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fig1 illustrates a conventional display system with the presentation layer and software objects . the presentation layer is part of a user interface for the file management system of the computer system . the presentation layer allows the user to select a file or folder to be opened by clicking on a representation of the file or folder . the presentation layer may include application programming interfaces that allow an application program to obtain access to software objects . for instance , the application programming interfaces may provide access to open and save dialog boxes via which the user can select a particular file or other object at a designated location . typically , conventional presentation systems were produced with knowledge of the types of software objects to be used . conventional presentation systems can be tightly meshed with the details of the expected software object types . often , the presentation layer expects the software objects to behave as files . the file system model is useful for a variety of different types of software objects , such as sound files , movie files , and text files . the prevalence of the file system model has influenced software designers to force new objects into this model . a problem occurs when a new type of software object is introduced that does not easily fit the file system model , such as an internet web page . modifying the presentation software to allow display of a web page is quite difficult because the presentation software was written expecting all of the software objects to behave in the same manner as a file . fig2 a is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the presentation layer is isolated from the details of the software object access by an adaptation layer . the presentation layer is designed to require only a small amount of pre - specified data to produce the display of the different software objects . the adaptation layer provides the set of required data for each software object . this set includes the name of the software object , icon data for the software object , and the existence of children objects for the software object . the required data set could even be smaller , merely providing the name and the existence of children . the presentation layer is isolated from the details of the software object access . thus , the presentation layer does not expect the software objects to have specific characteristics , and does not require the software objects themselves to have a particular structure . the software objects can be from a variety of different sources and repositories . these different repositories can contain heterogeneous types of objects , which would previously be considered incompatible . for example , the software objects can include file objects , database objects , and internet web objects , including ftp server objects . the details of the software object access is provided by the adaptation layer and access units . certain other types of information can be provided by the adaptation layer to the presentation layer , but is not required . this data can include the file size , and the time and date of the last modification . for some types of objects where this information does not make sense , it need not be transferred to the presentation layer . in a preferred embodiment , the adaptation layer is a “ thin ” layer of software that uses the access units to obtain the display information . the access units may be unmodified commercially available software . the presentation layer also preferably sends signals to the lower levels in a fixed form . thus , if the user selects a command to open a software object , an “ open object ” instruction is sent to the lower levels which interpret this instruction to open the software object in its own fashion . as shown in fig2 a , a variety of different software objects can be simultaneously accessed with the present invention . the different types of objects might be stored on different respective repositories . thus , file objects might be stored on a local disk drive , ftp objects can be stored at a remote ftp site , and database objects are accessed via a separate database server . access units for file objects , database objects , and web objects are shown . it is easy to support new types of software objects . the adaptation layer can be changed and additional access units added . since the presentation layer only expects certain fixed data , the new object types can be added without modifying the presentation layer . in a preferred embodiment , the presentation layer does not require the identifying data to be returned within a fixed time period . with a file system , when data is requested by the presentation unit , the computer system can quickly obtain this data . a presentation layer that expects the objects to conform to a file system model may require that data be received within a certain amount of time . for example , the system could time out after a short period if the data is not obtained by the presentation layer . however , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the presentation layer does not have any expectations of when the identification data is to be presented . the presentation layer requests data a few times , and can produce a display whenever the data is sent from the lower levels . the presentation layer does not have any expectations as to when this data is to be received . this feature is particularly advantageous when web objects are accessed . since internet access is typically much slower than access over the computer system files , the timing out of the system can cause problems . in other embodiments , a time limit may be set . different access units can obtain the required data from the objects in vastly different manners . the presentation layer has no expectations of how this data is to be produced . for a file unit access , the data can be obtained in the conventional manner . for a web access system , the system can search for text to use as the name of the object , either from the web page or the web page &# 39 ; s uniform resource locator ( url ), and can go through the web page to identify urls contained within it to produce an indication of the children objects of that web page . an access unit for a database can use the details of the database structure to produce the name and links to any children objects . the adaptation layer is preferably quite thin and merely an intermediary between the presentation layer and the different software object access units . the access units can also provide different ways of manipulating the software objects as a result of instructions from the presentation layer . for example , if the user selects “ open a file ”, this instruction is interpreted as appropriate by each of the different access units , to retrieve a file . an access unit may be able to access more than one type of object . additionally , a single type of object can be accessed by more than one access unit . fig2 b illustrates an alternate embodiment in which the adaptation layer is comprised of a number of adaptation units corresponding to the access units . fig3 illustrates the operation of the adaptation layer . consider object i . the type of object i is checked in block 22 . the type of the object can be indicated by a type field for the object ; based upon the object &# 39 ; s parent ; by having the access layer and access units interpret the object , or any other suitable manner . in this example , adaptation layer unit c recognizes the object i , and the name and icon information for the object i is sent to the presentation software . in block 24 , it is checked whether object i has any children objects . when children objects are found , the name icon and children status of the objects are checked . once the parent - child relationships between objects are established , the presentation layer might display , at the top of its hierarchy , all of the top - level nodes for containers that can be accessed . fig4 is a diagram illustrating the example of fig3 . when object i , which is a file , is opened , the system finds the names , icons , and children status for the three children objects : child object i , child object ii , and child object iii . when one of these children objects , such as child object iii , are selected , data on the child is received and displayed by the display . in this example , a web page is a child of the child object iii . note , this is an entirely different type of object from the child object iii , but it is displayed in the same manner as any other type of software object . in fig4 - 6 , the names given to the different objects are for illustrative purposes ; actual object names of the software objects typically do not indicate the type of objects . fig5 is a diagram illustrating the display of an embodiment of the present invention . note that in fig5 software objects from different heterogeneous repositories are shown . for example , data from database records , and from files on the computer system are shown in the same hierarchical display . this is made easier by the use of the adaptation layer of the present invention , since the presentation layer has no expectations about the software object other than the existence of a name . thus , displays of objects from heterogeneous repositories are allowed , even when the objects are of different , non - compatible types . fig6 illustrates a diagram of the display of fig5 in which different objects are selected . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , different objects of heterogeneous file types can be selected at the same time . the presentation layer makes no assumptions about the types of software objects , and can thus allow the display of a wide range of software objects . when the software objects are selected , the different access units are called to bring up the objects for the application or applications to process . an “ open file ” instruction from the presentation layer is interpreted by the access units in their own way to open the software objects and supply them to an application program . in one embodiment in the present invention , some of the objects may be transformed for use in a specific application as described in arrouye , et al ., u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 161 , 758 to , “ a method adapted to transparently transform objects for an application program ,” which is incorporated by reference . fig7 is a diagram that shows a computer system 40 including a memory 42 with access to the computer readable medium 44 of a program to run the methods of the present invention . the computer readable medium can be read only memory , random access memory , compact disc , diskette or any other type of medium from which the programs of the present invention can be read . it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential character thereof . the presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive . the scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims , rather than the foregoing description , and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalence thereof are intended to be embraced therein . | 6 |
referring now to fig1 there is illustrated an nxm array 10 of rows and columns of essentially identical memory cells 12 with each cell comprising an mos transistor 14 having a drain terminal 16 , a source terminal 18 , and a gate terminal 20 , and an equivalent capacitor coupled to each source terminal 18 which comprises a first capacitor 22a and a second capacitor 22b . in a preferred embodiment array 10 is fabricated on a semiconductor substrate . the first terminals of 22a and 22b are coupled to terminal 18 . the second terminal of 22a is coupled to the semiconductor substrate which is typically held at a potential vsub . the second terminal of 22b is coupled to a potential vx . the gate terminals 20 of the transistors 14 of a given row of transistors 14 are coupled to a common one of the n word lines wlo , wl1 . . . wln . the drain terminals 16 of the transistors 14 of a given column of transistors 14 are coupled to a common one of the m bit lines blo , bl1 . . . blm . access , refresh , and detection circuits well known in the art , but not illustrated herein , are coupled to the word and / or bit lines to provide access to the memory cells 12 and to detect information stored therein . the operation of memory cell 12 is also well known in the art and the reader will be assumed to be familiar with this type of array . the denotation of terminal 16 as a drain and terminal 18 as a source is appropriate if positive current flows from terminal 16 through transistor 14 and out of terminal 18 . if this current reverses then terminal 18 is the drain and terminal 16 is the source . referring now to fig2 and 4 , there is illustrated a physical embodiment of a portion of the memory array 10 of fig1 which includes a memory cell 12 illustrated as being coupled to word line wl1 and to bit line bl1 . fig2 illustrates a transparent top view ; fig3 illustrates a first cross - sectional view taken along dash line a -- a of fig2 ; and fig4 illustrates a second cross - sectional view taken along dash line b -- b of fig2 . for illustrative purposes , the various doped regions of fig2 and 4 are consistent with n - channel type memory cells 12 . the impurity type could be easily modified to provide a p - channel type memory cell . variations of these regions can be formed by ion implantation and / or diffusion , and / or a combination of both . in one preferred embodiment the memory cell array 10 is formed by utilizing a p type epitaxial layer 26 having a major surface 28 on top of a p + type substrate 30 . the memory array 10 is basically formed in the epitaxial layer 26 . epitaxial layer 26 can be eliminated and the memory array 10 could be formed directly in substrate 30 . in such case substrate 30 would be less heavily doped than if an epitaxial layer is used . field oxide 32 and channel stop region 34 acts as the right a boundary of each memory cell 12 . as is discussed below , another essentially identical memory cell extends to the right , symmetrical with respect to a common drain electrode 48 . one portion of a storage region 36 contacts part of field oxide 32 and channel stop region 34 . region 36 has a top portion 36a and a bottom portion 36b . portion 36a of region 36 is typically ion implanted with n type impurities and is relatively close to surface 28 . portion 36b of region 36 is typically implanted with p type impurities and lies substantially below portion 36a . each region 36b of a particular memory cell 12 is in relatively low resistive connection with all other regions 36b of all memory cells 12 of memory array 10 . regions 36b of all of the memory cells 12 of memory array 10 are also electrically connected together through p type epitaxial layer 26 and through p + type substrate 30 . region 36a forms part of capacitor 22a and acts as one plate of the capacitor with region 36b in electrical contact with substrate 30 acting as the other plate . a portion of a first level conductor ( poly i ) contacts electrode ( conductor ) 52 , which is separated from storage region 36 by a dielectric layer 54 ( typically silicon dioxide ). electrode 52 acts as one plate of capacitor 22b with region 36a acting as the other plate . region 36a contacts an n + type source region 38 . the transistor 14 of fig1 is formed with an n + type drain region 40 , an n + type source region 38 , and a gate electrode 46 . as previously discussed , the roles of regions 38 and 40 reverse during operations . n + type drain region 40 is separated from source region 38 by p - type portions 42 epitaxial layer 26 . in operation , these portions 42 of layer 26 are selectively inverted to form a channel which electrically connects drain region 40 with source region 38 . in a preferred embodiment , portions 42 of epitaxial layer 26 are ion implanted to control the threshold voltage of the mos transistor . gate insulator layer 44 overlies portions of surface 28 . a gate electrode ( conductor ) 46 overlies the portion of gate oxide region 44 which overlies portions 42 of epitaxial layer 26 and is connected to a portion of a second level conductor ( poly ii ). a drain electrode ( conductor ) 48 contacts surface 28 and contacts an n + type region 50 which is in physical and electrical contact with drain region 40 . drain electrode 48 is connected to a portion of the second level conductor ( poly ii ). an n + type drain region 50 a is next to region 50 and makes electrical contact to region 50 . region 50a is the drain of an adjacent transistor and another memory cell which is also coupled to bit line bl1 . typically , electrodes 46 and 48 are formed by ion implantation and subsequent thermal treatment of separated portions of an undoped polysilicon layer to make some portions conductors . oxide layer 44 prevents portions 42 of epitaxial layer 26 from receiving dopants when the implanted polysilicon of region 46 is thermally treated . since no such oxide layer exists under electrode 48 , some of the ions implanted into electrode 48 pass into epitaxial layer 26 during thermal treatment and form n + type region 50 . a dielectric layer 60 , typically of phosphorus glass , ( p - glass ) covers exposed portions of surface 28 and over dielectric layers , electrical conductors and / or electrodes . a passivation layer 62 , typically of silicon nitride , covers layer 60 . the cross - sectional view of fig4 illustrates the semiconductor body and all semiconductor layers , dielectric layers , polysilicon conductor layers , metallic layers , and passivation layers of memory array 10 . starting from the top of the structure , passivation layer 62 ( typically , silicon nitride ) is over a metallic level wl1 , which is typically aluminum , which is over a dielectric ( p - glass ) layer 60 which is over a second level polysilicon conductor layer ( poly ii -- used to form conductors ( electrodes ) 46 and 48 of fig3 ), which is over a dielectric ( second gate oxide ) layer 58 ( part of which forms layer 44 of fig3 ), which lies over a second interlevel dielectric layer 56 , which lies over a first level polysilicon conductor layer ( poly i -- used to form conductor ( electrode ) 52 of fig3 ), which is over a dielectric ( first gate oxide ) layer 64 ( part of which forms layer 54 of fig3 ), which lies over dielectric field oxide ) layer 32 , which lies over p + type channel stop region 34 , which is formed in a top portion of epitaxial layer 26 which lies over p + type semiconductor substrate 30 . fig2 illustrates a transparent - type top view of a portion of the array 10 . regions 50 , 50a , 40 , 42 , 38 and 36 all form a portion of surface 28 ( illustrated in fig3 ). wl1 extends downward and contacts a portion of conductor ( electrode ) 46 . electrode 52 of fig3 is connected to the first level conductor ( poly i ) which is separated from surface 28 by portions of dielectric layers 54 and 32 . as has been pointed out previously , electrode 46 is connected to the second level conductor ( poly ii ) and electrode 52 is connected to the first level conductor ( poly i ). this permits source region 38 to be substantially smaller than is the case if the adjacent gate and capacitor electrodes are both first level conductors since most semiconductor design rules set minimum spacing between adjacent same level conductors at a greater value than that needed for a minimum size source region 38 . accordingly , memory cell 12 is reduced in size and thus the entire memory array 10 is also reduced in size . in some memory arrays that use dual level conductors , such as is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 112 , 575 , the p + type channel stop region is separated from the two implanted regions in the substrate which are under the capacitor field plate . one problem with this configuration is that alpha particles ( radiation ) hitting the memory cell result in a build up of positive charge in the p + type regions ( like region 36b ) due to hole collection which results in a reduction in the p +( region 36b )/ p ( epitaxial layer 26 ) barrier height that allows net positive charge stored with the memory cell to be reduced . this causes a loss of stored logic information and reduces operating margins . the connecting together of all regions 36b through heavily doped ( relatively low resistance ) channel stop regions 34 lowers the average positive charge build up within region 36b of any memory cell 12 and thus reduces the loss of stored information . thus memory arrays 10 having less sensitivity to the alpha particles are achieved . this improves overall operating noise margins and contributes to smaller arrays since the storage capacitors can be smaller than is the case if regions 36b are not interconnected via low resistance paths . a 64k n - channel ram using the memory array of fig1 with memory cells having the basic structure of fig2 and 4 has been built and found functional . the size of a memory cell is 25 × 9 . 5 square microns . the use of only one level of conductors would have increased the size of the memory cell to 27 × 9 . 5 square microns . thus there is an 8 percent savings in memory cell area with no essential loss in performance or noise margins . the memory cells occupy approximately 60 percent of the area of the entire ram . accordingly , there is a reduction in the total chip size of the ram of approximately 4 . 8 percent . in the embodiment of the 64k ram which was fabricated the transistors are formed using a self - aligned process and the p + type substrate was 250 microns thick and had an impurity concentration of 1019 impurities / cm 3 . the self - aligned process results in essentially fixed channel lengths for the transistors and thereby helps reduce variations in response time . the p type epitaxial layer is 10 microns thick and has an impurity concentration of 2 × 10 15 impurities / cm 3 . the n + type source region is 3 microns wide , 2 microns long , and 0 . 5 microns thick and has an impurity concentration of 2 × 10 20 impurities / cm 3 . the n + type drain region is 3 microns wide , 4 microns long , and 0 . 5 microns thick and has an impurity concentration of 2 × 10 20 impurities / cm 3 . the epitaxial layer top portion ( 36a ) of the capacitor has a thickness of 0 . 5 microns and the bottom portion ( 36b ) had a thickness of 1 . 0 microns . the surface area of the epitaxial portion of region 36 is 151 . 5 square microns and the impurity concentration of n + type region 36a is 2 × 10 18 impurities / cm 3 , and the impurity concentration of p + type region 36b is 3 × 10 16 impurities / cm 3 . channel region 42 is 3 microns wide . the gate dielectric 44 is silicon dioxide having a thickness of 0 . 05 microns and a width of 2 microns . the dielectric layer 54 is silicon dioxide having a thickness of 0 . 04 microns . electrode conductors 46 , 48 , and 52 are all polysilicon . dielectric layer 32 is silicon dioxide having a thickness of 1 . 0 microns . the interlevel dielectric layer 56 is silicon dioxide and is 0 . 30 microns thick . the dielectric layer 60 is p - glass and is 1 . 0 microns thick . the word lines are aluminum which are 1 . 0 microns thick . the passivation layer 62 is silicon nitride and is 1 . 0 microns thick . the embodiments described herein are intended to be illustrative of the general principles of the present invention . various modifications are possible consistent with the spirit of the invention . for example , the n - channel insulated gate mos transistor could be replaced by a p - channel insulated gate mos transistor , an n or p - channel mos junction transistor , an n - p - n or p - n - p junction bipolar transistor , a gated diode switch , or a variety of other devices . still further , with some layout modification , the polysilicon conductors could be replaced with metallic conductors or a variety of other possible conductors . still further , the gate electrode could be connected to a first level conductor and the top capacitor electrode could be connected to a second level conductor . still further , the source , gate and top capacitor electrodes could alternately be coupled to first , second , and first level conductors , respectively , or to second , first , and second level conductors , respectively . | 7 |
exemplary embodiments of a wind turbine rotor blade , a wind turbine and a method of control the wind turbine generator in accordance with the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying figures . the exemplary embodiments described below can be modified in various aspects without changing the essence of the invention . fig1 illustrates a common setup of a conventional wind turbine 100 . the wind turbine 100 is mounted on a base 102 . the wind turbine 100 includes a tower 104 having a number of tower sections , such as tower rings . a wind turbine nacelle 106 is placed on top of the tower 104 . the wind turbine rotor includes a hub 108 and at least one rotor blade 110 , e . g . three rotor blades 110 . the rotor blades 110 are connected to the hub 108 which in turn is connected to the nacelle 106 through a low speed shaft which extends out of the front of the nacelle 106 . fig2 shows a power control system 200 for an ipm wind turbine generator 220 according to an embodiment of the present invention . in fig2 , the electrical dynamic system of ipm machine 220 is schematically represented in three functional units , namely a linear electrical dynamic response unit 212 with stator voltage signal as input and stator flux or current vector signals as output , a non - linear electrical dynamic response unit 214 with stator flux or current vector signals as input and electromagnetic power as output , and a mechanical dynamic response of wind turbine generator unit 216 with generator electromagnetic power and the mechanical power obtained from the generator shaft as input and generator speed and generator rotor position signals as output . in the rotor flux synchronous reference frame , ipm electrical linear dynamic unit 212 with stator voltage as input and stator flux vector as output can be represented as : in these equations , variables “ u ” and “ ψ ” denote voltage and flux signal respectively ; the footnote “ r ” denotes that the variable is associated with the rotor , the footnote rp denotes that the variable is associated with reluctance power , footnote fp denotes the variable is associated with field power ; and ω r denotes the generator electrical speed ; “ ld ” and “ lq ” denotes the d - axis inductance and q - axis inductance respectively . rs denotes the stator resistance . the ipm generator electrical linear dynamic response unit 212 with stator voltage as input and stator current vector as output can be represented as : the ipm generator non - linear electrical response unit 214 with stator flux vector as input and generator electromagnetic power pem as output can be represented as : the ipm generator non - linear electrical response unit 214 with stator current vector as input and generator electromagnetic power pem as output can be represented as : pem = ω r * 3 / 2 ( ψ r i fp +( l d − l q )* i rp * fp ) the mechanical dynamic response of wind turbine generator unit 216 can be represented as : where , θ m = θ r / pp and ω m = ω r / pp are the generator mechanical position and mechanical speed respectively , pp is generator pole pairs , p mech is the mechanical power obtained from generator shaft , and j and k are the inertia and viscous coefficient of wind turbine generator system , respectively . the ipm generator power control system 200 includes a generator power error computation unit 202 , a power controller unit 204 which is normally implemented as a proportional - integral ( pi ) controller , a non - linear compensation unit 206 , the stator flux or current control feedback linear control loop 218 , and the ipm machine non - linear power response unit 214 . the stator flux or current control feedback linear control loop 218 is composed of a stator flux or current vector error computation unit 208 , a stator flux or current controller unit 210 , and the ipm machine linear electrical dynamic response unit 212 . normally , proportional - integral ( pi ) controllers are used in unit 210 for stator flux or current vector control . in operation , the power feedback signal is subtracted from the power reference signal at the unit 202 . the output of the unit 202 is the difference between the power reference signal and the power feedback signal . based on the output signal of the subtracting unit 202 , the power control unit 204 generates and outputs a control signal based on which the power generated by the ipm wind turbine generator 220 is controlled to match the power target value ( the power reference signal ). the control signal output by the power control unit 204 is fed into the non - linear compensation unit 206 which modifies the control signal and generates the stator flux or current vector components such that the non - linear relationship from the stator flux or current vector to electromagnetic power of ipm machine is reversed . therefore , in the ipm power control system 200 , the combined gain of the non - linear compensation unit 206 in the control part of the ipm power control system 200 and of the ipm machine linear electrical dynamic response unit 212 in the ipm generator part of the ipm power control system 200 is close to unity ( i . e . combined gain ≈ 1 ). the control signal after non - linear compensation in 206 is supplied to the flux or current linear feedback control loop unit 214 which controls the stator flux or current vector of the wind turbine generator 220 such that the power generated by the ipm wind turbine generator 220 matches the power target value ( the power reference signal ). one effect of this embodiment is that , the non - linear compensation unit 206 linearizes the generator power control system 200 such that both the power control unit 204 and the flux and current feedback control subsystem 218 can be designed using the classic linear control theory . fig3 shows a more detailed linearized power control system 300 for controlling electrical power or torque of an ipm wind turbine generator 310 according to an embodiment of the present invention . in power control system 300 , the power feedback signal is generated in generator power estimation unit 326 based on the stator current measurement and stator voltage reference . the formula for ipm electromagnetic power estimation in generator power estimation unit 326 can be represented in stator stationary α / β reference frame as : pem =( 3 / 2 )*( i sα * u * sα + i sβ * u * sβ ) in the case of using the stator current control approach to embody the power control system 300 , the stator current vector is directly obtained by measurement in unit 318 and is transferred to the corresponding reference frame for current control purpose . in the case of using the stator flux vector approach to embody the power control system 300 , the stator flux feedback vector signals are generated in unit 318 using a conventional stator flux observation method . the input signals supplied to a corresponding stator flux observer include the stator voltage reference , the stator current from measurement , and the generator position and speed estimated from a shaft mounted encoder measurement . both current mode stator flux observer and voltage mode stator flux observer are used for stator flux observation . current mode observer is used at low speed . voltage mode observer is used at high speed . the ipm current mode stator flux observer implemented in unit 318 can be represented in stator stationary α / β reference frame as (“ cm denotes current mode ”): the ipm voltage mode stator flux observer implemented in unit 318 can be represented in stator stationary α / β reference frame as (“ vm denotes voltage mode ”): ψ sα — vm =∫( u sα − i sα * rs ) dt ψ sβ — vm =∫( u sβ − i sβ * rs ) dt the power control system 300 includes a subtracting unit 302 , a power controller unit 304 , a non - linear compensation unit 306 , and a flux or current control loop unit 308 , the ipm non - linear electrical response unit 320 , the ipm generator mechanical dynamic system 324 , and the generator power estimation unit 326 which generates the power feedback signal . the stator flux or current control loop unit 308 comprises the flux or current vector error signal computation unit 322 , a stator flux or current vector controller unit 312 , a pulse width modulation ( pwm ) inverter unit 314 , an ipm machine voltage to stator flux or current linear electrical dynamic response unit 316 , a stator current measurement or stator flux observation unit 318 . the power feedback signal pem reflects the power currently generated by the ipm wind turbine generator 310 . the power feedback signal pem is received by the subtracting unit 302 and is subtracted from the power reference signal which represents the target power which should be generated by the ipm wind turbine generator 310 . the output of the subtracting unit 302 reflects the difference between the power reference signal and the power feedback signal . based on the output signal of the subtracting unit 302 , the power controller unit 304 generates a generator power reference control signal pem * so that the power generated by the ipm wind turbine generator 310 is controlled to match the power target value ( the power reference signal ). the control signal pem * output by the power controller 304 is fed into the non - linear compensation unit 306 ( concrete embodiments of the non - linear compensation unit 306 are for example shown in fig4 and fig5 and will be discussed later ) which modifies the control signal such that the non - linearity of the ipm generator are compensated . as a result , the non - linear compensation unit 306 outputs the stator flux or current vector reference signals and supplies them to a subtracting unit 322 . at the unit 322 , the stator flux or current state feedback vector signals which are obtained from the stator current measurement or stator flux observation unit 318 are subtracted from the stator flux or current reference vector signals . the stator flux or current vector error signals output by the subtracting unit 322 are supplied to the stator flux or current controller unit 312 which generates the stator voltage reference vector signals us * which are supplied to the pulse width modulation ( pwm ) inverter unit 314 . the pwm inverter unit 314 outputs the pwm modulated stator voltage signal us which is applied to the ipm machine phase terminals . inside the ipm machine , the stator flux or current vector signals are generated according to the ipm voltage dynamic equation in unit 316 representing the response of the ipm machine to the modulated stator voltage signal us applied . the stator flux or current vector signals of ipm machine are input into the non - linear power equation in unit 320 representing the response of the ipm machine to the stator flux or current vector signals to generate the generator power . the ipm electromagnetic power of ipm generator is estimated in unit 326 and is used as the power feedback signal pem for power control loop 300 . the ipm stator flux or current vector signals are observed in unit 318 which generates the stator flux or current state feedback vector signals for stator flux or current feedback control loop 308 . as has become apparent , due to the non - linear compensation unit 306 so that g ( flux / current )* g − ( pem )= 1 ( inversion of the ipm machine non - linear gain ), the power control loop 300 becomes a linear control system . fig4 shows a first possible embodiment of the non - linear compensation unit 306 when embodying the working principle of fig3 using the stator flux control approach . in this embodiment , the non - linear compensation unit 306 comprises a first determining sub - unit 402 which is used to determine a first field power flux reference taking the control signal pem * as its input signal . the non - linear compensation unit 306 further comprises a second determining sub - unit 404 is used to determine a second field power flux reference taking control signal pem * as its input signal . the stator flux equation that satisfies the minimal copper loss constraint ( mcl constraint ) is given by : the solution of field power ( fp ) stator flux that satisfies both the ipm generator power equation and the mcl constraint is derived as the following mcl based ipm characteristic function : for a given speed , the above mcl based ipm characteristic function is a quadratic function of power / speed for a given fp stator flux value . therefore , basing on the mcl based ipm characteristic function , we can build a look - up table of power / speed vs . fp stator flux data pairs using the solution of the above quadratic function : to improve the computation efficiency of the first determining sub - unit 402 for ipm non - linearity compensation , a second order ( or third order ) polynomial curve fitting of the above look - up table values is applied by taking the field power stator flux as the output signal and power / speed as the input signal . using second order polynomial curve fitting as an example , the coefficients of the mcl linearization polynomial function is thus obtained and used as the function in the first determining sub - unit 402 to determine the first field power flux reference based on the following equation : ψ * fp — mcl = a mcl *( pem */ ω r ) 2 + b mcl *( pem */ ω r ) when ipm works in field weakening operation mode , the vl based linearization equations are applied as implemented in the second determining subunit 404 . the stator flux equation that satisfies the voltage limiting ( vl ) constraint is given by following equation : the vl based ipm characteristic equation that satisfies both the ipm power equation and voltage limiting constraint is derived as : the above vl based ipm characteristic equation can be rewritten as : a vl — org = 16 * l d 2 * l q 2 b vl — org =− 24 *( 2 * pp )* l d * l q 2 * ψ r * ψ fp at partial field weakening speed ω r = ω fwl ( where , footnote “ fwl ” denotes low speed boundary for field weakening operation ), a set of look - up table data values can be generated based on the above vl based ipm characteristic equation by providing a set of fp stator flux values as input using the following solution : similarly , at maximum speed ω r = ω fwl , a set of look - up table data values can be generated based on the above vl based ipm characteristic equation by providing a set of field power stator flux values as input by applying the following solution : for computation efficiency , polynomial curve fitting is applied for look - up table data values of the vl curves at both the partial field weakening speed ω r = ω fwl and the maximum speed ω r = ω fwh ( where , footnote “ fwh ” denotes maximum high speed boundary for field weakening operation ). when second order polynomial curve fitting is applied , the determining subunit 404 determines the first and second preliminary field power stator flux reference at partial field weakening speed level and maximum speed level respectively based on the following polynomial vl linearization functions : ψ * fp — vl — fwl = a fwl *( pem */ ω r ) 2 + b fwl *( pem */ ω r ) ( 1 ) ψ * fp — vl — fwh = a fwh *( pem */ ω r ) 2 + b fwh *( pem */ ω r ) ( 2 ) where a fwl , b fwl , a fwh and b fwh are polynomial coefficients . the results of equations ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) ( first preliminary field power stator flux reference and second preliminary field power stator flux reference ) are then used to determine a weighted average of the first preliminary field power stator flux reference and the second preliminary field power stator flux reference to obtain the second field power stator flux reference using the following equation : ψ * fp — vl =( 1 = kw ( ω r ))* ψ * fp — vl — fwl + kw ( ω r )* ψ * fp — vl — fwh the thus determined second field power stator flux reference and the first field power stator flux reference are then fed into a selection subunit 406 . the selection subunit 406 selects one of the first field power stator flux reference and the second field power stator flux reference based on the following equation : if | ψ * fp — mcl |& lt ;=| ψ * fp — vl | then ψ * fp = ψ * fp — mcl if | ψ * fp — mcl |& gt ;| ψ * fp — vl | then ψ * fp = ψ * fp — vl the thus selected first field power stator flux reference or the second field power stator flux reference is then fed into a third determining subunit 408 and a fourth determining subunit 410 . the third determining subunit 408 determines a first reluctance power stator flux reference based on the following equation : the fourth determining subunit 410 determines a second reluctance power stator flux reference based on the following equation : where , udc is the dc link voltage signal , and the maximum pwm modulation index ( max_pwm_modu_index ) is set to closer to and less than unity . the first reluctance power stator flux reference and the second reluctance power stator flux reference are then supplied to a selection subunit 412 to select one of the first reluctance power stator flux reference and the second reluctance power stator flux reference based on the following equation : the output of the selection units 406 and 412 are then fed to the stator flux controller unit 308 which controls the stator flux ( and thus the power or torque generated by the ipm wind turbine generator ) in dependence on these stator flux reference signals . the stator flux control unit 308 of fig4 corresponds to the stator flux feedback control loop 308 of fig3 . as shown in fig4 , the measured stator current , the electrical angular frequency of the rotor of the ipm wind turbine generator as well as the rotor electrical position obtained from shaft mounted encoder are input into the stator flux control unit 308 . fig5 shows a second possible embodiment of the non - linear compensation unit 306 of fig3 . in this embodiment , the non - linear compensation unit 306 comprises a first determining sub - unit 502 adapted to determine a first field power current reference based on the control signal pem *. the non - linear compensation unit 306 further comprises a second determining sub - unit 504 adapted to determine a second field power current reference based on the control signal pem *. the ipm electromagnetic power pem with respect to the stator current is represented as : pem = 3 / 2 * ω r *( i fp * ψ r +( l d − l q )* i rp * i fp ) the ipm minimal copper loss constraint ( mcl constraint ) with respect to the stator current is represented as : the ipm voltage limiting constraint ( vl constraint ) with respect to the stator current is represented as : utilizing the ipm power equation and the mcl constraint equation , the mcl based ipm characteristic equation with respect to stator current is derived as : utilizing the ipm power equation and the vl constraint equation , the vl based ipm characteristic equation with respect to stator current is derived as : using the similar polynomial curve fitting look - up table data generation method , when operating below partial field weakening speed , the mcl based ipm characteristic equation is used to derive the polynomial equations used in sub - determination unit 502 to linearize the ipm power control system . when operating above partial field weakening speed , the vl based ipm characteristic equation is used to derive the polynomial equations used in sub - determination unit 504 at partial field weakening speed and maximum speed respectively to linearize the ipm power control system . using second order polynominal curve fitting function as an example , the first determining sub - unit 502 determines the first field power current reference based on the following equation ( mcl linearization polynomial function ): i * fp — mcl = ai mcl *( pem */ ω r ) 2 + bi mcl *( pem */ ω r ) where , ai mcl and bi mcl are second order polynomial coefficients . the second determining subunit 504 determines the first preliminary field power field power current reference based on the following polynomial vl linearization equation : i * fp — vl — fwl = ai fwl *( pem */ ω r ) 2 + bi fwl *( pem */ ω r ) ( 3 ) where , ai fwl and bi fwl are second order polynomial coefficients obtained at the partial field weakening speed level . the second determining subunit 504 determines the second preliminary field power stator current reference based on the following polynomial vl linearization equation : i * fp — vl — fwh = ai fwh *( pem / ω r ) 2 + bi fwh *( pem / ω r ) ( 4 ) where , ai fwh and bi fwh are second order polynomial coefficients obtained at the maximum operation speed level . the results of equations ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) ( first preliminary field power stator current reference and second preliminary field power stator current reference ) are then used to determine the second field power stator current reference using a weighted average of the first preliminary field power stator current reference and the second preliminary field power stator current reference using the following equation : i * fp — vl =( 1 − kw ( ω r )*( i * fp — vl — fwl )+ kw ( ω r )*( i * fp — vl — fwh ) the thus determined second field power stator current reference and the first field power stator current reference are then fed into a selection subunit 506 . the selection subunit 506 selects one of the first field power stator current reference and the second field power stator current reference based on the following equation : if | i * fp — mcl |& lt ;=| i * fp — vl | then i * fp = i * fp — mcl if | i * fp — mcl |& gt ;| i * fp — vl | then i * fp = i * fp — vl the thus selected first field power stator current reference or the second field power stator current reference is then fed into a third determining subunit 508 and a fourth determining subunit 510 . the third determining subunit 508 determines a first reluctance power stator current reference based on the following equation : the fourth determining subunit 510 determines a second reluctance power stator current reference based on the following equation : the first reluctance power stator current reference and the second reluctance power stator current reference are then supplied to a selection subunit 512 to select one of the first reluctance power stator current reference and the second reluctance power stator current reference based on the following equation : if | i * rp — mcl |& lt ;=| i * rp — vl | then i * rp = i * rp — mcl if | i * rp — mcl |& gt ;| i * rp — vl | then i * rp = i * rp — vl the output of the selection units 506 and 512 are then fed to the stator current control unit 308 which corresponds to the stator current control loop of fig3 to control the stator current ( and thus the power generated by the ipm wind turbine generator ) in dependence on these signals . as shown in fig5 , also the electrical angular frequency of the rotor of the ipm wind turbine generator as well as the rotor electrical position from shaft mounted encoder are input into the stator current control unit 308 . fig6 illustrates plots of examples of look - up table curves or polynomial curves used when carrying out the method for controlling electrical power according to an embodiment of the present invention . that is , fig6 shows examples of plots of look - up table curves or polynomial curves which are used by the first determining sub - unit 402 of fig4 or unit 502 of fig5 and the second determining sub - unit 404 of fig4 or 504 of fig5 when generating field power stator flux references . in fig6 , curve ( a ) denotes a mcl curve used by the first determining sub - unit 402 or 502 when generating field power stator flux references below partial field weakening speed . curve ( b ) denotes a vl curve by the second determining sub - unit 404 or 504 when generating field power stator flux references at partial field weakening speed . curve ( c ) denotes a vl curve used by the second determining sub - unit 404 or 504 when generating field power stator flux references at maximum speed . curve ( d ) denotes a vl curve generated by weighted average of curve ( a ) and curve ( c ) used by the second determining sub - unit 404 or 504 when generating field power stator flux references . all plots of look - up table or polynomial curves ( a ) to ( c ) which are shown in fig6 can be generated on - line ( i . e . the polynomial functions may be adapted during the operation of the control system to varying parameters of the ipm wind turbine generator ). fig7 shows plots of equivalent power loop compensation gain curves of block 306 which are applied to compensate the non - linearity of the ipm wind turbine generator and which correspond to the look - up table or polynomial curves shown in fig6 . that is , curve ( a ) of fig6 yields compensation gain curve ( a ) of fig7 ; curve ( b ) of fig6 yields compensation gain curve ( b ) of fig7 ; curve ( c ) of fig6 yields compensation gain curve ( c ) of fig7 ; and curve ( d ) of fig6 yields compensation gain curve ( d ) of fig7 . from fig7 , it is obvious the non - linear compensation unit 306 effects different compensation gains at different power conditions or different operation speeds . while embodiments of the invention have been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments , it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . the scope of the invention is thus indicated by the appended claims and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced . | 7 |
typical examples of functional groups which are introduced into and chemically bound to the wall surface of a microcapsule include an amino group , a carboxy group , a hydroxy group , a mercapto group , etc . introduction of functional groups into the wall surface of the microcapsule in accordance with the present invention can be carried out either using compounds containing functional groups as a wall substance of the microcapsule , or , after preparation of a microcapsule , by subjecting the surface thereof to a chemical treatment as will be later explained . chemical treatments include a method for converting a precursor as a wall substance into a substance having the desired functional groups through a chemical reaction , a method for reacting a compound having functional groups with the wall surface of a microcapsule and a method for binding a compound containing functional groups to the wall surface of a microcapsule using a cross - linking agent . any compound ( s ) can be employed as the wall substance ( s ) for the microcapsule employed in the present invention without any particular limitation so long as they are capable of chemically bonding to an antigen or antibody without inactivating an antigen or antibody and are capable of encapsulation . the term &# 34 ; wall substance &# 34 ; used herein refers to any wall substance which is generally accepted in the art of microcapsule technology , as seen in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 087 , 376 , 4 , 089 , 802 and 4 , 100 , 103 , and british pat . no . 53 , 170 . microcapsules employed in the present invention which contain a functional group ( s ) on the wall surface thereof can be obtained by reacting a polyfunctional compound ( wall material ), such as a polyfunctional isocyanate , a polyfunctional isothiocyanate , a polyfunctional acid chloride , a polyfunctional epoxy compound , etc ., with a substance having the desired functional group ( s ), thus forming a wall . amino - containing substances employed for preparing microcapsules are those that contain at least two amino groups in one molecule thereof and thus contain about 20 to about 60 mol %, same basis . typical examples of such amino - containing substances include a polyfunctional amino compound ( e . g ., ethylenediamine , hexamethylenediamine , cyclic amines such as epomate ( tradename , made by ajinomoto co ., ltd . ; amine hardner ), etc .) an amino acid ( arginine , lysine , cystine , etc . ), etc . carboxy - and / or hydroxy - containing compounds employed for preparing microcapsules containing a carboxy and / or hydroxy groups are those that contain at least two carboxy groups , at least two hydroxy groups , or , at least one carboxy and hydroxy groups . a proportion of such carboxy and / or hydroxy functional groups is about 20 to 100 mol %, based upon the total monomer . typical examples of carboxy - containing substances include carboxymethyl cellulose , polyacrylic acid , polymethacrylic acid , polystyrene carboxylic acid , etc . representative example of hydroxy - containing substance is polyvinyl alcohol ( degree of saponification , more than 90 %). mercapto - containing substances are those that contain at least one mercapto group in one molecule thereof . microcapsule having a mercapto group ( s ) on the wall surface thereof can be prepared by reacting a polyfunctional compound ( wall material ) such as a polyfunctional isocyanate , a polyfunctional isothiocyanate , a polyfunctional acid chloride , a polyfunctional epoxy compound , etc ., with thiourea to form walls and then reducing the thus formed microcapsules at room temperature . microcapsules containing a mercapto group ( s ) on the wall surface thereof can also be prepared by reacting s - acetylmercaptosuccinic acid hydride with microcapsules containing amino groups on the wall surface thereof . microcapsules having carboxy groups on the wall surfaces thereof can be prepared by reacting a polyfunctional compound ( wall material ) such as a polyfunctional isocyanate , a polyfunctional isothiocyanate , a polyfunctional acid chloride , a polyfunctional epoxy compound , etc ., with an ester compound such as a polyacrylate , a polymethacrylate , etc ., to form walls and then hydrolyzing the thus formed microcapsules under acidic conditions . the acidic conditions are the same as those set for preparing microcapsules under which the hydrolysis is simultaneously proceeded . specific examples of polyfunctional isocyanates used as the wall material include toluene diisocyanate , xylene diisocyanate tolylene diisocyanate , hexamethylene diisocyanate , etc . although the polyfunctional compounds used to prepare the wall material are not limited to the above , those as described above are particularly preferred in the invention . the polyfunctional compound ( s ) employed to prepare the wall material are generally used in an amount of 5 to 25 wt %, based on an oily core material , and compounds used to introduce the functional group ( s ) onto the wall surface are used in an amount of 2 to 20 wt %, same basis . as oily substances which can be used to form the core for microcapsules per the present invention , natural mineral oils , animal oils , plant oils and synthetic oils can be employed in the present invention . these core substances are completely enclosed within the capsule walls and hence do not directly affect the antigen or antibody . preferred examples of mineral oils include petroleum , kerosene , gasoline , naphtha , a paraffin oil , etc . preferred examples of animal oils include fish oil , lard , etc . preferred examples of plant oils include peanut oil , linseed oil , soybean oil , castor oil , corn oil , etc . examples of synthetic oils are biphenyl compounds ( e . g ., isopropyl biphenyl , isoamyl biphenyl ), terphenyl compounds ( e . g ., compounds as described in german ols no . 2 , 153 , 635 ), naphthalene compounds ( e . g ., diisopropyl naphthalene , compounds as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 003 , 589 ), alkylated diphenylalkanes ( e . g ., 2 , 4 - dimethyldiphenylmethane , compounds as described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 836 , 383 ), phthalic acid compounds ( e . g ., diethyl phthalate , dibutyl phthalate , dioctyl phthalate ), etc . core substances for the microcapsules which can be employed in the present invention are those conventionally used in the microcapsule art and thus not limited to compounds described above . in order to improve contrast to agglutination , oil - soluble dyes can also be incorporated into the core material in an amount of 0 . 05 - 10 wt %, preferably 0 . 1 - 5 wt %. while not overly limited , examples of useful oil - soluble dyes include dyes having color index nos . 12010 , 12150 , 12715 , 12716 , 13900 , 26100 , 26105 , 26110 , 26125 , 27291 , 45710 , 60505 , etc . the core materials for the microcapsule of this invention can also contain marking substances such as an isotope , a fluorescent substance , a magnetic substance , a ultraviolet substance , etc ., in an amount of 0 . 05 - 10 wt %, preferably 0 . 1 - 5 wt % ( see u . s . ser . no . 110 , 318 , filed jan . 8 , 1980 , for examples of such materials ). methods for preparing microcapsules used in this invention are not particularly limited and conventional methods can be employed , for example , as described in t . kondo , microencapsulation -- new technique and application , techno books ( 1979 ), u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 087 , 376 , 4 , 089 , 802 and 4 , 100 , 103 and british pat . no . 53 , 170 , t . kondo , microcapsule , sankyo publishing co ., ltd ., tokyo ( 1972 ), asaji kondo , microcapsule , nikkan kogyo press , tokyo ( 1970 ), etc . it is preferred that the specific gravity of mircocapsules used in the present invention ranges from about 0 . 80 to about 1 . 20 on a dry basis , and such can be modified by appropriately choosing the core substance based upon criteria which are conventional and thus obvious to one skilled in the art . it is preferred that an average particle size of the microcapsules be in a range of from 0 . 1 to 30 microns , more preferably 0 . 5 to 10 microns , but not particularly limited thereto . while it varies depending upon a core size used , it is preferred that an average wall thickness of the microcapsules be in a range of from about 100 to about 300 nm . the concentration of the functional group ( s ) on the wall surface of the microcapsule is conventionally determined by a fluorescence measurement method . in the case that the functional groups are amino groups , the intensity of a fluorescent substance formed by reaction of the amino groups and fluorescamine is measured at 475 nm using an excitation wavelength of 390 nm using , e . g ., with a hitachi fluorospectrometer model 650 ( tradename , made by hitachi co ., ltd . ), in accordance with the fluorescamine method described in kiyoshi sugawara and masami soejima , tampakushitsu - no - teiryoho ( quantitative analysis of proteins ), page 179 ( 1979 ), published by gakkai shuppan center , tokyo . using a calibration curve separately prepared using glycine , quantitative analysis can easily be prepared . in the case where the functional groups are carboxyl groups , 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ) carbodiimide hydrochloride is firstly reacted with the carboxyl groups ; the remaining carbodiimide is washed off . thereafter , ethylene diamine is reacted with the resulting reaction product . after the remaining ethylene diamine is removed by washing , amino groups thus converted are quantitatively determined in accordance with the aforesaid fluorescamine method . when the functional groups are hydroxy groups , the hydroxy groups are converted into amino groups in a manner similar to the case of the carboxyl functional groups in a conventional manner followed by quantitative determination as for the carboxyl functional groups . in the case where the functional groups are mercapto groups , quantitative determination is performed in accordance with the silver potential titration method in which a silver sulfide electrode is employed in a silver nitrate solution , with reference to a saturated calomel electrode . it is advantageous that the functional groups at the wall surface of the microcapsule of the present invention be present in an amount of 10 - 9 mol or more , per 1 mg . of the solid components ( the wall plus the core ) of the microcapsule , preferably ranging from 10 - 9 to 10 - 5 mol , same basis . to bind an antigen or antibody with the functional groups at the wall surface of a microcapsule in the present invention , a cross linking agent is employed ; in this case , there are three basic embodiments as described below . a first embodiment comprises firstly binding a cross linking agent with the functional groups on the wall surface of a microcapsule and then reacting an antigen or antibody with the resulting reaction product to thereby bind the functional groups at the wall surface of the microcapsule with an antigen or antibody via the cross linking agent . a second embodiment comprises firstly reacting an antigen or antibody with a cross linking agent and then binding the resulting compound with the functional groups at the wall surface of a microcapsule . a third embodiment comprises forming a system , e . g ., a mixture , of an antigen or antibody , a cross linking agent and a microcapsule and simultaneously causing reaction of the antigen or antibody with the functional groups at the wall surface of the microcapsule through the cross linking agent . typical examples of cross linking agents which can be employed to bind an antigen or antibody to the functional groups at the wall surface of a microcapsule therethrough include : when the functional groups are amino groups -- dialdehydes such as glutaraldehyde ; diisocyanates such as toluene - 2 , 4 - diisocyanate ; dithioisocyanates such as p - phenylenedithioisocyanate ; imide esters such as diethyl maloneimidate ; disulfonyl chlorides such as 1 - hydroxy - 2 , 4 - disulfonyl chloride ; halonitrobenzenes such as p , p &# 39 ;- difluoro - m , m &# 39 ;- dinitrophenylsulfonic acid , etc . ; when the functional groups are carboxyl groups -- water - soluble carbodiimides such as 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ) carbodiimide hydrochloride , 1 - cyclohexyl - 3 -( 2 - morpholinyl - 4 - ethyl ) carbodiimidomethyl - p - toluenesulfonic acid ; isoxazolium salts such as n - ethyl - 5 - phenylisoxazolium - 3 &# 39 ;- sulfonic acid ; alkyl chloroformates such as ethyl chloroformate , etc . ; when the functional groups are mercapto groups -- n , n &# 39 ;- o - phenylenedimaleimide , m - maleimidobenzoyl - n - hydroxysuccinimide esters , etc . however , the polyfunctional compounds are not particularly limited to those described above . representative examples of immunologically active substances which can be bound to the wall surface of a microcapsule in accordance with the present invention to cause an antigen - antibody response include peptide hormones such as hypothalamus hormones ( e . g ., trh , lh - rh , somatostatin ), hypohysis hormones ( e . g ., growth hormone , acth , α - msh , β - msh , lipotropin , prolactin , tsh , tsh - β , lh , lh - β , fsh , fsh - β , α - subnit , arginine vasopressin , lysine vasopressin , oxytocin , etc . ), calcium metabolism - regulating hormones ( e . g ., insulin , proinsulin , c - peptide , glucagon , etc . ), digestive tract hormones ( e . g ., gastrin , sectretin , pancreozymin , chlocystokinin , gip , enteroglucagon , etc . ), hormones acting on blood vessels ( e . g ., angiotensin i , angiotensin ii , bradykinins , etc . ), placenta hormones ( e . g ., human chorionic somatomammotropin , human chorionic thyrotropin ), non - peptide hormones such as steroids ( e . g ., cortisol , corticosterone , 11 - deoxycortisol , 11 - deoxycorticosterone , progesterone , 17 - hydroxyprogesterone , pregnenolone , aldosterone , testosterone , dihydrotestosterone , estradiol , estriol , estrone , 2 - hydroxyesterone , dehydroepiandrosterone , etc . ), thyroid hormones ( e . g ., thyroxin , 3 , 5 , 3 &# 39 ;- triiodothyronin , 3 , 3 &# 39 ; 5 &# 39 ;- triiodothyronin , etc . ), prostaglandins ( e . g ., prostaglandin a , e , f , etc . ); substances other than hormones such as drugs ( e . g ., digoxin , digitoxin , morphine , lsd , gentamycin , amphetamine , nicotine , etc . ), cyclic nucleotides ( e . g ., cyclic amp , cyclic gmp , cyclic imp , cyclic ump , etc . ), enzymes ( e . g ., c 1 esterase , fructose 1 , 6 - diphosphatase , alkaline phosphatase , dopamine beta hydroxylase , pepsinogen , etc . ), virus specific antigens ( e . g ., hepatitis b virus , murine sacromaleukemia virus , wooly monkey leukemia virus , avian tumor virus , plant virus , avian c - type virus , treponema pallidum , leptospira , etc . ), tumor antigens ( e . g ., α - fetoprotein , cea , etc . ), blood serum proteins ( e . g ., thyroxin binding globulin ( tbg ), igg , igm , iga , α 2 - microglobulin , properdin , anti - rh antibodies , transferrin , aplipoproptain , fibrinogen degradation products , antihemolytic factor , renin , etc . ); rheumatism factor , folic acid , neutrophysin , somatomedin b , nerve growth factor , epidermal growth factor , staphylococcal enterotoxin a and b , type a toxin of chlostridium botulinium , myosin , encephalitogenic basic proteins , substance p , serotonin , conjugated cholyl bile acid , h bs - antigen , etc . of these immunologically active substances , those which are particularly preferably bound onto the wall surface of the microcapsules in this invention are igg , ige , iga , insulin , h bs - antigen , α - fetoprotein , human growth hormone , renin , gastrine , lh , fsh , cortisol , angiotensin , acth , c - peptide , cea , glucagone , and aldosterone . procedures for binding antigens or antibodies with microcapsule walls in accordance with this invention will now be described in more detail . the resulting microcapsule slurry is diluted with a saline solution to a 1 to 3 % solids content ( the core and the wall ). a cross linking agent , e . g ., glutaraldehyde , is added to the thus diluted microcapsule slurry in an amount of 0 . 1 to 50 wt % based on the solids content of the slurry . the resulting mixture is incubated at a temperature ( s ) of room temperature to 65 ° c . for 5 to 120 mins . to react the cross - linking agent with the functional groups on the microcapsule walls . then , residual cross linking agent is removed by washing by means of centrifugal separation . an antigen or antibody is added to the dispersion in an amount of 0 . 1 to 25 wt % based on the solids content of the slurry . the mixture is incubated at 37 ° c . for 30 to 120 mins . to react the antigen or antibody with the remaining functional groups of the glutaraldehyde bound to the microcapsule walls , on the one hand . on the other hand , the functional groups of the glutaraldehyde which are bound to the microcapsule walls at one terminal but remain unreacted at the other terminal are reacted with aglucine solution to completely block unreacted glutaraldehyde functional groups , thus avoiding undesired non - specific immune response . the diagnostic materials obtained in accordance with the present invention are characterized by extremely high sensitivity in agglutination , by the fact that non - specific agglutination occurs only with extreme difficulty , by the fact that they can be stably stored over long periods of time and easily manufactured with uniform quality on an industrial scale , by the fact that antigens or antibodies therewith can be selected from an extremely wide range , by the fact that an oily substance is employed as the core of the microcapsule which renders encapsulation easier , as compared to the use of a water - soluble substance as the core , by the fact that the surface of the microcapsule is uneven which results in enlarged surface areas , as compared to single - phase particles which possess smooth surface , etc ., i . e ., they are extremely useful from a diagnostic and preparative viewpoints . this invention will now be described in detail with reference to the examples below , but is not deemed to be limited thereto . unless otherwise indicated , all percentages are by weight and all reactions were at room temperature and ambient pressure . preparation of microcapsules a having amino groups on the surface thereof in an oil mixture ( specific gravity , ca . 1 . 10 ) of 11 . 8 g . of diisopropylnaphthalene and 13 . 2 g . of chlorinated paraffin ( degree of chlorination , 50 %), 0 . 1 g of an oil - soluble red dyestuff , eisen sprion red ( made by hodogaya chemical co ., ltd .) was dissolved . the resulting solution was then ice - cooled . 4 g . of a 50 % methyl ethyl ketone solution of a tolylene diisocyanate - trimethylol propane adduct ( tradename , desmodur - l , made by bayer co ., ltd .) was dissolved in the thus cooled solution . the resulting oil solution was added to a solution of 2 . 5 g of hexamethylene diamine in 65 g . of a 5 % aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol ( degree of saponification , 88 %; degree of polymerization , 500 ). the mixture was stirred and emulsified to adjust the average oil droplet size to about 6 μm . the emulsion was then diluted with 100 g . of water . the diluted emulsion was reacted at 75 ° c . for 1 hr . to effect microencapsulation . after microcapsules were formed , the microcapsules slurry was centrifuged and washed with a saline solution to remove remaining reaction liquid . thereafter , the microcapsules were dispersed in a saline solution to a solids content of 10 %. microcapsules b were prepared in a manner similar to the above except that 0 . 1 g . of an ethylene diamine - propylene oxide adduct was used instead of hexamethylene diamine and dissolved in the same oil mixture as above having a specific gravity of 1 . 10 . quantitative determination of concentration of amino groups on the wall surface of microcapsules the microcapsules prepared described above were diluted with a saline solution to a solids content of 1 %. after 100 μl of the thus diluted microcapsules was taken in a test tube , 1 . 5 ml . of a veronal buffer ( ph 8 . 6 ) was added thereto . while vigorously stirring 0 . 5 ml . of a solution of 30 mg . of fluoresamine in 100 ml . of dioxane was dropwise added to the mixture . using a fluorospectrometer made by hitachi ltd . as earlier discussed , the fluorescent intensity emitted was measured at ex = 390 nm and em = 475 nm . using a calibration curve prepared from a glycine solution , the concentration of amino groups were quantitatively determined . the invention microcapsules a prepared as above contained 5 . 6 × 10 - 9 mol of amino groups per 1 mg . of solids content ( core and wall materials ; hereafter the same ). on the surface of a microcapsule particle having an average size of 6 μm amino groups were present in a concentration of 3 . 7 × 10 - 14 / cm 2 . on the other hand , the amino groups in the microcapsules b for comparison were present in an amount less than 10 - 10 mole per 1 mg of solids content . sensitization of microcapsules a having amino groups with modified human igg a 1 . 5 g . sample of each of the microcapsules prepared in accordance with example 1 was taken and dispersed in 10 ml . of a saline solution , respectively . the dispersion was mixed with 100 μl . of glutaraldehyde and the mixture then reacted for 30 mins . at 37 ° c . after completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was washed three times with a saline solution using a centrifuge and the resulting precipitate dispersed in 10 ml . of a saline solution . the dispersion was then diluted to a 20 - fold volume with a 1 % saline solution of human igg . a 2 ml . sample of the dilution product was added to 2 ml . of the aforesaid glutaraldehyde - treated microcapsule solution . the mixture was incubated for 1 hr . at 37 ° c ., and then allowed to stand for 15 hrs . at 4 ° c . thereafter , the mixture was twice subjected to centrifugal separation with a 0 . 2 % glycine - containing saline solution . the thus washed product was dispersed in 2 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate - buffer saline solution ( pbs , ph = 7 . 2 ) containing 3 % bovine serum albumin and 1 % succharose to obtain a reagent a1 for detecting a rheumatism factor . reagent a2 for comparison was prepared by a sensitization procedure as above except that sensitization was effected with modified human igg without glutaraldehyde treatment . using the microcapsules b for comparison obtained as above the same procedure as in reagent a 1 was repeated to sensitize with modified human igg . thus , reagent b 1 for comparison was prepared . with respect to reagents sensitized with modified human igg , a cell in which agglutination could be clearly observed was judged to be positive , and the maximum dilution of sera giving a positive response was determined and made an antibody titer . a serial dilution was prepared in respective cells on a microplate by diluting a 25 μl sample of sera of a positive control ( patient &# 39 ; s sera ) for detecting rheumatism factor and of a negative control ( normal rabbit sera ) with a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer saline solution ( pbs , ph = 7 . 2 ) at a 2 - fold dilution . thereafter , 25 μl of the microcapsule reagents sensitized with modified human igg was taken by a dropper and dropwise added to the respective cells of the serially diluted sera on the microplate . the microplate was shaken for 5 mins . to cause an antigen - antibody reaction . thereafter , the microplate was allowed to stand overnight in a refrigerator . the agglutination patterns formed at the bottom of the cells were observed the next morning to obtain the titer values shown in table 1 below . table 1______________________________________ antibody titerreagent positive serum negative serum______________________________________reagent a . sub . 1 2 , 560 ≦ 20reagent a . sub . 2 320 ≦ 20forcomparisonreagent b . sub . 1 40 ≦ 20forcomparison______________________________________ from the results shown above , it can be understood that the reagent obtained by sensitizing the microcapsule having amino groups on the surface thereof with modified human igg provides higher sensitivity for detecting rheumatism factor by 2 6 times than that of reagent b 1 for comparison it is also easily understood that the stronger binding of modified human igg onto the surface of the microcapsules provides higher detection sensitivity since the system of the present invention is higher in detection sensitivity by 2 3 times than that of reagent a 2 for comparison . the reagents sensitized with modified human igg prepared as above were freeze - dried using a freeze - drying machine , model fd - 1 ( tradename , manufactured by tokyo rika co ., ltd .). after allowing the thus freeze - dried reagents to stand for 1 week at 4 ° c . in a refrigerator , the moisture corresponding to that removed by drying was freshly added to the restore the same to their original state . the microplate test as described above was performed to obtain antibody titer values as shown in table 2 below . table 2______________________________________ antibody titerreagent positive serum negative serum______________________________________reagent a . sub . 1 of 1 , 280 ≦ 20invention : freeze - driedreagent a . sub . 2 for 40 ≦ 20comparison : freeze - driedreagent b . sub . 1 for ≦ 20 ≦ 20comparison : freeze - dried______________________________________ as is seen from the results shown in the table above , the reagent obtained by chemically binding modified human igg to the microcapsules having amino groups on the wall surface thereof could indicate almost the same antibody titer even after freeze - drying , but the antibody titer was seriously reduced in the reagents for comparison in which modified human igg was not chemically bound to the microcapsule wall so that the reagents for comparison could not withstand actual use . microcapsules were prepared under conditions as in example 1 except that 3 g . of carboxymethyl cellulose was dissolved in the aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol instead of hexamethylene diamine . one of the two functional groups of carbodiimide was reacted with carboxy groups on the wall surface of the microcapsules . next , ethylenediamine was reacted with the other unreacted functional group of the carbodiimide . thus , the carboxy groups were converted into amino groups , whereafter the concentration of which amino groups were quantitatively determined in accordance with the method described in example 1 . that is , a 1 . 5 g . sample of the thus prepared microcapsules was taken and diluted in 10 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer having a ph of 4 . 5 . 5 ml . of a 1 % aqueous solution of 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 , 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ) carbodiimide hydrochloride was added to the resulting silution . the mixture was then incubated for 1 hr . at 37 ° c . after the remaining reaction solution was removed by centrifugal separation , the precipitate was dispersed in 10 ml . of a 0 . 1 % ethylene diamine solution . the resulting dispersion was incubated at 37 ° c . for 1 hr . after completion of the reaction , the remaining liquid was removed by centrifuging and the precipitate was dispersed in 15 ml . of a saline solution . from the dispersion , a 100 μl sample was taken up in a test tube and the concentration of amino groups was determined in accordance with the method described in example 1 . in the case where the microcapsules prepared as above were treated with ethylene diamine , amino groups were present at 2 . 7 × 10 - 8 mol / mg of the microcapsule solids content , i . e ., carboxy groups of at least 2 . 7 × 10 - 8 mol were present . carboxy groups were thus present in a concentration of 1 . 9 × 10 15 / cm 2 on the surface of a microcapsule particle having an average size of 6 μm . the microcapsules prepared in this example 2 were taken with a dropper in 1 . 5 g . samples of each and dispersed in 10 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer having a ph of 4 . 5 . to the resulting dispersion , 2 ml . of a 1 % aqueous solution of 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 , 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ) carbodiimide hydrochloride were added and the mixture was reacted at 37 ° c . for 60 mins . after completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was washed three times with a saline solution by centrifugal separation . thereafter , modified human igg was sensitized in a manner as in example 1 to prepare a reagent for detecting rheumatism factor . using the thus obtained reagent , a microplate test was performed as in example 1 to obtain the antibody titer values given in the table below . table 3______________________________________ antibody titerreagent positive sera negative sera______________________________________reagent of invention 2 , 560 ≦ 20obtained in thisexample 2______________________________________ microcapsules having hydroxy groups on the wall surface thereof were prepared as in example 1 except that 3 g . of polyvinyl alcohol ( poval , made by kuraray co ., ltd . ; degree of saponification 90 %; degree of polymerization 500 ) was dissolved in an aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol in place of hexamethylene diamine . otherwise all conditions were identical with the preparation conditions of the microcapsules in example 1 . quantitative determination of hydroxy groups present on the wall surface of microcapsules cyanuric chloride was reacted with the hydroxy groups on the wall surface of the microcapsules . then , ethylene diamine was reacted with remaining functional groups of the cyanuric chloride which were unreacted . the hydroxy groups were thus converted into amino groups and the concentration of the amino groups was then quantitatively determined in accordance with the method described in example 1 . that is , 1 . 5 g . samples were taken from the microcapsules prepared in accordance with this example 3 and diluted in 10 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer solution having a ph of 8 . 0 . 5 ml . of a 1 % aqueous solution of cyanuric chloride was added to the diluted samples , respectively . the resulting mixture was then incubated at 37 ° c . for 2 hrs . after completion of the reaction , the remaining liquid was removed by centrifuging and the precipitate dispersed in 15 ml . of a saline solution . from the dispersion , a 100 μl sample was taken into a test tube . the concentration of the amino groups was measured in accordance with the method described in example 1 . the microcapsules contained 1 . 1 × 10 - 8 mol of amino groups per 1 mg . of the solids content of the microcapsules , i . e ., at least 1 . 1 × 10 - 8 mol of hydroxy groups per 1 mg . of solids content . the hydroxy groups were present on the surface of a microcapsule particle having an average size of 6 μm in a concentration of 7 . 3 × 10 14 / cm 2 . sensitive microcapsules with modified human igg having hydroxy groups on the surface thereof from the microcapsules prepared in accordance with this example 3 , 1 . 5 g . samples were taken and dispersed in 10 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer solution having a ph of 8 . 0 . to the dispersion , 2 ml . of a 1 % aqueous solution of cyanuric chloride was added . the mixture was reacted at 37 ° c . for 2 hrs . after completion of the reaction , the reaction product was washed three times with a saline solution by centrifugal separation . thereafter , sensitization was performed with modified human igg as per example 1 to prepare a reagent for detecting rheumatism factor . using the thus prepared reagent , a microplate test was performed as per example 1 to obtain the antibody titers shown in the table below . table 4______________________________________ antibody titerreagent positive sera negative sera______________________________________reagent obtained 1 , 280 ≦ 20in this example 3______________________________________ from the microcapsules prepared in accordance with example 1 , 5 g . was taken and dispersed in 20 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer solution having a ph of 6 . 0 . 5 ml . of a 1 % aqueous solution of s - acetylmercaptosuccinic anhydride was added to the dispersion and the mixture was reacted at room temperature for 1 hr . after completion of the reaction , the remaining liquid was removed by centrifugal separation . thereafter , the resulting solid product was dispersed in 25 ml . of a saline solution . sampling was performed using 10 ml . of the microcapsules ( solids content , 2 %) with which the s - acetylmercaptosuccinic anhydride had been reacted . using a silver sulfide electrode based upon a saturated calomel electrode as the standard , the change in potential was read out with a ph meter manufactured by hitachi - horiba co ., ltd ., after dropwise adding 0 . 002n silver nitrate . when 0 . 41 ml . of silver nitrate had been added , the potential suddenly changed , that is , mercapto groups in an amount of 4 . 1 × 10 - 9 mol were present per 1 mg . of the solids content of the microcapsules and mercapto groups of 2 . 7 × 10 14 / cm 2 were present on the surface of a microcapsule particle having an average size of 6 μm . as per example 1 , 0 . 5 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer solution having a ph of 6 . 5 was added to 1 ml . of a 1 % aqueous solution of modified human igg . while stirring with a stirrer , 2 mg . of s - acetylmercaptosuccinic anhydride were added to the mixture . the mixture was then reacted at room temperature for 40 mins . after completion of the reaction , the reaction mixture was passed through sephadex g - 25 column to separate low molecular weight substances . the total volume was made 20 ml ., from which 2 ml . was taken and added to 2 ml . of the microcapsules prepared in accordance with example 4 . to this mixture , 2 ml . of o - phenylene dimaleimide dissolved in a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer solution ( ph 7 . 0 ) was added to saturation . the mixture was then reacted for 1 hr . at 37 ° c . after completion of the reaction , the reaction product was settled at 4 ° c . for 15 hrs . thereafter , the reaction product was centrifugally separated and washed with a saline solution and then dispersed in 2 ml . of a 0 . 15m phosphate buffer saline solution containing 3 % bovine serum albumin to obtain a reagent for detecting rheumatism factor . using the thus obtained reagent , a microplate test was performed as per example 1 to obtain the antibody titers shown in the table below . table 5______________________________________ antibody titerreagent positive serum negative serum______________________________________reagent obtained 2 , 560 ≦ 20in this example______________________________________ 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 . | 8 |
hereinafter , the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig2 a . the circuit shown in fig2 a is produced by adding a control circuit cc for erasing storage data , which is controlled by a control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data inputted from outside a memory chip , and an x ( row ) system internal address signal generator t 4 &# 39 ; to the conventional memory circuit shown in fig1 . the rest of the circuit constructions and operations are the same as those of the conventional circuit shown in fig1 and like reference numerals are therefore used to identify like circuit constituents as in fig1 . hereinafter , the construction and operation of the control circuit for erasing the storage data will be described primarily . in fig2 a , symbol l 1 represents a data line precharge signal control circuit which outputs a signal φ pc &# 39 ; keeping an input data line precharge signal φ pc at the low level in order to keep the data line precharge c off while the memory data is erased . the circuit such as shown in fig2 b is used as this circuit , for example . in fig2 b , symbol d 1 represents a delay circuit , which consists of a plurality ( even - numbered ) of mos inverters connected to one another . fig2 c shows operating waveforms . symbols l 2 and l 3 represent those circuits which outputs signals φ &# 39 ; sa , φ &# 39 ; sa keeping input sense amplifier driving singals φ sa , φ sa at the high and low levels , respectively , in order to keep the sense amplifier sa on while the memory data is erased . the circuits such as shown in fig3 a and 4a can be used as this circuit , for example . symbols d 2 and d 3 in fig3 a and 4a represent delay circuits analogous to the one shown in fig2 b . fig3 b and 4b show the operating waveforms forms of the circuits shown in fig3 a and fig4 a , respectively . symbol ac represents a counter circuit for generating an address signal a xi &# 39 ; inside the memory chip in order to erase the storage data of the memory . this circuit is obtained by connecting a plurality of circuits f shown in fig5 a as shown in fig5 b ( f 0 ˜ f 3 ) symbol t 4 &# 39 ; represents an internal address signal generator which receives the address signal a xi from outside the memory chip or the address signal a xi &# 39 ; from inside the memory chip and generates true and complementary address signals . the circuit shown in fig6 can be used as this circuit , for example . the erasing operation of the memory shown in fig2 a will be described with reference to the operating waveforms shown in fig7 . in fig7 a period from t 0 to t 1 shows the write operating waveforms in an ordinary page mode and a period from t 1 to t 2 shows the operating waveforms when erasing the storage data of the memory . first of all , the write operation in the page mode will be described . during the write operation in the page mode , control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data is at the low level . therefore , the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; exhibits the same waveform as the signal φ pc formed by the timing pulse ( clock ) generator t 3 as is obvious from fig2 b . similarly , the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; exhibit the same waveforms as the signals φ sa , φ sa formed by the clock generator t 2 as is obvious from fig3 b and 4b . in the internal address signal generator t 4 &# 39 ; , the internal address signals a xi , a xi are generated from the address signal a xi from outside the memory chip as is obvious from fig6 . first of all , the ras signal is set to the low level at the time t 0 and the predetermined row address from outside the memory chip is taken into the memory chip by the row address buffer xab so as to drive the corresponding word line . in this case , the memory cells mc 00 , mc 01 , mc 02 and mc 03 selected . at this time the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; to the low level before the word line is driven and turns off the data line precharge circuit . next , the sense amplifier driving signals φsa &# 39 ;, φ sa &# 39 ; are at the high and low levels , respectively , and the signals from the memory cells are amplified by the sense amplifiers sa 0 ˜ sa 3 . next , the we and cas signals are set to the low levels . when the we signal changes to the low level , the common data line i / 0 and the amplifier ma are separated in response to the former while the common data line i / 0 and the data input buffer dib are connected . at this time , therefore , the data d i ( the predetermined data for erasing the storage data ) inputted to the data input buffer dib is transferred to the common data line . on the other hand , when the cas signal changes to the low level , the column system address is taken into the memory chip through the column address buffer yab and one of the column decoder output lines y 0 ˜ y 3 is driven in response to the former . it will be assumed hereby that y 0 is driven . therefore , the predetermined data for erasing the storage data is written into the memory cell mc 00 . thereafter , the we and cas signals change to the high level , respectively , while the column decoder output line y 0 changes from the high level to the low level . thus , the write operation into the memory cell mc 00 is complete . next , the we and cas signals are changed once again to the low level and the same operation as described above is carried out to drive the column decoder output line y 1 . in this manner the predetermined data for erasing the storage data is written into the memory cell mc 01 . this operation is repeated until finally the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are written into the memory cells mc 00 , mc 01 , mc 02 , mc 03 . thereafter , the cas and we signals are changed to the high level with all the column decoder output lines being set to the low level so that the common data line i / 0 and the data input buffer dib are separated while the common data line i / 0 and the amplifier ma are connected . next , the ras signal is changed to the high level while the word line w 0 is changed to the low level so as to store the predetermined data for erasing the storage data in the memory cells mc 00 , mc 01 , mc 02 , mc 03 . thereafter the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; are set to the low and high levels , respectively while the sense amplifier is turned off . the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; is set to the high level and the data line is precharged to 1 / 2 v cc (= v dp ) which is half the power source voltage v cc to enter the stand - by state . next , the operation in the period t 1 ˜ t 2 shown in fig7 will be described . in this period the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data changes to the high level . when the φ clm signal changes from the low level to the high level , the counter circuit ac which generates the address signal inside the memory chip is set in such a manner as to generate the address signal which selected the word line ( here , wo ) that is selected in the page mode in accordance with the rise of the φ clm signal . in other words , when the φ clm signal is applied to the node c in the circuit shown in fig5 a , the potential of the node n 1 ( power source voltage level or the ground level ) is inputted through the transistor m 1 for a predetermined period from the rise ( here , till the rise of the row control signal φ r ). this input potential appears at the output node q and becomes the address signal . therefore , the address signal is set by setting the node n 1 of the circuit of f 0 ˜ f 3 at a predetermined potential ( power source voltage level or ground level ). thereafter , when the ras signal changes to the low level and the row control signal φ r changes to the high level , the output of the counter circuit ac is held . at this time , since the φ clm signal is at the high level , the internal address signal generator t 4 &# 39 ; generates the internal address signal a xi &# 39 ; a xi corresponding to the address signal a xi &# 39 ; generated inside the chip as shown in fig6 . therefore , the word line ( here , w 0 ) selected and driven in the page mode is selected . thereafter the word line driving signal φ x changes to the high level and drives the selected word line . at this time the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; changes to the low level before driving of the word line and turns off the data line precharge circuit . this state is held until the erasing operation is complete by the circuit l 1 ( until the erasing operation control signal φ clm changes to the low level ). this can be attained , too , by use of the circuit and the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data shown in fig2 b . when the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; changes to the low level and the word line w 0 is driven , the data of the memory cells mc 00 , mc 01 , mc 02 , mc 03 ( the data for erasing that are written in the previous page mode operation ) are read out on the respective data lines . thereafter the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; change to the high level and the low level , respectively , drive the sense amplifiers and amplify the data for erasing . this state is held until the erasing operation is completed by the circuits l 2 , l 3 ( until the control signal for erasing the storage data changes to the low level ). this can be attained , too , by the circuit and the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data shown in fig3 a and 4a . therefore , the data for erasing is held for a period in which each sense amplifier effects the erasing operation . when the ras signal changes to the high level under the state described above , the word line w 0 changes to the low level and the data for the erasing operation are stored in the memory cells mc 00 , mc 01 , mc 02 and mc 03 . since the φ clm signal is at the high level at this time , the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; , and the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; irrelevant to the change of the input signals φ pc , φ sa , φ sa as shown in fig2 b , 3a and 4a . on the other hand , the row control signal φ r changes to the low level in the counter circuit ac for generating the address signal inside the memory chip as shown in fig5 a , the address is counted up by one . this address signal is transferred to the internal address signal generator t 4 &# 39 ; . since the φ clm signal is at the high level in this generator t 4 &# 39 ; , the generator outputs the internal address signals a xi , a xi corresponding to the address signal a xi , generated inside the memory chip , as shown in fig6 a . accordingly , the word line ( here , w 1 ) which is to be selected after the word line w 0 is selected . when the ras signal changes thereafter to the low level , the row control signal φ r changes to the high level and the counter circuit holds the address signal described above as shown in fig5 b . next , the word line driving signal φ x changes to the high level and drives the selected word line w 1 to select the memory cells mc 10 , mc 11 , mc 12 , mc 13 . therefore , the data for erasing the storage data that are held by the sense amplifiers are written into the memory cells mc 10 , mc 11 , mc 12 , mc 13 . incidentally , since the φ clm signal is at the high level at this time , the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; are irrelevant to the change of the φ pc , φ sa and φ sa signals . thereafter , the ras signal changes to the high level while the φ r signal and φ x signal change to the low level and the potential of the word line w 1 is set to the low level . accordingly , the data for erasing are stored in the memory cells mc 10 , mc 11 , mc 12 , mc 13 . since the φ r signal changes to the low level , the counter circuit ac counts up and advances the address by one . the operations described above are repeated until the data for erasing the storage data are written into all the memory cells . incidentally , the ordinary operation is carried out when the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data changes to the low level . in other words , the circuit l 1 which controls the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; outputs the φ pc signal , which is generated in response to the ras signal , as such , as the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; because the φ clm signal changes to the low level as shown in fig2 b . the circuits l 2 , l 3 for controlling the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; output as such the φ sa , φ sa signals , that are generated in response to the ras signal , as φ sa &# 39 ; and φ sa &# 39 ; . since the φ clm signal changes to the low level as shown in fig6 the internal address signal generator t 4 &# 39 ; outputs the internal address signals a xi , a xi in response to the address signal a xi from outside the memory chip . in accordance with the present invention described above , the memory cell data can be erased in the unit of the memory cell number connected to the word lines so that erasing time can be shortened remarkably . in other words , when an m - row by n - column memory cell array is to be erased in a cycle time t rc , the prior art method needs a time m × n × t rc whereas the present invention needs only a time ( m + n ) t rc . therefore , the use efficiency of the computer can be improved remarkably . incidentally , the row system address signal necessary for the erasing operation can be generated by use of a counter for generating the address signal inside the memory chip for the refreshing operation of the memory . it is also possible to apply the row system address signal from outside the memory chip instead of generating the row system address signal inside the memory chip . the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data inputted from outside the memory chip can be generated inside the chip by disposing a circuit for sensing the combination of timing of the ras signal , the cas signal , the we signal and the address signal ai . the second embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig8 . the circuit of this embodiment shown in fig8 is different from the first embodiment shown in fig2 a in that a control circuit for column decoder input signals ydm which controls the input signals to the column decoder , an input data holding circuit dl which holds the signal from the data input buffer and an internal write control signal holding circuit wl which holds the signals from the we buffer circuit are added anew . the control circuit ydm is a circuit for the multi - selection of data lines ( and sets all the column decoder output lines y 0 ˜ y 3 to the high level ). the column address signals a y0 , a y0 , a y1 , a y1 are controlled by the circuit shown in fig9 while the column decoder output line driving signal φ y is controlled by the circuit shown in fig1 . the circuit shown in fig1 a is used as dl and wl . when the circuit is used as the dl circuit , in in the drawing is connected to the data input buffer dib while out is connected to the common data line . when the circuit is used as the wl circuit , in is connected to the clock generator t 6 while out is connected to the transfer gate for controlling the common data line . in the drawing , d 6 represents a delay circuit which is the same as the one shown in fig2 b . fig1 b shows operating waveforms for illustrating the outline of the operation . the operation of the embodiment shown in fig8 will be described with reference to the operating waveforms shown in fig1 . when the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data changes from the low level to the high level , the counter circuit ac is set to the predetermined state in the same way as in the first embodiment . on the other hand , the ras signal and the we signal thereafter changes to the low level . therefore , the input data ( the data for erasing ) is taken into the memory chip and held by the circuit dl . as can be seen clearly from fig1 a and 11b , the input data is held while the φ clm l signal is at the high level . since the we signal changes to the low level , the amplifier ma and the common data line i / 0 are separated while the circuit dl for holding the input data and the common data line are connected . this state is held while the φ clm signal is at the high level as is obvious from fig1 a and 11b . therefore , the input data is transferred to the common data line . next , when the φ clm signal changes to the high level , all the column address signals are at the high level while the φ clm signal is at the high level as is obvious from fig9 . the column decoder output line driving signal φ y is at the low level while the φ clm signal is at the high level as is obvious from fig1 . therefore , all the column decoder output lines are at the high level , all the data lines are connected to the common data line and the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are transferred to all the data lines . on the other hand , since the ras signal has already changed to the low level , the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; changes first to the low level before the erasing data are written into all the data lines . thereafter , the word line driving signal φx changes to the high level and the word line selected by the address signal generated by the counter ac is driven . ( w 0 is hereby assumed to be driven .) after the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are written into all the data lines , the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; change to the high and low levels , respectively , and amplify the predetermined data for erasing the storage data . accordingly , the erasing data are written into the memory cells mc 00 , mc 01 , mc 02 and mc 03 . in the same way as in the first embodiment , this state is held by the data line precharge signal φ pc &# 39 ; , the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; , φ sa &# 39 ; due to the φ clm signal while the φ clm signal is at the high level . thereafter , the ras signal changes to the high level , the word line driving signal φ x changes to the low level and the level of the word line w 0 changes to the low . therefore , the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are stored in the memory cells mc 00 , mc 02 , mc 03 . thereafter , the change of the ras signal is repeated in the same way as in the first embodiment so that the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are written into all the memory cells . in the first embodiment , the predetermined data for erasing the storage data is first written into the predetermined memory cell in the page mode , whereas in this second embodiment the column decoder is set to the multi - selection state so that the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are written simultaneously into all the data lines and held by the sense amplifiers and the erasing time can therefore be further reduced . in other words , when the mrow by n - column memory array is erased in the cycle time t rc , this embodiment can make the erasing operation substantially within the time m × t rc . therefore , the efficiency of use of the computer can be further improved . though this second embodiment uses the we signal for controlling the connection between the common data line and the amplifier ma and between the common data line and the input data holding circuit dl , it may be made by use of only the φ clm signal . though the counter circuit is set initially by the φ clm signal , initial setting is not particularly necessary in this embodiment . the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig1 . in the second embodiment described above , multi - selection of the column decoder is made by setting all the column system internal address signals to the high level and the column decoder output line driving signal φ y to the low level while the control signal φ clm for erasing storage data is at the high level . however , multi - selection of the column decoder can be made by use of the circuit construction such as shown in fig1 . fig1 shows the column decoder in this embodiment . in the drawing , the nodes n of all the nand circuits , on the power source side ( v cc ), to which the column system address signals a y0 , a y0 , a y1 , a y1 are applied are connected to the power source line ( v cc ) through a common mosfet mcc and connected to a ground node through mss . furthermore , the gates of these mosfets are controlled by the φ clm signal . the φ y signal is inputted to the column decoder through a log gate which is at the low level while the φ clm signal is at the high level . in fig1 , symbol d 7 represents a delay circuit which is analogous to the delay circuit shown in fig2 b . multi - selection of the column decoder in this circuit is made in the following way . it will be hereby assumed that the column system address signals a y0 , a y1 are at the high level and a y0 , a y1 are at the low level . in this case , the node n 11 as the output node of the nand circuit is at the low level , at least one gate of pmos in the other nand circuits is at the low level and the output of that nand circuit is at the high level . at this time , if the φ clm signal changes to the high level ( the erasing operation ), the potential of the node n on the power source ( v cc ) side of the nand circuit is at the ground potential level . therefore , the outputs of all the nand circuit change to the low level . on the other hand , the column decoder output put line driving signals φ y &# 39 ; change to the low level with the change of the φ clm signal to the high level . therefore , all the column decoder output lines ( y 0 ˜ y . sub . 3 ) change to the high level and the column decoder enters the multi - selection state . as described above , this embodiment can further reduce the number of additional circuits in comparison with the second embodiment and the erasing time is substantially equal to that of the second embodiment . though the level of the node of the nand circuit on the power source ( v cc ) side is controlled for the purpose of multi - selection in this embodiment , it is also possible to employ a circuit system wherein mosfet receiving the input φ clm signal at its gate is connected to the output node of each nand circuit so as to compulsively set the output node of the nand circuit to the low level when the φ clm signal changes to the high level . ( fourth embodiment ) the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig1 . this drawing illustrates an array construction when the memory array of the first embodiment , for example , is divided into a large number of units ( four units in this case ). in the drawing , symbols mca 0 , mca 1 , mca 2 and mca 3 represent the memory arrays , and a data input buffer dib is connected to common data lines i / o 0 , i / o 1 , i / o 2 and i / o 3 through transfer gates that are controlled by signals g 0 , g 1 , g 2 and g 3 , respectively . the common data lines are connected to amplifiers ma 0 , ma 1 , ma 2 and ma 3 through transfer gates that are controlled by signals g 0 &# 39 ;, g 1 &# 39 ;, g 2 &# 39 ; and g 3 &# 39 ;, respectively . the output nodes of these amplifiers are connected to a data output buffer dob through transfer gates that are controlled by signals o 0 , o 1 , o 2 and o 3 . the operation of the memory arrays is carried out normally in the following way . in the data write cycle , after the input data is applied to the data input buffer dib , one of the signals g 0 , g 1 , g 2 and g 3 is at the high level . it will be hereby assumed that the signal g 0 is at the high level . in this case the data input buffer dib and the common data line i / o 0 are connected . the input data is written into the memory cell inside the sub - memory cell array mca 0 . in the read cycle , the data read out from the memory cell is read out on a pair of the four common data line pairs . it will be assumed hereby that the memory cell data is read out on the common data line pair i / o 0 . next , the g 0 &# 39 ; signal changes to the high level and the common data line i / o 0 and the amplifier ma 0 are connected and the read data from the memory cell is amplified by the amplifier . then , the o 0 signal changes to the high level and the amplified signal is transferred to the data output buffer and turns to the output data d 0 . when the erasing operation is made in accordance with the array construction described above , it must be effected sequentially for each of the divided sub - arrays ( mca 0 , mca 1 , mca 2 , mca 3 ). however , the erasing operation can be made simultaneously in all of the four sub - arrays by controlling the g 0 , g 1 , g 2 and g 3 signals by use of the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data . in other words , while the φ clm signal is at the high level , the g 0 , g 1 , g 2 and g 3 signals are set to the high level so that the erasing data are written into all the four common data line pairs . thereafter , the levels of the column decoder output lines y 0 ˜ y n are set sequentially to the high level by the page mode operation in the same way as in the first embodiment and the predetermined data for erasing the storage data is written into the memory cell connected to the word line that is selected by the predetermined address signal , for each sub - array . next , the data of all the memory cells are erased in the same way as in the first embodiment . as described above , since this embodiment can simultaneously make the erasing operation in each of the divided sub - arrays , the erasing time can be shortened and the efficiency of use of the computer can be improved . the fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig1 . in the afore - mentioned second and third embodiments , the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are written into all the data lines by the multi - selection of the column decoder through the common data lines i / 0 . the erasing data thus written into the data lines are held by thereafter operating the sense amplifiers . if the memories are integrated in a high integration density , the number of data lines into which the predetermined data for erasing the storage data increases and the writing time will naturally increase . therefore , it will be necessary to operate the sense amplifiers for holding the predetermined data for erasing the storage data after the passage of a sufficient time from multi - selection of the column decoder . this can be accomplished by adding a circuit such as shown in fig1 that delays the sense amplifier operation start time . in fig1 , symbols ckt1 , ckt3 are sense amplifier driving signal ( φ sa &# 39 ;, φ sa &# 39 ;) generator and ckt2 represents a circuit that delays the generation timing , of the sense amplifier driving signal when the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data is inputted . symbol con in ckt2 represents a counting circuit for counting the number of operation cycles of the memory for setting the delay time of the sense amplifier driving signal . this circuit can be accomplished by use of the counter circuit such as shown in fig5 . the operation of the circuit shown in fig1 will be explained with reference to the operating waveforms shown fig1 in the normal operation period t 0 ˜ t 1 , the signal φ sad is at the high level so that the sense amplifier driving signals φ sa &# 39 ; and φ sa &# 39 ; generated by ckt1 and ckt3 are outputted as such and drive the sense amplifiers as φ sa &# 34 ; and φ sa &# 34 ;, respectively . in the erasing mode after the time t 1 , the signal φ clm first changes to the high level so that φ sad changes to the low level . in the counter circuit con at this time , the node n 1 shown in fig5 a is kept at the ground potential level ( low level ) so that q 0 , q 1 and q 2 are at the low level . thereafter this counter circuit counts up whenever φ r changes to the low level . in the circuit shown in fig1 , φ sad is controlled by q 1 . therefore , after the passage of the four cycles φ sad is set to the high level . therefore , in the period of the four cycles from the change of φ clm to the high level , φ sad is held at the low level so that φ sa &# 34 ; and φ sa &# 34 ; keep the low and high levels , respectively . in other words , the sense amplifiers do not operate in the four cycles described above and the erasing data can be written from the common data lines to all the data lines . when φ sad changes to the high level , φ sa &# 34 ; is controlled by φ sa &# 39 ; while φ sa &# 34 ; is controlled by φ sa &# 39 ; so that φ sa &# 34 ; changes to the high level while φ sa &# 34 ; changes to the low level , and keep the respective levels while φ clm is at the high level . in other words , the sense amplifiers operate and hold the predetermined data for erasing the storage data . in accordance with the embodiment described above , it becomes possible to retard the operation timing of the sense amplifiers by a predetermined time after receipt of the control signal for erasing the storage data , and a sufficient write time for writing the predetermined data for erasing the storage data can be secured even in a high integration density memory . thus , the possibility that wrong erasing data is written can be eliminated . since the delay time of the operation timing of the sense amplifiers is set by the number of operation cycles of the memory , it can be handled easily by the users of the memory . namely , in order to make the erasing operation , only the cycle number described above and the cycle number for raising all the word lines to the high level need be taken into consideration . the sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig1 . the first to fifth embodiments of the invention illustrate the case where the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are taken into the memory chip through the data input buffer and written through the common data lines . where the erasing data described above are determined by the combination of external timing pulses inputted to the memory ( e . g . the refresh operation is determined by the timing cas before ras ), the erasing data can be written into the data lines by the circuit construction shown in fig1 . in fig1 , ma 0 and ma 1 are memory arrays , d 0 , d 0 , d m and d m are data lines , i / 0 is a common data line and sc 0 , sc 1 and sc 2 are data set circuits for erasing the storage data . these data set circuits are arranged dispersedly relative to the memory arrays as shown in the drawing . y 0 and y m are output signal input nodes of the column decoder and d is the erasing data input node . the operation of the circuit shown in fig1 is as follows . in the erasing operation mode , all the output signals ( y 0 , y m ) of the column decoder change to the high level as described in the second embodiment and the data lines ( d 0 , d 0 , d m , d m ) and the common data lines ( i / 0 ) are connected . at this time the erasing data is inputted to the node d . this erasing data is transferred to the erasing data set circuits sc 0 , sc 1 , sc 2 through the signal line l and written into the data lines through the common data lines i / 0 . the subsequent operations are carried out in the same way as in the second embodiment . in accordance with this embodiment the erasing data are written by the erasing data set circuit , and can therefore make the erasing operation even when the erasing data are determined by the combination of the external timing pulses . since the erasing data set circuits are arranged dispersedly , the data can be written quickly even when the memories are integrated in a high integration density and the number of data lines for writing the erasing data increases . therefore , the erasing time can be reduced . fig1 a and 18b show modified examples of the embodiment shown in fig1 . in fig1 a , the signal line l is disposed in common for the right and left memory arrays . this arrangement is suitable for a large scale memory . fig1 b shows the arrangement wherein a plurality of sets of common data lines are disposed . though this modified embodiment shows two sets , four or more sets may be disposed . this arrangement is suitable for parallel processing of data . the seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig1 . though the first to sixth embodiments deal with general - purpose dram , this embodiment will represent the case where the present invention is applied to a dual port memory . in fig1 , ma is v array including sense amplifiers . d 0 , d 0 ˜ d 3 and d 3 are data lines . rp represents a circuit that inputs and outputs data from a random port and ydec represents a column decoder which selects one of a plurality of data line pairs and connects the pair to common data lines . y 0 through y 3 are output lines of the column decoder and sp represents a circuit that inputs and outputs data from a serial port . l 0 ˜ l 3 are latch circuits for holding the data read out from the memory array , and a shift register sh selects sequentially and one by one a plurality of latch circuits and connects it to the common data lines i / o s . s 0 ˜ s 3 are output lines of the shift register . symbol φ clm represents a control signal for erasing the storage data which is applied to nand circuits n 0 ˜ n 3 and controls the output signal of the shift register . symbol φ t is a control signal for a transfer gate t disposed between the data line and the latch circuit . the normal operations of the circuits described above are as follows . the data input / output operation on the random port ( rp ) side is the same as that of the conventional circuit explained with reference to fig1 and the data input / output operation on the serial port ( sp ) side will be hereby described . after the memory cell signal is amplified in the memory array , the control signal φ t of the transfer gate t is set to the high level , whereby the data of all the data line pairs are taken into the latch circuits l 0 ˜ l 3 . thereafter φ t changes to the low level and the transfer gate is turned off . next , the shift register sh sets one of s 0 ˜ s 3 to the high level ( in the normal operation , since the control signal for erasing the storage data φ clm is at the low level , the output of the shift register is as such outputted to s 0 ˜ s 3 .). it will be hereby assumed that s 0 changes to the high level . therefore , the data held by the latch circuit l 0 is read out to the common data line i / os . this data is amplified by the main amplifier ( not shown ) and changed to the data output d out . next , the shift register sh operates , s 0 changes to the low level and s 1 changes to the high level so that the data held by the latch circuit l 1 is read out in the same way as described above . thereafter , s 2 and s 3 change sequentially to the high level and the data held by the latch circuits l 2 and l 3 are read out . the data write operation is made in the reverse sequence to the above . namely , the data are sequentially written into the latch circuits l 0 ˜ l 3 by the shift register through the common data lines and when the signal φ t is then changed to the high level , the data of the latch circuits l 0 ˜ l 3 can be written simultaneously into the memory array . next , the operation in the erase operation mode will be described . in this case , the control signal φ clm for erasing the storage data is at the high level . therefore , all of s 0 ˜ s 3 are at the high level and all the latch circuits are connected to the common data lines i / os . therefore , the predetermined data for erasing the storage data are written into all the latch circuits through i / os . next , the control signal φ t of the transfer gate t changes to the high level so that the data are written into all the data lines from the latch circuits . the subsequent operations are made in the same way as in the first embodiment . namely , when the word lines are sequentially changed to the high level , the predetermined data for erasing the storage data can be written into all the memory cells of the memory cell array . in accordance with the embodiment described above , the predetermined data for erasing the storage data can be written simultaneously into the latch circuits . for this reason , the fast erasing operation can be made in the dual port memory , too . the eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig2 . this embodiment is the same as the second embodiment except that the number of common data lines i / 0 is different . to simplify illustration , this drawing shows only the memory array portion , the common data lines and the column decoder . if the number of i / 0 is increased , the number of data lines connected to each pair of i / 0 decreases so that the load capacitance connected to i / 0 decreases . therefore , the write speed of the erasing data through i / 0 can be improved . as shown in the drawing , too , two pairs of data lines are controlled by one column decoder output line so that the layout of the column decoder becomes easy . in accordance with the present invention described above , the erasing data can be written in the unit of memory cell connected to the word line and the erase operation time of the memory cell can be reduced remarkably . when the memory cell data of an m - row by n - column memory cell array is to be erased in a cycle time t rc , for example , the conventional method requires an m × n × t rc time but the present invention needs only m × t rc . therefore , the efficiency of use of a computer can be improved remarkably . it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing description represents some preferred embodiments of the disclosed device and that various changes and modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof . | 6 |
( 1 ) input information that is provided by an inexpensive commercial television camera ; and ( 2 ) an alignment capability that is very broad spectrum , i . e . capable of working with almost any type of semiconductor and with almost any type of alignment mechanism . the use of an inexpensive , low performance television camera system introduces several major problems , for which the system of the present invention provides reliable , economically feasible solutions . these problems are : ( 3 ) variation in dc level and signal sensitivity over the field of view ; ( 5 ) smear and similar distortions due to the long delay time of the photosensitive target . there are , however , many advantages to using a television camera to provide the input information to the system . these advantages are : ( 2 ) a simple man - machine interface by which the system can be &# 34 ; taught &# 34 ;, i . e ., adapted for association with different elements of the semiconductor devices for alignment purposes ; and ( 3 ) retrofitting , of existing manually operated alignment devices with an automatic capability , which can be accomplished at minimum cost , if a television monitor already is present . the following discussion of the alignment system of the present invention is limited specifically to the alignment of wafers . the application of this system to chip alignment will be obvious to persons skilled in the art . wafers are manufactured by a step - and - repeat procedure , which generates a two - dimensional array of information on a surface , the wafer consisting of discrete rectangular areas separated from each other by a grid of linear boundaries . these boundaries , which range normally from a few thousandths of an inch wide to as much as ten thousandths of an inch wide , commonly are called &# 34 ; thoroughfares &# 34 ;, because they resemble a layout of urban streets . a general block diagram of the present invention is shown in fig1 wherein video signals 30 , carrying information from a television camera 32 , are processed in a suitable pattern recognition / motor - control sub - system 34 . control signals 36 , which are generated thereby , feed into stepping motors ( not shown ), which control a mechanical positioning table 37 . table 37 includes a set of beds that provide y motion 38 , x motion 40 , and θ motion 42 . a wafer to be aligned , as shown at 44 , is mounted on the x , y , θ table structure , which is illuminated by a light source ( not shown ) so that the wafer can be viewed by television camera 32 . a monitor 46 provides a visual display , of the information in the television camera &# 39 ; s field of view , on a television screen . since television camera 32 , television monitor 46 , and x , y , θ table structure 37 , individually , are well known in the art , only pattern - recognition and motor - control sub - system 34 is described below in detail . the technique implemented by the system of fig1 utilizes certain geometric features that are universal in all wafers , namely , the presence of border spaces , or &# 34 ; thoroughfares &# 34 ;, between adjacent semiconductor devices on the wafer . these thoroughfares serve as reference elements for alignment of the wafer during ( 1 ) an &# 34 ; instruction &# 34 ; mode , in which an operator instructs the system regarding which edges of the thoroughfares are suitable for precise alignment , and ( 2 ) an &# 34 ; automatic &# 34 ; mode , in which the system itself senses these thoroughfares on a succession of wafers and aligns these wafers with respect to the system for processing . after a wafer on x , y , θ table 37 has been moved into position manually or automatically so that an area near the center of the wafer is in the field of view of television camera 32 , the following general functions are performed by the system . for reasons to be explained below , in the present system , the x direction is 45 ° clockwise with respect to true vertical and the y direction is 45 ° counterclockwise with respect to true vertical . ( 1 ) x motion is commanded until a vertical thoroughfare is sensed in the field of view by x sensing circuitry . this vertical thoroughfare thereby is centered coarsely ( within a few thousandths of an inch ). ( 2 ) a large y motion is commanded until an area near the edge of the wafer is seen in the field of view . at this position , θ error which appears as x displacement , is sensed by the x sensing circuitry , and is corrected by θ motion of x , y , θ table 37 . ( 3 ) a second large y motion is commanded in the sense opposite to that of ( 2 ) above , returning the center of the wafer to the field of view . ( 4 ) additional y motion is commanded until a horizontal thoroughfare is sensed in the field of view . at this time , the intersection of vertical and horizontal thoroughfares seen in the field of view is centered coarsely . edges near the intersection , characteristics of which have been memorized during the instruction cycle , have been positioned to within a few thousandths of an inch of a reference point and are now used to fine align the intersection by precise x and y motions . ( 5 ) a large y motion is commanded to bring an area near the edge of the wafer into the field of view . function ( 4 ) is repeated except that , during fine alignment to correct for apparent y and x displacements of this intersection , y and θ motions are commanded , providing fine θ correction at the edge of the wafer . ( 6 ) functions ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) are repeated . if the intersection in the field of view is permitted to be used for alignment in accordance with the learning cycle , the alignment is complete . ( 7 ) if , during the learning cycle , the system has been instructed to memorize a specific intersection for final alignment which intersection is defined by a unique memorized pattern , then , after the wafer is returned to the center , the surrounding area is scanned by a search pattern that follows the thoroughfares in an optimal path , sensing each intersection until the specific intersection is found . then function ( 4 ) is repeated , completing the alignment . in order to understand the specific operation of the circuits of fig2 and 3 , consider an intersection of vertical and horizontal thoroughfares . fig4 shows how this intersection would appear on a monitor , set up for manual alignment , if there were no distortion in the camera / monitor system . vertical thoroughfare 48 and horizontal thoroughfare 50 are seen as straight bands intersecting perpendicularly . a video signal from a television camera generating this display would contain information that could be used easily to identify the two thoroughfares . in the present embodiment , the wafer is illuminated obliquely so that the thoroughfares appear dark against a light background . the horizontal thoroughfare would appear as a short series of contiguous long dark scan lines . the vertical thoroughfare would appear as a long series of short dark scan line segments , each such scan line segment occurring on adjacent scan lines at the same elasped time with respect to the start of the video scan line of which it is a part . information appearing on the set of n scan lines in the foregoing way can be sensed and detected by a number of standard techniques , one of the most common of which is memory masking . however , when the display of a practical system is examined , the thoroughfares are no longer straight and do not intersect perpendicularly . the geometric distortions of the camera / monitor system introduces curves in the horizontal and vertical thoroughfares and non - perpendicularity in their intersections , as shown in fig5 at 52 , 54 . in a conventional commercial camera / monitor system that is used for manual alignment , such distortion commonly is 10 % or higher . fig5 shows the appearance of the thoroughfares on a monitor where the peak - to - peak system distortion is about 10 %. it easily can be seen that there is not even one video scan line , which will be all dark due to falling within a horizontal thoroughfare . thus , sensing and detecting a horizontal thoroughfare with so much geometric distortion requires a relatively sophisticated degree of pattern recognition . although this degree of pattern recognition easily is accomplished by a human with little or no training , it is beyond the capabilities of cost effective automatic alignment systems of the prior art . the present invention adopts a relatively simple and inexpensive processing technique for recognizing a thoroughfare , which is considered as being vertical , and aligning with respect to it , even with much higher distortions than those shown in fig5 . as will be explained later , the two intersecting thoroughfares are considered alternately as vertical during the alignment sequence . for ease of understanding , only one thoroughfare , in vertical orientation , will be considered now . this technique involves examining a set of band segments along the length of vertical thoroughfare 54 . a set of four such band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 are shown . for these band segments to indicate the presence of a vertical thoroughfare , each must occupy a video scan position which overlaps in time the video scan position of the band above it ( if there is one ) and the video scan position of the band below it ( if there is one ). thus , in fig5 band segments 56 and 58 must time overlap on their scan lines , and band segments 60 and 62 must have time overlap on their scan lines . but , no time overlap is required between band segments 56 and 62 . this last non - constraint allows the vertical thoroughfare to be found even in the presence of large geometric distortion or large angular rotation . pattern recognition control circuit 34 of fig1 details of which are shown in fig2 is designed to implement the sensing of band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 . since the nature of the thoroughfares is such that , even when they should appear entirely dark , they may include mirror bright regions , the sensing procedure must be able to recognize &# 34 ; almost dark &# 34 ; regions as well as &# 34 ; completely dark &# 34 ; regions . the sub - circuit of fig3 which is one of four like sub - circuits of fig2 is designed to implement this recognition function . referring now to fig3 and 6 , a video signal 64 is processed by a threshold detector 66 to generate a standardized signal 68 , characterized by a two level logic train , with 0 volts chosen arbitrarily to represent dark , i . e ., darker than a selected reference level , and + 5 volts chosen arbitrarily to represent light , i . e ., lighter than a selected reference level . this quantized video signal 68 is fed ( fig2 ) through a phase - shifting shift register 70 to a demultiplexer 72 , which is shown in fig3 as a 9 - position solid state switch . the functions of shift register 70 and demultiplexer 72 will be described below . with a 0 . 96 megahertz clock , all of video information 68 from a single horizontal television scan line is stored in one of a group 74 of eight 64 bit shift registers designated 74 . 1 to 74 . 8 . in the system as illustrated in fig2 there are four such groups of eight 64 bit shift registers . demultiplexer 72 operates to feed the quantized signal 68 for one horizontal scan line into a selected one of shift registers 74 . these shift registers 74 are connected to recirculate on command so that , once a register is loaded by demultiplexer 72 , a full horizontal line of video information then is recirculating within it . the recirculation , controlled by the master 0 . 96 megahertz clock , ensures that all of the video information being recirculated is maintained in time synchronism with the horizontal sweep rate . the circuit is such that the quantized video representations of eight horizontal sweep lines are stored respectively in the eight shift registers of group 74 . the condition of the eight shift registers thereby represents a sequence of digitized scans of a section of the television field of view , this sequence of scans intersecting a representation of a vertical thoroughfare at band segments 56 , 58 , 60 or 62 , fig5 . in other words , all of the information for sensing and detecting the intersection of a set of eight scan lines with a vertical thoroughfare is present simultaneously in the group 74 of eight recirculating shift registers shown in fig3 . and four such groups of eight recirculating shift registers contain all the information for sensing and detecting four band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 of a vertical thoroughfare 54 . in actual practice , there usually are a few bright points in any dark band segment . in consequence , a recognition decision during sensing of a thoroughfare must be based on majority logic rather than on a simple requirement that there be a dark area represented in all of the scan lines at the same horizontal reference position . in the illustrated embodiment , the eight outputs 76 ( fig3 ) individually designated 76 . 1 to 76 . 8 , from the eight shift registers of group 74 are fed through a group of resistors 77 to an analog summer 78 , which feeds a threshold detector 80 . analog summer 78 and threshold detector 80 generate decision signals on the basis of majority logic as follows . the analog summer is a standard operational amplifier connected in the classic summing mode so that the output from each of the shift registers of group 74 is given a weight ( referenced to the output of the summer ) of one volt . therefore , if a totally dark region is scanned , the information stored in the eight recirculating shift registers will be such that each output is zero volts and the output of summer 78 is zero volts . a representative set 82 of eight input wave forms , representing signals 76 . 1 to 76 . 8 , is shown in fig6 together with a wave form 84 , representing the resulting output . note specifically that output 84 is zero only if all inputs are zero . output 84 is one volt if any one input is non - zero , that is , if any one input is a logic one . if any two inputs are non - zero , i . e ., if they are logic one &# 39 ; s , output 84 is 2 volts . three input logic one &# 39 ; s produce an output 84 of three volts . following the circuit of fig3 and the wave forms of fig6 it is seen that the reul exemplified above results in a 7 volt output when there is only one logic zero input , and in an 8 volt output when there are only logic one inputs . thus , with threshold detector 80 set to &# 34 ; fire &# 34 ; at 0 . 5 volts , it will fire only when all inputs to summer 78 are logic zero &# 39 ; s ; with the threshold detector set at 1 . 5 volts , it will fire when at least 7 of the eight inputs are logic zero &# 39 ; s ; and with a setting of 2 . 5 volts , it will fire when only six or more inputs are logic zero &# 39 ; s . with four circuits of the type shown in fig3 the four band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 of fig5 can be examined and an output can be generated for further processing , whenever there is an indication of a vertical thoroughfare at whatever majority level decision is desired . sensing of vertical and horizontal thoroughfares fig2 , 8 and 11 as shown in fig2 demultiplexer 72 feeds a set 75 of four groups of shift registers 74a , 74b , 74c , and 74d , each of which corresponds to group 74 of fig3 . set 75 feeds at set 79 of analog summers 78a , 78b , 78c , and 78d , each of which corresponds to analog summer 78 of fig3 . set 79 feeds a set 81 of threshold detectors 80a , 80b , 80c , and 80d , each of which corresponds to threshold detector 80 of fig3 . in the present configuration , the outputs of the set 81 of four threshold detectors serve as inputs to a simple microcomputer 86 , which stores the information in memory in the form of an array of 4 × 64 bits . this array is examined by standard computer masking circuitry to determine whether the overlap requirements listed above are met . if they are , over a wide enough area in the array to represent a thoroughfare , when the detection process reports that a vertical thoroughfare has been found and reads out the coordinates within the 4 × 64 bit array of microcomputer 86 . in correspondence with these coordinates , a command is generated to move the wafer table so that the vertical thoroughfare is centered within the field of view . with the magnifications normally used , this centering can be accomplished to within a few thousandths of an inch . this centering is sufficiently accurate to allow initiation of the fine alignment procedure described below . the above technique is fully adequate for sensing a distorted and rotated vertical thoroughfare and for determining its position , but will not sense a horizontal thoroughfare . the technique for sensing a horizontal thoroughfare is desired below . in accordance with the present invention , the video information is controlled so that horizontal thoroughfares also are processed in the manner described above for vertical thoroughfares . for this purpose , the perpendicularly intersecting thoroughfares are presented to television camera 32 at 45 ° angles with respect to vertical and horizontal coordinates defined by television camera 32 . thus , on monitor 46 , as shown in fig1 , &# 34 ; vertical &# 34 ; thoroughfares initially are seen as extending from lower left to upper right and &# 34 ; horizontal &# 34 ; thoroughfares as extending from lower right to upper left . control circuitry 34 ( fig1 ) operates to rotate these thoroughfares electronically so that each , when being examined , appears to the recirculatory shift registers 75 as vertical . that is , the &# 34 ; vertical &# 34 ; thoroughfares are electronically rotated counterclockwise 45 ° to appear vertical and the &# 34 ; horizontal &# 34 ; thoroughfares are electronically rotated clockwise 45 ° to appear vertical . the circuitry of fig2 for accomplishing this electronic rotation now will be described in reference to the graphical representations of fig7 and 8 . in fig7 a horizontal thoroughfare 88 is shown as it appears on the monitor at 45 ° with respect to the coordinates of the television camera . a portion of this thoroughfare ( the portion which has been sensed as having band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 , fig5 ) is rotated electronically by phase shifting circuitry to be discussed below , to appear to the recirculating shift register memories as if it were in orientation 90 of fig7 . in similar fashion , the &# 34 ; vertical &# 34 ; thoroughfare 92 , shown in fig8 as it appears on the monitor in fig8 has its video representation rotated by the phase shifting circuitry to appear to the circulating shift register memories as if it were in orientation 94 of fig8 . the circuitry is such that the rotation , in both cases , is effected electronically only and does not appear visually on monitor 46 . on the monitor , the vertical thoroughfare continues to extend diagonally from lower left to upper right and the horizontal thoroughfare continues to extend diagonally from lower right to upper left . further examination of fig7 will facilitate an understanding of how electronic rotation is accomplished . a standard television screen provides two interlaced fields of scan lines to produce a full picture frame . the illustrated system utilizes only one of these fields . this field consists of 262 horizontal scan lines , of which 18 are blanked . in fig7 ( as well as in fig8 ), the horizontal scan lines are designated # 1 to # 262 , the blanked scan lines being designated # 1 through # 18 . thus the unblanked field of view , for the fields to be processed , contains scan lines # 19 to # 262 . band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 , fig5 are generated by examining : each of these 32 scan lines is quantized to two logic levels , as discussed above , by threshold detector 66 . however , instead of feeding the quantized video signal 68 directly through demultiplexer 72 into recirculating shift registers 76 , as was discussed above , it is fed through shift register 70 ( fig2 ) which introduces a time delay . by shifting the digital information into shift register 70 in &# 34 ; real time &# 34 ; ( i . e ., simultaneously with the creation of the information by the horizontal scan that generated it ) and then delaying shifting out of the information by a predetermined period of time , an additional phase shift or time delay is introduced into the information for each successive horizontal video scan line . with this time delay shift register 70 , the quantized video signal from each horizontal scan line is delayed the precise amount necessary to rotate the information it represents ( fig7 ) from the 45 ° inclination shown at 88 to the vertical configuration shown at 90 . this rotation requires that the scan lines of video information be delayed different amounts , with scan lines # 55 being delayed the maximum amount and scan line # 225 not being delayed at all . having introduced this delay by means of shift register 70 , the information in any recirculation shift register 74 is properly &# 34 ; rotated &# 34 ; so that a horizontal thoroughfare 88 ( fig7 ) in the field of view will generate a group of logic zero &# 39 ; s that travel in time sequence as if they had been initiated by a vertical thoroughfare and will generate identifiable voltages for a &# 34 ; vertical &# 34 ; thoroughfare on the outputs of summers 78 . these voltages trigger threshold detector 80 , which thereby transmits to microcomputer 86 signals , by which the microcomputer can recognize the presence and rotated position of a horizontal thoroughfare in the field of view . the technique for processing the information representing a true vertical thoroughfare , as shown in fig8 is analagous to the technique for processing information representing a horizontal thoroughfare , as shown in fig7 . in fig8 the video information in scan line # 55 has no delay and that in scan line # 225 has maximum delay . it will be apparent that the two types of delays , required to properly rotate the vertical and horizontal thoroughfares , cannot be introduced simultaneously . the two types of delays must be produced sequentially . first , one of the two intersecting thoroughfares is sensed and its distance from center is found and corrected . then , the other of the two intersecting thoroughfares is sensed and its distance from center is found and corrected . the processing techniques described above require distinguishing the dark areas in the field of view from the light areas by examining the video signal . the dark areas then are represented by logic one &# 39 ; s . in an idealized video signal 94 , as shown in fig9 resulting from one horizontal scan line , separating dark levels 96 from light levels 98 with respect to any arbitrary threshold level 100 is easily done . in quantized video signal 104 , a logic zero represents all portions of video signal 94 which fall below the threshold 100 and a logic one represents all portions of video signal 94 which are above the threshold . however , the video signal generated by one horizontal scan line , in actual practice , departs greatly from wave form 94 and , more closely , is represented by wave form 106 , which is a combination of idealized video signal 94 and the shading that is inherent in a vidicon tube . with shading magnitude that commonly is a large fraction of video signal magnitude , and in some cases equals the peak video signal magnitude , there is no threshold level that can be chosen to separate the video signal into two parts representing the dark and light parts of the object being scanned . it is necessary to introduce shading correction . for this purpose , the present embodiment includes an analog - to - digital ( a / d ) convertor 108 ( fig2 ), a demultiplexer 110 , three first - in - first - out ( fifo ) memories 112 , 114 , and 116 , a multiplexer 118 , and a digital - to - ananlog ( d / a ) convertor 120 . with the television camera looking at a featureless object , this circuitry generates a memorized shading level signal 122 ( fig9 ), which is a quantized version of the shading signal input 124 from the television camera . quantized video shading signal 122 ( on line 126 of fig2 ) serves as the threshold level for threshold detector 66 . in this way , the quantized signal at 126 corrects for shading . any video level of shaded video signal 106 ( fig9 ) that falls below the corresponding level of threshold signal 122 represents a dark area on the object being scanned . any video level that exceeds the corresponding threshold level represents a bright area . these dark / bright decisions , as made by threshold detector 66 , result in a quantized signal that is independent of shading level 124 . quantized reference signal 122 is generated when television camera 32 views a neutral , evenly illuminated , dark , dull object . video signal 64 so generated is digitized by a / d converter 108 and is fed through demultiplexer 110 into one of three fifo memories 112 , 114 , 116 . these memories are in the form of shift registers , which are 8 bits wide in correspondence with the 8 bit structure of a / d convertor 108 . consider first only memory 116 for coarse correction . the information fed into this memory represents the shading levels for only those 32 scan lines which have been chosen in correspondence with band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 . since the video signals of the scan lines of these band segments are utilized for searching , detecting , and determining the positions of the thoroughfares , it is only these scan lines that require shading correction for coarse alignment . limiting the shading correction to these 32 lines results in a relatively small memory 116 for shading correction during coarse alignment . the information circulating through memory 116 is maintained in synchronism with the scan rate of television camera 32 by the system clock . thus , whenever a scan line across one of band segments 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 is generated by television camera 32 , the appropriate shading correction signal , maintained in synchronism with this scan line , is fed through multiplexer 118 to d / a converter 120 . the output of the d / a converter is quantized shading correction signal 122 , which is fed to threshold detector 66 as the reference threshold signal . the shading correction during fine alignment is similar to the shading correction discussed above with the following differences . fine alignment is effected in a very restricted area of the field of view since fine alignment is initiated only after coarse alignment is completed . therefore , since fine alignment is in response only to information along the edges of a coarsely aligned thoroughfare , shading correction for fine alignment is required only parts 128 and 130 of fig1 . this shading correction is provided by means of fifo memories 112 and 114 , fig2 in precisely the same way that shading correction in coarse alignment is provided by means of fifo memory 116 . since the rotation procedures depicted in fig7 and 8 cannot be accomplished simultaneously , the fine corrections are performed sequentially . to provide proper shading correction for these sequential operations , information sequences representing the shading correction for regions 128 , 130 , fig1 , are stored separately in fifo memories 112 , 114 , respectively , and retrieved at the proper time in proper synchronism with the scan lines under control by the system clock . at the proper time , these fifo memories provide reference signals via multiplexer 118 and d / a converter 120 to threshold detector 66 . to ensure accuracy and repeatability of alignment to a required level of 0 . 0002 inch , positioning which depends on the geometric centroid of a thoroughfare is not adequate . the presence of simple blemishes , scratches or scribe marks in the thoroughfare will defeat this technique . the present invention senses edges of a thoroughfare as reference marks for fine alignment . specifically , positioning two such edges , one along a vertical thoroughfare and the other along a horizontal thoroughfare , ensures that the intersection formed by these two thoroughfares is properly aligned . ( 1 ) they must be well within the field of view after coarse alignment ; ( 2 ) they must extend several thousandths of an inch along the thoroughfare ; and ( 3 ) they must represent an edge of a feature that is several thousandths of an inch wide . the latter two requirements ensure that displacements of the pattern , due to lack of precision in the coarse alignment procedure , do not confound the fine alignment procedure . such confounding will result if the edge that has been memorized during the initial &# 34 ; learn &# 34 ; mode ( to be described below ) is not within the small area being scanned to provide information for the fine alignment . to ensure that the edges chosen do indeed meet these requirements , the selection is made by the operator during the learn mode , as follows . the oeprator manually positions the first wafer of a group to be aligned , using manual controls that are connected in parallel with the automatic alignment system . in making this manual alignment , the operator ensures that , if a specific intersection is to be designated as the intersection on which final alignment is to be based ( which intersection is identifiable by a unique pattern at the intersection ), the alignment intersection is centered properly in the field of view . when the wafer is thus properly aligned , the operator commands initiation of the learn mode by actuating the proper panel control . the system then realigns the wafer slightly so that its position agrees with that which would be generated by automatic coarse alignment , and presents a cursor , shown in fig1 at 132 , on the monitor display . cursor 132 is generated by brightening a section of the horizontal scan on two horizontal scan lines by conventional circuitry ( not shown ). in the illustrated embodiment , these brightened sections are each 0 . 002 inch long and are spaced 0 . 001 inch apart along a 45 ° line . as shown in fig1 , the field of view is considered to be divided into 8 octants , designated i through viii . when the wafer is properly aligned , each octant contains a thoroughfare edge extending from the perpendicular intersection to an edge of the field of view . now , using manual controls , which command circuitry well known to the art , the operator moves cursor 132 within one of the octants to straddle an edge which meets the criteria listed above . if no satisfactory edge exists within the octant , the operator commands cursor 132 to move to the next octant , etc ., until he ultimately can choose an appropriate set of two edges , one of which is on a vertical thoroughfare and the other of which is on a horizontal thoroughfare . in practice , with reference to fig1 , edges 134 , 136 are satisfactory edges for selection in octants i and ii , respectively . but edges 138 , 140 are part of features that are too narrow because slight horizontal positioning errors of the coarse alignment in the automatic mode could result in the use of an adjacent ( wrong ) edge instead of the memorized edge . edges 142 , 144 also are unsatisfactory because they do not extend far enough along the thoroughfare , so that positioning uncertainties of the coarse alignment could place these edges entirely outside of the field of view during fine alignment . when the operator positions cursor 132 astride suitable edges and issues the appropriate command by operating a front panel control ( not shown ), the system memorizes the horizontal scan line numbers of the cursor pair , the positions of the cursor pair along their scan lines , and the position of the edge within the cursor . these six numbers ( three for each cursor segment ) for two cursor positions , one along a vertical thoroughfare , one along a horizontal thoroughfare , which uniquely define the position of the memorized corner to 0 . 0001 inch , are stored ( by techniques well known in the art ) by means of registers and counters synchronized with the television camera scan . during the learn cycle , two other sequences of information are memorized as follows . ( 1 ) each quadrant containing a semiconductor device corner ( i . e ., the quadrants composed of octants ii and iii , iv and v , vi and vii , and viii and i ) is scanned to determine if the pattern of a recognizable unique device is present . if it is , the quadrant in which it is present is memorized and is used as a basis for choosing , from a stored program , the most efficient search scenario for the identification of the same unique device pattern is successive wafers during automatic operation . ( 2 ) when such a pattern is found at the memorized intersection during the learn mode , the system control computer scans a front panel switch ( not shown ), which is set by the operator to indicate the appropriate class size of the pattern . the search routine for the alignment device can be optimized by incorporating this size information in the scenario used for the search . after the learn mode is completed , the system is set in the automatic alignment mode , in which wafers are fed into the system , one at a time . the alignment procedure follows the scenario described above , with coarse alignments followed by fine alignment where appropriate . the fine alignment is implemented by establishing a search &# 34 ; window &# 34 ; which corresponds precisely with the position of cursor pair 132 , chosen by the operator during the learn mode . if edges are found within this search window , they are tested to determine whether they lie along a 45 ° line . if they meet the 45 ° test , they are accepted as representing the pattern edges memorized and the x , y , θ table is moved by appropriate commands , so as to position the selected edges at the memorized positions within the window . if no such edges are found , a search pattern for the window is generated , covering the entire area ( 0 . 003 inch × 0 . 003 inch ) of imprecision of the coarse alignment . if edges meeting the 45 ° test are found during the automatic alignment mode , the x , y , θ table is moved by appropriate commands , until these edges first fall within the window corresponding to the memorized cursor position and then occupy the memorized position within this window . fig1 , 13 and 14 are more detailed schematics of the timing circuitry that synchronizes the operations of television camera 32 , control sub - system 34 , and television monitor 46 . fig1 shows clock pulse generator circuitry at 150 , horizontal sync conditioner circuitry at 152 , and coarse time slot counter circuitry at 154 . fig1 shows edge detection and reporting circuitry at 156 , duration counter circuitry at 158 , and edge position time slot counter circuitry at 160 . fig1 shows comparator circuitry at 162 , starting time line counter circuitry at 164 , and phase shifting circuitry at 166 . fig1 and 16 are more detailed schematics of the coarse memory . fig1 shows phase shifting circuitry at 168 , demultiplexing circuitry at 170 , part of the coarse recirculating memory circuitry at 172 , analog summer circuitry at 174 , and threshold detector circuitry at 176 . fig1 shows demultiplexing circuitry at 178 , part of the recirculating memory circuitry at 180 , analog summer circuitry at 182 , and threshold detector circuitry at 184 . fig1 and 18 are more detailed schematics of the video processor and output circuitry . fig1 shows camera video circuitry at 186 and video squarer circuitry at 188 . fig1 shows fine video level circuitry at 190 , coarse video level circuitry at 192 , and video level generation storage circuitry at 194 . the present invention thus provides a system for aligning successive like semiconductor configurations , each characterized by a selected set of perpendicularly intersecting visual elements . in the illustrated example , the semiconductor configurations are wafers and the perpendicularly intersecting visual elements are spacings between individual devices , such spaces commonly being referred to as thoroughfares . table 37 ( fig1 ), which adjustably carries and optically presents any one of the semiconductor configurations , includes conventional guides for constraining the table &# 39 ; s motion in x , y , and θ directions , and motors for driving the table in these directions . television camera 32 is directed toward table 37 for viewing one of the successive semiconductor configurations on the table , the perpendicular visual elements of the semiconductor configuration being at 45 ° diagonals with respect to the raster scan coordinates of the television camera . television monitor 46 displays the field viewed by camera 32 . pattern recognition and motor control circuitry 34 have two operating modes -- an instruction mode and an automatic mode . during the instruction mode , an operator , viewing the television screen of monitor 46 and controlling the movement of table 37 , examines one sample of the semiconductor configuration . the operator selects , as a reference , intersecting edges of perpendicularly intersecting visual elements and supervises the coarse and fine alignment procedures for predeterminedly positioning and orienting the reference elements &# 39 ; edges on the television screen and thereafter moves an electronic cursor to define two selected edges of the semiconductor configuration . when the operator has completed the instruction mode , the system is ready for operation in the automatic mode , in which each of a series of like semiconductor configurations are fed to table 37 for coarse and fine alignment with respect to the cursor without further intervention by the operator . since certain changes may be made in the present disclosure without departing from the invention hereof , it is intended that all matter shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the foregoing specification be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense . | 6 |
the device 10 of the present invention is intended to be used in the trap 106 of a drainage system 100 . the drainage system 100 preferably includes a drain opening 102 with a trap 106 directly adjacent the opening 102 of the drainage system 100 . in the preferred embodiment , the drain opening 102 is a floor drain which receives drainage fluid 110 from a beverage dispensing machine 108 and preferably condensation from an ice bin 112 ( fig1 ). the device 10 could also be used in an air conditioning run off drain . the device 10 can be used in any drainage system 100 having a low point where the drainage fluid 110 collects such that deposits can grow . the drainage fluid 110 preferably includes sugar and refrigerated or cold water such that yeast can grow . the sugars are preferably a result of the beverages while the refrigerated water can be provided either from melting ice in the beverage dispensing machine 108 or condensation from the ice bin 112 for the beverage dispensing machine 108 . the device 10 includes a container 12 or 212 , an antimicrobial composition 24 , a flexible cord 20 and a stopper 22 . in the first embodiment , the container or pouch 12 is constructed of a porous , fabric material which is durable and does not degrade in water or drainage fluid 110 . the container 12 is preferably constructed of fine mesh cloth . the composition 24 is inserted into the container 12 and the container 12 is sealed around the perimeter . the container 12 is preferably disposable . the container 12 can be of any size . in the second embodiment , the container 212 has an outer wall 212 a forming a hollow , inner chamber 212 c . the composition 24 is positioned in the inner chamber 212 c of the container 212 . the outer wall 212 a has openings 212 b which allows the drainage fluid 110 to flow into the inner chamber 212 c of the container 212 and into contact with the composition 24 . the container 212 preferably has top and bottom end caps 214 and 216 . at least one ( 1 ) of the end caps 214 or 216 is removable to allow for insertion of the composition 24 into the inner chamber 212 c of the container 212 ( fig3 ) the outer wall 212 a of the container 212 is preferably constructed of a plastic , polymeric material such as pvc which is durable , lightweight and will not degrade in water or the drainage fluid 110 . in both embodiments , the size and shape of the container 12 and 212 depends on the size ( diameter ) of the drainage system 100 and the drain opening 102 , the size of the trap 106 and the amount of composition 24 needed to effectively prevent deposit build up in the drainage system 100 . however , a rectangular or cylindrical container 12 or 212 is preferred , since it is generally easier to insert into the drain opening 102 and moves easier through the drainage pipes 104 to the trap 106 . a rectangular or cylindrical shape also allows for insertion of a larger amount of the composition 24 into the drainage system 100 . in both embodiments , the container 12 or 212 holds about 30 grams of the composition 24 for a standard drain . in the second embodiment , the container 212 has a diameter of about 1 . 0 inches ( 2 . 54 cm ) and a length of about 4 . 0 inches ( 10 . 2 cm ). the composition 24 is preferably in a powder , granular or solid form . in the second embodiment , if the composition 24 is in a powder or granular form , the composition 24 is preferably provided in an inner , porous package or pouch 218 . the inner package 218 can be similar to the container 12 of the first embodiment and is preferably constructed of a porous material which will not degrade in the water or drainage fluid 110 . the amount of composition 24 and the type of composition 24 used depends on a number of factors including the intended environment of application , i . e . the volume of drain flowage over time , the temperature of the drain flowage , the hardness of the contact water , the specific composition used and the concentration of other constituents ( i . e . hardeners ). the composition 24 is preferably an antimicrobial composition containing an antimicrobial compound or material . the composition 24 is preferably a slow release composition which is released upon contact with water or other drainage fluid . the composition 24 preferably inhibits the growth of microorganisms in the drainage system 100 and particularly the trap 106 . in the preferred embodiment , the composition 24 prevents the growth of yeast in the drainage system 100 caused by sugars and cold water of the drainage fluid 110 . preferably , the composition 24 includes a quaternary ammonium compound having anti - yeast and anti - fungal properties such as the quaternary microbiocide b10 - 800 which contains 14 . 6 % by weight n - alkyl ( c 14 50 %, c 12 40 %, c 16 10 %) dimethylbenzyl ammonium chloride and 21 . 8 % by weight didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride . however , the composition 24 could include any material or compound which is capable of inhibiting yeast such as chlorine , cycloheximide , potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate . the flexible cord 20 has opposed ends 20 a and 20 b and is attached at one ( 1 ) end 20 a to one ( 1 ) end of the container 12 . in the first embodiment , the cord 20 is secured through a hole 12 a in the end of the container 12 . in the first embodiment , the hole 12 a is not in communication with the composition 24 . in the second embodiment , the cord 220 is attached through a hole 214 a in the top end cap 214 of the container 212 . in the preferred embodiment , the cord 20 is attached to the container 12 or 212 such that when the container 12 or 212 is inserted and removed from the drainage system 100 , the container 12 or 212 moves essentially along the longitudinal axis of the drain pipe 104 . thus , even if the container 12 or 212 is laying on its side in the trap 106 , the cord 20 will easily move the container 12 or 212 into an upright position such that the container 12 or 212 can be easily removed from the trap 106 and the drain pipe 104 . the cord 20 is constructed of a durable material which will not degrade in water or other drainage fluid 110 . the cord 20 is preferably a plastic coated rope . however , the cord 20 could be constructed of any flexible material such as nylon . the cord 20 could also be a chain . the cord 20 must be flexible such as to move around the curve of the trap 106 into the low point in the trap 106 and to easily pull the container 12 or 212 from the trap 106 . the length of the cord 20 depends on the distance from the drain opening 102 to the low point in the trap 106 of the drainage system 100 . the length of the cord 20 is such that the container 12 or 212 can be positioned in the water or other drainage fluid 110 in the trap 106 while the opposite end 20 b of the cord 20 extends beyond the drain opening 102 . preferably , the container 12 or 212 is positioned in the trap 106 such that the container 12 or 212 is at least partially submerged in the water or other drainage fluid 110 remaining in the trap 106 when the drainage fluid 110 is not flowing and such that the drainage fluid 110 can flow around and through the container 12 or 212 when the drainage fluid 110 is flowing ( fig4 ). the stopper 22 is provided at the opposite end 20 b of the cord 20 . the stopper 22 is of a size such that the stopper 22 can not fit into the drain opening 102 . in the preferred embodiment , the stopper 22 is a hollow ring having an outer diameter greater than the diameter of the drain opening 102 . the center opening of the hollow ring is preferably of such a size as to allow a user to grasp the ring to use the ring as a handle to remove the container 12 or 212 from the drainage system 100 . to use the device 10 , a drain cover ( not shown ), if present , is removed from the drain opening 102 . next , the container 12 or 212 is inserted into the drain opening 102 . while the container 12 or 212 is moving down through the drain pipe 104 , the user maintains a hold on the stopper 22 and preferably the cord 20 . the container 12 or 212 moves downward through the drain pipe 104 until it has reached the bottom or low point of the trap 106 . the user then tightens up on the cord 20 and pulls on the cord 20 slightly to ensure that the container 12 or 212 is not resting fully on the bottom of the trap 106 such as to optimize the amount of surface area of the container 12 or 212 which is in contact with the drainage fluid 110 in the trap 106 and flowing through the trap 106 ( fig4 ). in another embodiment , the distance between the drain opening 102 and the trap 106 is predetermined and the cord 20 is either marked to show the depth of entry or is of such a length that when the stopper 22 is adjacent the drain opening 102 , the container 12 or 212 is correctly positioned in the trap 106 . the container 12 or 212 is positioned in the trap 106 such that the container 12 or 212 and the composition 24 are in contact with the water and other drainage fluid 110 in the trap 106 . preferably , the container 12 or 212 is positioned such that all of the container 12 or 212 is in contact with the water and other drainage fluid 110 in the trap 106 . the positioning of the container 12 or 212 in the water and other drainage fluid 110 in the trap 106 allows the composition 24 in the container 12 or 212 to act continuously to inhibit the growth of microorganisms even when the flow of drainage fluid 110 has stopped . in the preferred embodiment , once the device 10 is correctly positioned in the drainage system 100 , the drain cap is replaced on the drain opening 102 . the stopper 22 on the end 20 b of the cord 20 prevents the cord 20 from completely entering the drain opening 102 and allows for removal of the device 10 from the drainage system 100 . preferably , the cord 20 and stopper 22 do not interfere with the normal operation or normal configuration of the drainage system 100 . once the composition 24 is completely dispensed and is no longer effective , the container 12 or 212 is removed from the drainage system 100 . to remove the container 12 or 212 , the user removes the drain cap , if present from the drain opening 102 . the user then grasps - the stopper 22 or the cord 20 extending above the drain opening 102 and pulls upward pulling the container 12 or 212 from the drainage system 100 . the flexible nature of the cord 20 allows the container 12 or 212 to be easily removed from the drainage system 100 . in the preferred embodiment , a new device 10 or a recharged device 10 is immediately inserted into the drainage system 100 . in the first embodiment , the entire old or used device 10 can be discarded and the new device 10 inserted into the drainage system 100 . alternatively , the used container 12 can be removed from the cord 20 and a new container 12 having a full supply of composition 24 can be reattached to the cord 20 . this eliminates the need to replace the cord 20 and stopper 22 each time . in the second embodiment , the top or bottom end cap 214 or 216 is removed from the container 212 and the used composition package 218 is removed and a new composition package 218 is inserted and the top or bottom end cap 214 or 216 is reattached . if a solid composition 24 is used , then the new solid composition 24 can be deposited directly in the inner chamber 212 c of the container 212 . it is intended that the foregoing description be only illustrative of the present invention and that the present invention be limited only by the hereinafter appended claims . | 8 |
with reference now to fig1 there is shown a crt laser , in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of our invention , comprising an evacuable tube 10 having a target 12 mounted at one end and an electron gun 14 located near the other end . electron beam focusing and deflection means 16 , illustratively a magnetic arrangement , surrounds the tube 10 near the gun 14 so as to enable the electron beam 11 to be focused and scanned across the target 12 . the target 12 , which is maintained at a high positive potential by means of high voltage supply 18 , comprises a transparent substrate 20 , which is sealed to the end of tube 10 , and a semiconductor structure 22 mounted on the interior surface of the substrate 20 . the semiconductor structure 22 includes means forming a cavity resonator of the conventional fabry - perot geometry for sustaining stimulated emission of radiation . illustratively , the cavity resonator is formed by a pair of metal layers 24 and 26 described in more detail hereinafter with reference to fig2 . in operation , the high positive potential applied to the target causes the electron beam to be attracted to and absorbed in the semiconductor where it generates electron - hole pairs . when the electrons and holes recombine radiatively , they generate optical radiation which then causes stimulated emission with net gain in the resonator , thereby producing a light beam 13 which emanates essentially perpendicular to the target face . since the e - beam makes a nearly 90 ° angle to the inside face of the target , the light beam and e - beam can be thought of as being essentially parallel -- a common assumption for longitudinal lasers . the light beam 13 is scanned by scanning the electron beam 11 . in accordance with a preferred embodiment of our invention , the target 12 shown in fig2 includes the transparent substrate 20 , the semiconductor structure 22 , and the metal layers 24 and 26 located on the opposite major surfaces of structure 22 so as to form the mirrors of a cavity resonator . the metal layer 24 is made to be highly reflective at the optical radiation wavelength . the electron beam 11 is directly incident on layer 24 which serves to establish a uniform electrical potential surface and to establish precisely the e - beam landing energy . thus , layer 24 is part of the electrical circuit comprising the high voltage supply 18 , the cathode ( in gun 14 ), the electron beam 11 , and the anode ( target 12 ). on the other hand , the metal layer 26 , which is located between the semiconductor structure 22 and the transparent substrate 12 , is made to be partially transmissive so as to permit egress of the light beam 13 . this output mirror may also be of the multilayer dielectric type since it serves no electrical function . the semiconductor structure 22 comprises a relatively narrow bandgap , active layer 22 . 1 and a thin , wider bandgap , buffer layer 22 . 2 which is lattice - matched to the active layer 22 . 1 and separates the active layer from the metal layer 24 . the thickness of the metal layer 24 , the buffer layer 22 . 2 and the active layer 22 . 1 are mutually adapted with the electron beam energy so that the peak of the electron energy absorption occurs in the active layer 22 . 1 as shown in fig3 . for example , for a 34 kev electron beam energy , a metal layer 24 thickness of 700 å , a buffer layer 22 . 2 thickness of 0 . 5 - 1 . 0 μm and active layer 22 . 1 thickness of 1 . 8 - 3 . 0 μm are suitable . thus , the ratio of active - to - buffer layer thicknesses ranges from about 6 : 1 to 1 . 8 : 1 . on the other side of the active layer 22 . 1 is a second lattice - matched , wide bandgap , layer 22 . 3 which serves to adjust the length of the cavity resonator so as to control diffraction losses and spatial coherence . the single pass diffraction loss for the fundamental mode α 2 = 0 . 33n - 1 . 5 is defined by the fresnel number n , given as a n / λl , where a is the electron beam radius , n is the refractive index of the semiconductor structure , λ is the wavelength of the optical radiation , and l is the length of the resonator ( i . e ., the thickness of the structure 22 between the mirrors 24 and 26 ). the cavity - length - adjusting layer 22 . 3 is much thicker than the buffer layer 22 . 2 and the active layer 22 . 1 taken together so that l is relatively large . a trade - off occurs for a given e - beam diameter . on the other hand , a large l implies a small n (˜ 1 ) and larger diffraction losses , which introduce a larger loss differential between modes . this effect may be useful in achieving fundamental mode operation and hence a minimum size light spot at the output mirror . on the other hand , a smaller l implies a larger n (˜ 8 - 10 ) and small diffraction losses (˜ 1 %) compared to the unavoidable losses (˜ 5 %) in the cavity ( e . g ., mirror losses , absorption losses , and scattering losses ). preferably , however , the diameter of the electron beam and the length of cavity - length - adjusting layer 22 . 3 are mutually adapted to limit laser oscillation to the lowest order ( fundamental ) mode of the fabry - perot resonator consistent with minimum diffraction loss . in this regard , it should be noted that the portion of the active layer outside the e - beam is optically lossy so that the aperturing effect which occurs can be exploited to suppress high order modes and insure fundamental mode operation . that is , the single pass loss due to the aperturing effect is greater for small n and thus discriminates against higher order modes which have a larger mode diameter . cavity - length - adjusting layer 22 . 3 also provides structural integrity for the target and allows handling , processing , and mounting of the target with relative convenience . the thermal conductivity of the semiconductors making up target 22 are usually sufficiently high that the thickness of layer 22 . 3 is not thereby limited . in addition to their respective buffer and cavity - length - adjustment functions , the layers 22 . 2 and 22 . 3 , by virtue of their wider bandgap , also serve to confine carriers to the active layer 22 . 1 , thereby increasing net optical gain . in this regard , the structure 22 preferably has a single conductivity type and preferably is lightly doped ; i . e ., the presence of a p - n junction might cause carriers to drift out of the active region , and high doping levels might cause unnecessary free - carrier absorption in layers 22 . 2 and 22 . 3 which are otherwise transparent by virtue of their high bandgap . illustratively , for operation at about 0 . 80 - 0 . 88 μm , the semiconductor structure 22 comprises an al x ga 1 - x as buffer layer , an al y ga 1 - y as active layer , and an al z ga 1 - z as cavity - length - adjusting layer , with y & lt ; x , z . the parameter y determines the operating wavelength . for example , for y = 0 , λ = 0 . 88 μm while for y = 0 . 08 , λ = 0 . 82 μm ; y and z are typically 0 . 35 . for operation at optical wavelengths of about 1 . 0 - 1 . 6 μm , the active layer typically comprises ingaasp lattice - matched to inp buffer and cavity - length - adjusting layers . a more detailed description of a crt laser utilizing these materials is given below . in this example , however , materials , dimensions and other operating parameters are provided by way of illustration only , and , unless otherwise expressly stated , are not intended to limit the scope of the invention . in this example , the tube 10 was made of 1 . 5 inch o . d . glass , and the target 12 comprised a 0 . 5 μm thick n - al 0 . 36 ga 0 . 64 as buffer layer 22 . 2 doped with sn to about 5 × 10 16 cm - 3 , a 3 . 0 μm thick n - gaas active layer 22 . 1 doped with sn to about 5 × 10 17 cm - 3 , and a 13 μm thick n - al 0 . 36 ga 0 . 64 as cavity - length - adjusting layer 22 . 3 doped with sn to about 5 × 10 16 cm - 3 . thus , the active layer was 6 times thicker than the buffer layer , and the cavity - length - adjusting layer was about 4 times thicker than the buffer and active layers together . mirrors 24 and 26 comprised gold layers about 700 å and 500 å thick , respectively . mirror 24 had about 97 % reflectivity at the light beam wavelength of 0 . 85 μm , whereas the output mirror 26 had about 96 % reflectivity and 1 % transmittance . in an improved design , mirror 26 would comprise a stack of dielectric layers thereby providing a mirror with essentially no absorption loss and a transmittance which may be comparable to the total of the other internal losses . the substrate 20 , which in general is a transparent material , comprised of 0 . 125 inch thick sapphire disk . the target 12 was fabricated as follows : an n - gaas substrate ( i . e . a single crystal semiconductor body , not shown ) with ( 100 ) orientation was obtained from commercial sources . using standard liquid phase epitaxy ( lpe ) techniques , we grew the three layers 22 . 2 , 22 . 1 and 22 . 3 epitaxially on the substrate in the order recited ; i . e ., the buffer layer was grown first and the cavity - length - adjusting layer last . next , the partially transmitting gold mirror 26 was deposited on the cavity - length - adjusting layer 22 . 3 , and then the wafer was epoxied , with mirror 26 down , to the sapphire disk 20 . the gaas substrate was then selectively etched away using a h 2 0 2 : nh 4 oh etchant , with the algaas buffer layer 22 . 2 serving as a stop - etch layer . following the deposition of gold mirror 24 on buffer layer 22 . 2 , the target was mounted in a demountable chamber at the end of tube 10 . thus , gold mirror 24 faced the e - beam 11 . the tube 10 was evacuated to about 10 - 7 torr . in operation , supply 18 was used to apply about 34 kv to the target 12 , and a 700 μa e - beam 11 , generated by a commercially available electron gun 14 , was used to excite the active layer 22 . 1 . the e - beam was pulsed at a repetition rate ranging from 1000 to 10 , 000 hz with a pulse duration of 100 to 400 nsec . the cathode current was about 700 μa at threshold , and the beam spot size on the target was approximately 130 μm , corresponding to a beam current density of 5 a / cm 2 . emission spectra just under and just above threshold are shown in fig4 ( a ) and 4 ( b ), respectively , corresponding to light beam 13 having a wavelength of about 0 . 88 μm when lasing . a sharp increase in light beam power with increases in beam current density was observed . the angular divergence of the light beam shown in fig4 ( c ), was about 1420 . fig5 shows a high resolution spectrum centered on two longitudinal modes of the fabry - perot resonator geometry . such a curve of output power versus wavelength would be expected to show two smooth curves with a lorentzian profile . the structure is attributed to the presence of off - axis fabry - perot modes resulting from the very high fresnel number of the particular geometry . we expect that the use of smaller beam diameter to lower the fresnel number will lead to fundamental mode operation . this mode selection would be enhanced by the loss in the active layer outside the e - beam pumped region . the loss would serve as a mode selective aperture . in this experiment , the peak output power was about 6 mw . with 24 w in the e - beam , this corresponds to an overall power conversion efficiency of 2 . 5 × 10 - 4 . we saw no signs of degradation despite operation with a stationary beam for many hours . hence , we believe that the beam diameter can be reduced ( e . g ., to 25 μm ) without significant risk . increasing the e - beam current density by this means or by lowering the internal cavity loss by use of a multilayer dielectric mirror rather than a metal output mirror 26 would lead to significantly increased power and efficiency with attendant reduction in the beam divergence . for example , in another experiment utilizing such a dielectric output mirror , a 50 - 130 μm spot and an input power of 18 w , we observed a light beam power of 15 mw , corresponding to an efficiency of 8 . 4 × 10 - 4 . using the same materials and compositions described in example i , a similar target 12 was prepared but had a somewhat thicker buffer layer 22 . 2 and thinner active layer 22 . 1 ; i . e ., the buffer layer 22 . 2 was 0 . 7 μm thick , the active layer was 1 . 8 μm thick , and the cavity - length - adjusting layer 22 . 3 was 13 m thick . thus , the active layer was about 2 . 5 times thicker than the buffer layer , and the cavity - length - adjusting layer was about 5 times thicker than the buffer and active layers together . in general , however , the cavity - length - adjusting layer may range from , say , about 5 - 15 times thicker than the buffer and active layers taken together . in operation , the supply 18 applied 36 kv to the target 12 . the beam spot size was 90 μm , and the beam current was 300 μa . again , lasing action was observed with the threshold at a current density of 5 a / cm 2 , and smaller angular divergence corresponding to the reduced fresnel number of the geometry . it is to be understood that the above - described arrangements are merely illustrative of the many possible specific embodiments which can be devised to represent application of the principles of the invention . numerous and varied other arrangements can be devised in accordance with these principles by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . in particular , although examples of our invention were described using the gaas / algaas materials , it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other lattice - matched materials , especially group iii - v compounds such as inp / ingaasp and group ii - vi compounds , are also suitable . in addition , where the semiconductor substrate used for epitaxial growth is transparent at the light beam wavelength ( e . g ., inp at 1 . 0 - 1 . 6 μm ), it may not be necessary to remove it after the structure 22 is grown . rather , the transparent semiconductor substrate would be mounted on the tube 10 , but the order of epitaxial growth would be reversed ; i . e ., the buffer and active layers would be grown on the substrate , and , after thinning and polishing the bottom of the substrate , the mirror 26 would be formed on the polished surface ( thus , adjusting cavity length by adjusting substrate thickness ). | 8 |
with reference initially to fig1 there is shown a hand - held labeler generally indicated at 20 having a housing 21 and a handle 22 . a label supply roll r includes a carrier web w which releasably carries a series of pressure sensitive labels l . the housing 21 has interior space 23 which receives a subframe 24 . the subframe 24 rotatably supports the label roll r and provides a path for the carrier web w . the web w passes from the label roll r , partly about roller 25 , to between a print head 26 and a platen shown to be in the form of a roll 27 , partly around a delaminator 28 shown to be in the form of a peel roller , then again partly around the platen roll 27 , partly around a roll 25 &# 39 ;, between a feed wheel 29 and a back - up roll 30 , past a stripper 31 ( fig3 ), through exit channel 32 from which the web w exits from the labeler 20 . the roll 30 is mounted on a guide 31 &# 39 ; ( fig3 ). the housing 21 includes a housing section 33 having a plurality of openings 34 and 35 . keys 36 of a keyboard 37 project through openings 34 and a display 38 is visible through the opening 35 . an applicator 39 having a series of rolls 40 is positioned in overlying relationship with respect to the leading label l which has been almost fully delaminated at the delaminator 28 . with reference to fig2 it is seen that the housing 21 also includes housing sections 41 and 42 . the housing sections 41 and 42 are essentially mirror image in construction . tne housing sections 41 and 42 include respective side or wall portions 43 and 44 and flange portions 45 and 46 . the print head 26 is clamped or otherwise held to the bottom of a support 47 composed of metal to provide a heat sink . the support 47 has a plurality of fins 48 . the support 47 is positioned in overlying relationship with respect to a support 49 . a rod or shaft 50 of non - circular section is received at its end portions in matching holes 51 , and screws 52 pass through housing sections 43 and 44 into end portions of the rod 50 . the rolls 40 are rotatably mounted on the rod 50 and the support 49 has spaced arms 53 through which the rod 50 extends . another support 54 best shown in fig5 and 6 has arms 55 through which the rod 50 also extends . the support 54 underlies the support 49 . with reference to fig3 there is shown the subframe 24 as having singularly configured mirror image subframe sections 56 and 57 . the subframe section 56 has a side portion 58 , guide members 59 , 60 and 61 , and arm 62 and a stud 63 . the subframe section 57 has a side portion 64 , guide members 65 , 66 and 67 , and an arm 68 . the subframe sections 56 and 57 have aligned holes 69 and 70 . a mounting member generally indicated at 71 , and composed of metal for heat dissipating purposes , has a tubular portion 72 , an end wall 73 and a flange 74 . the mounting member 71 is inserted through the opening 69 and the flange 74 is held against the outside of the subframe section 56 by means of screws 75 . the outside of the tubular portion 72 makes a close fit in the hole 69 . an electric motor 76 is disposed entirely inside the tubular portion 72 and as is preferred the speed reducer 77 is disposed entirely inside the tubular portion 72 . a shaft encoder 77 &# 39 ; projects slightly beyond the motor 76 . screws 78 pass through holes 79 and are threaded into end portion of the speed reducer 77 . as shown in fig1 there is clearance between the mounting member 71 and the inside of the feed wheel 29 . the feed wheel 29 has a pair of annular outer surfaces 80 and 81 . a plurality of teeth 92 and 93 are arranged in a desired pattern on the outer periphery of the feed wheel 29 between the outer surfaces 80 and 81 . a pair of identical holders 83 are mounted on pins 84 &# 39 ; on the subframe sections 56 and 57 adjacent respective openings 69 and 70 . each holder 83 is shown to have three holder sections 84 joined by c - shaped flexible connectors 85 . each holder section 84 has a pin 86 for mounting rolling contact members , specifically a ball bearing 87 . as shown in fig1 , outer races of the ball bearings 87 contact the outer surface 80 at three points of contact . each holder 83 is configured so that the circle defined by the ball bearings 87 at the points of contact is smaller than the diameter of the respective outer surface 80 or 81 in the as - molded condition of the respective holder 83 . each holder 83 can be expanded slightly . the connections 85 aid in this expansion . in assembling the holder 83 and its ball bearings 87 onto the feed wheel 29 , the holder 83 is expanded slightly and moved into position around the outer surface 80 or 81 . the holder 83 will eliminate play because there is no clearance between outer races of the ball bearings 87 and the outer surfaces 80 or 81 . as shown , each set of ball bearings 87 supports the feed wheel 29 at three places and specifically at three angularly spaced intervals of 120 degrees . the feed wheel 29 is rotatably mounted with very little friction . the reverse movement of the feed wheel 29 can be prevented either by the motor 76 itself or by any suitable known type of anti - backup device . with reference to fig1 , the feed wheel 29 is shown to have a hub or base 88 with axially extending dovetail grooves or recesses 89 . the grooves 89 are disposed at different angular locations to aid in orientation of rings 90 and 91 . the rings 90 and 91 have respective outwardly projecting feed teeth 92 and 93 which can engage feed cuts 94 ( fig3 ) in the carrier web w . the rings 90 have inwardly extending projections 95 , 96 and 97 which match the spacing of grooves 89 . the rings 91 have inwardly extending projections 98 , 99 and 100 which also match the spacing of grooves 89 . as shown , the teeth 92 of the rings 90 are axially aligned , and the teeth 93 of the rings 91 are axially aligned . the teeth 92 and 93 make the desired feed tooth pattern and match the feed slot pattern in the carrier web w illustrated in fig3 . a feed wheel 29 having any selected feed tooth pattern can be constructed by simply providing rings having the desired arrangement of feed teeth . also , a feed wheel 29 can be constructed of any desired effective diameter for a different label length , for example by changing the wall thickness of the ring 90 or 91 . each ring 90 and 91 is a coupling device which couples one or more teeth 92 and 93 to the hub 88 . although the teeth 92 can be coupled to the base 88 by other than such a unitary ring 90 or 91 , the use of rings is preferred . it is preferred that the hub and the rings 90 and 91 each be of one - piece molded plastics construction . the rings 90 and 91 fit snugly onto the hub 88 to avoid any play and thus the feed wheel 29 is a composite which can be precision - built at low cost and yet have the ability to be constructed quickly in the selected pattern . if desired , like rings 90 can be color - coded in one color and like rings 91 can be color - coded of a different color to facilitate parts storage and subsequent assembly . as shown in fig1 , each ring 90 and 91 has a pair of narrow annular reduced diameter portions 101 between which there is an annular portion 102 having a closely spaced axially extending serrations 103 . the serrations 103 reduce the area of contact between the outer surface of the feed wheel 29 and the carrier web w . as shown , the teeth 92 and 93 are on the respective annular portions 102 . when the rings 90 and 91 are stacked on the hub 88 , the adjacent reduced diameter portions 101 of adjacent pairs of wheels 90 and 91 or 91 and 91 provide grooves which receive carrier web stripper fingers 104 of the stripper 31 ( fig3 ). when assembled , the rings 90 and 91 are in end - to - end abutting relation . the feed wheel 29 illustrated diagrammatically in fig3 does not show the reduced diameter , groove - defining portions 101 . outboard of the series of rings 90 and 91 are discs 105 received around the surfaces 80 and 81 . each disc 105 has a hole 106 . the discs 105 are edge guides for the carrier web w . each disc 105 is disposed between a shoulder 107 on the hub 88 and the respective holder 83 . the discs 105 can rotate relative to the hub 88 as the feed wheel 29 advances the carrier web w . in assembling the feed wheel 29 , the rings 90 and 91 are slid axially onto the hub 88 , the discs 105 are positioned around surfaces 80 and 81 adjacent and against shoulders 107 , and the holders 83 and their ball bearings 87 are positioned around the surfaces 80 and 81 . with respect to fig5 and 15 , the support 49 is shown to have a transverse member 108 joining members 53 and a transverse guide 109 having ridges 110 . the members 53 have spaced tracks 111 defined by grooves 112 and flanges 113 . the support 47 has a pair of flanges 114 received in the tracks 111 . the flanges 113 keep the flanges 114 against the bottoms of grooves 112 , although the tracks 111 are wide enough for the support 47 to skew so that the linearly arranged printing elements 115 of the print head 26 can be aligned with the axis of the small diameter platen roll 27 . the smaller the diameter of the platen roll the more important such alignment becomes to quality printing . the skew of the support 47 and the print head 26 which is secured to its underside is illustrated to be adjustable by an adjusting mechanism generally indicated at 115 &# 39 ;. the adjusting mechanism 115 &# 39 ; is used when the labeler 20 is manufactured or when the print head 26 is replaced . the adjusting mechanism 115 &# 39 ; is illustrated as including a pair of adjusting screws 116 threadably received in annular members or bearings 117 . the members 117 are insertable into and can rotate slightly relative to the support 47 . specifically , a pair of adjacent fins 48 have opposed concave seats 118 which receive the members 117 . the endmost fin 48 has oversize openings 119 through which the screws 116 extend . the openings 119 are large enough to enable the members 117 to rotate enough to make the necessary scew adjustment of the support 47 in the tracks 111 . the screws 116 have annular flanges 120 captive between the endmost fin 48 and the transverse member 108 . each screw 116 has a groove 121 which receives an e - ring 122 . the end portion of each screw 116 has a screwdriver slot 123 ( fig1 ) to aid in rotation of the screws 116 individually . with reference to fig5 and 6 , the support 54 is shown to mount the platen roll 27 . the platen roll 27 is preferably constructed of a roll 124 composed of elastomeric material mounted on a shaft 125 . the shaft 125 extends beyond the ends of the roll 124 and is mounted in ball bearings 126 . the ball bearings 126 are held captive in holders 127 . pivot screws 128 extend through holes 129 in holders 127 and allow the holders 127 to pivot slightly . the ball bearings 126 are nested in recesses 130 . the holders 127 have elongated holes 131 through which screws 132 extend . screws 128 and 132 are threaded into respective holes 133 and 134 in members or arms 55 . the screws 132 are loose so that they do not clamp the holders 127 to the numbers 55 to enable the holders 127 to pivot . each holder 127 is urged clockwise ( fig6 and 7 ) by a helical compression spring 135 so that the roll 124 bears with the correct amount of pressure along its entire length against the underside of the carrier web w to press the overlying label l with the proper pressure against the printing elements 115 of the print head 26 . a tube 136 is received within the spring 135 and an adjusting rod 137 is received within the tube 136 . the rod 137 has a threaded portion 138 . a nut 139 slidably received in a slot 140 is threadably received by the threaded portion 138 . the rod 137 also has a flange 141 and an end portion with a screwdriver slot 142 . the spring 135 , the tube 136 and the rod 137 extend into a pocket portion 143 of the holder 127 . the spring 135 acts on pocket portion 143 to urge the holder member 127 clockwise ( fig6 and 7 ). the spring 135 also acts against the nut 139 . the rod 137 can be rotated to adjust the force of the spring 135 . by individually adjusting the rods 137 , the force of the roll 124 against the printing elements 115 can be adjusted along the entire length of the series of printing elements 115 . the peel roller 28 is captive in slots 144 and the shaft 125 extends through slots 145 in the members 55 . the members 55 are joined by a transverse member 146 . the roll 124 is preferably of small diameter and the printing elements 115 are as close as possible to the peel roller 28 . this maximizes the percentage of printable area on the label l . the roll 124 is preferably less than 0 . 4 inch in diameter and most preferably less than about 0 . 27 inch in diameter . the support 54 is pivotable about the shaft 50 between the solid line position and the phantom line position indicated at pl in fig1 . the support 54 has transversely extending members 146 and upstanding members 147 . by squeezing the members 147 between the thumb and index fingers of one hand , the members 147 deflect inwardly and become released from projections 149 on the inside of the housing sections 41 and 42 . the members 147 have apertures 150 which receive the projections 149 . when the support 54 moves down to a partially open position shown in fig1 by the phantom lines pl , projections 151 on the inner side of the members 147 catch on projections 152 to prevent complete opening of the support 54 , but the support 54 and the platen roll 27 are lowered enough to enable threading of the carrier web w during loading of the labeler 20 . with the support 54 in the position shown by phantom lines pl , the members 147 can be spread , whereupon the support 54 can swing open to a fully open position to enable cleaning of the printing elements 115 . as shown in fig3 the label supply roll r is mounted on a holder 153 having mirror image holder sections 154 and 155 . the holder sections 154 and 155 are pivotally mounted for rotation as a unit on posts 156 and 157 on subframe sections 56 and 57 . thus , the holder 153 can be manually moved from the solid line closed position shown to an open position for ease of cleaning the carrier web pathway or removing a stray label . the roll r is rotatably mounted on opposed hub members 158 , only one of which is shown . the holder sections 154 and 155 are shown held together by a screw 159 . lugs 160 project into arcuate slots 161 and limit the rotation of the holder 153 . with particular reference to fig9 there is shown an array 162 of printed circuit boards 163 through 168 . the printed circuit board 164 underlies but is electrically isolated from the printed circuit board 163 except for electrical connections therebetween . the printed circuit board 165 is electrically connected to the printed circuit board 164 by an electrical ribbon connector 169 , the printed circuit board 165 is electrically connected to the printed circuit board 166 by an electrical ribbon connector 170 , the printed circuit board 164 is also electrically connected to the printed circuit board 167 by an electrical ribbon connector 171 , and the printed circuit board 167 is electrically connected to the printed circuit board 168 by an electrical ribbon connector 172 . the display 38 ( fig1 ) is electrically connected to the printed circuit board 164 by an electrical ribbon connector 173 , and the print head 26 is electrically connected to the printed circuit board 164 by an electrical ribbon connector 174 . an audible device 175 is connected to the ribbon connector 174 . also suitably electrically connected to the array 162 are a small battery 176 for a low - battery sensing circuit ( not shown ), a manual switch 175 &# 39 ; operable by the user &# 39 ; s index finger to initiate a printing and dispensing cycle , and a cam operated switch 176 . with reference to fig4 the array 162 is shown in exploded disassembled orientation . the printed circuit boards 163 through 168 contain electronic components ( not shown ) electrically connected to operate the print head 26 in response to data inputted by the keyboard 37 . the printed circuit boards 165 , 166 , 167 and 168 are all inclined with respect to the printed circuit boards 163 and 164 , and more specifically are at right angles . the printed circuit boards 165 and 166 are closely spaced in side - by - side generally parallel relationship to each other , and the printed circuit boards 167 and 168 are closely spaced in side - by - side generally parallel relationship with respect to each other . the pairs of printed circuit boards 165 and 166 , and 167 and 168 , are spaced apart by spacers 177 . various screws 178 pass through the pairs of printed circuit boards 165 and 166 , 167 and 168 , and fasten them directly to the subframe 24 . as shown in fig1 , the outer printed circuit boards 166 and 168 are spaced from the housing sections 41 and 42 , so that any deflection of the housing 21 will not affect the printed circuit boards 163 through 168 . such deflection can result when the labeler 20 is dropped or otherwise impacted by excessive force . the housing sections 41 and 42 are secured to the subframe 24 by suitable fasteners 179 . one such fastener 179 passes through the housing section 42 and into stud 181 which passes with substantial clearance through enlarged holes 180 in the printed circuit boards 165 through 168 so that the deflection of the housing 21 is not transmitted to the printed circuit board array 162 . the array 162 is very compact as is important to a hand - held electrically selectable labeler specifically a hand - held labeler 20 with a thermal print head 26 . with reference to fig8 the switch 176 is operated by a three lobed cam 181 molded integrally with end wall 182 of the hub 88 . as shown , end wall 182 and the cam 181 have a non - circular hole 183 matched with non - circular portion of the speed reducer output shaft 184 . the switch 176 is mounted to a support 185 which is rotatably held to subframe section 57 and held in adjusted position by a screw 186 extending through an elongated slot 187 . with reference to fig1 , 13 and 14 , there is shown the handle 22 which is detachably connected to the housing 21 by a detachable breakaway connection 188 which includes a dovetail slot 189 formed by opposed inwardly extending flanges 190 and outwardly extending flanges 191 of a connector 192 . the connector 192 is composed of an elastomeric material having a selected hardness so that it will hold the handle 22 to the housing but will deflect to release the housing 21 when excessive force is applied as when the labeler 20 is dropped . when that happens the flanges 191 deflect inwardly out of the dovetail slot 189 and the housing 21 and the handle 22 separate . the connector 192 has a planar portion 193 captive in pockets 194 in the mirror image handle sections 195 and 196 of the handle 22 . as shown in fig1 and 14 , contacts 197 are j - shaped and are secured to a planar insulator 192 &# 39 ;. the bottoms 198 of the j &# 39 ; s are resiliently supported by convex portions 199 of the connector 192 . the contacts 197 make connection with contacts 201 at the bottoms 200 of the j &# 39 ; s of the j - shaped contacts 201 . the bottoms 200 are resiliently supported by a pad 202 of resilient elastomeric material which is captive in a pocket 203 . fasteners 204 pass through a planar insulator 205 . the handle 22 is attached to the housing 21 by sliding the handle 22 onto the housing 21 by means of the dovetail slot 189 and the connector 192 . the handle 22 is releasably latched in position by a spring 206 acting on a latch 207 . the spring 206 and the latch 207 are slidably received in a pocket 208 . when the handle 22 is in its assembled position the latch 207 cooperates with shoulder 209 . also a shoulder 210 bears against a stop 211 . a manually engageable projection 212 extends through opening 213 to enable manual release of the latch 207 . the handle sections 195 and 196 provide a cavity for receiving rechargeable batteries 215 which are wired to the contacts 197 . a connector 216 is coupled to the handle 22 by a washer 217 and a nut 218 . the connector 216 is also electrically connected to the batteries 215 for recharging the batteries 215 . with reference to fig1 , there is shown a housing or frame 300 and a handle 301 . the housing 300 has interior space 302 which receives a subframe 303 ( fig1 ). the housing 300 includes a pair of substantially mirror - image housing sections 304 and 305 . the handle 301 has a pair of handle sections 306 and 307 secured to each other by fasteners , one of which is shown at 308 . the handle 301 receives a plurality of rechargeable nickel - cadmium batteries 309 . an electrical connector 310 received in opposed pockets 311 in the handle sections 306 and 307 and electrical contacts 312 ( fig1 , 24 and 25 ) are connected by a flexible ribbon connector 313 . the connector 310 is urged for recharging the batteries 309 . the batteries are also suitably connected to the ribbon connector 313 . the contacts 312 are mounted on a holder 314 . a coupling member 315 has a bottom flange 315 &# 39 ; received in mirror - image pockets 316 and 317 in handle sections 306 and 307 . the coupling member 315 and a coupling member 318 cooperate to provide a coupling generally indicated at 319 . the holder 314 is held in place by ledges 320 on sections 306 and 307 . the contacts 312 are mounted on the holder 314 as best seen in fig2 and 25 . the contacts 312 are identical , and each contact has a flexible resilient spring finger 321 , a u - shaped portion 322 joined to the spring finger 321 , and a depending portion 323 joined to the u - shaped portion 322 . each depending portion 323 is electrically connected to the ribbon connector 313 . upper portion 324 of the coupling member 315 has a plurality of slots 325 vertically aligned with the contacts 312 . the slots are wide enough to receive rigid contacts 326 . the coupling member 315 has spaced outwardly extending projections 327 and 328 received above flanges 329 and 330 of the coupling member 318 . the handle 301 is attached or coupled to the housing 300 by sliding the handle 301 onto the housing from the rear using the cooperating pair of projections 327 and 328 and flanges 329 and 330 . the handle 301 is held in the attached position shown in fig2 by a latch generally indicated at 331 which includes a finger - engageable latch member 332 and a spring 333 received in mirror - image pockets 334 and 335 in handle sections 306 and 307 . the latch member 332 latches against the housing 300 . as the handle 301 is moved from the detached or uncoupled position into the attached position , the contacts 326 enter the slots 325 and deflect the spring fingers 321 from the phantom line position indicated at pl to the solid line position . when the handle is still slightly out of the attached position ( to the right of the position shown in fig2 relative to the housing 300 ), the contacts 312 abut a stop 337 . the spring fingers 321 of the contacts 312 are now prevented from moving in either direction as when the labeler 299 is impacted , for example when the labeler 299 is dropped . the contacts 326 hold the contacts 312 against the stop 337 and the stop 337 prevents the contacts 312 from moving away from and out of electrical contact with the contacts 326 . in this way the circuitry 338 ( fig1 ) cannot lose memory by interruption of the electrical connection between the batteries 309 and the memory 340 when the labeler 299 is impacted . the upper portion 324 enables the contacts 326 to make electrical contact with the contacts 312 , but serves as a protective shield to prevent the contacts 312 from becoming damaged as for example when the handle 301 is detached for recharging . the coupling member 315 is economical to manufacture because it is of one - piece molded elastomeric construction . the projections 327 and 328 and the cooperating flanges 329 and 330 are configured so that the handle 301 will separate or break away from the housing 300 when the labeler 299 is impacted . to facilitate this , the flanges 327 and 328 deflect resiliently and enable the projections 327 and 328 to pass around the flanges 329 and 330 even though the latch 331 is latched . instead of coupling the coupling member 315 directly to two mirror - image housing sections ( as shown in fig2 , 13 and 14 ), the coupling member 315 is coupled to the coupling member 318 which in turn is securely mounted between the housing sections 304 and 305 . in this way the coupling action does not occur at a place where the housing 300 is split . as shown , the coupling member 318 is secured as by screws 341 which pass through holes 342 into annular members 343 which are an integral part of the one - piece molded plastics coupling member 318 . additional screws ( not shown ) pass through holes 342 &# 39 ; into members 343 . thus , the housing sections 304 and 305 are securely connected to the coupling member 318 . with reference to fig1 , there is shown the subframe 303 which includes substantially mirror - image subframe sections 344 and 345 . the section 344 has a hole 346 axially aligned with a tubular member 347 which is molded integrally with the section 345 . the tubular member 347 has an end wall ( hidden in fig1 ) having a hole through which output shaft 348 extends . an electric motor 349 is coupled to a speed reducer 350 . the motor 349 and speed reducer 350 are secured to the end wall by means of screws 351 , only one of which is shown . the output shaft 348 of the speed reducer 350 passes through the hole 346 . a disc 352 having a series of peripherally spaced graduations 353 is keyed to end position 356 of a feed wheel 357 . a resilient washer 354 and a screw 355 which passes through the washer 354 is threaded into the end portion 356 to hold the disc 354 onto the feed wheel . end portion 356 of the feed wheel 357 is keyed to the shaft 348 . a sensor 358 ( fig1 ) is received in a pocket 359 in holder a 360 . the disc 352 and the sensor 358 cooperate to signal the circuitry 338 as to the position of the feed wheel 357 . the feed wheel 357 has teeth 361 in a predetermined pattern so that the carrier web w ( fig1 ) and the labels l which it carries are properly registered therewith . the sensor 358 signals the circuitry 338 to in turn register of the labels l with the printing position and the label applying position . the feed wheel 357 has a pair of spaced annular portions 362 and 363 . a pair of spaced holders 364 and 365 mount sets of rolling - contact members , preferably ball bearings 366 . the holders 364 and 365 have locating and holding pins 367 received in spaced holes 368 in the subframe sections 344 and 345 . the ball bearings 366 bear against the outer peripheries of respective annular portions 362 and 363 . as best shown in fig2 , the holder 364 has a relatively rigid section 369 connected to a relatively flexible resilient section 370 at pin - mounting portions 371 . the pin - mounting portions 371 have the pins 367 molded integrally therewith . in fact , each holder 364 and 365 is identical and is of one - piece molded plastics construction . pins 372 integral with each holder 364 and 365 mount the ball bearings 366 . each holder 364 and 365 is molded so that in the as - molded condition the ball bearing 366 mounted by the section 370 is closer to the center c of the circle than either of the ball bearings 366 mounted by the section 369 . when the feed wheel 357 is positioned relative to ball bearings 366 so that annular portions 362 and 363 are in supported contact with the ball bearings 366 , then flexible resilient arms 373 and 374 are deflected outwardly . this arrangement insures that all play is eliminated between the ball bearings 366 and the outer peripheral surface of the annular portions 362 and 363 . the ball bearings 366 mounted by the section 369 are disposed at equal angles a with respect to a centerline cl . the centerline cl is along the line of force exerted by the carrier web w on the feed wheel 357 as the feed wheel 357 advances the web w . the direction of this force is in the direction indicated by arrow f . each section 369 mounts the two ball bearings 366 firmly so as to provide a reference . the ball bearing 366 mounted by each section 370 is resiliently mounted . with reference to fig1 , there is shown ( on a slightly enlarged scale ) a holder 375 for mounting a pair of back - up rolls 376 and 377 . the rolls 376 and 377 are identical and have annular grooves 378 in line with the feed teeth 361 so that the teeth 361 miss the rolls 376 and 377 as the feed wheel 357 rotates . each roll 376 and 377 has an outboard shaft portion 379 snap - fitted into c - shaped portions 380 at the end portion of each flexible resilient spring finger 381 . in the as - molded condition of the holder 375 , the c - shaped portions 380 would hold the rolls 376 and 377 closer together than the diameter of the feed wheel 357 . upon assembly , the arms or spring fingers 381 are flexed outwardly by the feed wheel 357 and press the rolls 376 and 377 against the feed wheel 357 . the centers of the rolls 376 and 377 lie along a centerline cl1 ( fig2 ) which passes through the center c . in this way , the rolls 376 and 377 apply balanced forces to the feed 357 , but do not apply any force to the feed wheel 357 which would have to be counteracted by the bearings 366 . as shown , the ball bearings 366 contact the outer surface of the feed wheel 357 120 ° apart . the holder 375 also has an arcuate guide portion 382 to which the spring fingers 381 are joined . locating and holding projections 383 ( fig1 ) extend outwardly from the guide portion 382 and are received in slots 384 in the subframe sections 344 and 345 . a plurality of laterally spaced guides 385 are joined to the guide portion 382 . the guides 385 have upper guide members 386 ( fig2 ) spaced slightly from guide member 387 to guide the carrier web away from the feed wheel 357 . the web w passes first between the roll 376 and the feed wheel 357 , then about the feed wheel for 180 °, then between the roller 377 and the feed wheel 357 , and then between guide members 386 and 387 and out of the labeler 299 . the guide member 387 is formed integrally with a plurality of stripper elements 388 . the subframe sections 344 and 345 also rotatably mount guide rolls 420 &# 39 ; and 420 &# 34 ;. a label roll r ( fig2 ) is mounted in a label roll holder generally indicated at 389 in fig1 . the holder 389 has substantially mirror - image sections 390 and 391 . each section 390 and 391 has a post 393 disposed concentrically within an annular bearing surface 394 . screws 395 passing through respective aligned mounting members 396 are threadably received in end portions of the posts 393 . the mounting members 396 are freely rotatable on posts 393 . springs 397 which encircle the respective posts 393 urge the mounting members inwardly toward each other to hold the label roll r securely to the mounting members 396 , but the springs 397 can yield to enable a new label roll to be inserted between the mounting members 396 . a protective movable closure or cover 398 has an arcuate portion 399 and spaced walls 400 joined to the arcuate portion 399 . the closure 398 keeps out dust and the like and to prevent the thermally coated paper of which the labels l are constructed from having unnecessary contact with the environment . the closure 398 and the holders 389 define a space 392 for enclosing the label roll r . the cover 398 has a pair of arcuate mounting members 401 received within the bearing surfaces 394 . thus , the cover 398 is rotatable from its position in which the cover 398 and the holder 389 enclose the roll r to a position in which the cover 398 is in a rotated , retracted position within the space 392 so that the arcuate surface 399 is in face - to - face relation with respect to the inside surface 402 of the holder 389 . in the retracted position the label roll r can be loaded onto the holder members 396 , after which the cover 398 can be rotated to its closed position . the cover 398 is considered to be a rotary telescoping member with respect to the holder 389 . the cover 398 is held in its closed position by a double detent provided by outwardly extending projections 403 and 404 which releasably snap under flanges 405 of the holder 389 . projections 406 cooperate with the projections 407 ( only visible on section 390 ) on each section 390 and 391 to limit the rotary movement of the cover 398 . the arcuate extent of the cover 398 is less than about 210 ° and preferably less than 190 ° and most preferably about 180 °, but the combined extents of the holder 389 and the cover 398 should be 360 ° to close off the space . a tie rod 408 is aligned with holes 409 ( fig1 ) in the housing sections 304 and 305 . screws ( not shown ) pass through the holes 409 and thread into the end portions of the tie rod 408 . the tie rod 408 also passes through holes 410 in the sections 344 and 345 and holes 411 in the holder sections 390 and 391 . a tie rod 412 is aligned with holes 413 ( fig1 and 21 ) and holes 414 . screws 415 hold the housing sections 304 and 305 together as best shown in fig2 . a tie rod 416 is aligned with holes 417 ( fig1 ), holes 418 ( fig1 ) and holes 419 ( fig1 ). screws ( not shown ) pass through the housing section holes 417 and thread into the end portions of the tie rod 416 . a pair of guides 420 and 421 ( fig1 and 22 ) guide the web w from the roll r . the guide 420 snaps into subframe sections 344 and 345 using snap fasteners 422 formed integrally with the guide 420 . the fasteners 422 are received in holes 423 ( only one of which is shown ). projections 424 are received in pockets 425 . the guide 421 has outwardly extending projections which can be inserted into slots 426 during assembly by inserting heads 427 through enlarged holes 428 and then sliding the guide 421 downwardly . lower end portion of the guide 421 is held captive between fixed projection 429 and end portion 430 ( fig1 ) of bottom member 431 . with reference to fig1 , a housing section 432 has a plurality of openings 433 for receiving key buttons 434 of a keyboard 435 . each key button 434 includes a conductive element 436 ( fig2 ) which makes contact between a spaced pair of printed conductors ( not shown ) on a printed circuit board 437 . each conductive element 436 is normally biased out of contact with the printed circuit board 437 . the printed circuit board 437 also mounts a display 438 . the pair of mating plug - in type electrical connectors 439 removably connect the printed circuit board 437 and a printed circuit board 440 . the printed circuit board 440 and another printed circuit board 441 are removably connected by a pair of mating plug - in type electrical connectors 442 . a holder generally indicated at 443 includes a pair of holder members 444 and 445 joined by a connecting member 446 . the holder has a generally u - shaped configuration and is molded of elastomeric material . the holder members 444 and 445 have vertically spaced grooves 447 and 447 &# 39 ; for receiving marginal side portions of the respective printed circuit boards 440 and 441 . the connecting member 446 resiliently connects the holder members 444 and 445 . each member 444 and 445 is joined to a respective flange 448 by a hinge 449 . screws 450 pass through holes 451 in the flanges 448 and through cutouts 452 in the printed circuit board 437 and are threadably received in the housing section 432 . the holder 443 is thus suspended from the housing section 432 so that the members 444 and 445 can flex slightly upon impact relative to hinges 449 and relative to the connector 446 . the printed circuit board 437 is pressed against the housing section 432 and the printed circuit board 440 and 441 are resiliently or cushion mounted against impact to the holder members 444 and 445 . the resilient mounting of the printed circuit boards 440 and 441 makes it easier to connect the connectors 439 and 442 in spite of manufacturing variations . the housing section 432 has c - shaped members 453 ( fig1 and 21 ) securely mounted to the tie rod 412 in closely straddled and contacting relation to the subframe 303 . a tie rod 455 is aligned with holes 456 ( fig1 ) and passes through holes 457 in print head mounting member 458 and holes 459 in the housing section 432 . the rod 455 also passes through holes 460 in the member 431 and wheels 461 of an applicator roll generally indicated at 462 . with references to fig1 , there are shown the printed circuit boards 437 , 440 and 441 , together with printed circuit boards 463 and 464 which comprise the circuitry 338 . the printed circuit boards 441 and 463 are removably connected by mating plug - in type electrical connectors 465 , and the printed circuit boards 440 and 464 are removably connected by means of plug - in type electrical connectors 466 . a ribbon connector rc electrically connects contacts 326 , the printed circuit board 464 , a switch 467 which is manually operated each time it is desired to print and dispense a label l , an on - off switch 468 and the sensor 358 . as best shown in fig2 , the printed circuit board 463 is disposed between the housing section 304 and the subframe section 344 of the subframe 303 and the printed circuit board 464 is disposed between the housing section 305 and the subframe section 345 of the subframe 303 . a bushing or grommet 469 molded of elastomeric material is received in a hole 470 in each printed circuit board 463 and 464 and in a recess in the members 453 . the outer surface of each bushing 469 has a pair of opposite projections 471 which enable the bushing 469 to be snapped onto the respective printed circuit board 463 and 464 . a pair of shoulders 472 retain the bushing 469 on the respective printed circuit board 463 and 464 . with reference to fig1 , each subframe section 344 and 345 has a threaded projection 473 for mounting a molded bracket 474 composed of elastomeric material . a screw 475 secures each bracket 474 to the respective projections 473 . the brackets 474 are identical and each has a channel or slot 476 for receiving a marginal edge 477 of the respective printed circuit board 463 and 464 . a screw 478 passes into a projection 479 &# 39 ; received in a hole 479 in each printed circuit board 463 and 464 . the screws 478 spread the projections 479 &# 39 ; to fill the holes 479 to resiliently mount the printed circuit boards 463 and 464 into holder members 444 and 445 and are threadably received in the respective elastomeric holder member 444 and 445 . the holder member 444 ( fig2 ) has a slot 480 for receiving the electrical connectors 465 , and the holder member 445 ( fig1 and 23 ) has a slot 481 for receiving the electrical connectors 466 . as is apparent , the printed circuit boards 463 and 464 are cushion mounted by the holder 443 , by the bushings 469 and by the brackets 474 . with reference to fig1 , the print head 26 which is on the underside of the support 482 is connected to the printed circuit board by means of a plug - in end portion 483 of a ribbon connector 484 . the position of the support 482 and hence the print head 26 can be adjusted by means of threaded blocks 486 . adjusting screws 487 adjust the support 482 relative to the print head mounting member 458 . a platen roller 488 has end portions 489 mounted in ball bearings 490 received in pockets 491 in mounting members 492 . the mounting members 492 are pivotal on aligned posts 493 received in holes 494 . screws 495 hold the members 492 on the posts 493 . leaf springs 496 are received in respective pockets 497 ( only one of which is shown ) in members 492 and bear against aligned posts 498 ( only one of which is shown ). a delaminator in the form of a peel roller 499 is rotatably mounted in aligned notches 500 . the bottom member 431 is pivotal downwardly about the tie rod 455 . the bottom member 431 is retained in its normal operational position by teeth 511 engaged on upper surfaces of the guideways 502 . a pair of actuators 501 is mounted to the print head mounting member 458 . a pair of guideways 502 mount the actuators 501 . the actuators 501 include flexible resilient arms 503 which bias the actuators 501 outwardly . each actuator 501 has a projection 504 aligned with a pad 505 at free end of a leaf spring 506 . each leaf spring 506 is cantilevered to a respective outwardly extending member 507 on the member 431 . button 508 projects outwardly through the notch 509 . when the buttons 508 are simultaneously pressed inwardly , projections 504 are simultaneously pressed inwardly and contact the pad 505 and cause the leaf springs 506 to deflect inwardly . the member 431 is then able to be pulled downwardly by grasping finger engageable members 510 . the pad 505 catches on the ledge 512 . the labeler 299 can now be threaded because the platen roll 488 is now spaced from the print head 26 . in order to further lower the bottom member 431 to a fully open position as when it is desired to clean the print head 26 , the buttons 508 are pressed inwardly with greater force and the underside of the pad 505 catches on ledge 512 . the bottom member 431 can now be pivoted through at least 75 °. when the bottom member 431 has been lowered , transverse portion 430 &# 39 ; of the guide 421 can be manually deflected ( moved to the left in fig2 ) away from the lug 429 . the guide 421 can now be slid downwardly to provide access for cleaning purposes . other embodiments and modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art , and all such of these as come within the spirit of this invention are included within its scope as best defined by the appended claims . | 1 |
the diaper illustrated in fig1 comprises a liquid - permeable casing layer 1 , which is intended to face towards the wearer in use , a liquid - impermeable casing layer 2 , which is distal from the wearer in use , and an absorbent pad 3 which is enclosed between the casing layers 1 , 2 . the liquid - permeable casing layer 1 preferably comprises some type of non - woven fabric or perforated plastic film , whereas the liquid - impermeable casing layer 2 may comprise , for instance , a liquid - impermeable plastic film or a hydrophobized non - woven fabric . when worn , the diaper is intended to embrace the lower abdomen of the wearer in a trouser - like fashion , and to this end has a front part 4 which is intended to be placed over the wearer &# 39 ; s stomach in use , a rear part 5 , which is intended to be placed over the wearer &# 39 ; s bottom in use , and a narrower crotch part 6 which is located between the front part 4 and the rear part 5 and which is positioned between the wearer &# 39 ; s thighs in use . along its two short sides , the diaper also presents a front waist edge 7 and a rear waist edge 8 , which together form the waist part of the diaper in use . fastener tabs 9 , 10 are disposed along the sides of the diaper rear - part 5 , close to the rear waist edge 8 . the tabs 9 , 10 function to hold the diaper together to form a trouser - like configuration in use , and are therewith fastened to the front part of the diaper against the liquid - impermeable layer . to this end , the front part is preferably provided with a reinforcing layer , within the region in which the tabs shall be fastened . the reinforcing layer may consist , for instance , of a polypropylene plastic strip and functions to enable the tabs to be refastened . the edges of the diaper define diaper margins . elastic devices 11 , 12 , for instance in the form of elastic bands or yarn - spun threads , extend from the centre of the front waist edge 7 of the diaper in a v - shaped pattern towards the rear waist edge 8 of said diaper . the elastic devices 11 , 12 can be attached to the diaper by welding or gluing . a further elastic device 13 in the form of a broad rubber band or a band made of elastic foam material extends along the rear waist edge 8 , between the two fastener tabs 9 , 10 . when the diaper is worn , the elastic devices 11 , 12 , positioned in a v - shaped pattern , form the elastication around the edges of the diaper legs , whereas the elastic device 13 attached along the rear waist edge 8 forms the elastication around the edge of the waist part of the diaper . this latter elastic device is placed within a casing 14 of heat - meltable fabric surrounding said device , and is secured to the casing at discrete bonding locations 15 . the elastic device 13 is divided into three separate regions 16 , 17 , 18 , having mutually different bonding patterns . a first bonding pattern , in which the bonding locations 15 have the form of discontinuous lines extending transversely to the direction in which the device 13 acts , is disposed in the two regions 16 , 18 which lie closest to the fastener tabs . in the region 17 at the centre part of the elastic device 13 , the bonds are disposed in punctiform rows instead . the bonds located in said region 17 cover a smaller area of the elastic device 13 than the bonds located within the regions 16 , 18 nearest the fastener tabs 9 , 10 , and have a small extension transversely to the direction in which the elastic device 13 acts . in this way , the elastic device 13 will retain essentially the same degree of elasticity within this region 17 as in its non - bonded state . within the regions 16 , 18 located nearest the diaper fastener tabs 9 , 10 , where the bonds are disposed with small extension in the action direction of the elastic device , but extend substantially perpendicularly to said direction , the bonded elastic device 13 has lost practically all of its elasticity . the greater bonding density within these regions 16 , 18 also contributes to reducing the elasticity of the device 13 . as before mentioned , the inelastic regions 16 , 18 are intended to ensure that the tabs 9 , 10 will fasten effectively . the arrangement of bonding regions in the form of broken lines avoids the occurrence of channels which extend transversely across the full width of the elastic device and through which liquid is able to run when the diaper is worn . instead , discontinuous folds are formed in the casing 14 around the elastic device 13 , these folds preventing the through - passage of liquid but permitting air and water vapour to pass therethrough . as illustrated in fig1 the elastic band 13 with surrounding casing 14 is attached to the liquid - permeable casing layer 1 of the diaper while in a stretched state , for instance with the aid of ultrasonic welding techniques . if the elastic band is manufactured separately , outside the diaper manufacturing line , the actual attachment of the band is effected in the elastic region 16 , 18 , whereas only a few attachment points are used in the region 17 , therewith not to reduce the elasticity of the band and to ensure that no space is formed between the band 13 and the casing layer 1 when the band contracts in this region in the finished product . according to one preferred embodiment , the band 13 will have an incomplete bonding pattern when applied to the casing layer 1 , and the bonding pattern is completed by fastening the band to said casing layer . naturally , the band can also be glued firmly to the casing layer , in which case only a few glue points , or preferably longitudinally extending glue beads will occur in the region 17 . the diaper illustrated in fig2 is constructed in essentially the same manner as the diaper illustrated in fig1 and includes a liquid - permeable casing layer 101 , a liquid - impermeable casing layer 102 , and an absorbent pad 103 enclosed between said casing layers . the diaper has an hour - glass configuration and , similar to the diaper of fig1 has a front part 104 , a rear part 105 , a crotch part 106 , and a front and a rear waist edge 107 , 108 . diaper fastener tabs 109 , 110 are provided on the side edges of the rear part 105 , close to the rear waist edge 108 . an elastic device 113 is attached along the rear waist edge 108 , within a non - woven fibre casing 114 , with a bonding pattern corresponding to the diaper illustrated in fig1 . the diaper illustrated in fig2 also includes two further elastic devices 111 , 112 of the same kind as the first elastic device , but positioned in the longitudinal direction of the diaper on either side of the absorbent pad 103 . these devices 111 , 112 are intended to provide the diaper leg elastication . the devices are enclosed in longitudinally extending folds 116 in the liquid - permeable casing layer 101 of the diaper , as will best be seen from fig3 . similar to the diaper illustrated in fig1 the elastic devices 111 , 112 are secured within the folds 116 by ultrasonic welding , wherein the ultrasound perforates the elastic devices 111 , 112 in a predetermined pattern and fuses together the surrounding casing parts 114 through the perforations . each of the elastic devices 111 , 112 presents five regions 117 - 121 having three mutually different bonding patterns and different degress of elasticity . the greatest elasticity is found in the elastic devices 111 , 112 within the crotch part 106 of the diaper , where the bonding pattern consists of discrete , punctiform bonds . a bonding pattern in the form of broken , transverse lines has been used within the regions 117 , 121 nearest the waist edges 107 , 108 . as before mentioned , this bonding pattern causes the elastic devices 111 , 112 to be practically inelastic within these regions . the elastic devices 111 , 112 are bonded with a pattern of intersecting , broken , oblique lines in those regions 118 , 120 located between the inelastic regions 117 , 121 at the waist edges 107 , 108 of the diaper and the regions 119 in the crotch part 106 thereof . this bonding pattern results in a lower elasticity than the punctiform bonds at the crotch part of the diaper , but in greater elasticity than the transverse bonds at the waist edges of the diaper . fig4 - 8 illustrates examples of methods of securing an inventive elastic device to one edge of a diaper or to some other absorbent product . corresponding elements in the figures have been identified with the same reference signs . in all of the embodiments illustrated in fig4 - 8 , the elastic device consists of an elastic strip of open - cell foamed plastic . the elastic device 201 illustrated in fig4 is attached in the extension of an absorbent pad 202 , which has a liquid - impermeable layer 203 attached to one side thereof , i . e . the outwardly facing side thereof . the liquid - impermeable layer is folded around the edge part 204 of the absorbent pad , so as to prevent the leakage of fluid past said edge . a liquid - permeable layer 205 , for instance a polypropylene non - woven fabric layer , is attached to the other side , the inwardly facing side , of the absorbent pad 202 . the liquid - permeable layer 205 extends beyond the absorbent pad 202 and over the elastic device 201 , and is folded back around the free edge 206 of said device and fastened , e . g . with the aid of melt adhesive , to the liquid - impermeable layer 203 on the outer side of the absorbent pad 202 . the elastic device 201 is thus enclosed in a fold 207 located externally of the absorbent pad 202 in the liquid - permeable layer 205 and is secured within the fold 207 at discrete bonding locations 208 , in accordance with the invention . in the embodiment illustrated in fig5 the elastic device 201 is secured within a fold 209 in the liquid - impermeable layer 203 , located externally of the edge 204 of the absorbent pad . this layer 203 normally comprises plastic film and in order to avoid contact between the plastic film and the wearer &# 39 ; s skin in use , the liquid - permeable layer 205 extends on the inside of the diaper completely past the edge 204 of the absorbent pad , to the free edge 206 of the elastic device . fig6 illustrates a further example of a method of securing the elastic device 201 within a fold 207 in the liquid - permeable layer 205 . the liquid - impermeable layer 205 extends beyond the absorbent pad 202 and is folded around the elastic device 201 , without being folded back across the pad 202 . the liquid - impermeable layer 203 extends on the outside of the pad 202 up to the free edge 206 of the elastic device . an extremely effective leak - proof construction is achieved in this way . the elastic device 201 illustrated in fig7 is secured within a casing 210 of heat - meltable non - woven fabric . the device 201 with surrounding casing 210 is attached to the liquid - permeable layer 205 on the inside of the pad 207 and inwardly of the edge 204 of said pad . the elastic device 201 illustrated in fig8 is also secured inwardly of the edge 204 of the absorbent pad . in this embodiment , however , the device 201 is secured within a fold 207 in the liquid - permeable layer 205 . the liquid - impermeable layer 203 in fig7 and 8 is folded around the edge 204 of the absorbent pad in the same manner as in the fig4 embodiment . an inventive elastic device can be secured within a casing in the manner illustrated schematically in fig9 . a heat meltable casing material 301 , for instance in the form of non - woven fabric or plastic film , extends from a first reel of material , via a guide roller 302 . at the same time , a band 303 of elastic material is fed from a second reel while passing between a first pair of rollers 304 , 305 , whereafter the casing material 301 is folded around the elastic band 303 by means of a folding plate 306 , such that both sides of the band 303 are covered by the casing material 301 . the band 303 , together with the surrounding casing 301 , is then transported over a patterned bonding roller 307 . the bonding roller 307 presents raised portions or devices 308 which correspond to the desired bonding pattern of the finished elastic laminate . bonding is effected with the aid of an ultrasonic horn 309 . the ultrasound perforates the elastic band and fuses the casing material together through the perforations thus formed . that is , the perforations are formed in the elastic band directly followed by bonding together , through the perforations , the portions of the casing located opposite the perforations . the bonding pattern is predetermined and , as before mentioned , is controlled by the raised portions or devices 308 on the bonding roller . the resultant , bonded elastic laminate 310 is then advanced by a second pair of rollers 311 and 312 which are driven at a second speed which is higher than the speed at which the first roller pair 304 , 305 is driven . because the second roller pair 311 , 312 is driven at a higher speed than the first roller pair 304 , 305 , the elastic band 303 will be stretched before it is bonded within the heat - meltable casing 301 . the elastic band can be uniformly stretched to pretension the elastic band . the elasticity of the finished laminate 310 can be controlled in two ways . by selecting a given ratio between the speeds at which the first roller pair 304 , 305 and the second roller pair 311 , 312 are driven , it is possible to impart to the elastic laminate 310 a given maximum elasticity or basic elasticity . by using different bonding patterns for different parts of the elastic band , it is possible to reduce to varying high degrees the basic elasticity determined by the speeds at which said roller pairs are driven . the finished elastic laminate 310 will thus present parts of mutually different elasticity . in order to illustrate how elasticity is affected by the bonding pattern , tests were carried out on two laminate samples having mutually different bonding patterns . the elastic devices used in both samples had a width of 50 mm and a thickness of 2 mm and comprised a band of flexible , polyurethane foam based on polyester . the elastic foam material is retailed by cirrus a / s , denmark , under the designation 2 130 170 . the elastic band was enclosed in a non - woven fabric casing or envelope in the manner described with reference fig9 . the band was therewith stretched to 70 %, meaning that the ratio between the first driving speed and the second driving speed was 1 . 70 . the non - woven fabric casing used comprised heat - bonded polypropylene fibres . the first bonding pattern a ) was in the form of small , discrete square bonding locations , as illustrated in fig1 , whereas the second bonding pattern b ), illustrated in fig1 , consisted of broken lines which extended substantially in the cross - direction of the elastic band . both samples a ) and b ) were then subjected to tensile tests on a tensile stress measuring machine sold under the trademark instron 1122 in order to compare their elasticities . a sample having a length of 200 mm was secured firmly between the jaws of a tensile stress measuring machine sold under the trademark instron 1122 . the sample was stretched to a load of 10 n . the jaws were then moved towards one another until the tensile stress in the sample was 0 n . the sample was then allowed to rest for two minutes , in order to eliminate any residual stretch . the tensile stress was then again adjusted to 0 n . the samples were stretched three times between the 0 - level determined in the aforesaid manner and a tensile stress of 10 n . the jaws were moved together at a speed of 300 mm / min . and the sample contracting force when relaxing the tension was recorded as a function of contraction in mm . the results obtained with these samples are shown in the diagram in fig1 , in which each curve represents an average value of the three stretch tests carried out . the sample a ) contracted through 75 mm , whereas the sample b ) only contracted through 40 mm . thus , a bonding pattern in which the bonding locations extend substantially perpendicularly to the direction in which the elastic device acts greatly reduces the elasticity of said device , whereas a punctiform bonding pattern will only slightly influence the elasticity of said device . the total surface area of the bonds is also significant to the elasticity of the device , in addition to the configuration of the bonds and their orientation in relation to the direction in which the elastic device stretches or acts . the larger the area on the elastic device that is taken - up by the bonding locations , the smaller the degree of elasticity of said device . although the inventive elastic device has been described with reference to diapers , it will be understood that the device can be used in a number of other applications . for instance , the invention can be applied in the manufacture of surgical dressings , protective clothing , underwear and sportsware . in fig1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings , the inventive elastic device has been shown as a single elastic band . it will be understood , however , that the elastic device may consist of two or more separate bands . fig1 shows an embodiment wherein the elastic device consists of two elastic bands 13 a , 13 b . it will also be understood that the elastic foam material used in the exemplifying embodiments may have closed cells or may be replaced with other elastic materials , such as natural rubber , polyurethane rubber or the like . as noted in the examples above , the elastic material can be made of a polyester - based polyurethane foam . the inventive elastic device can also be used to particular advantage in diapers having double leg elastication , i . e . such diapers as those in which each leg opening has an inner and an outer elastic edge . for instance , in this case , either the inner or the outer elastic edge is formed from an inventive elastic device , whereas the other elastic edge is of a conventional kind . naturally , both edges can be provided with inventive elastic devices . it is also conceivable to secure an inventive elastic device on the inside of a diaper , supplemented with a corresponding device of the same or a different kind on the outside of the diaper . this additional elastic device will prevent the diaper from ballooning from the wearer &# 39 ; s body in use . | 8 |
the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the illustrated embodiment . fig1 is a schematic diagram of an internal combustion engine incorporating an ignition timing control system according to the invention . in the figure , numberal 100 designates a four - cylinder , four - cycle internal combustion engine , 11 a throttle valve , 2 an intake pressure detector for detecting the intake negative pressure on the manifold side ( the downstream side of the throttle valve 11 ), and 4 a throttle position detector for detecting whether the throttle valve 11 is at the fully closed position to generate an on - off output . numeral 3 designates an ignition timing control unit , 51 an ignition coil , 52 a distributor incorporating an angular position detecting unit , and 53 a spark plug . as shown in fig2 an angular position detecting unit 1 incorporated in the distributor 52 comprises rotors 11 and 12 respectively formed with 4 projections and 720 projections and mounted on the distributor shaft for rotation in synchronism with the rotation of the cam shaft of the engine 100 , electromagnetic angular position detectors 13 and 14 and waveform reshaping circuits 15 and 16 for respectively changing the waveform of the signals from the electromagnetic angular position detectors 13 and 14 , whereby starting at the top dead center of each cylinder , reference signals t each having a time width tθ corresponding to a predetermined degrees of crankshaft rotation and angular signals clθ each corresponding to 1 ° of the crankshaft rotation . next , a detailed circuit diagram of the system of this invention will now be described with reference to fig3 . the ignition timing control unit 3 comprises a first detection circuit 31 for detecting the rotation speed , a second detection circuit 32 for detecting the intake negative pressure , a delay circuit 34 for gradually changing the ignition timing to a desired value as the throttle valve 11 is opened from the fully closed position , an ignition timing computing circuit 33 for computing an ignition timing , and a primary coil control circuit 35 for turning on and off the flow of current in the primary winding of the ignition coil in response to the output of the ignition timing computing circuit 33 . the first detection circuit 31 comprises an and circuit 311 for receiving the reference signals t , a known type of oscillator circuit 312 for generating high frequency pulses , a binary counter 313 , a counter 314 ( e . g ., the rca cd4017 and hereinafter referred to as a decade counter ) for receiving the reference signal t as a reset input and the output of the oscillator circuit 312 as a clock input and having decode outputs for successively generating clock pulses after the negative - going transition of the reference signal t and a memory device 315 ( hereinafter referred to as a latch ), whereby the number of the clock pulses applied during the time that the reference signal t is at a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level or during the predetermined degrees of crankshaft rotation , is counted by the binary counter 313 and stored in the latch 315 for every 1 / 2 revolution of the engine , thus detecting the rotation speed of the engine . the second detection circuit 32 comprises an amplifier circuit adapted to receive the output of the intake pressure detector 2 as an input and including resistors 321 , 322 and 323 and an operational amplifier 324 for amplifying the output of the intake pressure detector 2 , an a / d converter 325 for converting the amplifier output or analog quantity into a digital quantity , and a latch 326 for receiving and storing the output of the a / d converter 325 for every 1 / 2 revolution of the engine , whereby detecting the intake negative pressure of the engine . the resulting outputs of the first and second detection circuits 31 and 32 , that is , the detected rotation speed n and intake negative pressure p are applied to the ignition timing computing circuit 33 . the delay circuit 34 comprises a resistor 341 , an inverter 342 , two monostable circuits 343 and 344 each adapted to generate a signal of a fixed pulse width in response to the positive - going transition of its input pulse , an or circuit 345 , an and circuit 346 , a binary counter 347 , an inverter 348 , and a read - only memory device 349 ( hereinafter referred to as an rom ), whereby generating an output ni indicative of the degree of opening of the throttle valve 11 . the ignition timing computing circuit 33 comprises an rom 331 for generating an ignition timing output nα corresponding to the outputs of the latch 315 and the latch 326 , a known type of subtractor circuit 332 for subtracting the output ni of the rom 349 from the output nα of the rom 331 , constant setting circuits 333 and 3310 ( e . g ., switches for setting binary codes ) for setting respective constants na and nd , a known type of subtractor circuit 334 for subtracting the output nα - ni of the subtractor circuit 332 from the output na of the constant setting circuit 333 , a known type of subtractor circuit 335 for subtracting the output nd of the constant setting circuit 3310 from the output na -( nα - ni ) of the subtractor circuit 334 , an up - down counter 336 ( e . g ., the rca cd4029 ) for receiving the output na -( nα - ni ) of the subtractor circuit 334 as a jam input , the angular pulses clθ as a clock input and the output r 2 of the decade counter 314 as a reset input and counting down as many as the na -( nα - ni ), an up - down counter 337 for similarly counting down as many as the output na -( nα - ni )- nd of the subtractor circuit 335 , and a flip - flop circuit comprising nand circuits 338 and 339 and adapted to receive the outputs of the up - down counters 336 and 337 . in the ignition timing computing circuit 33 , the output nα of the rom 331 represents for example the sum of two advance angles αn and αp . the advance angles αn and αp are the advance angles determined respectively in relation to the engine speed n and the intake negative pressure p as shown in fig4 ( a ) and 4 ( b ), respectively . the primary coil control circuit 35 comprises resistors 351 and 352 and transistors 353 and 354 , whereby the flow of current in the primary winding of the ignition coil is subjected to on - off control . the ignition device 5 comprises the ignition coil 51 , the distributor 52 , and the spark plugs 53 , 54 , 55 and 56 , whereby the spark plugs 53 to 55 mounted in the respective cylinders are caused to produce respective ignition sparks when the flow of current in the primary winding of the ignition coil 51 switched off . the operation of the above - described embodiment will now be described with reference to the time charts shown in fig5 and 6 . the angular position detecting unit 1 generates , starting at the top dead center of each cylinder , two reference signals t each having a time width correspondng to a predetermined angle of rotation for every crankshaft rotation ( 1 / 2 camshaft rotation ) and an angular signal clθ for every 1 ° of the crankshaft position as shown in ( a ) and ( b ) of fig5 . in response to the clock pulses from the oscillator circuit 312 , the decade counter 314 generates two signals r 1 and r 2 sequentially following the negative - going transition of the reference signal t as shown in ( c ) and ( d ) of fig5 . in this case , the time interval from the negative - going transition of the reference signal t until the negative - going transition of the signal r 2 is selected sufficiently smaller than 1 ° of the crankshaft rotation throughout the range of the engine operations . the and circuit 311 performs the and operation on the clock pulses and the reference signal t so that the binary counter 313 counts the clock pulses applied during the predetermined rotational angle tθ and the count value of the counter 313 is stored in the latch 315 in response to the negative - going transition of the reset signal r 1 . consequently , the count of the pulses stored in the latch 315 has a value corresponding to the rotation speed n and it increases with decrease in the rotation speed . in the like manner , the second detection circuit 32 stores the detected intake negative pressure in the latch 326 in response to the negative - going transition of the reset signal r 1 . here , the intake pressure detector 2 is always positioned downstream of the throttle valve 11 so as to detect the intake negative pressure on the manifold side ( the downstream side of the throttle valve 11 ), and thus the detected negative pressure corresponds to the opening of the throttle valve 11 ( the detected negative pressure decreases to approach the atmospheric pressure with increase in the opening of the throttle valve 11 ), thus causing the output of the latch 326 to assume a value corresponding to the intake negative pressure p . in the delay circuit 34 , when the throttle valve 11 is at the fully closed position , the switch of the throttle position detector 4 is closed so that the output i of the throttle position detector 4 goes to the &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level as shown in ( i ) of fig6 and the output i goes to the &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level when the throttle valve 11 is opened . the signal ( i ) is directly applied to the monostable circuit 344 and consequently a monostable pulse is generated in response to the positive - going transition of the signal ( i ), and the monostable circuit 343 receives an inverted signal of the signal ( i ) thus generating a monostable pulse in response to the negative - going transition of the signal ( i ). these monostable pulses are applied to the or circuit 345 and consequently a monostable pulse is generated as shown in ( j ) of fig6 each time the switch of the throttle position detector 4 is turned on or off . when the throttle valve 11 is opened from the fully closed position , the signal ( j ) is applied to the reset input of the binary counter 347 so that since the output q 3 of the binary counter 347 is initially at &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, the output of the inverter 348 goes to &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; and the reference signals t shown in ( a ) of fig5 and ( t ) of fig6 are directly delivered to the output of the and circuit 346 and applied to the clock input of the binary counter 347 . consequently , as shown in ( k ) of fig6 the binary counter 347 starts counting the reference signals t from the time that the throttle valve 11 is opened from the fully closed position and the output q 3 of the binary counter 347 goes to &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; in response to the fourth pulse . when this course , the output of the inverter 348 goes to &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the reference signals t are no longer applied to the clock input of the binary counter 347 thus stopping the counting . when the throttle valve 11 is again moved from the open position to the fully closed position , a signal ( j ) is again applied to the reset input of the binary counter 347 and the counter 347 again starts counting up from zero . the outputs q 1 , q 2 and q 3 of the binary counter 347 and the signal ( i ) from the throttle position detector 4 are applied to the rom 349 with the result that as shown in ( l ) of fig6 when the throttle valve 11 is opened from the fully closed position the rom 349 generates an output which gradually decreases from a predetermined value nb to zero , whereas when the throttle valve 11 is moved from the open position to the fully closed position , an output ni is generated which gradually increases up to the predetermined value nb . in other words , the necessary values have been preliminarily programmed into the rom 349 so that in response to increase in the output count value of the binary counter 347 the output of the rom 349 is gradually decreased from the predetermined value nb down to zero when the output of the throttle position detector 4 is at the &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , and the rom 349 also have another values preliminarily programmed thereinto so that when the output of the throttle position detector 4 is at the &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , as the output count value of the binary counter 347 increases the output of the rom 349 is increased gradually from zero up to the predetermined value nb . as will be seen from fig4 ( b ), this predetermined value nb represents the value of the maximum advance angle αp . on the other hand , the outputs of the first and second detection circuits 31 and 32 are applied to the rom 331 of the ignition timing computing circuit 33 and consequently the rom 331 generates a predetermined value nα corresponding to the rotation speed n and the intake pressure p . thus , as mentioned previously , the subtractor circuits 332 , 334 and 335 respectively generate outputs nα - ni , na -( nα - ni ) and na -( nα - ni )- nd , so that the up - down counter 336 counts as many angular signals clθ as the na -( nα - ni ) from the time of the negative - going transition of the signal r 2 as shown in ( f ) of fig5 and generates at the time of the completion of the counting a pulse which goes to &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; as shown in ( h ) of fig5 . similarly , the up - down counter 337 counts as many angular signals clθ as the na -( nα - ni )- nd from the time of the negative - going transition of the signal r 2 and generates a pulse which goes to &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; as shown in ( g ) of fig5 . consequently , the output of the flip - flop circuit comprising the nand circuits 338 and 339 consists of a pulse which goes to the &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level in response to the signal ( g ) and which goes to the &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level in response to the signal ( h ) as shown in ( i ) of fig5 . when the signal ( i ) goes to the &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level , the transistor 353 is turned off and the transistor 354 is turned on , thus causing the flow of current in the primary winding of the ignition coil 51 . when the signal ( i ) goes to the &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; level , the flow of current in the primary winding is interrupted so that a high voltage is induced in the secondary winding and it is distributed through the distributor 52 to successively cause the spark plugs 53 , 54 , 55 and 56 in the respective cylinders to spark . in this case , since the angular signal cl is a signal corresponding to 1 ° of crankshaft rotation , the signals shown in ( g ) and ( h ) of fig5 go to the &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; level at the lapse of ( na - nα + ni - nd )° and ( na - nα + ni )°, respectively , after the negative - going transition of the signals r 2 . since the time interval between the negative - going transition of the reference signal t and the negative - going transition of the signal r 2 is less than 1 °, if the predetermined value na is ( 180 - tθ ), then the total advance angle α from the top dead center of each cylinder is given as α =( nα - ni )° and the number of degrees through which current flows in the ignition coil 51 is given by nd . thus , as shown by the solid lines in ( m ) of fig6 the final advance angle α gradually changes for every 1 / 2 revolution of the engine and is brought into a steady - state condition after every two revolutions of the engine . the above described operation of the embodiment may be summarized in relation to the movement of the throttle valve , as follows . when the engine is at the idling operation where the throttle valve 11 is at the fully closed position , the detected negative pressure is large and the advance angle αp determined in relation to the negative pressure p has a maximum value nb and the advance angle αn determined in relation to the rotation speed n has a minimum value of 0 substantially , thus making the advance angle nα substantially equal to the advance angle nb . with the throttle valve closed , the correction value ni becomes equal to the maximum value nb and consequently the final result becomes nα - ni = 0 , that is , the degree of spark advance has the minimum value of 0 °. when the throttle valve 11 is opened from the fully closed position or during the transition from the idling operation to the operation under load , the correction value ni is decreased for every 1 / 2 revolution of the engine and consequently the final advance angle nα - ni is gradually increased from the advance angle of 0 ° under the idling operation . as a result , there is no danger of the ignition timing being changed rapidly , thus ensuring stable operation of the engine . when the engine makes two or more revolutions after the opening of the throttle valve 11 , the correction value ni is reduced to zero and consequently the final advance angle becomes the sum nα of the advance angle αn corresponding to the rotation speed and the advance angle αp corresponding to the detected negative pressure . during the deceleration operation where the throttle valve 11 is moved from the open position into the fully closed position , the detected negative pressure becomes considerably high and consequently the advance angle αp provided according to the negative pressure p becomes substantially equal to the maximum value nb . at the instant that the throttle valve 11 is closed , the correction value ni is gradually increased from zero up to the maximum value nb , with the result that the final advance angle is gradually decreased for every 1 / 2 revolution of the engine from the advance angle nα toward zero and it is stabilized at the advance angle nα = 0 after two revolutions of the engine . in this way , the ignition timing is prevented from being changed rapidly thus ensuring stable operation of the engine . the above - described embodiment illustrates only one form of the present invention , and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention . typical of such changes and modifications may be summarized as follows . instead of gradually changing the ignition timing for every 1 / 2 revolution of the engine and bringing it into a steady - state condition after two revolutions of the engine , it is possible to arrange so that the ignition timing is brought into a steady - state condition after less than or more than two engine revolutions or alternately the ignition timing may be brought into a steady - state condition within a predetermined period of time . further , while the fully closed position of the throttle valve is detected by the throttle position detector so as to detect a predetermined load condition of the engine , this may be detected by means of the intake pressure . still further , the angle during which current flows in the ignition coil is fixed , this angle may be made proportional to the engine speed , thus maintaining constant the time during which current flows in the ignition coil . still further , while the advance angle indicative of the ignition timing is controlled according to the intake pressure , the advance angle may be controlled in accordance with the opening of the throttle valve or the flow rate of intake air . | 5 |
while the invention will be described in connection with certain exemplary embodiments , it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to those embodiments . on the contrary , it is intended to cover all alternatives , modifications and equivalents that may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention defined by the appended claims . the present invention provides a departure from the traditional steps for preparing and refinishing hardwood flooring . particularly , the present invention is directed to a system including at least three components which does not require sanding to prepare an existing hardwood floor finish . more particularly , the present invention is directed to a chemical system which provides an appropriate treatment of an existing finish to allow the deposition of a new finish . the chemical system ( kit ) for performing these functions includes a first cleaning agent , a second rinsing and softening agent , and a third finishing agent . the cleaning solution of the present invention is an alkaline aqueous solution including an active agent . the cleaning solution has been found to remove stains and soils from the surface of the floor and provide etching of the old finish . moreover , the existing finish is preferably not totally removed via this process but rather is cleaned and sufficiently etched to facilitate the later chemical bonding ( i . e ., step 3 ) of a renewal finish . the active agent is preferably selected from orthophosphates and alkali metasilicates . exemplary , alkali metasilicates include sodium or potassium hydroxide , sodium or potassium carbonate , sodium or potassium silicate , sodium gluconate or sodium heptahydrate . particularly preferred alkali metasilicates include sodium orthosilicate and sodium metasilicate . exemplary orthophosphates include sodium hemiphosphate ; sodium dihydrogen phosphate monohydrate ; sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate ; sodium dihydrogen phosphate compound with disodium hydrogen phosphate ( msp - dsp ); disodium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate ; disodium hydrogen phosphate heptahydrate ; disodium hydrogen phosphate octahydrate ; disodium hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate ; trisodium phosphate hemihydrate ; trisodium phosphate hexahydrate ; trisodium phosphate octahydrate ; trisodium phosphate dodecahydrate ( tsp crystalline ); phosphoric acid , postassium salt ; potassium dihydrogen phosphate compound with dipotassium hydrogen phosphate monohydrate ; monopotassium phosphate ( mkp ); dipotassium phosphate ( dkp ); dipotassium hydrogen phosphate trihydrate ; dipotassium hydrogen phosphate hexahydrate ; tripotassium phosphate ; tripotassium phosphate trihydrate ; tripotassium phosphate heptahydrate ; tripotassium phosphate nonahydrate ; calcium hydrogen phosphate ; calcium hydrogen phosphate hemihydrate ; calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate ; α - tricalcium phosphate ; β - tricalcium phosphate ; octacalcium phosphate ; hydroxyapatite ; fluorapatite ; phosphoric acid , calcium salt ; calcium salt hydrate ; aluminum dihydrogen tripolyphosphate ; aluminum phosphate dihydrate ( variscite ); monoaluminum phosphate sesquihydrate ; dialuminum phosphate trihydrate ; poly ( aluminum metaphosphate ); monoiron ( iii ) phosphate ; trimagnesium phosphate octahydrate ; aluminum hemiphosphate ; phosphoric acid , aluminum salt hydrate ; aluminum sodium salt ; tetrahydrate , iron ( iii ) salt hydrate ; triphosphoric acid , monosodium salt , disodium salt , trisodium salt , tetrasodium salt ; pentasodium salt ; sodium potassium tripolyphosphate ; sodium trimetaphosphate ; sodium tetrametaphosphate ; sodium hexametaphosphate ; poly ( sodium metaphosphate ) ( insoluble metaphosphate ( imp )); zirconium phosphate monohydrate ; zirconium phosphate dihydtrate ; aluminum pyrophosphate ; calcium dihydrogen pyrophosphate ( calcium acid pyrophosphate ); calcium pyrophosphate ; potassium trihydrogen pyrophosphate ; dipotassium dihydrogen pyrophosphate ( potassium acid pyrophosphate ); tripotassium hydrogen pyrophosphate ; tetrapotassium pyrophosphate ; sodium trihydrogen pyrophosphate ( monosodium pyrophosphate ); disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate ( sodium acid pyrophosphate ); disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate hexahydrate ; trisodium hydrogen pyrophosphate ( trisodium pyrophosphate ); trisodium hydrogen pyrophosphate monohydrate ; trisodium hydrogen pyrophosphate nonahydrate ; tetrasodium pyrophosphate ( tspp ); tetrasodium pyrophosphate decahydrate ; silicon pyrophosphate ; titanium pyrophosphate . preferably , a combination of the various cleaning agent compounds will be utilized . the cleaning solution will preferably contain additional components to accomplish its purpose . for example , a surfactant may be included to facilitate wetting out the cleaning solution on what is often a greasy / oily surface . similarly , common defoamers and dispersants ( to prevent redeposition of soil ) may be used . in addition , a chelating agent may be included , such as an ethylenediaminetetra acetic acid , to reduce the tendency for the active cleaning agent to become chemically bound to ionic elements in the water . furthermore , a surface softening agent may be included , such as ethylene glycol . finally , a colorant and odorant may be used to improve handling characteristics . preferably , the active agent will be present at a level sufficient to raise the ph of the solution in excess of about 10 , most preferably in excess of about 12 , more preferably in excess of about 13 . for example , the active agent may comprise from about 1 % to about 10 % of the cleaning solution with water comprising from about 99 % to about 50 %. the surfactant and surface softening agent may each comprise up to 20 % by weight , preferably less than about 10 %. the remaining ingredients are individually generally less than about 5 % by weight . interestingly , the cleaning agent is of a type which is commercially available as liquid wall cleaner from chemspec . the rinse solution of the refinishing kit is directed to a solution comprised primarily water , but may also include a suitable agent for softening of the existing etched finish . preferably , the surface softening agent will be a glycol ether . in that embodiment , the rinse solution will be comprised of from 30 to 70 % water and from 30 to 70 % softening agent . the water - based coating composition preferably includes urethanelacrylic copolymers . preferably , the curable water - based coating compositions of the present invention do not contain an undesirable amount of vocs , more preferably , they contain less than about 5 wt . %, and preferably less than about 2 wt . % vocs based on the total weight of the composition ( including water ). preferably , the curable coating compositions of the present invention have a solids content of about 30 - 70 wt . %, more preferably about 35 - 65 wt . % based on the total weight of the composition ( including the water ). with a solids content of less than about 30 wt . %, the curable coating composition is generally too thin for most applications to form a useful cured coating , although it may be used in applications that require thin coatings . with a solids content of more than about 70 wt . %, the curable coating composition is generally too viscous to coat easily . the curable water - based coating compositions of the present invention will preferably include urethane / acrylic polymers or copolymers , coalescing aid and an alkaline - stable crosslinker . optional additives include , for example , a thickener and a surfactant . the “ principal polymers ” are those that are capable of crosslinking ( e . g . urethane / acrylic copolymers , aliphatic urethanes , acrylic copolymers , and other polymers containing pendant carboxylic acid groups ). suitable polymers of urethane and acrylic and urethane / acrylic copolymers ( i . e ., a polymer containing urethane (— r 1 nhc ( o ) or 2 —) and acrylic — r 3 — c ( o ) oh moieties ) for use in the compositions of the present invention are those are that are capable of forming stable dispersions in water . one specific example of a nonfilm - forming urethane / acrylic copolymer is a high solids , monomer - free , radiation - curable , water - borne urethane / acrylic copolymer , which is commercially available under the trade designation “ neorad 3709 ” from neoresins , a division of avecia , wilmington , mass . specific examples of urethane and acrylic polymers include neorez r9699 and neocryl xa6092 . these urethane / acrylic polymers and copolymers are designed for high performance uses , where hardness , flexibility , uv resistance , chemical resistance , and abrasion resistance are desired . the curable water - based coating compositions of the present invention may use a glycol ether as a coalescing aid for the nonfilm - forming urethane / acrylic polymers or copolymers . this coalescing aid not only enhances film formation but contributes to the flexibility of the coating . suitable glycol ether coalescing aids are commercially available from the dow chemical company , midland , mich ., under the trade designation dowanol . these coalescing aids typically also function as wetting agents in the compositions of the present invention . the coalescing aid , or a mixture of coalescing aids , is present in the curable coating compositions of the present invention in an amount effective to meld the urethane / acrylic particles during the drydown or curing stage and thereby allow a continuous film to form . preferably , coalescing aid , or a mixture of such coalescing aids , is present in the curable coating compositions of the present invention in an amount of no greater than about 15 wt . %, based on the weight of polymer solids . more preferably , the curable coating compositions include about 1 - 10 wt . %, most preferably , about 3 - 8 wt . %, coalescing aid , based on the weight of polymer solids . a crosslinker is included in the curable coating compositions of the present invention to enhance the tensile strength of the present invention to enhance the tensile strength of the cured coating and improve its chemical resistance , for example . suitable crosslinkers are those that can be used to crosslink urethane / acrylic polymers or copolymers , and are stable in aqueous alkaline solutions . examples of such crosslinkers include , but are not limited to , epoxy silanes , amino silanes and aziridine derivatives . suitable epoxy silanes include z - 6040 available from dow corning . suitable aminosilanes include z 6020 available from dow corning . suitable polyfunctional aziridines are those commercially available under the trade designations “ xama - 2 ” ( trimethylolpropane - tris -( β -( n - aziridinyl ) propionate ) and “ xama - 7 ” ( penaerythritol - tris -( β - n - aziridinyl ) propionate ) from b . f . goodrich chemical co ., cleveland , ohio and “ neocryl cx - 100 ” from zeneca resins , wilmington , mass . these crosslinkers are particularly desirable because they also function as adhesion promoters to materials such as polyester , glass , etc . they are preferably used with polymers containing active hydrogens such as the urethane / acrylic copolymers described above that contains pendant carboxylic acid groups . the alkaline - stable crosslinker , or mixture of alkaline - stable crosslinkers , is present in the curable coating compositions of the present invention in an amount effective to provide a durable cured coating . preferably , the alkaline - stable crosslinker is present in the curable coating compositions of the present invention in an amount of 0 . 1 - 10 wt . % and more preferably about 0 . 5 - 6 wt . % based on the weight of polymer solids . a thickener may be used in the curable coating compositions of the present invention to increase the viscosity of the dispersions . this is sometimes important to provide coatings that do not sag . suitable thickeners are those that are compatible with urethane / acrylic dispersions . as used herein “ compatible ” means that the component does not cause adverse effects to the curable compositions ( e . g . precipitation , flocculation , or other separation of the components ), or to the cured coating ( e . g . disruption of film continuity , phase separation , or loss of adhesion to the backing ). preferred thickeners for use in the curable coating compositions of the present invention are associative thickeners . an “ associative ” thickener is a polymeric compound having hydrophobic groups that associate with the dispersed polymer particles of the curable coating composition . this association is believed to result in adsorption of the thickener molecule onto the dispersed polymer particles . a preferred thickener is a polyurethane available under the trade designation “ dsx - 1514 ” from henkel corp ., kankakee , ill ., is an aqueous dispersion having 40 wt . % solids . it is a high shear and low molecular weight thickener having a brookfield viscosity of 3000 centipoise at 25 ° c . it is particularly desirable because it provides a significant increase in viscosity of the coating composition when used in small amounts . an associative thickener , or mixture associative thickeners , may also be present in the curable coating compositions of the present invention in an amount effective to increase the viscosity of the dispersions to provide coatings that do not sag . surfactants may be used in the curable coating compositions of the present invention to reduce foaming and to enhance leveling and wetting . this is important to provide smooth , uniform coatings . a wide variety of surfactants , i . e ., surface - active agents , are suitable for use in the curable coating compositions of the present invention . suitable surfactants include , but are not limited to , flow control agents , wetting agents , dispersants , adhesion enhancers , defoamers , etc . preferred surfactants are nonionic or anionic . examples of preferred surfactants are available under the trade designation “ silwet l - 7210 ” ( a nonionic polyalkeneoxide modified polydimethylsiloxane ) from osi specialties , in ., danbury , conn ., “ surfynol 104pa ” ( 2 , 4 , 7 , 9 - tetramethyl - 5 - decyn - 4 , 7 - diol ) from air products and chemicals , inc ., allentown , pa . and “ triton gr - 7m ” ( an anionic sulfosuccinate ) from union carbide chemicals and plastics company , inc ., danbury , conn . a surfactant , or mixture of surfactants , is present in the curable coating compositions of the present invention in an amount effective to provide a smooth , uniform coating . preferably , a surfactant , or mixture of surfactants , is present in the curable coating compositions of the present invention in an amount of about 0 . 1 - 3 wt . % and more preferably , about 0 . 5 - 2 wt . %, based on the total weight of the curable coating composition ( including water ). additional additives that are suitable for use in water - based systems are those that perform the functions of zinc complexes , ammonia , defoamer , leveling agent , and / or wetting agent , for example , are also suitable . exemplary finish compositions suitable for the present kit are sold as pacific strong and basic 1 or impact available from bona kemi , basic coating , respectively . first , the cleaning solution is deposited on the floor finish to be refinished using , for example , squeeze or mister bottle , damp mop , brush or roller techniques . the finish can then be lightly scrubbed with an abrading brush or pad . thereafter , the cleaning solution is removed with a mop or towels . next , the rinsing agent is deposited via , for example , roller , brush , squeeze or mister bottle , or mop . the rinsing agent is also scrubbed with a brush or pad and then removed again utilizing roller , pads , towels , or mop , etc . subsequent to drying , the finish can be applied according to any technique known to those skilled in the art such as lambs wool or other short nap pad or brush , etc . preferably , multiple coats of the finish will be applied , ( i . e . 2 to 5 ) to effect sufficient thickness and durability . thus , it is apparent that there has been provided in accordance with the invention , a method and kit for refinishing floors that fully satisfies the objects , aims and advantages set forth above . while the invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiments thereof it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description . accordingly , it is intended to embrace all such alternatives , modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims . | 1 |
referring now to the drawings in more detail and initially to fig1 , the present invention relates in a preferred embodiment to a diffuser assembly or module 10 for use individually or in a diffuser grid structure containing a number of the modules 10 . the module 10 has a non - buoyant portion 11 and a selective buoyant portion 14 . the non - buoyant portion includes a frame 20 and a diffuser assembly 22 comprising a plurality of individual diffusers 24 arranged parallel to one another . the selective buoyant portion 14 includes a buoyancy vessel 12 having an interior flotation chamber 19 . the frame 20 supports the diffuser assembly 22 and the buoyancy vessel 12 , operably connecting the structures together . in the illustrated embodiment in fig1 and 2 , the frame 20 has a generally rectangular shape , although the frame could have any suitable shape and size . as used herein , non - buoyant means the object has a density greater than the liquid it is in and will not float on its own and buoyant means the object will float on its own and has a density ( including a chamber and its contents ) less than the liquid it is in . as shown in fig1 and 2 , the diffuser assembly 22 includes a central header pipe 28 providing a supply of air to the diffusers 24 . air is supplied to header pipe 28 by an air supply conduit 40 which may be equipped with a quick disconnect coupling 44 . the diffusers may be tubular membrane diffusers of the type having rigid tubes 23 that receive flexible membranes 25 . the size and position of the diffusers 24 may be varied to suit the needs of the particular wastewater treatment process . for simplicity , only representative membranes 25 are shown in fig1 . other types of diffusers can be employed , including disk diffusers and coarse bubble diffusers . the frame of the diffuser assembly includes a series of transverse ballast beams 18 ( fig2 ) positioned below the diffusers 24 . the ballast beams 18 are positioned and sized to provide the ballast required to keep the diffuser module 10 positioned on the bottom of a wastewater basin when operating . the header pipe 28 may be strapped , bolted or otherwise secured on top of the ballast beams 18 at a location extending along the longitudinal axis of the module 10 . the wastewater basin may have an earthen , polymeric , metallic or concrete bottom which may invoke different details in the construction of the module 10 , particularly in the portions adjacent the bottom . the buoyancy vessel 12 may take the form of a u - shaped tubular structure that has side portions 12 a , 12 b preferably extending generally along the length of the assembly parallel to the pipe 28 and perpendicular to the diffusers 24 . coaxial end portions 12 c and 12 d connect with the respective side legs 12 a and 12 b through elbow fittings . the shape and size of the buoyancy vessel 12 and chamber 19 may be selected to fit the size profile and buoyancy needs of the module 10 . the components that are buoyant during lift are sized and positioned to effect the lift and descent of the module 10 in the wastewater reservoir . lift and descent may be controlled as discussed below . additionally , the flotation chamber 19 is preferably positioned relative to the remainder of the module 10 so at least some portion of the chamber 12 , and preferably all of it , is located at or above the center of mass ( designated cm in fig2 ) of the non - buoyant portion 11 when the module 10 is in a horizontal orientation . it is not necessary but preferred for the entire body of flotation chamber 19 to be above the non - buoyant portion 11 . this configuration enhances stability and allows the module 10 to descend in a substantially horizontal orientation , which limits planning , rolling or flipping of the module 10 during descent . the configuration , size and orientation of the chamber 19 determines the location of the center of lift ( designated as cl in fig2 ), and the center of lift may change as gas flows in or out of the chamber . the center of lift is the general mean point where the lift forces exerted by the air in the chamber 19 may be considered to be focused . the center of lift relative to the center of mass may vary as the chamber 19 varies between ballast and buoyancy , i . e ., as the relative amounts of gas and liquid in the chamber 19 changes . the buoyancy chamber 19 is in flow communication with gas supply lines such as a pair of flexible air hoses 30 each having a three - way air valve 32 . one of the hoses 30 connects to chamber portion 12 c and the other hose 30 connects with portion 12 d . the portions 12 c and 12 d are preferably isolated so that flow between them is not permitted the buoyancy vessel 12 terminates in one or more flow control sections 33 , each of which may take the form of a down turned elbow 16 presenting a flow control opening 36 communicating between chamber 19 and the exterior to the chamber 19 . the opening 36 may be at the lower end of a spout 34 . the opening 36 , in the illustrated structure can function as an inlet and an outlet for liquid , as will be described . in one embodiment , the elbow 16 forms a generally 90 ° angle following a bend 35 . the opening 36 is shown as positioned below the level of the center of lift cl when the module 10 is relatively horizontal or level , to allow the opening 36 to function as a self - sealing hydraulic seal when air is in the chamber 19 , thereby forming a valve with no mechanical valve elements . it is preferred that the end portion of each side leg 12 a and 12 b of the flotation chamber be equipped with a flow control section 33 and a flow control opening 36 . the module 10 is normally located in a wastewater treatment basin submerged either on the basin bottom or suspended from floating air laterals . in either case , when air is supplied through hose 40 to the header pipe 28 , the air is directed into the diffusers 24 and discharged through slits in the membranes 25 into the wastewater in the form of fine bubbles . this effects aeration and mixing of the wastewater with the fine bubbles efficiently transferring air to the liquid . if the operator wishes to raise the module 10 , he or she may commence purging liquid from the chamber 19 through the openings 36 by first opening the air valves 32 to allow gas under pressure to enter the chamber 19 through hoses 30 . the following described process will apply to all the embodiments described in this application , but for simplicity this description will only refer to the embodiment shown in fig1 - 3 . in any embodiment , the chamber 19 is generally filled with liquid when the module 10 is in an operating position on the bottom of the wastewater treatment basin . as the gas enters the chamber 19 , it displaces liquid in the chamber and purges it through openings 36 in flow control sections 33 . as the gas displaces the liquid in the chamber 19 , the module 10 becomes buoyant and begins to lift off the bottom surface of the wastewater basin , first near the end of the module where the gas is introduced into the chamber 19 , which is opposite openings 36 . while a plurality of openings 36 and flow control sections 33 are shown , the use of only one of each can suffice in some applications . as the air enters the chamber 19 , openings 36 act as hydraulic seals to prevent gas from escaping the chamber , so long as the openings 36 remain below the level of the chamber 19 . in a preferred embodiment , the elbow 16 and position of the openings 36 relative to the chamber 19 create this self - sealing feature without the use of mechanical valve elements or moving parts or other mechanical closures or devices . the absence of mechanical valves provides for a more trouble free product for use in environments such as wastewater treatment . mechanical methods to seal the opening could easily become blocked or corroded in the sludge or materials processed by most wastewater treatment works . the absence of mechanical valve obstacles within the flow control section 33 means the present invention offers fewer opportunities for repair problems or malfunction delays . in a less preferred embodiment , the flow control sections 33 could include a mechanical valve upstream from the respective opening 36 for selectively opening and closing the chamber 19 to liquid flow . once the gas has displaced most of the liquid from the buoyancy vessel 12 , the module 10 will rise as a result of its buoyancy and approach the surface of the liquid in the basin . the operator may then retrieve the module by any convenient method , including towing from a boat or removal by crane . the module 10 may be removed for servicing , repair , or replacement of the diffusers 24 or other components . it may also be serviced while at the surface without removal from the basin . the module 10 can be moved to an edge of the basin where it can be lifted or , often more conveniently , tilted and then lifted out of the basin . when the operator desires to install the module 10 in the basin following maintenance , he or she can position the module 10 on the surface of the wastewater at the desired location . the operator will then begin to bleed gas from the buoyancy chamber 19 by positioning the three - way valves 32 to allow air to escape from the flotation chamber 19 . as the air escapes the chamber 19 through the conduits 30 , liquid will begin to re - enter the buoyancy vessel through the openings 36 . as the liquid re - enters the buoyancy chamber 19 , the vessel 12 begins to lose buoyancy , causing the module 10 to begin its descent to the bottom of the wastewater basin . the center of lift cl of the buoyant portion 14 is generally above the center of mass cm of the non - buoyant portion 11 . the force vector at the center of lift cl is generally in line with and generally above the force vector due to the counterpoise weight of the non - buoyant portion 14 . also , at least a portion of the chamber 19 is preferably positioned above the center of mass of the non - buoyant portion 11 . for stability , the buoyant portion includes two chamber legs 19 a , 19 b located in sides 12 a , 12 b and each extending along a respective side portion of the module 10 . additionally , the chamber legs or portions 19 a , 19 b are connected to the separate infeed hoses 30 by vessel portions 12 c , 12 d which also have a respective chamber portion 19 c , 19 d therein each communicating with the chamber portions 19 a , 19 b . the chamber portions 19 c , 19 d are isolated from each other and provide for buoyancy at the end of the module 10 opposite that of the location of the flow control sections 33 . accordingly , the end of the unit opposite the openings 36 normally rises first and descends last , providing a slight cant or inclination to the module 10 . this can help achieve and maintain a seal in the flow control sections 33 while still substantially preventing planning of the diffuser module , particularly during descent . in an alternative embodiment , a single vessel 12 with a single chamber 19 therein may be provided and preferably would be positioned generally along the longitudinal central axis of the module 10 . by proper relative positioning of the center of mass and the center of lift , appropriate ascent and descent may be accomplished . however , two separate chambers spaced apart on opposite sides of the unit is preferred because such a configuration enhances the stability much in the manner of a double pontoon boat . fig4 illustrates a plurality of modules 10 positioned in a basin 60 in a grid configuration . a gas supply conduit 61 extends along a portion of the reservoir and preferably along a substantial length of a grid system 60 . the gas supply conduit is provided with a plurality of gas supply branch conduits 62 connected thereto , each also being connected in flow communication with a respective module 10 through one of the valves 32 . the supply conduit 62 connects through valve 32 with both the gas lines 30 and the header pipe 28 so that air can be fed to either the diffusers 24 or the buoyancy vessel 12 . when it is desired to raise a module 10 , air is fed primarily to the chamber 19 with zero to low air flow to the diffusers through appropriate operation of the valving . a respective module 10 of the grid may be raised or lowered for appropriate maintenance or inspection in the manner previously described . fig5 and 6 depict an alternative embodiment of the invention which includes a modified diffuser module 110 . the module 110 is equipped with a diffuser assembly which may be of any desired type , including a plurality of large tube diffusers 123 which may be clustered relatively closely together , individual tube diffusers 124 which may be spaced closer together and may be smaller overall than the diffusers 123 , or a plurality of disk diffusers 126 mounted along the length of supply pipes 126 a . diffusers 123 may be equipped with flexible membranes 123 a which discharge air into the wastewater in the form of fine bubbles . similarly , diffusers 124 may be equipped with flexible membranes 124 a through which air is transferred to the wastewater in the form of fine bubbles . the disk diffusers 126 may be of any suitable type , including bodies having their faces equipped with flexible disk membranes through which air in the supply pipes 126 a is delivered to the wastewater in the form of fine bubbles . the diffusers 123 , 124 and / or 126 are mounted on and receive air from a horizontal header pipe 128 which in turn receives air from a blower ( not shown ) through an air supply conduit 140 which may be a flexible hose . the header pipe 128 extends along the longitudinal center line of the module 110 . ballast beams 118 are secured to the header pipe 128 near its opposite ends by suitable straps 131 or other fastening means . the module 110 is equipped with a single buoyancy vessel 112 which may be located above the header pipe 128 and arranged to extend above pipe 128 along the longitudinal center line of the diffuser module 110 . the buoyancy vessel 112 may take the form of a pipe having a hollow interior forming a flotation chamber 119 ( fig6 ). one end of vessel 112 may be equipped with a down turned elbow 116 which in turn connects with a short vertical spout 134 . the lower end of the spout 134 is open to provide a flow control opening 136 that functions in substantially the same manner as opening 36 . the buoyancy vessel 112 may be connected with the module 110 in any suitable manner such as being formed as part of a frame that includes the diffuser module and buoyancy vessel 112 . air is supplied to and bled from the buoyancy vessel 112 through an air hose 130 that connects with the vessel 112 at the end opposite the spout 134 . the air hose 130 may be equipped with a valve such as a three - way air valve 132 . the end of the buoyancy vessel 112 adjacent to the connection of the air hose 130 may be provided with a down turned leg 155 that connects with the header pipe 128 . the diffuser module 110 may be lifted to the surface by a pair of retrieval cables 157 , each connected with a harness 159 . the two harnesses 159 connect with the two ballast beams 118 near the opposite ends of the beams . the embodiment of fig5 and 6 functions and operates in substantially the same manner as described for the embodiment of fig1 - 4 . the buoyancy vessel 112 may be supplied with air through the hose 130 in order to effect a buoyant condition of the module 110 , causing it to rise to the surface for maintenance and / or repair . the flow control opening 136 functions as a valve to confine the air in the buoyancy vessel 112 while avoiding the ingress of water due to the air pressure . when the buoyancy vessel 112 is bled of air through the air hose 130 , water enters the flotation chamber 119 , and the module 110 then reverts to a non - buoyant condition in which it descends to the basin floor 113 and remains in place on the floor until it is again made buoyant . thus , there has been shown and described several embodiments of a novel invention . as is evident from the foregoing description , certain aspects of the present invention are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein , and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications , or equivalents thereof , will occur to those skilled in the art . the terms “ having ” and “ including ” and similar terms as used in the foregoing specification are used in the sense of “ optional ” or “ may include ” and not as “ required ”. many changes , modifications , variations and other uses and applications of the present construction will , however , become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the specification and the accompanying drawings . all such changes , modifications , variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention which is limited only by the claims which follow . | 8 |
within the general diagram of fig2 , reference n indicates a data communication network ( as an immediate example , one may consider internet ) defining the typical application environment of the solution according to the invention . reference a shows the module currently called “ agent ”, that carries out the function of controlling and monitoring a corresponding element of the network n , operating in a — bi - directional — dialog mode with a corresponding manager m . the latter defines , along with an additional agent a ′ of a higher hierarchical level , a port or gate g , that in turn interfaces with an additional manager m ′ of a higher hierarchical level . the latter one defines along with a corresponding application , an observation module or observer o . references c 1 and c 2 indicate two bi - directional communication channels that perform the communication — at a lower hierarchical level — between agent a and gate g , and — at a higher hierarchical level — between gate g and observer o . the above - cited channels c 1 , c 2 are those over which the transmission of snmp messages takes place . flow charts of fig3 depict the modalities adopted for the compression ( fig3 a ) and decompression ( fig3 b ) of the snmp message . flow charts of fig4 illustrate ( still making reference to transmission — fig4 a — and to reception — fig4 b ) a first solution which envisages the transfer of the compressed snmp message through encapsulation over snmp . flow charts of fig5 refer instead to a transfer solution through encapsulation over udp . this still makes specific reference to transmission ( fig5 a ) and reception ( fig5 b ). the diagrams of fig7 and 8 depict in relation to the oid representation the same formalism of fig1 and make reference to the set of compression and transmission operations , exemplified by part a ) of fig3 and 4 ( fig7 ) and part a ) of fig3 and 5 ( fig8 ), respectively . by first examining the flow chart of fig3 , reference 100 identifies the step during which the whole snmp message ( header + pdu ) is read in order to be then converted or encoded into a hexadecimal format during a subsequent step denoted by 102 . this is brought about by applying a coding of ber encode type . the message thus encoded is then compressed by using a compression technique based on the recognition of recursive sequences , such as for instance the technique referred to in the zlib library , which has already been mentioned before . this takes place during a step denoted by 104 so as to obtain during the step indicated by 106 , a compressed data unit , ready for the transmission . in a fully symmetrical way , the flow chart of part b of fig3 incorporates four steps , namely 206 , 204 , 202 and 200 ( designed to be performed according to the indicated sequence ), wherein the received compressed data unit ( step 206 ) is subjected to decompression ( step 204 ) with a view to the subsequent hexadecimal decoding ( step 202 ), with a subsequent reconstruction of the entire snmp message ( step 200 ). the fact of having assigned to the part b flow chart of fig3 numerical references sorted in an inverse way with respect to their performance sequence , has the only purpose of underlining the symmetrical character with steps 100 to 106 of the compression procedure . similar choices have been made with reference to the flow charts of fig4 and 5 . as already shown , fig4 and 7 make reference to a transfer solution which envisages the encapsulation of the compressed data unit into a standard snmp message , characterized by a proprietary or peculiar “ variable binding ”, by a standard transmission modality over udp . the encapsulation modality of the compressed data unit obtained during step 106 incorporates an initial step , denoted by 108 , during which the compressed data unit is read by bytes and then converted into the corresponding set of ascii characters , during a subsequent encoding step denoted by 110 . in the following step , denoted by 112 ( which may be possibly preceded by auxiliary functions such as ack tab + null — see block 110 a of fig7 ) the “ variable binding ” is generated of the message formed by a first oid with a proprietary or peculiar numbering ( for instance 1 . 3 . 6 . 1 . 4 . 666 . 1 ) which contains in its value the string_zip_xxxx , wherein xxxx indicates the size of the original file . in the above cited example , the peculiar code 666 . 1 has been indicated which — at the moment — has not been registered at iana ( internet assigned numbers authority ), but any other code not registered could be used . the subsequent elements of the variable binding containing the compressed data unit , duly converted into ascii characters , are formed by oid / value pairs . the value contains parts of the compressed data unit , converted into ascii , having a maximum size of 255 characters . then the header information of the snmp message is reconstructed . all this takes place during step 112 , that is followed by a step denoted by 114 , where an additional encoding according to the ber methodology is performed for generating a pdu payload of the udp message ( payload of pdu - udp ) to be used for data transmission ( step 116 ). also in this case , steps denoted by 216 , 214 , 212 , 210 and 208 , reproduced in part b ) of fig4 and designed to be performed according to the order by which they have been previously cited , represent the dual functions — to be carried out at the receiving side — of steps 108 to 116 relating to the transmission operation . by adoption of the solution to which fig4 and 7 are referred , the compressed snmp message has therefore a standard logic snmp format , but a proprietary or peculiar content . thus , it requires a functional extension — albeit minimal — of the agent &# 39 ; s manager , such as to allow its recognition and encoding / decoding . the experiments conducted by the applicant prove that such a solution is fully feasible , without affecting the network architecture . the alternative solution to which fig5 and 8 make reference , envisages the preparation of the compressed data unit starting from the snmp message , according to the modalities shown in fig3 , followed by the direct encapsulating of said data unit into the payload of pdu - udp . obviously for a correct operation , this solution requires the use of a dedicated transmitter and receiver , for instance under conditions which ensure the availability of a udp port different from the standard one . the transmitter must therefore know the udp port used by the receiver , and vice versa . the information about the ports being used may be exchanged at a higher level by means of a synchronization message in a standard snmp format , according to criteria to be better explained in the sequel . when the alternative solution depicted in fig5 and 8 is adopted , the compressed data unit , made available during step 108 and designed to replace the ber of the message , becomes the payload of the pdu - udp message . the relating operation is shown by the steps denoted by 118 and 120 in fig5 and 8 , said steps preceding transmission step 122 , designed for the respective dedicated port ( generally called port x ) of the receiver . also in this case , the complementary operation incorporates three steps , denoted by 222 ( reception at port y of the module acting at that moment as a receiver ), 220 ( extraction of the payload of pdu - udp ), and 218 ( getting of the received compressed data unit , designed to be transferred toward step 206 of the part b ) flow chart of fig3 ), respectively . also in this case steps 222 , 220 and 218 are carried out according to the order by which they have been mentioned . the synchronization message referred to previously is sent out by the manager to the snmp agent according to a general principle “ application - to - application ” using the standard snmp format containing a proprietary or peculiar “ variable binding ”. the manager sends to the snmp manager a proprietary message compiling the value & lt ; udp_tx_port & gt ; with the number of the port designed to be used for the udp transmission ( for instance 1024 ) as well as a value & lt ; udp_rx_port & gt ; with the number of the port that it uses for the udp reception ( for instance 1224 ). the agent replies to the manager sending a similar message containing its own information . this method reduces the processing time by improving the solution efficiency . the block diagram of fig6 additionally shows how the described solution may be generalized so as to be applied to any message typology using udp as a transport ( for instance snmp , ping , etc .). this generalization makes it possible to implement an udp driver capable of replacing those presently used . this solution is capable of evaluating the size of the payload to be transferred , and further proceeding ( provided the size is adequate ( for instance : more than 20 bytes ) by using the method herein described . to declare the compact nature of the udp message to the receiver , use can be made of the 8 bits included from bit 62 to bit 69 of the header of the udp message ( at present such bits are not used and are set by default to 0 ) setting to 1 for instance one or more of such bits . in particular , in the diagram of fig6 , reference 300 indicates any step wherein the need arises of sending a message capable of being transported over udp , followed by a compression step 302 of the payload , performed according to the modalities described in fig3 . a subsequent step 304 envisages the generation of the udp message header according to the above - recalled terms , while a subsequent step denoted by 306 corresponds to the creation of the entire udp message , with a view to its ip transmission , to be performed during a step denoted by 308 . the described methodology allows the implementation of a general purpose solution , capable of supporting any type of application which makes use of the udp - ip protocol stack . this solution is particularly suitable for the implementation of hardware or “ on chip ” solutions . a functional extension of the described solution , applicable independently of the methodology being used for the data transfer , and the encoding of the message or its equivalent ber or data octet udp . in this regard a safe and effective method appears to be the one currently termed as “ block cipher rijndael ”, also called “ aes ”. the solution described herein has the advantage of allowing the compression of snmp messages — beyond the drawbacks described in the introduction of this description — making reference to a flexible compression technique , in a consolidated way , but also to other compression techniques ( such as mpeg ). such a technique and its algorithm can be used in several operating systems , making such a solution a re - usable and re - implementable solution . further , said solution has a minimum impact both on the manager and the agent , since it requires the set - up of a simple superstructure for compression and decompression of messages . the solution also proves efficient , since it allows the optimization of the network traffic , by transferring , time intervals being equal , a larger quantity of information or the same quantity of information through a lower number of messages . it is also a safe solution , since being compressed and encoded the information travels within the network in a clear text . obviously , while the principle of the invention remains unchanged , the details of the implementation of the invention and its embodiments might be varied considerably with respect to what has been herein described and illustrated , without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . | 7 |
the present invention combines three pacer subsystems with the heart to form a closed loop pacer for pacing the heart . in fig1 the heart 10 is coupled to a stroke volume measurement apparatus 20 through a lead system 12 . the stroke volume measurement system 20 delivers information regarding the stroke volume of the heart to computation and control logic 22 . this apparatus utilizes information related to stroke volume to determine a desired pacing rate for the heart . rate control information is provided to a pulse generator 24 which may provide stimulation to the heart 10 through lead system 12 . the pulse generator 24 may operate in any of the known stimulation modes . however , the algorithm is described in the context of a rate variable asynchronous or voo mode pacer . a system suitable for incorporating the output data of the algorithm into a demand mode pacer may be found in u . s . patent application ser . no . 323 , 507 filed nov . 23 , 1981 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is hereby incorporated by reference . in response to an increase in demand for cardiac output the normal heart increases both its rate and stroke volume . the present invention utilizes the body &# 39 ; s demand for cardiac output to control the rate of pacing . this technique requires a reliable measurement of a physiologic variable which is related to cardiac stroke volume . stroke volume may be inferred by a variety of measurements , taken in the right or left heart including pressure - time histories of arterial blood flow , as well as direct flow measurements in the major blood vessels of the heart . another method of determining the stroke volume of the heart is through the technique of impedance plethysmography . this technique has been widely studied ( rushmer 1953 , geddes 1966 , baan 1981 ). in this technique an electrode system is inserted into the right or left heart . as shown in fig1 current is passed from an anode 13 to a cathode 14 and the voltage between the electrode pair is measured . the accuracy of this method may be increased by utilizing a multiplicity of electrode pairs . ( baan 1981 ). the magnitude of the voltage measurements from the sensing electrode pairs is a function of the impedance of the heart cavity , ( z m ). this impedance is , in turn , a function of the volume of the chamber . in general , volume resistivity of the blood remains constant , and the magnitude of the voltage sensed depends solely upon the volume of the chamber during the measurement . one may measure chamber volume sequentially ( z 1 , z 2 , . . . z m ) over the entire cardiac cycle and can be used to ascertain the maxima and minima of cardiac chamber volume . however , in general , the maximum cardiac volume is achieved at end diastole just prior to the contraction of the ventricle . likewise , the minimum volume of the ventricle occurs at the end of the contraction of the ventricular muscles called end systole . by measuring the heart volume at end systole and end diastole the stroke volume measurement apparatus may determine the stroke volume for that cardiac contraction or cycle . the computation and control circuitry which receives the stroke volume measurement information may average the stroke volume measurements over a number of cardiac cycles or may operate on a beat - to - beat basis . further details regarding the measurement of stroke volume through the use of an intracardiac catheter may be found in cardiovascular research , 1981 , 15 , 328 - 334 . the structural and functional aspects of computation and control system 22 are shown in fig2 . the computation and control system 22 receives stroke volume information labeled svm on a beat - to - beat basis from the stroke volume measurement system 20 which , in turn , is coupled to heart 10 . the computation and control system 22 operates on this information and generates a heart rate value labeled hr n . this rate information is used to control the escape interval of the pulse generator 24 portion of the pacer . the system of sequential stroke volume measurements , denoted [ svm , svm + 1 , svm + 2 . . . ] are delivered to a computational block 100 which calculates an average stroke volume value , denoted sv m , by adding together the values of m measurements and then dividing by m . this process may be expressed : ## equ1 ## experiments have been performed on dogs where the value of m has been varied from 1 to 12 . the control algorithm appears to be relatively insensitive to this interval and a alue of m = 1 may be taken as a representative value . the measured value of average stroke volume sv m is compared with a reference value for stroke volume denoted sv r . the value for sv r is calculated by functional block 112 which will be described shortly . the comparison between sv m and the stroke volume set point sv r is accomplished by functional node 104 which calculates the difference between the two values yielding a difference value denoted δsv m . the value of δsv m is used to calculate a value of the change in heart rate value denoted δhr n in the figure . this computation is performed in functional block 106 . experimental work has been performed with a linear relationship between δsv m and the computed value of δhr n expressed : however other relationships satisfying the general expression δhr n = f ( δsv m ) may prove workable . the proportionality constant k 3 has units of , beats per minute / liter . the value of k 3 affects the response time of the system to changes in the measured stroke volume . it appears from animal experimentation that the value of k 3 is not critical for the stability of the system . a typical value for k 3 may be taken as 600 bpm / l . the value of δhr n computed as a function of δsv m is used to update the existing value for heart rate denoted hr n - 1 . this calculation is performed at node 108 where the value of change in heart rate ( δhr n ) is added to the preceding value of heart rate ( hr n - 1 ). it is important that this operation preserves the sign of the change of heart rate , so that the updated value of heart rate can increase or decrease in comparison with the preceding value . the updated value for heart rate ( hr n ) is permitted to range between a minimum heart rate value ( hrmin ) and a maximum heart rate value ( hrmax ). the rate limit check is performed by functional block 110 . the value of the heart rate delivered to the pulse generator 24 is denoted hr n where hr n = f ( hr n ). the computed value for hr n replaces the prexisting value for hrn - 1 stored at 111 , for use at node 108 . this value is used to calculate a new value for the stroke volume reference value sv r at functional block 112 as follows . the stroke volume reference value sv r is set to an initial value svo during system initialization , ( normal resting value ). subseqeunt values are computed as a function of the heart rate value , sv r = sv0 + k 2 hr n - 1 where the reference value is a linear function of the existing value of heart rate . however , other relationships satisfying the general expression : sv r = f ( hr n - 1 ) may prove workable . the value of sv 0 sets the operating point of the control system as will be discussed with reference to fig3 c and 3d . the value of the proportionality constant k 2 controls the slope of the cardiac load line discussed in connection with fig3 c and 3d . the values for the averaging interval m , the initial stroke volume set point sv 0 and k 2 and k 3 are likely to be patient specific parameters and it may prove desirable to permit alteration of these values by the physician to adapt the pacer to the patient . likewise , the values of hrmax and hrmin may be physician alterable to adapt the stimulation rate to the needs of the patient . the hr n signal is accepted by the pulse generator system 24 and interpreted as an escape interval for the pacemaker function of the device . in operation , the pacemaker escape interval will vary with the measured stroke volume of the heart . as previously indicated , during exercise the escape interval of the pacemaker will shorten . if the heart fails to beat within the designated escape interval , then a pacing stimulus will be provided , from pulse amplifier 27 , to the heart through sensing stimulating electrode 11 as shown in fig1 . if a natural heart beat is detected prior to the expiration of the escape interval through sensing stimulating electrode 11 , a sense amplifier 26 will inhibit the delivery of the pacing stimulus . either or both chambers of the heart may be stimulated by the pulse generator and the device may operate in an inhibited mode . it should be recognized , however , that the stroke volume controlled system can be incorporated into an atrial tracking pacemaker modality wherein the ultimate escape interval of the pacemaker may be influenced by the detected atrial rate of the heart as well as by variations in the patient &# 39 ; s cardiac stroke volume . the objective of this stroke volume controlled pacer is to achieve a pacemaker escape interval which reflects the patient &# 39 ; s physiologic demand for cardiac output . the input signal to this control system is the stroke volume of the patient &# 39 ; s heart and the output variable of this system is the pacemaker &# 39 ; s escape interval . experimental data has been taken with a blood flow meter attached to the aorta of the heart , thus providing a direct measure of the stroke volume of the heart , on a beat by beat basis . it is expected , however , that for a fully implantable system it will be preferable to use the impedance plethysomography approach previously described . the integral of the mass flow rate signal from the transducer provides a sequence of stroke volume measurements svm . these values may be averaged over a multiple number of cardiac cycles to provide a measure of the average stroke volume of the heart . if a very small number of cycles is used , it is possible that the beat - to - beat variation in the patient &# 39 ; s stroke volume may cause the control system to generate a sequence of escape intervals which dither about a physiologically optimum escape rate . on the other hand , if the number of beats taken to form the average is large , the response time of the control system may be insufficient to provide the requisite cardiac output for the instantaneous work level of the patient . experimental work indicates that a value of m = 1 is suitable for a canine with induced heart block . the average stroke volume value sv m is compared with a stroke volume reference value which may be selected by the physician and which is constrained within limits . if this stroke volume reference value is fixed at a specific stroke volume value , then the cardiac load line 320 as shown in fig3 c , will have an infinite slope . under this regime , small increments in stroke volume due to increments in the exercise level of the object result in relatively large increments in heart rate , thus forcing the stroke volume of the heart back toward the set point reference sv r . in this operating mode the patient is paced at a rate which results in a fixed stroke volume for the heart . experimental research with canine reveals a potential defect of fixed stroke volume pacing . as indicated in fig3 c , an escape interval dictated by fixed stroke volume may call for heart rates substantially above those which are safe for the subject . by permitting the stroke volume reference point value to vary within constrained limits , one can control the slope of the cardiac load line . permitting the stroke volume reference point value to vary over a range of approximately 30 ml results in a control system response depicted by fig3 d . in this system the instantaneous value of the stroke volume reference point sv r is a function of the instantaneous value of the heart rate . the linear relationship depicted by functional block 112 of fig2 results in a cardiac load line 330 as shown in fig3 d . while a larger value of the portionality constant k2 as shown by curve 112b in fig2 results in a cardiac load line similar to cardiac load line 340 in fig3 d . thus , the proportionality constant k2 controls the slope of the cardiac load line and may vary the cardiac response from that observed in fixed rate pacing as depicted in fig3 b to that which results from pacing to a fixed stroke volume depicted in fig3 c . an appropriate value for k2 must be selected by the physician based upon information concerning the subject patient &# 39 ; s heart contractility and stroke volume variations . the initial value of the stroke volume set point is taken as sv 0 which may also be a physician programmable variable in the pacemaking system . this value controls the initial operating point for the system at resting values of cardiac output . the variation in stroke volume measurement computed at node 104 is utilized to calculate the change in heart rate of the pacemaker in node 106 . once again a linear relationship between the change in heart rate and the change in stroke volume is illustrated in fig1 . it is quite likely that other functions may be suitable for these relationships . the value of the proportionality constant k3 which controls the slope of the function controls the response time of the pacing system to changes in stroke volume of the patient . since it is desirable to have a fast acting system and it is desirable to have a large value of k3 . in canine work values for the proportionality constant have varied from 156 bpm / l to 1250 bpm / l with a value of 600 bpm / l proving suitable for canines with induced heart block . the calculated value of the change in the desired heart rate computed in functional block 106 is added to the existing value of the heart rate and if this new value falls within the limits prescribed by functional block 110 it is delivered to the pulse generator to control the pacing of the patient &# 39 ; s heart . it is desirable to have the maximum and minimum heart rates for the system physician prescribed . | 0 |
the tubing portion 1 shown in fig1 has a circular cross - section , an external diameter d e , an internal diameter d i and a wall thickness t . the tubing is coiled into a helix of constant amplitude a ( as measured from mean to extreme ), constant pitch p , constant helix angle θ and a swept width w . the tubing portion 1 is contained in an imaginary envelope 20 which extends longitudinally and has a width equal to the swept width w of the helix . the envelope 20 may be regarded as having a central longitudinal axis 30 , which may also be referred to as an axis of helical rotation . the illustrated tubing portion 1 has a straight axis 30 , but it will be appreciated that in alternative designs the central axis may be curved . the tubing portion has a centre line 40 which follows a helical path about the central longitudinal axis 30 . it will be seen that the amplitude a is less than the tubing internal diameter d i . by keeping the amplitude below this size , the space occupied by the tubing portion can be kept relatively small , whilst at the same time the helical configuration of the tubing portion promotes swirl flow of fluid along the tubing portion . fig2 shows a prosthesis 10 comprising a length of hollow tubing having an inlet 2 at one end and an outlet 3 at the other end . a generally helical tubing portion 1 is provided at the outlet 3 thereof . the prosthesis has inlet 2 a and outlet 3 a flaps at its ends which have been surgically fastened by suturing to regions of an artery remote from a blockage 7 in the artery , the prosthesis thus acting as an arterial bypass graft . it could also be surgically connected between an artery and a vein so as a vascular access graft for e . g . renal dialysis . blood from the circulatory system can flow from the inlet 2 to the outlet 3 along a hollow interior or lumen 4 . the helically formed tubing portion 1 is disposed adjacent to the outlet 3 . its non - planar curvature induces a swirl to the flow to improve circulation by rendering the distribution of wall shear stress relatively uniform and suppressing flow separation and flow instability , and as a result inhibiting the development of vessel pathology . the swirl flow may also resist the build up of intimal hyperplasia at the join and downstream of the join with the vein or artery . the tubing can be made of suitable bio - compatible material and such materials are commercially available and known to those skilled in the art . in order to maintain the tubing open and prevent collapse or kinking it is possible to use a stent or other structural support of plastic , metal or other material internally , externally or integral to the wall of the tubing . it will be seen that the prosthesis 10 in fig2 is generally arch shaped . this arch may itself be provided in a single plane . if the arch is non - planar then this will also tend to induce swirl flow and it will be desirable to ensure that the swirl flow induced by the non - planar arch is in the same direction as that induced by the helical tubing portion 1 . the arrangement of fig3 is similar to that of fig2 , except that the helically formed tubing portion 1 extends substantially the full length of the prosthesis 10 . this type of arrangement may simplify manufacture as the tubing could be made in a continuous length which simply has to be cut to appropriate shorter lengths to form prostheses . part of the envelope 20 within which the tubing portion 1 is defined is shown in fig3 . the swept width w defines the width of the envelope . the longitudinal axis 30 of the envelope is curved , the tubular portion being arch shaped . the centre line 40 follows a helical path about the axis 30 . the vascular graft 10 shown in fig4 has a substantially circular cross - section . the tubing is coiled into a helix of constant amplitude a ( as measured from mean to extreme ), constant pitch p , constant helix angle θ and a swept width w . the tubing 1 is contained in an imaginary envelope 20 which extends longitudinally and has a width equal to the swept width w of the helix . the envelope 20 may be regarded as having a central longitudinal axis 30 , which may also be referred to as an axis of helical rotation . the illustrated tubing 1 has a curved axis 30 . the tubing has a centre line 40 which follows a helical path about the central longitudinal axis 30 . the tubing 1 has a helical portion 6 extending longitudinally and circumferentially with the same pitch as pitch p of the helical centre line 40 . the helical portion 6 consists of a strip of material secured to the wall 62 of the tubing 1 . the tubing 1 has an inlet 2 at one end and an outlet 3 at the other end . the tubing has inlet 2 a and outlet 3 a flaps at its ends which have been surgically fastened by suturing to regions of an artery 8 remote from a blockage 7 in the artery , the graft 10 thus acting as an arterial bypass graft . it could also be surgically connected between an artery and a vein so as to serve as a vascular access graft for e . g . renal dialysis . blood from the circulatory system can flow from the inlet 2 to the outlet 3 along a hollow interior or lumen 4 of the graft 10 . it operates in a manner similar to the graft of fig3 , having a non - planar curvature and resist the development of pathology . the swirl flow may also resist the build up of intimal hyperplasia at the join and downstream of the join with the vein or artery . the tubing 1 may be made of various materials . suitable bio - compatible materials are commercially available and known to those skilled in the art . one suitable material is polyester . a knitted polyester yarn such as polyethylene terephthalate , known as dacron ( trade mark ) is a particular example . the helical portion may be made of the same material or another material , such as polypropylene . the helical portion , rather than being a separate strip secured to the wall 62 of the tubing 1 , may be an integral part thereof , for example by being knitted or stitched in to the wall . fig5 shows the result of an experiment carried out on a toy balloon 55 . the balloon was of the elongated type . it was supported , without being inflated , on a cylindrical rod and a plastic strip 51 cut from another balloon was glued onto the outside of the supported balloon to form a longitudinally and circumferentially extending helical strip 6 . a straight line 50 was drawn along the balloon . after the glue had set , the balloon was inflated and the inflated balloon is shown in fig5 . it will be seen that the inflated balloon 55 has a helical lumen . as with the tubing for fluid flow , it has a helical centre line 40 , which follows a helical path about a longitudinal axis 30 . the longitudinal axis is at the centre of an imaginary cylindrical envelope 20 within which the balloon is contained . the amplitude a of the helix is shown in fig5 . it will be noted that after inflation the straight line 50 adopts a wave shape which remains consistently along the same side of the balloon , so that the entire line 50 remains visible in the elevation view of fig5 . the balloon of fig5 starts as a cylindrical membrane with a helical portion which is of greater ( in this case double ) wall thickness than the rest of the balloon . during inflation the thicker helical portion will tend to resist extension in all directions , including circumferential and longitudinal directions , thereby influencing the shape of the expanded balloon . instead of adopting the normal cylindrical shape , the balloon forms a shape with a helical centre line 40 . the balloon is internally pressurised in a manner to some extent analogous with the internal pressurisation of the tubing of the preferred embodiments of the invention . the helical portion causes what would otherwise be a cylindrical shape to adopt and maintain helical geometry . a similar effect is obtained by the helical portion of the tubing for body fluid flow , wherein the helical portion tends to help the tubing maintain its helical longitudinal cavity , i . e . to resist “ straightening out ”. a tubing having a wall defining a longitudinally extending cavity having a centre line following a substantially helical path was manufactured as follows . a pair of flexible cylindrical tubes made from polyester were internally supported by insertion of respective closely fitting coiled springs . the two supported tubes were then positioned adjacent to each other and twisted around each other . the pair of tubes were thermoset in the twisted configuration by immersion in hot water followed by removal and cooling . the tubes were separated and the coil springs removed . the internal geometry of each tube so formed consisted of a longitudinally extending cavity having a centre line following a substantially helical path . one of the tubes was subjected to internal pressurisation by insertion of a cylindrical balloon which was then gently inflated . because of the flexible nature of the material forming the tube , the effect of the internal pressurisation was to straighten out the helix , in that the pitch was increased and the amplitude decreased . such a straightening out effect is however resisted by the use of a helical portion applied to the tube , as described herein . the helical portion is applied to each of the tubes before they are deformed and thermoset as described above . during the step of twisting the two tubes around each other , they are positioned so that their respective helical portions lie in contact with each other . a similar method was used to manufacture another tubing having a wall defining a longitudinally extending cavity with a centre line following a substantially helical path . in this case , the tubing was made of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene ( eptfe ). biocompatible tubing of this type is available for use as vascular prostheses , for example from vascutek limited or boston scientific corporation . referring to fig6 and 7 , a length of eptfe tubing 1 was internally supported by insertion of a length of silicone rubber tubing 70 . a length of polyvinyl chloride ( pvc ) tubing 71 was internally supported by insertion of a closely fitting coiled spring . the two supported tubes were positioned adjacent to each other and twisted around each other . the support tube 70 was clamped at each end by respective clamps 73 , these clamps also serving to clamp the ends of the pvc tube 71 . the internally supported , twisted and clamped tubes were placed in an oven at 180 ° c . for 5 minutes and then cooled by immersion in water at room temperature . the tubes were separated and the support tube 70 was removed from the tubing 1 . the tubing was thermoset in a twisted configuration , as seen in fig8 . although the amplitude of the helix was reduced compared to the amplitude during the heating step , the tubing had the desired longitudinally extended cavity with a centre line following a substantially helical path . a test was carried out on the tubing 1 to investigate its ability to maintain its helical geometry . one end was clamped and the other end was connected to a water supply at a pressure head of 1 . 5 metres ( roughly equal to blood pressure ). it was observed that the helical geometry was maintained after 24 hours . fig9 shows another length of eptfe tubing manufactured using the above method . in this case the tubing 1 used at the start was of the armoured type , having an external helical winding 74 with a large helix angle ( close to 90 °). this type of tubing is used in prostheses subject to external bending forces , for example going across joints such as the knee , and the helical winding serves to help maintain a circular cross - section . it will be noted that such armoured tubing was also successfully modified to have a longitudinally extending cavity with a centre line following a substantially helical path . in an alternative manufacturing method , only one tube , rather than two , is used . the method is described with reference to fig1 a and 10 b . an elongate member , in the form of a thread 101 , is helically wound round an initially cylindrical tube 1 . as seen in fig1 a , the thread 101 is arranged helically along the tubing so as to extend longitudinally and circumferentially thereof . the thread is tensioned and causes the tube to distort helically , such that its longitudinally extending cavity has a centre line following a substantially helical path . the pitch is dictated by the pitch of the winding of the thread . the amplitude is dictated by the tension on the thread . the tension , and hence the helical deformation , is maintained by securing the ends of the thread , for example to a suitable rig . the deformed tube is then heated so as to thermoset and so as to soften the thread sufficiently for it to bond to the tube . the thread therefore serves the purposes first of creating the helical geometry during the tensioning step , and later of helping to retain that geometry when the tube is used and internally pressurised by e . g . arterial pressure . as with other methods described herein , the tubing may be externally or internally supported during this process . in a preferred method a knitted polyester yarn such as polyethylene terephthalate , known as dacron ( trade mark ), is a suitable material for the tube , whilst the elongate member may be polypropylene . the tube may be externally supported with helically wound ( with a very large helix angle , close to 90 °) polypropylene . with these materials the heating step is carried out by heating the tube and tensioned thread in an oven at 140 ° c . in another alternative manufacturing method using only one tube , the tube is initially cylindrical , with a helical portion extending along its wall . the method is described with reference to fig1 a and 11 b . in this method , tubing 1 is provided with a reinforcing strip 51 adhered to its outside surface so as to extend longitudinally and circumferentially of the tubing . an inflatable device 55 is located inside the tubing . the inflatable device is inflated in order to expand the tubing . during this process the helically arranged strip 51 causes the tubing to expand to a shape having a longitudinal , helical cavity , as seen in fig1 b . the tubing adopts the helical geometry in the same manner as the balloon shown in fig5 . the tubing is thermoset in this condition and allowed to cool , in order to retain the desired helical shape . the material of the inflatable device 55 is chosen to withstand the elevated temperature required to thermoset the tubing . the helical portion , in the form of strip 51 , thus serves the purposes first of creating the helical geometry during the inflation step , and later of helping to retain that geometry when the tube is used and internally pressurised by e . g . arterial pressure . another method of making a graft is described with reference to fig1 a to 12 e . this method involves the use of a helical mandrel . fig1 a is a schematic illustration of a helical mandrel for use in this method . the mandrel consists of a rigid rod 300 , shaped into a helix . the mandrel extends longitudinally and circumferentially around a cylindrical space which defines a core 301 of the mandrel . in the embodiment shown , the pitch and the amplitude of the helix are constant along the length of the mandrel , but they may vary if desired . in order to form a helical portion , a length of straight flexible tube 1 , whose external diameter d e is greater than the internal diameter d m of the core of the mandrel , is fed generally along the core of the mandrel , as shown in fig1 b . because the tube is wider than the space inside the mandrel , it is forced to adopt a helical form . the tube may be externally or internally supported to retain its cross - sectional shape during this process . after being treated to make it retain its helical shape , e . g . by thermosetting , the tube is removed from the mandrel , as shown in fig1 c and 12 d . as can be seen , the pitch of the helical portion is the same as the pitch of the mandrel , subject to some possible relaxation of the tube when removed from the mandrel . the amplitude of the helical portion will be determined by the external diameter of the tube and the internal diameter of the core of the mandrel . the above description concerns a batch processing method for forming the helical tubing , but this method also lends itself to continuous operation . a continuous length of flexible tube can be drawn through a comparatively short length of mandrel , and can be treated to retain its shape as it is drawn through ( for example , by heating and then cooling a tube formed from a thermosetting resin ). experiment has shown that the tube rotates relative to the mandrel when it is drawn through in this way . thus , some form of lubrication may be required to enable smooth functioning of the process . fig1 e is a schematic cross - section through the tube and the mandrel as the tube is drawn . it will be seen that the mandrel contacts the outside of the tube , and so the mandrel can be supported from below ( at 320 ) without interfering with the drawing process . the mandrel can be formed in any suitable manner , and the method of forming the mandrel will depend to a large extent on the size of the tubes being treated . the mandrel could be formed by winding a rod around a member with a circular cross - section , or it may be made by machining , for example using a cnc milling machine . another method of making a graft is described with reference to fig1 a and 13 b . fig1 a shows a straight steel rod 110 held in tension between two clamps ( not shown ). a soft steel wire 112 has been wound on to the steel rod in a helical manner , i . e . to extend longitudinally and circumferentially of the rod . the wire 112 is secured in place by silver solder . the wire 112 forms a guide showing where a tubing 1 is to be wound around the rod 110 , which acts as a mandrel . by using the wire 112 as a guide , the pitch ( or helix angle ) of the tubing when wound onto the rod is predetermined . the tubing is then heated and cooled in order to thermoset it . it is separated from the rod and when it separates it “ relaxes ” whereby its helical amplitude reduces . in this example , the tubing is made of eptfe . experiments were carried out using polyvinyl chloride tubing with a circular cross - section . referring to the parameters shown in fig1 the tubing had an external diameter d e of 12 mm , an internal diameter d i of 8 mm and a wall thickness t of 2 mm . the tubing was coiled into a helix with a pitch p of 45 mm and a helix angle θ of 8 °. the amplitude a was established by resting the tubing between two straight edges and measuring the space between the straight edges . the amplitude was determined by subtracting the external diameter d e from the swept width w : in this example the swept width w was 14 mm , so : as discussed earlier , “ relative amplitude ” a r is defined as : water was passed along the tube . in order to observe the flow characteristics , two needles 80 and 82 passing radially through the tube wall were used to inject visible dye into the flow . the injection sites were near to the central axis 30 , i . e . at the “ core ” of the flow . one needle 80 injected red ink and the other needle 82 blue ink . fig1 shows the results of three experiments , at reynolds numbers r e of 500 , 250 and 100 respectively . it will be seen in all cases that the ink filaments 84 and 86 intertwine , indicating that in the core there is swirl flow , i . e . flow which is generally rotating . the parameters for this example were the same as in example 1 , except that the needles 80 and 82 were arranged to release the ink filaments 84 and 86 near to the wall of the tubing . fig1 shows the results of two experiments with near - wall ink release , with reynolds numbers r e of 500 and 250 respectively . it will be seen that in both cases the ink filaments follow the helical tubing geometry , indicating near - wall swirl . furthermore , mixing of the ink filaments with the water is promoted . it will be appreciated that this invention , in its first aspect , is concerned with values of relative amplitude a r less than or equal to 0 . 5 , i . e . small relative amplitudes . in a straight tubing portion both the amplitude a and the relative amplitude a r equal zero , as there is no helix . therefore , with values of relative amplitude a r approaching zero , the ability of the tubing portion to induce swirl will reduce . the lowest workable value of relative amplitude a r for any given situation will depend on the speed of flow and the viscosity and density of the fluid ( i . e . reynolds number ) and on the pitch ( helix angle ) and the particular use of the tubing portion . relative amplitudes of at least 0 . 05 , 0 . 10 , 0 . 15 , 0 . 20 , 0 . 25 , 0 . 30 , 0 . 35 , 0 . 40 or 0 . 45 may be preferred . the various manufacturing methods described herein are not limited to the manufacture of tubing with a relative amplitude equal to or less than 0 . 5 , unless otherwise specified . the methods are considered to be of independent patentable significance and are applicable to the manufacture of tubing with larger amplitudes , whilst also being particularly useful for making tubing of small relative amplitudes . | 0 |
turning to fig1 there is shown an embodiment of a gaming device 10 according to the present invention . the device 10 includes a housing 12 supporting a bonus device compartment 14 . the housing 12 contains a game controlling computer processor 16 , which controls the various aspects of the gaming device 10 . as shown the housing 12 also mounts a base game display 18 , which may be embodied as a video display such as a vrt , plasma or other electronic display or may be embodied as a view glass to view three or more electro - mechanical reels as is known in the art . for purposes of illustration , the base game display 18 is depicted as a video display of a five - reel slot machine game . it should be understood , however , that the base game may take any slot machine or gaming machine form such as by being a 3 - reel spinning reel slot machine , video poker game , video keno , video lottery , video blackjack or the like . to control the processor 16 and the play of the base game , the housing mounts a plurality of control buttons positioned below the base game display 18 . at 26 a there is provided a cash out button which , if depressed by the player , controls the processor 16 to pay to the player in the form of tokens , voucher or the like , accumulated game credits in a manner well known in the art . bet one button 26 b enables the player to wager one unit at a time . button 26 c is a max - bet button that enables the player to wager the maximum amount for the play of the base game . spin button 26 d prompts the play of the base game . the aforementioned buttons or prompts may be also embodied as touch areas on a touch screen based game display 18 . to enable a player to accumulate game credits , the device 10 may also include a cash validator 22 of the type well known in the art . other means such as a token acceptor ( not shown ) or debit or credit card reader 24 may be provided . a token accepting tray 20 may also be provided to accept token dispensed by the device 10 when the player touches the cash out button 26 a . to play the base game , the player accumulates game credits in the device 10 as by inserting a cash note , script or voucher into the cash validator 22 . the player then decides how much to wager . it will be assumed that the player decides to wage the maximum amount and therefore touches the max bet button 26 c . the appropriate number of credits are deducted from the inventory of game credits and the processor 16 is prompted to randomly select and display at the base game display , a base game outcome represented by a matrix of game symbols . as is known with slot machine games , the matrix of symbols defines numerous pay lines , e . g . horizontal rows , diagonals , reflecting , through the matrix . the processor 16 tests each pay line that has been wagered upon and if a pay line has one of a predetermined schedule of winning outcomes or if the matrix has scattered symbols combinations , the player is issued an award . if a pay line does not embrace a winning symbol combination , the player loses their wager amount for that pay line . thus the player may obtain numerous and frequent base game winning outcomes . for winning outcomes , the player receives an award typically in the form of game credits summed into the game credit inventory . according to the present invention , one or more base game pay line or scattered symbol outcomes defines a bonus game trigger . should the player obtain such an outcome ( with the requisite amount wagered or the triggering pay line enabled by a wager ) the processor 16 detects this condition and controls the gaming device 10 to enable the bonus phase . alternatively , the base game may contain no apparent trigger combination that enables the bonus event . the wheel or other bonus apparatus may be set by the processor to be award at random , without the use of a trigger combination in the base game , in a “ mystery prize ” format . to provide for the play and presentation of the bonus phase of the gaming device 10 , the compartment 14 includes a display that may be embodied as a physical , three - dimensional object , a two - dimensional physical display such as a wheel , or as a video display depicting a three - dimensional object . with reference to fig1 and 2 there is shown a rotatable wheel 30 contained within the compartment 14 . preferably the wheel 30 is mounted for rotation within the compartment 14 that is optionally covered with glass 32 . to provide the three - dimensional effect using a video display , the display may be done using 3 - d technology where the player is provided with viewing glasses ( e . g . disposable 3 - d glasses ) or the display may be embodied as overlaying displays to produce the three - dimensional effect . the wheel 30 , includes a plurality of surface panels 34 , each of which having a display of a bonus amount , at each section of the wheel . for example , and as suggested in fig2 , each panel 34 may have imprinted thereon a bonus amount . these display within the wheel use led , lcd , liquid quartz , video or other display technology to provide for changing the awards amount at any panel during the course of the gam e . the number of bonus credits to be won by the player may change upon certain conditions in the overall game , such as the player wagering an increased number of coins or credits . while the gaming device 10 is idle , the wheel 30 may be controlled to rotate to provide a visual display to attract players . lights may be disposed on the wheel 30 and lit in conjunction with rotation to increase the visual attraction of the device 10 . when a bonus trigger condition is obtained , the processor 16 controls the bonus feature to select and display the bonus award for the player . with reference to fig1 and 2 , the processor 16 randomly selects a bonus amount from a schedule of bonus amounts ( the amounts may be arranged in a non - uniform probability distribution so that certain amounts are more likely to be selected than others ) and controls the sphere 30 to display the amount . for example , the processor 16 may control the wheel or 3 - d object ( which may represent an soccer ball , baseball , golf ball or other spherical object consistent with the theme of the base game ), in a first mode where the wheel 30 rotates and processes through various bonus amounts to increase the excitement and anticipation prior to display of the amount to be awarded . within the compartment 14 there may be provided lights to increase the visual appearance of the bonus device 30 . sound may also be provided to further contribute to the entertainment value of the bonus feature for the player and bystanders . with reference to fig3 there is shown an embodiment where the bonus feature includes a three - dimensional object simulating a football 36 having bonus revealing surface elements 34 thereon . when the bonus phase is triggered the football 36 is shown to spin and / or gyrate to eventually reveal the surface element with the bonus . the movement of the football 36 is preferably accompanied by sounds and lights to enhance the sensory impact of the bonus feature to the player and bystanders . turning to fig4 there is disclosed another embodiment of the invention . according to this embodiment the three - dimensional object such as the sphere 30 is provided with a surface 40 having one or more reflecting elements 42 . a projector 44 is disposed in the device 10 to project views onto the sphere 30 for reflection and display to the player . as shown , the glass 32 may have a panel 46 to receive the projection for the display of the same . accordingly , the wheel 30 may be rotated while the device 10 is idle with the projector 44 projecting light onto the wheel 30 to create an attractive display to bring a play to the game . upon placing a wager the processor 16 discontinues the idle mode for the display and device 10 base game is played by the player . upon obtaining a triggering condition , the wheel 30 is rotated and the projector 44 ultimately projects the bonus to be awarded which is reflected by the sphere to the panel 46 . turning to fig5 there is shown a further embodiment of fig1 wherein the display includes a video display 60 such as a vrt or plasma display where the wheel 30 is a virtual sphere displayed at the display . the display 60 is controlled by the processor 16 to have an idle mode display where the display 60 may display the sphere 60 rotating and gyrating to attract a player to the device 10 . the processor 16 controls the display 60 to display the sphere 30 in various modes including the display of any bonus awards . fig6 shows another embodiment of the bonus display 100 is embodied as a free standing sphere with panels 34 supported by the housing 12 . the free standing sphere 100 . by projecting the sphere above the housing 12 , the device 10 presents an attractive game for players and for passers by . in fig7 there is shown a further embodiment of the bonus display embodied as a box 200 including a plurality of mechanical doors 202 which are controlled to open to reveal the bonus . fig8 shows yet a further embodiment of the bonus display including an outer ring 300 to display bonus awards . for example , the outer ring 300 may include backlit segments 302 which are selectively backlit to display a bonus amount . alternatively , the outer ring 300 may be controlled to spin or simulate spinning , to register the bonus award amount at an index position which signifies the award . within the outer ring 300 is an inner display 306 which is controlled to spin about an axis a within the outer ring 300 . the inner display 306 contains a display of bonus award modifiers such as multipliers or additional award amounts . when the bonus is triggered , the outer ring 30 and inner display 306 are controlled by the processor 16 to ( 1 ) display an award amount from the outer ring 300 and ( 2 ) a modifier with the inner display 306 . for example , the outer ring 300 may be controlled to simulate spinning to register a bonus award amount at an index , e . g . 100 credits . the inner display 306 spins and processes through various multiplier awards to eventually stop in a position coplanar with the outer ring 300 whereby a multiplier amount likewise registers with the index whereby the player wins the award of the outer ring 300 multiplied by the multiplier of the inner display 306 . it must be understood that the three - dimensional objects need not be spherical , oblong or any other shape . they could be cubical as a die with six or more sides , parallelpipedal or any other shape . further , more than one object may be included in the display . fig9 shows another embodiment of the present invention . according to this embodiment the device 10 has a housing 12 supporting an upstanding video ( lcd , vrt crt , plasma ) display 400 which may be circular , square or any other desired shape . the display 400 reveals a plurality of award values 402 as controlled by the processor 16 . the processor 16 may control the display 400 to display the values flashing or progressing or moving in the display 400 until the ultimate award is revealed . while i have shown and described certain embodiments of the present invention , it should be understood that the same is subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
the total ash content of the pyrolytic carbon with which the entire surface of the c / c composite is coated is not more than 5 ppm , preferably not more than 3 ppm , and the total ash content of the inside of the c / c composite is 5 to 100 ppm . further , it is desirable that the ash content of the c / c composite is preferably 5 to 20 ppm , more preferably 5 to 10 ppm when using to the cz apparatus . the total ash content is determined by following method . the sample of 20 g measured precisely and filled in a crucible made of platinum ( 50 cc capacity ) was heated at 950 ° c . in the oxygen stream ( 2 to 3 l / min ) until it reached the constant weight and then was spontaneously cooled in a desiccator , and then the remaining ash content was measured . the pyrolytic - carbon - coated c / c composite of the present invention is 10 to 100 μm in thickness of the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer on the surface and a part of the pyrolytic carbon is impregnated in advance into the inside of the c / c composite . the thickness of the pyrolytic - carbon - coated in layer on the surface is 10 to 100 μm , preferably 20 to 60 μm . this enables the impurity gas generated from the inside of the c / c composite to be suppressed . with the thickness of the coated layer of less than 10 μm , there is provided an undesirable result that when impurity gas is generated much from the inside of the c / c composite , the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer on the surface may be peeled off by the gas pressure from the inside . with the thickness of the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer of less than 10 μm , the non - gas - permeability may be deteriorated . with the thickness of the coated layer in excess of 100 μm , although the coated layer can shield the gas generated from the inside , there is provided an undesirable result that when subjected to heat history repeatedly , the coated layer may be peeled off by the thermal stress . the inside of the c / c composite can be produced by a conventional c / c composite manufacturing process and need not be purified repeatedly . for the carbon fibers , pan - base or pitch - base carbon fibers can be used . also , impregnating the carbon material comprising pitch , phenol and pyrolytic carbon into a molded member formed of the carbon fibers forms the matrix available for densification . the pyrolytic carbon used herein is intended to include high purity carbonaceous material or graphite material obtained by pyrolyzing hydrocarbons including hydrocarbon gases of 1 to 8 carbons , particularly 3 carbons , such as propane and methane gas . in the pyrolytic - carbon - coated c / c composite of the present invention , the pan - base or pitch - base carbon fibers are prepared , first . then , the carbon fibers are subjected to high purification at 1 , 800 ° c . to 2 , 200 ° c . under a halogen gas atmosphere ( first high purification process ). the halogen gas used including halogen or gas of a compound thereof . the halogen gases which may be used include chlorine , chlorine compound , fluorine and fluorine compound , together with compounds including chlorine and fluorine in the same molecule ( monochlorotrifluoromethane , trichlo romonofluoromethane , dichlorofluoroethane , trichloromono - fluoroethane and the like ). then , the carbon fibers are allowed to react with these halogen gases , where by the impurities included in carbon fibers , metallic impurities in particular , are evaporated and volatilized as halide and removed from the carbon fibers . thereafter , after the carbon fibers are allowed to stand in the same processing furnace for a prescribed time under a halogen gas atmosphere , hydrogen gas is fed to a reaction vessel so that the impurities , such as sulfur , can be deposited as hydride and thereby be removed . this can achieve the total ash content of the carbon fibers of not more than 100 ppm , preferably not more than 80 ppm , in the ash content determined method . after the impurities in the carbon fibers are removed by the high purification process , the carbon fibers are impregnated with the pitch or resin for densification , and are baked at temperature 800 ° c . to 1 , 200 ° c ., and thereby these carbon fibers which results in the matrix are carbonized . the densifying step and the carbonizing step are repeated 2 or 3 times . it is noted that although no particular limitation is imposed on the resin used , as long as it is the one that converts into solid phase carbon , one resin selected from the group including phenol ( resole , novolak ), furan , polyimide , polyamide - imide , polyether imide , polycarbodiimide and bisallyldiimide or combination thereof may be used within the range within which its property is not impaired . solvent may be used in combination , when necessary . it is preferable that the molded member after densified is 1 . 4 to 1 . 6 g / cm 2 in bulk density and 5 to 20 % in porosity , in that in the high purification process , the high purified gas can easily be diffused into the inside and thus the impurity gas in the inside can be removed easily . for the purpose of high purification and graphitization , the molded member subjected to densification to have a prescribed porosity is subjected to high purification and graphitization under a halogen gas atmosphere at temperature ( 1 , 800 ° c . to 2 , 400 ° c .) equal to or higher than the first purification process temperature by 100 ° c . to 200 ° c . for 5 to 30 hours . this can achieve the total ash content of the molded member of not more than 100 ppm , preferably not more than 80 ppm , further preferably not more than 60 ppm , in the ash content determined method . further , it is desirable that the ash content is not more than preferably 20 ppm , more preferably not more than 10 ppm for cz apparatus . the surface coating with pyrolytic carbon is performed by chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ). the cvd referred to be intended to include chemical vapor impregnation ( cvi ) for the pyrolytic carbon to permeate and precipitate to the inside from the pores . in the cvd using the hydrocarbons or hydrocarbon compounds , the concentration of the hydrocarbon is controlled to be 3 to 30 %, preferably 5 to 15 %, and the total pressure is controlled to be less than 13 kpa , preferably less than 6 . 5 kpa . in this controlling process , the hydrocarbon forms a large carbon compound in the vicinity of the surface of the base material by the dehydrogenation , thermal decomposition , polymerization and the like , and the large carbon compound is deposited and precipitated on the base material . then , the dehydrogenation reaction proceeds further , so that a dense pyrolytic carbon layer is formed on the base material or the carbon compound is permeated to be impregnated into the base material . while the temperature range for the precipitation is in general so broad as 800 ° c . to 2 , 500 ° c ., it is preferable that the processes are performed within a relative low temperature range of 1 , 300 ° c . or less , to achieve maximum pyrolytic carbon impregnation . also , the precipitation time is set to 50 hours or more , preferably 100 hours or more , to enable the pyrolytic carbon to be formed in the inside , and subsequently the base material is coated with the pyrolytic carbon at 1 , 800 ° c . or more , to form a film of the coated layer having a thickness of 100 μm or less . the precipitation time of 50 hours or more , or preferably 100 hours or more , enables the pyrolytic carbon to be formed in every space between the fibers , so that the fibers in the inside of the base material are also coated with the pyrolytic carbon . this contributes to prevention of the gas generated from the inside of the base material . for achieving the enhanced impregnation , the isothermal method , the temperature gradient method , the pressure gradient method and the like may be used . also the pulse method may be used for achieving the shortened process time and the purification . the cvd can control the total ash content of the pyrolytic carbon to not more than 5 ppm in the ash content determined method , to ensure application to the cz apparatus components . the cz apparatus components referred to in this application correspond to all known graphite components used in the cz apparatus , including the crucible , the heater , the upper ring , the lower ring , the inner shield , the seed chuck and etc . while the present invention is described below more specifically with reference to the following examples , embodiments of the present invention are by no means limited to the following examples . a layer of a plain weave cloth ( t - 300 6k , made by toray industries , inc .) impregnated with phenol resin was laminated on a mandrel , followed by application of the filament windings thereon . the using filaments of the filament windings were heated to 2 , 000 ° c . under a halogen gas atmosphere for 10 hours ( the first high purification process ). in the filaments windings , with six filaments of t - 300 12k ( made by toray industries , inc .) were impregnating with phenol resin , the level winding and the parallel winding of a contact angle of 85 ° to 90 ° with respect to the center axis were alternately wound 5 layers each . while the drum is allowed to have 10 layers of the alternate parallel and level windings , the bottom is allowed to have the layers of the level windings only . as a result of this , the molded member having a thickness of layer of 10 mm was obtained . subsequently , the volatile matter of the obtained molded member was adjusted in an oven at 100 ° c . and , thereafter , the molded member was solidification by increasing the temperature of the oven up to 200 ° c . after having been solidification , the molded member was removed from the mandrel to obtain the molded member . then , the molded member was increased in temperature up to 1 , 000 ° c . at the heating ratio of 10 ° c ./ hr in an electric oven , to obtain the c / c composite . the ash content was 76 ppm . further , the molded member was subjected to a pitch impregnation process and then was increased in temperature up to 1 , 000 ° c . at the heating ratio of 10 ° c ./ hr in the electric oven with nitrogen flow for baking . the baking process was repeated twice to obtain the molded member having 10 % porosity . further , as a final heat - treatment , the molded member was heated up to 2 , 000 ° c . under 101 kpa of halogen gas atmosphere for the graphitization and the second high purification process . the ash content of the c / c composite before being coated with the pyrolytic carbon was 50 ppm . thereafter , the molded member was machined and formed into a specified form . after the machining process , for the purpose of being impregnated and coated with pyrolytic carbon , the molded member was set in a vacuum furnace into which methane gas was supplied and to keep for 100 hours under the pressure inside the vacuum furnace of 3 . 3 kpa , followed by being impregnated and coated with the pyrolytic carbon by the cvd process , to thereby produce the end product . the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer was found to be 40 μm in thickness by the cvd process and 1 . 55 g / cm 3 in bulk density . except the process time of the cvd process of 50 hours and the thickness of the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer of 20 μm , the same processes as those of example 1 were performed to thereby produce a crucible whose surface is coated with dense and high purity pyrolytic carbon . then , a test in actual use was conducted by use of the cz apparatus the same manner as in example 1 . except the process time of the cvd process of 150 hours and the thickness of the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer of 60 μm , the same processes as those of example 1 were performed to thereby produce a crucible whose surface is coated with dense and high purity pyrolytic carbon . then , the test in actual use was conducted by use of the cz apparatus in the same manner as in example 1 . except that the high purification process was conducted at the carbon fiber stage and that the impurities in the molded member was not more than 5 ppm at the stage at which the molded member using the carbon fibers is not yet impregnated and coated with pyrolytic carbon by the cvd process , the crucible for use in the cz apparatus was produced in the same manner as in example 1 . the crucible thus produced had a similar form to that of example 1 , having impurities of not more than 5 ppm in the inside as well as in the surface . then , the test in actual use was conducted by use of the cz apparatus in the same manner as in example 1 . except that the cvd process was not taken , the crucible for use in the cz apparatus was produced in the same manner as in example 1 . then , the test in actual use was conducted by use of the cz apparatus in the same manner as in example 1 . except the cvd process time of 10 hours and the thickness of the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer of 5 μm , the same processes as those of example 1 were performed to thereby produce a crucible for use in the cz apparatus . then , the test in actual test was conducted by use of the cz apparatus in the same manner as in example 1 . except the cvd process time of 200 hours and the thickness of the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer of 120 μm , the same processes as those of example 1 were performed to thereby produce a crucible for use in the cz apparatus . then , the test in actual use was conducted by use of the cz apparatus in the same manner as in example 1 . the tests in actual use were conducted of the crucibles of the c / c composites coated with dense and high purity pyrolytic carbon according to examples 1 to 3 , to measure their properties including the fiber content ratio , the bulk density and the bending strength . also , their ash content was measured . the fiber content ratio was calculated from the weight and bulk density of the fibers and the bulk density of the products . the bulk density was calculated from the sizes and weights . the bending strength was measured by a three - point bending test with a span of 40 mm . the ash content was measured precisely and filled in the platinum crucible having a 50 cc capacity , was heated at 950 ° c . in the oxygen stream ( 2 to 3 l / min ) until it reached the constant weight , as aforementioned . then , the test example was spontaneously cooled in the desiccator and the remaining ash content was measured . the physical properties of the test samples are listed in table 1 . the test examples in actual use of crucibles of examples 1 to 3 were conducted in 100 batches , and it was found that no particular problems presented in the as pulled single crystal ingot , as is the case of the known crucible of the known c / c composite whose inside is also high purity . particularly , there developed no cracks or peeling in the pyrolytic - carbon - coated layer on the surface , and the crucibles of examples 1 to 3 were found to be in no way inferior to the crucible of comparative example 1 whose inside ash content is not more than 5 ppm . thus , it was found that the c / c composite according to the present invention showed such properties as to be applicable as the cz apparatus , e . g . durability , comparable with those of comparative example 1 and equivalent which are subjected to high purification to achieve the ash content of the pyrolytic carbon of not more than 5 ppm in both the inside c / c composite and the surface at high manufacturing costs . | 8 |
in fig1 and 2 , a valve ( 1 ) is utilized to control opening and closing of a passage between a combustion chamber ( not shown ) and a cylinder head port . said valve ( 1 ) is biased so as to be continuously closed by a spring ( not shown ) and its upper end ( 5 ) is brought in contact with an adjuster screw ( 4 ) fixed to an end ( 2a ) of a rocker arm ( 2 ) by a nut ( 3 ). the other end ( 2b ) of a rocker arm ( 2 ) is in contact with a cam surface of a cam ( 6 ). the rocker arm ( 2 ) is also capable of rocking around the core of a rocker shaft ( 8 ) as its pivot point which is fixed to a rocker support ( 7 ) and supports rocker arm ( 2 ) and rocker support ( 7 ). when the cam rotates , the rocker arm ( 2 ) carries out a rocking movement , and the valve ( 1 ) repeats opening and closing operation through an adjuster screw ( 4 ). the lower part of the body ( 11 ) of the known lash adjuster of an oil - supplying type is press - fitted into the hollow portion of the rocker support ( 7 ). the upper part of the body ( 11 ) of the lash adjuster ( 9 ) is inserted in a slidable manner in the hollow portion ( 10a ) of the adjuster support ( 10 ) fixed to the housing ( 26 ). the body , constituting a cylinder ( 12 ) whose upper end is open , carries out a reciprocating up - and - down movement . a plunger ( 13 ) provided inside the cylinder is in static condition . inside the plunger ( 13 ) is formed a reservoir ( 14 ), in which oil is supplied through a main passage ( 15 ) from oil pump ( not shown ), a passage ( 17 ) in the adjuster support ( 10 ) and a passage ( 18 ) in a plunger support ( 16 ). also , inside the body ( 11 ), a pressure chamber ( 19 ) is formed below the plunger ( 13 ). a ball check valve ( 21 ) which opens and closes an oil passage ( 20 ) is provided on the pressure chamber ( 19 ) side of the oil passage ( 20 ) formed at the center of the bottom part of the plunger ( 13 ). this check valve ( 21 ) permits the flow of oil from the reservoir ( 14 ) to the pressure chamber ( 19 ), but prevents a reverse flow of the oil from the pressure chamber ( 19 ) to the reservoir ( 14 ). the check valve ( 21 ) is biased towards the closed direction by a spring ( 24 ) whose one end is supported by a retainer ( 23 ) held by a spring ( 22 ). a solenoid valve fixed to a housing ( 26 ) is fitted to the upper section of the adjuster support ( 10 ). this solenoid valve is activated by a microcomputer ( not shown ). the microcomputer senses the input signals from the engine such as , for example , the speed of the vehicle , the degree of throttle opening and the temperature of the engine , to regulate and activate the valve . from the solenoid valve ( 25 ) a valve stem ( 27 ) penetrates downwards through a central hole ( 28 ) in the upper surface of the adjuster support ( 10 ) and is inserted in the reservoir ( 14 ) in a slidable manner in an up - and - down direction . in the housing ( 26 ) is formed a longitudinal hole ( 29 ) and a pipe ( 30 ) secured to the rocker support ( 7 ) is inserted so as to slide up and down . also , an oil passage ( 31 ) connecting to the longitudinal hole ( 29 ) is provided inside the housing ( 26 ) and said passage ( 31 ) is connected to the main passage ( 15 ) formed in the aforementioned housing ( 26 ) through the clearance between the central hole ( 28 ) and the valve stem ( 27 ) and the passages ( 18 ), ( 17 ). further , the hole ( 30a ) of the pipe ( 30 ) linked to the longitudinal hole ( 29 ) is connected to a central hole ( 35 ) of the rocker shaft ( 8 ) through a horizontal passage ( 32 ) formed in the rocker support ( 7 ), chamfered part ( 11a ) of the bottom of the body ( 11 ), a longitudinal passage ( 33 ) in the rocker support ( 7 ) and a passage ( 34 ) formed in the rocker shaft ( 8 ) so that the oil is supplied to the sliding surface of the rocker arm ( 2 ) via said central hole ( 35 ) and a passage ( 36 ). numeral ( 44 ) indicates a member which covers the opening of the central hole ( 35 ) of the rocker shaft ( 8 ) and ( 45 ) is a setscrew which fixes the rocker shaft ( 8 ) to the rocker support ( 7 ). a relief valve ( 37 ) is linked to a hole ( 38 ) leading to the main passage ( 15 ) by means of a screw ( 39 ). when the oil pressure in the main passage ( 15 ) increases , a plunger ( 40 ) of the relief valve ( 37 ) is pressed downwards in opposition to a spring ( 41 ), sealing by o - ring ( 42 ) becomes ineffective , the oil in the main passage ( 15 ) escapes and relief is available through a hole ( 43 ). in the device of the above - mentioned embodiment , the lash adjuster ( 9 ) ordinarily carries out the known operation by repeating an expanding - contracting movement of a small order . however , when the engine load is small , the microcomputer will sense , for example , engine input signals such as engine load , vehicle speed and the degree of throttle opening , to activate the solenoid valve ( 25 ). in response to the operation of said valve ( 25 ), the valve stem ( 27 ) moves downwards , presses the check valve ( 21 ) down and opens the oil passage ( 20 ). since this enables the two chambers consisting of the pressure chamber ( 19 ) and the reservoir ( 14 ) to be connected to each other , the oil in the pressure chamber ( 19 ) will shift into the reservoir ( 14 ). when the cam rotates in this condition , the rocker arm ( 2 ), carrying out a rocking movement around the center of the rocker shaft ( 8 ) as its pivot in ordinary operation , will come to rock around the upper end ( 5 ) of the valve ( 1 ) as its pivot point , so that the valve ( 1 ) will not perform opening and closing operation . on the other hand , the oil in the main passage ( 15 ) moves into the reservoir ( 14 ) via passages ( 17 ) and ( 18 ), reaches the passage ( 31 ) through the clearance between the central hole ( 28 ) of the adjuster support ( 10 ) and the valve stem ( 27 ), arrives further at the longitudinal passage ( 33 ) through the longitudinal hole ( 29 ), the central hole ( 30a ), horizontal passage ( 32 ) and chamfered part ( 11a ) of the bottom of the body ( 11 ), flows into the central hole ( 35 ) of the rocker shaft ( 8 ) via the passage ( 34 ), and lubricates the sliding surface of the rocker arm ( 2 ) via the passage ( 36 ). when the rocker arm ( 2 ) rocks around the upper end ( 5 ) of the valve ( 1 ) as its pivot point , the rocker support ( 7 ) and the body ( 11 ) also carries out an up - and - down movement . consequently , during the rise the oil in the reservoir ( 14 ) and pressure chamber ( 19 ) is sent into the main passage ( 15 ) resulting in an increase of the pressure in said passage ( 15 ). thus , when the oil pressure in the passage ( 15 ) builds up , the pressurized oil presses the plunger ( 40 ) downwards via the hole ( 38 ) in opposition to the spring ( 41 ) and relieve the oil in the passage ( 15 ). fig3 shows an accumulator ( 46 ) in another embodiment of the present invention which can be mounted instead of the relief valve ( 37 ) shown in fig1 . a plunger ( 47 ) of this accumulator is pressed down by the pressurized oil in opposition to a spring ( 48 ) and expands the volume of a reservoir ( 49 ) so as to temporarily store the oil in the main passage ( 15 ) here . there is no difference in the operation effects between this embodiment and the aforementioned embodiment . in the above - mentioned embodiment , in case of the body ( 11 ) being cylindrical , the rocker support ( 7 ) rotates around the body ( 11 ) as its center and accompanies the rotation of the rocker arm ( 2 ) secured to the rocker support . accordingly there is a fear of both ends ( 2a ) and ( 2b ) of the rocker arm ( 2 ) not coming into contact with the valve ( 1 ) and cam ( 6 ). for this reason , the utilization of an antirotation structure of the rocker support ( 7 ) becomes necessary . in the above mentioned embodiment , as is shown in fig2 the section of the rocker support ( 7 ) is made to be of a square form and the end faces ( 50 ), ( 51 ) are arranged to provide a slight clearance in relation to the face ( 52a ) of the rib ( 52 ) and the wall ( 53 ). consequently , if the rocker support starts to rotate around the body ( 11 ) as its center , the end faces ( 50 ) and ( 51 ) bump against the rib face ( 52a ) and the wall ( 53 ), which prevents the rotation of the rocker support ( 7 ) and rocker arm ( 2 ) and removal of the rocker arm ( 2 ) from the upper end of the cam ( 6 ) and valve ( 1 ). if at least one square face of the rocker support ( 7 ) bumps against the rib face or wall of the housing , a sufficient antirotational effect is obtained . accordingly the structure is not restricted to the one shown in the drawing in which two end faces bump at the same time and the section of the rocker support ( 7 ) is not limited to be of a square form . | 5 |
an embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the appended drawings . in the drawings , like or corresponding components will be assigned with identical reference characters and redundant explanation thereof will be omitted . the site registering device of the embodiment can be advantageously used , for example , at a plug - in hybrid vehicle or electric automobile that has a car navigation system installed thereon . first , the vehicle provided with the site registering device of the invention will be schematically explained . fig1 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle provided with a site registering device of the embodiment . a vehicle 3 shown in fig1 is provided with a vehicle speed sensor 31 , a global positioning system ( gps ) receiver 32 , a battery monitoring unit 33 , an engine control unit 34 , and a navigation device 20 . the gps is a measuring system using satellites and can be advantageously used for determining the present position of the own vehicle . the vehicle speed sensor 31 detects the speed of the vehicle 3 . for example , a sensor that detects the vehicle speed by detecting the rotation of wheels as pulses with a magnet provided at a wheel and a hall element provided at the vehicle can be used as the vehicle speed sensor 31 . the vehicle speed sensor 31 is connected to the navigation device 20 and has a function of outputting the detected vehicle speed to the navigation device 20 . the gps receiver 32 has a function of receiving the position information of the vehicle 3 . the gps receiver 32 is connected to the navigation device 20 and has a function of outputting the received position information to the navigation device 20 . the battery monitoring unit 33 has a function of detecting a soc of a battery ( not shown in the figure ) provided at the vehicle 3 . further , the battery monitoring unit 33 is connected to the navigation device 20 and has a function of outputting the detected battery soc to the navigation device 20 . the engine control unit 34 has a function of controlling the start ( engine on ) and stop ( engine off ) of the engine . further , the engine control unit 34 is connected to the navigation device 20 and has a function of outputting the on / off state of the engine to the navigation device 20 . the navigation device 20 has a function of conducting path guidance and the like to a predetermined site ( for example , a target location ) and is provided with a display unit 21 , a map database 22 , and a navigation electronic control unit ( ecu ) 1 . the ecu is a computer of an automobile device conducting electronic control and is configured by providing a central processing unit ( cpu ), memories such as a read only memory ( rom ) and a random access memory ( ram ), and an input - output interface . the display unit 21 has a function of presenting information visually to the driver and uses , for example , a display . the map database 22 stores a roadmap and is configured to be writable . the navigation ecu 1 is provided with an information input unit 11 , and a determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging , and a site registering unit 13 . the navigation ecu 1 , information input unit 11 , and site registering unit 13 function as a site registering device , a position information acquisition unit , and a registering unit , respectively . the information input unit 11 has a function of acquiring the vehicle speed outputted by the vehicle speed sensor 31 , position information outputted by the gps receiver 32 , battery soc outputted by the battery monitoring unit 33 , and engine on / off state outputted by the engine control unit 34 . further , the information input unit has a function of outputting the acquired information to the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging and site registering unit 13 . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging has a function of determining whether the present site is a site allowing charging , on the basis of a variation amount relating to the battery soc in the present site . further , the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging has a function of calculating the variation amount of the battery soc by comparing the battery soc immediately before the engine off with the battery soc immediately after the engine on , and determining whether the present site is a site allowing charging in a case where the engine off in the present site is recognized . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging also has a function of outputting the determination result relating to the site allowing charging to the site registering unit 13 . the site registering unit 13 has a function of registering the present site as a site allowing charging in the map database 22 on the basis of the output results outputted by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging . further , the site registering unit 13 has a function of classifying the present site for each category on the basis of the actual charging results of batteries , which have been inputted by information input unit 11 , in the present site , and registering the category of the present site and position information of the present site as the site allowing charging in the map database 22 . the category as referred to herein is a class relating to a charging mode and , for example , the sites can be classified into sites with a high charging frequency ( private residence and the like ), sites with a low charging frequency ( charging stations and the like ), sites with a long charging time ( private residence and the like ), and sites with a short charging time ( charging stations and the like ). the actual charging result is a past or present charging result . the variation amount of soc , charging frequency in this site , and charging time in this site that is calculated from the variation amount of the soc can be used . in a case where the charging time is calculated from the variation amount of soc , the calculation can be conducted , for example , under an assumption that the charging amount per unit time is the same in all charging sites . the operation of the navigation ecu 1 of the example will be explained below . fig2 to 5 are flowcharts illustrating the operation of the navigation ecu 1 of the embodiment . first , the processing executed when the vehicle 3 arrives to a predetermined site will be explained with reference to fig2 . the control processing shown in fig2 is started , for example , at a timing at which the vehicle 3 arrives at the predetermined site and executed repeatedly with a predetermined interval . to facilitate the explanation and understanding , an example in which the vehicle reached the charging site will be explained below . where the control processing shown in fig2 is started , first , an engine state recognition processing is conducted ( s 10 ). the processing of s 10 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to determine whether the engine has been stopped or the vehicle is stopped in the charging site ( present site ). the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging acquires the engine on / off state , which has been outputted by the engine control unit 34 , via the information input unit 11 and determines whether the engine has been stopped . alternatively , the determination unit of a site allowing charging acquires the vehicle speed information , which has been outputted by the vehicle speed sensor 31 , via the information input unit 11 and determines whether the vehicle 3 has been stopped . in the processing of s 10 , a transition is made to soc determination processing ( s 12 ) when the vehicle 3 or the engine is determined to be stopped . the processing of s 12 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to determine whether the battery soc in the charging site has changed by a predetermined value or a larger value within a unit time . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging acquires the battery soc at the charging site and determines whether it has increased by a threshold a or a larger value , for example , within 2 minutes . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging thus determines whether the engine has been stopped and the battery has been charged . the threshold a is set in advance , for example , according to charging performance of the battery . it a case where the battery soc in the charging site is determined in the processing of s 12 to have increased by the threshold a or a greater value within the predetermined time , the battery charging is assumed to have been started and a transition is made to a soc recording processing ( s 14 ). the processing of s 14 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to record the battery soc when the vehicle is stopped or the engine is off . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging records the battery soc when the vehicle is stopped or the engine is off , for example , on a memory of the navigation ecu 1 . where the processing of s 14 is completed , a transition is made to a candidate site setting processing ( s 16 ). the processing of s 16 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to record a charging site as a candidate for a site allowing charging . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging acquires the position information , which has been outputted by the gps receiver 32 , via the information input unit 11 and records the position information of the charging site as a candidate for a site allowing charging , for example , on a memory of the navigation ecu 1 . alternatively , a road identifier on the map database 22 that is the closest to the position information may be recorded as a candidate for a site allowing charging . where the processing of s 16 is ended , the control processing shown in fig2 also ends . in a case where the vehicle 3 is not stopped or the engine is not off in the processing of s 10 , the electric current in the navigation device 20 is not cut off following the engine off and therefore the control processing shown in fig2 is ended . further , in a case where the soc is not increased by the threshold a or a greater value within the unit time in the processing of s 12 , the battery charging cannot be assumed to have started after the engine off and therefore the control processing shown in fig2 is ended . by executing the control processing shown in fig2 , it is possible to determine a candidate for a site allowing charging within a short time after the engine has been stopped , and when the candidate for a site allowing charging is present , the site allowing charging can be preset in a case where the engine is stopped when the target site is reached . thus , because a processing of verifying whether the site is a site allowing charging is not conducted after the engine has been stopped , the processing executed after the engine has been stopped is simplified and the control time can be shortened . as a result , consumption of extra power can be prevented . the processing executed after the control processing shown in fig2 will be explained with reference to fig3 . the control processing shown in fig3 is started at a timing the navigation device 20 is energized and repeatedly executed with a predetermined interval after , for example , the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and the processing shown in fig2 has been executed . where the control processing shown in fig3 is started , it is started from engine state verification processing ( s 20 ). the processing of s 20 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to determine whether the engine has been started at the charging site ( present site ). the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging acquires the on / off state of the engine , which has been outputted by the engine control unit 34 , via the information input unit 11 and determines whether the engine has been started . in a case where the engine is determined to have been started in the processing of s 20 , a transition is made to the state determination processing or information processing ( s 22 ). the processing of s 22 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to determine the battery soc state at the charging site or to process the actual result information relating to charging . in these processing operations , the information for determining whether the charging site is a site allowing charging is acquired or calculated . this processing will be described below in greater detail . where the processing of s 22 ends , a transition is made to information storage processing or notification processing ( s 24 ). the processing s 24 is executed by the site registering unit 13 to register the charging site in the map database 22 on the basis of the information acquired or calculated in the processing of s 22 , or executed by the navigation device 20 to convey the battery soc information to the driver . this processing will be described below in greater detail . when the processing of s 24 is ended , the control processing shown in fig3 is ended . in a case where the engine of the vehicle 3 has not been started in the processing of s 20 , the control processing shown in fig3 is ended . by executing the control processing shown in fig3 , it is possible to determine the battery soc state , acquire or calculate the actual result information relating to charging , determine whether the site is a site allowing charging , and register the site allowing charging in a case whether the engine continues running after the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site or when the engine has been stopped after the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and then the engine has been started again . an example of processing shown in s 22 and s 24 in fig3 will be explained below with reference to fig4 . the control processing shown in fig4 is an example of the control processing shown in fig3 . the control processing shown in fig4 is started at a timing the navigation device 20 is energized and repeatedly executed with a predetermined interval after , for example , the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and the processing shown in fig2 has been executed . the control processing shown in fig4 is started with an engine state confirmation processing ( s 30 ). the processing of s 30 is similar to the processing of s 20 shown in fig3 . in a case where the engine of the vehicle 3 has not been started in the processing of s 30 , the control processing shown in fig3 is ended . by contrast , where the engine is determined to have been started in the processing of s 30 , a transition is made to the state determination processing ( s 32 ). the processing of s 32 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to determine the battery soc state at the charging site . for example , in a case where the engine continuous running after the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site , the battery soc is monitored and variations in soc within a predetermined time are determined . further , for example , in a case where the engine has been stopped upon reaching the charging site and the engine was then started again , the soc recorded in the processing of s 14 shown in fig2 , that is , the soc at the time the engine is stopped , is acquired and compared with the soc at the time the engine is started to check the variations in soc . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging determines , for example , whether the soc has increased by a threshold b or a greater value . the threshold b is set in advance , for example , according to charging performance of the battery . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging also determines based on the soc whether the battery is in a fully charged state . in a case where the variation amount of soc is determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold b in the processing of s 32 , or where the battery is determined to be in a fully charged state , the charging site is determined to be a site allowing charging . a transition is then made to the addition processing of the number of charging times ( s 34 ). the processing of s 34 is executed by the site registering unit 13 to count the accumulated number of times the battery has been charged in the charging site . the site registering unit 13 adds 1 to the number of charging times ( accumulated value ) stored , for example , in the memory of the navigation ecu 1 . where the processing of s 34 ends , a transition is made to the number of charging times determination processing ( s 36 ). the processing of s 36 is executed by the site registering unit 13 to determine whether the number of charging times calculated in the processing of s 34 is equal to or greater than a threshold c . by executing the processing of s 36 , it is possible to determine whether the site is frequently used for charging . the threshold c may be set correspondingly to the frequency at which the user uses the vehicle . where the number of charging times is found to be equal to or greater than c in the processing of s 36 , that is , the site is determined to be used frequently , a transition is made to registering in the map database 22 ( s 38 ). the processing of s 38 is executed by the site registering unit 13 to register the charging site as a site allowing charging that has a high charging frequency in the map database 22 . the site registering unit 13 sets the category as “ high charging frequency ” and registers the site as the site allowing charging together with the position information on the charging site that has been outputted by the gps receiver 32 in the map database 22 . the registration in the map database 22 may be also conducted in association with the road identifier or the like . where the processing of s 38 is ended , the control processing shown in fig4 is ended . meanwhile , where the number of charging times is found not to be equal to or greater than the threshold c in the processing of s 36 , that is , where the site is determined not to be frequently used , a transition is made to registering in the map database 22 ( s 40 ). the processing of s 40 is executed by the site registering unit 13 to register the charging site as a site allowing charging that has a low charging frequency in the map database 22 . the site registering unit 13 sets the category as , for example , “ low charging frequency ” and registers the site as the site allowing charging together with the position information on the charging site that has been outputted by the gps receiver 32 in the map database 22 . the registration in the map database 22 may be also conducted in association with the road identifier or the like . where the processing of s 40 is ended , the control processing shown in fig4 is ended . where the variation amount of soc from the engine stop to the engine start is determined not to be equal to or greater than the threshold b ( s 32 ) and when the battery is determined not to be in a fully charged state , a transition is made to a notification processing ( s 42 ). the processing of s 42 is executed in the navigation ecu 1 and display unit 21 to notify the user that the battery is not in a fully charged state . for example , the display unit 21 displays “ charging incomplete ” or a columnar graph representing the soc state . voice notification may be also made with a speaker ( not shown in the figure ) connected to the navigation device 20 . by executing the processing of s 42 , it is possible to notify the user about the battery state . therefore , the battery can be prevented from assuming an overdischarged state , that is , from being run out . where the processing of s 42 is ended , the control processing shown in fig4 is ended . the processing of s 32 , s 34 , and s 36 shown in fig4 corresponds to the processing of s 22 shown in fig3 , and the processing of s 38 , s 40 , and s 42 shown in fig4 corresponds to the processing of s 24 shown in fig3 . by executing the control processing shown in fig4 , in a case where the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and the engine continues running or when the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and the engine has thereafter been stopped and then restarted , it is possible to determine the state of the battery soc and whether the site is a site allowing charging , determine the category to which the site belongs on the basis of charging frequency of the site , and register the category of the site allowing charging and the position information . therefore , for example , when the user refers to and searches the map database 22 , the sites allowing charging can be distinguished based on the charging frequency . further , it is possible to determine whether the charging can be conducted in a mode required by the user . in addition it is possible to classify the site allowing charging that has a high charging frequency as “ own residence ” and a site allowing charging that has a low charging frequency as “ charging station ” and register the sites as such in the map database 22 . another example of the processing of s 22 and s 24 shown in fig3 will be explained below with reference to fig5 . the control processing shown in fig5 is one example of the control processing shown in fig3 . the control processing shown in fig5 is started at the timing in which the navigation device 20 is energized and repeatedly executed with a predetermined interval after the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and the processing shown in fig2 has been executed . the control processing shown in fig5 is started with the engine state confirmation processing ( s 50 ). the processing of s 50 is similar to the processing of s 20 shown in fig3 . where the engine of the vehicle 3 is not determined to have been started in the processing of s 50 , the control processing shown in fig3 is ended . in a case where the engine is determined to have been started in the processing of s 50 , a transition is made to a state determination processing ( s 52 ). the processing of s 52 is executed by the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging to determine the battery soc state in the charging site . for example , in a case where the engine continues running after the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site , the battery soc is monitored and the variation in soc within a predetermined interval is determined . further , in a case whether the engine is stopped after the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and then restarted , the soc recorded in the processing of s 14 shown in fig2 , that is , the soc at the time the engine is stopped , is acquired and compared with the soc at the time the engine runs to confirm the variation in soc . the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging determines , for example , whether the increment variation amount of soc is less than the threshold d , or equal to or greater the threshold d and less than the threshold e , or equal to or greater than the threshold e . the thresholds d and e satisfy the relationship d & lt ; e and determine in advance the charging performance of the battery . in a case where the variation amount of soc is determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold e in the processing of s 52 , the charging site is determined to be a site allowing charging . a transition is then made to a procedure of registering the site allowing charging in the map database 22 ( s 54 ). the processing of s 54 is executed by the site registering unit 13 to register the charging site as a site allowing charging where charging can be conducted for a long time in the map database 22 . the site registering unit 13 sets the category as “ suitable for long - term charging ” and registers the site as the site allowing charging together with the position information on the charging site that has been outputted by the gps receiver 32 in the map database 22 . the registration in the map database 22 may be also conducted in association with the road identifier or the like . where the processing of s 54 is ended , the control processing shown in fig5 is ended . meanwhile , where the variation amount of soc is determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold d and less than the threshold e in the processing of s 52 , the charging site is determined as a site allowing charging . then , a transition is made to registering in the map database 22 ( s 56 ). the processing of s 56 is executed by the site registering unit 13 to register the charging site as a site allowing charging , but unsuitable for charging for a long time in the map database 22 . the site registering unit 13 sets the category as , for example , “ unsuitable for charging for a long time ” and registers the site as the site allowing charging together with the position information on the charging site that has been outputted by the gps receiver 32 in the map database 22 . the registration in the map database 22 may be also conducted in association with the road identifier or the like . where the processing of s 56 is ended , the control processing shown in fig5 is ended . in the processing in s 52 , where the variation amount of soc is determined to be less than the threshold d , a transition is made to a notification processing ( s 58 ). the processing of s 58 is similar to the processing of s 42 shown in fig4 . where the processing of s 58 is ended , the control processing shown in fig5 is ended . the processing of s 52 shown in fig5 corresponds to the processing of s 22 shown in fig3 , and the processing of s 54 , s 56 , and s 58 shown in fig5 corresponds to the processing of s 24 shown in fig3 . by executing the control processing shown in fig5 , in a case where the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and the engine continuous running or when the vehicle 3 has reached the charging site and the engine has thereafter been stopped and then restarted , it is possible to determine the state of the battery soc and whether the site is a site allowing charging , determine the category of the site on the basis of the variation amount of soc in the site , and register the category of the site allowing charging and the position information . therefore , for example , when the user refers to and searches the map database 22 , the sites allowing charging can be distinguished based on the charging time . therefore , it is possible to determine whether the charging can be conducted in a mode required by the user . in addition it is possible to classify the site allowing charging in which the charging time is long as “ own residence ” and a site allowing charging in which the charging time is not long as “ charging station ” and register the sites as such in the map database 22 . further , by associating the charging time with the soc variation amount , it is possible to calculate the charging time even when the battery monitoring unit 33 and navigation device 20 are not energized during charging . therefore , power consumption can be reduced . as described hereinabove , with the site registering device 1 of the embodiment , the charging site is classified and recorded for each category determined based on the actual charging result for the battery in the charging site when the site allowing charging is registered . as a result , by confirming the category , the user can determine , for example , whether the registered site allowing charging is the own residence suitable for charging for a long time or a charging station suitable for charging for a short time . thus , where a site allowing charging is classified on the basis of the actual charging result and registered , a site allowing charging that is different for each user , such as user &# 39 ; s residence , can be registered automatically in the map database 22 and provided to the user . the above - described embodiment illustrates an example of the site registering device in accordance with the invention . the site registering device in accordance with the invention is not limited to the site registering device of the embodiment , and the site registering device of the embodiment can be changed of applied differently without departing from the scope set forth in the claims . thus , in the above - described embodiment , an example is explained in which the navigation ecu 1 is provided with the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging , but it is not necessary that the navigation ecu 1 is provided with the determination unit 12 of a site allowing charging , and other devices may be used to determine whether a site is allowing charging . further , in the above - described embodiment , the control processing operations shown in fig4 and 5 are explained as examples of the control processing shown in fig3 , but the control processing shown in fig4 or 5 is not necessarily implemented independently . it is also possible to execute the control processing shown in both fig4 and 5 and conduct registration in the map database 22 for each category on the basis of information in which the results of both processing operations are combined . in this case even more accurate information can be registered . further , in the above - described embodiment , an example is explained in which the charging time is calculated based on variations in a charging amount , but for example a configuration may be used in which only the battery monitoring unit 33 continues operating and counts the charging time even after the engine has been stopped or the ignition has been switched off . | 8 |
next , embodiment of the present invention is further described in detail , referring to the accompanying drawings . the wild type of the ascomycete yeast meyerozyma guilliermondii includes xylose utilization ability in addition to glucose utilization ability . however , the ability thereof to utilize xylose is not considered to be sufficient for the bioethanol production . therefore a highly efficient ethanol - fermentative yeast according to the embodiment is a yeast in which a self - cloned transaldolase gene ( hereinafter , referred to as tal gene ), a self - cloned alcohol dehydrogenase gene ( hereinafter , referred to as adh gene ), and a self - cloned pyruvate decarboxylase gene ( hereinafter , referred to as pdc gene ) were introduced into a fermentative yeast ( accession number : nite bp - 01962 ) obtained by performing habituation using the strain n of the ascomycete yeast meyerozyma guilliermondii as a parent strain in culture in a medium in which a mutagen is added to an enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from rice straw treated with ammonia and selecting a yeast growing in the medium . examples of the aforementioned enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from rice straw treated with ammonia that can be used include the one obtained as follows . rice straw from kumagaya - shi , saitama , japan was pretreated by immersing it in an equal amount of a 25 mass % ammonium solution at a temperature of 80 ° c . for 3 hours and then ammonia was evaporated . next , after ph adjustment , a saccharification enzyme ( manufactured by meiji seika pharma co ., trade name : acremonium cellulase ) was added to the pretreated rice straw and enzymatic saccharification was conducted with maintaining temperature at 50 ° c . for 72 hours to obtain a slurry containing an enzymatically saccharified liquid . then , solid - liquid separation of the slurry was conducted by filter - pressing to collect a liquid as the aforementioned enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from rice straw treated with ammonia . the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from rice straw treated with ammonia contains , for example , 3 - 15 mass % of glucose and 1 - 10 mass % of xylose . examples of the mutagen that can be used include ethylating agents such as n - ethyl - n - nitrosourea ( enu ) and ethyl methanesulfonate ( ems ), base analogs such as 5 - bromo - 2 ′- deoxyuridine ( brdu ), and nitroso compounds such as nitroamine and nitrosoguanidine . the strain bp - 01962 is a mutant strain obtained by habituation of the aforementioned parent strain in culture in the aforementioned medium in which a mutagen is added to an enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from rice straw treated with ammonia and repeated selection of yeasts growing in the medium . therefore , the strain bp - 01962 has improved xylose utilization and ethanol fermentation performance in comparison with the wild type strain or the strain n of meyerozyma guilliermondii without introducing a foreign gene . the highly efficient ethanol - fermentative yeast according to the embodiment in which the self - cloned tal , adh , and pdc genes are introduced into the strain bp - 01962 has been deposited to nite patent microorganisms depositary (# 122 , 2 - 5 - 8 kazusakamatari , kisarazu - shi , chiba 292 - 0818 , japan ), national institute of technology and evaluation ( independent administrative institution ) by the present applicant . the accession date is nov . 19 , 2014 and the accession number is nite bp - 01963 . the tal , adh , and pdc genes are all from meyerozyma guilliermondii . therefore , the introduction of these self - cloned genes into the strain bp - 01962 involves no introduction of a foreign gene . as a result , the strain bp - 01963 has further improved xylose utilization and ethanol fermentation performance in comparison with the strain bp - 01962 or the strain n without introducing a foreign gene . the introduction of self - cloned tal , adh , and pdc genes into the strain bp - 01963 can be conducted , for example , as follows . amplify the gene to be introduced and a terminator region thereof ( hereinafter , referred to as gene + terminator region ) by pcr . amplify by pcr the promoter region to be used for the introduction . these should be both amplified by pcr from the chromosomes of the strain of meyerozyma guilliermondii used in the present invention . clone the dna fragments amplified by pcr into a commercially available vector for escherichia coli by infusion in the order of promoter , gene + terminator region . transform escherichia coli with the cloned vector and amplify the vector . obtain dna fragments for homologous recombination by cutting out the promoter and gene + terminator region from the amplified vector with restriction enzymes or amplifying the promoter and gene + terminator region from the amplified vector by pcr . homologous recombination of the strain with the obtained dna fragments was performed to obtain a desired strain . electroporation was used for the homologous recombination . genetic introduction in this manner allows introduction of multiple copies into the chromosomes and therefore enhancement of the activity of the introduced enzyme . as a dna fragment for the homologous recombination , for example , the promoter of xylose reductase , transaldolase + terminator may be preferably used because transaldolase is considered to work efficiently when using the promoter of xylose reductase that functions in the xylose utilization . specifically , the xylose reductase promoter was amplified with the following primers of seq id no : 1 and seq id no : 2 and the transaldolase gene and the terminator region are amplified with the following primers of seq id nos : 3 and 4 . moreover , the promoter of gapdh and alcohol dehydrogenase + terminator may be preferably used . since the gapdh is a strong promoter that functions in glycolysis , it is considered to be an efficient promoter for use as a promoter of alcohol dehydrogenase , which is an enzyme in glycolysis . alcohol dehydrogenase produces nad + when it is nadh - dependent as well as serves to convert acetaldehyde into ethanol . therefore , it serves to enhance the effect of nad +- dependent xylitol dehydrogenase . specifically , the gapdh promoter was amplified with the primers of the following seq id no : 5 and seq id no : 6 and the alcohol dehydrogenase gene and terminator region were amplified with the primers of the following seq id nos : 7 and 8 . the pdc gene was enhanced by replacing the promoter of the pdc gene with the promoter of gapdh . the replacement was performed by the homologous recombination with a dna fragment obtained by introducing the promoter of gapdh amplified with the primers of seq id no : 5 and seq id no : 6 between the sequences set forth in seq : id no : 9 and seq id no : 10 . the sequence set forth in seq id no : 9 corresponds to the terminal end of the pdc gene promoter and the sequence set forth in seq id no : 10 corresponds to the starting end of the pdc gene . moreover , while the strains obtained by this method comprise an introduced gene , they belong to a category to be treated as a non - modified yeast under the cartagena act because it is self - cloned . next , the fermentation yields of the strain bp - 01963 and the strains bp - 01963 and n were compared using an enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid . the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid used was obtained as follows . at first , corn stover from iowa , the united states was pretreated by immersing it in 3 . 7 mass % sulfuric acid of twice the volume of the corn stover at temperature of 170 ° c . for 10 minutes and then returning the temperature to room temperature . next , to the pretreated corn stover , an naoh aqueous solution was added to adjust ph thereof to ph 4 and then a saccharification enzyme ( manufactured by meiji seika pharma co ., ltd ., trade name : acremonium cellulase ) was added and enzymatic saccharification was conducted with maintaining temperature at 50 ° c . for 72 hours to obtain a slurry containing an enzymatically saccharified liquid . next , solid - liquid separation of the slurry was conducted by centrifugation and ph of the collected liquid was adjusted to ph 6 with an naoh aqueous solution , the resultant liquid was used as the aforementioned enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid . the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid comprises , for example , 3 - 15 mass % of glucose and 1 - 10 mass % of xylose . next , an enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with 15 mass % dilute sulphuric acid was used as a medium . a liquid culture of the strain bp - 01963 was added to the medium to an od 600 of 2 . 0 and cultured at a temperature of 30 ° c . for 100 hours . the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid contained 45 g / l of glucose and 38 g / l of xylose and ph thereof was ph 6 . after the culture , the medium was collected and the concentration of ethanol was measured by gc - fid ( manufactured by gl sciences inc ., trade name : gc390b ) and the fermentation yield was calculated by the following equation ( 1 ). the result is shown in fig1 . ( the glucose concentration and the xylose concentration are the initial concentrations before the onset of culture ) next , an enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with 20 mass % dilute sulphuric acid was used as a medium . a liquid culture of the strain bp - 01962 was added to the medium to an od 600 of 0 . 5 and cultured at a temperature of 30 ° c . for 100 hours . the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid contained 64 g / l of glucose and 48 g / l of xylose and ph thereof was ph 6 . after the culture , the medium was collected and the concentration of ethanol was measured by gc - fid ( manufactured by gl sciences inc ., trade name : gc390b ) and the fermentation yield was calculated by the equation ( 1 ). the result is shown in fig1 . next , an enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with 26 mass % dilute sulphuric acid was used as a medium . a liquid culture of the strain n of meyerozyma guilliermondii was added to the medium to an od 600 of 0 . 5 and cultured at a temperature of 30 ° c . for 100 hours . the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid contained 64 g / l of glucose and 48 g / l of xylose and ph thereof was ph 6 . after the culture , the medium was collected and the concentration of ethanol was measured by gc - fid ( manufactured by gl sciences inc ., trade name : gc390b ) and the fermentation yield was calculated by the equation ( 1 ). the result is shown in fig1 . from fig1 , it is apparent that the strain bp - 01963 comprises the ethanol fermentation performance superior to the strains bp - 01962 and n with the lower concentration of the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from corn stover treated with dilute sulphuric acid than that used for the strain n . next , an enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from rice straw treated with 26 mass % ammonia was used as a medium . a liquid culture of the strain bp - 01963 was added to the medium to an od 600 of 2 . 0 and cultured at a temperature of 30 ° c . for 120 hours . the enzymatically saccharified liquid derived from rice straw treated with ammonia contained 73 . 8 g / l of glucose and 28 . 3 g / l of xylose and ph thereof was ph 6 . the medium was collected at predetermined time points and the concentration of xylose was measured by hplc ( manufactured by tosoh corporation , trade name : lc - 8020 ) and the concentration of ethanol by gc - fid ( manufactured by gl sciences inc ., trade name : gc390b ). the result is shown in fig2 . from fig2 ., it can be seen that the total amount of glucose and xylose is digested 120 hours after the onset of culturing and the ethanol concentration becomes higher over culture time . also , since the glucose concentration becomes almost zero by 48 hours after the onset of culturing , but the xylose concentration decreases even after that and the ethanol concentration continues increasing , it is apparent that the strain bp - 01963 conducts ethanol fermentation using xylose as a substrate after the total amount of glucose is digested . | 2 |
the present invention is based on the discovery of a class of compounds whose action is blocked by scavengers of nitric oxide ( no ), and by inhibitors of cyclic guanosine monophosphate ( cgmp ) or inhibitors of cgmp - activated protein kinase ( pkg ). this indicates that these compounds act via the no / cgmp / pkg signal transduction pathway . unlike previous compounds like nitroglycerin and isosorbide dinitrate that stimulate this pathway by releasing no upon reaction with intracellular sulfhydryl groups ( smith and reynard , 1992 , pharmacology , w . b . saunders co ., philadelphia , pa ., pp . 626 - 31 ), the compounds of this invention appear to act by direct stimulation of nitric oxide synthase ( nos ) activity , thus generating no de novo . whereas depletion of intracellular sulfhydryl groups rapidly leads to tolerance and ineffectiveness of nitroglycerin and related compounds ( smith and reynard , 1992 ), tolerance will not be acquired to the compounds of the present invention since they do not require the presence of sulfhydryl groups for generation . thus , it is contemplated that the compounds of the present invention will provide a preferred alternative method of treatment for conditions presently treated by no donors . both clinical application and research studies have demonstrated that stimulation of the no / cgmp / pkg pathway is useful for treatment of : ( i ) heart disease including stable angina pectoris , unstable angina , myocardial infarction , and myocardial failure associated with myocardial ischemia , atherosclerosis , vascular hypertrophy , and thrombosis ( cooe and dzau , 1997 , annu . rev . med . 48 : 489 - 509 ; thadani , 1997 , cardiovasc . drugs 10 : 735 ); ( iv ) primary pulmonary hypertension , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , and adult respiratory distress syndrome ( adnot and raffestin , 1996 , thorax 51 : 762 - 764 ; marriott and higenbottam , 1997 , schweiz med . wochenschr . 127 : 709 - 714 ); ( v ) microvascular functional abnormalities in diabetes that link insulin - resistance to hypertension , thrombosis and atherosclerosis ( tooke , et al ., 1996 , diabetes res . clin . pract . 31suppl : s127 - s132 ; baron , 1996 , j . investig . med . 44 : 406 - 412 ); ( vi ) hemostatic irregularities of glomerular vascular and tubular function with consequences for development of hypertension ( kone and baylis , 1997 , am . j . physiol . 10 : f561 - 578 ; am . j . hypertens . 10 : 129 - 140 ); ( vii ) microvascular irregularities in the liver with consequences for biliary transport and tissue regeneration ( suematsu , et al ., 1996 , cardiovasc . res . 32 : 679 - 686 ); ( viii ) disorders of bladder function and reflex relaxation for micturition ( andersson , 1996 , curr . opin . obstet . gynecol . 8 : 361 - 365 ); ( ix ) disorders of neurotransmitter release , neuron morphogenesis , synaptic plasticity , and neuroendrocrine regulation ( dawson and dawson , 1996 , neurochem . int . 29 : 97 - 110 ; brann , et al ., 1997 , neuroendocrinology 65 : 385 - 395 ); ( x ) regional pain including migraine headaches ( mashimo , et al ., 1997 , j . clin . pharmacol . 37 : 330 - 335 ; packard and ham , 1997 , mar . 37 : 142 - 152 ); ( xi ) gastrointestinal protection from non - steroidal anti - inflammatory drugs ( rishi , et al ., 1996 , indian j . physiol . pharmacol . 40 : 377 - 379 ); ( xiv ) regulation of tissue free radical injury ( rubbo , et al ., 1996 , chem . res . toxicol . 9 : 809 - 820 ); and ( xv ) inhibition of tumor growth , tumor apoptosis , angiogenesis , and metastasis ( pipili - synetos , et al ., 1995 , br . j . pharmacol . 116 : 1829 - 1834 ; xie , et al ., 1996 , j . leukoc . biol . 59 : 797 - 803 ); and ( xvi ) stimulation of wound healing including cuts , tendon injury and thermal injury ( schaffer , et al ., 1996 , j . surg . res . 63 : 237 - 240 ; murrell , et al ., 1997 , inflamm . res . 46 : 19 - 27 ; carter , et al ., 1994 , biochem . j . 304 ( pt 1 ): 201 - 04 ). in addition , the no / cgmp / pkg pathway mediates melanogenesis induced by ultraviolet light ( romero - graillet , et al ., 1996 , j . biol . chem . 271 : 28052 - 28056 ; romero - graillet , et al ., 1997 , j . clin . invest . 99 : 635 - 642 ) and aliphatic and alicyclic diols ( united states patent application ser . no . 08 / 933 / 143 , entitled &# 34 ; dermatalogical compositions and methods &# 34 ; filed concurrently herewith ). the active compounds according to the present invention have the structures described above . more preferably , each x is independently selected from a single bond ; or c 1 - c 10 alkylene , c 2 - c 10 alkenylene , or c 2 - c 10 alkynylene , each of which may contain one or more different heteroatoms or heteroatoms of the same type . more preferably each of r 1 and r 2 is independently selected from hydrogen ; fluoro ; chloro ; or c 1 - c 20 alkyl , c 2 - c 20 alkenyl , c 2 - c 20 alkynyl , c 7 - c 20 aralkyl , c 8 - c 20 aralkenyl , c 8 - c 20 aralkinyl , or c 6 - c 20 aryl , each of which may contain one or more different heteroatoms or heteroatoms of the same type , or carboxyl , carboxamido , carbalkoxy , sulfamido , sulfonamido ; hydroxyl , or amino . more preferably each of r 3 or r 4 is independently selected from hydrogen or c 1 - c 18 acyl , which may contain one or more different heteroatoms or heteroatoms of the same type . more preferably r 5 contains from two to twenty carbon atoms , each may contain one or more different heteroatoms or heteroatoms of the same type . the preparation of the present compounds would be apparent to one of ordinary skill , and many of them are commercially available . representative preferred compounds include , but are not limited to : particularly preferred compounds of this invention are 5 - norbornene - 2 , 2 - dimethanol ; norbornane - 2 , 2 - dimethanol ; 2 - norbornanemethanol ; 1 , 2 - cis - cyclopentanediol ; 2 , 3 - cis - exo - norbornanediol , 2 -( propyl - 1 , 2 - diol )- norbornane and 3 , 3 - dimethyl - 1 , 2 - butanediol . other preferred compounds are 1 , 2 - trans - cyclopentanediol ; 2 , 3 - dimethyl - 2 , 3 - butanediol ; 2 - methyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol ; 2 , 3 - butanediol ; and propylene glycol . the methods and compositions of the present invention contemplate the use of one or more of the above - mentioned compounds as an active ingredient to stimulate nitric oxide synthase ( nos ) activity , resulting in generation of nitric oxide ( no ), generation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate ( cgmp ), and activation of cgmp - activated protein kinase ( pkg ) activity . this should affect a variety of physiological processes depending upon the treated tissue , including but not limited to mediation of blood vessel relaxation , mediation of neurotransmission , mediation of neuronal differentiation , regulation of free - radical injury , and mediation of melanogenesis . in a preferred embodiment , the active ingredient ( s ) is given orally , intravenously , or transdermally in an acceptable formulation . depending on the specific application , the compositions of the present invention may also include other active ingredients , as well as inert or inactive ingredients . the methods and compositions of the present invention contemplate the use of one or more of the above - mentioned compounds as an active ingredient . in a preferred embodiment , the active ingredient ( s ) is given orally , intravenously , or transdermally in an acceptable formulation . a particularly preferred carrier for some formulations is 1 , 2 - propylene glycol since it is an excellent solvent for certain compounds in this invention including but not limited to 5 - norbornene - 2 , 2 - dimethanol , 5 - norbornane - 2 , 2 - dimethanol and 3 , 3 - dimethyl - 1 , 2 - butanediol . additionally , 1 , 2 - propylene glycol as carrier has itself , as described in this invention , similar but lessor activity than the preferred active ingredient ( s ). depending on the specific application , the compositions of the present invention may also include other active ingredients , as well as inert or inactive ingredients . the dose regimen will depend on a number of factors which may readily be determined , such as severity and responsiveness of the condition to be treated , but will normally be one or more doses per day , with a course of treatment lasting from several days to several months , or until a cure is effected or a diminution of disease state is achieved . one of ordinary skill may readily determine optimum dosages , dosing methodologies and repetition rates . in general , it is contemplated that unit dosage form compositions according to the present invention will contain from about 0 . 01 mg to about 100 mg of active ingredient , preferably about 0 . 1 mg to about 10 mg of active ingredient . topical formulations ( such as creams , lotions , solutions , etc .) may have a concentration of active ingredient of from about 0 . 01 % to about 50 %, preferably from about 0 . 1 % to about 10 %. the use of and useful and novel features of the present methods and compositions will be further understood in view of the following non - limiting examples . cloudman s91 mouse melanoma cells were obtained from atcc and cultured in mem ( biowhittaker ) with 10 % calf serum ( biowhittaker or hyclone ). cells were plated at 10 5 cells / well in 6 - well plates the day before treatments , in media containing 10 % calf serum . media was changed to mem with 2 % calf serum concomitant with addition of treatments ( eller , et al ., 1996 , proc . natl . acad . sci . 93 : 1087 - 1092 ). six days later , media was removed and s91 cells were washed twice with 2 ml 1xpbs ( biowhittaker ), 1 ml of 0 . 05 % trypsin / edta ( biowhittaker ) was added , and cells were incubated at 37 ° c . until detached from plastic dishes . four ml of media containing 10 % calf serum was added , cells were mixed by pipette action until no clumps of cells remained , and 0 . 5 ml were counted on a coulter counter . tyrosinase was analyzed using previously described procedures ( pomerantz , 1966 , j . biol . chem . 241 : 161 - 168 ). cells were solubilized by sonicating for 5 seconds in 600 ul 50 mm phosphate buffer ph 6 . 8 containing 0 . 5 % triton - x100 , followed by vortexing , incubation on ice for 30 minutes , and then revortexing . from this , 200 ul aliquots were combined with 200 ul of reaction mixture containing either 75 um tyrosine , 75 um l - dopa , and 2 uci l -[ 3 , 5 - 3 h ] tyrosine in 50 mm napo 4 ph 6 . 8 ( l - dopa +), or , 75 um tyrosine , and 2 uci l -[ 3 , 5 - 3 h ] tyrosine in 50 mn napo 4 ph 6 . 8 ( l - dopa -), and then incubated 1 hr at 37 ° c . reactions were stopped by addition of 400 ul 10 % activated charcoal in 0 . 1n hcl and incubation on ice for 15 min . this mixture was centrifuged at 17 , 300 × g for 5 min , and 400 ul supernatant was then filtered through a 0 . 22 um gv durapore centrifugal filter unit ( millipore ) by centrifuging at 17 , 300 × g for 5 min . filtrate was added to 4 ml fisher plus scintillation fluid and counted on a hewlett packard 2000a scintillation counter . tyrosinase activity was calculated as dpm / 10 3 cells . each sample was analyzed with and without l - dopa , a necessary cofactor for tyrosinase ( pomerantz , 1966 ). all reported tyrosinase values are exclusive of counts that occurred in buffer blanks and l - dopa negative aliquots . it has been previously demonstrated that a variety of aliphatic and alicyclic diols including 5 - norbornene - 2 , 2 - dimethanol ( 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm ) induce melanogenesis in s91 cells . the results presented in table 1 show that induction of tyrosinase ( the rate - limiting enzyme in melanogenesis ) by 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm is not blocked by highly specific inhibitors of the pkc and pka pathways . in fact , treatment of s91 cells with either the highly specific pka inhibitor h - 89 ( chijiwa , et al ., 1990 , j . biol . chem . 265 : 5267 - 5272 ), or the highly specific pkc inhibitor gf109203x ( toullec , et al ., 1991 , j . biol . chem . 266 : 15771 - 15781 ) resulted in augmentation of basal and 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm - induced tyrosinase levels ( table 1 ). thus , 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm does not appear to act via either the pkc or pka pathways . in contrast , both the nitric oxide ( no ) scavenger ptio ( 2 - phenyl - 4 , 4 , 5 , 5 - tetramethylimidazoline - 1 - oxyl - 3 - oxide ), the cyclic guanosine monophosphate ( cgmp ) inhibitor ly83583 ( 6 - anilino - 5 , 8 - quinolinequinone ), and the pkg ( cgmp - activated protein kinase ) inhibitor kt5823 reduced induction of melanogenesis by 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm in s91 cells ( table 2 ). these results demonstrate that induction of melanogenesis by 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm occurs by the no / cgmp / pkg pathway . previously , it has been demonstrated that no donors can stimulate melanogenesis in normal human melanocytes ( romero - graillet , et al ., 1996 , j . biol . chem . 271 ). results presented here demonstrate that 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm can stimulate melanogenesis with a potency equivalent or greater than that of no donors , even though 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm has no ability to donate no . since induction of melanogenesis by 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm occurs by the no / cgmp / pkg pathway , 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm must directly stimulate no synthesis . these results demonstrate that stimulation of no synthesis and the cgmp / pkg pathway by 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm provides an efficient alternative to stimulation of this pathway by no donors . thus , 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm and related compounds described in this invention will serve as alternative therapeutics for treatment of a variety of diseases mediated by perturbations of the no / cgmp / pkg pathway . table 1______________________________________pka / pkc inhibitors % of dpm / hr / 5 - nbene - dm 10 . sup . 3 cells induction______________________________________5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm ( n = 2 ) 2142 ± 185 . sup . 1 100 % 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 1 um h - 89 . sup . 2 3255 152 %( n = 1 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 10 um h - 89 2428 113 %( n = 1 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 2700 126 % 0 . 1 um gf109203x . sup . 3 ( n = 1 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 5055 236 % 1 . 0 um gf109203x ( n = 1 ) ______________________________________ dpm / hr / % of 10 . sup . 3 cells control______________________________________untreated control ( n = 2 ) 128 ± 4 100 % 1 um h - 89 . sup . 2 ( n = 1 ) 177 138 % 10 um h - 89 ( n = 1 ) 765 598 % 0 . 1 um gf109203x . sup . 3 ( n = 1 ) 270 211 % 1 . 0 um gf109203x ( n = 1 ) 650 508 % ______________________________________ . sup . 1 x ± se . sup . 2 h89 : pka inhibitor . sup . 3 gf109203x : pkc inhibitor table 2______________________________________ % of 5 - nbene - dpm / hr / 2 , 2 - dm 10 . sup . 3 cells induction______________________________________no / pkg inhibitors - experiment 15 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm ( n = 4 ) 5018 ± 415 . sup . 1 100 % 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 3703 ± 262 74 % 20 um ptio . sup . 4 ( n = 2 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 1528 ± 190 31 % 0 . 5 um kt5823 . sup . 5 ( n = 2 ) no / pkg inhibitors - experiment 25 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm ( n = 4 ) 5640 ± 323 100 % 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 4078 ± 429 72 % 20 um ptio . sup . 4 ( n = 2 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 3351 ± 994 59 % 40 um ptio ( n = 2 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 2940 ± 261 52 % 0 . 5 um kt5823 . sup . 5 ( n = 2 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 1688 ± 324 30 % 1 . 0 um kt5823 ( n = 2 ) cgmp inhibitor - experiment 35 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm ( n = 4 ) 6388 ± 460 . sup . 1 100 % 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 1389 ± 64 22 % 0 . 1 um ly83583 . sup . 6 ( n = 2 ) 5 mm 5 - nbene - 2 , 2 - dm / 300 ± 84 5 % 0 . 2 um ly83583 ( n = 2 ) ______________________________________ . sup . 1 x ± se . sup . 4 ptio : nitric oxide scavenger . sup . 5 kt5823 : pkg inhibitor . sup . 6 ly85583 : cgmp inhibitor | 0 |
since a cmos device made in accordance with the invention may be either an nmos or a pmos device , the processes discussed hereinafter apply equally well to either nmos or pmos devices and their methods of manufacture . fig1 a to 1f show the first preferred embodiment of the present invention , which is applied to an n type substrate 1 to produce a high voltage nmos transistor . the method can be described as follow : as shown in fig1 a , a p well 2 is formed in the n type substrate 1 . this step may be done by various conventional methods understood by those skilled in the field . for example , a photoresist ( not shown in the figures ) is first applied over the substrate 1 . the predetermined region for the p well in the photoresist is removed by lithography technology . after that , p type impurity is implanted and diffused into the substrate , to form the p well 2 . an oxide layer 3 is grown over the substrate . as shown in fig1 b , n type and p type impurities are implanted and diffused into the p well 2 , to form two n - drifting regions 22 and two p - drifting regions 20 using the same lithography technology used in step 1 . as shown in fig1 c , p type impurity is implanted into the p - drifting regions 20 , to form p + contact regions 32 of the p well 2 . n type impurity is implanted into the n - drifting regions 22 , to form n + source and drain electrode regions 30 . these two processes uses the same lithography technology used in step 1 . for example , pad oxide layer 300 and silicon nitride layer 320 are first grown after oxide layer 3 has been removed ; then the silicon nitride layer 320 is etched by conventional lithography technology . p type and n type impurities are then implanted . it does not matter whether the p type impurity or the n type impurity is implanted first . as shown in fig1 d , a field oxide layer 40 is formed on the p - drifting regions 20 , the n - drifting regions 22 , the p + contact regions 32 , and the n + source and drain electrode regions 30 by , for example , thermally growing the field oxide layer 40 in a suitable oxidizing atmosphere . as shown in fig1 e , a gate oxide layer 50 is formed between the n - drifting regions 22 . this is done by , for example , removing the silicon nitride layer 320 and the pad oxide layer 300 ( shown in fig1 d ), then thermally growing the gate oxide layer 50 . as shown in fig1 f , metal layers are deposited and patterned using conventional techniques to form a metal gate 60 of an nmos transistor 61 and metal contacts of the p + contact regions 32 ( not shown in the figure ), and the n + source and drain electrode regions 30 ( not shown in the figure ). this is done by conventional deposition , lithography , and etching steps that are well understood by those skilled in the art . another embodiment of the present invention , which is applied to an n type substrate 1 to produce a high voltage pmos transistor , is described hereinbelow . for convenience , similar elements are labeled with the same numerals as those of the first embodiment . as shown in fig2 a , an oxide layer 3 is grown on the n type substrate 1 by conventional technique such as thermal oxidation . however , this step is not necessary , and can be neglected . as shown in fig2 b , n type and p type impurities are implanted and diffused into the n type substrate 1 , to form two n - drifting regions 24 and two p - drifting regions 26 using conventional lithography technology . as shown in fig2 c , p type impurity is implanted into the p - drifting regions 26 , to form p + source and drain electrode regions 30 . n type impurity is implanted into the n - drifting regions 24 , to form n + contact regions 32 of the substrate 1 . these two processes uses the same lithography technology used in step 2 . for example , pad oxide layer 300 and silicon nitride layer 320 are first grown after oxide layer 3 has been removed ; then the silicon nitride layer 320 is etched by conventional lithography technology . p type and n type impurities are then implanted . it does not matter whether the p type impurity or the n type impurity is implanted first . as shown in fig2 d , a field oxide layer 40 is formed on the p - drifting regions 26 , the n - drifting regions 24 , the p + source and drain electrode regions 30 , and the n + contact regions 32 by , for example , thermally growing the field oxide layer 40 in a suitable oxidizing atmosphere . as shown in fig2 e , a gate oxide layer 50 is formed between the p - drifting regions 26 . this is done by , for example , removing the silicon nitride layer 320 and the pad oxide layer 300 ( shown in fig2 d ), then thermally growing the gate oxide layer 50 . as shown in fig2 f , metal layers are deposited and patterned using conventional techniques to form a metal gate 60 of a pmos transistor 62 . this is done by conventional deposition , lithography , and etching steps that are well understood by those skilled in the art . although not described in detail , it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the methods can be applied to a p type substrate to produce a high voltage pmos transistor as shown in fig3 a to 3f . another embodiment to produce a high voltage nmos on a p type substrate is shown in fig4 a to 4f . the nmos and pmos transistors made according to the present invention have heavily doped source and drain electrode regions implanted in the lightly doped drifting regions , and a metal gate instead of a poly silicon gate formed on the gate oxide between the source and drain electrode regions . therefore , the nmos and pmos transistors are capable of resisting a relatively high voltage and are not easily latched up . furthermore , because conventional processes are replaced by implantation processes which take less time , the cycle time of the processes is reduced , therefore minimizing the cost of manufacture . while the invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of several preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention need 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 , the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation , so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures . | 8 |
fig1 shows an application of a driver circuit 10 according to one embodiment of the invention . as shown , driver circuit 10 supplies power to a load , e . g ., an el - lamp 20 . driver circuit 10 powers el lamp by repeatedly charging an inductor l with current from a low voltage dc supply of about 3 . 3v and discharging the current into the capacitance of the el lamp . with each cycle the lamp voltage is increased . after a full charging cycle , the lamp will be discharged in a controlled manner and the lamp will be charged again with an opposite polarity . in this way , a symmetrical voltage with a low frequency is established across the el lamp . fig2 shows a functional block diagram of driver circuit 10 according to one embodiment of the invention . in driver circuit 10 , a low frequency ( lf ) oscillator 12 provides lf signals to a controller 22 to control the frequency of the load voltage , e . g ., the el lamp voltage . to ensure a 50 % duty cycle of the lamp voltage frequency , the lf signals first pass a frequency divider 16 with a divisor of 2 and become lfdiv signals . a high frequency ( hf ) oscillator 14 provides hf signals to a controller 22 to control the witching frequency of the external inductor l ( shown in fig1 ). lf and hf oscillators 12 and 14 operate independently from each other , but the lfdiv signals at the output of divider 16 are synchronized with the hf signals by controller 22 . synchronization prevents the start of lamp discharge phase while the inductor is being charged and ensures a full first inductor ( hf ) charging cycle when the lamp charge phase starts . during each hf cycle a fixed packet of energy is transferred from the inductor to the lamp , thus increasing the lamp voltage at each hf cycle . after a number of hf cycles , charging of the lamp is stopped , the lamp is discharged , and a new charging cycle with an opposite voltage is started . the ratio between the lf and hf oscillator determines how many energy packets are delivered to the lamp before it is discharged . the hf oscillator determines the amount of energy of one packet . so both oscillators determine the amplitude of the lamp voltage , and with that the lamp brightness . controller 22 controls an output stage 40 via driver switches 26 and 28 to charge the inductor at nodes l + and l − and power the lamp at node v out , based on detection of the lamp discharge by a slope sense circuit 30 . controller 22 also controls discharging of the lamp by enabling a discharge control circuit 34 , which includes sinking and sourcing current sources for discharging the lamp at node v out . the value of the discharge current is adjustable by a voltage at the e pin . in driver circuit 10 , after the actual discharging of the lamp has started , slope sense circuit 30 detects whether a current still flows through the lamp . a current flows through slope sense circuit 30 as long as the lamp is being discharged and the lamp voltage is being discharged from a high positive value towards 0v or from a negative value towards 0v . after the current stops flowing , slope sense circuit 30 provides an end - of - discharge signal to circuit 34 , via controller 22 . this happens when the lamp is completely discharged and the value of dv / dt of the lamp voltage becomes zero . at the end of the discharge as detected by slope sense circuit 30 , controller 22 will start the next charging cycle . in driver circuit 10 , output stage 40 includes a pdmos ( p - channel double - diffused mos ) transistor 42 , an ndmos ( n - channel double - diffused mos ) transistor 46 , diodes 48 and 52 , a cathode triggered switching circuit 56 with gate control , and an anode triggered switching circuit 58 with gate control . the upper half circuit of output stage 40 formed by pdmos transistor 42 , diode 48 , and cathode triggered switch circuit 56 is used for negative charging of the lamp . thus , when the inductor is charged and pdmos transistor 42 switches off , the current path from the power supply via v + pin to the inductor via l + pin is interrupted and the inductor will generate a negative voltage at the l + pin . the lower half circuit of output stage 40 formed by ndmos transistor 46 , diode 52 , and anode triggered switching circuit 58 is used for positive charging of the lamp . hence , when the inductor is charged and ndmos transistor 46 switches off , the current path from the inductor via l − pin to the ground via gnd pin is interrupted and the inductor will generate a positive voltage at the l − pin . fig3 a shows a detailed circuit diagram of slope sense circuit 30 in a preset state for sensing a negative slope of the lamp voltage ( i . e ., dv / dt & lt ; 0 ). slope sense circuit 30 includes a high voltage capacitor c slope ( e . g ., 4 pf ), a pair of current sources i ref , neg and i reg , pos , switches s 0 , s 1 , s 2 and s 3 , and an inverter 66 . capacitor c slope converts the slope of the lamp voltage into a current . this slope occurs when the current sources of discharge control circuit 34 discharge the lamp at v out . current sources i ref , neg and i reg , pos generate negative and positive reference currents , respectively , which are relatively small typically about 0 . 6 μa . these reference currents are used to compare to the current i slope flowing to or from the lamp to determine whether i slope has become negligibly small . the result slopedet is output to controller 22 ( fig2 ) as the end - of - discharge signal . in circuit 30 , switches s 0 to s 3 may be implemented with mos transistors and are controlled by controller 22 . slope sense circuit 30 will be kept in the preset state , as shown in fig3 a , during a “ deadtime ” which is introduced to ensure that the actual discharging of the lamp has started before the sensing of the negative slope is initiated . the deadtime is set to be equal to the on - time of one cycle of the hf signal . in this preset state , switch s 3 is closed for pre - conditioning before the negative slope is sensed , so that node voltage v x is discharged to - ground level . by presetting slope sense circuit 30 in this way , the output slopedet will toggle when the slope of the lamp voltage is less than 0 . 2v / μs . this value is determined by c slope and the reference current from dv / dt = i ref / c slope . fig3 b illustrates slope sensing circuit 30 in a normal operation for sensing a negative slope of the lamp voltage . as shown , only switch s 0 is closed to allow the negative reference current to be used for comparison with i slope , which is proportional to the slope of the lamp voltage . while | i slope |& gt ; i reg , neg , it indicates that the lamp is still being discharged . under that condition , the voltage v x will be clamped at v gnd − v diode , where v diode is the voltage across the backgate diode of switch s 3 . thus , vx is kept at a low state ( about 0v ) by the difference between | i slope | and i reg , neg . therefore , the output slopedet is at a logic high ( h ), which is sent to controller 22 shown in fig2 . this allows controller 22 to provide an active ( high ) endischarge signal to discharge control circuit 34 to keep discharging the lamp . when the slope of the lamp voltage becomes less than 0 . 2v / μs , at which time | i slope |& lt ; i reg , neg , it indicates that the lamp is completely discharged . thus , vx will be positively charged with the difference between | i slope | and i reg , neg . at this time , the voltage v x is clamped at v dd + v diode , where v diode is the voltage across the backgate diode of switch s 2 . this results in slopedet at a logic low ( l ), which is provided to controller 22 ( in fig2 ) to indicate that the lamp is completely discharged . controller 22 then outputs an inactive ( low ) endischarge to discharge control circuit 34 , which ends the lamp discharge current . controller 22 also generates an active ( high ) encharge signal to control driver switches 26 and 28 to start the next charging cycle . fig3 c shows slope sensing circuit 30 in a preset state for sensing a positive slope of lamp voltage ( i . e ., dv / dt & gt ; 0 ), in which switch s 2 is closed for preconditioning before a positive slope is sensed . fig3 d illustrates slope sensing circuit 30 in a normal operation for sensing a positive slope of the lamp voltage , in which switch s 1 is closed . the operations of circuit 30 in fig3 c and 3d are similar to those shown in fig3 a and 3b . therefore , the relevant description is omitted for simplicity . fig4 a and 4b are timing diagrams for two different discharging situations . as shown in fig4 a , the rising edge of lfdiv signals enables the negative discharging of the lamp . on the other hand , the positive discharging is initiated by the falling edge of the lfdiv signals ( as shown in fig5 ). as previously described , the sensing of the voltage slope starts after the deadtime , i . e ., tdead seconds after the edge of the lfdiv signals . in fig4 a , the discharging of the lamp is completed within the deadtime . in this case , the control signal endischarge will be disabled by controller 22 immediately after the deadtime . to prevent unbalanced positive and negative lamp voltage amplitudes , each hf cycle will be fully utilized . a main reason for this is that the presence of an average dc voltage across an el - lamp reduces lifetime , so the positive and negative lamp voltage amplitude should be equal . by waiting for the next hf cycle , the first charging cycle is always a complete hf cycle with a fixed and well known charge . thus , charging of the lamp is started at the beginning of the next hf cycle after the deadtime , which results in the encharge signal being enabled at h . fig4 b illustrates a situation in which the discharging process takes longer than the tdead seconds . in this case , the endischarge signal will be disabled immediately after detection of the completion of the lamp discharge . the control signal encharge is activated by controller 22 at the beginning of the next hf cycle after the detection . fig5 shows a more detailed timing diagram that illustrates various signals and their states under different conditions . in fig5 the lfsync is the lfdiv signal after being synchronized with the hf signal . the lsdriver signal shows the input and output of driver switch 28 , whereas the hsdriver signal shows the input and output of driver switch 26 . moreover , the lamp flank , signal illustrates a detailed aspect of the vout signal for clarity purpose , showing only the discharging slope part of vout . while the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description . for example , the invention may be used in full - bridge applications where it is beneficial to discharge a capacitive load before charging starts . accordingly , it is intended to embrace all such alternatives , modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims . | 8 |
one embodiment of the polishing apparatus in accordance with the present invention will be described hereinbelow . fig1 and 2 are views showing the polishing section of the polishing apparatus for use with semiconductor wafers , in which fig1 is a longitudinal cross - section and fig2 is a plan view . the top ring portion of the polishing apparatus comprises a top ring driving shaft 1 , a top ring 3 , and a ball bearing 2 which is interposed between the top ring driving shaft i and the top ring 3 . the top ring 3 is formed by the top ring body upper portion 3 - 1 and the top ring body lower portion 3 - 2 , and ring 5 for preventing removal of the wafer is arranged around the outer periphery of the top ring body lower portion 3 - 2 . the top ring body lower portion 3 - 2 is formed at its lower surface with a number of vacuum suction ports 3 - 2a . the top ring body upper portion 3 - 1 is formed with vacuum grooves 3 - 1b which are in communication with these vacuum section ports 3 - 2a , and these vacuum grooves 3 - 1b are also in communication with four vacuum suction ports 3 - 1c which are defined in the top ring body upper portion 3 - 1 . these vacuum ports 3 - 1c are in communication with a vacuum port 1b defined through the central portion of the top ring driving shaft 1 by means of vacuum line tubes 10 and tube joints 11 . the top ring driving shaft 1 is integrally provided with the flange portion 1c , and four torque transmitting pins 7 are arranged around the outer periphery of the flange portion 1c . the top ring body upper of the top ring 3 is provided at its upper surface with four torque transmitting pins 8 each of which corresponds to a torque transmission pin 7 . a semiconductor wafer 6 is contained in a space enclosed by the lower surface of the top ring body lower portion 3 - 2 , the inner periphery of the wafer removal - preventive ring 5 and the upper surface of the turntable ( to be described later ), and the turntable is caused to rotate simultaneously with the rotation of the top ring driving shaft 1 . the resulting rotation torque is transmitted to the top ring 3 through engagement between the torque transmitting pins 7 and 8 , and it may turn the top ring 3 . at the same time , the surface of the semiconductor 6 is polished to have a flat and mirror - like surface , while allowing the top ring to slide . fig3 is a view illustrating the general construction of the polishing apparatus in which the polishing portion in fig1 and 2 is used . in fig3 a reference numeral 20 represents a turntable which is adapted to rotate around the shaft 21 . the polishing cloth 23 is applied over the upper surface of the turntable 20 . the turntable 20 is provided at its upper portion with the top ring portion . the top ring driving shaft i is provided at its upper portion with the top ring cylinder 12 , and the top ring 3 is adapted to be urged against the turntable 20 with a certain urging pressure by means of top ring cylinder 12 . a numeral 13 is a top ring driving motor which is adapted to apply a rotation torque to the top ring driving shaft 1 via gears 14 , 15 and 16 . the polishing / abrasive liquid spray nozzle 17 is arranged above the turntable 20 , and is adapted to spray a polishing / abrasive liquid q over the polishing cloth 23 of the turntable 20 . next , the manner of polishing the wafer by means of the polishing apparatus of the above - described construction will be described . description will be made in such a case wherein the semiconductor is an object to be polished . the semiconductor wafer 6 is applied by vacuum against the lower surface of the top ring body lower portion 3 - 2 . to allow the semiconductor 6 to be sucked against the lower surface of the top ring body lower portion 3 - 2 , air is withdrawn through vacuum - section ports 3 - 2a defined in the top ring body lower portion 3 - 2 and vacuum port 1b defined in the central portion of the top ring driving shaft 1 by a vacuum source . the semi - conductor wafer is applied by vacuum pressure against the lower surface of the top ring 3 , from a delivery portion ( not shown ) which is arranged adjacent to the turntable 20 . then , after the top ring 3 upon which the semi - conductor 6 is retained is shifted onto the turntable 20 , the top ring 3 is lowered to place the semiconductor wafer 6 upon the polishing cloth 23 on the upper surface of the turntable 20 . then , atmospheric air is passed into the vacuum suction ports 3 - 2a by disconnecting the vacuum port 1b from the vacuum pressure source . consequently , the semiconductor 6 is released from the lower surface of the top ring 3 , and the semiconductor 6 is adapted to rotate against the lower surface of the top ring 3 . by rotating the turntable 20 and the top ring 3 , and actuating the top ring cylinder 12 to push the top ring 3 toward the turntable 20 , the semiconductor 6 is urged against the polishing cloth 23 mounted upon the upper surface of the turntable 20 . a polishing / abrasive liquid q is caused to flow onto the polishing cloth 23 from the polishing / abrasive liquid spray nozzle 17 , and the polishing / abrasive liquid q is retained in the polishing cloth . consequently , the polishing / abrasive solution q reaches the surface ( lower surface ) of the semiconductor wafer to be polished , and thus the polishing operation may be initiated . after the polishing operation is completed , the semiconductor wafer 6 is again drawn by vacuum against the lower surface of the top ring 3 , and the top ring 3 is caused to shift from the turntable 30 to deliver the semiconductor wafer 6 into a cleaning station and the like . a mechanism for carrying out a dressing operation will be described . in the apparatus as shown in fig3 water jets are sprayed against the surface of the polishing cloth 23 through nozzles 31a and 31b which are fixed in position on nozzle support member 34 by means of nozzle fixture 33 . a plurality of each of nozzles 31a and 31b are arranged in spaced positions in a dimensional direction of the polishing cloth 23 . flow velocity , flow rate , angle of spray , and cross - sectional configuration of the nozzles 31a and 31b vary from each other . water is pressurized by a pump 36 and is then delivered to tubes 32 corresponding to respective nozzles via a branch pipe 35 . water is then supplied to respective nozzles 31a and 31b through tubes 32 to be sprayed as jets from the nozzles . the nozzles are arranged and oriented such that water which is sprayed from the nozzles strikes the area on the polishing cloth 23 where polishing is to be carried out , i . e ., against which a wafer 6 is urged and polished . a collision pressure which is generated when a water jet strikes the cloth surface is used as a water impact pressure , and the volume of the water provided is in proportion to its density , flow velocity , spray stream and sonic velocity . such water impact pressure serves to loosen abrasive grains which have accumulated in the cloth , and such grains are then be discharged together with the water . a cover 40 may be provided to prevent water from splashing circumferentially as shown by phantom lines in fig3 . fig4 is a view illustrating a difference in the angle of water spray , i . e . a diffusion angle , between nozzles 31a and 31b . further , fig5 is a plan view illustrating the area on the polishing cloth where polishing is carried out , in conjunction with the nozzle position . fig5 shows only components necessary for illustration of the invention , omitting those members which are not necessary for explanation . in fig5 the shaded area 37 indicates the area on the polishing cloth where polishing is carried out , and a dotted line 38 indicates a center of the area 37 where polishing is carried out . the nozzle 31a is arranged to spray a water jet against an area close to the center 38 of the area where polishing is carried out , whereas the nozzle 31b is arranged to spray a water jet against an area more remote from the center 38 of the area where polishing is carried out . as shown in fig4 the angle of water spray from the nozzle 31a is made to be smaller than that of a water jet to be sprayed from the nozzle 31b . this difference in the angle of water spray serves to make the water impact pressure from the nozzle 31a ( magnitude of total water impact pressure per unit area and unit time ) to be greater than that sprayed from the nozzle 31b . consequently , the water jet having a greater impact pressure strikes a portion closer to the center 38 in the area in the polishing cloth 23 where polishing is carried out , whereas a relatively reduced water jet strikes a portion remote from the center 38 . as a result , the impact jet pressure which strikes a portion closer to the center 38 is made greater than that of a jet which strikes the portion remote from the center 38 . as a polishing operation proceeds , abrasive grains accumulate in the polishing cloth , at an area closer to the center 38 of the area where polishing is carried out , with the volume of grains decreasing relatively as the distance from the center 38 increases . by using nozzles having a varied spray angle in combination as a means for carrying out a dressing operation , it is possible to apply a water jet of greater impact pressure on an area closer to the center of an area where polishing is carried out , with a water jet of reduced impact pressure being applied on an area remote from the center 38 of the area where polishing is carried out . thus , abrasive grains which have been degraded may be discharged in a more efficient manner , thereby causing the volume of abrasive grains to be distributed evenly in the polishing cloth 23 after a dressing operation is complete . in relation to the above - described embodiment , microscopic observation of a cloth surface which has been dressed indicates that degraded abrasive grains are discharged in an improved manner . furthermore , subsequent polishing is more effective than when a conventional method is employed . in the above - described embodiment , a nozzle array is formed in which a nozzle having a reduced spray angle is provided as a nozzle closer to the center , and a nozzle having a greater spray angle is provided as the nozzle proximate to the end . however , the nozzle proximate to the center may be provided with an increased spray angle , if various polishing conditions are employed . there may be some instances where an impact pressure distribution may be required to be varied from that employed in this embodiment . however , such variance falls within the scope of the present invention , whereby an impact pressure may be distributed in a manner different from that described above . in the embodiment shown herein , an impact pressure distribution is realized by varying the nozzle configuration for a plurality of nozzles , but alternative approaches may be utilized to provide similar effects . a plurality of tubes arranged for supplying water to nozzles may be provided with respective valves , and a water jet may be controlled by manipulating the valves . a pressure source such as a pump , etc ., may be provided for respective nozzles to thereby vary water jets . such arrangements also fall within the scope of the present invention . other embodiments will be described with reference to fig6 a and 6b . fig6 a is an elevation view showing the turntable and the fluid jet nozzle for the dressing operation in the polishing apparatus according to the present invention . in this embodiment , a single nozzle 31 is provided , but the fluid jet may cover the entire area of the polishing cloth 23 , because the nozzle supporting member 34 travels over the polishing cloth 23 in an oscillating manner during a dressing operation , as shown by an arrow in fig6 b . besides , even though only a single fluid jet is provided , it is possible to vary time expended on dressing to influence respective portions of the polishing cloth 23 , thereby ensuring an effect similar to that provided in such a case where a plurality of nozzles is employed , as described above , by suitably determining a pattern of travel of the nozzle supporting member 34 , and the rotation speed of the turntable . in the above - described embodiment , although a water jet is used , the present invention may also be applied to a dressing operation in which a liquid other than water and a gas are used as a jet to dress the object . in the above - described embodiment , although polishing apparatus and method for polishing a semiconductor wafer into a flat and mirror - like configuration are described , the object to be polished is not limited to a semiconductor wafer . moreover , in the above - described embodiment , although the present invention has been described with reference to an embodiment in which a single semiconductor wafer is polished with a single top ring , it is also possible to provide an alternative embodiment in which a template - like top ring is formed with a plurality of water ports so that a plurality of wafers may be polished in a similar manner . the present invention is also applicable to a case in which a fluid jet is used to dress a polishing cloth for use in a polishing apparatus whereby an object is polished by means of a roller around which a polishing cloth is wound . as above - described , in accordance with the present invention , a dressing operation may be carried out on a polishing cloth which does not have an even configuration when a fluid jet such as a water jet , etc ., is applied against the polishing cloth to dress the cloth . therefore , an entire surface of the polishing cloth can be dressed in an even manner , thereby improving its operating efficiency . | 1 |
referring to fig1 and 2 , a power sharing device constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention is seen . input switches on the control panel 20 allow the user to control the device &# 39 ; s functionality . a microcontroller 30 provides the functionality needed to control the power cycling to the electrical outlets . optoisolators 50 provide the isolation needed between the ac and dc portions of the circuit , and allow for the electrical outlets 70 to be switched on and off by controlling triac switching devices 60 . an ac power plug 10 is of the standard type . a power supply 80 provides the dc power required by the microcontroller . in a manner that is very well known and is seen in fig1 a power supply 80 provides the low voltage direct current power required by the microcontroller 30 . a step - down transformer 82 reduces the voltage of the incoming ac current . a fuse 81 protects the circuit from overload . a diode 83 prevents current flow in the reverse direction , while a voltage regulator 84 together with capacitors 85 produce a consistent low voltage direct current output . as will be seen , a microcontroller 30 controls the functionality of the circuit . in the preferred embodiment , the microcontroller is a basic stamp , model bs1 - ic , a product of parallax , inc ., of california , having telephone number ( 916 ) 624 - 8333 . a control panel 20 allows the user to select a desired operational mode . a power cycle choice switch 23 has one terminal attached to a resistor 24 and also to one of the microcontroller &# 39 ; s port lines . a delay period choice switch 25 has one terminal attached to a resistor 26 and also to another of the microcontroller &# 39 ; s port lines . a delay pushbutton 21 has one terminal attached to resistor 22 and also to another of the microcontroller &# 39 ; s port lines . when switches 21 , 23 , 25 are open , the microcontroller &# 39 ; s input port lines are high ; when the switches are closed , the microcontroller &# 39 ; s input port lines are low , and current is limited by the resistors 22 , 24 , 26 . the resistors 22 , 24 , 26 pull up the voltage potential of the delay period choice switch , the power cycle choice switch and the delay pushbutton switch , and therefore the associated inputs to the microcontroller seen in fig1 when the switches are in the open state . an led indicator 40 having a current limiting resistor 41 is attached to one of the microcontroller &# 39 ; s port lines , and enables the microcontroller to indicate that a delay period is in progress . also connected to the microcontroller &# 39 ; s port lines through current limiting resistors 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 are the anodes , or first inputs , of four optoisolators 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 . the optoisolators may be of a variety of types , such as the motorola moc 3010 . the cathode , or second input , of each optoisolator is connected to ground . the collector of each optoisolator is connected to &# 34 ; line &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; hot &# 34 ; 120 volts ac power through current limiting resistors 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 . the emitter of each optoisolator is connected to the gate of each triac 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , thereby controlling whether the triac is in a conducting state or a non - conducting state . the output of each triac switching device 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 is attached to the line terminal of each outlet 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 . when the triac is in a state that allows conduction , line voltage is applied to the outlets through four similar fuses 74 that are installed in - line between the output line of each triac switch and the line terminal of the electrical outlets . in the preferred embodiment , the software controlling the microcontroller is written in a modified form of basic , which runs on the basic stamp . in alternative embodiments of the invention , the software could be written in assembler code and run on a different microcontroller . in either case , the algorithm is similar . the microcontroller executes an input statement upon power - up and at frequent intervals during all delay periods . by executing an input instruction , the microcontroller can determine whether the delay pushbutton 21 is being pressed , the setting of the power cycle choice switch 23 and the setting of the delay period choice switch 25 . the results may be stored as a variable within the microcontroller . if the delay pushbutton is being pushed , the microcontroller reads the port to determine the correct delay period from the setting of the delay period choice switch 25 and the correct power cycle from the power cycle choice switch . the microcontroller then delays the onset of power cycling for the appropriate period of time , and then begins the appropriate power cycle . the delay period choice switch 25 requires the microcontroller to time either a one hour or a two hour delay , before starting the power cycle . the appropriate delay is easily accomplished by means of timed loops . the power cycle choice switch allows the user to choose between a first power cycle and a second power cycle . the first power cycle provides power for 15 minutes to a first outlet 70 , followed by power for 15 minutes to a second outlet 71 , followed by power for 15 minutes to a third outlet 72 , followed by power for 15 minutes to a fourth outlet 73 , followed by repetition of the above pattern . the second power cycle is similar , but provides only 7 . 5 minutes of power to each outlet , followed by a period of 7 . 5 minutes in which no power is supplied to any outlet . in all cases , the appropriate periods of time are easily measured by means of timed loops . a timed loop being a sequence of instructions executed by the microcontroller taking a known period of time to execute , thereby allowing larger periods of time to be measured by multiples of the timed loops . during these loops , the microcontroller must repeatedly poll the input port , to determine if the delay pushbutton is being activated by the user . a simple loop or repeat statement causes the microcontroller to cycle indefinitely in a manner that causes the execution of either of the above power cycles . during the timed periods of the power cycles , power is turned on and off to the outlets by raising and lowering the output port lines tied to the optoisolators . raising and lowering the output port lines is easily accomplished by outputting to a specific pin by means of program statements . because power is turned on and off to each outlet in a cyclical manner , it may be difficult to determine if the outlet is functioning properly or if power is currently turned on to an outlet . to indicate that an outlet is currently connected to ac power , a signal lamp 93 is associated with each outlet , and is lit when power is available at the outlet . additionally , a test circuit activated by test pushbutton 90 causes power to be available to all outlets , therefore lighting all signal lamps 93 , while the test pushbutton is being pushed . thus , the test pushbutton overrides the microcontroller during those times when the microcontroller has turned ac power off to an outlet . referring to fig1 it is seen that the test circuit provides a test pushbutton 90 having a first terminal and a second terminal . the first terminal is connected to the power supply and the second terminal is connected to the first input of each of the four optoisolators through a diode 92 and a current limiting resistor 91 associated with each optoisolator . closing the pushbutton switch 90 therefore causes the anode or first input to each optoisolator to be raised to an elevated voltage potential , resulting in each triac supplying ac voltages to each outlet in the manner already discussed . continuing to refer to fig1 each outlet 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 is associated with a signal lamp 93 having a first terminal and a second terminal . the first terminal of each lamp is in electrical communication with the line or hot terminal of the electrical outlet and the second terminal is in electrical communication with the neutral terminal of the electrical outlet . typically , a current limiting resistor 94 is installed between each signal lamp and the line terminal . it is important to note that the signal lamps should be installed between the fuse 74 and the outlets , so that if the fuse blows the signal lamps will not function . to use the above described power sharing device , it is first plugged in . the heating cycle choice switch is set to either 7 . 5 or 15 minute periods . the delay period choice switch is then set to either 1 or 2 hours . if a delay period prior to the onset of the application of power to the four outlets is desired , the delay pushbutton is pressed , causing a delay commensurate with the setting of the delay period choice switch . as many as four electrical loads , typically automotive block heaters , battery heaters , radiator heaters or animal water heaters , are then plugged into outlets 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 . following use , the loads are unplugged . to use the test circuit , the user first observes the signal lamp 93 . if it is on , then it is clear that power is being applied to the outlet . if the signal lamp is off , then the outlet may have failed , or alternatively , the microcontroller may have switched power off to that outlet . to distinguish between these alternatives , the user presses the test pushbutton switch 90 and observes the signal lamp 93 . if it is lit then the reason power was not originally applied to the outlet is almost certainly related to the duty cycle of the shared power . if it does not light , then the user should inspect the fuse 74 , make sure that plug 10 is plugged in , and check for other causes of circuit damage . the previously described versions of the present invention have many advantages , including a primary advantage of providing a novel power sharing device having four switched outlets where power is cycled from one outlet to the next in evenly timed intervals , allowing four devices to be powered in sequence , thereby saving power and money and reducing the peak load . another advantage of the present invention is to provide a power sharing device having a power cycle choice switch that allows the user to reduce power consumption a further 50 % by choosing to have periods where the power is turned off between the periods in which power is cycled to each outlet in sequence . another advantage of the present invention is to provide a power sharing device having circuitry including a test pushbutton that allows the user to distinguish between the absence of power due to the normal on / off cycling of power to the outlets and the absence of power due to a circuit failure . a still further advantage of the present invention is to provide a power sharing device having a delay period choice switch that allows the user to choose the period of delay before the power cycling commences . in compliance with the u . s . patent laws , the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to methodical features . the invention is not , however , limited to the specific features described , since the means herein disclosed comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect . the invention is , therefore , claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents . | 8 |
preferred embodiments of the invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . the invention may , however , be embodied in different forms and should not be constructed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein . rather , these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . fig3 is a block diagram of a flash memory device 100 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention . referring to fig3 , the flash memory device 100 includes a memory cell array 10 , a page buffer circuit 20 , a row selection circuit 30 , a high voltage generator 40 , and a control circuit 50 . the control circuit 50 regulates an operation of generating a high voltage by the high voltage generator 40 and an operation of applying the high voltage by the row selection circuit 30 . the control circuit 50 enables the row selection circuit 30 to apply a blocking voltage vblock to at least one or more wordlines most immediately adjacent to a selected wordline and to apply a decoupling voltage vdcp to a wordline immediately adjacent to the wordline to which the blocking voltage vblock is applied . as a result , even with a higher integration density of the flash memory device , program disturbances , such as a soft - programming effect , can be prevented . in other words , the elimination of a potential difference between a channel of a program - inhibited cell and a channel of a memory cell adjacent to the program - inhibited cell interrupts the establishment of a potential difference between the channels that is responsible for the soft - programming effect . hereinafter , it will be described in detail about the functions and organizations of the blocks included in the flash memory device 100 . the memory cell array 10 includes a plurality of bitlines and wordlines and a plurality of memory cells disposed at regions intersecting the bitlines and wordlines . the memory cell array 10 shown in fig3 is primarily constructed in the same nand - string structure with that shown in fig1 . the nand - string structure includes a string selection transistor sst and a ground selection transistor gst . however , according to additional embodiments of the invention or patterns of applying voltages to be used in a programming operation , the nand string may include two ground selection transistors 210 and 203 , or two string selection transistors 211 and 213 , in a single nand cell string , as shown in fig6 , and 9 . the page buffer circuit 20 functions to store data in the memory cell array 10 and reads out data from the memory cell array 10 . the page buffer circuit 20 is connected to the memory cell array 10 via the bitlines . the page buffer circuit includes a plurality of page buffers ( not shown ) coupled to the bitlines . each page buffer stores a data bit to be programmed into a memory cell or to be read out from a memory cell . in a programming operation , a bitline is supplied with a ground voltage 0v or a power source voltage vcc in accordance with a data value stored in each page buffer . for instance , the ground voltage 0v is applied to a bitline connected to a page buffer that is storing 0 as a data value ( i . e ., a bitline connected to a memory cell to be programmed ). otherwise , the power source voltage vcc is applied to a bitline connected to a page buffer that is storing 1 as a data value ( i . e ., a bitline connected to the program - inhibited cell ). as well known , the flash memory device performs a programming operation after an erasing operation is performed on a block of memory cells . an erased memory cell stores 1 as a data bit . thus , the fact that a data bit stored in a page buffer is 1 means that its correspondent memory cell is one not to be programmed . and , the fact that a data bit stored in a page buffer is 0 means that its correspondent memory cell is one to be programmed . the high voltage generator 40 supplies the various high voltages necessary for writing and reading data in the flash memory device 100 ( e . g ., a program voltage vpgm , a pass voltage vpass , the blocking voltage vblock , the decoupling voltage vdcp , and a read voltage vread ). the program voltage vpgm is applied to a selected wordline during a programming operation , being set on about 20v . the pass voltage vpass is applied to deselected wordlines . the rest of the wordlines are supplied with the blocking voltage vblock and the decoupling voltage vdcp , being lower than the program voltage vpgm but higher than the blocking voltage vblock . the blocking voltage vblock is provided to prevent a potential difference from being generated between the channel of the program - inhibited cell and the channel of a memory cell adjacent to the program - inhibited cell , during the programming operation . the blocking voltage vblock is applied to at least one or more wordlines most adjacent to the selected wordline , and is equal to or less than the pass voltage vpass and higher than the maximum threshold voltage of the memory cell to be programmed . the blocking voltage vblock may be used even with the pass voltage vpass , the power source voltage vcc , or the read voltage vread . moreover , although the pass voltage vpass , the power source voltage vcc , and the read voltage vread , are set at fixed voltage levels , the blocking voltage vblock may be set at various voltage levels that are suitable for its operable range . in addition , a plurality of the blocking voltage vblock may be identical to each other or different from each other , for example , vblock 1 - vblock 3 as shown in fig9 and 10 . the decoupling voltage vdcp is provided to cut off a current flow between memory cells adjacent to the program - inhibited memory cell and other memory cells . the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied to at least one or more wordlines adjacent to a wordline to which the blocking voltage vblock is applied , or applied to an upper wordline most adjacent to a selected wordline during a programming operation . the decoupling voltage vdcp is lower than the minimum threshold voltage of a programmed memory cell and higher than the maximum threshold voltage of an erased memory cell . the decoupling voltage vdcp may be used with a ground voltage of 0v or less . the decoupling voltage vdcp may be set at various voltage levels that are suitable for its operable range . the row selection circuit 30 functions to decode a row address for a memory cell to be programmed , to select a wordline corresponding to the decoded address , and to apply correspondent voltages to the selected wordline and the other wordlines adjacent to the selected wordline . these functions of the row selection circuit 30 are carried out under regulation by the control circuit 50 . according to the present invention , the row selection circuit 30 applies the blocking voltage vblock and the decoupling voltage vdcp to lower wordlines sequentially adjacent to the selected wordline ( i . e ., wordlines between selected wordline and ground selection line ), while it applies the pass voltage vpass to deselected wordlines the rest thereof , during the programming operation . and then , the program voltage vpgm is applied to the selected wordline . fig4 is a diagram summarizing a scheme of applying voltages for programming a flash memory device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention , and fig5 is a timing diagram illustrating points at which the voltages shown in fig4 are applied . in fig4 and 5 , there is shown a voltage biasing pattern for preventing the program - inhibited memory cell from being programmed inadvertently in the case that the nand string includes a single ground selection transistor gst and a single string selection transistor sst . referring to fig4 and 5 , at a point to , the ground voltage 0v is applied to a bitline ( i . e ., a selected bitline ) connected to a memory cell to be programmed and the power source voltage vcc is applied to a bitline ( i . e ., a deselected bitline ) connected to the program - inhibited memory cell . further , at the point to , the power source voltage vcc is applied to the string selection line ssl and the common source line csl while the ground voltage 0v is applied to the ground selection line gsl . as a result , the string selection transistor sst to be associated with the program - inhibited cell is charged up to vcc - vth ( vth is a threshold voltage of the string selection transistor ) and then shut off to make its source floated . continuously , at a point t 1 , the blocking voltage vblock , the decoupling voltage vdcp , and the pass voltage vpass are applied to corresponding wordlines . in detail , the blocking voltage vblock is applied to at least one or more wordlines , wl n − 1 , or wl n − 1 and wl n + 1 , most adjacent to the selected wordline wln , here , wl n − 1 corresponds to the lower wordline most adjacent to the selected wordline wln ( hereinafter , referred to as “ first lower - adjacent wordline ”). and , wl n + 1 corresponds to the upper wordline most adjacent to the selected wordline wln ( hereinafter , referred to as “ first upper - adjacent wordline ”). in need of supplying the blocking voltage vblock to an alternative one of the two wordlines wl n − 1 and wl n + 1 that are most adjacent to the selected wordline wln , it is preferred to apply the blocking voltage vblock to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 . the reason why the blocking voltage vblock should be applied to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 is because the program disturbance such as the soft - programming effect is frequently generated between a channel of the program - inhibited cell and a channel of a memory cell connected to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 . hereinafter will be described about the modes of supplying the blocking voltage vblock to an alternative one ( i . e ., the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 ) of the two wordlines wl n − 1 and wl n + 1 that are most adjacent to the selected wordline wln , and of supplying the blocking voltage vblock to both of the two adjacent wordlines wl n − 1 and wl n + 1 . first , in the mode of supplying the blocking voltage vblock only to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 , the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied to a lower wordline ( hereinafter , referred to as “ second lower - adjacent wordline ”; wl n − 2 ) adjacent to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 and to the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 . and , the pass voltage vpass is applied to the rest of the wordlines . thereby , a drain voltage of the floating - gate cell transistor connected to the first upper - adjacent wordline wl + 1 and a source voltage of the floating - gate cell transistor connected to the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 are boosted up to increase therefrom by the pass voltage vpass applied to the deselected wordlines arranged therearound . thus , memory cells with supply of the decoupling voltage vdcp ( i . e ., the memory cells coupled to the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 and the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 ) are shut off to electrically isolate a channel of the memory cell , to which the program voltage vpgm is applied , from channels of the other memory cells . as a result , current is interrupted from flowing toward the memory cells coupled to the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 and the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 . after then , when the program voltage vpgm is applied to the selected wordline wln at a point t 3 , channels of the memory cells coupled to the selected wordline wln and the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 become conductive . therefore , there is no potential difference between the channels of the memory cells , preventing formation of an electric filed that accelerates electrons therein . as a result , as the motion of electrons is absent between the memory cells , the soft - programming effect is prevented for the program - inhibited memory cell because the memory cell coupled to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 is turned on by the blocking voltage vblock applied to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 even though the memory cell coupled to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 is programmed to have its threshold voltage increased . in the invention , the blocking voltage vblock is designed to be higher than the maximum threshold voltage of a programmed memory cell but equal to or less than the pass voltage vpass . in this case , the function of interrupting the current flow between the memory cells , which are adjacent to the program - inhibited memory cell , and other memory cells is accomplished by the memory cells coupled to the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 and the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 , which are supplied with the decoupling voltage vdcp . the channel capacitance to be boosted tip by the supply of the program voltage vpgm exists in the channel of the memory cell to which the program voltage vpgm is applied , and in the channel of the memory cell coupled to the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 . as a result , the channel voltage of the program - inhibited memory cell is effectively increased to prohibit it from being programmed . meanwhile , as the program voltage vpgm is so high , it gradually goes to the high level of 20v at the point t 3 . and , the high voltage applied at the point t 3 may be generated with stepping up to its target level in order to further restrain decoupling effects between adjacent memory cells . next , in the mode of supplying the blocking voltage vblock to both the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 and the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 , the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied to the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 and an upper wordline ( hereinafter , referred to as “ second upper - adjacent wordline ”; wl n + 2 ) adjacent to the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 . and , the pass voltage vpass is applied to the rest of the wordlines . thereby , a drain voltage of the floating - gate cell transistor connected to the second upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 2 and a source voltage of the floating - gate cell transistor connected to the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 are boosted up to increase therefrom by the pass voltage vpass applied to the deselected wordlines arranged therearound . thus , memory cells with supply of the decoupling voltage vdcp are shut off to electrically isolate a channel of the memory cell , to which the program voltage vpgm is applied , from channels of other memory cells . as a result , it interrupts currents flowing toward the memory cells coupled to the second upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 2 and the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 . after then , when the program voltage vpgm is applied to the selected wordline wln at a point t 3 , the channels of the memory cells coupled to the selected wordline wln and the first lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 1 , and channels of the memory cells coupled to the selected wordline wln and the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 , become conductive to make a potential difference between the channels of the program - inhibited memory cell and the adjacent memory cell . as a result , as the motion of electrons is absent between the memory cells , it prevents the soft - programming effect therefrom . in this case , the function of interrupting the current flow between the memory cells , which are adjacent to the program - inhibited memory cell , and other memory cells is accomplished by the memory cells coupled to the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 and the second upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 2 those are supplied with the decoupling voltage vdcp . the boosted channel voltage vbst is given as follows . vbst = ( vcc - vth_ssl ) / n + vpgm * cin / ( cin + 3 * cch ) + 2 * vblock * cin / ( cin + 3 * cch ) [ equation 2 ] here , the parameter vth_ssl represents a threshold voltage vth of the string selection transistor and the parameter cch represents channel capacitance . the parameter cin is defined as cin = cono * ctunn /( cono + ctunn ) and the parameter n means the number of the floating - gate cell transistors belonging to a string ( e . g ., 32 ). the parameter cono denotes capacitance of an oxide - nitride - oxide ( ono ) film interposed between floating and control gates in the program - inhibited cell 120 , and the parameter ctunn denotes capacitance of a tunnel oxide film interposed between the floating gate and the semiconductor substrate in the program - inhibited cell 120 . as can be seen from the equation 2 , according to the voltage - applying scheme , the channel voltage of the program - inhibited memory cell is boosted up to a high voltage enough to prevent the inadvertent program . thus , the boosted channel voltage vbst inhibits programming of program - inhibited cell . fig6 and 7 are diagrams summarizing schemes of applying voltages to the flash memory device in accordance with another embodiment of the invention , and fig8 is a timing diagram illustrating points at which the voltages shown in fig7 and 8 are applied . in fig6 through 8 , there is shown a voltage - biasing pattern in the case that the nand string is comprised of two ground selection transistors 201 and 203 . the voltage biasing pattern shown in fig6 through 8 is similar to that shown in fig4 and 5 , but includes the feature of applying voltages to the first and second ground selection lines gsl 1 and gsl 2 connected each to the two ground selection transistors 201 and 203 . referring to fig6 through 8 , in a mode of applying the program voltage vpgm to the n &# 39 ; th wordline wln , the blocking voltage vblock is applied to the first ground selection line gsl 1 adjacent downward to the lowest wordline wl 0 at a point t 1 . during this , the blocking voltage vblock applied to the first ground selection line gsl 1 is higher than a voltage ( e . g ., vcc ) applied to a program - inhibited bitline . and , the second ground selection line gsl 2 adjacent downward to the first ground selection line gsl 1 is supplied with a voltage lower than the voltage applied to the first ground selection line gsl 1 ( e . g ., the ground voltage 0v or the decoupling voltage vdcp ). and , the blocking voltage vblock is applied to at least one or more wordlines , wl n − 1 , or wl n − 1 and wl n + 1 , adjacent to the selected wordline wln . the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied to at least one or more wordlines , wl n − 2 , or wl n − 2 and wl n + 2 , adjacent to the wordlines being supplied with the blocking voltage vblock , or to the wordline wl n + 1 , most adjacent upward to the selected wordline during the programming operation . further at the point t 1 , the pass voltage vpass is applied to the remaining deselected wordlines . and then , the program voltage vpgm is applied to the selected wordline wln at a point t 3 . as explained previously , the blocking voltage vblock is applied to at least one or more wordlines , wl n − 1 , or wl n − 1 and wl n + 1 , adjacent to the selected wordline wln , and to the first ground selection line gsl 1 . during this , the blocking voltage vblock may be used in a unique level or in different levels . in other words , the blocking level vblock may be variable in the range that is higher than the maximum threshold voltage of a programmed memory cell , but is equal to or less than the pass voltage . also referring to fig7 and 8 , in a mode of applying the program voltage vpgm to the 0 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 0 ( i . e ., the lowest wordline ), the blocking voltage vblock is applied to the first ground selection line gsl 1 adjacent downward to the lowest wordline wl 0 , or to the first ground selection line gsl 1 and the 1 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 1 . during this , the second ground selection line gsl 2 adjacent downward to the first ground selection line gsl 1 is supplied with the ground voltage 0v or the decoupling voltage vdcp . while the blocking voltage vblock is applied to the 1 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 1 , the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied to the 2 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 2 . when blocking voltage vblock is not applied to the 1 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 1 , the decoupling voltage vdcp is supplied to the 1 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 1 . and , the pass voltage vpass is applied to the rest of wordlines deselected at the point ti . and then , the program voltage vpgm is applied to the 0 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 0 at the point t 3 . in this case , the blocking voltage vblock is applied to the first ground selection line gsl 1 , or to the first ground selection line gsl 1 and the 1 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 1 . during this , the blocking voltage vblock may be set at a unique level or at different levels . in other words , the blocking level vblock may be variable in the range that is higher than the maximum threshold voltage of a programmed memory cell , or equal to or less than the pass voltage . as stated above , with the structure that the nand string has the two ground selection transistors 201 and 203 , the blocking voltage vblock is always applied to the first ground selection transistor gsl 1 while the ground voltage 0v is always applied to the second ground selection line gsl 2 , regardless of whether the program voltage vpgm is supplied to the n &# 39 ; th wordline wln or the 0 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 0 . usually , the ground voltage 0v is applied to the ground selection line gsl for program inhibition . therefore , when the program voltage vpgm is applied to the wordline most adjacent to the ground selection line gsl ( i . e ., the 0 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 0 ), it would cause a program - inhibited memory cell to be softly programmed because there is generated a high electric field between the channel of the program - inhibited memory cell coupled to the 0 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 0 and the channel of the ground selection transistor gst coupled to the ground selection line gsl . in order to overcome the soft - programming effect , there are two ground selection transistors 201 and 203 at least in the nand string . further , the blocking voltage vblock is applied to the first ground selection transistor 201 adjacent downward to the lowest wordline wl 0 of the nand string , preventing a potential difference from being generated between the channel of the first ground selection transistor 201 and the channel of the program - inhibited memory cell . and , the ground voltage 0v or the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied to the second ground selection transistor 203 that is adjacent downward to the first ground selection transistor 201 , so that the second ground selection transistor 203 is turned off to prevent charges from leaking into the common source line csl while boosting up the channel of the program - inhibited memory cell . here , the first and second ground selection transistors , 201 and 203 , may be formed of floating - gate transistors the same as the memory cells , or single transistors without charge storing layers . the charge - storing layer may be formed of a conductive floating gate that is made of one among a silicon nitride film , an insulation film with high dielectric constant , silicon dots , metal dots , and silicon - germanium ( si — ge ) dots . fig9 is a diagram summarizing a scheme of applying voltages to the flash memory device in accordance with anther embodiment of the invention , and fig1 is a timing diagram illustrating points at which the voltages shown in fig9 are applied . in fig9 and 10 , there is shown a voltage biasing pattern for preventing the program - inhibited memory cell from being softly programmed in the case that the nand string is comprised of two ground selection transistors , 201 and 203 , and two string selection transistors 211 and 213 . the voltage biasing pattern shown in fig9 and 10 is similar to that shown in fig6 through 8 , but includes the feature of applying voltages to first and second ground selection lines ssl 1 and ssl 2 connected each to the two string selection transistors 211 and 213 . generally , the ground voltage 0v is applied to the ground selection line gsl for program inhibition . therefore , when the program voltage vpgm is applied to the wordline most adjacent to the string selection line ssl ( i . e ., the 31 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 31 ), the string selection transistor sst , which is coupled to the string selection line ssl , is turned off and a channel voltage of the program - inhibited memory cell coupled to the 31 &# 39 ; th wordline wl 31 is boosted up . as a result , it would cause a program - inhibited memory cell to be softly programmed because there is generated a high electric field between the channels of the memory cells . in order to overcome the soft - programming effect in the memory cell coupled to the wordline most adjacent to the string selection line ssl , there are provided the two string selection transistors 211 and 213 at least in the nand string . further , the blocking voltage vblock is applied to the first string selection transistor 211 adjacent downward to the highest wordline wl 31 of the nand string , preventing a potential difference from being generated between the channel of the first string selection transistor 211 and the channel of the program - inhibited memory cell . and , the power source voltage vcc is applied to the second string selection transistor 213 that is adjacent upward to the first string selection transistor 211 , so that the second string selection transistor 213 is turned off . here , the first and second string selection transistors , 211 and 213 , may be formed of floating - gate transistors as same as the memory cells , or single transistors without charge - storing layers . the charge - storing layer may be formed of a conductive floating gate that is made of one among a silicon nitride film , an insulation film with high dielectric constant , silicon dots , metal dots , and silicon - germanium ( si — ge ) dots . fig1 is a schematic diagram the configuration of potential patterns formed in channels of a program - inhibited memory cell and memory cells adjacent thereto in accordance with the programming scheme by the invention . referring to fig2 and 11 , it can be seen that the potential difference δp between the memory cells 210 and 230 most adjacent to the program - inhibited memory cell 220 , by the programming method of the invention , is reduced less than that shown in fig2 . as aforementioned with relevant to fig2 , a primary factor causing the soft - programming effect in the program - inhibited memory cell 120 is the potential difference δp , larger than a constant level , in the n - well region 115 connected to the memory cell 120 and the adjacent memory cell 110 when the program voltage vpgm is being applied thereto . this arises from the fact that the distance d between the memory cells becomes smaller as the integration density of the flash memory increases . in general , the probability of injecting electrons into the floating gate of the program - inhibited memory cell 120 is raised in proportion to the value of ( p 1 - p 2 )/ d . here , the parameter d means the distance between the program - inhibited memory cell 120 and the memory cell 110 that is most closely adjacent downward to the program - inhibited memory cell 120 . the parameter p 2 represents a value obtained by subtracting vth ( e . g ., 0 . 7v ) from the potential p 3 formed in the channel of the program - inhibited memory cell 120 . thus , the probability of injecting electrons into the floating gate of the program - inhibited memory cell 120 increases as the distance d between the program - inhibited memory cell 120 and the adjacent memory cell 110 becomes smaller and the potential difference δp in the channels of the memory cells , 110 and 120 , becomes larger . considering those relations with the parameters of the distance and potentials in the memory cells , the invention uses the blocking voltage vblock that is applied to at least one or more wordlines , wl n − 1 and wl n + 1 , adjacent to the selected wordline wln during the programming operation , turning on the memory cells 210 and 230 most adjacent to the program - inhibited memory cell 220 . as a result , it minimizes the potential difference δp in the channels of the memory cells , preventing the soft - programming effect . as the potential difference δp is minimized in the channels of the memory cells although distances d 1 and d 2 between the memory cells is narrower , it is able to protect the program disturbance such as the soft - programming effect . in this case , while physical intervals between the memory cells correspond to d 1 and d 2 , it effects as same as the distance between the program - inhibited memory cell 220 and the adjacent memory cell extends to d ′. in addition , with an increase of the integration density for the flash memory device , a channel length in the memory cell becomes shortened and a drain voltage level thereof is also lowered to cause a punch - through effect . accordingly , there would be induced a phenomenon of charge leakage while the channel of the program - inhibited memory cell is being boosted up . therefore , in order to prevent the leakage of charges through therethrough , the programming method by the invention increases the memory cells to which the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied . for instance , it increases the number of wordlines supplied with the decoupling voltage vdcp , in plurality , at the up and downsides of a wordline to which the program voltage vpgm is applied . as an example , fig4 shows the feature that the decoupling voltage vdcp is applied to the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 , which is located downward from the selected wordline wln , and the first upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 1 , or to the second lower - adjacent wordline wl n − 2 and the second upper - adjacent wordline wl n + 2 . but , in purpose of preventing the punch - through effect aforementioned , the decoupling voltage vdcp may be applied to the second and third lower - adjacent wordlines wl n − 2 and wl n − 3 , which are located downward of the selected wordline wln , and the first and second upper - adjacent wordlines wl n + 1 and wl n + 2 , or to the second and third lower - adjacent wordlines , wl n − 2 and wl n − 3 , and the second and third upper - adjacent wordlines wl n + 2 and wl n + 2 . as aforementioned , according to the programming method for the flash memory device by the invention , the blocking voltage is first applied to at least one or more wordlines adjacent to the selected wordline . the decoupling voltage is applied to at least one or more wordlines adjacent to a wordline with supply of the decoupling voltage , or to an adjacent wordline adjacent upward to the selected wordline . then , the pass voltage is applied to the remaining wordlines deselected while the program voltage is applied to the selected wordline . the blocking voltage is set as being higher than the maximum threshold voltage of a programmed memory cell , but equal to or less than the pass voltage . the decoupling voltage is set as being higher than the maximum threshold voltage of an erased memory cell , but lower than the minimum threshold voltage of a programmed memory cell . with this scheme of applying voltages , there is no generation of potential difference between a channel of a program - inhibited cell coupled to the selected wordline and a channel of a memory cell adjacent to the program - inhibited cell . thus , since there is no variation in a threshold voltage of the program - inhibited cell during a programming operation , it is able to prevent program disturbance such as a soft - programming effect . furthermore , increasing the number of wordlines supplied with the decoupling voltage is helpful for preventing the punch - through effect therein . consequently , the present invention is advantageous for reliable programming operation and program inhibition even though intervals between memory cells become narrower and channel lengths become shorter along the increase of the integration density in the flash memory . while there has been illustrated and described what are presently considered to be example embodiments of the present invention , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various other modifications may be made , and equivalents may be substituted , without departing from the true scope of the invention . additionally , many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation to the teachings of the present invention without departing from the central inventive concept described herein . therefore , it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed , but that the invention include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims . | 6 |
fig1 shows the general form of an fpga - based application - specific integrated processor ( asip ). a pipelined program memory 2 and program counter 4 supply the machine with an encoded instruction word . the program memory 2 is typically included within the processor 6 and exploits the dual - port facilities of the memories to allow external sources to load program code . the encoded instruction word feeds a decode block 8 that decodes the data to provide a set of control signals for the processor 6 . control signals include : immediate values such as literals , register file read and write addresses ; function unit enable and operation select signals ; multiplexer operand - select codes . the processing core 6 includes a set of function units 10 , 12 and the multiplexers 14 , 16 that route data between them . the function units include memories 18 , registers , basic arithmetic and logic units , and multiply — add blocks . these blocks may exploit specific features of the fpga device or may rely on standard libraries such as the library of parameterized modules ( lpm ). in addition , custom application specific units 20 may be included . function units 22 implementing bus - masters , slaves , general purpose i / o , and streaming point - to - point protocols provide i / o functionality . fig2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a programmable logic device ( pld ), in the form of a field programmable gate array 400 . as is conventional , the illustrated device 400 includes logic array elements 402 and dedicated memory 404 . the interconnections between the array elements 402 and elements of the memory 404 can be altered , based on configuration data that is supplied to the device . this configuration data therefore determines the functions that the configured device can perform . fig1 , and the following figures , therefore illustrate the functional relationships between components of the device , it being understood that these functional components are formed from the logic array elements 402 and elements of the memory 404 by suitable configuration data . the recursive least squares form of qr - decomposition ( qrd - rls ) is suitable for a parallel implementation in the form of a systolic array , which on the face of it appears ideal for a hardware solution , in particular in a pld as shown in fig2 . however , the resulting architecture can be difficult to reconfigure or scale , and may become too large , especially for a large number of inputs or limited hardware requirement . in this case , the mapping of the systolic array processing cells to available hardware resources necessitates complex control from a conventional rtl perspective . in contrast , using the application specific processor facilitates control and re - use of hardware , permitting a readily scalable and reconfigurable solution . this is complementary to a conventional general - purpose processor approach , as an asip solution permits efficient use of the available hardware , targeted for a specific set of requirements . fig3 is a block schematic diagram of an example of a systolic array 24 used for qrd - rls , in which there are four ‘ input ’ coefficients to array 24 and one ‘ output ’ coefficient . similar systolic arrays may be envisaged with a different number of input coefficients . the top row 26 of array 24 has five processing cells : one boundary cell 28 operating in vectorize mode to calculate a givens rotation , followed by four internal cells 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 operating in rotate mode to apply a calculated givens rotation . boundary cell 28 receives an input x 1 ( 0 ), generates one or more phase outputs 38 and passes the or each phase output sideways to internal cell 30 . internal cell 30 receives an input x 2 ( 0 ) and combines it with the or each phase output 38 to generate a new output 40 . the or each phase output 38 is passed to each internal cell in row 26 without being altered . similarly , each remaining internal cell in row 26 combines the or each phase output 38 with an input to create outputs 42 , 44 , 46 . each new output 40 , 42 , 44 , 46 is passed downwards to row 48 . row 48 has one boundary cell 50 and three internal cells 52 , 54 , 56 . boundary cell 50 receives output 40 and generates one or more new phase outputs 58 . the or each new phase output 58 is passed sideways to each internal cell 52 , 54 , 56 in row 48 . internal cell 52 receives output 42 and the or each phase output 58 and generates a new output 62 ; internal cell 54 receives output 44 and the or each phase output 58 and generates a new output 64 ; and internal cell 56 receives output 46 and the or each phase output 58 and generates a new output 66 . each new output 62 , 64 , 66 is passed downwards to row 70 . row 70 has one boundary cell 72 and two internal cells 74 , 76 . boundary cell 72 receives output 62 and generates one or more new phase outputs 78 . the or each new phase output 78 is passed sideways to each internal cell 74 , 76 in row 70 . internal cell 74 receives output 64 and the or each phase output 78 , and generates a new output 84 ; and internal cell 76 receives output 66 and the or each phase output 78 , and generates a new output 86 . each new output 84 , 86 is passed downwards to row 90 . row 90 has one boundary cell 94 and one internal cell 96 . boundary cell 94 receives output 84 and generates one or more new phase outputs 98 . the or each new phase output 98 is passed sideways to internal cell 96 . in addition to creating outputs , each cell , boundary and internal , generates a value that is stored inside the cell . data is input to array 24 in a time - skewed manner . the calculations for a particular decomposed matrix ( r ), and therefore for a particular time snapshot of coefficients , propagate through the array on a diagonal wavefront . it should be noted that array 24 is a logical representation of the processing required , and is not representative of the system architecture employed to implement it . while mapping one processing unit to each cell would give the highest throughput possible , such an approach is too resource - intensive . in practice , a smaller number of processing units is employed ( possibly even one processing unit ) and time - shared between the cells . further details of the mapping scheme are given below . fig4 is a schematic block diagram showing the method of operation for processing cells receiving real inputs , according to one aspect of the present invention . each cell contains at least one cordic ( coordinate rotation digital computer ) unit . cordic is a hardware - efficient algorithm for computing functions such as trigonometric , hyperbolic and logarithmic functions . it works by rotating the phase of a complex number by multiplying it by a succession of constant values . however , the constant values can be multiples of 2 , and thus in binary arithmetic each calculation can be done using solely shift - and - adds . the cordic unit can therefore be conveniently implemented in a pld as shown in fig2 . two types of systolic node processing elements are employed here : internal cells ( squares ) and boundary cells ( circles ). boundary cells are used to calculate the givens rotation that is applied across a particular row in the matrix . as such , the new input is compared to the stored data value ( denoted r ij ), and a unitary transform is calculated which annihilates the previous value ( which is the conceptual output ) and calculates the new value of this element . this value corresponds to the magnitude of a vector made up of the input value and the previous value ( scaled by the forgetting factor λ ). boundary cell 100 uses cordic unit 102 to achieve this by iteratively rotating the vector ( r ij , x i ) until the input is annihilated and a new vector ( r ′ ij , 0 ) is output . the unitary transform ( givens rotation θ out ) which is calculated in boundary cell 100 is output and applied to the remainder of the row by internal cells 104 , 106 , 108 ( with an index r ij , where i ≦ j ). for example , internal cell 106 uses cordic unit 110 to apply the transform to input values , and previous ( stored ) values , to calculate a new ( stored ) value , and an output . the transform is also output , to be used by the next boundary cell 108 in the row . fig5 is a schematic block diagram showing the method of operation for cells receiving complex inputs , according to one aspect of the present invention . the method of operation is similar to that in the case of real inputs ; however , in this case at least two cordic processes are required in each processing unit . boundary cell 112 requires two cordic processes 114 , 116 to calculate the givens rotations that are applied across a particular row in the matrix . first , the new ( complex valued ) input is received , and a unitary transform calculated by cordic block 114 which annihilates the phase of the complex input , and outputs the phase φ out and the magnitude of the input | x in |. the magnitude of the input , | x in |, is passed to another cordic block 116 , which compares it with the stored data value , r ij , and calculates a unitary transform ( givens rotation θ out ) which annihilates the previous value ( which is the conceptual output ) and calculates the new value of this element . the unitary transforms ( φ out and θ out ) which are calculated in boundary cell 112 are output and applied to the remainder of the row by internal cells ( with an index r ij , where i ≦ j ). for example , internal cell 118 applies the transforms ( shown as φ in and θ in as the inputs to the cell 118 ) to input ( complex ) values , and previous ( stored , complex ) values , to calculate a new ( stored ) value , and a ( complex ) output . the transforms are also output , to be used by the next boundary cell in the row . cordic block 120 receives a complex input and applies the first givens rotation φ in . the real part of the so - transformed complex input is passed to cordic block 122 , where it is paired with the real part of complex stored data value r ij , and the second givens rotation θ in applied . similarly , the imaginary part of the so - transformed complex input is passed to cordic block 124 , where it is paired with the imaginary part of complex stored data value r ij , and the second givens rotation θ out applied . although separate cordic blocks are shown in fig4 and 5 , it will be appreciated that fewer cordic blocks than shown could be used by employing time - sharing techniques . for example , a single cordic block could perform all the calculations described above for a single processing cell in consecutive steps . however , such a system would have the disadvantage of reduced throughput . the overall system is implemented using a custom processor approach , one or more processing units being controlled by a program and a program controller . this provides an efficient solution , exploiting significant time multiplexing between the processing units for an efficient implementation , and allowing a trade - off between performance and size . moreover , the system has run - time flexibility in : the number of coefficients , the size of frame ( i . e . number of inputs to take ), real / complex numbers and the number of bits resolution . the system has run - time flexibility in its application : the same hardware can be used with different parameters , e . g . smart antennas , space - time coding channel estimation and mimo reception . the use of a program controller to control multiple processing units allows the system to be scaled up or down easily . it is a simple task to add more processing units , improving the calculation time , or reduce the number of processing units , improving hardware efficiency . fig6 is a schematic block diagram of an example of the system according to one aspect of the invention , in which there is one processor . as shown in fig6 , the overall design comprises a program 200 , program counter 201 , and a program controller 202 which controls the functionality of the other modules and resets the calculation if required . the overall design also includes an input - formatting block , not shown in fig6 . this reads in the input data in the correct order and the correct format . the processing unit 204 comprises a cordic block 206 to do the calculation , an input wrapper 208 and an output wrapper 210 for the cordic block 206 ( to ensure correct number format ) and a distributed memory structure that ( along with the scheduling ) allows multiple processing units to write to each other whilst ensuring there is only one read operation and one write operation per cycle . the overall design also includes an output control block , not shown in fig5 , that determines when to output the r matrix value ( to a backsubstitution module ). as shown in fig5 , the processing unit 204 includes logic blocks ( cordic kernel 204 , and wrappers on the input 206 and output 208 of the cordic kernel 204 ), and data memories ( ip mem 212 , φ mem 214 , and r mem 218 ). the programme controller 202 provides inputs to the processing unit 204 , namely : mode — the mode of operation for that node ( boundary cell or internal cell ). φ addr or output value addr — the destination address of the outputs . input ( ip ) control — an indication whether the input for a particular node is from another node or from the external input . output ( op ) control — a flag to indicate whether an output is required , and what the corresponding address is . internal signals within the processing unit 204 include : r value , which is read from r mem 218 ; φ value , which is the applied givens rotation , read from cd mem 214 ; and ip value , which is the output received from an internal cell in the row above in the systolic array , read from ip mem 212 . all internal signals are read from internal memories from read address & lt ; node addr & gt ;, supplied by programme controller 202 . program controller 202 first sends ip control to indicate whether either an external input or ip value should be processed . wrapper 208 receives r value and either an external input or ip value , puts both values into the correct format for cordic processing , and outputs them to cordic kernel 206 . cordic kernel receives both inputs from wrapper 208 , as well as a signal from program controller 202 indicating whether cordic kernel 206 is to operate either in vectorize mode ( i . e . as a boundary cell ) or in rotate mode ( i . e . as an internal cell ). φ value is written to φ delay line 216 , from where it is further output to φ mem 214 . φ delay line 216 delays writing φ value to φ mem 214 to account for latency in the cordic kernel 206 . φ delay line 216 may , for example , be a fifo memory . if cordic kernel 206 is to operate in rotate mode , cordic kernel 206 also receives φ value and applies the rotation as described in fig4 and 5 . it then outputs the transformed ip value and the new r value to output wrapper 210 . if cordic kernel 206 is operating in vectorize mode , it does not require φ value , and rotates the vector ( r , x ) so to annihilate the input , as described above . in this case , the new r value is output to wrapper 210 , and the generated φ value is output to φ mem 214 . output wrapper 210 stores the new r value in r mem 218 , and outputs the new ip value to ip mem 214 if operating in rotation mode . program controller 202 further supplies r mem 218 with a signal op control , indicating if the stored r value is to be output to a backsubstitution module ( not shown ). in the example above , wherein the system comprises one processing unit 204 , ip value and φ value are rewritten in ip mem 212 and φ mem 214 , respectively , after undergoing processing . in general , however , there can be any desired number , n , of processing units 204 . in the general case , ip value and φ value are rewritten in ip mem 212 and φ mem 214 of a different processing unit according to rules that are outlined below . scheduling the operations of the processing units is key . it is necessary to ensure that all nodes are processed whilst observing required data dependencies , and to avoid memory contention ( i . e . multiple samples being written to one memory at the same time ). the operation of one or more nodes in the systolic array can be mapped onto each processing unit . in one embodiment of the invention , all nodes can be mapped onto one unit . this gives a very efficient hardware implementation but longer calculation time . fig7 is a block schematic diagram illustrating the order of processing of example systolic array 24 when there is one processing unit . in general , processing occurs on diagonals . the order is such that the smallest amount of memory is required , and all data dependencies are satisfied . here the nodes are numbered n 1 - n 14 in the same order as data appears on them . in the method of discrete mapping , one processor unit performs only boundary cell operations , while others perform internal cell operations . this allows optimization of processors , and requires the minimum amount of memory . other resource - sharing techniques are possible . however , discrete mapping requires the pipeline to be broken to allow calculations to be finished before the next input samples are read in . a modified discrete mapping approach can be used to ensure no memory contention . the proposed technique uses the minimum amount of memory ( otherwise double buffering would be required ). fig8 is a block schematic diagram illustrating the modified discrete mapping approach for multiple processing units , for the example systolic array given in fig3 . the same reference numerals will be used in this figure . the position of cells 56 , 74 , 76 , 94 , 96 is redrawn above the original array such that five diagonals 220 , 222 , 224 , 226 , 228 are formed . diagonal 220 comprises cells 28 , 56 and 74 ; diagonal 222 comprises cells 30 , 76 and 94 ; diagonal 224 comprises cells 32 , 50 and 96 ; diagonal 226 comprises cells 34 , 52 ; and diagonal 228 comprises cells 36 , 54 and 72 . the repositioning of the cells allows the introduction of a further cell 99 in the systolic array without increasing the latency of the system . this cell 99 may , for example , be used to calculate the error term . fig9 is a blockschematic diagram further illustrating the modified discrete mapping approach . one new input vector will be read in during each time period , referred to as a beat , and every node in the array will be clocked once . if the number of processing units is less than the number of nodes ( which is likely ) then each beat is divided into multiple time slots . the nodes are divided into groups according to the time slots in which they will be processed . specifically , diagonal 220 corresponds to time slot 3 ; diagonal 222 corresponds to time slot 4 ; diagonal 224 corresponds to time slot 0 ; diagonal 226 corresponds to time slot 1 ; and diagonal 228 corresponds to time slot 2 . the optimum number of processors is the same as the number of nodes on the longest diagonal : one boundary cell and two internal cells in this case . fig1 is a block schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the three processors 230 , 232 , 234 in this case . thus , the three nodes in each time slot in fig9 are mapped onto the three processors . the arrows indicate the flow of data between the three processors 230 , 232 , 234 . different mappings are possible . for example , fig1 illustrates the operation of two processors 236 , 238 for the array of fig8 , and the arrows indicate the flow of data between the processors . thus it is possible to reduce the number of processing units ; however , using fewer than the optimum number of processors means that processor 238 , performing internal cell operations , will be more heavily loaded than processor 236 , performing boundary cell operations . this approach decreases the required resources but increases the calculation time . fig1 is a schematic block diagram showing the order in which data appears in the example systolic array of fig2 ( 5 × 5 case ). the data dependency is to ensure that the operation of a particular node does not occur before the output of the previous beat on the input cell is received . thus , the order in which data appears in the cells is : firstly , the cell indicated by n 1 , namely the cell 28 ; secondly , the cell indicated by n 2 , namely the cell 30 ; thirdly , the cells indicated by n 3 , namely the cells 32 and 50 ; then the cells 34 and 52 indicated by n 4 ; the cells 36 , 54 and 72 indicated by n 5 ; the cells 56 and 74 indicated by n 6 ; the cells 76 and 94 indicated by n 7 ; and , finally , the cell 96 indicated by n 8 . for discrete mapping , calculations must be finished before the next input samples are read in , e . g . the nodes ( indicated by n 3 and n 8 in fig1 ) allocated to time slot 0 are fed by the nodes ( indicated by n 2 and n 7 in fig1 allocated to time slot 4 ( see fig9 ). therefore the result from time slot 4 must be ready before time slot 0 can be run on the next beat of the systolic array . with a single processor , and assuming a restart interval of 1 ( i . e . assuming that data can be loaded in , and an answer can be read out , within one cycle ), the pipeline can be fully loaded if the latency is less than the number of nodes , e . g . in the single processor case , if the latency is less than or equal to 14 beats the calculation for node n 1 will be available before node n 2 for the next beat is clocked . the pipeline can be fully loaded if the latency of the processing unit is not too large or too small . if the latency is larger than the number of nodes : processing is stopped until the output appears . e . g . in the 5 × 5 case there are 14 nodes ; if the latency is more than 14 beats , processing cannot start , e . g . node n 2 on beat n cannot be clocked before the output of node n 1 on beat n - 1 is received . if the latency is too small , there may be a problem if the output of a node is ready too early , e . g . if the latency is only 2 beats , the output of node n 7 is ready before node n 10 is processed . in this case , two separate memories may be needed ( one for this beat and one for the last beat ). the maximum time between nodes is given by ( num_coeffs / 2 )+ 1 . as described above , the qrd operation is implemented as a series of givens rotations . this involves calculating a rotation in the boundary cell , and applying it in the remaining cells . for example , matlab code is available for performing these steps , which are also described in “ numerical recipes in c ” ( 2 nd ed ) page 98 , section 2 . 10 , “ qr decomposition ”. the calculation and application are performed using cordic . fig1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating mixed cartesian / polar processing for complex inputs . again , the boundary nodes 300 operate in vectorize mode , and the internal nodes 302 operate in rotate mode . however , this is a different implementation of the node processor , which is transparent to the higher - level architecture . each boundary cell 300 has a sin / cos unit 304 which outputs sin and cos components of the or each phase output rather than the or each phase value itself . thus , internal cells 302 can exploit hard multipliers 306 instead of further cordic processes , allowing balancing of resources . the boundary cell 300 has two cordic units 308 , 310 , which operate in a similar manner to cordic units 114 , 116 in fig5 . cordic unit 308 receives real and imaginary components of the input , and outputs the magnitude of the complex input to cordic unit 310 . cordic unit 310 receives the magnitude of the complex input , and the stored r value , and annihilates the magnitude component as described previously , creating a new stored r value . the boundary cell 300 receives three inputs , the r value , and the real and imaginary components of the input , and it outputs sin and cos components according to the following code ( where op is output ): // x_in is the input ( which is complex ), x is the stored value ( which is real ) // lambda is the forgetting factor internal cell 302 comprises hard multiplier 306 , which receives real and imaginary components of an input , as well as the sin and cos components output from sin / cos unit 304 , and calculations according to the following code ( again where op is output ): this has the advantage of greatly reducing the number of logic elements ( les ) required for fast processing ( see fig1 ). fig1 illustrates a first example of the results and resource utilization from the implementation of qrd - rls , in the case where the data width is 16 - bit , there are 20 coefficients , and the system performs 2000 iterations . design space exploration allows trade - off between calculation time and resources . fig1 shows the results from full cordic implementation . multipliers are used to remove cordic scaling ; time multiplexing is used where appropriate , between nodes and within nodes ; and the system operates with a clock rate of 153 . 6 mhz . fig1 shows the results using a similar top - level architecture with mixed polar and cartesian processing . as can be seen , this results in a higher multiplier utilization , and less usage of logic . in the implementation of the processing unit for performing the rls algorithm , for example , in order to provide an adaptive filtering system , a “ forgetting factor ” ( λ ) is applied . the result is more heavily weighted towards recent inputs 0 & lt ; λ ≦ 1 . if λ = 1 , the system is not adaptive ( i . e . conventional qrd is implemented ). it is necessary to scale all r values in the array by sqrt ( λ ) after every beat . in order to implement this , this scaling is combined with the scaling that is required on the output of the cordic block ( e . g . in a hard multiplier ). more specifically , the scaling can be implemented as a series of shift - and - adds , or with a multiplier . as mentioned previously , the overall design includes an input - formatting block to put the data input into the correct format for processing . there are three main options for the number format to be used . firstly , there is standard fixed - point format , e . g . q1 . 15 . in this case , one potentially needs to provide scaling in the input block to avoid overflow . rls scaling by a forgetting factor will also ensure overflow does not occur . secondly , there is floating - point format , e . g . ieee - 754 , single precision format . this typically provides greater accuracy , and a large dynamic range . thirdly , there is block floating - point format . in this case , all r matrix values share one exponent . this provides a large dynamic range , with lower complexity than true floating point . in the case of a floating - point implementation , the format can be the same as ieee - 754 , or custom mantissa and exponent size . received data must be subject to input conditioning , to convert from the input format ( e . g . fixed - point ) to floating - point format . specifically , it is necessary to detect the number of leading zeroes , shift the mantissa , and decrement the exponent . the cordic operation must be modified . specifically , a floating - point wrapper must be provided for a fixed - point cordic block . one possibility is to right - shift the mantissa of the smaller of the two x and y inputs to the cordic block , so that the exponents are the same . then , it is possible to perform cordic operations as normal , and then normalize x and y output ( zero - detect , shift mantissa , increment / decrement exponent ). phase output can be left as fixed - point . this is not true floating - point , so there is some degradation in performance . for the output conditioning of the data , backsubstitution can be performed with floating - point numbers , for greater accuracy , or the data can be converted to fixed - point format . in the case of a block floating - point implementation , there is one single exponent value for all matrix values . less memory is required , and the wrapper for the cordic block can be simpler . this still allows gain in the array ; there is no need to scale the input values . the format can be the same as ieee - 754 , or custom mantissa and exponent size . the input conditioning is the same as conventional floating - point . however , the sequence of operations is modified . assuming there is a maximum of x2 gain per beat , exp_shift is set to 0 at the start of the beat . the r value and input value are shifted by one bit if required ( see below to determine if required ). cordic operation is performed as normal , with additional bits provided in the cordic block to allow gain . if the magnitude of any output value & gt ; 1 . 0 , flag exp_shift is marked as 1 but values are stored as normal . at the end of the beat , exponent = exponent + exp_shift . if exp_shift == 1 , then , on the next beat , reset exp_shift to zero , and right shift all r values and io values between nodes by one place before processing . for output conditioning in block floating - point format the exponent can be ignored , as it is the same for all r matrix values and therefore cancels in the backsubstitution calculation . alternatively it is possible to convert to conventional floating - point format for better resolution in backsubstitution calculation . fig1 shows a comparison of the use of fixed - and floating - point data in the rls calculation , in the case where there are 20 coefficients , and the system performs 2000 iterations . the clock rate is 150 mhz . specifically , fig1 shows the comparison between 32 - bit floating - point data , and 18 - or 24 - bit fixed - point data . the description above sets outs the operation of the systolic array on the input data , but it is also necessary to consider the method of reading data into the systolic array . specifically , it is necessary to stagger the inputs to the systolic array to conform to correct processing . the conventional method would be to use shift registers for this , but a large amount of logic would be required for this . here an alternative method is proposed of reading in , storing and correctly formatting the input blocks in situ in the memory . as described previously , fig3 illustrates the inputs to the systolic array . specifically , the inputs to the systolic array are staggered to ensure the correct order of processing . zeroes are fed in when starting processing and data follows a diagonal wavefront . thus , x 1 ( 0 ) is input , then x 1 ( 1 ) and x 2 ( 0 ) are input , then x 1 ( 2 ), x 2 ( 1 ) and x 3 ( 0 ) are input , and so on . fig1 is a schematic diagram of an input array 350 , showing the way in which the input data is conditioned . input array 350 has a size which is determined by n ( number of coefficients ), e . g . 20 , and m ( frame size of input data ), e . g . 200 . in this illustrated case , the total size = 2 × n × m ( double buffering ). firstly , the lower half 352 of the input array 350 is initialized to zero , and the upper half 354 of the input array 350 stores the data for the first frame . data is read into the systolic array at times t ( n ) sequentially for all n systolic array inputs . data is read from the input array 350 on diagonals , such that the first input on the first diagonal 356 is x 0 ( 0 ) followed by n - 1 zeroes , then the second diagonal 357 contains x 0 ( 1 ), x 1 ( 0 ), followed by n - 2 zeroes , and so on . fig1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the input array 350 at a later time . data continues to be read on diagonals . when diagonal 358 is read out , the lower half 352 of the input array 350 is no longer used , as shown in fig1 , and the next frame of input data can be read into the lower half 352 of the input array 350 . this occurs after n diagonals have been read out from the input array . similarly , when the upper half 354 is no longer needed ( when a further m diagonals have been read out ), the next frame of input data is read in there . fig1 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of an alternative smaller input array 360 . fig1 and 18 assumed a buffer size of 2nm . however , the input buffer can be n ( n + m )= nm + n 2 , as shown in fig1 . this is because the size of the overlap region when reading on a diagonal is n 2 . after reading in the first frame f ( 0 ), with n 2 zeroes in the lower part 362 of the input array 360 , as shown in fig1 ( a ), data is read out on diagonals , as illustrated in fig1 . then , when sufficient memory is available , i . e . after time nm , the next frame , namely f ( 1 ), is read in to the input array 360 . for some time , both the frames will be required , i . e . the most recent fragment of f ( 0 ) and the new samples of f ( 1 ). similarly for subsequent frames : at time nm , f ( 1 ) and the last fragment of f ( 0 ) are required as shown in fig1 ( b ); at time 2nm , f ( 2 ) and the last fragment of f ( 1 ) are required as shown in fig1 ( c ); and at time 3nm , f ( 3 ) and the last fragment of f ( 2 ) are required , as shown in fig1 ( d ); etc . below is the pseudo - code for the input conditioning . this assumes double buffering , with the memory configured as a 10 buffer of size = 2nm bits . as mentioned above , the data follows a diagonal wavefront . as shown in fig3 , data having the same time index , in parentheses , corresponds to a particular time sample . at one instant in time , if processing of the array is stopped , samples on a diagonal correspond to the same time : the top - left of the array being the newest samples ; and the bottom - right of the array being the oldest samples . to perform backsubstitution , an array of outputs corresponding to one time sample is required . the standard method for doing this is the ‘ stop ’ method , which will be described briefly below . the stop method involves stopping processing on a diagonal wavefront . for example , one might stop after sample 6 . this would result in the whole array corresponding to the same time sample ( for example the whole array would be sample 6 ). it is easy to extract the data when the array has been fully stopped . this method can be easier to implement when there is more than one processing unit . in more detail , when the input sample value exceeds a certain time , null values are fed into the systolic array . zeroes may be able to be fed in , but , in the case of rls implementation , the forgetting factor will mean that the array values decay with a zero input , and so an additional mechanism is required to prevent this occurring , e . g . a control on the processing unit to suspend processing . once the last node has been suspended , the array values are read out to backsubstitution . to reset processing , all array values , 10 values and theta values are reset to zero . to restart processing , new data are fed in on a diagonal wavefront ( as when starting ). the processing unit starts processing data when non - null input is received . the stop method , therefore , clearly has the disadvantage that processing of the array must be suspended while data is output . here an alternative method is proposed , termed the ‘ sample ’ method , which outputs data from the array ‘ on the fly ’. in the sample method , samples are extracted corresponding to a particular sample as the processor is operating . a node value is extracted for e . g . sample 6 ( i . e . when a sample corresponding to time value 6 is received ). array processing continues as normal , and there is no need to stop the array . in more detail , one implementation of the sample method is for the programme controller to have a modulo d counter ( d_count ), where d is the number of diagonals in the systolic array ( e . g . 5 in the example illustrated in fig2 ). in the programme , each node has an associated diagonal value , e . an output is read from the processing unit if d_count = e . for example , these values can be written to a backsubstitution buffer . once d_count is reset to zero , data is valid . that is , all samples in the backsubstitution buffer correspond to the same time sample . the buffer is valid until the next data sample is written . when suspending the array processing , it is preferable to ensure suspension only occurs when d_count is reset to zero . processing is suspended and the backsubstitution buffer is also valid . with more than one processing unit , several values will be ready to be written to the backsubstitution buffer on the same cycle . fig2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the order in which data is written to the backsubstitution buffer for the example array given in fig3 . using the array shown in fig3 , the order of output to the backsubstitution buffer is indicated by the order of the numerals p 1 - p 14 shown in fig2 . data is written to the backsubstitution buffer according to one of the two methods described above . the data is ordered in the sequence it will be processed , namely right - to - left from the bottom . this simplifies the addressing in backsubstitution . details of the mathematical principles of the backsubstitution method have been given previously . using an external or embedded processor , the qr - decomposition engine calculates a predefined number of samples and then suspends processing . a data_valid signal indicates that backsubstitution data buffer is valid , and no more data can be written to the backsubstitution buffer . processing may be suspended or may continue ( depending on system requirements ). then the processor performs the backsubstitution calculation , and outputs the calculated coefficients . a processor_ready signal indicates when calculation has finished and the processor is ready for another . calculation can be done in fixed -( int ) or floating - point ( float ) format . it is possible to improve backsubstitution with hardware accelerators for add , multiply , or divide . depending on the number of samples per decomposition calculation , the processor may be lightly loaded with backsubstitution only , and can perform other tasks . for example , the processor can be implemented with an altera nios ii ( rtm ) soft processing core . backsubstitution can alternatively be performed using a hardware or custom processor . this gives a faster calculation time than the processor implementation , and so is more appropriate for faster coefficient updates . calculation is triggered by the data_valid signal . data dependency on divide operation can be mitigated by calculating the reciprocal of the boundary cells as soon as they are ready . calculation is then multiply and accumulate of available coefficients and reciprocal . | 6 |
the inventors have discovered that high propane recovery of 99 . 9 % can be achieved for the ethane recovery and ethane rejection operation by changing the origin of the reflux from residue gas to deethanizer overhead , and by varying the feed gas split ratios to two feed exchangers . in contemplated methods and configurations , the demethanizer is operated at a higher pressure than the deethanizer pressure during ethane recovery , and at a lower pressure than the deethanizer pressure during ethane rejection or propane recovery . thus , it should be recognized that during ethane recovery , residue gas compression horsepower is reduced as the demethanizer operates at a higher pressure than the deethanizer . on the other hand , during ethane rejection , it should be noted that the deethanizer overhead can be directed to the demethanizer for refluxing without further compression as the demethanizer pressure is lowered to below that of the deethanizer . consequently , using contemplated configurations and methods , ethane recovery of at least 95 %, more typically at least 98 % during ethane recovery is achieved . in one preferred aspect of the inventive subject matter , contemplated plants include a demethanizer and a deethanizer , wherein the demethanizer is configured to receive a top reflux ( relative to other streams ) that is provided by a residue gas recycle stream during ethane recovery . when ethane rejection is desired , the top reflux is provided by deethanizer overhead gas . moreover , it is generally preferred that the demethanizer is refluxed with a second reflux stream ( preferably at least two trays below the top reflux ) that is provided by a portion of subcooled feed gas . feed gas cooling is preferably achieved by use of one or more turboexpanders and / or one or more demethanizer side reboilers . using the above inventive configurations and methods , the volume ratio of methane to ethane content in the demethanizer bottom is controlled at about 2 %, as necessary to meet the ethane product specification during ethane recovery . during ethane rejection , the methane to ethane volume ratio is increased to 10 % such that more deethanizer overhead vapor is generated for refluxing the demethanizer , which thus eliminates the need for residue gas recycle . consequently , methods and configurations are now available to achieve ethane recovery of at least 95 %, preferably at least 98 %, and propane recovery of at least 95 %, preferably at least 98 %, more preferably at least 99 %, and most preferably at least 99 . 9 % during ethane recovery . moreover , contemplated methods and configurations also achieve propane recovery of at least 99 . 9 % during ethane rejection . unless the context dictates the contrary , all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints , and open - ended ranges should be interpreted to include commercially practical values . similarly , all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary . it should still further be appreciated that the configurations and methods presented herein can process high pressure hydrocarbon feed gases ( e . g . at least 1 . 400 psig , and more preferably at least 1600 psig , and even higher ). at such pressures , two stages of turbo - expansion are preferably included to so eliminate propane refrigeration typically required inconventional designs . in especially preferred configurations , the demethanizer side reboilers are also used for stripping the methane component in the feed gas by using the heat content of the feed gas , and turbo - expansion of the feed gas subsequently provides the cooling duty in the demethanizer . fig1 depicts an exemplary gas processing plant for ethane recovery and ethane rejection using a feed gas with a composition as shown in table 1 : more particularly , dried feed gas stream 1 , at a temperature of about 95 ° f . and a pressure of about 1600 psig , is letdown in pressure to about 1100 psig via first turboexpander 51 , forming stream 2 at about 55 ° f . the expander power is used to drive one of the residue gas compressors 52 . the expanded gas is then split into two portions 3 / 4 and 5 , with portion 3 / 4 being fed to the upper feed exchanger 56 and the other portion 5 being fed to the lower exchanger 64 . in the upper exchanger 56 , the demethanizer overhead gas stream 26 at about − 108 ° f . is used to chill and subcool the residue gas ( or deethanizer overhead ) stream 20 from about 110 ° f . to about − 130 ° f . and a portion of the feed gas stream 3 from about 54 ° f . to about − 130 ° f . the residue gas stream 14 from the demethanizer is warmed up to about 58 ° f . prior to compression in the residue gas compressor 52 . during ethane recovery , these two subcooled streams ( 21 and 11 ) are used to form the first and second reflux streams ( 22 and 12 via jt valves 75 and 76 , respectively ) to the demethanizer 58 . the first reflux 22 is fed to the top of the demethanizer , and the second reflux 12 is fed to a position at the demethanizer that is at least two trays below the top tray . the residual refrigerant content in the demethanizer overhead gas is recovered by chilling a portion of the feed gas stream 4 from about 54 ° f . to about − 20 ° f . forming stream 7 . during ethane rejection , residue gas recycle flow is stopped by closing valve 80 , and valve 79 is opened such that the top reflux is provided by deethanizer overhead vapor stream 32 via streams 49 and 20 . the deethanizer overhead vapor is chilled from about 23 ° f . to about − 108 ° f . forming an ethane rich reflux stream which is used during the ethane rejection operation . in lower exchanger 64 , the refrigerant content of the upper and lower side reboilers in the demethanizer are recovered via streams 23 and 24 by chilling the feed gas to about − 21 ° f . forming stream 6 . the chilled feed gas streams from the upper and lower exchangers are combined and separated in feed gas separator 57 . the separator liquid stream 9 is letdown in pressure via jt valve 77 and fed as stream 10 to the lower section of the demethanizer 58 , and separator vapor stream 8 is expanded in the second turboexpander 53 forming stream 19 at about − 90 ° f ., which is fed to the mid section of demethanizer 58 . during ethane recovery , the temperature of demethanizer bottom product 25 is heated to about 104 ° f . by the heat medium flow in reboiler 65 for controlling the methane component to the ethane component in the bottom liquid at a ratio of 2 volume %. a gas analysis is typically used to fine , tune the reboiler temperature . during ethane rejection , the demethanizer bottom temperature stream 25 is lowered to about 64 ° f . in reboiler 65 such that the ratio of the methane component to the ethane component in the liquid is increased to about 10 volume %. the higher methane content is used in refluxing the demethanizer during the ethane rejection operation , which significantly reduces the power consumption of the residue gas compressor . during ethane recovery , the demethanizer overhead vapor 26 , at a pressure of about 472 psig , is heated from about − 93 ° f . to about 110 ° f . by the residue gas recycle stream 20 and the feed gas streams 3 and 4 , and then compressed by the first and second compressors 52 ( via stream 15 ) and 54 to about 620 psig driven by turbo expanders 51 and 53 . the gas stream 16 is further compressed to about 1185 psig by residual gas compressor 55 . the compressor discharge 17 is cooled by air cooler 81 forming stream 18 , and during ethane recovery , a portion 48 ( about 20 % of the total flow ) of the residue gas stream 18 is recycled as stream 20 to the upper exchanger 56 as top demethanizer reflux 22 . the remaining portion is sales gas stream 99 . during ethane recovery , the demethanizer 58 operates at a pressure of about 475 psig , and the deethanizer 59 operates at a pressure of about 319 psig , and the demethanizer bottoms stream 25 is fed directly to the deethanizer by pressure differential without the use of bottoms pump 72 via stream 27 . during ethane rejection , the demethanizer pressure is lowered to a pressure of about 445 psig , and the deethanizer pressure is increased to a pressure of about 450 psig , thus requiring operation of bottoms pump 72 . the deethanizer pressure is increased such that during ethane rejection , the deethanizer overhead stream 32 can be recycled back to the demethanizer as a top reflux ( which replaces the residual gas recycle stream 48 ). the deethanizer overhead stream 29 is partially condensed using propane refrigeration in chiller 70 , and the two phase stream 30 is separated in reflux drum 60 . the separator liquid stream 31 is pumped by reflux pump 73 forming stream 33 for refluxing the deethanizer . the separator vapor stream 32 is the ethane product stream during ethane recovery . during ethane recovery , the deethanizer 59 ( reboiled by reboiler 66 ) produces an overhead vapor stream 32 which can be exported as an ethane product and a bottoms liquid stream 28 which is further fractionated in depropanizer 61 into a propane product stream 41 and a butane plus product stream 35 . depropanizer 61 produces overhead stream 34 that is chilled in chiller 68 to produce stream 36 which is fed through drum 62 and separated from stream 37 into product stream 41 and depropanizer reflux via reflux pump 74 . reboiler 67 provides necessary heat for separation in column 61 . during ethane rejection , the deethanizer overhead is recycled back to the demethanizer , and the bottoms is fractionated in the depropanizer 61 into a propane product stream 41 and a butane plus product stream 35 . it should be appreciated that contemplated methods and configurations are also suitable where a relatively high - pressure supercritical feed gas ( e . g ., 1500 psig or higher ) with relatively low propane and heavier content ( about 3 mole %) is processed . most preferably , the supercritical pressure feed gas is expanded to below its critical pressure ( e . g ., 1200 psig or lower ) using a turboexpander , and the expanded vapor is split into three portions : the first portion is then chilled and subcooled , providing reflux to the demethanizer while the second portion is chilled , separated , and its vapor portion is fed to the stripping section of the demethanizer , and the third portion is used to recover the refrigerant content in the demethanizer side reboilers . thus , suitable gas processing plants will include a first turboexpander that is configured to expand a feed gas to sub - critical pressure ( e . g ., between 1100 psig and 1200 psig ), a first heat exchanger that subcools the feed gas to form a mid reflux to the demethanizer , and a second turboexpander that expands a vapor phase of the cooled feed gas to produce a feed stream to the demethanizer . it is especially preferred that first and second turbo - expanders are mechanically coupled to drive residue gas compressors . most preferably , a second heat exchanger is thermally coupled to the demethanizer to at least recover the refrigeration content of the side reboilers in the demethanizer . moreover , it should also be recognized that contemplated configurations and methods are suitable to process rich gas streams ( e . g ., content of c3 + at least 10 mol % with at least 75 mol % of hydrocarbons being c2 +). in such scenario , all of the feed gas is expanded across the turbo expander and the operating pressure of the demethanizer is lowered to provide the front end chilling duty . an exemplary rich feed gas composition is provided in table 2 below . to provide the front end cooling requirement , operating pressure of the demethanizer is lowered , and the feed gas stream 3 for production of the second reflux stream 12 is stopped . thus , the flow to the turboexpander 53 is increased . this reduction in demethanizer pressure , the increase in turboexpander cooling , and the use of residue gas recycle provides sufficient cooling duty for the rich gas process . it is contemplated that at least a portion of the feed gas can be cooled to supply the reboiler duties of the demethanizer . with respect to the heat exchanger configurations , it should be recognized that the use of side reboilers to supply feed gas and residue gas cooling and reflux duty will minimize total power requirement for ethane recovery and ethane rejection . therefore , propane refrigeration can be minimized or even eliminated , which affords significant cost savings compared to known processes . consequently , it should be noted that in the use of two turboexpanders coupled to the demethanizer and deethanizer operation allows stripping , and eliminating or minimizing propane refrigeration in the ethane recovery process , which in turn lowers power consumption and improves the ethane recovery . further aspects and contemplations suitable for the present inventive subject matter are described in our international patent application wo 2005 / 045338 and u . s . pat . no . 7 , 051 , 553 , and u . s . pat . app . no . 2010 / 0011809 , all of which are incorporated by reference herein . thus , specific embodiments and applications of ethane recovery and ethane rejection configurations and methods therefor have been disclosed . it should be apparent , however , to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein . the inventive subject matter , therefore , is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the present disclosure . moreover , in interpreting the specification and contemplated claims , all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context . in particular , the terms “ comprises ” and “ comprising ” should be interpreted as referring to elements , components , or steps in a non - exclusive manner , indicating that the referenced elements , components , or steps may be present , or utilized , or combined with other elements , components , or steps that are not expressly referenced . | 5 |
the present invention is presented as a bilayer appendage for an aircraft windshield , but it should be understood that the present invention may be used in any application where a heating arrangement is required to be added to an existing window or transparency . referring to fig1 through 3 , add - on window , i . e ., appendage 10 , is mounted outboard of an aircraft window 12 on airframe 14 in a manner to be discussed later . appendage 10 is of a bilayer construction with an outer glass ply 16 secured to a flexible inner ply 18 by any convenient technique known in the art such as , for example , laminating . plies 16 and 18 are contoured to match the curved configuration of the underlining aircraft window 12 . a heating system 20 is incorporated into the appendage 10 to heat the appendage 10 and prevent ice formation or fogging . although not limiting in the present invention , in a particular embodiment illustrated in fig2 a plurality of wires 22 are positioned between glass ply 16 and inner ply 18 . the wires 22 may be positioned in a manner similar to that disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 078 , 107 to bitterace , which teachings are incorporated by reference . wires 22 extend to the longitudinally extending edge 24 of the appendage 10 where they overlie bus bars 26 as shown in fig2 . as an alternative the heating system 20 may include a conductive film ( not shown ) incorporated into the appendage 10 and electrically connected to bus bars 26 . a temperature sensor 28 that monitors the appendage temperature , connects to a controller 30 which in turn connects to a power source 32 to control the power application to the bus bars 26 . if desired , an anti - static coating 34 may be applied to surface 36 of glass ply 16 to collect static charge accumulated on the surface 36 . the charge is directed from coating 34 through bus bars 38 to a ground 40 such as , for example , the airframe 14 . the draining of the static charge buildup prevents electrical discharge through ply 16 to the heating wires 22 which may damage the appendage 10 . side straps 42 extend along and wraparound the longitudinally extending edge 24 of the appendage 10 as illustrated in fig2 to protect and seal the edge . bonding tape may be used to secure the straps 42 to the covered surfaces of glass ply 16 and inner ply 18 . appendage 10 is mounted to the airframe 14 along its edges 46 via assembly 48 . straps 50 and 52 of assembly 48 extend along and overlie a portion of edge 46 . a mounting strip 54 is positioned between straps 50 and 52 and bumper material 56 is positioned between edge 46 of the appendage 10 and the mounting strip 54 to fill any space therebetween . as with side straps 42 , a bonding tape may be used to secure straps 50 and 52 to the material in which they overlay . edge 56 of assembly 48 may be primed and sealed to prevent delamination of straps 50 and 52 . appendage 10 is secured to the airframe 14 by bolts 58 extending through assembly 48 and airframe skin 60 and into threaded plate 62 as illustrated in fig3 . seals 64 and 66 are secured to straps 42 and 52 , respectively , and are positioned about the inboard periphery of the appendage 10 . when bolted in place , seals 64 and 66 compress , maintaining appendage 10 in a spaced relationship from the outboard surface 68 of the aircraft window 12 while sealing space 70 from moisture , air , etc . in addition , the resilient nature of the seals 64 and 66 provides additional flexibility and compliance of the appendage 10 so that pressure applied to the appendage 10 will compress the seals but will not adversely affect the underlining aircraft window 12 . openings ( not shown ) may extend through seal 58 to allow any accumulated moisture between appendage 10 and aircraft window 12 to escape . in one particular embodiment of the invention , the appendage 10 included a 0 . 10 inch ( 0 . 25 cm ) thick chemically tempered glass ply 16 laminated to a 0 . 06 inch ( 0 . 15 cm ) thick polycaprolactone urethane inner ply 18 . other combinations of glass and inner plies , such as thermally tempered glass and other extruded thermoplastic liners may be used , but the chemically tempered glass provides high strength with reduced thickness and weight and the polycaprolactone urethane liner provides good environmental resistance . straps 42 , 50 , and 52 were 0 . 01 inch ( 0 . 25 mm ) thick fiberglass strips such as p - 600 fiberglass available from u . s . prolam , connecticut . mounting strips 54 were a rigid phenolic resin impregnated paper and bumper 56 was a silicone rubber . the glass / urethane perimeter of the appendage 10 included a primer coat of dc - 1200 which is a silane based primer , and a layer of rtv - 732 rubber , both available from dow corning , michigan . seals 64 and 66 were a silicone rubber with sufficient compressibility and environmental resistance to seal appendage 10 against the aircraft window 12 while maintaining its compliancy under varying environmental and load conditions . an anti - static coating 34 of antimony tin oxide is provided on the surface 36 of ply 16 . bus bars 26 were a tin and lead covered copper strip and bus bar 38 was a copper foil tape secured in place by an electrically conductive adhesive . the present invention provides an add - on window unit for use with an existing aircraft window . the appendage 10 may be any size required and provided with both anti - static and heating capabilities . the outer glass ply provides a scratch resistant layer that will withstand environmental abuse better than existing acrylic plies . the form of the invention described and illustrated herein represents a description of an illustrative preferred embodiment thereof . it is understood that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention defined in the claimed subject matter that follows . | 1 |
to achieve the objectives , technical solutions and merits of the embodiments of the present invention more clearly , the following detailed description is given with reference to the accompanying drawings . evidently , the drawings and the detailed description are merely part of , instead of all embodiments of the present invention , and the embodiments are illustrative in nature and not exhaustive . all other embodiments , which can be derived by those skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without any creative effort , shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention . in the prior art , if a long ip address needs to be searched for at the time of forwarding a packet , the number of tcams need to be increased , or the external ram needs to be accessed for many times , which leads to a high cost and low performance . to solve such problems , the embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for forwarding packets . as shown in fig1 , a method for forwarding packets according to an embodiment of the present invention includes : step 101 : extract a first group of bits from a destination address of a received packet , and use the first group of bits as a key value . in this embodiment , the destination address of the packet is a destination ip address , or a combination of the destination ip address and a predetermined network identifier . the destination ip address is generally a 128 - bit ipv6 address . the predetermined network identifier is a virtual private network ( vpn ) identifier , and is generally composed of 16 bits . when the vpn identifier is combined with the destination ip address , the destination address in the packet is composed of 144 bits . the first group of bits in this embodiment is composed of a predetermined number of forepart bits in the destination address . for example , if the destination address is an ipv6 address composed of 128 bits , the forepart 64 bits could be selected as a key value for searching the table . certainly , the forepart 32 bits or 16 bits or another number of forepart bits may also be selected as a key value , and are not repeated described . step 102 : search for a preset tcam entry by using the key value , and obtain an index value from the tcam entry . in this embodiment , the preset tcam entry may be stored in an on - chip tcam . in other embodiments , the tcam entry may also be stored in an off - chip tcam . the tcam is a hardware specially designed for searching for entries , and could provides good search performance without occupying too much capacity . the tcam enables fast search for contents . in this embodiment , only parts , such as the forepart 64 bits , of the destination ip address ( instead of the whole destination ip address as the case in the prior art ) are used as a key value to search for an entry , in this way , compared with searching the whole destination ip address in the tcam , the capacity for storing the key values in the tcam or tcams is much smaller . in the foregoing method , if a tcam entry is hit , an index value will be returned by the tcam entry for further table lookup . step 103 : use the index value and a second group of bits in the destination address of the packet as search conditions , searching for a preset fib entry according to a predetermined algorithm , and obtain a forwarding address of the packet from the fib entry . in this embodiment , the second group of bits refers to the rest bits except for the first group of bits in the destination address of the packet . as mentioned in step 101 , if the first group of bits is the forepart 64 bits of the destination ip address , the second group of bits is the rest 64 bits of the destination ip address . the index value obtained from the tcam entry and the last 64 bits of the destination ip address form a new key value , and a fib entry that matches the new key value is searched for according to a predetermined algorithm to obtain the final forwarding address of the packet , namely , the index of the next - hop ip address . the fib entry is comprised in an fib table which is preset and stored in a ram , and the ram may be an on - chip ram or an off - chip ram , or a combination thereof . the predetermined algorithm may be a trie algorithm , and may also be a b - tree algorithm . in this embodiment , the fib entry may be searched for in two methods . method 1 is : using the index value returned by the tcam entry and the last 64 bits of the destination ip address to form a new key value ( referred to as a second key value ), and using the second key value to look up the fib table for fib entries and obtain the final forwarding address of the packet . in this method , the index value returned by the tcam entry is generally composed of 16 bits . method 2 is : using the index value returned by the tcam entry as a parameter which limits a scope for searching for fib entries . in this case , the last 64 bits of the destination ip address directly form a key value ( referred to as a third key value ), and the fib entries are searched for in the scope mentioned above , to obtain the final forwarding address of the packet . further , in this embodiment , if no tcam entry is hit in the first attempt of looking up the table , the whole field of the destination ip address forms a key value , a fib entry that is directly searched for in the ram by using the key value , according to a trie algorithm or a b - tree algorithm . in this way , the forwarding address of the packet is obtained . with the method for forwarding packets according to embodiments of the present invention , a tcam table is looked up for the entries that match a first group of bits in the destination address of the packet , to obtain an index value and a table is looked up by using the index value and a second group of bits in the destination address of the packet , and the final forwarding address of the packet is obtained . with the method for forwarding packets provided in this invention , key values are extracted from the destination address of the packets and searched for in different tables . compared with storing the whole destination address and the forwarding address in only one table , storing the information in different tables with simple index value occupy much smaller capacity , and the requirement for the tcams itself is lowered . the method for forwarding packets in this embodiment combines the tcam table lookup with the algorithm - based table lookup , and improves the table lookup performance and reduces the table lookup cost in searching for a long ip address . as shown in fig2 , an apparatus for forwarding packets according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an extracting unit 201 , a first search unit 202 , and a second search unit 203 . the extracting unit 201 is configured to extract a first group of bits from a destination address of a received packet , and use the first group of bits as a key value . in this embodiment , the destination address of the packet is a destination ip address , or a combination of the destination ip address and the predetermined network identifier . the predetermined field is composed of a predetermined number of forepart bits in the destination address . the first search unit 202 is configured to search for a preset tcam entry by using the key value extracted by the extracting unit 201 , and obtain an index value returned by the tcam entry . in this embodiment , the preset tcam entry may be on an on - chip tcam , and may also be on an off - chip tcam . the second search unit 203 is configured to use the index value obtained by the first search unit 202 and a second group of bits in the destination address of the packet as search conditions , searching for a preset fib entry according to a predetermined algorithm , and obtain a forwarding address of the packet . in this embodiment , the result returned by the tcam entry is an index value for searching for the fib entries ; and the preset fib entry is stored in an on - chip ram or an off - chip ram . as shown in fig3 , the apparatus further includes : a third search unit 204 , configured to : when no tcam entry is hit , use the complete field of the destination address as a key value , search for a preset fib entry by using the complete field of the destination address and according to a predetermined algorithm , and obtain the forwarding address of the packet . it should be noted that , if no tcam entry is hit and the second search unit supports both modes ( the mode of using a complete ipv6 address as a key value , and the mode of using the remaining bits of an ipv6 address as a key value ), the second search unit may search for a preset entry by using the complete field of the destination address and according to a predetermined algorithm . further , as shown in fig4 , the second search unit 203 includes : a generating subunit 2031 , configured to combine the index value obtained by the first search unit 202 and a second group of bits in the destination address of the packet to form a second key value ; and a first search subunit 2032 , configured to search for a fib entry by using the second key value generated by the generating subunit 2031 and according to a predetermined algorithm , and obtain the forwarding address of the packet ; or an obtaining subunit 2033 , configured to obtain , according to the index value obtained by the first search unit 202 , a scope for searching for fib entries ; and a second search subunit 2034 , configured to : use a second group of bits in the destination address of the packet as a third key value , search for the fib entry according to the predetermined algorithm in the scope obtained by the obtaining subunit 2033 for a fib entry , and obtain the forwarding address of the packet . in this embodiment , the predetermined algorithm is a trie algorithm or a b - tree algorithm . for the detailed implementing modes of the units in the apparatus above , see steps 101 - 103 in the method embodiment above . with the apparatus for forwarding packets according to embodiments of the present invention , a tcam table is looked up for the entries that match a first group of bits in the destination address of the packet , to obtain an index value of the second group of bits , and a table is looked up by using the index value and according to an algorithm , and the final forwarding address of the packet is obtained . because the number of tcams is not increased , the cost is not increased ; because the second group of bits is a part of the original destination address and is shorter than the original destination address , the algorithm - based table lookup does not increase the number of times for accessing the ram or deteriorate the performance . in this embodiment , according to the hierarchical characteristics of “ ipv6 combinable global unicast address ”, a certain number ( n ) of ipv6 routes whose mask length is greater than 64 bits can be combined into one ipv6 route whose length is 48 bits or 64 bits . in this way , the n routes occupy only one entry ( n : 1 convergence ) in the first table lookup , and occupy n entries in the second table lookup unit , but each entry is shorter than the complete ipv6 entry composed of 128 bits ( for example , the remaining entry is composed of 64 bits ). the apparatus for forwarding packets in this embodiment combines the tcam table lookup apparatus with the algorithm - based table lookup apparatus , and improves the table lookup performance and reduces the table lookup cost in searching for a long ip address . the technical solution under the present invention is applicable to looking up a table for an ipv6 address in a router . persons of ordinary skill in the art understand that all or part of the steps of the method in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by a program instructing relevant hardware . the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium such as a rom , a ram , a magnetic disk or a cd - rom . the above descriptions are merely some exemplary embodiments of the present invention , but are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention . any modifications , variations or replacements that can be easily derived by those skilled in the art shall fall within the scope of the present invention . therefore , the scope of the present invention is subject to the appended claims . | 7 |
the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown . this invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein . a method and apparatus for protecting the ohmic metal contacts and channel of a semiconductor device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to fig3 a - 3 k . referring to fig3 a , a substrate 101 , preferably comprised of silicon carbide ( sic ), is provided . next , a first layer 102 , preferably comprised of gan and preferably fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy , is deposited on the substrate 101 . a second layer 103 , preferably comprised of algan and fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy , is deposited on the second layer 102 . an interface 105 is created between the first layer 102 and the second layer 103 . the interface 105 serves as the channel of the semiconductor device . an encapsulation layer 104 , preferably comprised of sin , is deposited on the surface of the second layer 103 . the encapsulation layer 104 has a thickness typically in the range of 50 - 200 nanometers , but is preferably 100 nanometers thick . next , as shown in fig3 b - 3 c , 3 c - 1 , and 3 d , a first opening 108 for a gate structure is formed . first , a first layer of photoresist 106 , preferably electron - sensitive photoresist , is deposited on the exposed sin layer 104 as shown in fig3 b . electron beam lithography is used to pattern and remove at least a portion of the electron - sensitive photoresist layer 106 and the encapsulation layer 104 , thereby creating the first opening 108 , as shown in fig3 b , which exposes the surface of the second layer 103 . optionally , as shown in fig3 c and in even greater detail in fig3 c - 1 , a portion of the second layer 103 may also be removed using reactive ion etching . the removal of a portion of the encapsulation layer 104 , leaves two separate encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b . the first opening 108 exposes a portion of the second layer 103 and is created by the separation of the encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b . after the first opening 108 is created , the remaining portion of the electron - sensitive photoresist layer 106 is removed , as shown in fig3 d , using techniques known in the art . next , as shown in fig3 e , a refractory metal layer 110 , preferably comprised of molybdenum ( mo ), tungsten ( w ), or tungsten silicide , is deposited on the surface of the remaining encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b and in the first opening 108 . the refractory metal layer 110 typically has a thickness in the range of 100 - 400 nanometers , but is preferably 100 nanometers thick . optionally , a thin layer of platinum ( pt ) or titanium ( ti ) ( not shown ) may be applied over the refractory metal layer 110 to help promote the adhesion of a gold layer , which is discussed later . the refractory metal layer 110 , which is deposited in the first opening 108 makes direct contact with the surface of the second layer 103 . the portion of the refractory metal layer 110 deposited on the encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b extends partially over the edge of the encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b to make contact with the refractory metal layer 110 deposited in the first opening 108 . the partial extension over the edge creates a second opening 112 directly above the portion of the refractory metal contacting the second layer 103 . this refractory metal layer 110 will eventually become the gate of the device . as shown in fig3 f , a second layer of photoresist 114 , preferably for optical photolithography , is deposited on a portion of the refractory metal layer 110 and in the second opening 112 . the portion of the refractory metal layer 110 not covered by the photolithography photoresist 114 is removed , as shown in fig3 g , using techniques known in the art , such as a cf 4 dry etch . after the desired portion of the refractory metal layer 110 has been removed , the optical photolithography photoresist 114 is removed using techniques known in the art . the next step is the formation of ohmic metal contacts 118 for the device ( shown in fig3 j and 3 k ). as shown in fig3 h , a third layer of photoresist 116 , preferably for photolithography , is deposited to cover all the exposed refractory metal layer 110 and a portion of the encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b . the area of encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b , that remain exposed will be removed to create regions where the ohmic metal contacts 118 will be deposited . in this embodiment , the spacing between the ohmic metal contacts 118 is as low as 1 micrometer apart . techniques known in the art , such as reactive ion etching using cf 4 or cl gas , are used to etch away the exposed portion of the encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b , as well as a portion of the second layer 103 as shown in fig3 i . ohmic metal contacts 118 , preferably comprising a combination of titanium ( ti ), aluminum ( al ), nickel ( ni ), and gold ( au ), are deposited on the second layer 103 , as shown in fig3 j in the regions where a portion of the encapsulation layer 104 a , 104 b , and second layer 103 were removed . next , the third layer of photoresist 116 is removed using techniques known in the art . if any ohmic metal was deposited on the third layer of photoresist 116 during deposition of the ohmic metal contacts 118 , that ohmic metal will be removed when the third layer of photoresist 116 is removed . after the ohmic metal contacts 118 are deposited , the device is heated to temperatures in excess of 800 ° c ., in order to alloy the ohmic metal contacts 118 . the encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b form a dam to prevent the flow or migration of ohmic metal during the high temperature alloying process . furthermore , the remaining encapsulation layers 104 a , 104 b protects the interface 105 against a reduction in electron mobility during the alloying . after alloying the ohmic metal contacts 118 , a gate contact 120 , preferably comprising gold , is deposited on the remaining refractory metal layer 110 and in the second opening 112 , as shown in fig3 k . the gate contact 120 helps to reduce the resistance of the gate of the transistor . a method and apparatus for protecting the ohmic metal contacts of a semiconductor device according to a second embodiment will now be described and is shown in fig4 a - 4 d . in this second embodiment , a substrate 201 , preferably comprising silicon - carbide ( sic ), is provided . the first layer 202 , preferably comprising gan , and the second layer 203 , preferably comprising algan , are deposited on the substrate 201 as shown in fig4 a . next , a layer of photoresist 224 , preferably for optical lithography , is deposited on the second layer 203 . the photoresist layer 224 is patterned and a portion of the second layer 203 is removed as shown in fig4 b , using techniques known in the art such as rie with cf 4 or cl 2 gas . next , ohmic metal contacts 218 are deposited on the first layer 202 , as shown in fig4 c . the ohmic metal contacts 218 have first surfaces 219 and first edges 223 . after the ohmic metal contacts 218 are deposited , an encapsulation layer 204 , preferably comprising sin , is deposited on a portion of the first surfaces 219 of the ohmic metal contacts 218 in a manner as to cover the first edges 223 of the ohmic metal contacts , as shown in fig4 d . the sin layer 204 may be in the range of 50 - 200 nanometers , but is preferably about 100 nanometers thick . it is preferable to deposit the least amount of the sin layer 204 on the first surfaces 219 of the ohmic metal contacts 218 , as shown in fig4 d . the ohmic metal contacts 218 are preferably comprised of a combination of titanium ( ti ), aluminum ( al ), nickel ( ni ), and gold ( au ). after the ohmic metal contacts 218 have been deposited , the ohmic metal contacts 218 are alloyed at preferably 850 ° c . for approximately 30 seconds to reduce their resistance . the encapsulation layer on the first edges 223 of the ohmic metal contacts 218 will help prevent the first edges 223 of the ohmic metal contacts 118 from becoming rough or moving while exposed to the high temperatures needed to alloy the ohmic metal contacts 218 . let it be understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the invention . various alternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . accordingly , the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives , modifications , and variances which fall within the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
hereinafter , embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can realize the present invention . as those skilled in the art would realize , the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways , all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention . the exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be understood more fully from the detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings of various embodiments of the invention , which , however , should not be taken to limit the invention to the specific embodiments , but are for explanation and understanding only . please refer to fig1 . as shown in part ( a ) of fig1 , the first embodiment of the present invention applies a four - bar linkage mechanism as the prototype . a main body 110 is served a fixed member , and a rotation mechanism 130 is disposed on a first pivot 1121 , a suspending rod 142 is pivotally connected to a suspending pivot 123 , and the active members of the rotation mechanism 130 and the suspending rod 142 are pivotally disposed at two ends of a tread rod 141 respectively . a pedal 145 is disposed on the tread rod 141 , and the suspending rod 142 and the tread rod 141 are pivotally connected on a movable pivot 1425 . by adjusting the rod length of at least one of the suspending rod 142 and the tread rod 141 , a relative position of the movable pivot 1425 changes . furthermore , the rotation mechanism 130 having two active members performs a circular action through the first pivot 1121 . in practice , the rotation mechanism 130 may be a crank or a flywheel mechanism . the suspending rod 142 is pivotally connected to the suspending pivot 123 to be swung back and forth . hence , it can be found that the four - bar linkage mechanism of the present embodiment is a crank set . as shown in part ( b ) of fig1 , when the rotation mechanism 130 is acting along the circle track , the pedal 145 disposed on the tread rod 141 acts along an elliptical closed track 180 to enable user performing the tread training . as to part ( c ) of fig1 , it shows that when the length of the linkage of the tread rod 141 is adjusted , the closed track 180 produces various included angles so as to further change the exercise type . the present embodiment shows that the type of the closed track 180 of the pedal 145 can be changed by adjusting the length of the tread rod 141 . the first embodiment applies a four - bar mechanism . it is known that the exercise type is able to be adequately adjusted by adjusting the relative position of the movable pivot 1425 . however , the limitations of the rods of the mechanism may interfere with the flexibility of the closed trace 180 and the natural gait tread . please refer to fig2 . the second embodiment further apples a linkage unit 160 having a triple - joint link 161 and a double - joint link 162 on the basis of the first embodiment . a stephenson six - bar linkage comprised of the linkage unit 160 , the rotation mechanism 130 and the guiding mechanism 140 facilitates the exercise track matching the natural gait tread . it can be found though fig2 that gait tread simulation fitness equipment 100 includes the main body 110 , the suspending side frame 120 that is disposed correspondingly , the rotation mechanism 130 and the guiding mechanism 140 . the main body 110 has a support frame 111 , and a central stand 112 disposed at a front end of the support frame 111 and having a first pivot 1121 . two suspending side frames 120 are respectively disposed at two sides of the main body 110 and each suspending side frame 120 may be disposed with a suspending pivot 123 . in practice , the suspending side frame 120 includes a vertical rod 121 , a horizontal rod 122 or a combination thereof . the suspending side frame 120 may be designed according to the actual requirements , supporting strength , and so on . for example , the vertical rod 121 applied in the present embodiment is able to be disposed vertically at the rear end of the support frame 111 , and the horizontal rod 122 may extend forwardly to connect to the central stand 112 . wherein , apart from sharing the loading of the support , the horizontal rod 122 is able to be designed according to actual requirements . two active members of the rotation mechanism 130 are disposed at two sides of the first pivot 1121 correspondingly by 180 °. two guiding mechanisms 140 are connected pivotally at two sides of the central stand respectively . each guiding mechanism 140 includes the tread rod 141 and the suspending rod 142 , the active member of the rotation mechanism 130 and the suspending rod 142 that are at the same side are connected by the tread rod 141 . one end of the suspending rod 142 is connected pivotally to the suspending pivot 123 , the other end of the suspending rod 142 and the tread rod 141 are connected pivotally to the movable pivot 1425 , and the pedal 145 is disposed on the tread rod 141 . when the pedal is treaded , the pedal 145 is actuated along the closed track 180 to enable the guiding mechanism being drawn back and forth . wherein adjusting at least one rod length of the suspending rod 142 and tread rod 141 is able to change a relative position of the movable pivot 1425 so as to facilitate the close track 180 matching the natural gait tread . in practice , the tread rod 141 further includes a stretching apparatus 1415 to adjust the relative position of the movable pivot 1425 . the stretching apparatus 1415 includes a single - stroke stretching apparatus , a multiple - stroke stretching apparatus or a linear actuator . similarly , the suspending rod 142 further includes a length adjustment apparatus to adjust the relative position of the suspending rod 142 . moreover , a position adjustment apparatus ( not shown ) may be disposed on the suspending rod 142 to adjust the relative position of the suspending pivot 123 or the relative position of the movable pivot 1425 . the position adjustment apparatus may be a gear wheel and rack set . please refer to fig3 . for the sake of further designing gait tread fitness equipment to match ergonomics and be capable of simulating the natural gait tread , the gait tread simulation fitness equipment disclosed in the present invention applies the theory of the topology mechanism to choose the optimal type of the kinematic chain which fits into the exercise track , so as to further facilitate the action track of the pedal to match the natural gait tread . the relative correlation among each linkage shown in part ( a ) of fig3 and the simulation shown in parts ( b ) and ( c ) of fig3 demonstrates the point which the exercise type can be changed easily and effectively by adjusting the length of the linkage or the position of the pivot . please refer to fig3 and fig4 to fig7 together . the schematic diagram and each diagram of the third embodiment demonstrate clearly the relative correlation among each rod of the third embodiment . the gait tread simulation fitness equipment 200 of the third embodiment includes the main body 210 , the suspending side frames 220 that are disposed correspondingly and the guiding six - bar linkages 230 . the main body 210 has a support frame 211 , and the central stand 212 disposed at a front end of the support frame 211 and having the first pivot 2121 and a second pivot 2122 . two suspending side frames 220 are respectively disposed at two sides of the main body 210 and each suspending side frame 220 is disposed with a suspending pivot 223 . in practice , the suspending side frame 220 includes a vertical rod 221 , a horizontal rod 222 or a combination thereof . the suspending side frame 220 may be designed according to the actual requirements , supporting strength , and so on . for example , the vertical rod 221 applied in the present embodiment is able to be disposed vertically at the rear end of the support frame 211 , and the horizontal rod 222 may extend forwardly to connect to the central stand 212 . wherein apart from sharing the loading of the support , the horizontal rod 222 is able to be designed according to actual requirements as well . two guiding six - bar linkages 230 are respectively disposed at two sides of the central stand 212 , each of the guiding six - bar linkages 230 is disposed at the first pivot 2121 and the suspending pivot 223 that are at the same side to form a constrained kinematic chain . the guiding six - bar linkage 230 includes a crank 231 , a swing rod 232 , a triple - joint link 233 , a tread rod 234 and a suspending rod 235 . wherein the crank 231 is connected pivotally to the first pivot 2121 and the swing rod 232 is connected pivotally to the second pivot 2122 and extends to form a handle . one end of the suspending rod 235 is connected pivotally to the suspending pivot 223 , and the other end of the suspending rod 235 and the tread rod 234 are connected pivotally to the movable pivot 2348 . the triple - joint link 233 is respectively connected to the crank 231 , the swing rod 232 and the tread rod 234 . the triple - joint link 233 and the suspending rod 235 are connected by the tread rod 234 , and the pedal 237 is disposed on the tread rod 234 to facilitate the pedal 237 actuating along the gait track 238 . to be more precise , when the crank 231 applies the first pivot 2121 as the circle center to rotate , acting the swing rod 232 and the tread rod 234 through the triple - joint link 233 while enabling the handle extended from the swing rod 232 being drawn back and forth is able to facilitate user &# 39 ; s hand to simulate the natural swing . the pedal 237 is disposed on the tread rod 234 , and through the correlation among each rod and the arrangement of the size , the gait track 238 is able to match the natural gait tread , such that each joint angle of the user &# 39 ; s lower limbs may be not affected due to the action track of the pedal 237 , and the risk of suffering from the sport injury is reduced greatly . furthermore , the first adjustment apparatus 2345 disposed on the tread rod 234 is able to change the length of the tread rod 234 or the position of the movable pivot 2348 , so as to enable the gait track 238 producing various lifting angles and the ranges , such that the objectives of adjusting the slope , the gait tread , and the kinematic chain are able to be achieved . in practice , a third adjustment apparatus ( not shown ) may be disposed on the suspending rod 235 . the action of the third adjustment apparatus is able to adjust the position of the suspending pivot 223 or the movable pivot 2348 . in practice , the third adjustment apparatus may be a gear wheel and rack set . please refer to fig8 which is a schematic diagram showing different aspect of the first adjustment apparatus . the first adjustment apparatus 2345 has various aspects . the positions of the movable pivot 2348 between the tread rod 234 and the suspending rod 235 which can be changed all belong to the applied aspect of the present invention . here are several common used aspects for explaining , but not limited thereto . the tread rod 234 shown in part ( a ) of fig8 is formed of an internal sleeve and an external sleeve which are sheathed and fixed with each other . two ends of the first adjustment apparatus 2345 are respectively disposed on the internal sleeve and the external sleeve , and when the first adjustment apparatus 2345 is actuated to change the relative position of the internal sleeve and the external sleeve , the length of the tread rod 234 changes . the first adjustment apparatus 2345 may be a single - stroke stretching apparatus , a multiple - stroke stretching apparatus or an actuator . another aspect shown in part ( b ) of fig8 demonstrates that the first adjustment apparatus 2345 has roller and guiding rail set . the suspending rod 235 is connected pivotally to the roller to thereby change the position of the roller to correspond to the relative position of the movable pivot 2348 , so as to change the exercise track . please refer to fig9 which is a schematic diagram of the second adjustment apparatus . it can be found according to the aforementioned points that the relative position of each rod is changed so that the exercise track is changed . for example , the suspending rod 235 may be designed as an aspect of sleeve sheath to cooperate with the second adjustment apparatus to change the length of the suspending rod 235 . the second adjustment apparatus 2355 includes various stretching apparatuses or linear actuators . the range of the action of the first adjustment apparatus 2345 or that of the second adjustment apparatus 2355 has to satisfy with the size limitation of the linkage mechanism so as to satisfy with the exercise track of the natural gait tread . applying the gait tread simulation fitness equipment 200 disclosed in the third embodiment to simulate and then analyze , it can be found that when the first adjustment apparatus 2345 is acting in a range of 0 - 40 cm , the gait tread range of the gait track 238 varies in a range of 45 cm - 65 cm , the lifting angle of the gait track 238 varies in a range of 0 °- 20 °, and the flat ratio of the long and short axis varies in a range of 8 : 1 - 3 : 1 . thus , it can be found through the preceding embodiments that the present invention is able to change different aspects of the exercise track such as the gait tread range , lifting angle , flat ratio , track smoothness , and so on to facilitate the exercise track matching the natural gait tread by adjusting the length of each rod to change the relative position of the pivot . by adding the adjustment apparatuses , the objective of adjusting the exercise track is able to be achieved . compared with the current various adjustment methods , the present invention indeed provides a relative inventive step and possesses flexibility of the adjustment method . moreover , by means of the simple arrangement of the linkage mechanism , the related cost can be saved so as to promote the industrial benefit . while the means of specific embodiments in present invention has been described by reference drawings , numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims . the modifications and variations should in a range limited by the specification of the present invention . | 0 |
the present disclosure describes , among other things , illustrative embodiments of methods and devices for synchronizing telepresence sessions among a plurality of users . the telepresence sessions present media content , as well as video content of the users , which simulate a co - location of the users at each of the other user locations . in one or more embodiment , latency areas of a network can be detected and routes can be configured for the telepresence sessions based on the latency area . in one or more embodiments , a delay can be injected into delivery and / or presentation of one or both of the media content and the video content for select user locations to synchronize the telepresence configurations . in one or more embodiments , loopback testing can be performed to determine the latency area and / or a time period for delaying the delivery and / or presentation of one or both of the media content and the video content for select user locations . in one or more embodiments , dedicated routes can be provided for telepresence sessions , such as based on a service upgrade and / or a history of utilization of telepresence sessions . in one or more embodiments , the media content and / or the video content , or a portion thereof , can be presented as three dimensional ( 3d ) content to enhance the telepresence . in one or more embodiments , the 3d content can be generated by a remote server and / or can be generated by each media processor , such as through use of a depth map . in one or more embodiments , 3d cameras and / or a plurality of two dimensional cameras at each user location can be utilized for generating 3d content . in one or more embodiments , images of a user can be rotated or otherwise repositioned during presentation in response to detecting speech of the user to further enhance the telepresence by simulating the user facing another user to speak . other embodiments are also included herein . one embodiment of the present disclosure can include a server that includes a memory and a controller coupled to the memory . the controller can be adapted to receive a request for a telepresence session between first and second media processors , where the first media processor is located at a first location of a first user , and where the second media processor is located at a second location of a second user . the telepresence session can include providing media content and video content over a network for presentation in a telepresence configuration at a first display device of the first location and at a second display device of the second location . the telepresence configuration simulates the first user being present at the second location and simulates the second user being present at the first location . the controller is adapted to determine a latency area of the network based on latency testing and configure routes over the network for the telepresence session based on the latency area . the controller is adapted to determine latency associated with the presentation of the telepresence configuration at the first location and delay presentation of at least one of the media content and the video content at the second location based on the determined latency associated with the presentation of the telepresence configuration at the first location . at least one of the media content and the video content are presented as three dimensional content at the first display device . one embodiment of the present disclosure can include a method that includes obtaining first images that are captured by a first camera system at a first location associated with a first user and transmitting first video content representative of the first images over a network for presentation by a second media processor at a second location associated with a second user . the method includes receiving over the network at a first media processor of the first location , media content and second video content representative of second images that are associated with the second user . the method includes presenting at a first display device of the first location , the media content and the second video content in a first telepresence configuration that simulates a presence of the second user at the first location . the media content and the first video content can be adapted for presentation by the second media processor in a second telepresence configuration that simulates a presence of the first user at the second location . the presentation of at least one of the media content and the second video content at the first display device can be delayed based on latency parameters associated with the presentation of the second telepresence configuration by the second media processor thereby synchronizing the first and second telepresence configurations . one embodiment of the present disclosure can include a non - transitory computer - readable storage medium that includes computer instructions . the instructions can enable obtaining media content at a server . the instructions can enable receiving over a network at the server , first video content of a first user at a first location . the instructions can enable receiving over the network at the server , second video content of a second user at a second location . the instructions can enable receiving over the network at the server , third video content of a third user at a third location . the instructions can enable transmitting over the network from the server , the media content and the second and third video content to a first media processor for presentation in a first telepresence configuration at a first display device that simulates the second and third users being present at the first location . the instructions can enable transmitting over the network from the server , the media content and the first and third video content to a second media processor for presentation in a second telepresence configuration at a second display device that simulates the first and third users being present at the second location . the instructions can enable transmitting over the network from the server , the media content and the first and second video content to a third media processor for presentation in a third telepresence configuration at a third display device that simulates the first and second users being present at the third location . the instructions can enable synchronizing the presentations of the first , second and third telepresence configurations by determining a largest latency among a select one of the presentations of the first , second and third telepresence configurations and delaying the presentations of the remaining others of the first , second and third telepresence configurations based on the determined largest latency . fig1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a first communication system 100 for delivering media content , which can include 3d media content . system 100 provides for synchronizing telepresence sessions among a plurality of users at different locations to simulate a co - location of the users at each of the other user locations . system 100 provides for the detection of latency areas of a network where routes can be configured for the telepresence sessions based on the latency area . system 100 also provides for injection of a delay into delivery and / or presentation of one or both of the media content and the video content for select user locations to synchronize the telepresence configurations . the communication system 100 can represent an internet protocol television ( iptv ) broadcast media system although other media broadcast systems can be utilized by the present disclosures . the iptv media system can include a super head - end office ( sho ) 110 with at least one super headend office server ( shs ) 111 which receives media content from satellite and / or terrestrial communication systems . in the present context , media content can represent audio content , moving image content such as videos , still image content , or combinations thereof . the shs server 111 can forward packets associated with the media content to video head - end servers ( vhs ) 114 via a network of video head - end offices ( vho ) 112 according to a common multicast communication protocol . the vhs 114 can distribute multimedia broadcast programs via an access network 118 to commercial and / or residential buildings 102 housing a gateway 104 ( such as a residential or commercial gateway ). the access network 118 can represent a group of digital subscriber line access multiplexers ( dslams ) located in a central office or a service area interface that provide broadband services over optical links or copper twisted pairs 119 to buildings 102 . the gateway 104 can use common communication technology to distribute broadcast signals to media processors 106 such as computers , set - top boxes ( stbs ) or gaming consoles which in turn present broadcast channels to display devices 108 such as television sets or holographic display devices , managed in some instances by a media controller 107 ( such as an infrared or rf remote control , gaming controller , etc .). the gateway 104 , the media processors 106 , and / or the display devices 108 can utilize tethered interface technologies ( such as coaxial , phone line , or powerline wiring ) or can operate over a common wireless access protocol such as wireless fidelity ( wifi ). with these interfaces , unicast communications can be invoked between the media processors 106 and subsystems of the iptv media system for services such as video - on - demand ( vod ), browsing an electronic programming guide ( epg ), or other infrastructure services . some of the network elements of the iptv media system can be coupled to one or more computing devices 130 , where a portion of these computing devices can operate as a web server for providing portal services over an internet service provider ( isp ) network 132 to media processors 106 , wireline display devices 108 or wireless communication devices 116 ( e . g ., cellular phone , laptop computer , etc .) by way of a wireless access base station 117 operating according to common wireless access protocols such as wifi , or cellular communication technologies ( such as gsm , cdma , umts , wimax , software defined radio or sdr , and so on ). a satellite broadcast television system can be used in conjunction with , or in place of , the iptv media system . in this embodiment , signals transmitted by a satellite 115 carrying media content can be intercepted by a common satellite dish receiver 131 coupled to the building 102 . modulated signals intercepted by the satellite dish receiver 131 can be transferred to the media processors 106 for decoding and distributing broadcast channels to the display devices 108 . the media processors 106 can be equipped with a broadband port to the ip network 132 to enable services such as vod and epg described above . in yet another embodiment , an analog or digital broadcast distribution system such as cable tv system 133 can be used in place of or in conjunction with the iptv media system described above . in this embodiment the cable tv system 133 can provide internet , telephony , and interactive media services . the present disclosure can apply to any present or next generation over - the - air and / or landline media content services system . in one embodiment , an ip multimedia subsystem ( ims ) network architecture can be utilized to facilitate the combined services of circuit - switched and packet - switched systems in delivering the media content to one or more viewers . system 100 can provide 3d content to the building 102 for presentation and / or can provide 2d content that can be rendered into 3d content by one or more client devices , such as the media processor 106 or the tv 108 . the 3d image content can be based upon various 3d imaging techniques , including polarization , anaglyphics , active shuttering ( such as alternate frame sequencing ), autostereoscopy , and so forth . the present disclosure can include presentation of all or a portion of a display in 3d , including utilizing devices that do not require a wearable viewing apparatus ( e . g ., does not require active shuttering glasses ). in one embodiment , system 100 can include one or more image capturing devices 175 ( e . g ., a camera ) that can capture 2d and / or 3d images of a user and / or other objects at the building 102 . other components can be utilized in combination with or in place of the camera 175 , such as a scanner ( e . g ., a laser system that detects object circumference ), distance detector , and so forth . in one embodiment , camera 175 can be a group of cameras , such as two or more cameras for providing different viewing angles and / or for providing a holographic image . in one embodiment , the camera 175 can capture images in 2d which are processed into 3d content , such as by media processor 106 and / or computing device 130 . in one embodiment , depth maps can be utilized to generate 3d content from 2d images . in another embodiment , the camera 175 can be a stereoscopic camera that directly captures 3d images , such as through use of multiple lenses . a collector 176 or other component can facilitate the processing and / or transmission of the captured images . the collector 176 can be a stand - alone device , such as in communication with the media processor 106 and / or the gateway 104 ( e . g ., wirelessly and / or hardwired communication ) or can be integrated with another device , such as the media processor 106 . computing device 130 can also include computer readable storage medium 180 having computer instructions for establishing a telepresence communication session between client devices . the computing device 130 can provide media content to a number of different users at different locations , such as a user at building 102 , via the telepresence communication session . computing device 130 can provide the media content in a telepresence configuration that simulates each of the other users ( not shown ) being present at building 102 . for instance , the telepresence configuration can display the media content and further display each of the other users to simulate them watching the media content . in one embodiment , the particular telepresence configuration can be adjusted by one or more of the users based on user preferences , such as retrieved from a user profile or determined from monitored viewing behavior . in one or more embodiments , the storage medium 180 can include computer instructions for determining a latency area of the access network 118 and can configure routes for the telepresence session based on the latency area , such as avoiding use of one or more network elements of the latency area . in one or more embodiments , the storage medium 180 can include computer instructions for determining a delay to inject or otherwise provide to the delivery and / or presentation of the telepresence configuration to select locations in order to synchronize the telepresence sessions among locations . for example , the computing device 130 can delay delivery of the video content and / or the media content ( e . g ., a unicast or multicast of the media content ) to a number of locations so that those locations can be synchronized with another location that is experiencing latency . in one or more embodiments , the media content and / or the images of the users , or a portion thereof , can be presented as 3d content to enhance the telepresence . for example , the 3d content can be generated by computing device 130 and / or can be generated by media processor 106 , such as through use of a depth map in combination with the corresponding images . system 100 can include other components to enhance the telepresence experience . for instance , lighting and audio components can be utilized to facilitate capturing the images and audio from a user . the lighting and / or audio components can be controlled by the media processor 106 and / or by the computing device 130 . user preferences and / or monitored behavior can be utilized in controlling the lighting and / or audio components . in one embodiment , the users can be part of a social network and the computing device 130 can be in communication with a social network application , such as for selecting the media content to be provided in the telepresence configuration . in one embodiment , one of the media processors 106 can maintain control over presentation of the media content in the telepresence configuration , such as pause , fast - forward , rewind , size , resolution , and so forth . in one embodiment , the telepresence configuration , including providing the media content and the video content of each of the users , can be performed without using the computing device 130 to generate the video content from captured images or to combine the media and video content . in one example , the telepresence configuration can be generated by the media processors and distributed through a peer - to - peer technique , where the media processors share the video content amongst themselves and obtain the media content from one of the media processors or from another source , such as media content being broadcast . in one embodiment , each of the media processors 106 of the different users can be in a master - slave arrangement to control presentation of the media content and facilitate generating the telepresence configuration . system 100 enables video and / or audio content of the users to be provided to the other users in real - time to establish a communication session while simulating the co - location of the users and providing telepresence with the media content . fig2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a presentation device 202 and the media processor 106 for presenting a telepresence configuration 210 that can include video content 225 which is captured images of one or more other users that are at different locations from where the presentation device 202 is located . the telepresence configuration 210 can also include the media content 250 . the telepresence configuration 210 can simulate the other users being present at the location of the presentation device 202 through use of the video content 225 . the simulation can be performed in a number of different ways , including presenting the other users in the images as if they were viewing the media content . the simulation can be facilitated by the positioning of the camera 175 and / or by post - capture processing , such as adjusting the video content 225 so that the other users appear as being rotated towards the media content 250 . other simulation effects can be utilized . for example , the images in the video content 225 can be re - sized , including based on the particular size of the presentation device 202 , to further simulate the other users being present at the location of the presentation device 202 . the media content 250 and / or video content 225 of one or more users can be provided for presentation in the telepresence configuration 210 in 3d . one or both of the presentation device 202 and the media processor 106 can include the camera 175 that captures images of the user that are provided to the other users in their telepresence configuration 210 . the camera 175 can capture 2d images and / or can capture 3d images . the camera 175 can be a group of cameras to capture multiple views , including views to construct a holographic image , such as of the user and / or of objects associated with the user . in one embodiment , the presentation device 202 can be a holographic display device that presents all or a portion of the telepresence configuration 210 as holographic content . the holographic content can allow a viewer &# 39 ; s perspective on a depicted object to change as the viewer moves around the hologram content , just as it would if the object were real . in the present illustration , the presentation device 202 is depicted as a television set . it will be appreciated that the presentation device 202 can represent a portable communication device such as a cellular phone , a pda , a computer , or other computing device with the ability to display media content . the media processor 106 can be an stb , or some other computing device such as a cellular phone , computer , gaming console , or other device that can process and direct the presentation device 202 to present images associated with media content . it is further noted that the media processor 106 and the presentation device 202 can be an integral unit . for example , a computer or cellular phone having computing and display resources collectively can represent the combination of a presentation device 202 and media processor 106 . the media processor 106 can be adapted to communicate with accessories such as the viewing apparatus 300 of fig3 by way of a wired or wireless interface , such as through rf and / or light waves 206 . the communication can be one - way and / or two - way communication , such as providing the viewing apparatus 300 with a transceiver 302 . a wired interface can represent a tethered connection from the viewing apparatus 300 to an interface of the media processor ( e . g ., usb or proprietary interface ). a wireless interface can represent a radio frequency ( rf ) interface such as bluetooth , wifi , zigbee or other wireless standard . the wireless interface can also represent an infrared communication interface . any standard or proprietary wireless interface between the media processor 106 and the viewing apparatus 300 is can be utilized by the presented disclosure . the viewing apparatus 300 can represent an apparatus for viewing two - dimensional and / or 3d stereoscopic images which can be still or moving images . the viewing apparatus 300 can be an active shutter viewing apparatus . in this embodiment , each lens has a liquid crystal layer which can be darkened or made to be transparent by the application of one or more bias voltages . each lens 304 , 306 can be independently controlled . accordingly , the darkening of the lenses can alternate , or can be controlled to operate simultaneously . each viewing apparatus 300 can include various components associated with a communication device including a wireline and / or wireless transceiver 302 ( herein transceiver 302 ), a user interface ( ui ), a power supply , a location detector , and a controller 307 for managing operations thereof . the transceiver 302 can support short - range or long - range wireless access technologies such as infrared , bluetooth , wifi , digital enhanced cordless telecommunications ( dect ), or cellular communication technologies , just to mention a few . cellular technologies can include , for example , cdma - 1x , umts / hsdpa , gsm / gprs , tdma / edge , ev / do , wimax , sdr , and next generation cellular wireless communication technologies as they arise . the transceiver 302 can also be adapted to support circuit - switched wireline access technologies ( such as pstn ), packet - switched wireline access technologies ( such as tcpip , voip , etc . ), and combinations thereof . the ui can include a depressible or touch - sensitive keypad with a navigation mechanism such as a roller ball , joystick , mouse , or navigation disk for manipulating operations of the communication device 300 . the keypad can be an integral part of a housing assembly of the apparatus 300 or an independent device operably coupled thereto by a tethered wireline interface ( such as a usb cable ) or a wireless interface supporting for example bluetooth . the keypad can represent a numeric dialing keypad commonly used by phones , and / or a qwerty keypad with alphanumeric keys . the ui can further include a display such as monochrome or color lcd ( liquid crystal display ), oled ( organic light emitting diode ) or other suitable display technology for conveying images to an end user of the apparatus 300 . in an embodiment where the display is touch - sensitive , a portion or all of the keypad 308 can be presented by way of the display . the ui can also include an audio system 312 that utilizes common audio technology for conveying low volume audio ( such as audio heard only in the proximity of a human ear ) and high volume audio for hands free operation . the audio system 312 can further include a microphone for receiving audible signals of an end user . the audio system 312 can also be used for voice recognition applications . the ui can further include an image sensor such as a charged coupled device ( ccd ) camera for capturing still or moving images . the power supply can utilize common power management technologies such as replaceable and rechargeable batteries , supply regulation technologies , and charging system technologies for supplying energy to the components of the apparatus 300 to facilitate long - range or short - range portable applications . the location detector can utilize common location technology such as a global positioning system ( gps ) receiver for identifying a location of the communication device 300 based on signals generated by a constellation of gps satellites , thereby facilitating common location services such as navigation . the transceiver 302 can also determine a proximity to a cellular , wifi or bluetooth access point by common power sensing techniques such as utilizing a received signal strength indicator ( rssi ) and / or a signal time of arrival ( toa ) or time of flight ( tof ). the controller 306 can utilize computing technologies such as a microprocessor , a digital signal processor ( dsp ), and / or a video processor with associated storage memory such a flash , rom , ram , sram , dram or other storage technologies . in one embodiment , the viewing apparatus 300 can utilize a receiver portion of the transceiver 302 in the form of an infrared . alternatively , the viewing apparatus 300 can function as a two - way communication device , in which case a full infrared transceiver could be utilize to exchange signals between the media processor 106 and the viewing apparatus 300 . the viewing apparatus 300 can utilize a controller 307 to control operations thereof , and a portable power supply ( not shown ). the viewing apparatus 300 can have portions of a ui . for example , the viewing apparatus 300 can have a multi - purpose button 312 which can function as a power on / off button and as a channel selection button . a power on / off feature can be implemented by a long - duration depression of button 312 which can toggle from an on state to an off state and vice - versa . fast depressions of button 312 can be used for channel navigation . alternatively , two buttons can be added to the viewing apparatus 300 for up / down channel selection , which operate independent of the on / off power button 312 . in another embodiment , a thumbwheel can be used for scrolling between channels . the viewing apparatus 300 can also include an audio system 313 with one or more speakers in the extensions of the housing assembly such as shown by references 314 , 316 to produce localized audio 318 , 320 near a user &# 39 ; s ears . different portions of the housing assembly can be used to produce mono , stereo , or surround sound effects . ear cups ( not shown ) such as those used in headphones can be used by the viewing apparatus 300 ( as an accessory or integral component ) for a more direct and low - noise audio presentation technique . the volume of sound presented by the speakers 314 , 316 can be controlled by a thumbwheel 310 ( or up / down buttons — not shown ). it would be evident from the above descriptions that many embodiments of the viewing apparatus 300 are possible , all of which are included in the present disclosure . in one embodiment , the viewing apparatus 300 can be utilized as part of the image capture process . for instance , the transceiver 302 can function to transmit a locator and / or calibration request that is wirelessly emitted for receipt by the camera ( s ) 175 or another processing device , such as the media processor 106 . the emitted signal can be position information that is utilized to facilitate capturing images of a target , including adjusting the positioning and focus of the camera ( s ) 175 to capture the user and / or another object . in one embodiment , the presentation device 202 can present holographic content that enables different perspectives of a user and / or object to be viewed depending on the position of the viewer . the holographic content can be all or a portion of the telepresence configuration 210 , such as only the media content 250 or only one or more of the video content 225 . as an example , the presentation device 202 can utilize active shuttering where different perspectives of an image are presented during different time slots which can be synchronized with the viewing apparatus 300 . the particular perspective of an image can be viewed via the active shuttering of the viewing apparatus 300 based on the position of the viewer , such as detected from the viewing apparatus . an example of this is described in u . s . application ser . no . 12 / 839 , 943 filed on jul . 20 , 2010 , the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety . other techniques and components can be utilized for presenting holographic content at the presentation device 202 , including with or without a viewing apparatus 300 . in one embodiment , the images of the user in video content 225 can be modified , including change of clothing , environment and / or appearance . for example , the images of the other users can be presented but without the viewing apparatus 300 being worn . for instance , other images of the other users , such as in user profiles , can be utilized to modify the images to fill in pixels where the viewing apparatus 300 was removed . in another example , the modification of the images of the video content 225 can be based on the media content , such as the images of the other users being presented but wearing a cowboy hat where the media content is a cowboy movie . the modifications to the video content 225 can be based on a number of different factors , such as user preferences , and can be controlled by various entities , such as allowing a user to retain control over any modifications to the presentation of their own images and / or allowing a user to control any modification to the presentation of other users . fig4 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a presentation device 402 with a polarized display . a display can be polarized with polarization filter technology so that alternative horizontal pixel rows can be made to have differing polarizations . for instance , odd horizontal pixels 402 can be polarized for viewing with one polarization filter , while even horizontal pixels 404 can be polarized for viewing with an alternative polarization filter . the viewing apparatus 300 previously described can be adapted to have one lens polarized for odd pixel rows , while the other lens is polarized for viewing even pixel rows . with polarized lenses , the viewing apparatus 300 can present a user a 3d stereoscopic image . the telepresence configuration 210 of fig2 can be presented utilizing the presentation device 402 . system 400 illustrates use of multiple cameras 175 for capturing images of user 420 from different perspectives or views . the different perspective images can then be utilized for generating a 3d representation of the user 420 . the particular number and positioning of the cameras 175 can vary . in one embodiment , one of the cameras 175 can be a depth or distance camera that is utilized for generating a depth map associated with the user 420 so that the depth map and images captured by the other cameras can be used in constructing the 3d representation of the user 420 . fig5 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication system 500 that can provide the telepresence configuration 210 to a plurality of locations 102 , 502 and 503 . while three locations are illustrated in system 500 , the present disclosure can utilize two or more locations . the telepresence configuration 210 for each of the locations 102 , 502 and 503 includes the media content 250 and includes video content 225 for the other users . for example , a user 520 at location 102 is provided with video content 225 that includes other users 525 at locations 502 and 503 . the computing device 130 can be utilized to provide the telepresence configuration 210 to each of the locations 102 , 502 , 503 , such as through receiving captured images of each of the users 520 and 525 and distributing the video content 225 and the media content 250 to each of the locations . as an example , each of the media processors 106 can then present the video content 225 and the media content 250 , such as in the side - by - side window arrangement shown in fig2 . in one embodiment , the captured images and the media content 250 can be combined by the computing device 130 into single content that is provided to the locations 102 , 502 and 503 , such as through a multicast , without the need for further arranging the media and video content . in one embodiment , separate or a combined stream of the media content 250 and the video content ( s ) 225 can be provided to each media processor 106 for combining into the telepresence configuration 210 . in one embodiment , the media processor 106 can instruct the users 520 and 525 to sit or otherwise position themselves where they will be watching the telepresence configuration 210 . a position of the user can then be determined for adjusting the camera 175 . a distance to the viewer can be determined , such as through use of time - of - flight , stereo triangulation , sheet of light triangulation , structured light , interferometry , coded aperture , and so forth . other components can also be utilized to facilitate the process , including a depth camera integrated with camera 175 or provided as a stand - alone component . fig6 depicts an illustrative embodiment of another communication system 600 that can present the telepresence configuration 210 at display devices 108 of different users at different locations via a telepresence communication session . system 600 can be overlaid or operably coupled with the devices and systems of fig1 - 5 to receive media content 250 and / or video content 225 , which is presentable as 3d content . system 600 can include computing device 130 for receiving 2d media content from a media source 650 and for generating ( or otherwise obtaining ) a depth map associated with the media content , such as based on object segmentation . the computing device 130 can encode the media content and depth map ( such as into a single video stream in h . 264 format encapsulated in an mpeg - 2 wrapper ) and transmit the media content and depth map to one or more media processors 106 , such as through broadcast , multicast and / or unicast utilizing network 625 . in one embodiment , the computing device 130 can generate the depth map in real - time or near real - time upon receipt of the 2d media content , such as from a broadcast studio . the computing device 130 can also generate a depth map for video content that is captured by the cameras 175 in 2d . system 600 includes media processors 106 which receive the video stream of the 2d media and video content and the corresponding depth maps . the media processors 106 can generate 3d content using the depth maps in real time upon receipt of the video stream . the media processors 106 can also detect the capability of display devices ( such as through hdmi 1 . 4 a ) and can adjust the media content accordingly . for instance , if a display device 108 can only present 2d content , then the media processor 106 may discard the depth map and provide the 2d content to the display device . otherwise , the media processor 106 can perform the real - time generation of the 3d content using the depth map and provide the content to the 3d capable display device 108 . the conversion into 3d content from the depth map ( s ) can be based upon various imaging techniques and the 3d presentation in the telepresence configuration 210 can be based upon various formats including polarization , anaglyphics , active shuttering ( such as alternate frame sequencing ), autostereoscopy , and so forth . in one embodiment , position information associated with one or more viewers can be utilized to adjust 3d media content , such as adjusting a convergence of the media content 250 and / or video content 225 based on a distance of the viewer ( s ) from the display device 108 . calibration can also be performed using a number of components and / or techniques , including a distance camera to measure distances and / or image camera 175 for capturing images of the viewers which can be used for interpolating distances . system 600 has the flexibility to selectively provide 2d content and 3d content to different locations . system 600 further has the flexibility to selectively provide a combination of 2d and 3d content for presentation in the telepresence configuration 210 ( fig2 ). for example , a user may desire to watch the media content 250 in 3d while viewing the video content 225 in 2d . the selection of 2d or 3d presentation can be based on a number of factors , including device capability and type of content . the selection can be made by a number of different entities , including the users via the media processors 106 and / or by the service provider via computing device 130 . the selection of 2d or 3d can also be made by one or more devices of system 600 without user intervention based on a number of factors , such as device capability , network status , viewing history , and so forth . fig7 depicts an illustrative embodiment of another communication system 700 that can present a telepresence configuration 710 at presentation devices 202 of different users at different locations 102 , 502 , 503 via a telepresence communication session . system 700 can be overlaid or operably coupled with the devices and systems of fig1 - 6 to receive media content and / or video content which is presentable as 3d or holographic content . system 700 can include components similar to that of system 600 , such as the media processor 106 , the presentation device 202 , the computing device 130 and the cameras 175 . the presentation device can be various types of display devices including televisions , holographic display devices , volumetric display devices , and so forth . while three locations are illustrated in system 700 , the present disclosure can utilize two or more locations . the telepresence configuration 710 for each of the locations 102 , 502 and 503 can include object content 750 and can include video content 225 for the other users . for example , a user 520 at location 102 can be provided with video content 225 that includes other users 525 at locations 502 and 503 . the computing device 130 can be utilized to provide the telepresence 710 to each of the locations 102 , 502 , 503 , such as through receiving captured images of each of the users 520 and 525 and distributing the video content 225 and the object content 750 to each of the locations . as an example , each of the media processors 106 can then present the video content 225 and the object content 750 , such as in a side - by - side window arrangement that simulates the users 525 being present at the location 102 , such as positioning the video content 225 as if the users 525 were viewing the object content 750 . in one embodiment , the captured images of the users ( e . g ., video content 225 ) and the object content 750 can be combined by the computing device 130 into single content that is provided to the locations 102 , 502 and 503 , such as through a multicast , without the need for further arranging the object and video content . in one embodiment , separate or a combined stream of the object content 750 and the video content ( s ) 225 can be provided to each media processor 106 for combining into the telepresence configuration 710 . the object content 750 can be generated based on images captured by a camera system 725 that includes a group of cameras 175 . the group of cameras 175 can be positioned to capture different viewing angles for an object 730 . the images can then be processed into the object content 750 by generating 3d images from 2d images for the object 730 and / or capturing 3d images using 3d stereoscopic cameras . various 3d techniques and components can be utilized , including polarization , anaglyphics , active shuttering ( such as alternate frame sequencing ), autostereoscopy , and so forth . in one embodiment , the generated object content 750 is 3d content that is holographic content . the holographic content provides different viewing perspectives of the object 730 based on viewer position in reference to a display device . the object content 750 can be generated in whole or in part by various devices in system 700 , such as computing device 130 and / or media processor 106 . in one embodiment , the selection of a device to perform the generation of the object content 750 or a portion thereof can be based on load - balancing . for instance , local devices such as media processor 106 of location 503 can generate all or a portion of the object content 750 when a desired amount of processing resources are available for the local media processor 106 . however , if a desired amount of processing resources are not available for the local media processor 106 at location 503 then other devices , such as one or more of the other media processors at locations 102 and 502 and the computing device 130 can generate the object content 750 . in one embodiment , a plurality of formats can be generated for the object content 750 . the different formats can be based on the capabilities of the media processors 106 and / or the presentation devices 202 . for instance , holographic content may be generated for the media processor 106 if it is determined that the presentation device 202 at location 102 is a holographic display device or otherwise has the ability to present holographic images , while 3d content based on active shuttering can be generated for the media processor 106 of location 502 if it is determined that capabilities at location 502 warrant this format . in one embodiment , the selection and generation of the format of the object content 750 can be based on capability determinations being made by the devices of system 700 , such as the computing device 130 querying the local devices for display capabilities and / or accessing user profiles or past history information to make the determination . in one embodiment , each of the various formats can be generated without regard to device capabilities and a selection can then be made of the corresponding format to be transmitted . in one embodiment , the group of cameras 175 of camera system 725 can be arranged to surround the object 730 , such as capturing or otherwise covering a 360 degree perspective of the object . this configuration can facilitate generating holographic content and / or generating 3d content that can be navigated . in one embodiment , the group of cameras 175 of camera system 725 can be arranged such that the plurality of different viewing angles of the images captures only a portion of 360 degrees of viewing perspective of the object 730 . in one example , the computing device 130 and / or local devices ( e . g ., the media processor ( s ) 106 ) can generate additional images for a remaining portion of the 360 degrees of the viewing perspective of the object 730 based on the captured images . the additional images can then be utilized with the captured images to generate holographic content and / or to generate 3d content that can be navigated . in one example , the computing device 130 and / or local devices ( e . g ., the media processor ( s ) 106 ) can control the position of one or more of the cameras 175 to capture images for the remaining portion of the 360 degrees of the viewing perspective of the object 730 . the additional captured images can then be utilized with the captured images to generate holographic content and / or to generate 3d content that can be navigated . the cameras 175 of camera system 725 can be arranged in various configurations and there can be various numbers of cameras . for example , the cameras 175 can surround the object 730 in a circular configuration or can surround the object in a spherical configuration . as described above , the cameras 175 may only partially surround the object 730 , and camera movement and / or image extrapolation can be performed to account for any viewing angles or portions of the object that are not covered by the particular camera configuration . as an example , image extrapolation or interpolation can be utilized that predicts or estimates unknown portions of the object 730 based on known portions of the object determined from one or more of the captured images . the object 730 of fig7 is illustrated as a vase having a substantially uniform curved surface and curved rim . the captured images can be utilized to determine a radius of curvature of the rim and the shape of the outer surface of the vase of object 730 as shown in the captured images . these parameters can then be used in image extrapolation or interpolation to fill in the unknown portions of the image that were not captured in the images . other techniques for determining unknown portions of the object 730 can also be used in the present disclosure . system 700 and camera system 725 allow various objects to be placed in front of the group of cameras so that 3d content or holographic content representative of the objects can be shared among viewers in a telepresence environment . for example , camera system 725 can define a target field or capture area 790 into which objects can be placed , such as object 730 , so that the objects can be provided in the telepresence configuration 710 . in one embodiment , one or more of the cameras 175 that define the target field 790 can be re - positioned to capture various perspectives of the object . the re - positioning of the cameras 175 can be performed in a number of different ways , such as pivoting cameras , sliding cameras on a track ( e . g ., a circular or annular track ), and so forth . in one embodiment , the re - positioning of the cameras 175 can be performed automatically based on actuation of motors ( e . g ., electric servo - motors ) coupled with the cameras that can adjust the position of the camera . fig8 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method 800 operating in portions of the devices and systems described herein and / or illustrated in fig1 - 7 . method 800 can begin with step 802 in which media content 250 is obtained , such as through transmission over a network from a media source . the media content 250 can be various types from various sources . for example , the media content 250 can be movies that are broadcast or accessed on demand . in one embodiment , the media content 250 can be still images . in one embodiment , the media content 250 can be images of an object that can be manipulated , such as presenting images of a car that can be rotated . the media content 250 can be received as 2d content and converted to 3d content and / or can be received as 3d content . the media content 250 can be received by the computing device 130 ( e . g ., a centralized distribution process ) and / or received by one or more of the media processors 106 ( e . g ., a distributed or master - slave process ). it should be understood that the present disclosure can include the media processor 106 being various types of devices , including personal computers , set top boxes , smart phones and so forth . at step 804 , video content 225 can be received from a plurality of different media receivers 106 at different locations . the video content 225 can be received as part of a communication session established between media processors 106 of each of the different users . each of the video content 225 can be received as 2d content and converted to 3d content and / or can be received as 3d content . each of the video content 225 can be received by the computing device 130 ( e . g ., a centralized distribution process ) and / or received by one or more of the media processors 106 ( e . g ., a distributed or master - slave process ). the video content 225 can be captured by one or more cameras 175 at each location , where the cameras are 2d and / or 3d cameras . other components can also be used to facilitate capturing the video content 225 , including lighting components and / or audio components , which can be controlled locally and / or remotely ( e . g ., by the computing device 130 or a master media processor 106 ). at step 806 , it can be determined if 3d content has been requested or is otherwise desired . for instance , a user profile associated with each user at each location can be accessed by the computing device 130 and / or one or more of the media processors 106 to determine if 3d content is desired for the media content 250 and / or video content 225 . if 3d content is desired then at step 808 the content can be processed accordingly . for example , if the content received is in 3d format then a determination can be made if the format is compatible with the media processors 106 and adjusted accordingly . for instance , content can be adjusted to be compatible with a first media processor 106 and a copy of the content can be further adjusted to be compatible with a second media processor . if the content is in 2d format then the content can be converted to 3d format , such as through use of a depth map or using other techniques . at step 809 , images can be captured of the object 730 using the camera system 725 . the images can capture a plurality of different viewing angles or perspectives of the object 730 so that the object content 750 can be generated such that the object is presented as 3d content . in one embodiment , the 3d content can be holographic content . the object content 750 can be generated based on captured 2d and / or 3d images , including 3d images captured by a plurality of stereoscopic cameras 175 of camera system 725 . the camera system 725 can be controlled locally and / or controlled remotely , such as by the computing device 130 . the control over the camera system 725 can include re - positioning of the cameras 175 , as well as other adjustable features , including resolution , speed , and so forth . in one embodiment , one or more locations ( e . g ., locations 102 , 502 and 503 ) can include the camera system 725 so that a user at the particular location can virtually share any objects ( e . g ., object 730 ) with other users through use of the camera system 725 . in one embodiment , the user 525 associated with the camera system 725 can be a merchant or other entity providing goods or services . for example , the object 730 can be a product being sold by the merchant . the location 503 can be a sales facility associated with the user or can be a location that is being utilized by the user 525 to sell his or her product ( e . g ., object 730 ). in one example , the merchant can be charged for selling the product by a service provider operating portions of the system 700 , such as the computing device 130 and / or the camera system 725 . in one example , revenue that is generated as a result of presentation of the object content 750 can be shared between the merchant and the service provider . other fee sharing arrangements with merchants for utilization of the camera system 725 can also be used by the present disclosure . at step 810 , the media content 250 and / or the object content 750 , along with the video content 225 can be presented at each display device of each location in a telepresence configuration , such as configuration 210 of fig2 and / or configuration 710 of fig7 . the telepresence configuration can simulate each of the users being co - located at each location . in one embodiment , the telepresence configurations can be adjustable , such as by the user selecting the configuration . the adjustments to the telepresence configuration can include positioning of the video content , size , resolution , and so forth . in one embodiment at step 812 , the computing device 130 and / or the media processor 106 can monitor to detect speech of a user at one of the locations . if speech is detected from a target user , then at step 814 the video content can be adjusted ( e . g ., by the computing device 130 and / or the media processor 106 ) to further simulate the target user speaking to the other users . this simulation can include depicting the target user or a portion thereof ( e . g ., the user &# 39 ; s head ) turning to face the viewer of the display device to speak with them . in one embodiment , the telepresence configuration can provide images of the rear of the other user &# 39 ; s head &# 39 ; s as if they were watching the media content and then present the face of the target user when the target user is speaking . in one embodiment , images of a front of a user &# 39 ; s head can be used to generate video content depicting the back of the user &# 39 ; s head , such as through determining shape , circumference , hair color and so forth . in one embodiment at step 816 , user interaction with the object content 750 can be detected or otherwise determined , such as by one of the media processors 106 and / or the computing device 130 . the user interaction can be based on user inputs at a user interface at one of the locations 102 , 502 , 503 . at step 818 , the object content 750 can be adjusted in response to the user interaction . the adjustment can be performed in a number of different ways , including based on utilizing different images with different viewing angles , adjusting the cameras 175 of camera system 725 to provide for different perspective , and / or extrapolating views based on the captured images . in one embodiment , the user interaction can be based on movement of the user , such as movement of the user &# 39 ; s hand towards the presented object 730 . as an example , the user 520 at location 102 can be viewing a 3d or holographic representation of the object 730 and can move his or her hand so as to gesture rotating the object 730 . in the telepresence configurations of locations 502 and 503 , the gestures of the user 520 can be viewed as the hand of the user rotating the object 730 due to the positioning of the object content 750 and the video content 225 in the telepresence configuration 710 . the interaction is not limited to moving the object 730 , and can include other interaction , such as removing a portion of the object to present a different view . in one embodiment at step 820 , system 700 can provide telepresence messaging between users . for instance , user 520 at location 102 can send a message to user 525 at location 502 . the message can be input by the user 520 via text , speech , and / or selection of pre - determined messages . the message can be presented in the telepresence configuration 710 at presentation device 202 of location 503 via 3d or holographic text . the message can be presented in combination with , or in place of , the media content 250 and / or the object content 750 . in one embodiment , the sender of the message can select the recipient ( s ) of the message so that only select users can see the message even though other users may be participating in the communication session . in one embodiment , the message can be sent in conjunction with a social network and / or messaging service , including facebook , twitter and so forth . fig9 depicts an illustrative embodiment of another communication system 900 that can present a telepresence configuration 910 at presentation devices 108 of different users at different locations 902 , 903 , 904 via a telepresence communication session . system 900 can be overlaid or operably coupled with the devices , systems and methods of fig1 - 8 to receive media content and / or video content in the telepresence configuration 910 . the media content and / or video content ( e . g ., media content 250 and video content 225 of fig2 ) can be presented as 3d or holographic content . system 900 can include components similar to that of system 600 , such as the media processor 106 , the computing device 130 and the cameras 175 . the presentation devices 108 can be various types of display devices including televisions , holographic display devices , volumetric display devices , and so forth . the cameras 175 can be various types of devices , including 2d and 3d cameras and can be any number and configuration of cameras , including system 725 of fig7 . while three locations are illustrated in system 900 , the present disclosure can utilize two or more locations . the media processors 106 of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 can communicate with each other and / or with the computing device 130 over a network 950 that includes network elements 955 . the network elements 955 can be various devices utilized for providing communication , including routers , switches , servers , dslams , and so forth . the number and configuration of the network elements 955 can vary . a multimedia source 960 can be utilized for sourcing the media content to the media processors 106 of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 , such as via the computing device 130 , although other sources can also be used by the present disclosure , including local sources , such as a dvr at one of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 . system 900 can provide for latency testing to be performed with respect to the media processors 106 of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 , as well as with respect to the network elements 955 that could be used for providing the telepresence sessions between these locations . the type of latency testing performed can vary . for example , loopback testing can be performed by the computing device 130 to each of the media processors 106 of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 . the loopback testing can also be originated from devices other than the computing device 130 , such as from the media processors 106 of one or more of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 and / or from one or more network elements 955 , such as along a potential route of the telepresence session . in one embodiment , multiple loopback tests can be originated from multiple devices along potential routes of the telepresence session . the results of this group of loopback tests can be utilized to isolate particular network elements 955 that are experiencing latency . other latency testing techniques can also be utilized by the present disclosure for isolating network elements 955 experiencing latency , including periodically or otherwise gathering latency parameters associated with all or a portion of the network elements 955 of the network 950 . the latency parameters can be analyzed for determining particular network elements 955 experiencing latency . it should be understood that the latency can be caused by various factors , including workload , faults , on - going maintenance , and so forth . in one or more embodiments , the methodology and / or the components used to determine which network elements 955 of the network 950 are experiencing latency can be selected based on a known or predicted cause of the latency . in one embodiment , when one or more network elements 955 of the network 950 are determined to be experiencing latency , then a latency area 980 can be determined or otherwise defined for the network 950 . the latency area 950 can be determined based on the isolated network elements 955 experiencing the latency , as well as a known topology of the network 950 . for example , the latency area 980 of fig9 depicts three network elements 955 a , 955 b , 955 c . in this example , network elements 955 a and 955 c have been determined to be experiencing latency while no such determination has been made with respect to network element 955 b . however , the network element 955 b has been included in the latency area 980 because , based on the network topology , it has been determined that routing 985 between network element 955 a and network element 955 c would be done through network element 955 b . in one or more embodiments , the routes for the telepresence session can be configured or otherwise determined based on the latency area 980 . for example , routes can be configured to avoid all or a portion of the network elements 955 in the latency area 980 . the configuration of the routes can be performed by a number of different devices ( e . g ., the computing device 130 ) and can be performed in a centralized or distributed fashion ( e . g ., using a group of computing devices 130 positioned in different parts of the network 950 ). in one or more embodiments , dedicated routes can be utilized for the telepresence sessions . for example , heavy users of telepresence sessions and / or users that have obtained a service upgrade may be provided with dedicated routes using select network elements 955 that are intended to reduce latency in the transmission and / or receipt of the telepresence session signals . in one or more embodiments , the select network elements 955 of the dedicated routes can be dedicated devices that are used only for telepresence sessions and / or for limited functions that include telepresence sessions . in one or more embodiments , the select network elements 955 of the dedicated routes can be devices ( dedicated devices and / or non - dedicated devices ) that are known to have lower latency , such as due to lower workloads , higher processing resources , and so forth . continuing with the example set forth in system 900 , one dedicated route 970 is illustrated between media processor 106 of location 903 and the computing device 130 . this example illustrates the locations 902 and 904 utilizing non - dedicated routes through the network 950 . the number and configuration of dedicated routes can vary , including providing all or only a portion of the media processors 106 of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 with dedicated routes to and from the computing device 130 . other dedicated routes can also be utilized , such as where data is being exchanged with other devices , such as routes directly between media processors 106 of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 without routing to the computing device 130 . in one or more embodiments , the latency area 980 can be utilized for reconfiguring the dedicated route 970 . for instance , the dedicated route 970 might normally include network element 955 c . but , since network element 955 c has been determined to be part of latency area 980 , the dedicated route 970 can be re - configured to avoid use of network element 955 c through re - routing to network element 955 d and to network element 955 e . system 900 also provides for injecting delay into the presentation of one or more of the telepresence configurations 910 , including portions of the telepresence configuration , such as the media content . as an example , a determination can be made as to which of the locations 902 , 903 , 904 are experiencing the largest latency in presentation of the media content and / or the video content in the telepresence configuration . one or more delay time periods can be determined based on this latency and a delay ( s ) can be injected into presentation of the telepresence configuration for the other locations . the delay ( s ) can be applied to both the media content and the video content or can be separately applied , including use of different delay periods for the media content and the video content . by delaying the presentation of the other devices by the delay time ( s ) associated with the location experiencing the most latency , system 900 can provide a synchronized presentation of the telepresence configuration . the delay ( s ) can be injected by the computing device 130 , such as by delaying delivery of the media content to locations 902 , 903 when location 904 is experiencing the largest latency for the media content . the delay ( s ) can also be injected by the media processors 106 at select locations , including based on a delay period calculated by the computing device 130 for the other location and transmitted to the media processors , when presenting the telepresence configuration 910 at the display devices 108 of the select locations . fig1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method 1000 operating in portions of the devices , systems and / or methods described herein and / or illustrated in fig1 - 9 . method 1000 can begin with step 1002 in which a request for a telepresence session is received . the request can be received at various devices , depending on how the telepresence session is being managed . for example , in system 900 of fig9 , the telepresence session request can be received by computing device 130 from one or more of the media processors 106 at locations 902 , 903 , 904 . in one embodiment , the telepresence session request can be received in conjunction with a social network application . in step 1004 , latency testing can be performed for network elements that could potentially deliver signals for the telepresence session ( i . e ., the element is part of a possible route for the telepresence session ). the type of latency testing can vary and can include loopback testing , such as from the computing device 130 to each of the media processors 106 at locations 902 , 903 , 904 . the latency testing can be performed between other devices of the network , including between network elements in order to isolate select network elements that are experiencing latency issues . the latency testing can be performed at various times . for example , latency testing can be performed in response to receiving the request for the telepresence session and / or can be performed at other times , such as periodically . other types of latency testing can also be included in the present disclosure , including gathering packet latency telemetry from all or a portion of the network elements . in step 1004 , a latency area can be detected or otherwise determined based on the results of the latency testing . the latency area can include network elements experiencing latency issues . the latency area can further include other network elements that have not been determined to be experiencing latency issues but due to their position in proximity to those network elements , they are included in the latency area . in step 1008 , routes for the telepresence session can be configured based on the latency areas . for example , routes can be configured to avoid all or a portion of the network elements in the latency area . in step 1010 , it can be determined whether any of the users , such as at locations 902 , 903 , 904 , have dedicated routes . for example , a user may have a service plan that includes dedicated routes for telepresence sessions . in one or more embodiments , service plan upgrades can be offered in response to a request for a telepresence session . in one or more embodiments , usage of telepresence sessions by a user can be monitored to generate a history for the user . the history can be compared to a usage threshold to determine if a dedicated route should be provided to the user for the telepresence session . if the user is permitted to utilize a dedicated route then in step 1012 the route can be re - configured based on the dedicated route . it should be further understood that the sequence of the steps of method 1000 can be changed . for example , dedicated routes can first be determined and then the dedicated routes can be altered when the dedicated route passes through , or otherwise relies upon , a network element of the latency area . if on the other hand , there are no dedicated routes then method 1000 proceeds to step 1014 to determine if latency issues still exist . if there are no latency issues remaining or if the latency issues are within acceptable tolerances then in step 1018 the telepresence session can be provided . if on the other hand , there are latency issues outside of acceptable tolerances then in step 1016 a delay can be injected into the presentation of the telepresence configuration at a portion of the locations . for example , a determination can be made as to which location is experiencing the greatest latency and a delay period can be calculated based on that latency . a local delay can be injected , such as the other media processors 106 at the other locations delaying presentation of the media content and / or the video content to synchronize the telepresence configurations at each location . the present disclosure can also use a remote delay , such as the computing device 130 delaying providing the media content and / or the video content to a portion of the locations based on a calculated delay period . in one embodiment , the delay period can be based on a difference in latency between the different locations . for example , a first location may present an image at a 20 ms relative mark , while a second location presents the same image at a 40 ms relative mark and a third location presents the same image at a 60 ms relative mark . a first delay period can be calculated for the first location to be 40 ms based on the delay difference between the first and third location . a second delay period can be calculated for the second location to be 20 ms based on the delay difference between the second and third location . no delay would be provided to the third location in this example . the method 1000 can proceed to step 1018 to provide the telepresence session . upon reviewing the aforementioned embodiments , it would be evident to an artisan with ordinary skill in the art that said embodiments can be modified , reduced , or enhanced without departing from the scope and spirit of the claims described below . the embodiments described above can be adapted to operate with any device capable of performing in whole or in part the steps described for methods 800 and 1000 . in one embodiment , the latency testing , the determination of the latency area , the configuration of the routes and / or the injection of the delay can be performed at various times , including during the telepresence session . for example , testing can be periodically performed during the telepresence session to determine if there has been a change to the latency area and / or a change to a delay period to be injected into the presentation of the telepresence configuration by one or more of the media processors . if a change is detected then corresponding corrections can be made , such as re - configuring routes and / or changing the delay time period . in one embodiment , configuring routes based on latency areas and injecting a delay into the presentation of the telepresence configuration at a portion of the locations can be selectively applied based on thresholds . for example , injecting delay into the presentation of the telepresence configuration for a portion of the locations can be utilized without re - configuring routes based on latency areas when a first latency threshold has not been satisfied . however , when the first latency threshold is satisfied ( e . g ., latency time periods exceeding a pre - determined amount ) then both techniques may be applied to synchronize the telepresence configurations at each of the locations . in one embodiment , the delay can be implemented to video alone , audio alone and / or to both video and audio . in one embodiment , the delay period can be calculated for the video portion of the content and the audio portion can be synchronized with the video portion . in one embodiment , a combination of media content 250 and object content 750 can be presented in the telepresence configurations . for example , a merchant can present the object content 750 for a product ( images of which are captured by the camera system 725 ) being sold while presenting the media content 250 that is an infomercial describing the product . in one embodiment , the device ( s ) that perform the functions described herein can be selected based on capability . for example , if all media processors 106 have the ability to generate 3d video content then a distributed process can be utilized that does not utilize the computing device 130 . if only a portion of the media processors 106 have the ability to generate 3d content then a master - slave arrangement can be established between the media processors 106 without the need to utilize the computing device 130 . if none of the media processors 106 have the ability to generate 3d content then the computing device 130 can be utilized for generating 3d content . similarly , 2d images captured by a 2d camera can be transmitted to a device capable of generating 3d video content , such as the computing device 130 and / or another media processor 106 . in one embodiment , the selection of the device ( s ) can be based on other factors , including processing resources , workload , type of content and so forth . for example , if only one media processor 106 has the capability to generate 3d content then the computing device 130 may be utilized along or in conjunction with the select media processor for generating the 3d content . in one embodiment , the selection of the media content can be performed in conjunction with a negotiation process amongst at least a portion of the users that are intended to receive the telepresence configuration . for example , the users can vote on the media content to be presented . in another embodiment , priority can be provided to particular users for the negotiating process , such as priority based on device capability . as another example , past voting history can be used as a factor in the selection of the media content , such as weighting votes more heavily when the user has been unsuccessful in voting to select media content in the past . in one embodiment , the selection of the media content can be based on factors associated with one of the users . for example , the other users may desire to wish happy birthday to a target user . a telepresence session can be established with the target users and the other users in which the media content is a particular singer singing a birthday song to the target user . the selection of the singer can be done based on a preference of the target user , including based on monitored consumption history by the target user of songs . in one embodiment , the providing of the telepresence configuration can be done in conjunction with a social network application . for example , each of the users can be members of the social network and the establishing of the communication session between the different users can be initiated based on selections made from the social network application . in one embodiment , the presentation of the telepresence configuration by a media processor 106 can be done at multiple display devices . for example , in a system that has three display devices positioned adjacent to each other , the media processor 106 can provide a middle display device with the media content for presentation while providing the end display devices with each of the video content from the other users to simulate the other users being co - located at the location of the media processor 106 . other suitable modifications can be applied to the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the claims below . accordingly , the reader is directed to the claims section for a fuller understanding of the breadth and scope of the present disclosure . fig1 depicts an exemplary diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of a computer system 1100 within which a set of instructions , when executed , may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed above . in some embodiments , the machine operates as a standalone device . in some embodiments , the machine may be connected ( e . g ., using a network ) to other machines . in a networked deployment , the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client user machine in server - client user network environment , or as a peer machine in a peer - to - peer ( or distributed ) network environment . the machine may comprise a server computer , a client user computer , a personal computer ( pc ), a tablet pc , a laptop computer , a desktop computer , a control system , a network router , switch or bridge , or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions ( sequential or otherwise ) that specify actions to be taken by that machine . it will be understood that a device of the present disclosure includes broadly any electronic device that provides voice , video or data communication . further , while a single machine is illustrated , the term “ machine ” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set ( or multiple sets ) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein . the computer system 1100 may include a processor or controller 1102 ( e . g ., a central processing unit ( cpu ), a graphics processing unit ( gpu , or both ), a main memory 1104 and a static memory 1106 , which communicate with each other via a bus 1108 . the computer system 1100 may further include a video display unit 1110 ( e . g ., a liquid crystal display ( lcd ), a flat panel , a solid state display ). the computer system 1100 may include an input device 1112 ( e . g ., a keyboard ), a cursor control device 1114 ( e . g ., a mouse ), a disk drive unit 1116 , a signal generation device 1118 ( e . g ., a speaker or remote control ) and a network interface device 1120 . the devices of computer system 1100 can be found in the previously shown figures , such as computing device 130 , camera system 725 , camera 175 , media processor 106 , tv 202 and so forth . the disk drive unit 1116 may include a machine - readable medium 1122 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions ( e . g ., software 1124 ) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein , including those methods illustrated above . the instructions 1124 may also reside , completely or at least partially , within the main memory 1104 , the static memory 1106 , and / or within the processor or controller 1102 during execution thereof by the computer system 1100 . the main memory 1104 and the processor 1102 also may constitute machine - readable media . the instructions 1124 can include one or more of the steps described above , including calibration steps , such as determining or interpolating viewer distance , determining convergence from viewer distance , and so forth . dedicated hardware implementations including , but not limited to , application specific integrated circuits , programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement the methods described herein . applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems . some embodiments implement functions in two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals communicated between and through the modules , or as portions of an application - specific integrated circuit . thus , the example system is applicable to software , firmware , and hardware implementations . in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure , the methods described herein are intended for operation as software programs running on a computer processor . furthermore , software implementations can include , but not limited to , distributed processing or component / object distributed processing , parallel processing , or virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the methods described herein . the present disclosure can include a machine readable medium containing instructions 1124 , or that which receives and executes instructions 1124 from a propagated signal so that a device connected to a network environment 1126 can send or receive voice , video or data , and to communicate over the network 1126 using the instructions 1124 . the instructions 1124 may further be transmitted or received over a network 1126 via the network interface device 1120 . while the machine - readable medium 1122 is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium , the term “ machine - readable medium ” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media ( e . g ., a centralized or distributed database , and / or associated caches and servers ) that store the one or more sets of instructions . the term “ machine - readable medium ” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure . the term “ machine - readable medium ” shall accordingly be taken to include , but not be limited to : solid - state memories such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more read - only ( non - volatile ) memories , random access memories , or other re - writable ( volatile ) memories ; magneto - optical or optical medium such as a disk or tape . accordingly , the disclosure is considered to include any one or more of a machine - readable medium , as listed herein and including art - recognized equivalents and successor media , in which the software implementations herein are stored . although the present specification describes components and functions implemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols , the disclosure is not limited to such standards and protocols . each of the standards for internet and other packet switched network transmission ( e . g ., tcp / ip , udp / ip , html , http ), as well as the examples for calibration , distance determination , communication protocols , and so forth , represent examples of the state of the art . such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions . accordingly , replacement standards and protocols having the same functions are considered equivalents . the illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments , and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all the elements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use of the structures described herein . many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description . other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom , such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure . figures are also merely representational and may not be drawn to scale . certain proportions thereof may be exaggerated , while others may be minimized . accordingly , the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense . such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein , individually and / or collectively , by the term “ invention ” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed . thus , although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein , it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown . this disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments . combinations of the above embodiments , and other embodiments not specifically described herein , can be used by the present disclosure . the abstract of the disclosure is provided with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims . in addition , in the foregoing detailed description , it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure . this method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim . rather , as the following claims reflect , inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment . thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description , with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter . | 7 |
it is noted that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only , and they are not intended to be drawn to scale . moreover , for the sake of illustration and description , a wheel having only 16 feet is illustrated , it being understood that wheels having any number of feet are contemplated by this invention , and indeed , wheels having a greater number of feet would be capable of providing smoother operation over any type of terrain . referring to fig1 and 2 there is shown a wheel comprising a hub 10 having a plurality of apertures 12 which are adapted to receive the lugs from the brake housing to which the wheel is to be attached . hug 10 is centrally disposed between cylinder 14 to which one set of feet 16 are attached and a similar cylinder ( not shown ) to which a second set of feet 18 are attached . the feet are arranged in circumfirential rows , the feet in each row being staggered with respect to the feet in adjacent rows . any desired number of rows may be employed , but only two rows are illustrated in the drawing . the staggered , dual tread feature reduces vibration that is prevalent in the operation of wheels having a single tread row . furthermore , additional tread rows afford greater traction in mud , snow , sand and the like . cylinder 14 is provided with a plurality of bosses 22 which have tapped bores 24 into which are inserted the threaded ends of rods 26 . an enlarged round head 28 on each of the rods 26 contain a slot , allen bore or similar means to facilitate the screwing of the rods into their associated bosses . coplaner with hub 10 is an annular disk 30 which forms along with disk 32 the sidewalls of chambers 34 . the remaining two sidewalls of each chamber 34 are formed by triangularly - shaped members 36 which may be secured to inner disk 30 by any suitable means such as welds , bolts or the like , or they may be cast integrally with the inner disk . a second outer disk 38 forms along with disk 30 and with a further plurality of triangularly - shaped members ( not shown ) the chambers for the second circumfirential row of feet 18 . disk 32 is secured to flanges 40 by bolts 44 . the outer disks can therefore be easily removed to permit the replacement of damaged parts or weak springs . feet 16 are guided in chambers 34 , the opposite walls of the chambers being parallel and closely engaging the adjacent walls of the feet . this construction not only results in a mechanically strong wheel ; it also prevents the entry of mud , stones and the like into the operating mechanism of the wheel . the outer ends of feet 16 are provided with cups or sockets 46 in which tread blocks 48 are disposed . the tread blocks can be secured to their respective feet by bolts 50 which screw into tapped bores therein . the inner end of each foot is provided with a cavity 52 that is surrounded on four sides by sidewalls 54 . a hollow , protruding , cylindrically - shaped spring guide 56 extends into cavity 52 from the shank or main body of each foot . the inner end of each spring guide has an inwardly extending flange 58 having a bore 60 therein through which rod 26 passes . the enlarged heads 28 of the rods extend into the bores 62 that are centrally located in each foot . a compression spring 64 extends from cylinder 14 to foot 16 , the ends of these springs being disposed around bosses 22 and spring guides 56 . as the wheel revolves successive feet come into action so that an adequate traction surface is always available , the wheel readily adapting itself automatically to the surface over which it travels . when it contacts an obstruction such as a stone , the foot automatically yields inwardly to a greater extent , thus absorbing the shock of passing over such obstruction . this operation is illustrated in fig1 wherein one of the sectioned feet 16 is illustrated as being in contact with surface 64 , whereas the outer sectioned foot is shown in its undeflected position . springs 64 normally act to force the feet outwardly from the hub , thus maintaining the periphery of the tread blocks in a substantially circular arc , the outer limit of the tread blocks being maintained by the engagement of the shoulders of heads 28 with flanges 58 . in this position of foot 16 , spring 64 is under slight compression . foot 16 must extend a sufficient distance into chamber 34 to provide adequate structural strength in the fully extended position . when a foot of the type to which the present invention pertains is deflected by contacting an obstacle , rough terrain or the like , spring 64 is compressed and rod 26 advances into bore 62 . the sidewall portions of the feet can deflect the entire distance to cylinder 14 due to the recession of a portion of spring 64 in cavity 52 . this design permits the feet to deflect a greater distance than that which would be possible in conventional designs wherein the spring contacts the innermost portion of the foot . in its deflected position foot 16 is in contact with a much greater surface area of the walls of chamber 34 so that when the vehicle brakes are applied the force generated thereby is more safely absorbed by the wheel . lubrication fittings 68 are located on outer disk 32 adjacent to each chamber 34 , and fittings 70 are disposed on disk 38 adjacent to the chambers provided for feet 18 . apertures 66 in the sidewalls 54 of each foot 16 and similar apertures in the sidewalls of each foot 18 permit the passage of lubricant from the chambers to the chamber - forming walls . the flow of lubricant is facilitated by the compression of air within the chambers when the feet deflect . while the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described , it is to be understood that the invention also contemplates modifications that do not depart from the spirit of the invention . for example , while chambers 34 have been illustrated as being rectangular in cross - section , other cross - sectional shapes such as circular , elliptical and the like are deemed to be within the scope of this invention . whereas only one spring is illustrated as being connected to each foot in fig1 a plurality of such springs can be associated with each foot as illustrated in fig3 wherein elements similar to those of fig1 are represented by primed reference numerals . an end of each spring can be recessed in one or more cavities in the foot , the embodiment of fig3 having two cavities 52 &# 39 ;. | 1 |
wireless communication systems transmit signals to and from base stations and subscriber units . these signals may be received and retransmitted using antennas of a repeater station . as signals arc transmitted , other signals and noises are picked up by the transmitted signal which cause interference . this interference distorts the signal from its original state to its received state . one way of minimizing interference is by increasing isolation between the antennas of the repeater station . isolation is needed to prevent signals transmitted and received by each antenna from interfering with each other . sufficient isolation must be provided , for example , to ensure that the input signal at the receive antenna does not get amplified and returned with a gain greater than one at all potential phase angles . one way of increasing isolation is by using circular polarization . circular polarization allows antennas to be placed at a significantly closer distance while maintaining at least the same degree of isolation as antennas in existing systems which are spaced a greater distance . that is , for a given amount of isolation , a pair of antennas may be placed nearer each other than antennas used in existing systems . therefore , the choice between isolation and separation distance may be optimized . circular polarization also provides advantages including reducing multipath and fading problems between antennas and overall repeatel station performance . another advantage of circular polarization is reduced susceptibility to signal variations due to linear polarization orientations of handouts . because circular polarization provides a signal which is more efficiently received by a similarly polarized antenna under conditions of multipath and rf interference , less power may be needed to operate the antenna . fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication system . system 10 comprises a base station 18 , repeater station 20 , and one or more fixed or mobile subscriber units 22 . repeater station 20 comprises a first antenna 12 , a second antenna 14 , and a repeater 16 . first antenna 12 is left hand circularly polarized ( lhcp ) 13 and second antenna 14 is right hand circularly polarized ( rhcp ) 15 . first antenna 12 and second antenna 14 are physically spaced apart in a back - to - back relationship . first antenna 12 and second antenna 14 are each circularly polarized in the same direction . repeater station 20 has many uses for users of wireless communications systems , for example , extending the range of coverage by a wireless service provider . repeater station 20 relays signals between base station 18 and subscriber 22 . for example , base station 18 may transmit a signal to subscriber 22 . if subscriber 22 is located at a relatively large distance , the signal received by subscriber 22 may be relatively weak ( providing subscriber 22 receives the signal at all ). repeater station 20 may be used to increase the likelihood of the signal reaching subscriber 22 by receiving the signal at some intermediate point , amplifying the signal , and re - transmitting the signal to subscriber 22 . for example , a signal may be transmitted from base station 18 to subscriber 22 . if subscriber 22 is located at a distance from base station 18 in which the signal may either be received in a weak state or not received , repeater station 20 may be used to increase the possibility of subscriber 22 receiving the signal from base station 18 . in this scenario , the signal would be received by first antenna 12 . first antenna 12 passes the signal to repeater 16 . repeater 16 filters and amplifies the signal and forwards the signal to second antenna 14 . second antenna 14 then retransmits the signal to subscriber 22 . because each antenna is polarized in the same direction , the signal is cross - polarized , which cancels any interference picked up by the signal . similarly , when a signal is being transmitted to base station 18 , the signal goes from subscriber 22 to second antenna 14 , through repeater 16 , and is then transmitted by first antenna 12 . embodiment of an antenna according the invention are disclosed in fig2 - 4 . fig2 - 3 show an antenna configuration comprising a chassis 52 , a tunnel 54 , absorber material 56 located within tunnel 54 , patch elements 58 , board 60 , radome 62 , and dielectric board 64 . chassis 52 ( preferably made of aluminum although other materials may also be used ) forms a recessed portion in first antenna 12 and second antenna 14 . dielectric board 64 ( e . g . teflon ™) is mounted in the recessed portion . dielectric board 64 has a diameter which is less than the diameter of chassis 52 . this structure results in tunnel 54 being formed about the periphery of dielectric board 64 . board 60 ( for example , a g10 / fr4 ) is provided with 16 imprinted conductive patch elements 58 ( e . g ., copper ), although more or less patch elements may be used . board 60 is mounted in the recessed portion such that patch elements 58 are positioned between board 60 and dielectric board 64 . nylon stand - offs may be used to separate board 60 and dielectric board 64 . board 60 is connected to dielectric board 64 through a feed network , which may be inserted through a wire feed - through in board 60 . absorber material 56 ( preferably rf absorbing material , although other material may be used ) is inserted in tunnel 54 surrounding board 60 and dielectric board 64 . radome 62 encloses the recessed portion . a connector 66 ( for example , an n - type connector ) may be used for supplying power to first antenna 12 and second antenna 14 . absorber material 56 is preferably surface impedance matched layered absorber material , although other suitable types of material may be used . the placement of absorber material 56 within tunnel 54 (&# 34 ; tunnel technology &# 34 ;) improves isolation by increasing the front - to - back ratio by reducing side and back lobes ( which create interference problems ) and decreases antenna bandwidth and multipath losses . the front - to - back ratio achieved may range from 12 db to 90 db or higher . these problems are decreased using &# 34 ; tunnel technology .&# 34 ; first antenna 12 and second antenna 14 may be used with frequencies in the range of 1850 mhz to 1990 mhz , although other frequencies may also be used . specifications for an antenna used in this frequency range may include a gain of 18 dbi , a vswr of 2 : 1 , a power rating of 10 watts cw and an impedance of 50 ohms , although other values may be obtained . additionally , first antenna 12 and second antenna 14 may be any shape which will result in a desired beam width pattern ( for example , a diamond shape will achieve a 20 ° beam width pattern ). other patterns may be achieved by selecting an appropriate shape corresponding to a desired pattern . for example , transmitting to a mobile antenna may require a wider beam width pattern , therefore an antenna in the shape of a rectangular may be desired . for communicating with fixed location base stations , a narrower bcam width pattern may be sufficient . another embodiment of an antenna according to the invention is shown in fig4 - 5 . second antenna 14 has a configuration similar to first antenna 12 . chassis 52 forms a recessed portion . dielectric board 64 is mounted within the recessed portion of chassis 52 . dielectric board 64 has a diameter less than the diameter of chassis 52 . this results in a tunnel 54 being formed about the periphery of dielectric board 64 . patch elements 58 are mounted on board 60 . board 60 is connected to dielectric board 64 such that patch elements 58 are positioned between board 60 and dielectric board 64 . absorber material 56 is inserted around dielectric board 64 to isolate second antenna 14 . radome 62 is placed over the recessed portion . connector 66 allows power to be supplied to second antenna 14 . it will be apparent to those persons skilled in the art that various modifications and alterations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention . for example , other types of polarization may be used , ( e . g ., left hand circular , slant left , slant right ), other types of antenna may be used ( e . g ., parabolic , helical ), the orientation of the patch elements may be altered , etc . the invention is only limited by the claims appended hereto . | 7 |
referring to fig1 , a balancing damper in a duct segment 100 that carries grease laden fumes has two generally air blocking elements 102 and 112 that rotate on bearings 108 a and 108 b . as illustrated in fig2 a to 2d , the blocking elements 102 and 112 rotate symmetrically between settings for high resistance 90 , low resistance 93 , and a range of positions in - between including those indicated at 91 and 92 positions . note that in all of the positions shown , the blocking elements 102 and 112 remain at a minimum angle with respect to the horizontal 80 of more than about 45 degrees , for example , end portions 113 of blocking elements 102 and 112 as well as the major portions 115 all form angles , such as angles φ 1 and φ 2 . for example the minimum angle can be at least about 45 degrees , the closed position being the least vertical . a motor drive 104 may be used to rotate the blocking elements 102 and 112 . the drive 104 may include an indicator 114 that shows the position of the damper . the drive 104 may be replaced by a manual positioning device . a synchronization mechanism , such as a kinematic mechanism ( for example , one using linkages including the links 106 and 109 ) may be provided to cause the blocking elements 102 and 112 to pivot back and forth in synchrony . such a kinematic mechanism could employ gears , hydraulic couplings , electronically synchronized drives or any suitable mechanism . the blocking elements may be planar or any other suitable shape . the embodiment of fig1 may be modified to fit in a round duct with blocking elements shaped as cylindrical sections to permit the same overall effect as the embodiment of fig1 . preferably , bearings are provided , such as bearings 108 a and 108 b , to support the blocking elements 102 and 112 for pivoting . the bearings may be located inside the duct section 100 or outside . in one configuration , bearings may be located on the inside on a side of the duct opposite the drive motor and on the outside on the side with the drive motor . in the latter configuration , the duct can be located with the side opposite the drive motor lying directly against the wall . referring to fig4 a , where the bearings are located outside as indicated by 180 , the duct section may have a housing 144 to enclose the external bearing . the bearings may also be provided with a seal 184 to ensure that gas , grease or condensed vapor or any other liquid cannot leak from the duct . fig4 b illustrates a configuration in which a housing 150 encloses a drive 155 as well as the externally - mounted bearing . bearings 182 inside the duct may be constructed , as shown in fig4 a , such that no duct wall penetration is required . preferably , a notch 172 in blocking element 102 provides clearance for any internal bearing . as illustrated , one end of each blocking element 102 and 112 may have a bend at the end . this may enhance rigidity and also help to act as a stop to prevent the blocking elements pivoting too far . such features may be provided on one or both ends or not at all . fig3 shows the damper with the duct section 100 removed . fig5 a to 5d show alternative mechanisms . fig5 a and 5b show blocking elements 202 and 204 that pivot at their ends . in other configurations , the pivot location may be anywhere along the blocking elements . as in the other configurations , the blocking elements are partially vertical , preferably at least 45 degrees to the horizontal , in the closed position ( fig5 a ) and more vertical in the open position ( fig5 b ), to help prevent the accumulation of grease by encouraging grease to drip quickly off the blocking elements 202 and 204 . a linkage 206 , which may be located outside the duct 100 , causes the blocking elements 202 and 204 to move in synchrony . an embodiment of fig5 c and 5d has blocking elements 208 and 210 configured for a round duct 100 a . fig6 a and 6b show closed and open positions , respectively , of a mechanism with a single blocking element 220 that pivots at 224 . as in the above embodiments , in the closed position , the blocking element 220 forms a substantial minimum angle with the horizontal . in this and other embodiments the minimum angles are as discussed above with regard to the other embodiments . the above embodiments may be varied in terms of details , such as the shape of the blocking elements and the angle formed by the blocking elements in all positions , even the closed position . for example , although in the above embodiments , the blocking elements form a 45 degree angle , a greater or smaller angle may be used . in preferred embodiments , the angle is at least 30 degrees from the horizontal . in more preferred embodiments , the angle is at least 40 degrees , and more preferably 45 degrees to the horizontal . in alternative embodiments , the angle is greater than 45 degrees to the horizontal . note in the above embodiments that the blocking elements have bent portions at one or more edges . these also form substantial angles with the horizontal in all positions . preferably the angles are greater than 45 degrees . fig8 shows a damper configuration 160 with damper blocking elements that are trough shaped with bends 164 providing rigidity and no bends on the upstream 166 and downstream 162 edges . the bends 164 can extend the entire distance between the edges 162 and 166 or they can be interrupted , as shown , at one or more points along that distance . referring to fig7 , preferably , grease conveyance 314 is provided below the damper 300 to carry grease that drips from the damper unit 300 . fig7 shows the damper unit 300 mounted in a duct 316 of an exhaust hood 318 above an exhaust plenum 310 . the exhaust hood 318 is mounted over an appliance 320 that emits fumes . a controller 324 controls the damper unit 300 responsively to an indicator 312 which indicates the conditions of the exhaust stream or the operational state of the appliance 320 . in a preferred configuration , when the appliance 320 is on , the damper 300 is controlled by a controller 324 such that it never fully closes and continues to drain grease generated by the appliance back into the hood grease conveyance or the plenum , depending on the configuration . however , when the appliance is off , the damper fully closes to seal the ductwork to prevent outside air from getting pulled back into the ductwork and into the interior space in which the exhaust hood 318 is located . it is believed that this provides the benefit of reducing the load on any space conditioning system responsible for maintaining enthalpy conditions in the interior space . the indicator 312 may include a cooking sensor ( such as an infrared sensor , direct communication with the appliances , etc . ), gas sensor , opacity sensor , temperature sensor or any device that can indicate whether exhaust flow is required to eliminate fumes . loads can be detected in other indirect ways , for example by detecting the fuel or electricity consumed by an appliance , the time of day , or the number of orders placed for cooked food . u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 170 , 480 and 6 , 899 , 095 , which are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth in their entireties herein , illustrate various ways to detect the amount of fumes in an exhaust system that may be used to control the damper units of the above embodiments . these documents also discuss applications for a damper , such as balancing of hoods mounted to a common exhaust . the embodiments of the invention can be used with these applications . it is , therefore , apparent that there is provided , in accordance with the present disclosure , a damper suitable for liquid aerosol - laden flow streams and associated methods . many alternatives , modifications , and variations are enabled by the present disclosure . features of the disclosed embodiments can be combined , rearranged , omitted , etc . within the scope of the invention to produce additional embodiments . furthermore , certain features of the disclosed embodiments may sometimes be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features . accordingly , applicants intend to embrace all such alternatives , modifications , equivalents , and variations that are within the spirit and scope of this invention . | 5 |
it has now been found , and that is what constitutes the subject of the present invention , that [ r (-)]- ketoprofen may be converted either in situ during resolution of the racemic ketoprofen using in particular the resolving agent as converting agent , or from the resolution filtrates after having optionally removed the chiral base by treating with a strong base . sodium hydroxide may be used as strong base . according to the invention , the process is implemented in situ using , as resolving agent , a chiral base like cinchonidine and , as solvent , a ketone such as methyl isobutyl ketone or an alcohol such as ethanol . it is advantageous to use methyl isobutyl ketone which makes it possible to carry out the procedure at high temperatures . to obtain an improved yield , it is particularly advantageous to induce crystallization of the preponderant desired salt ( cinchonidine salt of [ s (+)]- ketoprofen ) by concentrating the solution under reduced pressure . generally , the concentration procedure under reduced pressure is controlled in such a manner that the boiling temperature is constant and close to 100 ° c . during the entire duration of concentration . the crystals of the [ s (+)]- ketoprofen salt which are formed are separated by filtration at a high temperature . the conversion may also be achieved independently of crystallization , from crystallization mother liquors after eliminating the chiral base used as resolving agent and using an achiral base such as sodium hydroxide . in order to implement the process using crystallization mother liquors , the resolution of racemic ketoprofen is first carried out using 0 . 5 to 1 mole of cinchonidine per mole of ketoprofen . after separation of the cinchonidine salt of ketoprofen ( mainly [ s (+)]- ketoprofen ) by filtration , the mother liquors are treated with an aqueous solution of a strong inorganic base such as sodium hydroxide after release and separation of cinchonidine either in the base form or in the salt form . ketoprofen ( mainly [ r (-)]- ketoprofen ), in the form of the sodium salt , remains in the basic aqueous solution which is heated at a temperature generally above 100 ° c ., preferably close to 110 ° c . while monitoring the variation of the optical titre as a function of time , the optical titre being expressed by the relationship 100 × r /( r + s ). the conversion is characterized by a progressive decrease of the optical titre . the following examples show how the invention may be implemented in practice . 26 . 5 g of racemic ketoprofen ( 0 . 104 mole ), 31 g of cinchonidine ( 0 . 105 mole ) and 120 . 6 g ( or 151 cm 3 ) of methyl isobutyl ketone ( 1 , 204 mole ) are introduced into a 250 cm 3 reactor . the mixture is heated , with stirring , at 100 ° c . and then the mixture is concentrated under reduced pressure by setting the pressure such that the boiling temperature remains constant and equal to 100 ° c . 97 . 2 g of methyl isobutyl ketone are distilled in 8 hours . the mixture is stirred overnight at 100 ° c ., for 45 minutes at 45 ° c . and then the reaction mixture is poured on a thermostated filter at 100 ° c . the filtration cake is washed with 70 cm 3 of methyl isobutyl ketone at 20 ° c . and then dried . 19 g of ketoprofen salt are thus obtained whose optical titre ( s / r + s ) is 88 . 3 %. ______________________________________ opticalketoprofen titer ketoprofen ( g ) ( r / s ) s (+) ( g ) r (-) ( g ) ______________________________________isolated 8 . 80 11 . 7 / 88 . 3 7 . 77 1 . 03productmother 8 . 40 54 . 7 / 45 . 3 3 . 8 4 . 6liquorswashings 9 . 30 50 . 2 / 49 . 8 4 . 6 4 . 7______________________________________ 10 . 4 g of racemic ketoprofen ( 0 . 041 mole ), 6 g of cinchonidine ( 0 . 020 mole ) and 28 . 9 g ( or 36 cm 3 ) of methyl isobutyl ketone ( 0 . 288 mole ) are introduced into a reactor . the mixture is heated at 75 ° c ., is then maintained at this temperature until complete dissolution and is then rapidly cooled to 70 ° c . crystallization is started using a few crystals of cinchonidine salt of [ s (+)]- ketoprofen . the slurry obtained is cooled over 6 hours from 70 ° c . to 10 ° c . at a rate of about - 10 ° c . per hour . the slurry is filtered at a temperature close to 20 ° c . the filtration cake is washed with 15 g of methyl isobutyl ketone . 7 . 3 g of a salt are thus obtained whose composition is as follows : 22 . 1 g of 10 % ( w / w ) aqueous sodium hydroxide , or 0 . 055 mole , are added , at room temperature , to a reaction mixture whose mass is 53 g . cinchonidine remains in the organic phase whereas ketoprofen , in the form of the sodium salt , remains in the aqueous phase . the aqueous phase is extracted with 32 g ( or 40 cm 3 ) of methyl isobutyl ketone and then refluxed for 24 hours at 110 °- 115 ° c . variation of the optical titre as a function of time is determined . the results are presented in the following table : ______________________________________ optical ; titer expressed as ketoprofentime ( hours ) 100 × r /( r + s ) ______________________________________0 . 0 64 . 82 . 3 59 . 64 . 6 56 . 821 . 5 50 . 9______________________________________ there is introduced into a 300 liter enamelled reactor 175 liters ( 145 . 3 kg ) of a filtrate from the resolution of racemic ketoprofen using cinchonidine in ethanol whose composition is as follows : -- cinchonidine salt of ketoprofen : 23 . 07 kg ( 42 . 04 moles ) [ optical purity of ketoprofen ( s / s + r ) close to 30 %] the ethanolic solution is concentrated under reduced pressure ( 80 mm of mercury ; 10 . 7 kpa ) at 30 ° c . until a thick mass is obtained to which 57 . 7 liters ( 50 kg ) of toluene are added and then 20 liters of solvent are again distilled . 42 liters of distilled water and 18 . 5 liters of 9 . 8 n hydrochloric acid are added to the toluene - containing solution heated at 50 ° c . by a water - vapor mixture in a double jacket . the mixture is vigorously stirred until the temperature of the reaction mixture again reaches 50 ° c . after stopping the stirring and decanting , the bottom aqueous phase is separated and the organic phase is washed with 1 n hydrochloric acid . 35 liters of distilled water and 3 . 1 liters of 9 . 8 n hydrochloric acid are added to the organic phase maintained at 50 ° c . the mixture is vigorously stirred for 10 minutes . after decanting , the aqueous phase is combined with the previously separated aqueous phases . the organic phase is washed with 35 liters of distilled water containing 1 . 5 liters of 9 . 8 n hydrochloric acid and then with 30 liters of distilled water . the washings are removed . the previous toluene - containing solution is added to a solution of 16 . 5 liters of 10 n sodium hydroxide ( 21 . 9 kg , 165 moles ) in 16 liters of distilled water . the mixture is vigorously stirred and then heated to 100 ° c . ( live vapor in the double jacket ). the reaction mixture is maintained under reflux for 12 hours . after cooling and after decanting , the reaction mixture consists of 3 phases : 1 ) a milky bottom phase ( 11 . 9 kg ) which is separated and removed , 2 ) a slightly yellow middle phase ( 39 kg ) which contains the sodium salt of ketoprofen , analysis of the middle phase by chiral hplc shows that the optical titre ( s / s + r ) is 50 %: the racemisation is complete . 20 liters of toluene and 13 liters of 9 . 8 n hydrochloric acid are added to the middle phase heated to 50 ° c . the mixture is vigorously stirred . after decanting , the aqueous phase is exhaustively extracted with 20 liters of toluene . the toluene - containing phases are combined and then concentrated by distillation of 29 liters of toluene under reduced pressure ( 80 mm of mercury ; 10 . 7 kpa ) at 42 ° c . cyclohexane is added to the concentrated toluene - containing solution heated to 70 ° c . such that the cyclohexane - toluene ratio is 6 - 4 ( w / w ) that is 23 liters of cyclohexane . the mixture is cooled to 60 ° c . and then the recrystallization is started by adding 50 g of racemic ketoprofen . after cooling to a temperature close to 15 ° c ., the slurry is filtered and then washed 2 times with a mixture of 3 . 5 liters of toluene and 6 liters of cyclohexane . a filtration cake is thus obtained which represents 9 . 76 kg of dry ketoprofen and which is used as it is in a new resolution procedure . although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments , it is evident that many alternatives and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description . accordingly , the invention is intended to embrace all of the alternatives and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims . the above references are hereby incorporated by reference . | 2 |
in a preferred embodiment , the one piece design is produced by connecting at least one seal to at least one jet insert by means of at least one material lug which extends along the inner surface of the perforated plate . the material lug can thereby be set in a groove moulded in the inside surface of the perforated plate . in a very advantageous embodiment of the invention , the jet inserts are formed in one piece with an impact protection plate , which essentially covers the entire outer surface of the perforated plate and is made of the same material as the jet inserts . this impact protection plate , as the name implies , forms an impact protection for the outer surface of the perforated plate , which is , in itself , actually made of a rigid material and is therefore not in itself impact resistant . also , due to the fact that this impact protection plate is manufactured together with the jet inserts , it can be produced without incurring any appreciable extra costs . if this type of impact protection plate is used , then a configuration of the invention is advantageous in which the seal is connected to the impact protection plate via at least one material lug which extends through a hole in the perforated plate . the impact protection plate , which is actually mounted on the side of the perforated plate facing the seal , can easily be reached at all times through the connecting hole in the perforated plate , virtually irrespective of the respective position of the seal . shower bases are generally circular in form , which is why the seal between the shower base and the rest of the shower head in general also has the form of a ring seal . in these cases , it is advisable to fit several material lugs spaced over the circumference of the seal . this plurality of material lugs ensures an excellent flow of material when injection moulding the jet inserts , the impact protection plate and the seals . they also provide an excellent cohesion of the various components of the shower base , including the seal ( s ), even if the soft , flexible material has not been injection moulded on to the rigid perforated plate using the two - component technique , and therefore for this reason already secured to the rigid perforated plate . of course irrespective of this , however , the injection moulding of all flexible components on to the rigid perforated plate using the well - known two - component technique is possible and also advantageous within the framework of the invention . one embodiment of the invention is explained in greater detail below with the aid of the drawing ; the single figure shows a ( partial ) side view of a shower head , partly in section . the shower head illustrated comprises on the whole in the known manner , a bell - shaped housing 2 , the bottom , open end of which is sealed by a multi - part shower base 1 . the shower base 1 is attached to the components of the shower head housed inside the housing by means of a central screw 3 in such a way that it can be removed . the process does not require more detailed explanation . the shower base 1 for its part consists of a perforated plate 1a made of a relatively rigid synthetic material , the outer surface of which , i . e . on the surface pointing downwards in the drawing , is covered by an impact protection plate 1b made of a relatively soft , flexible material . the impact protection plate 1b can also , like all the components which are yet to be described and which are made of the same relatively soft , flexible material , be injection moulded on to the perforated plate using the two - component technique . the impact protection plate 1b essentially covers the entire outer surface of the perforated plate 1a . the perforated plate 1a on the shower base 1 has , on the whole in the known manner , several sets of holes 4 , 5 , which are arranged in concentric circles evenly spaced around the central axis of the shower base 1 . in this context , it is not important to have an exact hole pattern formed by the holes 4 , 5 in the perforated plate . the rather larger diameter holes 5 in the perforated plate 1a each have a hose - type jet insert 6 going through them which has a relatively small axial length , i . e . extend only slightly beyond the top side of the perforated plate 1a ( facing inside the housing 2 of the shower head ). each of the hose - type jet inserts 6 have a jet channel 7 of relatively large cross - section going axially through them , which tapers conically towards the outside in the embodiment illustrated . the hose - type jet inserts 6 are furthermore preformed in one piece on to the impact protection plate 1b and are made of the same material as this . in addition , each of the holes 4 in the perforated plate 1a have hose - type jet inserts 8 going through them , which form a single piece with the impact protection plate 1b , but which have a greater axial length than the jet inserts 6 , i . e . they extend further beyond the inside of the perforated plate . each of the hose - type jet inserts 8 also have jet channels 9 passing through them , which have a small cross - section in comparison with the jet channels 7 of the jet inserts 6 . each of the jet channels 9 also tapers from inside outwards . the outer end of the jet inserts 6 has a special form which enables the user to flex it automatically by brushing the hand over it in order to dislodge limescale deposits from the jet channels 9 , especially around the water outlet openings 11 . this form is of minor importance in this context and will therefore not be described in greater detail . if , as shown in the drawing , the shower base 1 is mounted on the housing 2 of the shower head , the axially shorter hose - type jet inserts 6 protrude in to a first water chamber 13 formed inside the housing 2 . the axially inner ends of the axially longer hose - type jet inserts 8 , however , are contained in holes 14 in an inner dividing wall 15 , which is part of an insert 20 and separates the first water chamber 13 inside the housing 2 from a second water chamber 16 which has a greater distance from the shower head 1 . in addition , the insert 20 has a centre hole 21 , which runs coaxially to the central fixing screw 3 in the direction of the shower base 1 . in the vicinity of the shower base 1 , the centre hole 21 is extended by an extension 22 which is bordered at its circular outer circumference by a ring - shaped collar 23 . the ring - shaped front face of the collar 23 rests against the top of the perforated plate 1a . housed in a groove 24 on the top of the perforated plate is a ring seal 25 which prevents the passage of air and / or water through the gap between the collar 23 and the perforated plate 1a . the groove 24 in the perforated plate 1a is connected to the outer surface of the perforated plate 1a by means of several , relatively small diameter holes , which are spaced concentrically around the circumference . the ring seal 25 is made of the same material as the impact protection plate 1b and the jet inserts 6 and 8 . it is connected in one piece to the impact protection plate via the material lugs 33 which go through the holes 26 in the perforated plate 1a . on a circle with a radius which is smaller than the radius of the circular collar 23 on the insert 20 , the perforated plate is provided with several holes 27 spaced over its circumference which extend axially into corresponding holes 28 in the impact protection plate 1b . only one of these holes 27 or 28 can be seen in the drawing . a second ring - shaped seal 29 , which is also made of the same material as the impact protection plate 1b and the jet inserts 6 and 8 lies in a step 30 which has been made on the inside of the perforated plate 1a in its radially most extreme area . the ring seal 29 is connected in one piece to the adjoining jet inserts 6 or 8 via several material lugs 31 spaced over the circumference of the shower base . the ring seal 29 seals three parts from each other : the perforated plate 1a , the insert 20 and also the housing 2 of the shower head . as a result of the one - piece connection of all the parts made of the same flexible material , i . e . especially as a result of the connection between the ring seals 25 , 29 and the jet inserts 6 , 8 and the impact plate 1b , it is possible to manufacture the seals required to seal the shower base 1 to the rest of the shower head at the same time as the shower base 1 itself , without any special operating process , and locate them in the correct position . the water flowing in the known manner through the handle 2a of the shower head is conveyed as required to the first water chamber 13 or the second water chamber 16 by means of a change - over mechanism , which is operated by means of a rocker - type actuating device 17 . if the position of the change - over mechanism is such that the water flows into the first water chamber 13 , then from there it is able to flow out of the hose - type jet inserts 6 and their outlet openings via the jet channels 7 . as a result of the relatively large diameter of the outlet openings 10 , the jets of water issuing from them are relatively slow and have a large diameter , which are known as &# 34 ; soft jets &# 34 ;. furthermore , these jets of water are mixed with air , in a manner which will not be described in greater detail here , which is taken in via the holes 27 , 28 in the shower base 1 and the centre hole of the insert 20 . if , by means of the rocker - type actuating device 17 , the change - over mechanism is actuated so that the water flowing via the handle 2a reaches the second water chamber 16 , then this water overflows in to the hose - type jet inserts 8 in the shower base 1 via the holes 14 in the dividing wall . the relatively narrow jet channels 9 in the hose - type jet inserts 8 , and especially at the ends which taper conically at the outlet opening 11 , cause the water to accelerate considerably ; it comes out of the openings 11 at high speed in the form of a relatively narrow jet . these jets of water are therefore also called &# 34 ; hard jets &# 34 ;. although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail , it should be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation , the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims . | 1 |
the compounds of the present invention , having the formula i defined above , are readily prepared . the starting materials and reagents required for the synthesis of the compounds of the present invention are readily available , either commercially , according to literature methods , or by methods analogous to those exemplified in preparations below . as used herein , the expression &# 34 ; reaction inert solvent &# 34 ; refers to any solvent which does not interact with starting materials , reagents , intermediates or products in a manner which adversely affects the reaction or yield of the desired product . the precursor ketones are generally prepared by nucleophilic displacement of an appropriately substituted 2 - halo , 2 - alkanesulfonyloxy - or 2 - arylsulfonyloxy - 1 - alkanone with an appropriately substituted piperidine derivative , e . g ., ## str7 ## wherein x is typically chloro , bromo , mesyloxy or tosyloxy and r is as defined above . this reaction is carried out under conditions typical of nucleophilic displacements in general . where the two reactants are about equivalent in availability , substantially molar equivalents may be used ; although when one is more readily available , it is usually preferred to use that one in excess , in order to force this bimolecular reaction to completion in a shorter period of time . the reaction is generally carried out in the presence of at least 1 molar equivalent of a base , the piperidine derivative itself , if it is readily available , but more usually a tertiary amine which is at least comparable in base strength to the nucleophilic piperidine ; and in a reaction inert solvent such as ethanol . if desired , the reaction is catalyzed by the addition of up to one molar equivalent or more of an iodide salt ( e . g ., nal , kl ). temperature is not critical , but will generally be somewhat elevated in order to force the reaction to completion within a shorter time period , but not so high as to lead to undue decomposition . a temperature in the range of 50 °- 120 ° c . is generally satisfactory . conveniently , the temperature can be the reflux temperature of the reaction mixture . the resulting ketone intermediates are conveniently converted to corresponding alcohols by conventional reduction with nabh 4 , usually in excess , in a protic solvent such as methanol or ethanol , generally at temperature in the range of about 15 °- 45 ° c . the final product having the formula i can be converted from its free base form to a pharmaceutically acceptable salt form by conventional methods known in the art . for example , the formation of the mesylate salt is a typical procedure and is carried out as follows . the free base of a compound having the formula i is mixed with methane sulfonic acid in methanol . the solvent is removed and the residue is triturated with ethanol / ether to yield the mesylate salt as either crystals or a solid . the compounds of formula i , as described hereinabove , can be separated into pure enantiomers , which have the absolute stereochemistry of either 1s , 2s or 1r , 2r at the optically active centers . a typical resolution technique is illustrated by the following method where the compound of formula i wherein r is f was separated into its two enantiomers . a mixture of the enantiomers in its free - base form , is mixed in a large amount of methyl ethyl ketone with either ( s )-(+)- mandelic acid or ( r )-(-) - mandelic acid . when the ( s )-(+)- mandelic acid is used , the 1r , 2r isomer is isolated and when the ( r )-(-)- mandelic acid is used , the 1s , 2s isomer is isolated . the mixture is refluxed and filtered to remove any insoluble particulates . the mixture is then boiled down to a quarter of its original volume , and allowed to cool to room temperature . the resultant crystals are isolated by filtration . the crystals can be further purified by recrystallization in methyl ethyl ketone . four more recrystallizations yielded the respective pure enantiomers . the mandelate salt of the enantiomerically pure compound of formula i is converted to its free base form by stirring it in a saturated sodium bicarbonate solution . the enantiomerically pure free base of the compound of formula i is then converted to its mesylate salt form by the method described hereinabove . the present compounds of the formula i possess selective neuroprotective activity , based upon their ability to block excitatory amino acid receptors , while at the same time generally having lowered or no significant hypotensive activity . the neuroprotective and excitatory amino acid antagonist activity of the present compounds is determined according to known in vitro methods , for example shalaby , chenard , prochniak and butler , j . pharm . exp . ther ., 1992 , 260 , p . 925 . seventeen day fetal rat ( cd , charles river ) hippocampal cells are cultured on primaria culture plates ( falcon co ., lincoln park , n . j ., usa ) for 2 - 3 weeks in serum containing culture medium ( minimum essential medium with non - essential amino acids , containing 2 mm glutamine , 21 mm glucose , penicillin / streptomycin 5000 units each !, 10 % fetal bovine days 1 - 7 !, and horse serum days 1 - 21 !). cells are either plated on 96 well microtiter plates at a density of 80 , 000 cells per well or on 24 well culture plates at a density of 250 , 000 cells per well . cultures are grown at 37 ° c . in a humidified co 2 tissue culture incubator containing 5 % co 2 and 95 % air . proliferation of non - neuronal cells is controlled by adding 20 μm uridine and 20 μm 5 - fluoro - 2 - deoxyuridine ( sigma chemical co ., st . louis , mo .) from day 6 - 8 of culture . culture media is exchanged every 2 - 3 days with fresh stock . the cultures are assessed for glutamate toxicity two to three weeks from initial plating . culture media is removed and cultures rinsed twice with a controlled salt solution ( css ) ( nacl ( 120 mm ); kcl ( 5 . 4 mm ); mgcl 2 ( 0 . 8 mm ); cacl 2 ( 1 . 8 mm )); glucose ( 15 mm ); and hepes ( 25 mm , ph 7 . 4 ). cultures are then exposed for 15 minutes ( 37 ° c .) to various concentrations of glutamate . following this incubation , cultures are rinsed three times with glutamate - free css and twice with fresh culture medium without serum . the cultures are then incubated for 20 - 24 hours in serum free culture medium . compounds are added 2 minutes before , and during the 15 minute exposure to glutamate . in some experiments , drugs are added at different times after the glutamate exposure and for the following 20 - 24 hours . cell viability is routinely assessed 20 - 24 hours following the excitotoxin exposure by measuring the activity of the cytosolic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase ( ldh ). ldh activity is determined from the culture medium of each of the 96 wells of the microtiter plates . a 50 μl sample of the media is added to an equal volume of sodium phosphate buffer ( 0 . 1m , ph 7 . 4 ) containing 1 . 32 mm sodium pyruvate , and 2 . 9 mm nadh . the 340 nm absorbance of the total reaction mixture for each of the 96 wells is monitored every 5 seconds for 2 minutes by an automated spectrophotometric microtiter plate reader ( molecular devices ; menlo park , calif .). the rate of absorbance is automatically calculated by negative kinetics analysis according to the method of wroblewski et al ., proc . soc . exp . biol . med ., vol . 90 , p . 210 , 1955 , using an ibm softmax program ( version 1 . 01 ; molecular devices ) and is used as the index of ldh activity . morphological assessment of neuronal viability is determined using phase contrast microscopy . the 96 - well culture plates do not permit good phase - contrast imagery , so cells cultured on 24 - well plates are used for this purpose . quantitatively , both culture platings are equally sensitive to glutamate toxicity , and display 2 - 3 fold increases in ldh activity 24 hours following exposure to 0 . 1 - 1 . 0 mm glutamate . haloperidol was purchased from research biochemicals inc . ( natick , mass .). horse and fetal bovine serum were purchased from hyclone ( logan , utah ). culture medium , glutamine , and penicillin / streptomycin were purchased from gibco co . ( grand island , n . y .). neurotoxicity is quantified by measuring the activity of ldh present in the culture medium 20 - 24 hours after glutamate exposure . ldh activity in the culture media correlates with destruction and degeneration of neurons . because actual levels of ldh vary from different cultures , data are routinely expressed relative to buffer - treated sister wells of the same culture plate . to obtain an index of ldh activity from glutamate and compound treated cultures , the ldh values from control cultures are subtracted from that of the treatment groups . data for drug treatments are expressed as a percentage of the increase in ldh induced by 1 mm glutamate ( or nmda ) for each experiment . concentrations of nmda antagonists required to reverse 50 % of the ldh increase induced by excitotoxins ( ic 50 ) are calculated using log - probit analysis from the pooled results of 3 independent experiments . different treatment groups are compared using a two - tailed t - test . an efficacious level of oral activity in a compound is important for many reasons including : allowance for a wider range of treatment forms ; facilitation of the continuous dosages which are required over time for treating chronic disorders , such as parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , huntington &# 39 ; s disease , etc . ; and - avoidance of potential side - effects which would result from having to use higher dosages of a compound with a low degree of oral activity . the compounds of formula ( i ) are assayed for in vivo oral activity according to known methods , for example , mehta , ticku , life sciences , 1990 , 46 , pages 37 - 42 and schmidt , bubser , pharmacology , biochemistry and behavior , 1989 , 32 , pages 621 - 623 . male cd rats ( 150 - 170 g at arrival ) are acclimated to the animal facility for approximately six days and are food deprived for 18 - 24 hours prior to the experiment . animals are housed 3 per box and taken to the test room . the animals are administered the test compound ( sc or po ) followed immediately by haloperidol ( 1 mg / kg , sc ). typically , six animals are tested for each dose of compound along with a control group of six animals which receive only haloperidol . after thirty minutes , each rat is placed on a flat surface with its forepaws on a 1 cm bar which is 10 cm above the flat surface . the latency for the rat to remove its forepaws from the bar is a measure of catalepsy . animals are observed for up to 30 seconds . the test is terminated at 30 seconds for any animal not responding by this time and the animal is given a test score of 30 . the experimenter is blind to the doses of test compound . data are analyzed nonparametrically using a kruskall - wallis test . ed 50 &# 39 ; s are calculated using probit analysis . undesired hypotensive activity is also determined by known methods , for example , according to the methods of carron et al ., also cited above . such selective neuroprotective and excitatory amino acid blocking activities reflect the valuable utility of the present compounds in the treatment of stroke , traumatic brain injury and degenerative cns ( central nervous system ) disorders such as senile dementia of the alzheimer &# 39 ; s type , amyotropic lateral sclerosis , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease and huntington &# 39 ; s disease , etc . ; without significant potential for a concurrent , undue drop in blood pressure . in the systemic treatment of such diseases with a neuroprotective amount of compounds of the formula ( i ), the dosage is typically from about 0 . 02 to 10 mg / kg / day ( 1 - 500 mg / day in a typical human weighing 50 kg ) in single or divided doses , regardless of the route of administration . of course , depending upon the exact compound and the exact nature of the individual illness , doses outside this range may be prescribed by the attending physician . the oral route of administration is preferred . however , if the patient is unable to swallow , or oral absorption is otherwise impaired , the preferred route of administration will be parenteral ( s . c ., i . m ., i . v .). the compounds of the present invention are generally administered in the form of pharmaceutical compositions comprising at least one of the compounds of the formula ( i ), together with a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle or diluent . such compositions are generally formulated in a conventional manner utilizing solid or liquid vehicles or diluents as appropriate to the mode of desired administration : for oral administration , in the form of tablets , hard or soft gelatin capsules , suspensions , granules , powders and the like ; for parenteral administration , in the form of injectable solutions or suspensions , and the like ; and for topical administration , in the form of solutions , lotions , ointments , salves and the like . the present invention is illustrated by the following examples , but is not limited to the details thereof . all non - aqueous reactions were run under a nitrogen atmosphere for convenience and to improve yields . all non - protic solvents were purchased dry ( aldrich sure - seal ) or dried according to conventional procedures . a mixture of 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - trifluoromethylphenyl ) piperidine ( 2 . 0 g , 8 . 16 mmol ), 6 -( 2 - chloropropionyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 1 . 93 g , 8 . 12 mmol ), and triethylamine ( 2 . 3 ml , 16 . 5 mmol ) in ethanol ( 75 ml ) was refluxed overnight ( 18 hours ). the reaction was concentrated and the brown residue was stirred for 1 . 5 hours with 75 ml of water and 75 ml of ether . the tan solid which formed 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - trifluoromethylphenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- propionyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone was collected , rinsed with ether and air dried ( 2 . 45 g , 67 %). the product was of sufficient purity to be used directly in the next step . a sample recrystallized from ethanol / methylene chloride / ether was cream colored and had a mp of 201 . 5 °- 202 . 5 ° c . analysis calculated for c 24 h 25 f 3 n 2 o 3 : c , 64 . 57 ; h , 5 . 64 ; n , 6 . 27 . found : c , 64 . 13 ; h , 5 . 65 ; n , 6 . 16 . sodium borohydride ( 0 . 17 g , 4 . 49 mmol ) was partially dissolved in ethanol ( 50 ml ) with stirring for 15 minutes . a solution of 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - trifluoromethyl - phenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- propionyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 2 . 0 g , 4 . 48 mmol ) in ethanol ( 200 ml ) was added and the solution was stirred for 2 hours . additional sodium borohydride ( 0 . 17 g ) was added at this time and again after 4 hours . stirring was continued overnight . water ( 50 ml ) was added and the reaction mixture was concentrated to a brown foam . water ( 100 ml ) and ether ( 100 ml ) were added and a solid formed during 30 minutes of vigorous stirring . the solids were collected , rinsed with water and then ether , and air dried ( 1 . 33 g , 66 %). the product was further purified by recrystallization from ethanol ( 0 . 72 g cream solid ). the methane sulfonic acid salt was prepared from 0 . 5 g of 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - trifluoromethyl - phenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone and methane sulfonic acid ( 0 . 072 ml , 1 . 11 mmol ) in methanol ( 15 ml ). the solvent was removed and the residue was triturated with ethanol / ether to give 0 . 594 g of a gray - white solid which had mp 237 °- 238 ° c . analysis calculated for c 24 h 27 f 3 n 2 o 3 -- ch 4 so 3 -- 0 . 025 h 2 o : c , 54 . 69 ; h , 5 . 78 ; n , 5 . 10 . found : c , 54 . 72 ; h , 5 . 73 ; n , 4 . 96 . a mixture of 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) piperidine ( 2 . 1 g , 10 . 13 mmol ), 6 -( 2 - chloropropionyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 2 . 40 g , 10 . 1 mmol ), and triethylamine ( 2 . 9 ml , 20 . 8 mmol ) in ethanol ( 75 ml ) was refluxed overnight ( 18 hours ). upon cooling , 2 . 35 g ( 57 %) of 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- propionyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone precipitated as a tan solid which was suitable for use in the next step . a sample recrystallized from ethanol / methylene chloride gave orange - brown needles and had a mp of 193 . 5 °- 197 ° c . analysis calculated for c 24 h 28 n 2 o 4 -- 0 . 75 h 2 o : c , 68 . 31 ; h , 7 . 05 ; n , 6 . 64 . found : c , 68 . 18 ; h , 6 . 70 ; n , 6 . 58 . sodium borohydride ( 0 . 19 g , 5 . 02 mmol ) was partially desolved in ( 50 ml ) with stirring for 15 minutes . a solution of 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- piperidino )- 1 s *- propionyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 2 . 0 g , 4 . 9 mmol ) in ethanol ( 200 ml ) was added and the solution was stirred for 2 hours . additional sodium borohydride ( 0 . 17 g ) was added at this time and again after 4 hours . stirring was continued overnight . the product which precipitated during the reaction was collected and rinsed well with water and ether . air drying afforded 1 . 51 g ( 75 %) of the product as a tan solid . this material was recrystallized from ethanol to give 1 . 16 g of product in two crops . the methane sulfonic acid salt was prepared from 0 . 5 g of 6 - 2s *-( 4hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) pipedino )- 1s *- hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone and methane sulfonic acid ( 0 . 079 ml , 1 . 22 mmol ) in methanol ( 20 ml ). the solvent was removed and the residue was triturated with ethanol / ether to give 0 . 40 g of a white solid which had a mp of 212 °- 213 ° c . analysis calculated for c 24 h 30 n 2 o 4 -- ch 4 so 3 : c , 59 . 27 ; h , 6 . 76 ; n , 5 . 53 . found : c , 59 . 19 ; h , 6 . 51 ; n , 5 . 42 . a mixture of 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidine ( 41 . 8 g , 214 mmol ), 6 -( 2 - chloropropionyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 50 . 8 g , 214 mmol ), and triethylamine ( 60 ml , 430 mmol ) in ethanol ( 1200 ml ) was refluxed 18 hours . the reaction was cooled to 60 ° c . and filtered to remove a brown residue . the solvent was removed and the residue was vigorously stirred with 500 ml of water and 500 ml of ether . the solid which formed was collected and rinsed well with water and ether , then it was air dried to afford 59 . 4 g ( 70 %) of 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- propionyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone as a tan solid which was suitable for use in the next step . a sample recrystallized from methylene chloride / ether gave a tan solid and had a mp of 191 °- 192 . 5 ° c . analysis calculated for c 23 h 25 fn 2 o 3 . 0 . 5 h 2 o : c , 68 . 13 ; h , 6 . 46 ; n , 6 . 91 . found : c , 68 . 48 ; h , 6 . 24 ; n , 6 . 87 . the following reaction was carried out four times in side by side flasks and the combined reactions were then worked up together . sodium borohydride ( 5 . 67 g , 150 mmol ) was partially dissolved in ethanol ( 475 ml ) with stirring for 15 minutes . a solution of 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- propionyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 14 . 85 g , 37 . 5 mmol ) in ethanol ( 700 ml ) was added with a 700 ml rinse and the solution was stirred 23 hours . the product which precipitated during the four reactions was collected and air dried to give 31 . 6 g ( 58 %) of the product as a tan solid which was suitable for mesylate salt formation . the methane sulfonic acid salt was prepared from 1 . 0 g of 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone and methane sulfonic acid ( 0 . 163 ml , 2 . 51 mmol ) in methanol ( 30 ml ). the solvent was removed and the residue was recrystallized from ethanol / water to give 0 . 94 g of light tan solid which had a mp of 251 °- 252 ° c . analysis calculated for c 23 h 27 fn 2 o 3 -- ch 4 so 3 : c , 58 . 28 ; h , 6 . 32 ; n , 5 . 66 . found : c , 58 . 36 ; h , 5 . 99 ; n , 5 . 59 . 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidino )- 1s *- hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 18 . 0 g , 45 . 2 mmol ) and ( s )-(+)- mandelic acid ( 6 . 88 g , 45 . 2 mmol ) were combined in methyl ethyl ketone ( 7 l ). the mixture was heated to reflux and filtered to remove insoluble particulates . the solution was boiled down to 1800 ml and allowed to cool to room temperature and stand overnight . the orange - white crystals were collected , rinsed well with ether and dried to give 14 . 6 g . these crystals were recrystallized 5 more times from methyl ethyl ketone to yield 4 . 16 g of 6 - 2r -( 4 - hydroxy - 4 --( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidino )- 1r - hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone (+) mandelate as light tan needles which had a mp of 224 °- 224 . 5 ° c . ; α ! d =- 12 . 60 ° ( c = 0 . 285 in methanol ). analysis calculated for c 23 h 2 fn 27 o 3 -- c 8 h 8 o 3 : c , 67 . 62 ; h , 6 . 41 ; n , 5 . 09 . found : c , 67 . 39 ; h , 6 . 02 ; n , 5 . 08 . 6 - 2r -( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidino )- 1r - hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone free base was obtained from the above mandelate salt ( 4 . 06 g , 7 . 24 mmol ) by stirring with saturated sodium bicarbonate ( 500 ml ). the free base was filtered directly from the mixture , rinsed with water and air dried . the yield was 2 . 91 g ( 99 %) of light tan solid : mp 243 °- 244 ° c . ; α ! d =- 44 . 60 ° ( c = 0 . 280 in methanol ). analysis calculated for c 23 h 27 fn 2 o 3 : c , 69 . 33 ; h , 6 . 83 ; n , 7 . 03 . found : c , 68 . 95 ; h , 6 . 55 ; n , 6 . 96 . 6 - 2r -( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluorophenyl ) piperidino )- 1r - hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone mesylate was prepared from the free base above ( 2 . 81 g , 7 . 05 mmol ) and methane sulfonic acid ( 0 . 458 ml , 7 . 06 mmol ) in methanol ( 100 ml ). the solvent was removed and the residue was recrystallized from 95 % ethanol to afford 3 . 10 g ( 89 %, two crops ) of the mesylate salt as a tan solid which had : mp 249 . 5 °- 250 ° c . ; α ! d =- 49 . 7 ° ( c = 0 . 290 in methanol ). analysis calculated for c 23 h 27 fn 2 o 3 -- ch 4 so 3 : c , 58 . 28 ; h , 6 . 32 ; n , 5 . 66 . found : c , 58 . 10 ; h , 6 . 26 ; n , 5 . 93 . the title compound was prepared from 6 - 2s *-( 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluorophenyl )- piperidino )- 1s *- hydroxypropyl !- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone as described in example 4 but substituting ( r )-(-)- mandelic acid for the chiral acid . the free base , (-)- mandelate salt , and the mesylate salt all had identical physical properties to those cited in example 4 , except that the specific rotations were of the opposite sign . listed below are the 3 products and their corresponding rotations . ______________________________________ (-) mandelate salt α !. sub . d = + 14 . 9 ° ( c = 0 . 290 in methanol ) free base α !. sub . d = + 45 . 9 ° ( c = 0 . 275 in methanol ) mesylate salt α !. sub . d = + 50 . 2 ° ( c = 0 . 285 in______________________________________ methanol ) 4 - piperidone hydrochloride hydrate ( 50 . 0 g , 325 mmol ) and potassium bicarbonate ( 181 . 9 g , 1 . 82 mol ) were combined in a two phase mixture of ethyl acetate ( 750 ml ) and water ( 75 ml ). benzyl chloroformate ( 49 ml , 343 mmol ) was added dropwise to the stirred mixture over 10 minutes . the mixture was stirred 2 . 5 hours , then it was diluted with water ( 700 ml ) and the phases were separated . the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate and the combined organic phase was washed with water and brine . the organic phase was dried over magnesium sulfate and concentrated to a light yellow oil ( 76 . 75 g , 100 %). the material was found to be analytically pure and suitable for further transformation without further workup . analysis calculated for c 13 h 15 no 3 : c , 66 . 94 ; h , 6 . 48 ; n , 6 . 00 . found : c , 66 . 67 ; h , 6 . 48 ; n , 5 . 90 . aluminum chloride ( 109 g , 817 mmol ) was slurried in carbon disulfide ( 600 ml ) and 2 - chloropropionyl chloride ( 16 . 8 ml , 173 . 07 mmol ) was added . to this mixture was added 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolone ( 20 . 0 g , 135 . 89 mmol , j . amer . chem . soc ., 1944 , 66 , 1442 ). the mixture was refluxed for 4 hours , cooled , and the carbon disulfide poured off and discarded . the reddish residue was carefully quenched with ice water which caused the product to solidify . the solids were collected , rinsed well with water , and suctioned dry followed by drying in vacuo . the product weighed 31 . 37 g ( 97 %) and had mp 205 °- 206 ° c . analysis calculated for c 12 h 12 cino 2 : c , 60 . 64 ; h , 5 . 09 ; n , 5 . 89 . found : c , 60 . 20 ; h , 4 . 89 ; n , 5 . 78 . 4 - bromobenzotrifluoride ( 6 . 05 ml , 43 . 21 mmol ) dissolved in ether ( 5 ml ) was added dropwise over 10 minutes to magnesium turnings ( 1 . 25 g , 51 . 42 mmol ). the mixture became mildly exothermic and turned red - brown while the grignard reagent formed during 1 . 5 hours of stirring . the mixture was chilled with ice and 1 - benzyloxycarbonyl - 4 - piperidone ( 10 . 0 g , 42 . 87 mmol dissolved in 50 ml of ether ) was added dropwise over 10 minutes to the reaction . the reaction was allowed to warm to room temperature and stirred overnight . the mixture was quenched with saturated ammonium chloride and the phases were separated . the aqueous layer was further extracted with ether . the combined organic phase was washed with water and brine , dried over magnesium sulfate and concentrated . the residue was purified by flash chromatography on silica gel ( 3 × 6 inches , 30 % ethyl acetate / hexane ) to give 1 - benzyloxycarbonyl4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - trifluoromethylphenyl ) piperidine as an orange oily product which solidified on standing ( 12 . 48 g , 77 %). the material was suitable for use in the next step . a sample recrystallized from ether / hexane had mp 102 °- 102 . 5 ° c . analysis calculated for c 20 h 20 f 3 no 3 : c , 63 . 32 ; h , 5 . 31 ; n , 3 . 69 . found : c , 63 . 25 ; h , 5 . 27 ; n , 3 . 71 . a mixture of 1 - benzyloxycarbonyl - 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - trifluoromethylphenyl )- piperidine ( 12 . 3 g , 32 . 4 mmol ), ethanol ( 150 ml ), and 10 % palladium on carbon ( 1 . 4 g ) was hydrogenated in a parr apparatus ( initial hydrogen pressure was 48 psi ). after 2 . 5 hours , the mixture was filtered through celite and concentrated . the residue was triturated with ether / hexane to obtain 4 . 98 g ( 63 %) of 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - trifluoromethylphenyl )- piperidine as a white solid which had mp 130 . 5 °- 132 ° c . analysis calculated for c 12 h 14 f 3 no -- 0 . 25 h 2 o : c , 57 . 71 ; h , 5 . 85 ; n , 5 . 61 . found : c , 57 . 91 ; h 5 . 77 ; n , 5 . 54 . the title product was prepared analogously to preparation 3 starting with 4 - bromoanisole . 1 - benzyloxycarbonyl - 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- piperidine was obtained in 31 % yield and a sample recrystallized from ether / hexane was a white solid and had mp 96 °- 97 . 5 ° c . analysis calculated for c 20 h 23 no 4 : c , 70 . 36 ; h , 6 . 79 ; n , 4 . 10 . found : c , 70 . 26 ; h , 6 . 28 ; n , 4 . 01 . 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- piperidine was obtained as a white solid after ether / hexane trituration in 80 % yield and had mp 120 °- 122 ° c . analysis calculated for c 12 h 17 no 2 -- 0 . 25 h 2 o : c , 68 . 06 ; h , 8 . 33 ; n , 6 . 61 . found : c , 67 . 86 ; h , 8 . 21 ; n , 6 . 48 . the title product was prepared analogously to preparation 3 starting with 4 - bromofluorobenzene . 1 - benzyloxycarbonyl - 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4 - fluoro - phenyl )- piperidine was obtained in 82 % yield and a sample recrystallized from ether / hexane was a white solid and had mp 86 °- 87 ° c . analysis calculated for c 19 h 20 fno 3 -- 0 . 25 h 2 o : c , 68 . 35 ; h , 6 . 19 ; n , 4 . 20 . found : c , 68 . 69 ; h , 6 . 01 ; n , 4 . 26 . 4 - hydroxy - 4 -( 4fluorophenyl )- piperidine was obtained as a white solid after ether / hexane trituration in 99 % yield - and is an item of commerce . | 2 |
fig1 illustrates in a somewhat schematic form many of the features of the device of the present invention . the device 10 includes a delivery tube 11 which is provided with a distal port 12 and a proximal port 13 . an obturator 14 is housed within the delivery tube 11 and comprises a shaft 20 and a larger diameter distal portion 21 . the device 10 is also provided with a guidewire 15 which has a transversely extending distal portion 16 . the device is also provided with a sealing element 17 which is preferably formed from a felt , hydrogel , or other material suitable for use in sealing punctures or other openings communicating with body lumens , such as blood vessels . fig2 is a cross - sectional view of the device shown in fig1 taken on line a - a . as can be seen from fig2 , the distal portion 21 of the obturator 14 is provided with a groove 18 which serves as a passageway for the guidewire 15 . in addition , the obturator 14 is provided with a lumen 19 ( not shown in fig1 ) which extends from its distal end to its proximal end and which serves as a passageway for a tether ( also not shown ). fig3 illustrates the device 10 having its distal portion inserted into the lumen 22 of a blood vessel 23 . as can be seen , the device extends through a tract 24 which extends through the tissue from the skin 25 of the patient to a puncture 26 in the wall of the blood vessel . when so positioned , the bleed back feature of the device , which comprises the distal port 12 in the delivery tube 11 , the lumen 27 of the delivery tube 11 , and the proximal port 13 of the delivery tube 11 , functions to indicate to the user that the distal portion of the delivery tube 11 is located in the blood vessel lumen by reason of the visible flow of blood out of the proximal port 13 . fig4 illustrates the device 10 after its distal portion including the distal port 12 has been withdrawn from the interior of the lumen 22 of the vessel 23 . when the device is in the position illustrated in fig4 , the tissue of the patient and the sealing material 17 have substantially diminished or prevented blood flow from reaching the distal port 12 and the proximal port 13 . accordingly , the user will know from the substantial absence of blood flowing from the port 13 that the sealing material 17 is in approximately the appropriate location for deployment . however , before the sealing material 17 is deployed , additional positioning steps are preferably taken . referring to fig4 , it can be seen that the transversely extending distal portion 16 of the guide wire is not in contact with the vessel wall at this stage of withdrawal of the device 10 . referring next to fig5 , it can be seen that the distal portion 16 of the guidewire has been brought into contact with the vessel wall 23 and that , in addition , the distal portion 16 of the guidewire has been reconfigured by reason of the pressure exerted by the wall on that distal portion 16 . this contact between the distal portion of the guide wire and the vessel wall can be felt by the user because of the resistance to further proximal movement of the guidewire 15 . this contact may also be confirmed by viewing the deformation of the distal portion 16 of the guidewire by suitable means , such as by fluoroscopy . this occurrence may be used to achieve final positioning of the device for deployment of the sealing element 17 , as described more fully below . as shown in fig6 , the sealing material 17 is deployed by withdrawing the delivery tube 11 proximally while at the same time holding the obturator 14 stationary . this causes the sealing element 17 to be ejected from the tube 11 and to take its desired position in the vessel tract 24 proximal to the puncture 26 . the guide wire 15 is also withdrawn proximally such that its distal portion 16 passes through the groove 18 and resides in the lumen 27 of the delivery tube 11 , or , preferably , in a guidewire tube 34 extending through the length of the lumen 27 ( see fig8 ). preferably , the distal end of the tube 11 will be flush with the distal end of enlarged portion 21 of the obturator 14 . the entire device 10 may then be removed from the patient by withdrawing it from the tract 24 . preferably , a tether ( not shown ) which extends through the central lumen 19 of the obturator 14 is provided and is tied or otherwise suitably attached to the sealing element 17 . the tether serves to give the user at least a measure of control over the sealing element 17 in the event that there is any need to withdraw the sealing element 17 from the patient . this may be done simply by pulling proximally on the tether until the sealing element 17 is removed . the relationship between the tether 28 which has its distal portion looped around the sealing element 17 is shown diagrammatically in fig7 , which also shows the distal portion 21 and the shaft 20 of the obturator 14 having the central lumen 19 extending therethrough . as noted above , the tether 28 may be secured to the sealing element 17 by tying , looping , or any other suitable means . the representation shown in fig7 is for illustrative purposes . referring now to fig8 , the device of the present invention is illustrated in somewhat more detail with regard to its proximal structure . fig8 shows the delivery tube 11 which is provided with the distal port 12 and proximal port 13 and which houses the shaft 20 and the distal portion 21 of the obturator in its lumen 27 . the delivery tube 11 is also provided with a guidewire tube 34 which serves as a passage for the guidewire from the proximal end of the device through the groove 18 in the distal portion 21 of the obturator . the sealing element 17 is also shown . the actuator 31 , which is bonded or otherwise suitably attached to the delivery tube 11 , is also shown . the actuator 31 is provided with a knob 32 that has a lumen 33 which is aligned with the proximal port 13 in the delivery tube 11 . the knob 32 can be used to move the delivery tube 11 proximally and distally . in use , the actuator 31 is moved proximally while holding the obturator 14 stationary such that the sealing element 17 is ejected from the delivery tube 11 once the delivery tube has been properly located . a cap 35 is provided with an aperture through which the shaft 20 of the obturator 14 can slide . a length of necked tubing 51 is provided surrounding the shaft 20 to provide a slidable seal . the cap 35 is also provided with an aperture for the guide wire tube 34 , but the guide wire tube 34 is bonded or otherwise suitably attached to the cap 35 such that movement of the actuator 31 will cause the delivery tube 11 and the guide wire tube 34 to move as a unit . adhesive material 52 is provided near the proximal end of the delivery tube 11 to maintain the relative positions and seal the necked tubing 51 and guidewire tube 34 relative to the delivery tube 11 . the actuator 31 is also provided with a recess 36 which is preferably annular in configuration . the recess 36 terminates at a floor 37 which , as explained in more detail with regard to other drawings , functions as a seat for a spring . fig9 further illustrates the proximal region of the device and , in addition to the elements shown in fig8 , shows a button 38 in the recess 36 with a spring 38 biasing the button 36 in a proximal direction . the proximal end of the button 38 is provided with a tube 39 through which the guidewire tube 34 can slide . also shown is a handle 40 which surrounds the actuator 31 and the button 38 . the handle 40 is provided with an l - shaped slot 41 , which is more completely illustrated in fig1 , in which the knob 32 is able to move . this l - shaped slot is partially shown as element 41 in fig9 . the proximal portion of the guidewire tube 34 , which is fixed to the actuator 31 , is provided with an actuator disc 42 . proximal to the actuator disc 42 is a guidewire disc 43 which is attached to the guidewire 15 . the actuator disc 42 and the guidewire disc 43 are separated by a spring 45 . the l - shaped slot 41 in the handle 40 is shown in more detail in fig1 . as can be seen from that figure , the knob 32 can move both transverse to the longitudinal axis of the device in the shorter leg of the slot and in an axial direction in the longer leg of the slot . fig1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the device of the present invention . as here illustrated ; it can be seen that handle 40 is comprised of an upper half 46 and a lower half 47 . the handle upper half 46 contains the l - shaped slot 41 . the actuator 31 having the knob 32 and the button 38 are also shown , with the knob 32 being received and retained in the l - shaped slot 41 . the delivery tube 11 with the distal port 12 together with the distal portion of the guidewire 44 comprise the distal portion of the device . the delivery tube 11 is provided with a collar 48 which extends into the distal recess 49 in the handle 40 when the upper and lower handle halves 46 and 47 are joined together . the actuator disc 42 is attached to the guidewire tube 34 near its proximal end , while the guidewire disc 43 is attached to the guidewire at a point proximal to the actuator disc . turning to fig1 a - d , additional detail is shown relating to the actuator 31 and the actuator disc 42 and guidewire disc 43 . in fig1 a - b , the actuator 31 is shown , having the knob 32 located at a distal portion and the button 38 at its proximal end . the actuator 31 comprises two parts , a proximal portion 31 a and a distal portion 31 b ( see fig1 b ). the proximal portion 31 a of the actuator forms an internal shoulder 31 c that limits proximal movement of the button 38 . the spring 44 ( fig1 b ) biases the button in the proximal direction . the guidewire tube 34 extends proximally from the actuator 31 , with the guidewire 15 located inside the lumen of the guidewire tube 34 . the actuator disc 42 is attached to the proximal end of the guidewire tube 34 , and the guidewire disc 43 is attached to the guidewire 14 at a point proximal to the actuator disc 42 . referring to fig1 c , a disc spring 45 is provided between the actuator disc 42 and the guidewire disc 43 . the disc spring 45 provides a force that tends to separate the two discs 42 , 43 , i . e ., the disc spring 45 biases the actuator disc 42 distally and biases the guidewire disc 43 proximally , relative to one another . fig1 d provides additional detail relating to the proximal portion of the device . as shown , the button 38 has a lumen 53 that is used to inject the adhesive material 52 described above in relation to fig9 . the obturator shaft 20 is attached to the button 38 , as is the tube 39 through which the guidewire tube 34 and guidewire 15 are able to slide . the proximal portion of the actuator 31 a is shown , and is described more fully above . additional detail concerning the operation of the actuator disc 42 and guidewire disc 43 will now be described . the actuator disc 42 and guidewire disc 43 are used to provide final , precise positioning of the sealing element 17 in the tract 24 formed in the tissue of the patient . as described previously , the guidewire disc 43 is attached to a proximal portion of the guidewire 14 , whereas the actuator disc 42 is attached to the guidewire tube 34 , which is , in turn , attached to the actuator 31 . the two discs 42 , 43 are separated by a small distance , 1 , as shown in fig1 c . when the device 10 is being withdrawn from the lumen of the vessel , as described above , the distal portion 16 of the guidewire engages the vessel wall 23 at the point during withdrawal that the distal end of the device 10 is withdrawn from the vessel , as shown , for example , in fig5 . at this point , the bleedback feature will be in a condition that no substantial bleedback is taking place , indicating that the device is near the location at which the sealing element 17 is to be deployed . continued withdrawal of the device will cause the guidewire 15 to remain relatively stationary , due to the engagement of the guidewire distal portion 16 with the vessel wall . at the same time , the actuator 31 , the actuator disc 43 , and the remaining portions of the device 10 will continue to move proximally . the final deployment position is indicated when the actuator disc 43 engages the guidewire disc 42 , i . e ., when the device has been withdrawn an additional distance — 1 — from the point at which the guidewire distal portion 16 engages the vessel wall . at this point , the sealing element 17 is deployed . as described above , deployment of the sealing element is achieved by causing proximal movement of the delivery tube 11 relative to the obturator 14 . this is achieved by sliding the knob 32 axially in the l - shaped slot 41 . because the knob 32 is coupled with the actuator 31 , this axial movement causes the actuator 31 and the delivery tube 11 to advance proximally . at the same time , the obturator 14 is held in place , thereby deploying the sealing element 17 in the selected location . the actuator 31 is able to move proximally within the handle 40 against the spring force of the button spring 44 , as the proximal end of the button 38 engages an internal surface of the handle 40 . in this way , the delivery tube 11 , which is attached to the actuator 31 , is able to move axially relative to the actuator 14 . while the invention is susceptible to various modifications , and alternative forms , specific examples thereof have been shown in the drawings and are herein described in detail . it should be understood , however , that the invention is not to be limited to the particular forms or methods disclosed , but to the contrary , the invention is to cover all modifications , equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims . | 0 |
referring to fig1 , a prior art stationary two - stroke or two - cycle internal combustion engine system 500 is shown having from one to four cylinders , with only one cylinder 30 schematically shown . the cylinder 30 has an inlet port 36 and an exhaust port 38 . a gaseous hydrocarbon fuel is fed into each cylinder 30 at the appropriate point in the engine &# 39 ; s cycle via line 32 in fluid communication with the inlet port 36 . a source of lubricating engine oil is provided to the engine via line 34 . details of the engine have been omitted from fig1 for the sake of clarity . stationary natural gas fueled 2 - stroke engines typically operate at constant speeds in the range of from 200 to 1000 rpm , more typically 250 to 500 rpm . in operation , a piston reciprocates within each cylinder 30 of the stationary engine . as the piston descends within the cylinder moving away from the cylinder head , it opens an inlet port 36 , through which a gas or a mixture of gases is admitted and flows into the cylinder 30 . at this time , the cylinder 30 is filled with gases which are products of combustion . in certain designs of engine , a mixture of gaseous fuel and air is admitted into the cylinder 30 through the inlet port 36 at this time . in other designs of engine , such as the ajax ® engines referred to above , air alone is admitted to the cylinder 30 through the inlet port 36 . at the same time that the inlet port 36 is open , the descending piston also uncovers an exhaust port 38 , through which the burnt gases leave the cylinder 30 via exhaust pipe 40 , to form the exhaust gas of the engine . the action of the freshly charged gases entering the cylinder 30 through the inlet port 36 serves to assist with forcing the burnt gases out of the exhaust port 38 , referred to as scavenging . the exhaust gases travel through the exhaust pipe 40 , and then through the silencer 46 and exhaust stack 48 . referring now to fig2 , there is shown an engine system 600 according to the present invention . system 600 requires the use of a stationary natural gas fueled 2 - stroke engines that typically operate at constant speeds in the range of from 200 to 1000 rpm , more typically 250 to 500 rpm . these engines operate on a normally gaseous hydrocarbon as its fuel , for example , methane , ethane , propane and butane . system 600 differs from prior art system 500 in that the lubricating engine oil via line 34 is changed to be a lubricating engine oil via line 52 which has at most 10 ppm zinc and is preferably very low in ash content . additionally , the silencer 46 and its exhaust stack 48 are changed to a silencer / catalyst converter unit 50 according to the present invention with its exhaust stack 54 to reduce the emissions in the exhaust . the silencer / converter unit 50 can be in vertical or horizontal embodiments . an example of a vertical embodiment is unit 100 and of a horizontal embodiment is unit 200 , which are discussed further below . though not shown , in another embodiment , an exhaust manifold can also be used . for example , the exhaust pipe 40 is connected to the exhaust manifold 42 ( instead of directly to the silencer / catalyst converter unit 50 ) and a silencer line 44 is connected on one end to the exhaust manifold 42 and on the other end to the silencer / catalyst converter unit 50 . referring now to fig3 , there is shown a schematic side elevation of a vertical embodiment of a silencer / catalytic converter unit 100 according to the present invention . unit 100 has an outer shell 101 with a lower head 132 and an upper head 133 enclosing a first volume chamber 134 , a second volume chamber 136 , and a third volume chamber 138 vertically positioned relative to each other . a first baffle 102 separates the first volume chamber 134 and the second volume chamber 136 . a second baffle 104 separates the second volume chamber 136 and the third volume chamber 138 . the second chamber 136 has a catalyst holding area 116 having a catalyst access door 118 . referring now to fig4 , there is shown a side view of a section of a catalyst holding area 116 of the catalyst or second volume chamber 136 . the catalyst holding area 116 includes the catalyst retainer rack 128 that rides on the rack slide 129 , a gasket 130 for the catalyst rack 128 , and a shoulder 126 located within the catalyst chamber 136 for seating the gasket 130 . any suitable means for seating the catalyst rack 128 against the shoulder 126 with the gasket 130 between them can be used , for example , a cam device ( not shown ). an access door 118 is used to access the catalyst rack 128 for removing or installing the catalyst elements 124 . a top view of the catalyst retainer rack 128 with two catalyst elements 124 is shown in fig5 . referring again to fig3 , the exhaust from the engine enters the first volume chamber 134 through exhaust inlet 110 . the number of exhaust inlets 110 depends on the number of cylinders in the engine , typically one for each cylinder or a pair of cylinders . a relief valve 114 is generally positioned opposite the exhaust inlet 110 . due to the baffle 102 and changing the direction of flow of the exhaust within the first volume chamber 134 , liquid and solid particulates are at least partially removed from the exhaust . these collect in the lower silencer head 132 . a drain line and valve assembly 112 is attached to the bottom of the lower silencer head 132 to allow removal of any accumulated liquid and particulate solids . the volume of the first volume chamber 134 is sufficient to dampen spurious pressure excursions or pulsations to avoid damage to the catalyst elements 124 . the exhaust then exits the first volume chamber 134 through flow pipes 106 into the second volume chamber 136 . the leading face of the catalyst elements 124 are spaced from the exit of the flow pipes 106 to allow a uniform flow of the exhaust across the face of the catalyst elements 124 to more fully utilize the available catalyst active sites in the catalyst elements 124 . after the exhaust passes through the catalyst elements 124 , the exhaust exits the second volume chamber 136 into the third volume chamber 138 through flow pipes 108 . the exhaust then exits the third volume chamber 138 through flow pipe 120 , which enters the exhaust stack 122 . the volume of the second volume chamber 136 and the volume of the third volume chamber 138 , along with the volume of the first volume chamber 134 , are to produce the silencing effects of the unit 100 . referring now to fig6 , there is shown a schematic side elevation in partial cross - section of a horizontal embodiment of a silencer / catalytic converter unit 200 according to the present invention . unit 200 has an outer shell 140 with a first outer head 142 and a second outer head 143 enclosing a first volume chamber 174 , a second volume chamber 175 , a third volume chamber 176 horizontally positioned relative to each other with the third volume chamber 176 between the first and second volume chambers 174 and 175 , respectively . a fourth volume 178 is located above the third volume chamber with a fifth volume chamber 179 above the fourth volume chamber . a first baffle 146 separates the first volume chamber 174 and the third volume chamber 176 . a second baffle 147 separates the second volume chamber 175 and the third volume chamber 176 . a third baffle 148 separates the third volume chamber 176 and the fourth volume chamber 178 . the fourth volume chamber 178 has a catalyst holding area 164 having a catalyst access door 165 . a fourth baffle 150 separates the fourth volume chamber 178 and the fifth volume chamber 179 . referring now to fig8 , there is shown a side view of a section of a catalyst holding area 164 of the catalyst or fourth volume chamber 178 . the catalyst holding area 164 includes the catalyst retainer rack 168 that rides on the rack slide 169 , a gasket 170 for the catalyst rack 168 , and a shoulder 172 located within the catalyst chamber 178 for seating the gasket 170 . any suitable means for seating the catalyst rack 168 against the shoulder 172 with the gasket 170 between them can be used , for example , a cam device ( not shown ). an access door 165 is used to access the catalyst rack 168 for removing or installing the catalyst elements 166 . a top view of the catalyst retainer rack 168 with four catalyst elements 166 is shown in fig9 . referring again to fig7 , the exhaust from the engine enters the first volume chamber 174 through exhaust inlets 158 a and 158 b . the exhaust from the engine also enters the second volume chamber 175 through exhaust inlets 158 c and 158 d . in this embodiment , the unit 200 is for a 4 - cylinder engine . the number of exhaust inlets 158 depends on the number of cylinders in the engine , typically one for each cylinder or a pair of cylinders . in this embodiment , the engine has 4 cylinders and there are four exhaust inlets 158 a , 158 b , 158 c and 158 d . a relief valve 162 is generally positioned opposite the exhaust inlets 158 . in this embodiment , there are two relief valves 162 — one for each of the first volume chamber 174 and the second volume chamber 175 . each relief valve 162 is positioned generally opposite from and between the respective exhaust inlets therefore , one relief valve 162 is generally opposite and between the exhaust inlets 158 a and 158 b ; and the other relief valve 162 is generally opposite and between the exhaust inlets 158 c and 158 d . when looking down the long axis l of the unit 200 , the angle a between the axis r of the relief valve 162 and the axis e of the exhaust inlet 158 is at most 45 degrees . due to the baffles 146 , 147 and 148 , plus changing the direction of flow of the exhaust within the first , second and third volume chambers 174 , 175 and 176 , liquid and solid particulates are at least partially removed from the exhaust . these collect in the bottom of chambers 174 , 175 and 176 . a drain line and valve assembly such as assembly 112 shown in fig3 are added to the bottoms of each of chambers 174 , 175 and 176 to allow removal of any accumulated liquid and particulate solids therein . the volumes of chambers 174 , 175 and 176 are sufficient to dampen spurious pressure excursions or pulsations to avoid damage to the catalyst elements 166 . the exhaust exits the first volume chamber 174 through flow pipes 152 into the third volume chamber 176 . the exhaust exits the second volume chamber 174 through flow pipes 153 into the third volume chamber 176 . the exhaust exits the third volume chamber 176 through flow pipes 154 into the catalyst chamber or fourth volume chamber 178 . the leading face of the catalyst elements 166 are spaced from the exit of the flow pipes 154 to allow a uniform flow of the exhaust across the face of the catalyst elements 166 to more fully utilize the available catalyst active sites in the catalyst elements 166 . after the exhaust passes through the catalyst elements 166 , the exhaust exits the fourth volume chamber 178 into the fifth volume chamber 179 through flow pipes 156 . the exhaust then exits the fifth volume chamber 179 through the exhaust stack 160 , which optionally has a flange as shown herein for attaching to a stack extension ( not shown ). the volume of the fourth volume chamber 178 and the volume of the fifth volume chamber 179 , along with the volume of chambers 174 , 175 and 176 , are to produce the silencing effects of the unit 200 . referring now to fig1 , there is shown a top perspective elevation of an embodiment of a catalyst installation and removal system 300 according to the present invention used on a vertical unit 100 ′, which is similar to unit 100 , except that a single round catalyst element 124 ′ with a round catalyst rack 128 ′ is used instead . the system 300 was designed so that the catalyst element 124 ′ and catalyst rack 128 ′ can be lifted , inserted into the converter housing 302 , and extracted from the housing 302 while working from the ground level . the system 300 has a tray 304 with four lifting points 306 . a heavy catalyst element 124 ′ with its catalyst rack 128 ′ is placed on the tray 304 . chains 308 are attached to the lifting points 306 . a hoist or block and tackle arrangement with a lifting cable or chain ( not shown ) is attached to a lifting eye 310 to which the chains 308 are attached . once the tray 304 is level with the access flange 312 for the catalyst retainer rack housing 302 and drawer slide in the second or catalyst chamber , the tray 304 via its attachment ears 314 is secured to the access flange 312 . attached to tray 304 opposite the access flange 312 attachment is a rotatable wheel 316 on a mount 317 , wherein the wheel 316 has a female screw portion that receives an elongated male threaded rod 318 that is attached on one end 320 to an attachment mount 322 on the catalyst rack 128 ′ at a point opposite to the access flange 312 . the rotatable wheel 316 is rotated using a sprocket and chain assembly or with a motor assist to push the catalyst rack 128 ′ in through the opening in the access flange 312 onto the drawer slide 129 ( see fig4 ) or to withdraw the catalyst retainer rack 128 ′ from the second or catalyst chamber 136 ( see fig3 ). once the catalyst rack 128 ′ is fully inserted and resting on the drawer slide 129 , the threaded rod 318 is released from the attachment mount 322 on the catalyst rack 128 ′ and the access cover door 118 ( see fig3 ) is replaced on and attached to the access flange 312 . a vertical silencer / catalytic converter unit according to the present invention was installed on an ajax ® dpc - 2802le engine in the ajax r & amp ; d lab , and was tested for nearly 500 hours with the engine operating at full speed , nearly full torque , and close to the full rated bhp . the ajax ® dpc - 2802le engine is a two - stroke , lean burn , natural gas fired engine . it has 2 power cylinders , each with a bore of 15 inches and a stroke of 16 inches . the engine speed is 265 to 440 rpm . the prior art silencer was replaced with a vertical silencer / converter like that shown in fig3 . however , the catalyst retaining rack was round as was the single catalyst element as shown in fig1 . the catalyst was about 3½ feet in diameter , 3 . 7 inches thick and weighed about 200 lbm . the catalyst was adcat ® catalyst from eas , inc . this catalyst uses platinum on a stainless steel honeycomb substrate . a catalyst lifting rig as shown in fig1 was used to lift and install or remove the catalyst and catalyst rack from the silencer / converter . the overall height of the silencer / converter unit without the exhaust stack was about 16 feet with a diameter of about 3½ feet . the volume of the first chamber 134 was about 72 cu . ft . the volume of the second chamber 136 was about 42 cu . ft . the volume of the third chamber 138 was about 31 cu . ft . the distance between the exit of the flow pipe 106 and the leading face of the catalyst element 116 was about 1½ feet . there were 2 exhaust inlet 110 from the exhaust pipe ( s ) connected to the exhaust ports of the engine . the conventional lubricating engine oil that the engine used had about 300 ppm zinc . this oil was replaced with a modified mobil pegasus special 10 w - 40 formulated by exxonmobil to have less than 5 ppm zinc and had an ash content of less than 0 . 1 wt %. the average exhaust temperature at the catalyst location in the silencer / converter was about 640 degrees f . initial performance for this invention achieved 93 % removal of the co emissions and 91 % removal for the formaldehyde . although these efficiencies were better than expected , a major feature of this invention is to prevent premature degradation of the catalyst removal efficiencies . as reported by defoort et al , their tests of oxidizing catalysts with 2slb engines indicated that the removal efficiencies dropped to unacceptable levels within less than two weeks . catalyst efficiency curves are presented in fig1 . these curves express the removal efficiencies vs . hours of operation for this invention as compared to those reported by defoort et al ., who used oxidizing converters on 2slb engines . standard exhaust emissions levels for ajax ® le engines operating with pipeline quality fuel at the design rating with site elevations less than 1500 fasl ( feet above sea level ) are : this catalyst and silencer / converter have been tested for nearly 500 hours at the design rating for the engine , and the oxidizing efficiencies were almost equal to the efficiencies recorded at the start of the tests . our lab tests of the eas oxidizing catalyst with the ajax ® dpc - 2802le engine included 430 hours with the full catalyst flow area , followed by 51 hours with 60 % of the flow area . our reasons for blocking 40 % of the flow area were ( 1 ) to resolve the problem with no x increase across the catalyst and ( 2 ) to determine the amount of catalyst needed for field applications . the results from the lab tests are in the following table , which includes five columns expressing the average engine data and catalyst data during five time periods of the testing , which are defined in the accumulated hours row of the spreadsheet . 1 . the co and h 2 co removal efficiencies are substantially maintained over these 500 hours . 2 . degradation of the removal efficiencies was minimal during the 481 hours of testing . these efficiencies dropped by only 2 - 3 % during this phase of the test project . 3 . the no x increase across the catalyst was unacceptable during the first 430 hours of testing . this increase averaged 23 % during this time . the source for the nitrogen that was being converted to no x was the nitrogen containing compounds in the lube oil . mobil reports that it is not viable to reduce these compounds by a significant amount . 4 . with 40 % of the catalyst flow area blocked off , the no x increase is acceptable . during the last 30 hours of testing , this increase averaged less than 5 %. blocking 40 % of the catalyst flow area had minimal effects on the removal efficiencies for the co and h 2 co . 5 . though emissions removal efficiencies are expected to degrade over time , removal efficiencies which should be achievable for at least six months are expected to be : table average data during 481 hours of catalyst operation catalyst type & amp ; eas - eas - eas - eas - eas - flow area 100 % 100 % 100 % 60 % 60 % hours accumulated with 0 - 60 60 - 231 231 - 430 430 - 451 451 - 481 catalyst engine speed 440 440 440 440 440 bhp 361 352 352 352 384 (% of full rated bhp ) ( 94 %) ( 92 %) ( 92 %) ( 92 %) ( 100 %) exhaust flow ( scfm ) 1670 1670 1660 1650 1650 exhaust temp . 648 645 640 650 670 (° f . before catalyst ) exhaust temp . 608 608 600 612 636 (° f . after catatalyst ) % oxygen in the exhaust 14 . 2 14 . 3 14 . 2 14 . 3 13 . 8 exhaust press . at silencer 3 . 3 3 . 2 3 . 2 3 . 2 3 . 65 / converter inlet (“ h 2 o ) pressure drop across the 0 . 4 0 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 55 0 . 9 catalyst (“ h 2 o ) co ( gm / bhp - hr before 1 . 4 1 . 4 1 . 3 1 . 4 1 . 7 catalyst ) co ( gm / bhp - hr after 0 . 07 0 . 10 0 . 09 0 . 11 0 . 14 catalyst ) co ( ppm before catalyst ) 153 152 143 150 187 co ( ppm after catalyst ) 8 10 11 12 16 co removal efficiency (%) 94 . 7 93 . 4 92 . 3 92 . 0 91 . 4 h 2 co ( gm / bhp - hr 0 . 16 0 . 16 0 . 19 0 . 15 0 . 18 before catalyst ) h 2 co ( gm / bhp - hr after 0 . 015 0 . 016 0 . 019 0 . 015 0 . 020 catalyst ) h 2 co ( ppm before cat .) 23 23 27 20 25 h 2 co ( ppm after cat .) 2 2 . 3 2 . 9 2 . 0 2 . 7 h 2 co removal 91 . 3 90 . 0 89 . 3 90 . 0 89 . 2 efficiency (%) no x ( gm / bhp - hr before 1 . 04 0 . 85 0 . 9 0 . 70 1 . 80 catalyst ) no x ( gm / bhp - hr after 1 . 35 1 . 02 1 . 10 0 . 77 1 . 89 catalyst ) no x ( ppm before cat .) 70 56 60 47 123 no x ( ppm after catalyst ) 91 67 73 52 129 no x increase across 30 . 0 19 . 6 21 . 7 10 . 6 4 . 9 catalyst (%) while the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown in the accompanying figures and described above , it is not intended that these be taken to limit the scope of the present invention and modifications thereof can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention . | 5 |
referring now to the drawings showing the embodiment of fig1 - 4 , the exercise device generally indicated at 10 has a fixed support frame indicated generally at 12 . fixed support frame 12 includes a base support member 14 having end frame members 16 connected thereto and adapted for support by a floor . upwardly extending frame member 18 supports an upper mounting head generally indicated at 20 . mounting head 20 includes a pair of opposed plates or side support members 22 . a control panel 24 is provided between support members 22 for visually displaying performance data and the like as may be desired . linkage support frames 26 and 28 are pivotally supported from opposed side support members 22 . frames 26 and 28 include multiple pivoted links . linkage support frame 26 includes a pivoted foot support 30 . linkage support frame 28 includes a pivoted foot support 32 . the foot support 30 supports the left foot of a user ; foot support 32 supports the right foot of a user . linkage support frames 26 and 28 are both shown in fig1 - 4 , but only support frame 26 is described in detail , because support frame 28 is generally identical to support frame 26 . linkage support frame 26 includes a lower connecting plate or bracket 34 . a four bar or parallelogram linkage generally indicated at 36 extends in a generally vertical direction between side support member 22 and connecting plate 34 . linkage 36 includes a pair of links 38a , 38b pivotally mounted at 40 to side support member 22 at their upper ends and pivotally connected at 42 to connecting plate 34 at their lower ends . a four bar or parallelogram linkage 44 extends in a generally horizontal direction between connecting plate 34 and foot support 30 . the four bar linkage 44 includes a pair of links 46a , 46b pivotally connected at 48 to connecting plate 34 and pivotally connected at 50 to foot support 30 . downward movement of foot support 30 is resisted by fluid cylinder 52 which is pivotally mounted at its lower end at 54 to upper link 46a of linkage 44 and pivotally mounted at its upper end at 56 to side support member 20 . fluid cylinder 52 cushions the downward movement of foot support 30 from the weight of the user thereon . cylinder 52 is preferably a combined damping mechanism and spring . upon release of the weight of the user the spring of cylinder 52 returns foot support 30 to its upper position . the spring loading may be manually adjusted for determining in the return movement . the resistance to the downward motion of foot support 30 from fluid cylinder 52 increases with downward velocity due to the damping mechanism of cylinder 52 . fig1 illustrates the condition of the exercise machine 10 in the stair climbing mode where the left foot of a user has pushed foot support 30 to a downward position . natural action of the user takes force off of foot support 32 and it rises to the position shown under the upward spring force of a right hand side fluid cylinder 52 . for a solely stair stepping exercise , a user may wish to support himself by holding on to support plates 22 or to an auxiliary stationary bar ( not shown ) arranged for safety and stability during such exercise . such bar may be fastened to base support member 14 . at the lower position shown for foot support 30 , the fluid cylinder 52 completely &# 34 ; strokes out &# 34 ; such that fluid cylinder acts as a pivoted link between top support plate 22 and link 46a of linkage 44 . accordingly , in order to shift into a purely skiing exercise , the user stands on both foot supports 30 and 32 such that both of their fluid cylinders completely &# 34 ; stroke out &# 34 ; and the machine 10 is ready for horizontal skiing exercise . left and right handles 60 are provided with upper hand grips 62 to aid a user when the machine is used in the skiing mode . fig1 and 4 illustrate the preferred design of attaching handles to the outer link 38a of four bar linkage 36 . handles 60 may be fixed to link 38a by welding or other means such as screws or nuts and bolts . if desired , a force resisting means such as a spring and damper cylinder 100 may be placed between handle 60 and frame member 18 to resist backward and forward motion of the foot supports 30 , 32 . ( other force resisting means useful in the exercise machine art may be substituted for cylinder 100 .) such force resisting means 100 may not be needed in that the very act of a user shifting his weight in a forward and backward motion may offer sufficient exercise to not require further force resisting means . for that reason , fluid cylinder 100 is shown in dashed lines to indicate that it may be installed when desired , or alternatively that it might not be necessary for proper skiing simulation . of course , another fluid cylinder 100 ( or other force resisting means ) should be installed on the right - hand side between link 38a and frame member 18 . either the skiing mode or the stepping mode may have a mechanism to provide dependent operation between the left and right foot supports . such mechanism may include a cable and pulley arrangement connected between the right and left linkages which causes the left foot support to move upwardly when the right foot support is forced downwardly and vice versa . a similar mechanism may be provided for forward and backward movement of the foot supports . as best illustrated in fig3 foot supports 30 and 32 may be moved in substantially horizontal forward and rearward direction while being suspended from mounting head 20 by linkage 26 . in such skiing mode , the fluid cylinders are completely &# 34 ; stroked out &# 34 ; and serve as an intermediate link between mounting head 20 and arm 46a of link 44 . the linkage 36 is a four bar pivoted linkage between head 20 and connecting plate 34 . the linkage 44 is a four bar pivoted linkage between connecting plate 34 and foot support 30 . ( the right - hand side has similar linkages to foot support 32 ). the stroked out cylinder 52 forms a pivoted linkage between mounting head 20 and linkage 44 . such stroked out cylinder 52 forms still a third four bar linkage with head 20 and links 36 and 44 . by appropriate adjustment of the lengths of links 36 , 44 and stroked out cylinder 52 and by appropriate connection placement of cylinder 52 at head 20 and link 46a , the foot supports 30 and 32 may be constrained to move in a substantially horizontal backward and forward position , all the while being suspended from head 20 and requiring no connection on a track or the like . a user stands on both foot supports 30 and 32 to completely stroke out the fluid cylinders 52 . the user then begins a shuffling skiing type motion while holding left and right handles 62 . ( such motion is also similar to skating .) as the left hand foot support 30 moves forward , the left handle 62 moves rearward and up because of its connection to link 38a . as the left hand foot support 30 moves rearward , the left handle 62 moves forward and down . such handles simulate the motion of ski poles manipulated by an actual skier . the exercise machine 10 of fig1 - 4 may be operated in a mixed mode so that a combination of stair stepping and skiing motion may be simulated . in a forward direction , running , walking , or cycling type motions may be simulated . such running motion is simulated ( similar to that of a treadmill ) without any impact at all on the user &# 39 ; s knees , hips or feet . reverse running motion may also be simulated . referring to fig5 an alternative exercise device indicated at 10a is shown schematically with linkage support 26a including an upper four bar linkage 36a and a lower four bar linkage 44a . ( only the left - hand side of the exercise device is illustrated . a similar right - hand side of the machine is provided , but it is not illustrated here , for simplicity .) a foot support 30a is mounted on one end of four bar linkage 44a . resistance to movement of foot support 30a in a generally vertical direction is provided by a fluid cylinder 52a connected between lower four bar linkage 44a and upper four bar linkage 36a . resistance to generally horizontal movement of foot support 30a may be provided ( if desired ) by fluid cylinder 53a extending between four bar linkage 36a and upright frame member 18a . an abdominal pad 21a is secured to fixed support frame member 18a to support the abdomen of a user . a control box 24a is mounted on the upper end of fixed support frame member 18a to provide to the user a visual observation of his performance from sensors ( not shown ) mounted on the machine . no manually operated handles are provided in the embodiment of fig5 although such handles , similar to those of fig1 - 4 could be provided if desired . another embodiment of the exercise device of this invention is illustrated at 10b of fig6 . it is similar to the exercise device 10a of fig5 except in regard to the force resisting members resisting the vertical and horizontal movements of foot support 30b . four bar linkages 36b and 44b are provided . a connecting plate 34b includes a pivot 42b for linkages 36b and 44b . pivot 40b is provided for four bar linkage 36b mounted on fixed vertical support frame member 18b . a servo motor 43b is provided to control the pivotal movement of pivot axis 42b . another servo motor 45b is provided to control the pivotal motion of pivot 40b . thus , servo motor 43b may be used to provide a resisted force to the generally vertical movement of foot support 30b . servo motor 45b may be used to resist the generally horizontal movement of foot support 30b . servo motors 43b and 45b may be adjusted to provide the desired resistance . alternatively , servo motors may provide a programmed motion , either stair climbing or skiing or any combination of both motions for physical rehabilitation of a patient . referring now to fig7 an exercise device of for this invention is shown at 10c . linkage support frame 26c includes an upper link 38c and a lower link 46c . an upper fluid cylinder 53c extends between link 38c and fixed support frame member 18c to control the horizontal movement of foot support 30c . fluid cylinder 52c controls the generally vertical movement of foot support 30c and is connected between links 38c and 46c . to maintain foot support 30c in a generally horizontal plane , fluid cylinder 55c is pivotally mounted between link 46c and foot support 30c . the providing of a separate fluid cylinder 55c to maintain foot support 30c in a generally horizontal plane eliminates the necessity of having four bar linkages as in the embodiments shown in fig1 - 4 , fig5 and fig6 . other satisfactory force resisting devices could be provided such as servo motors , for example . fig8 - 13 are schematic views of further embodiments of the exercise device in accordance with the present invention in which foot supports 32 ( d , e , f , g , h , i ) are moveable simultaneously in a stair stepping exercise and in a cross country skiing exercise with a force resisting device for resisting generally vertical movement for the stair stepping exercise and a separate force resisting device for resisting generally horizontal movement for the cross country skiing exercise . for example , as shown in fig8 exercise device 10d has foot supports 30d and 32d mounted for sliding movement on links 46d which are pivotally mounted at 48d to fixed frame member 18d . to resist generally horizontal movement of foot supports 30d and 32d , force resisting devices 53d may be provided if desired . to resist generally vertical movement of foot supports 30d and 32d , force resisting devices 52d are provided . such force resisting devices are similar to those of fig1 - 4 . the exercise machines of fig9 - 13 are not shown with force resisting devices of members thereon . however , it should be understood that force resisting devices similar to those in the embodiment of fig8 would be used for the embodiments of fig9 - 13 . referring to fig9 foot supports 30e and 32e are mounted on link arms 46e which , in turn , are pivotally mounted at 48e to carriages 49e which are mounted for horizontal movement along fixed base frame member 14e . fig1 shows an embodiment in which foot supports 30f and 32f are mounted for sliding movement along link arms 46f which , in turn , are pivotally mounted at 48f to base frame member 14f . fig1 shows an alternative preferred embodiment 10g of the invention having foot supports 30g and 32g mounted on four bar linkages 36g which , in turn , are pivotally mounted on a shuttle car or carriage 49g for horizontal movement along base frame member 14g . a more detailed description of the embodiment of fig1 is described below in conjunction with fig1 . fig1 shows exercise device 10h having foot supports 30h and 32h mounted for sliding movement along an upper link 46h of a four bar linkage which is pivotally connected by rear and forward pivots at 48h to a base support member 14h . fig1 shows an embodiment 10i in which foot supports 30i and 32i are mounted on links 46i which are pivotally connected at 42i to links 38i . links 38i are pivotally connected at 40i to fixed vertical support frame member 18i . fig1 shows in more detail an alternative preferred embodiment of the invention in which a pair of rails 14g vertically support and horizontally guide a pair of foot supports 30g . in the view of fig1 , only one support is shown in its up and down positions , but an identical foot support and rail is placed on the other side of the ones shown . rollers 33g are secured to shuttle cars 49g and fit within a guide groove of rails 49g . brackets 41g are secured between foot supports 30g and shuttle car 49g . accordingly , when a user stands on foot supports 30g and alternately moves his legs in forward and backward directions , shuttle carriage 49g moves forward and backward as it is guided by rollers 33g within guide grooves of rails 14g . links 36g are connected by pivots 37g to bracket 41g and by pivots 39g to the forward end of shuttle car 49g . links 36g are preferably parallel to each other so as to create a four bar linkage between the foot supports 30g and the shuttle cars 49g . a damper 35g is connected between bracket 41g at one of the pivots 37g to another pivot 43g on shuttle car 49g . such damper increasingly resists downward motion as a function of increasing downward velocity . such dampers may be adjustable to provide variable resistance . the damper 35g may also include a spring to bring foot support 30g to an upward position when the user is not standing on it . the damper and the spring may be separate items , but preferably they are in an integral &# 34 ; shock absorber &# 34 ; as illustrated in fig1 . alternatively , a spring return may not be desired for independent action of each foot support 30g ; in that case , left and right foot supports are interconnected by means of a pulley arrangement or the like such that as the left foot support is forced downwardly , the right foot support moves upwardly and vice versa . the alternative preferred embodiment of fig1 and 14 allows the same simultaneous stair climbing and cross country skiing exercises as that shown in the embodiment of fig1 - 4 . it has the advantage of a lower vertical profile , especially where support 180g may be folded down ; with the result that the exercise device may be stored in less vertical space . fig1 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention of an exercise device 10j similar in arrangement to that of fig1 - 4 , but with an alternative connection of poles 60j to the linkage 36j which links foot supports 30j and 32j to support 20 . the left hand pole 60j is connected by a pivot 84f to bracket 82 fastened to link 38bj . pole 60j includes a bar 86j secured for motion within slot 90j of bracket 80j which is pivoted to connecting plate 34 . the right hand handle 60j is connected ( the connection is not shown ) in a corresponding way to link 38bj on the right hand side of the exercise device 10j . the alternative arrangement of poles 60j and their connections to links 38bj enable them to move rearwardly when its associated foot support moves up and vice versa . with reference to fig1 , as support 30j moves up , link 46aj pivots upwardly about pivot 42j causing bracket 80j to pivot counterclockwise . such rotation of bracket 80j causes pole 60j to rotate clockwise about pivot 84j in bracket 82 while the end of pole 60j slides downwardly with its link 86j in slot 90j . opposite motions occur when the foot support moves downwardly . the arrangement of the handles of fig1 causes them to move in a sympathetic manner with the natural movement of human arms when climbing stairs . in other words , as a user &# 39 ; s left foot pushes downwardly his left arm naturally rises and vice versa . while preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated in detail , it is apparent that modifications and adaptations of the preferred embodiment will occur to those skilled in the art . for example , although several embodiments of the invention have been illustrated it should be apparent to routineers in the art of exercise equipment design that other support structures than the floor support members of fig1 - 6 are possible . a wall support or even a support from an overhead structure could be used with the foot supports and linkages of the invention . it is to be expressly understood that such modifications and adaptations are within the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
the present invention is used with a printer system shown in fig1 . this printer system receives commands via a serial communications link 2 which are decoded by the printer controller 6 and used in conjunction with status set by an operator panel 4 connected to controller 6 by a panel cable 8 . controller 6 may be of the type shown in copending application ser . no . 086 , 484 , filed oct . 19 , 1979 , entitled &# 34 ; printer subsystem with microprocessor control &# 34 ;. the controller commands are supplied by way of a cable 10 to a forms microcomputer 12 in the form of a single chip microcomputer which supplies open loop drive commutation signals to a power driver 14 . the power driver provides drive voltage to a forms stepper motor 16 . the command to move is given to forms microcomputer 12 by way of command lines on cable 10 from printer controller 6 , and status is returned to the printer controller by way of the forms status lines 13 . the print actuator system 19 attached to the print head carriage includes actuator latches 20 and print actuators 24 and does the actual print image formation of the images formed by printer controller 6 . the dot pattern to be printed is transmitted from controller 6 to latches 20 , and then to actuators 24 . the dot placement for the characters printed is determined by printer controller 6 , based on information from a linear position encoder system attached to the print head carriage system 38 . actuator carriage position is determined by a linear position encoder 44 which may include an optical detector attached to the carriage which is driven by the head motor system and a stationary optical grid attached to the printer frame , as is well known in the art . the carrier assembly is attached to the print head drive motor 36 by a timing belt and as the carrier moves , the attached optical detector moves across the grid and generates position emitter signals on a line 46 which are used by printer controller 6 to form characters . the actuator carriage print head motor drive system 38 includes a carriage drive microcomputer 28 and a power driver 32 attached to brush dc head motor 36 by way of cables 34a , 34b . attached to the shaft of head motor 36 is a rotary optical encoder 40 with 810 cycles per revolution . this encoder is used by carriage drive microcomputer 28 to provide speed information . instructions for controlling the print head motion are given to microcomputer 28 via command lines 26 and status is returned to printer controller 6 by means of status lines 50 . the head drive system 38 is seen in more detail in fig2 . the carriage drive microcomputer 28 may be a single chip intel 8049 microcomputer . as shown , microcomputer 28 is provided with a portion of read - only storage ( ros ) 28a . movement commands on line 26 are received and decoded by the carriage drive microcomputer . these commands are negative active run , go left ( or plus go right ), select negative active high speed ( or positive active low speed ), and reset error condition . the status reported to printer controller 6 by way of status lines are minus active head error and plus active carriage drive microcomputer busy . actuator carriage motion is initiated by providing an error voltage to the head motor drive circuitry , this error voltage being developed by the microcomputer . the microcomputer outputs an 8 - bit digital value to a digital to analog converter ( dac ) 29 such that a portion of a reference voltage appearing at a terminal 41 is transmitted to a pulse width modulator 39 as the error voltage . the error voltage is used by pulse width modulation amplifier 39 to develop a chopped dc control signal with the plus duty cycle increasing as the error voltage increases . the duty cycle signal determines the percentage of time that the drive voltage is applied to motor 36 through the wires 34a , 34b . this pulse width modulated dc signal provides the mechanism to accomplish speed control in the system . the direction of application of drive voltage to motor 36 is determined by the controlling output -- drive left from microcomputer 28 on line 51 to the power drive transistors 49 . this permits bidirectional drive to motor 36 which allows controlled bidirectional ( left to right and right to left ) of the attached load 58 which is the actuator carriage or print head . motor overcurrent is sensed and when activated disables the drive and notifies the carriage control microcomputer . speed information to be used in controlling the actuator carriage velocity is obtained by monitoring the outputs of two symmetrical optical encoders that are phase shifted from one another by ninety degrees ; encoder &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; 40a and encoder &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; 40b . these encoder signals are developed from the optical disk 40 monitored by the optical detector 41 attached to the motor housing . as mentioned above , printer controller 6 communicates with carriage drive microcomputer 28 via command lines 26 ( fig2 ). the reset command causes a reset of the error status line . a diagnostic command from the printer controller 6 causes the carriage drive microcomputer 28 to perform a set of internal hardware verification diagnostics and to report an error status or satisfactory completion status . this ensures proper operation of the microcomputer and aids in printer error isolation . the motion commands received from the printer controller 6 are either drive at detent speed ( a very low speed ) in the direction commanded or run at either high or low speed in the direction selected . these two commands will be combined in further explanation of a &# 34 ; run &# 34 ; command . motion begins when a run command is received by microcomputer 28 from the printer controller , as shown in the command decode flowchart in fig3 . speed and direction information is read and stored . the drive direction line (&# 34 ;- drive left &# 34 ;) is set to the desired motion direction . the speed select lines are then used to select the starting , running , and stopping table pointers in ros 28a for the desired speed , and an initial value for the error voltage is sent to dac 29 . once the dac voltage has been applied , microcomputer 28 waits until a change in the encoder signals from encoder 40 occurs as seen in the start sequence flowchart in fig4 . then timing is started and microcomputer 28 waits till the next transition occurs . symmetry and quadrature variations in the encoder signals may make it necessary to measure from one edge transition to the next same transition ( rising to rising or falling to falling ) of only one encoder . each time the desired transition is reached , the timer value is read and reset . the time required to move this encoder cycle is compared to a stored value in ros 28a . this ros time value represents the desired current motion velocity at this point in the acceleration ( start ) process . the ros time value for each encoder change ( or group of encoder changes ) is stored in a sequential table to allow easy access . the pointer to the ros value being used from this table changes depending upon the number of encoder transitions counted from zero velocity . the difference in the actual measured time and the desired encoder time from ros 28a is measured and is used to generate a correction to the dac error voltage . if the velocity is too large , the error voltage generation algorithm will decrease the dac error voltage , and if the velocity is not enough , this algorithm will increase the dac error voltage . the ros table sequencing , time measurement , and error voltage correction cycle will continue until a table ros value of 0 is reached . this indicates that starting is completed , the next ros value in the table is the steady state run value for the speed selected . the ros table selected and final velocity time value are different for each speed selected . when the final desired speed has been reached , the run sequence program , as shown in the flowchart of fig5 maintains the desired speed . the encoder output signals are monitored and the dac error output voltage is modified to ensure that sufficient drive is maintained to overcome friction and loading effects . the initial value set into dac 29 when run motion is started is the steady state average error count as determined by an error averaging algorithm . while running , each encoder change is timed as before . the measured time ( velocity ) value is compared with the expected time ( desired velocity ). the difference is used by the error voltage generation algorithm to decrease the dac voltage if the speed is too large , or increase the dac voltage if the speed is too slow . the microcomputer tests the input commands and if the run signal is no longer active or the direction command line has changed state , stopping begins . if no change is detected , constant velocity speed control continues . the motor drive direction (&# 34 ;- drive left &# 34 ;) is changed and the stop sequence begins as shown in the flowchart of fig6 . then the initial dac reverse drive count is transmitted to the dac . this induced large error voltage value ( speed dependent ) causes the motor to drive in the opposite direction . then the table of ros stopping values is accessed , as seen in fig6 . the time between encoder transitions ( same edge to same edge as before ) is measured and compared with the desired ros time ( speed ) value . when the time between encoder changes becomes excessively long or the encoder sequence changes , then zero velocity has been achieved and the command input lines are sampled . until zero velocity has been achieved , the difference in the measured and desired time values is used by the error voltage generation algorithm to increase or decrease the dac error voltage and continue stopping . the ros stopping table pointer changes depending on the number of encoder transitions counted since stopping began . once stopping is completed , motion may then begin again in either direction desired . the error voltage generation algorithm takes the time error between the measured and desired encoder signals and determines the output dac error voltage . the error voltage may be calculated using a formula or may be evaluated by using look - up tables , but the net results are the same . a basic principle behind either method is the concept of non - linear error signal scaling , which requires the microcomputer to change the time difference versus error voltage formula ( relationship ) depending on whether starting , running , or stopping is taking place . when first starting motion , the encoders come at a very slow rate . this means that when the time difference between actual and desired velocity is evaluated , the time value may be large . however , a large resultant change in the dac error voltage at that time is not desirable since fast acceleration is dependent on a large dac error voltage . therefore , the time value measured is divided down ( or scaled ) so that only a small portion of the time measures is used to change the dac value , bit for bit ( one data bit changes one dac bit ). as speed increases , the acceleration control on the dac becomes more important to prevent overshoot of final velocity . therefore , time differences measured at about half of final speed should have more effect in the dac output . this is accomplished by dividing down ( scaling ) the time values less , such that a time value at high speed will cause more of a dac value change than at low speed . finally , when approaching final velocity , the time difference between the measured and desired velocities is not scaled at all or only slightly . this increases the gain of the system providing better speed regulation . for starting , the scale factor changes are dependent on the velocity as reflected in the measured time or as the number of encoder transitions since starting began . once final velocity is reached , the scaling changes stop and the time differences translate almost bit for bit into dac output value changes . when stopping , the scaling changes again begin , but the weighting factors are different . when beginning to stop , the encoders are changing fast and the difference values are small . scaling takes place here but the scaling magnitude is small compared to starting motion . then as velocity decreases , the scaling decreases . this means that the difference values calculated are transmitted to the dac , decreasing the error voltage drive as the motor slows down . once low velocities are reached ( as determined by measured encoder times ) the scaling again increases . this final scaling increase is to insure that the large time difference values do not cause overshoot of zero velocity . a typical velocity and dac output profile is shown in fig7 illustrating the dac error voltage stepping down to the run level , and showing the decreasing spacing in the encoder a and encoder b signals as the carriage approaches run speed . if a turnaround was desired instead of stopping , the stopping sequence scaling would be slightly different and a special turnaround scaling and ros velocity time value table would be required . since the speed error at full speed is due to friction ( once overshoot and undershoot have settled out ), the error count ( which is the dac input ) can be averaged over the run time . this average value is determined by an error averaging algorithm and can be used to adjust the nominal reference value for the next line to be printed . if bidirectional differences occur , it is possible to have different values for each direction and also different values for each operating speed . fig8 shows a typical averaging operation . for this example , the error count varies from 1 to 5 counts from the reference . if the reference ls updated by the average error over this period ( in this case 3 counts ), then the maximum error is only plus or minus 2 counts , | 1 |
the following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them . other embodiments may incorporate structural , logical , electrical , process , and other changes . portions and features of some embodiments may be included in , or substituted for , those of other embodiments . embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims . fig1 illustrates a block diagram 100 of a device 102 and a server 104 in communication over a network 106 . device 102 may include a processor 108 , and radio 110 for communication with the network 106 . device 102 may include a user interface 112 that allows a user to manipulate the device 102 or to input information to be communicated to server 104 , or one or more data sensors that may acquire data from an environment proximate to device 102 . device 102 may include an agent module 114 configured to initiate or receive machine - to - machine ( m2m ) communication 116 between the device 102 and the server 104 . m2m communication 116 may include sensor readings , device status messages , device commands , or any of a variety of other communication data . examples of device 102 may include smart phones , personal digital assistants , personal computers , networked appliances , xbee ® wireless modules , or any other machine or device capable of communicating over a wired or wireless network . examples of server 104 may include any wired or wireless device coupled to network 106 . for example , a server 104 may include a personal computer , a smart phone , a personal digital assistant , a cloud - based computing or monitoring service , or any other network capable device . the network 106 may include any of a variety or combination of wired or wireless networks such as mobile , cellular , satellite , internet , intranet , or other communication networks . communications between a client 102 and a server 104 over a network 106 may include directly sending a message , and explicitly incurring a cost for the communication when a fee - based data service is used . for example , a m2m messaging between a client 102 and a server 104 over a commercially available short message service ( sms ) may incur transaction costs on a per message basis . an alternative to per - message sms costs is for device 102 to attempt to communicate with the server 104 using a subscription data service to exchange messages . for example , cellular carriers offer networks may provide mobile data services , which are available from a variety of service providers with various levels of cost and service . however , the cost of a data service connection may require a monthly subscription fee , and data service coverage may not be available in all geographic locations . in the example embodiment shown in fig1 , device 102 may embed messages containing commands , data , system status , or other information in unused portions of standard messaging structures . the server 104 may receive , via network 106 , messages , which may include embedded message content , and extract the embedded message content from the message structures . fig2 a illustrates an example message structure 200 that may be used to communicate between devices , between one or more devices and a server , or any combination of networked devices , machines , clients or servers that are coupled to a network . message structure 200 includes a header 202 that may include protocol identifiers , data coding scheme information , time stamp data , origin and destination information , and any other information appropriate to send , route , and receive a message for a particular protocol . message structure 200 also includes a user communication payload 204 , such as a string of text characters encoded in a 7 - bit alphabet . a portion of the user communication payload 204 may also include unused space 206 that is often empty when the user communication payload 204 portion of a message is not fully utilized . in an example , the unused space 206 exists when users send messages to and from either a server or wireless device . typically , users send messages to or from the device or server as user messages ( a binary , arbitrary length message that is exchanged between the server and the device ) or as commands from the server to the device that are smaller than the maximum available capacity of message structure 200 . user messages generally leave unused space 206 in the transport level message ( e . g ., user communication 204 ). for example , a user may wish to send a reboot command from a server to a device . the reboot command may be communicated in a message that is six - bytes long in an example short message protocol . if the reboot message is sent over an sms service that has a theoretical maximum message length of one - hundred - forty bytes then one - hundred - thirty - four bytes would remain as unused payload space . fig2 b illustrates an example message 208 that includes a header 210 , user communication payload 212 , and an embedded m2m message 214 . the embedded m2m message 214 utilizes the payload space available to the user communication payload 212 that is unused . fig2 c illustrates and example message 216 that includes a header 218 , user communication 220 , m2m coding 222 , and an embedded m2m message 214 . the m2m coding 222 , and the embedded m2m message 214 utilize the payload space available to the user communication 220 that is unused . the m2m coding 222 may include m2m information such as a message identifier , a multi - part message indicator , m2m message size information , or other protocol specific data to facilitate the m2m communication . in an example , the user communication 220 and the m2m message 214 may be combined into a combined payload package for transmission from a device or server . the m2m coding 222 may be included in the payload package , or be included as a separate header or footer to provide an indication to a receiving device as to the nature of the payload package . in an example , agent module 114 is included in the wireless device 102 and in the server 104 may compress the m2m messages , the user communication , or both . in this manner , even if a user attempts to send a message that should utilize all or nearly all of the available message length , additional free space may be utilized after compressing the message , user data , or both . the compression may be performed by an encoding component that is under the control of a m2m module ( e . g ., agent 114 ) on the server side or on the device side . a user or application interacting with the m2m module or communication infrastructure need not be aware that compression is being performed . in the example , server 104 may embed messages containing commands , user initiated requests , system status , or other data or information , in unused portions of standard messaging structures as detailed in fig2 a - 2c above . the device 102 may receive , over network 106 , messages that may include embedded message content , and extract the embedded message content from the messages . fig3 illustrates a flow diagram of an example scheme 300 for embedding messages with user communications . at 302 , messages that are eligible to be sent as m2m communication are queued at a server or device . the type of messages may be independent of the server or device messaging protocols . for example , messages may include status messages , error indicators , pending message indicators , or any other arbitrary message that may be communicated between multiple devices , or a server and a device . at 304 , queued messages wait in a queue until a user initiates a message from the server or device where the message is queued . for example , a user may enter a command or communication via a web service or interactively via a user interface on the server side , or directly through a user interface the device . when the user initiates a message , at 306 , an agent wraps the message in a message protocol to prepare it for transmission . in another example , a program running on the device may wakes up out of a sleep state periodically , e . g ., once every eight hours , acquire a sensor reading , and queue the acquired reading for delivery to a server . if , at 308 , the message is less than the maximum transport message length , then , at 310 , the device or server may determine available remaining transport size . at 312 , a server or device may check if there are additional messages queued for transmission , and if messages remain in the queue , then at 314 , attempt to add the next pending message to the transport message . the additional message can be appended to the existing request in the protocol by either adding it to the end of the previous message when using fixed length requests , or alternatively , a specific multi - message indicator can be utilized to indicate that multiple messages are included in the overall message . if , at 312 , there are no pending messages to include , or the message payload is fully utilized , then , at 316 , the message can be sent . if , at 308 , the queued message is larger than the available transport size then at 318 the queued message may be segmented for transmission as a multi - part message . segmenting may result in one or more messages that may fill the available transport size , and zero or one message that may be smaller than the available transport . at 320 , the remaining unsent message portion ( s ) that exceeded the available transport size may be queued for later transport , or included with another message that is smaller than the available transport . in an example , the unset message portion may be inserted at the head of the message queue in order to maintain a proper message sequence . at 316 , the message can be sent when the available transport size is filled . after a message is sent , queued messages wait in a queue , at 304 , until a user initiates another message from the server or device where the message is queued . in an example , when multiple messages are pending in a queue , messages may be selected from the queue based on their size as opposed to their position in the queue . for example a shorter message that is pending in the queue may be added to any unutilized space in a message package before a large message that would require multiple message packages to communication . in an example where it is necessary or useful for the ordering of messages should be maintained , the encoding of messages may include adding ordering information , e . g ., a sequence number , which indicates to a receiving device how the received messages should be ordered after they are received . in this manner messages may be transmitted out of order at the transport layer in order to maximize the use of available unused data space , while allowing the messages to be properly reordered upon receipt by a receiving device . fig4 illustrates an example interaction diagram 400 of a device 402 and a server 404 . in the depicted example , a user initiates communication 406 at the device 402 . alternatively , communications may also originate from the server 404 . upon receipt of user communication 406 the device 402 may encode a m2m communication message that is queued in the device 402 in any unused portion of a message payload space , along with the user communication 406 . in some such approaches , communications from server 404 to device 402 are used to transmit m2m messages as well . both the user communication 406 and the m2m communication are then sent as a package 408 from the device 402 to the server 404 . the receiving server 404 may process and separate the user communication and the m2m message to provide for handling of the separate communications as if they were sent separately . a second user communication 412 may originate at the server 404 either in response to the original user communication 406 or as an independent event . the server 404 may similarly package any pending m2m communication queued at the server for transmission to device 402 , along with the second user communication 412 for transmission as a second package 414 . the receiving device 402 may process and separate the user communication and the m2m message to handle the user and m2m communications as if they were sent separately . in an example , a user may wish to check a setting on a thermostat in the user &# 39 ; s home that is equipped to communicate wirelessly with the user &# 39 ; s smart phone . the user may access an application or agent on the user &# 39 ; s smart phone to send a sms status request message to the thermostat via a cellular network . in this example the user &# 39 ; s smart phone is acting as a server to query a device , the user &# 39 ; s thermostat . in addition to the user initiate status request , the application on the user &# 39 ; s smart phone may also wish to acquire software version information from the user &# 39 ; s thermostat . in response to the user &# 39 ; s initiation of the thermostat status request the application may combine the user &# 39 ; s status request with the application &# 39 ; s software version information request . both messages may be combined into a single sms message and wirelessly delivered to the thermostat . upon receipt of the single sms message from the user &# 39 ; s smart phone , the thermostat may separate the user &# 39 ; s status request and the application &# 39 ; s software version information request for separate processing . the thermostat may place its software version information in a m2m queue for later delivery . in response to the user &# 39 ; s status request the thermostat may prepare a sms reply for delivery to the user &# 39 ; s smart phone . if the sms reply is smaller than the maximum available sms payload the software version information in the m2m queue may also be included with the sms reply . if the sms reply utilizes all of the maximum available sms payload the software version information may remain in the m2m queue until space is available in a subsequent message . in an example , a thermostat in the user &# 39 ; s home may be configured to periodically transmit a message that may include a sensed temperature measurement to a cloud - based server . the thermostat may communicate with the server through a wired or wireless network , in the manner described herein , or though an alternative communication mechanism . a user may utilize a smart phone , terminal , personal computer , tablet computer , or other device to communicate with the cloud - based server to obtain information provided to the server by the thermostat or other sensor . the thermostat in these examples is provided as an illustration and not as a limitation . for example , other devices or sensors may be substituted for the thermostat , and similarly configured to communicate with a user &# 39 ; s smart phone , a server , or any other device . fig5 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 500 upon which any one or more of the techniques ( e . g ., methodologies ) discussed herein may be performed . in alternative embodiments , the machine 500 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected ( e . g ., networked ) to other machines . in a networked deployment , the machine 500 may operate in the capacity of a server machine , a client machine , or both in server - client network environments . in an example , the machine 500 may act as a peer machine in peer - to - peer ( p2p ) ( or other distributed ) network environment . the machine 500 may be a personal computer ( pc ), a tablet pc , a personal digital assistant ( pda ), a mobile telephone , a web appliance , or any machine capable of executing instructions ( sequential or otherwise ) that specify actions to be taken by that machine . further , while only a single machine is illustrated , the term “ machine ” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set ( or multiple sets ) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein , such as cloud computing , software as a service ( saas ), other computer cluster configurations . examples , as described herein , may include , or may operate on , logic or a number of components , modules , or mechanisms . modules are tangible entities capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner . in an example , circuits may be arranged ( e . g ., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits ) in a specified manner as a module . in an example , the whole or part of one or more computer systems ( e . g ., a standalone , client or server computer system ) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software ( e . g ., instructions , an application portion , or an application ) as a module that operates to perform specified operations . in an example , the software may reside ( 1 ) on a non - transitory machine - readable medium or ( 2 ) in a transmission signal . in an example , the software , when executed by the underlying hardware of the module , causes the hardware to perform the specified operations . accordingly , the term “ module ” is understood to encompass a tangible entity , be that an entity that is physically constructed , specifically configured ( e . g ., hardwired ), or temporarily ( e . g ., transitorily ) configured ( e . g ., programmed ) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein . considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured , each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time . for example , where the modules comprise a general - purpose hardware processor configured using software , the general - purpose hardware processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times . software may accordingly configure a hardware processor , for example , to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time . machine ( e . g ., computer system ) 500 may include a hardware processor 502 ( e . g ., a processing unit , a graphics processing unit ( gpu ), a hardware processor core , or any combination thereof ), a main memory 504 , and a static memory 506 , some or all of which may communicate with each other via a link 508 ( e . g ., a bus , link , interconnect , or the like ). the machine 500 may further include a display device 510 , an input device 512 ( e . g ., a keyboard ), and a user interface ( ui ) navigation device 514 ( e . g ., a mouse ). in an example , the display device 510 , input device 512 , and ui navigation device 514 may be a touch screen display . the machine 500 may additionally include a mass storage ( e . g ., drive unit ) 516 , a signal generation device 518 ( e . g ., a speaker ), a network interface device 520 , and one or more sensors 521 , such as a global positioning system ( gps ) sensor , camera , video recorder , compass , accelerometer , or other sensor . the machine 500 may include an output controller 528 , such as a serial ( e . g ., universal serial bus ( usb ), parallel , or other wired or wireless ( e . g ., infrared ( ir )) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices ( e . g ., a printer , card reader , etc .). the mass storage 516 may include a machine - readable medium 522 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 524 ( e . g ., software ) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein . the instructions 524 may also reside , completely or at least partially , within the main memory 504 , within static memory 506 , or within the hardware processor 502 during execution thereof by the machine 500 . in an example , one or any combination of the hardware processor 502 , the main memory 504 , the static memory 506 , or the mass storage 516 may constitute machine readable media . while the machine - readable medium 522 is illustrated as a single medium , the term “ machine readable medium ” may include a single medium or multiple media ( e . g ., a centralized or distributed database , and / or associated caches and servers ) that configured to store the one or more instructions 524 . the term “ machine - readable medium ” may include any tangible medium that is capable of storing , encoding , or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 500 and that cause the machine 500 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure , or that is capable of storing , encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions . non - limiting machine - readable medium examples may include solid - state memories , and optical and magnetic media . specific examples of machine - readable media may include : non - volatile memory , such as semiconductor memory devices ( e . g ., electrically programmable read - only memory ( eprom ), electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom )) and flash memory devices ; magnetic disks , such as internal hard disks and removable disks ; magneto - optical disks ; and cd - rom and dvd - rom disks . the instructions 524 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 526 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 520 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols ( e . g ., frame relay , internet protocol ( ip ), transmission control protocol ( tcp ), user datagram protocol ( udp ), hypertext transfer protocol ( http ), etc .). example communication networks may include a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), a packet data network ( e . g ., the internet ), mobile telephone networks ( e . g ., cellular networks ), plain old telephone ( pots ) networks , and wireless data networks ( e . g ., institute of electrical and electronics engineers ( ieee ) 802 . 11 family of standards known as wi - fi ®, ieee 802 . 16 family of standards known as wimax ®), peer - to - peer ( p2p ) networks , among others . in an example , the network interface device 520 may include one or more physical jacks ( e . g ., ethernet , coaxial , or phone jacks ) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 526 . in an example , the network interface device 520 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single - input multiple - output ( simo ), multiple - input multiple - output ( mimo ), or multiple - input single - output ( miso ) techniques . the term “ transmission medium ” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing , encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 500 , and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software . the above detailed description includes references to the accompanying drawings , which form a part of the detailed description . the drawings show , by way of illustration , specific embodiments in which the invention can be practiced . these embodiments are also referred to herein as “ examples .” such examples can include elements in addition to those shown or described . however , the present inventors also contemplate examples in which only those elements shown or described are provided . moreover , the present inventors also contemplate examples using any combination or permutation of those elements shown or described ( or one or more aspects thereof ), either with respect to a particular example ( or one or more aspects thereof ), or with respect to other examples ( or one or more aspects thereof ) shown or described herein . in the event of inconsistent usages between this document and any documents so incorporated by reference , the usage in this document controls . in this document , the terms “ a ” or “ an ” are used , as is common in patent documents , to include one or more than one , independent of any other instances or usages of “ at least one ” or “ one or more .” in this document , the term “ or ” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or , such that “ a or b ” includes “ a but not b ,” “ b but not a ,” and “ a and b ,” unless otherwise indicated . in this document , the terms “ including ” and “ in which ” are used as the plain - english equivalents of the respective terms “ comprising ” and “ wherein .” also , in the following claims , the terms “ including ” and “ comprising ” are open - ended , that is , a system , device , article , composition , formulation , or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim . moreover , in the following claims , the terms “ first ,” “ second ,” and “ third ,” etc . are used merely as labels , and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects . method examples described herein can be machine or computer - implemented at least in part . some examples can include a computer - readable medium or machine - readable medium encoded with instructions operable to configure an electronic device to perform methods as described in the above examples . an implementation of such methods can include code , such as microcode , assembly language code , a higher - level language code , or the like . such code can include computer readable instructions for performing various methods . the code may form portions of computer program products . further , in an example , the code can be tangibly stored on one or more volatile , non - transitory , or non - volatile tangible computer - readable media , such as during execution or at other times . examples of these tangible computer - readable media can include , but are not limited to , hard disks , removable magnetic disks , removable optical disks ( e . g ., compact disks and digital video disks ), magnetic cassettes , memory cards or sticks , random access memories ( rams ), read only memories ( roms ), and the like . the above description is intended to be illustrative , and not restrictive . for example , the above - described examples ( or one or more aspects thereof ) may be used in combination with each other . other embodiments can be used , such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description . the abstract is provided to comply with 37 c . f . r . § 1 . 72 ( b ), to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure . it is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims . also , in the above detailed description , various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure . this should not be interpreted as intending that an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim . rather , inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a particular disclosed embodiment . thus , the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description as examples or embodiments , with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment , and it is contemplated that such embodiments can be combined with each other in various combinations or permutations . the scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . | 7 |
fig1 shows a sectional view of a bay lighting fixture using inductive lighting elements 200 . the reflective or focusing dome 10 directs light from the lighting elements 202 and 204 downward so more of the light shines where desired . this figure show two lighting elements of different size , but the size , shape and output illumination of the lighting elements can be the same or different depending upon the desired amount of light that is required . the reflective or focusing dome 10 is attached to the housing with clips or fasteners 230 . the dome rests on the dome retainer 220 , where gravity and the retaining tab 230 lock the dome in place . the shape and configuration of these clips is shown and described in more detail with fig2 below . the dome retainer is connected or integrated with a connecting tube 250 that supports the lighting and dome in addition to providing a conduit for wiring . the connecting tube 250 is attached to the ballast enclosure . in some configurations contemplated , the ballast box may be empty , when the ballast is included with the lighting elements . the ballast 240 is shown housed in the ballast box 210 . one configuration of electrical connection to the ballast is with screw terminals 245 , but the wiring connection ( s ) could be made with wire nuts or spring clips where the wires are pushed into the terminals and retained by spring force that both retain the wires and provide electrical connection between the ballast and the external wiring . an electrical connection from the ballast extends through connecting tube 250 , into the dome retainer 220 for connection with the lighting elements 202 , 204 or lighting socket for the lighting elements . locking bars 270 and 275 hold the inductive lighting elements in place within the dome and on the lower cover 260 that is capped with an extender 262 , and an extender cap 264 . the extender allows the placement and retention of the additional lighting element 204 that holds locking bar 275 . a lower cover 260 encloses the lower portion of the housing to protect the electrical wiring . the ballast box 210 , dome retainer 220 , and the lower cover 260 can be fabricated using a number of different methods including but not limited to casting , machining , drawing , forming or molding . in the preferred embodiment the part are made from an injection molded process . the materials for these components can also be variety of types including but not limited to plastics , resins , ceramic , ferrous and non - ferrous materials , with the qualities of strength , heat resistance . a safety locking mechanism 285 is installed on the end of retaining cable 280 to hold the light fixture in position . while in this figure the retaining mechanism 285 is shown extended from the cable 280 , upon installation the safety device is secured against the bottom of the lighting fixture . fig2 is a detailed cross - sectional view of the lighting fixture from fig1 showing the retaining tab 230 . the reflective or focusing dome 10 is shown resting upon a portion of the dome retainer 220 . for installation , the dome is brought over the dome retainer 220 , the retaining tabs 230 will flex inward from the hinge area 234 allowing the dome 10 to pass by the clip , and then spring back into position locking the dome 10 under the tab at point 232 . once the dome is in position , gravity , in addition to the clips 230 will keep the dome resting on the dome retainer at location 236 and all around the dome retainer . the lower housing 260 is shown in position under the dome retainer protecting the wiring connections . vent 29 is shown in this view as it passes through the dome retainer . the vents are a critical part of the design because they allow heat from the room and from the lights to vent out of the fixture . fig3 is a perspective view of the lighting fixture showing the arrangement of the components . a retaining cable 280 passes through the entire lighting fixture and is secured with a safety line 285 located at the end of the cable . the top portion of the cable 280 is attached to a hook 290 that can be secured to the ceiling or joists of a building . the bottom portion 297 of the hanging hook 290 is secured to the ballast box with a nut 292 that is threaded onto the end of the hook at 297 from inside the ballast box . in an alternate mounting embodiment the hook 294 is connected to the top of the dome retainer 220 . the dome 10 is shown below the dome retainer 220 . a seams 221 , 223 , 227 are shown in this figure . the seam allows the dome retainer to be fabricated in multiple sections that can be connected . in the embodiment shown , the dome retainer is made from four pieces . in another contemplated embodiment , the dome retainer and at least a portion of the ballast box is made from a single component . the enclosure for ballast is shown located above the lighting fixture with a top housing 212 , of the ballast box 210 and an access cover 217 . in this embodiment the top and bottom housings are connected with a hinged arrangement with a closure . in yet another contemplated embodiment , the ballast box dome retainer and connecting pipe are made in two halves . this view shows the dome retainer essentially as a dish shape but other similar shapes can be used . the lower cover 260 is shown under the dome and it is attached to the dome retainer . the design of the lower cover is critical to the transmission of light around the lighting element ( s ). a description of the design requirement to reflect light around the lighting elements is shown and described with fig4 . the extender 262 is shown below the lower cover and attaches to the lower cover . the extender cap 264 is shown below the extender and closes the opening in the bottom of the extender 262 . the disk shape is ideal because it allows for any heat to be channeled up through the lighting fixture . vents 29 are shown around the dome retainer . in the embodiment shown the vents are essentially rectangular in shape , but other shapes are contemplated to include but not be limited to rectangular , circular , elliptical vents or combination thereof . fig4 is an isometric view of a one piece light dome 10 with a separate ballast box 210 . in this embodiment the dome is cast from a clear , multi - colored , translucent , or opaque material and is then internally coated or painted with an aluminum or chrome to provide a reflective surface . the dome is made from a polycarbonate abs or other similar material as opposed to being cast or spun out of aluminum or other metal . the ballast box 210 is shown mounted separately from the lighting dome , and prototypes have been made with a separation of 15 feet between the ballast and the lighting elements . the wiring from the buildings electrical system 6 enters into the ballast box 210 and , after the voltage is converted , a separate set of wiring 5 connects to the lighting fixture 10 . this entire lighting system is attached to the ceiling or joist 28 of the building from hooks 35 , chain 40 and or hooks integrated into the lighting or ballast enclosure 290 . fig5 is a sectional view of a 2 foot × 2 foot lighting fixture 200 using an inductive lighting element . while the majority of fluorescent fixtures are configured in a 2 foot by four foot configuration a number of fluorescent fixtures are 2 foot by 2 foot in size . in this embodiment the reflector is a bent reflector 100 is formed from sheet metal . the inside surface of this reflector is preferably painted white or other similar reflective color or a silver color to reflect the light . the inductive lighting element 202 is attached to the bent reflector with clips or fasteners . it is also contemplated that the lighting fixture is clamped through the bent reflector 100 using the cover and the ballast box . the connecting tube 250 is attached to the ballast enclosure . in some configurations contemplated , the ballast box may be empty , when the ballast is included with the lighting elements . the ballast 240 is shown housed in the ballast box 210 . one configuration of electrical connection to the ballast is with screw terminals 245 , but the wiring connection ( s ) could be made with wire nuts or spring clips where the wires are pushed into the terminals and retained by spring force that both retain the wires and provide electrical connection between the ballast and the external wiring . an electrical connection from the ballast extends through connecting tube 250 , into the dome retainer 220 for connection with the lighting elements 202 or lighting socket for the lighting elements . in the preferred embodiment the lighting element is torus shaped . locking bars 270 hold the inductive lighting elements in place within the dome and on the lower cover 260 that is capped with an extender 262 . a lower cover 260 encloses the lower portion of the housing to protect the electrical wiring . the materials for these components can also be variety of types including but not limited to plastics , resins , ceramic , ferrous and non - ferrous materials , with the qualities of strength , heat resistance . a safety locking mechanism 285 is installed on the end of retaining cable 280 to hold the light fixture in position . while in this figure the retaining mechanism 285 is shown extended from the cable 280 , upon installation the safety device is secured against the bottom of the lighting fixture . fig6 is a perspective view looking up into the 2 foot × 2 foot inductive lighting fixture . the fixture is constructed with a bent metal reflector 100 . while a bent metal reflector is shown and described , because it is the most common and cost effective , other materials are contemplated including but not limited to glass , paper and plastics . the sides of the reflector 100 are bent to ensure more of the light shines downward . inside the reflector the top of the fixture has an inside bend 110 to spread the light from the top of the inductive lighting element 202 . this figure shows the electromagnet ( s ) 160 that encircle a portion of the illumination torus . the end of the extender 262 can be seen extending through the inductive lighting element 202 . locking bar ( s ) 270 hold the inductive lightning element 202 in the fixture and provide some protection from vibration and shock . fig7 shows an exploded perspective view of the components for the screw - in inductive lamp and fixture . fig8 shows an assembled perspective view of the components for the screw - in inductive lamp and fixture . in this preferred embodiment the fixture is actually two assemblies that convert the wiring 6 of a structure to accept a first threaded base 130 . a mating second threaded base 142 allows for an inductive lighting element to be secured into the first threaded base . from these fig7 and 8 wiring 6 from the building or structures &# 39 ; electrical system is brought in the lower cover 260 . this lower cover is the same component that is shown and described in fig1 and 5 . the lower cover 260 has a plurality of mounting holes 261 that allows the lower cover to be secured to an electrical junction box on a ceiling , wall or other structural support . an extender cap 264 is secured into the lower cover 260 . the extender cap 264 is used in two placed in fig7 and 8 . the extender cap is shown and described in more detail in fig9 and 10 where fig9 shows a back perspective view of the cap while fig1 shows a front perspective view of the cap . the extender cap 264 has hook tabs 120 that engage into openings 121 in the extender 262 . the extender cap 264 further has an annular lip 126 that limits how far the extender cap 264 can be inserted into the extender 262 . the extender cap 264 has a central hole 125 for electrical wires to pass through the extender cap 264 . the extender cap 264 further has two pairs of holes 123 and 124 that are sized to accept # 6 screws 124 and # 8 screws 123 . when screws are placed through the appropriate holes a lamp holder with bushings 130 is secured to the extender cap 264 . fig1 shows a perspective view of the lamp holder 130 . the lamp holder 130 has an internal threaded socket that accepts a typical household threaded lamp . the lamp holder is secured to the extender cap 264 using screws that secure the lamp holder 130 in the # 6 - 32 retaining holes with screws 134 . the electrical wiring connects to conductor 131 and the internal thread area . an adapter mid base adapter 140 is threaded into the lamp holder 130 to provide electrical connection to a lighting element 202 . fig1 shows a perspective view of the mid base adapter 140 . the mid base adapter 140 has an end conductor 143 that connects to the conductor 131 in the lamp holder 130 . the threaded base 142 of the mid base adapter 140 makes contact with the mating threads of the lamp holder 130 . a plurality of side openings 141 in the mid base adapter provide openings for the hook tabs 265 of the extender 262 to engage into . the extender 262 extends and connects the mid base adapter 140 to a second extender cap 264 . a locking bar 270 is captured between the mid base adapter 140 and the extender cap 264 in a saddle area 266 in the extender and with a complimentary saddle in the extender cap 264 . locating holes 271 in the locking bar 270 are located onto tabs 127 ( shown in fig9 and 10 ) to locate , position and secure the locking bar from movement . thus , specific embodiments of a screw - in inductive replacement light have been disclosed . it should be apparent , however , to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein . the inventive subject matter , therefore , is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims . | 5 |
the system in which the method according to the invention may be practiced consists of a bottom - blown metallurgical vessel 10 and a system 11 for supplying process gases and other materials . the vessel 10 includes a metallic shell 12 and a refractory lining 13 . a conventional trunnion ring 14 is provided for supporting the vessel 10 and has a trunnion pin 15 extending from each of its opposite sides . the trunnion pins 15 are suitably supported in a well - known manner on bearing structures ( not shown ) and are coupled to a suitable drive mechanism ( not shown ) for tilting vessel 10 to each of a plurality of positions as may be required during a process cycle . a smoke hood 16 may be disposed above the open , upper end of vessel 10 when the latter is in its vertical position as illustrated in the drawing to prevent discharge of pollutants during operation of the vessel . the vessel 10 may have a removable refractory bottom 17 having a bottom plate 19 for supporting a plurality of tuyeres 21 which extend through openings 22 in refractory bottom 17 . the tuyeres 21 are preferably arranged in a symmetrical pattern and each includes an inner tuyere pipe 21a and an outer tuyere pipe 21b both of which are adapted to be connected to the gas supply system 11 . inner tuyere pipe 21a defines a first tuyere passage and pipe 21b is larger than and spaced from pipe 21a to provide a second tuyere passage . also affixed to the bottom plate 19 is a lime distributor 22 connected to an oxygen input pipe 23 and by manifold 24 to the inner tuyere pipes 21a . each of the outer tuyere pipes 21b are similarly connected by manifold 25 to a shielding fluid inlet pipe 26 . the gas and material supply system 11 includes a pair of vessels 27 and 28 in which materials such as burnt lime , limestone , iron oxide , carbon , flurospar or other desulfurizing agents may be stored . while only two vessels 27 and 28 are shown , it will be understood that there may be as many pressure vessels as there are types of powdered materials which are to be injected into the molten metal within the vessel 10 . it will be appreciated that it is necessary to mix the powdered materials from the vessels 27 and 28 with entraining gas in a definite proportion . for this purpose , the bottom of each vessel 27 and 28 is provided with a mixing device 29 , the details of which are not shown but which are well known in the art . for example , the device 29 may be of a type which withdraws powdered material from its associated vessel and injects it into the gas stream . each mixing device 29 may be operated by a motive means 30 having a controller 31 responsive to input signals from a control ( not shown ) as symbolized by arrows 32 . the mixing devices 29 are connected to as many sources of gas as they may be entrained . as , for example , dephosphorizing agents may be stored in vessel 24 for being entrained in the oxygen stream , while desulfurizing agents may be disposed in vessel 26 for being entrained in the argon or nitrogen . the output of mixing chamber 29 is connected by pipe 34 and valve 36 to the inlet pipe 23 of mixing chamber 22 and the outlet of pressure vessel 27 is similarly connected thereto by pipe 38 and valve 40 . oxygen may be delivered from a source labeled o 2 directly to inlet pipe 23 through pipes 40 and 42 , valves 44 and 46 , and flow controller 48 . similarly , pipe 50 and valves 52 and 54 connect the hydrocarbon shielding fluid source labeled hmcn to the inlet pipe 26 . nitrogen from source labeled n 2 may be coupled to the inlet pipe 23 through pipes 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 and 42 and valves 64 , 66 and 46 . argon from source labeled ar may also be coupled to pipe 23 through pipes 42 , 58 , 60 , 62 , 68 , flow controller 70 and valves 46 , 66 and 72 . the argon and nitrogen sources may also be coupled to tank 27 through pipe 73 and valve 74 and to vessel 28 through valve 75 and pipe 76 . the first flow controller 48 includes any suitable means for controlling gas flow rate such as a flow meter 78 interposed in pipe 40 and connected to a flow controller 80 for controlling a flow control valve 82 also connected into pipe 40 . flow meter 78 may be any well known type of device which is operative to produce an electrical output signal functionally related to the gas flow rate in pipe 40 . the controller 80 is electrically coupled to flow meter 78 and is operative to provide an output control signal to flow control valve 82 which is functionally related to its received input signal and valve 82 is operative to control the flow rate of gas in pipe 40 in relation to its received signal . the argon flow controller assembly 70 similarly includes a flow meter 84 , a controller 86 and a flow control valve 87 which are interconnected to each other and operative in a manner similar to that discussed with respect to the flow control assembly 75 and accordingly , the assembly 70 will not be discussed in detail . the controllers 80 and 86 are adjustable in relation to a received input signal so that the proportion of argon and oxygen which may be delivered to inlet pipe 24 can be adjusted . controllers 80 and 86 are also coupled to the respective flow meters 78 and 84 for receiving signals functionally related to the actual flow rate . controllers 80 and 86 are then operative to provide corrective signals so that the desired gas flow ratios can be achieved . a flow controller which may be employed for this purpose is model 53 - el - 3311be1b manufactured by fisher porter control corporation . a gas ratio controller 89 is electrically connected to controllers 80 and 86 for receiving signals functionally related to the rate of oxygen and argon delivery and is operative to provide corrective signals in relation with either a preset program or manual adjustments which may be provided by an operator . in this manner , the ratio of argon to oxygen supplied to the inlet pipe 26 may be controlled . in the performance of the method according to the present invention , vessel 10 initially received a metallic charge . the specific charge , of course , depends upon the chemical balance of the desired end product and the availability of materials . for example , a solid charge such as scrap iron , scrap steel , liquid pig iron , iron oxide , or iron bearing materials in other solid form may be charged into the vessel after which a charge of liquid pig iron is added . alternately , solely a liquid charge may be provided . prior to the liquid charge , the solid charge may be heated by delivering a fuel such as propane , natural gas or light oil to the outer tuyere pipes 21b and oxygen to the inner tuyere pipes 21a . a nonoxidizing gas such as nitrogen or argon may be delivered to the both tuyere pipes after the preheating step and during the delivery of the molten metal charge . it will be appreciated that the vessel will normally be tilted to receive the various metallic charges and will be returned to its upright position and beneath gas collecting hood 16 before the oxygen is delivered . during the periods of vessel turn - up and turn - down , nonoxidizing gas such as nitrogen or argon is delivered to each of the tuyere pipes to prevent the backflow of molten metal . after charging has been completed , the liquid metal charge is blown with fluxes . for dephosphorization , this will normally consist of lime entrained in the oxygen stream and delivered through the inner tuyere pipe while hydrocarbon shielding fluid through the outer pipe . on the other hand , if desulfurization is required , lime is entrained in either argon or oxygen and delivered to the center tuyere pipe while the same gas is delivered through the outer tuyere pipe . after desulfurization or dephosphorization , the main oxygen blow commences during which time , oxygen or a mixture of oxygen and argon is delivered to the center tuyere pipe and a hydrocarbon shielding fluid delivered through the outer tuyere pipe . in the production of stainless steel , the charge would generally include chromium either in the form of chromium containing scrap or chromium containing hot metal . in order to avoid the oxidation of chromium , argon will normally be mixed with the oxygen during the main oxygen blow and the proportion of argon to oxygen will be increased during the main oxygen blow . for example , the initial ratio of oxygen to argon will be about 3 to 1 and this will be increased in increments by the flow controller 89 which operates the controllers 48 and 70 such that the final ratio of argon to oxygen will be about 3 to 1 . as those skilled in the art will appreciate , chromium oxidation is prevented by the reduction of the carbon dioxide partial pressure within the molten metal by the action of argon dilution . in the case of a low carbon steel or electric furnace steels which are alloyed with silicon , a rapid increase in iron oxidation normally occurs as carbon is oxidized during the main oxygen blow . iron oxidation is minimized , however , by the gradual introduction of argon commencing at a point when the carbon level falls to about 0 . 02 %. specifically , the proportion of argon is gradually increased from about zero to fifty percent by weight until the end of the main oxygen blow . during this period , both in the case of stainless steel and carbon steels , hydrocarbon shielding fluid will be delivered to the outer tuyere pipe while oxygen and / or oxygen argon mixture is delivered to the inner tuyere pipe . after the completion of the main oxygen blow , the bath may be purged of dissolved gases such as hydrogen and oxygen by an argon purge during which argon is delivered through both the inner and outer tuyere passages . because hydrocarbon shielding fluid is used as a cooling medium during the oxygen and argon oxygen blowing periods , the process is substantially cheaper than the aod process wherein argon is employed as a cooling medium . in addition , substantially greater tuyere and refractory life as a result of the use of hydrocarbon shielding fluid as opposed to argon as a cooling medium . further , by injecting the process gases upwardly and in a symmetrical pattern , the tendency for vessel oscillation is minimized thereby prolonging the life of the bearings and drive mechanism . in a typical example employing a 30 ton vessel with six 1 / 2 &# 34 ; tuyeres , the charge might be electric furnace hot metal containing about 0 . 8 - 1 . 5 carbon and about 8 % chromium while a final specification might be a carbon level of 0 . 025 % and an 18 . 8 % chromium level . oxygen is delivered at a rate of about 67 normal cubic meters ( nm 3 ) through the center tuyere would be typical . as the carbon level is reduced , argon is introduced into the oxygen stream at an increasing rate while the total flow rate remains substantially the same until a ratio of argon to oxygen of 3 to 1 by volume exists . while only a few embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described , it is not intended to be limited thereby but only by the scope of the appended claims . | 2 |
the following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention , and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements . various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art , and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . thus , the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown , but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein . the data structures and code described in this detailed description are typically stored on a computer readable storage medium , which may be any device or medium that can store code and / or data for use by a computer system . this includes , but is not limited to , magnetic and optical storage devices such as disk drives , magnetic tape , cds ( compact discs ) and dvds ( digital video discs ), and computer instruction signals embodied in a transmission medium ( with or without a carrier wave upon which the signals are modulated ). for example , the transmission medium may include a communications network , such as the internet . [ 0038 ] fig1 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system 100 for practicing the various aspects of the present invention . the computer system 100 includes a display screen ( or monitor ) 104 , a printer 106 , a floppy disk drive 108 , a hard disk drive 110 , a network interface 112 , and a keyboard 114 . computer system 100 includes a microprocessor 116 , a memory bus 118 , random access memory ( ram ) 120 , read only memory ( rom ) 122 , a peripheral bus 124 , and a keyboard controller 126 . computer system 100 can be a personal computer ( such as an apple computer , an ibm computer , or one of the compatibles thereof ), a workstation computer ( such as a sun microsystems or hewlett - packard workstation ), or various other types of computers . the microprocessor 116 is a general - purpose digital processor that controls the operation of the computer system 100 . microprocessor 116 can be a single - chip processor or implemented with multiple components . using instructions retrieved from memory , microprocessor 116 controls the reception and manipulations of input data and the output and display of data on output devices . the memory bus 118 is utilized by the microprocessor 116 to access the ram 120 and the rom 122 . ram 120 is used by microprocessor 116 as a general storage area and as scratch - pad memory , and can also be used to store input data and processed data . rom 122 can be used to store instructions or program code followed by microprocessor 116 as well as other data . peripheral bus 124 is used to access the input , output and storage devices used by the computer system 100 . in the described embodiment ( s ), these devices include a display screen 104 , a printer device 106 , a floppy disk drive 108 , a hard disk drive 110 , and a network interface 112 . a keyboard controller 126 is used to receive input from the keyboard 114 and send decoded symbols for each pressed key to microprocessor 116 over bus 128 . the display screen 104 is an output device that displays images of data provided by the microprocessor 116 via the peripheral bus 124 or provided by other components in the computer system 100 . the printer device 106 when operating as a printer provides an image on a sheet of paper or a similar surface . other output devices such as a plotter , typesetter , etc . can be utilized in place of , or in addition to , the printer device 106 . the floppy disk drive 108 and the hard disk drive 110 can be utilized to store various types of data . the floppy disk drive 108 facilitates transporting such data to other computer systems , and the hard disk drive 110 permits fast access to large amounts of stored data . the microprocessor 116 together with an operating system operate to execute computer code and produce and use data . the computer code and data may reside on ram 120 , rom 122 , or hard disk drive 120 . the computer code and data can also reside on a removable program medium and loaded or installed onto computer system 100 when needed . removable program mediums include , for example , cd - rom , pc - card , floppy disk and magnetic tape . the network interface circuit 112 is utilized to send and receive data over a network connected to other computer systems . an interface card or similar device and appropriate software implemented by microprocessor 116 can be utilized to connect the computer system 100 to an existing network and transfer data according to standard protocols . the keyboard 114 is used by a user to input commands and other instructions to the computer system 100 . other types of user input devices can also be used in conjunction with the present invention . for example , pointing devices such as a computer mouse , a track ball , a stylus , or a tablet to manipulate a pointer on a screen of the computer system 100 . the present invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium . the computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter be read by a computer system . examples of the computer readable medium include read - only memory , random - access memory , magnetic data storage devices such as diskettes , and optical data storage devices such as cd - roms . the computer readable medium can also be distributed over a network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion . as shown in fig2 the internet 12 is comprised of a “ global computer network ”. a plurality of computer systems 100 around the world are in communication with one another via this global computer network . the present invention may be implemented upon the internet 12 or wireless communication systems , however it can be appreciated that as future technologies are created that various aspects of the invention may be practiced with these improved technologies . [ 0049 ] fig2 further illustrates the usage of a sender computer 50 in communication with a sender mail server 40 connected to the internet 12 . the sender computer 50 generates an electronic message ( e - mail ) that is sent to the sender mail server 40 which transmits the e - mail to a recipient mail server 20 via the internet or other communication medium . the recipient mail server 20 is programmed to send only messages from “ authorized senders ” as contained upon an authorized senders list ( asl ). the asl is preferably empty as the initial default setting thereby not allowing any e - mails addressed to the recipient to be sent to the recipient computer 30 . however , the recipient may input authorized senders directly into the asl at anytime . in addition , the recipient may also remove any authorized senders from the asl at anytime . [ 0051 ] fig3 illustrates the operation and functionality of the present invention . the first step within the invention is the receipt of an e - mail message from a sender addressed to the recipient by the recipient mail server 20 . the recipient mail server 20 compares the listing of authorized senders upon the asl with the identity of the sender within the e - mail message . the identity of the sender may be comprised of the sender &# 39 ; s reply e - mail address , the name of the sender or other identifying data . if the identity of the sender is contained within the asl , then the message is allowed to be sent to the recipient computer 30 from the recipient mail server 20 as shown in fig3 . however , if the identity of the sender of the e - mail message is not contained within the asl , the recipient mail server 20 retains the e - mail message within a “ quarantine ” until the sender &# 39 ; s identity can be authenticated as shown in fig3 of the drawings . the recipient mail server then automatically sends an “ authentication request ” message to the sender requesting a proper and desirable response as illustrated in fig3 through 5 of the drawings . [ 0053 ] fig4 illustrates an example of an authentication request providing a question and requesting a correct answer to the question from a question - answer database ( qad ). the answer is preferably input utilizing an data input box as shown in fig4 however , drop - down menus , radio buttons and selection buttons may be utilized for the sender to input the answer . various other formats may be utilized to submit the answer to the question from the qad . the question within the authentication request preferably is comprised of topic related to the recipient , however various other topics may be utilized to confirm the legitimacy of the sender . the recipient may change the question and the desired answer at anytime within the qad and may have more than one question / answer within which may be randomly selected . in addition , the question and answer may be comprised of a list of standard questions / answers contained upon the recipient mail server 20 such as “ what is the country to the north of the united states ?”. the authentication request may also be comprised of a format simply requiring the selection of a button ( yes or no ) as shown in fig5 of the drawings . the authentication request may utilize an applet , web application or other application technology . the authentication request may be contained within the message or as an attachment thereto . an applet is a program written in the java programming language that can be included in an html page , much in the same way an image is included . when an individual uses a java technology - enabled browser to view a page that contains an applet , the applet &# 39 ; s code is transferred to the individual &# 39 ; s computer system and executed by the browser &# 39 ; s java virtual machine ( jvm ). here is an example of a simple applet tag : & lt ; applet code =“ myapplet . class ” width = 100 height = 140 & gt ;& lt ;/ applet & gt ;. a “ standalone java application ” may also be utilized which is a java program that is run by invoking the java interpreter . here is an example of a standalone java application : java authenticationapplication . it can be appreciated that the authentication request may include a hyperlink to a web page that includes the authentication request form . if the reply e - mail address of the sender is invalid and the authentication request is returned to the recipient mail server 20 , the recipient mail server 20 preferably will delete the corresponding e - mail message . in addition , if the sender does not submit a correct response to the authentication request within time x , the recipient mail server 20 preferably will delete the corresponding e - mail message . the recipient preferably sets the time x to a time period the recipient feels is sufficient for desirable senders to respond thereto . the recipient typically will increase time x during the initial period of usage of the present invention to ensure desirable senders are provided adequate time to provide a response and then reduce time x after a significant portion of desirable senders have been added to the asl . for example , the recipient may set time x to two days during the first month of using the present invention and then to one day thereafter . if the sender submits a response to the authentication request , the recipient mail server then compares the sender &# 39 ; s answer to the correct answer within the qad . if the sender &# 39 ; s answer is correct , the e - mail message from the sender is then transmitted from the recipient mail server 20 to the recipient computer 30 along with preferably automatically adding the sender &# 39 ; s identity to the asl . however , the recipient may adjust the settings of the recipient mail server 20 such that further authorization from the recipient is required before adding a sender to the asl or for automatically sending further instructions to the sender on how to become an authorized sender . if the sender submits a response that is incorrect , this indicates that there is an increased probability that the sender is providing a potentially desirable e - mail . hence , supplemental procedures may be utilized to further screen the sender even though an incorrect answer is provided by the sender . for example , a “ supplemental authentication request ” may be sent to the sender by the recipient mail server 20 which contains a second question in a format similar to the original question as shown in fig3 through 5 of the drawings . the supplemental authentication request preferably also includes a statement indicating that the first submitted response by the sender was incorrect . the sender is then provided an opportunity to respond to the supplemental authentication request within time y . since the likelihood that the sender is a legitimate sender based upon the attempted response to the first question by the sender , the recipient typically will set time y to a period longer than time x to ensure that the sender has adequate time to respond . however , time y may be comprised of a period shorter than time x . if the sender submits a response to the supplemental authentication request within time x , the recipient mail server then compares the sender &# 39 ; s answer to the correct answer within the qad . if the sender &# 39 ; s answer is correct , the e - mail message from the sender is then transmitted from the recipient mail server 20 to the recipient computer 30 along with automatically adding the sender &# 39 ; s identity to the asl . the recipient may adjust the settings of the recipient mail server 20 such that further authorization from the recipient is required before adding the sender to the asl even though a correct answer was provided by the sender . if the answer to the supplemental authentication request is incorrect , the e - mail message is preferably purged though it can be appreciated that additional supplemental authentication requests may be sent to the sender by the recipient mail server 20 as set by the recipient . the present invention is preferably implemented at the recipient mail server 20 . however , the present invention may be implemented as a third - party e - mail screening service that intercepts e - mail messages prior to submission to the recipient mail server 20 . the present invention may also be implemented upon the recipient computer 30 as a separate application or as an add - in for an existing electronic mail application . the recipient may adjust the settings of the present invention utilizing a web interface or a client side application . 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 . the foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description only . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the forms disclosed . accordingly , many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art . additionally , the above disclosure is not intended to limit the invention . the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims . 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 . index of elements for electronic mail blocking system □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ 10 . electronic mail blocking system □ 11 . □ 12 . internet □ 13 . □ 14 . □ 15 . □ 16 . □ 17 □ 18 □ 19 . □ 20 . recipient mail server □ 21 . □ 22 . □ 23 . □ 24 . □ 25 . □ 26 . □ 27 . □ 28 . □ 29 . □ 30 . recipient computer □ 31 . □ 32 . □ 33 . □ 34 . □ 35 . □ 36 . □ 37 . □ 38 . □ 39 . □ 40 . sender mail server □ 41 . □ 42 . □ 43 . □ 44 . □ 45 . □ 46 . □ 47 . □ 48 . □ 49 . □ 50 . sender computer □ 51 . □ 52 . □ 53 . □ 54 . □ 55 . □ 56 . □ 57 . □ 58 . □ 59 . □ 60 . □ 61 . □ 62 . □ 63 . □ 64 . □ 65 . □ 66 . □ 67 . □ 68 . □ 69 . □ 70 . □ 71 . □ 72 . □ 73 . □ 74 . □ 75 . □ 76 . □ 77 . □ 78 . □ 79 . □ 100 . computer system □ 101 . □ 102 . speaker □ 103 . □ 104 . display screen □ 105 . □ 106 . printer □ 107 . □ 108 . floppy disk drive □ 109 . □ 110 . harddiskdrive □ 111 . □ 112 . network interface □ 113 . □ 114 . keyboard □ 115 . □ 116 . microprocessor □ 117 . □ 118 . memory bus □ 119 . □ 120 . ram □ 121 . □ 122 . rom □ 123 . □ 124 . peripheral bus □ 125 . □ 126 . keyboard controller □ 127 . □ 128 . bus □ 129 . □ 130 . □ 131 . □ 132 . □ 133 . □ 134 . □ 135 . □ 136 . □ 137 . □ 138 . □ 139 . □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ | 7 |
the small objects in magnetic resonance imaging that are quantifiable using the invention include air bubbles , agglomerations of ferritin , hemosiderin , calcium , or other metal or mineral matter in the brain or other parts of the body . human tissue , being mainly water , provides a diamagnetic background . additionally , the small objects may include nanoparticle - based magnetic contrast agents introduced for purposes of molecular imaging or as drug treatments . the magnetic susceptibility of a contrast agent is proportional to its concentration , and therefore quantifying local susceptibility provides a measure of agent or drug efficiency . aside from the healthcare industry , the small objects may also include air bubbles or metallic particles trapped on filters in industrial fluid systems . furthermore , the invention can also be applied to large objects , provided that there is a sufficient amount of tissue or material surrounding such objects . in accordance with fundamental electromagnetism principles , the magnetic properties of small objects can be investigated by treating the small objects as long narrow cylindrical objects , which can be done using a two - dimensional approach in accordance with the invention , or as spheres , which can be done using a three - dimensional approach in accordance with the invention . in many circumstances , the small objects of interest do not have proton spins and do not produce measurable mri signals themselves . however , the local magnetic field information induced by their magnetic susceptibilities is distributed in their neighboring voxels . using the present invention , the relative magnetic susceptibility or magnetic moment between an object and its neighboring voxels , whose diameter can be less than five voxels , can be extracted from a given set of complex anatomical mri data , as an inverse problem . this is done using a summation of complex mri signals around an object of interest in a manner reducing the number of unknowns , which thereby allows one to solve for the relative magnetic moment , susceptibility , and / or the volume of the object . by treating a small object as if it were a long narrow cylinder , the methods of the present invention can be applied via a two - dimensional approach . more specifically , the method can be applied to a slice of image voxels that is one voxel thick . fig1 shows cross sections of three sets of magnetic resonance images used herein to describe a two - dimensional approach of applying method in accordance with the present invention . each of the magnetic resonance images is of either a long air cylinder or a long cylinder filled with diluted nanoparticles in gel phantoms . the actual radii of all cylinders are 0 . 8 mm , and each is longer than 64 mm . the in - plane resolution of each image is 1 mm × 1 mm . the main magnetic field strength was 1 . 5 t and was applied along the left - right direction for each image and perpendicular to the cylinder . fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ) show the magnitude and associated phase images ( respectively ) of an air cylinder in a gel phantom at echo time 5 ms . fig1 ( c ) and 1 ( d ) show the magnitude and associated phase images ( respectively ) of the air cylinder in the gel phantom at echo time 20 ms . fig1 ( e ) and 1 ( f ) show the magnitude and associated phase images ( respectively ) of a cylinder filled with magnetic nanoparticles in a gel phantom at echo time 5 ms . all images were acquired from a gradient echo sequence in mri . although all the cylinders actually have identical radii , the cylinders ( shown as dark portion of the magnitude images ) appear to have different diameters in the magnitude images . the cylinders create dipolar phase aliasing patterns in phase images . the phase of mri phase image outside an infinitely long cylinder is given by equation ( 1 ), as follows : where γ is the gyromagnetic ratio ( a constant , 2π · 42 . 58 mhz / t for protons ), δχ is the magnetic susceptibility difference between the susceptibility inside and outside the cylinder , α is the object ( cylinder ) radius , ρ is the perpendicular distance from the axis of the cylinder , b 0 is the main field of the mri system , t e is the echo time ( an input parameter in mri scans ), and ψ is the angle measured from the main field . parameters g and p are self - defined in eq . 1 and represent maximum ( or minimum ) phase value and effective magnetic moment , respectively . although the sign in all phase images of fig1 ( resulting from mri manufacturing conventions ) is opposite to the sign in eq . 1 , eq . 1 accurately represents the phase aliasing effect seen in fig2 ( d ). δχ and α are the two unknowns to be quantified from mr images . for purposes of describing the invention , δχ is referred to herein as simply “ magnetic susceptibility ” or “ susceptibility .” the phrase “ magnetic moment ” is referred to p . the si unit of volume magnetic susceptibility is dimensionless , and is often given in ppm . from a set of magnitude and phase images shown in fig1 , the overall mri signal s within a given circle with radius r concentrically of the object is given by equation ( 2 ), as follows : where m j is the magnitude mri signal in each voxel labeled with index j and φ j is its associated phase value . additionally , λ is the image slice thickness , ρ 0 is the effective spin density ( which includes imaging and tissue parameters such as t 1 and t 2 ), λ = α 2 / r 2 , and j 0 is the zeroth order bessel function . in order to improve the accuracy of the method and add only the relevant portion of mri signal within the given circle , each voxel is divided into 100 ( or a significant amount of ) sub - voxels . each sub - voxel is assigned one percent ( or the inverse of the number of sub - voxels per voxel ) of the original mri signal of its respective parent voxel . in deriving eq . 2 , ρ 0 is assumed to be a constant with a given set of imaging and tissue parameters and it is assumed that the cylindrical object itself does not produce an mri signal . in general , ρ 0 varies in space . for example , if the surrounding tissue of a microbleed contains only one tissue , then ρ 0 is a constant in the neighborhood of the microbleed . it should be appreciated that if t e in eq . 2 is increased , due to the decay nature of the zeroth order bessel function j 0 , the overall signal s will decrease . this is referred to as the “ dephasing effect ” in mri terminology . for this reason , one cannot simply zoom mr images to determine the size of an unknown object unless the susceptibility effect is negligible ( i . e ., δχ ≈ 0 ). as shown in magnitude images of fig1 , the low signal areas depict object of different sizes . in reality , the images are of objects of identical size ( 0 . 8 mm in radius ). eq . 2 shows that the overall mri signal s happens to be a real number . this is used to determine the center ( i . e ., the axis ) of the cylindrical object . to do this , a circle with radius r which encompasses the object is repositioned about the apparent center of object and the overall complex summation signal s is calculated at each position . when the imaginary part of s is minimized , the center of the cylinder is identified . the size of the circle used impacts the accuracy of the center determination . if too small , the thermal noise and discrete voxels adds significant uncertainty into the process . if too large , the overall mri signal is dominated by the voxels lacking magnetic moment information and the method can not accurately identify the object center . through experimentation , it has been determined that , based on the phase images , a circle whose circumference intersects with phase values at roughly ± 2 radians along the vertical and horizontal axes works sufficiently well . with a proper choice of t e , this generally results in a radius of at least 3 voxels . the center of the object identified by this procedure is typically off by no more than 0 . 3 voxel from the true center and , in some cases , is off by no more than 0 . 1 voxel . as shown in fig1 , using three arbitrary concentric circles with radii r 1 , r 2 , and r 3 , the corresponding signals s 1 , s 2 , and s 3 can be calculated from mr images . as such , eq . 2 can be re - written as follows : where the effective magnetic moment , p , becomes the only unknown in the equation . it should be appreciated that , although both ± p satisfy eq . 3 , the correct sign of p can be determined from mr phase images using eq . 1 . from eq . 1 , it is clear that p / r i 2 is the maximum ( or minimum ) phase value at the circumference of the i - th circle . as such , if any r i is chosen to be larger than the phase aliasing area , then | p / r i 2 | will be always less than π and the solution of p can be numerically searched between 0 and πr min 2 using a van wijngaarden - dekker - brent method , where r min is the smallest radius among three circles r i . the initial guess of value p can be estimated by expanding j 0 in power series . the choice of all r i larger than the phase aliasing region ( i . e ., | p / r i 2 |& lt ; π ) ensures that a unique solution of p can be obtained from eq . 3 . it should be appreciated that p is not simply solved from the product of a phase value from mr phase images and a single r i because it is a discrete problem and we often choose r i to be a non - integer real number . for example , r 1 and r2 can be 2 . 3 and 2 . 6 voxels , respectively . in such a case , both radii map to the same phase value . however , as s i can change with even a slight change of r i , eq . 3 provides a more accurate means of solving for the magnetic moment . the discrete voxels in magnetic resonance images lead to differences between the complex summation signal s i and its theoretical prediction . for purposes of this description , such differences are referred to herein as systematic noise . if the object size and susceptibility are known , the magnetic resonance images can be simulated and the systematic uncertainty of that simulation can be determined . thermal noise in magnetic resonance images due to the presence of an object can be simulated by adding a gaussian noise distribution in the mri complex data . these two noise sources lead to the uncertainty of p , which can be estimated using an error propagation method , derived from the partial derivatives of p and s i in eq . 3 . using the error propagation method and with the signal - to - noise ratio 10 : 1 as well as a proper choice of t e , using typical mri techniques , the uncertainty of p can be minimized to less than 5 %, by selecting ri in a manner such that the p / r i 2 values are roughly 0 . 1 , 1 , and 3 radians in the phase images . this can be verified by the simulations and gel phantom studies shown in images ( c ) and ( d ) of fig1 . as shown in fig2 , when the phase value of 3 radians cannot be found , the uncertainty of p increases to 10 %, which can be confirmed via both the error propagation method and phantom studies . fig2 illustrates results of an infinitely long cylindrical object having a radius 0 . 8 voxel simulated without the thermal noise . in the simulation , the main magnetic field is 1 . 5t and the susceptibility difference between the cylinder inside and outside is 9 . 4 ppm . additionally , the center of the object is purposely shifted to the 128 . 9th voxel . using the methods of the invention , the center of the object can be identified within 0 . 1 voxel from the simulated center . the magnitude profile shown in fig2 ( a ) and its associated phase profile shown in fig2 ( b ), are simulated with an echo time of 5 ms . the magnitude profile shown in fig2 ( c ) and its associated phase profile shown in fig2 ( d ), are simulated with a t e of 20 ms . as shown in fig2 , the asymmetric phase patterns , ( b ) and ( d ), and asymmetric dephasing profiles , ( a ) and ( c ), are apparent . these profiles match closely with the profiles obtained from real gel phantom data . it should be appreciated that each voxel contains only one complex signal , displayed as dots in these plots , and the lines connecting dots have no particular meaning . it should be appreciated that if a cylindrical object is not perpendicular to the main field of the mri machine , then a factor sin 2 φ should be multiplied in eq . 1 and be added in the argument of the j 0 function in eqs . 2 and 3 , where φ is the angle between the axis of the cylinder and the main field direction . the angle φ can be determined by using the coordinates of the end points of the cylindrical object in images . thus , the approaches described above are applicable to a cylinder with any orientation except when φ = 0 , i . e ., when the cylindrical object is parallel to the main field of the mri system . when φ = 0 , with eq . 2 , two circles around the object will be sufficient to identify the radius of the object . ( see further discussion under section “ objects having spin density .”) by treating a small object as if it were sphere , the methods of the present invention can be applied via a three - dimensional approach . the preferred method of applying the invention to a spherical object begins with the mri phase distribution outside a sphere with radius a , as follows : where δχ is the magnetic susceptibility difference between the susceptibility inside and outside a spherical object . angle θ is between the main field axis and the direction of the observer . the parameter | g ′| is self - defined in eq . 4 and is the maximum phase value ( with θ = π / 2 ) in the three - dimensional case . the effective magnetic moment p ′ is defined as g ′ a 3 . the parameters g ′ and p ′ in the three - dimensional case are the counterparts of g and p in the two - dimensional case . the total theoretical complex signal s due to a spherical object within a concentric sphere of radius r is as follows : where λ ≡( a / r ) 3 is the volume fraction in the three - dimensional case and { tilde over ( p )}( x ) is the density - of - states , as follows : where ρ 0 is the effective spin density outside the spherical object , which itself does not have a spin density . the use of eq . 5 in actual magnetic resonance images comprises the summation of the overall mri complex signal within radius r by dividing each voxel into 1000 sub - voxels . the complex signal of a spherical shell between two spheres with radii r 1 and r 2 is as follows : similar to the two - dimensional method , the solution of p ′ is unique if both r i are chosen large enough such that each | ixp ′/ r i 3 | is less than π . the magnetic moment p ′ can be solved by calculating the ratio of the real part to the imaginary part of s 1 - s 2 . however , the series expansion of exp ( p ′/ r i 3 ) reveals that no first order of p ′/ r i 3 remains in eq . 7 and the leading term of the imaginary part is on the order of ( p ′/ r i 3 ) 3 . via simulations , it has been determined that the imaginary part of eq . 7 is not sensitive to the presence of noise . thus , alternatively , p ′ can be solved using a third concentric sphere by calculating the ratio of the real part of s 1 - s 2 to the real part of s 1 - s 3 . the phase value decreases quickly as the third power of distance in the spherical case ( see eq . 4 ) and with a proper choice of t e the differences between one r i and the next is within one or two voxels . however , using only the real part of the complex summation to solve the magnetic moment does not allow for the determination of the sign of p ′. nonetheless , the imaginary part of the complex summation can be used to the correct sign of p ′. it should be appreciated that the sign of p ′ distinguishes the object between paramagnetic and diamagnetic ( relative to water ). similar to the two - dimensional case , the uncertainty of p ′ can be studied through the error propagation method , simulations , and phantom studies . using the error propagation method and with the signal - to - noise ratio 10 : 1 as well as a proper choice of t e , the uncertainty of p ′ can be minimized to approximately 5 %, by selecting r i in a manner such that the p ′/ r i 3 values are roughly 0 . 1 , 1 , and 3 radians in the phase images . from eq . 4 , the overall mri phase around the spherical object within a concentric sphere is zero . due to the discrete nature of voxels in images , utilizing the summation of phase values or imaginary parts leads to an incorrect center of the object , which is at least half a voxel away from the true center of the object . however , by maximizing the shell signal (| s 1 - s 2 |), the center of the spherical object can be accurately determined to within 0 . 3 voxel from the true center of the object . alternatively , by minimizing the overall signal s shown in eq . 5 , the center of the spherical object can be accurately determined to within 0 . 3 voxel of the true center of the object . the optimization method of identifying the center of the spherical object can be examined through further analysis . although the first and second partial derivatives of the spherical shell signal with respect to object location can be analytically derived , additional insight can be gained through examination of the shell signal , within radii r 1 and r 2 via the following equation : s 1 − s 2 = 2πρ 0 ∫ r s r 1 dr r 2 ∫ 0 π dθ cos θ e iφ ( 8 ) where φ , is given by eq . 4 but with r in eq . 4 replaced by x ≡√{ square root over ( r 2 + r 0 2 − 2rr 0 cos ( θ − θ 0 ))}, and cos θ in eq . 4 replaced by ( r cos θ − r 0 cos θ 0 )/ x , where r 0 is the distance between the center of the shell and the center of the spherical object , and r 0 cos θ 0 is the z coordinate of the spherical object . similar to the two - dimensional application , it should be appreciated that the intent here is to derive an equation that is affected only by the position of the object but not the unknowns . there are at least two approaches for determining the susceptibility and volume of the object . a first approach is discussed immediately below and is based on a gradient echo sequence in mri , preferably with multiple echo times . a second approach is described in further along in this description and is based on a spin echo sequence in mri with only one echo time . the effective magnetic moment p or p ′ contains the product of the susceptibility and volume of the object . whether the susceptibility ( δχ ) and volume can be individually resolved depends on the choice of t e in a gradient echo sequence in mri , particularly when noise exists in the mr images . although the following descriptions are for the two - dimensional case , it should be appreciated that the general concept can be applied to the three - dimensional case . as the moment p is proportional to t e , the magnetic moment at any echo time t e can be scaled by a known p at a particular t e . with a known magnetic moment p , the effective spin density ρ 0 can be determined from eq . 2 with two concentric circles of radii r 1 and r 2 . a third circle with radius r 3 can then be used in eq . 2 to determine the only remaining unknown g , which is proportional to δχt e . each of radii r i can be chosen independently of the radii previously used to determine the magnetic moment . fig3 shows the impact of echo time on the signal . for simplicity , no noise has been added . fig3 ( a ) shows a plot of the integral in eq . 2 as a function of g with a = 1 mm , ρ 0 λ = 1 , and r = 3 mm . the mri signal s is represented by a horizontal line and is calculated with g = 9 . the intersections of the straight line and the curve represent possible solutions of g . fig3 ( b ) is similar to fig3 ( a ) except that the echo time is reduced such that ρ 0 λ = 0 . 9 and the mri signal is calculated with g = 0 . 7 . in this case the maximum ( or minimum ) phase value g can be uniquely determined . fig3 ( c ) depicts normalized signals based on eq . 2 as a function of echo time . the solid curve is plotted with the volume fraction 0 . 1 and susceptibility 0 . 95 ppm . the curve comprised of short dashes and the curve comprising longer dashes are simulated with volume fraction 0 . 02 and 0 . 17 , and susceptibility 4 . 75 and 0 . 57 ppm , respectively , such that the product of the volume fraction and susceptibility is identical in all three curves . fig3 ( d ) is similar to fig3 ( c ), but the solid curve is simulated with volume fraction 0 . 3 and susceptibility 0 . 95 ppm and the curve comprised of short dashes and the curve comprising longer dashes are simulated with volume fraction 0 . 1 and 0 . 43 , and susceptibility 2 . 85 and 0 . 67 ppm , respectively . fig3 ( c ) and ( d ) demonstrate that , if noise had been included in simulations , the volume fraction and susceptibility could each only be roughly determined at an order of magnitude through curve fitting . it should be appreciated that , as fig3 ( a ) demonstrates , if the echo time is too long , then we cannot determine | g | uniquely but we can determine a minimum value of | g |. this is because the integral in eq . 2 oscillates and approaches an asymptotic value as | g | increases ( with a fixed p ). as shown in fig3 ( b ), the echo time has to be shorter than a particular value for g to be solved uniquely from eq . 2 . when | g |& lt ; 2 . 4 , which is the first root of the j 0 ( x ) function , and if r 3 is sufficiently large such that | p / r 3 2 |& lt ; 2 . 4 ( p being known ), then the integral in eq . 2 becomes a monotonic function of | g | up to 2 . 4 . with the presence of noise in images , when | g |& gt ; 2 . 4 , only the minimum value of susceptibility | δχ | and maximum value of cylinder radius α are likely determinable . from eq . 1 , if | δχ | is 1 ppm in si units ( which is roughly twice the value used for veins in the functional mri studies ) and b 0 = 1 . 5t , t e needs to be less than 12 ms for | g | to be less than 2 . 4 . if r 3 is sufficiently large , then | g |, and therefore δχ , can be uniquely determined . an echo time t e of 12 ms is often used in mri scans . the scans shown in fig1 ( a - d ) involved a susceptibility difference of 9 . 4 ppm , which requires an echo time of less than 1 . 3 ms to resolve the cylinder radius . even with a reduction of the echo time in a gradient echo sequence , the susceptibility and the volume of an object can each be meaningfully determined only if the volume of the object is larger than a certain fraction of a voxel . this fraction is determined by the signal - to - noise ratio in the images and is explained below for the two - dimensional approach . if the echo time is reduced such that it is close to zero in a gradient echo sequence , then j 0 function in eq . 2 can be approximated as unity and eq . 2 can be simplified as follows : s se = ρ 0 λπr 2 ( 1 − a 2 / r 2 )= ρ 0 λπr 2 ( 1 − λ ) ( 9 ) if the object is presumed to be smaller than one voxel , in order to quantify the volume of the object , the differences between an mri signal with the object and one without the object has to be larger than the thermal noise per voxel . based on eq . 9 , this means that the volume fraction has to be larger than the inverse of the signal - to - noise ratio . in addition , the higher the signal - to - noise ratio , the more accurate the quantification of the volume becomes . the uncertainty can be easily determined by applying the error propagation method on eq . 9 . as mentioned above , the second approach for determining the susceptibility and volume of the object is based on a spin echo sequence in mri with only one echo time . the situation in which t e = 0 in a gradient echo sequence represents the images acquired from a spin echo sequence . with sufficiently high signal - to - noise ratio in the spin echo images , the actual volume of a sub - voxel object can be determined from eq . 9 via two arbitrary geometries that each encloses the object . although in such a case the imaging parameters of the spin echo sequence do not need to be identical to those of the gradient echo sequence , a set of high resolution spin echo images is preferred . if an object has the same susceptibility as that of its surrounding tissue , then the spin echo image will show the correct volume of the object ( provided that the spin density of the object is quite different from the spin density of the surrounding tissue ). on the other hand , a nanoparticle can cause a void in the signal of spin echo image and in such case , the low signal region may not represent the true volume of the nanoparticle . it should be appreciated that the presence of the susceptibility of the object can lead to distortion artifacts in images . in addition , susceptibility of the object can cause signal loss during data sampling even in the spin echo sequence . this also happens using gradient echo sequences but the dephasing effect through the echo time dominates the effect . the distortion artifacts can generally be minimized by increasing the read bandwidth in a sequence . however , such a change will lead to a reduction in the signal - to - noise ratio of the images . it should also be appreciated that the approaches described above can also be applied to the three - dimensional spherical case with reasonable modifications based on eqs . 4 - 7 . moreover , a spin echo sequence is routinely performed in a typical clinical diagnosis . thus , in some cases , one gradient echo sequence could be used to determine the magnetic moment of the object and one spin echo sequence could be used to determine the volume of the object , without requiring registration of the images or an extra sequence in a clinical examine . when an object of interest ( such as a blood vessel ) has a spin density ( i . e ., mri signal ), a complex number and a real number must be added to eq . 2 ( when using a two - dimensional approach ) and eq . 5 ( when using a three - dimensional approach ), respectively . in the latter situation , it should be appreciated that the phase value is zero inside a spherical object . using the two - dimensional approach , the center of the cylindrical object can be determined by minimizing the imaginary part of the mri signal within an annular ring ( i . e ., img . s 1 − s 2 = 0 ) or similar approaches described above for the three - dimensional case . alternatively , the fourier shift theorem can be used to identify the center of the cylinder ( as described by jan sedlacik et al . in magnetic resonance in medicine 58 : 1035 - 1044 ( 2007 )). even if the object has a spin density , eqs . 3 and 7 remain unchanged for solving the magnetic moment p and p ′. individually resolving the susceptibility and volume of the object in this case can be more challenging , as the spin density of the object also varies with the echo time . using the two - dimensional approach , when the cylindrical object is perpendicular to the main field , the overall mri signal within a circle with radius r is as follows : s = πλρ 0 ρ ∫ p / r 2 g dxj 0 ( x )/ x 2 | πλα 2 ρ 0 , c e i g / 3 ( 10 ) where ρ 0 , c is the spin density of the cylindrical object and is a function of t e . the imaginary part of this signal is purely from the object itself , πλα 2 ρ 0 , c sin ( g / 3 ). thus , a multiple echo gradient echo scan can be preformed such that one of the t e s will lead to the maximum or minimum of the imaginary part of eq . 10 . at the maximum ( or minimum ), the value of g / 3 will be around π / 2 + 2nπ ( or − π / 2 + 2nπ ) where n is an arbitrary integer . the real part of used as a consistency check to verify that πλα 2 ρ 0 , c cos ( g / 3 ) is zero ( within uncertainty ). alternatively , both πλα 2 ρ 0 , c and g / 3 can be solved from eq . 10 as the first term in eq . 10 is almost a constant when | g |≧ 3π / 2 and p is known . nonetheless , this latter method is less favorable , as quantitative analysis involving the imaginary part or the phase may lead to a large uncertainty . with the three circle approach discussed above , p and ρ 0 can be determined at a given t e . because a 2 = p / g , the susceptibility and object volume can be determined uniquely if the rough value of ρ 0 , c ( which is most likely on the same order of magnitude of ρ 0 ) is known . however , it should be appreciated that this procedure will fail if the cylindrical object is at the magic angle ( i . e ., ˜ 55 °) against the main field , as no field would exist inside the object and therefore the imaginary part in eq . 10 vanishes . when a cylindrical object is at the magic angle , an alternative approach of determining the susceptibility and volume of the cylindrical object is to acquire the signal from a the spin echo sequence , as follows : s sr = ρ 0 λa ( 1 − λ )+ πλα 2 ρ 0 , = ρ 0 λa − ρ 0 λπα 2 + πλα 2 ρ 0 , c ( 11 ) where a is the area of any geometry that encloses the object . if the signal - to - noise ratio in the spin echo image is sufficiently high , using two such geometries , ρ 0 in eq . 11 from the spin echo sequence can be determined and the term πλα 2 ρ 0 , c in eq . 11 can be expressed by the measured spin echo signal and the unknown object volume . furthermore , if the imaging parameters used in a gradient echo sequence and the spin echo sequence are about the same such that the t 2 decay of the object can be neglected , πλα 2 ρ 0 , c eq . 11 is roughly the mri signal of the object from the gradient echo sequence and the following equation can be applied : s = πλρ 0 ρ ∫ p / r s dx j 0 ( x )/ x 2 + πλα 2 ρ 0 , c ( 12 ) since the magnetic moment p can be determined at a given echo time of a gradient echo image , the volume of the object is essentially πρλ / g . as such , g becomes the only unknown in eq . 12 and g can be determined . however , it should be appreciated that in some cases , only the minimum value of | g | will be determinable using this approach . the concept of this approach can also be extended to the three - dimensional case . when a cylindrical object is parallel to the main field , eq . 10 becomes : s = ρ 0 λπr 2 − ρ 0 λπα 2 + πλα 2 ρ 0 , c e − 2i g / 3 ( 13 ) in this special case , the above multiple echo time approach described of solving eq . 10 can be applied here in order to solve g from an echo time that leads to the maximum or minimum signal in the imaginary part . similarly , with two concentric contours , ρ 0 and α 2 can be determined easily , provided enough signal - to - noise ratio in the gradient echo images . lastly , as a consistency check , the contribution of the real part from the last term in eq . 13 should be close to zero or the echo time should be adjusted . it should be appreciated in this case that the exact g will not be determinable unless the range of the object susceptibility is known in advance . in view of the foregoing , it should be appreciated that the complex summation method of the present invention simultaneously overcomes three common problems associated with estimating magnetic moment or magnetic susceptibility , namely , the partial volume effect , the dephasing effect in the magnitude image , and the phase aliasing effect in the phase image . moreover , it should be appreciated that , in general , a gradient echo sequence with one echo time is sufficient for the complex summation method to determine the effective magnetic moment of the object . the complex summation method relies on existing imaging parameters , but does not require any other a priori information . the invention facilitates the evaluation and monitoring of microbleeds ( defined as objects whose mri signal and susceptibility are different from the mri signal and susceptibility of their surrounding environment or tissue ) over time since more accurate magnetic moment and / or volume approximation of such objects can be obtained using the method . additionally , localized nanoparticle concentrations can be quantified using the invention , assuming the magnetic moment or volume of such object can be determined . still further , the invention can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of drug treatments , assuming the drug uses a targeted contrast agent that contains iron or some other substance that causes major signal changes that are visible in magnetic resonance images . in view of the foregoing , it should be appreciated that the invention achieves the several advantages over prior art methods and mri systems . as various modifications could be made in the constructions and methods herein described and illustrated without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting . thus , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims appended hereto and their equivalents . for example , if the intensity of a set of magnetic resonance images is uniform across a wide region , it should be appreciated that a volume of arbitrary geometry can be used to determine the effective spin density ( ρ 0 ) of the neighboring tissue of the object of interest . after determining the effective spin density , all the procedures described above regarding quantifying the effective magnetic moment may require only two circles or two spheres in the two - dimensional and three - dimensional approach , respectively . other procedures described above may require one less circle or sphere in the two - dimensional and three - dimensional approach , respectively . it should also be understood that when introducing elements of the present invention in the claims or in the above description of the preferred embodiment of the invention , the terms “ comprising ,” “ including ,” and “ having ” are intended to be open - ended and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements . additionally , the term “ portion ” should be construed as meaning some or all of the item or element that it qualifies . moreover , use of identifiers such as first , second , and third should not be construed in a manner imposing any relative position or time sequence between limitations . still further , the order in which the steps of any method claim that follows are presented should not be construed in a manner limiting the order in which such steps must be performed . | 6 |
throughout the following description , similar reference characters refer to similar elements or members in all of the figures of the drawings . referring now to the drawings , and to fig1 in particular , there is shown a transaction machine representative of the type which may utilize the invention . the illustrated transaction machine is an automatic teller machine ( atm ), although the invention is equally applicable to other types of remote transaction machines . the illustrated machine includes the base assembly 10 which contains the inner workings of the machine and supports the control panel 12 . in this specific embodiment , the control panel includes the display 14 , the function keys 16 located adjacent to the display 14 , and the function keys 18 located below the display 14 . the function keys 16 and 18 provide a means for entering the input information or data into the machine by the user . the display 14 is used to convey information to the user such as account information and requested user actions . also included on the control panel 12 are various apertures for openings which can be used to input or output objects during the transaction . these include the currency or bill dispenser aperture 20 , the card aperture 22 , and the receipt slot or aperture 24 . operation and use of these functions on the control panel can be similar to present atm systems . fig2 is a view illustrating the general location and configuration of the input and output devices on the control panel . fig2 also illustrates one embodiment of the invention wherein the input and output devices are surrounded by an illuminating means which can be activated by the control apparatus of the machine to prompt the user through the operation and use of the machine . each of the apertures in the control panel , that is apertures 20 , 22 and 24 , is encircled or surrounded by an illuminating border , such as border 26 around aperture 24 . border 26 can be illuminated to prompt the user that the machine is requesting some activity at the aperture 24 . typically , this would be done when a receipt is expected to be taken from the aperture 24 by the user . thus , the user is directed to the exact location where the activity is to be accomplished without the need to read labels or identifying indicia for each of the apertures on the control panel . in addition , this highlighting or prompting is useful in low light conditions where it would be difficult to read unlighted labels and where the highlighting provided by the borders is more apparent . function keys 16 and 18 provide a means for the user to input data to the machine . when a particular bank of function keys is to be used by the user , that bank of function keys can be highlighted by a similar border . for example , the border 28 around the function keys 18 would be illuminated to indicate to the user that the machine is requesting an input from one or several of the input keys or function keys contained within the border 28 . the control panel includes the illustration 30 which is permanently adhered to the surface of the panel to indicate that the users plastic card is inserted into the aperture 22 to initiate a transaction . border 32 would be illuminated when this user action is expected . fig3 represents , in more detail , the use of the border 32 around the aperture 22 for prompting the user . the border 32 is illustrated in the illuminated mode which would be used to draw the users attention to the aperture 22 . using a series of illuminating bulbs behind an opening in the control panel would provide the desired illumination of the border 32 . other arrangements may be used , including the fiber optic arrangement which is shown and described elsewhere herein . fig4 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein an indicator light 34 is used to prompt the user that activity is expected at the aperture 22 . although the light 34 does not surround or enclose the aperture 22 , the user is still directly prompted that the activity desired is located at aperture 22 . fig5 illustrates still another embodiment of the invention where a lamp or light 36 is illuminated by the control apparatus of the machine in sequence with the operation of the machine to indicate an activity request at aperture 22 . here , the lamp 36 illuminates the area of the control panel around the aperture 22 and also illuminates any object protruding from the aperture 22 . in cases where the aperture being illuminated is an output aperture , the output object , such as currency or a receipt slip , would be illuminated by the corresponding indicator lamp . fig6 illustrates an arrangement where a border 38 , capable of illumination , surrounds several groups of input devices . in this embodiment , the border 38 surrounds the display 14 and the input function keys 16a and 16b . when illuminated , as illustrated , the border 38 indicates that some activity with the display and / or function keys is being requested . this could be simply reading a message on the display 14 , or inputting one of the function keys 16a and 16b . fig7 shows another embodiment wherein the separate groups of function keys are surrounded by separate illuminating borders to further indicate at which group of function keys the user activity is expected . in this illustration , function keys 16b are being highlighted by the border 40 to indicate that the user input is expected at this group of keys as opposed to the function keys 16a . fig8 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein the function keys themselves can be illuminated to indicate to the user their expected use for the next input of data . a similar highlighting can be produced by the lamp 42 shown in fig9 which illuminates all of the input keys in the group . fig1 illustrates a specific embodiment of the invention for synchronizing the highlighting or illuminating of two of the apertures in the machine . it is within the contemplation of this invention that more than two apertures may be illuminated and various input devices may be illuminated by the apparatus shown in fig1 as being selectively illuminated . for clarity and for simplicity in describing this specific embodiment of the invention , only two apertures are shown in fig1 . according to fig1 , the controller 44 synchronizes the operation of the machine with the light distributing apparatus shown in fig1 . the controller 44 controls the dc stepper motor 46 which rotates the rotatable shutter or disk 48 , which is also shown in fig1 a . the optical sensor device 50 determines the position of the shutter 48 due to the passage of light through the three openings 52 , 54 and 56 in shutter 48 . when opening 54 is aligned with the optical sensor device 50 , light passes through opening 58 and into the fiber optic light bundle 60 . this light is conveyed to aperture # 2 which is illuminated by the light energy produced by the light source 62 . when the controller rotates the disk 48 so that the opening 56 is aligned with the sensor device 50 , none of the light from light source 62 is transmitted through a fiber optic bundle , so neither of the two apertures is illuminated . alignment with opening 52 allows light to pass through opening 59 and illuminate aperture # 1 . it is emphasized that other arrangements for selectively illuminating the apertures and input devices of the machine may be used without departing from the teachings of the invention . fig1 illustrates how the ends of the optical fibers in the bundle may be arranged at the control panel to provide the illuminating border around the input or output device , which is shown in fig1 as a single button 66 for simplicity . fig1 shows a side view of the arrangement shown in fig1 . the optical fibers in the bundle 68 are spread out in a rectangular fashion around the button 66 such that their ends radiate light in a direction basically perpendicular to the surface of the control panel . this effectively causes the light conveyed or transmitted by the optical fibers to produce a border around the associated input or output device . in order to achieve this arrangement and distribution of light , the optical fibers are of different lengths so that some of the fibers would terminate close to the entire bundle package and some of the optical fibers would terminate near the lower end 70 of the illuminating border . fig1 illustrates an embodiment wherein an optical fiber bundle 72 is used to illuminate an object , such as a deposit slip 74 , protruding from the aperture 76 in the control panel 78 . according to this arrangement , the fiber optic bundle illuminates the object in the opening rather than highlights or surrounds the opening with a border of illuminating light . it is emphasized that numerous changes may be made in the above - described apparatus without departing from the teachings of the invention . for example , illuminating devices not employing optical fibers could be used , or only a portion of the input / output devices or locations need be highlighted . in addition , the illumination need not be synchronized according to every expected use of the device , but according to certain selected devices or levels of utilization during the operation of the machine . it is intended that all of the matter contained in the foregoing description , or shown in the accompanying drawings , shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting . | 6 |
the various exemplary embodiments described are not intended to be limiting , but rather , instructive to one of ordinary skill in the art . a first embodiment is shown in fig1 . the sliding ramp can have a first platform attached to an apron ( 103 ) or lip . the sliding ramp ( 100 ) can have a foot plate ( 101 ) attached to a second platform . each platform can include a series of ramp panels ( 102 ) and side rails ( 104 ). each ramp panel can be an extruded panel , a casted grate , and / or other functionally equivalent panels . the first platform can include a guide plate ( 105 ) on each side , and the second platform can include a mounting block ( 108 ) on each side . the guide plate and mounting block can be configured to slidably couple the first and second platforms . the first platform can be adapted to slide relative to the first platform between a storage position , as shown in fig3 , and an extended position , as shown in fig1 . in some embodiments the sliding ramp can further include one or more leg support structures ( 107 ) that can be coupled to the first and / or second platforms . a leg support structure can include a pair of spaced , substantially parallel tubing members . each tubing member can have a wheel ( 106 ) coupled to the leg support structure . the wheel can be slidably and / or retractably coupled to the leg support structure . an exemplary first platform ( 116 ) is shown in fig4 . the first platform can have an apron ( 103 ) that can engage a floor , for example the floor of a cargo trailer . the first platform can have one or more female members , such as guide plates ( 105 ) that can be mounted to the side rails ( 104 ). the guide plate can include a groove ( 113 ) that can accept a male member that can be attached to the second platform , such as the mounting block ( 108 ) described below . the guide plates can be attached to the side rails by any suitable means , including bolted on . fig5 shows overhead , side , and longitudinal views of the exemplary first platform of fig4 . the first platform can further include a ramp post ( 114 ) located adjacent an end of the groove ( 113 ). the ramp post ( 114 ) can be bolted and / or welded to the first platform . as is shown , except for a tapered end , the guide plates ( 105 ) can extend above the work surface of the first platform . an exemplary second platform ( 117 ) is shown in fig6 and 7 . a second platform can include a foot plate ( 101 ), one or more ramp panels ( 102 ), and one or more side rails ( 104 ). a mounting block ( 108 ) can be attached near the end furthest from the foot plate . the mounting block can include a male member , such as a mounting post ( 112 ) to engage the guide plate ( 105 ) and / or groove ( 113 ) of the first platform . the mounting block can also include a notch ( 115 ). alternatively , the mounting plate could include wheels and / or bearings to facilitate operation of the sliding ramp , as well as include a notch , catch , and / or stop mechanism to ensure that the ends of the two platforms marry to form a substantially flush and even work surface when the sliding ramp is in an operational configuration . the second platform can further include a tie bar ( 109 ), as shown in fig6 . fig7 shows overhead and side views of a second platform . mounting block ( 108 ) is attached near the end of the second platform furthest from the foot plate ( 101 ). the foot plate ( 101 ) is shown with handle cut - outs ( 110 ), which can facilitate operation of the sliding ramp . the mounting post ( 112 ) can be disposed in the guide plate groove ( 113 ) and slide within the groove during operation of the sliding ramp . the guide rail groove ( 113 ) drops near the end furthest from the apron . as the second platform slides into an extended position , the groove ( 113 ) allows the second platform to drop into an operational position as the mounting post reaches the end of the guide rail groove , and thereby the second platform comes substantially into the plane with the first platform . in the operational position , the notch ( 115 ) may engage the ramp post ( 114 ) to further strengthen and support the connection of the first platform to the second platform . in the embodiments described above , the female member is attached to the first platform and the male member is attached to the second platform . however , it should be understood that the locations may be reversed such that the male member is attached to the first platform and the female member is attached to the second platform . similarly , the sliding ramp described above may use any sliding mechanism that allows the first platform to be slidably coupled with the second platform and is not limited to the guide plate - mounting block system described . fig8 and 9 show an exemplary leg support structure . the structure can include one or more wheels ( 106 ) and one or more legs ( 107 ). in an exemplary embodiment , a leg can have a tubing member . two or more tubing members can be configured substantially parallel to one another and be rigidly held in their respective position by a support plate weldment ( 111 ). areas 8 a - c of fig8 are shown in greater detail in fig9 . each leg ( 107 ) can be equipped with a retracting wheel assembly ( 106 ). the wheel assembly can include a rod sized to fit within the leg , as shown in 8 b . a guide can be secured to the upper end of rod and a lower guide can be secured to the lower end of each rod . each guide can be held on a rod with a retaining pin arrangement and each can be dimensioned to fit within the tubing members so that they can freely slide therewithin . each lower guide can have a caster coupled thereto , such as with a plurality of bolts , as shown in 8 c . the caster and its associated wheel can be dimensioned so that they also fit within hollow tubing member . stops can be provided within tubing members to prevent the respective wheel assembly from leaving the tubing member , for example by a rivet or bolt that would limit the movement of the guides . the leg support structure can be pivotally coupled to one or more of the first and second platforms . to use the sliding ramp , the end of the first platform is attached to a vehicle . the user slides the second platform relative to the first platform until the second platform does not overlie the first platform and the two platforms form a substantially continuous and co - planar walking surface . the leg supports are then folded down so that they contact the ground . the ramp is then in a position to load or unload cargo from the vehicle . to store the sliding ramp , the process is reversed . the leg supports are folded into the stored position and the user slidably moves the second platform relative to the first platform until the second platform substantially overlies the first platform . fig1 shows an alternative embodiment of a sliding ramp in accordance with the present invention . embodiments have been described herein in exemplary forms for instructing a person of ordinary skill in the art . such embodiments and / or forms are not intended to limit the following claims to specific structures or steps . other embodiments can be practiced and / or implemented without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims . | 1 |
fig1 shows an external view of a sensor ( 20 ) with a back - end ( 22 ) and a probe ( 1 ) according to the present invention where the probe part ( 1 ) is adapted to be inserted in connection with e . g . an exhaust gas . the probe ( 1 ) is attached to the sensor ( 20 ) by flanges ( 21 ) of the probe ( 1 ) and sensor ( 20 ) respectively having openings where nuts and bolts may be used to fix the two parts together . any other means to attach the parts would however also apply to the present invention . fig2 shows a top view of an embodiment of the probe ( 1 ) according to the present invention . the probe ( 1 ) comprises a light source and detector system positioned in connection to a lens ( 2 ). the detector emits light through the lens ( 2 ) towards a reflector ( 3 ) by a light path illustrated by the dashed arrow reaching from the lens ( 2 ) to the reflector ( 3 ), where it is reflected back towards and back through the lens ( 2 ) to a detector . the detector and light source is not illustrated . the emitted light passes through a first purge gas volume ( 4 a ), a measuring region ( 5 ) and a second purge gas volume ( 4 b ). the first ( 4 a ) and second ( 4 b ) purge gas volumes are positioned between the measuring region ( 5 ) and respectively the lens ( 2 ) and the reflector ( 3 ). purge gas ( 7 ) flows in each of the purge gas volumes ( 4 a , 4 b ) in the direction towards the measuring region ( 5 ) thus preventing gas or other substances and particles in the measuring region ( 5 ) from entering into the purge gas volumes ( 4 a , 4 b ) by the flow of purge gas , this thus forming a protection or curtain for respectively the lens ( 2 ) and reflector ( 3 ). the purge gas ( 7 ) thus flows essentially in directions parallel to the light path , at least in the areas of the purge gas volumes ( 4 a , 4 b ). in some embodiment of the present invention the probe ( 1 ) comprises none or only one of the first ( 4 a ) and second ( 4 b ) purge gas volumes . the purge gas ( 7 ) could be a specific gas or just air ( e . g . being filtered or cleaned ) conveyed into the system . the probe ( 1 ) comprises a sample inlet ( 8 a ) being in flow communication with the flow of gas ( 9 ) to be measured , and where this sample inlet ( 8 a ) is in flow communication with a sample gas conduit ( 10 ) being connected to the measuring region ( 5 ) by three branches ( 10 a , 10 b , 10 c ). each of the branches in one embodiment has different flow restrictions , or alternatively as in the illustrated embodiment , the sample gas conduit ( 10 ) changes flow restriction in the sections between the branches ( 10 a , 10 b , 10 c ). the sample gas ( 6 ) entering the sample inlet ( 8 a ) ( such as being dragged into the sample inlet ( 8 a ) from the flow of gas ( 9 ) by e . g . a venturi pump ) is by the branches ( 10 a , 10 b , 10 c ) splits into three flows entering the measuring region ( 5 ). with different flow restrictions in the branches ( 10 a , 10 b , 10 c ) it is possible to regulate the individual three flows rates ( 6 a , 6 b , 6 - c ) such that they are the same or alternatively so that two or all of them are different . in the illustrated embodiment the branches ( 10 a , 10 b , 10 c ) formed by two ‘ flow guides positioned as walls between the sample gas conduit ( 10 ) and the measuring region ( 5 ), and where the different flow restrictions are formed by a slope of the walls of these ‘ flow guides ’ directing towards the sample gas conduit ( 10 ) thus changing its cross section area and thereby the flow restriction . alternative embodiments could be introduced such as inserting glass capillary tubes of different lengths and / or internal diameters . the illustrated embodiment shows three branches ( 10 a , 10 b , 10 c ) splitting the sample gas ( 6 ) into three flows ( 6 a , 6 b , 6 c ), but an alternative embodiment only comprises two flows ( 6 a , 6 b ) and two branches ( 10 a , 10 b ). in this embodiment the first flow ( 6 a ) enters the measuring chamber ( 5 ) in the area close to the first purge gas volume ( 4 a ) and the second flow ( 6 b ) in the area close to the second purge gas volume ( 4 b ) and are in this manner adapted to remove purge gas ( 7 ) entering the measuring region ( 5 ) from the first ( 4 a ) and second ( 4 b ) purge gas volume respectively , especially from a middle region of the measuring region ( 5 ) such that this middle region comprises sample gas ( 6 ) un - mixed with purge gas ( 7 ). if the sample gas ( 6 ) was mixed with the purge gas ( 7 ) its concentration would be altered and thus the measurements affected . it has however been found often to be difficult filling the middle region with sample gas ( 6 ) having only the first and second flows ( 6 a , 6 b ) and therefore to this purpose in the illustrated embodiment of the present invention a third branch ( 10 c ) is introduced forming a third flow ( 6 c ) feeding the middle region . a sample outlet ( 8 b ) for expelling the sample gas ( 6 ) from the probe ( 1 ) after it has left the measuring region ( 5 ) and where said sample outlet ( 8 b ) is positioned in flow communication with the flow of gas ( 9 ) to be measured . the measuring region ( 5 ) is connected to the sample outlet ( 8 b ) through at least two outlets branches ( 10 d , 10 e ) of the section of the sample gas conduit ( 10 ) connecting the measuring region ( 5 ) to the sample outlet ( 8 b ). in the preferred there are only two outlet branches ( 10 , 10 e ) to guide the flows ( 6 a , 6 b , 6 c ) correctly through the measuring region ( 5 ) to fill it . in other configurations it has been found by simulations that undesired turbulences may be formed preventing the sample gas ( 6 ) from filling the measuring region ( 5 ), especially its middle region . the sample gas ( 6 ) as it enters the sample gas conduit ( 10 ) is directed into the measuring region ( 5 ) as thee flows ( 6 a , 6 b , 6 c ) that may have similar or different flow rates . the inlet outlet regions of the measuring region ( 5 ) are each connected to a separate outlet branch ( 10 d , 10 e ) such that the first flow ( 6 a ) and second flow ( 6 b ) passes , or transverses , the measuring region ( 5 ) with an angle relative to the direction of the light path and / or the flow of the purge gas ( 7 ) being higher than 45 degrees , or more specifically higher than 60 degrees or more specifically in the area around 90 degrees thus being essentially perpendicular thereto . the first ( 6 a ) and third ( 6 c ) flows in their flow from the respective branches ( 10 a , 10 c ) to the respective outlet branches ( 10 d , 10 e ) will drag the entering purge gas ( 7 ) along and out of the measuring region ( 5 ) thereby preventing it from getting in contact with the middle region and the second flow ( 6 b ) inferring with the measurements . in the same manner the second flow ( 6 b ) transverses the measuring region ( 5 ) at an angle relative to the direction of the light path and / or the flow of the purge gas ( 7 ) being higher than 45 degrees , or more specifically higher than 60 degrees or more specifically in the area around 90 degrees thus being essentially perpendicular thereto , but where this may change as it passes as it may leave the measuring region ( 5 ) through one or both of the outlet branches ( 10 b , 10 e ) also being used by the first ( 6 a ) and third ( 6 c ) flows . preferably it enters the measuring region ( 5 ) by an angle in the range around 90 degrees . the probe ( 1 ) in the illustrated embodiment is positioned in connection with the flow of gas ( 9 ) in a manner where sample inlet ( 8 a ) is at an angle relative to the flow direction of the gas ( 9 ) to be measured being higher than 45 degrees , or more specifically higher than 60 degrees or more specifically in the area around 90 degrees thus being essentially perpendicular thereto . the same applies to the sample outlet ( 8 b ). further , the sample gas ( 6 ) enters the probe ( 1 ) from a sample inlet ( 8 a ) positioned behind the reflector ( 3 ) seen in the direction of the emitted light from the lens ( 2 ). introducing a sample inlet ( 8 a ) in a manner where it is positioned with an angle to the flow of gas such as close to 90 degrees it is ensured the gas does not itself tend to flow into the probe ( 1 ) but is dragged into the sample inlet ( 8 a ) e . g . by a venturi pump whereby it is it is possible to control the flowrates within the probe ( 1 ). this is unlike e . g . ep 2 604 999 where the inlets are positioned in the flow path of the gas such that it enters directly into the probe . an disadvantage with the this construction is e . g . the free passage of gasses to the measuring region making it hard to empty the measuring region from gasses during calibration as it would require a significant pressure to overcome the forces of pressure from the freely flowing gasses . the flow rates in the measuring region thus depend on flows and other conditions not controllable by the sensor system . by dragging the gas into the sample inlet ( 8 a ) the exchange rate of sample gas ( 6 ) within the measuring region ( 5 ) will be well known and defined just as it eases the task of emptying the measuring region ( 5 ) for calibration as to be described below , the flow rates and response times will be well defined and controllable . to avoid mixing the sample gas ( 6 ) expelled from the sample outlet ( 8 b ) with the sample gas ( 6 ) entering the sample inlet ( 8 a ), an extension ( 11 ) is positioned between the sample inlet ( 8 a ) and sample outlet ( 8 b ) reaching out from the probe ( 1 ) into the flow of the gas ( 9 ). fig3 shows a further feature of the present probe ( 1 ) showing it in a top - view and having a supply path ( 12 ) of purge gas ( 7 ) to the first purge gas volume ( 4 a ) comprises a first encircling section ( 12 a ) surrounding the first purge gas volume ( 4 a ) having a point inlet ( 13 a ) situated in the end close to the measuring region ( 5 ), thus distal to the lens ( 2 ), wherefrom the purge gas spreads to the full circumference of said first encircling section ( 12 a ) and enters said first purge gas volume ( 4 a ) in the end close to the lens ( 2 ). the encircling section ( 12 b ) may be formed as one coaxial chamber to the first purge gas volume ( 4 a ) or as a number of individual conduits extending from the supply path ( 12 ) to inlets to the first purge gas volume ( 4 a ) situated in the end proximal to the lens ( 2 ). in the present context ‘ point inlet ’ is to be understood in the sense that the flow path ( 12 ) changes from being narrow , cross section area is significantly smaller than the cross section area of e . g . the first purge gas volume ( 4 a ), but it spreads into an substantially wider first encircling section ( 12 a ) having cross section area larger than that of e . g . the first purge gas volume ( 4 b ). fig4 shows a cross section view of the encircling section ( 12 a ) at the point inlet ( 13 a ) with the purge gas ( 7 ) spreading from the supply path ( 12 ) through the point inlet ( 13 a ) having a cross section area smaller than that of the encircling section ( 12 a ) and purge gas volume ( 4 a ). fig5 shows a top view of the section around the lens ( 2 ) showing the purge gas ( 7 ) entering from the encircling section ( 12 a ) to the purge gas volume ( 4 a ) in a substantially uniform manner around the circumference of the lens ( 2 ) forming a laminar flow in the purge gas volume ( 4 a ). in the same manner and formed similar or differently to the first encircling section ( 12 a ), the present probe ( 1 ) may comprise a supply path ( 12 ) of purge gas ( 7 ) to the second purge gas volume ( 4 b ) that comprises a second encircling section ( 12 b ) surrounding the second purge gas volume ( 4 b ) and having a point inlet ( 13 b ) situated in the end close to the measuring region ( 5 ), thus distal to the reflector ( 3 ), wherefrom the purge gas spreads to the full circumference of said second encircling section ( 12 b ) and enters said second purge gas volume ( 4 b ) in the end close to the reflector ( 3 ). the setup having the point inlets ( 13 a , 13 b ) positioned at a distance relative to the lens ( 2 ) and reflector ( 3 ) respectively and then spreading in a circumference manner around the first and second purge gas volumes ( 4 a , 4 b ) helps distributing the entering purge gas ( 7 ) uniformly in the circumference of the lens ( 2 ) and reflector ( 3 ), otherwise there would be differences in the incoming purge gas ( 7 ) inside the purge gas volumes ( 4 a , 4 b ) thus forming turbulences that might actually help particles in entering from measuring region ( 5 ) into the purge gas volumes ( 4 a , 4 b ), rather than preventing it . the present probe ( 1 ) further is capable to operate in an operation mode and a calibration mode . the sample gas ( 6 ) only flows in the operation mode whereas the purge gas ( 7 ) flows both in the operation and calibration modes , where it operates as purge gas ( 7 ) during the operation mode according to the previous description , but is being used as calibration gas in the calibration mode , where the sample gas ( 6 ) flow is closed . to prevent gas ( 9 ) from entering the system during calibration mode it has been found sufficient maintaining or increasing the flow of purge gas ( 7 ) in the system . in this manner purge gas ( 7 ) are conveyed out of the sample inlet ( 8 a ) and sample outlet ( 8 b ) in the direction against the gas ( 9 ) thus expelling the gas ( 9 ) before into the system by sample inlet ( 8 a ) and sample outlet ( 8 b ). purge gas ( 7 ) is also conveyed out of the sample outlet ( 8 b ) during normal operation as also described above , but prevented from entering the part of the sample gas conduit ( 10 ) connected to the sample inlet ( 8 a ) by a valve or other means , or simply by the flow of sample gas ( 6 ) in the system . the calibration mode includes closing for the sample gas ( 6 ) entering the measuring region ( 5 ) letting the purge gas flow for a given time period of time to empty the measuring region ( 5 ) of sample gas ( 6 ) and then making calibration measurements . the purge gas ( 7 ) is therefore of a known composition having a well - defined and known absorption spectrum , and may in one embodiment dried before entering the supply paths ( 12 ) to ensure it is clean of particles and moist that might influence the calibration measurements . as also described above , due to the position of the sample inlet ( 8 a ) and that the sample gas ( 6 ) is dragged into the probe ( 1 ) and directed to the measuring region ( 5 ) rather than flowing directly into it , all flows within the probe ( 1 ) is controllable and it does not require to counter act the forces of the gas to keep it out as in the cases of the probes where there is direct gas access to the measuring region . while the present disclosure has been illustrated and described with respect to a particular embodiment thereof , it should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications to this disclosure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure . | 6 |
korean patent application no . 10 - 2007 - 0039859 filed on apr . 24 , 2007 , in the korean intellectual property , and entitled : “ plasma display device ,” is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety . example embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings ; however , example embodiments may be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set fourth herein . rather , these example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . in the figures , the dimensions of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity of illustration . it will also be understood that when a layer or element is referred to as being “ on ” another layer or substrate , it can be directly on the other layer or substrate , or intervening layers may also be present . further , it will be understood that when a layer is referred to as being “ under ” another layer , it can be directly under , and one or more intervening layers may also be present . in addition , it will also be understood that when a layer is referred to as being “ between ” two layers , it can be the only layer between the two layers , or one or more intervening layers may also be present . like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout . referring to fig1 and 2 , a plasma display device 1 may include a pdp 10 for displaying images , a plurality of heat dissipation sheets 20 , a plurality of double - side adhesive tapes 30 , a chassis base 40 , and a plurality of pcbs 50 . the pdp 10 may include a front substrate 11 and a rear substrate 12 attached to be opposite to each other . in addition , the pdp 10 may include electrodes , e . g ., display electrodes ( not shown ), and address electrodes 13 , disposed between the substrates 11 and 12 . the address electrodes 13 may be covered with a dielectric layer 14 . a portion of the address electric 13 not covered by the dielectric layer 14 may form a terminal 15 extending from the dielectric layer 14 . the terminal 15 may be connected to a fpc 60 . the heat dissipation sheets 20 may be provided on a rear surface of the pdp 10 . the heat dissipation sheets 20 may conduct and diffuse heat generated in the pdp 10 . the heat dissipation sheets 20 may be made of at least one of an acryl heat radiating material , a graphite heat radiating material , a metal heat radiating material , and a carbon nanotube heat radiating material . the double - sided adhesive tapes 30 may be disposed between the pdp 10 and the chassis base 40 . for example , double - sided adhesive tapes 30 a may be disposed between the heat dissipation sheets 20 ( i . e ., in the y - axis direction ), and double - sided adhesive tapes 30 b may be disposed in an upper side and / or a lower side of the heat dissipation sheets 20 ( i . e ., in the x - axis direction ). the double - sided adhesive tapes 30 may be disposed on the pdp 10 and / or the chassis base 40 . in addition , the double - sided adhesive tapes 30 may be partitioned in intervals to reduce the cost of materials . the chassis base 40 may be attached to the rear surface of the pdp 10 via the double - sided adhesive tapes 30 surrounding the heat dissipation sheets 20 . as such , the heat dissipation sheets 20 may be disposed on a front surface of the chassis base 40 . on a rear surface of the chassis base 40 , a plurality of reinforcing members 41 may be attached thereon , to support and mount some of the pcbs 50 . for example , the reinforcing members 41 may be attached to the rear surface of the chassis base 40 , and some of the pcbs 50 may be supported and mounted on the reinforcing members 41 . in an implementation , two reinforcing members 41 may be disposed in a horizontal direction ( i . e ., x - axis direction ), and two reinforcing members 41 may be disposed in a vertical direction ( i . e ., y - axis direction ), as illustrated in fig3 . some of the pcbs 50 may be mounted on the reinforcing members 41 by fasteners , e . g ., screws 42 . in addition , some of the pcbs 50 may also be attached on the rear surface of the pdp 10 . in particular , the pcbs 50 may be attached on a lower portion of the pdp 10 exposed by the chassis base 40 . in an implementation , one or more pcbs 50 may be directly attached to the pdp 10 by double - sided adhesive tapes 31 . a first sealing material 28 and a second sealing material 29 may be formed at ends of the pdp 10 . for example , the first sealing material 28 may be formed at an end of the front substrate 11 and the fpc 60 , and the second sealing material 29 may be formed at an end of the rear substrate 12 and the fpc 60 . the first sealing material 28 and the second sealing material 29 may prevent ingress of moisture and foreign substances in an area attaching the pcbs 50 and the fpc 60 . the pcbs 50 may provide various operations for driving the pdp 10 . for example , the pcbs 50 may include a sustain board 51 for controlling a sustain electrode ( not shown ) among the display electrodes , a scanning board 52 for controlling a scan electrode ( not shown ) among the display electrodes , an address buffer board 53 for controlling the address electrodes 13 , an image processing / controlling board 54 for applying control signals to corresponding boards , and a power supply board 55 for supplying power required for driving the sustain board 51 , the scanning board 52 , the address buffer board 53 , and the image processing / controlling board 54 . the sustain board 51 and the scanning board 52 may be connected to the respective sustain and scanning electrodes via another fpc ( not shown ). the address buffer board 53 may be connected to one of the address electrodes 13 via the fpc 60 . referring to fig3 , the pdp 10 may be generally rectangular shaped , i . e ., having a first long side 111 , a second long side 112 , a first short side 121 , and a second short side 122 . the first long side 111 and the second long side 112 may be opposite to each other . the first short side 121 and the second short side 122 may be opposite to each other and orthogonal to the first long side 111 and the second long side 112 . the chassis base 40 may include a first area 140 and may expose a second area 240 . the first area 140 of the chassis base 40 may be an area covering a majority portion of the pdp 10 , i . e ., the first area 140 may include the first long side 111 and a majority portion of each of the first short side 121 and the second short side 122 . the second area 240 exposed by the chassis base 40 may be an area of the remaining portion of the pdp 10 , i . e ., the second area 240 may include the second long side 112 and a minority portion of each of the first short side 121 and the second short side 122 . when the chassis base 40 is attached to the pdp 10 , a lower portion of the pdp 10 is exposed , i . e ., the second long side 112 in the exposed second area 240 . the terminal 15 of the address electrode 13 may be exposed in the second area 240 of the chassis base 40 . it should be appreciated that the second area 240 may also be formed in the first long side 111 , the first short side 121 and / or the second short side 122 of the pdp 10 . the reinforcing members 41 may be attached in the first area 140 of the chassis base 40 to mount some of the pcbs 50 , e . g ., the sustain board 51 , the scanning board 52 , the image processing / controlling board 54 , and the power supply board 55 in the first area 140 . another pcb 50 , e . g ., the address buffer board 53 , may be attached to the pdp 10 in the exposed second area 240 , i . e ., along the second long side 112 of the pdp 10 . since the fpc 60 may connect the terminal 15 extending from the address electrode 13 of the pdp 10 to a connector 153 of the address buffer board 53 , a distance corresponding to a thickness of the chassis base 40 may be reduced in the second area 240 , where the address buffer board 53 is attached . that is , since the address buffer board 53 may be attached directly to the rear surface of the pdp 10 , the length of the fpc 60 connecting the address electrodes 13 and the connector 153 may be reduced . the fpc 60 may be a tape carrier package ( tcp ), which may be used to mount a driver ic ( not shown ) and control the address electrodes 13 . fig4 illustrates a cross - sectional view of a pdp 10 ′ according to another example embodiment . fig4 is similar to that of fig1 - 3 , and therefore descriptions of portions similar to those of example embodiments of fig1 - 3 will be omitted , and portions different from those of example embodiments of fig1 - 3 will be described . referring to fig4 , a metal plate 32 may be disposed between an address buffer board 63 and the double - sided adhesive tape 31 ′. the address buffer board 63 may be mounted on the metal plate 32 by a fastener , e . g ., a screw 42 ′. the address buffer board 63 may be attached to the rear substrate 12 ′ of the pdp 10 ′ by way of the metal plate 32 and the double - sided adhesive tape 31 ′. a surface of the metal plate 32 may be attached to the double - sided adhesive tape 31 ′, and the other surface thereof may be attached to the address buffer board 63 . in addition , the metal plate 32 may be connected to a ground pattern ( not shown ) of the address buffer board 63 to improve ground performance of the address buffer board 63 . further , in order to improve ground performance , the metal plate 32 may be connected to the chassis base 40 ′. example embodiments may provide a plasma display device for reducing a length of a fpc by directly attaching a pcb to a pdp , and by reducing the length of the fpc , the manufacturing cost may be reduced as well . example embodiments may provide a plasma display device for attaching an address buffer board to a rear surface of a pdp , so that a length of a fpc connecting the address buffer board and address electrodes may be reduced . example embodiments have been disclosed herein , and although specific terms are employed , they are used and are to be interpreted in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purpose of limitation . accordingly , it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | 6 |
as will now be appreciated , certain embodiments of the present invention not only enable a user to place , respectively , a plurality of objects into a plurality of blister - like chambers in a sheet , but also enable the user to label each object being packaged so that necessary information associated with the packaged object can be associated with each object . for instance , in the pharmaceuticals field , systems and methods of this invention enable the labeling of each unit dose to be packaged so that the product and / or its recipient may be identified properly , to help insure that the correct medicine in the correct amount is provided to the correct patient at the correct time . the objects to be packaged in accordance with this invention may vary widely , but will typically include objects which are relatively small in size ( less than 10 cm 2 , and preferably less than 1 cm 2 ) with an average width , average thickness and an average length which can vary . in a preferred embodiment , the objects are pharmaceutical products which are distributed as solid or semi - solid objects in the form of pills , tablets , capsules , caplets or the like . it should be appreciated , however , that other larger objects , e . g ., syringes or any other object or device conveniently packaged in the type of sheets disclosed in this description , may be packaged by employing a system or method of this invention . the sheet into which the objects are placed will form an array of blister - like chambers . the number of recesses in the array in a given sheet will vary based upon the intended use of the sheet and the size of the objects to be placed in the recesses . typical recess arrays in preferred sheets will have 500 or fewer recesses . a fewer number of recesses may be more desirable when an adhesive backing with space for printed matter or other optical indicia is used to convey information about the contents of each recess . the circumference and depth of each recess may also vary widely , but preferably each recess will be sized to facilitate placement of an object within the recess without having any portion of the object extend above the plane occupied by the flat surface of the sheet , so that any adhesive backing may fit neatly against the sheet without obstruction . the recesses are also preferably sized so that only one object may be placed into a respective recess , to avoid inadvertent placement of multiple objects into a recess . when the objects to be placed in the recesses are pharmaceutical in nature , the sheet preferably is made of a flexible , clear plastic material suitable for storing pharmaceutical products . also in such circumstance , the sheet is preferably perforated so that the sheet material surrounding each recess may be separated from the adjacent recesses to facilitate dispensation of the contents of each recess on a individualized basis . referring now to the drawings , a preferred device of this invention is illustrated in fig1 and 2a , which depict a planar member 10 having a top surface 12 and a bottom surface 14 . top surface 12 is characterized by a plurality of substantially linear and substantially parallel undulations formed by a plurality of rounded rails 16 disposed in parallel fashion relative to one another so as to define a plurality of grooves 18 therebetween . top surface 12 also defines a plurality of recesses 20 , each recess 20 being disposed within a respective groove 18 , each groove 18 having disposed along its length a plurality of recesses 20 disposed therein . each recess 20 has associated with it a respective fluid passageway 22 extending through member 10 and through top surface 12 and bottom surface 14 . in some embodiments of this invention , it may be preferable for the planar member recesses to be sized and configured to receive substantially all of one , and even more preferably only one , object to be loaded into a blister - like chamber of the target sheet . in this way , the planar member may be more specifically configured to the particular object being loaded into the chambers of the sheet , to avoid loading of multiple objects into a chamber inadvertently . however , this configuration of the planar member may require that different objects having different sizing be loaded using planar members particularly sized for those objects , so that the user who loads a variety of objects into target sheets may wish to have a number of planar members at his or her disposal . it should also be noted that the planar member may be fabricated from a wide variety of materials , but will preferably be fabricated from a material which itself provides a fairly smooth top surface , or provides a surface which can be made smooth and slick through the application of a slicking agent to facilitate movement of objects across the top surface . another embodiment of the present invention provides an alternative configuration of the planar member . in particular , as may be seen in fig2 b , an alternative planar member 10 is comprised of a base portion 11 and removable rounded rails 16 a . as illustrated , each rail 16 a is connected to base portion 11 through a dove - tailed tongue 13 which runs the length of the rail and a corresponding groove 15 in base portion 11 . in this way , rails 16 a may be separated from base portion 11 so that a sheet which forms an array of blister - like chambers may be placed flush against a top surface 17 of base portion 11 . when base portion 11 is then rotated while the sheet ( see fig4 ) is held flush against the top surface in order to transfer the contents of recesses 20 into the blister - like chambers of the sheet , the chance that the contents of recesses 20 will fall outside of a corresponding blister - like chamber of the sheet is reduced . it should be appreciated that other means of attaching each rail 16 a to base portion 11 may be envisioned and feasible . for example , mechanical snaps , screws , magnets , hook and loop fastening material and the like , as well as many other attachment means may be employed to connect each rail to the base portion so that the rails may be removed after filling recesses 20 , in order to facilitate transfer of the objects from recesses 20 to the blister - like chambers of the target sheet further illustrated in fig4 and described in detail below . another embodiment of the invention provides for attachment of multiple planar members 10 , 10 to one another , as illustrated in fig3 . the planar members 10 , 10 in fig3 are aligned and connected to one another , end - to - end as illustrated , by attachment means in the form of a latch 24 . of course , here again , other attachment means , like those described above with respect to rails 16 a ( fig2 b ) may be envisioned and are within the scope and spirit of the invention . in this way , additional planar member recesses 20 may be filled with ease by one swipe of objects across elongated grooves 18 formed by end - to - end aligned planar members 10 , 10 . of course , any number of attachable planar members could be so aligned and attached to elongate even further the recess - containing grooves , thereby increasing even more the number of recesses which could be filled with a single deposit and swipe of objects across the grooves . fig4 illustrates an exemplary target sheet 30 for use in accordance with the present invention . a plurality of blister - like chambers 32 are arrayed across sheet 30 , and a perforation pattern 34 through sheet 30 enables separation of the portions of sheet 30 surrounding each chamber 32 from the rest of sheet 30 . as illustrated , a backing 36 is suspended above sheet 30 . preferably , backing 36 includes an adhesive on the side adjacent to sheet 30 , the adhesive being patterned so as to provide adhesive only in a pattern which excludes the area above each chamber 32 . in this way , when backing 36 is placed in adhering contact with sheet 30 , adhesive is not present in the enclosed space formed by the walls of the blister - like chambers 32 and the adjacent portion of sheet 30 , to avoid adhesive from coming into contact with the contents of chambers 32 . backing 36 is also preferably configured to permit printing of information ( e . g ., bar coding , text , etc .) on the side opposite from sheet 30 , so that information related to the contents of each chamber 32 may be printed thereon . a preferred apparatus employing the device of fig1 to provide a system in accordance with this invention is illustrated in fig5 . there it can be seen that planar member 10 is engaged with a vacuum chamber 40 so as to enclose the space within chamber 40 . chamber 40 is in fluid communication with a vacuum pump p through a vacuum hose 42 . chamber 40 has extending from one end a flange 44 , and is connected to a template support 46 by a hinge 48 . template support 46 supports a template 50 upon which is placed sheet 30 . a receptacle 52 is disposed adjacent to chamber 40 for receiving excess objects when they are swept across top surface 12 . template support 46 further includes a flange 54 which is provided with an electrical on - off switch 56 operatively connected to pump p . in operation , when switch 56 is actuated to “ on ,” pump p forms a vacuum within vacuum chamber 40 . this vacuum in turn creates a vacuum within each fluid passageway 22 ( see fig2 a ) extending through planar member 10 and opening into respective recesses 20 . during such operation , objects may be swept across grooves 18 of planar member 10 until each recess 20 contains one of the objects and the vacuum formed in each respective fluid passageway 22 ( see fig2 a ) tends to draw the object toward the floor of a respective recess 20 . once the desired number of recesses contain objects respectively , vacuum chamber 40 may be lifted and pivoted relative to template support 46 in the direction of the arrow indicated in fig5 until top surface 12 of planar member 10 is disposed directly above target sheet 30 . when flange 44 comes into contact with switch 56 , switch 56 is then actuated to “ off ” so that pump p is switched off , whereupon the contents of each recess 20 drop into a corresponding and adjacent chamber 32 of sheet 30 . before , during or after this operation , a sheet of backing 36 may be printed using a printer x optionally controlled by a computer z . using the computer , and typically appropriate and commercially available label printing software , the information to be printed on backing 36 may be customized for the particular objects deposited into sheet 30 , with suitable information such as , e . g ., patient identification information and / or chamber contents identification information , including bar coding if desired . of course , when only a portion of chambers 32 of sheet 30 are to be filled , using computer z the print placed on backing 36 can be edited so that print is placed only on the portion of backing 36 covering filled chambers 30 . in some cases , it will be desirable to configure computer z with a bar code reader ( not shown ) so that bulk objects which are labeled with bar coding ( e . g ., a national drug code in bar code form ) can be read into the system for labeling individual objects from the bulk container in a consistent manner . it also may be desirable to configure the computer with a database to store desired information , such as bar coding information , for preselected objects or products , to reduce the possibility of human error when inputting data for printing on the backing and to generally facilitate use of the system . it should be appreciated that , in some cases , use of the apparatus of fig5 may cause additional objects to fall within a recess 20 of planar member 10 inadvertently , especially when the recess size is large enough , relative to the objects being loaded , to permit more than one object to fall within a recess 20 . in such a case , after a vacuum is formed in chamber 40 as previously described , vacuum chamber 40 may be lifted and pivoted relative to template support 46 in the direction of the arrow indicated in fig5 until top surface 12 of planar member 10 is disposed substantially directly above a receptacle ( not shown ) for excess objects which have been lodged in one or more recesses 20 of planar member 10 . the excess objects which are not retained by the vacuum within the fluid passageway 22 of the respective recess 20 will fall out of the respective recess 20 . then , the target sheet 30 may receive the retained objects from the recesses of member 10 once switch 56 is activated as described above . if desired , the planar members of this invention may be used to fill target sheets in accordance with this invention even without a vacuum pump system employing fluid passageways through the members and associated vacuum chambers and pumps . in such a case , the planar member is preferably configured as illustrated in fig2 b , so that the top surface of the planar member may be modified by removal of the rails to provide a bottom portion having a flat top surface when the target sheet is placed upon the planar member and the blister - like chambers are aligned with the recesses of the planar member . of course , once aligned with each other , the sheet and planar member may then be manually flipped so that the contents of the planar member recesses fall into the chambers of the target sheet . another embodiment of the invention could also provide that each rail be configured for attachment to the adjacent rail ( s ), e . g ., by attaching adjacent ends of the rails to a crossbar or some other form of connecting means , so that all of the rails could be attached and removed substantially in unison with one another , thereby facilitating use of the planar member . it should now be appreciated that the present invention provides an economical , yet commercially viable , solution to the packaging and accurate labeling of objects , and in particular small objects such as pharmaceutical products . in preferred embodiments of the invention , the system may be a table - top configuration which permits small offices and institutional operations alike to package and properly label materials in easy - to - dispense blister packs such as those described herein . it should also be apparent that , when desired , the systems , devices and methods of this invention enable the loading of multiple objects into each individual blister - like chamber of the target sheet , so that unit doses and multiple doses may be loaded into each chamber when desired . to do so would be a matter of repeating the loading procedure for each individual object to be placed in a chamber of the target sheet , and placing the adhesive backing bearing the desired information on the sheet once the desired contents is placed therein . each and every patent , patent application and printed publication referred to above is incorporated herein by reference in toto to the fullest extent permitted as a matter of law . it should be appreciated that , while specific embodiments are described hereinafter , several other applications of the presently described invention may be contemplated by those of skill in the art in view of this disclosure . accordingly , the scope of this invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described in detail hereinafter . rather , what is intended to be covered is as set forth in the ensuing claims and the equivalents thereof permitted as a matter of law . as used in this specification , means - plus - function clauses , if any , are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the cited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures . | 1 |
embodiments of the present invention are described below . a correspondence relationship between a constituent of the present invention and an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated as follows . the following mention is made to check the fact that embodiments of the present invention are described in modes for carrying out the invention . even if an embodiment that is not described in the mention but described in the description exists as the embodiment corresponding to the constituent of the present invention , it does not mean that the embodiment that is not described in the mention but described in the description does not correspond to the constituent . on the other hand , even if the description that the embodiment corresponds to the constituent is made , it does not mean that the embodiment does not correspond to other constituents except the constituent . that is , an information processing device in accordance with one aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention includes a game console image capturing unit ( for example , an individual - machine camera 38 in fig9 ) configured to capture an image of a player who plays with a game console at each game console installed in an amusement shop , an area image capturing unit ( for example , an in - store camera 42 in fig9 ) configured to capture the image of the player who enters or exits an area where a plurality of game consoles is provided or an island facility in units of areas or island facilities , a matching unit ( for example , a matching unit 293 in fig9 ) configured to match the player with a registrant , the player being captured in the images by the game console image capturing unit and the area image capturing unit , an entry management unit ( for example , an area entry management unit 275 a in fig9 ) configured to manage an entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , an exit management unit ( for example , an area exit management unit 275 b in fig9 ) configured to manage an exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , a play starting management unit ( for example , a play starting management unit 275 c in fig9 ) configured to manage a play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by the matching unit , a potential player determining unit ( for example , a potential player determining unit 275 e in fig9 ) configured to determine whether the player whose entry is managed by the entry management unit and who is matched by the matching unit is a potential player who wants to play with a model of a game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by the play starting management unit , and an attention level calculator ( for example , an attention level db management unit 275 g in fig9 ) configured to calculate an attention level of the game console which is a predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determining unit for the predetermined model . it is possible to further include a stay time calculator ( for example , a stay time calculator 275 f in fig9 ) configured to calculate a stay time of the area for each player who is matched by the matching unit based on the entry clock time and the exit clock time , and the potential player determining unit can determine the player as the potential player when the stay time in the area of the player is longer than a predetermined time and the play starting clock time is not registered within the stay time in the area of the player . it is possible to include a display unit ( for example , a display unit 25 in fig9 ) configured to display , on a unit of the predetermined model or a predetermined area unit , the attention level of the game console to be the predetermined model calculated by the attention level calculator . it is possible to further include a detector ( for example , a game console signal management unit 271 in fig9 ) configured to detect an out ball in each game console , and the play starting management unit can be caused to manage the play starting clock time of each game console for each player who is matched by the matching unit in such a manner that the detector detects a change of an out ball from a non - presence state to a presence state . an information processing method and a non - transitory computer readable medium storing a program in accordance with one aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention include a game console image capturing step ( for example , step s 11 in fig1 ) of capturing an image of a player who plays with a game console at each game console installed in an amusement shop using a game console image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who plays with the game console at each game console installed in the amusement shop , an area image capturing step ( for example , step s 31 in fig1 ) of capturing the image of the player who enters or exits an area where a plurality of game consoles is provided or an island facility , in units of areas or island facilities using an area image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who enters or exits the area where the plurality of game consoles is provided or the island facility in units of areas or island facilities , a matching step ( for example , steps s 64 to s 72 in fig1 ) of matching the player with a registrant , the player being captured in the images through processing of the game console image capturing step and processing of the area image capturing step using a matching unit configured to match the player with the registrant , the player being captured in the images by the game console image capturing unit and the area image capturing unit , an entry management step ( for example , steps s 126 and s 127 in fig1 ) of managing an entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched through processing of the matching step using an entry management unit configured to manage the entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , an exit management step ( for example , steps s 128 and s 133 in fig1 ) of managing an exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by processing of the matching step using an exit management unit configured to manage the exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , a play starting management step ( for example , steps s 123 to s 125 in fig1 ) of managing a play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by processing of the matching step using a play starting management unit configured to manage the play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by the matching unit , a potential player determination step ( for example , steps s 129 to s 131 in fig1 ) of determining whether the player whose entry is managed by the processing of the entry management step and who is matched by the processing of the matching unit is a potential player who wants to play with a model of a game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by the processing of the play starting management step using a potential player determining unit configured to determine whether the player whose entry is managed by the entry management unit and who is matched by the matching unit is the potential player who wants to play with the model of the game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by the play starting management unit , and an attention level calculation step ( for example , steps s 131 and s 132 in fig1 ) of calculating an attention level of the game console which is a predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the processing of the potential player determination step for the predetermined model using an attention level calculator configured to calculate the attention level of the game console which is the predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on the information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determination unit for the predetermined model . fig1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a monitoring system according to an embodiment using the information processing device of the present invention . amusement shops 1 - 1 to 1 - n are what are called pachinko parlors , pachisuro ( a slot machine in the pachinko parlor ) parlors , or casinos . the amusement shops 1 - 1 to 1 - n are also affiliated stores or member stores of a bio - information management center or a third - party amusement shop management center . in the amusement shops 1 - 1 to 1 - n , a plurality of stores needed to be integrally managed . the amusement shops 1 - 1 to 1 - n are connected to one another by a third - party amusement shop management bus 4 . the amusement shops 1 - 1 to 1 - n transmit and receive third - party amusement shop management information to and from one another through the bus 4 and a public communication line network 5 typified by the internet . hereinafter , the amusement shops 1 - 1 to 1 - n are simply referred to as an amusement shop 1 unless otherwise noted . it is assumed that the same holds true for other configurations . the third - party amusement shop management bus 4 acts as a transmission line through which the medium lending management information mainly managed by a medium lending management device 27 of each amusement shop 1 flows . a third - party amusement shop management center 2 is a server that is used by a business operator who manages and operates the third - party amusement shop management center . the third - party amusement shop management center 2 updates a db including medium lending management information , which is managed in a third - party amusement shop management database ( db ) 3 , based on information supplied from each amusement shop 1 , and distributes the updated latest medium lending management information to the medium lending management device 27 of each amusement shop 1 . a bio - information recognition system 21 matches a face image , which is extracted from an image captured by individual - machine cameras 38 - 1 to 38 - m , entrance cameras 41 - 1 to 41 - p , and in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - q with individual - machine image processing units 39 - 1 to 39 - m and image processing units 40 - 1 to 40 -( p + q ) and supplied through a bio - information bus 31 , with a face image previously registered in a bio - information db 22 . when the face images are matched with each other , the bio - information recognition system 21 notifies a mobile terminal 20 that a registered player visits the store , or displays the visit of the registered player on a display unit 23 including an organic el ( electro luminescence ) or an lcd ( liquid crystal display ). an amusement shop management device 24 is one what is called a hall computer , and the amusement shop management device 24 monitors operations of an in - ball counter 251 and an out - ball counter 252 of the game console 36 in an amusement island facility ( island facility or amusement island ) 111 ( fig9 ) through an amusement shop management information bus 30 and an island facility management computer ( island computer ) 201 ( fig9 ). the amusement shop management device 24 performs predetermined processing and displays a processing result on a display unit 25 including the organic el or the lcd according to information on the number of balls acquired by the player or the number of payout medals in each game console 36 , the number of out balls , which is the number of balls discharged without entering a prize winning port , players call information on each of the game consoles 36 - 1 to 36 - m , and a monitoring state such as error generation . using a game console management db 26 , the amusement shop management device 24 manages pieces of information supplied from a counting machine 35 , the game consoles 36 - 1 to 36 - m , and game console peripheral terminals 37 - 1 to 37 - m while correlating each of the pieces of information with identification information ( for example , a game console identification number ) identifying each game console 36 . using a medium lending management db 29 , the medium lending management device 27 manages medium lending management information on a lent amusement medium based on pieces of information from an adjustment / vending machine 33 and a lending machine 34 . when the medium lending management information registered in the medium lending management db 29 is updated , the medium lending management device 27 transmits the updated information to the third - party amusement shop management center 2 through the third - party amusement shop management bus 4 and the public communication line network 5 . the medium lending management device 27 obtains the medium lending management information supplied from the third - party amusement shop management center 2 through the third - party amusement shop management bus 4 and the public communication line network 5 , and accumulates the medium lending management information in the medium lending management db 29 . in the case that the player plays the game console 36 , the lending machine 34 lends the amusement medium to the player according to a predetermined amount of money when receiving the amount of money in cash or by a prepaid card . at this point , the lending machine 34 supplies information on the number of lent amusement mediums to the medium lending management device 27 together with information on the received amount of money or a balance of the prepaid card . therefore , the medium lending management device 27 registers the information on the number of lent amusement mediums in the medium lending management database 29 together with the information on the received amount of money or the balance of the prepaid card . the adjustment / vending machine 33 sells the prepaid card with units to borrow the ball . at this point , the adjustment / vending machine 33 supplies the units of the sold prepaid card and the amount of paid money to the medium lending management device 27 . the adjustment / vending machine 33 adjusts an account and pays money based on the balance of the amusement medium that is lent as the units of the prepaid card . at this point , the adjustment / vending machine 33 supplies the balance of the prepaid card and the amount of refunded money to the medium lending management device 27 . the counting machine 35 counts the number of amusement mediums acquired by the player in playing the game console 36 , and outputs a counting result in the form of a magnetic card or a receipt . the player performs a predetermined manipulation to cause each of the game consoles 36 - 1 to 36 - m to perform the game , and each of the game consoles 36 - 1 to 36 - m pays the game ball or the medal according to what is called a small hit or a big hit . the game console peripheral terminals 37 - 1 to 37 - m are what are called inter - machine devices that are provided according to the game consoles 36 - 1 to 36 - m , and an inter - machine vending machine ( identical to the lending machine 34 in principle ) is provided according to each of the game consoles 36 - 1 to 36 - m . the game console peripheral terminal 37 obtains the bio - information on the face image of the player who plays the game console 36 , and the game console peripheral terminal 37 transmits the bio - information to the bio - information recognition system 21 together with the game console identification information ( the game console identification number ). in fig1 , by way of example , the individual - machine cameras 38 - 1 to 38 - m that capture the face image of the player are provided as a function of obtaining the bio - information in the game consoles 36 . the entrance cameras 41 - 1 to 41 - p and the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - q are installed at doorways and predetermined sites in the amusement shop 1 , and supply the captured images to the image processing units 40 - 1 to 40 -( p + q ), respectively . for example , the individual - machine cameras 38 - 1 to 38 - m may be provided below machine display lamps 61 - 1 to 61 - 4 provided in upper portions of the game consoles 36 - 1 to 36 - 4 as illustrated in fig2 such that the face image of the player is captured within a read range θ as illustrated in fig3 . therefore , each camera id can simultaneously be used as a game console id . for example , in the individual - machine cameras 38 - 1 to 38 - m , projections 71 - 1 to 71 - 4 may be provided in the game console peripheral terminals 37 - 1 to 37 - 4 as illustrated in fig4 such that the face image of the player is captured within a read range θ as illustrated in fig5 . for example , as illustrated in fig6 , the face image of the player may be captured while the individual - machine cameras 38 - 1 to 38 - m are provided in a central portion ( on a board of the game console 36 ) of the game console 36 . that is , the individual - machine camera 38 is installed in an installation unit 81 in fig6 , thereby capturing the face image of the player within a read range φ as illustrated in fig7 . the entrance cameras 41 - 1 to 41 - p and the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - q are installed at doorways and predetermined sites in the amusement shop 1 , and supply the captured images to the image processing units 40 - 1 to 40 -( p + q ), respectively . for example , the entrance cameras 41 - 1 to 41 - p and the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - q are installed as illustrated in fig8 . fig8 illustrates an installation example of the entrance cameras 41 - 1 to 41 - p and the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - q in the amusement shop 1 . in fig8 , doorways 112 - 1 to 112 - 3 are provided , and the entrance cameras 41 - 1 to 41 - 3 capture the images of the players who enter the amusement shop 1 through the doorways 112 , respectively . the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - 16 are provided at positions where entrance and exit of the player to and from areas set by the island facilities 111 - 1 to 111 - 5 can be checked , respectively . more specifically , the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - 4 capture the image of the player who enters and exits the areas in the island facilities 111 - 1 and 111 - 2 . that is , the in - store cameras 42 - 2 and 42 - 3 capture the image of the player who enters the area between the island facilities 111 - 1 and 111 - 2 , and the in - store cameras 42 - 1 and 42 - 4 capture the image of the player who exits the area between the island facilities 111 - 1 and 111 - 2 . similarly , the in - store cameras 42 - 5 to 42 - 8 capture the image of the player who enters and exits the area between the island facilities 111 - 2 and 111 - 3 . the in - store cameras 42 - 9 to 42 - 12 capture the image of player who enters and exits the area between the island facilities 111 - 3 and 111 - 4 , and the in - store cameras 42 - 13 to 42 - 16 capture the image of the player who enters and exits the area between the island facilities 111 - 4 and 111 - 5 . the individual - machine camera 38 , the entrance camera 41 , and the in - store camera 42 have a pan - tilt - zoom function . therefore , as illustrated in fig8 , the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - 16 are disposed , which allows any one of the in - store cameras 42 - 1 to 42 - 16 to capture the images of all the players who play the game consoles 36 . the in - store camera 42 - a is provided in front of the lending machine 34 , the in - store camera 42 - b is provided in front of the adjustment / vending machine 33 , the in - store camera 42 - c is provided in front of the counting machine 35 . therefore , the image of the player who uses the lending machine 34 , the adjustment / vending machine 33 , and the counting machine 35 can be captured by the in - store cameras 42 - a , 42 - b , and 42 - c , respectively . that is , the individual - machine camera 38 , the entrance camera 41 , and the in - store camera 42 are installed in the amusement shop 1 such that almost all behaviors expected to be taken in the amusement shop 1 by players , such as the player who visits the amusement shop 1 , the player who plays the game console 36 , and the player who uses the lending machine 34 , the adjustment / vending machine 33 , and the counting machine 35 can be monitored as illustrated in fig8 . a configuration example of function implemented by the facility in the amusement shop 1 will be described below with reference to fig9 . each machine image processing unit 39 includes an image acquisition unit 211 , a face image extraction unit 212 , a feature quantity extraction unit 213 , a feature quantity data table 214 , a matching unit 215 , and a transmitter 216 . the image acquisition unit 211 of the individual - machine image processing unit 39 acquires the image captured by the individual - machine camera 38 , and supplies the image to the face image extraction unit 212 . the face image extraction unit 212 extracts a rectangular image including the face image in the image supplied from the image acquisition unit 211 using a pattern in which regions constituting a face are disposed . the face image extraction unit 212 supplies the rectangular image to the feature quantity extraction unit 213 . the feature quantity extraction unit 213 extracts a feature quantity used to identify the face image , and supplies the feature quantity to the matching unit 215 and the feature quantity data table 214 together with the face image . the feature quantity data table 214 stores the feature quantity extracted from the face image of the last frame while correlating the feature quantity with a frame number , and the feature quantity data table 214 supplies the feature quantity to the matching unit 215 . the matching unit 215 obtains the degree of similarity between the feature quantity of the latest frame supplied from the feature quantity extraction unit 213 and the feature quantity obtained from the last frame , matches the face image of the last frame to the face image of the present frame by comparison with a predetermined threshold , determines with respect to the latest frame whether the face image has been newly detected to start the play , whether the identical person is present to continue the play , whether the person who has replaced another person immediately started the play , or whether the person has ended the play , and supplies the information on the feature quantity to the transmitter 216 together with a determination result . the transmitter 216 transmits the face image and a matching result of the matching unit 215 to the bio - information recognition system 21 . the transmitter 216 transmits the face image and the determination result to the bio - information recognition system 21 together with the camera id identifying the individual - machine camera 38 provided in the game console 36 . the image processing unit 40 includes an image acquisition unit 231 , a face image extraction unit 232 , and a transmitter 233 . the image acquisition unit 231 of the image processing unit 40 acquires the image captured by the entrance camera 41 or the in - store camera 42 , and supplies the image to the face image extraction unit 232 . the face image extraction unit 232 extracts the rectangular image including the face image in the image supplied from the image acquisition unit 231 using a pattern in which regions constituting the face are disposed . the face image extraction unit 232 supplies the rectangular image to the transmitter 233 . the transmitter 233 transmits the face image to the bio - information recognition system 21 . the transmitter 233 transmits the face image to the bio - information recognition system 21 together with the camera id identifying where the entrance camera 41 or the in - store camera 42 is provided . as illustrated in fig8 , the plurality of game consoles 36 are provided in the island facility 111 , each game console 36 detects the number of prize winning amusement balls using the in - ball counter 251 when the amusement ball enters the prize winning port , and the game console 36 supplies the result to the island facility management computer ( island computer ) 201 that manages the whole of the island facility . the out - ball counter 252 that counts the number of out balls discharged from each game console 36 without entering the prize winning port is provided in the island facility 111 . the out - ball counter 252 supplies the information on the counted number of out balls to the island computer 201 . the island computer 201 includes a signal detector 261 , and supplies the pieces of information , which are supplied from the game console 36 , on the number of in balls supplied from the in - ball counter 251 and the number of out balls supplied from the out - ball counter 252 to the amusement shop management device 24 together with the information identifying the game console 36 . the amusement shop management device 24 includes a game console signal management unit 271 , an operating information db 272 , a machine allocation db 273 , a transmitter / receiver 274 , a db registration management unit 275 , a patron management db 276 , an attention level display control unit 278 , and an attention level db 279 . based on the pieces of information , which are supplied from the island computer 201 , on the signals indicating the pieces of information on count values of the in - ball counter 251 and the out - ball counter 252 of each game console 36 , the game console signal management unit 271 generates operating information of each game console 36 and registers the information of each game console 36 in the operating information db 272 . the machine allocation db 273 is the database in which the information , which is set by the game console number of the game console 36 and the island facility 111 and indicates the camera capturing the image of the exit or the entrance in the area , is allocated based on the camera id . the transmitter / receiver 274 receives the matching result of the face image supplied from the bio - information recognition system 21 and information such as away - from - machine detection , identical person detection , and new person detection , and supplies the matching result of the face image and the information to the db registration updating unit 275 . the db registration updating unit 275 registers the patron management db 276 and the attention level db 279 based on information such as away - from - machine detection , identical person detection , and new person detection , which is supplied from the transmitter / receiver 274 , in the patron management db 276 . more particularly , the db registration updating unit 275 includes an area entry management unit 275 a , an area exit management unit 275 b , a play starting management unit 275 c , a play ending management unit 275 d , a potential player determining unit 275 e , a stay time calculator 275 f , and an attention level db management unit 275 g . the area entry management unit 275 a registers information on a clock time when the person of the face image captured by the in - store camera 42 at the entrance in the predetermined area enters the area from the camera id in the patron management db 276 while correlating the information on the clock time with a person id of the authenticated player supplied based on the information on the new person detection . the area exit management unit 275 b registers information on a clock time when the person of the face image captured by the in - store camera 42 at the exit in the predetermined area exits the area from the camera id in the patron management db 276 while correlating the information on the clock time with the person id of the authenticated player supplied based on the information on the new person detection . when the face image captured by the individual - machine camera 38 having the predetermined game console number is detected from the camera id based on the person id of the authenticated player supplied based on the information on the new person detection while the play starting management unit 275 c presently reads the operating information on the corresponding game console 36 from the operating information db 272 , the play starting management unit 275 c registers the clock time information as the play starting information in the patron management db 276 . when the play ending management unit 275 d does not read the operating information of the corresponding game console 36 from the operating information db 272 while the face image captured by the individual - machine camera 38 of the game console 36 having the predetermined game console number is not detected from the camera id supplied based on the away - from - machine information , the play ending management unit 275 d registers the clock time information as the play ending information in the patron management db 276 . based on the information which is stored in the patron management db 276 on the player of the face image captured by the in - store camera 42 at the exit in the predetermined area from the camera id , the potential player determining unit 275 e controls the stay time calculator 275 f to calculate a stay time in the area , and determines whether the player is a potential player staying in the area in a state in which the player wants to play but does not play based on whether the player plays the game console 36 installed in the area within the stay time . in the case of the potential player , the attention level db management unit 275 g regards , as an attention console , the game console 36 present in the area to cumulatively add the stay time , thereby calculating an attention level and registering the attention level in the attention level db 279 for every game console 36 . in the case that the display of the attention level for the model of the specific game console 36 is requested , the operation unit 277 including a keyboard and an operation button is operated to receive an instruction for that effect , and the attention level display control unit 278 reads information about the attention level and the number of the potential players for the game console 36 of which attention level is requested to be displayed in the information about the attention level registered in the attention level db 279 , and displays , on the display unit 23 , a proper attention level for examining the replacement of the game console 36 . in this case , the attention level display control unit 299 controls the operating rate calculator 299 a to calculate a corresponding operating rate to the game console 36 of which attention level is requested to be displayed , thereby displaying , on the display unit 25 , the operating rate together with the attention level . when acquiring the face image and various notifications , which are supplied from the individual - machine image processing unit 39 and the image processing unit 40 , the transmitter / receiver 291 of the bio - information recognition system 21 supplies the face image and various notifications to the notification determination unit 292 . the transmitter / receiver 291 transmits various face images and notifications , which are supplied from the notification determination unit 292 and the matching unit 293 , to the amusement shop management device 24 . the notification determination unit 292 determines whether the notification supplied from the transmitter / receiver 291 is the away - from - machine detection , the identical person detection , or the person detection . in the case of the away - from - machine notification , the notification determination unit 292 controls the transmitter / receiver 291 to transmit the information to the amusement shop management device 24 . in the case of the person detection , the notification determination unit 292 supplies the information on the person detection to the matching unit 293 . the matching unit 293 registers the information on the face image supplied by the person detection in the visitor db 295 , matches the face image to those of the persons registered in the visitor db 295 , and transmits the matching result to the amusement shop management device 24 from the transmitter / receiver 291 together with the person id . more particularly , the matching unit 293 includes a feature quantity extraction unit 311 , a similarity calculator 312 , a similarity calculation result accumulation unit 313 , a similarity calculation result counting unit 314 , and a similarity determination unit 315 . the feature quantity extraction unit 311 extracts various feature quantities necessary for the face image matching from the face image , and supplies the face image to the similarity calculator 312 together with the extracted feature quantities . based on the feature quantities of all the face images , which are supplied by the database management unit 296 and registered in the visitor db 295 , and the feature quantities supplied from the feature quantity extraction unit 311 , the similarity calculator 312 calculates the degree of similarity and accumulates the degree of similarity in the similarity calculation result accumulation unit 313 . the similarity calculation result counting unit 314 supplies the face image having the top degree of similarity in all the degrees of similarity accumulated in the similarity calculation result accumulation unit 313 and the information on the top degree of similarity to the similarity determination unit 315 . in the case that the supplied top degree of similarity is higher than a predetermined threshold , the similarity determination unit 315 determines that the face image having the top degree of similarity is matched with the face image registered in the visitor db 295 , and transmits the notification supplied together with the person id as the new person detection to the amusement shop management device 24 from the transmitter / receiver 291 . in the case that the supplied top degree of similarity is not higher than the predetermined threshold , the similarity determination unit 315 determines that the face image having the top degree of similarity is not matched with the face image registered in the visitor db 295 , and supplies the face image to the registration unit 294 , newly sets the person id , registers the new person id in the visitor db 295 , and transmits the notification supplied together with the registered person id as the new person detection to the amusement shop management device 24 from the transmitter / receiver 291 . then , face image detection processing of individual - machine image processing unit 39 will be described with reference to a flowchart in fig1 . in step s 11 , the individual - machine camera 38 captures the image in the direction in which the player is present from the installation position , and supplies the captured image to the individual - machine image processing unit 39 . the image acquisition unit 211 of the individual - machine image processing unit 39 acquires the supplied image , and supplies the image to the face image extraction unit 212 . in step s 12 , the face image extraction unit 212 extracts a rectangular image including the face image in the image supplied from the image acquisition unit 211 using the pattern in which the regions constituting the face are disposed , and the face image extraction unit 212 supplies the rectangular image to the feature quantity extraction unit 213 . in step s 13 , the face image extraction unit 212 determines whether the face image can be extracted from the image . when the face image can be extracted in step s 13 , the processing goes to step s 14 . in step s 14 , the feature quantity extraction unit 213 extracts the feature quantity used to identify the face image , and supplies the feature quantity to the matching unit 215 and the feature quantity data table 214 together with the face image . the feature quantity data table 214 stores the feature quantity extracted from the face image of the last frame while correlating the feature quantity with the frame number , and the feature quantity data table 214 supplies the feature quantity to the matching unit 215 . in step s 15 , the matching unit 215 obtains the degree of similarity between the feature quantity of the latest frame supplied from the feature quantity extraction unit 213 and the feature quantity obtained from the previous frame . when the matching unit 215 determines that the obtained degree of similarity is higher than the predetermined threshold , that the face image of the last frame is matched with the face image of the present frame , and that the presently - captured image of the player is identical to the last image of the player in step s 16 , the processing goes to step s 17 . in step s 17 , the matching unit 215 controls the transmitter 216 to transmit the notification of the identical person detection indicating that the presently - captured image of the player is identical to the last image of the player to the bio - information recognition system 21 . the notification of the identical person detection includes the camera id identifying the individual - machine camera 38 that has captured the face image , the information on the image capturing clock time , and the information on the face image . on the other hand , when the matching unit 215 determines that the obtained degree of similarity is not higher than the predetermined threshold and that the presently - captured image of the player is of a new player different from the last frame image of the player in step s 16 , the processing goes to step s 18 . in step s 18 , the matching unit 215 controls the transmitter 216 to transmit the notification of the person detection indicating that the face image to which the face image matching has not been performed has been detected to the bio - information recognition system 21 . the notification of the person detection includes the camera id identifying the individual - machine camera 38 that has captured the face image , the information on the image capturing clock time , and the information on the face image . when the face image cannot be extracted in step s 13 , the processing goes to step s 19 . in step s 19 , the matching unit 215 determines whether the face image has been detected in the last frame based on the information recorded in the feature quantity data table 214 . when the face image has been detected , namely , when the player was playing at the last minute , the processing goes to step s 20 . in step s 20 , the matching unit 215 controls the transmitter 216 to transmit the notification of the away - from - machine detection indicating that the player having the face image to which the matching has been performed at the last minute has ended the play to leave the game console to the bio - information recognition system 21 . the notification of the identical person detection includes the camera id identifying the individual - machine camera 38 that has captured the face image and the information on the image capturing clock time . when the face image has not been detected in the last frame in step s 19 , the processing in step s 20 is skipped . through the above pieces of processing , according to the face image of the player captured by the individual - machine camera 38 , the individual - machine image processing unit 39 can transmit the three kinds of notifications , namely , the identical person detection , the person detection , and the away - from - machine detection to the bio - information recognition system 21 . the notifications include the camera id of the camera capturing the image and the image capturing clock time , and the face image as needed basis . then , face image detection processing of image processing unit 40 will be described with reference to a flowchart in fig1 . in step s 31 , the in - store camera 42 captures the image near the entrance or the exit in the area set by the island facility 111 from the installation position , captures the image in the direction in which the player who enters or exits the area presents , and supplies the captured images to the image processing unit 40 . the image acquisition unit 231 of the image processing unit 40 acquires the supplied image , and supplies the image to the face image extraction unit 212 . in step s 32 , the face image extraction unit 232 extracts the rectangular image including the face image in the image supplied from the image acquisition unit 231 using a pattern in which regions constituting the face are disposed , and the face image extraction unit 232 supplies the rectangular image to the transmitter 233 . in step s 33 , the face image extraction unit 232 determines whether the face image can be extracted from the image . when the face image can be extracted in step s 33 , the processing goes to step s 34 . in step s 34 , the transmitter 233 transmits the notification of the person detection indicating that the face image to which the face image matching has not been performed has been detected to the bio - information recognition system 21 . the notification of the person detection includes the camera id identifying the in - store camera 42 that had captured the face image , the information on the image capturing clock time , and the information on the face image . when the face image cannot be extracted in step s 33 , the processing in step s 34 is skipped . through the above pieces of processing , the image processing unit 40 can extract the face image of the player who enters or exits each area in which the image has been captured by the in - store camera 42 , and transmit the notification of the person detection including the camera id of the camera that has captured the image , the image capturing clock time , and the face image to the bio - information recognition system 21 . bio - information recognition processing performed by the bio - information recognition system 21 will be described below with reference to a flowchart in fig1 . in step s 61 , the notification determination unit 292 controls the transmitter / receiver 291 to determine whether the notification of the person detection has been transmitted from the individual - machine image processing unit 39 or the image processing unit 40 . in step s 61 , when the notification of the person detection has been transmitted from the individual - machine image processing unit 39 or the image processing unit 40 through the processing in step s 18 in fig1 or the processing in step s 34 in fig1 for example , the processing goes to step s 62 . in step s 62 , the notification determination unit 292 acquires the transmitted information on the person detection together with the pieces of information on the camera id , the image capturing clock time , and the face image , which are included in the information on the person detection , and supplies the information on the person detection to the feature quantity extraction unit 311 of the matching unit 293 . in step s 63 , the feature quantity extraction unit 311 extracts the feature quantity from the face image attached to the supplied notification of the person detection , and supplies the feature quantity to the similarity calculator 312 together with the information on the person detection . in step s 64 , the similarity calculator 312 controls the database management unit 296 to set the unprocessed face image in the face images of the player registered in the visitor db 295 to the processing target face image , and to read the unprocessed face image . in step s 65 , the similarity calculator 312 calculates the degree of similarity using the feature quantity of the processing target face image and the feature quantity supplied by the feature quantity extraction unit 311 . in step s 66 , the similarity calculator 312 accumulates the information on the calculated degree of similarity in the similarity calculation result accumulation unit 313 while correlating the information on the calculated degree of similarity with the processing target face image , namely , the person id identifying the processing target face image . in step s 67 , the similarity calculator 312 controls the database management unit 296 to determine whether the unprocessed face image exists in the face images of the player registered in the visitor db 295 . when the unprocessed face image exists in step s 67 , the processing returns to step s 64 . that is , the pieces of processing in steps s 64 to s 67 are repeated until the degree of similarity is obtained for the face images of all the players registered in the visitor db 295 . when the degree of similarity is determined to be obtained for the face images of all the players registered in the visitor db 295 because the unprocessed face image does not exist in step s 67 , the processing goes to step s 68 . in step s 68 , the similarity calculation result counting unit 314 obtains order according to the similarity value for all the degrees of similarity stored in the similarity calculation result accumulation unit 313 , and supplies the order to the similarity determination unit 315 . in step s 69 , the similarity determination unit 315 determines whether the obtained top degree of similarity is higher than a predetermined threshold and whether the face image is matched with the face image of the player registered in the visitor db 295 . when the top degree of similarity is higher than the predetermined threshold and when the face image is matched with the face image of the player registered in the visitor db 295 in step s 69 , the processing goes to step s 70 . in step s 70 , the similarity determination unit 315 controls the transmitter / receiver 291 to transmit the new person detection indicating information on the face image in which the matching has been completed to the amusement shop management device 24 . the new person detection includes the person id of the face image of the top degree of similarity , the camera id of the camera that has captured the face image , and the information on the image capturing clock time . on the other hand , when the top degree of similarity does not exceed the predetermined threshold and when the notified face image for person detection is not matched with any face images of the player registered in the visitor db 295 in step s 69 , the processing goes to step s 71 . in step s 71 , the similarity determination unit 315 supplies the face image supplied as the person detection to the registration unit 294 . the registration unit 294 issues the new person id , registers the new person id in the visitor db 295 as illustrated in fig1 , and supplies the information on the registered new person id to the similarity determination unit 315 . in fig1 , the person id is registered on the left , and the face image is registered while correlated with the person id . in step s 72 , the similarity determination unit 315 controls the transmitter / receiver 291 to transmit the new person detection indicating information on the face image in which the matching has been completed to the amusement shop management device 24 . the new person detection includes the person id of the face image that has been newly registered in the visitor db 295 , the camera id of the camera that has captured the face image , and the information on the image capturing clock time . when the notification of the person detection has not been transmitted in step s 61 , the processing goes to step s 73 . in step s 73 , the notification determination unit 292 determines whether the transmitted notification is the away - from - machine detection . in step s 73 , when the transmitted notification is the away - from - machine detection through , for example , the processing in step s 20 in fig1 , the notification determination unit 292 controls the transmitter / receiver 291 to transmit the away - from - machine detection including the camera id and the image capturing clock time to the amusement shop management device 24 in step s 74 . when the transmitted notification is not the away - from - machine detection in step s 73 , the notification determination unit 292 determines the notification is the identical person detection in step s 75 . in step s 75 , when the transmitted notification is the identical person detection through , for example , the processing in step s 17 in fig1 , the notification determination unit 292 controls the transmitter / receiver 291 to transmit the identical person detection including the pieces of information on the face image , the camera id , and the image capturing clock time to the amusement shop management device 24 in step s 76 . when the transmitted notification is not the identical person detection in step s 75 , the processing returns to step s 61 . through the pieces of processing , for the person detection , the face image is matched to the face image of the player registered in the visitor db 295 , and the face image is transmitted as the new person detection to the amusement shop management device 24 while the person id of the authenticated face image is added to the face image . in the case that the face image is not matched with any players registered in the visitor db 295 , the face image is registered as the new visitor in the visitor db 295 while the new person id is added to the face image . for the away - from - machine detection or the identical person detection , the face image is directly transmitted to the amusement shop management device 24 . then , operating information management processing of the island facility 111 , the island computer 201 , and the amusement shop management device 24 will be described with reference to a flow chart in fig1 . in step s 91 , the out - ball counter 252 of the island facility 111 determines whether the out ball , which is discharged without entering the prize winning port , is being generated in the amusement balls launched by playing with the game console 36 . when the out ball is being generated , the generated out ball is counted , and supplied as the out - ball count to the island computer 201 . the signal detector 261 of the island computer 201 stores the out - ball count number counted by the out - ball counter while correlating the out - ball count number with a game console number ( machine number ) identifying the game console 36 . when the out ball is not counted in step s 91 , the processing in step s 92 is skipped . on the other hand , in step s 101 , the game console signal management unit 271 of the amusement shop management device 24 determines whether a predetermined time has elapsed , and repeats the similar processing until the predetermined time elapses . when the predetermined time has elapsed , the processing goes to step s 102 . in step s 102 , the game console signal management unit 271 sets the unprocessed game console 36 to the processing target game console 36 . in step s 103 , the game console signal management unit 271 makes a request of the count value of the out - ball counter of the processing target game console to the island computer 201 . in response to step s 103 , in step s 93 , the signal detector 261 of the island computer 201 determines whether the machine number indicating the processing target game console and the count value of the out - ball counter of the processing target game console are requested . when the machine number and the count value are requested through , for example , the processing in step s 103 , the processing goes to step s 94 . in step s 94 , the signal detector 261 supplies the count value of the out - ball counter , which is supplied by the island facility 111 and stored for each machine number of the game console 36 , to the game console signal management unit 271 of the amusement shop management device 24 . in step s 104 , the game console signal management unit 271 acquires the supplied information on the count value of the out - ball counter of the processing target game console , and the game console signal management unit 271 stores the information while correlating the information with the machine number identifying the game console 36 . in step s 105 , the game console signal management unit 271 determines whether the count value of the out - ball counter of the processing target game console has increased compared with the most - recently - stored count value . when the count value has not increased in step s 105 , the processing goes to step s 106 . in step s 106 , the game console signal management unit 271 accesses the operating information db 272 to determine whether the operating information of the processing target game console is presently in play . for example , the operating information db 272 is one illustrated in fig1 . a machine number field , a clock time field indicating the clock time when the data is recorded , and a state field are provided from the left in the operating information db 272 . in fig1 , for recording of the game console 36 having the machine number 0001 , the play was started at 10 : 00 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and the play was ended at 11 : 06 on the same day . accordingly , the determination that the play has been ended for the machine number 0001 is made at the present time . on the other hand , for the game console 36 having the machine number 0002 , while the play was started at 12 : 06 on the same day , the ending of the play has not been recorded . therefore , in the case that the processing target game console is the game console having the machine number 0002 for example , the play is being continued at the present moment . when the play is presently being continued in step s 106 , the processing goes to step s 107 . in step s 107 , the game console signal management unit 271 registers the information indicating the play ending in operating information db 272 , for example , as illustrated in a second row in fig1 . that is , the count value of the out - ball counter does not change , but the play starting has been registered . therefore , the play is determined to be ended at the present moment although the play is determined to have been continued until just before . the game console signal management unit 271 registers the operating information indicating the play ending in the operating information db 272 together with the clock time information while correlating the operating information with the machine number of the processing target game console . when the operating information of the processing target game console is not presently in play in step s 106 , namely , when the play remains in the ended state , the processing in step s 107 is skipped because such a state indicates that the processing target game console is not operated . in step s 108 , the game console signal management unit 271 determines whether the unprocessed game console 36 exists . when the unprocessed game console 36 exists , the processing returns to step s 102 . on the other hand , when the count value of the out - ball counter has increased in step s 105 , the processing goes to step s 110 . in step s 110 , the game console signal management unit 271 accesses the operating information db 272 to determine whether the operating information of the processing target game console is presently in play . for example , in the game console 36 having the machine number of 0001 , although the count value of the out - ball counter has increased , the play is ended at 11 : 06 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and the operating information indicating that the processing target game console is not presently in play has been recorded . therefore , it can be considered that the processing target game console has turned to the state of presently in play . when the operating information of the processing target game console is not the presently playing in step s 110 , the processing goes to step s 111 . in step s 111 , the game console signal management unit 271 registers the information indicating the play starting in operating information db 272 , for example , as illustrated in a third row in fig1 . it is because the count value of the out - ball counter changes , and the play ending is in the registered state , and therefore , although the play has not been determined to be performed until just before , the play is determined to have been started at the present moment . the game console signal management unit 271 registers the operating information indicating the play starting in the operating information db 272 together with the clock time information while correlating the operating information with the machine number of the processing target game console . when the operating information of the processing target game console is the presently playing in step s 110 , namely , when the information indicating that the play has been started remains registered , the processing in step s 111 is skipped because such a state indicates that the processing target game console continues to operate . when the unprocessed game console does not exist in step s 108 , the processing goes to step s 109 . in step s 109 , the game console signal management unit 271 returns all the game consoles to the unprocessed state . then the processing returns to step s 101 . that is , the count value of the out - ball counter is checked at predetermined time intervals for all the game consoles 36 , the present operating information is sequentially registered in the operating information db 272 from the operating information until just before and the present situation of the change of the count value . then , patron management db management processing of the amusement shop management device 24 will be described with reference to a flowchart in fig1 . in step s 121 , the db management updating unit 275 controls the transmitter / receiver 274 to determine whether the bio - information recognition system 21 has made the notification of the new person detection . in step s 121 , when the bio - information recognition system 21 has made the notification of the new person detection through , for example , the processing in step s 70 or s 72 in fig1 , the processing goes to step s 122 . in step s 122 , the db registration updating unit 275 accesses the machine allocation db 273 to specify the corresponding position based on the camera id included in the new person detection . for example , the machine allocation db 273 is one illustrated in fig1 . a camera id field , an area field , a detail field , a model field , and an area information field are provided from the left in the machine allocation db 273 in fig1 . as illustrated in the top in fig1 , for example , the camera having the camera id of c1 is the in - store camera 42 provided at the entrance of the first island facility 111 that is a one - yen area . in the second row , the camera having the camera id of c2 is the in - store camera 42 provided at the exit of the first island facility 111 that is the one - yen area . in the third row , the camera having the camera id of c3 is the individual - machine camera 38 provided in the model of xxxxx of the machine having the number of 1 in the first island facility 111 that is the one - yen area . in the fourth row , the camera having the camera id of c4 is the individual - machine camera 38 provided in the model of xxxxx of the machine having the number of 2 in the first island facility 111 that is the one - yen area . in the fifth row , the camera having the camera id of c5 is the in - store camera 42 provided at the entrance of the second island facility 111 that is a four - yen area . in the sixth row , the camera having the camera id of c6 is the in - store camera 42 provided at the exit of the second island facility 111 that is of the four - yen area . in the seventh row , the camera having the camera id of c7 is the individual - machine camera 38 provided in the model of yyyyy of the machine having the number of 3 in the second island facility 111 that is the four - yen area . thus , the information on the position of the camera is registered by the information of the machine allocation db 273 while correlated with the camera id , so that it can be identified which one of the individual - machine camera 38 , the entrance camera 41 , or the in - store camera 42 has captured the image . in step s 123 , the play starting management unit 275 c determines whether the camera that has captured the face image , which is specified from the camera id and included in the new person detection , is one of the individual - machine cameras 38 of the game consoles 36 . when the camera that has captured the face image , which is specified from the camera id and included in the new person detection , is one of the individual - machine cameras 38 of the game consoles 36 in step s 124 , the play starting management unit 275 c accesses the operating information db 272 to determine whether the operating information of the corresponding game console 36 is the play starting . in step s 124 , for example , as illustrated in the third row in fig1 , in the case that the latest information of the game console 36 having the machine number of 0002 is in the state in which the play starting has been registered at 12 : 06 on oct . 1 , 2010 , the processing goes to step s 125 because the game console 36 is determined to be operating . in step s 125 , the play starting management unit 275 c registers the information including the clock time information , the machine number of the game console , and the play starting in the patron management db 276 while correlating the information with the person id included in the new person detection . for example , the patron management db 276 is one illustrated in fig1 . a person id field , a clock time field and an area movement history field are provided from the left in the patron management db 276 in fig1 . the top row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p1 was captured by the in - store camera 42 at the entrance of the first island facility 111 at 10 : 00 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player entered the first island facility 111 . the second row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p1 was captured by the in - store camera 42 at the exit of the first island facility 111 at 10 : 06 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player exited from the first island facility 111 . the third row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p1 was captured by the in - store camera 42 at the entrance of the second island facility 111 at 10 : 30 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player entered the second island facility 111 . the fourth row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p1 was captured by the individual - machine camera 38 of the game console 36 having the machine number of 001 at 10 : 50 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player started to play with the game console 36 having the machine number of 001 . the fifth row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p1 was captured by the in - store camera 42 at the exit of the second island facility 111 at 12 : 00 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player exited from the second island facility 111 . the sixth row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p2 was captured by the in - store camera 42 at the entrance of the first island facility 111 at 14 : 00 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player entered the first island facility . the seventh row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p2 was captured by the individual - machine camera 38 of the game console 36 having the machine number of 001 at 14 : 02 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player started to play with the game console 36 having the machine number of 001 . the eighth row indicates that the image of the player having the person id of p2 was captured by the in - store camera 42 at the exit of the first island facility 111 at 16 : 00 on oct . 1 , 2010 , and that the player exited from the first island facility . that is , the clock time , the position , and the behavior history of the player are sequentially accumulated in the patron management db 276 . when the camera is not one of the individual - machine cameras 38 of the game consoles 36 in step s 123 , or when the operating information of the game console 36 is not the play starting in step s 124 , the processing in step s 125 is skipped . in step s 126 , the area entry management unit 275 a determines whether the camera , which is specified by the camera id to capture the face image included in the new person detection , is located at the entrance of the predetermined area specified by one of the island facilities 111 . when the camera , which is specified by the camera id to capture the face image included in the new person detection , is the in - store camera 42 that captures the entrance of the predetermined area specified by one of the island facilities 111 in step s 126 , the processing goes to step s 127 . in step s 127 , for example , in the case that the image of the entrance of the area of the first island facility 111 is captured as illustrated in the top row of fig1 , the area entry management unit 275 a registers the information including the clock time information and the fact that the player approached the predetermined area to enter the same in the patron management db 276 while correlating with the person id included in the new person detection . when the camera , which is specified by the camera id to capture the face image included in the new person detection , is not the in - store camera 42 that captures the entrance of the predetermined area of one of the island facilities 111 in step s 126 , the processing in step s 127 is skipped . in step s 128 , the area exit management unit 275 b determines whether the camera , which is specified by the camera id to capture the face image included in the new person detection , is located at the exit of the predetermined area specified by one of the island facilities 111 . when the camera , which is specified by the camera id to capture the face image included in the new person detection , is located at the exit of the predetermined area specified by one of the island facilities 111 in step s 128 , the processing goes to step s 129 . in step s 129 , the potential player determining unit 275 e accesses the operating information db 272 to determine whether the player having the person id included in the new person detection is playing in the area of the camera id located at the exit of the predetermined area specified by the island facility 111 . when the player is playing with one of the game consoles 36 installed in the area in step s 129 , the processing goes to step s 133 . when the player has not played with any game consoles 36 provided in the area in step s 129 , the processing goes to step s 130 . in step s 130 , the potential player determining unit 275 e controls the stay time calculator 275 f to access the patron management db 276 , and the stay time calculator 275 f calculates the stay time from a difference between an entry clock time in the area and an exit clock time from the area . the potential player determining unit 275 e determines whether the calculated stay time is longer than a predetermined time . as used herein , the predetermined time means a time necessary for a general player to pass through the area by foot . that is , when the player specified by the id passes through the area in order to proceed to another area , because the player does not stay in the area longer than the time necessary to pass through the area , whether the player simply passes through the area can be determined . when the stay time is longer than the predetermined time in step s 130 , the processing goes to step s 131 . in step s 131 , the potential player determining unit 275 e regards the player specified by the person id as a potential player who is interested in the game console 36 in the area but is waiting for a long time as the game console 36 with which the player wants to play is not vacant . in step s 132 , therefore , the attention level db management unit 275 g accesses the operating information db 272 and regards the game console 36 currently played with as an attention console among the game consoles 36 in a corresponding area . then , the attention level db management unit 275 g accesses the attention level db 279 , adds information about a corresponding point to the stay time of the player determined as the potential player and the number of the potential player to information about the attention level of the game console 36 of the game console number for identifying that the game console 36 is regarded as the attention console of the corresponding area and the number of people , and registers the added information . in other words , in the case that the player does not play in the area provided with the game console but a stay time in the same area is longer than a predetermined time , the reason why the player stays in the area is that the game console 36 in which the player is interested is not vacant and the player cannot play though the player wants to play , and the corresponding player is regarded as a player who does not play irrespective of a situation in which the player can play , that is , a potential player . then , the game console present in the area where the potential player passes is set to be the attention console and the corresponding point to the stay time is cumulatively stored as an attention level in the attention level db 279 . the attention level db 279 is shown in fig1 , for example . the attention level db 279 in fig1 has a date field , a console number field , an attention level field and a number - of - people field from left . in fig1 , on jan . 1 , 2011 , the game console 36 having a console number of 001 is shown with an attention level of 154 and the number of potential players of 51 . referring to the same day , the game console 36 having a console number of 002 is shown with an attention level of 841 and the number of potential players of 180 . referring to the same day , the game consoles 36 having console numbers of 003 and 004 are shown with attention levels of 256 and 372 and the numbers of potential players of 39 and 119 , respectively . when the stay time is x minutes , the attention level may be obtained by cumulative addition of x itself or cumulative addition of a point multiplied by a coefficient a of xa ( a is a coefficient ). in other words , a degree of attention is numerically converted by the attention level added in proportion to the stay time . therefore , it is possible to set the degree of attention as an index for a customer attracting ability of the game console 36 which does not appear in an operating rate . in step s 133 , for example , as illustrated in the second row in fig1 , the area exit management unit 275 b registers the information including the clock time information and the fact that the player left the predetermined area to exit the same in the patron management db 276 while correlating the information with the person id included in the new person detection . then the processing returns to step s 121 . when the position is not the exit of the predetermined area in step s 128 , the pieces of processing in steps s 129 to s 133 are skipped . on the other hand , when the notification of the new person detection is not made in step s 121 , the processing goes to step s 134 . in step s 134 , the db registration updating unit 275 controls the transmitter / receiver 274 to determine whether the bio - information recognition system 21 has made the notification of the away - from - machine detection . in step s 134 , when the bio - information recognition system 21 has made the notification of the away - from - machine detection through , for example , the processing in step s 74 in fig1 , the processing goes to step s 135 . in step s 135 , the db registration updating unit 275 accesses the machine allocation db 273 to specify the corresponding position based on the camera id included in the new person detection . in step s 136 , the play ending management unit 275 d accesses the operating information db 272 to determine whether the operating information of the corresponding game console 36 is the play ending . in step s 136 , for example , as illustrated in the second row in fig1 , in the case that the latest information of the game console 36 having the machine number of 0001 is in the state in which the play ending is registered at 11 : 06 on oct . 1 , 2010 , the processing goes to step s 137 . in step s 137 , the play ending management unit 275 d registers the information including the clock time information , the machine number of the game console , and the play ending in the patron management db 276 while correlating the information with the person id included in the away - from - machine detection . when the bio - information recognition system 21 does not make the notification of the away - from - machine detection in step s 134 , or when the play ending management unit 275 d accesses the operating information db 272 to determine that the operating information of the corresponding game console 36 is not the play ending in step s 136 , the processing returns to step s 121 . through the above pieces of processing , the patron management db 275 illustrated in fig1 and the attention level db 279 illustrated in fig1 are sequentially accumulated based on the newest information . therefore , it is possible to cumulatively register information about when and where each player enters or exits the area , and from when to when the player plays with the game console 36 , and the attention level of the potential player in each game console 36 . next , attention level display processing in the amusement shop management device 24 will be described with reference to a flowchart in fig2 . in step s 161 , the attention level display control unit 278 determines whether the operation unit 277 is operated to make the request to display the attention level of the game console on an area unit or a unit of an amusement model specifying an area , and repeats the similar processing until the request is made . when the request to display the attention level is made in step s 161 , for example , the processing goes to step s 162 . in step s 162 , the attention level display control unit 278 displays the image of the request for inputting the information specifying the area or the model of the game console 36 specifying the area on the display unit 25 . in step s 163 , the attention level display control unit 278 determines whether the information specifying the area or the model of the game console 36 specifying the area is input , and repeats the similar processing until the information is input . when the operation unit 277 is operated to input the information specifying the area or the model of the game console 36 specifying the area in step s 163 , the processing goes to step s 164 . in step s 164 , the attention level display control unit 278 specifies the game console 36 belonging to a specified area based on information specifying an input area or the model of the game console 36 specifying the area . in step s 165 , the attention level display control unit 278 accesses the attention level db 279 to extract information about the attention level of the game console 36 belonging to the specified area and the number of the potential players in the information about the attention level and the number of the potential players . in step s 166 , the attention level display control unit 278 controls the operating rate calculator 299 a to calculate the operating rates of all the game consoles 36 belonging to the designated area by utilizing the play starting clock time and the play ending clock time of the game console 36 belonging to the specified area . in step s 167 , the attention level display control unit 278 displays , on the display unit 25 , the information about the attention level , the number of the potential players and the calculated operating rate . through the above processing , there are displayed the information about the attention level for each game console , the number of the potential players and the operating rate . therefore , it is possible to simultaneously display , compare and examine the operating rate to be the information about the game console 36 played with actually and the attention level which does not appear in the operating rate . consequently , it is possible to properly select the game console 36 to be replaced . in other words , in the case of a model having a slightly low operating rate and a high attention level , for example , it is supposed that the advantage produced by the play is not sufficient but a sufficient customer attraction ability is possessed . for this reason , there is a possibility that advantages might be obtained by another model as the whole amusement shop . therefore , it is also possible to determine that the model is not set to be a replacement target . to the contrary , in the case of a model having some operating rate and a low attention level , there is a possibility that a player who cannot play with a popular model located in the vicinity might simply play without interest because the player cannot play with a desired game console . therefore , it is also possible to determine that the model is selected as the replacement target model . although the description has been given to the example in which the attention level is obtained based on the stay time of the potential player in the area provided with the game console in the amusement shop , it is also possible to define the attention level in the following manner by grasping the game console installed in the amusement shop as resources distributed spatially , for example . in other words , it is also possible to cumulatively store , for every resource , a stay time of a person who wants to utilize a predetermined resource ( corresponding to the potential player ) staying in a vicinal region of a predetermined resource during the utilization by other resource users without utilizing the predetermined resource , thereby regarding the cumulatively stored stay time as an attention level . the stay in the vicinal region of the predetermined resource which is being utilized by the other resource users may be regarded as an action for performing examination at a predetermined frequency or more or requiring a predetermined cost or more to perform the examination in a state in which the resource is not utilized , for example . in other words , the attention level is expressed by adding a stay time that the potential player continuously waits for a play enabling state in the vicinity of the game console . in this case , the attention level indicates a degree of interest in the game console . also in the case that a corresponding target to the game console is grasped as the resources distributed spatially , accordingly , it is sufficient that the attention level represents a corresponding target to a game console which is being played with by other players , that is , a degree of interest of the user for the resource which is being utilized by other resource users . if the attention level can be thus obtained to represent the degree of interest of the user for the target , the target may be the resource or a thing other than the game console . the above sequence of pieces of monitoring processing can be performed by either hardware or software . in the case that the sequence of pieces of processing is performed by the software , a program constituting the software is installed from a recording medium to a computer incorporated in dedicated hardware or a general - purpose personal computer in which various functions can be performed by installing various programs . fig2 illustrates a configuration example of the general - purpose personal computer . the personal computer is provided with a cpu ( central processing unit ) 1001 . an input / output interface 1005 is connected to the cpu 1001 through a bus 1004 . a rom ( read only memory ) 1002 and a ram ( random access memory ) 1003 are connected to the bus 1004 . an input unit 1006 , an output unit 1007 , a storage unit 1008 , and a communication unit 1009 are connected to the input / output interface 1005 . the input unit 1006 includes input devices , such as the keyboard and the mouse , through which the user inputs an operating command . the output unit 1007 outputs the image of a processing operating screen or a processing result to the display device . the storage unit 1008 includes a hard disk drive in which the program and various pieces of data are stored . the communication unit 1009 includes a lan ( local area network ) adapter to perform communication processing through the network typified by the internet . a drive 1010 is connected to the input / output interface 1005 . the drive 1010 reads and writes the data from and in removable mediums 1011 , such as a magnetic disk ( including a flexible disk ), an optical disk ( including a cd - rom ( compact disc - read only memory ) and a dvd ( digital versatile disc )), a magneto - optical disk ( including a md ( mini disc )), and a semiconductor memory . the cpu 1001 performs various pieces of processing according to the program stored in the rom 1002 or the program , which is read from the removable mediums 1011 , such as the magnetic disk , the optical disk , the magneto - optical disk , and the semiconductor memory , installed in the storage unit 1008 , and loaded from the storage unit 1008 to the ram 1003 . the data necessary for the cpu 1001 to perform various pieces of processing are properly stored in the ram 1003 . in the description , the step that describes the program recorded in the recording medium includes not only the processing that is performed in time series in the described order but also the processing that is not necessarily per formed in time series but concurrently or individually performed . in the description , the system means the whole apparatus including a plurality of apparatuses . the information processing device in accordance with the first aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention comprises a game console image capturing unit configured to capture an image of a player who plays with a game console at each game console installed in an amusement shop , an area image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who enters or exits an area where a plurality of game consoles is provided or an island facility in units of areas or island facilities , a matching unit configured to match the player with a registrant , the player being captured in the images by the game console image capturing unit and the area image capturing unit , an entry management unit configured to manage an entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , an exit management unit configured to manage an exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , a play starting management unit configured to manage a play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by the matching unit , a potential player determining unit configured to determine whether the player whose entry is managed by the entry management unit and who is matched by the matching unit is a potential player who wants to play with a model of a game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by the play starting management unit , and an attention level calculator configured to calculate an attention level of the game console which is a predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determining unit for the predetermined model . it is possible to further include a stay time calculator configured to calculate a stay time of the area for each player who is matched by the matching unit based on the entry clock time and the exit clock time , and the potential player determining unit can determine the player as the potential player when the stay time in the area of the player is longer than a predetermined time and the play starting clock time is not registered within the stay time in the area of the player . the attention level calculator can calculate a sum of the stay time as the attention level , the stay time being obtained from information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time and calculated by the stay time calculator for the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determining unit for the predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop . the attention level calculator can calculate the sum of the stay time as the attention level , the stay time being obtained by the information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time and calculated by the stay time calculator for the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determining unit for the predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop , based on the information about the entry clock time and the exit clock of the player and game console operating information indicating whether the game console is in operation , concerning the game console that is in operation based on the game console operating information . it is possible to include a display unit configured to display , on a unit of the predetermined model or a predetermined area unit , the attention level of the game console which is the predetermined model calculated by the attention level calculator . it is possible to further include a detector configured to detect an out ball in each game console , and the play starting management unit can be caused to manage the play starting clock time of each game console for each player who is matched by the matching unit in such a manner that the detector detects a change of an out ball from a non - presence state to a presence state . the information processing method in accordance with the first aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention includes a game console image capturing step of capturing an image of a player who plays with a game console at each game console installed in an amusement shop using a game console image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who plays with the game console at each game console installed in the amusement shop , an area image capturing step of capturing the image of the player who enters or exits an area where a plurality of game consoles is provided or an island facility , in units of areas or island facilities using an area image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who enters or exits the area where the plurality of game consoles is provided or the island facility in units of areas or island facilities , a matching step of matching the player with a registrant , the player being captured in the images through processing of the game console image capturing step and processing of the area image capturing step using a matching unit configured to match the player with the registrant , the player being captured in the images by the game console image capturing unit and the area image capturing unit , an entry management step of managing an entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched through processing of the matching step using an entry management unit configured to manage the entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , an exit management step of managing an exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by processing of the matching step using an exit management unit configured to manage the exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , a play starting management step of managing a play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by processing of the matching step using a play starting management unit configured to manage a play starting clock time of each game console for each player who is matched by the matching unit , a potential player determination step of determining whether the player whose entry is managed by processing of the entry management step and who is matched by processing of the matching step is a potential player who wants to play with a model of a game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by processing of the play starting management step using the potential player determining unit configured to determine whether the player whose entry is managed by the entry management unit and who is matched by the matching unit is the potential player who wants to play with the model of the game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by the play starting management unit , and an attention level calculation step of calculating an attention level of the game console which is a predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the processing of the potential player determination step for the predetermined model using an attention level calculator configured to calculate the attention level of the game console which is the predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on the information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determining unit for the predetermined model . the non - transitory computer readable medium storing the program in accordance with the first aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention causes a computer to execute the following processing , and the computer controls an information processing device including a game console image capturing unit configured to capture an image of a player who plays with a game console at each game console installed in an amusement shop , an area image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who enters or exits an area where a plurality of game consoles is provided or an island facility in units of areas or island facilities , a matching unit configured to match the player with a registrant , the player being captured in the images by the game console image capturing unit and the area image capturing unit , an entry management unit configured to manage an entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , an exit management unit configured to manage an exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit , a play starting management unit configured to manage a play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by the matching unit , a potential player determining unit configured to determine whether the player whose entry is managed by the entry management unit and who is matched by the matching unit is a potential player who wants to play with a model of the game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by the play starting management unit , and an attention level calculator configured to calculate an attention level of the game console which is a predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determination unit for the predetermined model , and the computer executes the processing comprising a game console image capturing step of capturing the image of the player who plays with the game console at each game console installed in the amusement shop using the game console image capturing unit , an area image capturing step of capturing the image of the player who enters or exits the area where the plurality of game consoles is provided or the island facility using the area image capturing unit , a matching step of matching the player with the registrant , the player being captured in the images through processing of the game console image capturing step and processing of the area image capturing step using the matching unit , an entry management step of managing the entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched through processing of the matching step using the entry management unit , an exit management step of managing the exit clock time of each area for each player who is matched by processing of the matching step using the exit management unit , a play starting management step of managing the play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by processing of the matching step using the play starting management unit , a potential player determination step of determining whether the player whose entry is managed by the processing of the entry management step and who is matched by the processing of the matching step is the potential player who wants to play with the model of the game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time managed by the processing of the play starting management step of the player using the potential player determination unit , and an attention level calculation step of calculating the attention level of the game console which is the predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the processing of the potential player determination step for the predetermined model using the attention level calculator . according to the first aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention , there is captured an image of a player who plays with the game console at each game console installed in an amusement shop , there is captured the image of the player who enters or exits an area where a plurality of game consoles is provided or an island facility in units of areas or island facilities , the player having the image captured is matched with a registrant , an entry clock time of each area is managed for each matched player , an exit clock time of each area is managed for each matched player , a play starting clock time of each game console is managed for each matched player , it is determined whether the player whose entry is managed and who is matched is a potential player who wants to play with a model of a game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time which is managed for the player , and an attention level of the game console which is a predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop is calculated based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player for the predetermined model . an attention level calculating device in accordance with the second aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention includes a stay cumulative time calculator configured to calculate , in a case where a plurality of resources is distributed spatially , for each of the resources , a stay cumulative time as a cumulative time of a stay time for stay in a vicinal region of the resource while not being utilized by a resource user of each of the resources but utilized by another resource user , a utilization cumulative time calculator configured to calculate , for each of the resources , a utilization cumulative time as a cumulative time of a utilization time for which the other resource user utilizes the resource , and an attention level calculator configured to calculate an attention level for each of the resources based on the stay cumulative time calculated by the stay cumulative time calculator and the utilization cumulative time calculated by the utilization cumulative time calculator . in the information processing device in accordance with the first aspect of at least one embodiment of the present invention , for example , the game console image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who plays with the game console at each game console installed in the amusement shop is each individual - machine camera , the area image capturing unit configured to capture the image of the player who enters or exits the area where the plurality of game consoles is provided or the island facility in units of areas or island facilities is the in - store camera , the matching unit configured to match the player with the registrant , the player being captured in the images by the game console image capturing unit and the area image capturing unit , is the matching unit , the entry management unit configured to manage the entry clock time of each area for each player who is matched by the matching unit is the area entry management unit , the exit management unit configured to manage the exit clock time of each area for each player matched by the matching unit is the area exist management unit , the play starting management unit configured to manage a play starting clock time of each game console for each player matched by the matching unit is the play starting management unit , the potential player determining unit configured to determine whether the player whose entry is managed by the entry management unit and who is matched by the matching unit is a potential player who wants to play with a model of a game console installed in the area but cannot play , based on the play starting clock time of the player which is managed by the play starting management unit is the potential player determining unit , and the attention level calculator configured to calculate an attention level of the game console which is a predetermined model of the game console installed in the amusement shop based on information about the entry clock time and the exit clock time of the player determined as the potential player by the potential player determining unit for the predetermined model is an attention level db management unit . in other words , in the case that the stay time is longer than the predetermined time , there is no information about the play starting clock time within the stay time and play is performed with any of the game consoles in the area within the stay time based on the stay time for the stay in the area obtained by the area entry management unit and the area exit management unit for each of the players matched by the matching unit and the play starting clock time managed by the play starting management unit , the player is regarded as the potential player and the attention level db management unit regards , as the attention console , any of the game consoles which is being played with in the area , cumulatively adds the stay time to calculate the attention level , and registers , in the attention level db , the attention level as the degree of attention for each game console . as a result , it is possible to obtain the attention level of the potential player who does not actually play but is very likely to want to play for each of the models of the game console . in other words , it is possible to grasp the trend of the potential player who does not actually play with the game console but wants to play . when choosing the model of the game console to be replaced , therefore , it is possible to make reference in order to perform proper selection . therefore , it is possible to calculate an attention level of each model of a game console which is proper for examining replacement of the game console and to select the model of the game console to be a replacement target more properly . | 6 |
one primary aspect of the present invention is an improved leak detection system for any type of cassette - based medical fluid therapy that exerts mechanical or pneumatic positive or negative pressure on a disposable fluid cassette . another primary aspect of the present invention is an improved priming technique for a medical fluid therapy machine , such as an automated peritoneal dialysis (“ apd ”) system . while apd is one preferred use for the present invention , any cassette - based medical fluid system or system using a sterile , disposable fluid cartridge can employ the apparatuses and methods of the present invention . a further primary aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for determining the head weight of the solution . the following method is a “ dry ” method , which is more sensitive to leaks and other defects when compared to fluid based integrity testing . the method also eliminates some problems associated with older tests , such as having to discard solution bags or potentially harming the mechanical components of the machine upon a leak . referring now to the figures and in particular to fig5 to 9 , fig5 illustrates a disposable set 50 that includes a disposable cassette 100 as well as a set of tubes . as shown in the exploded segment 52 , the tubing set includes a heater line 54 , drain line 56 , first proportioning line 58 , day / first bag line 60 , second proportioning line 62 , last fill line 64 and patient line 66 . each of those lines is used with the homechoice ® machine in one embodiment . it should be appreciated however that other lines associated with other dialysis or medical fluid systems can be used alternatively with the present invention . automated peritoneal dialysis (“ apd ”) machines , dialysis machines generally or medical fluid machines besides dialysis machines are collectively referred to herein as medical fluid machine 150 , which is shown in fig6 . more or less lines may also be used without departing from the scope of the invention . each of the lines 54 to 66 terminates at a first end at cassette 100 and at a second end at an organizer 42 . in operation , machine 150 holds organizer 42 initially at a height that enables a gravity prime to fill fluid at least substantially to the end of at least some of the lines 54 to 66 without filling fluid past connectors located at the end of these lines . priming is discussed in more detail below . fig6 illustrates that the cassette 100 and tubes 54 to 66 of set 50 are loaded vertically in one embodiment into machine 150 and held firmly in place between door gasket 152 and diaphragm 154 . door gasket 152 is attached to door 156 , which swings open and closed to removably lock cassette 100 in place . diaphragm 154 provides an interface between the valve and pump actuators , located inside machine 150 behind diaphragm 154 , and the valve and pump fluid receiving chambers located in cassette 100 . fig7 is a perspective view of cassette 100 showing that the cassette 100 includes a housing 102 , which is sealed on both sides by flexible membranes 104 and 106 . the housing defines a plurality of pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , valves v 1 to v 10 ( which are located on the opposite side of housing 102 from the side shown in fig7 ), a plurality of flow paths f 1 to f 9 and a plurality of ports 108 that extend through an interior divider 110 that divides housing 102 and cassette 100 into two separate fluid flow manifolds . fig8 illustrates a cross - section taken through line viii - viii shown in fig7 . the cross - section shows membrane 106 , divider 110 and a port 108 described above . additionally , external valve chamber walls 112 and internal valve chamber wall 114 are illustrated , which cooperate to produce one of the valves v 1 to v 10 on one side of divider 110 of cassette 100 . further , internal chamber wall 114 cooperates with a back 116 ( which can also be a flexible membrane ) to create various ones of the flow paths f 1 to f 11 on the other side of divider 110 of cassette 100 . flexible membrane 106 seals to external chamber walls 112 and upon application of a force f to internal chamber walls 114 ( to close a fluid connection between a first one of the paths f 1 to f 11 and a second one of those paths ). upon the release of force f or the application of a vacuum or negative force to membrane 106 , membrane 106 is pulled away from internal wall 114 , reestablishing the communication between the fluid paths . fig9 illustrates a schematic view of a pneumatic control system 10 for a dialysis machine , such as an automated peritoneal dialysis machine is illustrated . fig9 is a schematic of the pneumatic control system employed in the homechoice ® automated peritoneal dialysis system and is useful for describing the operation of the present invention . it should be appreciated however that the teachings of the present invention are not limited to the homechoice ® machine nor to only those machines having the same or analogous components . instead , the present invention describes a test and methodology that is applicable to many different medical fluid systems . in a set - up portion of the integrity test of the present invention , disposable cassette 100 is loaded into dialysis machine 150 . to do so , an air pump ( not illustrated ) is turned on . that air pump communicates with various pneumatic components illustrated in fig9 , including emergency vent valve a 5 , occluder valve c 6 , and actuators c 0 , c 1 , c 2 , c 3 , c 4 , d 1 , d 2 , d 3 , d 4 and d 5 for the fluid valves , which causes an occluder 158 ( see also fig6 ) to retract to enable the disposable set 50 and cassette 100 to be loaded into machine 150 . once the set 50 has been loaded , emergency vent valve a 5 is closed , so that high positive bladder 128 can be inflated , which seals cassette 100 between the door 156 and diaphragm 154 , while maintaining the occluder 158 in an open position ( fig6 ). the remainder of the test is illustrated by fig1 to 14 . referring now to fig1 , a first step of the test tests the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 using positive pressure and tests valves v 1 to v 10 using negative pressure . in particular , the cassette sheeting of cassette 100 over pump chambers p 1 and p 2 is pressurized to + 5 psig using the low positive pressure tank 220 and valves a 3 and b 1 shown in fig9 . a - 5 psig vacuum is pulled on the cassette sheeting of cassette 100 over the fluid valves v 1 to v 10 using negative tank 214 and valves a 0 and b 4 shown in fig1 . simultaneous pressure decay tests are then conducted on the : ( i ) air volume in the low positive tank 220 and pump chambers p 1 and p 2 ; and ( ii ) the air volume in the negative tank 214 and fluid valves v 1 to v 10 . if the pressure decay in the positive pressure system exceeds , e . g ., one psig , an alarm is sent displaying a pump chamber sheeting damaged error or code therefore . if the difference in pressure in the negative pressure system exceeds , e . g ., one psig , an alarm is sent displaying a fluid valve sheeting damaged error or code therefore . positive pressure tested areas for this first step are shown in double hatch and negative pressure tested areas are shown in single hatch in fig1 . importantly , test step one tests cassette 100 from the outside . that is , the pressure is applied to the outside of the sheeting over pump chambers p 1 and p 2 and negative pressure is applied to the outside of the sheeting over valves v 1 to v 10 . as described below , the remaining test steps apply positive pressure and negative pressure to the sheeting from inside the cassette . the designation of the figures however is the same , namely , positive pressure tested areas ( internal and external ) are shown using a double hatch . negative pressure tested areas ( internal and external ) are shown using a single hatch . the ports 108 tested in each step are darkened and labeled either “ positive pressure tested ” or “ negative pressure tested ”. referring now to fig1 , a second step of the test of the present invention tests the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , certain fluid pathways and certain valves using positive pressure and negative pressure . the second step begins by evacuating negative tank 214 to − 5 psig and opening valve b 4 to fill pump chamber p 2 in the cassette with air through open fluid valve v 7 . next , low positive pressure tank 220 is pressurized to + 5 psig and valve a 3 is opened to empty pump chamber p 1 through open fluid valve v 10 . fluid valves v 7 and v 10 are then closed . occluder valve c 6 is de - energized so that occluder 158 closes , pinching / sealing all fluid lines 54 to 66 exiting cassette 100 . valves a 3 and b 4 are then closed . actuator valve b 1 is opened with fluid valves v 4 , v 6 and v 7 open to pressurize the air in cassette pump chamber p 2 and to test the fluid pathways downstream of v 4 , v 6 and v 7 for leakage across the occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within the cassette . actuator valve a 0 is then opened with fluid valves v 1 , v 2 and v 9 open to create a vacuum in cassette pump chamber p 1 and to test the fluid pathways downstream of v 1 , v 2 and v 9 for leakage across occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within the cassette . next , a first set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 222 and negative pressure tank 214 . the difference in pressure in both positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 is recorded as well as the final pressure in positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 . valve v 3 is opened and a second set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 as the contents of pump chamber p 2 flow freely into pump chamber p 1 through open valves v 1 and v 3 . if the sum of difference in pressures from the first set of pressure decay tests exceeds , for example , two psig , and the sum of the difference in pressure from the second set of tests is less than one psig , an alarm is issued for a cross - talk leakage error . positive pressure tested areas for the second step are shown in double hatch and with ports 108 so marked and negative pressure tested areas are shown in single hatch and with ports 108 so labeled in fig1 . referring now to fig1 , a third step of the test tests the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , certain fluid pathways and certain valves using positive pressure and negative pressure . the third step begins by evacuating negative pressure tank 214 to − 5 psig and opening valve b 4 to fill pump chamber p 2 in the cassette with air through open fluid valve v 7 . low positive pressure tank 220 is then pressurized to + 5 psig and valve a 3 is opened to empty pump chamber p 1 through open fluid valve v 10 . valves v 7 and v 10 are then closed . occluder valve c 6 is de - energized so that the occluder 158 closes , pinching / sealing all fluid lines exiting cassette 100 . valves a 3 and b 4 are closed . pump actuator valve b 1 is opened with fluid valves v 3 , v 4 and v 6 open to pressurize the air in pump chamber p 2 and to test fluid pathways downstream of v 3 , v 4 and v 6 for leakage across occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within cassette 100 . pump actuator valve a 0 is then opened with fluid valves v 2 , v 9 and v 10 open to create a vacuum in pump chamber p 1 and to test the fluid pathways downstream of v 2 , v 9 and v 10 for leakage across the occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within cassette 100 . next , a first set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 222 and negative pressure tank 214 . the difference in pressure in both positive tank 220 and negative tank 214 is recorded as well as the final pressure in positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 . valve v 1 is opened and a second set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 as the contents of pump chamber p 2 flow freely into pump chamber p 1 through open valves v 1 and v 3 . if the sum of the difference in pressure from the first set of pressure decay tests exceeds , for example , 2 psig , and the sum of the difference in pressure from the second set of tests is less than one psig , a cross - talk leakage error alarm or code therefore is sent . positive pressure tested areas for the third step are shown in double hatch and with ports 108 so marked and negative pressure tested areas are shown in single hatch and with ports 108 so marked in fig1 . referring now to fig1 , a fourth step of the test tests the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , certain fluid pathways and certain valves using positive pressure and negative pressure . the fourth step begins by evacuating negative pressure tank 214 to − 5 psig and opening valve b 4 to fill pump chamber p 2 in cassette 100 with air through open fluid valve v 7 . low positive pressure tank 220 is pressurized to + 5 psig and valve a 3 is opened to empty pump chamber p 1 through open fluid valve v 10 . fluid valves v 7 and v 10 are closed . occluder valve c 6 is de - energized so that the occluder 158 closes , pinching / sealing fluid lines 54 to 66 exiting cassette 100 . valves a 3 and b 4 are closed . pump actuator valve b 1 is opened with fluid valve v 5 open to pressurize the air in pump chamber p 2 and to test the fluid pathways downstream of v 5 for leakage across the occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within cassette 100 . pump actuator valve a 0 is opened with fluid valves v 1 , v 2 , v 9 and v 10 open to create a vacuum in pump chamber p 1 and to test the fluid pathways downstream of v 1 , v 2 , v 9 and v 10 for leakage across the occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within the cassette . next , a first set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 222 and negative pressure tank 214 . a difference in pressure in both positive tank 220 and negative tank 214 is recorded as well as the final pressure in positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 . valve v 3 is opened and a second set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 as the contents of pump chamber p 2 flow freely into pump chamber p 1 through open valves v 1 and v 3 . if the sum of the difference in pressure from the first set of pressure decay tests exceeds , for example , 1 . 5 psig , and the sum of the difference in pressure from the second set of tests is less than 0 . 75 psig , a cross talk leakage error alarm or code is sent and displayed . positive pressure tested areas for the forth step are shown in double hatch and with ports 108 so marked and negative pressure tested areas are shown in single hatch and with ports so marked 108 in fig1 . referring now to fig1 , a fifth step of the test tests the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , certain fluid pathways and certain valves using positive pressure and negative pressure . the fifth step begins by evacuating negative pressure tank 214 to − 5 psig and opening valve b 4 to fill pump chamber p 2 in cassette 100 with air through open fluid valve v 7 . low positive pressure tank 220 is pressurized to + 5 psig and valve a 3 is opened to empty pump chamber p 1 through open fluid valve v 8 . fluid valves v 7 and v 10 are closed . occluder valve c 6 is de - energized so that the occluder 158 closes , pinching / sealing fluid lines 54 to 66 exiting cassette 100 . valves a 3 and b 4 are closed . pump actuator valve b 1 is opened with fluid valves v 3 , v 4 , v 6 and v 7 open to pressurize the air in pump chamber p 2 , and to test the fluid pathways downstream of v 3 , v 4 , v 6 and v 7 for leakage across the occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within cassette 100 . pump actuator valve a 0 is opened with fluid valve v 8 open to create a vacuum in pump chamber p 1 and to test the fluid pathways downstream of v 8 for leakage across the occluder 158 and / or across the fluid channels within the cassette . next , a first set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 222 and negative pressure tank 214 . a difference in pressure in both positive tank 220 and negative tank 214 is recorded as well as the final pressure in positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 . valve v 1 is opened and a second set of simultaneous pressure decay / rise tests is conducted on low positive pressure tank 220 and negative pressure tank 214 as the contents of pump chamber p 2 flow freely into pump chamber p 1 through open valves v 1 and v 3 . if the sum of the difference in pressure from the first set of pressure decay tests exceeds , for example , 1 . 5 psig , and the sum of the difference in pressure from the second set of tests is less than 0 . 75 psig , for example , a cross talk leakage error alarm or code is sent and displayed . positive pressure tested areas for the fifth step are shown in double hatch and with ports 108 so marked and negative pressure tested areas are shown in single hatch and with ports 108 so marked in fig1 . in each of test steps two through five of fig1 to 14 described above , pump chamber p 2 is filled with air and pump chamber p 1 is evacuated before the pressure decay / vacuum rise tests are performed . those tests are improved when chamber p 2 is pressurized above atmospheric pressure as opposed to merely maintaining the chamber at atmospheric pressure . for one reason , maintaining chamber p 2 at a positive compensates for the slight compressibility of air in the chamber when the test steps are commenced . to pressurize chamber p 2 , air can be pushed from chamber p 1 to p 2 with the occluder 158 closed . when p 2 is pressurized , occluder 158 is opened , enabling chamber p 1 to be evacuated . pressurized chamber p 2 should show very little pressure drop unless a leak in one of the tested pathways is detected . referring now to fig1 , a sixth step of the test of the present invention tests the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , certain fluid pathways and certain valve ports 108 using positive pressure . to begin the sixth step , a − 5 psig vacuum is pulled on the cassette sheeting over the two pump chambers p 1 and p 2 with all fluid valves except for drain valves v 7 and v 10 de - energized ( closed ), so that pump chambers p 1 and p 2 fill with air . valves v 7 and v 10 are closed and the sheeting over pump chambers p 1 and p 2 of cassette 100 is pressurized to + 5 psig using low positive tank 220 and valves a 3 and b 1 . a first pressure decay test is then conducted on the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , fluid flow paths f 6 , f 7 , f 8 and f 9 and the darkened fluid ports 108 so marked within cassette 100 by monitoring the pressure in the low positive tank 220 . if the difference in pressure in the low positive tank 220 exceeds , e . g ., one psig , an alarm is sent displaying a fluid valve leaking error or code therefore . occluder valve c 6 is de - energized so that occluder 158 closes , pinching / sealing all fluid lines 54 to 66 exiting cassette 100 . all of valves v 1 through v 10 except for v 5 and v 8 are opened and a second pressure decay test is conducted by monitoring the pressure in low positive tank 220 . if the difference in pressure in the low positive tank 220 exceeds , e . g ., one psig , the sixth series of tests must be repeated . if the difference in pressure in the low positive tank 220 exceeds , e . g ., one psig a second time , a an alarm is sent displaying occluder failed . finally , the occluder is opened and a third pressure decay test is conducted by monitoring the pressure in low positive tank 220 . test step six verifies that tests one and two have not failed if the difference in pressure exceeds , e . g ., one psig . positive pressure tested areas for the sixth step are shown in double hatch and with ports 108 so marked in fig1 . the previous six test steps complete one embodiment of the dry integrity test of the present invention . viewing the outcome of steps 1 to 4 of the prior art test in fig1 to 4 , it should be appreciated that step 1 , shown in fig1 of the dry disposable integrity test of the present invention , tests the equivalent components of all four steps of the original dry integrity test . importantly , test steps two to six test the cassette from the inside . that is , positive pressure is applied inside the cassette to the inside of the cassette sheeting and negative pressure is applied inside the cassette to the inside of the cassette sheeting . the positive and negative pressure applied inside the cassette to the inside of the cassette sheeting is created by initially applying pressure ( positive or negative ) to the outside of the cassette and switching the valves to create the desired pressure distribution inside the cassette as described above . the first five of the test steps ( fig1 to 14 ) can be performed with the tip protectors placed on lines 54 through 66 and with the clamps closed on all of the lines except for drain line 56 . the tip protectors , shown figuratively as caps 118 on the respective ports of cassette 100 , are actually at the ends of tubes 54 , 58 , 60 , 62 , 64 and 66 . the drain line 56 has a bacteria retentive tip protector that passes to atmosphere air that leaks through the membranes 104 and 106 ( fig7 and 8 ) or from housing 102 , lowering the pressure in the system so that a leak can be detected . the tip protectors are removed when solution bags are connected to the tubes prior to test step six in the series of six test steps . as seen in the prior steps 2 to 4 of fig2 to 4 , all tip protectors have to be removed for those test steps . in the prior art therefore , when a cassette fails during any of the tests illustrated fig2 to 4 , non - sterile air is introduced into the solution bags , causing the solution bags and the cassette to be discarded . test steps two through five of the present invention ( fig1 to 14 , respectively ) test , using air within cassette 100 , the same areas of the cassette as does the prior art wet leak test described above . because steps ( i ) through ( v ) of the prior art wet leak test require fluid , solution bags must be attached to obtain such fluid . the present invention eliminates that necessity . test step one of the present invention is able to leave the tip protectors connected to all lines except the drain line because the valves are tested in the open position rather than the closed position . when valves v 1 to v 10 are open , all of the fluid channels f 1 to f 11 in cassette 100 are in direct communication with both pump chambers p 1 and p 2 and the drain line . the drain line has a bacteria retentive tip protector that allows air to pass through it , e . g ., is fitted with a hydrophobic membrane . air from a failed test can therefore pass through the drain line from cassette 100 , changing the pressure in the system so that a leak can be detected . test steps two through five of the disposable integrity test of the present invention are able to leave the tip protectors in place because one part of the system is pressurized while the other is evacuated . air leaking from the positively pressurized part of cassette 100 to the evacuated part is readily detectable as is air escaping from or leaking into cassette 100 . because air flows more readily than does water or solution through a leak , the air test is more expedient and sensitive than a fluid based test , increasing accuracy and repeatability and decreasing test time . test steps two through five of the present invention include a redundant pressure decay test that verifies the results of the first pressure decay test . all four test steps two through five look for leaking flow from a pressurized section of cassette 100 to an evacuated section of the cassette 100 . if a leak arises between the two sections of the cassette , the pressure in the two sections should tend towards equilibrium when air flows from the high pressure section to the evacuated section . the redundant test opens valves between the positive and negative sections at the completion of the first pressure decay test to verify that there is a larger pressure change if no leaks exist or a minimal pressure change if a leaks exists . a failure of occluder 158 to properly crimp tubing lines 54 to 66 does not materially affect the results for test steps two to five because the tip protectors are in place and would otherwise seal all of the lines that are being tested . additionally , the users / patients are instructed to close the line clamps on all but the drain line when loading set 50 into machine 150 . test step six , which tests the cassette valves v 1 through v 10 and the occluder 158 , can be conducted dry or wet since the solution bags have been connected . the dry test would have to be pressure based , whereas the fluid test could be either pressure or volume based . the user can clamp the drain line on the disposable set when instructed to do so after an integrity test failure when using the method of the present invention and run the disposable integrity tests again . if the tests do not show a failure a second time ( for many of the failure modes ), the disposable set can be held responsible for the leak and not the machine 150 , e . g ., the machine &# 39 ; s pneumatic system and / or cassette / machine interface . that feature is useful when a patient seeks troubleshooting assistance . determining that the machine 150 is working properly and that the cassette 100 is causing the failure precludes swapping a patient &# 39 ; s machine needlessly after an integrity failure because of uncertainty about whether the cassette 100 or machine 150 is responsible for the test failure . conversely , if the tests show a failure a second time , the machine 150 and / or the cassette / machine interface can be held responsible for the leak . while cassette 100 is illustrated with pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , valve chambers v 1 to v 10 , associated ports 108 , and fluid paths f 1 to f 11 , it should be appreciated that the method of the invention is equally applicable to cassettes and actuating systems that have different pump and valve geometries than the ones shown as well as additional features , such as heaters , pressure sensors , temperature sensors , concentration sensors , blood detectors , filters , air separators , bubble detectors , etc . the cassettes can be rigid with a single side of sheeting , be rigid with dual sided sheeting , have dual sheets forming fluid pathways , have a rigid portion connected to a flexible portion , etc . the cassettes are useable in any medical fluid delivery application , such as peritoneal dialysis , hemodialysis , hemofiltration , hemodiafiltration , continuous renal replacement therapy , medication delivery , plasma pherisis , etc ., and any combination thereof . fig1 shows one alternative embodiment of the present invention via system 200 , wherein the pneumatic source of positive pressure used above is replaced by a mechanical actuator 202 that pushes a flexible membrane film 203 . film 203 is attached to a cassette 210 with sheeting 204 on one side of thereof . system 200 uses a vacuum to force the membrane 203 to follow a piston head 206 when head 206 retracts from or moves toward cassette 210 . while no external source of positive pressure is provided , air can be drawn into pumping chamber 208 , while fluid valve 212 is closed and actuator 202 and head 206 are moved forward to generate an internal pressure that is used to perform the disposable integrity tests described herein . a pressure sensor 214 is provided in one embodiment to perform the pressure decay tests . the position of actuator 202 and head 206 can also be used to perform a leak test by applying a constant force . the actuator and head should remain stationary when a constant force is applied if no leak is present . forward motion would indicate that there is a leak in the system being tested . appendix a shows data from step one of the integrity test of the present disclosure . appendix b also shows data from step one of the integrity test of the present disclosure . in appendix b , the bolded , larger font size data shows when defects were detected . it is noteworthy that for fifty different cassettes tested and known to be defective , all fifty defects were detected . when the drain line was clamped after the software instructed the operator to do so , forty - seven of the fifty tests no longer failed indicating that the leak was in the cassette and not the therapy machine . the other three of the fifty clamped tests were inconclusive . those three are marked in bolded italics . it is also noteworthy that one cassette appears to have two defects and is highlighted in bold italics as well . for the test , ten defects were created in the pump chamber sheeting and forty defects were created in the valve sheeting . all pump chamber tests were run with positive pressure and all valve sheeting tests were run with negative pressure . the defects were punctures and slits made by a 0 . 035 inch ( 0 . 89 mm ) outside diameter hot needle or an exacto knife with a stop positioned to create consistent slits of 0 . 125 inch ( 3 . 2 mm ). appendix c shows data from the integrity test step two of the present disclosure . the positive pressures represent pressures inside pump chamber p 2 , as measured by pressure sensors monitoring positive tank 220 ( fig9 ). the negative pressures are for pressures inside pump chamber p 1 , as measured by the pressure sensors monitoring negative tank 214 ( fig9 ). cassettes predisposed with a number of defects were tested as well as some cassettes without known defects . some of the defects were not detected by test step two . test steps three , four and five did however reveal the defects that test step two did not . turning to the priming method and apparatus of the present invention , the method and apparatus are advantageous in a number of respects . first , the method employs the pumps of the medical fluid machine 150 shown above in fig6 to pump priming fluid for an initial portion of the prime to dislodge air bubbles that typically become trapped , for example , in the patient line 66 , near cassette 100 . second , the method uses software contained within the controller of machine 150 that expects to see a particular pressure drop when the medical fluid pump ( or pumps ) pushes the initial priming fluid . if the expected pressure drop is not seen , machine 150 assumes there is a clamp on the priming or patient line , responds accordingly and sends a suitable error message or code . referring now to fig1 , an initial schematic of an apparatus 250 for performing the priming method of the present invention is shown . the apparatus includes a supply bag 252 filled with a volume of fluid 254 . a line from solution bag 252 to pumps p 1 and p 2 is provided . in most instances , that line is the heater bag line 54 shown in fig5 and 17 , which enters cassette 100 that houses pump chambers p 1 and p 2 . valves 256 and 258 selectably allow fluid 254 to pass via line 54 to pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , respectively . a priming line is provided from pump chambers p 1 to p 2 to a distal end of the line , which is provided with a vented distal end connector 260 . normally , the primed line is the patient line shown as line 66 in fig5 and 17 . it should be appreciated , however , that the priming line may be a different line than the patient line . moreover , the priming apparatus 250 and associated method is applicable to systems that prime multiple lines sequentially or simultaneously . connector 260 as illustrated is positioned in organizer 42 discussed above in connection with fig5 . the positioning of connector 260 is set so that the prime stops at a desired point at the beginning of or in the interior of connector 260 . that level as shown by line 262 is the same level as the height of fluid 254 in container 252 . valves 266 to 268 are provided between pumps p 1 and p 2 and connector 260 to selectively allow fluid to enter patient line or priming line 66 . the first step of the priming method shown in fig1 is to close valves 266 and 268 ( black ) and open valves 256 and 258 ( white ). such valve arrangement enables fluid 254 to gravity feed or be drawn in by pumps p 1 and p 2 ( the − 1 . 5 psig shown in fig1 symbolizes the suction being applied to the flexible pump film as fluid is drawn into the pump chamber ) from container 252 and fill pump chambers p 1 and p 2 . because valves 266 and 268 are closed , no fluid enters priming line 66 . fig1 illustrates a second step of the priming method of the present invention . in fig1 , valves 256 and 258 are closed ( black ), so that no additional fluid can flow via heater bag line 54 from container 252 to pump chambers p 1 and p 2 . next , a 1 . 0 psig pressure is applied to the flexible pump film , pressing the film against the fluid in pump chambers p 1 and p 2 . valves 266 and 268 are then opened ( white ) so that fluid communication exists between pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , priming or patient line 66 and connector 260 . fig1 illustrates that after pressurizing the pump chambers p 1 and p 2 , fluid flows from those chambers through an initial portion of patient or priming line 66 . the pressure inside pump chambers p 1 and p 2 falls accordingly , e . g ., to about 0 . 1 psig , as this fluid is displaced from the pump chambers and the volume of air pushing against the pump film expands . the fluid pumped from chambers p 1 and p 2 is not meant to extend all the way to connector 260 , rather , the pumped fluid is intended to flow through any trapped air at the proximal end of patient line 66 , so that such air is not an impediment to priming . therefore , the fluid volume drawn into pump chambers p 1 and p 2 should be less than the volume inside patient line 66 extending from cassette 100 to connector 260 . the volume of liquid that does fill patient line 66 via the pump stroke of chambers p 1 and p 2 does , however , push some air through vented connector 260 , leaving the line partially filled with solution and partially filled with air , wherein the air is collected at the distal end and the solution resides at the proximal end of line 66 . this method of dislodgement works regardless of how many extensions are added to patient line 66 . older priming sequences had varied results depending upon whether a standard or non - standard length of patient line was used . the present method is independent of patient line length and can be used with a heater bag containing as little as 1000 ml of solution as seen in table 1 . fig2 and 21 illustrate the final step in the priming method associated with apparatus 250 . here , inlet valves 256 and 258 are opened , while outlet valves 266 and 268 are left open . in fig2 , any fluid in pump chambers p 1 and p 2 not pumped in fig1 is allowed to flow via gravity from such pump chambers into patient line 66 . additionally , fluid 254 is enabled to gravity flow from container 252 to complete the patient line prime . in fig2 , the pressure in chambers p 1 and p 2 can drop to near zero psig as any remaining pressure from the pump stroke in fig1 is dissipated . fig2 shows that the patient or priming line 66 is fully primed , with the level of fluid 254 reaching the elevational height 262 of the fluid 254 remaining in bag 252 . the level of fluid inside pump chambers p 1 and p 2 will also reach some equilibrium which may be at a slight positive pressure within those chambers . that is , the pressure in the pump chamber will equalize with the head pressure of patient line 66 and fill bag 252 . if the patient line 66 is inadvertently clamped during priming , the pressure in pump chambers p 1 and p 2 in the step illustrated by fig1 does not fall below an expected level , e . g ., from the one psig shown in fig1 to 0 . 1 psig shown in fig1 . the pressure instead remains at a higher level , such as 0 . 5 psig . the controller inside machine 150 senses that discrepancy and prompts the patient via a visual , audio or audiovisual message to unclamp the patient or priming line 66 . fig2 illustrates another advantage of the priming method of the present invention . a mixture of air and fluid can sometimes appear in the proximal part of the patient line 66 , near cassette 100 , at the beginning of prime . the mixture is usually near the cassette 100 because fluid may have entered into the line due to procedural errors during the setup procedure . for example , the patient may improperly connect the solution bags and open the clamps when the set is loaded . the mixture of air and fluid 254 can sometimes slow and sometimes prevent proper priming . the pressurized assist beginning in fig1 and ending in fig1 of patient line 66 will typically dislodge or overcome the problems caused by the air / fluid mixture , enabling proper priming . fig1 discussed above shows one alternative embodiment of the priming method of present invention , wherein system 200 replaces pneumatic pumps p 1 and p 2 in fig1 through 21 . the pneumatic source of positive pressure used in fig1 is replaced by a mechanical actuator 202 , which pushes on a flexible membrane film 203 , which in turn is attached to a cassette 210 having sheeting 204 on one side of thereof . system 200 uses a vacuum to force membrane 203 to follow a piston head 206 when head 206 retracts and moves toward cassette 210 , drawing fluid into pumping chamber 208 when fluid valve 212 is open . actuator 202 and head 206 are moved forward when another fluid valve ( not shown ) is opened , pushing fluid down the patient line . a pressure sensor 214 detects a pressure rise if the patient line is clamped . the position of actuator 202 and head 206 can be used to determine when to open valve 212 so that gravity can complete the priming of the patient line . appendix d shows data from the priming method of the present invention . additionally , the data in appendix e , tables 3 and 4 , was obtained from a software program that opened valves 256 and 258 when the pressure in pump chambers p 1 and p 2 fell below 0 . 2 psig . if the pressure did not fall to below 0 . 2 psig , the pressure was recorded and a message was logged that stated , “ timeout before posp reached 0 . 20 psig ”. a number of normal primes were performed as well as a number of primes wherein the patient line was clamped near the patient connector at the distal end of the line . dialysis , such as peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis or other renal therapies such as hemofiltration or hemodiafiltration can performed using multiple solution bags , such as dialysate bags , lactate bags and / or dextrose bags . in such a case , it is advantageous to determine that the required solution bags are : ( i ) present and ( ii ) located at a vertical height suitable to enable the particular therapy to be performed , for example , an automated peritoneal dialysis performed by a machine . such determinations should be made at the beginning of therapy , e . g ., during the priming and cassette integrity tests , so that the machine can alert the patient of any problems before treatment begins and / or before the patient falls asleep . referring now to fig2 and 24 , a system 300 illustrating one embodiment for determining solution bag head height is illustrated . system 300 of fig2 includes solution bags 302 and 304 , which are connected fluidly to pump chambers 306 and 308 via fluid lines 310 and 312 , respectively . pump chambers 306 and 308 house flexible diaphragms 314 and 316 , respectively . dialysate or therapy fluid can flow from pump chambers 306 and 308 when fluid valves 318 and 320 are opened , through fluid pathway 322 , to drain bag 324 . system 300 includes valves 326 and 328 connected fluidly to chamber 306 and valves 330 and 332 connected fluidly to chamber 308 . air / vacuum chambers 338 and 340 are placed between valves 326 and 328 and 330 and 332 , respectively . differential pressure sensors 334 and 336 sense differential pressure within chambers 338 and 340 , respectively . it should be appreciated that if valves 326 , 328 , 330 and 332 are open , while pump chambers 306 and 308 are empty , differential pressure sensor 334 ( placed between valves 326 and 328 ) and differential pressure sensor 336 ( placed between valves 330 and 332 ) and are zeroed because the pressures in air / vacuum chambers 338 and 340 are equal to atmospheric pressure . as seen in fig2 , when valves 318 , 320 , 328 and 332 are closed and fluid valves 326 , 330 , 342 and 344 are opened , fluid from solution bags 302 and 304 flows vertically down fluid pathways 310 and 312 , respectively , into pump chambers 306 and 308 . respective flexible diaphragms 314 and 316 move when fluid flows into pump chambers 306 and 308 , causing a pressure rise in the air trapped in air / vacuum chambers 338 and 340 . fluid flows into chambers 306 and 308 , through open valves 342 and 344 , until the pressure in respective air / vacuum chambers 338 and 340 , as measured by pressure sensors 334 and 336 , is equal to the pressure exerted by the solution ( approximately water for purposes of density ) in columns that are equal in height to vertical distances y 1 and y 2 . if the pressure equivalent to that exerted by columns of solution of heights y 1 and y 2 is within a predetermined operating parameter for the medical fluid therapy system 300 ( e . g ., an apd system ), the therapy is allowed to continue . if not , a suitable alarm is posted informing the patient or operator that one or both solution bags 302 or 304 is positioned outside the operating parameters of system 300 . a pressure difference caused by differences in the vertical positions ( pressure head heights ) of solution bags 302 and 304 also has to be within set limits for system 300 to operate within specification in one embodiment . an inlet side of a pump subjected to a negative head height results in less fluid being pumped for each stroke of chambers 306 and 308 , as compared to strokes made when positive head height pressure is seen on the inlet side of a pump . therefore when equal volumes of different solutions are being pumped by chambers 306 and 308 and mixed at a desired ratio , e . g ., 1 : 1 , it is advantageous for the vertical positions and corresponding pressure head heights of the two solutions to be the same or substantially the same . the previous description of system 300 in fig2 and 24 illustrates how sensors 334 and 336 can be zeroed and then used to test solution bag height in the context of a filling sequence , i . e ., pump chambers 306 and 308 moving from empty towards full . it should be appreciated that conversely , sensors 334 and 336 can be zeroed and then used to test drain bag height in the context of a drain sequence , i . e ., pump chambers 306 and 308 moving full or partially full towards empty . in the drain test , pump chambers 306 and 308 are first filled with fluid from solution bags 302 and 304 , respectively , by opening valves 342 and 344 , so that therapy fluid flows through fluid pathways 310 and 312 , respectively , and into pump chambers 306 and 308 as shown in fig2 . valves 326 , 328 , 330 and 332 are then opened , allowing the pressure in air / vacuum chambers 334 and 336 to be zeroed with respect to atmospheric pressure and enabling the differential pressure sensor readings of sensors 334 and 336 to be set or reset to zero . valves 342 , 344 , 328 and 332 are then closed and valves 318 , 320 , 326 and 330 are opened . fluid flows then from pump chambers 306 and 308 , through fluid pathway 322 , to drain bag 324 . diaphragms 314 and 316 within pump chambers 306 and 308 move accordingly , creating vacuums respectively inside air / vacuum chambers 338 and 340 . fluid flow stops when the vacuum in air / vacuum chambers 338 and 340 , measured by pressure sensors 334 and 336 , respectively , is equal to a column of solution ( negative pressure head height ) of height y 3 shown in fig2 . the drain test ensures that the drain bag / drain line discharge is located below pump chambers 306 and 308 , so that no backflow occurs due to gravity . the drain test also ensures that the drain is not located too far below the pumps and valves , wherein the location causes an adverse effect on the operation of the valves . if the pressure equivalent to a column of solution of height y 3 is within a predetermined operating parameter for the medical fluid therapy system 300 , the therapy is allowed to continue . if not , a suitable alarm is posted informing the patient or operator that the drain bag 324 is positioned outside the operating parameters of system 300 . it should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art . such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and without diminishing its intended advantages . it is intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims . | 0 |
the construction of an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings . this embodiment is applied to a magnetic recording and / or reproducing apparatus for recording and / or reproducing information on or from a magnetic tape in a cassette obtained by winding the magnetic tape around a pair of reels by means of a head attached to a rotator drum . fig1 is a schematic view of the construction of a magnetic recording and / or reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment . the magnetic recording and / or reproducing apparatus includes a chassis 1 , a rotator drum 2 mounted on the chassis 1 , a capstan 3 , a pinch skate 4 having a pinch roller mounted thereon , a leading skate 5 , a trailing skate 6 and a cassette post 7 . the pinch skate 4 , the leading skate 5 , the trailing skate 6 and the cassette post 7 are adapted to move along movement paths 4a , 5a , 6a and 7a , respectively . a tape 9 is pulled from a large cassette 8 loaded in the chassis 1 and wound around the rotator drum 2 and an outlet post 10 , as shown in fig1 . the recording and / or reproducing apparatus also includes a take - up reel unit 11 and a feed reel unit 12 which are placed on a take - up reel unit base ( not shown ) and a feed reel unit base 13 , respectively . the take - up reel unit base and the feed reel unit base 13 are movable along rails 15 so as to be compatible with a small cassette 14 loaded in the chassis 1 , as illustrated in fig2 . in this way , such bases are adapted to be placed in predetermined positions so as to be compatible with the large cassette 8 and the small cassette 14 shown in fig1 and 2 , respectively . a description will now be given of a reel mechanism . in fig3 a reflective photo diode 16 is mounted on the chassis 1 and connected to a detection process circuit ( not shown ). the reel unit base 13 is adapted to be movable along the rails 15 placed on the chassis 1 depending on the cassette size , that is , according to a variation in the distance between the centers of the tape reels . the reel unit base 13 is provided with openings 13a and 13b for detecting the rotation of the reel unit in two positions at a distance r away from a reel shaft 17 in the direction of moving the reel unit base 13 . when these openings 13a and 13b are provided such that an imaginary line connecting the openings 13a and 13b passes through the reel shaft 17 and is parallel to the rails 15 , the equation 2r = l can be met . the present invention can be accomplished by providing the openings 13a and 13b so that the line connecting the openings 13a and 13b is parallel to the direction of moving the reel unit base 13 . as illustrated in fig4 on the reverse surface of the reel unit 12 ( the surface facing the reel unit base 13 ), a plurality of silver reflective surfaces 12a and black non - reflective surfaces 12b are alternately arranged around the entire periphery at the distance r away from the center of the reel unit 12 . fig5 ( a ) and 5 ( b ) illustrate the reel mechanism as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrow a in fig3 . as illustrated in fig5 ( a ) and 5 ( b ), when one of the forward and rear ends of the reel unit base 13 is positioned at one end of the distance l in which the reel unit base 13 is movable , the reflective photo diode 16 mounted on the chassis 1 is positioned right under one of the respective openings 13a and 13b of the reel unit base 13 . fig5 ( a ) is a side view showing the positional relationship among the reel unit base 13 having the small cassette 14 shown in fig2 loaded therein , the reel unit 12 and the reflective photo diode 16 . the reflective photo diode 16 is positioned right under the opening 13a of the reel unit base 13 . as described above , the reflective surfaces 12a and the non - reflective surfaces 12b are alternately arranged on the surface of the reel unit 12 which faces the reel unit base 13 . the light emitted from the reflective photo diode 16 thus passes through the opening 13a so as to reach the reel unit 12 . when the light reaching the reel unit 12 from the photo diode 16 is applied to the reflective surface 12a , it is received by the photo diode 16 . the light applied to the non - reflective surface 12b is not received . more specifically , when the reel unit 12 is rotated , the light from the photo diode 16 is alternately applied to the reflective surface 12a and the non - reflective surface 12b so that it repeats reflection and non - reflection , thereby detecting the rotation of the reel unit 12 by the light - receiving section of the reflective photo diode 16 . on the other hand , when the reel unit 12 is not rotated , the light emitted from the reflective photo diode 16 is always received by the light - receiving section of the photo diode 16 when the light is applied to the reflective surface 12a , while the light is not received at all when the light is applied to the non - reflective surface 12b . fig5 ( b ) is a side view showing the positional relationship among the reel unit base 13 having the large cassette 8 shown in fig1 loaded therein , the reel unit 12 and the reflective photo diode 16 mounted on the chassis 1 . the photo diode 16 is positioned right under the opening 13b of the reel unit base 13 . the detection of the rotation of the reel unit 12 can also be achieved in a manner similar to the operation illustrated in fig5 ( a ). as described above , in the reel unit moving apparatus which is capable of loading large and small types of cassettes , rotation detecting means conventionally arranged on the moving base are replaced by the reflective photo diode arranged on the chassis , thereby improving assembly by simplifying wiring and enabling cost reduction by decreasing the number of parts . the rotation detecting element is not limited to a reflective photo diode , but may be a hall element by way of example , in which case , a magnet should be placed on the lower surface of the reel unit 12 which faces the reel unit base 13 . | 6 |
systems and methods according to a preferred embodiment of the invention offer a universal media player to a user device . the user device can be any type of device , including but not limited to digital televisions , enhanced televisions , webtv , any other type of interactive television , desk - top computers , lap - top computers , palm pilot , pocketpc , visor , any other type of personal digital assistants , internet appliances , data devices , mobile radiotelephones , interactive pagers , or any other type of communication device . the user device supports storage and retrieval of media content and other data of multiple formats . the media content can be in any type of media file and can comprise data , audio , video , graphics , animated graphics , any combination of these formats , or any other type of media format . for example , these media file types include , but are not limited , to the media formats listed above in table 1 . to access a file of any commercially available media format , the system according to the invention must maintain an operable version the appropriate media format access data , which is for example , a decompression / compression file known as a codec or a media player standard that contains a set of codecs . the user device can receive the media file in a number of ways . for instance , the user device can receive media files through a network , such as the internet , wireless networks , local area network ( lan ), wide area network ( wan ), or cable networks , or can receive media files through a storage medium , such as a floppy disk , cd - rom , dvd , or other magnetic or optical storage media . a media format system 10 maintains media format access data , such as codecs 12 , media format access data 14 , and media player standards 16 . the media format access data is usable to support access to a set of remote media formats . the set of remote media formats is to be interpreted as open - ended , to include proprietary and open standard commercially available media formats , such that new media formats are added thereto as those media formats are developed in the industry , and the media format system 10 obtains an operable version of media format access data that can enable access to the content of each new media format . the media format system 10 can be available to the user device 5 through a network 20 , such as the internet . the media format system 10 can comprise any suitable type of system and preferably comprises a server which functions as a media format site ( mfs ) on the internet 20 . the mfs 10 transmits data and program modules to the user device 5 and the user device 5 has an interface 7 that provides a user interface to the data and program modules . as mentioned above , the systems and methods of the invention can be used with a variety of user devices 5 . for the purposes of this description , the user device 5 will be described as a personal computer ( pc ) 5 . as shown in fig1 , a user accesses the mfs 10 via the pc 5 and through the interface 7 provided by the pc 5 . the pc 5 can be connected to the internet 20 as shown or to another network , such as through a dial - up modem connection , lan , digital subscriber line , or other communications connection . the user activates and controls the pc 5 through any available type of input and / or output devices , such as a standard pc screen , keyboard , voice - activated unit , mouse , stylus , touch screen , or other typical input / output devices . of course , the precise type of input and / or output device and the interface 7 will vary with the type of user device 5 . a simplified diagram of a network according to the invention is illustrated in fig2 . the network is implemented as applications that work in connection with operating systems of computers in a client - server environment . other implementations are possible . for example , implementations can include programs , modules , routines , components , data structures , and other elements that execute tasks or implement data types . the network can be used or implemented with other computers , other computer system configurations , including hand - held units , multiprocessors systems , microprocessor systems , minicomputers , mainframe computers , and the like . the network also can be practiced in a distributed or peer - to - peer computing environment where tasks can be performed by remote processing devices linked through a communications network . in a distributed environment , programs , modules , or program modules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices . fig3 is an exemplary system diagram of the pc 5 . the pc 5 includes a processing unit 30 , high speed storage 36 such as system memory 36 a , and a system bus 38 that couples the system memory 36 a to the processing unit 30 . the system memory 36 a includes read only memory ( rom ) 36 c and random access memory ( ram ) 36 b . a basic input / output system ( bios ) 36 d , containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the pc 5 , such as during start - up , is stored in rom 36 c . the pc 5 further includes low speed storage 34 , such as a hard disk drive 34 a , a magnetic disk drive 34 b , e . g ., to read from or write to a removable disk , and an optical disk drive 34 c , e . g ., for reading a cd - rom disk or to read from or write to other optical media . the hard disk drive 34 a , magnetic disk drive 34 b , and optical disk drive 34 c include a hard disk drive interface , a magnetic disk drive interface , and an optical drive interface , respectively , for coupling each of the drives 34 to the bus 38 . the drives 34 and their associated computer - readable media provide nonvolatile storage for the pc 5 . although the description of computer - readable medium above refers to a hard disk , a removable magnetic disk and a cd - rom disk , other types or media readable by a pc 5 , such as magnetic cassettes , flash memory cards , digital video disks , bernoulli ™ cartridges , and the like , can also be used . a number of program modules can be stored in the drives and ram , including an operating system , one or more application programs , a shared code library , and a property browser program module . a user can enter commands and information into the pc 5 through a keyboard 32 a and pointing device 32 b , such as a mouse . other input / output devices 32 c can include a microphone , joystick , game pad , satellite dish , scanner , or the like . these and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 30 through a serial port interface coupled to the system bus 38 , but can be connected by other interfaces , such as game port or a universal serial bus ( usb ). a monitor or other type of display device is included in the other input / output devices 32 c and is also connected to the system bus 38 via an interface , such as a video adapter . in addition to the monitor , pcs 5 typically include other peripheral output devices as part of the input / output devices 32 c , such as speakers or printers . referring again to fig2 , the pc 5 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to the media format system 10 , which can comprise one or more remote computers . the media format system 10 can be a server , a router , a peer device or other common network node , and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the pc 5 , although only a memory storage device has been illustrated in fig2 . the memory storage device of the system 10 can include stored program modules for execution by the system 10 . the communications link depicted in fig2 includes a local area network ( lan ) and a wide area network ( wan ). such networking environments are commonplace in offices , enterprise - wise computer networks , intranets and the internet . when used in a lan networking environment , the pc 5 is linked to the lan through a network interface . when used in a wan networking environment , the pc 5 typically includes a modem or other means for establishing communications over the wan , such as the internet . the modem , which can be internal or external , is connected to the system bus 38 via the serial port interface . in a networked environment , program modules depicted relative to the pc 5 , or portions thereof , can be stored in the remote memory storage device . the network connections are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between a user device 5 and system 10 can be used . referring again to fig2 , the logical connections , lan and wan , can be supported by different hardware configurations . for example , the underlying hardware for the network connections can be a frame relay connection , an advanced intelligent network ( ain ) connection , a synchronous optical network ( sonet ) connection , a digital t1 , t3 , e1 or e3 line , digital data service ( dds ) connection , dsl ( digital subscriber line ) connection , an ethernet connection , an isdn ( integrated services digital network ) line , a dial - up port such as a v . 90 , v . 34 or v . 24 bis analog modem connection , a cable modem , an atm ( asynchronous transfer mode ) connection , or fddi ( fiber distributed data interface ) or cddi ( copper distributed data interface ) connections . the universal media player on the pc 5 having the user interface 7 preferably is in regular communication with the system 10 through a network . the communication generally takes place over one or more communications channels . the bandwidth of the communications channel typically impacts the speed of communication between the universal media player and the network . the higher the bandwidth of a communications channel , the higher the amount of data that can be transferred through the communications channel . by way of example , when the universal media player and the pc 5 connect to the system 10 through a high - speed connection , such as a dsl connection , the universal media player and pc 5 can quickly identify , evaluate , install or update a media format . on the other hand , if the universal media player and pc 5 are connected to the system 10 via a low - speed modem , downloads and data transmissions to the universal media player and pc 5 will be slower . in an exemplary embodiment , the universal media player on the pc 5 communicates with the system 10 via a client - server environment . the system 10 is therefore a server - side component and stores data such as media formats , codecs , media player standards , and program modules on at least one server . as mentioned above , the system 10 comprises any type of remote information source such as the mfs , which can be a site on the internet , possibly hosted by an internet service provider ( isp ). the mfs 10 furthermore can be an application service provider ( asp ) separate from the isp . the mfs 10 has several functional components , including data management and data storage . as will be explained in more detail below , the mfs 10 can also control media format and program module updating and personalization . the data management component of the mfs 10 controls billing and encryption of data transfers between the user devices 5 and the mfs 10 , where the data transferred can include media formats , media player standards , and program modules . for example , with regard to billing functionality , the mfs 10 transfers credit card information or other identifying data that is used to collect payment for transfers to the user devices 5 and for other services rendered by the mfs 10 . the mfs 10 provides encryption to protect these transfers and other data transfers from being intercepted by unauthorized entities . the mfs 10 also provides the function of data storage . the mfs 10 stores the data in a database . the database contains up - to - date media player standards , along with associated codecs . as one example , each media player standard can be cross - referenced with at least one media file type , one or more associated codecs , and possibly several analogous commercial media players . for example , hypothetical media player standard xplayer can access media content with the file extensions . movie , . sound , and . video , using codecs x , y , and z , and is analogous to commercialplayera and commercialplayerb . a particular codec can be shared by more than one media format . the mfs 10 also stores up - to - date program modules , which are typically software components of the universal media player . the mfs 10 database can also store media content , including test files and other media files . the mfs 10 can include a network server that controls communication with the user device 5 to effect updates to lists of supported media formats , media player standards , codecs , and program modules . in one embodiment , the mfs 10 obtains new and updated formats as the server periodically or continually scans predetermined network sites that are accessible sources of media player standards , codecs , and media formats . when the server encounters a network site that contains a media players standard or codec that is a newer version than the version resident on the mfs 10 , or a new media format that has been targeted for addition to the set of media formats supported by the mfs 10 , the server downloads and stores the appropriate data in the database on the mfs 10 . as another alternative , media players standards and codecs are loaded directly onto the mfs database by a network or site administrator . as yet another alternative , the mfs 10 performs an update or adds new data to its database when the mfs 10 encounters a request from a user device 5 for a support of a new or upgraded media format . as a further alternative , other entities can contact the mfs 10 directly and provide the mfs 10 with the updates , such as an entity that maintains media player standards or codecs . for example , a user can choose completely automatic updates of the universal media player to occur for example , at start - up of an application or in the background at scheduled or random intervals . the automatic updates can be performed with or without the user giving consent to the update through a prompt . the updating and initializing of communications can therefore be personalized to the user , whereby some users may choose not to initiate any communication unless initiated by the user device 5 and not the mfs 10 . the user could also choose to update only when the user device 5 encounters a new media format , or an upgraded version of a supported media format . a method 50 of providing an update to a user device 5 will now be described with reference to fig4 . the method 50 begins with the initiation of a communication between the system 10 and the user device 5 . for the purposes of this description , the system 10 will be referred to as the mfs and the user device 5 will be referred to as the universal media player . as mentioned above , this communication can occur in a multitude of ways , with either the mfs 10 or the universal media player device 5 being the initiator . the communication can be initiated for various reasons as well , such as at a scheduled time , random time , or in response to an event , such as due to encountering a new media type file or media format . in the examples shown in fig4 , the universal media player can initiate communication with the mfs 10 at 51 a or the mfs 10 can initiate communication with the universal media player at 51 b . the mfs 10 can remotely initiate a communications session with the universal media player 5 and then control the comparison and transmission of codecs and media player standards . for example , the mfs 10 uses standard communications protocols to connect to a universal media player 5 . next , at 52 , the mfs 10 determines whether the universal media player is up - to - date . if not , then the mfs 10 at 53 downloads and installs updates . the mfs 10 can therefore automatically update the universal media player itself , although the mfs can update media format access data without performing 52 and 53 . at 54 , the mfs 10 determines whether the codecs and media player standards installed in the universal media player are up - to - date . the mfs 10 compares the formats supported according to the mfs database to the media formats that are supported according to the roster in the user device &# 39 ; s 5 local storage area . any codecs and media player standards associated with media formats that are supported according to the mfs database but that do not exist on the roster are downloaded and installed on the user device &# 39 ; s local storage area at 55 . if a codec or media player standard exists both on the mfs 10 and on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area , but the mfs 10 version is newer than the user &# 39 ; s version , then the newest version is downloaded and installed on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area at 57 . if a codec or media player standard exists both on the mfs 10 and on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area , but the user &# 39 ; s version is damaged , then the newest version of that codec or media player standard is downloaded from the mfs 10 and installed on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area at 57 . as mentioned above at 52 and 53 , the mfs 10 can control program module updates of the universal media player application itself . updates to the universal media player application will similarly be made available upon user demand , or via remotely initiated communications sessions . preferably , the same server within the mfs 10 maintains personalization information regarding each user &# 39 ; s preferences , and distributes data according to the personalization information . for example , a user specifies a particular “ look and feel ” or “ skin ” to be applied to that user &# 39 ; s version of the user interface 7 of the universal media player . the user may select the appearance and functionality of the universal media player through a variety of explicit or implicit means , including menu selections , radio buttons or other iconic controls , and the like . this personalization information is then transmitted to the server in the mfs 10 . the server provides subsequent program module updates that maintain the look and feel of the user interface while updating program modules and data . personalization information can include user preferences regarding types and organization of content . user preferences can be dynamically determined and amended according to past activity . the universal media player according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is a client - side component comprised of a set of program modules and a user interface . the server - side component interfaces with the client - side component at the mfs 10 through a “ virtual ” appliance . the virtual appliance is displayed on a monitor or other display device of the user &# 39 ; s personal computer , personal digital assistant ( pda ), or other device . the virtual appliance can be considered a “ universal media player ” because the virtual appliance provides the user with a media player that can interface with almost any kind of file . an example of a interface 7 for the pc 5 is shown in fig5 . the interface 7 is an exemplary embodiment of a graphics - based user interface ( gui ) 7 of the universal media player . the gui 7 incorporates visual controls such as icons , pull - down menus , list boxes , pushbuttons , a cursor , and a mouse . examples of common guis are windows , macintosh , and motif . in a client / server environment , the gui 7 resides in the user device 5 . in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig5 , the gui 7 of the universal media player is generally rectangular . the gui 7 can be displayed “ full - screen ,” and can function while reduced to some fraction of available screen area , or while completely minimized or “ icon - sized .” when completely minimized , the universal media player can be “ always on top ,” i . e ., visible in a very small portion of the screen regardless of which other application the user activates . the universal media player can be activated by the user , can be programmed to automatically start up when the computer is booted up , or can start up whenever a media file is encountered . for example , a user browses the internet and encounters a website that contains links to audio and / or video files , such as television news content . if the user clicks on a link to access one of the media files , the universal media player automatically begins to run if the universal media player has not already been activated . transparently to the user , the universal media player determines the appropriate media format to access the content and display and / or plays the content accordingly . the gui 7 of the universal media player includes a screen 62 having a viewing area that displays the visual content of media files . the screen 62 is suitable for viewing data , image , video and other visual file formats . the screen 62 of the universal media player can be sized by the user by clicking and dragging , or by accessing options . the universal media player can be accompanied by a graphic equalizer 63 , which enables the user to view and adjust the characteristics of the audio components of image or video files . the graphic equalizer 63 includes visual indication of audio input levels , and allows the user to control several sound modes , such as bass , treble , balance , fade , amplification . the user can preset the graphic equalizer 63 controls to output sound according to the user &# 39 ; s preferences , and can alter the settings during a given listening session . the graphic equalizer 63 controls can include sliding buttons that can be moved using the computer &# 39 ; s mouse or with keyboard commands . when the user accesses a file that contains audio but no visual component , the screen 62 of the universal media player can become invisible , leaving only the other portions of the gui 7 , including the graphic equalizer 63 and user control . alternatively , the screen of the universal media player can remain visible during the playing of an audio file , but can display a visual interpretation of the sound content of the audio file . for example , while playing a music file , the screen of the universal media player can display on object that reacts to the rhythm of the music . the gui 7 includes various other controls . for example , the gui 7 includes a subset of controls 64 that enable the user to direct the dissemination of the content by issuing such commands as “ stop ,” “ play ,” “ pause ,” “ mute ,” “ forward ,” “ rewind ,” “ go to the beginning ,” “ go to the end ,” “ go to the previous track ,” and “ go to the next track .” the gui 7 can also utilize a system of user - accessible gui controls that consists of devices such as a menu bar , buttons , data entry fields , clickable images , and any combination thereof . the user may also choose to access a specific time interval by using a sliding control , or by entering the time coordinates of the interval . another subset of controls on the gui 7 allows the user to store , sort , and access a playlist of media content . to illustrate , as the user encounters media files and utilizes the universal medial player to access the content , the user will have the option of adding each new media file to the user &# 39 ; s playlist , and can select the position of the new file relative to existing files in the playlist . each entry in the playlist can contain information about the media file , including a title , file size , file type , length of time required to access the content of file , genre , and date , as well as custom fields as specified and populated by the user . an exemplary embodiment of the inventions also includes a “ roster ” of supported media formats , which can include information regarding the version of associated codecs and media player formats and respective dates of previous updates . this feature permits a user to track media formats to determine which media formats are supported by the universal media player , and whether each media format has been received any updated media format access data from the mfs 10 . the roster can be accessible to the user in the form of a list box or similar control . the user interface controls the storage and display of the list of supported media formats and associated codecs and media player standards . fig4 indicates how an exemplary embodiment of the universal media player will obtain codec and media players standards files associated with media formats from the mfs 10 to integrate them into the roster of media formats supported by the universal media player . in one embodiment , this process of retrieving codecs and media format standards will occur automatically when the user initially installs the universal media player . thereafter , the universal media player will periodically obtain files necessary to support additional formats either as the files become available , or at scheduled intervals . the process of file retrieval can be initiated either by the universal media player , or by the mfs . returning to the example where the provider hosting the mfs 10 is the user &# 39 ; s isp , the isp can remotely initiate a session to add support for media formats to the user &# 39 ; s universal media player . the invention is particularly useful in that when the user encounters media formats that were previously unsupported by the user &# 39 ; s version of the universal media player , the universal media player can automatically retrieve the appropriate media format access data . the user interface can also set preferences to control the updating of codecs and media player standards associated with media formats , such as through the “ preferences ” button on the gui 7 . fig5 indicates how in an exemplary embodiment , the universal media player will initiate the access of files to update the universal media player with new versions . this process can also occur automatically as updated files become available , or at scheduled intervals . alternatively , fig4 indicates that the provider can remotely initiate a session to update the version of media formats . the options can be set by the user through the “ preferences ” button . the universal media player comprises a software application , i . e ., a set of program modules . the universal media player uses standard communications protocols to connect to the mfs via the server , in order to access , acquire , and install new or updated media formats and program modules . examples of communications protocols include v . 35 , ethernet , ipx , netbeui , netbios , asn . 1 , and http . the universal media player compares the codecs , media player standards , and program modules available on the mfs to the codecs , media player standards , and program modules that are stored on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area , typically a hard disk drive . any codecs or media player standards that are found on the mfs , but that are not exist on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area are downloaded and installed on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area . if a codec or media player standard does exist both on the mfs and on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area , but the mfs version is newer than the user &# 39 ; s version , then the newest version of that codec or media player standard is downloaded and installed on the user &# 39 ; s local storage area . the universal media player preferably can be customized for the convenience of the user . the user can specify preferences regarding such attributes as appearance of the application , content storage and playback , media format procurement and version updating . for example , the user can designate that the application run on a specified portion of the screen , occupying a specified amount of desktop area , and with a customized set of controls . the user can preset characteristics of the presentation of audio and video content , such as contrast , brightness , bass , and treble . the user can also create a system of cataloging and retrieving media files stored in the playlist . the user can also specify preferred media formats for use with a media file type . the user can therefore select between compatible and possibly competitive players , such as realplayer , quicktime , or windows media player . the user can select a level at which the user will be involved in the process of updating the universal media player with data associated with new media file formats . in one embodiment the update process is completely automatic , can occur in the background regardless of whether the universal media player is activated , and can be transparent to the user . for example , in response to the user clicking on a media file of a previously unsupported media format while browsing the internet , the universal media player becomes in communication with the mfs 10 . the mfs 10 provides an operable version of media format access data that corresponds to the media format of that media file . in another embodiment , the mfs initiates communications with the universal media player , and causes updates to occur automatically . in another embodiment , the user can specify that updates should only occur when the universal media player is activated by the user , or only after the user has been notified that an update is available and has assented . for example , when the user activates the universal media player , a dialog box informs the user that a new version of one of a media format is available . the user is then prompted to permit or reject the download of the new version of the codec or media player standard . fig6 shows the respective components of the user or client device 5 and the remote device ( media format site ) 10 . the components of the client device 5 are interconnected by the bus 38 . the client storage unit 30 stores client data including the list of supported media formats , which are stored in a set of client media formats 71 , and program modules , which are stored in a set of client program modules 72 . the client processor 36 executes client program modules , and utilizes codecs and / or media player standards associated with the client media formats to access the content of multimedia files . the client processor 36 includes a client media format controller 73 that controls updates of the set of client media formats 71 including the integration of new media formats received from the media format site 10 , and deletion or replacement of obsolete or damaged codecs or media player standards . the client processor 36 also includes a client program module controller 74 that similarly updates the set of client program modules 72 by adding new program modules received from the media format site 10 or from another computer readable medium . updates of client media formats or program modules can be triggered by various occurrences , such as launching the media player application , receiving data from the mfs 10 , encountering a media file , or the passage of a predetermined amount of time . a client encrypter 75 encrypts data that is transmitted from the client device 5 by a client transmitter 77 . a client decrypter 76 decrypts any encrypted data that is received by a client receiver 78 . the client transmitter 77 sends data to a remote receiver 80 and receives data from a remote transmitter 81 . the remote device 10 includes a remote storage unit 82 that stores remote data including codecs or media player standards , which are stored with a set of remote media formats 83 , and program modules , which are stored with a set of client program modules 84 . the remote storage unit 82 can store data in databases as well as in other storage architectures . a remote processor 85 includes a remote media format controller 86 that controls updates of media format access data needed to access the content of members of the set of remote media formats 83 , including the addition of new codecs or media player standards received from multiple information sources such as from internet servers hosted by media format providers such as real player ™ or from sources of non - proprietary media player standards . the remote media format controller 86 also controls deletion or replacement of obsolete or damaged codecs or media player standards that are stored with the set of remote media formats 83 . updates of codecs and media player standards associated with remote media formats can be triggered by various occurrences , such as initiating an inquiry to an information source , receiving data from an information source , or the passage of a predetermined amount of time . a remote program module controller 87 similarly controls updates the set of remote program modules 84 by adding new program modules that have been newly developed or acquired by the host of the media format site , and by deleting or replacing program modules that are obsolete or damaged . updates of remote program modules are typically triggered manually by a programmer installing newly developed code , but other triggers can be implemented . a remote encrypter 88 encrypts data that is transmitted from the mfs 10 by the remote transmitter 81 . a remote decrypter 89 decrypts any encrypted data that is received by the remote receiver 80 . the components of the remote device 10 are interconnected by a bus 90 . the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention has been presented only for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . for example , the universal media player does not have to be rectangular ; rather , any shape that provides sufficient viewing area and access to controls can be used . in addition , the universal media player can generate rather than procure media formats . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . | 7 |
as used herein , the term “ proximal ” refers to a location on the catheter and needle shield assembly of this invention closest to the clinician using the device and farthest from the patient in connection with whom the device is used when the device is used in its normal operation . conversely , the term “ distal ” refers to a location on the catheter and needle shield assembly of this invention farthest from the clinician using the device and closest to the patient in connection with whom the device is used when the device is used in its normal operation . a catheter assembly 100 may include a catheter adapter 8 having a catheter 108 attached at its distal end . wings 130 may be provided on the adapter 8 . before use and during insertion ( as depicted in fig1 ), a needle 30 is disposed within the catheter such that the tip or distal point 32 that extends out of the distal end of the catheter . the proximal end of the needle is attached to a needle hub 110 . a finger grip 120 may be incorporated into the needle hub 110 . such a structure , in conjunction with the wings 130 , permits the caregiver to employ various technique for catheter insertion , as discussed in u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 865 , 915 , filed may 25 , 2001 , incorporated herein by reference . a needle shield assembly 5 is disposed about the needle , between the needle hub 110 and the catheter adapter 8 , as shown in fig1 . alternatively , as shown in , inter alia , fig2 a and 2b , the needle shield assembly 5 may be disposed completely within the catheter adapter and still practice aspects of the invention . it will be appreciated that embodiments of the invention may be implemented with either a needle shield assembly within the catheter adapter , or with a needle shield assembly disposed between the needle hub and the catheter adapter , or at other locations along the needle . further , implementations of the invention may be employed with needles and sharps used in other devices , such as syringes and blood collection sets . as discussed more fully below , implementations of the needle shield assembly 5 are designed such that , after insertion of the over the needle catheter 108 into the patient , when the needle 30 is withdrawn , the tip 32 of the needle enters the needle shield assembly . at that point , the needle shield assembly locks onto the needle tip , preventing further displacement of the shield assembly along the needle . as such , the needle shield assembly cannot simply be slipped off the tip of the needle and removed . additionally , when the needle shield assembly locks onto the needle , it prevents reemergence of the tip from the distal end of the needle shield assembly . to achieve this locking between the needle shield assembly 5 and the needle 30 , the needle shield assembly includes a tilting member or canting plate 40 whose movement is constrained with respect to the needle shield assembly . preferably , the tilting member is a rigid plate contained within the needle shield assembly . a hole 42 in the canting plate is defined by an edge 43 . the needle passes through the hole 42 in the canting plate . in the unlocked condition ( seen , e . g ., in fig2 a ), the canting plate is retained in an aligned position with the needle by a retention system or canting plate retention means such that the needle passes through the canting plate without substantial interference . as discussed more fully below , the canting plate retention means may include combinations of fixed structures and movable elements , springs and / or friction members that cooperate to control the position of the canting plate . as the tip 32 of the needle is withdrawn into the needle shield assembly , the canting plate retention means is triggered , causing the canting plate to come “ off alignment ” or be “ actuated .” the canting plate is tilted such that it binds against the exterior of the needle , preventing relative movement of the needle to the canting plate . since the canting plate is also constrained with respect to the needle shield assembly , the needle and its tip are also constrained with respect to the needle shield assembly — thereby locking the needle tip within the needle shield assembly . a feature 35 may be provided on the needle to further prevent the needle shield assembly from slipping off the needle tip . a tether 400 may also be provided to prevent the needle shield assembly from slipping off the needle tip . as discussed below , the feature and the tether can also serve to withdraw the needle shield assembly from the catheter adapter 8 as the needle hub 110 is moved proximally . once locked in place , the shielded needle may be disposed of . referring now to fig2 a - 3b , one implementation of the invention is shown . fig2 a and 3a depict the needle 30 partially withdrawn into the needle shield assembly 5 , but before the needle shield assembly is actuated , or locked , onto the needle . fig2 b and 3b depict the needle shield assembly after actuation , locked onto the needle . in the unlocked or unactuated condition ( fig2 a and 3a ), the needle shield assembly 5 is positioned within the catheter adapter ( or simply “ adapter ”) 8 . for the sake of clarity , the catheter 108 has been omitted . it will be appreciated that the catheter is secured to the distal end of the catheter adapter and the needle extends coaxially through the catheter before use , as seen in fig1 . the adapter 8 includes an internal chamber forming a shield housing 6 in which the needle shield assembly 5 sits . the shield housing may also be a structure distinct from the adapter . the needle shield assembly has a shield body 10 that includes a sidewall 9 and a distal end 11 and proximal end 12 . typically , the sidewall is cylindrical to fit snugly within the shield housing . the sidewall may have other shapes to achieve a fit within the catheter adapter . the shield ends 11 , 12 include a distal opening 13 at the distal end and a proximal opening 14 at the proximal end . the needle 30 has a distal needle point or tip 32 and an axis 99 and is disposed within the adapter 8 , extending through the shield assembly 5 before use . specifically , the needle passes through the shield openings 13 , 14 , and extends out of the distal end 7 of adapter 8 , through an over - the - needle catheter 108 ( not shown in fig2 a - 3b for the sake of clarity ). the needle diameter is sized to pass through the distal opening 13 and the proximal opening 14 of the shield body 10 without interference . in accord with certain implementations of the invention , a static feature 35 is also provided on the needle 30 at a selected distance from the tip 32 . the static feature 35 is designed such that it is not capable of passage through the proximal opening 14 of shield body 10 , such as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 558 , 651 and 5 , 215 , 528 , both incorporated herein by reference . the static feature could be an increased diameter portion on the needle 30 ( that is , an enlarged dimension , such as formed by a crimp , collar , enlarged diameter sleeve or ferrule ), or a roughened surface that locks onto proximal end 12 of the needle shield assembly 5 . other structures can be employed to restrict movement of the needle tip out of the proximal end of the shield ( such as a tether , discussed below ) and still practice aspects of the invention . the needle shield assembly 5 contains a shielding mechanism including a canting plate 40 to restrict axial movement of the needle 30 within the shield body 10 . the canting plate includes a hole 42 defined by an edge 43 through which the needle passes . the proximal end 12 of the needle shield assembly forms a retention washer 15 . the retention washer is attached at one end ( the top as seen in fig2 a ) to the sidewall 9 . a spring 45 is attached at the other end of the retention washer . the spring engages canting plate , urging it to an off alignment position ( that is , the actuated or locked position ), as shown in fig2 b and 3b . as shown , the retention washer and spring are integrally formed . it will be appreciated that these pieces could be separately formed and attached such as by welding or the like . the needle shield assembly 5 also includes a retention arm 16 . preferably , the retention arm is a leaf spring , integrally formed with the sidewall 9 and including a lip 127 at its proximal end . of course , other structures could be employed and practice aspects of the invention . the retention arm is biased radially outward from the needle shield assembly , as seen in fig2 b . when the needle shield assembly is disposed in the shield housing 6 , the shield housing forces the retention arm radially inward , as seen in fig2 a . as discussed below , the retention arm helps maintain the canting plate 40 in a needle aligned position ( that is , the unactuated or unlocked position ) while the needle shield assembly is in the shield housing . the needle shield assembly 5 includes a ledge 27 formed in the sidewall 9 , remote from the retention arm 16 . as shown , the ledge is formed by deforming a portion of the sidewall such that it projects radially inwardly . it will be appreciated that the ledge could be formed in other manners ( such as by adhering a distinct ledge structure to the inside of the side wall , or by crimping or otherwise creating a bulge in the sidewall ). importantly , the ledge forms a stop that prevents a portion of the canting plate from moving with respect to the needle shield assembly . the operation of the needle shield assembly 5 of fig2 a - 3b will now be discussed . referring to fig2 a , in the aligned or unlocked condition , the canting plate 40 is held in place by a retention system , specifically by the cooperation of the spring 45 , the lip 127 of the retention arm 16 and the ledge 27 . the spring urges the top of the canting plate in the distal direction ( to the right in fig2 a ). when the needle shield assembly is positioned in the shield housing 6 of the catheter adapter 8 , the canting plate is prevented from rotating or displacing by the lip of the retention arm , which engages the top of the canting plate , and the ledge , which engages the bottom of the canting plate . the canting plate thus is maintained in the aligned condition and the needle may pass freely through the hole 42 in the canting plate without substantially engaging the edge 43 . after insertion into a patient &# 39 ; s vein , the needle 30 is withdrawn through the catheter 108 and the catheter adapter 8 . the feature 35 on the needle engages the proximal end 12 of the needle shield assembly 5 . as shown in fig2 b and 3b , the feature 35 on the needle does not fit through the hole 14 in the retention washer 15 . consequently , as the caregiver pulls the needle through the catheter adapter 8 , the entire needle shield assembly 5 is pulled out of the shield housing 6 . upon removal of the needle shield assembly , the retention arm 16 succumbs to its natural bias , moving radially outward such that the lip 127 disengages the top of the canting plate 40 . once disengaged , the canting plate is free to rotate under the urging of the spring 45 . as the canting plate rotates , edge 43 of the hole 42 binds onto the exterior surface of the needle 30 . the canting plate is held in this locked condition by the cooperation of the needle , the ledge 127 and the spring 45 . should the needle be pushed distally in an effort to cause the needle tip to reemerge from the needle shield assembly , the friction on the needle ( urging the canting plate distally ) and the ledge ( preventing movement of the bottom of the canting plate ) will cause the canting plate to tilt more severely with respect to the needle , increasing the binding force between the canting plate and the needle , thereby resisting such movement . it will also be appreciated that the feature 35 may be sized so that it does not fit through the hole 42 in the canting plate when the canting plate is off alignment . this will provide further resistance to re - emergence of the needle tip . as readily seen in fig3 a , the canting plate 40 may be a rigid disk with a hole 42 through the middle of it . as shown , the canting plate 40 is substantially circular in shape but could be any of various other shapes including square , rectangular , triangular , oval , symmetrical , asymmetrical , etc . the hole 42 in the center of the canting plate 40 is preferably substantially the same shape as the needle 30 that goes through it . however , other hole shapes could be employed , such as rectangular , triangular or oval shape or any of a variety of other shapes , and still practice aspects of the invention . further , the canting plate need not be flat . it can be curved or stepped or otherwise shaped for any given application . the hole 42 in the canting plate 40 is sized to achieve adequate binding force on the needle 30 in view of the geometry of the needle and the geometry of the canting plate . specifically , the hole should be at least larger than the largest diameter of the feature 35 ( when the feature is an enlarged portion of the needle ) and , in certain implementations , may increase to be around 100 % larger than the diameter of the static feature 35 on the needle 30 . in certain other applications , it is preferred that the hole 42 is sized between just larger than the largest diameter of the static feature 35 on the needle 30 to a hole 42 about 10 - 30 % larger than the largest diameter of the static feature 35 on the needle 30 . in yet other implementations , it is desirable that the hole be sized , in view of the geometry of the needle shield assembly , such that it engages the needle when the canting plate is tilted between 0 ° and 45 ° from perpendicular to the axis 99 . it will be appreciated that the canting angle may be selected based on the geometry and materials of the canting plate , the needle shield assembly and the needle and the desired binding force . when the needle shield assembly 5 is in the unlocked condition ( and the canting plate is therefore aligned with the needle ), the hole 42 in the canting plate 40 is aligned concentrically to the perimeter circular shape 46 of the body of the canting plate 40 . the plate 40 could also be designed to have an eccentric center hole 42 or a hole in any location on the canting plate 40 to achieve desirable binding forces . further , the hole 42 may be positioned at the exterior or outer edge 46 of the canting plate such that it breaks the outer edge 46 . such a structure will create a “ slotted ” style of canting plate 40 in accord with certain implementations of the invention . such may be particularly desirable to permit side loading of the needle into the plate or for use with a guide - wire . the plate 40 has a thickness suitable for use in providing edges 43 to bind down on the needle surface 31 when the plate 40 is canted or off alignment . this thickness 43 , however , may vary depending on other parameters , such as the materials used , the specific geometry of the other parts of the needle shield assembly and the binding force desired . the canting plate 40 could be entirely housed within the shield body 10 or could be partially within and partially without the shield body 10 . a single canting plate 40 or a plurality of canting plates , could be used . in the case of a plurality of canting plates , they could be disposed immediately adjacent to each other , separated by a gap between them , or a combination of both . turning to the implementation of the invention shown in fig4 a - 5b , the operation of the structure is similar to that depicted in fig2 a - 3b . in this implementation , however , the canting plate or member 40 and the retention washer 15 are integrally formed from the same piece of material as the shield body 10 of the needle shield assembly 5 . the canting plate is preferably made of stainless steel , or like material . the material that connects the canting plate 40 to the retention washer 15 serves as the spring 45 , urging the canting plate into an off alignment condition . again , during and after actuation , proximal motion of the needle 30 with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 is halted by the interference between the static feature 35 on the needle 30 and the retention washer 15 . after actuation , distal motion of the needle 30 with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 is halted by the engagement of the canting plate 40 to the needle , as discussed above . it will be appreciated that no ledge 27 is required because the spring 45 , and its connection with the retention washer 15 , restrain the bottom edge of the canting plate from moving with respect to the needle shield assembly . further , a tether could be employed instead of feature 35 to limit the relative movement of the needle hub and the catheter adapter . turning to the implementation of the invention shown in fig6 a - 7b , the canting plate 40 , the spring 45 and the retention washer 15 are integral to each other , but separate from the proximal end 12 of the needle shield assembly 5 . the retention washer is attached to the shield body 10 at the proximal end such as by welding , gluing or the like . as depicted , the retention washer is attached on the inner surface of the proximal end of the shield body , but it will be appreciated that the retention washer may be attached at the exterior surface as well . the operation of this implementation is otherwise similar to the prior implementations . referring to fig8 a - c and 9 a - c , this implementation of the invention employs a member 28 , frictionally engaged to the needle 30 , to retain the canting plate 40 in the aligned condition and to move the canting plate to an off - alignment condition when the needle is moved distally with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 . specifically , the needle shield assembly 5 includes a canting plate 40 and a friction member 28 , such as an elastomeric washer . other structures could be employed that frictionally engage the needle and contact the canting plate and still practice aspects of the invention . the elastomeric washer is preferably designed to fit slidably within the shield body 10 . the elastomeric washer 28 has a central cavity 29 extending from the proximal end 36 to the distal end 37 . the needle 30 passes through the cavity 29 with the washer 28 engaged in a frictional fit on the needle 30 . as the needle 30 moves distally and proximally through the elastomeric washer 28 , the friction between them causes the elastomeric washer 28 to want to move in concert with the needle 30 . the shield body 10 of the needle shield assembly 5 includes a proximal portion 12 defining a retention washer 15 . the shield body has a distal opening 13 and the retention washer has a proximal opening 14 . the proximal opening 14 is designed to be just larger than the diameter of the shaft of the needle 30 , but not large enough to permit the static feature 35 on the needle 30 to pass through . the retention washer 15 also serves as a backstop for the elastomeric washer 28 , securing it within the shield body behind the canting plate 40 . as the elastomeric washer 28 is being dragged proximally by the needle 30 , it will eventually bottom out on the retention washer 15 and will not be allowed further movement relative to the needle shield assembly see fig8 b ). the canting plate 40 is positioned distal of the elastomeric washer 28 and is contained axially by the needle 30 . protruding inwardly from the shield body 10 is an alignment arm 19 . the alignment arm 19 defines a positive stop restricting the canting plate 40 from moving in a distal direction at that point . the opposing internal surface of the sidewall 9 of shield body 10 is smooth and offers no resistance to the potential distal motion of the canting plate 40 . hence the alignment arm 19 defines a point at which the canting plate 40 will rotate . as with other implementations of the invention , when the canting plate is rotated far enough it will begin to bind on the needle shaft 30 in a manner similar to that previously described . in this instance , the alignment arm 19 and elastomeric washer 28 therefore serve as the canting plate retention means or retention system . the elastomeric washer 28 , in cooperation with the alignment arm 19 , induces the tilt or actuation of the canting plate 40 . since the elastomeric washer 28 is frictionally fit to the needle shaft 30 , when the needle shaft 30 is driven distally with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 , the elastomeric washer 28 is dragged with it . as shown in fig8 c , the elastomeric washer 28 will bear on the canting plate 40 urging it distally as well . since the canting plate is restrained only on one side ( by retention arm 19 ), it will tilt and bind on the needle 30 . a cavity 128 is formed at the distal end of the washer 128 to deliver force from the washer to the periphery of the canting plate , encouraging the tilting . the elastomeric washer 28 could be a variety of lengths or shapes and still practice aspects of the invention . as shown in fig8 a - c through 9 a - c , the washer has an hourglass shape . the washer could also be a simple flat disc , donut - shaped ring or the like . the particular shape of the washer can be selected by one skilled in the art based on the particular application . while the washer depicted in fig8 a is not attached to the canting plate 40 , it will be appreciated that the washer could be attached to the canting plate and still function . the cavity 48 created between the retention washer 15 and the alignment arm 19 can be any length suitable for permitting the elastomeric washer 28 to reside within the shield body 10 . the inner diameter of the elastomeric washer 28 ( that is , the surface which is in contact with the needle shaft 30 ) can be smooth or textured . it can also have an array of fins or ribs or any of an assortment of features designed to regulate the friction created against the needle 30 . the elastomeric washer 28 can be cylindrical in nature and in contact with the entire surface of the canting plate 40 . the washer 28 could be truncated on its distal end 37 and aligned specifically to have its most distal portion in contact against the canting plate 40 in a position directly opposite of the alignment arm 19 to facilitate a more undiluted force against the canting plate 40 during distal motion of the needle 30 . in use , the needle tip 32 of the catheter assembly 100 is inserted into the patient &# 39 ; s vein , positioning the catheter in the vein as well . the needle 30 is then withdrawn through the catheter 108 . the needle exerts a friction force on the elastomeric washer 28 , urging it proximally as the needle is drawn through the needle shield assembly 5 . as shown in fig8 a - c , the elastomeric washer abuts the proximal end 12 of the needle shield assembly , stopping the friction member as the needle slides through the central cavity 29 . when the feature 35 on the needle contacts the proximal end 12 of the needle shield assembly ( for example , the retention washer 15 ), the feature engages the proximal end , preventing further proximal movement of the needle with respect to the needle shield assembly . as the needle 30 is withdrawn further through the catheter adapter 8 , the needle shield assembly 5 is pulled out of the shield housing 6 , as shown in fig8 b ( referred to as “ bottoming out ”). as the needle 30 is displaced distally with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 , the friction member 28 is urged by friction with the needle 30 in the distal direction . as the friction member engages the canting plate 40 , the canting plate is also urged distally . the alignment arm 19 , which abuts a portion of the canting plate , restrains that portion , causing the canting plate to tilt to an off alignment , or actuated , condition , as seen in fig8 c . as depicted in fig8 c and 9c , the feature 35 engages the friction member , causing it to move distally and engage the canting plate . as seen in fig1 c and 12c , the friction member can be more tightly fit on the needle such that it moves with the needle whether the feature engages the friction member or not . in either case , when the canting plate 40 is tilted , the edge 43 of the hole 42 in the canting plate then binds on the exterior of the needle , preventing further displacement of the needle 30 with respect to the canting plate 40 ( and thus the needle shield assembly 5 ). the shield body 10 of the needle shield assembly is long enough to ensure that the tip 32 of the needle 30 does not reemerge from the distal end 11 of the needle shield assembly when the canting plate is actuated . a further implementation of an aspect of the instant invention is illustrated in fig1 a - b . an interlock 50 is included to lock the catheter adapter 8 to the shield body 10 until the needle 30 is in a shielded position . the static feature 35 on the needle is employed to activate an adapter release 55 , thereby disengaging the needle shield assembly 5 from the catheter adapter . the canting plate 40 is maintained in the aligned position by the elastomeric washer 28 , the ledge 27 and an alignment arm 227 . the ledge is fixedly attached to the needle shield assembly 5 . the alignment arm may be in the form of a leaf spring attached to the adapter release 55 . as shown in fig1 b , the static feature 35 on the needle 30 , prior to bottoming out on the proximal end 12 of the shield body or the retention washer 15 , engages the proximal wall 155 of a release pin 56 , dragging it from a distal position 57 to a proximal position 58 ( compare fig1 a and 10b ). the needle shield assembly 5 includes locking flanges 158 in the form of leaf springs attached near the distal end of the needle shield assembly and extending proximally . in their original , undeformed condition , the flanges extend relatively straight ( that is , parallel to the axis of the needle shield assembly 5 ) ( fig1 c ). when assembled , the locking flanges 158 engage the collar 180 of the adapter 8 , preventing the collar ( and thus the adapter ) from coming out of the needle shield assembly . see fig1 a . when it is in the distal position 57 shown in fig1 a , the release pin 56 prevents the locking flanges 158 from displacing radially inward . as the release pin is moved to the proximal position 58 , it disengages the flanges 158 such that they are free to flex radially outwardly . thus , as the catheter adapter 8 is displaced distally with respect to the needle shield assembly , the collar forces the locking flanges radially outwardly , as seen in fig1 b , thereby allowing the collar to slide passed the locking flanges . consequently , the needle shield assembly 5 may slide off the adapter 8 . as depicted in the drawings , the distal opening 13 of the needle shield assembly 5 is open , even after the needle tip 32 is shielded . it will be appreciated that the length of the needle shield clips or other such mechanisms further may be employed to create a transverse barrier to further prevent reemergence . further , static feature 35 is employed to resist slipping the needle shield assembly 5 off the tip 32 of the needle 30 . it will be appreciated that other structures , such as a tether , may be employed to prevent such removal . in use , the needle tip 32 of the catheter assembly 100 is inserted into the patient &# 39 ; s vein , positioning the catheter 108 in the vein as well . the needle 30 is withdrawn through the catheter 108 and the catheter adapter 8 . the needle exerts a friction force on the washer 28 . the washer is retained in position by the proximal wall 155 of the adapter release 55 . when the feature 35 on the needle engages the proximal wall , it cannot fit through the opening in the wall , and pulls the adapter release proximally with respect to the shield body 10 . as the adapter release moves proximally , the alignment arm 227 deflects over the canting plate 40 . the alignment arm has an angled shape such that , when it is moved distally , it then tilts the canting plate to an off alignment condition . the adapter release continues to move within the shield body until the proximal wall 155 contacts the proximal end 12 of the shield body . at that point , further distal movement of the needle with respect to the needle shield assembly is prevented ( see fig1 b ). as the adapter release 55 is moved from its distal position 57 to its proximal position 58 , the release pin 56 is withdrawn from engagement with the locking flange 158 . the locking flange is then free to displace radially outwardly as the collar 180 forces its way out of the needle shield assembly . as such , the needle shield assembly 5 can be separated from the adapter 8 . as the needle 30 is urged distally with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 , friction between washer 28 and the needle urges the washer distally as well . the washer engages the canting plate 40 , urging it distally . the canting plate is restrained at one edge by the ledge 27 . consequently , as the needle is moved distally , the canting plate is tilted more , binding more firmly on the needle and preventing further movement of the needle with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 . referring to fig1 a - c and 12 a - c , this implementation of the invention is similar in operation to that depicted in fig8 a - c and 9 a - c . however , in this implementation , a spring arm 427 is compressed radially inward before actuation to assist in maintaining the canting plate 40 in alignment before use . see fig1 a . the canting plate 40 is maintained in alignment before actuation by the cooperation of elastomeric washer 28 with retention arm 16 and ledge 27 . before the needle shield assembly 5 is actuated , the needle 30 can be moved proximally and distally within the assembly . in use , the needle is withdrawn until the feature 35 contacts the retention washer 15 . further movement of the needle causes the needle shield assembly 5 to pull out of the shield housing 6 in the adapter 8 . see fig1 c . at that point , the spring arm 427 moves radially outward to an unstressed condition . the ledge 27 therefore disengages the bottom edge of the canting plate 40 , allowing it to rotate . as the needle is urged distally with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 , it acts on the washer 28 , urging it distally as well . the washer engages the canting plate , in turn , urging it distally . the top edge of the canting plate is prevented from moving by retention arm 16 . consequently , the canting plate is rotated onto and binds onto the needle 30 , preventing further proximal movement . see fig1 c . [ 0117 ] fig1 a through 13c depict another implementation of an aspect of the invention including a single canting plate 40 which binds onto the needle 30 , thereby preventing movement of the needle with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 in both the proximal and distal directions . the needle shield assembly includes a proximal retention arm 216 and a distal retention arm 116 integrally formed with the shield body 10 . a proximal ledge 227 and a distal ledge 327 are mounted on spring arm 427 . as depicted in fig1 a , the shield housing 6 of the adapter 8 compresses or flexes the spring arm radially inwardly , and into engagement with the canting plate 40 . an elastomeric washer 228 is attached to the canting plate and is frictionally engaged to the needle . a feature 35 is permanently attached to the needle . the retention washer 15 at the distal end of the needle shield assembly includes an opening 14 that is sized to permit movement of the needle therethrough but to prevent passage of the feature 35 . in use , the user inserts the needle tip 32 of the over - the - needle catheter assembly 10 into the patient &# 39 ; s vein . upon confirmation flashback , the user grasps the needle hub 110 , pulling the needle hub away from the catheter adapter 8 , thereby causing the needle 30 to be withdrawn through the catheter adapter 8 and the needle shield assembly 5 . see fig1 a . the needle continues to be withdrawn through the needle shield assembly until the feature 35 contacts the retention washer 15 . further displacement of the needle causes the needle shield assembly 5 to be withdrawn from the shield housing 6 in the adapter 8 . see fig1 b . as the needle shield assembly is fully withdrawn from the shield housing in the catheter adapter , the spring arm 427 is free to rotate radially outward from the needle shield assembly . consequently , the proximal ledge 227 and the distal ledge 327 disengage the canting plate 40 . see fig1 c . consequently , the canting plate can be rotated . the upper edge of the canting plate is prevented from moving either distally or proximally by the retention arms 116 , 216 . another implementation of the invention is disclosed in fig1 a through 14c . the needle shield assembly 5 includes a distal retention arm 116 and a proximal retention arm 216 which are preferably integrally formed with the shield body 10 . as depicted , the retention arms are deformed radially inward , such as by bending . a distal canting plate 140 and a proximal canting plate 240 are disposed within the shield body . the canting plates are maintained in an aligned condition by the cooperation of the retention arms with distal ledge 327 and proximal ledge 227 and the elastomeric washer 28 , discussed below . the ledges 227 , 327 are mounted to a spring arm 527 . when the needle shield assembly is disposed within the shield housing 6 of adapter 8 , the spring arm 527 is biased radially inward such that the ledges 227 , 327 engage the canting plates 140 , 240 . a friction member , such as hourglass - shaped washer 28 , is disposed between the distal canting plate 40 and the proximal canting plate 240 within the shield body 10 . the elastomeric washer 28 is frictionally engaged to the needle . in certain implementations of this aspect of the invention , the elastomeric washer 28 may be compressed when disposed between the two canting plates as depicted in fig1 a . in such case , the washer is exerting a continuous biasing force on the canting plates which is resisted by the needle shield assembly . in use , needle tip 32 of the over - the - needle catheter assembly 100 is inserted into the patient &# 39 ; s vein . upon confirmation flashback , the needle 30 is withdrawn through the catheter 108 such that the needle passes through the needle shield assembly 5 . the distal canting plate 140 is maintained in alignment with the needle by the cooperation of the elastomeric washer 28 , the distal retention arm 116 and the distal ledge 327 . the proximal canting plate 240 is maintained in alignment by the cooperation of the elastomeric washer , the proximal retention arms 216 and the proximal ledge 227 despite urging of the washer 28 ( which is seeking to follow the needle and , thus , being moved against the canting plates ). since the canting plates are in alignment with the needle , the needle passes freely through the openings in the canting plates . upon further withdrawal of the needle , the feature 35 engages the retention washer 15 , causing the needle shield assembly 5 to be pulled out of the shield housing 6 in the adapter 8 . see fig1 b . upon removal of the needle shield assembly from the catheter adapter , the spring arm 527 is free to expand radially outward from the shield body , such that the proximal ledge 227 disengages the proximal canting plate 240 and the distal ledge 327 disengages the distal canting plate 140 . this disengagement permits the canting plate to rotate . if the washer had been compressed , it will be free to expand , thereby causing immediate tilting of the canting plates . as the needle 30 is urged proximally with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 , the needle will urge the washer 28 distally which , in turn , will cause the proximal canting plate 240 to rotate , as seen in fig1 b . as the needle is urged distally with respect to the needle shield assembly , the washer 28 will move distally , urging the distal canting plate 140 to move distally . the distal retention arm 116 will prevent the distal canting plate 140 from translating distally within the needle shield body 10 , resulting in tilting of the distal canting plate and binding on the needle . see fig1 c . referring to fig1 a through c , an implementation of the invention is depicted which employs a tether 400 to extract the needle shield assembly 5 from the shield housing 6 of the catheter adapter 8 . the tether is attached to the needle hub 110 and to the proximal end 12 of the needle shield assembly . as depicted in fig1 a through c , the tether is attached to the retention washer 15 . because the tether extracts the needle shield assembly from the catheter adapter , no feature 35 on the needle is required . in use , the needle tip 32 is inserted into the patient &# 39 ; s vein , delivering the tip of the catheter 108 to the vein as well . the caregiver then withdraws the needle hub 110 while holding the catheter adapter 8 in place . see fig1 b . as the needle hub is moved proximally , the tether 400 extends until it is at its full length . as the needle hub is moved further proximally , the needle shield assembly 5 is pulled out of the shield housing 6 in the catheter adapter 8 . see fig1 b . the operation of this implementation is otherwise similar to the implementation depicted and described in connection with fig1 a through 14c . referring now to fig1 a through 16d , an implementation of the invention similar to that depicted in fig1 a through 13c is depicted . however , a tether 400 is used to extract the needle shield assembly 5 from the shield housing 6 in the catheter adapter 8 . consequently , no feature 35 is required on the needle . a single canting plate 40 binds onto the needle 30 after actuation , thereby preventing movement of the needle with respect to the needle shield assembly in both the proximal and distal directions . the needle shield assembly 5 includes a proximal retention arm 216 and a distal retention arm 116 integrally formed with the shield body 10 . a proximal ledge 227 and a distal ledge 327 are mounted on spring arm 427 . as depicted in fig1 a , the shield housing 6 of the adapter 8 compresses or flexes the spring arm radially inwardly , and into engagement with the canting plate 40 . an elastomeric washer 228 is attached to the canting plate and is frictionally engaged to the needle . a feature 35 is permanently attached to the needle . in use , the user inserts the needle tip 32 of the over - the - needle catheter 100 into the patient &# 39 ; s vein , thereby positioning the tip of the catheter 108 in the vein as well . upon confirmation flashback , the user grasps the needle hub 110 , pulling the needle hub away from the catheter adapter 8 , thereby causing the needle 30 to be withdrawn through the catheter adapter 8 and the needle shield assembly 5 . see fig1 b . when the tether 400 is extended to its full length , further proximal movement of the needle hub begins withdrawing the needle shield assembly from the catheter adapter . see fig1 b . as the needle shield assembly is fully withdrawn from the shield housing in the catheter adapter , the spring arm 427 is free to rotate radially outward from the needle shield assembly . consequently , the proximal ledge 227 and the distal ledge 327 disengage the canting plate 40 . see fig1 c . consequently , the canting plate can be rotated . the upper edge of the canting plate is prevented from moving either distally or proximally by the retention arms 116 , 216 . re - emergence of the needle is prevented by a binding force from the canting plate on the exterior wall of the needle 30 , as discussed in connection with fig1 a - c . see fig1 d . referring now to fig1 a through 17d , an implementation of the invention is depicted in which a clip 130 is disposed within the housing of the needle shield assembly 5 . the clip is a substantially v - shaped member with a first leg 131 securely mounted to the housing . the second leg 132 is mounted to the first leg via a flexural hinge 133 . slide tabs 134 are formed in the second leg to reduce the interference between the needle 30 and the second leg during actuation and slidingly engage the needle 30 . as shown in fig1 a and 17b , before actuation , the clip 130 is compressed and maintained in the compressed condition by the presence of the needle within the needle shield 5 at a point aligned with the clip . a trap arm 730 is attached to the second leg 132 and engages a catheter adapter ( not shown ), preventing its removal from the needle shield assembly . as the needle is withdrawn , it ceases to engage the second leg such that the flexural hinge 133 springs open . see fig1 c and 17d . the trap arm then moves out of engagement with the catheter adapter so that it can be removed from the needle shield assembly . a guide plate 140 is attached to the second leg 132 of the clip 130 . the guide plate includes a guide slot 141 . a canting pin 142 is attached to the canting plate 40 . the canting pin may be integrally formed with the canting plate . the canting pin is disposed within the guide slot 141 . in the unactuated condition , as shown in fig1 a , the position of the canting pin in the canting slot maintains the canting plate in an aligned condition with the needle 30 . consequently , the needle may be withdrawn through the opening in the canting plate without interference . as the needle is withdrawn beyond the clip , the clip springs open , causing the guide plate to move accordingly . see fig1 c and 17d . the movement of the guide plate results in the pin 142 being displaced in a distal direction . the bottom edge of the canting plate is prevented from translating proximally or distally because it is retained within a groove 740 in the needle shield assembly housing . as the pin 142 is moved distally , the canting plate is rotated into binding engagement with the needle . as the needle is urged distally with respect to the needle shield assembly , the engagement of the canting plate prevents the needle from re - emerging out of the needle shield assembly . the retention washer 15 prevents movement of the feature 35 ( and therefore movement of the needle tip 32 ) out of the proximal end of the needle shield assembly . it will be appreciated that the feature could be removed and a tether provided to prevent the needle shield assembly from sliding off the tip of the needle . referring now to fig1 a through 18d , an implementation of the invention is depicted including a retention washer 15 integrally formed with an actuator arm 150 . an opening 14 is disposed in the retention washer . a lip may be formed about the opening 14 to ease the passage of the needle and to ensure relatively perpendicular alignment between the retention washer and the needle . the actuator arm includes a front wall 151 and a slide plate 152 . an aperture 153 is disposed in the front wall but may be eliminated in certain implementations . the canting plate 40 is maintained in position about the needle by a pair of u - shaped sleeves 154 . the sleeves are in a relatively close fit with the canting plate 40 but not so close that the canting plate cannot slide within the sleeves . compare fig1 b and 18d . the u - shaped sleeves are themselves attached to the arm 150 . an aperture 155 is disposed in the arm directly above the canting plate . in the unactuated condition , as seen in fig1 a and 18b , the retention plate 15 and the arm 150 are flexed away from each other ( that is , biased open ) and maintained in this flexed condition by the presence of the needle 30 in the opening 14 of the retention washer , and the engagement of the needle with the plate 152 . after insertion of the catheter 108 into the patient &# 39 ; s vein , the needle shield assembly 5 is moved toward the needle tip 32 ( or , alternatively , the needle 30 is withdrawn through the needle shield assembly ). as the needle moves proximally with respect to the needle shield assembly 5 , the tip 32 of the needle passes beyond the slide plate 152 such that the arm 150 and retention plate 15 can return to their unbiased condition , rotating toward each other , as seen in fig1 c and 18d . in this unbiased or actuated condition , the u - shaped members 154 are displaced with respect to the retention washer 15 ( specifically , the u - shaped members are rotated with respect to the retention plate ). compare fig1 b with fig1 d . as such , the canting plate 40 is also displaced with respect to the retention washer ( and thus the needle ). effectively , the canting plate is tilted with respect to the needle and thereby engages the exterior of the needle . in the actuated condition , the top of the canting plate protrudes through the aperture 155 in the arm 150 . it will be appreciated that the arm 150 could be designed such that such an aperture 155 would not be required but this would result in a larger needle shield assembly 5 . referring now to fig1 a and 19b , an implementation of the invention is depicted that includes a mechanism for engaging a catheter adapter 8 until the needle tip 32 has been withdrawn into the needle shield assembly 5 , somewhat similar to the implementation depicted in fig4 a - b . the needle shield assembly includes two engagement arms 190 ( preferably in the form of leaf springs integrally formed with the shield body 10 ) that are biased radially outwardly from the body of the needle shield assembly . hooks 191 are attached to the distal end of the engagement arms 190 . in the unactuated condition , the needle 30 is positioned between the hooks , thereby urging the hooks and the engagement arms radially outward . the hooks therefore are disposed within an annular groove 192 in the catheter adapter 8 . consequently , the catheter adapter may not be displaced off of the needle shield assembly . as the needle is withdrawn from between the hooks , the engagement arms flex radially inward to their unstressed condition as seen in fig1 b . as such , the hooks 191 disengage the annular groove 192 . consequently , the needle shield assembly 5 may now be removed from the catheter adapter 8 . the needle shield assembly 5 also includes a retention washer 15 integrally formed with a canting plate 40 and connected by a flexural hinge member 193 . the hinge member is a spring which urges the canting plate 40 into a canted condition . when assembled and before actuation ( see fig1 a ), the canting plate is maintained in alignment with the needle by the cooperation of the force exerted by the flexural hinge 193 and interference with the proximal end of the catheter adapter 8 . consequently , the needle 30 is free to pass through the canting plate without interference . as the needle shield assembly is disengaged from the catheter adapter and moves proximally out of the catheter adapter , the canting plate is free to succumb to the bias of the flexural hinge 193 and thus engage the exterior of the needle 30 ( see fig1 b ). referring now to fig2 a and 20b , an implementation of the invention is depicted including a retention washer 15 integrally formed with a flexural hinge 193 which in turn integrally formed with a canting plate 40 which is in turn integrally formed with an actuation arm 150 . the retention washer is attached to the proximal end 12 of a shield body 10 . in the unactuated condition , the canting plate is maintained in alignment with the needle 30 by the cooperation of the force exerted by the flexural hinge 193 and the restraint exerted by actuation arm 150 . specifically , the flexural hinge 193 acts as a spring urging the canting plate into a canted or engaging condition . this movement of the canting plate is prevented by the actuation arm which itself is engaged to the needle . see fig2 a . as the needle tip 32 is withdrawn , the actuation arm 150 comes out of engagement with the needle tip and is therefore free to move within the shield body 10 . consequently , the canting plate 40 succumbs to the bias exerted by the flexural hinge 193 . as the canting plate is tilted out of alignment with the needle , it bindingly engages to the exterior of the needle . a cutout 159 may be provided on the actuation arm to permit movement of the actuation arm after passage of the needle tip without interference from the needle . as disclosed above , certain implementations of the invention employ a feature 35 on the needle 30 to limit motion of the needle shield assembly 5 with respect to the tip 32 of the needle . other implementations employ a tether 400 to limit motion of the needle tip with respect to the needle shield assembly . it will be appreciated that in the various embodiments , the feature may be replaced with a tether ( or the tether replaced with a feature ) and still practice the invention . further , the friction member is referred to , in certain implementations as an elastomeric washer . it will be appreciated that the friction member may be made of elastomers , or other materials having different properties and various shapes and still practice aspects of the invention . the preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature . variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart from the purview and spirit of this invention . for example , implementations of the invention may be employed with other needles , such as anesthesia needles or syringes or blood sample collection sets . the scope of legal protection given to this invention can only be determined by studying the following claims . | 0 |
the integrated process and system for handling in - process panels , cards , and boards includes : localized , sealed clean - room enclosures for process equipment . these sealed enclosures contain process equipment stations in a highly localized and contained , clean room environment . minimum volume , dustproof containers for transferring , storing , and handling cards and boards . these transfer containers are several magnitudes greater volume then smif boxes for wafers . these transfer containers have clean room capability , and are fabricated of materials of construction that are relatively free of sources of contamination . exemplary materials are unfilled , transparent polycarbonates . this is because fillers are a source of particulates . preferably the transfer containers are transparent . this makes it easier for the operator to align the doors at the dockable interface with the equipment enclosure , and also to handle in - process panels inside and during docking . mating airlocks at the interface between the process equipment enclosures and at the transfer containers , where linear dimensions of the airlocks are several orders of magnitude greater then those required for wafer handling equipment . transfer arm means for transferring the in - process panels between the transfer containers and the process enclosures . jigs and tools for holding the large , non - rigid in - process during transfer . computer monitoring and integration of the in - process panels , the process sequences and steps , and the total process . a system overview is shown in fig1 . the overall system 1 , is shown with three robotic process enclosures 11a , 11b , and 11c . it is , of course , to be understood that there may be a series of such stations . the clean room atmosphere within each process enclosure is maintained by air lines or manifolds 13 bringing class 100 or cleaner air , to each process enclosure 11a , 11b , 11c . in the figure a common header 13 , with individual lines 15 , to each process enclosure 11a , 11b , and 11c , is shown . it is , of course , to be understood that each process enclosure 11a , 11b , 11c , may have a dedicated air line . air is removed through exhaust header or manifold 17 . in a still further embodiment of the invention a pressurized ceiling plenum may carry class - 100 or cleaner air to all of the enclosures . in this alternative embodiment , the enclosures extend to the ceiling hepa filters ( high efficiency particulate air filters ) in the ceiling . the gas returns , shown in fig1 as a header or manifold 17 , can extend from the process enclosure 11 out to the room , or the gas can be ducted back for further filtering and reuse , or even exhausted . each process enclosure 11 has one or more process stations 21a , 21b , 21c , 21d , 21e , and 21f contained therein . typically , each process enclosure can be dedicated to a sequential set of process steps , and each process station 21 within a process enclosure 11 is dedicated to an individual process or step in the fabrication of panels . these steps may be under real time , on - line process control , as robotic steps . alternatively , they may be under operator control , as through glove boxes , vision systems , and the like . for example , processes such as mechanical drilling , punch pressing , laser drilling , seeding , plating , etching , photoresist deposition , photoresist exposure , photoresist developing , and photoresist stripping can be carried out without operator intervention . however , processes such as alignment , lamination , bonding and the like can also be carried out in the process stations 21 , but , possibly with operator intervention . a set of process stations , for example sequential process stations 21a and 21b , or 21c and 21d , or 21e and 21f , are incorporated into and communicate through individual process enclosures , as 11a , 11b , or 11c . this reduces the opportunities for inadvertent exposure to the ambient environment . an individual process station , as process station 21a , may be designed for wet processes , with process piping 23a and 23b . alternatively , an individual process station , as process stations 21c , 21d , and 21e , and 21f , may be adapted for other processes , as testing and repair of circuit lines , photo - resist deposition , photolithography ( including dry side exposure or wet side developing or stripping ). process stations , as process station 21d may be glove boxes , with gloves 25 extending therefrom for intervention and treatment of panels . this is especially true for process requiring an operator , as alignment , lamination , or bonding . the process stations 21 and the processes contained therein may be controlled by various means . fig1 shows a personal computer or work station 51 , communicating with the process enclosures 11 , and with the individual process stations 21a , 21b , 21c , 21d , 21e , 21f , and the processes contained therein , through local area network means 53 . the extent of control may be as simple as job sequencing , or as involved as work in process identification , with work piece identification indicia ( for example bar coded work piece indicia or magnetic strip work piece indicia ), control of photomasks , drill patterns , sequences of process stations , and the like . within each process enclosure 11 , inter - process transfer is provided without breaking clean room integrity . this is accomplished through the use of robotic transfer means , as shown in fig2 , and 4 . fig2 is a representation of one form of a scara ( selective compliant assembly robot arm ) robot 61 within a process enclosure 11 , while fig3 and 4 are top and plan views of an alternative form of a scara robot . the same numbering is used in fig2 and in fig3 and 4 . in fig2 the robot system 61 is shown inside of the process enclosures 11 , with process stations 21a and 21b . in fig3 the robot system 61 is shown in combination with the scara robot , 63 ; a bar code scanner , 65 ; a wet frame and tray grabber , 67 ; a vacuum chuck 68 ; vacuum grabber , 69 , for substrates ; a process enclosure box door grabber 71 ; and a screw driver 73 . the effector arm of the scara robot also includes a quick change wrist 81 shown in fig2 and 4 . the flexible in - process panels 100 are carried by a fixture 171 , shown in fig5 including fig5 a , 5b , 5c , 5d , 5e , and 5f . the fixture is part of a multi - component system , including a vacuum loading chuck 121 and the two - part fixture 171 . the two part fixture 171 includes a bottom plate 175 and a frame 179 . in order to avoid abrasion and resultant contamination , the vacuum loading chuck 121 and the fixture 171 are made of polytetrafluoroethylene coated metal . this minimizes particulate generation and possible damage to the panels . the chuck 121 has four bearing surfaces , 231a , 231b , 231c , and 231d . these four bearing surfaces 231a . 231b , 231c and 231d , are connected by slide actuators . vacuum holes 233a , 233b , 233c and 233d are shown in fig5 a through 5f . these vacuum holes are in the top surfaces of the four bearing surfaces 231a 231b , 231c , and 231d . these vacuum holes 233a , 233b , 233c and 233d allow a vacuum to be drawn on the underside of the card , board , or panel , 100 holding it flat against the bearing surfaces 231a 231b , 231c , and 231d . the peripheral edges 125 of the vacuum loading chuck 121 are recessed below the plane of the tops of the bearing surfaces 231 , such that the bottom surface of the fixture 171 will fit onto the recessed surface 125 of the vacuum loading chuck 121 . the workpiece , 100 , as an in - process printed circuit board , or a single layer thereof , is laid on the loading chuck 121 , and located by locating pins 181a , 181b , 181c , and 181d . a vacuum is then applied to the under surface of the work piece 100 through the vacuum holes 233a , 233b , 233c , and 233d , and tension is applied to the work piece by diagonal motion of each of the bearing surfaces 231a 231b 231c and 231d , of the vacuum loading chuck 121 away from the central portion of the chuck . the amount of tension is easily adjustable by the operator or by numerical control methods . once suitable tension in the workpiece 100 is achieved , the top piece 179 of the fixture 171 , a work piece frame , is positioned over the bottom plate 175 of the fixture 171 and lowered into place . guide pins 181a , 181b , , 181c , and 181d , on the bottom portion 175 of the fixture 171 provide centering of the workpiece 100 and the top or work piece frame portion 179 of the fixture 171 with the bottom plate of the fixture . a plurality of fasteners are used to secure to top or work piece frame portion 179 of the fixture 171 to the bottom plate portion 175 of the fixture 171 . tension in the panel ( which may as thin as 1 mil ) is generated by the motion of the four bearing surfaces 231a , 231b , 231c , and 231d , of the vacuum loading chuck 121 . this tension is readily maintained by the compression of the work piece frame 179 of the fixture 171 and the bottom plate 175 of the fixture 171 on the workpiece 100 . the loading of a workpiece 100 , such as a card , board , or panel 100 , into a fixture 171 and the removal of the workpiece 100 , such as a board , card , or panel 100 from the fixture 171 can be done robotically , in clean room conditions . in the robotic alternative , shown with specificity in fig3 the robot end effectors would be a vacuum grabber 69 , a screw driver , 73 and a vacuum loading chuck 68 to hold the individual panels . precision alignment of the panels is not required . the fixture 171 need only provide coarse alignment ; a separate vision system is used to do fine alignment utilizing registration fiducials . this vision system utilizes either or both of the top frame 179 or bottom plate 175 of the fixture 171 , which are provided with indicia , such as bar code , for computer identification and control purposes . the interface between the localized , clean room environment of the individual process enclosure 11 and the inter process transfer container 101 is provided by an airlock transfer port . the airlock transfer port utilizes a combination of ( 1 ) co - operating sealable doors , 31 , 131 , in the process enclosure 11 and the transfer container 101 , ( 2 ) electromagnetic and ferromagnetic clamping means for simultaneously opening the doors , and ( 3 ) peripheral gaskets surrounding the pair of doors to provide a substantially clean room environment in the airlock . this interface is illustrated in fig6 through 9 . fig6 through 9 show the docking of the transfer container 101 and the process enclosure 11 at the mechanical docking interface 301 in detail . the mechanical interface is shown in fig3 and 4 . the mechanical interface 301 is designed such that the transfer container 101 is loaded onto a shelf with guide surfaces 311a , 311b for location control , also shown in fig4 . a latch mechanism 211 , shown in fig4 secures the transfer container 101 to the interface 301 and prevents accidental removal during the robotic loading and unloading . the interface mechanism 301 of the transfer container 101 and the process enclosure 11 has a pair of sealed doors 31 and 131 to prevent particles from the non - clean , external environment from entering the process enclosure 11 . particles on the outside of the sealed doors 31 and 131 of the process enclosure and the transfer container 101 are trapped between the two doors 31 and 131 of the process enclosure 11 and the transfer container 101 when the transfer container 101 is locked in place on the shelf 311 , compressing the various gaskets and seals 35 , 37 , and 135 . fig6 including fig6 a , 6b , and 6c , shows a perspective view of the transfer container , 101 , used for transporting panels 100 to and between process enclosures 11 in clean room conditions . fig6 a shows an empty transfer container 101 having an opening , 103 , i . e ., an airlock opening , in its front surface . to be noted is that the transfer container 101 has a circumferential leading edge 105 , encircling the airlock , and adapted for co - operating with a facing gasket 33 on the airlock transfer port 30 of the process enclosure 11 , and compressing the gasket 33 to form an airtight seal therebetween . within the transfer container 101 and recessed from , non - coplanar with , and substantially parallel to the leading edge 105 of the transfer container 101 is an elastomeric , deformable ferromagnetic gasket 133 ( i . e ., a &# 34 ; ferromagnetic gasket &# 34 ;). the ferromagnetic gasket 133 is of the type typically used in freezers and refrigerators . the ferromagnetic gasket is adapted to receive and magnetically hold a ferromagnetic door 131 over the opening 103 in the front of the transfer container 101 . the sequence , fig6 a , 6b , and 6c , illustrates an open interprocess transfer container 101 , and the relationship of the ferromagnetic door 131 of the container 101 to the container 101 . fig6 a shows the interprocess transfer container 101 with a ferromagnetic door 131 spaced therefrom . fig6 b shows the ferromagnetic door panel 131 being pulled away from the interprocess transfer container 101 , opening the front opening thereof . fig7 including fig7 a , 7b , and 7c , shows a perspective view of the docking interface 301 of the process enclosure 11 , and the sequence of steps to electromagnetically draw the ferromagnetic door 131 of the transfer container 101 away from the interprocess transfer container 101 and against the electromagnet 37 equipped door 31 of the process enclosure 11 at its docking interface 301 , and then robotically open the magnetically coupled doors , 31 and 131 of the process enclosure 11 docking interface 301 and the interprocess transfer container 101 . fig7 a shows the process enclosure 11 port 301 , with a pair of circumferential gaskets , 33 and 35 , a sealable door , 31 , and one or more electromagnets , 37 . fig7 b shows the interprocess transfer container 101 in phantom , pressing against the process enclosure 11 port . the ferromagnetic door 131 of the interprocess transfer port 301 is shown partially broken away , with the electromagnet 37 and a portion of the inner circumferential gasket shown . fig7 c shows the interprocess transfer container 11 and the process enclosure 11 port 301 , with the ferromagnetic door 131 of the interprocess transfer container 11 and the electromagnetic door 31 of the process enclosure 11 partially drawn into the process enclosure 11 interlock . the open airlock provides the means for transferring panels between the transfer container 101 and the process enclosure 11 . to be noted is the inner gasket 35 . this inner gasket 35 provides a seal between the major portion of the areas of each of the doors , 31 and 131 , and the interior of the process enclosure 11 . in this way the gasket 35 keeps surface dirt on the door surfaces from contaminating the localized clean room atmospheres of the process enclosure 11 and the interprocess transfer container 101 . fig8 shows the opposite surface of the door 31 of the docking interface , 301 , including the attachment point 81 for the robotic arm 63 , and the electromagnets , 37 . fig8 shows the interprocess transfer container 101 abutting the facing segment of the process enclosure 11 , with interlock 301 , with the outer gasket 33 of the interface dock 301 providing a compressive seal therebetween . this seal isolates the clean room atmospheres of the interprocess transfer container 101 and the process enclosure 11 from contaminated outside air . the inner gasket 35 between the two movable doors 31 and 131 is also shown . the two doors 31 and 131 are initially in contact and both closed . compressive means , as latch 211 shown in fig4 are used to provide the compressive seals between the ( 1 ) the outer gasket 33 and the leading edge 105 of the interprocess transfer container 101 , and ( 2 ) the inner gasket 35 and the ferromagnetic door 131 of the interprocess transfer container 101 . after the compressive seals are established , the electromagnet or electromagnets 37 are activated , to break the ferromagnetic and hermetic seals between the ferromagnetic gasket 133 and the ferromagnetic door 131 and magnetically clamp the doors , 31 , 131 , together . the robotic arm 63 then draws the process enclosure door 31 , and the magnetically joined transfer container door 131 , into the process enclosure 11 . the robotic arm 63 carries the two doors 31 and 131 into the process enclosure 11 to provide an unobstructed channel for moving the panels 100 between the process enclosure 11 and the interprocess transfer container 101 . the numerical control means 51 for the robotic effector 63 and the electromagnets 37 properly sequences the the operation of opening the doors 31 and 131 to avoid contamination of the localized clean room environments , isolating surface contamination in the volume surrounded by the inner gasket 35 between the two doors 31 and 131 . fig9 including fig9 a , 9b , and 9c , shows a cutaway view , along cutting plane 9 -- 9 &# 39 ; of fig6 a , of the docking structure of the docking interface of the process enclosure and the transfer container . fig9 a shows mating structures of the process enclosure 11 and the interprocess transfer container 101 as they are brought into sealable contact . specifically to be noted are the gaskets 33 and 35 , with the outer gasket 33 on the periphery of the process enclosure interlock 301 and the inner gasket 35 on the process enclosure 11 door 31 . the ferromagnetic seal 133 is compressed by the ferromagnetic door 131 of the interprocess transfer container 101 . fig9 b shows the two surfaces in contact , with the outer gasket 33 providing a compressive seal between the facing walls 39 and 105 of the process enclosure 11 and the interprocess transfer container 101 . the inner gasket 39 provides a compressive seal between the door 31 of the process enclosure 11 and the ferromagnetic door 131 of the interprocess transfer container 101 , sealing outside contamination therebetween . fig9 c shows the structure as the doors 31 and 131 begin to open . the seals 33 and 35 are still in place , that is , the outer gasket 33 continues to provide a compressive seal between the facing walls 39 and 105 of the process enclosure 11 and the interprocess transfer container 101 to keep outside contamination out of the clean room atmospheres . the inner gasket 35 continues to provide a compressive seal between the door 31 of the process enclosure 11 and the ferromagnetic door 131 of the interprocess transfer container 101 , still sealing outside contamination between the two doors 31 and 131 . the door 31 of the process enclosure 11 is designed such that a robotic end effector 63 is used to mechanically and electromagnetically engage both of the doors . that is , one door , the process enclosure 11 door 31 , is effected mechanically , and the other door , the interprocess transfer container 101 door 131 is effected electromagnetically . preferably the robotic end effector 63 and its companion magnetic effector 37 engages both of the doors 31 and 131 simultaneously . the door assembly includes keying surfaces to prevent the doors from rotating relative to the end effector 63 , as well as keys and pins to prevent the doors 31 and 131 from rotating with respect to one another or otherwise misaligning . the electromagnetic end effector 37 shown in fig7 and 8 attracts and clamps the transfer container 101 door 131 , clamping the enclosure door 31 to the transfer container 101 door 131 , for example , by friction and magnetic force . the electromagnet 37 has sufficient magnetic force to pull the transfer container 101 door 131 away from the ferromagnetic gasket 133 . in this way one pulling motion opens both doors , 31 and 131 , simultaneously for storage of both doors 31 , 131 inside the process enclosure 11 . simultaneously opening both doors , 31 and 131 , significantly reduces contaminant generation caused by the relative motion of one door part against the other door . a further advantage of opening both doors simultaneously is that particles on the outside of the transfer container door 131 and / or on the outside of the enclosure door 31 are trapped and safely contained between both doors 31 and 131 by the magnetically effected simultaneous opening of both doors . the interprocess panel transfer container 101 provides clean room transfer of panels between pairs of process enclosures , 11 , for example , adjacent process enclosures 11 . the interprocess panel transfer container or transporter 101 is characterized by being substantially free of sources of particulate contamination , the minimum volume necessary for storing and handling cards and boards , and suitable airlocks for mating with facing airlocks 301 , of the process enclosures 11a , 11b , and 11c . in a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention the panel transfer container 101 is formed of unfilled polycarbonate . this is because fillers are a source of particulates . a further advantage of unfilled polycarbonates is that they are transparent . the use of transparent materials of construction for the panel transfer containers 101 makes the panel transfer containers 101 easier to align at the dockable interface 301 . a further advantage of transparent materials of construction is that it is easier to to handle foils and thin panels inside the panel transfer container , especially during docking . the transfer container 101 is a walled container having a facing pair of parallel side walls , 107 and 109 , a facing pair of parallel end walls 111 and 113 , a top , 115 , and a bottom , 117 , fabricated of a substantially particulate free material , such as unfilled , polycarbonate . one of the end walls is an access wall having an opening surrounded by a ferromagnetic gasket 133 . this ferromagnetic gasket is adapted to receive a ferromagnetic door panel 131 . each of said side walls 107 and 109 has at least one pair of co - planar bracket pairs 119 , 119a . these bracket pairs 119 , 119a hold the panels 100 . the panels 100 are in the fixtures 171 described hereinabove . at least one bracket 119a or 119b of each bracket pair has a pyramidal or conical positioning pin 121 . the positioning pin 121 extends upwardly from the bracket 119 and is adapted to receive a workpiece bracket 171 . a mating aperture 191 in the fixture 171 receives the positioning pin 121 . in a preferred embodiment wherein both brackets 119 and 119a of a bracket pair have the pyramidal or conical positioning pins 171 extending upwardly and adapted to receive a workpiece fixture 171 . various process and process sequences may be carried out using the system and method described herein . fig3 and 4 provide top and side views of the function of a robotic arm , for example , a scara robot 61 , inside of the process enclosure . workpieces , as printed circuit boards 100 or individual layers thereof are placed in fixtures , as shown in fig5 . these fixtures are then placed into sealable inter - process transfer containers 101 of the type shown in fig6 . the box is then purged with high quality , contaminant free gas , as 100k air , to provide an isolated storage environment of clean room quality . at a later point , an operator selects a container 101 of panels 100 for processing . the container 101 is placed on the process enclosure 11 container shelf 311 , in sealable relationship with the process enclosure 11 . sealable relationship is maintained by fasteners , clamps , or bolts 211 at the back of the transfer container 101 . guides in the shelf align the edges 105 of the interprocess transfer container 101 with the corresponding gasketed edges 33 of the process enclosure 11 . the clamps 211 are then tightened to form the gas seal . at this point the sequencing functions of the robot 61 are activated . for example , if a &# 34 ; retrieve workpieces &# 34 ; sequences is called , the first step is to activate an &# 34 ; door open &# 34 ; sequence . in this sequence robotic arm activates the door gripper end effector 81 , and energizes the electromagnet 37 in the process enclosure door 31 to overcome the ferromagnet in the ferromagnetic gasket 133 . both doors are secured to the robotic arm end effector 71 , the process enclosure door directly , and the transfer container door 131 magnetically , and removed in one motion . the robatic arm then releases the door gripper end effector 71 and the doors 31 , 131 in a resting position inside the process enclosure 11 . next , the robotic arm takes an end effector 67 for gripping the in - process panel fixture 171 , and removes a populated panel fixture 171 from the transfer container 101 . the order in which panels are removed is programmed by the operator . the fixtures 171 or the panel layers 100 themselves may have indicia , as part numbers , serial numbers , or the like . this may be optically coded , magnetically coded , or bar coded . the robotic arm may pass the fixture 171 over a decoder 65 to read the indicia . using this indicia , the robotic end effector performs such functions as orienting the the fixture , if necessary , and passing the fixture to a tool load station , as a roll conveyor for wet processing , or to a work station for dry processing . the inverse of the above sequence could then be used to unload the fixture 171 and its contained panel 100 from the process enclosure 11 back into the interprocess transfer container 101 . in another possible sequence of events the fixture gripper end effector 67 places the fixture 171 onto a vacuum chuck 68 . the vacuum is initiated , while the gripper end effector is replaced by , for example , a screw driver end effector 73 . the screw driver end effector is used to remove the hold down or compressive fittings on the fixture 171 . the top frame 179 of the fixture is then removed , for example by another end effector . at this point the robotic arm may replace the screw driver or gripper end effector by a vacuum end effector 69 . the vacuum chuck 68 vacuum is turned off and the vacuum end effector 69 vacuum is activated , allowing the robotic arm with the vacuum end effector to pick up the unfixtured panel 100 . the panel 100 is then moved past a decoder , as a bar code reader , and placed in a work station for unfixtured processing . it is , of course , to be understood that the above sequence may be carried out in reverse sequence for placing the processed panel back into the fixture 171 , and then into the transfer container 101 . various panel fabrication processes and sequences may be carried out in the apparatus of the invention , using various methods of operation . for example , as shown in the flow chart of fig1 , solely by way of exemplification and illustration , and not limitation , in a subtractive circuitization process , panels with thin films of seed layer , copper , and photoresist , may be robotically taken from transporter 101 , through a process enclosure 11 , to a first process station 21a by robotic means 61 . the panel is imaged in the first process station 21a , a dry process under clean room conditions , and robotically removed therefrom by robotic means 61 from the first process station , 21a , to and through the process enclosure 11 , to a second process station , 21b . the imaged photoresist is developed in the next process station , 21b , in a wet process under clean room conditions . the developed panel is then removed from the developing process station 21b under clean room conditions and robotically transported by robotic means 61 to and through the process enclosure 11 to an etching process station 21c for wet etching , also under clean room conditions . finally , the etched panel is robotically removed from the process station 21c by robotic means 61 , and delivered to a process station 21d for removal of the remaining photoresist . all of these process have been carried out in individual , modular process stations , under clean room conditions , but without the necessity of a large clean room . while the invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments and exemplifications , it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention thereby , but by the claims appended hereto . | 7 |
hereinafter , a system and method of using a human body motion according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a block diagram for explaining a control system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig1 , a control system according to the present invention includes a detecting means 100 , a controlling means 200 and a driving means 300 . the detecting means 100 comprises a human body response sensor , and transmits a detection signal depending on movement of the human body . the controlling means 200 generates a control signal based on the detection signal provided by the detecting means 100 , and transmits it to the driving means 300 . more specifically , the controlling means 200 extracts at least one detection signal and a control signal , corresponding to a detection signal received after setting a control signal corresponding to each detection signal , and provides the control signal to the driving means 300 . the driving means 300 is driven by the control signal received from the controlling means 200 . the controlling means 200 may be integral with or separate from the driving means 300 . for example , the driving means 300 may include all means that are driven by input of the user , including of a mobile terminal , an electronic wheel chair , a game console and so forth . the following description will be presented using the mobile terminal as an example . fig2 is a block diagram of a detecting means according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig2 , detecting means 100 according to the present invention includes a detector 110 and a signal provider 120 . the detector 110 may be composed of a pressure sensitive sensor or the like , and detects pressure in a middle ear which varies with movement of a user &# 39 ; s body , for example movement in an oral cavity . the detector 110 generates an electrical signal , namely a detection signal , corresponding to the detected pressure . furthermore , the signal provider 120 transmits the detection signal , which has been generated by the detector 110 on the basis of the movement of the human body , to the controlling means 200 . the signal provider 120 may be connected with the controlling means 200 through a wired network , such as a cable or a wireless network based on bluetooth . fig3 is a view for explaining a wearing state of a detecting means according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig3 , according to the present invention , detecting means 100 is brought into close contact with an external ear of the human body , thereby being capable of minimizing a signal received from the exterior of the human body and detecting pressure in the middle ear with precision . to be specific , the detecting means 100 includes a signal breaker 130 having an internal shape similar to an external shape of the external ear , thereby preventing an external signal from being inputted into the middle ear , as well as preventing an internal pressure of the middle ear from being varied by an external pressure . furthermore , the pressure sensitive sensor used for the detector 110 is mounted on an inner surface of the signal breaker 130 , thereby detecting variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear with precision . specifically , when any person talks or moves his / her tongue , namely when a tongue moves in the oral cavity , an air flow in the middle ear communicating with the oral cavity is varied , and thus the internal pressure of the middle ear varies . a detection signal , dependent on the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear , is transmitted to the controlling means 200 by the detecting means 100 . fig4 is a block diagram for explaining a controlling means 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig4 , controlling means 200 includes a plurality of interfaces 210 - 1 and 210 - 2 , a display 220 , an input 230 , a storage 240 and a controller 250 , wherein the controller 250 includes a signal processor 260 . the first interface 210 - 1 receives a detection signal from detecting means 100 , and transmits it to the controller 250 . at this point , the first interface 210 - 1 receives the detection signal from the detecting means 100 through a wired or wireless network . the second interface 210 - 2 transmits a control signal corresponding to the detection signal to driving means 300 through the wired or wireless network . in order to prevent signals exchanged by each interface from overlapping with the other , when the first interface 210 - 1 is connected to the detecting means 100 over a wired network , the second interface 210 - 2 is preferably connected to the driving means 300 over a wireless network . the input 230 provides the controller 250 with an input signal inputted by the user . in other words , the input 230 sets a control signal corresponding to the detection signal received from the detecting means according to the input of the user . the display 220 outputs display and voice information which are set by a display signal received from the controller 250 . the display and voice information outputted by the display 220 may include information which displays the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 or the control signal transmitted by the controlling means 200 . the storage 240 stores at least one detection signal received from the detecting means 100 and the control signal corresponding to each detection signal . when the controlling means 200 is connected to a mobile terminal , the control signal stored in the storage 240 may correspond to a short dialing button signal or a specified key button signal . furthermore , when the controlling means 200 is connected to an electronic wheel chair , the control signal stored in the storage 240 may correspond to a speed button signal or a direction button signal . the controller 250 stores the control signal , which corresponds to each detection signal inputted through the input 230 , in the storage 240 . furthermore , the controller 250 extracts the control signal corresponding to the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 , and transmits it to the driving means 300 . the signal processor 260 of the controller 250 monitors variation of the signal received from the detecting means 100 to determine start and end points of the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 . fig5 a to 5d are time - to - frequency graphs for explaining results of measuring variation of an internal pressure of a middle ear as applied to the present invention . referring to fig5 a to 5d , when a tongue in an oral cavity moves upward , values measuring variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear are as shown in fig5 a . furthermore , when the tongue in the oral cavity moves downward , values measuring variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear are as shown in fig5 b . when the tongue in the oral cavity moves leftward , values measuring variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear are as shown in fig5 c , and when the tongue in the oral cavity moves rightward , values measuring variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear are as shown in fig5 d . as shown in fig5 a to 5d , the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear varies depending on the movement of tongue in the oral cavity , and has a characteristic result value . in order to use , as a reference signal , the values measuring the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear having the characteristic result value , appropriate threshold processing is required . in other words , the detecting means 100 differentiates among a value measuring pressure detected when the tongue does not move , a value measuring pressure detected when the tongue begins to move , and a value measuring pressure detected when the tongue stops moving . for the purpose of the differentiation , threshold processing is required . a threshold value required for this threshold processing is found as follows . variations of the internal pressure of the middle ear in connection with the upward movement ( first class ), downward movement ( second class ), leftward movement ( third class ) and rightward movement ( fourth class ) of the tongue are measured at least once so as to determine the measured values . an average value of the values ( energy values ) squaring signal values ( amplitudes ) of the measured values of the respective classes is yielded . a maximum measured signal value of the class having the minimum average value of the average values of the respective classes is multiplied by any one of the values from 0 . 6 to 0 . 9 , and the resultant value is selected as the threshold value . fig6 is a graph for explaining a threshold value according to the present invention . as shown in fig6 , when the maximum measured signal value of the class having the minimum average value of the average values of the respective classes is multiplied by any one of the values from 0 . 6 to 0 . 9 , the resultant product is selected as the threshold value , and it is possible to determine start and end points of the value measuring the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear according to each class , namely start and end points of the detection signal . meanwhile , in order to determine the detection signals received from the detecting means on the basis of each class , the value resulting from measuring the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear according to each class is repeatedly collected from an individual user , and then an average value of the collected values is computed . furthermore , in order to differentiate the detection signals received from the detecting means 100 on the basis of each class , the detection signal is extracted from signals received from the detecting means 100 using the threshold value and a predetermined size of window ( e . g ., 400 ). at this point , the window size of “ 400 ” is a size selected as a test result for differentiating the detection signals according to movements of class - specific users . an energy value ( a square value of 400 signals ) of a signal corresponding to a signal of the window size , which is selected from the signals received from the detecting means 100 , is obtained . if the energy value is greater than the threshold value and has a predetermined duration , it is determined as the start point of the detection signal . in contrast , if the energy value is less than the threshold value , it is determined to be the end point of the detection signal . when a “ center of mass ” theory is applied to the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 , the characteristic detection signal of each class depending on the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear , caused by minute movement of the tongue , is obtained . fig7 a to 7d are graphs for explaining a characteristic detection signal of each class applied to the present invention . referring to fig7 a to 7d , it can be found that an average value of the values resulting from measuring the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear for a large number of persons has a characteristic signal value according to each class . thus , while monitoring signals received from the detecting means 100 , the controlling means 200 selects a time point of receiving a detection signal greater than a threshold value as a start point , and a time point of receiving a detection signal less than a threshold value as an end point . thereby , the controlling means 200 extracts a control signal corresponding to the detection signal received from the start point to the end point . furthermore , in order to yield a reference signal used to differentiate the detection signals received from the detecting means according to each class , a pairwise cross correlation average method can be used . because each person has his / her own force , speed , etc . of moving his / her own tongue , it is difficult to yield the exact reference signal capable of determining each class using a typical method of obtaining the average value . accordingly , in order to obtain the reference signal , the detection signals collected previously according to each class are formed in pairs , and are then aligned through cross correlation to the utmost extent . an average signal of each corresponding pair of detection signals is calculated using the pairwise cross correlation average method , and an average signal of each calculated pair of average signals is calculated again . these processes are repeatedly performed . as a result , the finally calculated average signal is selected as the reference signal of each class . fig8 shows a function of yielding a reference signal according to the present invention . as shown in fig8 , the process of obtaining an average value after pairing detection signal values of each class and aligning the paired values through cross correlation is repeated , and thereby a reference signal can be yielded . the reference signal according to each class and a control signal corresponding to each reference signal inputted from the input 230 are stored in the storage 240 . the signal processor 260 of the controller 250 determines start and end points of the detection signal based on a threshold value while monitoring signals received from the detecting means 100 . furthermore , the signal processor 260 searches for a reference signal the same as the detection signal among the reference signals stored in the storage 240 . at this point , the signal processor 260 can search for the reference signal by applying a predetermined tolerance 500 to a value of the detection signal . in other words , because the force or speed of moving the tongue is not constant , the signal processor 260 preferably applies the predetermined tolerance 500 to the value of the received detection signal to search for a similar reference signal , even when the reference signal has the predetermined tolerance 500 with respect to the value of the detection signal . furthermore , the signal processor 260 sets a signal , which is received from the detecting means 100 for a predetermined time in a state where there is no movement of the tongue in the oral cavity , as a noise signal . then , the signal processor 260 removes the noise signal from the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 , and then searches for a reference signal the same as the detection signal . the following tables 1 and 2 show test result values which the controlling means of the present invention uses to search for a reference signal according to a detection signal received from the detecting means 100 in a percentage (%) unit . as seen from tables 1 and 2 , the controlling means 200 searches for a reference signal the same as the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 according to each class , and then each of the control signals which the controlling means 200 transmits to the driving means 300 is an independent result value . therefore , the user can select the control signal transmitted to the driving means 300 by movement of the tongue in the oral cavity according to each class . the signal processor 260 transmits the control signal corresponding to the searched reference signal to the driving means 300 . thereby , operation of the driving means 300 is adapted to be controlled according to the movement of the human body . meanwhile , when a control signal corresponding to the received reference signal is not identified , the signal processor 260 outputs a warning signal through the display 220 after a predetermined time has elapsed so as to cause the user to move his / her body again . fig9 is a flow chart for explaining a method of performing control using movement of a human body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig9 , a user sets a reference signal according to each class and a control signal corresponding to each reference signal for the controlling means 200 ( s 10 ). then , the detecting means 100 transmits a detection signal according to movement of a human body , to the controlling means 200 ( s 20 ). in one example , the detecting means 100 detects variation of internal pressure of the middle ear according to movement of a tongue in an oral cavity of the human body , and transmits it to the controlling means 200 . the controlling means 200 determines start and end points of the detection signal depending on a threshold value while monitoring signals received from the detecting means 100 ( s 30 ). subsequently , the controlling means 200 searches for a reference signal the same as the detection signal ( s 40 ). at this point , the controlling means 200 searches the reference signal by applying a predetermined tolerance 500 to a value of the detection signal . if a reference signal the same as the detection signal is not identified for a predetermined time , the controlling means 200 outputs a warning signal reporting that the movement of the human body is not properly recognized so as to cause the user to move his / her body again ( s 50 ). then , the controlling means 200 determines the start and end points of the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 according to movement of the tongue ( s 30 ). meanwhile , if a reference signal the same as the detection signal is identified , the controlling means 200 transmits the control signal corresponding to the reference signal to the driving means 300 ( s 60 ). in one example , when the driving means 300 is a mobile terminal and the controlling means 200 is included in the mobile terminal , the controlling means 200 generates a hot key control signal corresponding to the detection signal so as to cause the mobile terminal to process a function related to the hot key control signal . at this point , the hot key control signal may include a short dialing control signal , short dialing button control signal , or a specified ( e . g ., conversation or end ) button control signal . the driving means 300 ( mobile terminal ) may generate a call request message according to the received hot key control signal , it may set a conversation mode , or it may terminate a conversation call . meanwhile , if the driving means 300 is a means for operating an electronic wheel chair of the like , the controlling means 200 transmits a direction or speed control signal corresponding to the detection signal to the driving means 300 , and then the driving means 300 accelerates / decelerates a speed or changes a direction of the electronic wheel chairs on the basis of the received control signal ( s 70 ). fig1 is a block diagram for explaining an authentication system according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig1 , a control system according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a detecting means 100 and a terminal 400 . the detecting means 100 provides a detection signal according to movement of a human body , and is connected with the terminal 400 through a wired or wireless network . the terminal 400 includes a central processor 440 , a function processor 420 , a memory 410 and a user interface 430 , wherein the central processor 440 has an authentication processor 450 . the user interface 430 may have a plurality of selection fields ( not shown ) and display means ( not shown ). the user interface 430 provides a selection signal according to the selection of a user , or displays a detection signal received from the detecting means 100 according to a display signal received from the central processor 440 , information on a state of the terminal 400 , and so forth . the function processor 420 provides functions inherent in the terminal 400 . for example , when the terminal 400 is a mobile terminal , the function processor 420 provides a voice communication service according to a phone number which the user inputs , or an internet service over a communication network . when the terminal 400 is an electronic wheel chair , the function processor 420 provides a driving function of the chair . the selection provided by the user interface 430 includes an authentication setup signal for setting an initial authentication signal , an authentication request signal for requesting an authentication procedure , a completion processing signal for requesting function processing according to completion of the authentication procedure , and a function request signal for requesting a function of the terminal 400 . when the authentication setup signal is received from the user interface 430 , the central processor 440 stores a detection signal received from the detecting means 100 for a predetermined time in the memory 410 as an authentication signal . because of differences in the oral cavities of various users , and in the force or speed of each user moving his / her tongue , when the internal pressure of the middle ear which varies with the movement of the tongue of each user and is measured , each user has a characteristic result value . therefore , the result value measuring variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear depending on the movement of the tongue in the oral cavity can be used as characteristic authentication information . when the authentication request signal is received , the central processor 440 determines whether or not the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 is identical to the authentication signal stored in the memory 410 . if so , the central processor 440 allows the user to control the function processor 420 through the user interface 430 . specifically , the authentication processor 450 of the central processor 440 determines start and end points of the detection signal according to a threshold value while monitoring detection signals received from the detecting means 100 in a state where the authentication setup signal is received , and stores the detection signal in the memory 410 as the authentication signal . when the authentication request signal is received , the authentication processor 450 determines whether or not the detection signal received from the detecting means 100 is identical to the authentication signal stored in the memory 410 . if the detection signal is not identical to the authentication signal , the authentication processor 450 outputs a warning signal to inform the user that the authentication procedure is not completed . thus , when the warning signal is outputted by the terminal 400 , the authentication procedure based on the movement of the user body is performed again . if the detection signal is identical to the authentication signal and when the authentication completion signal is received , the authentication processor 450 transmits an authentication acknowledgment signal to the function processor 420 so as to cause the function processor 420 to process the function according to the function request signal received from the user interface 430 . at this point , the authentication processor 450 applies a predetermined tolerance 500 to a value of the detection signal to determine whether or not the detection signal is identical to the authentication signal . furthermore , the authentication processor 450 sets the signal received from the detecting means 100 for a predetermined time as a noise signal , and then removes the noise signal from the signal received from the detecting means . preferably , the authentication processor 450 then stores the authentication signal in the memory 410 , and compares the signal after removal with the authentication signal . therefore , the user can use the terminal 400 to perform the authentication procedure using the movement of his / her body after setting the movement of his / her body as authentication information . fig1 is a flow chart for explaining a method of performing authentication processing using movement of a human body in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention . fig1 , a user sets up authentication information for the terminal 400 according to movement of his / her body ( s 100 ). at this point , the user can set up / change the authentication information in initially or subsequently using the terminal 400 at his / her option . in one example , the user can set a detection signal of at least one class as authentication information in the terminal 400 according to movement of the tongue in his / her oral cavity . the user makes an authentication request through the user interface 430 when intending to use a function of the terminal 400 , and moves the tongue in his / her oral cavity according to the class set as the authentication information ( s 100 ). the detecting means 100 detects variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear depending on the movement of the tongue in his / her oral cavity , and transmits the detection signal to the terminal 400 . the terminal 400 determines start and end points of the detection signal according to a threshold value while monitoring signals received from the detecting means 100 . the terminal 400 determines whether the received detection signal is identical to the authentication signal ( s 120 ). when the detection signal of at least one class is set for the terminal 400 as the authentication signal , the user sequentially moves his / her body corresponding to the class , and the terminal 400 determines whether or not the detection signals received sequentially are identical to the respective authentication signals . at this point , the terminal 400 applies a predetermined tolerance 500 to a value of the detection signal , and determines whether or not the received detection signal is identical to the authentication signal . if the received detection signal is not identical to the authentication signal , the terminal 400 outputs a warning signal reporting that the authentication procedure is not completed so as to cause the user to repeat the authentication procedure ( s 130 ). conversely , if the received detection signal is identical to the authentication signal , the terminal 400 completes the authentication procedure so as to cause the user to control the function of the terminal 400 through the user interface 430 ( s 140 ). in one example , the authentication processor 450 of the terminal 400 transmits an authentication acknowledgment signal to the function processor 420 when the detection signal received from the detection means 100 is identical to the set authentication signal so as to cause the function processor 420 to be driven according to a function request signal which the user inputs through the user interface 430 . while the above - mentioned description of the present invention has been made regarding the case of performing the authentication procedure or providing a corresponding control signal based on the variation of the internal pressure of the middle ear in dependence upon the movement of the tongue of the oral cavity of the human body , it can be equally applied to the case where a characteristic detection signal dependent upon another movement of the human body is generated . furthermore , while the above - mentioned description of the present invention has been made with reference to terminal 400 performing the authentication procedure based on the movement of the human body as one example , the invention can be applied to all apparatuses for performing an authentication procedure , such as another locking safety apparatus . as can be seen from the foregoing , any user can control the terminal 400 or driving means 300 intended for use using minute movement of his / her body . furthermore , the user can perform the authentication procedure for use based on the movement of his / her body . although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention should not be limited to the described exemplary embodiments . rather , various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention , as defined by the following claims . | 0 |
fig1 is a schematic representation of a mixer according to the present invention . as shown therein , the mixer includes a mixing chamber formed by a hollow , generally cylindrical , outer casing 10 open at both ends . within the casing 10 is a hollow , generally cylindrical , inner tube 12 open at both ends . the inner tube 12 is shorter than the outer casing 10 . an impeller assembly 13 is provided which includes the motor 14 having an output shaft 16 to which is secured the impeller blade assembly 18 . preferably , the motor 14 is secured to the mounting block 20 mounted to a first end of the outer casing 10 and , together with the mounting block 20 , seals the first end of the outer casing 10 . the second end of the outer casing 10 is sealed by the mounting block 22 . a first inlet 24 extends through the mounting block 22 for introducing polymer into the mixing chamber and a second inlet 26 extends through the mounting block 22 for introducing water into the mixing chamber . while polymer and water are specifically discussed herein , it is contemplated that the described and claimed mixer is suitable for other fluid mixtures . the inner tube 12 is supported within the outer casing 10 in such a manner so as to allow axial movement and constrain radial movement of the inner tube 12 . as shown , this is effected by providing a first plurality of radially outwardly extending pins 28 at a first end of the tube 12 and a second plurality of radially outwardly extending pins 30 at a second end of the tube 12 . the impeller blade assembly 18 is located within the outer casing 10 and is arranged to receive fluid at a central region and discharge the fluid outwardly toward the outer casing 10 . this sets up a flow pattern as shown by the arrows . thus , fluid introduced through the inlets 24 and 26 is drawn by the impeller blade assembly 18 toward the left through the inner tube 12 . this fluid is then discharged outwardly toward the outer casing 10 and travels toward the right through the annular region between the inner tube 12 and the outer casing 10 . a portion of the fluid in this annular region is discharged from the mixing chamber through the outlet 32 which communicates with the annular region substantially centrally of the length of the outer casing 10 . the remainder of the fluid travels to the right end of the annular region and then back into the interior of the inner tube 12 . by knowing the flow rates at the inlets 24 and 26 , the rate of flow through the impeller blade assembly 18 and the volume of the mixing chamber , the &# 34 ; residence time &# 34 ; within the mixing chamber can be calculated . this residence time is important for the proper mixing of certain chemicals . it is desired that the inner tube 12 be as close to the impeller blade assembly 18 as possible . toward this end , an arrangement for biasing the inner tube 12 toward the left is provided . this arrangement is shown in fig2 which shows a member 34 installed in the outer casing 10 . the member 34 is formed with an elongated guide channel 36 which is at an acute angle relative to the major axis of the inner tube 12 . the impeller blade assembly 18 is configured to set up a generally helical flow pattern in the annular region between the inner tube 12 and the outer casing 10 , as shown by the arrows in fig2 . this helical flow pattern acts to rotate the inner tube 12 . since the pin 30 is trapped within the guide channel 36 , full rotation of the inner tube 12 is prevented . however , because of the angle of the guide channel 36 , partial rotation of the inner tube 12 occurs , which causes the inner tube 12 to be moved to the left toward the impeller blade assembly 18 . fig3 shows an illustrative embodiment of a mixer constructed according to the present invention which embodies the concepts illustrated in figs . and 2 . thus , the outer casing 10 is illustratively a standard plastic tee fitting which has a central region 38 and enlarged end regions 40 and 42 , with the outlet 32 communicating with the central region 38 . a spacer 44 is press fit into the end region 40 to provide a bearing surface for the pins 28 on the inner tube 12 . illustratively , there are three equiangularly spaced pins 28 . the member 34 is press fit into the end region 42 . illustratively , there are three equiangularly spaced pins 30 on the inner tube 12 . one of the pins 30 is longer than the other two so that it extends into the guide channel 36 , with the interior of the member 34 providing a bearing surface for the other two of the pins 30 . the mounting blocks 20 and 22 are secured to the ends of the outer casing 10 by means of threaded rods 46 . sealing is effected by the o - rings 48 secured under pressure between the ends of the outer casing 10 and the faces of the mounting blocks 20 and 22 . the mounting block 20 is formed with an enlarged central aperture 50 which is sufficient in size so that the impeller blade assembly 18 can pass therethrough . the motor 14 is secured directly to the mounting block 20 via the ears 51 to provide a seal for the aperture 50 , by means of an o - ring ( not shown ). an illustrative design for the impeller blade assembly 18 is shown in fig4 . as shown , the blade assembly 18 includes a circular planar plate 52 which is secured to the motor output shaft 16 ( fig1 ) in such a manner that the plane of the plate 52 is orthogonal to the axis of the shaft 16 and the center of the plate 52 is aligned with the axis of the shaft 16 . a second circular plate 54 is provided . the plate 54 has a central circular opening 56 which is concentric with the axis of the motor output shaft 16 . the outer diameter of the second plate 54 is substantially the same as the outer diameter of the first plate 52 . a plurality of substantially identical curved vanes 58 are between and secured to both the plates 52 and 54 and extend from the periphery of the opening 56 to the outer peripheries of the plates 52 and 54 . rotation of the blade assembly 18 in the direction shown by the arrow causes fluid to be drawn into the opening 56 and discharged outwardly from the regions between the vanes 58 , as is known in the art . the entire mixer structure is supported on horizontal mounting plate 60 and vertical mounting plate 62 . a control box 64 is mounted near the motor 14 and is electrically connected thereto for selectively controlling the operation of the motor 14 . the control box 64 is connected to a source of electrical power . for controlling the flow of the polymer through the inlet 24 , there is provided a metering pump 66 whose inlet is connected to a supply 68 of the polymer ( fig5 ) and whose outlet is coupled to the inlet 24 at the exterior of the mounting block 22 . ( so as not to unduly crowd the drawing , tubing and piping is not shown in fig3 but it is understood that such tubing and piping is provided between the various components .) to control the flow of water , a flowmeter 70 is provided . the flowmeter 70 is coupled between a supply 72 of water ( fig5 ) and the inlet 26 at the exterior of the mounting block 22 . illustratively , the flowmeter 70 is a rotameter which has a flow control knob 74 and a visible float 76 for indicating the rate of flow through the flowmeter 70 . a differential pressure switch 78 is coupled across the flowmeter 70 and senses the absence of water flow to turn off the motor 14 and the metering pump 66 . as shown , a spacer so is press fit into the outlet 32 and an o - ring 82 is placed thereover . a transparent sight tube 84 is installed over the o - ring 82 and the sight tube 84 is capped by an o - ring 86 and a mounting block 88 . threaded rods 90 ( only one of which is shown ) extend between the outlet 32 and the mounting block 88 for holding the outlet structure together . the purpose of the transparent sight tube 84 is to allow an operator to see the flow of the mixed solution . a cover member 92 caps the mounting block 88 , with appropriate sealing being provided by the o - ring 94 . the mixed solution exits the mounting block 88 via the outlet 96 ( fig5 ). there are circumstances where it is desired to provide further dilution of the mixture . toward this end , there is provided a second flowmeter 98 , which is connected between the water supply 72 and an auxiliary inlet 100 ( fig5 ) of the mounting block 88 . accordingly , by controlling the flowmeter 98 , additional water may be added to the mixture . fig5 illustrates the fluid and electrical flow paths of the mixer of fig3 . thus , power is supplied to the motor 14 from commercially available power by means of the standard plug 102 coupled to the motor 14 through the controllable switch 104 within the control box 64 ( fig3 ). when the differential pressure switch 78 senses water flow through the flow controller 70 , the switch 104 is closed to power the motor 14 and spin the impeller blade assembly 18 . at the same time , the metering pump 66 is turned on to supply polymer to the mixing chamber . if for some reason the water ceases flowing through the flow controller 70 , this is sensed by the differential pressure switch 78 , which turns off the motor 14 and the metering pump 66 . the dual tube mixing chamber according to the present invention is advantageous in that it allows keeping the mixing chamber as compact as possible , and at the same time provides a path for the solution to flow through as it recirculates . preferably , the cross sectional areas of the inner tube 12 and the annular region between the inner tube 12 and the outer casing 10 are equal , so that the fluid velocities in these areas can be equal . giving the solution a flow path allows measuring the velocity in the path , if desired . giving the solution a flow path through all areas of the mixing chamber assures that there are no stagnant areas where product build up can occur . circulation through the dual tube area is assured by keeping one end of the inner tube 12 as close as possible to the impeller blade assembly 18 . as previously described , the helical flow pattern in the annular region between the inner tube 12 and the outer casing 10 provides the biasing force which causes the end of the inner tube 12 to engage the face of the circular plate 54 . while the biasing force generated by the helical flow is sufficient to keep the inner tube 12 in contact with the plate 54 , such force is relatively small and does not adversely effect rotation of the impeller blade assembly 18 . the dual tube mixing chamber which has been described is limited in its length to diameter ratio . as the ratio increases , the time between passes through the impeller blade assembly increases . further , fluid friction increases , which results in reduced pumping rates . the dimensions of the mixing chamber should be optimized for each particular application . accordingly , there has been disclosed an improved continuous flow mixer . while an illustrative embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed herein , it is understood that various modifications and adaptations to the disclosed embodiment will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and it is intended that this invention only be limited by the scope of the appended claims . | 1 |
this invention exploits the fact that the limited measurement capabilities of ordinary production network elements , such as exemplary routers , typically have a temporal and spatial granularity . measurement capabilities within current network elements such as routers enable the creation of reports that relate to a subset or aggregation of the traffic that are , for example , incident at the router during some limited time frame . furthermore , all packets of the subset share certain properties — a “ common key ”— that can be discerned by the router measurement capability , and which distinguishes the packets in the subset from all other traffic incident at the router during that time frame . this common key can be single dimensional or multidimensional , i . e ., the key can be a single property characteristic of each packet in the subset , such as for example the source address , or a plurality of properties characteristic of each packet in the subset , such as for example the source and destination addresses . in addition to the common key , the plurality of packets has another characteristic which causes them to be aggregated by the network element for a single report . most simplistically , this “ aggregation characteristic ” may relate to the fact that the plurality of packets was sent within a given time period . in one aspect , our method entails tailoring a set of active measurement packets , or probe packets , such that if one or more of them reach an ordinary router , they will cause the router to form a measurement report that relates to the set of probe packets , and to no other traffic . this achieves effective termination of the active measurement for that set of packets . such tailoring of a stream of active measurement packet sets results in distinct packet sets causing the formation of distinct reports if any of their packets reach the ordinary router . ( much of the discussion herein will be in terms of exemplary routers , but persons having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other network elements besides routers may be used in other embodiments to practice the invention . fig1 is a schematic representation of elements that may be used to practice this invention . fig1 is best understood in the context of fig2 which is a flow chart that schematically illustrates a method of measuring a parameter of a packet network in accordance with an aspect of this invention . in fig2 at 210 a probe packet source transmits a plurality of probe packets into a packet network . the probe packets have a common key which distinguishes the probe packets from other packets in the network . the plurality of probe packets have the same aggregation characteristic which will result in the packets being the subject of a report by a network element . at 220 , the probe packets pass through one or more instructionless network elements triggering each element to create an aggregate report on the probe packets . at step 230 , at least one router sends an aggregate report to a report receiving element . at step 240 , the probe packet reports are analyzed to determine at least on parameter of the network . such reports may include information on one - way parameters of the network . as indicated above , fig1 is a schematic representation of elements that may be used to practice this invention . in fig1 , 110 is a probe packet source that transmits a plurality of probe packets addressed to probe packet destination , 120 . 140 , are various network elements such as routers , and 130 is a report collector . the report collector receives the reports from one or more of the network elements , such as the routers , 140 . while the report collector is shown as a separate element , in other embodiments it can be part of the probe source or any other element . the probe packet destination , 120 , may be an end user or a specific network element . the probe packets contain a unique key and common aggregation characteristic that cause the router 140 to make a report that relates to the plurality of packets and to substantially no other packets . whenever packets pass through any of the elements 140 , the element makes a record of the packet and aggregates the packet with other like packets . in this embodiment , the element aggregates a plurality of the probe packets separately from any other packets passing through the element . periodically , the element 140 sends reports on the various aggregate sets of packets to a report collector 130 . at the collector , the single or multiple reports documenting the journey of the probing packets can easily be isolated from the other aggregated reports for analysis to determine at least one parameter of the network , including , is some embodiments , a one - way parameters . when there is a sequence of probe sets , we are able to correlate each probe set that is sent with the resulting measurement record ( s ) generated by a collector . so if , in particular , each packet carries a sequence number or some other unique identifier , we can associate the sequence number of the first packet of any group to the corresponding measurement record ( s ). the correlation can be achieved by using one ( or both ) of the following methods : time comparison : probe groups and reports are matched up by using suitably synchronized clocks at the probe source and the observation point ( if it timestamps reports ) or the collection subsystem . this method requires knowledge of propagation times and their variability , together with sufficient separation between groups in order to unambiguously match probe groups to reports . timing artifacts due to external synchronization ( e . g . ntp or gps ) may need to be removed by one of a number of available methods . dead reckoning : probe groups and reports are matched by counting from the commencement of probing . gaps in the report sequence due to complete loss of a probe set must be identified and filled . this requires sufficient temporal separation between groups . the implementation of our method relies on the measurement capability of the ordinary router which is to be exploited . following are two embodiments utilizing the operating system netflow . netflow is an operating system feature of cisco routers ; related capabilities are provided by other router vendors , and flow measurement capabilities based on netflow are the subject of standardization in the ietf . we now give a brief description of netflow in order to explain how our method applies . netflow compiles reports on flows of ip packets — a flow being a set of packets sharing a common property , known as the key , and incident at an exemplary router network element during a certain time frame . when an ip packet arrives at the router , the router calculates the key for the packets , which is typically a function of the ip packet header ( including source and destination address ) and transport protocol ( udp / tcp ) header ( including protocol type and source and destination port numbers ). in future versions of netflow , additional information , such as mpls labels , may also form part of the key . the router maintains a summary for each packet key that it observes , including the total packets and bytes seen with that key , and time of first and most recent arrival . these are updated accordingly when the packet arrives . if no summary is currently kept for the arriving packet &# 39 ; s key , one is first instantiated . the router is said to terminate the flow by closing out the summary , exporting it as a record to the collector ( i . e ., a separate network device ), and freeing up storage for statistics for new flows . termination can occur for several reasons : ( i ) inactive timeout : the time since the router last observed a packet bearing the summary &# 39 ; s key exceeds a threshold . common values for the threshold are of the order of 30 s or 1 min . ( ii ) active timeout : the time since the summary was first instantiated exceeds a threshold . the active timeout period is usually long compared with the inactive timeout , e . g . 30 minutes . ( iii ) protocol based : a packet signaling the end of a connection at the transport level is observed , for example , a tcp packet with the syn or rst flag set . ( iv ) resource management : a flow may be terminated to free up the router &# 39 ; s flow cache if this is becoming full . these methods of flow termination afford an opportunity to terminate the active measurement of a suitably crafted set of probe packets . we describe two ways to terminate the active measurements . ( i ) timeout based . a set of probe packets is dispatched bearing packet header information distinct from all other traffic , i . e ., by source and destination ip address and tcp / udp port number , and / or by mpls label . address spoofing could possibly pollute ip header based identification , although this has low probability to succeed and may by independently detected and / or blocked at the isp level . in order for individual groups of probe packets to each give rise to a single report , the time between dispatch of the first and last packets is preferably less than the inactive timeout , so that loss of one or more packets in transit , coupled with variation in propagation delay , or load balancing possibly causing packet to take different paths , could not cause any observing router to generate two flow records for the set . for example , consider the case that all but the first and last packets are lost . the difference in arrival time at a router must be less than the inactive timeout if they are to be reported in the same flow record . finally , each set of packets is to be separated by a time exceeding the inactive timeout , in order that each will give rise to separate flow records . note that each netflow enabled router on the path taken by the packets , and not just a netflow destination router , will generate flow records in same manner . more generally we might have a probe set that lasts considerably longer than the inactive timeout period , but which is separated from neighboring groups by periods considerably longer than the inactive timeout period . such a group might generate multiple netflow records , which can then be grouped and joined at the collector based on their timestamp relative to other reports . ( ii ) protocol based . ip address or reserved tcp / udp port or mpls label are used as in ( i ) above to distinguish traffic . flow termination is triggered by sending a tcp fin or rst packet as the last packet of a set . if this packet is lost before it reaches the router there are at least two options . one option is to send multiple fin or rst packets ; the first one observed will terminate the desired flow record , the rest will generate extraneous one packet flow records which must be discarded from the analysis . we note that flow cache clearance by the router for resource management ( termination method ( iv ) above ) can interfere with both these methods , due to the potential to close out and export a flow record while a group of packets is being processed by the router , hence giving rise to multiple flow records for that group . events of this type can be detected at a collector as follows . if the time between probe packet sets is substantially longer than the inactive flow timeout , the collector would observe successive flow records with closer arrival times than expected . in this case , the collector could aggregate multiple flow records into a single flow record representing all packets in the probe set . a second option in dealing with the flow terminating packet being lost before it reaches the router is based on snmp . routers ubiquitously maintain , as part of their management information base ( mib ), aggregate statistics of all traffic traversing their interfaces in the form of cumulative counts of packets and bytes seen . by regularly polling these counters using the snmp protocol , the difference between successive counts indicates the average data rate during the polling interval . however these statistics are increasingly being kept at finer spatial granularity . if one can arrange for probe traffic to exclusively cause increments of one such counter , then polling of that counter indicates the cumulative amount of probe traffic that has reached the router . following are two examples : ( i ) ip multicast . multicast enabled routers maintain a mib that contains per group , or per source / group pair , counters . thus we reserve and configure a multicast group , or pair of source and multicast group , for probing . ( ii ) virtual interfaces . we assume a mib is maintained for each virtual interface configured on an atm or frame relay switch . by configuring a virtual path from a probe source to a target machine and then arranging for probe traffic to pass exclusively through the virtual channel configured at a target network element , the mib statistics reported for that channel will reflect exactly the probe traffic seen there . by synchronizing probe generation with snmp polling of a target network element , perhaps only roughly , we may determine , for example , how many packets in a probing set reached the router . this is straightforward when the duration of a probe packet set , plus any uncertainty between the arrival time of probe packets at the target router and the time at which the polling is affected , is less than the polling interval . in this way , we may construct a stream of probe packet sets , one per polling interval . while polling intervals of 5 minutes are the norm , shorter intervals are certainly feasible . indeed , it has been claimed that a polling interval as small as 1 second may be used without impacting router performance . burst loss probing . this measurement application aims to determine how many packets in a closely spaced probe set are successfully transmitted and received . this information is useful for investigating the likely performance of tcp transmission along a path , without requiring the measurement endpoint to actually implement the tcp protocol . in the application of our methods , probe packet sets of the desired size and with appropriately closely spaced packets , are dispatched to the target device with e . g ., the timeout based method used to delineate the boundary between groups . trajectory monitoring . in our method there need be no essential difference in role between the measurement target ( i . e . the destination ip address of the probe packets ), and any other ordinary router in the probe packets &# 39 ; path . thus each ordinary router equipped with netflow or an appropriate snmp mib may generate reports on the probe packets . these reports , when collated at a collector , enable one to determine the performance experienced by the probe packets at successive hops along a path . for example , by comparing the number of packets that reach successive routers on the path , one can determine the loss experienced on the link connecting them . if the reports contain timestamps generated by synchronized clocks , one can , potentially , determine the latency on the hop , although packet loss may complicate this . for example , if the first packet of a burst is lost on a link , the timestamp of first packet arrival in the netflow records generated at the initial and terminal nodes of the links will not correspond to the same packet . one way to ameliorate this would be to set a tcp flag on the first packet of a probe set that is not used by any other packet in the set . since netflow reports the cumulative or of the tcp flags of the entire packet in a flow , the collector can determine whether or not the first packet reached the reporting router . delay analysis could then ignore the results of all probe sets for which the flag was not set . on the other hand , this may bias delay estimation against those probes sets that tend to suffer loss . a similar way ( tailored to netflow version 9 ) is for the sender to set the ttl of the first packet substantially different from those of other packets . since the maximum and minimum ttl seen for the flow is reported , if the probe sender sets a substantially different ttl for the first packet , the collector can detect from the reports , whether or not the first packet had been observed . multicast inference from aggregates . ( mifa ). multicast inference is a method to infer network internal performance from measurements performed at a network edge . thus the setting is somewhat different from the previous example : instead of assuming that we can take direct measurement from ordinary routers along a probe packet path , we that the measurements are not available from the network portions whose performance we wish to determine . possible reasons for this are ( i ) netflow is only enabled in routers at the network edge , e . g ., to reduce measurement load and license costs ( ii ) there is no access to netflow statistics or administrative access to router mibs e . g . because the routers in question reside in another provider &# 39 ; s network . mifa of loss rates requires ( i ) setting up a multicast group that is routed through the network under study ; ( ii ) sending probe packet sets from one or more group members ; ( iii ) having each receiver report the number of packets received in each probe set to a collector ; and ( iv ) collating the reports at a collector to infer performance on the logical links of the multicast tree . the analysis requires matching up the reports from different group members on each probe set . our method is well suited to this requirement since it can distinguish reports in suitably spaced groups . in the setup for this measurement , we do not assume that the ordinary routers are themselves able to serve as multicast group members , although this is not precluded . instead , some additional devices would serve as multicast group members , while ordinary routers ( e . g . peering or other edge routers ) sitting at the border of the network under study , each on the path between one of the participating devices and the network under study , would provide the measurements by observing traffic en route . this setup is attractive since , compared with using measurements taken at the group member devices , it enables us to factor out from our measurements the performance on the path portion between the devices and the boundary of the network under study . the foregoing detailed description is to be understood as being in every respect illustrative and exemplary , but not restrictive , and the scope of the invention disclosed herein is not to be determined from the detailed description , but rather from the claims as interpreted according to the full breadth permitted by the patent laws . it is to be understood that the embodiments shown and described herein are only illustrative of the principles of the present invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . those skilled in the art could implement various other feature combinations without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . | 8 |
referring now to the drawings in detail , fig1 is a symbolic diagram of a system of supplying resin to extruding machines . in this example , the extruding machines are shown at 11 , each of them being fed from directly above by resin in a hopper 12 . the hoppers of the extruders are supplied with air - entrained resin through pipes 16 connected to a manifold assembly according to a typical embodiment of the present invention and shown generally at 17 . a pipe 13 is useful for taking resin from silo 18 and delivering it elsewhere such as to silo 15 . the manifold assembly is connected to the bottom of a silo 18 . this silo is supported on the ground 19 by four legs 21 . the conical lower end 22 has a circular flange 23 on it . the resin is typically in a pelletized form in the silo or bin 18 , and exits through the lower end opening into the manifold assembly through which air is drawn by a vacuum system coupled to pipes 16 , the air entering ports such as 24 and 26 in the upper and lower portions , respectively . the air entrains resin from the silo to deliver it through the pipes 16 to the hoppers 12 associated with the extruders 11 , or through pipe 13 for delivery to silo 15 . a vacuum pump 14 coupled directly or indirectly ( as shown ) to pipes 13 and 16 , establishes the needed air flow . although the description herein refers primarily to the delivery of resins to extruding machines , it should be understood that the present invention is very well applicable to varieties of granulated , pelletized , powdered , or otherwise refined solid materials for delivery thereof from one location to one or more destinations , as desired . referring now to fig2 through 4 , the illustrated manifold assembly has a base portion 27 having a generally rectangular configuration as viewed from above ( fig4 ) with a circular bolt flange 28 welded to the upper end . the manifold also has the upper portion 29 having a generally cylindrical configuration as viewed from above ( fig4 ) and having circular bolt flanges 31 and 32 welded to the lower and upper ends , respectively , flange 32 serving as a mounting adaptor for attachment to a material storage container . the material employed for both portions is typically 6061 - t6 aluminum and the fabrication is typically by welding . it should be understood that other materials and methods of fabrication may also be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . in the system drawing of fig1 it can be appreciated that the lower flange 23 of the bin or silo is received on the upper flange 32 of the upper portion of the manifold assembly . these two are secured together by bolts in a circularly spaced array . for a flange of approximately 18 inches outside diameter , there are typically 12 bolts used and they are employed at equal spacings in circularly spaced bolt holes 33 ( fig4 ) and secure the flanges together just as do the bolts 34 ( fig2 ) securing the flanges 28 and 31 together . bolts 34 and the holes for them are in vertical alignment with the holes 33 in flange 32 . the upper manifold portion 29 has a delivery tube 36 projecting through the cylindrical wall 37 thereof . the base portion 27 has ten delivery tubes 38 projecting through the wall 39 thereof . the ports 26 in the base portion 27 are in a wall 41 in parallel , horizontally - spaced relation to the wall 39 as shown in fig3 . comparison of fig1 and 2 will reveal that the orientation of tube 36 with respect to tubes 38 is different . for example , in fig1 the tube 36 extends to the right , while the tubes 38 extend from the rear ( into the paper ) and therefore , being opposite the ports 26 , do not appear at all . however , the pipes 16 are connected to them just as pipe 16 is connected to tube 38 in fig3 for example . thus one can see one of the important advantages of the present invention in the respect that the matching bolt flanges with the equally and circularly spaced holes both at 28 and 31 between the upper and the lower manifold portions , and at 23 and 32 between the bin and the upper manifold portion , enable a selection of any one of a variety of orientations of the tubes about a vertical axis 42 through the center of the cylindrical portion 29 . referring now to fig5 and 6 , there is shown a gate valve assembly according to a typical embodiment of the present invention . this includes a tube such as 38 having a rectangular block 43 fitted around the top half adjacent the inlet end 44 of the tube and suitably welded to the tube . since this assembly is typical of the ten assemblies mounted in the base portion , reference will be made to fig2 along with fig5 and 6 in the description of the gate valve assembly . the top surface 46 of the block 43 serves as a bed for the slide 47 . blocks 48 and 49 are welded to the top of block 43 and serve as side guides for the slide 47 as it is moved between the open and closed condition . as shown in fig2 the sides of the slide are inclined downward and outward as shown at 51 and 52 , the angle being 15 ° from vertical ( 75 ° from horizontal ). similarly , the guiding faces 53 and 54 of the guides 48 and 49 are likewise inclined downwardly and outwardly . as best shown in fig6 a longitudinal slot 56 is provided in the guide assembly and tube , typically being end milled in the block 43 and tube 38 after they have been welded together . the width of the slot from wall 58 to wall 59 is about the same as the width of the slot 61 established by the upper edges 62 and 63 of the guides 48 and 49 at the upper edges respectively of walls 54 and 53 where they intersect the top faces of the guides . consequently there is provided a running ledge 64 and 66 at each side of the slide on the bed surface 46 . each of the slides has a threaded aperture 67 in the outer end thereof for reception of a screw 68 ( fig3 ) by which a handle 69 may be secured to the slide . this facilitates manual actuation of the slide between the maximum open position shown in the solid lines in fig6 and the maximum closed position shown in the dotted lines in fig6 . the closing end 71 of the slide is inclined upwardly away from the sealing face 46 of the valve block at an angle of 45 °. this facilitates manual closing of the valve even when the silo above it is full of resin and the flow through the valve is significant . the construction of the valve on tube 36 in the intermediate portion is essentially the same as that described here for tubes 38 . the materials are typically 6061 - t6 aluminum . referring further to fig2 and 4 , there is a vertical wall 72 in the cylindrical portion of the manifold assembly . this extends from a horizontal top wall 73 flush with the flange 32 and of which flange 32 is a part from location 74 to 76 . in other words , the wall 73 is integral with the material of the flange 32 . the vertical wall 72 extends downwardly from wall 73 to an identical bottom wall integral with flange 31 . these walls cooperate with the portion of cylindrical wall 37 extending from point 74 to 76 to form a chamber 77 ( fig3 ). this chamber has air entry ports 24 in the cylindrical wall portion thereof , and a singular air outlet port 78 in wall 72 . this port fittingly receives the inner end 36a of the tube 36 which is welded to plate 72 at that location . this is typically the only aperture in wall 72 and provides communication of the tube with the air chamber 77 . in order to avoid passage of any resin from the tube 36 into chamber 77 , there is a screen 79 mounted to the chamber - side of the wall 72 . this screen may be fastened to the wall in any suitable manner and may , in fact , be sandwiched between wall 72 and a parallel wall 81 shown fragmentarily and welded or otherwise secured to the upper and lower walls of chamber 77 . three horizontally spaced baffle plates 82 may be provided in the chamber , two of them being secured at the bottom with space between them and the top of the chamber , and one of them being secured at the top with space between its lower end and the bottom of the chamber . as shown in fig1 the tube 36 extends through the space in the upper manifold portion 29 in front of wall 72 . the slide is given the reference numeral 47a and the side guides are 48a and 49a . the leading or closing edge 71a of the valve is shown in the closed position against the wall 72 . referring further to fig4 one can look through the space within the upper manifold portion 29 and in front of the wall 72 and see that there are portions of two of the gate valves of the lower or base portion 27 which can be seen at the left and right - hand sides of the valve assembly for the upper portion . also , as is apparent upon comparison of fig3 and 4 , there is a vertical wall 83 which extends up from the bottom 84 of the base portion to an inclined wall 86 which extends upwardly and rearwardly from wall 83 to the point of junction of wall 41 with flange 28 . walls 41 , 83 , 84 and 86 cooperate with the vertical walls 87 and sloping walls 88 ( fig2 ) to provide an air chamber 89 in the base portion of the manifold assembly . apertures 26 in wall 41 communicate and provide air entrance means for this chamber , and there are typically 16 of them . in addition , three baffle plates are provided in this chamber , of which plates 91 and 93 are secured to the bottom 84 , and spaced from the top 86 , while intermediate plate 94 is secured to the top 86 and spaced from the bottom 84 . wall 83 has ten apertures therein , each of which receives the inner end of one of the tubes 38 which is sealed thereto by welding or otherwise . the valve slide end of each valve can thus be closed against the front of wall 83 in the same manner as the closing edge at the bottom of the end 71a of slide 47a can be closed against wall 72 in the upper portion . there is a slight step back of the end of the valve block 43 with respect to the inner end 44 of the tube as shown in fig5 at &# 34 ; s &# 34 ; and this type of construction is typically installed on all of the gate valves , regardless of whether they are the small ones used in the lower portion or large ones as used in the upper portion . therefore , in assembly of the tubes to the inner mounting walls of the chambers , the tube can be fittingly received in a matching hole in the wall while the valve bed block abuts the surface of the wall opposite the chamber - side . this facilitates assembly , sealing , and secures sealing of the gate against the wall when the valve is closed . in a manner similar to that described above for chamber 77 , a screen 96 is mounted on the chamber side of wall 83 and may be sandwiched between that wall and another retainer wall 97 having in it ports which match the ports of holes in which the tubes 38 are mounted in wall 83 . the type of screen used in both instances is typically a shade screen type with the louvers thereof upwardly inclined in the direction shown in the drawings , to deflect any resin pellets outward and downward away from the interior of the chamber . the slope of wall 86 which serves as the top of air chamber 89 is downward and forward toward the slots in the gate valves of the lower portion of the manifold . also as shown in fig2 the position of the valves in the upper level is staggered with respect to the positions of the valves in the lower level of the base portion . this type of construction facilitates adequate exposure of all of the gates to the resin falling through the upper portion and into the lower portion so that adequate supply of resin to all of the gates can be achieved . the actual flow of material from the manifold to the various extruders or molding machines or other equipment supplied by the silo will be determined by a combination of the flow established by the vacuum system and valving thereon and the adjustments made by the operator to the positions of the various gates supplying the various material utilizing machines . while the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description , the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character , it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected . | 1 |
fig1 illustrates in partial cross section a rigid memory disk package 10 including major components of a package base 12 , a package cover 14 , and removable locking clips 16 and 18 . for purposes of reference , fig8 illustrates the components 12 , 14 , 16 and 18 assembled , in a partial cross sectional view . reference is now made to fig1 - 8 in the following discussion with reference particularly now to fig1 as set forth below . fig1 illustrates the package base 12 which includes rounded curved bottoms 20 and 22 extending longitudinally between vertical end members 24 and 26 with a flat section 28 therebetween . configured groove 30 and a like aligned configured inner lip 32 and edge 33 extend about and around the upper portion of the curved bottoms 20 and 22 , adjacent to the end members . the lip 32 serves to seal the base 12 with a corresponding groove 34 and lip 35 and in the top cover 14 . integral half round support rods 36 and 38 , and support struts 40 - 46 position along , about , and beneath the configured groove 30 providing additional groove support and integral package strength . a alternating plurality of partial cylindrical shaped divider teeth 48a - 48n and disk grooves or slots 50a - 50n extend upwardly and inwardly from the inner surface of curved bottom members 20 and 22 and flat member 28 for retaining rigid disks as later illustrated and discussed in detail . configured securing locking clip containment housings 52 and 54 position at the opposing ends of the base 12 , and extend downwardly from , and about the configured groove 30 . the locking clips 16 and 18 accommodate and engage within housings 52 and 54 with housing 54 now being described in detail . the housing 52 is a mirror image thereof . the housing 54 includes a rectangular like hole or pocket 56 for insertion of the locking clip within housing 54 . the housing member 54 includes a configured side member 60 between two vertical members 62 and 64 including vertical lips 66 and 68 and includes a catch 71 formed by the lower edge of member 60 . a similar catch 73 positions likewise in housing member 52 . a space 70 between edges 62 and 64 , and inside surfaces 72 and 74 is provided for spring bias movement of the locking clip 18 and manual positioning of the locking clip as now described . the locking clip 18 includes a lower latch member 76 and an upper latch member 78 . a plurality of outward extending finger ridges 80a - 80n , are provided on an outward surface of a latch connecting member 82 . a u - shaped channel member 84 acts as a spring bias structure between surfaces 82 and 85 about base 86 . the surface 82 biases against surface 85 when the clip is retained within the housing 54 . the locking clip 16 is identical to the locking clip 18 . the package cover 14 includes a lower surrounding edge 88 with a lower flat surface 90 , rounded configured lower sides 92 , angled rounded configured upper sides 94 , a rounded top edge 98 and opposing ends 99 and 101 . an alternating plurality of aligned opposing divider teeth 98a - 98n and 100a - 100n , disk grooves 102a - 102n and 104a - 104n align to those of the base 12 and position along the inner lower sides 92 . two pluralities of aligned opposing spring biased teeth 106a - 106n and 108a - 108n including &# 34 ; u &# 34 ; grooves 110a - 110n and 112a - 112n with inclined ramps 114a - 114n and 116a - 116n respectively extend downwardly from the inner top 96 as illustrated in fig3 . handles 118 and 120 extend outward from the indented lower ends 122 and 124 . upper indented ends 126 and 128 are indented in , and separated from the lower ends 122 and 124 by the horizontal handles 118 and 120 . latching areas 130 and 132 include latch holes 134 and 136 . configured spaces 138 and 140 of fig3 are provided for the spring biased movement of the locking clips 16 and 18 and also for alignment with opposing upwardly from extending projections 142 - 148 of the base 12 as shown in fig2 . fig2 illustrates a top view of the package base including a disk therein . all numerals correspond to those elements previously described . particularly illustrated is the geometrical configuration of the configured groove 30 , which can accommodate a rubber seal member which can have a circular cross - section . fig3 illustrates a bottom view of the package cover including disks , as such would be engaged against the teeth 98 and 100 , and against the spring biased teeth 106 and 108 . fig4 illustrates an end view of the package cover engaged to the package base by the locking clip 18 and which is identical to the operation of the locking clip 16 . fig5 illustrates a view taken along 5 -- 5 of fig8 where all numerals correspond to those elements previously described . fig6 illustrates a bottom view of the package base while all numerals correspond to those elements previously described . a recessed rectangular area 29 is provided for a self sticking adhesive label , or the like . fig7 illustrates a top view of the package cover where all numerals correspond to those elements previously described . fig8 illustrates a side view and partial cross - section of the package cover engaged to the package base including wafer disks therein and the locking clips operatively engaged . the operation of the rigid disk package is best illustrated by fig8 as well as fig5 where the assembly of the base cover and the two locking mechanisms forms an integral package member . the disk supports are molded into the package base and package cover . the package cover includes the plurality of spaced opposing lines of flexible teeth for engaging against each of the disks at two diametrically opposed points as illustrated by dashed line in fig5 . | 6 |
the invention may be implemented in a wide range of embodiments . a characteristic of many of these embodiments is the ability to transition from a low center of mass configuration to a high center of mass balancing configuration . in the low center of mass configuration , a set of rear ground contacting members and a set of front ground contacting members provide a stable base of support . in the high center of mass configuration , only one set of ground contacting members ( typically the rear ground contacting members ) provide ground support while the other set ( typically the front ground contacting members ) are raised off the ground . an actuated joint located between the rear ground contacting members and the front ground contacting members is used to raise the center of mass when transitioning between the low center of mass configuration and the high center of mass configuration , and also to hold up the front ground contacting members when in the high center of mass configuration . a transitioning process is provided for transition to the high center of mass configuration . fig1 and 2 show perspective views of one embodiment of the invention . two main drive wheels 30 , 31 are connected to base 20 . main drive wheels 30 , 31 can each be powered by various means , including an electric motor with a gear reduction , a hydraulic motor , or an internal combustion engine and transmission . suspension system 70 may also provide support between base 20 and main drive wheels 30 , 31 . two powered shoulder joints 40 , 41 are connected to the base . the shoulder joints also may be powered by various means , including electric motors with gear reductions , hydraulic motors , or internal combustion engines . two arm links 50 , 51 are connected to the shoulder joints . two arm wheels 60 , 61 are connected at the end of the arm links . these wheels may be either passive or powered and may or may not have a steering mechanism . fig1 shows the invention in an upright two - wheeled high center of mass balance configuration in which a control system provides a command to main drive wheels 30 , 31 in order to balance the robot on the two main drive wheels . the reader will note that when the robot is in the balance configuration , the front wheels are off the ground . accordingly , the control system sends control signals to the motors that power the rear wheels . the control signal sent by the control system is related to a measurement of the robot &# 39 ; s center of mass with respect to the contact point of the wheels that are contacting the ground . such a measurement could come from a gyroscope mounted in the base , an inertial measurement unit mounted in the base , a camera system mounted to the base or arms , or other means . fig2 shows the invention in a four - wheel low center of mass configuration . in this configuration powered shoulder joints 40 , 41 can be locked in order to maintain the configuration , or they can be used in conjunction with main drive wheels 30 , 31 and arm wheels 60 , 61 in order to raise or lower the center of mass . the powered shoulder joints accomplish this by supplying a torque between the base and each of the arms . fig3 shows a perspective view of the embodiment of fig1 and fig2 with the addition of a camera system and track system . in this embodiment , track system 80 is attached to base 20 . turret 90 is also attached to base 20 , and camera system 110 is attached to turret 90 . camera system 100 may be remotely controlled and oriented through the control of turret 90 . track system 80 can be used in order to get over rough terrain . one or more drive wheels may be powered to drive the belt or “ track .” track system 80 may operate similarly to caterpillar - type or kegresse - type track systems . that is , the track may comprise interlocking metal segments or a flexible material . fig4 shows a perspective view of the embodiment of fig1 and fig2 with the addition of a weapon system . in this embodiment , track system 80 is attached to base 20 . turret 90 is also attached to the base 20 , and weapon system 100 is attached to turret 90 . in this embodiment the weapon system 100 may be remotely controlled and oriented through the control of turret 90 . fig5 ( a ) and 5 ( b ) show a simplified embodiment of the invention in a low center of mass configuration and a high center of mass configuration , respectively . rear drive wheel 205 is connected to rear base 210 . rear drive wheel 205 can be powered by various means , including electric or hydraulic motors . powered joint 220 is connected to rear base 210 . powered joint 220 may also be powered by various means , including electric or hydraulic motors . front base 230 is connected to powered joint 220 . front drive wheel 245 is connected to front base 230 . the front wheel may be either passive or powered and may or may not have a steering mechanism . fig6 ( a ) and 6 ( b ) show another embodiment of the invention in a low center of mass configuration and a high center of mass configuration , respectively . rear ground contacting member 200 includes one or more rear tracks 206 connected to rear base 210 . rear tracks 206 can be powered by various means , including electric or hydraulic motors . powered joint 220 is connected to rear base 210 . powered joint 220 may also be powered by various means , including electric or hydraulic motors . front base 230 is connected to powered joint 220 . front ground contacting member 240 includes one or more front tracks 246 connected to front base 230 . front tracks 246 can be powered by various means , including electric or hydraulic motors . fig7 shows a flowchart detailing a process for transitioning from a low center of mass configuration to a high center of mass balance configuration . when stand - up command 7000 is received , watchdog timer 7100 is loaded with the expected time required for the operation . torque is then applied in the forward direction , as indicated by step 7110 , to the drive ( s ) of the rear ground - contacting member concurrently with the application of torque in the reverse direction to the drive ( s ) of the front ground - contacting member as indicated by step 7120 . lifting torque is also applied to the drive ( s ) of the arm attachment joint concurrently with the application of torque to the ground - contacting members as indicated by step 7130 . comparator 7140 determines whether the robot has attained the threshold angle ( 60 degrees in the present example ). comparator 7140 makes this determination by comparing input data provided by a sensor to the predefined threshold angle . if the robot has not attained the threshold angle comparator 7140 looks to comparator 7150 to determine if the timer of watchdog timer 7100 has expired . if watchdog timer 7100 has expired , fault code 7160 is generated . the process may then be repeated . when the pitch of the robot has ascended to an angle greater than a desired maximum , placing the robot in an a - frame pose , a reverse torque is applied to the rear ground - contacting members as indicated by step 7210 . this reverse torque accelerates the robot backward until a sufficient speed in the reverse direction is reached . watchdog timer 7200 is loaded with the time expected to attain sufficient speed concurrently with the application of reverse torque . comparator 7220 determines whether the speed of the robot has attained the threshold speed required . if the threshold speed has not been attained comparator 7220 looks to comparator 7230 to determine whether watchdog timer 7200 has expired . if watchdog timer 7200 has expired , fault code 7240 is generated . the process may then be repeated from stand - up command 7000 . if a sufficient speed is attained , the torque on the rear drives is changed to accelerate the robot in the forward direction as indicated by step 7310 , dynamically lifting the aspect of the robot further to the vertical . watchdog timer 7310 is also loaded concurrently with the application of the forward torque . watchdog timer 7310 is loaded with the expected time required to attain a vertical pose once a sufficient forward speed has been attained . comparator 7320 is used to determine whether the vehicle has attained a pitch greater than 90 degrees . if a vertical pose has not been attained , comparator 7320 looks to comparator 7330 to determine if watchdog timer 7310 has expired . if watchdog timer 7310 has expired , fault code 7340 is generated . the process may then be repeated from stand - up command 7000 . when a vertical pose is attained , the control switches to balancing mode 7400 and the robot is brought into balancing stasis . fig8 shows a flowchart detailing a process for transitioning from a high center of mass balance configuration to a low center of mass configuration . when lie - down command 8000 is received , watchdog timer 8100 is loaded with the expected time required for the operation . backward torque is concurrently applied to the motorized drives of the rear ground - contacting member , as indicated by step 8110 . this causes the robot to begin to tilt forward . comparator 8120 determines whether the vehicle has attained a threshold pitch ( less than 85 degrees measured from the horizontal in the present example ). if the vehicle has not attained the threshold pitch , comparator 8120 look to comparator 8130 to determine whether watchdog timer 8100 has expired . if watchdog timer 8100 has expired , fault code 8140 is generated . the process may then be repeated . when sufficient reduction in pitch is attained , the torque is removed from the rear ground - contacting member and the robot is allowed to settle into the a - frame position as indicated by step 8210 . watchdog timer 8200 is concurrently loaded with the time expected to complete the operation . comparator 8220 determines whether the front base of the vehicle has made contact with the ground . if it has not , comparator 8220 looks to comparator 8230 to determine whether watchdog timer 8200 has expired . if watchdog timer 8200 has expired , fault code 8240 is generated . the process may then be repeated from lie - down command 8000 . when contact of the front ground - contacting member and the ground is confirmed by comparator 8220 , a reverse torque is applied to the motorized drives of the rear ground - contacting member as indicated by step 8310 . forward torque is concurrently applied to the motorized drives of the forward ground - contacting member as indicated by 8320 until the aspect of the robot is brought down to a desired threshold angle . watchdog timer 8300 is loaded with the expected time to reach the threshold angle . comparator 8330 determines whether the vehicle has attained the threshold angle ( less than 10 degrees in the present example ). if the threshold angle has not been attained , comparator 8330 looks to comparator 8340 to determine whether watchdog timer 8300 has expired . if it has , fault code 8350 is generated . the process may then be repeated from lie - down command 8000 . once the vehicle attains the threshold angle , the torques are removed , leaving the robot in four - wheel ground contact stasis 8400 . fig9 is a time - lapsed image sequence of the embodiment shown in fig4 transitioning from a four - wheel low center of mass configuration ( a ) to a four - wheeled a - frame configuration ( d ) to a two - wheeled high center of mass balance configuration ( i ). in this image sequence , a combination of main drive wheels 30 , 31 , arm wheels 60 , 61 , and shoulder joints 40 , 41 are used to raise the center of mass . fig1 shows a time - lapsed composite image of a simplified embodiment of the invention transitioning from low center of mass configuration to an a - frame configuration . rear ground contacting member 200 is attached to rear base 210 . the rear base is connected to powered joint 220 . the powered joint is connected to front base 230 . the front base is connected to front ground contacting member 240 . when in both the low center of mass configuration and in the a - frame configuration , both the rear ground contacting member and the front ground contacting member are in contact with the ground . during the transition from the low center of mass configuration to the a - frame configuration , power is applied to a combination of the rear ground contacting member 200 , powered joint 220 , and front ground contacting member 240 . one such method of applying power to a specific embodiment of the invention is described subsequently . fig1 shows a time - lapsed composite image of one embodiment of the invention transitioning from an a - frame configuration to a high center of mass balance configuration . rear ground contacting member 200 is attached to rear base 210 . the rear base is connected to powered joint 220 . the powered joint is connected to front base 230 . the front base is connected to front ground contacting member 240 . when in the a - frame configuration , both the rear ground contacting member and the front ground contacting member are in contact with the ground . when in the high center of mass balance configuration , the rear ground contacting member is in contact with the ground , while the front ground contacting member is not in contact with the ground . during the transition from the a - frame configuration to the high center of mass balance configuration , power is applied to rear ground contacting member 200 to raise the center of mass up and over rear ground contacting member 200 . one such method of applying power to a specific embodiment of the invention is described subsequently . fig1 shows a time - lapsed image sequence of the embodiment of the invention shown in fig4 riding over a relatively small obstacle . in this image sequence , the robot slows down on the approach of the obstacle ( a ); drives toward the obstacle , initiating contact between the obstacle and the rear drive wheel ( b ); applies a torque to the rear drive wheel to lift its center of mass onto the obstacle while balancing ( c ); drives over the obstacle ( d ); drives off the obstacle ( e ); and drives away from the obstacle ( f ). throughout this motion , the robot remains balanced using a balance control method which is described in greater detail subsequently . fig1 shows a time - lapsed image sequence of the embodiment of the invention shown in fig4 riding over a relatively large obstacle . in this image sequence , the robot lifts its arm links 50 , 51 and arm wheels 60 , 61 while approaching obstacle 700 while balancing ( a ); lowers its arm wheels 60 , 61 onto the obstacle and lowers its base 20 such that track system 80 on base 20 makes contact with obstacle 700 ( b ); uses track system 80 to pull itself up and onto obstacle 700 ( c ); makes contact between main drive wheels 30 , 31 and the top of obstacle 700 and uses a combination of track system 80 and main drive wheels 30 , 31 to drive over obstacle 700 , while arm wheels 60 , 61 regain contact with the ground ( d ); finishes driving over obstacle 700 using main drive wheels 30 , 31 ( e ); loses contact between main drive wheels 30 , 31 and obstacle 700 and regains contact between main drive wheels 30 , 31 and the ground ( f ). during this maneuver , turret 90 can be operated to orient weapon system 100 to a desired orientation with respect to the ground , independent of the configuration of the robot . track system 80 may be remotely actuated by an operator or it may be automatically actuated when the robot detects that its forward progress is impeded by the obstacle . fig1 shows a mathematical model of an inverted pendulum on a wheel . this model is useful for analyzing and designing the balance controller for the balance configuration , as described subsequently . fig1 shows a mathematical model of one embodiment of the invention useful for computing the wheel and shoulder joint torques in order to transition from a low center of mass configuration to an a - frame configuration . rear drive wheel 205 is connected to rear base 210 . rear base 210 is connected to powered joint 220 . front base 230 is also connected to powered joint 220 . front drive wheel 245 is connected to front base 230 . in this model , the following assumptions are made : ( 1 ) the center of mass of the device lies at the location of powered joint 220 ; ( 2 ) the entire device has a mass of m ; ( 3 ) front base 230 and rear base 210 are both of the same length , l ; ( 4 ) wheels 205 , 245 are both of the same radius , r ; ( 5 ) the torque applied to the powered joint 220 is τ s ; ( 6 ) the torque applied to each wheel 205 , 245 is τ w ; and ( 7 ) the center of mass is at a vertical height , h , above the center of the wheels , and at a horizontal distance , w , from the center of the wheels . shown in fig1 are various symbols representing the forces and torques on the system . f x is the horizontal force between the ground and each wheel , and also between each wheel and its associated base . f z is the vertical force between the ground and each wheel , and also between each wheel and its associated base . mg is the force produced by gravitation on the mass . with this model , the relation between the quantities required to support the mass is the derivation of this equation is explained subsequently . this relation can be used to compute the torque at wheels 205 , 245 and powered joint 220 needed to support the mass . if larger torques are applied , then the mass will accelerate upward , raising the center of mass . if smaller torques are applied , then the mass will accelerate downward , lowering the center of mass . the reconfigurable robot balances when in the high center of mass configuration . control action required to balance this configuration is generally accomplished by : ( 1 ) computing the dynamic equations of motion for the robot ; ( 2 ) linearizing the dynamic equations ; ( 3 ) determining a parameterized feedback control system ; and ( 4 ) determining suitable and / or optimal control system parameters using one of a number of different mathematical control system tools . as a first approximation to the full dynamics of the reconfigurable robot , we can compute the equations of motion of a simplified system consisting of an inverted pendulum on a single wheel , as shown in fig1 . this system is a simplification of a balancing robot , taking into account only planar motion and locked arms . the equations of motion can be determined using either a free - body diagram approach or a lagrangian approach . both approaches result in the following equations of motion : where x w is the forward position of the center of the wheels and θ p is the angle of the platform with respect to vertical , m p is the mass of the upper body platform and arms , l p is the distance from the wheel pivot to the center of mass of the platform , j p is the moment of inertia of the pendulum about its center of mass , m w is the total mass of the main drive wheels , j w is the moment of inertia of the main drive wheels about their center of mass , r w is the radius of a main drive wheel , τ is the torque applied , and g is the gravitational acceleration constant . the various length , mass , and inertia properties can be estimated from cad models , measured through various experimental techniques , or estimated online during operation of the robot using standard adaptive control techniques . the equations of motion can be linearized about the upright balancing configuration and solved in terms of the state variables : a simple linear control law that can balance the system is τ = k 1 ( x w des − x w )+ k 2 ( { dot over ( x )} w des −{ dot over ( x )} w )+ k 3 ( θ p des − θ p )+ k 4 ({ dot over ( θ )} p des −{ dot over ( θ )} p ) using this control law and rewriting the resultant linearized equations of motion in the form { dot over ( x )}= ax + bu , where x is the state variables and u are the inputs , we get the eigenvalues of the a matrix will determine the stability and the response time of the system and will depend on the feedback parameters , k 1 through k 4 . these parameters can be chosen in many ways , including pole placement , lqr techniques , and simply trial and error . this technique gives a combined applied torque of τ . this torque can be applied to typical embodiments of the invention by dividing it among the main drive mechanisms . for example , in the embodiment of fig1 , half the torque can be applied to main drive wheel 30 , and half the torque can be applied to main drive wheel 31 . in a typical embodiment of the invention , such as the embodiment shown in fig1 and 2 , the robot can turn about a vertical axis by differentially driving main drive wheels 30 , 31 . the following control law can be used to determine the differential torque to apply to the wheels , τ y = k 5 ( θ y des − θ y )+ k 6 ({ dot over ( θ )} y des −{ dot over ( θ )} y ) where τ y is the differential torque to apply to the main drive wheels 30 , 31 ; θ y des is the desired yaw angle ( rotation about the vertical axis ); θ y is the measured yaw angle ; { dot over ( θ )} y des is the desired yaw velocity ; { dot over ( θ )} y is the measured yaw velocity ; and k 5 and k 6 are control gains . the desired yaw and yaw velocity may come from a user input interface or from a higher - level controller . the measured yaw and yaw velocity may come from a gyroscope , inertial measurement unit , vision system , or other sensing means . the control gains , k 5 and k 6 can be chosen using a variety of methods known to those familiar with control system design . this technique gives a differential applied torque of τ y . this torque can be applied to typical embodiments of the invention by distributing it among the main drive mechanisms . for example , in the embodiment of fig1 , half the torque can be applied to main drive wheel 30 , and an equal and opposite torque can be applied to main drive wheel 31 . this will provide a differential torque that results in the control of yaw and yaw velocity . the reader will note that both the control of balance and the control of turning can be achieved simultaneously by applying the above techniques simultaneously through the summation of the resultant torques at each wheel . various embodiments of the invention transition between several geometric configurations and their associated modes of operation , including a two - wheeled balancing configuration , a four - wheeled low center of mass configuration , and a four - wheeled a - frame configuration . switching between the configurations can be initiated by a human operator when the robot is being teleoperated or automatically during autonomous or semi - autonomous operation . when in the four - wheeled low center of mass configuration , the robot has a low profile and operates much like a remote - controlled car , or conventional four - wheeled robot . steering and velocity commands can be directly interpreted into wheel velocity commands . to transition from the four wheel low center of mass configuration to the four - wheeled a - frame configuration , the front wheels can be commanded to drive backwards and the rear wheels can be commanded to drive forward , while the shoulder motors are commanded to be driven to make the robot form an a shape . once in the a - frame configuration , if desirable , brakes on the shoulder motors can be applied to lock the shoulders , reducing the power consumption at those joints . fig1 shows a schematic of a specific embodiment of the invention that can be used to compute the wheel and shoulder motor torques that can be applied to transition from a low center of mass configuration to an a - frame configuration . performing force balance on the wheel , we have 2 f z w − 2 f x h − 2τ w = 2τ s solving the above equations to eliminate f x and f z we get , we see that the center of mass can be lifted through multiple combinations of shoulder torque or wheel torques . for example , if only shoulder torque is provided , we get the reader will note that the front and rear wheels do not both necessarily need to be motorized in order to provide a wheel torque τ w . for example , the front wheels could have a brake instead of a motor and be locked in place . τ w could then be applied to just the rear wheel , producing nearly the same effect as had the wheel torque been applied to both wheels . the only difference would be that instead of the center of mass transitioning straight vertically , the front wheel would stay in its position on the ground and the center of mass would transition both horizontally and vertically . the above equations are for the model in which the center of mass lies directly at the powered joint , the front and rear base lengths are the same , the wheel diameters are the same , and the wheel torques are the same . this model was chosen for simplicity of demonstration to demonstrate one specific embodiment of the invention . one skilled in the art should be able to easily compute related equations for other embodiments of the invention . a robot dynamically transitioning to the balancing configuration is illustrated in fig1 . during transition from the low center of mass configuration to the high center of mass configuration , the robot passes through a sequence of configurations in which the projection of the center of mass of the robot onto the ground ( the ground projection of the center of mass ) lies outside the ground support polygon of the robot . the center of mass is the weighted average location of all of the mass of the robot . the ground projection of the center of mass , p com , is the point on the ground directly below the center of mass location . the ground support polygon is defined by the convex hull of all the points of contact between the robot and the ground . both “ ground projection of the center of mass ” and “ ground support polygon ” are terms commonly used in dynamically balanced robotic fields , for example the field of legged robots . “ convex hull ” is a term commonly used in mathematics . the convex hull of a set of points , x , is the minimal convex set containing x . if all ground contacting points lie in the same plane , the convex hull may be visualized by imagining an elastic band stretched to encompass all of the ground contacting points . if a perpendicular stake ( perpendicular relative to the plane ) is placed at the location of each ground contacting point , the elastic band will take on the shape of the convex hull when the elastic band is released . a robot with static mobility is one in which the ground projection of the center of mass always lies within the ground support polygon . one example would be a slow walking hexapedal robot with an alternating tripod gait . a robot with dynamic mobility is one in which the ground projection of the center of mass occasionally lies outside the ground support polygon . one example would be a fast walking or running biped . a robot with static mobility can move at slow speeds without consideration for the dynamics of the robot , but only with consideration for the geometric kinematics of the robot . a robot with dynamic mobility must move in such a way that takes dynamics into consideration . for example , a bipedal walking robot cannot come to a stop at an arbitrary point in its gait . when the ground projection of the center of mass lies outside the ground support polygon , the robot must continue moving and take a step or it will fall down . the main advantage of static mobility is that when the ground projection of the center of mass is inside the ground support polygon , the robot is typically very stable and resistant to disturbances or tipping . a main advantage of dynamic mobility is high maneuverability since it is not a requirement that the ground projection of the center of mass stays inside the ground support polygon . the present invention can transition between static mobility configurations and dynamic stability configurations . depending on the situation , a configuration can be chosen based on the importance of the advantages of that configuration . many embodiments of the present invention exhibit dynamic mobility when dynamically transitioning from a low center of mass configuration to a high center of mass configuration . in the following discussion , the embodiments of fig4 and fig9 are considered , although the discussion pertains to any embodiment of the present invention that exhibits dynamic mobility . to dynamically transition from the low center of mass configuration to the high center of mass two - wheeled balancing configuration , the robot provides a rotational torque with rear drive wheels 30 , 31 . there are a number of ways to provide this torque . in one way , the robot starts from a stationary position and applies a large torque to the rear wheels , thereby lifting the front wheels , much like a motorcycle “ popping a wheelie ”. however , using this technique requires a large forward displacement of the robot as the wheel torque that lifts the body of the robot also produces a large forward acceleration of the robot . the amount of forward displacement required is in relation to the amount of rear drive wheel torque that is applied . the larger the rear drive wheel torque , the less displacement required . thus it is preferable to apply the maximum available torque . however , drive components such as electric motors have maximum torque limits and with typical components available today , a significant forward displacement occurs using this method . a preferred method is to first apply a reversing torque to the rear drive wheels when in the a - frame configuration ( fig9 e , f ), thereby causing a backward velocity of the robot . then , after a period of time has passed or the robot has achieved a predefined threshold backward velocity , a large forward torque is applied to the rear wheels . this forward torque both stops the backward translational velocity of the robot and also lifts the body of the robot ( fig9 ( g ), ( h ), ( i )). after a predefined period of time , or after a threshold pitch is reached , the balancing control system is then switched on and the robot balances ( fig9 ( j ), ( k ), ( l )). a flowchart illustrating an implementation of this method is provided in fig7 ( and described previously ). this method of first providing a backward velocity before applying a forward rear drive wheel torque is preferred because a minimal amount of body displacement is produced as a result of the transition . both in simulation studies and prototype experimentation , it has been determined that a robot can perform this dynamic transition in less than one meter of total travel . determining the amount of torque to apply and the conditions for transitioning from reverse torque to forward torque can be achieved in a number of ways , including manual tuning of parameters , automatic tuning through adaptive control and learning control techniques , and automatic tuning through parameter search methods such as gradient descent and genetic algorithms . the reader should note that this method can work whether the robot starts in a low center of mass configuration ( fig9 a ) or an intermediate center of mass a - frame configuration ( fig9 d ). however , starting in the a - frame configuration is preferable , as the amount of rear drive wheel torque required to perform the maneuver is reduced , and the amount of travel required to perform the maneuver is reduced . the reader will note that in fig1 , the ground projection of the center of mass falls a substantial distance , δx , away from the support points of the wheels . when δx is large , as in fig1 , the robot dynamically transitions to the balance configuration . in order to do so , a corresponding large torque will be applied to the main wheels . less torque is required when δx is small . as mentioned previously , the method of backing up and then accelerating forward may also be used to reduce the forward distance of travel required to transition to the balancing configuration . it is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for rotating a gun carriage into a level position during the transitions to the several operating positions previously described . the amount of pitch movement is not always available within the mounted gun turret assembly , so an additional mechanism known as a gun mount carriage assembly is incorporated . as illustrated in fig1 , the rate r ({ dot over ( α )}) that gun mount carriage 9030 needs to rotate to keep the gun mount carriage level when the robot is balanced , is about 0 . 8 times the rate of rotation of arm 50 . this is derived from the fact that the arms will rotate through an angle of θ to the a - frame position while the gun mount carriage needs to move only θ / 2 deg . the mount needs an additional α deg of forward rotation to be level when the balanced position is attained and the total rotation of the carriage is φ = θ / 2 + α . this determines the gear reduction or rate to be r = φ / θ or 0 . 5 + α / θ . a solenoid - activated gear 9020 with this ratio is attached between gears on arm motor shafts 40 and corresponding gears 9040 on the gun mount carriage . the carriage rotation is capable of being locked at the three cardinal positions ( cart , a - frame and balanced ) using beveled solenoid operated pins . with this configuration the gun mount carriage will rotate slightly ahead of the angular position of the arms at a rate of r times the moving angle of the arms . however , during the movement to a - frame this rate needs to be only half of the arm rate to keep the gun level so the extra rate , α / θ , is automatically removed by the gun leveling feature of the turret . when the robot reaches the a - frame position the gun carriage is locked , the arms gear disengaged , and α - degrees of turret elevation have been consumed . as the robot is configured further into the balancing posture , the gun turret - leveling feature keeps the gun level , removing the extra α - degrees of pitch from the turret elevation . once balanced the available pitch range of the gun will be the full elevation range of the turret . a control system for the control of the robot is illustrated in fig1 . embedded processor 1600 receives input signals from wireless high speed data link 1640 . wireless high speed data link 1640 provides directional control over the operation of the robot . in particular , wireless data link 1640 directs the robot to move forward and backward , to turn left and right , to switch between low center of mass and high center of mass operating modes , and to control the weapons or camera systems . embedded processor 1600 also receives inputs from various sensors including pitch , roll , and yaw sensors 1602 which provide orientation feedback to embedded processor 1600 . this orientation feedback is particularly useful in holding the robot in the balancing configuration as discussed previously . embedded processor 1600 also receives input from gps device 1620 and compass 1630 . embedded processor batteries 1601 provides power for controlling the various operations carried out by embedded processor 1600 . embedded processor 1600 directs torque to left rear wheel motor 1661 and right rear wheel motor 1667 through left rear wheel amplifier 1662 and right rear wheel amplifier 1666 , respectively . embedded processor 1600 receives data regarding the rate of rotation of the left rear wheel and the right rear wheel via left rear wheel rotation sensor 1660 and right rear wheel rotation sensor 1665 , respectively . embedded processor 1600 directs torque to left shoulder motor 1651 and right shoulder motor 1657 through left shoulder amplifier 1652 and right shoulder amplifier 1656 , respectively . embedded processor 1600 receives data regarding the rate of rotation of the left shoulder and right shoulder via left shoulder rotation sensor 1650 and right shoulder rotation sensor 1655 , respectively . embedded processor 1600 directs torque to left arm wheel motor 1611 and right arm wheel motor 1617 through left arm wheel amplifier 1612 and right arm wheel amplifier 1616 , respectively . embedded processor 1600 receives data regarding the rate of rotation of the left arm wheel and the right arm wheel via left arm wheel rotation sensor 1610 and right arm wheel rotation sensor 1615 , respectively . power is supplied to the aforementioned amplifiers through motor drive batteries 1603 . an exploded view of the present invention is provided in fig1 . inertial measurement unit 94 is attached to base 20 . inertial measurement unit 94 includes sensors capable of detecting pitch , roll , and yaw of base 20 . inertial measurement unit 94 may optionally include sensors capable of detecting linear acceleration in the x , y , and z directions . embedded computer system 92 includes the aforementioned embedded processor and related circuitry . motor amplifier 32 amplifies signals from embedded computer system 92 to drive electric motor 34 . gear reduction 36 is provided between electric motor 34 and main drive wheel 31 to deliver optimal rotational speed and force . the preceding description contains significant detail regarding the novel aspects of the present invention . it should not be construed , however , as limiting the scope of the invention but rather as providing illustrations of the preferred embodiments of the invention . as an example , the reconfigurable may have more utilize multiple joints to provide greater range of articulation . such variations do not alter the function of the invention . thus , the scope of the invention should be fixed by the following claims , rather than by the examples given . | 8 |
the following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention . various modifications , however , will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art , since the generic principles of the present invention have been defined herein specifically to provide readily manufacturable and particularly useful portable spa improvements . fig1 illustrates a spa or pool 11 whereupon is mounted a spa or pool cover 13 according to the preferred embodiment . the spa 11 further includes a decorative , interchangeable side skirt 15 and a bottom pan 17 . the skirt 15 includes a zipper 132 and is removable and replaceable by skirts of , for example , different colors . fig2 shows a typical interior configuration of the spa 11 , including jet openings 25 and seating areas . the particular interior detail is , of course , variable , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art . as shown in fig3 the spa interior is provided by a molded shell 19 , which may be molded from fiberglass , acrylic , polypropylene , or other materials . the shell 19 includes a crowned upper rim 20 having a depending vertical edge or lip 106 . adjacent the shell 19 is a layer of rigid foam insulation 21 which defines the exterior contour of the spa 11 , providing a bottom surface 18 and a side surface 22 . the foam insulation 21 is preferably a rigid , two - pound density , closed cell , polyurethane foam . the bottom surface 18 is contoured to conform to the interior surface shape of the bottom pan 17 . the bottom pan 17 itself is waterproof and is glued to the rigid foam insulation 21 in order to provide a sealed , water impervious surface . the interchangeable skirt 15 is positioned adjacent the side surface 22 and includes interior foam padding or batting 23 and a backing layer of cloth material 24 . the upper edge of the interchangeable skirt 15 inserts within the lower edge of an extrusion 16 , which attaches to the depending vertical edge 106 of the spa rim 20 . the top cover 13 according to the preferred embodiment is shown in more detail in fig4 - 11 . the top cover 13 shown in fig4 is generally circular and includes a female half 41 and a male half 43 . these halves 41 , 43 are adapted to abut one another along corresponding edges 26 , 28 . each half 41 , 43 further includes three identically - formed ribs 57 , which separate or define four pie - shaped sections 60 . each cover half 41 , 43 is a unitary part , preferably rotationally molded plastic , although injection molding might be used . as shown in fig5 each rib 57 is formed by molding the bottom lower surface 66 of the particular cover half 41 , 43 to conform to a bell - shaped cross - section , thereby forming a bell - shaped channel or impression 61 . at regular intervals , the bell - shaped channel 61 is further provided with domes 63 , which extend to meet a recess 68 in the upper surface 64 of a respective cover half 41 , 43 . five such domes 63 , equally spaced from one another , may be provided in each rib 57 . this overall structure provides strength and rigidity to the respective cover halves 41 , 43 . additional intermediate channel areas 62 are also preferably provided to add additional strength to the structure . these channel areas may be substantially identical in cross - section to that of the ribs 57 shown in fig5 . two domes 63 are preferably provided in the intermediate channels 62 . as further illustrated in fig5 openings 74 are provided in the lower surface 66 of each cover half 41 , 43 . these openings 74 are filled with foam beads such as polystyrene beads , and then plugs 67 are inserted . the beads provide insulation to the cover 13 . such beads could also provide additional structural support if they were molded into a core at the end of the rotational mold cycle . in the foregoing manner , the cover 13 is provided with an inner skin 66 and outer skin 64 spaced apart from one another , for example , by a mean spacing of 70 - 80 millimeters , except at a number of selected areas where the two surfaces are brought adjacent to one another by the dome structures 63 , thereby facilitating a rotational molding process . a sealed interior providing desirable insulation characteristics is additionally achieved . as shown in fig6 the top surface of each cover section 41 , 43 angles gently downward to an outer rim 70 , which includes an outer vertical wall 69 and an inner vertical wall 71 . the inner vertical wall 71 curves through a 90 - degree radius to a slightly recessed channel 73 molded to meet and rest on the rim 20 of the spa 11 in order to provide an adequate and effective seal therewith . if desired , this recessed area 73 may be provided with a strip of insulating material to provide a seal between the rim 20 and the cover 13 . the rim 70 thus provides a depending skirt which surrounds the outer circumference of the spa 11 and retains the cover 13 in place on the spa 11 . the cover halves 41 , 43 feature an integrally molded interlocking hinge mechanism provided by an elongated , tapered female hinge projection 51 , an elongated , tapered male hinge projection 50 , a central finger extension 47 , and first and second side finger extensions 45 . molded indentations 53 , 55 ( fig4 ) of rectangular cross - section may be provided to strengthen the area behind the side finger extensions 45 . fig7 generally illustrates the cross - sectional mating structure of the elongated , tapered projections 51 , 50 at the center of the two halves 41 , 43 , while omitting the finger detail . fig8 and 9 illustrate in detail the hinge cross - section at the location of the central finger extension 47 and the side finger extensions 45 , respectively . as shown , the male projection 50 generally includes a bulbous portion 40 undercut to form a recessed receptacle portion 42 , which curves into a descending angled floor portion 44 . as illustrated in fig8 - 11 , this cross - section continuously and symmetrically narrows from the center 46 of hinge projection 50 toward each end 48 thereof , resulting in a profile which generally recedes away from a relatively prominent bulbous crown 46 at the center 46 toward the ends 48 . the female projection 51 is correspondingly contoured to conform to the varying cross - section of the receptacle 42 and the descending floor portion 44 presented by the male projection 51 . the resulting interlocking structure cannot be pulled apart when both cover halves 41 , 43 are horizontally disposed , but can be pulled apart when one half is elevated to an acute angle with the horizontal , the angle being determined by the geometry of the interlocking structure , particularly the upsweep of receptacle 42 and the clamping action between bulbous portion 40 and the finger extensions 45 , 47 . thus , the two cover halves 41 , 43 , when lying on a flat plane , e . g ., when their inner surfaces 73 are supported by the spa rim 20 , are restrained from being pulled apart in a horizontal direction by the interaction of the hinge projections 50 , 51 and the fingers 45 , 47 . engagement and release of these mated , hinged parts is achieved by raising one of the cover halves 41 , 43 to approximately 40 degrees above horizontal . at that point , the hinged halves 41 , 43 release and allow separation for easier removal , handling , and storage . the fingers 45 , 47 exhibit resilience and are further preferably disposed to provide an interference fit or bias ; that is , the fingers 45 , 47 are depressed slightly downward against their biased position as the cover halves 41 , 43 interlock , and therefore tend to hold the cover halves 41 , 43 in interlocking relationship to create a tight fit . this action is particularly desirable in the face of molding tolerances . the fingers 45 , 47 also prevent the engaged cover halves 41 , 43 from tending to bow in or out , and thus serve to preserve the horizontal interlocking relationship of the cover halves 41 , 43 . the natural locking tendency of the two cover shapes 41 , 43 prevents horizontal separation and helps maintain a weathertight seal for the spa . the natural locking tendency of the two shapes 41 , 43 further discourages unwanted or unauthorized entry of persons into the spa water , when used in conjunction with external lockdown mechanisms ( not shown ), which secure the cover halves 41 , 43 to the spa proper . thermal efficiency of the complete package is promoted by reducing loss of heat from the spa water that might occur with a nonjoined assembly of cover halves . such efficiency may be further promoted in some configurations by placement of spongy insulation and sealing material along the portions of the surfaces of the abutting edges 26 , 28 which lie adjacent the elongated hinge projections 50 , 51 . the molded , two - piece cover 13 is also relatively lightweight , lasts twice as long as conventional foam - based lids , can be fabricated to meet astm safety standards , and provides other advantages noted above . it may be noted that the structural advantages of the cover 13 of the preferred embodiment can be adapted to various other cover shapes , for example square or rectangular . in such case , support ribs may run in directions other than radially and the same or similar hinge mechanism may be used . those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just - described preferred embodiment can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . therefore , it is to be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein . | 4 |
an embodiment of the laminated protective wrap 100 of the present invention is shown in fig1 a and 1b . the laminated protective wrap 100 is a rectangular sheet having a length 110 and a width 108 and includes a hard outer layer 101 with a shock absorbing inner layer 102 adhered thereto . the laminated protective wrap 100 includes a means for adhering 103 the shock absorbing layer 102 to the hard outer layer 101 . the hard outer layer 101 has a top surface 104 and a bottom surface 105 . the shock absorbing inner layer 102 is preferably adhered to the bottom surface 105 of the hard outer layer 101 , such that upon wrapping an object with the laminated protective wrap 100 , the shock absorbing inner layer 102 is in physical contact with the object and the top surface 104 of the hard outer layer 101 is exposed to the environment . the hard outer layer 101 is preferably a corrugated sheet of plastic , but can alternatively be made of other materials such as metal , wood , cardboard , or a composite material . non - limiting examples of plastic that can be used for the hard outer layer 101 include : polyethylene ( high - density and low - density ), polyvinyl chloride , polypropylene , polystyrene , polyethylene terephthalate , acrylonitrile butadiene styrene , polymethyl methacrylate , polyamide , polyurethane , phenolics , melamine - formaldehyde , urea - formaldehyde , unsaturated polyesters , epoxy , and reinforced plastics . the hard outer layer 101 depicted in fig1 a and 1b is single - faced , meaning that it has a flat top surface 104 and a fluted bottom surface 105 . the fluted bottom surface 105 includes one or more elongated tubes 106 adjacently joined and extending the width 108 of the hard outer layer 101 . attached to the bottom surface 105 of the hard outer layer 101 , is the shock absorbing inner layer 102 . the shock absorbing inner layer 102 is the innermost layer of the laminated protective wrap 100 . the shock absorbing inner layer 102 acts as a cushion between the object to be protected and the hard outer layer 101 . the shock absorbing layer 100 is preferably made of a commercially available polyethylene foam , but can alternatively be made of other cushioning substances or material such as , but not limited to : natural rubber , synthetic rubber , various cloth or fibrous materials , or any composite material that is capable of cushioning . the laminated protective wrap 100 includes a means for adhering 103 the shock absorbing inner layer 102 to the hard outer layer 101 . in the preferred embodiment , the preferred means for adhering 103 is an adhesive , specifically a hot melt rubber based glue commercially available from national starch & amp ; chemicals , adhesive number 34 - 2899 . alternatively , the shock absorbing inner layer 102 can be detachably affixed to the hard outer layer 101 , for example by velcro , snaps , clips , or other mechanical fasteners , such that different shock absorbing inner layers 102 can be combined with various hard outer layers 101 depending on the desired qualities of the protective wrap needed . for example , if the laminated protective wrap 100 had to withstand great stresses , a thick hard outer layer 101 may be combined with a thick shock absorbing inner layer 102 . it would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art to use velcro , snaps , clips , or other mechanical fasteners to removably attach the shock absorbing inner layer 102 to the hard outer layer 101 . [ 0036 ] fig2 shows an alternative embodiment of a laminated protective wrap 200 in which the hard outer layer 201 is double - faced , meaning that it has a flat top surface 202 , a flat bottom surface 204 , and a fluted middle surface 203 . the fluted middle surface 203 includes one or more elongated tubes 206 adjacently joined and extending the width 108 of the hard outer layer 201 . [ 0037 ] fig3 shows another alternative embodiment of a laminated protective wrap 300 comprising a double - faced hard outer layer 301 having a flat top surface 302 , a flat bottom surface 304 , and a middle surface 303 having a plurality of i - beams or vertical ribs 306 running the width 108 of the hard outer layer 301 . the angle , position and spacing of the vertical ribs 306 are shown in a uniform vertical arrangement for convenience purpose only . it would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art to use a hard outer layer 101 having vertical ribs 306 in a different arrangement employing a variety of angles , positions , and spaces between two adjacent vertical ribs . in general , double - faced laminated protective wraps 200 , 300 are stronger and more rigid than single - faced laminated protective wraps 100 . therefore , it is often desirable to include a means for bending in a double - faced laminated protective wrap 200 , 300 to facilitate wrapping large objects . a single - faced hard outer layer 102 does not require an additional means for bending because of the inherent bending qualities in such a hard outer layer 102 , that does not have a middle surface 203 or a flat bottom surface 204 , when the bending radius is curved toward the bottom surface 105 . an embodiment of the means for bending is depicted in fig4 and 5 in relation to laminated protective wrap 300 . the preferred means for bending is one or more transverse cuts 401 in the top surface 302 of the hard outer layer 301 extending along the width 402 of the laminated protective wrap 300 , such that the transverse cuts 401 are perpendicular to the vertical ribs 306 . the transverse cuts 401 are made using a conventional darting process known to one of ordinary skill in the art . preferably , the transverse cuts 401 are uniformly spaced along the width 402 of the laminated protective wrap 300 and are about 4 inches apart . the transverse cuts 401 extend the entire length 404 of the laminated protective wrap 300 . alternatively , one or more transverse cuts 401 can be positioned at various distances or spaces along the width 402 as long as the desired effect of facilitating the bending of the laminated protective wrap 300 is retained . the use of transverse cuts 401 is for convenience purpose only . it would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art to employ a different means for bending in a double - faced laminated protective wrap 300 . for example , alternative means for bending include , but are not limited to , each traverse cut 401 may be a single cut through the hard outer layer 301 or may comprise a plurality of cuts along the same line through the hard outer layer 301 , or each traverse cut 401 may extend through the hard outer layer 301 or may be a crease in the hard outer layer 301 such that each transverse cut 401 only extends through the flat top surface 302 or the flat top surface 302 and middle surface 303 of the hard outer layer 301 . fig6 - 8 show the laminated protective wrap 300 in use . the use of the present invention is described in terms of laminated protective wrap 300 for convenience purpose only . the disclosure is equally applicable to the alternative embodiments of the present invention . fig6 shows an embodiment of the laminated protective wrap 300 wrapped around a curved surface 601 , such as a large coil or spool . the laminated protective wrap 300 is wrapped around the curved surface 601 such that the vertical ribs 306 are aligned with the perimeter , and circumference , of the curved surface 601 , resulting in the transverse cuts 401 being perpendicular to the perimeter of the curved surface 601 to facilitate the bending of the laminated protective wrap 300 . the laminated protective wrap 300 bends at the transverse cuts 401 when wrapped around the perimeter of the curved surface 601 , thereby creating a plurality of flat surfaces 602 that approximate the curved surface 601 and allowing the shock absorbing inner layer 102 of the laminated protective wrap 300 to be in nearly continuous contact with the curved surface 601 . [ 0042 ] fig7 shows a metal coil 701 packaged with a laminated protective wrap 300 . the metal coil 701 is packaged by wrapping the laminated protective wrap 300 around the outer surface of the coil 701 such that the shock absorbing inner layer 102 is in contact with the metal coil 701 and the hard outer layer 301 is exposed to the environment . the laminated protective wrap 300 also has a first end 406 and a second end 408 such that when the laminated protected wrap 300 is wrapped around the outer surface of the coil 701 , the first end 406 and the second end 408 are in close proximity to each other . in one embodiment , the first end 406 and the second end 408 are in contact with each other without overlapping , whereas in an alternative embodiment , the first end 406 and the second end 408 overlap to provide additional protection to the coil 701 . the first end 406 and the second end 408 of the laminated protective wrap 300 are then secured using adhesive tape or other means known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art , e . g ., one or more straps , clips , or other mechanical fasteners . [ 0043 ] fig8 shows a laminated protective wrap 300 that has been secured after wrapping a metal coil 701 . the first end 406 and second end 408 of the laminated protective wrap 300 are secured in place with adhesive tape 808 or other means known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art . the packaging is then completed by binding the laminated protective wrap 300 in place with one or more strapping bands 802 , 804 that run around the ends of the metal coil 701 . the use of adhesive tape 808 and strapping bands 802 , 804 is well known in the relevant arts . [ 0044 ] fig9 shows a metal coil 701 wrapped with a laminated protective wrap 300 , wherein the ends of the coil 701 are covered with caps 808 , 810 also made of laminated protective wrap 300 . the caps 902 , 904 are held in place by one or more strapping bands 802 , 804 . while various embodiments of the present invention have been described above , it should be understood that they have been presented by the way of example only , and not limitation . 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 as defined . thus , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents . | 1 |
in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , fig1 and 2 show a first embodiment of a compressor according to the present invention . the compressor l shown therein is a reciprocating compressor , in which compressed air is designed to be discharged by rotating a crankshaft 3 in a crankcase 2 . reference numeral 4 denotes a connecting rod having a larger diameter portion 4a and a smaller diameter portion 4b at its respective ends . the end portion 4a having a larger diameter is rotatably connected to the crankshaft 3 through a shaft 3a and the end portion 4b having a smaller diameter is rotatably connected to a piston 5 through a piston pin 6 . thus , the piston 5 is caused to reciprocate up and down inside a cylinder 7 by rotation of the crankshaft 3 through the connecting rod 4 . provided on a valve seat 8 at the upper portion of the cylinder 7 are an inlet valve 9 and a delivery valve 10 . when the piston 5 lowers , the inlet valve 9 opens , air thus being sucked into the cylinder 7 through an air - intake port 11a disposed in a cylinder head 11 . when , on the other hand , the piston 5 rises , the delivery valve 10 opens , compressed air thus being discharged from a delivery port 11b . the flange portion 7a of the cylinder 7 is secured by bolts 12 to the top portion 2a of the crankcase 2 . a seal member 13 is disposed between the flange portion 7a and the top portion 2a . reference numeral 14 denotes a circuit board for use as an abnormal - state detector , which is disposed in such a manner as to bridge the flange portion 7a and the top portion 2a at a certain peripheral position thereof and is secured thereto by fitting screws 15 . the circuit board is formed of such materials as a fragile resin having relatively low strength or the like , and on its surface a current - carrying pattern 16 is formed as shown in fig3 . the current - carrying pattern 16 has a shape like a reversed &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; and holds electrodes 16a and 16b at the respective ends thereof . provided at positions close to the ends of the circuit board 14 are fitting holes 14a and 14b for accommodating the fitting screws 15 . the upper part of the circuit board 14 having the hole 14a is secured to the flange portion 7a of the cylinder 7 , the lower part thereof having the hole 14b being secured to the top portion 2a of the crankcase 2 . as shown in fig4 the current - carrying pattern 16 of the circuit board 14 is connected to a magnet switch 17 , which is disposed between a motor 18 for driving the crankshaft 3 and a power source ( not shown ). the magnet switch 17 has a group of terminals 17a , 17b and 17c which are connected to the motor 18 and another group of terminals 17d , 17e and 17f which are connected to the power source . reference numeral 19 is a travelling contact . when a coil 20 is excited , the travelling contact 19 is caused to move to a position which causes the contact 19 to bridge the gaps between the terminals 17a and 17d , the terminals 17b and 17e and the terminals 17c and 17f , respectively , and to remain there , electric current thus being allowed to pass therebetween . the coil 20 is connected to a cable extending from the terminal 17d at one end thereof and connected to the electrode 16a of the circuit board 14 at the other end thereof . another electrode 16b of the circuit board 14 is connected to a cable extending from the terminal 17f . this allows the coil 20 to be connected to the power source through the current - carrying pattern 16 of the circuit board 14 , the coil 20 thus being excited when the power source is turned on . thus , electric current is allowed to pass to the motor 18 when the travelling contact 19 bridges and connects the gaps between each pair of corresponding terminals of the magnet switch 17 and the magnet switch 17 is thereby caused to close . under such a condition , take such a situation as that where the bolts 12 which secure the cylinder 7 to the crankcase 2 come loose while the compressor 1 is operating . when the bolts 12 begin to fail in their function of fastening those components together , the reciprocating motion of the piston 5 tends to cause the cylinder 7 to start vibrating in such a manner that it repeatedly comes into contact with and moves away from the crankcase 2 . in these circumstances , the circuit board 14 which is secured to a certain peripheral position of the flange portion 7a and the crankcase 2 is cut off due to tensile force immediately the flange portion 7a becomes separated from the crankcase 2 . this also causes the current - carrying pattern 16 formed on the circuit board 14 to be broken , the passage of electric current to the coil 20 thence being cut off . this in turn disenergizes the coil 20 and thereby causes the travelling contact 19 which is being made to bridge the gaps between each pair of corresponding terminals to be separated from the terminals 17a to 17f , gaps thus being produced again between corresponding terminals . this opens the magnet switch 17 , and the passage of electric current to the motor 18 is cut off , the compressor 1 thus being brought to a halt . as is described above , the circuit board 14 in the present invention is designed to detect the loosening state of the bolts 12 , which helps to eliminate any possibility of running the compressor 1 with the bolts 12 loose , as is often the case with a conventional compressor . thus , the possibility of breaking the connecting rod 4 or damaging the crank - case 2 is also eliminated . in other words , detecting the occurrence of an abnormal state at an early stage protects the compressor 1 in advance against the severe damage which would be caused by the looseness of the bolts 12 or other abnormal states . the level of safety is thus improved with the compressor of the present invention . replacement of circuit boards 14 and tightening of the bolts 12 will suffice when repairing the compressor 1 after a halt of operations . in other words , a new circuit board merely has to be brought and secured to a predetermined position on the flange portion 7a and the crankcase 2 and the bolts 14 have to be tightened to secure again the cylinder 7 to the crankcase 2 since any risk of damage of the connecting rod and so forth is safely prevented . thus , the work of repair can be simply completed . as to the current - carrying material to be formed on the circuit board 14 , possible materials are not limited to the current - carrying pattern 16 described above . instead , a current - carrying material such as a wire or the like , or a signal wire and so forth can be utilized as alternatives . fig5 and 6 show a second embodiment according to the present invention . in these figures , like reference numerals are given to like components described in the first embodiment , and description thereof is omitted . reference numeral 21 is a circuit board for use as an abnormal - state detector , which is disposed as a seal member between the cylinder 7 and the crankcase 2 . due to this , the profile of the circuit board 21 i s substantially the same as that of the flange portion 7a of the cylinder , and in the four corners of the circuit board 21 small holes 21a are provided through which the bolts 12 ( shown in fig2 ) are put through . in addition an opening 21b shaped like a reverse &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; is provided substantially in the center of the circuit board 21 to accommodate the connecting rod 4 . further , openings 25 , 26 , 27 and 28 , the latter being formed so as to communicate with the opening 21b , are provided in such a manner as to surround the opening 21b . these openings , however , are provided as a matter of convenience in forming the circuit board 21 and have no direct relation to the features of the present invention . thus , the circuit board 21 is composed of a surrounding portion 21c which surrounds the opening 21b and connecting portions 21d which extend towards the four corners and connect the surrounding portion 21c to the four corners thereof . furthermore , a current - carrying pattern 22 is formed on the circuit board 21 in such a manner that it surrounds the opening 21b and continuously extends over the respective connecting portions 21d , with the ends thereof being connected respectively to two electrodes 22a and 22b which are provided on a projection 21e projecting out of the flange portion 7a . similar to the case of the circuit board 14 of the first embodiment as shown in fig4 the current - carrying pattern 22 formed on the circuit board 21 is connected to the coil 20 through the electrode 22a and to the power source through the other electrode 22b . in this construction , electric current is designed to pass to the coil 20 through the current - carrying pattern 22 on the circuit board 21 , and the magnet switch 17 is thereby caused to close . when the crankshaft 3 rotates and the piston 5 is caused to reciprocate inside the cylinder 7 , the connecting rod 4 sways within a certain range , namely , within the range restricted by the solid and dashed lines as shown in fig5 . the transverse displacement of the connecting rod 4 within the opening 21b in the circuit board 21 is expressed by a dimension &# 34 ; l &# 34 ;. namely , as shown in fig6 the connecting rod 4 is designed to sway within the range restricted by a dashed line . the opening 21b is made to be a little wider than the operational range of the connecting rod 4 . due to this , as long as the connecting rod 4 operates normally , the rod is prevented from being brought into contact with the periphery of the opening 21b . however , if the bolts 12 securing the cylinder 7 come loose while a compressor 23 is operating , the cylinder will start to vibrate and intolerable stress will be caused to act on the connecting rod 4 . as a result , there will be a possibility of the connecting rod 4 shearing off at its neck portion 4c which is close to the end having a smaller diameter 4b , as shown in fig7 and 8 . as shown in fig7 when the connecting rod 4 is sheared off as described above , the sheared - off neck portion 4c becomes free . under this condition , when the crankshaft 3 goes on rotating , the damaged connecting rod 4 is left free to sway in a fashion shown by solid and dashed lines in fig7 and eventually sways beyond a predetermined operational range defined in the opening 21b in the circuit board 21 . this beyond - the - range operation of the connecting rod 4 is shown by a dimension &# 34 ; l &# 34 ; (&# 34 ; l &# 34 ; & gt ; &# 34 ; l &# 34 ;). as is described above , immediately the neck portion 4cbecomes damaged , the connecting rod 4 starts to be forcibly displaced in a transverse direction such as to strike against the circuit board 21 . in other words , after it has been sheared off , the connecting rod 4 is caused to strike against either part a or part b of the surrounding portion 21c of the circuit 21 to cause the same to shear off . at the same time , the current - carrying pattern 22 formed on either part a or part b is also cut off . as a result of the above , the passage of electric current to the coil 20 is cut off , which in turn halts the rotation of the motor 18 . this means that the breakage of the connecting rod 4 can be detected through the damage of the circuit board 21 which serves as an abnormal - state detector , the compressor 23 thus being brought to a halt . as is described above , since the compressor 23 is caused to halt immediately the connecting rod 4 is sheared off , the rod 4 is prevented from striking violently against the cylinder 7 and the crankcase 2 , these members thus being protected in advance from possible damage . furthermore , since it is only the connecting rod 4 that is damaged , replacement of connecting rods 4 and circuit borads 21 will suffice when repairing the compressor 23 , and after these components have been replaced properly , the compressor 23 can be started again . turning to the larger - diameter end portion 4a of the connecting rod 4 , a bearing is provided therein to accommodate the shaft 3a of the crankshaft 3 . while the compressor 23 is operating , axial displacement of the relative position of the bearing and the shaft 3a may for some reason occur . under such a condition , the connecting rod 4 is displaced axially of the shaft 3a from its predetermined position relative to the crankshaft 3 . when this kind of abnormal state happens , the connecting rod 4 is caused while it is operating to strike against part c or part d of the surrounding portion 21c of the circuit board 21 such as to cause these parts to shear off , the current - carrying pattern 22 formed on the part c or d thus also being cut off . this cuts off the passage of electric current to the motor 18 and the compressor 23 is thus caused to halt . referring again to fig5 to 8 , a third embodiment of the present invention will now be described as below . it is the characteristic feature of the third embodiment that the current - carrying pattern 22 provided on the circuit board 21 is formed of an alloy having a low melting point . normally , a breather valve ( not shown ) is provided in the crankcase 2 to allow the ingress and egress of air while the piston 5 is making reciprocating motions , and the breather valve is provided with a filter ( not shown ) for dust - elimination purposes . it may happen that such a filter becomes clogged after long use , and this causes the temperature inside the crankcase 2 to rise abnormally high during the operation of the compressor 23 , which in turn causes grease to bleed from , for example , the bearing ( not shown ) provided at the larger - diameter end portion 4a of the connecting rod 4 or the smaller diameter end portion 4b thereof . thus , the smooth relative rotation of the crankshaft 3 and the connecting rod 4 , or the connecting rod 4 and the piston pin 6 tends to be lost , and these members are thus liable to become locked . eventually , an untoward force of some kind is likely to bear upon the connecting rod 4 such as to cause it to shear off . in the present embodiment , however , the current - carrying pattern 22 provided on the circuit board 21 is formed of an alloy having a low melting point . due to this , in a case where the temperature inside the crankcase 2 rises to a predetermined value , the current - carrying pattern 22 is caused to melt before any grease starts to bleed out . this causes the drive power device to be cut off , the compressor 23 thus being brought to a halt . fig9 is an enlarged view of the larger - diameter end portion of the connecting rod employed in a fourth embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , a circuit board 25 of a nonconductive material is mounted on the larger - diameter end portion 4a of the connecting rod 4 in such a manner that it surrounds a bearing 26 , and on the circuit board 25 is provided a current - carrying pattern 24 of an electrically conductive material . electrodes 24a and 24b are provided at the ends of the current - carrying pattern 24 , and they are connected to the magnet switch for controlling the drive power source , as in the first to the third embodiments ( refer to fig4 ). in this embodiment , the temperature increases occurring in the proximity of the bearing 26 are designed to directly melt the current - carrying pattern 24 . the location of the current - carrying pattern 24 is not in fact restricted to the larger - diameter end portion 4a of the connecting rod 4 . instead , it can be located around the bearing of the smaller - diameter end portion 4b of the connecting rod 4 or on both bearings , as alternative positions . moreover , a plurality of abnormal - state detectors in the form of a circuit board having a current - carrying pattern and an alloy having a low melting point can be provided on each of the constituent parts of a compressor so as to detect troubles occurring at several parts at the same time by combining said plurality of abnormal - state detectors . the compressor of the present invention is superior to the conventional ones in the following points . as described above , since the compressor according to the present invention enables detection at arbitrary constituent places of the occurrence of abnormal states with respect to vibration , severance , deformation , temperature rises and so forth , the damage caused by occurrence of an abnormal state is prevented from developing further by not only serving to detect the occurrence of an abnormal state but also to stop the relevant driving source . in addition , the compressor according to the present invention can improve the level of safety during operation thereof by detecting occurrence of an abnormal state at an early stage and thereby halting operation of the compressor before any secondary damage develops . | 5 |
fig1 shows a controllable power semiconductor component of the invention in the form of an igbt ( insulated gate bipolar transistor ), whereby a cathodeside structure 4 . . . 6 , an n - - base zone 1 , an n - buffer zone 2 and a p - emitter zone 3 are provided in sequence . the cathode - side structure 4 . . . 6 is comprised therein that at least one n + - doped zone 5 is separated from the n - - base zone 1 by a p + - doped zone 6 , and the p + - doped zone 6 is contacted to a cathode terminal k and covers at least one gate electrode which is connected to a gate terminal g and a part of the n + - doped zone 5 , a part of the p + - doped zone 6 and a part of the n - - base zone 1 . the gate electrode is separated from these regions of the n - - base zone by an insulating layer 4 . the p - emitter zone 3 is electrically conductively connected to an anode terminal a . the dimensions and doping concentrations with respect to the cathode - side structure correspond to those of traditional igbts . the thickness of the n - - base zone 1 can , as usual , be selected at approximately 100 μm per kv , and the doping concentration typically lies between 8 × 10 12 and 10 14 cm - 3 . given a typical blocking voltage value of 3 kv , the length of the n - - base and , thus , the substrate thickness as well essentially lies at approximately 300 μm . in the igbt of the invention , the n - buffer zone 2 comprises a thickness of approximately 20 - 80 μm and has a doping concentration of 8 × 10 13 through 5 × 10 14 cm - 3 at the anode - side edge . by comparison to known components , the p - emitter 3 is implemented comparatively flat , has a thickness of 400 - 1000 nm ( typically 600 nm ), and comprises a doping concentration of 10 17 through 10 . sup .˜ cm - 3 at the anode - side edge . in any case , the life expectancy of the charge carriers of the n - - base zone 1 is longer than 10 μsec and comprises typical values of 80 μsec since no additional recombination centers are provided . the increase in the life expectancy of the charge carriers in this case has hardly any effect on the charge carrier density , since this is already at a high level . the doping of the n - buffer zone 2 is thereby selected so low that it has only an extremely slight influence on the injection behavior of the flat p - emitter 3 . the dopant quantity of the emitter 3 is selected so slight that practically no charge carrier recombination occurs in the emitter 3 , but rather in the metal contact . consequently , the threshold voltage between the layers 2 and 3 -- by contrast to known power semiconductor components -- can be selected temperature - independent , and the life expectancy of the charge carriers can be selected comparatively long , as a result whereof the semiconductor component of the invention is far less sensitive to temperature fluctuations and the tail current is practically independent of the temperature . the doping of the n - buffer zone 2 , however , is adequate in order to avoid what is referred to as a break - through of the space charge zone up to the p - emitter , as a result whereof the ohmic losses in the n - - base are low , even given comparatively high blocking voltages since the base length can be shorter due to the buffer layer 2 . fig2 shows an inventive power semiconductor component in the form of a thyristor that differs from the inventive power semiconductor component shown in fig1 on the basis of the cathode - side structure 7 , 8 . the cathode - side structure 7 , 8 is composed of a p - doped zone that is connected to the gate terminal and into which an n + - doped region 7 is introduced , the n + - doped region 7 being electrically contacted to an electrode that is electrically conductively connected to the cathode terminal k . in order to explain the method of the invention for manufacturing a controllable power semiconductor component of the invention , fig3 shows an intermediate product that is composed , in sequence , of an n - - doped zone 1 &# 39 ;, an n - doped zone 2 &# 39 ;, and of a carrier layer 9 . as a rule , the layers 1 &# 39 ;, 2 &# 39 ;, and 9 are composed of silicon , whereby the carrier layer 9 can be undoped , or can comprise an arbitrary doping . typically , the layers 1 &# 39 ; and 2 &# 39 ; are approximately 300 μm thick together and the carrier layer is likewise approximately 300 μm thick . since wafers having diameters of a type that are standard for power semiconductor components can only be poorly processed given this thickness , the n - buffer layer 2 &# 39 ;, together with the carrier layer 9 ( support wafer ), are connected to the contact surface 10 between the two layers on the basis of what is referred to as direct wafer bonding . further particulars with respect thereto may be derived , for example , from the japanese journal of applied physics , vol . 27 , no . 12 , december , 1988 , pages l2364 - l2366 . in the manufacture of the controllable power semiconductor component of the invention , a wafer composed of an n - - doped silicon substrate 1 &# 39 ; is employed as an initial material . the n - buffer layer 2 &# 39 ; is produced either by epitaxial growth or by drive - in of , for example , phosphorous atoms into the n - - substrate . as shown in fig2 this is followed by the joining of the wafer composed of the n - - doped silicon substrate and the further wafer 9 that serves as a carrier substrate . the joined wafers 1 &# 39 ; and 9 now comprise an adequate thickness and can thus be supplied to a further process step for producing the respective cathode - side structure . the production of the respective cathode - side structure occurs in a known way , for example , by diffusion . since the further wafer serves only as a carrier substrate , it is removed by grinding after the cathode - side structure has been produced . for improving the surface properties , the grinding process can potentially be followed by an etching step . in conclusion , the p - emitter zone 3 is produced by implantation from the ground and a potentially etched surface , whereby the implantation occurs in a known way . fig4 shows a diagram of the chronological curve of the load current i in a time interval between 0 and 5 μsec after shut - off . the current curves 11 . . . 14 are shown there and wherein : curve 11 corresponds to a comparable , conventional power semiconductor component at a temperature of t = 300 k ; curve 12 corresponds to the comparable , conventional power semiconductor component at a temperature t = 400 k ; curve 13 corresponds to a power semiconductor component of the invention at the temperature of t = 300 k ; and curve 14 corresponds to the power semiconductor component of the invention at a temperature of t = 400 k . it becomes clear that the curves 13 and 14 decay to the value 0 significantly faster than the curves 11 and 12 , and that the curves 13 and 14 , by contrast to the curves 11 and 12 , are largely identical , i . e . temperature - independent . a significantly slower drop in current occurs in curve 12 , and even the beginning of the drop occurs later than in curve 11 . although various minor changes and modifications might be proposed by those skilled in the art , it will be understood that i wish to include within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such changes and modifications as reasonably come within my contribution to the art . | 7 |
an investigation leading to this invention was undertaken to determine the microstructure and mechanical properties of chips produced by machining steels , and to explore the conditions under which they are produced . steel cylinders of aisi 52100 , 4340 and m2 tool steel having diameters of about 15 . 7 mm were heat - treated by through - hardening and tempering to hardness values of about 60 to 62 r c , about 56 to 57 r c , and about 60 to 62 r c , respectively . the initial microstructures of the steels prior to machining were tempered martensite . the compositions ( in weight percent ), austenitization temperatures ( a c3 ) and approximate grain size ( gs ) of the steel specimens are summarized in table 1 below . notably , m2 has a significantly higher austenitization temperature ( a c3 of about 1200 ° c .) than the 52100 and 4340 steels ( a c3 of about 800 ° c .). the cylinders were machined using a high precision lathe with polycrystalline cubic boron nitride ( cbn ) cutting tools . under certain conditions , including a cutting speed of about 50 to 200 m / min , a depth of cut of about 0 . 1 to 0 . 2 mm , and a tool feed rate of at least 0 . 05 mm / rev , the so - called white layer ( wl ) was observed in the machined surfaces of the 51200 and 4340 steels , though not in any of the m2 steel specimens . as known in the art , white layers are thin ( typically less than 50 μm thick ) hard layers that can form in the surfaces and chips of certain steels when subjected to machining , abrasion or sliding at high velocities . white layers resist chemical etching and appear featureless under an optical microscope , hence the term “ white layer .” the chips produced under the above conditions were analyzed using optical microscopy , x - ray diffraction , transmission electron microscopy ( tem ), and nanoindentation to establish their structure , composition and mechanical properties . the nano - hardnesses of the chips were estimated by making indentations of sub - micron depth using a berkovitch indenter ( three - faced diamond pyramid ) on a nano - hardness tester ( nanoindenter xp ). the indenter penetration depth was typically set at about 200 nm , which typically corresponded to a load of about 10 mn . this penetration depth was substantially less than the size ( on the order of up to about 0 . 1 mm ) of the chips being analyzed . from measurements of the load - penetration curve during indentation and subsequent unloading , both hardness and young &# 39 ;&# 39 ; s modulus of the chips were estimated . electron transparent samples of particles taken from chips were observed by tem to determine their structures ( e . g ., crystalline or amorphous ) and grain size . for this purpose , the chips were gently broken into smaller particles using a mortar and pestle , which were then separated by ultrasonic agitation in methanol . the particles were then placed on a grid and observed under the tem . some of the particles or regions of these particles were electron transparent , allowing direct images and diffraction patterns of these areas to be obtained . the diffraction patterns were used to establish the crystallinity of the particles , while a combination of the bright field image and diffraction was used to determine grain size . at this point , it is worth noting that both the chips and the machined surface of each specimen were subjected to very large strain deformation during machining . the deformation that occurs in the shear plane of a chip can be seen in reference to fig1 , which represents the machining of a workpiece surface with a wedge - shaped indenter ( tool ) as done in the investigation . the material being removed by large strain deformation , namely , the chip , slides over the surface of the tool known as the rake face . the angle between the rake face of the tool and the normal to the work surface is known as the rake angle ( α ). the edge of the wedge penetrating the workpiece is the cutting edge . the amount of interference between the tool and the workpiece is the undeformed chip thickness depth of cut ( t o ) and the relative velocity between the tool and the workpiece is the cutting velocity ( v c ). when the tool cutting edge is perpendicular to the cutting velocity and the width of cut is small compared to the cutting edge length and t o , a state of plane strain deformation prevails , which is believed to be a preferred configuration for experimental and theoretical investigations of machining . the chip formation in fig1 is seen to occur by concentrated shear along a plane called the shear plane , where a shear strain ( γ ) is imposed during chip formation . the shear strain can be estimated by equation ( 1 ) below : where the shear plane angle ( φ ) is a known function of t o and t c . the effective von mises strain ( ε ) can be predicted using equation ( 1 ) shows that the shear strain ( γ ) can be varied over a wide range by varying the rake angle ( α ) from large positive to large negative values ( see fig1 ). additionally , the friction at the tool - chip interface also affects shear strain ( γ ) via its effect on the shear plane angle φ . in view of the above , and as reported in the literature , effective plastic strains in the range about 0 . 5 to about 10 and strain rates of up to 10 6 per second can be generated with appropriate machining conditions , as can a wide range of shear plane temperatures . these ranges of values are substantially greater than can be realized in typical severe plastic deformation processes . geometric parameters of machining like depth of cut ( t o ), rake angle ( α ) and cutting velocity ( v c ) affect the shear deformation in a manner analogous to the action of dies in forging or extrusion . the effective plastic strain along the shear plane ( deformation zone ) in the chip can be systematically varied in the range of about 0 . 5 to about 10 by changing the tool rake angle , and to a lesser extent by changing the friction between tool and chip . the mean shear and normal stresses on the shear plane can be varied by changing the tool geometric parameters together with process parameters such as v c and t o , while the values of these stresses can be obtained from measurement of the forces . finally , the temperature in the deformation zone can be systematically varied by changing the cutting velocity . for example , by cutting at very low velocities ( about 0 . 5 mm / s ), the temperature can be kept marginally above the ambient temperature while achieving very large strain deformation . alternatively , temperatures where phase transformations ( e . g ., martensitic , melting ) may be expected to occur in the chip can be realized by increasing the cutting velocity to higher values , for example , about 1 to about 2 m / s . the ability to change the friction along the tool - chip interface by a factor of up to three has also been demonstrated using a combination of tool coatings , low - frequency modulation of the tool - chip interface and lubrication which assures that lubricant is always present at the interface between the tool and the chip . the extent to which friction ( as well as the other parameters and conditions discussed above ) can be controlled in a machining operation is not possible in other severe plastic deformation processes . in summary , the temperature , stress , strain , strain rate and velocity fields in the zone of deformation , can be well estimated using available mechanics models or obtained by direct measurement . thus , very large strain deformation conditions can be imposed and varied systematically over a wide range , a range over and beyond that currently obtainable in other severe plastic deformation processes . in the investigation of the aisi 52100 , 4340 and m2 steels , the normal and shear stresses imposed on the shear plane and on the work surface of each specimen was estimated to be about 2 to 4 gpa . the temperature rise of the chips was concluded to be typically greater than that of the machined surface , since the relatively large mass of the machined surface was capable of conducting away most of the frictional heat generated on the tool rake face as well as the heat generated in the primary deformation zone ( shear plane ) due to plastic flow . the cooling rates in the chip and the workpiece were quite high , estimated as at least 0 . 5 × 10 5 ° c ./ s . table 2 summarizes the results of the nano - hardness measurements made in the chips of the 52100 specimens and in the bulk of the 52100 specimens . the chip hardness value can be seen to be about 25 % higher than , and statistically distinguishable from , the nano - hardness value obtained for the bulk 52100 steel . furthermore , the chip hardness is significantly higher than knoop hardness values reported for untempered marten - site produced by quenching 52100 steel specimens . this difference is significant , even accounting for the fact that hardness measurements made at sub - micron penetration depths generally yield slightly higher hardness values than knoop hardness measurements . the young &# 39 ; s moduli of the chip and the bulk material , obtained by indentation , were virtually indistinguishable from that of the bulk material and close to the commonly quoted modulus value of 220 gpa for steels . fig2 is a tem image of an electron - transparent particle from one of the 52100 steel chips . also shown in fig2 are three electron diffraction patterns obtained from different regions of the particle . the diffraction patterns indicate that each of the corresponding regions in the image is a distinct single crystal , indicating that the particle is polycrystalline . furthermore , from the tem image of each of the single crystal regions , it is seen that the crystal ( or grain ) size is in the range of about 50 nm to about 300 nm . analysis of tem images of other chip particles from each of the 4340 , 52100 , and m2 steels also showed the chips to be polycrystalline with a grain size typically in the range of about 30 to about 300 nm . all of the chips produced under machining conditions that in - clude a cutting speed of about 100 to 200 m / min , a depth of cut of about 0 . 1 to 0 . 2 mm , and a tool feed rate of at least 0 . 05 mm / rev , were shown to contain nanocrystalline structures ( ns ). furthermore , the nano - scale grain sizes of the chips were considerably smaller than the five to seven micrometer grain sizes reported above for the heat - treated steel specimens prior to machining . consequently , it was apparent that the tempered martensite initially present in the steel specimens had undergone a modification / transformation during machining . this conclusion is consistent also with the comparative nano - hardness results discussed above for the chips and the bulks of the steel specimens . in research subsequent to the above investigation , it was concluded that the formation of nanocrystalline structures in machining processes appears to be a general phenomenon that goes beyond steels and beyond machining with wedge - shaped tools . for example , measurements of the nano - hardness of chips in 4340 steel produced by grinding showed the layers to have hardness values of about 12 to about 13 gpa , which was substantially greater than the hardness of the initial pearlite microstructures of the specimens . microstructure analysis showed these chips to have characteristics very similar to those of the chips described above . a preliminary tem analysis of chips produced by grinding titanium , copper , single - crystal iron and m50 steel at a wheel velocity of 33 m / s also showed the resulting chips to be composed of nanocrystalline structures . in yet another investigation , nano - indentation of brass chips produced by machining showed their hardnesses to be about 50 to about 75 percent greater than that of the brass material prior to machining , suggesting that these chips too may be composed of ns . these observations suggest that a very large strain deformation that occurs during material removal under appropriate conditions may be the principal driving force for ns formation . based on the above investigations , it was concluded that machining at cutting speeds of about 100 to about 200 m / min consistently generated nanocrystalline structures in 52100 , 4340 and m2 steels if a sufficiently large strain deformation occurred . it is useful to consider other the conditions that may influence the formation of a nanocrystalline structure in steels , based on an analysis of their formation in machining and grinding . during machining , the zone of ns formation is subject to large strain deformation , localized high temperature , high quenching rates , and possibly an austenite - martensite phase transformation . some of these conditions may influence the generation of the ns seen in this investigation . however , except for large strain deformation , these other conditions can be readily achieved in conventional heat - treatment of steels . for example , the austenite - martensite transformation , induced by rapid quenching , is a key element in heat treatment . however , there are no reports of ns in steels modified by heat treatment . hardness values of martensite formed by heat treatment are also substantially lower than those of ns produced by high - velocity deformation in similar types of steels . these observations suggest that while temperature - time histories and phase transformations may be important in determining the range of grain sizes , physical properties and hardness of the ns , the conditions that generate very large strain deformation appear to be essential for ns formation . this surmise is reinforced by observations of ns in the nonferrous metals described above , none of which undergo a displacive transformation . that large strain deformation can result in very fine grain sizes is demonstrated by observations of microstructure in macroscopic metal samples subjected to such deformation . in another investigation , chips were formed by machining oxygen - free high conductivity ( ofhc ) copper , commercially pure iron and 1018 steel . the initial grains sizes for the specimens were about 170 , 55 and 70 micrometers , respectively . the machining conditions used for these materials included a depth of cut of about 2 . 54 mm and a tool feed rate of about 0 . 21 mm / rev . for the copper specimens , a cutting speed of about 28 . 8 m / minute was used , while a cutting speed of about 6 . 375 m / minute was used for the iron and 1018 specimens . typical thicknesses for the resulting chips were about 200 to about 1000 μm . the chips were prepared by metallographic polishing for subsequent hardness and microstructure analysis . hardness measurements were done using vickers indentation so as to obtain accurate measurements of the bulk hardness of the chips , devoid of surface - related contributions . the indent size was kept to at least five times smaller than the dimensions of the chip sample to ensure accuracy in the hardness measurements . metallographically polished chip samples were also etched for analysis of grain size , flow patterns and the presence of sub - structures within grains . observations of these chips were made using sem , afm , tem and optical microscopy . a parallel series of studies was made on bulk samples of the materials so as to have an assessment of their hardness and microstructure prior to machining . the bulk samples were generally in a work - hardened state prior to machining because they had been produced by drawing or extrusion processes . for reference , the bulk as well as chip samples of some specimens were annealed and hardness measurements repeated so that a true measure of the hardness changes caused by machining could be obtained . for this purpose , a series of annealing experiments were performed on the copper , iron , and 1018 steel chips to obtain an understanding of the recrystallization behavior of these chip samples . the recrystallization experiments were performed in a controlled argon atmosphere furnace using different time - temperature cycles . hardness and grain - size analysis of these samples were performed in accordance with the investigation described above for the 4340 , 52100 and m2 steels . table 3 is a summary of the vickers hardness measurements , from which it is evident that for both the copper and iron specimens , the hardness of the chips was substantially greater than that of the material prior to machining as well as that of the annealed samples . hardness measurements made at different locations over the entire chip volume showed that the hardness distribution was essentially uniform . a study of the hardness distribution in partially formed chips produced in a specially devised experiment showed that the hardness increased sharply when going from the bulk material into the chip as the shear plane is traversed . fig3 shows the results of recrystallization experiments on some of the copper chips , and evidences that there was a critical temperature of about 100 ° c . below which there was no degradation in hardness values even for annealing times of six hours . this suggests that the mechanical properties of the chips can be retained through certain thermal processing cycles . preliminary results from annealing experiments on iron and 1018 steel have suggested a similar recrystallization behavior at significantly higher temperatures . the hardness of the copper , iron and 1018 steel chips was shown to be retained at room temperature even after about one thousand hours , though small changes in the microstructures of the copper chips were observed after extended periods at room temperature . finally , the examination of optical microscope , afm , sem and tem images of bulk workpiece materials , chips , and recrystallized chips evidenced that , while the bulk specimens had relatively large grains prior to machining ( ranging from about 55 to about 170 μm ), the only structures resolved in the chips were sub - structures with dimensions in the range of about 100 to 500 nm . fig4 through 6 are afm and optical microscope images of iron , copper and 1018 steel specimens , respectively , prior to machining , while fig7 through 9 are afm and optical microscope images of chips produced by machining the iron , copper and 1018 steel specimens , respectively . finally , fig1 and 11 are afm and optical microscope images of a copper chip annealed at about 150 ° c . for about two hours , and an iron chip annealed at about 600 ° c . for about thirty minutes . fig1 and 11 evidence the occurrence of grain growth , with the formation of grains on the order of about 1 to about 10 μm , in the recrystallized chips . the series of investigations described above suggested the existence of the conditions under which nanocrystalline structures can be formed by very large strain deformation in other ferrous and nonferrous metals and alloys , such as titanium , aluminum , tungsten and their alloys . for example , subsequent to the above investigations , nanocrystalline structures with grain sizes of about 100 to 300 nm were produced in annealed iron and single - crystal tungsten by very large strain deformation . it was therefore concluded that a variety of materials can be machined at various cutting speeds to consistently produce chips having grain sizes of about 30 to 500 nm , and likely below 300 and 100 nm , if machining conditions impose very large strain deformations . appropriate machining conditions will typically differ for different materials , but can be readily determined by experimentation and verified by the presence of nanocrystalline grains . because of the ability to independently control a number of different machining conditions , it may be possible to tailor a machining operation to produce chips with a desired grain size range . during the investigations , it was also observed that chips with ns can be produced in varying shapes and sizes . typical chip forms that have or could be produced include platelets , particulates , ribbons , helixes , wires , and tangled coils , obtained by machining with a tool . while the formation of the chip involves shearing of the work material to very large strains in the narrow zone of the shear plane , the longitudinal and cross - sectional shape of the chip is controlled primarily by the machining conditions ( e . g ., feed and depth of cut ) and the geometrical parameters of the tool . for example , by using grooves on the tool rake face , the chip can be curled into a helix . therefore , it is feasible to produce high - strength , nanocrystalline chips with a wide variety of macroscopic shapes . such chips can be consolidated ( with or without comminution ) and sintered to produce a monolithic article , or used as continuous and / or discontinuous reinforcements for a variety of matrix materials , including polymers , metals and ceramics . the possibility of making low - cost continuous nanocrystalline reinforcements of different shapes by machining in accordance with this invention provides for the engineering of new materials . from the above investigations , it was also concluded that it is very likely that ceramic and intermetallic materials can be machined by cutting or abrasion to form chips composed entirely of nanocrystalline structures , provided sufficiently sharp tools are used to form the chips . under such conditions , large - strain plastic flow can be expected to occur , and was observed in ceramic chips in the form of stringy , ribbon - like chips produced by abrading mgo ceramic and soda - lime glass . these chips showed characteristics very similar to those formed by plastic cutting of ductile metals . high velocity deformation can be expected to occur when cutting brittle solids such as ceramics and glasses with a sharp tool , because of the imposition of significant hydrostatic compression in the zone of chip formation , together with the occurrence of high temperatures . it is believed that machining with sharp , single - crystal or poly - crystal diamond tools at high cutting speeds would achieve plastic cutting in brittle solids to create fine particulate or platelet - like chips composed of ns , as would high speed grinding with diamond abrasive wheels of fine grit sizes at velocities of 30 to 100 m / s . under such conditions , the chips are likely to be subjected to intense deformation and high temperatures because of the high cutting speeds involved and the im - position of extremely high pressure and shear at the abrasive - chip interface . while nanocrystalline structures have been previously shown to exhibit unique intrinsic property combinations , achieving these property combinations in bulk materials has been hampered by the high cost of nanocrystalline structures , i . e ., those produced by condensation methods . as discussed previously , nanocrystalline structures produced by condensation methods are also essentially limited to nano - sized particles of pure metals or ceramics , with the ultra - fine particle sizes limiting the green densities that can be achieved by consolidation . however , the present invention makes possible a source of poly - crystalline materials with nano - sized grains , and can be produced at relatively low cost , particularly since the invention has evidenced that chips with nanocrystalline structures can be produced without compromising the quality of the machined workpiece . as a result , the present invention makes possible a wide range of applications for low - cost monolithic and composite materials containing nanocrystalline structures . comminution , ( e . g ., ball , attrition , jet milling , etc .) of chips with nanocrystalline structures enables large - scale production of poly - crystalline particulates that can be consolidated and densified into bulk monolithic materials more readily than nano - sized particles produced by condensation . densification during sintering can be further promoted because nanocrystalline materials often exhibit enhanced sintering kinetics due to high concentrations of crystal defects , allowing for the use of lower sintering temperatures . though thermal processing may lead to coarsening ( e . g ., recrystallization and grain growth , as shown in fig1 and 11 ), the benefits of enhanced processing ( lower sintering temperatures , higher densities , etc .) may outweigh the coarsening effects in monolithic materials for numerous applications . the defect structures of nanocrystalline particulate produced by machining may also enable new deformation processing routes to monolithic materials ( e . g ., metal injection molding or tape casting ), even for intrinsically brittle ceramics such as silicon nitride . in addition , special magnetic properties may be achieved in electrical sheet steel produced from nanocrystalline chips , such as improved performance in transformer cores . continuous ribbons and wires of high - strength nanocrystalline chips can be used as reinforcement in composite articles and structures , including concrete for runways , highways and tunnels that are currently reinforced with steel wires . alternatively , long chips can be broken to produce specific shapes and sizes of reinforcements . for example , platelets that can be produced by controlled breakage of ribbon chips may provide the most efficient stiffening of all discontinuous reinforcement shapes . a preliminary investigation was conducted in which nanocrystalline chips of m2 steel were broken to form platelets that were then incorporated in a bronze matrix by spontaneous ( pressureless ) melt infiltration , without apparent chemical interaction . infiltration of an aluminum alloy ( al 356 ) matrix around identically - formed m2 chips was also successfully achieved . characterization of the mechanical properties or the al - m2 composite was done by making sixty nano - indents at various locations in the composite , from which the hardness and young &# 39 ;&# 39 ; s modulus histograms were obtained . three different property clusters corresponding to indents lying in the al matrix , the m2 reinforcement and the al - m2 interface region were identified in the hardness and young &# 39 ;&# 39 ; s modulus histograms . the hardness and modulus values were , respectively , 0 . 8 - 1 gpa and 70 - 90 gpa for the al matrix , 14 . 5 gpa and 100 - 140 gpa in the interface region , and 8 - 13 gpa and 180 - 235 gpa in the m2 steel reinforcements . preliminary assessment of the mean hardness and modulus values for this composite has indicated that these are not significantly different from those of a commercially available al — sic composite . no visible cracking or reinforcement pull - out was observed around indentations made near the al - m2 interfaces . these observations are promising for the incorporation of nanocrystalline platelets , continuous ribbons , filaments , and particulate reinforcements into a variety of metal matrices , including lightweight metal matrix materials such as aluminum and magnesium , which is of interest in a number of commercial ground - transportation and aerospace applications , such as drive shafts , brake disks , and suspension components , where weight reduction is critical . the use of metallic nanocrystalline reinforcements can be expected to offer significantly improved wetting for liquid state processing of conventional reinforcement materials , such as sic . infiltration processing is just one of several feasible routes available to produce composites using the ns reinforcements . other processes include stir - casting , sintering and extrusion . one of the key issues is the annealing behavior of nanocrystalline reinforcements during composite processing . in this regard , secondary hardening tool and bearing steels such as m2 exhibit their peak hardening response in the melting range of aluminum and magnesium alloys , providing opportunities to improve reinforcement properties during processing of the composite . the incorporation of nanocrystalline chips in polymer matrices by impregnation processing is viewed as being practical since polymer curing temperatures are relatively low , such that essentially no reinforcement annealing effects would be expected . while the invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments , it is apparent that other forms could be adopted by one skilled in the art . accordingly , the scope of the invention is to be limited only by the following claims . | 2 |
electrospray total ion current , for a given applied electric field , is a function of the sample solution conductivity between the electrospray tip and the first electrically conductive surface in the sample solution flow path . the primary charge carrier in positive ion electrospray is generally the h + ion which is produced from redox reactions occurring at electrode surfaces in contact with the sample solution in conventional electrospray or a second solution in electrospray membrane probe . the electrolyte added to the sample or second solution plays a direct or indirect role in adding or removing h + ions in solution during electrospray ionization . the indirect role in producing h + ions is the case where the electrolyte aids in the electrolysis of water at the electrode surface to produce h + ions . the direct role an electrolyte can play is to supply the h + ion directly from dissociation of an acid and loss of an electron at the electrode surface . the type and concentration of the electrolyte anion or neutral molecule in positive ion polarity and even negative ion polarity significantly affects the electrospray ionization efficiency of analyte species . the mechanism or mechanisms through which the electrolyte operates to affect ion production in electrospray ionization is not well understood . even the role an electrolyte plays in the redox reactions that occur during electrospray charged droplet formation is not well characterized . consequently , the type and concentration of the electrolyte species used in electrospray ionization is determined largely through trial and error with decisions based on empirical evidence for a given electrospray ms analytical application . to this end , a number of electrolyte species were screened using an electrospray membrane probe to determine if electrolyte species different from those used conventionally or historically provided improved electrospray performance . conventional electrolytes were also screened to determine if improved analyte esms signal could be achieved using an electrospray membrane probe and adding the electrolyte to the es membrane probe second solution compared with adding the conventional electrolyte directly to the sample solution in electrospray ionization , a set of such new electrolytes was found which demonstrated improved analyte esms signal in both positive and negative positive modes . the set of new electrolytes comprises but may not be limited benzoic acid , trimethylacetic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid . in addition , a set of more conventional electrolytes was found that , when run in the second solution of the electrospray membrane probe increased the analyte ion signal compared to the esms signal achieved when the same electrolyte was added directly to the sample solution . the set of conventional electrolytes that enhanced analyte negative polarity ion esms signal when run in the second solution of the electrospray membrane probe include but are not limited to ammonium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide . unlike electrolytes conventionally or historically used in electrospray ionization , when electrospraying with a new electrolyte , a characteristic electrolyte ion peak is generated in both positive and negative ion polarity mode the ( m + h ) + ion is generated for benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid in positive polarity electrospray ionization . conversely , the ( m − h ) − ion , as expected , is generated when electrospraying benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid in negative polarity as shown in fig1 , 15 and 16 . the mechanism or mechanisms by which the new electrolyte enhances the electrospray signal may occur in the liquid phase , gas phase or both . benzoic acid has a low gas phase proton affinity so protonated benzoic acid ion may readily donate an h + to gas phase neutral analyte species or may reduce the neutralization of the electrospray produced analyte ion by transferring protons to competing higher proton affinity contamination species in the gas phase . a cross section schematic of electrospray ion source 1 is shown in fig1 . electrospray sample solution inlet probe 2 comprises sample solution flow channel or tube 3 , electrospray tip 4 and annulus 5 through which pneumatic nebulization gas 7 flows exiting concentrically 6 around electrospray tip 4 . different voltages are applied to endplate and nosepiece electrode 11 , capillary entrance electrode 12 and cylindrical lens 13 to generate single polarity charged droplets in electrospray plume 10 . typically , in positive polarity electrospray ionization , electrospray tip 4 would be operated at ground potential with − 3 kv , − 5 kv and − 6 kv applied to cylindrical lens 13 , nosepiece and endplate electrode 11 and capillary entrance electrode 12 respectively . gas heater 15 heats countercurrent drying gas flow 17 . charged droplets comprising charged droplet plume 10 produced by unassisted electrospray or electrospray with pneumatic nebulization assist evaporate as they pass through electrospray source chamber 18 . heated countercurrent drying gas 14 exiting through the orifice in nosepiece electrode 11 aids in the drying of charged liquid droplets comprising electrospray plume 10 . a portion of the ions generated from the rapidly evaporating charged liquid droplets are directed by electric fields to pass into and through orifice 20 of dielectric capillary 21 into vacuum . ions exiting capillary orifice 20 are directed through skimmer orifice 27 by the expanding neutral gas flow and the relative voltages applied to capillary exit lens 23 and skimmer electrode 24 . ions exiting skimmer orifice 27 pass through ion guide 25 and into mass to charge analyzer 28 where they are mass to charge analyzed and detected as is known in the art . the analyte ion signal measured in the mass spectrometer is due in large part to efficiency of electrospray ionization for a given analyte species . the electrospray ionization efficiency includes the processes that convert neutral molecules to ions in the atmospheric pressure ion source and the efficiency by which the ions generated at atmospheric pressure are transferred into vacuum . the new electrolyte species may play a role in both mechanisms that affect electrospray ionization efficiency . in one embodiment of the invention , at least one of the new electrolytes including , benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid is added to sample solution 8 delivered through sample solution flow channel 3 to electrospray tip 4 where the sample solution is electrosprayed into electrospray ion source chamber 18 . fig2 shows the cross section diagram of an electrospray membrane probe 30 that is used in an alternative embodiment of the invention , electrospray membrane probe 30 , more fully described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 132 , 953 and incorporated herein by reference , comprises sample solution flow channel 31 a through which sample solution flow 31 flows exiting at electrospray tip 4 . common elements with fig1 retain the element numbers . a second solution 32 , in contact with electrode 33 , passes through second solution flow path 32 a . voltage is applied to electrode 33 from power supply 35 . sample solution 31 and second solution 32 are separated by semipermeable membrane 34 . semipermeable membrane 34 may comprise a cation or anion exchange membrane . a typical cation exchange membrane is nafion ™ that may be configured with different thicknesses and / or conductivity characteristics in electrospray membrane probe assembly 30 . second solution 32 flow is delivered into second solution flow channel 32 a from an isocratic or gradient fluid delivery system 37 through flow channel 36 and exits through channel 38 . sample solution 31 flow is delivered to sample solution flow channel 31 a from isocratic or gradient fluid delivery system 40 through flow channel 41 . dielectric probe body sections 42 and 43 comprise chemically inert materials that do not chemically react with sample solution 31 and second solution 32 . sample solution 31 passing through flow channel 31 a is electrosprayed from electrospray tip 4 with or without pneumatic nebulization assist forming electrospray plume 10 . electrospray with pneumatic nebulization assist is achieved by flowing nebulization gas 7 through annulus 5 exiting at 6 concentrically around electrospray tip 4 . to effect the electrospray generation of single polarity charged liquid droplets , relative voltages are applied to second solution electrode 33 , nosepiece and endplate electrode 11 and capillary entrance electrode 12 using power supplies 35 , 49 and 50 respectively . heated counter current drying gas 14 aids in drying charged liquid droplets in spray plume 10 as they move towards capillary orifice 20 driven by the applied electric fields , a portion of the ions produced from the rapidly evaporating droplets in electrospray plume 10 pass through capillary orifice 20 and into mass to charge analyzer 28 where they are mass to charge analyzed and detected . fig3 is a diagram of one electrospray membrane probe 30 operating mode for positive polarity electrospray ionization employing an alternative embodiment of the invention . at least one new electrolyte species comprising benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid is added in higher concentration to the solution contained in syringe 54 of fluid delivery system 37 . syringe 55 is filled with the same solvent composition as loaded into syringe 54 but without a new electrolyte species added a specific isocratic new electrolyte concentration or a new electrolyte concentration gradient for second solution 32 can be delivered to second solution flow channel 32 a by setting the appropriate ratios of pumping speeds on syringes 54 and 55 in fluid delivery system 37 . during positive ion polarity electrospray ionization , h + is produced at the surface of second solution electrode 33 and passes through semipermeable membrane 34 , most likely as h 3 o + , into sample solution 31 , driven by the electric field . a portion of the new electrolyte species flowing through second solution flow channel 32 a also passes through semipermeable membrane 34 entering sample solution 31 and forming a net concentration of new electrolyte in sample solution 31 . the new electrolyte concentration in solution 31 during electrospray operation is well below the new electrolyte concentration in second solution 32 . the electrospray total ion current and consequently the local sample solution ph at electrospray tip 4 , the new electrolyte concentration in sample solution 31 and the sample ion electrospray ms signal response can be controlled by adjusting the new electrolyte concentration in second solution 32 flowing through second solution flow channel 32 a . the solvent composition of second solution 32 can be configured to be different from the solvent composition of the sample solution to optimize solubility and performance of a new electrolyte species . fig4 shows one embodiment of electrospray membrane probe 57 comprising single membrane section assembly 58 connected to pneumatic nebulization electrospray inlet probe assembly 59 mounted on electrospray ion source probe plate 61 . common elements diagrammed in fig1 , 2 and 3 retain the same element numbers . fig5 is a diagram of three membrane section electrospray membrane probe assembly 64 comprising electrocapture dual membrane section 67 and single electrospray membrane section 68 . each membrane section operates in a manner similar to the single section electrospray membrane probe described in fig2 and 3 . electrocapture dual membrane section 67 comprises second solution flow channel 70 with electrode 71 and semipermeable membrane section 76 and second solution flow channel 72 with electrode 73 and semipermeable membrane section 77 . single membrane section 68 comprises second solution flow channel 74 and electrode 75 with semipermeable membrane 78 . the electrolyte type and concentration and solution composition can be controlled in second solutions 80 , 81 and 82 as described previously . common elements described in fig1 through 4 retain their element numbers in fig5 . electrical potential curve 84 is a diagram of one example of relative electrical potentials set along the sample solution flow path for positive polarity electrospray ionization and positive ion electrocapture . dual membrane electrocapture section 67 can be operated to trap and release positive or negative polarity sample ions in the sample solution as described in pending pct patent application number pct / se2005 / 001844 incorporated herein by reference . in an alternative embodiment of the invention , at feast one new electrolyte including benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid or cyclohexanecarboxylic acid species is added to second solution 82 with the concentration controlled to maximize electrospray sample ion signal as described above . second solution 82 composition and flow rate can be varied and controlled independently from second solutions 80 and 81 compositions and flow rates to independently optimize electrocapture and on line electrospray performance . fig6 is a diagram of atmospheric pressure combination ion source 88 comprising electrospray inlet probe assemblies 90 and 91 with pneumatic nebulization assist . electrospray inlet probe 90 comprises electrospray tip 4 and auxiliary gas heater 92 heating gas flow 93 to aid in the drying of charged liquid droplets comprising electrospray plume 10 . voltage applied to ring electrodes 94 and 95 allow control of the production of net neutral or single polarity charged liquid droplets from electrospray inlet probes 90 and 91 respectively while minimizing undesired electric fields in spray mixing region 96 . electrospray inlet probe 91 provides a source of reagent ions that when drawn through spray plume 10 by electric fields 97 effect atmospheric chemical ionization of a portion of the vaporized neutral sample molecules produced from evaporating charged droplets in spray plume 10 . combination ion source 88 can be operated in electrospray only mode , apci only mode or a combination of electrospray and apci modes as described in pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 396 , 968 incorporated herein by reference . in an alternative embodiment of the invention , at least one new electrolyte , including benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid or cyclohexanecarboxylic acid , can be added to the sample flow solution of electrospray inlet probe 90 and / or to the reagent solution of electrospray inlet probe 91 which produces reagent ions to promote gas phase atmospheric pressure chemical ionization in mixing region 96 . new electrolyte species run in sample solutions can increase the sample esms ion single as described above . in addition , new electrolytes in the reagent solution electrosprayed from electrospray probe 91 form low proton affinity protonated ions in positive ion polarity electrospray which serve as reagent ions for charge exchange in atmospheric pressure chemical ionization or combination es and apci operation . new electrolyte species may also be added to sample solution in corona discharge reagent ion sources or apci sources to improve apci source performance . fig7 shows a set of esms ion signal curves for 1 μm hexatyrosine sample in a 1 : 1 methanol : water sample solutions electrosprayed using an electrospray membrane probe configuration 30 as diagrammed in fig1 , 2 and 3 . all sample solutions were run at a flow rate of 10 μl / min . concentration gradients of different electrolyte species were run in the second solution flow channel while acquiring electrospray mass spectrum . the second solution solvent composition was methanol : water for all electrolytes run with the exception of naphthoxyacetic acid which was run in a methanol second solution . as the concentration of the added electrolyte increased in the second solution flow , the electrospray total ion current increased . each curve shown in fig7 is effectively a base ion chromatogram with the hexatyrosine peak amplitude plotted over electrospray total ion current . signal response curves 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 and 104 for hexatyrosine versus electrospray total ion current were acquired when running second solution concentration gradients of acetic acid ( up to 10 %), 2 naphthoxyacetic acid ( up to 0 . 37m ), trimellitic acid ( up to 0 . 244 m ), 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 benzene carboxylic acid ( up to 0 . 233 m ) and terephthalic acid ( saturated ) respectively . conventional electrolyte , acetic acid , provided the highest hexatyrosine esms signal amplitude for this set of electrolytes as shown in fig6 . hexatyrosine signal response curve 108 was acquired while running a concentration gradient in the second solution of new electrolyte cyclohexanecarboxylic acid ( up to 0 . 195 m ). the maximum hexatyrosine signal achieved with new electrolyte run in the second solution of electrospray membrane probe 30 was two times the maximum amplitude achieved with acetic acid as an electrolyte . the limited cross section area of the semipermeable membrane in contact with the sample solution limited the electrospray total ion current range with new electrolyte cyclohexanecarboxylic acid run in the second solution . as will be shown in later figures , higher analyte signal can be achieved by adding new electrolyte species directly to the sample solution . the difference in the shape and amplitude of curve 108 illustrates the clear difference in performance of the electrospray ionization process when new electrolyte cyclohexanecarboxylic acid is used . fig8 shows another set of esms ion signal curves for 1 μm hexatyrosine sample in a 1 : 1 methanol : water sample solutions electrosprayed using an electrospray membrane probe configuration 30 as diagrammed in fig1 , 2 and 3 . hexatyrosine electrospray ms signal response curves 110 through 112 and 115 were acquired while running electrolyte concentration gradients in the second solution flow of electrospray membrane probe 30 . hexatyrosine electrospray ms signal response curve 118 was acquired by electrospraying different sample solutions having different new electrolyte benzoic acid concentrations added directly to the sample solution , esms signal response curve 114 with end data point 113 for hexatyrosine was acquired by electrospraying different sample solutions comprising different concentrations of citric acid added directly to the sample solutions . no electrospray membrane probe was used to generate curves 114 or 118 . signal response curves 110 , 111 , 112 and 115 for hexatyrosine versus electrospray total ion current were acquired when running second solution concentration gradients of conventional electrolytes , acetic acid ( up to 10 % in the second solution ), formic acid ( up to 5 %) and nitric acid ( up to 1 %) and new electrolyte benzoic acid ( up to 0 . 41m in the second solution ) respectively . comparing the hexatyrosine esms signal response with new electrolyte benzoic acid added to the second solution of membrane probe 30 or directly to the sample solution during electrospray ionization , similar ion signals are obtained for the same electrospray ion current generated . electrospray performance with the electrolyte added to the electrospray membrane probe second solution generally correlates well with the electrospray performance with the same electrolyte added directly to the sample solution during electrospray ionization for similar electrospray total ion currents . as shown by curves 115 and 118 , increased hexatyrosine esms signal is achieved when new electrolyte benzoic acid is added to the second solution of electrospray membrane probe 30 or directly to the sample solution during electrospray ionization . the maximum hexatyrosine esms signal shown by signal response curve 118 was over five times higher than that achieved with any of the conventional electrolytes acetic , formic or nitric acids or non conventional electrolyte citric acid . electrospray ms signal response curves 120 and 121 for 1 μm hexatyrosine sample in a 1 : 1 methanol : water solutions are shown in fig9 . curve 121 was generated by electrospraying different sample solutions containing different concentrations of conventional electrolyte acetic acid . curve 120 was generated by electrospraying different sample solutions containing different concentrations of new electrolyte cyclohexanecarboxylic acid . the maximum hexatyrosine esms signal achieved with new electrolyte cyclohexanecarboxylic acid was over two time higher than the maximum hexatyrosine signal achieved with conventional electrolyte acetic acid . three esms signal response curves using electrospray membrane probe 30 for 1 μm hexatyrosine sample in 1 : 1 methanol : water solutions are shown in fig1 . curve 122 was generated by running a concentration gradient of acetic acid in the electrospray membrane probe second solution flow . over a factor of two increase in hexatyrosine signal was achieved by running a concentration gradient of benzoic acid in the second solution of the electrospray membrane probe as shown by signal response curve 123 . the addition of inorganic electrolytes to the sample solution generally reduces the analyte signal response for a given electrospray total ion current . hexatyrosine signal response curve 124 was acquired with 0 . 001 % trifluoroacetic acid ( tfa ) added to the sample solution while running a concentration gradient of benzoic acid in the electrospray membrane probe second solution . the electrospray total ion current of approximately 100 na was measured at data point 125 on curve 124 . a data point 125 , the electrospray signal of hexatyrosine was lower with 0 . 001 % tfa added to the sample solution compared with the esms signal response with acetic acid added to the es membrane probe second solution very low concentration benzoic acid was added to the second solution when data point 125 was acquired . increasing the concentration of benzoic acid in the second solution increased the hexatyrosine signal overcoming the esms signal reducing effect of tfa in the sample solution . even with 0 . 001 % tfa added to the sample solution , the addition of new electrolyte benzoic acid to the second solution of an es membrane probe increases the hexatyrosine esms signal to a maximum of over two times the maximum hexatyrosine esms signal achieved with acetic acid added to the second solution . fig1 shows negative ion polarity esms signal response curves for 1 μm hexatyrosine sample in 1 : 1 methanol : water solutions run using an electrospray membrane probe . curve 127 was acquired while running a concentration gradient of acetic acid in the second solution . signal response curve 128 was acquired while running a concentration gradient of benzoic acid in the second solution of electrospray membrane probe 30 . the maximum negative ion polarity hexatyrosine esms signal acquired with new electrolyte benzoic acid was over two times the maximum esms signal achieved with conventional electrolyte acetic acid . 1 μm reserpine sample in 1 : 1 methanol : water solutions were electrosprayed to generate the esms signal response curves shown in fig1 . new electrolytes benzoic acid and trimethyl acetic acid and conventional electrolyte acetic acid were added at different concentrations to different sample solutions to compare esms signal response . as shown by reserpine esms signal response curves 127 , 128 and 129 , a two times signal increase can be achieve when new electrolyte species benzoic acid and trimethyl acetic acid are added to the sample solution compared to the es ms signal achieved by electrospraying with conventional electrolyte acetic acid added to the sample solution . a comparison of esms signal response for 1 μm leucine enkephalin sample in 1 : 1 methanol : water solutions using four electrolytes added to the sample solution is shown in fig1 . new electrolytes , benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid and cyclohexane carboxylic acid and conventional electrolyte acetic acid were added at different concentrations to different leucine enkephalin sample solutions to generate esms signal response curves 130 , 131 , 132 and 133 respectively . when running the new electrolytes , a maximum leucine enkephalin signal response increase of two times was achieved compared with the maximum signal response achieved with electrolyte acetic acid . individually , a factor of three increase in leucine enkephalin esms maximum signal response was achieved by adding benzoic acid to the sample solution . a characteristic of the new electrolytes is the presence of an ( m + h ) + electrolyte parent ion peak ion in the esms spectrum acquired in positive ion polarity electrospray as shown in fig1 a , 15 a and 16 a for benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid respectively . such a parent positive ion is not generally observed when running conventional electrolytes in electrospray ionization . as expected , the presence of an ( m − h ) − electrolyte species peak was observed in the esms spectrum acquired in negative ion polarity mode as shown in fig1 b , 15 b and 16 b . the presence of gas phase electrolyte parent ions present in positive ion polarity electrospray may play a role in increasing the esms analyte signal . esms negative polarity ion signal amplitude can be increased for specific analyte species in solution by using the electrospray membrane probe by adding ammonium hydroxide and / or sodium hydroxide to the es membrane probe second solution during electrospray ionization . a comparison of the negative ion polarity esms signal response for 100 pg / μl reserpine in a 30 : 70 acetonitrile : water sample solution with electrolyte base , ammonium hydroxide , added directly to the sample solution and added only to the electrospray membrane probe second solution . curve 141 was generated by electrospraying a 100 pg / μl reserpine in 30 : 70 acetonitrile : water sample solution with increasing concentrations of base electrolyte , ammonium hydroxide , added directly to the sample solution . curve 140 was generated by running a gradient of base electrolyte , ammonium hydroxide , concentration in a aqueous second solution of an electrospray membrane probe while electrospraying a 100 pg / μl reserpine in a 30 : 70 acetonitrile : water sample solution . the concentration gradient of ammonium hydroxide in the second solution started at 0 % and increased to 1 . 0 %. as shown in fig1 , the addition of the electrolyte base , ammonium hydroxide to the electrospray membrane probe second solution increased the negative ion polarity esms signal of reserpine over a factor of 3 . 8 compared with the maximum esms signal achieved from reserpine with ammonium hydroxide added directly to the sample solution . a comparison of the negative ion polarity esms signal response for 100 pg / μl reserpine in a 50 : 50 acetonitrile : water sample solution with electrolyte base , sodium hydroxide , added directly to the sample solution and added only to the electrospray membrane probe second solution . curve 143 was generated by electrospraying a 100 pg / μl reserpine in 50 : 50 acetonitrile : water sample solution with increasing concentrations of base electrolyte , sodium hydroxide , added directly to the sample solution . curve 142 was generated by running a gradient of base electrolyte , sodium hydroxide , concentration in a aqueous second solution of an electrospray membrane probe while electrospraying a 100 pg / μl reserpine in a 50 : 50 acetonitrile : water sample solution . the concentration gradient of sodium hydroxide in the second solution started at 0 . 005 % and increased to 1 . 0 %. as shown in fig1 , the addition of the electrolyte base , sodium hydroxide to the electrospray membrane probe second solution increased the negative ion polarity esms signal of reserpine over a factor of fourteen compared with the maximum esms signal achieved from reserpine with ammonium hydroxide added directly to the sample solution . the use of new electrolytes benzoic acid , trimethyl acetic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid increases esms signal amplitude for samples run in positive or negative ion polarity electrospray ionization . an increase in electrospray ms analyte signal can be achieved by adding a new electrolyte directly to the sample solution or by running a new electrolyte in the second solution of an electrospray membrane probe during electrospray ionization . running electrolyte bases , ammonium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide in the second solution of an electrospray membrane probe during negative ion polarity electrospray ionization increases the electrospray mass spectrometer signal amplitude of analyte species . having described this invention with respect to specific embodiments , it is to be understood that the description is not meant as a limitation since further modifications and variations may be apparent or may suggest themselves . it is intended that the present application cover all such modifications and variations . | 7 |
in the following detailed description , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure . however , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the teachings of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details . in other instances , well - known methods , procedures , components and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the teachings of the present disclosure . while the present invention is described in connection with one of the embodiments , it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to this embodiment . on the contrary , it is intended to cover alternatives , modifications , and equivalents as covered by the appended claims . the present invention suggests using roll - to - roll printing devices 500 as is shown in fig5 , to print circuit board ( pcb ) bare - boards . this is accomplished using concepts from the printing industry rather than from the traditional pcb industry . pcb bare - board elements are formed by printing a succession of single layers using a combination of printing ink comprised of conducting and dielectric materials . fig1 a and fig1 b show a schematic layer configuration with conductor traces 107 , 111 , and 115 printed using traditional pcb manufacturing means . conducting layers 108 , 112 , and 116 are isolated from each other by insulating substrates 101 . the connection between selected layers is achieved by using vias 104 . vias are vertical holes drilled into the pcb boards , which are filled with conductive material to connect conducting lines from layers 108 , 112 , and 116 to components , not shown , on the pcb boards . in the present invention , traditional pcb conductors 108 , 112 and 116 are replaced by conductive traces 208 , 216 , and 224 made of conductive ink , as shown in fig2 and fig3 , on a single substrate 201 . the traditional pcb insulation substrate layers are replaced by printed insulation areas 212 , 220 , 304 , and 308 made of printed , insulating dielectric ink . the traditional pcb vias are replaced by conducting connection dots 204 made of conductive printed material . the present invention thus eliminates using three separate substrates , which must be individually printed , aligned , and assembled ; and therefore reduces cost and assembly time . three different insulation methods , embodiments , are described in more detail below . in fig2 insulator areas 212 and 220 are formed in the intersection between conductive traces 208 , 216 and between 216 , 224 respectively . forming insulation areas such as 212 and 220 rather than full length insulating traces as is shown in fig3 , which will be explained in more detail below , carries advantages due to the relatively small quantity of insulating ink needed . the disadvantage is that it requires thorough analysis and calculation to find the cross over locations between each pair of conductors crossing each other . the “ layers ” are printed as follows . it should be noted that the order in which the layers are printed may be varied . ‘ layer d ’: conductive dots 204 . intersections created between two or more conductors will not require printing of conductive dots 204 to connect between those conductors . ‘ layer 1 conductive ’: conductive trace 208 . ‘ layer 2 insulation ’: insulation layer 212 . ‘ layer 2 conductive ’: conductive trace 216 . ‘ layer 3 insulation ’: insulation layer 220 . ‘ layer 3 conductive ’: conductive trace 224 . in an embodiment wherein the substrate is made of dielectric material , the first layer printed on the substrate will be a conductive layer . alternatively , if certain areas of the substrate are made of conductive material then the first layer printed on the substrate is a dielectric layer . fig3 shows printing insulators 304 and 308 following the same path as the conductive traces 216 and 224 . the only difference between the insulators and the conductive trace is that the insulators are shorter and wider than the conductive traces . in addition , the advantage of following the conductive traces for forming insulation paths does not require complicated geometrical calculation between the layers . the path of the insulation can be calculated directly from the path of the conductive , but requires larger quantities of insulation inks compared to the method demonstrated in fig2 . the geometry of the conductive traces as well the insulation paths or insulation areas , are processed and are separated into distinctive layers . each layer will include relevant geometry representing only the conductive traces and insulation paths that belong to it . for better understanding of the process refer to fig3 . the layers that are printed in one embodiment is as follows : ‘ layer d ’: conductive dots 204 . intersections created between two or more conductors will not require printing of conductive dots 204 to connect between those conductors . ‘ layer 1 conductive ’: conductive trace 208 . ‘ layer 2 insulation ’: insulation layer 304 . ‘ layer 2 conductive ’: conductive trace 216 . ‘ layer 3 insulation ’: insulation layer 308 . ‘ layer 3 conductive ’: conductive trace 224 . fig4 a shows the final results of printing in three steps only . in the first step , all conductive traces 404 of a pcb are printed . only regions where there is a crossover between two conductive traces with no contact 416 are not printed , as is shown in fig4 b . in which case , conductors 404 will be broken into parts or segments . in the second step , the dielectric material 408 is printed over crossover regions 416 as is shown in fig4 c . in the third step , the broken conductors are restored by printing a new conductive layer 412 over insulating area 408 , as is shown in fig4 d . this embodiment requires also geometrical calculation between the layers . the advantage of this embodiment is that it requires a fixed number of printing layers , in this case just three layers . in this case there is no one - to - one mapping of the layers as in standard pcb printing . for better understanding the process , reference is made to fig4 a - 4 d . the layers will be as follows : ‘ layer 1 conductive ’: conductive traces 404 . all 404 traces are printed , those that are printed with crossover regions broken into few segments , as well as complete traces printed in a single segment . ‘ layer 2 insulation ’: print insulation patches 408 for insulating areas of broken conductors 416 . ‘ layer 3 conductive ’: conductive traces 412 are printed over insulation patches 408 to connect broken segments 416 . using the embodiment shown , a fixed number of layers almost every multi - layer pcb can be printed with three layers , two for conductive traces and one for insulation . in cases where shielded signals are required , i . e . surrounded by gnd ( ground ) signals , the number of layers may rise . additional advantage of printing conductors and insulators is that the paths of the conductors can be shorter . fig5 illustrates a commercial method of implementing the invention . for each layer , a printing plate 508 will be created . the printing plates 508 are installed on separate rotating drums in a roll - to - roll printing system 500 . each plate will be coated with relevant ink material during operation of the system 500 . plates representing layers , ‘ 1 conductive ’, ‘ 2 conductive ’ and ‘ 3 conductive ’ will be immersed with conductive ink material , while plates representing layers ‘ 2 insulation ’ and ‘ 3 insulation ’ will be coated with insulation material ink . the final printed circuit will be accumulated on roll 504 . in certain cases where inks require longer time to dry , special drying stations ( not shown ) may be deployed between printing of consecutive printing layers . utilizing printing technology in the pcb industry enables printing multiple crossings of conductors or insulators on a single substrate and replaces the plurality of substrates used in the present pcb industry . printing allows also deposition of the following electronic components 230 . resistors , capacitors , inductors , light - emitting elements , thermo - chromic elements , labels protective and shield layers and more . a list of materials for the various parts of the invention is shown below . the material is illustrative , but is not intended to limit the invention . polyester pet sh31 , ito ( indium tin oxide ) may be used for the substrate . fto sigma - aldrich , polymer heraeus , carbon nanotubes and grapheme may be used for the transparent conductive film coated on the substrate . silver screen printing ink c2131014d3 gwent group , 125 - 28 flexographic ink creative materials , 9145 and 5000 silver conductors , manufactured by dupont , may be used for the conductive material . d2070209p6 and d2090130p5 gwent group , dupont may be used for the insulating material . while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention , but rather as exemplifications of some of the preferred embodiments . for example , the order of steps for printing conductive traces and insulating areas may be varied . other possible variations , modifications , and applications are also within the scope of the invention . accordingly , the scope of the invention should not be limited by what has thus far been described , but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents . 408 insulation that covers the areas where conductors are broken | 7 |
referring to fig1 and 8 , the fluid mixing device generally 10 is shown in conjunction with a temperature adjustment 13 and flow control apparatus 12 . valve 12 can be any standard volume control valve . the direction arrows in fig8 illustrate the pathway of water through the cartridge mixing device from a hot water pipe 14 and a cold water pipe 15 through the hot water passage 17 and cold water passage 18 , as well as the hot and cold water inlets 19 and 20 . from there , the hot and cold water passes into the temperature regulating mixing device 10 and out through a passage 22 to the flow control 12 which also serves as an on / off valve . from the flow control 12 , the water flows through passage 24 to a bathing fixture 25 , such as a showerhead . referring to fig2 the fluid mixing device 10 has a cartridge 26 formed in two main cylindrical components , body 27 and housing 28 . these are connected by the threads 30 . a cavity or chamber 31 is provided in body member 27 in which is disposed a thermal expansion element 32 . it includes an expandable wax housed in a brass cartridge 33 with an enlarged diameter section 35 for seating on a reciprocating disk member 37 . arm members 40 extend from disk member 37 for a positive seating of the enlarged diameter section 35 . a spring 42 is placed in the cavity 31 and provides a biasing force on the disk member 37 as well as the thermal expansion element 32 which ( by means of pin portion 43 ) is held against adjustment stem 45 . an enlarged threaded section 46 affords ( by rotation ) axial adjustment of stem 45 . a seal is shown at 44 . collar 47 with a stop 48 is connected to stem 45 which acts in conjunction with stop 50 or body member 26 to limit rotation . the stop 48 also connects the collar 47 to the stem 45 . a handle 13 ( fig8 ) is placed on knurled portion 51 . the lower body 53 is connected to housing 28 by threads 55 and provides a central passageway 57 and a fluid outlet 58 . lower body 53 also provides a seat and guide for spring 42 and has a wall 59 which terminates below the upper body part of body member 27 . this spacing affords a common inlet gap 60 for hot and cold water . disposed radially outward of inlet 60 is an intermediate section 64 of housing 28 which is spaced therefrom by connecting walls 68 and 71 . this is best seen in fig3 and 4 . a seal 62 is disposed between the extending portion 37 &# 39 ; of disk 37 and intermediate section 64 . screens 70 and 69 are placed in the respective hot and cold water passages 19 and 20 of housing 28 . seals 66 afford a fluid tight connection with a surrounding valve fixture . an important feature of this invention is the reciprocating disk member 37 with the portion 37 &# 39 ; which extends into and preferably through a common inlet 60 for introducing hot and cold water into cavity 31 . this feature provides advantages in mixing the flow of the hot and cold water prior to contact with the thermal expansion element 32 . its design also reduces inertial forces to move the disk member 37 as only a single seal 62 is required . as viewed in fig2 the extending portion 37 &# 39 ; can close the common inlet 60 to the flow of cold water yet allows entry of hot water into chamber 31 as seen by directional arrows 63 . this could be the case when the supply water is below steady state values . as viewed in fig5 the opposite can be achieved when the hot water supply temperature spikes , or when the cold water pressure drops . cold water is free to flow as indicated by directional arrows 65 into and mix with hot water in cavity 31 by passing through the passages 67 in the disk member 37 ( see especially fig3 ). referring back to fig2 if the temperature of the hot water should suddenly rise , this effects an expansion of the thermal expansion element 32 and particularly sections 35 and 36 . this causes the extending portion 37 &# 39 ; to move from right to left , thereby opening the common inlet 60 more to cold water as seen in fig5 . conversely , and considering the position of the extending portion 37 &# 39 ; at the left side of inlet 60 as shown in fig5 if the temperature of the cold water should suddenly decrease , this causes a contraction of the thermal expansion element 32 which causes the reciprocating member to move to the right thus opening the common inlet to hot water . an intermediate position of the reciprocating portion 37 in common inlet 60 is shown in fig6 and exemplifies the mixing of hot and cold water prior to contact with the thermal expansion element 32 . a steady state adjustment of the thermal expansion element 32 is effected by a turning of a handle on knurled portion 51 which by means of screw threads 49 on section 46 causes adjustment stem 45 to move in and out and thereby drive the thermal expansion element 32 in and out along with disk member 37 and extending portion 37 &# 39 ; this is seen in conjunction with fig7 in comparison to fig2 and 5 . as stated earlier , rotation of a handle can be limited by stop pin 50 which can interact with a stop 48 on collar 47 . fig9 illustrates the mixing device 10 in conjunction with a faucet 90 which is used in conjunction with a shower as indicated in fig8 . cold water enters passage 18 and hot water through passage 17 . cold and hot water enter the inlets 20 and 19 , respectively , of the thermostatic mixing device 10 . after temperature regulation in mixing device 10 , the mixed water flows into chamber or passage 22 where the flow is regulated after entering port 92 by the flow control 12 having the usual movable and stationary disk arrangement 82 and 80 as later described in conjunction with valve unit 73 . water exits the flow control 12 through port 94 and chamber or passage 24 , and outlet port 96 to a shower . this faucet unit is positioned parallel to a wall . an alternative valve unit 73 is shown in fig1 , for use with the mixing device 10 which is also shown in an exploded perspective view . valve unit generally 73 includes an upper housing 74 and a lower housing 75 joined by flanges 74 &# 39 ; and 75 &# 39 ; with seal 87 therebetween . a valve body 76 is housed inside upper housing 74 and receives the thermostatic mixing device 10 . cold water enters the intake passage 88 , passes through passageway 77 , orifice 78 and into passage 18 . simultaneously hot water enters intake passage 89 , passes out of orifice 79 and into hot water passage 17 . the regulation of the hot and cold water through the mixing device 10 is as previously explained . as the mixed water exits from passage 22 , it is controlled by the movable valve disk 82 moving over the stationary valve disk 80 in the usual manner each having the standard pie shaped openings such as 81 for this purpose . movable valve disk 82 is rotated by the flow control knob 85 which is connected to the disk 82 by the pin 83 having reduced diameter ends 83 &# 39 ; for seating in openings ( not shown ) in the knob 85 and disk 82 . a seal 86 is placed between the knob 85 and the valve body 76 . when assembled , a portion 85 &# 39 ; of knob 85 extends out through opening 74 &# 39 ; of housing 74 to be accessible . this valve unit would be positioned transversely to a wall . it will therefore be appreciated that a thermostatic mixing of hot and cold water is achieved by the moving a disk extending through a body wall . this allows a convergence of a mixture of hot and cold water flow to a central zone and upstream of the wax cartridge . it also provides a positive force to assure a desired shut off of one of the two inlet streams of water when the other is turned off . further , it permits the use of a regulator moving disk with a small thermal inertia in order to facilitate thermal exchange between the wax cartridge and the mixed water . as seen in fig1 the cartridge is stepped down and the outer walls of body 27 and housing 28 are tapered to afford a leaktight fit when placed in a plumbing fixture . yet another feature is the adaptability to various valve or faucet units . this is afforded by controlling water flow from the outlet . outlet flow also results in easier control because of having to control only one stream of water . while the preferred embodiments have been described above , it should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that a number of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , while a plumbing valve has been shown , the valve can be used with other types of fluid valves . also , the specific valve unit or faucet are not the only fixtures which can be used . for example , a faucet with a diverter valve could be employed for use with a tub and shower fixture . all such and other modifications within the spirit of the invention are meant to be in the scope of the invention . | 6 |
the described test series were performed by way of example and the following results achieved . in the various test series , mercury - free metal halide high pressure discharge lamps are provided with different fillings . the integrated intensity of radiation of the high pressure discharge lamp produced in this manner was compared with the integrated intensity of radiation of a mercury - containing lamp constructed in the same way . thereafter , the geometry of the used lamps was varied in order to examine a possible influence of the lamp geometry on the integrated intensity . furthermore , the lamps were operated under different operating modes in order to examine a possible influence of the different operating modes on a change in efficiency , i . e ., the integrated intensity of radiation of the high pressure discharge lamp in accordance with the invention compared with a mercury - containing high pressure discharge lamp constructed in a similar way . furthermore , the discharge lamps were operated with different ballast devices . fig1 shows a schematic view of a high pressure discharge lamp with a first geometry . it comprises a cylindrical discharge vessel 1 , into which protrudes a pair of electrodes 2 a , 2 b . the two electrodes 2 a , 2 b lie opposite of each other at a distance d of 33 mm . the distance is measured from the tip of one electrode to the tip of the other electrode . an arc is formed between the electrodes at a respective potential difference . the inside diameter id of the discharge vessel is 10 . 5 mm in the first geometry . the inside volume iv of the discharge vessel is 3 . 1 cm 3 . fig2 shows a schematic view of a high pressure discharge lamp with a second geometry . in comparison with the first geometry , the electrode gap d is greatly increased in the high pressure discharge lamp with the second geometry . it is now 110 mm . the inside diameter id of the discharge vessel 1 , however , was increased only slightly to 16 . 5 mm in the second geometry . the inside volume is 24 cm 3 . fig3 shows a schematic view of a high pressure discharge lamp with a third geometry . the electrode gap d between the electrodes 2 a , 2 b is 30 mm . the inside diameter id of the discharge vessel is 21 . 5 mm , and the inside volume iv is 9 . 5 cm 3 . the high pressure discharge lamps with the geometries 1 , 2 and 3 were provided with different lamp fillings . the integrated intensity of the lamps was measured in the range of 315 to 400 nm . a mercury - containing high pressure discharge lamp constructed similarly was used as a reference value , which means that the lamps shown in fig1 , 2 and 3 were provided for comparison purposes with a mercury - containing filling and the integrated intensity of the mercury - containing lamp in the range of between 315 and 400 nm was determined for reference purposes . the respective examples are stated below and are summarized in fig8 : 80 hpa of argon , 12 mg of mercury , 0 . 70 mg of iron iodide and 0 . 02 mg of thallium iodide were filled into a discharge vessel made of quartz glass according to the one of fig1 . the thus obtained mercury - containing discharge lamp was operated with a power of 400 w , a lamp voltage of 114 v , a lamp current of 3 . 5 a and a power factor of 0 . 99 . the spectrum of the comparative lamp is shown in fig4 . 400 hpa of xenon , 3 . 0 mg of zinc iodide , 0 . 98 mg of iron iodide and 0 . 02 mg of thallium iodide were filled into a discharge vessel made of quartz glass according to the one of fig1 . the thus obtained mercury - free and bromide free discharge lamp was operated with a power of 400 w , a lamp voltage of 60 v , a lamp current of 6 . 73 a and a power factor of 0 . 99 . 400 hpa of xenon , 2 . 0 mg of zinc iodide , 0 . 5 mg of zinc bromide , 0 . 95 mg of iron iodide and 0 . 02 mg of thallium iodide were filled into a discharge vessel made of quartz glass according to the one of fig1 . the thus obtained mercury - free discharge lamp in accordance with the invention was operated with a power of 400 w , a lamp voltage of 75 v , a lamp current of 5 . 35 a and a power factor of 0 . 99 . further discharge lamps in accordance with the invention were produced based on example 1 . the respective lamp filling is shown in fig8 . the power factor was 0 . 99 in each case . the spectrum is shown in fig5 for the lamp according to example 7 . fig6 shows a comparison of the mercury - containing lamp of comparative example 1 with the lamp of example 7 in accordance with the invention , such that the spectrums of the two lamps are shown in a superimposed way . 50 hpa of argon , 23 mg of mercury , 1 . 96 mg of iron iodide and 0 . 02 mg of thallium iodide were filled into a discharge vessel made of quartz glass according to the one of fig2 . the thus obtained mercury - containing and bromide - free discharge lamp was operated with a power of 1200 w , a lamp voltage of 140 v , a lamp current of 9 a and a power factor of 0 . 95 . such lamps are used for uv curing for example . departing from the other examples , the intensity of radiation was measured at a distance of 130 cm from the lamp in this case and the following examples 11 to 13 . a discharge lamp in accordance with the invention which corresponds to comparative example 3 was produced by using the discharge vessel made of quartz glass as shown in fig2 , such that 50 hpa of xenon , 6 . 0 mg of zinc bromide , 1 . 96 mg of iron iodide and 0 . 24 mg of thallium iodide were filled into the vessel . the thus obtained mercury - free discharge lamp in accordance with the invention was operated with a power of 1200 w , a lamp voltage of 103 v , a lamp current of 12 . 3 a and a power factor of 0 . 95 . based on example 11 , further discharge lamps in accordance with the invention were produced . the respective lamp filling is shown in fig9 . 50 hpa of argon , 42 mg of mercury , 2 . 1 mg of iron iodide and 0 . 06 mg of thallium iodide were filled into a discharge vessel made of quartz glass according to the one of fig3 . the thus obtained mercury - containing and bromide - free discharge lamp was operated with a power of 700 w , a lamp voltage of 130 v , a lamp current of 5 . 4 a and a power factor of 0 . 95 . a discharge lamp in accordance with the invention which corresponds to comparative example 4 was produced from quartz glass by using the discharge vessel shown in fig3 , such that 400 hpa of xenon , 1 . 5 mg of zinc bromide , 2 . 94 mg of iron iodide and 0 . 06 mg of thallium iodide were filled in . the thus obtained mercury - free discharge lamp in accordance with the invention was operated with a power of 700 w , a lamp voltage of 53 v , a lamp current of 13 . 5 a and a power factor of 0 . 95 . based on example 14 , further discharge lamps in accordance with the invention were produced . the respective lamp filling is shown in fig9 . the radiation efficiency was determined for all discharge lamps listed in fig9 . it concerns the intensity of radiation ( in ( w / m 2 )/ nm ) of the respective lamp in the wavelength range of 315 to 400 nm , which is of interest here . measurement was performed at a distance of 115 cm from the lamp . the intensity of radiation integrated over this wavelength range is each determined , i . e ., the area beneath the spectrum in the wavelength range of 315 to 400 nm . the relative intensities of radiation are stated in the table . the integrated intensity of radiation of the mercury - containing comparative lamps of each group of lamps is set at 100 %. the intensity of radiation of the other lamps of the group is stated as a fraction of the 100 % intensity ( cf . right column in fig9 ; “ efficiency ”= relative integrated intensity of radiation ). the series of measurements performed show that the discharge vessel needs to contain at least iron , zinc , halide and bromide among the same in addition to noble gas in order to achieve an acceptable integrated intensity in the range of 315 to 400 nm at all . it was further found that further conditions must be imposed on the percentage of bromide and the ratio of molar density of zinc d and electric field strength e between the electrodes when the mercury - free metal halide high pressure discharge lamp is to achieve an efficiency of at least 63 %. the percentage of the bromide must be at least 14 mole percent of the total quantity of halogen . the relationship 0 . 005 ≦ d / e ≦ 0 . 200 must apply to the ratio of molar density of the zinc d in μmol / cm 3 and electric field strength e in volt / cm between the electrodes . in order to achieve greater efficiency , it is necessary to increase the percentage of bromide in the total halogen quantity and to limit further the range for the ratio of molar density of the zinc and the electric field strength e . measurement was performed at saturation , in which at least approx . 70 % of the lamp filling of the discharge vessel is present in a vaporous form . fig7 shows a diagram which represents the dependence of the integrated intensity on the bromide percentage of the used halogens according to a first test series with a lamp geometry according to fig1 . this example shows an approximately linear connection between the percentage of bromide in the total halogen quantity and the integrated intensity in the wavelength range of interest between 315 nm and 400 nm . when a minimum efficiency of 63 % is demanded , this leads to a minimum percentage of bromide from the ratio of the partial regression line with the 63 % mark to a bromide quantity of at least 14 mole percent in the total halogen quantity . fig8 shows a diagram which shows the dependence of the integrated intensity on the ratio of zinc concentration to electric field strength . measured values obtained with lamps of all three geometries were entered in the diagram . a compensating curve was placed between the measuring points . according to this compensating curve , there is at first a rise of the integrated intensity with rising ratio of zinc concentration to electric field . in the range of between 0 . 06 ( μmol / cm 3 )/( volt / cm ) and approximately 0 . 12 ( μmol / cm 3 )/( volt / cm ), a maximum integrated intensity of up to 92 % was achieved . the curve gradually flattens again in the further progression . when an integrated intensity of at least 63 % is demanded , the graphical illustration shows that the ratio of molar density of the zinc d in μmol / cm 3 and electric field strength in volt / cm between the electrodes needs to fulfil the condition 0 . 005 ≦ d / e ≦ 0 . 200 . further tests with the mercury - free metal halide high pressure discharge lamps in accordance with the invention were performed . the lamps were operated under normal operation and underload operation . a temperature measurement was performed for this purpose at points a and b , as shown in fig1 . at 350 w for example ( example no . 7 ) close to the melting point of the iron halide of 680 ° c . up to 1050 ° c ., only a slight minor change in efficiency from 87 % to 75 % was determined . the different operating modes hardly have an influence on the measured efficiency . this can be explained in such a way that the determining factor for the radiation is finally the iron or iron halide filling of the lamps . this remains unchanged in the various operating modes . the discharge lamps were operated in further tests with a large variety of ballast devices , which led to different current and voltage loads at constant power load . for example , a lamp of the first geometry ( example no . 4 ) was operated with a conventional inductivity ( power factor 0 . 85 ) and with an electronic ballast with rectangular operation ( power factor 0 . 99 ). in both cases , the same efficiency value of 85 % was measured . the use of different ballast devices thus has no influence on the efficiency value to be expected . this can be explained substantially in such a way that the field strength concerns a lamp property which is hardly dependent on power or power supply . it has been seen that it is certainly possible to provide a mercury - free metal halide high pressure discharge lamps which is capable of providing a minimum efficiency of 63 % ( in comparison with a mercury reference lamp ). it is merely necessary to place certain requirements on the filling of the high pressure discharge lamp , but no further requirements need to be placed on the lamp geometry . it has further been achieved to provide a mercury - free metal halide high pressure discharge lamp which works without sodium iodide . the relevance of the percentage of bromide in the total halogen quantity for the efficiency of the lamp was recognized , and also the relevance of the ratio of molar density of zinc d and electric field strength e between the electrodes was recognized . the conditions were derived from these findings which are to be placed on a filling of the discharge vessel of the mercury - free metal halide high pressure discharge lamp in accordance with the invention . the mercury - free metal halide high pressure discharge lamp in accordance with the invention can be used especially for photochemical process systems , especially for curing lacquer , for disinfection and / or for tanning purposes . an environmentally friendly and nevertheless efficient high pressure lamp can now be used in this and other fields of application . | 7 |
in fig1 the locating and orienting device 10 includes a stationary support 11 . a pivot axis 12 is arranged in the proximity of one end of the stationary support 11 . a lever 13 is pivotably coupled to the stationary support 11 at the pivot axis 12 . a first urging member 14 , in the form of a roller , is rotatably coupled to the lever 13 a preselected distance from the pivot axis 12 . a slidable ramp 16 is pivotably coupled to one end of a connector link 17 , the other end of which is pivotably coupled to the free end of the pivotable lever 13 by a pin 20 . a second urging member 18 includes an elongated member 19 , one end of which is pivotably coupled to the stationary support 11 . the free end of the elongated member 19 includes a rounded portion 21 , which rides in detent indentations 22 , which are provided in the surface of the ramp 16 . an l - shaped object carrying member 23 is affixed to the elongated member 19 immediately above the rounded portion 21 . the detent indentations 22 are dimensioned and spaced along the ramp 16 to position the l - shaped member 23 at selected heights . a plurality of rollers 24 are affixed to the bottom surface of the slidable ramp 16 . the rollers are constrained in a guide 26 . because the connector link 17 is pivotably coupled to the slidable ramp 16 and to the lever 13 , the slidable ramp 16 is free to move horizontally in response to pivoting of the lever 13 on the pivot axis 12 . in fig2 the lever 13 ( which is shown partially broken away for convenience of illustration ) and the stationary support 11 are arranged side by side . the stationary support 11 includes a slot 27 to accommodate the end of the connector link 17 and the pin 20 . accordingly , as the lever 13 pivots counterclockwise in response to the reception of an object , the end of the connector link 17 can enter into the slot 27 without interference . the rollers 24 ride in channel shaped members 28 and are constrained at the top by angular members 29 to assure a linear movement of the slidable ramp 16 . in fig3 the rollers 24 are arranged in pairs to provide a stable , strong support for the slidable ramp 16 . the elongated member 19 has an angularly disposed portion 31 to permit the member to be simultaneously pivotably attached to the stationary support 11 and to the slidable ramp 16 without interferring with the lever 13 . the restraining channels 28 and angular members 29 are eliminated from fig3 for simplicity . fig4 shows how the elongated member 19 is pivotably coupled to the stationary support 11 . the angularly disposed portion 31 narrows toward the pivot point to aid in avoiding interference with the lever 13 . fig4 also shows how the detent indentations 22 extend across the surface of the slidable ramp 16 . in operation , a substantially square object , such as a kinescope 32 , one quarter of which is shown in phantom in fig1 and 2 , is lowered into the locating and orienting device 10 . one side of the object engages the first urging member 14 and the lever 13 pivots counterclockwise resulting in the slidable ramp 16 sliding horizontally toward the stationary support 11 . the curved portion 21 of the elongated member 19 slides along the surface of the ramp 16 into engagement with one of the detent indentations 22 . larger objects cause a greater rotation of lever 13 than smaller objects and the curved end 21 of the elongated member 19 moves further down the ramp 16 . when the object 32 is completely lowered into the device 10 , the urging member 14 engages one side of the object and the l - shaped urging member 23 engages an adjacent side of the object so that the two urging members span one corner of the object . the distance between the center line of the urging member 14 and the pivot axis 12 is selected to be a first preselected distance . also , the distance between the pivot axis 12 and the center of the pin 20 , where the ramp 16 is pivotably coupled to the ramp 13 , is selected to be a second preselected distance . these distances are selected so that both the urging members 14 and 23 engage adjacent sides of the object being positioned . to simultaneously support the elongated member 19 on the surface of the ramp 16 and the l - shaped object carrying member 23 against the object for all sizes of objects , the positions of the detent indentations 22 are spaced along the ramp at intervals determined by the dimensions of the objects being tested . the depths of the indentations 22 also are determined by the dimensions of the objects to be tested . the required spacing and depths can be determined by triangulation by one skilled in the art . thus , when kinescopes are being positioned the indentations 22 are spaced to assure that several sizes will be firmly held at the proper height . if desired , the elongated member 19 can be spring biased to cause the member 19 to rotate upwardly out of the indentations 22 when no object is in place . this aids the lifting of the rounded portion 21 out of the indentations . objects of several sizes can be used with the invention , the object initially engages the urging member 14 to cause counterclockwise rotation of the lever 13 . the larger the object the further the lever pivots and the further down the ramp the urging member 18 moves to set the needed height of the support 23 . it should be understood that both bottom corners of the object are supported , so that identical devices span the two lower corners of the object being positioned and oriented . because of the precise construction of the device , the locations of the urging members 14 and 15 with respect to the pivot axis 12 , and the selected spacing and depths of the indentations 22 , a plurality of sizes of objects can be accurately located and oriented with the inventive device and when the objects being positioned are kinescopes the necks of several sizes of kinescopes are oriented and located at a precise , desired location . | 8 |
surprisingly , the above objectives have been accomplished by the present inventors by providing a method as referred to in the introduction , which is characterized in that the effective dose of said additional exposure step ranges between 4 · 10 − 4 and 5 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 with a wavelength of 200 - 320 nm . according to the present invention , the effective dose or energy density of the additional exposure step thus ranges between 4 · 10 − 4 and 5 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 , preferably between 8 · 10 − 4 and 1 . 2 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 . if the effective dose of the additional exposure step according to the present invention is less than 4 · 10 − 4 j / cm 2 , no suffficient crosslinking effect will occur in the photoresist film . if the effective dose of the additional exposure step according to the present invention is more than 5 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 , no significant crosslinking effect will occur in the photoresist film . according to the present invention , the term effective dose is understood to mean the product of the dose and the sensitivity of the exposed material at the wavelength used . for novolac resin , for example , the maximum sensitivity is at a value of λ = 250 nm , as a result of which the energy dose being used at a wavelength of 250 nm substantially corresponds with the effective dose . it is apparent that a wavelength other than 250 nm will require a higher energy dose in order to obtain the same effective dose and thus the same effect as when a wavelength of 250 nm is used . although it is known from the article “ deep uv hardening of positive photoresist patterns ”, journal of the electrochemical society , part 29 , no . 6 , june 1982 , pages 1379 - 1381 in the name of allen r . et al . to reduce the thermal deformation , in particular the flowing of photoresist patterns , during treatments at a high temperature of 180 ° c . for 30 minutes by exposing the photoresist in the deep uv range by means of a low - pressure mercury vapour lamp , said article discloses an exposure of for example 8 mw / cm 2 for 20 minutes , which corresponds with an energy dose of 9 , 6 j / cm 2 . such a dose in accordance with the article of allen r . et al . is substantially higher than the effective dose in the range of 4 · 10 − 4 - 5 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 and a wavelength of 200 - 320 nm which the present invention employs , which dose makes it possible to control said flowing , thus making it possible to control the geometry of the photoresist posts being formed . the use of an additional exposure step before the hardbake step is also known from the articles “ uv - hardening of resist patterns ”, ibm technical disclosure bulletin , part 24 , no . 3 , august 1981 , and from the article “ photoresist stabilization system ”, solid state technology , part 27 , no . 7 , june 1984 , washington , usa , but neither article discloses any exposure energy values . said use corresponds with the aforesaid article by allen , r et al ., however , in particular ic lithography , so that it is likely that the energy values being employed will also be the same as in said article , that is , considerably higher than the values employed according to the present invention . such an additional exposure step according to the present invention with a very effective dose will probably result in oxidation reactions in the photoresist , in particular in the outer layers of the photoresist , which oxidation reactions lead to curing and a higher glass transition temperature . as a result of that , the structure of the photoresist posts formed during the developing step will not be adversely affected by the subsequent heat treatment at a high temperature , and it will probably be controllable . however , the invention is not limited by this assumption regarding the oxidation reaction that will probably occur . the additional exposure step according to the invention , which is to be carried out prior to the final heat treatment , is preferably carried out in the range in which the photochemical curing of the photoresist takes place , that is , in the range in which absorption of the electromagnetic radiation takes place , in particular in the range of 200 - 320 nm , more in particular in the range of 240 - 260 nm . the selection of the wavelength range to be used for the additional exposure step has an influence on the curing process of the photoresist . although the scientific explanation as regards the relation between the wavelength and the curing of the photoresist is not quite clear to those skilled in this field of the art , the present inventors assume that the following applies . it should be understood thereby that the present inventors are by no means limited by such an explanation . in the long wavelength range , for example 300 - 320 nm , the penetration depth of the uv radiation is great , and complete curing of the photoresist will take place . when a wavelength of 240 - 260 nm is used , the absorption by the photoresist will be large , as a result of which the penetration depth of the uv radiation will be small and only curing of the outermost layer of the photoresist will take place , therefore . in this latter embodiment , the combination of the very effective dose of the additional exposure step , exposure in a specified wavelength range and subsequent heating makes it possible to influence the post geometry of the photoresist posts . if the absorption peak of the photoresist being used ranges between 240 and 260 nm , which applies to novolac resins , an additional exposure step outside the aforesaid range will not effect sufficient absorption . inadequate curing of the photoresist film will result , which means that the structure of the photoresist posts will be affected during the subsequent heat treatment at a high temperature , with flowing out taking place to a larger or smaller degree , which is desirable in certain embodiments . the exposure time of the additional exposure step according to the present invention is preferably 1 - 125 seconds , more preferably 2 - 30 seconds . experimental data have shown that an exposure time of less than 1 second will probably lead to insufficient oxidation reactions in the photoresist film and thus to insufficient curing . an exposure time of more than 125 seconds does not have an additional effect on the oxidation reactions induced in the photoresist film . in addition to that , an exposure time of more than 125 seconds is undesirable because the photoresist posts , which mainly consist of organic material , will be slowly affected as a result of the ozone production , causing them to evaporate , mainly in the form of h 2 o and co 2 . moreover , when such a long exposure time , the heat production caused by the additional exposure step according to the present invention will be high , as a result of which the temperature may rise to above the glass transition temperature , which will have an adverse effect on the geometry of the photoresist posts as yet . in a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention , the additional exposure step is carried out under rotation . since the stamper is rotated during said additional exposure , a crosslinking effect occurs in the photoresist film over the entire area of the stamper , as a result of which a satisfactory evenness is achieved . in addition to that , it is preferred to carried out the additional exposure step under heating . as a result of said heating , the crosslinking effect in the photoresist film will take place more quickly , as a result of which the exposure time of the additional exposure step according to the present invention can be reduced , which results in a higher production speed . with the method according to the present invention , a negative photoresist is preferably used for applying the photoresist film . exposed areas of a film of a negative photoresist remain after developing , whilst the non - exposed areas are removed as a result of the developing step . the method according to the present invention is not limited to the use of a special negative photoresist , however . more in particular , the method according to the present invention is suitable for influencing the post geometry of photoresist posts , irrespective of the special origin of the photoresist being used , that is , a positive photoresist or a negative photoresist . by applying a negative photoresist to a stamper plate , which might in principle be placed directly in the injection moulding unit , and structuring said negative photoresist in accordance with the proposed method , both the metallisation step and the electroplating step may be skipped . in a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention , the exposure step , which is not the additional exposure step according to the present invention , is carried out in two steps , that is , a first selective exposure step and a second integral exposure step . by selectively exposing the negative photoresist , an acid is formed in the exposed areas . the heating of the negative photoresist following said selective exposure step will lead to crosslinking of said photoresist in the exposed areas under catalysis of said acid . as a result of the integral exposure step , an acid is formed in the non - exposed areas as well , which acid causes the areas which have not been selectively exposed , and which are thus not crosslinked , to dissolve sooner during the developing step . as a result of the heating step following the developing step , the selectively exposed and thus crosslinked areas are strengthened by further crosslinking of polymer chains , whereby such a heating step is according to the present invention preceded by an additional exposure step as already described above . the present invention furthermore relates to a stamper for producing optical discs , which stamper is characterized in that it has been obtained by using the method according to the present invention . the present invention furthermore relates to an optical disc , which disc is characterized in that it has been obtained by using the stamper according to the present invention . the present invention will be described in more detail hereafter with reference to special examples . it should be understood , however , that the present invention is by no means limited to such special examples . furthermore it will be understood that the examples described can be slightly adapted by persons skilled in this field of the art without departing from the essence of the present invention as defined in the appended claims . in order to investigate the effect of an additional exposure step , a number of stampers were produced , wherein the same process parameters were used for all examples , with the exception of the exposure time and the dose being used . a mercury vapour lamp type hok 4 / 120se - uv ( philips ) was used as the exposure source . this lamp comprises a spectrum in the range of 200 - 300 nm , with a peak being detectable at a wavelength of 250 nm . the effect of the additional exposure step on the post geometry was determined on the basis of post profile measurements on the afm and order measurements on the hd - dom . the results of the afm measurements on the stampers obtained under varying conditions of the exposure step ( following the final heating step at 200 ° c . for 5 minutes ) are summarized in the table below . the above table clearly shows the effect of the additional exposure step on the geometry of the photoresist posts . the leaving out of an additional exposure step in sample d148 , which method describes the prior art , in particular dutch patent application no . 9400225 , leads to a flowed - out post geometry having the shape of a gaussian distribution curve . from the table it can furthermore be concluded that the original post geometry is substantially retained at a dose of 6 · 10 − 3 j / cm 2 ( exposure for 15 seconds ) already , although some flowing - out of the photoresist posts still takes place during the final heating step . it can furthermore be concluded from the table that prolongation of the exposure time after 60 seconds does not have a significant effect on the geometry of the photoresist posts . an energy dose of 6 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 leads to a decreased post height , which can probably be ascribed to the ozone production , as a result of which the photoresist posts are affected , causing them to evaporate . additional experiments have also shown that flowing only took place to a slight degree when a short exposure time , namely 5 and 10 seconds , was used in the final heating step . the same additional exposure steps as in example 1 was used , whereby each of the stampers thus treated was examined as regards the bond with ercopell . if an additional exposure step ( exposure time : 0 seconds ) was not included in the treatment of the stamper , the bond with ercopell appeared to be strong , as a result of which it was very difficult to remove ercopell from the stamper . when an additional exposure step with an effective dose ranging between 4 · 10 − 4 and 5 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 was carried out , the bond between the ercopell coating and the stamper surface was sufficiently weak , so that removal of the coating was possible . this indicates that the additional exposure step has a positive effect on the surface composition of the photoresist . the same steps as in example 1 were used , with this difference that the developing step was carried out while using an 0 . 2 m / koh - solution , wherein the developing process took place to order , that is , the developing process was monitored by means of light diffraction . the geometry of the obtained resist structure was then determined by means of afm measurement . following that , the stampers thus obtained were exposed to an effective dose of the additional exposure step in the range of 0 - 1 . 5 · 10 − 1 j / cm 2 and a wavelength of 250 nm . the last heating step , also called “ hardbake ”, was carried out on a hot plate at 200 ° c . for 5 minutes . the geometry of the obtained photoresist structures was determined again by means of afm measurements for the purpose of determining the extent of deformation of the resist structures caused by the additional exposure step and the hardbake step . said deformation is for example expressed in the parameters height retention , h , ( the ratio between the height after developing and the height after the additional exposure step and hardbake , in %) and width retention , b , ( the ratio between the width at half height after developing and the width at half height after the additional exposure step and hardbake , in %). the table 2 below shows a survey of the measuring data of the photoresist structures . it will be apparent that both the height retention , h , and the width retention , b , are affected by the effective exposure dose . when a small exposure dose is used , that is , a dose of less than 4 · 10 − 4 j / cm 2 , in particular in the case of sample a , for which an effective exposure dose of 2 . 00 . 10 − 4 was used , the deformation caused by substantial flowing is such that pits which are difficult to read or pits having high jitter values result . when an exposure dose having a value of more than 5 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 is used , in particular in the case of sample e and sample f , for which effective exposure doses of 7 . 00 . 10 − 2 j / cm 2 and 1 . 40 . 10 − 1 j / cm 2 respectively were used , the influence of oxidation caused by ozone is such , however , that the resist structure is uncontrollable and decomposition of the photoresist takes place . thus , an effective dose of the additional exposure step in the range of 4 · 10 − 4 - 5 · 10 − 2 j / cm 2 and a wavelength of 200 - 320 is required for effecting a controlled flow in order to obtain more or less round , flown - out resist structures . | 6 |
at the outset , it should be clearly understood that like reference numerals used herein are intended to identify the same elements and / or structure shown in the accompanying drawing , as such elements and / or structure may be further described or explained by the entire written specification of which this detailed description is an integral part . the invention provides apparatus for , and a method of , providing data by which the internal pressure of a flexible wall vacuum package exposed to a known external pressure , may be calculated . in fig1 a schematic of the presently - preferred embodiment of such apparatus is generally indicated at 10 . the apparatus is shown as broadly including base 11 , an inner container 12 having a removable closure cover 13 , a vacuum pump 14 , an outer enclosure 15 , a float 16 , an optical reader 18 operatively associated with recording - type first and second pressure gauges 19 , 20 and a liquid reservoir 21 communicating with the interior of container 12 via an intermediate pump 22 . the base 11 is shown as being a vertically - thickened horizontal plate - like member adapted to rest on a suitable support ( not shown ), such as a table . the inner container 12 has a side wall structure which includes an upstanding rectangular wall 23 , the lower margin of which is suitably secured in fluid - tight relation ( as by welding , fusing or bonding ) to base 11 , an upwardly and inwardly inclined shelf 24 , and a rectangular collar 25 continuing upwardly therefrom to define an uppermost open mouth of the container . the closure cover 13 has a pair of parallel bars , one of which is indicated at 26 adapted to rest on the lip of the container &# 39 ; s mouth , and has rectangular solid plug 28 depending therefrom into the neck of the container . thus , the headspace of the inner container above liquid level l is continuously in communication with the space within the outer enclosure . cover 13 is also shown as provided with a handle 29 . a sight gauge 30 penetrates wall 23 and extends upwardly in parallel relation thereto . this sight gauge is open at its upper end . the outer enclosure 15 surrounds the inner container in spaced relation thereto . the outer enclosure has an upstanding cylindrical side wall 31 , the lower margin of which is suitably secured in fluid - tight relation ( as by welding , fusing or bonding ) to base 11 , and has a horizontal circular top 32 provided with a central opening 33 . a gasket 34 is mounted on the upper surface of the enclosure top to encircle opening 33 . opening 33 may be selectively closed by placement of a cooperatively - configured plate - like cover 35 against gasket 34 . cover 35 is also provided with a handle 36 . vacuum pump 14 communicates with the interior of outer enclosure 15 via a conduit 38 . when the vacuum pump is activated with both covers in place , pressure within the outer enclosure , as well as in the head space of the inner container , will be reduced to sub - atmospheric . reservoir tank 21 is arranged between the outer enclosure and the inner container , and communicates with the inner container via pump 22 and suitable conduits . float 16 is arranged in the sight gauge . the float has three vertically - spaced optically - readable marks thereon . the uppermost mark indicates that the level l of liquid in the container is at an initial reference level ; the intermediate mark indicates that the volume occupied by the liquid and a package - to - be - tested has increased by a known first volume , and the lowermost mark indicates that the volume occupied by the liquid and the package - to - be - tested has increased by a second known volume . these three marks may be spaced evenly or unevenly from one another . the increase in such occupied volume causes the liquid level to rise in the space between the container neck and the plug 28 , as well as in the sight gauge . the first and second known volumes may be calculated or measured by determining the volumes required to cause the liquid to rise from the first to the second marks , and from the second to the third marks , respectively . the optical reader 18 is arranged adjacent the sight gauge and triggers an appropriate signal when a float mark is seen . pressure gauges 19 and 20 both indicate the pressure within the outer enclosure . however , when the optical reader senses the float &# 39 ; s middle mark , gauge 19 will stop and continue to indicate the pressure ( p 1 ) within the enclosure at which such middle mark was sensed . when the optical reader senses the float &# 39 ; s lower mark , gauge 20 will stop and continue to indicate the pressure ( p 2 ) within the enclosure at which such lower mark was sensed . thus , indicators 19 , 20 are recording - type pressure gauges , which may be reset after a test sequence has been completed . lest the reader be confused , these pressure gauges will indicate the extent of vacuum ( i . e ., sub - atmospheric pressure ), typically in familiar units of inches of mercury . the illustrated structure of the preferred embodiment is deliberately schematic to minimize the possibility of obfuscating the salient features of the invention with unnecessary detail . assume that the pressure within enclosure 15 is initially at atmospheric pressure , and that the liquid level l is low , perhaps somewhere around the middle of the height of container wall 23 . such inner and outer pressures may be rapidly equalized by opening a vent ( not shown ), operation of which may be either manual or automatic . the reason for having a low initial liquid level , is so that when the package - to - be - tested is placed in the container , the liquid level will not rise to a point at which the upper mark on the float will be sensed . between tests , pump 22 may be reversely operated to pump liquid from the container to the reservoir to reduce the liquid to the level desired . assume also that pressure gauges 19 , 20 have been reset to zero , and that any vent opening has been closed . the operator simply removes covers 35 and 13 to gain access to the inner container , places a package - to - be - tested ( p ) in the liquid , and replaces the two covers . package p is of the flexible - wall vacuum type , and simply has an object , perhaps a food product , sealed within a container having a flexible wall . such package walls may be made of plastic , paper , metal foils , combinations of these , and the like . the expression &# 34 ; vacuum package &# 34 ; refers to such packages in which the pressure within the sealed package is sub - atmospheric . because of such relative vacuum , the package wall tends to conform to the outward shape of the object contained therein . with the package p in the container 12 , and cover 13 in place , the liquid level will rise , albeit preferably to some level still below the point at which the float &# 39 ; s upper mark will be sensed . if the level is too high , liquid may be pumped from the container to the reservoir until the float &# 39 ; s upper mark falls below the optical reader . thereafter , pump 22 is operated to pump liquid from tank 21 into the container . as this occurs , the liquid level in the container , as well as the float , will rise . when the optical reader senses the float &# 39 ; s upper mark , pump 22 is turned off . the optical reader is preferably positioned such that the liquid level will be in the neck of the container when the upper float mark is sensed . thereafter , vacuum pump 14 is operated to reduce the pressure within the enclosure , as well as in the ullage or head space of the inner container . because plug 28 is held in place by two bars 26 , the head space in the inner container above the liquid always communicates with the interior of the outer enclosure . in short , the pressure in such head space is always the same as that within the outer enclosure . air is then pumped from within the outer enclosure , and the pressure acting on the surface of the liquid begins to fall . as the pressure continues to fall , the effective pressure acting on the outside of the package decreases until , at some point , such external pressure is equal to the pressure within the package . as vacuum pump 14 continues to pump air from within the enclosure , the package p will expand in volume , thereby causing the liquid level l to rise . assuming that the liquid itself does not expand as axiomatic , the rise in liquid level must be caused by the increase in volume of the package . indeed , the package &# 39 ; s flexible wall will expand until a force balance is achieved . in short , during such volumetric expansion of the package , the pressure within the package must equal the pressure acting on its outer surface , for equilibrium to obtain . so long as the package remains at roughly the same place within the inner container , the pressure exerted on the package by reason of its being submerged in a liquid ( i . e ., p = ρgh ) will be substantially constant and may be compensated for . thus , as the pressure within the enclosure falls , the package will expand volumetrically , thereby causing the liquid level and float to rise . during the initial stages , pressure gauges 19 , 20 will both simultaneously indicate the falling pressure within the enclosure . in due course , the liquid level will rise until the optical reader senses the float &# 39 ; s middle mark . when this happens , gauge 19 ceases to rise , and continues to indicate the pressure ( p 1 ) at which the volumetric expansion ( v 1 ) of the package caused the liquid level to rise from the float &# 39 ; s upper mark to its middle mark . however , gauge 20 will continue to indicate the pressure within the enclosure until the optical reader senses the float &# 39 ; s lower mark , after which gauge 20 will continue to indicate the pressure ( p 2 ) at which the further volumetric expansion ( v 2 ) of the package caused the liquid level to rise from the float &# 39 ; s middle mark to its lower mark . the pressure within the package , when exposed to atmospheric or some other known pressure , may be calculated as a function of p 1 , p 2 , v 1 and v 2 as follows : at a constant temperature , boyle &# 39 ; s law provides that the product of pressure and volume will equal a constant . thus , initially , we do not know the volume ( v 0 ) of the gas in the package when exposed to atmospheric pressure , nor the pressure ( p 0 ) within the package . however , we do known the pressure ( p 1 ) in the enclosure when the volume occupied by the water and the package has caused the liquid level to rise from the float &# 39 ; s upper mark to its middle mark . this first change in volume can be either measured or calculated . similarly , we also know the pressure ( p 2 ) which causes the liquid level to rise from the float &# 39 ; s middle mark to its lower mark . this second change in volume may also be calculated or measured . if the cross - sectional area between container wall 25 and plug 28 is constant along the height of collar 25 and the three float marks are spaced equally from one another , then the change in volumes from the upper mark to the middle mark , and from the middle mark to the lower mark , will both be equal and constant ( c ). thus the volume occupied by the residual gas within the package at p 1 will be its original volume ( v 0 ) plus a constant ( c ): similarly , the volume occupied by the residual gas within the package at p 2 will be its volume at p 1 plus a constant : substituting these equations into boyle &# 39 ; s law : ## equ1 ## once v 0 has been calculated , then the pressure ( p 0 ) within the package may be calculated according to the formula : ## equ2 ## the volume of the package ( v p ) when exposed to atmospheric pressure may be readily measured . once this is known , the percentage of gas in the package may be calculated as follows : ## equ3 ## since air is roughly 21 % oxygen ( o 2 ): ## equ4 ## thus , the internal pressure and volume occupied by a gas in a flexible wall vacuum package may be calculated as a function of p 1 , p 2 and the two changes in volume . while the disclosed embodiment is presently preferred , many changes and modifications may be made . in the preferred embodiment , the function of the outer enclosure is to insulate the inner container from deformation due to a pressure differential when air is evacuated . in this form , the pressure acting on the outer surface of the inner enclosure is equal to the pressure in its head space . this design permits the inner container to be made of materials having an economic thickness . however , if the inner container were designed so as to withstand such pressure differential without significant inward deformation as the vacuum is drawn , then it would be possible to eliminate the outer enclosure altogether , to provide a sealable cover to the inner container , and to communicate the vacuum pump with the head space of such container . the tank or liquid reservoir is also optional . moreover , a pressure transducer , such as a suitable piezoelectric device capable of converting sensed pressure into a proportional electrical signal could be substituted for the disclosed pressure gauges . hence , in the appended claims , the term &# 34 ; pressure indicator &# 34 ; is generally intended to cover a visual - indicating pressure gauge , or some other transducer capable of transforming sensed pressure into some proportional or analog vehicle . while the optical reader is preferred because of its ability to reduce the prospect of human error , such float positions could be determined visually or by other electrical or mechanical means . if desired , the sequence of operations may be automated so that , once a package is placed in the container , the operator need only push a button and read p 1 and p 2 . indeed , such pressure data could be supplied to a microprocessor , or equivalent , capable of performing the needed calculations . materials of construction are not deemed critical . auxiliary apparatus could be provided to maintain the liquid at a substantially constant temperature . the size and shape of the inner container is not critical so long as the two changes in volume may be either measured or calculated . the liquid may be water , to which a wetting agent has preferably been added , or some other liquid . the apparatus may also be used to provide data by which the internal package pressure and gas volume , when such package exposed to a known external pressure other than atmospheric , may be calculated . to do this , one need only pressurize the interior of the enclosure to the known pressure when the float upper mark is aligned with the reader at the beginning of the test . also , it may be desirable to continue to evacuate the outer enclosure after pressure p 2 has been reached , in order to insure that the package walls have completely separated from the object contained therewithin . after the package has &# 34 ; ballooned &# 34 ;, it may be visually inspected for the presence of leaks if the container and enclosure are made of transparent materials , such as plexiglass . therefore , while the presently preferred embodiment of the inventive apparatus has been shown and described , and several possible modifications thereof discussed , persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention , as defined and differentiated by the following claims . | 6 |
referring now to the drawings , and particularly to fig1 through 3 , there is shown a first embodiment of a water conditioning apparatus , generally designated 10 , according to the invention , the apparatus 10 including a housing member , generally designated 12 , configured , dimensioned and arranged for receiving therein a substantially imperforate unitary metallic alloy member 14 . the housing 12 is generally tubular and formed with an inner chamber 18 having a surface of generally tubular configuration . the opposite end of the housing 12 are provided with a threaded entrance opening 20 and a threaded exit opening 22 . the outer diameter of the housing is greater than the inner diameter of the chamber , which is greater than the inner diameter of the two openings 20 and 22 which are the same diameter . formed on the interior of the chamber 18 about the entrance and exit openings are first and second water return or feedback scoops formed as opposing generally v - shaped annular grooves 24 and 26 , respectively . consequently , as can be seen the inner chamber 18 is enlarged relative to the openings 20 and 22 , and is formed of a generally uniform diameter in the distance between the grooves 24 and 26 . the inner surface of the housing chamber 18 is provided with rib means , in the form of a continuous spiral rib 30 of a plurality of spiral rib segments of a uniform pitch and spacing covering the majority of the length of the inner chamber 18 , or at least a distance generally equal to the length of the unitary insert member 14 . the orientation of the spiral ribs is such that , with respect to the entrance to exit direction , the water flowing therethrough is directed to generate a left - hand or counterclockwise vortex . the center portion of the housing wall is provided with a tapped or threaded opening 15 for receiving a threaded plug member ( not shown ) which serves a threefold purpose , these being to serve as a vent to release gases during the foundry pour , to serve as a clean out for internal cleaning , if necessary , and to serve as a tapped plug for an earth ground wire , which can be connected to the plug for suitable connection to earth ground . the ground wire may be , for example , a 12 gauge ground wire of suitable length . the spiral - ribbed configuration of the inner surface of the chamber 18 is intended to create maximum turbulence , enabling all water passing through the chamber area to come in contact with the surface of the finned metallic alloy member 14 many times . the member 12 as depicted in fig1 and 4 through 6 has a generally circular cross - section with an outer diameter less than the inner diameter of a cylinder drawn through the inner edges of the spiral ribs 30 , thus providing an annular passageway between outer surface or edges of the member 14 and the ribs 30 ( and the inner surface of the chamber 18 ). by reference to fig4 and 5 opposing sides are provided with two pair of opposing spacers 27 and 28 , respectively . one pair of spacers 27 is further removed from the adjacent end of the member 14 that the other pair of spacers 27 . the purpose of this is to mount the member 14 within the chamber 18 so that the member 14 is longitudinally displaced relative to longitudinal center of the chamber 18 providing a larger gap at the exit end or opening 22 that at the entrance opening 20 . this unequal spacing enables the water flow toward opening 22 to have a larger volume portion for facilitating reverse flow in conjunction with the annular v - shaped return scoop 26 at the exit end . the four mounting or connecting spacers 27 , 28 act as fluid flow diverter ribs in addition to increasing the interval turbulence , while having a basic purpose of securing the inner core so that it may remain in a centered axially offset suspension position . the member 14 is provided with axially oriented undulate finned sections 31 - 36 formed thereon ( see fig6 ). as shown in side elevations in fig1 and 2 ( also fig4 and 5 ), opposing sides are configured slightly differently , and that is with respect to placement of the airfoil configured side protrusions or foils 40 - 41 . foils 40 and 41 are shown in fig1 and 5 adjacent opposite ends of the member 14 , with foil 42 on the diametrically opposite side occupying a position intermediate the two foils 40 and 41 , that is at about the longitudinal center of the member 14 . undulate fin sections 31 - 36 extend the length of the member 14 and , with respect to opposite side views in fig1 and 2 , are centrally disposed and symmetrical about the longitudinal centerline . geometrically , the fin sections 3 - 36 are undulate , that is wave - shaped , or somewhat sinusoidally configured in side elevation , with the lower fin sections being in mirror image relation to the upper fin sections about the longitudinal centerline . the foils 40 - 42 are positioned at a position which somewhat corresponds to the juncture of the maximum and minimum sinusoidal amplitudes of the undulate fin sections . it is to be noted that the axial position of foil 42 is approximately midway between the two foils 40 , 41 on the opposite side . with fluid passing from left to right as viewed in fig1 fluid enters the entrance end opening 20 into the fore chamber portion , designated 18a ( the volume between the opening 20 and the adjacent facing end of the member 14 ), from which the fluid flows through the openings between fin sections and into the annular passageway between the member 14 and the inner surface of the chamber 18 into contact with the ribs 30 . as the fluid flows in the left to right direction , the fluid flows aerodynamically from the fore chamber , through the sinusoidally configured passages between fin sections , about the aerodynamically configured foils 40 - 42 , into the exit chamber 18b and out the exit opening 22 . however , simultaneously , there is another dynamic effect taking place as a consequence of the spiral ribs 30 , resulting in a spiral sheet flow about the inner surface of the chamber 18 as a left - hand vortex flow . a third effect than comes into play , this third effect being caused by the annular v - shaped grooves or water return scoops 24 and 26 . exit scoop 26 causes a reverse flow of water coming into contact therewith , thereby forcing turbulence in the aft chamber 18b , while simultaneously turbulence is being created at the interface between the fluid flowing as a &# 34 ; sheet &# 34 ; at the ribs 30 and the water flowing through the end sections in an undulating manner . a fourth effect is added to this and that being the interplay of the entering fluid between the entrance end of the member 14 and the return scoop 24 adjacent this end , that is within antechamber 18a . a fifth effect is occasioned by the diverting rib action of the mounting spacer 27 and 28 , which lie in a common plane generally on a diameter of the chamber 18 . the combined effect of all of these effects is to create a &# 34 ; scrubbing &# 34 ; action and place the fluid in intimate contact with the metal alloy of the inner surface of the chamber 18 and the member 14 , both of which are formed of the same composition . with fluid passing trough the chamber 18 , mini venturi effects are created with the velocity of the main fluid flow decreasing while the pressure is increasing at various points , while at other points the reverse is true . the housing 12 and the member 14 are each preferably cast in one piece of a suitable metal composition which is non - corrosive and non - contaminating for use in water systems , or the like . the housing 12 and member 14 are both cast , with a composition by weight , before heating , of 68 % copper , 11 % zinc , 10 . 5 % nickel , 10 % tin and 0 . 5 % lead ( the lead content , after heating and cooling , is reduced to about 0 . 0002 %). in the casting process , the surface of the fins and foils is generally smooth to the naked eye , but , under a microscope can be seen to be abrasive for providing a &# 34 ; scrubbing &# 34 ; action during use . in a conventional water system , such as from a municipal or other public water supply , little attention is paid to removal of minerals other than to acceptable levels of potability not injurious to public health . in some such water systems , the pipelines and conduits have been in place for tens or even hundreds of years , with a corresponding buildup of scale and deposits in the water mains before they get to the residence . most , if not all , of these deposits are adhesive in nature and while not harmful for humans , they do have an adverse effect on the taste of the water , as well as a deleterious effect on the end use of the water for bathing or washing clothes . in some instances , these adhesive masses include decomposable substances which result in the creation of gas pockets , some of which are corrosive . with the configuration of the housing 12 and member 14 , turbulence is created within the fluid flow to cause merging of bubbles of entrapped gas , to thereby create larger bubbles which are easily aerated , to cause soled particles to enter into colloidal suspension , and to break up adhesive masses . although the principle of operation is not totally understood , by viewing each side of the member 14 as having passages configured as sine wave , it can be seen that the &# 34 ; sine wave &# 34 ; of one passage ( shown in fig2 ) has twice the frequency of the &# 34 ; sine wave &# 34 ; of the other passage ( shown in fig1 ). by imagining these &# 34 ; sine waves &# 34 ; continuing down the conduit thereafter , it would appear that a combined effect would take place at a greater distance thereafter , where tow waves are traveling down the same tube in side by side relation , with the frequency of one wave being twice that of the other , with both waves passing through the low point of amplitude of velocity ( or conversely pressure ) at least once for every fluctuation of the lower frequency waveform . consequently , within the same length , the velocity of the fluid is fluctuating twice in the one passage for one fluctuation in the other passage , with the pressure at the point of exit of both passages into aft chamber 18b being generally equal . in addition with the ribs 30 and the fin sections and foil surfaces being microscopically &# 34 ; rough &# 34 ;, microscopic particles are broken up with this scrubbing action . in addition , bubbles entering will be caused to merge creating larger bubbles for ease of aeration . adhesive masses will be broken down into microscopic particles , and all of this will remain in suspension due to the turbulence create by the different venturi effects caused by the combined effects of the various parts on the fluid flow through the conditioner 10 . referring now to fig7 there is shown an alternate embodiment of a fluid flow control member 114 , in which the body in non - cylindrical , but has a configuration similar to the two &# 34 ; sine waves &# 34 ;, wherein one lengthwise sine wave formed portion has first and second maximum amplitude portions or nodes 60 and 61 , while an adjacent or central portion has a single maximum amplitude portion or node 62 intermediate nodes 60 and 62 . the portion including node 62 would have on the opposite side thereof , another portion formed exactly like that shown in the foreground of fig7 . side extending mounting spacers 63 are shown for mounting to the interior of housing 12 , it being understood that these spacers would likewise be in aligned pairs . this configuration will also cause the combined turbulence effects previously described when placed within the chamber 18 . the coaction of the flowing water with the inner configuration of the housing member 12 and the members 14 or 114 creates maximum turbulence , enabling all water passing through the chamber 18 area to come in contact with the atomic surface of the unique alloy of the housing 12 and member 14 many times . in summary , initially the water will come into contact with the finned sections of the core member 14 which will scrub the water , create turbulence in the water and with the unique venturi effect permit all water passing through the chamber 18 to maintain pre - entry psi within 10 &# 34 ; of the exit opening 22 of the conditioner 10 . the curved internal flow control ribs 18 will divert the flowing water into a left hand vortex resulting in increased velocity of the water in the annular passageway . at the same time the return scoops 26 and 24 at each end of the chamber 18 area will direct 1 / 3 of all water entering the chamber 18 to reverse the flow and cause a maximum mixing of all water in the chamber area . the inner core venturi action , coupled with the curved flow control ribs 30 and return scoops , activated further by the flow diverter mounting spacers 27 , 28 , will result in maximum conditioning of all water passing through the unit at either high or low volumes , ie . : 25 / 30 psi to 120 psi and above . while there have been shown and described preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that various other modification may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention . the member 12 , 13 and 114 , in accordance with the invention may be fabricated by means other than casting , and may have any diameter , the diameters set forth herein being for illustrative purposes and not intended to be limiting factors . the members may be constructed to accommodate different fluid flow rates from 200 gallons per minute to 36 , 000 gallons per minute with excellent results in residential , commercial , industrial and solar applications resulting in significant cost savings due to the minimization of elimination of corrosive activity in the conduits or mains . the venturi means heretofore illustrated and described are examples of configurations which may be readily employed , but others may be devised consistent with the invention herein described . | 2 |
referring to the drawings , in fig1 , reference numeral 1 relates to a substrate on which rests a mould 2 for reducing the present invention into practice . the substrate 1 is preferably a horizontal floor . if no such floor is available , some equalisation platform or the like must be placed on the substrate so that its upper surface will be horizontal and the mould thus rests on a horizontal substrate . the moulding consists of or comprises a moulding box or flask 3 , which encloses in itself a first model section 4 and a second model section 5 . in such instance , the first model section 4 is designed for casting of the working component of the tool by casting of steel . it should be emphasised already at this stage that the tool may very well have more than one working component and thus the mould may have several first model sections 4 . above the first model section 4 , there is disposed a second model section 5 which is intended for the casting of grey iron , so that a tool body is formed . the second model section may , in the conventional manner , be provided with mould cores so that cavities 6 are formed in the tool body cast from grey iron . in addition , the mould box 3 is , in the conventional manner , filled with foundry or moulding sand 7 which has tamped , packed and set . both of the model sections 4 and 5 have a planar contact surface where they are in contact with one another , or where they are united . this contact surface 8 is the desired position of the interconnection zone which is formed in the interface region between the steel which is cast in the first model section 4 and the grey iron which is cast in the second model section 5 . the contact surface 8 is parallel with the lower edge 9 of the moulding box 3 so that the contact surface 8 will be horizontal when the moulding box rests on a horizontal substrate . in the production of the mould according to fig1 , an upper portion 12 of the moulding box is first removed and the moulding box 3 is placed on a planar , horizontal substrate with its upper edge turned to face downwards . thereafter , the total model , which hence consists of or comprises two or more first sections 4 and one second section 5 is placed on a substrate 1 on which the upper edge of the moulding box 3 rests . this presupposes however that the contact plane 8 is parallel with the upper surface of the second model section 5 . the important feature is that the contact plane 8 will be horizontal in the casting position of the mould , in the mould illustrated in fig1 , parallel with the lower edge 9 of the moulding box . it may be appropriate to join together the second model section 5 with the first model section or sections 4 , so that they together form a manageable unit . thereafter , the moulding box 3 is filled with foundry or moulding sand of suitable quality , and it should here be emphasised that this moulding sand need not be of the same quality around the second model section 5 and around the first model section or sections 4 . when the moulding box 3 has been filled in this manner with moulding sand and the sand has been tamped , packed and permitted to set , the moulding box 3 is inverted to the moulding position , it being ensured that the contact plane 8 is horizontal in that the substrate on which the moulding box is placed is also horizontal . thereafter , the upper portion 12 is placed on the moulding box 3 and the mould is completed with the ingates 10 and 11 . if the second section 5 of the model were not to have its upper side 5 ( according to fig1 ) parallel with the contact plane 8 , the second model section 5 must be chocked up to a correct inclination which compensates for the non - parallelism between the contact plane 8 and the upper surface , so that thereby , in the finished mould 2 , the contact plane 8 will always be horizontal when the moulding box 3 is on a horizontal substrate . in fig1 , reference numeral 10 relates , as was intimated above , to an ingate for the steel which is to be cast in the first model section 4 . while not being apparent from fig1 , the ingate system that is employed for casting of the steel is formed in such a manner that it at least partly extends in under the first model section 4 and connects to it in order to give a casting direction for the steel from beneath and upwards towards the contact surface 8 , which represents the desired position of the interconnection zone which is to be formed between the two different material qualities . the design of the ingate system for the grey iron may be made in a conventional manner . in order to close the mould box 3 upwardly and accommodate parts of the ingate systems , there is provided an upper portion 12 above the moulding box 3 which includes moulding or foundry sand 7 . both of the model sections 4 and 5 , which are included in the total mould model in fig1 , are destructible models on casting , for example produced from expanded polystyrene . in a conventional manner they are also provided with blacking to improve the surface finish on the cast material . fig2 shows an alternative embodiment of a mould 2 for reducing the present invention into practice . the reference numerals in this figure correspond to the reference numerals in fig1 , but it will be clearly apparent that both of the model sections 4 and 5 have completely different appearances . also in the embodiment according to fig2 , there may occur a plurality of first model sections 4 , which are connected either directly to the ingate system 10 or indirectly via communications between the different first model sections . it will be apparent from both fig1 and fig2 that , on casting of the steel in the first model section or sections 4 , these will be destroyed by the steel melt , since the model sections are produced from expanded polystyrene . however , this also applies to a part of the second model section 5 , at least in the area straight above the first model section 4 . this implies that , after the casting of the steel , those portions of the foundry sand that are exposed downwards towards the first model section or sections 4 will be exposed to an extremely powerful thermal radiation which possibly could break down the binder in the foundry sand . for this reason , the second model section 5 , at least on those parts which are exposed to this thermal radiation , are provided with extra protection in the form or one or more extra layers of blacking . regardless of whether the mould 2 has the appearance as illustrated in fig1 or fig2 , the steel is always cast first at a temperature of the order of magnitude or 1550 ° c . once the steel casting has been completed and the upper surface of the steel has reached the level of the contact surface 8 , a pause is made in the casting process , so that the cast steel is permitted to cool . in such instance , it has been ensured that the steel cools last in the region of the contact surface or plane 8 in that the first model section has been given a form which entails that , to some degree , it tapers downwards ( according to fig1 and 2 ) in a direction away from the contact surface or plane 8 . as a result , a directed cooling will be obtained , where the cooling first takes place in the lower parts of the first model section 4 and last in the region at the contact surface or plane 8 . at the contact surface 8 , parts of the first and the second model sections 4 and 5 , respectively , have been given uniform thickness throughout their entire length ( the length in the direction from left to right in fig1 and 2 ). the uniform thickness implies that the temperature distribution throughout the entire contact surface 8 where the model sections meet one another , will relatively uniform , which is an important precondition for good quality in the interconnection zone . in actual fact , it is the case that , by computer simulation , the parts 16 , 17 of the two model sections , lying in the proximity of the contact surface , are formed in such a manner that the steel cast in the lower model section will have as uniform a temperature distribution at the contact surface 8 as is humanly possible to achieve . in the same manner , by means of a computer simulation , a calculation is made of the time that is needed for achieving a temperature in the steel cast in the first model section 4 at the contact surface 8 , a first temperature corresponding to the liquidus temperature of the selected steel quality minus approx . 30 ° to 150 ° c ., often in the region of 1440 ° to 1320 ° c . this pause or stay time in the casting process may amount to one or a few minutes , but it may also be as long as between 15 and 20 minutes , depending overall on the size of the first model section or sections 4 . the casting of the grey iron is carried out when the computed pause or stay time has elapsed at a second temperature , which corresponds to the liquidus temperature of the grey iron plus approx . 100 ° to 150 ° c ., often approx . 1320 ° c . at the interconnection zone , if the casting of the grey iron takes place at an elevated first temperature , i . e . at or above the upper end of the exemplified temperature range of approx . 1440 ° to 1320 ° c ., a certain intermixing of the two materials may occur at the same time as a diffusion process occurs , where parts of the one material migrate into the other and vice versa . if , on the other hand , the casting takes place at a low first temperature , i . e . at or below the lower end of the exemplified temperature range , a diffusion process still occurs , which implies that the interconnection zone will also have a certain intermixing of the two materials , and still a thickness of at least a millimetre or so , but preferably slightly more , possibly up to 2 . 5 - 3 . 0 mm . in practical strength trials which have been conducted , no breakage , either in tensile or bending tests , has occurred in the interconnection zone proper , but always occurred in the grey iron . as was mentioned above , the contact surface 8 , i . e . the theoretical position of the interconnection zone in the vertical direction , is horizontal . since the interconnection zone is defined by the upper , free surface of the steel melt , it will readily be perceived that this will planar and also horizontal . there are certain problems in accurately computing the quantity of steel melt which is to be cast in the mould 2 . for this reason , the mould has been provided with one or more accommodation spaces 13 to which any possible surplus of steel will be permitted to run so that , thereby , the level of the cast steel will always be at the contact surface 8 . fig3 shows in cross section a detail through a mould , where such an accommodation space 13 is provided . the accommodation space 13 is connected via a duct 14 to the mould cavity of the mould in the region of the contact surface 8 . the duct 14 has a lower wall 15 which , in the mould cavity , discharges on the level of the contact surface 8 . the cross - sectional area of the duct 14 is so large that it exceeds the total cross sectional area of the ingate system for steel , preferably by at least a factor of 1 . 5 . it will also be apparent from fig3 that the lower duct wall 15 slants from the contact surface 8 in a downward direction towards the accommodation space 13 . depending on the form , size and the number of the first model sections 4 , a plurality of different accommodation spaces 13 may be employed . in such instance , one accommodation space may directly or indirectly , via ducts , serve two or more first model sections 4 , but the reverse is also possible . in order to give the interconnection zone the correct formation , i . e . uniform width throughout its entire extent , the first model section 4 has an upper region 16 which forms a uniformly thick wall or projection , which is directed in the vertical direction in the mould 2 and which extends up towards the second model section 5 . correspondingly , the second model section 5 has a uniformly thick wall 17 or projection which extends downwards in a direction towards the first model section 4 . the interconnection zone is placed between both of these wall portions 16 and 17 displaying substantially constant cross - sectional area in the region of the interconnection zone , i . e . the contact surface 8 . further , the lower end surface ( in fig1 and 2 ) of the upper wall 17 abuts against the upper end surface of the lower wall 16 and further these end surfaces coincide substantially as regards size and configuration . fig4 shows ( in a position inverted in relation to the position during casting ) in perspective a tool cast according to the invention , and it will be apparent that this has a steel portion 18 which is cast in the first model section 4 , and a grey iron portion 19 which is cast in the second model section 5 . the figure also shows an accommodation space 13 and two ducts 14 , by means of which it is connected to the first model section 4 ( the steel portion 18 ). that steel which may possibly arrive in the accommodation space or spaces 13 disposed in the mould is removed gradually , according as the casting of the complete tool proceeds . fig5 shows ( in a position inverted in relation to the position during casting ) in perspective a tool cast according to the present invention . it will be clearly apparent that the grey iron portion 19 has a wall 17 upwardly directed towards the steel portion 18 , the wall being of uniform thickness throughout its entire extent . correspondingly , it will be apparent that the steel portion 18 has a wall 16 directed towards the grey iron portion 19 and having the same size and extent as the wall 17 . fig6 shows a further embodiment of a composite tool cast according to the present invention , which is shown in the same position as it has on casting in the mould . it will be apparent that the contact surface 8 , i . e . the interconnection zone in the finished tool , is horizontal . it will further be clearly apparent from the figure that the grey iron portion 19 of the tool has a downwardly directed wall 17 which has its counterpart in an upwardly directed wall 16 on the steel portion 18 of the tool . also in this embodiment , there is a number of cutting edges 20 on the steel portion . as was mentioned above , the steel is cast from beneath and upwards as first component before the grey iron is cast . since the model 4 , 5 is produced from expanded polystyrene , this will be destroyed , be vaporised and combust already during the casting of the steel . this implies quite a voluminous development of gas which would have as a consequence an uncontrolled and rapid gas outflow and combustion of the gases in the ingate 11 to the grey iron portion . in order to realise a better controlled casting process for the steel , but above all for reasons of working environment health , the ingate 11 to the grey iron is kept blocked while the steel is cast , so that the gases thus generated are forced to depart via other routes , for example via a ventilation system or quite simply through the foundry sand in the moulding box . | 8 |
gold nanorods ( gnrs ) were prepared in large scale by performing modifications of a protocol reported before . the synthesis begins with the preparation of a seed colloidal suspension . first 250 μl of an aqueous 0 . 01 m solution of haucl 4 . 3h 2 o are added to 7 . 5 ml of 0 . 1 m ctab solution in a 50 ml plastic centrifuge tube and mixed gently . then , 600 μl of an aqueous ice - cold solution of 0 . 01 m nabh 4 is added . by moderately mixing for 2 min , the solution turns to a pale - brown yellow color . the solution is maintained undisturbed for 2 h at 25 ° c . for further gnrs growth . the solution has to be heated to 27 ° c . since ctab has poor water solubility . a 45 . 2 ml batch of nanorods colloidal suspensions is prepared as follows : 270 μl of 0 . 01 m agno 3 water solution is added to 42 . 75 ml ctab solution in a 50 ml plastic centrifuge tube followed by addition of 1 . 8 ml of 0 . 01 m haucl 4 3h 2 o aqueous solution . they are then gently mixed after addition of the silver and gold solutions to the ctab solution . then , a 0 . 1 m ascorbic acid aqueous solution ( 288 μl ) is added to the mixture ( the solution becomes colorless ). finally , the seed solution is added ( 90 μl ), and the reaction tube is maintained undisturbed for 12 hr at 27 ° c . at the end of the procedure the solution turns blue . significant time was dedicated to study the procedure to separate nanorods from spheres and other shapes by centrifugation of nanorods solutions . two different centrifugation speeds were tested : 6 , 500 and 8 , 500 rpm , removing the surfactant and transferring to another test tube every 3 - 5 minutes . the details of the centrifugation process are illustrated in fig1 . the absorbance and plasmon locations obtained by ultraviolet - visible ( uv - vis ) light absorption spectrophotometry were used for determining nanoparticle concentration according to previously reported extinction coefficients . the same procedure was followed for four months in order to analyze the gnrs stability over time . gnrs were kept at 8 ° c . for further analysis . sers probe molecule was 4 - aminobenzethiol ( 4 - abt ). a custom - made stainless steel holder was designed for running the sers experiments as illustrated in fig2 . the holder has a circular cutoff along its center in which the capillary tube is placed . this holder the capillary tube rigidly and reproducibly while running the experiments the final concentration on the nr solution was 1 μm for excitation wavelength effects and nanoparticle dilution studies . the sensitivity of the gnrs was characterized by measuring sers spectra while decreasing 4 - abt molar concentrations . gnrs and 4 - abt were mixed with hand agitation and sers spectra were obtained 5 min after sample preparation to ensure that the analyte was adsorbed on the nanoparticles . a small volume of this sample was transferred to a glass capillary tube ( 1 . 5 × 90 mm ) and placed in the stainless steel capillary tube holder fused for sers and raman experiments under microscope or macro experiments . two milliliters of the original nanorods solution were mixed with three milliliters of water and were transferred to a glass beaker as illustrated in fig3 . two milliliters of cyclohexane were added to the top of the nanorod solution forming an immiscible water / cyclohexane interface . then , absolute ethanol ( 2 ml ) was added dropwise to the solution using a pasteur pipette , leading to the nanorod film to be trapped at the cyclohexane / water interface . ethanol helps to remove all the excess of surfactant and to acts as an inducer . then , part of the cyclohexane ( bottom phase ) was removed and drained out the solution until the bottom of the beaker containing the au / glass slide ( 1 cm × 1 cm or 1 cm × 2 cm ) was completely covered with the nanoparticles as shown at the end of fig3 . sers spectra from the aggregated nanorods were recorded after 24 hr of the film preparation to ensure the evaporation of the cyclohexane . 2 , 4 , 6 - tnt was dissolved in absolute ethanol . 3 , 5 - dn - 4 - m - ba was prepared in water and the ph was changed to 9 . 0 to guarantee the proton dissociation . five micro liters of the sample solutions were spread out on the sers substrates and 10 min of incubation were waited before running sers experiments to facilitate the adsorption of the analytes on the substrates . the invention is based on the use of gold nanorods as sers substrate for detecting nitroexplosives . one of the main aspects of the invention is to guarantee that the vast majority of the nanoparticles ( nps ) present in the colloidal suspension ensemble were rods . an inspection of the intensity distribution of the longitudinal ( lp ) and transverse ( tp ) plasmons in the uv - vis spectra provided important findings about the population of nps . namely , that the nanorods have different location of both plasmon components and that the two components vary in relative intensity . the transverse plasmon has contributions from nanorods and from spheres present in the suspension . the longitudinal plasmon is due only to the presence of nanorods . the ratio of intensities of both plasmons was obtained to determine the effect of speed and time of centrifugation on the separation of spheres and separation of nanorods of different sizes . for example , intensity ratios for 3 min and 15 min were 1 . 83 and 2 . 15 , respectively . from the methods of centrifugation it can be concluded that by using a speed of 6500 rpm for 15 min is an efficient method to separate different shapes from the nanorods achieving an 85 % of spheres separation . these results were confirmed by tem images as the ones shown in fig4 , centrifuged at 6 , 500 rpm : ( a ) 3 min centrifugation , scale : 100 nm ; ( b ) 15 min centrifugation , scale : 50 nm . by comparing the tem images only nanorods were obtained at this centrifuging speed and the aspect ratio obtained was ˜ 2 . table 1 below summarizes how the concentration of gnrs changes with different batches using the same reagents . it is clearly observed that there is a variation on the concentration of ± 0 . 2 nm . this can be attributed to some sample loss during centrifugation process while the supernatant is removed from the rods . when the idea to propose the synthesized gold nanorods as a sensor for explosives detection using sers was conceived , one of the main aims of the invention was to study the stability of the gnr over a long period of time ( more than 30 days ). fig5 shows a plot of the variation of the wavelength location of tp and lp components of gnrs with the time up to week 12 ( three months ). the synthesized gnrs were aged for three months at 8 ° c . instead of room temperature . according to the intensity of lp and tp it can be concluded that both nrs plasmons change in location and intensity over time . tp values were approximately 0 . 17 in absorbance units . the location of tp changed only 2 nm from week zero to week 12 . however , values of lp locations changed drastically in 12 nm . the lp component band position moved significantly from 623 . 4 nm to 612 nm in three months . since the lp component band is related with the length of the gnr , the results presented indicate that the length of the nanorods decreases with aging time . just the contrary happens to the width that is not significantly affected with aging time . an explanation of this fact is due the atomic defects on the { 110 } facets on the gnrs . sers activity of the gnr prepared was analyzed at the beginning and the end of the aging period . according to fig6 , ( a ) sers spectra of 4 - abt at week 3 , 4 and 12 measured using 785 nm excitation line ; ( b ) sers activity of the gnr at several weeks after preparation ), there is a gradual decrease in intensity of the bands located at 390 , 1078 and 1588 cm − 1 with time . there is no large loss of sers activity in 4 weeks . however , after 12 weeks the signals decrease by 90 % compared with freshly prepared nanoparticles . these results confirm that sers signal depends on the nanoparticle aging . the system for assembling gnrs consists of a platform in which the slide is on an angle of inclination of 5 ° to 10 ° inside a capped glass vessel , which also has a system to drain the solution . the slide is placed inside before adding the corresponding amounts of cyclohexane , nanorods solution and ethanol . once the system achieved the conditions in which the nanoparticles were enclosed in the organic - aqueous interface forming the sought films , the system was allowed to drain , which led to the appearance of a mirror like metallic shine due the result of optical coupling of the gold nanorods . when the spacing between nanorods deposited reaches a maximum value , the surface plasmon modes began to interact to give rise to a wide band as shown in fig7 ( a ) red : aggregated gnrs ; ( b ) gray : au — si slide . the maximum peak is located ca ˜ 751 nm which is close to the 785 nm excitation line . the gray line in the graph is the spectrum on the slide without any nanorods . this broad plasmon band is attractive for exploring excitation with various laser wavelengths . fig8 shows representative field emission - scanning electron microscope ( fe - sem ) images of the aggregated gold nanorods ( a ) and ( b , high magnification ). according to these images , large area is covered for the nanorods with a high density on the substrate . gnrs are closely packed ( high magnification , fig8 ) on the entire surface with high coverage with the exception of some areas that are not covered by the nanorods . in addition , the procedure with cyclohexane gave the formation of multilayers organized in three - dimensional arrays with some void spaces . the poor distance definition between nanoparticles increased the optical coupling since more gnrs are in contact with each other causing the presence of a broad plasmon band . the presence of large void spaces on the film can be attributed to high water draining speed during solvent separation . the described sers sensor in this invention using gold nanorods is depicted in fig9 . although the presence of the broad plasmon band on the aggregated nanorods allows the use of a wide range of excitation lines , experiments were only performed at 785 nm . the idea was to induce an electromagnetic enhancement with the laser line close to the maximum plasmon band located at the junction of the nanorods due to hot spots formed . the plan was to have the maximum enhancement with a fine control of gap between nps having explosives molecules adsorbed on hot spots . the normal raman spectrum and sers spectrum of 3 , 5 - dinitro - 4 - methyl - benzoic acid is depicted in fig1 , ( a ) sers spectrum ( red trace ); and ( b ) normal raman of 3 , 5 - d - 4 - m - ba adsorbed on gnrs ( blue trace ). spectra were normalized to acquisition time and laser power ( λ exc = 785 nm ). the bands labeled in bold in the sers spectrum are due the ctab micelles and correspond to ch 3 deformation mode 1447 cm − 1 and the c — n + stretching mode at 764 cm − 1 . the change in intensity of some bands is clearly observed and according to the surface selection rules it can give information related to the orientation of the nitrocompound on the surface . the 1024 cm − 1 ring in - plane deformation and c — c symmetric stretch is very weak in the normal raman spectrum , but it increases in the sers spectrum . in the same way , the nitro vibration at 1364 cm − 1 undergoes 10 cm − 1 shift . such spectral changes suggest that the molecule is adsorbed on the gold nanorod surface with the nitro groups near the surface and the aromatic ring is perpendicular to the surface . the band at 521 cm − 1 is attributed to the si surface signal . the way 2 , 4 , 6 - tnt can be oriented on nanometallic surfaces of colloidal suspensions has been discussed by kneipp with the molecule oriented perpendicular to the nanoparticle surface . sers and normal raman spectrum of 2 , 4 , 6 - tnt is shown in fig1 , ( a ) sers spectrum ( blue trace ); and ( b ) normal raman spectrum ( red trace ) of 2 , 4 , 6 - tnt adsorbed on gnr . spectra are normalized to acquisition time and laser power ( υ exc = 785 nm ). the increase in intensity of the band at 1078 cm − 1 ( ring breathing mode ) in the sers spectrum is clearly observed . comparing the sers spectrum with the normal one , this vibration is very weak . the moderately strong enhancement of this vibrational mode in the sers spectrum suggests that tnt molecules on nanorods are oriented perpendicular to the surface . in addition , the symmetric stretching vibration of the nitro group [ ν s ( no 2 )] at 1359 cm − 1 and the asymmetric stretching vibration of the nitro group [ ν as ( no 2 )] at 1533 cm − 1 undergo considerable shifts , indicating that the nitro groups are located near the gnr surface . by considering the 4 . 5 × 10 − 5 cm 2 laser spot and 10 × objective it was possible to detect 10 . 2 pg of 2 , 4 , 6 - tnt and 5 . 0 pg of 3 , 5 - dn - 4 - m - ba . as seen in table 2 below , the numbers of molecules / cm 2 are 2 . 7 × 10 10 and 1 . 4 × 10 10 for 2 , 4 , 6 - tnt and 3 , 5 - dn - 4 - m - ba , respectively . the sensitivity is comparable with previous studies that detected picogram amounts of tnt under 150 μm spot laser . the nitro symmetric band was used to perform reproducibility studies . five spectra were recorded at different locations on the substrates to test for reproducibility on the formation of the film prepared using cyclohexane / water interface . taking into account peak areas a 5 % variation coefficient was determined , indicating very good reproducibility . this demonstrates that nanorods deposited using cyclohexane / water interface aggregated almost homogenously on the glass slide . this self - assembly method can be used for further nanoparticles and sers studies . ctab - seed mediated gold nanorods promise to be good sensing platforms for sers in trace detection of nitroexplosives . the sensitivity of the gnrs was in the range of 5 - 10 pg under the laser spot . this sensitivity is comparable with other studies reported in the literature . however , the use of other excitation lines is really needed to explore the effect on the enhancements . also , the gnr / water ratio for assembling must be explored to see the effects on the nanorods gaps . the setup used to prepare the films of nanorods on cyclohexane / water interface and transfer to a solid substrate was very efficient for the preparation of the aggregated nanorods as films . apparently , a large surface area was covered by the gnr . the amount of ethanol was found to be critical for the formation of the nanorods films at the cyclohexane / water interface . the two dimensional arrangement of the nanorods will possibly allow the control of the gap distance between nanoparticle and increase the sensitivity . to the best of our knowledge , the gold nanoparticles of the invention have not been reported as sers substrates used as sensors for explosives detection . nanorods described in this invention have the suitable size to be used as sers substrates ( ranging from 60 to 120 nm , average lengths ) compared to commercially available gold spherical nanoparticles ( average length : 45 to 60 nm . the proposed colloidal suspensions are stable for three months which offer advantages for commercialization . the nanoparticles described in this invention were produced in large scale with a good reproducibility in the synthesis on several independent batch processes . although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments , it is evident that many alternatives and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description . accordingly , the invention is intended to embrace all of the alternatives and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims . | 1 |
fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | 6 |
exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described with reference the accompanying drawings . like items in the drawings are shown with the same reference numbers . fig5 shows a block diagram of a local clock signal distribution system similar to that shown in fig2 ) with a clock noise reduction circuit 48 added in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the clock signal 30 a is input to a clock header 32 which serves to buffer the clock signal . from the header 32 , the clock signal 30 b is input to a flip - flop 34 where it serves to trigger the device . in this embodiment of the present invention , the initial clock signal 30 a is split before the signal 30 a is input into the header 32 . the parallel split of the signal 30 a is input into a clock noise reduction circuit 48 . upon sensing the rising edge of the clock signal 30 a , the clock noise reduction circuit 48 will dump a voltage charge 50 onto the power grid of the system . the dumped charge 50 will alleviate the current noise spike associated with the clock cycle . fig6 shows a logic schematic of a clock noise reduction circuit 48 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . once inside the noise reduction circuit 48 , the clock signal 30 a is input into to a first inverter 50 a . this inverter 50 a simply inverts the signal value . next the signal is input to a second inverter 50 b which inverts the signal back to its original value . the signal 52 ( hereafter referred to as “ charge signal ”) is then split off into two branches . one branch of the charge signal 52 is input into a third inverter 50 c which once again inverts the signal . the output of the third inverter 50 c ( hereafter referred to as “ dump signal ”) is then input , along with the charge signal 52 , into three circuit control transistors : a charge control transistor 56 ; a dump control transistor 58 ; and a connecting transistor 60 . it is important to note that the charge signal 52 and the dump signal 54 will have opposite values because the charge signal passes through the third inverter 50 c . the charge control transistor 56 connects the system power supply ( vdd ) with the system ground ( vss ) through an charge capacitor 62 a . the charge capacitor 62 a is located between the charge control transistor 56 and vss . the transistor 56 is controlled ( i . e . switched on and off ) with the charge signal 52 . the transistor 56 is a “ p - type ” transistor which means that the transistor is “ on ” ( allows current to pass ) when the charge signal 52 is low . conversely , the transistor 56 is “ off ” ( does not allow current to pass ) when the charge signal 52 is high . the dump control transistor 58 also connects the system power supply ( vdd ) with the system ground ( vss ) through a dump capacitor 62 b . the dump capacitor 62 b is located between the dump control transistor 58 and vdd . the transistor 58 is controlled ( i . e . switched on and off ) with the dump signal 54 . the transistor 58 is an “ n - type ” transistor which means that the transistor is “ on ” ( allows current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is high . conversely , the transistor 58 is “ off ” ( does not allow current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is low . finally , the connecting transistor 60 connects both sides of the circuit . specifically , the connecting transistor 60 connects the sides between the control transistors 56 , 58 and the respective capacitors 62 a , 62 b . the connecting transistor 60 is a “ p - type ” transistor which means that the transistor is “ on ” ( allows current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is low . conversely , the transistor 60 is “ off ” ( does not allow current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is high . in normal operation , the control circuit has two phases of operation : a charge phase and a dump phase . in each phase , the circuit is activated by an “ active low ” signal . this means that the respective control signal ( charge 52 or dump 54 ) initiates its respective phase when it is low rather than high . specifically , during the charge phase , the charge signal 52 will be low and the dump signal 54 will be high . as a result , the charge control transistor 56 and the dump control transistor 58 are both “ on ” while the connecting transistor 60 is “ off ”. this allows both capacitors 62 a , 62 b to charge in preparation for the dump phase . during the dump phase , the charge signal 52 will be high and the dump signal 54 will be low . as a result , the charge control transistor 56 and the dump control transistor 58 are both “ off ” while the connecting transistor 60 is “ on ”. this allows both capacitors 62 a , 62 b to dump their charge on the power grid and consequently reduce the peak current draw . fig7 a and 7 b show the equivalent circuits of a portion of the digital logic schematic shown in fig6 during a charge phase and discharge phase respectively . in each figure , the “ off ” transistors have been deleted while the “ on ” transistors have been replaced by a standard circuit connection . specifically , fig7 a shows an equivalent circuit during the charge phase . it shows the two capacitors 62 a and 62 b connected in parallel between vdd and vss . fig7 b shows an equivalent circuit during the dump phase . it shows the two capacitors 62 a and 62 b connected in series between vdd and vss . when the capacitors 62 a and 62 b are in parallel during the charge phase , the each store a charge value “ q ”, where q =( capacitance value “ c ”)× vdd . consequently , the total charge stored by the circuit is 2 q . when the capacitors 62 a and 62 b are in series during the dump phase , each capacitor 62 a and 62 b will have a voltage equal to vdd / 2 across it . consequently , each capacitor will store only q / 2 for a total stored charge of q by the circuit . the excess charge equal to q will be dumped onto the power grid . in comparing fig6 with fig3 it is important to note that the clock header 32 and flip - flop 34 are synchronized with the clock noise reduction circuit 48 . the header 32 and flip - flop 34 have a three separate layers of inverters 38 a , 38 b , 38 c , 38 d along with the nand gate 36 , while the clock noise reduction circuit 48 has only three inverters 50 a , 50 b , 50 c . in order to synchronize the signals , the components of both paths 38 a - d , 36 , 50 a - c are sized such that the delays of both paths are identical . the circuit 48 shown in fig6 triggers the dump phase on the falling edge of the clock signal 30 a because the dump phase begins when the dump signal 54 is “ low ” or on the falling edge . however , the circuit could easily be arranged to trigger the dump phase on the falling edge of the clock signal 30 a . fig8 shows a logic schematic of a clock noise reduction circuit 63 in accordance with one embodiment of a falling edge triggered circuit . the noise reduction circuit 63 is similar to the rising edge triggered circuit 48 ( shown in fig6 ) in that is has the same configuration of three sequential inverters 50 a , 50 b , 50 c that generate the charge signal 52 and the dump signal 54 in the same manner . additionally , the falling edge circuit 63 has a charge control transistor 64 , dump control transistor 68 , and a connecting transistor 66 . each is arranged in a similar configuration with respect to vdd , vss , and capacitors 62 a , 62 b , as the rising edge circuit 48 . however , in the falling edge circuit 63 , each of the transistors 64 , 66 , 68 are the opposite type of transistor with respect to the transistors 56 , 58 , 60 of the rising edge circuit 48 . specifically , the charge control transistor 64 and the connecting transistor 66 are both “ n - type ” transistors while the dump control transistor 68 is a “ p - type ” transistor . this means that the charge control transistor 64 is “ on ” ( allows current to pass ) when the charge signal 52 is high . conversely , the transistor 64 is “ off ” ( does not allow current to pass ) when the charge signal 52 is low . additionally , the dump control transistor 68 is “ on ” ( allows current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is low . conversely , the transistor 68 is “ off ” ( does not allow current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is high . finally , the connecting transistor 66 is “ on ” ( allows current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is high . conversely , the connecting transistor 66 is “ off ” ( does not allow current to pass ) when the dump signal 54 is low . the charge phases and dump phases of the falling edge circuit 63 will function in the same manner as the rising edge circuit 48 . however , these phases will be triggered by an “ active high ” control signal ( charge 52 or dump 54 ). during the charge phase the charge signal 52 will be high and the dump signal 54 will be low . as a result , the charge control transistor 64 and the dump control transistor 68 are both “ on ” while the connecting transistor 66 is “ off ”. this allows both capacitors 62 a , 62 b to charge in preparation for the dump phase . during the dump phase , the charge signal 52 will be low and the dump signal 54 will be high . as a result , the charge control transistor 64 and the dump control transistor 68 are both “ off ” while the connecting transistor 66 is “ on ”. this allows both capacitors 62 a , 62 b to dump their charge on the power grid and consequently reduce the peak current draw . thus , this circuit 63 will initiate the dump phase on the falling edge of the clock signal 30 a because the dump phase begins when the dump signal 54 is “ high ” or on the rising edge . fig9 shows a logic schematic of a clock noise reduction circuit 69 in accordance with another embodiment of a falling edge triggered circuit . the noise reduction circuit 69 is similar to the rising edge triggered circuit 48 ( shown in fig6 ) in that is has the same configuration of three sequential inverters 50 a , 50 b , 50 c that generate the charge signal 52 and the dump signal 54 in the same manner . additionally , the falling edge circuit 69 has a charge control transistor 64 , a dump control transistor 68 , and a connecting transistor 66 . each is arranged in a similar configuration with respect to vdd , vss , and capacitors 62 a , 62 b , as the rising edge circuit 48 . however , in this embodiment of a falling edge circuit 69 , the dump signal 54 and the charge signal 52 are switched as inputs to the control transistors 56 and 58 . specifically , the charge signal 52 is input into the “ n - type ” control transistor 58 ( the dump control transistor of the falling edge circuit 48 shown in fig6 ) while the dump signal 54 is input into the “ p - type ” control transistor 56 ( the charge control transistor of the falling edge circuit 48 shown in fig6 ). the charge phases and dump phases of the falling edge circuit 69 will function in the same manner as the rising edge circuit 48 . however , these phases will be triggered by an “ active high ” control signal ( charge 52 or dump 54 ). during the charge phase the charge signal 52 will be high and the dump signal 54 will be low . as a result , the both control transistors 56 and 58 are “ on ” while the connecting transistor 60 is “ off ”. this allows both capacitors 62 a , 62 b to charge in preparation for the dump phase . during the dump phase , the charge signal 52 will be low and the dump signal 54 will be high . as a result , both control transistors 56 and 58 are “ off ” while the connecting transistor 60 is “ on ”. this allows both capacitors 62 a , 62 b to dump their charge on the power grid and consequently reduce the peak current draw . thus , this circuit 69 will initiate the dump phase on the falling edge of the clock signal 30 a because the dump phase begins when the dump signal 54 is “ high ” or on the rising edge . fig1 shows a graph of current draw during a clock cycle period of the rising edge or falling edge noise reduction circuits as shown in fig6 - 9 . in both circuits , the results in reducing the current draw during the clock signal switching are similar . specifically , the graph of fig1 is set up on the same scale as the graph of the prior art performance shown in fig4 . the value “ i ” 35 represents the full value of a current draw . the value “{ fraction ( 3 / 4 + l )} i ” 37 represents 75 % of the full value while the value “{ fraction ( 1 / 2 + l )} i ” 39 represents 50 % of the full value . the first current draw of the graph 70 represents the draw that results from the leading edge of a clock cycle ( at clock cycle = 0 ). the second current draw 72 represents the draw that results from the falling edge of the clock cycle ( at clock cycle = t / 2 ). as shown , the leading edge draw 70 and the trailing edge draw 72 are both at about 75 % ({ fraction ( 3 / 4 + l )} i ) 37 of the full current draw . this represents a substantial improvement in noise reduction by reducing the peak current draw while only slightly increasing the companion current draw . these results are consistent for either a falling edge or a rising edge noise reduction circuit . consequently , such a reduction in the current draw during the switching for a clock signal will reduce the noise generated by the clock signal . while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , those skilled in the art , having benefit of this disclosure , will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein . accordingly , the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims . | 7 |
referring to fig2 , the external bone fixing member of the present invention comprises an external reconstruction plate 10 , at least one connection member 20 , at least one screw 30 , at least one pressing plate 40 and at least one locking member 50 . fig4 shows the external reconstruction plate 10 , however , the external reconstruction plate 10 of the present invention is not restricted as disclosed , the outer appearance , the length , the width and the thickness can be designed as any geometric shape according the applied areas . the external reconstruction plate 10 has multiple locking portions 13 and each locking portion 13 has an inner threaded hole 131 and a through hole 132 . the inner threaded hole 131 extends into the external reconstruction plate 10 a depth from the top surface of the external reconstruction plate 10 , and the through hole 132 extends into the external reconstruction plate 10 a depth from the bottom surface of the external reconstruction plate 10 . the through hole 132 is a cone - shaped hole with a small opening which communicates with the inner threaded hole 131 and shares the common axis of the inner threaded hole 131 . the locking portions 13 can be allocated at different positions depending on the shape and function of the external reconstruction plate 10 . the disclosed positions are not restricted for the invention . fig4 shows the cross sectional view of the external reconstruction plate of another preferred embodiment of the present invention . the only difference between the fig3 and fig4 is that the number and location of the locking portions 13 of the external reconstruction plate 10 . as shown in fig5 , 9 and 10 , the connection member 20 and the connection with other parts are disclosed , wherein the connection member 20 is a ring - shaped member and has an outer threaded section 21 and a polygonal section 22 . the connection member 20 has an inner threaded hole 23 and a reception hole 24 which communicates with the inner threaded hole 23 of the connection member 20 . the top end diameter 241 of the reception hole 24 of the connection member 20 is larger than the bottom end diameter 242 of the reception hole 24 of the connection member 20 . the inner wall 243 that is located adjacent to the top end diameter 241 is a vertical wall . the reception hole 24 has a concaved and curved inner wall 244 which is located adjacent to the bottom end diameter 242 . the connection member 20 can be rotated by using a tool ( not shown ) to operate the polygonal section 22 . the outer threaded section 21 is threadedly connected with the inner threaded hole 13 of the locking portion 13 of the external reconstruction plate 10 . fig6 , 9 and 10 disclose the screw 30 which has a shank 31 with outer threads . the lower end of the shank 31 is a self tapping end 32 which is a tip end in this embodiment , and a head 33 is connected to the top end of the shank 31 . the head 33 has a convex and curved outer wall 331 and a first recess 34 is defined in the top of the head 33 so as to be cooperated with a tool ( not shown ). the screw 30 extends through the connection member 20 and the external reconstruction plate 10 , and the self tapping end 32 and the shank with the outer threads is locked to the bone . the head 33 of the screw 30 is accommodated in the reception hole 24 of the connection member 20 . the concaved and curved inner wall 244 is matched with the convex and curved outer wall 331 , and the cone - shaped through hole 132 of the external reconstruction plate 10 provides the space for the screw 10 , so that the screw 10 is pivotable and can be set at different directions to fix and align the fractured bones . fig7 , 9 and 10 disclose the pressing plate 40 which is a plate and has a locking member contact surface 41 on the top thereof and a concaved screw contact surface 42 on the underside thereof . the locking member contact surface 41 transfers a compressing force and can be a flat surface or a rough surface . the concaved screw contact surface 42 is shaped to be in contact with the head 33 of the screw 30 so that the head 42 is constantly in contact with the concaved screw contact surface 42 no matter the screw 30 is pivoted to any angle and direction . the movement of the screw 30 is not restricted in any direction . fig8 , 9 and 10 disclose the locking member 50 which has outer threads 51 in the outside thereof and a second recess 52 is defined in the top thereof so as to be cooperated with a tool ( not shown ). a washer contact surface 53 is defined in the underside of the locking member 50 . the locking member 50 is connected to the connection member 20 by engaging the outer threads 51 with the inner threaded hole 131 . along with the threading action , the washer contact surface 53 provides a compression force to the pressing plate 40 so as to connect the external reconstruction plate 10 , the connection member 20 , the screw 30 and the pressing plate 40 . fig1 illustrates a utilization status of the preferred embodiment of the present invention for external fixing . the external bone fixing member of the present invention uses the external reconstruction plate 10 to replace the conventional large external support frame to reduce the volume of the external fixing member . as shown in fig1 a , the present invention provides more operational benefits to the clinical surgeries and the debridement space is preserved . the inconvenience of activities of the patient after surgery is reduced . the screw 30 is cooperated with the external reconstruction plate 10 and can be adjusted to desired angle , as shown in fig1 b , so as to fix the fractured bones of different parts such as the limbs or the complicated fractures . besides , the external reconstruction plate 10 , the connection member 20 , the screw 30 and the pressing plate 40 are connected to the external reconstruction plate 10 to lock the external reconstruction plate 10 to prevent the screw 30 from withdrawing , moving , angle changing or movement of the external reconstruction plate 10 . while we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention , it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention . | 0 |
in fig1 there is shown a preferred embodiment of a quick connect coupling 10 with coupling to a complementary connector 30 shown only in part , in the form of a nipple . the quick connect coupling 10 comprises a tubular housing 11 , wherein the right end here serves as the inlet 12 and the left end as the outlet 13 for passing the transmitted fluid on to the connecting nipple 30 . the inlet 12 to the housing 11 comprises a tubular connection adaptor 14 , which is screwed into the housing 11 and has a through passage 14 a in the form of a central bore . the connection adaptor 14 has a thread 14 b at its end here on the right , to which a hose or a pipeline can be connected for supplying the fluid to be transmitted . the connection adaptor 14 can be designed to match the fluid to be transmitted , especially the currently desired feed angle , passage cross - section , etc . on the end of the housing 11 remote from the connection adaptor 14 , namely the outlet 13 , a plurality of locking elements are provided , in the form of elongated collet jaws 15 , which are spread radially inwards in the unillustrated position before insertion into the connector 30 . the elongated collet jaws 15 , of which at least three and in general six are arranged round the housing 11 , are hooked into an annular groove 11 a of the housing 11 at the ends here on the right and are biased by a spring ring 16 so that the collet jaws 15 are spread radially inwards ( cf . also fig3 ). the collet jaws 15 comprise interlocking engagement profiles 17 on the outwardly offset surface corresponding to the hook - shaped connection profile 31 of the connector 30 at their end here on the left . around the collet jaws 15 there is provided an outer sleeve 18 , preferably of plastics material or rubber , which is guided on the cylindrical outer wall of the housing 11 . at the end of the housing 11 at the outlet 13 there is provided a sealing piston 22 which can preferably pivot in all directions by means of a ball joint and which comprises on its front end face a sealing ring 23 for abutment against a tapered sealing surface 32 of the connection nipple 30 . the sealing piston 22 is sealed by means of an inset sealing ring 24 , so that gaseous and / or liquid fluid flowing essentially along the central axis of the plug - in connector coupling 10 cannot escape to the outside . moreover a compression spring 19 , which is pre - stressed in the direction of the connection nipple 30 . is arranged in the flow path along the through passage 14 a . the compression spring 19 supported by a shoulder 20 on the connection adaptor 14 bears against a valve cone 21 of a check valve 25 . it is important that the check valve 25 mounted centrally on a valve stem in extension of the sealing piston 22 seals by means of a sealing ring 28 relative to a sealing surface 27 on an annular or sliding sleeve 40 in the closed position . the check valve 25 is biased by the compression spring 19 , which is mounted by mean of the shoulder 20 in the connection adaptor 14 and is supported against the latter . through this check valve 25 and the sealing piston 22 coupled thereto it is ensured that fluid fed through the connection adaptor 14 cannot flow out in the uncoupled position or up to briefly before the connection of the quick connect coupling 10 to the connection nipple 30 , even with the connecting tap on the refilling cylinder or the like open . the check valve 25 has a centrally arranged through passage facing towards the outlet 13 in continuation of the through passage 14 a . after completed connection of the quick connect coupling 10 , with interlocking engagement of the collet jaws 15 through the sliding sleeve 40 or a head piece 40 ′ screwed thereon at the end opposite the connection nipple 30 , this through passage cooperates with the through passage 14 a , whereby the check valve 25 with the sealing surface 27 / 28 is forced into the open position when connection is made . of particular importance is the annular or sliding sleeve 40 which is guided on the outer periphery of the sealing piston 22 and of the check valve 25 and is biased by at least one compression spring 29 , preferably in a pressure space 27 , inside the housing 11 . the compression spring 29 ( cf . also fig3 ) is supported on a recess of the housing 11 or of the connection adaptor 14 . as can be seen from the drawing , the tapered end of the sliding sleeve 40 or the head piece 40 ′ screwed thereon facing the outlet 13 engages on the inner surface ( 15 ′ in fig2 ) of the collet jaws 15 , whereby these are retained in their radially spread - out locking position . the sliding sleeve 40 is pushed by the compression spring 29 up to the inwardly offset region of the housing 11 , whereby a stop for the sliding movement of the sliding sleeve 40 is obtained at the sane time . since the sealing piston 22 with the collect jaws 15 is mounted slidably in the sliding sleeve 40 , the engagement profile 17 can engage in the opposed profile 31 of the connection nipple 30 with especially small coupling force , depending on the engagement conditions . in general the spring force of the compression spring 29 is already enough for this , in order to ensure the closed position here shown with locking of the locking elements , in particular the collet jaws 15 , in independent manner , through axial displacement of the sliding sleeve 40 with the sealing piston 22 mounted therein . in order to facilitate further the manual actuation of the sliding sleeve 40 for the coupling and uncoupling , for example with a manual lever according to the initially recited de 3 518 019 or an eccentric lever according to ep - a 0 340 879 , pneumatic assistance can also be provided by means of an actuating device 50 , an air channel 51 , an air feed sleeve 52 and two annular channels 53 . through axial movement of the actuating device 50 the air channel 51 is connected in the position here shown through the annular channels 53 to the air feed sleeve 52 , so that a piston face 42 ′ on a piston 42 of the sliding sleeve 40 is affected and this is thereby retracted . in order to increase the pushing force of the sliding sleeve 40 into the locking position , supplementing the compression springs 29 , a piston annular surface 42 ( corresponding to the piston surface 22 a in fig3 ) can be formed within the housing 11 on the piston 41 with a greater diameter . the quick connect coupling 10 is shown in fig2 in a modified embodiment , wherein the head piece 40 ′ of the sliding sleeve 40 , which can also be formed in one piece , is made somewhat shorter , with otherwise like reference numerals for the same components . a greater ability of the sealing piston 22 to pivot is hereby attained , whereby this piston can also be made in one piece with or rigid relative to the valve stem of the check valve 25 . the outer peripheral surface or the sealing piston 22 or the valve stem of the check valve 25 can also bear directly on the here offset inner surfaces 15 ′ of the collect jaws 15 for locking these . as can be seen , on inserting or plugging on the quick connect coupling 10 into or on to the connector 30 , the end sealing ring 23 on he sealing piston 22 is brought into contact with the connector 30 . the sealing ring 23 thus comes into firm contact with the sealing surface 32 , before the check valve 25 at n the sealing surfaces 27 , 28 can open , so that escape of fluid which is present on the valve cone 21 of the check valve 25 on the coupling side is avoided . through the engagement of the sealing ring 23 on the sealing surface 22 the sealing piston 22 is moreover pushed to the right into the open position , while however the sliding sleeve 40 or its head piece 40 ′ or the outer peripheral surface of the sealing piston 22 or the valve stem of the check valve 25 contacts the collect jaws 15 at their inner surfaces 15 ′ and holds them spread out in the locking position . it should be noted that , during this coupling movement , the sealing piston 22 together with the sliding sleeve 40 is first pushed to the right against the spring force of the compression spring 19 , the check valve 25 still being closed . after a small stroke of a few millimetres , the inner surface 15 ′ of the collet jaws 15 bearing on the outer surface of the sliding sleeve 40 or in general of the sealing piston 22 are spread into their blocking position , so that the engagement profile 17 engages with the correspondingly formed connection profile 31 of the connection nipple 30 . the sliding sleeve 40 is practically simultaneously free through this for the axial movement to the left , since the sliding sleeve 40 is also acted on by the compression spring 29 . through this axial movement of the sliding sleeve 40 and / or of the sealing piston 22 , this / these engage on the inner surfaces 15 ′ of the collet jaws 15 in the manner of a collar , so that these are retained interlocked in their spread , engagement position on the connector 30 . it should be noted that the sealing piston 22 can still move pivotally slightly in the connected position here shown in fig2 . the surface on the valve piston 21 , which has a greater effective surface than in the region of the contact surface between the sealing ring 23 and the sealing surface 32 , is also important . this ensures that , with the flow direction essentially along the central axis of the quick connect coupling 10 , the sealing piston 22 presses with its sealing ring 23 ever more tightly on the sealing surface 32 with increasing pressure . a servo action is obtained through this , i . e . a stronger pressure of the sealing ring 23 with increasing fluid pressure and thus a particularly reliable sealing of the quick connect coupling 10 . in order to release the quick connect coupling 10 and thus restore the connected position shown in fig2 to the open position , the actuating sleeve 50 is here retracted by hand through profiling on the outer surface . after this preferably pneumatic displacement ( or by means of a lever ) with retraction of the sliding sleeve 40 through a short stoke ( corresponding to the length of the pressure chamber 27 ), the collet jaws 15 can spread radially inwardly again ( or outwardly with external engagement with external collet jaw mounting ), whereby the check valve 25 is simultaneously pushed here to the left towards the outlet end 13 , within the sliding sleeve 40 , under the action of the compression spring 19 . before the sealing contact is thus released between the sealing piston 22 and the sealing surface 32 , the sealing surface 27 / 28 of the check valve 25 is closed , on account of the ability of the valve stem of the check valve 25 to move axially . very rapid closure of the check valve 25 is achieved though this practically simultaneous sequence , so that no fluid volume can escape . the conical form of the tip of the sliding sleeve 40 is also important in this , since the end facing the outlet 13 or the head piece 40 ′ assists the spreading out movement of the collet jaws 15 , so that the coupling of the quick connect coupling 10 is effected practically force - free and thus damage to the engagement profile 17 or the connection profile 31 is avoided . the sliding sleeve 40 also allows reliable fitting of the quick connect coupling 10 on to the connection nipple 30 , while the collet jaws 15 preferred as the locking element are only closed when the sealing contact between the sealing surface 32 or seal 33 in fig4 and the sealing ring 23 is ensured , since the closing position of the check valve 25 is maintained long enough for the collet jaws 15 to be locked by the axial displacement of the sealing piston 22 and the freeing of the sliding sleeve 40 arising therefrom in direct sequence , in order thereby to produce very abrupt and especially reliable connection . the head piece 40 ′ of the sliding sleeve is preferably fixed interchangeably on the sliding sleeve 40 for adaptation to different collet jaw shapes or their inner surfaces 15 ′. a further modified embodiment especially for gas cylinder valves is shown in fig3 and 4 , wherein components acting in the same way are given the same reference numerals . a manual lever 50 ′ is here provided as an actuating device , which acts on an eccentric not described in more detail , as known from the initially recited state of the art . | 5 |
referring to fig1 and 2 , a press 2 includes a bed 3 and a bolster 4 , opposite a slide 6 . a portion of a column 5 guides a slide 6 during operation . a transfer device 1 is positioned at one side of press 2 . during operation , a die ( not shown ) is positioned between slide 6 and bolster 4 . a coil feeder ( not shown ) is positioned on the opposite side of press 2 from transfer device 1 . the coil feeder provides raw material for processing . the die includes multiple processing steps . progressive processing is conducted on an upstream side and transfer processing is conducted on a downstream side . in operation , the supplied coil material is progressively processed on the upstream side to an intermediate step , where a product and skeleton are separated , and the product is thereafter transfer processed on the downstream side . a conveyor 11 is positioned below transfer device 1 . in a final processing step , a product is placed on top of conveyor 11 . conveyor 11 moves the product to the outside of press 2 for removal and later processing . a unit case 7 is on one side ( right shown ) of press 2 . a drive mechanism module 8 is internalized in unit case 7 . drive mechanism module 8 actuates a pair of feed bars 9 . drive mechanism module 8 includes an advance return drive mechanism module 50 that drives feed bars 9 in an advance - return motion . drive mechanism module 8 also includes a clamp - unclamp drive mechanism module 100 that drives feed bars 9 in a clamp - unclamp motion . a cover 7 a is on unit case 7 . feed bars 9 extend in a cantilever manner from transfer device 1 . receiving stands 10 may be optionally provided to support the ends of feed bars 9 but are not required in a preferred embodiment . receiving stands 10 are not required for operation but may be included to provide additional security and support in heavy operating situations . a servo motor 51 is on top of unit case 7 . servo motor 51 is a drive source for advance return drive mechanism module 50 . a pulley 52 is provided on a drive shaft of servo motor 51 . a ball screw shaft 53 is in unit case 7 . ball screw shaft 53 is parallel with the advance - return direction ( to the left - right in fig1 and 2 ). ball screw shaft 53 is supported by a bearing 54 a and a bearing 54 b provided on unit case 7 . a pulley 55 is affixed to one end of ball screw shaft 53 . a belt 56 connects pulley 55 to pulley 52 . a drive force of servo motor 51 is transferred to ball screw shaft 53 by belt 56 and pulleys 52 , 55 . a slider 57 is included in advance return drive mechanism module 50 . two guide shafts 60 are in unit case 7 parallel to the advance and return direction of feed bars 9 , as will be explained . additionally referring now to fig3 a nut 58 is affixed to the center of an upper part of slider 57 . nut 58 and ball screw shaft 53 are screwed together . a guide module 57 a and a guide module 57 a are on both sides of nut 58 . guide modules 57 a include a central hole ( not shown ). a bushing 59 and a bushing 59 are in the central holes passing through guide modules 57 a . guide shafts 60 are parallel to the direction of advance and return movement in unit case 7 and serve to guide bushings 59 and guide parts 57 a during operation . bushings 59 , in guide parts 57 a , are slidably joined to guide shafts 60 . it should be understood , that additional guide shafts 60 , and operating elements may be provided depending upon manufacturer need and processing demand . a groove 57 b is on a lower part of slider 57 , in parallel with the clamp - unclamp direction . lower parts of a pair of holders 61 operably affix the ends of feed bars 9 . the upper parts of holders 61 are slidably supported in the clamp - unclamp direction by groove 57 b . additionally referring to fig4 a servo motor 101 is on a top portion of unit case 7 . servo motor 101 serves as a drive source for clamp - unclamp drive mechanism 100 . a pulley 102 is on a drive shaft of servo motor 101 . a ball screw shaft 103 is in unit case 7 in a direction parallel to the clamp - unclamp direction . ball screw shaft 103 is operably supported on both ends by a bearing 104 a and a bearing 104 b . a pulley 105 is on one end of ball screw shaft 103 . a belt 106 connects pulley 105 and pulley 102 . belt 106 transmits the drive force of servo motor 101 to ball screw shaft 103 . the direction of threading on ball screw shaft 103 changes to an opposite direction at a midpoint to the feed direction shown in fig2 and assists the clamp - unclamp operation , as will be explained . carts 107 are on clamp - unclamp drive mechanism module 100 . joining parts 107 a are on an upper part of carts 107 . joining parts 107 a include a through hole . cam followers 1 1 5 are on a lower parts of cars 107 . cam followers 115 guide feed bars 9 in the advance - return direction , as will be explained . additionally referring now to fig5 a nuts 108 and ball screw shaft 103 are screwed together . nuts 108 slidably join with the hole in joining parts 107 a . a pair of springs 110 are provided between nuts 108 and end plates 109 . end plates 109 are affixed to the side surface of the inner side of joining parts 107 a . brackets 112 are affixed on the side surface of the outer side of joining parts 107 a , by spacers 111 . spacers 111 are hollow , as will be explained . spacers 111 pass through holes 108 b on flange parts 108 a of nuts 108 . bolts 113 , tighten and sandwich spacers 111 between the side surface of the outside of carts 107 and brackets 112 . holes 108 b have an inside diameter slightly larger than the diameter of spacers 111 to allow operation of a safety sensor , as will be explained . bolts 113 are inserted in spacers 111 and placed in a radiating manner . the extending spring force of springs 110 maintains contact between the side surfaces on the outside of flange parts 108 a of nuts 108 are in contact with brackets 112 . it is to be understood , that the outward movement of nuts 108 is restricted by brackets 112 . springs 110 are compressed between nuts 108 and end plates 109 . at least one sensor 114 is affixed to brackets 112 . in the present embodiment , multiple sensors 114 are proximity switches . holes 112 a are on brackets 112 and accommodate sensors 114 . sensors 114 measure the distance from sensors 114 to the surface where flange parts 108 a contact brackets 112 . the movement of nuts 108 , defined as flange parts 108 a separating from brackets 112 , can be detected by sensors 114 . it is to be understood , that as long as sensors 114 can detect the movement of nuts 108 the specific type or position of sensor 114 is not critical . it is to be understood that in advance - return mechanism module 50 , during advance - return motion , ball screw shaft 53 rotates via belt 56 in a direction dictated by servo motor 51 . thereupon , nut 58 moves in the direction indicated , and , slider 57 also moves along guide shaft 60 in the same direction . holders 61 move in a similar manner . feed bars 9 conduct an advancing motion ( or a returning motion ). during the advance or retreat motion , cam followers 115 , on the lower parts of carts 107 guide feed bars 9 . it is to be understood that in clamp - unclamp mechanism module 100 , during clamp - unclamp motion , ball screw shaft 103 rotates via belt 106 in a direction controlled by servo motor 101 . since the direction of the threading on ball screw shaft 103 changes at the midpoint in the feed direction , nuts 108 move closer to each other . in the opposite direction , nuts 108 move further away from each other . the motion of nuts 108 dictates the motion of carts 107 . feed bars 9 are fixed in the clamp - unclamp direction by cam followers 115 . as a result , feed bars 9 conduct a clamping or unclamping motion . in parallel with the this motion , holders 61 also move relative to each other along groove 57 b . with the above construction and motions , transfer device 1 can transport a workpiece through a work process . in the present invention , the advance - return motion and the clamp - unclamp motion are combined to securely transport a work piece from an upstream to a downstream side of a work process . in the clamp motion described above , the workpiece is gripped , and the feed bars are advanced , and the workpiece is transported one pitch distance . by the unclamping motion , the workpiece is released and is pressed . the feed bars are then returned to their original positions . this series of clamp - unclamp motions is repeated throughout the process . it is to be understood that the present invention may transport work pieces of variable weight and size . feed bars 9 are designed to accommodate generous sizes and shapes . holders 61 operate to support feed bars 9 during regular operation . if holders 61 cannot support feed bars 9 , by reason of work piece weight , it may be beneficial to the process to additionally provide receiving stands 10 upon customer request . receiving stands extend from a top of bolster 4 below the area near the end of feed bars 9 . receiving stands 10 slidably support the ends of feed bars 9 . it is to be understood , that the length of feed bars 9 is shown at an intermediate point in the die area . during normal operation a coil feeder ( not shown ) or other feeder is on the upstream side of transfer device 1 . progressive processing is conducted on the upstream side , and transfer processing is conducted on the downstream side . with the current transfer device 1 , since there is no second unit case 7 on the upstream side , the distance from a material supply opening , from a coil feeder to the die area is shortened . as a result , the amount of residual material at completion of processing is reduced . further , the shortened supply distance enables precise materials supply . furthermore , because space is available below unit case 7 , the removal of the product can also be conducted easily by placing product removal conveyor 11 below unit case 7 . this enables close association between transfer device 1 and conveyor 11 and further reduces the equipment footprint . this reduction in footprint means that more presses 2 may be positioned close together and small floor space utilized for the same output . during a clamping motion , a foreign object may be inappropriately positioned between feed bars 9 . this situation most frequently occurs during die adjustment when feed bars 9 or fingers ( not shown ) on feed bars 9 contact the dies . this situation may also occur where a product is in appropriately misplaced in transfer device 1 . where a foreign object is between feed bars 9 , feed bars 9 can no longer move . as a result , carts 107 can no longer move . however , since servo motor 101 continues to operate , ball screw shaft 103 tries to rotate . due to the rotation of ball screw shaft 103 , nuts 108 try to move closer to each other . because carts 107 do not move , only nuts 108 move opposing the expanding force of springs 110 that are trying to extend . thereupon , the surface , where flange parts 108 a contact brackets 112 , separates from brackets 112 . a distance h is defined as the distance nuts 108 move when a foreign object blocks the movement of carts 107 . distance h is detected by sensors 114 that generate a detection signal . the detection signal is sent to a control device ( not shown ) of transfer device 1 and press 2 . the control device immediately stops transfer device 1 and press 2 . as a result , damage is the mechanical structures of transfer device 1 , particularly drive mechanism module 8 and feed bars 9 , is prevented . it is to be understood , that through the combination of reduced equipment needs and reduced failure rates , equipment costs are greatly reduced . specifically , compared to related art , the manufacturing cost of unit case 7 , attachment stays , other equipment , and failure losses is halved . this is a surprising result since total costs are seldom so dramatically reduceable . it is to be further understood that since unit case 7 is positioned above feed bars 9 , a product removal conveyor 11 or product removal by loading of the products by a bucket or cart is easily conducted . the simplified removal further increased final product precision and reduces failure rates by enabling quick removal of the final product and any residual material in press 2 . it is to be further understood that the simplified transfer device 1 of the present invention is only one side of press 2 , it greatly reduces overall size , eases repairs , and increases precision without any of the detractions of the related art described above . this great reduction in size , ease of repair and increase of precision is additionally surprising . although only a single or few exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described in detail above , those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiment ( s ) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention . accordingly , all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the following claims . in the claims , means - plus - function clauses are intended to cover the structures described or suggested herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures . thus although a nail and screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail relies entirely on friction between a wooden part and a cylindrical surface whereas a screw &# 39 ; s helical surface positively engages the wooden part , in the environment of fastening wooden parts , a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures . having described preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments , and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | 1 |
a contemporary diesel engine 100 , like the one shown in fig1 , comprises an engine control system 102 that comprises one or more processors that control various systems and devices , one of which is a fuel injection system 104 controlled by a fuel control strategy . fuel injection system 104 comprises fuel injectors 106 that inject fuel into engine cylinders 108 where the injected fuel combusts to power the engine . charge air enters cylinders 108 through an intake system 110 . engine 100 comprises a cooling system and a lubrication system . temperature of coolant in the cooling system is measured by a coolant temperature sensor 112 associated with the coolant system at a suitable location . temperature of oil in the lubrication system is measured by an oil temperature sensor 114 associated with the lubrication system at a suitable location . the two sensors provide coolant temperature data and oil temperature data respectively to control system 102 . a glow plug heater system 116 comprises glow plugs 118 associated with cylinders 108 . control system 102 controls the operation of the glow plugs by a control strategy that energizes the glow plugs through a relay 120 an intake air heater 122 is associated with intake system 110 . control system 102 controls the operation of heater 122 by a control strategy that energizes the heater through a relay 124 . fig1 also shows a block heater 126 associated with the engine block . when block heater 126 is used , an electric cord 128 running from the heating element is plugged into a nearby electrical outlet . once the block has been heated sufficiently , the block heater is unplugged . an engine may also have a crankcase heater 130 that when used can help keep motor oil in the crankcase warmer than ambient air , but because cold oil is not especially fluid , and an oil pump must be operated to move it from the crankcase into the engine block , heater 130 has little effect on heating the engine block . fig2 shows a sub - strategy 10 of the fuel control strategy relating to control of icp . sub - strategy 10 repeatedly iterates during processing to continually calculate data values for desired icp ( icp_des ) based high altitude icp , warm engine icp , and cold engine icp tables , 12 , 14 , 16 . input data representing engine speed n and desired engine fueling mfdes are processed to select from a respective map 18 , 20 , 22 in each table a respective data value . in the case of tables 12 and 14 , the selected data values from maps 18 and 20 are compensated for barometric absolute pressure in respective ways , as shown , by a parameter bap before the compensated data values are summed by a summing function 24 . engine oil temperature is used to compensate both the sum from summing function 24 and the selected data value from map 22 in respective ways , as shown , by the selection of a data value from a map 26 using the value of a parameter eot for engine oil temperature to make the selection . the compensated value from table 16 and the compensated sum from summing function 24 are summed by a summing function 28 . a further addend for summing by summing function 28 is the data value for a parameter icp_des_ofst . the particular manner for calculating a data value for icp_des_ofst depends on the state of a switch function 30 that distinguishes between an engine that been block - heated before cranking and an engine that has not . a non - heated engine causes the data value for icp_des_ofst to be selected from a map 32 of an icp viscosity offset table 34 based on engine oil temperature eot . a heated engine causes the data value for icp_des_ofst to be selected from a map 36 of an icp block heater offset table 38 based on engine oil temperature eot and engine speed n . when the engine can be started without block - heating , icp_des_ofst adds an offset to the basic icp resulting from processing engine speed n , desired fueling mfdes , barometric absolute pressure bap , and engine oil temperature eot using tables 12 , 14 , and 16 and associated processing strategy . as the engine begins to run under its own power and warms up , the basic strategy changes desired icp in ways appropriate to changes in those parameters . although engine oil temperature eot is used in setting data values for basic icp , the effect of changing oil viscosity on desired icp as the engine warms up is more fully accounted for by use of table 34 to compensate basic icp for changing oil temperature by adding a viscosity offset . in general the offset diminishes as oil temperature increases . when the engine is started after block - heating , icp_des_ofst adds a different offset to the basic icp resulting from processing engine speed n , desired fueling mfdes , barometric absolute pressure bap , and engine oil temperature eot using tables 12 , 14 , and 16 according to their associated processing strategy . instead of using only engine oil temperature eot to determine the offset after the engine has started and begun to run under its own power , sub - strategy 10 uses both engine oil temperature eot and engine speed n by using a selection from map 36 as the offset value . here too , the offset generally diminishes as oil temperature increases . each of the various maps shown is typically populated for a particular engine model during engine development to assure optimal values for various combinations of input data . the parameter icp_des is further processed as an input to a closed - loop control strategy for control of icp . details of that closed - loop control strategy need not be discussed here , but they are described in other patent filings by the assignee . fig2 further shows that a parameter gpc_blk_heater sets the state of switch function 30 . fig3 shows how gpc_blk_heater is determined . a sub - strategy entitled block heater detection / temperature selection 40 processes various temperature data that includes engine oil temperature eot and temperature data available from additional sources . one additional source is a source of engine coolant temperature data representing the temperature of liquid coolant , ect , that circulates from the engine block to a radiator and back to the engine block when the engine is running . another additional source is a source of intake air temperature representing the temperature of charge air ait entering the engine . a subtraction function 42 calculates the difference between engine oil temperature eot and engine coolant temperature ect by subtracting the former from the latter . the result is processed by a comparison function 44 that compares the result with a defined differential gpc_ect_eot_dif . whenever engine coolant temperature ect exceeds engine oil temperature by more than the defined differential gpc_ect_eot_dif , function 44 sets the data value for gpc_blk_heater to a logic “ 1 ”; otherwise the data value is a logic “ 0 ”. gpc_blk_heater also sets the condition of a switch function 46 in sub - strategy 40 that determines how a data value for a parameter gpc_miah_temp is determined . engine coolant temperature ect , engine oil temperature eot , and charge air temperature ait are processed using two minimum value selection functions 48 , 50 . function 48 selects the smaller of engine coolant temperature ect and engine oil temperature eot . the selection is one of two that are presented to switch function 46 . function 50 selects the smaller of the selection made by function 48 and charge air temperature ait , in effect selecting the smallest of engine coolant temperature ect , engine oil temperature eot , and charge air temperature ait . when gpc_blk_heater has been set to a logic “ 1 ”, it sets switch function 46 to a state that causes the smaller of engine coolant temperature and engine oil temperature to be processed as gpc_miah_temp . when gpc_blk_heater is a logic “ 0 ”, it sets switch function 46 to a state that causes the smallest of engine coolant temperature ect , engine oil temperature eot , and charge air temperature ait to be processed as the data value for gpc_miah_temp . the state of a switch function 52 is set by a parameter gpc_miah_temp_en . when a data value for gpc_miah_temp_en is a logic “ 1 ”, the switch function selects the data value for gpc_miah_temp as the data value for a parameter gpc_temp . when a data value for gpc_miah_temp_en is a logic “ 0 ”, the switch function selects the data value for ect as the data value for gpc_temp . the data value for gpc_miah_temp_en is set to a logic “ 1 ” when a manifold intake air heater is used in conjunction with the block heater . the sources used for the selection made by switch function 52 are checked by several logic functions , generally designated by the reference numeral 56 , for rationality by comparing the data value provided by each source for compliance with an allowable range of values defined by respective high and low limits of the respective range . any out of range value causes a switch function 54 to select a default value , ect_cold_def , instead of the value for gpc_temp , as the data value for a parameter gpc_t processed in further heater control . fig4 shows generally how the glow plugs and manifold air intake heater are controlled . gpc_t forms an input to sub - strategies glow plug lamp 60 , glow plug control and post - crank transition intake air heater 62 , no - start intake air heater 64 , and intake air heater run mode 66 . those four sub - strategies have certain interactions with each other . intake air heater no - start to crank transition sub - strategy 68 also acts on intake air heater run mode 66 . the sub - strategies execute in the following order to control block heating and intake air heating : 1 ) block heater detection / temperature selection 40 ; glow plug control and post crank transition intake air heater 62 ; no - start intake air heater 64 ; intake air heater no - start to crank transition 68 ; intake air heater run mode 66 ; and glow plug lamp 60 . manifold air intake heating is controlled through sub - strategy 62 with the control sequence for the air heater being : no - start air heater 64 ; intake air heater no - start to crank transition 68 ; post - crank transition intake air heater 62 ; and intake air heater run mode 66 . the no - start intake air heater sub - strategy sets the maximum allowed time that air heater will be engaged prior to cranking . crank initiation disables the output of the intake air heater for a specified time to reduce battery drain . the intake air heater run mode sub - strategy sets the time allowed for the air intake heater to remain on in run mode for white smoke control . the difference between engine coolant temperature ect and engine oil temperature eot is used as a determinant of block heating . when the difference is greater than the defined differential gpc_ect_eot_dif , the lowest one of engine coolant temperature , engine oil temperature , or ambient intake temperature is selected , and serves as the temperature used to control glow plug operation and intake air heater operation , provided that there are no ambient intake temperature out - of - range faults , engine oil temperature out - of - range faults , or engine coolant temperature out - of - range faults . glow plug lamp control and glow plug control are independent of each other . however , both are dependent on engine coolant temperature ect , barometric absolute pressure bap , and battery voltage . glow plug diagnostics are used to ensure that a glow plug relay is functioning properly and that the glow plugs are receiving proper voltage supply . by determining the difference between engine coolant temperature and engine oil temperature , and then comparing the difference with a threshold that distinguishes between use and non - use of a block heater , the inventive strategy has the ability to detect the appliction or non - application of a engine block heater and the ability to select starting parameter values best suited for an engine start sequence when use of a block heater has been detected and to select starting parameter values best suited for an engine sequence when no use of a block heater has been detected . in other words , the new software strategy allows the selection of optimum starting parameters ( examples of which are intake air heater time and icp pressure ) regardless of the application or non - application of a block heater . while a presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described , it should be appreciated that principles of the invention apply to all embodiments falling within the scope of the following claims . | 5 |
referring initially to fig1 there is illustrated a partial sectional view of a conventionally formed semiconductor substrate 110 on which a resistor , as covered by the present invention , can be formed . the substrate 110 may be a p - type silicon ( si ), silicon dioxide ( sio 2 ), or other material known to those who are skilled in the art . in one embodiment , a first resistor layer 120 is formed over the substrate 110 using conventional physical vapor deposition ( pvd ) or chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) processes . in those embodiments where pvd is employed , the target will typically be a combination target consisting of a first metal silicide having the appropriate stoichiometric ratio of metal to silicon . in preferred embodiments , the metal will be tungsten silicide . however , other metals with similar metallurgical properties may also be used , for example , refractory silicides , such as tantalum silicide , molybdenum silicide , zirconium silicide and combinations thereof . the first resistor layer 120 uniquely has nitrogen incorporated therein . the nitrogen is preferably incorporated during the deposition of the metal silicide and the nitrogen flow is regulated during the deposition of the metal silicide to achieve the desired level of concentration . the amount of nitrogen incorporated into the first resistor layer 120 is dependent on the desired resistive value of the resistor to be formed and may , therefore , have a large concentration variance . however , in a preferred embodiment the concentration of nitrogen within the first resistor layer 120 may range from about 0 . 1 % to about 30 % and is preferably deposited by using a nitrogen flow ranging from about 5 sccm to about 100 sccm using a physical vapor deposition process . in such embodiments , the carrier gas used to sputter the majority of the first resistor silicide film is argon . nitrogen is added to form the first resistor layer 120 according to resistivities required for the resistor . the gas flow rates depend on a variety of factors , such as equipment configuration , chamber size and volume , chamber pumping characteristics , mass flow control size for the gasses , cryo - pump capacity , chamber conductance , etc ., all of which can be determined by those who are skilled in the art . the gas flow rate also depends on the deposition conditions , such as deposition power , pressure , temperature , metal to nitrogen ratio and silicon to nitrogen ratio desired in the resistor , which can also be determined by those who are skilled in the art . fig6 illustrates a graph that shows how the sheet resistance of the device can be altered by changing the nitrogen flow . turning now to fig2 there is illustrated the substrate 110 and the first resistor layer 120 illustrated in fig1 and an additional second resistor layer 210 formed over the first resistor layer 120 . the second resistor layer 210 comprises the same metal silicide used to form the first resistor layer 120 with the exception that nitrogen is not incorporated into this layer . alternatively , the metal silicide may be a different but compatible metal silicide as that used for the first resistor layer 120 . like the deposition of the first resistor layer 120 , the second resistor layer 210 may also be deposited using conventional pvd or cvd processes . in fact , the first resistor layer 120 and the second resistor layer 210 may be deposited using the same deposition chamber . in such cases , the nitrogen is turning off during the formation of the second resistor layer 220 . fig3 illustrates the first resistor layer 120 and the second resistor layer 210 as illustrated in fig2 after a conventional patterning and etch back process , which create a resistor 300 as shown . the process by which the first and second layers 120 , 210 , may be etched back by any one of several wet and dry etching methods . however , one having skill in the art knows that the exact method used to etch back the first and second layers 120 , 210 , is not critical and that any method that creates the desired resistor 300 , may be used . while , the resistor 300 that is illustrated as a positively formed feature , it should be realized and understood that the resistor 300 may also be formed by well known trenching and deposition methods as well . as illustrated , the first resistor layer 120 has a first thickness and the second resistor layer 210 has a second thickness . the ratio between these two thickness can be adjusted to have a resistance value that is a function of a ratio of the thickness of the first resistor layer 120 to the thickness of the second resistor layer 210 , and also relative to the concentration of the nitrogen present in the first resistor layer 120 . in one embodiment , the thickness ratio may range from about 1 : 1 to about 1 : 5 . in a preferred embodiment , however , the ratio is about 1 : 3 . furthermore , the described resistance values may range from about 10 ohms / sq . to about 1000 ohms / sq . traditionally the resistance value of the resistor was a function of the cross sectional area of the resistor . in such a case , the resistance value of the resistor was bound by the area available to in which to place such a resistor . the resistor 300 , having nitrogen incorporated within as described , makes it possible for a resistor of a certain shape and size to have a predetermined resistance value , notwithstanding the space available . additionally , the nitrogen formed within the metal silicide , forms a part of the lattice structure of the metal silicide , and it is believed that this prevents diffusion or movement of the nitrogen during temperature or voltage changes that occur during the operation or formation of the resistor . this , of course , is a significant advantage over the diffused prior art resistor , where the diffused dopant can move within the resistor structure depending on the operating temperature or voltage , thereby causing a variance and unreliability in the resistivity of the resistor . as discussed above , such conventional art resistors are highly undesirable because they can cause the device in which the resistor is incorporated to function improperly . however , due to the advantages associated with the resistor covered within the scope of the present invention , the resistor can be used in precise circuits , such as analog circuits , with the knowledge that the any change in resistance value will be substantially inhibited or eliminated during usage variant operating temperatures and voltages . referring now to fig4 there is illustrated a partial sectional view of a conventional integrated circuit 400 with the resistor 300 located within , and fabricated in accordance with the principles of the present invention . the integrated circuit 400 may be one of several semiconductor devices , such as a cmos device , a bicmos device , a logic device , an analog device , a bipolar device , a dram device or a flash device or other type of integrated circuit in which the resistor 300 may be desired . in a preferred embodiment illustrated in the present application , the resistor 300 is located within an analog circuit . as is well known , analog circuits require precise resistance values , and as such , the resistor 300 is especially useful because the resistor 300 may provide the precise resistivity required , to be used in such an analog circuit . shown in fig4 are components of the conventional integrated circuit 400 , including : transistors 410 , dielectric layers 415 in which interconnect structures 420 are formed , the interconnect structures 420 connecting the transistors 410 to other areas of the integrated circuit 400 , conventionally formed tubs , 423 , 425 , source regions 433 and drain regions 435 , and a conventional capping layer 440 . also illustrated in fig4 is the resistor 300 as illustrated in fig3 located on a cutaway portion of the integrated circuit 400 . as previously described , the resistor 300 comprises a first resistor layer 120 and a second resistor layer 210 and is located on the substrate 110 , in this case formed on an interlevel sio 2 dielectric layer . one having skill in the art should know , obviously , that while the resistor 300 is illustrated on an upper level of the integrated circuit 400 , it may be located anywhere in the integrated circuit 400 , even at the transistor level . if the resistor 300 is located on the transistor level , it may be formed upon a substrate 110 that comprises si or another similar transistor level substrate material . further illustrated , is an upper most interconnect 450 connecting the resistor 300 to the surface of the integrated circuit 400 . the resistor 300 , of course , may take a variety of geometric designs on the substrate . for example , the pattern may be a straight design as shown in example 460 or a serpentine design as shown in example 470 , both of which are illustrated in fig4 b . turning now to fig5 illustrated is a diagram of a digital - to - analog ( d - to - a ) converter 500 . although one who is skilled in art knows how a d - to - a converter 500 works , a brief description describing the d - to - a converter 500 will be briefly set forth . as shown , the d - to - a converter 500 includes a voltage input 510 , which is coupled to a plurality of resistors arranged in a resistor structure , sometimes called a resistor ladder network 520 . the resistor ladder network 520 provides a number of voltage points corresponding to the bits to be converted . fig5 illustrates a three bit converter 500 including a bit zero 530 , a bit one 540 and a bit two 550 . if a three bit number was to be converted , the least significant bit would be allocated to the bit zero 530 , the next most significant bit would be allocated to the bit one 540 and the most significant bit would be allocated to the bit two 550 . a bit having a value of one , will cause the switch to be biased to the left , as shown by the bit two 550 , such that the voltage present at the bottom of the resistor on the left side is then passed on to the inverting input of the operational amplifier ( op - amp ) 560 . in the example shown , the bit two 550 is set to one , the bit one 540 is set to zero and the bit zero is set to one , indicating a binary input of 1 - 0 - 1 , or five . the voltage associated with the bit two 550 is added to the voltage associated with the bit zero 530 and sent to the op - amp 560 that produces an output voltage 570 , which represents the sum of the two voltages . the output voltage 570 may have a fluctuating value between ground and the input voltage 510 . if the resistance of the resistors withing the ladder network 520 fluctuates due to high operating temperatures or applied voltages , the converter 500 may not operate properly . however , if the resistor ladder network 520 includes the resistors as provided by the present invention , the chances of such a failure are substantially reduced because the unique resistor structure as described above provides for a resistor whose resistance is much less likely to be influenced by such variable operating conditions . although the present invention has been described in detail , those skilled in the art should understand that they can make various changes , substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form . | 7 |
referring now to the accompanying drawings , fig1 illustrates a hydraulic braking system for an automotive vehicle in which a tandem master cylinder 10 is actuated by a pneumatically operated brake booster 20 in accordance with the present invention . the master cylinder 10 is connected at its front and rear pressure chambers to front and rear wheel brake cylinders 11 by way of respective conduits 12a and 12b . as shown in fig2 the brake booster 20 comprises a power piston 40 and a flexible diaphragm member 41 assembled within a housing 30 . the housing 30 has a front housing section 31 and a rear housing section 32 . the rear housing section 32 is provided with an open - ended neck portion 32a and an inlet port 32b for connection to an accumulator 51 by a conduit 52 ( see fig1 ). the accumulator 51 is connected through a check valve 56 to an air cleaner 57 which is connected by a conduit 55 to a portion of an exhaust pipe 54a located between an exhaust manifold 54 and a cut - off valve 53 in the form of a butterfly valve for an exhaust braking device 50 . the cut - off valve 53 is operatively connected to a solenoid actuator 59 by means of a spring - loaded linkage 53a . the solenoid actuator 59 is energized in response to closing of a manual switch 58 to close the cut - off valve 53 . the power piston 40 has a cylindrical body extended outwardly from the open - ended neck portion 32a of the housing 30 and is secured at its neck portion with an inner end of the diaphragm member 41 . the cylindrical body of the power piston 40 is slidably supported by an annular seal member 33 secured to the inner wall of the neck portion 32a to guide axial movement of the piston 40 . the outer periphery of the diaphragm member 41 is air - tightly clamped between the front and rear housing sections 31 and 32 so that the interior of the housing 30 is subdivided into a positive pressure chamber r 1 in open communication with the inlet port 32b and a variable pressure chamber r 2 . the power piston 40 is provided at its center with an axial four - stepped bore h 0 opening into the variable pressure chamber r 2 through a passage 40a and is biased rearward by a compression spring 42 which is interposed between the inner wall of the front housing section 31 and a retainer 43 supported by the front end of the power piston 40 . the four - stepped bore h 0 is in open communication with the positive pressure chamber r 1 by means of a passage 40b . thus , the variable pressure chamber r 2 is selectively communicated with the positive pressure chamber r 1 in response to open and close of a valve assembly provided within the four - stepped bore h 0 . an operating rod 80 is securely connected by a ring fastener 81 at its rear end with the center of the power piston 40 and is extended outwardly through a seal member 35 secured to the front housing section 31 to be connected with a piston ( not shown ) of the master cylinder 10 . the rear end of the rod 80 is also received by a resilient member 82 disposed within the fourth stepped portion h 4 of the stepped bore h 0 . the valve assembly comprises a valve plunger 60 axially slidable within the second and third stepped portions h 2 and h 3 of the four - stepped bore h 0 . the valve plunger 60 is provided at its rear end with an annular valve seat 60a engageable with a valve body 70 and is securely connected to a front spherical end of a push rod 62 which extends rearward through a rubber boot 34 to be operatively connected to a foot brake pedal 13 , as shown in fig1 . in this assembly , rearward movement of the valve plunger 60 is restricted by a stopper member 61 secured to the power piston 40 , and the push rod 62 is biased rearward by a compression spring 63 interposed between a retainer 64 of the push rod 62 and an annular retainer 71 secured to an inner shoulder of the four - stepped bore h 0 . the boot 34 is secured at both ends thereof to the neck portion 32a of the housing 30 and a portion of the push rod 62 to cover the cylindrical body of the power piston 40 . the boot 34 has exhaust ports 34a to communicate the four - stepped bore h 0 with the atmospheric air . the valve body 70 of the valve assembly is hermetically secured at its base end to the inner wall of the stepped bore h 0 by the annular retainer 71 . the valve body 70 has an annular valve part 70a which is biased forward by a compression spring 72 interposed between the retainer 71 and an annular plate 73 fixed to the valve part 70a . under inoperative condition of the brake booster 20 , the push rod 62 and the valve plunger 60 are in their rearward stroke ends due to biasing force of the spring 63 to engage the valve seat 60a with the valve part 70a of the valve body 70 . in this state , the variable pressure chamber r 2 is communicated with the positive pressure chamber r 1 through the passages 40a and 40b to be supplied therein with the compressed exhaust gases from the positive pressure chamber r 1 . thus , the power piston 40 is in its rearward stroke end due to biasing force of the spring 42 , as shown in fig2 . in actual use of the brake booster 20 , the accumulator 51 is previously charged with compressed exhaust gases from the exhaust pipe 54a through the air cleaner 57 and the check valve 56 in response to operation of the exhaust braking device 50 . upon depression of the brake pedal 13 , the push rod 62 and the valve plunger 60 are moved forward against biasing force of the spring 63 and simultaneously the valve body 70 is expanded due to biasing force of the spring 72 . this engages the valve part 70a with the valve seat 40c to block the communication between the chambers r 1 and r 2 . when the push rod 62 is further moved forward , the valve seat 60a separates from the valve part 70a to communicate the variable pressure chamber r 2 with the atmospheric air through the passage 40a , the interior of the valve body 70 , the annular retainer 71 and the exhaust ports 34a of the boot 34 . then , the compressed exhaust gases in the variable pressure chamber r 2 are exhausted into the atmospheric air so that the power piston 40 is moved forward against biasing force of the spring 42 due to difference in pressure between the two chambers r 1 and r 2 . thus , the master cylinder 10 is operated by pushing force of the operating rod 80 to produce braking pressure in the respective conduits 12a and 12b . when the brake pedal 13 is released , the push rod 62 and the valve plunger 60 are retracted rearward by biasing force of the spring 63 to engage the valve seat 60a with the valve part 70a so as to isolate the variable pressure chamber r 2 from the atmospheric air . subsequently , the valve part 70a separates from the valve seat 40c by further rearward movement of the valve plunger 60 to communicate the variable pressure chamber r 2 with the positive pressure chamber r 1 through the passages 40a and 40b . then , the variable pressure chamber r 2 is supplied therein with the compressed exhaust gases from the positive pressure chamber r 1 so that the power piston 40 is retracted in the original position by biasing force of the spring 42 to release braking pressure in the wheel brake cylinders 11 . although the present invention has been illustrated and described in connection with a specific embodiment , various adaptations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the description in conjunction with the appended claims without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . | 5 |
referring first to fig1 and 2 , there is shown a portable toilet , according to a preferred embodiment of the invention , having a surrounding housing or chest 1 . the chest is preferably of a strong , lightweight material , such as styrofoam , but must be watertight , confining a reservoir for holding a supply of clean flushing fluid 2 . the flushing fluid is preferably water or water mixed with chemicals for reducing bacterial action and obnoxious odors . the housing 1 may be provided with a cover or lid 1a illustrated by dotted lines in fig1 . carrying handles 1b and a toilet tissue holder ( not shown ) may also be provided . the chest may be provided with a top section 3 which is pivoted at 4 for articulation as shown in fig2 . the articulated portion , which has a hole in the center thereof , provides the seat for a toilet bowl 5 . thus , the toilet bowl is mounted for upward pivoting movement from the normal horizontal position of fig1 to a dumping position , as shown in fig2 . disposed in the fluid reservoir 2 is a container 6 for receiving flushing fluid and body waste dumped from the toilet bowl 5 . the container 6 is preferably of a resilient flexible material , such as plastic or rubber , and may be connected to the toilet bowl 5 by an inlet tube 7 and trap 8 . an emptying device may be provided for the bag 6 and may comprise a recessed tube 9 and closure member 10 for holding a flexible and extendable dump hose 11 which may be closed by a suitable plug 12 . the flexible hose 12 is actually attached to the bag 6 and may be a part thereof . it is preferable to provide flushing fluid in the bowl 5 at some predetermined level , such as 13 in fig1 . for this reason , it is necessary to provide a means of transferring flushing fluid from the reservoir 2 to the toilet bowl 5 . to this end , a flush tank 13 may be mounted in the housing at some level above the desired level of fluid 13 in the toilet bowl 5 . the flush tank 13 is in fluid communication with the toilet bowl through a conduit 14 and port 15 . it will be noted that in the normal position of fig1 any fluid in the flush tank 13 will flow by gravity into the bowl 5 . attached to the bottom of the toilet bowl 5 is a compartment 16 opened at 17 to receive fresh flushing fluid from the reservoir 2 when the bowl is in the normal position of fig1 . the compartment 16 is in fluid communication with the flush tank 13 by means of a conduit 18 . the upper end 18a of the conduit 18 is at a level near the top of flush tank 13 . it will be noted that when the toilet bowl 5 is in the dump position of fig2 flush fluid will flow by gravity into the flush tank 13 . an overflow port 19 may be provided in the flush tank so that a premeasured amount of flushing fluid may be received therein . for initial use , the toilet reservoir is filled to a minimum level 20 with flushing fluid . this will cause the compartment 16 below the toilet bowl 5 to be filled . then the toilet bowl 5 is pivoted to the dumping position of fig2 causing the fluid from compartment 16 to be transferred by gravity into the flush tank 13 . then the toilet bowl 5 is returned to the normal position of fig1 allowing the flush fluid in flush tank 13 to be transferred by gravity through conduits 14 and 15 into the toilet bowl 5 raising the level therein to the desired level 13 . the trap 8 prevents the water from draining into the container 6 . at the same time , the compartment 16 is being refilled . after the toilet is used , it is again raised to the pivoted dumping position of fig2 causing the flushing fluid and body waste in the toilet bowl 5 to be dumped into the container 6 . upon return of the toilet bowl 5 to the normal position of fig1 it is again automatically replenished with fresh flushing fluid . this cycle may be repeated for each use . since the container bag 6 is flexible , any fluid and body waste collected therein will displace flushing fluid in the reservoir 2 , maintaining the level in the reservoir above the minimum desired level 20 , yet will prevent body waste from contaminating the reservoir 2 . after repeated use , the collected fluid and body waste can be dumped by removing the closure 10 and allowing the flexible hose 12 to extend therefrom . ( see fig2 ). after positioning the flexible hose 11 over a suitable sewer collection point , the plug 12 can be removed and the collected body wastes may be dumped into the sewer . the remaining surrounding flushing fluid in the reservoir 2 aids in emptying the container 6 by applying an external pressure thereto and helps assure that the container 6 is completely empty . it may be flushed by holding the toilet bowl 5 in the dumping position of fig2 and circulating clean water therethrough . referring now to fig3 an alternate embodiment of the invention will be described in which the flush fluid collecting compartment and flush tank may be eliminated . like in the embodiment of fig1 and 2 , this portable toilet comprises a chest or housing 21 defining a reservoir for holding clean flushing fluid 22 . the chest is provided with a top 23 pivoted at 24 for articulation from the normal horizontal position shown in fig3 to a dumping position , similar to the position shown in fig2 for the previously described embodiment . like in the previous embodiment , the articulated portion of the top 23 is provided with a hole beneath which is the toilet bowl 25 . disposed in the housing is a flexible bag or container 26 for receiving fluid and body waste dumped from the toilet bowl 25 . the container may be attached to the bowl by a flexible tube 27 and trap 28 as in the previous embodiment . an outlet 29 may also be provided . the means for introducing clean flushing fluid to the toilet bowl 25 is unique in this embodiment and may comprise a plurality of ports 30 located therein to provide fluid communication between the fluid flushing reservoir 22 and the toilet bowl 25 . to prevent contaminated water from being introduced into the reservoir 22 , the ports 30 may be provided with check valves which allow flow into the toilet bowl but prevent flow in the reversq direction . this means of supplying flushing fluid to the toilet bowl 25 is by fluid displacement and requires that the level of the reservoir be maintained substantially at the level 31 as shown in fig3 . for this reason , it is also necessary to provide an overflow compartment 32 in the housing . the top 33 of the overflow compartment is preferably slightly above the desired level 31 of the flushing reservoir 22 . the dumping operation of the portable toilet of fig3 is essentially the same as the previously described embodiment . the articulated portion of the top 23 and toilet bowl 25 are raised to the dump position ( similar to fig2 ) causing the flush fluid and body waste to be dumped into the container 26 . it will be understood that upon raising of the toilet bowl 25 , the level 31 of the reservoir 22 would normally drop by a slight amount . however , since the fluid and body waste in the toilet bowl 25 are then dumped into the flexible container 26 , the level 31 would rise by that volume . then the toilet bowl 25 would be returned to its normal horizontal position . as this is done , the bottom of the toilet bowl 25 would displace a certain amount of flushing fluid which would flow through the ports 30 into the toilet bowl 25 , leaving the toilet bowl with a fresh supply of flushing fluid and ready for another use . any excess of flushing fluid displaced in the reservoir 22 by filling of the container 26 would flow into the overflow compartment 32 which , if necessary , could be provided with a drain 34 for lowering the level therein . emptying and cleaning of the container 26 would be essentially the same as with the container of the embodiments of fig1 and 2 . referring now to fig4 still another embodiment of the invention is shown . like in the previous embodiments , a housing 41 is provided for a reservoir 42 of flushing fluid . a top 43 , articulated about a pivot 44 , is also provided for raising a toilet bowl 45 from the normal horizontal position of fig4 to a dumping position , as in the previous embodiments . a flexible bag container 46 is disposed within the reservoir 42 and is connected to the toilet bowl 45 by flexible tubes 47 and trap 48 . a drain outlet 49 is also provided . in this embodiment , still another means for transferring flushing fluid from the reservoir 42 to the toilet bowl 45 is provided . the transfer means comprises a flush tank 50 in fluid communication with the toilet bowl 45 through a conduit 51 and port 52 . the bottom of the flush tank is provided with a one - way valve 53 . the flush tank 50 is cantilever mounted with the top 43 so that it pivots downwardly as the toilet bowl 45 pivots upwardly when the toilet bowl 45 is dumped as in the previous embodiments . ( see dotted line positions shown in fig4 ) as this is done , the flush tank at least partially enters the reservoir 42 and the one - way valve 53 is opened , permitting fresh flushing fluid to enter the flush tank 50 . when the toilet bowl 45 is returned to its normal horizontal position , the valve 53 is closed and the tank 50 returned to its normal position of fig4 . then the flushing fluid in tank 50 is transferred by gravity through the conduit 51 and port 52 into the toilet bowl 45 replenishing it with fresh flushing fluid . as can be seen the portable toilet of the present invention provides several unique and desirable features not present in the prior art . a portable toilet is provided which flushes automatically and without the need to manually operate a pump . the unique cooperation of the body waste container and fresh flushing fluid reservoir by which it is surrounded , assures a long lasting supply of flushing fluid . sanitary , odor - reducing holding of body waste , as well as easy disposal is provided . the resulting construction is highly functional , economical and marketable . although three embodiments of the invention have been described herein , many others will be apparent to those skilled in the art . for example , the flush tank 13 of the first embodiment described , could actually be provided in an annular chamber surrounding the toilet bowl 5 . many other variations of the invention are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention . therefore , it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited only by the claims which follow . | 4 |
as provided herein , the inventive subject matter relates to a fully developed rcs / rcs - e compliant infrastructure that does not require a full ims deployment within the operator network . by incorporating the signaling , authorization , and session set up necessary to support rcs directly into the rcs / rcs - e platform itself , operators can provide the full rcs experience while they continue deployment of , or as a substitute for , their ims cores . as an additional benefit , the invention infrastructure provides full backwards compatibility with legacy messaging technologies , ensuring a ubiquitous user experience . referring now to fig1 , there is exemplified a system where additional steps have been added to the ims registration process to facilitate the capture of the handset capabilities at the time of registration and authenticate the subscriber . once the rcs client is configured using the rcs platform as its ims core , no additional client functionality is required to facilitate this change in normal ims signaling flow . at the time of handset registration , the rcs client goes through its normal registration process . these messages are sent directly to the rcs core and are responded to in the normal fashion . the additional step in the registration call flow is the inclusion of the sip options message . immediately upon receipt and acknowledgment of the registration event , the rcs core will send an options message to the registered handset . this will cause the target handset to return its capabilities , which will be stored in a routing database internal to the system . this information will be stored with the purpose of identifying which devices are rcs capable in the operator &# 39 ; s network . concurrently , an smsreq or sri message will be sent to the appropriate hlr in order to validate the subscriber as authorized to receive messaging . once these steps have been performed , the handset will be considered fully registered and attached to the rcs core . referring now to fig2 , the invention in one preferred embodiment of the rcs w / o ims solution consists of 4 logical entities . together these provide the necessary signaling , resource management , authentication , and backwards compatibility required for a complete rcs - e implementation . the control node handles the signaling interfaces ( both sip and ss7 ) necessary to handle the registration , session set up , and subscriber authentication . it acts in the ims infrastructure as both the p - cscf and the s - cscf . additionally it acts as the application controller for rcs . the session controllers are responsible for the set up and control of mrsp sessions in the rcs ecosystem . the srdb acts as the hss in the ims infrastructure . it holds the individual handset capability information garnered in the registration process , as well as any operator - or handset - specific routing information . the protocol conversion gateway handles the conversion from rcs / msrp traffic to legacy smpp or mm4 / mm7 for delivery to smscs and / or mmscs . the gateway acts as an rcs client to the session controller and as an esme to the legacy smsc / mmsc infrastructure . referring now to fig3 , rcs to rcs messaging is illustrated . this call flow describes the normal flow for rcs to rcs messaging . the four logical entities of the rcs / ims platform are : control node ( cn ) session controller ( sc ) subscriber and routing database ( srdb ) protocol conversion gateway ( pcg ) also pictured are two subscribers ( sub 1 and sub 2 ), as well as a preexisting operator hlr . step 301 . subscriber 1 sends an invite to the cn ( acting as the cscf ) to request an rcs session with subscriber 2 . step 302 . the cn queries the srdb to determine whether or not the target handset is rcs capable . ( this data is populated per the registration call flow above .) step 303 . once the target handset is deemed rcs capable , an hlr query ( or other external system as necessary ) is performed to authenticate both the invitee and invited parties . step 304 . assuming both queries are validated , the cn forwards the invite to subscriber 2 . step 305 . subscriber 2 &# 39 ; s rcs client issues an accept message to the cn . step 306 . cn issues a create session command to the sc . step 307 . sc issues an accept message back to the cn . step 308 . cn forwards accept message to subscriber 1 . step 309 . subscriber 1 and subscriber 2 exchange messages over mrsp via the sc . referring now to fig4 , this call flow describes the normal flow for legacy sms to rcs messaging . it should be recognized that although the example used here is sms , the call flow and call set procedures are identical between sms and mms . the protocol used to deliver to / from the legacy infrastructure would simply be mm4 or mm7 . control node ( cn ) session controller ( sc ) subscriber and routing database ( srdb ) protocol conversion gateway ( pcg ) also pictured are two subscribers ( sub 1 and sub 2 ), as well as a preexisting operator hlr and smsc . sub 1 in this case is utilizing traditional sms . step 401 . subscriber 1 uses a traditional messaging client to send an smdpp message to the smsc for delivery to subscriber 2 . step 402 . smsc forwards an smpp message to the pcg for delivery . step 403 . pcg assigns a mapping of the misdn to one of its rcs client proxy . step 404 . pcg sends an invite to the cn ( acting as the cscf ) to request an rcs session with subscriber 2 . step 405 . cn queries the srdb to determine if the target handset is rcs capable . ( this data is populated per the registration call flow above .) step 406 . once the target handset is deemed rcs capable , an hlr query ( or other external system as necessary ) is performed to authenticate both the invitee and invited parties . step 407 . assuming both queries are validated , the cn forwards the invite to subscriber 2 . step 408 . subscriber 2 ′ s rcs client issues an accept message to the cn . step 409 . cn issues a create session command to the sc . step 410 . sc issues an accept message back to the cn . step 412 . subscriber 2 and pcg communicate over mrsp via the sc , which are then forwarded over smpp to the smsc for delivery to subscriber 1 . referring now to fig5 , this call flow describes the normal flow for an rcs client to a legacy messaging client . it should be recognized that although the example used here is sms , the call flow and call set procedures are identical between sms and mms . the protocol used to deliver to / from the legacy infrastructure would simply be mm4 or mm7 . control node ( cn ) session controller ( sc ) subscriber and routing database ( srdb ) protocol conversion gateway ( pcg ) also pictured are two subscribers ( subscriber 1 and subscriber 2 ), as well as a preexisting operator hlr . sub 2 in this case is utilizing traditional sms . step 501 . subscriber 1 sends an invite to the cn ( acting as the cscf ) to request an rcs session with subscriber 2 . step 502 . cn queries the srdb to determine if the target handset is rcs capable . in this case it is determined that the target handset it not rcs capable . step 503 . once the target handset is deemed not to be rcs capable , an hlr query ( or other external system as necessary ) is performed to authenticate the invitee . step 504 . assuming the query is validated , the cn forwards the invite to the pcg . step 505 . the pcg proxy rcs client issues an accept message to the cn . step 506 . cn issues a create session command to the sc . step 507 . sc issues an accept message back to the cn . step 509 . subscriber 1 and pcg exchange messages over mrsp via the sc , with the pcg forwarding / receiving message from the legacy infrastructure over smpp . the functional entities within the system illustrated herein may be implemented in a variety of ways . they may be implemented as processes executed under the native operating system of the network node . the entities may be implemented as separate processes or threads or so that a number of different entities are implemented by means of one process or thread . a process or a thread may be the instance of a program block comprising a number of routines , that is , for example , procedures and functions . the functional entities may be implemented as separate computer programs or as a single computer program comprising several routines or functions implementing the entities . the program blocks are stored on at least one computer readable medium such as , for example , a memory circuit , memory card , magnetic or optic disk . some functional entities may be implemented as program modules linked to another functional entity . the functional entities may also be stored in separate memories and executed by separate processors , which communicate , for example , via a message bus or an internal network within the network node . the exemplary embodiments of the invention can be included within any suitable device , for example , including any suitable servers , workstations , pcs , laptop computers , pdas , internet appliances , handheld devices , cellular telephones , wireless devices , other devices , and the like , capable of performing the processes of the exemplary embodiments , and which can communicate via one or more interface mechanisms , including , for example , internet access , telecommunications in any suitable form ( for instance , voice , modem , and the like ), wireless communications media , one or more wireless communications networks , cellular communications networks , 3 g communications networks , 4 g communications networks , public switched telephone network ( pstns ), packet data networks ( pdns ), the internet , intranets , a combination thereof , and the like . it is to be understood that the exemplary embodiments are for exemplary purposes , as many variations of the specific hardware used to implement the exemplary embodiments are possible , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the hardware art ( s ). for example , the functionality of one or more of the components of the exemplary embodiments can be implemented via one or more hardware devices . the exemplary embodiments can store information relating to various processes described herein . this information can be stored in one or more memories , such as a hard disk , optical disk , magneto - optical disk , ram , and the like . one or more databases can store the information used to implement the exemplary embodiments of the present inventions . the databases can be organized using data structures ( e . g ., records , tables , arrays , fields , graphs , trees , lists , and the like ) included in one or more memories or storage devices listed herein . the processes described with respect to the exemplary embodiments can include appropriate data structures for storing data collected and / or generated by the processes of the devices and subsystems of the exemplary embodiments in one or more databases . all or a portion of the exemplary embodiments can be implemented by the preparation of application - specific integrated circuits or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the electrical art ( s ). the components of the exemplary embodiments can include computer readable medium or memories according to the teachings of the present inventions and for holding data structures , tables , records , and / or other data described herein . computer readable medium can include any suitable medium that participates in providing instructions to a processor for execution . such a medium can take many forms , including but not limited to , non - volatile media , volatile media , transmission media , and the like . nonvolatile media can include , for example , optical or magnetic disks , magneto - optical disks , and the like . volatile media can include dynamic memories , and the like . transmission media can include coaxial cables , copper wire , fiber optics , and the like . transmission media also can take the form of acoustic , optical , electromagnetic waves , and the like , such as those generated during radio frequency ( rf ) communications , infrared ( ir ) data communications , and the like . common forms of computer - readable media can include , for example , a floppy disk , a flexible disk , hard disk , magnetic tape , any other suitable magnetic medium , a cd - rom , cdrw , dvd , any other suitable optical medium , punch cards , paper tape , optical mark sheets , any other suitable physical medium with pattems of holes or other optically recognizable indicia , a ram , a prom , an eprom , a flash - eprom , any other suitable memory chip or cartridge , a carrier wave or any other suitable medium from which a computer can read . the references recited herein are incorporated herein in their entirety , particularly as they relate to teaching the level of ordinary skill in this art and for any disclosure necessary for the commoner understanding of the subject matter of the claimed invention . it will be clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the above embodiments may be altered or that insubstantial changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention . accordingly , the scope of the invention is determined by the scope of the following claims and their equitable equivalents . | 7 |
reference is made herein to the attached drawings . like reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to depict like or similar elements of the cold pack . for the purposes of presenting a brief and clear description of the present invention , the preferred embodiment will be discussed as used for a cold pack in place for hands and feet . the figures are intended for representative purposes only and should not be considered to be limiting in any respect . referring now to fig1 and 2 , there are shown views of the separate components of the present invention . the device preferably comprises a strap system and a plurality of cold packs . in an exemplary embodiment for lower extremities as shown in fig1 , the device encompasses a first cold pack 23 adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s toes , a second cold pack 24 adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s feet , and a third cold pack 25 adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s ankles . in an alternative exemplary embodiment for upper extremities as shown in fig2 , the device encompasses a first cold pack 23 adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s fingers , a second cold pack 24 adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s hand , and a third cold pack 25 adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s wrist . the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 further comprise a flexible casing that is filled with freezable liquid material . the casing may comprise durable plastic or another suitable material . the casing is completely sealed around the edges to prevent the freezable material contained within its interior volume from leaking . the exterior surface of the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 is malleable , but substantially firm , and can be compressed against the user &# 39 ; s features and molded thereto when deployed . this allows the cold packs to contour around various parts of lower and upper extremities , providing comfort to a user and direct contact between the frozen or substantially frozen cold pack . the freezable material contained in the casing is preferably water or a water - based gel material that is capable of obtaining a frozen or substantially frozen state when placed in a conventional freezer . when substantially frozen , the material will remain a slow flowing gel that will not spill easily or cause contamination if the casing breaks . the freezable material may comprise a family of gel materials , including hydroxyethyl cellulose or vinyl - coated silica gel . the non - toxic gel can absorb a considerable amount of heat due to the high enthalpy of fusion of water . accordingly , the freezable gel material is suitable for alleviating the pain from minor injuries . the cold pack 23 is adapted for use with digits of upper as well as lower extremities . the cold pack 23 has a substantial cuboid shape and comprises a plurality of openings for a user to insert his or her digits therethrough . a plurality of dividers 27 between the openings allow a user to insert a single digit in each opening of the cold pack 23 . the cold pack 24 is substantially rectangular and is adapted to cover the bottom or upper portion of a hand or a foot . the lateral sides 32 of the cold pack 24 extend up the sides of the hand or a foot . the cold pack 24 also includes at least one divider wall 36 disposed within its interior volume to separate its interior volume , which facilitate bending of the cold pack 24 when in use to conform to a user &# 39 ; s a foot or palm of a hand . the cold pack 25 is adapted to wraparound either a wrist or an ankle . in an exemplary embodiment for lower extremities , the cold pack 25 is adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s ankle . it is a modified - rectangular shape having curved lateral portions 33 adapted to conform to a user &# 39 ; s ankle and foot upper substantially . the cold pack 25 also includes at least one divider wall 36 disposed within its interior volume to facilitate bending the cold pack 25 around a user &# 39 ; s ankle and foot upper . in an exemplary embodiment for upper extremities , the cold pack 25 is adapted to be secured around a user &# 39 ; s wrist . the cold pack 25 adapted for use with a user &# 39 ; s forearm is substantially rectangular in shape and it has lateral edges 24 . in either embodiment , the cold pack 25 partially extends towards a forearm or a lower leg . the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 are held in place using an adjustable strap 22 comprising preferably elastic material . in one embodiment of the fastener shown in fig1 , the adjustable strap 22 includes a u - shaped end disposed opposite of two ends adapted for looping through multiple attachment points 26 , 29 , 30 . a fastener 28 is disposed at each end enable a user to thread the two ends through the multiple attachment point 26 and fold it onto itself and form a closed loop after being inserted into the attachment point 26 . the fastener 28 may preferably comprise a hook and loop fastener , a snap fastener , or the like . the strap 22 further includes a cross strap 31 that crosses the user &# 39 ; s foot laterally while the u - shaped end of the strap 22 wraps over the cold pack 25 around the back of the user &# 39 ; s ankle . the cross strap 31 also comprises a fastener to allow the user to adjust the strap 22 tightly around the cold pack 23 . additionally , unfastening the cross strap 31 of the strap 22 allows the user to easily slip his or her foot in and out of the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 . the multiple attachment points 26 , 29 , 30 are a u - shaped protrusion adapted to accept the two strap ends therethrough . when in use , the two ends of the adjustable strap 22 may be connected to multiple attachment points 26 on either side of the cold pack 23 adapted for a user &# 39 ; s toes . the straps 22 are then threaded through the multiple attachment point 29 on cold pack 24 adapted for a user &# 39 ; s feet and multiple attachment 30 on cold pack 25 adapted for a user &# 39 ; s ankles . in another embodiment of the fastener as shown in fig2 , the strap 22 also includes two ends adapted for fastening the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 as discussed above . more specifically , the strap 22 threads through multiple attachment points 26 on the cold pack 23 adapted for fingers , and multiple attachment point 29 on the cold pack 24 adapted for hands . one end of the strap 22 further includes a loop 35 adapted for the user to slide his or her forearm therethrough . the looped end 35 of the strap 22 enables the user to keep the cold pack 25 wrapped around the user &# 39 ; s wrist or forearm area . as such , a third set of multiple attachment point on the cold pack 25 adapted for wrists may or may not be included . the adjustable strap 22 provides a hands - free method to hold the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 in place on a user &# 39 ; s fingers , hands , and wrists , respectively . the elastic material also accommodates users of various sizes and ages to use the present invention . referring now to fig3 , there is shown a close up cross - sectional view of the cold pack 23 adapted for fingers and toes . each finger or toe is slid through a separate opening on the cold pack 23 . the cold pack 23 further comprises a plurality of dividers to keep the fingers and toes separate . the dividers comprise the same flexible casing that is filled with freezable liquid material as used for the cold pack 23 . as such , the cold pack 23 enables a user to provide cold therapy to the top , bottom , and sides of the digits . the cold pack 23 can be positioned such that it covers tips of the digits or the lower parts of the digits toward the knuckles . the cold pack 23 provides cushioning and holds the injured digits in place while providing cold therapy . referring now to fig4 , there is shown a view of the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 , and the adjustable strap 22 for lower extremities in use as worn by a user . the present invention includes a set of cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 , adapted for toes , feet , and ankles , respectively . the cold packs further include an adjustable strap 22 that resembles a footwear when assembled . the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 include multiple attachment points 26 , 29 , 30 , respectively . when used with the adjustable strap 22 , the multiple attachment points 26 , 29 , 30 provide a hands - free method to secure cold packs onto a user &# 39 ; s lower extremity . the first cold pack 23 resembles a toe separator and includes a plurality of dividers 27 for insertion between the toes or fingers . an attachment point 26 is positioned on either side of the first cold pack 23 to which a set of straps 22 may be attached thereto . the strap 22 secures the cold pack 23 in place by extending along the sides of a user &# 39 ; s foot toward the back of the user &# 39 ; s ankle . the second cold pack 24 has a substantially rectangular shape and can be wrapped under the arch of the foot or top of the foot . when the cold pack 24 is positioned over the top or bottom of the foot , the cold pack 24 is adapted to follow the contour of the foot . the cold pack 24 includes at least one divider wall 36 disposed within its interior volume to facilitate bending of the cold pack 24 when in use to conform to a user &# 39 ; s a foot . when the cold pack 24 is bent , the sides 32 of the cold pack 24 extend partially up the sides of the user &# 39 ; s foot to provide more coverage . this also allows the adjustable strap 22 to be placed over the sides 32 of the cold pack 24 so that the strap 22 can thread through additional attachment points 29 placed on either lateral side 32 of the cold pack 24 . the third cold pack 25 is adapted to be positioned around the backside of the user &# 39 ; s ankle and anklebone . the cold pack 25 is a modified - rectangular shape with curved lateral portions 33 adapted to wrap over the user &# 39 ; s ankle bone . the cold pack 25 also includes at least one divider wall disposed within its interior volume near the curved lateral portions 33 to separate said interior volume and facilitate bending of the cold pack 25 when in use to conform to a user &# 39 ; s ankle . after being positioned in place , the adjustable strap 22 is wrapped around the cold pack 25 on the backside of the ankle . additionally , the straps 22 may thread through multiple attachment points 30 on the rounded protruding ends 33 of the cold pack 25 . this allows a user to hold the cold packs without manually holding it for an extended period of time . the cold packs 23 , 24 , and 25 can be used together or individually . after use , they can be returned to the freezer for additional uses . referring now to fig5 , there is shown a view of the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 and the adjustable strap 22 as used for the upper extremities . when applied to the upper extremities , the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 , and the strap 22 resemble a wrist brace , allowing a user to provide cold therapy to fingers , hands , wrist , and forearms . the cold pack 23 that accepts the toes , also accepts the fingers . an attachment point 26 is located on either side of the cold pack 23 for use with the adjustable strap 22 . the strap 22 is secured to each attachment point 26 on cold pack 23 and is extended along the sides of the user &# 39 ; s hand from the fingers to the user &# 39 ; s forearm . the cold pack 24 is substantially rectangular in shape , and it can be positioned over the palm of a user &# 39 ; s hand or on top of the user &# 39 ; s hand . the sides 32 of the cold pack 24 extend up the sides of the hand to provide more coverage to the user &# 39 ; s hand . an attachment point 29 is also positioned near either lateral side edges 32 of the cold pack 24 to allow the user to position the strap 22 closer to the user &# 39 ; s forearm . the cold pack 25 adapted for use with a user &# 39 ; s wrist or forearm is also substantially rectangular in shape , but preferably larger than the cold pack 24 . the cold pack 25 wraps around the user &# 39 ; s wrist and forearm such that the sides 34 of the cold pack 25 nearly touch . the looped end 35 of the strap 22 encircles the cold pack 25 and holds the cold pack 25 in place . as disclosed above , the cold packs 23 , 24 , 25 can be used separately or together . in use , the present invention allows the user to resume most normal activities . it is therefore submitted that the instant invention has been shown and described in what is considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments . it is recognized , however , that departures may be made within the scope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art . 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 . | 0 |
the embodiments described below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed in the following detailed description . rather , the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may appreciate and understand the principles and practices of the present invention . these teachings relate to lowering c . p . of fatty acid esters ( hereinafter , “ fae ”) by an evaporative process which produces inclusion compounds mixed with refined liquid having a lower c . p . than the starting fae material . an example of fae is sme . a solvent is used as a carrier for the urea ; i . e ., the urea is dissolved in the solvent . as mentioned above , mixing urea / solvent with the fae to generate a mixture in addition to changing at least one condition of the mixture promotes clathration . according to these teachings , evaporation of the solvent in which urea is dissolved is one change in the condition of the mixture that promotes formation of clathrates . as the solvent is allowed to evaporate , the urea begins to shift from a state in which it is dissolved in the solvent to a state in which it is part of an inclusion compound , or clathrate , with the fae . in one embodiment , the clathrates are suspended solids in the fae / urea / solvent mixture . the amount of solvent chosen is sufficient to dissolve the urea . the choice of how much urea should be added to the fae is based on the desired c . p . depression . that is , according to the present teachings , lower c . p . values are achieved by adding more urea / solvent to the fae , followed by evaporating the solvent . operation of diesel engines using renewable energy sources including triglycerides - derived fuels is known , as is the challenge of overcoming negative properties of these triglycerides - derived fuels , e . g ., the gelling of bioderived diesel ( biodiesel ) at higher temperatures than petroleum derived fuels . the composition of typical un - winterized biodiesel from sme is as given in table 2 . 1 the parenthetical reference ( cnn : n ) indicates the number of carbon atoms of the molecule on the left side of the colon followed by the number of carbon - carbon double bonds in the molecule on the right hand side of the colon . referring to fig1 , transesterification of a starting material is shown . transesterification reactants comprise a fatty acid source , e . g ., soy oil , an alcohol , and a catalyst . methanol is typically chosen as the reactant for sme transesterification , resulting in formation of the methyl ester from triglycerides . a hydroxide catalyst is typically used to accelerate the transesterification , although the reaction also responds to acid catalysis . generally , mineral acids or mineral bases are selected as transesterification catalysts . typically , the transesterification of fatty acids from soy oil is considered “ commercially complete ” after a reaction time of from one to three hours at reaction conditions . total time of reactants in the reaction vessel may exceed these times if it is necessary to heat reactants to reaction temperature in situ . in commercial settings , completion of the transesterification reaction occurs when continuation of the transesterification cannot economically be sustained . commercial completion may be influenced by many factors some related to the equipment involved . examples of these factors include capital cost / depreciation status , operating expense , size , geometry , separation equipment available , raw material cost , labor cost , or even the time of day as it relates to an operator &# 39 ; s shift change . the range of fat sources is not limited . commercial fat sources generally include oilseeds , often locally produced , such as soybeans and canola . the carbon content of fatty acids from such sources ranges from 16 to 22 carbon atoms per fatty acid molecule . in one embodiment , transesterification of raw materials of fats is most commonly accomplished by supplying fats and alcohol in a molar ratio of 1 mole fat ( triglycerides ) to 3 moles alcohol . although the process is operable outside this ratio , unreacted raw materials may result . the reaction is observed to be nearly stoichiometric although it may be advantageous to add excess alcohol to the esterification step as will be discussed below . one percent catalyst by weight of fat is sufficient to facilitate the reaction at a commercially acceptable rate . insufficient catalyst results in a slowed reaction ; excess catalyst is not observed to significantly increase the reaction rate and may require additional separation effort at the completion of the reaction . an example of the transesterification process is shown in fig1 . sodium hydroxide ( naoh ) is mixed with methanol , creating methoxide in methanol . the mixture produces heat . fatty acids ( in this case soy oil ) are added to the methoxide mixture . the transesterification reaction generates glycerin and methyl esters . following a period of quiescence , the glycerin phase will separate from the methyl esters at the completion of the transesterification , forming a liquid phase of methyl ester on top of a liquid phase of glycerin . the phases may then be separated by , e . g ., decanting the methyl esters . other phase separation methods such as a centrifugation may be used to accelerate and enhance the separation of glycerin from the methyl ester . the one exemplary technique for the above - described transesterification process is illustrated by the following example . transesterification of soy oil with methanol in a vessel was completed with 6 molar parts methanol to 2 molar parts refined soy oil . naoh as a catalyst at the rate of 1 % by weight of soy oil was included . the liquid components were heated to 65 ° c . the condition was maintained for one hour with continuous mixing . the resulting two phases ( upper layer — soybean methyl esters , methanol , impurities ; bottom layer - glycerol , residual catalyst , impurities ) were separated by decantation , using a 1000 ml separatory funnel . analysis of the methyl ester phase disclosed the composition by weight in table 3a . for purpose of comparison , compositions of other vegetable oils are listed in table 3b , while compositions of the fats of some land and marine animals are listed in table 3c . * source : bailey industrial oil and fat products , 5 th edition , 1996 , vol . 1 , edible oil and fat products : general applications , y . h . hui , editor wiley interscience , john wiley and sons , inc . a challenge posed by conventional biodiesel is its poor cold flow properties . the total content of saturates is a typical conventional biodiesel about 15 % ( wt / wt ) for sme , see table 3a , and causes the c . p . to be about 0 ° c . and pour point to be about − 2 ° c . to − 4 ° c . this limits the use of sme at low temperatures . various efforts have been made to reduce or depress the c . p . of sme . a popular method for removal of saturated components is winterizing or cold filtering . various studies have been conducted ; however , these methods have very low yields for any significant reduction in the c . p . these teachings disclose a c . p . reduction by a controlled removal of the saturated , and in some cases , mono - unsaturated fractions by a process involving evaporative clathration with continued filtration of clathrates rich in saturated and mono - unsaturated components . the process parameters of greater significance are : 1 ) fae / urea / solvent ( weight / weight / volume ratio ), and 2 ) the amount of solvent that evaporates . the rate of evaporation appears to play an insignificant role in the formation of urea clathrates as long as the mixture of urea / fae / alcohol is adequately mixed . referring to fig2 , one possible process for separating saturated and unsaturated fatty acid esters in accordance with the invention is shown . fae , e . g ., sme obtained from the transesterification process or from other sources and used as a starting material , is introduced into reactor 100 . reactor 100 can be in the form of a vessel or a conduit . the fae starting material may already be at an elevated temperature , depending on whether the fae is taken directly from the transesterification process where it is formed . to start the fractionation process , an amount of urea dissolved in a solvent , e . g ., methanol is added to the fae in reactor 100 . a sufficient amount of solvent is used to dissolve the urea . in one embodiment , once the volume of the fae that is to be processed has been added to reactor 100 , a corresponding amount of urea and solvent are also added to reactor 100 . the ratio of fae to urea determines the amount of clathration and subsequently the c . p . depression . as explained above , as the urea / solvent mixture is added to the fae and the solvent is allowed to evaporate , urea begins to selectively clathrate with the fae . for effective clathration , the mixture of urea / solvent and the fae is continuously stirred or agitated . as will be described in greater detail below , solvent evaporation can be accomplished by several methods . whatever method is used to evaporate the solvent , the starting material fae should not reach its boiling condition . depending on different starting material the fae boils at different temperatures and pressures . in one embodiment the mixture of fae / urea / and solvent is heated to about 60 ° c . to about 70 ° c . at atmospheric pressure . the clathration selectivity is such that urea preferentially begins to clathrate with c18 : 0 , then with c16 : 0 , and then with c18 : 1 . if , however , there is sufficient urea present , clathration continues with c18 : 2 , and then with c18 : 3 . solvent is evaporated by heating the fae / urea / solvent mixture or by applying a vacuum to the mixture . substantially all of the solvent is allowed to evaporate and substantially all of the urea is used to form clathrates . the compounds that form clathrates precipitate as solid particles that are suspended in the mixture . fae flows through pipe 102 and through valve 104 into reactor 100 . flow meter 103 and valve 104 are used to control the flow of fae . in one embodiment , flow meter 103 provides an electrical signal to a controller which electrically controls valve 104 . flow of the fae through pipe 102 may be by gravity or a pump ( not shown ). solvent vessel 122 and urea vessel 120 include solvent and urea , respectively . flow meters 118 and 116 measure the flow of the urea and solvent . valves 111 and 112 control the flow of the solvent and urea out of vessels 120 and 122 . in one embodiment , flow meters 116 and 118 provide electrical signals to a controller , which in turn electrically controls valves 111 and 112 . the flow of solvent and urea from vessels 122 and 120 may be by gravity or pumps ( not shown ). in one embodiment , a single vessel including a mixture of urea and solvent can replace the two vessels 122 and 120 . in this embodiment , the mixture of urea and solvent should be continually agitated to maintain a homogenous mixture . preferably , the ratio of urea to solvent should be such that the urea completely dissolves in the solvent . after the urea and solvent are brought together , they are thoroughly mixed by inline static mixer 114 . in the single vessel embodiment inline mixer 114 may be avoided . the urea / solvent mixture flows through pipe 108 and into reactor 100 where it is mixed with fae . as mentioned above , the flow of urea and solvent are monitored by flow meters 118 and 116 and the valves 112 and 111 are controlled so that the correct mixture of urea and solvent is achieved . the correct mixture is one where the urea can completely dissolve in the solvent . the mixture of fae / urea / solvent is agitated with mixer propeller 132 which is attached to shaft 136 held in housing 134 . in one embodiment the fae / urea / solvent mixture is heated by heating element 140 . the mixture is heated to a temperature that causes evaporation of the solvent . the evaporated solvent flows through pipe 106 . in one embodiment pipe 106 has sufficient length in a helical direction to allow condensation as a result of heat exchange with ambient air . in another embodiment , pipe 106 leads to condenser 110 where the evaporated solvent condenses to liquid . in another embodiment , pipe 106 is coupled to a vacuum unit ( not shown ) which produces a negative pressure in the space above the liquid in reactor 100 , thereby aiding evaporation of the solvent . alternatively , heater element 140 and the vacuum unit may be used together to further accelerate evaporation of the solvent . in any of the above cases , the condensed solvent may be recovered and reintroduced to solvent vessel 122 so that the solvent can be reused in the process . as the solvent begins to evaporate , urea molecules begin to selectively form clathrates with fae molecules . with substantially all of the solvent evaporated , the clathrates are in the form of solids suspended in fae rich in unsaturated fatty acids ( hereinafter “ ufae ”). the ufae flows through filter 124 , valve 141 , flow meter 143 , and pipe 142 . filter 124 is used for separating clathrates in the form of suspended solids from the ufae . this separation occurs only when valve 141 is opened . filter 124 can be a continuous filter such that after the filter has collected sufficient clathrates , a new filter replaces the spent filter . an example of filter 124 is a liquid - solid separator rotary drum filter such as a steadfast equipment disposable rotary drum filter . in one embodiment , a measured reduction in flow of ufae through flow meter 143 can be used as an indication to change the filter . in another embodiment ( not shown in fig2 ) the filter can be inside reactor 100 . in this embodiment , filter 124 can be a continuous or rotary filter made up of a several filtering surfaces which collect the suspended clathrates as mixer propeller 132 agitates the fae / urea / solvent mixture . the ufae exits reactor 100 by the force of gravity or actively by using a pump ( not shown ) or by applying a vacuum . in one embodiment , a controller receives an electrical signal from flow meter valve 143 and the controller electrically controls valve 141 . valve 141 is opened only when substantially all of the solvent has been evaporated . in order to determine how much of the solvent has been evaporated , one of several methods can be used . examples of these methods are : 1 ) mass chromatography , 2 ) mass balance , 3 ) batch measurement using statistical process control , and 4 ) flash point testing using samples to determine an amount of solvent that remains in the ufae by evaporating the solvent from the sample and measuring the flash point of the evaporated solvent . in other embodiments , different separation techniques known to those skilled in the art can be used to separate the clathrates form the ufae . examples of these techniques , performed alone or in combination , are vacuum filtration , centrifugation , and solvent extraction . with some of these techniques a separation medium is used in combination with the technique . also , in all of these techniques the separation step occurs after the evaporation step is completed . in the vacuum filtration case , a negative pressure is applied to the liquid extract , i . e ., the ufae , downstream from the separation medium . application of vacuum accelerates the passage of the liquid extract through the separation medium . alternatively , a positive pressure may be applied by air pump ( not shown ) to the interior head portion of reactor 100 to promote the passage of the liquid extract through the separation medium . this positive pressure will only be applied after the evaporation stage is completed to make sure no interference occurs with the evaporation process . in the centrifugation technique the liquid ufae is separated from the clathrates by centrifuging these two components at speeds in the range of about 10 , 000 to about 14 , 000 rpm . the centrifugation process results in separation of the two components into liquids that can be separated by , e . g ., decantation . in the solvent extraction technique , a filtration solvent such as hexane is used , in which urea does not dissolve . the solvent is applied to the ufae to accelerate the extraction from the clathrates . a filtration solvent in which urea cannot dissolve should be used to avoid a reverse clathration process . the filtration solvent is added to the mixture of fae and clathrates and the combination is filtered using a separation medium . addition of the filtration solvent promotes passage of the ufae through the separation medium . the liquid that exits reactor 100 through pipe 142 is ufae , and is substantially free of solvent and urea . the ufae flows to residual solvent removal station 144 . although the goal is to evaporate and remove all of the solvent , traces of the solvent may be present in the ufae . substantially all of the initial urea , however , forms clathrates and zero to only trace amount of urea is present in the ufae . the low c . p . output of the process shown in fig2 cannot contain any significant amount of solvent ( see astm d6751 which limits methanol content to 0 . 2 % by volume ). the residual solvent removal station 144 removes residual solvent . the low c . p . output flows out of pipe 146 , while any solvent is removed through pipe 147 . the removed solvent can be optionally processed and recycled into solvent vessel 122 . in one embodiment , any residual solvent is evaporated and removed from the main ufae . in another embodiment , the solvent is washed with hot acidified water , e . g ., 60 ° c . and ph 3 - 4 . the filtered clathrates flow through pipe 126 to urea separation station 128 . different techniques may be used to break down the clathrates and separate the urea from the saturated - rich fae ( hereinafter sfae ). in one embodiment , the clathrates are heated from about 110 to about 120 ° c . in order to melt the urea from the sfae , followed by separating the melted urea from the sfae by , e . g ., decantation . in another embodiment , the urea is washed from the sfae by applying warm water , e . g ., about 65 ° c ., followed by separation of the sfae and the washed urea . in this embodiment , urea is more soluble in water than in sfae . therefore , the urea separates from sfae and forms a layer below the sfae . the lower layer is removed and the urea is dried , and preferably ground before being recycled into the urea vessel . in yet another embodiment , the clathrates are mixed with a solvent in which urea cannot dissolve , e . g ., hexane . due to the insolubility of urea in the solvent , urea precipitates from the mixture of solvent and sfae . the liquid layer above the urea containing sfae and solvent is separated from the urea . the sfae is separated from the solvent by evaporation or washing the solvent from the sfae . in all of these embodiments , the separated sfae is a byproduct that has many uses where it is desired to have a high gel point , e . g ., candles . the process shown in fig2 can be modified so that urea / solvent is added in an incremental fashion . this alternative embodiment can prevent a clogging condition which is described as follows . if all of the necessary urea / solvent is added at once to the volume of fae in reactor 100 , as substantially all of the solvent evaporates , substantially all of the urea forms clathrates in the form of a large amount of suspended “ slurry - like ” solids . as valve 141 is opened to allow the ufae to exit reactor 100 , the suspended solids can quickly clog filter 124 , resulting in a reduction or blockage of fae flow through valve 141 . in order to overcome this clogging problem , the known volume of urea / solvent can be added to the fae in increments . first , the amount of urea / solvent that is needed to achieve the desired c . p . is determined . then , under the control of a controller , that amount of urea / solvent is divided into many increments and added to reactor 100 . filter 124 in this embodiment is a continuous internal filter , e . g ., a liquid - solid separator rotary drum filter such as a steadfast equipment disposable rotary drum filter . as mentioned above , the fae / urea / solvent mixture should be continuously mixed and agitated . as urea / solvent is incrementally added to reactor 100 , conditions should be such that the solvent in which the urea is dissolved quickly evaporates upon introduction into reactor 100 causing quick clathration . a small amount of clathrates are formed with each increment of urea / solvent added to the fae . under these conditions , the continuous filter does not suffer from the same clogging issue . as the final increment of urea / solvent is added and the subsequent clathrate is filtered , valve 141 opens and the ufae flows out of reactor 100 . in this embodiment , filter 124 continuously filters the suspended clathrates while a scraper assembly separates the solids from the filter medium . the separated solids are transferred to urea separation station 128 for urea recovery and reuse . another possible embodiment is shown in fig3 . in this embodiment , incremental amounts of urea / solvent are added in an inline , stepwise fashion to the fae . solvent vessel 200 and urea vessel 206 contain solvent and urea which are mixed by static inline mixer 210 , and the mixture flows through several pipes 204 . the flow of the solvent and the urea is examined and controlled by monitoring flow meters 202 and 208 and controlling valves 111 and 112 . in one embodiment , flow meters 202 and 208 provide electrical signals to a controller which electrically controls valves 111 and 112 . flow of the solvent and urea from vessels 200 and 206 may be by gravity or by use of pumps , not shown . in one embodiment , a single vessel containing a mixture of urea and solvent can replace the two vessels 200 and 206 . in this embodiment , the mixture of urea and solvent must be continually agitated to ensure a well mixed combination . also , the ratio of urea to solvent must be such that the urea completely dissolves in the solvent . after the urea and solvent are brought together , the two are thoroughly mixed by inline , i . e ., static , mixer 210 . in the single vessel embodiment inline mixer 210 may be avoided . the urea / solvent mixture flows through pipe 204 and enter conduit 214 through valves 212 , wherein the urea / solvent is mixed with fae . as mentioned above , the flow of urea and solvent are monitored by flow meters 208 and 202 and the valves 112 and 111 are controlled so that the correct mixture of urea and solvent is achieved . the correct mixture is one where the urea can completely dissolve in the solvent . several valves 212 control introduction of urea / solvent into the flow of fae flowing through conduit 214 . the condition of conduit 214 is such that addition of urea / solvent at any point along conduit 214 causes immediate evaporation of the solvent through pipes 224 . this can be accomplished by either applying a vacuum to conduit 214 or by heating conduit 214 . the evaporated solvent flows through pipe 217 and condenser 218 and is recovered into solvent vessel 200 . the evaporation of the solvent also causes immediate selective clathration of urea with fae . the clathrates are collected on inline filters 216 , such as a steadfast equipment disposable rotary drum filter which has an integrated scraping action which separates the clathrates from the filter medium . the clathrates are then transferred through pipes 226 to urea recovery station 220 . in urea recovery station 220 , the urea is separated from sfae by any of the methods described above , e . g ., disassociation by heating and thereby melting the urea , washing with warm water , and applying a solvent in which urea is not dissolvable . with all of these separation techniques the urea is recovered and reintroduced into the urea vessel 206 . the sfae is used as a byproduct that has many uses where it is desired to have a high gel point , e . g ., candles . referring now to fig4 , a diagrammatic representation of another embodiment of a batch evaporative urea fractionation process , suitable for practicing some of the embodiments of the invention is disclosed . briefly , a pre - mixing vessel 302 is fitted with a series of valves ( 301 a - e ) and each valve is in turn connected to a source of at least one compound that can be pre - mixed , for example , methanol ( meoh ), recycled meoh , urea and recycled urea . next , the pre - mixed materials formed via pre - mixing vessel 302 are fed via pipe 303 into a blending / storage tank 306 which is outfitted with a mixing means 308 . tank 306 is connected via pipe 305 to a source of fae 307 . after mixing , some of the contents of tank 306 are fed via pipe 309 into crystallization chamber 312 which is outfitted with a mixing means 310 . the headspace in chamber 312 is connected to an exhaust pipe 313 which is in turn connected to vacuum source 317 . vacuum source 317 is outfitted with at least two liquid output pipes . pipe 316 carries meoh removed by vacuum from tank 310 back to mixing vessel 302 . a second pipe 318 connected to vacuum source 317 carries condensates having a boiling point different from the boiling point of meoh away from vacuum source 317 . pipe 318 may be plumbed to a waste receptacle or to a purification apparatus ( not shown ) for separation and / or fractionalization or additional processing of the contents of pipe 318 . still referring to fig4 , after a holding time in vessel 312 intended to increase the level of clathrates produced in the process , a portion of the liquid content of vessel 312 is fed into pipe 320 . pipe 320 is also connected to a filtration device , for example , rotary vacuum filtration device 322 . solids such as clathrates form on the surface of filtration device 322 . liquid substantially free of clathrates such as cold flow - esters ( cfe ) flow though filtration device 322 and are transferred out of the system via pipe 324 . excess liquid and / or solid material from the surface of filtration device 322 may be re - applied to the surface of device 322 via re - circulation pipe 326 . material including both solids collected from the surface of filtration device 322 and liquids substantially free of cfe are fed by pipe 326 to a heat source such as 332 . liquid formed after heating by heating device 332 is transferred via pipe 334 to holding tank 336 which is vented via pipe 335 . vent pipe 335 may be connected to a filtration , condensation or separation unit ( not show ). liquids that collect in tank 336 above flotation pipe 337 are siphoned out of holding tank 336 via pipe 338 . this material is comprised primarily of saturate rich esters ( sre ). the contents of tank 338 collecting in tank 336 below flotation line 337 are removed from tank 336 via pipe 340 . the material in pipe 340 , which includes urea inclusion compounds ( uic ), is fed into extrusion device 342 . the extrudate recovered from extrusion device 342 is highly enriched in urea and is transferred by pipe 344 to pre - mixing vessel 302 . referring now to fig5 , a diagrammatic representation of a semi - continuous system suitable for practicing some of the embodiments of the invention is shown . pre - mixing vessel 402 is fitted with a series of valves ( 401 a - e ). each valve is in turn connected to a source of at least one compound that can be pre - mixed , for example , methanol ( meoh ), re - cycled meoh , urea and re - cycled urea before the pre - mixture is mixed with ( fae ). next , the pre - mixed material is fed into a blending / storage container 406 which is outfitted with a mixing means 408 and is also connected to a source of fae . after mixing various components , including , for example , urea , methanol and fae , a portion of the contents of container 406 is fed via pipe 409 ( which is fitted to or near the bottom of tank 406 ) to a second tank 410 which includes mixing device 412 . the head space of tank 410 is connected to pipe 414 which is in turn connected to a vacuum source 418 . alternatively , tank 410 may be heated ( device not shown ). material is drawn from tank 410 by vacuum source 418 and is fed to condenser 417 via pipe 416 . methanol is collected from condensation unit 417 and is fed via recycle pipe 420 to mixing vessel 402 . material from condensation unit 417 that has a boiling point different from methanol is removed from condensation unit 417 via pipe 419 . pipe 419 may be connected to a waste receptacle or to another recovery and / or separation device ( not shown ). liquid from tank 410 is fed via pipe 423 to a filtration device such as rotary vacuum filtration device 421 . liquids that pass through filtration device 421 are collected via pipe 428 . these liquids are substantially comprised of cold - flow esters ( cfe ). solid material that collects on the surface of filtration device 421 is enriched in urea inclusion compounds ( uic ), including clathrates . this material is collected for additional processing including , for example , the dissociation of urea inclusion compounds to liberate urea from clathrates . still referring to fig5 , a tank 432 including filtered uic collected from , for example , the surface of rotary filtration device 421 is heated to a temperature sufficient to dissociate the urea rich clathrates by heating device 436 , which is connected to tank 432 via pipe 434 . melted material is fed via pipe 438 connecting heating device 436 to a settling tank 440 . settling tank 440 is outfitted with head space vent pipe 442 which may be connected to an additional condenser or separation device ( not shown ). liquids in settling tank 440 above flotation line 443 are fed into pipe 445 . this liquid is comprised substantially of saturate - rich esters ( sre ) 446 . liquid collected in settling tank 440 below flotation line 443 is removed from tank 440 via pipe 468 . pipe 468 is in turn connected to a urea recovery device such as tray dryer 470 . vapor from tray dryer 470 is vented via pipe 472 while dried urea from tray dryer 440 is collected via evacuation outlet 474 and may be introduced into pre - mixing vessel 402 . these teachings provide numerous advantages over known prior art , for example , prior art processes in which clathration is promoted by cooling the mixture of fae / urea / solvent . for example , substantially all of the urea is used in the clathration process . since urea forms clathrates with sfae , the remaining ufae is substantially free of urea and need not be further processed to remove the urea . this means that smaller amounts of urea can be used for each batch of fae as , for example , compared to clathration by cooling . another advantage is that substantially all of the solvent is evaporated during the clathration process . therefore , minimal processing is required to remove any traces of solvent that is left in the ufae . additionally , little or no solvent is wasted using the solvent recovery steps , described above . also , evaporation of substantially all of the solvent makes it possible for substantially all of the urea to clathrate with sfae . yet another advantage is that no cooling is required once urea / solvent have been added to the fae to promote clathration . still another advantage is that since the clathration process according to these teachings is closely controlled , the yield of the low gel point output is higher than , for example , clathration by cooling . exemplary techniques are illustrated by the following examples . a summary of these examples is found in table 4 . in table 4 , fae constituents are listed for each example . additionally , resulting c . p ., % by weight of starting fae and the proportions of fae to urea to solvent is listed for each example . 50 grams of soy methyl esters and 25 g of urea were added to 125 ml of methanol . the mixture was heated to ˜ 55 ° c ., with constant stirring in a round bottom flask . after all components were dissolved , the flask was connected to a rotary evaporator and the methanol was evaporated applying ˜ 20 in hg of vacuum and a water bath at 60 ° c . 50 ml of hexane were added to the residual contents of the flask and the contents of the flask were shaken for 2 - 3 minutes and then transferred into a buchner funnel . the hexane extract was recovered by vacuum filtration , transferred into a round bottom flask and connected to a rotary evaporator to flash off the hexane and thus recover the unsaturated - rich soy methyl esters . the yield was 69 . 1 % of the initial sme mass . the fae profile of the material before and after treatment is shown in table 4 . 20 grams of soy methyl esters and 18 g of urea were added to 80 ml of methanol . the mixture was heated to ˜ 65 ° c ., with constant stirring in a round bottom flask . after all components were dissolved , the flask was connected to a rotary evaporator and the methanol was evaporated applying ˜ 20 in hg of vacuum and a water bath at 60 ° c . 50 ml of hexane were added to the residual contents of the flask and the contents of the flask were shaken for 2 - 3 minutes and then transferred into a buchner funnel . the hexane extract was recovered by vacuum filtration , transferred into a round bottom flask and connected to a rotary evaporator to flash off the hexane and thus recover the unsaturate - rich soy methyl esters . the yield was 63 . 3 % of the initial sme mass . the fae profile of the material before and after treatment is shown in table 5 . 20 grams of soy methyl esters and 2 g of urea were added to 30 ml of methanol . the mixture was heated to ˜ 40 ° c ., with constant stirring in a round bottom flask . after all components were dissolved , the flask was connected to a rotary evaporator and the methanol was evaporated applying ˜ 20 in hg of vacuum and a water bath at 60 ° c . 50 ml of hexane were added to the residual contents of the flask and the contents of the flask were shaken for 2 - 3 minutes and then transferred into a buchner funnel . the hexane extract was recovered by vacuum filtration , transferred into a round bottom flask and connected to a rotary evaporator to flash off the hexane and thus recover the unsaturated - rich soy methyl esters . the yield was 92 . 1 % of the initial sme mass . the fae profile of the material before and after treatment is shown in table 6 . 20 grams of soy methyl esters and 4 g of urea were added to 30 ml of methanol . the mixture was heated to ˜ 60 ° c ., with constant stirring in a round bottom flask . after all components were dissolved , the flask was connected to a rotary evaporator and the methanol was evaporated applying ˜ 20 in hg of vacuum and a water bath at 60 ° c . 50 ml of hexane were added to the residual contents of the flask and the contents of the flask were shaken for 2 - 3 minutes and then transferred into a buchner funnel . the hexane extract was recovered by vacuum filtration , transferred into a round bottom flask and connected to a rotary evaporator to flash off the hexane and thus recover the unsaturated - rich soy methyl esters . the yield was 84 . 5 % of the initial sme mass . the fae profile of the material before and after treatment is shown in table 7 . 20 grams of soy methyl esters and 8 g of urea were added to 45 ml of methanol . the mixture was heated to ˜ 60 ° c ., with constant stirring in a round bottom flask . after all components were dissolved , the flask was connected to a rotary evaporator and the methanol was evaporated applying ˜ 20 in hg of vacuum and a water bath at 60 ° c . 50 ml of hexane were added to the residual contents of the flask and the contents of the flask were shaken for 2 - 3 minutes and then transferred into a buchner funnel . the hexane extract was recovered by vacuum filtration , transferred into a round bottom flask and connected to a rotary evaporator to flash off the hexane and thus recover the unsaturated - rich soy methyl esters . the yield was 84 . 7 % of the initial sme mass . the fae profile of the material before and after treatment is shown in table 8 . first step : 50 grams of used cooking oil ( uco ) methyl esters ( see composition below ) and 20 g of urea were added to 125 ml of methanol . the mixture was heated to ˜ 55 ° c ., with constant stirring in a round bottom flask . after all components were dissolved , the flask was connected to a rotary evaporator and the methanol was evaporated applying ˜ 20 in hg of vacuum and a water bath at 60 ° c . the unsaturated uco methyl esters were recovered by vacuum filtration . the yield for the first step was 68 . 1 % second step : 20 g of the fractionated methyl esters from the first step were used for a second fractionation by adding 18 g of urea and 80 ml of methanol . the same procedure as for the first step was followed to perform a second fractionation . the yield for the second step fractionation was 38 . 6 % of the initial uco methyl esters masses . the fae profile of the material before and after treatment is shown in table 9 . first step : 50 grams of palm oil methyl esters ( pme ; see composition below ) and 35 g of urea were added to 250 ml of methanol . the mixture was heated to ˜ 55 c , with constant stirring in a round bottom flask . after all components were dissolved , the mixture was cooled down to 25 ° c . in a water bath ; the urea clathrates formed were separated by filtration . the methanol from the filtrate was removed by flash evaporation . a total of 30 . 5 g of pme was recovered in the filtrate ( a 61 % yield ). second step : the fractionated pme recovered from the first step were used for a second fractionation by adding 25 g of urea and 250 ml of methanol . the same procedure as for the first step was followed to perform a second fractionation . the yield for the second step fractionation was 40 % of the initial pme methyl esters masses . third step : the fractionated pme recovered from the second step were used for a third fractionation by adding 20 g of urea and 250 ml of methanol . the same procedure as for the first step was followed to perform a third fractionation . the yield for the third step fractionation was 18 % of the initial pme methyl esters masses . the fae profile of the material before and after treatment is shown in table 10 . it is envisioned that experimental results correlating c . p . to starting material using different starting material can be provided to a mathematical analysis package , e . g ., sas , for the purpose of fitting a curve to the experimental results . such a mathematical analysis package can perform a regression analysis and provide a formula relating c . p . to molar or weight fraction of the constituents of a starting material . such a formula will advantageously provide an analytical tool for predicting c . p . of a particular mixture by knowing the species of a fatty acid profile that make up the mixture . for example , by knowing the molar or weight fractions of c16 : 0 , c18 : 0 , c18 : 1 , c18 : 2 and c18 : 3 of a particular mixture , a corresponding c . p . can be calculated . it is also envisioned that experimental results correlating a particular starting material to the amount of urea can be provided to a mathematical analysis package , e . g ., sas , for the purpose of fitting a curve to the experimental results . such a mathematical analysis package can perform a regression analysis and provide a formula relating the amount of urea needed compared to the known starting material to achieve a particular c . p . while exemplary embodiments incorporating the principles of the present invention have been disclosed hereinabove , the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments . instead , this application is intended to cover any variations , uses , or adaptations of the invention using its general principles . further , this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims . | 2 |
referring to fig1 , there is shown a septic gallery 5 as is known in the art . the septic gallery 5 is preferably a container that is placed in a leaching field , such as ground or sand , and is utilized for drainage of effluent . effluent is a term commonly used for waste materials such as liquid and solid industrial refuse or liquid and solid residential sewage that flows out of a source and is discharged into the environment . the effluent is carried from a source such as a bathroom to the septic tank , then to the leaching field for dispersion , diffusion , or percolation , into surrounding soil . known pipes carry the effluent discharge and release the material into a chamber , or vault such as the septic gallery 5 . the gallery 5 as is known will have a number of perforation or holes leading from the septic gallery 5 . the gallery 5 is usually buried in a trench to facilitate dispersion of the effluent into the soil . all of the solid effluent stays in the septic tank , and only the liquid and liquid effluent diffuses into the sand . in some systems , the gallery 5 is defined by a large diameter perforated conduit . in other systems , the gallery 5 is perforated to provide direct dispersion into the sand . the effluent is then dispersed into the soil either through the soil serving as the floor of the gallery 5 or , when effluent accumulates in the gallery , through passages in side walls thereof . one known problem in the art is that the interface between the gallery 5 and the ground only allows for a finite flow or dispersion rate of liquid waste from the gallery to the soil or sand on the other side . the inventor of the present invention has recognized this known problem and has solved the problem with the present invention that has a number of unexpected benefits that increase a capacity for liquid waste of the gallery 5 , and allows an increased amount of liquid and liquid waste to diffuse into the ground . a prior art septic gallery 5 is commonly concrete or formed of plastic resin material and corrugated for strength . this septic gallery 5 is formed in sections that are mated to vary the effective length of the leach field . sometimes multiple septic galleries 5 are connected to one another to increase the length and capacity of the leaching field , for example a home . referring now to fig2 a , there is shown the septic gallery 10 of the present invention buried beneath the ground . the septic gallery 10 is preferably connected to an effluent source , and has a first conduit 12 or pipe that is connected to a septic tank or pump chamber . in one embodiment , the septic gallery 10 has a four foot width although galleries can be provided in a variety of standard and / or conventional sizes to accommodate homes and or properties of differing sizes . the septic gallery 10 preferably has a first conduit 12 on a first side 14 of the gallery , and a second conduit 16 on a second side 18 of the gallery . the effluent is in a liquid form and preferably enters the gallery 10 from the first conduit 12 and the second conduit 16 to fill the gallery over time to capacity . capacity is the number of gallons of effluent and depends on the size of the residence or waste source above ground . after a period of time , prior art galleries becomes full with liquid effluent , and must be replaced . what is desirable is a device that may increase a capacity of the septic gallery while liquid effluent is not be stored therein . instead , the liquid effluent is diffused to the surrounding environment to percolate through ground for filtering thereof . most preferably , the present invention achieves this need in an unexpected manner . the gallery 10 has a first appendage 20 on the first lateral side 14 of the gallery 10 . preferably , the first appendage 20 contacts the ground or sand in the ground contacting side , and also communicates with the first conduit 12 on the first side 14 of the gallery opposite the ground contacting side . the surrounding earth or sand presses appendage 20 to gallery 10 . alternatively , the appendage 20 and the gallery 10 may be formed as one integrated structure or as separate discrete pieces . the first appendage 20 , in one embodiment , may be permanently connected to the septic gallery 10 by a connector . alternatively , the first appendage 20 may be a modular member that is removably connected to the septic gallery 10 , for easier replacement thereof . preferably , the first appendage 20 has a number of shaped members to permit enhanced diffusion of the effluent into the ground . the first appendage 20 has any acceptable shape to permit diffusion into the ground from the gallery 10 in a rapid manner . preferably , the first appendage 20 has a number of three - sided or triangular shaped members generally represented by reference numeral 22 with each having an apex 24 and a base portion 26 . alternatively , the three - sided members could have a rounded tip instead of an apex . the triangular shaped members 22 collectively preferably form a baffle . each member 22 is preferably a triangular member having two equal sides to form a substantially isosceles triangle . however , each member 22 can be a substantially equilateral triangle in which each angle includes approximately 60 degrees . still further , each member 22 may be any three side polygonal member . each member 22 is made from a material capable of withstanding the environment of the septic tank and gallery , such as , for example , a plastic resin material that would include resilient thermoplastic , polycarbonate , polyvinyl chloride ( pvc ), achrilonitride - butadiene - styrene ( abs ), polyurethane , or acrylic resin . in one non - limiting embodiment , the base portion 26 has a width of about one foot . a diffusion space 28 is formed between a first triangular member 30 and a second triangular 32 member of the baffle 22 . the diffusion space 28 is also triangular shaped and is preferably allowed to fill in with an acceptable ground contacting material such as sand , gravel , or any combination thereof , for diffusion . likewise , a second diffusion space 28 is formed between the second triangular member 32 and a third triangular member 34 . this structure continues along the length of the septic gallery 10 . referring to fig3 , there is shown a frontal view of the baffle with the diffusion spaces 28 . the baffle 22 has a number of apertures 36 thereon . the liquid effluent preferably traverses through the apertures 36 and then diffuses into the soil , sand , gravel , or ground . the baffle 22 preferably increases a surface area of the lateral side of the first appendage 20 of the septic gallery 10 to allow an increased amount of liquid effluent to escape from the first appendage , and traverse through the apertures and for diffusion to the sand , or ground . referring to fig4 , there is shown a cross sectional view of the first appendage 20 along line 4 - 4 of fig2 a . the base portion 26 of each triangular member of the baffle 22 has the apertures 36 in a configuration . preferably , the septic gallery 10 also has a second appendage 38 located on a second side 16 of the septic gallery 10 as shown in fig1 . additionally , the first and the second appendages 20 , 38 may form modular members to retrofit to an existing septic gallery 10 to increase a capacity thereof . appendages 20 and 38 can be fabricated to accommodate existing and new galleries . spaces between first and second appendages 20 and 38 , respectively , can be filled with mason sand or any such material that can accept the fluid . referring to fig2 b . gallery 10 could also have an additional third appendage 39 affixed to an end thereof to provide diffusion capability on three sides . referring to fig5 and 6 , a second embodiment of an appendage system 40 of the present invention , is shown . system 40 has two appendages 42 and 44 that are abutting each other . each appendage 42 and 44 can have any number of triangular elements 46 to form a baffle 48 . each baffle 48 has numerous apertures 54 to allow for passage of effluent into leaching field . triangular elements 46 can have rounded tips 50 to further increase the surface area of diffusion of liquid into the soil 52 in the leaching field . baffle 48 preferably increases a surface area of the lateral side of the first appendage 42 and 44 to allow an increased amount of liquid effluent to escape from the appendages and channel 56 , and traverse through the apertures and for diffusion to the sand , or ground . it should be understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the present invention . various alternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention . accordingly , the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives , modifications and variances . | 2 |
refer now to fig1 - 19 for a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of this invention . the key to this invention is to form a set of two masks to transfer a pattern comprising lines which will become shortened by the photolithographic process to a layer of resist . this is accomplished by extending the length of each of the free ends of the pattern elements , thereby forming a first mask . a second mask is then formed to cut the ends of the lines to the proper length . a layer of resist is first exposed using the first mask and a first exposure . the layer of resist is then exposed using the second mask and a second exposure . fig1 shows a schematic diagram of a photolithographic mask alignment and projection system . a substrate 708 , usually an integrated circuit wafer , having a layer of resist 706 formed thereon is placed in a substrate holder 710 . the masks 702 are placed in a mask holder 704 . the mask holder 704 and substrate holder 710 are positioned to achieve the proper alignment between the masks 702 and layer of resist 706 . a radiation source 700 , usually a light source , supplies radiation to pass through the masks 702 and the lens 705 . the radiation passing through the masks 702 is focussed by the lens 705 to expose the layer of resist 706 so that the image of the masks 702 is transferred to the layer of resist 706 . after exposure using the first and second masks the substrate 708 is removed and the layer of resist 706 is developed . fig1 shows a top view of a pattern to be transferred to a layer of resist . in this embodiment the pattern elements , 100 and 102 , are to be transferred as remaining resist in a layer of developed positive resist or openings in the resist in a layer of developed negative resist . fig1 shows the example of a pattern wherein some of the pattern elements 100 at the top of the pattern are collinear with one of the pattern elements 102 at the bottom of the pattern . fig2 shows a top view of both the first and second mask showing the rules used to form the masks . the first mask pattern is shown using solid lines in fig2 . the bottom ends of the line segments at the top of the pattern , reference number 100 in fig1 and the top ends of the line segments at the top of the pattern , reference number 102 in fig1 are extended until they meet forming extended line segments , reference number 104 in fig2 . the top ends of the line segments at the top of the pattern , reference number 100 in fig1 and the bottom ends of the line segments at the top of the pattern , reference number 102 in fig1 are extended a first distance 116 . the extended line segments , 104 in fig2 will be opaque regions of the first mask . the first distance is greater than the expected reduction of length at one end of the line segments . in this example the line segments at the top of the pattern and the line segments at the bottom of the pattern are extended until they meet . this is done unless the distance between the bottom of the line segments at the top of the pattern and the top of the line segments at the bottom of the pattern is greater than the largest expected reduction of length at one end of the line segments multiplied by ten . as shown by the dashed lines in fig2 a cutting pattern is located at the positions where the length of the lines is to be cut . fig2 shows a number of cutting pattern elements 106 at the top of the extended line segments 104 , cutting pattern elements 110 at the bottom of the extended line segments 104 , and cutting elements 108 at the center of the extended line segments 104 . the cutting elements , 106 , 108 , and 110 are a number of rectangles . the cutting elements , 106 and 110 , at the top and bottom of the extended line segments 104 are positioned to cut the first distance 116 from the line segment ends . these cutting elements have a height 114 of at least two times the first distance . the cutting elements 108 at the center of the extended line segments 104 are located to cut the extended line segments to duplicate the line segments of the original pattern . the width of the cutting elements , 106 , 108 , and 110 , is large enough to extend a distance 120 beyond the edge of the extended line segments 104 which is greater than the largest expected reduction of length at one end of the line segments . if the separation 120 between the extended line segments 104 is less than the largest expected reduction of length at one end of the line segments multiplied by ten the width of the cutting pattern elements , 106 , 108 , and 110 , is extended until the cutting pattern elements meet . fig3 a shows a top view of the first mask showing the extended line segments 104 . the extended line segments 104 will be opaque regions on the first mask . fig3 b shows a top view of the second mask or cutting mask showing the cutting elements , 106 , 108 , and 110 . the cutting elements , 106 , 108 , and 110 are transparent regions of the cutting mask . fig1 shows a schematic diagram of a photolithographic mask alignment and projection system . a substrate 708 , usually and integrated circuit wafer , having a layer of resist 706 formed thereon is placed in a substrate holder 710 . the masks 702 are placed in a mask holder 704 . the mask holder 704 and substrate holder 710 are positioned to achieve the proper alignment between the masks 702 and layer of resist 706 . a radiation source 700 , usually a light source , supplies radiation to pass through the masks 702 and expose the layer of resist 706 . the first mask , shown in fig3 a , is first placed in the mask holder 704 and the layer of resist is exposed . this leaves the extended line segments 104 unexposed . the second mask , shown in fig3 b , is then placed in the mask holder and the layer of resist is exposed a second time . this exposes the extended regions of the extended line segments 104 so that they will be removed during development of the resist . since the line shortening has taken place before the exposure using the cutting pattern , this method avoids line shortening in the final resist pattern . the method just described with reference to fig1 - 3b , and 19 , is the method used to avoid line shortening while forming the image of line segments in a layer of resist . refer now to fig4 - 15b for a description of additional mask embodiments having opaque pattern elements in the first mask and transparent cutting elements in the cutting mask , and layout ground rules for forming these masks . these masks and this method will work for the case of either positive or negative resist . fig4 shows a pattern having line segments , 200 and 202 , which are not collinear but which would contact each other if the line segments were extended toward one another . fig5 shows the diagram of the extended line segments 204 for the first mask and the cutting elements , 206 , 208 , and 210 , for the second mask or cutting mask . in this embodiment the bottom ends of the lines 200 at the top of the pattern and the top ends of the lines 202 at the bottom of the pattern , see fig4 are extended until the lines meet as shown in fig5 . the meeting point 212 of the lines is located midway between the bottom ends of the lines 200 at the top of the pattern and the top ends of the lines 202 at the bottom of the pattern . the rules for extending the lines at the top ends of the lines 200 at the top of the pattern and the bottom ends of the lines 202 at the bottom of the pattern are the same as described in the previous example . the rules for forming the cutting elements 206 , 208 , and 210 are also the same as described in the previous example . fig6 a shows a top view of the first mask showing the extended line segments 204 . the extended line segments 204 will be opaque regions on the first mask . fig6 b shows a top view of the second mask or cutting mask showing the cutting elements 206 , 208 , and 210 . the cutting elements 206 , 208 , and 210 are transparent regions of the cutting mask . fig7 shows a top view of a mask having line segments 300 and 302 in a t pattern . fig8 shows the layout pattern for the extended line segments 304 and 306 of the first mask and the cutting elements 308 and 310 for the cutting mask . the rules for forming the vertical extended line segments 304 , the horizontal extended line segment 306 , and the cutting element 310 used to trim the bottom end of the vertical extended line segments 304 are the same as described in previous examples . a new ground rule introduced in this example requires a gap 314 between the edge of the cutting element 308 used to cut the top ends of the vertical extended line segments 304 and the ends of the horizontal extended line segment 306 . this gap must be greater than twice the root mean square sum of the stage accuracy and mask overlay errors for the mask alignment and projection system shown in fig1 . fig9 a shows a top view of the first mask showing the extended line segments 304 and 306 . the extended line segments 304 and 306 will be opaque regions on the first mask . fig9 b shows a top view of the second mask or cutting mask showing the cutting elements 308 and 310 . the cutting elements 308 and 310 are transparent regions of the cutting mask . fig1 shows a top view of a mask having straight line segments 400 and an l shaped line segment 402 . fig1 shows the layout pattern for the extended line segments 404 and 408 of the first mask and the cutting elements 410 and 412 for the cutting mask . the rules for forming the extended line segments 404 and 408 and the cutting elements 410 and 412 are the same as described in previous examples . a new ground rule introduced in this example requires gaps 414 and 416 between the edge of the cutting element 410 and adjacent line segments 408 . these gaps must each be greater than twice the root mean square sum of the stage accuracy and mask overlay errors for the mask alignment and projection system shown in fig1 . fig1 a shows a top view of the first mask showing the extended line segments 404 and 408 . the extended line segments 404 and 408 will be opaque regions on the first mask . fig1 b shows a top view of the second mask or cutting mask showing the cutting elements 410 and 412 . the cutting elements 410 and 412 are transparent regions of the cutting mask . fig1 shows a top view of a mask having straight line segments 500 , 502 , and 504 forming an h shaped pattern . fig1 shows the layout pattern for the extended line segments 506 of the first mask and the cutting elements 508 , 510 , and 512 for the cutting mask . the rules for forming the extended line segments 506 and the cutting elements 508 , 510 , and 512 are the same as described in previous examples . in this pattern the interior cutting elements 510 must extend beyond the edge of the interior extended line segment 506 a distance 514 least 20 % larger than the expected largest line shortening of the pattern line segments , 500 , 502 , and 504 in fig1 . there must also be a gap 516 between the edge of the interior cutting elements 510 and adjacent line segments 510 . this gap must each be greater than twice the root mean square sum of the stage accuracy and mask overlay errors for the mask alignment and projection system shown in fig1 . fig1 a shows a top view of the first mask showing the extended line segments 506 . the extended line segments 506 will be opaque regions on the first mask . fig1 b shows a top view of the second mask or cutting mask showing the cutting elements 508 and 510 . the cutting elements 508 and 510 are transparent regions of the cutting mask . refer now to fig1 - 18b for a description of an embodiment of the masks of this invention having pattern elements corresponding to transparent regions of the mask . fig1 shows a top view of a mask having straight line segments 600 and an l shaped line segment 602 . fig1 shows the layout pattern for the first mask having line segments 600 and 602 mask and the cutting elements 610 and 612 for the cutting mask . in this example the line segments 600 and 602 in . the first mask will be transparent regions in an otherwise opaque mask and will be the same size and shape as the line segments and l shaped segment in the original pattern mask . since exposure of a layer of resist using this mask will shorten these pattern elements the cutting mask also has transparent cutting elements 610 and 610 which will lengthen these pattern elements in the second exposure . the cutting elements 610 and 612 have the same width as the corresponding line elements 600 and 602 but serve the purpose of extending these line segments in a second exposure . fig1 a shows a top view of the first mask showing the line segments 600 and l shaped segment 602 . the line segments 600 and l shaped segment 602 are transparent regions of the first mask . fig1 b shows a top view of the second mask or cutting mask showing the cutting elements 610 and 612 . the cutting elements 610 and 612 are transparent regions of the cutting mask . these embodiments have described first exposing a layer of resist using a first mask followed by exposure using a cutting mask . the method of this invention will work equally well by first exposing the layer of resist using the cutting mask followed by a second exposure using the first mask . the masks and method of all the embodiments described herein will work equally well for forming images in either positive or negative resist . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 6 |
it is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings . the present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways . also , it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting . exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed towards a system and a method for facilitating non - holographic virtual teleporting in real time directed at one or more remote objects . it is advantageous to define several terms , phrases and acronyms before describing the invention in detail . it should be appreciated that the following terms are used throughout this application . where the definition of term departs from the commonly used meaning of the term , applicant intends to utilize the definitions provided below , unless specifically indicated . for the purpose of describing the instant invention following definitions of the technical terms are stipulated : 1 . 2d foreground segmentation : two dimensional image segmentation techniques for distinguishing a background from a foreground , such as those based on pixel recognition and differentiation . the 2d pixel differentiation technique requires a training session so that the system first reads and learns the pixel pattern in a given scene and uses it as a reference to extract target object from the background . 2 . 3d background segmentation : three dimensional image segmentation techniques such as those based on depth measurement techniques by dual camera triangulation algorithm , multiple camera array , time - of - flight 3d mapping , or structured light based 3d imaging processes . 3 . teleporting device / teleporting terminal : a computer device or a combination of devices coupled to an internet enabled computing device comprising of at least one rgb ( red , green , blue ) sensor , which is a high definition camera with hd resolution of 720p ( 1280 × 720 pixels ) or full hd resolution of 1080p ( 1920 × 1080 pixels ) that captures the live object images at each of the teleporting terminal ; at least one audio sensor , and at least one depth sensor , which is based on generating 3d maps of the objects at each of the teleportation terminal using one of the following approaches : a ) time - of - flight based depth sensing , b ) structured light based 3d sensing , c ) using dual camera based triangulation algorithm , or d ) by means of multiple camera array method . the complete assemblage of internet - connected teleportation enabling hardware and software at a specific geo - location is referred as teleporting terminal . a teleporting terminal that deploys two - dimensional segmentation may not need the depth sensor . 4 . time - of - flight depth sensor : a time - of - flight sensor or camera ( tof camera ) is a range imaging camera system that resolves the depth of an object by measuring the time - of - flight of a light signal between the camera and the subject for each point of the image distance based on the known speed of light . 5 . structured light depth sensor : another type of depth sensor that is used for measuring the three - dimensional shape of an object using projected light patterns and a camera system . 6 . dual camera depth sensor : depth of a three - dimensional object can also be measured by using two rgb cameras for capturing image data points on the object from two different perspectives , and then using triangulation algorithm to analyze all the data points for creating a 3d map of the object . 7 . multiple camera array : using an array of multiple cameras to record a scene is a more recent technique that is used to generate pixel specific data from multiple perspectives . in this system each pixel carries depth information in addition to the normal rgb data . such pixel - specific information can be deployed in many different ways , one of which being creating a depth map of the image . an array may comprise of either multiple micro cameras with their own imaging sensors , or a collection of miniaturized micro or nano lenses focusing light from different perspectives on a single processor chip collectively analyzing the entire image information from all perspectives to measure the depth of each pixel from each perspective . 8 . remote object / s & amp ; remote terminal / s : one or more human subjects , living beings , physical objects or articles located in a designated three dimensional space in a single or multiple geographical locations who are to be virtually teleported to a different location . the complete assemblage of teleportation enabling hardware and software infrastructure at such a remote location is referred as remote terminal . 9 . host object / s : one or more human subject , living being located in a designated three - dimensional space in a geographical location , who initiate a teleportation session with one or more remote teleportation terminals , and who are to be virtually teleported to a pre - defined virtual location . the complete assemblage of teleportation enabling hardware and software at such a host location is referred as host terminal . 10 . camera view background : the local background environment surrounding each of one or more remote object ( s ) or host object ( s ) from which the corresponding object ( s ) have to be extracted and transmitted with alpha channel ( transparency ) to the host terminal , so that various teleported or computer generated graphic elements can be integrated into a composite teleported scene . 11 . teleported scene background layer : the background layer comprising of one or more preselected computer generated graphic content , retrieved from a repository , for insertion into the integrated , composite teleported scene . 12 . teleported scene foreground layer : the foreground layer comprising of one or more preselected computer generated graphic content , retrieved from a repository , for insertion into the integrated , composite teleported scene . 13 . elements of a teleported scene : the remote object ( s ), host object ( s ), computer generated background graphics layer ( s ), computer generated foreground graphics layer ( s ), and alpha and audio channel associated with each of them constitute the elements of the teleported scene . 14 . remote object connection module ( rocm ): a set of computer programs that is used to logically connect one or more remote objects in real time via internet means that include but are not limited to a telecommunication link , or a wired or wireless local area network ( lan ), or a wide area network ( wan ), or a virtual private network ( vpn ) or intranet through wired or wireless telecommunication protocol , or tcp / ip protocol , or gprs protocol or wifi protocol or bluetooth or radiofrequency protocol or a telecommunication protocol . 15 . object scene capture module ( oscm ): a set of computer programs that receive , as input from rgb sensor , the image of object scene in real time from the teleporting device 16 . object extraction module ( oem ): a set of computer programs that rely on 2d or 3d background and foreground segmentation techniques to extract in real time scene objects from their backgrounds . 17 . remote object transmission module ( rotm ): a set of computer programs that transmit in real time , to a host object terminal , the extracted image of a remote object along with associated parameters , those include but not limited to depth , texture , color , alpha channel and audio channel . 18 . object insertion module ( oim ): a set of computer programs that integrates , places and composes one or more remote teleported objects within alpha channeled areas of extracted host object image scene . 19 . foreground layer insertion module ( flim ): a set of computer programs that inserts in real time a pre - defined foreground layer of computer graphics to the composition of teleported scene . 20 . background layer insertion module ( blim ): a set of computer programs that inserts in real time a pre - defined background layer of computer graphics to the composition of teleported scene . 21 . teleported scene compositing module ( tscm ): a set of computer programs that integrates and fine tunes in real time the composition of all the elements of the teleported scene , such as host and remote objects , background and foreground layers of computer graphics , alpha channel and audio channel to produce a live composition of teleported environment . 22 . teleported composite scene display module ( tcsdm ): a set of computer programs that display in real time the integrated , composite teleported scene on display devices of each of the participating teleportation terminals . 23 . communication module ( cm ): a set of computer programs which delivers the integrated , composite teleported scene in real time to a preselected destination using either wired or wireless telecommunication protocol , or tcp / ip protocol , or wifi protocol or bluetooth , or a radiofrequency protocol . 24 . central processing unit ( cpu ): a computing system that analyzes and executes the operations of room , oscm , oem , rotm , oim , flim , blim , tsblim , tcsm , tcsdm . the present invention is now described with reference to the drawings . an overview of a system in a preferred embodiment facilitating virtual teleportation of three remote objects in a teleportation session to a new real or virtual location using non - holographic technique is now discussed in conjunction with fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ). fig1 ( a ) illustrates the technical implementation of virtual teleportation in client server network architecture , while fig1 ( b ) illustrates implementation in a peer - to - peer network . the system 100 includes a plurality of objects 104 , 112 and 124 located at plurality of teleportation terminals who are to be teleported . the host object 102 at host terminal initiates the teleportation session . host object is present in a backdrop comprising of host background elements 104 . the host scene is captured by the rgb sensor ( camera ) of a teleporting device 106 coupled to a computing device 108 . after removal of background elements 102 , 110 is the extracted alpha channeled rgb image with audio of the host object 104 . the extracted image data 110 is transmitted from the host terminal via internet through wired or wireless means to a real time teleportation server 132 . in a peer - to - peer network the teleportation server 132 is not required fig1 ( b ) since the elements of the scene at the host and each of the participating terminals are transmitted directly between them in real time . a remote object 112 at a remote teleportation terminal is present in a remote background 114 . the remote scene at the remote terminal is captured by teleporting device 116 coupled to a computing device 118 . 120 denotes the alpha channeled extracted image with embedded audio of remote object 112 , which is transmitted via internet through wired or wireless means . another remote object 122 , at another remote teleportation terminal , is present along with remote background element 124 . the remote scene at this remote terminal is captured by teleporting device 126 coupled to a computing device 128 . 130 denotes the extracted image data of remote object 124 , which is transmitted along with its corresponding alpha channeled background via internet through wired or wireless means . in a client - server network architecture fig1 ( a ), the teleportation server 132 inserts and manipulates each of the transmitted alpha - channeled object image data 110 , 120 and 130 into the alpha channeled background areas of the host environment , so that each object image is overlaid distinct from each other on its pre - defined location in the teleported scene or environment . the environment that includes all the teleported objects participating in the teleportation session is then enhanced by inserting one or more background layers 134 , and one or more foreground layers 136 into a composite teleported scene 138 . such background and foreground layers are retrieved from a database of computer generated graphic content . the final integrated composite teleported scene or environment 138 is then displayed on a display panel at each of the participating terminals . such display is either a plasma display panel , or an lcd ( liquid crystal display ) panel , or an led ( light emitting diode ), or an oled ( organic light emitting diode ) display panel , or a video projector , or a see - through display screen , or a television set . as illustrated in fig1 ( b ), in a peer - to - peer network , all the data processing steps are distributed and shared between the participating teleportation terminals , and the composite teleported scene 138 is generated at the client terminal itself and shared with each of the participating terminals seamlessly . each of the teleportation terminals is equipped with means to initiate , modify , pause or record a teleportation session , to invite , add or delete participants in a teleportation session . the participants of a teleportation session can also chose environment or virtual location ( as defined by the foreground and background layers ) they want to be teleported in . a practical implementation of the present invention can be a virtual conference taking place between participating teleportation terminals in a virtual environment created by the computer generated elements of the teleported scene simulating either a real world environment or a fictional environment . the integrated composite teleported scene of a teleportation session can be either recorded locally at one or more teleportation terminals , or broadcast live and made instantly available to one or more preselected remote destinations via an internet , or a television satellite link , or a telecommunication link , or a wired or wireless local area network ( lan ), or a wide area network ( wan ), or a virtual private network ( vpn ) or intranet . for connecting the participating teleportation terminals with each other the system uses any one of the communication protocols known to prior art such as tcp / ip protocol , gprs protocol , wifi protocol , a telecommunication link , a wired network , a wireless network , a virtual private network , intranet , wireless telecommunication protocol , bluetooth , or a radiofrequency protocol . in a variant of this embodiment one or more participating teleportation terminals deploy chroma - keying techniques for background removal . in yet another variant of the embodiment the host teleportation terminal does not deploy background removal . in another variant of this embodiment , the teleportation device coupled to its internet enabled computing device is integrated within an lcd panel , an led , an oled display panel , a video projector , or a see - through display screen , or a television set . in yet another variant , the teleportation terminal is handheld communication device , or a head - mounted teleportation apparatus . having disclosed the technical aspects of a preferred embodiment is some detail , it is pertinent to walk through the practical implementation of the instant invention . fig1 ( c ) through fig1 ( j ) illustrate various steps from initiating a teleportation session to ending the session . while a convention keyboard / mouse can be used for executing all the teleportation related commands , all the commands can also be executed via gestures using the virtual interface of the invention as depicted herein . the teleportation session is initiated by activating the teleportation icon 140 on a virtual interface by means of hand gesture . the invitation to teleport is sent to selected participants from contact list fig1 ( d ). the invited participants accept the invite fig1 ( e ). the initiator of the teleportation session selects the location ( such as under water expedition ) session fig1 ( f ), which is followed with teleportation of the participants fig1 ( g ), fig1 ( h ), fig1 ( i ) to an underwater ship . finally , at the conclusion of the teleportation session , the session initiator ends the session fig1 ( j ). referring now to fig2 , which illustrates another embodiment of the system facilitating virtual teleporting for an e - commerce application , in which a user is teleported into a 3d environment of a virtual store or showroom , a virtual shopping mall , or , a merchandise service center , and interacts with merchandises therein . in a variant of this embodiment , one or more merchandises are teleported into user &# 39 ; s 3d environment for product demonstration , pre - purchase preview of goods , technical support , troubleshooting and service of pre - owned goods . 202 denotes a human subject or a user at a teleportation terminal 204 . the image parameters , audio and video data of 202 are captured via teleporting device 206 and transmitted to teleportation server 208 that hosts a database containing specifications , images , computer graphics and 3d models of merchandise , such as a given model of a washing machine 210 . upon initiation of a teleportation session by the user , the teleportation server 208 retrieves the computer - generated graphics pertaining to the washing machine 210 and transmits the merchandise data to the teleportation terminal 204 , where it is inserted in the teleported scene 212 in user &# 39 ; s 3d space as a foreground layer appearing in front of the user . such an embodiment can be used for applications wherein several customers can be serviced remotely and conveniently for sales , marketing or troubleshooting of a product and thereby eliminating the need for a personal visit . similar embodiments can be used in applications such as teaching and providing education to students remotely . in another variant of ecommerce teleportation embodiment , instead of teleporting the merchandise object into user &# 39 ; s 3d space , the user is teleported to a 3d environment of a virtual shopping mall or a store . briefly , in the manner described in the first preferred embodiment as illustrated in fig1 , the user image captured at the user &# 39 ; s teleportation terminal is extracted from the user environment and transmitted to the teleportation server where it is inserted into a teleported scene that includes foreground and background layers of computer graphics that create a real time in - store or in - mall shopping experience for the user . the teachings of the instant invention is not limited to virtual teleportation of objects such as human subjects or material objects into a user &# 39 ; s 3d space , but data entry means , navigation controls , or icons can also be teleported into user &# 39 ; s 3d space between the user and the computer display , serving as voice or gesture responsive virtual interface . such means of gesture or voice responsive computer - generated elements of virtual interface are retrieved from the application database and inserted as one or more foreground layers of the composite scene . these computer - generated graphic elements of virtual interface include : a ) virtual keyboard , virtual mouse , virtual touchpad , virtual pen of varying transparency to make other elements of the composite teleported scene behind the foreground layer visible to enable data input , b ) virtual menu for accessing different teleportation functions as well as navigating to other co - existing and unrelated client applications that include but not limited to , mail client , internet browser , social networking applications , gaming applications , productivity applications , c ) virtual icons for displaying application links and alerts in real time . as illustrated in fig3 , such a system of a virtual interface application comprise of a computer ( teleportation terminal ) operated by a user 302 whose image along with his 3d space data is captured by a teleporting device ( depth sensor plus rgb camera ) 304 coupled to user &# 39 ; s computer 306 . the computer screen displays the interface of the target application 308 the user is working on . such target application has fields in which the user is required to enter personal information by typing text . implementing the features of the instant invention the user can perform all actions without using any data input hardware . this is achieved by means of first generating a 3d map of user &# 39 ; s 3d space by means of data captured by the teleporting device 304 that is used for tracking user &# 39 ; s hand movements . computer - generated graphic elements of virtual interface from the application database are then retrieved and inserted as a foreground layer in user &# 39 ; s 3d space . such elements of virtual interface are rendered translucent so that the target application on the display screen is operationally visible to the user . virtual keyboard 310 is an example of the elements of virtual interface . an association of each key on the virtual keyboard is established with the 3d map of user &# 39 ; s 3d space , so that when user moves his finger in air to overlap on a specific key on the virtual keyboard the system matches the location of the specific key with the location of user &# 39 ; s finger . to make both , the target application and virtual keyboard , clearly visible on screen , the user &# 39 ; s image is rendered translucent 312 . the screen view of the target application can be either rendered visible through the transparent foreground layer or captured in real time and screen capture inserted as background layer 314 of the user &# 39 ; s camera view . the ultimate effect of this composition of the translucent foreground layer , the translucent user image and the target application &# 39 ; s screen image in the background of the composition is that the target application , the virtual keyboard and user &# 39 ; s fingers are all clearly visible to the user , and gives him an impression like the virtual keyboard is floating in air in between him and the target application interface displayed on the computer screen . fig3 ( a ) through 3 ( f ) further illustrate practical implementation of the instant embodiment wherein the user begins the method by launching the virtual interface application &# 39 ; s start icon 316 by hand gesture , and then launching the target application 318 ( internet browser ) by hand gesture fig3 ( a ) and 3 ( b ). the user then activates the cursor by launching the virtual touchpad 320 to move the cursor to the data entry field on the target application page fig3 ( c ). to type the information in the data entry field fig3 ( d ) the user launches and uses the virtual keyboard 322 . to move and scroll the page fig3 ( e ) the user can also launch the virtual page scrolling function 324 . the user can also use the drawing tool function 326 to close the application fig3 ( f ). such an embodiment as illustrated in fig3 and 3 ( a )- 3 ( f ) enables the user to perform highly sophisticated operations remotely using hand movements and without touching any data input hardware or using any wearable or gesture recognition proximity hardware . combining the disclosed virtual interface with voice - activated commands can impart unprecedented versatility to the instant invention . such virtual interface embodiment can have widespread application as a visual and voice interface in gaming and entertainment facilitating sophisticated gesture based interaction and navigation . in a variant of virtual teleportation of virtual interface tools in user &# 39 ; s virtual 3d space , the interface does not require any start or home button , but can just trigger the application links and navigation and other tools by just moving his hand to the edge of the display screen . each of the four edges of the display screen can be assigned to specific group of virtual interface tools . referring now to fig4 , the drawing illustrates an exemplary block diagram depicting the operating modules of the system 400 for facilitating virtual teleporting of remote objects into user &# 39 ; s 3d space using a non - holographic technique . the operating modules referred to hereunder may be present on a single or plurality of computing devices present at a single teleportation terminal location , or at plurality of teleportation terminals , or at remote teleportation servers . system 400 comprises of object connection module ( ocm ) 402 , object scene capture module ( oscm ) 404 , object extraction module ( oem ) 406 , remote object transmission module ( rotm ) 408 , object insertion module ( oim ) 410 , foreground layer insertion module ( flim ) 412 , background layer insertion module ( blim ) 414 , teleported composite scene integration module ( tcsim ) 416 , teleported composite scene display module ( tcsdm ) 418 , communication module ( cm ) 420 , computer generated foreground / backdrop content database 422 . these modules may be hosted on a local or remote server or distributed at multiple remote locations . component 422 provides a means for storage of computer - generated foreground and background content including data in audio , video , animation , 3d image , map or text format . 424 serves as a repository of preselected computer - generated foreground and background content . component 402 is responsible for connecting one or more teleportation terminals with each other and to a common teleportation server . this connection may be achieved by wired or wireless means via an internet or a telecommunication link , or a wired or wireless local area network ( lan ), or a wide area network ( wan ), or a virtual private network ( vpn ) or intranet . component 404 is responsible for capturing the object scene comprising of a object along with object background by means of a teleporting device capable of sensing image attributes and depth parameters . instances of teleporting devices include time - of - flight sensor based camera , structured light sensor based camera , dual camera depth sensor based camera , multiple camera array and digital image capturing devices capable of 2d pixel differentiation . component 406 is responsible for distinguishing and separating the object from its immediate background using foreground / background segmentation techniques . component 408 is responsible for transmitting selectively or completely , the extracted object image along with other image attributes such as rgb color , texture , audio , alpha channel from one teleportation terminal to the other or to the teleportation server . component 410 combines the plurality of remote object images received from multiple remote locations for insertion into an integrated composite scene rendering individual remote images as part of the composite scene by manipulating them in terms of their image attributes . component 412 is responsible for insertion of a layer of preselected computer graphics as a foreground layer while component 414 is responsible for insertion of a layer of preselected computer graphics as a background layer in the teleported integrated composite scene . component 416 integrates said foreground layer , said background layer and remote object images in relation to each other for rendering a seamless customized view of a teleported scene . component 418 is responsible for displaying the teleported integrated composite view in a display device such as a plasma display panel , an lcd ( liquid crystal display ) panel , an led ( light emitting diode ), an oled ( organic light emitting diode ) display panel or a video projector . component 420 is responsible for transmitting and communicating the teleported integrated composite view to preselected destinations including , a handheld communication device , an email account , downloadable url link of a remote server , so on and so forth . in different embodiments of present invention , the teleported integrated composite view is transmitted through wired or wireless telecommunication protocol , or tcp / ip protocol , or gprs protocol or wifi protocol or bluetooth or radiofrequency protocol or imap , smtp or a telecommunication protocol . fig5 depicts an exemplar methodology illustrating the steps followed in one aspect of the invention . it is to be understood and appreciated that the present invention is not limited by order of steps and that some of the steps may occur in different order and / or concurrently with other steps from that illustrated here . at step 502 , one or more objects , located at geographically diverse teleportation terminals , which are required to be virtually teleported are connected via internet means in real time . at step 504 , the object scene at each of the participating terminals is captured in rgb along with its depth data by means of a teleporting device . at step 506 , the remote object image is extracted from the remote background using one or more of foreground - background segmentation techniques . at step 508 , image parameters of captured object at each of the participating teleportation terminals , such as color , texture , audio , alpha channel are transmitted either to a teleportation server when client - server network architecture is deployed , or directly to participating peers if peer - to - peer network architecture is deployed . at step 510 , the transmitted object images are inserted and appropriately placed in relation to each other into a single composite scene . at step 512 , a layer of computer - generated graphics that can act as virtual foreground layer is accessed from a database and inserted in the teleported scene . at step 514 , a layer of computer - generated graphics that can act as virtual background layer is accessed from a database and inserted in the teleported scene . at step 516 , each element of the teleported scene , i . e . each of the extracted remote objects , the extracted host object , the foreground and background layers of computer generated graphics , alpha channels , along with their corresponding audio channels are composed into a final composite teleported scene . at step 518 , the integrated composite teleported scene is displayed in real time on a device such as a plasma display panel , an lcd ( liquid crystal display ) panel , an led ( light emitting diode ), an oled ( organic light emitting diode ) display panel or by a video projector . the displayed integrated teleported content including the composite background scene and remote objects is transmitted to one or more preselected destinations such as , a handheld communication device , an email account , downloadable url link of a remote server , so on and so forth through wired or wireless telecommunication protocol , or tcp / ip protocol , or gprs protocol or wifi protocol or bluetooth or radiofrequency protocol or a telecommunication protocol . fig6 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention in which the teleporting device 602 along with its computing hardware 604 and all the different modules are integrated within a television set or a display monitor so that such television set or display monitor itself functions as a fully functional teleportation terminal . alternatively , this embodiment can also be practiced by compiling all the components ( except the display device ) of the teleportation system into a kit that can be provided as a teleportation accessory to a television set or a display panel . in an embodiment of the present invention , the computer - generated graphics layers that may be used as foreground / background layers in the integrated teleported scene constitute a video gaming environment comprising of one or more virtual game characters or elements that the remote object ( s ) interact ( s ) with immersively , whether using hand or body gestures , or voice activated commands , or by using handheld game controller device . in yet another embodiment of the present invention , only a part of the remote objects are teleported to the remote destination . this is achieved by manipulating the image of the remote object such that it appears partly transparent . optionally , some of the remote objects may be rendered totally transparent , while some may be rendered translucent and some may be rendered as such while transmitting the image attributes such as color , texture , alpha channel , and audio channel . this embodiment can be used for providing a sophisticated gesture based computing interface . in one embodiment of the present invention one or more teleportation terminals deploy chroma - keying techniques for background removal and object extraction . this is particularly important in showcasing a product or service such as an automobile , or a direct sales session for a fast moving consumer product to a large audience physically present in a high footfall public place such as shopping malls . in such an embodiment host teleportation terminal ( public place ) does not deploy any background removal or object extraction , while the remote terminal may either deploy chroma - key based or depth - based background removal . in another embodiment of the present invention , the plurality of remote objects may be the participants of a virtual conference , workshop , virtual training , etc ., wherein the remote object image captured at remote teleporting terminal along with associated audio and video data is transmitted into the teleported scene at host terminal . in a yet another embodiment of the present invention a useful , confidential and private means of one - on - one interaction is provided for communicating with strangers , such as encountered in social and dating networks . in this embodiment the user is teleported anonymously into a secure and private 3d environment of another unknown user without sharing any of their personal identification for the purpose of socializing or going on a blind date with a stranger . in still another embodiment the computer programs of one or more modules run remotely from a server via an active server webpage , or operate as a browser plugin , or run from an external drive of a computer . although the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims . therefore , the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive and the invention is not to be limited to the written description . | 7 |
in the following detailed description , reference is made to the accompanying images that show , by way of illustration , specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced . these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention . it is to be understood that the various embodiments of the invention , although different , are not necessarily mutually exclusive . furthermore , a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described herein in connection with one embodiment may be implemented within other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention . in addition , it is to be understood that the location or arrangement of individual elements within each disclosed embodiment may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention . the following detailed description is , therefore , not to be taken in a limiting sense , and the scope of the present invention is defined only by appended claims , appropriately interpreted , along with the full range of equivalents to which the claims are entitled . the word “ exemplary ” is used herein to mean “ serving as an example , instance , or illustration .” any embodiment described herein as “ exemplary ” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments . likewise , the terms “ embodiment ( s ) of the invention ”, “ alternative embodiment ( s )”, and “ exemplary embodiment ( s )” do not require that all embodiments of the method , system , and apparatus include the discussed feature , advantage or mode of operation . the following description of the preferred embodiment is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention , its application , or use . for the purpose of clarity , all like elements will have the same designations in each of the images . the terms “ inflatable play structure ”, “ play structure ”, “ present invention ”, and “ invention ” may be used interchangeably . the term “ flexible material ” may be used to refer to woven materials such as cotton and cotton blends , non - woven transparent materials such as clear vinyl or clear plastic , or non - woven non - transparent materials such as colored or opaque vinyl or plastic . in addition to the functions , features , components , and abilities of the apparatus already discussed in this specification , the inflatable play structure may also have , but not be limited to , the following features contained within the description set forth herein . several preferred embodiments of the inflatable play structure are discussed in this section . however , the invention is not limited to these embodiments . an inflatable play structure , as according to the present invention , is any inflatable structure that uses forced air for inflation and to maintain rigidity into which a user may enter for recreational or play purposes . the inflatable play structure can use a household fan to provide the necessary forced air . various features of the present invention allow for attachment of the play structure to a household fan , efficient storage and transportation , and for providing stability when the structure is inflated . referring now to fig1 , there is shown a view of a dual - fan inflatable play structure inflated within a room of home ( 100 ) as according to one embodiment of the present invention . this embodiment uses two household fans ( 101 ) to provide forced air into interior of the play structure . the forced air provided by the household fans ( 101 ) allows the play structure to maintain structural rigidity and to retain its shape while in use . the structural rigidity of the play structure can vary depending on the fan settings . a faster fan setting will force more air into the interior of the play structure resulting in increased rigidity of the play structure . the inflatable play structure can use a single sheet of flexible material , such as cotton or other types of woven fabric , or multiple sheets of flexible material in its construction . some embodiments of the present invention may be constructed entirely out of a clear material such as vinyl or plastic in order to provide a transparent play structure . still other embodiments may be constructed entirely out of non - woven , non - transparent materials such as plastic or vinyl . in this embodiment , a first sheet of flexible material ( 102 ) is attached to a second sheet of flexible material ( 103 ) by way of sewing . the method of attaching the sheets flexible material ( 102 , 103 ) must be sufficient so that unacceptable amounts of forced air do not escape from the attachment areas . too much air escaping from the attachment areas will cause the inflatable play structure to lose rigidity and collapse . furthermore , too much air escaping from the attachment areas will result in higher energy costs if users compensate for the loss of forced air by increasing the fan ( 101 ) setting . it is important to note that for embodiments of the present invention using multiple sheets of flexible material ( 102 , 103 ), the sheets of flexible material do not need to be homogeneous . in some applications it may be desirable to construct the inflatable play structure using different patterns or material types . some embodiments of the present invention may be constructed out of mixes of woven materials such as cotton and non - woven materials such as plastic . the aesthetic value of the inflatable play structure may be increased by the thoughtful use of differing patterns or material types . by way of example , a rectangular - shaped inflatable play structure constructed with side walls of a dark blue material and a roof with a star pattern may appeal to users wishing to simulate a night sky . in addition , some users may prefer to have different patterns of flowers or seashells printed onto their inflatable play structure . using non - homogenous sheets of flexible material allows the present invention to be individually tailored or custom made for a particular user . this customization can increase the monetary value of the invention . referring now to fig2 , there is shown an inflatable play structure prior to inflation as according to one embodiment of the present invention . the inflatable play structure does not need to be positioned in an exact orientation prior to inflation and can be roughly laid out to save time and effort . no special devices or tools are required for inflation . a household fan ( 101 ) is attached to the inflatable play structure to provide the necessary forced air . this embodiment of the present invention uses different sheets of flexible material ( 102 , 103 , 104 ) with varying designs on two of the sheets ( 103 , 104 ). referring now to fig3 , there is shown a single - fan ( 101 ) inflatable play structure as according to one embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment of the present invention , a single flexible sheet of material ( 102 ) has been cut then rejoined to form the desired play structure shape . by using the same sheet of flexible material ( 102 ) to form the inflatable structure components , the inflatable structure maintains a uniform appearance when inflated . the rejoining of the sheet of flexible material ( 102 ) can be performed by way of sewing , bonding , gluing , or any other method that satisfactorily prevents forced air from escaping the inflatable play structure . referring now to fig4 , there is shown an entrance flap ( 107 ) of an inflatable play structure in a closed configuration as according to one embodiment of the present invention . the entrance flap ( 107 ) allows users to enter and exit the interior play area of the structure when it is inflated . the entrance flap ( 107 ) can be made of the same material as the rest of the play structure ( 102 ), or of any other appropriate material . there is also shown a weighted hemline ( 106 ) attached to the bottom of the entrance flap ( 107 ) that prevents excessive amounts of forced air from escaping out underneath the entrance flap ( 107 ). the weighted hemline ( 106 ) may be made from the same flexible material as the entrance flap ( 107 ), the play structure material ( 102 ), or may be made from a different material altogether . the weighted hemline ( 106 ) may be filled with sand , rice or any other material that non - permanently anchors the entrance flap ( 107 ) to the ground . the sand or rice filling the weighted hemline ( 106 ) is considered to be a ballast material . the ballast material is not limited to sand or rice but can also consist of any material that loosely fills the hemline and provides sufficient weight to prevent air from escaping underneath the inflatable play structure when the play structure is inflated . although not shown in this image , the weighted hemline ( 106 ) can be attached to any other portion of the inflatable play structure so that forced air does not escape out from underneath the structure when inflated . one or more attachment points ( 105 ) are used to attach the entrance flap ( 107 ) and other components of the play structure such as the material comprising the body of the play structure ( 102 ) to the household fan ( 101 ). the attachment point ( 105 ) can be a magnet , such as a rare earth magnet including neodymium iron boron magnets , samarium cobalt magnets , alnico magnets , and ceramic or ferrite magnets . the magnets can be attached to the entrance flap ( 107 ) by way of sewing , heat bonding , or any other method that suitably attaches the magnet to the entrance flap ( 107 ). the attachment points ( 105 ) can also be hooks or velcro depending on the particular application . some household fans ( 101 ) may not have a metallic case thereby requiring non - magnetic means for attachment to the fan ( 101 ). referring now to fig5 there is shown an entrance flap ( 107 ) of an inflatable play structure in an open configuration as according to one embodiment of the present invention . when open , the entrance flap ( 107 ) can be folded up and out of the way of users entering or exiting the interior of the play structure . the entrance flap ( 107 ) is shaped and sized so that while open , enough forced air remains inside the play structure to maintain its structural rigidity . opening the entrance flap ( 107 ) will not cause the structure to lose rigidity and collapse . referring now to fig6 there is shown a household fan support device ( 111 ) as according to one embodiment of the present invention . the household fan support device ( 111 ) provides frontal stability to a household fan ( 101 ) then the fan ( 101 ) is attached to an inflatable play structure . when attached to an inflatable play structure , the play structure may exert a pulling force on the household fan ( 101 ) causing the fan ( 101 ) to fall forward . the support device ( 111 ) is attached to the underside leading edge of the household fan ( 101 ) to counter the pulling force and prevent the fan ( 101 ) from falling forward . the household fan support device ( 111 ) has at least one or more areas with attachment points ( 109 ) for attaching the support device ( 111 ) to the fan . as with the other attachment points used to attach the body of the inflatable play structure or the entrance flap ( fig4 : 107 ) to the household fan ( 101 ), the support device &# 39 ; s attachment points ( 109 ) may use magnets , hooks , or velcro depending on what is required to adequately attach the support device ( 111 ) to the household fan ( 101 ). the household fan support device ( 111 ) may have a compartment ( 110 ) containing ballast that supports the household fan ( 101 ) and prevents the fan ( 101 ) from falling forward . the ballast may be sand , rice , or any other suitable material . the ballast may also be the same material as is used in the weighted hemline ( fig4 - 5 : 107 ). the household fan support device ( 111 ) may be used in conjunction with a household fan &# 39 ; s pre - existing support mechanisms ( 108 ). typically , these pre - existing support mechanisms ( 108 ) prevent the fan ( 101 ) from falling backward due to the thrust generated when the fan ( 101 ) is switched on . the household fan support device ( 111 ) is designed not to require the removal of the pre - existing support mechanisms ( 108 ). referring now to fig7 , there is shown an inflatable play structure in a storage and transportation container ( 113 ) as according to one embodiment of the present invention . the storage and transportation container ( 113 ) allows the inflatable play structure to be stored or transported in an efficient , easy manner . when storing or transporting the inflatable play structure in the storage and transportation container ( 113 ), the inflatable play structure does not need to be folded or inserted in any specific manner . the storage and transportation container ( 113 ) has an opening at one end that can be closed using cinch cords ( 112 ). this allows the storage and transportation container ( 113 ) to be closed despite irregular folding or packing of the inflatable play structure into the storage and transportation container ( 113 ). for aesthetic purposes , the storage and transportation container ( 113 ) may be constructed of the same flexible material as the inflatable play structure . as set forth in this description and the attached images , an improved inflatable play structure has been developed that improves upon conventional play structures . the various embodiments of the improved inflatable play structure described herein can be used in a wide variety of applications . the preceding exemplary embodiments are not intended to be limiting , but are merely illustrative for the possible uses of the inflatable play structure . although certain example methods , apparatus and articles of manufacture have been described herein , the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto . on the contrary , this patent covers all methods , apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the invention either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents . with respect to the above description then , it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the inflatable play structure , to include variations in size , materials , shape , form , function and the manner of operation , and use , are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art , and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the images and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the inflatable play structure . directional terms such as “ front ”, “ back ”, “ in ”, “ out ”, “ downward ”, “ upper ”, “ lower ”, “ top ”, “ bottom ”, and the like have been used in the description . these terms are applicable to the embodiments shown and described in conjunction with the images . these terms are merely used for the purpose of description in connection with the images and do not necessarily apply to the position in which the inflatable play structure may be used . therefore , the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the inflatable play structure . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the inflatable play structure 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 inflatable play structure . while the above description describes various embodiments of the present invention , it will be clear that the present invention may be otherwise easily adapted to fit any configuration where an inflatable play structure is desired or required . as various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying images shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . | 0 |
referring to the drawings in particular , fig1 shows in a greatly simplified form the essential components of a headrest arrangement 22 which is arranged on a vehicle seat in the back of a vehicle . the headrest arrangement 22 comprises a backrest 10 with a support structure embodied as a support shell 11 on which upholstery 12 is fastened . the attachment of the upholstery 12 can be realized in a known manner , for example , by embedding the support shell 11 in foam . at the upper end of the backrest 10 , a headrest 14 provided as a separate component is located which is fastened by means of fastening rods 13 on the support shell 11 . the attachment of the fastening rods 13 on the support shell 11 is realized in the illustrated embodiment by a screw or clamping connection 15 . the headrest 14 can be connected so as to be movable relative to the support shell 11 or can be rigidly connected to the support shell 11 . the backrest 10 has positioned opposite thereto a stop device 18 with defined stiffness or flexibility . it can be comprised , for example , of profiled sheet metal . in the illustrated embodiment , the stop device 18 is of a shell - like shape . the stop device 18 represents , at the same time , the partition between the trunk space 19 and the passenger compartment . the illustrated stop device 18 has a contact stay 17 on which a transition area 16 of the backrest 10 is supported . this transition area 16 represents the upper part of the backrest 10 in which the backrest 10 has a transition into the securing device of the headrest 14 . in the illustrated embodiment the support shell 11 is planar while the stop device 18 , on the other hand , is shell - shaped . it is also possible to form the support shell 11 as a shell shape and the stop device 18 as a planar member . also , it is possible to embody the support shell 11 as well as the stop device 18 in a shell shape . as can be seen especially in fig2 the contact stay 17 serves to transform the deformation of the backrest 10 , which occurs in the case of an acceleration by the inertia force caused by the upper body of a to passenger , into a forward movement 21 of the headrest 14 . the inertia force 20 is exerted by the vehicle passenger onto the backrest 10 especially when a rear impact occurs . this deflecting effect cannot only be achieved with a contact stay 17 but also with other suitable stop devices . moreover , the stop device 18 can not only be embodied as a sheet member but also as a grate member , a net structure or a frame structure . in fig2 an additional function of the stop device 18 can be seen which defines a maximum deformation of the backrest 10 . accordingly , especially back injuries of the vehicle passengers cannot occur which could result from an excessive but also anatomically unfavorable and irregular deformation of the backrest 10 . moreover , from the defined maximum deformation a limitation of the forward movement 21 of the headrest 14 results so that an excessively hard impact of the headrest 14 on the back of the head of the vehicle passenger can be prevented . the backrest 10 or the support shell 11 can be comprised of any suitable materials and can be shaped as a sheet member as well as a frame member , grate - like , net - like or provided with a structure but also of a suitable composite material . for a corresponding configuration of the backrest 10 or a corresponding material selection , the backrest 10 acts during its deformation in an energy - dissipating manner . accordingly , the kinetic energy of the vehicle passenger can be dissipated across a longer travel distance so that the vehicle seat , at least in the case of a back impact , functions as an additional crumple zone . in the illustrated embodiment of the seat and headrest arrangement 22 as a backseat , the stop device 18 functions at the same time as a partition between the trunk space 19 and the passenger compartment . since such a partition is to be provided in any case and must have a corresponding stability , for example , so that , when an accident occurs , luggage pieces carried within the trunk space will not become an injury liability , an especially simple configuration of the seat and headrest device according to the invention is promoted . the same holds true for the front seats because here also a protection of the vehicle passengers , for example , with respect to objects positioned on the backseat bench , must be provided . in fig3 a headrest arrangement 30 is illustrated which is also suitable as a backseat . in deviation froze the headrest arrangement 22 described with reference to fig1 and fig2 a headrest 31 is formed as an integral part of the backrest 32 such that the upper part of the support structure forms the headrest 31 . in this case , the transition area 33 is also supported on a contact stay 34 which forms the upper edge of a stop device 35 so that in the case of an accident the inertia force 20 exerted onto the backrest 32 is transformed into a forward movement 21 of the headrest 31 . while specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | 1 |
referring to fig1 the positive displacement turbine ( pdt ) 10 generally includes housing 12 , combustion chamber 14 , compressor section 16 and expansion section 18 . the pdt 10 may be constructed from a variety of materials , including conventional steel , cast iron or aluminum , as well as ceramics and composites . constructing the pdt 10 of aluminum , steel , cast iron or a combination of these materials offers the opportunity for the pdt 10 to be readily manufactured using presently available production facilities without the need for extensive retooling . however , non - metallic low thermal conductivity ceramics and carbon fiber composites may be preferable for construction of the pdt 10 . ceramics and carbon composites offer the advantages of being strong , lightweight and recyclable , as well as facilitating simple and inexpensive manufacturing of the pdt 10 . a further advantage of the use of ceramics and carbon composites is that they will allow the manufacturing of a hermetically sealed engine unit . a hermetically sealed engine unit will prevent the end user from tampering with the tuning of the engine , thereby maintaining highly efficient operation . ceramics are commercially available for many providers , such as dow - corning and champion spark plug , ceramic division . carbon fiber composites and other composites are commercially available from dupont . housing 12 generally includes compressor end 20 , center partition 22 , and expansion chamber end 24 . shaft 26 passes through , and is indirectly supported by , compressor end 20 , center partition 22 and expansion chamber end 24 . shaft 26 is preferably made of steel , iron or kevlar carbon fiber composite . shaft 26 is directly supported by appropriate bearings 28 and sealed by appropriate seals 30 at its passage through each of compressor end 20 , center partition 22 and expansion chamber end 24 . shaft 26 may be splined or keyed to allow those structures mounted on it to slide longitudinally to accommodate assembly and thermal expansion . dupont vespel ® manufactures composite bearings and seals with adequate performance for this purpose . compressor section 16 encloses compressor 32 . compressor 32 is driven by shaft 26 and may be any sort of compressor known to the compressor arts . compressor 32 is preferably a radial compressor capable of providing sufficient pressure and gas volume to charge combustion chamber 14 . compressor 32 is preferably an axial single - direction compressor . combustion chamber 14 generally includes combustion chamber enclosure 34 , compressor check valve 36 , fuel injector 38 , temperature sensor / glow plug 40 , coolant injector 42 and pass gate sentry valve ( pgsv ) 44 . combustion chamber 14 may be designed in various shapes to meet the configuration needs of engines for different specific fuels . for example , combustion chamber 14 may be shaped differently for engines burning unleaded gasoline , propane , # 2 fuel oil , natural gas or hydrogen . the combustion chamber is constructed from a material tolerant to explosive shock and conductive of thermal energy . for example , combustion chamber 14 may be constructed of carbon - carbon fiber composites or ceramic as well as cast iron , steel , aluminum or other conventional materials . information on carbon - carbon composites is available from the national aeronautics and space administration . combustion chamber 14 may be placed in a deliberate position relative to housing 12 , so as to salvage thermal energy from the exhaust as the hot gases pass around the combustion chamber 14 exterior . compressor reed valve 35 separates compressor 32 from compressor check valve 36 . compressor check valve 36 includes valve body 46 , spring 48 , and washer 50 . compressor check valve 36 allows fluid communication between compressor 32 and combustion chamber 14 when open . compressor check valve 36 allows fluid flow from compressor 32 into combustion chamber 14 when open , while preventing backflow when closed . fuel injector 38 , temperature sensor / glow plug 40 , and , as required for a non - diesel fuel , spark plug 41 are well - known in the internal combustion engine arts and will not be described further . coolant injector 42 serves to inject a metered quantity of liquid coolant into combustion chamber 14 . the liquid coolant itself will be described later in this disclosure . pass gate sentry valve ( pgsv ) 44 includes combustion gas passages 52 , valve body 54 , valve piston 55 , valve seat 56 and spring 58 . pgsv 44 is enclosed in pgsv chamber 60 . combustion gas passages 52 provide fluid communication between combustion chamber 14 and pgsv chamber 60 . valve body 54 is held firmly against valve seat 56 by spring 58 . pgsv 44 , when open , provides fluid communication between combustion chamber 14 and expansion section 18 . expansion section 18 includes expansion chamber redirecting surface 62 , stator body 64 and exhaust port 68 . stator body 64 along with center partition 22 and expansion chamber end 24 , define expansion chamber 70 . center partition 22 and expansion chamber end 24 define cam tracks 72 therein . cam tracks 72 are generally race track - shaped and eccentrically located about shaft 26 . expansion chamber 70 is generally circular in shape , with a flattened portion at the upper edge thereof , as is readily apparent from fig5 . stator body 64 further defines rotor seal cavity 74 in which rotor seal 76 is seated . further referring to fig5 oscillating piston assembly 78 is enclosed within expansion chamber 70 . oscillating piston assembly 78 includes piston hub 80 and crescent piston 82 . piston hub 80 is rotationally secured to shaft 26 while being free to slide longitudinally . crescent piston 82 is seated in a saddle 84 on the outer diameter 86 of piston hub 80 . referring particularly to fig6 and 7 , crescent piston 82 generally includes piston body 88 and piston actuator arm assembly 90 . piston actuator arm assembly 90 includes actuator arms 92 , cam arms 94 and cam followers 96 . cam followers 96 are sized to fit closely but to travel freely within cam tracks 72 . piston body 88 is generally crescent - shaped and defines an arcuate face 98 , leading edge 99 and a flat face 100 . flat face 100 further defines a concave piston face contour 102 . arcuate face 98 is sized and shaped to fit closely and movably into saddle 84 . leading edge 99 is adapted to follow closely and scour the inner surface of stator body 64 . referring particularly to fig8 as piston hub 80 and crescent piston 82 rotate about shaft 26 within expansion chamber 70 , crescent piston 82 defines a path of travel as illustrated in sequential sub fig8 a , 8b , 8 c and 8 d . as can be seen from fig8 the interaction of cam follower 96 with cam tracks 72 , in combination with the interaction between piston body 88 and saddle 84 , define the motion of crescent piston 82 . this relationship maximizes surface area for gases with an expansion chamber 70 to push against . coolant injector 42 is used to inject an injection fluid coolant into combustion chamber 14 during the combustion process . water injection is well known in the art and has been employed in reciprocating engines since the 1930s . the term “ injection fluid coolant ” is intended here to mean any non - fuel fluid introduced into the positive displacement turbine 10 internal combustion engine . the injection fluid coolant is made , preferably , of water and a small amount of a chemical alkali ; for example , calcium hydroxide or calcium phosphate . the concentration of the alkali component preferably corresponds to the amount of acidic combustion by products produced by the engine during the combustion process . thus , sufficient base , such as calcium hydroxide , is mixed with the injector fluid to react with and neutralize the resulting acids formed in the combustion process . as is well known , the acid - base reaction yields water and a salt . the case of calcium hydroxide with sulfuric acid is as follows : in operation , compressed air is taken in and compressed by compressor 32 . compressed air is forced through compressor check valve 36 into combustion chamber 14 . when the pressure has equalized between the outside of compressor check valve 36 and the inside of combustion chamber 14 , compressor check valve 36 closes . after the closing of compressor check valve 36 , fuel injector 38 injects a metered quantity of fuel to mix with the compressed air already in combustion chamber 14 . compression ignition then occurs to ignite the fuel - air mixture . alternatively , a spark plug 41 may be provided to the combustion chamber to ignite the fuel - air , depending on the type of fuel used . simultaneously with combustion , coolant injector 42 injects a charge of coolant into combustion chamber 14 . coolant may be injected at another point in time during the combustion cycle , such as prior to the introduction of the compressed air . coolant is converted to steam with a consequent increase in combustion chamber pressure and reduction in temperature . the gas pressure created by the combustion process forces gas into and through combustion gas passages 52 and acts on valve piston 55 . this opens pgsv 44 . hot expanding combustion gases then cause pgsv 44 to open , allowing the hot combustion gases , along with the gaseous coolant , to leave combustion chamber 14 and expand into expansion chamber 70 . at this point in time , crescent piston 82 is located at the top dead - center position , as depicted in fig8 a . the hot combustion gases pass over expansion chamber redirecting surface 62 and then apply force to piston face contour 102 . the force applied causes piston hub 80 to rotate in a clockwise direction , as depicted in fig8 b , 8c and 8 d . it should be noted that crescent piston 82 absorbs energy from the hot combustion gases throughout substantially its entire rotation . the location of exhaust port 68 allows the piston to receive force from the hot combustion gases throughout an effective approximate 370 ° of rotation . the 370 ° includes a 330 ° primary exhausting plus a secondary 40 ° exhausting . exhaust gas begins to leave expansion chamber 70 at about 330 ° of rotation and continues for about another 40 °. the expanding combustion gases are still applying force to arcuate face 98 of crescent piston 82 , while the next charge of combustion gas is beginning to apply force to piston face contour 102 during the following cycle . the crescent piston 82 employs the back pressures of the previous combustion cycle to create a sealing force between events . the action of crescent piston 82 and leading edge 99 , in addition to the aerodynamic shape of the piston , accomplishes this . the leading edge 99 of the crescent piston 82 pushes against the previous cycle of gases to exhaust them from the expansion chamber 70 . sustained high operating temperatures within the positive displacement turbine 10 promote a complete combustion reaction leaving few particulates . hydrocarbon fuels reacting with oxygen in the air produce large quantities of water vapor or live steam as a product of the reaction . additional steam is generated from the coolant injected in the combustion chamber 14 . expansion chamber 70 has a perimeter shape to accommodate the movements of the crescent piston 82 . the perimeter of the expansion chamber 70 is a circle , flattened in one aspect . this shape may be referred to as a semi - oblate circle . expansion chamber redirecting surface 62 is shaped to direct combustion gases at piston face contour 102 and to create a turbulent , circular , centrifugal flow of combustion gases within expansion chamber 70 . crescent piston 82 includes piston face contour 102 which tends to redirect hot exhaust gases upward and outward , creating a cyclonic gas movement along outer diameter 86 of piston hub 80 , and then in a reverse direction along the interior of expansion chamber 70 . this cyclonic movement of rotating hot gases creates an extremely turbulent gas circulation . this encourages complete oxidation of all components of the fuel . a fundamental principal of the expansion chamber 70 is that the more turbulent the gases in the expansion chamber 70 , the lower the exhaust gas temperature . the cyclonic movement of hot combustion gases also facilitates the chemical reactions between acidic components of the combustion process and the calcium hydroxide or other alkali in the injection cooling fluid , thus facilitating the ph neutralization of acid combustion products . further , the expansion of injection fluid coolant into expansion chamber 70 tends to recover thermal energy that would otherwise be wasted through a cooling or exhaust system . regulating of engine operating temperature may be achieved by monitoring the exhaust gas temperature and by using this data to meter the amount of injection fluid coolant injected . the pdt 10 engine is configured to take advantage of the high temperatures developed in the combustion chamber 14 to salvage excess thermal energy . coolant introduced into combustion chamber 14 is converted into live steam , thereby transferring additional force to the drive shaft as useful work . this salvaging of excess thermal energy tends to reduce the need for external air - cooling fins or water jackets . the pdt 10 regulates its operating temperature through the use of injector fluid coolant . it is expected that , for every gallon of petroleum utilized in the pdt 10 , one to six gallons of injector fuel coolant will be used to absorb excess thermal energy . actual usage will depend upon engine load and conditions . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of any of the essential attributes thereof . therefore , the illustrated embodiments should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive , reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention . | 5 |
fig1 illustrates a cross - section of a silicon wafer 10 in which an insulating material 1 is deposited on a silicon substrate 7 and a first metal layer 2 is then formed on the insulating layer 1 . then , a portion of the first metal layer 2 is removed by the mask pattern process . fig2 illustrates a cross - section of a silicon wafer in which a first lto film 3 is formed as a first insulating layer on the first metal layer and a portion of the insulating material on which there is deposited to the uniform thickness , a plurality of grooves 3a are formed in the first lto film 3 positioned between the segments of the first metal layer 2 as shown in fig2 . fig3 illustrates a cross - section of silicon wafer 10 in which the sog film 4 is formed on the first lto film 3 as desired thickness and a portion 4a of the sog film 4 is removed by the particial etch back except for the portion positioned in the groove 3a in order to make the top surface of the structure flat , i . e . smooth . fig4 illustrates a silicon wafer 10 in which a second lto film 5 is formed on sog film 4 and the first lto film 3 of the structure shown in fig3 and a second metal layer 6 is deposited on the second lto film 5 and with a portion of the second metal layer 6 having been removed by the mask pattern process . as described above , when the metal layer is formed by a plurality of layers , an insulating layer 3 is formed to the uniform thickness on the metal layers 2 and the insulating layer 1 . then , a sog film 4 is formed on the insulating layer 3 and a portion 4a of the sog film 4 also is removed leaving a portion thereof in the groove 3a in order to flatten or smooth the top surface as shown in fig3 . as a result of planarization step described above , the second lto film 5 can be directly formed on the insulating layer 3 and on the sog film 4 . fig1 to 4 illustrate a process for forming a semiconductor device and explain a method of heat treatment according to the present invention in which the ultraviolet ray irradiation is performed on the sog film 4 . this invention relates to a method for curing the silicon wafer 10 , for curing the sog film 4 formed on the silicon wafer 10 as shown in fig3 . accordingly , a method for curing sog film 4 according to the present invention will be described hereinafter . the description of the method for curing sog 4 will be provided in reference to tables given below in which values in the tables are obtained by changing several conditions . table 1 - a______________________________________ ( the etching rate of sog film depending on the predeter - mined temperature in the chamber . ) ______________________________________predetermined temperature 180 180 180in the chamber (° c . ) maximum temperature 200 220 240in the chamber (° c . ) etching rate ( å / minutes ) 1100 982 750______________________________________ table 1 - b______________________________________predetermined temperature 190 190 190in the chamber (° c . ) maxium temperature 200 220 240in the chamber (° c . ) etching rate ( å / minutes ) 1050 810 690______________________________________ table 1 - c______________________________________predetermined temperature 200 200 200in the chamber (° c . ) maximum temperature 200 220 240in the chamber (° c . ) etching rate ( å / minutes ) 700 670 624______________________________________ the tables 1 - a to 1 - c show that the etching rate of sog film 4 is measured after sog film 4 is cured by changing the maximum temperature in the chamber of the curing apparatus , while the predetermined temperature remains constant . a 50 : 1 ( nh 4 f : hf ) bufferred oxide etchant ( boe ) solution is utilized for etching the sog film 4 . the predetermined temperature in the chamber listed in table 1 - a , which means the temperature of the chamber before the sog film 4 is placed into the chamber , is 180 ° c . after the sog film has been placed in the chamber , the temperature is increased to 200 ° c ., 220 ° c . and 240 ° c ., respectively and the etching rate is measured for each maximum temperature in the chamber . as illustrated , the lower etching rate ( angstroms per minute ) is obtained if the higher curing temperature is applied . the predetermined temperature in the chamber in the table 1 - b is 190 ° c . before sog film 4 is placed therein . after sog film 4 is placed into the chamber , the maximum temperature is increased for each maximum temperature in the chamber . as can be seen from table 1 - b , the etching rate decreased relative to that expressed in table 1 - a . the predetermined temperature in the chamber in the table 1 - c is 200 ° c . before the sog film 4 is placed into the chamber . after sog film 4 has been placed into the chamber , the maximum temperature is increased to 200 ° c ., 220 ° c . and 240 ° c ., respectively and the etching rate is measured for each maximum temperature in the chamber . as can be seen from table 1 - c , the higher temperature in the chamber , the lower etching rate is obtained . it should be noted that lower etching rate means that a preferred cure of sog film 4 is achieved . table 2______________________________________ ( the time for curing the wafer is varied while themaximum temperature is maintained at a constant . ) ______________________________________maxium temperature 240 240 240 240in the chamber (° c . ) timing for curing ( second ) 30 &# 34 ; 1 &# 39 ; 30 &# 34 ; 2 &# 39 ; 3 &# 39 ; etching rate ( å / minutes ) 1020 912 624 320______________________________________ table 2 shows that the etching rate of the sog film 4 is measured after sog film 4 is cured by changing the curing time for the wafer 10 while the maximum temperature in the curing apparatus utilizing ultraviolet ray irradiation is maintained constant . table 2 illustrates that the longer the curing time , the lower the etching rate . accordingly , if sog film 4 is cured at the maximum temperature for 2 minutes , it is found that the optimized cure is achieved . that is , though , etching rate for curing time of 3 minutes is lower than etching rate for curing time of 2 minutes , the desired curing state is achieved for curing time of 2 minutes . table 3______________________________________ ( the contraction rate when the maximum temperature isvaried . ) ______________________________________predetermined temperature 200 200 200in the chamber (° c . ) maximum temperature 200 220 240in the chamber (° c . ) contracting rate (%) 4 . 9 4 . 2 3 . 6______________________________________ table 4______________________________________ ( the contraction rate when the curing time is varied . ) ______________________________________curing time ( second ) 30 &# 34 ; 1 &# 39 ; 1 &# 39 ; 30 &# 34 ; 2 &# 39 ; 3 &# 39 ; contraction rate (%) 8 . 7 7 . 2 5 . 2 3 . 6 2 . 4______________________________________ table 3 shows a contraction rate of sog film 4 when the maximum temperature for curing sog film 4 is varied . as can be seen from table 3 , when the maximum temperature is maintained at 240 ° c ., the contraction rate of sog film 4 is lower than those at other temperatures . table 4 shows a contraction rate of sog film 4 obtained by changing the curing time for the wafer 10 while maintaining the maximum temperature in the chamber constant . as the curing time increases , the contraction rate of sog film 4 decreases . however , according to the present invention , the curing time at the maximum temperature is determined to 2 minutes considering the processing time and the state of sog film . since there was a limitation to the curing apparatus in the experiment , it was not possible to obtain further values for higher temperature . however , it is possible to obtain an optimum condition from the comparison of tables . accordingly , a curing process for sog film 4 utilizing the optimum condition obtained above will be described . a wafer 10 on which the sog film is formed is introduced by a transfer device into the chamber of a curing apparatus which includes an ultraviolet high source for uv irradiation . the temperature in the chamber is 200 ° c . before sog film is introduced . at this moment , the increase in temperature is gradually implemented . the introduced wafer 10 is heated at the maximum temperature of 240 ° c . for 30 seconds . when the temperature reaches 240 ° c ., radiation of ultraviolet rays having a specific wavelength ( for example , 300 nm from ultraviolet ( uv ) lamp ) is performed on the top of the wafer 10 for 120 seconds , that is , uv curing process is performed . the wafer 10 is maintained at 240 ° c . for 120 seconds , whereby the sog film 4 on the wafer 10 is cured by thermal energy and uv light energy . the light source of the ultraviolet ray is turned off and the temperature in the chamber is lowered to 130 ° c . the wafer 10 is transferred out of the chamber . in the method for curing sog film 4 , the factors which must be critically controlled are the selection of wavelength , maintenance of temperature in the chamber and the increasing rate of temperature , the maximum temperature and the decreasing rate of temperature . accordingly , depending upon the selection of the above factors , the degree of the cure of sog film 4 can be controlled . the result of the comparison of sog film 4 cured in the prior art furnace with that cured according to the method described above is provided below at table 5 . table 5______________________________________ ( the comparison of the etching rates of the lp ( lowpressure ) oxide film with that of sog film 4 in the100 : 1 ( deionized water : hf ) solution .) before after difference between etchingtype etching etching films thickness rate______________________________________lp oxide 3333 å 3054 å 279 å 2 . 8 å / secfilmsog 1311 å 1175 å 136 å 1 . 36 å / secfilm______________________________________ from table 5 , the degree of cure of sog film 4 can be evaluated by comparing the etch rate of the sog film and the lp oxide film . it is found that the etch - rate of sog film is lower than that of lp oxide film . it means that the uv - cured sog film is denser than the lp oxide film . table 6______________________________________ ( the comparison of the etching rate by the chf . sub . 3 / c . sub . 2 f . sub . 6 / heplasma etching .) before after etchingtype etching etching rate______________________________________present 1245 å 798 å 44 . 7 å / secinventionprior art 1190 å 740 å 45 . 7 å / sec______________________________________ the conditions of the method according to the present invention : the wafer 10 on which sog film 4 is formed is subject to the curing process in the hot plate at 180 ° c . for 1 minute and is then subject to the uv curing process at 240 ° c . for 2 minutes in the curing apparatus utilizing ultraviolet radiation . the conditions in the prior art method : the wafer 10 on which sog film 4 is formed is subject to the curing process in the hot plate at 180 ° c . for 1 minute and is then subject to the curing process in the furnace at 420 ° c . for 30 minutes . table 6 shows the result of the comparison of the etching rate of sog film 4 which is subject to the dry etching with ( chf 3 / c 2 f 6 / he ) plasma and it was found that the etching rate according to the present invention and the etching rate according to the prior art method are substantially same . table 7______________________________________ ( the etching rate by oxygen plasma ) before after etchingtype etching etching rate______________________________________present 1208 å 1193 å 0 . 43 å / secinventionprior art 1208 å 1195 å 0 . 43 å / sec______________________________________ table 7 shows the result of the comparison of the etching rate of sog film 4 which is subject to dry etching with oxygen plasma and it was found that the etching rate according to the present invention and the etching rate according to the prior art method are substantially same . thus , it can be seen that the degree of cure of sog film is substantially same . table 8______________________________________ ( s . o . g . film contracting rate ) before after contractingtype etching etching rate______________________________________present 1342 å 1313 å 2 . 2 % inventionprior art 1342 å 1269 å 6 . 3 % ______________________________________ table 8 shows the result of the contraction rate of sog film 4 and , more specifically , it provides the comparison of the contraction rate between a sog film 4 cured by the uv curing method according to the present invention and an sog film 4 cured in the prior art furnace . it should be noted that the lower the contraction rate of area of the sog film 4 is , the more preferable . as described above , the prior art method utilizes only thermal energy , but since the curing method according to the present invention utilizes light energy resulting from ultraviolet irradiation simultaneously with the thermal energy , the insulating property of the sog film 4 is improved and also the film integrity is maintained by preventing the occurrence of cracks in the film . therefore , the loss of wafers due to the inadequacy of the prior art process can be minimized and a more reliable semiconductor device can be attained so that such devices can be more economically produced . the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment has been presented for the purpose of illustration and description . it is not intended to limit the scope of this invention . many modifications and variations are possible in the light of the above teaching . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims . | 7 |
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