of compounds 9 ( 4 . 70 g , 22 . 81 mmol ) and 11 ( 5 . 20 g , 22 . 41 mmol ) in dmf ( 200 ml ) were added under argon o -( benzotriazol - 1 - yl )- n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyluronium tetraflouroborate ( tbtu , 10 . 5 g , 32 . 70 mmol ) and diisopropylethylamine ( dipea , 8 . 0 ml , 45 . 83 mmol ). the reaction mixture was stirred overnight . the mixture was concentrated and then suspended in ethyl acetate and aqueous nahco 3 ( satd .). the solid compound was filtered , washed with water , and then re - suspended with aqueous 1 m nah 2 po 4 , ph 3 . 0 , filtered , and washed again with water . the solid was then dried under vacuum to yield 12 ( 8 . 40 g , 89 % yield ). r f = 0 . 31 ( 1 : 2 thf / hexane ); 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 12 . 43 ( s , 1h ), 11 . 69 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 41 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 77 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 2 hz ), 8 . 13 ( dd , 2h , j = 2 . 3 , 9 . 0 hz ), 7 . 64 ( t , 2h , j = 9 . 2 hz ), 7 . 47 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 9 hz ), 7 . 08 ( s , 1h ), 1 . 59 ( s , 9h ); 13 c nmr ( dmso ), 161 . 48 , 159 . 53 , 142 . 19 , 140 . 38 , 136 . 30 , 135 . 27 , 132 . 28 , 130 . 30 , 127 . 43 , 127 . 25 , 120 . 57 , 120 . 12 , 114 . 08 , 113 . 74 , 108 . 22 , 106 . 64 , 81 . 74 , 28 . 84 ; ms m / z 443 . 85 ( m + na ) + . a 250 ml parr hydrogenation bottle was charged with compound 12 ( 2 . 40 g , 5 . 71 mmol ), 10 % pd / c ( 0 . 3 g ), and dma ( 50 ml ), and purged with hydrogen . the reaction mixture was shaken with 40 psi h 2 over night . the catalyst was removed by filtration and the solvent was evaporated to give 2 . 05 g ( 92 % yield ) of the title compound 13 as a brown solid . 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 11 . 75 , ( s , 1h ), 11 . 67 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 17 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 10 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 2 hz ), 7 . 59 ( t , 2h , j = 8 . 8 hz ), 7 . 45 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 35 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 17 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 8 , 8 . 0 hz ), 7 . 06 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 0 hz ), 1 . 57 ( s , 9h ); ms m / z 390 . 72 ( m + na ) + . this product is unstable and therefore it was used immediately in the following step . to a solution of 13 ( 2 . 0 g , 5 . 12 mmol )) in dma ( 30 ml ) was added of 3 -( methyldithio ) propionic acid ( 0 . 90 g , 5 . 92 mmol ), edc ( 3 . 0 g , 15 . 33 mmol ) and dipea ( 0 . 90 ml , 5 . 12 mmol ). the reaction mixture was stirred over night under argon , and then diluted with 70 ml of 1 . 0 m nah 2 po 4 , ph 6 . 0 and extracted with thf / ethyl acetate ( 1 : 1 , 4 × 70 ml ). the organic layers were combined , dried over magnesium sulfate , filtered and evaporated . the residue was purified by silica gel chromatography ( 1 : 3 acetone / toluene ) and crystallized from thf / hexane to yield compound 14a ( 2 . 30 g , 86 % yield ). mp = 279 - 283 ° c . ( dec ), r f = 0 . 31 ( 1 : 3 thf / toluene ); 1 h nmr ( cd 3 cocd 3 ), 10 . 75 ( d , 2h , j = 3 . 07 hz ), 9 . 50 ( s , 1h ), 9 . 14 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 20 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 0 hz ), 8 . 14 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 8 hz ), 7 . 62 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 0 , 8 . 9 hz ), 7 . 46 ( dd , 2h , j = 0 . 7 , 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 34 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 0 , 10 . 8 hz ), 7 . 26 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 5 hz ), 7 . 07 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 9 , 2 . 1 hz ), 3 . 05 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 1 hz ), 2 . 76 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 0 hz ), 2 . 42 ( s , 3h ), 1 . 57 ( s , 9h ); 13 c nmr 169 . 42 , 161 . 58 , 160 . 32 , 135 . 31 , 134 . 76 , 133 . 56 , 133 . 40 , 133 . 12 , 130 . 86 , 128 . 72 , 128 . 27 , 120 . 27 , 118 . 75 , 113 . 69 , 113 . 09 , 113 . 02 , 112 . 69 , 108 . 27 , 103 . 58 , 81 . 66 , 37 . 28 , 34 . 00 , 28 . 41 ; ms m / z 547 . 88 ( m + na ) + . a mixture of compound 14a ( 300 mg , 0 . 57 mol ) and et 3 sih ( 1 . 5 ml ) in dichloromethane ( 30 ml ) was stirred under argon . trifluoroacetic acid ( 7 . 0 ml ) was added and the mixture was stirred for 3 h , and then diluted with toluene ( 25 ml ). the mixture was evaporated to dryness and crystallized with thf / toluene / hexane to yield compound 15a ( 245 mg , 92 % yield ). 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 11 . 71 ( s , 1h ), 11 . 61 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 10 ( s , 1h ), 9 . 92 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 11 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 9 hz ), 8 . 02 ( d , j = 1 . 7 hz ), 7 . 55 ( dd , 1h , 2 . 0 , 11 . 0 hz ), 7 . 42 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 8 hz ), 7 . 39 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 8 hz ), 7 . 34 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 0 hz ), 7 . 31 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 0 , 8 . 8 hz ), 7 . 08 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 3 hz ), 3 . 06 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 0 hz ), 2 . 75 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 0 hz ), 2 . 45 ( s , 3h ); 13 c nmr ( dmso ), 168 . 70 , 162 . 79 , 159 . 47 , 134 . 37 , 133 . 56 , 132 . 44 , 131 . 98 , 131 . 64 , 126 . 96 , 126 . 75 , 119 . 62 , 117 . 74 , 113 . 04 , 112 . 46 , 112 . 35 , 111 . 44 , 107 . 36 , 103 . 37 , 36 . 03 , 33 . 01 ; ms 490 . 81 ( m + na ) + . to a solution of compounds 7 ( 55 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) and 15a ( 100 mg , 0 . 21 mmol ) in dma ( 7 . 0 ml ) was added edc ( 120 mg , 0 . 62 mmol ) under argon . the reaction mixture was stirred overnight , then a few drops of 50 % acetic acid were added , and the mixture was evaporated to dryness . the residue was purified by column chromatography over silica gel ( 20 % to 30 % acetone in toluene ) and crystallized with thf / toluene / hexane to afford dc1sme ( 16a ) ( 108 mg , 79 % yield ). r f = 0 . 40 ( 3 : 7 acetone / toluene ); 1 h nmr ( cd 3 cocd 3 ) 10 . 91 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 88 ( s , 1h ), 9 . 64 ( s , 1h ), 9 . 56 ( s , 1h ), 9 . 27 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 35 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 9 hz ), 8 . 25 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 0 hz ), 8 . 17 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 9 hz ), 8 . 07 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 88 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 3 hz ), 7 . 64 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 0 , 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 58 - 7 . 50 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 38 - 7 . 35 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 31 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 7 hz ), 7 . 26 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 7 hz ), 4 . 86 ( dd , 1h , j = 8 . 7 , 11 . 0 hz ), 4 . 80 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 3 , 10 . 9 hz ), 4 . 30 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 07 ( dd , 1h , j = 3 . 1 , 11 . 0 hz ), 3 . 83 ( dd , 1h , j = 8 . 4 , 11 . 2 hz ), 3 . 09 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 1 hz ), 2 . 83 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 1 hz ), 2 . 45 ( s , 3h ); 13 c nmr 169 . 56 , 161 . 10 , 160 . 43 , 155 . 13 , 143 . 50 , 134 . 78 , 134 . 46 , 133 . 55 , 133 . 34 , 133 . 03 , 132 . 57 , 131 . 21 , 128 . 80 , 128 . 69 , 128 . 21 , 124 . 22 , 124 . 02 , 123 . 53 , 123 . 44 , 120 . 16 , 118 . 79 , 116 . 45 , 113 . 91113 . 02 , 112 . 95 , 112 . 73 , 106 . 78 , 103 . 72 , 101 . 63 , 56 . 01 , 47 . 73 , 43 . 10 , 37 . 25 , 34 . 01 , 23 . 00 ; ms m / z 706 . 71 ( m + na ) + , 708 . 58 , 707 . 71 , 722 . 34 ( m + k ) + , 724 . 42 . to a solution of compound 13 ( 1 . 00 g , 2 . 56 mmol ) in dma ( 15 ml ) was added of 3 -( 2 - pyridyldithio ) propionic acid ( 0 . 475 g , 2 . 21 mmol ), edc ( 1 . 26 g , 6 . 56 mmol ), and dipea ( 0 . 20 ml ). after stirring under argon overnight , the mixture was diluted with 70 ml of 1 . 0 m nah 2 po 4 , ph 3 . 0 and extracted with thf / ethyl acetate ( 1 : 1 , 4 × 60 ml ). the organic layers were combined , dried over magnesium sulfate , filtered , evaporated , and purified by silica gel chromatography ( 1 : 5 thf / dichloromethane ). the product was isolated and recrystallized with thf / ethyl acetate / hexane to yield 1 . 13 g ( 87 % yield ) of the title compound 14b . mp = 285 - 290 ( dec ), r f = 0 . 31 ( 1 : 5 thf / toluene ); 1 h nmr ( cd 3 cocd 3 ), 10 . 78 ( d , 2h , j = 14 . 3 hz ), 9 . 52 ( s , 1h ), 9 . 23 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 45 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 9 , 4 . 8 hz ), 8 . 23 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 9 hz ), 8 . 17 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 8 hz ), 7 . 84 ( dd , 1h , j = 1 . 0 , 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 78 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 64 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 1 , 8 . 9 hz ), 7 . 49 ( t , 2h , j = 8 . 8 hz ), 7 . 35 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 0 , 8 . 9 hz ), 7 . 29 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 5 hz ), 7 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 10 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 8 , 2 . 1 hz ), 3 . 21 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 0 hz ), 2 . 85 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 0 hz ), 1 . 60 ( s , 9h ); 13 c nmr 169 . 15 , 161 . 57 , 160 . 86 , 150 . 44 , 138 . 22 , 135 . 30 , 134 . 78 , 133 . 58 , 133 . 13 , 130 . 86 , 128 . 27 , 125 . 75 , 121 . 73 , 120 . 26 , 120 . 05 , 118 . 75 , 113 . 68 , 113 . 09 , 113 . 03 , 112 . 70 , 108 . 26 , 103 . 56 , 81 . 64 , 36 . 74 , 35 . 25 , 28 . 41 ; ms m / z 610 . 48 ( m + na ) + , 626 . 56 ( m + k ) + . a mixture of compound 14b ( 115 mg , 0 . 195 mol ) and et 3 sih ( 0 . 30 ml ) in dichloromethane ( 4 . 0 ml ) was stirred to under argon . to the milky mixture was added trifluoroacetic acid ( 1 . 0 ml ), and the mixture became clear . after stirring for 2 hrs , the reaction mixture was diluted with 5 ml of toluene . the mixture was evaporated to dryness and crystallized with thf / toluene / hexane to yield of 93 mg ( 90 % yield ) of compound 15b . 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 12 . 92 ( br , 0 . 7h ), 11 . 74 ( s , 1h ), 11 . 63 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 11 ( s , 1h ), 9 . 92 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 47 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 9 , 4 . 6 hz ), 8 . 13 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 02 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 81 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 56 ( d , 1h , j = 9 . 0 hz ), 7 . 41 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 34 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 28 - 7 . 21 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 10 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 15 ( t , 2h , j = 7 . 0 hz ), 2 . 77 ( t , 2h , j = 6 . 9 hz ); 13 c nmr 168 . 34 , 162 . 70 , 159 . 42 , 159 . 16 , 149 . 61 , 137 . 80 , 134 . 34 , 133 . 53 , 132 . 41 , 131 . 88 , 131 . 63 , 128 . 96 , 126 . 90 , 126 . 69 , 121 . 18 , 119 . 60 , 119 . 19 , 112 . 98 , 112 . 42 , 112 . 31 , 111 . 42 , 107 . 47 , 35 . 53 , 33 . 97 ; ms m / z 532 . 31 , ( m + h ) + , 553 . 41 , 554 . 52 ( m + na ) + ; to a solution of compounds 7 ( 25 mg , 0 . 094 mmol ) and 15b ( 50 mg , 0 . 094 mmol ) in 10 ml of dma was added edc ( 120 mg , 0 . 62 mmol ) under argon . after stirring overnight , a few drops of 50 % acetic acid and toluene ( 5 ml ) were added , the mixture was evaporated to dryness , and the residue was purified by silica gel chromatography ( 30 % acetone in toluene ). the product was isolated and recrystallized from thf / toluene / hexane to afford 48 mg ( 68 % yield ) of the title compound 16b . ms m / z 769 . 43 ( m + na ) + , 771 . 51 , 785 . 62 ( m + k ) + . exemplary synthesis of dc1 according to the scheme of path b ( fig3 ) a 500 ml par hydrogenation bottle was charged with ethyl 5 - nitroindole - 2 - carboxylate ( 8 ) ( 5 . 0 g , 21 . 36 mmol ), 10 % pd / c ( 0 . 3 g ), methanol / thf ( 150 ml , 1 : 4 v / v ), and was purged with hydrogen . the reaction mixture was shaken with 40 psi h 2 overnight . the catalyst was removed by filtration and the solvent was evaporated to give 4 . 10 g ( 94 % yield ) of the title compound 18 as a brown solid . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ), 8 . 77 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 26 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 23 ( t , 1h , j = 0 . 8 hz ), 7 . 21 ( d , 1h , j = 0 . 7 hz ), 7 . 03 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 7 , 1 . 5 hz ), 6 . 93 ( dd , 1h , j = 0 . 7 , 1 . 6 hz ), 6 . 80 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 2 , 8 . 6 hz ), 4 . 38 ( dd , 2h , j = 7 . 2 , 14 . 3 hz ), 1 . 40 ( t , 3h , j = 7 . 2 hz ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) 162 . 02 , 140 . 30 , 138 . 14 , 131 . 87 , 128 . 45 , 127 . 77 , 117 . 12 , 112 . 50 , 107 . 36 , 105 . 86 , 60 . 87 , 14 . 41 . this product is unstable and therefor it was used immediately in next step . to a mixture of compounds 9 ( 1 . 020 g , 5 . 00 mmol ) and 18 ( 1 . 02 g , 4 . 95 mmol ) in dmf ( 30 ml ) was added tbtu ( 4 . 0 g , 12 . 40 mmol ) and dipea ( 1 . 8 ml ) under argon . the reaction mixture was stirred overnight . after concentration , the mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate ( 30 ml ) and saturated nahco 3 ( 150 ml ), and the solid was suspended between the two layers . the solid compound was filtered , washed with water and then re - suspended with 1 m nah 2 po 4 , ph 3 . 0 , filtered , and washed with water again . the product was dried under vacuum to provide compound 19 ( 1 . 543 g , 79 % yield ). r f = 0 . 31 ( 1 : 2 thf / hexane ); 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 12 . 45 ( s , 1h ), 11 . 90 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 43 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 77 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 9 hz ), 8 . 15 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 13 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 2 , 9 . 1 hz ), 7 . 70 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 61 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 46 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 9 hz ), 7 . 18 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 35 ( dd , 2h , j = 7 . 1 , 14 . 1 hz ), 1 . 35 ( t , 3h , j = 7 . 1 hz ); 13 c nmr ( dmso ), 161 . 22 , 158 . 68 , 141 . 32 , 139 . 50 , 135 . 37 , 134 . 60 , 131 . 47 , 128 . 01 , 126 . 56 , 126 . 38 , 119 . 92 , 119 . 27 , 118 . 59 , 113 . 27 , 112 . 87 , 112 . 60 , 107 . 77 , 105 . 69 , 60 . 43 , 14 . 31 ; ms m / z 443 . 85 ( m + na ) + . to a solution of compound 19 ( 630 mg , 1 . 60 mmol ) in dmso ( 15 ml ) was added naoh ( 1 . 0 g ) in 5 . 0 ml of h 2 o . after stirring for 1 h , the mixture was concentrated and co - evaporated three time with 10 ml of h 2 o at 60 ° c . under reduced pressure . the residual solution was diluted with cold methanol and h 2 o , yielding a solid . the solid compound was filtered and dried under vacuum to give compound 20 ( 530 mg , 90 % yield ). 1 h nmr ( dmso ), 12 . 48 ( s , 1h ), 11 . 75 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 44 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 77 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 15 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 10 ( d , 1h , j = 9 . 3 hz ), 7 . 69 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 60 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 44 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 9 hz ), 7 . 10 ( s , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( dmso ), 161 . 91 , 158 . 66 , 141 . 32 , 139 . 52 , 135 . 45 , 134 . 44 , 131 . 26 , 128 . 01 , 126 . 72 , 126 . 39 , 119 . 47 , 119 . 25 , 118 . 02 , 113 . 24 , 112 . 88 , 112 . 48 , 107 . 23 , 105 . 71 ; ms m / z 386 . 66 387 . 85 ( m + na ) + . to a solution of compounds 7 ( 20 mg , 0 . 072 mmol ) and 20 ( 25 mg , 0 . 068 mmol ) in dma ( 3 . 0 ml ) was added edc ( 40 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) under argon . the reaction mixture was stirred overnight , a few drops of 50 % acetic acid was added , and the mixture was evaporated to dryness . the residue was purified by preparative tlc on silica ( 40 % acetone in toluene ) to afford 25 mg of compound 21 . 1 h nmr ( dmf - d 7 ) 12 . 54 ( s , 1h ), 11 . 73 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 60 ( s , 1h ), 10 . 58 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 80 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 3 hz ), 8 . 42 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 9 hz ), 8 . 25 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 5 hz ), 8 . 19 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 1 , 9 . 1 hz ), 8 . 09 ( br , 1h ), 7 . 95 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 3 hz ), 7 . 82 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 5 hz ), 7 . 79 ( d , 1h , j = 9 . 1 hz ), 7 . 74 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 0 , 8 . 9 hz ), 7 . 62 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 8 hz ), 7 . 58 ( dt , 1h , j = 1 . 7 , 7 . 0 + 7 . 0 hz ), 7 . 42 ( dt , 1h , j = 1 . 2 , 7 . 0 + 7 . 0 hz ), 7 . 33 ( d , 1h , j = 1 . 7 hz ), 4 . 91 ( t , 1h , j = 11 . 0 hz ), 4 . 77 ( dd , 1h , j = 2 . 1 , 11 . 1 hz ), 4 . 33 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 13 ( dd , 1h , j = 3 . 1 , 11 . 1 hz ), 3 . 97 ( dd , 1h , j = 7 . 9 , 11 . 1 hz ); 13 c nmr 163 . 35 , 161 . 48 , 160 . 05 , 155 . 79 , 142 . 98 , 137 . 18 , 135 . 03 , 133 . 22 , 133 . 16 , 131 . 50 , 128 . 85 , 128 . 45 , 128 . 11 , 124 . 62 , 124 . 02 , 123 . 76 , 120 . 33 , 119 . 36 , 118 . 70 , 116 . 45 , 114 . 00 , 113 . 08 , 106 . 97 , 105 . 02 , 101 . 53 ; ms m / z 602 . 96 ( m + na ) + , 604 . 78 , 603 . 81 , 618 . 64 ( m + k ) + , 620 . 48 . a solution of compound 21 ( 10 mg , 0 . 017 mmol ) in dma ( 2 . 5 ml ) was treated with pd / c ( 10 mg ), 5 μl of hcl ( conc .) and dma ( 2 . 5 ml ). after the air was removed evacuated , hydrogen was introduced via a hydrogen balloon overnight . the catalyst was removed by filtration and the solvent was evaporated to give compound 22 as a brown solid . the solid compound was used directly without further purification . to a solution of compound 22 in dma ( 2 ml ) under argon was added 3 -( methyldithio ) propionic acid ( 5 mg , 0 . 032 mmol ) and of edc ( 15 mg , 0 . 078 mmol ). after stirring overnight , two drops of 50 % acetic acid were added to the mixture and the mixture was evaporated to dryness . the residue was purified by preparative silica gel chromatography ( 40 % acetone in toluene ) to afford 6 mg of dc1 - sme ( 16b ). ms m / z 706 . 66 ( m + na ) + , 708 . 79 , 707 . 86 ; 1 h nmr data is the same as above dc1 . certain patents and printed publications have been referred to in the present disclosure , the teachings of which are hereby each incorporated in their respective entireties by reference . while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that various changes and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope thereof . | 2 |
in order that the invention may be fully understood , preferred embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to , and as illustrated in , the accompanying drawings . fig1 a and 1b show , in plan and section , schematic views of a portion of a flexible disk file for which the record / playback head subject of the present invention is particularly suitable . in this file , a flexible record disk 1 ( shown in dotted outline in the plan view ) is rotated in the direction shown by arrow 32 , supported on an air bearing above a stabilizing &# 34 ; bernoulli &# 34 ; backing plate 2 provided with two converging chordal bends 3 so as to present a generally concave surface to the disk . such a backing plate is described and claimed in a co - pending u . s . application for letters pat . ser . no . 847 , 376 filed on oct . 31 , 1977 , now abandoned , which is a continuation of ser . no . 775 , 233 filed on mar . 7 , 1977 , now abandoned , and assigned to the assignee of the present invention . during operation , corresponding chordal bends are induced in the rotating flexible disk 1 which serve to stiffen and stabilize that portion of the disk lying between the bends . a slot 4 through the plate 2 is provided between the convergent ends of the two chords to enable a record / playback head 5 subject of this invention to access the surface of the disk facing and supported over the plate 2 . the head 5 is carried by a noncompliant support at the end of a swinging arm actuator 6 mounted for pivotal movement about pivot axis 7 . the head 5 projects though the slot and into the plane of rotation of the flexible disk 1 . under normal operating conditions , a further air bearing created between the head and the disk prevents contact between them . since the head 5 is moved in a curved path ( such as that shown by arrow 30 ) across the disk surface in this example , the slot 4 through the plate is correspondingly curved . clearly there are other forms of actuator mechanism , including linear actuators , which may be used in place of the swinging arm actuator schematically shown . linear actuators may , in some cases , be preferred in that the alignment of the transducing element , the head gap in this example , with respect to the recording tracks on the disk remains constant during access operations . the backing plate and flexible disk assembly need not be permanently fixed on and be integral with a drive unit as shown in fig1 but can be provided in a disk cartridge which is loaded onto the drive unit when required for use . such cartridges are designed but even so , mechanical tolerances at the cartridge / drive interface can result in variation of penetration depth of the head which is fixed in the drive into the plane of rotation of the disk in the cartridge from one cartridge to another . thus , in order to maintain uniform recording and playback characteristics from one cartridge to another it is desirable for the disk flying height over the head and especially over the transducing element of the head to be kept substantially constant despite variations in head penetration depth . fig2 shows the record / playback head 5 in more detail . the head shown is a magnetic record / playback head consisting of a conventional two - part ceramic head block 8 sandwiching a ferrite recording element 9 defining a transducing means therein , such as a head gap 10 , and carrying the record playback winding 11 . although the head records data magnetically , the invention which is concerned with the profile or contour of the head , is equally applicable to heads using other techniques , for example , optical techniques , thin film , technology , to record and playback data . also , the two - part ceramic head block 8 may be fabricated from any non magnetic material while the ferrite recording element 9 can be fabricated from any magnetic material . although the description hereinafter will be directed to a record / playback head with a spherically shaped contour , this should not be regarded as a limitation on the scope of the invention since it is contemplated that the invention described herein is not limited to a head having a spherically shaped interface but is applicable to other types of head face profile or contours . also , the transducing means need not be a gap but may be other means such as a thin film element or a magnetically inert area fabricated in the recording element by conventional techniques . the operating surface 12 of the head , that is the surface containing the head gap 10 has a conventional spherically shaped contour produced by machine lapping with a typical radius lying between 18 mm and 50 mm . the head , however , is provided with the novel feature of a groove 13 , in this case a circular groove , which completely surrounds the head gap 10 . typical dimensions of the groove are as follows : the head block in this example had a length of 3 mm and a breadth of 1 . 5 mm . experiments were conducted with heads incorporating the invention and comparisons were made with conventional spherical heads . the results of the tests are now described with reference to fig3 a , 3b and 4a and 4b of the drawings . fig3 a shows three curves illustrating the change of flying height with increasing penetration of a conventional spherical surface head into the plane of rotation of a flexible disk . the curves are for heads with surface radii of curvature of 25 mm , 38 mm and 50 mm respectively . fig3 b shows a similar set of curves for annulus heads according to the invention with surface radii of curvature also of 25 mm , 38 mm and 50 mm respectively . the dimensions of the annular groove were the same for all heads as follows : comparison of these two sets of curves shows that in all cases the annulus head ( fig3 b ) maintains a more constant flying heating for changes in head / disk penetration than do the corresponding conventional spherical heads ( fig3 a ). furthermore , the change in radii of curvature of the surface of the annulus head has considerably less effect on head flying height than is the case for the spherical heads . fig4 a shows two curves illustrating the change in flying height with increasing head penetration for a conventional spherical head located at two extreme radial positions , namely 40 mm and 65 mm . with respect to the disk surface , fig4 b shows curves for the annulus head over the same range . in this case the improved performance of the annulus head is even more striking than in the previous figure . whereas a considerable change in flying height with a conventional head is observed as the radial position of the head , relative to the disk , changes the flying height of the annulus head only shows a small increase for corresponding changes . furthermore , the flying height of the conventional head varies considerably at each radial location in response to changes in penetration whereas the flying height for corresponding changes in penetration of the annulus head remains substantially unchanged . the tests conducted on the annulus head showed a marked performance improvement over the conventional spherical head and showed not only that substantially constant flying height can be maintained during operational conditions but also to some extent that the flying height can be determined by careful selection of the dimensions of the annular groove . although the tests were conducted with many heads with different groove dimensions and surface curvatures , clearly the experiments were not exhaustive and it is not intended that the invention be limited to a specific range of groove dimensions and surface radius of curvature . in the head described with reference to fig2 the apex of the curved surface , that is the highest point with respect to the plane of the backing plate through which it protrudes , coincides with the centre of the head gap . during the course of investigating the head performance , adjustments were made to the roll and pitch of the head . roll and pitch are the angular rotations of the head about its longitudinal and lateral axes passing through the centre of spherical curvature . no improvement was found to be associated with roll angles other than zero but an improvement in performance was found to be associated with a non - zero pitch angle . fig5 shows a part cut - away longitudinal section through a portion of a head provided with an annular groove according to the invention illustrating the pitch adjustment which resulted in the improved performance . the annular groove 13 in the head is centered on the apex 14 of the curved surface 12 as before , but this time the head gap 10 is offset from the apex so that the disk passes over the apex before the head gap . stated another way , the apex precedes the gap in the direction of head rotation . although it has been shown that spherical heads with a continuous groove surrounding the transducing element perform better than conventional spherical heads , an optimum design for the working environment described is as follows : the head so far described can be used along or in combination with a stabilizer as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 003 , 091 assigned to the assignee of the present invention . the stabilizer described in the aforesaid patent comprises a toroidal core 20 which in use is mounted surrounding the head 5 ( fig6 ). the torodial core is shaped so as to present a convex surface 22 towards the disk and in its preferred form has a continuous apex which , with respect to the plane of the backing plate , is located between the middle and the outer periphery of the surface . the gap between the head and the toroidal core is closed . further details of the structure of the stabilizer can be obtained by reference to the aforementioned patent . whilst the performance of the various heads tested is dependant to some extent upon the nature of the test vehicle used , in this case a disk file using a bernoulli backing plate with a specific profile , it is not intended that the invention should be limited to heads used only in such disk files . the head whilst being particularly suited for use in such a disk file is also useful in other environments utilizing flexible medium provided the medium is constrained in use to move in the absence of the head fixed plane . the head is , therefore , useful for use with disk files with differently contoured or flat bernoulli backing plates ; for use in files employing stacks of rotating flexible disks where the rotation of each disk is maintained substantially constant by the near proximity of one or more of the adjacent rotating disks in the stack ; and for use with longitudinally moving tape in moving head or fixed head tape drives . the head preferred for the disk drive specifically described herein is symmetrical so that no problems are encountered as a result of head ` yaw ` during access operations associated with the swinging arm actuator . thus the head groove is circular and the surface of the head is spherical . with a linear actuator this symmetry , although probably preferable from a manufacturing standpoint , is not essential . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
a crucible 1 shown in fig1 has a base 2 and a plurality of side walls 3 rigidly connected to the base 2 . the base 2 and the side walls 3 partially surround an interior 4 to receive a silicon melt . the crucible 1 has a longitudinal axis 5 oriented perpendicular to the base 2 . a coating 8 is provided on an inner side 6 of the base 2 and on inner sides 7 of the side walls 3 . it is also possible for the crucible 1 to be uncoated . a plurality of nuclei 9 are anchored in the base 2 , the nuclei 9 being arranged distributed in a structured manner in the base 2 . in this case , the nuclei 9 are provided in such a way that they project through the coating 8 into the interior 4 of the crucible 1 and come into contact with the silicon melt to be poured into the crucible 1 . it is also possible for the nuclei 9 to be anchored in accordance with a statistical distribution and therefore without a specific preferred orientation in the crucible 1 . in particular , it is also possible to provide the nuclei 9 in at least one side wall 3 . the nuclei 9 have at least one compound from a group of elements from the iii , iv or v main group of the periodic table of elements . in particular , compounds of elements of the iii , iv or v main group with oxygen are also possible , al 2 o 3 being above all particularly suitable . beo has also proven to be a suitable nucleating agent for the crucible 1 according to the invention even if be is an element of the ii main group . moreover , ceramic materials have a small lattice disregistry with respect to silicon and are well wetted by the silicon melt as they have a chemical affinity to silicon , such as , for example sic . moreover , further carbides , but also nitrides , phosphides and oxides and therefore also silicates are possible as alternative nuclei 9 . compounds of elements of the iii and v main group have proven to be particularly suitable as these elements are also used as doping materials and therefore their effect as extraneous materials is reduced . further possible materials for the nuclei 9 are therefore sio , sio 2 , si 3 n 4 , bn , bp , alp , alas and an . these compounds have in common that their melt temperature is above that of silicon and is therefore greater than 1412 ° c . the effective nuclei density for the method according to the invention to produce silicon is particularly important , which will be dealt with in more detail below . the effective nuclei density in the crucible 1 according to the invention is between 0 . 001 and 100 nuclei per cm 2 , in particular between 0 . 01 and 10 nuclei per cm 2 and , in particular , between 0 . 03 and 5 nuclei cm 2 . in this case , the nuclei 9 used have a size of 0 . 01 to 50000 μm , in particular between 0 . 1 and 5000 μm and , in particular , between 1 and 500 μm . the method according to the invention for producing silicon with the crucible 1 according to the invention will be described in more detail below . firstly , the crucible 1 with the base 2 and the side walls 3 is provided . nuclei 9 are then provided at least on the inner side 6 of the base 2 in such a way that they are rigidly anchored to the base 2 and can come into direct contact with the silicon melt , even when the base 2 and / or the side walls 3 have a coating 8 . this crucible 1 is filled with the silicon melt , the silicon melt , proceeding from the nuclei 9 , firstly solidifying primarily in a planar manner until the inner side 6 provided with the nuclei 9 is substantially covered with planar silicon particles . a bulk crystal growth then takes place in a preferred growth direction 10 oriented perpendicular to the inner sides 6 , 7 . finally , the silicon body which has solidified in the crucible 1 is removed . the nucleation on the nuclei 9 will be described in more detail below . owing to the use of the nuclei , a critical undercooling necessary for nucleation compared to the remaining regions of the inner sides 6 , 7 of the crucible , which have no nuclei 9 , is reduced . the use of nuclei 9 means that the nucleation starts at a temperature reduction of a few k in relation to the melt temperature of silicon , whereas a nucleation at a greater temperature difference from the silicon melt temperature is to be expected at the remaining points of the inner sides 6 , 7 of the crucible . the nuclei 9 growing first determine the structure of the semiconductor body . a second embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to fig2 . structurally identical parts have the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment , reference being hereby made to the description thereof . structurally different , but functionally similar parts have the same reference numerals with an a placed afterwards . an important difference of the crucible 1 a is the arrangement of the nuclei 9 , which are provided directly on the base 2 a of the crucible 1 a . in this case , the nuclei 9 can also be arranged randomly distributed as in the first embodiment of the crucible according to the invention and also be arranged on the inner sides 7 of the side walls 3 a . accordingly , it is also possible to configure the crucible 1 a without a coating 8 . a third embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to fig3 . structurally identical parts have the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment , reference being hereby made to the description thereof . structurally different , but functionally similar parts have the same reference numerals with a b placed afterwards . the important difference from the first embodiment is the arrangement of the nuclei 9 in the coating 8 b of the crucible 1 b . this means that the nuclei 9 are independent of the base 2 b and the side walls 3 b of the crucible 1 b . in particular , neither the base 2 b nor the side walls 3 b have nuclei 9 and are also not connected to the nuclei 9 . the nuclei 9 are arranged in the coating 8 b in accordance with the first embodiment in such a way that they project at least partially into the interior 4 of the crucible 1 b for nucleation . in the third embodiment , the coating 8 b of the crucible 1 b is imperative . thus , the nucleation proceeding from the nuclei 9 starts directly on the coating 8 b . as also in the two first embodiments , the nuclei 9 may be arranged statistically distributed in the coating 8 b . in particular , it is possible for only certain walls of the crucible 1 b to be provided with nuclei , while other walls are free of nuclei . in the embodiment shown , the inner side 6 of the base 2 b and the inner side 7 of the side wall 3 b shown on the left in fig3 has nuclei 9 . a fourth embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to fig4 . structurally identical parts have the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment , reference being hereby made to the description thereof . structurally different , but functionally similar parts have the same reference numerals with a c placed afterwards . the important difference from the first embodiment is the arrangement of the nuclei 9 on the coating 8 , it being possible for the nuclei 9 to be loosely applied or burnt into the coating 8 of the crucible 1 d . the nuclei 9 project into the interior 4 of the crucible 1 d and , as an alternative to the arrangement shown distributed in a structured manner , may also be arranged statistically distributed . it is also possible for the side walls 3 of the crucible 1 c to have nuclei 9 . according to a further embodiment not shown in a figure , monocrystalline nuclei 9 are used on the crucible base 2 , which have a preferred growth direction 10 , which is oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis 5 . for this purpose , sic scales are preferably used , which , because of their planar geometry embed on or in the coating 8 of the crucible 1 and therefore have the preferred growth direction 10 along the growth direction of the silicon melt . accordingly , the preferred growth direction 10 also applies to the solidifying silicon , which has a particularly positive effect on subsequent processes during the production of silicon cells . this applies , in particular , to a surface texture of a silicon cell . a preferred possibility for producing the nucleating particles on the inner sides 2 , 3 of the crucible 1 or on its coating 8 , is the use of a carrier medium in the form of a paste or a liquid with dispersed nuclei , in the form of a paste with dispersed metal , such as , for example , aluminium paste with rear metalisation , or in the form of precursors . in this case , the paste or the precursor is applied with the aid of a spray device , such as , for example , according to the principle of an inkjet print by spraying on , in accordance with a “ gateau cream spray bag ” by dropping on or by punch pressure on the inner sides 2 , 3 . by means of a following temperature process step , the starting materials of the paste with dispersed metal or of the precursor react to form the nucleating material and the particles of the paste with dispersed nuclei sinter with the crucible surface or its coating 8 . the carrier medium evaporates before the silicon melts . | 8 |
usually the tape will be provided with an overcoat layer ; however , as previously indicated we do not exclude the possibility of the recording layer being sufficiently robust as to obviate the need for a protective overcoat layer . where an overcoat layer is present , it may have a thickness of the dimensions mentioned previously . preferably the backcoat layer and the opposite tape surface so contacted will have compositions and surface morphologies such that the ber characteristic does not undergo an increase of 6 × 10 - 4 , 100 % and / or does not exceed 8 × 10 - 4 when the tape is subjected to , and preferably in excess of , 10 4 ( more preferably 5 × 10 4 ) winding passes . by &# 34 ; winding pass &# 34 ; we mean winding of a sample of tape from one spool to the other and in accordance with the winding regime described hereinafter . &# 34 ; ber &# 34 ; refers to the ratio of correctly read data bits to the number of data bits resulting from initial laser writing . usually , the material compositions and surface morphologies of the overcoat and backcoat layers will be such that the ber remains within 50 %, more preferably within 35 % and most preferably within 20 %, of its initial value when the tape is subjected to up to the number of winding passes specified above . preferably the optical tape is of the type which is intended to be written and read by means of laser radiation transmitted through the overcoat layer , in which event the overcoat layer preferably has a substantially smooth morphology so that its thickness remains substantially uniform thereby eliminating the need for variation of focusing of the laser radiation to compensate for variation in overcoat thickness . in this instance , the backcoat will have a morphology imparting suitable surface texture to enhance the static coefficient of friction . the substantially smooth overcoat layer may nevertheless have properties which enhance μs e . g . the overcoat layer may have a surface energy which serves to enhance μs and this may be achieved for instance by avoiding the use of a slip agent in the overcoat composition or using such an agent sparingly therein . the backcoat likewise may have a surface energy which serves to enhance μs . in preferred embodiments of the invention where the backcoat layer has a surface texture , the backcoat layer comprises a layer of cured material comprising at least one polymer wherein the surface texture is imparted primarily by the polymer or polymers per se . where the context admits , the terms &# 34 ; polymerisation &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; polymer &# 34 ; as used herein include reference to homo - and co - polymerisation and to homo - and co - polymers respectively and the term monomer herein includes reference to oligomer . thus , the surface texture is primarily imparted by the polymer ( s ) per se rather than by an inorganic filler . in this way , compared with conventionally used inorganic fillers , the peaks of the surface texture tend to be less angular , ie . the peaks tend to be relatively smooth and do not tend to present abrasion promoting discontinuities . the surface texture may be induced at least in part and preferably primarily as a result of evaporation of a volatile vehicle from a coating composition containing said vehicle and the unpolymerised component ( s ). usually , the surface texture will be provided substantially entirely by the polymer ( s ) per se but , in some instances , the surface texture may involve a minor contribution from other sources . for example , as referred to more specifically hereinafter , the material may incorporate a nucleating agent the presence of which may contribute to the surface relief but only to a relatively insignificant extent . the method of forming the backcoat preferably comprises coating the substrate with a solution or dispersion of material in a volatile liquid vehicle , drying the coating to remove the volatile vehicle , the material comprising at least one polymerisable component such that the drying process is effective to impart a surface texture to the dried layer formed by the coating of material , and curing the dried layer to retain said surface texture . usually the surface texture will comprise peaks and troughs distributed substantially uniformly over the entirety of the layer of material . typically the average roughness ( r a as measured using perthometer , a machine manufactured by mahr of germany for measuring surface roughness in a conventional manner by means of a stylus ) is up to about 2 microns and more usually within the range 0 . 1 - 1 . 0 microns . according to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided an optical tape recording medium comprising a substrate in the form of a tape , a layer of optical recording material applied to one face of the tape , an overcoat layer overlying the recording layer and a backcoat applied to the opposite face of the tape whereby the backcoat and overcoat layers contact one another when the tape is in spooled form , the backcoat layer and the overcoat layer each comprising organic polymeric materials , the overcoat layer being substantially smooth and the backcoat layer having a surface texture with an average roughness ra in excess of 0 . 05 and preferably at least 1 micron imparted thereto substantially entirely by the morphology of the polymeric material per se , the polymeric materials comprising said overcoat and backcoat layers being such that the ber of the recording layer does not exceed 8 × 10 - 4 after subjecting the recording tape to , and preferably in excess of , 10 3 winding passes ( more preferably 10 4 , and most preferably 5 × 10 4 winding passes ). preferably the average surface roughness ra will not exceed about 2 microns and will usually be no greater than 1 . 0 micron . the surface texture will usually be such that a major proportion . preferably substantially all , of the surface effects are formed by retraction of the component or at least one of the components of the coating and / or , where the coating comprises at least two components , phase separation between at least two of the said components . said polymer or polymerisable component may comprise a metal acrylate and / or methacrylate , or a monomer , or a combination thereof . to avoid unnecessary repetition , hereinafter the term &# 34 ;( meth ) acrylate &# 34 ; will be used in place of the phrase &# 34 ; acrylate and / or methacrylate .&# 34 ; it is preferred that substantially no shrinkage of the coating as a result of a chemical process , for example polymerisation and cross - linking , occurs prior to the curing of the metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or monomer . if any such shrinkage of the coating occurs , it is preferred that it does not contribute substantially , in relation to the retraction and / or phase separation , to the surface effects of the coating . suitably , a major proportion , preferably substantially all of the surface effects of the coating are formed before the metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or monomer is cured . by &# 34 ; monomer &# 34 ; is meant a true monomer and / or an oligomer / pre - polymer which can be uv , electron beam and / or thermally cured . the amount , structure , molecular weight and functionality of the monomer can influence the morphology and properties of the cured coating . the monomer can be selected to optimise the coating requirements for a particular application , such as surface roughness ; optical properties , eg haze ; mechanical properties , eg abrasion resistance ; flexibility ; adhesion ; solvent / chemical resistance ; and weatherability . the monomer is suitably a uv - reactive species , and more preferably a compound having an acrylate functional group . particularly suitable monomers include acrylate ester monomers , urethane acrylate oligomers and n - vinyl lactam monomers . preferred acrylate ester monomers include acrylate esters having a plurality of acrylate groups , with trimethylolpropane triacrylate ( tmpta ), ethoxylated tmpta ( tmpteoa ), tripropylene glycol diacrylate ( tpgda ), and dipentaerythritol monohydroxy pentaacrylate ( dpepa ) being particularly preferred . preferred acrylate oligomers include polyester acrylates and epoxy acrylates , with oligomeric acrylate thioethers -- for example tmpta -[ s - tmpta ] n - s - tmpta where n is 0 to 2 which is available from rbhm gmbh under the trade name plex 6696 - 0 , and urethane acrylates , especially aliphatic urethane acrylate oligomers , being particularly preferred . the monomer may also be a cationic cured epoxy compound -- such as a cycloaliphatic di - epoxide , for example 3 , 4 - epoxycyclohexylmethyl - 3 &# 39 ;, 4 &# 39 ;- epoxycyclohexane carboxylate available under the trade name degacure k126 from degussa . in this case it is desirable that a cationic photoinitiator , such as a triarylsulphonium salt , is present . a blend of acrylate ester monomer and / or acrylate oligomer and / or n - vinyl lactam monomer may also be used as the monomer , particularly a blend of dpepa and plex 6696 - 0 . a n - vinyl lactam monomer , if present in the blend , may suitably comprise up to 40 % by weight and preferably no more than 30 % by weight of the blend . if desired , a cationic cured epoxy compound may also be included in any blends of monomers . as herein described and employed , the metal ( meth ) acrylate preferably comprises a multivalent metal ion , for example a transition metal ion such as zirconium , more preferably a divalent metal ion such as zinc , cobalt , nickel or copper . a metal acrylate is generally preferred to a metal methacrylate . a particularly preferred metal acrylate is zinc diacrylate . the metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or monomer may conveniently be applied to the substrate in a coating medium comprising a solution or dispersion of the metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or monomer in a suitable volatile vehicle , particularly an organic solvent or dispersant medium . the volatile vehicle may then be removed , suitably by drying to evaporate the vehicle . suitable organic media include common solvents -- for example acetone and tetrahydrofuran and preferably those which have a hydrogen bonding capability such as alcohols , particularly methanol . deposition of the metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or monomer solution or dispersion onto the polymeric substrate is effected by conventional film coating techniques -- for example , by gravure roll coating , reverse roll coating , dip coating , bead coating , slot coating or electrostatic spray coating . the solution or dispersion is suitably applied in an amount such that the thickness of the applied layer when dried is of the order of 5 μm or less , more usually 0 . 5 to 4 μm . the degree of surface texture obtained can be controlled by varying the rate of drying of the metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or monomer layer ; for example rapid drying of , for example , zinc diacrylate ( 1 min at 100 ° c .) can produce a regular microcrystalline structure imparting texture and light scattering to the coated film . as mentioned previously , a nucleating agent may be present in the coating composition and serves to provide sites in the substantially un - cured coating at which the metal ( meth ) acrylate or monomer can crystallise . a suitable nucleating agent may already be present , for example , in the metal ( meth ) acrylate or the monomer ; for instance , commercially available grades of zinc diacrylate which have been investigated have been found to contain small quantities of a material which is insoluble in a suitable coating solvent for example methanol . preliminary analysis has indicated that this material is partially polymerised zinc diacrylate and / or zinc stearate . when solutions of commercially available zinc diacrylate , for example , technical grade zinc diacrylate available from rohm , are prepared in methanol some ( of the order of 0 . 1 % by weight compared to the amount of zinc diacrylate ) of the higher molecular weight material remains suspended in solution for several days as a colloidal dispersion . the colloidal component aids formation of surface texture , remains stable in the coating solution and may be uniformly distributed in the coated layer after drying . where a separate nucleating agent is employed , it may comprise a conventional nucleating agent such as silica , preferably amorphous silica , or carbon black , both available from degussa under the trade names aerosil tt600 and printex xe2 respectively . once the solvent has been removed from the metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or monomer layer , it is necessary to cure the layer in order to fix the surface texture produced during the solvent removal regime . suitable curing methods include polymerisation of the metal ( meth ) acrylate , for example by electron beam curing ; thermal curing , preferably using thermal initiators , especially thermal free radical initiators such as inorganic or organic peroxides , for example benzoyl peroxide , azo compounds , for example 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- azobisisobutyronitrile ; but photopolymerisation is preferred . photopolymerisation is suitably achieved by exposing the solvent - free metal ( meth ) acrylate layer to high intensity ultra - violet ( uv ) light , for example using a mercury arc lamp , preferably a medium pressure mercury arc lamp , providing uv light having a wavelength of about 240 to about 370 nm and preferably 260 to 370 nm . uv - curing can be performed in air , or if required , for example to increase the curing rate , in an inert atmosphere such as nitrogen . initiation of photopolymerisation may be effected in the presence of a photoinitiator , wide range of which are commercially available for use in a system comprising a metal ( meth ) acrylate and / or a monomer . the photoinitiator is preferably incorporated in an amount ranging from 0 . 1 to 20 %, more preferably 2 to 12 % by weight of the total reactive components . suitable photoinitiators include benzoins , benzoin alkyl ethers , benzil ketals , acetophenone derivatives , for example dialkyl acetophenones and di - chloro and tri - chloro acetophenones , and particularly irgacure 651 and irgacure 907 both of which are available from ciba geigy . the coating composition preferably comprises both the monomer and the metal ( meth ) acrylate . it will be understood that the monomer will be able to cure in the presence of the metal ( meth ) acrylate . the amount , structure , molecular weight and functionality of the monomer can influence the morphology and properties of the cured coating . the monomer can be selected to optimise the coating requirements for a particular application , such as surface roughness ; optical properties , eg haze ; mechanical properties , eg abrasion resistance ; flexibility ; adhesion ; solvent / chemical resistance ; and weatherability . the amount of monomer in the coating composition can vary over a wide range , preferably from 0 to 95 %, more preferably 60 to 90 %, and particularly 66 to 85 % by weight of the total reactive components . when the coating composition comprises a metal ( meth ) acrylate , particularly zinc diacrylate , and a monomer , the metal ( meth ) acrylaze may separate out from the monomer to form a two - phase system , as the solvent is removed by for example drying . the morphology of the resulting surface coating is dependent on the ratio of the salt to the monomer can be described as a discontinuous metal ( meth ) acrylate phase or ionomeric phase embedded in a continuous polymeric phase . depending upon the compatibility of the metal ( meth ) acrylate and the monomer , it is possible that some of the monomer may be incorporated in the ionomeric phase and / or that some of the metal ( meth ) acrylate may be incorporated in the polymeric phase . the presence of a monomer in the coating formulation may result in an improvement in the durability of the resulting surface textured coating . in order to secure phase separation , the coating composition may also comprise a polymer component , in addition to the monomer and / or the metal ( meth ) acrylate , which suitably is substantially incompatible with at least one other component of the composition and preferably all of the components of the composition . suitable polymer components include high molecular weight ( eg . 1000 to 5000 , more preferably 3000 to 4000 ) epoxy polymers such as bisphenol a epichlorohydrin condensates for example epikote 1009 , an epoxy resin available from shell and cellulosic polymers for example cellulose acetate . the amount of polymer component in the coating composition may vary over a wide range and is determined by the application for which the medium is required . the polymer component may be present in an amount of up to 90 %, preferably 1 to 80 % and especially 20 to 60 % by weight of the total reactive components . if desired , a supercoat may be applied to the surface textured coating of a medium according to the invention to provide protection therefor . in order to retain the benefit of the surface relief of the surface textured coating it is highly desirable that the supercoat follows the contours of the surface relief and is applied in a layer of substantially uniform thickness . we have found that a supercoat having a low surface energy , preferably not more than 44 dyne / cm , more preferably not more than 36 dyne / cm and especially in the range 16 to 36 dyne / cm , is particularly advantageous . such supercoats reduce the affinity between the supercoat of the recording medium and the opposite surface thereof . suitably the low surface energy supercoat comprises a hydrocarbon wax , a silicone polymer / prepolymer , desirably silicone ( meth ) acrylates -- for example ebecryl 1360 available from union carbide , and / or fluorinated polymers / prepolymers -- for example 2 , 2 , 3 , 3 tetrafluoropropylmethacrylate available from rohm gmbh . the thickness of the supercoat will depend upon the application for which the medium is produced but is preferably in the range 1 nm to 2 μm and especially 1nm to 0 . 5 μm . prior to deposition of the surface textured coating medium onto the polymeric substrate the exposed surface thereof may be subjected to a surface - modifying treatment to provide a receptive layer thereon . the treatment may be chemical or physical , a convenient treatment , because of its simplicity and effectiveness , which is particularly suitable for the treatment of a polyolefin substrate , being to subject the exposed surface of the substrate to a high voltage electrical stress accompanied by corona discharge . alternatively , the receptive layer may be created by pretreating the substrate with a medium known in the art to have a solvent or swelling action on the substrate polymer . examples of such media , which particularly suitable for the treatment of a polyester substrate , include a halogenated phenol dissolved in a common organic solvent , for example a solution of p - chloro - m - cresol , 2 , 4 - dichlorophenol , 2 , 4 , 5 - or 2 , 4 , 6 - trichlorophenol or 4 - chlororesorcinol in acetone or methanol . in addition , and preferably , the treatment solution may contain a partially hydrolysed vinyl chloride - vinyl acetate copolymer . such a copolymer conveniently contains from 60 to 98 per cent of vinyl chloride , and from 0 . 5 to 3 % of hydroxyl units , by weight of the copolymer . the molecular weight ( number average ) of the copolymer is conveniently in a range of from 10 , 000 to 30 , 000 and preferably from 16 , 500 to 25 , 000 . a suitable receptive layer is formed by coating the polymeric substrate with a coating composition comprising an acrylic or methacrylic polymer , preferably comprising at least one monomer derived from an ester of acrylic acid , especially an alkyl ester where the alkyl group contains up to ten carbon atoms such as methyl , ethyl , n - propyl , isopropyl , n - butyl , isobutyl , terbutyl , hexyl , 2 - ethylhexyl , heptyl , and n - octyl . polymers derived from an alkyl acrylate , for example ethyl acrylate and butyl acrylate , together with an alkyl methacrylate are preferred . polymers comprising ethyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate are particularly preferred . the acrylate monomer may be present in a proportion in the range 30 to 65 mole %, and the methacrylate monomer may be present in a proportion in the range of 20 to 60 mole other monomers which are suitable for use in the preparation of the acrylic or methacrylic polymer , which may be used instead of , but are preferably copolymerised as optional additional monomers together with esters of acrylic acid and / or methacrylic acid , and derivatives thereof , include acrylonitrile , methacrylonitrile , halo - substituted acrylonitrile , halo - substituted methacrylonitrile , acrylamide , methacrylamide , n - methylol acrylamide , n - ethanol acrylamide , n - propanol acrylamide , n - methacrylamide , n - ethanol methacrylamide , n - methyl acrylamide , n - tertiary butyl acrylamide , hydroxyethyl methacrylate , glycidyl acrylate , glycidyl methacrylate , dimethylamino ethyl methacrylate , itaconic acid , itaconic anhydride and half esters of itaconic acid . other optional monomers include vinyl esters such as vinyl acetate , vinyl chloracetate and vinyl benzoate , vinyl pyridine , vinyl chloride , vinylidene chloride , maleic acid , maleic anhydride , styrene and derivatives of styrene such as chloro styrene , hydroxy styrene and alkylated styrenes , wherein the alkyl group contains from one to ten carbon atoms . a preferred acrylic or methacrylic polymer derived from 3 monomers comprises 35 to 60 mole % of ethyl acrylate : 30 to 55 mole % of methyl methacrylate : 2 - 20 mole % of methacrylamide , and particularly in a ratio of 46 / 46 / 8 mole % respectively . the molecular weight of a suitable acrylic or methacrylic polymeric component can vary over a wide range but the weight average molecular weight is preferably within the range 40 , 000 to 300 , 000 , and more preferably within the range 50 , 000 to 200 , 000 . another suitable receptive layer is formed by coating the polymeric substrate with a mixture of the aforementioned acrylic or methacrylic polymer and a styrene / butadiene copolymer . a preferred styrene / butadiene copolymer has a molar ratio of styrene : butadiene of approximately 1 . 4 : 1 . 0 . a preferred acrylic or methacrylic polymer for mixing with the styrene / butadiene copolymer comprises methyl methacrylate / ethyl acrylate / methacrylamide , preferably in a ratio of 46 / 46 / 8 mole % respectively . the weight ratio of the styrene / butadiene copolymer to acrylic or methacrylic polymer can vary over a wide range , preferably from 1 . 0 : 0 . 1 to 10 . 0 , more preferably from 1 . 0 : 0 . 25 to 4 . 0 , and particularly 1 . 0 : 1 . 0 . a preferred receptive layer has a low surface energy which facilitates retraction of the surface textured coating composition to form the surface textured coating . such a receptive layer suitably comprises any of the materials which may be employed in a low surface energy supercoat as herein described . desirably such a receptive layer may chemically react with the surface textured coating to promote adhesion between the receptive layer and the surface textured coating and preferably comprises ( meth ) acrylate double bonds which react with ( meth ) acrylate groups in the surface textured coating for example when the said coating is cured . if desired , a plurality of treatments may be sequentially applied to a substrate . the treatment is suitably applied at a concentration or intensity which will yield a receptive layer having a dry thickness generally less than 1 μm , and preferably from 0 . 05 to 0 . 5 μm . a polyester substrate , for example a polyethylene terephthalate film , may require one or more of the aforementioned surface treatments in order to obtain adequate adhesion of the surface textured layer to the substrate . the substrate of the optical tape according to the invention may be formed from any synthetic , film - forming polymeric material . suitable thermoplastics materials include a homopolymer or copolymer of a 1 - olefin , such as ethylene , propylene and but - 1 - ene , a polyamide , a polycarbonate , and , particularly , a synthetic linear polyester which may be obtained by condensing one or more dicarboxylic acids or their lower alkyl ( up to 6 carbon atoms ) diesters , eg terephthalic acid , isophthalic acid , phthalic acid , 2 , 5 - 2 , 6 - or 2 , 7 - naphthalenedicarboxylic acid , succinic acid , sebacic acid , adipic acid , azelaic acid , 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- diphenyldicarboxylic acid , hexahydroterephthalic acid or 1 , 2 - bis - p - carboxyphenoxyethane ( optionally with a monocarboxylic acid , such as pivalic acid ) with one or more glycols , particularly aliphatic glycols , eg ethylene glycol , 1 , 3 - propanediol , 1 , 4 - butanediol , neopentyl glycol and 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol . a polyethylene naphthalate , and particularly a polyethylene terephthalate film is preferred , especially such a film which has been biaxially oriented by sequential stretching in two mutually perpendicular directions , typically at a temperature in the range 70 ° to 125 ° c ., and preferably heat set , typically at a temperature in the range 150 ° to 250 ° c ., for example -- as described in british patent gb - a - 838708 . the substrate may also comprise a polyarylether or thio analogue thereof , particularly a polyaryletherketone , polyarylethersulphone , polyaryletheretherketone , polyaryletherethersulphone , or a copolymer or thioanalogue thereof . examples of these polymers are disclosed in ep - a - 1879 , ep - a - 184458 and us - a - 4008203 , particularly suitable materials being those sold by ici plc under the registered trade mark stabar . blends of these polymers may also be employed . suitable thermoset resin substrate materials include addition -- polymerisation resins -- such as acrylics , vinyls , bis - maleimides and unsaturated polyesters , formaldehyde condensate resins -- such as condensates with urea , melamine or phenols , cyanate resins , isocyanate resins , epoxy resins , functionalised polyesters , polyamides or polyimides . a polymeric film substrate for production of a medium according to the invention may be unoriented , or uniaxially oriented , but is preferably biaxially oriented . a thermoplastics polymeric substrate is conveniently biaxially oriented by drawing in two mutually perpendicular directions in the plane of the film to achieve a satisfactory combination of mechanical and physical properties . simultaneous biaxial orientation may be effected by extruding a thermoplastics polymeric tube which is subsequently quenched , reheated and then expanded by internal gas pressure to induce transverse orientation , and withdrawn at a rate which will induce longitudinal orientation . sequential stretching may be effected in a stenter process by extruding the thermoplastics substrate material as a flat extrudate which is subsequently stretched first in one direction and then in the other mutually perpendicular direction . generally , it is preferred to stretch firstly in the longitudinal direction , ie the forward direction through the film stretching machine , and then in the transverse direction . a stretched substrate film may be , and preferably is , dimensionally stabilised by heat - setting under dimensional restraint at a temperature above the glass transition temperature thereof . the coating composition forming the backcoat layer may be applied to a receptive surface of an already biaxially oriented , and preferably heat - set , film substrate . however , we do not exclude the possibility of applying said coating composition at other stages during the production of the substrate . eg . at an intermediate stage between the stretching stages referred to above . the thickness of the substrate of a medium according to the invention may vary over a wide range , but generally will be up to 300 , especially from 2 to 75 μm . the thicknesses of the respective layers deposited on the substrate are usually minor by comparison therewith . a medium according to the invention may therefore be expected to exhibit a total thickness of from about 5 to 310 μm , especially 10 to 260 μm . one or more of the polymeric layers of a tape according to the invention may conveniently contain any of the additives conventionally employed in the manufacture of thermoplastics polymeric films . thus , agents such as anti - static agents , dyes , pigments , voiding agents , lubricants , anti - oxidants , anti - blocking agents , surface active agents , slip aids , gloss - improvers , prodegradants , ultra - violet light stabilisers , viscosity modifiers and dispersion stabilisers may be incorporated in the substrate and / or receptive layer ( s ) and / or surface textured backcoat layer , as appropriate . the invention is illustrated by reference to the accompanying drawings in which : fig1 is a diagrammatic sectional view through an optical recording medium having a backcoat applied thereto ; and fig2 is a graph illustrating the variation of ber with tape winding cycles for an optical tape having a backcoat in accordance with the invention and for a optical tape having a backcoat incorporating an inorganic filler . fig3 is a diagrammatic illustration of the tape transport mechanism of an optical tape recorder used for testing purposes . referring to fig1 the optical recording medium illustrated is in a form suitable for use as a flexible optical tape . however , it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to media of the optical tape type as shown in fig1 . the medium comprises a flexible substrate 10 which is coated on one face with a subbing or smoothing layer 12 . the reverse face of the substrate is coated with a backcoat 13 which , in conventional tape recording media would incorporate inorganic filler particles , such as alumina , so as to impart a surface relief to the reverse side of the substrate . a thin layer 15 of material , eg . a suitable metal , is applied to the smooth surface of the subbing layer 12 to provide a surface which is highly reflective with respect to the wavelength used for writing into and reading from the medium . an amorphous recording layer 18 of a dye combined with a thermoplastic binder is solvent coated over the reflecting layer 15 . a number of suitable dyes for use in the recording layer 18 are disclosed in our prior u . s . pat . no . 4606859 . the binder is typically an amorphous polyester thermoplastic resin . an overcoat layer 20 is superimposed on the recording layer 18 , the overcoat layer being of a material which is highly transmissive to the laser radiation used for writing and reading the medium and which will be compatible with the reverse surface of the substrate and may also serve to protect the recording layer from the environment and from damage by for example abrasion . the substrate 10 may comprise for example a 75 micron or less thick film of melinex which is a biaxially orientated polyethylene teraphthalate film ( melinex is a registered trade mark of imperial chemical industries plc ) and has sufficient flexibility to function , when coated with the layers 12 , 15 , 18 and 20 , as a flexible optical tape medium which may be wound up on a spool in a similar manner to magnetic tape media . the dye is selected so as to have an absorption peak slightly shifted away from the reading and writing wavelength , typically 830 nm . the overcoat layer is typically composed of tough and hard material such as a radiation cured urethane acrylate or epoxy acrylate . the recording medium shown in fig1 is intended to be written into and read back using conventional techniques involving moving the medium relative to an optical recording head operable in writing or reading modes using a laser beam adjusted to higher or lower power levels according to the mode of operation , recording being effected with increased power and read back with reduced power . the laser beam is focused onto the recording layer 18 through the overcoat layer 20 . information may be represented digitally by using pit length ( ie . the length of the pit in the direction of relative movement between the recording head and the medium ) or pit position to store binary information and the information is read back by applying threshold techniques to detect the reflectivity variations caused by the presence of the pits . in accordance with the invention , the backcoat and overcoat layers are such that the static coefficient of friction therebetween is somewhat in excess of that employed in conventional magnetic tape media so as to secure the advantages previously referred to in the context of reduced layer - to - layer slippage during tape storage and transport . although we do not exclude such possibility , the surface relief provided by the backcoat in securing an appropriate μs is not afford by the inclusion of an inorganic filler incorporated in the backcoat composition ; instead the required surface texture is imparted at least primarily by the morphology of the polymer ( s ) forming the backcoat . a polyethylene terephthalate film was melt extruded , cast onto a cooled rotating drum and stretched in the direction of extrusion to approximately 3 times its original dimensions . the cooled stretched film was then coated on both surfaces with an aqueous receptive layer composition containing the following ingredients : ______________________________________acrylic resin 3 . 125 liters ( 16 % w / w aqueous based latex of methylmethacrylate / ethyl acrylate / methacrylamide : 46 / 46 / 8 mole %, with 25 % by weight methoxylatedmelamine - formaldehyde ) ludox tm 0 . 43 liters ( 50 % w / w aqueous silica slurry of averageparticle size approximately 20 nm , supplied by du pont ) ammonium nitrate 0 . 20 liters ( 10 % w / w aqueous solution ) synperonic n 0 . 50 liters ( 27 % w / w aqueous solution of a nonyl phenolethoxylate , supplied by ici ) demineralised water to 100 liters______________________________________ the ph of the mixture being adjusted to 9 . 0 with dimetylamino ethanol ( prior to the addition of the lucox tm ). the receptive layer coated film was passed into a stenter oven , where the film was dried and stretched in the sideways direction to approximately 3 times its original dimensions . the biaxially stretched coated film was heat set at a temperature of about 200 ° c . by conventional means . final film thickness was 75 μm , with a dry coat weight of approximately 0 . 3 mgdm - 2 . the textured surface backcoat layer was derived from coating compositions 1a to 1f as indicated below and was applied to the receptive layer by &# 34 ; bead &# 34 ; ( meniscus ) coating . ______________________________________ composition (% w / w ) 1a 1b 1c 1d 1e 1f______________________________________zinc 0 . 56 1 . 4 2 . 23 3 . 07 3 . 90 1 . 50diacrylateplex -- -- -- -- -- 4 . 256690 - 6sartomer 1 . 3 3 . 25 5 . 21 7 . 16 9 . 12 4 . 25399irgacure 0 . 14 0 . 35 0 . 56 0 . 77 0 . 98 0 . 70907methanol 98 . 0 95 . 0 92 89 . 0 86 . 0 89 . 3total 2 . 0 5 . 0 8 . 0 11 . 0 14 . 0 10 . 7 (% w / w reactivecomponents ) ______________________________________ zinc diacrylate supplied by rohm : plex 6690 - 6 is an oligomeric acrylate thioether supplied by rohm ; sartomer 399 is a dipentaerythritol monohydroxy pentaacrylate supplied by sartomer ; irgacure 907 is 2 - methyl - 1 -(( 4 - methylthio ) phenyl )- 2 - morpholino - propanone - 1 supplied by ciba geigy . the applied wet coating was approximately 12 μm thick and was dried in an oven at 100 ° c . for up to 20 seconds depending on line speed . the dried coating was cured by one pass of the film at 24 meters per minute ( mpm ) for examples 1a to 1e , 30 mpm for example 1f under a pair of focused 118 w / cm ( 300 w / inch ) uv lamps ( microwave generated type h bulb fusion systems ) in a nitrogen purged atmosphere . films 1c and 1f were thereafter coated on the opposite side of the substrate to the backcoat with identical layers comprising a reflective layer , a dye / polymer layer and an overcoat layer to form an optical recording element having the structure described in fig1 but excluding the subbing layer . each of films 1c and 1f were produced with overcoat layers of approximately 30 nm thickness , and samples of film 1c were also produced with a thickness of approximately 220 nm : these films are herein designated as 1c 30 , 1f 30 and 1c 220 . ______________________________________reactive components (% w / w ) 64 . 5 ebecryl 220 ( ucb ) hexafunctional aromatic urethane acrylate21 . 5 ebecryl 210 ( ucb ) difunctional aromatic urethane acrylate3 . 8 ebecryl 1360 ( ucb ) silicone acrylate3 . 4 uvecryl p115 ( ucb ) amino acrylate6 . 8 irgacure 907 ( ciba geigy ) solvent system (% v / v ) 75 industrial methylated spirits20 acetone5 diacetone alcohol______________________________________ for the production of a thick overcoat ( approx 220 nm ), the coating solution comprised 3 . 75 % w / v reactives to solvent and for the thin overcoat ( approx 30 nm ), it comprised 0 . 40 % w / v reactives / solvent . the properties of the cured films were assessed and the results are given in table 1 . surface roughness was measured using a perthometer s6p surface measuring and recording instrument having a &# 34 ; free tracing system &# 34 ; and a datum pick - up no ftk 3 - 50 to measure the average roughness ( ra ) and the average groove distance ( rsm ) on the film under test . table 1______________________________________1a 1b 1c . sub . 220 1c . sub . 30 1d 1e 1f . sub . 30______________________________________r . sub . a0 . 13 0 . 30 0 . 45 0 . 45 0 . 59 0 . 83 0 . 43r . sub . sm64 81 99 99 127 166 190μs0 . 96 0 . 61 0 . 87 1 . 03 0 . 81 0 . 95 2 . 45μd0 . 18 0 . 13 0 . 15 0 . 70 0 . 16 0 . 19 2 . 15______________________________________ μs and μd respectively represent the static and dynamic coefficients of surface friction . surface friction was determined using lloyd jj t5k &# 34 ; tensile tester &# 34 ; available from instron ltd . a sample of the film was laid on the base plate of the instrument with the surface textured coating face down and a second sample of the film was secured , with surface textured coating facing down , to a block having a weight exerting a downward force of 5 . 88n . the block was placed on the first - mentioned sample . the dwell time , that is the time for which the samples were in contact prior to the block being moved was about 10 seconds . a wire was attached to the block and the tensile tester was operated at a cross - head speed of 50 mm / minute . the force on the wire required to move the block with the samples in contact was measured by the load cell to give a static and a dynamic friction reading . the samples of film to be tested were allowed to equilibrate for one hour at a temperature of 20 ° c . and 60 % relative humidity . in the case of examples 1a , 1b , 1d and 1e , because these were not dye coated and overcoated , a sample of film 1c was laid on the base plate and samples of film 1a , b , d or e were secured to the block . the procedure of example 1 was repeated , with identical substrate and receptive layers , but the textured surface layer was derived from a coating composition comprising : ______________________________________sartomer sr368 1 . 0 % w / w ( tris ( 2 - hydroxyethyl ) isocyanurate triacrylatesupplied by cray valley products ) irgacure 907 0 . 7 % w / wmethanol 98 . 9 % w / w______________________________________ the applied wet coating was dried in an oven at 125 ° c . for 10 seconds to provide a dry coat weight of approximately 110 mg / m 2 . the dried coating was cured by one pass of the film at 30 mpm under two focused 300 w / inch ( 118 w / cm ) medium pressure mercury arc lamps ( fusion systems type h ) in nitrogen . the cured coat thickness was approximately 0 . 7 μm . the film was treated on the opposite side of the substrate to the back coat with a coating identical to that applied to the opposite side of the substrate in examples 1c 30 and 1f 30 . the coating properties of the cured film were assessed and the surface roughness was measured as ra 0 . 07 and rsm & lt ; 36 and the static coefficient of static friction was measured as 1 . 1 to 1 . 4 . the procedure of example 1 was repeated with an identical substrate and receptive layers but the textured surface layer was derived from a coating the following composition and contained a conventional filler ( silica ). the coating composition was formed by dispersing aerosil r972 into a mill base formulation by bead milling for 40 mins . ______________________________________component % w / w______________________________________ebecryl 5129 29 . 93isopropyl alcohol 29 . 93methanol 29 . 93aerosil r972 9 . 99isocetyl stearate 0 . 23______________________________________ the mill base was slowly diluted with solvent plus photoinitiators to give a coating composition comprising : ______________________________________component % w / w______________________________________ebecryl 5129 * 10 . 0aerosil r972 1 . 0isocetyl stearate 0 . 02irgacure 907 0 . 4uvecryl p115 * 0 . 4isopropyl alcohol 3 . 0acetone 61 . 83methanol 19 . 25diacetone alcohol 4 . 1______________________________________ ebecryl 5129 ( ucb ) is a hexafunctional aliphatic urethaneacrylate ; aerosil r972 ( degussa ) is a hydrophobic surface treated silica , average primary particle size - 16 nm and bet surface area - 110 ± 20 m 2 / g ; uvecryl p115 ( ucb ) is an aminoacrylate co - initiator . the applied wet coat was approximately 12 microns thick and was dried in an oven at 80 ° c . for 40 seconds . the dried coating was cured by one pass of the film at 10 meters / min under a pair of focused 118 w / cm ( 300 w / inch ) uv lamps ( microwave generated type h bulb fusion systems ) in a nitrogen purged atmosphere . the film obtained in example 3 ( comparative ) was treated on the uncoated side of the film to enable evaluation thereof as optical data storage media . the film was treated to provide an identical coating to that on the opposite side of the back coat of example 1f 30 . the overcoat was 30 ± 5 nm thick in each case . the film of example 3 so prepared was found to have a surface roughness of 0 . 09 ( r a ) and friction coefficients of 0 . 58 ( μs ) and 0 . 41 ( μd ). the films of examples 1f 30 , 2 and 3 ( comparative ) were slit into 35 mm tapes and the wear characteristics of the two films were assessed by subjecting the tapes to the following winding regime . initially the data is written along the length of the sample tape to be cycled , the data being written over a length of 9 . 8 meters . the data is read prior to any cycling to obtain a measure of the raw bit error rate . data is read at selected locations within the written 9 . 8 m length , for example a number of 64 mbyte files are read . using the transport mechanism of a creo 1003 optical tape recorder , as illustrated diagrammatically in fig3 the tape was cycled from supply reel 50 to take up reel 52 via a path defined by idlers 54 and capstan 56 , and then returned to the supply reel . data is read by read / write head 58 located adjacent the capstan . the sample tape is transferred between the supply reel and the take - up reel at a constant speed of 3 m / sec . each transfer of the tape from one reel to the other is a pass so that the tape undergoes two passes in the course of being unwound from the supply reel and then rewound back onto the supply reel . during transfer of the tape between the supply reel and the take - up reel , part of the data - bearing section of the tape is left unwound to ensure that some data remains stored in the supply reel thereby providing a control by accessing and reading the uncycled data at intervals throughout the test . after every 100 passes , the data is read in the cycled and &# 34 ; uncycled &# 34 ; regions and the ber determined . the ber provides a measure of the ratio of correctly read data bits to the number of data bits resulting from initial laser writing . the results of this test are indicated in table 2 and by the graph of fig2 . the testing on the film of example 3 was discontinued after 10000 passes in view of the high ber reached at that stage . testing of the film of example 1f 30 in contrast was continued beyond 60000 passes and still continued to give low ber &# 39 ; s . this illustrates that , whilst a relatively high μs can be obtained by using a filled backcoat layer as in example 3 , the ber rapidly deteriorates upon repeated cycling ; in contrast , using a non - filled backcoat layer as in example 1f 30 and 2 provides a virtually constant ber with repeated cycling even when μs is much higher . table 2______________________________________ber / 10 . sup .- 4 example 3cycles example 1f ( thin ) example 2 ( comparative ) ______________________________________0 6 . 04 0 . 081 6 . 86100 -- 0 . 149 8 . 54200 -- 0 . 176 9 . 47300 -- 0 . 200 10 . 4400 -- 0 . 231 11 . 4500 6 . 17 0 . 256 11 . 8600 -- 0 . 272 12 . 3700 -- 0 . 291 12 . 8800 -- 0 . 310 13 . 61000 6 . 18 0 . 334 14 . 41500 6 . 14 0 . 401 15 . 82000 6 . 27 0 . 449 16 . 52500 6 . 19 0 . 505 17 . 63000 6 . 17 0 . 546 18 . 53500 6 . 05 0 . 592 19 . 04000 6 . 05 0 . 635 19 . 64500 6 . 19 0 . 691 19 . 85000 6 . 19 0 . 745 20 . 35500 6 . 22 0 . 814 20 . 66000 6 . 08 0 . 865 21 . 16500 6 . 32 0 . 923 21 . 57000 6 . 20 0 . 988 21 . 87500 6 . 28 1 . 04 22 . 18000 6 . 35 1 . 11 22 . 58500 6 . 10 1 . 17 22 . 99000 6 . 30 1 . 23 23 . 69500 6 . 24 1 . 28 24 . 010000 6 . 27 1 . 32 24 . 420000 6 . 41 2 . 67 -- 30000 6 . 61 3 . 80 ( at 28000 ) -- 40000 6 . 67 -- 50000 6 . 50 -- 60000 6 . 84 -- ______________________________________ | 8 |
in an embodiment of the present invention , the extended release tablet comprises of active ingredient and water soluble rate controlling polymer and optionally conventional excipients including a binder . these tablets are coated with a combination of water insoluble polymer . the coating optionally includes a water soluble polymer or substance as a channeling agent . the functional coated tablets are further coated with water soluble polymer as non functional coat . according to the embodiment of the present invention the active ingredient is used as such , inclusive or exclusive of the binder , if the crystal morphology is favoring direct compression . however , if the particles are not favoring direct compression and granulation is required then it is carried out either as ‘ dry granulation ’ or as ‘ wet granulation ’. the dry granulation process involves the mixing of drug with the binder or directly with the rate controlling hydrophilic polymer or both , followed by slug formation on tablet press or using the roll compactors . the process of wet granulation includes aqueous or non aqueous granulation . the wet granulation process comprises the admixing of the active ingredient with ‘ diluent ’ or mixture of ‘ diluent ’ and rate controlling hydrophilic polymer , and granulation of the blend with the binder mass to form the wet mass followed by drying and sizing . the binder may optionally be admixed with the dry blend and granulation performed with aqueous or non aqueous solvent . the solvent for the non aqueous granulation is selected from ethanol , isopropyl alcohol and dichloromethane . according to the present invention , the pharmaceutical composition contains levetiracetam as an active ingredient . the levetiracetam may be present in an amount from about 40 % to about 80 %, more preferably form about 50 % to about 75 % by weight of extended release composition . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention levetiracetam is granulated using aqueous granulation with a binder solution . the binder used is essentially important to impart compressibility , flow property and strength / hardness . the binder can be selected from polyvinyl pyrrolidone , hydroxypropyl cellulose , hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( low viscosity grade ), methyl cellulose , starch , pregelatinized starch , modified corn starch , polyacryl amide , poly - n - vinyl amide , sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , polyethylene glycol , gelatin , polyethylene oxide , poly propylene glycol , tragacanth , alginic acid , combinations there of and other materials known to one of ordinary skill in the art . the binder may be present in an amount from about 0 . 01 % to about 10 %, preferably from about 0 . 5 % to about 5 % by weight of the extended release composition . according to the embodiment of the present invention the active granules are blended with hydrophilic rate controlling polymer of high viscosity grade as a part of the matrix system . the high viscosity grade is the one which provide viscosity greater than 15 cps in a 2 % w / w solution . the hydrophilic rate controlling polymer in the matrix system includes hydroxyethyl cellulose , hydroxypropyl cellulose , sodium alginate , carbomer ( carbopol ™), sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , xanthan gum , guar gum , locust bean gum , poly vinyl acetate , polyvinyl alcohol and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( high viscosity grade ). the matrix forming polymer comprises from about 1 % to about 50 %, preferably from about 20 % to about 40 % by weight of the coated extended release composition . in yet another embodiment the present invention discloses an extended release pharmaceutical composition of levetiracetam which does not exhibit a food effect . the present invention provides an extended release compositions of levetiracetam which can be administered to a mammal ( including humans ) in fed state and which exhibits a mean ( auc fasting )/( auc fed ) of at least 0 . 80 . in particular , the present invention provides an extended release compositions of levetiracetam which can be administered to a mammal ( including humans ) in fed state and which exhibits a mean ( auc fasting )/( auc fed ) of at least 0 . 80 and / or with a lower 90 % confidence limit of at least 0 . 75 . according to the embodiment of the present invention , for definitional purposes , and specifically with respect to levetiracetam extended release compositions only , a dosage form of levetiracetam exhibits a food effect if , after dosing a population , once fasted and once fed , the mean ( auc fasting )/( auc fed ) is below the value 0 . 80 and / or the lower 90 % confidence limit for this ratio is below 0 . 75 . conversely , a dosage form of levetiracetam which does not exhibit a food effect is one which , when tested on a test population , exhibits a value for ( auc fasting )/( auc fed ) of at least 0 . 80 and / or a lower 90 % confidence limit for this value is at least 0 . 75 . the value for mean ( auc fasting )/( auc fed ) can be any value above 0 . 80 and still be within the scope of this invention , though it is preferred that it can have an upper ( mean ) limit of 1 . 25 , and / or an upper 90 % confidence limit of 1 . 40 or below . in addition to the above ingredients the extended release tablets as described here also contains the lubricant , anti adherent and a glidant . antiadherents include , by way of example and without limitation , magnesium stearate , talc , calcium stearate , glyceryl behenate , polyethylene glycols , hydrogenated vegetable oil , mineral oil , stearic acid and other materials known to one of ordinary skill in the art . glidants include cornstarch , talc , calcium silicate , magnesium silicate , colloidal silicon dioxide , silicon hydrogel and other materials known to one of ordinary skill in the art . lubricants include , by way of example and without limitation , calcium stearate , magnesium stearate , sodium stearyl fumerate , glyceryl palmitostearate , glyceryl stearate , mineral oil , stearic acid , and zinc stearate and other materials known to one of ordinary skill in the art . the glidants , lubricants and anti adherents are individually present in the range from about 0 . 01 % to about 5 % w / w of the coated tablets . preferably the glidants , anti adherents and lubricants are present in the range from about 0 . 5 % to about 4 % weight of the coated tablets , either alone or in combination . the formed extended release tablets are coated with a hydrophobic rate controlling polymeric coat and the rate controlling polymeric coat is composed of hydrophobic polymer , hydrophobic or hydrophilic plasticizer and / hydrophilic pore forming polymer ( channeling agent ). the hydrophobic film forming polymer is selected from the group consisting of cellulose ether such as ethyl cellulose , cellulose acetate , polyvinyl acetate , methacrylic acid esters neutral polymer , polyvinyl alcohol - maleic anhydride copolymers and the like . even the commercially available dispersion of film formers namely , eudragit l - 30d , eudragit ne 30d , aquacoat ecd - 30 , surelease e - 7 , eudragit rs 30d , eudragit rl 30d , etc . may be used for the purpose of providing rate controlling coat . the hydrophilic pore forming polymer in the rate controlling coat is said to be selected from copolyvidone , polyvinyl pyrrolidone , polyethylene glycols , hydroxyethyl cellulose , hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( low viscosity grade ). in the current embodiment , the water insoluble polymer is present in an amount from 40 % to about 90 %, preferably from about 50 % to about 80 % by weight of the functional coating layer of extended release composition . the water soluble pore forming polymer is present in an amount from about 10 % to about 60 %, preferably from about 15 % to about 35 % by weight of the coating layer . additionally the coating dispersion may also comprise of plasticizer to modify the properties and characteristics of the polymers used on the coat of the compressed tablets . plasticizers useful in the invention can include , by way of example and without limitation , low molecular weight polymers , oligomers , copolymers , oils , small organic molecules , low molecular weight polyols having aliphatic hydroxyls , ester - type plasticizers , glycol ethers , poly ( propylene glycol ), multi - block polymers , single block polymers , low molecular weight poly ( ethylene glycol ), citrate ester - type plasticizers , triacetin , propylene glycol and glycerin . such plasticizers can also include ethylene glycol , 1 , 2 - butylene glycol , 2 , 3 - butylene glycol , styrene glycol , diethylene glycol , triethylene glycol , tetraethylene glycol and other poly ( ethylene glycol ) compounds , monopropylene glycol monoisopropyl ether , propylene glycol monoethyl ether , ethylene glycol monoethyl ether , diethylene glycol monoethyl , ether , sorbitol lactate , ethyl lactate , butyl lactate , ethyl glycolate , dibutylsebacate , acetyltributylcitrate , triethyl citrate , acetyl triethyl citrate , tributyl citrate and allyl glycolate . also the combination of the plasticizers can be used in the present formulation . the composition in the present embodiment preferably comprises 1 . 0 to 10 . 0 % of hydrophobic polymer per weight of the coated tablets ; optionally up to 5 % per weight of hydrophilic pore forming polymer of the coated tablets and optionally up to 2 % of plasticizer per weight of the coated tablets . according to the present invention , the non - functional coating is selected from the group of ready to form dispersion such as opadry . the opadry comprises of the hydrophilic ( low viscosity grade ) film forming polymer , suitable colorant and the opacifying agent . opacifying agent include by titanium dioxide and other materials known to one of ordinary skill in the art . colorant include , by way of example and without limitation , fd & amp ; c red no . 3 , fd & amp ; c red no . 20 , fd & amp ; c yellow no . 6 , fd & amp ; c blue no . 2 , d & amp ; c green no . 5 , d & amp ; c orange no . 5 , d & amp ; c red no . 8 , caramel , and ferric oxide , red , other f . d . & amp ; c . dyes and natural coloring agents such as grape skin extract , beet red powder , beta - carotene , annato , carmine , turmeric , paprika , and other materials known to one of ordinary skill in the art . it should be understood , that compounds used in the art of pharmaceutical formulation generally serve a variety of functions or purposes . thus , if a compound named herein is mentioned only once or is used to define more than one term herein , its purpose or function should not be construed as being limited solely to that named purpose ( s ) or function ( s ). without further description , it is believed that one of ordinary skill in the art can , using the preceding description and the following illustrative examples , make and utilize the compounds of the present invention and practice the claimed methods . the following examples are given to illustrate the present invention . it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific conditions or details described in these examples levetiracetam 500 mg was sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and was then granulated with aqueous polyvinyl pyrrolidone solution and the granulated mass was dried at 50 ° c . the dried granules were sized through s . s . sieve of 20 mesh and these granules were blended with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose , lubricated with magnesium stearate and colloidal silicon dioxide and the lubricated granules were compressed into tablets . as mentioned in table 1 the tablets of example 2 were further coated with aqueous dispersion of hydrophobic rate controlling ethyl cellulose to weight gain of 2 . 96 % w / w of the compressed tablet . following the functional coating the tablets were cured at 55 ° c . for 1 hour . levetiracetam 500 mg was sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and was then granulated with aqueous polyvinyl pyrrolidone solution and the granulated mass was dried at 50 ° c . the dried granules were sized through s . s . sieve 20 mesh and these granules were blended with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose , lubricated with magnesium stearate and colloidal silicon dioxide and lubricated granules were compressed into tablets . the compressed tablets were coated with the mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and opadry to a weight gain of 9 . 60 % w / w of the compressed tablets . following the functional coating the tablets were cured at 55 ° c . for 1 hour . levetiracetam 500 mg was sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and was then granulated with aqueous polyvinyl pyrrolidone solution and the granulated mass was dried at 50 ° the dried granules were sized through s . s . sieve of 20 mesh and these granules were blended with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose , lubricated with magnesium stearate , talc and colloidal silicon dioxide and lubricated granules were compressed into tablets . the compressed tablets were coated with opadry to a weight gain of 2 % w / w of the compressed tablets . levetiracetam 500 mg was sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and was then granulated with aqueous polyvinyl pyrrolidone solution and the granulated mass was dried at 50 ° c . the dried granules were sized through s . s . sieve of 20 mesh and these granules were blended with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose , lubricated with magnesium stearate , talc and colloidal silicon dioxide and the lubricated granules were compressed into tablets . the tablets of example 5 and 6 , as mentioned in the table 4 , were coated with mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( lv ; low viscosity ) in the ratio of 75 : 25 ( solid content ). the tablets were coated to target weight gain of 2 . 5 % w / w and 5 . 0 % w / w of the compressed tablets for example 5 and example 6 respectively . following the coating the tablet were cured at 65 ° c . for 1 hr . the coated tablets were further coated with opadry to a weight gain of 2 % w / w of the functional coated tablet . the extended release tablets of examples 1 to example 6 were tested for dissolution of levetiracetam using 900 ml of ph 6 . 8 phosphate buffer as dissolution media at 37 ° c . and in 40 - mesh basket ( usp type 1 ) at 100 rpm levetiracetam 750 mg was sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and was then granulated with aqueous polyvinyl pyrrolidone solution and the granulated mass was dried at 50 ° c . the dried granules are sized through s . s . sieve of 20 mesh and these granules were blended with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and then lubricated with magnesium stearate , colloidal silicon dioxide and talc and the lubricated granules were compressed into tablets . the tablets as mentioned in the table 6 , were coated with mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose lv in the ratio of 75 : 25 ( solid content ). the tablets were coated to target weight gain of 2 . 0 % w / w . following the coating the tablet were cured at 65 ° c . for 1 hr . the coated tablets were further coated with opadry to a weight gain of 2 % w / w of the functional coated tablet . levetiracetam 750 mg and carbopol were sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 30 and were blended together . the blend was lubricated with glyceryl behenate , colloidal silicon dioxide and talc and the lubricated blend was compressed into tablets . levetiracetam 750 mg and kollidon sr ( polyvinyl acetate : polyvinyl pyrolidone , 8 : 2 ) were sifted through s . s sieve of mesh 30 and blended together . the blend was lubricated with glyceryl behenate , colloidal silicon dioxide and talc and the lubricated blend was compressed into tablets . the tablets as mentioned in the table 8 , were coated with mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( lv ) in the ratio of 75 : 25 ( solid content ). the tablets were coated to target weight gain of 1 . 90 % w / w of the uncoated tablets . following coating the tablet were cured at 65 ° c . for 1 hr . the functional coated tablets were further coated with opadry to a weight gain of 1 . 87 % w / w of the functional coated tablet . levetiracetam 750 mg and hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose ( hv ) were sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and blended together . the blend was compacted using a roll compactor ( chilsonator ) to form slugs . the slugs were sized in an oscillating granulator using a s . s . sieve of mesh 20 . obtained granules were lubricated with magnesium stearate , colloidal silicon dioxide and talc . the lubricated blend was compressed into tablets . the tablets as mentioned in the table 9 were coated with mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( lv ) in the ratio of 75 : 25 ( solid content ). the tablets were coated to target weight gain of 1 . 78 % w / w of the uncoated tablets . following the coating the tablet were cured at 65 ° c . for 1 hr . the functional coated tablets were further coated with opadry to a weight gain of 1 . 75 % w / w of the functional coated tablet . levetiracetam 750 mg and hydroxylpropyl methylcellulose ( hv ) were sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and blended together . the blend was granulated using nonaqueous granulation using hydroxypropyl cellulose as the binder . the granulated mass was dried at 45 ° c . the dried granules were sized through s . s . sieve of mesh 20 and the granules were lubricated with magnesium stearate , talc and colloidal silicon dioxide . the lubricated blend was compressed into tablets . the tablets as mentioned in the table 10 were coated with mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose lv in the ratio of 75 : 25 ( solid content ). the tablets were coated to target weight gain of 1 . 78 % w / w of the uncoated tablets . following the coating the tablet were cured at 65 ° c . for 1 hr . the coated tablets were further coated with opadry to a weight gain of 1 . 75 % w / w of the functional coated tablet . levetiracetam 750 mg was sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and was then granulated with non aqueous hydroxypropyl cellulose solution and the granulated mass was dried at 45 ° c . the dried granules are sized through s . s . sieve of mesh 20 and these granules were blended with hydroxyethyl cellulose and lubricated with magnesium stearate , colloidal silicon dioxide and talc . the lubricated granules were compressed into tablets . the tablets as mentioned in the table 11 , were coated with mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( lv ) in the ratio of 75 : 25 ( solid content ). the tablets were coated to target weight gain of 1 . 78 % w / w . the coated tablet were cured at 65 ° c . for 1 hr . the functional coated tablets were further coated with opadry to a weight gain of 1 . 75 % w / w of the functional coated tablet . the extended release tablets of examples 8 to example 13 were tested for dissolution of levetiracetam using 900 ml of ph 6 . 8 phosphate buffer as dissolution media at 37 ° c . and in 40 - mesh basket ( usp type 1 ) at 100 rpm an in vivo study was conducted in healthy human volunteers to assess bioavailability of levetiracetam formulated as the extended release tablets of example 8 by comparison with a reference treatment with immediate release levetiracetam tablets . the study followed an open label , two - treatment , two - periods , comparative oral bioavailability study in healthy , adult , male , human subjects under fed conditions . the subjects received each of the two treatments during the course of the study , which was conducted at a single center . the subjects were given 1500 mg oral dose of levetiracetam . in the case of the ir formulation , which was provided as keppra ® tablets , two equally divided doses of 750 mg each were given at 12 hour interval beginning in the morning . in the case of the extended release formulation of example 8 , two tablets of 750 mg were given at a time in the morning . plasma levetiracetam concentrations were quantified by hplc method . samples were not diluted prior to analysis as all sample concentrations were within the limits of quantitation . pharmacokinetic parameters for levetiracetam were estimated by non compartmental methods . the parameters tmax , cmax , auc 0 → t , auc 0 →∞ were estimated during the studies and recorded in table 13 . mean plasma levetiracetam concentrations over the 36 hour assessment period are shown in fig2 . levetiracetam 750 mg was sifted through s . s . sieve of mesh 40 and was then granulated with aqueous polyvinyl pyrrolidone solution and the granulated mass was dried at 45 ° c . the dried granules are sized through s . s . sieve of mesh 20 and these granules were blended with hypermellose 2208 and lubricated with magnesium stearate , colloidal silicon dioxide and talc . the lubricated granules were compressed into tablets . the tablets as mentioned in the table 14 , were coated with mixture of aqueous dispersion of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose ( e - 3 ) and polyethylene glycol . the tablets were coated to target weight gain of 3 . 5 % w / w . the coated tablets were cured at 65 ° c . for 1 hr . the functional coated tablets were further coated with opadry to a weight gain of 2 . 5 % w / w of the functional coated tablet . the extended release tablets of examples 16 - 18 were tested for dissolution of levetiracetam using 900 ml of ph 6 . 8 phosphate buffer as dissolution media at 37 ° c . and in 40 - mesh basket ( usp type 1 ) at 100 rpm a randomized two - treatment , two period , cross - over pharmacokinetic study was conducted in eighteen healthy , adult , male human subjects in both fast and fed conditions for the above formulations and the data obtained was compared with the data of keppra ® tablets . the following are a tabulation of the results of the study in both fast and fed conditions . comparison of data of the tablet of example 16 and keppra tablets in fasting conditions although certain presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been specifically described herein , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains that variations and modifications of the various embodiments shown and described herein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is intended that the invention be limited only to the extent required by the appended claims and the applicable rules of law . | 0 |
the present invention provides an improved bevel angle adjustment mechanism for a circular saw . while shown operatively associated with a particular circular saw , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention is not so limited in scope and is readily adaptable for use with a wide variety of circular saws . turning to the drawings in which identical or equivalent elements have been denoted with like reference numerals , an exemplary circular saw embodying the present invention is illustrated and identified generally at reference numeral 10 . the circular saw is shown to generally include a motor and gear case housing 12 which carries a conventional saw blade 14 rotating about an axis 16 . the saw blade is shielded in operation by upper and lower guards 18 and 20 , respectively . as is conventional , the upper guard 18 is mounted to the housing 12 . also conventionally , the lower guard 20 is pivotally and retractably connected to the upper guard 18 . a handle 22 is associated with a trigger switch 24 . in operation , the saw 10 as a whole is supported on a workpiece by a base or shoe 26 . a motor 28 is disposed within the housing 12 . in the exemplary embodiment illustrated , the motor 28 is conventionally powered by ac current delivered from a power cord ( partially shown at 30 ). alternatively , it will be understood by those skilled in the art , that the teachings of the present invention are equally applicable to battery power circular saws . an example of a battery powered circular saw which can be modified in accordance with the teachings of the present invention is illustrated and described in commonly assigned u . s . ser . no . 09 / 133 , 923 , filed aug . 13 , 1998 . u . s . ser . no . 09 / 133 , 923 is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein . to provide for depth of cut and bevel angle of cut adjustment , the shoe 26 is adjustably connected to the remainder of the circular saw 10 . the motor and gear case housing 12 , circular saw blade 14 , the handle 22 and the guards 18 and 20 form an integral subassembly 32 . for convenience in description , this integral subassembly will be referred to as the housing subassembly 32 . a principal component for adjustment of the depth of cut and the bevel angle of the cut is a mounting bracket 34 . as will be appreciated below , the mounting bracket 34 is attached to the shoe 26 for relative pivotal movement about a first axis a . additionally , the mounting bracket 34 is attached to the housing subassembly 32 for relative pivotal movement about a second axis b . the present invention includes a bevel angle adjustment mechanism which generally comprises the mounting bracket 34 and an upwardly extending flange or quadrant bracket 36 carried by the shoe 26 . in the exemplary embodiment illustrated , the quadrant bracket 36 is part of the shoe 26 and is integrally formed with the remainder of the shoe 26 from a die cast metal material . alternatively , it will be understood that the quadrant bracket 36 may be independently formed and fixedly attached to the shoe 26 by a suitable means such as riveting or bolting . the mounting bracket 34 and quadrant bracket 36 are pivotally interconnected by a pin 38 which defines the first pivot axis a . the first pivot axis a is substantially parallel to an axis defined by the circular saw blade 14 . the pin 38 passes through an aperture 39 provided in the bracket 34 and engages a boss portion 40 formed in the quadrant bracket 36 . the quadrant bracket 36 defines an arcuate slot 42 . an arcuate periphery of the quadrant bracket 36 is provided with a graduated scale or markings 45 to assist in setting a desired bevel angle . the graduated scale 45 cooperates with a pointer portion or indicator portion 47 of the mounting bracket 34 . to provide means for locking the subassembly housing 32 at a desired angular relationship relative to the base 26 , the present invention includes a locking arrangement 44 . the locking arrangement 44 includes a threaded bolt 46 which passes through a generally rectangular aperture 48 provided in the mounting bracket 34 and through the elongated slot 42 of the quadrant bracket 36 . as best shown in the exploded view of the fig3 the bolt 46 includes a squared shoulder 50 which cooperates with the sidewalls of the aperture 48 to prevent rotation of the bolt 46 . the bolt 46 threadably engages a nut 52 provided on the front side of the quadrant bracket 36 . the locking arrangement further includes a manually operated lever 54 which is mounted for rotation with the bolt 46 . rotation of the lever 54 in a first direction ( generally clockwise as shown in the drawings ) operates to tighten the nut 52 on the bolt 46 and thereby prevent relative rotation of the mounting bracket 34 and the quadrant bracket 36 . conversely , rotation of the lever 54 in a second direction ( generally counterclockwise as shown in the drawings ) allows the mounting bracket 34 to rotate relative to the quadrant bracket 36 . to provide means for positively locating the shoe 26 relative to the housing subassembly 32 at at least one predetermined bevel angle setting , one of the quadrant bracket 36 and the mounting bracket 34 includes a detent 56 and the other of the quadrant bracket 36 and the mounting bracket 34 includes a recess 58 . in the exemplary embodiment illustrated , the quadrant bracket 36 includes the detent in the form of a spherical ball 56 and the mounting bracket 34 includes a recess in the form of a stamped depression 58 . the stamped depression 58 is formed in a forward face 59 of the bracket 34 . alternatively , it will be understood that the stamped depression 58 can be replaced with a through hole ( not shown ). in the exemplary embodiment , the bracket 34 is formed to include a plurality of recesses or stamped depressions 58 . in one particular application , the bracket 34 includes two recesses 58 . however , any number of recesses 58 may be provided depending on the desired number of predetermined bevel angles . the spherical ball is biased toward the bracket 34 by a coil spring 60 . the coil spring 60 and the spherical ball 56 are disposed within an aperture 62 defined in the quadrant bracket 36 and held therein by a hollowing bushing 64 . the hollow bushing 64 is press fit into the aperture 62 . in the exemplary embodiment , a first one of the recess 58 a provided in the bracket 34 cooperates with the spherical ball 56 to define a first predetermined bevel angle setting . similarly , a second one of the recess 58 b cooperates with the spherical ball 56 to define a second predetermined angle setting . in one application , the first predetermined bevel angle setting is 45 ° and the second predetermined bevel angle setting is 22 . 5 °. again , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that any number of predetermined angles can be provided for with the addition of more recesses within the bracket 34 . in the exemplary embodiment illustrated , the mounting bracket 34 includes a pair of rearwardly extending flanges 66 . a pivot pin 68 passes through an aperture 70 provided in a forward portion of the upper guard 18 and through apertures provided in the rearwardly extending flanges 66 . the pivot pin 68 defines the second pivot axis b and permits the housing subassembly 32 to pivot relative to the shoe 26 . while not shown , it will be understood that the circular saw 10 includes a locking strap for locking the housing subassembly at a desired depth of cut setting relative to the shoe 26 . one suitable locking strap is shown and described in commonly assigned u . s . ser . no . 09 / 133 , 923 , filed aug . 13 , 1998 , referenced above . while the invention has been described in the specification and illustrated in the drawings with reference to a preferred embodiment , 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 of the invention as defined in the claims . 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 illustrated by the drawings and described in the specification as the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out this invention , but that the invention will include any embodiments falling within the description of the appended claims . | 1 |
measurement of il - 1α may be made in more than one sample taken at different time points . thus , measurement of il - 1α may be made in samples taken at different time points pre - and / or post - operatively to predict , for example , rate of disease progression , likelihood of , or projected time to surgical intervention and / or progress to normalisation post - evar . observation of re - establishment of high titres after evar may also be diagnostic of late technical graft failure . such reliance on il - 1α as a biomarker will preferably employ an immunoassay for detecting il - 1α . suitable assays for this purpose are well known . they include double - sandwich elisa employing for example rabbit polyclonal antibodies specific for recombinant il - 1α as described in hansen et al . ( ibid ). a commercially available assay system may be employed , e . g . a milliplex map immunoassay from milllipore ( millipore , billerica , mass ., usa ) as used for the studies reported herein . this is based on the luminex bead system and may be conveniently used to assay a variety of analytes of interest simultaneously in a single sample . thus it may be desired to measure il - 1α together with one or more further analytes whose presence in serum is known to correlate with risk or progression of aaa , either in the same sample or one or more equivalent samples . these include , for example , il - 8 ( lindeman at al . ibid ; norgren et al . j . endovascular surgery 4 , 169 - 173 ; parodi et al . j . endovascular therapy ( 2001 ) 8 , 114 - 124 ) and secreted metaloproteinases such as mmp - 9 as noted above . the studies reported herein further support additional use of il - 8 as biomarker for aaa since reduction of serum il - 8 between pre - and post - evar samples was found , although antibody blockade of il - 8 in pre - operative serum had no effect on neutrophil recruitment to tnf - α primed endothelial cells . monitoring of both il - 1α and il - 8 in serum or plasma , preferably by measurement in the same sample , may be preferred in relation to predicting aaa progression , either alone or as part of data collection for a multi - variate predictive algorithm . finding of il - 1α , or both of il - 1α and il - 8 , at a serum concentration of at least about 50 pg / ml , e . g . about 50 - 100 pg / ml , may be taken as indicative of aaa , especially where there has been previous diagnosis of atherosclerosis . in some circumstances a functional assay for il - α and for il - 8 may be carried out as well as or instead of an immunoassay . detection of il - 1α in accordance with the invention may be supplemented by assessment of aneurysm size by ultrasound or ct scan and / or assessment of burden of mural thrombus by ct scan to aid determination of disease progression and / or necessity for surgical intervention . the studies reported below provide background to the invention and illustrate the invention by way of exemplification with reference to the following figures . fig1 . schematic diagram illustrating the flow based adhesion assay : ibidi slides containing endothelial cells were mounted on the stage of a video - microscope and attached via silicon tubing to a 50 ml glass syringe and an electronic switching valve . isolated neutrophils or pbs / alb were perfused through the slides at a wall shear stress of 0 . 05 pa . experiments were conducted in a 37 ° c . perspex cabinet and video recordings made . fig2 . cytokine and chemokine expression in aaa patient serum following evar . ( a ) levels of 10 cytokines and chemokines in pre - and post - operative patient serum were measured using luminex and presented as pg / ml ± sem , n = 17 . ( b ) levels of il - 1α in pre - and post operative serum for individual patients . ( c ) levels of il - 8 in pre and post - operative serum for individual patients . *= p & lt ; 0 . 05 , ** p & lt ; 0 . 01 for comparison between pre - and post surgery by paired t - test . fig3 . patient serum does not induce endothelial cell activation . ( a ) adhesion of neutrophils to endothelial cells which were untreated , treated with 5 u / ml or 100 u / ml tnf for 4 h as a control , or pre - treated with pre - or post - operative patient serum for 24 hrs . anova = p & lt ; 0 . 01 , **= p & lt ; 0 . 01 using bonferroni &# 39 ; s multiple comparison test . ( b ) behaviour of recruited neutrophils to endothelial cells stimulated with 100 or 5 u / ml tnf for 4 hrs = rolling ; = firmly adherent ; = transmigrated . there is a significant decrease in the proportion of neutrophils rolling on endothelial cells stimulated with 100 u / ml compared to 5 u / ml tnf , and a significantly higher level of transmigrated neutrophils . *= p & lt ; 0 . 05 , ** p & lt ; 0 . 01 by paired t - test respectively ; data are mean ± sem ; n = 3 . fig4 . neutrophil behaviour on endothelial cells . neutrophils recruited to endothelial cells treated with ( a ) 5 u / ml tnf - α , ( b ) 100 u / ml tnf - α , ( c ) pre - op , ( d ) post - op serum . phase bright cells are rolling or firmly adherent to the endothelial cell surface , transmigrated neutrophils are phase dark and underneath the endothelial cell monolayer . r = rolling neutrophils ; sa = surface adherent neutrophils ; tm = transmigrated neutrophils . fig5 . pre - operative serum from aaa patients primes endothelial responses to low dose tnf - α resulting in altered neutrophil behaviour . control and patient serum was used to prime endothelial cell for 24 hrs and 5 u / ml tnf - α added for the final 4 h . total neutrophil adhesion was assessed ( a ) and levels of neutrophil transmigration quantified ( b ). there is a significant difference between levels of transmigrated neutrophils on control vs pre - operative serum **= p & lt ; 0 . 01 by paired t - test . there is a significant inhibition of neutrophil transmigration on endothelial cells cultured with post - operative serum compared to pre - operative serum ,*= p & lt ; 0 . 05 by paired t - test ; data are mean ± sem ; n = 17 . fig6 . correlation between ail - 1α concentration and δ transmigration . the changes in il - 1α concentration and neutrophil transmigration pre - and post - surgery were calculated as a ratio and plotted against each other . there is a significant correlation between the change in il - 1α and the change in levels of neutrophil transmigration , p & lt ; 0 . 01 . fig7 . neutralising il - 1α inhibits endothelial cell priming by pre - operative serum from aaa patients . neutralisation of il - 1α in the presence of pre - operative serum reduces neutrophil transmigration across endothelial cells pre - treated with pre - operative serum . igg control antibody and anti - il - 8 had no effect on neutrophil transmigration . anova p =& lt ; 0 . 001 ; data are mean ± sem ; n = 6 . the serum of patients with aaa was screened for the presence of a number of cytokines before and 6 months after evar . patient serum was also utilised to stimulate cultured endothelial cells , which were subsequently tested in a flow - based neutrophil adhesion assay . in such flow assays , pre - operative serum did not directly activate endothelial cells to support neutrophil adhesion unless such cells were exposed to tnf - α . with such priming , there was significant increase in the number of neutrophils recruited into the sub - endothelial environment . in serum collected 6 months after evar , both il - 8 and il - 1α were found to be significantly reduced compared to levels seen in pre - operative serum and were normalised to the levels seen in control samples . moreover , reductions in the concentrations of these cytokines correlated with a loss in the ability of patient serum to cause neutrophil recruitment to tnf - a exposed endothelial cells . as also already noted above , antibody neutralisation of il - 1α in pre - operative serum , but not il - 8 , also completely removed the capacity for neutrophil recruitment in the same flow assay . seventeen patients with a mean age 80 . 3 ( range 69 - 88 ) and who were undergoing elective evar , had a mean aneurysm size of 6 . 9 cm ( range 5 . 4 - 10 ). fourteen patients had zenith and three had excluder devices implanted . all patients with aaa were asymptomatic , but one had a contained rupture . four patients had fenestrated evar for juxta - renal abdominal aortic aneurysm . the control cohort consisted of 8 patients with a mean age of 72 . 5 ( range 65 - 89 ), with no aortic aneurysm , as proven by computerized tomography ( ct ) scan performed for other diseases . blood samples were collected into vacuette z serum sep clot activator tubes ( greiner bio one ) from patients undergoing elective evar protocols pre - operatively and 6 months post - operatively . serum was isolated via centrifugation , aliquoted and stored until use at − 80 ° c . milliplex map immunoassay was purchased from millipore ( millipore , billerica , mass ., usa ). this assay is based on the luminex bead system which can assay over 20 analytes in a small volume ( 50 μl ) using flow cytometery technology . the serum concentration of il - 1 - α , il - 1β , il - 4 , il - 6 , il - 8 , il - 10 , ifn - γ , ip - 10 , mcp - 1 , tnf - α and tnf - β were measured using the luminex assay , carried out according to manufacturers instructions and as previous published ( tull et al . plos biology ( 2009 ) e1000177 ). serum concentrations were measured on a lx100 machine ( luminex corp , usa ) and calibrated against titrations of recombinant standard for each analyte using starstation software ( acs , usa ). human umbilical vein endothelial cells were isolated as previously described ( cooke et al . microvascular res . ( 1993 ) 45 , 33 - 45 ) and cultured in m199 ( gibco invitrogen compounds , paisley , scotland ) supplemented with 10 ng / ml epidermal growth factor , 35 μg / ml gentamycin , 1 μg / ml hydrocortisone ( all from sigma , uk ), 2 . 5 μg / ml amphotericin b ( gibco invitrogen compounds ) and 20 % fcs ( sigma ). primary cells were sub - cultured into six channel p - slide vi flow chambers ( ibidi , munich , germany ) until confluent . confluent endothelial cells were cultured for 24 h with medium in which fcs was substituted for 30 % serum from patients or aged matched controls . an additional control was endothelial cells cultured continuously in 20 % fcs . endothelial cells were then stimulated with 5 u / ml tnf - a ( sigma , uk ) for the final 4 hours of culture before flow assay . in some experiments function neutralising antibodies against il - 1α or il - 8 ( 10 μg / ml , both from r & amp ; d systems , uk ) were added to patient serum prior to addition to culture medium . human neutrophils were isolated from the blood of healthy donors by density - gradient centrifugation ( histopaque - 1077 and histopaque - 1119 ; sigma ) and suspended in phosphate buffered saline containing 0 . 1 % bovine serum albumin ( sigma ) ( pbs / alb ). six channel μ - slide vi flow chambers were mounted on a phase contrast video microscope ( inverted labovert , leitz ). fig1 shows a schematic representation of the assay with slide in situ . neutrophils were perfused across endothelial cells at 10 6 cells / ml at a wall shear stress of 0 . 05 pa for 4 minutes , followed by wash buffer ( pbs / alb ) to remove non - adherent cells . video recordings of 8 - 10 fields along the centre of the channel were made between 2 and 4 minutes of perfusion of wash buffer . records were digitized using image - pro plus ( mediacybernetics , bethesda , md .) and analysed for cell behaviour . the following parameters were evaluated : total numbers of neutrophils captured by endothelial cells from flow expressed as absolute adhesion / mm 2 / 10 6 cells perfused ; the proportions ( expressed as a percentage ) of these adherent cells that rolled ( phase bright spherical cells , revolving slowly over the surface ), became stably adherent ( phase bright , stationary cells typically spreading on the surface ) or which transmigrate through the endothelial monolayer ( phase - dark , spread cells migrating under the endothelial cells ). differences between individual treatments were evaluated by paired t - test . p & lt ; 0 . 05 were considered statistically significant . variation between multiple treatments was evaluated using anova , followed by bonferroni &# 39 ; s multiple comparison test . correlation was calculated using graphpad in built analysis . evar changes the concentration of cytokines and chemokines in patient serum the concentrations of cytokines and chemokines were analysed in serum collected from evar patients pre - operatively and 6 months post - operatively ( fig2 a ). one analyte ( il - 4 ) was not detectable in the serum of donors . ifn - γ , il - 1β , il - 10 , tnf - α and tnf - β were detectable at low levels (≦ 10 pg / ml ), but showed no variation between the pre - and post - operative evar patients . il - 6 was more abundant (≈ 50 pg / ml ), but again there was no significant change at the two time points assayed . ip10 ( cxcl10 ) and mcp - 1 ( ccl2 ) were present in high concentrations of ≈ 1 and ≈ 2 . 5 ng / ml respectively . these levels were maintained up to 6 months after evar . il - 1α and il - 8 were of particular interest , as they were present at relatively high concentrations ( 50 - 100 pg / ml ) in pre - operative serum and these levels were significantly reduced following evar ( fig2 a ). in fact the response of these two analytes to evar was remarkably consistent within the test group . all 17 patients showing a reduction in il - 8 titres , while il - 1α was reduced in 12 out of 17 patients ( fig2 b and 2 c ). as the serum levels of some inflammatory cytokines and chemokines were reduced by the evar protocol , it was investigated whether these changes would be functionally relevant in an integrated inflammatory model of leukocyte recruitment . endothelial cells cultured in flow chambers were stimulated with 30 % patient serum in endothelial cell culture medium . for comparison , matched endothelial cells were also stimulated with either low ( 5 u / ml ) or high ( 100 u / ml ) dose tnf - α . unstimulated endothelial cells did not support the adhesion of flowing neutrophils ( fig3 a ). when endothelial cells were stimulated with 100 u / ml tnf - α , they supported the adhesion of substantial numbers of purified flowing neutrophils ( fig3 a and 4 b ). analysis of neutrophil behaviour showed that after 4 minutes of perfusion and 2 minutes of wash to remove non - adherent cells , only a few were rolling while the majority were activated and apically adherent or activated and migrated through the endothelial cell monolayer ( fig3 b and 4 b ). in comparison , endothelial cells stimulated with a 5 u / ml concentration of tnf - a recruited significantly fewer flowing neutrophils ( fig3 a and 4 a ) and their behaviour was different ( fig3 b and 4 a ). a greater proportion were rolling or apically adherent after activation , while very few transmigrated into the sub - endothelial space . endothelial cells incubated with pre - operative or post - operative patient serum maintained confluent monolayers that were indistinguishable from tnf - α stimulated cells ( fig4 c and 4 d ). however , in the absence of exogenous tnf - α , serum treated cells did not support the adhesion of flowing neutrophils ( fig3 a , 4 c and 4 d ). pre - operative but not post - operative patient serum primes the response of endothelial cells to low dose tnf - α . although patient serum did not directly stimulate cultured endothelial cells to recruit flowing neutrophils , it was found that incubation of the endothelial cells with pre - operative serum primed the endothelial cells for responses to tnf - α . comparing neutrophil adhesion to endothelial cells pre - incubated with different serums prior to activation with 5 u / ml tnf - α , showed that there was a non - significant trend to increased neutrophil recruitment in the presence of patient serum compared to serum from the control cohort ( fig5 a ). however , the behaviour of recruited neutrophils was markedly different on endothelial cell monolayers which had been incubated with pre - operative serum . the number of neutrophils that transmigrated across the endothelial cell monolayer was dramatically increased ( fig5 b ). importantly however , post - operative serum could promote the recruitment of significantly fewer neutrophils . importantly , the ability of patient serum to prime endothelial cells for this response was absent in serum taken from patients 6 months after evar ( fig5 a ), implying that the agent ( s ) responsible for endothelial cell priming was no longer present in the serum . interestingly , the change in il - 1α concentration between pre - and post surgery correlates with the observed change in transmigration ( fig6 ), suggesting a causal relationship . the ability of pre - operative sera to prime endothelial cells for response to tnf - α is lost when the biological activity of il - 1α is neutralised . the ability of patient sera to prime endothelial cells was dramatically reduced after evar , and this loss of activity was associated with a consistent and significant reduction in the levels of il1 - α and il - 8 in the sera . thus , it was hypothesised that one of these molecules might be the endothelial cell priming agent . to examine this thesis , a number ( n = 6 ) of pre - operative serum samples were re - tested before and after the addition of function neutralising antibodies against il - 8 or il - 1α . fig7 shows that a non - specific igg control antibody or a function neutralising antibody against il - 8 had no effect on the ability of pre - operative patient sera to prime endothelial cells when assessed by quantifying neutrophil transmigrating into the sub - endothelial space . importantly however , the ablation of il - 1α activity in the pre - operative sera completely abolished endothelial cell priming . indeed , the levels of neutrophil transmigration were reduced to those seen in the post operative patient sera tested in parallel in the same experiments ( i . e . matched for endothelial cell and neutrophil donors ). by these studies , il - 1α has been implicated in the molecular and cellular pathology of aaa and is indicated to be a convenient serum biomarker for aneurysm severity and for determining successful outcome of evar . it is concluded that evar is a procedure which not only prevents aaa rupture , but also reduces levels of chronic systemic inflammation and this can account for the good long term outcome observed in evar patients . norgren et al . ( j . endovascular surgery ( 1997 ) 4 , 169 - 173 ) measured levels of tnf - α , il - 6 and il - 8 in evar patients pre - operatively , 24 hr post operative and 7 days post - operatively . levels of each were found to increase following surgical insult , as expected , but returned to baseline by 7 days . pardoi et al . ( j . endovascular therapy ) measured il - 8 by elisa in evar patients pre - surgery , and up to 72 hrs following surgery , finding that levels increased immediately after surgery , and fell by 72 hrs , although not to pre - operative levels . however , in those studies there was no measurement of il - 1α in the serum of aaa patients . detection of il - 1α at high concentration in pre - operative serum of aaa patients was a surprising finding contrary to prior indication that il - 1α is not a highly secreted molecule . | 6 |
one or more specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below . in an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments , not all features of an actual implementation are described in the specification . it should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation , as in any engineering or design project , numerous implementation - specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers &# 39 ; specific goals , such as compliance with system - related and business - related constraints , which may vary from one implementation to another . moreover , it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming , but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design , fabrication , and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure . fig1 is a block diagram of a video unit 10 employing a light emitting diode (“ led ”) light engine 12 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . in one embodiment , the video unit 10 comprises a digital light processing (“ dlp ”) projection television . in another embodiment , the video unit 10 may comprise a dlp - based video or movie projector . in still another embodiment , the video unit 10 may comprise another form of projection television . the led light engine 12 comprises multiple leds that are configured to project , shine , or focus colored light 14 at a digital micromirror device (“ dmd ”) 18 . in alternate embodiments , such as a black and white video system or a color wheel based system , the led light engine 12 may be configured to produce a single color of light . as will be described in greater detail below in regard to fig2 , and 4 , embodiments of the present invention enable multiple leds within the led light engine 12 to be efficiently employed in combination with each other to create light to project large video images . as illustrated , the led light engine 12 projects , shines , or focuses colored light 14 at the dmd 18 . the dmd 18 may be located on a digital light processing (“ dlp ”) circuit board 16 arrayed within an optical line of sight of the led light engine 12 . the dlp circuit board 16 may comprise the dmd 18 and a processor 20 . as described above , the dmd 18 may comprise up to one million or more micromirrors mounted on microscopic , electrically - actuated hinges that enable the micromirrors to tilt between a turned on position and turned off position . in the illustrated embodiment , the dmd 18 is coupled to the processor 20 . in one embodiment , the processor 20 receives a video input and directs the micromirrors on the dmd 18 to turn on or off , as appropriate to create the video image . in alternate embodiments the processor 20 may be located elsewhere in the video unit 10 . the colored light 14 that reflects off a turned on micromirror ( identified by a reference numeral 24 ) is reflected to a projecting lens 26 and then projected on to a screen 28 for viewing . on the other hand , the colored light 14 that reflects off of a turned off micromirror ( identified by a reference numeral 30 ) is directed somewhere else in the video unit 10 besides the screen 28 , such as a light absorber 22 . in this way , the pixel on the screen 28 that corresponds to a turned off micromirror does not receive the projected colored light 14 while the micromirror is turned off . in one embodiment , the colored light 14 from the led light engine 12 rapidly changes from red to green to blue and then back to red many times per second . when the dmd 18 receives this stream of rapidly changing colored light 14 , the micromirrors on the dmd 18 are directed rapidly turn on or off to create the video images . in one embodiment , this direction is provided by the processor 20 . this rapid turning on and off of the micromirrors is coordinated to match the sequence of colors in the colored light 14 . for example , when the colored light 14 is red , the micromirrors turn on or off as appropriate to generate the shades of red for a particular frame of video . specifically , one micromirror may turn on for 25 microseconds to contribute one shade of red to its associated pixel while another one of the micromirrors may turn on for 30 microseconds to contribute another shade of red to a different pixel while still another micromirror may turn off completely for some period of time if no red light is to be projected to a particular one of the pixels during a particular frame . in a similar fashion , the micromirrors generate shades of green and blue , if needed , when the colored light 14 is green or blue , respectively . those skilled in the art will appreciate that in alternate embodiments other colors of light may be employed besides or in addition to red , green , and blue . because these different colors of light are rapidly changing ( e . g . 30 times per second ), the viewer sees a cohesive image formed from the three colors of light on the screen 28 . for example , to create a particular shade for a particular pixel , the micromirror corresponding to that particular pixel may turn on for 20 microseconds of red light , 22 microseconds of green light , and 17 microseconds of blue light . alternately , the micromirror may turn on for 20 microseconds of red light and 20 microseconds of blue light , but remain turned off for green light . those skilled in the art will appreciate that millions of color combinations can be projected by varying the lengths of time that the micromirrors are turned on . the video unit 10 may also comprise the projection lens 26 to project the light reflected from the dmd 18 onto the screen 28 . in one embodiment , the projecting lens 26 facilitates the projection of turned - on light 24 by expanding the turned - on light 24 to cover the relatively large area of the screen 28 . in an alternate embodiment , the screen 28 may not be a part of the video unit 10 . for example , the screen 28 may be mounted on a wall and the video unit 10 may comprise a projector configured to project video across a room to the screen 28 . fig2 is a diagram of one embodiment of the led light engine 12 comprising an led ring 41 and a static reflector 46 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . as illustrated , the led light engine 12 is comprised of a plurality of leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c oriented in an angular configuration to form the led ring 41 . the embodiment illustrated in fig2 comprises 15 leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c . while only three of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c are specifically labeled in fig2 , it will be appreciated that the discussion below may refer to all of the leds in the led ring 41 . alternate embodiments of the led ring 41 may comprise either more leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c or less leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c depending on the design of the video unit 10 . moreover , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the led ring 41 is merely one exemplary configuration of leds in the led light engine 12 . in alternate embodiments , other configurations besides the led ring 41 may be employed with the led light engine 12 . each of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c may comprise any one of a number of standard , projection quality leds , as known to those of ordinary skill in the art . in one embodiment , the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c may comprise a variety of different colors of led 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c . for example , the embodiment illustrated in fig2 comprises five red leds 40 a , five green leds 40 b , and five blue leds 40 c . in alternate embodiments , different colored leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c may be used . the led light engine 12 may also comprise a static reflector 46 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig2 , the static reflector 46 is a conical prism . in alternate embodiments , different forms of reflectors , optics , or prisms may be employed to reflect light 44 from the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c in the manner described below . the led light engine 12 may also comprise a plurality of lenses 42 . in the illustrated embodiment , the lenses 42 are arrayed in an annular configuration between each of the leds 40 a , 40 b and 40 c in the led ring 41 and the static reflector 46 . each of the lenses 42 is configured to focus light from one of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c at the static reflector 46 . for example , each of the lenses 42 may be configured such that one of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c is at a focal point on one side of the lens 42 and the static reflector 46 is at the focal point on the other side of the lens 42 . those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the location and configuration of the plurality of lenses 42 and the static reflector 46 may be altered to accommodate design considerations of various systems , such as the locations of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c . the led light engine 12 may also comprise an integrator 48 , which is also referred to as a light tunnel . the integrator 48 is configured to spread out , focus , or align the light generated by the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c to evenly reflect off the dmd 18 ( fig1 ). in turning to operation of the led light engine 12 , when the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c emit the light 44 , the lenses 42 focus the light 44 at the static reflector 46 . most of the light 44 is reflected off the static reflector 46 into the integrator 48 . the light 44 that enters the integrator 48 is spread out , focused or aligned , as appropriate , to create the colored light 14 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that from the perspective of the integrator 48 , all of the light 44 that enters the integrator 48 appears to be being generated at a point directly below or behind the static reflector 46 . in other words , the static reflector 46 combines the light produced by the leds 40 a , 40 b and 40 c ( and focused by the lenses 42 ) into what appears from the integrator &# 39 ; s 48 perspective to be a single light source that is produces as much a light as multiple leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c from the led ring 41 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that different colors of the led 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c may be used to produce the alternating red , green , and blue light that typically comprises the colored light 14 . as described above in the embodiment illustrated in fig2 , five of the fifteen leds 40 a , 40 b and 40 c may be red leds 40 a , five of the fifteen leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c may be green leds 40 b , and five of the fifteen leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c may be blue leds 40 c . in this embodiment , to create the colored light 14 that alternates from red to green to blue , the red leds are turned on momentarily ( flashed ) then the green leds are flashed , then the blue leds are flashed , then the red leds are flashed , and so forth . in this embodiment , the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c alternate in color red , green , and blue around the led ring 41 . in alternate embodiments , the color distribution of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c may differ depending upon design considerations . for example , in one embodiment , there may be fewer green leds 40 b in the led ring 41 because green light has higher luminance than red light or blue light . as described above , single conventional leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c cannot be used to project large video images because a single conventional leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c do not typically produce enough light to project a large , continual video image . one of ordinary skill in the art , however , will appreciate that the light output from one of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c is generally inversely proportional to the ratio of the time that the led 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c is turned on versus the time that the led 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c is turned off . this ratio is known as the duty cycle . for example , conventional led - based projection systems comprise one red led 40 a , one green led 40 b , and one blue led 40 c . to create a sequence of colored light each of these leds is turned on for one third of the time ( i . e ., the red led flashes red , then the green led flashes green , then the blue led flashes blue , then the red led flashes red again , and so on ). for this reason , each of these leds is deemed to have a ⅓ duty cycle . operating with a ⅓ duty cycle , single conventional leds simply do not typically produce enough light to project a large video image . however , if the duty cycle of the led is decreased ( i . e ., the led has more time to “ rest ” between flashes ), a single individual led can produce enough light to project a large video image . in one embodiment , a duty cycle of less than ⅓ is employed . for example , with a duty cycle of 1 / 15 ( i . e ., turned on approximately 6 . 5 % of the time ), a single led can project a large video image . those skilled in the art , however , will appreciate that with a duty cycle of 1 / 15 , it takes approximately 15 leds to produce a continuous video image . fig3 is a diagram of another embodiment of the led light engine 12 comprising an led ring 41 and a rotating reflector 50 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . for simplicity , like reference numerals have been used to designate those features previously described in reference to fig2 . similar to the embodiment of the led light engine 12 illustrated in fig2 , the embodiment of the led light engine 12 illustrated in fig3 comprises a plurality of leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c arranged in the led ring 41 around a plurality of lenses 42 , also arranged in a ring in the illustrated embodiment . this embodiment of the led light engine 12 also comprises the integrator 48 , as described above . the embodiment illustrated in fig3 comprises a rotating reflector 50 that rotates in a clockwise direction 52 . in one embodiment , the rotating reflector 50 comprises a parabolic mirror . whereas the static reflector 46 is placed at a location within the led light engine 12 that is amenable to simultaneously reflecting light from all of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c , the rotating reflector 50 is configured to sequentially focus the light from each particular one of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c in the led ring 41 as the rotating reflector 50 rotates in the counter clockwise direction 52 . by synchronizing the rotation of the rotating reflector 50 with the highly bright ( low duty cycle ) flashes of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c , sufficient light is reflected from the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c to project a large continuous video image . for example , the rotating reflector 50 may begin facing a first red led 40 a . while the rotating reflector 50 is pointed at the first red led 40 a , the first red led 40 a will produce a flash of red light bright enough to project the video image . most of this red light will reflect off the rotating reflector 50 and into the integrator 48 . the rotating reflector 50 will then rotate to face the first green led 40 b and reflect the green light produced by the first green led 40 b . next , the rotating reflecting will rotate to face the first blue led 40 c and so forth around the led ring 41 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that from the perspective of the integrator 48 , there will appear to be a single light source producing a sequence of red , green , and blue light with sufficient brightness to project a large video image . fig4 is a diagram of another embodiment of the led light engine 12 comprising an led ring and an ellipsoidal reflector 52 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . for simplicity , like reference numerals have been used to designate those features previously described in reference to fig2 and 3 . the embodiment of the led light engine 12 illustrated in fig4 comprises the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c disposed in the led ring 41 , a plurality of ellipsoidal reflectors 52 , a reflector 54 , and the integrator 48 . each of the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c is configured to produce the light 44 which reflects off the ellipsoidal reflectors 52 towards the reflector 54 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the ellipsoidal reflectors 52 have two focal points . in one embodiment , as illustrated , the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c will be placed at one of the focal points and the reflector 54 will be placed at the other focal point . the ellipsoidal reflectors 52 may achieve a result similar to the lenses 42 that were described above . in one embodiment , the ellipsoidal reflectors 52 are comprised of a plastic shell with a reflective paint or coating . in alternate embodiments , the ellipsoidal reflectors 52 may be constructed from any other suitable materials , as known to those of ordinary skill in the art . the embodiment of the led light engine 12 depicted in fig4 may function similarly to either the embodiment depicted in fig2 or the embodiment depicted in fig3 . specifically , in one embodiment , the reflector 54 comprises a stationary reflector and the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c are configured to operate in combination to produce enough light to project a large video image , as described in relation to fig2 . in another embodiment , however , the reflector 54 comprises a rotating reflector and the leds 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c are configured to operate with a lower duty cycle ( e . g ., 1 / 15 ). in this embodiment , each individual led 40 a , 40 b , and 40 c is configured to produce enough light to project a large video image , as outline above in regard to fig3 . while the invention may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms , specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein . however , it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed . rather , the invention is to cover all modifications , equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following appended claims . | 7 |
the aircraft boarding bridge or stairs is schematically hinted at and labelled 1 . the aircraft boarding bridge or stairs 1 has a head frame 3 , which is disposed at the front of the aircraft boarding bridge or stairs 1 in a u - shaped circumferential manner . the c - shaped profile 7 , 70 , which is more specifically screwed to the head frame 3 , is also disposed in a u - shaped circumferential manner on the head frame 3 . a sealing compound , for example made of silicone , is located between the c - shaped profile 7 , 70 and the head frame 3 , in order to prevent humidity from getting into the inside of the aircraft boarding bridge or stairs . the c - shaped profile 7 , 70 has a web 8 ; 80 , which serves to implement a screw connection with the head frame 3 . the web 8 ; 80 features two legs 9 ; 90 , 91 disposed at both ends in a u - shaped manner , wherein the two legs have first and second protrusions 10 , 11 ; 100 , 111 pointing toward each other . this results in a profile with a c - shaped cross - section . in order to be received by the c - shaped profile 7 , the hook member labelled 20 in fig1 has a u - shaped claw 22 , wherein the claw 22 serves to hook the strip - shaped hook member 20 into the first protrusion 10 of the c - shaped profile 7 . the strip 30 made of an elastomer , which may also be referred to as a keder , is provided in order to fix this hook member 20 with the claw 22 in the position shown in the figure . at one side of its longitudinal edge , the keder or strip 30 has a groove 33 , which captures the second protrusion 11 of the c - shaped profile 7 . the nose 35 , which engages behind the hook member 20 , is provided in order to reliably prevent the strip 30 from unintentionally slipping out . here , it can be seen that the hook member 20 is positively received by the c - shaped profile 7 in two spatial directions x and y . the hook member 20 first rests with a clearance in the c - shaped profile 7 , wherein the clearance is defined by a free space 40 between the hook member 20 and the free end of the second protrusion 11 . the strip 30 is driven into this free space 40 , so that the hook member 20 is ultimately held in the position shown in fig1 . the embodiment according to fig2 differs from that in fig1 in that the strip - shaped hook member 120 is merely l - shaped and does not have a u - shaped claw like the hook member 20 . in the embodiment according to fig2 , the hook member 120 is also held in position by the strip 30 . the strip 30 here also features a groove 33 to be received by the second protrusion 11 of the c - shaped profile 7 . the embodiment according to fig3 features a c - shaped profile 7 , which is configured in the same manner as in fig2 . here however , the c - shaped profile 7 receives a strip - shaped hook member 200 , wherein the hook member 200 is made of an elastomer . in order to receive the two protrusions 10 and 11 of the c - shaped profile 7 pointing toward each other , the hook member 200 has two grooves 240 , in which the protrusions 10 and 11 of the c - shaped profile engage , as can be gathered from fig3 . in the area of the two grooves 240 , there is a recess 210 , which serves to receive the strip 230 made of an elastomer material . this means that , in principle , the strip 230 forms a keder strip . in the embodiment according to fig4 , the c - shaped profile 70 features two legs 90 , 91 connected by the web 80 , which , at their ends , respectively have protrusions 100 , 111 pointing toward each other . the leg 91 is here configured in the manner of a shoe 95 . in the area of the shoe 95 , the strip - like hook member labelled 300 has a foot 310 , which is spaced apart from the protrusion 111 of the shoe 95 . the strip 330 made of an elastomer is introduced into the space formed by the gap , wherein , in order to prevent the strip 330 from getting out the shoe 95 under a load , the hook member 300 has a projection 315 in the area of the foot 310 . the hook member 20 , 120 , 200 , 300 additionally features the bellows 50 at one free end . 40 free space between the second protrusion and the hook member | 8 |
a non - restrictive illustrative embodiment of the blood counting device according to the present invention will now be described . a non - restrictive illustrative embodiment of the blood counting method will be described concurrently . referring to fig1 , the blood counting device is generally identified by the reference 29 . the blood counting device 29 can be used as a stand - alone apparatus coupled to a personal computer 6 or integrated to a pet scanner 27 , as shown in fig1 . the blood counting device 29 comprises a main unit 5 , a pumping unit 7 and a detector assembly 3 . the main unit 5 incorporates the electronics to control the pumping unit 7 and the detector assembly 3 , and to communicate with the personal computer 6 or the pet scanner 27 , which are both equipped with software for remote control , data analysis and display . this fully integrated system and software are designed to be user friendly , reduce staff exposure to radiation and increase throughput of pharmacokinetic studies in biomedical and pharmaceutical research . blood , for example a micro - volumetric quantity of arterial or venous blood is drawn from a subject 1 , for example a living mouse or rat , using a catheter 2 , for example pe50 tubing . more specifically , the blood is drawn through the catheter 2 across the detector assembly 3 by the pumping unit 7 . as shown in fig2 , the detector assembly 3 comprises a detector cap 10 , a detector base 8 and an electronic casing 9 mounted on a rail member 11 . the detector cap 10 holds the catheter 2 . since the cannula ( not shown ) installed on the subject 1 is often very sensitive to catheter movement , the detector cap 10 is fixed and remains motionless on the rail member 11 . also , the subject 1 is positioned and maintained at the height of the detector assembly 3 , close to the detector cap 10 to shorten as much as possible the length of the catheter 2 and , in this way , minimize radioactivity dispersion and time shift between blood counter data and actual blood activity concentration within the subject 1 . the pumping unit 7 comprises a powered , mechanically operated syringe 4 to pump or draw blood from the subject 1 . one end of the catheter 2 is mounted on the needle of the syringe 4 . unit 7 is oriented so as to position the syringe 4 with the needle close to the detector cap 10 . this configuration , as shown in fig1 , contributes to shorten the length of the catheter 2 and maintain the catheter 2 as straight as possible . the syringe pump can be replaced by a peristaltic pump in a closed loop where blood is returned to the animal through a venous catheter . the detector base 8 holds the beta radiation detectors 19 ( fig5 ) and is attached to the electronic casing 9 . the electronic casing 9 encloses an electronic circuit ( not shown ) for amplifying , shaping and converting the signals from the beta radiation detectors 19 into digital pulses , setting a level of a detection threshold , and communicating with the main unit 5 . these pulses can be counted by the computer 6 or pet scanner 27 to provide a resulting count rate of the blood counting device . to enable placement of the catheter , the detector base 8 can be separated from the detector cap 10 and slid away on the rail member 11 a sufficient distance , for example a distance of up to around 5 cm . once the catheter 2 is set into place on the detector cap 10 , the detector base 8 can then be brought close to the detector cap 10 and the detector assembly 3 closed through bindings such as , for example bindings 12 as shown in fig3 . obviously , any other type of suitable bindings could be used for that purpose . the rail member 11 contributes to prevent movement of the catheter 2 during closure of the detector assembly 3 and allows only limited movement between the detector cap 10 and the detector base 8 . the rail member 11 also makes the detector assembly 3 a full entity that can be fastened on top of the main unit 5 , as shown in fig2 , or placed aside of that main unit 5 as shown in fig1 . referring to fig5 and 9 , a pair of beta radiation detectors 19 are mounted on the detector base 8 . it should be noted here that the blood counting device could operate with only one beta radiation detector and with more than two beta radiation detectors . the beta radiation detectors 19 are direct beta radiation detectors made of a pair of silicon photodiodes , for example with an active area of 3 mm × 30 mm and a 1 . 5 mm overall thickness . as better shown in fig9 , the beta radiation detectors 19 are placed face to face on opposite sides along the catheter 2 through which blood is being drawn to enhance efficiency of detection of beta particles . silicon photodiodes are very efficient at detecting beta radiation emitted from most typical radioisotopes used as radiotracers in clinical and biological studies , such as 11 c , 13 n , 15 f , 64 cu , 131 i , etc ., and rather insensitive to the x , gamma or annihilation radiation emitted by these radioisotopes . as a result , silicon photodiodes will not be affected in a significant manner by gamma rays emitted from the small amount of radioactivity contained in the blood within the catheter . moreover , due to the insensitivity of photodiodes to high energy gamma rays , as well as the small size and compact arrangement of photodiodes around the catheter , the resulting detector assembly 3 can be protected from external radiation sources , including the relatively high radioactivity within the subject , with a very thin shielding . the distance between the silicon photodiodes and the blood within the catheter 2 is kept as short as possible as the range of detection of beta particles is short . with common pe50 tubing , the detection volume within the catheter 2 between the pair of photodiodes is 8 μl and the blood radioactivity concentration scale is in kbq / μl or nci / μl . as indicated in the foregoing description , the beta radiation detectors 19 detects very small blood radioactivity level inside the catheter 2 from beta radiation without contamination by the very large amount of radioactivity , in the several mbq or mci range , which is present within the subject 1 . therefore , silicon pin photodiodes having a fairly thick depleted region at the junction are selected since they are highly sensitive to beta radiation while remaining rather insensitive to x , gamma and annihilation radiation . radiation shielding needed to protect the silicon photodiodes against external gamma radiation can then be very compact . blood inside the catheter forms an efficient conducting medium acting like an antenna for external emi ( electromagnetic interference ) and , therefore , brings emi very close to the very sensitive silicon photodiodes , often producing an interference signal of non - negligible amplitude . some emi shielding is thus provided . finally , silicon photodiodes are very sensitive to ambient light and must be operated in the dark . mechanical and electrical filtering can be used to avoid such disruptions . referring to fig3 , 4 and 5 , the enclosure of the detector assembly 3 is made of two complementary external layers 13 and 14 . the detector assembly 3 also comprises internal linings 15 and 16 both having grooves with appropriate curvatures to accommodate the catheter 2 in order to provide a light - tight assembly for the beta radiation detectors 19 . the internal linings 15 and 16 can be screwed to the inner faces of the external layer 13 and 14 , respective , through beveled holes such as 40 . the external layers 13 and 14 shield the beta radiation detectors 19 against external x , gamma or annihilation radiation , whereas the internal linings 15 and 16 shield the beta radiation detectors 19 against external emi . the external layers 13 and 14 of the detector assembly enclosure are made of dense and heavy material , such as lead , tungsten or similar high atomic number materials , with a sufficient thickness to substantially absorb external x , gamma or annihilation radiation and prevent such external radiation to reach the beta radiation detectors 19 . as shown in fig4 and 5 , the detector cap 10 comprises a shallow cavity 17 and the detector base 8 comprises a complementary embossment 20 whereby the detector base 8 and cap 10 of the detector assembly 3 interlock to protect the beta radiation detectors 19 from external x , gamma or annihilation radiation . the complementary cavity 17 and embossment 20 also contribute to protect the beta radiation detectors 19 from external light . the catheter 2 could lead a small amount of light to the beta radiation detectors 19 ; it is kept negligible by the curves such as 18 and extensions 21 and 28 , for example approximately 10 mm long , of the internal linings 15 and 16 , respectively . the extensions 21 and 28 also contribute to reduce emi sensitivity . the internal linings 15 and 16 are u - shaped and made of copper or another anti - emi material to enclose the beta radiation detectors 19 and the catheter 2 . as illustrated in fig8 , the internal linings 15 and 16 form a faraday cup 26 that provides effective shielding against emi from the surrounding equipment ( s ). the internal linings 15 and 16 also provide an easy and reproducible catheter 2 “ vs ” beta radiation detectors 19 relative positioning , therefore leading to a reproducible calibration of the device . more specifically , as shown in fig6 , the legs of the u - shaped internal lining 16 of the detector cap 10 defines groove sections 22 having a size suitable to easily receive and secure the catheter 2 in place . the base of the u - shaped internal lining 16 defines a generally rectangular cavity 23 . referring now to fig7 , the internal lining 15 of the detector base 8 defines , in an embossment 25 complementary to the cavity 23 , two grooves 24 to receive and position the beta radiation detectors 19 in such a manner that they face each other with a proper spacing therebetween to insert the catheter 2 with no dead space between the catheter and the confronting faces of the detectors 19 . the cavity 23 , embossment 25 and internal linings 15 and 16 form a tight interlocking assembly forming the faraday cup 26 and that position accurately the catheter 2 between the respective active areas of the beta radiation detectors 19 as shown in fig9 . measured absolute sensitivity and sensitivity limits for a pe50 - type catheter ( pe50 tubing ) and four common radioisotopes are reported in the following table 1 . efficiency losses are minimized by the use of thin wall pe catheter and optimal geometry . more specifically , with pe50 capillary tubing , a typical sensitivity of 10 to 30 cps /( kbq / μl ) [ 0 . 4 to 1 cps /( nci / μl )] is obtained for the most popular pet radioisotopes ( 18 f , 13 n , 11 c , 64 cu ). due to its mechanical design and compact shielding , the sensitivity of the blood counting device to radioactive background is only 5 cps for a 37 mbq ( 1 mci ) 18 f source 10 cm away from the detectors 19 . the small size of the beta radiation detectors 19 and shielding enables the design of a small - dimension detector assembly 3 that can be placed on the bed , having for example a size of 8 cm × 30 cm , of a typical small subject pet scanner 27 as shown in fig1 . the main unit 5 can be coupled to the bed of the pet scanner 27 whereby the subject 1 , the catheter 2 , the detector assembly 3 , the main unit 5 and the pumping unit 7 move with the bed of the pet scanner 27 as the subject 1 is placed in the camera field of view . the blood counting method and device according to the non - restrictive illustrative embodiment can be used , in particular but not exclusively to measure a blood time - activity curve in real time as micro - volumetric amounts of blood are drawn from the subject 1 , for example a living subject 1 through the catheter 2 . the subject 1 can be a small laboratory animal , such as a mouse , a rat , a hamster , a rabbit , etc . the blood counting method and device is also suitable for use with humans . the blood counting device may be qualified as a flow - through blood counting device . the blood counting device may include , amongst others the following features and / or advantages : direct beta ( positron or electron ) detection is performed using semiconductor photodiodes ; the size of the blood counting device , and particularly of the detector assembly , is kept to a minimum contrary to prior technologies using , for example , scintillation crystals coupled to a photomultiplier tube ; due to the geometry of the blood counting device , detection efficiency is maximized and catheter placement is highly reproducible , thus absolute calibration is stable and reproducible ; as the device draws blood from a subject , it can be easily coupled to an automated sampling device to collect micro - volumes of blood as a time - activity curve is being measured so that further analysis can be performed to determine plasma and metabolites activity as a function of time and final correction can be applied to the time - activity curve ; direct detection of beta particles with a semiconductor photodiode minimizes the detector size next to the subject and reduces the sensitivity of the blood counting device to ambient gamma radiation ; when using small catheter tubing , such as pe50 ( 0 . 58 mm id , 0 . 965 mm od ), a large fraction of the beta particles emitted from the radiotracers in the blood have sufficient energy to cross the catheter wall and escape from the tube ; the radiation detectors are highly sensitive to beta particles ( electrons or positrons ) but rather insensitive to gamma radiation , annihilation radiation ( 511 kev ) or x - rays emitted from the radioactive nuclides present in the blood ; the radiation detectors are arranged in pair in a compact configuration surrounding almost completely the catheter containing blood over a sufficient length to achieve high detection efficiency for beta particles ; an electronic acquisition circuit can be provided consisting of a charge sensitive preamplifier , a shaping amplifier and a microcontroller used to set a discriminator level and register event counts in real time ; the blood pumping unit can be programmable to draw small amounts of arterial or venous blood into a small catheter ( e . g ., pe50 tubing ) at a suitable rate for measuring the time - activity curve in pharmacokinetic studies of radiotracers ; hardware and software can be provided for automatically adjusting a lower level discriminator in such a manner as to reduce the background noise count rate to a pre - selected value ; a programmable controller can be set - up to automatically control the blood pumping unit , blood counting device and the electronic hardware to display the detector count rate in real time and record data in local memory or transfer them to a computer ; dedicated software can be provided to process recorded data and display a blood time - activity curve in real time , as it is being measured , including required corrections such as radioisotope decay , absolute sensitivity calibration , detector dead time , time lag and radioactivity dispersion ; and hardware and software can be provided to incorporate the blood counting data into a list mode data stream of an imaging device such as , for example a positron emission tomography ( pet ) scanner . although the present invention has been described in the foregoing description by way of a non - restrictive illustrative embodiment , this embodiment can be modified at will within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and nature of the subject invention . | 6 |
referring now to fig1 , a ballast circuit 10 in accordance with the present invention is shown . the ballast circuit 10 has an inverter 20 which in fig1 is arranged in a half - bridge inverter topology . however , it should be understood that the invention may be embodied in other inverter circuits and may be used with any type of gas discharge lamp 16 . the invention reduces a filament heating voltage 14 below a desired maximum voltage level . a half - bridge inverter topology is illustrated because this inverter topology is commonly used to power high - impedance gas - discharge lamps 16 . lamps 16 are particularly sensitive to unbalanced filament currents and over - current pin problems caused when the filament heating voltage 14 heats the lamp filaments 12 during lamp dimming . the present invention is useful in reducing these effects . in addition , the invention may be utilized with lamps that are not high impedance gas discharge lamps 16 . inverter 20 receives a dc voltage 26 at v_rail and converts the dc voltage 26 into an ac voltage 28 that powers the lamps 16 . inverter 20 utilizes an inverter controller 30 , inverter switch devices 22 , and an inverter resonant circuit 24 that includes a resonant inductive component , 24 a , and a capacitive resonant component 24 b . inverter resonant circuit 24 may be tuned to the appropriate frequency for powering the gas discharge lamps 16 . in this particular embodiment , the inverter resonant circuit 24 is coupled between the inverter switches 22 at terminal 25 . as is known in the art , inverter switches 22 are switched at a switching frequency to generate a pulsed voltage 25 a . inverter resonant circuit 24 then filters the pulsed voltage 25 a to provide an ac voltage 28 at the appropriate frequency for powering the gas discharge lamps 16 . ballast circuit 10 may be operable to pre - heat the lamp filaments 12 prior to filament ignition and / or to dim the lamps 16 in accordance with a desired dimming level . in either case , the lamp filaments 12 are heated by a filament heating voltage 14 . however , the filament heating voltage 14 may reach excessively high levels when heating the filaments 12 . this may damage the lamps 16 and cause unbalanced filament currents and overcurrent pin problems when the lamps 16 are being dimmed . the invention reduces a voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 below a desired maximum voltage level during the pre - heat period and / or during dimming to reduce these problems . in this embodiment , the lamp filaments 12 are connected in series . a filament heating component 40 is coupled to the inverter resonant inductive component 24 a to receive a filament heating voltage 14 from the inverter 20 . the filament heating component 40 may be a primary transformer winding 50 in filament heating transformer 36 . primary transformer winding 50 is connected to lamp filament 12 a and provides the filament heating voltage 14 to this lamp filament , 12 a . primary transformer winding 50 may also be magnetically coupled to secondary windings 60 which receive filament heating voltage 14 to heat the lamp filaments 12 b , 12 c . during a pre - heat period , the inverter controller 30 may operate in accordance with a pre - heat sequence to pre - heat the lamp filaments 12 . because the filament heating voltage 14 in this embodiment is received from the inverter resonant circuit 24 , the filament heating voltage 14 is associated with the ac voltage 28 . consequently , the switching frequency of the inverter switch devices 22 also determines the signal frequency of the filament heating voltage 14 . referring now to fig1 and 2 , primary resonant winding 50 of filament heating transformer 36 may also be part of a filament resonant tank 52 . inverter controller 30 operates the filament heating voltage 14 within a pre - heat frequency range 48 during the pre - heat period . pre - heat frequency range 48 is normally much higher than the frequency of operation during steady state . the frequency response bandwidth 52 a of the filament resonant tank 52 passes the filament heating voltage 14 operating at the pre - heat frequency range 64 b . however , the filament heating voltage 14 is blocked at frequencies near the inverter resonant frequency 24 c of the inverter resonant circuit 24 . in this manner , the filament heating voltage 14 is coupled to the lamp filaments 12 during the pre - heat period but blocked during full - lamp operation . this helps balance the filament currents and reduce overcurrent pin problems during full lamp operation after the pre - heat period . ballast circuit 10 may be a dimmable ballast and thus be operable to operate the lamps 16 at one or more dimming levels . inverter controller 30 may receive a dimming control signal 54 indicating a desired dimming level for the lamps 16 and adjust the switching frequency of the inverter switch devices 22 in accordance with this desired dimming level . typically , the switching frequency during lamp dimming is significantly higher than during full - lamp operation . at low dimming levels , the lamp current may be relatively low and thus may require that the lamp filaments 12 be heated to maintain the lamp filaments 12 at the appropriate temperature . the frequency response bandwidth 52 a of the filament resonant tank 52 may also be tuned to receive the filament heating voltage 14 at some or all of these dimming frequencies . one of the problems with the resonant devices 24 , 52 of the ballast circuit 10 is that the electrical component values have a high level of variability . given the high q of resonant devices 24 , 52 , this may lead to excessively high filament heating voltages 14 during the pre - heat period and / or during lamp dimming . accordingly , a control loop 38 is utilized to reduce the filament heating voltage 14 below a desired maximum voltage level . other embodiments of the control loop 38 may be utilized to reduce the filament heating voltage 14 during other lamp conditions , as the invention may be utilized any time the filament heating voltage 14 needs to be maintained below a desired maximum voltage level . in this embodiment , control loop 38 is connected to a feedback terminal 32 in inverter controller 30 and receives a feedback control signal 62 associated with a voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 from the filament heating component 40 . filament heating component 40 may be any component that receives the filament heating voltage 14 or a signal associated with the filament heating voltage 14 . in this case , feedback control signal 62 is the filament heating voltage 14 itself . a single lamp application of ballast circuit 10 may receive the filament heating voltage 14 on a winding magnetically coupled to the inverter inductive component 24 a . in other embodiments , filament control signal 62 may not be the filament heating voltage 14 itself and may be indirectly related to the voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 . in this embodiment , the feedback control signal 62 may be the same as the filament heating voltage 14 received on secondary winding 60 coupled to lamp filament 12 d . it should also be understood however that filament heating voltage 14 may be at a different voltage levels at each individual lamp filament , 12 a , 12 b , 12 c , 12 d . thus , the voltage level at filament resonant winding 50 may be different than the voltage level at secondary winding 60 coupled to the lamp filament 12 d . any of these voltage levels may be used to operate the control loop 38 . also , the value of the desired maximum voltage level may be dependent upon where the voltage level of the filament heating voltage 24 is being measured . while these voltage levels may be different , all of them change in accordance with a change in the amount of power transmitted by the filament heating voltage 14 . feedback control signal 62 is associated with the filament heating voltage 14 because its signal level also changes in accordance with changes in the amount of power transmitted by the filament heating voltage 14 . as inverter controller 30 changes the switching frequency of the inverter switch devices 22 , a voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 also changes . response curve 64 a of filament resonant tank 52 may be shaped such that as the signal frequency 42 of the filament heating voltage 14 is moved away from a center frequency 52 c of the response curve 64 a , the voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 is lowered . center frequency 52 c is generally the resonant frequency of the filament resonant tank 52 and may be the associated with a pre - heat frequency for powering the lamps 16 . this response curve , 64 a , may be shaped so that the filament heating voltage 14 has desired voltage levels at different stages of the pre - heat period and / or at designated dimming levels . in addition , response curve 64 a is also shaped so that filament heating voltage 14 is received within the pre - heat and / or dimming frequency signal ranges 64 b of filament heating voltage 14 but is blocked at the frequency 63 of the filament heating voltage 14 during full - lamp operation . control loop 38 may have a high pass filter 64 with a response curve 54 a that has a corner frequency 66 at or near the edge of pre - heat and / or dimming frequency signal ranges 64 b . in this case , feedback control signal 62 is ac . as the signal frequency 42 of the filament heating voltage 14 is lowered as the voltage level of the feedback control signal 62 is also lowered . once the feedback control signal 62 is outside the pre - heat and / or dimming frequency signal ranges 64 b , feedback control signal 62 is filtered out by high pass filter 64 and control loop 38 does not operate during full lamp operation . referring again to fig1 , during the pre - heat period and / or lamp dimming , control loop 38 is operable to generate an overvoltage control signal 34 if the filament heating voltage 14 is above a desired maximum voltage level . inverter controller 30 responds to reduce the overvoltage control signal 34 by adjusting the switching frequency of inverter switch device 22 . in this embodiment , this adjusts the signal frequency 42 of the filament heating voltage 14 and thus places the signal frequency 42 at a different position on the response curve 64 a of the filament resonant tank 52 . in turn , this lowers the voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 . the inverter controller 30 may continue to adjust the switching frequency until the overvoltage control signal 34 has been eliminated . overvoltage control signal 34 may therefore be generated when the voltage level of the filament heating signal 14 is at or above a desired maximum voltage level . as mentioned above , the voltage level of the filament heating voltage 24 in this control loop 38 is the voltage across secondary winding 60 associated with heating lamp filament , 12 d . after feedback control signal 62 is filtered by high pass filter 64 , the feedback control signal 62 may be received by a converter 68 . converter 68 converts feedback control signal 62 from ac into a pulsed dc control signal 70 . in this embodiment , the converter 68 is a half - wave rectifier 68 a coupled to a capacitor c 2 . only one half - cycle of the feedback control signal 62 is transmitted through the half - wave rectifier 68 a . these half - cycles are then smoothed out by capacitor c 2 to form the pulsed dc control signal 70 . pulsed dc control signal 70 may provide a voltage across the voltage regulator 44 in the control loop 38 . so long as the voltage level of the pulsed dc control signal 70 is below an activation voltage level of the voltage regulator 44 , the voltage regulator 44 does not transmit and no overvoltage regulation signal 34 is generated . however , once the voltage level of the pulses of the pulsed dc control signal 70 are at or above the activation voltage level , an overvoltage control signal 34 is generated . thus , the activation voltage level of the voltage regulator 44 should be selected based on the desired maximum voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 . in this embodiment , the voltage regulator 44 is a reverse biased zener diode and the breakdown voltage of the zener diode corresponds with the desired maximum voltage level of the filament heating voltage 14 . inverter controller 30 may be any type of control circuit utilized to control the switching frequency of an inverter switch device . in this embodiment , inverter controller 30 is an ic control chip , specifically the uba2014 driver chip . the circuit can take advantage of the characteristics of the chip to generate the overvoltage control signal 44 from the pulsed dc control signal 70 . to do this , a bootstrapped component r 1 is coupled to the feedback terminal 32 of the inverter controller 30 . bootstrapped component r 1 converts the output of the voltage regulator 44 into a smooth dc signal . a bootstrapped component r 1 is simply a component in which both the input and output of the component are driven substantially in unison . of course , practical limitations prevent the inputs and outputs of a bootstrapped component r 1 to be driven in perfect unison . however , bootstrapping techniques are known for approximating this effect . in this example , the bootstrapped component r 1 is a resistor coupled to a second resistor r 2 which is also connected to ground . when the voltage regulator 44 is activated , current is fed to resistor r 2 . because resistor r 1 is coupled to the chip , this raises the voltage on both sides of bootstrapped component r 1 . overvoltage control signal 34 is thus generated as a smooth dc signal . as the filament heating voltage 14 is lowered by the inverter controller 30 , the overvoltage control signal 34 is also lowered in a smooth fashion until the overvoltage control signal 34 is eliminated and the filament heating voltage 14 is below the desired maximum voltage level . thus , although there have been described particular embodiments of the present invention of a new and useful ballast circuit for a gas discharge lamp with a control loop to reduce a filament heating voltage below a maximum heating level it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims . | 7 |
the instant invention provides methods for selectively removing and recovering oleuropein aglycon from ovw . in one embodiment , the method involves the following steps : obtaining raw ovw comprising oleuropein , oleuropein aglycon , and conversion enzymes ; adding pomace oil to the raw ovw to concentrate oleuropein aglycon in a collection of floating solids ; adding citric acid and heat to form precipitated solids ; adding treated water to raw ovw to form additional precipitated solids and to increase oleuropein aglycon concentration ; adding a solvent mixture ( e . g ., hexane and acetone ) to extract the oleuropeins and further concentrate oleuropein aglycon ; and adding treated water during a final evaporation stage to facilitate oil separation , solvent removal , and further increase the total level of oleuropeins extracted . the resulting ovw can be used for direct irrigation , or further treatment by conventional waste water processes . for purposes of the present invention , the term “ raw ovw ” refers to an aqueous mixture containing a mixture of oleuropein , oleuropein aglycon , and any of the naturally occurring enzymes capable of hydrolyzing oleuropein to oleuropein aglycon ( i . e ., conversion enzymes ). in preferred embodiments , the raw ovw will be the product derived from a water wash of olive vegetation matter as in the manufacture of olive oil . in such embodiments , raw ovw will comprise the water from a washing step as well as endogenous water removed from the olive vegetation matter . the term “ treated water ” refers to raw ovw that has been processed to remove at least a portion of oleuropeins and oleuropein aglycon . preferably , treated water will retain a substantial quantity of conversion enzymes . the term “ floating solids ” refers to an oleuropein aglycon - rich collection of water - immiscible constituents that are less dense than water and tend to form or migrate to the surface of the ovw . the floating solids are often manifested as a foam on the surface of the ovw . the term “ precipitated solids ” refers to water - immiscible constituents that are at least as dense as water . the precipitated solids will commonly comprise oleuropein and various sugars . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , those constituents are removed by filtration or centrifugation . the initial step to recover the polyphenolics , oleuropein aglycon and it &# 39 ; s related compounds is to break the complex emulsion of the water . the initial step is to hold the olive vegetation water for 48 hours upon immediate production as a by - product of the olive oil or to by pass this holding phase and heat the water to 40 ° c . for 30 minutes in a vertical cylindrical steel vessel , preferably by steam . during this heating step the oleuropein is hydrolyzed to the aglycon ( oa ) by natural enzymes present in the olive vegetation water . the oa rises to the surface as a constituent of a water immiscible foam that can be continually removed by surface skimming or other conventional methods . the quantity of oleuropein aglycon can be increased in the floating foam by adding citric acid , olive pomace oil , and heat . preferably , about 0 . 01 % to about 1 . 0 % citric acid is added ; and more preferably , about 0 . 1 % citric acid . unless stated otherwise , all percentages are by weight . the olive pomace oil is preferably added in a quantity of about 2 % about 20 % of the raw ovw ; and more preferably to a volume equal to about 10 % of the volume of raw ovw . heat can also be exploited to increase the quantity of oa in the foam . in preferred embodiments , the temperature is increased to about 100 ° c . for about one hour . lower temperatures can be used for correspondingly longer periods to achieve substantially the same effect . during this heating step , additional solids precipitate and are suspended in the aqueous layer . the precipitated , or suspended , solids are high in oleuropeins , sugars , and other components . although not wishing to be bound by any theory , we believe that the higher level of oleuropeins gained from the addition of the olive pomace oil is due to the drying of the foam as it passes through the hot oil and because the oleuropein aglycon is more oil soluble than the other forms . the floating solids on the top layer of the foam are removed by filtration or skimming , and the precipitated solids in the aqueous bottom layer can be removed by filtration or centrifugation . in a preferred embodiment approximately half of the resulting water is added to a second batch of raw olive vegetation water , and the extraction / treatment described above is repeated . the final water from this second process is cleaner and more environmentally benign , and can be discharged as irrigation water or it can be disposed of by conventional water treatment methods . during this second treatment process , a higher percentage of solids can be recovered thereby increasing the yield since a greater percentage of conversion enzymes accumulate . this process of keeping half of the volume of treated water and adding the other half of the volume from fresh olive vegetation water can be repeated as necessary or until all of the water produced is treated . the recovered solids can be dried , e . g ., by heat or vacuum . in the second phase , the floating solids from the first phase are extracted by a mixture of solvents . preferably , the collected floating solids are first dried before the extraction step is performed . drying can take palce by air drying , under vacuum , with heat , or combinations thereof . suitable solvents are non - polar organic solvents or mixtures of solvents . non - polar organic solvents refers to organic solvents that are substantially immiscible with water , or those that are miscible with other organic solvents that are substantially immiscible with water . exemplary solvents are alkanes ( whether straight chain , branched , or cyclic ), ethers , petroleum ethers , aromatic solvents and substituted aromatic solvents ( e . g ., benzene , toluene , xylene ), polyols , and the like . preferred solvents include pentane , hexane , heptane , acetone , ethyl acetate , diethyl ether , dimethyl furan , and mixtures thereof . it is further preferred that the solvent or solvent mixture has a boiling point lower than that of water ( i . e ., & lt ; 100 ° c .). especially preferred solvents include a mixture of hexane and acetone . preferably , the hexane / acetone mixture is from about 40 / 60 (% by volume ) to about 60 / 40 ; and more preferably about 50 / 50 . in preferred embodiments , there are two additional steps in the extraction process . first , the non - polar solvent or solvent mixture is contacted with the recovered solids . the vertical cylindrical steel vessel , used as the heating equipment in the first step , can be used in this step . in a preferred embodiment , the solvent is pumped into a tank , pumped out of the bottom , and then re - circulated through the top until the desired concentration of oleuropein to oleuropein aglycon is obtained . preferably , the volume of solvent used is about one to three liters of solvent per kilogram solids , and more preferably , about two to one ( l / kg ). in a second step , the solvent is removed . solvent removal can be performed under vacuum , heat , or a combination thereof . preferably , solvent removal is performed by transferring the oleuropein aglycon product of the above extraction step to a second vessel . the second vessel is preferably a stainless evaporation / vacuum vessel , but can be any vessel suitable for removing solvent from a mixture or solution . generally , the solvent vapors coming off the mixture are routed through a loop and are cooled by water or an air cooler such that the condensed vapors are collected in a storage or collection vessel remotely from the oleuropein aglycon - rich mixture . this step of solvent removal is continued until the volume in the evaporation vessel is about one tenth the original volume . at this time , previously treated water is added to the vessel as necessary to precipitate oil and facilitate the total removal of solvent . the vessel is reheated to boiling with the solvent traveling through the same condenser loop to the solvent storage until the vapor temperature exceeds the boiling point of the solvent . the condensate is then directed back to the holding tank for the raw treatment of water until the consistency of the residue in the evaporation tank is a slurry or a pumpable mud . the slurry residue , which does not contain any solvent , is then pumped into pans for drying by the same means as in the first stage . the resulting product is about 40 % oleuropein aglycon as determined by hplc . remaining solids are natural olive solids . the other remaining end products also have potential uses . for example , the solid residue from the extraction step is high in sugar and is a suitable supplement for animal feed or alcohol fermentation . ( see fig . ii : olive water treatment - phase ii ; and fig . iii : phase ii ) | 0 |
fig1 shows a fixture 10 and a flat cam assembly 12 of a processing machine broadly denoted by the numeral 14 . for ease of understanding , only a single fixture 10 has been illustrated and will be described herein , although as well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art , a commercial version of the machine incorporating the principles of the present invention would have a series of the fixtures 10 moving in a closed loop of travel around an upright axis . similarly , although the cam assembly 12 of the machine 14 has been illustrated in a flat condition , such is for illustrative purposes only , and a commercial version of the machine would have the cam assembly arranged in a closed loop adjacent that of the fixtures . the fixture 10 is desirably similar to the fixture disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 569 , 072 issued oct . 29 , 1996 and titled &# 34 ; poultry processing mechanism having carcass stabilizer .&# 34 ; accordingly , the &# 39 ; 072 patent is hereby incorporated by reference into the present specification . fixture 10 includes a pair of upright , parallel rods 16 and 18 that extend between and are fixed to upper and lower members 20 and 22 respectively . members 20 , 22 are fixed to rotating parts of the machine so that the fixture 10 rotates as well about the central axis of the machine . fixture 10 also includes a carcass holder 24 that is vertically shiftable along the rods 16 , 18 as determined by a follower 26 projecting from the rear of the holder 24 and riding within a cam track 28 of the cam assembly 12 . holder 24 includes a block 30 preferably constructed of a synthetic material commonly referred to as &# 34 ; pet - p &# 34 ;, as well as a metal backstop 32 that projects outwardly and downwardly at an angle from the block 30 . the backstop 32 is so disposed that the backbone of the carcass lies flatly up against the backstop 32 during processing operations to thereby stabilize the carcass and properly locate critical portions thereof for the application of processing operations . the holder 24 also includes a shoulder yoke 34 projecting outwardly and upwardly from the backstop 32 generally adjacent the lower end thereof . the yoke 34 is disposed to receive the neck of the carcass as illustrated in fig7 - 14 and to bear up against the shoulders of the carcass on opposite sides of the neck . the yoke 34 includes a pair of laterally spaced apart , left and right cradles 36 and 38 respectively for receiving corresponding shoulders of the carcass , each cradle 36 , 38 having an outwardly and upwardly curved rod 40 whose arcuate lower surface serves as part of cam structure for operating the neck skin stretcher of the present invention as hereinafter described in more detail . as illustrated particularly in fig1 , the two rods 40 of the left and right cradles 36 , 38 diverge outwardly and upwardly away from the backstop 32 so as to facilitate entry and exit of the neck of the carcass during loading and unloading of the carcass on the fixture 10 . the block 30 of the holder 24 carries a pair of hip stabilizer arms 42 and 44 that pivot laterally about respective fore - and - aft pivots 46 and 48 . the stabilizer arms 42 and 44 are designed to coact with a stationary , transverse cam bar 50 fixed to the upright guide rods 16 , 18 below the block 30 so that , as the block 30 rises and falls on the rods 16 , 18 , the stabilizer arms 42 , 44 swing in and out about the pivots 46 , 48 to the extent determined by the interaction of the lower ends of the stabilizer arms and the cam bar 50 . as illustrated in fig7 - 14 , the upper ends of the stabilizer arms 42 , 44 undergird the hips of the carcass and clamp against opposite sides of the trunk of the carcass during the processing operation . fixture 10 further includes a slide block 52 carried on the guide rods 16 , 18 below the carcass holder 24 . the vertical disposition of the slide block 52 along the guide rods 16 , 18 is determined by a follower 54 projecting from the back of the slide block 52 and received within a cam track 56 . the slide block 52 pivotally supports a generally j - shaped carrier arm 58 via a pivot bolt 60 at the lower front corner of the slide block 52 , the carrier arm 58 being supported intermediate its two opposite ends by the pivot 60 . at its inner or lower end , the carrier arm 58 has a follower 62 which is received within another track 64 of the cam assembly 12 . the carrier arm 58 is thus caused to swing up and down about the pivot 60 to the extent determined by the follower 62 within the track 64 . the outer , upper end of the carrier arm 58 has a specially configured head 66 ( fig5 ) that supports both a knife 68 and a neck skin stretcher or stretching device 70 . the head 66 is rigidly affixed to the carrier arm 58 . the head 66 has a pair of opposite flat faces 72 and 74 which are spaced equally from an imaginary center line 76 ( fig4 ) passing through the head 66 in the same vertical plane as the central longitudinal axis of the carcass when mounted on the fixture 10 . the face 72 ( fig5 ) terminates inwardly at a diagonal edge 78 . at that location a recessed floor 80 extends in parallelism with the face 72 to the opposite extremity of the head 66 . as illustrated in fig4 the recessed floor 80 is slightly laterally offset from the center line 76 . a diagonally extending abutment shoulder 82 extends outwardly from the floor 80 at right angles thereto and intersects with the edge 78 . the opposite side of the head 66 also has a recessed floor 84 ( fig6 ), but the floor 84 is joined with its corresponding flat face 74 by an arcuately concave fillet 86 which leads outwardly to a convexly curved inner edge 88 of the face 74 . as shown in fig5 the knife 68 is fixed to the floor 80 on one side of the head 66 by a screw 90 . as illustrated in fig6 the screw 90 may be threaded into any selected one of three internally threaded receiving holes 92 , 94 and 96 so as to permit adjustment of the extent to which the knife 68 projects beyond the head 66 . the knife 68 comprises a flat blade which is generally trapezoidal when viewed in plan . one face of the knife blade 68 lies flatly up against the recessed floor 80 , while the flat top edge 98 of the knife blade butts up against the abutment shoulder 82 to prevent rotation of the knife about the fastening screw 90 . the knife has a pair of identical , downturned slitting hooks 100 and 102 at its two outer corners which , because of their identity , permit the knife 68 to be detached from the head 66 when one hook becomes dull and turned over to expose the other , sharpened hook for use . each hook 100 , 102 has a sharp point 104 and a concave cutting edge 106 leading away from the point 104 on the underside of the hook . it has been found that the knife 68 may take the form of a standard , commercially available , hook - style utility blade such as wiss no . rwk - 13v available from cooper tools of apex , n . c . however , the wiss blade is not a stainless steel blade , and it is believed that better performance can be obtained with a blade fabricated from stainless steel . therefore , to maintain a cutting edge for a longer duration and to promote sanitation , it may be necessary to fabricate the knife 68 from stainless steel . the stretcher 70 is pivotally mounted on the head 66 so that while it is presented to the carcass along with the knife 68 by the carrier arm 58 , it can also move relative to the knife 68 in a neck skin stretching motion . in this respect , the stretcher 70 comprises a pair of somewhat elliptical - shaped half segments 108 and 110 ( fig3 - 6 ), preferably constructed of nylon material , which are disposed on opposite sides of the head 66 . the inner surfaces of the segments 108 , 110 bear against and slide along the respective opposite faces 72 and 74 of the head 66 , and the segments 108 , 110 are pivotally mounted on the head 66 by a transverse pivot bolt 112 . pivot bolt 112 also clamps the two segments 108 , 110 together , augmented by a rear clamping bolt 114 extending between and passing through the segments 108 , 110 at a position rearwardly of the pivot axis defined by bolt 112 . a spacer 116 surrounds the clamp bolt 114 between the rear ends of segments 108 , 110 to maintain the appropriate spacing between the segments at that location . a helical tension spring 118 is hooked at its upper end to the spacer 116 and at its lower end to an anchor pin 120 rigidly affixed to and projecting outwardly from the carrier arm 58 . consequently , the spring 118 yieldably biases the stretcher 70 toward its non - operated , standby position illustrated in solid lines in fig5 and 6 . rotation of the stretcher 70 about the pivot 112 in a clockwise direction viewing fig5 is limited by engagement of the spacer 116 with a projecting abutment 121 on the head 66 . as illustrated in phantom lines in fig5 the stretcher 70 may be rotated in a counterclockwise direction to an operated position . when the stretcher 70 is in its standby position , the hook 100 of the knife 68 is protectively covered by the segments 108 and 110 , but when the stretcher 70 is in its operated position , and for some degree of travel prior to reaching such fully operated position , the hook 100 is exposed . the stretcher 70 is provided with a tapered receiving notch 122 at the working end thereof , which working end for convenience will hereinafter be referred to as the &# 34 ; nose 124 &# 34 ; ( fig5 ) of the stretcher . the notch 122 in the nose 124 is formed by opposed , mutually converging bevels 126 and 128 on the inner surfaces of the segments 108 , 110 in the area of the nose 124 . the bevels 126 and 128 are roughened such as by a series of transverse , shallow grooves 130 to promote frictional gripping of the neck skin of the carcass during operation . the segments 108 and 110 have upper external edge surfaces 108a and 110a ( fig3 - 6 ) in the area of the &# 34 ; nose &# 34 ; 124 and rearwardly therefrom along the top extremity of the stretcher 70 that serve as cam surfaces or cam structure during the skin stretching action of the stretcher 70 . in this respect , the segments 108 and 110 are aligned laterally with the rods 40 of the shoulder cradles 36 and 38 so that , as the carrier arm 58 swings into operation , the nose 124 and edge surfaces 108a , 110a come into operating contact with the rods 40 . consequently , the rods 40 cam the stretcher 70 through a stretching stroke or motion in response to swinging of the carrier arm 58 upwardly through an operating cycle . fig7 through 14 illustrate the use and operation of the present invention . in those figures , a poultry carcass 132 is shown suspended by its legs from a shackle 134 forming part of an overhead conveying line that moves the carcasses in spaced succession through the processing plant . the conveying line and the processing machine 14 are disposed such that the paths of travel of the carcasses 132 and the fixtures 10 intersect one another at the machine 14 . as the fixtures 10 of the machine 14 move in their closed loop of travel , each fixture becomes matched up with one of the carcasses on the conveying line until the slitting operation is completed , at which time the conveying line and the carcasses diverge from the machine 14 and move on to the next processing station . it will be understood that while only a single processing function has been illustrated as taking place on the machine 14 , in the commercial version one or more additional processing operations might be simultaneously performed on each carcass once it has been securely located and stabilized on a fixture . for example , in addition to the neck slitting operation occurring at the head end of the carcass pursuant to the present invention , a body cavity opening operation might be occurring at the posterior end of the carcass in accordance , for example , with the principles disclosed and claimed in concurrently filed , copending application ser . no . 08 / 792 , 928 titled &# 34 ; method and apparatus for making a contoured opening cut in a poultry carcass &# 34 ; and assigned to the assignee of the present invention . in fig7 the carcass 132 is shown as it is being received within the holder 24 . the condition of the fixture 10 corresponds to that shown in fig1 and 2 where the fixture 10 is at position a in its path of travel along the cam assembly 12 . the knife 68 and the stretcher 70 are swung away from the holder 24 in a standby condition at this time . the stretcher 70 is maintained by the spring 118 in its standby position bearing against the stop 121 . as the fixture 10 moves from position a to position b in fig1 the upper cam track 28 rises , while the two lower cam tracks 56 and 64 remain level . thus , as shown in fig8 while the knife 68 and stretcher 70 remain in their standby position , the holder 24 progressively rises on the guide rods 16 , 18 . this causes the shoulder yoke 34 to come up against the shoulders of the carcass and to slightly lift the carcass as the neck of the carcass projects down through the gap between the two opposite cradles 36 , 38 of the yoke 34 . simultaneously , the hip stabilizer arms 42 and 44 are cammed inwardly to firmly embrace the trunk of the carcass and to bear snugly up against the hips of the carcass immediately below the legs . this action thus has the effect of firmly locating , holding and stabilizing the carcass for the neck slitting operation . as the fixture 10 moves from position b to position c in fig1 the upper cam track 28 remains flat , while the two lower cam tracks 56 and 64 climb upwardly , the angle of ascent of the track 56 being slightly steeper than that of the track 64 . thus , as illustrated in fig9 the carcass remains stabilized while the knife 68 and stretcher 70 swing toward the carcass as a result of the carrier arm 58 starting its operating stroke . as the fixture 10 moves from position c to position d in fig1 the upper track 28 remains flat , while the two lower tracks 56 and 64 continue their respective climbs . thus , the carrier arm 58 continues to swing upwardly and to shift its pivot point 60 further up toward the carcass , all of which causes the knife 68 and stretcher 70 to approach the neck of the carcass as illustrated in fig1 . as the fixture 10 moves from position d to position e in fig1 the two upper tracks 28 and 56 remain flat , while the lower track 64 descends . thus , the pivot point 60 of the carrier arm 58 stays at the same height as in fig1 , but the descending lower track 64 causes the arm 58 to swing abruptly inwardly at its upper end , thus causing the stretcher 70 to come into contacting engagement with the neck 136 of the carcass in fig1 and 11a . as shown in fig4 the neck 136 lies in a concave centering channel 138 of the backstop 32 which projects downwardly at an angle from the holder block 30 . since the center line 76 of the stretcher 70 is in the same plane as the central longitudinal axis of the centering channel 138 , when the neck 136 is properly centered within the channel 138 , it is also properly centered with respect to the stretcher 70 . consequently , as the nose 124 of the stretcher 70 approaches the neck 136 in fig1 and fig1 a , the two segments 108 and 110 of stretcher 70 straddle the neck and guide the neck into the notch 122 . once within the notch 122 , the neck comes into contact with the beveled surfaces 126 and 128 of the notch so that the stretcher 70 can then be effective in pulling the neck skin downwardly into a taut condition as the process continues . it is important to note at this stage that as the carrier arm 58 swings from its fig1 position to its fig1 position , the nose 124 comes into operating engagement with the two upwardly curved rods 40 of the shoulder cradles 36 , 38 . consequently , continued counterclockwise swinging of the carrier arm 58 results in the stretcher 70 being rocked about the pivot bolt 112 in a counterclockwise direction viewing fig1 , 11 and 11a as the upper edges 108a and 110a contact and slide along the rods 40 . this action has two consequences . first , it causes the notched nose of the stretcher 70 to engage the neck skin to center the neck in the channel 138 and pull the loose skin downwardly along the underlying tissues of the neck . this causes the neck skin to become relatively taut and straightens out and lengthens any skin that may be bunched up near the shoulders . second , this action retracts the upper extremity of the stretcher down below the hook 100 of the knife 68 , thus exposing the knife 68 for contact with the neck skin . this condition is illustrated in an enlarged view in fig1 a , where the hook 100 is just ready to engage and penetrate the neck skin immediately below the shoulders . as the fixture 10 travels from position e to position f in fig1 the two upper tracks 28 and 56 remain flat , while the lower track 64 continues its descent . thus , as illustrated in fig1 and 12a , the stretcher 70 continues to be cammed counterclockwise to stretch and wipe along the neck skin , while the knife hook 100 punctures the skin at the base of the neck and enters a short distance into the neck cavity . as will be noted in fig4 however , because the knife hook 100 is offset slightly to the left of the center of the neck , the hook 100 misses the tracheae and the esophagus , which are typically located to the right side of the neck center . as the fixture 10 then travels from position f to position g in fig1 the upper track 28 stays flat while the two lower tracks 56 and 64 descend at substantially the same rate . this causes the carrier arm 58 to pull essentially straight down on the knife 68 in a direction parallel to the backstop 32 such that , as illustrated in fig1 , the knife hook 100 cuts a longitudinal slit 140 in the neck skin . although the nose 124 of the stretcher 70 moves down off the neck during the slitting stroke , it remains in engagement with the backstop 32 so as to stay rotated sufficiently that the knife hook 100 remains exposed . as the fixture 10 moves on past position g in fig1 the upper track 28 descends , the middle track 56 continues its descent at the same rate as before , and the lower track 64 starts a gradual ascent . this has the effect of swinging the carrier arm 58 in a clockwise direction out away from the carcass , withdrawing the knife hook 100 from the neck skin and allowing the tension spring 118 to flip the stretcher 70 back to its standby position covering the knife 68 . also , the holder 24 moves down away from and releases the carcass so that the conveyor line may then depart from the machine 14 and transport the carcass to the next processing station . consequently , the finished product appears as shown in fig1 . | 0 |
in the following detailed description , reference is made to various specific embodiments of the invention . these embodiments are described with sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention . it is to be understood that other embodiments may be employed , and that various structural , logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention . the term “ substrate ” used in the following description may include any supporting structure including , but not limited to , a semiconductor substrate that has an exposed substrate surface . a semiconductor substrate should be understood to include silicon - on - insulator ( soi ), silicon - on - sapphire ( sos ), doped and undoped semiconductors , epitaxial layers of silicon supported by a base semiconductor foundation , and other semiconductor structures . when reference is made to a semiconductor substrate or wafer in the following description , previous process steps may have been utilized to form regions or junctions in or over the base semiconductor or foundation . the substrate need not be semiconductor - based , but may be any support structure suitable for supporting an integrated circuit . the term “ resistance variable material ” is intended to include chalcogenide glasses , and chalcogenide glasses comprising a metal , such as silver . for instance the term “ resistance variable material ” includes silver doped chalcogenide glasses , silver - germanium - selenide glasses , and chalcogenide glass comprising a silver selenide layer . the term “ resistance variable memory element ” is intended to include any memory element , including programmable conductor memory elements , semi - volatile memory elements , and non - volatile memory elements which exhibit a resistance change in response to an applied voltage . the term “ chalcogenide glass ” is intended to include glasses that comprise an element from group via ( or group 16 ) of the periodic table . group via elements , also referred to as chalcogens , include sulfur ( s ), selenium ( se ), tellurium ( te ), polonium ( po ), and oxygen ( o ). the invention is now explained with reference to the figures , which illustrate exemplary embodiments and where like reference numbers indicate like features . fig1 shows array and peripheral circuitry portions of a resistance variable memory element 100 constructed in accordance with the invention . it should be understood that the portions shown are illustrative of one embodiment of the invention , and that the invention encompasses other devices that can be formed using different materials and processes than those described herein . the memory element 100 has copper bond pads 92 in the periphery which are covered with nickel plating 82 . the pads 92 , as discussed below , are constructed such that the memory cell material 69 in the array was not exposed to copper during fabrication of the device 100 . further , and as described in more detail below , the copper bond pad 92 was not exposed to an oxygen ambient during device 100 fabrication , which could have oxidized the copper and degraded the quality of the bond pad 92 . for exemplary purposes only , memory element 100 is shown with an example of the circuitry 50 that the copper bond pads 92 may be used in connection with . in the array and periphery portions of a substrate 200 , transistors 40 are formed having source / drain active regions 101 in the substrate 200 . a first insulating layer 32 , e . g ., a boro - phospho - silicate glass ( bpsg ) layer , is formed over the transistor gatestacks . conductive plugs 41 , which may be formed of polysilicon , are formed in the first insulating layer 32 connecting to the source drain regions 101 in the substrate 200 . a second insulating layer 34 is formed over the first insulating layer 32 , and may again comprise a bpsg layer . conductive plugs 49 are formed in the second insulating layer 34 and are electrically connected to the conductive plugs 41 in the first insulating layer 32 which connects through some of plugs 41 to selected transistors 40 . a conductive bit line 55 is formed between the conductive plugs 49 in the second insulating layer 34 . the bit line illustrated has layers x , y , z formed of tungsten nitride , tungsten , and silicon nitride , respectively . a third insulating layer 36 is formed over the second insulating layer 34 , and again openings in the insulating layer are formed and filled with a conductive material to form conductive plugs 60 . next , metallization layers having conductive traces and / or contacts 91 are formed over the third insulating layer 36 and are insulated with an interlevel dielectric ( ild ) layer 38 . referring now to fig2 - 7 , an exemplary method of forming the bond pads 92 for memory element 100 in accordance with the invention is now described . it should be understood that the description of materials and fabrication steps just described for circuitry 50 were illustrative only , and that other types of integrated circuitry is within the scope of the invention . thus , for purposes of the remaining fabrication steps , the layers of the circuitry 50 are not depicted in the fabrication steps described with reference to fig2 - 7 . turning to fig2 , an inter level dielectric ( ild ) layer 40 is formed . in this layer 40 in the periphery , a dual damascene pattern is formed and filled with copper to create a copper connection 61 and a copper bond pad 92 . in both the array and the periphery , an oxide layer 56 and a nitride layer 57 are then deposited over the ild layer 40 . vias 62 are formed through layers 56 , 57 and the ild layer 40 and filled with a conductive material to connect with conductive areas of the circuitry 50 below ( such as contacts 91 of fig1 ). the vias 62 are filled with a conductive material , such as tungsten , and the vias 62 are either dry etched or chemical mechanical polished ( cmp ) to planarize the top of the vias 62 even with the nitride layer 57 . thus , at this stage , tungsten is exposed at the top of the vias 62 and the copper bond pad is covered with oxide layer 56 and nitride layer 57 . next , referring to fig3 , an oxide layer 63 is formed over the tops of the vias 62 and the nitride layer 57 . the oxide layer 63 is preferably thin , approximately 100 to about 500 angstroms thick over both the array and the periphery . a layer of photoresist 64 is formed over the oxide layer 63 . as shown in fig3 , a bond pad pattern is formed over pad 92 by patterning and developing the photoresist 64 , and as shown in fig4 , the opening is used to etch oxide layer 63 , nitride layer 57 , and oxide layer 56 down to the bond pad 92 . after etching , the photoresist 64 is stripped from the wafer . at this stage in fabrication , in the area of the periphery where the bond pad is patterned , the exposed copper 92 will oxidize slightly , however , so long as the this step is not prolonged , the oxidation will enable the next formation step . as shown in fig5 , nickel is plated selectively onto the copper bond pad 92 , forming a nickel cap 82 . the nickel plating may be accomplished by an electroless nickel bath . for example , without limiting the plating chemistry that may be utilized for this invention , the copper bond pad 92 is exposed to a plating nickel bath having a ph value of approximately 8 . the nickel bath may comprise a nickel salt and a reducing agent as well as a stabilizing agent . the temperature of the bath may be approximately 80 degrees celsius or less , depending on the rate of deposition desired . a lower temperature improves the uniformity of deposition while a higher temperature increases the plating rate . the nickel cap may be approximately 4000 angstroms thick . post - plating , the remaining oxide layer 63 is wet etched off , leaving the tungsten vias 62 exposed . memory cell formation and patterning can now occur . as shown in fig6 , cell material 69 is deposited on the array . the cell material 69 may include resistance variable cell material , like the materials necessary for construction of pcram memory cells constructed according to the teachings of u . s . pub . appl . nos . 2003 / 0155589 and 2003 / 0045054 , each assigned to micron technology inc . appropriate pcram cell materials include layers of germanium selenide , chalcogenide glass , and silver - containing layers creating a resistance variable memory device 100 . finally , a top electrode 70 is deposited over the cell material 69 as shown in fig7 . the top electrode 70 contacts the cell 69 and the periphery vias 62 . the electrode 70 can be patterned as desired . for example , the electrode 70 layer may be blanket deposited over the array ; or alternatively , an electrode 70 may be deposited in a pre - determined pattern , such as in stripes over the array . in the case of pcram cells , the top electrode 70 should be a conductive material , such as tungsten or tantalum , but preferably not containing silver . also , the top electrode 70 may comprise more than one layer of conductive material if desired . at this stage , the memory element 100 is essentially complete . the memory cells are defined by the areas of layer 69 located between the conductive plugs 62 and the electrode 70 . other fabrication steps to insulate the electrode 70 using techniques known in the art , are now performed to complete fabrication . fig9 illustrates that the memory element 100 is subsequently used to form an integrated circuit package 201 for a memory circuit 1248 ( fig8 ). the memory device 100 is physically mounted on a mounting substrate 202 using a suitable attachment material . bond wires 203 are used to provide electrical connection between the integrated chip bond pads 92 and the mounting substrate bond pads 204 and / or lead wires which connect the die 100 to circuitry external of package 201 . the embodiments described above refer to the formation of a memory device 100 structure in accordance with the invention . it must be understood , however , that the invention contemplates the formation of other integrated circuit elements , and the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above . moreover , although described as a single memory device 100 , the device 100 can be fabricated as a part of a memory array and operated with memory element access circuits . fig8 is a block diagram of a processor - based system 1200 , which includes a memory circuit 1248 , for example a pcram circuit employing non - volatile memory devices 100 fabricated in accordance with the invention . the processor system 1200 , such as a computer system , generally comprises a central processing unit ( cpu ) 1244 , such as a microprocessor , a digital signal processor , or other programmable digital logic devices , which communicates with an input / output ( i / o ) device 1246 over a bus 1252 . the memory 1248 communicates with the system over bus 1252 typically through a memory controller . in the case of a computer system , the processor system may include peripheral devices such as a floppy disk drive 1254 and a compact disc ( cd ) rom drive 1256 , which also communicate with cpu 1244 over the bus 1252 . memory 1248 is preferably constructed as an integrated circuit , which includes one or more resistance variable memory elements 100 . if desired , the memory 1248 may be combined with the processor , for example cpu 1244 , in a single integrated circuit . the above description and drawings are only to be considered illustrative of exemplary embodiments which achieve the features and advantages of the invention . modification and substitutions to specific process conditions and structures can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the invention is not to be considered as being limited by the foregoing description and drawings , but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
the commercially most attractive embodiment of the present invention would be applying to the underside of an upholstery fabric the required thickness of a suitable neoprene foam . as an alternative , the neoprene foam can be applied to the outside of the padding . this could be , for example , a polyurethane cushion to which would be attached integrally an outer layer of neoprene foam . it also is possible to achieve good flame resistance by simply placing an neoprene foam interliner between the covering and the padding . upholstery fabric often is coated at least on one side with a continuous layer of a plastic or elastomeric material , which gives it a leathery appearance . the individual fibers cannot be seen through the coating . in such a case , the neoprene foam of the present invention may be applied to the top side of the fabric , rather than to the underside , between the fabric and the plastic or elastomeric coating . in all these applications , the thickness of the neoprene foam layer can be as little as 1 / 16 inch ( about 1 . 6 mm .) and usually does not exceed 1 inch ( 2 . 54 cm .). the preferred thickness is about 1 / 8 - 1 / 4 inch ( about 3 . 18 - 6 . 3 mm .). it has been found that when the neoprene foam is applied directly to the underside of an upholstery fabric , to give a layer within the preferred thickness range , all the fabrics tested irrespective of the type of fiber and type of weave ( e . g ., &# 34 ; loose &# 34 ; vs . &# 34 ; tight &# 34 ;) passed the burning cigarette test . in fact , most of the fabrics tested qualified for the top rating , that is , exhibited a degradation area smaller than 1 . 5 inches ( 3 . 8 cm .) from the fire source in any direction . the precise testing technique will be described in the experimental part , below . in addition to woven upholstery fabrics , nonwoven fabrics made of a variety of fibers , natural or synthetic , can be used . the neoprene foam must be specially formulated to form on exposure to a burning cigarette or under the conditions of the radiant panel test a nonsmoldering char having structural integrity . usually , the following two ingredients will be present in the formulation : a char promoter and an inorganic , hydrated compound which retains most or all of its hydration water at the foam drying and curing temperature , but loses is below about 500 ° c . the char promoter may be any chemical compound or composition which is not volatile at the ignition temperature , is itself nonflammable or has low flammability , and forms at the ignition temperature a char - protecting structure , for example , by crosslinking , fusing or fluxing , increasing its bulk or by some other chemical reaction or physical change . suitable char promoters include , for example , urea / formaldehyde resins , melamine formaldehyde resins , melamine phosphate , phthalic anhydride , pyromellitic anhydride , sodium borate , calcium borate , zinc borate , and boric acid . phosphorus and boron compounds are known to promote char formation . all such compounds are commercially available under a variety of trade names . the char promoter can be added to the neoprene latex in dry form prior to frothing . if a resin , such as a melamine / formaldehyde resin , is used as the char promoter , it preferably should be added to the neoprene latex before the neoprene itself is isolated therefrom . dipping a formed neoprene foam in a resin solution or dispersion does not usually produce the desired effects . the inorganic , hydrated compound also is preferably added to the latex . the effective proportion of the char promoter will be about 5 - 15 parts per 100 parts by weight of neoprene ( phr ). the inorganic , hydrated compound can be , for example , hydrated alumina , hydrated magnesia , magnesium oxychloride , hydrated zinc borate , and hydrated calcium borate . the amount of the inorganic compound can vary . in the case of hydrated alumina , the effective proportion is about 10 - 180 parts per 100 phr , or even higher . when the amount of hydrated alumina decreases below the lower limit of this range , little protection , if any , is provided by this ingredient . above the upper limit , good fire protection is obtained , but the structural integrity of the foam sometimes is adversely affected at such high loading levels . however , there is no theoretical reason to limit the upper range of the hydrated alumina proportion . the proportion of other inorganic compounds should be based on equivalent amounts of available hydration water . it is to be noted that , while nonhydrated zinc borate and calcium borate can function as char promoters , hydrated zinc borate and hydrated calcium borate can function as both char promoters and hydration water sources . the neoprene itself can be a homopolymer of chloroprene or a copolymer of chloroprene with another organic monomer . usual monomers are vinyl compounds or olefinic compounds , such as , for example , styrene , a vinyltoluene , a vinylnaphthalene , 1 , 3 - butadiene , isoprene , 2 , 3 - dimethyl - 1 , 3 - butadiene , 2 , 3 - dichloro - 1 , 3 - butadiene , methyl vinyl ether , vinyl acetate , methyl vinyl ketone , ethyl acrylate , methyl methacrylate , methacrylamide , and acrylonitrile . the proportion of the organic monomer other than chloroprene can be up to about 60 % of the total polymer but usually less than 20 %. the preferred monomer is acrylonitrile or an α , β - unsaturated carboxylic acid , for example , acrylic acid or methacrylic acid . the preferred proportion of acrylonitrile or the carboxylic acid monomer is such that that proportion of the copolymer weight which is contributed by the nitrile or carboxyl groups (-- cooh ) is about 2 - 20 %. in the case of carboxyl groups , the usual proportion would be about 5 % or less . it has been surprisingly found that copolymers of chloroprene and acrylonitrile or an α , β - unsaturated carboxylic acid form under cigarette test conditions a char having good structural integrity , so that other char promoters either are not required or can be used in small amounts only . the neoprene polymer is prepared by any well - known technique , but usually by emulsion polymerization in the presence of a free radical initiator , such as an organic peroxide or hydroperoxide . a chain transfer agent , such as an alkyl mercaptan or a dialkyl xanthogen disulfide , also is present . chloroprene polymerizaton techniques are described in detail in the following u . s . patents : u . s . pat . no . 3 , 651 , 037 ( snow ); u . s . pat . no . 3 , 839 , 241 ( harrell ), particularly example 3 ; u . s . pat . no . 3 , 347 , 837 ( smith ); and belgian pat . no . 815 , 662 ( du pont company ). polymerization in aqueous emulsion results in a neoprene latex . neoprene foam is produced from a neoprene latex using a method similar to those used to produce natural or other synthetic latex foams . in this method , a neoprene latex is mixed with compounding ingredients , such as a char promoter , a hydrated inorganic compound , vulcanizing agents , antioxidants , fillers , fire retardants , plasticizers , and frothing aids . the latex compound is frothed , for example , by beating , whipping , or mixing air or a gas into the compound or by causing a gas to be formed in the latex in situ . a gelling agent may be added to the comonomer to cause the froth to set , or a heat - sensitizing agent can be added to cause the froth to gel when heated , or the froth may be gelled by drying in such a manner that the bubbles do not collapse as the froth dries . the froth is spread onto a fabric , release paper , or other suitable substrate and allowed to set to an irreversible gelled foam either through the use of a chemical gelling agent , by freezing , or by heating . the gelled foam is then dried at about 100 °- 120 ° c ., and vulcanized . any of the various vulcanizing agents are suitable , such as zinc oxide or magnesium oxide . suitable gelling agents include alkali metal silicofluorides , ammonium nitrate , or polyvinyl methyl ether . suitable plasticizers include petrolatum and other waxes . suitable frothing aids include ordinary soaps , sodium lauryl sulfate , cocoanut oil alkanolamides , ammonium stearate , and the like . typical fillers include aluminum silicates , aluminum oxides , titanium dioxide , and the like . flame retardant agents include those which have a known synergistic effect with halogenated compounds , such as antimony trioxide . a neoprene foam of this invention is unexpectedly effective even in a thin layer in protecting both the covering and the padding from fire damage . this is due to a localized neoprene foam char formation in the fire source area . this char itself is not consumed by fire under test conditions ( the fire does not propagate ). furthermore , by evolving water at higher temperatures , it provides a cooling effect , which prevents the fabric itself from igniting . the char is a good thermal insulator and thus prevents the padding under it from reaching a temperature at which it would volatilize . thus , for a temperature of about 500 ° c . at the point of contact with a source of fire , the temperature under the layer of neoprene char normally would not exceed about 300 ° c . in order to perform its function , the char must have sufficient structural integrity , that is , it must be able to support its own weight as well as the weight of the melting fabric which is being absorbed therein . in addition to the cigarette test , such as the above - mentioned california upholstered furniture test , neoprene foam - containing structures of the present invention have performed remarkably well in the &# 34 ; radiant panel test &# 34 ;, astm e 162 - 67 , which is designed to show flame resistance in a large scale fire environment . these results are remarkable because prior art &# 34 ; flameproof &# 34 ; structures were able to pass the cigarette test but performed poorly in the radiant panel test , or performed well in the radiant panel test but failed the cigarette test . furthermore , the excellent results in the present case were obtained for structures in which highly flammable fabrics ( such as cotton or rayon ) were used , without any &# 34 ; fireproofing &# 34 ; treatment of the fabrics themselves . this invention is now illustrated by the following examples , wherein all parts , proportions , and percentages are by weight unless otherwise indicated . this test is described in technical information bulletin no . 116 , state of california department of consumer affairs , bureau of home furnishings , sacramento , california , may , 1974 . it requires placing burning cigarettes on a smooth surface of test furniture and in various other locations , including the crevice between the seat cushion and the upholstered back panel . while the test requires testing on actual finished furniture , the tests in the following examples were run on furniture mockups . horizontal test panels consisted of a nominal 5 cm . ( 2 . 0 inch ) thick layer of cotton batting covered with a 20 × 20 cm . ( 8 × 8 in .) piece of fabric material . the vertical panels consisted of plywood support panels with a nominal 5 cm . ( 2 . 0 in .) thick layer of cotton batting , followed by a piece of 30 × 30 cm . ( 12 × 12 in .) test fabric stretched tightly over the surface , wrapped around the edges , and stapled to the backside . ( 2 ) a char develops more than two inches from the cigarette , measured from its nearest point . 2 . astm e 162 - 67 surface flammability test using a radiant heat energy source this test ( sometimes referred to in this disclosure as the radiant panel test ) employs a radiant heat source consisting of a 305 × 457 mm . ( 12 × 18 in .) panel in front of which an inclined 152 × 457 mm ( 6 × 18 in .) specimen of the material is placed . the orientation of the specimen is such that ignition is forced near the upper edge and the flame propagates downward . a factor derived from the rate of progression of the flame front is multiplied by another relating to the rate of heat liberation by the material under test to provide a flame spread index . the lower the numerical value of the flame spread index , the better is the flame resistance of the specimen . a typical recipe for preparing a neoprene latex foam is given in table i . table i______________________________________ dry weight______________________________________neoprene latex 100zinc oxide 4antimony trioxide 4petrolatum 2foamole ® ar . sup . ( 1 ) 6duponol ® waq . sup . ( 2 ) 2hydrated inorganic compound 0 to 150char promoter 0 to 20______________________________________ . sup . ( 1 ) foamole ® ar cocoanut oil alkanolamide , vandyke chemical co . . sup . ( 2 ) duponol ® waq sodium lauryl sulfate , e . i . du pont de nemour and company in examples 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , and 6 , which follow , it is shown that it is necessary to incorporate both a char promoter and a hydrated inorganic compound in the latex to protect a fabric and cotton batting sufficiently to pass a cigarette test . in examples 5 and 6 , no char promoter other than the comonomer methacrylic acid is used . neoprene latex type a was compounded as in table i without filler or char promoter . ( type a latex is prepared as described in example 3 of u . s . pat . no . 3 , 839 , 241 .) the latex was frothed in a hobart mixer with a wire whip to a wet froth density of 12 pounds per cubic foot ( 0 . 19 g / cm . 3 ). the froth was spread onto a rayon pile , cottonbacked fabric at a thickness of 0 . 25 in . the froth was dried and cured for two hours at 121 ° c . the coated fabric was tested by placing it over 1 - in . thick cotton batting in a seat / back chair configuration and placing the lighted cigarette in the crevice formed by the intersection of the seat and back . the heat from the cigarette charred the fabric and the neoprene foam . the char spread to a distance of more than two inches away from the cigarette and the cotton batting ignited . thus , the composite failed the cigarette test . the procedure outlined in example 1 was followed , except that 25 parts per hundred parts of neoprene ( phr ) of alumina trihydrate ( hydral ® rh31f , alcoa ) was added to the compound as the hydrated inorganic compound . when the cigarette test was repeated as above , the char area spread to more than two inches away from the cigarette and the cotton batting ignited . thus , the composite failed the text . the procedure outlined in example 1 was followed , except that 15 phr cyrez ® 933 ( melamine formaldehyde resin , american cyanamid ) was added to the latex compound as a char promoter . when the cigarette test was repeated as above , the char area spread to more than two inches away from the cigarette , and the cotton batting ignited . thus , the composite failed the cigarette test . the procedure outlined in example 1 was followed , except that 10 phr cyrez ® 933 and 25 phr alumina trihydrate were added as a char promoter and hydrated inorganic compound , respectively . when the cigarette test was repeated as above , the char area of the fabric spread to less than 0 . 5 inch away from the cigarette and the cotton batting did not ignite . thus , the composite passed the cigarette test . neoprene latex type b was compounded as in table i without filler or additional char promoter . ( latex type b is prepared with 3 phr methacrylic acid comonomer which acts as an effective char promoter .) the latex was frothed in a hobart mixer to a wet froth density of 14 pounds per cubic foot ( 0 . 22 g ./ cm . 3 ). the froth was spread onto a rayon pile , cotton - backed fabric at a thickness of 0 . 25 inch . the froth was dried and cured for two hours at 121 ° c . when the cigarette test was performed as above over 1 - in . cotton batting , the char area of the fabric spread to more than 2 inches away from the cigarette and the cotton batting ignited . thus , the composite failed the cigarette test . the procedure outlined in example 5 was followed , except that 25 phr alumina trihydrate was added to the latex compound as the hydrated inorganic compound . when the cigarette test was repeated as above , the char area spread to less than 0 . 5 inch away from the cigarette and the cotton batting did not ignite . thus , the composite passed the cigarette test . the procedures outlined in examples 1 through 6 were repeated , except that a woven polypropylene fabric was used to replace the rayon pile fabric . when cigarette tests were performed over 1 - in . cotton batting , it was found that foams prepared from latex type a failed unless 10 phr melamine formaldehyde resin and 25 phr hydrated alumina were both added . when foams prepared from latex type b were tested in the cigarette test , it was found that the composites failed unless 25 phr alumina trihydrate was added to the latex compound . the improvement in flame resistance caused by a neoprene foam interliner in the radiant panel test , astm e 162 - 67 , is shown in examples 8 through 14 . a rayon pile cotton - backed fabric was placed over a 1 - in . thick fiber glass batting , then the composite was tested in the radiant panel test . the flame spread index of the composite was 204 . this gave the base figure for this type of fabric in this test . the same rayon pile cotton - backed fabric was placed over a 1 - in . thick commercial &# 34 ; non - fire retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam and the composite was tested in the radiant panel test . the flame spread index of the composite was 618 . this gave the base figure for this type of fabric over a polyurethane foam . neoprene latex type b was compounded as in table i with 10 phr cyrez ® 933 and 25 phr alumina trihydrate as char promoter and hydrated inorganic compound , respectively . the latex was frothed to a wet froth density of 14 lbs ./ ft . 3 ( 0 . 22 g ./ cm . 3 ), and was spread onto the rayon pile cotton - backed fabric of example 9 at a thickness of 0 . 25 inch . the froth was dried and cured for two hours at 121 ° c . the coated fabric was placed over the 1 - in . thick &# 34 ; non - fire retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam , as in example 9 , and the composite was tested in the radiant panel test . the flame spread index of the composite was 235 . the procedure outlined in example 10 was repeated , except that 5 phr melamine formaldehyde resin and 150 phr hydrated alumina were used . when the coated rayon pile cotton - backed fabric was placed over a 1 - in . thick &# 34 ; non - fire retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam , and this composite was tested in the radiant panel test , the flame spread index of the composite was 156 . this value for the flame spread index was lower than that obtained in example 8 , where the uncoated fabric was tested over fiber glass . the procedure outlined in example 8 was repeated , except that the fabric used was a woven polypropylene fabric . when tested in the radiant panel test , the flame spread index of the composite was 303 . the procedure outlined in example 9 was repeated , except that the fabric used was a woven polypropylene fabric . when tested in the radiant panel test , the flame spread index of the composite was 996 . the procedure outlined in example 10 was repeated , except that the fabric used was a woven polypropylene fabric . when tested in the radiant panel test , the flame spread index of the composite was 278 . this value for the flame spread index was lower than that obtained in example 12 , where the uncoated polypropylene fabric was tested over fiber glass . examples 15 , 16 , and 17 , below , show that other latex foams can be applied to a fabric which will pass the cigarette test ; however , such coated fabrics do not perform comparably well in larger scale tests . a latex compound was prepared from a hycar ® ( b . f . goodrich ) acrylic latex type 2679 , using the formulation in table ii . table ii______________________________________ dry weight______________________________________hycar ® type 2679 100zinc oxide 4antimony trioxide 4petrolatum 2foamole ® ar 6duponol ® waq 2alumina trihydrate 150cyrez ® 933 5______________________________________ the compound was frothed in a hobart mixer to a wet froth density of 14 lbs ./ ft . 3 ( 0 . 22 g ./ cm . 3 ). the froth was spread onto a rayon pile , cotton - backed fabric at a thickness of 0 . 25 in . the froth was dried and cured for one hour at 280 ° f . when a portion of the coated fabric was tested in the cigarette test over cotton batting , the char area spread to less than 1 . 5 inches away from the cigarette and the cotton batting did not ignite . when a portion of the coated fabric was placed over a &# 34 ; non - fire retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam and the composite was tested in the radiant panel test , the composite had a flame spread index of 749 . this value was higher than that obtained for the uncoated fabric tested over polyurethane ( example 9 ). thus , this composition did not provide protection to the composite structure in the radiant panel test . a latex compound was prepared from a geon ® ( b . f . goodrich ) polyvinylchloride latex type 460x9 , using the formulation in table iii . ( see b . f . goodrich bulletin l - 15 , table 13 ). table iii______________________________________ dry weight______________________________________geon ® type 460x9 100duponol ® waq 1 . 7monoplex ® s - 73 . sup . ( 1 ) 8 . 2ammonium stearate 6tricresyl phosphate 60alumina trihydrate 150cyrez ® 933 24______________________________________ . sup . ( 1 ) rohm & amp ; haas co . this compound was frothed in a hobart mixer to a wet froth density of 14 lbs ./ ft . 3 ( 0 . 22 g ./ cm . 3 ). the froth was spread onto a rayon pile , cotton - backed fabric at a thickness of 0 . 25 in . the froth was dried at 200 ° f . for 30 min . and was cured at 270 ° f . for one hour . when a portion of the coated fabric was tested in the cigarette test over cotton batting , the char area spread to less than 1 . 5 inches away from the cigarette and the cotton batting did not ignite . when the portion of the coated fabric was placed over a &# 34 ; non - fire retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam and the composite was tested in the radiant panel test , the composite had a flame spread index of 507 . thus , this composition gives only a minor degree of protection to the tested structure . an 0 . 25 in .- thick section of pyrel ® &# 34 ; fire - retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam ( scott foam ) was placed over 1 - in . thick cotton batting and a woven polypropylene fabric was placed over this combination ( as described in belgian pat . no . 817 , 571 ). when the composite was tested in the cigarette test , the char area spread to less than 1 . 5 in . away from the cigarette and so the combination passed the test . an 0 . 25 - in . thick section of pyrel ® was placed over a 1 - in . thick &# 34 ; non - fire retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam , and a woven polypropylene fabric was placed over this combination . when the composite was tested in the radiant panel test , the flame spread index was 1514 . this value was higher than when the fabric was tested over the polyurethane foam without the pyrel ® interliner ( example 13 ). thus , the pyrel ® does not improve the protection of the fabric on the &# 34 ; non - fire retardant &# 34 ; polyurethane foam structure . | 1 |
in view of what is needed in the industry , a flexible eco cell is hence created and disclosed herein . this cell can be easily applied into current auto place - and - route methodology . with this new cell and methodology , both design revision time and cost can be reduced and controlled easily . the following invention will provide a more detailed description of a flexible layout design of engineering change order ( eco ) base cell and its applications for chip design . one or more base cells may be built by layout style similar to gate array library base cells . the cells have features or element configuration as the standard logic cells . for embodiment , they keep the same pitch as a standard logic cell or gate array library , symmetrical in one or more directions . various elements such as the nwell , pwell , p + implant , n + implant vdd &# 39 ; s metal , vss &# 39 ; s metal , or od pick - up may keep the same width and height as the standard cell in the same chip . the source , gate , and the drain side are kept floating . the base cells can be transformed into targeted logic cells like inverter , nand , nor , xor , multiplexer , flip - flop , de - coupling capacitors ( decap ), etc . by programming or altering at least one metal layer of the chip . the base cells can be placed using block level or chip level auto placement . in an original design , one or more logic cells may be placed and connected through routing to form higher level functions , and one or more base cells may also be placed in predetermined locations as fillers to prepare for future revision needs . in design revision , the base cells can be transformed into the target cells through metals to silicon contacts , metals to polysilicon contacts , or other metal layer changes . then , the design revision can be achieved through auto routing . the design revision cost and cycle time can be substantially reduced at the same time . referring now to fig1 , there is base cell embodiment 100 illustrating various material layers and is not routed appropriately to form a logic or functional cell yet . fig1 shows the base cell with a virtual center line 102 , with respect to which all patterns of material layers are mirror symmetrical . patterns in different material layers may be formed separately with standard manufacturing processes . since devices such as nmos transistors and pmos transistors can be produced in each cell , the p side and n side are defined . nwell 104 provides a pool of substrate where one or more pmos transistors may be formed thereon . pwell 106 provides a pool of substrate where one or more nmos transistors sit on . polysilocon 108 together with gate oxide form mos transistor channel region when p + region 110 and n + region 112 are implanted . the p + implant forms the source and drain regions for pmos transistors . the n + 112 implant forms the source and drain regions for nmos transistors . n + implant and contacts 114 for nwell pickup connect nwell to vdd 116 . similarly , p + implant and contacts 118 for pwell pickup connect pwell to vss 120 . vdd and vss are provided by a pair of dc power sources as the voltage supply . it is further noted that each base cell is not connected with another base cell initially . fig2 illustrates how a basic cell 100 is transformed into a logic cell 200 by adding extra patterns in metals to silicon contacts 202 , metals to polysilicon contacts 204 and metal layer 206 . the extra patterns in these material layers may be used to route the transistors to form logic functions such as a de - coupling capacitor shown in this fig2 . this routed logic cell is shown in contrast to a floated base cell 100 to shown the differences . based on what the logic cell is , different patterns of routing in one or more material layers of silicon contacts 202 , metals to polysilicon contacts 204 and metals 206 will be implemented according to schematic designs . fig3 illustrates a portion of a circuit layout 300 with base before and after the base cells have been altered to form logic cells in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the bottom section shows the portion of circuit before any eco revision , and the top section shows the same portion of the circuit after the revision . the circuit 300 uses four routed logic cells , 302 , 304 , 306 , and 308 in different locations , and has several un - routed base cells 310 arranged in spare regions as filler cells . initially , the unused base cells may be used to preserve spaces to add flexibility in future eco revision that might need additional transistors . when there is a need to make revision of the design , the base cells are to be altered by changing one or more layers of metals to silicon contacts 202 , metals to polysilicon contacts 204 and metals 206 . in this embodiment , logic cells 312 , 314 , 316 , 318 , 320 , 322 may be made from the respective base cells 310 . fig4 presents a flow chart 400 illustrating a simplified design change technique in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the flow starts in the step 402 , where one or more standard cells and eco base cells are placed according to the needs of the preliminary design file . the eco base cells are placed in spare regions of the circuit . in the step 404 , standard cells are routed to form one or more functional cells , while one or more base cells are spared and preserved . in the step 406 , the layout is compared against the preliminary design file . in the step 408 , the device as specified in the layout will then be ready to tape out and go through one or more iterations of the step 410 , where the design is processed , and of the step 412 , where the design is tested . the step 414 determines whether the design needs further iterations of the steps 412 and 414 . for embodiment , a revision design file may be compared against the preliminary design file to see any changes needed , and whether these changes can be made by using the eco base cells . if no further processing and testing is needed , the flow goes to the step 416 , where it is determined if the device design may need to be changed . if the design does not need to be changed , the flow ends . alternatively , if the design needs to be changed and the eco base cells can be used for the change , at least one metal layer of at least one spared base cell is revised in the step 418 . the altered eco base cells are now the functional logic cells . in the step 420 , the functional cells are re - routed with the altered eco base cells . in the step 422 , the layout is further compared with the revised design . in the step 424 , it is determined if the flow needs further tape - out . if further tape - out is required , the flow goes back to the step 408 . if no further tape - out is required , the flow ends . although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method and design for , it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown , since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims . accordingly , it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention , as set forth in the following claims . the above invention provides many different embodiments or embodiments for implementing different features of the invention . specific embodiments of components and processes are described to help clarify the invention . these are , of course , merely embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention from that described in the claims . | 6 |
reference is first made to fig1 , which illustrates a system 100 for providing interactively providing information to consumers ( not shown ). system 100 includes a system server 102 , one or more consumer computers 104 and one or more attendant computers 106 . system 100 also includes a communication network 110 , which may be the internet , a local area network or any other communication network capable of facilitating communication between computing devices . the system server 102 includes a server communication module 114 and a product database 116 . server communication module 114 is coupled to the network 110 . consumers use the consumer computers 104 to access system 100 . each consumer computer 104 includes one or more input devices 132 . for example , consumer computer 104 a includes a keyboard 134 , mouse 136 and a microphone 138 . consumer computer 104 b includes a keyboard 134 and a mouse 136 . each consumer computer 104 also includes one or more output devices 140 . for example , consumer computers 104 a and 104 b include a display screen 142 and a speaker 144 . each attendant computer 106 also includes input devices 132 including a keyboard 134 , mouse 136 and a microphone 138 . each attendant computer 106 also includes output devices including a display screen 142 and a speaker 144 . referring to fig2 , each consumer computer 104 is used to execute consumer client software 150 . consumer client software 150 includes a consumer media module 152 and a consumer communication module 154 . consumer communication module 154 is coupled to the network 110 . each attendant computer 106 is used to execute attendant client software 160 . attendant client software 160 includes an attendant media module 162 and an attendant communication module 164 . attendant communication module 164 is coupled to the network 110 . referring to fig1 , system 100 is operated by or on behalf of a product supplier ( not shown ), who may be a product manufacturer , wholesaler , retailer or other person or company that has an interest in the sales or marketing of products . consumers ( not shown ) access system 100 by using the consumer computers 104 , which may be the consumer &# 39 ; s own personal computers , may be located in retail stores or may be another computing device , such as a television set - top box , a portable personal data assistant or another type of computer . typically , a consumer will access system 100 to obtain information about a product . the consumer may use system 100 in advance of a potential purchase to learn about the product , while purchasing a product or after purchasing the product to obtain assistance when assembling or using the product . the attendant computers are operated by attendants ( not shown ). the attendants communicate interactively with consumers using system 100 to provide information to consumers about the supplier &# 39 ; s products . a consumer requests access to system 100 to obtain more information about a product . in response to the request , the consumer &# 39 ; s computer 104 is coupled to server 102 ( which may also be a world - wide - web server that hosts the supplier &# 39 ; s website ), which in turn allocates and couples an attendant computer 106 to the consumer &# 39 ; s computer 104 . the consumer and the attendant operating the allocated attendant computer engage in a text or voice chat and the attendant is able to provide the consumer with information in response to the consumer &# 39 ; s requests . the consumer is thus able to obtain customized information that may otherwise not be available to the consumer , or which may not be available on a convenient , timely basis . reference is next made to fig3 , which illustrates a method 1100 that allows a consumer to request information about a product using system 100 and which couples the consumer &# 39 ; s computer 104 to an attendant computer 106 , establishing an interactive information session between them . method 1100 begins in step 1102 , in which the consumer makes a request to interactively obtain information about a product . typically , the consumer will make this request while using the consumer computer 104 to view information about a product on the supplier &# 39 ; s website . product information on websites is limited to previously prepared information such as text , audio and two or three dimensional images that are pre - determined by the supplier . such pre - determined , previously recorded information is referred to herein as pre - recorded information . the pre - recorded information may include animations that demonstrate how a product can be assembled or used . however , such websites cannot provide dynamically generated , interactive and customized information that is provided to the consumer in response to the consumer &# 39 ; s request . to provide dynamic additional information , the supplier may use the present invention . the supplier may configure a button or other control on a web page to allow the consumer to initiate use of system 100 . for example , the consumer may click on a button marked “ obtain interactive multi - media information about this product ” on a web page relating to the product to interactively obtain information about the product . when the consumer does so , the button or control is configured to transmit an initiate interactive information service message 210 ( fig1 ) from the consumer &# 39 ; s computer 104 to the system server 102 . the initiate interactive information service includes the following information : ( a ) a reference to the consumer &# 39 ; s computer 104 . this may be an ip address or any other information that the system server 102 can use to transmit information to the consumer computer 104 . method 1100 will be explained with reference to consumer computer 104 a . ( b ) a reference to the product for which the consumer has requested additional information . the use of a button on a web page to initiate the use of system 100 is only an example , and step 1102 may include the use of any mechanism that allows a consumer to initiate the use of system 100 . for example , system 100 may be initiated automatically when a consumer accesses a web page by accessing a specific url , by entering a keyboard command , a voice command or any other mechanism for transmitting the initiate interactive information service message 210 to the system server 102 . access to system 100 may be restricted and a consumer may be required to enter a user or account identification and a password . method 1100 then proceeds to step 1104 , in which the system server 102 initiates execution of client software on the consumer computer 104 and on an attendant computer 106 . the server computer transmits an initiate consumer session message 212 ( fig1 ) to the consumer computer 104 a . in response to the initiate consumer session message 212 , the consumer client software 150 opens a display window 170 ( fig4 ) on the consumer computer 104 a . in the present embodiment , the consumer client software 150 may be configured to operate within a browser such as internet explorer ™, safari ™ or netscape ™ browser . in this case , the browser may initiate the execution of the consumer client software 150 in response to the initiate consumer session message 212 . the consumer client software 150 opens the display window 170 as a browser window . in another embodiment of the present invention , the consumer client software 150 may operate independently of a browser and may open a display window 170 directly within the operating system of consumer computer 104 a . in step 1104 , the system server 102 allocates an attendant computer 106 that can be linked to consumer computer 104 a . typically , a group of attendants will operate a group of attendant computers 106 . system server 102 selects one of the attendant computers 106 that is not already linked to another consumer computer 104 . for the purpose of the present example , the server allocates attendant computer 106 b to be coupled to consumer computer 104 a . the server computer 102 also transmits an initiate attendant session message 214 ( fig1 ) to the attendant computer 106 b . a display window 190 ( fig4 ) is opened on the attendant computer 106 b in a manner similar to the opening of the display window 170 on the consumer computer 104 a . the attendant client software 160 may operate within a browser or directly in the operating system of attendant computer 106 b . method 1100 then proceeds to step 1106 , in which at least one interactive communication link is established between consumer computer 104 a and attendant computer 106 b . an interactive audio communication link may be established between the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b to permit voice communication between the attendant and the consumer . the server computer 102 acts as an intermediary in the interactive audio communication link . audio data from the consumer computer 104 a is first transmitted to the system server 102 , which then transmits the audio data ( or corresponding audio data ) to the attendant computer 106 b . the audio data is then played at the attendant computer 106 b . similarly , audio data from the attendant computer originating from the attendant computer 106 b is transmitted to the system server 102 , which then transmits the audio data to the consumer computer 104 a and then played at the consumer computer 104 a . this allows the consumer and attendant to speak to one another . for example , the audio communications link may be established using voice over internet protocol (“ voip ”), which is well understood by skilled persons , or using any other mechanism or technology for establishing a two - way voice chat connection between the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b . as an alternative to an audio communication link , or in addition to an audio communication link , an interactive text communication link may be established between the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b , with the system server 102 acting as an intermediary . a text communication link allows the consumer and the attendant to engage in a text chat . in the present embodiment , the system server 102 is an intermediary in the interactive communication link . as a result , the system server 102 may optionally record the voice or text data exchanged between the attendant and the consumer . in another embodiment , the system server 102 may instruct the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b to establish an interactive communication link directly between them . if the system server 102 does not have access to the audio or text information exchanged between the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b , the system server 102 will not be able to record this information . in the present exemplary system 100 , an interactive audio communication link is established if possible . in the present embodiment , all of the attendant computers 106 are equipped with a microphone and a speaker ( which may be integrated into a headset worn by an attendant using the attendant computer ) to allow the attendants to participate in a voice chat over the interactive audio communication link . if the consumer computer 104 a is capable of participating in a voice chat with the allocated attendant computer 106 b , then an interactive audio communication link is established . otherwise an interactive text communication link is established between the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b . in other embodiments , both interactive audio and text communication links may be established . in other embodiments , some or all of the attendant computers 106 may not be configured for interactive voice communication . in this case , an interactive text communication link is created between the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b . the consumer media module 152 and the consumer communication module 154 cooperate to facilitate text or voice chat connections . the consumer media module 152 includes software that is capable of capturing audio at the consumer computer 104 and of playing audio received from the system server 102 . similarly , the consumer media module is capable of capturing text entered by the consumer at the consumer computer 104 and of displaying text information received from the system server 102 . the captured audio and text information is transmitted to the system server 102 by the consumer communication module 154 , which receives the information from the consumer media module . text and audio information from the system server 102 is received by the consumer communication module 154 , which then provides this information to the consumer media module 152 to be played or displayed . the consumer media module 152 and consumer communication module may be distinct software products that communicate with one another through an interface or they may be combined in an integrated software product . method 1100 next proceeds to step 1108 , in which the server sends product data ( fig1 ) relating to the product identified in the initiate interactive information session message 210 to consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b . in the present embodiment , the product data 216 includes at least one 3d image of the product . the product data 216 may also include other types of information about the product , such as 2d images , video clips , audio clips , text information or animations . in other embodiments of the invention , the product data 216 may or may not include a 3d image of the product . the product data is stored in the product database 114 in system server 102 and is recorded in a format that is compatible with the components of the consumer and attendant media modules . the system server 102 transmits the product data 216 including one or more 3d graphic images of the product identified in the initiate interactive information session message 210 in step 1102 to the consumer communication module 154 , which makes in available to the consumer media module 152 for display and playback . the system server 102 also transmits the product data to the attendant communication module 164 , which makes the product data 216 available to the attendant media module 162 . the consumer media module 152 includes media display software capable of displaying or playing the various types of information included in the product data 216 . in the present example , the consumer media module 152 includes software capable of displaying a 3d graphic image in the consumer &# 39 ; s display window 170 . the 3d graphic display software is capable of displaying the 3d image from different viewpoints or camera positions , allowing the 3d graphic image to be rotated and the zoom distance from the 3d image to be changed . in other embodiments , the 3d graphic display software may not be capable of displaying the 3d graphic image from different zoom distances . in the present embodiment , the 3d graphic display software is the viewpoint platform ™, which is provided by viewpoint corporation of new york , usa . in other embodiments , any system capable of displaying 3d graphic images and allowing them to be displayed from different camera angles may be used . for example , quicktime virtual reality ( quicktime vr ™), macromedia shockwave ™, and other technologies may be used for this purpose . if the display window 170 operates is a browser window , the 3d graphic display software may be a plug - in component installed with the browser software . in the present embodiment , the consumer media module also includes software capable of displaying 2d images , text information and playing video clips , audio clips and animations . some of this software may be used to provide the voice or text chat functionality described above . in other embodiments , the software included in the consumer media module will correspond to the different types of information that the product supplier wishes to include in the product data 216 . the attendant media module 162 and the attendant communication module 164 are similar to the consumer media module 152 and consumer communication module in operation . the attendant media module 162 included in the attendant client software 160 is capable of displaying 3d graphic images from different camera angles and optionally , from different zoom distances . preferably , the 3d graphic display software in the client media module 152 and the attendant media module 162 utilize the same technology . in the present exemplary embodiment , the attendant media module 162 also includes the viewpoint platform 3d graphic display software . the product data 216 may also optionally include information about optional features of the product , such as different color options , additional components that may be purchased and used with the product . for example , if the product is a desk , the product data 216 may include information about different color schemes that the desk is manufactured in , add - on components such as a sliding keyboard drawer , a computer holder or related products such as matching chairs , shelves or filing cabinets . the product data 216 may also optionally include pre - recorded data such video , animations , audio or text information related to the product that describe the assembly or use of the product or are otherwise related to the product . in addition to the consumer media module 152 that is used to display the 3d graphic images included in the product data 216 , the consumer client software also includes components that are capable of displaying or otherwise playing ( in the case of audio data ) other product data transmitted to the consumer computer . if the display window 170 operates within a browser these additional components may also be plug - in components installed with the browser software . if the consumer client software 150 does not include a component required to play a part of the product data , the consumer client software may optionally be configured to download the required component . otherwise , that part of the product data may not be available to the consumer . reference is next made to fig4 , which displays an example display window 170 on the display screen 142 a of consumer computer 104 a and a corresponding example display window 190 b on the display screen 142 b of an attendant computer 106 b when an interactive information session is in progress between a consumer and an attendant . display window 170 includes session controls 172 , a graphics display 174 , graphics display controls 176 , a text chat display 178 , voice chat controls 180 , product option controls 182 and pre - recorded information controls . the session controls 172 provide an “ end interactive information session ” button to terminate the interactive information session . if the consumer clicks this button , the interactive information session is terminated and the display window 170 is closed . the graphics display 174 contains an image of an example product , a computer desk . the graphics display 174 has a pointer 186 on it , which can be used to indicate specific parts of the image displayed on the graphics display 174 and may also be used to change the camera position from which the product is displayed . the graphics display controls 176 allow the consumer to change the camera position from which the product is displayed in the graphics display 174 . in this exemplary embodiment , the graphics display controls 176 include a rotate up , rotate down , rotate left , rotate right , return to original position , zoom in and zoom out controls . in this exemplary embodiment , the camera position may also be changed using a mouse be clicking and dragging on the product display . this functionality is provided using the viewpoint platform , and could be provided using other technologies , as described above . this operation is not further explained here as a skilled person will be capable of configuring and using these 3d image display and manipulation tools . the text chat display 178 contains interactive text that has been typed by the consumer and the attendant during the interactive information session . the voice chat controls 180 allow the speaker volume and other aspects of the voice chat to be controlled by the consumer . the product option controls 182 allow the product to be displayed in different forms or modes . in the present example , the computer desk may be displayed with a sliding keyboard tray or a computer holder or any combination of these or none of them . the supplier may sell these components separately and use system 100 to advertise them to consumers who may or who have purchased the computer desk . the desk may also be displayed in three color schemes : black / brown ; black / white and brown / white . when a consumer chooses any one of the options or color schemes , the image of the product in the graphics display 174 is changed to match the consumer &# 39 ; s choices . data for each of the options and color schemes is included in the product data 216 delivered to the consumer computer 104 a in step 1108 . the pre - recorded information controls 184 allow the consumer to play the pre - recorded information included in the product data 216 . the specific format and titles of the pre - recorded information is included in the product data 216 . in the present example , the pre - recorded information includes eight animations illustrating six assembly steps for the desk and the installation of the keyboard tray and the computer holder . each animation is accompanied by audio information in which each assembly step is further explained . this information may be used to supplement information provided with the product . the pre - recorded information controls include an animation audio mute button , allowing the audio accompanying the animations to be muted so that the consumer and attendant may continue a voice chat uninterrupted while an animation is played . similarly , the attendant display 190 includes session controls 192 , a graphics display 194 , graphics display controls 196 , a text chat display 198 , voice chat control 200 and product option controls 202 . the display and operation of the components of the attendant display window 190 is similar to the display of the corresponding components of the consumer window 170 . the session controls 192 include one additional “ controller ” option , which is explained further below . during an interactive information session , the displays in the consumer display window 170 and the attendant display window 190 are generally synchronized . one of the consumer or the attendant is in control of the display and any changes made by the person in control ( the “ controller ” of the interactive information session ) to the display of the product on the graphics display is generally duplicated in the display of the other person ( the “ viewer ) of the interactive information session ). similarly , if the controller activates any previously recorded information , the same previously recorded information is displayed in the viewer &# 39 ; s display window . typically , animations and video clips will be played in the graphics windows 174 and 194 . the consumer and attendant may independently control their own input and output devices ( for example , speaker volumes , speaker mute or microphone mute ). the interactive communication links ( voice chat or text chat or both ) are not affected by which person is in control . the “ controller ” option in the attendant &# 39 ; s session controls 192 allows the attendant to determine whether the consumer or the attendant will be in control the image of the product in the graphics display windows 174 and 194 and the display or playing of pre - recorded information on both the consumer computer 104 a and the attendant computer 106 b . reference is next made to fig5 and 6 , which illustrate methods 1200 and 1300 that are used keep a 3d image shown in the graphics displays 174 and 194 synchronized between the consumer display window 170 and the attendant display window 190 . as described above , the attendant determines whether the consumer or the attendant is in control of the product display in the graphics displays 174 and 194 and the playing of pre - recorded information . method 1200 is performed on the controller &# 39 ; s computer ( the “ controlling computer ”). method 1300 is performed on the system server 102 and the viewer &# 39 ; s computer ( the “ viewing computer ”). method 1200 begins in step 1202 , in which the controller manipulates the product image in the graphics display on the controller &# 39 ; s display window . typically , the controller will do so by using the graphics display controls or by using the controller &# 39 ; s mouse . when the controller has completed the manipulation of the product image , or periodically following an “ update period ” during the manipulation of the product image , method 1200 proceeds to step 1204 . the update period will typically be in the range of 250 to 1000 ms , although the time period may be shorter or longer than this range . the controller may continue to manipulate the product image while the remaining steps of method 1200 are performed . in step 1204 , the current camera position is determined . the current camera position may be expressed using any coordinate system . for example , the camera position may be defined using polar coordinates relative to reference horizontal and vertical planes defined with respect to the 3d product image and using an orbit distance ( which corresponds to the zoom level ). the camera position may alternatively be defined using cartesian coordinates relative to a reference position . the product data in either case defines the reference planes or position relative to the 3d product image . in some embodiments , the camera position information may include a camera translation that indicates the direction in which the camera is pointed relative to the reference planes or the reference point . a skilled person will be able to calculate a camera position during or following an image manipulation by the controller . the camera position is then transmitted to the system server 102 in a camera position update message . in the present embodiment , the operation of determining the camera position is performed by the 3d graphic display software in the media module in the controller &# 39 ; s client software . this information is transmitted to the system server 102 by the communication module . method 1300 begins in step 1302 , in which the system server 102 receives the camera position update message from the controller &# 39 ; s computer . the system server records the camera position . method 1300 next proceeds to step 1304 in which the system server 102 transmits a copy or a version of the camera position update message to the viewer &# 39 ; s computer . method 1300 next proceeds to step 1306 . in step 1306 , the communication module in the viewer &# 39 ; s client software receives the camera position update message from the system server 102 and extracts the new camera position from it . the new camera position is passed to the 3d graphic display software in the media module of the viewer &# 39 ; s client software . the 3d graphic display software calculates an animation of the 3d image from the current camera position in the viewer &# 39 ; s display to the new camera position . if the new camera position was calculated during a manipulation of the 3d image by the controller on the controller &# 39 ; s display window 170 , then the camera position update message may optionally indicate this . if so , the animation may be calculated to be displayed over the update period . the 3d graphic display software then displays the calculated animation . the viewer &# 39 ; s 3d image is thus animated in a manner that generally corresponds to the manipulation of the image by the controller . the animation will not generally be identical to the manipulation of the image by the controller . each camera position update message is a comparatively lightweight message . by generating an animation at the viewing computer in response to the camera position update message , the display of the 3d image on the controlling and the viewing computer is generally synchronized by sending the camera position . the viewer &# 39 ; s client software is able to generate a corresponding animation since it has the previous camera position , the new camera position and the same 3d image as the controller &# 39 ; s client software . this provides an efficient mechanism for synchronizing the displays without transmitting comparatively lengthy graphic image data . as noted above , a camera position update message may contain some indication of the time over which an animation from the previous camera position to the new camera position should be displayed . in some cases , the new camera position should be displayed immediately , without any animation between the previous and new camera positions . for example , if the controller uses the rotate left button in the graphics display controls 176 , the graphic image on the controller graphics display 174 may be rotated to the left by some selected amount to a new camera position . the rotation may be smoothly animated or it may be immediately displayed with no animation . a camera position update message is transmitted to reflect the new camera position . the camera position update message may include an indication as to whether the transition from the previous camera position to the new camera position should be animated or not when the manipulation is displayed on the viewer &# 39 ; s graphic display 194 . method 1300 then ends . method 1300 is performed each time a camera position update message is received by the system server 102 from the controller &# 39 ; s computer . since method step 1204 in method 1200 is performed at the end of any manipulation of the 3d image by the controller , when the manipulation is completed , the images on the controller &# 39 ; s and viewer &# 39 ; s graphics displays 174 and 194 will be synchronized ( unless the controller has begun another manipulation ). if the controller performs a manipulation that lasts longer than the update period , the viewer &# 39 ; s graphics display is updated periodically , allowing the controller &# 39 ; s and viewer &# 39 ; s graphics displays 174 and 194 to stay generally synchronized . a skilled person will understand that the length of the update period and communication delays will introduce some latency between the controller manipulating the 3d product image on his own graphics display and a corresponding manipulation being displayed on the viewer &# 39 ; s graphics display . if a shorter update period is selected , the display of the 3d image on the controlling and the viewing computers will be more synchronized . if a longer update period is selected , the display will be less synchronized , but fewer camera position update messages will be transmitted from the controlling computer to the viewing computer ( although this may not be problematic since the camera position update message are short , lightweight messages ). in any case , when the controller has finished a manipulation , a camera position update message is transmitted and the two displays are synchronized . while methods 1200 and 1300 are being performed , the consumer and attendant may continuously use the text or voice ( or both ) interactive communication links established between their respective computers . the consumer may request information and the attendant may provide the requested information . the consumer and the attendant may manipulate the 3d image of the product to highlight and identify specific components and aspects of the product . the camera position update message is one type of update message that may be transmitted from the controlling computer to the system server 102 and then relayed from the system server 102 to the viewing computer . the nature of update messages transmitted from the controlling computer to the server , and from the server to the viewing computer will depend on the nature of the object that is being manipulated . as described above , a camera position update message relating to the manipulation of a 3d image may define the manipulation in polar , cartesian or other coordinates . if a 2d image is displayed in the controller &# 39 ; s display window 170 , a camera position update message describing a manipulation of the image may set out an x dimension translation a y dimension translation from the original position of the image when it was loaded , together with a zoom level for the image . the zoom levels for the x and y dimension may be differently controllable and the camera update message can describe the different zoom levels separately . referring to fig4 , a pointer 186 on the consumer &# 39 ; s display window 170 and a corresponding pointer 206 is displayed on the attendant &# 39 ; s display window 190 . the controller may move the pointer by moving a mouse 136 coupled to the controlling computer . when the pointer is moved , a pointer position update message , which is another type of update message , is transmitted from the controlling computer to the system server 102 . the pointer position update message is relayed by the system server 102 to the viewing computer . as the controller moves the pointer , the position of the pointer may be transmitted periodically in a series of pointer position update messages in a manner analogous to the transmission of a series of camera position update messages , as described above in relation to method 1200 . on the viewing computer , the position of the 102 is updated to correspond to the new position of the pointer on the controlling computer . the movement of the pointer may be animated , as described above in relation to the 3d image . the playing of pre - recorded information is also synchronized on the controlling and viewing computers . if the controller initiates the play of any pre - recorded information , a play pre - recorded information message ( which another type of update message ) is transmitted from the controlling computer to the system server 102 and then relayed from the system server 102 to the viewing computer . the same pre - recorded information is then played on the viewing computer . in some embodiments of the present invention , the pre - recorded information controls 184 may include controls to allow the pre - recorded information to be paused , reversed or played in a fast forward mode . if the controller uses such controls to manipulate the playing of the pre - recorded information , a play pre - recorded information message is transmitted from the controlling computer to indicate the manipulation . a play pre - recorded information may include information such as the playback rate ( for example , reverse half speed or forward double speed ) or a video frame number or a time point in a clip or audio block number at which the playback of the pre - recorded information has been paused . the client software on the viewing computer is responsive to the play pre - recorded information messages to initiate and manipulate the playing of pre - recorded information so that the playing of the pre - recorded information on the controlling and viewing computers is generally synchronized . the play pre - recorded information message is a lightweight message compared to typical pre - recorded video , audio or text information . depending on the nature of the pre - recorded information , a play pre - recorded information message may include other synchronization information . for example , a frame rate or data rate may be specified to ensure that the playback of the pre - recorded information proceeds at generally the same rate on both the controlling and viewing computers . this is not necessary for information that is played at a pre - determined rate regardless of the processor speed or other characteristics of the controlling or viewing computers . for example , this type of control will typically not be required for a video clip that has a standard playback rate . the playing of the pre - recorded information on the controlling and viewing computers is thus controlled and synchronized efficiently , without requiring any audio , video or text data comprising the pre - recorded information to be exchanged between the controlling and viewing computers while the pre - recorded information is played . video information may be played in the graphics display 174 or 194 . while the pre - recorded information is played , the controller may manipulate the pointer 186 or 206 to direct the viewer &# 39 ; s attention to specific aspects of the displayed information . the pointer will also be generally synchronized in the display windows on the controlling and viewing computers . at the same time , the controller and the viewer may engage in an interactive voice or text communication or both . system 100 provides a multi - media environment in which an attendant is able to more effectively provide information to a supplier &# 39 ; s customers compared to current voice - only or text - only help desk assistance provided by many product suppliers . system 100 allows the attendant to provide customized information to the consumer in real - time , rather than limiting a consumer to previously recorded information available on a website . referring to fig1 , in system 100 , the system server 102 transmits product data to both a consumer computer 104 and to an attendant computer 106 . the product data is used during the interactive information session . in another embodiment , the consumer or the attendant may add additional product data for a product during an interactive information session . for example , display window 170 may include an “ upload product data ” button . the consumer can click the button to initiate to open a dialog box allowing the consumer to identify a new piece of product data , which is then uploaded to the server 102 . the server 102 then transmits the product data to the attendant computer 104 . the controller of the session may then display the new product data in the controller &# 39 ; s display window . this triggers an update message that results in the new product data also being displayed in the viewer &# 39 ; s display window . the controller may then manipulate the new product data , or may discuss it with the viewer using the voice chat or text chat communication link between the two computers . for example , a consumer may take a digital picture of a product as the consumer has assembled it . the consumer may upload the picture to the system server , which then transmits the picture to the attendant computer . the controller of the session may then display the picture in the graphics window of the controller &# 39 ; s display window . both the controller and the viewer will see the picture and they may discuss it . the controller may also manipulate the picture in the same way as any other picture in the product data . reference is next made to fig7 , which illustrates a system 300 according to a second embodiment of the present invention . system 300 may be used for interactive product design by two or more users . system 300 includes a system server 302 and two or more user computers 304 . the system server 302 includes a server communication module 314 and a product database 316 , which is used to record product data . the system server 302 manages the creation and operation of an interactive and collaborative product design session . each user computer includes one or more input devices 132 and one or more output devices 140 . each user computer 304 is used to execute user client software 350 that comprises a user media module 352 and a user communication module 354 . the structure and operation of the user media module 352 corresponds to that of the consumer media module 152 described above in relation to system 100 . similarly , the structure and operation of user communication module 354 corresponds to that of the consumer communication module 154 described above . during a product design session , two or more users operate user computers 304 to view and modify a product that is under design . users join a product design session by logging into a product design website operated by the system server 302 or another computer system . once a user has logged in , the user may join a product design session . typically , a user will be invited to join the product design session by the product supplier at an appointed time . when the user logs in , the sessions to which the user has been invited may be listed and the user can select one of them . if the user has been invited to join only one session when he logs in , the user may be immediately joined to the product design session . in another embodiment , a user &# 39 ; s invitation to join a session may include a link directly to the session . for example , the user may receive an e - mail containing a url ( which may be in the form of an http link ) for a particular session . when the user accesses the url , the user is presented with a login page and after successfully logging in , the user is taken directly to the session , without having to identify the session specifically . in some embodiments , a user may be invited to join an ongoing session and may be sent an e - mail message with an embedded url to the session by one of the participants in the session . returning to a description of system 300 , when a user joins a product design session , a display window 370 is opened on the user &# 39 ; s computer 304 . this is done in a manner analogous to that described above in relation to system 100 and display windows 170 and 190 . the system server 302 maintains a record of each user that is part of a product design session . the system server 302 instructs the communication module 354 operating on each user computer 304 to join an interactive communications connection , which may be a voice chat connection or a text chat connection . in some embodiments of the invention , both voice chat and text chat connections may be established . reference is made to fig8 , which illustrates a typical display window 370 on a user computer 304 when system 300 is in use . the display window 370 includes session controls 372 , a graphics display 374 , graphics display controls 376 , a text chat display 378 , voice chat controls 380 , product option controls 382 and product design controls 384 and view controls 388 . the session controls 372 include “ control ” and “ view ” radio buttons and “ leave session ” button . as described above in relation to the system 100 , one of the participants in an interactive information session can be in control of the 3d image displayed in the graphics display 374 and other aspects of the session at one time . in system 100 , the attendant decides whether the consumer or the attendant is in control at any time . in system 300 , two or more users may collaborate in a product design session . any one of the users may take control of the product design session by clicking on the control radio button . when a user does so , the user communication module 354 in the user &# 39 ; s client software 350 transmits a “ taking control ” message to the system server 302 . that user then becomes the controller of the product design session . the system server 302 then transmits a “ release control ” message to the user communication module 354 operating on the user computer that previously had control of the product design session . each of those users becomes ( or remains ) a viewer . the user that has taken control may then modify the design of the product and may manipulate the view of the product in the graphics display 374 . in the display window 370 , an example product , a shoe , is shown . typically , a product supplier will define one or more parts or aspects of the product that can be modified by the user in a product design session . in the present example , the supplier has defined the tongue , laces and several panels of shoe &# 39 ; s uppers and the sole of the shoe as parts that can be modified independently of one another . in this example , the product design controls 384 are a group of buttons indicating different colors that could be used for different parts of the shoe . the user in control of the product design session may select one of the parts by moving the pointer 386 on to the part and clicking a mouse button . the user may then select a color for the part by selecting one of the product design controls . when a user does so , the user &# 39 ; s communication module 354 sends a change design message to the system server 302 , detailing the change that has been made . the change design message is a type of update message . the system server then sends a change design message to the other user &# 39 ; s computers 304 and the communication module 354 and media module 352 on the other user &# 39 ; s computers 304 update the display of the product to correspond to the design change . in the present embodiment , the supplier has also permitted some physical design changes to be made to the displayed shoe . in particular , the user in control of the product design session may choose different lace types ( flat or round ), different ankle heights ( low , medium or high ) and different widths for the shoe ( a , b , d , e , 2 e or 3 e ). when the user changes one of these aspects of the shoe , the display is modified to illustrate the change and a change design message is similarly sent to the system server 302 and propagated to the other user computers 304 . when the user in control of the session manipulates the display of the product by changing the camera position , the manipulation is also reported to the system server 302 in a camera position update message and propagated to the other user computers 304 in a manner analogous to that described above in relation to methods 1200 and 1300 . in system 300 , all user computers 304 that are in the view mode receive a camera position update message or a change design message whenever such a message is sent from the controlling computer 304 . this ensures that all of the users participating in the product design session see the product as its design evolves . in the present embodiment , the system server keeps a record of each update message , including each camera position update or change design message , that is sent to it . if a user joins a product design session after it has already begun , the server can update the additional user &# 39 ; s display window 370 by transmitting some or all of the change design messages and at least the most recent camera position update message . similarly , if a user becomes disconnected and must re - join a product design session , the user &# 39 ; s display window 370 can be updated . simultaneously with viewing the product in its current position and design , the users participating in a product design session may use their voice chat connection or text chat connection to discuss and collaborate on the design . in the present embodiment , all users participating in a product design session can hear the voice of all other users or read text entered by all other users . in another embodiment of the invention , a user may be allowed to select whether they wish to hear the voice or read the text messages of other specific users . users may also be permitted to control which other users can hear their own voice or see their text messages . view controls 388 are used to store views of the product and to display previously stored views . the user in control of a product design session may click on the store view button . the user &# 39 ; s communications module 354 sends a store current view message to the system server 302 , which stores the current view of the based on the camera position update messages and change design messages that it has received . the system server 302 also selects a name for the view and transmits a new view message to each of the user computers 304 participating in the product design session , including the user computer 304 that sent the store current view message . the new view message includes the current camera position and the current design of the product at the time of the view . the new view is not displayed in the display window 370 , but the name of the view is added to the list of stored views in the views controls 388 . subsequently , the user in control of a session can select one of these views to be displayed . a display stored view message is sent to the system server and propagated to all of the other user computers 304 and the stored view is displayed in the display window 370 on all of the user computers 304 . the users may thus store different views and quickly switch to the different views to compare different designs of the product . since each view is stored by reference to a camera position , the controlling user may then manipulate the 3d image beginning from the position of the view once it is displayed . view controls 388 may be provided in another embodiment of system 100 to provide view storing and retrieval functionality in that embodiment . in another embodiments of the present invention , the controller of a product design session may be able to add graphic or text annotations ( or both ) to the image displayed in the display window 370 . for example , such annotations may be two - dimensional images overlaid on the 3d image in the graphics display 374 . when such annotations or graphics are added to an image , an update message is used to cause annotation or graphic to be displayed on the user computers participating in a product design session . when a view is stored , the annotation is stored as part of the view and when the view is subsequently displayed , the annotation is also displayed . in another embodiment of system 300 , the product data may also include pre - recorded information and such information may be displayed on all of the user &# 39 ; s display windows , under the control of the controlling user , as described above in relation to system 100 through the use of different update messages . as noted above , the system server 302 records all update messages , including all camera position update and change design messages sent to it . the system server 302 also records all views that are stored during a session . this information may be retained after a product design session ends to allow the session to be continued or to allow the different designs considered during a session to be reviewed subsequently . the recorded information may also be used to re - create the session and in effect serve as a recording of the session . voice and text chat data may also be stored and may be replayed to recreate the product design session in whole or in part . a previously recorded session may be replayed as part of a subsequent product design session and two or more users may continue to collaborate on the design of a product , effectively continuing the previously recorded session . the users may add additional product information during a product design session by uploading additional product data to the server 302 , as was described above . the new product data is distributed to all of the user computer &# 39 ; s participating in the product design session and the controller may display or otherwise use the new product data . system 300 may also be used for interactive product demonstrations in which one of the users demonstrates a product to one or more other users . the user conducting the demonstration may maintain control over the session and may manipulate a 3d image , 2d image or use pre - recorded information to provide information to the other users , while the user participate in an interactive voice or text chat . the present invention has been described here by way of example only . the features of the various embodiments may be combined to form additional embodiments of the invention . in addition , various modification and variations may be made to these exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , which is limited only by the appended claims . | 6 |
the invention herein is generically crystalline zeolite having at least some tin within the zeolitic aluminosilicate or silicate framework . desirably , the host zeolite may be forms of type a , faujasites ( such as types y and x ), zsm - 4 , zsm - 5 , zsm - 8 , zsm - 11 , zsm - 12 , type l , offretite , type omega or mazzite , type beta , chabazite , csz - 1 , high silica zk4 , and various si / al ratio faujasites having different cation contents . the more desirable compositions of matter have a faujasite structure in a chemical composition range : where a = 0 . 2 to 1 . 0 , and x represents h + in most cases but may be other the cations , e . g ., sodium , potassium , magnesium , calcium , strontium , barium , lithium or ammonium . the tin substituted zeolites may be produced by a moderate temperature hydrothermal process utilizing a tin compound . there is some evidence that hydroxyl groups known to be found within the zeolite can be reacted with alcl 3 and the resulting al 3 + annealed into the framework tetrahedral positions . see dessau and kerr , zeolites , 4 , p . 315 ( 1984 ). while not wishing to be bound by theory , it appears that using the inventive process , zeolites containing some aluminum in framework positions can be reacted with tin compounds under the acidic hydrothermal conditions to replace some or all of the al 3 + with the sn 4 + in the tetrahedral sites . dealuminated materials , e . g ., faujasites probably also have some concentration of &# 34 ; hydroxyl nests &# 34 ; ( see barrer and makki , 1964 ), and these also probably react to permit migration of sn 4 + into the tetrahedral vacancies . in any event , the process of this invention involves treating one of the host zeolites mentioned above with a tin - bearing compound under acidic hydrothermal conditions so as to replace at least a portion of the framework aluminum with tin . since the reacting tin compound is acidic , the higher silica - containing materials yield products of highest retained crystallinity . prior dealumination or silication may therefore be desirable in some instances . an especially suitable tin compound is tin chloride . hydrochloric acid is suitable as acidifying agent when used with a chloride - containing tin compound . after mixture of the zeolite with the appropriate tin compound , the mixture is transferred to an autoclave and treated at a moderate temperature , e . g ., 100 ° to about 220 ° c ., under autogenous pressure . desired temperatures are 130 ° c . to 165 ° c . treatment time is not particularly critical , but should be sufficiently long to allow the desired extent of reaction to take place . one to five hours , preferably two to four hours , is reasonably sufficient . complete replacement of al 3 + by sn 4 + will result in a neutral framework having no cation exchange capacity . it may , of course , be desirable to change only a portion of the al 3 + and leave the zeolite with some cation exchange capacity and thereby allow the tin substituted zeolite to be further ion exchanged with a catalytic metal of some kind . such a partially exchanged composition is suitable for a support in , for instance , a bifunctional catalyst . the compositions disclosed herein may contain some waters of hydration which may be at least partially removed when the zeolites are subsequently employed as catalysts or sorbents . in addition , when the aluminum in the framework is only partially replaced by tin , the resulting cation exchange sites may be subjected to ion exchange with a solution containing various cations such as hydrogen , ammonium , metal cations from groups i to viii of the periodic table , or mixtures thereof , to provide a material suitable for catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons such as , e . g ., paraffin isomerization , aromatization , alkylation , catalytic cracking , hydrocracking or the like , or suitable for sorption . the class of zeolites disclosed herein is expected to have different catalytic adsorption properties as compared with the corresponding aluminosilicates . in addition , this class of zeolites is expected to have novel hydrocarbon conversion selectivities , ion exchange , and gas separation properties simply because the presence of tin in the zeolitic framework will influence support interactions with deposited metals , exchange cation and reactants . the examples which follow illustrate the invention . in all examples , parts and percentages are given by weight and temperatures in degrees centigrade unless otherwise noted . these examples are presented for the purposes of demonstration and are not intended to be limiting of the invention in any fashion . a 2 gm sample of a high silica dealuminated faujasite elz - 20 ( union carbide corporation ) was reacted with 3 . 7 gms of sncl 2 . 2h 2 o and 0 . 62 gm of hcl at 145 ° c . in a teflon lined autoclave for two days . the resulting product was filtered and washed with 50 gms of water . fig1 a shows an x - ray diffraction pattern for the faujasite before treatment . fig1 b shows the x - ray diffraction pattern of the resulting product . that and the electron microprobe analysis in fig3 a ( untreated zeolite ) and 3b ( after sncl 2 treatment ) show that the resulting material was quite similar to the original elz - 20 , but with appreciable tin and chloride included . the 29 si - masnmr ( major angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance ) spectra as shown in fig3 a and 3b shows essentially no change in the spectrum . the washed material was then reslurried with about 150 gms of water at 60 ° c . for 1 hr , filtered , and washed until the filtrate tested chloride - free with an agno 3 solution . microprobe analysis ( fig1 c ) now shows the material to contain only silicon and tin , and the x - ray diffraction analysis ( fig1 c ) shows good crystallinity retention but major peak intensity changes compared to fig1 a or fig1 b . analysis of the washed and slurried product by 29 si - masnmr is ( as shown in fig2 a , 2b and 2c ) essentially identical to the original elz - 20 in showing a peak at - 102 . 5 ppm ( vs . tms ) presumably associated with si ( 1sn ) and si ( 1al ). compared to the si ( 4si ) peak at - 107 . 9 ppm , the smaller peak had a relative intensity of about 20 %. this represents a faujasite having an si / sn ratio of about 22 . in comparison , electron microprobe analysis gave an si / sn ratio of 9 . 3 and an si / al ratio of 21 . 5 . consequently , it is clear that a significant portion of the aluminum has been replaced by tin . as can be seen by comparing fig1 a with fig1 c , except for some relative intensity changes , and a shift toward a slightly larger unit cell for the 1c material , the x - ray diffraction patterns are essentially the same . little , if any , indication of structure degradation is found . the stoichiometry of the final product is : a 2 gm sample of a faujasite ( elz - 20 - union carbide corp .) was intimately mixed with 5 . 6 gm of sncl 4 . 5h 2 o and and 1 gm of h 2 o . electron microprobe analysis of the initial elz - 20 material is shown in fig4 a . the mixture was placed into a 25 ml . teflon - lined autoclave and reacted in an air oven at 160 ° c . after quenching to room temperature , the zeolite product was washed and filtered . the product was highly crystalline , as shown by x - ray diffraction analysis , and provided the microprobe analysis shown in fig4 b . the sample was then refluxed in deionized water for one hour , filtered and washed with 50 gm h 2 o at 80 ° c . the microprobe analysis of this sample is shown in fig4 c . the initial material shown in fig4 a had an si / al ratio of about 2 . 1 , the material in fig4 b had an si / al ratio of about 4 . 5 ( although various particles in the sample gave si / al ratio as high as 12 indicating variable washing affects ); the thoroughly washed material in fig4 c had an si / al cation of about 1 and all detrital chloride was removed . the washed sample had si / sn analysis of about 19 . the product stoichiometry was therefore : having thus described the invention and provided examples thereof , it should be apparent to those having ordinary skill in this art that obvious variations of the composition and the process of making those compositions would be within the scope of this invention as claimed below . | 8 |
fig1 is a perspective view of a first box 10 in accordance with the invention . box 10 is fabricated of card stock and is in the form of a rectangular solid , having parallel rectangular top and bottom panels 12 and 14 , respectively , parallel rectangular front and back panels 16 and 18 , respectively , and parallel rectangular left and right end panels 20 and 22 , respectively . box 10 is the package for a plurality of food items , such as taco shells and perhaps related filling materials for the taco shells . taco shells are widely available packaged twelve in a box . such a box measures about 1 . 875 inches ( 4 . 8 cm ) between panels 12 and 14 , 5 . 75 inches ( 14 . 6 cm ) between panels 16 and 18 and 7 . 25 inches ( 18 . 4 cm ) between panels 20 and 22 , and has a zip open means ( not shown ) along one of panels 20 and 22 for opening box 10 . box 10 is provided with score line means including a plurality , eight as shown , of closed recess - producing perforated score lines along which portions of box 10 are separable from each other . specifically , box 10 has eight closed recess producing score lines 24 , 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 and 38 . each of score lines 24 , 26 , 28 and 30 lies in panels 12 , 14 and 16 , while each of score lines 32 , 34 , 36 and 38 lies in panels 12 , 14 and 18 . since score lines 24 , 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 and 38 are identical , only one needs to be described in detail . the one chosen for description is score line 24 . score line 24 has straight parallel portions 40 and 42 in panel 16 , perpendicular to panels 12 and 14 and extending from panel 12 to panel 14 . score line 24 further has straight parallel portions 44 and 46 in panel 12 , perpendicular to panel 16 and forming continuations of portions 40 and 42 , respectively , and straight parallel portions 48 and 50 in panel 14 , perpendicular to panel 16 and forming continuations of portions 40 and 42 , respectively . portions 44 and 46 are joined by an arcuate portion 52 in panel 12 and centered midway between portions 44 and 46 and tangential thereto . the distance from panel 16 to the part of arcuate portion 52 that is farthest from panel 16 is about 1 . 875 inches ( 4 . 8 cm ). portions 48 and 50 are likewise joined by an arcuate portion ( not visible ) in panel 14 and centered midway between portions 48 and 50 and tangential thereto . the distance from panel 16 to the part of the last mentioned arcuate portion that is farthest from panel 16 is about 1 . 875 inches ( 4 . 8 cm ). the distance between portions 44 and 46 is about 1 . 25 inches ( 3 . 0 cm ). score line 24 is spaced about 0 . 5625 inch ( 1 . 4 cm ) from panel 20 and about 0 . 375 inch ( 1 . 0 cm ) from score line 26 . score line 28 is spaced about 0 . 375 inch ( 1 . 0 cm ) from score line 26 , and score line 30 is spaced about 0 . 375 inch ( 1 . 0 cm ) from score line 28 and about 0 . 5625 inch ( 1 . 4 cm ) from panel 22 . box 10 is also provided with additional score line means including a closed score line 60 lying in the plane parallel to and midway between panels 16 and 18 , about 2 . 875 inches ( 7 . 2 cm ) from each . score line 60 is in and bisects panels 12 , 14 , 20 and 22 , thus extending all the way around box 10 . box 10 may advantageously be reinforced adjacent to line 60 , as indicated at 61 , for stability portions of box 10 are separable from each other by the consumer to convert box 10 into a tray 62 ( fig2 ) having taco holding recesses and a base . more specifically , the card stock within each of score lines 24 , 26 , 28 , and 30 is removed to expose taco holding recesses 28 &# 39 ;, 30 &# 39 ;, 32 &# 39 ;, and 34 &# 39 ;, respectively . as shown in fig2 these recesses have rounded bottoms and parallel sides in panels 12 and 14 . the conversion of box 10 into tray 62 is completed by separating the card stock along base - producing score line 60 to provide tray 62 with an open base 60 &# 39 ;, on which tray 62 can be stored on a flat surface with taco holding recesses 28 &# 39 ;, 30 &# 39 ;, 32 &# 39 ;, and 34 &# 39 ; facing upwardly . as shown in fig2 a filled taco 64 can be held in a stable upright position . taco 64 is shown in recess 30 &# 39 ;. box 10 can be made to yield a second tray identical to tray 62 by removing the card stock within score lines 32 , 34 , 36 , and 38 . it is stated above that box 10 typically provides twelve taco shells and possibly related filling material . the two trays into which box 10 is convertible can handle eight filled tacos . one of those trays can be reused to the extent of handling four additional filled tacos before disposal . fig3 is a perspective view of a second box 70 in accordance with the invention . box 70 may be the same as box 10 in size and shape , having top and bottom panels 12 and 14 , respectively , front and back panels 16 and 18 , respectively , and left and right panels 20 and 22 , respectively . box 70 , like box 10 , also has additional score line means including a score line 72 extending therearound , similar to base producing score line 60 of box 10 . but score line 72 is not a base producing score line , as will appear more clearly . box 70 also has , in top panel 12 , a plurality , four as shown , of like closed recess - producing perforated score lines 79 , 76 , 78 , and 80 that traverse and are bisected by line 72 . socre lines 79 , 76 , 78 , and 80 are elongated with arcuate ends remote from line 72 . box 70 further has , in bottom panel 14 , four closed recess - producing perforated score lines ( not shown ), sized and shaped the same as lines 79 , 76 , 78 , and 80 , and directly in registry with lines 74 , 76 , 78 and 80 . box 70 is convertible into a tray 82 ( fig4 ) by separating box 70 along line 72 and thereupon removing the card stock within lines 79 , 76 , 78 , and 80 and the lines directly in registry therewith in panel 14 , thus to expose four taco holding recesses 74 &# 39 ;, 76 &# 39 ;, 78 &# 39 ;, and 80 &# 39 ;, filled taco 64 being shown in recess 76 &# 39 ;. the foregoing procedure also creates out of box 70 a second tray identical to tray 82 , but with the base being provided by panel 18 . fig4 is a perspective view of a third box 90 in accordance with the invention . box 90 may be the same size and shape as box 10 . box 90 has score line means including a single perforated score line 92 extending therearound . line 92 follows a zig - zag course 94 across one panel of box 90 and a zigzag course ( not seen ) in registry with course 94 across an opposite panel of box 90 . line 92 follows a straight course 96 across a further panel from one end of the unseen zig - zag course and a straight course ( not seen ) along the panel opposite the further panel and joining the opposite ends of course 94 and the unseen zig - zag course . box 90 is convertible into two trays 96 ( fig6 ) by separating the two halves of box 90 along line 92 . each tray 96 has a closed base 98 provided by one of the panels of box 90 and four upwardly facing v - shaped taco holding recesses 100 , 102 , 104 an 106 , filled taco 64 being shown in recess 102 . it is apparent that the invention achieves the stated objects and advantages and others . the disclosed details are exemplary and are not to be taken as limitations on the invention except as those details may be included in the appended claims . | 8 |
referring to the drawings , a reloadable training munition 10 of the present invention is illustrated . the munition 10 comprises three main components , namely a reusable projectile 12 , a reusable shell base 14 and a reload insert 16 . the reusable projectile 12 has a nose section 18 which is designed to closely simulate the weight , flight stability and aerodynamic characteristics of an actual munitions projectile , but utilizing materials and manufacturing techniques to reduce the cost and allow the projectile to be reused numerous times without loss of performance . for example , an actual munition projectile could be a multi - component projectile made of plastic and foam components bonded together and the reusable projectile which would replace the actual munitions could be a single - piece , molded plastic projectile . depending upon the actual munition projectile the reusable projectile is replacing , the projectile can be solid or can be hollow . the reusable projectile has a reduced diameter neck portion 20 sized to provide an interference fit inside the reusable shell base and can be inserted into the shell base by hand . the reusable shell base 14 has the same internal and external dimensions as a single use shell base to preserve the interface and fit with the projectile and the weapon platform . the reusable shell base incorporates the hollow cavity 22 in the bottom of the shell which accepts the reload insert 16 . the internal diameter of a hollow cavity is designed with sufficient tolerance to allow the reload insert to be loaded or removed by hand . the reload insert 16 houses a blank cartridge 24 and a rupture disc 26 . the reload insert also has a vent hole 28 ( seen best in fig3 ) which together with the propellent cartridge and rupture disc form the high / low pressure propulsion system . to retain the reload insert within the reusable shell base , a mechanical attachment means is incorporated . for example as shown in fig2 , a threaded hole 30 extends from the external surface of the shell to the longitudinal axis of the shell and intersecting the hollow cavity 22 . a set screw 32 is threaded into the hole and can be tightened to move the screw towards the hollow cavity and engage the reload insert . consequently , when a reload insert is in place in the hollow cavity and the set screw tightened , the set screw provides a mechanical means of securing the reload insert into the reusable shell base . when the set screw is loosened , the reload insert can be easily removed by hand with simple hand tools such as an allen wrench . as shown in fig3 , other forms of mechanical retention systems can be utilized such as a spring loaded locking pin 34 . locking pin 34 includes a spring 36 which are positioned within a hole 38 extending into the shell base 40 . the end of the pin 34 engages a groove 42 extending around the parameter of the reload insert 44 . when inserting the reload insert , the pin would be displaced out of the hollow cavity by compressing the spring and then returning into the hollow cavity by spring force when the hole or groove and the external surface of the reload insert is aligned with the end of the pin . other embodiments of mechanical retention systems could include a lock wire or retaining ring that is placed in one end of the hollow cavity to secure the reload insert while maintaining the ease of loading and unloading . another example could be the reload insert itself could be threaded on its external surface to match threads on interior surface of the hollow cavity , providing a means to screw the reload insert in and out of the shell base using common tools . another mechanical means of retention could be designed into the interface between the reload insert and the shell base such as steps or grooves that could lock the reload insert in place when it is inserted and turned in the shell base . a locking groove system would incorporate a reload with features that are keyed to the same pattern as the opening in the shell base , the keyed feature positioned axially on the reload to align with a radial groove on the interior of the shell cavity . the reload is inserted until the keyed feature and the groove align , and then rotated to lock the reload in place . still another mechanical means of retaining the propulsion system reload could be an o - ring interface between the propulsion system reload and the interior surface of the hollow cavity in the shell base . the o - ring could be located either in a groove on the external surface of the propulsion system reload , meeting with the groove on the internal surface of the hollow cavity in the shell base , or vice versa wherein the o - ring is located in a groove on the internal surface of the hollow cavity of the shell base and mates with a groove on the surface of the propulsion system reload . fig3 also illustrates the principals of the high / low pressure propulsion system for the reload insert . the reload insert includes the vent hole 28 which separates the high pressure chamber 46 from the low pressure chamber 48 . the ammunition as shown in fig1 - 3 is , by way of example only , a 40 mm reloading training munition for non - lethal impact munitions , but the principals of the invention can easily be applied to other calibers and training ammunition applications . all of the present invention has been illustrated with respect to several embodiments thereof , it is not to be so limited since changes and modifications can be made which are within the intended scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed . | 5 |
the rubber cement of the present invention comprises a seed rubber composition comprising a rubber component and a filler , and a solvent . in the seed rubber composition , the rubber component comprises a diene rubber which is similar to that in inner rubber members so that the properties ( in particular , tb and mod ) of the seed rubber of the rubber cement are improved to be close to those of the inner rubber members and the applied marks are distinctly observable . as the filler , silica is selected so that tb and mod are improved , and titanium dioxide is selected so that the whiteness of the applied rubber cement is enhanced and the mark is more distinctly observable . of course , other ingredients generally used in formulations of rubber compositions such as white fillers , vulcanization accelerators , vulcanization acceleration activator , vulcanizing agents , antioxidants , silane coupling agents and coloring agents can be suitably selected and used . the rubber cement of the present invention can be prepared by dissolving the components for the rubber cement into a solvent in accordance with a conventional method . the concentration of the rubber cement is not particularly limited and is selected in accordance with the rubber article to which the rubber cement is applied . when the concentration is excessively low , marks made with the rubber cement are less distinctly observable . when the concentration is excessively high , the operation of application becomes difficult . therefore , a suitable concentration should be selected . preferably the rubber composition comprises from about 10 to about 60 parts by weight of silica per 100 parts by weight of the rubber component . when the amount of silica is less than about 10 parts by weight , the reinforcement effect of silica is may be insufficient . when the amount of silica exceeds about 60 parts by weight , the workability in mixing may deteriorate . preferably the rubber composition comprises from about 5 to about 30 parts by weight of titanium dioxide per 100 parts by weight of the rubber component . when the amount of titanium dioxide is less than about 5 parts by weight , the whiteness may be insufficient . when the amount of titanium dioxide exceeds about 30 parts by weight , resistance to cleavage may deteriorate . the rubber cement can be applied to various types of rubber articles . as the portion to which the rubber cement is applied , it is preferable that a portion having a smaller internal strain is selected . in the following , a tire is taken as an example of the rubber article and the marking during lamination of tread materials is described . shearing strains and compressive strains are formed between inner components of the tire while loaded or during rotation of the tire . in general , a strain formed in the central portion of a belt are smaller than that formed at the end portion of the belt . therefore , the central portion is more suitable for applying the rubber cement . since the shearing strain increases as going farther from the central line in the axial direction of the tire , it is preferable that the rubber cement is applied in an area having a width of about 20 % or smaller of the width of the tread portion along the central line of the circumference of the tire ( the surface area s to which the rubber cement for marking can be applied , shown in fig1 ). to summarize the advantages of the present invention , by the use of the above rubber cement , sufficient resistance to cleavage between inner rubber members forming a laminate can be exhibited since the tensile strength ( tb ) and the modulus of elasticity ( mod ) of the seed rubber composition of the rubber cement are increased so that the properties of the rubber cement layer can be made as close as possible to the properties of the rubber members which contact the rubber cement layer . a bright color for the marking is also exhibited by the use of the above rubber cement . the correct positions of the inner rubber members can be easily and specifically decided by the use of the above rubber cement for marking purpose and the rubber articles having more accurate structures . the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples in the following . the formulations used in examples of the first aspect of the present invention and comparative examples are shown in table 1 . as the rubber article of the second aspect of the present invention , a tire is selected . the test of cleavage between a carcass ply p and a belt b in a crown portion of the carcass where the tread portion t is placed was conducted and the surface formed by the cleavage was observed . a marking character was placed with a rubber cement on a portion of 1 cm × 1 cm along the central line of the surface of a ply treat , and a tire having a size of 11r22 . 5 and a rib pattern was built and vulcanized . then , the prepared tire was dissected . the cleavage test between the carcass ply p and the first belt b 1 was conducted and the surface formed by the cleavage was observed . the results of the cleavage test and the observation are shown in table 1 . the rubber cement of the present invention comprising the rubber component , silica and titanium dioxide was used . the coated portion of the ply treat was remarkably white as expected . in the test of cleavage of the tire , the rubber cement was not exposed to the surface and the rubber surrounding the rubber cement was broken in the form of the aggregate fracture . the results showed that the excellent adhesion was achieved . in the test of cleavage after the lr drum test for 40 , 000 km , the surface formed by the cleavage was observed and it was shown that the rubber surrounding the rubber cement was broken in the form of the aggregate fracture . the results are shown in table 1 . the lr ( long run ) drum test is for a measurement of durability of a tire , which is measured by running a tire on a drum at a speed of 60 km / hour for a distance of 40000 km a rubber cement for marking lines on tread rubbers and a white side rubber used for passenger car tires ( psr ), which were available in a tire production plant , were used as the rubber cement for marking . in the test of cleavage , the fracture occurred within the rubber cement and the resistance to cleavage decreased markedly to about ¼of the ordinary value . the durability of the tire was also insufficient . the results are shown in table 1 . a rubber cement containing silica but no titanium dioxide was used . silica was used in an amount of 65 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the rubber component . although an excellent result was obtained in the test of cleavage , the workability by a banbury mixer was markedly poor . moreover , since titanium dioxide was not contained , the whiteness of the mark was insufficient . therefore , the rubber cement was not suitable for the cement for marking . the results are shown in table 1 . only example 1 , which has both silica and titanium dioxide in its formulation , provides a combination of acceptable properties for use as a rubber cement according to the present invention . | 2 |
the mri system shown in fig1 includes a gantry 10 ( shown in schematic cross - section ) and various related system components 20 interfaced therewith . at least the gantry 10 is typically located in a shielded room . one mri system geometry depicted in fig1 includes a substantially coaxial cylindrical arrangement of the static field bo magnet 12 , a g x , g y and g z gradient coil set 14 and an rf coil assembly 16 . along the horizontal axis of this cylindrical array of elements is an imaging volume 18 shown as substantially encompassing the head of a patient 9 supported by a patient table 11 . an mri system controller 22 has input / output ports connected to display 24 , keyboard / mouse 26 and printer 28 . as will be appreciated , the display 24 may be of the touch - screen variety so that it provides control inputs as well . the mri system controller 22 interfaces with mri sequence controller 30 which , in turn , controls the g x , g y and g z gradient coil drivers 32 , as well as the rf transmitter 34 and the transmit / receive switch 36 ( if the same rf coil is used for both transmission and reception ). the mri sequence controller 30 includes suitable program code structure 38 for implementing mri data acquisition sequences available in the repertoire of the mri sequence controller 30 . cardiac signal acquisition apparatus 8 ( positioned as appropriate on the patient anatomy ) may be used to provide peripheral pulsatile and / or cardiac gating signals 13 to trigger the mri sequence controller 30 . the mri system 20 includes an rf receiver 40 providing input to data processor 42 so as to create processed image data to display 24 . the mri data processor 42 is also configured for access to image reconstruction program code structure 44 and to mr image memory 46 ( e . g ., for storing mr image data derived from processing in accordance with the exemplary embodiments and the image reconstruction program code structure 44 ). also illustrated in fig1 is a generalized depiction of an mri system program / data store 50 where stored program code structures ( e . g ., for image reconstruction such as non - contrast mra and pre - scan systole / diastole determinations within a cardiac cycle , operator inputs to same , etc .) are stored in computer - readable storage media accessible to the various data processing components of the mri system . as those in the art will appreciate , the program store 50 may be segmented and directly connected , at least in part , to different ones of the system 20 processing computers having most immediate need for such stored program code structures in their normal operation ( i . e ., rather than being commonly stored and connected directly to the mri system controller 22 ). indeed , as those in the art will appreciate , the fig1 depiction is a very high - level simplified diagram of a typical mri system with some modifications so as to practice exemplary embodiments to be described hereinbelow . the system components can be divided into different logical collections of “ boxes ” and typically comprise numerous digital signal processors ( dsp ), microprocessors , special purpose processing circuits ( e . g ., for fast nd conversions , fast fourier transforming , array processing , etc .). each of those processors is typically a clocked “ state machine ” wherein the physical data processing circuits progress from one physical state to another upon the occurrence of each clock cycle ( or predetermined number of clock cycles ). not only does the physical state of processing circuits ( e . g ., cpus , registers , buffers , arithmetic units , etc .) progressively change from one clock cycle to another during the course of operation , the physical state of associated data storage media ( e . g ., bit storage sites in magnetic storage media ) is transformed from one state to another during operation of such a system . for example , at the conclusion of an mr - imaging reconstruction process , an array of computer - readable accessible data value storage sites in physical storage media will be transformed from some prior state ( e . g ., all uniform “ zero ” values or all “ one ” values ) to a new state wherein the physical states at the physical sites of such an array vary between minimum and maximum values to represent real world physical events and conditions ( e . g ., the blood flowing in arteries of a patient over an imaging volume space ). as those in the art will appreciate , such arrays of stored data values represent and also constitute a physical structure — as does a particular structure of computer control program codes that , when sequentially loaded into instruction registers and executed by one or more cpus of the mri system 20 , cause a particular sequence of operational states to occur and be transitioned through within the mri system . the exemplary embodiments described below provide improved ways to process data acquisitions and / or to generate and display mr - images . time - resolved non - contrast mra ( magnetic resonance angiography ) can be obtained by successively acquiring mr images at small incremental delay ( repeat ) times throughout r - r cycle so as to surely include systole to diastole and the subtraction of dark signals at systole from the bright signals at or during diastole . this provides one or more images of blood travel between systole to diastole times in the cardiac cycle . however , since one does not initially know where the appropriate sub - period or sub - interval of a cardiac cycle resides in the pqrstu complex , all data is acquired with small increments of delay to acquire finely separated data acquisition sequences over a whole cardiac r - r period and then find the most suitable images at ( a ) diastole and ( b ) systole to subtract and produce the desired time - resolved fluid vascular ( e . g ., mra ) image . to reduce wasted resource usage , the exemplary embodiment first performs an ecg - prep rough scan with relatively large rough increments ( e . g ., like 100 ms ) to cover a whole cardiac cycle . fbi - navi or some similar program can be used to display a graph of the rough scan signal intensity versus delay time to allow operator selection of the beginning and the end of steep signal changes — and a finer final imaging increment that can be operator selected . the exemplary system can also automatically calculate the final scan repeat interval ( i . e ., how many times to repeat a scan within the defined interval ). for example , an auto - ecg mode as described in co - pending commonly assigned application 12 / 699 , 169 may be employed to use the heart rate to calculate systolic and diastolic periods and to determine systolic and diastolic triggering delays . the signals from the “ black ” systole image are automatically subtracted from the bright diastolic signals , or vice versa , to display time - resolved images ( 2d and 3d ). in cine mode , a sequence of such images can show flow - like hemodynamic images . similarly , in time - slip time - resolved images , a 2d bbti - prep scan can display an fbi - navi - like plot of bbti - prep results and an operator may select a desired period and / or repeat parameters for the data acquisition in 2d and / or 3d . time - resolved non - contrast images can be obtained using fbi - navi - aided selection of signal acquisition duration during a relevant signal changing area ( which alternatively can be automatically system selected to encompass detected steep slope periods instead of relying upon an operator &# 39 ; s selection ). an exemplary gui of the above interface and system scan operation and subtraction can produce flow - like images while allowing a reduction of scan time to obtain time - resolved non - contrast images in fbi and time - slip sequences . because one does not initially know when particular signal intensity changes occur within a cardiac cycle , multiple scans with a small increment ( for example , 10 msec ) have been used to cover a whole cardiac cycle , such as an r - r interval of 1 , 000 ms where using an increment of 10 ms would require 100 mri data acquisition sequences . using a 3rr interval per scan , 2d scan to make a 3d scan ( 2d spatial data with 1d in time ) will take 3rr × 100 = 300rrs or 300 cardiac beats . 300 × 1000 ms = 300 sec or 5 minutes . for sufficient 3d scans to collect 4d data ( 3d spatial data with 1d in time ), it may thus take 50 minutes for 10 slices . in addition , the post - acquisition processing of those extensive acquired data sets takes a long time ( e . g ., due to not initially knowing where the diastolic or high signal intensity is to be found for subtraction and where the lowest or peak systolic phase may be located ). as noted above , typically , due to not knowing the signal intensity curve for a particular patient in advance , a whole cardiac cycle of consecutively delayed slice images was acquired using single shot fse ( fase ) or any other suitable mra sequences ( epi , bssfp , etc .) with a small increment like 10 - 20 msec . now , however , in order to initially ascertain a rough signal intensity curve , an ecg - prep scan using a relatively large increment ( roughly like 100 ms ) can be used to cover a whole cardiac cycle , as shown in fig2 . by using an fbi - navi ( a plot of signal intensity versus ecg time ), one can select start and end scan times and a desired shorter increment for the consecutively delayed mri sequences as shown in fig3 . subtraction of lower intensity signals in systole from higher intensity signals at diastolic triggered images will give time - resolved mra images visually representing moving blood signals , as shown in fig5 where s1 , s2 , . . . sn are systolic phases 1 , 2 , . . . n . if displayed in cine mode ( fig6 ), non - contrast time - resolved mra can be seen . acquiring only the steep signal change from systolic to diastolic with the smaller delay increment allows an overall faster scan time for time - resolved non - contrast mra . further shortening of scan time can be made using : t2 plus ( 90 degree flip back pulse at the end of the acquisition to bring the x - y magnetization to the + z direction ) higher parallel imaging factor to shorten an actual single shot time and reducing the tr from 3rr interval to 1 or 2rr interval a keyhole type scan to share the peripheral k - space data using a full sample at the diastole ( or systole ) and a center part of k - space to acquire and share the non - acquired part ( elsewhere than a center ) to make images . this provides shorter scan time to obtain a non - contrast time - resolved in 2d spatial with 1d time images or 3d spatial with 1d time images . an easy to use gui can be provided for this time - resolved technique using the systolic to diastolic period by selecting the start and end of the scan period and by presetting the delay increment ( e . g ., by having the system calculate a repeat increment ). non - contrast time - resolved images ( 2d spatial + 1d time = 3d or 3d + 1d time = 4d ) imaging can be obtained using this type of ecg - prep or fbi - navi result . without this approach , one acquired a single shot fse image at a small repeat increment over the whole cardiac cycle , which takes a long time now , one can use the result of the initial rough fbi - navi to select the start and end time ( s ) of scan ( s ) and , if desired , a delay increment to cover the low intensity signal ( systolic ) to high intensity signal ( diastolic ) triggering times . the system may automatically calculate the repeat interval and acquire multiple scans in different phases ( 2d or 3d scans ) and subtract the systolic data from diastolic data ( or vice versa ) to display time - resolved mr images as flow dynamics . this approach can provide time - resolved non - contrast images obtained using fbi - navi , selection of duration ( signal change area , which can be automatically system selected ( steep slope detection ) or operator selected ). a friendly gui of the above interface and system scan operation and subtraction can produce flow - like images . in the exemplary embodiments , since the mr signal intensity versus time curve throughout an r - r interval of the cardiac cycle for a particular patient is not known in advance , a rough scan of the interval for a given patient may be utilized to quickly discern the location of systole and diastole timings . for example , as shown in fig2 , a succession of mri slice imaging sequences s1 , s2 . . . may be effected at relatively large intervals ( e . g ., 100 or so msec ) over the r - r interval for that patient ( which may approximate 650 to 1 , 300 msec or so ). in this manner , the mr signal intensity over the r - r interval is initially mapped out as depicted in fig2 so as to identify the timing of minimum mr signal intensity ( systole ) and the timing of maximum mr signal intensity ( diastole ). once the systole and diastole time points have been identified for that particular patient , then a more concentrated ( i . e ., more closely spaced in time series of successively delayed mri slice imaging sequences may be effected so as to capture the most desirable part of the r - r cycle , namely , between systole and diastole as depicted in fig3 . here , the mri sequences may be more closely spaced ( e . g ., 10 msec or so ) so as to provide the desired level of incremental change between images . this allows the use of techniques such as fbi ( fresh blood imaging )- navi in 2d and / or 3d acquisitions as time - resolved non - contrast mra images . when these successive images are displayed in cine mode , they appear as a hemodynamic display of blood flowing through vessels ( or other fluids flowing through other appropriate vessels ) within the imaged patient body part . however , by first doing an initial rough scan as in fig2 in order to map out the mr signal intensity curve during an r - r interval for a given patient and then concentrating only on the desired ( e . g ., systole / diastole ) part of that curve for the more finely closely separated series of images , one can effectively save a considerable amount of time . as depicted in fig4 , some patients may have an mr signal intensity curve that has more than one pair of minimum and maximum points . as shown in fig4 , for example , first minimum and first maximum systole / diastole points define a first interval i 1 that captures most of the positively sloped intensity curve for which a first sequence of images is then captured . however , in addition , this particular patient exhibits a second interval i 2 with a second minimum and a second maximum . accordingly , this second smaller interval defining a second smaller positively sloped region can also be captured in a second sequence of consecutively delayed slice imaging mri sequences as also depicted in fig4 . in effect , this permits the capturing of positively sloped portions of the intensity curve that occur in later time segments . fig5 schematically depicts idealized sections of a linear artery that has been imaged at various timings and then subtracted ( e . g ., diastolic - systolic ) to produce a series of images that can be displayed in cine mode ( e . g ., see fig6 ) to simulate a hemodynamic video display showing an advancing volume of blood through that imaged section of artery . while this type of fbi - navi display is , of course , known in the prior art , the use of an initial rough , longer interval , mapping sequence as in fig2 so as to permit restriction of the closer spaced successive images more precisely in a thusly identified systole / diastole interval as shown in fig3 and 4 greatly decreases the overall data acquisition time . changes in arterial signal intensity can be drastic from end systolic to early diastolic . however , each patient has a different timing for this change . in order to find the most relevant time period when there is increasing signal intensity , fbi - navi can be used to determine a rough estimation of systolic and diastolic triggering times ( e . g ., as acquired using an ecg - prep scan , single slice with multiple phases ). in order to reduce total acquisition time for time - resolved non - contrast mra , using the result of the prep - scan fbi - navi , time - resolved images can be more efficiently acquired in the period of drastically increasing signal change from late systole to early diastole . to efficiently obtain time - resolved non - contrast mra images , a drastically increasing signal change period from late systole to early diastole can be automatically determined using the fbi - navi , as shown in fig2 . thereafter , the system can automatically determine the optimum scan period . an operator can selectively determine the incremental delay and / or the system can calculate a suitable repeat time to acquire successively delayed slice images throughout the systole to diastole period . the system may then subtract each of the successive systolic images from the diastolic triggered image ( high intensity signal ) and can display the succession of subtracted images . the desired signal change period ( e . g ., late systole to early diastole ) as measured using pre - scan fbi - navi can then be acquired with a smaller delay increment — or a signal change period calculated by auto - ecg ( e . g ., see co - pending application ser . no . 12 / 699 , 169 ) can be used with a smaller increment . auto - ecg uses heart rate and the measured systolic and diastolic period to calculate a suitable delay interval . auto - ecg can also automatically determine systolic and diastolic triggering delays . the system also may automatically determine only the systole / diastole period and let the operator decide upon a desired incremental delay or suggested increment ( e . g ., 10 - 20 ms ). the system may then calculate an appropriate repeat time to acquire successive images through the relevant period . the system then subtracts the systolic images from the diastolic triggered image ( high intensity signal ) and displays the subtracted images . auto - ecg may use heart rate and the systolic and diastolic period to determine systolic and diastolic triggering delays . time - resolved non - contrast mra data can thus be acquired in a shorter time . the acquisition period can be selected in an easier manner and data processing ( e . g ., subtraction ), which is cumbersome to do manually , can be done in the system . the system display can be done without manual display in a cine mode . exemplary program code structure for a systole / diastole interval determination module is depicted at fig7 . there , the module is entered at 70 ( e . g ., via a suitable operator and / or system command associated with a desire to acquire / display time - resolved mra images ). at 72 , a wait loop is entered for operator selection of rough scan parameters . such operator selections may encompass , for example , items such as shown in box 74 where the operator may define start and stop scan period times ( e . g ., r - r interval ), the number of repeats or size of delay time increments or the like ( or may opt to simply let the system automatically determine these first rough scan parameters ). once operator inputs are completed , then a rough fbi - navi scan is performed at 76 . if further operator inputs are to be permitted ( i . e ., if fully automatic system operation is not desired ), then the resulting rough scan signal versus time data may be displayed at 78 before entering a wait loop at 80 for operator selection of the final systole / diastole scan parameters . as depicted in box 82 , such operator selections may include selections for more than one interval . however , for at least the first interval , the operator may enter start and stop scan times , as well as second smaller time intervals — or may merely opt to let the system automatically determine suitable smaller time intervals for the subsequent time - resolved mra scanning process . once final operator inputs have been completed , then control is passed to 84 for time - resolved non - contrast mra processes conducted in accordance with those operator - set parameters ( e . g ., as may be accomplished by exit to a separate module where conventional time - resolved non - contrast mra is performed within the more limited systole / diastole time interval ( s ) as determined by the rough scan processes described in the earlier portions of fig7 . of course , those in the art will appreciate that , if desired , substantially all of the processes set forth in fig7 could be programmed for automatic implementation by the system without repeated operator control inputs . for example , the operator inputs , if any , could be limited to the pre - setting of preference parameters or the like in an overall module for time - resolved non - contrast mra . while certain embodiments of the inventions have been described , these embodiments have been presented by way of example only , and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions . indeed , the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms . furthermore , various omissions , substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions . the accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions . | 6 |
this invention is a method of continuous bacteriophage production comprising a “ proliferator ” in which target “ bait ” bacteria and matching virulent bacteriophage are combined in a continuous flow reactor vessel under conditions of temperature , solution composition and residence time to replicate virulent bacteriophage , thereby increasing both the number of bacteriophage and its concentration in solution . phage concentration of the reactor outflow can be adjusted by the relative flow and concentration of input bacteria solution and bacteriophage solution , residence time and optionally , recycle of the output stream . the invention also provides for the control of flows in the reaction in response to real time analysis of component streams . as used herein the following definitions apply : a phage cocktail includes multiple , receptor independent phages for each target bacterial host . this is different from a phage panel , which is a collection of phages chosen to cover as wide a host range as possible . since some srb phages are known to be polyvalent — effective against more than one strain of srb ( or other bacteria ), there may not need be a separate cocktail for every strain of target bacteria . this panel of cocktails is designated herein as phage “ multi - panel ”. as used herein , the terms bacteriophage and virus are used interchangeably . this is because biologists have not consistently named all phage - like viruses as phage . for example , archaea , are preyed upon by archae virus , algae , by algal virus and fungi by mycovirus . all such virus and bacteriophage that replicate in the same way as bacteriophage are candidates for the process of this invention . bacteriophage also include engineered bacteriophage , that even thought modified from the “ wild ” phage ( as found in natural state ) will replicate in the same or similar way as “ wild ” phage . in order to produce sufficient amount of bacteriophage ( phage ) to treat large volume of water , phage numbers may be greatly increased and concentrated either on site of use or at a central location . propagation of virulent phages is achieved by attaching itself into its matching host bacteria , infection the host , replicating itself and rupturing the bacteria . an embodiment of this invention is a process for bacteriophage concentration and proliferation as illustrated in fig1 . when bacteriophage to be concentrated are anaerobic as are sulfate reducing bacteria ( srb ) it is preferred , and sometimes necessary for the entire system for proliferation / concentration to be blanketed with a non - oxygen gas — nitrogen preferred , since the srb will not survive if there is significant oxygen in the system . this precaution may not be required for phage of aerobic bacteria ( such as nocardonia and gardonia ) but may be used to reduce air born contamination of the system . there are many factors that influence the rate and efficiency of attachment of phage to host bacteria and the lyse of the problematic bacteria , including , but not limited to , temperature , pressure , medium in which they reside and concentration . concentration of both phage and bacteria are often critical to achieve meaningful replication since interaction between phage and bacteria is largely governed by the concentrations of both the phage and the host bacteria . mathematical models allow a theoretically calculation of the dynamics of the host and phage population change in a given system . phage start the life cycle by adsorbing to the hose cell , and virulent phage adsorption to the host cell generally results in the destruction of the host cell and release of progeny phage . unless the concentration is sufficiently high little replication will occur . therefore , it is critical in the method of the invention that the concentration of bacteria and phage be sufficient for maximum infection and replication . this criticality of concentration is described in the following : “ the rate at which phages adsorb to their host is determined by second - order kinetics , as described by the relationship − dp / dt = kpb , where k is the phage adsorption rate constant in ml / min , p is the phage concentration , and b is the bacterial concentration . although this process can be expressed in terms of second - order kinetics , under most conditions the behavior is pseudo - first order : during the adsorption process free phage are eliminated from the system by adsorption to a host bacterium , but the bacterium remains free in the system to adsorb additional phage . this relationship can also be expressed explicitly ( here in terms of the rate constant k ) as where p 0 is the initial concentration of free phage and p t is the concentration of free phage at time t . one conclusion which can be drawn from this expression is that the concentration of susceptible bacteria , b , and the adsorption rate constant , k , will strongly influence the rate at which free phage are able to locate and adsorb to their hosts . a second conclusion is that given constant parameters , the amount of phage adsorbed by bacteria in time period t is a constant proportion of the initial phage population . thus , if 50 % of the free phage in a given system are adsorbed during time t , the absolute number of phage adsorbed would be 50 if p 0 = 100 pfu , and 50 , 000 if p 0 were 100 , 000 pfu .” ( practical and theoretical considerations for the use of bacteriophages in the food systems , jason j gill , in bacteriophages in the control of food and waterborne pathogens , parviz m sabour and mansel w griffiths ed ., june 2010 , american society for microbiology press , washing d . c .) theoretical calculations based on the mathematical models , while are not the only factors covering phage replication , serve as guidelines for determining the amount of phage and the time required to replicate phage under ideal conditions . for example , table 1 shows the time ( in minutes ) required to adsorb a given percentage of phage ( for example , 50 %, 90 %, and 99 %) as a function of the target cell concentration ( in cfu / ml ), assuming k = 5 e − 8 ml / min ( a fast binding rate ). note this proportion is independent of the actual number of phage , so 50 % of 100 pfu / ml means 50 pfu / ml bound , and 50 % of 1 , 000 , 000 pfu / ml means 500 , 000 pfu / ml bound . based on the above theoretical calculations , it is necessary to have some idea about the amount of bacteria that need to be replicated for effective and timely phage attachment , infection and lyse of target bacteria , to kill as many target bacteria as possible , target cell concentration is less relevant as long as enough phage can be introduced into the system to adsorb greater than 90 % the cells in a timely manner . on the other hand , in a situation where timely amplification of phage ( net gain of progeny phage after lysis ) is desired , relative high concentrations of bacteria ( greater than 10 6 - 10 7 cfu / ml ) are required . thus , for practical application virulent phage and target bacteria concentrations will need to be above 10 6 particles / ml to achieve meaningful replication of phage and destruction of bacteria , assuming a medium to high rate constant k . the bacteriophages that may be concentrated and / or produced by this invention span the range of virulent bacteriophages , including engineered phages . the invention is most useful where large amounts of phage are required , as for example , in treatment of industrial bio - fouling in water systems , pipelines , oil and gas reservoirs and equipment and the like . in these applications , it will often be requires to prepare multiple bacteriophage , as for phage panels , phage cocktails and phage multi - panels . referring to fig1 , vessel 101 is a concentrator / proliferator . water containing target bacteria is pumped into vessel 101 through valve 120 ( by pump 114 ) where it is mixed in continuous flow with a bacteriophage panel or multi - panel virulent for the target bacteria strains , shown as being pumped , 110 , through valve 130 from vessel 104 to be mixed with the incoming bacteria - containing water in vessel 101 . some forms of srb bacteria will be substantially destroyed by its virulent phage in less than 20 minutes . the concentrator vessel is sized to provide a flow rate of concentrated bacteriophage solution sufficient to treat the desired volume of water for immediate use or storage . a 4 ft diameter vessel will have a volume of 12 . 6 ft 3 / ft of height . a 6 ft diameter vessel will have 28 . 3 ft 3 / ft . thus , a 4 ft diameter vessel , 8 ft tall will contain 100 . 8 ft 3 and a 6 ft diameter vessel , 8 ft tall will contain 226 . 4 ft 3 . a flow rate of 9 . 3 gpm in the 4 ft . diameter reactor and 37 . 7 gpm in the 6 ft . diameter reactor will provide 20 minute residence time ( equivalent to the time needed for substantially complete destruction of some strains of srb bacteria ). concentration of bacteriophage in the solution leaving vessel 101 depends , to an extent , upon the concentration of target bacteria in the incoming water . when matching bacteria is present some phages may be replicated by a factor of about 20 : 1 . therefore , for example , when the incoming water contains 2 × 10 6 pfu / ml the outgoing stream will contain 4 × 10 7 pfu / ml . if the replication is 100 : 1 then the out stream will have a phage concentration of 1 × 10 8 pfu / ml — a two orders of magnitude increase . if replication is only 10 : 1 the outlet stream will increase in concentration by one order of magnitude to 1 × 10 7 . the phage will continue replicating so long as it can effectively contact target bacteria in the water . thus , the replication will continue when the outgoing concentrated phage solution is mixed with bacteria - containing water , as for example in storage vessel 105 . however when the concentration of bacteria or phage falls much below 1 × 10 6 particles / ml the infection and replication slows to essentially non - activity . initially the concentrator / proliferator is fed with a solution of bacteriophage multi - panel ( mixture of virulent phages ) that have been separately generated — shown in vessel 104 and passed to the concentrator / proliferator through valve 130 . once the concentrator is functioning phage ( s ) may be supplied by recycle of a portion of the output stream through valve 128 . the amount of recycle will preferably be sufficient to provide a phage to target bacteria ratio of from 1 to 0 . 001 . in general , the recycle will contain about 20 times the concentration of phage as the concentration of target bacteria in the source water since some srb phages will replicate in target bacteria about 20 : 1 . some of the concentrated phage solution may be stored , as in one of the temporary storage tanks , 105 , for future use . in fig1 vessel 101 contains phages virulent for the target bacteria used to start the process . it may be replenished by recycle of the concentrated outflow of the phage concentrator 101 or from an external source . thus , in operation , the phage concentrator will take in target bacteria containing water through valve 120 . in either case , the phages will continue replicating if there are target bacteria present , substantially destroying the target bacteria . reactor vessel 101 may contain packing such as ceramic balls , spheres and other shapes or inert fibers , mesh and the like to enhance mixing and bacteria / phage contact / vessels 102 and 103 are used for culturing target bacteria which may optionally be added to the concentrator / proliferator 101 through valves 123 or 124 by pump 112 to increase the concentration of incoming bacteria and hence the amount of phages produced . such supplemental bacteria may also be varied to generate a desired mix of phage in the output stream . culturing of bacteria may be conducted on - site or at a centralized location . alternatively target bacteria may be concentrated from source water in a tangential flow filter system . such a system is illustrated in fig2 . referring to fig2 water is pumped from storage 308 by pump 305 to filter 304 — a coarse filter to remove larger particles and trash . from filter 304 the water passes by conduit 321 to tangential flow filter 301 , having a filter screen , 302 , of about 0 . 2 micron . the screen is sized to hold back srb bacteria and let smaller particle pass . the filter water may be recycled to the filter by pump 310 ( conduit 322 ). the filtrate passes to tank 306 where it may be directed as needed through conduit 320 . the illustration in fig2 shows the water source in vessel 308 . the water source may be any suitable source that contains target bacteria . in one embodiment the source will be the “ produced ” water from oil or gas wells . in general , “ produced ” water will contain salts ( e . g . nacl ) and the problematic target bacteria will be halophilic . thus , source bacteria that cannot survive or thrive in salt water will not be a problem in the well or reservoir . it will be desirable to isolate target halophilic bacterial from the well bore and formation . such bacteria can also be cultured as described above by using a brine culture solution . fig3 illustrates yet another more detailed three stage embodiment of the process of the invention applied to filamentous bacteria — it is equally applicable to other kinds of bacteria such as srb . the first section of the embodiment comprises of an intake filter ( 352 ) of ⅛ ″ mesh , a 1 - 2 ″ trash pump , a sonicator ( 351 ) of “ cleaning ” vs . “ cell disruption ” frequency , a coarse filter ( 352 ), followed by series of tangential , or cross flow filters to provide size separated streams . referring to fig3 phage and bacteria are pumped from a source container , 350 , through an ultrasound flow disrupturer ( sonicator ) ( 351 , into the first stage filter 361 ( stage 1 ) to tank 365 . return lines serve to further concentrate the size samples . flow passes through the initial conical particulate filter of 150 micron mesh size ( course filter ) so that flow containing particles of less than 150 micron will enter a 20 micron filter ( stage 1 ). outflow from the stage filters will be contained in tanks 365 , 366 or 367 as shown . the permeate will contain particles smaller than 20 microns . the stream will contain the particle size fraction 150 - 20 micron . in one embodiment , this size fraction will correspond to target bait filamentous bacteria . the 20 - 0 . 2 micron size will contain the bulk of the remaining bacterial species present in the intake fluid . in another embodiment this size fraction may contain target bacteria , or may be a waste stream . the retentate stream can be routed back for multiple passes . the permeate stream of particles smaller than 0 . 2 micron ( from stage 2 filter , 361 ) will pass through a 100 kilodarcy ( kd ) cross flow filter ( stage 3 , 363 ). the permeate will comprise of near sterilized fluid , the retentate will comprise of viral particles , including the required virulent phage and is passed to storage 368 . the near sterilized filtered fluid the “ liquor ” will constitute an ideal growth media . the appropriate size fraction corresponding to the desired bait bacteria , combined with the viral fraction in the “ liquor ” all at the most appropriate relative percentages will constitute the feed stream for a proliferator as in fig1 . in another embodiment the invention comprises the concentrator / proliferator , described above , with a real time analyzer / controller . the operation of the concentrator / proliferator with means for real time phage counting and control is illustrated in fig4 . vessel 101 ( fig4 ) is a bacteriophage concentrator / proliferator . water containing target bacteria is pumped from source 200 or 205 by pump 210 into vessel 101 through control valve 132 where it is mixed with bacteriophage virulent for the target bacteria , shown as being pumped with pump 110 through control valve 134 . initially the concentrator / proliferator will be fed with bacteriophage that has been separately generated — vessel 104 — and passed to the concentrator / proliferator through control valve 134 . once the concentrator / proliferator is functioning the bacteriophage phage is supplied by recycle of outgoing stream of phage concentrate through control valve 131 and phage from vessel 104 can be stopped . unit 400 in fig4 represents a real time analyzer / controller capable of determining both phage type and count and with control means ( such as a specially programmed computer connected to control means ) that is connected to control valves , such as 131 132 , 133 and 134 . the analytical means of unit 400 is fed sample streams ( or spot samples ) as illustrated by dotted lines 401 and 402 . the analyzer will determine the type and / or count of bacteria and of bacteriophage and pass the results to the control means of unit 400 . the control means is programmed to adjust the flow through control valves 131 , 132 , 133 and 134 to achieve predetermined ratios and concentrations in the flow streams . real time measurement makes it possible to adjust the flow rates of source water and bacteriophage solution as conditions change . for example if the outflow stream is too low in phage concentration , additional bacteria may be provided to increase the replicated phage thus increasing the concentration . real time measurement is also useful in determining when sufficient bacteriophage has been added to the source water to effect adequate destruction of target bacteria . the analyzer means may also be configured to allow read - out of concentration of bacteria and bacteriophage in the sample streams . the control means of unit 400 and of this invention , can easily be designed by those skilled in the art and is commercially available for purchase . the real - time analytical means for bacteria and / or bacteriophage is not so readily available at this time . wet chemical analytical means are available but take considerable time and , while useful , will not be ideal . for example , test kits are readily available to measure srb bacteria count such as sani - check srb test system ; a kit that contains tubes of culture media specifically formulated to promote the growth of anaerobic sulfate reducing bacteria and available from biosan laboratories , inc ., 1950 tobsal court , warren , mich . 48091 - 1351 . analysis of bacteria count , but not phage count , can be made by serial dilution to achieve a sufficient diluted concentration that the bacteria count can be determined with an adequate microscope . single particle mass spectrometry is the only current technology that can enumerate bacteria in real - time . single particle mass spectrometry ( spams ) was on outgrowth of an analyzer developed ( bioaerosol mass spectrometer — bams ) for military and civilian biodefense applications and was , in fact , first fielded in response to the u . s . postal service anthrax attacks of late 2001 . the spams technology is described in wo 2010 / 068366 published jun . 17 , 2010 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . spams remains the only real - time technique that can detect , identify and quantify bacteria in real - time and has the added advantage of requiring no reagents and little or no sample preparation , consuming only electricity and sampling particles directly from the air . the spams operating principles are conceptually very simple . particles , whether biological or not , are suspended in a carrier gas if they are not in such a gas already . the spams system is maintained at vacuum and particles are driven in by product pressure . the particles are focused aerodynamically into a beam which is collimated by skimmers that separate the different stages of successively higher vacuum . the particles arrive at a tracking stage as a coherent beam of particles flying through high vacuum towards the center of the source region of a dual - polarity time - of - flight mass spectrometer . the particles are tracked by continuous wave laser ( s ) where their position and velocity are determined . this information is used to predict their precise time of arrival at the center of the source region and the velocity is used to determine their size . upon their arrival at the source of the mass spectrometers , each particle is individually desorbed and ionized by a pulsed laser and the positive and negative ions are detected by their respective mass spectrometer . the mass spectra are analyzed in real - time by a two stage pattern recognition algorithm and the particles are identified accordingly . in this manner , biological organisms are identified to at least the genus and often the species level . furthermore , because this process can be repeated at up to one kilohertz , the organisms can be detected and quantified even in a background of particles of thousands of times their own concentration . spams returns a fairly precise determination of the biological organisms being observed ( genus to species level ) at the low incremental cost of adding data to a digital library . the training process is highly automated as well , allowing non - pathogenic agents to be grown , analyzed and added to the library in hours or days . there is no other technology presently available that can detect biological organisms in real - time , identify them to the genus level , and return an answer in real - time . the analysis of spams data is a fairly important aspect of the system . because spams is a laser desorption / ionization technique , it tends to fragment the microorganisms into their small molecules with major metabolites being present at greater intensity than minor metabolites . the first stage of the analysis is the simple pattern recognition of the array of metabolites from the test mass spectra versus a library of previously collected mass spectra . any mass spectra that are sufficiently similar are subjected to a rules tree where the presence and absence of different metabolites are used to confirm the identity of the microorganism . in this manner , spams can discern , for example , b . atrophaeus spores from b . thuringiensis spores and can discern any form of bacillus spore from any vegetative bacterial cell . testing performed by independent referees for the defense advanced research projects agency ( darpa ) demonstrated the ability of spams to discern one species of bacillus spore from two others and one species of erwinia vegetative cell from three others . spams systems are also extremely field rugged as has been proven generation after generation . the original bams 1 . 0 systems were deployed to the top of mt . wilson , to the kashidoo climactic observatory and aboard the noaa ship ronald h . brown . the bams 1 . 5 system was operated during military training exercises at the national training center at ft . irwin for weeks in close proximity to military vehicles and ordinance . the bams 2 . 0 was operated successfully within 30 meters of a 10 , 000 lb . spartan stage i rocket motor “ crack and burn ” operation where the rocket motor was accidentally detonated when it was supposed to be deflagrated . not only did the instrument survive but it continued to operate , confirming the absence of ammonium perchlorate in the plume for the army . thus , in some embodiments of the invention is a phage production injection process as illustrated in fig4 that utilizes a spams derived analytical system and control to adjust the conditions and results of the process . all vessels such as 101 , 102 , 103 , and 104 are constructed of simple materials . they only need to be sufficiently strong to hold the solutions . corrosion is not a particular problem although they should be able to contain “ flowback ” water which will have salt and chemical additives . it is desirable that they be able to be sterilized with bleach solution . generally most plastic material used for tanks and vessels are suitable , including fiberglass , polypropylene , polyvinyl chloride and polyurethane . stainless steel will also be suitable . other commercially materials will be obvious to those skilled in the art . since bacteria growth , and to some extent phage proliferation , is temperature sensitive there is provided in one embodiment means for heating either the inlet streams to the vessels or heating the contents of the vessels . the streams may be heated by heat exchange , electrical heaters or any other suitable means known in the art . the contents of the vessels may be heated with electrical or steam heaters or other suitable heating means . these vessels are not especially heavy and the equipment is not extensive , therefore in one embodiment the proliferation / concentrator equipment — vessels 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 and associated pumps , valves and piping — are mounted on a movable platform so that they can easily be transported from well site to well site . these can be mounted on skids ( that can be lifted onto a truck bed ), or on a trailer or truck bed . location of and commercial production of commercial scale phage virulent srb as well as other phages can be accomplished by means described in prior art references such as published applications us 2009 / 0180992 , published jul . 16 , 2009 , us 2010 / 9243563 published sep . 30 , 2010 , wo / 2009 / 076642 and k . kamimura and m . araki : isolation and characterization of a bacteriophage lytic for desulfovrio salexigens , a salt - requiring . sulfate - reducing bacterium , applied and environmental microbiology , march 1989 , p . 645 - 648 , vol . 55 , no . 3 , the relevant disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference . other bacteria , including archaea may be similarly located , isolated and produced . in this specification , the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments . it will , however , be evident that various modifications and changes can be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims . the specification is , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense . therefore , the scope of the invention should be limited only by the appended claims . | 2 |
the present invention teaches a variety of timing generation and recovery schemes for providing high precision clock synchronization in cascaded communications systems where each point of communication has a unique clock . to accomplish the high precision , one embodiment of the present invention teaches quantizing information related to phase relation between a master clock at the transmitter and a network link clock . this quantized phase information can be transmitted with very little bandwidth , recovered at the receiver and used to recover the timing information with high precision . a first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig3 and fig4 . fig3 is a flow chart of a timing generation and recovery method 80 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . fig4 illustrates a block diagram of a communications system 100 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention . the communications system 100 includes a network link clock 102 generating a network link clock signal rn , a transmitter 104 , a receiver 106 , a network 108 coupling the transmitter 104 and the receiver 106 , and a master clock 110 generating a master clock signal rt . the network 108 may be a cable system , or any other suitable network . in fig3 , the method 80 begins at a master modem such as that present at a central office ( co ) etc . where data , a master clock signal rt and a network link clock signal rn are provided to a transmitter . in a step 82 , the transmitter 104 calculates a phase relation as a function f ( rt , rn ) between the master clock signal rt and the network link clock signal rn . the phase relation provides condensed information regarding the phase error between the two clock signals rt and rn . in preferred embodiments the function f ( rt , rn ) quantizes the phase information . in a step 84 , the transmitter 104 sends downstream data at a rate specified by the master clock signal rt , as well as transmitting the quantized phase signal . in certain embodiments , the quantized phase signal is transmitted via an overhead channel and takes minimal bandwidth relative to the data . in a step 86 , a receiver 106 receives the downstream data together with the phase signal , as well as the network link clock signal rn . in a step 88 , the receiver 106 recovers an estimate rt ′ of the master clock signal rt from the network link clock signal rn and the received phase signal . as will be appreciated , the embodiment described above with reference to fig3 and 4 presents a scheme at a relatively high level of abstraction . to further explain the present invention , the next several figs . provide some specific examples that are well suited for use in a wireline or wireless modem system . fig5 illustrates a block diagram of one suitable circuit for implementing a timing generation circuit 140 suitable within the transceiver 104 described above with reference to fig3 - 4 . as will be appreciated , the timing generation circuit 140 can be useful in a variety of applications . in communication system of fig5 , the network link clock signal rn and the master clock signal rt are well defined with respect to each other . the transmitter 104 includes a variable divider circuit 150 , a variable divider circuit 152 , a detector circuit 154 , a quantizer circuit 156 , and a modulus control circuit 158 . the variable divider 150 and the variable divider 152 are each controllable to divide the frequency of their input signal by an integer adjustable by arbitrary integer offsets +/− n and +/− m , respectively . this division process enables each divider to generate a reference signal with a common nominal rate . those dividers are necessary whenever the two clock frequencies rn and rt are not equal but are rationally related . additionally , the phase difference between the two signals controls the frequency dividers 150 and 152 via the modulus control block 158 . the detector 154 receives and measures a phase relation between the two reference signals rn and rt . the measured phase relation is fed into the quantizer circuit 156 that in turn generates the output signal f ( rt , rn ). the quantizer circuit 156 also provides an output signal for driving the modulus control circuit 158 . the modulus control circuit 158 provides output signals controlling the quantities +/− n , +/− m variation for the divider circuits 150 , 152 , respectively . fig6 shows a specific embodiment of a timing generation circuit 190 . the timing generation circuit 190 is for a communications system using a master clock signal rt having a frequency rate of 44 . 736 mhz and a network link clock signal rn having a frequency rate of 35 . 328 mhz . as will be appreciated , these are arbitrary but familiar and common frequencies for circuitry . for example , 44 . 736 mhz is the transmission rate of ds3 systems used in telephony as part of the synchronous digital hierarchy ( sdh ) system . the timing generation circuit 190 includes two variable modulus counters 200 and 202 used as variable dividers , two divider circuits 204 and 206 , two d - flip - flops 208 and 210 operating as the detector , a register 212 , and a divider circuit 214 . in this specific embodiment , the variable divider offsets +/− m and +/− n are both equal to +/− 1 . operation of the timing generation circuit 190 is as follows . the master clock signal rt is divided by the nominal value 233 at the variable modulus counter 200 to generate a 192 khz reference . similarly , the network link clock signal rn is divided by the nominal value 184 at the variable modulus counter 202 to generate a 192 khz reference . both reference signals are further divided by 24 to a nominal rate of 8 khz . both dividers are able to change their nominal dividing value by +/− 1 . the d - flip - flops are used to measure the phase relationship between the master clock signal rt and the network link clock signal , brought down to a nominal rate of 8 khz . if the d - flip - flop output is a “ 1 ” then “ phase ” is deleted by varying the modulus of the counter 202 to 183 and the modulus of the counter 200 to 232 simultaneously for one detector reference clock at 8 khz . changing the phase simultaneously results in a phase change relative to the master clock rt of : unit intervals ( ui ) of the rt clock . this phase change of approximately 0 . 25 ui is four times better than if one simply changed only the master clock signal rt modulus . by performing this phase adjustment every 8 khz , the maximum parts per million ( ppm ) that can be tracked is : the phase comparisons are made every 8 khz . the quantized phase relation is transmitted through an overhead channel every 4 khz ( once per frame ) and requires a minimum of 2 - bits per frame with no redundancy . having explained the operation of the transmitter according to the teachings of the invention , we now proceed to explain the operation of the receiver . fig7 illustrates a block diagram of one specific embodiment of a phase locked looped timing recovery circuit 240 . the timing recovery circuit is well suited for use in a communications system using a master clock signal rt having a frequency rate of 44 . 736 mhz and a network link clock signal rn having a frequency rate of 35 . 328 mhz . as will be appreciated , both the timing generation circuit 190 and the timing recovery circuit 240 are required in the present invention . the timing recovery circuit 240 includes a variable modulus counter 250 , a detector circuit 252 , a digital loop filter 254 , a digital - to - analog converter ( dac ) 256 , a voltage controlled oscillator 258 , a variable modulus counter 260 , and a modulus control circuit 262 . the network link clock signal rn is divided by 184 +/− 1 at the counter 250 to generate a 192 khz reference . the estimate of rt , rr , is divided by 233 +/− 1 at the counter 260 , to generate a 192 khz reference . the phase relation is recovered by the receiver modem using the overhead channel information via circuitry not illustrated and provided to the modulus control circuit 262 . the modulus control circuit 262 controls both variable modulus counters 250 and 262 according to the phase difference provided via the overhead channel . the detector 252 measures the phase relationship between rr and rn . the digital loop filter 254 is a lowpass filter , and the oscillator 258 generates rr according to a voltage provided by the dac 256 . the circuit of fig7 recovers the network link clock rn through the following process : after an initial acquisition period , the timing loop will reach a steady state where the output clock frequency rr matches the transmitter frequency rt . then the modulus circuitry comprising of 250 , 252 , 260 and 262 will re - create the phase variations of rn around the reconstructed clock rt by way of repeating the process followed at the transmitter ( fig5 ). next we present a further enhancement of the current invention that allows even finer phase granularity in the clock tracking system . fig8 illustrates a block diagram of a timing generation circuit 300 capable of providing finer precision than the timing generation circuit 190 of fig6 . the timing generation circuit 300 includes a variable modulus counter 302 , a detector 304 ( a d - flip - flop ), a phase accumulator circuit 306 , a fifo 308 , a delta - sigma modulator circuit 310 , a variable modulus counter 312 , a divider circuit 314 , a gate 316 , and a modulus control circuit 318 . the variable modulus counter 302 and the variable modulus counter 312 are each operable to vary by +/− n and +/− m from their nominal divide value respectively for each reference period . by properly selecting the integers m and n , the phase relationship between the references can be adjusted with fine precision . a d - flip - flop acting as the detector 304 continually measures the phase between the master clock and the network link clock references . any positive phase output , i . e . logic “ 1 ” from the detector 304 , results in “ phase ” being deleted for the next reference period by changing the network link clock modulus by − m and the master clock modulus by − n . any negative phase output , i . e . logic “ 0 ” from the detector 304 , results in “ phase ” being added to the next reference period by changing the network link clock modulus by + m and the master clock modulus by + n . each time a phase adjustment is made the amount of phase that is added or deleted relative to the network link clock can be calculated as phase adjustment =( 233 * m − 184 * n )/ 233 = phase resolution / 233 . thus when the sum of the phase accumulator 306 register 320 reaches a count of +/− 233 , then a single network link clock is added or deleted . the inverted output of the detector 304 is used to multiply the phase resolution value since for positive detector outputs phase is deleted . the logic “ 0 ” output is arithmetically interpreted as − 1 . the output of the phase accumulator 306 is examined at the frame rate 4 khz or once per frame . prior to transmission , the phase accumulator 306 is processed by the first order delta - sigma modulator 310 . it will be appreciated that higher order modulator schemes may be used . the modulator 310 helps reduce low frequency wander by pushing the low frequency wander components into the higher frequency bands , which could then be filtered by the receiving clock tracking circuitry . the modulator 310 operates at the frame rate 4 khz . when the 1 - bit output is high , a value 233 is added to the phase accumulator register 320 for a single reference period . this occurs since the logic ‘ 1 ’ output indicates that a single network link clock has been deleted . the average value of the 1 bit modulator 310 output represents the amount of phase added or deleted over a 4 khz frame . the block diagram of fig8 explains the required operations on the transmitter side in this enhanced embodiment of the invention . the operations on the receiver side are similar to the ones explained before based on the block diagram of fig7 . the difference in this embodiment is that the rn divider 260 is fixed to its nominal value 184 , while only the divider 260 is allowed to vary around its nominal value of 233 by +/− 1 . allowing for the addition / deletion of a single network link clock every 4 khz results in the ability of handling phase precision of +/− 80 ppm . recommended values are m = 4 , n = 5 , and phase resolution = 12 . in addition to the above mentioned examples , various other modifications and alterations of the invention may be made without departing from the invention . accordingly , the above disclosure is not to be considered as limiting and the appended claims are to be interpreted as encompassing the true spirit and the entire scope of the invention . | 7 |
this invention relates to providing an alternating controlled square wave from a power source to a load . fig1 illustrates a coriolis flowmeter having a drive circuit that incorporates circuitry that operates in accordance with the present invention . coriolis flowmeter 100 includes a flowmeter assembly 110 and meter electronics 150 . meter electronics 150 are connected to a meter assembly 110 via leads 120 to provide for example , but not limited to , density , mass - flow - rate , volume - flow - rate , and totalized mass - flow rate information over a path 175 . a coriolis flowmeter structure is described although it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention could be practiced in conjunction with any apparatus having loads requiring currents of alternating voltage . a coriolis flowmeter structure is described although it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention could be practiced in conjunction with any apparatus having a vibrating conduit to measure properties of material flowing through the conduit . a second example of such an apparatus is a vibrating tube densitometer which does not have the additional measurement capability provided by a coriolis mass flowmeters . meter assembly 110 includes a pair of flanges 101 and 101 ′, manifold 102 and conduits 103 a and 103 b . driver 104 , pick - off sensors 105 and 105 ′, and temperature sensor 107 are connected to conduits 103 a and 103 b . brace bars 105 and 105 ′ serve to define the axis w and w ′ about which each conduit oscillates . when coriolis flowmeter 100 is inserted into a pipeline system ( not shown ) which carries the process material that is being measured , material enters flowmeter assembly 110 through flange 101 , passes through manifold 102 where the material is directed to enter conduits 103 a and 103 b . the material then flows through conduits 103 a and 103 b and back into manifold 102 from where it exits meter assembly 110 through flange 101 ′. conduits 103 a and 103 b are selected and appropriately mounted to the manifold 102 so as to have substantially the same mass distribution , moments of inertia and elastic modules about bending axes w — w and w ′— w ′, respectively . the conduits 103 a - 103 b extend outwardly from the manifold in an essentially parallel fashion . conduits 103 a - 103 b are driven by driver 104 in opposite directions about their respective bending axes w and w ′ and at what is termed the first out of phase bending mode of the flowmeter . driver 104 may comprise any one of many well known arrangements , such as a magnet mounted to conduit 103 a and an opposing coil mounted to conduit 103 b and through which an alternating current is passed for vibrating both conduits . a suitable drive signal is applied by meter electronics 150 to driver 104 via path 112 . pick - off sensors 105 and 105 ′ are affixed to at least one of conduits 103 a and 103 b on opposing ends of the conduit to measure oscillation of the conduits . as the conduit 103 a - 103 b vibrates , pick - off sensors 105 - 105 ′ generate a first pick - off signal and a second pick - off signal . the first and second pick - off signals are applied to paths 111 and 111 ′. the driver velocity signal is applied to path 112 . temperature sensor 107 is affixed to at least one conduit 103 a and / or 103 b . temperature sensor 107 measures the temperature of the conduit in order to modify equations for the temperature of the system . path 111 ″ carries temperature signals from temperature sensor 107 to meter electronics 150 . meter electronics 150 receives the first and second pick - off signals appearing on paths 111 and 111 ′, respectively . meter electronics 150 processes the first and second velocity signals to compute the mass flow rate , the density , or other property of the material passing through flowmeter assembly 10 . this computed information is applied by meter electronics 150 over path 175 to a utilization means ( not shown ). it is known to those skilled in the art that coriolis flowmeter 100 is quite similar in structure to a vibrating tube densitometer . vibrating tube densitometers also utilize a vibrating tube through which fluid flows or , in the case of a sample - type densitometer , within which fluid is held . vibrating tube densitometers also employ a drive system for exciting the conduit to vibrate . vibrating tube densitometers typically utilize only a single feedback signal since a density measurement requires only the measurement of frequency and a phase measurement is not necessary . the descriptions of the present invention herein apply equally to vibrating tube densitometers . in coriolis flowmeter 100 , the meter electronics 150 are physically divided into 2 components a host system 170 and a signal conditioner 160 . in conventional meter electronics , these components are housed in one unit . signal conditioner 160 includes drive circuitry 163 and pick - off conditioning circuitry 161 . one skilled in the art will recognize that in actuality drive circuitry 163 and pick - off conditioning circuitry 161 may be separate analog circuits or may be separate functions provided by a digital signal processor or other digital components . drive circuitry 163 generates a drive signal and applies an alternating drive current to driver 104 via path 112 of path 120 . the circuitry of the present invention may be included in drive circuitry 163 to provide an alternating current to driver 104 . in actuality , path 112 is a first and a second lead . drive circuitry 163 is communicatively connected to pick - off signal conditioning circuitry 161 via path 162 . path 162 allows drive circuitry to monitor the incoming pick - off signals to adjust the drive signal . power to operate drive circuitry 163 and pick - off signal conditioning circuitry 161 is supplied from host system 170 via a first wire 173 and a second wire 174 . first wire 173 and second wire 174 may be a part of a conventional 2 - wire , 4 - wire cable , or a portion of a multi - pair cable . pick - off signal conditioning circuitry 161 receives input signals from first pick - off 105 , second pick - off 105 ′, and temperature sensor 107 via paths 111 , 111 ′ and 111 ″. pick - off circuitry 161 determines the frequency of the pick - off signals and may also determine properties of a material flowing through conduits 103 a - 103 b . after the frequency of the input signals from pick - off sensors 105 - 105 ′ and properties of the material are determined , parameter signals carrying this information are generated and transmitted to a secondary processing unit 171 in host system 170 via path 176 . in a preferred embodiment , path 176 includes 2 leads . however , one skilled in the art will recognize that path 176 may be carried over first wire 173 and second wire 174 or over any other number of wires . host system 170 includes a power supply 172 and processing system 171 . power supply 172 receives electricity from a source and converts the received electricity to the proper power needed by the system . processing system 171 receives the parameter signals from pick - off signal conditioning circuitry 161 and then may perform processes needed to provide properties of the material flowing through conduits 103 a - 103 b needed by a user . such properties may include but are not limited to density , mass flow rate , and volumetric flow rate . fig2 illustrates a prior implementation of drive circuitry 163 including a prior art system for applying an alternating current to a load which is driver 104 . a sinusoidal signal is received by multiplier 204 from sensors 105 - 105 ′ ( fig1 ) via path 162 . the multiplier adjusts the drive amplitude . the adjusted signal from multiplier 204 is applied to amplifier 201 . amplifier 201 boosts the sinusoidal signal to a proper level to cause driver 104 ( fig1 ) to oscillate . a supply voltage is applied to amplifier 201 from current limiter 202 or 203 . current limiters 202 and 203 assure against excessively low impedance in a load such as driver 104 ( fig1 ). the polarity of the applied voltage is periodically reversed with respect to ground which is connected to driver 104 . the reversal of polarity allows driver 104 ( fig1 ) to impart energy to flow tubes 103 a and 103 b during both halves of each cycle of oscillation . the reversal of voltage polarity requires to separate supply rails vcc and vee . supply rails vcc and vee have opposite voltage polarities . the use of separate supply rails vcc and vee increase complexity of the circuit and increases power consumption . power consumption is increased because simple amplifiers 201 typically used in drive circuit 162 drive an out close but not equal to a supply rail . this requires additional voltage overhead to provide a certain voltage to driver 104 ( fig1 ). a second problem is that output voltage of drive circuit 162 is controlled . however , the conversion of electrical energy to kinetic energy in driver 104 is dependent upon current according to faraday &# 39 ; s law . even though applied voltage results in applied current , the relation between force applied and voltage applied is indirect and is dependent upon other factors . for example , the inductance of the coil and motion of conduits 103 a and 103 b effect the applied force applied . therefore , it is desirable to control current rather than voltage . another problem with drive circuit 163 shown in fig2 is the ability to maximize power delivered to driver 104 while constrained by intrinsic safety standards . intrinsic safety standards are set by various regulating agencies to assure that a spark or heat from a circuit does not ignite volatile material in an environment . intrinsic safety standards place limits on the maximum instantaneous voltage and current that may be delivered to a load such as driver 104 ( fig1 ). however , the force applied to conduits 103 a and 103 b is dependent upon the average value of current applied . thus , maximum efficiency is achieved by minimizing the difference between average current levels and a peak current level . since driver 104 ( fig1 ) utilizes sinusoidal current and the electro - mechanicai force generated is also a sinusoidal . the product of sinusoidal current and the electro - mechanical force generated is also a sinusoidal and is the useful power of the system . since a square current multiplied by a sinusoidal voltage produces more average power than the product of two sinusoids , a square wave current will allow lower peak values of current for the same average power . fig3 illustrates a drive circuit 163 that provides a constant square wave alternating current using a single power supply . in drive circuit 163 there is a single current source 333 . the polarity of voltage applied to a load , such as driver 104 ( fig1 ), is determined by two sets of switches in h - bridge circuit 350 . when a first set of switches including switch 301 and 302 are closed current flows in a first direction to driver 104 ( fig1 ). when the first set of switches is open and a second set of switches switch 303 and 304 , is closed , voltage is applied to driver 104 in a second opposite direction . when switches 301 and 302 are closed and switches 303 and 304 are open , current flows through driver 104 in the following manner . supply rail vcc applies current over path 314 to closed switch 301 and open switch 303 . current flows through switch 301 to path 315 and to driver 104 via path 315 . current then is flows to the driver and returns via path 316 . the current flows through closed switch 302 and over path 317 to current source 333 . current source 333 is connected to ground . when switches 303 and 304 are closed and switches 302 and 301 are open , current flows to driver 104 in the following manner . supply rail vcc applies current over path 314 to switch 303 . current flows through switch 303 and is applied via path 316 to driver 104 . current returns via path 315 and flows through closed switch 304 to path 317 . this is a direction that is opposite of the path provided by switches 301 and 302 . control circuitry 320 opens and closes switches 301 - 304 to change the polarity of voltage applied to driver 104 . a feedback signal is received by control circuitry 320 via path 162 . from the feedback signal , the control circuitry changes the direction of flow . in a preferred embodiment , control circuitry 320 includes a zero comparator . zero comparator includes a delay 321 and an invertor 322 that receive signals and alternately apply opposite signals to switches 301 - 304 to open and close the switches . delay 321 applies signals to switches 301 and 302 via paths 312 and 313 . invertor 322 applies signals to switches 303 and 304 via paths 310 and 311 . switches 301 - 304 are set for a constant impedance since changing the impedance of switches dynamically is difficult . amplitude is controlled in well known and conventional manners in current source 333 which receives an amplitude signal from path 163 via path 331 . this works because h - bridge 350 is essentially part of the load connected to the current source . since switches 301 - 304 are either completely opened or completely closed , the output appears as a square waveform . the above is a description of a preferred of circuitry for supplying a controlled square wave to a load . it is expected that those skilled in the art can and will design alternative circuits that infringe this invention as set forth in the claims below literally or through the doctrine of equivalents . | 7 |
the following description of the presently contemplated best mode of practicing the invention is not to be taken in a limiting sense , but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the invention . the scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims . referring to fig1 shown is a perspective view of a cooling system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . shown is the cooling system 10 , three exhaust blowers 12 , a corrugated deflector 14 , nine fans 16 , a chassis 18 , a bottom 20 of the chassis 18 , and a backplane 22 . not shown are electronic components on electronic boards 24 the cooling system 10 is designed to cool . the nine fans 16 are coupled to the bottom 20 of the chassis 18 and are mounted vertically inside the chassis 18 . the corrugated deflector 14 is also coupled to the bottom 20 of the chassis 18 . a front edge of the corrugated deflector 14 is also coupled to a front edge of the chassis 18 at the bottom 20 of the chassis 18 . the corrugated deflector 14 curves from the bottom 20 of the chassis 18 upward toward the backplane 22 and a back edge of the corrugated deflector 14 is coupled to the backplane 22 . the backplane 22 is also coupled to the chassis 18 about midway through the depth of the chassis . above the backplane 22 and coupled to the chassis 18 are the three exhaust blowers 12 . a front edge of the corrugated deflector 14 is flat , i . e ., it is not corrugated , while a rear edge of the corrugated deflector 14 is corrugated . portions of the corrugated deflector 14 between the front edge and the rear edge transition from flat to corrugated . the corrugated deflector 14 also curves up from the bottom 20 of the chassis 18 , such that the front edge is substantially at the bottom 20 of the chassis 18 , while the rear edge is at a height approximately equal to top edges of the nine fans 16 . under normal operation , the nine fans 16 draw air from outside the chassis 18 into the chassis 18 and direct airflow at the corrugated deflector 14 . the corrugated deflector 14 , herein also the deflector 14 , causes lateral , i . e ., sideways , turbulence in the air such that the air mixes and flows in many directions . the curvature of the deflector 14 also causes the air to move in an upward direction toward the exhaust blowers 12 . in normal operation , this would cause air to flow over electronic boards 24 that extend from the backplane 22 and contain electronic components such as , for example , a hard drive . the electronic boards 24 are shown in fig4 . the air then flows out of the chassis 18 through the exhaust blowers 12 . the exhaust blowers 12 also act to cause air to be drawn out of the chassis 18 . in an alternative embodiment the number of fans 16 and the number of exhaust blowers 12 could be more or less than nine and three , respectively , and the mechanical relationship between the corrugated deflector 14 , the backplane 22 , and the chassis 18 may differ . the deflector 14 , in one embodiment is a molded piece of sheet metal . the deflector 14 is corrugated such that it causes lateral turbulence in the air flow , causing the air to move laterally ( sideways ) relative to the direction in which the air is blown by the nine fans 16 , and otherwise directed by the corrugated deflector 14 . the upward curvature of the corrugated deflector 14 causes the air to be deflected in an upward direction over the electronic boards 24 . referring to fig2 shown is side - view of the cooling system 10 of fig1 . shown is the cooling system 10 , one of the exhaust blowers 12 , one of the fans 16 , the corrugated deflector 14 , the backplane 22 , and the chassis 18 . the corrugated deflector 14 is shown coupled to the backplane 22 and to the bottom 20 of the chassis 18 . the curvature of the corrugated deflector 14 along with the uneven surface of the corrugated deflector 14 cause turbulence in the air that will flow over the electronic components . while the corrugated deflector 14 is shown coupled to the backplane 22 , the corrugated deflector 14 could also be coupled to the chassis 18 or to an electronic board 24 . the corrugated deflector 14 shown has parallel rounded grooves . this causes turbulence in the air flowing through the chassis 18 . the corrugated deflector 14 could also be shaped , for example , with ridged , pointed , or squared grooves . additionally the grooves do not need to be perfectly parallel to cause turbulence in the air . referring to fig3 shown is a front - view of the cooling system 10 of fig1 . shown is the cooling system 10 , the seven fans 16 , the backplane 22 , the chassis 18 , and three exhaust blowers 12 . this embodiment of the present invention shows seven fans 16 instead of nine fans 16 . as stated earlier , the present invention can have a variable number of fans 16 . in the present embodiment there are a large number of smaller fans 16 drawing air into the chassis 18 from the ambient instead of a small number of larger fans 16 . having a large number of smaller fans 16 prevents having a large change in the volume of air that is flowing through the chassis 18 in the event one of the fans 16 fails . for example , if two large fans 16 are used and one fails , a fifty percent reduction in the amount of air flow may result . whereas , if ten fans 16 are employed and one fails , only a ten percent reduction in the amount of air flow results . this assumes the speed of the fans 16 is not increased when a failure is detected . the present invention also advantageously includes circuitry that senses fan failure and adjusts the speed of remaining fans 16 if a failure is detected in one or more fans 16 . for example , if there are ten fans 16 and a failure is detected for one of the fans 16 , the remaining nine fans 16 will have their speed increased by ten percent to keep the total amount of air flowing through the chassis 18 almost constant . such circuitry is well known , e . g ., see u . s . pat . no . 6 , 000 , 623 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 751 , 549 . one problem with prior art cooling systems is when a fan fails the electronics that such fan was cooling no longer have air flowing over them . advantageously , the present invention provides a system for cooling all the electronics within a chassis 18 even upon a fan failure . the corrugated deflector 14 insures air will continue to flow over all the electronic components even upon a fan failure . the turbulence caused by the corrugated deflector 14 causes air to flow over all the electronics even in the event one or multiple fans 16 fail . this is further shown in fig7 . referring to fig4 shown is a front - view of the cooling system 10 of fig1 with electronic boards coupled to the chassis 18 . shown is the cooling system 10 , the fans 16 , the exhaust blowers 12 , and three electronic boards 24 . the three electronic boards 24 are coupled to the chassis 18 and aligned perpendicular to the backplane 22 and parallel to the deflected turbulent air . the electronic boards 24 are above the corrugated deflector 14 such that the deflected turbulent air flows up through spaces between the three electronic boards 24 . although the three electronic boards 24 are shown aligned perpendicular to the backplane 22 they could be aligned in any direction without departing from the present invention . there could also be any number of electronic boards 24 within the chassis 18 . the size of the chassis 18 , also is independent of the invention , and could be very small or very large . referring to fig5 shown is a front - view of the cooling system 10 of fig1 showing the air flow through the chassis 18 . shown is the cooling system 10 , the fans 16 , the exhaust blowers 12 , three electronic boards 24 , and the air flow represented by arrows . the air is drawn into the chassis 18 by the fans 16 from the ambient . the air hits the corrugated deflector 14 which causes turbulence in the air . the air is also deflected in an upward direction by the curvature of the corrugated deflector 14 . additionally , the optional exhaust blowers 12 help to cause the air to exit the chassis 18 . the corrugated deflector 14 causes the air to rise in many directions , thus causing air to flow over all of the electronic components in the chassis 18 before exiting the chassis 18 through the exhaust blowers 12 . in another embodiment of the present invention the fans 16 could be located on the top of the chassis 18 with the corrugated deflector 14 curved downward , thus causing air to flow down over the electronic components . the corrugated deflector 14 would still cause turbulence in the air allowing it to flow over all the electronic components . upward flow is consistent with convention currents created as the air si heated by components on the electronic boards 24 . only three electronic boards 24 are shown , however , any configuration housing electronic components could be utilized in the present invention . as more boards are added the corrugated deflector 14 works to direct air sideways , making sure air flows between all the electronic boards 24 , thus adequately cooling all the electronic components within the chassis 18 . as shown , the air flows from the fans 16 , over the electronic components located on the electronic boards 24 , and out the exhaust blowers 12 . even in the event a fan 16 fails , air will still flow to over all the electronic components . this is more clearly shown and described with reference to fig7 . referring to fig6 shown is a front - view of the cooling system 10 of fig1 showing the air flow through the chassis 18 . shown is the cooling system 10 , the seven fans 16 , the three exhaust blowers 12 , and the air flow represented by arrows . shown is the air flow through the chassis 18 when all of the seven fans 16 are properly functioning . as shown the air at the bottom of the chassis 18 is coming up from the corrugated deflector 14 in many directions , not only the original direction the fan 16 was blowing the air . this is caused by the turbulence in the air , caused by the corrugated deflector 14 . the air then proceeds to flow up through the chassis 18 , cooling the electronic components , and out of the chassis 18 through the exhaust blowers 12 . optionally , the air could leave the chassis 18 through holes in the top of the chassis 18 rather than through the exhaust blowers 12 . referring to fig7 shown is a front - view of the cooling system 10 of fig1 showing the air flow through the chassis 18 when one of the fans 16 has failed . shown is the cooling system 10 , six functioning fans 16 , a failed fan 26 , the three exhaust blowers 12 , and the air flow represented by arrows . shown is the air flow through the chassis 18 when only six of the fans 16 are properly functioning . the failed fan 26 is no longer drawing air into the chassis 18 . similarly to fig6 the air at the bottom of the chassis 18 is still coming up from the corrugated deflector 14 in many directions , not only the original direction the fan 16 was blowing the air . this is caused by the turbulence in the air , caused by the corrugated deflector 14 . the turbulence in the air will cause air to flow above the failed fan 26 . advantageously , this provides a system that still causes air to flow over all of the electronic components inside the chassis 18 even in the event one or multiple fans 16 fail . the air then proceeds to flow up through the chassis 18 , cooling the electronic components , and out of the chassis 18 through the exhaust blowers 12 . optionally , the air could leave the chassis 18 through holes in the top of the chassis 18 rather than through the exhaust blowers 12 . in the event one or multiple fans 16 fail , the speed of the functioning fans 16 can be increased , such that the total amount of air flowing through the chassis 18 remains relatively constant . advantageously , the present invention provides for a fail safe cooling system 10 , such that electronic components will not overheat in the event of a fan 16 failure . additionally , in one embodiment a large number of fans 16 are used to blow air into the corrugated deflector 14 , such that in the event of a failure , the amount of air flowing through a chassis 18 is only reduced by a small percentage . optionally , a smaller number of fans 16 could be used and the speed of the fans 16 increased upon the failure of one of the fans 16 , such that the amount of air flowing through the chassis 18 remains relatively constant . referring to fig8 shown is a perspective view of the corrugated deflector with a plurality of directional air deflectors attached . shown is the corrugated deflector 14 , five directional air deflectors 28 , and adjustment bolts 30 . in fig8 the corrugations in the corrugated deflector 14 are not clearly shown . the directional air deflector 28 , shown , is coupled to the corrugated air deflector 14 . the directional air deflector 28 , curves upward toward the exhaust blowers 12 , such that air will be deflected upward toward the electronic components . advantageously , the directional air deflectors 28 are made from sheet metal . optionally , the directional air deflectors 28 could be many different shapes or materials . one or more directional air deflectors 28 could be used to direct air at electronic components that need a relatively greater amount of air flow to keep them from overheating . the directional air deflectors 28 are coupled to the corrugated air deflector 14 with adjustment bolts 30 . the adjustment bolts 30 come up through the corrugated air deflector 28 and through a hole in the directional air deflectors 28 . bolts are then coupled to the adjustment bolts 30 to keep the directional air deflectors 28 in place . there are multiple adjustment bolts 30 each directional air deflector 28 can be coupled to . shown in fig8 are multiple adjustment bolts 30 that do not go through the directional air deflectors 28 . the directional air deflectors can be easily moved to these different adjustment bolts 30 to adjust the direction of the air flow and direct additional air to hot spots . thus , in the present embodiment there are more adjustment bolts 30 than directional air deflectors 28 . however , in another embodiment there could be the same number of adjustment bolts 30 as directional air deflectors 28 . the corrugated air deflector 14 optionally can have many additional adjustment bolts 30 in it , such that the directional air deflectors 28 can be adjusted to many different positions within the chassis 18 , allowing for precise controlled deflection of the air flowing through the chassis 18 . optionally , the directional air deflectors 28 could be coupled to the chassis 18 . appropriate nuts ( not shown ), such as lock nuts , wing nuts , or the like , are used to secure the direction air deflectors 28 to the bolts 30 on the corrugated air defector 14 . the directional air deflectors 28 direct air to predetermined hot spots within the chassis 18 . a hot spot is any area within the chassis where the electrical components are more susceptible to overheating , thus requiring a relatively greater amount of air to flow over them . this is an optional feature that may only need to be used when certain electronic components need more air passing over them in order for them to avoid overheating . the optional directional air deflector 28 deflects air moving horizontally from the fans and redirects it to move in an upward direction , i . e ., vertically . this will direct a greater amount of air to specific places on the electronic boards 24 , such that electronic components that are more susceptible to overheating have more air flowing over them . this prevents the electronic components from overheating . advantageously , the directional air deflectors 28 can be adjusted within the chassis 18 in order to cool different hot spots . the directional air deflectors 28 can be moved closer or farther away from the fans 16 . additionally , the directional air deflectors 28 could be adjusted rotationally to more precisely direct air at hot spots . referring to fig9 shown is a side - view of the cooling system of fig1 showing the optional directional air deflector . shown is the cooling system 10 , the exhaust blower 12 , the backplane 22 , the corrugated deflector 14 , the fan 16 , and the directional air deflector 28 . the curvature of the directional air deflector 28 deflects a portion of the air moving in a horizontal direction into a vertical direction . the optional directional air deflector 28 need only be used in systems which have predetermined hot spots , thus requiring a relatively greater amount of airflow over the hot spots to prevent the electronic components from overheating . advantageously , the directional air deflectors 28 can be adjusted to tune where the air is flowing inside the chassis 18 . the directional air deflectors 28 can be moved in any direction in order to send a relatively greater amount of air to the hot spots . the directional air deflectors 28 can be adjusted to sit closer or farther from fans 16 . additionally , rotational adjustments can be made to the directional air deflectors 28 in order to better direct air to the hot spots . advantageously , the size and shape of the directional air deflectors 28 can be changed to adjust the amount of air being deflected and the direction of deflection . the tuning of the directional air deflectors 28 can be done at any time should the configuration of the electronic components change . thus , if a new electronic board 24 is added inside the chassis 18 , the directional air deflectors 28 could be tuned to direct air at any hot spots . additionally , new directional air deflectors 28 could be added to direct air at the new electronic components . while some air is being deflected by the directional air deflectors 28 the majority of the air coming from the fans 16 passes by the directional air deflector 28 either over the top or by the side of it . the air then comes into contact with the corrugated air deflector 14 and is deflected sideways by the corrugations and horizontally by the upward curvature of the corrugated deflector 14 . the corrugations cause the air to move sideways , filling the space behind the directional air deflectors , such that air will still flow over all the electronic components . however , a relatively greater amount of air will be directed to the predetermined hot spots by the directional air deflectors 28 . the corrugated air deflector 14 causes air to move into the areas behind the directional air deflectors 28 because of the sideways turbulence in the air caused by the corrugations . thus , the combination of the corrugated air deflector 14 and the directional air deflectors 28 allow for an even cooling of a plurality of electronic components in an environment where certain electronic components need more air flow . the cooling system 10 continues to function in the event one or more fans 16 fail to operate . while the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof , numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims . | 7 |
ts was first reported to kill cancer cells in culture by prasad more than 20 years ago ( prasad et al ., 1982 ). subsequently , the cancer killing effect of ts was confirmed by a vast majority of laboratories and this anti - neoplastic feature has extended to include over 90 % of human cancer types as listed below : the study of cancer using classic approaches for small laboratory animals has been limited to several methods with their corresponding assumptions . these methods include the inoculation of cancer cells , cancer cell xenografts and chemically induced cancer development using known carcinogens . the efficacy of a drug is evaluated by its effectiveness in controlling or reducing cancer growth and development . using these approaches , ts has been shown by different laboratories to be an effective anti - neoplastic agent , which not only reduced tumor progression , but also prevents cancer formation induced by known carcinogens . hence , ts has the features for an effective cancer prevention drug that has high potential as a chemotherapeutic agent , with no side effects . results on the effectiveness of ts on cancer growth in animal studies reported recently are summarized in table 1 below . during the past few years , major breakthrough in ts research has clearly delineated the mechanism by which ts causes cancer cell death without affecting normal cells . when given as intact molecule , ts exerts its anti - neoplastic effect by several current hypothesis of the apoptosis pathway . these include intra - and inter - cellular signaling pathways : ( 1 ) the tgf - beta ( transformed growth factor - beta ) pathway ; ( 2 ) the g protein kinases pathways consist of c - jun n - terminal kinase ( jnk ) and mitogen - activated protein kinase ( mapk ) pathways ; and ( 3 ) the fas ( cd95 / apo - 1 ) signaling pathway ( chen and goeddel , 2002 ; waljant , 2002 ). while this specific apoptotic function of ts has been reviewed ( kline et al . 2001 ), recent discoveries offered alternate novel mechanisms by which ts kills cancer cells before the occurrence of apoptosis . for example , neuzil et al . ( 2002 ) demonstrated that ts caused major disruption of cellular lysosomal prior to the induction of apoptosis in several lines of cancer cells in culture , indicating that apoptosis is secondary to lysosomal disruption . in addition , zhang et al . ( 2002 ) first reported that in human prostate cancer cells , ts inhibits the expression of the androgen receptors by means of transcriptional and post - transcriptional modifications of the androgen receptor protein . more importantly , ts strongly suppresses the expression of psa ( prostate specific antigen ), a functional clinical detector molecule for the diagnosis of human prostate cancer . therefore , it is clear that ts is able to regulate the expression of significant cellular proteins upward or downward , causing major membrane disruption before the occurrence of apoptosis . hence ts is a multi - functional molecule involved in at least several novel mechanisms in exerting its caner killing effects . in human , oral ingestion of ts was shown to convert to tocopherol due to extreme high level of esterase in the digestive juice ( howritt et al . 1984 , chessman et al . 1995 ). therefore , in order to maintain the intactness of the ts molecule , alternate routes of administration must be developed to ensure that ts is delivered per se in vivo . the present inventors sought to identify appropriate carriers and formulation mix for ts that are safe and effective for human transdermal as well as transmucosal deliveries . according to the reference of chemistry ( the merck index ), ts is not readily soluble in vegetable oils . after many trials and errors , and with the combination of heat as a variable during processing , the present inventors found appropriate formulating ratios of ts to dimethyl sulfoxide , to almond oil , to stearyl alcohol , petroleum jelly , mineral oil and to water , that can be effective and safe to be used in humans . from these formulations , the inventors developed a serious of gel and solid with ts that can be used for transdermal and transmucosal deliveries . the skin is the largest organ in human and it forms a natural barrier between the environment and the human body . thickness of skin differs a great deal according to sites and locations . it is composed of three layers : the epidermis , the dermis and the subcutaneous fatty tissue . the epidermis ranges from 0 . 15 to 0 . 80 mm in thickness and is the outermost part , called the stratum corneum or horny layer . this layer consists of several layers of flattened dehydrated dead cells . the dermis is 3 - 5 mm thick and is consisted of non - cellular tissues ( collagen and other structural proteins ). the dermis is rich in small blood and lymphatic vessels , nerves endings , hair follicles and sebaceous and sweat glands . penetration of drugs from the outside through the layers below the skin and their entrance into blood capillaries and vessels is called percutaneous ( also known as transdermal delivery ). transdermal delivery of drugs has several significant advantages over that of oral or injection . firstly , skin drug delivery avoids gastrointestinal hydrolysis and metabolism of drugs by intestinal mucosa cells . this route also avoids first - pass drug deactivation by the liver that occurs during oral intake of drugs , and therefore , extending the intactness and activity of drug given . more importantly , it allows multiple applications with little side effects often encountered with oral and injectable forms of drug administrations . in terms of health cost , there is a significant reduction of savings from incurring cost of technicians or nurses who are required for injectable drugs , because it can be self - administrated . conversely , there are limitations by which drugs are delivered by the transdermal route . molecules such as insulin cannot be given this way due to the large molecule size . also its hydrophilic nature renders it difficult to cross the membrane barriers . the charge of the molecule is also important in transdermal delivery of drugs ; for example , a charged molecule is far more difficult getting in than a non - charged molecule by transdermal means of administrations . the smaller mw , better penetration , compounds with a molecular weight around 500 ( mw of ts is 530 ) or lower , can be delivered with zero order kinetics ( bos , 2000 ) heat : heat is known to increase skin permeability , blood vessel wall permeability , rate - limiting membrane permeability as well as drug solubility in formulation both the drug / carrier as well as skin temperature highly influence the rate and amount of drug delivered . for example , it has been reported that a 5 - degree increase in skin temperature caused a 2 to 5 fold increase in drug delivered when given at a room with temperature raised to 40 ° c ., a 3 - fold increase in dermal crossing of salicylate was found in man ( hull , 2002 ) raising the skin temperature by direct infrared heating element has been shown to cause a 2 - 3 fold increase in delivered drug ( hull , 2002 ) ts is a small lipid soluble molecule with molecular weight of 530 . it has a melting point of 72 ° c . and it stays as solid in room temperature . it is heat stable and resistant to oxidation due to the free oh group of the molecule is blocked by condensation reaction with succinic anhydride . hence , ts is not an antioxidant . the formulations of the present invention involve using heat in processing method and the appropriate range ratios of ts : dimethyl sulfoxide : almond oil : stearyl alcohol : petroleum jelly : mineral oil : distilled water ( 1 : 0 . 01 to 0 . 4 : 0 . 05 to 0 . 4 : 0 to 0 . 1 : 0 to 0 . 1 : 0 to 0 . 1 : 0 . 01 to 0 . 05 respectively ). this formulated ts mix is applied to a heated skin area of 15 × 15 cm using slow message motion until all ts preparation is used up and absorbed by skin area ( between 5 - 10 minutes of message time ). area of skin selected should be the most proximal to the tumor site and thick skin areas such as the sole , knee , palm and areas covered with hair should be avoided . examples for different formulation ratios for transdermal administration for ts are shown below ( table 2 ). the present inventors discovered that the most effective amount of ts is between the ranges of 400 to 1200 mg . evidence from cell culture and animal studies revealed that the effective concentration of ts in destroying cancer cells ranges from 25 to 50 micromolar ( zhang et al . 2002 ). assuming that the blood volume of an adult individual is 6 liters and about half of ts administered is transferred from skin microvessels to blood , the amount of ts estimated by theoretical calculation required to achieve this level is around 250 mg of ts . the ts formulation can be used at a rate of 2 - 3 times a day , with 250 mg of ts for each administration to achieve the desirable level . the thinner the skin , the better transport — use skin area that is not thick ( avoid sole , palm , knee and area with hair ); the thinnest skin is near the human private part and behind the ears an area of about 1 square foot is the upper limit for area ; use the same site for all treatments it is best to start in the morning after bath or shower warm up selected skin site with a heated beanbag or other heating device , until skin is too hot for you to stand gently rub in the ts formulation with fingers within selected skin zone and message it in with slow but forceful motions cover site with dry cloth and reapply beanbag to keep the temperature of skin site warm the mucosal are specialized epithelial cells that line up different orifice of the human body and they include oral mucosa ( buccal , sublingual and gingival mucosa ), nasal mucosa , pulmonary mucosa , rectal mucosa and vaginal mucosa . these sites are rich in small blood vessels and are known targets for drug delivery ( for reviews , see van hoogdalem 1991 , yu and chien 1997 , lee 2001 and www . nlm . nih . gov / medlineplus ). the mucosa route of drug administration provides direct entry of drug into the systemic circulation thus avoiding the hepatic first - pass metabolism and degradation by gut enzymes . it has distinct advantage for patient who cannot tolerate oral or iv delivered drugs . in this case , intact absorption of ts by these routes is possible due to lack of digestive enzymes that hydrolyzed ts when taken orally . in addition , similar to the transdermal route , drugs given this way will escape immediate hepatic metabolism and hence rendering a longer half - life . however , there are limitations of such an approach and they resemble those disclosed under transdermal applications herein . formulation and application of ts for transmucosal delivery by rectal and vaginal routes ts is a low molecular weight lipid soluble compound that remains as solid in room as well as body temperatures . in order to fulfill the requirement of a liquid / gel form suitable for transmucosal delivery , it is necessary to develop a formulation so that the preparation can remain solid at room temperature but change to liquid state upon insertion to the human body . the present inventors developed such a formulation by using the appropriate proportion of ts to dimethyl sulfoxide to water to almond oil . this mixture has the range of ratios of ts : dimethyl sulfoxide : almond oil : stearyl alcohol : distilled water ( 1 : 0 . 1 to 0 . 6 : 0 . 05 to 0 . 2 : 0 to 0 . 1 : 0 to 0 . 15 , respectively ). differential temperatures and centrifugation were used during processing in order to transform ts from solid state to gel state and reversing it to solid state again . the final product with a bullet shape was formed after centrifugation at 4 degree c . it remains as solid in room temperature but once inserted to the human orifice , it melts at 36 degree c . examples for different formulation ratios for ts administration via transmucosal delivery are shown in table 3 . processing temperature is changed from room temperature to 75 degree c ., and then change to 4 degree c again with the aid of centrifugation . the present inventors discovered that the most effective amount of ts is between the ranges of 250 to 1000 mg . in general , drugs delivered by mucosal routes have a range of crossing into the human body at 30 to 50 % of the dose given . the calculation of effective dose is similar to that developed for transdermal route disclosed herein . therefore , to achieve a constant 25micromolar concentration of ts in blood , 250 mg ts will be administered twice a day . study with male and female human subjects via rectal and vaginal delivery are described below which demonstrated successful delivery of intact ts via the rectal and vaginal routes . judging from the number of human subjects reported in this study , there is no concern regarding the safety of this novel treatment procedure . the hydrolyzed products of ts are tocopherol ( vitamin e ) and succinic acid , an endogenous metabolite produced during the oxidation of carbohydrates , amino acids and fat . the upper safety limit for vitamin e is set at 1000 mg or 1 gm by the most recent issue of dri ( dietary reference intake ) for vitamin c , vitamin e selenium and carotenoids . the dri report was published in 2000 and one of the joint inventors of the present invention served on the committee from which the report was sponsored by the institute of medicine , us national academy of sciences ( chan et al . 2000 ). the upper dose limit claimed in the invention herein , is below or around the upper safety limit set at 1 gm by the institute of medicine for oral ingestion . a male subject , age 53 was given this ts formulation via dermal means at a dose of 300 mg three times a day spread under 6 hours intervals for a period of 7 days . blood was collected at day 0 , day 4 and day 8 . detailed protocol is shown in table 4 below . plasma was denatured in 2 volume of ethanol . samples were stored frozen pending for analysis . following extraction , levels of ts were determined by hplc method equipped with uv and fluoresce detectors ( slack et al . 1989 ). levels of ts in plasma were 0 , 24 . 5 and 28 . 1 micromolar ( micromole / liter ) for days 0 , 4 and 8 after transdermal treatment . as expected , level of ts was undetectable in plasma of two control subjects that were not treated with ts . since ts is a semi - synthetic compound , it will not be detected in individual who does not consume it . results from this study are shown in fig1 . a male and female subject was each given formulated ts in suppository form containing 250 mg of ts . they were instructed to insert it in the morning after bowel movement and shower , and repeat it before bedtime . blood was collected on day 0 , day 2 and day 4 . plasma was separated from blood and ts was determined as described above . results showed undetectable level of ts on day 0 of the study . levels of ts in plasma ranged from 20 to 40 - micromolar after 2 and 4 days of transmucosal administration . result from this study is shown in fig2 . a 80 - year - old male was found to have lymphoma in 2001 , with lumps protruding from the neck region . visits to oncologist resulted in chemotherapy treatments ( 3 - 5 days rounds 3 times with resting periods between treatments ). lumps were found to regress after chemotherapy . nine months later , the lymphoma recurred with new lump in the neck measured ( 7 . 5 × 1 . 23 × 4 . 2 cm ). patient started using the ts formulation around the neck region at a dose of 0 . 8 gm twice a day , and three weeks into treatment , tumor started to regress . after eight weeks into treatment , tumor size was reduced by half ( measured 3 cm in length ). complete regression of tumor occurred 12 weeks after treatment . a 50 - year - old male has metastasized prostate cancer in liver and bone . there is a lot of pain and patient is under prophylactic chemotherapy once a month . patient started to use the ts formulation at a dose of 0 . 4 gm three times a day at the end of november , 2002 . while there is no end point measurement made to determine tumors regression , two weeks into treatment , patient felt pain and discomfort level were reduced to more than half . with this improvement , patient opts to continue to use the ts formulation and benefits continue . a 52 - year - old male had recurring sarcoma on mid - penis in november 2002 . since this tumor is known not respond well to radiation and chemotherapy , doctor advised removal of organ to which the patient refused . after using the ts formulation for 4 weeks , tumor size was reduced by 30 %. patient continues to use formulation . a 53 - year - old female was found to have nasopharyngeal cancer ( stage 4 ) in august , 2002 . she went through radiotherapy and some limited chemotherapy because the patient has hepatitis b . the ts formulation was used 5 days before treatments and continued through out all treatments at a dose of 0 . 5 gm twice a day . despite of the stage 4 diagnoses , tumor regression was impressive and patient returned to work in february , 2003 . a 73 - year - old male has basal cell skin cancer for 20 years . the cancer recurs every year and treatment consisted of burning of skin tumor with either liquid nitrogen or dry ice . in september , 2002 , several lumps appeared on his face , and they were painful and sensitive to touch . he started using the ts formulation in late september , 2002 as topical lotion . partial recovery was detected after 3 weeks of continuous use . all spots were proclaimed clear by the patient after 8 weeks of treatment period . the invention described herein can be used as an anti - cancer drug alone or as an adjunct for cancer treatment for over 90 % of human cancer . it is very easy to administer ( self or by another ) and therefore has a superior saving value in cutting down the cost of technicians and nurses for injectable forms of drug delivery . it will also further cut cost in reducing the duration of hospital stay often associated with chemotherapy treatment . this low cost feature is especially in demand from developing countries or the third world where a lack of cancer treatment facility and cost may render most of the patients untreated . most importantly , these effective formulations and delivery methods are totally non - invasive and non - toxic . due to the lack of side effects and toxicity , much of the suffering caused by conventional chemo - and radiotherapy on cancer patients can be eliminated or significantly reduced . in the context of market development , products can be used for cancer patients , or for cancer survivors who fear the recurrence of cancer . it also has a market for the normal or healthy population who may opt to use the product periodically for prophylactic purposes . it is to be understood that the embodiments and variations shown and described herein are merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . | 0 |
as shown in fig1 and 2 , the automatic capped writing element pencil 1 includes an outer tube 2 , an inner tube 4 , writing elements 6 , a spring 8 , and a fixer 10 . each of the writing elements 6 has a tip portion 12 at the front end and an element cap 14 having a hole 16 for receiving therein the tip portion 12 of the adjacent writing element . the tip portion 12 is a pre - sharpened writing element held by the element cap 14 . the writing element can be a pre - sharpened lead , a pre - sharpened crayon , or other segmental writing elements . the element cap 14 is made of plastic or metal . all the writing elements are positioned axially one by one . except the front - most one , the tip portion 12 of each writing element is received by the hole 16 of the preceding one . the front - most writing element 20 is held by the writing element outlet 18 of the outer tube 2 . some of the writing elements 6 together with the inner tube 4 are posited in the outer tube 2 . the spring 8 serves as the resilient element for keeping the inner tube 4 in an original position when the inner tube is not pressed . the other writing elements are stored in the inner tube 4 . a recess portion 22 is formed on the inner wall of the outer tube 2 to receive the spring 8 . a raised portion 24 is formed on the outer surface of the inner tube 4 for compressing the spring 8 . the stopper 10 is mounted at the upper end of the outer tube 2 for preventing the inner tube 4 from escaping from the outer tube 2 . the operation of the automatic capped writing element apparatus 1 is illustrated in fig3 - 6 . at the beginning , as shown in fig3 the spring 8 is not compressed and the inner tube 4 is in an original position 30 . then , as shown in fig4 the inner tube 4 is pushed from the top 28 to propel the writing element 36 . the bottom opening 26 of the inner tube 4 is engaged with the element cap of the writing element 36 . the writing elements 34 and 20 are also propelled by the writing element 36 . the writing element 20 held by the writing element - outlet is then replaced by the writing element 34 . the spring 8 is compressed by the raised portion 24 during the propelling process . when the inner tube 4 is released from the propelling force , as shown in fig5 the spring force generated by the spring 8 will urge the inner tube toward the original position 30 . however , because of gravity , the writing elements stored in the inner tube 4 will not be back to their original positions and the writing element 38 will escape from the bottom opening 26 to the bore 35 of the outer tube 2 . fig6 illustrates that the automatic capped writing element pencil 1 is used on an article 32 . because the element cap 37 of the writing element 38 is engaged with the bottom opening 26 of the inner tube , the writing element 34 which serving as the pen - tip will not be pushed back into the writing element - outlet 18 . fig7 and 8 illustrate an automatic capped writing element pencil 39 with retractable pen tip 41 . similar to the automatic capped writing element apparatus 1 , the automatic capped writing element pencil 39 also includes an outer tube 40 , an inner tube 42 , writing elements 46 , a spring 44 , and a fixer 48 . however , the automatic capped writing element pencil 39 further includes a locking mechanism 51 for fixing the inner tube 42 in a lower position when it is pressed . the locking mechanism 51 includes an opening 52 formed on the outer tube 40 and a flexible piece 54 formed on the inner tube 42 . when the inner tube 42 is in an original position , the flexible piece 54 is located above the opening 52 and is compressed by the inner wall of the outer tube 40 . when the inner tube 42 is pressed , the flexible piece 54 will raise from the opening 52 of the outer tube 40 . the outer tube further includes a clip 50 . the clip 50 has a tip portion 60 raised toward the opening 52 . the operation of the automatic capped writing element pencil 39 is illustrated in fig9 - 12 . fig9 shows that the pen - tip writing element 41 is retracted within the writing element outlet 43 and the flexible piece 54 is located above the opening 52 . when the inner tube 42 is pressed , the pen - tip writing element 41 is propelled to the writing element outlet 43 and held by it . the flexible piece 54 is moved to the opening 52 and raises up since it is not limited by the outer tube 40 . furthermore , the spring 44 is compressed during the propelling process . when the inner tube is released from the propelling force , the spring 44 will urge the raised portion of the inner tube 42 upwardly . however , as shown in fig1 , since the flexible piece 54 extends into the opening 52 , it will be engaged at the upper edge 58 of the opening 52 to prevent the inner tube 54 from returning back to the original position . to retract the pen - tip writing element 41 again , the user just has to put the pen - tip writing element 41 on an article 62 and press the tip portion 60 of the clip 50 . the flexible piece 54 is then compressed by the tip portion 60 and will no longer be engaged at the upper edge 58 . accordingly , the inner tube 42 is pushed by the spring 44 to return back to the original position 53 . at the same time , the pen - tip writing element 41 is pushed by the article 62 to be retracted within the outer tube 40 . fig1 illustrates the appearance of the automatic capped writing element pencil . for guiding the flexible piece 71 of the inner tube 72 , as shown in fig1 and 14 , a guiding slot 64 is formed on the casing tube 74 from the opening 65 to the rear end 66 of the casing tube 74 . the entrance of the guiding slot 64 formed on the rear end 66 is enlarged to make the assembling of the casing tube 74 and the inner tube 72 easier . the flexible piece 71 can be inserted from the enlarged entrance 67 to the slot 64 very easily and the trouble of aligning the flexible piece 71 and the guiding slot 64 is avoided . furthermore , a surface 70 corresponding to the front surface 68 of the inner tube 72 is formed on the inner wall of the outer tube 74 to serve as an end point of the propelling process of the inner tube 72 . fig1 illustrates that a curved portion 78 is formed on the casing tube 76 for helping the user to grasp the casing tube 76 more properly . fig1 shows the engagement between the lower opening 84 of the inner tube 82 and the element cap 88 of the writing element 86 . the lower opening 84 of the inner tube 82 has a saw - toothed rim to make a proper engagement . for the same purpose , the rim of the element cap 88 is sharpened . furthermore , the writing element 86 is slightly inclined to the wall of the outer tube 80 because of gravity . such a situation can make a better engagement between the inner tube 82 and the writing element 86 . the spring for urging the inner tube may be posited under or above the opening of the outer tube . fig1 illustrates an example of positing the spring above the opening . an opening 94 is formed on the casing tube 90 opposite to the tip portion 97 of the clip 96 . a flexible piece 98 is formed on the inner tube 92 . a recess 102 is formed on the inner wall of the casing tube 90 for receiving the spring 100 . the recess 102 is located above the opening 94 . a raised portion 104 of the inner tube 92 is formed above the spring 100 to compress it . fig1 illustrates a writing element stopper 112 formed near the writing element outlet 108 of the casing tube 106 to prevent the pen - tip writing element 110 from being pushed back into the writing element outlet 108 . as shown in fig1 , the writing element stopper 112 is a flexible piece bearing against the end of the pen - tip writing element 110 . furthermore , as illustrated in fig2 , raised strips 109 are formed around the pen - tip writing element 110 to reduce a contact area between the pen - tip writing element 110 and the writing element outlet 108 . such a structure can prevent the pen - tip writing element 110 from being stuck at the writing element outlet 108 . however , for an automatic writing element writing apparatus with retractable pen - tip writing element , a structure for maintaining the pen - tip writing element within the casing tube is needed while the pen - tip writing element is retracted . as shown in fig2 , the pen - tip writing element 120 is pushed by the article 122 to be retracted within the casing tube 114 . when the casing tube 114 is removed from the surface of the article 122 , the pen - tip writing element 120 will not fall down because it is supported by the raised structure 118 . the raised structure 118 is a flexible piece integrally formed on the wall of the casing tube 114 . it is also formed near the writing element outlet 119 . the raised structure 118 has inclined surfaces 124 and 126 facing the inner tube 115 and the writing element outlet 119 respectively . accordingly , the raised structure 118 is pushed away when the pen - tip writing element 120 is propelled toward the writing element - outlet 119 or pushed by the article 122 . while the invention has been described in terms of what are presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment . on the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures . | 1 |
referring now to the drawings wherein like or similar elements are designated with identical reference numerals throughout the several views and figures , and wherein the various elements depicted are not necessarily drawn to scale , and in particular , to fig1 , there is shown a vending machine 100 and a handheld inventory checker 200 in accordance with the principles of the present invention . vending machine 100 is designed to dispense items 102 as chosen by a user or purchaser . as can be appreciated vending machine 100 could be virtually any type of vending machine , including , but not limited to a beverage vending machine , food or snack vending machine , medicine vending machine , and a merchandise vending machine . vending machine 100 includes an inventory monitor 104 . inventory monitor 104 is designed to keep track of various matters pertaining to the inventory of the items 102 stored in the vending machine . such matters include a real time inventory or count of each item 102 , the total number of items 102 , the total number of items 102 initially loaded into the vending machine each time filled , any possible expiration dates of items 102 , the time and date of the purchase of items 102 . it is anticipated that items 102 could be either all one type of an item , such would be the case with a newspaper vending machine , or items 102 could be a variety of items , such would be the case with a snack or beverage vending machine . vending machine 100 further includes a communication device which interfaces with inventory monitor 104 . as illustrated handheld inventory checker 200 , includes a display 202 , a control panel 204 , a holder 206 , and a communication interface 208 . in operation , vending machine 100 would be initially stocked with items 102 , and the inventory monitor 104 would update the data that it is designed to monitor ( such as described in the hereinabove ). after a select period of time , the owner or operator of the vending machine 100 would return to restock the vending machine . once the operator is within a certain distance from the vending machine 100 , the handheld checker 200 and the vending machine 100 would communicate therebetween . the information or data stored in the inventory monitor 104 would be communicated to the handheld checker 200 , whereby at least a portion of the data could then be displayed on display 202 . the data would allow the user to display on display 202 , such information as : the items that have been sold from the vending machine 100 ; the number of items remaining in the vending machine 100 ; and expired items : and , the number and type of items needed to restock the vending machine 100 . it is contemplated that handheld checker 200 could also be programmed to recommend different items to be placed in a particular vending machine based on historical sales of items . as many vending machine owner / operators generally have or service more that one vending machine , a unique electronic id could be assigned to each vending machine 100 such when the data stored in the inventory monitor 104 is communicated to the handheld checker 200 , the handheld checker 200 will be able to properly identify the data associated with each machine . vending machine 100 and handheld checker 200 can be configured to communicate by using various types of communications . for example , a wireless connection ( such as with an 802 . 11x or blue tooth protocol ) could utilized to established a communication connection between vending machine 100 and handheld checker 200 , which would be facilitated , in part by antenna 108 of vending machine 100 and antenna 208 of handheld checker 200 . it is further contemplated that a physical or wired connection could also be utilized for the communications between vending machine 100 and handheld checker 200 . in addition , handheld checker 200 could also be configured to communicate in either wireless or wired manner with a computer 300 or long term electronic storage device , where the user could download and store all the data received from their vending machines . an advantage of a vending machine 100 and handheld checker 200 utilizing a wireless communication , would be that the user could check the inventory of multiple vending machines all located within a select range at the same time , thereby saving time in preparing to restock the vending machines . referring now to fig2 , there is an exemplary embodiment of the handheld checker 200 . as illustrated handheld checker 200 includes a display 202 for displaying information gathered and processed to the user . examples of displayed items would be machine id number , time and date , items and quantity of each needed for that machine , expiration dates for remaining items , location of machine , and virtually any type of data determined to be useful to the user . as further illustrated , handheld checker 200 includes a control panel 204 for facilitating a user to control the operations of handheld checker 200 as well as for facilitating user input . the user , among other things , would be able to activate the operation of handheld checker 200 for checking inventories , and would enable control of the items displayed on display 202 such as by scrolling the items in display . control panel 204 could also include a power switch for turning on / off the handheld checker 200 . as further illustrated in fig2 , handheld checker 200 includes a device holder 206 to facilitate a strap connected to it or for enable hanging handheld checker 200 on a hook or other type of hanging device . as described above , handheld checker 200 includes a communication interface 208 for the transferring of data between handheld checker 200 and the vending machine 100 or computer 300 . although communication interface 208 is illustrated as a wireless interface , it is contemplated to be within the scope of this invention that a wired interface could also be utilized . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , handheld inventory checker 200 is microprocessor controlled handheld computer with software that would enable it to browse , query and obtain information corresponding to a vending machine &# 39 ; s inventory , process the data , and display , to the user , information corresponding to data received from the vending machine . it is contemplated that outer casing 210 of handheld checker 200 would be constructed a durable material , such as hard plastic , and that a transparent protective covering would also be utilized over display 202 . in the preceding detailed description , reference has been made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof , and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced . these embodiments , and certain variants thereof , have been described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention . it is to be understood that other suitable embodiments may be utilized and that logical changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention . the description may omit certain information known to those skilled in the art . the preceding detailed description is , therefore , not intended to be limited to the specific forms set forth herein , but on the contrary , it is intended to cover such alternatives , modifications , and equivalents , as can be reasonably included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims . | 6 |
the best mode embodiments of the ice crusher of the present invention are described below in detail in combination with typical commercially available ice makers which are provided with ice storage bins . referring now to the drawings , an ice crusher 2 of the present invention as shown in fig1 is mounted on top of ice storage bin 6 and beneath an ice maker 4 . referring to fig2 and 4 , ice from ice maker 4 is funnelled into ice crusher 2 by an ice delivery hopper 11 , and ice which falls from hopper 11 may be directed to an ice crushing zone 10 in ice crusher 2 by a diverter plate 92 , a comb plate 78 , and an ice guiding plate 74 . ice is forced from crushing zone 10 through the slots 51 in a grate 50 by a plurality of crusher blades 36 , which are mounted on a crusher shaft 30 . the resulting crushed ice falls into ice storage bin 6 at a location directly below crushing zone 10 . ice crusher 2 includes a frame assembly comprising a plurality of angle irons ( 21a - 21f are shown in fig1 and 2 ) arranged orthogonally to form a box - like skeleton structure . the frame assembly supports a cabinet comprising a plurality of outer panels of which 7 , 8 , and 9 are depicted , an electric motor 20 , and an internal housing 3 having a pair of sidewalls 16 , 17 , a pair of end walls 15 , 19 , and an intermediate crushing chamber wall 18 . crusher shaft 30 is rotated through a system of belts and pulleys by an electric motor 20 which is secured to a motor base 23 through a pair of motor mountings 22 , one of which is shown . as may be seen best in fig2 a motor pulley 24 drives a belt 26 which in turn rotates a crusher pulley 34 which is keyed to and rotates crusher shaft 30 . referring now to fig3 and 5 , crusher shaft 30 is supported by a pair of bearing plates 32 , 33 which are mounted on sidewalls 16 , 17 , respectively , of housing 3 . a plurality of crusher blades 36 are mounted on crusher shaft 30 and keyed thereto by a key 31 , which extends substantially the length of shaft 30 . crusher blades 36 are kept in spaced - apart arrangement by a plurality of crusher blade spacers 38 . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the crusher blades 36 are arranged on crusher shaft 30 so that the ice striking portions 37 of blades 36 are staggered in proceeding from one to another and define a helix . as is evident from the embodiment shown in fig2 - 5 , adjacent blades are most preferably displaced about 45 ° apart . although other angular displacements may be used , an angular displacement between about 30 ° and about 60 ° is preferred . such a displacement of blades 36 with respect to each other has the advantages that it tends to distribute ice linearly in a manner similar to movement of material by a screw conveyor , which reduces the force required to crush the ice and improves the speed of crushing by not having all the ice engaged by the same crushing blades 36 even if all the ice falls at the same place along the length of shaft 30 . crushing grate 50 is provided with a plurality of projecting fingers 49 defining a series of slots 51 which have a width great enough to provide a small clearance , for example , in the range of about 1 / 8 inch to 3 / 8 inch , more preferably about 1 / 4 inch , between each side 51a , 51b of slots 51 and the corresponding edges 36a , 36b of crusher blades 36 . crushing grate 50 is supported near its outer ends by a pair of rails 52 , 53 , which are secured to housing sidewalls 16 and 17 , respectively , by screws 54 , 55 . grate 50 is movable along rails 52 , 53 for changing the clearance between the inner ends of slots 51 of crusher grate 50 and the distal ends of striking portions 37 of crusher blades 36 . the assembly 60 depicted in fig4 of the drawings is provided to change this clearance and consists of an arm 62 and a lever 64 which are each secured to a rotatable rod 68 by set screws 70 , 72 , respectively , as shown in fig6 . arm 62 is held in place in any one of apertures 65a - 65e by a pin 63 . pin 63 is retained in the selected one of apertures 65a - 65e by the force of a spring 71 which is transmitted to rod 68 through lever 64 . inward movement of the rod 68 against the force of spring 71 by moving a knob 67 inwardly ( see fig1 ) also moves arm 62 inwardly for releasing pin 63 from aperture 65a , thus permitting rod 68 , arm 62 and lever 64 to rotate . a link 66 is pivotally connected at one end to lever 64 by a pin 61 and at the other end to crusher gate 50 by a pin 69 . as shown in fig4 counterclockwise rotation of the assembly of knob 67 , rod 68 , arm 62 and lever 64 pulls grate 50 downwardly and increases the clearance between crusher blades 36 and the bottom of grate slots 51 , and thus increases the particle size of the crushed ice . this arrangement provides a simple , positive and effective means for adjusting the particle size of crushed ice provided by the crusher . ice crusher 2 is provided with an ice diverter assembly 88 for directing ice from ice maker 4 either to the ice crushing zone 10 of ice crusher 2 , as shown in fig4 or to an ice chute 13 , as shown in fig2 thus bypassing ice crushing zone 10 . ice diverter assembly 88 comprises a diverter plate 92 secured to a shaft 90 , which is rotatable from the position shown in fig2 to the position shown in fig4 by turning a handle 91 at the front of the ice crusher cabinet . when in its diverting position as shown in fig2 diverter plate 92 cooperates at its lower end with a lip 93 projecting inward from the top of intermediate wall 18 to bypass crushing zone 10 by directing all ice from the ice maker into the uncrushed ice chute 13 . a microswitch 98 is mounted on sidewall 17 and is activated by a cam element 94 which presses against an actuator arm 96 when diverter plate 92 is rotated out of its diverting position . diverter assembly 88 thus provides a means for activating electric motor 20 when diverter plate 92 is in a position to direct ice into crushing zone 10 . referring now to fig3 and 4 , a comb plate 78 having a plurality of teeth 79 defining a series of slots 80 is secured to housing sidewalls 16 , 17 and positioned between ice delivery hopper 11 and the crusher blades 36 adjacent to end wall 15 . comb plate 78 serves to help direct ice from the corresponding end of ice hopper 11 into crushing zone 10 . fig7 and 8 show a modification of the rotating crushing member in which a plurality of picks 46 are secured to the drum of a crusher rotor 44 and are spaced to pass sequentially through slots 51 in crushing grate 50 . the sequential positioning of picks 46 also preferably defines a helix and the picks may be staggered at the same angular displacements as portions 37 of blades 36 . as seen in fig7 and 8 , the drum of crusher rotor may comprise a plurality of segments , such as 44a and 44b , each of which is centered on a crusher rotor shaft 40 and held in position by a plurality of bolts 45 which also serve to transmit rotational force between rotor shaft 40 and crusher rotor 44 . crusher rotor 44 is provided with a pair of spacers 43 ( only one spacer being shown ) for separating the rotor from sidewalls 16 and 17 . shaft 40 rotates within a bearing block 42 and a similar bearing block ( not shown ) on the outer surface of sidewall 17 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , an ice breaker assembly is provided in the upper portion of ice crusher 2 , as shown in fig1 and 9 - 11 . the ice mounted on a bar drive shaft 100 and secured in spaced - apart relationship thereon by a plurality of bolts 105 . drive shaft 100 is mounted in bushings 106 , 107 and rotated by a pulley 101 which is driven by a belt 103 . as shown in fig1 a pulley 102 is mounted on ice crusher shaft 30 for driving pulley 101 . as should be recognized , the operation of ice crusher 2 may be independent of the operation of ice maker 4 , inasmuch as the operation of the former may be dependent only on the position of diverter plate 92 , which has a cam element that presses against actuator arm 96 of microswitch 98 when it is positioned as shown in fig4 . the operation of ice crusher 2 also may be interrelated with operation of ice maker 4 by electrical and / or electronic controls , such as those shown in fig1 and 13 and described in detail below . an electronic control system for the ice crusher 2 is now described with reference to fig1 and 13 . shown electrically connected to electric motor 20 , by wire 110 , is a container 112 attached to outer panel 7 at the rear of the cabinet . container 112 contains the printed circuit board 114 on which are mounted electronic components for controlling the operation of ice crusher 2 . the power for energizing the components on printed circuit board 114 and operating electric motor 20 is provided by electrical connection 116 , which for this embodiment comprises an a / c input of 115 volts , 60 hertz at single phase . it should be appreciated that a 230 a / c line voltage may also be used . a third connection 118 electrically connects printed circuit board 114 to at least one hot gas solenoid valve , which is provided in ice maker 4 as described below and whose function is to detect when ice maker 4 is about to start a &# 34 ; harvest cycle &# 34 ; whereby newly formed ice is to be dropped into ice hopper 11 . a wire 111 provides grounding for electric motor 20 . with reference to fig1 , printed circuit board 114 is shown as having a number of electronic and electrical components , which are discussed in detail below with reference to fig1 , soldered thereto . printed circuit board 114 has , for this embodiment , seven connectors on junction block 120 to which electrical connections are made to the electrical power , electric motor 20 and the two hot gas solenoid valves 122 and 124 . in particular , junction connectors 1 and 2 provide an electrical circuit to hot gas solenoid valve 122 ; junction connectors 3 and 4 provide an electrical circuit to hot gas solenoid valve 124 ; junction connectors 5 and 7 provide an electrical circuit for electric motor 20 ; and junction connectors 6 and 7 provide input from the a / c power source . the schematic of the electrical circuit representing the components mounted on printed circuit board 114 is illustrated in fig1 . junction connectors 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 , which carry signals from hot gas solenoid valves 122 and 124 , are connected to corresponding opto - isolators u1 and u2 , which are conventional electrical devices having manufacturer type designation h11aa1 . opto - isolators u1 and u2 work in conjunction with corresponding resistors r1 and r2 to translate the respective inputs a and b from an a / c line level to the required operational d / c level of the circuit . opto - isolators u1 and u2 further isolate the rest of the components of the circuit from the input a / c signals . resistors r1 and r2 are current limiting resistors which limit the current flow through the diode sections of opto - isolators u1 and u2 . the outputs of opto - isolators u1 and u2 , at respective pins 5 thereof , are connected to a &# 34 ; pull - up &# 34 ; resistor r5 , which establishes a high logic level at nodes 126 , 126 when a low level &# 34 ; reset &# 34 ; is not being provided at either of output pins 5 of opto - isolators u1 and u2 . nodes 126 , 126 are connected to pin 6 of nand gate u3b and pin 8 of nand gate u3c . as shown , nand gates u3a and u3b are configured as a latch which acts to prevent inadvertent operation of electric motor 20 when the system is first turned on . the u3a and u3b latch is reset upon receipt of a low level &# 34 ; reset &# 34 ; signal provided by either of opto - isolators u1 and u2 at nodes 126 , 126 . gates u3a , u3b , u3c and u3d are part of a conventional quad 2 - input nand schmitt trigger ic chip u3 which is manufactured for example by rca under manufacturer designation 4093 . gate u3c acts as a logic level inverter for providing a signal at its output pin 10 to input pin 6 of a resetable programmable timer ic chip u4 , which performs the timing function of the system and has manufacturer designation 4541 . the clock frequency of timer ic chip u4 is determined by timing resistors r6 , r7 and timing capacitor c3 . a bypass capacitor c2 connecting timer ic chip u4 to ground prevents current spikes generated by ic chip u4 from affecting the other components of the system . nand gate u3d is one of the gates of quad 2 - input schmitt trigger ic chip u3 and is used as a switch for conditionally turning on relay k1 , via transistor q1 , when the logic level at its input pins 12 and 13 are not both high . the output of gate u3d , at pin 11 , is connected to the input of pnp transistor q1 , via resistor r4 , which limits the current flow through the base - emitter junction of transistor q1 . the collector of transistor q1 is connected at junction 128 to both relay k1 and a diode d5 , which is a &# 34 ; free - wheeling &# 34 ; diode connected across the coil of relay k1 to clamp any &# 34 ; fly back emf &# 34 ; when relay k1 is turned off . transistor q1 , diode d5 and relay k1 are conventional electronic components . a / c power is provided to junction connectors 6 and 7 , and subsequently to a transformer t1 . depending on how jumpers jmp1 , jmp2 and jmp1 are connected across the primary windings , transform t1 may be configured for either 120 volt a / c or 240 volt a / c operation . a 120 volt a / c is provided to the primary windings of transformer t1 for this embodiment . the a / c voltage at the secondary windings of transformer t1 is rectified by diodes d1 to d4 to provide a 12 volt d / c voltage at node 130 , which is used by the other electronic and electrical components of the system . in addition to the electrical circuit shown in fig1 , as is well known , for typical ice making machines , there is a bin thermostat ( not shown ) that is electrically connected to ice maker 4 and mounted within ice storage bin 6 for determining how much ice is available in the bin . in particular , for the present invention embodiment , the bin thermostat comprises sensing bulbs that are placed in both ice cube and crushed ice sections of ice storage bin 6 . in the instance where diverter plate 92 has been set to the position shown in fig2 whereby ice from the ice maker is directed into the uncrushed ice chute 13 , then into the appropriate section of the ice storage bin 6 , the sensing bulb of the bin thermostat will provide a signal to ice maker 4 to instruct it to stop producing ice if that section of storage bin 6 is sensed as filled with uncrushed ice . likewise , if diverter plate 92 has been positioned as shown in fig4 the sensing bulb of the bin thermostat in the crushed ice section of storage bin 6 will send a signal to ice maker 4 to instruct it to stop production of ice if that section of the storage bin is filled . as is common for both sensing bulbs , once either senses that additional ice is needed in the corresponding section of the ice storage bin , a signal is sent to ice maker 4 to instruct it to start producing ice . as is well known , there may be conventionally located within ice maker 4 one or more hot gas solenoid valves , such as valves 122 and 124 shown in fig1 . this embodiment contemplates that two ice makers are piggybacked one on top of the other , each of the ice makers having a corresponding one of the hot gas solenoid valves 122 and 124 . in essence , the circuitry for a hot gas solenoid valve detects when the ice maker has sufficiently converted water to ice to begin a &# 34 ; harvest cycle &# 34 ; whereby the formed ice in ice maker 4 is deposited into ice delivery hopper 11 . for the sake of clarity and since it is conventional , the circuitry of the ice maker that energizes and deenergizes the hot gas solenoid valve is not shown . for the discussion of the present invention embodiment , it is only necessary to realize that when the hot gas solenoid is energized , a signal is sent to the electrical circuit of fig1 . conversely , when the hot gas solenoid valve is deenergized , no signal is sent . with reference to fig1 and 13 , the electrical operation of ice crusher 2 is as follows . assume that electrical power switch 132 ( fig1 ) for the ice crusher 2 has been turned on . further assume that diverter plate 92 has been diverted to its diverting position as shown in fig2 such that cam element 94 presses against actuator arm 96 of microswitch 98 . at this time , as shown in fig1 , a complete circuit is formed for electrical circuit 110 and the circuit of fig1 is activated . insofar as both hot gas solenoid valves 122 and 124 , and their corresponding opto - isolators u1 and u2 , operate in the same manner , only hot gas solenoid valve 122 and its corresponding opto - isolator u1 will be discussed . when the circuit of fig1 is first activated , assuming that hot gas solenoid valve 122 has not detected the beginning of a harvest cycle in ice maker 4 , no signal is sent to input a by the solenoid valve circuit . accordingly , a logic low &# 34 ; power on pulse &# 34 ; signal is present at node 126 . this logic low signal is input to the latch comprising nand gates u3a and u3b , at pin 6 of gate u3b , for the duration as determined by the rc constant of resistor r3 and capacitor c4 . when the latch is thus set , a logic low is likewise present at input pin 13 of gate u3d which forces output pin 11 to a logic high state , thereby preventing pnp transistor q1 from conduction . as a consequence , relay k1 remains inoperative . as long as no logic high signal is present at node 126 , the output logic from the latch would remain low and relay k1 remains inactive . when hot gas solenoid valve 122 senses the beginning of a harvest cycle , i . e ., when ice maker 4 is ready to deposit its formed ice into delivery hopper 11 , an a / c signal is sent thereby to input a . this a / c signal is current limited by resistor r1 and fed to the input diode portion of opto - isolator u1 . from there the a / c signal is translated into a d / c signal and fed as a logic high state to node 126 . upon receipt of this &# 34 ; harvest &# 34 ; signal , the latch is reset , if the duration of rc constant has not already lapsed so that the latch is not already reset ; and a logic high signal is provided as an output from pin 4 of gate u3b to input pin 13 of gate u3d . at the same time , the reset logic high signal is provided as an input to pin 8 of gate u3c . this signal is inverted and provided as a logic low signal at output 10 and fed to input pin 6 of resetable programmable timer chip u4 , which causes timer chip u4 to provide a logic enable signal at its output pin 8 to input pin 12 of gate u3d . with both input pins 13 and 12 at logic high states , the output of gate u3d at pin 11 becomes a logic low state to thereby effect transistor q1 to conduct . as a consequence , relay k1 is energized to drive electric motor 20 to begin turning crusher pulley 34 and thereby blades 36 to crush the ice as it is harvested by the ice maker . as long as hot gas solenoid valve 122 continues to detect a harvest condition in ice maker 4 , an a / c signal is fed thereby to opto - isolator u1 and crusher electric motor 20 will continue to operate . at the end of the harvest cycle , hot gas solenoid valve 122 is deenergized and the a / c signal is no longer provided as an input to opto - isolator u1 . at this time , a logic low state is again present at node 126 and input pin 8 of gate u3c . in other words , the reset signal is now absent at node 126 and , as a consequence , a logic high signal is provided at output pin 10 of gate u3c to input pin 6 of timer chip u4 . with the reset signal absent , timer chip u4 begins to initiate its predetermined timing interval , preset by timing resistors r6 , r7 and capacitor c3 . during this preset rc time duration , the logic enable signal at output pin 8 of timer chip u4 is maintained so that relay k1 , and therefore electric motor 20 , remain energized . this time delay in which the ice crusher electric motor is kept running is desirable in that it allows sufficient time for all the freed ice remaining in the ice maker and in the delivery hopper of the ice crusher to be crushed and delivered to the ice bin . for the circuit of fig1 , a delay of approximately 1 to 1 1 / 2 minutes after the hot gas solenoid valve 122 has been deenergized is deemed to provide sufficient time for electric motor 20 to crush all the ice remaining in the hopper . at the end of the rc delay time interval , the signal at output pin 8 of timer chip u4 changes state . as a consequence , the signal at output pin 11 of gate u3d becomes logic high to thereby turn transistor q1 off . subsequently , relay k1 is deenergized and the operation of electric motor 20 is terminated . the material from which the various components are made is not critical and suitable materials may readily be selected by workers in the art . steel alloys , such as stainless steel , are well - suited for the cabinet , housing , shafts and the ice crushing elements , while plastic materials such as high density polyethylene are suitable for the ice diverting and guiding members , such as the ice hopper , ice chute walls and rails for the grate . the embodiments described herein are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention , and workers skilled in the art will recognize other variations thereof within the scope of this invention , which is limited only by the claims presented hereinafter and equivalents of the features described therein . | 8 |
embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to fig4 and table 2 . table 2______________________________________co . sub . 2 gas boost pressure 25 kg / cm . sup . 2 gauge pressurelocation of co . sub . 2 hydrate latitude 41 . 5 ° northproduction apparatus longitude 144 . 5 ° eastplacement depth of the apparatus 200 mwater temperature there in feb . 2 ° c . water temperature there in aug . 3 ° c . ______________________________________ carbon dioxide gas 1 is pressurized to a gauge pressure of 25 kg / cm 2 by a booster 2 and led to a production device 4 for the production of carbon dioxide hydrate located at a depth of 200 m in the area of latitude 41 . 5 ° north and longitude 144 . 5 ° east through line 3 . the temperature of seawater at the depth of the location of the production device 4 is 2 ° c . in february and 3 ° c . in august , and the temperature and pressure conditions for the production of carbon dioxide hydrate are satisified sufficiently . the carbon dioxide hydrate produced in the production device 4 goes down in seawater and accumulates on an ocean floor . embodiment 2 of the present invention will be explained with reference to fig5 and table 3 . table 3______________________________________co . sub . 2 gas boost pressure 25 kg / cm . sup . 2 gauge pressurecooling temp . of co . sub . 2 gas 3 ° c . temp . of supplied water 3 ° c . ( fresh water or seawater ) location of disposing latitude 41 . 5 ° northco . sub . 2 hydrate longitude 144 . 5 ° eastdepth of co . sub . 2 hydrate disposal 200 mwater temperature there in feb . 2 ° c . water temperature there in aug . 3 ° c . ______________________________________ carbon dioxide gas 1 is pressurized to 25 kg / cm 2 by a booster 2 and led to a cooling device 4 through line 3 . the gas is cooled to 3 ° c . at the cooling device and led to an apparatus 9 for producing carbon dioxide hydrate through line 5 . also , fresh water or seawater 6 , temperature of which is 3 ° c ., is pressurized to 20 kg / cm 2 gauge pressure by a pump 7 and led to the apparatus 9 for producing carbon dioxide through line 8 to produce carbon dioxide hydrate . this carbon dioxide hydrate 10 is led to a depth of 200 m at latitude 41 . 5 degrees north and longitude 144 . 5 degrees east through a carbon dioxide hydrate carrier 11 and a descendent pipe 12 for carrying carbon dioxide hydrate down into the sea while maintaining its condition . the temperature in this sea area is 2 ° c . in february and 3 ° c . in august . carbon dioxide hydrate 10 remains stable under these conditions . it goes down into the sea 13 and accumulates on an ocean floor and is kept there in a stable manner . as shown in fig6 as an example , carbon dioxide ( co 2 ) collected from combustion exhaust gas is pressurized by a compressor 101 and cooled by a cooling device 102 . water which comes with co 2 is condensed and removed by a dehydrator 103 . the co 2 which has now become free of water is transported in the seawater through a co 2 pipeline 104 to an ocean floor and cooled indirectly by the seawater , temperature of which goes down gradually with depth . also , the water which has been pressurized by a water pump 107 is transported through a water pipeline 105 laid along the co 2 pipeline 104 and is cooled by the surrounding seawater . at a point where temperature satisfies the conditions for the formation of carbon dioxide hydrate for a given value of the pressure of carbon dioxide , the water in the water pipeline 105 is supplied to the co 2 pipeline and mixes with carbon dioxide to produce carbon dioxide hydrate . also , instead of using the water pump 107 and the water pipeline 108 , the surrounding cold seawater can be supplied to the co 2 pipeline 104 by way of an underwater pump 108 . the position at which water is supplied has no restrictions because even if carbon dioxide or water ( either fresh water or seawater ) is mixed in before temperature reaches a desired value , carbon dioxide hydrate would start forming when the mixture is cooled down to such temperature by the seawater surrounding the co 2 pipeline 104 as it is carried downward . furthermore , because carbon dioxide hydrate thus produced is a solid , the co 2 pipeline 104 may be stuffed up as carbon dioxide hydrate forms . however , if water is supplied in excess , this can be avoided because after the hydrate is produced a mixture of water and the hydrate , i . e ., a carbon dioxide hydrate slurry , forms . while the seawater pressure in the co 2 pipeline 104 near the region of hydrate production can be small , the temperature and pressure conditions for the stability of carbon dioxide hydrate 106 have to be satisfied at the point where carbon dioxide hydrate has sufficiently formed and where carbon dioxide hydrate 106 or its slurry is discharged from the co 2 pipeline 104 . the co 2 pipeline 104 extends to an area of the sea where such conditions are met , and then carbon dioxide hydrate 106 or its slurry is discharged . the discharged carbon dioxide hydrate 106 goes down and accumulates on an ocean floor because it has a larger specific gravity than seawater . carbon dioxide hydrate is mixed with water ( fresh water ) at 50 ata and 10 . 3 ° c . to produce carbon dioxide hydrate . when the pressure of the compressor 101 is chosen appropriately , carbon dioxide hydrate can be sufficiently produced even at a depth of 500 m and at a seawater temperature of 2 ° c ., for example . to carbon dioxide transported into the region of this depth and this seawater temperature , fresh water transported by the water pump 107 on the ground and cooled by the surrounding seawater through the water pipeline 105 is added to produce carbon dioxide hydrate 106 . the addition of water is not restricted to this form . the seawater pump 108 can also be disposed at a suitable position in the sea , and cold seawater nearby can be supplied to liquified carbon dioxide with this pump 108 . while 1 . 0 mole of carbon dioxide reacts on average with 7 . 3 moles of water to produce carbon dioxide hydrate , carbon dioxide dissolves into water about 10 % at 50 ata . therefore , in the case of producing a carbon dioxide hydrate slurry with 50 ton / hr of carbon dioxide hydrate and 50 ton / hr of water , for example , 17 . 1 ton / hr of carbon dioxide and 82 . 9 ton / hr of water need to react with each other . ( of 17 . 1 ton / hr of carbon dioxide , 12 . 5 ton / hr becomes the hydrate and the rest dissolves into water .) as we have described above , because heat ( 80 kcal per kg of the hydrate ) is generated when carbon dioxide hydrate is produced , this heat of formation has to be somehow released in order to produce carbon dioxide hydrate slurry and discharge it into the sea . this release of the heat of formation is done through a pipeline by way of indirect cooling with seawater , and a pipeline of 10 in . diameter needs to have a length of about 10 . 4 km from the point where seawater is added to carbon dioxide ( the extended portion of the co 2 pipeline ). of course , if the diameter of the pipe is larger , the length of the pipeline can be shorter . the carbon dioxide slurry 106 from which the heat of formation has been removed as described above is discharged into the sea stably and goes down to the bottom of ocean because its specific gravity is greater than seawater . with reference to fig7 we shall describe embodiment 4 for a first apparatus of the present invention . this apparatus is placed in the seawater 210 which satisfies the pressure and temperature conditions for the formation of carbon dioxide hydrate shown in fig9 . the carbon dioxide 207 which is continuously supplied to a container 201 from a carbon dioxide supply opening 202 comes into contact with the seawater which is injected through a plurality of injection ports 203 disposed on the side wall of the container 201 and which satisfies the pressure and temperature conditions for the production of carbon dioxide hydrate , and moves toward an outlet opening 206 as the hydrate 209 is produced . the product carbon dioxide hydrate 209 is a solid . in order to prevent it from sticking to the inner wall of the container 201 , therefore , a screw 205 whose diameter is close to the inner diameter of the container 201 is driven by a motor 204 so as to discharge the hydrate 209 from the apparatus through the outlet opening 206 . the heat generated when carbon dioxide hydrate forms is released through the wall of container 201 into surrounding seawater . because the hydrate discharged from the apparatus has a larger specific gravity than surrounding seawater , it goes down and accumulates on an ocean floor . the length and the diameter of the container are determined based on the amount of carbon dioxide and seawater supplied and on the pressure and the temperature which the apparatus feels at its : they should be sufficient for the formation of carbon dioxide hydrate . an example of the apparatus had an inner diameter ( d ) of 100 m and a length ( l ) of 10 m and was placed in the sea at a depth of 250 m and at a water temperature of 2 ° c . when 10 kg / hr of carbon dioxide and 30 kg / hr of seawater are supplied , the supplied carbon dioxide became carbon dioxide hydrate sufficiently , and through the discharge means the product went down to an ocean floor and accumulated . with reference to fig8 we shall describe another embodiment of the first apparatus of the present invention . carbon dioxide 207 sent under pressure and fresh water or seawater 208 mix with each other in a container 212 . the container 212 is disposed in the seawater or fresh water 210 which satisfies the appropriate temperature and pressure conditions for the production of carbon dioxide hydrate 209 . carbon dioxide hydrate 209 is a solid . when it sticks to the inner wall of the container 212 , the hydrate can be discharged by the pressure of the carbon dioxide 207 and the seawater or fresh water 208 supplied . the length and the diameter of the container 212 are adjusted based on the amount of carbon dioxide and seawater or fresh water and on the pressure and temperature conditions at the location of the container . they should be sufficient for the formation of carbon dioxide hydrate . because the hydrate discharged out of the apparatus has a larger specific gravity than surrounding seawater , it goes down and accumulates on an ocean floor . fig1 shows the entire structure of the apparatus for the treatment of carbon dioxide present in combustion exhaust gas according to the present invention . all or a part of exhaust gas containing carbon dioxide gas which comes out of a combustion furnace 301 and all of which has previously been discharged through a smokestack 302 is introduced to a preliminary treatment apparatus 303 so as to cool and remove unburned carbon , and then at a carbon dioxide separator 304 , only carbon dioxide is separated and concentrated . the gas which is now free of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere as a purified gas . next , the concentrated carbon dioxide gas is pressurized by a compressor 305 and sent to a deep ocean floor through a pipeline 309 and injected into a reaction device 310 from a nozzle 311 disposed at the tip of the pipeline . the pressure and the temperature in the reaction device 310 are sensed with a pressure gauge 307 and a thermometer 308 , respectively , and the outlet pressure of the compressor 305 is adjusted by a pressure controller 306 . because carbon dioxide hydrate 312 is produced in the reaction device 310 located at the ocean floor on which the measured temperature and pressure satisfy the conditions for the production of the hydrate , it can be fixed on a deep ocean floor almost permanently by dispersing it there . fig1 shows details of the structure of the reaction device 310 for the production of carbon dioxide hydrate . one or a plurality of nozzles 311 are disposed to form an end of the pipeline 309 , and the reaction device 310 is walled in to have upper and lower and side faces ( though the lower wall can be omitted ) so as to prevent unreacted carbon dioxide from escaping to the outside . also , the nozzles 311 have an elongated structure in the direction of ejection such that the reaction time ( residence time ) for the formation of the hydrate is sufficiently large . further , a driven propeller 313 is disposed at the inlet portion of the reaction device 310 in order to generate a flow of seawater for moving and dispersing the product carbon dioxide hydrate out of the device 310 . fig1 shows details of the structure of the ejector type nozzle 311 . this nozzle 311 comprises a contracting tube 331 , a parallel tube 332 and an expanding tube 333 , and the parallel tube 332 has an opening 334 . in this nozzle 311 , the pressure in the parallel tube 332 becomes lower , and therefore seawater is sucked in from the outside through the opening 334 . the seawater mixes sufficiently with carbon dioxide gas in the nozzle 311 , and a fine mixture of carbon dioxide and seawater is ejected from an ejection outlet . | 2 |
referring now to fig1 , in fig1 a there is illustrated an embodiment in which cooling plates 2 and 3 are grounded and the capacitance between the substrate 1 and the cooling plates 2 and 3 is measured by capacitance monitor 4 . in this embodiment , cooling plates 2 and 3 are placed into position sequentially . in fig1 b the substrate is grounded and the capacitance between the cooling plates 2 and 3 and the substrate 1 is measured by capacitance monitors 4 in the circuit of the two cooling plates . the embodiment illustrated in fig1 b illustrates an embodiment in which the cooling plates may be moved simultaneously since the monitors can provide independent measurements and controls . this will occur because the substrate is grounded as to permit independent information concerning the capacitance between each plate and the substrate to be available for use in controlling independent movement of each plate . in each of these figures , substrate 1 is in position on a disk holder 5 and the substrate , and two cooling plates are all within housing 6 . when the cooling step is completed the cooling plates move away from the substrate and do so simultaneously after which the substrate may be moved from the cooling compartment . although measurements between the substrate and the cooling plates could be made using optical or inductive techniques to control spacing , capacitance can be measured with a simple circuit that is much less expensive than if optical or inductive sensors were employed . also the gap may be automatically adjusted correctly if there is a slight tilt to the substrate . this is understood if one considers that the capacitance is proportional to where da is an element of the surface of the substrate , x is the gap length , and the integral is over the surface of the substrate . similarly , the heat flux from the substrate is proportional to the same integral . thus , if there is a small tilt to the substrate , the gap that results in the set capacitance will provide the desired cooling . fig2 illustrates one technique to measure the capacitance in the circuit . in this figure , as in fig1 , 1 represents the substrate to be cooled , 2 and 3 represent the cooling plates , 5 represents the substrate carrier or lifter to support the substrate in the cooling chamber defined by walls 6 . in fig2 , the capacitance measuring circuit 4 measures the capacitance between the substrate and the cooling plates . oscillator 11 provides an ac signal with a single frequency . the frequency of the sine wave is somewhat arbitrary , but it is convenient to use a frequency that is low enough that stray inductance and capacitance does not cause confusion but is also high enough that the filtering from ac to dc can result in a signal with sufficient bandwidth to satisfy response times required for the application ( 10 khz to 1 mhz , for example ). the ac signal is reduced by a capacitive voltage divider comprising capacitor 15 and the capacitance measured between the substrate and the cooling plates . capacitors 12 and 13 comprise a reference voltage divider that reduces the same ac signal . the value of capacitor 13 can be chosen to be equal to the capacitance of the substrate to cooling plates in the initial state with the plates apart . for this initial condition the two input voltages into the difference amplifier 16 are equal , which will lead to an output voltage ˜ 0v when the cooling plates are in the “ out ” position . as the drive assemblies 7 move the plates in , the capacitance between the substrate and the cooling plates increases , resulting in a sine wave output which increases in magnitude as the plates get closer to the substrate . in the example shown , the output of the difference amplifier 16 is amplified with a bandpass amplifier 18 . this provides a method of increasing the signal to noise ratio , since the signal is amplified but most of the noise spectrum is not . the ac signal must then be rectified by a rectifier 19 to be useful as a control signal . the rectifier can be one of many types , such as a diode circuit as shown , or an rms ( root mean square ) amplifier . the output of the capacitance sensing circuit 4 can be used by motor controllers which control the drive circuits 7 . because there is only one sensing circuit in this figure , one plate must be moved into position , then the second . ( in fig1 b a circuit arrangement is provided to move both cooling plates at the same time relative to the substrate being cooled .) for each side , the motor controller can be given a set point that corresponds to the sensor signal a fixed distance from the desired final position . the pre - set velocity and deceleration will determine what that fixed distance is ( i . e . the distance the plate will travel between the time it begins to stop and the time it comes to a complete stop ). in a case in which there is a single control for each plate , when the first plate completes its motion , the second plate can start its motion . the second plate motion is stopped when the capacitance sensor signal reaches a second threshold which is higher than the first and corresponds to a capacitance sensor signal for a position a similar fixed distance before the desired final position . as should be apparent both sides can be made to move simultaneously by adding a second sensing circuit in the arrangement shown in fig1 b . however , this has not been found necessary for the speed of the system now being used . in operation , a substrate 1 is moved into position within cooling chamber 6 . the chamber is sealed and gas such as helium or hydrogen or a mixture of the two is fed into chamber 6 using tubular connection 8 to increase the pressure within the chamber to that desired for conductive heat transfer . cooling plate 2 is then moved by driver 7 to the desired position and then cooling plate 3 is moved to a like desired position . the pates 2 and 3 are maintained in this position for the desired time . thereafter the pressure in the chamber is again lowered to the level of the vacuum surrounding the chamber using the vacuum pump 10 and the cooling plates are separated away from substrate 1 . the chamber is opened and the substrate is then removed from chamber 6 and travels on for additional processing . the substrate then may be moved into other process stations for further processing . in all , it takes about 3 . 5 seconds from the time a substrate enters the compartment until the time it exits the compartment . this is typically the case in a compartment fitted for the system described in application ser . no . 10 / 361 , 308 when the system is running at a speed to produce about 800 completed disks per hour which permits the passage of a second to transport the disks between processing stations . fig3 shows the output for a system as described above in which a programmable servo motor controller 20 ( see fig2 ) is programmed to compare the capacitance sensor signal to a reference analog signal ( set point ) and move at a determined velocity inward until the two signals are equal then with a determined deceleration , stop . the set point thus corresponds to a position that is a fixed distance from the desired end point . when the first plate completes its move , a signal is sent to the servo controller 20 of the second plate to move the other cooling plate into position close to the substrate . for the data shown , the plates moved from a gap of 0 . 225 ″ to 0 . 025 ″ in less than 150 ms . at a gap of 0 . 225 inches the substrate has adequate space to enter between the two cooling plates notwithstanding the presence of the substrate carrier or lifter holding the substrate . substrates are cooled by 30 ° c . to 50 ° c . depending on conditions such as spacings , pressures , time , original temperature , etc . fig4 shows some data from a test of the reproducibility of the mechanism described in connection with fig2 . in this case , instead of a substrate , a stationary plate was used with two moving plates adjacent to each side with inductive sensors mounted in the stationary plate to measure the final position of the plates relative to the stationary plate . no attempt was made to make the two sides move to a similar distance separated from the stationary plate . the object instead for this set of graphs was reproducibility . after more than 6 , 000 cycles the chart below and fig4 a and 4b show the results obtained . standard average minimum maximum deviation side a . 0198 ″ . 0191 . 0216 . 0002 side b . 0208 . 0182 . 0237 . 0006 the b - side had a larger range because errors in a - side shift the read back at the desired b location . this is not necessarily bad , since if a ends up too close , b will tend to end farther away . this data illustrates that the method described can result in very precise reproducible placement of the cooling plates using a simple circuit . although these two plates equivalent to the cooling plates were not set in this experiment to adjust to an equal distance from the central plate , there is no question that such a result can obtain with a proper setting controlling movements and distances . while there has been shown and discussed what are presently considered a preferred embodiment , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of this invention and the coverage of the appended claims . | 6 |
the stackable , collapsible container of the present invention is shown generally as ( 10 ) in fig1 . the container ( 10 ) includes a removal , flexible inner liner ( 12 ) having an inlet opening ( 14 ) with a top cap ( 16 ) and a drain or outlet opening ( 18 ) with a threaded plug ( 20 ) therein . the inner liner ( 12 ) is constructed of polyethylene , such as that well known in the art to hold non - hazardous fluid material . the container ( 10 ) includes an outer skin ( 22 ). in the preferred embodiment , the outer skin ( 22 ) is constructed of a polypropylene fabric - like material . the outer skin ( 22 ) can be constructed of any lightweight material known in the art having strength characteristics sufficient to contain a flowable material . it is preferable that the outer skin ( 22 ) be waterproof or coated with a waterproof material in a manner such as that known in the art to allow the container ( 10 ) to be used outdoors as well as indoors . the outer skin ( 22 ) does not include the top of the container ( 10 ) to allow access to the inlet opening ( 14 ) through the top cap ( 16 ). as shown in fig1 , the container ( 10 ) includes a pallet type base ( 24 ) and a top ( 26 ) coupled together by a plurality of support poles ( 28 ). while the base ( 24 ) and top ( 26 ) may be constructed of any suitable material , in the preferred embodiment the base ( 24 ) and top ( 26 ) are compression molded of a forty percent fiberglass filled polypropylene homopolymer to withstand the significant loads placed upon the base ( 24 ) and top ( 26 ) during transport of flowable materials . as shown in fig2 , the base ( 24 ) is provided with a plurality of ribs ( 30 ) to create a plurality of tiny compartments ( 32 ). preferably , each compartment is provided with a drain hole ( 34 ) to allow for adequate drainage to prevent the growth of mildew and retention of water . the base is also molded with a plurality of flats ( 36 ) with downward sloping ramps ( 38 ) to facilitate emptying of a flowable material ( 40 ) through the outlet ( 18 ). ( fig1 and 2 ). as shown in fig2 , the base ( 24 ) is provided around a plurality of receivers ( 41 ) defining cavities , such as a plurality of holes ( 42 ) to support the support poles ( 28 ). preferably , the depth of the holes is at least twice as long as the width or diameter of the holes ( 42 ). as shown in fig3 , the side hole ( 44 ), or receiver , includes a main wall ( 46 ) defining a cavity ( 48 ). integrally molded into the main wall ( 46 ) is a first wedge ( 50 ). the main wall ( 46 ) is between three and thirty millimeters thick . the first wedge ( 50 ) includes a first sidewall ( 52 ), second sidewall ( 54 ) and a face ( 56 ). the first sidewall ( 52 ) and second sidewall ( 54 ) are wider near the top of the hole ( 44 ) than near the base ( 58 ), causing the wedge ( 50 ) to taper from the top ( 62 ) of the hole ( 44 ) to the base ( 58 ) of the hole ( 44 ). as shown in fig4 , the main wall ( 46 ) is wider near the top ( 60 ) than the base ( 58 ). this taper facilitates the extraction of the compression mold during the manufacturing process . given the depth of the hole ( 44 ) which , in the preferred embodiment , is between five and twenty centimeters , more preferably between ten and fifteen centimeters , and most preferably approximately fourteen centimeters , compression molding of such cavities is difficult if the cavities have non tapering walls . while shallower holes are easier to compression mold , they do not provide the support necessary for the support poles ( 28 ). while it is possible to compression mold a tapered wall all the way around the cavity ( 44 ), the tapered wall would not support the support poles ( 28 ) near the top ( 60 ) of the hole ( 44 ) and , therefore , would not adequately support the support poles ( 28 ). accordingly , applicant has provided the cavity with the plurality of wedges ( 50 ) with faces ( 56 ) which contact the support poles ( 28 ) from the top ( 60 ) to the base ( 58 ) of the cavity ( 48 ). the support pole ( 28 ) is in contact with the face ( 56 ) of the wedge ( 50 ) but is not in contact with the first sidewall ( 52 ) or second sidewall ( 54 ) of the wedge ( 50 ). while in the preferred embodiment the cavity is shown with four wedges ( 50 ) in each hole ( 44 ), the hole ( 44 ) may be provided with one to five , six or any desired number of wedges ( 50 ). in the preferred embodiment the exposed surface area of the main wall ( 46 ) is greater than the exposed surface area of the faces ( 56 ) of the wedges ( 50 ) to facilitate compression molding of the base ( 24 ). additionally , while the base ( 24 ) is molded to provide a substantially straight face ( 56 ) for contact with the support poles ( 28 ), the faces ( 56 ) may be curved and may be constructed of any dimensions plus or minus ten degrees from vertical , using any desired type of molding process . additionally , while the wedges ( 50 ) are shown to be of an interrupted construction from the top ( 60 ) to the base ( 58 ) of the hole ( 44 ), the wedges ( 50 ) may be constructed with a plurality of breaks which may be horizontal , vertical or any type of diagonal break . additionally , the wedges ( 50 ) may be positioned just near the top ( 60 ) of the hole ( 44 ), the base ( 58 ) of the hole ( 44 ), or may be staggered across the main wall ( 46 ) as desired . the hole ( 44 ) is preferably twice as deep as the diameter and the wedges ( 50 ) are at least twice as thick near the top as the bottom . additional receivers ( 61 ) defining additional holes ( 63 ) are constructed in a similar manner with four main walls ( 65 ), each having sidewalls ( 67 ) and ( 69 ). as shown in fig4 , immediately after the base ( 24 ) has been removed from the compression mold , a stainless steel washer ( 62 ) having an outer diameter of approximately 3 . 4 centimeters is dropped into the hole ( 44 ) to contact the base ( 58 ). as the base ( 24 ) cools and shrinks , the washer ( 62 ) is permanently secured to the base ( 58 ) of the hole ( 44 ). as shown in fig3 , secured to the exterior surface ( 63 ) of the main wall ( 46 ) are a plurality of ribs ( 64 ), ( 66 ), ( 68 ) and ( 70 ), which act as buttresses for the wedges ( 50 ), ( 72 ), ( 74 ) and ( 76 ) transporting lateral force from the support poles ( 28 ) through the wedges ( 50 ), ( 72 ), ( 74 ) and ( 76 ), through the main wall ( 46 ) to the ribs ( 64 ), ( 66 ), ( 68 ) and ( 70 ), and into the remainder of the base ( 24 ). as shown in fig2 , as the corner holes ( 78 ) do not provide for a standard buttress on the corner piece , the corner holes ( 78 ) are provided with a wedge buttress ( 80 ) which dissipates the forces on the wedge ( 82 ) to the sides ( 84 ) and ( 86 ) of the base ( 24 ). while a single rib can be used , the tendency is for a single rib to put such a great amount of pressure on such a small area so as to rupture the sides ( 84 ) or ( 86 ) of the base ( 24 ). the wedge ( 80 ), however , dissipates the force over a greater area , thereby reducing the likelihood of rupture . as shown in fig1 , as compression molding such a thick supportive wedge ( 80 ) at the corner near a hole ( 82 ) would likely lead to a failure during the compression molding process , the corner is provided with a cutout ( 88 ) which still allows the wedge ( 80 ) to dissipate forces to the sides ( 84 ) and ( 86 ) of the base ( 24 ), while reducing the thickness of the wedge ( 80 ) for the compression molding process to allow the mold to be extracted from the base without destruction of the wedge ( 80 ). when it is desired to utilize the stackable , collapsible container ( 10 ) of the present invention , a retention plate ( 90 ) compression molding of a glass filled material is secured in the slot ( 92 ) molded into the base ( 24 ) shown in fig2 and 5 . the base ( 24 ) is provided with a support wall ( 94 ) to add stability to the retention plate ( 90 ). the retention plate ( 90 ) is preferably provided with an opening ( 96 ) to accommodate the outlet opening ( 18 ) of the flexible liner ( 12 ). ( fig1 , 2 and 5 ). the retention plate is also provided with a pair of curved retainers ( 98 ) and ( 100 ) offset to the rear of the retention plate ( 90 ). as shown in fig1 , once the retention plate ( 90 ) has been set in place , the support poles ( 28 ) can be secured into the holes ( 42 ) of the base ( 24 ). as shown in fig1 and 5 , the support poles ( 28 ) engage the curved retainers ( 98 ) and ( 100 ) of the retention plate ( 90 ), preventing the retention plate ( 90 ) from being pushed outward past the support poles ( 28 ) by the force of the flowable material ( 40 ). the outer skin ( 22 ) is thereafter provided around the exterior of the corner support poles ( 28 ) and through the interior of the side support poles ( 28 ). thereafter , the flexible liner ( 12 ) is provided on the interior of the stackable , collapsible container ( 10 ) and the outlet opening ( 18 ) provided through the opening ( 96 ) in the retention plate ( 90 ) and the threaded plug ( 20 ) secured thereto . thereafter , the top ( 26 ) is provided over the support poles ( 28 ). the under side of the top ( 26 ) is provided with cavities to retain the support poles ( 28 ). as the cavities of the top ( 26 ) are much shallower than the holes ( 42 ) of the base ( 24 ), the cavities may be constructed with a one and one - half degree taper . alternatively , if desired , the cavities may be constructed with wedges in a manner similar to that described above in association with the holes ( 42 ). once the top ( 26 ) has been coupled to the support poles ( 28 ), the top cap ( 16 ) is removed and the flowable material ( 40 ) is provided into the flexible liner through the inlet opening ( 14 ). once the flexible liner ( 12 ) has been filled , the top cap ( 16 ) is reattached and , if desired , a flexible cover ( 102 ) constructed of any desired material , which may be flexible , solid or semi - flexible , is provided over the top ( 26 ) to protect the top cap ( 16 ) inlet opening ( 14 ) and flexible liner ( 12 ) from dust and damage . if desired , as shown in fig1 , the top ( 26 ) may be provided with locator pins ( 104 ). each locator pin ( 104 ) is provided with a front face ( 106 ) which extends above the top ( 26 ) of the container ( 10 ). the front face ( 106 ) is supported by a plurality of ribs ( 108 ), but may be supported by a solid block of material tapering downward from the front face ( 106 ) to the top ( 26 ) of the container ( 10 ). ( fig6 ). in addition to strengthening the top ( 26 ), the locator pins ( 104 ) also assist in locating containers ( 10 ) and ( 110 ) relative to one another when one container ( 110 ) is stacked on top of another container ( 10 ). ( fig7 ). as shown in fig6 , the bottom ( 112 ) of the feet ( 114 ) of the container ( 10 ) are provided with chamfered faces ( 116 ) sufficient to fit into mating engagement with the ribs ( 108 ) of the locator pins ( 104 ). when it is desired to stack the container ( 110 ) on top of the other container ( 10 ), even if the containers ( 110 ) and ( 10 ) are not perfectly aligned , as the container ( 110 ) is moved into position above the container ( 10 ), the ribs ( 108 ) of the locator pins ( 104 ) engage the chamfered faces ( 116 ) of the feet ( 114 ), guiding the container ( 110 ) into precise mating engagement with the locator pins ( 104 ) of the container ( 10 ). as shown in fig8 , when it is desired to transport the stackable , collapsible container ( 10 ) in a collapsed orientation , the flowable material ( 40 ) is removed from the flexible liner ( 12 ), the top ( 26 ) is removed from the support poles ( 28 ), and the support poles ( 28 ) and retention plate ( 90 ) are removed from the base ( 24 ). thereafter , the support poles ( 28 ) and retention plate ( 90 ) may be placed on top of the base ( 24 ) and the top ( 26 ) provided directly on top of the base ( 24 ). the bottom of the top ( 26 ) and top of the base ( 24 ) are preferably provided with small retainers to allow the top ( 26 ) and base ( 24 ) to fit into mating engagement . as the top ( 26 ) is provided with retainers ( 104 ) and the base ( 24 ) is provided with mating recesses ( 106 ), the stackable , collapsible container ( 10 ) may be stacked in the collapsed form shown in fig6 as well . the foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention , and the invention is not limited thereto , except insofar as the claims are so limited , as those skilled in the art that have the disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention . by way of example , the stackable , collapsible container ( 10 ) of the present invention may be constructed of any desired dimensions and of any suitable material . additionally , any desired number of support poles ( 28 ) may be utilized and the base ( 24 ) and top ( 26 ) may be constructed of any suitable configuration . | 1 |
in fig1 the reference numeral 1 indicates overall a device for measuring the quantity of liquid contained in a tank 2 . particularly , but not exclusively , the device 2 can be used for measuring the quantity of fuel contained in a motor vehicle tank . three level sensors 3 , 4 , 5 to be housed within the tank 2 in a predetermined relative position ; means 7 for processing information supplied by said level sensors which depends , when in use , on the liquid level sensed by each of them ; and indicator means 8 , 9 controlled by the processing means 7 for indicating the quantity of liquid contained in the tank 2 and , respectively , the inclination of the tank 2 ( and thus of the vehicle ) to a reference plane ( for example the horizontal plane ). conveniently , the sensors 3 , 4 , 5 are disposed along a circumference and spaced angularly apart by 120 °. fig2 and 5 show in greater diagrammatic detail the measuring devices 10 , 20 and 40 which constitute equivalent embodiments of the device 1 . for this reason , the same reference numerals are used to indicate components which are identical or operationally equivalent . with particular reference to fig2 the device 10 uses as level sensors variable resistors , each of which has its slider connected to a respective amplifier 13 , 14 , 15 having its respective output connected to a corresponding input of an adder circuit 16 . the output of this latter is connected to the fuel quantity indicator 8 . with particular reference to fig3 the device 20 uses as level sensors capacitors connected into three respective conditioning circuits 23 , 24 , 25 which are connected together in parallel and interposed between a square wave generator 21 and an adder circuit 26 , the output of which is connected to said liquid quantity indicator 8 . more specifically , the square wave generator 21 has an oscillation period t ( see the signal va of fig4 a ) proportional to the difference between capacities of the capacitors 27 and 28 which are connected to it externally . the capacitor 27 , of suitable form , is located in the tank 2 such that its plates are immersed in the liquid , which thus forms the dielectric . the capacitance of this capacitor is therefore directly proportional to the dielectric constant of the liquid . the capacitor 28 is chosen in such a way to have the same capacity of the capacitor 27 when the dielectric of this latter is air . the circuits 23 , 24 and 25 are identical and for this reason only the conditioning circuit 23 is described hereinafter in detail . the circuit 23 comprises essentially a pair of monostable circuits 30 , 31 having common inputs and having their outputs connected to respective inputs of a logic gate 36 of ex - or type . at time t0 , the signal va generated by the astable circuit 21 triggers both the output signals vb and vc ( see fig4 b and 4c ) of the monostable circuits 30 and 31 . the switching time t2 of the monostable circuit 30 is determined by a resistor 33 , the resistance of which is hereinafter indicated by r ( 33 ), and by the capacitor 3 , the capacitance c ( 3 ) of which depends on the fuel level in the tank 2 . the switching time t1 of the monostable circuit 31 is fixed , and is determined by a resistor 34 and capacitor 35 . the resistance ( r34 ) of the resistor 34 and the capacitance c ( 35 ) of the capacitor 35 are chosen such that under dry conditions the following relationship is valid : in this manner , when the tank is empty t2 = t1 , whereas when fuel is present t2 & gt ; t1 . the comparison between the signals vb and vc produces at the output of the logic gate 36 the signal , the duration t &# 39 ; of which is the difference between the duration t2 of the signal vc and the duration t1 of the signal vb , and is directly proportional to the level of the liquid between the opposing plates of the capacitor 3 ( and therefore to the respective wetted area a ), in that the portion of duration t1 , which is also present when liquid is absent between the plates , is subtracted from the signal vc . this portion in fact depends on the capacitance of the capacitor when it has air as its dielectric . the output of the logic gate 36 is connected to a respective input of the adder 26 by way of a conventional filter 39 formed from a resistor 37 and capacitor 38 . the filter 39 provides the mean value of the signal vd , expressed by the relationship : ## equ1 ## where vcc is the voltage relative to the logic value &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; of the signal vd ( for example + 5 v ). in other words , the voltage fed to the adder 26 is directly proportional ( by a constant which does not depend on the nature of the dielectric ) to the electrode area wetted by the liquid . with particular reference to fig5 the measuring device 40 illustrated therein uses preferably identical generic level sensors 3 , 4 , 5 which , by way of an interface unit 41 , are connected to a logic processing unit 42 conveniently comprising a microprocessor . the unit 42 exchanges information with a programmable read - only memory 43 ( for example of eprom type ), and controls the indicators 8 and 9 by means of respective control circuits 44 and 45 . before describing the operation of the aforesaid measuring devices , some theoretical considerations will be given . if for a particular tank the following function is known : where a , b , c are the liquid levels at three predetermined points of the tank ( see fig1 ), by measuring the three values a , b , c it is possible to obtain an accurate evaluation of the liquid quantity , independently of the attitude of the container , provided suitable computing means are available . the idea on which the present invention is based consists of evaluating the function f ( and thus the liquid quantity ) by the simple analog addition of the signals provided by three sensors , each structured such that the output signal is a precise function of the height wetted by the liquid . in particular , the three functions f ( a ), f ( b ), f ( c ) which characterise the three sensors must be such that their sum f ( a )+ f ( b )+ f ( c ) approximates as closely as possible to the function f ( a , b , c ). conveniently , polynomials of a sufficiently high order are chosen for these three functions , their coefficients being determined by regression on the function f ( a , b , c ) measured experimentally . on this basis , it is apparent that in principle and with particular reference to fig1 the measuring device according to the present invention can be structured in two different ways . more precisely , the sensors 3 , 4 and 5 can either be suitably shaped according to the shape of the tank and their arrangement in the tank ( in which case the processing means 7 need only be able to compute algebraic additions ), or can be all identical ( in which case the processing means 7 must be able to carry out the operations necessary to obtain the said three functions ). the device 10 of fig2 pertains to the first of the said cases , the resistors 3 , 4 , 5 being suitably shaped and the signal emitted by them being added algebraically in the adder 16 after suitable amplification in the respective amplifiers 13 , 14 , 15 . the device 20 of fig3 also pertains to the first case , in which the signals vd are added in the adder 26 after undergoing processing consisting essentially of compensation for the liquid dielectric constant ( by the frequency of the circuit 21 ), subtraction of the empty signal vb by the logic gate 36 , and subsequent filtration through the circuit 39 . the device 40 of fig5 can pertain either to the first case ( shaped sensors ) or to the second case ( identical sensors ). however , it is apparent that as the computing capacity of the unit 42 is available it is more convenient to use identical sensors and feed into the memory 43 all the information necessary to calculate the said functions f ( a ), f ( b ) and f ( c ). in this case , the inclination of the vehicle in which the tank 2 is fitted can also be calculated , by using the signals generated by the sensors 3 , 4 and 5 which have already been used for calculating the fuel quantity . the advantages obtained by the devices constructed in accordance with the present invention are apparent from an examination of their characteristics . firstly , the fuel quantity can now be indicated with high precision whatever the inclination or state of movement of the respective tank . moreover , secondary information regarding the attitude of the tank ( and consequently of the vehicle ) can be obtained without any significant cost increase in the device . finally , the device 40 of fig5 is particularly advantageous both from the initial installation and from the spares aspect , in that it requires a reduced stock availability as the sensors are all identical , so that to prepare such a device only a base portion , which is always identical , and a memory 43 , which is set for the particular tank in which the device is to be installed , need be provided . finally , it is apparent that modifications can be made to the described devices but without leaving the present invention . for example , the level sensors could also be of a different type , such as electrothermal . furthermore , these devices could be used for measuring the quantity of any liquid contained in tanks of any shape which are subject to variations in attitude or state of movement . | 6 |
the following copending commonly assigned u . s . patent applications are directed to inventions which are closely related to that described herein : ( 1 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 554 , 239 , filed july 17 , 1990 , &# 34 ; radiation - sensitive composition containing a poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ) and use thereof in lithographic printing plates &# 34 ; by paul r . west et al . ( 2 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 554 , 231 , filed july 17 , 1990 , &# 34 ; radiation - sensitive composition containing an unsaturated polyester and use thereof in lithographic printing plates &# 34 ; by paul r . west et al . ( 3 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 554 , 230 , filed july 17 , 1990 , &# 34 ; radiation - sensitive composition containing both a vinyl pyrrolidone polymer and an unsaturated polyester and use thereof in lithographic printing plates &# 34 ; by paul r . west et al . and ( 4 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 554 , 232 , filed july 17 , 1990 , &# 34 ; radiation - sensitive composition containing a vinyl pyrrolidone polymer and use thereof in lithographic printing plates &# 34 ; by paul r . west et al . as indicated hereinabove , the radiation - sensitive compositions of this invention contain a poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ). the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimines ) are well known polymers , some of which are commercially available , and are described in , for example , u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 470 , 267 , 3 , 483 , 141 , 3 , 640 , 909 and 4 , 474 , 928 . they range in molecular weight from several thousand to several hundred thousand . the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimines ) utilized in this invention include polymers comprised of repeating units of the formula : ## str5 ## wherein r is a monovalent hydrocarbyl radical containing up to 20 carbon atoms and n is an integer with a value of 2 to 4 . the hydrocarbyl radical represented by r can be unsubstituted or substituted with substituents such as halo , haloalkyl , hydroxyalkyl , and the like . the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimines ) can be prepared by the ring - opening polymerization of heterocyclic monomers of the formula ## str6 ## wherein r and n are as defined above . for example , n - acylated polyethyleneimines of the structure ## str7 ## are advantageously prepared from oxazolines of the formula : ## str8 ## as indicated above , r can be any monovalent hydrocarbyl radical , substituted or unsubstituted , containing up to 20 carbon atoms including alkyl such as ethyl , halogenated alkyl such as dichloroethyl , aryl such as phenyl , halogenated aryl such as p - bromophenyl , aralkyl such as benzyl , cycloalkyl such as cyclohexyl and alkaryl such as tolyl . the preferred poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ) for use in this invention is poly ( n - propionyl ethyleneimine ). an alternative name for this polymer is poly ( 2 - ethyl - 2 - oxazoline ). it is available from the dow chemical company under the trademark peox polymer , with polymers of different molecular weight available as peox 50 , peox 250 and peox 500 . the unsaturated polyester employed in this invention is a copolyester of an unsaturated dicarboxylic acid such as fumaric acid or maleic acid , or mixtures thereof , and an oxyalkylene ether of an alkylidene diphenol . a typical example is the copolyester of fumaric acid which has the formula : ## str9 ## and polyoxypropylene - 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- bis ( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) propane which has the formula : ## str10 ## such copolyesters are well known in the art and are described , for example , in british patents 722 , 264 , 722 , 265 , 722 , 266 and 722 , 273 . they are available commercially from reichhold chemicals , inc ., as atlac 382e bisphenol fumarate resin ( also known as atlac 32 - 629 - 00 ) and related resins atlac 382 . 05 ( a solution of atlac 382e in styrene ), atlac 32 - 631 - 00 ( also known as atlac 382es ), atlac 32 - 628 - 00 ( also known as atlac 382a ) and atlac 32 - 630 - 00 ( also known as atlac 382esa ). to prepare the unsaturated polyester , an alkylene oxide , such as propylene oxide , is condensed with an alkylidene diphenol such as bisphenol - a , to give the bis - hydroxyalkyl derivative which , in turn , is reacted with an unsaturated acid , such as fumaric acid , to give the unsaturated polyester . as described in british patent no . 722 , 264 , the suitable oxyalkylene ethers of an alkylidene diphenol can be generically represented by the formula : ## str11 ## wherein a is a 2 - alkylidene radical of 3 or 4 carbon atoms , r is an alkylene radical of 2 or 3 carbon atoms , m and n are each at least one and the sum of m and n is not greater than 3 . the esterifying dicarboxylic acid is predominantly fumaric acid , or maleic acid or mixtures thereof , but may include minor proportions of saturated aliphatic acids , aromatic acids or other unsaturated aliphatic acids , such as , for example , succinic acid , sebacic acid , phthalic acid or itaconic acid . each of the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ) and the copolyester of an unsaturated dicarboxylic acid and an oxyalkylene ether of an alkylidene diphenol is typically incorporated in the radiation - sensitive composition in an amount of from about 2 to about 30 percent by weight based on total polymer content , and more particularly in an amount of from about 5 to about 15 percent by weight . copolyesters of an unsaturated carboxylic acid and an oxyalkylene ether of an alkylidene diphenol have been found to be especially useful in controlling the break - up of the photopolymer coatings in aqueous developing solutions . specifically , the presence of the copolyester results in finer particle sizes upon processing of such coatings with aqueous developers . the copolyester additive is less prone than other polymeric additives to extraction from crosslinked portions of photopolymer coatings upon processing . it has also been found to improve the rate of initial ink - up of printing plates and to counteract the blinding tendencies caused by addition of the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ) to the photopolymer coating . ( the term &# 34 ; blinding &# 34 ; refers to rendering the image area non - ink - receptive .) the radiation - sensitive compositions of this invention comprise photocrosslinkable polymers , such as polyesters , containing the photosensitive group ## str12 ## as an integral part of the polymer backbone . for example , preferred photocrosslinkable polymers are polyesters prepared from one or more compounds represented by the following formulae : ## str13 ## where r 2 is one or more alkyl of 1 to 6 carbon atoms , aryl of 6 to 12 carbon atoms , aralkyl of 7 to 20 carbon atoms , alkoxy of 1 to 6 carbon atoms , nitro , amino , acrylic , carboxyl , hydrogen or halo and is chosen to provide at least one condensation site ; and r 3 is hydroxy , alkoxy of 1 to 6 carbon atoms , halo or oxy if the compound is an acid anhydride . a preferred compound is p - phenylene diacrylic acid or a functional equivalent thereof . these and other useful compounds are described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 030 , 208 ( issued apr . 17 , 1962 to schellenberg et al ); u . s . pat . no . 3 , 702 , 765 ( issued nov . 14 , 1972 to laakso ); and u . s . pat . no . 3 , 622 , 320 ( issued nov . 23 , 1971 to allen ), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference . ## str14 ## r 3 is as defined above , and r 4 is alkylidene of 1 to 4 carbon atoms , aralkylidene of 7 to 16 carbon atoms , or a 5 - to 6 - membered heterocyclic ring . particularly useful compounds of formula ( b ) are cinnamylidenemalonic acid , 2 - butenylidenemalonic acid , 3 - pentenylidenemalonic acid , o - nitro - cinnamylidene malonic acid , naphthylallyl - idenemalonic acid , 2 - furfurylideneethylidenemalonic acid and functional equivalents thereof . these and other useful compounds are described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 674 , 745 ( issued july 4 , 1972 to philipot et al ), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . ## str15 ## r 3 is as defined above ; and r 5 is hydrogen or methyl . particularly useful compounds of formula ( c ) are trans , trans - muconic acid , cis - transmuconic acid , cis , cis - muconic acid , α , α &# 39 ;- cis , trans - dimethylmuconic acid , α , α &# 39 ;- cis , cis - dimethylmuconic acid and functional equivalents thereof . these and other useful compounds are described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 615 , 434 ( issued oct . 26 , 1971 to mcconkey ), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . ## str16 ## r 3 is as defined above ; and z represents the atoms necessary to form an unsaturated bridged or unbridged carbocyclic nucleus of 6 or 7 carbon atoms . such nucleus can be substituted or unsubstituted . particularly useful compounds of formula ( d ) are 4 - cyclohexene - 1 , 2 - dicarboxylic acid , 5 - norbornene - 2 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid , hexachloro - 5 [ 2 : 2 : 1 ]- bicycloheptene - 2 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid and functional equivalents thereof . these and other useful compounds are described in canadian patent no . 824 , 096 ( issued sept . 30 , 1969 to mench et al ), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . ## str17 ## r 3 is as defined above ; and r 6 is hydrogen , alkyl 1 to 12 carbon atoms , cycloalkyl of 5 to 12 carbon atoms or aryl of 6 to 12 carbon atoms . r 6 can be substituted where possible , with such substituents as do not interfere with the condensation reaction , such as halo , nitro , aryl , alkoxy , aryloxy , etc . the carbonyl groups are attached to the cyclohexadiene nucleus meta or para to each other , and preferably para . particularly useful compounds of formula ( e ) are 1 , 3 - cyclohexadiene - 1 , 4 - dicarboxylic acid , 1 , 3 - cyclohexadiene - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid , 1 , 5 - cyclohexadiene - 1 , 4 - dicarboxylic acid and functional equivalents thereof . these and other useful compounds are described in belgian patent no . 754 , 892 ( issued oct . 15 , 1970 ), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . preferred photocrosslinkable polyesters for use in this invention are p - phenylene diacrylate polyesters . printing plates of this invention comprise a support having coated thereon a layer containing the radiation - sensitive composition described above . such plates can be prepared by forming coatings with the coating composition and removing the solvent by drying at ambient or elevated temperatures . any one of a variety of conventional coating techniques can be employed , such as extrusion coating , doctor - blade coating , spray coating , dip coating , whirl coating , spin coating , roller coating , etc . coating compositions containing the mixture of polymers of this invention can be prepared by dispersing or dissolving the polymers in any suitable solvent or combination of solvents used in the art to prepare polymer dopes . the solvents are chosen to be substantially unreactive toward the polymers within the time period contemplated for maintaining the solvent and polymer in association and are chosen to be compatible with the substrate employed for coating . while the best choice of solvent will vary with the exact application under consideration , exemplary preferred solvents include alcohols , such as butanol and benzyl alcohol ; ketones , such as acetone , 2 - butanone and cyclohexanone ; ethers , such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane ; 2 - methoxyethyl acetate ; n , n &# 39 ;- dimethyformamide ; chlorinated hydrocarbons such as chloroform , trichloroethane , 1 , 2 - dichloroethane , 1 , 1 - dichloroethane , 1 , 1 , 2 - trichloroethane , dichloromethane , tetrachloroethane , chlorobenzene ; and mixtures thereof . suitable supports can be chosen from among a variety of materials which do not directly chemically react with the coating composition . such supports include fiber based materials such as paper , polyethylene - coated paper , polypropylene - coated paper , parchment , cloth , etc . ; sheets and foils of such materials as aluminum , copper , magnesium zinc , etc . ; glass and glass coated with such metals as chromium alloys , steel , silver , gold , platinum , etc . ; synthetic resin and polymeric materials such as poly ( alkyl acrylates ), e . g ., poly ( methyl methacrylate ), polyester film base , e . g ., poly ( ethylene terephthalate ), poly ( vinyl acetals ), polyamides , e . g ., nylon and cellulose ester film base , e . g ., cellulose nitrate , cellulose acetate , cellulose acetate propionate , cellulose acetate butyrate and the like . preferred support materials include zinc , anodized aluminum , grained aluminum , and aluminum which has been grained and anodized . particularly preferred support materials are described in miller et al , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 647 , 346 , issued mar . 3 , 1987 , and huddleston et al , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 865 , 951 , issued sept . 12 , 1989 . the support can be preliminarily coated -- i . e ., before receipt of the radiation - sensitive coating -- with known subbing layers such as copolymers of vinylidene chloride and acrylic monomers -- e . g ., acrylonitrile , methyl acrylate , etc . and unsaturated dicarboxylic acids such as itaconic acid , etc . ; carboxymethyl cellulose , gelatin ; polyacrylamide ; and similar polymer materials . a preferred subbing composition comprises benzoic acid and is described in miller et al , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 640 , 886 , issued feb . 3 , 1987 . the optimum coating thickness of the radiation - sensitive layer will depend upon such factors as the particular application to which the printing plate will be put , and the nature of other components which may be present in the coating . typical coating thicknesses can be from about 0 . 05 to about 10 . 0 microns or greater , with thicknesses of from 0 . 1 to 2 . 5 microns being preferred . the printing plate of this invention can be exposed by conventional methods , for example , through a transparency or a stencil , to an imagewise pattern of actinic radiation , preferably rich in ultraviolet light , which crosslinks and insolubilizes the radiation - sensitive polymer in the exposed areas . suitable light sources include carbon arc lamps , mercury vapor lamps , fluorescent lamps , tungsten filament lamps , &# 34 ; photoflood &# 34 ; lamps , lasers and the like . the exposure can be by contact printing techniques , by lens projection , by reflex , by bireflex , from an image - bearing original or by any other known technique . the exposed printing plate of this invention can be developed by flushing , soaking , swabbing or otherwise treating the radiation - sensitive composition with a solution ( hereinafter referred to as a developer ) which selectively solubilizes ( i . e ., removes ) the unexposed areas of the radiation - sensitive layer . the developer is preferably an aqueous alkaline solution having a ph as near to neutral as is feasible . in a preferred form , the developer includes a combination of water and an alcohol that is miscible with water , or able to be rendered miscible by the use of cosolvents or surfactants , as a solvent system . the proportions of water and alcohol can be varied widely but are typically within the range of from 40 to 99 percent by volume water and from 1 to 60 percent by volume alcohol . most preferably , the water content is maintained within the range of from 60 to 90 percent by volume . any alcohol or combination of alcohols that does not chemically adversely attack the crosslinked radiation - sensitive layer during development and that is miscible with water in the proportions chosen for use can be employed . exemplary of useful alcohols are glycerol , benzyl alcohol , 2 - phenoxyethanol , 1 , 2 - propanediol , sec - butyl alcohol and ethers derived from alkylene glycols -- i . e ., dihydroxy poly ( alkylene oxides )-- e . g ., dihydroxy poly ( ethylene oxide ), dihydroxy poly ( propylene oxide ), etc . it is recognized that the developer can , optionally , contain additional addenda . for example , the developer can contain dyes and / or pigments . it can be advantageous to incorporate into the developer anti - scumming and / or anti - blinding agents as is well recognized in the art . a preferred developing composition for use with the novel lithographic printing plates of this invention is an aqueous composition including : ( a ) a nontoxic developing vehicle , such as butyrolactone , phenoxy propanol , phenoxy ethanol , benzyl alcohol or methyl pyrrolidone , which is a non - solvent for any of the components of the lithographic plate ; ( b ) a first surfactant comprising a sodium , lithium or potassium salt of xylene sulfonic acid ; ( c ) a second surfactant comprising a sodium , lithium or potassium salt of toluene , ethyl benzene , cumene or mesitylene sulfonic acid ; ( d ) a third surfactant comprising a sodium , lithium or potassium salt of an alkyl benzene sulfonic acid , the alkyl group containing at least ten carbon atoms , or an alkyl naphthalene sulfonic acid , the alkyl group containing from one to four carbon atoms ; ( e ) a cold water soluble film - forming agent such as polyvinyl pyrrolidone , polystyrene / maleic anhydride copolymers , polyvinyl alcohol , polyvinyl methyl ethers and polystyrene / vinyl acetate copolymers ; ( f ) an alkanolamine desensitizing agent such as diethanolamine ; and ( g ) an acid , such as citric , ascorbic , tartaric , glutaric , acetic , phosphoric , sulfuric or hydrochloric acid , to control the ph of the developing composition . these developing compositions are described in copending commonly assigned u . s . pat . application ser . no . 379 , 823 , filed july 14 , 1989 , &# 34 ; aqueous developer composition for developing negative - working lithographic printing plates &# 34 ;, by j . e . walls , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . a developing composition of this type is commercially available from eastman kodak company , rochester , n . y ., as kodak aqueous plate developer mx - 1469 - 1 . after development , the printing plate can be treated in any known manner consistent with its intended use . for example , lithographic printing plates are typically subjected to desensitizing etches . in addition to the photocrosslinkable polymer , the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ) and the copolyester of an unsaturated dicarboxylic acid and an oxyalkylene ether of an alkylidene diphenol , a number of other addenda can be present in the coating composition and ultimately form a part of the completed printing plate . for example , radiation sensitivity of the radiation - sensitive polymeric composition can be enhanced by incorporating therein one or more spectral sensitizers . suitable spectral sensitizers include anthrones , nitro sensitizers , triphenylmethanes , quinones , cyanine dyes , naphthones , pyrylium and thiapyrylium salts , furanones , anthraquinones , 3 - ketocoumarins , thiazoles , thiazolines , naphthothiazolines , quinalizones , and others described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 139 , 390 and references noted therein . preferred sensitizers include the 3 - ketocoumarins described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 147 , 552 and the thiazoline sensitizers of u . s . pat . no . 4 , 062 , 686 . such sensitizers can be present in the compositions in effective sensitizing amounts easily determined by one of the ordinary skill in the art . the coating composition can contain pigments preferably having a maximum average particle size less than about 3 micrometers . these pigments can provide a visible coloration to an image before or after development of the element . useful pigments are well known in the art and include titanium dioxide , zinc oxide , copper phthalocyanines , halogenated copper phthalocyanines , quinacridine , and colorants such as those sold commercially under such trade names as monastral blue and monastral red b . the pigments are generally present in the compositions in an amount within the range of from 0 to about 50 percent ( by weight ) based on the total dry composition weight . preferred amounts are within the range of from about 5 to about 20 percent ( by weight ). it is frequently desirable to add print out or indicator dyes to the compositions to provide a colored print out image after exposure . useful dyes for such purpose include monoazo , diazo , methine , anthraquinone , triarylmethane , thiazine , xanthene , phthalocyanine , azine , cyanine and leuco dyes as described , for example , in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 929 , 489 and 4 , 139 , 390 and references noted therein . such dyes are present in amounts readily determined by a person of ordinary skill in the art . it is recognized that the radiation - sensitive composition of this invention can become crosslinked prior to intended exposure if the compositions or printing plates of this invention are stored at elevated temperatures , in areas permitting exposure to some quantity of actinic radiation and / or for extended periods of time . to insure against crosslinking the composition inadvertently before intended exposure to actinic radiation , stabilizers can be incorporated into the radiation - sensitive compositions and printing plates of this invention . useful stabilizers include picoline n - oxide ; phenols , such as 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - p - cresol , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butylanisole and p - methoxyphenol ; hydroquinones such as hydroquinone , phloroglucinol and 2 , 5 - di - tert - butylhydroquinone ; triphenylmetallics , such as triphenylarsine ; triphenylstilbene ; and tertiary amines , such as n - methyldephenylamine . still other addenda useful in the printing plates of this invention include antioxidants , surfactants , anti - scumming agents , and others known in the art . binders or extenders can optionally be incorporated into the radiation - sensitive composition . such binders or extenders can be present in an amount within the range of from 0 to about 50 percent ( by weight ) based on total dry composition weight . suitable binders include styrene - butadiene copolymers ; silicone resins ; styrene - alkyd resins ; silicone - alkyd resins ; soya - alkyd resins ; poly ( vinyl chloride ); poly ( vinylidene chloride ); vinylidene chloride - acrylonitrile copolymers ; poly ( vinyl acetate ); vinyl acetate - vinyl chloride copolymers ; poly ( vinyl acetals ), such as poly ( vinyl butyral ); polyacrylic and - methacrylic esters , such as poly ( methyl methacrylate ), poly ( n - butyl methacrylate ) and poly ( isobutyl methacrylate ); polystyrene ; nitrated polystyrene ; polymethylstyrene ; isobutylene polymers ; polyesters , such as poly ( ethylene - co - alkaryloxy - alkylene terephthalate ); phenolformaldehyde resins ; ketone resins ; polyamides ; polycarbonates ; polythiocarbonates , poly ( ethylene 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- isopropylidenediphenylene terephthalate ); copolymers of vinyl acetate such as poly ( vinyl - m - bromobenzoate - co - vinyl acetate ); ethyl cellulose , poly ( vinyl alcohol ), cellulose acetate , cellulose nitrate , chlorinated rubber and gelatin . methods of making binders or extenders of this type are well known in the prior art . a typical resin of the type contemplated for use is piccolastic a50 ™, commercially available from hercules , inc ., wilmington , del . other types of binders which can be used include such materials as paraffin and mineral waxes . the invention is further illustrated by the following examples of its practice . coating compositions useful in preparing lithographic printing plates were prepared in accordance with the following formulations : __________________________________________________________________________ amounts ( grams ) component composition 1 composition 2 composition 3__________________________________________________________________________ ( 1 ) polymer a ( 15 % by weight solu - 144 . 16 tion in 1 , 2 - dichloroethane )( 2 ) polymer b ( 15 % by weight solu - 144 . 15 tion in 1 , 2 - dichloroethane )( 3 ) polymer c ( 15 % by weight solu - 144 . 15 tion in 1 , 2 - dichloroethane )( 4 ) monastral red pigment ( 7 % by 52 . 13 51 . 54 weight dispersion in 1 , 2 - dichloroethane ( 5 ) monastral blue pigment ( 7 % by 18 . 49 weight dispersion in 1 , 2 - dichloroethane )( 6 ) 2 -[ bis ( 2 - furoyl ) methylene ]- 1 - 0 . 63 0 . 83 methyl - naphtho [ 1 , 2 - d ] thiazoline ( 7 ) 3 , 3 &# 39 ;- carbonylbis ( 5 , 7 - di - n - 1 . 03 propoxycoumarin )( 8 ) 2 , 6 - di - t - butyl - p - cresol 0 . 60 0 . 68 0 . 60 ( 9 ) n -( 4 - chlorobenzenesulfonyloxy )- 1 . 77 1 . 14 1 . 42 1 , 8 - naphthalimide ( 10 ) dihydroanhydropiperidinohexose 0 . 08 0 . 02 0 . 03 reductone ( 11 ) leuco propyl violet 0 . 46 0 . 28 0 . 27 ( 12 ) modaflow coating aid * 0 . 02 ( 13 ) fc - 430 surfactant ** 0 . 15 0 . 23 ( 14 ) 1 , 2 - dichloroethane 597 . 06 597 . 06 630 . 90__________________________________________________________________________ * modaflow coating aid is a copolymer of ethylacrylate and 2ethylhexyl acrylate manufactured by monsanto corporation . ** fc430 surfactant is a mixture of fluoroaliphatic polymeric esters manufactured by minnesota mining and manufacturing company . in the above formulations , ( 1 ), ( 2 ), and ( 3 ) serve as film - forming polymers , ( 4 ) and ( 5 ) serve as colorants , ( 6 ) and ( 7 ) serve as spectral sensitizers , ( 8 ) serves as a stabilizer , ( 9 ) serves at a photooxidant , ( 10 ) serves as an antioxidant , ( 11 ) serves as a print - out dye , ( 12 ) and ( 13 ) serve as coating aids and ( 14 ) serves as a solvent . a comparison coating was prepared by incorporating polystyrene resin ( available under the trademark piccolastic a - 50 from hercules , inc .) in the formulation of composition 1 in an amount of 15 . 3 % of the total polymer content . a composition within the scope of the present invention was prepared by incorporating , in the formulation of composition 1 , atlac 382e in an amount of 11 % of the total polymer content and peox 50 in an amount of 7 % of the total polymer content . each composition was used to prepare a lithographic printing plate by coating it over a brush - grained , phosphoric acid - anodized aluminum substrate provided with a thin carboxymethyl cellulose subcoat . each coating was imaged and then processed with kodak aqueous plate developer mx - 1469 - 1 , available from eastman kodak company , rochester , n . y . the plates were mounted on a printing press , and the number of impressions required to produce an acceptable print under the test conditions was then determined for each plate under normal conditions as well as after treatment with a commercial plate cleaner . the results obtained are indicated in table i below . table i__________________________________________________________________________test additive coating weight number of impressionsno . ( wt . %) ( g / m . sup . 2 ) initial roll - up after cleaning__________________________________________________________________________control a none 0 . 84 16 100control b piccolastic a - 50 ( 15 . 3 ) 0 . 88 12 100control c piccolastic a - 50 ( 15 . 3 ) 1 . 33 5 22example 1 atlac 382e / peox 50 ( 11 / 7 ) 0 . 81 2 7__________________________________________________________________________ it is desirable to have plates roll - up to full ink density with a minimum number of impressions to reduce paper waste as well as to improve press efficiency . a good printing plate can generally be expected to produce acceptable prints in less than 10 impressions . control a demonstrates that brush - grained plates with coating weights of less than about 1 g / m 2 are slow to roll - up to full ink density . polystyrene is a very oleophilic polymer , but it offers only a modest improvement in the roll - up rates at low coverage , as evidenced by control b . it was unexpected , therefore , to find that the coating containing both the atlac and peox resins produced excellent rollth the atlac and peox resins produced excellent roll - up rates even at low total coating weights , as shown in example 1 . other additives such as polystyrene can give excellent roll - up characteristics if the coating weight is sufficiently high , but such coatings can still be susceptible to blinding caused by typical press treatments . control c demostrates that a commercial plate cleaner applied to a plate that otherwise rolls up quickly can produce unacceptably slow roll - up rates . the coating with the atlac and peox resin additives of example 1 showed excellent roll - up behavior even after the plate cleaner treatment , despite the fact that the coating weight was quite low . coatings similar to those in example 1 were prepared using the formulations of compositions 2 and 3 to which had been added 7 . 4 % of peox 50 and 11 . 1 % of atlac 382e . the coatings were similarly processed and tested for their ink receptivity . satisfactory prints were obtained after only 6 impressions for composition 2 and after only 7 impressions for composition 3 . a machine processor charged with 19 liters of kodak aqueous plate developer mx - 1469 - 1 was &# 34 ; seasoned &# 34 ; by processing 280 m 2 of plate bearing the coating identified as control c in example 1 . at this point , plates bearing the coatings identified as control a and control b as well as the example 1 coating were imaged and processed with the &# 34 ; seasoned &# 34 ; developer . the unexposed portions of control coatings a and b partialy transferred to the entrance roller of the machine processor and subsequently deposited onto the plate . the portions which did not transfer onto the entrance roller agglomerated in the aqueous developer and deposited onto the imaged areas . the resulting plates could not be used to produce acceptable prints . in contrast , the plate with example 1 coating processed clearly , with no transfer to the entrance roller or redeposit onto the imaged areas . the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimines ) are both solvent soluble and water soluble . these solubility characteristics render them especially advantageous for use in the present invention since they facilitate both coating from solvent solution to form the radiation - sensitive layer and subsequent development by the use of &# 34 ; aqueous &# 34 ; developing solutions , i . e ., developing solutions which are predominantly water but do contain small amounts of organic solvent . incorporation of the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ) in the radiation - sensitive composition permits the use of lower concentrations of organic solvent in the aqueous developing solution , as compared with an otherwise identical composition that does not contain the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ). also , significantly less mottle results when the poly ( n - acyl - alkyleneimine ) is employed and higher contrast images are achieved . addition of the copolyester of an unsaturated dicarboxylic acid and an oxyalkylene ether of an alkylidene diphenol provides still further improvements . thus , for example , it causes the coating to break - up into finer particle sizes and it improves the rate of initial ink - up . the most important benefits obtained from use of a copolyester of an unsaturated dicarboxylic acid and an oxyalkylene ether of an alkylidene diphenol , as described herein , are improved roll - up and decreased sensitivity to blinding . coatings containing these copolyesters are less susceptible to the effects of varying coverage on roll - up . they roll - up quicker in general , especially in comparison between plates which have been stored for several days or more before going to press . current trends in the lithographic printing plate industry favor the use of &# 34 ; aqueous developers .&# 34 ; by this is meant that the developer used to process the printing plate , either by hand or by machine , contains little or no organic solvent and that any organic solvent which is present is nontoxic and a high boiling material with a very low vapor pressure . other ingredients included in the developer , such as salts and surfactants , are nontoxic and biodegradable . the present invention is especially well adapted , by virtue of the polymeric materials incorporated in the radiation - sensitive composition , for use with such &# 34 ; aqueous developers .&# 34 ; 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 within the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
what is disclosed is a method for selecting a freshwater fish of short - lived salt - tolerance comprising the steps of screening fish for salt - tolerance , selecting and breeding fish offspring that are predisposed to a short - lived salt - tolerance , and screening the fish offspring for an established salt - tolerance . the fish produced thereby are reared in normal freshwater conditions . while any number of these steps can accomplish the goals , or a part of them , this disclosure sets forth a comprehensive approach . this is not intended to limit to only the combination of all these steps unless claims proscribe otherwise . in the first screening step , a short - lived salt - tolerant freshwater baitfish is selected by subjecting freshwater fish to an artificial , increased saline environment . the heightened saline environment is preferably prepared by the addition of amounts of chlorine , sodium , sulfur , magnesium , calcium , and / or potassium salt to fresh water because these elements make up about 99 % of the salts in seawater , although other substances may be added to the water to create an artificial environment that can be used to produce salt - tolerance in fish . the concentration and amounts of salt added to the water may vary as needed to accomplish the present invention . one solution of the present invention is to add sodium chloride to fresh water ; in particular , sea salt is added to fresh water to bring the salinity to about 32 ppt , although ranges upwards of 500 ppt may be used . the purpose of the first screening step is to select for fish that are able to withstand high salt concentrations for a given period ; that is , the selection produces fish predisposed to a short - lived salt - tolerance . this first screening step may be repeated on the same fish or offspring thereof to produce a fish of desired salt - tolerance , or to fit within a range of saline conditions . the first screening step of the present invention is preferably done in the autumn of the year prior to the desired spring spawn . the saline solution is prepared in a tank commonly referred to in the industry as a raceway , although the invention is not limited thereto . the tank has an inflow and a discharge end . the fish are preferably placed in the tank near the discharge end and are kept in this area using a divider . upon exposing the fish to the saline environment for a predetermined length of time , the divider is removed and a steady flow of fresh water is established in the tank . those fish not sufficiently adaptable to the saline environment are expelled with the outflow of fresh water while the salt - tolerant individuals are able to recover strength and instinctively swim upstream . the upstream survivors are returned to a freshwater source for use the as broodstock . in the second screening step , the broodstock used for production of salt - tolerant eggs are preferably selected from the screening step disclosed above . in the egg - screening process , the eggs are subjected to an artificial , increased saline environment described above for a predetermined amount of time . following this exposure to the saline environment , the eggs that survive are reintroduced to fresh water and allowed to mature . in the third salt - tolerance screening process , fry are subjected to an alternating regimen of saline environment and fresh water . these fry are the product of the salt - tolerant eggs , now matured , disclosed above . this process is performed to produce and select for fish that have an increased ability to withstand alternating exposure to a saline environment when compared to freshwater fish that were not subjected to any of the screening steps . while it is preferred to produce a short - lived salt - tolerant freshwater baitfish by performing each of the above steps in succession , the advantages of the invention may be achieved by performing any of the steps alone or in varying combinations . producing a short - lived salt - tolerant freshwater baitfish through performing all of the above steps on an individual is especially preferred since it produces a greater consistency and populous of desired short - lived salt - tolerant freshwater baitfish . by using multiple screening techniques to achieve consistency , the genetically pressured elements become more stable and predictable . bearing the screening steps above in mind , the preferred embodiment of the invention can now be disclosed . the preferred embodiment begins with selection of broodstock by adding sea salt to fresh water to form a saline solution that has a salt content of about 32 ppt . a tank having both an inflow and discharge mechanism fills with this solution . a divider placed in the tank keeps fish located near the discharge end . fish placed into the tank between the divider and the discharge end remain exposed to the saline solution for about forty - five minutes . at the end of this period , introduction of fresh water forms a substantial current in the tank . removal of the divider allows salt - tolerant fish to swim upstream in the tank towards the inflow end , while fish lacking salt - tolerance flush out the discharge mechanism . those fish that are capable of swimming upstream qualify as broodstock , and the criteria , such as salt content and time left in high salinity , may vary . the brooders selected then spawn in a controlled freshwater environment . an acclimation tank fills with water replicating spawning conditions . the brooders adjust to this environment for twenty - four hours , at which time the water temperature should be around 72 ° f . the brooders move to a spawning tank through an automatic transfer pipe to reducing harmful handling . the spawning tank is a two - level tank with a deep center shelf and shallow shelves that are wider than the deep shelf . when the brooders arrive via the transfer pipe in the spawning tank , the water level is low enough that the shallow shelves are above the waterline . the shallow shelves are populated with artificial spawning material , and over a ten - hour period during the evening the water level rises until the spawning material becomes covered by the proper amount of water for the species of fish in question . the water level is reduced the following morning to a depth where the shallow shelves are again above the waterline and the fish occupy the deep shelf . the brooders are transferred to another tank once spawning is complete . a hatchery receives the artificial spawning materials that now contain fertilized fish eggs . the hatchery is responsible for incubation , hatching , and limited maturation of the eggs deposited on the spawning materials . the spawning materials are preferably flat , rectangular pieces of material known as mats . these mats stack and maintain spacing between them in a hatching tank to allow for circulation . water temperature in the hatching tank is held steady at 70 ° f . as a next step , sea salt is added to bring the salinity of the tank to 32 ppt . the lowered addition of sea salt holds the salinity at 32 ppt for a sufficient duration , at which time the normal water exchange dilutes the salt content to a freshwater level . twenty - four hours after fry hatch , the addition of sea salt brings the salinity of the tank to 10 ppt . after a sufficient period , the normal water exchange again dilutes the salt content of the water in the hatching tank . twenty - four hours following exposure to the salt treatment , the fry are transferred into growing ponds for maturation . the fry that mature compose the short - lived salt - tolerant freshwater baitfish of the present invention . some of the stock of baitfish produced by the disclosed method are retained for use a brooders in another cycle of baitfish production . using broodstock selected from the entire disclosed preferred embodiment produces additional , longer lasting salt - tolerance in successive generations of baitfish . | 0 |
detailed embodiments of the instant invention are disclosed herein , however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the instant invention , which may be embodied in various forms . therefore , specific functional and structural details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representation basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present instant invention in virtually and appropriately detailed structure . like reference numerals refer to like elements in the drawings . fig1 illustrates a carton 10 in which a plurality , normally 24 , of beverages in cans are sold . beverages are also sold in cartons which hold 6 , 12 , 18 and 36 containers of beverages . the number of beverage containers in the carton can vary depending on the manufacturer and seller . the carton 10 includes a top 12 , a bottom 14 , a plurality of sides 16 , 18 and a plurality of ends 20 , 22 . a plurality of insulated beverage jackets 24 form one end 20 of the carton 10 . the jackets 24 are removably secured to the carton with a plurality of perforated connections 26 . other means to removably secure the jackets to the carton can also be employed such as pull tabs , etc . the jackets are also removably secured to each other with a perforated connection 28 . the jackets are formed from a plurality of sheets of paperboard which are secured together along two longitudinal edges 30 and 32 as shown in fig2 & amp ; 3 . when the jackets are in their stored condition on the carton the sheets of paperboard are flat and touching each other . when the jackets are in their use condition the sheets are expanded away from each other until they form a substantially cylindrical container , a shown in fig2 and 3 . a bottom portion 33 is formed as a portion of one of the sheets of paperboard and attached or secured to the other sheet . the bottom portion is folded , as illustrated in fig2 , when the jackets 24 are in their folded conditions . after the jackets are opened and expanded the bottom portion will unfold and cover the bottom of the jacket to help secure the beverage can in the jacket 24 . jackets 24 can also be formed without bottom portions , as illustrated in fig3 . fig3 also illustrates a beverage can 34 surrounded by the insulated jacket 24 . another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig4 . a plurality of insulating jackets 24 are formed into a strip 36 . the strip 36 is removable secured to an end 20 of a carton 10 of beverages . the strip 36 does not form a portion of the carton . the strip can be secured be to the carton by perforated connections , adhesive , tear strips , etc . after the strip 36 is removed from the carton , the individual insulating jackets 24 are detached from each other and expanded into their operative condition as illustrated in fig2 and 3 . another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig5 . in this embodiment the insulating jackets 24 form both an end 20 and the top 12 of the beverage carton 10 . any portion of the beverage carton could be formed from the insulating jackets 24 . the jackets 24 are secured to the carton 10 in the same manner as the jackets 24 in fig1 . another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig6 . this embodiment is similar to the embodiment of fig1 except that the insulating jackets 38 are designed to surround a bottle with a long neck . each of the insulating jackets is in the shape of a bottle and removably secured to an end 20 of the carton 10 . the upper end of the jackets is open and the lower end is provided with a bottom portion 44 , as illustrated in fig9 . the bottom portion 44 is hingedly attached at one end to the jacket 42 and has another end which is secured between the jacket 42 and the bottle . a plurality of jackets 38 can be secured together and removably secured to a carton similar to the strip 36 of fig4 . after the jacket 38 is removed from the carton , it is expanded such that a bottle 40 can be placed therein from the lower end , as shown in fig8 . the top of the bottle extends through the top of jacket 38 so that the beverage can be consumed from the bottle . the jackets 38 can be arranged in an alternating right side up and up side down arrangement on the carton 10 so as to conserve space , as illustrated in fig7 . in another embodiment , illustrated in fig8 , the jacket 38 is provided without a bottom panel to help secure bottle 40 into the jacket 42 . the insulating jacket 24 of fig1 - 5 can also be placed around a bottle 38 as illustrated in fig1 . the jacket 24 will insulate the majority of bottle 38 . all patents and publications mentioned in this specification are indicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . all patents and publications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference . it is to be understood that while a certain form of the invention is illustrated , it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement herein described and shown . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and the invention is not to be considered limited to what is shown and described in the specification and any drawings / figures included herein . one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objectives and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned , as well as those inherent therein . the embodiments , methods , procedures and techniques described herein are presently representative of the preferred embodiments , are intended to be exemplary and are not intended as limitations on the scope . changes therein and other uses will occur to those skilled in the art which are encompassed within the spirit of the invention and are defined by the scope of the appended claims . although the invention has been described in connection with specific preferred embodiments , it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to such specific embodiments . indeed , various modifications of the described modes for carrying out the invention which are obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be within the scope of the following claims . | 1 |
two aspects and a number of embodiments of the invention will be explained in more detail in the following with reference to the drawings . the isometric view of a first aspect , the horizontal 3 - level mixing , of the invention presented in fig1 shows a top view of the mixing device 01 . the mixing device has a circular shape to correspond the inner circular wall of the cylindrical reactor ( not shown ) wherein the mixing device is to be installed . in particular , the outer rim 02 of the mixing device is circular . in this embodiment the mixing device has no outer wall , but as the outer rim matches the inner wall of the reactor , the reactor wall forms the outer wall of the mixing device . the minor gap between the outer rim and the reactor wall may be sealed , for instance by welding . the collection section 03 is formed between the outer wall which in this embodiment as mentioned is the inner reactor wall and a circular arc divider wall 08 . the collection section is formed around the full 360 ° of the circular mixing device and on the largest diameter . here the fluid flowing from the catalyst bed above ( not shown ) is collected as it enters through the inlet 09 which is formed by the top edge of the mixing device . the fluid can only flow to the next underlying catalyst bed via the inlet and further to the collecting section as the rest of the cross sectional area is blocked , in this embodiment by a plate . in an embodiment of the invention , a quench inlet ( not shown ) may be placed in the collecting section for adding cooling quench fluid to the fluid stream . fig2 shows the internals of the mixing device according to the first aspect of the invention , the horizontal 3 - level mixing . more of the circular arc divider walls can be seen , and it is visible that they run substantially in a spirally inwards direction . inside the collecting section , the mixing section 04 is formed in the same horizontal level but within the outer circular collecting section . the fluid flows from the collecting section to the mixing section via an opening in the spiral formed by the circular arc divider walls . as shown also slots in the circular arc divider wall may form additional passages from the collecting section to the mixing section . mixing of the gas and maybe liquid and vapor takes place in the mixing channel as it travels for ca . 360 ° in almost the maximum diameter of the mixing device before entering the discharging section 05 partly through the opening in the spiral formed by the circular arc divider wall and partly through slot openings in the wall . in the discharging section the mixed gas and possibly liquid and vapor leaves the mixer in a uniform flow . a spilling brim 10 withholds an even level of liquid in the discharging section and through the vapor lift principles ; the gas is lifting droplets of the liquid and carry it out of the collecting section towards the open space center part ( which is also the center of the circular cross - section of the reactor 06 ) of the mixing device and further towards the catalyst bed below ( not shown ). the discharging section may also be constructed to allow for discharge of fluid towards the outer diameter of the mixing device ( not shown ). to further even out the distribution of the fluid to the catalyst bed below , distribution trays as known in the art ( not shown ) may be installed below the mixing device , above the downstream catalyst bed . as can be seen in fig2 , the circular arc divider walls form channels 07 which are forming the collecting , mixing and discharge sections . in fig3 , a second aspect of the invention , the vertical 3 - level mixing is shown . in the embodiment shown , a circular arc divider wall is provided on the maximum diameter of the mixing device to form the outer wall of the channels . hence , in this embodiment , the inner part of the reactor is not forming the outer wall of the mixing device even though the diameter of the circular outer rim of the mixing device corresponds to the diameter of the inner wall of the reactor . the mixing device is donut shaped and is divided by a spiral , spiralling downwards , to the three connected sections , the collecting section , the mixing section and the discharge section , all of which are formed on the maximum diameter of the mixing device and hence the reactor . the gas and possibly liquid and vapor from the catalyst bed above the mixing device is collected above the mixing device and directed to the collecting section which is formed as a circular arc channel by the circular arc divider walls . a quench inlet ( not shown ) may be placed in the collecting section . the fluid mixture is directed to the mixing section through a single opening at the end of the collecting section . as can be better seen in fig4 , the fluid travels in the mixing section in a 180 ° circular movement , where the gas and possibly , quench fluid , liquid and vapor is mixed , before it enters the discharge section which is a level below the mixing section . the gas and possibly liquid continue to travel through the discharging section , but are gradually released from the mixing device towards the center of the mixing device / reactor . a spilling brim ensures an even liquid level in the full circle of the discharging section , and the gas drags liquid droplets over the spilling brim when discharging from the mixing device as described above . also a discharge towards the outer diameter of the mixing device ( not shown ) is possible . in a further embodiment of the second aspect of the invention , the vertical 3 - level mixing the discharging section has a construction so the mixed fluid discharges not towards the center of the mixing device , but downwards . as in the embodiment described above with reference to fig4 , this in this embodiment the mixed fluid travels in the mixing section in a 180 ° circular movement , before it enters the discharge section which is a level below the mixing section as can be seen on fig5 . the gas and possibly liquid continue to travel through the discharging section , but are gradually released from the mixing device downwards from the bottom part of the discharging section , guided by the discharge guide vanes 11 more clearly shown in fig6 , 7 , 8 and 10 . in this embodiment the guide vanes also contribute to the mechanical strength and stiffness of the mixing device . in fig9 the principle of the fluid flow above the mixing device is shown . from the reactor part above the mixer the fluid is forced out towards the collecting section as the center of the mixing device is blocked and is directed towards the mixing section . the fluids passing point a shown , and entering the mixing section are accelerated to a level optimal for multiphase mixing due to the decreased flow area . leaving the mixing section at point b , the fluids are introduced to the discharging section . due to the increase of cross - sectional area available for fluid flow as seen at point b , fig1 from this point the fluid velocity decrease . the fluids are discharged from the mixing device gradually as they are circling around the discharging section . the discharge is done between the discharge guide vanes at the bottom of the discharging section . | 1 |
the following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings . the same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements . also , the following detailed description does not limit the invention . instead , the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents . as described herein , data units , such as atm cells , are efficiently scheduled for transmission using a rate wheel . in normal operation of the rate wheel , cells reserve transmission slots in the rate wheel based on traffic policy that applies to a traffic flow to which the cell belongs . different flows may occasionally attempt to schedule a cell in the same slot on the rate wheel , causing a collision . the system keeps track of the number of collisions and may later jump over idle slots to compensate for the collisions . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary routing system 100 in which concepts consistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented . system 100 may receive one or more packet streams from physical links , process the packet stream ( s ) to determine destination information , and transmit the packet stream ( s ) out on links in accordance with the destination information . system 100 may include packet forwarding engines ( pfes ) 110 - 1 through 110 - n ( collectively referred to as packet forwarding engines 110 ), a switch fabric 120 , and a routing engine ( re ) 130 . re 130 may perform high level management functions for system 100 . for example , re 130 may communicate with other networks and / or systems connected to system 100 to exchange information regarding network topology . re 130 may create routing tables based on network topology information , create forwarding tables based on the routing tables , and forward the forwarding tables to pfes 110 . pfes 110 may use the forwarding tables to perform route lookups for incoming packets . re 130 may also perform other general control and monitoring functions for system 100 . pfes 110 may each connect to re 130 and switch fabric 120 . pfes 110 may receive packet data on physical links connected to a network , such as a wide area network ( wan ), a local area network ( lan ), or another type of network . each physical link could be one of many types of transport media , such as optical fiber or ethernet cable . the data on the physical link is transmitted according to one of several protocols , such as the synchronous optical network ( sonet ) standard . the data may take the form of data units , where each data unit may include all or a portion of a packet . for atm transmissions , for instance , the data units may be cells . a pfe 110 - x ( where pfe 110 - x refers to one of pfes 110 ) may process incoming data units prior to transmitting the data units to another pfe or the network . to facilitate this processing , pfe 110 - x may reassemble the data units into a packet and perform a route lookup for the packet using the forwarding table from re 130 to determine destination information . if the destination indicates that the packet should be sent out on a physical link connected to pfe 110 - x , then pfe 110 - x may prepare the packet for transmission by , for example , segmenting the packet into data units , adding any necessary headers , and transmitting the data units from the port associated with the physical link . fig2 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a portion of pfe 110 - x according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention . pfe 110 - x may include a packet processor 210 and a set of input / output ( i / o ) units 220 - 1 through 220 - 2 ( collectively referred to as i / o units 220 ). although fig2 shows two i / o units 220 connected to packet processor 210 , in other implementations consistent with principles of the invention , there can be more or fewer i / o units 220 and / or additional packet processors 210 . packet processor 210 may perform routing functions and handle packet transfers to and from i / o units 220 and switch fabric 120 . for each packet it handles , packet processor 210 may perform the previously - discussed route lookup function and may perform other processing - related functions . an i / o unit 220 - y ( where i / o unit 220 - y refers to one of i / o units 220 ) may operate as an interface between its physical link and packet processor 210 . different i / o units may be designed to handle different types of physical links . fig3 is an exemplary block diagram of a portion of i / o unit 220 - y according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention . in this particular implementation , i / o unit 220 - y may operate as an interface to an atm link . i / o unit 220 - y may include a line card processor 310 and segmentation and reassembly ( sar ) logic 320 . line card processor 310 may process packets prior to transferring the packets to packet processor 210 or it may process packets from packet processor 210 before transmitting them to sar logic 320 . sar logic 320 may segment packets received from line card processor 310 into data units ( e . g ., atm cells ) for transmission on the physical links ( e . g ., sonet links ) and reassemble packets from data units received on the physical links . sar logic 320 may send reassembled packets to line card processor 310 . fig4 is an exemplary diagram of a portion of sar logic 320 . sar logic 320 may include an ingress component 420 and an egress component 410 . ingress component 420 may receive fixed sized data units , such as atm cells , and reassemble the cells into a variable size data unit , such as packet data . similarly , egress component 410 may receive variable size data units , such as packet data , and segment the packets into fixed sized data units , such as cells . the cells may be transmitted from system 100 via one or more output ports ( not shown ) connected to a physical link . for example , an output port may connect to an optical transmission medium , such as a sonet link having an optical carrier level of oc - 12 ( 622 . 08 mbps ) or oc - 3 ( 155 . 52 mbps ). ingress component 420 may receive data units on particular data flows and reassemble the data units into packets . to do this , ingress component 420 may maintain information regarding a data flow with which a packet is associated and associate each arriving data unit of the packet with that data flow . ingress component 420 may process packets across multiple packet flows that are received at multiple associated input ports . generally , each flow may be configured ( provisioned ) per port before ingress component 420 receives any data units associated with that flow . the data units associated with a particular packet may arrive at various times . each data unit may include a header and data . for atm , the header may include a virtual circuit identifier ( vci ) that identifies a particular virtual circuit with which the data unit is associated and a virtual path identifier ( vpi ) that identifies a particular virtual path with which the data unit is associated . fig5 is a diagram illustrating portions of egress component 410 in additional detail . egress component 410 may include a segmentation component 510 and a scheduling component 520 . segmentation component 510 may receive the input packets and segment the packets into fixed - length data units , which will be described herein as atm cells , although other data unit formats could also be used . the cells may be output to scheduling component 520 , which generally handles scheduling of the cells for transmission . the actual transmission may be handled by an output port ( s ), which puts the cells on the physical link . fig6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating the operation of scheduling component 520 in additional detail . the cells received from segmentation component 510 may be organized into a number of virtual circuits ( vcs ) 601 - 1 through 601 - m ( collectively referred to as virtual circuits 601 ), which may correspond to packet flows in the network . in general , a packet flow may be defined as packets having a set of common properties derived from the data contained in the packets . for example , a particular packet flow may be created to send data between two endpoints that desire a particular quality of service ( qos ) level ( e . g ., a packet flow being used to carry a video transmission between two endpoints ). cells corresponding to packets in the packet flow may belong to one of vcs 601 . cells in different vcs 601 may contend for access to a particular output port , such as output port 602 . scheduling component 520 schedules the sequence of cells that are sent to this port . vcs 601 may each be defined by a number of traffic shaping parameters . in particular , a vc may be defined by a peak cell rate ( pcr ) value , a sustainable cell rate ( scr ) value , a maximum burst size ( mbs ) value , and / or a cell delay variation ( cdv ) value . the values for these parameters may differ between vcs . scheduling component 520 attempts to schedule cells from each of vcs 601 such that the cells from each vc are sent to output port 602 in a manner that satisfies the traffic shaping parameters . in general , the traffic shaping parameters operate to control the availability of bandwidth to network users according to their traffic contracts and to define the spacing or interval between cells in order to mitigate buffering requirements . fig7 is a diagram conceptually illustrating portions of scheduling component 520 . more specifically , scheduling component 520 may use a rate wheel 710 to schedule cell traffic from vcs 601 to output port 602 . rate wheel 710 is conceptually illustrated in fig7 as a “ wheel ” containing evenly spaced slots 715 in which cells are scheduled . in practice , rate wheel 710 may generally be implemented as a circular memory structure that may be maintained in random access memory or another type of computer - readable medium . the various vcs 601 are illustrated in fig7 as corresponding to queues 720 - 1 through 720 - j ( collectively referred to as queues 720 ). queues 720 may be first - in first - out ( fifo ) queues . one of queues 720 may correspond to a single vc or packet flow or , in some implementations , multiple packet flows that have the same traffic shaping parameters may be handled by a single queue . a number of pointers may be associated with rate wheel 710 . as shown , a de - queue pointer 712 , a present time pointer 714 , and an en - queue pointer 716 may each point to various slots on rate wheel 710 . pointers 712 , 714 , and 716 may each be maintained by scheduling component 520 . de - queue pointer 712 indicates the current position on rate wheel 710 at which flows are being serviced . cells being currently serviced are transferred to output port 602 for transmission on the link . output port 602 may include an output buffer for queuing data for transmission . en - queue pointer 716 indicates the future position of each newly scheduled flow . cells from one of queues 720 may be scheduled in slots on rate wheel 710 at evenly spaced slot intervals determined by the traffic shaping parameters corresponding to the queue . for example , the next slot that is to be scheduled for a queue may be based on the previously scheduled slot offset by the cell interval ( e . g ., 1 / pcr ) for the queue . if no cell from one of queues 720 is scheduled to be included on rate wheel 710 at a particular time interval corresponding to the slot , an “ idle cell ” may be included on the rate wheel for that slot . the idle cell may later be transmitted to output buffer 602 . idle cells are generally used to maintain the cell interval at the output port . without idle cells , output buffer 602 may “ collapse ” the intended idle spacing between two cells and place them closer together than desired . present time pointer 714 may include a counter that increments at the cell rate ( the rate corresponding to the interval at which cells are transmitted from the output port ) or faster . the count value of present time pointer 714 may be stalled whenever the buffer in output port 602 is full . thus , present time pointer 714 may increment at the “ logical ” cell rate ( or faster ) when room exists in output port 602 . because the counter of present time pointer 714 can operate faster than the cell rate , present time pointer 714 may stall and then “ catch up ” in order to keep output port 602 full . the number of slots in rate wheel 710 may be based on the line rate of the output port relative to the slowest possible output rate . for an oc - 12 sonet output port , for example , rate wheel 710 may be constructed using 16 k slots . for an 0 ° c .- 3 sonet output port , rate wheel 710 may be constructed using 4 k slots . fig8 is a diagram illustrating one of the slots of rate wheel 710 ( labeled as slot 815 in fig8 ) in additional detail . slot 815 may include a number of fields , shown as a jump offset field 820 , a queue id field 825 , a head pointer field 830 , and a tail pointer field 835 . slot 815 , instead of physically storing the cell assigned to it , may instead store queue id field 825 , which acts as a pointer to the queue that contains the scheduled cell . in one implementation , a value of zero means that there is no cell scheduled in that slot ( i . e ., the slot is empty ). because flows from multiple queues 720 are being scheduled , each with a potentially different cell transmission rate , it is possible that multiple flows will attempt to schedule a cell in the same slot . this is referred to herein as a “ collision .” collisions may be handled by scheduling multiple cell transmissions in a single slot . head pointer 830 and tail pointer 835 may be used to handle the collisions by pointing to a linked - list of additional queue id fields . such a linked - list is shown in fig8 as list 840 . each entry in linked - list 840 may include a queue id field 841 , similar to queue id field 825 , and a pointer 842 to the next entry in linked - list 840 . in the example list illustrated in fig8 , head pointer 830 points to entry 850 in linked - list 840 . the queue id 841 of entry 850 points to a second one of queues 720 that attempted to schedule a cell in slot 815 . pointer 842 of entry 850 points to another colliding entry 855 — the third queue 720 that attempted to schedule a cell in slot 815 . tail pointer 835 may also point to entry 855 , indicating that this is the last entry in the linked - list for this particular slot . scheduling component 520 , when adding a colliding entry to linked list 840 , may add the entry at the location of the next free address entry , which may be pointed - to by a next free address pointer 860 . when the slot is later accessed and a colliding entry in linked list 840 is sent to output port 602 , the entry is then classified as a free entry and added to the end of a linked - list of free entries . in fig8 , two free entries are illustrated ( entries 870 and 875 ). when another entry becomes free , entry 875 may be modified to point to the free entry . similarly , when entry 870 is taken and added to a slot , next free address pointer 860 may be modified to point to entry 875 . jump offset value 820 is stored on a per - slot basis , and as will be described in more detail below , assists scheduling component 520 in “ jumping ” over empty slots on the rate wheel . by jumping over empty slots , scheduling component 520 can optimize the bandwidth utilization at output port 602 . in addition to jump offset value 820 , other values are stored by scheduling component 520 and used to assist in jumping over empty slots . jump credit 805 is one such value . unlike jump offset value 820 , which is stored on a per - slot basis , jump credit 805 may be a global value that is stored by scheduling component 520 for each rate wheel 710 . fig9 is a flow chart illustrating operation of scheduling component 520 in en - queuing flows from queues 720 to rate wheel 710 . flows may be scheduled based on a number of traffic shaping parameters ( e . g ., pcr , scr , mbs , cdv ). for each queue 720 , scheduling component 520 may calculate a cell interval based on the traffic shaping parameters for the flow ( act 901 ). for example , each slot on rate wheel 710 may be considered a cell slot on the link . thus , if the traffic shaping parameters for a flow dictate that the flow should be sent at one - quarter the link rate , then scheduling component 520 will en - queue the queue id 825 of the flow at every fourth slot . based on the calculated cell intervals , scheduling component 520 en - queues the flows , corresponding to queues 720 , at the designated slots ( act 902 ). en - queue pointer 716 points to a position on rate wheel 710 at which the particular queue id is being written . en - queue pointer 716 advances around rate wheel 710 as the flows are written . scheduling component 520 may ensure that en - queue pointer 716 does not wrap de - queue pointer 712 before writing to the next position . slots at which no flows are scheduled are empty cell slots . empty cell slots , when transmitted to output port 602 , will result in unused bandwidth on the physical link . accordingly , it is desirable to minimize empty slots to the extent that the empty slots ( idle cells ) are not required to maintain a desired interval between cells . scheduling component 520 may locate collisions when multiple flows attempt to schedule a single slot ( act 903 ). when a collision is found , scheduling component 520 writes the queue id of the first flow to queue id field 825 and adds the queue ids of the remaining flows to linked - list 840 , as previously discussed ( act 904 ). when there is no collision , the queue id of the single flow is written to queue id field 825 ( act 905 ). head pointer 830 and / or tail pointer 835 may be given the value null , indicating that they do not point to any additional flows . fig1 is a flow chart illustrating operation of scheduling component 520 in de - queuing flows from rate wheel 710 . rate wheel 710 may be evaluated each time present time counter 714 is advanced . as previously mentioned , present time pointer 714 may be advanced at a rate faster than the rate of output port 602 . when the buffer in output port 602 is full , present time pointer 714 may not advance . scheduling component 520 may write the next entry in the slot indicated by de - queue pointer 712 to output port 602 ( act 1001 ). in particular , the next cell from the queue corresponding to queue id 825 of the current slot is written to output port 602 . de - queue pointer 712 is advanced as the cells are written to output port 602 . the amount to advance de - queue pointer 712 depends on the value in jump offset field 820 and on whether the current slot is a collision slot . jump offset field 820 may contain a value that advances de - queue pointer 712 over empty slots and to the next non - empty slot when the last entry in a slot is processed . the jump offset value for the slot may be updated to reflect the location of the next non - empty slot ( act 1002 ). for example , if the next two slots on rate wheel 710 are empty and the third slot contains an entry , jump offset field 820 may be given a value of two , indicating that the next two slots can be “ jumped .” jump credit field 805 is used to indicate how many slots are available to be jumped over , which should not be more than the number of accumulated collisions . as jump offset fields 820 are incremented , jump credit field 805 is correspondingly decremented . accordingly , when updating jump offset field 820 , this field may only be updated up to the value of jump credit field 805 ( act 1002 ). in other words , jump offset field 820 can only be set to indicate a jump value up to the point to which jump credit field 805 indicates a jump credit is available . if the current slot is a collision slot with additional , un - evaluated entries , jump credit field 805 is incremented ( acts 1003 and 1005 ). de - queue pointer 712 is not advanced in this situation as there are more entries in the slot . however , if the current entry is the last entry in the slot , scheduling component 520 may advance de - queue pointer 712 by one plus the value of the jump offset value ( acts 1003 and 1004 ). in the situation in which the jump offset value for the slot was not updated , the jump offset value is zero , resulting in de - queue pointer 712 advancing by one ( act 1004 ). fig1 a and 11b are diagrams that conceptually illustrate an exemplary set of de - queue operations . in fig1 a , assume that there are five flows , labeled as flows “ a ” through “ e ”, each having traffic shaping parameters that dictate a fixed cell interval of five slots . further assume that the five flows all collide in first slot 1101 of rate wheel 710 . flow a is placed in the primary entry in slot 1101 and flows b through e are placed in a linked - list of colliding entries . when de - queue pointer 712 reaches slot 1101 , it will be stopped at slot 1101 for five cycles of present time pointer 716 as each of flows a through e are processed . without the ability to jump slots , as described above with reference to fig1 , idle cells are emitted at slots 1102 - 1105 and sent to output port 602 . as a result , only 5 / 9 th of available bandwidth would be used , and the rate achieved for each flow is 1 / 9 th , rather than the desired ⅕ th of the available port rate . with the ability to jump slots , however , as described above , the jump offset value is incremented to a value of four and the de - queue pointer is advanced five slots ( 4 + 1 ) to advance to slot 1106 . accordingly , slots 1102 - 1105 are skipped after processing is completed at slot 1101 . no idle cells are emitted , each flow is transmitted at the desired port rate , and the full output port bandwidth is used . in fig1 b , assume that in addition to the five colliding flows a through e , an additional flow “ f ” is present . flow f is scheduled at slot 1103 . when de - queue pointer 712 reaches slot 1101 , it will be stopped at slot 1101 for five cycles of present time pointer 716 as each of flows a through e are processed . the jump offset value for slot 1101 will be set to point to the next non - empty slot , slot 1003 . jump credit 805 will have additional credits available after setting the offset pointer for slot 1101 , however , as four flows collided in slot 1101 , but the next non - empty slot is only two slots ahead of slot 1101 . accordingly , the jump offset value for slot 1103 is set to point to slot 1106 . in this manner , a linked - list of jump slots are created by which empty slots can be skipped to fully use the bandwidth at output port 602 . a circular memory structure , called a rate wheel herein , was described that efficiently schedules data units . the number of collisions between flows of multiple data units are kept track of and used to determine a number of available slots in the rate wheel that may be skipped . by skipping empty slots , the bandwidth of the output port can be more fully used . the foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the invention provides illustration and description , but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention . for example , while series of acts have been presented with respect to fig9 and 10 , the order of the acts may be different in other implementations consistent with principles of the invention . also , non - dependent acts may be implemented in parallel . no element , act , or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such . also , as used herein , the article “ a ” is intended to include one or more items . where only one item is intended , the term “ one ” or similar language is used . further , the phrase “ based on ” is intended to mean “ based , at least in part , on ” unless explicitly stated otherwise . the scope of the invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents . | 7 |
referring to fig1 , a mounting apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention is provided for fixing a plug 10 to a socket 30 . the mounting apparatus includes a pair of opposite elastic generally c - shaped hooks 50 respectively fixed to the socket 30 for clamping the plug 10 , and the hooks 50 are an exemplary securing means according to this embodiment . the socket 30 includes a first sidewall 32 and a second sidewall 34 parallel to the first sidewall 32 . each hook 50 includes a connecting portion 52 extending from the corresponding first sidewall 32 or the second sidewall 34 , a bending portion 54 slantingly extending from a free end of the connecting portion 52 and over an upper wall of the socket 30 , and a latching portion 56 extending from a free end of the bending portion 54 and parallel with the upper wall towards the opposite hook 50 . to use the mounting apparatus , the bending portions 54 of the hooks 50 are pulled outward to depart away from each other , and the plug 10 is inserted into the socket 30 . then releasing the bending portion 54 , the bending portions 54 are restored , and respectively drive the latching portions 56 of the hooks 50 to clamp the plug 10 of the signal wire . referring to fig2 , a mounting apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention is provided for fixing the plug 10 to the socket 30 . the mounting apparatus includes two hooks 50 a for securing the plug 10 , and two elastic members , and the hooks 50 a are the exemplary securing means according to this embodiment . in this embodiment each elastic member is a spring 70 . two horizontally - spaced positioning blocks 320 each defining a through hole 322 therein respectively extend from the first sidewall 32 and the second sidewall 34 . each hook 50 a includes a generally l - shaped latching portion 56 a . the latching portion 56 a includes a first section slantingly extending toward the opposite latching portion 56 a and over the upper wall of the socket 30 and a second section . an operating portion 52 a slanting downward from a end of the second section of the latching portion 56 a . two shafts respectively extend from two sides of a joint between the latching portion 56 a and the operating portion 52 a . to assemble the mounting apparatus , the shafts of each hook 50 a are pivotably engaged in the through holes 322 of the corresponding positioning blocks 320 . one end of each spring 70 is fixed to the first sidewall 32 or the second sidewall 34 , and the other end of each spring 70 is fixed adjacent a turning portion of the latching portion 56 a of corresponding hook 50 a . to use the mounting apparatus , the operating portions 52 a of the hooks 50 a are pressed to urge the latching portions 56 a of the hooks 50 a to move away from each other , and the springs 70 are respectively stretched out with the hooks 50 a . the plug 10 is inserted into the socket 30 , then the operating portions 52 a are released , and the springs 70 are respectively restored to clamp the plug 10 . referring to fig3 , a mounting apparatus in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention is provided for fixing the plug to the socket 30 . the mounting apparatus includes two bolts 90 for securing the plug 10 , and the bolts 90 are the exemplary securing means according to this embodiment . the first sidewall 32 and the second sidewall 34 respectively define a fastener hole ( not shown ) therein . to use the mounting apparatus , the plug 10 is inserted into the socket 30 , and the two bolts 90 are respectively screwed in the fastener holes for resistingly engaging the plug 10 , thus the plug 10 is fixed in the socket 30 . it is believed that the present embodiments and theirs advantages will be understood from the foregoing description , and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages , the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments . | 7 |
with initial reference to fig1 , shown is the perspective view of the support device 50 that includes the first arcuate flexible finger 80 , its longitudinal axis 85 , the first finger 80 proximal end portion 90 , the first finger 80 distal end portion 95 , the second arcuate flexible finger 100 , its lengthwise axis 105 , the second finger 100 proximal end portion 110 , the second finger 100 distal end portion 115 , the shoulder element 120 , the cradle segment 125 , and the inverted “ u ” shape 130 . next , fig2 shows a use perspective view of the support device 50 straddling the margin 75 of the sink 70 , with the cradle segment 125 , the shoulder element 120 , the first arcuate flexible finger 80 , and the second flexible finger 100 . continuing , fig3 shows a use perspective view of the support device 50 straddling the margin 75 of the sink 70 , with the cradle segment 125 , the shoulder element 120 , the first arcuate flexible finger 80 , and the second flexible finger 100 , wherein the cradle segment 125 is supporting the article 55 is in an upright position 60 , with the article 55 in the form of a cleaning utensil 65 being self contained cleaning sponge having dishwashing detergent . further , fig4 shows a perspective view of the base portion 165 of the shoe assembly 140 including the extension 175 of the base 165 , and the depression 180 of the base 165 . next , fig5 shows a perspective view of the shoe assembly 140 with the base portion 165 , the extension 175 of the base 165 , the depression 180 of the base 165 , the cup 145 , the bottom 150 of the cup 145 , the opposing lip 155 of the cup 145 , the cup 145 bottom 150 being accommodated 170 in the base 165 , the flexible clip 190 , the inward portion 200 of the flexible clip 190 , the opposing outward portion 205 of the flexible clip 190 , the cradle portion 210 of the clip 190 , and the base 165 upon the surface 160 . yet further , fig6 shows a perspective use view of the shoe assembly 140 with the base portion 165 , the extension 175 of the base 165 , the depression 180 of the base 165 , the cup 145 , the bottom 150 of the cup 145 , the opposing lip 155 of the cup 145 , the cup 145 bottom 150 being accommodated 170 in the base 165 , the flexible clip 190 , the inward portion 200 of the flexible clip 190 , the opposing outward portion 205 of the flexible clip 190 , the cradle portion 210 of the clip 190 , and the base 165 upon the surface 160 . also in fig6 , the article 55 is in the form of a cleaning utensil 65 being self contained cleaning sponge having dishwashing detergent disposed therein , wherein the depression 180 is receiving 185 a portion of the article 55 and the flexible clip 190 cradling 210 the opposing portion of the article 55 . continuing , fig7 shows a perspective view of the platform device 220 with the retention basin 225 , the peripheral portion 230 , the spillway margin 235 , the raised rib 240 , the extension 245 , with the extension 245 depending outwardly 250 opposite of the raised rib 240 , the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 that projects parallel 265 to the raised rib 240 . further , fig8 shows a perspective use view of the platform device 220 with the retention basin 225 , the peripheral portion 230 , the spillway margin 235 , the raised rib 240 , the extension 245 , with the extension depending outwardly 250 opposite of the raised rib 240 , wherein the basin 225 and extension 245 are substantially conforming 255 to the sink margin 75 of the sink 70 . in addition , in fig8 , the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 that projects parallel 265 to the raised rib 240 , the directing 275 of the liquids to the sink 70 , with the ridge 260 retainably suspending 270 a portion of the article 55 over the basin 225 , wherein the article 55 is in the form of a cleaning utensil 65 being self contained cleaning sponge having dishwashing detergent disposed therein . moving onward , fig9 shows an inverted perspective view of the platform device 220 in relation to fig7 , with the peripheral portion 230 , the raised rib 240 , the extension 245 , with the extension 245 depending outwardly 250 opposite of the raised rib 240 . next , fig1 also shows the inverted perspective view of the platform device 220 in relation to fig7 , with the peripheral portion 230 , the raised rib 240 , the extension 245 , with the extension 245 depending outwardly 250 opposite of the raised rib 240 in addition to the sponge support 280 mounted on the raised rib 240 . further , fig1 shows a perspective view of the platform device 220 , with the retention basin 225 , the peripheral portion 230 , the spillway margin 235 , the raised rib 240 , the extension 245 , with the extension 245 depending outwardly 250 opposite of the raised rib 240 , the substantial conforming 255 to the sink margin 75 of the sink 70 for the basin 225 and the extension 245 , the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 that projects parallel 265 to the raised rib 240 , and the sponge support 280 . continuing , fig1 shows a perspective view of the platform device 220 with the retention basin 225 , the peripheral portion 230 , the spillway margin 235 , the raised rib 240 , the extension 245 , with the extension 245 depending outwardly opposite 250 of the raised rib 240 , the substantial conforming 255 to the sink margin 75 of the sink 70 for the basin 225 and the extension 245 . further , in fig1 , the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 that projects parallel 265 to the raised rib 240 , and the sponge support 280 , the directing 275 of the liquids to the sink 70 , with the ridge 260 retainably suspending a portion of the article 55 over the basin 225 , wherein the article 55 is in the form of a cleaning utensil 65 being self contained cleaning sponge having dishwashing detergent disposed therein , also the sponge support 280 holding a sponge 66 . next , fig1 shows a perspective view of the sponge support 280 that is removably engagable to the opposing lip 155 of the cup 145 , with the cup 145 , and cup 145 bottom 150 shown also . further , fig1 shows a perspective use view of the sponge 66 on the sponge support 280 that is removably engagable to the opposing lip 155 of the cup 145 , with the cup 145 , and cup 145 bottom 150 shown also . broadly , in looking at fig1 through 3 , the present invention is for the support device 50 for an article 55 that is adjacent to a sink 70 margin 75 , with the support device 50 including the first arcuate flexible finger 80 having the longitudinal axis 85 , the first finger 80 having a proximal end portion 90 and an opposing distal end portion 95 and the second arcuate flexible finger 100 having a lengthwise axis 105 , the second finger 100 having a proximal end portion 110 and an opposing distal end portion 115 . further included in the support device 50 is the shoulder element 120 that is sized and configured to cradle 125 the article 55 in an upright position 60 , the shoulder element 120 is disposed in an attached manner therebetween the first proximal end portion 90 and the second proximal end portion 110 . wherein the first flexible finger 80 , the shoulder element 120 , and the second flexible finger 100 approximately form an inverted “ u ” symmetrical shape 130 that frictionally straddles 135 the sink 70 margin 75 , wherein operationally the support device 50 cradles the article 55 in the upright position 60 adjacent to the sink 70 margin 75 . wherein the article 55 can be supported in either one of two opposing positions with the article 55 adjacent to the shoulder element 120 and the first arcuate flexible finger 80 or the article 55 adjacent to the shoulder element 120 and the second arcuate flexible finger 100 . further on the support device 50 for the article 55 , the shoulder element 120 can further comprise a cradle segment 125 that has a continuously curving concave surface to suspend in an adjacent manner the article 55 in an open environment 285 , see fig1 , and 3 . in addition , for the support device 50 for the article 55 , the cradle segment 125 can also extend for a full width of the shoulder element 120 in an arcuate axis 126 that is perpendicular 127 to the longitudinal 85 and lengthwise 105 axes to facilitate article 55 drainage or seepage 57 in the open environment 285 , again see fig1 , and 3 . also the article 55 , as shown in fig1 , and 3 , can be in the form of a cleaning utensil 65 being the self - contained cleaning sponge 61 having dishwashing detergent stored in a reservoir 62 in the cleaning utensil 65 handle 62 , with the cleaning utensil 65 being supported by the support device 50 in the open environment 285 , with the open environment 285 being defined as having free and open access all around the external surfaces of the cleaning utensil 65 for seepage 57 of the dishwashing detergent to drain back into the sink 70 without the need of a drainage channel in the support device 50 , as best shown in fig3 . also , on the support device 50 for the article 55 the first 80 and second 100 arcuate flexible fingers preferably depend downwardly from the shoulder element 120 in a continuous arc from the first 90 and second 110 proximal end portions to the first 95 and second 115 distal end portions along the longitudinal 85 and lengthwise 105 axes respectively to conform to the sink margin 75 and sink walls 71 on each opposing side of the sink margin 75 , as best shown in fig2 and 3 . further , on the support device 50 for the article 55 the first 95 and second 115 distal end portions can further comprise a first curved extension 96 and a respective second curved extension 116 to further support the article 55 or as preferably shown the reservoir handle 62 as shown in fig3 . continuing , for the support device 50 for the article 55 wherein the first 96 and second 115 curved extensions can form respective first 97 and second 117 concave channels that are each coincident to the continuously curving concave surface of the cradle segment 125 , see fig1 and 2 . as an alternative embodiment , in looking at fig4 through 6 , the shoe assembly 140 utilizes a cup 145 with a bottom 150 , and the opposing lip 155 , for upright support 60 of an article 55 upon a surface 160 , in the open environment 285 with the shoe assembly 140 including a base 165 , wherein the base 165 sized and configured to accommodate 170 the cup 145 bottom 150 and include an extension 175 with a depression 180 disposed therein to receive 185 a portion of the article 55 . further included in the shoe assembly 140 is the flexible clip 190 having an inward portion 200 that is disposed upon the lip 155 , the clip 190 having an opposing outward portion 205 with a cradle portion 210 disposed opposite of the lip 155 , wherein operationally the cradle portion 210 retainably suspends 215 an opposing portion of the article 55 over the lip 155 facing the bottom 150 in the open environment 285 . also , for the shoe assembly 140 , the cradle portion 210 preferably has a continuously curving concave surface 212 to suspend in an adjacent manner the article 55 in an open environment 285 , see fig5 and 6 or detail . also the article 55 , as shown in fig6 , can be in the form of a cleaning utensil 65 being the self - contained cleaning sponge 61 having dishwashing detergent stored in a reservoir 62 in the cleaning utensil 65 handle 62 , with the cleaning utensil 65 being supported by the shoe assembly 140 in the open environment 285 , with the open environment 285 being defined as having free and open access all around the external surfaces of the cleaning utensil 65 for seepage 57 of the dishwashing detergent to drain back into the cup 145 and depression 180 without the need of a drainage channel in the shoe assembly 140 , as best shown in fig6 . continuing for the shoe assembly 140 wherein the cradle portion 210 can extend for a full width of the flexible clip 190 along a curved axis 211 to further support the article 55 over the lip 155 facing the bottom 150 in the open environment 285 , as best shown in fig5 . in addition , for the shoe assembly 140 the base can further comprise a peripheral ridge 176 that forms a part of the base depression 180 ; see fig4 , wherein the peripheral ridge helps to retain the article 55 seepage 57 , as best shown in fig6 . also , for the shoe assembly 140 , the base 165 can further comprise a receiving slot 181 forming a portion of the base depression 180 , see fig4 , wherein the receiving slot 181 is operational to receive a portion of the article 55 , namely the reservoir handle 62 , to facilitate retaining different length 56 articles 55 , as best shown in fig6 . further , on the shoe assembly 140 , the base 165 can further comprise a receptacle 177 formed from an interface as between the receiving slot 181 and the peripheral ridge 176 , as best shown in fig4 , wherein the receptacle 177 adds volume to the depression 180 for receiving a portion of the seepage 57 from the article 55 , see fig6 . further on the shoe assembly 140 , it can further comprise a sponge support 280 that includes a support lip 281 interface that is removably engagable to the cup lip 155 , being operational to support a sponge 66 in addition to the article 55 , as shown in fig1 and 14 . as another alternative embodiment , in looking at fig7 through 12 , the platform device 220 is for the article 55 that is adjacent to a sink 70 with a sink margin 75 , the platform device includes the retention basin 225 including the peripheral portion 230 and the spillway margin 235 , with the retention basin 225 having a raised rib 240 adjacent to the peripheral portion 230 . further , in the platform device 220 is the extension 245 that is affixed to the spillway margin 235 , the extension 245 depending outwardly 250 opposite of the raised rib 240 , wherein the basin 225 and the extension 245 substantially conform 255 to the sink 70 margin 75 . also , in the platform device 220 included is the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 affixed to a portion of the spillway margin 235 , with the bimodal ridge 260 projecting parallel 265 to the raised rib 240 , wherein operationally the ridge 260 retainably suspends 270 a portion of the article 55 over the basin 225 that directs article 55 liquids 275 and seepage 57 to the sink 70 . also , for the platform device 220 for the article 55 , wherein the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 can have a continuously curving concave surface 261 to suspend in an adjacent manner the article 55 to be elevated above a floor 226 of the retention basin 225 to operationally facilitate the article 55 seepage 57 throughout an entire area of the floor 226 , as best shown in fig7 , and 12 . further , on the platform device 220 for the article 55 , the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 can extend to at least as high 262 as the raised rib 240 to further ensure to suspend in an adjacent manner the article 55 to be elevated above the floor 226 of the retention basin 225 to operationally facilitate the article 55 seepage 57 throughout an entire area of the floor 226 , see fig7 , and 12 . as for the article 55 , as shown in fig8 and 12 , can be in the form of a cleaning utensil 65 being the self - contained cleaning sponge 61 having dishwashing detergent stored in a reservoir 62 in the cleaning utensil 65 handle 62 , with the cleaning utensil 65 being supported by the platform device 220 in the open environment 285 , with the open environment 285 being defined as having free and open access all around the external surfaces of the cleaning utensil 65 for seepage 57 of the dishwashing detergent to drain back into the entire area of the floor 226 of the retention basin 225 , via the sponge 61 being elevated above the floor 226 , i . e . not resting upon the floor 226 , with the sponge 61 being elevated above the floor 226 from the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 extending to at least as high 262 as the raised rib 240 , see fig7 , thus suspending the sponge 61 up off of the floor 226 , see fig8 and 12 . thus operationally allowing the sponge 61 to completely drain itself of dishwashing liquid and allow the floor 226 to completely drain of dishwashing liquid , plus having the benefit of less chance of the dishwashing liquid “ wicking ” up from the reservoir handle 62 to the sponge 61 , on the floor 226 to the sink margin 75 and down the sink walls 71 , as the sink walls 71 potentially being lower than the reservoir handle 62 , will via gravity draw out the dishwashing liquid from the reservoir handle 62 , potentially wasting the dishwashing liquid from the reservoir handle 62 , of which suspending the sponge 61 up off of the floor 226 helps to prevent . continuing , for the platform device 220 for the article 55 , wherein the peripheral portion 230 can further comprise an outer peripheral notch 231 , as shown in fig9 or an inner peripheral notch 232 , see fig7 for receiving a sponge support 280 , as best shown in fig9 , 11 , and 12 . in addition , for the platform device 220 for the article 55 , wherein the notch 231 is oppositely positioned from the bi - modal shaped ridge 260 on the retention basin 225 to operationally facilitate the platform device 220 to support the article 55 and a sponge 66 simultaneously , as shown in fig1 . also on the platform device 220 for the article 55 the sponge support 280 can further comprise a centrally located drain aperture 282 as shown in fig1 . further on the platform device 220 for the article 55 wherein the extension 245 further comprises a reverse angled end portion 251 to minimize capillary action of the article seepage 57 toward the area identified as substantially conforming 255 to the sink margin , preferably the reverse angled end portion 251 has an angle of about ten to fifteen degrees as related to the sink margin 75 . accordingly , the present invention of a support device has been described with some degree of particularity directed to the embodiments of the present invention . it should be appreciated , though ; that the present invention is defined by the following claim construed in light of the prior art so modifications or changes may be made to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention without departing from the inventive concepts contained therein . | 5 |
the position of a detector appropriate for implementing the present invention will be described . to improve the spatial resolution of measurement of a potential in accordance with the present invention , two conditions described below should be satisfied . a mirror surface which is a reflecting surface for the primary electron beam is put near to a sample . fig3 shows an explanatory drawing on an optical condition ( optical condition a ) expectable the highest spatial resolution in measuring a potential utilizing the present invention . in the drawing , zc is an object point of an objective lens where a detector is positioned . if such arrangement as fig3 is employed , when focused on the detector , focusing is adjusted on the mirror surface as well . consequently , in calculating a potential of a sample from the condition with which focus offset is minimized on the detector , if the arrangement exhibited in fig3 is employed , the spatial resolution of measurement of a potential can be improved . here , a displacement amount reflected to the detector by variation of the potential of the sample is proportional to an open angle of the object point ( under the case focus offset by aberration is negligible ). therefore , if the open angle at the object point is made large , the detection sensitivity of variation of the potential of the sample improves . however , under the optical condition as exhibited in fig3 , velocity in the lateral direction is forcibly generated on the mirror surface . therefore , as the open angle of the primary beam is larger , the beam is reflected at a position ( a in fig4 ) which is higher than the mirror surface and the focus is offset at the detecting surface . consequently , even if the open angle is made large and measuring sensitivity of the potential of the sample is improved , the open angle cannot be made large because the focus offset attributable to the open angle as described above occurs . to solve the problem described above , an optical condition ( optical condition b ) as exhibited in fig5 can be employed . zc in the drawing is a crossover plane where a detector is positioned . then , the exciting amount of an objective lens is adjusted so that the inclination of the primary electron beam on the mirror surface becomes parallel with the light axis . if the electron beam is irradiated under the condition , any primary electron beam having any angle at the object point is incident perpendicular to the mirror surface , reflected at the potential surface of the same potential , and is converged to the same position on the detector . therefore , the sensitivity of measuring the potential can be improved because the open angle of the primary electron beam used for measurement can be enlarged . however , because the primary electron beam is widened spatially at the mirror surface , spatial resolution deteriorates . accordingly , if spatial resolution of measuring a potential is important , the potential can be measured by the optical condition a , and if measuring accuracy for the potential is important , the potential can be measured by the optical condition b . in addition , because the optical condition optimal for measurement of a potential using a mirror electron ( specifically , crossover position zc , booster voltage v b , retarding voltage v r , open angle of crossover plane α c , and deflection fulcrum z p ) and the optical condition optimal for observation do not coincide , it is preferable to measure switching the optical condition used in measurement of the potential and in observation . in measuring a potential in accordance with the present invention , if the detector is disposed above the deflector , the mirror electron is scanned on the detector by the influence of the deflector . therefore it is preferable to dispose the detector between the deflector and the objective lens in measuring a potential in accordance with the present invention . preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention will be described below referring to the drawings . fig1 is an explanatory drawing of the outline of a scanning electron microscope . although the explanation below is made with an example of a scanning electron microscope ( sem ) wherein an electron beam is scanned on a sample , the application is by no means limited to it but possibly to other charged particle beam device as well such as a fib ( focused ion beam ) device , or the like . however , according to the polarity of the charge of the beam , it is necessary to vary the polarity of the voltage applied to the sample . in addition , fig1 explains only one embodiment of a scanned electron microscope , and the present invention can be applied to the scanned electron microscope with configuration other than that of fig1 in a range within the scope thereof . in a scanning electron microscope explained in fig1 , extraction voltage is applied between the field emission negative electrode 11 and the extraction electrode 12 , and the primary electron beam is extracted . the primary electron beam 1 thus extracted is accelerated by the acceleration electrode 13 , and is subjected to converging by the condenser lens 14 and scanning deflection by the upper scanning deflector 21 and the lower scanning deflector 22 . the deflection intensity of the upper scanning deflector 21 and the lower scanning deflector 22 has been adjusted to allow two - dimensionally scanning on the sample 23 with the lens center of the objective lens 17 as a fulcrum . the primary electron beam 1 deflected is further subjected to acceleration by rear stage accelerating voltage 19 in the acceleration cylinder 18 disposed in the passage of the objective lens 17 . the primary electron beam 1 rear stage accelerated is converged by lens action of the objective lens 17 . the cylindrical electrode 20 is grounded and forms an electric field between the acceleration cylinder 18 for accelerating the primary electron beam 1 . the electron such as the secondary electron emitted from the sample or the backscatter electron is accelerated in the direction reverse to the irradiation direction of the primary electron beam 1 by the negative voltage ( hereafter referred also to as retarding voltage ) applied to the sample and by the electric field formed in the gap with the acceleration cylinder 18 , and is detected by the detector 29 . the electron detected by the detector 29 is synchronized with the scanning signal supplied to the scanning deflector and is displayed on an image display device not shown . also , the image obtained is stored in a frame memory not shown . further , the current or the voltage supplied or applied to each constituting element of the scanning electron microscope shown in fig1 may be controlled by a control device arranged separate from the main body of the scanning electron microscope . a method for measuring a potential of a sample using an electron beam will be described below . a flowchart of the present embodiment is shown in fig6 . also , an outline of a charging control device is shown in fig8 . in the step s 1 , judgment is made whether the reference function fr of the acquisition condition to be compensated this time has been stored or not in the reference function record part 102 . if there is no reference data required for the compensation this time in the record part 102 , the reference sample or the uncharged sample is made a mirror state in the step s 100 in the loop 1 with the condition stored in the acquisition condition record part 103 being set , and the displacement amount or the magnification against v r is detected by a feature amount arithmetic unit 101 in the step s 120 . the reference function fr obtainable by function fitting using the obtained displacement amount or the magnification is obtained in the step s 130 , and is stored in the reference function record part 102 in the step s 140 . when the reference function fr has been obtained in the loop 1 or there already is the reference function fr in the step 1 , the acquisition condition is read out from the acquisition condition record part 103 by the step s 100 of the loop 2 after charging of the sample , and the mirror state is set . in the step s 110 , the displacement amount or the magnification is detected against v r by a plurality of numbers using the feature amount arithmetic unit 101 . in the step s 130 , the potential of the sample v s is derived from the feature amount and the number of references fm obtained by the potential arithmetic unit 104 . in the step s 150 , the compensated value of the exciting current i obj is calculated based on the potential of the sample obtained using the focus current control device 105 , and the exciting amount of the objective lens is adjusted . according to the present invention , the focus control can be performed by measuring the potential of the charged sample by the non - contact electron beam and compensating the exciting current . with this configuration , the focus control in observing an insulated sample can be performed in a short time and without variation in the sample condition . though the present embodiment is to derive the potential of the sample using the relation between the retarding potential v r and the displacement amount or the magnification and to perform the focus control by adjusting the exciting current i obj , even if the optical parameters ( retarding potential v r and the exciting current i obj ) shown above are replaced with other optical parameters , similar effect is expectable . a flowchart of the second embodiment is shown in fig7 . also , an outline of a charging control device is shown in fig8 . in the step s 1 , judgment is made whether the reference function fr of the acquisition condition to be compensated this time has been stored or not in the reference function record part 102 . if there is no reference data required for the compensation this time in the record part 102 , the reference sample or the uncharged sample is made a mirror state in the step s 100 in the loop 1 with the condition stored in the acquisition condition record part 103 being set , and the displacement amount or the magnification against v r is detected by a feature amount arithmetic unit 101 in the step s 120 . the reference function fr obtainable by function fitting using the obtained displacement amount or the magnification is obtained in the step s 130 , and is stored in the reference function record part 102 in the step s 140 . when the reference function fr has been obtained in the loop 1 or there already is the reference function fr in the step 1 , the acquisition condition is read out from the acquisition condition record part 103 by the step s 100 of the loop 2 after charging of the sample , and the mirror state is set . in the step s 110 , the displacement amount or the magnification is detected against v r by a plurality of numbers using the feature amount arithmetic unit 101 . in the step s 130 , the potential of the sample v s is derived from the feature amount and the number of references fm obtained by the potential arithmetic unit 104 . in the step s 160 , the compensated value of the deflection current i scan is calculated based on the potential of the sample obtained using the deflection current control device 105 , and the deflection amount is adjusted . according to the present embodiment , the magnification control can be performed by measuring the potential of the charged sample by the non - contact electron beam and compensating the exciting current . though the present embodiment is to derive the potential of the sample using the relation between the retarding potential v r and the displacement amount or the magnification and to perform the magnification control by adjusting the deflection current i scan , even if the optical parameters ( retarding potential v r ) shown above are replaced with other optical parameters , similar effect is expectable . in addition , feedback to the magnification of the obtained image may be performed . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications , combinations , sub - combinations and alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they are within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof . | 7 |
the structure and method of fabrication of the present invention is applicable to a housing , said housing preferably fabricated from a right angle cylinder . the housing may be constructed from a plastic material , such plastic material being rigid or semi - rigid polyethylene , polypropylene , or the like , said housing contains a dentifrice and is constructed to be impervious to same when unbroken . the housing may be transparent or opaque -- as desired . the housing should have a length of approximately an inch and a half to three and a half inches , with a diameter of approximately one - sixteenth of an inch to three - sixteenths of an inch , o . d . the central regions of the housing , approximately mid - way between its two ends , should be deformed so as to define a depression therein extending radially inwardly from its outermost walls . disposed within a cavity formed by the housing is an elastomeric - like material , such as ethylene propylene copolymer , such as vistalon 404 , manufactured by exxon chemical co . of houston , tex ., u . s . a ., or ethylene - vinyl acetate copolymers , such as elvax , a product of the dupont company , wilmington , del ., u . s . a ., or low density polyethylene elastomer compounds , equivalent to heisler compound hc5201 , a product of heisler compounding division , container corporation of america , wilmington , del ., u . s . a . such materials are noted to have a capability of being manually extensible when opposing forces are applied at opposite ends of its length . a dentifrice is also disposed within the housing . at some point in the stretching process , such tended exposed material reaches a maximum length , having then a foreshortened diameter . the ability to continuously stretch such material is limited , such that the material achieves a much greater tensile strength at the time it reaches its maximum elongation , greater than its original tensile strength . the same material will not revert back to its original thicker configuration when the tensioning forces are released . i have fabricated test samples of these materials and note that such materials tend to remain adhered to the interior of completely filled plastic housings , in the regions adjacent the closed ends of the cylindrical housing , yet tend to stretch thinner in the central region adjacent to the weakened and broken portion of the housing . no adhesive is absolutely required to secure these stretchable elastomeric - like materials to the interior of any rigid housing , since the stretched portions thereof reach a maximum tensile strength point , prior to the time that the remaining unextended elastomeric - like material , attached to the housing portion , is separated away from the interior wall of each housing portion . in addition , when a housing having a rectangular cross - section is utilized , the central material will substantially produce a rectangular cross - section . in all cases , the ends of the central elastomeric - like material , having an equal or slightly smaller diameter than the internal diameter of the cavity , are secured to the sealed ends of each portion of the housing , which are disposed furthestmost from each other or are sealed at a point in each housing end , intermediate the draw hole and the closed end . in order to prevent slubbing , or the generation of non - uniform cross - sectional protuberences , and to increase tensile strength prior to a full extention of the elongatable material , one drawhole of relatively small diameter is formed adjacent each of the two broken opposed ends of the housing , compelling any slubs , generated within the housing -- to be further drawn down and to provide a cross - section of stronger extended material which is uniform and of lesser cross sectional dimensions , and to control the dispensing of the dentifrice . passing the elongatable material through the draw holes will cause some cross - linking and hence , an increased degree of tensile strength and a decrease in the further ability to stretch . as desired , dentifrice - like materials , such as flavorings , flourides and antiseptic materials may be admixed with the extrudate and allowed to admix or attach to the elastomeric material prior to its use . the well - known process of surface bonding provides &# 34 ; cells &# 34 ; into which dentifrice - like material may be stored and thus made available when the elastomeric material is passed outwardly from its cavity . in addition , the present invention can be fabricated -- if desired -- by coaxial concurrent extrusion techniques . if such be the case , an adhesive , as desired , can be included upon the interior wall of the housing , so as to further assist in the drawing down the elongation process within the housing . the adhesive can be applied to the wall of the housing , as part of the extrusion process or to the exterior of the elastomeric - like material . in such case , the dentifrice would be mixed with the elastomeric material . in another mode of manufacture , the elastomeric - like material may be prefabricated from one or more monofilaments and passed through the extruder , in unextended form , so as to be extruded and formed as part of the outer housing , when it is extruded . such monofilaments may be of initially large diameter , or a combination of monofilaments twisted together or running parallel together , any of which to be drawn down by the single minor drawhole located adjacent the broken portion of each of the ends of the housing . in this manner , the central - most elastomeric - like material , above described , may be preformed and then drawn down to the appropriate size . dentifrice - like materials may include flavorings , such as polyiff no . 16924 - 00349 ™ made by international flavors and fragrances , inc ., new york city , n . y ., u . s . a ., which may be impregnated into or about the exterior surface of the central - most elastomeric - like material . similarly , liquids , liquid dentifrice - like materials , such as water based compounds mixed with sorbitol , glycerin , cefyipyridirium chloride , polysorbates , and flavorings and colorings , may be utilized as a liquid , as desired . gel - like dentifrices , similar to toothpastes , comprising carbopol , sodium lauryl sulfate , keltrol , sodium hydroxide , sodium saccharin , oils , flavorings , colorings , and preservatives , may be utilized as the dentifrice , as desired . alternatively , simple imitation flavorings , such as cinnamon , may be employed to impart a pleasant taste upon the application of the elongated elastomeric - like material into the user &# 39 ; s mouth . medicaments , utilized alone , or in combination with the foregoing , such as fluoride compounds , other well - known antiseptics , talcs , and lubricants , may be utilized as the dentifrice - like material . now referring to the figures , and more particularly to the embodiment illustrated in fig1 showing housing 10 with portions 12 and 14 separated by perforation 15 in the central region of housing 10 . ends 16 and 18 are closed off so as to totally contain elastomeric - like material 20 thereinbetween . material 20 is admixed to carry a dentifrice - like material . when the apparatus in fig1 is broken , as is shown in fig2 open ends 22 and 24 are disposed opposite each other , whilst material 20 is still engaged within housing ends 12 and 14 , in its original shape , excepting in regions 26 and 28 where the extending process has begun . monofilament - like material 30 is shown opposite intermediate broken ends 22 and 24 and is illustrated having slubs 32 and 34 , of larger diameter , which slubs are difficult to remove and create a nuisance in the process of utilizing extended portion 30 in a dental floss - like apparatus . fig3 illustrates housing 36 comprising ends 38 and 40 . as in fig1 oppositemost ends 42 and 43 are closed , so as to form sharpened ends which are suitable as a toothpick - like device , if desired . contained with housing 36 , in the cavity 46 is elastomeric - like material 44 . region 50 is collapsed inwardly , so as to provide for a narrow passageway 52 communicating between housing ends 38 and 40 . region 48 describes the radially inwardly extending region of the housing about passageway 52 . fig4 illustrates the apparatus shown in fig3 when broken adjacent its midregion 50 , so as to form broken housing portions 36a and 36b . drawhole 54 is shown formed in housing 36a , opposite and adjacent drawhole 56 , similarly formed in housing 36b . elastomeric - like material 44 , on being tensioned in the direction of arrow 58 , has its rightmost end pulled away from interior wall portion 60 of housing 36a . if desired , a layer of adhesive 62 can be formed on the interior wall of housing 36a , to insure a better grasp between elastomeric - like material 44 to housing end 36a . in similar fashion , though not shown , an adhesive may be utilized on the exterior portion of elastomeric - like material portion 46 to secure the interior of housing 36b . slubs 64 are drawn down to a uniform thickness exposed portion 66 . similarly , drawhole 56 is positioned opposite drawhole 54 , and is useful in drawing down , in a uniform fashion , extended material 68 , eminating from the elastomeric - like material 46 found in housing 36b . fig5 illustrates one half of the apparatus shown in fig4 shown in another embodiment . the left - hand housing portion 36a is illustrated showing a thick elastomeric - like material 70 relative to the diameter of drawhole 54a . extended material 66a is shown as having been formed by passing through drawhole 54a . it should be noted that end 72 , of elastomeric . like material 70 is secured to housing 36a , intermediate portions of the housing forming end 42a and drawhole 54a . in this particular embodiment , elastomeric - like material 70 is not adhered to the interior walls of housing 36a , and certainly no adhesive , such as 62 shown in fig4 is required . fig5 may utilize either the same admixed elastomeric - like material or , as shown , utilize the dentifrice - like material 94 covering or adhering to the surface of elastomeric material 70 , before and after the elastomeric - like material is partially withdrawn from the housing 96 . fig6 illustrates elastomeric - like material 70 , as shown in fig5 having a uniform large cross - section . fig7 & amp ; 7a illustrate a multistranded monofilament 74 in combination , being of rope - like construction , shown in cross - section utilizable instead of unitary material 70 , shown in fig5 . cells 98 are shown depicting blown openings in elastomeric - like material 70 , in which the dentifrice - like material 94 is stored . alternately , elastomeric - like material 70 may be admixed with dentifrice - like material , as in fig1 if desired . in this embodiment , and applicable to the embodiment shown in fig5 liquid - like or gel - like dentifrice material 104 is carried within housing 78 , and is free for dispensation covering or simultaneously admixing with extrudate 88 upon the extrusion of extrudable material 88 outwardly from housing 84 . the interior of housings 12 , 14 , 36 , 36a , 36b , 38 , 40 , and 78 may be coated with a non - porous , impervious coating or fabricated from a non - porous , impervious material to eliminate or control evaporation and spoilage , prior to use . fig8 & amp ; 8a comprise monofilaments 76 , similarly prefabricated prior to the extrusion process . monofilaments 76 extend parallel to one another when enclosed within housing ends 36a and 36b . monofilaments 76 may have cells 102 thereon , similar to cells 98 , carrying dentifrice - like material 94 . fig9 illustrates another embodiment of the invention shown in side elevation , cross - sectional view in which half a portion of the housing 78 is shown having closed end 80 . closed end 80 may , if desired for cosmetic purposes , be sealed in a tapered fashion , not shown , so as to present a clean appearance and to be useful as a toothpick -- if so desired . depression area 82 is shown intermediate end 80 and end 84 of this embodiment . end 84 contains drawhole 86 from which stretched strongest elongatable material 88 emerges for use , carrying dentifrice 106 , previously stored in housing 78 , and identified as 104 therein . the depressed area 82 is used as a technique to secure a portion of monofiliment 90 to handle housing end 78 , without employing an adhesive therefor . another great advantage of this embodiment is that only a coated portion 92 of elongatable material 90 can be permitted to be extended . the length of tensile material 88 is controlled by the bulk of unextended material 92 or , in other words , the distance separating depression 82 and drawhole 86 . it should be remembered that the process which closes ends 42 and 43 , shown in fig3 and 4 , utilizes a heat and pressure application , in a technique well known in the art . similarly , the circular inward depression 48 , shown in fig3 is formed utilizing pressure with or without heat , so as to result in draw down holes 54 and 56 and a region of the housing which is defined to be broken . one of the advantages of the present invention is a one - time use dentifrice - carrying dental flossing device which does not require manual manipulation of the dental floss - like material , as by contacting same with the user &# 39 ; s hand , prior to its use . another advantage of the present invention is a dentifrice - carrying dental floss - like housing which housing maintains the flossing material in a clean , safe and undisturbed condition following its initial manufacture , which permits the user to easily and quickly make a clean dental floss - like material readily available for use . still another advantage of the present invention is an inexpensive dentifrice storage device , using a dental flossing device which in of itself , may be carried about , from place to place , such that the integrity of the cleanliness of the dental floss and dentifrice is not harmed prior to the time in which the user elects to utilize same . yet another advantage of the present invention is a dentifrice and dental flossing device which is simple to manufacture , convenient in its use , rugged in its construction , and which may bear advertising or other descriptive material directly thereupon . a further advantage of the present invention is overcoming the objectional concept of requiring users to put their fingers into their mouths when utilizing a dental floss - like device . still yet another advantage of the present invention is avoiding the need for the user to wind the dental floss about their fingers , prior to the use thereof . still a further advantage of the present invention is utilizing a dental floss - like material which reaches a uniform cross - section at its elongated length , which will not extend further , whilst having a uniform cross - section throughout its exposed length , thereby making it more convenient to utilize the apparatus . yet another advantage of the present invention is a dental floss device which dispenses dentifrice and dental floss - like material , without spoilage or evaporation prior to use . the present invention utilizes a housing of any desired shape . the housing includes a cavity . within the cavity there resides an elastomeric - like material which stretches and when reaching a certain length , increases its tensile strength substantially , without possessing the characteristic of reverting to its initial cross - section or snapping back . as desired , such material may be admixed or coated with a dentifrice - like mixture or simply containing said mixture . the cavity housing , defining the cavity , when broken about a weakened or defined portion , separates the cavity into two ends . opposite and adjacent these ends , and formed by the housing are two small draw down holes , whose cross - sectional dimensions are substantially smaller than the internal diameter of the housing . the elastomeric - like material is secured to the closed ends of the housing , located furthest most from each other and opposed from the draw down holes . the elastomeric - like material may be adhered to the sidewalls of the housing , either by the use of an adhesive or not , or may be formed from the elastomeric - like material having a cross - section equal to or somewhat smaller than the internal dimensions of the housing , or may be fabricated from pre - extruded monofilaments which are joined together either by twisting or running parallel to one another or simply having a cross - section whose dimensions are greater than the draw down holes formed at the location of the broken ends of the housing . in the case of the smaller diameter cross - section , the dentifrice may totally or partially fill the balance of the internal diameter of the housing . thus , there is disclosed in the above description and in the drawings , an embodiment of the invention which fully and effectively accomplishes the objects thereof . however , it will become apparent to those skilled in the art , how to make variations and modifications to the instant invention . therefore , this invention is to be limited , not only by the specific disclosure herein , but by the appending claims . | 0 |
reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout . the embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures . fig2 schematically illustrates transmitting and receiving data to and from adjacent ips , based on a code division method according to an embodiment of the present invention . in particular , fig2 shows a star topology where at least two ips share one switch . for example , in fig2 , 16 ips ip 1 , ip 2 , ip 3 , . . . , ip 16 share one switch . each ip is assigned to its own address . hereinafter , the assigned ip address and ip ( ) will be used with the same meaning throughout the specification . each ip is assigned with an orthogonal code . the following & lt ; table 1 & gt ; lists ips and their assigned orthogonal codes . each ip stores the data shown in & lt ; table 1 & gt ;. the address of an ip generating data to be transferred is called “ source address ,” and the address of an ip where data is eventually transmitted is called “ destination address .” for instance , it is assumed that ip ( 0 ) generated data to be transferred to ip ( 3 ), and ip ( 6 ) generated data to be transferred to ip ( 9 ). the ip ( 0 ) spreads the data employing an orthogonal code assigned to the ip ( 3 ). then , the ip ( 0 ) transfers the spread data to the shared switch “ s ”. similarly , the ip ( 6 ) spreads the data employing an orthogonal code assigned to the ip ( 9 ), and later transfers the spread data to the switch . the switch adds the transferred data , and broadcasts them to adjacent ips . that is , the switch transfers the data being added to ip ( 0 ) to ip ( 15 ). using the assigned orthogonal codes , the ip ( 0 ) to ip ( 15 ) despread the transferred data . performing the despreading process , the ip ( 3 ) receives data from the ip ( 0 ), and the ip ( 9 ) receives data from the ip ( 6 ), respectively . therefore , the code division method makes it possible for the switch to transmit a lot of data at the same point . fig3 illustrates a data switching process based on the code division method . in particular , fig3 illustrates an noc constructed of 16 ips . the noc based on code division will now explained in detail with reference to fig3 . a spreader 300 receives data and an ip for transferring the data . the spreader 300 also receives an orthogonal code assigned to the ip for transferring the data . in other words , the spreader 300 receives an orthogonal code out of w ( 0 ) to w ( 15 ), which is specially assigned to the ip for transferring the data . then , the spreader 300 spreads the data by using the orthogonal code , and transfers it to an adder 310 . the other spreaders 302 to 304 also perform the same process as the spreader 300 . the adder 310 adds the transferred data and transfers them to the despreaders 320 to 324 . the despreader 320 despreads the transferred data by using its assigned orthogonal code w ( 0 ), and transfers it to an accumulator 330 . then , the accumulator 330 accumulates the transferred data . in such a manner , the despreader 322 despreads the transferred data by using its assigned orthogonal code w ( 1 ), and transfers it to an accumulator 332 . then , the accumulator 332 accumulates the transferred data . the despreader 324 despreads the transferred data by using its assigned orthogonal code w ( 15 ), and transfers it to an accumulator 334 . then , the accumulator 334 accumulates the transferred data . by checking the accumulated data in the accumulators 330 to 334 , a user is able to find out whether the data have been received . the data is transmitted to the ip that uses the same orthogonal code as the one used by the spreader , and if the ip uses a different orthogonal code from the one used by the spreader , the ip cannot receive the data . this is because of the nature of the orthogonal code having no correlation between codes . one drawback of the star topology - based structure illustrated in fig2 is that the length of orthogonal code assigned to each ip increases in proportion to the number of ips . to overcome this problem , a suggestion is made to assign an orthogonal code to the noc having the net topology - based structure shown in fig1 , in order to transfer data . as depicted in fig1 , each switch can set a routing path with up to four adjacent switches . the following will , therefore , explain how to assign an orthogonal code according to each path as shown in fig2 . fig4 illustrates assigning an orthogonal code according to each path , according to an embodiment of the present invention . as described above , a switch in the net topology - based structure can set a routing path with up to four adjacent switches . therefore , four orthogonal codes are required for the noc having the net topology - based structure . at this time , the number of orthogonal codes is maintained constant regardless of the increase in the number of ips . the following & lt ; table 2 & gt ; illustrates allocated orthogonal codes per path ( direction , output port ). as shown in the & lt ; table 2 & gt ;, the orthogonal code has a fixed length no matter how many ips exist . each switch included in the noc stores the same data as shown in the & lt ; table 2 & gt ;. described next is a method for transmitting data from an ip having a source address to an ip having a destination address , on the basis of the & lt ; table 2 & gt ;. fig5 is a flowchart illustrating the operations conducted by the switch of the present invention . with concurrent reference to fig4 and 5 , there are four ports , each port with a despreader for despreading data by using its assigned orthogonal code . the switch performs operations as follows . first , the switch determines whether there is data to be transmitted at operation s 500 . if the data to be transmitted has been generated , the switch proceeds with the next operation . however , if the data to be transmitted has not been generated , the switch does not proceed with the next operation but instead repeats operation s 500 . in operation 502 , the switch compares the destination address included in the received data with its own address . if it turns out that the destination address is in coincidence with its own address ( i . e ., the same ), the switch proceeds with operation 504 , but if the addresses are not coincident with each other , the switch proceeds with operation 506 . in operation 504 , the switch transfers the transmitted data to an ip connected to the switch . in operation 506 , the switch calculates a value “ a .” the “ a ” can be obtained from the following & lt ; equation 1 & gt ;, using source address and “ n ” values . hereinafter , the address of an ip connected to the switch conducting the procedure of fig5 will be referred to as the “ source address ,” while the address of an ip that actually generated data to be transferred will be referred to as an “ original source address .” in equation 1 , % indicates a modulo operation . for example , provided that the source address is 2 and n equals to 4 , a = 2 % 4 = 2 . after obtaining the value , the switch sets a routing path ( port ) of the data being generated at operation s 508 . this operation will be explained below in more detail . then , the switch spreads the data by using an orthogonal code assigned to the port at operation s 510 . the spread data is transferred to four ports of the switch at operation s 512 . each port despreads the transferred data by using its assigned orthogonal code at operation s 514 . lastly , each port transfers the despread data to adjacent switches at operation s 516 . as described above with reference to fig5 , the switch includes one spreader and four despreaders . data spreading is performed by the spreader built in the switch , and data despreading is respectively performed by those four ports disposed outside the switch . therefore , the switch transmits data to only one port out of the four . that is , only the port using the same orthogonal code with the one used by the spreader transmits the data . the data from the port includes information about the original source address and the destination address . fig6 illustrates a procedure for setting a routing path of data according to an embodiment of the present invention . at first , a switch obtains a difference ( b ) of the destination address ( dst ) and the source address ( src ) ( s 600 ). for example , provided that the source address is 2 and the destination address is 9 , b = 9 − 2 = 7 . then , the switch determines whether a condition 1 ≦ b ≦( n − 1 - a ) is satisfied at operation s 602 . if the condition is satisfied , the switch proceeds with the next operation 604 , but if the condition is not satisfied , the switch proceeds with the operation 606 . in operation 604 , the switch sets a routing path of the data to the right side ( east ). the switch determines whether a condition b ≦( n − a ) is satisfied at operation 606 . if the condition is satisfied , the switch proceeds with operation 608 , but if not , the switch proceeds with operation 610 . in operation 608 , the switch sets the routing path of data to downward ( south ). in operation 610 , the switch determines whether a condition − a ≦ b ≦− 1 is satisfied . if the condition is satisfied , the switch proceeds with operation 612 , but if not , the switch proceeds with operation 614 . in operation 612 , the switch sets the routing path of data to the left side ( west ). the switch sets the routing path of data to upward ( north ) at operation 614 . for example , it is assumed that the source address is 2 and the destination address is 9 , and n = 4 . then , the switch sets the routing path of data to downward ( south ). therefore , the switch spreads the data by using an orthogonal code assigned to the south , and the spread data is transferred to those four ports , respectively . each port despreads the transmitted data . in this manner , only the port in the south can generate data and transfer the data . although it is assumed that data is transmitted and received in the embodiments of fig5 and 6 , there are some cases where at least two data having different destination addresses are generated in the switch . if this is the case , the switch performs the procedures of fig5 and 6 on each data . to this end , the switch should spread each data at the same point . this explains why the number of data packets and the number of spreaders should be same . for instance , it is assumed that the routing path of a first data is directed to the east and the routing path of a second data is directed to the south . in this case , the switch spreads the first data by using an orthogonal code assigned to the east , and spreads the second data by using an orthogonal code assigned to the south . the switch then adds the spread data and transfers them to those four ports . each port despreads the transmitted data , respectively . performing the despreading process , the port of the east generates the first data , and the port of the south generates the second data . thusly generated data are transferred to adjacent switches , respectively . fig7 illustrates the operation performed by the switch of an embodiment of the present invention . in fig3 , the ip performed the data spreading and despreading processes , but in fig7 , the switch performs the data spreading and despreading processes . since the switch can receive data from four ports , it has four spreaders , as shown in fig7 . each port includes an input port and an output port . the data input to at least one input port is transferred to a routing path setting unit 700 . although in this embodiment the routing path setting unit 700 receives data from the four input ports , the number of input ports transferred to the routing path setting unit 700 can be varied , depending on the soc . the routing path setting unit 700 uses the destination address included in the transferred data and its own address to determine an output port where the data needs to be transferred . if the destination address and its own address are same , the switch transfers the transferred data to the ir the procedure involved in the determination of the output port by the routing path setting unit 700 is similar to the procedure described referring to fig4 . if an output port 1 is chosen , the routing path setting unit 700 transfers the data to a spreader 710 . in such a manner , if an output port 2 is chosen , the routing path setting unit 700 transfers the data to a spreader 712 . if an output port 3 is chosen , the routing path setting unit 700 transfers the data to a spreader 714 . lastly , if an output port 4 is chosen , the routing path setting unit 700 transfers the data to a spreader 716 . the spreader 710 spreads the transferred data by using an orthogonal code w 0 and transfers it to the adder 720 . in such a manner , the spreader 712 spreads the transferred data by using an orthogonal code w 1 , and transfers it to the adder 720 . the spreader 714 spreads the transferred data by using an orthogonal code w 2 , and transfers it to the adder 720 . lastly , spreader 716 spreads the transferred data by using an orthogonal code w 3 , and transfers it to the adder 720 . then , the adder 720 performs the adding process on the spread data . after adding the data , the adder 720 transfers the data to the despreaders 730 to 736 , respectively . the despreader 730 despreads the transferred data by using the orthogonal code w 0 , and transfers it to an accumulator 740 . similarly , the despreader 732 despreads the transferred data by using the orthogonal code w 1 , and transfers it to an accumulator 742 . also , the despreader 734 despreads the transferred data by using the orthogonal code w 2 , and transfers it to an accumulator 744 . lastly , the despreader 736 despreads the transferred data by using the orthogonal code w 3 , and transfers it to an accumulator 746 . after accumulating the data , each of the accumulators 740 to 746 transfers the data to adjacent switches via a corresponding output port . every output port can output data , but only the output port ( s ) chosen by the routing path setting unit 700 actually outputs data . for example , if the routing path setting unit 700 chooses the output port 0 and the output port 1 , only the output ports 0 and 1 output data . in conclusion , the code division - based routing setting can be advantageously used for reducing the size of the buffer included in the switch . moreover , by setting the data routing path by using the orthogonal code , it is possible to shorten transmission time . therefore , no matter how many ips are used for constructing the soc , the orthogonal code can be maintained at constant length . although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments . instead , it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention , the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents . | 7 |
a detailed description of embodiments of the present invention is provided with reference to the figures . fig1 shows two components 10 , 11 connected with an interconnection medium , referred to as link 12 . one has a transmitter circuit 13 which drives symbols ( bits ) on link 12 in response to rising - edge timing events on the internal clkt signal 14 . this series of bits forms signal datat . the other has a receiver circuit 15 which samples symbols ( bits ) on link 12 in response to rising - edge timing events on the internal clkr signal 16 . this series of bits forms signal datar . fig2 illustrates the timing parameters , including the transmit clock clkt signal 14 on trace 20 , the transmitter signal datat on trace 21 , the receive clock clkr signal 16 on trace 22 , and the receiver signal datar on trace 23 . the transmitter eye 24 and the receiver eye 25 are also illustrated . the transmitter eye 24 is a window during which the signal datat is transmitted on the link . the receiver eye is a sampling window defined by the t s setup time and t h hold time which surround the clkr rising edge 35 , 36 and define the region in which the value of datar must be stable for reliable sampling . since the valid window of the datat signal is larger than this setup / hold sampling window labeled receiver eye 25 , the receiver has timing margin in both directions . the datat and datar signals are related ; datar is an attenuated , time - delayed copy of datat . the attenuation and time - delay occur as the signal wavefronts propagate along the interconnection medium of link 12 . the transmitter circuit 13 will begin driving a bit ( labeled “ a ”) no later than a time t q , max after a rising edge 30 of clkt , and will continue to drive it during transmitter eye 24 until at least a time t v , min after the next rising edge 31 . t q , max and t v , min are the primary timing parameters of the transmitter circuit 13 . these two values are specified across the full range of operating conditions and processing conditions of the communication channel . as a result , t q , max will be larger than t v , min , and the difference will represent the dead time or dead band 32 of the transmitter circuit 13 . the transmitter dead band 32 ( t dead , t ) is the portion of the bit timing window ( also called bit time or bit window ) that is consumed by the transmitter circuit 13 : the receiver circuit 15 will sample a bit ( labeled “ a ”) during the receiver eye 25 no earlier than a time t s , min before a rising edge 35 of clkr , and no later than a time t h , min after the rising edge 35 . t s , min and t h , min are the primary timing parameters of the receiver circuit . these two values are specified across the full range of operating conditions and processing conditions of the circuit . the sum of t s , min and t h , min will represent the dead time or dead band 37 , 38 of the receiver . the receiver dead band 37 , 38 ( t dead , r ) is the portion of the bit timing window ( also called bit time or bit window ) that is consumed by the receiver circuit : in this example , the bit timing window ( receiver eye 25 ) is one t cycle minus the t dead , t and t dead , r values , each of which is about ⅓ of one t cycle in this example . fig3 shows two components 100 ( transmit component ) and 101 ( receive component ) connected with an interconnection medium referred to as link 102 . the link is assumed to carry signals in one direction only ( unidirectional ), so one component 100 has a transmitter circuit 103 coupled to a data source 110 labeled “ normal path ,” and one component 101 has a receiver circuit 104 coupled to a destination 111 labeled “ normal path ”. there are additional circuits present to permit periodic adjustment of the drive point and sample point in between periods of normal system operation . these adjustments compensate for changes in the system operating conditions . the transmitter component includes a block 105 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of transmit calibration patterns . a multiplexer block 106 labeled “ mux ,” implemented for example using a logical layer ( by which the normal data path may act as a source of calibration patterns and , for example , a virtual switch is implemented by time multiplexing normal data and calibration patterns ) or physical layer switch , enables the transmit calibration pattern set to be driven onto the link by the transmitter circuit . the transmitter drive point can be adjusted by the block 107 labeled “ adjust ”. a sideband communication channel 113 is shown coupled between the component 101 and the component 100 , by which the results of analysis of received calibration patterns at the component 101 are supplied to the adjust block 107 of the component 100 . the receiver component 101 includes a block 108 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of expected patterns . a block 109 labeled “ compare ” enables the received pattern set to be compared to the expected pattern set , and causes an adjustment to be made to either the transmitter or receiver . the receiver sample point can be adjusted by the block 112 labeled “ adjust ”. fig4 shows two components 100 , 101 connected with a unidirectional link 102 , in which components of fig3 are given like reference numerals . in the embodiment of fig4 , only the receiver sample point can be adjusted ; the transmitter drive point remains fixed during system operation . thus , there is no adjust block 107 in the component 100 , nor is there a need for sideband communication channel 113 of fig4 . fig5 shows two components 100 , 101 connected with a unidirectional link 102 , in which components of fig3 are given like reference numerals . in the embodiment of fig5 , only the transmitter drive point can be adjusted ; the receiver sample point remains fixed during system operation . thus , there is no adjust block 112 in the component 101 of fig5 . in general , periodic timing calibration can be performed on all three examples , since timing variations due to condition drift can be compensated at either the transmitter end or the receiver end . in practice , it is cheaper to put the adjustment circuitry at only one end of the link , and not at both ends , so systems of fig4 or 5 would have an advantage . also , it should be noted that system of fig4 does not need to communicate information from the “ compare ” block 109 in the receiver component 101 back to the transmitter component 100 , and thus might have implementation benefits over system of fig5 . fig6 shows the example from fig5 , and also includes the steps needed to perform a timing calibration update . ( step 601 ) suspend normal transmit and receive operations , by completing transactions in progress and preventing new ones from beginning , or by interrupting transactions that are in progress . ( step 602 ) change the drive point of the transmit component from the “ tx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) to either the “ txa ” or “ txb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) in the “ adjust ” block . the “ tx ” operation value may be a simple average of “ txa ” and “ txb ,” i . e . a center value , or it may be another function of “ txa ” and “ txb ,” such as a weighted average . it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new drive point to become stable . ( step 603 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component so that the “ pattern ” block input is enabled . ( step 604 ) a pattern set is created in the “ pattern ” block of the transmit component and is transmitted onto the “ link ” using the txa or txb drive point . ( step 605 ) the pattern set is received in the receive component . note that the sample point of the receiver is fixed relative to the reference clock of the system . ( step 606 ) the received pattern set is compared in the “ compare ” block to the expected pattern set produced by the “ pattern ” block in the receive component . the two pattern sets will either match or not match . as a result of this comparison ( and possibly other previous comparisons ) a pass or fail determination will be made . ( step 607 ) adjust either the “ txa ” or “ txb ” edge value in the transmit component as a result of the pass or fail determination . the “ tx ” operation value in the transmit component is also adjusted . this adjustment may only be made after a calibration sequence including transmission of two or more of calibration patterns has been executed , in order to ensure some level of repeatability . ( step 608 ) change the drive point of the transmitter from the “ txa ” or “ txb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) to “ tx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) in the “ adjust ” block of the transmit component . it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new drive point to become stable . ( step 609 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component so that the “ normal path ” input is enabled . fig7 includes the timing waveforms used by the calibration steps of fig6 for a system like that of fig5 . these timing waveforms are similar to those from fig2 , except that the drive point is adjusted to straddle the sampling window of the receiver in order to track the edges of the valid window of the transmitter . the “ adjust ” block in the transmit component maintains three values in storage : txa , tx , and txb . the tx value is the operation value used for normal operation . the txa and txb are the “ edge ” values , which track the left and right extremes of the bit window of the transmitter . typically , the tx value is derived from the average of the txa and txb values , but other relationships are possible . the txa and txb values are maintained by the calibration operations , which from time to time , and periodically in some embodiments , interrupt normal operations . in fig7 , the position of the rising edge of clkt has an offset of t phaset relative to a fixed reference ( typically a reference clock that is distributed to all components ). when the tx value is selected ( t phase ( tx ) in the middle trace 701 showing clkt timing waveform ) for operation , the rising edge 702 of clkt causes the datat window 703 containing the value “ a ” to be aligned so that the datar signal ( not shown but conceptually overlapping with the datat signal ) at the receiving component is aligned with the receiver clock , successfully received , and ideally centered on the receiver eye . when the txa value is selected ( t phase ( txa ) in the top trace 705 showing clkt timing waveform ), the rising edge of clkt is set to a time that causes the right edges of the datat window 706 ( containing “ a ”) and the receiver setup / hold window 710 ( shaded ) to coincide . the t s setup time and t h hold time surround the clkr rising edge , together define the setup / hold window 710 ( not to be confused with the receiver eye of fig2 ) in which the value of datar must be stable for reliable sampling around a given clkr rising edge 704 . since the datat window , and the resulting datar window , are larger than this setup / hold window 710 , the transmitter has timing margin . however , in the case shown on trace 705 with the transmit clock rising edge at offset t phase ( txa ) , all the timing margin is on the left side of the transmitter eye for the setup / hold window 710 , adding delay after the t q timing parameter . there is essentially no margin for the t v timing parameter in the trace 705 , so that the offset defines the left edge of the calibration window . the calibration process for txa will compare the received pattern set to the expected pattern set , and determine if they match . if they match ( pass ) then the txa value will be decremented ( the t phaset ( txa ) offset becomes smaller shifting the transmit window 706 to the left in fig7 ) or otherwise adjusted , so there is less margin for the t v timing parameter relative to the receiver window 710 . if they do not match ( fail ) then the txa value will be incremented ( the t phaset ( txa ) offset becomes larger shifting the transmit window 706 to the right in fig7 , or otherwise adjusted , so there is more margin for the t v timing parameter . as mentioned earlier , the results of a sequence including transmission of two or more calibration patterns may be accumulated before the txa value is adjusted . this would improve the repeatability of the calibration process . for example , the calibration pattern could be repeated “ n ” times with the number of passes accumulated in a storage element . if all n passes match , then the txa value is decremented . if any of the n passes does not match , then the txa value is determined to have reached the edge of the window and is incremented . in another alternative , after the nth pattern , the txa value could be incremented if there are fewer than n / 2 ( or some other threshold number ) passes , and decremented if there are n / 2 or more passes . when txa is updated , the tx value will also be updated . in this example , the tx value will updated by half the amount used to update txa , since tx is the average of the txa and txb values . if tx has a different relationship to txa and txb , the tx update value will be different . note that in some embodiments , the tx value will need slightly greater precision than the txa and txb values to prevent round - off error . in alternate embodiments , the tx value can be updated after pass / fail results of txa and txb values have been determined . in some cases , these results may cancel and produce no change to the optimal tx value . in other cases these results may be accumulated and the accumulated results used to determine an appropriate adjustment of the tx setting . according to this embodiment , greater precision of the tx setting relative to the txa and txb settings may not be required . when the txb value is selected ( t phaser ( txb ) in the bottom trace 707 showing a clkt timing waveform ) for calibration , the rising edge of clkt is set to a time that causes the left edge of the transmitter valid window 708 ( containing “ a ”) and the receiver setup / hold window 710 ( shaded ) to coincide . in this case with the transmit clock rising edge at t phaser ( txb ) , all the timing margin is on the right side of the transmit window 708 , providing more room than required by the t v timing parameter . this means that there will be essentially no margin for the t q timing parameter on the left side of the window 708 , defining the right edge of the calibration window . the calibration process will compare the received pattern set to the expected pattern set , and determine if they match . if they match ( pass ) then the txb value will be incremented ( the offset becomes larger ) or otherwise adjusted , so there is less margin for the t q timing parameter . if they do not match ( fail ) then the txb value will be decremented ( the offset becomes smaller ) or otherwise adjusted , so there is more margin for the t q timing parameter . as mentioned earlier , the results of transmission of two or more calibration patterns may be accumulated before the txb value is adjusted . for example , transmission of the patterns could be repeated “ n ” times with the number of passes accumulated in a storage element . after the nth sequence the txb value could be decremented if there are fewer than n / 2 passes and incremented if there are n / 2 or more passes . this would improve the repeatability of the calibration process . when txb is updated , the tx value will also be updated . in this example , the tx value will updated by half the amount used to update txb , since tx is the average of the txa and txb values . if tx has a different relationship to txa and txb , the tx update value will be different . note that the tx value will need slightly greater precision than the txa and txb values if it is desired to prevent round - off error . fig8 shows the example from fig4 , and also includes the steps needed to perform a timing calibration update . note that only steps ( block 802 ), ( block 807 ), and ( block 808 ) are different relative to the steps in fig6 . ( step 801 ) suspend normal transmit and receive operations , by completing transactions in progress and preventing new ones from beginning , or by interrupting transactions that are in progress . ( step 802 ) change the sample point of the receive component from the “ rx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) to either the “ rxa ” or “ rxb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) in the “ adjust ” block . the “ rx ” operation value may be a simple average of “ rxa ” and “ rxb ,” i . e . a center value , or it may be another function of “ rxa ” and “ rxb ,” such as a weighted average . it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new sample point to become stable . ( step 803 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component so that the “ pattern ” block input is enabled . ( step 804 ) a pattern set is created in the “ pattern ” block of the transmit component and is transmitted onto the “ link ” using the txa or txb drive point . ( step 805 ) the pattern set is received in the receive component . note that the transmit point of the transmitter is fixed relative to the reference clock of the system . ( step 806 ) the received pattern set is compared in the “ compare ” block to the expected pattern set produced by the “ pattern ” block in the receive component . the two pattern sets will either match or not match . as a result of this comparison ( and possibly other previous comparisons ) a pass or fail determination will be made . ( step 807 ) adjust either the “ rxa ” or “ rxb ” edge value in the receive component as a result of the pass or fail determination . the “ rx ” operation value in the transmit component is also adjusted . this adjustment may only be made after two or more of these calibration sequences have been executed , in order to ensure some level of repeatability . ( step 808 ) change the sample point of the receiver from the “ rxa ” or “ rxb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) to “ rx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) in the “ adjust ” block of the receive component . it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new sample point to become stable . ( step 809 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component so that the “ normal path ” input is enabled . fig9 shows includes the timing waveforms used by the receiver calibration steps of fig8 for a system configured for example as shown in fig4 . these timing waveforms are similar to those from fig2 , except that the sampling point is adjusted within the bit window in order to track the edges of the window . the “ adjust ” block in the receive component maintains three values in storage : rxa , rx , and rxb . the rx value is the operation value used for normal operation . the rxa and rxb are the “ edge ” values , which track the left and right extremes of the bit window . typically , the rx value is derived from the average of the rxa and rxb values , but other relationships are possible . the rxa and rxb values are maintained by the calibration operations , which periodically or otherwise from time to time interrupt normal operations . in the timing diagrams , the position of the rising edge of clkr has an offset of t phaser relative to a fixed reference ( not shown , typically a reference clock that is distributed to all components ). this offset is determined by the rxa , rx , and rxb values that are stored . when the rx value is selected ( t phaser ( rx ) in the middle trace 901 showing a clkr timing waveform ) for use in receiving data , the rising edge 902 of clkr is approximately centered in the receiver eye of the datar signal containing the value “ a ”. the datar signal is the datat signal transmitted at the transmitter after propagation across the link , and can be conceptually considered to be the same width as datat as shown in fig9 . the receiver eye is shown in fig2 . the t s setup time is the minimum time before the clock clkr rising edge which must be within the datar window 903 , and the t h hold time is the minimum time after the clock clkr rising edge that must be within the datar window 903 , together defining the setup / hold window 904 ( not to be confused with the receiver eye of fig2 ) in which the value of datar must be stable for reliable sampling around a given clkr rising edge . since the valid window 904 of the datar signal is larger than this setup / hold window 904 , the receiver has timing margin in both directions . when the rxa value is selected ( t phaser ( rxa ) in the top trace 905 showing a clkr timing waveform ), the rising edge of clkr is approximately a time t s later than the left edge ( the earliest time ) of the datar window 903 containing the value “ a ”. in this case , the clkr rising edge is on the left edge of the receiver eye , and all the timing margin is on the right side of the setup / hold window 904 , providing more room than is required by the t h timing parameter . this means that there will be essentially no margin for the t s timing parameter , defining the left edge of the calibration window . the calibration process will compare the received pattern set to the expected pattern set , and determine if they match . if they match ( pass ) then the rxa value will be decremented ( the offset becomes smaller ) or otherwise adjusted , so there is less margin for the t s timing parameter . if they do not match ( fail ) then the rxa value will be incremented ( the offset becomes larger ) or otherwise adjusted , so there is more margin for the t s timing parameter . as mentioned earlier , the results of transmission and reception of two or more calibration patterns may be accumulated before the rxa value is adjusted . for example , the patterns could be repeated “ n ” times with the number of passes accumulated in a storage element . after the nth sequence the rxa value could be incremented if there are fewer than n / 2 passes and decremented if there are n / 2 or more passes . this would improve the repeatability of the calibration process . when rxa is updated , the rx value will also be updated . in this example , the rx value will updated by half the amount used to update rxa , since rx is the average of the rxa and rxb values . if rx has a different relationship to rxa and rxb , the rx update value will be different . note that in some embodiments , the rx value will need slightly greater precision than the rxa and rxb values to prevent round - off error . in alternate embodiments , the rx value can be updated after pass / fail results of rxa and rxb values have been determined . in some cases , these results may cancel and produce no change to the optimal rx value . in other cases these results may be accumulated and the accumulated results used to determine an appropriate adjustment of the rx setting . according to this embodiment , greater precision of the rx setting relative to the rxa and rxb settings may not be required . when the rxb value is selected ( t phaser ( rxb ) in the bottom trace 906 showing a clkr timing waveform ), the rising edge of clkr is approximately a time t h earlier than the right edge ( the latest time ) of the datar window 903 containing the value “ a ”. in this case , the clkr rising edge is on the right edge of the receiver eye , and all the timing margin is on the left side of the window 904 , providing more room that required by the t s timing parameter . this means that there will be essentially no margin for the t h timing parameter , defining the right edge of the calibration window . the calibration process will compare the received pattern set to the expected pattern set , and determine if they match . if they match ( pass ) then the rxb value will be incremented ( the offset becomes larger ) or otherwise adjusted , so there is less margin for the th timing parameter . if they do not match ( fail ) then the rxb value will be decremented ( the offset becomes smaller ) or otherwise adjusted , so there is more margin for the t h timing parameter . as mentioned earlier , the results of transmission and reception of two or more calibration patterns may be accumulated before the rxb value is adjusted . for example , the sequence could be repeated “ n ” times with the number of passes accumulated in a storage element . after the nth sequence the rxb value could be decremented if there are fewer than n / 2 passes and incremented if there are n / 2 or more passes . this would improve the repeatability of the calibration process . when rxb is updated , the rx value will also be updated . in this example , the rx value will updated by half the amount used to update rxb , since rx is the average of the rxa and rxb values . if rx has a different relationship to rxa and rxb , the rx update value will be different . note that the rx value will need slightly greater precision than the rxa and rxb values if it is desired to prevent round - off error . fig1 shows an example of a bidirectional link . in this case , component a ( 1000 ) and component b ( 1001 ) each contain a transmitter and receiver connected to the link , so that information may be sent either from a to b or from b to a . the elements of the unidirectional example in fig3 is replicated ( two copies ) to give the bidirectional example in fig1 . fig1 shows two bidirectional components 1000 , 1001 connected with an interconnection medium referred to as link 1002 . normal path 1010 acts as a source of data signals for normal operation of component 1000 during transmit operations . normal path 1031 acts as a destination of data signals for component 1000 , during normal receive operations . likewise , normal path 1030 acts as a source of data signals for normal operation of component 1001 during transmit operations . normal path 1011 acts as a destination of data signals for component 1001 , during normal receive operations . the first bidirectional component includes a block 1005 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of transmit calibration patterns . a multiplexer block 1006 labeled “ mux ,” implemented for example using a logical layer or physical layer switch , enables the transmit calibration pattern set to be driven onto the link by the transmitter circuit 1003 . the transmitter drive point can be adjusted by the block 1007 labeled “ adjust ”. a sideband communication channel 1013 is shown coupled between the component 1001 and the component 1000 , by which the results of analysis of received calibration patterns at the component 1001 are supplied to the adjust block 1007 of the component 1000 . component 1000 also has support for calibrating receiver 1024 , including a block 1028 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of expected patterns for comparison with received patterns . a block 1029 labeled “ compare ” enables the received pattern set to be compared to the expected pattern set , and causes an adjustment to be made to either the transmitter or receiver . the receiver sample point can be adjusted by the block 1032 labeled “ adjust ”. the second bidirectional component 1001 includes complementary elements supporting transmitter 1023 and receiver 1004 . for the receiver operations , a block 1008 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of expected patterns . a block 1009 labeled “ compare ” enables the received pattern set to be compared to the expected pattern set , and causes an adjustment to be made to either the transmitter or receiver . the receiver sample point can be adjusted by the block 1012 labeled “ adjust ”. the second bidirectional component 1001 supports transmission operations , with elements including a block 1025 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of transmit calibration patterns . a multiplexer block 1026 labeled “ mux ,” implemented for example using a logical layer or physical layer switch , enables the transmit calibration pattern set to be driven onto the link by the transmitter circuit 1023 . the transmitter drive point can be adjusted by the block 1027 labeled “ adjust ”. a sideband communication channel 1033 is shown coupled between the component 1000 and the component 1001 , by which the results of analysis of received calibration patterns at the component 1000 are supplied to the adjust block 1027 of the component 1001 . the example of fig1 allows both receive sample points and both transmit drive points to be adjusted . however , the benefit of adjustable timing can be realized if there is only one adjustable element in each direction . the example of fig1 ( using the same reference numerals as fig1 ) shows an example in which only the receiver sample points are adjustable . thus , elements 1007 and 1027 of fig1 are not included in this embodiment . this is equivalent to two copies of the elements of example in fig4 . the example of fig1 ( using the same reference numerals as fig1 ) shows an example in which only the transmitter drive points are adjustable . thus , elements 1012 and 1032 of fig1 are not included in this embodiment . this is equivalent to two copies of the elements of example in fig5 . the example of fig1 ( using the same reference numerals as fig1 ) shows an example in which the receiver sample point and transmitter drive point of the first bidirectional component 1000 are adjustable . thus , elements 1012 , 1008 , 1009 , 1027 , 1026 , 1025 are not included in this embodiment . a storage block 1050 is added between the receiver and a “ mux ” block 1051 . the “ mux ” block 1051 is used to select between a normal source of signals 1030 and the storage block 1050 . also , the compare block 1052 is used for analysis of both transmit and receive calibration operations , and is coupled to both the adjust block 1007 for the transmitter , and adjust block 1032 for the receiver . this alternative is important because all the adjustment information can be kept within one component , eliminating the need for sideband signals for the calibration process . if component 1001 were particularly cost sensitive , this could also be a benefit , since only one of the components must bear the cost of the adjustment circuitry . the calibration steps for bidirectional examples in fig1 , 11 and 12 can be essentially identical to the calibration steps already discussed for unidirectional examples in fig4 and 5 . however , the asymmetry in bidirectional example of fig1 will introduce some additional calibration steps , and will receive further discussion . fig1 shows the example from fig1 , and also includes the steps needed to perform a timing calibration update . ( step 1401 ) suspend normal transmit and receive operations , by completing transactions in progress and preventing new ones from beginning , or by interrupting transactions that are in progress . ( step 1402 ) change the drive point of the transmit component ( a ) from the “ tx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) to either the “ txa ” or “ txb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) in the “ adjust ” block . it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new drive point to become stable . ( step 1403 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component ( a ) so that the “ pattern ” block input is enabled . ( step 1404 ) a pattern set is created in the “ pattern ” block of the transmit component ( a ) and is transmitted onto the “ link ” using the txa or txb drive point . ( step 1405 ) the pattern set is received in the receive component ( b ). note that the sample point of the receiver is fixed relative to the reference clock of the system . the received pattern set is held in the “ storage ” block in component b . ( step 1406 ) the “ mux ” block input connected to the “ storage ” block in component b is enabled . the pattern set is re - transmitted onto the link by component b . ( step 1407 ) the pattern set is received by component a from the link . ( step 1408 ) the received pattern set is compared in the “ compare ” block to the expected pattern set produced by the “ pattern ” block in the receive component ( a ). the two pattern sets will either match or not match . as a result of this comparison ( and possibly other previous comparisons ) a pass or fail determination will be made . ( step 1409 ) adjust either the “ txa ” or “ txb ” edge value in the transmit component ( a ) as a result of the pass or fail determination . the “ tx ” operation value in the transmit component ( a ) is also adjusted . this adjustment may only be made after two or more of these calibration sequences have been executed , in order to ensure some level of repeatability . ( step 1410 ) change the drive point of the transmitter from the “ txa ” or “ txb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) to “ tx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) in the “ adjust ” block of the transmit component ( a ). it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new drive point to become stable . ( step 1411 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component ( a ) so that the “ normal path ” input is enabled . the calibration steps for bidirectional examples of fig1 , 11 , and 12 can be essentially identical to the calibration steps already discussed for unidirectional examples of fig4 and 5 . however , the asymmetry in bidirectional example of fig1 will introduce some additional calibration steps , and will receive further discussion . fig1 shows the example from fig1 , and also includes the steps needed to perform a timing calibration update . ( step 1501 ) suspend normal transmit and receive operations , by completing transactions in progress and preventing new ones from beginning , or by interrupting transactions that are in progress . ( step 1502 ) change the sample point of the receive component ( a ) from the “ rx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) to either the “ rxa ” or “ rxb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) in the “ adjust ” block . it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new drive point to become stable . ( step 1503 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component ( a ) so that the “ pattern ” block input is enabled . ( step 1504 ) a pattern set is created in the “ pattern ” block of the transmit component ( a ) and is transmitted onto the “ link ”. the normal transmit drive point is used . ( step 1505 ) the pattern set is received in the receive component ( b ). note that the sample point of the receiver is fixed relative to the reference clock of the system and is not adjustable . the received pattern set is held in the “ storage ” block in component b . ( step 1506 ) the “ mux ” block input connected to the “ storage ” block in component b is enabled . the pattern set is re - transmitted onto the link by component b . ( step 1507 ) the pattern set is received by component a from the link using either the rxa or rxb value to determine the receiver sample point . ( step 1508 ) the received pattern set is compared in the “ compare ” block to the expected pattern set produced by the “ pattern ” block in the receive component ( a ). the two pattern sets will either match or not match . as a result of this comparison ( and possibly other previous comparisons ) a pass or fail determination will be made . ( step 1509 ) adjust either the “ rxa ” or “ rxb ” edge value in the receive component ( a ) as a result of the pass or fail determination . the “ rx ” operation value in the receive component ( a ) is also adjusted . this adjustment may only be made after two or more of these calibration sequences have been executed , in order to ensure some level of repeatability . ( step 1510 ) change the sample point of the receiver from the “ rxa ” or “ rxb ” edge value ( used for calibration operations ) to “ rx ” operation value ( used for normal operations ) in the “ adjust ” block of the receive component ( a ). it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new sample point to become stable . ( step 1511 ) change “ mux ” block of the transmit component ( a ) so that the “ normal path ” input is enabled . the bidirectional example in fig1 utilizes a storage block 1050 as part of the calibration process . there are a number of alternative options for implementing this storage , each option with its own costs and benefits . fig1 shows an option in which the storage block is implemented as part of the interface containing the transmit and receive circuits . this has the benefit that the circuitry used for normal operations ( the “ normal path ”) is not significantly impacted . the cost of this option is that the storage block will increase the size of the interface , and will thus increase the manufacturing cost of the component 1001 . fig1 and fig1 show why a storage block is needed for the implementations of example of fig1 . the storage allows the received pattern set in component 1001 to be held ( and delayed ) prior to being re - transmitted . fig1 shows a gap 1600 between the interval 1601 in which the pattern set is being transmitted by a ( and received by b ) and the interval 1602 in which the pattern set being transmitted by b ( and received by a ). if no storage was present , there would be a relatively small delay between the start of each these two intervals resulting in an overlap of the intervals , as shown in fig1 . in general , components on a bidirectional link are not allowed to transmit simultaneously , so some storage will be required with the configuration of fig1 to prevent this . it is possible to design the transmitter circuits and the link so that transmitters on both ends are enabled simultaneously . this is called simultaneous bidirectional signaling . in such a communication system , the storage block of configuration of fig1 could be left out of component 1001 . typically , simultaneous bidirectional signaling requires additional signal levels to be supported . for example , if each of two transmitters can be signaling a bit , there are four possible combinations of two transmitters simultaneously driving one bit each . the four combinations are { 0 / 0 , 0 / 1 , 1 / 0 , 1 / 1 }. typically the 0 / 1 and 1 / 0 combinations will produce the same composite signal on the link . this requires that the transmitter circuits be additive , so that three signal levels are produced { 0 , 1 , 2 }. the receiver circuits will need to discriminate between these three signal levels . a final requirement of simultaneous bidirectional signaling is that a component must subtract the value it is currently transmitting from the composite signal that it is currently receiving in order to detect the actual signal from the other component . when these requirements are in place , the storage block requirement can be dropped . this is one of the benefits of this approach . the cost of this approach is the extra design complexity and reduced voltage margins of simultaneous bidirectional signaling . fig1 shows option b in which the storage block is implemented from the storage elements 1801 , 1802 that are normally present in the transmit and receive circuits . these storage elements are typically present for pipelining ( delaying ) the information flowing on the normal paths . storage elements may also be present to perform serialization and deserialization . this would be required if the internal and external signal groups have different widths . for example , the external link could consist of a single differential wire pair carrying information at the rate or 3200 mb / s , and could connect to a set of eight single - ended internal wires carrying information at the rate of 400 mb / s . the information flow is balanced ( no information is lost ), but storage is still required to perform serial - to - parallel or parallel - to - serial conversion between the two sets of signals . this storage will create delay , which can be used to offset the two pattern sets in the option of fig1 . the benefit of this approach is that no extra storage must be added to component 1001 . the cost is that the wiring necessary to connect the receiver to a “ mux ” block in the transmitter may be significant . another cost is that the amount of storage naturally present in the receiver and transmitter may be relatively small , limiting the length of the pattern set which can be received and retransmitted with this approach . fig1 shows an option in which the storage block is implemented from the storage cells that are normally present in a memory core 1900 . in this option , component 1001 is assumed to be a memory component . in this case , the storage area 1901 , labeled “ region ”, is reserved for receiving the pattern set from component 1000 , and for retransmitting the pattern set back to component 1000 . this storage area may only be used by the calibration process , and should not be used by any normal application process . if this storage area were used by an application process , it is possible that application information could be overwritten by the pattern set information and thereby lost . the benefit of this approach is that no additional storage needs to be added to component 1001 ( and no special path from receiver to transmitter ). the cost of this approach is that a hole is created in the address space of the memory component . since most memory components contain a power - of - two number of storage cells , this may create a problem with some application processes , particularly if two or more memory components must create a contiguous memory address space ( i . e . with no holes ). fig2 shows an option in which the storage block is again implemented from the storage cells that are normally present in a memory core 1900 . in this option , component b is assumed to be a memory component . in this case , the storage area 1901 labeled “ region ” is reserved for receiving the pattern set from component 1000 , and for retransmitting the pattern set back to component 1000 . this storage area may only be used by the calibration process , and should not be used by any normal application process . unlike the option in fig1 , however , component 1000 adds a storage block 2001 , labeled “ cache ”, which emulates the storage capability of the storage area 1901 “ region ”. when a write is performed to the “ region ” of storage area 1901 , it is intercepted and redirected to the “ cache ” in storage 2001 . likewise , when a read is performed to the “ region ” of storage area 1901 , the read is intercepted and redirected , returning read data from “ cache ” via mux 2002 . in this way , the application processes see no hole in the memory address space . the benefit of this option is that no additional storage needs to be added to component 1001 ( and no special path from receiver to transmitter ). the cost of this approach is that a storage block 2001 “ cache ,” with address comparison logic to determine when the application is attempting to access the region 1901 , must be added to component 1000 , as well as the control logic and “ mux ” block 2002 needed to intercept read and write commands for component 1001 . fig2 shows an option in which the storage block is again implemented from the storage cells that are normally present in a memory core 1900 . in this option , component 1001 is assumed to be a memory component . in this case , the storage area 1901 labeled “ region ” is used for receiving the pattern set from component 1000 , and for retransmitting the pattern set back to component 1000 . this storage area 1901 may be used by both the calibration process and by the application processes , however . in order to ensure that the application processes are not affected by the periodic calibration process , a temporary storage block 2101 , labeled “ temp ”, is provided in component 1000 , along with a “ mux ” block 2102 for accessing it . when a calibration process starts , the contents of “ region ” are read and loaded into “ temp ” storage block 2101 . the calibration process steps may now be carried out using the storage area 1901 . when the calibration sequence has completed , the contents of “ temp ” storage block 2101 are accessed and written back to the “ region ” of storage area 1901 , and the application process allowed to restart . again , the application processes see no hole in the memory address space . the benefit of this option is that no additional storage needs to be added to component 1001 ( and no special path from receiver to transmitter ). the cost of this approach is that a storage block 2101 and the “ mux ” block 2102 must be added to component 1000 . the calibration process becomes longer , since a read operation must be added to the beginning , and a write operation must be added to the end , supporting the use of the “ temp ” storage block 2101 . fig2 shows an option in which the storage block is implemented from the latching sense amplifier circuit 2201 that is present in a memory component 1001 . latching sense amplifier circuit 2201 includes latches or other storage resources associated with sense amplifiers . most memory components use such a latching sense amplifier circuit 2201 to access and hold a row 2202 of storage cells from the memory core 1900 . read operations are then directed to the sense amplifier which temporarily holds the contents of the row of storage cells . write operations are directed to both the sense amplifier and to the row of storage cells so that the information held by these two storage structures is consistent . when another row of storage cells is to be accessed , the sense amplifier is precharged and reloaded with this different row . when component 1001 is a memory component with such a latching sense amplifier circuit 2201 , it is possible to modify its operation to permit a special mode of access for calibration . in this special mode , the sense amplifier may be written by the receiver circuit 1004 and may read to the transmitter circuit 1023 without first being loaded from a row 2202 of storage cells in the memory core 1900 . this permits the storage resource of the sense amplifier circuits 2201 to be used to store received calibration patterns , or portions of received calibration patterns , in region 2203 ( which may include less than an entire row in some embodiments ) for calibration without affecting the contents of the memory core , which would affect the interrupted application process . this second access mode would require a gating circuit 2204 between the memory core and the sense amplifier , which could be disabled during the calibration process . there is typically such a gating circuit 2204 in most memory components . a benefit of this option is that no additional storage needs to be added to component 1001 ( and no special path from receiver to transmitter ). the cost of this approach is that a modification must be made to critical circuits in the core of a memory component . the individual steps that are shown in the calibration processes described above do not necessarily have to be done in the order shown . in fact , if some reordering is done , the overhead of the calibration process can be reduced , improving the effective signaling bandwidth of the system and reducing the worst case delay seen by latency - sensitive operations . for example , in the case of the calibration process for the transmitter shown in fig6 , it is not necessary to perform the evaluation steps and the update steps ( compare 606 and adjust 607 ) in sequence as shown . instead , the transmitter calibration process may be performed in the following manner : ( step 2301 ) suspend normal transmit and receive operations , by completing transactions in progress and preventing new ones from beginning , or by interrupting transactions that are in progress . ( step 2302 ) control the “ adjust ” logic so the transmitter uses a calibrate ( txa / txb ) drive - timing - point according to the stored results of the previous comparison . ( step 2303 ) control the “ adjust ” logic so that the pattern block is coupled to the transmitter . ( step 2304 ) a pattern sequence is read or created from the pattern block and is transmitted onto the interconnect using the selected calibrate drive - timing - point . ( step 2305 ) the pattern sequence is received using the normal ( rx ) sample - timing - point . ( step 2306 ) control the “ adjust ” logic so the transmitter uses a normal ( tx ) drive - timing - point . ( step 2307 ) control the “ adjust ” logic so that the “ normal path ” to the transmitter is enabled . ( step 2309 ) the received pattern sequence is compared to the expected pattern sequence from the “ pattern ” block . ( step 2310 ) the calibrate drive - timing - point ( txa / txb , tx ) is adjusted according to the results of the comparison . in the modified sequence , normal transmit and receive operations may be restarted earlier . this is possible because the comparison results are saved and used to adjust the timing point during the next calibration process . a more significant saving in overhead is possible in the system of fig1 , by changing the order of steps in the process of fig1 , for example . it is possible to separate the evaluation and update steps as previously described . however , it is also possible to perform receive operations with the first component while its transmitter is changing the drive - timing - point between the normal and calibrate values . the periodic calibration process could become : ( step 2401 a ) suspend normal transmit operations , by completing transactions in progress and preventing new ones from beginning , or by interrupting transactions that are in progress ( step 2402 a ) control the “ adjust ” logic so the transmitter uses a calibrate ( txa / txb ) drive - timing - point according to the stored results of the previous comparison . ( step 2403 a ) control the “ adjust ” logic that the pattern block is coupled to the transmitter . ( step 2404 a ) a pattern sequence is created from the “ pattern ” block and is transmitted onto the interconnect using the selected calibrate drive - timing - point . ( step 2405 a ) the pattern sequence is received in the second component and placed in storage . ( step 2406 a ) control the “ adjust ” logic so the transmitter uses a normal ( tx ) drive - timing - point . ( step 2407 a ) control the “ adjust ” logic so that the “ normal path ” to the transmitter is enabled . note that receive operations could continue during this process except when the calibration pattern is actually being transmitted on the interconnect . in particular , the component could receive while its transmitter is changing the drive - timing - point between the normal and calibrate values . the second set of steps for the calibration process would consist of : ( step 2401 b ) the pattern sequence in storage is transmitted onto the interconnect by the second component . ( step 2402 b ) the pattern sequence is received using the normal ( rx ) sample - timing - point . ( step 2403 b ) the received pattern sequence is compared to the expected pattern sequence from the “ pattern ” block . ( step 2404 b ) the calibrate drive - timing - point ( txa / txb , tx ) is adjusted according to the results of the comparison . note that normal transmit and receive operations could continue during this process except when the calibration pattern is actually being received from the interconnect . if reordering and overlapping of calibration steps is done , the overhead of the calibration process can be reduced , improving the effective signaling bandwidth of the system and reducing the worst case delay seen by latency - sensitive operations . the reduction in overhead can also permit the periodic calibration process to be executed at a more frequent rate . the benefit is that this will compensate for sources of timing drift that change more rapidly . this will permit more of the bit time to be used for the transmitter drive time variation and the receiver sampling window , and less of the bit time will be needed for timing drift within the system . fig2 illustrates an example like that of fig1 , with the exception that the point to point bidirectional link of fig1 is replaced with a multidrop link , coupling component 2500 to a plurality of components 2551 , 2552 . the multidrop link configuration can be applied in other configurations . in the representative example shown in fig2 , a first bidirectional component 2500 and a plurality of other bidirectional components 2551 , 2552 are connected in a point to multi - point configuration , or multipoint to multipoint configuration , with an interconnection medium referred to as link 2502 . normal path 2510 acts as a source of data signals for normal operation of component 2500 during transmit operations . normal path 2531 acts as a destination of data signals for component 2500 , during normal receive operations . the calibration operations are interleaved , and re - ordered , in this embodiment with normal communications , as described above to improve throughput and utilization of the communication medium the first bidirectional component 2500 includes a block 2505 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of transmit calibration patterns . a multiplexer block 2506 labeled “ mux ,” implemented for example using a logical layer or physical layer switch , enables the transmit calibration pattern set to be driven onto the link by the transmitter circuit 2503 . the transmitter drive point can be adjusted by the block 2507 labeled “ adjust ”. in this embodiment , the adjust block 2507 includes storage for multiple parameter sets which are applied depending on the one of the other components 2551 , 2552 , . . . on the link to which the transmission is being sent . component 2500 also has support for calibrating receiver 2524 , including a block 2528 labeled “ pattern ”, which can consist of pattern storage or pattern generation circuitry , and which is used as a source of expected patterns for comparison with received patterns . a block 2529 labeled “ compare ” enables the received pattern set to be compared to the expected pattern set , and causes an adjustment to be made to either the transmitter or receiver . the receiver sample point can be adjusted by the block 2532 labeled “ adjust ”. in this embodiment , the adjust block 2507 includes storage for multiple parameter sets which are applied depending on the one of the other components 2551 , 2552 , . . . on the link from which the communication is being received . in the first component 2500 , the compare block 2529 is used for analysis of both transmit and receive calibration operations , and is coupled to both the adjust block 2507 for the transmitter , and adjust block 2532 for the receiver . in the example of fig2 , the receiver sample point and transmitter drive point of the first bidirectional component 2500 are adjustable . the other components 2551 , 2552 , . . . are implemented as described with reference to fig1 without adjustment resources , in this example , and not described here . in alternative embodiments , the components 2551 , 2552 , . . . on the link may be provided with adjustment and calibration resources , as described for other embodiments above . while the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferred embodiments and examples detailed above , it is to be understood that these examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense . it is contemplated that modifications and combinations will readily occur to those skilled in the art , which modifications and combinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims . | 7 |
i have discovered that certain organic compounds will effectively enhance the relative volatility in azeotropic distillation of ethylene glycol from 1 , 2 - butanediol and 1 , 3 - butanediol when they occur as a close boiling mixture . in the mixture of polyols shown in table 2 , the major products are ethylene glycol , propylene glycol and glycerine . to be of commercial value , these compounds must be obtained in high purity . table 3 lists the hydrocarbons ethylbenzene , p - xylene , m - xylene , o - xylene , cumene and mesitylene which are effective azeotrope forming agents to separate ethylene glycol from 1 , 2 - butanediol and 1 , 3 - butanediol . they have the advantage of forming a two phase overhead product which enables separation of the ethylene glycol from the hydrocarbons by simple decantation . the data in table 3 was obtained in a 30 theoretical plate packed rectification column . it lists the time run at total reflux , the overhead temperature in celcius degrees , the overhead composition at the end of the reflux period , the weight percent of ethylene glycol in the azeotrope and the relative volatility of ethylene glycol to 1 , 2 - butanediol and 1 , 3 - butanediol with each agent . table 3__________________________________________________________________________effective agents for separating ethylene glycol from 1 , 2 - butanedioland 1 , 3 - butanediol in vapor - liquid equilibrium still azeo . press . overhead bottoms relative volatilityagent temp . mm hg % eg % 1 , 2 bu % 1 , 3 bu % eg % 1 , 2 bu % 1 , 3 bu eg : 1 , 2 eg : 1 , 3__________________________________________________________________________ bu3 - heptanone 108 60 99 . 9 0 . 1 -- 59 . 7 40 . 3 -- 10 + 3 - heptanone 112 60 94 . 9 0 5 . 1 44 . 4 34 . 4 21 . 2 10 + 8 . 9cyclohexanone 117 60 100 0 -- 56 . 4 43 . 6 -- 10 + cyclohexanone 80 50 70 . 7 13 . 9 15 . 4 54 . 3 32 . 3 13 . 4 3 . 0 1 . 1diisobutylketone 124 60 100 0 -- 62 38 -- 1 . 27diisobutylketone 125 60 95 . 9 0 4 . 1 50 . 7 34 . 0 15 . 3 1 . 71 1 . 26methyl isoamylketone 113 60 99 . 9 0 . 1 -- 66 . 1 33 . 9 -- 10 + methyl isoamylketone 118 60 94 . 3 0 5 . 7 46 . 7 27 . 1 26 . 2 10 + 9 . 3isobutyl heptylketone 131 60 73 . 6 26 . 3 -- 21 . 6 78 . 4 -- 10 + isobutyl heptylketone 140 60 67 . 4 20 . 1 12 . 5 60 . 8 26 . 8 12 . 4 1 . 5 1 . 12 , 6 - dime - 4 - heptanone 134 60 99 . 9 0 . 1 -- 71 . 2 28 . 8 -- 10 + 2 , 6 - dime - 4 - heptanone 134 60 93 . 7 0 . 1 6 . 3 50 . 4 25 . 0 24 . 6 10 + 7 . 32 - methoxyethyl ether 130 60 99 . 9 0 . 1 -- 71 . 7 28 . 3 -- 10 + 2 - methoxyethyl ether 132 60 99 . 8 0 . 1 0 . 1 60 . 8 21 . 7 17 . 5 10 + 10 + __________________________________________________________________________ table 4__________________________________________________________________________effective agents for separating ethylene glycol from1 , 2 - butanediol and 1 , 3 - butanediol in rectification column % eg azeo . time overhead bottoms relative volatilityagent over . temp . hrs . % eg % 1 , 2 bu % 1 , 3 bu % eg % 1 , 2 bu % 1 , 3 bu eg : 1 , 2 eg : 1 , 3__________________________________________________________________________ buo - xylene 22 131 2 . 5 85 . 9 14 . 1 -- 53 . 3 46 . 7 -- 1 . 06o - xylene 9 130 5 92 8 0 41 . 2 37 . 6 21 . 2 1 . 1 10 + m - xylene 10 130 6 95 . 3 4 . 7 -- 49 . 9 50 . 1 -- 1 . 11m - xylene 22 130 4 95 . 2 4 . 8 0 44 . 6 34 . 6 20 . 8 1 . 11 10 + p - xylene 10 130 5 98 . 4 1 . 6 -- 48 . 1 51 . 9 -- 1 . 15p - xylene 8 130 9 94 . 8 5 . 2 0 48 . 5 33 . 4 21 . 1 1 . 11 10 + ethylbenzene 7 121 5 99 . 9 0 . 1 -- 42 . 3 57 . 7 -- 1 . 27ethylbenzene 15 125 6 99 . 9 0 . 1 0 43 . 3 35 . 4 21 . 3 1 . 27 10 + cumene 20 114 5 99 . 9 0 . 1 -- 61 . 6 38 . 4 -- 1 . 26cumene 10 120 8 99 . 3 0 . 7 0 48 . 6 21 . 6 29 . 8 1 . 18 10 + mesitylene 20 126 5 99 . 1 0 . 9 -- 48 . 3 51 . 7 -- 1 . 17mesitylene 10 129 8 98 2 0 49 . 8 18 . 2 32 . 0 1 . 15 10 + diisobutylketone 15 153 12 99 . 8 0 . 1 0 . 1 32 . 2 49 . 2 18 . 6 1 . 31 1 . 26diisobutylketone 13 151 11 99 . 9 0 . 1 -- 41 . 9 58 . 1 -- 1 . 27__________________________________________________________________________ table 4 lists a number of effective agents whose relative volatilities were obtained in a 30 plate rectification column at 640 mm . hg pressure . the temperature of the azeotrope is listed as well as the overhead and bottoms composition and the percent of ethylene glycol in the overhead . the effective agents are the aromatic hydrocarbons o - xylene , m - xylene , p - xylene , ethylbenzene , cumene and mesitylene . diisobutyl ketone was also investigated in the rectification column . each agent was evaluated using the binary mixture of 1 , 2 - butanediol and ethylene glycol and the ternary containing 1 , 2 - butanediol , ethylene glycol and 1 , 3 - butanediol . the results indicate that the separation of ethylene glycol from mixtures containing both 1 , 2 - butanediol and 1 , 3 - butanediol is just as good as with 1 , 2 - butanediol and ethylene glycol . thirty grams of ethylene glycol , 20 grams of 1 , 2 - butanediol , 10 grams of 1 , 3 - butanediol and 40 grams of 3 - heptanone were charged to a vapor - liquid equilibrium still and refluxed for five hours . the vapor composition was 94 . 4 % ethylene glycol , 0 . 5 % 1 , 2 - butanediol and 5 . 1 % 1 , 3 - butanediol . the liquid composition was 44 . 4 % ethylene glycol , 34 . 4 % 1 , 2 - butanediol and 21 . 2 % 1 , 3 - butanediol . this is a relative volatility of ethylene glycol to 1 , 2 - butanediol of 1 . 47 and of ethylene glycol to 1 , 3 - butanediol of 8 . 8 . a four foot rectification column packed with stainless steel helices was calibrated with m - xylene and p - xylene which possesses a relative volatility of 1 . 11 and found to have thirty theoretical plates . a solution comprising 50 grams of ethylene glycol , 40 grams of 1 , 2 - butanediol , 20 grams of 1 , 3 - butanediol and 100 grams of ethylbenzene was placed in the stillpot and heated . after six hours of refluxing at total reflux , the overhead composition was 99 . 9 % ethylene glycol , 0 . 1 % 1 , 2 - butanediol , 0 % 1 , 3 - butanediol and the bottoms composition was 43 . 3 % ethylene glycol , 35 . 4 % 1 , 2 - butanediol and 21 . 3 % 1 , 3 - butanediol . this gives a relative volatility of ethylene glycol to 1 , 2 - butanediol of 1 . 27 and of ethylene glycol to 1 , 3 - butanediol of 10 +. these data are shown in table 4 . | 2 |
in what follows , a first exemplary embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 according to the present invention will be described by reference to the views shown in fig1 to 3 . as can be seen from the view shown in fig1 in particular , the energy - absorbing device 100 consists in essence of an energy - absorbing member 10 and a mating member 20 . in fig2 , the energy - absorbing device shown in fig1 is shown in a view in longitudinal section . it can be seen from this view that the mating member 20 is in the form of a piston and that that region 12 of the energy - absorbing member 10 which is adjacent the mating member 20 is in the form of a cylinder . that region 22 of the mating member 20 in the form of a cylinder which is adjacent the energy - absorbing member 10 is held telescopically by that region 12 of the energy - absorbing member 10 which is in form of a cylinder . the construction and operation in particular of the embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 according to the invention which is shown in fig1 will be described in detail below by reference to fig2 and 3 . hence , in the embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 which is shown in fig2 , the energy - absorbing member 10 is formed in one piece from fibrous composite material . in particular , the energy - absorbing member 10 has an energy - absorbing region 11 and a guiding region 15 . provided at the transition between the energy - absorbing region 11 and the guiding region 15 is an edge which forms an abutment 13 against which the mating member 20 in the form of a piston butts . it is conceivable in this case for the end - face 21 of that region 22 of the mating member 20 in the form of a piston which is adjacent the energy - absorbing member 10 to butt directly against the abutment 13 of the energy - absorbing region 11 . however , in the embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 which is shown in fig2 , a tapered ring 23 is provided at the end - face 21 of the mating member 20 in the form of a piston and it is thus this tapered ring 23 which butts against the abutment 13 of the energy - absorbing region 11 . the tapered ring 23 is connected solidly to the end - face 21 of the mating member 20 in this case . in the embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 which is shown , the guiding region 15 of the energy - absorbing member 10 is in the form of a guiding tube whose inside diameter is larger than the outside diameter of the mating member 20 in the form of a piston . in this way , that region 22 of the mating member 20 which is adjacent the energy - absorbing member 10 can be held telescopically by the energy - absorbing member . as can be seen particularly from the view in fig3 , the inside diameter of the energy - absorbing member 10 which , overall , is of a tubular form is smaller in the energy - absorbing region 11 than the outside diameter of the mating member 20 . the edge 13 which is provided at the transition between the guiding region 15 and the energy - absorbing region 11 thus constitutes an abutment against which the mating member 20 in the form of a piston butts . the energy - absorbing device 100 shown in fig2 is so designed that shock forces applied to the energy - absorbing device 100 , and in particular to the mating member 20 in the form of a piston , are applied to the end - face 25 remote from the energy - absorbing member 10 of the mating member 20 . for this purpose , it is conceivable for an anti - ride - up device 26 to be mounted at the end - face 25 of the mating member 20 . this is of advantage particularly when the energy - absorbing device 100 is used as a safety device against shock loads in a track - borne vehicle , in particular a rail - borne vehicle . in the event of a crash , the anti - ride - up device 26 prevents the end - face 25 of the mating member 20 in the form of a piston from being able to skew out horizontally . in normal operation , i . e . when the shock forces applied to the mating member 20 via its end - face 26 do not exceed the critical shock force for the response of the energy - absorbing device 100 , the shock forces applied to the mating member 20 are applied via the end - face 21 of the mating member 20 ( and via the tapered ring 23 if there is one ) to the abutment 13 of the energy - absorbing region 11 of the energy - absorbing member 10 . from there , the shock forces are transmitted to the structure of the body of the wagon or carriage to which the energy - absorbing device 100 is connected . in the case of the solution according to the invention , the shock force which is critical for the response of the energy - absorbing device 100 is determined , on the one hand , by the properties of the material of the energy - absorbing region 11 , in particular by its strength . in the present exemplary embodiment , the energy - absorbing region 11 consists of a fibrous composite material . on the other hand , the shock force which is critical for the response of the energy - absorbing device 100 is determined by the triggering of the energy - absorbing region 11 and by the geometry of the tapered ring 23 . when the energy - absorbing device 100 responds , the fibrous composite material of the interior wall of the energy - absorbing region 11 is non - ductilely reduced to fibres by the mating member 20 which moves relative to the energy - absorbing member 10 in the direction of the energy - absorbing region 11 . what is essential in this case is that the mating member 20 which moves in the direction of the energy - absorbing region 11 non - ductilely reduces to fibres only that material of the energy - absorbing region 11 which forms the interior wall of the energy - absorbing region 11 . as the energy is absorbed , the mating member 20 thus slides further into the energy - absorbing member 10 and as it does so shears away the inner area of the energy - absorbing region 11 . as this shearing away takes place , material of the energy - absorbing region 11 is reduced to fibres , but the outer wall of the energy - absorbing region 11 is not affected . being left in place , the outer wall of the energy - absorbing region 11 acts as a guiding surface to guide the movement of the mating member 20 relative to the energy - absorbing member 10 . so that it is only the fibrous composite material of the energy - absorbing region 11 and not , for example , the material of the mating member 20 which is reduced to fibres when the energy - absorbing device 100 responds , the end - face 21 of the mating member 20 , or the tapered ring 23 ( if there is one ), should be of greater strength than the energy - absorbing region 11 . as can be seen in particular from the views in fig2 , 3 , 6 and 7 , the mating member 20 in the form of a piston takes the form of a hollow body which is open at its end - face 21 adjacent the energy - absorbing member 10 . fragments of the energy - absorbing region 11 formed from fibrous composite material which are produced when the mating member 20 moves relative to the energy - absorbing member 10 ( or at least some of them ) are received in the interior of the hollow body when this happens . this has the advantage that no fragments of the fibrous composite material can make their way out to the exterior when the energy - absorbing region 11 is reduced to fibres . fig6 shows the energy - absorbing device in a state prior to the response thereof . fig7 shows the device in the state , when the energy - absorbing device responds and , in the course of the movement of the mating member 20 relative to the absorbing member 20 , the energy - absorbing region 11 is at least partly non - ductily reduced to fibres . the resulting fibre fragments of the energy absorbing region 20 are depicted at f in fig7 in the interior of the energy - absorbing member 20 . a further embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 in according to the invention is shown in fig4 . fig5 shows a detail of fig4 in the transitional region between the mating member 20 and the energy - absorbing region 11 . the embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 according to the invention which is shown in fig4 substantially corresponds to the embodiment previously described by reference to the views in fig2 and fig3 . however , in the embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 according to the invention shown in fig4 , the guiding region of the energy - absorbing member is not formed in one piece with the energy - absorbing region 11 . instead — as can be seen in particular from the view in fig5 — in the embodiment of the energy - absorbing device 100 which is shown in fig4 , the energy - absorbing member 10 is formed from a guiding tube 16 which may , for example , be formed from fibrous composite material or some other material , with the energy - absorbing region 11 formed from fibrous composite material being held in this guiding tube 15 . responsibility for guiding the movement of the mating member 20 in the form of a piston relative to the energy - absorbing member 10 is assumed , in the embodiment shown in fig4 , by the inner face of the guiding tube 15 . in contrast to the embodiment shown in fig2 , what is reduced to fibres when energy is absorbed is not simply the inner region of the energy - absorbing region 11 but the whole of the material in the energy - absorbing region 11 . the invention is not limited to the embodiments of the energy - absorbing device 100 which have been described by reference to the drawings . rather , there are other embodiments or modifications which are conceivable . in particular , the invention is not limited to the mating member 20 taking the form of a piston and at least that region 12 of the energy - absorbing member 10 which is adjacent the mating member 20 taking the form of a cylinder , with that region 22 of the mating member 20 which is adjacent the energy - absorbing member 10 being held telescopically by the energy - absorbing member 10 . instead , it is , for example , also conceivable for the energy - absorbing member 10 to take the form of a piston and for at least that region 22 of the mating member 20 which is adjacent the energy - absorbing member 10 to take the form of a cylinder , with that region 12 of the energy - absorbing member 10 which is adjacent the mating member 20 being held telescopically by the mating member 20 . it is also conceivable , in the embodiment shown in fig2 , for the outer region of the energy - absorbing member 10 , i . e . the outer wall of the energy - absorbing region 11 , on the one hand , and the guiding region 15 , on the other hand , to be made stronger as a whole than the region of the energy - absorbing region 11 which is reduced to fibres non - ductilely when the energy - absorbing device 100 responds , by giving the fibres of the fibrous composite material a suitable alignment . | 5 |
fig1 schematically shows a unit 1 for dewatering a hydraulic fluid of a hydraulic system 2 , for example the hydraulic system of an aircraft . in the case of the present embodiment , the hydraulic fluid is a phosphate ester . the unit 1 is preferably a component of a floor maintenance machine , as typically found in airports . the unit 1 has a first device 3 , a second device 4 , a third device 5 and a fourth device 6 . each of the devices 3 to 6 has a container 10 , all the containers 10 being fluidically coupled with the hydraulic system 2 by a common feed 11 and a common return 12 . the unit 1 is coupled with the hydraulic system 2 , for example during maintenance of the aircraft with the hydraulic system 2 and is of a temporary nature , i . e . the connection 13 of the feed 11 and the connection 14 of the return 12 to the hydraulic system 2 are configured to be detachable . arranged in the feed 11 and in the return 12 , downstream of the connections 13 and 14 are in each case stop valves 15 , 16 which are each opened after the unit 1 has been coupled with the hydraulic system 2 and are closed before the unit 1 is uncoupled from the hydraulic system 2 . this prevents residual hydraulic fluid from issuing out of the unit 1 after the uncoupling of the hydraulic system 2 . a hydraulic pump 17 which pumps the hydraulic fluid through the unit 1 is preferably arranged downstream of the stop valve 15 in the feed 11 . a filter 18 with a contamination indication is preferably arranged in the feed 12 downstream of the hydraulic pump 17 . a corresponding filter 22 with a contamination indication is also preferably arranged in the return 12 downstream of the stop valve 16 . the filters 18 , 22 filter contamination particles out of the hydraulic fluid . if the contamination indications of the filters 18 , 22 indicate that said filters 18 , 22 are contaminated , they can be replaced . a flow sensor 23 is preferably provided in the feed 11 downstream of the filter 18 . the flow sensor 23 can establish whether and how much hydraulic fluid is flowing through the unit 1 . connected to the flow sensor 23 in the feed 11 is preferably an adjustable pressure reducing valve 24 which can adjust the pressure in the hydraulic fluid which is supplied to the containers 10 . a nonreturn valve 25 connected to the pressure reducing valve 24 in the feed 11 prevents the hydraulic fluid from flowing against the direction of flow provided with reference numeral 26 in the feed 11 . the feed 11 downstream of the nonreturn valve 25 preferably has a safety line 27 , connecting this to the return 12 , with a safety valve 28 . in the normal state , the safety valve is in the position shown in fig1 , in which it prevents hydraulic fluid from flowing from the feed 11 into the return 12 through the safety line 27 . however , if an error then occurs which prevents the hydraulic fluid from flowing from the feed 11 through the container 10 into the return 12 , but the pump 17 is still subsequently supplying hydraulic fluid , the safety valve 28 is opened if a specific limiting value for the permissible hydraulic fluid pressure is exceeded and the hydraulic fluid can then flow away from the feed 11 into the return 12 . thus , damage to lines and valves , for example can be prevented . downstream of the filters 18 and 22 , the feed 11 and the return 12 preferably have a respective moisture sensor 32 and 33 which measure the water content in the hydraulic fluid . fig2 shows by way of example one of the moisture sensors 32 , 33 which projects with its moisture probe 32 a into the feed 11 and there capacitively measures the moisture of the hydraulic fluid . the moisture sensor is also equipped with a temperature probe 32 b which provides a temperature of the hydraulic fluid . the measured temperature is incorporated in the determination of moisture of the hydraulic fluid . according to the present embodiment , only two moisture sensors 32 , 33 are arranged in the feed 11 respectively in the return 12 . in the same way , it is possible for each of the devices 3 to 6 to have two moisture sensors , one of which is provided upstream and the other is provided downstream of the container 10 , so that the water content can be individually determined upstream of and downstream of each container 10 for each of the devices 3 to 6 . however , the variant shown in fig1 is relatively economical in terms of parts , since it manages with only two moisture sensors 32 , 33 . the devices 3 to 6 are configured identically . for this reason , in the following the construction thereof will be described by way of example with reference to device 3 . the container 10 is configured as a cartouche , i . e . as a cylindrical container which extends substantially vertically to the ground 40 ( not shown further ). in the following , “ upper ” and “ lower ” always relate to the ground 40 . at its upper end 29 , the container 10 is fluidically coupled with the feed 12 by a feed valve 34 configured as an electromagnetically actuatable 2 / 2 directional control valve and at its lower end 30 , it is fluidically coupled with the return 12 by a return valve 35 configured as an electromagnetically actuatable 2 / 2 directional control valve . in the open position of the feed valve 34 and of the return valve 35 , shown in fig1 for device 3 , hydraulic fluid can flow from the feed 12 into the container 10 and out of said container 10 again into the return 12 . in the closed position of the feed valve 34 and of the return valve 35 , shown in fig1 for device 5 , hydraulic fluid cannot flow either from the feed 11 into the container 10 , or from the container 10 into the return 12 . arranged between the return valve 35 and the return 12 is preferably a nonreturn valve 36 which prevents hydraulic fluid from flowing out of the return 12 into the container 10 at any time . this prevents a mutual influencing of the containers 10 of the devices 3 to 6 . in particular , the nonreturn valve 36 seals off a container 10 which is in emptying operation , described in detail later on , from the pressurised hydraulic fluid in the return 12 . provided on the container 10 are an upper filling level sensor 37 and a lower filling level sensor 38 which generate a signal when the filling level in the container 10 falls below a first limiting value or when a filling level in the container 10 exceeds a second limiting value . the filling level sensors 37 and 38 are preferably arranged on a measuring column 39 , the lower end of which is fluidically connected to a line 43 connecting the return valve 35 to the return 12 and the upper end of which is connected to the upper end of the container 10 . a level 44 of the hydraulic fluid in the measuring column 39 corresponds to the level 45 of the hydraulic fluid in the container . according to the present embodiment , the lower filling level sensor 38 only generates a signal when the line 43 is at least partly empty so that the level 44 in the measuring column falls below the position of the filling level sensor 38 . this ensures that the filling level sensor 38 only generates a signal when the container 10 is completely empty . in its interior , the container 10 has a sorbent 46 , for example a silica gel . the sorbent 46 is capable of removing water out of the hydraulic fluid . furthermore , the container 10 has a heating means 47 which is configured , for example as heating elements , through which current flows when an electromagnetic switch 48 is closed and the heating elements generate heat which heats the sorbent 46 . at its upper end 29 , the container 10 can be fluidically coupled with a compressed air line 53 by a compressed air valve 52 configured as an electromagnetically actuatable 3 / 3 directional control valve . the compressed air line 53 can be charged with filtered compressed air by a compressor 54 and a filter 55 connected downstream . furthermore , the container 10 can be fluidically coupled with a vent line 56 by the compressed air valve 52 , the vent line 56 having a filter 57 and a ventilation 58 at which atmospheric pressure prevails . the compressed air valve 52 has a first position in which the container 10 is not coupled with the compressed air line 53 or with the vent line 56 . in a second position , the container 10 is coupled with the compressed air line 53 . in a third position of the compressed air valve 52 , the container 10 is coupled with the vent line 56 . furthermore , the upper end 29 of the container 10 can be fluidically coupled with a vacuum line 63 by a vacuum valve 62 configured as a 2 / 2 directional control valve , the vacuum line 63 preferably having in the following sequence : a settling container 64 , a vacuum pump 65 and preferably a water separator 66 . the settling container 64 protects the pump from solid and liquid constituents . the vacuum pump 65 can charge the vacuum line 63 with a vacuum ( based on atmospheric pressure ). the vacuum valve 62 has two positions : in a first position , as shown in fig1 for device 3 , the vacuum line 63 is uncoupled from the container 10 , i . e . there is no vacuum in the container 10 . in a second position of the vacuum valve 62 , the container 10 is fluidically coupled with the vacuum line 63 and there is a vacuum in the interior of the container 10 . particles of dirt in the air which has been sucked up can be filtered out in the settling container 64 to protect the vacuum pump 65 . the water separator 66 , for example an electrostatic separator removes the water from the air , sucked up out of the container 10 , which water is possibly contaminated with hydraulic fluid ( or with additives thereof ). furthermore , a control means 67 is provided which is connected in terms of signalling with all the switchable elements 15 , 16 , 17 , 24 , 34 , 62 , 48 , 35 , 54 and 65 to control them and is connected in terms of signalling with all the signal - emitting elements 18 , 22 , 33 , 23 , 32 , 37 , 38 , 68 and 69 to evaluate signals therefrom ( the electrical lines have not been shown for reasons of clarity ). the control means 67 is preferably configured as a flexibly programmable spc ( stored - program control ). the control means 67 is preferably connected to an indicator 73 ( see also fig3 ), on which , for example measured values , the different operating states of the individual devices 3 to 6 or also warning signals , for example that a filter should be replaced , can be displayed . the circuitry of the control means 67 is shown schematically in fig3 . by way of example , the control means 67 is connected to the moisture sensor 32 . furthermore , the control means is connected to the indicator 73 which has already been mentioned . the control means 67 is also connected to a warning light 64 to warn an operator of the unit 1 . the control means 67 powered by a plug power pack 75 can be programmed flexibly by a pc ( personal computer ) 76 which , for example , allows the input of various limiting values for the permissible water content of the hydraulic fluid , which values can differ for different types of aircraft , for example . of course , each of the devices 3 to 6 could have a respective compressed air line 53 , vent line 56 , vacuum line 63 and control means 67 ( with respectively associated components ), however , according to the present embodiment , in order to economise on parts , devices 3 to 6 are provided with a common compressed air line 53 , vent line 56 , vacuum line 63 and control means 67 . in fig4 and 5 , the device 3 is shown supplemented by a cleaning means 80 . of course , each device 3 to 6 can have a cleaning means 80 of this type . a cleansing agent feed 81 is fluidically coupled with the line portion 82 connecting the return valve 35 to the container 10 and a cleansing agent return 83 is fluidically coupled with the line portion 84 connecting the feed valve 34 to the container 10 . provided in the cleansing agent feed 80 or in the cleansing agent return 83 are firstly respective stop valves 85 , 86 which , in the closed state , ensure that no cleansing agent 87 penetrates unintentionally into the lines 82 , 84 . a discharge line 92 preferably branches off from the cleansing agent feed 81 downstream of the stop valve 85 , it being possible for said discharge line 92 to be fluidically coupled with a cleansing agent container 94 by a discharge valve 93 configured as an electromagnetically actuatable 2 / 2 directional control valve . downstream of the discharge line 92 , the cleansing agent feed 81 has a cleansing agent feed valve 95 configured as an electromagnetically actuatable 2 / 2 directional control valve , a cleansing agent pump 96 and preferably a cleansing agent filter 97 with a contamination indication , downstream of which the cleansing agent feed 81 opens into the cleansing agent container 94 . provided in the cleansing agent return 83 , downstream of the stop valve 86 is a cleansing agent return valve 98 which is configured as an electromagnetically actuatable 2 / 2 directional control valve , downstream of which the cleansing agent return 83 opens into the container 94 . the cleansing agent container 94 is also oriented substantially vertically to the ground 40 and has at its upper end 102 a ventilation 103 above a filter 104 . each device 3 to 6 can now be operated in the types of operation as listed in the following : in a dewatering mode , see fig1 , device 3 ; in an emptying operation associated with a re - drying mode , see fig1 , device 4 ; in a re - drying operation associated with the regenerating mode , see fig1 , device 5 ; and in a filling operation associated with the regenerating mode , see fig1 , device 6 . in the dewatering mode shown for device 3 in fig1 , the hydraulic fluid flows from the hydraulic system 2 by the effect of the pump 16 through the feed 11 into the container 10 and there flows through the sorbent 46 which removes water from the hydraulic fluid . thereupon , the hydraulic fluid flows out of the container 10 into the return 12 and then returns into the hydraulic system 2 . during this procedure , the moisture sensors 32 , 33 are constantly measuring the water content in the hydraulic fluid . the moisture sensor 32 provides the control means 67 with the measured water content in the feed as a measured value mz and the moisture sensor 33 provides said control means with the water content measured in the return as a measured value mr . the control means 67 compares the measured value mr with a limiting value g 1 which is , for example 0 . 45 % water content and is thus just below the maximally permissible water content in the hydraulic fluid of 0 . 5 %. if the control means 67 then establishes that the measured value mr is above the limiting value g 1 , it decides that the sorbent 46 no longer has an adequate sorption capacity for permanently keeping the water content of the hydraulic fluid below 0 . 5 %, i . e . the maximally permissible value . the control means 67 then switches device 1 into the regenerating mode and , in this mode , initiates the emptying operation , as shown for device 4 in fig1 . additionally or alternatively , it can be provided that the control means 67 constantly determines the value of the difference bd between the measured value mr and the measured value mz and compares this value bd with a limiting value g 2 . the limiting value g 2 is preferably calculated as a function of the measured value mz . in this respect , the limiting value g 2 is a value , to be expected , of the difference with a sorbent 46 of a “ normal ” sorption capacity . these values can be recorded in a table , for example . in addition , the flow rate dr , indicated by the flow sensor 23 , can also be used in determining the limiting value g 2 , because the flow rate influences the value , to be expected , of the difference between the measured values mz and mr ; for example with a high flow rate , the active time of the sorbent 46 on the hydraulic fluid is reduced . therefore , a lower difference value will be expected . if the control means then establishes that the value bd is above the value g 2 , it likewise switches the device into the regenerating mode and , in so doing , initially switches into the emptying operation , as shown in fig1 for device 4 . the second calculation method allows an earlier prediction that the sorption capacity of the sorbent 46 is exhausted . for the emptying operation , the control means 67 closes the feed 11 by means of the feed valve 34 and connects the compressed air valve 52 such that compressed air flows from the compressed air line 53 into the container 10 . in so doing , the hydraulic fluid in the container 10 is discharged by the compressed air 105 into the return 12 through the open return valve 35 . the lower filling level sensor 38 indicates to the control means 67 when the container 10 is completely empty and even when a portion of line 43 is empty . this ensures that the container 10 is completely empty . the control means 67 then again switches the compressed air valve 52 such that no further compressed air flows from the compressed air line 53 into the container 10 . the control means 67 then closes the return valve 35 so that the container 10 is no longer fluidically coupled with the return 12 . thereafter , the control means 67 switches into re - drying operation , switching the vacuum valve 62 such that the container 10 is connected to the vacuum line 63 and there is a vacuum in the container . the vacuum evaporates the water absorbed by the sorbent 46 and the water escapes through the vacuum valve 62 and line 63 . the control means 67 also switches the switch 48 such that current flows through the heating elements of the heating means 47 and the sorbent is heated . this measure further stimulates the evaporation of the water absorbed in the sorbent 46 . by means of the pressure md measured by the pressure sensor 68 in the vacuum line , the control means 67 constantly calculates the temporal change in pressure mdz and compares this with a limiting value for the change in pressure gd . when the value mdz falls below the value gd , it is then established that the amount of water absorbed in the sorbent 46 has fallen to a desired ( low ) content . thereupon , the heating means 47 is disconnected again by switching the switch 48 and the vacuum valve 62 is reclosed . there is then the possibility of again cleaning the sorbent 46 , i . e . to free the sorbent from particles of dirt incorporated therein from the hydraulic fluid . whether the device is switched into a cleaning operation of this type can take place , for example on the basis of a measured value which is indicated to the control means 67 by the filter 22 and which reflects the extent to which the hydraulic fluid is contaminated with particles of dirt . if the degree of contamination exceeds a predetermined limiting value , the control means 67 can decide to switch into the cleaning operation . in the cleaning operation , the stop valves 85 , 86 ( see fig4 and 5 ) and the cleansing agent feed valve 95 and the cleansing agent return valve 98 are opened . the discharge valve 93 is closed . the control means 67 then starts up the pump 96 and the cleansing agent 87 is circulated through the sorbent 46 , as a result of which particles of dirt are flushed out of the sorbent 46 . the flushed out particles of dirt are in turn filtered out of the cleansing agent 87 by the filter 97 . after a certain amount of time , when it can be assumed that the sorbent 46 is clean , the control means 67 switches off the pump 96 again , closes the cleansing agent feed valve 85 and the cleansing agent return valve 98 and opens the discharge valve 93 , as shown in fig5 . the control means 67 then switches the compressed air valve 52 such that compressed air 105 flows from the compressed air line 53 into the container 10 and , in so doing , discharges the cleansing agent 87 out of the container 10 into the cleansing agent feed 81 ( see fig5 ), the cleansing agent 87 then being discharged through the discharge line 92 and through the open discharge valve 93 into the cleansing agent container 94 and it displaces the air 106 present in the cleansing agent container 94 out of the cleansing agent container 94 through the filter 104 and the ventilation 103 . the compressed air valve 52 is re - closed so that no more compressed air flows into the container 10 when it is established that all the cleansing agent 87 has been displaced out of the container 10 . a suitable sensor ( not shown ) can be provided for this purpose . if the measured signal which is made available by the cloudiness sensor 99 to the control means 67 and indicates a cloudiness of the cleansing agent 87 exceeds a limiting value for the permitted cloudiness of the cleansing agent , the cleansing agent 87 can be replaced at this time . hereafter or , if it is established that a cleaning operation is unnecessary , directly after the re - drying operation , the control means 67 switches into the filling operation and opens the feed valve 34 and switches the compressed air valve 52 such that the container 10 is connected to the vent line 56 , whereupon the hydraulic fluid flows out of the feed 11 into the container 10 and displaces the compressed air 105 in the container 10 out of said container into the vent line 56 through the filter 57 and ventilation 58 ( shown in fig1 for device 6 ). if the level 45 of the hydraulic fluid in the container 10 rises to a specific level , it activates the filling level sensor 37 and the filling level sensor 37 indicates to the control means 67 that the container is full again . thereupon , the control means 67 switches device 3 back into dewatering mode , in which the hydraulic fluid is again dewatered by means of the sorbent 46 . the control means 67 only switches devices 3 to 6 alternately into the dewatering mode , emptying operation , re - drying operation and filling operation . this means that when device 3 is in dewatering mode , device 4 is in emptying operation , device 5 is in re - drying operation and device 6 is in filling operation ( see fig1 ). it is conceivable to provide a further device according to the invention , in which case the control means 67 only switches devices 3 to 6 and the other device alternately into dewatering mode , emptying operation , re - drying operation , cleaning operation and filling operation . although the present invention has been described on the basis of a preferred embodiment , it is not restricted thereto , but can be modified in many different ways . | 5 |
the present invention is about an assembly system for manufacturing of furniture and other constructive elements , for its folding and unfolding , or opening and closing , and fixation of a part in its position of use according to its spatial orientation . double assembly system consisting of a group of elements that intersects with another and , together , allows for a rotational movement of a definite and concrete angle of a group of elements of the other angle , allows the union of parts , generally flat ones , so that one of the mentioned parts can pivot , rotate or fold over another according to the mentioned angle , and stabilize the mentioned part in its final position . an assembly moves relative to the other on a defined rotation axis , or longitudinal axis of assembly , that can optionally incorporate pins and their corresponding accommodations depending on the design and precise resistance and utility use of the component to which they will belong to . in the case of not carrying a pin or hinge on its axis , the movement of an assembly and the parts united with it with respect to the other , in practice , is not defined with respect to the mentioned axis . if necessary , you mechanisms can be added that will direct the mentioned movement . the rotational range , in most cases , is from 0 to 90 ° because usually the straight angle is the most widely used in the manufacture of any parts or constructive elements . however , you can set greater or smaller angles for the final stabilization of one part over another . the anchoring system will be defined according to the material of the given parts , their thickness , design , and use . regarding the number of constituent elements of each assembly : the basic system consists of an element ( in an assembly ) that binds to a group of two elements ( from the other assembly ) and being able to successively incorporate the elements necessary for each case . each element or group of elements can carry a coupled part in each of its ends , in only one of them or in none . in position to stabilize , i . e . in the maximum angle , the faces of the elements that can make contact can actually make contact all or not , depending on the strength of the material and the use or usefulness of the parts which they form part of . the dimensions and proportions of the elements of the system may vary depending on the design and chosen material and the required resistance according to the use or usefulness of the parts of which they form part of . generally , the facing elements are symmetrical . the geometric section of each element may vary on either side of the rotation axis , as shown by way of example , in the figures accompanying the description , in any case , it must be integral and have the necessary stiffness , either on its own geometric shape , or by the union of parts which reach to it . likewise , opposing parts may have different thicknesses so that the geometric sections of the facing elements are different , asymmetrical . fig1 : perspective view : the first assembly ( fig1 a ) formed by a group of elements , the second assembly ( fig1 b ) formed by another group of elements , resulting in a double angle assembly of minimal movement ( in fig1 . c ), and a double angle assembly of maximum movement ( in fig1 . d ). fig2 : view of the assembly system applied to vertical parts ), in fig2 . a two intertwined elements in the closed position are observed , and in fig2 . b they are in open position . fig3 : overview of the system applied to parts in horizontal position , in fig3 . a two intertwined elements in closed position are observed , and fig3 . b they are in the open position . fig4 : view of different possibilities as to the fact that each element or group of elements or assembly can carry coupled a piece in each of its ends ( fig4 a ), in only one of them ( 1 ° assembly of fig4 b ), c ), d ), 2nd assembly of fig4 c )) or in none of them ( 2 ° assembly of fig4 . d )). fig5 : perspective view of the basic system formed by an element that links to a group of two elements ( fig5 . a ) and can successively incorporate the elements necessary for each case ( fig5 . b ). fig6 : view of the top floor of several examples of the system , depending on their geometric form . fig6 bis : same as the previous one but in perspective . fig7 : view from the top of several examples of assembly system with the range of rotation angles greater or less than 90 °. fig7 bis : same as the previous one but in perspective . to facilitate the reading and understanding of the description , constituent elements and references of the assemblies represented in the drawings or figures are listed in continuation : rotational angle or rotation interval ( β ). the first assembly represented in fig1 . a ), and the second assembly represented in fig1 . b ). elements ( 1 ) of the first assembly and elements ( 2 ) of the second assembly . parts ( 1 f , 1 g , 2 f , 2 g ). angle of rotation or rotation interval ( 3 ). external faces ( 1 a , 2 a ) of the elements ( 1 , 2 ). connecting parts ( 1 b , 2 b ) of the elements ( 1 , 2 ). inner face ( 1 c , 2 c ) of connecting parts ( 1 b , 2 b ). inner face ( 1 d , 2 d ) of the elements ( 1 , 2 ). anchor pieces ( 1 e , 2 e ). in fig1 a double assemblage system is observed consisting of a group of elements ( 1 , 2 ), the first group of elements ( 1 ) of a first assemblage is represented in fig1 . a ), and a second group of elements ( 2 ) of the second assemblage is represented in fig1 . b ), which intersect ( see fig1 and 2 ), and united ( fig1 . c ) they allow a rotational movement ( see fig1 . d ) of a defined and specific angle ( β ) of a group of elements ( fig1 . a ) over another ( see fig1 . b ) allowing for the union of parts ( 1 f , 1 g , 2 f , 2 g ) ( see fig2 ), generally flat ones , so that one of the mentioned parts can pivot , rotate or fold over another according to the aforementioned angle , and stabilize the mentioned part in its final position ( see fig2 and 3 ). hence , each assembly ( fig1 . a y fig1 . b ) essentially comprises some elements ( 1 , 2 ) and connecting pieces ( 1 b , 2 b ) of the mentioned elements ( 1 , 2 ) inwardly , and , as defined previously , some parts ( 1 f , 1 g , 2 f , 2 g ) ( see fig2 ). these connecting parts ( 1 b , 2 b ) of the elements ( 1 , 2 ), at least of one assembly , are on each side of the longitudinal axis ( 3 ) of the assembly or rotational axis . as shown in fig1 . d ) and 2 b ) and 3 b ), the angle ( β ) of maximum movement is achieved because each element ( 1 ) of a group has two faces ( 1 a ), one on each side of the axis of rotation ( 3 ), which contact the connecting parts ( 2 b ) of the other group ( see fig1 . d ) on its inner face ( 2 c ); and , in turn , each element ( 2 ) of this group has two outer faces ( 2 a ), one on each side of the axis of rotation , which contact the connecting parts ( 1 b ) of the previous group in the internal face ( 1 c ). thus , in that position ( fig1 . d and fig2 . b and 3 . b ), the system stabilizes the parts ( 1 f , 1 g , 2 f , 2 g ) which it connects . depending on the resistance of the material used in the manufacture of the system and application or use of the connecting materials which they form part of , all the external faces ( 1 a , 2 a ) that can make contact can actually make effective contact or distribute the actions or efforts that are exerted on some of them . an assembly moves relative to the other on a definite axis of rotation ( 3 ) that can carry pins ( not shown ) and the accommodation of these or not , depending on the design and precise resistance and the use or application of the part / s which they will form part of . thus , the system allows the non - use of a physical axis , by setting the cross - linked assemblies together . fig6 shows that in the case of not carrying pin or bolt on the axis ( 3 ), in some designs ( fig6 ), the movement of an assembly and the part / s ( 1 f , 1 g , 2 f , 2 g ) attached to it with respect to the other , in practice , is not defined with respect to said axis ( 3 ). this is solved by giving a cylindrical form as the design or constructive solution of fig6 b ), or those shown in fig7 and 7 bis , or , as indicated , mechanisms can be added to direct said movement ( not shown ). in fig2 to 4 , it is observed that the system is valid for use in any spatial position , producing different forces and loads . vertically ( fig2 ), higher loads will occur in the inner faces ( 1 d , 2 d ) of the elements ( 1 . 2 ); and in horizontal position ( fig3 ), on the outer faces ( 1 a , 2 a ) of the elements ( 1 . 2 ) of the assemblies and the inner faces ( 1 c , 2 c ) of their connecting parts ( 1 b , 2 b ). in the same fig2 - 4 , it is observed that the system is supplemented with the pieces of anchor ( 1 e , 2 e ) of the connecting materials or parts ( 1 f , 1 g , 2 f , 2 g ), the design of which will depend on these and on their thickness and use . the interval of rotation ( β ), in most instances , is from 0 to 90 ° ( see fig4 ) because generally the straight angle is the most widely used in the manufacture of any part or constructive element . however , as shown in fig7 and 7 bis , smaller or greater angles can be defined for the final stabilization of a part over another group , varying in a group the angles of the contact faces with those of another group , or in both , or in the design of one of the anchoring parts . fig4 shows that each element ( 1 , 2 ) or group of elements or assembly can be coupled out with a piece ( 1 f , 1 g , 2 f , 2 g ) on each of its ends ( see fig4 a ) on only one of them ( see fig4 c )) or on none . all parts of each assembly , that is , elements ( 1 , 2 ), connecting parts ( 1 b , 2 b ) of the elements ( 1 , 2 ) and anchoring pieces ( 1 e , 2 e ) may be independent ( see fig2 and 3 ), forming part of each other or forming one piece . in turn , each part can be divided into other parts and / or materials . also , the materials to be joined can be an integral part of the assembly . to link an assembly with another to form the system , at least it will be needed that a connecting piece ( 1 b , 2 b ) of the elements of the assemblies ( 1 , 2 ) is removable during assembly . despite the previous paragraph , the double assembly system can be constructed with components that form one single piece . the basic assembly system is formed by a set of two elements ( 1 ) in the first assembly connected to an assembly consisting of a single element ( 2 ) ( fig5 . a ), with each assembly being able to incorporate more elements than would be needed for each case ( see fig5 . b or fig1 - 4 ). specifically , in fig5 . a , a configuration is observed in which second assembly comprises a single element ( 2 ), and each of the connecting parts ( 2 b ) of the element ( 2 ) of the second assembly comprises two inner faces ( 2 c ), and a pair of outer faces ( 1 a ) of the first assembly are in contact with the internal faces ( 2 c ) of the connecting pieces ( 2 b ) of the second assembly . in this configuration , the two connecting parts ( 2 b ) of the element ( 2 ) do not link two elements ( 2 ) and only act through their inner faces ( 2 c ), as contact elements with the two elements ( 1 ) of the first assembly . the dimensions and proportions of the elements of the system may vary depending on their design and chosen material and the required resistance according to the use or application of the parts which they are part of . generally the elements ( 1 , 2 ) of opposing assemblies are symmetrical ( see fig1 to 5 ), but not necessarily . the geometry of each element ( 1 , 2 ) of the assembly can be varied to each side of the axis of rotation ( 3 ), as shown by way of non - limiting and schematic examples , in fig6 . each element ( 1 . 2 ) of the assemblies can be formed by any geometrical shape , regular or irregular , or a composition of them . in any case , it should be supportive and have the necessary rigidity , either by its own geometric shape , or by the union of parts which reach to it . thus , the outer faces which contact ( 1 a , 2 a ) the elements ( 1 , 2 ) of the assemblies can be flat and at straight angles ( fig6 . a ), b ), c ), f ), g ), h ), inclined ( fig6 . d , e ), curves and / or irregular ; the internal faces ( represented vertically ) ( 1 c , 2 c ) are geometrically tailored for perfect contact . the materials to be joined may have different thicknesses of a group or assembly of the system with respect to the other ( fig6 . e ), f ), g ), just the anchorage parts varying ( fig6 . e ) or also the geometry of the elements of the assemblies ( 1 , 2 ) ( see fig6 . f ), g ); the thickness of the joined materials by the same assembly can also vary ( fig6 . h ). therefore , the geometric sections of the elements may be different and asymmetric . the different parts will be made depending on their materials , in any case one of the joints must be removable in its assembly . | 8 |
when a metal tube is bent it is deformed . the act of bending a metal tube results in the stretching , wrinkling , narrowing and possibly cracking of portions of the tube . the amount and type of deformation depends on several factors , including the dimensions of the metal tubing , the type of metal used , the method used to bend the tubing , the angle or degree of the bend and the radius of the bend . the smaller the radius and the greater the degree of the bend the more the tube will be deformed . the most common deformation is stretching , thinning and strain hardening of the outside wall of the bent tube ( i . e . the wall that forms the outer curve of the bent tube ). due to such deformations , for any given type of metal tubing , there is a definite limit to the minimum radius that can be achieved by bending . when a tube is bent to too small a radius the outside wall of the tube can crack . such cracking is more likely to occur if the weld seam of the metal tube is located near or along the outer curve of the bent tube . in other words , in bending any given size of metal tubing the strength of the tubing is necessarily compromised and one is limited in both the degree of bend and the minimum radius that can be achieved . referring to fig1 a and 1b , a section of bent square tubing 100 is shown having an outer curved wall 110 , an inner curved wall 120 and lateral walls 130 ( fig1 b shows a cross - section of the square tubing of fig1 a taken along line a - a ). bending the tubing 100 results in the thinning and narrowing of the outer curved wall 110 relative to the inner curved wall 120 . the portions of the lateral walls 130 nearest the outer curved wall 110 also experience some thinning and are deflected toward one another . the maximum deformation is experienced near the center of the outer curved wall 110 . such deformation has the effect of weakening the tubing 100 and , therefore , any structure in which the tubing 100 is incorporated may be compromised . referring to fig2 , an end view of the bent section of metal tubing 100 is shown . the bending process often causes the metal tube to twist . this is shown in fig2 by the deviation of the metal tube 100 from the reference line 140 , which represents the position that would be occupied by the lateral wall 130 of an untwisted section of metal tubing . referring to fig3 and 4 , an end and side view of a corner joint between two sections of 4 ″× 4 ″× ½ ″ square metal tubing 150 , 152 is shown . in fig3 the joint is shown without welds and in fig4 the joint is shown with welds 158 , 160 , 162 , 164 . fig3 and 4 demonstrate that , when making corner joints between relatively large corner radius tubes , excessive weld is required to fill the space 154 between the tubes so that it is flush with the flat surfaces of the tubing 150 , 152 . in addition , a backing bar 156 must often be employed to aid in welding the two tubes together . another difficulty encountered in such joints is that , due to the excessive welding , there is a risk that lamellar tears will develop in the wall of the metal tube proximate the weld . lamellar tearing is the separation of the metal of the tube in a plane generally parallel to the rolling direction of the plate of the metal tube . the tearing develops in susceptible material as a result of high through - thickness strains . the through - thickness strains are the normal results of weld metal shrinkage . by definition lamellar tears always lie within the base metal , ( i . e . the metal tube ) generally parallel to the weld fusion boundary . the tear may initiate just outside the visible heat affected zone and propagate to the root or toe , in which case the tear may be detected visually . often , however , the tear is subsurface , in which case it must be detected by other means ( e . g . ultrasonic testing ). the welding between the two tubes 150 , 152 , and in particular the inside corner weld 158 , causes the free end of the upper tube 150 to deflect downwards toward the lower tube 152 . the end result is that after taking care to ensure that the joint is properly aligned and welding the two tubes together , one of the tubes may no longer be straight . when making a t - joint or corner joint as shown in fig3 and 4 it is often necessary to weld a plate 166 onto the end of the upper tube . such a plate 166 helps to reinforce the upper tube 150 against twisting that may occur when the structure is placed under stress . the welding of such a plate represents an additional step in the making of such a t or corner joint , which step is required in many jurisdictions by occupational safety regulations ( for example , when such a joint is used in the construction of rops or fops ). as will become clear later , this extra step is unnecessary in structures constructed according to the present invention . referring to fig5 , a miter joint is shown between two straight sections of metal tubing 170 , 172 . the need for bending metal tubing can in some instances be avoided by such miter joints , however , such miter joints involve an extra cutting step , ( the ends of the metal tubes must be cut on an angle ) and have sharp inside and outside corners 174 , 176 , which represent potential hazards . in addition , miter joints may be aesthetically undesirable in certain applications . referring to fig6 , a cast metal 45 - degree elbow 10 is shown having an outer curved side 12 and an inner curved side 14 . referring to fig7 , the 45 - degree elbow 10 is shown in cross - section taken along line b - b of fig6 . the elbow 10 is a 4 ″× 3 ″ metal tube having a wall thickness of ⅛ ″. the outer curved side 12 has a radius of curvature of 6¾ and a length of approximately 5 . 3 ″ and the inner curved side 14 has a radius of curvature of 2¾ ″ and a length of approximately 2 . 16 ″. due to the degree of the bend , the radius of the bend , and the wall thickness of the elbow 10 , it generally cannot be made by bending a straight piece of metal tubing using known bending techniques and standard metals because the outer curved side 12 would be stretched to the point of cracking . the outer curved side 12 is almost 2 . 5 times as long as the inner curved side 14 and the radius of curvature of the inner curved side 14 is less than 34 of the width of the elbow 10 ( i . e . 4 ″). referring to fig8 , a cast metal 90 - degree elbow 20 is shown having an outer curved side 22 and an inner curved side 24 . referring to fig9 , the 90 - degree elbow 20 is shown in cross - section taken along line c - c of fig8 . the elbow 20 is a 3 ″× 3 ″ metal tube having a wall thickness of ¼ ″. the outer curved side 22 has a radius of curvature of 5¼ ″ and a length of approximately 8 . 2 ″ and the inner curved side 24 has a radius of curvature of 2¼ ″ and a length of approximately 3½ ″. due to the degree of the bend , the radius of the bend , and the wall thickness of the elbow 20 , it cannot generally be made by bending using known bending techniques and standard metals because the outer curved side 22 would be stretched to the point of cracking . the outer curved side 22 is more than 2 times as long as the inner curved side 24 and the radius of curvature of the inner curved side 24 is less than ¾ of the width of the elbow 20 ( i . e . 3 ″). referring again to fig8 , the ends of the elbow 20 are beveled 26 such that they are ready for butt welding to the ends of adjacent sections of metal tubing . ; referring to fig1 , a 2 ″× 2 ″× 3 / 16 ″ 90 - degree cast steel elbow 50 is shown butt - welded to adjacent sections of square tubing 60 . one butt - weld 52 is ground flush to the surface of the metal tube 60 and elbow 50 and the other butt - weld 54 is not . fig1 illustrates the basis of the present invention ; structures built from metal tubing wherein the curved joints or elbows are cast and welded to sections of metal tubing . referring to fig1 , a cab guard 70 for a truck is shown by way of example of a structure built according to the present invention . cab guards are designed to prevent objects on the bed or trailer of a truck from striking the cab of the truck . the cab guard 70 is constructed from 4 ″ steel square tubing and a steel mesh screen 72 . straight sections of square tubing 74 are butt welded to 90 - degree cast steel elbows 76 . referring to fig3 and 4 , right angle junctions between substantially straight sections of metal tube can be made according to the present invention by welding the ends of the substantially straight sections of metal tube to a cast 90 - degree curved elbow . when made according to the present invention , such junctions are easier to make , ( i . e . easier to weld ) less susceptible to lamellar tearing , less likely to cause bending of the substantially straight sections of tubing , generally stronger and lighter and more aesthetically pleasing than prior art junctions ( such as shown in fig3 and 4 ). the present invention also contemplates a method of constructing metal tube structures using cast curved elbows and / or joints . the method involves the welding together of sections of metal tubing to form the desired structure wherein the curved are cast rather than bent . the cast sections or components are welded to the other sections of metal tubing in the metal tube structure according to known welding techniques . in other words , structures that would normally require elbows or joints made by bending metal tubing if they were built according to prior art methods , can be built without using parts made by bending . accordingly , while this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments , this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications of the illustrative embodiments , as well as other embodiments of the invention , will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to this description . it is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments as fall within the true scope of the invention . | 1 |
the agile management portal program includes intranet / internet based software integrated in a process to help organizations such as companies , enterprises , and businesses , to be more agile . the program allows management teams , wherever located , to quickly plan , design , and work on a common portfolio of strategic goals and initiatives the teams believe will make the business grow and prosper , and to gain access to pre - populated external sources of knowledge , expertise and tools via the internet . agility management : in at least some circumstances , agility means being able to consistently grow and perform better than competitors in the marketplace over time , and agility management means linking strategic planning , project management , and high performance organizational principles into an integrated set of management tools , templates and services that enable organizations to be more agile . the agile manager can serve as a “ management portal ” through which people can view both internal organizational goals and external information available to help achieve these goals . the portal &# 39 ; s functional architecture is called the agile manager , and has four modules that can be used in a planning and management process : the agile manager , the agile company , the agile baseline , and agile know - how , ( 1 ) a business domain structure to which strategic goals and contributing initiatives can be linked . this structure creates a stem - to stem view of how the business works , including customer , value chain , organization and economic domains . this structure allows the user to enter and subsequently explore strategic goals and initiatives germane to either the organization as a whole or to a particular domain . once the user picks an area of interest , the user is effectively “ one click ” away from several context sensitive views about investments the organization is making to grow and improve performance . ( 2 ) a gap analysis facility that a management team can use to assess performance gaps and to design how any aspect of the domain structure would have to change to close these gaps . ( 3 ) the ability to create a portfolio of strategic goals and their contributing initiatives using either top down brainstorming or bottom - up association techniques . as a result , teams can effectively start with a clean sheet of paper and reinvent the business from scratch . or the teams can review an inventory of already on - going activities and relate these activities to each other and to overall strategic goals . having this portfolio available on - line — subject to permissioning controls — for all to see , keeps members of the organization aware of where they need to go , what it will take to get there , and what actions should be taken to stay on track . ( 4 ) a facility to draw people &# 39 ; s attention immediately to changes in the portfolio and its contents that are important to the people in view of their particular roles or interests . this facility gives various common and individualized views of different goals and initiatives that will help diverse groups of people to work together effectively . a history of these changes and related dates is also maintained . ( 5 ) a common attribute structure that provides information ( e . g ., costs , payback , priority , risks , due dates ) for any goal and contributing initiative so the goals and initiatives can be sorted against a piece of information to facilitate ongoing decision making . for example , if resources are limited , the user can sort initiatives by cost , payback , and priority , or if the user wants to see how the portfolio will affect any part of the organization , the user can sort by domain . ( 6 ) the ability to follow a context sensitive link to any goal or initiative and its relevant internal and external sources of knowledge deemed helpful to successful implementation . ( 7 ) a management action plan / agenda utility that managers can use to keep track of pending issues and actions for each strategic goal or initiative . as a result , users can learn about outstanding issues , upcoming agenda items , and the responsible parties . as a result , items are easily found and a user is allowed to see progress related issues before meetings , so that less time is needed to focus management meetings on substantive issues . ( 8 ) the agile manager also supports the agile company program , which includes content that executives can use to assess how well their organization matches high performance criteria and to suggest base - case template programs that can be adapted to accelerate developing agility . behind the agile company is content reflecting 20 traits and characteristics that capture fundamental principles underlying agile , high performing organizations ( 9 ) the agile baseline includes an accessible assessment tool that displays performance criteria that respondents then evaluate in terms of their organization &# 39 ; s competency relative to each criterion . the result of this input is displayed as a “ spider ” diagram that visually helps to convey the extent of any gaps that should be closed to improve competitiveness . the spider diagram helps people focus on opportunities for improvement and makes the rationale for change readily accessible to members of the organization . ( 10 ) agile know - how includes a subscription service that provides links to specific knowledge sources and tools that can be helpful to people working on different initiatives . this subscription service fits together with the agile manager so the knowledge is accessible in the context in which it is needed . when the agile manager and its modules are used in conjunction with the agility management process , people are better able to work together in a way demonstrated to be correlated with high performance : fosters a more adaptive culture ( e . g ., to relish change and fight inertia ): linking goals , projects and their attributes and being able to sort the portfolio to focus on a particular aspect facilitates adapting to changes when they occur . helps align users behind strategic goals and contributing projects : getting users to “ see ” in simple outline form where the organization wants to go to grow and prosper , and what it &# 39 ; s going to take to get there , which enables users to understand the strategy and to keep their own projects in alignment . helps employees act and be treated like owners : when people can see a model of the organization and understand how it works they are better able to make decisions about what is important , much as if they owned the organization . helps make decisions based on benefits and risks to the business : linking proposed initiatives to the model of the organization , and to costs , paybacks , and priorities makes it easier to understand the benefits and risks that could result . provides well managed structure that encourages teamwork across boundaries : the ability to understand and be informed of changes elsewhere in the organization enhances the ability to work across different disciplines and locations . encourages people to continuously look for ways to improve the business : enabling management team members to review a table of contents of their business , and to assess gaps between how good they need to be and where they are currently , and to set goals for closing these gaps ; this ability of individuals or teams to step back and to “ see ” the table of contents and to reflect on what changes need to be made to be different in the marketplace and to improve performance is a key ingredient in creating a culture that continually looks for ways to improve the business . helps people understand better how the pieces of the business work together : the model of the business gives viewers an integrated view of how the business works and how they relate , which provides a valuable context for understanding why something that does not entirely make sense locally could be proper for the business as a whole . keeps users focused on successfully implementing strategic priorities : the ability to constantly view and be aware of what is in the approved strategic goals and initiatives portfolio keeps members of the organization aligned around common strategic priorities . makes the management process more cost effective by having information and knowledge available when it is needed : the linking of plans , goals , resources , people and projects into a relational database accessible via the internet makes valuable information available almost immediately . to use agility manager effectively , an organization may use an intranet with widespread email and web browser usage . agility manager is compatible with modern email systems and with microsoft and netscape web browsers . typically , no other client - side software is required . agility manager combines sophisticated application code with powerful , industry standard server components . the agility manager server includes a database server , a web application server , and application code written in server - side java . agility manager can use a microsoft or oracle database server . for example , agility manager may be run on an ibm websphere application server , or may run on other java - based application servers . the agility manager may run on windows nt or solaris or other operating environments . agility manager may be installed on an internal server , or may be hosted on a server such as a web server and connected via internet or virtual private net . mailers : email client with click - through url linking , such as notes , outlook , outlook express , eudora , communicator . database server : ms sql 6 . 5 oracle 8 database administration capability is typically required . mail system : smtp compatible , such as notes , exchange , sendmail , smail , postoffice . mailers : email client with click - through url linking , such as notes , outlook , outlook express , eudora , communicator . integration and source code fig1 is a map of the basic structure of the suite of software that shows key functions performed by the agile manager and ways in which users can get access to other modules of the suite . the sequence of the map illustrates logical paths users take as different aspects of the goal hierarchy are considered , from deciding what belongs and why , designing and modifying goals and contributing projects , monitoring and pursuing issues related to implementation progress , and getting to specific knowledge found helpful to the context of any particular initiative . a screen by screen description is provided below . the agility management program helps leaders , managers , and staff conduct normal management practices in everyday corporate life while quickly and effectively using the power of the internet to gain access to knowledge needed to make decisions . thus , the program helps leaders and managers to execute daily operations successfully , to continually improve the way they do business to keep abreast of changing competitive conditions and to deliver increasing value to their customers and owners . technology is transforming virtually every aspect of commerce , and globalization and deregulation are making competition more complex . these forces are causing organizations to go through planning and execution cycles to launch multiple new initiatives to cope . to do this , organizations routinely make assessments of their performance — they consider best practices , they survey customer opinions , they examine market and competitive trends and practices ; they create task forces and hire consultants who generate findings and conclusions . to handle these conclusions , organizations conduct planning to establish goals and design initiatives to improve their performance — they hold retreats to develop these visions and they decide on priorities and allocate resources to fund initiatives to bring these visions to fruition . to execute these initiatives , organizations assign staff and hire outside expertise and know - how to get the results they want . to get the results to stick , organizations undertake change management programs to bring people and organizational behaviors into line with what the new initiatives require . the agility management program software enables people to get organized and communicate much easier and faster as they go through these planning and execution cycles , and to gain access to knowledge and tools that will help them understand how to implement their initiatives more successfully . fig2 illustrates the relationship between the agile manager and common planning practices . the planning / execution process is repeated again and again across organizations in different departments , functional areas , and lines of business . it is not uncommon for literally hundreds of initiatives to be underway in units across an organization . some of the initiatives are local initiatives to improve a specific operation and typically do not need to be coordinated with other initiatives . many initiatives , however , have multiple components that should be coordinated so that they contribute to the accomplishment of a single overarching goal . for instance , a new product requires that processes across the organization from sales and marketing , through operations and manufacturing , and technology to human resources be integrated and aligned so that the product will be introduced in time to exploit an opportunity in the marketplace . similarly , introduction of new technology , such as a new workstation , often requires coordination of units from information technology , sales and marketing , human resource training , and administration before the new technology can be put into beneficial use . the agile manager not only facilitates the planning / execution cycle for any particular goal or initiative , but also allows the user to put all the priority goals and each priority goal &# 39 ; s contributing initiatives into a strategic implementation portfolio or hierarchy ( fig3 .). the portfolio view relates contributing initiatives or projects to their overarching goals and to each other , and allows the user to sort these initiatives , projects , or goals in a variety of ways . for example , the user can sort the initiatives in terms of their impact on the domain structure of the organization , by strategic factors such as cost , payback , and priority , or according to the status and stage the goals and initiatives are in to allow better management . people throughout an organization have distinct roles to play in the formulation and implementation of plans . traditionally , these roles have been substantially formalized , with senior levels likely to do the planning and lower levels likely to do the implementation . modern email and voice communication have flattened organizational structures by allowing ordinary employees to get access to information on their own without depending on senior levels as the source of knowledge . the agile manager allows effectively everyone to see the goals and projects important to the company and , as shown on fig4 , helps people to play specific roles with a clear picture of the initiatives involved and allows people to contribute ideas . overview of how the software integrates with a process in the agility management program as shown in fig5 , the agility management program reflects principles of effective management of high performing organizations . the following describes a typical sequence of how a management user / team might use the agile manager . the particular example is drawn from an actual implementation of the agile manager linking strategic corporate goals and information technology initiatives . the agile manager structure allows many different business applications , and a key problem it helps solve is bridging a communication gap between business users and their technical counterparts so both sides work off the same page . the first sequence , for planning , starts with users viewing their domain structure ( fig6 ) and deciding where they want to set a new goal ( see fig7 ). users can view the domain structure at different levels of depth from the highest level ( shown in fig6 ) to lower levels showing sub - components within each domain ( see fig8 ). if they wish , users can display already existing goals ( see fig9 ), which helps them to understand what &# 39 ; s in the current hierarchy , which can help address issues such as whether particular domains are sufficiently active and whether some existing goals may no longer be appropriate . once users have reviewed current activity and debated where the company needs to devote attention to improve future performance , they can select any domain and select an agile baseline mode (“ baseline ”). baseline allows users to critique the selected domain in terms of criteria that the agile manager suggests ( see fig1 ), or that they provide or modify themselves . once the users have agreed on the criteria and reached consensus about both how good the criteria need to be and how good the criteria currently are , the results are displayed in a spider diagram ( see fig1 ). the spider diagram helps to capture the users &# 39 ; assessment of the current situation and to explain why the domain has been selected for developing new goals to be included in the hierarchy . subsequently , users can return to baseline to reassess whether improvement goals and projects that have been undertaken have in fact been successful . this reassessment can suggest new gap areas where new initiatives may be appropriate , or indicate that not enough has been accomplished to sufficiently improve the situation . after exercising baseline , users may establish a new goal ( by a “ new goal ” button on the domain screens ) ( see fig7 for the screen that appears when the button is pushed ) to improve performance . once established , the new goal takes its place in the goal hierarchy and management can decide what should happen next . for example , even if a goal “ expand business with the most profitable customers ” has been entered , ideas related to the goal have not been entirely fleshed out , resources have not been allocated , plans have not been formulated , and accountability has not been assigned . the goal is without projects necessary to bring about the desired results . to begin to put these projects together , users can use the gap analysis feature to view each domain and sub - domain in terms of how each domain or sub - domain would have to change if the goal is to be achieved . as users identify these changes , they create in effect a vision of a different company that would achieve the goal ( see fig1 ). in this example , two projects or goals to expand business with profitable customers are : to deepen relationships with high net worth clients , and to have profitable products for every segment . each of these two projects or goals may also in turn be analyzed in the gap analysis process to create other projects or goals that will make them a reality . as these projects or goals are defined , they are added to the goals hierarchy ( see fig3 ) that provides access to the strategic hierarchy of goals and contributing projects or goals that the company is working on to improve performance . if the user wants to get more information about the new goal or any goal listed in the hierarchy , the user clicks on the goal of interest to get to summary information as shown in fig1 for the goal “ expand business with most profitable customers .” in summary , the planning sequence allows the user to update company plans either by starting with a clean sheet of paper and brainstorming a new goal and the projects that would bring it about , or by reviewing the existing hierarchy of goals and projects and deciding whether something is missing ; thus , the hierarchy typically includes a combination of new ideas being considered and maturing goals and projects that are in the process of implementation . the agile manager allows managers to keep the hierarchy of goals and contributing goals in constant view and up - to - date with changing circumstances . the hierarchy can be viewed as a totality of goals and contributing goals affecting the enterprise ( see fig3 ), or can be viewed by top goals ( see fig1 ), depending on the user &# 39 ; s interest , or by specific top goal ( see fig1 ). in addition , the user can view the hierarchy against certain types of information that help inform the user about the impact of goals on the business domains ( see fig1 ) or the priority ( see fig1 ) or impact of each of the goals , or about its status , stage of development , or ownership accountability ( see fig1 ). because these different views are a click away , the agile manager supports a dynamic decision making process where discussion can move quickly from strategic to tactical considerations . for example , if the topic is budgets , the user can sort by goal or project cost ( see fig1 ), or by priority or return on investment (“ payback ”) ( see fig1 ) and can be provided with information that can help the user decide where to commit resources based on factors such as benefit and risk . in another example , when managers meet and want to focus on key implementation issues , they can opt to switch to viewing “ status ” factors and can view goals or projects by status ( e . g ., on track or in need of attention ) ( see fig1 ), which stage each is in ( see fig2 ), risks , or who is responsible . without the agile manager , each view would likely require a special study or report ; the agile manager makes these different views available at a moment &# 39 ; s notice . in addition , managers who want to explore any goal or project in more detail can click on the goal or project of interest and get more information . similarly , managers who see something missing while reviewing the overall hierarchy can select “ new goal ” from the menu and enter a new goal or project ( see fig2 ). in at least some embodiments , an especially important view managers can use to manage the hierarchy is a view in which the goals and projects are sorted by domain . this view can be produced for any of a number of levels , e . g ., for the entire hierarchy ( see fig1 ) or for a selected goal in isolation ( see fig2 ). a purpose of this view is to allow managers to understand quickly what initiatives are underway or will affect an aspect of the business . for instance , if a question arises regarding what is being done about market trends , managers can click on any topic on the domain structure ( e . g . customer relationships ) ( see fig2 ) and see immediately what initiatives are underway related to this topic ( see fig2 ). users can also execute searches by name or word in the title of a goal or project ( see fig2 ), and can put alerts in place ( see fig2 ) that will flag changes that occur in goals or projects previously indicated as being of particular interest ( see fig2 ). a major purpose of the agile manager , in addition to planning and managing the overall portfolio of goals and projects ( i . e . the hierarchy ), is to help managers accelerate implementation progress related to a goal and its contributing projects . a user has an array of choices to view when reviewing the progress of a selected goal . ( the choices available depend on the permission that is granted by the owner of a goal to different types of users ( see fig2 )). a “ summary ” page ( see fig1 ) contains information about the goal itself that can be edited ( see fig2 ). other main views for helping to manage include “ progress ” ( see fig2 ) that displays the contributing projects or goals that must be finished or achieved before the parent goal can be fully accomplished . the “ progress ” view allows managers to view progress for the contributing projects side - by - side to determine whether the projects are properly synchronized or are out of phase with each other . other features are useful for managers and teams executing goals and contributing projects . a “ discussion ” feature ( see fig3 ) allows a user on the system to communicate directly about , and in the context of , the goal or project of interest . the owner of a goal can also select a particularly important part of the discussion and put it on an agenda ( see fig3 ). another useful feature includes an ability to link to internal and external sources of information that goal or project teams believe are important to make accessible to users involved ( see fig3 and 33 ). the links provide a practical application of knowledge management because the links allow teams to place information effectively or actually one click away so users can get at the information without excessively disturbing the state of the software . for example , users can hot - link to and open a detailed microsoft project plan if the plan is useful to the discussions . users can place word documents related to the goal where the documents can be found , and open the documents when needed . similarly , users can link to web sites of outside consultants or suppliers that may be related to the goal at hand . in this way , users can start using the software through the domain structure , find out the relevant issues , and access relevant knowledge context sensitively along the way . the above sections have laid out a description of agile manager and the agile baseline module . in addition , the agile manager includes the agile company and agile know - how modules . the agile company can be added to or made accessible from the agile manager and provides a survey that employees can take to assess how well the company or organization is managed in view of high performance criteria . the agile company software can be downloaded onto the client &# 39 ; s server and a user on the network can complete a questionnaire of multiple pages , such as 20 pages , ( exemplified in fig3 ) and then the software can tabulate results to show strengths and weaknesses for sample analysis . the agile company also has templates that can be made available to help clients get started with a change program designed to improve specific high performance traits . the goal “ expand business with most profitable customers ” shown in fig3 is set up with such a template . agile know - how links users to excerpts of publications about topics relevant to the goals and projects in which they &# 39 ; re involved . for instance , the user can stipulate concepts , such as leadership , and specific aspects of the concept , such as senior leadership , and the kind of information needed , such as understanding the concepts , or how to be a good leader , and then get excerpts that match the needed information . in this regard , the agile manager enables an organization to use the agile manager as a single source for not only information about strategic initiatives but also knowledge available inside and outside the organization that can help make the organization more agile . the goal hierarchy screen is the default screen ( see fig3 ) and an important navigational screen for accessing details about any single goal or initiative , or accessing various views . once the goals and contributing projects have been loaded , the default screen presents a goal hierarchy and can be used as follows : hierarchy : the left side of the screen presents an outline the top section of which represents the organization &# 39 ; s strategic implementation plan , i . e ., in which the top level statements represent strategic goals that are the highest level organization goals , and the next indented level statements represent contributing initiatives that are indicated as having to be completed for the strategic goals to be achieved . a user authorized to see the portfolio view can see where the organization wants to go and what it will take to get there , with the goals and projects associated together in one spot . unassociated goals : the goals and initiatives under this heading are indicated as being either no longer relevant strategically or not yet placed in the hierarchy . functions from this screen : if a user is unhappy with the placement of a goal or initiative or wants to adjust attributes of the goal or initiative , the user has only to click on a goal or initiative listed to retrieve its related information . for example , a click on the initiative takes the user to a summary screen ( see fig1 for example ) for this initiative . the following information fields are available for any goal or initiative : heading : the entry shows the name of the goal or initiative for which basic information is displayed on this screen . owner : this entry lists the name of the person responsible for implementation of the goal or initiative and authorized to edit its related information . parent goal : this entry lists the name of the goal or initiative immediately above or superior to the initiative that is active . an advantage of showing the parent goal is that a user working on the initiative is instructed that the initiative is contributing to the parent goal . objective : this entry shows the objective of the initiative so a user is instructed as to what the initiative is specifically to accomplish . history : the entry maintains a running log of changes made to the initiative , and indicated by whom and when . here is recorded when the project was created and when delegated to the current owner . the changes are monitored by the computer so that the user can identify which changes the user wants to have flagged automatically when they are made ( see view alerts below ). status : this entry identifies the category such as “ on - time ,” chosen to summarize the status of the goal or initiative &# 39 ; s progress , so that the user can determine at a glance whether the goal or initiative is in need of attention . the categories listed here can be modified to fit each client situation when an edit mode is selected . due date : this entry indicates the date by which the initiative is to be achieved . priority : the benefit entry presents a numerical score from 1 ( lowest ) to 5 ( highest ) based on user judgment about the relative value of the initiative or goal in terms of improving the business results . for example , the goal may be rated 3 of 5 , i . e ., average . an advantage of a simple rating is that users can quickly understand the rating scale and then discuss specifically the reasons behind the rating . risk : this field presents a 1 to 5 numerical score that indicates a risk level for the goal or initiative , such as that the team is new , that the technology is untested , or that the market is new . by keeping track of risk , managers can work proactively to reduce risk and thus increase the probability of a successful implementation . in addition , when there are resource constraints , decisions about which initiatives to continue to pursue may depend on a combination of benefit scores and risk scores to indicate how much managers can count on achieving the initiative and having a positive impact on the business . for example , with a priority score of 3 that is lower than a risk score of 4 , a question might be raised about whether to continue to fund the initiative if there are other initiatives that have better benefit / risk characteristics . project code : ( not shown ) this field allows an alphanumeric identifier to be assigned for administrative purposes . stage : the stage field shows where in the project life cycle the goal or initiative is so that a user can keep track of how the goal or initiative is progressing and what remains to be done . for example , the initiative shown is in the “ start up ” stage . in the edit mode , several stages are displayed from which the owner can pick one that is descriptive of the status of the initiative . investment : this field captures the cost of or investment in each particular goal or initiative so the user can readily access financial information related to decision making and priorities . payback : the payback field refers to the economic return anticipated for achievement of the particular goal or initiative . in conjunction with the investment field , the payback field can allow a ratio of return on investment to be produced , which ratio may play a key decision making role in an assessment of the relative value of one initiative versus another . rank : ( not shown ) this field is available for formulas developed for each client for calculating the ranking of each goal and initiative , including the combined values of initiatives contributing to a particular strategic goal . score : ( not shown ) the score field relates to a unique calculation of the cumulative value of each goal and initiative based on weighting techniques appropriate to the user ( e . g ., alignment with corporate values , brand , payback , competitive position , management attitudes ). both the rank and score fields are provided to help users prioritize goals and initiatives in the portfolio . edit button : when a user clicks on the edit button , the user is taken immediately to the basic goal edit screen ( see fig2 ) which allows the authorized owner to modify the basic information about the particular goal or initiative that has been selected . the project name and description fields are for text , the due date is for calendar completion date information , and the other fields such as domain , status , benefit and risk priority , and stage present pop - up menus . when changes are submitted , the changes are automatically accessible to whoever uses the system and are captured in the history log . delegate button : this button allows the user to designate or redesignate the individual who is the owner of the goal or initiative by going to the delegate screen ( see fig3 ) and searching through names of candidates to whom responsibility can be delegated . delete button : when this button is selected , the user is automatically asked whether the goal or initiative is to be deleted and , if so , the goal or initiative is deleted and archived in case subsequent retrieval becomes necessary . project menu : this pop - up menu lists the choices of views the user can access from the basic goal info screen as regards the active goal or initiative that has been selected . the view choices include the following : control panel : when this choice is made the user is presented with the control panel view ( see fig2 ) and can review the permissioning rules . if the rules are satisfactory , the user can retreat and proceed along another path . if the rules need to be changed , the user clicks the edit button and is presented with another version of the control panel that can be edited and submitted . only the authorized owner is able to make changes . project briefing : if the user wants to understand better how the active goal or initiative relates to the parent goal , the user can click on this choice and will be presented with the project briefing screen ( see fig3 ). here salient information is displayed from the objective field in the basic information related to the selected goal ( see fig3 ). in addition , sources of knowledge that may be helpful to access are listed so that the user can hot - link to them if need be . in a typical embodiment , this screen cannot be edited and is just a view . goal components : when the user makes this choice , the user is presented with a goal components screen ( see fig3 ) and , in a typical embodiment , views only the contributing goals that are related to the parent goal . from this screen the user can access different functions including : select parent : when the user wants to change the position of an initiative in the hierarchy , the user clicks on this button and is taken to the select new parent screen ( see fig3 ). on this screen the user can either search for the new parent goal or initiative if the user knows its name , or click on “ select from project hierarchy ” and be presented with another screen that lists the hierarchy . the user then selects a goal or initiative as the new parent , and when the user clicks on this selection , the original initiative is associated with the new parent and shows up so associated in the hierarchy . add subproject : when the user , wants to add a new subordinate initiative with which the user is working , the user can use the “ add ” button to view new goal screen ( see fig7 ) and enter information about the new initiative using the standard template . when the information is entered , the new initiative is placed appropriately in the hierarchy . add milestone : this button allows the user to flag and define major milestones in the initiative , which can be useful for adding more detail if appropriate for monitoring significant targets . the create milestone screen allows the user to name and define the milestone and to set a finish date and status . project history : this button takes the user to a display of project history ( see fig4 ) that shows when changes were made , from creation of the initiative to modifications to any of its attributes . this history can be very valuable for tracking key events in the life of a goal or initiative for analytic or other reasons . from this screen the user can also add comments to explain particular events , or add new events . links : this button takes the user to a view ( see fig3 ) of the links to any knowledge sources that the initiative team has chosen to put here so that the knowledge sources will be accessible to any members when necessary . an advantage of this facility is that with the domain structure linked to goals and initiatives and with knowledge linked to the goals and initiatives , the organization is provided with a clear and natural organization for placing and locating critical information when needed . from this screen the user can add links ( see fig3 ). gaps analysis : this button takes the user to the list of contributing goals / projects ( with actual and desired weightings ) by domain - screen ( see fig1 ). from this list the user can determine whether the changes for each key domain have been identified . if the user is dissatisfied , the user can either select the edit button and change specific information about one or more of the existing contributing goals / projects or click on “ add ” to get to the edit contributing goal screen ( see fig7 ). in the latter case , the user can select a domain and enter the name of a new initiative , its actual achievement weighting ( based on current status ) and desired achievement weighting ( based on the importance of this initiative to achieving the parent goal ). when the new initiative idea is submitted , the software displays the gap analysis view with the new initiative added . the user can continue to add new contributing goals / projects by domain . when the user is comfortable that the domains have been covered , the user can click on a listed goal name and proceed directly to its summary screen to begin to flesh out more information about its characteristics such as its owner and objective . in at least some cases , the value of the gap analysis is substantial , because it allows users to brainstorm what changes in the domain structure need to be made if a particular goal or initiative is to be implemented successfully . in this regard , the combination of domain structure and gap analysis keeps members of the organization focused on how the organization works and where improvements need to be made for strategic or tactical reasons . view menu : the menu at the top of the goal hierarchy screen ( see fig2 ) give the user access to hierarchical views that facilitate decision making related to creating the hierarchy itself , reviewing status , or flagging changes particularly interesting to the user . a description of each of the buttons is set forth in the following sections : select domain : when this is selected the domain structure screen is presented ( see fig2 ). all goals view : when this button is clicked , the user is presented with screen ( see fig1 ) which repeats the hierarchy on the left and adds relevant information on the right in five categories useful to users when the users want to assess the validity of the current goal hierarchy , including cost , payback priority , domain , and due date ( expressed as time remaining before expected completion ). from this screen , the user can select other views where the hierarchy is sorted by category represented by the column heading , e . g ., is sorted in descending order of costs , screen ( see fig1 ), thereby helping people decide whether the level of investment required can be afforded . likewise , using column headings as buttons , the user can sort the hierarchy into various views according to payback ( see fig1 ), priority ( see fig1 ), domain ( see fig1 ), or due date . these views facilitate meetings and deliberations where users need to quickly produce a variety of sorted views to achieve the variety of perspectives needed to reach informed decisions . for example , a view sorted by payback , with cost information also visible , helps users decide whether the return on investment will be sufficient to justify financially . sorting by priority allows users to view the relative weightings that have been given to the goals and initiatives based on factors deemed important from a prioritization perspective . in a typical case , from a strategic perspective , the view sort by domain is highly desirable because this view shows how the goals and initiatives affect different aspects of the organization , e . g ., from dealing with customers , to processes , organization , and economics . as a result , users can make common sense decisions about , for example , whether all the needed changes in all the domains have been accounted for . status view : this button takes the user to various views of the portfolio sorted by information fields that indicate how well the goal or initiative is progressing . when the button is clicked , the projects by status screen ( see fig1 ) is presented , sorted by status categories and showing other column headings that can be clicked on to get projects by stage ( see fig2 ) or by owner , projects by risk , and projects by due date . armed with these views , users can decide where to focus their attention to keep projects on track . alerts view : this button takes the user to the project alerts view ( see fig2 ) which shows changes a particular user has identified as being of particular interest . from this view , the user can access the set alerts and set alertsedit screens and modify the goals and types of changes the computer is to monitor and flag on the user &# 39 ; s behalf . in a typical embodiment , the agile manager is accessible from every desktop , with appropriate security clearances , for individual or team use on - line , with print out ability for manual use , and for electronic projection to facilitate team meetings . the software is flexible and is arranged to allow the user to make non - structural changes in , for example , the specifics contained . the user changes the “ base case ” to reflect the desired language and sub - domain elements . as a result , the more the tool is used , the more the tool comes to reflect the user and the user tends to become proficient with the tool . the technique ( i . e ., at least a portion of one or more of the procedures described above ) may be implemented in hardware or software , or a combination of both . in some cases , it is advantageous if the method is implemented in computer programs executing on programmable computers that each include a processor , a storage medium readable by the processor ( including volatile and non - volatile memory and / or storage elements ), at least one input device such as a keyboard , and at least one output device . program code is applied to data entered using the input device to perform the procedure described above and to generate output information . the output information is applied to one or more output devices . in some cases , it is advantageous if each program is implemented in a high level procedural or object - oriented programming language such as microsoft c or c ++ to communicate with a computer system . the programs can be implemented in assembly or machine language , if desired . in any case , the language may be a compiled or interpreted language . in some cases , it is advantageous if each such computer program is stored on a storage medium or device ( e . g ., rom or magnetic diskette ) that is readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computer when the storage medium or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described in this document . the system may also be considered to be implemented as a computer - readable storage medium that has been configured with a computer program , where the storage medium as configured with the program causes a computer to operate in a specific and predefined manner . | 7 |
as required , detailed embodiments of the present inventions are disclosed herein ; however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention , which may be embodied in various forms . 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 present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure . referring now to fig1 , a front and left side view of the bender rail and driver components of a stitching head 10 is shown . a frame piece 12 is provided having a bender rail 14 movably connected thereto . bender rail 14 is provided with a cam 16 which is connected to bender rail 14 . cam 16 , as more completely identified hereinafter , is comprised of a first leg 32 which is a force - applying leg and a second leg 34 which is a force - redirecting leg . the operation and effect of these two cam legs 32 , 34 will be further described hereinafter . a cam follower 36 is provided which travels the path of cam 16 . the construction and operation of cam follower 36 will be further described hereinafter . still referring to fig1 , driver 20 is connected to bender rail 14 and driver 20 slidably moves within tracks 6 on either side of bender rail 14 . during operation , a staple 7 is disposed directly below driver 20 . staple 7 also rides in tracks 6 . driver 20 is connected to driver rail 22 by cam follower 36 . referring to fig4 , cam follower 36 is comprised of several components that connect driver rail 22 to driver 20 . more particularly , cam follower 36 is comprised of a cam follower upper link 26 which is pivotally connected to driver rail 22 by cam follower upper roller 24 . cam follower 36 also has a lower link 30 which is connected to driver 20 by cam follower lower roller 28 . upper link 26 and lower link 30 of cam follower 36 are pivotally connected by cam follower transition roller 18 which extends into cam 16 such that the movement of upper link 26 and lower link 30 comprising cam follower 36 is directed by the pathway formed by cam 16 . it is cam follower transition roller 18 which travels along the path presented by cam 16 ( fig1 ). as will be described hereinafter , the position of cam follower 36 as determined by the position of transition roller 18 within cam 16 determines the amount of force that is communicated from driver rail 22 through cam follower 36 and to driver 20 . this variation in the application of force will be further described hereinafter with reference to fig1 - 4 . referring now to fig1 - 4 , the application of force to achieve the insertion of a staple 7 into a work piece 5 ( fig1 ) will be described . first referring to fig1 , bender rail 14 is shown extended from frame 12 and in position to contact and compress a work piece 5 prefatory to the insertion of a staple 7 into the work piece 5 by driver 20 . also shown in fig1 , driver 20 is in its uppermost position as limited by transition roller 18 of cam follower 36 ( fig4 ) within force - applying leg 32 of cam 16 . it will be appreciated that cam 16 is connected to bender rail 14 , therefore , the position of cam 16 with respect to frame 12 is determined by the thickness of the work piece 5 which bender rail 14 contacts . it also will be appreciated that as the thickness of work piece 5 increases the vertical distance traveled by driver 20 within bender rail 14 decreases and as a work piece 5 becomes thinner , bender rail 14 is further downwardly extended with respect to frame 12 and the distance traveled by driver 20 becomes greater . this variation in the distance traveled by driver 20 with respect to bender rail 14 as being dependent upon the thickness of a work piece 5 will become clear as the operation of stitch head 10 is further described . again referring to fig1 , transition roller 18 of cam follower 36 is shown in the uppermost position permitted by cam 16 and which is the position of transition roller 18 and driver 20 just prior to the initiation of a downward stroke for insertion of a staple by stitch head 10 . in operation transition roller 18 then moves downwardly from the position shown in fig1 . this movement is in response to the downward movement of driver rail 22 , the movement of which is governed by the actuating bar ( not shown ) of the stitching machine ( not shown ) into which stitch head 10 has been inserted . the downward movement of driver rail 22 is communicated through cam follower 36 and to driver 20 which begins the forcing of a staple 7 into work piece 5 . it will be appreciated that the orientation of force - applying leg 32 provides a generally straight - line connection between driver rail 22 and driver 20 thereby communicating the entire force applied to driver rail 22 to driver 20 for the insertion of a staple into a work piece 5 . it also will be appreciated by comparing the position of driver 20 in fig1 to the position of driver 20 shown in fig2 that downward movement of driver 20 has been generated as a result of the downward movement of driver rail 22 communicated through transition roller 18 and cam follower 36 as governed by the pathway of cam 16 . referring now to fig2 , transition roller 18 of cam follower 36 is in the transition area at which the path established by cam 16 changes from a force - applying leg 32 into a force - redirecting path established by force - redirecting leg 34 of cam 16 . it will be appreciated by a comparison of the position of driver 20 in fig2 with the position shown in fig1 that downward progress of driver 20 has occurred as transition roller has been further moved along force - applying leg 32 of cam 16 by driver rail 22 . as transition roller 18 enters the initial portion of force - redirecting leg 34 of cam 16 and driver 20 is shown nearly to the end of bender rail 14 at which point the crown ( the portion that connects the two legs of the staple ) of staple 7 would be in contact with the work piece 5 . with the staple crown in contact with the work piece , further downward driving of the staple 7 into the work piece 5 can be terminated . as transition roller 18 moves further along force - redirecting leg 34 of cam 16 the position of driver 20 becomes even with the end of bender rail 14 . it is at this position of driver 20 that the crown of a staple 7 would be pressed against work piece 5 and the termination of downward force by driver 20 against the staple crown should occur . terminating additional downward force will avoid pressing the staple crown into the work piece and / or through the work piece 5 thereby causing damage to the work piece and a stitching failure . to avoid further downward pressure against the staple by driver 20 the force being applied by driver rail 22 either must be terminated or redirected to avoid the further application of force to a staple being inserted by driver 20 . this redirection of force is accomplished by further movement of cam follower 36 along force - redirecting leg 34 of cam 16 as shown in fig3 . in the end position of force - redirecting leg 34 no further downward movement of driver 20 occurs even though additional downward movement of driver rail 22 occurs and transition roller 18 travels farther along force - redirecting leg 34 of cam 16 . it is the movement of cam follower transition roller 18 along force - redirecting leg 34 of cam 16 that redirects the force being applied by driver rail 22 and avoids further downward movement of driver 20 and further insertion of a staple into work piece 5 . inspection of the shape of cam 16 as shown in fig1 - 4 shows that the path of force - applying leg 32 of cam 16 is generally in a straight line with , or parallel to , the direction of travel of driver rail 22 . in contrast , the path of force - redirecting leg 34 of cam 16 changes to a direction that is approximately 22 degrees from the path of force - applying leg 32 . this change in path direction results in the downward force from driver rail 22 being redirected along the path established by force - redirecting leg 34 with some of the force being put to the purpose of pivoting the force - applying leg 32 and the force - redirecting leg 34 about cam follower transition roller 18 . this redirection of the force being delivered by driver rail 22 results in reduction and termination of the downward movement of driver 20 and the force delivered to driver 20 from driver rail 22 . interlock and release mechanism for engagement of bender rail with driver for driver rail with driver referring now to fig5 an embodiment is shown for the releasable interlocking or engagement of bender rail 82 with driver 80 and for the releasable interlocking or engagement of for drive rail 88 with driver 80 during the staple insertion process . it will be appreciated that while different reference numbers are now employed the continuation of the same or similar structure names as used on fig1 - 4 is intended to reference the same or similar structures as was presented previously in those figures . in fig5 driver 80 is shown interlocked with bender rail 82 as flange 84 is spring biased , or mechanically pressed , to be rotated to contact shoulder 86 of bender rail 82 thereby connecting the bender rail 82 with the driver 80 for joint movement as the driver 80 receives force from the driver rail 88 . also shown in fig5 and 6 is the interlocking of driver 80 with driver rail 88 by the abutting of hip 90 ( fig6 ) of flange 92 on shoulder 91 of driver rail 88 . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that with bender rail 82 and driver 80 and drive rail 88 connected together that the downward motion of these structures begins the formation of the staple 7 ( fig1 ) as the force from the actuator bar ( not shown ) is communicated through the drive rail 88 to the bender rail 82 to shape wire into a staple having a crown and two legs extending from either end of the crown . still referring to fig5 and 6 , driver 80 is released from engagement with bender rail 82 . the disengagement is achieved as the result of cam follower 94 on flange 84 being pressed inwardly to caused flange 84 to be rotated off of shoulder 86 as cam follower 94 arrives at point b on cam 96 . this allows driver 80 to continue to move separately from bender rail 82 to continue downward movement to force the staple through the workpiece . bender rail 82 has previously ended its movement downward upon bender rail 82 contacting the workpiece ( not shown ). in fig6 and 7 , driver 80 is unlocked from driver rail 88 by the rotation and release of hip 90 of flange 92 from engagement or interlock with shoulder 91 on driver rail 88 . this disengagement or release occurs when driver 80 reaches the end or tip of bender rail 82 which is in contact with the workpiece 5 . it is at this point in the operation of stitching head 10 that the staple 7 has been inserted into the workpiece 5 and further downward movement of driver 80 is not needed and would cause the staple 7 to be driven too far into the work piece 5 . the increased resistance driver 80 receives upon contacting the workpiece 5 at the conclusion of the staple 7 insertion is sufficient to urge flange 92 to move hip 90 along shoulder 91 which results in the rotation of flange 92 against flexible rod 93 which has , up to this point in the operation , biased hip 90 of flange 92 against shoulder 91 . this rotation of flange 92 allows the disengagement of hip 90 from shoulder 91 and the disengagement of driver 80 from driver rail 88 . as a result driver 80 is released from drive rail 88 and the additional downward movement of the driver rail 88 as caused by the actuator bar ( not shown ) does not transmit force to the driver 80 . | 1 |
referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first , particularly to fig1 , and 3 thereof , there is shown a cooking appliance 2 according to the invention . the appliance 2 has at least one cooking area 4 with a gas heating device 6 having a gas burner 8 with at least one , preferably , two or more , flame rings which are formed by gas outlet openings 10 . the heating output of the gas heating device can be adjusted at a manual adjusting element 12 , for example , a rotary knob , between a minimum gas heating output and a maximum gas heating output . the at least one cooking area 4 has , in addition to the gas heating device 6 , that is to say , in addition to the gas burner 8 , an electric heating device 14 having at least one electric heating element 16 whose heating output can be adjusted between a minimum electrical heating output and a maximum electrical heating output , the minimum electrical heating output being lower than the minimum gas heating output of the gas heating device 6 . the electric heating element 16 , for example , a tubular heating element , surrounds the gas burner 8 , for example , in a ring shape , and , preferably , at a constant distance . the upper surface of the electric heating element 16 is constructed as a heat transfer surface and a supporting surface , on which a vessel in the form of a pot or a pan can be placed to heat or cook foodstuffs and / or beverages . the electric heating element 16 is inserted into upper depressions 20 in arms 22 of a pan support 24 and is carried by this pan support 24 . a vessel that can be put onto the cooking area is , therefore , carried primarily by the pan support 24 , while the contact made between the base of the vessel and the electric heating element 16 merely serves for heat transfer to the pan . according to a modified embodiment , the electric heating element 16 is integrated into the pan support 24 . at the operating element 12 , it is possible to adjust manually not only the gas heating output of the gas burner 8 but also the electric heating output of the electric heating element 16 . the operating element 12 has a gas adjusting range i marked on the operating panel 26 for the gas heating device 6 with its gas burner 8 , and an electrical adjusting range ii for the electric heating device 14 with its electric heating element 16 . see fig3 . the two adjustment ranges i and ii are disposed one after another on a defined movement path of a tip 28 of the adjusting element 12 . the lowest gas heating output is adjacent the highest electrical heating output . the two adjoin at the point designated “ ⅙ ” and , by using the operating element 12 , a change can optionally be made from the lowest gas heating output to the highest electrical heating output at the point designated “ ⅙ ”. the adjustable highest gas heating output is designated “{ fraction ( 1 / 1 )}” at the other end of the gas adjustment range i . the lowest electrical heating output is designated “{ fraction ( 6 / 100 )}” at the other end of the electrical adjustment range ii . [ 0048 ] fig4 shows a graph in which the rotational angle “ α ” to which the adjusting element 12 can be adjusted is plotted on the horizontal axis . plotted on the vertical axis of the graph is the heating output “ p ”. on the horizontal axis , the rotational angle range is divided up into the first adjustment range i of the gas heating output and the second adjustment range ii of the electrical heating output . to ignite the gas burner 8 , it is adjusted to the highest heating output “{ fraction ( 1 / 1 )}” at the adjusting element 12 , and its gas flowing out is ignited automatically or manually , depending on the embodiment of the cooking appliance , an automatic igniting device being the preferred embodiment . if the gas heating output is reduced at the operating element 12 beyond the smallest , predetermined adjusting value of “ ⅙ ” of the maximum value “{ fraction ( 1 / 1 )}”, for example , at this point the gas supply to the gas burner 8 is automatically interrupted and , instead , the electric heating element 16 is switched on , specifically at its highest electrical heating output value . from the highest electrical heating output value , the electrical heating output can be reduced at the operating element 12 down to a predetermined lowest electrical heating output value of , for example , “{ fraction ( 6 / 100 )}”. if the heating output is reduced further , the appliance is automatically switched off at the manual operating element 12 . of course , the output range can also be passed through from the absolute lowest electrical heating output value as far as the maximum gas heating output value . in such a case , the ignition of the gas flowing out from the gas burner 8 is not carried out only when the maximum gas heating output value “{ fraction ( 1 / 1 )}” is adjusted but , of course , at the transition from electrical heating operation to gas operation , when the adjustment of the lowest possible gas heating output of , for example , “ ⅙ ” of the maximum heating output value “{ fraction ( 1 / 1 )}” is reached or exceeded . according to a special embodiment , for a rapid cooking area , an adjustment possibility can be provided to switch on the burner 8 of the gas heating device 6 and the electric heating element 16 of the electric heating device 14 at the same time , in order to produce a heating output greater than the maximum heating output of the gas heating device . such a possible adjustment can , for example , be provided by the adjusting element 12 having a third rotational area for such a purpose or by being axially displaceable to perform such an adjustment . [ 0050 ] fig5 and 6 show a cooking appliance according to the invention , in which a gas burner 8 having one or more rings of gas outlet openings 10 and at least one electric heating element 16 are integrated in a pan support 24 - 2 . the heating element 16 can instead also be fixed to the pan support 24 - 2 instead of being integrated . in both cases , the gas heating device 6 with the gas burner 8 , and the electric heating device 14 with the electric heating element 16 , together with the pan support 24 - 2 , form one structural unit . [ 0051 ] fig7 and 8 show a further embodiment of the invention , in which the at least one electric heating element 16 is integrated into a pan support 24 and surrounds a gas burner 8 of the gas heating device 6 at a constant distance . the electrical heating output and the gas heating output can be adjustable through the same operating element 12 , as in the other embodiments or , as illustrated in fig7 and 8 , by an adjusting element 12 - 2 for the gas heating device 6 and a further adjusting element 12 - 1 for the electric heating device 14 . according to the preferred exemplary embodiments , the electric heating element 16 makes contact with the base or a side wall of a vessel that can be placed on the element 16 , for example , a pot or pan . according to other embodiments , there may also be spacing between the heating element 16 and the vessel . it is noted , however , that such spacing impairs the heat transfer rate . | 5 |
fig1 illustrates a conductor lift 10 incorporating aspects of the present inventions . the embodiment of conductor lift 10 illustrated in fig1 is generally configured to be used with three - phase 115 kv power distribution systems . the three - phase 115 kv embodiment is used throughout this description to illustrate the inventions . however , persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that conductor lift 10 can be modified and sized for use with other power distribution systems , including , without limitation , systems with higher or lower voltages , two - phase systems , dc systems , systems including static lines , and systems using multiple conductors per phase . additionally , although many disclosed features are especially well - suited for use with energized conductors , conductor lift 10 can also be used in non - energized situations . conductor lift 10 is configured to be mountable on a boom 102 of a lift truck 100 ( see fig1 and 13 ) or similar device . conductor lift 10 is preferably connected to boom 102 by mounting assembly 20 . mounting assembly 20 — described in greater detail below in connection with fig2 — provides several benefits including , without limitation , the ability to adjust the articulation of conductor lift 10 with respect to boom 102 and the ability to stow conductor lift 10 on a side of boom 102 when conductor lift 10 is not in use . mounting assembly 20 is connected to arm hub 50 of conductor lift 10 . arm hub 50 is described in greater detail in connection with fig5 a and 5b , below . extending from arm hub 50 are upper arm 104 , lower arm 106 , and center insulating stem 108 . upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 are preferably constructed from a strong material with a high electrical resistance , such as fiberglass . in the event that a conductor becomes loose and contacts upper arm 104 or lower arm 106 , the high electrical resistance material provides a length of insulation , which helps to prevent electricity from arcing back to boom 102 . however , upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 do not have to be insulating and can alternatively comprise other materials , including conductive materials such as steel , aluminum , or other metals , with or without external insulation . when configured for use in a three - phase 115 kv system , upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 are preferably between 10 and 16 feet long ; more preferably between 14 and 15 feet long ; and most preferably about 14 . 5 feet long . for use with other systems , upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 can be made shorter or longer , as appropriate . alternatively , arm hub 50 can be positioned at a point other than the midpoint of conductor lift 10 , and upper arm 104 made a different length than lower arm 106 . in such embodiment , center insulating stem 108 , if used , is preferably positioned at or near the midpoint , rather than attached to arm hub 50 . an upper bracket 114 is attached to upper arm 104 . upper bracket 114 is configured to be selectively positionable along upper arm 104 . similarly , a lower bracket 116 is attached to and selectively positionable along lower arm 106 . in the illustrated embodiment , selective positioning is accomplished using holes 118 defined in upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 at increments between about 3 and 12 inches , and most preferably at about six inches . however , other methods for selective positioning are known and can be used . alternatively , for applications in which adjustive positioning is unnecessary , upper bracket 114 and lower bracket 116 can be attached at fixed positions . in the illustrated embodiment , extenders 122 , 123 are shown attached to upper bracket 114 and lower bracket 116 , respectively . at a distal end of extender 122 from upper bracket 114 is upper insulating stem 124 . at a distal end of extender 123 from lower bracket 116 is lower insulating stem 126 . wire holders 132 ( or any other conductor - holding device ) are secured at a distal end of each of upper insulating stem 124 , center insulating stem 108 , and lower insulating stem 126 . alternatively , depending on the conductor configuration , extenders 122 , 123 can be removed so that upper insulating stem 124 connects directly to upper bracket 114 and lower insulating stem 126 connects directly to lower bracket 116 . upper bracket 114 and lower bracket 116 preferably comprise quick disconnect sockets ( see fig8 a and 8b ) configured to hold extenders 122 and 123 or insulating stems . similarly , extenders 122 and 123 preferably comprise compatible quick disconnect sockets configured to hold insulating stems . in an alternative embodiment , if a conductor lift will not be used for work on energized conductors , insulating stems are not necessary and can be omitted or replaced by non - insulating components . fig2 is a closer view of mounting assembly 20 . mounting assembly 20 comprises adapter plate 212 , articulation plates 228 , and link bars 232 or 234 ( see fig3 b ). adapter plate 212 comprises attachment tabs 214 , which correspond to boom tip tabs 204 on boom tip 202 . adapter plate 212 is secured to boom tip 202 by attachment pins 216 placed through holes defined in attachment tabs 214 and boom tip tabs 204 . removing two attachment pins 216 from one side of mounting assembly 20 allows adapter plate 212 and conductor lift 10 to rotate between a use position and a stowed position . adapter plate 212 preferably comprise an upper pivot point 224 and a lower pivot point 226 . lower pivot point 226 is rotatably attached to pivot holes 404 ( see fig4 ) defined in articulation plates 228 . a vertical link bar 232 or a horizontal link bar 234 are rotatably attached at one end to upper pivot point 224 and at the other end to articulation plate 228 . as shown in fig9 a , for vertical configuration of conductor lift 10 , vertical link bar 232 is preferably a slotted bar . as shown in fig9 b , for horizontal configuration of conductor lift 10 , horizontal link bar 234 is preferably a shorter bar with holes defined near each end . fig3 a is a closer view of boom tip 202 and adaptor plate 212 . boom tip tabs 204 extend from each side of boom tip 202 . boom tip 202 and boom tip tabs 204 are preferably existing features on boom 102 . attachment tabs 214 extend from adaptor plate 212 and align with boom tip tabs 204 . adaptor plate 212 is secured to boom tip 202 by placing attachment pins 216 through holes defined in boom tip tabs 204 and attachment tabs 214 . fig3 b illustrates boom tip 202 and adaptor plate 212 in an alternative configuration . in this view , two attachment pins 216 have been removed , allowing adaptor plate 212 to hingedly rotate and place conductor lift 10 alongside boom 212 . in this configuration , a stow latch 302 comprising a stow bar 304 engages boom slots 312 . fig4 shows a closer view of mast 230 and articulation plate 228 with one possible configuration of link attachment points 402 and pivot holes 404 . link attachment points 402 represent holes defined in articulation plates 228 . by connecting vertical link bar 232 or horizontal link bar 234 to a particular link attachment point 402 , the orientation of conductor lift 10 with respect to boom 102 can be selected . preferably , vertical link bar 232 is attached to a link attachment point 402 with a “ v ” ( vertical ) symbol , while horizontal link bar 234 is attached to a link attachment point 402 with an “ h ” ( horizontal ) symbol . at least one link attachment point 402 preferably corresponds to a stowed position using vertical link bar 232 , horizontal link bar 234 , or a special stow link bar ( not shown ). components of mounting assembly 20 are preferably made of metal such as steel for durability and strength . alternatively , certain components , such as articulation plates 228 and adapter plate 212 can comprise non - conducting material to reduce the risk of undesired transmission of electric current . fig5 a provides another view of mounting assembly 20 . mounting assembly 20 also comprises arm hub 50 . arm hub 50 comprises hub covers 502 , which provide a physical barrier to protect users from the moving parts within . fig5 b shows arm hub 50 with one hub cover 502 and one articulation plate 228 removed for clarity . between articulations plates 228 is mast 230 . mast 230 is preferably welded to articulation plates 228 , so that two or more articulation plates 228 and mast 230 function as a single part in the assembled device . at arm hub 50 , upper arm 104 is attached to upper arm crank 504 and lower arm 106 is attached to lower arm crank 506 . upper arm crank 504 and lower arm crank 506 are each hingedly connected to mast 503 . upper arm crank 504 comprises upper gear teeth 514 . lower arm crank 506 comprises lower gear teeth 516 . upper gear teeth 514 and lower gear teeth 516 are interconnected so that angular movement of lower arm 106 with respect to arm hub 50 will cause an analogous angular movement of upper arm 104 in the opposite direction . the mechanical linking of upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 facilitates deploying and stowing of conductor lift 10 , allowing convenient manual manipulation without powered assistance . preferably , upper arm crank 504 and lower arm crank 506 are configured so that , at one extreme end of a prescribed range of motion , upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 will appear to form a single straight shaft . at an opposite extreme end of the prescribed range of motion , upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 are preferably substantially parallel and adjacent ( see fig1 ). additionally , as illustrated in fig1 , upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 can be positioned at an intermediate alignment . in this configuration , wire holders 132 attached to upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 can engage offset conductors without the use of extenders 122 , 123 . fig6 shows arm hub 50 with one articulation plate 228 and mast 230 removed to show a a locking mechanism that can be used with arm hub 50 . when upper arm 104 is in a desired position ( e . g . fully opened or in an intermediate alignment ), a sliding pin 602 engages a notch 604 defined in upper arm crank 504 . sliding pin 602 is held in place by cam 608 , rocker arm 612 , and spring 614 . sliding pin 602 prevents rotation of upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 , until sliding pin 602 is released by pulling on rocker arm 612 . a locking pin 616 prevents movement of rocker arm 612 and prevents accidental disengagement of sliding pin 602 , e . g . due to spring 614 failure . alternatively , other locking mechanisms are known and could be used . fig7 is a closer view of upper arm 104 , upper bracket 114 , upper insulating stem 124 , and wire holder 132 . near the upper end of upper arm 104 is a dessicant canister 702 . dessicant canister 702 plugs the upper arm 104 and contains a dessicant material which absorbs moisture from the interior of upper arm 104 . dessicant canister 702 also preferably functions as a moisture indicator by comprising at least one moisture - sensitive element that changes color when moisture is present within upper arm 104 . preferably , a similar dessicant and moisture indicator system is provided for lower arm 106 . fig8 a and 8b illustrate one embodiment of a quick connect system . a connection plate 802 is attached to insulating stem 122 . connection plate 802 comprises connection loops 804 . receiver plates 812 are attached to wire holder 132 . receiver plates 812 comprise receiver slots 814 , which are configured to align with connection loops 804 so that connection loops 804 extend through receiver slots 812 when a receiver plate 812 is adjacent connection plate 802 . wire holder 132 can be quickly secured to insulating stem 124 by inserting a u - bar 822 through connection loops 804 and securing the u - bar 822 in place with fasteners such as threaded nuts . wire holder 132 preferably comprises two orthogonally - oriented receiver plates 812 to allow installation of wire holder 132 either vertically or horizontally with respect to insulating stem 124 . preferably , compatible quick connect systems are used to connect all extenders , insulating stems , and wire holders . fig9 a and 9b illustrate conductor lift 10 in vertical and horizontal alignments , respectively , with respect to boom 102 . fig9 a includes vertical link bar 232 , while fig9 b includes horizontal link bar 234 . fig1 illustrates upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 positioned in an intermediate ( offset ) alignment . fig1 illustrates conductor lift 10 in a folded position . in the folded position , upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 are generally parallel to each other . a link mechanism 902 can be used to maintain this relationship . fig1 shows conductor lift 10 in a stowed position . upper arm 104 and lower arm 106 are also parallel to boom 102 . attachment sockets ( not shown ) preferably secure upper arm 104 , lower arm 106 , or both , to boom 102 when conductor lift 10 is stowed . in fig1 , adaptor plate 212 is shown as still connected on one side to boom tip 202 . alternatively , adaptor plate 212 can be fully disconnected from boom tip 202 and be supported by boom slots 312 and attachment sockets . further alternatively , after adaptor plate 212 is fully disconnected from boom tip 202 , conductor lift 10 can be removed from lift truck 100 for storage or for use at another location . fig1 shows conductor lift 10 in a deployed position ready for use . fig1 is an exploded view of a conductor lift illustrating various components . although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments , this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications of the disclosed embodiments , as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions , will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention . it is , therefore , contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention . | 7 |
according to the first embodiment of the present invention , the dielectric ceramic composition is to satisfy the conditions of requiring less than 1100 ° c . in sintering temperature , and achieving not less than 2000 in dielectric constant , not more than 5 % in dielectric loss tan δ and not less than 1 × 10 7 ω . m of specific resistance ρ . to satisfy these conditions , x for pb -( ni 1 / 3 nb 2 / 3 ) o 3 , y for pbtio 3 , and z for pb ( mg 1 / 4 fe 1 / 4 w 1 / 2 ) o 3 are limited to ranges of from 0 . 40 to 0 . 78 , from 0 . 20 to 0 . 40 , and from 0 . 02 to 0 . 30 , respectively . in order to confirm the appropriateness of the above limitations for x , y , and z , various dielectric samples having varying compositions were prepared at varying sintering temperatures , as indicated in table 1 , according to the following procedure . high - purity pbo , nico 3 , nb 2 o 5 , tio 2 , mgo , fe 2 o 3 , and wo 3 were weighed so as to have compositions a to o as shown in table 1 and fig1 . each of the resulting mixtures was milled and dry - mixed in an alumina - made pot mill and then subjected to calcination in air at a temperature of from 800 to 830 ° c . for 2 hours . adequate amounts of an organic binder and water were added to the calcined product , and the mixture was subjected to secondary milling and mixing for 16 hours , followed by granulation by spray drying . the granulated powder was pressed into a disk of 30 mm in diameter and 1 mm in thickness under a pressure of 1000 kg / cm 2 . the molded article was calcined in air at a temperature of from 950 to 1200 ° c . for 2 hours . finally , a silver electrode was baked on both sides of the disk at 720 ° c . to prepare a dielectric sample . the resulting samples were designated as samples a to o , respectively . the dielectric constant e and dielectric loss tan δ on the surface side of each sample were measured under conditions of 1 khz , 1 v r . m . s ., and 25 ° c ., and the specific resistance ρ of each sample was determined from the insulation resistance upon application of direct current of 500 v for 1 minute and the thickness dimension of the sample after the calcination . the result obtained are shown in table 1 below . table 1__________________________________________________________________________ calcination dielectric specificsample composition temperature dielectric loss tan δ resistanceno . ( x : y : z ) (° c .) constant ε (%) ρ ( ωm ) remarks__________________________________________________________________________a 0 . 78 : 0 . 20 : 0 . 02 1100 7680 1 . 8 5 . 02 × 10 . sup . 9 present inventionb 0 . 50 : 0 . 20 : 0 . 30 1060 3530 1 . 8 2 . 11 × 10 . sup . 8 &# 34 ; c 0 . 40 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 30 1035 14060 2 . 7 1 . 50 × 10 . sup . 8 &# 34 ; d 0 . 50 : 0 . 40 : 0 . 10 1060 3500 2 . 3 3 . 25 × 10 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; e 0 . 58 : 0 . 40 : 0 . 02 1100 5650 4 . 3 6 . 96 × 10 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; f 0 . 70 : 0 . 20 : 0 . 10 1060 6430 0 . 3 3 . 74 × 20 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; g 0 . 65 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 05 1095 24450 3 . 2 9 . 30 × 10 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; h 0 . 60 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 10 1060 18880 1 . 7 2 . 09 × 10 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; i 0 . 50 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 20 1060 17040 5 . 0 2 . 38 × 10 . sup . 8 &# 34 ; j 0 . 20 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 50 1000 7330 11 . 7 3 . 22 × 10 . sup . 6 comparisonk 0 . 40 : 0 . 40 : 0 . 20 1035 4980 22 . 0 1 . 46 × 10 . sup . 7 &# 34 ; l 0 . 30 : 0 . 40 : 0 . 30 1000 4210 11 . 2 8 . 83 × 10 . sup . 7 &# 34 ; m 0 . 40 : 0 . 50 : 0 . 10 1060 1510 1 . 8 2 . 10 × 10 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; n 0 . 30 : 0 . 50 : 0 . 20 1035 1360 5 . 6 2 . 38 × 10 . sup . 7 &# 34 ; o 0 . 20 : 0 . 50 : 0 . 30 1035 1430 26 . 2 3 . 13 × 10 . sup . 7 &# 34 ; p 0 . 80 : 0 . 15 : 0 . 05 1150 4890 0 . 6 7 . 92 × 10 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; q 0 . 65 : 0 . 34 : 0 . 01 1180 10220 3 . 3 1 . 74 × 10 . sup . 9 &# 34 ; r 0 . 65 : 0 . 15 : 0 . 20 1140 2370 0 . 9 3 . 29 × 10 . sup . 8 &# 34 ; __________________________________________________________________________ it can be seen from the results of table 1 that the dielectric ceramic compositic &# 39 ; ns within the polyhedral area shown in the phase diagram of fig1 ( samples a to i ) have very desirable dielectric constants and small dielectric loses , and also that these characteristics can be attained through sintering at low temperatures . if x is less than 0 . 40 , the dielectric constant ε becomes small as in sample o or the dielectric loss tan δ is deteriorated as in sample j . if it exceeds 0 . 78 , a higher temperature is required for calcination as in sample p . thus , the above - described conditions cannot be fulfilled when x is out of the range of from 0 . 40 to 0 . 78 . if y is less than 0 . 20 , the calcination temperature becomes too high as in samples p and r , and if it exceeds 0 . 40 , the conditions of dielectric constant and dielectric loss are not satisfied . if z is less than 0 . 02 , the temperature required for calcination is higher than 1100 ° c . as in sample q . if z exceeds 0 . 30 , the dielectric loss is increased as in sample j . the above results are shown in fig2 in which the area outside the scope of the present invention is divided into some areas each indicating the conditions unsatisfied . for example , the area &# 34 ; t , ε &# 34 ; indicates that the calcination temperature and dielectric constant do not fulfill the above - described conditions . in the second embodiment of the present invention , addition of an amount of manganese dioxide to the basic composition of sample g in table 1 according to the first embodiment brings about an improvement in dielectric loss . in order to demonstrate the effect of the manganese dioxide addition , various dielectric samples were prepared using high - purity pbo , nico 3 , nb 2 o 5 , tio 2 , mgo , fe 2 o 3 , wo 3 , and mno 2 . the same procedure as for samples a to o was followed , except that the composition was shown in table 2 , the calcination temperature was fixed at 1080 ° c . and the manganese dioxide was added in the amount indicated in table 2 . evaluation of the resulting samples was made in the same manner as for samples a to o . the results obtained are shown in table 2 below . table 2__________________________________________________________________________ amount of calcination dielectric specificsample composition mn . sub . 2 temperature dielectric loss tan δ resistanceno . ( x : y : z ) ( wt %) (° c .) constant ε (%) ρ ( ωm ) __________________________________________________________________________1 0 . 67 : 0 . 28 : 0 . 05 -- 1080 21268 1 . 4 2 . 61 × 10 . sup . 82 0 . 66 : 0 . 28 : 0 . 06 -- &# 34 ; 22275 1 . 2 2 . 2510 . sup . 83 0 . 67 : 0 . 29 : 0 . 04 -- &# 34 ; 23443 2 . 2 4 . 87 × 10 . sup . 84 0 . 66 : 0 . 20 : 0 . 05 -- &# 34 ; 21656 1 . 7 6 . 97 × 10 . sup . 95 0 . 65 : 0 . 29 : 0 . 06 -- &# 34 ; 20069 1 . 7 8 . 50 × 10 . sup . 86 0 . 65 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 05 -- &# 34 ; 22708 3 . 3 9 . 87 × 10 . sup . 87 0 . 67 : 0 . 28 : 0 . 05 0 . 03 &# 34 ; 17365 1 . 1 3 . 12 × 10 . sup . 88 0 . 66 : 0 . 28 : 0 . 06 &# 34 ; &# 34 ; 16285 1 . 2 1 . 72 × 10 . sup . 89 0 . 67 : 0 . 29 : 0 . 04 &# 34 ; &# 34 ; 19105 1 . 3 4 . 03 × 10 . sup . 910 0 . 66 : 0 . 29 : 0 . 05 &# 34 ; &# 34 ; 18199 1 . 4 3 . 53 × 10 . sup . 811 0 . 65 : 0 . 29 : 0 . 06 &# 34 ; &# 34 ; 17755 0 . 8 7 . 50 × 10 . sup . 812 0 . 65 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 05 &# 34 ; &# 34 ; 18640 1 . 4 4 . 43 × 10 . sup . 813 0 . 66 : 0 . 29 : 0 . 05 0 . 02 &# 34 ; 19360 1 . 1 5 . 33 × 10 . sup . 914 0 . 65 : 0 . 29 : 0 . 06 0 . 04 &# 34 ; 16949 0 . 8 5 . 87 × 10 . sup . 8__________________________________________________________________________ as can be seen from table 2 the sample nos . 7 to 12 adding manganese dioxide to the composition markedly reduce the dielectric loss without the necessity of increasing the sintering temperature . the dielectric constant is somewhat decreased as compared with the cases of adding no manganese dioxide , sample nos . 1 to 6 but is still higher than 16000 . however , since addition of an excessive amount of manganese dioxide adversely affects the dielectric constant , the amount of manganese dioxide to be added is up to 0 . 1 %, preferably 0 . 02 to 0 . 04 % by weight based on the three components . in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention , the dielectric ceramic compositions are calcined in a 100 % oxygen atmosphere to further ensure the excellent characteristics of the compositions . in order to demonstrate this effect , samples a &# 39 ; and d &# 39 ; to g &# 39 ; were prepared in the same manner as for samples a and d to g , respectively , except for conducting the calcination in a 100 % oxygen atmosphere in place of an air atmosphere , and the characteristics of the calcined products were determined in the same manner as described above . the results obtained are shown in table 3 . table 3______________________________________ di - di - elect - elect - calcination ric ric specific temper - const - loss resist - sample composition ature ance tan β ance ρno . ( x : y : z ) (° c .) ε (%) ( μm ) ______________________________________a &# 39 ; 0 . 78 : 0 . 20 : 0 . 02 1090 9540 1 . 2 . sup . 2 . 05 × 10 . sup . 10d &# 39 ; 0 . 50 : 0 . 40 : 0 . 10 1000 3810 2 . 3 . sup . 1 . 31 × 10 . sup . 12e &# 39 ; 0 . 58 : 0 . 40 : 0 . 02 1090 7140 2 . 4 9 . 04 × 10 . sup . 9f &# 39 ; 0 . 70 : 0 . 20 : 0 . 10 1030 8460 0 . 2 4 . 31 × 10 . sup . 9g &# 39 ; 0 . 65 : 0 . 30 : 0 . 05 1030 26210 3 . 1 5 . 70 × 10 . sup . 9______________________________________ it is apparent from comparisons between table 3 and table 1 that calcination in an oxygen atmosphere lowers the calcination temperature , increases the dielectric constant and reduces the dielectric loss more than in the case of calcining in air with respect to each particular composition . while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof . | 2 |
a first embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to fig1 - 3 , in which fig1 a and 1b are block diagrams of a sector format , and fig2 and 3 show principles of msr recording and retrieving . as fig1 a shows , a sector 1 according to the present invention which includes , in the order specified , a sector start identifier 10 , a pll lead - in signal ( vfo ) 11 , sync bytes 12 , a data field 13 , a post - amble ( pa ) 14 , and a buffer 15 . the sector start identifier 10 is a sector mark which indicates the beginning of a sector , and is a physically formed indented pit . the pll lead - in signal ( vfo ) 11 , the sync bytes 12 , the data field 13 , the post - amble ( pa ) 14 and the buffer 15 are formed using msr recording techniques which will be discussed later . the buffer 15 is a buffering area provided for absorbing rotational jitter of a spindle motor . the data field 13 includes a sector track number ( not specifically shown ), a first sector address ( id 1 ) 16 which contains a sector number , a 2048 byte data area 17 , a second sector address ( id 2 ) 18 which contains the same information as the first sector address ( id 1 ), a crc ( cyclic redundancy check ) byte 19 , and an ecc ( error correction code ) byte 20 . the sector addresses ( id 1 ) 16 and ( id 2 ) 18 each contain four bytes . the crc byte 19 is created by a commonly known method using the first sector address 16 , the data of 2048 byte data area 17 and the second sector address 18 . also , the ecc byte 20 is created with a commonly known method using the first sector address 16 , the data of 2048 byte data area 17 , the second sector address 18 and the crc byte 19 . according to one aspect of the present invention , the sector addresses 16 and 18 are recorded using msr techniques having a significantly higher recording density than the density of the physically formed sector start identifier 10 . consequently , there is a reduction in the amount of physically formed sector address information . as a result , the overall storage capacity increases because more area is available to record user data . in fact , sector address information according to the present embodiment requires only 55 bytes , which is half of what is required in conventional storage media . in this manner , the present embodiment facilitates a 3 % increase in storage capacity over conventional storage mediums using 110 bytes of physically formed sector address information . moreover , the use of msr techniques to record the sector addresses 16 and 18 eliminates the need to provide the vfo 1 , am , vfo 2 and am pits of sector address information 90 ( fig1 ) provided in conventional devices . accordingly , storage capacity in a device according to the present invention is further increased . as noted above , sector start identifier 10 is formed as a physically indented pit . the use of a physically formed pit is desirable in order to assure detection of the beginning of a sector . with the improved sector formatting of the present invention , the sector addresses id 1 16 and id 2 18 are recorded in the data field 13 using msr techniques . as is well known in the art , misreading of the sector address may be determined using the crc byte . thus , if necessary , the misread sector address may be corrected using the ecc byte 20 . consequently , accurate reading of sector addresses in a device according to the present invention is assured . still further , the detection of an off tracking error in the center portion of a sector is facilitated in the present invention using the sector addresses 16 and 18 provided on either side of the data area 17 . specifically , an off tracking error is signaled if the sector address 16 which proceeds the data portion 17 does not match the sector address 18 which immediately follows the data portion 17 . msr recording and retrieving according to the present invention will be explained with reference to fig2 and 3 . as shown in fig2 , a magneto - optical disk according to the present invention is provided with a magnetic recording layer 3 which includes a recording layer 6 , an intermediate layer 5 and a retrieving layer 4 . the intermediate layer 5 has a property whereby it selectively passes signals recorded on the recording layer 6 to the retrieving layer 4 . specifically , the intermediate layer 5 passes signals to the retrieving layer 4 only when heated to a predetermined constant temperature , e . g ., 200 ° c . these signals are reproduced from the retrieving area while a read / record magnetic field having orientation a ( fig2 ) is applied . by carefully controlling the laser light source , only a small portion of the beam spot reaches the predetermined constant temperature . in this manner , it is possible to assuredly record and reproduce bytes recorded in an area smaller than the beam spot . the specific layer type for preferred double mask rad technology but other types of the msr technologies can be used . fig3 a through 3e illustrate principles of reproducing information using msr techniques . in fig3 a a beam spot 2 does not encompass a portion p of the magnetic recording layer 3 . accordingly , the portion p of the intermediate layer 5 will not pass any signals to the retrieving layer 4 because it is below the predetermined constant temperature . in fig3 b , the beam spot 2 has advanced and begins to heat portion p of the magnetic recording layer 3 . however , the intermediate layer 5 will not pass signals to the retrieving layer 4 because it is still below the predetermined constant temperature . in fig3 c , the beam spot 2 has advanced slightly and has heated portion p to the predetermined constant temperature . consequently , the intermediate layer 5 will pass signals recorded in portion p to the retrieving layer 4 . this selective passing phenomenon is called a switched connection . when the beam spot 2 advances as shown in fig3 d , the portion p of the intermediate layer 5 exceeds the predetermined constant temperature and ceases to pass ( imprint / copy ) signals to the retrieving layer 4 . subsequently , as shown in fig3 e , the beam spot 2 passes the portion p , thereby allowing that portion to cool . in this manner , a mark which is less than the diameter of the beam spot of a light beam can be reproduced . recording of data using msr techniques is a two step process involving a preliminary step of orienting a direction of the magnetic area of the recording layer 6 in a predetermined direction , and a final step of recording information . the orienting step involves scanning a portion of the magnetic area of the recording layer 6 with a beam spot 2 having an erasing intensity while applying a magnetic field oriented in an erase direction . as shown in fig2 , the erase magnetic field b is oriented in an opposite direction from the read / record magnetic field a . moreover , the erasing intensity of the beam spot 2 is higher than the read intensity of the beam spot . recording of information is accomplished by applying a magnetic field oriented in a read / record direction while irradiating a light beam of a write intensity . the magnetic orientation of the byte heated to the predetermined temperatures changes from an initial erase orientation to the orientation specified by the read / record magnetic field a . fig4 is a block diagram of a variation on the sector format shown in fig1 a and 1b . notably , the position of the second sector address ( id 2 ) 18 is shifted to follow the ecc byte 20 . as described above , off tracking of the head after the first sector address ( id 1 ) 16 has been read is accomplished by comparing the first sector address ( id 1 ) 16 with the second sector address ( id 2 ) 18 . according to the second embodiment , the ability to detect off tracking of the head is enhanced to include off tracking during reproduction of the crc 19 and the ecc 20 . fig5 is a block diagram of an optical disk device according to the present invention and fig6 is a circuit diagram of the optical disk device of fig5 . a magneto - optical disk device 7 is connected to a host 9 as is shown in fig5 . a controller 45 includes an interface ( not shown in the drawing ) which exchanges commands and data with the host 9 , a microprocessor ( mpu ) 34 and an optical disk controller ( odc ) 35 . the mpu 34 performs over - all control of the magneto - optical disk device , and the odc 35 will be explained later with fig6 . a bias magnet 31 applies a magnetic field to a magneto - optical disk 30 . a bias magnet control circuit 36 controls the magnetic field of the bias magnet 31 in response to instructions from the mpu 34 . a write ( recording ) circuit 38 includes a write modulator 42 and a laser diode control circuit 41 . the write modulator 42 modulates write data from the odc 35 into data formatted in pit position modulation ( ppm ) record data ( also called mark record ) or into pulse width modulation ( pwm ) record data ( also called edge record ) corresponding to the type of magneto - optical disk . the laser diode control circuit 41 controls a laser beam intensity of an optical head 33 with this modulated data . a read ( retrieve ) circuit 40 , is equipped with an agc ( automatic gain control ) circuit , a filter , a sector mark detection circuit , an analog / digital conversion circuit ( adc ), a read demodulator 43 , and a frequency synthesizer 44 . the frequency synthesizer 44 generates a read clock signal . the read demodulator 43 detects the sector mark from the pit signal or from mo signal input from the optical head 33 , and outputs a detection signal sm to the odc 35 . the read demodulator 43 also converts the mo signal input from the optical head 33 into a digital value and outputs it to the odc 35 . the optical head 33 detects the feedback light of the magneto - optical disk 30 , and inputs an id signal / mo signal to the read circuit 40 . a spindle motor 32 rotationally drives the magneto - optical disk 30 , and a spindle motor control circuit 39 controls the spindle motor 32 in response to directives of the mpu 34 . a servo control circuit 37 has a tes detection circuit , a fes detection circuit , and a dsp ( digital signal processor ). the tes detection circuit creates a tes signal ( tracking error signal ) from light detected by the optical head 33 . correspondingly , a fes detection circuit creates a fes signal ( focus error signal ) from light detected by the optical head 33 . the dsp drives a track actuator of the optical head 33 using the tes signal with a track servo loop , and drives a focus actuator of optical head 33 from the fes signal with a focus servo loop . moreover , the dsp also drives and controls a vcm ( which is not depicted in the drawing ) which moves the optical head 33 in a direction crossing tracks of the magneto - optical disk 30 . turning now to fig6 , the odc 35 is provided with a sync byte detection circuit 50 , a demodulation circuit 51 , a crc check / ecc correction circuit 52 , a sector address verifier 53 , and a data buffer 55 . the mo signal digitized from read circuit 43 is input to the sync byte detection circuit 50 and the demodulation circuit 51 . a read process is performed by transmitting a data start signal to the demodulation circuit 51 when the sync byte detection circuit 50 detects sync bytes 12 ( fig1 ). thereafter , the demodulation circuit 51 begins demodulation . however , if the sync byte 12 is not detected within a predetermined time interval , a sync byte undetected error is reported to the mpu 34 from sync byte detection circuit 50 . data demodulated by demodulation circuit 51 is sent to the crc check / ecc correction circuit 52 . the crc check / ecc correction circuit 52 calculates crc bytes from the demodulated data , and compares the calculated crc bytes with the crc bytes 19 of the demodulated data . if they do not match , error correction is performed by the ecc byte 20 in the ecc correction circuit 52 to correct the data . if ecc correction is unsuccessful , an ecc correction error is sent to the mpu 34 . in this manner , an optical disk device 7 according to the present invention can assuredly obtain valid sector addresses even if the sector addresses are written using msr techniques . restored data ( or correct data which does not require correction ) is sent to the sector address verifier 53 and the data buffer 55 . the sector address verifier 53 extracts the first sector address 16 and the second address 18 of a sector and compares them . if these two addresses match , it can be confirmed that the head was not off track while writing , and the confirmed sector address is posted to the mpu 34 . conversely , an off hacking error is reported to the mpu 34 when the two sector addresses 16 and 18 do not match . the above - described aspects of the present invention are not limited to magneto - optical disks , and may also be applied to other types of optical disks such as magnetic expansion retrieving type disks and magnetic field modulation type disks . in other words , the above - described aspects are applicable to other optical disks which record sector addresses with the same recording method as data . furthermore , because it is contemplated that the present invention can be implemented for both a hard disk that magnetically controls the tracking and / or a hard disk drive that controls hacking with a laser unit , other implementations are within the scope of the present invention . write processing in a device according to the present invention will now be explained with reference to fig7 and 8 . in step ( s 1 ), the mpu 34 verifies whether or not a write command has been received . in step ( s 2 ), the write command has been received , and the mpu 34 positions the head 33 twenty sectors ahead of the intended write sector a ( see fig9 ). the magnetization direction of the bias magnet 31 is oriented in step ( s 3 - a ) in the erase direction b ( fig2 ). in step ( s 3 - b ), the mpu 34 counts start sector identifiers 10 until the target sector a is reached , and erase processing is initiated in step ( s 3 - c ). it should be noted that the head cannot read the sector address at this time since the bias magnet 31 is oriented in the erase direction b . however , since the sector identifier 10 is formed as a physical pit , the head can detect ( and count ) the start of a sector irrespective of the magnetization direction of the bias magnet 31 . in step ( s 4 - a ), the magnetization direction of the bias magnet 31 is oriented in the read / record direction a , the head 33 is once again positioned twenty sectors ahead of the target sector a ( s 4 - b ), and the mpu 34 counts start sector identifiers 10 until the target sector is reached ( s 4 - c ). once the target sector is reached , write processing is initiated ( s 5 ). it should be appreciated that the aforementioned erase and write operations were performed by counting down to the target sector , without actually verifying the sector address . consequently , in steps ( s 6 - s 12 ), a verification process is performed to determine whether the write operation was performed on the intended sector to ensure that the write operation did not inadvertently operate on an adjacent track due to the head 33 being off track . the verifying operation begins by positioning the head in sector c on the physical track which immediately precedes the target track ( s 6 ). see fig1 . in step ( s 7 - a ), the head 33 reads from sector c ( on the track which physically precedes the target track ) until sector d ( on the target track ) which immediately precedes the target sector a . it should be noted that the tracks shown in fig1 are formed in a spiral manner . if an error is detected during the reading operation in step ( s 7 - b ), then it is likely the head was off track during either the erasing ( s 3 - c ) or writing ( s 5 ) operations , whereupon the mpu 34 reports a write command abnormal termination 8 to the host and terminates further processing . in step ( s 8 ), if no read error is detected , the mpu 34 stores the sector address of sector d . subsequently , in step ( s 9 - a ), the target sector a is read . as was explained above with reference to fig6 , the mpu 34 compares the first sector address 16 and the second sector address 18 of the intended sector to determine whether they match ( s 9 - b ). if the sector addresses do not match then an off track error has occurred and the mpu 34 reports a write command abnormal termination to the host 5 and terminates further processing . in step ( s 10 ), the head reads from sector e which immediately follows the target sector . then , in step ( s 11 ), the addresses of the sectors immediately preceding ( sector d ) and immediately following ( sector e ) are compared with the target address ( sector a ). if the relationship d & lt ; a & lt ; e is satisfied then processing continues with step ( s 12 - a ). otherwise , an error is reported to the host 9 . next , in step ( s 12 - a ) a reading operation is performed from sector ( e ) ( on the target track ) until sector f ( on the track which immediately follows the target track ). again , it should be noted that the tracks shown in fig1 are formed in a spiral manner . if an error is detected during the reading operation ( s 12 - b ), then it is likely that the head 33 was off track during either the erasing ( s 3 - c ) or writing ( s 5 ) operations , whereupon the mpu 34 signals a write command abnormal termination to the host 9 and terminates further processing . conversely , if no read error is detected , the mpu 34 posts a write command normal termination to the host 9 and terminates ( s 13 ). in this manner , the mpu 34 can detect errors such as off track erasing and off track writing . likewise , using the write verify operation ( s 6 - s 12 ), the mpu 34 is able to verify that data has been correctly recorded on the target sector even though it cannot verify sector addresses in real - time . the reading operation in steps s 7 a through s 12 b is able to detect off track conditions of the head in a track direction by checking a sector continuity of the sectors d , a , e , and also off track conditions in track traverse direction by checking read error from the sector c to the sector d and from the sector e to the sector f , that is , checking a sector continuity from the sector c to the sector f and whether c & lt ; a & lt ; f . read processing in a device according to the present invention will now be explained with reference to fig1 . the mpu 34 verifies whether or not a read command has been received ( s 20 ). once the mpu 34 receives a read command , it positions the bias magnet 31 in the read direction ( s 21 - a ), and positions head 33 at sector b which is twenty sectors ahead of the intended read sector a ( s 21 - b ). see fig9 . next , the mpu 34 counts sector identifiers 10 , until it reaches sector d , which immediately precedes the target sector ( s 21 - c ), and reads and stores the address of sector d ( s 22 ). the target sector a is then read ( s 23 - a ). as explained above , with reference to fig6 , the mpu 34 compares the first sector address 16 and the second sector address of the intended sector to ascertain whether they match ( s 23 - b ). again , as explained earlier , if the sector addresses do not match then an off track error has occurred , and the mpu 34 reports a read command abnormal termination to the host 9 and terminates . the head 33 then reads the sector address of sector e , which immediately follows the target sector a ( s 24 ). the mpu then compares the sector address of sector e with the target sector address and the stored address of sector d ( s 25 ). if the relationship d & lt ; a & lt ; e is satisfied then the read data in data buffer 55 is transmitted to the host 9 and a read command normal termination is posted to the host ( s 26 ). otherwise , an error has likely occurred during writing processing , and a read command abnormal termination is reported to the host 9 . although a preferred embodiment of the storage medium has been specifically described and illustrated , it is to be understood that variations or alternative embodiments apparent to those skilled in the art are within the scope of this invention . since many such variations may be made , it is to be understood that within the scope of the following claims , this invention may be practiced otherwise than specifically described . | 6 |
described herein are techniques for an encoding system . in the following description , for purposes of explanation , numerous examples and specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of particular embodiments . particular embodiments as defined by the claims may include some or all of the features in these examples alone or in combination with other features described below , and may further include modifications and equivalents of the features and concepts described herein . fig1 a depicts an example of an encoder 102 according to one embodiment . encoder 102 includes multiple encoding processes 104 - 1 - 104 - 3 ( it will be understood that two or more encoding processes at two or more bitrates may be used ). in one embodiment , encoder 102 may be the same encoder that encodes a video file 106 at multiple bitrates . in other embodiments , encoder 102 may include multiple encoders that encode video file 106 at different bitrates . as shown , an encoding process 104 - 1 encodes video file 106 at a first bitrate ; encoding process 104 - 2 encodes video file 106 at a second bitrate ; and encoding process 104 - 3 encodes video file 106 at a third bitrate . the first , second , and third bitrates may be low , medium , and high bitrates , where a higher bitrate represents a higher quality video . each encoding process 104 outputs an encoded video file 108 . for example , encoding process 104 - 1 outputs encoded video file 108 - 1 , which includes video encoded at the first bitrate ; encoding process 104 - 2 outputs an encoded video file 108 - 2 , which includes video encoded at the second bitrate ; and encoding process 104 - 3 outputs an encoded video file 108 - 3 , which includes video encoded at the third bitrate . keyframes in encoded video files 108 are aligned such that the files can be segmented at the same times and used in hypertext transfer protocol ( http ) live streaming ( hls ) or any other streaming protocol that requires segments to be aligned . segments need to be created at a keyframe . the keyframe includes all information needed to decode the keyframe . thus , a first frame of a segment should be a keyframe so the decoder can decode the keyframe without referencing other frames in the segment . by aligning the keyframes at the same position in the encoded video , segments of video can be created at the keyframes and are thus aligned . for example , a segment may start at every keyframe . thus , when a media client switches bitrates for a segment , the segment for the new bitrate is aligned with a segment for the old bitrate . fig1 b shows an example of a system 150 that switches between delivery of streams of different bitrates according to one embodiment . system 150 includes a content delivery network ( cdn ) 152 that includes one or more servers ( not shown ) that can stream video content to a client 154 . although one cdn and one client 154 are shown , it will be understood that any number of cdns and clients 154 may be used . client 154 includes a media player 156 that can render the video . in one example , media player 154 sends requests to cdn 152 for segments of video . the request may specify which segment of the video and which bitrate to send . for example , media player 156 may request a high bitrate when available network bandwidth is high and a low bitrate when network bandwidth is low . as shown , cdn 152 is storing encoded video files 108 - 1 , 108 - 2 , and 108 - 3 , which have been encoded at the first bitrate , second bitrate , and third bitrate , respectively . in one example , media player 156 requests segments # 1 , # 2 , and # 3 at the third bitrate . cdn 152 sends these segments from encoded video file 108 - 3 . at this point , available bandwidth may be high and media player 156 requests a high bitrate version of the encoded video . then , media player 156 requests segments # 4 and # 5 at the second bitrate . cdn 152 sends these segments from encoded video file 108 - 2 . at this point , the available bandwidth may have gone down . after which , media player 156 requests segments # 6 and # 7 at the first bitrate . cdn 152 sends these segments from encoded video file 108 - 1 . at this point , the available bandwidth may be low and media player 156 requests the lowest bandwidth version of the encoded video . as discussed above , when switching between bitrates , the segments must be aligned . for example , the end of segment # 3 in encoded video file 108 - 3 should be aligned with the end of segment # 3 in encoded video file 108 - 2 . thus , when cdn 152 switches the stream from encoded video file 108 - 3 to encoded video file 108 - 2 , segment # 4 in encoded video file 108 - 2 starts at the point that segment # 3 in encoded video file 108 - 3 ended . similarly , when cdn 152 switches the stream from encoded video file 108 - 2 to encoded video file 108 - 1 , segment # 6 in encoded video file 108 - 1 starts at the point that segment # 5 in encoded video file 108 - 2 ended . referring back to fig1 a , a frame type manager 110 is used to align the keyframes in encoded video files 108 . for example , encoding process 104 - 1 may encode video file 106 and determine optimal positions in which to place keyframes during encoding . the keyframe may also be referred to an intra - frame ( i frame ) and includes all information that is needed by a decoder to decode the keyframe . the i frame is different from a frame that requires information from another frame to be decoded , such as a p - or b - frame . in a p or b frame , blocks may be p or b blocks where these blocks derive information from another block . that is , only the differences of a p or b block are encoded and when decoding the p or b block , information from another block is used along with the differences to recreate the p or b block . accordingly , a segment should be created only at a keyframe . if a segment is created at a frame that requires information from another frame , then that frame may be dependent on information that is not in the segment . because a segment is created at a keyframe , the keyframe can be decoded without referencing any other frames . thus , when switching bitrates , the first frame that should be received at media player 156 is a keyframe such that media player 156 can decode the keyframe at the different bitrate . when encoding process 104 - 1 determines the keyframes , encoding process 104 - 1 outputs information to frame type manager 110 to allow keyframes to be aligned from encodings at other bitrates . for example , encoding process 104 - 1 may note each frame type decision that is made . for example , for every frame type decision that is made , the type of frame is stored in the file . in this example , each frame type decision , such as p , b , or i , is recorded in the file . also , because every frame type decision is stored in the file , the position of each frame may not need to be stored . that is , each encoding process at a different bitrate would sequentially insert each frame type in order . in another example , the positions of only the keyframes may be noted and stored in a file . for example , the keyframes may be inserted at the 0 second , 60 second , 150 second , etc . positions in the video . then , the subsequent encodings would insert keyframes at these positions . frame type manager 110 provides information ( e . g ., the frame type or position ) to encoding process 104 - 2 and encoding process 104 - 3 to allow encoding process 104 - 2 and encoding process 104 - 3 to align keyframes with keyframes in encoding process 104 - 1 . for example , encoding process 104 - 2 and encoding process 104 - 3 insert keyframes in the same position as encoding process 104 - 1 . additionally , encoding process 104 - 2 and encoding process 104 - 3 may make the same frame type decisions as encoding process 104 - 1 . for example , if encoding process 104 - 1 made the frame type decisions of i , b , b , p . . . i , then encoding process 104 - 2 and encoding process 104 - 3 make the same frame type decisions in the same order in the encoded video . by enforcing the frame type decision to be the same as encoding process 104 - 1 , alignment of keyframes is achieved . for example , if segments are split at keyframes in the same position in the encoded videos , the segments are aligned . fig2 depicts a more detailed example of encoding process 104 - 1 according to one embodiment . a frame type analysis manager 202 receives characteristics of video . frame type analysis manager 202 analyzes the characteristics and determines a frame type . the frame type is output to a motion estimation and compensation block 204 . motion estimation and compensation block 204 performs motion estimation and compensation using the frame type . other parts of the encoding process are not shown , but a person of skill in the art will appreciate how the encoding process works . if the frame type is i , then only intra predication can be used . if the frame type is p , then intra -( i ) and uni -( p ) predication can be used if the frame type is b , then intra -( i ), uni -( p ), and bi -( b ) prediction can be used . frame type analysis manager 202 may determine the frame type and also the position of the frames based on various characteristics of the video . for example , frame type analysis manager 202 may determine where to place keyframes in the encoded video . the keyframes may be placed in what frame type analysis manager 202 considers an optimal position , such as when scene changes occur or discontinuities in motion . frame type analysis manager 202 is free to make decisions as to what type of frame to select and also where to place keyframes . frame type analysis manager 202 outputs the determined frame types to a file of frame types 206 . file 206 may be any storage medium that can store the file types . for example , file 206 is stored on random access memory ( ram ) or read - only memory ( rom ), portable storage , disk storage , etc . the storage medium may also be a database that is queried for the frame type decisions . although file will be used for discussion purposes , any storage medium may be used . in one embodiment , every frame type and position is stored in file 206 . in other examples , only the positions of keyframes are stored in file 206 . fig3 a depicts an example of the frame type decisions made by frame type analysis manager 202 according to one embodiment . as shown , the frame type sequence may be i , p , b , p , p , p , b , . . . i , and so on . keyframes are shown at 302 - 1 and 302 - 2 . fig3 b shows an example of a file that can store the frame types shown in the frame type sequence of fig3 a according to one embodiment . file 206 may include an array 310 that stores the frame type decisions in each position of the array . for example , in a position # 0 , the frame type decision of i is stored . in one example , an identifier may be stored , such as a number or binary number that identifies it as an i - frame . in a position # 1 , the frame type of p is stored . another identifier for the p - frame type may be stored in position # 1 . in position # 2 of array 310 , the frame type of b is stored . a third identifier indicating the b - frame type may be stored . this process continues as array 310 is filled with frame type identifiers based on the frame type sequence of fig3 a . fig3 c shows another example of a file that can store the keyframe types shown in the frame type sequence of fig3 a according to one embodiment . a second array 312 may store positions for the keyframe . for example , in a position 0 of array 312 , a position is stored for the keyframe at 302 - 1 in the frame type sequence . for example , the position may be indicated by a time , in seconds , such as 0 seconds . since only the positions of the keyframes are stored , the next position of array 312 stores a position of the next keyframe shown at 302 - 2 in the frame type sequence . for example , at a position 1 of array 312 , the position of 60 seconds is stored for a corresponding keyframe at 302 - 2 . this process continues as the positions of all keyframes are stored . fig4 depicts a more detailed example of encoding process 104 - 2 or 104 - 3 according to one embodiment . instead of having a frame type analysis manager that analyzes characteristics of video to determine the frame type and position of frames in the encoded video , encoding process 104 - 2 or 104 - 3 include a frame type determination manager 402 that receives file 206 and determines the frame type and position based on information from file 206 . frame type determination manager 402 does not analyze characteristics to independently determine where to place keyframes in the encoded video . rather , frame type determination manager 402 may read file 206 to determine where keyframes were placed in the first encoding process 104 - 1 . frame type determination manager 402 then outputs the frame type and position to motion estimation and compensation block 204 . this is the same block as found in encoding process 104 - 1 . by determining the frame type and position based on information from file 206 , and using the frame type and position in the encoding process , encoding process 104 - 2 and 104 - 3 align the keyframes in encoded video files 108 - 2 and 108 - 3 , respectively , with the keyframes in encoded video file 108 - 1 . that is , keyframes occur at the same positions in the encoded video for all bitrates . thus , if video is segmented at keyframes , then the segments will be aligned for the encoded video at different bitrates . in one embodiment , frame type determination manager 402 may read array 310 to determine a frame type . for example , for a frame # 1 , frame type determination manager 402 may read position 0 of array 310 to determine the frame type , which is a keyframe . for frame # 2 , frame type determination manager 402 may read position 1 of array 310 to determine the frame type , which is a p frame . frame type determination manager 402 may continue to read corresponding positions of array 310 to determine various other frame types in sequence . for example , positions 2 and 3 indicate that b - frames should then be inserted . this process continues as frame determination manager 402 continually reads in a frame type from array 310 for each frame that is being encoded . in one example , frame type determination manager 402 may maintain a counter that reads sequential positions of array 310 as each frame is encoded by encoding process 104 - 2 or 104 - 3 . in another embodiment , frame type determination manager 402 may read array 312 to determine when to insert a keyframe . for example , for a keyframe # 1 , frame type determination manager 402 may read position 0 of array 310 to determine the position of the first keyframe , which may be at 0 seconds . for keyframe # 2 , frame type determination manager 402 may read position 1 of array 312 to determine the position of the second keyframe , which may be at 60 seconds . the positions may also correspond to frame numbers , such as position 0 is frame # 1 , position 1 is frame # 2 , etc . frame type determination manager 402 may continue to read corresponding positions of array 312 to determine various other positions of keyframes . this process continues as frame determination manager 402 continually reads in keyframe positions from array 312 for each keyframe that is being encoded . fig5 depicts a simplified flowchart 500 of a method for encoding video at a first bitrate according to one embodiment . at 502 , an encoding process 104 - 1 determines characteristics of the video for encoding frames . for example , motion information in the video may be analyzed . at 504 , encoding process 104 - 1 determines where to place keyframes in the encoded video based on the characteristics . at 506 , encoding process 104 - 1 stores the frame type decisions in file 206 . at 508 , encoding process 104 - 1 outputs file 206 for use in other encoding processes . fig6 depicts a simplified flowchart 600 of a method for encoding video at multiple bitrates according to one embodiment . at 602 , an encoding process ( e . g ., encoding process 104 - 2 or 104 - 3 ) determines a frame number being processed . for example , a counter may be used and incremented as each frame is encoded . at 604 , when a new frame is processed , the encoding process queries file 206 for the frame type corresponding to the frame number . at 606 , the encoding process receives the frame type . for example , the frame type may be an i -, p -, or b - frame . at 608 , the encoding process uses the frame type in encoding the video . for example , the frame type is inserted at a time that is aligned with encodings at other bitrates . this process continues for all the frames being encoded . accordingly , when the video is encoded at the different bitrates , the keyframes will be aligned in all encoded video files 108 . thus , the encoded video files encoded at different bitrates can be segmented according to the keyframe positions . in addition to having the keyframes aligned , by letting encoding process 104 - 1 choose where to insert the keyframes , the encoding process may be more efficient . the efficiency is achieved because the encoding process 104 - 1 makes the decision on where to insert the keyframes based on characteristics of the video that may optimally encode the video instead of arbitrarily inserting keyframes every 60 seconds . fig7 illustrates an example of a special purpose computer system 700 configured with encoder 102 according to one embodiment . computer system 700 includes a bus 702 , network interface 704 , a computer processor 706 , a memory 708 , a storage device 710 , and a display 712 . bus 702 may be a communication mechanism for communicating information . computer processor 704 may execute computer programs stored in memory 708 or storage device 708 . any suitable programming language can be used to implement the routines of particular embodiments including c , c ++, java , assembly language , etc . different programming techniques can be employed such as procedural or object oriented . the routines can execute on a single computer system 700 or multiple computer systems 700 . further , multiple processors 706 may be used . memory 708 may store instructions , such as source code or binary code , for performing the techniques described above . memory 708 may also be used for storing variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 706 . examples of memory 708 include random access memory ( ram ), read only memory ( rom ), or both . storage device 710 may also store instructions , such as source code or binary code , for performing the techniques described above . storage device 710 may additionally store data used and manipulated by computer processor 706 . for example , storage device 710 may be a database that is accessed by computer system 700 . other examples of storage device 710 include random access memory ( ram ), read only memory ( rom ), a hard drive , a magnetic disk , an optical disk , a cd - rom , a dvd , a flash memory , a usb memory card , or any other medium from which a computer can read . memory 708 or storage device 710 may be an example of a non - transitory computer - readable storage medium for use by or in connection with computer system 700 . the computer - readable storage medium contains instructions for controlling a computer system to be operable to perform functions described by particular embodiments . the instructions , when executed by one or more computer processors , may be operable to perform that which is described in particular embodiments . computer system 700 includes a display 712 for displaying information to a computer user . display 712 may display a user interface used by a user to interact with computer system 700 . computer system 700 also includes a network interface 704 to provide data communication connection over a network , such as a local area network ( lan ) or wide area network ( wan ). wireless networks may also be used . in any such implementation , network interface 704 sends and receives electrical , electromagnetic , or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information . computer system 700 can send and receive information through network interface 704 across a network 714 , which may be an intranet or the internet . computer system 700 may interact with other computer systems 700 through network 714 . in some examples , client - server communications occur through network 714 . also , implementations of particular embodiments may be distributed across computer systems 700 through network 714 . particular embodiments may be implemented in a non - transitory computer - readable storage medium for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system , apparatus , system , or machine . the computer - readable storage medium contains instructions for controlling a computer system to perform a method described by particular embodiments . the computer system may include one or more computing devices . the instructions , when executed by one or more computer processors , may be operable to perform that which is described in particular embodiments . as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow , “ a ”, “ an ”, and “ the ” includes plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . also , as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow , the meaning of “ in ” includes “ in ” and “ on ” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . the above description illustrates various embodiments along with examples of how aspects of particular embodiments may be implemented . the above examples and embodiments should not be deemed to be the only embodiments , and are presented to illustrate the flexibility and advantages of particular embodiments as defined by the following claims . based on the above disclosure and the following claims , other arrangements , embodiments , implementations and equivalents may be employed without departing from the scope hereof as defined by the claims . | 7 |
as is described above , the fluorine containing polymeric compound of the invention represented by the general formula ( i ) having the subscript a equal to 0 can be obtained by the amidation reaction between a polyvinylamine of the general formula ( ii ) and an alkyl perfluoroalkanoate of the general formula ( iii ) according to the reaction equation the polyvinylamine as the starting material of this amidation reaction can be prepared from a polyacrylamide having an average molecular weight of , for example , about 7000 which is subjected to the reaction of so - called hoffmann degradation to give a polyvinylamine hydrochloride followed by neutralization thereof with a base . the amidation reaction of this equation is performed usually in an alcohol such as methyl alcohol as the solvent by keeping the reaction mixture at a temperature in the range from - 10 ° c . to + 50 ° c . or , preferably from + 15 ° c . to 30 ° c . suitable alcohols as the solvent for the reaction include methyl , ethyl , n - propyl , isopropyl , n - butyl , sec - butyl , isobutyl , tert - butyl and n - amyl alcohols , of which methyl alcohol is preferred . the reaction is performed preferably by adding an alkyl perfluoroalkanoate of the general formula ( iii ) into a solution of a polyvinylamine prepared by dissolving a polyvinylamine in a solvent or by neutralizing a solution of a polyvinylamine hydrochloride in a solvent . the ratio of the subscripts n to m or the degree of amidation , referred to as the degree of modification hereinafter , can be freely controlled by adequately selecting the amount of the alkyl perfluoroalkanoate relative to the polyvinylamine . the amidation reaction proceeds in a homogeneous phase without precipitates formed in the reaction mixture unless the degree of modification exceeds about 70 %. the reaction is usually complete within several minutes to several hours under agitation of the reaction mixture . the reaction mixture after completion of the reaction is subjected to evaporation of the solvent and washing with water and the thus obtained polymeric product is dried . the product can be identified to be the desired amidated polyvinylamine from the results of the chemical analysis for the content of fluorine and the infrared absorption spectroscopic analysis . the amidated polyvinylamine containinq the perfluoro alkyl groups is soluble in organic solvents when the degree of modification does not exceed about 70 % and the solution can be easily spread on water surface to form a monolayer film from which an lb film can be prepared . it has been found from the measurement of the surface pressure vs . area isotherm , referred to as the f - a isotherm hereinafter , for the monolayer film spread on water surface that decrease in the degree of modification facilitates preparation of an ultra thin film in which an increased area is occupied by one perfluoroalkyl group . an lb film was prepared by depositing a single layer or a plural number of the layers spread on water surface on to a glass plate and the film thickness and the critical surface tension γ c of the film in dyn / cm relative to n - alkanes were determined to give a result that the γ c for a single layer of the lb film was about 16 when the degree of modification was 37 %, 18 % or 9 % while the value of γ c for a three fold layer was about 14 . the value of γ c for an lb film having a degree of modification of 56 % was about 13 . these results indicate that the perfluoroalkyl - containing amidated polyvinylamine has a surface in a condition of a very low surface energy to exhibit high water - and oil - repellency as well as excellent insusceptibility to dust deposition . the above mentioned values of γ c are consider ably smaller than the value 18 . 5 of a polytetrafluoroethylele resin . the value of the γ c of the lb film prepared according to the invention is stable against a heat treatment at 90 ° c . for 2 hours when the degree of modification is high although the value of γ c is increased by an pg , 7 increment of about 2 when the degree of modification is low by the same heat treatment . the thickness of the lb films per single layer can be determined in two ways to give somewhat different values of 0 . 4 to 0 . 6 nm by the method using a talystep and 0 . 6 to 0 . 9 nm by the x - ray diffractometry . these results indicated that the thickness of the lb films of the perfluoroalkyl - containing amidated polyvinylamine is extremely small . when the subscript a in the formula ( i ) is 1 , the inventive polymer can be prepared by the reaction of a polyallylamine of the general formula ( iv ) with a perfluoroalkylmethyl isocyanate of the general formula ( v ). the polyallylamine as the starting material of the reaction can be obtained by neutralizing a polyallylamine hydrochloride with a basic compound . the reaction of the polyallylamine with the perfluoroalkylmethyl isocyanate of the general formula ( v ) can be expressed by the following reaction equation : -- ch . sub . 2 ch ( ch . sub . 2 nh . sub . 2 )]. sub . m + n ( rfch . sub . 2 nco )→-- ch . sub . 2 nh ( ch . sub . 2 nh . sub . 2 )]. sub . m - n [ ch . sub . 2 ch ( ch . sub . 2 nhconhch . sub . 2 rf )]. sub . n , in which each symbol has the same meaning as defined before . the above mentioned reaction is performed preferably by adding the perfluoroalkylmethyl isocyanate into a solution of the polyallylamine in a reaction medium , which is preferably a mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide and benzene , at a temperature in the range from 10 ° to 50 ° c . or , preferably , from 15 ° to 30 ° c . the degree of modification of the polyallylamine with the perfluoroalkyl groups bonded through urea bonds can be controlled by suitably selecting the amount of the perfluoroalkylmethyl isocyanate relative to the polyallylamine . the reaction is complete usually within several minutes to several hours under agitation of the reaction mixture . after completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture is freed from the solvent by evaporation and the residue is washed with water and dried to give a fluorine - containing polymeric product which can be identified by the chemical analysis for the fluorine content and infrared absorption spectroscopy to be the polymer expressed by the general formula ( i ) in which the subscript a has a value of 1 . it is noted that the urea bond in the inventive polymer is more stable against hydrolysis than the amide bond . when the degree of modification with the perfluoroalkyl groups bonded through the urea bond does not exceed 60 %, the polymer is soluble in several organic solvents including a mixture of 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl alcohol and benzene and the solution can be spread on water surface to form a monolayer from which an lb film can be easily prepared . measurements of the f - a isotherms give a conclusion that a decrease in the degree of modification facilitates preparation of an ultra thin film in which a single perfluoro alkylmethyl group occupies an increased area . further , the area occupied by a single perfluoroalkylmethyl group is decreased to about a half of the value of 0 . 28 nm 2 , which is the cross sectional area of the perfluoroalkylmethyl group , or smaller . this fact indicates that the perfluoroalkylmethyl groups are folded in multifold overlapping in the thin film . an lb film was prepared by depositing a single layer or a plural number of the layers spread on water surface on a glass plate and the film thickness and the critical surface tension γ c of the film in dyn / cm relative to n - alkanes were determined to give a result that the value of γ c for a single layer of the lb film was about 16 when the degree of modification was 12 %, 16 %, 24 % or 38 % while the value for a three - fold layer was about 15 . the value of γ c for an lb film having a degree of modification of 58 % was smaller by about 1 than each of the above mentioned values for both of a single and a three - fold layers . the above mentioned values of γ c in dyn / cm are considerably smaller than the value 18 . 5 of a poly ( tetrafluoroethylene ) resin . the value of γ c of the lb film prepared according to the invention is stable against a heat treatment at 80 ° c . for 2 hours . when an lb film of a three fold layer of a 58 %- modified polymer is dipped in 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl alcohol , the value of γ c decreases to 9 . 7 indicating that rearrangement of the perfluoroalkylmethyl groups takes place in the presence of the fluorine - containing solvent so as to be aligned in upright dispositions of the groups on the film surface . the thickness of the lb films per single layer can be determined in two ways by using a talystep or by the x - ray diffractometry to give a value of about 3 nm for a polymer having a degree of modification of 12 % while the value increases to 4 to 10 nm by increasing the degree of modification above 24 % indicating that the multifold overlapping of the perfluoroalkylmethyl groups has an effect of increasing the film thickness . as is described above , the degree of modification of the polyvinylamine or polyallylamine with the perfluoro alkyl - containing pendant groups can be freely controlled by adjusting the amount of the perfluoroalkyl containing reactant relative to the base polymer . when the degree of modification does not exceed a certain limit , the perfluoroalkyl - containing polymer is soluble in at least one organic solvent so that an lb film of an extremely small film thickness can be prepared from the solution . the area occupied by a single perfluoroalkyl group in the thus prepared thin film can be controlled by changing the degree of modification . the thus prepared lb films of the inventive polymer have an extremely low surface energy as compared even with a polytetrafluoroethylene resin by virtue of the perfluoro alkyl groups on the surface . a polyacrylamide was prepared according to a known method described in &# 34 ; experimental method for synthesis of polymers &# 34 ;, published by tokyo kagaku dojin , 1962 , at page 157 excepting the use of 30 times excess amount of the solvent and 10 times excess amount of ammonium persulfate ( nh 4 ) 2 s 2 o 8 as a polymerization initiator . the thus obtained polyacrylamide had a relatively small weight - average molecular weight of 7100 calculated from the intrinsic viscosity using the equation of [ η ]= 6 . 8 × 10 - 4 m 0 · 66 . the polyacrylamide was then subjected to the reaction of hoffmann degradation according to a known method described in &# 34 ; kobunshi ronbunshu &# 34 ;, 33 , 309 ( 1976 ) to give a polyvinylamine hydrochloride . a methyl alcohol solution of sodium methylate was prepared by adding 0 . 06 g of metallic sodium to 7 . 5 ml of methyl alcohol and , when evolution of hydrogen gas from the solution had ceased , 0 . 11 g of the polyvinylamine hydrochloride obtained above was added to the solution and stirred in a covered reaction vessel . the precipitates of sodium chloride were removed from the reaction mixture by filtration . thereafter , the thus obtained filtrate was admixed with ethyl perfluorooctanoate in an amount to give 9 %, 18 %, 37 %, 56 % or 65 % by moles of the perfluoroalkyl groups relative to the amino groups in the polyvinylamine and the mixture was stirred for 4 hours at room temperature . the reaction mixture after completion of the reaction was a clear solution and could be used as such in the preparation of lb films . the polymer solution prepared in the above described manner was then freed from the solvent to dryness by evaporation under reduced pressure and the solid residue was washed with water and dried to give a polymeric compound of which the degree of modification was 9 %, 18 %, 37 %, 56 % or 65 % each with a possible error of ± 1 % as determined by the quantitative analysis for the content of fluorine when the amount of the ethyl perfluorooctanoate as the reactant was increased to correspond to a degree of modification of 74 %, precipitates were formed in the reaction mixture . the infrared absorption spectra of these polymer products indicated strong absorption bands at a wave number of 1700 cm - 1 assignable to amide bonds and in a wave number region of 1100 to 1300 cm - 1 assignable to c -- f bonds . a methyl alcohol solution of sodium methylate was prepared by adding 1 . 14 g of metallic sodium to 30 ml of methyl alcohol and , when evolution of hydrogen gas from the solution had ceased , 4 . 94 g of a polyallylamine hydrochloride having an average molecular weight of about 9000 were added to the solution and stirred in a covered reaction vessel . the precipitates of sodium chloride separated from the reaction mixture by filtration were washed with 16 ml of methyl alcohol and the washing was combined with the filtrate as a solution of the polyallylamine . thereafter , methyl alcohol was added to make up the volume of the solution to 50 ml . a 5 . 0 ml portion of this solution was taken and freed from the solvent by evaporation under reduced pressure and the residue was dissolved by adding 20 ml of dried dimethyl sulfoxide and 12 ml of dried benzene to form a clear solution . this solution under vigorous stirring was admixed at one time with a solution of 0 . 125 g of perfluorooctylmethyl isocyanate in a mixture of 50 ml of dried dimethyl sulfoxide and 30 ml of dried benzene , precipitation of a small amount of the fluorinated polymer was noted in the reaction mixture . the reaction mixture was then freed from the solvents by evaporation under reduced pressure and the residue was washed successively with ether and water followed by drying to give a polymeric product which was a polyallylamine having pendant groups of perfluorooctylmethyl groups bonded to the polymeric chain through urea bonds with a degree of modification of 16 %. the infrared absorption spectrum of this polymeric product indicated strong absorption bands assignable to the urea bonds at wave numbers of 1660 and 1585 cm - 1 and assignable to the c - f bonds in a wave number region of 1300 to 1100 cm - 1 . the degree of modification of this polymeric product of 16 % was obtained by calculating from the content of fluorine 38 . 7 % determined by the chemical analysis . similarly , another perfluoroalkyl - modified polyallylamine having a content of fluorine of 45 . 1 % corresponding to a degree of modification of 24 % was prepared from 3 . 0 ml of the polyallylamine solution in methyl alcohol prepared above and 0 . 298 g of perfluorooctylmethyl isocyanate . a perfluoroalkyl - modified polyallylamine was prepared from a 5 . 0 ml portion of the polyallylamine solution in methyl alcohol prepared in example 2 and 0 . 057 g of perfluorooctylmethyl isocyanate in a similar manner to example 2 . a 52 . 5 mg portion of the thus obtained polymeric product was dissolved in 100 ml of 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl alcohol to give a solution from which insoluble matter was removed by filtration . evaporation of the solvent from the filtrate under reduced pressure gave a perfluoroalkyl - modified polyallylamine which contained 34 . 6 % of fluorine corresponding to a degree of modification of 12 %. a 54 . 1 mg portion of the 24 %- modified polymer obtained in example 2 was washed with 10 ml of 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluorethyl alcohol to extract out the polymer fraction of relatively low degrees of modification followed by a second extraction in a similar manner to above using 75 ml of 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl alcohol to leave a fraction of the polymers of higher degrees of modification . the thus obtained polymer contained 51 . 5 % of fluorine corresponding to a degree of modification of 38 %. a perfluoroalkyl modified polyallylamine was prepared from a 2 . 0 ml portion of the polyallylamine solution in methyl alcohol prepared in example 2 and 0 . 296 g of perfluorooctylmethyl isocyanate in a similar manner to example 2 . a 150 mg portion of the thus obtained polymeric product was washed with a mixture of 10 ml of 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl alcohol and 50 ml of benzene to remove the fraction of relatively low degrees of modification . the thus obtained perfluoroalkyl - modified polyallylamine contained 56 . 3 % of fluorine corresponding to a degree of modification of 58 %. each of the perfluoroalkyl - modified polyvinylamines prepared in example 1 was dissolved in a low concentration in a mixture of methyl alcohol and benzene and the solution was spread on water surface at 17 ° c . to determine the relationship between the surface pressure and the area occupied by a single molecule or to obtain a so - called f - a isotherm shown in fig1 of the accompanying drawing which includes the curves of pvaf 9 , pvaf 18 , pvaf 37 and pvaf 56 , which refer to the polymers having degrees of modification of 9 %, 18 %, 37 % and 56 %, respectively . these results indicate that the limiting areas or the areas occupied by a single perfluoroacyl group of the polymer in a monolayer are 0 . 78 , 0 . 64 , 0 . 49 and 0 . 30 nm in the polymers pvaf 9 , pvaf 18 , pvaf 37 and pvaf 56 , respectively . the ultra thin film spread on the water surface could be deposited on a glass plate at a surface pressure of 20 mn · m - 1 as a film of a single monolayer or a film of a multi - fold accumulated layers . the films each had an appearance of complete transparency . the lb films prepared in the preceding example from the polymers pvaf 9 , pvaf 18 , pvaf 37 and pvaf 56 were subjected to the measurement of the contact angle against n - alkanes including the films of a single monolayer and films of three - fold accumulated layers as prepared , after a heat treatment at 90 ° c . for 2 hours and after a treatment by dipping in methyl alcohol at 20 ° c . for 24 hours followed by drying . the values of critical surface tension γ c in dyn / cm were calculated from a zisman plot of the thus determined contact angles by utilizing the least square method to give the results shown in table 1 . table 1______________________________________ critical surface tension ζc , dyn / cm after heat after treatment treatment with methyl as prepared ( see text ) alcohol ( see text ) three - three - layer single fold single single fold______________________________________pvaf56 13 . 9 13 . 1 13 . 7 20 . 8 17 . 2pvaf37 16 . 4 14 . 8 16 . 5 24 . 2 19 . 6pvaf18 16 . 9 14 . 9 18 . 0 26 . 8 21 . 6pvaf9 16 . 2 14 . 0 18 . 3 --. sup . ( 1 ) 22 . 3paaurf12 16 . 6 15 . 5 15 . 7 . sup . ( 3 ) 16 . 8 --. sup . ( 2 ) paaurf16 16 . 3 15 . 1 . sup . ( 4 ) 15 . 2 . sup . ( 4 ) 16 . 4 16 . 7 . sup . ( 4 ) paaurf24 16 . 1 15 . 3 15 . 6 . sup . ( 3 ) 16 . 3 17 . 4paaurf38 15 . 9 14 . 8 15 . 3 . sup . ( 3 ) 15 . 7 16 . 8paaurf58 15 . 5 14 . 5 14 . 2 . sup . ( 3 ) 15 . 9 9 . 7______________________________________ . sup . ( 1 ) no drops of nalkanes were formed . . sup . ( 2 ) ζc could not be determined due to disorder in the condition of film surface resulting in poor reproducibility of the value . . sup . ( 3 ) film of 3fold accumulated layers . sup . ( 4 ) film of 5fold accumulated layers lb films of ten - fold accumulated layers were prepared from the polymers pvaf 9 , pvaf 18 , pvaf 37 and pvaf 56 in a manner similar to example 5 and subjected to the measurement of the film thickness in the following two ways . thus , a part of the lb film was peeled off from the substrate surface and the level difference between the area with the lb film thereon and the bare substrate surface after exfoliation of the lb film was determined by using a talystep to give a result that the thickness was 4 to 6 nm ± 2 nm in each of the lb films of pvaf 9 , pvaf 18 , pvaf 37 and pvaf 56 . the thickness of a single monolayer would be one tenth of this value . separately , each of the lb films was subjected to the x - ray diffractometry by using the cu k . sub . α1 line of the wavelength of 0 . 154050 nm with an acceleration voltage of 40 kv and beam current of 30 ma to give a diffraction diagram from which the film thickness was calculated by utilizing the bragg &# 39 ; s equation to give a value of 5 to 8 . 5 nm in each of pvaf 9 , pvaf 18 , pvaf 37 and pvaf 56 . the thickness of a single monolayer would be one tenth of this value . each of the perfluoroalkyl - modified polyallylamines prepared in examples 2 to 4 was dissolved in a low concentration in a mixture of 2 , 2 , 2 - trifluoroethyl alcohol and benzene and the solution was spread on water surface at 17 ° c . to determine the relationship between the surface pressure and the area occupied by a single molecule or to obtain a so - called f - a isotherm shown in fig2 of the accompanying drawing which includes the curves of paaurf 12 , paaurf 16 , paaurf 24 , paaurf 38 and paaurf 58 , which refer to the polymers having degrees of modification of 12 %, 16 %, 24 %, 38 % and 58 %, respectively . these results indicate that the limiting areas or the areas occupied by a single perfluoroalkylmethyl group of the polymer in a monolayer are 0 . 40 , 0 . 28 , 0 . 14 , 0 . 13 and 0 . 12 nm in the polymers paaurf 12 , paaurf 16 , paaurf 24 , paaurf 38 and paaurf 58 , respectively . the ultra thin film spread on the water surface could be deposited on a glass plate at a surface pressure of 20 mn · m - 1 as a film of a single monolayer or a film of a multi - fold accumulated layers . the films each had an appearance of complete transparency . the lb films prepared in the preceding example from the polymers paaurf 12 , paaurf 16 , paaurf 24 , paaurf 38 and paaurf 58 were subjected to the measurement of the contact angle against n alkanes including the films of a single monolayer and films of three - fold ( five fold for paaurf 16 ) accumulated layers as prepared , after a heat treatment at 80 ° c . for 2 hours and after a treatment by dipping in methyl alcohol at 20 ° c . for 24 hours followed by drying . the values of critical surface tension γ c in dyn / cm were calculated from a zisman plot of the thus determined contact angles by utilizing the least square method to give the results shown in table 1 . lb films of ten - fold accumulated layers were prepared from the polymers paaurf 12 paaurf 16 , paaurf 24 paaurf 38 and paaurf 58 in a manner similar to example 8 and subjected to the measurement of the film thickness in the following two ways . thus , a part of the lb film was peeled off from the substrate surface and the level difference between the area with the lb film thereon and the bare substrate surface after exfoliation of the lb film was determined by using a talystep to give a result that the thickness was 25 nm ± 5 nm in the lb film of paaurf 12 and 40 to 100 nm in the lb films of paaurf 24 , paaurf 38 and paaurf 58 . the thickness of a single monolayer would be one tenth of this value . separately , each of the lb films was subjected to the x - ray diffractometry by using the cu k . sub . α1 line of the wave length of 0 . 154050 nm with an acceleration voltage of 40 kv and beam current of 30 ma to give a diffraction diagram from which the film thickness of the single layer was calculated by utilizing the bragg &# 39 ; s equation to give a value of about 2 . 8 nm , 3 . 5 nm , 5 . 5 to 9 . 0 nm and 5 . 5 to 9 . 0 nm for the polymers of paaurf 12 , 16 , 24 and 58 , respectively . | 2 |
preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the following non - limiting examples . the inventors surprisingly found that ratios of particular hormones may be used to predict the timing of the onset of labour in pregnant subjects and , in particular , to predict the onset of preterm labour . prediction of preterm labour would allow appropriate prophylactic treatment to prevent a preterm delivery and the associated risks to the neonate . samples for determining the levels / ratios of hormones may be in the form of blood , plasma , saliva , sputum , cervical or vagina smears or swabs . detection of the hormones is preferably carried out in vitro . however , it will be understood that detection may be may be carried out in vivo . five hundred unselected pregnant women provided 2 - 9 plasma samples from 7 weeks of pregnancy to labour . samples were assayed for progesterone , estradiol and estriol . results were used to form trajectories for each analyte . notably samples were taken between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm when no dramatic diurnal variation in p , e2 and e3 occurs ( keirse 1990 ). the human ethics committee of the hunter area health service approved this study and all subjects provided written informed consent . a cohort of unselected subjects was recruited by research midwives at their first antenatal visit and followed to delivery at the john hunter hospital in newcastle , australia , during the period 2000 - 2004 . maternal blood samples were taken at approximately monthly intervals until and including sampling at the time of labour and just after delivery where possible . visits to the ante - natal clinic were between 9 am and 5 pm . gestational age was defined by an early ultrasound scan . blood was obtained by venepuncture , transferred to heparin tubes and centrifuged at 2000g at 4 ° c . for 15 minutes . plasma was separated and kept at − 20 ° c . until assayed . samples for each subject were batched for assay . progresterone ( p ) and estradiol ( e2 ) were measured , using the bayer corporation advia centaur assay ( bayer corp ., tarrytown , n . y ., usa ), a competitive immunoassay using direct chemiluminescent technology . for the p assay , sensitivity was 60 ng / ml and intra - assay cv 5 . 3 %. for the e2 assay , sensitivity was 10 pg / ml and intra - assay cv 8 . 4 %. total estriol ( e3 ) was measured using the fluorescence polarization immunoassay ( fpia ) technology and the abbott tdxflx analyser ( abbott laboratories , tex ., usa ). sensitivity was 6 . 6 ng / ml and intra - assay cv 2 . 3 %. stata 9 . 2 software ( statacorp , college station , tex .) was used for curve - fitting and statistical analysis . non - linear least squares estimation was used to fit individual curves for each woman and each analyte prior to the last four weeks of pregnancy . hypothesis tests of group medians or paired group medians were conducted using non - parametric statistical tests , as appropriate to the distribution of the data . a two - tailed significance level of 5 % was used throughout . means are reported with standard deviations ( sd ), medians are reported with either inter - quartile ranges ( iqr ) or bootstrapped 95 % confidence intervals ( ci ) estimated by the bias - corrected and accelerated method ( bca )( efton b and tibshirani 1993 ). five hundred and fifty - seven women were recruited , of whom 57 were withdrawn due to incomplete attendance , formal withdrawals for a variety of reasons , 5 spontaneous abortions prior to 20 weeks and 2 terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomalies . minimum study requirements were 2 blood samples taken and delivery and fetal outcome data available . gestational length and gestational age at sample were based on early ultrasound scans except for 4 subjects in whom last menstrual period dating was used . the characteristics of the 500 subjects included are provided in table 1 . the women were predominately caucasian ( 92 %), with a small percentage of aboriginal or torres strait islander descent ( 3 %) and others including asians ( 5 %). maternal and fetal outcomes were much poorer for multiple gestations ; preterm delivery rate was 7 . 2 % in singleton and 77 % in multiple gestations . the following , further exclusion criteria were applied to subjects for curve - fitting : gestational length & lt ; 26 weeks ; & lt ; 3 blood samples taken in total ; & lt ; 3 measurements for either p or e2 or e3 available before the last 4 weeks of pregnancy . 31 singleton , 2 twin and 1 triplet pregnancies were thus excluded . the remaining cohort of 466 subjects comprised a group of 456 women with singleton pregnancies ( subgroups : 15 spontaneous onset preterm delivery ( ptd : gestational length & lt ; 37 weeks ), 10 iatrogenic preterm delivery , 89 normal term , 313 other term , including induced and caesarean section delivery and 29 post - term ), and a multiple gestation group of 10 women with twin pregnancies ( 4 spontaneous ptd , 4 iatrogenic ptd and 2 term pregnancies ); a conservative definition of normal was used requiring spontaneous onset of labor , non - smoking and no pathology . it was assumed that a single equation type could be used to curve - fit the samples for each analyte . lower order equations were preferred . the samples in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy were excluded from curve - fitting to allow the detection of a late gestation change in trajectory . further detail of curve - fitting is provided example 2 supplementary details of curve fitting . the following equations were selected : loge progesterone = a + b * t1 . 5 ( where t is gestational age in days , coefficient of determination ( r2 )& gt ; 0 . 85 for 95 % of subjects , median for groups and subgroups range 0 . 96 - 0 . 97 , overall median 0 . 97 ). loge estradiol = a + b /( log t ) ( r2 & gt ; 0 . 67 for 95 % of subjects , median for groups and subgroups range 0 . 93 - 0 . 98 , overall median 0 . 95 ). loge estriol = a + b /✓ t ( r2 & gt ; 0 . 74 for 95 % of subjects , median for groups and subgroups range 0 . 89 - 0 . 97 , overall median 0 . 95 ). estimated levels were calculated weekly for each subject and each analyte from the trajectory equations ( using individual values of a and b ) and the ratios p / e2 , p / e3 and e3 / e2 were calculated by division . smoothed , median curves for the twin group and preterm and term singleton groups are shown for p , e2 , e3 , p / e2 , p / e3 and e3 / e2 in fig1 . estimated median levels for p , e2 and e3 at 26 weeks in the twin pregnancy group ( n = 10 ) were considerably higher than the medians in the singleton group ( n = 456 ). results are provided with medians and iqr in nmol / l : p , singletons 275 ( 235 , 320 ), twins 504 ( 395 , 722 ); e2 , singletons 32 . 9 ( 24 . 0 , 41 . 1 ), twins 45 . 6 ( 37 . 2 , 91 . 9 ); e3 , singletons 183 ( 143 , 228 ), twins 351 ( 292 , 601 ). in 106 singleton , term pregnancies with spontaneous labor onset , additional blood samples were taken either in the 24 hours preceding delivery ( labor group , n = 58 ) or in the first 4 hours post - partum ( post - delivery group , n = 48 ). additionally , 172 blood samples were taken in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy in 165 singleton , term pregnancies with spontaneous labor onset ( last - 4 - weeks group ). examples of individual , estimated , trajectories for the ratios p / e3 and e3 / e2 are shown in fig2 a - b for three pregnancies . these graphics show only the 20 weeks prior to delivery ; note that some p / e3 ratios descend from very high levels in the early weeks of pregnancy . p , p / e2 , p / e3 and e3 / e2 results for the labor group ( n = 58 ) at four time - points are shown in box and whiskers plots in fig2 c - f ; results are interpolated for the first 3 time - points and measured for the last . estimated levels for p , e2 and e3 interpolated at 26 weeks gestation for each pregnancy and the ratios p / e2 , p / e3 and e3 / e2 were compared in the singleton term ( n = 431 ) and preterm delivery groups ( n = 25 ) using wilcoxon rank - sum group median tests . for the 58 pregnancies with a sample in the 24 hours prior to delivery ( labor group ), measured p , e2 , e3 , p / e2 , p / e3 and e3 / e2 results at labor were compared with estimated results 4 weeks prior using wilcoxon matched - pairs signed - rank tests . in this group , samples at labor were also compared with measured penultimate samples ; the mean time from the penultimate sample to the sample at labor was 24 . 2 days ( sd 13 . 4 ). results are provided in table 2 . none of the hypothesis tests for the singleton preterm group versus the term group at 26 weeks showed a significant difference . for the labor group , all the paired hypothesis tests showed a significant difference , excepting the comparison of p levels and the comparison of p / e2 ratios . 53 % of measured p levels at labor were lower than the previous measured level and the median paired difference between p level at labor and that at 4 weeks prior ( 48 nmol / l ) was no different from zero , providing evidence that half of these trajectories had peaked before labor , however , the timing for this peak cannot be ascertained from these data . specifically , interpolated progesterone , estradiol and estriol median concentrations at 26 weeks gestation in singleton pregnancies with preterm deliveries ( ptd ) were not significantly different from those with term deliveries ( p , p = 0 . 63 ; e2 , p = 0 . 96 ; e3 , p = 0 . 29 ). in multiple pregnancies p , e2 and e3 concentrations were higher than in singletons . as pregnancy progressed the ratio of p to e2 in term singletons fell from 18 ; 1 at 12 weeks to 11 : 1 at labour . p to e3 ratios fell from 7 : 1 at 12 weeks to 1 : 1 at labour , while e3 to e2 ratios rose from 2 : 1 at 12 weeks to 11 : 1 at labour . the predicted levels at labour were compared with measured levels for p , e2 and e3 using matched - pair sign tests ( binomial distribution ). for p , 8 measured levels were above predicted and 50 below ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ), for e2 , 29 measured results were above and 29 below ( p ≈ 1 . 0 ) and for e3 , 41 measured results were above predicted and 17 below ( p = 0 . 002 ). box and whiskers graphs for measured , late - pregnancy samples are provided in fig3 . for p , e2 and e3 , a test group of 6 normal subjects with 7 or more samples was used to examine the trajectory fit with various curve types and choose several candidate equations , which were then fitted to the whole group and a final choice of curve - type selected . given that intra - assay cvs are similar percentages at low , medium and high levels , log - transforming and using a weighting of i provided a reasonable approach for regression considering that the range of levels for each pregnancy was extremely wide ( from & lt ; 100 to several thousand units in some cases ). initially , a range of equations of order 1 ( i . e . degree i using a fractional polynomial approach royston p . 1994 ; and royston et al 1999 ) and a quadratic equation were tried ; had none of these proved satisfactory because of the trajectory shapes , further equations of degree 2 would have been used . log - transformed data were curve - fitted for each analyte and for each subject by non - linear least squares regression . the set of possible equation types which fitted the test group well was then fitted to the data for each of the 466 subjects , using an automated process and generating individual coefficients a , b and c ( quadratic equation only ) for each equation for each subject , individual trajectories were compared visually against sample levels for each analyte in the test group and for other subjects if the r2 fit parameter was low . several criteria were used for the final choice of equation for each analyte : approximate normality and homoscedasticity in combined residuals consideration of median r2 , both in the whole group and sub - groups . the chosen equation should not fit differentially in singleton subgroups and if the twin pregnancies had trajectories quite different from singletons , it may have been necessary to use a different equation type for twins . a higher overall median r2 was preferred . a curve - type of lower order was preferred if the fit was comparable to an equation of higher order . the resultant equations for p , e2 and e3 were monotonically increasing for all subjects : progesterone = exp ( a + b * t1 . 5 ) where t is gestational age in days estradiol = exp ( a + b /( log t )) estriol = exp ( a + b /✓ t ) in order to interrogate the wide variation in progesterone levels , linear regression was used to assess the association of progesterone levels estimated at 26 weeks gestation with maternal and fetal factors ( which may be causal or confounding ) using the following continuous and dichotomous variables in 388 singleton pregnancies ( 367 term and 21 ptd pregnancies with all data items available ): maternal age , over 35 years ( y / n ), parity , primiparous ( y / n ), maternal weight at enrolment , smoking prior to enrolment ( y / n ), fetal sex . those variables with p values lower than 0 . 25 in simple linear regression were included in multiple regression in backwards stepwise mode . however , where variables were highly correlated ( such as parity and primiparous ), only the variable with the lowest p value was included in multiple regression . the association of progesterone estimated at 26 weeks gestation with maternal and fetal predictor variables was assessed initially using scatterplots ; maternal weight showed an inverse ( curved ) relationship with progesterone and higher progesterone levels only occurred at lower weights ( weight range 44 - 148 kgs ; term mean weight 72 . 2 kg ( sd 16 . 2 ), ptd mean weight 71 . 2 kg ( sd 20 . 0 ))( fig5 ). weight was transformed to the inverse form for use in regression . results of simple linear regression for progesterone against each predictor variable were as follows , including p values and t statistics : age , p = 0 . 94 , t = 0 . 08 ; over 35 years , p = 0 . 89 , t =− 0 . 14 ; parity , p & lt ; 0 . 001 , t =− 3 . 84 ; primiparous , p & lt ; 0 . 001 , t = 3 . 91 ; inverse weight , p & lt ; 0 . 001 , t = 7 . 56 ; male sex , p = 0 . 001 , t = 3 . 45 ; smoking , p = 0 . 021 , t =− 2 . 32 . inverse weight and dichotomous variables primiparous , fetal sex and smoking were included in the multiple linear regression ; these four variables were simultaneously significantly associated with progesterone level at 26 weeks . p - values , coefficients and 95 % cis were as follows : inverse weight , p & lt ; 0 . 001 , 7967 ( 5879 , 10054 ); primiparous , p = 0 . 003 , 18 . 7 ( 6 . 2 , 31 . 1 ); male sex , p & lt ; 0 . 001 , 22 . 6 ( 10 . 4 , 34 . 9 ); smoking , p = 0 , 002 , − 22 . 2 (− 35 . 9 , − 8 . 6 ); constant 154 ( 123 , 185 ). 20 % of the variance in progesterone levels is explained by the model ( r2 = 0 . 20 ), indicating higher progesterone levels ( on average ) for those women having their first baby , non - smokers and for males and decreasing levels with increasing maternal weight ( after adjustment for the other variables in the model ). there was significant interaction between inverse weight and smoking ( p = 0 . 03 , coefficient − 4877 (− 9356 , − 398 )); with the interaction term included in the model , r2 was slightly increased to 0 . 21 and the coefficients of the other variables were changed . the assumptions of linear regression were met but the residuals were fairly large , probably due to these variables only explaining a modest proportion of the variance . although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in many other forms , in keeping with the broad principles and the spirit of the invention described herein . boroditsky r s , reyes f i , winter j s , faiman c . maternal serum estrogen and progesterone concentrations preceding normal labor . obstet gynecol 1978 ; 51 : 686 - 91 . da fonseca e b , bittar r e , carvalho m h , zugaib m . prophylactic administration of progesterone by vaginal suppository to reduce the incidence of spontaneous preterm birth in women at increased risk : a randomized placebo - controlled double - blind study . am j obstet gynecol 2003 ; 188 : 419 - 24 efron b , tibshirani r . an introduction to the bootstrap . new york : chapman & amp ; hall ; 1993 gibb w , the role of prostaglandins in human parturition . 1998 ann med 30 235 - 241 . goffinet f , rozenberg p , kayem g , perdu m , philippe h j , nisand i , the value of intravaginal ultrasonography of the cervix uteri for evaluation of the risk of premature lab . j . gynecol . obstet . biol . reprod ( paris ) 1997 ; 26 : 623 - 9 iams j . prevention of preterm birth . n engl j med 1998 ; 338 : 54 - 6 keirse m j . progestogen administration in pregnancy may prevent preterm delivery . br j obstet gynaecol 1990 ; 97 : 149 - 54 meis p j , klebanoff m , thom e , et al . prevention of recurrent preterm delivery by 17 alpha - hydroxyprogesterone caproate . n engl j med 2003 ; 348 : 2379 - 85 mesiano s . roles of estrogen and progesterone in human parturition . front horm res 2001 ; 27 : 86 - 104 . royston p . regression using fractional polynomials of continuous covariates : parsimonious parametric modelling . appl stat 1994 ; 43 : 429 - 67 . royston p , ambler g , sauerbrei w . the use of fractional polynomials to model continuous risk variables in epidemiology . int j epidemiol 1999 ; 28 : 964 - 74 tulchinsky d , hobel c j , yeager e , marshall j r . plasma estrone , estradiol , estriol , progesterone , and 17 - hydroxyprogesterone in human pregnancy . i . normal pregnancy . am j obstet gynecol 1972 ; 112 : 1095 - 100 . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 650 , 394 terao t , kanayama n , casal d , ( filed 4 nov . 1993 ) u . s . pat . no . 5 , 516 , 702 seyei a . e , and casal d . c , ( filed 29 jun . 1994 ) | 6 |
the present invention is predicated on the discovery that bicyclic polyamines of the above formula , as well as acid salts thereof , exert an anti - inflammatory effect in humans and non - human mammals without certain toxic side effects associated with conventional anti - inflammatory agents . the active agents of the invention are particularly effective against the inflammation associated with arthritis . other clinical indications include moderate pain , fever , dysmenorrhea , tendinitis / bursitis , sunburn , ankylosing spondylitis , psoriatic arthritis and reiter &# 39 ; s syndrome . they are also effective in preventing or treating inflammatory conditions requiring immunosuppression such as rheumatoid arthritis , systemic lupus erythematosus , hashimoto &# 39 ; s thyroiditis , multiple sclerosis , myasthenia gravis , graves &# 39 ; disease , diabetes type i and uveitis , cutaneous manifestations of immunologically mediated illnesses such as alopecia areata , and in treating inflammatory and hyperproliferative skin diseases such as psoriasis , atopical dermatitis , contact dermatitis and further eczematous dermatitises , seborrhoeic dermatitis , lichen planus , pemphigus , bullous pemphigoid , epidermolysis bullosa , urticaria , angioedemas , vasculitides , erythemas , cutaneous eosinophilias , lupus erythematosus and acne , and in situations of organ or tissue transplantation and graft - versus - host disease such as following bone marrow grafts . the methods and compounds of the invention advantageously find use in ameliorating the mild to moderate pain and tenderness that often accompany inflammation . they are also effective in the control of moderate pain resulting from various musculoskeletal disorders , menstrual cramps and post - operative discomfort . a further advantage of the methods and compositions of the present invention resides in the fact that the bicyclic polyamine are orally active . oral availability allows administration by mouth and renders the present invention particularly suitable for use in treating conditions involving chronic inflammation such as arthritis . in the polyamines of the invention as described in formula i , r 1 - r 4 may be hydrogen , straight - or branched - chain alkyl , for example , methyl , ethyl , n - propyl , isopropyl , n - butyl , isobutyl , sec - butyl , tert - butyl and the like ; aryl , for example , phenyl , p - tolyl , 2 , 4 , 6 - trimethylphenyl and the like ; aryl alkyl , for example , benzyl , α - phenethyl , β - phenethyl and the like ; cycloalkyl , for example , cyclohexyl , cyclobutyl , cyclopentyl , cycloheptyl and the like . particularly preferred polyamines are n , n &# 39 ;- bis ( 4 - piperidinylmethyl )- 1 , 4 - butanediamine ( pip 4 , 4 , 4 !) ( 4 ) fig1 !, n , n &# 39 ;- bis ( 4 - piperidinyl )- 1 , 3 - propanediamine ( pip 3 , 3 , 3 !) ( 5 ) fig2 ! and n , n &# 39 ;- bis ( 4 - piperidinyl )- 1 , 4 - butanediamine ( pip 3 , 4 , 3 !) ( 10 ) fig3 !. compounds of the above formulae are synthesized according to the methods described in application ser . no . 08 / 080 , 642 filed jun . 22 , 1993 , the entire contents and disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference . polyamines of formula i in which the terminal nitrogens are incorporated into piperidine rings such as pip 4 , 4 , 4 !, pip 3 , 4 , 3 ! and pip 3 , 3 , 3 ! may be preferably prepared using mesitylenesulfonyl - protected segments as shown in fig1 - 3 . for example , a bicyclic polyamine ( 4 in fig1 ) may be obtained by alkylation with 1 , 4 - dibromobutane ( 0 . 5 equivalent )/ nah / dmf of the bis - sulfonamide ( 2 ) of 4 -( aminomethyl ) piperidine ( 1 ) to give ( 3 ). reductive removal of the sulfonamide protecting groups with 30 % hbr in hoac / phoh yields a bicyclic polyamine ( 4 ) ( fig1 ). as a further example ( fig2 ), the corresponding 3 - 3 - 3 bicyclic polyamine may be synthesized by alkylation of the appropriate mesitylenesulfonamide derivative ( 3 ), then deprotection with hbr as usual to give bicyclic spermine analogue ( 5 ). in an analogous fashion ( fig3 ), alkylation of mesitylenesulfonamide derivative ( 3 ) followed by deprotection of ( 9 ) gives the 3 - 4 - 3 bicyclic polyamine ( 10 ). for the utility mentioned herein , the amount required of active agent , the frequency and mode of its administration will vary with the identity of the agent concerned and with the nature and severity of the condition being treated and is , of course , ultimately at the discretion of the responsible physician or veterinarian . in general , however , a suitable dose of agent for all of the above - described conditions will lie in the range of about 0 . 005 mg / kg to about 300 mg / kg , and preferably about 0 . 1 mg / kg to about 100 mg / kg , of mammal body weight being treated . the composition may be administered orally , topically or parenterally ( intravenously , intradermally , intraperitoneally , intramuscularly or subcutaneously ) for a period of time of from one to about thirty days . for chronic problems , the drug is administered as needed . while it is possible for the agents to be administered as the raw substances , it is preferable to present them as a pharmaceutical formulation . the formulations of the present invention , both for veterinary and human use , comprise the agents together with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers therefor and optionally other therapeutic ingredients . the carrier ( s ) must be &# 34 ; acceptable &# 34 ; in the sense of being compatible with the other ingredients of the formulation and not deleterious to the recipient thereof . desirably , the formulations should not include oxidizing agents and other substances with which the agents are known to be incompatible . the formulations may conveniently be presented in unit dosage form and may be prepared by any of the methods well known in the art of pharmacy . all methods include the step of bringing into association the agent with the carrier which constitutes one or more accessory ingredients . in general , the formulations are prepared by uniformly and intimately bringing into association the agent with the carrier ( s ) and then , if necessary , dividing the product into unit dosages thereof . formulations suitable for oral administration may be in the form of discrete units such as capsules , cachets , tablets , or lozenges , each containing a predetermined amount of the active ingredient ; in the form of a powder or granules ; in the form of a solution or a suspension in an aqueous liquid or non - aqueous liquid ; or in the form of an oil - in - water emulsion or a water - in - oil emulsion . a tablet may be made by compressing or molding the active ingredient optionally with one or more accessory ingredients . compressed tablets may be prepared by compressing , in a suitable machine , the active ingredient in a free - flowing form such as a powder or granules , optionally mixed with a binder , lubricant , inert diluent , surface active agent or dispensing agent . molded tablets may be made by molding , in a suitable machine , a mixture of the powdered active ingredient and a suitable carrier moistened with an inert liquid diluent . formulations suitable for parenteral administration conveniently comprise sterile aqueous preparations of the agents which are preferably isotonic with the blood of the recipient . suitable such carrier solutions include phosphate buffered saline , saline , water , lactated ringers or dextrose ( 5 % in water ). such formulations may be conveniently prepared by admixing the agent with water to produce a solution or suspension which is filled into a sterile container and sealed against bacterial contamination . preferably , sterile materials are used under aseptic manufacturing conditions to avoid the need for terminal sterilization . formulations suitable for topical administration include ointments , creams , gels and pastes . for example , the active agent may be conveniently prepared as a solution or stable emulsion with about 0 . 5 % to about 10 % by weight of the active agent with a compatible carrier . suitable such carriers include oils such as cottonseed or linseed , waxes , paraffins , polyethylene glycol , silicones and the like . in addition to solutions or emulsions , micellar or liposomal formulations and the like may be used . formulations for oral , topical or parenteral administration may optionally contain one or more additional ingredients among which may be mentioned preservatives such as methyl hydroxybenzoate , chlorocresol , metacresol , phenol and benzalkonium chloride . such materials are of special value when the formulations are presented in multi - dose containers . buffers may also be included to provide a suitable ph value for the formulation and suitable materials include sodium phosphate and acetate . sodium chloride or other appropriate salts may be used to render a formulation isotonic with the blood . if desired , the formulation may be filled into the containers under an inert atmosphere such as nitrogen or may contain an anti - oxidant and are conveniently presented in unit dose or multi - dose form , for example , in a sealed ampoule . it will be appreciated that while the agents described herein form acid addition salts and carboxylic acid salts , the biological activity thereof will reside in the agent itself . these salts may be used in human and in veterinary medicine and presented as pharmaceutical formulations in the manner and in the amounts ( calculated as the base ) described hereinabove , and it is then preferable that the acid moiety be pharmacologically and pharmaceutically acceptable to the recipient . examples of such suitable acids include ( a ) mineral acids : hydrochloric , hydrobromic , phosphoric , metaphosphoric and sulfuric acids ; ( b ) organic acids : tartaric , acetic , citric , malic , lactic , fumaric , benzoic , glycollic , gluconic , gulonic , succinic and aryl - sulfonic , for example , p - toluenesulfonic and methanesulfonic acids . the active agent or pharmaceutically acceptable derivatives or salts thereof may also be mixed with other pharmaceutically active materials that do not interfere with the desired action or with materials that enhance or supplement the desired action . examples of appropriate other agents include antibiotics , antifungals , antivirals , antihistamines , immunosuppressants and other anti - inflammatory or analgesic compounds the like . a . n , n &# 39 ;- bis ( 2 , 4 , 6 - trimethylbenzenesulfonyl )- 4 -( aminomethyl )- piperidine ( 2 ) fig1 !-- a solution of 2 - mesitylenesulfonyl chloride ( 19 . 49 g , 89 . 1 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 100 ml ) was added to 4 -( aminomethylpiperidine ( 1 ) ( 5 . 15 g , 45 . 1 mmol ) in 1n naoh ( 100 ml ) at 0 ° c . after the addition was complete , the biphasic mixture was stirred for 24 hours ( 0 ° c . to room temperature ). the layers were separated and the aqueous portion was extracted with chcl 3 ( 2 ×). the combined organic phase was washed with 0 . 5n hcl ( 200 ml ) and h 2 o ( 100 ml ) dried with sodium sulfate and evaporated in vacuo . recrystallization from aqueous ethanol produced 18 . 72 g ( 88 %) of ( 2 ) as plates : mp 158 . 5 °- 160 ° c . ; nmr ( cdcl 3 / tms ) δ0 . 8 - 2 . 0 ( m , 5h ), 2 . 25 ( s , 6h ), 2 . 46 - 2 . 93 ( m + 2s , 16h ), 3 . 37 - 3 . 65 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 67 ( t , 1h , j = 6 ), 6 . 90 ( s , 4h ). anal . calcd . for c 24 h 34 n 2 o 4 s 2 : c , 60 . 22 ; h , 7 . 16 ; n , 5 . 85 . found : c , 60 . 31 ; h , 7 . 19 ; n , 5 . 86 . b . n , n &# 39 ;- 1 , 4 - butanediylbis 2 , 4 , 6 - trimethyl - n - 1 - ( 2 , 4 , 6 - trimethylphenyl ) sulfonyl !- 4 - piperidinyl ! methyl !- benzenesulfonamide ( 3 ) fig1 !-- sodium hydride ( 80 % in oil , 1 . 411 g , 47 . 0 mmol ) was added to ( 2 ) ( 18 . 43 g , 38 . 5 mmol ) and nai ( 0 . 146 g , 0 . 97 mmol ) in dmf ( 165 ml ) at 0 ° c . the suspension was stirred for 13 / 4 hours at room temperature under nitrogen . 1 , 4 - dibromobutane ( 2 . 2 ml , 18 . 4 mmol ) was added by syringe and the reaction mixture was heated at 84 ° c . for 19 hours . after cooling to 0 ° c ., h 2 o ( 200 ml ) was cautiously added to quench residual nah , followed by extraction with chcl 3 ( 300 ml , 2 × 100 ml ). the combined organic phase was washed with 1 % na 2 so 3 ( 100 ml ) and h 2 o ( 2 × 100 ml ), dried with sodium sulfate and evaporated under high vacuum . recrystallization from etoac / chcl 3 gave 13 . 00 g ( 70 %) of ( 3 ) as an amorphous solid : mp 202 °- 203 . 5 ° c . ; nmr ( cdcl 3 / tms ) δ0 . 75 - 1 . 90 ( m , 14h ), 2 . 25 ( s , 12h ), 2 . 40 - 3 . 18 ( m + 2s , 36h ), 3 . 3 - 3 . 6 ( m , 4h ) , 6 . 87 ( s , 8h ) . anal . calcd . for c 52 h 74 n 4 o 8 s 4 : c , 61 . 75 ; h , 7 . 37 ; n , 5 . 54 . found : c , 61 . 49 ; h , 7 . 39 ; n , 5 . 43 . c . n , n &# 39 ;- bis ( 4 - piperidinylmethyl )- 1 , 4 - butanediamine ( 4 ) fig .. 1 !-- 30 % hbr in acetic acid ( 100 ml ) was added over 10 minutes to a solution of ( 3 ) ( 5 . 34 g , 5 . 28 mmol ) and phenol ( 18 . 97 g , 0 . 202 mol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 75 ml ) at 0 ° c . the reaction was stirred for 24 hours ( 0 ° c . to room temperature ) and cooled to 0 ° c . distilled h 2 o ( 120 ml ) was added , followed by extraction with ch 2 cl 2 ( 3 × 100 ml ). the aqueous layer was evaporated under high vacuum . the residue was basified with 1n naoh ( 12 mol ) and 50 % ( w / w ) naoh ( 20 ml ) with ice cooling , followed by extraction with chcl 3 ( 10 × 50 ml ), while adding nacl to salt out the aqueous layer . organic extracts were dried with sodium sulfate and evaporated . the residue was taken up in ethanol ( 200 ml ), acidified with concentrated hcl ( 3 . 5 ml ) and solvents were removed under vacuum . tetrahydrochloride salt was recrystallized with 7 % aqueous etoh to furnish 1 . 318 g ( 58 %) of ( 4 ) as a white solid . nmr ( d 2 o / tsp δ1 . 19 - 2 . 23 ( m , 14h ), 2 . 8 - 3 . 6 ( m , 16h ). anal . calcd . for c 16 h 38 cl 4 n 4 : c , 44 . 87 ; h , 8 . 94 ; n , 13 . 08 . found : c , 44 . 77 ; h , 9 . 00 ; n , 13 . 00 . using a method analogous to that described in example 1 above , and with the substitution of 4 - aminopiperidine dihydrochloride ( 2 ) for 4 -( aminomethyl ) piperidine and 1 , 3 - dibromopropane for 1 , 4 - dibromobutane as depicted in fig2 n , n &# 39 ;- bis ( 4 - piperidinyl )- 1 , 3 - propanediamine ( pip 3 , 3 , 3 !) was synthesized . recrystallization from aqueous ethanol produced a white solid : 1 h nmr ( d 2 o / tsp ) δ1 . 66 - 2 . 00 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 02 - 2 . 16 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 40 ( d , 4h , j = 4 . 7 ), 3 . 12 - 3 . 30 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 51 - 3 . 63 ( m , 6h ). anal . calcd . for c 13 h 32 cl 4 n 4 : c , 40 . 43 ; h , 8 . 35 ; n , 14 . 51 . found : c , 40 . 51 ; h , 8 . 43 ; n , 14 . 41 . using a method analogous to that described in example 1 above , n , n &# 39 ;- bis ( 4 - piperidinyl )- 1 , 4 - butanediamine ( pip 3 , 4 , 3 !) was synthesized from bis ( mesitylenesulfonyl ) diamine ( 3 ) and 1 , 4 - diiodobutane as depicted in fig3 . recrystallization from aqueous ethanol produced a white solid : 1 h nmr ( d 2 o / tsp ) δ1 . 72 - 1 . 96 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 34 - 2 . 45 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 05 - 3 . 22 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 45 - 3 . 66 ( m , 6h ); hrms ( fab , glycerol / trifluoroacetic acid matrix ) calcd . for c 14 h 30 n 4 ( free amine ) 255 . 2549 ( m + h ), found 255 . 2543 ( m + h ). anal . calcd . for c 14 h 34 cl 4 n 4 . h 2 o : c , 40 . 20 ; h , 8 . 68 ; n , 13 . 39 . found : c , 40 . 55 ; h , 8 . 34 ; n , 13 . 36 . inhibition of acute inflammation and modulation of autoimmune - mediated response by pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! was obtained as described above . distilled water was used as the vehicle for in vivo testing . pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! was completely soluble in the vehicle . commercially obtained chemicals used were indomethacin and hydrocortisone ( sigma , st . louis , mo ., u . s . a . ), aspirin ( miles labs ., elkart , in , u . s . a . ), carrageenan ( tokyo kasei industry co ., ltd . ), mycobacterium tuberculosis ( difco labs ., detroit , mich ., u . s . a .) and carboxymethyl - cellulose ( wako pure chemical industries , osaka , japan ). doses of all compounds used were calculated on the basis of the weight of the salt . in these studies , long evans derived rats ( body weight from 130 - 160 g ) from the animal center of national taiwan university medical college were used . the animals were housed in stainless steel cages ( in inches : 22 length × 18 width × 6 height ) with 10 rats per cage . the environment was maintained under controlled temperature ( 20 °- 24 ° c .) and humidity ( 40 %- 70 %) with 12 hours light - dark cycles at least one week prior to use . free access to standard laboratory chow ( taiwan sugar co .) and tap water was granted . all aspects of this work including housing , experimentation and disposal of animals were performed in general accordance with the international guiding principles for biomedical research involving animals ( cioms publication no . isbn 92 90360194 , 1985 ). a . inhibition of acute inflammation -- inhibition of acute inflammation was measured using the carrageenan - induced paw edema model of winter et al proc . soc . exp . biol . med ., vol . 111 , &# 34 ; carrageenan - induced edema in hind paw of the rat as an assay for anti - inflammatory drugs ,&# 34 ; pages 544 - 547 ( 1962 )!. test substances were administered , p . o . or i . p ., to groups of 3 fasted rats one hour ( or 30 minutes for i . p . treatment ) before intraplantar injection of carrageenan ( 0 . 1 ml , 1 % suspension ) into the right hind paw . paw swelling , measured by water displacement , was recorded 3 hours after carrageenan administration . inhibition by more than 30 % compared to vehicle - treated controls indicates significant activity . pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! exhibited acute anti - inflammatory activity by significantly reducing the extent of carrageenan - induced paw edema in rats at a dose of 30 mg / kg intraperitoneally ( table 1 ). this activity compared favorably with that seen with concurrently assessed aspirin ( 150 mg / kg p . o .) and hydrocortisone ( 25 mg / kg p . o .). table 1______________________________________inhibition of carrageenan - induced edema in rat pawby anti - inflammatory drugs and pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! dose paw volume % edemacompound route ( mg / kg ) (× 0 . 01 ml ) inhibition______________________________________control po -- 89 100 ( dist . h . sub . 2 o ) 87 89 x = 88 . sup . aspirin po 150 54 ( 46 ) 47 43 x = 48 . sup . hydrocortisone po 25 56 ( 32 ) 63 60 x = 60 . sup . pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! ip 30 32 ( 58 ) 40 39 x = 37 . sup . ______________________________________ b . modulation of immune - mediated inflammatory response -- modulation of immune - mediated inflammatory response in rats was measured using the adjuvant - induced arthritis model of winter et al arthritis rheum ., vol . 9 , &# 34 ; treatment of adjuvant arthritis in rats with anti - inflammatory drugs ,&# 34 ; pages 394 - 404 ( 1966 )!. groups of 5 male rats ( weighing from 130 - 150 g ) were used . a finely ground suspension of 0 . 3 mg / killed mycobacterium tuberculosis in 0 . 1 ml of light mineral oil ( complete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant , cfa ) was administered into the subplantar region of the right hind paw on day 1 . hind paw volumes were measured by water displacement on days 0 , 1 , 5 , 14 and 18 . test substances were dissolved or suspended in 0 . 5 % carboxymethyl - cellulose and administered orally on 5 consecutive days from day 1 through day 5 . a concurrent vehicle control group was used to eliminate the generally minor influence of animal handling ( stress - induced adrenal stimulation ). two concurrent active reference agent groups served to validate the assay system . the percent inhibitions of swelling in the injected and uninjected paws of the control and treated groups were calculated as shown in the following formulae . a . day 1 → day 0 : percent inhibition on the first day of cfa injection and one dose of test substance : ## equ1 ## b . day 5 → day 0 : percent inhibition on the 5th day after 5 doses of test substance : ## equ2 ## c . day 5 → day 1 : percent inhibition of paw volume change between day 1 and day 5 : ## equ3 ## d . day 14 → day 0 : percent inhibition of untreated paw on day 14 relative to day 0 : ## equ4 ## e . day 18 → day 0 : percent inhibition of untreated paw on day 18 relative to day 0 : ## equ5 ## f . day 18 → day 14 : percent inhibition of untreated paw volume change between day 14 and day 18 : ## equ6 ## inhibition of paw swelling by greater than 30 % was considered significant . changes in body weight ( day 18 v . day 0 ) were recorded and the presence (+) or absence (-) of polyarthritic in signs are also recorded on day 19 in the experimental animals &# 39 ; paws ( p ), tails ( t ), noses ( n ) and ears ( e ). as shown in table 2 , pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! at a daily dose of 100 mg / kg p . o . for 5 consecutive days , reduced both part of the acute phase and inhibited the development of the late phase swelling in the contralateral paw . similar to concurrently assessed hydrocortisone and indomethacin , pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! did not affect weight gain reductions , compared to vehicle - treated animals during the course of the 18 day study . unlike hydrocortisone and indomethacin , pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! did not prevent the appearance of signs of polyarthritis in the paws of the rats . table 2__________________________________________________________________________adjuvant arthritis test b . w . gain dose net swelling of paw volume ( ml ) and inhibition percentage ( g ) polyarthritiscompound route ( mg / kg ) a ( 1 - 0 ) b ( 5 - 0 ) c ( 5 - 1 ) d ( 14 - 0 ) e ( 18 - 0 ) f ( 18 - 14 ) ( 18 - 0 ) p t n e__________________________________________________________________________vehicle ( 0 . 5 % cmc ) po 10 ml / kg × 5 0 . 90 1 . 90 1 . 00 0 . 52 1 . 01 0 . 49 30 + - - - &# 34 ; po 10 ml / kg × 5 0 . 80 1 . 70 0 . 90 0 . 30 0 . 47 0 . 17 60 + - - - &# 34 ; po 10 ml / kg × 5 0 . 80 1 . 71 0 . 91 0 . 57 0 . 84 0 . 27 40 + - - - &# 34 ; po 10 ml / kg × 5 0 . 80 1 . 40 0 . 60 0 . 32 0 . 40 0 . 08 40 + - - - &# 34 ; po 10 ml / kg × 5 0 . 85 1 . 54 0 . 69 0 . 54 1 . 03 0 . 49 40 + - - - average 0 . 83 1 . 65 0 . 82 0 . 45 0 . 75 0 . 30 42pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! po 100 0 . 83mes . 5 1 . 17 0 . 34 0 . 25 0 . 35 0 . 10 20 + - - - &# 34 ; po 100 0 . 79mes . 5 1 . 49 0 . 70 0 . 43 0 . 55 0 . 12 35 + - - - &# 34 ; po 100 0 . 70mes . 5 1 . 04 0 . 34 0 . 23 0 . 37 0 . 14 35 + - - - &# 34 ; po 100 0 . 87mes . 5 1 . 37 0 . 50 0 . 34 0 . 45 0 . 11 5 + - - - &# 34 ; po 100 0 . 51mes . 5 1 . 03 0 . 52 0 . 20 0 . 53 0 . 33 30 + - - - average 0 . 74 1 . 22 0 . 48 0 . 29 0 . 45 0 . 16 25inhibition % 11 26 ( 41 ) ( 36 ) ( 40 ) ( 47 ) hydrocortisone po 30 0 . 78mes . 5 0 . 89 0 . 11 0 . 43 0 . 53 0 . 10 40 + - - - &# 34 ; po 30 0 . 65mes . 5 0 . 96 0 . 31 0 . 31 0 . 38 0 . 07 30 - - - - &# 34 ; po 30 0 . 70mes . 5 0 . 86 0 . 16 0 . 30 0 . 66 0 . 36 25 - - - - &# 34 ; po 30 0 . 82mes . 5 0 . 98 0 . 16 0 . 38 0 . 72 0 . 34 20 - - - - &# 34 ; po 30 0 . 70mes . 5 1 . 61 0 . 91 0 . 33 0 . 41 0 . 08 0 - - - - average 0 . 73 1 . 06 0 . 33 0 . 35 0 . 54 0 . 19 23inhibition % 12 ( 36 ) ( 60 ) 22 28 ( 37 ) indomethacin po 5 × 5 0 . 53 0 . 84 0 . 31 0 . 20 0 . 43 0 . 23 10 - - - - &# 34 ; po 5 × 5 0 . 58 0 . 86 0 . 28 0 . 40 0 . 50 0 . 10 15 - - - - &# 34 ; po 5 × 5 0 . 58 0 . 72 0 . 14 0 . 26 0 . 51 0 . 25 5 - - - - &# 34 ; po 5 × 5 0 . 51 0 . 81 0 . 30 0 . 42 0 . 49 0 . 07 5 - - - - &# 34 ; po 5 × 5 0 . 45 1 . 02 0 . 57 0 . 12 0 . 22 0 . 10 5 - - - - average 0 . 53 0 . 85 0 . 32 0 . 28 0 . 43 0 . 15 8inhibition % ( 36 ) ( 48 ) ( 61 ) ( 38 ) ( 43 ) ( 50 ) __________________________________________________________________________ effect of pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! on b and t cell mitogenesis and the mixed lymphocyte response this study examined the potential immunomodulatory activities of pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! on mouse spleen cells using in vitro techniques . the effect of the compound on the ability of murine splenocytes to respond to the g cell mitogen concanavalin a ( con a ) and the b cell mitogen lipopolysaccharide ( lps ) was studied . these mitogens non - specifically activate lymphocytes to proliferate and are general indicators of what effect a compound has on t or b cell function . in addition , the compound was tested for its effect on the mixed lymphocyte response ( mlr ). the mlr is an in vitro manifestation of cell - mediated immunity in which t cells respond to differences in major histocompatibility complex ( mhc ) class ii molecules ( ia antigens ) expressed on foreign or allogeneic leukocytes ( primarily b cells and microphages / monocytes ). pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! ( molecular weight 428 . 3 ) was obtained as a powder and was solubilized in medium . controls included medium alone ( 100 % of control ), as well as various concentrations of cyclosporin a ( csa , a known immunosuppressant for these assays ) and ethanol ( etoh , vehicle for csa ). a . preparation of cells -- under sterile conditions , spleens were removed from balb / c ( h - 2 d ) and cba / j ( h - 2 k ) mice . balb / c splenocytes were used as responder cells in the mitogen assays and the mlr assays , whereas cba / j cells were used as stimulator cells in the mlr assays . single cell suspensions were prepared in complete medium ( rpmi - 1640 plus 10 % fetal calf serum , 100 μg / ml streptomycin , 100 μg / l penicillin , 10 μg / ml gentamicin , 2 mm l - glutamine and 2 × 10 5 m 2 - mercaptoethanol ). cells were exposed to various concentrations of the test compounds for the entire culture period . the initial dilutions in medium were filter sterilized to maintain aseptic conditions . b . mitogen assays -- con a and lps were obtained from sigma chemical co . ( st . louis , mo ., u . s . a .). 2 × 10 5 balb / c splenocytes were added per well . the final concentration of con a used was 3 μg / ml which had been shown to be optimal for t cell stimulation in previous studies . the final concentration of lps used was 25 μg / ml which had been shown to be optimal for stimulation in previous studies . triplicate wells were set up in 96 - well flat - bottom microtiter plates for all treated cultures and positive controls ( 100 % of control ) were performed in replicates of nine wells . plates were incubated at 37 ° c . in a humidified co 2 incubator for 3 days , pulsed with 1 μci 3 h - tdr / well for 6 - 16 hours , harvested and counted in a liquid scintillation counter . all data were processed using lotus 1 - 2 - 3 and sigmaplot software . c . mixed lymphocyte response ( mlr )-- previous studies had demonstrated a vigorous proliferative response in a one - way mlr using balb / c responders and cba / j stimulators . thus , a balb / c ( 2 × 10 5 cells / well ) anti - cba / j ( 8 × 10 5 cells / well ) mlr combination was used in these studies . cba / j spleen cells were irradiated with 2 , 000 r to prevent them from responding to balb / c mhc antigens . triplicate wells were set up in 96 - well flat - bottom microtiter plates for all treated cultures and positive controls ( 100 % of control ) were performed in replicates of nine wells . plates were incubated at 37 ° c . in a humidified co 2 incubator for 5 days , pulsed with 1 μci 3 h - td3 / well for 6 - 16 hours , harvested and counted in a liquid scintillation counter . all data were processed using lotus 1 - 2 - 3 and sigmaplot software . d . results -- the results from one set of experiments are shown in tables 3 - 5 . the means + standard deviation ( sd ) of the counts per minutes ( cpm ) indicating the proliferative responses of replicate wells are shown for the con a ( table 3 ), lps ( table 4 ) and mlr ( table 5 ) assays . background responses ( responders only ) were low and within the laboratory historical range , indicating no significant pre - activation of the cells from their animal donors . all positive control responses ( 100 % of control ) were vigorous , indicating that the responder cells were responsive to the various stimuli . a positive control compound , csa , was used to demonstrate immunosuppression in these studies . as shown in tables 3 - 5 , csa was immunosuppressive for all assays . because csa is dissolved in etoh , corresponding concentrations of etoh diluted in medium were included to control for any effects on the cells from the alcohol alone . in general , etoh was not inhibitory at the concentrations tested in these assays as shown in tables 3 - 5 . as shown in table 3 , pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! had no inhibitory effect on the con a response , suggesting no general effect on t cells . as shown in table 4 , some inhibition of the lps response was observed for pip 4 , 4 , 4 !, suggesting some effects on b cell proliferation . there was some dose - dependent suppression caused by pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! in the 1 - 100 μm range . as shown in table 5 , the mlr was inhibited by pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! primarily at 10 and 100 μm , suggesting inhibition of the proliferative response of cd4 + t cells , the cells which respond to alloantigens . alternatively , if the compound effected the expression of class ii mhc ( ia ) molecules on the stimulator cells , this may also account for these results . table 3______________________________________mitogen response to con a proliferative response drug ( cpm ) % compound concentration mean ± sd control______________________________________media ( no con a ) none 1319 ± 352 -- media ( positive control ) none 196119 ± 22511 100csa 1 . 000 μm 7916 ± 1139 4 0 . 100 μm 30719 ± 4963 16 0 . 010 μm 54539 ± 5810 28 0 . 001 μm 96868 ± 22376 50etoh 0 . 013000 % 277029 ± 23757 140 0 . 001300 % 290003 ± 20210 146 0 . 000130 % 296690 ± 28125 151 0 . 000013 % 238348 ± 17009 120pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! 1000 . 000 μm 273418 ± 14954 138 100 . 000 μm 313504 ± 279 158 10 . 000 μm 365771 ± 2876 185 1 . 000 μm 340397 ± 25586 172 0 . 100 μm 333419 ± 31211 168 0 . 010 μm 343389 ± 21927 173______________________________________ table 4______________________________________mitogen response to lps proliferative response drug ( cpm ) % compound concentration mean ± sd control______________________________________media ( no lps ) none 1983 ± 306 -- media ( positive control ) none 176092 ± 20673 100csa 1 . 000 μm 25054 ± 4947 14 0 . 100 μm 79687 ± 3818 45 0 . 010 μm 81281 ± 213033 46 0 . 001 μm 133300 ± 6182 76etoh 0 . 013000 % 169245 ± 11996 96 0 . 001300 % 162318 ± 7643 92 0 . 000130 % 162300 ± 34911 92 0 . 000013 % 162784 ± 7406 92pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! 1000 . 000 μm 83427 ± 18281 47 100 . 000 μm 117804 ± 14014 67 10 . 000 μm 187500 ± 8089 106 1 . 000 μm 192921 ± 32628 110 0 . 100 μm 174197 ± 23886 99 0 . 010 μm 175516 ± 10793 100______________________________________ table 5______________________________________mixed lymphocyte response proliferative response drug ( cpm ) % compound concentration mean ± sd control______________________________________media ( no stimulators ) none 1065 ± 314 -- media ( with stimulators ; none 41679 ± 2791 100positive control ) csa 1 . 000 μm 355 ± 30 1 0 . 100 μm 558 ± 42 1 0 . 010 μm 13969 ± 3280 34 0 . 001 μm 26629 ± 9391 64etoh 0 . 013000 % 30099 ± 8116 72 0 . 001300 % 37528 ± 7203 90 0 . 000130 % 34064 ± 1054 82 0 . 000013 % 38955 ± 14703 93pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! 1000 . 000 μm 22583 ± 2490 54 100 . 000 μm 29717 ± 3146 71 10 . 000 μm 568531 ± 6200 136 1 . 000 μm 54594 ± 11873 131 0 . 100 μm 411919 ± 6106 99 0 . 010 μm 330859 ± 11640 79______________________________________ prevention of type ii collagen - induced arthritis in mice by pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! the purpose of this study was to test pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! in an experimental model of arthritis in dba / 1j mice by observing the onset , duration and remission of inflammation utilizing type ii collagen . twenty male dba / 1j mice , equally divided into two groups of ten animals , were immunized with a single intradermal injection of native type ii chick collagen ( 100 μg / animal , intradermally ) in complete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant ( cfa ) on day 0 . beginning on day 20 , one group was injected daily i . p . with 75 mg / kg pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! ; the other group received an equal volume ( 7 . 5 ml / kg ) of isotonic saline i . p . as a comparable control group . on day 21 , both groups received a challenge dose of type ii collagen ( 100 μg / animal , intradermally at the base of the tail , in 50 μl cfa ). daily joint measurements were recorded once per day on days 20 - 40 . joints were measured using a constant tension caliper ( mitutoyo digimatic thickness gauge ). all mice were measured before the start of the study ( day - 1 ) to obtain baseline readings at three joints on the right and left hindlimb ( paw thickness , ankle width and knee width ) and two joints of the right and left forelimb ( paw thickness and elbow width ). on day 26 of the study , five days following initiation of pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! treatment , the dosage was decreased from 75 to 50 mg / kg due to overt toxicity of compound administration . four of ten mice treated with pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! died or were sacrificed in extremis , during the treatment period . joint measurements decreased in mice treated with pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! as compared to untreated control mice . this effect was first evident by day 25 of the study , five days following initiation of pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! treatment . fig4 - 8 show the joint measurement data : the size of the various joints in millimeters for pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! and control mice is plotted against the study day for left and right knee ( fig4 ), left and right forelimb paw ( fig5 ), left and right forelimb elbow ( fig6 ), left and right hindlimb paw ( fig7 ) and left and right hindlimb ankle ( fig8 ). the method of siegmund et al proc . soc . exp . biol . med ., vol . 95 , pages 729 - 731 ( 1957 )! was used to measure the analgesic activity of pip 4 , 4 , 4 !. groups of 10 male icr mice weighing 22 ± 2 g were employed . various doses of test compound , dissolved in a vehicle of distilled water , were administered intraperitoneally . the control group received vehicle alone . at 30 minutes post dosing , 2 mg / kg of phenylquinone ( p . q .) was injected i . p . and the number of writhes exhibited during the following 5 - 10 minute period post p . q . injection were recorded . the mean ± sem number of writhes in each treatment group was calculated and unpaired student &# 39 ; s t test was applied for comparison between vehicle and treated groups . differences were considered significant when p & lt ; 0 . 05 . as shown in table 6 , pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! exhibited analgesic activity as compared with the vehicle control . table 6______________________________________analgesia ( p . o . writhing ) (# writhes ) compound route dose ( x ± sem ) % inhibition______________________________________vehicle ip . sup . 20 ml / kg 14 ± 1pip 4 , 4 , 4 ! ip 100 mg / kg 3 ± 1 ** ( 79 ) ______________________________________ ** p & lt ; 0 . 01 modulation of immune - mediated inflammatory response in rats was measured using the adjuvant - induced arthritis model of winter et al , arthritis rheum ., supra . two separate studies utilizing this model were conducted as follows : a . cfa was made by emulsifying 10 mg desiccated , ground mycobacterium tuberculosis ( h37ra ) in 15 ml heavy white mineral oil and 1 ml of saline . four groups consisting of 6 male lewis rats weighing 150 - 200 g were injected subcutaneously at the base of the tail with 0 . 1 ml of cfa . drugs to be assayed were administered 5 days beginning on the day of the adjuvant injection . the paw volume of the right and left rear paw of each rat were measured on the day of adjuvant injection and at regular intervals for 30 days thereafter . b . cfa was made as in a . above . the emulsion was injected subcutaneously at the base of the tail and induced the arthritic state . measurements of paw volume were made for 30 days to monitor paw swelling . drug treatment began on day 0 . four groups consisting of 10 male lewis rats weighing 150 - 200 g were injected subcutaneously at the base of the tail with 0 . 1 ml of cfa . drugs to be assayed were administered for 5 days beginning on the day of the adjuvant injection . the control values from the two studies were averaged to give the fairest representation of the data . the results are set forth in table 7 below . table 7______________________________________ initial final dose day day % finalcompound route mg / kg 14 - 0 28 - 0 inhibition______________________________________control po 1 . 16 1 . 91 -- dipip 3 , 4 , 3 ! po 100 . 391 . 571 70dipip 3 , 4 , 3 ! po 100 . 709 1 . 12 41dipip 4 , 4 , 4 ! po 100 . 496 . 801 58dipip 5 , 4 , 5 ! po 100 1 . 24 1 . 72 9voltaren po 6 . 232 . 629 67indomethacin po 6 . 004 0 . 14 93______________________________________ unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs . it is understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the scope of the application and the appended claims . | 0 |
the present invention is directed to an improved process for depositing ha onto the surface of materials suitable for dental or surgical implants . the process employed for this coating is ion beam sputtering , which uses a high energy ion beam to &# 34 ; kick out &# 34 ; atoms from a ha plate and allows them to be directed onto the device to be coated . the geometry of this setup is shown in fig1 . a 50 kev xenon beam 10 is directed at an angled substrate 12 containing a coating 11 of sintered ha . the substrate 12 may be hollow and water cooled by a flow of water into conduit 15 and out of conduit 17 , which are connected to the hollow interior of the substrate 12 . the striking of the beam 10 onto the coating 11 leads to the sputtering of ha ions 14 out of the coating 11 onto parts 16 which are to be coated . these parts are placed upon a rotating support platter 18 that may also be water cooled . the entire arrangement is located in a high vacuum into which a controlled amount of oxygen or , preferably , water vapor is bled . as a result , a thin coating 17 of ha is formed on the product . this sputter process may be utilized on implant materials that cannot survive the high temperatures of vacuum evaporation which has been used in the prior art for coating materials with ha . the high velocity imparted to the sputtered atoms through the use of a high energy xenon beam directed at an ha target allows the atoms to penetrate into the surface of the device to be coated and , therefore , provides a superior adhesion of ha to the parts over those produced using evaporative coating techniques . xenon ion beam sputtering is a process that provides extremely high microscopic temperatures ( high kinetic energy ) while maintaining the macroscopic temperature of the bulk ha below its sublimation / decomposition point . without this capability , less energy would be imparted to the target and thus the ions would not penetrate the surface of the device to be coated to the same extent . this would produce a coating that does not have the adherence of the present invention . the ion beam used in this process , preferably xenon , impels atoms out of the target substrate onto the surface of an implant part or material 16 . xenon is preferred because it can produce a high energy beam which reacts chemically with the substrate and produces a higher yield of sputtered ha than any other readily - available gas . an alternative to the use of the xenon beam includes , but is not limited to a krypton beam . as used herein , high energy is defined as at least 2 kev and may extend up to 200 kev , but preferably is at least 10 kev . the substrate 12 ( fig1 ) is covered with a suitable target coating material 11 , preferably sintered ha . alternative target coating materials include , but are not limited to , plasma sprayed ha and ha powder . the process is carried out in a high vacuum so that contaminant atoms cannot be incorporated into the growing film . a high vacuum , as used herein , is defined broadly as at least 10 - 4 torr to 10 - 7 torr and preferably from 10 - 6 torr to 10 - 7 torr . a proper stoichiometry of the ha compound is achieved by bleeding into the vacuum a precisely metered amount of oxygen or preferably water vapor such that oh groups are formed to replace some of the oxygen that is usually lost from the ha molecule while in transit to the metal substrate . the amount of oxygen to be used broadly falls within the range of between about 10 - 5 torr and about 10 - 6 torr , and preferably within the range of between the ranges of 3 × 10 - 6 torr and 9 × 10 - 6 torr . it is related to the vacuum pressure used . the amount of water vapor to be used would be twice as much as the above - cited amounts for oxygen . prior to the coating process , the metal substrate can first be sputter - etched or cleaned by directing the ion beam directly onto the metal surface to be coated . the arrangement of the apparatus to accomplish this is shown in fig2 . xenon ions 20 are impelled onto the parts 16 to be coated . the entire operation is conducted in a vacuum upon the rotating water - cooled platter 18 ( model z - 100 ion implanter , available from eaton corp ., beverly , ma ). this action sputters off all surface oxides 22 and permits the ha molecules deposited as shown in fig1 to adhere directly to the metal surface with no intervening oxide barrier . an alternative to the deposition process of fig1 is shown in fig3 . in this process , the target 26 and the parts 16 have been reversed in position so that the target is below the parts . the target in this arrangement is made in the form of a tray 27 supporting powdered ha 28 , instead of sintered ha . since the powder is loose and is not adhered to the target substitute 26 , the creation of a target is simple and inexpensive . however , the target must be right side up or the powdered ha would fall off . because of the high energy of the xenon beam , the ha ions are given sufficient energy to kick off the target against the force of gravity , reach the parts and still have sufficient velocity to penetrate the surface of the parts . the principal uses of the present invention are for any application where live bone must grow toward and adhere to a foreign metal within the body of an animal or human to be treated . this includes total joint prosthesis , dental implants , ear implants , and similar devices . the advantages of the process of the present invention include the ability to coat a metal substrate with ha which is close to natural apatite ( ca 10 ( p0 4 ) 6 ( oh ) 2 ). this is in part achieved through the introduction of oh ions into the atmosphere of the vacuum . in addition , crystal grains are not visible on the coating surface , thus leading to a featureless surface having a full density non - porous ha film . this eliminates the tendency of the film to crack when the implant is bent as is often necessary during installation . also , the process leads to an excellent adhesion of the ha material to titanium , stainless steel , cobalt - chrome - molybdenum and similar materials , while keeping the production costs at a minimum . s . d . cook et al ( int . j . oral and maxillofacial implants , 27 : 15 - 22 , 1987 ) disclosed that plasma sprayed ha coated titanium implants developed 5 - 8 times the mean interface strength of uncoated material when implanted into adult mongrel dogs . histological evaluations in all cases revealed mineralization of interface bone directly onto the ha - coated implant surface . however , push - out tests conducted at all times post - implantation , demonstrated that failures occurred primarily at the ha - titanium interface . therefore , ha - coated implants of the present invention can be further coated , using a conventional plasma spray or modified plasma spray process ( such as those disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 145 , 764 issued mar . 27 , 1979 and 4 , 223 , 412 issued sept . 23 , 1980 , both incorporated herein by reference ). this would lead to a titanium implant with two layers of ha - coating . the one micron thick , ion - implanted ha coating would act as an intermediate layer to effect a method of bonding subsequently plasma sprayed ha coatings to titanium . the resultant implant would then have the advantages of superior biocompatability and superior adhesion of both methods . the present invention is described further below in specific examples which are intended to illustrate it without limiting its scope . the sputtering experiments described below were done using a modified ion implanter ( eaton model z - 100 , eaton corp ., beverly , ma ). the xenon ion beam current on the water - cooled ha sputter target was approximately 2ma over an area of approximately 16 in . 2 on the ha . the samples which were used were microscope glass slides , and small ( 1 cm . diameter ) stainless steel metal discs which were masked with a sheet of stainless steel foil to cover half of the exposed area . runs were performed using approximately 20 ma - hours of xenon dose and using none , 3 × 10 - 6 torr , and 6 × 10 - 6 torr oxygen gas bled into the vacuum chamber . the target was a copper plate of 4 inches × 4 inches × 1 / 4 inch thick , coated with approximately 75 microns of sintered ha ( coor &# 39 ; s , inc ., golden , colorado ). the results of a series of three runs are prescribed in table 1 below . table 1______________________________________ ion beamrun # dose o . sub . 2 pressure samples______________________________________1 20 ma - hrs . 0 1 - glass slide 1 - stainless disk 1 - titanium foil2 20 ma - hrs . 3 × 10 . sup .- 6 torr 1 - glass slide 1 - stainless disk3 20 ma - hrs . 6 × 10 . sup .- 6 torr 1 - glass slide 1 - stainless disk______________________________________ the thickness of each film was determined using a step profiling machine ( sloan - dektak , santa barbara , ca ). the films were all approximately 5 , 000 angstroms ( 0 . 5 micron ) thick and were translucent as seen on the coated glass slides . on the metal pieces , they were greenish due to the preferential reflection of green light at that particular thickness . the average sputter rate was 233a / ma - hr . for all three runs . a scanning electron microscopic ( sem ) analysis demonstrated that even under 10 , 000 × magnification , the ha films were essentially featureless , which indicates that they are not porous , have nearly - full density and have no grain boundaries . an elemental x - ray analysis using edax ( amry , bedford , ma ) was performed . the x - rays emitted during the electron examination give an indication of the elements present above the atomic number of sodium . the spectrum of elements in the sample on the titanium foil demonstrated that ti , al , and v from the metal , as well as p , cl , and ca from the ha coating were present . the percentage of phosphorous and calcium ( in atomic percents ) in the sample film was 32 % and 68 %, respectively . when a natural apatite standard was analyzed on the same instrument , the values for phosphorous and calcium were 35 % and 65 %, respectively . this result demonstrates that the process of the present invention is capable of producing a coating which is very close to natural apatite . a hardness analysis was performed upon the coated material . the mineral ha has a hardness of 5 on the mohs scale ( diamond is 10 and talc is 1 on this scale ). measurements with calibrated scratch points demonstrated that a mohs 4 did not scratch the film , a mohs 5 barely scratched it and a mohs 6 probe severely scratched it . the hardness is therefore about 5 from this measurement , which is consistent with a fully dense ha . the adhesion of the ha film to both titanium and stainless steel appeared to be extremely good from additional scratch tests that were performed . these scratch tests demonstrated no flaking or transverse cracks along the scratch line , even at a 200 fold magnification . this shows that the adhesion to metal is as good or better than the shear strength of the material itself . the sputtering apparatus as described above in example 1 was employed and the target was a cold pressed ha powder , 2 &# 34 ;× 4 &# 34 ;× 1 / 8 &# 34 ;, formed at a pressure of 500 psi using the techniques and apparatus described above . films coated on glass and single crystal sodium chloride plates were analyzed by x - ray diffraction in order to ascertain the obtained crystal structure . the results demonstrated that the sputtered films were essentially dense , amorphous ha . however , upon subsequent vacuum annealing in a conventional utility furnace at 10 - 4 torr pressure and at temperatures ranging between about 300 ° c . and about 900 ° c ., for times ranging between about 1 hour and 24 hours , complete recrystalization occurred . the invention has been described in reference to preferred embodiments . it will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that many additions , substitutions and deletions can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed below . | 0 |
fig1 is a perspective or isometric of a simplified communications satellite designated generally as 10 , including a body 12 , upon which are mounted solar panels illustrated as 14a and 14b . solar panels 14a and 14b produce electrical energy which is supplied to electrical power control and routing circuits illustrated as a block 16 , which produces power for communication circuits including amplifiers , linearizers , phase shifters , and the like , illustrated together as a block 18 . the circuits of block 18 coact with a transmit - receive antenna designated generally as 20 which includes a dual - polarized planar antenna array illustrated as 22 , in conjunction with two separate , mutually - orthogonally - polarized feed antenna structures , illustrated in fig1 as waveguide - fed horn antennas 24 and 26 , positioned at a location offset from the plane of the array . horn 24 transmits and receives vertically ( v ) polarized signals , and horn 26 transmits and receives horizontally ( h ) polarized signals . communications circuits 18 of fig1 are coupled in known fashion with feed antennas 24 and 26 . feed antenna arrangements 24 and 26 radiate diverging beams of energy of the two mutually orthogonal v and h linear polarizations toward array 22 in a transmit mode , and receive from array 22 beams of electromagnetic radiation converging toward phase centers 24f and 26f , respectively , of antennas 24 and 26 . as so far described , the arrangement of fig1 is similar to the arrangement described in copending patent application ser . no . 07 / 848 , 055 , entitled , &# 34 ; a reflectarray antenna for communication satellite frequency re - use applications &# 34 ;, filed mar . 9 , 1992 in the name of profera . in the above - mentioned profera application , each element of array 22 includes two mutually - orthogonally - polarized electromagnetic reflectors . the use of reflectors requires that , in order to achieve a given carrier - to - noise ( c / n ) ratio , feed antennas 24 and 26 must radiate the full power to be transmitted , plus an additional amount to compensate for any losses which occur in the reflector elements . in accordance with an aspect of the invention , each element of array 22 includes cross - polarized antennas , each of which is coupled to a separate amplifying and phase shifting module . fig2 a and 2b are simplified perspective or isometric views and simplified elevation cross - sectional views , respectively , of one type of antenna element which may be used in array 22 of fig1 . in fig2 a , an array element designated generally as 220 includes a first dipole with elements 222 , 224 interconnected by wires or conductors illustrated as 226 with a balun , in this case illustrated as a split - tapered or &# 34 ; infinite &# 34 ; balun 227 . balun 227 connects to a coaxial transmission line ( coax line ) 228 . a second dipole includes dipole elements 232 and 234 , similarly interconnected with each other and with a coax line 238 by conductors 236 and a balun 237 . fig2 b is a simplified elevation cross - section of antenna elements 222 , 224 and balun 227 , viewed in the direction of section lines 2b -- 2b of fig2 a , and also illustrating a dielectric support substrate 240 . as illustrated in fig2 b , antenna element 222 is connected by a conductor 226a to the center conductor 242 of coax line 228 . center conductor 242 of coax line 228 extends through an opening or aperture 246 formed in substrate 240 between antenna elements 222 and 224 . a balanced - to - unbalanced transition ( balun ) 227 is provided by a taper 248 of the outer conductor 250 of coaxial transmission line 244 . the narrow tapered end of outer conductor 250 also extends through aperture 246 and is connected by conductor 226b to dipole element 224 . dipole antenna elements 232 and 234 of fig2 a are similarly connected to coaxial transmission line 238 . fig3 a is a perspective or isometric view , partially cut away , of two patch - type antenna elements which may be used in part of array 22 of fig1 . in fig3 a dielectric substrate illustrated as 340 has a conductive ground plane 310 associated with the lower side , and a plurality of rectangular or square patch antenna elements 332 , 342 supported by the upper side of dielectric substrate 340 . as known to those skilled in the art and as illustrated in fig3 b , each patch , such as patch 332 of fig3 b , may be biaxially symmetric about mutually orthogonal axes 396 and 398 , and may be fed at points illustrated as 392 , 394 which are symmetrically placed relative to the axes . such feeding with appropriately dimensioned patch antennas , results in radiation of electromagnetic energy with mutually orthogonal linear polarizations . as illustrated in fig3 a , point 392 is fed by the center conductor 384 of a coaxial cable 388 which extends through an aperture 386 in ground plane 310 , and through the adjacent dielectric support 340 to point 392 on patch antenna 332 . the outer conductor of coax line 388 connects to ground plane 310 . similarly , feed point 394 is driven by the center conductor 374 of a coaxial transmission line 378 , which extends through an aperture 376 in ground plane 310 to point 394 , and which has its outer conductor connected to ground plane 310 . similar coax lines , designated 368 and 369 , are associated with patch antenna 342 . as also illustrated in fig3 a , coaxial cables 378 , 388 by which patch antenna 432 is fed , are coupled to a module designated 410 , described in greater detail in conjunction with fig4 . fig4 illustrates details relating to a module 410 of fig3 a , and its interaction with a patch antenna and with the array . in fig4 module 410 includes a circulator 412 coupled to receive signal from coaxial cable 378 in response to signals received by patch antenna 332 in a first polarization , illustrated as v . circulator 412 couples the received signal to a processor designated generally as 411 , which includes a low noise amplifier ( lna ) 414 which amplifies weak signals , such as those received from an earth station , which applies the amplified signals to a phase shifter ( ps ) illustrated as a block 416 . phase shifter 416 provides phase shifts selected as described below , and applies the phase shifted signals to a variable gain amplifier ( vga ) or variable attenuator 418 , which adjusts the signal level . the phase shifted , gain adjusted signal is applied from vga 418 to a power amplifier ( pa ) 420 , which amplifies the signal and applies it as a processed signal to circulator 412 , which circulates the amplified signal back to coaxial cable 478 for application to feed point 394 of patch antenna 332 for reradiation . in a similar manner , circulator 422 of module 410 receives signal from coaxial cable 388 in response to the reception by patch antenna 332 of electromagnetic radiation of the other linear polarization , illustrated in fig4 as h , and couples it to a low noise amplifier 424 of a processor 421 . processor 421 also includes a phase shifter 426 , variable gain amplifier 428 , and power amplifier 430 , which applies the signal back to circulator 422 for application to feed point 392 of patch antenna 332 . patch antenna 332 reradiates amplified signal of the second polarization . those skilled in the art will realize that substantial amplification can be used in each processor , at frequencies at which the return loss of the patch antenna exceeds the gain . each module may have its phase shifter 416 preset to a value which causes the vertically polarized energy received from a collimated beam , as for example an array beam directed towards a distant earth station , to be reradiated from the particular location at which module 410 is placed within the array and to coact with other modules with different phase shifter settings , to cause the vertically polarized reradiated beam to converge towards focal point 24f of vertically polarized feed antenna 24 . similarly , at that same location of module 410 , phase shifter 426 would be set to cause the horizontally polarized reradiated signal from patch 332 , responsive to a collimated beam , to converge towards focal point 26f of horizontally polarized feed antenna 26 of fig1 . because of the reciprocity of transmit and receive functions , this in turn will result in a diverging beam of energy from focal point 24f of vertically polarized feed antenna 24 arriving at the various points on antenna array 22 so that the energy reradiated by patch 332 in response to signal applied to feed point 394 of fig4 will , together with other reradiated signals originating from other patch antenna of array 22 , form a collimated directed towards the distant location . similarly , the horizontally polarized signal diverging from focal point 26f of horizontally polarized feed antenna 26 of fig1 will arrive at the various patch antennas with a phase which , when processed by the appropriate phase shifter 426 , will result in a collimated beam . the variable gain amplifiers are set to provide the desired amount of amplitude taper across the radiating aperture of the array . in particular , each vga is set to a value which controls the amplitude of its own antenna element relative to that of the other antenna elements . in general , those antenna elements or radiators nearest the center of the array will have their associated variable gain amplifiers set for gain greater than the gain of variable gain amplifiers associated with antenna elements near the edge of the array . such tapered distributions reduce the magnitude of sidelobes . some of the amplitude tapering is provided by the taper element in the feed antennas . those skilled in the art will know how to determine the taper provided by the feed horn , and the amount of taper which must be imparted by the vgas . a socket is provided for each module by which energizing power is coupled to the module from power control 16 of fig1 to operate the lna , ps , vga and pa . the socket associated with module 410 is illustrated as 440 in fig4 . socket 440 mates with a corresponding plug 442 associated with module 410 , to couple energizing power to the various portions of the module from a common power supply ( not illustrated ) associated with the array . in order to avoid individual adjustment of the phase shifters and variable gain amplifiers of each module as it is inserted into the array , the socket may be keyed to its particular location by means of jumpers , index pins , or the like , so that it &# 34 ; knows &# 34 ; where it is in the array by a unique mechanical or electrical code . this code is translated into address information for a memory ( mem ) 444 , which is pre - loaded with information defining the settings of the phase shifters and the variable gain amplifiers for all possible locations in the array . thus , when a module is inserted into the holder , the memory is addressed at a location at which the stored information represents the phase and amplitude settings required to provide the transition between collimated beams and converging or diverging beams directed toward the two different faces , depending upon polarization . an alternative which provides more flexibility and which reduces the cost of preloaded memory on each module , substitutes one or more latches coupled to an array controller , for receiving and storing digital control information distributed over a bus to all modules , and addressed to each individual module . the information can be supplied sequentially to each module , thereby limiting the size of the control bus . the latches preserve the digital information identified or addressed to that particular module between access times . one or more digital - to - analog converters coupled to the latches convert the stored control information into analog control signals for control of the phase shifter and variable gain amplifier . as a yet further alternative , digitally controlled phase shifters and variable gain amplifiers may be coupled directly to the latches . other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art . for example , each of the feed antennas illustrated in fig1 as a horn 24 or 26 may instead be an independent array antenna . while the preferred embodiment uses modules for each antenna of the array which provide both amplitude tapering and phase control , the appropriate phase may be provided by the inherent delay of the amplifier , so that no discrete phase shifter is necessary , and in a similar manner , no discrete variable amplitude control may be necessary in particular applications . while removable &# 34 ; modules &# 34 ; have been described , fixed , nonremovable equivalents may be used . the antenna may be made an integral part of its associated module . while the array has been illustrated as being planar , the amount of module - to - module phase shift which must be imparted may be reduced if the surface is curved into an approximation of a parabola of revolution . | 7 |
fig1 depicts the limiting components of a compression chamber 10 of an ultrasonic welding device , in order to compact and weld long , extended , braid - like workpieces , such as conductors 12 , 14 , 16 . in the diagram , the compression chamber 10 is delimited at the bottom by a working surface of a sonotrode 18 . opposite to sonotrode 18 is an anvil 20 , which is raised and lowered ( double arrow 22 ) so as to move parallel to the working surface of sonotrode 18 ( double arrow 24 ). the anvil 20 proceeds thereby from a support 26 , which , with a section 28 , forms a right lateral limiting surface of the compression chamber 10 . opposite is an adjustably arranged slide valve 30 ( double arrow 32 ), which proceeds from support 34 . by adjusting the slide valve 30 , support 34 respectively , the height of compression chamber 10 can be adjusted . according to the width of compression chamber 10 , the working surface of anvil 20 , which is opposite the working surface of sonotrode 18 is automatically adjusted . the height of compression chamber 10 , which can be aligned to the total transverse section of workpieces 14 , 16 , is adjusted by shifting the column , support 26 respectively , of anvil 20 . as fig1 further points out , slide valve 30 is full integrated with support 34 by bolts 36 , 38 . furthermore , the coupling surfaces 40 , 42 of slide valve 30 and support 34 is structured in such a way that that , additionally , a form closure results . however , not only between slide valve 30 and support 34 can an integrated connection be made , but also in principal between all the connected components of an ultrasonic welding device , in particular those subjected to forces conditioned by welding . thus , fig2 depicts a design diagram of an anvil 44 , anvil slide valve respectively , which is formed from a right parallelpiped base 46 and a working part 48 , and which preferably exhibits working areas 50 , 52 on opposite sides , from which a limiting surface of a compression chamber forms as shown in detail in fig1 . the base 46 is fully integrated with working part 48 by a bolt 54 . additionally , in order to achieve a form closure , they are both formed from the base 46 , as well as from the anvil of their coupling surfaces 56 , 58 . accordingly , a sonotrode of an exhibiting sonotrode head can be trained with one or more working surfaces . also , the possibility exists of connecting several working parts , which , at the same time , perform the function of a sonotrode head , with the base of the sonotrode , which is in accordance with the theory of the invention . fig3 depicts sections , for example , of a booster 60 or a base of a sonotrode 62 , which are fully integrated by a bolt 64 . furthermore , coupling surfaces 66 , 68 , which are opposite each another , are structured in such a way that a proposed form closure is given . the coupling surfaces are increased via these measures , a self centering of the components 60 , 62 to be connected is achieved , as well as a cushioning of influencing transverse forces . the intended form closure trained structuring of coupling surfaces 40 , 42 , 56 , 58 or 66 , 68 can be achieved by a desired surface geometry formation . examples are shown in fig4 - 14 . thus , a coupling surface 70 can exhibit elevations 72 , 74 , running parallel to each other , which are separated by a corresponding groove 76 . if the coupling surfaces , which lie on each another , are uniformly trained , then the trench exhibits a geometry that is congruent to projection 72 , so that an assigned coupling surface of a surface 70 exhibits a corresponding geometry . of course , the possibility also exists that the coupling surfaces , which lie above each other , can be structured differently . in this case , however , a structural enlargement must be given in such a manner that the desired intended form closure is attainable . in the drawings of fig4 and 5 , the linear - shaped elevations 74 , 76 are arranged as exclusively running parallel to each other , so that the possibility exists , according to fig6 and 7 , that elevations 78 , 80 , 82 of coupling surface 77 are arranged intersecting each other , as fig7 , in particular , clarifies . however , a concentric arrangement of linear - shaped elevations 84 , 86 in coupling surface 83 is possible , as shown in fig8 and 9 . fig1 - 14 show the preferred cross section geometry of the preferably linear - shaped coupling surface elevations . it is to be noted , however , that it is not imperative for the elevations to be linear - shaped for the structuring and achievement of a form closure . rather , for structural development , pyramidal ( or pyramidal truncated , respectively ) and conical ( or conical truncated , respectively ) elevations can also be proposed corresponding to adjacent recesses . according to the drawing in fig1 , elevations 88 , 90 of coupling surface 87 exhibit , on average , an equilateral triangle geometry , whereby sides 92 , 94 enclose an angle α , which can be , for example , 60 - degrees , 90 - degrees , or approximately 60 - degrees or 90 - degrees . the distance between elevations 88 , 90 from apex to apex is shown by t and preferably falls in the range of 0 . 5 mm & lt ; t & gt ; 5 mm . the height of projection 88 , 90 may fall between 0 . 5 mm and 2 . 5 mm . according to fig1 , trained projection structures 94 , 96 of a coupling surface 93 , on average , exhibit a trapezoidal geometry , whereby sides 98 , 100 may enclose an angle α , for example , of 60 or 90 - degrees . the elevations merge at the bottom , so that they are delimited via v - shaped grooves . the distance t between the projections preferably falls in the range of 0 . 5 mm & lt ; t & gt ; 5 mm . the height , in particular , may lie between 0 . 5 mm and 2 . 5 mm . likewise , the projections 104 , 106 of a coupling surface 110 , on average , exhibit trapezoidal geometry . the projections are thereby delimited by a level base section 108 , which are parallel to the extended plane or sections of the coupling surface 110 . the distance between projections 104 , 106 preferably falls between 0 . 7 mm and 6 mm . the projections 104 , 106 , moreover , exhibit a plateau - like , even , outer surface , which exhibits a preferred width between 0 . 1 mm and 3 mm . the base sections 108 exhibit a width b between 0 . 1 mm and 3 mm . therefore , the structure should be so designed that widths a and b are , in each case , smaller than the distance t . the height of the projections 104 , 106 may fall between 0 . 5 mm and 2 . 5 mm . according to fig1 , a coupling surface 112 exhibits a saw tooth - like structure via non - equilateral triangles of the following projections 114 , 116 with a distance t between 0 . 5 mm and 5 mm . the projections 114 , 116 exhibit sides 118 , 120 , which enclose a preferred angle α with 45 °≦ α ≦ 75 °. side 118 exhibits a preferred angle γ with 15 °≦ γ ≦ 45 ° for the normalization of the coupling surface 112 , and side 120 exhibits a preferred angle β with 15 °≦ β ≦ 45 °. the distance t between projections 114 , 116 falls between 0 . 5 mm ≦ t ≦ 5 mm . the height may be chosen between 0 . 5 mm and 2 . 5 mm . however , a coupling surface 122 exhibiting wave geometry is also possible according to fig1 , in order to achieve the desired form closures between coupling surfaces lying on top of each other . wave geometry preferably follows a sine path , whereby the radii of curvature r 1 r 2 of projection 122 , valley 124 respectively , may deviate from each other . the distance between sequential projections 124 , 128 may fall between 0 . 5 mm ≦ t ≦ 5 mm . in order to optimally weld conductors independently of their number , it is suggested by this invention that the number of conductors 12 , 14 , 16 of compression chamber 10 be adjusted by placing workpieces of a given width , which subsequently permit an optimal welding procedure . so that , if two or three conductors are welded together , the compression chamber 10 is adjusted to a width that ensures that the conductors are arranged in a column one above the other in the compression chamber 10 , as shown in fig1 , and in the schematic diagram of slide valve 30 . by placing the workpieces 12 , 14 , 16 , the anvil 20 is shifted to the right , in order to release the compression chamber 10 from above ( schematic diagram of the anvil 20 ). if more than four workpieces are welded together against it , then the compression chamber 10 is optimally opened for placing workpieces as shown in the cross - sectional diagram . the width is given , in this case , by the maximum limiting surfaces of the compression chamber 10 provided by sonotrode 10 . after the conductors have been placed in an appropriately wide opened compression chamber 10 , the slide valve 30 is shifted toward the support , respectively column 26 . then the slide valve 30 is lowered toward sonotrode 18 . at the same time , an excitation of sonotrode 18 occurs , in order to perform the welding . | 1 |
with reference to fig1 and 2 there is shown a testable chip carrier 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention . the testable chip carrier comprises a rigid substrate 12 formed of suitable electrically insulating material , such as ceramic , aluminium nitride , silicon dioxide , beryllium oxide or alternatively a laminated composite structure such as poly - silicon with an insulating layer of polyamide thereon . the substrate 12 is divided into free distinct portions . the innermost portion is a chip receiving area , occupied by chip 14 in position . this is bounded by an interconnect portion 16 extending outward from the edge or perimeter 20 of the chip 14 ( fig2 ) to a test perimeter 18 ( fig1 ). the separation of the interconnect portion 16 and the test perimeter 18 is defined by four intersecting scribe lines 22 , 24 . the chip 14 is characterised by a plurality of bonding pads 30 , typically spaced around all four sides thereof . such bonding pads 30 are normally all spaced at equal distance from the chip perimeter 20 , but are not always spaced equidistant from adjacent bonding pads . they may also include bonding pads 31 of different sizes , as illustrated . an example of pad geometry is for bonding pads of 100 μm width and 50 μm minimum spacing between pads ( ie . a minimum pitch of 150 μm ). the interconnect portion 16 includes a plurality of electrically conducting interconnect elements 32 deposited on the substrate 12 and each extending from an inner bonding area 34 at a position proximal to the chip bonding pads 30 outward to an outer bonding area 36 proximal to a scribe line 22 or 24 . electrical connections are made to the chip 14 by way of wire bonds 50 from bonding pads 30 to inner bonding areas 34 , and also from outer bonding areas 36 to appropriate external electrical connections as will be described later . fiducial alignment aids 42 for chip attach and wire bond pattern recognition systems may also be patterned onto the substrate in the interconnect portion 16 . the test perimeter 18 comprises the eight outer sections shown in fig1 bounded by the outer periphery of the substrate 12 and the scribe lines 22 and 24 . the test perimeter carries further interconnect elements 38 deposited on the substrate 12 which each extend from a corresponding outer bonding area 36 on interconnect portion 16 to a test pad 40 on test perimeter 18 . it is a particular feature of the present invention that the interconnect elements 36 , 38 are defined on the substrate 12 using any fine line dielectric and conductor deposition techniques which are capable of resolving interconnect elements to a pitch at least as small as the closest pitch of the bonding pads 20 of the chip 14 , such as those used in hybrid , thick film or thin film deposition techniques . this permits the inner bonding areas 34 to be located proximal to the chip perimeter 20 at such positions that they are in orthogonal alignment to each corresponding bonding pad 30 to which electrical connection win be made by a wire bond 50 . thus it can be observed , in particular from fig2 that each wire bond 50 is of identical length to every other wire bond attached to chip 14 . this results in substantial benefits in respect of signal integrity , since the signal path across the wire bond is identical in each case , and capacitive and inductive effects caused by dissimilar wire bond lengths are thereby eliminated . the outer bonding areas 36 are also configured to exactly match the pattern of external connections to which the chip will eventually be connected , in analogous fashion to that described for wire bonds 50 . for example , the external connections may be to a multi - chip module or directly onto printed circuit board . thus wire bond connections 52 ( shown in fig3 ) from the outer bonding areas 36 to the external connections of the printed circuit board or multi - chip module are preferably also all of identical length . the interconnection portion 16 thereby acts as an interface to match the chip bond pad dimensions to the external electrical connections with minimal difference in electrical path length , and can also act as a supporting substrate for the chip . the contribution , impedance - wise , to this path length of the interconnect elements 32 is relatively small . unlike ceramic package interconnects which must be chosen to withstand the rigours of ceramic firing processes , the thin or thick film deposition techniques used to form the interconnects 32 may be chosen to use high conductivity metals such as gold , silver , aluminium or copper . thus the material used for the interconnect may also be chosen to allow for mono - metal interconnection strategies . signal integrity may be further improved by the use of uniform track spacing on the chip carrier substrate , or by predetermining the characteristic impedance thereof to suit the external circuit . the pitch of the interconnects is capable of matching the normal pitch of chip bond pads without difficulty . fine line screen print processes with track widths down to 25 μm at 25 μm spacing -- ie . 50 μm pitch -- can be utilised where required . a further major benefit of the testable chip carrier 10 is the ability to facilitate full - functional chip testing at final operating speeds before installation of the chip into the multi - chip module or onto the printed circuit board . this is achieved by the use of the detachable test perimeter 18 . the substrate 12 may be formed with laser scribed pits in the underside thereof to form the scribe lines 22 , 24 . typically , for a substrate of 625 μm thickness , the laser scribed pits are formed to a depth of approximately one - third substrate thickness (˜ 200 μm ) with a similar dimension diameter of each pit . the test perimeter 18 is thus removable after chip testing by snapping the substrate along the scribe lines 22 , 24 . alternatively , perimeter removal can be performed after testable chip carrier assembly and test using a saw or laser process . the interconnects 32 and 38 are electrically continuous until such detachment of the test perimeter 18 . in use , the chip 14 is bonded to the substrate 12 using suitable known bonding techniques such as wire bonding between the chip bonding pads 30 and the inner bonding areas 34 . the test pads 40 are patterned in a suitable layout to facilitate electrical connection of the chip to a standard test and / or burn - in module , such as probe card type apparatus , or packaged device testing apparatus . the test pads 40 may be configured in any convenient manner : for example , the standard pin grid array package layout may be used with a square matrix of test pads 40 . after testing and burn - in , the outer perimeter is discarded as described , leaving the greatly reduced central area of chip receiving area and interconnect portion as the final &# 34 ; package &# 34 ; area . in order to place the testable chip carrier 10 into a form in which full chip protection is achieved , a lid may be applied to the substrate in accordance with various known techniques . with reference to fig3 there is shown a cross - sectional view of such a lid arrangement . hermetic encapsulation of the chip 14 can be performed by soldering or glass frit sealing a lid 54 over the chip 14 , inner bonding areas 34 and wire bonds 50 . the interconnects 32 over which the lid 54 is bonded can be protected by deposition of a suitable passivation layer thereover , with appropriate definition of an exposed area at the inner and outer bonding areas 34 , 36 . non - hermetic encapsulation is also possible with a suitable lidding operation . further benefits are realisable with the testable chip carriers described above . because the deposition and definition process of the interconnects 32 , 38 on the substrate 12 is a substantially cheaper and more straight - forward operation than that of custom building ceramic packages , the chip carriers are readily matched to any combination of chip design and / or multi - chip module or printed circuit board design . the interconnect portion 16 also occupies substantially less space than the equivalent standard or custom design package . a reduction in overall component size of 17 : 1 has been achieved in certain cases . it is also possible using known thick and thin film deposition techniques to create multilevel interconnect portions 16 and test perimeters 18 thereby further increasing packing density . this also allows the use of transmission line type structures to be fabricated ( eg . ground planes ) with the intention of further improving signal performance at high frequencies . vias may be formed through the substrate 12 in order to allow electrical connections to pass through to the underside of the chip carrier 10 . this facilitates the provision of test pads on the underside of the test perimeter 18 , eg . for the creation of the pin grid array pattern previously discussed . it also allows the placement of passive devices on the underside of the chip carrier substrate 12 , such as decoupling capacitors . it is a feature of state - of - the - art high current demand chips that rapid switching demands occurring on - chip can cause glitches and spikes on the power supply lines to the chip . these glitches and spikes can be detrimental to other components mounted nearby on the printed circuit board or multi - chip module . the provision of capacitors on the chip carrier substrate 12 would enable power supplies to be regulated . the choice of substrate 12 may also be made to suit heatsink requirements . this allows the use of common or integral heatsinks for multi - chip assemblies if desired . the heatsink and chip carrier substrate 12 may be of a single piece construction using , for example , poly - silicon . alternatively , the chip receiving area can be formed as an aperture permitting direct connection of the chip 14 to a heatsink underlying the chip carrier substrate 12 , as will be described in greater detail with reference to fig7 . direct attach of carrier and chip to a common integral heatsink of a multi - chip module gives a better thermal path than prior art arrangements . the approach necessitates chip - through - board technology , and therefore finer line design rules and technology to manifest it . the testable chip carrier thus acts as an interface between the fine line geometries associated with the pitch of bonding pads 30 , and the larger geometries associated with external interconnects on pcb or mcm to which the chip is to be attached . an application of a testable chip carrier 10 to a printed circuit board incorporating suitable heat sinking arrangements is shown in fig4 . in this example , the chip carrier includes wire bond connections 50 , 52 from the chip 14 to the carrier interconnect portion 16 , and from the interconnect portion to a pcb 60 . an aperture is created in the pcb 60 , one edge of which is indicated by reference numeral 62 , and a heatsink 64 is attached to the underside 61 of the pcb 60 . the chip carrier substrate 12 is attached directly to the heatsink 64 , and the wire bonds 52 to the pcb then formed using known techniques . individual heatsinks may be used , or common heatsinks spanning several chip carriers at different locations on the pcb 60 . the chip 14 to chip carrier 10 , and chip carrier 10 to heatsink 64 interfaces are bonded together using a thermally conductive epoxy . the selection of an epoxy with a high modulus of elasticity may also act as an elastic junction to compensate for differential thermal expansions where dissimilar substrate materials are used . it will be recognized that where the chip carrier substrate 12 and heatsink 64 are both chosen from the same material , eg . poly - silicon , very efficient coupling and heat transfer may take place . the entire assembly of pcb 60 , cavity and chip carrier 10 may be potted using an epoxy or silicone compound to create a very low cost encapsulated packaging medium . a further embodiment of the invention is now described with reference to fig5 and 6 . with reference to fig5 a portion of a testable chip carrier 10 is shown in plan view . the interconnect elements 32 formed on the interconnect portion 16 include the outer bonding areas 36 which extend orthogonally outward , over the scribe lines 22 , 24 and into the test perimeter 18 forming the test perimeter interconnects 38 . a &# 34 ; detachment portion &# 34 ; of the test perimeter is defined by reference numeral 70 . this detachment portion extends outward from the scribe lines 22 , 24 to an outer edge 71 indicated by the dashed line . in manufacture of the testable chip carrier 10 , before the formation of the interconnects 32 , 38 , a coating of low - adhesion powdered compound is deposited on the substrate 12 in the detachment portion 70 . the interconnects 32 , 38 are then deposited and defined . a loss of interconnect 38 adhesion to substrate 12 occurs within the detachment portion 70 . after testing of the chip , and before removal of the test perimeter 18 , the interconnects 38 are severed along the line of the outer edge 71 using an appropriate cropping tool . when the test perimeter 18 is subsequently detached by snapping the substrate 12 along the scribe lines 22 , 24 , the portion of the interconnects 38 overlying the detachment portion 70 will remain with the chip carrier 10 , as extensions to the interconnect elements 32 . with reference to fig6 these extensions act as beam lead interconnects 72 for subsequent connection to a printed circuit board 60 or multi - chip module in place of the wire bonding procedures previously described . the cantilevered end 74 of the beam lead 72 is bonded directly to contacts on the pcb 60 using either ultra - sonic / thermo - compression bonding , adhesive and soldering techniques or the like . in the embodiment shown , the testable chip carrier 10 is mounted on a heatsink 64 attached to the underside of the pcb 60 in similar manner to that previously described with reference to fig4 . the testable chip carrier may also be modified to allow direct mounting of the chip on an underlying heatsink . referring to fig7 such an arrangement is shown . fig7 a shows the device before removal of the test perimeter 18 , and fig7 b shows the device after removal of the test perimeter . a chip 14 is mounted directly onto the thermal slug or heatsink 64 , together with the testable chip carrier 10 . the chip receiving area in this case is an aperture in the substrate 12 of sufficient size to accommodate the chip 14 , ie . the heatsink acts as the mechanical chip support . the interconnect portion 16 is designed to cover the heatsink 64 , and the testable perimeter 18 extends outward beyond the edges of the heatsink , scribe lines 22 , 24 approximately coinciding with the edges of the heatsink . chip 14 is wire bonded with wires 50 to inner bonding areas on the interconnect portion 16 as previously described . in this arrangement , an improved thermal path is effected . the chip , testable chip carrier and thermal slug can be manufactured from thermally similar materials , eg . silicon . with reference to fig8 and 9 , a testable carrier according to a further embodiment of the present invention is shown , in which connection to bonding pads situated on the chip in positions other than at the periphery thereof are accommodated . this may be described as area bonding capability , contrasted with the periphery bonding capabilities already described . the short , equal length bonding wires are maintained even for chips including centrally positioned bonding pads . a testable chip carrier 80 comprises substrate 12 , similarly divided into three portions : a chip receiving area 82 , interconnect portion 16 and a test perimeter 18 . scribe lines 22 , 24 separate the interconnect portion 16 and test perimeter 18 as previously described , and other features associated with the interconnect portion and the test perimeter are as described with reference to fig1 and 2 . however , within the chip receiving area 82 a continuation of substrate 12 is provided , which includes apertures 84 - 88 cut therethrough at locations corresponding to the positions of bonding pads on a chip which will be attached beneath the carrier 80 , with its passivation layer bonded to the underside of the carrier 80 . apertures 84 - 87 are used for peripheral bonding pads ( eg . corresponding to pads 30 , 31 of fig2 ), while aperture 88 is provided for centrally positioned bonding pads , such as those commonly found on memory chips . interconnects 90 are also provided to inner bonding areas 92 which are located in the chip receiving area 82 . the extension of the substrate 12 into the chip receiving area also facilitates the provision of decoupling capacitor structures 94 thereon which are in very close proximity to the inner bonding areas 92 . similar to that previously described , ground plane structures may also be included in the chip receiving area 82 . fig9 shows in greater detail the wire bonding arrangements of the chip carrier 80 of fig8 . chip 14 is located beneath the chip receiving area 82 of substrate 12 . inner bonding areas 92 are located adjacent to aperture 88 , and wire bonds 50 , all of substantially equal length are provided to chip bond pads 96 . the wire bonds may be provided in varying diameters according to whether they provide signal or power connections . it will be understood that heatsinking arrangements direct to the underside of the chip 14 may be made in similar manner to that already described , and that the carrier substrate 12 will ideally be thermally matched with the chip ( eg . by using a silicon substrate ), with the wire bonds capable of accommodating any thermal mismatch . the area bonding technique of this embodiment offers a replacement to flip - chip type interconnection strategies , but with several advantages such as direct chip - to - heatsink attachment and easier inspection of interconnections . | 7 |
the detailed description provided 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 example and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the example . 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 crowdsourcing system in which many task providers obtain solutions to tasks via the crowdsourcing system , the system 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 crowdsourcing systems including those where all the tasks are offered by the same entity . fig1 is a schematic diagram of a crowdsourcing system comprising a crowdsourcing node 100 and a reward engine 102 . the crowdsourcing node 100 is provided using a web server or other computing - based device which is connected to a communications network such as the internet or other communications network . this enables the crowdsourcing node to be in communication with a large scale population of users 104 . the crowdsourcing node 100 is in communication with a reward engine 102 which may be integral with the crowdsourcing node 100 although that is not essential . the reward engine is arranged to set relative rewards for all contests ( i . e . tasks ) offered by the crowdsourcing node . it may also be arranged to recommend a reward to an entity which posts a contest at the crowdsourcing node . a system operator 103 is also in communication with the crowdsourcing node and is a provider of the crowdsourcing service . however , it is not essential for a system operator to be present . the crowdsourcing node may be operated by the contest owners in a collaborative manner . the crowdsourcing node stores or has access to details of a plurality of contests 101 each having an associated reward . each contest comprises a task and a time period for completing the task . each contest has a contest owner and the contest owners may be different for each task but this is not essential . the contest owners are any entities such as enterprises or individuals who specify requirements for a task including a budget for any rewards offered . for each contest , a contest budget 105 is provided as input to the crowdsourcing node 100 . also , for each contest , a contest owner utility function 106 is provided as input to the crowdsourcing node . an example of a contest owner budget is the cost function shown in fig2 . cost is plotted against reward so that , if the cost is equal to reward then a linearly increasing cost function results . however , in the example of fig2 the cost function 200 is convex with the cost increasing with reward but never reaching a particular reward value r 201 stated by the contest owner as the budget . in this way the cost function captures the degree of satisfaction of the contest owner . if the cost is much less than the stated reward the contest owner is satisfied . however , if the cost is almost the same as the stated reward the contest owner is less satisfied . the example in fig2 is just one form of suitable cost function . other forms of cost function may be used . the cost functions may be input to the crowdsourcing node 100 by other entities and / or they may be pre - configured at the crowdsourcing node . for example , a plurality of different types of cost function may be pre - configured and a contest owner may simply pick one of these or a default cost function may be selected . an example of a contest owner utility function 300 is given in fig3 . in this example the utility of a particular contest to the contest owner increases with the average number of participants in that contest . in this example , the utility function is concave although other forms of function may be used . in some embodiments the contest owner utility function is input to the crowdsourcing system by another entity . for example , the utility function may be determined using an offline process and provided as input by a contest owner . in other embodiments a plurality of utility functions are preconfigured at the crowdsourcing node 100 for a plurality of different contest types . the reward engine 102 is arranged to use information about contest types to select appropriate ones of the pre - configured utility functions for use in setting relative rewards for the contests . it is also possible for contest owners to select from the pre - configured utility functions . in high level terms the utility functions can be thought of as a mechanism by which a contest owner is able to specify “ i require on average x participants in my contest ”. the mean number of participants ( i . e . players ) in a contest is referred to herein using the symbol “ λ ”. this parameter may be observed by the crowdsourcing node 100 which is arranged to monitor the number of participants in each contest 101 over time . the crowdsourcing node 100 may also be arranged to estimate or monitor the total number of potential participants 104 . for example , this may be achieved by providing a registration process whereby all potential participants provide user details to the crowdsourcing node 100 . the total number of potential participants n may then be estimated as the portion of the registered users who are currently active . any other suitable way of estimating n may be used . as mentioned above , the reward engine is arranged to set relative rewards for all contests ( i . e . tasks ) offered by the crowdsourcing node . it may also be arranged to recommend a reward to a contest owner . a system operator 103 is also in communication with the crowdsourcing node and is a provider of the crowdsourcing service . suppose that the relative rewards are set by the system operator in order to provide the optimal contest outcomes for each contest owner . this may be referred to as a “ system welfare problem ”. another possibility is that the contest owners &# 39 ; collaborate with one another and agree to set relative rewards in a manner to give jointly optimal contest outcomes . in this case the reward engine 102 is arranged to set relative rewards for the contests for example , as now described with reference to fig4 . this method may also be used to recommend rewards to contest owners by determining the relative rewards and recommending those to the contest owners . a total number of users ( also referred to as participants or players in the contests ) is observed 400 by the crowdsourcing node and provided to the reward engine . the reward engine has information about a plurality of contests and is arranged to access 400 a utility function as mentioned above for each contest . the reward engine also receives 402 a contest budget for each of the contests . the reward engine is arranged to optimize 403 an objective which is related to the aggregated utility over all contests minus the aggregated cost over all contests . the optimization is carried out using any suitable optimizer provided at the reward engine . for example , the optimizer may use gradient descent or any other suitable optimization method . the result 404 gives a relative reward for each contest and these relative rewards may be scaled as required by the system operator . for example , suppose that each contest j is associated with a utility u j ( λ j ) for the mean number of participants in this contest λ j ≧ 0 suppose also that each contest j is associated with a cost c j ({ right arrow over ( r )}) for a vector of given non - negative rewards { right arrow over ( r )}=( r j , . . . , r k ). assume { right arrow over ( r )} takes values from a given set that is a subset of [ 0 ,∞) k . in some embodiments the rewards given are non - monetary and in these cases the cost budgets are zero . for example , if the rewards are reputation points then the cost budget is zero . examples of these embodiments are now discussed with reference to fig5 . the crowdsourcing node 100 is arranged to observe and / or estimate 500 the total number n of potential users of the crowdsourcing service . as for the method of fig4 this may be achieved by requiring users to register with the crowdsourcing node before participating in a contest or it may be achieved by monitoring all current participants . any other method of estimating or observing n may be used . the reward engine 102 is arranged to access 501 a utility function for each contest as described above with reference to fig4 . the reward engine proceeds to find a parameter μ ( referred to herein as the shadow price ) by solving an equation relating p to the average number of players per contest λ . the average number of players per contest can be thought of as the demand for contests . the reward engine makes an assessment 503 as to whether the total number of participants n is greater than a threshold . if so then a large scale limit is assumed to apply and the relative rewards for each contest are found 505 from a specified relationship between a reward and the shadow demand which is independent of the total number of participants n . otherwise , if the large scale limit is taken not to apply , then the relative rewards are found 504 from a specified relationship between a reward and the shadow demand which depends on the total number of participants n . examples of the specified relationships between reward and shadow demand are now given . in these examples , the utility functions for each contest are increasing , concave functions of the average number of participants per contest . however , this is not essential . other forms of utility function may be used and corresponding changes to the specified relationships made . consider the system c k (•)≡ 0 for each contest class k and rewards taking values on =[ 0 ,∞) k . suppose that for each contest class k , u k ( λ k ) is an increasing , strictly concave function of λ k ≧ 0 . let u ′ k denote the marginal utility and u ′ k − 1 its inverse . in this case it is found that , under player - specific skills ( player and contest specific skills assumptions are explained in more detail later ), optimal rewards are unique up to a multiplicative constant . moreover for any c & gt ; 0 , in the large system limit , optimal rewards are unique up to a multiplicative constant . moreover for any c & gt ; 0 , r j = ce u ′ j − 1 ( μ ) , j = 1 , . . . , k , in other embodiments the rewards are monetary and so the cost budgets are not zero . in these cases the reward engine is arranged to set appropriate relative rewards for the contests using a two stage process where the large scale limit applies ( i . e . the total number of participants n is above a threshold ). the first step comprises optimizing a utility function over average number of participants per contest to find an optimal average number of participants for each contest . the second step comprising finding the relative rewards for the contests given the observed total number of participants and the utility functions for each contest . a detailed example of this is now given . in the large - system limit under the assumption of contest - specific skills , the revenue for a contest of class j is given by π j ( λ j )= r j m j ( 1 −( 1 + λ j ) e − λ j ) where r j is the offered reward , m j is the maximum skill and λ j is the expected number of participants for contest j in equilibrium . the maximum skill is explained later . this revenue corresponds to the total amount of effort put forth by the players in the contest . it corresponds to a revenue of m j when two or more players are present and 0 otherwise . this revenue is not relevant in all circumstances ; in many contests , only the effort put forth by the strongest player is important . nonetheless , in contests where the player &# 39 ; s effort may be usefully aggregated , this quantity warrants inspection . where v j ( π j ) is the utility from contest j where the revenue in that contest is π j . suppose that the cost is d j ( r j ) for reward r j if the contest is attended by at least one player ; this corresponds to c j ({ right arrow over ( r )})=( 1 − e − λ j ({ right arrow over ( r )}) ) d j ( r j ), the reward engine is arranged to use a two step procedure as follows . for some r & gt ; 0 , r j = re λj , whenever λ j & gt ; 0 . the first step amounts to solving , for fixed r & gt ; 0 , and j = 1 , . . . , k , maximise v j ( re − λ j m j ( 1 −( 1 + λ j ) e − λ j ))−( 1 − e − λ j ) d j ( re − λ j ) this yields a solution to λ j ( r ). the second step amounts to finding r ≧ 0 such that in embodiments described herein the crowdsourcing node 100 comprises or has access to a model of the contests 101 . for example , a data structure is stored at the crowdsourcing node 100 which holds a model of the contests as all - pay auctions . in addition the data structure may hold information describing belief about one or more probability distributions representing skills of players . in some embodiments the skills may be player - specific in that each player is modeled with a skill that applied across all contests . in other embodiments contest - specific skills are modeled whereby each player has different skills for different types of contest . for example , the data structure may hold a model which represents each contest as a one - shot game in which players select a contest , exert effort ( at a cost that depends on their skill ), and in each contest the player with the best effort wins a prize . specifically , consider a game in which n players chose among j contests . let r j denote the reward offered in contest jε { 1 , . . . j }. associated with each player i is a vector of skills { right arrow over ( v )} 1 =( v i1 , . . . , v ij ), where v ij represents a player i &# 39 ; s skill at a contest j . suppose that the skill vector for each player is drawn from a continuous joint probability distribution over [ 0 , m ] j , that skill vectors for different players are drawn independently from each other , and that the distribution is known to all players but the skill vector { right arrow over ( v )} i is only known to player i . the parameter m represents a maximum possible skill , for example , corresponding to an upper limit on the amount of effort a player can obtain from a unit cost . the game consists of two stages . in the first stage each player i selects a contest j and a bid b ij . in the second stage , in each contest j , the prize is awarded to the player with the highest bid among those who selected the contest . since bids represent effort ( which cannot be unspent ), all bids are collected . the payoff to player i is v ij r j − b ij if he submitted the highest bid and b ij otherwise . in the event of a tie the winner is selected uniform at random among the highest bidders . the contests may be modeled as all - pay auctions — these are auctions in which the highest bidder receives the object , but all bidders pay their bid to the auctioneer . to see the connection between contests and all pay auctions suppose the skill of player i at contest j is modeled by a unit cost of effort c ij . if he exerts effort b ij and wins , his payoff is r j − c ij b ij ; if he loses he still pays the cost c ij b ij . scaling his payoffs by dividing by c ij , the game above is reached when thus , a player &# 39 ; s skill v ij . may be interpreted as the amount of effort he is able to exert per unit cost . in some embodiments , while a given player does not know the skills of the other players , he is aware of the underlying distribution . additionally , all other information is public — all players are aware of the number of players n the number of contests j , and the reward offered in each contest . in these cases the crowdsourcing model holds a model of the contests which is a model of incomplete information . for example , a mixed strategy for a player i with skills { right arrow over ( v )} i consists of a probability distribution { right arrow over ( π )}=( π i1 , . . . , π ij ) over the contests together with a bid b ij for each contest j . player i &# 39 ; s payoff is the expected payoff in the all - pay auction , with the expectation taken over his own mixed strategy and i &# 39 ; s beliefs about other players &# 39 ; types and strategies . his mixed strategy is a best response if is yields him at least as high a payoff as any other strategy . { right arrow over ( π )} i is independent of the player i and π j ({ right arrow over ( v )}) denotes the probability that a player with skill { right arrow over ( v )} joins contest j . in some embodiments the crowdsourcing node 100 comprises a contest recommendation engine 600 as now described with reference to fig6 . as in fig1 a community of potential participants 104 is in communication with the crowdsourcing node using a communications network of any suitable type . the crowdsourcing node is arranged to receive input comprising user skill information 601 and to provide contest recommendations 602 as output using the contest recommendation engine . for example , a potential participant in the community 104 may receive contest recommendations about which of the available contests 101 to participate in . the crowdsourcing node comprises a model of the contests 101 as described above and this model may be stored at a memory at the node . the contest recommendation engine 600 may also be used to assign contests to potential participants in a similar manner . for example , rather than recommending a contest which the potential participant then decides whether to take up , the engine 600 simply assigns one or more contests to that participant . as mentioned above a user &# 39 ; s skill can be thought of as the amount of effort or good that a user can produce by unit time . this may be observed or measured in some way , such as by observing the number of successful contest outcomes attained by a user in a given time period . for example , software may be provided at a computer used by the user to monitor time spent on tasks for particular contests and to provide this information to the crowdsourcing node . alternatively , the information may be provided by the user him or herself as part of a registration process at the crowdsourcing node or in any other manner . for example , as part of the registration process the user may provide details of education and training history as well as relevant past experience . rules and thresholds at the crowdsourcing node may be used to analyze this information and to classify the potential participants in the community 104 into a plurality of pre - defined skill levels . in some embodiments , the crowdsourcing node is arranged to deal with situations in which skill history information is available for the potential participants in the community 104 . in these cases , a skill level is known for each contest participant . in other embodiments , the crowdsourcing node is arranged to deal with situations where skill history information is unavailable . embodiments in which skill history information for individual participants is unavailable are now described . the crowdsourcing node is arranged to observe or monitor a number n which is the total number of potential contest participants in the community 104 . this number may be monitored as described above or may be estimated by the crowdsourcing node 100 . the crowdsourcing node also has access to a reward value for each of the contests 101 which may be computed by the system operator 103 ( for example , as described above with reference to fig5 ) in any suitable manner or may be pre - configured . contests which offer the same or similar reward in magnitude are considered as a class of contests . the crowdsourcing node also receives information about a distribution f ( v ) across skills in the user population . for example , this information may be that 10 % of the community 104 have skills less than 0 . 2 . this information may be monitored or observed by the crowdsourcing node itself or may be provided by an external entity . in some examples , the model of the contests at the crowdsourcing node 100 is arranged to represent the skills of the contest participants ( players ) in such a way that each player &# 39 ; s skill is independent of the particular contests . this is appropriate in applications where the contests comprise tasks that are closely related and / or require a similar kind of talent . this is also appropriate in applications where all players require a similar amount of time to put forth effort but different players face different hourly opportunity costs . for each player i the skill vector { right arrow over ( v )} is equal to ( v , v , . . . , v ) where v is drawn from the distribution f ( v ) independently of the skill of other players . for example , there are k classes of contests with rewards r 1 & gt ; r 2 & gt ; . . . & gt ; r k . using the notation { right arrow over ( r )}=( r 1 , . . . , r k ) and for any subset a ⊂ { 1 , . . . , k }, let it is found that a contest is selected by a player with a strictly positive probability if the reward offered by this contest is one of the { right arrow over ( k )} highest rewards , where also a player selects a particular a particular contest of class j with probability p j given by the contest recommendation engine 600 stores a data structure holding the relationship specified in equation 1 above . this relationship gives the probability that a player will select a particular contest of a given class in terms of the rewards for each contest class and the total number of participants n . the contest recommendation engine 600 uses the relationship in the data structure to rank the contests 101 and create a ranked list of contests to provide as output 602 . in other embodiments , skill history information is available so that a skill level is known for each potential participant in the community 104 . in these cases the crowdsourcing node may again be arranged to model the population of player skills such that each player is endowed with a skill which is the same across all contests . however , each player may have his or her own individual skill level . this is referred to herein as “ player - specific skills with levels ”. in these embodiments the crowdsourcing node receives skill level intervals or uses configured data about this . for example , this input specifies the number of skill levels required and the intervals between the levels . the system operator 103 is able to adjust the number of skill levels and the skill level intervals as required for different applications , numbers and classes of contests 101 . the contest recommendation engine 600 has a data structure storing a function for partitioning the population of users into the skill levels . an example of this function is given in equation 2 below . it also has another data structure holding a relationship specifying the probability that a player of a particular skill selects a particular contest of a given class . an example of this relationship is given in equation 3 below . this probability relationship is used by the contest recommendation engine 600 to rank contests in a skill specific way and so to create a list of recommended contests 602 for a particular user . for example , given a user with a particular skill , the contest recommendation engine maps that user to a given skill level . from that skill level the contest recommendation engine is then able to obtain a distribution across contest classes , for example , using equation 3 below . players are partitioned over { tilde over ( k )} skill levels such that a skill level l corresponds to an interval of skill values [ v l + 1 , v l ), where for l = 1 , . . . , { tilde over ( k )}, and v l = 0 for l ={ tilde over ( k )}+ 1 , . . . , k . a player of skill v selects a particular contest of class j with a probability π j ( v ) given by for vε [ v l + 1 , v l ). thus a player of skill level l selects a contest that offers one of l highest rewards . equation 1 says that in equilibrium players are partitioned over a finite set of skill levels . equation 2 tells us that a player of skill level l randomly selects a contest among those that offer one of the highest rewards . note that a small value of l denotes a higher level of skill . the players of skill level select the l - th highest reward with the largest probability and those that offer larger reward are selected with smaller probability . a player of skill level l selects a contest that offers the j - th highest reward where j = 1 , . . . , l , with probability inversely proportional to r j 1 / n − 1 ). an example in which there are 5 contest classes and four skill levels is shown in fig7 . the contest recommendation engine partitions the population of users into four skill levels as illustrated ( with the maximum skill being m ). the distribution across contest classes known from equation 3 is used to determine weighted links between the skill levels and contest classes . these weighted links are represented by arrows in fig7 with the thickness of the arrows indicating the likelihood that a player joins that particular contest class . in the example in fig7 contest 1 has the highest reward and players with skills in level 1 are in the highest segment of [ 0 , m ]. with reference to fig8 the crowdsourcing node 100 receives user skill information 800 for a particular user and selects an appropriate skill level for that user 801 using the contest recommendation engine 600 . for the selected skill level the contest recommendation engine 600 is arranged to access 802 a weighted mapping to a set of contest classes and to use 803 that mapping to select contests for recommending . in the large system limit i . e . where there are many contests offering the same rewards and the total number of participants n is large , then the contest recommendation engine is able to use a simpler process . the contest recommendation engine 600 may incorporate rules , thresholds or other criteria for assessing whether the large system limit applies . in this case , the arrows in fig7 do not need to be weighted . rather the contest recommendation engine simply selects those contest classes that offer the l highest rewards where l is the skill level of the player concerned . the contest recommendation engine then recommends all the selected contest classes or selects a subset of those to recommend to the user . the sub set may be selected in any suitable manner for example , by making a random selection , on the basis of past history for that user , on the basis of information about the contests or in any other way . in the embodiments discussed above , the model of the contests at the crowdsourcing node 100 is arranged to represent the skills of the contest participants ( players ) in such a way that each player &# 39 ; s skill is independent of the particular contests . however , it is also possible for the model to represent skills of the players in a contest - specific manner . in this case , a given player has different skills for different classes of contest . in this case , where the large system limit applies then the contest recommendation engine 600 simply uses the same methods as described above to recommend contests to users . technical report msr - tr - 2009 - 9 “ crowdsourcing and all - pay auctions ” february 2009 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . fig9 illustrates various components of an exemplary computing - based device 900 which may be implemented as any form of a computing and / or electronic device , and in which embodiments of a crowdsourcing system may be implemented . the computing - based device 900 comprises one or more inputs 906 which are of any suitable type for receiving media content , internet protocol ( ip ) input , files , user registration details , contest owner budgets , contest owner utility functions , system operator instructions , user skill information , user population information and other input . the device also comprises communication interface 907 to enable the device to communicate with other entities over any suitable type of communications network . computing - based device 900 also comprises one or more processors 901 which may be microprocessors , controllers or any other suitable type of processors for processing computing executable instructions to control the operation of the device in order to provide a crowdsourcing system . platform software comprising an operating system 904 or any other suitable platform software may be provided at the computing - based device to enable application software 903 to be executed on the device . the computer executable instructions may be provided using any computer - readable media , such as memory 902 . the memory is of any suitable type such as random access memory ( ram ), a disk storage device of any type such as a magnetic or optical storage device , a hard disk drive , or a cd , dvd or other disc drive . flash memory , eprom or eeprom may also be used . an output including a display interface 905 is also provided such as an audio and / or video output to a display system integral with or in communication with the computing - based device . the display system may provide a graphical user interface , or other user interface of any suitable type although this is not essential . the term ‘ computer ’ is used herein to refer to any device with processing capability such that it can execute instructions . those skilled in the art will realize that such processing capabilities are incorporated into many different devices and therefore the term ‘ computer ’ includes pcs , servers , mobile telephones , personal digital assistants and many other devices . the methods described herein may be performed by software in machine readable form on a tangible storage medium . the software can be suitable for execution on a parallel processor or a serial processor such that the method steps may be carried out in any suitable order , or substantially simultaneously . this acknowledges that software can be a valuable , separately tradable commodity . it is intended to encompass software , which runs on or controls “ dumb ” or standard hardware , to carry out the desired functions . it is also intended to encompass software which “ describes ” or defines the configuration of hardware , such as hdl ( hardware description language ) software , as is used for designing silicon chips , or for configuring universal programmable chips , to carry out desired functions . those skilled in the art will realize that storage devices utilized to store program instructions can be distributed across a network . for example , a remote computer may store an example of the process described as software . a local or terminal computer may access the remote computer and download a part or all of the software to run the program . alternatively , the local computer may download pieces of the software as needed , or execute some software instructions at the local terminal and some at the remote computer ( or computer network ). those skilled in the art will also realize that by utilizing conventional techniques known to those skilled in the art that all , or a portion of the software instructions may be carried out by a dedicated circuit , such as a dsp , programmable logic array , or the like . any range or device value given herein may be extended or altered without losing the effect sought , as will be apparent to the skilled person . it will be understood that the benefits and advantages described above may relate to one embodiment or may relate to several embodiments . the embodiments are not limited to those that solve any or all of the stated problems or those that have any or all of the stated benefits and advantages . it will further be understood that reference to ‘ an ’ item refers to one or more of those items . the steps of the methods described herein may be carried out in any suitable order , or simultaneously where appropriate . additionally , individual blocks may be deleted from any of the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein . aspects of any of the examples described above may be combined with aspects of any of the other examples described to form further examples without losing the effect sought . the term ‘ comprising ’ is used herein to mean including the method blocks or elements identified , but that such blocks or elements do not comprise an exclusive list and a method or apparatus may contain additional blocks or elements . it will be understood that the above description of a preferred embodiment is given by way of example only and that various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art . the above specification , examples and data provide a complete description of the structure and use of exemplary embodiments of the invention . although various embodiments of the invention have been described above with a certain degree of particularity , or with reference to one or more individual embodiments , those skilled in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention . | 6 |
a computer system incorporating the present invention can utilize one of several design variations that allow multiple processors to start up using a single , common rom with minimal changes to the rom from single processor rom &# 39 ; s . the following designs will be discussed with specific reference to intel 80386 or 80486 microprocessors being the microprocessors utilized in the multiprocessor system , but the use of other processors is also contemplated . throughout the course of this description , the secondary processors will be referred to in the singular as the processor p z , but it is understood that multiple secondary processors may coexist in this environment . referring now to fig1 the letter c designates generally a computer system incorporating either of the two designs according to the present invention . many of the details of a typical computer that are not relevant to the present invention have been omitted for the purpose of clarity . the system c generally includes a primary processor p 1 , a secondary processor p z , and various interprocessor logic circuitry 30 that is connected between the primary processor p 1 and the secondary processor p z . both the primary processor p 1 and the secondary processor p z each generally include a cache subsystem ( not shown ). the interprocessor logic 30 generally includes various option and status registers and circuitry relating to the operation of the processors . the primary processor p 1 , the secondary processor p z , and the interprocessor logic circuitry 30 are each connected to a system bus 40 which generally includes an address bus and a data bus as well as various control and status lines that allow for the proper functioning of the computer c . also attached to the system bus is read only memory ( rom ) 50 , which includes the start - up program that initializes the multiple processors according to the present invention called the power on self test ( post ); random access memory ( ram ) 52 which forms the main memory of the system c ; and cmos memory 54 which is used to provide nonvolatile , random access memory for use by the system c . in each of the designs according to the present invention , at power on the primary processor , processor p 1 , is activated and begins a post ( power on self test ) which is located in the rom 50 of the computer system , while the secondary processor p z , is kept in a held state . this activation of the processor p 1 and holding of the processor p z is accomplished in slightly different manners in the two designs . in the first design a reset bit , which is located preferably in a register in the interprocessor logic circuitry 30 referred to as the processor option register is used . the reset bit generally operates similarly for all processors such that a setting of the reset bit , which occurs at power up by hardware control , results in the reset input of the respective processor being pulsed and causes the respective processor to be placed in a held state . a subsequent clearing of the reset bit releases the respective processor from its held state and allows the respective processor to begin the post . therefore , at power on the reset bit of the processor p 1 is toggled , allowing the processor p 1 to begin the post , while the reset bit of the processor p z is set but not cleared , thereby keeping it in a deactivated or held state . the second design utilizes a sleep bit located in the processor option register in the interprocessor logic 30 associated with each processor p z . the sleep bit operates such that , when it is set for a respective processor , requests for the bus 40 by the respective processor are blocked . therefore , in the second design , the processors p 1 and p z each have their reset bit toggled and a sleep bit is set on the processor p z . the toggling of the reset bit of the processor p 1 allows it to begin the post , while the setting of the sleep bit on the processor p z , which occurs at power up by hardware control , causes any requests for the bus by the processor p z to be blocked , thus effectively placing the processor p z in a held state . a subsequent clearing of the sleep bit of the processor p z by the processor p 1 allows bus requests by the processor p z to be passed , thereby allowing the processor p z to begin the post . therefore , in each of these designs , at power on the reset bit of the processor p 1 is generally toggled by the power on circuitry ( not shown ) of the computer system c , allowing it to begin a post , while the processor p z is kept in a deactivated or held state . in the first design according to the present invention , as shown in fig2 when the processor p 1 ( fig1 ) has finished a sufficient portion of its post routine in step 212 to allow start up of the processor p z ( fig1 ), the software implementing this design performs an initialization procedure i 1 to bring the processor p z into an active state . first , in step 216 , the vector at memory location 40 : 67 in the rom 50 ( fig1 ), which is the reset vector memory location , is replaced with a new vector pointing to initialization code located in the rom 50 that will be executed by the processor p z when it is enabled . the vector that was previously stored in this location is saved for later restoration . in step 218 , the processor p 1 performs a similar replacement procedure with the cmos non - volatile memory reset byte , which is preferably located in the cmos 54 . the cmos reset byte is located at address location ofh in the cmos memory 54 and is accessed through ports 070h and 071h , as is standard for addressing the cmos memory in the ibm pc compatible computers . the status of this byte reflects whether a normal boot or vector on reset is necessary when the processor p z reads this value in the post sequence . the processor p 1 will have previously interrogated this location and have found the normal boot value present , enabling it to begin a normal post . the current value of the cmos reset byte is saved in step 218 to a temporary location , preferably to a register in the processor p 1 . the cmos reset byte is then changed to value 0ah , this value signifying that the computer system c is or has been running and that only a vector on reset is necessary instead of the normal post routine that a processor would normally fellow at power on . this change , in effect , fools the processor p z into thinking that it has already performed the post operations . the 0ah value written to the cmos reset byte is the reset without eoi value and is utilized to prevent the processor p z from clearing the interrupt controller , as this is unnecessary and might inadvertently cause an error . address line a20 of the system address bus 40 ( fig1 ) is enabled in step 220 to allow the processor p z to properly access high memory in the rom 50 where the post program is located . address line a20 had previously been disabled in the post routine of the processor p 1 ( step 12 ) for software compatibility reasons , these stemming from the use by previous programmers of a feature of the 8086 microprocessor whereby the program counter rolled over to 0000h after fffffh due to the maximum of twenty address lines available in that microprocessor . this roll over was incorporated into software written for these older 8086 microprocessor - based systems for various purposes , the end result for current purposes being that , in order to maintain compatibility with this older software , address line a20 was disabled during the post of the processor p 1 ( step 212 ). consequently , address line a20 must be re - enabled in step 220 to allow the processor p z to address the bootstrap program which is preferably located in high memory in the rom 50 . in step 222 , the processor p 1 clears the reset bit in the processor option register of the processor p z , thereby activating the processor p z to begin the post routine in step 226 . the processor p z comes out of reset and vectors to the reset location in the rom 50 where the post program is located . this is the same location where processor p 1 vectored to after reset , this being a general function of the microprocessors used in the present invention . thus , both the processors p 1 and p z operate from the same rom 50 immediately after reset execution . very early in the execution of the post routine , the processor p z polls the cmos reset byte to determine its status . as the cmos reset byte was previously changed by the processor p 1 in step 218 to value 0ah , reflecting a vector on reset status , the processor p z in step 228 is directed to the reset vector memory location 40 : 67 . this location contains the vector which was placed there earlier by the processor p 1 in step 216 , and this vector is used in step 230 to direct the processor p z to its alternate initialization code , preferably located in the rom 50 but alternatively located in ram 52 after being loaded by the processor p 1 . this initialization code generally includes the processor p z executing any specific reset code , testing its cache memory and performing other processor p z dependent features . after activating the processor p z in step 222 , the processor p 1 awaits the successful dispatch of the processor p z in step 224 by polling a semaphore bit which is preferably located in the ram 52 . a final step 232 in the initialization sequence performed by the processor p z involves the processor p z altering the semaphore bit to signal to the processor p 1 that the initialization sequence has been successfully completed . when step 232 is completed , the processor p z begins performing a software loop in step 234 , waiting until it is directed by the operating system to perform a task . when the processor p 1 receives notification by way of the changed semaphore bit that the processor p z has completed its initialization , the processor p 1 proceeds to step 236 where it restores the original value of the cmos reset byte from its temporary location . the processor p 1 then proceeds to step 238 where the original vector is returned to the reset vector memory location 40 : 67 and the initial state of address line a20 is restored . the processor p 1 then continues with its operation . referring again to fig1 the second design according to the present invention is similar in many respects to the first , but is tailored for a two processor system c ( fig1 ) incorporating one primary processor , referred to as the processor p 1 , and one secondary processor , referred to as the processor p 2 . the expansion of this design to incorporate multiple secondary processors , however , is also contemplated . this second design is also different from the first in that it utilizes an identity register located in the interprocessor logic 30 called the who - am - i register to differentiate between primary and secondary processors . the who - am - i register resides preferably in the system i / o port space and is used by software to determine whether the processor p 1 or the processor p 2 is currently active . the possible contents of this register include a value 00h to represent that the processor p 1 is currently active , a value f0h to represent that the processor p 2 is currently active , and a value ffh to represent that neither the processor p 1 nor the processor p 2 are active . referring now to fig3 the contents of the who - am - i register are determined by the hold acknowledge ( hlda ) outputs from the processor p 1 and the processor p 2 , the hdakp1 and hdakp2 signals , respectively . the hold acknowledge signal is generally asserted high when the respective processor is in a held or inactive state and is generally negated low when the respective processor is currently active . in the preferred embodiment if a processor p 1 or p 2 is reading the location it is active and the other processor must be inactive to allow the active processor access to the register , thus allowing the determination . the two hold acknowledge signals hdakp2 and hdakp1 are inverted by inverters 106 and 104 , respectively . the output of the inverter 104 and the hdakp2 signal are inputs to a two input and gate 108 , whose output is the p1on signal . the p1on signal is connected to the input of an inverter 116 , whose output provides the upper four bits of the who - am - i register . the output of the inverter 106 and the hdakp 1 signal are inputs to a two input and gate 110 , whose output is the p2on signal . the p1on and p2on signals are inputs to a two input nor gate 118 , whose output provides the lower four bits of the who - am - i register . therefore , by polling the status of the who - am - i register , the processor is able to determine whether it is the processor p 1 or the processor p 2 . the who - am - i register can be readily expanded to indicate the active status of a greater number of processors than the two utilized in the present invention . this expandability can be achieved by reducing the numbers of output bits driven for each processor and incorporating the respective hold acknowledge signals of each of the additional processors through the appropriate logic , allowing for up to 8 processors to be identified in each byte . referring now to fig4 the second design begins similarly to the first in that in step 252 the processor p 1 is allowed to begin a post , while in step 254 the processor p 2 is held inactive . at power on the processor p 1 generally has its reset bit toggled , allowing it to begin a post . the processor p 2 also has its reset bit toggled , but the sleep bit of the processor p 2 is set , and this has the utility of blocking any bus requests by the processor p 2 , thereby keeping the processor in a held state . early in the execution of the post sequence in step 252 , the processor p 1 is directed to the who - am - i register ( fig3 ), which informs it that it is in fact the processor p 1 , thereby allowing it to resume execution of the post program . during the remaining course of the post , the processor p 1 is directed by the post program to execute the following initialization procedure for the processor p 2 . in step 256 the processor p 1 initializes a processor available bit register , preferably located in the interprocessor logic 30 ( fig1 ) of the computer c , from configuration information contained in the cmos memory 54 . the processor available register contains a sequence of bits that serve as an indicator to the various processors as to what other processors are available to be given tasks to perform . in general , each secondary processor preferably has a representative availability bit in the processor available register that reflects whether or not that processor is available for dispatching . if the respective availability bit of a secondary processor is set , then that processor is available for dispatching , and if the respective availability bit of a secondary processor is cleared , then that processor is not available for dispatching and is assumed to be either currently dispatched or not present within the system . if the cmos memory 54 is found to be invalid during initialization , all of the availability bits in the processor available register are cleared . the processor available register is initialized in step 256 to reflect the present configuration of the system , this being which secondary processors , represented by the processor p 2 , coexist in this environment with the primary processor p 1 . the processor available register in the second design according to the present invention is configured to include two microprocessors , one primary processor p 1 and one secondary processor p 2 , but a configuration of the processor available register to incorporate a greater number of microprocessors than two is also contemplated . in step 258 , the processor p 1 proceeds with the initialization procedure by storing the current vector from the reset vector memory location 40 : 67 into a temporary location and replacing it with a new vector pointing to initialization code that the processor p 2 will execute when it is enabled . in step 260 , the processor p 1 activates the processor p 2 by clearing the sleep bit in its processor option register , enabling the processor p 2 to begin the post program in step 264 . after enabling the processor p 2 in step 260 , the processor p 1 begins polling the sleep bit associated with the processor p 2 . the sleep bit is used here as a handshake between the processor p 1 and the processor p 2 to indicate when the processor p 2 has finished its initialization procedure and has been placed on hold . preferably , if processor p 1 does not see the sleep bit set by the processor p 2 after a certain period of time , the processor p 1 sets the reset bit of the processor p 2 , effectively placing the processor p 2 in a held state , and then continues with the post . a different processor option register is preferably used for each additional secondary processor incorporated into the multiprocessing environment . the processor p 2 begins the post sequence in step 264 after the processor p 1 clears its sleep bit . the processor p 2 is directed in step 266 to the who - am - i register ( fig3 ) to determine its identity , just as the processor p 1 was in step 252 during its execution of the post program . the who - am - i register informs the processor p 2 that it is a secondary processor and directs it to vector off based on the value in the reset vector memory location 40 : 67 . this memory location contains the vector previously placed there by the processor p 1 in step 258 , and this vector points to the alternate initialization code which the processor p 2 executes in step 268 . the alternate initialization code is preferably located in the rom 50 but may be alternatively located in ram 52 after being loaded by the processor p 1 . this initialization code generally includes the processor p 2 executing any specific reset code , testing its cache memory , and programming its noncacheable address map , as well as any other processor p 2 dependent features . upon completion of its initialization code in step 268 , the processor p 2 places itself on hold in step 270 by setting the sleep bit in its own processor option register . the setting of the sleep bit places the processor p 2 in a hold state as soon as the bus 40 must be requested and serves as notification to the processor p 1 that the processor p 2 has finished its initialization procedure . completing step 270 , the processor p 2 performs a jump or branch instruction requiring that the value at the reset vector 40 : 67 be obtained . because this results in a bus request , the processor p 2 goes into a held state . when the processor p 1 receives this notification in step 272 , it resumes execution of the remainder of its post . upon completion of the post , the primary processor , processor p 1 , is running , and the operating system subsequently begins an allocation of various tasks to each secondary processor . the following allocation procedure will be discussed with reference to a computer system c incorporating a particular secondary processor referred to as the processor p 2 , but the incorporation of multiple secondary processors in the task allocation scheme is also contemplated . referring now to fig5 when the operating system has a task for the processor p 2 to perform , it directs the processor p 1 to perform the following dispatch procedure for the processor p 2 . the processor p 1 first checks the status of the respective availability bit of the processor p 2 in the processor available register in the interprocessor logic 30 in step 282 to determine if the processor p 2 is available for dispatching . this availability bit was initially set by the processor p 1 in step 256 ( fig4 ) according to the configuration information held in the cmos memory 54 and this bit is subsequently cleared whenever the processor p 2 is given a task to perform . if the availability bit of the processor p 2 is not set , then the operating system knows that either the processor p 2 has not yet finished the task that it was previously given or that the processor p 2 is not presently configured to the system . in either case , the processor p 2 is determined to be unavailable . if the availability bit of the processor p 2 is set , then the operating system commences with the allocation of the task in step 284 by placing a vector in memory location 40 : 67 pointing to software which generally includes the task that the operating system wishes the processor p 2 to execute . the processor p 1 saves the previous value from memory location 40 : 67 for later restoration . the processor p 1 then activates the processor p 2 in step 286 by clearing the sleep bit in the processor p 2 &# 39 ; s processor option register located in the interprocessor logic 30 in step 286 , causing the processor p 2 in step 290 to obtain the vector at memory location 40 : 67 to begin operation of the new task . an attempt to obtain the vector at memory location 40 : 67 was actually the last instruction executed by the processor p 2 in the post procedure in step 270 . this vector fetch is by definition a cache miss so that the processor p 2 must use the bus . however , the sleep bit was set in step 270 , disabling any bus request , so the vector fetch is pending , waiting for the sleep bit to be cleared . once the sleep bit is cleared , the processor p 2 can properly access the bus and obtain the vector at memory location 40 : 67 pointing to the task that it is to execute . the first instruction in this new task is step 292 which directs the processor p 2 to clear its respective availability bit in the available bit register to indicate to the operating system that it is no longer available for dispatching and that it has commenced with the task . after this , the processor p 2 begins executing the task in step 294 . the clearing of the availability bit by the processor p 2 serves as notification to the processor p 1 that the processor p 2 has begun execution of the task that the oprating system has given it . upon receiving this notification , in step 296 the processor p 1 restores the previous vector to the reset vector memory location 40 : 67 and then resumes the execution of its own code . when the processor p 2 has finished executing its task in step 294 , it sets the sleep bit in its processor option register in step 298 , blocking any further bus requests , and then attempts to obtain the reset vector at memory location 40 : 67 . in this way , operation of the processor p 2 is again held at the vector fetch operation as described previously in step 270 , and processor p 2 is available to receive a new task from the operating system . in certain cases , it may be necessary to reset the processor p 2 to a known state in order to make it available for further dispatching . in these cases , the processor p 1 performs the following reset - after - dispatch routine to reset the processor p 2 to a known state . referring now to fig6 in step 312 , the processor p 1 first places a vector in memory location 40 : 67 pointing to the reset code that the processor p 2 is to execute , saving the previous value in this memory location for later restoration . the processor p 1 then activates the processor p 2 from its hold or operating state in step 310 by toggling the processor p 2 &# 39 ; s reset bit in step 314 , forcing the processor p 2 to reset and request the system reset memory location , which is the beginning of the post program . the post sequence is started in step 318 . early in the course of the post , the processor p 2 is directed in step 320 to the who - am - i register ( fig3 ), which informs it that it is a secondary processor and directs it to the reset vector memory location 40 : 67 . this location contains the vector placed there previously by the processor p 1 in step 312 pointing to the reset code , which the processor p 2 executes in step 322 . this reset code is generally similar to the reset code that processor p 2 executes during its initialization in step 268 ( fig4 ) at power on and includes the setting of the processor to a known state . note , however , that the reset code that the processor p 2 executes in step 322 may not include the other procedures that the processor p 2 performed during its original initialization such as testing the cache and programming the noncacheable address map . when the processor p 2 has finished executing its reset code in step 322 , it notifies the processor p 1 by setting the sleep bit in its processor option register in step 324 . the processor p 2 also initiates a request to transfer control to the vector contained at memory address 40 : 67 in step 324 , but since its sleep bit is set , all bus accesses by the processor p 2 are blocked , and it is therefore essentially in a held state waiting for its sleep bit to be cleared . in this way , the processor p 2 is available for further dispatching in the manner described above in that the processor p 2 obtains directions to its new task from memory location 40 : 67 when its sleep bit is cleared . after resetting the processor p 2 in step 314 , the processor p 1 proceeds to poll the processor p 2 &# 39 ; s sleep bit in step 316 , waiting for the processor p 2 to indicate that the reset operation has been completed . when the processor p 1 sees that the sleep bit of the processor p 2 is set , it proceeds to step 326 where the processor p 1 sets the availability bit of the processor p 2 in the processor available register . this signifies that the processor p 2 is now available for dispatching . the processor p 1 then returns to the execution of its code in step 328 . when the operating system has another task for the processor p 2 to perform , it repeats the allocation cycle of fig5 and , in some instances , the reset - after - dispatch routine of fig6 as necessary . the foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof , and various changes in the procedures , components , and circuit elements , as well as in the details of the illustrated circuitry and method of operation may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | 6 |
object of the present invention are prostaglandin h 2 s donating derivatives of general formula ( i ): a is a residue of prostaglandins or their derivatives of formula ( ii ): b is —( ch 2 ) m — ch 3 , m is 1 - 5 ; or v 1 and v 2 , the same or different to each other , are zero or h ; the bond can be a single bond when v 1 and / or v 2 are h or a double bond ; y is zero ; —( c n ′ ) alkyl -, ˜( c n ′ ) alkyl - c —, ˜ o —( c n ′ ) alkyl - o —, ˜ ooc —( c n ′ ) alkyl - coo —; ˜ o —( c n ′ ) alkyl -, ˜ hn —( c n ′ ) alkyl -, ˜ ooc —( c n ′ ) alkyl -; ˜( c n ′ ) alkyl - o — co —( c n ″ ) alkyl -; ˜( c n ′ ) alkyl - co — o —( c n ″ ) alkyl - wherein ( c n ′ ) alkyl and ( c n ″ ) alkyl are straight or branched , and n ′ and n ″, the same or different to each other , are 0 - 10 ; w is a polysulfurated group containing 2 or more atoms of sulphur , selected from the group comprising an organic thiosulfonate moiety or a dithiole - thione derivative : more in particular , as a further preferred embodiment , w is an organic thiosulfonate moiety having formula ( iii ): wherein ˜ s — so 2 — r is linked to a - y ˜; r is a straight or branched alkyl , such as methyl , ethyl , propyl ; alkenyl , alkinyl ; alkylaryl , alkenylaryl , alkinylaryl ; arylalkyl , arylalkenyl , arylalkinyl ; or cycloalkyl , cycloalkenyl , cycloalkinyl ; or aromatic and / or heterocyclic ring , all substituted or unsubstituted ; or more in particular , as a further preferred embodiment , w is a dithiole - thione derivative having the following formula ( iv ): z is s ( sulphur ) and at least 1 z is c ═ s ( thione ) and t is : r2 is hydrogen ; — cooh ; alkyl , alkenyl , alkynyl ; aryl ; fluoro , chloro , bromo ; hydroxyl , alkyloxy , alkenyloxy , aryloxy , acyloxy ; amino , alkylamino , arylamino ; thio ; cyano ; nitro ; acyl ; amido ; and a 5 or 6 - membered aromatic or non - aromatic ring containing 0 , 1 , or 2 heteroatoms selected from nitrogen , oxygen , or sulphur ; as a further preferred embodiment of the compounds of general formula ( i ) of the present invention ( c n ) alkyl , ( c n ′ ) alkyl and ( c n ″ ) alkyl are ( ch 2 ) na , ( ch 2 ) na ′ , ( ch 2 ) na ″ respectively , wherein na , na ′ and na ″, the same or different to each other , are 1 - 10 , such as that more preferably y is selected from the group comprising —( ch 2 ) na ′ —, ˜( ch 2 ) na ′ — co —, ˜ o —( ch 2 ) na ′ — o —, ˜ ooc —( ch 2 ) na ′ — coo —; ˜ o —( ch 2 ) na ′ —, ˜ hn —( ch 2 ) na ′ —, ˜ ooc —( ch 2 ) na ′ —; ˜( ch 2 ) na ′ — o — co —( ch 2 ) na ″ —; ˜( ch 2 ) na ′ — co — o —( ch 2 ) na ″ — wherein na , na ′ and na ″, the same or different to each other , are 1 - 10 . a further preferred embodiment of the prostaglandin derivative compounds according to the present invention are the compounds of general formula ( i ) wherein the group — y — w is selected from the group comprising thiosulfonate moieties derived from the corresponding precursors having formula : s -( 2 - carboxyethyl ) methanthiosulfonate , s -( 2 - aminoethyl ) methanthiosulfonate and s -( 2 - hydroxyethyl ) methanthiosulfonate . a further preferred embodiment of the prostaglandin derivative compounds according to the present invention , are the compounds of general formula ( i ) wherein the polysulfurated group w is selected from the group comprising dithiole - thione derivatives of the corresponding precursors having formula : 5 -( p - hydroxyphenyl )- 3h - 1 , 2 - dithiol - 3 - thione , 1 , 3 - dithiol - 2 - thione - 5 - carboxylic acid , 3 - thioxo - 3h - 1 , 2 - dithiole - 5 - carboxylic acid , 3 - thioxo - 3h - 1 , 2 - dithiole - 4 - carboxylic acid . in the present invention the parent compound is considered in its original form or in a proper modification to allow the chemical manipulation with the moiety containing the polysulfurated group . the prostaglandin or its derivatives , such as the analogs bimatoprost , latanoprost , travoprost and unoprostone , and the moiety containing the polysulfurated group can be linked via different linking groups such as esters , amides , imides , sulfonamides , azo groups , carbamates , carbonates , anhydrides , acetals , thioacetals , etc . the polysulfurated group , i . e . the thiosulfonate moiety or dithiol - thionic derivative , can be also directly linked by an ionic bond to the prostaglandin as salt when y = 0 . bi - functional linkers ( y ), known to the expert in the field , ( such as ethyl , propyl , or butyl diols ; di - amines ; hydroxy amines ; etc .) can be optionally present when they are necessary to link the drug ( prostaglandin ) to the polysulfurated group . as a further object of the present invention are the preferred compounds according to general formula ( i ), such as : when the compounds include at least one asymmetric carbon atom , the products can be used in racemic mixture or in form of single enantiomer . it is a further object of the present invention the pharmaceutical acceptable salts of compounds of formula ( i ), such as for example salts with alkaline metals and alkaline earth metals , non - toxic amines and aminoacids , inorganic acids such as hydrochloric acid , phosphoric acid , etc ., or organic acids such as fumaric acid , citric acid , tartaric acid , etc . salts of organic thiosulfonates such as , for example , s -( 2 - carboxyethyl ) methanthiosulfonate , s -( 2 - aminoethyl ) methanthiosulfonate with the different prostaglandin derivatives above - described , are also part of the present invention . salts of dithiolthiones such as , for example , 1 , 3 - dithiol - 2 - thione - 5 - carboxylic acid , 3 - thioxo - 3h - 1 , 2 - dithiole - 5 - carboxylic acid , 3 - thioxo - 3h - 1 , 2 - dithiole - 4 - carboxylic acid with the different prostaglandin derivatives above - described are also part of the present invention . according to the present invention it has been found that it is possible to link an organic polysulfurated group to a prostaglandin derivative for treating ocular diseases . the resulting compounds have good bioavailability , increased safety and maintain good efficacy . the main advantages of the compounds of the present invention are related to their biological activity by topical route . further object of the present invention are pharmaceutical compositions comprising at least one compound of the above - said prostaglandin derivative compounds ( according to the present invention as for general formula ( i ) and the preferred compounds as described above ) including salts thereof , as an active ingredient , moreover , as a further object of the present invention , in combination with pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvant ( s ) or carrier ( s ). it is a further object of the present invention the use of the prostaglandin derivative compounds as for general formula ( i ), and the preferred compounds as described above , as a medicament . a further object of the present invention is the use of compounds according to the present invention , as for general formula ( i ), and the preferred compounds as described above , for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition , and therefore the corresponding method , for preventing , treating or reducing ocular diseases also in combination with other ocular agents . the prostaglandins derivatives of the present invention can be also used , for example , for treating erectile dysfunction , cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disorders , disorders deriving from peptic ulcer and for inducing abortion . the compounds of the present invention can be administered in the form of any pharmaceutical formulation , the nature of which will depend upon the route of administration and the nature of the disease to be treated . these pharmaceutical compositions can be prepared by conventional methods , using compatible and pharmaceutically acceptable excipients or vehicles . examples of such compositions include capsules , tablets , syrups , powders and granulates for the preparation of extemporaneous solutions , injectable preparations , rectal , nasal , ocular , vaginal etc . it is a further object of the present invention the process of the synthesis of prostaglandin derivative compounds , as for general formula ( i ), and preferred compounds as described above , said process comprising the reaction of a prostaglandin or its derivatives with a corresponding precursor of an organic thiosulfonate or of a dithiolthione , moiety w or y — w , or the reaction of a corresponding precursor of an organic thiosulfonate or of a dithiolthione , moiety w , with a prostaglandin or its derivative , eventually modified with y , being said w and y as defined above . the method for treating glaucoma or ocular hypertension consists in contacting a compound of formula ( i ) with the eye in order to reduce the eye pressure . the composition contains 0 . 1 - 30 μg , and preferably 1 - 10 μg per application of the active substance . the prostaglandin derivative is mixed with an ophthalmologic compatible vehicle that comprises aqueous solutions , oil solutions , ointments . the vehicle may contain in addition preservatives such as benzalkonium chloride , surfactants like polysorbate 80 , liposomes , polymers such as cellulose derivatives , polyvinylpyrrolidone , hyaluronic acid that can be used to increase viscosity . it is also possible to use soluble or insoluble insert to administer the drug . it is a further object of the present invention the use of prostaglandin derivative compounds of general formula ( i ) and the preferred compounds as described above , for preventing , treating or reducing ocular diseases , also in combination with other ocular agents , as well as the method for preventing , treating or reducing ocular diseases , said method comprising the use of prostaglandin derivative compounds of general formula ( i ) and the preferred compounds as described above . the following non - limitative examples further describe the invention and enable a person ordinary skilled in the art to make and use the invention . to 280 mmol of sulphur , 40 mmol of anethole in 20 ml of dimethylacetamide are added . after heating at 145 ° c . for 6 hours , 2 . 5 g of anethole dithiolethione ( adt ) are obtained . the product , washed with ether , was crystallized by ethyl acetate : melting point 110 - 111 ° c . then 1 . 5 g of adt are mixed with 7 . 5 g of pyridine hcl and the mixture is heated for 25 minutes at 215 ° c . after cooling , 1n hcl in excess is added and the precipitate is filtered , washed and crystallized from ethanol . the obtained compound , 5 -( p - hydroxyphenyl )- 3h - 1 , 2 - dithiol - 3 - thione , melts at 191 - 192 ° c . 25 mg of the compound prepared in step 1 ( 0 . 11 mmol ) and catalytic amount of 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ( dmap ) are added to a solution of ( 11α , 13e , 15s )- 11 , 15 - dihydroxy - 9 - oxoprost - 13 - en - 1 - oic acid ( pge1 0 . 055 mmol ; 20 mg ) in 1 ml of anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) stirring under nitrogen at a temperature of 0 ° c . after few minutes 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminoisopropyl )- 3 - ethyl - carbodiimide hydrochloride ( edac , 0 . 08 mmol ; 16 mg ) is added and the reaction is stirred at room temperature for 15 hours . after evaporation of thf , the residue is dissolved in chloroform and washed with water . the chloroformic solution is dried on anhydrous sodium sulphate , evaporated to dryness and the product is chromatographed on column of silica gel eluting with ethylacetate . the obtained product is red and after washing with ether , has a melting point of 101 - 105 ° c . 39 mg of the compound prepared in example 1 step 1 ( 0 . 17 mmol ) and catalytic amount of 4 dimethylaminopyridine ( dmap ) are added to a solution of ( 5z )- 7 -[( 1r , 2r , 3r , 5s )- 3 , 5 - dihydroxy - 2 -[( 3r )- 3 - hydroxy - 5 - phenylpentyl ] cyclopentyl ]- 5 - heptenoic acid ( latanoprost acid 0 . 087 mmol ; 34 mg ) in 1 ml of anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) stirring under nitrogen at a temperature of 0 ° c . after few minutes 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminoisopropyl )- 3 - ethyl - carbodiimide hydrochloride ( edac , 0 . 13 mmol ; 25 mg ) is added and the reaction is stirred at room temperature for 15 hours . after evaporation of thf , the residue is dissolved in chloroform and washed with water . the chloroformic solution is dried on anhydrous sodium sulphate , evaporated to dryness and the product is chromatographed on column of silica gel with ethylacetate . after washing with ether the obtained red - coloured product , has a melting point of 91 . 1 - 92 . 2 ° c . a solution of ch 3 so 2 cl ( 5 . 9 g ) in ethanol ( 9 . 2 ml ) is added dropwise to a refrigerated (− 15 ° c .) solution of na 2 s ( 46 . 98 mmol ) in ethanol ( 34 . 5 ml ). the reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 12 hours . after filtration and crystallization from ethanol , sodium methanthiosulfonate , as a white solid , is obtained . the sodium methanthiosulfonate ( 2 . 5 g ; 18 . 64 mmol ) is dissolved in 30 ml of ethanol and a solution of 2 - bromoethanol ( 2 . 6 ml ; 37 . 28 mmol ) in ethanol ( 6 ml ) is added dropwise . the solution is heated at 100 ° c . for 8 hours under nitrogen . the mixture is filtered , the solution is evaporated to dryness and the residue is dissolved in chcl 3 and extracted with water . the aqueous solution is evaporated to dryness , tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) is added to the residue and the obtained suspension is filtered . the thf solution is evaporated and methanethiosulfonic acid s -( 2 - hydroxyethyl ) ester , as an oily yellow product , is obtained . 22 mg of the compound prepared in step 1 ( 0 . 14 mmol ) and catalytic amount of 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ( dmap ) are added to a solution of ( 11α , 13e , 15s )- 11 , 15 - dihydroxy - 9 - oxoprost - 13 - en - 1 - oic acid ( pge1 0 . 07 mmol ; 25 mg ) in 1 ml of anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) stirring under nitrogen at a temperature of 0 ° c . after few minutes 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminoisopropyl )- 3 - ethyl - carbodiimide hydrochloride ( edac , 0 . 10 mmol ; 19 . 4 mg ) is added and the reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 15 hours . after evaporation of thf , the residue is dissolved in chloroform and washed with water . the chloroformic solution is dried on anhydrous sodium sulphate , evaporated to dryness and the product is chromatographed on column of silica gel eluting with a mixture of ethylacetate / cyclohexane ( 80 / 20 ). after washing with ether the obtained red - coloured product , has a melting point of 56 - 58 ° c . in the same manner as described in example 3 the ( 5z )- 7 -[( 1r , 2r , 3r , 5s )- 3 , 5 - dihydroxy - 2 -[( 3r )- 3 - hydroxy - 5 - phenylpentyl ] cyclopentyl ]- 5 - heptenoic acid 2 -( methylsulfonylthio ) ethyl ester is prepared . a solution of ch 3 so 2 cl ( 5 . 9 g ) in ethanol ( 9 . 2 ml ) is added dropwise to a refrigerated (− 15 ° c .) solution of na 2 s ( 46 . 98 mmol ) in ethanol ( 34 . 5 ml ). the reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 12 hours . after filtration and crystallization from ethanol , sodium methanthiosulfonate , as a white solid , is obtained . the sodium methanthiosulfonate ( 1 . 20 g ; 8 . 9 mmol ) is dissolved in 17 ml of ethanol and 2 - bromoethylamine hydrobromide ( 1 . 8 g ; 8 . 9 mmol ) is added . the solution is heated at 100 ° c . for 5 hours under nitrogen . at the end of the reaction the mixture is cooled at 0 ° c . filtered to remove nabr , and the solution is evaporated to obtain an oil that after treatment with ethanol crystallizes and gives a compound with a melting point of 112 . 0 - 112 . 8 ° c . 33 mg of the compound prepared in step 1 ( 0 . 14 mmol ) and catalytic amount of 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ( dmap ) are added to a solution of ( 11α , 13e , 15s )- 11 , 15 - dihydroxy - 9 - oxoprost - 13 - en - 1 - oic acid ( pge1 0 . 07 mmol ; 25 mg ) in ch 2 cl 2 stirring under nitrogen at a temperature of 0 ° c . after few minutes 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminoisopropyl )- 3 - ethyl - carbodiimide hydrochloride ( edac , 0 . 1 mmol ; 19 . 4 mg ) is added and the reaction is stirred at room temperature for 24 hours . after washing with water , 0 . 1 n hcl , water , nahco 3 in a separator funnel , the solution is dried on anhydrous sodium sulphate , filtered and evaporated to dryness . the product is then chromatographed on column of silica gel eluting with ethylacetate / methanol ( 99 . 5 : 0 . 5 ). the obtained product has the following nmr : 1h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ6 . 00 ( m , 1h ); 5 . 70 - 5 . 45 ( m , 2h ); 4 . 10 - 3 . 95 ( m , 2h ); 3 . 60 - 3 . 45 ( m , 2h ); 3 . 30 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 25 ( t , 2h ); 2 . 75 - 2 . 60 ( m , 1h ); 2 . 40 - 1 . 10 ( m , 24h ); 0 . 9 - 0 . 70 ( m , 3h ). 42 mg of the compound prepared in example 5 step 1 ( 0 . 18 mmol ) and catalytic amount of 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ( dmap ) are added to a solution of ( 5z )- 7 -[( 1r , 2r , 3r , 5s )- 3 , 5 - dihydroxy - 2 -[( 3r )- 3 - hydroxy - 5 - phenylpentyl ] cyclopentyl ]- 5 - heptenoic acid ( latanoprost acid ) ( 0 . 09 mmol ; 35 mg ) in anhydrous thf , stirring under nitrogen at a temperature of 0 ° c . after few minutes 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminoisopropyl )- 3 - ethyl - carbodiimide hydrochloride ( edac , 0 . 14 mmol ; 26 mg ) is added and the reaction is stirred at room temperature for 24 hours . after evaporation of thf , the residue is dissolved in ch 2 cl 2 and the solution is washed first with water and then with 0 . 1 n hcl , water and finally with a sol . of nahco 3 . the organic solution is dried on anhydrous sodium sulphate , filtered and evaporated to dryness , to obtain a product which is chromatographed on a column of silica gel with ethylacetate . the obtained compound has the following 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ): δ7 . 35 - 7 . 10 ( m , 5h ); 6 . 55 ( s , 1h ); 5 . 50 - 5 . 30 ( m , 2h ); 4 . 20 ( s , 1h ); 3 . 96 ( s , 1h ); 3 . 75 - 3 . 50 ( m , 3h ); 3 . 30 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 25 ( t , 2h ); 2 . 85 - 2 . 60 ( m , 2h ); 2 . 45 - 1 . 25 ( m , 18h ). in the same manner as described in example 6 the ( 5z , 9α , 11α , 13e , 15s )- 9 , 11 , 15 - trihydroxy - 17 - phenyl - 18 , 19 , 20 - trinorprosta - 5 , 13 - dienoic acid 2 -( methylsulfonylthio ) ethylamide is prepared . the method described by osborne n . n . et al . ( 2002 ) previously reported was used . briefly , two groups of 16 wistar rats ( 200 - 250 g ) received either 5 μl doses of topical test compound ( 2 % in 50 % polyethylene glycol - peg ) or 5 μl of vehicle bilaterally twice a day for 2 days . on the third day n - methyl - d - aspartate ( nmda ) ( 5 μl in sterile water ) was injected intra - vitreally into a single eye of each animal . the other eye was injected with sterile water . the animals were treated then with test compound or vehicle for 7 days . the thy - 1 antigen is associated with ganglion cells and intraocular injections of nmda cause a loss of thy - 1 mrna . the rats were then killed and the retinas removed for mrna analysis for thy - 1 antigen . results are expressed as % value to the thy - 1 mrna levels ( relative to rhodopsin ) of the treated groups , taking peg value as 100 . the method by osborne n . n . et al . ( 2002 ) previously reported was used . briefly , two groups of adult male new zealand albino rabbits weighing 3 - 3 . 5 kg were used in the experiments . iop was measured using a properly calibrated tonometer immediately after topical application of 1 drop of 0 . 4 % benoxinate hydrochloride . the animals received a topical application of 2 % of test compound or peg and measures taken 60 minutes after . results are expressed as % value to the iop mmhg values of the treatment groups , taking peg value as 100 . results that are reported in the table below ( table 1 ) show that the test compound markedly affects both intraocular pressure and thy - 1 mrna loss , indicating relevant intraocular hypotensive and neuroprotective properties . | 2 |
in fig1 and 2 , the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in fragmentary longitudinal section , in a dorsal / front view and in a lateral view , respectively . the hip joint prosthesis 1 comprises a shaft part 2 and a head part 3 , which are taken from a kit for modular hip joint prostheses in which essentially identically embodied head parts and shaft parts of various sizes are provided . the particular individual elements 2 , 3 selected can preferably be connected to one another by putting together their respective proximal or distal ends that have corresponding conical pegs 29 or recesses 30 . the requisite stability of the insert connection is assured by means ( not shown )-- preferably embodied as a tie rod . the respective shaft part 2 is embodied as a hollow shaft , and the axially extending longitudinal bore 5 on its proximal end portion is embodied as a threaded bore 5 . 1 . the tie rod ( not shown ) is passed through a cylindrical channel 4 in the head part 3 , located on the same axis as the longitudinal bore 5 in the shaft part 2 , and screwed into the threaded bore 5 . 1 of the shaft part 2 . the base 15 of the head part 3 has a longitudinal sectional profile , in a dorsal / frontal view , that widens in the proximal direction and is bounded on its lateral side by two straight lines 13 , 14 forming an obtuse angle and on its medial side by a concave arc region 12 . the distally located straight line 13 of the pair of straight lines 13 , 14 and the arc segment 12 continue in a respective straight line 10 , 11 , which bound the distally conically tapering longitudinal sectional profile of a proximal portion 2 . 1 of the flat 2 located below the insertion cone . it can be seen that in the connecting region of the side view , shown in fig2 the side lines merge without essentially changing pitch from the proximal portion 2 . 1 of the shaft part 2 to the head part 32 . in fact , this is true , independent of the relative angular orientation of the shaft part 2 and the head part 3 ; thus , the outer surface of the prosthesis appears without remarkable discontinuities , regardless of such angular orientation . in this way , first -- with a curved shaft part -- a left - side or right - side prosthesis is selectively created , without reducing the continuity of the shape contour . however , since intermediate positions can be attained without difficulty while at the same time preserving the optimal contour course , the seat of the prosthesis can be adapted very precisely to the individual conditions . this is also true for long shafts , which are available in various lengths as a substitute for a bone nail . thus with a minimum number of basic elements , it is possible to meet a maximum number of needs in entirely different cases . the straight lines 13 , 14 have different lengths and each has an inclination in the direction of the center axis of the head part 3 , with the shorter straight line 13 located on the distal end of the head part 3 . a value in the range from 6 to 10 is contemplated for the ratio of lengths of the straight lines 13 , 14 . as shown in fig2 the proximal end of the shaft part 2 , is embodied as a straight truncated cone 2 . 1 , tapering in the distal direction , which on its distal end changes over without shoulders into a shaft portion embodied essentially cylindrically , and having a continuous curvature in the frontal direction . this kind of shaping on the proximal shaft end advantageously assures a firm seat of the shaft part in the marrow space of the upper thigh bone . for the height of the truncated cone 2 . 1 , one - fourth to one - fifth of the effective length of the shaft part 2 ( that is , of the shaft portion to be introduced into the marrow space ) is favorable . the diameter of the proximal circular area of the truncated cone 2 . 1 is equivalent to the length of the long half - axis of the total elliptical cross - sectional area on the distal end of the head part 3 . however , it is greater than the length of the short half - axis of the aforementioned cross - sectional area . the resultant slight protrusion 17 of the shaft part 2 at the dividing point 18 creates additional anchoring of the shaft part 2 when the hip joint prosthesis 1 is implanted , which favorably counteracts loosening of the shaft in the event that a medically necessary replacement of the head part has to be performed . the opening 6 in the wall of the shaft part 2 forms the distal end of the longitudinal bore ( see reference numeral 5 of fig1 ) of the shaft of the hip joint prosthesis 1 . it is embodied as a longitudinal slot and serves on the one hand to allow the outflow of medication form a medication dispenser ( not shown ) positioned at the end of the longitudinal bore , and on the other hand to equalize pressure when the hip joint prosthesis 1 is introduced by its shaft part 2 into the prepared marrow space of an upper thigh bone . the through bore 7 on the distal end of the prosthesis shaft extends crosswise to the axis of the shaft part 2 . this bore is intended to receive a fixation means , such as a locking nail , and is adapted in its diameter to the possible dimensions of the nail . the use of additional fixation means advantageously increases the security against twisting and the axial load - bearing capacity of an implanted prosthesis . it will be appreciated that according to the invention , even extreme shaft lengths , for applications in which until now nails had to be employed , can be provided as shaft prostheses . in fig3 and 4 , a cross - sectional profile of the head part 3 ( section along the line a . . . a of fig1 ) and a cross - sectional profile of the shaft part 2 ( section along the line b . . . b of fig1 ), respectively , are shown . the ribs 8 , 9 extending axially , respectively on the broad sides of the head part 3 and on the periphery of the shaft part 2 , are bounded peripherally by circular arcs . the through bore in the elliptical cross - sectional profile of the head part 3 is shown at 4 , and the central longitudinal bore of the shaft part 2 is shown at 5 . the joint prosthesis 19 shown in cross section in fig5 is a further improvement of the joint prosthesis shown in fig1 ; the joint prosthesis 19 shown here has increased mechanical strength and reduced wear . the joint prosthesis 19 shown -- like the joint prosthesis shown already in fig1 -- especially comprises a head part 20 and a shaft part 21 connected to it by a cone connection . the mechanical connection of the head part 20 and shaft part 21 is accordingly accomplished nonpositively , in that a conical peg 22 formed onto the shaft part 21 is inserted into a conical bore 31 disposed in the head part 20 and with this bore forms a press fit . to brace the head part 20 and shaft part 21 against one another , a tie rod is used , which passes through a channel 23 in the head part 20 and screwed into a threaded bore 24 in the shaft part 21 . in such joint prostheses , the problem exists that upon a bending stress on the joint prosthesis , relatively high mechanical tensions occur at the edge of the mouth of the conical bore . the peak mechanical tensions at the edge of the mouth of the conical bore are due to the fact that upon a bending stress on the joint prosthesis 19 , the peg 22 and bore become offset from one another , which causes a decrease in the effective tension - absorbing contact area between the peg 22 and bore . in an extreme case , the peg 22 now touches the inner wall of the bore only unilaterally , respectively directly at the edge of the mouth and on the opposed side directly on the bottom of the bore . the reduction in the effective tension - absorbing contact area therefore creates relatively high mechanical tensions , particularly at the edge of the mouth of the bore . since the bending stress acting on the joint prosthesis 19 is not constant over time but instead is subject to fluctuations in amount and direction depending on the natural stress states of the joint prosthesis 19 , microscopic motions occur between the peg 22 and the bore . these microscopic motions , in combination with the local peak tensions occurring at the edge of the mouth of the bore , can cause abrasion of material and thus premature wear , which is also called fretting . to reduce these wear phenomena , the head part 20 -- in contrast to the joint prosthesis shown in fig1 -- therefore has a notch 25 , encompassing it on the outer wall near the lower end with regard to the longitudinal axis of the bore . as a result of this notch 25 , the wall thickness of the head part 20 is reduced , thus increasing the resilience of the peg receptacle in the face of an offset of the peg 22 . if the peg 22 is offset relative to the bore as the result of a bending stress on the joint prosthesis 19 , then the peg receptacle -- that is , the internal contour of the bore -- yields to the peg 22 and adapts to the altered position of the peg 22 . by this elastic adaptation of the peg receptacle , the effective tension - absorbing contact area between the bore and peg is reduced only insubstantially , even in the event of a bending stress on the joint prosthesis 19 , which leads to a reduction in the mechanical stress occurring at the edge of the mouth of the bore and reduces the wear on the joint prosthesis 19 . the cross - sectional view shown in fig6 of the head part 20 of the joint prosthesis shown in fig5 clearly shows the shape and disposition of the notch 25 in the head part 20 . the notch 25 initially has a depth that increases along the longitudinal axis of the head part 20 toward its end . on the one hand , it is thereby attained that the peg receptacle -- that is , the internal contour of the bore 26 -- adapts well to the altered position of the peg in the event of relatively slight bending stresses on the joint prosthesis and correspondingly slight offsets of the peg and bore 26 , and this , despite the offsetting of the peg and bore 26 , leads to a relatively large effective tension - absorbing contact area between the peg and bore 26 , and hence to a reduction in the mechanical stress . on the other hand , because of the resilience of the peg receptacle , which decreases toward the top along the longitudinal axis of the head part 20 , it is assured that the peg receptacle -- that is , the internal contour of the bore 26 -- yields only insubstantially , in response to major bending stresses of the joint prosthesis , which yielding is indispensable for a secure , largely play - free guidance of the peg . the peg receptacle is accordingly relatively soft in the face of relatively slight bending stresses , which leads to a reduction in the mechanical tensions at the edge of the mouth of the bore 26 , but becomes harder as the bending stress increases , which serves the purpose of secure guidance of the peg . the notch 25 on the one hand leads to a reduction in the mechanical tension at the edge of the mouth of the bore 26 . on the other hand , however , the notch 25 represents a mechanical weak point in the head part 20 , which involves the risk of crack formation and consequent mechanical failure of the joint prosthesis . to reduce this risk , the notch 25 has a smooth shape , without protruding or indented corners or edges . thus on its upper end , the notch 25 terminates smoothly in the outer wall of the head part 20 , without forming any kink or even a shoulder . as a result , the notch tensions that occur in the notch 25 , and hence the danger of crack formation , are reduced . fig6 also shows the course of the mechanical stress , occurring in the peg receptacle , along the longitudinal axis of the bore 26 . the dashed line , for comparison , shows the course of tension in the joint prosthesis shown in fig1 while the solid line shows the course of mechanical tension in the above - described joint prosthesis having the notch 25 . in the joint prosthesis of fig1 the course of the mechanical tension along the longitudinal axis of the bore ( not labeled in fig1 ) corresponding to bore 26 is very highly nonlinear . thus , the tension in the upper region of the bore 26 is relatively slight , while in the vicinity of the edge of the mouth it increases up to the value δ max , old . in the above - described joint prosthesis , the course of tension along the longitudinal axis of the bore 26 is conversely substantially more uniform , which advantageously results in a substantially lesser maximum tension δ max , new . the form of the notch 25 can be seen in more detail from fig7 which shows the detail i of fig6 . this illustration clearly shows that the notch 25 is asymmetrical and has a depth that increases toward the end of the peg . accordingly the notch 25 has two flanks 27 , 28 of different pitch ; the flank 27 toward the end of the peg extends relatively steeply and has only a slight length , while the flank 28 remote from the end of the peg extends relatively shallowly but is elongated and terminates at the peg wall . the invention is not limited in its realization to the preferred exemplary embodiment described above . on the contrary , a number of variants are conceivable , which make use of the provisions described , even in fundamentally different types of embodiments . | 0 |
referring now more specifically the drawings and to fig1 in particular , a strap securing device 20 in accordance with the present invention is shown installed on a strap 22 . as will become apparent from the following description in accordance with the drawings , strap securing device 20 can be used for securing portions of straps of various sizes in various installations . strap 22 is an elongate web of material , such as , for example , natural or synthetic cloth , flexible leather and the like commonly used on devices of various types , including equipment , clothing , backpacks , bags and other devices . fig1 illustrates strap 22 as being an end portion of a strap having a terminal end 24 . accordingly , strap securing device 20 is shown installed on the strap end for securing multiple layers of the strap folded thereon . however , it should be understood from the description to follow that strap securing device 20 can be installed on another portion of the strap , such as a portion being used , and not only on an unused terminal portion of the strap . further , in some applications and uses , a strap securing device of the present invention can be secured to or on an article in an appropriate position to receive and hold portions of a strap used on or with the article . strap securing device 20 includes a holder 30 and a retainer 32 connected to and operable with holder 30 for securing a free end portion of strap 22 relative to holder 30 . in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention , as illustrated in fig2 , holder 30 is plastic of suitable strength , rigidity and other performance characteristics for the environment and installation on which device 20 is used . however , holder 30 can be of other materials , such as metal . retainer 32 is a looped elastic or elastic - type stretchable cord 34 having a terminator 36 securing ends ( not shown ) of cord 34 . terminator 36 can be plastic or other material similar to holder 30 , or can be of other suitable material , such as metal . holder 30 extends from one side or edge of strap 22 to an opposite side or edge of strap 22 . holder 30 includes a base 40 supported on strap 22 , as will be described more fully hereinafter . at opposite ends of base 40 , a first end portion 42 and a second end portion 44 extend along and outwardly of opposite side edges of strap 22 . base 40 defines a first slot 46 and a second slot 48 spaced from each other in base 40 . slots and 46 and 48 are of sufficient length to receive the width of strap 22 so that strap 22 can be threaded through slots 46 and 48 , thereby securing device 20 on strap 22 . in the exemplary embodiment , entrance openings 50 , 52 extend between opposite side outer edges of base 40 and slots 46 , 48 , respectively . strap 22 can be inserted through entrance openings 50 , 52 into slots 46 , 48 at intermediate points along the length of strap 22 , and it is not necessary to attach device 20 by threading strap 22 via end 24 through slots 46 , 48 . accordingly , strap securing device 20 can be attached to strap 22 after terminal end 24 is folded over and sewn or otherwise terminated . even if terminal end 24 is thicker than the width of slots 46 , 48 , or is attached to an end buckle or other component , device 20 can be attached to strap 22 . moreover , entrance openings 50 , 52 allow removal and attachment of device 20 along intermediate portions of a strap secured on its opposite ends . thus , device 20 can be installed in the active or useful portion of the strap and have the unused portion secured thereby . entrance openings 50 , 52 also enable convenient removal of a broken device 20 and replacement with a new device 20 if necessary . the arrangement of slots 46 , 48 is such as to provide a sufficiently tortuous path that base 40 remains securely positioned along strap 22 after strap 22 has been placed in slots 46 , 48 and pulled taut . in the exemplary embodiment seen most clearly in fig2 , slots 46 , 48 are angularly disposed with respect to each other , being spaced farther from one another near first end 42 and closer to one another near second end 44 . an eyelet 54 is provided in base 40 near first and 42 . elastic cord 34 is secured to holder 30 by knotting , hitching or the like with a portion inserted through eyelet 54 . as illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of the drawings , elastic cord 34 is passed through eyelet 54 and looped through itself . first end 42 further includes abutments 56 , 58 extending away from base 40 and spaced from one another to allow elastic cord 34 to pass there between . those skilled in the art should understand that other configurations also can be used . abutments 56 , 58 provide a side support for the folded and stacked lengths of strap 22 secured by device 20 . as seen most clearly in fig3 , second end portion 44 angles upwardly from base 40 to provide clearance for terminator 36 positioned there beneath when device 20 is in use . second end portion 44 forms a latch for engaging elastic cord 34 and specifically the distal end of elastic cord 34 , having terminator 36 thereon . in the exemplary embodiment , second end portion 44 is an angular , plate - like extension from base 40 and includes spaced , angularly inwardly extending elongated holes 60 , 62 for receiving opposed segments of looped elastic cord 34 . holes 60 , 62 open through the outer edge of second portion 44 so that cord 34 can be placed therein . in the exemplary configuration for holes 60 , 62 outer edges 64 , 66 thereof are substantially smooth , and inner edges 68 , 70 thereof are curved sharply to hold elastic cord 34 therein . thus , from the position illustrated in fig1 , elastic cord 34 can not be dislodged easily from holes 60 , 62 by pulling straight outwardly on terminator 36 . instead , to dislodge cord 34 , terminator 36 is rocked sideways , first in one direction and then in the opposite direction substantially parallel to strap 22 , to thereby dislodge first one side of elastic cord 34 from one of the holes 60 , 62 and then to dislodge the other side of elastic cord 34 from the other of holes 60 , 62 . an end surface 72 of second end portion 44 is curved , having an apex between holes 60 and 62 , and is shaped and angled to promote separation of the opposed segments of looped elastic cord 34 and to direct the separated opposed segments into holes 60 , 62 . a portion of base 40 between slots 46 and 48 can be provided with surface insignia or other surface configurations 74 providing increased friction against movement of strap 22 along base 40 . in the use of strap securing device 20 , holder 30 is attached at a desired location along strap 22 by inserting portions of strap 22 through entrance openings 50 , 52 and into slots 46 , 48 . a loose portion of strap 22 is fan folded over holder 30 , between abutments 54 , 56 and one side and the upwardly angled second end portion 44 on the opposite side . after strap 22 is appropriately stacked and positioned , elastic cord 34 is pulled from first end 42 toward second end 44 , over the stacked portion of strap 22 on base 40 . terminator 36 is pulled past end surface 72 of second end 44 , and elastic cord 34 is hooked to second end portion 44 in holes 60 , 62 . end surface 72 separates the opposed segments of elastic cord 34 as cord 34 is pulled there against . end surface 72 directs the opposed segments into holes 60 , 62 . the elasticity of cord 34 holds cord 34 securely in holes 60 , 62 . the inwardly directed force from cord 34 against the curved configuration of inner edges 68 , 70 of holes 60 , 62 holds cord 34 securely in holes 60 , 62 . elastic cord 34 holds the stacked portions of strap 22 securely against base 40 , between abutments 56 , 58 along one side and second end 44 on the opposite side . to free the secured portion of strap 22 , terminator 36 is pulled sideways in first one direction and then the opposite direction substantially parallel to cord 22 , to dislodge elastic cord 34 from holes 60 , 62 . smooth outer edges 64 , 66 allow elastic cord 34 to slide easily out of holes 60 , 62 when pulled sideways as described . however , the attachment of cord 34 to second end 44 is secure in that complete detachment requires pulling first in one direction and then in the other , opposite direction to free the opposite sides of cord 34 from holes 60 , 62 . if terminator 36 is inadvertently snagged or pulled in only one direction , cord 34 is not completely dislodged . strap securing device 20 is easy to install initially and easy to use both when securing portions of strap 22 and when freeing the secured portions if strap 22 is to be adjusted . the device is secure yet is not attached permanently to the strap and can be removed if desired . as can be seen most clearly in fig1 , with the understanding from the side view of fig3 , terminator 36 fits snuggly and smoothly beneath second end portion 44 even when device 20 is fitted against a relatively firm and flat surface . however , in some applications and uses of the present invention it may not be necessary to provide side support for the folded and stacked end of strap 22 , or to provide the nested position for terminator 36 . further , the device may be easily threaded by inserting an end through the device . fig4 - 9 illustrate substantially flat variations of the present invention . strap securing device 80 ( fig4 - 7 ) includes an elastic cord 34 having a terminator 36 , both as described previously herein , secured to a base 82 . base 82 is a substantially flat body having angular slots 84 , 86 , which may be interconnected at an end opening 88 as shown in fig7 , or may be separate and discrete from one another . device 80 is suitable for use in applications wherein a strap 90 can be threaded through slots 82 , 84 by first inserting an end of strap 90 therethrough . if slots 84 , 86 are connected to each other , strap 90 can be inserted through end opening 88 . elastic cord 34 is secured a through an eyelet 92 at one end of base 82 . holes 94 , 96 at an opposite end of base 82 function similarly to holes 60 , 62 described previously . use of device 80 is similar to that described previously with respect to device 20 . fig8 illustrates a further embodiment of the present invention for a base 100 . base 100 has an eyelet 102 at one end thereof and holes 104 , 106 at an opposite end thereof . eyelet 102 is used similarly to eyelets 54 and 92 , and holes 104 , 106 are used similarly to holes 60 , 62 and 94 , 96 . device 100 is used with an elastic cord ( not show ) similar to the cords 34 described previously . an elevated tongue 110 is connected to base 100 at one end 112 and not connected at an opposite end 114 . in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig8 , base 100 defines an opening 116 beneath tongue 110 . base 100 also can be closed and spaced from the bottom of tongue 110 . a strap ( not shown ) is inserted beneath tongue 110 from unconnected end 114 of tongue 110 . device 100 is used in a manner similar to those described previously herein . fig9 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention similar to that shown in fig7 , but having a surface embellishment in the way of ridges 120 , 122 for engaging a strap lying there over . fig1 - 12 illustrate a still further embodiment of the present invention . a strap securing device 130 includes a holder 132 and a retainer 134 . a hinge 136 connects holder 132 and retainer 134 . holder 132 includes a base 138 having a tongue 140 beneath which a strap can be inserted . latches 142 , 144 extend outwardly from base 138 . retainer 134 includes a first arm 150 and a second arm 152 extending outwardly from hinge 136 . latch receivers 154 , 156 are provided on the ends of arms 150 , 152 respectively . latches 142 , 144 engage latch receivers 154 , 156 when the device 130 is closed . notched blades 158 160 are provided beneath arms 150 , 152 , respectively to engage a strap disposed there beneath . fig1 illustrates strap securing device 130 installed on a strap 170 . strap 170 is disposed beneath tongue 140 and on base 138 . in fig1 the closed and secured orientation is shown . strap 170 is folded and stacked on holder 132 , beneath arms 150 , 152 . latches 142 , 144 are received in and held by latch receivers 154 , 156 . variations and modifications of the foregoing are within the scope of the present invention . it is understood that the invention disclosed and defined herein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text and / or drawings . all of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the present invention . the embodiments described herein explain the best modes known for practicing the invention and will enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention . the claims are to be construed to include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted by the prior art . various features of the invention are set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
embodiments of this invention will now be described by referring to the attached drawings . the roll core releasing device , as shown in fig9 is used on a paper roll holding apparatus for a rotary press . when a paper roll on a core c has run out ( though a small amount of paper is still remaining on the core ), the core c which is held at its ends by core holding shafts 3 mounted at the ends of a pair of arms 2 of a spider 1 ( with 120 - degree central angles ) in the paper roll holding apparatus is released from the core holding shafts 3 onto a core receiver 5 which is mounted vertically movable on an automatic paper roll replacing apparatus 4 . first we will describe a core holder 40 mounted at the end of each of the core holding shafts 3 , a mechanism to amplify the force of engagement with the inner circumference of the hollow core . the core holder 40 has a structure as shown in fig1 . at the front end of the core holding shaft 3 , a front stopper 41 and a rear flange 42 are formed . an intermediate shaft portion 43 between the stopper 41 and the flange 42 has a sliding ring 44 mounted thereon . a compression spring 46 is interposed between the back of a flange 45 of the sliding ring 44 and the flange 42 of the core holding shaft 3 to urge the sliding ring 44 toward the front stopper 41 . the intermediate shaft portion 43 has a specified number ( say , four ) of axial grooves 48 whose bottom surfaces 47 are inclined downwardly toward the front . the sliding ring 44 has openings 49 cut therein corresponding to the grooves 48 . in the axial grooves 48 and the openings 49 there are installed sliding claws 50 which are slidable along the axial grooves 48 so that they have radial displacements . the sliding claws 50 are so formed that its inner surface 51 is in contact with the bottom surfaces 47 of the grooves 48 and that their outer surfaces 52 project from the outer circumferential surface of the sliding ring 44 . the sliding claws 50 are pressed inwardly by the sliding ring 44 through a compression spring 53 . the roll core releasing device are available in two types : one provided on the core receiver 5 as shown in fig1 and the other provided at the ends of the arms 2 of the spider 1 as shown in fig6 . as to the roll core releasing device mounted on the core receiver 5 , fig2 shows a first example of this type . in a space 7 enclosed by a housing 6 of the core receiver 5 , a bracket 8 is installed on which a bell crank lever 9 is mounted pivotable about an axis perpendicular to the core axis . the bell crank lever 9 has a core pushing member ( say , a rotatable roller ) at the free end and , at the other end , is connected to a driving means , i . e ., a hydraulic cylinder 12 which is pivotably mounted to a bracket 11 on the core receiver 5 , as with the bracket 8 , and which is operated in the direction of the core axis . fig3 shows a second example of the first type . of two links 13 , 13 &# 39 ; that are provided with the core pushing member 10 , the link 13 is pivotably connected at one end to a bracket 14 which is installed on the underside of the core receiver housing 6 . the other link 13 &# 39 ; is coupled at one end to the hydraulic cylinder 12 . in the above two examples , the hydraulic cylinder 12 are used as a driving means . this driving means may be replaced with a motor and the associated mechanism installed in the space 7 enclosed by the housing 6 of the core receiver 5 as shown in fig4 and 5 . in these examples , a nut member 17 is screwed over a threaded shaft 16 which is driven by a motor 15 about the axis of the core , and the end of the bell crank lever 9 or the end of a link 13 &# 39 ; may be pivotably connected to the nut member 17 . fig6 shows the roll core releasing device of a type that is mounted at the ends of the arms 2 of the spider 1 . generally , one of the opposed core holding shafts 3 is made retractable in the axial direction . in this type , the failure of the core to disengage from the core holding shafts 3 and fall when the core holding shaft has retracted and the distance between the two core holding shafts has exceeded the length of the core c occurs at the core holder 40 of the another core holding shaft 3 that is not retracted . therefore , the core releasing device is installed at the end of the arm 2 on the side of the core holding shaft 3 that is made retractable . where the core holding shaft 3 from which the core will fail to disengage is not predetermined , as when both of the opposed core holding shafts 3 are retracted in the axial direction , the core releasing device should be mounted at the ends of both opposed arms 2 . in this case it is preferable to provide a structure in which one of the core releasing device is activated that is mounted on the side of the core holding shaft from which the core has disengaged as a result of the retraction of the core holding shafts . however , both of the devices may be activated at the same time . fig7 shows a first example of the second type . on a bracket 18 mounted at the end of the arm 2 is rotatably held a shaft 19 which is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the core axis . the base end of a rotating lever 20 which has the core pushing member ( say , a rotatable roller ) 10 at the free end is securely fixed to the rotatable shaft 19 . the rotatable shaft 19 is connected with a driving means . that is , the rotatable shaft 19 is securely provided with a pinion 23 that is in mesh with a rack 22 which is mounted on the bracket 18 and connected with a hydraulic cylinder 21 . the hydraulic cylinder 21 is operated in the axial direction . the rack and pinion mechanism as a driving means in the above example may be replaced with the construction as shown in fig8 . in this construction a worm 25 mounted on the bracket 18 is turned by a motor 24 about the core axis and a worm wheel 26 in mesh with the worm 25 is secured to the rotatable shaft 19 . the core releasing device of a type that is mounted on the end of the arm 2 of the spider 1 is enclosed by a cover 27 secured to the bracket 18 . in both of the above two types of the roll core releasing devices , a core detector 28 is installed on the upper surface of the housing 6 of the core receiver 5 , as shown in fig1 and 6 , to identify whether the core c is on the core receiver housing 6 after the core holding shafts 3 are retracted during the core release operation . when the core c is detected on the core receiver housing 6 , the core releasing operation is disabled . in fig9 the paper rolls p are mounted on the arms 2 of the spider 1 . the core c is held by the core holding shafts 3 and held by the core holders 40 ( see fig1 ) at the ends of the core holding shafts 3 . the detail is explained in the following . the front end of the core holding shaft 3 is inserted into a hollow of the core c . the flange 45 of the sliding ring 44 is pushed by the end of the core c against the force of the compression spring 46 , so that the sliding ring 44 retracts together with the sliding claws 50 . as the sliding claws 50 retract , the inclined bottom surfaces 47 of the grooves 48 with which the inner surfaces 51 of the sliding claws 50 are in contact cause the sliding claws 50 to project radially outwardly against the force of the compression spring 53 , bringing the outer surfaces 52 of the claws 50 into pressing contact with the inner circumferential surface of the hollow core c . as a result the core c is firmly gripped . after the paper roll p fitted to the arms 2 has run out as a result of feeding at the feeding position a , the empty core c is replaced with a new paper roll p &# 39 ; on the truck tc of the automatic paper roll replacing apparatus 4 . at this time , the spider 1 is rotated counterclockwise on the drawing to bring the arms 2 to the replacing position b . at the same time , the traverser tv of the automatic paper roll replacing apparatus is moved to set the core receiver 5 to a position immediately below the core c -- which is at the position b -- and the core receiver 5 is then raised to the receiving position . in this condition , one or both of the opposed core holding shafts 3 on the arms 2 is retracted to increase the distance between them . as the core holder 40 at the end of the core holding shaft 3 comes out of the hollow core c , the flange 45 of the sliding ring 44 is pushed forward by the force of the compression spring 46 , carrying with it the sliding claws 50 . because its inner surfaces 51 follow the inclined bottom surfaces 47 of the grooves 48 , the sliding claws 50 retract radially inwardly , disengaging its outer surfaces 52 from the inner circumferential surface of the hollow core c , with the result that the core c is released from the core holder 40 . then when the distance between the opposed core holding shafts 3 exceeds the length of the core c , the core c is released from the core holding shafts 3 , falling onto the housing 6 of the core receiver 5 , at which time the normal release of the core c is detected by the core detector 28 . however , there are cases where the outer surfaces 52 of the sliding claws 50 in the core holder 40 do not disengage from the inner circumferential surface of the hollow core c which therefore does not come off the core holding shafts 3 because of the large pressing force of the sliding claws 50 of the core holder 40 against the inner circumferential surface of the hollow core c . that is , although the core holding shaft 3 is retracted , the core c does not fall onto the housing 6 of the core receiver 5 . in this case the core detector 28 does not detect the normal falling of the core c . when the core detector 28 fails to detect the presence of the core c , the core releasing device is activated . the action of the roll core releasing device of the type shown in fig1 will be explained . in the core releasing device of fig2 and 4 , as the piston rod is pushed forward by the hydraulic cylinder 12 or as the nut member 17 is moved to the right by the rotation of the threaded shaft 16 driven by the motor 15 , the bell crank lever 9 is rotated counterclockwise and the core pushing member 10 at the front end of the lever 9 pushes up the intermediate portion of the core c ( as indicated by a two - dot chain line ). as for the roll core releasing devices shown in fig3 and 5 , as the piston rod is retracted by the hydraulic cylinder 12 or as the nut member 17 is moved to the right by the rotation of the threaded shaft 16 driven by the motor 15 , the two links 13 , 13 &# 39 ; are folded causing the core pushing member 10 at the joint of the links to push up the intermediate portion of the core c ( indicated by a two - dot chain line ). the action of the roll core releasing device of the type shown in fig6 is explained . in the core releasing devices of fig7 and 8 , as the piston rod is retracted by the hydraulic cylinder 21 to move the rack 22 to the left and thereby rotate the pinion 23 or as the worm wheel 26 is rotated by the worm 25 driven by the motor 24 , the rotatable shaft 19 or the rotatable lever 20 is turned clockwise causing the core pushing member 10 at the front end of the lever 20 to push down the core c at a point near the end that has disengaged from the core holding shaft 3 . where the core releasing device is provided to both of the ends of the paired arms 2 , either the core releasing device on the side of the core holding shaft from which the core has disengaged is activated or the two devices on both sides are activated at the same time . in any of the aforementioned types of the core releasing devices , the push - up or push - down action of the core pushing member 10 against the core c causes the core c to rotate about the core holder 40 on the core holding shaft 3 with which it remains engaged , so that the outer surfaces 52 of the sliding claws 50 are reliably disengaged from the inner circumferential surface of the hollow core c . then , the core c comes off both of the opposed core holding shafts 3 and falls onto the housing 6 of the core receiver 5 , at which time the core detector 28 detects the normal release of the core c . if a roller is used for the core pushing member 10 , the core releasing action is not affected by the axial displacement component of the push member 10 . while the above embodiments represent the case where the devices is applied to the paper roll holding apparatus for a rotary press , it may also be used on other rolled object holding apparatus . with the core releasing device according to the invention , after the paper web rolled on the core has been fed and run out , the core can reliably be released from the rolled object holding apparatus such as a paper roll holding apparatus eben when the core is still firmly gripped by the core holding members of the rolled object holding apparatus . the devices thus permits an automatic replacement of rolled objects without the need for manual work when releasing the core from the core holding members . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 1 |
in the drawings the number 10 is used to denote an annular supporting disc to be mounted on a rotatable shaft in a defibrator or refiner for fibrous material , such as wood chips . this disc serves , in turn , as a support for the grinding plates which , in the version shown in fig1 - 3 are mounted in two concentric circles or rings . the plates are made of some extremely hard material such as nickel - chromium stainless steel . the grinding plates 12 forming the outer circle are provided with radial ribs 14 and transverse ridges 16 in the manner already familiar to the art , which together form the grinding surface for the material passing through the gap between the rotating disc and another disc of similar construction ( not shown ) working in conjunction with the first disc and either stationary or rotating in the opposite direction . the grinding plates 12 are mounted side by side with it , two sides 15 running parallel to the radius of the disc while the perforated edges 17 , 18 defining their inner and outer perimeters describe circular arcs . in combination with the plates in the opposite grinding disc , the inner ring of plates 19 forms a feed zone and , as in known practice , is provided with fins or wings 20 for ejecting feed material from the centre to the grinding area or gap between the discs . the supporting disc 10 is provided with fan - shaped or dovetail grooves 22 , the walls 24 , 26 of which diverge in the direction of the body of the disc . the edges 24 , 26 of these grooves have a corresponding wedge shape , in that the width of the grooves 22 progressively narrows in a radial direction towards the centre . the proportions of this wedge or cone may be in the region of 1 : 20 . similar wedge - shaped grooves 28 having inclined dovetailed walls 30 , 32 are provided in the supporting disc for the inner ring of plates 19 . as is particularly apparent in fig2 the back of each plate , that is the side opposite the ribbed surface 14 , is provided with a tongue or projection 34 , which is also fan - shaped or dovetailed to allow it to fit into a groove 22 . similarly , the tongues 34 are wedge - shaped and of the same size and proportion as their equivalent wedge - shaped grooves 22 . the plates 19 are provided with wedge - shaped tongues 35 ( fig3 ) fitting into the grooves 28 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 - 3 , the plates , 12 and 19 respectively , are mounted by introducing them into the wedge - shaped grooves , 22 and 28 respectively , from the outer circumference of the supporting disc , their tongues , 34 and 35 respectively , being forced or driven into position so as to achieve a rigid joint between plate and groove with no play between the two . in order to hold the grinding plates in position with even greater security , a ring 36 ( fig3 ) is mounted around the peripheral portion of grinding plates , which ring is secured to the supporting disc 10 by e . g . screw joints ( not shown ) and extending as far as an outer protrusion 38 on the plates . the latter are thereby radially secured even more firmly with a view to counteracting the effects of the centrifugal forces set up by the rotation of the grinding disc . the invention therefore provides that the area between plate and supporting disc uniting the two comprises a large part , e . g . more than 50 %, of the common surface , whereby operational stresses , arising chiefly as a result of centrifugal force , are distributed throughout the body of each plate instead of being concentrated to a few points only as was the case in the bolted joints used earlier . in spite of the fact that the plates are made of extremely hard material , in order to provide resistance to the heavy wear during the grinding operation , the plates can be made substantially thinner , and therefore lighter , than previously , due to the wedge - shaped joints , and this , too , is a contributing factor in further lessening the stresses arising specifically in the material of the plates . since the tongues 34 , 35 are fitted into the supporting disc , the tilting moment of the plates around the locking ring 36 under the action of centrifugal force is considerably reduced , for the centre of gravity of the plates is by this means moved closer in towards the surface of the supporting disc . the embodiment illustrated in fig4 and 5 differs from that discussed above in that the disc 10 is provided with only a single ring of grinding plates 40 which extend radially across the entire width of the disc 10 . each plate thus comprises an outer section having raised ribs 14 and ridges 16 , and an inner section provided with fins 20 for feeding the stock in towards the grinding area . in this version the cuneiform dovetail grooves 22 with their inclined walls 24 , 26 extend radially across the entire supporting disc 10 . as in the previous version , the distance between , the edges of the plates progressively lessens towards the centre and forms the shape of a wedge . once the tongues 34 of the plates have been driven into the grooves , the inclined area of contact between the dovetailed walls 24 , 26 will extend radially for practically the entire length of the plates . in the embodiment illustrated in fig6 the supporting disc 10 , as in the version discussed above , is fitted with a ring of plates indicated in the drawing by the broken lines designated 42 . these plates are introduced radially into the cuneiform dovetail grooves 22 of the supporting disc 10 from the inside , meaning that the mutual distance of the side walls 44 , 46 of the grooves grows progressively less with increasing radial distance from the centre of the disc . in order to allow a plate to be driven home from the inside while retaining a movement parallel to the side of the plate with which it is in contact , one wall 44 of each groove runs parallel to one edge 48 of the plates themselves , the wedge or fan shape being defined by the direction of the opposite wall ( 50 ) of the groove in relation to the other edge 46 of the plates . thus , each plate can be driven into position so that their sides will be parallel at their points of contact . this method can be used for all the plates except the final ring segment , which is fixed into position by constructing the disc 10 in more than one piece , here indicated by the numeral 52 . these parts are carried on a supporting disc 57 in one piece mounted on the shaft . in this version the plates are retained in position and are able to counteract the effects of centrifugal force thanks to the wedge shape of their dovetailed tongues , meaning that an outer locking ring 36 will not be necessary . finally , the embodiment illustrated in fig7 differs from the versions discussed previously in that the tongue 54 on the back of the plates 40 are round in section . these extend radially across the plates and their cross section grows progressively smaller , forming the shape of a cone towards one end , the direction of taper being dependent on whether the plates are designed to be introduced radially into the grooves provided in the disc 10 from the outside or the inside . the tongues are attached to the plates themselves by a narrow neck 56 . clearly , the invention is not limited to the embodiments illustrated and discussed here but can be varied extremely widely within the framework of the underlying idea . thus , it would be conceivable to provide the supporting disc with grooves running peripherally and of e . g . dovetail form , into which tongues of equivalent design may be introduced . each plate may have more than one cuneiform tongue , these having a combined effect and running radially and peripherally at some distance from one another . as is apparent in fig1 the supporting disc 10 has an annular zone 58 without grooves 22 , 28 which is of a depth and radial width sufficient to allow the inner ring of plates 19 , each with its tongue 35 , to be introduced radially into the wedge - shaped grooves 28 from the outside . the radial extent of the tongues 35 is thus slightly less than the width of this zone 58 of the ring . this is covered by those sections of the inner and outer rings of plates which face each other . the radial edges of the plates may be provided with ridges or shoulders 60 ( fig1 and 2 ) bearing against the supporting disc and therefore conveying the pressure caused by grinding to the disc at this point . | 1 |
preferred embodiments relate to a mounting mechanism for mounting or dismounting a device on a mounting surface , for example , the mounting surface of a rail , molded clip or the like . designers often are required to design mounting or retaining mechanisms while optimizing the overall combination of cost and reliability of the entire device . the mounting or retaining mechanism could be used to mount an electric meter for sensing electrical parameters from an electric circuit . referring now to the drawings , fig1 a and 1 b show perspective and top views respectively of a device 100 attached to a mounting surface such as rail 105 or a molded clip in the shape of the rail . in a preferred embodiment , the device 100 is an electric meter and includes a base 101 and a cover 102 , the base being attached to the rail 105 . the base 101 having terminals such as voltage connectors 106 107 108 109 110 and current connectors 120 121 122 123 124 125 inset into the base 101 . circuitry is included with the base that operates to sense at least one electrical power parameter . an exemplary device 100 is the type 6200 , manufactured by power measurement ltd . located in saanichton , b . c ., canada . in a preferred embodiment the rail is a din rail or similar type conforming to the european standards din en 50022 , “ specification for low voltage switchgear and control gear for industrial use . mounting rails . top hat rails 35 mm wide for snap - on mounting equipment ”. fig2 illustrates the back view of the base 101 attached to the din rail 105 . a retaining mechanism 210 aids in retaining the base to the din rail 105 . referring now to fig3 the retaining mechanism 210 is shown without the din rail in place . in the preferred embodiment the base is injection molded out of plastic , the retaining mechanism 210 being molded as an integral part of the base 101 . in an alternate embodiment the retaining mechanism 210 is manufactured separately from the base 101 and attached during the final assembly process . the base 101 also contains a depression 306 which is operable to receive and retain the din rail 105 ( not shown ) in place . in the preferred embodiment , the depression 306 also contains multiple retaining tabs 313 which aid in holding the din rail 105 in place . fig4 a and 4 b show detailed views of the retaining mechanism 210 in the preferred embodiment . as shown in these figures the retaining mechanism 210 is in the manufacturing position . the manufacturing position is the position the retaining mechanism is in when first released from the injection molding machine . the closed position , as shown in fig4 c , has the body 411 of the retaining mechanism 210 displaced away from the depression 306 into a position such that din rail may be securely fixed between the retaining mechanism 210 and the base 101 . the open position , as shown in fig4 d , has the body 411 of the retaining mechanism 210 displaced away from the depression 306 into a position such that the tapered surface 414 can pass over the din rail . the retaining mechanism 210 is displaced further away from the depression 306 in the open position than the closed position . how the retaining mechanism travels between the positions is described in more detail below . referring back to fig4 a , the retaining mechanism 210 is preferably a symmetrical part , thus allowing for even wear on the part . a symmetrical part also prohibits jamming by ensuring one - directional motion of the part . having a symmetrical part is not necessary but excessive wear and fractures may occur due to uneven loading at a particular point on the part if it is not symmetrical or uniform . it can be appreciated that the invention may function in a similar fashion with the retaining mechanism 210 either symmetrical or non - symmetrical . the retaining mechanism 210 comprises a body 411 connected to two flexible arms 416 a 416 b which extend outwardly from either side of the body 411 and terminate on the base 101 at connection point 428 a 428 b . in the preferred embodiment the flexible arms 416 a 416 b are “ u ” shaped in order to conserve space however it can be appreciated by those skilled in the art that an alternate geometry of arms , such as straight arms , can be utilized . further , in the preferred embodiment the body 411 slides along its longitudinal axis in a plane parallel to the top surface 404 , towards or away from the din rail depression 306 . hereafter , this sliding action will be described as moving vertically . the base 101 contains a body opening 430 which is slightly larger than the shape of the body 411 , and an arm opening 418 a 418 b which extends on either side of the flexible arms 416 a 416 b to the connection point 428 a 248 b . in an alternate embodiment the body opening 430 is not necessary , but is a result of the non - moving mold design as described earlier . similarly the size of the body opening is a result of the non - moving mold design as described earlier . the arm openings 418 a 418 b are also a result of the non - moving mold design described earlier . the retaining mechanism 210 has a slot 412 at one end , which is utilized to aid in moving the retaining mechanism 210 by the use of a screwdriver or other similar tool . in the preferred embodiment when the retaining mechanism is in the closed position , as shown in fig4 c , the slot 412 is aligned with a recess 403 on the base 101 , thereby allowing the mounting recess to be more easily accessible for movement when the device is mounted . the retaining mechanism 210 also has a tapered surface 414 which aids in the engagement and retaining of the retaining mechanism 210 to the din rail . further , the retaining mechanism includes a guidance projection 420 , e . g ., a wall that protrudes outwardly from the edge of the body 411 . in an alternate embodiment , several smaller projections may be used . the guidance projection 420 contains locating features 422 which are shaped as a one way “ snap ” feature , that allows the body 411 to move vertically to a certain point , but not return the body 411 to its original position . more specifically , the locating features 422 allow the retaining mechanism 210 to move in one direction from the manufacturing position to the closed position , but not move back to the manufacturing position . a complete description of how the retaining mechanism 210 travels between the positions will be described in more detail below . referring to fig4 c , the top surface 404 of the base 101 contains locating projections 406 a 406 b 408 a 408 b which are adapted to aid in restricting the movement of the body 411 when the retaining mechanism 210 is in the closed position . fig4 d , which shows the open position , also contains the same features . the two directions of movement that the locating projections 406 a 406 b 408 a 408 b limit are in a vertical direction , the restriction dependent on the position of the retaining mechanism 210 , and in a direction towards the top surface 404 . because the body opening 430 is created during the manufacturing process , the retaining mechanism 210 is prevented from moving in the normal direction of pressing into the body opening 430 when the device is either in the closed position or the open position , or in transition between the two positions . the guidance projection , in conjunction with the locating projections , further limit movement in a horizontal direction . in the manufacturing position ( fig4 a ) the locating features 422 are positioned vertically below their respective locating projections 406 a 406 b 408 a 408 b . in either the closed or open position ( fig4 c and 4 d ) the locating features 422 are positioned vertically above their respective locating projections 406 a 406 b 408 a 408 b . referring now to fig5 the base 101 of the device is attached to the din rail 105 . fig5 illustrates the retaining mechanism in the closed position . in the preferred embodiment the din rail 105 , or other compatible rail , is in a “ c ” shape geometry with flanges 506 507 extending outwardly from each edge . in a typical installation the face 504 of the din rail is attached to a wall or other mounting surface . the base 101 contains a retaining tab 513 ( 313 fig3 ) which retains the first flanges 507 of the din rail 105 . the retaining mechanism 210 also contains a second lip 515 which retains the second flange 506 of the din rail . in the preferred embodiment the device is engaged to the din rail by locating the first flange 507 of the din rail into the retaining tab 513 located on the base 101 . multiple retaining tabs may be utilized to increase the mechanical stability of the device while mounted on the din rail . in the preferred embodiment the retaining mechanism 210 is in the closed position prior to attaching the device to the din rail 105 . the base 101 is then pivoted towards the din rail 105 about the retaining tab 513 , the second flange 506 contacting the tapered surface 514 of the retaining mechanism and causing the retaining mechanism 210 to displace from the closed position to the open position , which is when the second flange 506 passes the tapered surface 514 . finally , the flex arms 416 a 416 b urge the retaining mechanism to retract to the closed position where it retains the second flange 506 of the din rail with the second lip 515 . to disengage the device from the din rail the retaining mechanism is moved to the open position so the second flange 506 can be released past the tip of the tapered surface 514 . once the device has been released the retaining mechanism 210 returns to the closed position , but is unable to return to the manufacturing position as the locating features 422 prevent this . it is to be understood that other changes and modifications to the embodiments described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art , and are contemplated . it is therefore intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting , and that it be understood that it is the following claims , including all equivalents , that are intended to define the spirit and scope of this invention . | 8 |
to facilitate a further comprehension of objectives , characteristics and advantages of the present invention , the following paragraphs bring out preferred embodiments in conjunction with accompanying drawings for detailed explanation . for ease of explanation , same or similar functions will be represented by the same element symbol . therefore , the same symbols in different embodiments do not necessarily mean that two elements are completely the same . the scope of the present invention is dependent on the limitations recited in the claims . fig2 is a diagram of a switching power supply 80 according to an embodiment of the present invention . switching power supply 80 is a flyback power converter converting energy inputted by the ac power source v ac into an output power source v out . all the same or similar elements represented by the same symbol in fig1 and fig2 are explained in the prior art , and therefore further description will be omitted here for brevity . unlike the conventional configuration shown in fig1 , thermistor 86 and resistor 88 in this embodiment are connected in series between the control terminal of power switch 72 and the electrical ground gnd ; the connecting point between thermistor 86 and resistor 88 is connected to pin “ enb ” of controller 74 a . when controller 74 a turns off power switch 72 with a low voltage , thermistor 86 is not powered ; when controller 74 a turns on power switch 72 with a high voltage , thermistor 86 is powered and thereby a divided voltage is generated at pin “ enb ”. thermistor 86 could be an ntc ( negative temperature coefficient ) resistor whose resistance falls when an ambient temperature rises . controller 74 a could be an integrated circuit chip . fig3 is a zoom - in diagram of partial circuits shown in fig2 . in fig3 , controller 74 a includes a driving circuit 96 a , an oscillator 92 a and a detecting circuit 94 a . driving circuit 96 a is connected to thermistor 86 via a pin “ gate ”. oscillator 92 a is connected to resistor 88 and thermistor 86 via pin “ enb ”. detecting circuit 94 a detects a current flowing through pin “ enb ”. when the ambient temperature is within a predetermined permitted range , the resistance of thermistor 86 is so large that it could be viewed as open - circuited . therefore , the driving signal , no matter whether a high voltage or a low voltage , provided by driving circuit 96 a to power switch 72 can be viewed as non - influential to resistor 88 . resistor 88 determines a charging / discharging current of oscillator 92 a so as to determine the oscillating frequency for providing a clock signal to driving circuit 96 a . at this time , detecting circuit 94 a determines that the current flowing through pin “ enb ” is a proper value and thus enables driving circuit 96 a to periodically control power switch 72 . when the ambient temperature is higher than a predetermined permitted range , the resistance of thermistor 86 becomes relatively small . when driving circuit 96 a provides a high voltage to turn on power switch 72 , the voltage at pin “ enb ” becomes higher , leading to a relatively smaller current flowing through pin “ enb ”. when the current flowing through pin “ enb ” becomes smaller than a predetermined value , detecting circuit 94 a determines that an over - temperature event occurs , thus disabling the driving circuit 96 a to stop driving circuit 96 a from switching power switch 72 . detecting circuit 94 a can be designed to acquire a latching function . once an over - temperature event occurs , the output will be latched and will not be released even after driving circuit 96 a turning off the power switch 72 . detecting circuit 94 a could also be designed to detect a voltage at pin “ enb ”. when the voltage of pin “ enb ” is higher than a predetermined value , an occurrence of the over - temperature event is detected . in the embodiment of fig3 , pin “ enb ” is a multi - function pin , which not only has a function of over - temperature protection , but also has a function of setting the charging / discharging current in oscillator 92 a . thermistor 76 within the conventional switching power supply 60 in fig1 is powered by an input power source v in . input power source v in may offer hundreds of volts continuously . thus , a conducting path constructed by thermistor 76 and resistor 78 could consume a considerable amount of electric power . thermistor 86 within switching power supply 80 shown in fig2 and fig3 is powered by driving circuit 96 a . on one hand , the high driving voltage provided by driving circuit 96 a may be only tens of volts , and the amount of power consumed by the path formed by thermistor 86 and resistor 88 is relatively small ; on the other hand , the high driving voltage provided by driving circuit 96 a only exists when power switch 72 is turned on . when power switch 72 is turned off , thermistor 86 and resistor 88 almost consume no power at all . therefore , compared with the prior art in fig1 , switching power supply 80 in fig2 can save a great deal of electric power . fig4 is a diagram of a switching power supply 90 according to an embodiment of the present invention . switching power supply 90 is a flyback power converter which converts energy inputted by ac power source v ac into output power source v out which meets specification requirements . same or similar elements represented by the same symbol in fig2 and fig4 are explained above , and therefore further description will be omitted here for brevity . resistor 88 in fig2 is replaced by a capacitor 93 in fig4 . when controller 74 b turns off the power switch 72 with a low voltage , thermistor 86 is not powered ; when controller 74 b turns on power switch 72 with a high voltage , thermistor 86 is powered to change a voltage of pin “ enb ”. controller 74 b could be an integrated circuit chip . fig5 is a zoom - in diagram of partial circuits shown in fig4 . in fig5 , controller 74 b includes a driving circuit 96 b , an oscillator 92 b and a detecting circuit 94 b . driving circuit 96 b is connected to thermistor 86 via pin “ gate ”. oscillator 92 b is connected to capacitor 93 and thermistor 86 via pin “ enb ”. detecting circuit 94 b detects a current flowing through pin “ enb ”. when the ambient temperature is within a predetermined permitted range , the resistance of thermistor 86 is so large that it could be viewed as open - circuited . therefore , the driving signal , no matter whether a high voltage or a low voltage , provided by driving circuit 96 b to power switch 72 could be viewed as non - influential to capacitor 93 . capacitor 93 is charged / discharged by a charging / discharging current of oscillator 92 b so as to determine the oscillating frequency . in this way , a triangular wave is generated at one terminal of capacitor 93 and provided to driving circuit 96 b . at this time , detecting circuit 94 b determines that the voltage at pin “ enb ” is within a proper range and thus enables driving circuit 96 b to periodically control power switch 72 . when the ambient temperature is higher than a predetermined permitted range , the resistance of thermistor 86 becomes relatively small . when driving circuit 96 b provides a high voltage to turn on power switch 72 , the voltage at pin “ enb ” becomes high . at this moment , detecting circuit 94 b determines that an over - temperature event occurs according to the voltage at pin “ enb ”, and thereby disabling and stopping driving circuit 96 b from switching power switch 72 . detecting circuit 94 b can be designed to acquire a latching function . once an over - temperature event occurs , the output will be latched and will not be released even the driving circuit 96 b turning off power switch 72 . similarly , thermistor 86 within switching power supply 90 in fig4 and fig5 is powered by driving circuit 96 b . on one hand , the high driving voltage provided by driving circuit 96 b is relatively lower ; on the other hand , the high driving voltage from driving circuit 96 b is not continuously provided . therefore , compared with the prior art design in fig1 , switching power supply 90 in fig4 can save a great deal of electric power . those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention . | 7 |
the monohydrated crystalline form of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid , according to the invention , known hereinbelow as form c , has been defined by the indexing of its powder x - ray diffraction pattern diagram described hereinbelow . the analyses are carried out on a bruker d8 diffractometer having a copper - anticathode tube equipped with a front monochromator ( wavelength of the copper kα 1 line : 1 . 54060 å ). the arrangement is of bragg - brentano type , with a point scintillation detector . the angular range swept extends from 2 to 40 degrees 2θ with a step of 0 . 02 degrees 2θ . the counting time is 120 seconds per step . the indexing of the form c is carried out at a temperature ( t ) of 295 k from a high - resolution powder x - ray diffraction diagram . the unit cell is orthorhombic ( space group p2 1 2 1 2 1 , z = 4 ). the parameters are as follows : the asymmetric unit cell is composed of a molecule of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid and a molecule of water . the complete indexing of the lines of the powder x - ray diffraction diagram of form c of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio )- ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid at t = 295 k , in lattice spacing and in “ mean λ cu kα ” 2θ positions , gives the following result : form c of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid is a monohydrate form . it is stable at 25 ° c . and at the degree of ambient humidity . it is particularly stable between 50 % and 100 % humidity . at 97 % humidity , at 20 ° c ., examination by powder x - ray diffraction shows stability in the monohydrate form after 11 weeks . below 50 % humidity , a loss in mass of 3 . 7 % by weight is recorded between 25 ° c . and 75 ° c . ( 1 mole of water / mole of the acid ). this loss in mass corresponds to the dehydration of the form c to give another form of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid , hereinafter known as form b . form b is anhydrous , it is stable up to 30 % humidity , it exhibits melting beginning at 147 . 6 ° c .- 148 ° c ., and then changes to an anhydrous form , known hereinbelow as form a , which recrystallizes at about 153 ° c .- 155 ° c . thus , under another aspect of the present invention , form c can be used for the preparation of crystalline form a . forms b and a are defined , respectively , by the indexing of their powder x - ray diffraction pattern diagrams . according to the invention , monohydrated form c of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid can be obtained by crystallization from mixtures of water and water - miscible organic solvents , in particular according to the following methods : by evaporation at 20 ° c .- 25 ° c ., for a period of time ranging up to 7 to 9 days , of a saturated solution of the amorphous form of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ]- piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid in a methyl ethyl ketone / demineralized water ( 50 / 50 by volume ) mixture or in a methanol or ethanol / demineralized water ( 50 / 50 by volume ) mixture ; or by stirring a suspension of form a at a temperature of 20 ° c .- 25 ° c ., in tetrahydrofuran / demineralized water ( 50 / 50 by volume ), methyl ethyl ketone / demineralized water ( 80 / 20 by volume to 20 / 80 by volume ), acetonitrile / demineralized water ( 50 / 50 by volume to 20 / 80 by volume ) or ethanol or methanol / demineralized water ( 50 / 50 by volume ) mixtures , for 5 days to about 30 days . form a can be obtained in particular by crystallization of purified amorphous ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid from acetonitrile , by heating to the reflux temperature and then cooling to a temperature of 20 ° c .- 25 ° c ., over a period of time of at least one and one - half hours . the purified amorphous form of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid can be prepared beforehand by chiral hplc , as disclosed previously in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 403 , 610 . form c of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid is a pure monohydrate form . it exhibits the advantage of an improved degree of purity in comparison with the amorphous form of the acid and thus makes possible the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions not exhibiting an amount of impurities which are undesirable in nature or in degree . it can be used either for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions or as purified intermediate form for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition . form c is stable , as is shown by the tests carried out for the preparation of this crystalline form from methanol / water or ethanol / water ( 1 / 1 by volume ) mixtures , it proved to be stable after 30 days . the present invention also relates to the pharmaceutical compositions comprising monohydrated form c of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid according to the invention , in the pure state or optionally in combination with one and / or another of the other crystalline forms b or a , and / or in the form of a combination with one or more compatible and pharmaceutically acceptable diluents or adjuvants , or else the compositions prepared from the aforesaid form c . the pharmaceutical compositions according to the invention can be used orally , parenterally , topically or rectally or as aerosols . tablets , pills , gelatin capsules , powders or granules can be used as solid compositions for oral administration . in these compositions , form c according to the invention is mixed with one or more inert diluents or adjuvants , such as sucrose , lactose or starch . these compositions can comprise substances other than diluents , for example a lubricant , such as magnesium stearate , or a coating intended for controlled release . form c can also be used for the preparation of liquid compositions for oral administration ; use may be made of pharmaceutically acceptable solutions , suspensions , emulsions , syrups and elixirs comprising inert diluents , such as water or liquid paraffin . these compositions can also comprise substances other than diluents , for example wetting , sweetening or flavoring agents . form c can also be used for the preparation of compositions for parenteral administration . these compositions can be emulsions or sterile solutions . use may be made , as solvent or vehicle , of water , propylene glycol , a polyethylene glycol , vegetable oils , in particular olive oil , or injectable organic esters , for example ethyl oleate . these compositions can also comprise adjuvants , in particular wetting , isotonizing , emulsifying , dispersing and stabilizing agents . sterilization can be carried out in several ways , for example using a bacteriological filter , by irradiation or by heating . compositions for parenteral administration can also be prepared in the form of sterile solid compositions which can be dissolved at the time of use in sterile water or any other injectable sterile medium . compositions for rectal administration include suppositories or rectal capsules which comprise , in addition to the active principle , excipients such as cocoa butter , semisynthetic glycerides or polyethylene glycols . compositions for topical administration can , for example , be creams , ointments , lotions or aerosols . compositions for inhalation can be in particular be aerosols . for use in the form of liquid aerosols , the compositions can be stable sterile solutions or solid compositions dissolved at the time of use in apyrogenic sterile water , in saline or any other pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle . for use in the form of dry aerosols intended to be directly inhaled , monohydrated form c of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ]- piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid is finely divided and combined with a water - soluble solid diluent or vehicle with a particle size of 30 μm to 80 μm , for example dextran , mannitol or lactose . as a whole , all these compositions exhibit the advantage of a high degree of purity of active principle . the following examples , given without implied limitation , illustrate the present invention . a suspension of approximately 460 mg of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid in 1 . 84 cm 3 of a water / methanol ( 50 / 50 ) mixture is brought to reflux until completely dissolved . the solution is cooled to approximately 20 ° c . the crystals which appear during cooling are filtered off and then dried at about 20 ° c . and normal pressure . monohydrated form c of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid ( 436 . 3 mg ) is obtained in the form of white crystals . a solution of ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( r , s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid in dichloromethane is chromatographed on a column with a length of 35 cm and a diameter of 8 cm packed with 1200 g of kromasil ® silica ( particle size of 10 μm ). a precolumn with a length of 10 cm and a diameter of 6 cm containing 250 g of merck silica ( particle size 15 - 25 μm ) is added to the system . elution is carried out using a dichloromethane / methanol / acetonitrile ( 60 / 20 / 20 by volume ) mixture . the flow rate is adjusted from 150 cm 3 / min to 180 cm 3 / min and detection is carried out in the ultraviolet at 280 nm . this operation , repeated three times , to treat a batch of 20 g , results in two diastereoisomers being obtained . the intermediate fractions are concentrated and reinjected into the column . the fractions corresponding to the first diastereoisomer ( diastereoisomer a ) are concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure ( 5 kpa ) at a temperature in the region of 40 ° c . the residue is crystallized by dissolving in 60 cm 3 of acetonitrile , bringing the solution to reflux for 5 minutes and then cooling to a temperature of 20 ° c . over 1 hour 30 minutes . the crystals are filtered off , and washed twice with 20 cm 3 of acetonitrile and then twice with 20 cm 3 of ethyl ether . after drying in an oven under reduced pressure ( 13 pa ) at a temperature in the region of 40 ° c ., ( 3r , 4r )- 4 -[ 3 -( s )- hydroxy - 3 -( 6 - methoxyquinolin - 4 - yl ) propyl ]- 1 -[ 2 -( 2 - thienylthio ) ethyl ] piperidine - 3 - carboxylic acid ( 5 . 38 g ), diastereoisomer a , is obtained in the form of white crystals ( form a ). optical rotation [ α ] d 20 =− 77 . 80 ( in dichloromethane at 0 . 5 %). the form a thus obtained can be converted to crystalline monohydrated form c under the conditions described above . | 2 |
a mathematical model for the heel effect can be derived from the simplified one - dimensional model of the anode and bean geometry depicted in fig4 . in the coordinate system ( p , z ), with p along the anode - cathode axis and z along the vertical direction , the x - rays can be taught off to originate within the anode at point ω ( 0 , 0 ), at a distance d ave from the anode surface s . consider the ray r at an angle φ from the vertical within the plane ( ω , s ) that hits the recording device at point ( p , d is ) with d is the distance between the x - ray source and the recording device and the distance r traveled by r through the anode is given by r =| ξ − ω |=√{ square root over ( p r 2 + z r 2 )} ( 1 ) with ξ ( p r , z r ) the intersection of r with s which can be found by solving the system of equations : r ( p ) = d ave cos θ sin ( ϕ + θ ) = d ave 1 + ( p d is ) 2 tan θ + p d is ( 3 ) with μ the attenuation coefficient of the anode material and i o the radiation originating at ω . model ( 4 ) predicts that the heel effect behaves exponentially along the anode - cathode axis and assumes that it is constant perpendicular to this axis . this is justified by flat filed exposure experiments which show that the difference in intensity perpendicular to the anode - cathode axis is relatively small compared to the intensity differences along the anode - cathode axis . a typical hand radiograph , as shown in fig1 , consists of three regions : collimation area ( numeral 1 ), direct exposure area ( numeral 2 ) and diagnostic regions ( numeral 3 ). because the heel effect is largely reduced in the collimation area and directly measurable in the direct exposure area only , the image needs to be segmented to fit model ( 4 ) to the image intensity data . this is obtained by first extracting the collimation area and then searching the direct exposure area , the remaining areas being diagnostic regions . the boundaries of the collimation area have been round using the hough transform assuming that these are rectilinear edges as is the case for the majority of x - ray source - mounted collimation devices . to make this approach more robust , the contributions of each image point to the hough space accumulator are weighted by said point &# 39 ; s gradient magnitude and , for each point , only lines the direction of which is within 10 degrees from the normal the local gradient direction are considered . the 4 most salient points in hough space that represent a quadracon with inner angles between 80 and 100 degrees are selected as candidate boundaries of the collimation area . because not all 4 collimation shutter blades leave an imprint in the image and hence make the associated boundaries disappear in the image , candidate boundaries along which the image intensity differs from the intensity expected for the collimation region are rejected . to extract the background region b , a seed fill algorithm has been used that starts from the boundary of the collimation region as determined in the previous step . appropriate seed points for b are found by considering a small band along each of the collimator edges and retaining all pixels whose intensity is smaller than the mean of the band . this approach avoids choosing pixels that belong to the diagnostic region as candidate seed pixels . b is then grown by considering all neighboring pixels n i , i = 1 , . . . , 8 of each pixel p ∈ b and adding q i to b if the intensity difference between p and q i is smaller than some specified threshold . to fit the model ( 4 ) to the image data n ( x , y ) the direction γ has to be found of the anode - cathode axis and the parameters α =[ i 0 , μ , 6 , d is , d ave , p ω ] such that the model best fits the image data within the direct exposure area extracted thus far . p ω is a parameter introduced to map point ω where the x - ray originates to the correct image coordinates ( see fig4 ). for the case whereby the heel effect is modulated as a one - dimensional phenomenon , the distance p ω and the angle γ are the required parameters to map the coordinate system attached to the x - ray origin , ω to the image plane coordinate system , however , because the anode has the three - dimensional shape of a cone , the heel effect is a three dimensional phenomenon , in that at the intensity also slightly is reduced in a direction perpendicular to the ( p , z ) plane . to model the two - dimensional heel effect in the image plane , a third geometry parameter p ω1 is needed . parameters ( p ω , p ω1 , γ ) jointly define a coordinate system translation and rotation from the x - ray origin ω to an image plane origin , which is the center of the image e . g . in practice the heel effect inhomogeneity in , said perpendicular direction is only small with respect to the heel effect along the anode - cathode axis . assuming that γ is known , the average image profile p γ ( p ) along this direction in the direct exposure region b is given by p γ ( p )=[ n ( x , y )] ( x , y )∈ b | x , cos γ + y . sin γ = p with x and y the image coordinates as defined in fig3 and [.] the averaging operator . we can then find the optimal model parameters α * by fitting the expected profile m ( p , α ) to the measured profile . α * ( γ ) = arg min α p γ ( p ) - m ( p , α ) ( 5 ) the fitted one - dimensional model m ( p , α *( γ )) is then back projected perpendicular to the projection axis γ to obtain a reconstruction r ( x , y , γ , α *( γ )) for the whole image : r ( x , y , γ , α * ( γ ))= m ( x . cos γ + y . sin γ , α *( γ )) the direction of the anode - cathode axis γ is then determined such that this reconstruction best fits the actual image data within the direct exposure region using γ * = arg min γ n ( x , y ) - r ( x , y , γ , α * ( γ ) ) ( x , y ) ∈ b or ( 6 ) γ * = arg min γ n ( x , y ) r ( x , y , γ , α * ( γ ) ) - 1 ( x , y ) ∈ b ( 7 ) depending on whether we wish to use additive or multiplicative correction . the estimated heel effect is r ( x , y , γ *, α *( γ *)) and the corrected image is respectively n ^ ( x , y ) = n ( x , y ) - r ( x , y , γ * , α * ( γ * ) ) or ( 8 ) n ^ ( x , y ) = n ( x , y ) r ( x , y , γ * , α * ( γ * ) ) . ( 9 ) the optimal parameters α * and γ * are found by multidimensional downhill simplex search . it has been noticed that the anode - cathode axis in , our setup is almost always parallel to the image or collimation edges , this reduces the number of orientations which have to be evaluated in ( 6 - 7 ) and reduces computation time . after inhomogeneity correction of the image using ( 8 - 9 ), the direct exposure area b is up - dated by thresholding , using a threshold derived from the histogram of the corrected image intensities { circumflex over ( n )}. keeping the previously determined anode - cathode orientation γ , new values for the optimal model parameters α * are determined using ( 5 ) taking the newly selected direct exposure region into account . a number of iterations , typically three or four , have been performed between background segmentation and heel effect correction until convergence . in ideal circumstances , the image formation process or diagnostic digital x - ray images is usually well described by a multiplicative model yielding an intensity - uniform image u ( x , y ): where o ( x , y ) represents the object in the image . in diagnostic x - ray images , the most important contributing process of the object is the linear attenuation of the x - rays by the bone and soft tissue μ is the linear attenuation coefficient along the path between the origination x - ray at position ω and the recording device ζ . however , nonuniform illumination i = i ( x , y ), uneven sensitivity of the recording device and inhomogeneous sensitivity of the phosphors for readout , introduce unwanted intensity modulations in the acquired image n ( x , y ) described by function ƒ in the second and third embodiment the heel effect is again , examined as a very important source of nonuniform illumination . reference is made to fig2 - 4 which aid in explaining this effect . electrons originating from the cathode are attracted by the positively charged anode . for better heat dissipation , the anode rotates and is inclined by a small anode angle δ , which enlarges their area a actual that is bombarded by electrons while keeping the size of the focal spot a eff , from which rays are projected downward to the object , fairly small . as shown in the fig3 , the design makes the length of the path travelled by the x - rays through the anode larger on the anode side of the field ( t a ) than on the cathode side ( t c ). hence the incident x - ray intensity is smaller at the anode side of the recording device . a simple theoretical model is given by i ( x , y ) - i o ⅇ - μ d ave 1 + ( p d is ) 2 tan θ + p d is ( 11 ) with i o the radiation originating at ω , μ the linear attenuation coefficient of the anode , d ave the average distance traveled through the anode by the electrons , d is the distance between the x - ray source and the recording device and p the distance from the recording device to x - ray source projected onto the anode - cathode axis . although the second and third embodiment are explained with reference to the heel effect , other source of inhomogeneities may be envisaged such as the molding process of imaging plates and / or the characteristics of the read - out system . in some fabrication processes , the concentration of phosphors at the edge of the plate is lower than the concentration in the middle of the plate which may result in a non - uniform image . in read - out apparatuses comprising mirror deflection , the displacements of the mirror has to be very accurately implemented to achieve uniform activation of the phosphors for read - out . due to all these factors it is almost impossible to model the induced inhomogeneities correctly and more general image formation models are needed . the image formulation process is generally modeled with a function ƒ applied to an ideal intensity - uniform image u ( x , y ), resulting in the acquired image n ( x , y ). in digital x - ray images , the image degradation process dependency on the intensity values u ( x , y ) is relatively small compared to position dependent factors . hence , we can rewrite equation ( 10 ) as follows n ( x , y )= u ( x , y ) s m ( x , y )+ s a ( x , y ) where s m ( x , y ) and s a ( x , y ) represent the multiplicative and additive components of the image degradation process . to remove the image inhomogeneities , a corrected image û is searched which optimally estimates the true image u . if the estimates ŝ a and ŝ m of the actual formation components s a and s m are available , the corrected image û is given by the inverse of the image formation model . u ^ ( x , y ) = n ( x , y ) - s ^ a ( x , y ) s ^ m ( x , y ) = n ( x , y ) s ~ m ( x , y ) - s ~ a ( x , y ) s ~ m ( x , y ) = 1 s ^ m ( x , y ) and s ~ a ( x , y ) = s ^ a ( x , y ) s ^ m ( x , y ) . the problem of correcting the inhomogeneities is thus reformulated as the problem of estimating the additive and multiplicative components { tilde over ( s )} a and { tilde over ( s )} m . finding the optimal parameters of the components { tilde over ( s )} a and { tilde over ( s )} m involves defining a criterion which has to be optimized . in this section , two criterions are defined . one correction strategy ( second embodiment of the method according to the present invention ) is based on the assumption that the intensity values of the direct exposure area ( also referred to as background ) from the acquired image is gaussian distributed . in ideal circumstances , this assumption is true for the acquired image n ( x , y ). the likelihood that a pixel μ i of the corrected image belongs to the background is p ( u i | μ , σ ) = 1 2 πσ 2 exp ( - 1 2 ( u i - μ ) 2 σ 2 ) ( 12 ) where μ and σ 2 are the true mean and variance of the gaussian distribution of the background pixels . given an estimate { circumflex over ( b )} of the direct exposure area , we seek to maximize the likelihood π i ∈{ circumflex over ( b )} p ( u i | μ , σ ), which is equivalent to minimizing the log - likelihood u ^ * = arg min b ^ , u ^ - σ i ∈ b ^ log e p ( u i | μ , σ ) . ( 13 ) another embodiment ( third embodiment of the method of the present invention ) is based on the assumption that the information content of the acquired image is higher than the information content of the uniform image , due to the added complexity of the imposed inhomogeneities : i c ( n ( x , y ))= i c ( ƒ x , y u ( x , y )))& gt ; i c ( u ( x , y )) the information content i c can be directly expressed by the shannon - wiener entropy i c ( n ( x , y ) ) = h ( n ( x , y ) ) = - ∑ n p ( n ) log e p ( n ) ( 14 ) where p ( n ) is the probability than a , point in image n ( x , y ) has intensity value n . the optimal corrected image û * is thus given by u ^ * = arg min u ^ h ( u ^ ( x , y ) ) ( 15 ) because the heel effect is totally reduced in the collimation area and an estimate of the background { circumflex over ( b )} is needed to optimize equation ( 13 ), a segmentation algorithm is presented . in the next , implementation details of the correction models of the second and third embodiment of the method according to the present invention are given . the boundaries of the collimation area have been found using the hough transform , assuming that these are rectilinear edges as is the case for all hand radiographs in our database . to make this approach more robust , the contributions of each image point to the hough accumulator are weighted by its gradient magnitude and , for each point , only the lines whose direction is within 10 degrees of the normal to the local gradient direction are considered . the 4 most salient points in hough space that represent a quadragon with inner angles between 80 and 100 degrees are selected as candidate boundary of the collimation area . because not all 4 collimation boundaries are always present in the image , candidate boundaries along which the image intensity differ from the expected intensity values for the collimation region , are rejected . to extract the background region b , a seed fill algorithm is used that starts from the boundary of the collimation region as determined in the previous step . appropriate seed points for b are found by considering a small band along each of the collimator edges and retaining all pixels whose intensity is smaller than the mean of the band . this approach avoids choosing pixels that belong to the diagnostic region as candidate seed pixels . the background region is then grown by considering all neighboring pixels n i , i = 1 , . . . 8 of each pixel p ∈{ circumflex over ( b )} and adding q i to { circumflex over ( b )} if the intensity difference between p and q is smaller than some specified threshold . we simplify ( 13 ), by leaving out the multiplicative component { tilde over ( s )} m of the image degradation process u ^ * = arg min b ^ , u ^ - ∑ i ∈ b ^ log e p ( u i | μ , σ ) = arg min b ^ , u ^ - ∑ x , y ∈ b ^ log e p ( u ( x , y ) | μ , σ ) = arg min b ^ , u ^ - ∑ x , y ∈ b ^ log e p ( n ( x , y ) - s ~ a ( x , y ) | μ , σ ) ( 16 ) this equation is optimized by iteratively estimating the background { circumflex over ( b )} and finding parameters μ , σ and the components { tilde over ( s )} a after differentiation and substitution of p ( u i | μ , σ ) by the gaussian distribution ( 12 ). to find the solution for the multiplicative component , the same approach can be followed after logarithmic transforming the intensity values . the initial estimate for the background b is taken from the segmentation algorithm described higher . all other estimates for b are computed using a histogram , based threshold algorithm . the threshold is defined as the smallest value of ε satisfying ɛ * = min ɛ ⋂ i = 1 , 2 , 3 { ɛ & gt ; μ + σ | p β ( ɛ β ) & lt ; p β ( ɛ β + i ) } ɛ β = [ ɛ - min u ^ max u ^ - min u ^ ] · 255 ( 17 ) where p b ( n ) is the probability that a point in image û b has value n and μ , σ are the mean and variance of the corrected pixels belonging to the previous background estimate . the maximum likelihood estimates for the parameters μ and σ of 7 , can be found by minimization of − σ i log e p ( u i | μ , σ ). the egressions fir μ is given by the condition that ∂ ∂ μ ( - ∑ i log e p ( u i | μ , σ ) ) = 0 . μ = ∑ i ∈ b ^ u i n = ∑ i ∈ b ^ n ( x i , y i ) - s ~ a ( x i , y i ) n where x i , y i is the spatial position of pixel i and n is the number of background pixels . the same approach can be followed to derive the expression for σ : σ 2 = ∑ i ∈ b ^ ( u i - μ ) 2 n = ∑ i ∈ b ^ ( n ( x i , y i ) - μ s ~ a ( x i , y i ) ) 2 n suppose that the spatially smoothly varying component { tilde over ( s )} a can be modeled by a linear combination of k polynomial basis functions φ i ( x i , y i ) u i = n ( x i , y i ) - ∑ j = 1 , … , k c j ϕ j ( x i , y i ) the partial derivative for c j of ( 16 ) set to zero yields ∑ i ∈ b ^ [ n ( x i , y i ) - μ - ∑ j c j ϕ j ( x i , y i ) ] = 0 ∀ k . solving this equation for { c j } does not seem very tractable , but combining all equations for all k and introducing matrix notation simplifies the problem considerably c = [ c 1 c 2 ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ] = ar ( 18 ) where a represents the geometry of the image formation model , each of its rows evaluating one basis function φ k at all coordinates and r represents the residue image , i . e . the difference between the acquired image and the estimated background mean . in full matrix notation , the equation is c = [ ϕ 1 ( x 1 ) ϕ 1 ( x 1 ) ϕ 1 ( x 1 ) ⋯ ϕ 1 ( x 1 ) ϕ 1 ( x 1 ) ϕ 1 ( x 1 ) ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ] [ n 1 - μ n 2 - μ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ] where n i is the intensity value of the acquired image at pixel ( x i , y i ). equation ( 18 ) is a least squares fit to the residue image . as least squares fit are sensitive to outliers , only entries in r which satisfy | n i − μ |& lt ; 2 . 5 σ are included to solve ( 18 ). suppose than the image degradation components { tilde over ( s )} a and { tilde over ( s )} m can be modeled by a linear combination of k polynomial bass functions φ j m , a ( x , y ) s ~ m ( x i , y i ) = ∑ j = 1 , … , k m m j ϕ j m ( x i , y i ) s ~ a ( x i , y i ) = ∑ j = 1 , … , k m a j ϕ j a ( x i , y i ) { a * , m * } = arg min a , m { h ( n ( x , y ) s ~ m ( x , y ) - s ~ a ( x , y ) ) } ( 19 ) the optimal additive parameters α * and multiplicative parameters m * are found by powell &# 39 ; s multidimensional directional set method and brent &# 39 ; s one - dimensional optimization algorithm ( w . h . press , s . a . teukosky , w . t . vetterling , and b . p . flannery . numerical recipes in c . cambridge university press , 1992 .) the set of probabilities p ( n ) in ( 14 ) can be obtained by normalization of its histogram . in order to reduce the influence or random , effects induced by discretizing the histogram , we use partial intensity interpolation at histogram formation . when transforming the image , an integer intensity value g is transformed to a real value g ′, which in general lies between two integer values k and k + 1 . the histogram sentries h ( k ) and h ( k + 1 ) are updated by k + 1 − g ′ and g ′− k respectively , to obtain a smoother decline to the absolute minimum and to minimize the effects of local minima , the obtained histogram is blurred to : h ^ ( n ) = ∑ i = - t t h ( n + i ) ( t + 1 - i ) we have tested different image formation models which are summarized in , table 1 . the polynomial models are defined as ϕ v = c 0 + c 1 x + c 2 y + c 3 x 2 + c 4 xy + c 5 y 2 + … + c ( v + 2 ) ! 2 ! v ! y v model σ i , i = 1 , 2 are included for the maximal likelihood estimation , model σ 3 is the general image formation model while model σ 4 is derived from ( 2 ). model σ 5 is approximation of model σ 4 where the different model parameters are substituted with real values and higher orders are discarded where appropriate . model σ 6 is included for resemblance with model σ 2 . in a fourth embodiment according to the present invention , a statistical mixture model of the image is generated based on a plurality of k image regions . each of these regions or classes may physically correspond to e . g . bone , soft tissue and direct exposure area . in the assumption or a normal mixture model , each class is represented by three unknown parameters : the proportion n k of image pixels , the mean value μ k and the variance σ k 2 . ψ ={ π 1 , . . . , π k , μ 1 , . . . , μ k , σ 1 2 , . . . , σ k 2 } the subset of parameters pertaining to class k is denoted as the image intensity histogram , de - noting the probability distribution that a pixel i has intensity y i is therefore a gaussian mixture model f ( y i | ψ ) = ∑ k = 1 k π k f k ( y i | ψ k ) = ∑ k = 1 k π k 1 2 πσ k 2 exp ( - ( y i - μ k ) 2 2 σ k 2 ) i = 1 , … , n the classical analytical method to estimate the parameter ψ is to maximise the log - likelihood function for each of then parameters to estimate . the maximum likelihood estimates of each parameter can be solved from a system of equations which is non - linear in general and hence requires methods such as newton - raphson algorithm . the expectation - maximisation ( em ) algorithm estimates the parameters ψ by adding segmentation labels z i ( i represents pixel i and z 1 has a value k , k = 1 . . . k ), ( so called non - observable data ) to each of the grey values y i of the pixels ( so called observable data ). in each iteration of the em algorithm the expectation step ( e - step ) estimates a segmentation label k to each pixel i on the basis of parameter values ψ from the previous iteration and in the maximisation step ( m - step ) new parameter values ψ are computed on the basis of maximum likelihood , given the new segmentation labels associated with each of the newly assigned segmentation labels . in the context of the present invention two modifications have been added to the em algorithm to make it correcting for a bias field caused by global inhomogeneities in the imaging chain and to discard outliers due to local inhomogeneities . the global inhomogeneities in the image distort the assumed normal distribution of the pixel classes . every pixel segmentation class is modelled as a normal distribution of which a sum of spatially correlated continuous basis functions is subtracted . examples of such basis functions are orthogonal polynomials . other orthogonal continuous functions may be used as well . the coefficients of the basis polynomials are added to the parameter set ψ which must be estimated ψ = { π 1 , … , π k , μ 1 , … , μ k , σ 1 2 , … , σ k 2 , c } = { π 1 , … , π k , μ 1 , … , μ k , σ 1 2 , … , σ k 2 , c 1 , … , c r } with the probability distribution for the pixels belonging to segmentation class k f k ( y | ψ k c ) = 1 2 πσ k 2 exp [ - 1 2 σ k 2 ( y - μ k - ∑ r = t r c r φ r ) 2 ] k = 1 , … , k with φ r a n × 1 vector holding the polynomial function evaluation for the r - th basis polynomial at pixel location i ( i = 1 , . . . n ). a further correction to the basic em algorithm is to make it robust against outliers in the observed distribution of a segmentation class , caused by the presence of local defects ( dust , scratch , pixel drop out . . . ) in the recording member , said defects not being attributable to the global inhomogeneities . to this purpose each pixel class k is divided in a gaussian class ( which is distributed by the inhomogeneity and which is corrected by the bias function ) and a rejection class . this rejection class is assumed to have a uniform distribution with probability density δ k and contains a proportion ε ∈[ 0 , 1 ] of the pixels . the probability distribution of pixel class k is therefore the extended em algorithm is summarised by the following formulas valid for iteration m : for each pixel class k , k = 1 , . . . k and each pixel i , i = 1 , . . . n , compute p ik ( m + 1 ) = f k ( y | ψ k ( m ) ) π k ( m ) ∑ i = 1 k f i ( y i | ψ k ( m ) ) π i ( m ) λ k ( m + 1 ) = 1 2 πσ k 2 exp ( - 1 2 κ 2 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) = f k ( y i | ψ k ( m ) ) f i ( y i | ψ k ( m ) ) + λ k ( m + 1 ) ψ k ( m ) the set of statistical parameter describing class k at iteration m π k ( m ) the proportion of pixels in the image belonging to class k at iteration m ƒ k the probability density function of intensity of pixels of class k denoting the conditional probability that pixel i has gray value y i given parameters ψ k of class k p ik ( m + 1 ) the probability that pixel i belongs to class k at iteration m + 1 , these probabilities sum to 1 , i . e . ∑ k = 1 k p ik ( m + 1 ) = 1 . σ k 2 ( m ) the variance of intensity of pixels belonging to class k at iteration m , d k = ( y i - μ k ) σ k λ k ( m + 1 ) the probability of pixels of class k being outliers , the probability of pixels inside class k to belong to the non - rejected group ( i . e . not being an outlier ). because λ k ≠ 0 , this probability may be less than one , and hence ∑ k = 1 k p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) ≤ 1 . at this stage , a segmentation of the image could be obtained by a hard classification , i . e . each pixel i is assigned class k for which p ik ( m + 1 ) is maximal , i . e . class pixel i = argmax k { p ik ( m + 1 ) } . in the sequel of the em algorithm , soft classification labels p ik ( m + 1 ) e [ 0 . . . 1 ] are used . for each class k = 1 . . . k and for each coefficient c r , r = 1 . . . r applied to the corresponding polynomial basis function , compute π k ( m + 1 ) = ∑ i = 1 n p ik ( m + 1 ) n μ k ( m + 1 ) = ∑ i = 1 n p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) ( y i - ∑ r = 1 r c r ( m ) φ ir ) ∑ i = 1 n p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) σ k 2 ( m + 1 ) = ∑ i = 1 n p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) ( y i - μ k ( m + 1 ) - ∑ r = 1 r c r ( m ) φ ir ) ∑ i = 1 n p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) c ( m + 1 ) = [ c 1 ( m + 1 ) c 2 ( m + 1 ) … c r ( m + 1 ) ] = ( a t w ( m + 1 ) a ) - 1 a t w ( m + 1 ) r ( m + 1 ) a = [ φ 11 φ 12 … φ 1 r φ 21 … … … … … φ n1 … … φ nr ] w ( m + 1 ) = [ w 1 ( m + 1 ) 0 … 0 0 w 2 ( m + 1 ) … … … 0 0 … 0 w n ( m + 1 ) ] , w i ( m + 1 ) = ∑ k = 1 k p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) σ k 2 ( m + 1 ) r ( m + 1 ) = [ y 1 - y ~ 1 ( m + 1 ) y 2 - y ~ 2 ( m + 1 ) … y n - y ~ n ( m + 1 ) ] , y ~ i ( m + 1 ) = ∑ k = 1 k p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) σ k 2 ( m + 1 ) μ k 2 ( m + 1 ) ∑ k = 1 k p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) σ k 2 ( m + 1 ) μ k ( m + 1 ) denotes the mean intensity value of pixels belonging to class k at iteration ( m + 1 ), σ k 2 ( m + 1 ) denotes the variance of intensity value of pixels belonging to class k at iteration ( m + 1 ), after having corrected for the estimate of the bias field , c ( m + 1 ) is a vector containing coefficients c r , r = 1 . . . r applied to the corresponding polynomial basis function , a ( i , r )= φ ir is the evaluation of the m - th polynomial basis function at pixel location i ( matrix a thus represents the geometry of the bias field model ), w ( m + 1 ) is a diagonal matrix of weights w i ( m + 1 ) , i = 1 . . . n , with w i ( m + 1 ) the weight applied at pixel i in iteration ( m + 1 ). said weight is the sum of the inverse of variance overall classes k , k = 1 . . . k , each weighted with the probability of that class which is p ik ( m + 1 ) t ik ( m + 1 ) . r ( m + 1 ) is a residue image , the residue being the difference between the original image matrix y i , i = 1 . . . n and the corrected image matrix { tilde over ( y )} i ( m + 1 ) at iteration ( m + 1 ). the equations of the extended em algorithm reduce to the basic em algorithm when no bias correction is performed ( all c r = 0 ) or no outliers are taken into account ( all λ k = 0 and hence all t ik = 1 ). in order to start the iterations of the em algorithm , an initial estimate ψ ( 0 ) for the parameter set ψ is needed . this is achieved by assigning each pixel i , i = 1 . . . n , to one of the classes k = 1 . . . k on the basis of intensity histogram slicing . this assignment involves the computation of p ik ( 0 ) , which is a hard assignment of probability 1 to one of the k possible class probabilities at pixel i and putting all other probabilities no zero . furthermore , no outliers are assumed during initialization , i . e . t tk ( 0 ) = 1 for all i . therefore the m - step in which the values ψ are computed can be executed immediately after initialization . therefore the initialization on step for which the iteration value m = 0 does not present a true iteration step in the em algorithm . to slice the histogram into k distinct initial pixel classes k = 1 . . . k , prior art techniques are used . in the context of the present invention , the histogram is smoothed and approximated with a higher order polynomial , after which the two or three most important maxima are determined . the intensity thresholds separating intensities of different classes are then determined as the intensities corresponding to the minima between these different maxima . | 6 |
referring to the drawings and particularly to fig1 and 5 , one form of the wake tower of the invention is shown interconnected with a powerboat 30 of conventional construction having a bow portion 30 a and a stern portion 30 b . as best seen in fig5 , the powerboat also has first and second spaced - apart gunwales 32 and 34 respectively to which the wake tower is connected . in the present form of the invention the wake tower includes an upwardly extending first base member 36 connected to the first gunwale 32 and an upwardly extending second base member 38 connected to said second gunwale 34 . the base members 36 and 38 are of a curved configuration and are preferably cast from a lightweight metal such as aluminum . interconnected with the base members is a generally u - shaped , upwardly extending structural assembly generally designated by the numeral 40 . the structural assembly 40 includes a generally “ l ”- shaped structural member 42 having a first curved side 42 a and a cast aluminum first connector segment 44 . structural member 42 is connected to aluminum first connector segment 44 by any suitable means such as welding . in a manner presently to be described , connector segment 44 is , in turn , pivotally connected to first base member 36 . structural assembly 40 also includes a second generally “ l ”- shaped structural member 46 having a curved side 46 a and a second , cast aluminum connector segment 48 that is connected to second curved side 46 a by any suitable means such as welding . connector segment 48 is , in turn , pivotally connected second base member 38 . as will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter , each of the sides of structural assembly 40 is first swaged into the desired configuration and then is strategically formed to create a curved , tapered portion having an oval shape . more particularly , as best seen in fig1 and 4 , each of the sides of the structural assembly 40 includes a lower portion 51 having a first width w and an upper portion 53 having a second width w - 1 that is substantially less than said first width w . structural assembly 40 further includes a bight portion 54 interconnecting upper portions 53 of the sides . as indicated in fig4 , bight portion 54 is generally circular in cross section . in the form of the invention shown in fig1 through 11 , the wake tower further includes a tow rope connector member 56 that is connected to and spans upper portions 53 of the sides 42 and 46 . connected to the connector member 56 is a conventional type of connector 58 to which the tow rope “ tr ” can be connected . turning next to fig6 and 8 , a portion of one side of the wake tower of the invention is there shown . it is to be understood that the other side of the wake tower is of a similar construction , but is not shown in the drawings in order to simplify the description . each of the base members is provided with a cavity 60 and each of the connector segments is provided with a pair of spaced - apart , downwardly extending ears 62 and 64 that are receivable within the base member cavities . as shown in fig6 , downwardly extending ear 62 has a bore 62 a formed therein and , similarly , downwardly extending ear 64 has a bore 64 a formed therein . receivable within bore 62 a is a pivot pin 66 about which side 46 and connector segment 48 can pivot in the manner shown in fig1 . as illustrated in fig9 and 10 , pivot pin 66 extends through aligned bores 69 formed in base member 38 . similarly , a locking pin 72 is receivable within bore 64 a formed in ear 64 . locking pin 72 extends through aligned bores 73 formed in base member 38 and , when in position within these openings in the manner shown in fig6 in 9 , prevents pivotal movement of side 46 and connector segment 48 about pivot pin 66 . as indicated by the phantom lines in fig7 , when the locking pin 72 is removed from the base member , the combination of side 46 and connector segment 48 is free to pivot about pivot pin 66 in the manner shown in fig1 . in accordance with one form of the method of making the wake tower illustrated in fig1 through 11 , the first and second base members 36 and 38 are cast in a conventional manner from a suitable lightweight castable material such as aluminum and are appropriately finished . this done , the base members are interconnected with the powerboat by a plurality of threaded connectors 76 in the manner shown in fig6 . the side members 42 a and 46 a are each formed individually by first heating a first length of tubing to an elevated , annealing temperature . this first length of tubing , which by way of example can be 6061 - t6 aluminum tubing that has a diameter of approximately 5 inches , a first end 80 a and a second end 80 b . in the manner illustrated in fig2 , the heated length of tubing is swaged in a conventional manner well known to those skilled in the art to form a first swaged tube 80 having a tapered swaged portion 82 having a first end 84 of first diameter d - 1 and a second end 86 of a second lesser diameter d - 2 and a uniform diameter portion 86 having a diameter d - 3 substantially equal to said second lesser diameter d - 2 . using an appropriate forming dye , the tapered swaged portion 82 of the swaged tube 82 is strategically formed to produce a tapered swaged portion 82 a and an elongated uniform diameter portion 86 a ( fig3 ). as illustrated in fig3 , swaged portion 82 a is generally oval - shaped in cross section and has a thickness “ e ”. swaged portion 82 a has a width w - 1 , while uniform diameter portion 86 a has a lesser width w - 2 . this swaging step is done in a conventional manner using conventional tooling that is of the character well understood by those skilled in the art . following the swaging step , the swaged first tube 80 is strategically bent into the desired shape to form a first bent tube that is generally “ l ”- shaped in configuration and generally corresponds to the shape of member 42 a . next , first connector segment 44 is cast in a conventional manner from a light weight castable material such aluminum and is connected by any suitable means such as welding to the bent tube formed by the swaging step to form a first wake tower subassembly 42 , which generally corresponds to one - half of the structural assembly 40 . following the forming of the first wake tower subassembly , a second length of aluminum tubing is swaged and formed in the identical manner described in the preceding paragraphs to produce a second side 46 a . this done , second connector segment 48 is suitably cast from a light weight metal such as aluminum and is interconnected as by welding with second side 46 a to form assembly 46 that generally corresponds to the second half of the structural assembly 40 . next , the elongated , uniform diameter portions of the first and second wake tower subassemblies 42 and 46 are interconnected at their ends as by welding to form the structural member 40 . after completion of the construction of the structural member 40 in the manner described in the preceding paragraphs , the structural member is pivotally interconnected with the base members 36 and 38 in the manner depicted in fig6 through 10 of the drawings to form the construction shown in fig1 and 3 . more particularly , the ears formed on each of the connector segments are inserted into the base cavities , the pivot pins 66 are inserted into bores 69 and 62 a and the locking pins are inserted into bores 73 and 64 a . with this construction , when it is desired to pivot the structural member into the forwardly stowed position in the manner illustrated in fig1 , locking pins 72 are removed from bores 73 and 64 a to permit the structural member to pivot about pivot pin 66 . turning next to fig1 through 27 a , an alternate form of the wake tower unit of the invention is shown and generally designated by the numeral 101 . this embodiment is similar in some respects to the embodiment shown in fig1 through 11 and like numerals are used in fig1 through 21 to identify like components . the main difference between this latest form of the invention and the earlier described form resides in the totally differently configured , unitary wake tower unit 101 . more particularly , in the wake tower unit of this latest form of the invention comprises a windshield component and a tower assembly that are integrally formed as a single , unitary structure . as before , and as illustrated in fig1 , wake tower apparatus 100 is specially designed to be interconnected with a powerboat 30 of conventional construction having a bow portion 30 a and a stern portion 30 b and first and second spaced - apart gunwales 32 and 34 respectively to which unit 100 is connected . in the present form of the invention the wake tower unit 101 comprises forwardly extending windshield portions 102 and 104 and a wake tower assembly generally designated by the numeral 106 . portion 102 comprises a curved frame 102 a and a substantially transparent windshield 102 b mounted within the curved frame . similarly , portion 104 comprises a curved frame 104 a and a substantially transparent windshield 104 b mounted within the curved frame . as indicated in fig1 , assembly 106 is uniquely integrally formed with the windshield portions 102 and 104 . wake tower assembly 106 is somewhat similar in construction to the embodiment of fig1 through 12 and here comprises an upwardly extending first base connector 110 that is pivotally connected to the first gunwale 32 of the sports boat by means of a plurality of spaced - apart pivot connector assemblies 114 and an upwardly extending second base connector 112 that is pivotally connected to the second gunwale 34 of the sports boat by means of a plurality of substantially identically constructed pivot connector assemblies 114 ( fig1 and 17 ). pivotally connected to the first and second base connectors is a novel wake tower structure 108 , the construction of which will presently be described . for reasons to be discussed in the paragraphs that follow , each of the base connectors is provided with an upper , generally vertical , slot - like cavity 116 and an elongated , lower cavity 117 that is generally semicircular in cross section ( see fig1 and 17 ). affixed to each gunwale of the sports boat and forming a part of the apparatus of the invention is an elongated pivot support rail 118 that is generally semicircular in cross section . first and second base connectors 110 and 112 , as well as part of the windshield portions of the wake tower unit , rest upon and are supported by support rails 118 . as illustrated in fig1 , 17 , 19 and 25 rails 118 are closely received within the lower cavities 117 formed in the support members . as best seen in fig1 , 17 and 19 , each of the pivot connector assemblies 114 comprises a threaded shaft 122 having first and second ends 122 a and 122 b and a generally spherical - shaped member 124 disposed intermediate ends 122 a and 122 b . generally spherical - shaped members 124 are closely received within cavities 126 formed in rails 118 . as indicated in fig1 , each of the rails 118 is also provided with spaced - apart bores 118 a that have a diameter greater than the diameter of the upper portion of threaded shafts 122 , which , as shown in fig1 and 19 , extend through bores 118 a . the lower portion of each of the threaded shafts 122 extends through spaced - apart bores 128 formed in the gunwales 32 and 34 , which bores have a diameter greater than the diameter of the lower portion of threaded shafts 122 ( see fig1 ). to secure the wake tower unit in position on the powerboat , the upper portion of each of the threaded shafts 122 is received within a threaded bore 131 formed in the base connectors 110 and 112 of the wake tower unit . similarly , threaded nuts 132 are threadably connected proximate the lower ends of the threaded shafts 122 which extend through the gunwales , and are appropriately cinched down against the lower surface of the gunwales in the manner shown in fig1 . to better secure the threaded shafts in position within the enlarged diameter bores 128 , semicircular - shaped shims 133 circumscribe the lower portions of the threaded shafts and are received within bores 128 in the manner best seen in fig2 and 26 . with the construction thus described , the wake tower unit can be laterally adjusted in a manner depicted in fig2 and 25 as may be required to permit precise centering of the wake tower unit as the tower structure 108 is moved from the upraised position shown in the solid lines in fig1 into the rearward , lowered position illustrated by the phantom lines in fig1 . more particularly , by holding the squared ends 122 b of threaded members 122 with an appropriate wrench “ w ” ( fig2 ) the nuts 132 can be loosened and the position of the wake tower unit can be laterally adjusted from the position shown by the phantom lines in fig2 to the position shown by the solid lines in fig2 . this lateral adjustment of the wake tower unit is possible because of the swivel - like interaction between the base connectors 110 and 112 and the support rails 118 and because of the clearance between the threaded members 122 and the enlarged diameter bores 118 a and 128 formed in members 118 and in the gunwales respectively . referring once again to fig1 of the drawings , it can be seen that the wake tower structure 108 comprises first and second side members 140 and 142 that are pivotally connected to first and second base connectors 110 and 112 respectively . wake tower structure 108 also includes a generally u - shaped bight portion 143 that is connected to and spans first and second side members 140 and 142 in the manner best seen in fig1 and 14 of the drawings . each of the first and second side members 140 and 142 includes a connector segment 145 having a pair of spaced - apart , downwardly extending ears 145 a and 145 b that are receivable within the upper cavities 116 of the base members ( see fig1 ). each connector segment is also provided with first and second spaced - apart bores 146 and 148 . the connector segment of first side 140 is received within the upper cavity 116 formed in first base connector 110 , while the connector segment of second side 142 is received within the upper cavity 116 formed in second base connector 112 . because of the similar manner in which the connector segments are connected to the first and second base connectors and to avoid duplication , only the manner of interconnection of the connector segment of the second side member 142 with the second base connector 112 will be described in the paragraphs that follow . interconnection of the connector segment of the first side member 140 with the first base connector 110 is accomplished in a substantially identical manner and will not be described in detail . it is also to be understood that in fig1 , 17 through 22 and 21 , only one side of the wake tower is shown . the other side of the wake tower , which is of a similar construction , is not shown in the drawings in order to avoid duplication . as illustrated in fig2 , a pivot pin 150 about which side member 142 can pivot in the manner shown in fig2 is received within bore 148 and extends through aligned bores 152 formed in base member 112 . similarly , a locking pin 154 is receivable within bore 146 and extends through aligned bores 156 formed in base member 112 ( fig1 ). when the locking pin is in position within these openings in the manner shown in fig2 , pivotal movement of side member 142 and connector segment 145 about pivot pin 152 is prevented . as indicated by the phantom lines in fig1 and the solid lines in fig2 , when the locking pin 146 is removed from the base member , the combination of side member 142 and connector segment 145 is free to pivot about pivot pin 152 . turning to fig2 and 27 a , for ease of manufacture , the tower structure 108 of this latest form of the apparatus uniquely comprises a plurality of interconnected bight segments 162 , 164 and 166 . bight segment 164 is hollow and is provided at its extremities with tongue receiving openings 164 a and 164 b . opening 164 a closely receives a tongue 162 a provided proximate one end of bight segment 162 , while opening 164 b closely receives a tongue 166 a provided proximate one end of bight segment 166 ( fig2 a ). in similar fashion , side 140 is provided at its upper extremity with a tongue receiving opening 168 which closely receives a tongue 162 b provided proximate the other end of bight segment 162 . similarly , side 142 is provided at its upper extremity with a tongue receiving opening 170 which closely receives a tongue 166 b provided proximate the other end of bight segment 166 . following the assembly of the tower 108 , the various tongues can be secured in place within their mating components by welding , adhesive bonding , or the like . having now described the invention in detail in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes , those skilled in this art will have no difficulty in making changes and modifications in the individual parts or their relative assembly in order to meet specific requirements or conditions . such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention , as set forth in the following claims . | 1 |
present embodiments include wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network ( wdm - pon ) architectures capable of providing a large bandwidth and reduced costs . in one embodiment , video , voice and data services are simultaneously provided with a source - free optical network unit ( onu ). in a particularly useful embodiment , service has been provided with 2 . 5 gbit / s video signals , 10 gbit / s downstream signals , and 10 gbit / s upstream signals per channel . embodiments of the present invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment , an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment including both hardware and software elements . in a preferred embodiment , the present invention is implemented in hardware having software elements , which include but are not limited to firmware , resident software , microcode , etc . it is to be understood that the present embodiments are described in terms of a passive optical network ( pon ); however , other optical networks are contemplated and may benefit for the present teachings . while the figs . show illustrative optical hardware configurations , these configuration may be reconfigured or combined to provide functionality within the scope of the present principles . referring now to the drawings in which like numerals represent the same or similar elements and initially to fig1 , an illustrative system 10 includes a transceiver ( transmitter / receiver ) 12 connected to an optical fiber 14 . the optical fiber 14 preferably connects a source - free optical network unit ( onu ) 16 to the transceiver 12 to permit two - way lightwave propagation through the fiber 14 between the transmitter / receiver 12 and the onu 16 . in accordance with the present principles , a carrier signal is generated for the transmission of data ( e . g ., downstream data ) to the onu 16 from the transceiver 12 . a sub - carrier signal is also generated to carry second data signals ( e . g ., video ) to the onu 16 from the transceiver 12 . in one embodiment , the sub - carrier carries the video signals at at least 2 . 5 gbit / s , and at least 10 gbit / s downstream signals are carried by the optical carrier , which are phase modulated signals . the carrier signal and sub - carrier ( s ) are preferably multiplexed using wavelength division multiplexing . the carrier and sub - carrier are transmitted through fiber 14 , which is preferably a single mode fiber ( smf ). the transmitted signal is received by the onu 16 , and the carrier and subcarrier are separated and the data is removed from each . the phase modulated downstream optical carrier is re - modulated by intensity modulated upstream signals , and returned through fiber 14 to the transmitter / receiver 12 . in this way , the carrier signal is reused for bidirectional transmission of data over a same fiber . the onu 16 does not need an independent light source ( hence is source - free ). referring to fig2 , an illustrative wdm - pon architecture 100 is shown in greater detail for an exemplary implementation in accordance with the present principles . architecture 100 includes a network architecture for providing a broadcasting video service , although other broadband services and data types may be employed . lightwaves 102 are input to a multiplexer 104 on channels ( e . g ., ch 1 - chn ). channels ch 1 - chn may each have their own laser source 102 or share a laser source depending on the design . laser source 102 may include a laser , a laser diode , a light emitting diode or any other suitable light source . the channels ch 1 - chn are preferably multiplexed by a multiplexer 104 . after multiplexing , all lightwaves are modulated by an external modulator 112 to generate sub - carrier multiplexing signals . modulator 112 includes a local oscillator 106 and a mixer 110 which mixes video or other data 108 with sub - carrier frequencies to modulate the light . fig2 shows optical subcarrier multiplexing modulation . when the lightwave carrier is modulated by a subcarrier multiplexing signal , there are subcarrier signals ( smaller peaks on opposite sides of the center carrier peak ) generated by the intensity modulator 112 , which enter an optical interleaver 114 . the signals are carried by the subcarrier , and the carrier will be able to carry less information or signal . in this way , the carrier the large center peak ) will be more easily re - modulated . optical carriers and sub - carriers are separated using the optical interleaver 114 . a demultiplexer 116 is employed to separate the carriers before a phase modulator ( s ) ( pm ) 120 driven by downstream data 121 modulates each optical carrier . phase modulation ( pm ) is a form of modulation that represents information as variations in the instantaneous phase of a carrier wave . unlike intensity modulation performed by , e . g ., intensity modulator 112 , the amplitude of the carrier does not change . suppose that the signal to be sent , the modulating signal with frequency ω m and phase φ m , is : m ( t )= m sin ( ω m t + φ m ), and the carrier onto which the signal is to be modulated is c ( t )= c sin ( ω c t + φ c ). then , the modulated signal is y ( t )= c sin ( ω c t + m ( t )+ φ c ), which shows how m ( t ) modulates the phase . it can also be viewed as a change of the frequency of the carrier signal . pm can thus be considered a special case of frequency modulation ( fm ) in which the carrier frequency modulation is given by the time derivative of the phase modulation . then , all downstream phase signals at different wavelengths are multiplexed by a multiplexer 118 , which may include an arrayed waveguide grating ( awg ), before the carriers are combined with the sub - carriers using a second optical interleaver 122 . arrayed waveguide grating ( awg ) 118 is employed as an optical multiplexer for wavelength division multiplexing ( wdm ). awg 118 device is capable of multiplexing a large number of wavelengths into a single optical fiber 128 , thereby increasing the transmission capacity the optical network . the downstream data 121 and video 108 signals are delivered to an onu 160 through an optical circulator 126 to an optical fiber 128 . in the onu 160 , an interleaver 130 is employed to separate the sub - carriers and phase modulated downstream signals . the sub - carriers at different wavelengths are demultiplexed by a demultiplexer 134 before a detector ( e . g ., a receiver ) 138 directly detects them with a low - pass filter . the phase modulated downstream signals , after being demultiplexed by demultiplexer 132 , are sent to two paths . one part is converted to intensity signals by a demodulator 144 before it is detected by a photodiode 142 to realize optical to electrical conversion . the other part is re - modulated by an intensity modulator 140 driven by upstream data 141 . the re - modulated signal is fed back to an optical circulator 136 and can be returned back over fiber 128 by demultiplexing the signal with multiplexer 132 and deinterleaving the signal with interleaver 130 . a centralized lightwave is realized in an optical line terminal ( olt ) 156 . the upstream data are sent back to the olt 156 by a same fiber 128 . in the olt 156 , the upstream data , at different wavelengths , are demultiplexed by demultiplexer 152 before they are optic - electrically converted for each channel using receivers 154 . advantageously , the carrier lightwave is reused by sending the carrier wave back to the olt 156 from the onu 160 . the onu therefore does not need an optical signal source , which would otherwise require power and introduce cost and complexity to the system . instead , the carrier lightwave is employed to carry video and downstream data in one direction and upstream data in the opposite direction . referring to fig3 , if different wavelengths need to carry different video signals 208 , architecture 200 may be employed to realize this function . similar to fig2 , only a transmitter configuration 202 needs to be changed . each lightwave is separately modulated by modulator 112 to generate sub - carrier modulation ( scm ) signals . then , an interleaver 114 separates the carrier and sub - carriers . a phase modulator 120 driven by the downstream data 121 modulates the separated carrier . then , another interleaver 122 combines the carrier and sub - carrier before all channels are multiplexed by multiplexer 218 . comparing the configurations of fig2 and fig3 , the transmitter of fig2 employs one high - speed intensity modulator ( im ) 112 and two interleavers ( il ) 114 and 122 , three multiplexers 104 , 116 and 118 , while fig3 employs n high - speed intensity modulators ( im ) 112 ( one for each video signal ), 2n inter - leavers ( 14 , 122 ) and one multiplexer 218 in the transmitter when the channel number is n . the transmitter in fig3 may be more expensive . referring to fig4 , an experimental setup 300 is illustratively shown for demonstration of the present principles . while fig4 and the description herein provide specific equipment , magnitudes and settings , this information is for illustrative purposes and should not be construed as limiting the present invention . variations and combinations of the equipment , magnitudes and settings as described here can be modified depending of the design application and preferences of the implementer . 2 . 5 gbit / s video signals 308 generated from a pattern generator ( not shown ) with a pseudo - random bit sequence ( prbs ) word length of 2 31 − 1 were mixed with a 20 ghz sinusoidal wave 306 . the signals were mixed in a mixer 110 and used to drive an intensity modulator 112 , e . g ., a linbo 3 modulator , after amplification by an electrical amplifier 305 . the optical spectrum after the intensity modulator 112 is inserted in fig4 as inset ( i ). a carrier suppression ratio ( the ratio of the optical carrier to subcarrier at the first - order mode ) is 12 db as indicated in inset ( i ). an optical interleaver 114 with 50 / 25 ghz and two output ports to separate the optical carrier and the sub - carriers was employed . the optical spectra are shown in insets ( ii ) and ( iii ). the separated optical carrier was modulated by a phase modulator 120 driven at 10 gbitis electrical signals ( downstream phase signals 309 ) generated from another pattern generator ( not shown ) with a prbs word length of 2 31 − 1 . the optical spectrum after phase modulation is shown in inset ( iv ) of fig4 . then , the phase downstream signals were combined with the video signals using a 3 db optical coupler ( oc ) 310 . the optical spectrum of the combined the signals is shown in inset ( v ) of fig4 . here , the power levels of the video signals 308 and downstream phase signals 309 have to be chosen properly because the video signals 308 and downstream phase signals 309 have to be separated in an gnu 320 and there may be some linear cross - talk between the video and phase signals . we measured the receiver sensitivity of the video and phase modulated downstream signals with different ratios , which are defined as the power of phase downstream signals divided by the power of video signals . the measured results without transmission fiber are illustratively shown in fig5 . when the ratio is 5 db , the video and downstream signals have good receiver sensitivities . so , we set the power of the downstream signals to be 5 db larger than the video signals with two sidebands in this experiment . the combined signals were sent to the onu 320 after passing through one optical circulator 126 to a fiber 128 ( e . g ., over a single mode fiber , in this case , 20 km smf - 28 ), and another optical circulator 322 . to overcome the effect of the rayleigh reflection scattering , the total power for the video signals and downstream signals into the fiber was 6 dbm . in the onu 320 , one delay line mach - zehnder interferometer ( di - mz ) 310 with 44 ghz free spectral range ( fsr ) was employed to separate the phase downstream signals and video signals . a commercial 2 . 5 ghz receiver 138 directly detected the video signals with an apd receiver and 2 ghz low - pass filter . the separate optical spectrum is shown in fig4 as inset ( vi ). the power penalty caused by the transmission fiber was 0 . 4 db at a ber of 10 − 9 . the separated phase downstream signals were separated into two parts by a 3 db optical coupler 312 . one part was converted into the intensity signals by using a di - mz interferometer 144 with fsr of 20 ghz . for the 10 gbit / s downstream ( 309 ) and upstream ( 325 ) signals , we use pin receivers to detect these signals . the power penalty caused by the transmission fiber is negligible . the other part was re - modulated driven by another 10 gbit / s electrical signal with a prbs length of 2 31 − 1 . the optical spectrum after re - modulation is shown in inset ( vii ) of fig4 . an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier ( soa ) and electro - absorption modulator ( eam ) 140 was employed to amplify and modulate the signals . the pure gain of the integrated soa and eam is 4 db when the dc bias of the soa is 120 ma and eam dc bias is − 1 . 4 v . the upstream signals 325 were delivered back to olt 330 after passing through the circulator 126 , the fiber ( e . g ., 20 km smf - 28 ), and the second circulator 322 . the power penalty after transmission was negligible . the receiver sensitivity due to the intensity noise may be degraded a small amount . the pin receiver sensitivity at a ber of 10 − 9 is − 15 dbm . a novel wdm - pon configuration with centralized lightwaves in the olt is provided . illustrative embodiments provide sufficient bandwidth to provide services with at least 2 . 5 gbit / s video , 10 gbit / s downstream and 10 gbit / s upstream service . in one network embodiment , a sub - carrier carries the video signals at 2 . 5 gbit / s , and the 10 gbit / s downstream signals are carried by the optical carrier , which are phase modulated signals . the phase modulated downstream optical carrier is re - modulated by intensity modulated upstream signals . the power penalty for video signals after transmission was 0 . 4 db at a ber of 10 − 9 , while the power penalty is negligible for the downstream and upstream signals after transmission over 20 km smf - 28 . having described preferred embodiments of a wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network architecture with source - free optical network units ( which are intended to be illustrative and not limiting ), it is noted that modifications and variations can be made by persons skilled in the art in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that changes may be made in the particular embodiments disclosed which are within the scope and spirit of the invention as outlined by the appended claims . having thus described aspects of the invention , with the details and particularity required by the patent laws , what is claimed and desired protected by letters patent is set forth in the appended claims . | 7 |
in fig1 a box lock surgical clamp generally indicated at 12 comprises a pair of members 14 and 16 joined together by a box lock joint generally designated 18 . a jaw 20 on member 14 is arranged to cooperate with jaw 22 on member 16 . movement of the jaws toward and away from each other is controlled by manipulable rings 24 and 26 . latching means adapted to set the jaws in any desired one of a number of discrete positions comprise ratchet 28 and cooperating tooth 30 respectively on members 14 and 16 . member 14 has a bifurcated portion at the location of the joint whereby jaw 20 and ring 24 are connected by two separate elements 32 and 34 having between them a slot 36 . internally , slot 26 has substantially flat , parallel sides . a portion 38 of member 16 , machined to conform with the flat inner surfaces of slot 36 extends through the slot with jaw 22 and ring 26 on opposite sides of the bifurcated portion of member 14 . a hinge pin ( not shown in fig1 ) extends across the interior of the slot and through a hole in element 38 . the hinge pin allows the jaws to be controlled by the manipulation of rings 24 and 26 . as described thus far , the instrument is entirely conventional . in manufacture in accordance with conventional methods , forged members corresponding to members 14 and 16 of the finished product are joined by spreading apart the elements corresponding to elements 32 and 34 of member 14 , inserting member 16 between those elements , and bringing elements 32 and 34 back to their normal relationship . a hole is drilled through the elements corresponding to elements 34 , 38 and 32 , and a temporary pin is inserted to keep the parts in alignment during formation of the jaws and other necessary bending and machining operations . the temporary pin is then removed , and the members corresponding to members 32 and 34 are punched to a square configuration as shown in fig3 or to a multiple - point or &# 34 ; star &# 34 ; configuration as shown in fig5 . the elements of the instrument are then hardened , and the final hinge pin is inserted and swaged into place . following swaging , final finishing of the instrument takes place . fig2 , 4 and 5 illustrate two box lock joints in accordance with the prior art . in fig2 it will be noted that the pin 40 is held in place only by reason of the fact that the swaging step widens its ends to fill the square configuration of the holes in the outer elements of the joint . this is also the case in fig4 in which the ends of pin 42 are swaged to fill the six - pointed star configuration of the holes in the outer elements of the joint . in either case , the pin depends on its own integrity to hold it in place . should it break by reason of a material failure transverse to the longitudinal axis , the pin could fall into the patient during an operation . as previously stated , the box lock joint , as illustrated in fig2 , 4 and 5 is subject to breakage by reason of the stresses produced by the swaging operation . fig6 , 8 and 9 illustrate successive steps in the production of the fused box lock joint in accordance with the invention . as shown in fig6 a pin 44 having a head 46 is inserted into aligned holes in the elements of the box lock joint , the inner element being designated 48 , and the outer elements being designated 50 and 52 . the head 46 is larger in diameter than the hole in element 50 , and the pin is thus retained for the first fusing operation . fig7 illustrates the result of the first fusing operation . the head is transformed into a weld 54 which securely fastens pin 44 to element 50 of the joint . weld 54 has a 100 % depth of penetration in element 50 . this is not difficult to achieve , and optimum fusion time for a given size of instrument can be easily determined . when a 100 % depth is reached , there is a considerable time lag before the current tends to weld element 50 to element 48 . thus , there is considerable leeway in the range of fusion time which will produce a good weld with 100 % penetration depth . following the first fusion step , the instrument is turned upside down , and a second fusion step takes place which fuses the protruding end of pin 44 to element 52 , producing a weld 56 , as shown in fig8 which is similar to weld 54 . finally , the excess fused material is ground away , and the instrument is subjected to any necessary final finishing steps and polishing . the final operations produce smooth surfaces 58 and 60 , as shown in fig9 . the pin is invisible . except for the fact that the pin is invisible , the instrument made in accordance with the invention resembles conventional instruments . preferably , a special fixture , such as that shown in fig1 and 11 , is used for the drilling and fusion operations in accordance with the invention . the fixture comprises a base 62 on which are mounted specially shaped clamps including fixed clamps 64 and 66 and slidable clamps 68 and 70 . the clamps hold the elements of the instrument securely in a fixed position as shown for drilling of the aligned holes . base 62 , as shown in fig1 , is provided with a depression 72 for drilling and also in order to accommodate the protruding end of the pin . the base is mounted on gearing including gear 74 and pinion 76 for rotation of the base during fusion to insure a uniform weld . an electrode 78 is shown in fig1 and 11 in position just above the pin . by way of specific example , a debakey ring handle bulldog clamp having an overall length of about 5 inches and consisting of 410 stainless steel is assembled in accordance with the invention using a headed 0 . 075 inch diameter , 0 . 195 inch long pin , also of 410 stainless . the instrument is drilled to 0 . 078 inches . fusion takes place at 32 amperes for 12 seconds with the electrode centered above the pin and spaced 0 . 037 inches from the head of the pin . the base is rotated at 10 rpm so that it rotates through two complete revolutions during each fusing step . the foregoing produces a 100 % weld on each side of the box lock joint without fusing the elements of the box lock joint together . a debakey angled straight jaw peripheral vascular clamp having an overall length of 7 inches , a pin length of 0 . 230 inches and a pin diameter of 0 . 090 inches and otherwise similar to the above - mentioned bulldog clamp is assembled under the same conditions as listed above , except that the instrument is drilled to 0 . 093 inches and a current of 35 amperes is used . a 10 inch debakey tangential occlusion clamp having a pin length of 0 . 271 inches and a pin diameter of 0 . 093 inches , and otherwise similar to the above - mentioned clamps is assembled under the same conditions as the above - mentioned vascular clamp except that the fusion current is set at 38 amperes . heavier instruments are assembled by the use of a longer fusing time , or a heavier fusing current , or both , and smaller instruments are assembled using a shorter time or a lighter fusing current . the required conditions can be easily determined for any given instrument . furthermore , the nature of the process allows for the production of uniform 100 % welds with a large margin of error in fusing conditions . the process produces an exceptionally strong and reliable box lock joint . since no swaging of the pin takes place , the stresses which resulted in failures of prior art instruments are not set up . furthermore , since hardening takes place following fusion , any stresses which are present as a result of bending or machining or fusing steps are relieved in the process of hardening the instrument . in addition , since the hinge pin is secured by fusing to the outer elements of the box lock joint , it is prevented from falling out of the instrument even if it is broken in use . | 1 |
the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 illustrates a block diagram of a printer arrangement with three printers . at the left in fig1 , block 20 symbolizes a printing job that must be executed by the three printers 24 , 26 , 28 at the right in fig1 . the printers may be of any kind and do not have to be the same . the job is routed to print job scheduler 22 , that may be implemented in a pc . the print job scheduler 22 divides the printing job into partial jobs , preferably along existing divisions , such as copies , when the printing job specifies several copies to be made of one digital document . division may also be made at page level , especially when the printing job is a single copy of a digital document . furthermore , the print job scheduler 22 assigns the partial jobs to the various printers . commands thereto are routed along arrows 30 , whereas return - signalizations are routed along lines 32 . preferably , all connections are implemented by a digital network , such as a local area network , a wide area network or the internet , a corporate intranet , or the like . commands would include starting instants , number of sets to be printed , job identifiers , and the like . return - signalizations would include o . k , partial job ready , number of sets yet to be done , printing interrupts such as paper out or jamming , etc . by itself , persons skilled in the art would know to design schedulers , given the requirements as specified . the algorithm used by the scheduler could be logical , wherein a set of equations is evaluated through inserting various parameters . the result thereof is the assignment of the various partial jobs to the various printers . another preferred solution is by heuristics , wherein one or more tentative assignments are evaluated , and the best thereof is selected for effecting the assignment . if necessary , still further tentative assignments may be tried . fig2 illustrates a first printing assignment pattern . each block represents one printing set or copy on a time scale ( t ) as represented by arrow 43 . all partial jobs 40 , 41 , 42 start concurrently at left , at t = 0 . the three printers collectively execute a printing job of 18 sets , distributed into groups of 5 , 6 and 7 sets , respectively . at the right in fig2 , the partial jobs have staggered termination instants . if the operator &# 39 ; s effort at terminating a partial job equals the length of one block , the whole job will be finished after 8 block lengths . if all blocks would terminate at the same instant , the whole job will be finished after 6 ( printing )+ 3 ( operator activity )= 9 block lengths . thus , using the present invention , the same amount of work is done in less time . furthermore , the usage ratio of the printers could be raised as well . if a printer can be made to restart immediately after the operator service terminates , idle time would represent only 3 blocks , and the usage ratio would be 18 / 21 = 86 %. if the partial jobs have the same size , all blocks would terminate at the same instant , idle would represent 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 blocks , and the usage ratio would decline to 18 / 24 = 75 %. if the operator activity takes more time , such as 1½ blocks , the improvement would be even greater . if the operator activity takes less time , the improvement would be less . in the case of only a ½ block length user time , both schemes have equal overall ready delay . nevertheless , the printer use ratio for the present invention would still be better . of course , when only brief operator activity is required , a smaller staggering size could also be used , if feasible . if the required post - processing time were zero , the outcome of the algorithm would be all printers terminating at the same instant , as in the above - mentioned uk patent . the present invention can also be applied when a plurality of operators is present . the logic - based algorithm would then tend to be more complex , but still straightforward . the same applies if the post - processing time is a function of the size of the partial job , is non - uniform for the various operators , for the various partial facilities , or in the course of time . an example of the latter would be that during absence of the operator , such as during lunch time , post - service may be stalled , so that it would be advantageous to have as many printers as possible running through the whole of this absence . for such purposes , the period of non - availability would advantageously be made known to the scheduler , such as through a user interface . even in cases wherein the number of divisions ( sets ) is not such that neatly staggered partial jobs can be formed , such that , e . g ., two out of a plurality of three printers are assigned the same number of sets , there would still be some gain in total processing time and machine usage ratio . fig3 illustrates a second printing assignment pattern to show the improvement when the staggering of the partial jobs 44 , 45 is by two blocks , and where operator activity 46 requires a 5 / 4 block length of time . in this case , the operator has to wait a brief interval after the first partial job has been taken care of . fig4 illustrates a third printing assignment pattern . this case applies in situations where the printing job necessitates some initial effort by the operator before starting the partial jobs , such as loading of special print sheets or pre - printed inserts in the paper input trays of the devices . in this situation , the starting instants of the partial jobs 50 , 51 , 52 are also staggered by operator activity time intervals 53 , 54 . the dashed lines indicate operator readiness . the arrows indicate the sequence of the operator &# 39 ; s actions . if the operator needs 1 ( one ) block length of time 55 for post - processing as shown , the operator also has to wait a brief interval after the first partial job has been taken care of . in the above examples , jobs are split into partial jobs on a set level , i . e ., presuming a printing job contains a plurality of sets , sets are not broken by the division and each partial job contains an integer number of sets . obviously , jobs may also be split on a lower level , such as print sheets . for jobs having a single set , such a division is the only one possible . however , multi - set jobs may also be split on a sheet level , although extra care of the operator is required to correctly consolidate the partial job outputs . a further example of the above heuristic algorithm for calculating the “ estimated time ready ” accounts for present activity on earlier jobs will be described . with three printers , p 1 and p 2 idle , but p 3 still having to work for 10 minutes on a previous job ( plus five minutes post - processing ), a 60 minute job will be assigned as follows , while ignoring granularity effects . p 1 : 20 minutes partial job plus five minutes post - processing , ready after 25 minutes . p 2 : 25 minutes partial job plus five minutes post - processing , ready after 30 minutes . p 3 : 15 minutes previous job ( inclusive post - processing ), furthermore 15 minutes next partial job plus five minutes post - processing , ready after 35 minutes . a further example has an 18 minute job and a 2½ minute post - processing on each of three printers . two feasible solutions are as follows . according to a first solution , the printers are assigned 4 , 6 and 8 minutes of printing , respectively . then , ready times are : p 2 : 6½ + 2½ = 9 ( note : having to wait for ½ minute before post - processing can start ) according to the second solution , the printers are assigned 3 , 6 and 9 minutes of printing , respectively . then , ready times are : the second solution is more robust , inasmuch as each post - processing interval may now run out by ½ minute before an overall delay will be experienced . the following is an example for only two printers , a ten minute job and a 2½ minute post - processing . as a first solution , both printers are assigned 5 minutes of the job . then , ready times are as follows : as a second solution , the first printer is assigned 4 minutes of the job and the second printer is assigned 6 minutes of the job . then , ready times are as follows : finally , in a third solution , the first the printer is assigned 3 minutes of the job and the second printer is assigned 7 minutes of the job . then , ready times are as follows : fig5 illustrates a sample flowchart of an assignment process for use with an embodiment of the present invention . in block s 60 , the execution starts , and hardware and software facilities are assigned as far as relevant . in block s 62 , the job or jobs are selected from a task schedule . in block s 64 , available printers are selected . in block s 66 , the various post - processing times are determined , such as by looking up in a look - up table or by operator entry at the user interface of the job scheduler 22 . in block s 68 , the print job is split into partial jobs , which are then assigned through executing the process of the present invention . in block s 70 , the system checks if the number of printers that have been assigned to the job in question is not too large . for example , a relatively small job must not be processed on too many printers , because each separate printer would need its own post - processing , that could in fact extend overall processing . if the answer is positive in block s 70 , one or more printers are unselected in block s 72 . the system then reverts to block s 68 for a new division and assigning trial . if the printers have been properly “ unbalanced ” in block s 68 according to the present invention , the printers are started in block s 74 . in block s 76 , the assigning procedure terminates . if a particular printer has to stop before fulfilling its task , as is schematically represented in item s 78 , the process of fig5 may be entered at another point , for example , immediately at block s 68 . it should be noted that various simplifications have been used in fig5 . for example , no user dialog has been shown . fig6 illustrates a sample graphical user interface for the print job scheduler 22 shown in fig1 . in the first place ( but not shown for clarity ), a job queue may be displayed on the display screen of the job scheduler 22 . a particular job may be selected by the operator or automatically , and subsequently , various processing options may be chosen . one of these is load unbalancing , which opens the window as shown in fig6 . field 80 shows job details , such as the number of pages of the digital document to be printed and the number of copies to be made in total . if necessary , such as for a copying job , the operator must specify these quantities . in a more sophisticated embodiment , the operator must only specify the number of copies , while the number of pages is automatically determined upon scanning . in the latter case , the scheduler waits to calculate the assignment scheme until the number of sheets has been determined . field 82 indicates a post - processing time for the operator that may be a default value ready to be adjusted by operator entry . it should be noted that the post - processing time entered in field 82 is taken as a minimum post - processing time in the assignment calculation , since it may not be possible in many cases , and it may not be necessary , to calculate a scheme that precisely produces the entered value . the area 84 is used for the actual job division and assignment , showing a list 86 of all available printers , each preceded by a check box ( 88 ) for the operator to indicate an intended involvement of a respective printer in the printing job . it may be noted that the various printers are listed to have different printing speeds , such as “ printer 1 ” having a speed of 100 prints per minute . upon checking one or more printers through the check boxes 88 , the scheduler 22 will automatically calculate the optimum assignment according to the algorithm described in fig5 , and show the actual assignment . in this case , printers # 1 and # 2 with different capabilities will do the work . also , the number of copies ( field 90 ) and the expected finishing time ( field 92 ) are shown , so that the operator will know when to be present . if necessary , finishing will be signalled by an audio signal . thereupon , the start button 94 may be actuated . for various purposes , a cancel button 96 is shown as well . note that the user interface may contain various ( other ) high - level facilities . although not shown in fig6 , the user interface may also include a field for the operator to enter certain periods of operator non - availability , e . g . a lunch break . the scheduler may then take such periods into account by avoiding partial jobs to end in those periods . various other aspects of the present invention may also play a part : 1 . the time difference between print job endings may also be automatically determined by the scheduler 22 on the basis of the job data and the job division scheme ( possibly in an iterative process ). for instance , in case of the print job being divided into large partial jobs that need careful handling , the scheduler may automatically assign time differences that are relatively large . however , when the partial jobs are small , the time differences may be made smaller , since the operator may need less time to handle them . 2 . not all printers need to be identical . if local throughput of a particular printer is different , only the termination instants scheduling needs to be considered for the assigning . note that assigning the partial job that will end last to the fastest printer will speed - up overall throughput since this printer is most productive ( cf . fig6 , wherein printer 2 , the slowest one , is scheduled to finish after 8 : 17 minutes , whereas printer 1 , which is faster , runs 13 : 17 minutes ). more generally , in case of several printers all having different throughputs , the termination instants would be ordered in a series accordingloy , with the fastest printer ending last and the slowest printer ending first . 3 . upon unforeseen stopping of a particular printer , the scheduling for the other printers may be re - calculated in a dynamic manner for again attaining the best result . the converse applies when a particular printer comes up again after such interrupt , or when an additional printer is added to the pool . the invention being thus described , it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention , and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims . | 6 |
embodiments of the invention relate to methods of handling media streams on a network . a network device scans http responses to clients , the network device searching these responses for content - type fields identifying streams or content of interest . when such content is identified , the network device alerts other network devices and / or services to change the priority and / or quality of service ( qos ) for the session containing the stream . detection may be made by network switches , network controllers , or wireless access points . according to the present invention and as shown in fig1 , network device 200 receives streams from network 100 to client 300 . as is understood in the art , network device 200 is a purpose - built digital device containing a processor , a memory hierarchy , and input / output interfaces . such devices typically operate under the control of an operating system such as linux , running specific programs to provide for access point operation . a mips - class processor such as one from cavium or netlogic — rmi may be used . wired network interfaces typically are ieee 802 . 3 ethernet interfaces . wireless interfaces are typically ieee 802 . 11 wifi interfaces . the memory hierarchy of the device typically contains fast read - write memory for holding programs and data during device operation , and a hierarch of persistent memory such as rom , eprom , and flash for holding instructions and data needed for device startup , and a file system for device operation . client device 300 is also a digital device containing a processor , memory hierarchy , and input / output interfaces , including a wireless interface such as an ieee 802 . 11 wireless interface for communicating with network device 200 . typical client devices 300 include but are not limited to laptop and netbook computers , wireless phones , wireless music players , and the like . for clarity , fig1 does not show other typical network devices such as switches , routers , firewalls , and the like which are well understood by the art . according to the present invention , network device 200 examines http responses from network 100 to client 300 . it is understood that a single network device 200 may be examining multiple streams to multiple clients 300 . techniques known to the art such as deep packet inspection may be used . typically a program such as a browser on client device 300 sends an http get request to a service in network 100 . the response to client 300 is a http 200 response message . this message contains a content - type field identifying the container format being used . as is understood in the art , http response messages in the 200 range indicate success , and are herein referred to as http response messages , of which http 200 ok is one such message . according to the present invention , network device 200 examines http response messages to clients 300 for particular content - type fields indicating contents of interest . as an example , for video or multimedia streams , the content - type field contains a mime type indicating a video stream . video mime types include , but are not limited to video / mpeg , video / mp4 , video / ogg , video / quicktime , video / webm , video / x - ms - wmv , video / x - ms - asf , and others . in an aspect of the invention , when network device 200 encounters an http response message to a client identifying a session as a video or multimedia stream , network device 200 signals other devices and / or processes in the network that the session is a multimedia or video stream and should be given priority . in another aspect of the invention , the process of scanning http response messages to clients may also be performed in an access point ( ap ), switch , router , controller , or other network device . as an example , an ap may examine streams for its associated clients , and when the ap detects a content - type of interest , such as a multimedia stream , the ap may adjust the priority or qos of that session as transmitted to the client . in response to this identification , other network devices such as switches , routers , controllers , and / or wireless access points may give priority to the identified session . this may be done by altering the quality of service ( qos ) associated with the session , or by other approaches to give priority to the identified session . other content interest may also include audio streams . it should be understood that the process of scanning streams to clients may be performed on a stand - alone network device , or the process may be performed in other devices on the network such as switches , routers , controllers , or access points . in another aspect of the invention , the scanning of http response messages for content - type fields of interest may be performed on a per - user basis , or on the basis of per - user rules . in another aspect of the invention , the scanning of http response messages for content - type fields of interest may be used to lower the priority or qos applied to certain media types , or to drop certain types altogether . as an example , a lower qos may be applied to flash ( x - shockwave - flash ), or to block javascript . during certain periods of the day , or in certain locations , a lower priority or qos may be applied to video or multimedia streams to discourage their use . this process may be applied on all traffic , only to traffic for a selected group of clients , or on a per - user basis . clients may be grouped , for example , based on vlan , ssid , access point , address range , or other characteristics . the present invention may be realized in hardware , software , or a combination of hardware and software . a typical combination of hardware and software may be a network server or access point with a computer program that , when being loaded and executed , controls aspects of the host device such that it carries out the methods described herein . the present invention also may be embedded in nontransitory fashion 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 in the present context means 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 . this invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof . accordingly , reference should be made to the following claims , rather than to the foregoing specification , as indicating the scope of the invention . | 7 |
fig1 is a block diagram illustration of a conventional network microprocessor 100 with functional units for performing network tasks . the microprocessor 100 includes functional units that can also attend to network tasks that have to be performed in connection with the data to be exchanged via a plurality of network nodes 10 . the network nodes 10 are connected via external data lines 11 , 12 to devices such as other microprocessors , sensors , transducers , and other data or signal sources ( not shown ), which exchange data to a microprocessor unit 13 , also referred to as a central processing unit ( cpu ). data communication traffic within the microprocessor 100 between the individual functional units is via a central bus 15 . in the interest of clarity and ease of illustration , essentially only the functional units for the pure network tasks are shown . a rom / ram 14 holds the fixed or modifiable programs for the cpu 13 , which are called by the cpu if required or start automatically during system startup . the microprocessor 100 also includes a module 5 , which symbolizes various functional units , such as for example error protection , an engine control program , and the like . the priority logic 16 schedules priorities for the individual functional units to prevent contention on the bus 15 . an external bus interface 17 permits the bus 15 to be accessed from outside . the other functional units of fig1 relate to functions in connection with the data exchange with the external network or the various external networks . the network nodes 10 illustrated in fig1 are divided into two groups : ( i ) a plurality of uart network nodes 10 . 1 , 10 . 2 , 10 . 3 , and ( ii ) a plurality of can network nodes 10 . 4 , 10 . 5 , 10 . 6 . nodes operating according to other network standards are not shown in fig1 ; they would have to be connected to the bus 15 in a similar manner . each of the can nodes 10 . 4 to 10 . 6 includes an associated dll ram 10 . 7 , 10 . 8 , 10 . 9 , respectively , which buffers the data received or to be output via the can node . the ram is typically configured as a fifo device . in the case of the uart nodes 10 . 1 to 10 . 3 , this optional buffer may be dispensed with since the data to be transferred generally have only two states , which can be stored by the respective uart node itself . the dll rams preceding the can nodes 10 . 4 to 10 . 6 contain the above - mentioned dll messages or at least part thereof , while the other part is stored in dll ram 20 . in addition to storing the dll messages , the ram may hold the higher layer ( hl ) messages in another memory area 21 . in fig1 , these two memory areas 20 , 21 are therefore shown together and connected to the central bus 15 by a single bus link . the ram area of the rom / ram block 14 and the other ram areas 20 , 21 may be contained in a common read - write memory , which is indicated by the dashed lines between blocks 14 and 21 . fig2 is a block diagram illustration of a first embodiment of a processor 200 that includes a master processor and a network coprocessor , and a two bus system . for the sake of clarity , functional units described in connection with fig1 are designated by the same reference number , and shall not be discussed again in the interest of brevity . the processor 200 includes two control or arithmetic units 13 , 40 . the first cpu 13 can be referred to as a “ master processor ”. the second cpu 40 can be referred to as a “ network coprocessor ” or “ coprocessor ”, and performs the network tasks . to prevent the network tasks from colliding with the tasks of the master processor 13 on the internal bus , the microprocessor 100 includes a second bus system 35 for the network tasks , which also has the network nodes 10 connected to it . the functional units of the master processor 13 that are associated with the network tasks are combined in a block 18 , which is connected to the first bus system 30 . also connected to the first bus system 30 is a two - port hl ram 21 . 1 , whose other port is connected to the second bus system 35 . a program ram 41 stores specific programs for the coprocessor 40 that are loaded from the master processor 13 into the coprocessor 40 via the first bus system 30 . the program ram 41 is also connected to the second bus system 35 to permit communication with the coprocessor 40 . a two - port function is not necessary , because simultaneous access from both bus systems 30 , 35 to the program ram 41 is avoidable . the dll ram 20 includes a first area 20 . 1 for the uart messages and a second area 20 . 2 for the can messages . a rom 42 is also connected to the second bus to facilitate fast booting of the coprocessor 40 during system startup , for example . fig3 illustrates an alternative embodiment network processor 300 . the network processor 300 is substantially similar to the network processor 200 ( fig2 ) with the principal exception that the hl ram 21 cannot be reached by the coprocessor 40 directly via the second bus system 35 , since the data path goes via the second bus system 35 and then via the first bus system 30 . the two bus systems are coupled via a direct memory access ( dma ) device 50 between the second and first bus systems 30 , 35 . the coprocessor 40 can retrieve messages from the hl ram 21 with high priority via the dma device 50 . during the retrieval the current functions of the master processor 13 are interrupted . such a microprocessor architecture will be advantageous if the contents of the hl ram 21 are continuously adapted by the master processor 13 , while retrievals by the coprocessor 40 are relatively rare , so that the interruptions of the main program can be considered to be insignificant . fig4 illustrates yet another alternative embodiment network processor 400 . the network processor 400 is substantially similar to the network processor 300 ( fig3 ), with the principal exception that this device works in the other direction ( i . e ., from the first bus system 30 to the second bus system 35 ). specifically , the hl ram 21 is connected to the second bus system 35 . if the master processor 13 wants to access or modify the messages in the hl ram 21 , it will access the hl ram 21 with high priority by direct memory access device 50 . 1 , and interrupts the respective network function of the coprocessor 40 . this architecture and location of the hl ram 21 is particularly advantageous if the master processor 13 has to access the hl ram 21 infrequently , while the coprocessor 40 has to frequently access the network nodes 10 . fig5 illustrates still another alternative embodiment network processor 500 . the network processor 500 is substantially similar to the network processor 400 ( fig4 ), with the principal exception that a third bus system 60 is provided , to which the network nodes 10 , the dll ram 20 , and the priority logic 55 are connected . the other functional units ( e . g ., coprocessor 40 , hl ram 21 , program ram 41 , direct memory access unit 50 . 1 , and the second input / output of dll ram 20 ) are connected to the second bus system 35 . the priority logic 55 is necessary because the coprocessor 40 is not directly connected to the third bus system 60 , and as a result cannot perform the contention control function in the event of simultaneous access by the network nodes 10 . one advantage of this arrangement is that the nodes 10 do not require separate dll rams 10 . 7 - 10 . 9 ( fig1 ), since the dll ram 20 is connected to the individual nodes 10 . 1 , 10 . 4 via the third bus system 60 . with this arrangement , multiple utilization of the individual dll ram areas is readily possible as several nodes 10 are interconnectable with a single dll message , since the messages are identical . one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that designations contained in the description should not be interpreted in a limiting sense . in addition , reference to roms and rams of course does not exclude other memory types , such as the increasing use of erasable memories ( e . g ., flash memories ) as read - write memories , because such memories do not lose the stored information when power is removed . for tasks in which a continuous supply of power is not ensured , such memories are desirable . such an application is found in automobiles , for example , since the battery has to be changed from time to time even in a battery - saving standby mode . operating data about the number of kilometers covered , services carried out , etcetera , must not be lost . the separation of the network functions from the processor tasks proper also permits secure storage of such data in protected memory areas of the master processor , whose contents are not readily accessible or even deliberately modifiable . although the present invention has been shown and described with respect to several preferred embodiments thereof , various changes , omissions and additions to the form and detail thereof , may be made therein , without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
the present disclosure provides pharmaceutical compositions including coenzyme q10 ( coq10 ) and methods of linking to endogenous lipid molecules to modulate molecular machinery that relates to an oncogenic state . the scope of the present disclosure relates to the fields of molecular medicine and oncology specific to gene modulation of the p53 pathway and bcl - 2 gene family . in accordance with the present disclosure and as used herein , the following terms are defined with the following meanings , unless explicitly stated otherwise . as used herein , “ a ”, “ an ,” and “ the ” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . as used herein , a “ pharmaceutically acceptable ” component is one that is suitable for use with humans and / or animals without undue adverse side effects ( such as toxicity , irritation , and allergic response ) commensurate with a reasonable benefit / risk ratio . as used herein , the term “ safe and therapeutic effective amount ” refers to the quantity of a component which is sufficient to yield a desired therapeutic response without undue adverse side effects ( such as toxicity , irritation , or allergic response ) commensurate with a reasonable benefit / risk ratio when used in the manner of this disclosure . by “ therapeutically effective amount ” is meant an amount of a compound of the present disclosure effective to yield the desired therapeutic response . for example , accelerate wound healing , relief of pain and fatigue . the specific safe and effective amount or therapeutically effective amount will vary with such factors as the particular condition being treated , the physical condition of the patient , the type of mammal or animal being treated , the duration of the treatment , the nature of concurrent therapy ( if any ), and the specific formulations employed and the structure of the compounds or its derivatives . as used herein , a “ pharmaceutical salt ” include , but are not limited to , mineral or organic acid salts of basic residues such as amines ; alkali or organic salts of acidic residues such as carboxylic acids . suitable salts may be made using an organic or inorganic acid . such salts include chlorides , bromides , sulfates , nitrates , phosphates , sulfonates , formates , tartrates , maleates , malates , citrates , benzoates , salicylates , ascorbates , and the like . in embodiments , hydrochloride salt may be utilized . “ diagnostic ” or “ diagnosed ” means identifying the presence or nature of a pathologic condition . diagnostic methods differ in their sensitivity and specificity . the “ sensitivity ” of a diagnostic assay is the percentage of diseased individuals who test positive ( percent of “ true positives ”). diseased individuals not detected by the assay are “ false negatives .” subjects who are not diseased and who test negative in the assay , are termed “ true negatives .” the “ specificity ” of a diagnostic assay is 1 minus the false positive rate , where the “ false positive ” rate is defined as the proportion of those without the disease who test positive . while a particular diagnostic method may not provide a definitive diagnosis of a condition , it suffices if the method provides a positive indication that aids in diagnosis . the terms “ patient ” or “ individual ” are used interchangeably herein , and refers to a mammalian subject to be treated , with human patients being suitable in some embodiments . in some cases , the methods of the present disclosure find use in experimental animals , in veterinary application , and in the development of animal models for disease , including , but not limited to , rodents including mice , rats , and hamsters ; and primates . “ sample ” is used herein in its broadest sense . a sample including polynucleotides , polypeptides , peptides , antibodies and the like may include a bodily fluid ; a soluble fraction of a cell preparation , or media in which cells were grown ; a chromosome , an organelle , or membrane isolated or extracted from a cell ; genomic dna , rna , or cdna , polypeptides , or peptides in solution or bound to a substrate ; a cell ; a tissue ; a tissue print ; a fingerprint , skin or hair , and the like . “ treatment ” is an intervention performed with the intention of preventing the development or altering the pathology or symptoms of a disorder . accordingly , “ treatment ” refers to both therapeutic treatment and prophylactic or preventative measures . those in need of treatment include those already with the disorder as well as those in which the disorder is to be prevented . as used herein , “ ameliorated ” or “ treatment ” refers to a symptom which is approaches a normalized value ( for example a value obtained in a healthy patient or individual ), e . g ., is less than 50 % different from a normalized value , in embodiments less than about 25 % different from a normalized value , in other embodiments is less than 10 % different from a normalized value , and in yet other embodiments the presence of a symptom is not significantly different from a normalized value as determined using routine statistical tests . as used herein , “ an ameliorated symptom ” or “ treated symptom ” refers to a symptom which is approaches a normalized value , e . g ., is less than 50 % different from a normalized value , in embodiments loss than about 25 % different from a normalized value , in other embodiments less than about 10 % different from a normalized value , and yet other embodiments the presence of a symptom is not significantly different from a normalized value as determined using routine statistical tests . subjects from many different species can be treated with the compositions of the present disclosure . a non - exhaustive exemplary list of such animals includes mammals such as mice , rats , rabbits , goats , sheep , pigs , horses , cattle , dogs , cats , and primates such as monkeys , apes , and human beings . those animal subjects known to suffer muscle fatigue , pain , wounds , and the like may be suitable for use in the present disclosure . in particular , human patients suffering from injuries , surgery , arthritis , muscle fatigue and the like are suitable animal subjects for use in the present disclosure . by adapting the methods taught herein to other methods known in medicine or veterinary science ( e . g ., adjusting doses of administered substances according to the weight of the subject animal ), the compositions utilized in the present disclosure can be readily optimized for use in other animals . in embodiments , the present disclosure provides coq10 compositions for the treatment and prevention of cancer . transdermal , oral intravenous , and other parenteral preparations of 2 , 3 - dimethoxy - 5 - methyl - 6 - decaprenyl - 1 , 4 - benzoquinone ( coenzyme q - 10 ) may include , inter alia , auxiliary agents , an effective amount of pulmonary surfactant , and / or in combination with liposomes . in embodiments , the compositions including coq10 may be administered topically . it may be desirable to present the active ingredient , e . g . coq10 , as a pharmaceutical formulation . exemplary compositions are described in detail in the examples which follow . the active ingredient may include , for topical administration , from 0 . 001 % to about 60 % w / w , by weight of the formulation in the final product , although it may include as much as 80 % w / w , in embodiments from about 0 . 001 % to about 60 % w / w of the formulation . the topical formulations of the present disclosure , include an active ingredient together with one or more acceptable carrier ( s ) thereof and optionally any other therapeutic ingredients ( s ). the carrier ( s ) must be “ acceptable ” in the sense of being compatible with the other ingredients of the formulation and not deleterious to the recipient thereof . in some embodiments , the coq10 may be included in a composition such as the composition disclosed in u . s . patent application ser . no . 12 / 052 , 825 , the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein . the composition of the present disclosure can be administered to a patient either by themselves , or in pharmaceutical compositions where it is mixed with suitable carriers or excipient ( s ). in treating a patient exhibiting a disorder of interest , a therapeutically effective amount of an agent or agents such as these is administered . a therapeutically effective dose refers to that amount of the compound that results in amelioration of symptoms or a prolongation of survival in a patient . toxicity and therapeutic efficacy of such compounds can be determined by standard pharmaceutical procedures in cell cultures or experimental animals , e . g ., for determining the ld 50 ( the dose lethal to 50 % of the population ) and the ed 50 ( the dose therapeutically effective in 50 % of the population ). the dose ratio between toxic and therapeutic effects is the therapeutic index and it can be expressed as the ratio ld 50 / ed 50 . compounds which exhibit large therapeutic indices may be desirable . the data obtained from these cell culture assays and animal studies can be used in formulating a range of dosage for use in human . the dosage of such compounds may be within a range of circulating concentrations that include the ed 50 with little or no toxicity . the dosage may vary within this range depending upon the dosage form employed and the route of administration utilized . for any compound used in the method of the present disclosure , the therapeutically effective dose can be estimated initially from cell culture assays . for example , a dose can be formulated in animal models to achieve a circulating plasma concentration range that includes the ic 50 as determined in cell culture . such information can be used to more accurately determine useful doses in humans . levels in plasma may be measured , for example , by hplc . the exact formulation , route of administration and dosage can be chosen by the individual physician in view of the patient &# 39 ; s condition . ( see e . g . fingl et al ., in the pharmacological basis of therapeutics , 1975 , ch . 1 p . 1 ). it should be noted that the attending physician would know how to and when to terminate , interrupt , or adjust administration due to toxicity , or to organ dysfunctions . conversely , the attending physician would also know to adjust treatment to higher levels if the clinical response were not adequate ( precluding toxicity ). the magnitude of an administrated dose in the management of the oncogenic disorder of interest will vary with the severity of the condition to be treated and to the route of administration . the severity of the condition may , for example , be evaluated , in part , by standard prognostic evaluation methods . further , the dose and perhaps dose frequency , will also vary according to the age , body weight , and response of the individual patient . a program comparable to that discussed above for humans may be used in veterinary medicine . the compositions of the present disclosure can be applied to a patient by treatment modalities that are tailored to the patient , such as the type of injury , severity of the injury , location of the injury . for example , the percentage of the active composition can be modulated during the course of treatment again depending on severity , type of injury etc . coq10 the active ingredient , may include , from 0 . 001 % to about 60 % w / w , by weight of the formulation in the final product , although it may include as much as 80 % w / w , in embodiments from about 0 . 001 % to about 60 % w / w of the formulation . the compositions can be applied to a patient at least once a day . in other embodiments the pharmaceutical compositions can be applied , twice a day , three times a day or more . the times and compositions containing the active ingredients can easily be determined by a clinician . depending on the specific conditions being treated , such agents may be formulated and administered systemically or locally . techniques for formulation and administration may be found in remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , 18 th ed ., mack publishing co ., easton , pa . ( 1990 ). suitable routes may include oral , rectal , transdermal , vaginal , transmucosal , or intestinal administration ; parenteral delivery , including intramuscular , subcutaneous , intramedullary injections , as well as intrathecal , direct intraventricular , intravenous , intraperitoneal , intranasal , or intraocular injections , just to name a few . the compositions described above may be administered to a subject in any suitable formulation . in addition to treatment of cancer with topical formulations of coq10 , in other aspects of the present disclosure coq10 might be delivered by other methods . for example , coq10 might be formulated for parenteral delivery , e . g ., for subcutaneous , intravenous , intramuscular , or intratumoral injection . other methods of delivery , for example , liposomal delivery or diffusion from a device impregnated with the composition might be used . the compositions may be administered in a single bolus , multiple injections , or by continuous infusion ( for example , intravenously or by peritoneal dialysis ). for parenteral administration , the compositions may be formulated in a sterilized pyrogen - free form . compositions of the present disclosure can also be administered in vitro to a cell ( for example , to bcl - 2 production in a cell or in an in vitro culture ) by simply adding the composition to the fluid in which the cell is contained . depending on the specific conditions being treated , such agents may be formulated and administered systemically or locally . techniques for formulation and administration may be found in remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , 18 th ed ., mack publishing co ., easton , pa . ( 1990 ). suitable routes may include oral , rectal , transdermal , vaginal , transmucosal , or intestinal administration ; parenteral delivery , including intramuscular , subcutaneous , intramedullary injections , as well as intrathecal , direct intraventricular , intravenous , intraperitoneal , intranasal , or intraocular injections , just to name a few . for injection , the agents of the present disclosure may be formulated in aqueous solutions , for example , in physiologically compatible buffers such as hanks &# 39 ; solution , ringer &# 39 ; s solution , or physiological saline buffer . for such transmucosal administration , penetrants appropriate to the barrier to be permeated are used in the formulation . such penetrants are generally known in the art . use of pharmaceutically acceptable carriers to formulate the compounds herein disclosed for the practice of the present disclosure into dosages suitable for systemic administration is within the scope of the present disclosure . with proper choice of carrier and suitable manufacturing practice , the compositions of the present disclosure , in particular , those formulated as solutions , may be administered parenterally , such as by intravenous injection . the compounds can be formulated readily using pharmaceutically acceptable carriers well known in the art into dosages suitable for oral administration . such carriers enable the compounds of the present disclosure to be formulated as tablets , pills , capsules , liquids , gels , syrups , slurries , suspensions and the like , for oral ingestion by a patient to be treated . agents intended to be administered intracellularly may be administered using techniques well known to those of ordinary skill in the art . for example , such agents may be encapsulated into liposomes , then administered as described above . liposomes are spherical lipid bilayers with aqueous interiors . all molecules present in an aqueous solution at the time of liposome formation are incorporated into the aqueous interior . the liposomal contents are both protected from the external microenvironment and , because liposomes fuse with cell membranes , are efficiently delivered into the cell cytoplasm . additionally , due to their hydrophobicity , small organic molecules may be directly administered intracellularly . pharmaceutical compositions suitable for use in the present disclosure include compositions wherein the active ingredients are contained in an effective amount to achieve its intended purpose . determination of the effective amounts is well within the capability of those skilled in the art , especially in light of the detailed disclosure provided herein . in addition to the active ingredients , these pharmaceutical compositions may contain suitable pharmaceutically acceptable carriers including excipients and auxiliaries which facilitate processing of the active compounds into preparations which can be used pharmaceutically . the preparations formulated for oral administration may be in the form of tablets , dragees , capsules , or solutions . the pharmaceutical compositions of the present disclosure may be manufactured in a manner that is itself known , e . g ., by means of conventional mixing , dissolving , granulating , dragee - making , levitating , emulsifying , encapsulating , entrapping or lyophilizing processes . formulations suitable for topical administration include liquid or semi - liquid preparations suitable for penetration through the skin to the site of where treatment is required , such as liniments , lotions , creams , ointments or pastes , and drops suitable for administration to the eye , ear , or nose . drops according to the present disclosure may include sterile aqueous or oily solutions or suspensions and may be prepared by dissolving the active ingredient in a suitable aqueous solution of a bactericidal and / or fungicidal agent and / or any other suitable preservative , and in some embodiments including a surface active agent . the resulting solution may then be clarified and sterilized by filtration and transferred to the container by an aseptic technique . examples of bactericidal and fungicidal agents suitable for inclusion in the drops are phenylmercuric nitrate or acetate ( 0 . 002 %), benzalkonium chloride ( 0 . 01 %) and chlorhexidine acetate ( 0 . 01 %). suitable solvents for the preparation of an oily solution include glycerol , diluted alcohol and propylene glycol . lotions according to the present disclosure include those suitable for application to the skin or eye . an eye lotion may include a sterile aqueous solution optionally containing a bactericide and may be prepared by methods similar to those for the preparation of drops . lotions or liniments for application to the skin may also include an agent to hasten drying and to cool the skin , such as an alcohol or acetone , and / or a moisturizer such as glycerol or an oil such as castor oil or arachis oil . creams , ointments or pastes according to the present disclosure are semi - solid formulations of the active ingredient for external application . they may be made by mixing the active ingredient in finely - divided or powdered form , alone or in solution or suspension in an aqueous or non - aqueous fluid , with the aid of suitable machinery , with a greasy or non - greasy basis . the basis may include hydrocarbons such as hard , soft or liquid paraffin , glycerol , beeswax , a metallic soap ; a mucilage ; an oil of natural origin such as almond , corn , arachis , castor or olive oil ; wool fat or its derivatives , or a fatty acid such as stearic or oleic acid together with an alcohol such as propylene glycol or macrogels . the formulation may incorporate any suitable surface active agent such as an anionic , cationic or non - ionic surface active such as sorbitan esters or polyoxyethylene derivatives thereof . suspending agents such as natural gums , cellulose derivatives or inorganic materials such as silicaceous silicas , and other ingredients such as lanolin , may also be included . pharmaceutical formulations for parenteral administration include aqueous solutions of the active compounds in water - soluble form . additionally , suspensions of the active compounds may be prepared as appropriate oily injection suspensions . suitable lipophilic solvents or vehicles include fatty oils such as sesame oil , or synthetic fatty acid esters , such as ethyl oleate or triglycerides , or liposomes . aqueous injection suspensions may contain substances which increase the viscosity of the suspension , such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , sorbitol , or dextran . optionally , the suspension may also contain suitable stabilizers or agents which increase the solubility of the compounds to allow for the preparation of highly concentrated solutions . pharmaceutical preparations for oral use can be obtained by combining the active compounds with solid excipient , optionally grinding a resulting mixture , and processing the mixture of granules , after adding suitable auxiliaries , if desired , to obtain tablets or dragee cores . suitable excipients are , in particular , fillers such as sugars , including lactose , sucrose , mannitol , or sorbitol ; cellulose preparations such as , for example , maize starch , wheat starch , rice starch , potato starch , gelatin , gum tragacanth , methyl cellulose , hydroxypropylmethyl - cellulose , sodium carboxy - methylcellulose , and / or polyvinyl pyrrolidone ( pvp ). if desired , disintegrating agents may be added , such as the cross - linked polyvinyl pyrrolidone , agar , or alginic acid or a salt thereof such as sodium alginate . dragee cores are provided with suitable coating . for this purpose , concentrated sugar solutions may be used , which may optionally contain gum arabic , talc , polyvinyl pyrrolidone , carbopol gel , polyethylene glycol , and / or titanium dioxide , lacquer solutions , and suitable organic solvents or solvent mixtures . dyestuffs or pigments may be added to the tablets or dragee coatings for identification or to characterize different combinations of active compound doses . pharmaceutical preparations which can be used orally include push - fit capsules made of gelatin , as well as soft , sealed capsules made of gelatin and a plasticizer , such as glycerol or sorbitol . the push - fit capsules can contain the active ingredients in admixture with filler such as lactose , binders such as starches , and / or lubricants such as talc or magnesium stearate and , optionally , stabilizers . in soft capsules , the active compounds may be dissolved or suspended in suitable liquids , such as fatty oils , liquid paraffin , or liquid polyethylene glycols . in addition , stabilizers may be added . the composition can include a buffer system , if desired . buffer systems are chosen to maintain or buffer the ph of compositions within a desired range . the term “ buffer system ” or “ buffer ” as used herein refers to a solute agent or agents which , when in a water solution , stabilize such solution against a major change in ph ( or hydrogen ion concentration or activity ) when acids or bases are added thereto . solute agent or agents which are thus responsible for a resistance or change in ph from a starting buffered ph value in the range indicated above are well known . while there are countless suitable buffers , potassium phosphate monohydrate may be a suitable buffer . the final ph value of the pharmaceutical composition may vary within the physiological compatible range . the final ph value should not be irritating to human skin and may also be selected so that transdermal transport of the active compound , e . g . coq10 , may be facilitated . without violating this constraint , the ph may be selected to improve coq10 compound stability and to adjust consistency when required . in one embodiment , the ph value may be from about 3 to about 7 . 4 , in embodiments from about 3 . 2 to about 6 . 5 , in other embodiments from about 3 . 5 to about 6 . in some embodiments , the remaining component of a topical delivery vehicle may be water , in embodiments purified , e . g . deionized , water . such delivery vehicle compositions may contain water in an amount of from about 50 to about 95 percent , based on the total weight of the composition . the specific amount of water present is not critical , however , being adjustable to obtain the desired viscosity ( usually about 50 cps to about 10 , 000 cps ) and / or concentration of the other components . the topical delivery vehicle may have a viscosity of at least about 30 centipoises . other known transdermal skin penetration enhancers can also be used to facilitate delivery of coq10 . illustrative are sulfoxides such as dimethylsulfoxide ( dmso ) and the like ; cyclic amides such as 1 - dodecylazacycloheptane - 2 - one ( azone , a registered trademark of nelson research , inc .) and the like ; amides such as n , n - dimethyl acetamide ( dma ) n , n - diethyl toluamide , n , n - dimethyl formamide , n , n - dimethyl octamide , n , n - dimethyl decamide , and the like ; pyrrolidone derivatives such as n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone , 2 - pyrrolidone , 2 - pyrrolidone - 5 - carboxylic acid , n -( 2 - hydroxyethyl )- 2 - pyrrolidone or fatty acid esters thereof , 1 - lauryl - 4 - methoxycarbonyl - 2 - pyrrolidone , n - tallow alkylpyrrolidones , and the like ; polyols such as propylene glycol , ethylene glycol , polyethylene glycol , dipropylene glycol , glycerol , hexanetriol , and the like ; linear and branched fatty acids such as oleic , linoleic , lauric , valeric , heptanoic , caproic , myristic , isovaleric , neopentanoic , trimethyl hexanoic , isostearic , and the like ; alcohols such as ethanol , propenol , butanol , octanol , oleyl , stearyl , linoleyl , and the like ; anionic surfactants such as sodium laurate , sodium lauryl sulfate , and the like ; cationic surfactants such as benzalkonium chloride , dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride , cetyltrimethylammonium bromide , and the like ; non - ionic surfactants such as the propoxylated polyoxyethylene ethers , e . g ., poloxamer 231 , poloxamer 182 , poloxamer 184 , and the like , the ethoxylated fatty acids , e . g ., tween 20 , myrj 45 , and the like , the sorbitan derivatives , e . g ., tween 40 , tween 60 , tween 80 , span 60 , and the like , the ethoxylated alcohols , e . g ., polyoxyethylene ( 4 ) lauryl ether ( brij 30 ), polyoxyethylene ( 2 ) olcyl ether ( brij 93 ), and the like , lecithin and lecithin derivatives , and the like ; the terpenes such as d - limonene , α - pinene , β - carene , α - terpineol , carvol , carvone , menthone , limonene oxide , α - pinene oxide , eucalyptus oil , and the like . also suitable as skin penetration enhancers are organic acids and esters such as salicylic acid , methyl salicylate , citric acid , succinic acid , and the like . the compositions described above may be administered to a subject in an effective amount . an effective amount is an amount which is capable of producing a desirable result in a treated animal or cell . as is well known in the medical and veterinary arts , dosage for any one animal depends on many factors , including the particular animal &# 39 ; s size , body surface area , age , the particular composition to be administered , time and route of administration , general health , and other drugs being administered concurrently . it is expected that an appropriate dosage for topical administration of the compositions of the present disclosure would be from about 0 . 1 to about 2 . 5 mg coq10 / kg of body weight ( e . g ., from about 10 to about 500 mg for subjects ranging from about 110 to about 300 lbs . an effective amount for use with a cell in culture will also vary , but can be readily determined empirically ( for example , by adding varying concentrations to the cell and selecting the concentration that best produces the desired result ). it is expected that an appropriate concentration would be from about 1 to about 250 μm . ( 0087 ) materials utilized for the experiments to generate the data accompanying the present disclosure included the following : skmel - 28 ( htb - 72 ), pc - 3 ( crl - 1435 ), and skbr3 ( hbt - 30 ) were purchased from atcc . the cell lines were grown in dmem / f12 medium ( dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified eagle medium : nutrient mixture f - 12 , commercially available from invitrogen corporation ) and supplemented with 5 % bovine calf serum . the bcl - 2 ( cat #: 2872 ), bax ( cat #: 2774 ), bid ( cat #: 2002 ), p53 ( cat #: 9282 ), bcl - x1 ( cat #: 2762 ), caspase - 3 ( cat #: 9662 ), mcl - 1 ( cat #: 4572 ), bax ( cat #: 2772 ), anti - rabbit igg ( cat #: 7074 ), and anti - mouse igg ( cat #: 7076 ) antibodies were purchased from cell signaling technology ( boston , mass .). reagents and chemicals were purchased from sigma aldrich ( st louis , mo .). western blot gels and buffers were purchased from bio - rad ( hercules , calif .). protein expression protocol . ( generated the data found in figs . : 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 10 a - 10 d , 13 , 14 , 16 , 18 , 19 a , and 25 .) skmel - 28 , pc - 3 , and skbr3 cells were grown to 80 % confluency and subcultured in petri dishes . after 24 hours , the cells adhered to the plates and the medium was extracted . treatment medium was added to each plate . following the intended incubation time , the medium was removed and the cells were washed with cold phosphate buffered saline ( pbs ). the cells were scraped in cold pbs and collected in centrifuge tubes . cells were then pelleted and washed with cold pbs ( 3 times ). the pbs was removed , after which a lysis buffer was added and sonicated to disperse the protein structures . a sample buffer was added to each tube and the solutions were boiled for 5 minutes . using a bca ( bicinchoninic acid ) protein analysis kit , the concentration of protein was quantified for each sample . these values determined the loading volumes for each samples . the samples were loaded in a 4 % stacking and 12 % running tris - hcl gel western blot gels . after separation , the bands of protein were transferred to nitrocellulose paper using electrophoresis . the nitrocellulose paper was blocked overnight with 5 % milk solutions . the respective antibodies were added to each nitrocellulose paper containing the protein samples . after 24 hours the primary antibody was removed and the extraction paper was washed to remove any unbounded primary antibodies . depending on the type of the primary antibody , an anti - mouse or anti - rabbit secondary antibody was added to the protein extracts . after incubation , the antibodies were removed and the nitrocellulose papers were washed . a pico chemo - luminescent was added and the nitrocellulose paper was exposed to x - ray development film under dark room conditions . the film was developed to record the protein expression . graphical analysis for the western blot analysis ( generated the data found in fig1 , 15 , 17 , 19 a , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 26 .) the procedure for protein expression was used to obtain a photographic image of the protein expression . these imaged were scanned into image files for computer analysis . using imagej software developed by the u . s . national institutes of health ( nih ), the levels of protein expression were quantified . the expression was then calculated based on the level of expression of the actin , which was the loading control for the samples . the numerical values were statistically analyzed for statistical significance . skmel - 28 cells were grown in 5 % serum - supplemented dmem / f12 medium to 80 % confluency . the cells were trypsinized and pelleted using a centrifuge . the pellets were then resuspended in cold pbs . the subjects for this study were nude athymic mice . each subject received two injections of the cell suspension on the dorsal region of the mouse . after a visual assessment of the establishment of a tumor , treatment with a topical application would commence . after 30 days of treatment , the tumors were excised from the mice and placed in formalin . each tumor sample was embedded in paraffin and sliced using a microtome . the slides underwent an h & amp ; e or s - 100 stain . these samples were then analyzed by a pathologist to assess the vascular integrity of the tumor . the figures provide details regarding the synthesis of coq10 , and the interactions of endogenous proteins in a cancer state , including their expression in cancer states . the figures also depict the data obtained from the above experiments , and demonstrate the effects the administration of a compound such as coq10 , in varying concentrations and for varying periods of time , had on various types of cancer cells . briefly , in summary , the figures include the following : fig1 is a depiction of the metabolic synthesis of coq10 ; fig2 is a summary of the interactions of bax , p53 , and bcl - 2 in the induction of apoptosis ; fig3 shows bcl - 2 expression in melanoma cells and neonatal fibroblasts after treatment with 50 μm coq10 ; fig4 shows bcl - 2 expression in melanoma cells incubated with 50 μm and 100 μm coq10 for 24 hours ; fig5 shows bcl - 2 expression in melanoma cells treated in the presence and absence of coq10 using a 24 hour take away ( ta ) method . in ta experiments , melanoma cells were treated with coq10 for 6 , 12 , and 24 hours . after incubation the medium was replaced with normal culture medium for 24 hours . bcl - 2 expression was measured to assess the commitment to apoptosis ; fig6 shows bax expression in melanoma cells after 12 and 24 hours incubation with coq10 ( 50 μm and 100 μm ); fig7 shows bax expression in melanoma cells treated in the presence and absence of coq10 using 24 hr take away ( ta ) method . in ta experiments melanoma cells were treated with coq10 for 6 , 12 , and 24 hours . after incubation the medium was replaced with normal culture medium for 24 hours . bax expression was measured to assess the commitment to apoptosis ; fig8 shows bid expression in melanoma cells after 12 hours incubation with coq10 ; fig9 shows the histopathology analysis of human melanoma tumors induced in nude athymic mice . the treatment group received a topical application of coq10 for 30 days . analysis of the tumor pathology indicates a disruption in tumor vasculature ; fig1 a - 10 d show bcl - 2 expression in melanoma cells incubated with coq10 and / or vascular endothelial growth factor ( vegf ) for 24 hours ; fig1 shows p53 expression in melanoma cells incubated with 50 μm and 100 μm coq10 for 24 hours ; fig1 is a graph depicting p53 expression in melanoma cells incubated with 50 μm and 100 μm coq10 for 12 hours ; fig1 shows bcl - x1 expression in melanoma cells incubated with coq10 for 6 hours ; fig1 shows bcl - x1 expression in melanoma cells incubated with coq10 for 12 hours ; fig1 is a graph quantifying bcl - x1 expression in melanoma cells treated for 12 hours with coq10 ; fig1 shows caspase - 3 expression in melanoma cells treated for 12 hours with coq10 ; fig1 is a graph quantifying caspase - 3 expression in melanoma cells treated for 12 hours with coq10 ; fig1 shows mcl - 1 expression in melanoma cells treated with coenzyme q10 for 3 , 6 , 12 , and 24 hours ; fig1 a is a graph quantifying mcl - 1 expression in melanoma cells incubated with coq10 for 12 hours ; fig1 b is a graph quantifying mcl - 1 expression in melanoma cells incubated with coq10 for 24 hours ; fig2 is a graph quantifying bax expression in pc - 3 ( prostate cancer ) cells incubated for 4 hours with coq10 ; fig2 is a graph quantifying bcl - 2 expression in pc - 3 cells incubated for 4 hours with coq10 ; fig2 is a graph showing the time point comparison of bcl - 2 expression in pc - 3 cells treated with coq10 for 4 and 24 hours ; fig2 is a graph quantifying bcl - 2 expression in skbr - 3 ( breast cancer ) cells incubated for 4 hours with coq10 ; fig2 is a graph quantifying bax expression in skbr - 3 cells incubated for 8 hours with coq10 ; fig2 shows bax expression in skbr3 cells incubated with coq10 for 8 hours ; fig2 is a graph comparing bcl - 2 and bax expression after 24 hours treatment with coq10 . as noted above , compositions of the present disclosure may be utilized for the treatment of cancer . such compositions may include coq10 or its metabolites in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . such a composition may effectuate cell contact of endogenous coenzyme q10 or its metabolites thereof in addition to , but not limited to , mevalonic acid and oleic acid to form an intracellular complex . in embodiments , such a composition may include from about 0 . 001 % to about 60 % ( w / w ) of coenzyme q10 . such compositions may be topical compositions which , in turn , may be gels , ointments , liquids , creams , salves , lotions , sprays , aerosols , mousses , foams , combinations thereof ; and the like . as also noted above , compositions of the present disclosure may be in a liquid form , capable of introduction into a subject by any means or route of administration within the purview of those skilled in the art . for example , compositions may be administered by routes of administration including , but not limited to , the lungs , intravenous , oral , transdermal , rectal , subcutaneous , transmucosal , buccal , sublingual , intratumoral , combinations thereof , and the like . in some embodiments , it may be desirable to nebulize or aerosolize the compositions for administration . methods for treating disease states with the compositions herein are also provided . such methods may include treating cancer . where utilized to treat cancer , the compositions may be in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier that may be administered in a therapeutically effective amount to an area of oncogenesis as either a monotherapy , in combination with at least one other chemotherapeutic agent for a given indication , in combination with radiotherapy , following surgical intervention to radically remove a tumor , in combination with other alternative and / or complementary acceptable treatments for cancer , and the like . in embodiments , the present disclosure also provides a method claim for re - activating a mutated / inactivated p53 protein by administering to an area of oncogenesis in a patient a composition of the present disclosure . the present disclosure also provides methods for modulating proteins implicated in oncogenesis by administering to an area of oncogenesis in a patient a composition of the present disclosure . such proteins which may be modulated by compositions of the present disclosure include , but are not limited to : bcl - 2 protein ; bax protein ; bid protein ; bim protein ; bad protein ; bak protein ; mcl - 1 protein ; bcl - x1 protein ; bcl - xs protein ; bcl - w protein ; bik protein ; bok protein ; biml protein ; a1 protein ; hrk protein ; bik protein ; bnip3 protein ; blk protein ; noxa protein ; puma protein ; vegf protein ; fgf - 1 / fgf - 2 protein ; hif - α protein ; angiostatin protein ; tgf - β protein ; smad proteins ; cdk ( cyclin - dependent kinases ); the pi3k / akt complex . in other embodiments , compositions of the present disclosure may be utilized to regulate and / or restore a healthy apoptosis state in cancer cells . mitochondrial dysfunction and dysregulation of apoptosis are implicated in many diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration . respiratory chain ( rc ) dysfunction may have a role in apoptosis , as demonstrated using mitochondrial dna mutations as genetic models . although some mutations eliminate the entire rc , others target specific complexes , resulting in either decreased or complete loss of electron flux , which leads to impaired respiration and adenosine triphosphate ( atp ) synthesis . despite these similarities , significant differences in responses to apoptotic stimuli emerge . cells lacking rc are protected against both mitochondrial - and endoplasmic reticulum ( er ) stress - induced apoptosis . cells with rc , but unable to generate electron flux , are protected against mitochondrial apoptosis , although they have increased sensitivity to er stress . finally , cells with a partial reduction in electron flux have increased apoptosis under both conditions . rc modulates apoptosis in a context - dependent manner independent of atp production and that apoptotic responses are the result of the interplay between mitochondrial functional state and environmental cues . the execution of apoptosis and communication between oncogenic factors may also be mediated by released factors such as cytochrome c , endo g , or aif through mitochondrial membrane pores which open upon membrane depolarization . cancer cells also generate excessive lactate in the presence of oxygen ( aerobic glycolysis ). it now appears that this phenomenon is the product of two factors : a return to the more glycolytic metabolism of the embryo and alterations in oxidative phosphorylation ( oxphos ) to increase mitochondrial reactive oxygen species ( ros ) production . alterations in the ras - pi3k - akt signal transduction pathway can result in induction of hexokinase ii and its attachment to mitochondrial porin redirecting mitochondrial atp to phosphorylate glucose and drive glycolysis . furthermore , partial inhibition of oxphos by mitochondrial gene mutations ( germ - line or somatic ) can reduce electron flux through the electron transport chain , increasing mitochondrial ros production . the increased ros mutagenizes nuclear proto - oncogenes ( initiation ) and drives nuclear replication ( promotion ), resulting in cancer . therefore , hexokinase ii and mitochondrial ros may be useful alternate targets for cancer therapeutics . metabolic flux as it relates to cancer is compromised in an oncogenic state and shifts towards a glycolytic state . a cancer cell &# 39 ; s survival is vitally dependent on glucose metabolism and low oxygen levels . more perplexing is that mitochondrial activity is significantly attenuated to the point of dormancy . oxidative phosphorylation usually associated with complex i - iv that accepts electrons from the citric acid cycle ( tca ) is essentially shut down . there is a marked increase in the amount of free radicals and lactate dehydrogenase activity . hence , the cancer cell is in state of : in embodiments , the effect coq10 may have on cancer cells may depend , in part , on the various states of metabolic and oxidative flux exhibited by the cancer cells . coq10 may be utilized to interrupt and / or interfere with the conversion of an oncogenic cell &# 39 ; s dependency of glycolysis and increased lactate utility . as it relates to a cancer state , this interference with the glycolytic and oxidative flux of the tumor microenvironment may influence apoptosis and angiogenesis in a manner which reduces the development of a cancer cell . in embodiments , the interaction of coenzyme q10 with glycolytic and oxidative flux factors may enhance the ability of coenzyme q10 to exert its restorative apoptotic effect in cancer while establishing viable drug targets for drug discovery and development . while the above disclosure has focused on coenzyme q10 and its metabolites , other compounds related to coq10 which may be administered instead of , or in combination with , coq10 include , but are not limited to , benzoquinones , isoprenoids , farnesols , farnesyl acetate , farnesyl pyrophosphate , l - phenylalanine , d - phenylalanine , dl - phenylalanine , l - tyrosine , d - tyrosine , dl - tyrosine , 4 - hydroxy - phenylpyruvate , 4 - hydroxy - phenyllactate , 4 - hydroxy - cinnamate , dipeptides and tripeptides of tyrosine or phenylalanine , 3 , 4 - dihydroxymandelate , 3 - methoxy - 4 - hydroxyphenylglycol , 3 - methoxy - 4 - hydroxymandelate , vanillic acid , phenylacetate , pyridoxine , s - adenosyl methionine , panthenol , mevalonic acid , isopentyl pyrophosphate , phenylbutyrate , 4 - hydroxy - benzoate , decaprenyl pyrophosphate , beta - hydroxybutyrate , 3 - hydroxy - 3 - methyl - glutarate , acetylcarnitine , acetoacetylcarnitine , acetylglycine , acotoacetylglycine , carnitine , acetic acid , pyruvic acid , 3 - hydroxy - 3 - methylglutarylcarnitine , all isomeric forms of serine , alanine , cysteine , glycine , threonine , hydroxyproline , lysine , isoleucine , and leucine , even carbon number c4 to c18 fatty acids ( butyric , caproic , caprylic , capric , lauric , myristic , palmitic , and stearic acids ) salts of carnitine and glycine , e . g ., palmitoylcarnitine and palmitoylglycine , and 4 - hydroxy - benzoate polyprenyltransferase , any salts of these compounds , as well as any combinations thereof , and the like . the figures are offered by way of illustration , not by way of limitation . while specific examples have been provided , the above description is illustrative and not restrictive . any one or more of the features of the previously described embodiments can be combined in any manner with one or more features of any other embodiments in the present disclosure . furthermore , many variations of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the specification . all publications and patent documents cited in this application are incorporated by reference in pertinent part for all purposes to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent document were so individually denoted . by their citation of various references in this document , applicants do not admit any particular reference is “ prior art ” to their disclosure . it is to be understood that while the present disclosure has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the present disclosure , which is defined by the scope of the appended claims . other aspects , advantages , and modifications are within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents . | 0 |
a crosshandle baton assembly 10 according to the invention is shown in fig1 . the assembly includes an elongated club 11 which may be a conventional police baton as used in law - enforcement work . preferably , the club is about 24 inches in length and 11 / 4 inch in diameter , and is made of wood or a plastic material such as glass - filled polycarbonate plastic . as shown in fig2 the club has a conventional circular cross section , and includes a fluted handgrip portion 12 adjacent one end . a bore 13 extends diametrically through the club adjacent the inner end of handgrip portion 12 . a crosshandle for the baton assembly includes an elongated handle 15 having a cylindrical shank 16 . an end 17 of the shank is concave or saddle shaped to mate with the cylindrical outer surface of the club when the longitudinal axes of the handle and club are perpendicularly positioned as shown in fig2 . a handgrip portion 18 of the handle terminates in a shoulder 19 at the end of the shank . an enlarged knob 20 is formed at the end of the handgrip portion to resist any tendency of the handle to slip downwardly in the user &# 39 ; s hand during use of the baton assembly . preferably , a part of the handgrip portion immediately adjacent shoulder 19 includes axially extending depressions or flutes 22 to provide an improved grip for braking spinning motion of the baton assembly at the end of a sweeping stroke . the balance of handgrip portion 18 is formed with circumferentially extending grooves 23 to resist slippage of the handle within the user &# 39 ; s hand . an axially extending threaded opening 24 extends from end 17 into shank 16 . an unthreaded bore 25 extends diametrically through the shank and is spaced slightly from end 17 as best seen in fig2 . a hollow mounting saddle 28 makes a slip fit over shank 16 , and has a concave or saddle - shaped end 29 which continues the curvature of shank end 17 to fit smoothly against the outer surface of the club . an unthreaded bore 30 extends diametrically through the mounting saddle to be in alignment with bore 25 in the handgrip shank when the parts are assembled as shown in fig2 . the end of the mounting saddle which faces shoulder 19 includes a beveled surface 31 . a hollow rotatable sleeve 34 makes a slip fit over shank 16 of the handle . the outer surface of the sleeve is formed with circumferential grooves 35 for an improved gripping surface . the ends of the sleeve include beveled surfaces 36 . the parts are assembled by slipping rotatable sleeve 34 over handle shank 16 until the sleeve abuts shoulder 19 . mounting saddle 28 is then slipped over the end of the handle shank to abut the rotatable sleeve . the mounting saddle is rotated to position bore 30 in alignment with bore 25 in the shank , and a locking pin 38 is slipped into the aligned bores . pin 38 has a diametrically extending central clearance bore 39 therethrough . the assembled parts are then positioned against club 11 in the position shown in fig2 and a retaining bolt 41 is slipped through bore 13 in the club and threaded into opening 24 in the handle shank through clearance bore 39 in the locking pin . preferably , a recess 42 is formed in the club around bore 13 to receive the head of bolt 41 . the bolt is tightened to secure the handle and mounting saddle rigidly to the club . the length of rotatable sleeve 34 is selected to provide a slight axial clearance between the end of the mounting saddle and shoulder 19 of the handle . this clearance insures that the sleeve is freely rotatable on the handle shank after bolt 41 is tightened . as best seen in fig1 preferably both handgrip portion 18 and rotatable sleeve 34 are slightly tapered as they extend away from flutes 22 to provide a comfortable grip for the user &# 39 ; s hand . preferably , the handle , mounting saddle and rotatable sleeve are machined from a lightweight metal such as aluminum , and the outer surfaces of the parts are finished with a black - anodized treatment . metal is a preferred material for these parts to insure ruggedness and smooth rotation of sleeve 34 , but the parts may also be cast from plastic materials . if plastic is used , it is preferable to retain metal for the material of pin 38 , and to thread pin bore 39 to receive bolt 41 so a strong metal - to - metal connection is made . an overall length of about 6 inches ( measured from the centerline of club 11 ) is satisfactory for the crosshandle , and the largest outside diameters of the mounting saddle and the fluted and knob portions of the handle are preferably about 11 / 4 inches in diameter . the tapered portions of the handle handgrip portion and rotatable sleeve preferably reduce to a minimum diameter of about 1 inch , and sleeve 34 is about 11 / 2 inches long . in use , the crosshandle is gripped with the thumb and first and second fingers positioned around stationary handgrip portion 18 . the third and fourth fingers are positioned around rotatable sleeve 34 . when the baton assembly is moved in a sweeping motion , the grip on the stationary handgrip portion is relaxed , while the third and fourth fingers maintain a tight grip on rotatable sleeve 34 . this permits the club to spin with respect to the handle during the sweeping motion , adding substantially to the overall club velocity . the crosshandle , however , remains securely positioned in the user &# 39 ; s hand due to the firm grip which can be maintained on the rotatable sleeve . at the end of a sweeping motion of the club , the spinning motion is braked by tightening the grip on the stationary handgrip portion of the handle . the relaxation and tightening of the user &# 39 ; s grip on the stationary part of the handle is a skill which is readily acquired after a brief period of practice . beveled surfaces 36 at the ends of the rotatable sleeve , and the mating beveled surfaces on the handle and mounting saddle form a pair of v - shaped grooves at opposite ends of the rotatable sleeve to prevent pinching of the user &# 39 ; s fingers as the handle rotates with respect to the sleeve during a sweeping and spinning motion of the club . the crosshandle assembly can be added to any standard police baton , and is not restricted to any particular style of club . the only modification required to a standard baton is the forming of a recessed bore to receive bolt 41 . should cleaning be necessary , the crosshandle assembly is readily dismantled by releasing bolt 41 , and the bearing surfaces of the rotatable sleeve are then wiped clean . pin 38 assures that the parts will be reassembled in correct alignment , and also provides the proper slight axial clearance for the rotatable sleeve without regard to the extent of tightening of the retaining bolt . other types of retaining arrangements can be used for the rotatable sleeve , but the disclosed configuration is preferred because it is simple , reliable , and inexpensive to produce . there has been described an improved crosshandle baton which uses a rotatable sleeve to provide improved control and higher velocity during a sweeping and spinning motion of the baton . novices can learn use of the improved baton in a short period of time , and it is unnecessary to develop a calloused gripping hand to withstand the spinning motion of prior - art batons with non - rotatable crosshandles . the rotatable sleeve is a significant improvement over known designs in that training time is reduced , and the weapon performs more effectively during defensive maneuvers used by a police officer . | 5 |
turning now to the drawing and particularly , fig1 thereof , there is seen a block diagram of a system 10 that embodies the teachings of the present invention . system 10 includes a scanning section 11 , which is enclosed by the dotted line at the left side of fig1 illuminator 12 , which can be an led array , a laser , or the like , produces a light beam represented by outer defining rays 14 , 14 &# 39 ;. the beam strikes a target 16 on which are found visible indicia , such as one or two dimensional bar code or ocr characters . the light beam is reflected through optics 20 , the reflected beam being shown representatively as rays 18 , 18 &# 39 ;. the optics project an image of the indicia onto image sensor 22 , which is preferably realized as a ccd array or matrix . signals developed by the image sensor 22 responsive to light incident thereon are conducted through signal processing electronics 24 , and a suitably conditioned video signal 26 is presented to an enhanced microcomputer or microprocessor 30 . operation of the scanning section 11 is controlled by a trigger 28 , which can be a manual trigger , or an automatic trigger that responds to the presence of indicia . the trigger 28 is coupled to the microcomputer 30 via an i / o port section 32 . the microcomputer asserts an enable signal 34 responsive to the trigger 28 to turn on the illuminator 12 and the image sensor 22 . control signals 36 are provided for clock generators 38 that provide suitable enabling signals for the illuminator 12 , and clock signals 42 for the image sensor 22 as are required for the operation of a ccd device . the microcomputer is provided with a timer and dma controller 44 . the video signal is conducted through a bus interface 46 onto bus 49 , and then stored as data at an address in a ram 48 , the transfer mediated by the dma controller 44 . the stored data is representative of the optical pattern of the indicia on the target 16 . while dma access to the ram is preferred for rapidity of operation , other memory addressing techniques can be also used . other conventional provisions include a uart 52 and an auxiliary i / o port section 54 for connecting communications devices ( not shown ) to the scanner . representative of such devices are a keyboard when the scanner is employed in a wedge configuration , a telecommunications network , and other devices as may be required for a given application of the system . a rom 50 contains system programs , and may also contain a program for decoding the data stored in the ram 48 . of course the program could equivalently reside in ram 48 , and be loaded therein from a secondary memory storage ( not shown ), or via communications interface 56 . in this particular embodiment as shown , the decoder is integrated into the scanner , although it could also be external thereto . a typical scan cycle for a ccd scanner is shown in fig2 . during the time period of the scan ( 5 msec is used in the figure , although this can vary ) the cycle begins with illumination pulse 100 during which brief time period the target is illuminated . the target may contain bar code or any other indicia such as ocr which are amenable to scanning and decoding . during the illumination pulse 100 period , photosensors in the scanner obtain a linear image of the target which is then transferred via a transfer gate 105 to the charge coupled device . the ccd is clocked with pulses 110 to shift the image out to a ccd analog signal 115 . the ccd analog signal 115 is then transformed via the microprocessor to a digitized signal termed video out 120 in fig2 . video out 120 is a digitized representation of whatever high contrast elements were observed during the illumination period 100 . this could be the black regions of a bar code , for example . it can be seen that there is not regularity to either the size or the placement of the ` 1 ` and ` 0 ` segments of the video out 120 . the time between successive leading and trailing edges of the video out signal 120 is then timed using the microprocessor clock counts 125 as reference . next the information is then stored in memory 130 . scanning of indicia can take place under either of two generalized conditions with respect to the information load presented by the indicia . these are there being a light load of information or a heavy load thereof . the situation is set forth in fig3 . the prior art and the instant invention perform equally well under a light load . this can be seen by inspecting the representation of the timing of successive scans and decoding operations of prior art 135 and the instant invention 155 under a light information load . each decode of a previous scan &# 39 ; s information can be completed during a subsequent scan . however , under a heavy information load it can be seen that the prior art methods 140 did not allow sufficient time for decoding . thus , for the method illustrated , after scan1 141 is completed scan2 142 is initiated immediately before the decoding of scan1 143 . scan2 142 is completed while decode1 143 is still in progress and so scan3 144 is initiated . the decoding process falls further and further behind the scanning process until some point where memory is filled and information must be discarded . this contrasts with the heavy information load handling of the instant invention 160 . again scan1 161 obtains and stores information in memory . then scan2 162 is initiated immediately before the decoding of scan1 165 is begun . however when scan2 162 is terminated , the decode 163 is not yet completed . therefore the scanner is halted at 170 and only restarted at 171 to perform scan3 164 when the decode of scan1 163 is completed . of course immediately after scan3 164 is initiated , so is the decoding of scan2 165 . fig4 shows the steps used to accomplish this synchronization of scanning and decoding so that information does not have to be discarded from memory . the scanning process as a whole is initiated in step 200 by an act such as turning on the power to the scanner or depressing a button or other trigger to initiate the illumination . the first scan is then initiated in step 203 . this first scan is a special instance as it is the one time , under normal circumstances , that a scan will be initiated without a decoding operation being initiated as well . after this step 203 the succeeding steps are repeated from one cycle to the next . first a determination is made as to whether the present scan is complete 205 . this is accomplished via a signal from the scanner to the microprocessor informing the microprocessor that the scan is complete . the signal may either be initiated by the scanner or be a response to a query signal from the microprocessor . once the scan is complete , and the information garnered from the scan has been placed in ram memory , then in the preferred embodiment the last memory location containing information from the previous scan is marked in step 208 . this can be done using timing information with respect to the last scan . in this embodiment memory is handled as a circular queue ( with each region logically successive to both the prior and subsequent regions of memory ) so as to maximize the use of memory , as only the amount needed for each scan is used by it . however storage of the information can take place using two predetermined blocks of memory where each block is of sufficient size to accommodate the greatest possible information obtainable from a single scan . the information from the scan may have been transferred to memory by any of the techniques that are well known in the art such as , for example , direct memory access . a new scan is then initiated in step 209 and thereafter the microprocessor begins , in step 210 , decoding the results from the prior scan that are already completely stored in memory . a determination is then made under microprocessor control in step 212 as to whether the symbol decoding is successful . this query breaks into two parts : first has the decoding been completed and second has the last collection of information been decoded so as to obtain a valid symbol ? if the decoding is not complete then no new scan is initiated until such time as it is complete -- that is initiation of scanning will be prevented . if however the decoding is complete but does not yield a valid results , then the information will have to be discarded and the system will return to wait for the present scan to be completed . if , on the other hand , a valid decode has been accomplished , then a determination will be made in step 215 , again under microprocessor control , as to whether the entire group of scans has successfully decoded a complete symbol or informational grouping . if not , the system will wait for the completion of the current scan . if so , then in step 218 the completed group of scans comprising a message will be processed and / or output as directed by the microprocessor using the peripherals which are attached to the system . the process will then end in step 20 by either having the power disconnected or the button or trigger for illumination released . it can be seen that by practicing this invention information is decoded at a rate that keeps up with the scanning process so that no discarding of stored information due to memory constraints is ever necessary . while this invention has been explained with reference to the structure disclosed herein , it is not confined to the details set forth and this application is intended to cover any modifications and changes as may come within the scope of the following claims : | 6 |
the following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the application and uses of the invention . furthermore , there is no intention to be bound by any theory presented in the preceding background of the invention or the following detailed description . fig1 shows a lower front corner of a windshield 1 of a motor vehicle body , a rear corner of an engine hood 2 following the windshield 1 and a part of an a - pillar 3 , in a perspective view , seen across the engine hood 2 . fig2 shows the same detail from a substantially opposite direction wherein in each case below the a - pillar panel 3 and the engine hood 2 a piece of a front fender 4 is still visible . gaps 5 , 6 extend in the view of fig2 between a front edge 10 of the a - pillar panel 3 and the engine hood 2 or between lower edges 11 from a - pillar panel 3 and engine hood 2 on the one hand and the fender 4 on the other hand . the gap 5 is filled out by a filler piece 7 that is injection - molded from plastic which , as is visible in fig1 , forms a side wall of a water box 8 at the foot of the windshield 1 and from there extends to a flange 9 of the a - pillar panel 3 , which rises substantially vertically and orientated in vehicle longitudinal direction on the edge of the windshield 1 . fig3 shows , in the same perspective as in fig1 , the lower edge of the windshield 1 and the a - pillar panel 3 adjoining thereon without the engine hood 2 and without the filler piece 7 . on the front edge 10 of the a - pillar panel 3 a flange 12 is angled into the vehicle interior . the flange 12 is provided with two openings 13 . fig4 shows the same detail of fig3 , however with filler body 7 mounted on the a - pillar panel 3 . the filler piece 7 includes a portion 14 in the form of a flat angle profile with a leg 15 butting up against the flange 12 and a leg 16 , which stands away obliquely from the flange 12 in order to bridge the gap 5 as far as to the rear edge of the engine hood 2 that is not shown in fig4 . fig5 shows a schematic cross section through the portion 14 that is mounted on the flange 12 and the rear edge of the engine hood 2 . the leg 16 engages , seen from the outside , as far as to behind the engine hood 2 thereby barring any insight to the engine compartment for as long as the hood 2 is in the closed position . fig4 shows two fastening feet 17 of the filler piece 7 , of which one is visible in section in fig5 . the fastening feet 17 each extend in extension of the leg 15 , and butting up flat against the flange 12 , each carry a fastening clip 18 . the fastening clips each have a stiff shank 19 emanating from the fastening foot 17 and two elastic wings 20 , which diverge arrow - like from the tip of the shank 19 in order to be pressed against one another when the fastening clip 18 is pushed into one of the openings 13 and by expanding again after passing the opening 13 , engage the filler piece 7 on the openings 13 of the flange 12 . molded to the upper end of the elongated portion 14 is a plate - shaped portion 21 in one piece which , as is evident by comparing fig4 and 3 , engages into a gap between the flange 9 and the windshield 1 . the plate - shaped portion 21 butts up against the flange 9 over a large area and is fastened to the same by gluing . a web 22 which stands away from a lower edge of the plate - shaped portion 21 engages below the windshield 1 . the fig6 - 8 show the filler piece 7 for illustration of its shape in various perspective views . the perspective of fig6 is similar to those of fig4 and clearly shows the plate - shaped portion 21 and the elongated portion 14 with the fastening feet 17 ; the fastening clips 18 are hidden behind the fastening feet in the perspective of fig6 . fig7 shows the filler piece 7 from a view direction which approximately corresponds to the arrow vii from fig6 . visible is the surface of the plate - shaped portion 14 which in the mounted state faces the flange 9 with a piece of double - sided adhesive tape 23 adhering thereon the adhesive tape 23 can be directly glued onto the portion 21 following the injection - molding of the filler piece 7 and be protected by cover paper , which is only removed immediately before the filler piece 7 is installed in the vehicle . a second web 24 extends parallel to web 22 on the opposite surface of the plate - shaped portion 14 . the two webs 22 , 24 can be embodied elastically and support the filler piece 7 on a surface of the supporting structure located below , for example the upper edge of a front wall extending between engine compartment and passenger cells . the view direction of fig7 is parallel to the plane of the leg 15 which for this reason is merely visible as a narrow strip ; clearly visible are the legs 16 and the fastening clips 18 , which in each case on opposite sides project from the leg 15 . fig8 shows the filler piece 7 seen from a direction that is approximately perpendicular to the leg 15 corresponding to the arrow viii in fig7 . in order to be able to keep the molds used for injection - molding the filler piece simple , it can be practical to provide a film or foil hinge on the filler piece 7 , which makes possible adapting its shape prior to the installation in the vehicle . fastening means for anchoring the filler piece on the vehicle should be provided on both sides of such a foil hinge , when for example such a foil hinge is provided along an edge 25 between the portions 14 and 21 , the one portion 14 can be fixed by way of engagement with the help of the fastening clips 18 , the other 21 through gluing by means of the adhesive tape 23 , and a secure seat of the entire filler piece 7 be ensured . while at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description , it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist . it should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples , and are not intended to limit the scope , applicability , or configuration of the invention in any way . rather , the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing an exemplary embodiment , it being understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described in an exemplary embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims and their legal equivalents . | 1 |
prior to the description of preferred embodiments , with reference to fig5 - 8 , a detailed explanation will first be given of the background to and the impact of strip - bending . the cross - sections shown in fig5 and 6 are hypothetical , unpublished cross - sections , but they are fairly similar to “ fiboloc ®” in fig4 a and “ uniclic ” in fig4 b . accordingly , fig5 and 6 do not represent the invention . parts which correspond to those in the previous figures are in most cases provided with the same reference numerals . the design , function , and material composition of the basic components of the boards in fig5 and 6 are essentially the same as in embodiments of the present invention and , consequently , where applicable , the following description of fig5 and 6 also applies to the subsequently described embodiments of the invention . in the embodiment shown , the floorboards 1 , 1 ′ in fig5 are rectangular with opposite long sides 4 a , 4 b and opposite short sides 5 a , 5 b . fig5 shows a vertical cross - section of a part of a long side 4 a of the board 1 , as well as a part of a long side 4 b of an adjoining board 1 ′. the body of the board 1 can be composed of a fibreboard body 30 , which supports a surface layer 32 on its front side and a balancing layer 34 on its rear side . a strip 6 formed from the body and the balancing layer of the floorboard and supporting a locking element 8 constitutes an extension of the lower tongue groove part 36 of the floorboard 1 . the strip 6 is formed with a locking element 8 , whose operative locking surface 10 cooperates with a locking groove 14 in the opposite joint edge 4 b of the adjoining board 1 ′ for horizontal locking of the boards 1 , 1 ′ transversely of the joint edge ( d 2 ). the locking element 8 has a relatively large height lh and a high locking angle a . the upper part of the locking element has a guiding part 9 which guides the floorboard to the correct position in connection with angling . the locking groove 14 has a larger width than the locking element 8 , as is evident from the figures . for the purpose of forming a vertical lock in the direction d 1 , the joint edge portion 4 a exhibits a laterally open tongue groove 36 and the opposite joint edge portion 4 b exhibits a tongue 38 which projects laterally from a joint plane f and which in the joined position is received in the tongue groove 36 . in the joined position according to fig5 , the two adjoining , upper joint edge surface portions 41 and 42 of the boards 1 , 1 ′ define this vertical joint plane f . the strip 6 has a horizontal extent w (= strip width ) which can be divided into : ( a ) an inner part with a horizontal extent d ( locking distance ) which is defined by the joint plane f and a vertical line through the lower part of the locking surface 10 , as well as ( b ) an outer part with a horizontal extent l ( the width of the locking element ). the tongue groove 36 has a horizontal tongue groove depth g measured from the joint plane f and inwards towards the board 1 to a vertical limiting plane which coincides with the bottom of the tongue groove 36 . the tongue groove depth g and the extent d of the locking distance together form a joint part within an area p consisting of components forming part of the vertical lock d 1 and the horizontal lock d 2 . fig6 shows an embodiment which is different from the embodiment in fig5 in that the tongue groove depth g is greater , and the strip width w , the height lh , and the locking angle a of the locking surface are all smaller . however , the size of the area p is the same in the embodiments in fig5 and 6 . reference is now made to fig7 and 8 , which show strip - bending in the embodiments in fig5 and 6 respectively . the relevant part of the curvature which may cause problems is the area p , since a curvature in the area p results in a change of position of the locking surface 10 . since the area p has the same horizontal extent in both embodiments , all else being equal , the strip - bending at the locking surface 10 will be of the same magnitude despite the fact that the strip length w is different . the large locking surface 10 and the large locking angle a in fig5 will not cause any major problems in fig7 , since the greater part of the locking surface 10 is still operative . the high locking angle a contributes only marginally to increased play between the locking element 8 and the locking groove 14 . in fig8 , however , the large tongue groove depth g as well as the small locking surface 10 and the low locking angle a 2 create major problems . the strength of the locking system is considerably reduced and the play between the locking element 8 and the locking groove 14 increases substantially and causes joint openings in connection with tensile stress . if the play of the boards is adapted to a sloping strip at the time of manufacture it may prove impossible to lay the boards if the strip 6 is flat or bent upwards . we have realised that the strip - bending is a result of the fact that the joint part p is unbalanced and that the shape changes in the balancing layer 34 and the fibreboard part 30 of the strip are not the same when the relative humidity changes . in addition , the bias of the balancing layer 34 contributes to bending the strip 6 backwards / downwards . the deciding factors of the strip - bending are the extent of the locking distance d and the tongue groove depth g . the appearance of the tongue groove 36 and the strip 6 also has some importance . a great deal of material in the joint portion p makes the tongue groove and the strip more rigid and counteracts strip - bending . fig9 - 11 show how a cost - efficient strip - lock system with a high quality joint can be designed according to the invention . fig9 shows a vertical cross - section of the whole board 1 seen from the short side , with the main portion of the board broken away . fig1 shows two such boards 1 , 1 ′ joined at the long sides 4 a , 4 b . fig1 shows how the long sides can be angled together in connection with laying and angled upward when being taken up . the short sides can be of the same shape . in connection with the manufacture of the strip - lock system , the balancing layer 34 has been milled off both in the entire area g under the tongue groove 36 and across the entire rear side of the strip 6 across the width w ( including the area l under the locking element 8 ). the modification according to the invention in the form of removal of the balancing layer 34 in the whole area p eliminates both the bias and the strip - bending resulting from moisture movement . in order to save on materials , in this embodiment the width w of the strip 6 has been reduced as much as possible to a value which is less than 1 . 3 times the floor thickness . the tongue groove depth g of the tongue groove 36 has also been limited as much as possible both to counteract undesirable strip - bending and to save on materials . in its lower part , the tongue groove 36 has been given an oblique part 45 in order to make the tongue groove 36 and the joint portion p more rigid . in order to counteract the effect of the strip - bending and to comply with the strength requirements , the locking surface has a minimum inclination of at least 45 degrees and the height of the locking element exceeds 0 . 1 times the floor thickness t . in order to make the locking - groove part of the joint system as stable as possible , the thickness sh of the strip in an area corresponding to at least half the locking distance d has been limited to a maximum of 0 . 25 times the floor thickness t . the height lh of the locking element has been limited to 0 . 2 times the floor thickness and this means that the locking groove 14 can be formed by removing a relatively small amount of material . in more basic embodiments of the invention , only the measure “ modification of balancing layer ” is used . fig1 shows an alternative embodiment for eliminating undesirable strip - bending . here , the balancing layer 34 has been completely removed within the area p ( including area g under the tongue groove ). however , under the locking element 8 in the area l the balancing layer is intact in the form of a remaining area 34 ′, which advantageously constitutes a support for the locking element 8 against the subfloor . since the remaining part 34 ′ of the balancing layer is located outside the locking surface 10 it only has a marginal , if any , negative impact on the change of position of the locking surface 10 in connection with strip - bending and thus changes in moisture content . within the scope of the invention there are a number of alternative ways of reducing strip - bending . for example , several grooves of different depths and widths can be formed in the balancing layer within the entire area p and l . such grooves could be completely or partially filled with materials which have properties that are different from those of the balancing layer 34 of the floorboard and which can contribute to changes in the properties of the strip 6 with respect to , for example , flexibility and tensile strength . filling materials with fairly similar properties can also be used when the objective is to essentially eliminate the bias of the balancing layer . complete or partial removal of the balancing layer p in the area p and refilling with suitable bonding agents , plastic materials , or the like can be a way of improving the properties of the strip 6 . fig1 shows an embodiment in which only part of the outer layer of the balancing layer has been removed across the entire area p . the remaining , thinner part of the balancing layer is designated 34 ″. the part 34 ′ has been left intact under the locking element 8 in the area l . the advantage of such an embodiment is that it may be possible to eliminate the major part of the strip - bending while a part ( 34 ″) of the balancing layer is kept as a reinforcing layer for the strip 6 . this embodiment is particularly suitable when the balancing layer 34 is composed of different layers with different properties . the outer layer can , for example , be made of melamine and decoration paper while the inner layer can be made of phenol and kraft paper . various plastic materials can also be used with various types of fibre reinforcement . partial removal of layers can , of course , be combined with one or more grooves of different depths and widths under the entire joint system p + l . the working from the rear side can also be adapted in order to increase the flexibility of the strip in connection with angling and snap action . fig1 shows an embodiment in which there are a plurality of grooves which are formed in the balancing layer within the first area . the depth and width of each groove may be different , as shown in fig1 . further , fig1 shows an embodiment in which a material 50 fills at least one of the plurality of grooves . such a material may be completely or partially fill a groove and may be , for example , a bonding agent or a plastic . two main principles for reducing or eliminating strip - bending have now been described namely : ( a ) modifying the balancing layer within the entire area p or parts thereof , and ( b ) modifying the joint geometry itself with a reduced tongue groove depth and a special design of the inner part of the tongue groove in combination . these two main principles are usable separately to reduce the strip - bending problem , but preferably in combination . according to the invention , these two basic principles can also be combined with further modifications of the joint geometry ( c ) which are characterised in that : the strip is made narrow preferably less than 1 . 3 times the floor thickness ; the inclination of the locking surface is at least 45 degrees ; the height of the locking element exceeds 0 . 1 times the floor thickness and is less than 0 . 2 times the floor thickness ; the strip is designed so that at least half the locking distance has a thickness which is less than 0 . 25 times the floor thickness . the above embodiments separately and in combination with each other and the above main principles contribute to the provision of a strip - lock system which can be manufactured at a low cost and which at the same affords a high quality joint with respect to laying properties , disassembly options , strength , joint opening , and stability over time and in different environments . several variants of the invention are possible . the joint system can be made in a number of different joint geometry where some or all of the above parameters are different , particularly when the purpose is to give precedence to a certain property over the others . applicant has considered and tested a large number of variants in the light of the above : “ smaller ” can be changed to “ larger ”, relationships can be changed , other radii and angles can be chosen , the joint system on the long side and the short side can be made different , two types of boards can be made where , for example , one type has a strip on both opposite sides while the other type has a locking groove on the corresponding sides , boards can be made with strip locks on one side and a traditional glued joint on the other , the strip - lock system can be designed with parameters which are generally intended to facilitate laying by positioning the floorboards and keeping them together until the glue hardens , and different materials can be sprayed on the joint system to provide impregnation against moisture , reinforcement , or moisture - proofing , etc . in addition , there can be mechanical devices , changes in the joint geometry and / or chemical additives such as glue which are aimed at preventing or impeding , for example , a certain type of laying ( angling or snap action ), displacement in the direction of the joint , or a certain way of taking up the floor , for example , upward angling or pulling along the joint edge . | 4 |
illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below . in the interest of clarity , not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification . it will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment , numerous implementation - specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers &# 39 ; specific goals , such as compliance with system - related and business - related constraints , which will vary from one implementation to another . moreover , it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time - consuming , but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure . turing to the drawings and , in particular , to fig1 a system 10 constructed according to certain teachings of this disclosure is illustrated . among other things , the illustrated system 10 actively controls the electric power supplied to an electromagnetic machine such that the negative consequences of torque irregularities that would otherwise be produced by the machine are reduced or eliminated . the system 10 includes an electromagnetic machine 12 and a drive 14 that provides electric power to the electromagnetic machine 12 . the machine 12 shown in fig1 may comprise , for example , a permanent magnet motor , a switched reluctance motor , or a hybrid motor ( permanent magnet and switched reluctance combination ). the machine 12 is of conventional construction that includes a rotating component ( a rotor 12 a ) and a stationary component ( a stator 12 b ). wound about the stator are a number of energizable phase windings 12 c which may be energized through the application of electric power to motor terminals 15 , 16 , 17 . the drive 14 is coupled to provide electric power to terminals 15 , 16 and 17 of the machine 12 . the drive 14 receives control inputs from a control system 13 , which is coupled to receive feedback from the machine 12 in terms of rotor position information 18 and energization feedback 19 . other feedback information may be provided to the controller 13 . while the drive 14 is illustrated in exemplary form as providing three power terminals to the machine 12 , it should be understood that more or fewer power terminals may be provided to accommodate motors or machines with greater than three phases , less than three phases or if various types of inverters ( e . g ., with neutral connections ) are used . the energization feedback 19 provides an indication of the operational characteristics of the machine 12 and may , for example , include feedback concerning the currents flowing in the stator windings and / or the voltages at the terminals 15 , 16 and 17 . the position and energization parameters may be detected through conventional detectors such as standard rotor position detectors and standard current / voltage sensors . alternative embodiments are envisioned in which the rotor position and feedback parameters are not detected directly but are calculated or estimated through known techniques . for example , embodiments are envisioned where only the terminal voltages are known or sensed along with the currents flowing through the stator windings of the machine 12 and the sensed current and voltage values are used to derive rotor position information . the control system 13 also receives input command signals 11 that correspond to a desired output parameter of machine 12 such as rotor speed , output torque , etc . as described in more detail below , the drive 14 controls the application of electric power to machine 12 in response to the control system 13 in such a manner that the difference between the input command signal 11 and the corresponding output of the machine 12 is minimized . in certain embodiments , the control system 13 also actively controls application of power to the machine 12 as a function of rotor position in such a manner to achieve a desired behavior of the machine 12 meeting one or more criteria in categories including , for example , torque ripple , cogging torque , angular sensitivity , harmonic content , etc . the use of the control system 13 to actively achieve desired machine behavior , as opposed to attempting to achieve such behavior through complex rotor or stator constructions , results in a better performing system in that , for example , conventional , low cost machines and machine construction techniques may be used . an electromagnetic machine system 100 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig2 . the machine system 100 includes a control system 13 , which may be implemented by an appropriately programmed digital controller , such as a digital signal processor ( dsp ), microcontroller or microprocessor . the control system 13 includes an input terminal 11 that receives , for example , a signal representing the torque demanded of the motor 12 . torque is a function of current and angle ; hence , for any particular rotor angle there is a set of appropriate currents that will produce the desired torque . based on the rotor angle and the required torque , appropriate current values are sent to the drive 14 , which in turn provides the necessary voltage to the motor 12 to meet the current demand . rotor position feedback 18 and energization feedback 19 , such as the motor terminal voltage and current , are provided to an estimator 30 . in accordance with mathematical “ good practice ,” the voltage and current values may be normalized — the measured values are divided by the maximum expected value . the estimator 30 calculates motor parameters such as angular speed and the time derivatives of the phase currents . these values are used to derive and update a first mathematical model that describes the electrical behavior of the motor 12 . the structure of the electrical model is such that it can accurately represent electrical machine characteristics such as resistance , back electromagnetic force (“ bemf ”), self and mutual inductance , cogging , etc ., depending on the type of machine 12 employed . the parameters calculated by the estimator 30 are passed to a torque model 32 of the motor 12 . the torque model 32 is developed by mathematically transforming the electrical model in an appropriate manner , dictated by the electromagnetic physics of the motor 12 , into a second model that describes the torque characteristics of the machine 12 . since the electrical model coefficients flow naturally into the torque model 32 , by constructing an accurate electrical model of the motor 12 , the torque characteristics of the motor 12 are also known . for example , the torque model may describe the torque produced for any combination of phase current and rotor position in the normal operating envelope of the machine . thus , using the values calculated by the estimator 30 , an estimate of motor torque can be calculated for any current - angle combination . the torque model 32 is interrogated by a solver 34 , which calculates the required currents , or solution curves , according to some desired motor behavior and the known behavior of the motor 12 ( as regards current and angle ). thus , the controller 36 provides the appropriate current for a given rotor angular position to achieve the desired output torque 40 or other output parameter , and further , to achieve the output parameter in accordance with the desired machine behavior . for example , the desired machine behavior may include the operating characteristics of the motor 12 meeting one or more criteria in categories including cogging torque , torque ripple , angular sensitivity of the solution to angular error and harmonic content of the solution curves . in the particular system 100 shown in fig2 the solver 34 output is stored explicitly as a lookup table accessible by the controller 36 . the torque demand 11 and rotor angle is applied to the lookup table to determine the appropriate phase current value to be applied to the phase windings via the driver 14 . in other embodiments , the output of the solver 34 is in an analytic form , derived by fitting a function to the calculated numerical values . since the electrical model used by the estimator 30 is algebraic in nature , the estimator 30 can be allowed to run for some time period operating upon not necessarily sequential data before a new set of parameter estimates are released in to the torque model 32 . at this point the solver 34 can then recalculate the necessary lookup tables 36 . once fully calculated , the new lookup tables can then replace those tables currently in use . many of these operations can be background tasked ; that is , they can occur as and when computational resources are available . this is one of the advantages of an algebraic motor model — it is not intricately wrapped up in the time variable . torque can be estimated via coenergy or field energy , though calculating torque via coenergy results in simpler expressions . thus , the estimate of output torque 40 can be calculated using only feedback available from the machine terminals — such as the terminal voltage and current and the rotor position — to estimate the parameters of resistance and flux linkage . the following disclosure is generally provided in terms of a three phase hybrid motor , though the model form can be generalized into different types of rotating machines having any number of phases by one skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure . it is common in many applications to utilize what is known as a balanced three phase feed . in such systems , when a three - phase motor is used , the sum of the three phase currents will equal zero . hence , the αβ - frame of reference ( for ) can be used . if balanced feed is not used , it is necessary to use the abc - for . the αβ - for is considered first . the electrical model may have the form of a product of polynomial expressions in current and angle . typically , those for angle will involve trigonometric functions . the current polynomials may also be orthogonal and may be one of any number of suitable polynomial types . for more complex machines , an orthogonal model form may be appropriate . with the first model structure disclosed herein , it is assumed that flux linkage models are expressions that are products of polynomial terms involving phase currents and trigonometric polynomials of mechanical angle . models using orthogonal functions are discussed further later in this specification . generally , the following nomenclature is used in this disclosure : φ is the phase index , ranges over defined set of numbers { 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . } or equivalent letters { a , b , c , . . . } a , b , c are phase names , equivalent to 1 , 2 , 3 when numerically referenced p , p . . . q , q . . . r , r . . . n , n are summation indexes and maximum index values i α , i β , i c are variables representing αβ frame of reference currents i α , i β are maximum values of αβ - frame of reference currents encountered in the coenergy integral i a , i b , i c are variables representing abc - frame of reference currents i a , i b , i c are maximum values of abc - for currents encountered in the coenergy integral i f is the current flow associated with the fictious rotor circuit modelling the presence of a magnet r φα , r φβ , r φαβ are resistance values associated with phase φ ∫ f ( x ) dx is the integral of f ( x ) with respect to x ∂ ∂ x f ( x , y , … ) is the partial derivative of function f (.) with respect to x d 1 , . . . , d 6 are components of the coenergy integral , along defined path o ( x n ) is the remainder associated with n &# 39 ; th order and higher terms of the jacobian matrix f i ( x 1 , . . . , x m ) is the i &# 39 ; th function of variables x 1 , . . . , x m δx is delta x δx new is the new value of delta x , or change in x x new , x old are new and old values of x calculated during newton iterative process t tv is estimated torque , directly from the terminal variables t cog is torque which cannot be calculated directly using terminal variables i = ( i α ( θ ( 1 ) ) i α ( θ ( 2 ) ) ⋯ i α ( θ ( n ) ) i β ( θ ( 1 ) ) i β ( θ ( 2 ) ) ⋯ i β ( θ ( n ) ) ) is the vector of αβ frame of reference current values across the set of discrete angle values δi ( n ) is the calculated change in current vector at n &# 39 ; th interval φ tk =( 0 . . . 0 t ( θ ( k ), i α ( k ), i β ( k )) 0 . . . 0 ) is the k &# 39 ; th torque vector φ sk =( 0 . . . 0 s ( θ ( k ), i α ( k ), i β ( k )) 0 . . . 0 ) is the k &# 39 ; th sensitivity vector assuming that the model structure for each machine phase ( φ ) is identical , the general form of the flux model using the αβ - for is : λ φ = ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 1 ) such a model allows for a non - linear relationship between phase current and flux as well as mutual effects between any two or more phases . as noted above , for the purposes of the present disclosure it is assumed that model structure is invariant with respect to phase , although this need not be so . contiguous powers of polynomial current and angle harmonic need not be used , as is the case in equation ( 1 ). for example , consider the following : λ φ = ∑ p = p 1 p s i α p · ∑ q = q 1 q t i β q · ∑ r = r 1 r u i f r · ∑ n = n 1 n v ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 2 ) p =( p 1 , p 2 , . . . , p s .) r =( r 1 , r 2 , . . . , r u .) q =( q 1 , p 2 , . . . , q t .) n =( n 1 , n 2 , . . . , n v .) need not contain contiguous integers . in fact , most practical applications will have this form . relatively simple models of the form presented in equation ( 2 ) that are sufficiently accurate can be obtained . model structure can be allowed to vary between phases if so desired . this variation upon defining model structure has a significant impact upon the computational complexity of the associated algorithms . some model components will be present as a result of manufacturing variance and would not be suggested by a theoretical consideration of the motor design . further , model complexity can vary greatly between motors of different design . for example , a permanent magnet motor design with the express intent of reducing cogging , typically through the use of skew , may only require a very simple model to accurately predict torque . it is generally desirable to avoid models that are over or under determined . the abc - for currents can be transformed into αβ - for currents using the following transform : ( i α i β i 0 ) = ( 1 0 1 - 1 2 - 1 2 · 3 1 - 1 2 1 2 · 3 1 ) · ( i α i b i c ) ( 3 ) under the balanced feed assumption , the third phase current is zero . it is known that phase voltage ( v φ ) is defined by v φ = i φ · r φ + t λ φ ( 4 ) where r φ is the phase resistance . thus , using the αβ - for : v φ = r φ + i α · r φα + i β · r φβ + i α · i β · r φα β + t λ φ ( 5 ) it should be noted that there are more resistance terms in equation ( 5 ) then is necessary from the perspective of how electric circuits operate . such additional terms allow for the presence of test data offsets and the like to be directly compensated for ; otherwise the estimator will set redundant terms to zero . ω = t θ ( 6 ) t λ φ = ∑ p = 1 p ( pi α p - 1 · t i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 1 q ( qi β q - 1 · t i β ) · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 1 r ( ri f r - 1 · t i f ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 7 ) the imaginary rotor current ( i f ) is nominally constant and its time derivative is zero . hence , from equations ( 5 ) and ( 7 ): v φ = r φ + i α · r φα + i β · r φβ + i α · i β · r φαβ ⋯ + ∑ p = 1 p ( pi α p - 1 · t i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 1 q ( qi β q - 1 · t i β ) · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 8 ) in embodiments employing a switched reluctance machine , there is no imaginary rotor current state as there are no rotor magnets with which this state is associated , hence : i f ≡ 0 and t i f ≡ 0 ( 9 ) therefore , in the case of a switched reluctance machine , indexing variable ( r ) associated with the imaginary rotor phase may be removed from equation ( 8 ): v φ = r φ + i α · r φα + i β · r φβ + i α · i β · r φαβ ⋯ + ∑ p = 1 p ( pi α p - 1 · t i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 1 q ( qi β q - 1 · t i β ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 10 ) it would be a routine undertaking for one skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure to apply a similar process of simplification to the specific case of an sr motor , for example . there are several techniques available for calculating the coefficients in the model given test data . as noted above , the electrical model is algebraic , which allows the use of any of a number of parameter estimation techniques , such as least squares methods or grammian matrix methods . least squares - based parameter estimators find the model coefficients that minimize the square of the difference between the observed data and the output from the model . recursive least square parameter estimators are used in particular embodiments of the invention . the recursive least squares parameter estimators are most suitable for actual production systems . they operate in such a manner that they can produce an improved estimate with each new sample of data . that is , they are not restricted in their operation to complete sets of test data . a further refinement of the recursive least squares parameter estimation technique involves the use of a “ forgetting factor ,” which operates in the following manner . as more and more data is captured , the effect that the old data has upon the calculation of the new data is reduced . in this way , only the most recent data will have a significant effect in the parameter estimation process . this forgetting factor operates over any appropriate time interval — for example , minutes , hours or days — depending on design considerations . many of the variables considered do not vary significantly over time . some , however , such as phase resistance , vary over time and with respect to other factors such as the machine temperature . this added refinement allows the control system to be tuned to any particular machine , and also allows adaptation to changes in that machine . this typically occurs as the machine ages . various data collection schemes may be used for parameter estimation . for example , one data collection technique requires constant phase current , which usually only occurs in controlled data collection situations . another involves varying current , typical of practical applications . v φ = r φ + i α · r φα + i β · r φβ + i α · i β · r φαβ ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 11 ) for notational convenience and to reflect the unobservability of the i f term , the following identities are defined as a result of considering the last two σ terms in equation ( 11 ): ∑ r = 0 r i f r · g φ pqrn = g φ pqn for all φ , p and q ( 12 ) ∑ r = 0 r i f r · h φ pqrn = h φ pqn for all φ , p and q ( 13 ) to retain consistency with equation ( 10 ) for the case in which phase current varies , the harmonic terms ( n ) in equation ( 11 ) are not collected into the h and g terms defined by equations ( 12 ) and ( 13 ). substituting equations ( 12 ) and ( 13 ) into equation ( 11 ) results in : v φ = r φ + i α · r φα + i β · r φβ + i α · i β · r φαβ ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 14 ) v φ ω = 1 ω · r φ + i α ω · r φα + i β ω · r φβ + i α · i β ω · r φαβ ⋯ + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 15 ) using equation ( 14 ), the motor parameters can be estimated in the case of constant phase current . as noted above , practical motor applications involve varying current . equation ( 8 ) describes how the flux model coefficients , first presented in equation ( 1 ), propagate through three separate paths when calculating phase voltage in the variable current case . the first path , as previously encountered , passes through those expressions explicitly involving ω . the other two paths involve expressions with time derivatives of the currents . as before , ω is divided throughout and substitutions as indicated in equations ( 12 ) and ( 13 ) are made , yielding : v φ ω = 1 ω · r φ + i α ω · r φ α + i β ω · r φ β + i α · i β ω · r φ α β … + [ 1 ω · ( t i α ) ] · ∑ p = 1 p pi α p - 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + [ 1 ω · ( t i β ) ] · ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 1 q qi β q - 1 · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) note that : 1 ω · ( t i ) = 1 ( t θ ) · t i = ( θ t ) · ( t i ) = θ i ( 16 ) v φ ω = 1 ω · r φ + i α ω · r φ α + i β ω · r φ β + i α · i β ω · r φ α β … + ( θ i α ) · ∑ p = 1 p pi α p - 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ( θ i β ) · ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 1 q qi β q - 1 · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g φ pqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) the advantage of this re - formulation of equation ( 16 ) is that two possible sources of impulsive noise in the equation , and the problems they can cause with a parameter estimator , have been removed . if the driving current forms are assumed known , then their derivatives with respect to angle can be directly calculated . if the current forms are defined in an analytic form , such as from a bemf model , then a closed expression exists for the derivative else a numerical estimate can be obtained . in particular , if at the ( k − 1 ) and k intervals the angle and desired currents are θ ( k − 1 ), θ ( k ), i α ( k − 1 ) and i α ( k ) then : θ i α = i α ( k ) - i α ( k - 1 ) θ ( k ) - θ ( k - 1 ) this approach implicitly assumes the system exhibits good current following properties . since resistance and flux linkage can be estimated via the electrical model , a torque model relating current and angle to torque generated can be derived through a series of standard operations . very generally , these operations include integrating the flux linkage from zero current to the present value of current — coenergy , and differentiating this expression with respect to shaft angle . the result of these operations is an expression for torque . ω c = ∫ ∑ φ = 1 n φ λ φ i φ ( 17 ) where n is the number of stator phases . thus , for a three - phase switched reluctance motor , n φ = 3 ( for the a , b , and c stator phases ), while for a three phase pm motor n φ = 4 ( for the three stator phases and the imaginary f rotor phase ). torque is found via coenergy by : t = ∂ ∂ θ ω c ( 18 ) the relationship between the abc - for and the αβ for is given by : ( i α i β i 0 ) = ( 1 0 1 - 1 2 - 1 2 · 3 1 - 1 2 1 2 · 3 1 ) · ( i a i b i c ) the derivatives of the abc for currents are related to the αβ - for currents by : d λ a ( i α , i β , i f , θ ) = ∂ ∂ i α λ a · di α + ∂ ∂ i β λ a · di β + ∂ ∂ i f λ a · di f ( 19 ) d λ b ( i α , i β , i f , θ ) = ∂ ∂ i α λ b · di α + ∂ ∂ i β λ b · di β + ∂ ∂ i f λ b · di f ( 20 ) d λ c ( i α , i β , i f , θ ) = ∂ ∂ i α λ c · di α + ∂ ∂ i β λ c · di β + ∂ ∂ i f λ c · di f ( 21 ) d λ f ( i α , i β , i f , θ ) = ∂ ∂ i α λ f · di α + ∂ ∂ i β λ f · di β + ∂ ∂ i f λ f · di f ( 22 ) [ 0112 ] di b = - 1 2 · di α - 3 2 · di β ( 24 ) di c = - 1 2 · di α + 3 2 · di β ( 25 ) since a switched reluctance machine has no permanent magnets , in the case of a switched reluctance machine equation ( 26 ) is as follows : ω c = ∫ λ a i α - 1 2 · ∫ λ b i α - 3 2 · ∫ λ b i β - 1 2 · ∫ λ c i α + 3 2 · ∫ λ c i β + ∫ λ f i f ( 27 ) for convenience , the individual integral components of this expression are set equal to d 1 , d 2 , d 3 , d 4 , d 5 and d 6 , respectively : ω c = d 1 - 1 2 · d 2 - 3 2 · d 3 - 1 2 d 4 + 3 2 · d 5 + d 6 ( 28 ) for a switched reluctance machine , equations ( 27 ) and ( 28 ) therefore reduce to : ω c = ∫ λ a i α - 1 2 · ∫ λ b i α - 3 2 · ∫ λ b i β - 1 2 · ∫ λ c i α + 3 2 · ∫ λ c i β ( 29 ) ω c = d 1 - 1 2 · d 2 - 3 2 · d 3 - 1 2 d 4 + 3 2 · d 5 ( 30 ) next , an integral path is selected . to this end , an integral path consisting of three directed line segments ( dls ) is defined over which to evaluate the integral giving coenergy . for the purposes of this disclosure , the dummy variable of integration is ξ while phase current variables ( i a , i b , i c , i α , i β ) are in lower case . their associated final values , with respect to path integrals , are ( i a , i b , i c , i α , i β ). i f is the variable of integration , ranging from 0 to i f . i β is the variable of integration , ranging from 0 to i β i α is the variable of integration , ranging from 0 to i α [ 0133 ] fig3 illustrates an integration path defined as a sequence of directed line segments 51 , 52 , 53 . each of the integrals d 1 - d 6 are then evaluated over the selected path . evaluating d 1 :, this is identically zero over all but the third dls , hence : d 1 = ∫ 0 i α ∑ p = 0 p ξ p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g apqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h apqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : d 1 = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g apqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h apqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 31 ) this is also identically zero over all but the third directed line segment . d 2 = ∫ 0 i α ∑ p = 0 p ξ p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g bpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h bpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : d 2 = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g bpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h bpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 32 ) this is identically zero over all but the second directed line segment , where all terms other than those where p = 0 are zero : d 3 = ∫ 0 i β ∑ q = 0 q ξ q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g b0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h b0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : d 3 = ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g b0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h b0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 33 ) this is identically zero over all but the third directed fine segment , where all terms are zero except for those where p = q = 0 : d 4 = ∫ 0 i α [ ∑ p = 0 p ξ p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g cpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h cpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] ξ yielding : d 4 = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g cpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h cpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 34 ) this is identically zero over all but the second directed line segment . d 5 = ∫ 0 i β ∑ q = 0 q ξ q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g c0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h c0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : d 5 = ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g c0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h c0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 35 ) this term is identically zero over all but the first directed line segment . d 6 = ∫ 0 i f [ ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) + h f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] ξ yielding : d 6 = ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 0 n ( g f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) + h f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 36 ) substituting for d 1 , i = 1 , . . . , 6 into equation ( 29 ): ω c = [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g apqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h apqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 1 2 · [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g bpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h bpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 3 2 · [ ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g b0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h b0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 1 2 · [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g cpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h cpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] … + 3 2 · [ ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g c0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h c0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] … + ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 0 n ( g f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) + h f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 37 ) t = [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g apqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h apqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 1 2 · [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g bpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h bpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 3 2 · [ ∑ q = 0 q i β p + 1 q + 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g b0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h b0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 1 2 · [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g cpqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h cpqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + 3 2 · [ ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g c0qrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h c0qrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) - h f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 38 ) using the identities introduced earlier in equations ( 12 ) and ( 13 ), equation ( 38 ) is rewritten : t = [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g apqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h apqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 1 2 · [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g bpqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h bpqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 3 2 · [ ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g b0qn · cos ( n · θ ) - h b0qn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + - 1 2 · [ ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g cpqn · cos ( n · θ ) - h cpqn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + 3 2 · [ ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g c0qn · cos ( n · θ ) - h c0qn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ] … + ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) - h f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 38 ) the electrical model parameters naturally flow from the expression for flux linkage to that for torque . however , for motors employing permanent magnets , additional parameters appear as the electrical model is transformed into the torque model . physically , these parameters relate to how the magnets on the motor interact with themselves — cogging parameters . it is not mathematically obvious how changes in motor terminal current and voltage , as the motor spins , indicate or measure this behavior . in other words , the cogging parameters are unobservable solely via feedback from the motor terminals as the rotor turns . various methods in accordance with the present invention are available to deal with these unobservable parameters . for example , in one embodiment , the torque model terms with unobservable parameters are grouped together : t = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n 3 2 · n · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) - h f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 39 ) for the particular case of a switched reluctance machine these parameters are simply not present ( no magnets in the motor construction ) and equation ( 39 ) reduces to : t = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · 3 2 · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] ( 40 ) the triple and first double summation terms in equation ( 39 ) involve coefficients that are observable through the motor terminals while the second double summation groups those terms that are not observable . cogging torque is measured , directly or indirectly , to provide data used to derive an expression that can be substituted for the unknown grouped terms . for example , by spinning the motor on a test rig ( no current applied to the motor windings ) and measuring the cogging , a fourier series can be fitted directly to the test data and this known expression is substituted for the unknown grouped terms . consider equation ( 39 ) in the particular case when there no current is flowing in the stator phases : ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n ( g f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) - h f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) ) since i f is nominally constant , the effect of cogging can be modeled by a trigonometric polynomial : ∑ n = 1 n ( p n · sin ( n · θ ) + q n · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 41 ) the p n and q n parameters are provided by the cogging torque measurement obtained from the unenergized motor . it is then assumed that equation ( 41 ) can replace the unobservable component of the expression for torque in equation ( 39 ), that is : ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) - h f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) ) = ∑ n = 1 n ( p k · sin ( n · θ ) + q k · cos ( n · θ ) ) t = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( - 3 2 · g b0qn + 3 2 · g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( 3 2 · h b0qn - 3 2 · h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ r = 1 n ( p k · sin ( n · θ ) + q k · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 42 ) other techniques in accordance with the invention use an indirect measurement of cogging torque . this generally involves three steps . first , during commissioning , the motor is spun at speed unloaded ( free shaft ) at one or more speeds . since there is no load applied to the motor shaft , the motor current is minimal . a simple linear voltage model ( for example , including only phase currents and bemf components — the α and β currents appear independent and to the first power only ) of the motor is fitted from the voltage , current and shaft sensor information . the linear model will predict the operation of the motor at light loads quite accurately . next , the torque model for the motor is derived as described previously from the linear voltage motor . the torque model will predict the output torque of the motor at light loads quite accurately . in an alternative method , during commissioning , the motor is spun at speed unenergized and the terminal voltage is measured . using this data , part of the complete motor model , the bemf component , can be fitted . using the same method as that for the complete model , a torque model can be created from this partial electrical model . the resultant model does not fully describe how the motor generates torque over the full current range , but for small values of current it is reasonably accurate . the motor is then controlled so that position is maintained . that is , the controller energizes the windings until the motor holds a demanded position , against the cogging torque ( it is assumed that no other load is applied — the motor is operating free shaft ). knowing a relatively accurate torque model for these low current ranges , the value of cogging torque at any particular angle can now be calculated . in this way , by repeating the above process over a full revolution , data can be collected concerning the cogging model . a fourier series , for example , can be fitted , a look - up table can be created , etc ., as previously and this is used in place of those terms in the torque model that involves unobservable parameters . for numerical reasons it is desirable that the αβ - for currents are normalized so that they lie in the closed interval [− 1 , 1 ]. this process is best understood by considering equation ( 1 ): λ φ = ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 1 ) assuming flux is directly measured and that measured currents are normalized using some scale factor i , then equation ( 1 ) becomes : λ φ = ∑ p = 0 p ( i α i ) p · ∑ q = 0 q ( i β i ) q · ∑ r = 0 r ( i f i ) r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 43 ) v φ = r φ + i α i · r φ α + i β i · r φ β + i α i · i β i · r φ α β … + ∑ p = 1 p [ p ( i α i ) p - 1 · t ( i α i ) ] · ∑ q = 0 q ( i β i ) q · ∑ r = 0 r ( i f i ) r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p ( i α i ) p · ∑ [ q q = 1 q ( i β i ) q - 1 · t ( i β i ) ] ∑ r = 0 r ( i f i ) r · ∑ n = 0 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p ( i α i ) p · ∑ q = 0 q ( i β i ) q · ∑ r = 0 r ( i f i ) r · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 44 ) correspond to the derivative of the normalized current . two further equations of interest referenced earlier are those relating flux to coenergy and coenergy to torque : ω c = ∫ ∑ φ = 1 n φ λ φ i φ ( 17 ) t = ∂ ∂ θ ω c ( 18 ) the integral in equation ( 17 ) is with respect to true current measurement . from this , if the torque equation is evaluated using normalized current then true torque value is obtained my multiplying by the scaling factor i . the torque model is used by the solver 34 to calculate appropriate currents for smooth torque with zero angle sensitivity . over a single revolution of the shaft , the torque levels calculated may be such as to reject some disturbance . further , as discussed above , errors in position measurement degrade performance , and the performance tends to rapidly deteriorate with errors in angular measurement . to achieve smooth torque with zero , or at least reduced sensitivity to angular measurement , a solution is derived that considers the change in torque with respect to angle , then minimizes this variance . first , a set of nonlinear equations are solved . for n functional relationships involving variables x i , i = 1 , . . . , n : f i ( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x n )= 0 i = 1 , . . . , n ( 45 ) adopting vector notation and expanding the functions f i using the taylor series : f i ( x + δ x ) = f i ( x ) + ∑ j = 1 n ∂ ∂ x j f i · δ x j + o ( δ x 2 ) ( 46 ) j ij = ∂ ∂ x j f i ( 47 ) f ( x + δx )= f ( x )+ j · δx + o ( δ x 2 ) ( 48 ) in this particular case , the non - linear equations are for torque and zero sensitivity with respect to angle condition . in the problem under discussion , while the jacobian matrix will generally be small ( two by two or three by three ) there is little computational cost in calculating the inverse . however , there is significant overhead in calculating the individual elements of the jacobian . one way to reduce the cost of computing is to keep the jacobian constant for some number of iterations p & gt ; 1 . such a technique ( cyclic updating of the jacobian matrix ) offsets the reduction in computational cost with a deterioration in convergence rate for the solution . there are also multi - dimensional secant - type methods that avoid the explicit calculation of the jacobian through the use of multi - dimensional finite differencing . with the method described above , the initial guess to the solution has to be reasonably close because global convergence is not guaranteed . this typically is not problematical while searching for solutions for pm motors but may be so for switched reluctance motors . one possible solution is to examine the use of quasi - newton methods , which possess global convergence properties , possibly with a restart scheme . torque may be calculated via coenergy using equation ( 39 ), repeated as follows : t = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n 3 2 · n · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) - h f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 39 ) 0 = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n 3 2 · n · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] - t ( 51 ) the necessary partial derivatives or entries to the jacobian , with respect to i α and i β , can now be derived . ∂ ∂ i α t ( i α , i β , θ ) = ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] ( 52 ) ∂ ∂ i β t ( i α , i β , θ ) = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q qi β q - 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n 3 2 · n · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] hence : ( 53 ) j 11 = ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] ( 54 ) j 11 = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q qi β q - 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n 3 2 · n · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] ( 55 ) regarding zero angular sensitivity , sensitivity with respect to angle is given by : ∂ ∂ θ t = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · [ - ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · 3 2 · [ - ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) … + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] hence : ( 57 ) j 21 = ∂ ∂ i α ∂ ∂ θ t and : ( 58 ) j 22 = ∂ ∂ i β ∂ ∂ θ t ( 59 ) by changing the order of the partial derivatives , in equations ( 58 ) and ( 59 ): j 21 = ∂ ∂ θ j 11 ( 60 ) j 22 = ∂ ∂ θ j 12 ( 61 ) as noted above , cogging torque cannot be estimated using data available solely from the motor terminals . the cogging model discussed above can be incorporated directly into the solver 34 . recall that the observable and unobservable torque model terms were grouped together in equation ( 39 ). if total motor torque is separated into torque estimated via terminal variables ( t tv ) and cogging torque ( t cog ), then : ∂ ∂ θ t = ∂ ∂ θ t tv + ∂ ∂ θ t cog ( 63 ) considering t cog as solely a function of angle ( representing the angle dependant but current independent cogging ) in terms of a fourier series : ∂ ∂ i α t cog = ∂ ∂ i β t cog = 0 ( 64 ) ∂ ∂ i α ( ∂ ∂ θ t cog ) = ∂ ∂ i β ( ∂ ∂ θ t cog ) = 0 ( 65 ) from equations ( 64 ) and ( 65 ) it is seen that there is no effect upon the calculation of the jacobian matrix , see equation ( 39 ) and equations ( 51 ) to ( 61 ). the only effect is upon the calculation of true torque ( t ) and its partial derivative with respect to angle , or the sensitivity . recall equation ( 39 ): t = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 3 2 · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ r = 0 r i f r r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g f00rn · cos ( n · θ ) - h f00rn · sin ( n · θ ) ) if , as mentioned previously , t cog is treated as a function of mechanical angle via a fourier series : t cog ( θ ) = ∑ n = 1 n c ( a n · sin ( n · θ ) + b n · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 66 ) t = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n · [ ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n 3 2 · n · [ ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ n = 1 n c ( a n · sin ( n · θ ) + b n · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 67 ) true sensitivity is then the partial derivative with respect to angle of the expression for torque presented in equation ( 67 ), see equation ( 57 ): s a = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · [ - ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n 3 · n 2 2 · [ - ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ n = 1 n c n · ( a n · cos ( n · θ ) - b n · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 68 ) to this point it has been assumed that the smooth torque solution is achieved in a point by point manner . an alternative approach is to calculate the solution across the angle intervals in the interval ( 0 , 2π ) simultaneously . for convenience , the following nomenclature is introduced . suppose for a particular torque and sensitivity demand the solution is to be calculated at various angles : i = ( i α ( θ ( 1 ) ) i α ( θ ( 2 ) ) ⋯ i α ( θ ( n ) ) i β ( θ ( 1 ) ) i β ( θ ( 2 ) ) ⋯ i β ( θ ( n ) ) ) ( 69 ) the k th torque vector is a row vector defined by : φ tk =( 0 . . . 0 t ( θ ( k ), i α ( k ), i β ( k )) 0 . . . 0 ) φ sk =( 0 . . . 0 s ( θ ( k ), i α ( k ), i β ( k )) 0 . . . 0 ) a = ( φ t1 ⋯ φ tn ) b = ( φ s1 ⋯ φ sn ) finally , appropriate partial derivatives with respect to the currents are taken and the resultant matrices aggregated to form a 2n by 2n matrix : φ = ( ∂ ∂ i α a ∂ ∂ i β a ∂ ∂ i α b ∂ ∂ i β b ) ( 71 ) the desired torque and sensitivity at a particular angle θ ( k ) are given by : the 2n × 1 demand vector d of these values over the angle range is given by : d = ( t d ( θ ( 1 ) ) t d ( θ ( 2 ) ) ⋯ t d ( θ ( n ) ) s d ( θ ( 1 ) ) ⋯ s d ( θ ( 1 ) ) ) ( 72 ) and the actual values of torque and sensitivity resultant from any current combination ( i α , i β ) which constitute the iterated solution are given by the column vector : a = ( t ( θ ( 1 ) , i α ( 1 ) , i β ( 1 ) ) t ( θ ( 2 ) , i α ( 2 ) , i β ( 2 ) ) ⋯ t ( θ ( n ) , i α ( n ) , i β ( n ) ) s ( θ ( 1 ) , i α ( 1 ) , i β ( 1 ) ) ⋯ s ( θ ( n ) , i α ( n ) , i β ( n ) ) ) ( 73 ) starting from a reasonable guess , three to fifteen iterations is typically sufficient when dealing with a pm motor . as in the switched reluctance motor case previously , issues of convergence becomes critical . typical seed values for the pm motor are usually chosen to lie upon a sine wave generated with some harmonic appropriate to the machine in question . hence , in the unstacked version of the solver : in the stacked version this expression is replaced with sine feeds of the appropriate magnitude and harmonic , for example , five in a 12 - 10 pm motor . an alternative to approach to that outlined above is to view the problem as a constrained non - linear optimization task with respect to the alpha beta currents for each angle : [ 0205 ] ∂ ∂ θ t ( i α , i β , θ ( k ) ) = 0 t ( i α , i β , θ ( k ))= t demand such a problem is a particular case of that described in sensitivity of automatic control systems by rosenwasser and yusupov ( crc press , 1999 ). in some cases where cogging frequencies are high , the resultant current profiles may prove difficult to follow . of course , increasingly complex and expensive drives can provide better current profile following capabilities . in practice , a reasonable balance between cost and current following capabilities is required . one solution is the removal of the higher harmonic terms from all the sensitivity expressions presented throughout this disclosure . in particular , consider the expression presented in equation ( 71 ). if the higher harmonic terms are ignored , above n t , then : s a = ∑ p = 0 p i α p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · [ - ( g apqn - g bpqn 2 - g cpqn 2 ) · sin ( n · θ ) … + ( - h apqn + h bpqn 2 + h cpqn 2 ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ q = 0 q i β q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n 3 · n 2 2 · [ - ( - g b0qn + g c0qn ) · sin ( n · θ ) + ( h b0qn - h c0qn ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ n = 1 n t n · ( a n · cos ( n · θ ) - b n · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 75 ) typically the cut - off harmonic will be in the range 35 to 40 . this will result in smoother current profiles , which in the presence of error in angular precision , will introduce higher frequency torque ripple somewhat more quickly than would otherwise be the case . if balanced feed is not used , it is necessary to use the abc - for . as with the αβ - for discussion above , the following disclosure is generally provided in terms of a three phase hybrid motor , though the model form can be generalized into different types of rotating machines having any number of phases by one skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure . for notational convenience , the abc - stator phases are represented by “ 1 ,” “ 2 ” and “ 3 ” subscripts , while the single rotor phase is represented by a “ 4 ” subscript . the general form of the flux linkage model in the abc - for is given by : λ φ ( i 1 , i 2 , i 3 , i 4 , θ ) = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 76 ) v φ = i φ · r φ + t λ φ ( 4 ) t λ φ = ∑ p = 0 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ( t i 1 ) · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q qi 2 q - 1 · ( t i 2 ) · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r · r = 0 r i 3 r - 1 · ( t i 3 ) · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s si 4 s - 1 · ( t i 4 ) · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 77 ) v φ = i φ · r φ + ∑ p = 0 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ( t i 1 ) · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q q = 0 q i 2 q - 1 · ( t i 2 ) · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r · r = 0 r i 3 r - 1 · ( t i 3 ) · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s si 4 s - 1 · ( t i 4 ) · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 78 ) as noted herein above , in the particular case of a switched reluctance motor : t i f ≡ 0 ( 9 ) so in the case of a switched reluctance motor , equation ( 78 ) yields v φ = i φ · r φ + ∑ p = 0 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ( t i 1 ) · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q q = 0 q i 2 q - 1 · ( t i 2 ) · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r · r = 0 r i 3 r - 1 · ( t i 3 ) · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 79 ) recall from equations ( 17 ) and ( 18 ), coenergy and torque are found using the expressions : ω c = ∫ ∑ φ = 1 4 λ φ i c ( 17 ) t = ∂ ∂ θ ω c ( 18 ) any reasonable integral path can be selected ; in certain embodiments four directed line segments are used : variable of integration i 4 di 4 ≠ c i 1 , i 2 , i 3 , di 1 , di 2 , di 3 = c variable of integration i 1 di 1 ≠ c i 4 = i 4 i 2 , i 3 , di 2 , di 3 , di 4 = c variable of integration i 2 di 2 ≠ c i 4 = i 4 i 1 = i 1 i 3 , di 1 , di 3 , di 4 = c variable of integration i 3 di 3 ≠ c i 4 = i 4 i 1 = i 1 i 2 = i 2 di 1 , di 2 , di 4 = c this path is selected to minimize the number of unobservable parameters appearing in the final expression for torque . the integrals are then evaluated over the selected path . substituting equation ( 76 ) into equation ( 17 ): ω c = ∫ [ ∑ φ = 1 4 ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ] i c ( 80 ) ω c = ∑ φ = 1 4 f c ( 81 ) f φ = ∫ ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) i c ( 82 ) in the particular case of a switched reluctance machine ( no permanent magnets ) there is no associated stator phase : f φ = ∫ ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) i c φ = 1 , 2 , 3 . f 1 = ∫ ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 1 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 1 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) i 1 this is identically zero over all but the second dls , where : i 4 = i 4 i 1 , i 2 , i 3 = c di 2 , d 3 , d 4 = c f 1 = ∫ 0 i 1 ∑ p = 0 p ξ p · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 1 p00sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 1 p00sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : f 1 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 1 p00sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 1 p00sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 83 ) f 2 = ∫ ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 2 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 2 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) i 2 this is identically zero along all but the third dls , where : f 2 = ∫ 0 i 2 ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q ξ q · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 2 pq0sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 2 pq0sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : f 2 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 2 pq0sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 2 pq0sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 84 ) f 3 = ∫ ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) i 3 this is identically zero along all but the fourth dls , where : f 3 = ∫ 0 i 3 ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r ξ r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 3 pqsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : f 3 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 85 ) f 4 = ∫ ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 4 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 4 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) i 4 this is identically zero along all but the first dls , where : f 4 = ∫ 0 i f ∑ s = 0 s ξ s · ∑ ( n = 1 n g 4000 sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 4000 sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ξ yielding : f 4 = ∑ s = 0 s i f s + 1 s + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 4000 sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 4000 sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 86 ) substituting equations ( 83 ) to ( 86 ) into equation ( 81 ) results in the expression : ω c = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 1 p00sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 1 p00sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 2 pq0sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 2 pq0sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ s = 0 s i f s + 1 s + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n ( g 4000 sn · sin ( n · θ ) + h 4000 sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 87 ) recalling equation ( 18 ) it is seen that , in the abc - for , torque is given by : t = ∑ p = 0 p i f p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 1 p00sn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00sn · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0sn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0sn · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ s = 0 s i f s + 1 s + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 4000 sn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 4000 sn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 88 ) t = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i f q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 89 ) data collection schemes suitable for parameter estimation were addressed above , including exemplary constant phase current and varying phase current schemes . the varying current scheme , which is typical of practical applications , is considered below . recall equation ( 78 ): v φ = i φ · r φ + ∑ p = 1 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ( t i 1 ) · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqesn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q qi 2 q - 1 · ( t i 2 ) · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r r · i 3 r - 1 · ( t i 3 ) · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ω · n · ( g φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 78 ) v φ ω = i φ ω · r φ + [ 1 ω · ( t i 1 ) ] · ∑ p = 1 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + [ 1 ω · ( t i 2 ) ] · ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q qi 2 q - 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + [ 1 ω · ( t i 3 ) ] · ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r r · i 3 r - 1 · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g φ pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 90 ) the state variables assigned to the notional rotor phase are not observable via the motor terminals . hence , the nominally constant rotor current must be lumped in with those model parameters that are observable , as disclosed above with respect to the model formulated for the αβ - for . the following identities are defined : ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · g φ pqrsn = g φ pqrn for all p , q and r ( 91 ) ∑ s = 0 s i 4 s · h φ pqrsn = h φ pqrn for all p , q and r ( 92 ) using the identities provided by equations ( 91 ) and ( 92 ), equation ( 90 ) yields : v φ ω = i φ ω · r φ + [ 1 ω · ( t i 1 ) ] · ∑ p = 1 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + [ 1 ω · ( t i 1 ) ] · ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q qi 2 q - 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + [ 1 ω · ( t i 3 ) ] · ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r r · i 3 r - 1 · ∑ n = 1 n ( g φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + h φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - h φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 93 ) using the identities presented in equations ( 91 ) and ( 92 ), equation ( 89 ) is also re - written : t = ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ s = 0 s i f s + 1 s + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 4000 sn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 4000 sn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 94 ) t = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 95 ) not all model parameters from the voltage fit are present in the final expressions for torque as a result of the path selected in evaluating the integral . the approach implemented by the solver 34 to calculate the required currents to achieve desired motor behavior , such as smooth torque with angle sensitivity minimized , is similar in the abc - for as that disclosed above with regard to the αβ - for the main difference is that the jacobian is a three by three matrix with the third row elements being given by some constriction upon the values which the abc - for currents may take . for the purposes of the current disclosure , it will be assumed that any solution chosen will in some way minimize the sum of squares of the individual phase currents . suppose torque is calculated via coenergy using the torque model with abc - for set out in equation ( 88 ): t = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ s = 0 s i f s + 1 s + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 4000 sn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 4000 sn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 88 ) the necessary partial derivatives or entries to the jacobian , with respect to i 1 , i 2 and i 3 , can now be derived . ∂ ∂ i 1 t = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p p · i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 96 ) ∂ ∂ i 2 t = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q q · i 2 q - 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 97 ) ∂ ∂ i 3 t = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 98 ) hence : j 11 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 1 p p · i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 99 ) j 12 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q q · i 2 q - 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 100 ) j 13 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 3 pqrsn · cos ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) ( 101 ) as stated previously in equation ( 56 ), sensitivity with respect to angle is given by : ∂ ∂ θ t = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p + 1 p + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ s = 0 s i f s + 1 s + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( g 4000 sn · sin ( n · θ ) - h 4000 sn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 102 ) hence , the elements of the second row of the jacobian are given by the following expressions : j 21 = ∂ ∂ i 1 ∂ ∂ θ t ( 103 ) j 22 = ∂ ∂ i 2 ∂ ∂ θ t ( 104 ) j 23 = ∂ ∂ i 3 ∂ ∂ θ t ( 105 ) j 21 = ∂ ∂ θ j 11 ( 106 ) j 22 = ∂ ∂ θ j 12 ( 107 ) j 23 = ∂ ∂ θ j 13 ( 108 ) explicitly : j 21 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 1 p00n · sin ( n · θ ) - h 1 p00n · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p p · i 1 p - 1 · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q + 1 q + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p p · i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 109 ) j 22 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 2 pq0n · sin ( n · θ ) - h 2 pq0n · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q q · i 2 q - 1 · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r + 1 r + 1 · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 110 ) j 23 = ∑ p = 0 p i 1 p · ∑ q = 0 q i 2 q · ∑ r = 0 r i 3 r · ∑ n = 1 n n 2 · ( - g 3 pqrsn · sin ( n · θ ) - h 3 pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) ( 111 ) the criterion used in selecting current can be to either balance the feed or minimize the sum of squares . in the case of the least squares sum , the following is minimized : i ss = ∑ k = 1 3 i k 2 ( 112 ) ∂ ∂ i k i ss = 2 · i k = c ( 113 ) the third row of the jacobian is then given by expressions of the form : j 3 k = ∂ 2 ∂ i k 2 i ss = 2 ( 114 ) cogging can be included into the solver 34 in the same way as described above in conjunction with the αβ - for smooth torque solver . moreover , in a manner similar to that disclosed with the αβ - for smooth torque solver , the solution may be calculated across the angle intervals in a given interval simultaneously , rather than in a point by point manner . for a particular torque and sensitivity demand , the solution is to be calculated at various angles : i =( i a ( θ ( 1 )) . . . i a ( θ ( n )) i b ( θ ( 1 )) . . . i b ( θ ( n )) i c ( θ ( 1 )) . . . i c ( θ ( n ))) t ( 115 ) φ tk =( 0 . . . 0 t ( θ ( k ), i a ( k ), i b ( k ), i c ( k )) 0 . . . 0 ) φ sk =( 0 . . . 0 s ( θ ( k ), i a ( k ), i b ( k ), i c ( k )) 0 . . . 0 ) φ ik =( 0 . . . 0 i ss ( i a ( k ), i b ( k ), i c ( k )) 0 . . . 0 ) a = ( φ t1 ⋯ φ tn ) b = ( φ s1 ⋯ φ sn ) c = ( φ i1 ⋯ φ in ) thus , appropriate partial derivatives with respect to the currents are taken and the resultant matrices aggregated to form a 3n by 3n matrix : φ = ( ∂ ∂ i a a ∂ ∂ i b a ∂ ∂ i c a ∂ ∂ i a a ∂ ∂ i b b ∂ ∂ i c c ∂ ∂ i a a ∂ ∂ i b b ∂ ∂ i c c ) ( 117 ) the desired torque , sensitivity and rate of change of the sum of squares at a particular angle θ ( k ) are given by : the demand vector d of these values over the angle range is given by : d = ( t d ( θ ( 1 ) ) t d ( θ ( 2 ) ) ⋯ t d ( θ ( n ) ) s d ( θ ( 1 ) ) s d ( θ ( 2 ) ) ⋯ s d ( θ ( n ) ) i ( θ ( 1 ) ) ⋯ i ( θ ( n ) ) ) ( 118 ) and the actual values of torque and sensitivity resultant from any current combination ( i a , i b , i c ) which constitute the iterated solution are given by the column vector : a = ( t d ( θ ( 1 ) , i a ( 1 ) , i b ( 1 ) , i c ( 1 ) ) t ( θ ( 2 ) , i a ( 2 ) , i b ( 2 ) , i c ( 2 ) ) ⋯ t ( θ ( n ) , i a ( n ) , i b ( n ) , i c ( n ) ) s ( θ ( 1 ) , i a ( 1 ) , i b ( 1 ) , i c ( 1 ) ) ⋯ s ( θ ( n ) , i a ( n ) , i b ( n ) , i c ( n ) ) ) ( 119 ) in one embodiment of the invention , a pm motor was used with a model fitted via the terminal variables as described herein . from this , smooth torque feeds were calculated for a variety of loads . fig4 illustrates the calculated current profiles for various torques , showing three phase currents generated for a smooth torque solution . fig5 shows a plot for a typical 12 - 10 pm motor , for which excluding noise and peaks ( the plot illustrates raw data ) ripple approaches 2 % of the mean or 0 . 8 % of the maximum rated torque for that motor ( 2 . 5 nm ). it has been assumed that the individual components of the electrical model and correspondingly the torque model comprise products of polynomials and trigonometric functions . in alternative embodiments , the polynomials are replaced with true orthogonal functions . these orthogonal functions are built up from polynomials in a recursive manner . in particular polynomials of the form : 1 2 , 3 2 · x , 5 8 · ( 3 x 2 - 1 ) , 7 8 · ( 5 · x 3 - 3 · x ) , 3 8 · 2 · ( 35 · x 4 + 3 - 30 · x 2 ) , 43659 128 · ( x 5 - 70 63 · x 3 + 15 63 · x ) there are a number of sound theoretical and practical reasons why models using true orthogonal functions are to be preferred . typically , more accurate models that have fewer terms can be derived . such a statement is true when the order of the current terms grows beyond 2 . the theoretical reason for this is well understood by those with an understanding of such mathematical structures . succinctly , model components that are orthogonal to one another do not interact in a detrimental manner . unnecessary model complexity is avoided and the result is that the torque estimate , achieved via the previously described transforms , are improved . the process necessary to derive the mathematical expressions necessary is essentially the same as those described previously . for the purposes of brevity , the critical mathematical expressions and notation are presented without unnecessary repetition of the associated derivations for the balanced feed case . λ φ ( i α , i β , θ ) = ∑ p = 0 p g p ( i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) · ∑ r = 0 r g r ( i f ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( a φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + b φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) t λ φ = ∑ p = 0 p f p ( i α ) · ( t i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) ∑ r = 0 r g r ( i f ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( a φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + b φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p g p ( i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q f q ( i β ) · ( t i β ) · ∑ r = 0 r g p ( i f ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( a φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + b φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p g p ( i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) · ∑ r = 0 r f r ( i β ) · ( t i f ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( a φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + b φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p g p ( i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) · ∑ r = 0 r g r ( i f ) · ∑ n = 1 n n · ω · ( a φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - b φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) where : x g p ( x ) = f p ( x ) v φ ω = r φ ω + i α ω · r φ α + i β ω · r φ β + i α · i β ω · r φ α β … + [ 1 ω · ( t i α ) ] · ∑ p = 0 p f p ( i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( a φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + b φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + [ 1 ω · ( t i β ) ] · ∑ p = 0 p g p ( i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q f q ( i β ) · ∑ n = 0 n ( a φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) + b φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) ) … + ∑ p = 0 p g p ( i α ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) · ∑ n = 1 n n · ( a φ pqrn · cos ( n · θ ) - b φ pqrn · sin ( n · θ ) ) coenergy is derived in a similar manner as previously resulting in : ω c = ∑ p = 0 p ( h p ( i α ) - h p ( 0 ) ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) · ∑ n = 0 n [ ( a a pqrn - 1 2 · a b pqrn - 1 2 · a c pqrn ) · sin ( n · θ ) … + ( b a pqrn - 1 2 · b b pqrn - 1 2 · b c pqrn ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ p = 0 p g p ( 0 ) · ∑ q = 0 q ( h q ( i β ) - h q ( 0 ) ) · ∑ n = 0 n [ ( - 3 2 · a b pqrn + 3 2 · a c pqrn ) · sin ( n · θ ) … + ( - 3 2 · a b pqrn + 3 2 · a c pqrn ) · cos ( n · θ ) ] t = ∑ p = 0 p ( h p ( i α ) - h p ( 0 ) ) · ∑ q = 0 q g q ( i β ) · ∑ n = 0 n n · [ ( a a pqrn - 1 2 · a b pqrn - 1 2 · a c pqrn ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + - ( b a pqrn - 1 2 · b b pqrn - 1 2 · b c pqrn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] … + ∑ p = 0 p g p ( 0 ) · ∑ q = 0 q ( h q ( i β ) - h q ( 0 ) ) · ∑ n = 0 n n · [ ( - 3 2 · a b pqrn + 3 2 · a c pqrn ) · cos ( n · θ ) … + ( - 3 2 · a b pqrn + 3 2 · a c pqrn ) · sin ( n · θ ) ] as previously , a solver can now be defined which will calculate the necessary current values to achieve the desired solution . one property and advantage associated with the use of model components which are truly orthonormal is that with just the most basic model present it is possible to calculate the parameters of other additional orthonormal model components in isolation from one another . that is , the model can be refined by the addition of a new orthonormal expression . the parameters for the model components estimated and the new model component can be either kept or discarded dependant upon the magnitude of the parameter associated with it . in this manner , many different model components can be sieved in a numerically efficient and elegant manner to determine whether they should be included in the model or not . more particularly , the model fitting process can be fully automated . starting from a very basic model ( the presence of resistance terms , non - angle varying inductance ) it is possible to automate the selection of model components . starting from a basic model as described above , the electrical model is extended by selecting one or more additional “ candidate ” basis functions . refiting the model results in a new set of model parameters . those parts of the model , or functions , with significant coefficients or parameters are kept while other parts are rejected . the test for significant a model component can be as simple as testing whether the absolute value of the coefficient is greater than some predefined percentage of the absolute value of the current biggest parameter . such a sieving process allows for the automatic building up of a model . it is the use of orthonormal basis functions which allows for this activity , due to their minimal interaction . if the “ standard ” polynomials are used then the sieving process becomes confused . the adaptive control schemes disclosed herein have several applications . for example , in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention , the control scheme is embedded into a speed control loop for use in a speed servo application . the particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only , as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein . for example , the electrical model which uses a product of polynomials and trigonometric functions can be written as a product of polynomials and complex exponentials : λ φ = ∑ p = 0 p i α p · ∑ q = 0 q i β q · ∑ r = 0 r i f r · ∑ n = - n n e φ pqrn · exp ( · n · θ ) furthermore , no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown , other than as described in the claims below . it is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention . accordingly , the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below . | 7 |
fig1 shows the selectable cartridge assembly . the cartridge consists of a cartridge head 10 , a dual - bed propellant chamber 20 , a primer 30 , and a tube 40 . a projectile 50 is positioned within the tube 40 thereby contacting the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 . the projectile 50 may take any form and shape required for the application . the projectile 50 is secured with a frangible cover 44 at one end of the tube 40 . the frangible cover 44 also provides an environmental seal for interior of the selectable cartridge . the tube 40 is constructed from plastics practiced by those skilled in the art . the frangible cover 44 is formed using conventional crimping techniques known to those in the art . fig2 shows one such embodiment , an eight - fold crimp . two propellant cavities lower 61 within the high - velocity bed 21 and one propellant cavity upper 60 within the low - velocity bed 22 are housed within the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 . fig4 through 7 show the location of the propellant charges within the propellant cavity upper 60 and propellant cavity lower 61 . charges may consist of any formulation required for the application . fig3 shows the cartridge head 10 . the cartridge head 10 consists of a rotation band 12 and base cap 14 . the rotation band 12 and base cap 14 consist of a metal . the preferred embodiments consist of brass , steel , and aluminum . the most preferred embodiment is brass . the base cap 14 contains a lower rotational flange 16 , a primer hole 18 at the opposite end to accommodate a primer 30 , and a rim 15 . the rim 15 is a circular flange at the end opposite the lower rotational flange 14 . it serves as a positive stop when the cartridge is inserted into the gun breach . the primer 30 is compression loaded into the primer hole 18 thereby attaching it to the base cap 14 so that both rotate as a single unit . the rotation band 12 contains an upper rotational flange 17 and an interlock channel 19 . the base cap 14 and rotation band 12 are assembled by compression loading the items such that the lower rotational flange 16 and upper rotational flange 17 engage . a rotation channel 11 is provided between base cap 14 and rotation band 12 along the exterior circumference of the cartridge head 10 adjacent to the lower rotational flange 16 and upper rotational flange 17 . this feature accommodates the flange 42 at the one end of the tube 40 . this arrangement allows the base cap 14 to rotate independently from the rotation band 12 . the interlock channel 19 consists of two narrow grooves along the inside of the rotation band 12 offset by 180 degrees . the interlock channels 19 accommodate the two interlock tabs 26 on the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 . this arrangement secures the rotation of the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 to the rotation band 12 . the rotation band 12 is of smaller diameter than the base cap 14 . the tube 40 is secured to the outside circumferential surface of the rotation band 12 . attachment is achieved by an adhesive , threading , or the direct molding of the tube 40 onto the rotation band 12 . the outer diameter of the tube 40 is no greater than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion of the base cap 14 . the flange 42 serves several functions : it further secures the tube 40 to the rotation band 12 ; it provides a gas seal thereby preventing leakage of combustion products from the cartridge ; it facilitates rotation by providing a sliding surface between the rotation band 12 and base cap 14 ; and it facilitates the assembly of the rotation band 12 and base cap 14 by providing a positive stop during the compression assembly of the cartridge head 10 . the rotational motion of the cartridge head 10 is secured by means of four rotation lock notches 13 on the base cap 14 and four rotation lock tabs 46 on the flange 42 of the tube 40 . fig8 shows one such pair of rotation lock notches 13 and rotation lock tabs 46 in the locked position . the rotation lock notches 13 and rotation lock tabs 46 are set at 90 degree intervals around the circumference of the cartridge head 10 . the depth of the rotation lock notch 13 and thickness of the rotation lock tab 46 is sufficient to prevent inadvertent rotation of the cartridge head 10 yet facilitate rotational motion where desired . the primer 30 contains a plurality of flash holes 32 which communicate the ignition train to one of two propellant beds . primer 30 construction is that practiced by those in the art . flash holes 32 are aligned along the length of the primer 30 forming two lines which are symmetric with respect to the longitudinal axis of the primer 30 . the flash holes 32 align with the location of one pair of rotation lock notches 13 and rotation lock tabs 46 . two views along the longitudinal axis of the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 are shown in fig1 and 4 . the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 consists of a single piece - plastic unit fabricated by methods known to those skilled in the art of machining , injection molding , and extruding . the preferred embodiments is comprised of polyethylene or polypropylene . the most preferred embodiment is polypropylene . critical features include a high - velocity bed 21 , a low - velocity bed 22 , a plurality of ignition covers 23 , a primer shroud 24 , a propellant bed bulkhead 25 , two interlock tabs 26 , an exterior wall 27 , a gas seal ring 28 , two ignition suppression bulkheads lower cavity 29 , and two ignition suppression bulkheads upper cavity 31 . the high - velocity bed 21 consists of two symmetric cavities divided by two ignition suppression bulkheads 29 . the ignition suppression bulkheads upper cavity 31 and the primer shroud 24 extend into the low - velocity bed 22 . both beds are further divided by the propellant bed bulkhead 25 of sufficient thickness to shield the non - initiated bed from that which is initiated . both beds are shielded from the primer 30 by the primer shroud 24 . the primer shroud 24 forms a sealed cavity along the longitudinal axis of the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 . the exterior wall 27 further shields the propellant cavity lower 61 and propellant cavity upper 60 in the adjacent beds from unintended ignition by either exposure to combustion products or heat flow from the gun breach during high cycle rates . the exterior wall 27 must be sufficiently flexible to facilitate its compression assembly into the cartridge head 10 and to allow its ejection from the gun barrel when the high - velocity bed 21 is ignited . the wall profile is such that it conforms to the interior of the cartridge head 10 . the lowermost end is angled to facilitate separation of the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 from the cartridge head 10 . the gas ring seal 28 is a circular flange at the uppermost end of the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 adjacent to the projectile 50 . this item provides a positive stop during compression assembly of the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 into the cartridge head 10 . its primary function is as a gas seal . during combustion of the propellant charge in the low - velocity bed 22 , the gas seal ring 28 compresses against the rotation band 12 thus shielding the high - velocity bed 21 . during combustion of the propellant charges in the high - velocity bed 21 , the gas seal ring 28 contacts the gun barrel so that combustion products do not reach the propellant charge in the low - velocity bed 22 . combustible covers 62 are glued or mechanically attached to both ends of the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 . combustible covers 62 are either kraft paper or thin metal foil . these covers further shield the propellant charge in one bed from the combustion products from another . additionally , they contain the propellant charge within the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 during assembly with the cartridge head 10 . the high - velocity bed 21 is of greater volume than the low - velocity bed 22 as required to achieve the desired launch velocities . the low - velocity bed 22 resides adjacent to the projectile 50 . the high - velocity bed 21 and ignition suppression bulkheads lower cavity 29 are offset at a 90 degree angle with respect to the low - velocity bed 22 and its ignition suppression bulkheads upper cavity 31 . in the high - velocity bed 21 , a plurality of ignition covers 23 lie along two lines offset by 180 degrees along the longitudinal length of the primer shroud 24 in a symmetric pattern . in the low - velocity bed 22 , two ignition covers 23 are offset by 180 degrees along the length of the primer shroud 24 . ignition covers 23 are formed by reducing the wall thickness of the primer shroud 24 such that ignition products from the primer 30 perforate the wall and ignite the propellant charge . fig1 , and 7 show the ignition covers 23 . the ignition covers 23 in the high - velocity bed 21 and low - velocity bed 22 are offset at a 90 degree angle . ignition covers 23 coincide with the location of flash holes 32 in the primer 30 . the above described arrangement of the high - velocity bed 21 , low - velocity bed 22 , ignition suppression bulkheads lower cavity 29 , ignition suppression bulkheads upper cavity 31 and ignition covers 23 facilitates the alignment of flash holes 32 with the ignition covers 23 in one propellant bed and the ignition suppression bulkheads of another bed at any given time . the result is the communication of the burn train in the primer 30 with the propellant charge in only one bed . velocity selection is accomplished by the mechanical rotation of the base cap 14 and rotation band 12 . rotation of the base cap 14 aligns the flash holes 32 along the primer 30 with the appropriate ignition cover 23 and propellant bed . a quarter turn changes the functional mode of the round . the round is subsequently chambered in the weapon . in the high - velocity mode , the flash holes 32 are rotated to align with the ignition covers 23 in the high - velocity bed 21 and the ignition suppression bulkheads upper cavity 31 in the low - velocity bed 22 . when the hammer on the weapon strikes the primer 30 , the powder in the primer 30 burns projecting combustion products from the flash holes 32 which perforate the ignition covers 23 along the primer shroud 24 thus igniting the propellant charges in the high - velocity bed 21 . the combustion products propel the dual - bed propellant chamber 20 and projectile 50 from the tube 40 after breaking the frangible cover 44 . the gas seal ring 28 travels along the gun barrel thereby insuring the efficient acceleration of the projectile 50 . the low - velocity bed 22 and propellant charge are ejected from the gun barrel without ignition . in the low - velocity mode , the flash holes 32 are rotated to align with the ignition covers 23 in the low - velocity bed 22 and the ignition suppression bulkheads lower cavity 29 in the high - velocity bed 21 . when the gun hammer strikes the primer 30 , the powder in the primer 30 burns projecting combustion products from the flash holes 32 which perforate the ignition covers 23 along the primer shroud 24 thus igniting the propellant charge in the low - velocity bed 22 . the combustion products propel the projectile 50 from the tube 40 after breaking the frangible cover 44 . the gas seal ring 28 is compressed into the rotation band 12 . the high - velocity bed 21 and its propellant charge remain intact within the cartridge head 10 . accordingly , it can be seen that the invention facilitates not only a dual level of response by law enforcement or military personnel against hostile threats but variable range inherent to velocity adjustment . in the realm of dual response , the invention enables the user to project a bullet or projectile with lethal effects where it would otherwise be non - lethal . the primary advantage of this invention is a fully mechanical selector mechanism which tailors the projectile velocity . also it is important to note that the cartridge design and function is compatible with existing weapons . the concept is ideally suited to a smoothbore , 12 - gauge shotgun . although the description above contains many specificities , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention . various other embodiments and ramifications are possible . for example , the invention is suited to the launch of a incendiary projectile . in this application , both beds could contain equal amounts of propellant . the front bed would be ignited to launch the projectile such that its incendiary core burns . the back bed would be ignited to the launch the projectile in its inert condition . thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents , rather than by the examples given . | 5 |
having reference to fig1 a multisensor vehicle - mounted mine detector 1 or mvmmd is provided comprising leading sensors 2 , 3 , 4 , a remote - controlled detection vehicle ( rdv ), and a trailing sensor 6 . the three leading sweep sensors 2 , 3 , 4 are supported off of and lead the rdv 5 for sweeping a path . the leading sensors comprise a ground penetrating radar ( gpr ) 4 , a metal detection electromagnetic induction sensor ( emi ) 3 , and an infrared scanning camera 2 . the leading sensors 2 , 3 , 4 determine whether a detected object is a target of interest ( toi ). turning to fig1 - 4 , the trailing sensor 6 confirms whether a toi is a mine or not . various devices are known such as chemical sniffers and thermal neutron activation sensors . in the preferred embodiment a thermal neutron activation sensor ( tna ) 6 is towed behind the rdv 5 . the custom tna 6 is an inherently heavy sensor ( about 270 kgs ) and is supported in its own trailer 20 which distributes weight between the trailer 20 and the rdv 5 and thus and keeps the rdv ground pressure low . the trailer 20 is supported on two steerable wheels 21 , 22 which can be rotated about a vertical axis or pivot 23 to permit polar swinging action ( fig2 ). the trailer 20 is connected to the rear of rdv 5 with a hitch swivel 25 and a telescoping tongue 26 . the hitch swivel 25 permits both polar movement and up and down rotation . the tna 6 itself is further suspended within a frame 29 on a radial gantry 29 within the trailer 20 ( fig4 ). the frame 30 is vertically positionable in the trailer 20 for positioning the tna 6 as close to the ground as possible when sensing and for lifting the tna for providing clearance during positioning . individually , the leading sensors 2 , 3 , 4 alarm at disturbances in the ground . as shown in fig5 alarms from each of the leading sensors 2 , 3 , 4 are processed using data fusion for enhancing detection and identifying targets of interest ( toi ). a toi is tested by the tna 6 for possible confirmation as a mine at the option of an operator . the arrangement of three sensors 2 , 3 , 4 , for sensing while moving , and a trailing confirmation sensor 6 , for sensing while stationary , is an optimized arrangement . spacing and placement of the sensors minimizes overall length of the mvmmd 1 while still providing an operator with sufficient lead time ( minimum 3 . 5 meters ) between the closest leading sensor 4 and the confirming tna 6 for decision - making and for controlled deceleration of the mvmmd 1 . as discussed above , the ability to use tna technology in a stationary confirmation role lifts restrictions on the design of a tna apparatus , said prior art apparatus either having the luxury of long interrogation times or conversely being required to perform interrogation in a fraction of a second in a moving role . either restriction is too onerous to provide a practical tna sensor . conversely , having reference to fig6 a tna sensor 101 is provided . the tna sensor 101 can be placed accurately over a target of interest 102 ( like a mine ). accordingly , the tna sensor 101 can be strong enough to produce relatively short interrogation times , yet be made small , light ( about 270 kgs ) and at relatively low cost . in particular , a tna point confirmation sensor , model minescans , was manufactured for the department of national defence by science applications international corporation ( saic canada ), ottawa , ontario . the tna sensor 101 comprises a 100 μg neutron source 103 of isotopic californium ( 252 cf ) which emits energetic neutrons n which are slowed prior entering the ground 104 for reaction with nitrogen - 14 nuclei ( 14 n ). the 14 n combine with the slow neutrons to form an energetic 15 n isotope which decays , emitting a number of prompt gamma rays . the tna sensor 101 is associated with a ground proximity sensor ( not - shown ) so that the tna sensor 101 is not inadvertently lowered into contact with a potential mine 102 . for landmine detection , the most pertinent of these emissions of gamma rays is the highest energy transition at 10 . 835 mev . at this transition energy there will be virtually no competing reactions — save for a weak 10 . 611 mev transition from neutron capture in 30 si , common in most soils . detection of this energy transition permits use of poor - resolution high efficiency sodium iodide nal ( ti ) scintillation cameras or detectors 105 as opposed to high - resolution cryogenically - cooled detectors ( intrinsic ge which have a lower detection efficiency ). the gamma rays impinge one or more detectors 105 . as the gamma rays pass through the scintillation crystal — nal ( ti ) — they produce scintillation events — light . the events are detected by a photomultiplier tube 106 ( not shown in fig6 ). the signals produced by the photomultipliers 106 are combined into an output signal comprising serial pulses representing the scintillation events . the pulses are counted and are representative of the presence and concentration of 14 n . the strong source results in high returned gamma ray count rates . sophisticated electronics are necessary to deal with observed count rates at the detectors at about 200 , 000 cps or greater . both the nal ( ti ) crystal and photomultiplier tube 106 are commercially - available , such from teledyne - brown and hammamatsu respectively . the nal ( ti ) crystal and photomultiplier tube are preferably pre - qualified based upon their abilities to handle both the rates and high energies expected . the detectors 105 are ruggedly mounted in a frame . for a marginal increasing in capture efficiency , each detector 105 is angled downward and inwardly ( not shown ), roughly converging in the ground 102 below the source 103 . having reference to the schematic of fig7 the photomultiplier 106 monitors the nal ( ti ) crystal for a visible event . the photomultiplier produces a signal with a pulse representing each event . the signal passes through an amplifier 107 ( with a clipping delay ) and a filter 108 . the filter signal is delayed and then enters a fast linear gate 109 , controlled by a constant fraction discriminator ( cfd ) 110 for reducing deadtime ( where the processing electronics are unable to process one pulse before the next arrives ). the cfd 110 has a threshold set to approximately 5 mev . the combination of the linear gate 109 and cfd 110 lowers gamma ray pulse counting rates from about 200 , 000 to about 5 , 000 cps . the linear gate 109 is open for 160 ns for each accepted pulse . the counting rate while the gate 109 is open is still so high that adjacent low energy pulses can pile - up and pass the cfd 110 as a high energy pulse and be improperly counted as nitrogen - caused . this piled - up pulse must be identified and rejected . accordingly , a pile - up rejector circuit 111 is provided which utilizes a gated - integrator technique ( fig8 ) for rejecting pulses based upon shape distortion compared to “ normal ” pulses . both pre and post pile - up events are detected . the technique is capable of detecting distortion in pulses as closely spaced as 15 ns and rejecting them . more specifically , having reference to fig8 , the pile - up rejection circuit 111 accepts an amplified pulse signal which is fed as an input to a buffer 112 . the signal is delayed to compensate for a delay in a pulse analysis start signal from the cfd . the signal then enters an integrator 113 which determines two or more integrals of each examined pulse of the serial train of pulses . if the examined pulse is not of a normal shape ( i . e . not gaussian or other “ normal ” shape ) then the pulse is rejected . effectively , the gated integrator 113 integrates each pulse over time ; firstly ; for the whole pulse gi 1 ( between the beginning of the pulse to a time well past the pulse ) and secondly for about one half of the pulse gi 2 ( between well before the beginning of the pulse to the middle of the pulse ). a third integral gi 3 represents the integral from the middle of the pulse to a time well past the end of the pulse . comparison of the integrals of a portion of the pulse to the whole of the pulse is illustrative of distortion of the pulse . difference amplifier 114 performs the comparison of the different integrations . actually , the gate integrator performs one entire pulse integration and two portions are subdivided out of the overall integration to provide the pre and post integration portions gi 2 , gi 3 . a calibration is obtained for an actual pulse which has not piled - up . this can be achieved by obtaining data at low count rates where the pulses are not piled up . the integrals from the first integration gi 1 and second integration gi 2 are of opposite sign . summing of the two signals yields a differential s . weighted differences for the two integrals gi 1 , gi 2 can be applied and adjusted so that the weighted difference s 1 to an actual pulse will be zero for non - piled pulses . these adjustments to the weighting factors are made in the differential amplifier 114 . this establishes a threshold 115 against which the difference in the integrations can be compared . application of the differential amplifier and the weighting factors to a piled - up pulse yields an identifiable non - zero baseline s 2 which is distinguishable over threshold 115 . for an undistorted or non - piled - up pulse , the first integration ( whole pulse ) should be about twice the second integration ( ½ pulse for purely gaussian - shaped pulse ). thus , for a guassian - shaped pulse , the appropriate weighting factors would be about ½ : 1 to achieve a null difference signal . weighting factors would be adjusted at the differential amplifier for various other pulse shapes . non - zero differences are detected at the thresholds 115 . if the appropriate threshold is exceeded then the logic circuit is activated to reject the pulse . a non - zero difference between the first and second integrals are representative of pre - pile - up and between the first and third integrals are representative of post - pile - up . provision for inputs x , y , y 2 to the gated integrator and the difference amplifier permit the timing of the integration and the weighting to be adjusted . pulses p which are piled - up due to spacing as close as 15 ns can be detected and rejected r . referring again to fig7 an integrator 116 shapes an accepted pulse for analysis by a spectroscopy amplifier 117 . the spectroscopy amplifier 117 prepares the pulse for analysis by a pulse height analyzer 118 . conventional pulse pile - up rejectors ( built into the spectroscopy amplifier 118 ) are disabled . the pulse height analyzer 118 determines which pulses are representative of nitrogen and outputs the count results to a computer 119 . for accurate energy determination , the overall system is calibrated prior to use . an energy calibration is performed on known materials to obtain a spectrum having lots of counts in distinct energy peaks as near as possible to the energy region of interest , i . e . 8 . 5 - 11 mev . secondly , a “ background ” spectrum is acquired — i . e . an energy spectrum with the tna head sitting over an area known to be free of mines . knowing the background spectrum , the spectrum acquired for a target of interest is superimposed with the background and the difference compared against known pulse count rates for known nitrogen targets for establishing whether the target of interest is explosive or not . using a standard gaussian detection limit approach described by currie , l . a ., anal . chem ., 40 , no . 3 , 586 ( 1968 ) to low - level counting , the false alarm and mine detection probabilities are based upon the number of excess counts in the energy region of interest . under certain circumstances having large background fluctuations or abnormal structure in the background spectrum ( such as excessive silicon in the soil , for example ) the detection limit statistical approach can generate false positive indications of a mine . to improve upon the detection probability , a combined gauss - bayes statistical approach is employed as described by silvia , d . s ., los alamos science , 19 , 180 ( pb 1990 ) having reference to fig1 , 11 for confirmation of the choice of transition energy for identifying 14 n and the use of nal ( ti ) detectors , experiments were performed using a weak 252 cf source ( 1 × 10 6 n / s ) and a 2 ″× 2 ″ nal ( ti ) detector . an explosive simulant , containing 1 kg of nitrogen , was used . positive detection of nitrogen reduces to the detection of a statistically significant number of counts above background in the energy region 126 of interest — roughly 9 to 11 mev . a large number of counts were required to obtain sufficient statistics at the desired energy . the count time for this experiment ( about 8 hours ) was excessive and clearly indicated the need for a stronger 252 cf source and / or more efficient detectors in the final tna system . having reference to fig6 the choice of shielding materials was based upon two considerations : firstly for shielding of the high efficiency nal ( ti ) detectors 105 from direct neutron and gamma - ray emanating from the 252 cf source 103 ; and secondly as biological shielding for personnel . the combination of lead and libr shielding and polyethylene moderating material used was optimized using computer code mcnp4a , as described by briemeister , j . f . in “ mcnp — a general monte carlo n - particle transport code — version 4 ”, la - 12625 - m , 1993 . the final configuration of materials is as illustrated in fig6 . this shielding configuration lowered the count rate at the nal ( ti ) detectors to about 200 , 000 cps . this rate was a baseline for the electronics design ( fig7 ). the main contributor to these counts are gamma - rays from the 252 cf source 103 , however neutron capture gamma rays from a variety of sources , including the nal ( ti ) crystal itself , were found to contribute . the flask 120 holding the source is substantially polyethylene 121 . a lead shield 122 surrounds the source 103 with a source transfer tube 123 extending upwardly through the polyethylene 121 . a lead shielding sphere 124 is centered in the flask 120 and located in the source transfer tube 123 . a libr gel 125 surrounds the flask and absorbs neutrons to block their access to the nal ( ti ) detectors 105 . the measured radiation dose equivalent rates were 55 mrem / h neutron and 2 . 6 mrem / h gamma at the surface of the tna head , and 1 . 8 mrem / h neutron and 0 . 8 mrem / h gamma at 1 m from the surface . the system and electronics were calibrated by obtaining a “ background ” spectrum with the tna head sitting over an area known to be free of mines . as shown in fig1 , three peaks a , b , c , generated by neutron activation in aluminum within the head , were prominent enough to be used for calibration — the full energy peak from the 6 . 103 mev transition and the double and single escape peaks from the 7 . 726 mev transition at 6 . 704 mev and 7 . 215 mev , respectively . a linear extrapolation of this least squares fit , into the energy region of interest , was then performed . two traces are shown ; the top solid - line trace 130 representing the results based upon previous prior art pulse rejection technique of comparing pulse widths . the bottom dashed trace 131 represents the results based upon the gated integrator pulse pile - up rejection circuit 111 which demonstrates fewer pile - up pulses being counted as 10 . 8 mev nitrogen emission pulses . field trials of the tna sensor as a confirmatory sensor were held at specially prepared mine fields in southern alberta in winter conditions . ambient temperatures were between − 20 ° c . and & lt ; 30 ° c ., with winds up to 50 km / h and snow cover of over 30 cm . during the trials , four “ large ” mines ( m15 , tma3 , m21 and tma5a ) representing different masses of nitrogen , were buried at different depths and interrogated . additionally , different masses of “ small ” mines or c4 plastic explosive ( 34 % n by mass ) were surface - buried and interrogated . spectral results for different explosives are illustrated in fig1 and 13 . table 1 summarizes the experimentally determined count time for a 93 % detection probability . this count time was arrived at by an iterative solution to the statistical analysis techniques described above , based upon the experimentally measured background and net counting rates . several features should be noted . firstly , for the case of the largest anti - tank ( at ) mine ( m15 ) there is considerable structure below 9 mev . this is likely due to neutron capture in other elements in the m15 mine — and the large peak at about 7 . 1 mev may be the first escape from the prominent iron capture transition . this is supported by the fact that the m15 is encased in steel , while c4 and the other non - metallic mines are not . secondly there is an indication of structure in the background around 10 . 1 mev , which could be the first escape from the si - capture peak mentioned earlier ( the soil was quite sandy , and thus high in si - content ). silicon activation will eventually determine the final lower detection limit of the system . thirdly , from the table and the figures , the lower detection limit of the system as it stands right now is slightly under 100 g of nitrogen ( for reasonable count times of less than 5 minutes ). this means that the system is capable of detecting almost all at mines ( at depths down to 6 ″) and many larger anti - personnel ( ap ) mines — which would be surface buried . finally one notes that there is virtually no difference in the positive detection counting times for some of the mines examined here , despite their large differences in mass of n ( 500 g to 3 . 6 kg ). this is due to a convolution of the thermal neutron flux profile ( which drops rapidly with depth ) and the distribution of nitrogen within the mines ( for the physically larger m15 , there is far more nitrogen at greater depths than for c4 , for example ). experiments were also conducted to determine the radial field of view of the system as shown in table 2 . the field of view is quite constant out to a radius of about 25 cm , after which it begins to drop rapidly . at a radius of about 40 cm , detection is not possible ( this is physically outside of the 30 cm radius tna head ). the above serves to illustrate the importance of accurately locating the target of interest ( mine ) with the primary systems . in summary , the examples have validated use of a tna sensor for confirmatory detection of land mines having nitrogen masses of greater than about 100 g in a few minutes , over a radial area of about 2000 cm 2 ( about 25 cm radius ). this will enable almost all at and large ap mines to be positively detected . smaller surface buried ap mines ( containing less than 100 grams of nitrogen ) will have to be eliminated by such techniques as flailing , as is performed by a pre - clearance vehicle . further , the system has clearly shown the ability to perform in adverse weather conditions . | 6 |
as summarized above , this invention discloses means and methods for securing an all - terrain vehicle ( atv ) to a truck or trailer bed , so that the atv can be transported safely at high speeds on conventional roads or highways . all references herein to &# 34 ; high speeds &# 34 ; refer to speeds which equal or approach the maximum lawful speeds on conventional highways , such as about 50 to about 70 miles per hour ( about 80 to 110 kilometers per hour ). referring to the drawings , callout number 10 in fig1 refers to a &# 34 ; securing connector &# 34 ; assembly . such securing connectors , and the various components that are assembled to make these securing connectors , are commercially available , and can be purchased in automobile parts stores and in some hardware stores . for convenience , the discussion below will refer only to trailers . however , it should be understood that such comments are also generally applicable to trucks . securing connector 10 comprises a first eyehole flange 12 which is coupled to a threaded shaft 14 having a right - hand thread ( i . e ., when the shaft 14 is turned in the direction of the extended fingers on a right hand , the shaft will be driven in the direction of the outstretched right thumb , and will travel further into sleeve component 20 ). securing connector 10 also comprises a second eyehole flange 30 , which is coupled to a threaded shaft 32 having a left - hand thread . the sleeve component 20 is provided with accommodating internal threads at both ends . it is also provided with a means for rotating it with the aid of a wrench or other tool . in fig1 sleeve 20 is shown as a round cylinder , and the rotating means is shown as hole 22 , which passes through both opposed walls of the cylinder , so that a steel bar can be inserted through the holes and used to rotate the sleeve 20 . alternately , sleeve 20 can be provided with a wall portion which is square , hexagonal , or has any other desired non - circular shape , so that an open - end or adjustable wrench can be used to turn the sleeve . if the two eyehole flanges 12 and 30 are prevented from rotating , forcible rotation of the sleeve 20 will alter the length of the securing connector . rotation in one direction will pull both of the threaded shafts 14 and 32 into the sleeve 20 . this procedure will be used to tighten ( i . e ., shorten the length of ) the securing connector 10 , when an atv is being secured to a trailer for high - speed transport . conversely , rotation of the sleeve in the opposite direction will extend the two threaded shafts 14 and 32 , allowing the securing connector 10 to be removed from the tine pins when it is time to remove the atv from the trailer . in most cases , it will not be necessary to take extra steps to lock a securing connector at a specific level of tightness , after it has been tightened . they normally do not work loose quickly , and will stay sufficiently tight to provide adequate security and safety during most normal trips . however , if desired , a securing connector can be locked at a desirable level of tightness by any of several means , depending on the design of the sleeve . for example , if a hole is provided through both walls of a connector sleeve at a midpoint location , a clip can be inserted through the hole and attached to a short chain . the other end of the chain can be clipped to any suitable attachment point on the trailer , truckbed , or atv , to prevent the clip from being pulled away if the sleeve tries to rotate during travel . alternately , securing connectors are available with ratcheting mechanisms . such ratcheting mechanisms allow a sleeve to be tightened , but they require an additional step ( such as depressing a button , or moving a lever to a different position ) before a sleeve can be loosened . in one preferred embodiment , eyehole flange 12 contains an eyehole piece 16 which is mounted in a manner that allows it to rotate , or swivel , within the eyehole flange 12 . the eyehole piece 16 has a cylindrical orifice 18 passing through it , with a diameter slightly larger than the tine pins , to allow each eyehole piece 16 to be slid over a tine pin . in one possible embodiment , rotation of the eyehole piece can be unconstrained ; this type of eyehole piece would be made from a completely spherical ball , as shown in fig1 . in an alternate embodiment , the orifice 18 can be extended beyond the reach of the ball , by means of an extended sleeve - type device ; this type of eyehole piece would still be able to rotate a generous amount , but rotation would be constrained by the extended sleeve tips . the eyehole flange 30 at the opposite end of the connector device 10 also has a rotatable eyehole piece 34 , with an orifice 36 passing through it to hold a tine pin . this embodiment , with rotatable eyehole pieces 16 and 34 at both ends of a connector device 10 , is well - suited for minimizing abrasion and wear on the securing connectors and the tine pins . however , it should be recognized that various other clamps , hooks with spring - mounted closure devices , or other reversible connecting devices alternately can be used if desired , so long as they can interact properly with tine pins , closed eyelets , or other comparable attachment devices affixed to an atv and / or trailer or truckbed . for example , fig2 depicts an eyelet device 90 mounted on an atv , which interacts with a clamp - type hook 92 which has a threaded locking screw 94 passing through a threaded ear or lug component 96 on the shaft of hook 92 . the threaded shaft 98 of hook 92 interacts with the sleeve of a securing connector , in the manner previously described . such devices would likely cause higher levels of abrasion and wear ( compared to connectors with rotatable eyehole pieces ) on both the connector devices and on any securing eyelets or other devices mounted on an atv and a trailer or truckbed ; accordingly , they are not highly preferred , but can be used if desired . also , it should be recognized that while many common and inexpensive types of securing devices , such as hooks with spring - mounted closure devices , can provide adequate levels of tension on a connector device to pull an atv down toward the trailer or truck bed , they cannot provide a desirable level of protection against certain types of jarring and hammering forces that can occur during transport across a bumpy road . for example , if a wheel of a trailer carrying an atv hits a large pothole in a highway while travelling at high speed , the trailer bed will drop suddenly , as the wheel drops into the pothole . the atv will also drop , along with the trailer , pulled down by the tension on the connector pieces . however , an instant later , the trailer wheel will hit the far edge of the pothole , and the trailer bed will be jarred , possibly quite hard , in an upward direction . a securing connector ( such as a hook with a spring - mounted closure device ) that does not provide a rigid and secure attachment cannot prevent the atv from bouncing downward toward the trailer bed for an instant , while the atv suspension becomes even more compressed , losing the tension in the connecting device . an instant later , the atv will jerk back upward , hard , as the suspension springs of the atv try to force themselves back into a relaxed position . when this happens , the ascending atv will exert a &# 34 ; hammering &# 34 ; force on the attachment pins and the hook - type securing devices . in addition , this type of jerking motion can also cause any open - type hooks ( if attached to a chain , rope , bungee cord , etc .) to become unhooked , which poses a threat of complete loss of control over the atv , which might fall off of the trailer , severely damaging the atv and possibly causing a traffic accident . because of this factor , securing devices which provide rigid control of their length , and which equally resist both tension and compression , offer better protection than non - rigid devices ( such as hooks ) against the types of hammering forces that can be encountered on a highway with potholes or other uneven surfaces . preferred types of connectors ( which includes connectors with rotatable eyehole pieces at each end , as shown in fig1 ) will allow the larger and more heavy - duty suspension system of a trailer or truck to absorb and minimize the hammering - type shocks that might be encountered during transport . fig3 depicts a trailer tine pin assembly 40 that can be permanently affixed to a trailer or truckbed ( such as trailer 100 in fig4 ). this tine pin assembly 40 comprises a mounting plate 42 , which can be welded to a steel trailer component , and which can also be bolted to any suitable surface by means such as bolt holes 44 . pin support plate 46 is permanently affixed to mounting plate 42 , by means such as welding ( alternately , a plate assembly can be molded , forged , or formed by a hot bending process if desired ). a tine pin 48 is inserted through a hole in pin support plate 46 , and permanently affixed to the support plate 46 by means such as welding , preferably on both sides of the plate 46 . in general , smooth - surfaced tine pins should be used ; threaded pins are likely to become badly caked and coated with mud and dirt . tine pin 48 is provided with a plurality of spaced holes 50 along at least a portion of its length . this allows a retaining clip 52 to be inserted through one of the holes 50 , to ensure that the end of a securing connector 10 cannot slip off of a tine pin 48 while an atv is being transported . preferably , two tine pins should be mounted on an atv , preferably at or near the front and back ends of the atv , to provide good attachment points at opposing ends of the atv . the pins should be attached to semi - sheltered locations , so they will not create significant additional protrusions that might extend beyond the prior perimeter of the atv . suitable attachment points are available on any atv . for example , the front ends of most atv &# 39 ; s are provided with a so - called &# 34 ; front rack &# 34 ;, which is a lattice made of welded steel bars , that serves as a combination bumper and brush guard . a tine pin attachment plate can be securely attached to any such steel rack , using attachment means such as u - shaped bolts with threads on both ends . similarly , the back ends of most atv &# 39 ; s are ( or can be ) fitted with a trailer hitch , or at least a horizontal hitch plate , to allow the atv to be used as a towing vehicle in rough terrain . such front racks , trailer hitches , and various other structural components and attachments all offer good locations for mounting tine pin attachment plates to the front and rear of an atv . if desired , an owner or mechanic can drill two or more holes through a structural plate or other component , in order to provide additional flexibility for mounting a tine pin attachment plate in a suitable location on the front or back of an atv . since not all front racks or rear hitch plates will have exactly the same dimensions , a variety of tine pin attachment kits can be sold , if desired , to be retrofitted onto atv &# 39 ; s . each attachment kit can be designed and manufactured to fit one or more specific makes and models of atv &# 39 ; s . this would be comparable to buying any of several different types of headlight replacement bulbs , for various different makes and models of cars or trucks . in addition , if this method of securing atv &# 39 ; s for high - speed transport on highways is adopted by one or more manufacturers , front and rear tine pins can be provided by atv manufacturers either as standard equipment , or as an option which any purchaser can order . preferably , the tine pins should be attached to an atv at a location at each end which is above the axle of the atv , mounted on a component such as a front rack or a rear hitch plate . if the tine pins are attached at locations which are in effect , above the suspension system of the atv , two benefits can be provided . first , when the securing devices are tightened at both ends of the atv , the suspension springs of the atv will be compressed slightly . as the suspension springs resist this compression , they will exert a steady tension on the tightened securing devices . this can minimize repeated hammering - type shocks on the securing devices and the atv ; such low - level shocks , from irregularities in the road surface , will be absorbed and minimized by the suspension system of the trailer or truck . in addition , by exerting a pulling - down tension on the top structure of the atv , above the suspension , the risk of substantial swaying , rocking , and other lateral forces on the atv can be minimized . this can minimize the risk of a rollover during high crosswinds , sharp turns , and roads or other surfaces that slope steeply toward one side or the other . also , tine pins or other attachment devices designed to be affixed to a truckbed or trailer can be provided with means ( such as threaded ends , bayonet - type coupling devices , etc .) that will allow the attachment devices to be conveniently disconnected and removed , if they interfere with other desired uses of the truck or trailer . fig4 depicts a trailer 110 , with a platform 112 and an axle with a tire 114 mounted to each end of the axle . atv 100 is secured to trailer 110 by a front securing connector 10 and a rear securing connector ( not shown ). trailer 110 is a simplified depiction ; it does not show taillights , a front hitching device , or other components necessary for highway use . if desired , a wheel well 116 can be provided , and the bed component may be made of or covered by sheet metal , to reduce splattering of mud or water up from the highway onto the atv . this type of trailer can be towed behind any truck or automobile that has adequate power , using a conventional hitching device ( not shown ) welded to the front end of the trailer , which can be coupled during use to a trailer hitch mounted on the car or truck . if desired , the trailer can be provided with a ramp gate ( not shown ), attached to the rear end of the trailer bed 112 by means of hinges , so that the edge of the ramp gate can be lowered to the ground to provide an inclined ramp , to facilitate loading and unloading of the atv onto and off of the trailer . however , this is not essential , and boards can be used to provide such a ramp if desired . the trailer bed 112 can also be provided with guard railings around the periphery , if desired . alternately , the entire trailer can be enclosed with walls and a roof , if desired , to provide convenient closed storage for the atv , to protect the atv against the weather and reduce the risk of theft . accordingly , when the method of this invention is described in claim terminology , it comprises the following steps : a . rolling an all - terrain vehicle which has been provided with first and second rigid vehicular attachment components ( such as tine pins , as shown in fig3 and 4 ) at two opposed locations on the vehicle ( preferably at the front and back of the vehicle ; alternately , at the sides of the vehicle if desired ), onto a vehicular platform ( such as a truckbed , or a towable trailer ) which has been provided with at least two rigid platform attachment components ( such as tine pins ) at corresponding locations on the platform ; b . positioning the atv on the platform in a manner which places each vehicular attachment component in proximity to a platform attachment component ; c . coupling a first securing connector ( such as the turnbuckle device shown in fig1 ) having ( i ) a rigid shaft of adjustable length and ( ii ) first and second connecting components ( such as rotatable eyelets ) positioned at both opposed ends of the rigid shaft , to the first vehicular attachment component and to a proximately - positioned platform attachment component ; d . coupling a second securing connector having ( i ) a rigid shaft of adjustable length and ( ii ) first and second connecting components positioned at both opposed ends of the rigid shaft , to the second vehicular attachment component and to a proximately - positioned platform attachment component ; e . manipulating each of said first and second securing connectors in a manner which shortens its length , thereby exerting sustained tension on each of said first and second securing connectors , thereby pulling the atv in a downward direction in a manner which reduces motion of the atv relative to the platform when the platform is being towed , thereby allowing safe and secure transportation of the atv on the platform at a maximum lawful highway speed . this invention also discloses a kit , containing a total of four tine pins ( two will be mounted on the atv , and the other two will be mounted on the truck or trailer ), and two adjustable - length securing connectors , such as the devices shown in fig1 . a kit 200 is illustrated in fig5 containing four tine pin assemblies 40 and two connectors 10 . thus , there has been shown and described a new and useful means for securing an all - terrain vehicle on a trailer or truck , to allow high - speed transport of the atv across roads and highways . although this invention has been exemplified for purposes of illustration and description by reference to certain specific embodiments , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications , alterations , and equivalents of the illustrated examples are possible . any such changes which derive directly from the teachings herein , and which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention , are deemed to be covered by this invention , as claimed below . | 8 |
fig1 shows the recording equipment 1 which can be worn on the patient &# 39 ; s body and which is approximately the size of a wristwatch or pocket calculator . this equipment has , on its front side as shown in the drawing , three buttons 2 , 3 and 4 which are provided with the capital letters m , n and p . a display 5 is also provided which indicates the time since medication was taken and / or the clock time which can be selected via a button 7 . finally , a removable chip 8 is shown which , as recording medium , contains the recorded values . the equipment is operated as follows . the patient who is wearing the equipment on his body , or is carrying it with him , first takes the medication prescribed by the doctor and at the same time pushes the button m . this starts up a stopwatch , i . e . the time begins to run at zero and is optionally shown on the display 5 . if , after taking the medication , the patient now experiences a positive effect , he presses the p button 3 . the equipment acknowledges that the button has been pressed by emitting an acoustic signal ( beep ) or an optical signal from a light 6 , so that the patient receives confirmation of the entry he has made . if , after some time , the patient feels the effect is diminishing , he presses the n button 4 . he then takes his medication for the second time as instructed by his doctor , and once again presses the m button 2 , as a result of which the time is stored . the procedure described above is then repeated , i . e . pressing the p button when he experiences a positive effect and pressing the n button when he feels the effect diminishing . this is of course done in each case on the basis of the patient &# 39 ; s subjective feelings . the result of a single cycle of entries of this kind made by the patient is shown in the diagram according to fig2 . there , the positive effect of the medication is plotted on the ordinate over the time axis t , and only as a positive value of the order 1 . the start of the measurement cycle upon administration of the medication is marked by the point m 1 on the abscissa , i . e . the time axis . here , therefore , the effect of the medication is equal to 0 . after some time , the so - called latency period l , the patient first experiences a positive effect and he presses the p button , as a result of which the value f ( 1 )= 1 is recorded at the time t 1 . after a further time span , at the time t 2 , the patient feels the effect diminishing or completely disappearing and he presses the n button , as a result of which the value f ( 2 )= 0 is recorded . the next time on the time axis is m 2 , i . e . the time t 3 , at which the medication is taken a second time . m 2 is recorded by pressing the m button ; as can be seen , the effect of the medication is still zero at this time t 3 , so that a so - called void time f occurs , i . e . a time span t = t 3 - t 2 in which there is no effect of the medication . after the second administration of medication m 2 , there is once again a latency period l &# 39 ;, i . e . the time difference to the time t 4 , at which the patient once again experiences a positive effect and presses the p button 3 . this second latency period l &# 39 ; can be different than the first period l . the measurement cycle begun in this way can be continued as often as desired by repeated administration of the medication at the subsequent times m 3 , m 4 , . . . m i , with corresponding recording of the effect . the result is stored as a function according to the pattern in fig2 and can be removed as a recording medium , e . g . on the chip . it would also be possible to analyze the stored function directly on a pc via a pc adapter , e . g . by comparing the effect profiles on different days , or to print out the stored function . this data , i . e . the effect function , helps the doctor to adopt a corrected or optimum medication program for the patient , and this with the goal of eliminating the abovementioned void times f and subsequent repeated latency periods l &# 39 ;, i . e . the time spans in which there is no effect of the medication . fig3 shows a further illustrative embodiment of the invention , namely the recording equipment 10 in the form of a wristwatch with securing brackets 11 and 12 for a strap ( not shown ). the equipment 10 , which is thus of essentially circular design in its plan view , has in the first place the m button 13 and the other buttons 14 and 15 for inputting a positive and a negative effect , the button 14 showing a laughing face and the button 15 showing a sad face . moreover , a display 16 is provided for optionally displaying a running ( stopwatch ) time and the clock time , it being possible for the appropriate mode to be selected using the button 17 . the equipment 10 also has five optical devices 19 ( light - emitting diodes ) which represent a respective recorded value . five optical devices 21 ( light - emitting diodes ) are correspondingly provided on the left side of the circular equipment 10 for displaying the recorded negative effect . between these two groups of five 19 and 21 , a light arrangement 18 is provided for the zero setting , i . e . no effect . the equipment 10 also has a larger light arrangement 20 which is intended to signal an optimum for the patient &# 39 ; s state of health . finally , three further light arrangements 22 are provided for a so - called excess effect of the medication . the aforementioned groups of light arrangements are of different geometric designs and light up in different colors , e . g . group 19 and 20 in green , group 21 in blue and group 22 in yellow . finally , an acoustic or optical signal arrangement 23 is provided in the area of the &# 34 ; clock face &# 34 ; of the equipment 10 , which arrangement 23 emits acoustic or optical signals at the preprogrammed time for taking medication ( m 1 , m 2 , m 3 , etc .) in order to remind the patient to take the medication . the signal can also be generated by vibration . finally , the equipment has a connection point 24 for an adapter ( not shown ) via which the stored data can be transferred to a pc and can be displayed on its screen . the function recorded and stored using the equipment 10 according to fig3 is shown in the diagram in fig4 . both the positive effect and the negative effect after taking medication are plotted over the time axis t , with five values p1 to p5 being provided for the positive effect and five values n1 to n5 for the negative effect . above the value p5 there is a value opt , representing the optimum , i . e . the best the patient feels , and above this there are three further values for an excess effect of the medication u1 , u2 , and u3 . the diagram shown represents the variation in effect between the times at which medication was taken m1 and m2 and is recorded by pressing the buttons 13 ( m ), 14 for a positive effect and 15 for a negative effect . the measurement cycle begins at the time t 0 at which the patient presses the button m or 13 on first taking the medication . after the latency period l has elapsed , he experiences a first positive effect and presses the button 14 once at the time t 1 , as a result of which the value f ( 1 ), corresponding to the value p1 , is recorded on the positive ordinate . at the time t 2 the patient experiences an increasing positive effect which he assesses subjectively with the value p4 , and for this he has to press the button 14 three times in succession , which results in a jump from p1 to p4 to the value f ( 2 ). when the value p1 is recorded , the first light arrangement 19 lights up ( green ), and when the value p4 is recorded three further light arrangements 19 light up , that is to say altogether four light arrangements 19 are lit . at the time t 3 the patient experiences an optimum effect and presses the button 14 again , as a result of which he reaches the value p5 , and by pressing the button 14 one more time the value opt , i . e . the optimum , corresponding to f ( 3 ) is reached , and at the same time a larger light arrangement 20 lights up ( green ). the patient thus sees that the optimum effect of the medication has now been recorded . at the time t 4 he experiences an excess effect of the medication and therefore presses the button 14 once again , as a result of which the value f ( 4 ), corresponding to u1 , is recorded on the ordinate . when the value u1 is reached , i . e . recording of an excess effect , the further light arrangement 22 lights up ( yellow ), thus optically signalling the range of the excess effect . if the patient feels this excess effect diminishing , he can press the button 15 , as a result of which , if the latter is pressed once , the value opt ( optimum ) is once again reached . if the effect further diminishes , the patient can once again press the button 15 -- one unit is subtracted for each single actuation . in the case shown , by pressing the button 15 four times , he reaches the value p3 at the time t 5 , corresponding to f ( 5 ), and by pressing it again he reaches the value p2 at the time t 6 , corresponding to f ( 6 ). at the time t7 the patient experiences a greatly diminishing effect , dropping into the negative range . he therefore presses the button 15 four times and reaches the negative value f ( 7 ) corresponding to n2 . at the same time , two light arrangements 21 now light up ( blue ); five light - emitting diodes 21 ( blue ) are provided corresponding to the negative scale of values n1 to n5 . the next time t 8 corresponds to the planned time m2 for taking the second dose of the medication . in this case , therefore , there is still a negative effect of the medication which lasts until the time t 9 : only then does the patient experience a positive effect again , and he presses the button 14 with the laughing face three times and reaches the value f ( 9 ) which corresponds to the value p1 on the ordinate . the time span between t 8 and t 7 corresponds to the void time f in which there is no positive effect of the medication , and the time span between t 9 and t 8 is the second latency period l &# 39 ; after taking the second dose of medication . thereafter , the measurement cycle is continued as described above . the groups of light - emitting diodes 19 to 22 can each have different colors ( as indicated above ) or can light up in the same color but with different brightness or with a different contour ( if the patient is color - blind ). this diagram , which can be stored on a recording medium or can be transferred to a pc via an adapter , is used by the doctor as a basis for more accurately adapting the medication , i . e . on the one hand in terms of the choice of times m1 , m2 , m3 etc ., and also in terms of the dose of the medication . the latter can be adapted , for example , if an excess effect occurs -- in this case up to the value u1 over the time t u -- since in this case the dose of the medication was too strong . fig5 finally shows a further design of the invention , namely in the form of equipment 30 which has an enlarged display or a small screen 31 , a keyboard 33 , 34 and the already described buttons with capital letters m , p and n corresponding to reference numbers 35 , 36 , 37 . in addition , a time switch 32 with the capital letter t is provided which makes it possible to switch alternately between stopwatch and clock time . the buttons 34 with the numbers 1 , 2 , 3 through 0 correspond to side effects , e . g . headache , nausea , fever or tachycardia . thus , by using the keyboard , the patient is able to call up on screen the side effect which occurs after he takes the medication and to record the time at which it occurred . in addition to entering side effects , it is also possible to select on the equipment specific symptoms which are intended to be influenced by the medication , e . g . tremor ( trembling of body parts ), muscle mobility , anxiety or agitation , to assess these and to record the time at which they occurred . in this way , different effect profiles can be stored in parallel . finally , the program of this equipment 30 makes it possible to record the effect of combinations of medication , that is to say several medications taken concurrently . fig6 shows a further embodiment of the equipment according to the invention with expanded mode for superposed recording of additional events and symptoms of the disease and their assessment . the equipment 40 , like equipment 1 and 10 , has three buttons which correspond to the buttons m , n and p or 13 , 14 and 15 , i . e . the button 41 with the letter m is intended for entering the time at which the medication is taken , the button 42 with the laughing face is intended for entering a positive effect or assessment and the button 43 with the sad face is intended for entering a negative effect or assessment . a button 44 with the letter w is also provided by means of which certain events and symptoms of certain diseases can be called up on a two - line display 45 and displayed . for example , various main terms such as tremor , mobility , headache , nausea or anxiety can be called up and displayed in the top line 46 of the display 45 by actuating the button 44 ( w ). a possible assessment of the corresponding event then appears in the bottom line 47 . by actuating the button 42 or 43 , an assessment can then be made in different stages , e . g . for headaches : ______________________________________no headache ( 0 ) very slight headache ( 1 ) mild headache ( 2 ) moderate headache ( 3 ) severe headache ( 4 ) very severe headache ( 5 ) ______________________________________ such an assessment is not made in response to a request , but when the patient feels it necessary . the event and its assessment are thus superposed on the recording of the abovementioned effect of the medication according to fig2 and fig4 . the doctor is thus provided with additional information which allows him to make an accurate assessment of the effect of the medication . for visual confirmation of the individual entries made using the buttons 41 , 42 , 43 and 44 , these are each assigned colored lights 48 , 49 , 50 and 51 which light up when an entry is made , namely in yellow ( 48 ), green ( 49 ), red ( 50 ) and blue ( 51 ). the equipment 40 also has a small speaker 52 via which certain entries receive an audible spoken confirmation , e . g . via the speaker the equipment 40 &# 34 ; says &# 34 ; the following words or phrases : &# 34 ; administration of medication recorded &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; effect of medication now : slight improvement &# 34 ;. a push switch 53 is also arranged on the equipment 40 and is used to switch the speaker 52 on and off . a key switch 55 which can be operated by the patient can be connected to the equipment 40 via a cable 54 and connection socket 56 , and entries can be made using this key switch 55 in addition to the buttons 42 and 43 . this key switch 55 represents , as it were , a remote control for the equipment 40 in some cases : for example , by pressing the key switch 55 , it is possible to record additional and sudden events along with their clock time , without the patient having to take the equipment 40 , which he carries with him , out of his pocket . this is particularly advantageous for patients with parkinson &# 39 ; s disease in the so - called off - phase , because the patient is at that time severely restricted in his movements . also in the case of anxiety attacks or other sudden and critical changes in the state of health , e . g . absences in epileptics , the immediate activation of the key switch 55 permits immediate recording of this event . the key switch 55 , however , can also be used as an alternative to the input buttons 42 and 43 , in other words for entering a positive or negative effect of the medication . for this purpose , a code can be used which is easily understood by the patient : e . g . a short press on the key switch 55 would mean that there was no effect of the medication , and a long press on the key switch 55 would mean that there was a positive effect . this remote entry via the key switch 55 can then be confirmed acoustically via the speaker 52 of the equipment 40 , so that the patient knows what has been recorded . alternatively , confirmation by means of vibration is also possible . finally , the equipment 40 also has an attachment 57 for diverse sensors or measurement equipment via which physically measurable data from the patient are recorded . here , by way of example , a measurement sensor 59 , shown diagrammatically , is connected via a cable 58 and is used to measure the patient &# 39 ; s heart rate . alternatively , or in addition to this , further measurement sensors can be connected , for example for measuring the blood pressure , blood oxygen or blood sugar levels , tremor , muscle tone ( muscular tension ) and skin temperature or skin moisture . these objectively measurable values can be measured and recorded automatically , without the assistance of the patient , and can be stored on the abovementioned recording medium and output . in this respect it is possible , with this combination of equipment 40 , for the subjective state of health after medication and the objectively determined physiological values to be recorded and stored in parallel . this represents a considerable therapeutic aid to the doctor and an improvement to the patient &# 39 ; s medication . the drawing does not show a combination of the above - described equipment with a medication dispenser containing the prescribed medication in a quantity suitable for a defined period . at the preset times m 1 , m 2 , m 3 etc . which are stored in the equipment , the medication dispenser opens and supplies the prescribed dose of medication , i . e . the patient can then remove the medication . at the same time , the above - described signal or alarm arrangement can activate and thus remind the patient to take the medication . the medication to be taken at this time can be displayed , e . g . : as has already been mentioned above , the equipment according to the invention is not only intended for use where a patient is being treated with medication by a doctor , but can also be used , for example , in pharmaceutical research when new active substances , remedies , drugs or the like are being tested and evaluated for their effect on the human body . | 0 |
in one aspect , an instrument comprising a suture passer 100 is described . as shown in fig1 and 2 , the suture passer 100 comprises a body 110 having a tunnel 115 , an articulating arm 120 , 190 connected to the body 110 proximally to a first end of the body 110 , and a fore end 130 distal to the first end of the body 110 . in some embodiments , the suture passer 100 , further comprises suture channels 184 , 185 through which sutures are threaded to load the suture passer 100 . in some embodiments , the suture passer 100 is an arthroscopic instrument . the suture passer 100 may be used to grasp tissue and pass a sliding , locking suture in a single grasp of the tissue . the suture passer 100 grasps tissue 180 between the body 110 and the articulating arm 120 . the suture passer 100 then passes a suture loop 140 through the tissue 180 . this may be done by loading the suture 140 in a u fashion . a needle passes through the tunnel 115 then penetrates the tissue 180 passing through the suture loop 140 . a second needle or a pass of the same needle passes through a channel within articulating arm 120 and is directed through the suture loop 140 and capturing the other end of the suture . this pulls one end of the suture back in a retrograde fashion through the first loop 140 creating a locking stitch . the suture has one end outside the body 110 and the other end loaded on the other side of the suture passer 100 . this allows for it to be passed through the suture loop 140 , ultimately forming a locking stitch . one end of the suture is passed below the tissue 180 and one end is passed above the tissue 180 . when the bottom suture is pulled longitudinally it pulls the suture loop 140 down perpendicular to the tissue 180 resulting in bringing it downward . when the top suture is pulled it brings the tissue 180 laterally or in line with the sutures . in one embodiment , the articulating arm 120 is connected to the body 110 by a joint or a hinge , such that the articulating arm 120 may move relative to the body 110 in a tweezer - like fashion . in other embodiments , the suture passer 100 will grasp tissue , thus allowing for a loop of a single suture ( or multiple sutures ) to be placed from an inferior aspect of the tissue to a superior aspect of the tissue . a needle or grasping agent will then reach through this loop and pull the other end of the suture back through this suture loop . this will create a locking stitch with one end on the superior and one end on the inferior aspect of the tissue . this is accomplished by a needle driving the loop of suture through the tissue . this needle passes through a channel in the inferior arm of the suture passer . the second needle or grasping agent penetration runs parallel to the first but on the other side of the tissue . this needle may be have passage through the superior arm of the suture passer . this allows it to be on the other side of the tissue as the first arm or inferior arm and on the same side as the suture loop . thus , going through the loop and pulling back the other end of suture . the result is a locking stitch with suture limbs on both sides of the tissue . while conventional suture anchors known to those of skill in the art may be used to secure sutures required for tissue repair using the suture passer 100 described above , in another aspect , a suture anchor 300 comprising an anchor 310 , and a plug 320 is described herein and is illustrated in fig3 - 8 . such suture anchors 300 may be used with the suture passers 100 , described above , or the suture anchors 300 may be used in any suturing application known to those of skill in the art . suture anchors 300 embodied herein , allow for one or more points of fixation of a tissue to be anchored by a single anchor position . as described below , the suture anchors embodied herein are capable allowing the tensioning of a tissue with a suture to be adjustable and re - tensionable . referring to fig3 - 8 , the anchor 310 comprises a wall having an outer surface 311 , an inner surface 312 , that may or may not have threads to secure the plug 320 , a first end 313 , and a second end 314 . in the either case of the inner surface 312 , having or not having threads , it is a friction fit between the plug 320 and the inner surface 312 that secures the plug 320 into the suture anchor 300 . in some cases , a diameter of the first end 313 is larger than a diameter of the second end 314 , while in other embodiments , the first end 313 and the second end 314 have the same diameter . the plug 320 comprises an outer wall 321 having threads 325 such that when a suture ( s ) 330 is draped into the anchor 310 and the plug 320 is inserted into the anchor 310 , the plug 320 secures the suture ( s ) 330 via a friction fit between the plug 320 and the inner surface 312 of the wall 311 . fig5 - 8 further illustrate the suture anchor 300 secured in a humerus 510 and with sutures 530 anchored in the suture anchor 300 . anchor 310 may be secured in any bone via a screw mechanism on the outer surface 311 of the wall , or via a cementing of the anchor 310 to the bone , as is known to those of skill in the art . the anchor 310 may also have a means for driving the screw mechanism into bone . for example , the anchor 310 may have a hex - head , slot , phillips - type head , or other shaped head that may be mated to a driver for screwing the anchor 310 into bone . cementing of the anchor 310 to the bone may be accomplished using a variety of bone cements known to those of skill in the art . for example , curable polymers such as polymethylmethacrylate may be used . such suture anchors 300 allow for tightening , adjustment , or re - tensioning of a suture by loosening and / or removal of the plug 320 from anchor 310 , adjusting or re - tensioning of the suture , and tightening and / or re - insertion of the plug 320 into the anchor 310 . such suture anchors 300 also allow for securing of the suture without the tying of knots or replacement of sutures when re - tensioning is required . suture anchors 300 may be used for the fixation of soft tissue to bone , or of bone to bone . suture anchors 300 and plugs 320 may be made from a variety of materials known to those of skill in the art . for example , for the suture anchors 300 the material is typically a rigid material such as a metal , a polymer , or a ceramic . biocompatible metals include , but are not limited to stainless steel , titanium , tantalum , aluminum , chromium , molybdenum , cobalt , silver , and gold , or alloys of such metals that are known to those of skill in the art . biocompatible polymers include , but are not limited to , high - density polyethylenes , polyurethanes , or blends of such polymers , as are known to those of skill in the art . biocompatible polymers also include absorbable materials such as polylactic acid , polyglycolic acid , or mixtures thereof . biocompatible ceramics include , but are not limited to alumina , silica , silicon carbide , silicon nitride , zirconia , and mixtures of any two or more thereof . the plugs 320 may likewise be prepared from similar metals , polymers , and ceramics , however in some embodiments , the plugs 320 are prepared from materials that may be compressed . in such embodiments , the plug material is capable of being compressed from an uncompressed state to a compressed state , prior to or during insertion of the plug 320 into the suture anchor 300 . such compression allows for the material to recoil from the compressed state to the uncompressed state and thereby increasing the friction fit between the plug 320 and the suture anchor 300 . such materials that may be compressed include , but are not limited to , polyethylenes , silicones , polyesters , polyurethanes , polylactic acid , polyglycolic acid , or mixtures of any two or more thereof . the anchor 300 may be used to secure sutures tensioning tissue without tissue to bone direct contact . examples of such uses of suture tensioning without tissue to bone contact include , but are not limited to , pelvic surgery , bladder suspension surgery , brow lift or face lift surgery , hand surgery and the like . suture anchors 1000 are also embodied herein , and allow for one or more points of fixation of a tissue to be anchored by a single anchor position . as described below , the suture anchors embodied herein are capable allowing the tensioning of a tissue with a suture to be adjustable , and re - tensionable . referring to fig1 - 13 , the anchor 1000 comprises an anchor body 1010 and a plug 1020 . the anchor body 1010 has a central region , or well , that is bored out to accept the anchor plug 1020 . the well is surrounded by a wall having an outer surface 1017 , an inner surface 1018 , and a top surface 1016 . the well also has a bottom inner surface ( i . e . the bottom of the well ), and a bottom outer surface ( i . e . the bottom of the anchor body 1010 ). the inner surface 1018 of the anchor body 1010 may have threads 1015 to accept corresponding threads 1023 on the anchor plug 1020 . the top edge of the inner surface 1018 of the wall , proximal to the top surface 1016 , may have a bevel 1015 . the outer surface 1017 of the wall may have rungs or ridges 1014 for securing the plug 1020 in bone or other tissue . the rungs or ridges 1014 provide anchoring ability to the anchor body 1010 and the suture anchor 1000 as a whole to prevent either from readily pulling out of the bone or other tissue when tensioning a suture , or over the time of implantation in a subject . alternatively , the bored central region of the anchor body 1010 may not be threaded , but is a smooth bore that can accept an anchor plug via a friction fit . the anchor body 1010 may accommodate sutures that are draped into the anchor body 1010 , and a friction fit anchor plug is then inserted , or the anchor body 1010 may accommodate sutures that are threaded through a transverse bore 1012 in the anchor body 1010 , to be secured in place by an anchor plug 1020 . the transverse bore 1012 in the anchor body 1010 is capable of receiving one or more sutures to be secured by the suture anchor 1000 . the transverse bore 1012 is configured proximally to the bottom of the well , such that a suture may be secured between the bottom of the well and a bottom face 1026 of the anchor plug 1020 . grooves 1013 are provided that extend from the transverse bore 1012 to a top surface 1016 of the anchor body 1010 , to allow for movement of a suture through the anchor body 1010 when the anchor body 1010 is in place in a bone . therefore , once the anchor body 1010 is driven into a bone or other tissue , with a suture threaded through the transverse bore 1012 , the suture is movable in the grooves 1013 . the suture may be moved to the desired tension or secured in the suture anchor 1000 by engaging the anchor plug 1020 in the anchor body 1010 and driving the anchor plug 1020 until the plug engages the suture , thereby preventing movement of the suture . the suture is secured between a bottom face 1026 of the anchor plug 1020 and the bottom of the well that is formed in the anchor body 1010 . the anchor plug 1020 may have a head 1024 , a threaded post 1023 for engaging the threaded inner surface 1018 of the anchor body 1010 , and a bottom face 1026 that is distal to the head 1024 . the anchor plug 1020 may also have a bevel 1025 that is complementary to the bevel 1015 of the inner surface 1018 . when the anchor plug 1020 is fully engaged in the anchor body 1010 , the bevel 1025 is configured to engage the bevel 1015 of the inner surface 1018 . the anchor plug 1020 may also be configured to be engaged by a complementary driving device such that the anchor plug 1020 may be tightened or loosened in the anchor body 1010 . the head 1024 of the anchor plug 1020 is typically shaped or has a recessed area to accommodate engagement with a driving device . for example , the anchor plug 1020 may have a hexagonal drive 1021 , as shown in fig1 and 11 , or it may have a slotted drive , a philips drive , a square drive , a star drive , a nut drive , or other mechanism that is known to those of skill in the art for engaging a complementary drive device . the anchor plug 1020 may be configured such that the top of the head 1024 of the anchor plug 1020 is flush with the top surface 1016 of the anchor body 1010 , recessed in the anchor body 1010 , or above the anchor body 1010 , when the anchor plug 1020 is fully engaged in the anchor body 1010 . such suture anchors 1000 allow for tightening , adjustment , or re - tensioning of a suture by tightening , loosening , re - tightening , and / or removing the anchor plug 1020 from anchor body 1010 . such suture anchors 1000 also allow for securing of the suture without the tying of knots or replacement of sutures when re - tensioning is required . suture anchors 1000 may be used for the fixation of soft tissue to bone , or of bone to bone . suture anchors 1000 and plugs 1020 may be made from a variety of materials known to those of skill in the art . for example , for the suture anchors 1000 the material is typically a rigid material such as a metal , a polymer , or a ceramic . biocompatible metals include , but are not limited to stainless steel , titanium , tantalum , aluminum , chromium , molybdenum , cobalt , silver , and gold , or alloys of such metals that are known to those of skill in the art . biocompatible polymers include , but are not limited to , high - density polyethylenes , polyurethanes , or blends of such polymers , as are known to those of skill in the art . biocompatible polymers also include absorbable materials such as polylactic acid , polyglycolic acid , or mixtures thereof . biocompatible ceramics include , but are not limited to alumina , silica , silicon carbide , silicon nitride , zirconia , and mixtures of any two or more thereof . the plugs 1020 may likewise be prepared from similar metals , polymers , and ceramics , however in some embodiments , the anchor plugs are prepared from materials that may be compressed . in such embodiments , the plug material is capable of being compressed from an uncompressed state to a compressed state , prior to or during insertion of the plug into the anchor body 1010 . such compression allows for the material to recoil from the compressed state to the uncompressed state and thereby increasing the friction fit between the plug and the anchor body 1010 . such materials that may be compressed include , but are not limited to , polyethylenes , silicones , polyesters , polyurethanes , polylactic acid , polyglycolic acid , or mixtures of any two or more thereof . the anchor 1000 may be used to secure sutures tensioning tissue without direct contact of tissue to bone . examples of such uses of suture tensioning without tissue to bone contact include , but are not limited to , pelvic surgery , bladder suspension surgery , brow lift or face lift surgery , hand surgery and the like . methods of using suture anchors 300 , 1000 are also provided . for example , referring to fig5 - 8 and 10 - 13 , suture anchor 1000 is capable of adjustably retaining a suture . in a typical procedure , a nest , or hole , is drilled into a bone . the anchor body 1010 , is then placed at the top of the nest and inserted such that the transverse bore 1012 is not obscured in the bone . the suture is then threaded through a tissue to be secured , and the ends of the suture are threaded through the transverse bore 1012 . the anchor body 1010 may then be fully or partially driven into the nest , such that the suture is guided by the grooves 1013 and is freely moving through the grooves 1013 and transverse bore 1012 . the anchor plug 1020 may then be engaged in the anchor body 1010 and driven into the anchor body 1010 until sutures are nearly engaged . the tension of the suture may then be set by the surgeon , or other medical professional , and the anchor plug 1020 fully engaged to secure the sutures within the suture anchor 1000 . to re - adjust the tension of the suture , the anchor plug 1020 may be driven in a reverse direction to loosen the anchor plug 1020 , thereby allowing for free movement of the suture and the process of tensioning the suture may be repeated . referring now to fig9 , in another aspect , a cannula 900 comprising at least one chamber 910 , 920 , an air passage 930 having a valve 940 , and at least one inflatable donut 950 is described . the cannula 900 has a distal end 970 and a proximal end 980 . the inflatable donut 950 is located at , or near the distal end 970 of the cannula 900 . the cannula may be used in both arthroscopic and endoscopic surgery . the cannula may be used to facilitate the passage of surgical items such as but not limited to instruments , sutures , and implants , into and out of a subject . the cannula 900 may be at least a single chambered passageway or the cannula 900 may be divided into multiple chambers , such as two chambers 910 , 920 as illustrated in fig9 , or more than two chambers , depending upon the intended use of the cannula for a given procedure or procedures . in some embodiments , a flexible diaphragm is used to divide cannula 900 into multiple chambers 910 , 920 . in some such embodiments , the flexible diaphragm extends the entire length of the cannula 900 . the donut 950 is an inflatable donut that , when inflated , has a larger diameter than a diameter of the cannula 900 . cannula 900 may also comprise a second donut 960 , that may be rigid or inflatable . the second donut 960 may be located at or near the proximal end 980 . in one aspect , the cannula 900 is inserted through the skin of a subject and the donut 950 is inflated via the air passage 930 . in one embodiment , inflation of donut 950 is via a pump connected to the valve 940 , and subsequent filling of the air chamber 930 and donut 950 with air from the pump . in another embodiment , inflation of donut 950 is via insertion of an air - filled syringe through the valve 940 , and subsequent filling of the air chamber 930 and donut 950 with air from the syringe . the valve 940 may comprise rubber ( s ), silicone ( s ), or other materials known to those of skill in the art to be useful for the insertion and removal of syringes or other devices that may be used for inflation of donut 950 . other methods of inflating the donut 950 will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art . inflation of donut 950 prevents inadvertent removal of the cannula from the subject during surgical procedures . the presence of inflatable donut 950 allows for less trauma to an insertion point in the skin of a subject by allowing for a cannula 900 of small diameter to be inserted , but then the larger diameter donut 950 prevents removal . in embodiments where the second donut 960 is present , the second donut 960 prevents the inadvertent full insertion of the cannula into a subject beyond the surface of the skin of the subject . as noted above , because the second donut 960 does not pass through the skin of a subject , the second donut may be made of a rigid material or the second donut 960 may be inflatable . the second donut 960 may be integrally formed with cannula 900 or it may be formed separately and attached to cannula 900 . in embodiments , where both the first donut 950 and the second donut 960 are inflatable , the donuts 950 , 960 may be simultaneously inflatable in a “ dumbbell ” formation allowing for the inflation both within , via the first donut 950 , and external , 960 , to the body together . generally , cannulas are used to enter areas within the body such as the shoulder , knee or abdomen . cannulas are also used as a channel to introduce surgical implements such as surgical instruments , suture anchors , or sutures . the cannulas embodied herein allow for separate chambers which allow multiple instruments or items to be entered into the joint but partitioned from one another . another feature is an expandable , inflatable device on the end of the cannula which prevents expulsion of the cannula from the cavity as intracavitary pressure increases . the inflatable device , i . e . inflatable donut , locks the cannula in place . in another aspect , methods for using instruments described herein , are provided . for example in some embodiments , methods are disclosed for using the suture passer 100 , suture anchor 300 , and cannula 900 are described . the embodied methods allow for tissue repair . in some embodiments , the methods provided allow for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair , by attempting to recreate the true native footprint of the rotator cuff of a subject . in some embodiments , such methods comprise preparing the rotator cuff bed , boring a tunnel 510 ( fig5 - 8 ), or hole , through a portion of bone such as a humerus 520 , passing a suture 530 through the tunnel 510 , suturing the tissue using a suture passer 100 , and anchoring the sutures 530 in the suture anchor 300 , thereby securing the rotator cuff muscles to the bone in some embodiments of the methods , the suture passer 100 descends through one chamber 950 , 960 of the cannula 900 , grasping tissue . the suture passer 100 passes a locking stitch as described above , followed by removal of the suture passer 100 , with the sutures remaining in the chamber 950 , 960 of the cannula 900 . the other chamber 950 , 960 of the cannula 900 has a humerus drill inserted . a small hole is bored in a greater tuberosity . one limb of a suture is then passed through the bone . a suture anchor 300 is then placed into the greater tuberosity . sutures may be placed through the suture anchor 300 either before or after insertion . if not previously completed , the suture anchor 300 is then fixated in the bone . the sutures are then tensioned thus tensioning the tissue . the plug 320 of the suture anchor 300 is then engaged in the anchor 310 and locked into position , thus securing the sutures . this step can be repeated to alter the tension of the sutures and therefore re - tensioning the sutures and tissue . for the purposes of this disclosure and unless otherwise specified , “ a ” or “ an ” means “ one or more .” one skilled in the art will readily realize that all ranges discussed can and do necessarily also describe all subranges therein for all purposes , and that all such subranges also form part and parcel of this invention . any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves , thirds , quarters , fifths , tenths , etc . as a non - limiting example , each range discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third , middle third and upper third , etc . while some embodiments have been illustrated and described , it should be understood that changes and modifications can be made therein in accordance with ordinary skill in the art without departing from the invention in its broader aspects as defined in the following claims . | 0 |
referring to fig1 through 3 there is shown a first embodiment cable end fitting assembly 20 that is attachable to bracket 22 . bracket 22 may be integrally formed to a member attached to a vehicle . an injection molded swivel tube 23 is attachable to cable end fitting assembly 20 prior to or during the installation of cable end fitting assembly 20 into bracket 22 . swivel tube 23 may be included in assembly with cable end fitting assembly 20 as it is shipped to the site of its installation , or it may be assembled to cable end fitting assembly 20 at the installation site . a cable wire ( not shown ) is included in assembly with cable end fitting assembly 20 and extends from the end of fitting assembly 20 and through swivel tube 23 . bracket 22 includes an open - ended slot 24 formed in an edge 26 of a plate or flange , with slot 24 defined by opposite sides 28 extending from edge 26 and joined along semi - circular bottom 30 of slot 24 . bracket 22 includes upset or projection 32 located below slot bottom 30 that includes upwardly facing ramped surface 34 and opposite , downwardly facing retaining shoulder surface 36 . retaining shoulder surface 36 extends perpendicularly from planar surface 38 of bracket 22 . cable end fitting assembly 20 is preferably a two - part device including retainer clip member 40 and cable end fitting housing assembly member 42 . retainer clip member 40 and housing assembly member 42 are subassembled prior to shipping to the assembly site , and cable end fitting assembly 20 has a shipped or installing state 44 in which cable end fitting assembly 20 and bracket 22 are in either a separated or a partially assembled but unlocked relationship 46 . with fitting assembly 20 in a shipped or installing state 44 and having unlocked relationship 46 with bracket 22 , fitting members 40 and 42 are stabilized in a first position relative to each other . cable end fitting assembly 20 also has an installed state 48 in which it and bracket 22 have a locked relationship 50 . with fitting assembly 20 in an installed state 48 and having locked relationship 50 with bracket 22 , fitting members 40 and 42 are retained in a second position relative to each other . cable end fitting assembly 20 has a longitudinal axis a that in the shipped or installing state 44 is designated as axis a s , and swivel tube 23 , once inserted into cable end fitting housing assembly 42 , has a longitudinal axis b that is substantially aligned with axis a . in the shipped or installing state 44 of cable end fitting assembly 20 , axis b of inserted swivel tube 23 is designated as axis b s . in the installed state 48 , axes a and b are respectively designated axis a i and axis b i . retainer clip member 40 includes first flange 52 which , in the installed state 48 , superposes bracket surface 38 about the periphery of slot 24 , and opposite second flange 54 which , in the installed state , superposes the opposite surface ( not shown ) of bracket 22 about the periphery of slot 24 . between first and second flanges 52 , 54 , retainer clip member 40 has groove 56 that extends between opposite ends 58 thereof , and in the installed state 48 ends 58 are disposed adjacent to edges 26 on opposite sides of slot 24 . first flange 52 includes aperture 60 that is partially defined by bottom edge 62 that corresponds to the shape , length , and thickness relative to its projection height from surface 38 , of retaining shoulder surface 36 of upset or projection 32 . retainer clip member 40 further includes axially extending walls 64 disposed on each lateral side of longitudinal axis a , each axially extending wall 64 including an axially extending slot or void 66 that is open at one end and defined by an upper edge 68 and a substantially parallel lower edge 70 . axially extending walls 64 each also define a lower edge 72 that is substantially parallel with slot edges 68 and 70 , and is located on the side of slot 66 opposite the top of retainer clip member 40 . retainer clip member 40 defines a u - shaped channel 74 open at the top and including opposed interior walls 76 . adjacent interior walls 76 , first flange 52 of retainer clip 40 has axially facing surfaces 78 that face the same direction as bracket planar surface 38 . cable end fitting housing assembly member 42 has bore 80 centered about axis a through which coaxially extends cable conduit or sheath 81 . the end of conduit or sheath 81 is fixed relative to cable end fitting housing assembly 42 , with the cable wire ( not shown ) extending through and moveable relative to conduit or sheath 81 and swivel tube 23 generally in the directions of axes a and b . housing assembly member 42 has an outer circumferential groove 82 which is slidably received in u - shaped channel 74 of retainer clip member 40 , with groove 82 defined on one axial side by circular flange 84 of member 42 and on the opposite axial side by its planar portions 86 . planar portions 86 are slidably superposed over axially facing surfaces 78 of retainer clip member 40 . planar portions 86 each have extending therefrom an axially extending wall 88 . walls 88 are joined at the lower , central portion of housing member 42 to define rigid , planar retaining surface 90 that extends downwardly from axis a and faces towards bracket surface 38 and flange 52 . rigid retaining surface 90 is selectively positioned in overlapping relationship relative to flexible flange 52 and over aperture 60 and prevents flange 52 from being elastically deformed such that it is separated from bracket surface 38 . that is to say , with cable end fitting assembly 20 in its installed state 48 and having a locked relationship 50 with bracket 22 , in which upset 32 is disposed within aperture 60 , flange 52 is sandwiched between bracket surface 38 and the superposed retaining surface 90 and is prevented from being elastically deformed away from bracket surface 38 such that retaining shoulder surface 36 of upset 32 and bottom edge 62 of aperture 60 are taken out of interfacing superposition with each other . the superposition of retainer shoulder surface 36 and bottom edge 62 of aperture 60 prevents cable end fitting assembly 20 in its installed state 48 from being dislodged from slot 24 , thereby locking cable end fitting assembly 20 to bracket 22 . relative movement of housing member 42 and clip member 40 toward their first position would be opposed by abutting engagement between upset shoulder surface 36 and interfacingly superposed flange aperture edge 62 . integrally formed with axially extending walls 88 of housing member 42 are axially extending fingers 92 , each provided with downwardly facing ramped surface 94 and upwardly facing retaining shoulder surface 96 . in the shipped or installing state 44 , fingers 92 are disposed in slots or voids 66 of axially extending walls 64 of retainer clip member 40 . with retainer clip member 40 seated into slot 24 with upset 32 disposed within aperture 60 , movement of cable end fitting housing assembly member 42 is continued vertically by pushing it laterally relative to axis a and further into u - shaped channel 74 . the force exerted in effecting this continued movement elastically deforms one or both of each axially extending wall 64 and 88 such that lower edge 70 of each slot 66 is brought into sliding engagement with the respective ramp surface 94 of each finger 92 , and finger 92 proceeds with the remainder of housing member 42 vertically past the portion of the axially extending wall 64 located immediately below slot 66 to its bottom edge 72 . with fitting assembly 20 now in installed state 48 , upwardly facing retainer shoulder surface 96 of each finger 92 is in superposed or abutting engagement with an edge 72 , thereby locking cable end fitting housing assembly member 42 relative to retainer clip member 40 . as can be seen from a comparison of fig2 and 3 , during installation of cable end fitting assembly 20 , and moving between an unlocked relationship 46 between it and bracket 22 and their locked relationship 50 , axes a and b are displaced downwardly further into slot 24 and u - shaped channel 74 along with cable end fitting housing assembly member 42 . during assembly , with the end fitting assembly 20 in its shipped or installing state 44 , groove 56 is aligned with the slot 24 of the bracket 22 and the fitting assembly 20 pushed vertically in a direction lateral to axis a , into slot 24 and toward slot bottom 30 . during this vertical movement , the groove 56 of retaining clip 40 engages the sides 28 of slot 24 and the bottommost edge of flange 52 approaches the ramped surface 34 of upset 32 . as a user continues to push the end fitting assembly 20 vertically into slot 24 the retention clip member 40 becomes seated in slot 24 , with upset 32 captured within aperture 60 , and housing assembly member 42 then continues its sliding movement vertically from the first position to the second position wherein its retaining surface 90 is superpositioned over flange 52 and aperture 60 of the retention clip member 40 , to prevent the flange 52 from deflecting away from bracket surface 38 and aperture bottom edge 62 from moving out of interfacing position with shoulder surface 36 of upset 32 . during the downward slide of retaining surface 90 over flange 52 , the fingers 92 and axially extending walls 88 are deflected by the load applied to move the end fitting housing assembly member 42 into clip member 40 . specifically , the ramped surfaces 94 on the fingers 92 allow the fingers 92 to be automatically deflected inward . once in the second position retaining shoulder surfaces 96 of fingers 92 are interfacing superposed over lower edges 72 of walls 64 . thus , with retention clip member 40 and fitting housing member 42 in their first position , as fitting assembly 20 is inserted into slot 24 , flange 52 is elastically deflected over the upset 32 until aperture bottom edge 62 is moved past upset shoulder surface 36 , at which point flange 52 returns to its relaxed state abutting surface 38 and upset 32 is captured within aperture 60 . then retention clip member 40 and fitting housing member 42 are relatively moved out of their first position and towards their second position , with retaining surface 90 moving downwardly over flange 52 to oppose deflection of flange 52 away from surface 38 . the retaining clip member 40 requires only a low insertion effort to secure the upset 32 within the aperture 60 of flange 52 , but provides a strong retention coupling of the retaining clip member 40 with the upset 32 . the load required to deflect the fingers 92 and move the fitting assembly members 40 , 42 to their second position is greater than the load required to deflect the flange 52 and move its edge 62 past surface 36 of the upset 32 , thereby ensuring that the end fitting assembly 20 , once in installed state 48 , will not be inadvertently dislodged from the bracket 22 . to separate the end fitting assembly 20 from the bracket 22 , the fingers 92 of the fitting housing member 42 are squeezed toward each other to allow the fitting housing member 42 to be moved from the second position to the first position . subsequently , the retention clip member 40 can then be separated from the bracket 22 by deflecting the flange 52 over the upset 32 and removing the retention clip 40 from the bracket 22 . thus , subsequent to initial installation of the end fitting assembly 20 , fingers 92 function to facilitate serviceability of the end fitting assembly 20 . referring now to fig4 through 13 , there is shown a second embodiment cable end fitting assembly 120 . relative to second embodiment fitting assembly 120 and the above - described first embodiment fitting assembly 20 , substantially identical elements are identically numbered , and elements of fitting assembly 120 that correspond in structure and / or function to elements of fitting assembly 20 are identified by adding a prefix “ 1 ” ( i . e ., adding 100 ) to the respective element numeral of fitting assembly 20 . additionally , multiple elements of fitting assembly 120 that correspond in structure and / or function to elements of fitting assembly 20 may also include suffixes “ a ” and “ b ”. the structure and function of identical or corresponding elements between the first and second embodiment fitting assemblies 20 , 120 and their relationships to bracket 22 are as described above except as described below or as evident from the accompanying drawings . fig4 and 5 show cross - sectional side views of fitting assembly 120 attached to bracket 22 that are taken 90 ° apart about axes a i and b i . cable end fitting assembly 120 includes retainer clip member 140 and cable end fitting housing assembly member 142 . fitting assembly 120 has a shipped or installing state 144 in which it has an unlocked relationship 146 with bracket 22 . fitting assembly 120 also has an installed state 148 in which it has a locked relationship 150 with bracket 22 . retention clip member 140 includes first flange 152 and second flange 154 between which is u - shaped groove 156 having ends 158 . flange 152 includes an aperture or void 160 defined between a bottom edge 162 and a top edge 163 . retention clip member 140 includes slot or void 166 b near each end 158 of its groove 156 , with each slot 166 b defined between an upper edge 168 b and a lower edge 170 b . retaining clip member 140 defines a u - shaped channel 174 having interior walls 176 , and has axially facing surfaces 178 . fitting member 142 has a bore 80 into which is coaxially disposed cable conduit 81 , and an external circumferential groove 182 defined at its opposite axial ends by circular flange 184 and planar portions 186 , the latter defining rigid retaining surface 190 that is in superposed sliding engagement with retaining clip member flange 152 . referring to fig8 through 10 , retainer clip locker element 100 of fitting housing assembly member 142 includes a pair of fingers 192 a that extend into circumferential groove 182 from circular flange 184 . fingers 192 a are received in slots 166 a formed in flange 154 of retainer clip member 140 . the engagement of fingers 192 a and slots 166 a stabilize fitting assembly 120 in its shipped or installing state 144 . in shipped or installing state 144 , the ends of integrally formed fingers 192 b extending upwardly from retainer clip locker element 100 project above surfaces 168 b that define slots 166 b near groove ends 158 of retainer clip member 140 . as discussed above with respect to first embodiment fitting assembly 20 , second embodiment fitting assembly 120 is vertically inserted into slot 24 of bracket 22 through movement that is substantially lateral to axes a and b . retainer clip member 140 is pushed into a seated position in slot 24 , through the deflection of flange 152 by sliding engagement with upset ramped surface 34 , and in its seated position projection 32 is received within aperture or void 160 , such that aperture bottom edge 162 and upset retaining shoulder surface 36 are interfacingly superposed . in moving fitting assembly 120 from the installing state 144 to installed state 148 , fitting housing member 142 is pushed in a direction lateral to axes a and b further into u - shaped channel 174 of retainer clip member 140 , such that ramped surface 194 of each finger 192 b is in sliding engagement with the topmost edge of each interior wall 176 of the retainer clip 140 , the fingers 192 b deflected inwardly towards each other until the retaining shoulder surfaces 196 of fingers 192 b are moved past surfaces 168 b of slots 1661 , at which point fingers 192 b move outwardly away from each other and relax , and surfaces 196 are brought into superposed relationship with surfaces 168 b of slots 166 b , which locks fitting members 140 , 142 in their second position . simultaneously , rigid retaining surface 190 is brought into superposed abutting relationship with flexible flange 152 and overlappingly covers aperture 160 . thus , flange 152 is sandwiched between bracket surface 38 and retaining surface 190 , preventing its elastic deformation away from surface 38 and maintaining the interfacingly superposed relationship between upset shoulder surface 36 and the aperture bottom edge 162 , thus completing entry to the installed state 148 establishing the locked relationship 150 between fitting assembly 120 and bracket 22 . in moving cable end fitting housing assembly 142 relative to retainer clip 140 when transitioning from the shipped or installing state 144 to the installed state 148 , fingers 192 a that are disposed within slots 166 a , as shown in fig1 , are deformed such that they are pulled out of slots 166 a and taken out of their interfitting engagement . referring again to fig4 through 6 , the exterior configuration of housing assembly member 142 of second embodiment cable end fitting assembly 120 is formed by retainer clip locker member 100 and shell 102 , into which member 100 is inserted and interlocked . the axial end of cable conduit 81 is provided with a conduit overmolding 104 that is fixed to the end of conduit 81 and positioned between a pair of identical damper members 106 which may be formed of a suitable vulcanized rubber such as , for example , epdm 45 sh a or nbr 70 sh a . each damper 106 is provided with a circumferential groove 108 on its interior surface that defines , in the damper 106 which surrounds conduit 81 , bore 80 . groove 108 is configured to receive the tapered , radially extending terminal end 110 of swivel tube 23 , which is inserted into the respective damper bore during assembly of the swivel tube to fitting assembly 120 . as noted above , the wire ( not shown ) of the cable assembly that extends through its cable conduit 81 also extends through swivel tube 23 . referring now to fig1 through 17 , there is shown a third embodiment cable end fitting assembly 220 . relative to third embodiment fitting assembly 220 , and one or both of the above - described first embodiment fitting assembly 20 and second embodiment fitting assembly 120 , substantially identical elements are identically numbered , and elements of fitting assembly 220 that correspond in structure and / or function to elements of fitting assembly 20 are identified by adding a prefix “ 2 ” ( i . e ., adding 200 ) to respective elements of first embodiment fitting assembly 20 , or substituting prefix “ 2 ” for the prefix “ 1 ” of ( or adding 100 to ) the respective element numeral of fitting assembly 120 . additionally , multiple elements of fitting assembly 220 that correspond in structure and / or function to elements of fitting assemblies 20 , 120 may also include or omit suffixes “ a ” and “ b ”. the structure and function of identical or corresponding elements between the second and third embodiment fitting assemblies 120 and 220 and their relationships to bracket 22 are as described above except as described below or as evident from the accompanying drawings . cable end fitting assembly 220 includes retainer clip member 240 and cable end fitting housing assembly member 242 . fitting assembly 220 has a shipped or installing state 244 in which it has an unlocked relationship 246 with bracket 22 . fitting assembly 220 also has an installed state 248 in which it has a locked relationship 250 with bracket 22 . retention clip member 240 includes first flange 252 and second flange 254 between which is u - shaped groove 256 having ends 258 . flange 252 includes an aperture or void 260 defined between a bottom edge 262 and a top edge 263 . retention clip member 240 includes slot or void 266 near each end 258 of its groove 256 , with each slot 266 defined between an upper edge 268 and a lower edge 270 . retaining clip member 240 defines a u - shaped channel 274 having interior walls 276 , and has axially facing surfaces 278 . fitting member 242 has a bore 80 into which is coaxially disposed cable conduit 81 , and an external circumferential groove 282 defined at its opposite axial ends by circular flange 284 and planar portions 286 , the latter defining rigid retaining surface 290 that is in superposed sliding engagement with retaining clip member flange 252 . the engagement of finger 192 a and aperture 260 stabilizes fitting assembly 220 in its shipped or installing state 244 . in shipped or installing state 244 , the ends of integrally formed fingers 292 b extending upwardly from retainer clip locker element 200 project above surfaces 268 that define slots 266 near groove ends 258 of retainer clip member 240 . as discussed above with respect to first and second embodiment fitting assemblies 20 and 120 , third embodiment fitting assembly 220 is vertically inserted into slot 24 of bracket 22 through movement that is substantially lateral to axes a and b . retainer clip member 240 is pushed into a seated position in slot 24 , through the deflection of flange 252 by sliding engagement with upset ramped surface 34 , and in its seated position projection 32 is received within aperture or void 260 , such that aperture bottom edge 262 and upset retaining shoulder surface 36 are interfacingly superposed . in moving fitting assembly 220 from the installing state 244 to installed state 248 , fitting housing member 242 is pushed in a direction lateral to axes a and b further into u - shaped channel 274 of retainer clip member 240 , such that ramped surface 294 b of each finger 292 b is in sliding engagement with the topmost edge of each interior wall 276 of the retainer clip 240 , the fingers 292 b deflected inwardly towards each other until the retaining shoulder surfaces 296 b of fingers 292 b are moved past surfaces 268 of slots 266 , at which point fingers 292 b move outwardly away from each other and relax , and surfaces 296 b are brought into superposed relationship with surfaces 268 of slots 266 , which locks fitting members 240 , 242 in their second position . simultaneously , rigid retaining surface 290 is brought into superposed abutting relationship with flexible flange 252 and overlappingly covers aperture 260 . thus , flange 252 is sandwiched between bracket surface 38 and retaining surface 290 , preventing its elastic deformation away from surface 38 and maintaining the interfacingly superposed relationship between upset shoulder surface 36 and the aperture bottom edge 262 , thus completing entry to the installed state 248 establishing the locked relationship 250 between fitting assembly 220 and bracket 22 . referring to fig1 , the exterior configuration of housing assembly member 242 of third embodiment cable end fitting assembly 220 is formed by retainer clip locker member 200 and shell 102 of second embodiment housing member 142 , into which member 200 is inserted and interlocked . internally , third embodiment housing member 242 is structurally and functionally identical to second embodiment housing member 142 , includes the same components , and has swivel tube 23 is inserted therein . referring to fig1 , housing member 242 includes finger 292 a that depends from planar portion 286 and defines at its terminal end a hook formed by ramped surface 294 a and retaining shoulder surface 296 a facing substantially opposite directions . in the shipped or installing state 244 , retainer shoulder surface 296 a is in interfacing superposition with aperture upper edge 263 , and in the first position relative to retainer clip member 240 , housing member 242 is thus prevented from moving in a direction away from the second position , and out of u - shaped channel 274 , by the abutting engagement between retainer shoulder surface 296 a and aperture upper edge 263 . the oblique contact between aperture lower edge 262 and ramped surface 294 a of finger 292 a , and the above - discussed engagement between ramped surfaces 294 b of fingers 292 b and the topmost edges of retention clip member interior surfaces 276 , oppose the relative movement of fitting members 240 , 242 from their first position toward the second position . thus , fitting assembly 220 is stabilized in the first position in the shipped or installing state 244 , in which fitting assembly 220 and bracket 22 have an unlocked relationship 246 , at least until retainer clip member 240 is moved into its seated position within slot 24 . in moving retainer clip member 240 into its seated position , wherein upset 32 is captured within aperture 260 , upset 32 tends to deflect finger 292 out of cooperative engagement with aperture edges 262 , 263 as best seen in fig1 . as fitting housing member 242 is pushed further into channel 274 in relatively moving fitting members 240 , 242 toward the second position , finger 292 a is pushed downwardly past the bottommost edge of flange 252 and into a position disposed below and out of operative engagement with retaining clip member 240 . as described above , during movement from the installing state 244 to the installed state 248 , wherein fitting members 240 and 242 respectively have unlocked and locked relationships 246 , 250 with bracket 22 , ramp surface 294 b of each finger 292 b are in sliding engagement with the respective upper edge of retainer clip member interior wall 276 , and the end of each finger 292 b is received in its respective slot 266 . each retaining shoulder surface 296 b is thus brought into superposition with an upper slot edge 268 , which locks the fitting members 240 , 242 in the second position , and establishes a locked relationship between fitting assembly 220 and bracket 22 . as to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention , the same should be apparent from the above description . accordingly , no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided . with respect to the above description then , it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention , to include variations in size , materials , shape , form , function and manner of operation , assembly and use , are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art , and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention . therefore , 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 . while the invention has been described with reference to 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 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 embodiments disclosed as contemplated for carrying out this invention , but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims . | 8 |
the stackable reinforced bin shown in fig1 is comprised of five primary double - wall rotationally molded plastic components . the double - wall sections are hollow and have a void in between the walls optionally filled with a foam material , defined as an expandable cellular plastic . this method of molding the components offers a lower mold cost and the structures by being double - wall provide added strength . a linear low density polyethylene resin is used to mold the sections of the bin because of it &# 39 ; s flexibility and resilience to impact and is less likely to fracture and crack than other types of materials . however , any type of resin suitable to rotational molding process could be used for other applications . the pallet - base 40 , and two identical vertical end - panels 41 , and two identical vertical side - panels 42 form the enclosure bin . although the pallet - base 40 is shown in fig1 as a two - way forklift entry from either end of the bin it is possible to also have the same configuration on the side so as to provide four - way forklift entry which is not illustrated . the internal supporting reinforcing structure shown in fig8 provides substantially increased strength to the structure of the primary components and is composed of two bottom end rods with threaded ends 47 preferably metal however a strong plastic material could be substituted , four vertical corner posts 80 which are tubular but could be solid preferably plastic however could be metal for added strength , two top horizontal side rods with loop - ends 52 preferably made of metal which are molded into the top side - panel 42 , and two top horizontal end bars 81 preferably made of plastic but could be made of metal with two horizontal end rods 47 preferably made of metal but could be made of plastic that are inserted into the end bars 81 and have threaded ends . each side - panel 42 have a plurality of bottom male extensions and the pallet - base 40 has a number of female receptacles . the bottom male extensions engage within the female receptacles in the pallet - base 40 and each side - panel 42 includes a segmented horizontal end extension on opposite ends . these side - panels have segmented extensions on opposed ends engaging with said end - panel segmented horizontal extensions , and the end - panel and side - panel corner extensions each having at one opening on top and one opening on bottom , which concentrically match in perpendicularity . the end - panels 41 and the side - panels 42 have a series of molded - in vent slots , typically 48 & amp ; 49 shown in fig1 , & amp ; 3 respectively which not only provide ventilation for products placed in the bin that require air circulation such as produce , but also provide additional strengthening to the panels . the end - panel 41 and side - panel 42 vent slots show the center group of vent slots at 48 & amp ; 49 configured in the center of the panels so that the center of the wall is strengthened in the longitudinal direction to reduce the possibility of outward wall bowing due the outward force of the product loaded inside the bin . the top portion of the end panel wall 41 is thicker than the lower major portion of the wall as shown in fig1 & amp ; fig7 the purpose of the slope 51 on the inside of the end - panel 42 at the top as shown in fig1 is to provide the transition to the narrower section below . in order for the inside wall of side - panel 42 to blend in with this transition on the top inside corner of the sidewall 42 at 51 is configured to blend in with this slope . the pallet - base 40 shown in fig2 is provided with inward stepped sections on the bottom of the legs , on the full length of the left outer leg 56 , the ends of the center leg 57 and the full length of the right leg 58 , to provide positive stacking inter - lock where this recessed section on the bottom fits into the top of a bin when one bin is stacked on top of the another bin . the top of the side - panel 42 shown in fig3 has a molded - in metal rod with loop ends 52 to provide substantial strength to the top side wall and increase the rigidity along the top to reduce the flexibility in of the plastic wall in this area . plastic by itself is not as rigid as metal or wood . the loop end 77 of side rod 52 shows the preferred configuration of the loop which must accommodate the diameter of the top end bar 81 . fig1 a straight form & amp ; fig1 b alternate with fig1 b being the preferred shape show the top view of the loop end side bar 52 which could be either straight or bent at an angle as shown . referring to fig1 through fig1 , end - panel 41 has a first means for securing the bottom end of the end - panel 41 to the end of the pallet - base 40 with a plurality of horizontal tongues 71 on the end of the pallet - base which engage with a first set of corresponding horizontal grooves 82 on the bottom inside wall of the end - panel 41 . the end - panel 41 has a second means for securing end - panel 41 to the pallet - base 40 with a second set of horizontal grooves 72 on the outside of end - panel 41 bottom end directly opposite the first set of grooves 82 . the end - panel is fully secured to the pallet - base 40 with the insertion of an end rod 47 alternately through each pallet - base 40 leg end openings 84 shown in fig1 through 18 concentrically matched with the second set of horizontal grooves 72 . fastening means attached to opposed ends to the threaded end rod 47 secure the rod . each end - panel 41 has a plurality of corner extensions , which engage the side - panel 42 segmented horizontal end extensions on opposing ends . the end - panel 41 corner end extensions have at least one opening top and bottom that concentrically match in perpendicularity . each side - panel 42 and end - panel 41 have means for holding together a corner point . the corner point consists side - panel 42 extensions and end - panel 41 extensions that inter - mesh . openings in the horizontal end extensions of the side - panel 42 and end - panel 41 corner extensions inter - mesh vertically and concentrically . an alternate top configuration to the preferred embodiment shown in fig2 is illustrated in fig3 which consists of the end - panel 41 c horizontal top end having a cut out on opposite sides of the end - panel 41 c area in a center portion thereof forming a stacking land 98 for the pallet - base 40 center leg underside end . this cutout permits stacking a bin on top of another bin thereby exposing the top end bar 81 horizontally on opposite sides of the end - panel 41 c top center 98 thus reducing possible damage to the forklift access bin to area of the end - panel 41 . the pallet - base 40 has a plurality of molded - in reinforcing recesses 60 on its underside as illustrated in fig4 . the recesses 60 are perpendicular to the pallet - base 40 bottom walls as shown in fig1 and are joined at the top of the underside of the pallet - base 40 top wall providing substantial reinforcing strength to the pallet - base 40 bottom surface to aid in the support of the load within . the pallet - base 40 shown in fig4 includes two horizontal channels 65 on an underside surface between the outer leg and center leg of said pallet - base 40 . the channels 65 are spaced and centered to provide distributed load support of the load within the bin . to further explain the function of the channels 65 , they are recessed within the profile of the pallet - base walls which strengthen and accommodate the support bars that ultimately support the load . the pallet - base 40 shown in the cross section view fig2 , has a plurality of openings 85 in the sidewalls of the underside legs with the pallet - base 40 , support bar 66 made of a metal tube having a predetermined length , is inserted into openings 85 and channels 65 . retaining means comprise a plurality of predetermined extensions 54 at the bottom outer of the side - panel 42 having a suitable size for engaging recesses 69 in the pallet - base 40 . the extensions 54 close off the support bar 66 insertion opening 69 within the pallet - base when the side - panel 42 is assembled to the pallet - base 40 . the pallet - base 40 has a plurality of reinforcing vertical gussets 62 & amp ; 67 on the leg walls to add additional to the load the pallet - base 40 to includes a plurality of receptacles 96 , depicted in fig2 & amp ; 27 which form an upper tapered conical structure to accommodate receiving the side - panel 42 bottom tapered extension 70 . female fastening means 88 are integrally connected to a corresponding vertically concentric downward oppositely tapered conical structure 96 on the underside of the pallet - base 40 outer legs . this arrangement accommodates insertion of male fastening means 92 from the underside of the pallet - base 40 . the combination of tapered inverted vertical concentric conical structures 96 provide substantial reinforcing strength . the bottom of the pallet - base 40 shown in fig4 has have means for ventilation consisting of a series of molded - in vent slots 50 to provide air circulation and added strength to the double - wall of the pallet - base 40 . the strength of the bottom double - wall pallet - base 40 is further increased by the addition of several recesses 60 which are shown as circular but could be any configuration and are further illustrated along line 12 — 12 in fig1 . the bottom of the pallet - base 40 shown in fig4 has two horizontal tubes support bars 66 inserted in the channels 65 and the outer legs and center leg to provide substantial added strength to the bottom center of the bin to minimize the possibility of sagging or downward deflection due to the product load within in the bin . in a stack of two or more bins the bottom bin is resting on the ground or floor surface and the load is distributed along the bottom of all three legs . however , when two or more bins are stacked one on top of the other the center section of the center leg is unsupported leading to the possibility of load sag which will impede the ability of a forklift to pick up the upper bins . the method of bin pre - assembly shown in fig6 is to move the two side - panels 42 toward the end - panels 41 until the corners are inter - meshed with one another . these panels are held in place by the four corner posts 80 shown in fig8 by inserting the posts through holes 86 in the top and bottom of each panel corner member as shown in fig2 and pallet - base 40 corner opening 68 , shown in fig1 , from the bottom upwardly . pin projections 73 on the top ends of the end - panels 41 engage with the holes or recesses 74 in the top end of the side - panels 42 . the pallet - base 40 is then moved upward to engage the end - panels 41 and side - panels 42 . the bottom end rods 47 are then inserted form either side into the hole 84 located in recess 55 of the pallet - base 40 in fig1 passing through the end of the left outer leg of pallet - base 40 then the bottom end rod 47 lays into the channel first groove 72 provided at the bottom of the end - panel then the bottom end rod 47 passes through the center leg end 40 and lays into the bottom second groove 72 of the end panel 41 and finally the bottom end rod 47 passes through the right outer leg of the pallet - base 40 which now secures the corner posts 80 from falling out fig1 and secures the end - panels 41 . pre - assembly fig7 shows an end view of the grooves 72 at the bottom of the end panel 41 . the three tabs 70 at the bottom of each side - panel 42 shown in fig7 engage into correspondingly contoured recesses 96 shown in fig2 on the top of the pallet - base 40 . the two tabs 54 at the bottom of the side - panel shown in fig7 engage with the recesses 69 to secure the support bars 66 shown on fig4 to prevent support bars 66 from coming out . an underside pallet - base 40 corner outer leg opening 68 in fig1 has a parallel key - slot access channel which enables insertion of an elongated long nose pliers to grab onto the bottom end of the corner post to extract the corner post to facilitate component replacement . the horizontal top end bar 81 is inserted into the molded - in hole 100 in the top corner of the side - panel 42 shown in fig2 and then passed through the holes in the top of the end - panel 41 and then finally through the molded - in hole 100 on the opposite side - panel 42 as shown in fig2 . the end rod 47 has end fastening means 79 disposed on each end to allow concealment of end fastening means within a profile of said side - panel . the horizontal top threaded end rod 47 is inserted into the full length of the top end bar 81 thereafter the fastening means , preferably , but not limited flat washers 78 and lock nuts 79 are attached to secure the top corners . this will be described in further detail . one end of the bottom plan view of the pallet base 40 is illustrated in fig1 without the end - panel 41 installed to show the horizontal bottom threaded end rod 47 inserted through the three pallet legs . convolutions 63 & amp ; 64 illustrated in fig1 & amp ; 17 respectively provide additional support to the end rod 47 . the front edge 71 of the pallet - base 40 between the outer legs and center leg is the tongue portion of the tongue and groove engagement illustrated in fig1 . the cross section elevation view of the strengthening recess 60 along line 12 — 12 is illustrated in fig1 . the exploded partial plan view of the left outer leg corner of pallet 40 along line 13 — 13 is illustrated in fig1 . end rod 47 inserted into the leg of pallet - base 40 shows where the corner post 80 is secured from coming out of the opening 68 . the threaded end of the end rod 47 extends into the recessed area 55 so that when the flat washer 78 and lock nut 79 , shown in fig1 , are installed they will not extend beyond the outer wall of pallet - base 40 surface . the indented step 56 of pallet 40 provides the positive stacking . the key slot in corner opening 68 will accommodate an elongated “ long - nose ” pliers to enable easy removal of the corner post 80 when it is necessary to replace either the end - panel 41 or side - panel 42 . a cross sectional elevation view of one end of the pallet - base 40 along the line of 14 — 14 in fig4 is illustrated in fig1 , described in detail earlier . means for supporting a load within the bin at the pallet - base when a bin is stacked on top of another consists of strengthening convolutions 63 , 64 & amp ; 68 that provide additional load support which is directed to the base of the pallet 40 . flat washers 78 and lock nuts 79 are installed in the recesses 55 to retain the end rod 47 in place . the end rod 47 rests inside the end - panel 41 channel 72 which is between the legs of pallet 40 to secure the end - panel 41 in place . the hole 84 shown in the partial elevation views of the pallet 40 leg ends in fig1 through fig1 accommodates the end rod 47 . a partial plan view of the pallet taken along line 19 — 19 in fig1 is illustrated in fig1 showing the end - panel 41 engaged with the pallet 40 end using the tongue & amp ; groove method . the pallet - base 40 has a set of horizontal tongues and the end - panels 41 have a first set of horizontal grooves which engage with the tongues , a second set of grooves opposite said first set of grooves allows the bottom end rod to pass horizontally through said second set of horizontal grooves securing the end - panel 41 to the pallet - base 40 . hole 83 shown in fig1 is drain hole to prevent moisture from being trapped in between the walls of the end - panel 41 . a cross sectional elevation view fig2 taken along line 20 — 20 of fig1 illustrates the center load support at the bottom of the pallet - base 40 . the support bar 66 inserted at either side of the pallet 40 through hole 85 in the recess 69 and is passed through all of the holes 85 until it is centered . the support bar 66 fits into the open channel 65 . the support bar 66 is substantially supported by the vertical convolutions 67 and 62 which distributes the load to the bottom of the pallet - base 40 . the elevation view fig2 is an exploded view of the pallet - base 40 side in fig3 which illustrates the recess 69 to accommodate the tab 54 on the side - panel 42 which secures the support bar 66 from coming out of either side . the exploded partial elevation view fig2 is a cross section illustration of the channel way 65 for the support bar 66 and the support gusset 67 . a number of vertical gussets , 63 , 64 , and 68 are located in vertical side walls of the pallet - base 40 legs under the openings 84 for insertion of the bottom end rod 47 thereby providing substantial reinforcement to the bottom end rod . the side - panel 42 corner members and the end - panel 41 end members are inter - meshed as shown in exploded partial elevation view along the line 23 — 23 of fig1 illustrated in fig2 which provides substantial stacking strength in four corners of the bin assembly in fig1 and the corner members are secured by the corner post 80 inserted from the bottom up through all of the holes 86 . a corner notch 46 is formed by the inter - meshed configuration of the outer vertical edge of the corners of end - panel 41 and side - panel 42 as illustrated in fig2 which provides a means for holding a tie - down rope in place to explain , in the process of field harvesting produce , two rows of 6 bins per row are placed on top of an over - the - road flat bed trailer and in order to secure the bins from sliding off the trailer in transit a rope is tied to the trailer front vertical rack , bought back horizontally to the rear of the trailer and then placed across the back of the load placed downward diagonally to the opposite end of the trailer on the rear and secure to the trailer frame , the same is done on the other side without the notches 46 to keep the tie - down rope in place the rope would slide down the corner and create an unsafe load for transporting . the tie - down ropes are horizontal on the side and diagonally cross one another in the rear of the load . fig2 illustrates a top plan view along line 24 — 24 of fig2 showing the corner post 80 inserted in hole 86 in the center of the corner member . the exploded isometric cross sectional view of fig2 , taken along the line 25 — 25 of fig1 illustrates the substantial strength of the combination of all parts coming together at one point . the top corner of the side - panel 42 illustrates the vertical corner post held in place by molded - in hole 101 of the side - panel 42 and contacting the bottom of the molded - in side rod 52 to provide substantial corner stacking strength . further , the horizontal top end bar 81 coming from the end - panel 41 is supported by the molded - in hole 100 and is substantially secured in place by the loop end of the side rod 52 . further , the top end rod 47 is locks the corner assembly by the placement of the flat washer 78 and lock nut 79 in the recess 53 . this arrangement provides the ultimate assurance the top corners of the bin will not be broken by the action of a forklift dragging the fork tines across the top of the bin while exiting after having placed a bin load on top of another bin . the bin load will add to the support of the bin in any attempt of the forklift operator to destroy the top corners of the bin even with the fork tines tilted downward short of the operator &# 39 ; s malicious attempt to cause damage . the pallet - base 40 has three conical female receptacles 96 on the top surface of each side with an access port 61 below as illustrated in cross sectional plan view of fig2 typically taken along the line of 26 — 26 in fig1 . the receptacle 96 on top accommodates the side - panel 42 bottom tab 70 . the tab 70 has a socket 93 as shown in fig2 taken along line 27 — 27 of fig2 to accommodate a tab weld nut 88 with a snug fit to keep it from falling out before the side - panel 42 is assembled . the vertical hole 94 in the bottom of the tab 70 is to allow the insertion of the bolt 92 to engage with the nut 88 . in the event the threads of the nut 88 become defective the nut 88 can be extracted by using a common punch placed into the knock - out port 95 and replace the nut 88 . the bottom of the pallet - base 40 has an access port 61 to enable the insertion of a flat washer 90 and a lock washer 91 over the bolt 92 to secure the side - panel 42 to the pallet - base 40 at three locations on each side . the conical receptacles 61 and 96 provide substantial load support to the bottom of the pallet - base 40 . now the complete bin assembly has been completely secured in all respects . if it becomes necessary to replace one end - panel 41 that has been damaged all that is needed is to remove the lock nut 79 and flat washer 78 on one end of the bottom end rod 72 , slide the rod 72 out , use a long - nose pliers inserted into the corner opening 68 on the under side of the pallet - base 40 , grab the corner post 80 and slide it out of each end of the end - panel 41 and remove the defective panel and install a new panel and replace all of the parts removed . to replace a side - panel 42 the same procedure would apply as previously described but it is only necessary to slide the end rods 47 just enough to extract the corner posts 80 then remove the three bolt 92 assemblies . also , the two top corner end rods 47 will have to be disengaged as well . the most vulnerable part of the bin to being damaged is the entry end so the end - panel 41 will most likely require frequent replacement . the top of the end - panel 41 has three top configuration options as shown in fig2 , 30 & amp ; 32 . the configuration shown in fig2 is the preferred form in that the top sections of end - panel 41 a on either side of the flat stacking land 98 are contoured 75 , shown in fig2 , to form the plastic wall closely over the top end bar 81 which not only offers a slight increase in space above the top horizontal surface to make it easier for the forklift to move the fork tines in and out between two stacked bins but it also provides less chance of the fork tine puncturing the plastic wall of the end panel 41 because the plastic wall will be supported by the close proximity of the end bar 81 should the operator err in attempting to move into the target area for loading or unloading . the mold will be made with removable sections to provide the other options in fig3 & amp ; 32 for applications that warrant either one of the two configurations . option 41 b shown in fig3 provides maximum cube utilization of the space in the bin . option 41 c shown in fig3 provides greater protection of the top of the end panel 41 having less plastic panel exposure to damage , however , it also reduces the capacity of the bin due to the open area above and below the end tube 81 which may not be a problem where the product to be loaded in the bin is large and would not fall through the openings and affect loss of capacity . | 1 |
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